by Paul Bellow
A stinging pain in my temples flared up as I stared at the hand drawn map on the back side of the note. The line from an X on the map led to a building labeled ‘garrison.’ Was that where I would find Sarah? And would Eric be with her? The paper got hot all a sudden then burned. I dropped it to the stone floor of the hallway, watching it turn into ashes that floated away. Could I remember the directions on the map? Did Sarah need my help badly?
I pushed all the thoughts that didn’t make sense—like how long I had been asleep and why I couldn’t remember anything solidly—to the back of my mind. The only thing that mattered was finding the other two and escaping the game.
Nothing else mattered.
Epilogue
MAGI INYONTOO
Why haven’t I heard from that blasted half-orc barbarian? I wondered as I paced back and forth in my study at the top of the Tower of Sherlock. Even worse than my anger at the new player named Josh, I missed my father. Why had the game taken him away from me? I had so many questions to ask him about the Tower of Gates and more.
The stupid barbarian had found the others, but he hadn’t killed them. Sarah still died thanks to the brownies, but she didn’t give me any useful information. Eric was the new player I needed to talk to the most, and I still hadn’t been able to kill him. I needed his character dead so I could find out what he knew about the game and getting out.
As the possible son of one of the developers, he could be very useful in finding a way out of the Tower of Gates prison. If nothing else, I would make him explain how he hacked into the game. All I needed was to kill him—a newbie—but I had not been able to get it done. Was the gamemaster AI working against me? I wondered as I stopped pacing.
Outside the window of the tower, I saw the mountains stretching in the distance. According to the last report I received, my undead hordes were spreading on multiple levels. With a little more time, my plan to flood the game might work. I had no idea what would happen, but any chink in the gamemaster AI’s armor would help.
“Hello?” a voice asked behind me.
I turned and saw Terrance standing with his hands behind his back.
“What?” I asked in an irritated tone.
“I’ve been looking for information on the new player, but the game’s hiding her somehow,” he said. “What do you want me to do?”
“Find her,” I said. “No matter what it takes.”
“Yes, sir,” he said then scurried down the ladder in the center of the room.
I sighed, wishing I had kept Eddie around longer. While a pain, he usually got results. The few remaining players blindly following me were bottom-of-the-barrel material at best. I turned back around to look out the window. The sky darkened with clouds in the distance. I enjoyed the calm before the storm as I dreamed of finally escaping the game.
Hero
A LitRPG Novel
Paul Bellow
Prologue
James
We landed just north of New Seattle half an hour after leaving the hotel. I still couldn’t get the Tower of Gates out of my mind. John jumped out of the drone and took off across a parking lot toward a lavish crystal building. All four floors were dedicated to pleasure; it was the height of decadence.
I hated the place.
“Don’t look too excited,” Ted said, still sitting in the back seat with me.
“We should go work,” I said. “There’s a problem that we need to fix. I think there might be a way to roll back the Anger Module code.”
“Can you do it without killing the prisoners in the game?”
I frowned.
“No…”
“They’re property of the ECNEP Prison Corporation,” Ted said. “We can’t kill them without the proper paperwork and permission. You know this…”
“We’re talking about the potential end of all humanity.” I took a deep breath to calm myself. “We have the singularity contained. Now’s the time to kill it. We can’t let it get out.”
“And we can’t act without authorization,” Ted said. “Why did you even come with us? Shouldn’t you be at home with your kid?”
“Don’t change the subject,” I said.
Ted sighed then stepped out of the drone.
“We should go find John before he gets in trouble,” he said. “We can enjoy a night of pleasure on the government’s dime for a change. And it’ll give you time to think things through.”
“How much time do you think he will buy?” I asked.
“Who knows,” Ted answered, motioning for me to come out. “Let’s go. The night’s still young.”
I left the fortified plastic drone and walked toward the pleasure building known as a VR Parlor. Most would go right for sexual gratification or something even more primal when visiting such a place, but not me.
Whenever I had the opportunity to visit a pleasure center, I stuck with simplicity. And I always left happy and satisfied, not feeling empty and alone. Pleasure had its limits.
I followed Ted up to the entrance. John had paid for us to get in. The heavily armed guardians stepped aside, granting us access. Once inside, Ted pulled me over to the side.
“I’ll put in the order to start deleting the prisoners,” he said. “We can undo this without anyone knowing about it. We’ll be fine.”
“Sometimes you can put the genie back in the bottle,” I noted.
“Damn straight,” Ted said.
He smiled and put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing.
“We’re going to have a great night,” he said. “In the morning, we’ll be new men, and we can decide what to do about this problem.”
I followed him into the main VR parlor on the first floor. While not as powerful as what was found in the Tower of Gates, pleasure centers offered time dilation. The tech-trick allowed for lengthy adventures and vacations on the cheap. The wealthy and upper class also used it to increase their knowledge, learning new languages overnight and more.
Most of the technology in the pleasure centers was a year or two behind what we worked on behind closed doors, but it all helped us in our quest to make the world a better place for everyone.
When I first heard the gamemaster in the Tower of Gates had gone crazy and achieved the singularity, I didn’t believe it. Then I’d logged into the game myself. After spending a half-day inside the virtual prison, I’d barely escaped. Inside the Tower of Gates, over a year had passed in the game world.
I hadn’t been sure what to do when the gamemaster AI went insane. Months later, and I still hadn’t convinced myself of the right course of action. Deleting the players and unplugging the machine sounded good, but was it the right decision?
“Are you plugging in?” Ted asked.
I looked up, breaking out of my thoughts.
“Yeah,” I said. “Just a few minutes.”
“Don’t worry,” Ted said. “I’ll send the order before we get too wrapped up in our fantasies.”
“Good, good,” I said, still distracted by my own thoughts.
I watched as he reclined on a leather chair. A massive VR unit descended from the ceiling, covering his entire body.
Might as well have a bit of fun, I thought.
After laying down myself, another VR machine dropped down. Two rudimentary probes placed themselves against my head. While vastly inferior to the Tower of Gates, consumer virtual reality was still addictive and fun. Most people had no idea what was possible with Artificial General Intelligence.
The AGI technology had allowed us to construct a massive game world where the rules of time and space weren’t strictly followed. After working on The Tower of Gates so long, I sometimes wondered if my own existence was merely a simulation for some other entity in the universe.
After entering a private virtual world in the VR Parlor, I sat down at an old computer terminal within the simulation. My fingers flew over a wooden keyboard as I typed commands to interface with my house.
Eric would likely be up playing games online, so I called to te
ll him to not wait up for dinner with me. I connected with his phone, but it went straight to his answer bot.
“Eric’s not here, can I help you?”
“Where is he?” I typed. “Wake him up.”
“I’m sorry. Eric’s not here. Can I help you?”
“Nice try,” I muttered as I disconnected.
I logged into my home security account to have the androids check on him.
They’re still charging? Okay, I see what he did. Damn smart kid.
Eric had hacked the androids’ primary functions to trick them into thinking they only had two-percent of their power remaining. Not a bad hack. But sloppy, thankfully. I called up the security cameras to see what he had been up to in the common areas of the house. They’d all been wiped.
Okay, buddy boy. Time to take away your privileges and reverse everything you’ve done to the home system.
I typed away, commands adding up.
With the last of Eric’s extensive modifications wiped clean, I received a stream of alerts and messages; from his school and his grandparents.
The last one got my attention—someone had entered the Tower of Gates.
Three people.
Was Eric one of them?
I sent an android to check on him.
As the machine walked down the stairs to the basement, my heart beat faster. Had someone else entered the game? I almost wished Eric had snuck out for a party, anything but going into the game. When the android reached the gaming units in the basement, I felt my stomach turn.
I saw Eric through the glass on top of one of the machines. How had he broken into the game? We had cut off entry for anyone new to be safe.
This isn’t happening.
I disconnected from my VR terminal and went to find Ted. On the way, I hoped he hadn’t issued the orders to turn off the game.
1
No Honor Among Thieves or Old Men
Eric
On the other side of the portal, we appeared in a foul-smelling kitchen.
“Where are we?” Sarah asked.
I glanced around, not seeing anyone. Dirty pots and pans filled a sink.
“Not sure,” I said. “At least we’re all together this time.”
“Must be the Amulet of the Party,” Bernard said. “Or something else.”
Both brownies rushed toward a long, wooden table.
“Food,” Evan shouted as if he hadn’t eaten in days.
“Hold on,” I said, following them. “We need to find out where we’re at first.”
A door across the room opened. Everyone turned as a pudgy man, wearing a grease-stained apron that might’ve been white at some point, walked in.
He growled when he noticed us.
“What are you doing in here?” he asked. “Brownies? An elf? What in the name of Gorp is going on?”
“Good food,” Evan said, eating and not helping the situation.
“We’re leaving,” I said. “We don’t want any trouble.”
“That doesn’t tell me why you’re in here,” he said. “And why are you wearing goblin armor?”
“It’s a war trophy,” I said. “Nothing more. Is there a backdoor out of this place? We’ll be on our way.”
“No,” he said. “I’m still waiting on you to tell me how you five got in here.”
“Magic,” Sarah said. “Do you have a problem with that?”
The man stepped back and held up his hands.
“I don’t want any trouble,” he said.
“We won’t give you any,” I said. “Come on, guys. Let’s get out of here.”
The man retreated, closing the door behind him.
I took a deep breath. “Can you cast that illusion spell on yourself and the brownies?”
“Yeah.” Sarah nodded. “Good idea.”
“Looks like a human appearance is the way to go,” I said.
“Aw, man.” Evan continued smiling. “I don’t wanna be a human.”
“It’s not permanent,” Sarah said. “Remember before?”
“Not a goblin,” Evan said.
I walked around the table.
“Do it while I watch the door,” I said.
As Sarah cast the spell to disguise herself and the brownies, I placed a hand on the rough-hewn wooden door. The noise in the next room increased in volume.
“We should go,” Bernard said. “The natives are getting restless.”
“Done,” Sarah said.
I turned and saw a tall, blonde haired human female. The brownies were shorter and male, but they no longer stuck out as non-human, except for their smiles. Race seemed to be even more important here than on level one-one.
Someone pushed the door, but my foot blocked it.
“Open up,” a man on the other side said, “Or we’re coming in to get you.”
I obliged, moving my foot away. The door swung open, and I saw a group of humans, some wearing black leather armor, standing around in a messy dining room.
“This is all a misunderstanding,” I said as I walked out.
Sarah and the others followed close behind.
“What happened to the elf and brownies?” the man in the apron asked.
“You smoking that wizard weed again, Thomas?” someone asked from a table in the back.
The rest of the crowd erupted into laughter. I stepped toward the entrance, hoping to get away and figure out where we’d spawned. We were in the past, but where?
At the front door, I turned, noticing no one had followed me. Sarah, Bernard, and the brownies were sitting at a table in the corner. I sighed then walked over.
“Weren’t we going to leave?” I asked, looking down at them.
“Yeah,” Sarah said. “But now we appear human, so we can stay and eat something.”
“Don’t shoot the food,” Bernard said.
Evan pounded his fists on the wooden table.
“Food, food, food,” he chanted.
Ewen, still smiling, shoved Evan.
“Cut it out, bozo,” he said.
“You’re the bozo,” Evan replied.
“Knock it off, you two,” Sarah said and looked up at me. “We can listen and find out where we are before making any rash decisions. Have a seat.”
“I’m not eating anything out of that kitchen,” I said.
“No? Why not?” a voice behind me asked.
I turned and saw a man in white wiping his hands.
“Food,” Evan said. “Bring us some food.”
“Why’s your little friends smiling so much?” the chef asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Bring us something to eat. We can pay.”
“I’ll bring you the house special,” the chef said.
As he turned to walk away, I sat down next to Sarah at the rectangular table.
“We’ve got to stop making stupid decisions,” she said.
I nodded. “Agreed.”
"We're not doing too bad," Sarah said.
Bernard lowered and shook his head.
“What?” I asked.
“There are things I would’ve done differently,” he replied.
“Yeah?” I asked. “Like what?”
“Letting me join the party sooner for one,” he said.
“You’re right,” I said, admitting my mistake.
“And the bee hives,” he continued. “That was epic level dumb. And we should’ve tried to take out Magi Inyontoo after sneaking into his tower the first time. And…”
“Okay, okay,” I said, interrupting him. “The big thing is we need to communicate. If we want to get out of this game, it’ll take all of us working together.”
“What language is that?” the chef asked. I looked up and saw him holding a tray with five clay bowls on it.
“Magic,” Sarah said then winked.
“I knew it,” he said. “You’re the elf, aren’t you?”
He lowered the tray and dropped it on the table. Murky liquid splashed out. Evan grabbed a bowl then set it down in
front of him.
“Can we pay our way out of this mess?” I asked.
I pulled out a gold coin and tossed it through the air.
“For your trouble,” I said.
The man snatched the coin.
“What realm is this from?” he asked while staring at it. “I’ve never seen a coin like this before. Is it counterfeit?”
Crap. We have gold coins from the future.
“They’re from an old dwarven mine,” Sarah said. “They’re still gold.”
“Is it real?” the chef asked then bit the coin.
“Yes, it’s real,” I said. “That’ll pay for our room tonight too, right?”
He laughed as he slipped the coin behind his apron and into a pocket.
“Ain’t no rooms available for a hundred miles,” he said. “You five are here for the next goblin raid, aren’t you? I can’t wait to rid the realms of the green-skins.”
“Yeah, that’s why we’re here,” I said confidently. “Bring us some water and leave us alone. We’re tired from our travels.”
“And bacon,” Bernard added. “We’d like some bacon.”
The chef walked away, muttering to himself. I turned to Sarah.
“I think the humans are more powerful than the goblins in this time period,” I said. “We should still be careful.”
“This must be the start of the Great Wars,” Bernard said in a low voice. “But we still have no idea where we are yet.”
A wrinkled man with a long, white beard slid up to our table.
“Is that strange language you’re speaking, dwarven?” he asked, eyes open wide.
“Yeah,” I lied. “What of it?”
“No one speaks it anymore since the dwarves all disappeared,” he said.
I nodded. “And?”
“You’re the people I’ve been waiting on,” he said. “Can I join you?”
I glanced at Sarah then back to the old man.
“Sure,” I said. “But make it quick.”
He smiled then he scooted a chair toward the table.
