Ascension: Online

While I ran, a hologram suddenly popped up in front of me. It was risky, but I decided to stop to read it since I didn't hear the mechanical spiders anymore. After looking both ways, I sat down on the sand, leaning my back against the cold walls of the maze.

[NEW SPECIES ENTRY]

[Name: Revenants]

[Type: Machines]

[Weakness: None]

[Resistance: Physical Attacks, Hidden Arts]

[Description: Revenants are killing machines found within complex locations that are difficult to navigate (e.g. mazes). Their true origins are unknown. They can come in many different forms, the most common ones being spiders, snakes, and leopards. Revenants are resistant to all forms of attacks, and can only be injured via certain weakpoints on their bodies not covered by their near-invincible armor plating.]

Below was an image of the spider Revenants that I had encountered just now.

I glanced over at the friendly Revenant that I had corrupted, then down at the wound I had inflicted on it. That must've been its weakpoint - while its legs were armored on the front and all around, there was a faint gap between it and the spider's main body, where there was no armor covering the wires. That was where I had struck, and it seemed like my bet was on the money.

I dismissed the hologram, grateful for the new information. Then, because I wanted to test out the abilities of my Corruption skill, I decided to try something.

"Hey," I whispered to the allied Revenant. "Can you understand what I'm saying?"

[…] The spider looked back at me blankly, its six green lights for eyes not changing one bit.

Realizing my mistake, I slapped my own forehead. "Okay… that was a bit stupid. Let's try again - if you can understand what I'm saying, move forward five steps."

The spider slowly turned its head to its front, then began walking exactly five steps before coming to a stop. My eyes widened in delight - it had carried out my instructions perfectly.

"Alright. Next… can you lead me out of this maze? If you can, move back to where you just were," I said with hope in my heart.

However, the spider remained still, staring at me blankly once more. I sighed.

"Yeah… thought so. That would be too easy of a Trial."

I then remembered something about the Corruption skill when I first received it - there was a time limit. In other words, this spider Revenant wouldn't be my ally forever. I didn't know how much time it had left, but I wanted to test it out for future reference. It would be handy knowing how much longer I could keep a creature controlled for, after all.

So, to set my plan in motion, I had the spider Revenant remain where it currently was. I commanded it not to follow me, then went and hid around a corner, checking the time on my System: 5:37 PM.

I chose this spot specifically because it was a place where I could observe the Revenant, but it could not see me. I doubted creatures I corrupted retained their memories from when I was controlling them, so the Revenant wouldn't be able to locate me once it turned back to normal… hopefully.

And if it does manage to find me instantly, well, that's information too.

Tick, tock. Five minutes passed by, and nothing happened. The Revenant's 'eyes' were still green lights, not red. I continued observing. The time was now 5:42.

Another ten minutes passed, yet still nothing.

But then, as soon as 5:52 hit 5:53, the Revenant's eye display glitched out, flashing for a brief moment before reverting to its original red. The green was nowhere to be seen. My temporary ally who had saved my life had become hostile again.

I quickly ducked behind the wall, even though it made no action of coming towards me. It seemed my assumption was correct - Corrupted creatures did not retain their memories from when they were under the Corrupter's control.

As for the time… let's see. Five plus ten minutes was fifteen, but I still had to account for the brief period of time before I settled down to read the new species entry. If I had to estimate the total… it would be roughly twenty minutes.

So, I could control a creature for about twenty minutes. That was an incredibly useful skill to have. How many I could Corrupt at a time and the level of beings I could Corrupt were both limited, but I didn't need to worry about that right now.

Sneaking one final glance back at my benefactor and muttering a faint word of thanks, I left, diving deeper into the maze.

*****

Around half an hour passed since then, and I could now say with full certainty that I was - lost. On the way, I encountered the snake Revenants and even leopard ones, but luckily I didn't alert them. Clearly, they were far stronger than the spider ones, with no visible weakpoints on the outside.

As for where I was… I could trace back the way I came from using the footprints in the sand, but even those were getting hazy due to the gentle wind. I decided to take a quick break, sitting down and thinking.

I didn't have any prepared food or water in my inventory, which I now realized was a huge mistake. I mean, to be fair, I didn't expect to be staying in here for so long. The Vault of Corruption had taken me an hour maximum to beat. I would know for next time I attempted a Vault, though.

I thought back to the quotes I saw on the way here into the maze. I know I already dismissed them as useless earlier, but now that I thought about it… perhaps they really do have meaning.

After so much exploring, I was now convinced this place was anything but a normal maze. The theme of the Vault was 'deception'. In other words… what I was seeing may or may not be fake. That said, I couldn't risk it. If I assumed the Revenants were fake, for example, and let my guard down around one, leading to me getting hit, it could be fatal if my assumption was incorrect.

I've also tried walking directly through walls, but that didn't work either. It did, however, hurt quite a lot.

Out of all the quotes in that hallway, there was one in particular that stood out to me from the rest. It was the last one, written on a sign above the doorway that led to the maze.

"Do not let the shackles of reality chain you down."

Taking this figuratively, it would mean to look beyond reality. But the question is, how the hell do I do that? Reality by definition is the world or the state of things as they exist. So… how do I look beyond that?

I broke down all the information I had so far regarding the quotes. All the other ones have been opposites of their usual meaning - for example, 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me,' except words was replaced with something even harsher than sticks and stones - blades.

'Common sense is a fool's master,' when in the real world you're often getting told to use your common sense.

'The counterpart to deception is not truth - it is more deception,' contrary to what most people may think.

To sum it up, all the quotes were opposite of what would be said in the real world. Opposite, opposite…

Then it hit me. My eyes widened.

Reality - the state of things as they exist… the opposite of that would be…

… The state of things as they don't exist.

All I had to do was assume everything in front of me did not exist. The walls, the Revenants, the maze itself - they did not exist. They were not real. They weren't there.

Enlightened, I stood up from the sand and turned around to face the wall. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

I had tried walking through the walls earlier already, but this was different. My mindset was different. Instead of 'can I walk through this?', it was 'I can walk through this'. The wall before me did not exist. This whole place was not real.

In order for this to work, I could not have an ounce of doubt in my heart - after all, reality did not have any doubts. It was either something existed, or it didn't. No in betweens.

"None of this… is real!"

I stepped forward, full of confidence.

After the fact, I opened my eyes again and looked around. There was nothing there. The seemingly endless maze, the vast, beautiful twilight sky, and the deadly killing machines known as Revenants. None of the three existed anymore. They never existed in the first place.

[SuCcEsS. YoU hAvE bEaTeN tHe VaUlT oF dEcEpTiOn. ClAiM yOuR rEwArDs.] A distorted AI voice said.

In front of me, a single chest lay. Slowly, hesitantly, I walked towards it. However, when I was right in front of it, instead of opening it like any normal person, I smirked.

"Nice try."

Then, the illusion all around me disappeared. The black faded away, revealing the true treasure room, made out of wood and lit up by torches.