Darling of Fate 2: A LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure, page 1
DARLING OF FATE 2
©2024 SEAN DUNNING
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the authors.
Aethon Books supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact editor@aethonbooks.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Aethon Books
www.aethonbooks.com
Print and eBook design and formatting by Josh Hayes. Cover by Luciano Fleitas.
Published by Aethon Books LLC.
Aethon Books is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental.
All rights reserved.
Contents
Also in Series
1. Bloody Couture
2. Simple Physics
3. Yoo Wan Rok?
4. Jree Hunting Season
5. Ballistic Dirk
6. The Enlightened One
7. Skeleton Key
8. The Unseen
9. Mother Hiko
10. The Unaffiliated Run
11. Fate and Friction
12. Boon Selection
13. [Master of Physics]
14. The Great Escape
15. Kurian vs. Integration Guide
16. Cultivation For Dummies
17. Sick Burn
18. Teamwork
19. Affinity Permanence
20. The Fast Way Up
21. How to Make an Entrance
22. Mission Accomplished
23. Chopstick-Fueled Violence
24. Escape Plan A
25. A Deal With Null
26. An Ingominous Death
27. Home, Sweet Home
28. No Heroes Here
29. Out on the Hunt
30. Bounty List
31. There's Nothing Like Home
32. The Optimized Path
33. A Terrible Vision
34. Soul Contract
35. To Meet a God
36. Slinging Disks
37. Gathering the Herd
38. Boon Selection Reprised
39. Drag a Bitch
40. We're Gonna Need Snacks
41. Loopholes and Suicide Pacts
42. The Mayor of Idiotville
43. We’re the Avengers!
Epilogue
Thank you for reading Darling of Fate 2
Groups
LitRPG
Also in Series
Darling of Fate
Darling of Fate 2
Darling of Fate 3
Check out the entire series here! (Tap or scan)
Chapter 1
Bloody Couture
Kneer stood inches away, his body vibrating with a barely contained energy. The adrenaline of our deadly duel had barely had time to work its way out of my system, and now here he was, within spitting distance. As much as I would have liked to rehash our phlegmy encounter from earlier, I was resolved not to waste any more redos on pettiness.
Still, it took every ounce of self-control not to show the overpowering emotions triggered by his familiar face. Less than an hour ago, I had watched him kill Lex, powerless to stop it—only for us to kill each other minutes later.
Facing off now as if nothing had happened made my eye twitch.
“What would you like to discuss?” I asked through gritted teeth.
He searched my face a moment, perhaps looking for signs of any memory of what had just occurred. But despite my pounding heart and racing thoughts, I kept my expression impassive.
What he said next nearly shattered all semblance of composure.
“I’ve come to discuss an armistice.”
I felt my lip curl, and a response began to emerge from my throat before I had even processed his words. With an effort of will, I forced down the word ‘No’ before it could fully form.
“No—ahem, not what I was expecting,” I amended.
“Oh? What were you expecting?”
My eye caught on the statue of Humdirop across the Hall.
I pointed at the memorial. “Something more like that—” He blanched at the movement of my arm, flinching in a way my enhanced Perception couldn’t miss. Shock lit across my body.
He was scared of me…
I supposed it made sense in a way. He didn’t know the extent of my awareness. He must have been wondering if I was actively hunting him or merely responding to the situation. He probably wasn’t even sure if these dreams he was experiencing were real. As far as he knew, I was just the human Prime that managed to kill him against all odds. I remembered the trait I had inherited and the Chosen One title. Was that something he had been walking through life knowing? The utter confidence that would instill in someone, thinking they were chosen by the gods or some nonsense. Then, this Apocalypse kicked off, and he was literally chosen by a god. What would it do to his psyche to then have that belief shattered by a knife through the eye? Perhaps he even thought time had reverted out of some higher plan for him? Like the Universe was giving him another shot at proving he deserved that title?
He managed to mask the flinch well enough by turning to follow my finger as I indicated the statue, but that was simply a face-saving maneuver—we both knew what his physical reaction had betrayed. Any thought in my mind that he truly was offering peace was wiped out with that mutual awareness. He could never let me continue to grow and become stronger after revealing that fear.
Turning back to me, his face fully composed once again, he shrugged casually. You’re not fooling anyone, buddy, I thought.
“Humdirop was a worthy opponent. I had requested peace among the Co’xatl and the Jree, but he openly challenged me. That,” he said with a nod to the statue, “was his choice, not mine.”
I frowned and nodded. “I see. Self-preservation, then?”
He tilted his head—an unusually cat-like expression. “Self-respect. So long as you do not challenge me, I see no reason the humans and the Jree should be at odds.”
Meaning you’ll attempt to crush us at the first opportunity.
“Then we agree. So long as neither challenges the other, the Jree and my people will not fight.” I thought about adding the caveat that I could only manage a small subset of humanity but then thought better of it. Better that he didn’t know the limitations of my leadership.
“Agreed.” He held out his hand, and I was taken aback.
“You shake hands on your world, too?” I asked.
“I’ve heard it is the custom among your people when sealing a pact,” he replied. “Am I misinformed?”
I eyed his hand a moment, wary but not wanting to tip my hand by being rude. Plus, he was in the Hall of Heroes—the forcefields would protect me if he tried for a sneak attack.
“It is.” I reached out to clasp hands, his powerful paw intertwining with my own. Despite my best efforts, his touch triggered a primal anger in the back of my mind. After the briefest of shakes, I engaged [Lubed Up] and slid my palm out of his. His eyes widened at my reluctance, but he shrugged and turned to go.
A familiar feeling suddenly pressed down on my shoulders, and a panic rose within me. I kept my mask up as he glanced over his shoulder.
“Till next time,” he said, baring his fangs in a smile.
I slammed the door closed just as I was ripped away from my body. My vision narrowed as darkness squeezed in from my peripherals. The sensation of a physical body disappeared as a blue box seared my eyes.
[Fate’s Helper] has been activated for the First Floor
New Quest: Race for Power
My Darling must strive for every advantage. Be the first to reach the Hold at the center of the First Floor.
Failure to do so will result in a failed Quest.
Should Kneer Ungr, Prime of the Jree, reach the Hold before my Darling, [Fate’s Ire] will be invoked.
Reward: Expand [Darling of Fate’s] time restriction from 24 hours to seven days once the Second Floor opens.
Bonus Objective: Reach the Hold with identical Order and Chaos Points.
Bonus Reward: ???
My mind raced as I read Fate’s new Quest. That reward was absolutely game-changing and I knew that I’d have to put reaching the Hold to the top of my priorities. But that Bonus Objective left me reeling.
Would the bonus reward be just as broken?
My consciousness slammed back into my body, sending me careening into the Hall of Heroes door. I braced against the wal
“Fuck me,” I muttered as I tried to regain control of my limbs.
“What did he want?”
I turned to see Byron, Jerome, and Lex waiting in the hallway. It was Byron who had asked the question.
“Peace,” I replied absentmindedly as I wiped at my face.
Concern blossomed through the bond.
“What is it, Dirk?” Lex asked, waddling over. He flapped his wings for a moment and landed on my shoulder.
“Fate just made her play,” I said, showing him the Quest with a flex of intent. Panic flared from Lex. And awareness.
“Oh, no…”
“What’s up?” Byron asked with a concerned expression.
I shook my head to clear it. “My Patron just gave me a Quest that put me on the clock. If the Jree Prime reaches the center of the First Floor before me…Well, I don’t know exactly what the repercussions are. But nothing good.”
“Shit,” Byron said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “We better get moving, huh?”
I nodded and turned to Lex.
“Okay, bud. You’re up.”
Lex squinted, and then his eyes widened with realization.
“HONK!”
Somehow, despite all his best efforts, Lex found himself on a scouting mission… again. As he rose high into the First Floor sky, he forced his discomfort through the bond directly into Dirk’s brain. The tightness in his lungs, the burning in his muscles—all sent back as hard and as vivid as he could project. If Lex had to suffer, so should he!
Dirk’s annoyance feeding back to him gave his wings strength as he circled above. The island at the center of the First Floor lay below him, though it was obscured by cloud cover. It was protected by three concentric circles of increasingly difficult challenges.
First, steep cliffs wrapped around, serving as the outer circle. They were high enough for the air to be noticeably thinner as Lex examined them, but nothing Dirk couldn’t handle with his abilities.
The second concentric circle was a valley hugging the inner edge of the mountain range. It was much like the jungle region, but the mobs roaming below were large enough to be visible through the trees, their footsteps audible even from hundreds of feet in the air. Lex decided not to go any closer to get a better look at these treetop-towering mobs. Better to avoid them entirely.
The final circle guarding the island was a circular river about a quarter-mile wide. The water within the river churned and bucked, moving clockwise violently and at speed. It was impossible to tell if there were sea monsters lurking beneath those waves, but Lex wasn’t about to go and find out.
When he tried to fly over the island itself, dense clouds covered his view. He flew lower, but a static buildup forming turned him away immediately.
He knew what a forming Tribulation felt like, and he certainly wasn’t going to test this new Integration Guide’s professional courtesy.
No matter what angle he approached, however, there didn’t appear to be any clear path through. It was sheer cliff feeding straight down into dense, mob-infested jungle and across raging waters that may or may not be filled with goose-eating creatures. There would be no shortcuts to the island—Dirk would have to find a way to trigger the set of three mechanisms in their respective regions.
A pulse from Dirk let him know that he had seen what he needed to see. Lex sent back an image of returning to the cliffs, preening his feathers, relaxing and recovering after a harrowing—
A feeling Lex could only describe as sharp discomfort cut through his daydream—ruffling his mind like a rough hand petting his feathers in the wrong direction. A new image came to him. It was Lex, his wings flapping hard as he scouted over the jungle region, looking for Jree movement and the mechanism that lay somewhere within the region.
“HONK!”
Couldn’t even have an idle fantasy without his human backseat-flying.
He turned in the air, angling back over the three concentric circles protecting the island and toward the jungle region. He made sure to remind Dirk of the discomfort in his muscles as he flapped his wings.
After a few more minutes of flying, the jungle region became visible. Clouds covered the sky unnaturally above the region, and Lex was forced to fly low to the canopy in order to see ahead. He was concerned the Jree might take shots at him flying this low, but Dirk had assured him that the armistice would stand until Kneer was ready to make his move.
Despite Lex’s short stint as the Integration Guide of this Tower, he had very little information about the makeup of the First Floor. His older sibling had made sure to reconfigure the specifications after assuming control. With that said, there were many patterns and standard practices that were commonly used, and Lex was familiar with the likely location of the jungle’s mechanism.
As he approached the center of the jungle, a massive tree stood sentinel above its peers, stretching well into the obscuring clouds above. He felt praise from Dirk as he approached the Great Tree. Unlike the rest of the jungle, Lex knew the Great Tree would be teeming with the local mobs. Only a coordinated assault would have a chance of making it to the mechanism at the top—or a sneak attack from above.
It was obvious the Floor hadn’t been balanced around the potential of flight—flight and hovering abilities usually didn’t manifest until well into the Second or Third Floor. So, for now, Lex and Dirk had that advantage in their pocket.
Now, all Lex needed to do was gain access to the mechanism and wait for Dirk’s signal.
After discussing with Lex, the most likely direction of the tunnel mechanism was down, deep in the earth. Lex had also been convinced that the tunnel I had followed that led to the golden tunneler was also most likely the path to the mechanism. Instead of taking the smaller access tunnel that led to the bottom of the cliffs, I needed to follow the larger tunnel and avoid the massive boulders that fell in five-minute intervals.
I knew from my conversation with the Co’xatl Prime that the bridge to the center of the Floor—the Hold, as Fate had called it—would open in whichever region had their mechanism activated last. In an ideal scenario, I’d activate the water region mechanism while Lex hit the corresponding jungle mechanism. Then I could race back to the tunnels to activate the final mechanism.
Unfortunately for me, I also knew from our conversation that Umndirop wouldn’t be amenable to that sequence of events, and there was no way I’d be able to sneak into the water region, hit the mechanism, and make it out alive.
So the only way forward was to try and hit the tunnel and jungle mechanisms, then convince Umndirop to let me through to the Hold first. But regardless of what arrangement we came to, as long as Kneer didn’t get to the Hold before me, I wouldn’t be hit with [Fate’s Ire].
But first things first, I needed to find the tunnel mechanism.
I paused at the first access tunnel where I’d originally chased the golden tunneler. Pressing myself inside, I waited for the next boulder to pass, renewing my five-minute timer to give me the maximum amount of leeway to continue on.
When the semi-truck-sized rock rolled through, I burst back into the larger tunnel, keeping track of the five minutes in the back of my mind. Given that I was further down the tunnel, I had a little extra time before the rock would reach me. But that thing really flew down the tunnels, so it wouldn’t be much extra time. Better to just assume I had five minutes.
The tunnel angled ever downward, turning my sprint into more of a controlled fall. Around the three-minute mark, another access tunnel appeared on my left. And just like before, a golden hue emanated from the tunnel. I didn’t want to waste time chasing one of the golden tunnelers to who knew where, but I also couldn’t pass up the easy levels. So as I approached, I slowed and thought through my plan.
Once the tunneler got going, it would be difficult to catch, given I had to bear crawl through the smaller tunnels to keep up. But if I could get close enough without it spotting me, I could latch onto it with my Mantle and drag it closer for the kill. I could have killed it with my rifle from a distance, but I’d given it to Byron in case the Jree attacked the cliffs. Plus, a high-powered rifle shot in this tunnel without sound protection would probably deafen my enhanced hearing.
