Battle Avatars

by Ed White

  That pang of anxiety and distrust erupts. My stomach flips and I’m aware of the thick sweat on my now cold body.

  The monkey from my vision.

  Lisa wrenches me backward, her fingers digging into my shoulder and arm. “David!”

  “I’m okay, I’m alright.” I squeeze her hand. “If we fall we’ll just respawn down there, at the portal.”

  Lisa shakes her head. “You don’t want to do that.”

  “I don’t want to climb back up here for my soul box, that’s for sure.” Actually, I’d reclaim my soul box where I fell, where I died, but I refrain from joking as Lisa’s face contorts with concern.

  “Not what I mean. We’re only level one, but we can still lose all the experience we’ve earned if we respawn too many times.”

  “I’m not here to level up, at least not yet, I can’t. If I don’t find the hackers responsible for the attack on us, I’m out, they’re gonna kick me to the curb. I don’t know if the Conglomerate can listen to us, but I don’t care, frig their agreement, we’re all part of this. I don’t know how to find the hackers, but I figured if we can start questioning witnesses around the site of game instances, we might learn something. Maybe at that one down there, but I need help.”

  Lisa leans in. “I’ll help, but we’ll need to beat this quest.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  We travel across the treetops, having surveyed the Path of the Fallen from above the canopy. The road follows the land around the hills and cliffs in the center of the sky island. Hidden by the jungle along the majority of its length, turns in the Path appear along the unnatural clearance in the canopy above the huge paving stones. Like the devastated Fell Lands, the trees don’t meet over the huge slabs of stone. The eerie nature of the stones aside, the Path itself doesn’t matter, our goal is the end of the road at the opposite end of the atmosphoid.

  Hovering over the land below, by whatever means formed the sky islands, avians, including the gryphons and insects, reached the floating fragments of earth by air. But the monkeys, spiders, giant sloths, and snakes likely climbed the thick vines hanging from the mass of rock.

  That limits our random mob encounters. Blasting crazed monkeys and poisonous snakes earn us limited XP, but it’s better than constant respawns and loss of XP or our soul boxes to the doppelgangers. My eye is on the goal—the soul box at the end of the road. Does that make me as bad as the undead? This game is creepy.

  Lisa touches my arm. Hundreds of feet below us, clear of any trees, a towering monolith rises from a broad stone platform. Taller than our thousand foot perch, the dark polished stone reflects the light of the early afternoon sun. Somewhere down there, the boss lurks, the guardian of the sedes.

  “Do you think this will work? The quest text said defeat all challengers.”

  I shrug. “Doesn’t hurt to try. I found the game relies on brains over brawn. Figure we’ve got that and more.”

  Lisa gives me a perplexed eyebrow wrinkle. “More?”

  “Sure. Brains, brawn, and beauty.” Wink.

  Charm vs Lia: Success!

  She blushes.

  With caution, we descend along the many vines hanging from the jungle giant. There’s no sign of the boss, but any approach of the monolith is the probable aggro for it. Closer to the base of the tree, with the thinning foliage of shadowed void beneath the canopy and the edge of the Path of the Fallen, details of the monolith become clearer. A large doorway opens onto the end of the Path. Maybe the boss lurks inside.

  Still under the verdant shadows, Lisa and I scan the swath of brilliant white platform.

  “What do you think?”

  Lisa doesn’t look at me. “Where is he?”

  “Are all bosses guys?”

  She giggles. “We couldn’t defeat them otherwise.”

  Oh snap. I am asking this girl out. Soon as I’m able to get out of the game, in person.

  Lisa winks at me. “I bet the moment we step on that platform, we bring hate on us.”

  There’s a touch of unnecessary guilt. Had she not remorted, Lisa could fly us inside. The entrance to the monolith is large enough. The base alone is hundreds of feet across.

  “Yeah, but if we stay here I’m sure doppelgangers will show up to herd us.”

  A gentle breeze blows and the silence is noticeable. No monkey chatter. No drone of insects.

  “You’d think there’s no life force around these areas.”

  Lisa shakes her head. “I think it’s the nature of the ley energy. It’s tainted mana.”

  “Mmm.” Draw on that, taste the dark side. Dark chocolate Skittles.

  We’d discussed a plan of attack during our canopy crossing, going full Tarzan. The quest prohibited respawn points outside of the Path of the Fallen. If we die, we start over at the portal temple. We respawn too many times, and we lose XP any anything not soul bound.

  “Shame you can’t use Vortex to teleport us inside.”

  We edge toward the platform, the thick growth around it provides a natural ramp. Dead vines and roots lay grey and black along the platform’s edge. A distinct, metallic taste fills my pallet, my sinuses burn. There’s a definite energy field atop the bright white stone, a harsh contrast to the waxy greens of the surrounding jungle.

  “I’m not sure ley bending is safe here.”

  Lisa grins. “I think the Path is the challenge, a trap. Imagine if we fought our way here along it, drawing on the tainted mana?”

  “Damn. Maybe.”

  We step onto the platform and feel the difference. Whatever effect holds back the jungle, it isn’t the power of the site. “I don’t think the Path feels the same as this.”

  A shriek cuts our discussion short. The pounding of heavy wings, beats the air and the red glow of an aggro aura blazes around us.

  Creature

  Name: Gryphon War Beast.

  Species: Gryphon.

  Level: N/A

  Class: Warrior.

  Subclass: Berserker.

  Affinity: None.

  HP: 80/80

  MP: 40/40

  AC: 16

  Attributes

  Strength: 18 (+4)

  Dexterity: 40 (+2)

  Movement/Speed: 4

  Combat Rate: 1.32

  Constitution/Endurance: 18 (+4)

  Physical Defense (PD): 3.6

  Energy Defense (ED): 3.6

  Body: 18

  Stun: 36

  Recovery: 7.2

  Intelligence: 9 (-1)

  Mental strength: 12

  Senses: Perception 10 (passive)

  Presence/Charisma: 5

  Abilities/Skills

  Shapeshifting.

  Weapons

  Beak. Melee Attack: +6 to hit.

  DAM: 8 (piercing)

  Claws. Melee Attack: +6 to hit.

  DAM: 11 (slashing)

  War Axe. Melee attack: +5 to hit.

  DAM: 12 (slashing)

  Warden of the Fallen, the Gryphon Demos War Beast imprisons the souls of the Fallen.

  The boss lands with a thud and scrapping of claws on stone. He’s large, with ragged plumage and a shaggy mane, woven with skulls. His body is scarred, covered in dark, dull fur and feathers. He’s not undead, but no less a threat. It screeches an unholy sound, its jagged beak wide open. Fucker’s a good ten feet tall or more, easily twice my six-foot avatar, and almost twice as strong and fast.

  “Eighty HP. How the hell do we…?”

  The beast swings its war axe.

  AoE: Blazing Axe-strike.

  Flame attack: +5 to hit.

  DAM: 10 (flame)

  We dive off the platform as flames erupt from the beast man’s strike, the AoE radiating across the bright stone slabs.

  “We’ve got to set a respawn point. That thing can kill us with one good strike.”

  Lisa huffs. “Can’t, unless we’re on the Path. Consequences of dying. You can’t respawn where you died and carry on. We’ll lose that ley crystal too.”

  “Wait
. Your Vile Vortex is good for one strike. The boss will teleport away…”

  “Only fifty feet. You can’t get inside the monolith before he uses his AoE, even if he’s stunned. It’s too far.”

  We retreat into the jungle. Under the relative safety of the jungle depths I pull Lisa to me.

  “There’s crafting in this world, but everyone uses it to farm and build settlements, to help reclaim the Fell Lands, right?”

  Lisa shrugs. “Yes?”

  “Let’s craft for war, strategize, be a war smith—an actual artificer.” I shake my baton. “We use the batons in tandem to create a circuit. And we don’t have to socket the spare ley crystal to use it.”

  “How?” Lisa breathes hard.

  “Ley bending. I’ve unlocked at least basic Charge Mastery and Ley Bridge.” I pull the red ley crystal from my pocket. “We place this between the batons. It should protect me from some of the damage caused by channeling the power.”

  “And I can use Healing Touch on you while we attack!”

  I grin. “Let’s do this.”

  The boss circles above, the thrum of his wings echoes off the side of the monolith.

  We step onto the platform followed by a horrendous shriek. The beast slams down, bellows and takes a doubled blast from us.

  Shimmering Blast.

  Range: 10-foot cone.

  DAM: 20.

  Gryphon War Beast 62/80

  Firing again, the blast strikes the boss as his AoE erupts from his War Axe bouncing off the impenetrable white stone of the platform. Flames rush out in a roiling radius and we book it for the jungle.

  Greywaters HP: 6/10

  Lia HP: 7/10

  A second more and the AoE hits in full. Even so, we took damage. The boss rages, remaining on the platform. Try as we may, whooping and hollering, we fail to draw him into the confines of the jungle.

  Lisa restores my HP with Healing Touch and I ley bend to give her HP from the earth.

  The AoE has a cool down period and I press for it, leaping on the platform and firing on him again.

  Gryphon War Beast 58/80

  The War Beast charges instead. He’s on me before my body registers, but instinct takes over. His swing already in motion, I’m thankful this isn’t turn-based, it seems entirely calculated by speeds. I’m getting hit, but my ley bending is already in effect to charge my baton. I switch my skill.

  Special Skill: Life Drain.

  Locked.

  Special Skill: God and Ghost Exchange.

  Locked.

  Not hearing that, I press on like a vampire. He’s atop me, his axe cleaves through the air toward my head.

  Chain Vortex

  Lisa’s attack stuns him, he slows and my bending takes hold.

  Charge Mastery.

  That’s it! I start to draw life force from the boss, further reducing his HP.

  Special skill unlocked: God and Ghost Exchange (active). Sacred Root, Rank 1.

  Range: 100 feet

  DAM: 10

  You draw life from any foes within range for 20 seconds, trapping them in position.

  He’s locked in place with my unlocked crowd control skill. I channel the life force drawn from him into my baton and fire again.

  Gryphon War Beast 46/80

  Cutting my losses, I bolt for the jungle. There’s no way to get to the entrance before an AoE roasts me alive. And that’s the problem: the doorway is farther than the reach of our abilities and weapons. Even Vile Vortex fails to send an enemy far enough away, and it only works from physical attacks—slashing, bludgeoning and all that good stuff.

  Vaulting from the platform like an Olympic long jumper, I tear through the foliage at the edge of the jungle, rolling to a stop several feet from Lisa.

  “This is tedious.” She throws her arms up.

  Crafting. It’s the key. The jungle, we’re surrounded by trees.

  “The axe.” I heft it from my back.

  “Huh?” Lisa stares up along the giant trunk and vines we’d descended from earlier.

  “Not that one, a smaller tree.” Neither of us equipped the axe, because it didn’t require equip to pick up.

  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.

  “I don’t see how the axe needs to be equipped for it to function as a simple logging axe.”

  Lisa grips my arm. “I don’t know if it’s worth it. If you use it you equip it. You could fail the save against the curse and go straight for the boss, frothing at the mouth like a rabid dog. No lumberjack action, just death by AoE.”

  We stare at the cursed weapon.

  “Okay, we need to try.”

  Lisa thrusts her hands toward me. “You’ll be bound to the axe, and become a berserker.”

  “Trovain warriors have berserkers. Like the Thunder Lord Battle Avatar at the battle royale thing. The first game instance near the labyrinth.”

  A grimace crosses Lisa’s face, then shifts as she begins to consider it. “A Kyvere. They’re also crazy skilled ley benders. Jonesy’s guest user avatar ‘Lia’ is a Trovain warrior.”

  “Right, if I manage to find the hackers and get a job with the Conglomerate, I want to follow the Trovain warrior class and its skill trees.”

  “That’s why you chose your basic lightning starter, Shimmering Blast.”

  “Yeah.” I shrug.

  “So you’re thinking about staying in the game, working?”

  “Like I said, you’ve given me a few reasons to.”

  We both blush. Maybe the oppressive heat hides it on me.

  “You don’t intend to drop the tree on the boss, do you?”

  With one hand up, I shake my head, the axe heavy in the other. “Create a barrier to him and a way to the entrance for us. Plus, if he attacks you, he’ll be teleported, take some more damage, and give us time to get inside the monolith.”

  “He can fly.”

  “And we can run under the branches and foliage of the fallen tree.”

  She gestures toward the tree trunks. “Let’s start chopping.”

  I heft the axe.

  Do you wish to equip?

  Warning: soul bind on equip.

  Warning: cursed.

  Y/N

  ***

  Anger seethes within, a rage uncontrolled from deep within. Insensate and primal, hatred is reflected in the face hanging over me, the pale, red-headed giant in a garish military uniform of eagles and stars. My hate for him as strong as his for me, not because he’s choking me, but some greater cause. There’s history between us. A legacy of rage. It’s so overwhelming as to deafen me to whatever it is he’s yelling.

  The screeching of a monkey’s frenzy fills my head and my vision goes red.

  “David? David!” Lisa’s voice cuts through the fury
, my face reflected in the blade of the axe replaces the reddened face of anger, sweat glistening on its cold metal in the light from the break in the jungle around the monolith.

  Lowering the double-bladed axe, I raise my head to Lisa. She stands, hesitant, her baton aimed at me. “You all there? You screamed like, well, like a berserker, like a mad man.”

  “I’m alright.”

  Her eyebrow skips. “You sure, ‘cause then you started laughing. A real chilling laugh.”

  My eyebrow pulls the Spock maneuver. “I did?”

  “Guess you made the save.” Your stats don’t say berserker, but I’m not sure if a curse displays like that.”

  “Time to make it say lumberjack.” I lay my hand against the selected tree closest to the platform before the dead zone. It’s almost ten feet thick with an AC of 15 and 60 HP, the larger trees around it have much higher stats. Looking up, judging angles, I sight the entrance with the axe and jerk the butt of the weapon back into the thin, smooth bark of the tree. I measure around each side and nick the tree with the axe on the opposite side of the trunk. “Here we go.”

  “How do you know how to cut down trees?”

  “When I’m sick, I watch a lot of TV.”

  Lisa crosses her arms, watching my axe blows hit home.

  ***

  Maybe half an hour passes as the axe bites away at the near-platform side of the tree. No doppelgangers have appeared, but maybe once the boss spawns it doesn’t matter. We’ve decided to cut down two more trees to be cautious. I switch to the second and after an hour, the three trees are ready. Fragments of wood, large and small, litter the ground, the pungent tang of sap and fresh timber hangs in the air. Above the platform, beyond the trees, the boss circles like a fly on shit.