Damon's Ascension-Chapter 152: Sector 5

"The roadmap hasn’t changed and neither has our plans. The Sectors of the Chaos Realm change their rules weekly, not daily, so we should not have a problem following our previously planned route since the sectors wont change." Damon said white adjusting his cuffs.

Felicia nodded. "Then I will put in the order for the Normandy to be ported over."

Felicia pressed a finger to her VQD, transmitting a secured access request across the system connecting the home universe relay and the Chaos Realm’s safe zone. Within seconds, the air above the platform began to ripple violently as a loud pulse echoed through the sky.

The Normandy-class ship moved into view, its massive and sleek body painted with high quality silver and cobalt-black hues as a ramp extended from the underbelly and lowered slowly.

"It responded faster than expected. The ship AI’s starting to like me." Felicia smiled slightly as she folded her arms.

"It’s probably scared of you," Henry muttered in a dodgy manner, avoiding Felicia’s glare.

The crew filed onboard swiftly, used to its corridors and systems now after their month of long travels where it even felt like a second home.

Damon took the helm again as Felicia keyed in the destination sequence.

"Route confirmed: Sector 5 to 13, then across the safe zone spine—45, 53, 32, 54. Final destination: Sector 69." She said crisply.

Xela buckled into her seat and gazed out the bridge viewport. "Let’s just hope the weekly rule shift doesn’t hit while we’re deep inside some soul-devouring sandbox..."

"It won’t. Sector rules rotate on a synchronized seven-day cycle. The rule that is in place this week will last the full stretch." Damon assured calmly.

The Chaos Realm was too vast and traveling by foot was only feasible if you could move at flash speed continuously without tiring. Most explorers and ability users traversed the sectors using space ships, unless there were specific sectors that either banned technology or made ship flight difficult.

It was only in Areas that ships couldn’t enter since only the individual plus their Chaos items could enter within. Anything external, even your clothes, may be left behind as you are thrust into the identity or situation the area puts you in. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

Before going, Damon checked the rule of Sector 5.

[Bright Realm Sector 5 Macro Rule: Range of Vision is limited by half of the base ability.]

A seemingly harmless rule that had been here for centuries, which would change in a week. Thankfully it limited vision based on ones current ocular abilities, so the human race who had high Mentality - which affected the five senses - were till able to see up to the horizons end.

"A sensory debuff. Relatively benign." Protizen murmured.

"Yes, but we’re lucky." Felicia agreed.

Connor chipped in. "Human Mentality values are above average due to our system’s flexibility. Some of the lower-tier races might be basically blind in this place."

Bane snorted. "Vision loss in a desert-like sector. That’s just cruel."

The Normandy soared out of Safe Zone 5’s protective tower and into the raw, exposed wildlands of the Sector.

Sector 5’s biome was harsh and unforgiving.

A craggy, sand-choked wasteland stretched for kilometers in all directions along with many low hills made of compressed ash-rock that formed natural choke points. Windstorms - colored tan and violet - whipped across the land with menacing intent.

Above, the sky shimmered with a distorted haze as there was no sun nor moon in the Chaos Realm, just a persistent amber-colored glow that bathed everything in permanent late-afternoon hue. Strange pockets of warped gravity occasionally distorted the horizon like mirages.

"This place looks like the result of a failed baking experiment between Mars and an oven from hell," Nicholas commented, squinting at the display.

"Most explorers avoid this sector unless they know what they’re doing," Marshal noted with a frown.

Levi glanced at the screens. "The land isn’t hostile, but the landscape causes spatial mapping anomalies it seems. Our GPS wont work unless we recalibrate every few minutes."

"Not a problem, I’ve mapped its shift pattern. I’ll keep our navigation aligned." Protizen replied with a thumbs up.

"Anyone else notice the weird echo?" Kyle asked suddenly.

The team paused.

"...There’s no echo, I can hear. Sound here... doesn’t bounce, right?" Connor said after a moment.

"Because the ambient sand eats reverberations." Felicia confirmed.

She shook her head. "We’re flying in an audio sink, which makes eavesdropping harder. Also means if we get attacked, we’ll hear it only once."

"That’s comforting," Henry said dryly, smoothing his hair.

The Normandy coasted smoothly through the sandy atmosphere. Despite the surroundings, lightning was seen crackling far off in the distance in a silent manner, which was kinda beautiful in a weird way.

A sandstorm began to rise in the far east, but the ship curved north to avoid it, following an ancient aerial trail once marked by the early Behemoths when they manned Safe Zone 5.

They passed an old beacon that was set up many years ago, half-buried in stone and dust. An old transmission echoed weakly through the wavelength, picked up by the Normandy as the passed by.

"Beacon 12-Z active, no return logs. Final entry date: 110 cycles past. Survivor status: null."

"A dead squad." Nicholas muttered.

"Welcome to the Chaos Realm." Connor replied, shrugging.

Felicia leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes briefly. "This isn’t the worst start we could’ve had."

"No, but we haven’t arrived at the hard part yet." Damon agreed softly, watching the skies.

The Normandy blazed on, engines humming low and constant, cutting across the sandy landscape like a beam of silver light.

Protizen’s voice rang across the bridge, calm and efficient. "Approaching documented landmark. We’re now 78 kilometers east of Safe Zone 5’s border and about to enter the vicinity of our first charted Area: Echo Hollow."

The words settled heavily over the crew as it was the first known "Area" they’d encounter in this new digitalized Chaos Realm.

"Echo Hollow..." Felicia repeated under her breath.

She then asked: "Wasn’t that the area where that twin-team from the Carlothoids got sealed inside a narrative loop?"

"They called it a self-perpetuating hallucination scenario." Marshal recalled, tapping his VQD.

After checking the data, he read out: "Their logs were fragmented, they seemed to keep reliving their last day on their homeworld. Every time they tried to break the loop, they’d restart again, only more distorted and evil. A few made it out, but... they weren’t sane anymore."

"And the area was marked as dangerous, right? Because people stopped entering it." Connor asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly. Its currently dormant in the sense that no one has actively entered in decades." Damon said as he stood and walked to the viewing window.

Outside, the landscape was shifting as the Normandy blazed across at hundreds of kilometers per hour.

Ahead of them, atop a wide basin of sand and broken stone, floated a structure that looked alarmingly familiar.

"Isn’t that...?" Nicholas began with alarm.

"...An Essence Realm Gate." Marshal finished, frowning deeply.

And it was.

It looked just like the ones they were used to back home. A floating, circular portal suspended upright in the air, about three meters in diameter.

The interior of the portal was filled with what looked like liquid black mercury, rippling softly. Small tendrils of white lightning arced occasionally across its surface, vanishing before they could reach the edges.

As they drew nearer, the the character panel of all of them suddenly appeared before their eyes.

[Area Name: Echo Hollow

Status: Empty

Micro Rules:

Narrative loop of the last day spent outside of the Bright Realm. Time resets every 24 minutes internally. Memory distortion begins at minute 7.

Completion Requirement: Exit requires one to shatter the loop by doing something unpredictable to the replicated scenario.

Reward Tier: B

Exploration Risk: High

Area Owner: Unclaimed

<Omitted> Essence Reserves: 30,000 Units.]

The information shimmered in front of them in real-time, requiring no guesswork, nor risk and no blood-learned truths. The Bright Realm update was already in effect...

The screen then folded away as the ship glided overhead, bypassing the basin with calculated caution.

For a long while, no one spoke.

It was Henry who finally broke the silence.

"...It really does look like our Essence Realms back home," He said, voice lower than usual.

Kyle stared at the portal as it faded into the rear camera, shrinking slowly in the distance. "So that’s the new format for Areas... every single one?"

Damon nodded once. "Every one."

No one suggested stopping to investigate given their overarching responsibility and duty as the Vanguard Team.

Even though the rules were visible and the risks were casually presented in writing, it was still dangerous because now, the system invited them in with open arms, even listing the benefits directly.

Xela turned toward Damon and asked quietly. "Will we... enter one? Eventually?"

Damon didn’t respond right away. He looked toward the path ahead, where Sector 5 stretched wide in endless dusty ridges, the ship’s engines working hard to throttle them across this danger land of riches and wealth.

"Eventually, we will have to." He answered truthfully