Dissonance

by K. T. Hanna

  “Sorry.” She felt a little guilty, and at the same time, refreshed that he’d taken initiative to shut them up. Maybe she could foist raid leader onto him in the end.

  “Proximity triggers him, then?” Sin asked, turning to Jinna.

  The dwarf nodded and frowned. “Like extremely. In one moment he was frozen, and the next step, in that instant, he unfroze and moved. His reflexes seem lightning-fast despite being made out of stone.”

  Murmur frowned at the words and glanced down again. The minotaur was positioned exactly the same as he had been initially. Was he sincerely incapable of movement until someone triggered him, or did he stand still in order to lure people in?

  Tsk tsk, little enchanter is overthinking again. You’re so easy to read.

  Riasli’s voice penetrated her mind again, and this time Murmur felt a rise of panic begin before locking down her own shields tighter. The damned feles shouldn’t be able to push past her barriers. There had to be something Murmur was missing, and yet she had no clue what it was, or where their enemy was. She took a deep breath and tried to focus on the task at hand, even if her mind was half distracted looking for the rogue NPC in every shadow.

  Her sensing nets didn’t get any actual thoughts from the Minotaur, but there was a taste of thought, a type of aura that exuded from him and spread outwards in a circle around him. If it was what she thought it was, he should have known the moment Jinna stepped onto the outskirts of the circle. Which meant he was definitely aware. And while he might not be aware of them where they stood, he knew they were in the general vicinity. Speaking out loud was just asking for it. And she couldn’t really talk into her friends’ heads with any accuracy, so she accessed raid chat hopping it would float across everyone’s vision the way guild did.

  Guys. Um. I think he knows we’re here, and his aura extends over that whole round sort of area down there. But he waited, lulling Jinna into a false sense of security. Anything we coordinate to attack him is going to have to be instant. We can’t speak out loud, because I have a feeling even if he can’t hear us, he can pick up on the hum of our words.

  Jinna: You think he knew I was there all along and only chose to pounce when I was close enough to make a meal out of.

  She contemplated the dwarf’s words. Pretty much.

  Devlish: Rash and I can take each side of the staircase, healers backing us up, and then the DPS can run in. I’m worried about the turning to stone part though.

  Murmur contemplated it, but it was Sinister who spoke first: He’s got to have a gaze thing or ability. Sort of like Medusa of legend, you know?

  Beastial: Didn’t she have snakes for hair? And that was what turned people to stone?

  Sinister rolled her eyes: Gorgon’s gaze. This is a Minotaur so it’ll probably be a bit different, but keep an eye on the spells he casts, because I’m sure this guy has something that can turn you to stone if you look at it the wrong way.

  Murmur wondered sometimes if they lived in each other’s heads. Is there an evacuation point you can see?

  Merlin and Exbo each took a side of the staircase, moving as silently as the rogue nature of their class allowed them too, before looking back at her and shaking their heads.

  Well, this was probably as good a time as any to test that death theory. Ever since limbo, the feeling that things had changed for her in Somnia grew stronger. She could close her eyes and just listen as things moved around her. Not the people, but the ground and the air, the trees and the water, everything.

  Let’s go with that plan then. Rash, you line up on the right, and we’ll take the left staircase. Tanks, healers, DPS. Don’t look it in the eye. If you see it casting, turn away or close your eyes?

  Devlish grinned: Sounds like a plan.

  It really did, Murmur just hoped it wasn’t a plan that got them all turned to stone, because if she was guessing correctly, those statues were once people of Somnia, sealed inside until they crumbled to dust—or someone managed to free them.

  Somnia Online

  Curet - Tree-Top Overview

  Late Day Sixteen

  “I thought you said you were keeping an eye on Arita?” Telvar’s voice snapped as he twanged into existence on Emilarth’s balcony.

  She sighed, pushing her cross-stitching out of the way and turned to eye him. “Hello to you too, dear brother.”

  Telvar sighed, and a ripple passed over his skin, as if he was pulling himself together very literally, or algorithmically, whichever might be the best term for what they were. “Sorry. But the castle has changed. What is it with you and your domains not remaining in control?”

  Emilarth shook her head and patted the padded seat next to her, ignoring the irrationality that seemed to pipe into Telvar’s tone. After a few moments, Telvar joined her. “Look at it, Thra.”

  He used her AI name, and she frowned. Here in Somnia she got to revel in just being. Sure, she could access elements and adjust many things from within the world to bend it to her will, but she still enjoyed being. Obliging him, she took a look at the castle. Its exterior was exactly the same. Gorgeous gothic architecture, just the reasons she’d wanted it in the first place.

  She frowned slightly, biting her lip. These sorts of changes were perfectly within the parameters of free will they set their assistant AIs and the NPCs of the world. There was no way to make the game organic without it.

  Sure, the interior had changed, but Arita had basically just made it more challenging. She’d adjusted the rooms, moved some walls around, basically made it an up and down of trials to get access to her. Frankly it was a vast improvement on the way it had been when Fable had first managed to get inside. “What? It doesn’t just go straight to the boss now? Where’s the problem in that?”

  She really wanted to know why he was so upset by it. After all, this was what a dungeon should be: a series of challenges that gradually made its way to the end and most difficult challenge in the area. It was what they all were intended to be, even the ruins, before Riasli’s breakdown.

  “They...” Telvar sighed and ran a hand across his scalp. “Maybe I’m mimicking them too much and panicking.”

  “You shouldn’t, you know. She’s not as fragile or without protection as you might think.” Thra winked at him. After studying Murmur since they returned from the limbo, the girl seemed much more gathered, more there. Her mind was focused and in complete sync with Somnia. It wasn’t even so much a matter of the human portions of the girl growing, but at her mind taking advantage of her unique position within the game world. “I think you’ll be surprised if you just sit back and watch.”

  He scowled, but the expression didn’t stay on his face long. Telvar leaned forward and put his arms on the railing, his chin on his hands. “Beautiful view. It’s nice and peaceful up here.”

  “Usually. Except when these noisy guys I know visit,” she quipped, pulling her cross-stitch back out. She looked it over, proud of her work, of the way she wove the magic into her buildings, into her characters.

  “Ah.” The last of Telvar’s tension appeared to leak out of his body, and he grinned while looking out at the view. “You could have told me you were on it.”

  “Tsk, dear brother.” She didn’t even glance his way as she continued to reinforce her warnings of the rest of her dungeons. There was no way she was going to let what happened with the Ruins of Cenedril ever happen again. “I’ve learned my lesson, and I hope we all have. Arita has only rearranged the inside of the castle so that reaching her isn’t the first path adventurers take. Nothing more, nothing less. She hasn’t gone rogue. Trust me, I’ve checked.”

  He eyed her and chuckled. “Very well. Don’t mind me if I soak up this view a while longer. The castle isn’t quite finished yet.”

  Emilarth watched him out the corner of her eye as she continued her work. He wasn’t fooling her. Perhaps Sui, but never her. His concern for Mur
mur was becoming obsessive in its own way. She only hoped it didn’t end up burning him.

  The idea to have both tanks approach with the back-up behind them was technically excellent, only practically slightly flawed. It seemed you couldn’t cast through stone statues, so when the healers attempted to do their job on the tanks, their heals didn’t reach the targets effectively.

  Their only option was to pull back and reach over the banisters to cast. Which left the melee and tanks in somewhat of a precarious situation for the first twenty seconds of the fight.

  The minotaur, when he was in his actual fighting form, was not made of stone. Murmur uttered a sigh of relief that they weren’t going to have to use acid and wind to cut through him. Also, it meant they weren’t in danger of hurting any of the frozen statues inadvertently.

  Murmur, Mellow, Havoc, and the rangers spread out across the stairs while Dansyn flitted around. Luckily sound wasn’t as affected by line of sight since it was always hearable if you were within range. Casting on the stairway was precarious though, because the minotaur didn’t only have whatever this Stone Gaze thing was, he also shot some sort of projectile out of his fingers. And every time he gestured toward where they stood, they had to be alert and duck.

  The first time, Sinister wasn’t so lucky. One of the small splinters got stuck in her face. It looked somewhat like a porcupine quill, and it left a nasty hole which Veranol quickly healed up.

  The blood mage squared her jaw, the determination coming off her in waves that rejuvenated Murmur too. This monster wasn’t about to get the best of them.

  They were too spread out for Murmur to cover all of them with a shield, but she could get herself, Sin, Veranol, and maybe squeeze Mellow under a Forcefield Barrier too. Trying to shield five total people instead of twelve shouldn’t result in too bad a headache. At least she hoped it wouldn’t.

  The minotaur was quick on his feet, so fast that sometimes he blurred. Devlish tracked his actions as best he could; it appeared his threat table wiped every now and again, and there was literally nothing Devlish could do except wait for it to hate on him again.

  Its claws weren’t the norm for large bull-headed men, and there were other aspects about it that struck Murmur as odd, too. She glanced back at Sinister and realized that the area where the quill had hit her looked a bit white-grey against her dark skin. She frowned, looking back down at the statues, and back to Sin.

  Panic began to grow in her stomach and she inspected Sin to see if she had a debuff on her. It only had eight seconds left to cure it. Frantically Murmur cast Nullify on her, and the debuff fell off. A twenty-second timer seemed manageable as long as everyone didn’t get hit at once. The slight patch of growing stone disappeared, but Murmur couldn’t get the blotch out of her mind.

  “Do not get hit by those bloody quills,” Murmur yelled so the whole group could hear. “They’ll turn you to stone. If you get hit, call out to me. I can cure it, but it only has a small window in which to do so.”

  Sinister paled and turned to Murmur, hand against her cheek, half her attention still on the floor below them. “Thank you.”

  “Of course.” She wasn’t about to tell Sin just how close she’d come to turning to stone. It was over for now. At least Murmur knew what to look for.

  The battle continued on the floor, and Murmur set her HUD to alert her if anyone got the debuff titled Stone of Ages. It was the only way she knew she’d be fast enough to act in time to prevent them from turning to stone. She had a sneaking suspicion that once they turned to stone, only killing the damned monster would let them break free. With only twelve of them, she couldn’t afford for anyone to fall victim to it.

  Dansyn switched out one of his songs, and she brought up the new effect, smiling as she read it. Extra magic resistance. Perfect timing. Maybe they could even resist some of those debuffs.

  The melee were learning to dodge the incoming minotaur when it randomly switched to them, and led it on a dance back into the path of one of the tanks, who would try to distract it until it gave into taunts again. Having solved how the turn to stone thing worked, Murmur didn’t for even a moment think that there wouldn’t be another ability there.

  Thick hide bound the creature’s legs, and its eyes flashed red as the team focused in on its joints, specifically the back of the knee. There was intelligence in those eyes, and it was completely obvious how aware it was of what they were doing.

  While it didn’t appear to be able to speak, the intelligence in its gaze and the understanding of their every movement spoke to it being far more than a beast. As it approached potential thresholds for special abilities, Murmur grew warier—and a little scared.

  Her shield was taking care of them already, but extending it over the distance the whole group was spread would probably backlash her into the wall behind her and cause her to black out for days. Perhaps an exaggeration, but not by much.

  Except the creatures in this dungeon—castle, whatever—didn’t seem to give a shit about how bosses’ skills usually worked. They seemed to have their own minds about the whole situation.

  Around eighty-two percent health, the minotaur’s horns began to glow, and a whirring sound started to build around him. The glow extended, encasing his entire form in what looked like liquid amber.

  Beastial jumped back, shaking his right hand as his weapon clattered to the ground, its hilt glowing red momentarily. “Hot!” was all he said, before gingerly retrieving it and dodging a swinging hit by the minotaur.

  Jinna hissed and jumped back as the amber coating continued to spread and glow, and harden. Devlish grunted, exerting more effort and pushing his strength to the limit. The veins in his neck stood out, a feat in itself through the scales. “It’s hard now.”

  Beastial let out a feral growl and executed a leap attack Murmur hadn’t seen him do before. He brought down his axe with such force, that a thick crack began to spread all the way down. Fractures splintered off from the main one, spreading effectively throughout the entire casing, and the gleam in the minotaur’s eyes didn’t escape Murmur’s notice.

  Just as she put it together, with the malevolence that leaked from its pores, Veranol shouted out before she could. “Gather close. Shield incoming!”

  But she knew instinctively that his shield wouldn’t cover those of them on the stairs, and so she reached across to Havoc, Exbo, and Merlin, and she encased them each in their own Forcefield Barrier. It strained against her using it that way, but rules weren’t worth it if they weren’t meant to be bent with a sledgehammer.

  Her head began to throb, but she held fast, determined to protect her friends from the incoming blast.

  And then the amber encasement shattered.

  Somnia Online

  Exodus Guild Headquarters- Firtulai Continent

  Late Day Sixteen

  Masha looked out of the window of their guild fort, a frown on his face as too many things ran through his head. Ishwa clattered away at the desk, or more accurately, drummed his fingers on his desk while he spent ages calculating whatever it was he needed to, in order to feel good about their next foray into a dungeon.

  “No need to look so glum, Masha. Everything is going splendidly.” Ishwa’s eyes gleamed, and Masha returned his attention back to the window with a sigh.

  He heard his friend drop down from the chair and waddle over to him. Even the actions Ishwa performed were enough to begin dropping Masha’s sour mood.

  “What’s on your mind, oh tall one?” The gnome hoisted himself up on a chair next to the window and peered out into the yard too, as if he was trying to follow what it was going through Masha’s mind.

  “Dungeons. Fable. Spiral. And however many other guilds are out there. Level thirty isn’t as impressive as it was. We can’t afford to fall behind.” It wasn’t exactly what was bothering him, but it would do for now when he was still trying to sort the rest out hims
elf.

  “Spiral learned a lesson, as did we. We have multiple other dungeons to go through, and our ranks are beginning to bloom. Granted the majority of players are currently in their late teens to early twenties, but as long as we keep it up, we’ll maintain that lead.” Ishwa leaned forward, his eyes intent on Masha’s face. “Although, that’s not really what’s bothering you, is it?”

  Masha laughed. Ishwa knew him well enough, and the game rendered even facial expressions, so there wasn’t much use hiding shit from the gnome. “Not just. It’s Jirald.” And his gaze was drawn once again to the courtyard where Jirald was actually working with some of the other guild members to help build the last of their walls back up. The compound was coming along nicely. Sure, it wasn’t a castle on an island, but it was strong and had a defensible position.

  “What about him?” Ishwa turned to examine the rogue as well, a thoughtful frown on his face. “I admit I didn’t foresee he’d handle himself so well when we confronted Spiral.”

  “That’s just it!” Masha toned down the excitement because he wasn’t conveying the gravity with the situation correctly. Taking a deep breath, he continued. “I don’t believe that if the servers hadn’t shat themselves Jirald would have maintained composure so well.”

  “Go on.”

  Masha mulled it over in his head, trying to pick the right words that wouldn’t make him come off like a total dick. “He focused on Karn. Because Karn is the first rogue we’ve met who actually got a jump on him. I’m wondering if that’s effected the way he views Murmur, or if it’s just enhanced it.”

  “Oh.” Ishwa clasped his hands together, still watching the rogue out in the courtyard. “You don’t think he’s just letting himself focus on someone of his own class again?”

  Masha almost wanted to give the hope in Ishwa’s voice a bit of a push, but that would be cruel in the long run. “No. I think he’s focusing on besting his own class, so that Murmur goes down no matter what.”