by Jason Cheek
It took a moment to figure out that what we were hearing were the blood-curdling screams of the dying. Even more disturbing, those piercing shrieks were being drowned out by a feral howling that could be felt deep in the core of your chest. This wasn’t the normal shit you heard in a typical fight within The World. No, this was some seriously creepy shit like you’d hear from the Crypt Keeper or Fright Night on Halloween night.
Whatever was causing the horrifying attacks seemed to be ramping up as the stone seemed to shake from what was taking place inside the tower’s walls. It reminded me of my first night in game on steroids. You know, the kind of sound you’d expect from a surprise attack at night from a pack of Large Gray Wolves. Only, instead of one wolf pack, you’d have to take every wolf that had attacked me that night and then double the ferocious sound of their howling attacks.
The calamitous sounds coming from inside the keep were so intense that they could be heard over the ongoing magical barrage of the keep. Seeing the disturbed look on my face, Assault Leader Dell called a halt to the siege so we could better make out what was going on inside. As the Kayden Troopers faces turned ghost-white at the ghastly noises, the Global Brutality players on the upper floors began leaping out of the gaping windows in the hopes for a clean death.
At first it was ones and twos, but suddenly nearly fifteen bodies came pouring out of the windows. It was so shocking that even the troopers trying to batter down the iron-bound door to the keep stopped what they were doing to watch in shocked amazement. Even more disturbing, if that was even possible, was that most of the players were covered in blood as they sought a quick death. While that was going on, the troopers wedging the siege ladders in place finished the job as Krishna and Lyeneru gave a wordless cry.
Green magic surrounded Lyeneru as Krishna started scurrying up the jury-rigged ladder as fast as he could climb. Seeing the consternation in the Moon Elf’s movements, the Devil Dogs began following the young man’s example as they all began climbing up towards the keep’s gaping windows and the ungodly sounds coming from them. Not waiting for me, Neysa leaped nearly half way up the wooden trunk with Helgath clinging to her back. Instantly, her claws dug into the wood as she leaped further up the ladder.
I was just jumping up after my two ladies, when Lyeneru completed the spell she was casting. One second, she was a beautiful Moon Elf. The next, her body began transforming before my very eyes. Unable to look away, I froze on the bottom rung of the ladder as her body grew exponentially larger. The change was truly phenomenal. Within seconds, a humanoid bear-like creature around eight-feet tall stood in her place. With one glowing green eyed look, the Druid shook me out of my trance with an animalistic bellow of “Get moving!” in a barely understandable common.
For a split-second, I nor the remaining Kayden Troopers around me moved as what we’d just seen sunk into our heads. Not that it should have been a major surprise. I mean, this was a game and all. Still, I couldn’t help watching dumbfounded as the massive creature leaped up the make-shift ladder and over Krishna with surprising speed and Agility. Within three bounds she’d caught up with Neysa and Helgath and was passing through the open window!
“Alright everyone, the shows over!” I shouted, snapping out of my daze. “You heard the lady, let’s get moving!”
That seemed to shake the rest of my Kayden Troopers out of their mental funk as they began scrambling up the make-shift ladders. Without looking back, I began quickly climbing up after my friends, but before I’d made it halfway up, I was inundated by Flying Squirrels coming to hover in front of my face from Tinyr, Yun, Phoenix, Zhou, Darkhorse, and Kenzie.
The only way to get them to clear out was to accept the message. Each said more or less the same thing, “Reinforcements had spawned in while we were taking over the keep!” Except for Kenzie’s pet, I didn’t bother sending back a reply as I focused on climbing up as fast as possible. Still, I was the last of my friends to enter the keep.
The bloody scene that awaited us on the third floor was something directly out of the horror movie, Hellraiser. Blood soaked the walls and pooled on the floor, while numerous body parts were liberally scattered about the room. It was a shocking sight to see even for a game as bloody and realistic as The World.
It took only a moment for me to take everything in and confirm that none of the bodies were Hefe or AJ’s. I also noted that neither Neysa, Helgath, nor the Moon Elves were present. The only other players inside the room were the wide-eyed Devil Dogs and the Kayden Troopers that were quickly forming up inside the corridor. I found out a moment later what had frozen my friends in shock.
“Was that Lyeneru?” Thomas asked, with the whites of his eyes clearly visible, while everyone else stared at the corridor where the Werebear had obviously just disappeared out of sight down. Inside the keep, the animalistic growling sounds coming from the lower level were like something directly out of a nature show on wolf versus bears.
“You and you,” I said, pointing out the two Team Leaders forming up behind Matt and Terry. “Make sure the upper levels are clear.” My eyes took in the rest of the Kayden Troopers. “Everyone else, follow me!” With that, I took off down the corridor.
“Wait up, Star!” Thomas complained, he caught up to me as I was passing a ruined stone archway leading to an empty room. From the discarded iron bar and strewn body parts, this looked to be the epicenter of the bloody attack. Seeing the disconcerted look on my face, the Devil Dog Guild Leader griped unhappily. “Seriously, that shit didn’t faze you at all?”
“She transformed after the rest of you had already started up,” I said in the way of an explanation. “Why do you think it took me so long to catch up?”
“And here I thought you were just that hardcore,” Thomas said with a chuckle, as he shook his head in disbelief. “Still, that was some crazy ass shit. I about shit my pants when she leaped past us.”
It was relatively easy to follow the bloody tracks to the stairwell around the corner. I kept my shield and the Dark Blade of Lord Kayden at the ready as we exited onto the second floor. This was obviously the central gathering area for the keep. Everywhere I looked, sleeping gear and food were scattered about the massive living area. Except for a bunch of trampled flowers, there was no bodies or signs of recent fighting here.
The next set of bodies showed up as we neared the stairwell heading down. The dead here had been killed either by Arcane magic or arrows, but it wasn’t until we headed down to the first floor that we ran into the remains of the main battle. Corpses were piled up everywhere about the room where the main battles had taken place, while the floors and walls were covered in blood and barely identifiable body parts.
We quickly discovered that the source of the inhuman racket was coming from the surviving Uten Syn guild members that were dancing and jumping around celebrating their victory over their Global Brutality jailors. The entire floor seemed to be covered with cheering players. More than half of which were either in Werewolf or Werebear form, which gave a surreal feel to the celebration. A shout of warning suddenly rang out as our presence became known. As the survivors’ eyes turned towards us filled with hate, an animalistic voice bellowed out over the clamor.
“Everyone stand down!” A Werebear said, a familiar figure that could only be Lyeneru stood up to their full height in the center of the crowd of Uten Syn players. “That’s Startum Ironwolf and his friends who came to give us a hand against our enemies!”
The reaction was instantaneous. The hate-filled eyes looking up at us changed to ones of friendship as a growling cheer rose up from the group. Instead of being overwhelmed by angry Were-creatures, everyone in reach of the throng were bodily pulled off of the stairwell by the cheering players. The feeling was surreal as multiple clawed, furry hands held us up in the air as we were forcibly body surfed across the celebrating Uten Syn players.
Looking around as I was tossed up into the air, I saw the rest of the Devil Dogs behind me laughing and cheering. At first, I thought the
direction we were heading in was purely random. That was, until we approached a storeroom towards the back of the keep.
Chapter One.Sixteen
(Wednesday, May 7th / Day 17 of The World.)
“Yo, Star!” Hefe’s familiar voice called out, as I was let down from the crowd.
Turning around, I caught sight of Bonnie Smash holding Hefe to her chest like a giant teddy bear. What made the sight truly ridiculous was the size difference between the pair. The little Gnome’s legs barely reached the Half-Orc’s knees as he happily hung in the air, which made the whole visual just that much more comical. Somehow, I kept a straight face as I turned to the Gnome’s partner in crime.
“It’s about time you finally showed up.” AJ said, from where he sat on the floor with Jill and Krystal on either side of him.
“Good job on getting the cavalry here in time!” I replied, pointedly looking at the two massive Werebears in a deep discussion with Krishna on the other side of the semi-destroyed room, before giving my friends a two-fingered salute. I wasn’t exaggerating either. Not that I’d been given the specifics, but from the message I’d received from Kenzie, it sounded like everything had gone to hell in a handbasket.
“I thought you said this was going to be easy-peasy,” Jill said mockingly, her voice heavy with sarcasm as she continued giving me shit. “We’ll just roll over them in a massive blitzkrieg. Great call on that, Jay.”
“Yeah, great call on that, Star,” Sarka agreed in the same tone from where she sat with her head leaned back against the wall. Sitting next to her with her forehead resting on her knees, Unalia gave a wordless grunt of agreement.
“If you’re annoyed with how everything went down, take it up with Krishna.” I said, with an unconcerned shrug. “He chose not to add that relevant bit of information about the second shift until after the shit hit the fan.”
“What the hell, Krishna!”
“Really, Krishna?”
“Nice job with that, man!”
I couldn’t help but smile as my friends began giving the Uten Syn Guild Leader a rash of shit. It wasn’t meant in a bad way. On the contrary, my friends were treating him just like they would anyone else in our circle of friends that had royally screwed up. From my earlier discussion with Krishna, I knew that being treated equally meant more than anything to the visually impaired man. The last thing he wanted was to be treated differently because of his in real life disability.
While that was going on, Neysa and Helgath showed up to let me know they’d gotten the keep’s door open for Assault Leader Dell and updated him on what was going on. They also had an update that the battle for the graveyards was over. From what they were told, the Global Brutality players had managed to graveyard hop out of the valley. There’d been another quick skirmish with my companions near the exit but, instead of sticking around to cause mischief, the Global Brutality players had fled the area entirely. Now, Assault Leader Dell was getting everyone ready to move out.
“Lord Ironwolf, do you have a moment?” Lyeneru asked, unknowingly interrupting the mental discussion I was having with my soulmates as she gently touched my bicep. Turning around, I saw that the beautiful Moon Elf was once again in her natural form as she nodded to a slim Moon Elf woman that was standing beside her. “I’d like to introduce you to, Angela Vakker. She’s the Druid that led the assault against the Global Brutality newfar.”
“Angie,” I asked, politely shaking her proffered hand. “Startum Ironwolf, but please, call me Star.” I couldn’t help but smile at her anxious face. “Honestly, I’ve heard so much about you, I feel like I already know you.”
“Angie is fine,” she distractedly said, as she glanced at Krishna who was watching us talk with an uneasy frown. Even though by now everyone had stopped giving him shit, I had a feeling as to what this was about as the slim woman turned back to me with a hopeful look in her eyes. “Lyeneru said you might be able to help me resurrect my friend …” Her voice faded away as the anxious look returned to her eyes. “He’s been dead for nearly a week, but Lyeneru and Krishna both think you can help me-“
“Sure thing,” I hurriedly said, trying to calm the Moon Elf down as her eyes began to water. “Just show me where he is and I’ll do my best.”
“Don’t worry, there’s no reason it shouldn’t work,” Lyeneru said, doing her best to reassure the other woman.
“He’s over here,” Angie said, leading me to the far end of the room where a human-sized lump was wrapped in a fur hide. “He’s a little-“
“Ripe,” I said, finishing her sentence as I knelt next to the wrapped body. By now, rotting corpses didn’t faze me. Glancing up at the upset woman, I did my best to warn her. “Why don’t you step back and let me work.”
“It’s okay,” she choked out.
Giving her a silent nod, I went back to work. I’d know in a moment if this was going to work or not. Unwrapping the body, I critically eyed the wounds as I mentally selected the corpse. Seeing that my spell could be cast, I breathed a sigh of relief and triggered my basic Resurrect. I heard Angie shudder in relief as the golden glow surrounded my hands. A minute later, the man’s body came back to life.
A sound like a wounded animal ripped from Angie’s throat as she dropped to her knees and hugged the man to her chest. Hurriedly, I followed up with a cast of Regeneration and backed away from the pair as Angie sobbed in relief. I was about to back away and let the two of them be alone, when the man pushed Angie back to arm’s length.
“How is this possible?” The man asked in a rasping voice, as he looked down at his bloody clothing in confusion. “I was dead.” His face screwed up in alarm as the memories came flooding back to him. “There were invaders killing everyone-“
“It’s okay, Gaelin,” Angie said, doing her best to calm her companion as he looked up at me in consternation. “We’re safe now.”
The words did little to reassure the Moon Elf as he warily scrambled to his feet as his green eyes took in the room. Instinctively, his hands reached for his weapons at his waist. Finding he’d been completely disarmed only made him more anxious. Not reacting to his aggressive behavior, I simply offered him a waterskin. That simple act seemed to calm him down along with Angie’s whispered assurances that we weren’t enemies. Taking a long pull and handing the flask back to me, the Moon Elf gave me a polite bow.
“Guardian Caidove of the Uten Syn guild,” Gaelin said, officially introducing himself to me. “Angie says I have you to thank for being raised back to life.”
“Lord Startum Ironwolf of the House of Kayden,” I said, as we gripped wrists. The introduction seemed to calm him down as I continued in a friendly tone. “I just cast the resurrection, Angie was the one that kept your body safe for a week so that the spell would take.”
“That explains the smell,” Gaelin unhappily muttered, as he suddenly caught a whiff of himself. Shrugging off his embarrassment, he thanked me again before continuing. “Can either of you tell me what’s been happening and why we’re here?”
A loud cheer rang out behind us as the rest of the stealth group entered the storage room with Yun and Tinyr in the lead. I heard Kenzie shouting questions as she came to a stop in the center of the room with Phoenix, Darkhorse, and Zhou at her back. The trio was deep in discussion about something as everyone else began talking at once. Patting Neysa on her flank, I suggested that we make our way over to the group so we could all get caught up at once, especially since Angie had a lot of explaining to do.
Leaving the two Moon Elves to make their way over on their own, I joined Krishna and Lyeneru. Seeing the solemn look on my face, the female Moon Elf excused herself and headed over to talk with Angie and Gaelin as I turned to Krishna with a raised eyebrow. Seeing the look on my face, the other man sighed heavily.
“Look, I know what you’re going to say,” Krishna said, running a nervous hand through his short-cropped hair. “That I have no right to be upset about her and Gaelin … especially with my relationship with Lyeneru. Hone
stly, I thought I wouldn’t have cared one way or the other, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t stop feeling jealous whenever I see them together.”
“Is this how you guys managed to stay alive?” Kenzie loudly asked, striding into the storage room with the rest of the team as the commotion momentarily interrupted our discussion.
“Yeah, it was Bonnie’s idea.” Sarka explained, once she realized the Half-Orc woman wasn’t going to speak up. “The path of destruction you and Phoenix left allowed Unalia and me to hook up with Yun. Even though it was a complete shitstorm, somehow we made it over to Jill and Krystal. I thought for sure we were going to die like everyone else, until Bonnie showed up and pulled us into this storage room.”
“It would have been different if they’d all logged in on the second floor, but when everyone showed up on top of us, there was nothing we could do except go balls to the wall.” Phoenix explained, as Zhou and Darkhorse jumped in to tell their part of the story. While everyone was discussing the battle, Krishna quietly continued.
“I was such a fool. When this all began, I thought there wouldn’t be any problems keeping things separate from the real world, but that was just a lie.” Krishna said with a frown, as he thought back to how they’d gotten to this point. “The truth is that I wanted Lyeneru from the first moment I saw her.”
“Being able to see beauty is so confusing” I could see the emotional angst in Krishna’s dark-blue eyes as he spoke from his heart. “When you’re born blind, you have no concept of what it truly means to be able to see. Oh, you hear about it all the time, but that doesn’t even come close to the reality of what sight actually gives you.”
“On top of that, there’s this incredible new world to explore … something directly out of the greatest dreams any of us has ever had. So, not only are we able to see for the first time in our lives, but this incredible gift comes in a world that is beyond imagination. It’s like being introduced to a new dimension.” Seeing the confusion in my eyes, he tried again to put it into terms I could better understand.
