by R J Triveri
Dante Rior => River Hexi: Okay, but I’m here if you need me.
Sheathing her sword, River gave him a weak smile, nodded once, and looked at the now-missing slice of the barrier.
“Looks like we’re about to have a little trouble,” Allen commented almost absently as the people began to scramble. Cries followed soon after as the rest of the barrier began to collapse with the gap in power.
Damage control, River thought to herself as she continued to put things in an order she could follow.
“Alright,” she began, sheathing her sword. “We need to get in there, finish the job, and get back out. Unum can handle the rest. We aren’t here to play nice. Allen, you’re our resident expert on the Moonkin here. Where might Athos be?”
Allen hesitated and stroked his beard for just a moment. “The Moonkin live in Rani’s temple in the center of the city. If he’s with them, that’s where we’ll find him.”
River nodded, turned, and looked down the long street. “If we run into any more of them?”
“They’ll know what we’ve done,” he replied, noting their new status. “As an enemy, one of two things will happen. They’re either going to hide or strike. There’s not going to be an in-between.”
How Allen knew what the statuses meant, no one seemed to question, but Dante and Nyx visibly winced at his words. If it affected their leader, it wasn’t as obvious. River just stared blankly down the street as everything she needed to know fell into place. As it processed, a single sentence came from her lips. “Do what you have to do.”
With her words, River took the first steps into the hostile territory. Despite the revelation, her trek into the city wasn’t lonely. With her party in tow under the gaze of the citizens of Siris, they continued with the power of the laws of Incipere behind them. Straight ahead, a mound of green grass slowly grew more pronounced with each step, and a small army of rabbit-kin had gathered to bar their way.
Do what we need to do, River repeated to herself, materialized a potion, and chugged it. Her party followed suit and continued their march into the city. Do what needs to be done.
Acknowledgments
Well, here we are once again.
Words cannot express everything well enough, so I have to say thank you for reading. I hope you’ve enjoyed this opening to the Glitched Age of Incipere. Originally, Login Re:Coded and the next book were meant to be two halves of the same book, but many beta readers suggested the split to flesh out River and Dante’s story, and I think it was for the best after the additional months of work.
Our next book in this arc, Hacked, occurs in parallel to Login Re:Coded to show us the other side of the story. There will be some crossing over in chapters such as the Tenebrae run. This… brings me to the elephant in the room, the cliffhanger of chapter thirty-six. I understand cliffhangers aren’t fun, but trust me when I say it wouldn’t be the same without seeing the other side of the coin. River, Dante, Allen, Mac, and Nyx will all be back in Part Four of Hacked for the possible endgame of the Glitched Age.
I want to thank my editor, who did everything but this letter and the preview you’re about to see, Celestian Rince. Ten out of ten, would be edited by them again. Then there’s Paul Bellow and the LitRPG forum crew. You guys are amazing. Without the support of them, I wouldn’t be where I am. Also, I want to do another shout-out to Ramon and the LitRPG Podcast. To my readers, you’re all amazing people. Thank you for supporting Incipere. If you loved it or hated it, drop me a line on Goodreads or at Twitter (@RJ_Triveri), and we can talk it.
Lastly to my amazing wife Erin and my son Lochlan, you two are amazingly patient, loving, and overall just wonderful. Well, Erin is the patient one while I’m working those two or three hours when I should be in bed sleeping. Lochlan gets so excited that he spits up on my head when it comes time to be a flying baby. It sounds about as fun as it is. I may remove this as he gets older.
Oh, and don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads! Reviews are the life blood of indie work. It’s what gives us exposure and can help convince someone on the fence one way or another. I know you probably read this a lot, but there’s a reason for that.
Anyways, I hope you found the Easter Eggs! What good is building your own game world without adding in hidden Easter Eggs? Whether you found them or not, enjoy your first preview of Book Three of Incipere Online and the second half of this part of the arc, Hacked.
RJ Triveri
Hacked Preview - A Hero's Reward
“There’s no more running now.”
The voice came form nowhere and everywhere around Athos Aramis as he pivoted to face the hulking, metal form of the corrupted Inciperian, Wrath. The alchemical arm’s skin was soaked in sweat as he struggled with the sight. His hands gripping for something, anything as he felt for the holster on his hip. Wildly, he pulled the pressurized potion slinger Magus and fired shot after shot into the hulking, metallic form that was the corrupt vanguard, but it did no good as the digitized metal shot bounced off his armored flesh and impacted the walls and floor of the arena.
Wrath’s voice was cold and measured as his foot connected, forced the alchemical arm to the ground, and followed through to hold him there, pushing more and more weight against his chest and crushing the air from his lungs. The corrupted face of Paul glared down at him as the cannons that made up his arms audibly cocked.
“Your time is up, Athos.”
The glared only darkened as a sneer was painted on his face in pure spite. He leaned just a bit closer, taking in the sight of the writhing would-be hero, wanting to see the terror in Athos’s eyes. “When I’m done with you, I’m going to make them learn what it truly means to suffer.”
As the cannon’s boom rang out, Athos screamed as the event played out again.
***
Shooting up out of his bed, Athos tried to control the fear and panic that came with the nightmares as quickly re-holstered his gun. A moment later, he fumbled for the lantern’s light to banish the darkness of his room and confirm the fact he was still alone.
The inky canvas of night, moon, and stars still painted the sky. As if to further confirm things, Athos opened his personal window… well, the windows that worked. Ever since his return from the dead, a thought that still sent shivers down his spine, over half his Inciperian functions refused to work. Whether it was trading, PvP protections, or recovery, he wasn’t how he used to be. Shaking the thought away, the triple threes of early morning confirmed he should still be fast asleep.
Warning!
Error Code: 01000110 01100001 01101100 01101100 01100101 01101110 00100000 01010111 01100001 01101100 01101100 01110011
At least, he should have been.
The nightmare was always a prelude now. A warning of what was to come as he flung the covers back, equipped his clothing, armor ring, and Magus as the air in the far corner of the room began to shimmer with a dim, white light that distorted everything around it like a prism.
Nothing can ever be easy, can it? Athos thought to himself as he moved to the far corner to begin his nightly ritual that seemed to be second nature after nine months of it. Mentally, he prepped his checklist as he waited for the distortion of light to end:
Move as far away from it as he could in case it’s Sulk.
Fire without mercy if it’s Gnasher.
Send it to a fiery hell if it’s Ink.
Put it out of it’s misery if it’s Mr. Hands.
Keep an eye for moving shadows, run like hell, and scream for help in case it’s Mask.
Anyway he sliced it, it wasn’t going to end well for his room bill. As he looked above his bed, he noticed he’d already done some damage… again. A few small craters dented the ceiling above from where he had fired in his sleep. A flash of light interrupted his thoughts, and the distortion ended. The light and shimmer were gone, replaced by a dripping, dark ball of ooze squelching into existence as it hit the ground with the wet thud of a sack of boneless meat.
Ink had come to
play.
With a slight sigh of relief, Athos equipped his Pyrothium ammo and focused on his target, but Ink had learned since their last encounter.
A bubbling groan of a cry scratched at Athos’s ears as it lurched forward, teeth forming out of the sludge of its body and ejected like throwing knives in all directions. The blades passed by Athos’s face, but the knives were only a faint as the creature oozed forward, wrapped around his right leg, and began to burn with an audible sizzle.
Damage received: 88% integrity Remaining
Warning: You have been affected by the condition - Chemical Burn. (Proximal)
A scream erupted from Athos as he fell back onto the ground from the pain. The shadow began creeping further up his body as his integrity continue to tick down. With only one option for damage, Athos turned the gun on his leg and fired the burning liquid at the piece of all-consuming night. Another flash of pain and a status update showed him just how effective the attack had been.
Damage received: 62% integrity Remaining
You have been cured of Chemical Burn!
Warning: You have been affected by the condition - Burning. (1:00)
His pain boiled as the burn on his skin ate into his integrity, but the sizzling of his skin was lessened by the wafting wisps of shadow that lingered where Ink had once been. For the full minuet, Athos laid on the ground, fighting back the emotions writhing inside as he waited for Ink to reform and attack once more. Having the ability Second Wind on an amorphous blob immune to physical damage was one of the more annoying things to come from the Nightmares.
After one minute, he ventured to sit up with his back to the wall.
Once two minutes passed, he was beginning to breathe a bit easier.
When three minutes finally passed and no shadows dared to move without the order of his lamp, Athos took a deep breath and stood up. Accessing his inventory, he looked at the four healing salves and the countless Sanando Donum he’d crafted. It wouldn’t do him any good. None of it would anymore.
Closing the window, he glanced at the deep yellow fifty-four percent that his integrity had dropped to and took stock of the room. He had burned the floor again, and the toothy knives of Ink had taken chunks out of the walls and had broken one of the chair legs. They were all things Sammi would be taking payment for out of his hide… again. With a deep, bone weary sigh, he resigned himself to give up the majority of his plans tomorrow with Sally.
Tomorrow, he’d have to go on the hunt again. After a night like this, he’d need a lot more than money to recover.
With his plan set, Athos Aramis moved back to his bed, opened his Splendid Solis, and began reading the potion crafting section again. Maybe he’d have a break through since there sure as hell weren’t any other alchemical arms around to help him advance.
All in all, it was just another typical night for Athos Aramis, Fallen Hero of the Moon’s Aura, Savior of the Dryad’s Forest, Victim of the Hacked Beast Wrath, Glitch.
