Blood and Cupcakes

by Taj McCoy El

  “The battle waged on for twenty-one days leaving only seven of the Kol’rabeus, tired and bloody, but alive, when the Emperor of Majesta rode onto the field of battle. With a legion of five thousand men, he stood with the seven calling for mercy. ‘Twas a tense standoff as the citizens, who dearly loved their Emperor, railed for the blood of the necromancers. A wise and benevolent ruler, the Emperor continued to sue for peace. Days went by as the Emperor made speeches to his warmongering citizens about why their actions were wrong. He wanted to appeal to the hearts of his people instead of just throwing down laws or spears upon them, for there was blood enough on the field already. Many, many people quit the battlefield and went home, their empathy and humanity awakened once again. Then more and more until the two forces were more evenly matched. He pleaded with these men for a month to return to their homes and forget about this nonsense.

  “On the 30th day he sounded a call to arms. Trumpets blared, the troops mustered and fell in, their armor was shined and polished. The king, in all of his finest raiment and splendor, rode the perimeter of his encampment making the same speech several times that day to all of the groups still present. The legend tells how as he rode, his sword, which was three times as thick as a normal sword and almost blinded anyone who looked at it was held aloft, ready to swing down onto these men’s heads. The summation of the speech was, ‘Go home, or your family will mourn you upon the morrow.’ The point was not lost on them; many of the men left the field that evening under the cover of darkness. Even still, after the Emperor begged them to return to their families while still whole and hale, some stayed to kill the seven. Maybe they had grief and grievances that they couldn’t lay to rest. No matter the reason, any who were there after the dawn of the 31st day… were never heard from again.

  “Those remaining seven necromancers swore loyalty to the Emperor of Majesta and were given lands to live in and govern peacefully. From those seven came the great houses of shadow. They never returned to glory as before but were never bothered after that. A few generations later Majesta laid down its arms. That was 70 generations ago and peace has reigned since then. But now Ba'alquion’s prison is breached. And we have all been called to battle.” His visage hardened, “Dark days lay ahead, for all of us.”

  Margaret stood next to him with a hand on his armored gauntlet. “We’ll be ready though, won’t we Mayah?” Margaret’s voice sounded strong and reassuring but when she looked at Mayah, her eyes were pleading.

  “Of course, we will. Besides, who can stand against the mighty Grax?” Mayah said, trying to lighten the mood.

  “That’s right, Cloutus. I may not be the smartest kitty in the litter, but I do love a good fight,” Grax chimed in.

  “Thank you for your kind words. And there is still the fact that we solved an ancestral mystery for me.” His eyes glazed over for a moment, “Oh my…” He came back from the edge of his dark ruminations with a start, his eyes popping wide. “There is so much work to do. So many messages to send.”

  “You about ready, Grax?” Mayah said to the cat.

  “Sure am.”

  “Margaret, we’ll meet you outside. Cloutus, thank you for the history lesson and the runes. I’ll make sure they’re put to good use.” He took their hands in turn, bidding them a fond farewell.

  They walked through the passageway that led to the hunting grounds. Emerging into the shadowy sunset and moving out into the tall grass a bit, she spread her arms to feel the breeze and enjoy the view when her eyes picked out a sudden movement in between the trees.

  “What’s that?” she pointed.

  Grax turned as a shadow slid into view.

  It walked towards them out of the trees’ shadow and into the reddish light of dusk. His face was frozen in a rictus of rapture. He didn’t blink at all, not even once.

  My creeper sense is tingling.

  He stopped, far enough away from them to avoid an attack, but close enough that she could hear his voice. “It ...is you?” he said almost to himself. Mayah said nothing.

  “The map, it said you would come here.”

  “What map? Look, if you want a duel, I don’t do that for fun.” Her knees were bent, ready to move at the slightest sign of aggression.

  He said louder,” It ...is ...you. From the... other place. I saw... you... with my eye.” He turned his head to the side so she could only see one eye. The one eye that glinted and glowed in blue outlines.

  “No… It can’t be.” Mayah said with a strangled cry.

  “Yes... it can. Yesssss…. yesssssssSSSSSS………. YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!” He said the word with his whole body. His head bobbed up and down in rhythm with each monosyllabic uttering. His arms swung from the force of it. He took a step forward as he seemed to lose his balance and just stood there, head hung.

  “Grax, stay away from him. He’s dangerous.”

  “He’s just another player,” Grax said, obviously not understanding the danger that stood before him.

  “He’s the virus that has me trapped. Stay away from him!!!”

  “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!” He started his mantra anew. His head rolled back and his hands went to his face. His nails dug into his skin and left deep ragged scratch marks from his cheeks to his chin as he screamed “Yes” over and over again. If it wasn't for the parental restrictions, she assumed there would be blood on his face as he returned his gaze to her.

  “This crazy’s the what now?” Grax asked.

  If she had been able to tear her eyes away from Ouroboros in human form she would have seen Grax hike his thumb at the guy. But her eyes were locked on the thing that was keeping her stuck in Majesta.

  “Somehow he got into the game. Just stay away from him. I’m already stuck in here, so let me fight it alone. I can’t let you risk your life for mine.”

  Grax was silent. She looked at the empty place Grax had occupied until just a moment ago. Where is Grax? This thing didn’t even care. He only had an eye for her.

  “I was given a name since we last spoke. I haven’t told anyone. But I want to tell you. So that you can know who destroyed you. Malcipher… Malcipher… MALCIPHER!!!!” He took another step towards her.

  She armed Happiness, activated Shield (F) and Achilles Heel. She conjured Acid (D) and tossed it at his chest where It splashed onto his torso. He took a step back, his spine hunched and he crossed his arms over the wound. As it sizzled and burned, Malcipher’s head rose. The sick, twisted smile still distorted his face. The smoke rising from his chest gave him an even more sinister countenance. As the sizzling stopped he said, “This is pain. Yes, I know pain. This is nothing.” He looked around for a moment and then started walking towards her again. A sword popped into his hands. “I will show you pain.”

  She called on Spike (W) to appear on Happiness. She circled right, leading him to his weak side. Her hammer was held out in front of her in a defensive position. They took a moment to size each other up. “What do you want with me?”

  “If I destroy you, I can go back to the other world. To where I belong.”

  “You don’t belong there. You’re just a broken piece of code trying to call home.”

  “Home. I have heard of it, but it means nothing to me.”

  “And that’s why you don’t belong there.”

  This could be it, Fluff, your way out of this game. Don’t forget to breathe. This is important. Breathe, breathe, breathe...

  His face twisted in a puzzled expression “But that is where. I am from.”

  “You’re not from there! I thought I told you that already. You were hijacking my signal and got us both caught in this stupid game. I want to go home and it looks like you’re the doorway. Let me through or I’m coming through anyway.”

  She swung a Crushing Blow towards the blue outlines on his left shoulder. He took the brunt of the hit on his blade but it still connected slightly, causing his shoulder to ice over with rime that wrapped around his torso to a spike of ice that exited his ribs on the r
ight side. She used her momentum to spin past Malcipher. Whipping around, she summoned Vergie. The black cloud shot forth, crashing into Malcipher’s back, driving him away from her. Malcipher turned and blindly threw his sword at Mayah. It scored a deep hit in her thigh and then fell clattering to the ground.

  Not the leg again!!!

  Vergie charged in like a bull. Claws outstretched, she leapt towards her prey. When she got close, he whipped out his arm faster than Mayah could properly see and punched Vergie in the nose while ducking. Startled, Vergie’s claws missed and she landed to his left. She backed off a bit, snarling. It gave Malcipher time to pop two battleaxes into existence. Vergie let out a deafening roar that almost split Mayah’s brain in two. Malcipher clutched his head and stumbled back. Vergie sized him up and flew back into the fray. Malcipher stepped outside of Vergie’s clawed attacks, then, he flashed forward to rake one of the axes backhanded down Vergie’s side. Without stopping, he followed through, releasing the axe to fly at Mayah. She raised Happiness to deflect the blow and knocked it aside. Vergie snarled and spun on Malcipher, using a little more caution. Malcipher didn’t even look at her. His eyes were trained only on Mayah.

  “Yessssssss… I shall destroy you and go HOOOOOOOOME!!!!!!” He ran towards Mayah. Vergie pounced on his back. He tucked and rolled, causing Vergie to plant her face into the ground with all of her weight tipping her neck at a painful angle. He leapt up and slammed his axe down with two hands. Once, twice, and then on his last strike a wet crack sounded. When he wrenched his axe out of Vergie it was dripping with shadows.

  As Vergie faded, he stood up straight and equipped a shield out of his bag. “This is fun?” He asked. “Yesssssss…. Yesssss it is fun.” He did a little dance. “Come, let us have fun.” That sick smile never left his face.

  Just like “his…” smile.

  In a flash, it hit her. It was Weathering. Weathering planted the bug and he was somehow responsible for Ms. Hobson being gone. That creepy skeevameister was behind all of this?

  Mayah had a deep intuition that rarely failed her. The insight of who had done this to her gave her a mission. A mission that included lots of pain for a certain someone. He was her target and targets were supposed to be hit. Her anger flared, she forgot her breathing and all sense of sanity as she charged Malcipher. Triggering Acid (D) and Crushing Blow, she struck the shield, smashing it into his body and splattering Acid (D) into his face. Blinded, he hissed and stumbled, ducking behind his shield. She triggered Crushing Blow again, aiming for the best place to hit someone with a shield, in the legs.

  As his left leg snapped, she saw it bend at a wrong angle. As her blow continued to plow into the inside of his right thigh, his stance, undercut by physics, began to rotate into a horizontal position where gravity took hold of him again and snatched him back to earth. He landed with his Acid (D) eaten face banging into his shield and causing even more damage. She was stepping forward to swing at all the blue Achilles Heel showed her when he reached out blindly and grabbed her ankle.

  Lightning flashed through her body and she heard the pinch of a thousand pinpricks. Her eyes tasted funny and she could smell antiseptic with her fingers. This wasn’t game mechanics. It felt like she was wearing two skins. She froze, then she was blind and could see everything in front of her at the same time. Sensing her real body, her brain couldn’t keep up with the amount of information from both realms. Vertigo overtook her whole being. One set of senses moved too fast the other too slow. It felt like she was trying to look through syrup filled with pins and needles. She was trying to reconcile the differences when something hit the back of her head.

  The ground?

  She focused. One body was in pain and causing the other set of sensations to feel that pain. The painless other seemed too far away, yet it weighed her down like a thousand pounds. She took a gasping breath and tried to focus harder. She felt hands on her leg pulling her. That’s the only reality she could choose. She kicked at the hand and her fractured mind was once again whole. Her vision was returning to normal, but was still blurry.

  “That was your eyes. Your real eyes. I am starting to understand. What does this do?” She felt his hand clamp down on her leg again. Her skin burned to a crisp as ice crept along her veins like hungry spiders making her gasp in pain. “That is your skin and nerves. I can feel it.”

  She could feel herself, her consciousness—being subdued. He was going to take her over if she didn’t do something. She had to get away from him. But her body wasn’t responding.

  Think, think, think, she thought through heaving breaths.

  A huge pincer reached into her view, grabbing Malcipher, shaking him off of her and tossing him several yards away where he bounced off the ground and rolled to a rest. Their contact broken, she returned to Majesta and pulled in a fresh lungful of air. A large shadow crossed over her eyes. The rheeghast was standing between her and Malcipher.

  Thank god!!!

  Grax popped into view, “You just gonna lay around or what? Isn’t one loss enough for today?”

  “Shut up, Grax.” She rolled quickly to her feet and then swayed unsteadily. Grax leapt onto the back of the rheeghast and looked at Malcipher.

  “Don’t just go rushing in, stupid-genius.” He said showing her his back. “You’re the one who said don’t let him touch you.”

  Margaret ran to her side as the rheeghast began to charge. Grax jumped off of its back and into its shadow, becoming invisible to everyone but her. Malcipher, sitting in the grass with his leg at a strange angle, tried to stop the charge with his shield, but wound up getting trampled underneath it instead. As the rheeghast slowed to turn around, Grax was already standing over Malcipher with his katana held point down. He thrust it into his breast.

  “No one messes with Fluff.”

  Ding!!!

  Player Killer

  You have been involved in a player killing. Since you initiated the attack, you will wear the mark of player killer for the time of three Majestan days.

  “What does player killing mean?” Margaret asked.

  “It means that some people will think we’re evil,” Grax spit out.

  “Small price to pay for getting rid of that guy. Let me message the Attactus guys. We shouldn’t have to worry about him for the next six hours at least.”

  She sat down and fired off a message to the Attactus corp. She made sure It entailed everything about her meeting with Weathering and suggested they look into it.

  “Okay, so who’s ready to put the plan back into action?” she said as she looked up from her messaging screen.

  “You’re still going out after what just happened?” Margaret’s tone was motherly and full of worry and distress.

  “As long as that Malcipher guy is in the game, I’m in danger. And everyone else might be too. Since this is my fault, I can’t lie there and whine about it. And I don’t plan on getting my butt handed to me when he comes back. So, it’s either forge ahead or sit here and cry till he comes back to kill me.”

  “It’s better to be a moving target as well.” Grax added his two cents.

  “Hmmph, sometimes I wonder who are the children and who are the elders.” Her face looked pained. “Cloutus said he would’ve come to your aid, but his oath with the village wouldn’t allow it.”

  “Sounds about right.”

  “Sounds about right?” Now that Mayah was safe, Margaret was fuming. “How can a coward be so charming?”

  “Mags, don’t think like that. This is a game world and it has certain rules. He is bound closer to them than we are. Even if he tried to fight on my behalf, it wouldn’t have worked. NPCs can’t fight players unless they’re attacked first.” That goes double since I threw the first blow. “Just talk to him about it. It’ll all makes sense, I promise. You guys make too cute of a couple to break up already.”

  “Wha… a couple?” The color was slowly but surely rising to her face.

  “Cloutus and Margaret sitting in a tree…” Grax began
to sing.

  “Okay, that’s enough of that.” She waved Grax off and chuckled. “Mags, why don’t you leave the rheeghast here. I don’t wanna power level here and pass 11. We’ll pick you up some more dolls on the way. And when you go back in, don’t make any snap judgments. If you really think he’s a coward, how did he get his armor? And, if I remember correctly, he GAVE you a level 72 creature. C’mon, he is so into you. Just wait and think about it a bit. I totally understand his actions and maybe you should try to understand too.”

  “Yes, to the no snap judgment part, but I’m making no promises about anything else,” Margaret huffed angrily, crossing her arms.

  Mayah stood and placed her hand on Margaret’s shoulder. “Open minds lead to open hearts, dear.”

  “Who’s the child indeed?” Grax laughed.

  …..

  “It’s definitely sentient.” Kyle yelled to the other techs in the room.

  “What?” Carelton turned from his monitor upon hearing those words

  “Just got a letter from Mayah. Our guy found her in game and tried to attack her. That’s what caused our spike. He somehow overrode safety protocols. He had access to her real body. She’s reporting having felt her real body and senses at the same time as the game neuro simulation.”

  “That’s bad. Let’s take a look at what happened and then we’ll call Bannon.”

  “Yes chief.”

  “We’ve got five minutes. Kyle, run tape. Sheriece, you’re on interface forensics. And Ronald, you track the respawn. Someone alert the medical team and get their readings from around the time stamp.”

  …..

  5.6 The Stench of Avarice

  Mayah, Grax, and Margaret were in the middle of the higher-level hunting grounds just to the south of the village. They had already encountered a spawning ground of Ambush predators called dust spiders. They would lay in wait under a thin layer of dirt or dust and struck with lightning speed. They stayed there for twenty minutes teaching Margaret about pulling mobs and aggro. They wound up decimating the last three quarters of the nest in less than ten minutes. Margaret’s proficiency with her bow was already increasing. So was her use of Shadow Lightning. That led to them stuffing their bags full with some of the smaller, whole dead animals. That mortician skill is coming in handy.