New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live



Rapidly colliding in the sea of rats, Alex let go of any reservations he had. He completed his meld with White, the wolf in his mind settling in completely as he heard his voice for the first time on this side.

'Master, my words can finally reach you. I revel in the opportunity to fight by your side fully again.'

'We'll see about how long we can survive, White. The situation isn't looking good.'

He felt the wolf's confidence bolster up in his mind.

'But Master, you aren't using every resource at your disposal.'

Alex almost stumbled at the comment. He kept streaking his claws in front of him, in large arcs, tearing his enemies asunder, while he wondered what he wasn't using.

Seeing his master not figuring it out by himself, White just told him.

'Master, you aren't calling on my daughter. Call Genie out.'

Alex's mind went blank.

'I can call her out, on this side? How would that work? You are an energy form, tied to me, and I get how it worked. But Genie is living and has a body. There is no way I can just call her over through the veil, right?'

'It won't be easy, given your level of mana currently, but it is possible,' White responded in his head.

It stumped Alexander. But now wasn't the time to question the how.

'Tell me how, and I'll make it happen. Her help would be more than welcome.'

While he was having this mental discussion, and striking enemies down in throngs, David finally snapped out of his conundrum and made his choice.

He would rather risk it here and keep his alliances with the few powerful people he trusted than ruin it all to assure his survival. But he knew he had damaged his relationship with Alex today, and it wouldn't be easy to mend that damage.

"Argh, fuck this! If I die here, I'll haunt your ass into the afterlife!" David shouted, before dashing into the sea of rats that was trying to bite at Alex relentlessly.

The rats' efforts collided into much more resistance than they expected, as the man was moving lightning fast, and every attack that did land on him glanced off the thick mana layer encasing his body. But at this pace, he would end this fight naked.

Kary was steadily shooting flames into the tide of rodents, trying to keep her mana usage under control as much as she could. She tried using the mana breathing technique she had in New Eden, but there just wasn't enough mana here to absorb.

When she saw David darting back into combat, she was slightly relieved. Even though she was disappointed it took him so long to make his choice.

She already knew Alex's opinion of David had dropped, simply with how he glared at him earlier. But it was none of her business.

The rat queen finally went into action, as David lunged in, almost like she had been waiting to see what he did. She screeched loudly again, sending all the surrounding rats into a frenzy.

She also lunged forward, her large lumbering form moving much faster than one would expect from her size. Just as she reached the first human that had dared charge at her children, a skeletal form appeared before her, smacking her in the head with a long halberd, sending her tumbling to the side.

David couldn't maintain the death knight for much longer, but it could at least serve as a distraction until they cleared out the never-ending rat tsunami. But Alex suddenly jumped out of combat, landing next to Kary.

For a second, David thought they were suddenly betraying him and leaving him alone to deal with the rats because he had hesitated so long. But Alex's words reassured him soon after.

"Buy me half a minute! I can get us some reinforcements!"

Alex didn't wait for their answer before getting to work on his plan. Kary nodded her head at him and looked at David.

He nodded as well, but shouted back, "My death knight won't last that long! After that, the queen will have free rein!"

Kary rapidly made some mental calculations, estimating how much mana she had left until she was exhausted. She reached her results quickly enough, and calculated she could either keep fighting for another few minutes, or hold back the entire tide for about fifteen seconds.

"Holler when he goes down! I will hold them off for a bit! But I'll be out for the count after!" she replied.

David nodded his head, understanding the trade-off. He silently hoped Alex's reinforcement would be strong enough to contend with the rat queen, or their troubles would only grow once more.

In the meantime, Alex was knees on the ground, his hand cut open by his own claws, letting his blood pool on the concrete floor.

'How much is enough, White? I don't have that much blood to begin with, you know?'

'You'll need a puddle of at least one foot in diameter if you hope to bring her over. Her size makes this much more difficult than before, and since you are on different worlds, you can't just call her to appear. A price has to be paid.'

Alex mentally nodded. But a puddle of a foot in diameter, on porous concrete?

That wouldn't be a small amount of blood.

But he had to do it. Focusing on his mana, he pushed it into his veins, hurrying the blood to his cut hand, so it wouldn't be too long.

As the blood poured out of his hand at a faster pace, the puddle soon reached the size White had said.

'Now what?' he asked the wolf.

'Now you focus on her essence and call her to you. The blood connection will form and she should appear before you.'

'Wait, should? I thought this was a guaranteed thing?' Alex panicked.

'There is no such thing as guarantees when calling upon beings across worlds, Master. But I'd say the chances of success are at seventy percent, with the amount of blood paid as tribute.'

'God dammit! I hope you're right, or not only will I have wasted time, I will have lost an ally in trade of none, and will be weak for no reason.'

Focusing on himself, Alex focused on Genie's soul, or at least what he remembered it to feel like. Once he had the feeling locked in his mind, he whispered out her name.

"Genie, answer my call. I need you…"