The Monolith

by Stephen Roark

  Adele—Level 1

  “Or should I say, Adele?” I teased as she stopped in front of me.

  “Hello, Rand,” she teased, completely botching a curtsey and almost toppling over. “Look at you with your big axe and your big gun!”

  “Is that the Mortician’s Scalpel?” I asked, pointing to the blade in her hand, its razor cutting edge reflecting the pale moonlight.

  “It sure is,” she grinned, brandishing it in front of her. “Ready to spill some blood?”

  “What origin did you choose?” I asked her. “And where did you get those cool duds?”

  “Feverish Carcass!” she exclaimed with a laugh. Rey defied all gamer-girl stereotypes, and rarely played healer classes in games that had them. It was one of the things I liked about her. “You?”

  I grinned for a second before I answered. “Meat Sack.”

  “You did not.”

  “I did,” I chuckled, spinning my Blunderbuss around my index finger. Rey just stared back blankly. “Oh, don’t act so surprised.”

  “You’ve always got to do things the hard way, don’t you, Clay?”

  I shrugged casually. “Might be hard for some people…but me?”

  “Oh, shut up,” Rey scolded me, swatting me on the arm.

  “Come on, where’d you get the clothes?” I asked her. “I’ve just got this crappy starter gear.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked, sounding confused. “They had a bunch in that closet thingy.”

  “What closet thingy?”

  “You know—the one with the weapons.”

  “Huh?” I asked. “You mean behind the Blood Princess?”

  “Yeah!” she exclaimed, pointing to my gun and my axe. “Where you got those!”

  “Gah,” I groaned, hanging my head. “You serious? I must have missed them somehow. These are just the things I started with.”

  “You getting soft on me, Clay?” she asked, teasing me with a devilish wink. “Missing something that early on?” I frowned and twisted my lips. “You were just so excited to get your weapons that you missed out on your other gear! And you’re a Meat Sack? Man, you’re gonna die fast!”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  “Hey, it’s the tagline of the game.” She shrugged. “Might as well get on with it.”

  “Hey, Adele!” a voice called out. I looked up to see the man with the vest she’d been talking to walking over to us. “Who’s your friend?”

  Jacob—Level 2

  I was probably being stupid, but I immediately took a dislike to him. It wasn’t anything I could really articulate, but there was just a…way about him that put me off. That and the fact that he was higher level than me already and had linked up with Rey before I had…

  “Jacob, this is…Rand,” she said, introducing us. “Rand, this is Jacob.”

  “Pleased to meetcha,” Jacob replied, extending a hand. Not wanting to be rude, I shook it and nodded, but that was about it.

  “So,” I said, turning to Rey. “Wanna get going? Get some levels?”

  “You need to swear at the lamppost in town first,” she told me. “It’s where you respawn when you die.”

  “Nah, he doesn’t have to,” Jacob interrupted. “This is his starter town, so he’ll respawn here automatically. It’s only when you want to change where you’re tied that you have to do that.”

  The big grin on his face was irritating, but I forced a smile and started walking towards the woods. It seemed like the most obvious place to start leveling. Rey followed after me.

  “You guys want a little company?” Jacob called after us. “It’s not easy in there!”

  “We’re fine!” I called to him over my shoulder.

  “Thanks, though!” Rey added.

  “All right! I’ll probably be here when you get back!”

  “That guy’s annoying,” I said quietly to Rey as we walked towards the trees.

  “He’s nice,” Rey scolded me.

  “Girls always say that. He’s nice.”

  “He is!” she protested. I was probably just being a dumb dude, but Rey was my friend—my only friend now, and I was feeling especially territorial.

  “Fine,” I said, giving in as we approached the tree line. The wind cackled, slapping branches against one another, causing the shadows to flicker and swim like a school of crows. “Well, let’s get started.”

  8

  Only the Top Gunslingers

  “Quintessence, Quintessence! Beautiful and tasty Quintessence! Bring it to me, bring it to me! The Blood Merchant is fair and honorable! Not like the Witch!

  —Alastor Cook

  I stepped into the shadows of the trees and heard the sounds of town disappear like someone had closed the door behind us.

  Great way to make you feel isolated, I thought as I slashed away a thorn bush that was blocking our way. It was certainly a lot different than any starter area I’d ever been in. Zones this cool were usually reserved for higher level content. I wondered what kind of monsters we’d be hunting.

  Please don’t let it be rabbits and boars. Please don’t let it be rabbits and boars!

  As if on cue, something moved in the shadows in front of us. I saw a flicker of amber light as a torch came into view. A pale, icy hand clutched it and I watched as a man, who looked as though he was clinging to his last thread of life, emerged from behind a tree.

  Corrupted Villager—Level 2

  As I examined him, he turned and spotted us. His mouth opened wide as he let out a horrific, tortured roar and charged us.

  “Well, here we go!” I smiled as I raised my Loathsome Axe for my first attack of the game. I slashed forward as the man swung his torch at me. My blade found its mark, striking the attacker in his chest just below the clavicle. Blood sprayed and a red number appeared above his head.

  35

  A tiny sliver of his health fell away.

  That’s it?! I thought with disappointment as I dodged out of the way of his next attack. Well, you are a Meat Sack!

  In the very top of my vision, a progress bar appeared, closed on both ends by translucent white brackets. Above it, a word: Rally.

  A small sliver of white sat at its center, as though tallying up something to do with my hit.

  “What’s Rally?!” I called out.

  “Dunno!” Rey shouted back.

  I felt the heat as the torch scorched the air above my head. The blaze lit the gnarled trunks around me as Rey dashed in with her Mortician’s Scalpel. It was a smaller, obviously faster weapon, and she lashed out with three strikes in quick succession. The first two landed.

  26, 28

  The Rally bar grew with each hit, expanding out towards the bracketed edges. It was definitely climbing towards something with each successful hit we landed.

  What happens when it fills up?!

  But the villager leapt back at the next one and her blade cut through nothing but air. His health was still high, so I aimed my next strike at his head. I swung hard, but he blocked my attack with his torch, spraying sparks and embers into the air.

  He struck back, slamming the blazing end straight into my face. Pain flared through me and a bass drop rang out, signifying massive damage, and I saw my own counter appear on the top left corner of my vision.

  45

  The Rally bar vanished as my health dropped to almost half. I only had a total of 105, and he did that much from a simple, regular attack?

  “How do I heal?!” I shouted as I threw myself backwards to dodge his follow up blow.

  “I don’t know!” Rey cried out as she parried one of his attacks, still taking minor damage.

  “What?!” I yelled back.

  A game without a healing system? What the Hell is this?

  The Corrupted Villager brought his torch down squarely on Rey’s head. A large chunk of her health vanished as she swung out with a retaliatory blow that sent blood spraying from the man’s wrist.

  He howled in pain and kicked Rey squarely in the c
hest. The blow seemed to stagger her, leaving her open for two strong blows to the chest. She still had more health than I did, but we weren’t doing well at all.

  I blocked his next attack with my axe and stabbed the spiked end into his leg, then brought the blade up under his chin in a combo attack.

  37, 41

  The Rally bar reappeared. This time the damage was better, but judging by the rate his health bar was falling, he must have had at least 350 HP, about what both of us had combined.

  And he’s only level 2?!

  I thought I had gotten the better of him, but he struck out with his free hand, dashing his knuckles against my cheek and smashing off half of my remaining health. Another blow would definitely kill me. He raised his torch for a finisher, and a tiny spark lit up my mind.

  My Blunderbuss!

  As his torch came down, I raised my gun. Just as the attack was about to hit me, I fired.

  The weapon bellowed, blasting the horrible man with a spray of pellets.

  Dooommmmm!

  A riposte! I thought with glee. Awesome!

  A thundering bass drop resounded through the air and the Corrupted Villager cried out and collapsed to his knees. A beckoning blossom of translucent red lines exploded from his chest, as if urging me to strike. I seized the opportunity, raised my axe above my head, cried out, and brought the blade down against his neck.

  The sound of steel rang out, and this time, the damage numbers above his head were bold, crimson and fierce, as though they were shouting in victory to the world.

  270

  The man let out one final death rattle, then fell face forward into the dirt.

  With the sound of a strong breeze, the Corrupted Villager’s body began to fade as it transformed into a silvery, ghost-like vapor, and simply blew away into nothing.

  “How did you do that?!” Rey shouted, racing up to my side and patting me on the back. Not one to miss an opportunity, I turned to her and flashed her the best cocky smile I could muster.

  “Riposte, baby. Reserved for only the top gunslingers.”

  “Oh. My. God!” Rey gasped. “Did you really just say that?”

  “Sure did,” I grinned. “I also just saved your ass.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Maybe one day you’ll catch up to the number of times I’ve saved yours!”

  “What do you think that Rally bar is for?” I asked, curious about the mysterious game mechanic.

  “I dunno!” Rey replied, sounding as intrigued as me. “But I wonder what happens when that fills up.”

  “Badass mode probably,” I suggested, ready to get back into some combat and fill up the bar to see what happened.

  Still smiling, I looked down where the villager had fallen. A cluster of shimmering silver orbs hung in the air, several inches from the rotten earth, like tiny ethereal pearls. I took a step forward, and they swept towards me, circled my body, then disappeared into my chest. A counter appeared in the top right of my vision.

  +35 Quintessence.

  “Quintessence,” I said. “That’s experience I’m guessing?”

  Rey nodded. “Must be.”

  “Did you get some too? From being in my party?”

  “Yeah, I got 35.”

  “Okay, good. Same as me.”

  I opened my character sheet, and sure enough, saw a tally of 35 Quintessence sitting next to my name, a tiny sliver of silver on an enormous experience bar that stretched all the way to the border of the window. I had a lot more slaying to do before I hit Level 2. I moved to close the sheet, but as I did, my fingers brushed across my Vitality stat, causing it to light up.

  190 to raise.

  “Hey, it looks like you can spend your Quintessence to raise your stats,” I told Rey, hovering over the rest of my attributes. They all seemed to cost the same.

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s how you customize your build,” I said.

  That was fantastic. Actual flexibility with the direction you wanted to take your character. I loved games that gave you that kind of freedom. It made things so much more exciting when the fate of your character build was in your own hands.

  “Well, we’re going to have to keep leveling hard to get you to a point where you’re not as tender as a wet napkin.”

  “Who saved who again?” I teased her. “By the way, what is this Toughness stat?

  “I think it’s for damage mitigation,” she replied timidly.

  “Like, the tougher you are the less damage you take?”

  “Right.”

  “Makes sense, but seriously…how do we heal? Do we have to just go back to town?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” she replied with a twist of her lips.

  “Well, what then? I don’t see any first aid kits or health potions or healing spells, do you? Maybe if we just rest?”

  I plunked down into a seated position and watched my health bar. Some older games had systems like that, where simply resting would restore HP. But my bar didn’t move. Maybe we needed a campfire or something?

  “Maybe there’s food?” she suggested.

  “Where though—?” I started to say, when I noticed something small at my feet, glimmering in the grass. “What’s this?”

  I reached over to it and plucked three small vials from the ground. They looked like antique medicine bottles, barely larger than my finger, and contained a completely translucent substance. I heard a soft ding of them entering my inventory, and opened it to inspect them.

  Soothing Syrup—Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup soothes, softens and allays all pain. Cures everything but a severed head! Never leave home without it. Heals 35% of total health. 15 max carry.

  “Ah ha,” I remarked triumphantly as I popped the cork from one of the bottles and tossed the contents into my mouth. The liquid flowed sweetly across my tongue and tickled the back of my throat as it went down, and I watched as a little more than a third of my health was restored.

  “What’d you just do?” Rey asked eagerly. I smiled and tossed her a vial. She caught it and examined it.

  “Tastes good too!”

  “Ooooh, creepy!” she said with delight as she popped the cork on her bottle and downed its contents, restoring her to full.

  “This game—is awesome,” I said firmly. “No heal spells, no first aid kits, and the health “potions” are Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup! Mizaguchi is a genius!”

  “He really is,” Rey agreed. “But you better use the last one. You’re still kind of low.”

  “Fair enough.” I took the last bottle and threw it back like an old drunk might take a shot of vodka. The stuff tasted good, and I wondered how many programmers it had taken to design that particular taste and how long it had taken for them all to agree on it. Had they ever thought of making it taste disgusting? I wondered with a chuckle.

  “Should we keep going?” Rey asked.

  “Unless you want to turn back,” I replied. “Maybe go crying back into Jacob’s arms?”

  Rey frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “And leave you out here to steal all the glory and loot? I don’t think so!”

  I laughed and swung my axe to the side, sloshing off the remaining blood of the villager. “All right, Wonder Woman. Let’s go.”

  9

  Just A Bit of Humility

  “You Will Die! Yes, it was never supposed to be the official tag line for the game. It was simply an off handed comment I made during an interview that was picked up and repeated so many times that the marketing team simply chose to run with it!”

  —Kotaro Mizaguchi

  Despite having finished all my Soothing Syrup, I was feeling pretty good as Rey and I made our way through the old wood, treading carefully, doing our best not to make too much noise and attract any unwanted attention. We were still new to this world, and if we were going to get into a fight, we wanted it to be on our terms. Surprises at times like this were never good.

  Through the trees, I spotted a cluster of torches and we we
re able to make out a group of three Corrupted Villagers, two of them Level 2 and the other Level 3.

  “Do you want to try and take them?” Rey asked.

  “You nuts?” I asked her. “One of those guys almost killed us. You wanna take three of them on?”

  “We might be able to if you weren’t a Meat Sack!” she countered. “But let’s keep going.”

  So we did. Here and there, slanted shafts of cold moonlight managed to cut their way to the forest floor. The wind was chilly against my cheeks, and a faint smell of death hung in the air as though the very forest itself was cursed. I found myself checking behind every tree and rock we passed, just to make sure we weren’t ambushed.

  “What the Hell is this?” Rey asked, sounding annoyed. “We run into one guy as soon as we get in here, and now we can’t find anyone?”

  “Shhh!” I hissed, holding up a hand. Rey froze instantly. I cocked my ear to the side and listened. Somewhere close by, on the other side of a row of dark bushes, was a soft creaking sound. It repeated several times, stopped, then repeated again. I looked over at Rey who mouthed to me, “What is that?” I shook my head slowly, twisted my axe hilt in my hand and moved in the direction of the noise.

  The creaking sound grew louder as we rounded the brush. I recognized it as the sound of old wood, like hardwood floorboards or an old chair. And when she came into view, I saw that it was indeed a chair.

  A rocking chair, in which an old lady sat. She wore a plain brown dress with a simple cap atop her head, lined with lace that had probably once been white, but was now a stained yellow like the color of shower scum. As she swayed in the old wooden rocker, she sang to herself.

  “Gone, gone, gone…” she crooned, rubbing her hands together. “…asleep little baby…gone, gone…”

  I knew she was just an enemy mob, created by the game developers, but that still didn’t help my nerves. This lady was sketchy and unlike anything I’d encountered in any other game. I gazed at her to get a readout.