The spaceport lobby was almost empty. Most of the scheduled flights were over, leaving a single inter-system shuttle to make an arrival. Manu casually glanced at his watch. Eleven to nine. A few more minutes and he’d finally be ready to start his mission, and he couldn’t wait. The clothes he had chosen were becoming increasingly uncomfortable. The suit, apart from being the worst shade of brown one could find, was tight in the shoulders, forcing him to keep his arms down as much as possible. It wasn’t like he had much of a choice; the body proportions of the locals were too different for him to risk moving about in his own clothes. Even so, his arms stretched the sleeves of the suit, making them look like inflatable balloons. Sometimes he felt that any brisk action on his part would rip the whole thing apart.

  As he sat there waiting, a pair of aging teens passed by. Their arms were covered in tattoos, designating them as members of some local gang. Most likely they had come to collect some type of contraband from the arriving shuttle. Normally, the standard spaceport countermeasures were adequate to catch most illicit shipments. When it came to intersystem flights, however, local authorities were more likely to be convinced to turn a blind eye, provided one was dealing with simple contraband. Even if they didn’t, there were plenty of small-time hackers that offered their services for a quarter of the duty fee. On average, one in every nine flights contained items that it wasn’t supposed to. Still, there always was a chance that someone might mess up, especially if children were involved.

  “Just my luck,” Manu sighed.

  He didn’t give a damn about the teens, but the attention they attracted could seriously mess up his own plans. For months, the man had managed to remain below the radar. He had lightened his skin, darkened his hair, even changed the color of his eyes to the point that he could pass for one of the local inhabitants of the planet. From a distance, no one could make him out in the crowd. The cheap suit hid his muscles, a few surgical procedures made the features of his face less sharp to the point that even the Church wasn’t able to spot him. All that effort was on the brink of being undone, all because of two petty criminals.

  Ten minutes remained until nine. The man looked around to get his mind off things. The space was almost deserted. There were three elderly couples, probably waiting for their children to arrive. A business type was skimming through his handheld, reading some kind of report or news article. Likely, he was expecting an information courier or, probably, a business acquaintance. Then, there was the shifty duo. Neither of them was taking an interest in him. As most amateurs, they were fixated on the entrance for new arrivals. Their appearance, body language, even general behavior screamed suspicion, as if they were deliberately trying to attract attention.

  The fuck with it! Manu leaned down and opened the suitcase he was carrying. Inside was a single cylindrical container made of a silvery material. Calmly, the man twisted the top of the container until hearing a faint hiss.

  “Hey, you!” A firm voice filled the room.

  Manu looked up, trying to make himself appear confused yet calm. Three security guards had entered the lobby. A wave of fear swept over him, then subsided as he saw that the guards were more interested in the teenagers. That was the silver lining to the situation. Of course, it would have been a lot better if this whole thing had been avoided.

  Pushing his suitcase further beneath his bench, Manu watched the security guards walk up to the teens. Thankfully, none of the wannabes did anything stupid.

  “What’s your business?” the security asked the taller of the teens.

  “Just waiting for a friend,” the boy replied. Clearly, this wasn’t his first time, despite still acting like an idiot.

  “And eyeing what you can snatch while you wait?” the man grumbled, then turned around. His glance fell on Manu. “Sir,” he said. “Are you missing anything?”

  Manu felt his heart skip several beats.

  “No.” He did his best to offer a reassuring smile. “Everything’s fine.”

  “Better check just in case,” another of the guards said. “You can never be too sure with this lot.”

  Fears ran through Manu’s mind again. Had they found out? Were they suspecting him? None of the teens had passed remotely close to where he was. There was no way they could steal anything. Surely the guards knew that. And yet they had asked the question. Panic took hold. What if these weren’t security guards, but agents of the church? They had the perfect excuse to have him go through his things. If he were to refuse, they’d take that as suspicious and quickly escalate things to a higher level. It was entirely possible that the whole scheme was a carefully planned charade. No smugglers, even amateurs, would be so careless.

  One of the guards started walking towards Manu. Despite that, the man remained calm. The only thing worse than falling under suspicion was to prove their point. He had to act casually, no matter what.

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  “Sorry about that,” the guard said. “We’ve been having issues with this lately.”

  “I understand.” Manu nodded. “It’s the same everywhere along the periphery.”

  “You can say that again,” the guard laughed. “It’s not that bad, although we can’t compare to the baptized worlds. At least we don’t have—”

  A black circular shadow crawled out of Manu’s suitcase. Oblivious to everything around, it made its way along the floor, then up along the bench, along the man’s suit, and into his sleeve. The action barely took a few seconds, but as luck would have it, the guard noticed.

  Unsure what had happened, the man blinked a few times, his gaze focused on the sleeve. Then, Manu lost it. Without warning, he grabbed the suitcase from beneath the bench, then swung it at the man’s head. Blood splattered across the lobby floor. For several seconds everyone stared at the scene, their minds incapable of registering what had just occurred.

  The guard collapsed on the ground, bleeding profusely. Half of the suitcase was torn off by the strike, flying off towards the central area of the lobby. The other half remained attached to the handle held by Manu. No longer having anything to keep it in place, the silvery cylinder fell to the stone floor, letting out a metallic ring.

  Both remaining guards reached for their weapons. Shades burst out of the metal container. Sliding along any surface, they sped towards everyone who had the misfortune of being in the lobby. The guard was able to let out a shot, but before he could do it again, his entire body froze. A shade had managed to come into contact with his foot, causing him to freeze up like a statue.

  “What the fuck is that?!” One of the teens screamed as he dashed towards the nearest exit. Even before the incident, he had a mind to make a run for it. His main fear had been the authorities, of course. Nowhere in his worst nightmares had he imagined he’d face anything of this nature.

  There was no point in running, not anymore. No matter how fast he might be, he couldn’t possibly outrun a shade. The entities had the ability to slide along surfaces with the speed of bullets. The only reason they hadn’t instantly affected everyone present was because they enjoyed the sensation of terror that emanated from people as they were being toyed with.

  Manu looked away. He knew full well what would follow. Everyone in the spaceport was as good as dead. It was going to take at least seventeen minutes for the first battle clerics to arrive. Manu had meticulously gone through the reports to make sure of that, just in case things had ended poorly. And it was a good thing that he had. At this point, there was no denying that the mission was a complete failure. The plan had been to transfer the contents of the container onto the pilots of the shuttle. Instead, the entire spaceport had been infested. Without a doubt, that was going to send a message and create a substantial amount of chaos, at least until the Church scrubbed all reports of the incident, yet it still wasn’t what was supposed to happen.

  Releasing the remaining half of the suitcase, Manu went for the exit. The sound of emergency sirens filled the air. At this point, it was pointless. Nothing could stop him. Within minutes, the entire area would be crawling with armed personnel who had no idea what they would be facing.

  A few dozen steps, the man thought. As long as he managed to get out of the building, he’d avoid the massacre and, more importantly, he wouldn’t be caught.

  Just as he reached the threshold, high-pitched laughter echoed in his consciousness.

  “Not bad for your first time,” a screechy voice said. “If only you hadn’t lost your nerve, things would have gone a lot better.”

  “Shut up,” Manu whispered. The exit was right in front of him. There was still a chance for him to escape. All he had to do was get far enough, and he’d vanish in the crowd.

  “There’s no point,” the voice continued. “You won’t make it ten steps out of here, and there aren’t enough shades to save you. Just calm down and accept the inevitable.”

  “No!” The man leaped forward.

  The doors didn’t move. The alarm had triggered an emergency lockdown, sealing all exits and entrances. That didn’t stop Manu. His body slammed into the polymer-glass, causing it to crack, yet nothing more. Despite all his efforts, the barrier refused to let him through.

  “Told you.” The laughter in Manu’s mind grew stronger. “There’s nothing you could do. You had a good run, but now it’s over.”

  “No! I did everything I was told!” The man slammed the glass in desperation.

  It felt unnaturally soft, as if he were pounding on hardened air. Was that a property of the material, or was it the adrenaline in his system talking?

  “I did everything I was told…” he repeated. Had he, though?

  Despite Manu’s claims, the mission had ended in absolute failure. Not only had he lost the merchandise, but he had also burned an identity that had cost a pretty sum to create. Even if he were to get out there, his appearance would be marked in thousands of security databases, including those of the Church. There was no way the organization would protect him now. On the contrary, they had every reason to deal with him. Manu had heard the stories before: couriers vanishing for no apparent reason. Sometimes they were snatched by the Church, but more often than not it was the organization itself that eliminated them for one reason or another.

  “Shit!” The man looked at his hand.

  It hadn’t been a coincidence that the first shade out of the container had crawled onto him. Succeed or fail, the organization had never intended him to walk out of this alive. The cursed creature had been tasked with killing him ever since it had been placed inside.

  “You—” Manu stopped mid-sentence. The shade had already taken control. There was no sign of the lounge, the spaceport, or even the world itself. The only thing left was an infinity of darkness stretching in all directions.

  A few moments later the man felt that there was no trace of him, either.

  The Reluctant Dungeon 3: A LitRPG Adventure is available on Amazon and Kindle!

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