The Manticore Ascension: A Short Story in the Arena Mode Universe Read Online Free PDF

in defiance of tradition, replaced with tributes to the superhumans. The Eiffel Tower was no longer part of the picturesque Parisian skyline; it had been torn down to accommodate a five–hundred foot replica of Sergei Taktarov, bathed in the glow of a hundred spiralling flood lights. The Empire State Building, the Burj Khalifa, the Coliseum – all dismantled and replaced with monuments to the living gods.
    “Taktarov said that his ‘kind’ was meant to take over,” Dawson explained. “Protecting us, ruling over us...it was a nightmare. Some worshipped the superhumans, others rebelled. But those who fought back were, well ...”
    “It didn’t end in rainbows and free ice cream.”
    “No,” Dawson said gravely. “Not exactly. Cameron Frost died during Area Mode, and his company’s stock plummeted. His board members sold off most of the technology before the company folded, and a few countries invested heavily in weapons, security, cerebral dampening units...luckily this was before the take-over, so a few of us were protected.” He said the word ‘map’ and gestured in the air, projecting a globe that spun before us. The enormous glowing sphere depicted land masses that were divided into two sections: red countries and blue ones. “The red territories have been completely overthrown by the superhumans,” he explained. Only a few smaller island countries remained blue: New Zealand, Japan, and of course Iceland. “Everywhere else had fallen to Taktarov’s rule. All of the red countries are now the N.S.S.R.: the New Soviet Socialist Republic.”
    “Wait,” I noticed, stepping closer to southern Europe. “What are these?” I poked my fingertip into a glowing purple dot on the coast of Italy, causing the holographic projection to blip. “There’s a couple of these scattered across the map...one in Poland, another in Greece, a few throughout the UK ...”
    “That’s the good news,” Dawson said, his voice almost hinting at a quiet optimism. “The remaining blue countries have remained isolated for so long that Taktarov’s  movement has lost momentum. Some of the superhumans are no longer following his lead and are threatening to break away from the New Republic – and so are the humans. Those purple spots represent swing territories: they’re teetering on the verge of independence.”
    It made perfect sense. “Can’t fight a war without an enemy, I suppose.”
    “Something my dad did a few years back actually set the movement back, though.” He pulled a small box from his pocket the size of a wallet and pressed his thumb into the metallic casing. “My dad doesn’t even know I have this. Getting new information from outside of Iceland isn’t easy since he keeps things pretty much on lockdown.” When he pulled his thumb away the contour of a glowing emerald fingerprint remained. The box hummed and produced a smaller video window. The screen showed footage of the epic Sergei Taktarov versus Dwayne Lewis encounter from Arena Mode in 2041, and it unfolded just as I’d remembered it; bodies flew impossible distances, buildings collapsed from the immeasurable force, and – eventually – Taktarov bested his larger foe with a well–placed laser blast that erupted from his eyes, tearing a hole through Lewis’ chest.
    “This is old news,” I shrugged. “I saw this earlier today...or thirty years ago...you know what I mean.”
    “Yeah, but this is the part you didn’t see.” The video footage froze and zoomed on the concrete beneath Taktarov’s feet. It has been chewed into bits from the force of their bodies colliding, but in super high-definition something was evident: there was blood . Just a couple drops, barely perceptible, but there they were, gleaming in the midday sun. “These were the only drops of Taktarov’s blood that had ever been recovered. A camera man scooped up the concrete and took it to a lab, preserving a couple drops in a cryogenic vial.”
    I failed to see what was so