The Monolith

by Stephen Roark

  “H—hey!” I shouted as I was pulled over the wall and dragged onto flat ground. My hand instantly went to my axe and gun.

  “Damn, son!” a voice cried out. “You all right?”

  I looked up at two sets of eyes peering down at me with concern, a man and a woman. The man raised his hands in a sign of peace.

  “We’re friendly. We’re friendly!” he assured me as I scrambled to my feet.

  Altarus called from the river. “Rand! Rand, where are you?!”

  “Up here!” I shouted, keeping my eyes on the two strangers as I backed up to the edge, ready to unleash on them if they made a single threatening move.

  Mayoi—Level 15

  Rumble—Level 15

  The girl, Mayoi, was almost impossibly thin, with dark caramel skin and hair the color of charred wood. She wore a robe, once white, almost like a bride’s dress but somehow more suited for combat, and over her shoulder, she carried a hefty wooden mallet.

  Rumble was a perfect contrast to his companion—an absolute hulk of a man, as though he’d turned up the muscled sliders on his character as far as they would go and then found a way to go even further. His blonde hair was cropped like something you’d see on a high ranking military officer, and he was holding two blades, the one in his main hand a seamless slab of dull metal like a butcher might use to carve up a great beast, and the other much smaller, but equally as lethal looking, polished to such a sheen that it perfectly reflected the silver moon above.

  I heard my group scrambling out of the water behind me. Two of them, at least.

  “Goddamn fish things!” Fujiko grumbled, coughing—no doubt having a lung full of foam like I’d had burning away at the inside of her chest.

  “Give me your foot,” Altarus told her. “I will boost you.”

  “We’re not going to attack you,” Mayoi told me, resting her hammer on the ground and putting her hands up. “This place is scary enough without us fighting among ourselves.”

  “What are you doing here?” I asked them. “Level 15? How can that be even remotely high enough to be leveling here?”

  I couldn’t believe I was even able to formulate a sentence. I’d just watched Rathborne die, swallowed up by a twisted reptile that had come back from the dead to finish him off.

  Was he dead or was he back at his house in the glade beyond the Weeping Hills? How does it work?

  I felt another pain in my chest, but this time it wasn’t from the toxic sting of the river of poison where I’d fallen.

  “What are you doing here?” I blurted out again. My vision was slightly blurred, like I was looking through a pair of fogged sunglasses.

  “I could ask you the same thing,” Rumble replied. Despite him letting me know he wasn’t hostile, I could see this wasn’t a man who’d be pushed around or insulted. Still, that didn’t explain what two low levels were doing in Quelan. I hadn’t seen the rest of the city, but there was no way they’d gotten past the Bridge Guardian, so how were they here?

  “How’d you make it past the bridge?” I asked.

  “There’s more than one way into the city,” Mayoi replied.

  I turned and held my axe handle out for Fujiko as she climbed up over the wall from the river. She reached back and helped Altarus up behind her.

  “Rathborne,” she said quietly. “Is he—?”

  “Yes,” I snapped, keeping my eyes on the two strangers.

  “Rathborne?” Rumble asked.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I told him, turning back to Altarus.

  “What are you guys doing here?” Fujiko asked Mayoi and Rumble, echoing my earlier sentiment. “And what is that?”

  She pointed an accusatory, enthusiastic finger at Mayoi’s hammer, not even trying to conceal her envy.

  “Oh, you like that?” Mayoi teased, picking it up from the ground and brandishing it in front of her. “Picked it up south of here on the Old Carriage Road past the Brandice Tombs—”

  “Hey,” I growled, aiming my Blunderbuss at her. “Put it down!”

  “Calm yourself, Rand,” Altarus said softly into my ear. I shook his words off and kept my eyes on the girl.

  “Put it down,” I repeated. I wasn’t taking any chances. We’d just lost Rathborne and were clearly in over our heads here and still had no idea what we were looking for or where we were headed, and I wasn’t about to put my trust in the hands of a couple of strangers pretending to be nice. There could be more of them—many more.

  “Fine,” Mayoi replied, setting her hammer down again. I dashed forward and snatched it by the handle and dragged it away from her. “Hey!” she started to protest, but Rumble placed a calming hand on her shoulder and whispered something into her ear. She stopped, but didn’t look too happy about it.

  “I’m going to ask you again,” I said firmly. “What are you two doing here? This place is way too high level for you.”

  “And not for you?” Mayoi countered angrily. I shot her a warning glance and she fell quiet once again. Rumble, obviously the sensible one among the duo, spoke calmly and slowly.

  “We are hunting Blood Mollusks.”

  “Blood Mollusks?” Fujiko grimaced. “Sounds disgusting.”

  Rumble nodded, the hint of a smile creeping across his lips. “They are. But they have a high drop rate on Mortal Chunks and Scourge Steel, as well as being worth a good deal of Quintessence themselves. The only hard part is finding them.”

  “They’re low enough for us to kill, mostly around level 14,” Mayoi added. “But, as you say, this place is pretty rough, so—”

  “We do a lot of running.” Rumble smiled, tossing his arms up and down and pretending to sprint in place. Fujiko snorted beside me. He looked silly, which must have been his intention, as I couldn’t help but laugh myself.

  Altarus whispered behind me. “I do not think they are a threat.”

  “I agree,” Fujiko said.

  I nodded and slowly pushed Mayoi’s hammer back across the ground to her. She eyed me suspiciously for a moment, then snatched it up. I raised my eyes to the glimmering silver sky and took a deep breath in another attempt to cleanse my lungs of the horrible muck. The pain was still there, but it was fading quickly.

  “Okay,” I said, looking back at the two strangers. “So, let me ask you something. What do you know about the spider?”

  “The spider?” Mayoi repeated.

  “In the bowels of the city,” I told them, repeating the Fortune Teller’s words. “Do you know of it?”

  Rumble shook his head. “We’ve heard mutterings from some of the citizens about a spider, but nothing concrete. Figured it was a high level boss or something, which we have no interest in, of course.”

  “Damn it,” I grumbled.

  “Citizens?” Altarus asked.

  Rumble nodded. “There are some who still live here. Hidden away in the shadows, walled off from the absolute insanity of this place. But we ran into a man…some kind of old doctor or something.”

  “A surgeon,” Mayoi replied. “What did he say…?” Mayoi closed her eyes, frowned and thought hard. “Ah! Things changed in the Old City after the spider came. All I could picture was some huge black spider crawling all over the buildings. Grossed me out.”

  I looked at my companions. “Not much to go on. Do you know where the Old City is?”

  “The center of town,” Rumble replied. “But if you’re looking for us to come with you…”

  “High level stuff?” Fujiko asked.

  He nodded and smirked as though what I’d said didn’t even scratch the surface. “The things there would one-shot us for sure. Maybe not you, but them.” His eyes moved to Fujiko and Altarus. I could sense Fujiko’s scowl behind me.

  “Yeah, well, we have no choice. We have to go,” I told them. “Can you show us the way?”

  Rumble shrugged. “Sure. We’re heading in that direction for another Blood Mollusk run anyway.”

  “You sure you want to do this?” Mayoi asked. “I mean—you’re going t
o die in there. Have you even been to the lamppost yet?”

  “No,” Altarus replied. “Is it close?”

  Mayoi scoffed and crossed her arms over her head. “If by close you mean on the complete other side of town then yeah—it’s close.”

  “We don’t have time for that,” I replied. We were close—too close to head off on some tangent through a high level city. I motioned to our new guides. “Lead the way.”

  54

  We’re All Just Lost Children

  “The Goddamn things have started sprouting up everywhere. It’s all my fault and what will happen to me when they find out? I brought them from the sea for they were oh so beautiful. Now they have become a plague upon the city. I must go into exile before they realize what I have done!”

  —Last page of the diary of Jennifer Clarey, citizen of Quelan

  Another Blood Mollusk gasped a strange gasp and died as its shell was shattered by my axe, spilling its body of heavy mucus off the wall where it hung and oozed onto the damp stone street at my feet. I stepped back automatically as it burst into a tiny cloud of toxin, let the Quintessence swirl around me, then moved on, leaving the loot for Mayoi and Rumble. As part of their fee for leading us through the city, we’d agreed to let them keep anything dropped from the sickly snails.

  The mollusks clung to the walls of the streets of Quelan like a virus, an infection or plague spreading, the gnarled creatures with their spiraled shells growing like clusters of cognizant ivy that spat and hissed if you got too close. They didn’t have much of a range on them, and were relatively easy to avoid in most places, but sometimes grew so thick and bulbous that they choked the way ahead, impeding our progress. This of course didn’t bother Mayoi or Rumble—it just meant more loot for them—but I was growing more and more anxious every time we had to slow and hack our way forward. We were closing in on our destination. I knew that now. I couldn’t be sure how I knew, but I did.

  The city stank of muck, decay and disease, like a musty old closet where something had crawled in and died. We hadn’t seen any other monsters, but as we moved deeper into the city, I heard the sounds of larger beasts, howling and screeching, groaning as though sick or tortured like some kind of hideous symphony playing the city’s score, and wondered how long it was before we encountered something we weren’t able to hack our way through.

  Rathborne could have helped us, I thought miserably. And now he’s gone.

  An obnoxious voice inside me kept telling me we should turn back. Recall back to Ebonmire and come back when we were higher level. But who even knew what level that would be? The Bridge Guardian had been level 50. Were the rest of the monsters in the city that high? Or close? If so, it could be weeks before we were tough enough to make it back here. No—we had to move on. The lives of countless others depended on us. Rey’s life.

  But how do you even know that? What if the spider can’t help you? What if this is a trick? The monolith might not even exist!

  I carved more mollusks from the wall, chipping their disgusting snot-like bodies from their armored shells, sneering as they burst into puffs of putrid mist like a mushroom being crushed beneath a boot heel. More Quintessence enveloped me and my group, but did nothing to brighten my mood. Sounds of desperation and danger sounded out through the city like a haunted choir, countless tortured souls crying out for salvation. It was as though the entire massive metropolis was a single organism, living and breathing with every intention of swallowing us up the way the Bridge Guardian had swallowed Rathborne or the river had tried to consume me. Not to mention we were looking for the Bowels of Quelan and that didn’t sound overly pleasant.

  Fujiko spat and cursed as one of the mollusks burst at her feet, hitting her with its damage debuff. It wasn’t enough to kill her, but it burned painfully.

  “All right,” she said angrily as Rumble reached down to loot another gleaming item from the ground where several Blood Mollusks had fallen and died. “I think it’s about time you share those Shards and Chunks.”

  “A deal’s a deal,” Mayoi replied. “We show you the way—we get the loot.”

  “This is a lot of loot. And a much higher drop rate than you’d made out.”

  The girl shrugged and smirked. “We’re getting lucky, I guess.”

  “Uh huh,” Fujiko replied, stepping ahead of the group. “Well, I’m looting the next few. Deal with it.”

  “That was not the deal,” Rumble said firmly, stepping past Mayoi and stepping up beside Fujiko in a threatening manner, both of his blades held ready at his sides.

  “What—you gonna do something?” Fujiko asked, standing tall and pushing out her chest. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to look more intimidating, or trying to distract the poor guy while at the same time making Mayoi (maybe his girlfriend?) jealous and angry. Regardless of her intention, she got that reaction.

  “Back off, bitch!” Mayoi snarled, stepping up beside her companion.

  “Hey, fuck you!” Fujiko snapped back, readying her hammer to swing. “You guys have like several levels worth of Quint from all those shards you’ve been picking up! That’s worth a lot more than a tour through this shit hole!”

  “Fujiko—” Altarus tried to speak, but was immediately cut off.

  “Going back on your word, eh?” Rumble remarked, raising his main-hand knife to strike.

  Is he insane? I thought, as I Shadowstepped forward, putting myself between him and Fujiko. I couldn’t help but smile as I saw the look of shock and regret as my Blunderbuss blew in his face. Compared to the things I’d fought in this world, Rumble wasn’t a challenge. The riposte went off without a hitch and called out in victory, causing him to collapse to his knees.

  Dooooooommmmm!

  67

  Not bad, I thought. Viletaint’s paying off!

  “No!” Mayoi shouted as I raised up my axe to strike. But I wasn’t going to kill him. I could have of course, but as my blade came down, at the very last moment, I twisted my wrist to the side and brought the cutting edge down across the side of his head, shaving off a few of his stray blonde hairs.

  “Relax, sweetie,” I told her with as disparaging a tone as I could muster. “Just tell us how to get to the Old City and we’ll leave you two here, and maybe next time think a little bit before you talk shit to people like us.”

  Mayoi shook like a leaf and took a deep breath as Rumble recovered from my riposte and got shamefully to his feet, running a hand over the fresh haircut I’d given him.

  “Follow this street through two more intersections,” Mayoi told us. “Then take a left at the square thingy, and then down the steps—it’s like a really big staircase near this library or church or bank or something. That’s the entrance to the Old City.”

  I nodded and continued on. It was a shame really, as I thought I’d met another couple of players who were actually decent folk, but in the end, all they’d wanted was to use us to help get them more Quintessence, the same way Gerrard had wanted to use me to get to the Yama-Uba and her loot. A thought occurred to me and I stopped and turned back to them.

  “Oh, and by the way,” I told them. “If you’re lying to us—and we end up at some mini-boss or high level group of monsters ready to kill us all, or a group of your buddies ready to ambush and loot us—I don’t care how long it takes, but I’ll come back here and find you and kill you, I’ll loot you, and then I’ll find your lamppost and I’ll spawn camp you until your inventory is empty and you’re just gimped out with death penalty. Do you understand me?”

  Mayoi looked solemnly back at me, as though I’d just told her I was going to kill her whole family, and flicked her eyes to Rumble, who nodded just once.

  “When you get to the first square, say blood orange out loud.”

  “Blood orange?”

  “It’s the code word,” she replied. “The rest of our guild are fighting there—about ten of them. They’ll jump you if you don’t say it.”

  “Or maybe they jump us if we do say it,” Altarus repli
ed.

  “Just say it, okay?” Mayoi spat. “Rand could take some of them out, sure, but not before they killed a few of you too. All right?”

  And with that, Mayoi turned around and walked away, kicking a stack of fallen filth that lay on the street ahead of her. Rumble looked like he wanted to say something, maybe give an apology, but decided against it and joined his companion. I watched them go, wondering if we’d ever run into players in this land that were actually friendly and not just looking for something.

  What about Jacob? I thought. He didn’t want anything from you.

  “That’s why I’m doing this,” I hissed at myself, tightening my grip on my axe.

  “Son of a bitch,” Fujiko cursed. “What’s it take to find some decent human beings in this game?”

  “You’d think being stuck together in this mess would unite people, not drive them against each other,” Altarus pondered.

  For the first time in a long time, my thoughts went back to the lunch table as I sat alone, watching my friends switch sides on me. I looked up at the cold, dark buildings flanking us on all sides, reaching up to the somehow dangerous gleam of the night sky and thought about what lay before us.

  The Spider…beneath the bowels of Quelan…

  That’s what the Fortune Teller had told me.

  Bowels…

  If the Blood Mollusks were any sign of what this city had in store for us, I couldn’t imagine what the bowels of the city would be like. But it didn’t matter. I had to do what I had to do and right now, that meant pressing on.

  “Blood orange,” I repeated. “Don’t forget that.”

  “Yeah,”he replied. “Don’t forget how this could have gone if I wasn’t such a nice guy.”

  I stepped forward, hacking a sheet of mollusks from the wall in front of me. They cracked and burst, and I left the loot for the others. The street narrowed ahead of me, and I carved more of the disgusting creatures off the stone, collecting a moderate amount of Quintessence as I moved past.