Awaken Online (Book 3.5): Apathy

by Bagwell, Travis

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 8

  Effect: Allows the player to harvest more difficult or dangerous plants. 4% chance for double ingredients.

  x1 Skill Rank Up: Alchemy

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 9

  Effect: Increases success chance of crafting potions and potion potency by 9%.

  A couple levels and a new skill. Not too shabby.

  Eliza was starting to feel a bit more confident that she could pull this off. She placed the vials carefully in her pack and put away her remaining equipment. Glancing up, she noted that she still had a few more hours until sunset. She might be able to make an attempt at the troll before the end of the day.

  “Okay,” she said aloud. “It’s show time.”

  When she didn’t receive a response, Eliza glanced over at the Hippie and saw that he was sound asleep. This time, Fluffy was using the young man as a pillow, resting his head on the god’s stomach.

  “Really?” Eliza muttered. Although she supposed it was for the best. The god’s constant nattering would probably just distract her.

  With another sigh, she started toward the bridge. No players or NPCs were within sight, and she knew that the troll typically retreated back down into the gorge after each encounter. She guessed that he had a cave or lair down there somewhere.

  That meant she needed to traverse the narrow trail leading down into the chasm. She picked her way forward carefully, one hand always resting against the stony cliff face to provide balance. Some portions of the trail narrowed to the point where she couldn’t place both her feet side-by-side. Luckily, she made it to the bottom of the gorge with only a few close calls.

  Stage 1 complete, she thought as her feet touched down on solid earth. She glanced behind her, wondering how she was going to make it back up. She considered sourly that her inevitable respawn would probably expedite that process.

  Now she needed to find the troll’s lair. A fast-flowing river rushed through the bottom of the gorge, leaving little room on either side. Eliza had watched the troll carefully after it defeated the players. It tended to gather the loot, climb down the columns supporting the bridge and then move northwest along the river.

  She made her way forward carefully, clutching her pack against her side. With the sun setting, the gorge was cast in dark shadows, making it difficult to pick out her footing. At the next step, the ground crumbled underneath her and she listed to the side. She barely managed to catch herself before she fell, her hand grasping frantically at vines that grew along the cliff face. She managed to stabilize herself. Barely.

  Taking a moment to catch her breath, Eliza continued forward.

  A few minutes later, she discovered a large cave carved into the side of the ridge. Bones littered the ground around the entrance, many of which looked distinctly humanoid. Eliza started labeling the bones before she could stop herself. Humerus. Tibia. That looks like a clavicle.

  She shook her head. She should be concentrating right now. Eyeing the cave entrance, she took a deep breath to steel herself and stepped toward the entrance and peered inside. The opening was shrouded in shadow, and she could barely make out the interior.

  A rumbling snort reverberated through the cave, and Eliza froze. As her eyes began to adjust to the darkness, she could make out a shadowy form. It shifted slightly and then something that sounded remarkably like a snore echoed off the stone walls of the cavern.

  As Eliza stood watching the sleeping troll, a question occurred to her.

  How was she going to administer the poison?

  She honestly hadn’t thought that far ahead. It wasn’t like she could pour the vial into the creature’s mouth – since she expected it would take some time for the poison to take effect. She looked around the cave frantically, trying to find something to use. Maybe it kept some food in the cave? Her eyes swept over the bones – noticing for the first time how clean they looked. It appeared that the troll had already eaten.

  Despair crept into her mind, and she began to realize that days of work were going to amount to nothing. She would still be stuck by this stupid bridge. Even worse, she would have to continue to put up with the Hippie’s constant complaining.

  She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm her mind. She just needed to think this through. How did people administer poisons? Honestly, who knew? Believe it or not, assassination techniques hadn’t been part of her regular curriculum. But that thought made her pause. She had actually studied a few organisms that effectively poisoned their hosts. For example, viruses weren’t poisonous per se, but she knew that they had many vectors for transmission. Touch, bodily fluids, vapor…

  Now that was an idea. She had her Obscuring Mist spell. Maybe she could somehow combine the poison with the spell. But how? She visualized the steps of the spell. First, it gathered moisture to her, forming a globe of water. As she finished casting, the orb exploded into a mist. Maybe she could apply the poison to the orb before she finished casting?

  Yet that only created another problem. She needed her hands free to keep casting. How would she administer the poison? Perhaps she could pause casting the spell by not completing the incantation?

  Damn it. I wish I had tested this before coming down here.

  She would probably only get one chance to test her theory before the troll killed her. Then she would have to wait for her respawn, walk all the way back, and hope that the troll was still asleep. That was also putting aside the fact that she only had the one vial of poison. It would take her days to make another vial. Of course, all of this assumed the poison would even work.

  Just do it, she told herself. You can’t change any of that now, and you have nothing to lose by trying. Except dying gruesomely…

  Taking a deep breath, Eliza pulled the glowing green vial from her pack, setting it gently on the ground in front of her. The troll stirred at the sound of the glass clinking against a pebble and Eliza froze. When it made no other movement, she let out a short breath.

  Eliza began to move her hands through the familiar sequence of the spell as arcane words spilled from her lips in a whisper. The globe of water slowly began to form in front of her. As she neared the end of the incantation, she abruptly stopped speaking. The globe continued to hover in the air, its surface rippling rhythmically. Silently thanking the Great Black Sheep in her head – although she would never admit that to the Hippie – Eliza grabbed the vial and unstopped it. Then she poured the contents onto the orb.

  The water swiftly turned a ghastly, glowing green. Moving her hands back into position, she said the final word of the incantation. Just like in Alma’s garden, the orb exploded into a thick mist that swept into the cave. Except this mist glowed a sickly emerald and seemed to throb gently as it enveloped the sleeping troll.

  Eliza watched in anticipation, her pulse pounding in her veins. Would it work?

  The troll let out a snort and inhaled deeply, causing an eddy of mist to pour into its nostrils and mouth. At the same time, a wave of moisture began to pour out of the cave toward Eliza. Her eyes went wide, and she darted to the side to avoid the deadly substance, putting the hem of her sleeve over her mouth.

  The snorts inside the cave soon changed to a heaving cough. The ground trembled as the troll began to move, crashing into the stone wall of the cave awkwardly. It lumbered out of the cavern and Eliza tried to keep as still as possible; she didn’t want to draw its attention.

  The creature collapsed at the edge of the river, falling to its knees. It gave a series of great heaving coughs and then vomited into the river, pieces of bone and partially-digested flesh visible amid the bile. Eliza looked away, squeezing her eyes shut. Then she heard another crash and turned to find that the troll had fallen on its side. Its glowing green eyes caught sight of her, and it lifted a hand weakly in her direction while its chest heaved feebly

  Eliza felt a bit conflicted as she watched the creature. Over the days spent gathering plants, she had frequently visualized killing the troll and finally get
ting her revenge. However, now that she saw the monster’s pain-filled eyes and watched it struggle vainly to rise, she felt… guilty. Nothing deserved to die like this.

  Taking pity on the monster, Eliza began casting an Ice Bolt. A shard of ice formed in the air in front of her as her fingers wound their way through the requisite gestures. The shard thickened quickly and then lunged forward – embedding itself in the Mountain Troll’s eye. The creature thrashed for a second, its body spasming uncontrollably. And then it lay still.

  Finally, a long-awaited notification flashed in the corner of Eliza’s vision.

  The Mountain Troll has died.

  x3 Level Up!

  You have (30) undistributed stat points.

  Eliza heaved a sigh of relief, leaning against the edge of the cliff.

  As the green mist cleared, she remembered why she was here. She needed to complete the Hippie’s quest. She edged into the cavern, pulling the materials for a makeshift torch from her back and lighting the wooden wand. The torchlight soon illuminated the cavern, revealing piles of junk littering the back wall. Weapons, armor, and assorted knick-knacks filled the cavern, glimmering faintly in the light cast by the torch.

  Eliza approached the piles cautiously, her brow furrowing. Most players would probably be ecstatic at finding so much loot. However, Eliza didn’t really have any way to carry all of this stuff. Besides, how on earth was she going to find the quest item amid all of this junk? She didn’t even know what she was looking for.

  “I found it!” a voice cried out and the Hippie’s head popped up from one of the piles.

  Eliza yelped in surprise and jumped back. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she yelled at the god, her patience finally cracking.

  He glanced at her in confusion and then looked down at himself. “What do you mean? I’m a vision of health. Not like our troll friend out there.” Then he looked back at his hand as though seeing the item for the first time. “Besides, I found the item of supreme power! You should be excited!”

  The Hippie shuffled out of the pile of junk, with Fluffy following closely behind him. The sheep yawned tiredly and watch the scene with a bored expression as the god walked over to Eliza and shoved the item in her face.

  “It-it’s a brush?” Eliza asked.

  “Not just any brush,” the young man admonished her. “It’s Fluffy’s brush! See?” He walked over to the black sheep and proceeded to begin brushing his thick coat. Fluffy’s eyes rolled back in bliss as he leaned into the Hippie.

  Eliza just stared for a long moment.

  “I…” she began. Then she stopped. There was no point.

  Without any further ado, Eliza turned and marched out of the cave. She was going to return to her garden. If she ever saw the idiot god again, it would be too soon.

  Chapter 8 - Daring

  Eliza sat alone at the island in her kitchen, her hands nursing a cup of tea as she watched the screen that hovered above the nearby table.

  “Welcome to Vermillion Live, the only place to get the most up-to-date news and events regarding Awaken Online,” a man dressed in an immaculate suit announced.

  “As most of you know by now, Lux has fallen to the Dark and has been transformed into the Twilight Throne. We have confirmed that this was accomplished by a single player – the infamous Jason.”

  The man frowned slightly before continuing, “In addition, it appears that the residents have been transformed into the undead, and now players can roll new characters as zombies or skeletons. Although it appears that many are reluctant to give this new race a try with the tenuous position of the Twilight Throne, with a mixed army of players and NPCs planning to march against the city. And then there is the hefty time lock on re-rolling a character…”

  “You also forgot to mention the fact that Jason is a psychopath,” the woman beside him spat. “I expect you all have seen the gameplay footage at this point. Alexion is right to be pulling together a group of players and NPCs to take out the Twilight Throne.”

  “It’s just a game, Beth,” the man replied with an arched eyebrow. “Sure, Jason’s tactics are a bit unconventional, but you have to admit they’re effective.”

  “Have you played this game? It may not be entirely real, but it feels real. Honestly, at a certain point what’s the difference between killing someone in the real world or in-game? Besides, I’m not talking about killing another player in cold blood. I’m talking about these zombies. Would you like to experience being ripped apart?”

  Eliza felt a little conflicted as she listened to their banter. She remembered feeling guilty for killing the troll. Well, to be more accurate, she had felt guilty about causing such intense suffering – even if it wasn’t exactly real. She hadn’t felt bad about killing the troll. He had smashed her to death after all. He sort of had it coming.

  “But let’s not take my word for it. We have gameplay footage!” the woman continued. “I expect many of you have seen this video from the night Jason conquered Lux.” She waved at the screen behind her, which promptly flickered to life.

  The camera view was from the perspective of a player. It was nighttime, and the player was creeping toward what must have been the training grounds in Lux – a big open area dotted with straw dummies – or at least what was left of the training grounds.

  The remains of bodies were scattered everywhere. Moonlight reflected off the pools of blood drenching the stones and the sides of buildings, and entrails littered the ground. Some of the corpses appeared to have either been ripped to shreds or blown apart.

  The player moved toward a building in the center of the field, carefully picking his way through the dismembered corpses. An unusual and foreboding silence hung over the training grounds. The only sound that could be heard was the player’s ragged breathing. As he approached the door to the building, the player gingerly opened the door and peeked through the crack. Inside was a group of humanoid creatures, their bodies broken and bloody. They stood still, staring mindlessly into the distance.

  “Oh shit!” the player gasped involuntarily.

  The noise promptly alerted the zombies in the room. A dozen milky white eyes were suddenly focused on the lone player. Time seemed to freeze as the zombies all stood still, staring at the player.

  Then, with a throaty roar, the group of zombies rushed forward in a frenzy of limbs. In his panic, the player fell backward onto the ground, and the camera tilted erratically. The player was trying desperately to crawl away from the building.

  The view panned back to the small building. The zombies slammed into the door and came pouring out, ripping the door off its hinges as they rushed at the player. Their wretched screams tore through the air, and their faces were wild as their hands clawed toward the prone player.

  “Oh god no!” the player shouted. His hands came into view as he vainly tried to defend himself.

  Then the zombies were upon him, and his body was torn apart in a flurry of limbs, teeth, and blood. Although the pain sensors in-game were heavily muted, the player let out an anguished scream as he was ripped apart. Likely, the psychological horror of what was happening was worse than the dull pain he felt.

  Then the screen went black.

  Eliza sat in shock for a moment. Jason had done this? She had seen the in-game notices and heard the whispers among the other students during her prep classes. He was rumored to be able to summon the dead, but she hadn’t actually seen his creatures in action before. She knew that she should be repelled by his actions. Yet a part of her was… impressed?

  Suddenly, a door slammed on the other side of the house, and a moment later her mother walked into the kitchen. “Hello, Eliza,” she greeted her. Eliza didn’t miss the fact that her mother’s eyes had darted to the pile of unopened books on the kitchen table nor did she miss the disappointed frown that curled her lips.

  “Hello,” Eliza said softly, repressing the frustration that welled in her chest as her eyes dropped back to the table. She only had a week left until her re
prieve from studying was over.

  Soon, she wouldn’t have any time to log back into AO. This depressed her more than she cared to admit. She would never tell this to the Hippie, but she had enjoyed inventing a new poison. If she were honest with herself, she had also enjoyed defeating the troll. Inside the game, she just felt… free.

  Eliza glanced back up at the screen, where one of the few still images of Jason flickered across the screen. He appeared to be a slender young man, his face and clothes obscured by a dark billowing cloak. He was a single person who had taken down an entire city by himself. He wouldn’t let himself get backed into a corner.

  “Who is that?” her mother asked distastefully as the commentators continued their banter. Eliza quickly lowered the volume – not wanting her mother to hear the details.

  “He’s another player in that game you and dad got me,” Eliza said. “He’s quite famous at the moment actually.”

  “For playing a game?”

  “Yes, for playing a game,” Eliza replied softly.

  For some reason, her mother’s disapproving tone made her want to log back in even more. She didn’t have much time left. Her eyes turned back to the screen. What would it be like if she acted without restraint like Jason? What would happen if she just accepted the role the Hippie was trying to force upon her?

  A part of her was curious to find out.

  Chapter 9 - Unperturbed

  Eliza was kneeling in Alma’s garden, plucking at the weeds that sprouted from the bed in front of her. As she pulled another obnoxious plant, she jerked her hand back abruptly, barely dodging the thorny vine of a Lashtail. She glared at the offending brown bush – that was the fourth time in the last half hour that it had tried to attack her. It almost felt like the plant had a personal vendetta against her.

  She wiped a hand across her brow, small droplets of sweat beading on her skin as her eyes took in the garden. Rays of golden sunlight rested gently across the petals and stalks of the many plants that filled the small enclosure. A gentle breeze rustled through the leaves and felt cool to the touch. Not for the first time, Eliza marveled at the realism of this world – relishing the sensation. If only she could stay here.