by Dawn Chapman
Unable to help ourselves, we all burst out laughing. They both came up gasping a few seconds later, making it clear neither of them were harmed for the unexpected dunking. Jentin disappeared again, and then he had the chest, a small wooden thing no bigger than his own head.
“Yeah!” Aimer exclaimed, the uncharacteristic loudness making me jump.
As they swam back, carrying the prize between them, I could only hope the water hadn’t damaged the contents too badly. It had been buried on dry land. The chest’s contents weren’t listed on Aimer’s information, but it was possible some of them would be ruined.
We helped them from the water as soon as they came close enough, and then we gathered around. The lock was stiff and rusted but a quick hit from the butt of Seraphin’s pistol soon broke it off, snapping the water-damaged metal. Jentin prised the top open, revealing a large bag swimming in a pool of reddish water.
“Careful,” Jentin said, tipping the water out gingerly, making sure none of it touched his skin. He then used lake water to rinse the insides and bag before he’d let anyone touch it.
The bag must have been waterproof, because Jentin pulled out of it a perfectly dry book. The pages were a little yellow with age, but had been weighty enough they still turned. Alas, it was in a language I didn’t read. I made a mental note to see if I could learn it. Aimer took the book, his eyes scanning over the words. Everyone else’s attention was back on Jentin, who continued to extract items.
Kaylin took a couple of sharp hunting knives, her eyes lighting up. A set of leather braces was handed to Seraphin. Jentin took a vial of some kind of powder, and then handed me a small ring, a purple gem set into it.
“That’s it,” he said, emptying up the bag.
“What, nothing for me?” Terris said, not sounding pleased.
“Sorry, seems not.”
“I think the man who left this stuff wasn’t a fan of violence for violence’s sake,” Aimer suddenly piped up. “He wrote this book. Sorry, Terris, there’s not going to be anything for a fighter.”
“Kreltin crap,” he said, kicking at the wooden chest on the ground. It split against his foot.
“We’ll see if we can find you something cool on the next quest,” Kaylin offered, giving him a nudge. Grudgingly, he nodded.
Elated, we packed up, gathered our now dry jackets and opted on the best route home. We didn’t dare go the way we’d come, none of us fancying another round against the dart-blowing monkeys in the woods, so we walked down beside the river, a small path visible on our side now the waters had receded a little.
The excited chatter from Kaylin, me and Aimer soon brought Terris out of his bad mood. We would be returning to the guild as successful adventurers on our first attempt. It felt good. It felt really good. But I felt a small pang. I’d have loved to share this with my sisters. Wherever they were, I hoped they’d also made friends and were succeeding in this strange game.
Chapter 9
I yawned, trying desperately to stay awake as I took my watch that night. We’d made it most of the way back, leaving the river to follow a path Jentin said would take us into the forest and back via a right hand fork we’d encountered midday on our first day. We were just inside the edge of the forest now, camping a little way away from the path in a small sheltered area some rocks had naturally made.
The ring I now had boosted my magical abilities, making it easier for me to control both the wind and many other elements of nature such as plants. Before sleeping, I’d experimented a few times with some of the plants nearby, helping them grow and making them twist and turn whichever way I wished. It hadn’t always worked, but it was progress.
I’d also begun to understand the splotch and the numbers inside it. When I ate and drank or otherwise rested, it reduced, and as I pushed myself, growing more tired, hungry or even hurt, it grew until I noticed it affecting the abilities of my avatar. Right now, it was on an eight, but I knew that was mostly due to the lack of good sleep on our journey.
Barely able to keep my eyes open and not used to this watch thing, I stood and walked away from the party a few metres. It wouldn’t be long until dawn, the last watch being mine, but I didn’t want to wake them prematurely. It was now I missed my family the most.
Already several days had passed in-game, and although I knew time was slower outside, it felt like I’d been gone from them for every single day I’d played. I missed them, a physical pain setting into my chest as I thought about it.
With a sigh, I thought about the last week or so. Mum had been a little stressed getting everything ready for all the new players, but otherwise excited, eager to head off to work. We’d not seen her as much as we’d have liked, but it brought some comfort to know she would be watching me play now. Aimer had made it clear I was now being monitored.
It was also my job to find my sisters; no one else would be able to. I hoped I could cope with the pressure. They needed me.
Thoughts of home still filled my head as the forest grew lighter around us, birds beginning to sing as the dawn approached. It was the end of another night, and who knew what adventures the day would bring?
Aimer was the first up, his body needing less sleep. We gave each other companionable nods, neither of us speaking as Jentin and Seraphin both stirred. Twenty minutes later we were all up and sharing the remains of the rabbit and vegetable stew we’d managed to put together the night before.
I’d helped Kaylin find some root vegetables and worked my magic to grow them into enough for all of us, but it was Aimer and Seraphin who had earned the greatest thanks, returning to our little camp with a couple of rabbits.
It was a good start, and I made sure I learnt as much as possible about every aspect of surviving in the wilderness, even going so far as to gut a rabbit myself.
With breakfast done, we set off, trusting Jentin’s knowledge of the area to get us back to the village and guild before another day had passed us by. Despite having done well on our little adventure, I was looking forward to getting back and sleeping in a real bed. I also had no doubt Desiree would be worried about me. I said I’d be back before now.
It was a little before lunch when Jentin stopped in the middle of the path, his forehead creased as he studied the route ahead. We couldn’t see very far any more, the trees close, the path nothing more than a tiny dirt track, and lots of leafy bushes almost obscuring that entirely.
“It’s been a while since I’ve come this way,” he said as if explaining. “This area of the forest has changed a lot.”
Now happy, he suddenly struck forward again, and since he was our guide, there was little else we could do but follow. Jentin had seen us right every time so far; there was no reason not to trust him.
Over the next few minutes I noticed the forest getting darker, the sunlight blocked out more and more, and the undergrowth still getting thicker and thicker. The sounds of birds and other animals grew fainter, until the forest felt oppressive, the air still and warm.
“I’m not sure I like this,” Kaylin said as she pointed out a spider’s web to one side of the path. Although it was barely bigger than a spider’s web I’d have found in the real world, I too felt a sense of dread. Spiders and this kind of game were rarely a good combination.
Jentin paused again, consulting with Aimer about the right direction. One of them soon opted to climb a tree and see if we were going the right way. It didn’t take Aimer long to gain a good perch above the leaves, and then come back down to us.
“The path is going in the right direction. We aren’t far from the fork we saw the day before yesterday, maybe another mile or so.”
I heard Jentin’s sigh of relief. It seemed even he had been doubting himself. None of us grew any calmer, however, when the path continued to get darker and even more still.
Suddenly Aimer stopped to one side of the path and turned, looking behind us and to one side. His eyes narrowed, concentrating as he scanned the area.
“What is it?” I asked barely abo
ve a whisper. At first he didn’t respond, still searching with his eyes while the others carried on. Eventually, he shrugged and started walking again.
The next time he stopped, I heard something as well.
“Spiders,” he said, looking behind me. “There’s definitely spiders.”
“Great,” I replied, not looking, just picking up the pace as we hurried to catch right up with the rest of the group and let them know.
Jentin took another look behind us and his eyes went wide. It was all the motivation the party needed. We ran forwards. When I heard a skittering noise beside me, I made the mistake of glancing that way. A spider as big as a cat was scurrying along the ground. My heart pounded as I concentrated, using the wind to lend speed to my feet and stop me from stumbling so much just to keep up with the others. This avatar definitely needed to improve its stamina.
As the spiders came closer, they started dropping from the trees, above and to the sides of us. Seraphin pulled her pistol out as Aimer notched an arrow. With no weapon of my own, I merely used the wind I controlled to buffet spiders out of my path and kept running.
Terris took the lead, using his sword to carve through any that dropped directly in front, while Jentin fiddled with something attached to his belt. Seraphin and Aimer slipped to the middle of the group, shooting backwards and forwards to try and keep the middle of our group clear and stop us from being cut off. Finally, Kaylin slipped to a position just behind me, stabbing any that tried to rush us from behind.
I used my wind to steady her as she stumbled, her focus less on where she was going than on what she was attacking, but I was already feeling a small amount of fatigue and knew we needed to get away from these creatures soon.
Fear began to tug at my stomach, making me feel sick and uneasy. I wasn’t sure what was worse, the skittering noise their feet made as they clicked along bark and stones, or the many sets of eyes that stared at us while they followed. Some shot webbing while others waved pincers, lunging at us as we moved close by, but so far none of us had been bitten or stuck so fast a good yank didn’t free us.
As the number of webs around us grew, I knew we were far from safe, yet there was no way we could turn around. The spiders were all around us, and we were running exactly in the direction they wanted us to.
And then we came to what looked like a dead end, large webs shooting out around a large silvery tree. Coming closer, I realised it wasn’t a silver tree at all, it was simply covered in strands of webbing, forming a centre to the trap we’d been chased into.
Our party came to a stop, everyone naturally forming a spinning circle around me, Seraphin now wielding a blade instead of trying to reload her pistol in the heat of battle. They somehow kept all the spiders at bay for now, but it was only a matter of time before we tired and became overwhelmed.
Gritting my teeth, I concentrated on reaching out to the living plants nearby. We needed a path through, and it was up to me to create one. One living tree off to one side was roughly in the direction we wanted. I encouraged its branches to move, tearing a large tangled sticky web to one side of us.
At first nothing happened, then a tear formed, working downwards through the web until the two parts swung sideways.
“This way,” Jentin yelled, already making use of the gap. I felt someone’s arm reach around my waist, helping me move along as I reached farther with my mind, bending more trees and plants, reopening the path that was once there.
Our progress was slow at first, and the spiders chittered loudly in protest, but we moved forward, at least until I collapsed, exhausted, my vision blurry and my body unable to do any more. I let out a frustrated cry, making it clear to the others I had nothing left to help with.
Terris tried to take over, slashing at webs and cutting a way through, but his blade soon stuck to a strand, yanking itself out of his hand. He swore loudly and backed up as a large spider came running down towards him. Jentin was the next to shout out in pain when a spider bit into his hand. Aimer stuck an arrow through the beast, but it was clear we were outnumbered and about to be overwhelmed.
Suddenly I heard a loud growling, and a raedwulf leapt over a low-slung web, snapping at a spider that was about to lunge at Kaylin and me. More raedwulfs appeared, working together to bite strands of webbing, somehow knowing which ones were sticky and which ones were safe.
When the grey-haired alpha raedwulf appeared, the spiders backed away, chittering and moving back and forth a distance back, as if they were just looking for an opening. Aimer looped his arm around my waist again, helping me to my feet as the pack circled us, nudging us along to safety.
Our eyes wide in surprise, we allowed ourselves to be herded away, Terris having to leave his sword behind, stuck in a web. The raedwulf grew less insistent as we came away from the last of the webs, the spiders no longer following us so closely.
Once we were back on even terrain, a small path obvious again, we walked more confidently. Still, none of us dared speak. The raedwulf were everywhere we looked. They kept leading us until we reached a small cave entrance, the smell of wet dog fur enough to make it clear this was their lair.
As soon as we were near the entrance our circle dispersed a little, many of us flopping down while others walked inside the cave.
Immediately, we relaxed, until we noticed Jentin. He was pale and holding his arm in an odd way, evidently in pain.
“The bite was poisoned,” he said. At first none of us knew what to do, the words like a death sentence. We were still a long way from the guild. Then I remembered the few potions Desiree had given me right before I left. Reaching into my pack I pulled out the one she’d said would cure several poisons.
“Would this work?” I asked as I offered it to him and listed the ingredients. Relief was evident on his face as he nodded and lifted it to his lips. We watched him for a few minutes, until the expression on his face eased.
“I’ll live,” he said.
Before we could do anything else, the grey leader of the pack came up close to me and stopped. He bowed his head a little and then yapped something at the nearest raedwulf. Two of them leapt up and hurried off into the cave.
“What was that all about?” Terris asked. “And how did they know we needed help?”
I shrugged when everyone looked to me for answers. Although the leader kept looking to me and making it clear it was treating me as some kind of equal, I wasn’t sure why. At least, not until I had a message pop up in my system with an audible ping.
THE LINTARO PACK, LED BY SUNCHAKA, IS OFFERING TO ALLY WITH YOU. DO YOU ACCEPT?
Y/N
I clicked yes, and immediately the leader gave me another small nod and stood up. He yipped again and they came back, carrying something wrapped in a dark red cloth between them. They placed it at my feet and seemed to bow as they backed away.
Picking it up, I realised it was a weapon, very sharp, the metal shining as I revealed it.
“Wow,” Terris said, his eyes like saucers. I reached out and passed it to him. It was evidently an upgrade to the one he’d just lost.
“I think you deserve this,” I said, smiling. He grinned, thanking me before I turned back to Sunchaka. It felt like I ought to offer something in return but I wasn’t sure what. I had nothing on me a wolf could want, not even another token I could drape around its neck, but before I could ask the others if they had anything, he stepped back, almost bowing again, and walked away.
One by one, every raedwulf followed him until they were all in the cave. Silence filled the small glade for a while until Terris caught a tree branch with his new sword as he swung it. He sliced through the smallish branch, making it clatter to the ground.
“Oops,” he said, having the sense to look at least a little sheepish.
“Come on,” Jentin said, still holding his wounded arm. “I think it’s time to head back.”
Our party formed up, no one arguing as we made our way down the small trail, soon coming out on the path we recognised. The re
st of the walk was uneventful—just us, walking, occasionally talking, and the birds singing merrily around us. Shortly before supper time, we arrived back at the guild, letting them know of our safe return.
It took a few minutes to check in and inform the right people we were back and successful, promising a written report of what we’d encountered. Thankfully Jentin agreed to provide the details.
“Right, I’m going to go get some food at the inn. Then I think I’m going to sleep all day tomorrow,” Aimer said. “Anyone else?”
I nodded. We’d had more than enough adventure for a while. Hot food and a good night’s sleep sounded perfect.
Chapter 10
Three weeks later
I frowned as I noticed Amifray was at the desk in the planning office. She wasn’t happy with me since I’d stolen a particular gem I’d wanted from another guild in the neighbouring village. It didn’t matter that they’d promised it to me in exchange for helping them and then refused to hand it over.
I’d gone on their stupid quest and come back with the item they wanted. It hadn’t been my fault it had rusted beyond all usefulness, but I’d been blamed and denied my request. Of course, no one could prove I’d stolen it. Currently, Aimer had the gem, along with many others and the artefacts I’d collected, each of them enhancing my magic or other traits I found useful.
He promised he’d come up with a great way for me to wear them all at once, something I desperately needed. I was starting to look like I loved jewellery and was inviting someone to try and rob me in broad daylight.
On top of that I was somehow stuck in this game. The in game time had long exceeded what should have been possible in one session. Mum was worried, but there was nothing I could do but keep playing and keep trying to find my sisters.
It didn’t change my current need, however. I wanted approval to take my team on a quest of my own choosing, one to finally find my predecessor, Cale, and of all the guild members, Amifray was the least likely to give it to me.
