The Monolith

by Stephen Roark

  “He could be sick, though,” Altarus reminded us.

  “Or tired,” I suggested. “Maybe he’s just asleep.”

  Altarus hesitated. “It is possible.”

  “We’ll come check on him when we’re done,” I said, eager to get away. “Come on.”

  Leaving Forley behind, we pressed on. It wasn’t long before I heard the sound of running water ahead of us and we soon came upon a single arch stone bridge spanning a stream of water so dark it was impossible to see through. Part of me wondered if it was actually water.

  “The other edge of the stream,” Fujiko gestured, leading the way across the stone.

  “Hang on a second,” I said, stopping in my tracks. The others slowed and turned to face me. Cocking my head to the side, I listened.

  “What do you hear, Rand?” Altarus asked.

  It sounded like a person—a woman speaking softly, possibly muttering to herself, her voice like a muted chain of bells striking gently against one another. The voice seemed to be coming from below the bridge.

  The bank to the right was a sheer drop about twenty feet down to the water. To my left however, was what appeared to be a path through the spear-like roots that burst from the earth. Gripping the gaps in the stone, I made my way down to the water, bits of rock and dark sand cascading down the slope beneath my feet. The voice grew louder as I descended and felt the humidity in the air increase until it was so thick I felt as though I was almost drinking it. My feet found steady ground on a slab stone alongside the water, and as I peered into the shadows beneath the bridge, I saw the owner of the voice.

  A beautiful pale woman sat atop a wicker basket, her snow white hair long and straight, falling carelessly across her neck and shoulders. She wore a corset-like top the color of rose petals that had fallen into the mud. A white ribbon was tied around her neck and a red stone brooch was pinned to her chest. A veil covered her face, but as I approached, she slowly turned to me.

  “Seeker,” she said, almost sadly. “How happy I am to see a friendly face among the darkness—”

  She stopped suddenly, as though she’d made a mistake in her speech.

  “You are friendly aren’t you? You’re not here to kill me?”

  “Of course not!” I stammered, shocked by her question. The woman breathed a sigh of relief and almost smiled.

  “Of course you’re not,” she said, almost to herself. “How silly of me.”

  I heard the rest of my group come down the slope behind me, and saw her eyes flicker to them.

  “Your companions?” she asked. I nodded. “Welcome to you all. I would offer you something, but I am afraid I am out of everything, as I have been forced to relocate for the time being.”

  “Are you from the Hills?” I asked. She shook her head but did not elaborate, and I did not press her.

  “I—I wonder if you may be of some assistance,” she continued. “If you are able to help me, I may be able to help you.”

  “Of course,” I replied quickly, almost naturally. There was something about her that just made me want to help, which was strange. I knew she was a quest giver, and that whatever I did for her would benefit me, but I also actually cared about helping her too.

  “In the graveyard above us, there are many a dangerous beast,” she explained, almost sadly. “They are too much for me, but if you bring me their bones, I will reward you handsomely. Will you do this for me, Seeker?”

  I nodded firmly and the brilliant golden letters exploded into existence before me.

  New Task!

  Smiling, I opened my Tasks tab and read the description to my group.

  “Bones for Victoria,” I said with a smile. “Victoria Blossom has asked you to bring her some bones from the beasts of the Swollen Cemetery. Return with 10 Old Bones for a handsome reward.”

  “Yeah, we have it in our tasks tab too, Rand,” Fujiko told me.

  I closed my character sheet and fixed my eyes on the peculiar woman before me. Her beauty stood in such sharp contrast to the grim setting around her, but at the same time, she seemed to fit right in, as though she’d been born from the womb of this dark world. In most games, the NPCs had that sort of uncanny valley of consciousness; they were real, but they weren’t real. Victoria felt real, and I felt obliged to help her.

  “We’ll be back,” I told her. The hint of a smile curled at the edges of her thin pale lips. She nodded.

  “Thank you, young Seeker. Fare well.”

  I nodded and turned back to my group, giving Fujiko a friendly sneer. “Missed her on your way here, huh?” She curled her lip in response. “Come on, let’s go.”

  “Oh, Seeker?” Victoria said softly. I turned, meeting her solemn eyes as she spoke. “Beware the Gravekeeper. He is not accustomed to outsiders.”

  “Thank you, Victoria,” I replied. “I’ll keep my eyes peeled.”

  I led the way back up the steep bank, the sound of the dark river gurgling behind me as we made our way back up to the road. It faded completely as we crossed the bridge into the strange woods beyond. The trees began to thin out and we found ourselves walking on the remnants of an ancient road of crooked stone pavers, some missing, others scattered into piles set by the trunks of trees. The stones themselves were concave, as though thousands of feet had worn them down from years of travel. The road itself continued, but to our right, fixed steady atop the trunks of two fallen trees, was a wrought iron gate, the massive sheet of metal rods hanging broken and twisted off its hinges. The path led down into a very disturbing sight.

  “I see why they call it the Swollen Cemetery,” Jacob remarked as he stepped up behind me.

  “You can say that again.”

  Countless headstones littered the ground that sloped violently like the waves of the deep ocean, rising and falling like the buried corpses were struggling to emerge from their dark prisons beneath the earth. Some headstones seemed to have simply been strewn about with little care across the undulating hills. Cracked tombs crumbled and slabs of stone were stacked atop each other as though signaling several bodies all buried in the same place, crowding the same grave with no respect or dignity.

  It was so bloated and crowded with grave markers and pavers that no grass, no vegetation, no sign of actual earth or dirt could be seen. It went on and on into the distance, rippling through a thick mist that stank of death and decay so heavily that I could taste its foul zest against my tongue with every breath.

  “Ten bones,” I muttered as I watched them move—animated corpses, rotting and dripping flesh and skin across the stone beneath their feet, many of which were missing toes or worse.

  Rotting Corpse—Level 7

  There were tons of them. We were going to have our hands full, especially Jacob.

  “You should hang back a bit,” I told him. “Just shoot arrows for as long as you can and try not to draw their attention.”

  He scowled, not happy with my advice, but finally nodded. I was right and he knew it. “Yeah.”

  “Rand,” Altarus said, stepping up beside me and pointing beyond the second cyst of stony ground. Something dark moved there, low, moving on all fours like a dog. As it moved past a set of fallen graves and came into view, I saw it fully.

  Corpse Eater—Level 8.

  If a horrible scientist had found a way to cross a man with a rabid dog, the Corpse Eater would have been the result. I felt as though I’d stepped into a horror film as I stared at the thing as it slinked across the jagged terrain, its vicious eyes searching for something—

  It moved like half of it wasn’t listening, and snatched one of the walking corpses before it with its horrible claw, seizing it around the torso with claws the size of one of those big machines they used to pick up fallen trees, and with a single furious snapping of its jaws, tore the sickly corpse in two.

  “Shit!” Jacob gasped as the aptly named beast began devouring the pile of flesh and bones which snapped between its massive teeth like pieces of dry kindling.

  “Shit is right
,” I muttered in reply. I’d never seen monsters attacking each other in unscripted events in an MMO. But the vicious dog had torn that thing apart like it was second nature, without an ounce of hesitation or any apparent trigger. That was just what it did and would have been doing had we been there or not. I felt a little bit guilty as I marveled at the incredible depth of Mizaguchi’s world—Rey was still out there, possessed or taken or whatever she was, and this was no time for me to be sitting around.

  “Come on,” I growled, gripping my axe tightly. “We’ve got bones to collect!”

  30

  Piles and Piles of Meat

  “There’s more meat on a person than most people realize... ‘Repulsive.’ That’s what they say about me. But who’s the one that must carve up the corpses and stuff them in the overflowing mouths in the earth? Not them!”

  —private ramblings of Gravekeeper Boucher

  Skull bone squealed like peeling metal as I twisted my axe and yanked it free. The Rotting Corpse coughed and heaved something like intestines from its terrible mouth, spraying dark blood out of the tattered holes in what was left of its cheeks—then died. Quintessence swirled around me as my companions fought and felled more of the things.

  Jacob fired a Mortal Arrow as Altarus’ Winchester cracked loudly and another one of the monsters went down. I stepped forward and pivoted, crosscutting two corpses as they swung at me.

  82—89

  My blade chattered across their weak bones, tearing chunks into the air, as Fujiko brought her hammer down with a cry. A shockwave rippled out as she used the Shatter talent, sending one of the once-men to the ground in a heap. I chopped him like I was chopping wood, and as he died, my Rally bar came to life.

  “Let’s go!” I shouted, slashing down his low-health companion. I’d started to get their timing down, and Shadowstepped in anticipation of an incoming attack. And I was right. A hand clawed the air where I had stood, three fingers snatching for anything it could find. As I spun, Fujiko bashed it in the back, sending it tumbling towards me. I caught it in the jaw with an upward stroke that cleaved its head in two vertically.

  MASSIVE!

  298

  “Nice!” she cried out, throwing both of her legs into the air as she leapt in, hammer raised with two hands above her head. Her strike couldn’t have been aimed more perfectly, and she mashed the Rotted Corpse into an unrecognizable pile of vile muck. Somehow, the thing raised its hand in a pathetic last attempt at hostility, but my axe finished it off.

  112

  More Quintessence swirled up my body, but I was more concerned with Victoria’s task. Shiny loot indicators gleamed at my feet and I knelt down to retrieve three vials of Soothing Syrup, and two more Old Bones to add to the two I’d already found.

  Six more to go, I thought. The drop rate wasn’t bad, and I was approaching level 7 pretty quickly. I heard Jacob cry out behind me.

  “Level 5, baby!” he announced and I turned to see him holding his Bone of the Great one above his head like a little kid. “I’ve got an Intuition point!”

  “’Grats,” I told him with a grin as another Rotting Corpse swung at me. I ducked easily and lashed back out with two strikes to the chest.

  83—91

  It raised up to swing, but a Blunted Strike caught it right in the jaw and froze it in place for two seconds—longer than Fujiko and I needed to finish it off.

  “This is easy,” Fujiko joked. I’d saved her butt a couple of minutes ago when three of the gruesome creatures had ganged up on her and caught her off guard. She was skilled, no doubt, but I was carrying the group.

  “Worn Woolen Trousers,” she muttered as she looted something.

  “New armor?”

  “Yeah, armor,” she chuckled, swapping the pants she was wearing for the ones she’d just picked up. “Little higher protection.”

  “Famous last words.” I smiled as the Quintessence whirled around me. I opened my character sheet and saw only a sliver remained before I was level 7. All I could think about was level 10, another Intuition point, and growing my character into something so badass I’d be unstoppable on my quest to find Rey—to find the monolith.

  The vision still had me off balance slightly, as I felt like an outsider among the rest of my group. Why had none of them seen it?

  Focus! I told myself as I swung my blade to rid it of a thick line of jelly-like offal that hit the stony ground like a fat slug. I glanced around the putrid, pregnant earth as I tasted the taint of death against my tongue, and saw a gleam of an item drop that I’d missed. I stepped over and reached down to find nothing but junk loot.

  “Ooooh, might have found some too—” I said, then shut my mouth when I saw what it was.

  Tattered Rags—Faded and torn, these rags provide little protection for the wearer. Perhaps they were once great—perhaps.

  Armor Level: 12

  “Anything good?” Fujiko asked.

  “Junk,” I scowled. I kept the rags anyway, as they might sell for a bit of Quint once we got back to town.

  “Man, I have to get a tome,” Jacob whined behind me. “A tome to learn a new spell. This just isn’t fair. You guys can just train yours!”

  “You know, Jacob…you’ve changed.” I grinned back at him. He glared back at me as he knew exactly what I meant. The cocky, bordering on arrogant Jacob that I’d first encountered with Rey back at the Weeping Hills lamppost seemed to have taken a vacation and had been replaced by his younger brother, who kept complaining about how the world wasn’t fair.

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “I’ll just head back to town and buy my new spell then.”

  “No you won’t,” I replied. “You’ll stay right here and collect bones with us. You’re the lowest level right now and we need you to get some Quint.”

  “We don’t even know if that chick will give us any for this quest!”

  “What quest have you ever seen that doesn’t give you some kind of experience along with it?” I asked him. “Don’t go crazy on me now.”

  Jacob just frowned and scratched his temple angrily before turning and aiming his casting bone at another one of the rambling skeletons and blasting it with a Mortal Arrow. Altarus locked on to his target, using his Precision Shot skill, which took slightly longer to aim but did 175% weapon damage. About a quarter of the thing’s health vanished and as it began lumbering towards them, Altarus began firing more rapidly. By the time it reached them it was almost dead.

  “Sniper wimps,” Fujiko chuckled from beside me. I flashed her a grin and turned around to face whatever it was I’d heard moving behind me. I’d expected another Rotting Corpse, but instead, I came face to face with a set of teeth aimed straight at my face.

  “Look out, Rand!” I heard Jacob scream. I tried to Shadowstep, but it was still on cooldown, and there was no time to riposte or block. The massive jaws enveloped my entire head, plunging me into filth and fetid darkness. The stench—the stench was unbearable as mucus and saliva soaked my hair and skin and the thing’s teeth embedded themselves in my neck. My blood poured, mixing with the drippings from the beast’s mouth and throat, and I swung wildly as my health sank.

  -115

  “Rand!” It was Fujiko’s voice, muffled by the skull of the thing latched onto me. I heard, and felt, her hammer bludgeon the Corpse Eater somewhere, but the horrid thing held tight and squeezed harder, eating more of my health away.

  A Frenzy meter appeared and began filling quickly.

  -80

  Shit!

  I had 167 remaining. If this thing didn’t let go of me soon, I was done for. My swings were futile and useless, but I waved my axe anyway, searching for the beast’s flesh. My blade found something and sank in. I heard Fujiko cry out.

  “Watch it!”

  I tried to scream out an apology, but my jaw was mashed shut by the unrelenting pressure of the Corpse Eater’s bite. Pain flared. My knees buckled as a downward force bore down on me, seemingly intent on driving me into the ground. The thing’s jaws
shook and expanded, and I realized it had fallen, or likely been knocked off its feet by someone in my group.

  I tore myself free of its jaws, felt the monstrous teeth slip from my neck. I tumbled back and tried to get to my feet, but I was dripping with spit—sick from the Corpse Eater’s throat, and stumbled and fell back. My Blunderbuss roared as my finger accidentally pulled the trigger. The creature bellowed as Altarus’ Winchester cracked and a Mortal Arrow found its mark. I glanced up as Fujiko’s massive hammer beat through the air before slamming into the half-man half-dog’s skull with a satisfying crack. It whined and collapsed into a heap, then disappeared.

  “Shit!” I stammered, whipping my arms in an attempt to rid myself of the slime that clung to my body, its stench seemingly intent on invading my being.

  “Are you all right?” Fujiko asked, kneeling down at my side as the Corpse Eater’s Quintessence whirled and spun. I was, of course, and she could see that, of course, but I still shook my head as I quickly slurped down two Soothing Syrups, my eye on the Frenzy meter which was just a little too close to being full.

  “Sorry about that swing,” I told her as I rubbed my arms against the stone, semi-succeeding in ridding myself of some of the filth that still hung from me.

  “Don’t worry about it,” she replied. “If you were a little tougher and did some actual damage, I might be a little pissed.”

  “Oh, yeah?” I laughed as she gave me a hand and helped me to my feet. “Well, gimme a hug!”

  She squealed as I lunged forward, both of my soggy arms aimed straight at her. She tucked and rolled away from the dripping reek of mucilage that still clung to me, and after hopping nimbly over a few tall gravestones, I backed off.

  “Dick!” she laughed.

  “Don’t worry,” I replied. “I wouldn’t do that to you. I’m not that mean.”

  Altarus stood up from where he’d been looting the Corpse Eater. “Four Old Bones! Only need two more!” he said happily.