by Ed White
“Maybe there’s a boss at the end of the road?”
“Maybe a wizard?” Lisa giggles. “And I get all the emeralds.”
Eye roll. “Okay, Miss Dorothy.”
Her eyebrow jumps. “Which one does that make you?”
I’m starting to see another side to Lisa, and one in keeping with Jonesy’s sort of humor—my sense of humor. I’m not sure that’s a good thing, but I like it. I’m liking Lisa, but that doesn’t make me Toto.
“If this is a gauntlet,” she continues, “then we’ll face mobs as we make our way to the sedes—the soul box. If we win, we’re free to return here, to the portal, and leave.”
A snap from the tree line cuts through the air.
We tense at movement in the undergrowth below the enormous jungle trunks. Our batons aimed, we enter defensive stances and stare as a figure shambles from the verdant darkness.
Creature
Name: Undead doppelganger.
Species: Human.
Level: N/A
Class: Warrior.
Subclass: N/A.
Affinity: None.
HP: 30/30
MP: 20/20
AC: 14
Attributes
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 20
Movement/Speed: 2
Combat Rate: 0.66
Constitution/Endurance: 10
Physical Defense (PD): 2
Energy Defense (ED): 2
Body: 10
Stun: 20
Recovery: 4
Intelligence: 5
Mental strength: 20
Senses: Night Vision (passive)
Presence/Charisma: 4
Abilities/Skills
Ice Blast. 50% chance to immobilize. Range: 100 ft. DAM: 8.
Blue Flame. Range: 10-foot cone. DAM: 10
Life Drain. Reduces HP and MP.
Weapons
War Axe. Melee attack: +5 to hit.
DAM: 9 (slashing)
Imprisoned by the War Makers, the Fallen fight for their freedom seeking combat and your soul.
The former player, his avatar greyed out, desaturated, shows no sign of decay. This isn’t a simple zombie—it’s more like a Wilds Wraith.
“That’s creepy.”
The doppelganger unleashes a strangled scream, swinging its war axe. We fire back, Lisa’s baton enhanced by the recent, socketed addition of the red ley crystal.
Chain Vortex.
Range: 20-feet.
DAM: 4.
Stun: 15.
Stun nearby foes.
Lisa’s attack fails to stun the creature, but her attack stats have been increased by the red ley crystal.
Shimmering Blast.
Range: 10-foot cone.
DAM: 10.
My blast hits the bastard.
Your foe takes damage.
Undead doppelganger 22/30.
The doppelganger completes its swing, an arc of red plasma slashes between Lisa and I. We hit the dirt, rolling to bring our batons back to target the creature.
Life Drain.
You are losing HP.
“Fall back, David.”
We don’t know the range of the life drain, but an idea strikes me. The variations of Sacred Root, like Ley Bridge, have limited range ten to twenty feet, which places us beyond the effective range of my baton blasts and the edge of Lisa’s Chain Vortex.
“We won’t recover HP while fighting this greyling.” Lisa fires on the doppelganger. Interrupted in mid swing, it screeches.
Undead doppelganger 20/30.
This is slow going. If we encounter a pack, we’ll fall before reaching the end of the road. Ha, it’ll be the end of the road for us.
Will our contracts allow us to start over back in the Haven without forfeiting our avatars?
Lisa smashes into me. A wave of plasma slices through the air inches from my foot.
“This isn’t going well.”
Lisa nods. “We’ve taken on a quest beyond our individual or combined levels.”
“Yeah.” I fire on the doppelganger.
“Jonesy and the rest of us have experience with the game, but our avatars no longer do.” Lisa huffs. “I could do with my armor and blade right now.”
The sting of guilt runs through me again. They’ve all lost progress because of me. Jonesy, Paul, and the others.
Lisa.
Embarrassment follows the wave of shame.
Greywaters HP: 6/10
Crap. The life sucker is killing me softly.
Let’s see how realistic this game really is. I rush at the doppelganger.
“David, what are you doing?”
“I’m gonna shove my baton down its throat.”
On the return swing, I leap and collide with the undead bastard. We crash into the ground, my baton on its chest. I wasn’t trying to be literal.
Shimmering Blast.
Range: 10-foot cone.
DAM: 10.
Undead doppelganger 10/30
That bugs me. A blast to the chest should be cumulative and devastating at point blank.
Greywaters HP: 2/10
“David! Get off him. He’s undead, a direct blast won’t kill it. Why’d you do that?”
Lia HP: 6/10
My hand turns transparent, my HP is too low. There’s no time for Lisa to heal me.
“Get clear of its range, I’m about to respawn.”
Lisa turns and runs from us with choice curses to make a sailor proud. I’m seeing all sorts of sides to her personality.
My vision goes red. The doppelganger wrestles with me as I struggle to aim the end of my baton at the body of the beast. I fall through the doppelganger, into darkness followed by light.
My eyes adjust to a long walkway between skyscrapers, walled with glass. Far below, a large emblem of the Earth, a United Nations symbol, marks a courtyard of paving stones. A party of men and women walk ahead of me, and more murmur behind me. A broad, muscled man, with a tiny golden-haired monkey on his shoulder, walks beside me. I notice the man is talking, but the words don’t land. Dreamlike, they make no sense.
A monkey?
Pressure in my chest. The anxiety is back, and more, a sense beyond the deep dread, of great distrust. Suspicion not for the man, but rather, distrust toward his monkey and the eerie sense of intelligence behind its tiny eyes.
The monkey’s head twists in the flexible monkey way, as it chitters and chirps, studying me.
The hell?
It turns its back to me. Large, strange patterns mark the monkey’s back, but my vision blurs. The sunlight overwhelms and the flash of respawn fades to reveal the entrance to the temple. I’ve respawned inside the temple entrance.
“David, hurry! I can’t keep this thing from your soul box.”
Crap, the doppelganger is one of those creatures that don’t care about loot and consume your soul box instead. This would be a great time for Miss Beechum to interfere. There’s no one else watching us, who would see us? Cheating, the hell am I talking about, who cares? It’s more important that I get through this and start questioning people near the game instance.
My feet beat along the massive stones laid in front of the temple. Lisa and the creature are far beyond the range of my baton. She stands between my soul box and the doppelganger. It swings with an arc of its glowing War Axe.
Vile Vortex.
Range: 50-feet
DAM: 10
The doppelganger disappears in a flash.
Lisa turns transparent.
Lia HP: 2/10
“Lisa?”
“I can’t heal myself, my mana’s spent.”
My soul box, I reach out for it. The translucent cube is white, its corners glowing, with a ninth point of light in the center. The box flashes before vanishing and I’m whole again.
Greywaters HP: 10/10
“I’ve got you, Lisa.”
I grip Lisa’s hand and drop to the ground, my other hand clawed into the dirt.
; Ley Bridge
I draw energy out of the ground and into her body, to replenish her HP.
Lia HP: 4/10
Greywaters HP: 6/10
Crap, “killing me slowly” is back, sucking life from us to restore its HP. The doppelganger raises its axe to swing.
Undead doppelganger 2/30
With a glance to Lisa, I release her hand and swipe up my baton. Ley energy courses through me, I ignore Ex’s warning to avoid acting as a conduit.
Shimmering Blast.
Range: 10-foot cone.
DAM: 10.
Undead doppelganger defeated.
The mob burns as it falls in a heap of roasting flesh. The stench is real, it lingers as a red ley crystal flashes among the ashes.
“So, undead doppelganger.”
Lisa sits up. “I’ve heard about this. If you abandon your fallen avatar after you respawn, it can rise as an undead twin.”
“Maybe that’s what happened, maybe the previous mercenary companies got trapped like us and abandoned their avatars and the quest.”
Lisa nods. “Maybe the challenge is to ‘divide and conquer’. You think?”
“How do you mean?”
“Maybe the true reward is here, not in defeating the boss.” Lisa gestures toward the jungle. “The quests split the team making it impossible to complete either quest, at least at our level. You said your imp told you about the sedes?”
“Yeah.”
“A soul box is way better than a legendary shield. A sedes levels up your baton.”
I shrug. “Well, maybe, but that doesn’t sound good for us, it’s just you and me.”
Lisa has a good theory. Maybe the previous groups never explained this trap to others, because they want to return and beat the game. But those who fail are trapped, and that raises a disturbing question—is the player trapped in the game, unable to log out? That can’t be true. Can it?
Lisa points at the remains of the creature. Along with the red ley crystal, the doppelganger’s War Axe lays in the ashes.
Weapon
Type: Melee.
Name: Berserker Axe
Cost: N/A
Level: 1
Rank: 1
Tier: 1
Affinity: None.
Effects: Curse.
Hit: 13
DAM: 3 (+1)
Two handed: 4
PD: +1
ED: 0
Attributes
This weapon adds to defense and damage.
Requirements
Soul bind.
Strength.
Dexterity.
Upgrade: ley crystal +1.
Upgrade: Combine.
Do you wish to equip?
Warning: soul bind on equip.
Warning: cursed.
Y/N
Curse:
Soul bond extends curse to you. When attacked, you must make a save to Mental Strength or you will attack all creatures within 100 feet.
You remain in a berserk state for 2 minutes. If you defeat all creatures in that time, you will turn on PCs and NPCs that you can see or hear within 100 feet.
Weapon combinations:
Requires bond. Can be soul binding or prerequisite once a subclass is chosen.
Required to activate functions/magic.
Requires artificer.
Lisa stares at the axe. “The weapon seems to be part of what drives the undead doppelgangers. Mixed magic.”
I nod. “A curse. But what’s a ‘combine’ upgrade?”
“You can add the axe to your baton. Combine them into a polearm, if you think you can survive the curse.”
I consider the red ley crystal. Lisa follows my line of sight.
“I don’t want another crystal, even if you’re planning to socket soul boxes instead of crystals.”
“You earned it too.”
She cocks her head. “Did I?”
I nod. “We can sell it and split the gold.”
Lisa smiles. “Ask the others if they need it. Granger might risk the axe with the crystal.”
“Okay.”
***
The heat of the day stifles us along with humidity and the nuisance of insects. What idiots thought insects are a great addition to an immersive environment? I guess without malaria and other diseases, it ain’t so bad.
Wait.
“Are diseases part of the game? Further need for healing and…”
That cute giggle. Lisa taps my shoulder. “No, it isn’t that deep. Or maybe. You know, I never looked into it. Never thought of it. I like how you think.”
Lisa and I avoid the paved road and somewhat cheat the system to explore the jungle on an alternate route to the boss. It might open us to animal attacks of random mobs, but that’s fine as most are challenges more on our level. It’s a chance to make our own path—we ain’t “the Fallen”.
My mind wanders to the vision during my respawn. “I’ve gotta talk to someone about this.”
Lisa frowns.
I continue. “You ever have the same nightmare more than once?”
“Having nightmares?”
“Twice now, since I got involved in all this.”
She leans toward me, walks instep beside me. “What do you think started it?”
I scratch at my cheek. “Don’t know.” I feel uncomfortable sharing the details. “Have you ever heard of a part of the United Nations known as the DPI?”
“Sorry, no, I wouldn’t. Why? Is it in the dream?”
I rub the back of my neck. “Yeah. But can we dream in here?”
Lisa takes my hand. “Can I share something with you?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you.” She pauses and our eyes meet. She scrunches her face with that smile of hers. “When you first logged in, and anytime Jonesy brings a guest into the game, I notice his guest user is always ‘Lia’.”
I nod. “Your user name is Lia.”
“Right.” She stares off into the jungle.
“Um, Lisa, you know I enjoy your company, right?”
She draws her chin to her chest and her cheeks ball up. “I do too.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter, but did you date Jonesy? Is that what you’re saying?”
Lisa tugs on her hair, her dark eyebrows draw down. She pulls her hand from mine. Oh boy, did I just ruin the moment?
She turns to me. “No, that’s not what I wanted to say. Have you noticed him acting differently? He just doesn’t seem the same.”
Damn, I definitely thought Jonesy was weird after the gaming instance, had Lisa noticed too? “He tried to make bacon for me.”
Lisa’s eyebrows crumple together. “Bacon?”
“Yeah, I know that sounds weird, but I can’t eat it. Coffee, alcohol, it makes me sick as hell. Some sort of gut allergies.”
“That’s not weird, that’s adorable.”
“If you say so.”
Lisa laughs. “And he knows that?”
“Yeah, but since the Scythe attack, since that night, he’s been acting weird.”
She grabs my shoulder. “Oh, no, it’s been longer than that.”
Maybe I’m wrong. As long as I’d known him, how long had it been since Jonesy and I did little more than talk by phone or texts? Months? A year or two? I rub my chin. “What do you mean?”
“He has acted strange since our remort.”
“But you only just remorted.”
Lisa shakes her hands at me. “Yes, but I meant it’s been longer than that.”
“Well, how did you meet? Jo met Kona through his restaurant job, but most of the group meet online, not in person. Other than Paul,” I say.
An explosion sounds in the distance, interrupting us.
“Hell was that?”
“Maybe the guys are fighting the boss gryphon?” Lisa suggests.
Casting about, I lock onto a vine-covered multiple root buttress system. One of the many giants of the jungle towering above us—a perfect vantage point. Pointing, I jog forward.
Lisa follows as we begin to climb. Young vines serve as ropes, because the smooth bark of the tree provides no foot or handhelds, the trunk so large, lacking branches and leaves, we scale it like a rockface.
Leathery, dark green leaves the size of a mattress surround us as we walk along the top of a four-foot wide branch. Flowers from small plants growing in the canopy soil add color to the endless shades of green. The smothering musk of ancient moss clears as we make our way out above the canopy for a clear view, with much of the panorama blocked by the crown behind us.
It’s clear why we didn’t see sky islands. The view from the tree spreads out around us, miles in all directions, but the jungle ends to our right, dropping off the edge of the atmosphoid. Sky islands hover over the ruined Fell Lands below. Lisa and I turn to each other with wide eyes and open mouths.
“Damn. We’re on a sky island.”
No sign of the battle site or temple we left behind, but partially obscured by the edge of our atmosphoid is a red dome of energy nested in distant green—a game instance.
“Looks like the battle royale zone we fought in.”
I nod. “Nothing we can do about that. We’re still at the edge of the Fell Lands.” Nothing we can do, but I wonder where Julia is. I don’t expect a monkey to turn around and start talking with her voice. Forget her.
“Are you sure we’re still at the edge of the Fell Lands?” Lisa says.
“I don’t know.”
Following the branch, we cross onto a second, taller tree rising clear of the jungle canopy and the threats that lurk in its thick, green shadows below. We’re trying to get a lay of the land and populate our UI maps, not fight random mobs like snakes, spiders, or crazy monkeys.
