Extension

by Vladislav Kamenskiy

  “It was high time to help.” Alex said with relief. He had forgotten about assistants. “Beat him with your best shot!” He said the last word sadly as he had seen the result.

  This time Trix started acting earlier and, after taking a position, began to fire at zombie. But unfortunately, her arrows affected him just like Alex’s sword.

  “Why can’t we hurt him?” Alex shouted.

  “It looks like he is immune to cold steel.” Trix answered and shot an arrow. This one as all the previous bounced off the zombie, and he stopped.

  “Huuuur,” he groaned and moved toward Trix.

  “Rina, do ...” Alex didn’t finish the phrase but the fireball was flying to the zombie. It hit him and exploded, zombie swayed.

  «It works!” Alex was extremely happy. “Continue, Rina!”

  Three more fireballs hit zombie, and he started moving very slowly. He changed his direction and approached Rina. She suddenly stopped shooting fireballs and was sitting on the ground.

  “What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

  “I’ve run out of magic energy and I’m trying to restore it.” Rina explained.

  “Damn it.” Alex swore. “How much time do you need?”

  “About 10 minutes.” This answer didn’t make Alex happy.

  “Trix, go on shooting.” Alex yelled with the hope that she will divert enemy’s attention.

  “I’ve started already.” She answered and shot some arrows. Zombie looked around and moved toward Trix. “It works,” she shouted cheerfully and kept shooting. He was slow but confidently pressed Trix in the corner of the cemetery, and she was so concentrated on shooting that she didn’t understand that she was trapped.

  There was zombie in front of her and a fence behind her back.

  “Trix, stop!” Alex realized that he could lose one assistant. “Come here, man!” He shouted, run to the zombie and stabbed him in back a couple of times with a sword.

  “Uuughrr,” zombie grumbled, turned to Alex and tried to grab him.

  “Not today,” Alex dodged zombie’s attack and ran to the opposite side of the cemetery. “Rina, what’s with your energy?”

  “I have enough for three fireballs,” she answered quickly. “If I store energy for a minute, I will have four fireballs.”

  “Four will be better, keep storing energy.” Alex decided. He ran to the opposite edge of the cemetery, waited until zombie came close, dodged his next attack and slowly ran along the fence. Meanwhile, Rina had stored enough energy, got up, came closer and started throwing fireballs at zombie. After the second ball, zombie began to smoke, and after the fourth ball, he caught fire and only ash left there.

  “You are on the fifth level now,” the voice said in Alex’s head. “Choose the classification of the weapon.” Alex saw a lot of pictures on which he held various weapons. Alex thought that he looked good with an ax, but then he remembered that he already had a sword and that if he decided to resale it, he would lose a lot of money. “The sword,” said Alex and after a couple of minutes, he understood that he knew many tricks with this weapon.

  “Let’s try,” Alex mumbled, pulled the new sword out of the sheath and cut down a small tree deftly.

  “Perfect,” Alex twisted his sword in the air, fighting with the imaginary enemy and brought him back into the sheath. The sword was light and had perfect balance.

  “Let’s come back,” he shouted to the girls. Alex looked at his old sword, stuck in the ground, and decided that he would not take it. At the place where zombie was killed, he found a golden key on the pile of ashes.

  “Why don’t you follow me?” Alex opened the gate and looked embarrassedly at the girls who didn’t hurry to leave the cemetery.

  “We both are upgraded to Level Five and you have to choose how we will develop now,” Trix explained.

  “I know what we will do,” Alex said cheerfully. “You told me that you are absolutely real and you can act independently,” he started sneaky.

  “It’s true,” Trix nodded.

  “Well, then this is what we will do,” Alex came up with an interesting idea. “You have to choose new skills by yourself.”

  “I can be a battle magician or a doctor,” said Rina thoughtfully.

  “And I should choose what weapon I will use: bow or crossbow,” Trix said with anxiety. “But I cannot choose, this is the tenant’s duty.”

  “Listen to me,” Alex said seriously. “Do you want to complete quests with me?”

  “Of course,” Trix answered quickly. “But…”

  “No buts!” Alex interrupted her. “You have time to choose until we come to the public house. Otherwise, I will give you the sack and choose new assistants.” Alex threatened.

  They didn’t talk while walking through the village. Then they find a twisting road, which leaded to the public house.

  “So what have you decided?” Alex couldn’t stand such a long-lasting silence.

  “I have chosen a bow,” Trix answered. “And I have also experienced new feelings,” she added.

  “I’m a battle magician now,” Rina said. “It’s difficult and unusual to make a choice independently.”

  “That’s true,” Alex agreed. “Well, now we have coped with everything, so let’s finish this quest and buy you new weapons.” He went forward in a good mood.

  “And now we can take a more difficult mission.” Trix suggested.

  “I will think about it... What the hell?” After the turn they walked up to the straight stretch of road which lead to the public house. It was half a kilometer away but even from such a distance, they could see that it is on fire.

  Chapter 4

  “Let’s go to the forest!” Alex ordered and quickly ran into the bushes.

  “We can come without being spotted and attack them suddenly?” Rina suggested.

  “No, we won’t attack them,” Alex whispered as if somebody can overhear them. “And we also won’t call them out in a duel.” He didn’t even wait for Trix to suggest doing so.

  “What will we do then?” Trix asked confusedly.

  “Firstly we will come closer and look around.” Alex offered, and they went to the public house through the forest. It wasn’t really thick and burning building was a perfect beacon, so in a few minutes they were lying in bushes and something strange was going on near them.

  The public house was burning strangely. The roof was in flames and smoked, but there still wasn’t fire on the walls. The door was open and various visitors of the public house ran out. Among them were both computer characters giving quests and mercenaries. Alex saw two tradesmen who gave him his first mission. Those were about to flash into flames and having jumped out of the building they were able to take only a few steps, and then dropped dead. After them a mercenary dressed in heavy armor and holding an ax in his hands appeared.

  «I will kill everyone!” He roared in deep bass voice.

  “Somebody’s going to get into trouble.” Alex commented. This was mercenary determined to cut all enemies with his huge ax, but then he seemed to be hit by a huge invisible hammer. He bumped into the wall and fell on the ground.

  “Ha-ha!” Alex heard an awful laughter, which was like a hyena’s howling.

  “So what the hell is going on here?” Alex whispered without hope to hear the answer.

  “He has come again.” Trix answered sadly.

  “What? Do you mean you know what’s happening?” Alex was surprised, then he saw something and flinched. A burning man hung round with various bottles ran out of the public house. He quickly opened one of the bottles, poured out the water on himself and put out the fire. Alex thought that he was an Alchemist. But in a moment a small whirlwind appeared, which raised the man and tore him to pieces.

  “You haven’t asked yet.” Trix answered. “You ordered us to come closer and said that you would figure this out.

  “For next time, if I suggest doing something dangerous and you know why it is dangerous, you should warn me.” Alex looked at the publi
c house again and made a wry face.

  This time a burning hoar head ran out of the building. He waved his hand and put out the fire. But then a blue sphere surrounded him.

  “Ha-ha!” he heard this laughter again and saw an attacker. The man stood back to them. He was bald and wore a red trench coat with gold insets and held a black staff in his right hand. A girl with the long black hair, dressed in a green trench coat knelt near him. Bald man stopped laughing and released a yellow lightning, which hit the blue sphere defending the old man. Lightning broke up but the sphere became brighter. The second lightning, released by a bald man, dissolved the sphere and threw the old man a couple of meters back. The old man began to raise his hand slowly to pronounce the next spell, he seemed to be extremely exhausted, but the bald man did not give him that chance. He released a small fireball, so the old man was on fire again. As a result, the old man rolled on the grass screaming in pain.

  “Do you like how I dealt with him?” Alex heard an angry voice.

  “You’re perfect, Lord.” The girl answered calmly.

  “Yes, I am.” He agreed with satisfaction and turned to the door.

  “Let’s come back,” Alex began to crawl into the forest slowly. “Tell everything you know about what’s going on here. In details.”

  “Will we fight with him?” Trix wondered.

  “No,” Alex looked at the bald magician one more time, who was killing another mercenary. “Not today,” he clarified.

  They went further into the forest and worked their way back down for 20 minutes. Finally, Alex saw a small clearing.

  “Let's sit down,” he pointed at the fallen tree lying on the ground. “Well, tell me, who is that man?”

  “We don't know,” Trix shrugged her shoulders. She sat from the right side near Alex and Rina sat on the left.

  “Then why did you say that you know what's going on?” Alex asked blankly.

  “He comes once a month and kills all the visitants of public house,” Trix explained. “We fight with him, but we always lose,” she added sadly.

  “Stop!” Alex raised his hand. “Does that mean that you have already been killed?” Alex asked confusedly.

  “Yes,” Rina nodded.

  “And have you already completed quests?” Alex said. “Do you remember everything what happened to you?”

  “I don't remember,” Rina answered. “You are the first who hired me.”

  “I also haven’t completed quests yet,” said Trix. “We don’t remember our past, but if we see a situation that has happened to us, some memories will come.”

  “Okay, that’s clear,” Alex said thoughtfully. “And if I ask something about your past, can you give me an answer?”

  “You can try.” Trix shrugged her shoulders.

  “Was the man, who attacked the public house, a player?” Alex asked.

  “He is a tenant,” Rina answered.

  “Well, okay.” Alex thought for a minute and asked another question. “How many tenants are now in this world?”

  “I don’t know.” Trix asked.

  “What is your first memory?” Alex asked suddenly.

  “I’m sitting in the public house,” Trix answered. “There are assassins around me, who are waiting for tenant to come.”

  “There are one hundred of mercenaries and we are all at Level Three.” Rina added.

  “What happens next?” Alex asked.

  “Tenants come.” Rina answered.

  “Firstly, they come rarely and one by one.” Trix started talking. “Then they starts to come more often and two at a time. They hire assistants and the amount of us is getting smaller and smaller.”

  “Why there are so many of you now?” Alex didn’t understand it.

  “Because when the tenant dies, the assistant comes back to the public house.” Rina explained.

  “And what if the assistant dies?” Alex asked quickly.

  “The mercenary comes alive in one of the starting locations and goes to the public house,” Trix answered.

  “And how many mercenaries are there now in the public house?” Alex could not stop asking questions.

  “Now there are 97 assistants without us,” answered Trix.

  “That’s bad,” Alex said sadly.

  “Do you regret hiring us?” Trix asked frightenedly.

  “No,” Alex shook his head. “This number shows us that there are players in this game who don’t hire mercenaries. Or it may be that I and that bald insane man are the only players at the moment.

  “Do you want to ask something else?” Trix asked hopefully. “Unfortunately, we cannot remember without your questions for some reason.”

  “Can we finish this task?” Alex didn’t want their efforts to be vain, and he wanted to get a reward.

  “Public house will be restored by the morning and all dead assistants will come alive in starting location and return to the public house.” Trix set his mind at rest.

  “I understand that you aren’t really aware of what’s happening here, because nobody had hired you before.” Girls nodded. “But I can hire the third assistant and ask him about everything. But how can I understand who is the most experienced and knows some news?”

  “Turk is at the highest level among us and he was the last to return to the public house.” Trix answered.

  “I’m going to sleep now.” Alex realized that his was very tired. “We will visit Turk tomorrow in the morning.”

  “And what should we do now?” Trix asked.

  “Don’t you sleep?” Alex wondered.

  “Of course we sleep, but aren’t tired now and four hours is enough for us to fully restore energy.” Rina answered.

  “Play tic-tac-toe.” Alex said sarcastically.

  “Great idea!” Trix said cheerfully.

  “That’s good.” Alex was trying to lay comfortably on the ground.

  “Alex…” Rina bothered him when he was almost sleeping.

  “What?!” Alex jumped up, because he didn’t understand what they want.

  “Can you teach us to play this game?” She asked quickly.

  “We cannot play it if we don’t know the rules.” Trix agreed with her friend.

  “Okay.” Alex stood up mumbling swear words. He took a few steps back and drew a net on the ground. “Look here,” he called girls and, showing them the net, explained the rules. “Enjoy yourselves and don’t wake me up.” Alex return to his place and fell asleep.

  When he woke up, he understood two things. Firstly, it’s not the best choice to sleep on the ground, because you wake up dirty and soaked with dew. Secondly, he was hungry.

  “I’ve never thought that I can be hungry in the computer game.” Alex mumbled. “Girls, let’s go back to the public house.” Alex ordered and only after this, he realized that he didn’t see them. “Girls, where are you?” He looked around confusedly. “Rina, Trix!” Alex called.

  “We’re here.” Alex heard. He saw them crawling on the ground 50 meters away from him.

  “What are you doing …?” He started talking but shut up. There were lots of nets with “tic-tac-toe” on the ground around them. “Were you playing during the whole night?” Alex asked disconcertingly.

  “We were playing, sleeping, then again playing.” Trix explained.

  “Firstly, the game was interesting,” Rina said. “We won in turn. But in course of time the one who made the first move, won the game. And now nobody can win during the last few hours.”

  “If both players play well, then no one wins,” Alex explained.

  “Then why did you show us a game that nobody can win?” Trix marveled.

  “This game is made just to play it,” Alex shrugged his shoulders. “It has no use or hidden meanings.”

  “I don’t want to play a game which I cannot win,” said Rina indignantly.

  “It's very strange to hear this from you,” Alex smirked. “What do you think we are doing now in this game?”

  “We’re going to finish an important task
,” Trix answered.

  “And what’s our benefit from it?” Alex continued asking questions.

  “Progress in level and equipment,” Trix still didn’t understand what he was getting at.

  “That bald insane who attacked the public house at night,” Alex decided to give an example. “He is obviously at a high level and well-equipped. Right?” Alex looked at the girls and they both nodded. “But it doesn’t seem that it helps him to win the game, he is still here and cannot get out of the game.”

  “But probably this proves that you're wrong,” Trix disagreed. “Maybe we are all real and this isn’t a game at all.”

  “I doubt that,” Alex shook his head in disbelief. “I think, I still don’t understand the aim of this game.”

  “Will we continue to complete quests?” Trix asked hopefully.

  “Of course we will,” Alex nodded.

  “Do you think that everything we do now is useless?” Rina wondered.

  “Quests are quite interesting,” Alex answered and added. “To be honest, I spent most of my time in my world doing something useless, so it isn’t unusual for me.”

  “By the way, you promised to buy us new weapons,” Rina reminded.

  “As soon as I get an award, I'll buy you weapons,” Alex promised.

  “And we are hungry too,” Trix complained.

  “It wouldn’t be a bad thing to have a snack,” Alex scratched his gurgling belly. “Do you think that public house is now restored?”

  “Yeap.” Rina confirmed.

  “Let’s go there.” Alex decided.

  When they came closer, Alex was surprised that there were no evidence of yesterday’s fire. The public house was also the same inside.

  “We need three food goes.” Alex approached the barman at the bar counter.

  “3 gold coins.” He quickly took money. “Sit at the table, the maid will bring you food in a minute.”

  “So quickly.” Alex gave a hum of approbation. The girls were already sitting at the table. “I also need to have a shower.”

  “You can rent a room for one day. It costs 2 coins.” Tradesman said, took money and handed out a small key. “Go upstairs, first door on the left.”