BOOK TWO: ANDO

Kreo knelt in the shadows, heart hammering in his chest. His instincts screamed at him to run, but he remained crouched, motionless, silently staring ahead. His sweaty hands constricted his electrostaff in a white-knuckled death grip. It was stuffy beneath his mask, difficult to breathe, but Kreo didn’t care. The distinctive face covering had a huge, demonic smile plastered across its surface. A similar smile lurked beneath, hidden entirely from view. 

Kreo was in the midst of a very dangerous game. One wrong move, and he could die. This is the life, he grinned to himself.

He watched ever-so-patiently, waiting for his target to creep closer. She wasn’t even trying to keep her position concealed, shouting out taunts and threats at the top of her lungs. But no matter how much she yelled, she wouldn’t find Kreo, not until he wanted to be found. He shifted slightly, waiting, just waiting for his opponent to blunder right into his trap. He hoped she would soon – his legs would fall asleep, if he had to remain hidden for much longer.

Above him, surrounding him on all sides, the haphazard crowd in the makeshift, error-riddled arena he called home began chanting his name. He had become quite the fan favorite over the past year. Ever since he first stumbled upon the dangerous and enticing Gaming Nexus, Kreo had felt at home. Here, they called him the Ruthless Smile. He liked that name. It suited him better than Kreo, the name of an AI with a pre-programmed destiny – a destiny he wanted no part in whatsoever.

As he waited, he found himself fondly recalling his first time playing here. He’d been thrust into the arena against his will, pitted against one of the most infamous players in the Nexus. It was supposed to be a quick and entertaining way to dispatch a random intruder, but Kreo had other plans. 

Kreo won every game he played. After thousands of tournaments, he remained undefeated.

He was utterly ruthless. And the sketchy, rebellious, thrill-seeking AIs who lived in the Gaming Nexus loved him for it. Here, he had many admirers, no close friends, and plenty of dangerous games to play whenever he craved a little excitement. Truly, it was the perfect life for him.

A flash of red jolted across his vision. His opponent was speeding through the arena, hoping to catch him before he could run. She fired a long stream of plasma bolts at the various obstacles propped up throughout the space, releasing a primal battle cry as they exploded to bits. Her bright red hair whipped out behind her as she ran.

Veatari was a ferocious, super-fast AI. Her strategy for winning was very much spray-and-pray, rapid-firing energy in all directions as she sprinted in wild zigzags around the arena. She was a pretty popular fighter, but not quite as popular as Kreo. Today, most of the crowd was hungry to see her defeated.

After what felt like an eternity, the AI finally began charging toward Kreo’s hiding spot. The obnoxious noise of her twin plasma guns seemed to rattle his skull. But Kreo wasn’t so easily distracted. His vibrant blue eyes began to glow, and the world sharpened around him. Adrenaline coursed through his digital body. She was almost upon him… Just a couple more feet…

Laughing, Kreo attacked. He fired a blast of electricity from his staff as he dove into view, rolling sideways to avoid the crazy volley of superheated blasts that chased him. He leaped back onto his feet, rapidly twirling his electrostaff to deflect the white-hot bolts of energy. Veatari was fast, but he was faster. Kreo had battled some of the nastiest malware in the cyber dimension, back when he was just another puppet AI following his predetermined duty. This was nothing, compared to how a virus fought.

He deflected a blast with one of the transparent shields programmed into his staff, angling it so that it caught his opponent in the shoulder. She stumbled backward, eyes widening with pain. Decaying pixels and neon-red blood began to trickle down her arm, a mass of microscopic ones and zeroes disintegrating slowly. Kreo knew that she was likely wounded beyond repair already, but he had to give the crowd a good show. He launched himself into the air and backflipped over her head, then fired another blast of fierce blue lightning from the end of his electrostaff. The defeated AI began to scream and glitch, collapsing face-first onto the ground. Reddish smoke poured from her failing eyes as Kreo was declared the victor.

The crowd roared. Some of Kreo’s most devoted fans, the ones who wore the insignia of the Ruthless Smile on their clothes, jumped out of their chairs and came charging toward him across the arena floor. He found himself being lifted onto their shoulders, as they chanted his name over the noise of the excited crowd. “Kreo, Kreo, Kreo…!” Kreo tore his mask off, revealing that bright, unhinged grin the spectators loved so much. Everyone screamed excitedly, as if he were some sort of celebrity. 

Maybe I am, he thought to himself, and his smile widened.