by Jakob Tanner
The corpse golems guarding the passageway didn’t come any closer to fight me.
They didn’t like healing magic. Of course. How could I forget? It was the classic way to defeat undead monsters in the original Arcane Kingdom games. Alright, you undead bastards, it’s time you received a full dose of regenerative rain water. It was time for healing mist to shine as my most badass spell. Only problem was that healing mist created an aura of curative mist around me. The ability only let me heal those nearby; it didn’t have a team support function like shocking speed, so I’d have to get up close and personal with these corpse golems.
I cast stone skin to give me extra protection from the monsters’ attacks. Then I lunged in. I dove between the two monsters and let myself summon the restorative mist. A cloud of curative rain water fell down on me. The corpse golems recoiled in pain, their HP taking a hit. I chased them down the hall as they shrieked in agony from the restorative vapor.
The last thing the undead liked was being brought back to life.
I cast healing mist again and again. I piggybacked myself onto the bony back of the golem. It wriggled and shrieked until the healing magic plummeted its HP to zero.
+140 EXP!
I piggybacked onto the other golem without any fear. The healing mist was so powerful against them, they didn’t even attack back. Healing magic was their kryptonite. I healed the final golem to death, its corpse slinking back into the green sewage water.
+140 EXP!
Shade poked his head out from the corner, his face pale with fear. “Did you kill them?”
“Yeah—I healed them to death,” I said.
“Nice,” he emerged from the wall and hurried towards me. “Good thing neither one of us panicked.”
“Yeah, totally,” I said, rolling my eyes.
We ran down the sewer hallway until we emerged at a wooden door. The necrotician must have gone through here. I pushed the door and it swung open into a room. We stepped inside and my whole body shuddered at the sight in front of us.
25
We stood at the entrance to a large circular room full of shelves with scrolls, skulls, and laboratory equipment. In the middle was an alchemy table with beakers, flasks, and a rack of test tubes full of different-colored liquids. A wooden operating table sat in the corner. It was stained in blood from previous surgeries. A scalpel lay on the floor.
I gagged at the sight of all the equipment. The cell doors of cages along the perimeter of the room swung in and out. Papers were strewn on the floor. Our culprit must have run through here and took what he needed as fast as possible. There was a door on the other side leading to more sewer passages.
“Stay here,” said Shade, darting ahead through the door and down the passage.
I didn’t expect Shade to holler for me. The culprit was long gone after our fight with the corpse golems. We needed to investigate this room. Get an idea on what he was doing with his kidnapped victims.
I picked up a piece of paper from the floor. It was a medical diagram, a sketch of an Aeri male, his body parts labeled and described. There was a close up of the Aeri’s face with labels drawn all over the Aeri’s left eyeball. I didn’t understand most of the text on the page; it was written in a coded language.
What the hell was all this?
Shade rushed back into the room, panting. He shook his head. “The passage separates into three corridors. No way to know which way he went. Have you figured out what this room is all about?”
My stomach rumbled like I was going to throw up. I had no idea what was going on in here, but something told me it wasn’t good.
“HELP!”
My eyes darted to the corner of the room. Someone clutched at the bars of their cell, shaking them in the hopes to break free. I ran towards the cell and saw a Muumuu woman in ragged cloth garments similar to the ones I’d started the game in. She had a bob of orange hair with cute fox ears poking from the back, big hazel eyes, and a bushy tail as tall as her. Her face was dirty and pale. She was crying and shivering.
“Help me, please.”
I grabbed hold of the cage’s bars and pulled. They wouldn't budge. I turned to Shade. “This is your department. Got a lockpick?”
“What kind of question is that,” said Shade, pushing me aside. “Of course, I got a lockpick.”
He fiddled with the cell door until it creaked open. The fox woman ran out and squeezed Shade’s legs in a massive hug.
“Um,” said Shade. “Hello?”
I didn’t have time for awkward theatrics. I nudged Shade aside and crouched down so I was eye-level with the Muumuu girl.
“What’s your name?”
The girl sniffled. “Kari.”
“Okay Kari—do you know what the hell is going on in here?”
The fox girl wiped her eyes. “I don’t know. I’ve been here almost a day. All I wanted was to get away from those horrible things…” She sniffled. “This game was supposed to be the safest means of escape.”
Game?
This girl was a player. I was so caught up in this plot between NPCs, I forgot there were other players beyond my friends in this game.
“I loaded the game yesterday and I’ve been stuck here the entire time,” sobbed the Muumuu.
Only yesterday!
I clutched her shoulders and shook her. “You were back in the real world yesterday?”
She nodded. I was scaring her. I didn’t mean to. But I had to know the truth. I had to know what happened back on Earth.
“What’s happening out there?”
“The virus,” she said. “It’s spread all over the world. It was on the news. A breakout in Berlin. The plague has evolved. A mutation. Those plagued are now turning into—”
She was unable to say the words. Zombies. Flesh-eaters. Monsters.
“What did they say about United North America?” I asked, panic in my voice.
This was it. Everything I wanted to know about what was happening outside this game. It all followed from this question.
The fox girl stared up at me, her eyes shaking with fear. She was afraid. She didn’t want to upset me. She didn’t want to endanger her new found safety by pissing off those who had just released her.
“Don’t worry,” I said, keeping my voice level. “I want to know the truth.”
But an echo of a thought pierced through my mind: did I really?
“United North America,” said the girl, “was the first to go.”
I shook my head. No. Tears filled my eyes. Faces of my family—my brother, mother, father—all flashed through my mind. They were all gone. They had done so much to save me from a similar fate. What had I done to help them?
“All the cities across the continent blacked out,” said the girl. “The rest of the world got shut off from them. I was witnessing it all from the UK, in London. No one knew what was happening in North America for at least twenty-four hours.”
This was all gibberish to Shade but sensing how upset I was he put his hand on my back.
“Fuck,” I yelled. “What about those of us in here then? Are we all sitting ducks, trapped in those pods, waiting for flesh-eaters to come and tear us apart?”
The girl shook her head. “Before the continent-wide blackout TriCorp started transporting all of its United North American users in their gamepods to an underground bunker close to where their servers and back-up servers were held. It was the same in the U.K., Europe and Asia. The company was prepared for the worst-case scenario and was acting upon it.”
I was reminded of the level 1 girl from yesterday. Torn apart from outside the game, obliterated from this new world altogether. She had had bad luck on two accounts: her cognitive upload was still incomplete when the zombies found her and she had entered a game pod in an insecure location. Still, what was to stop those flesheaters from finding these bunkers and destroying the servers? Not today or tomorrow but what about in weeks, months, or years?
I stood up and shook my head. I walked away, pacing
back and forth. I stopped in front of the operating table. It was official. The world outside was gone, with everybody in it. A sadness coursed through me, making my whole body weak. My shoulders shivered. My face crinkled and I let my head fall into my hands, concealing the tears running down my cheeks. My thoughts kept returning to my family. I was never going to see them again. Before now I was able to hold out the tiniest sliver of hope, but now there was none. They were gone forever.
I sighed, wiping my eyes. This entire time I’d been searching for answers. It was what I had promised Serena. I had been lying to her and myself. I was only ever after the truth I wanted to hear. Never the actual answers such questions might bring.
Where did we go from here? I’d have to tell Serena what the Muumuu girl had told me. I’d have to bring this laboratory to the attention of Bertwald and the king. I’d have to let the Aeri know I had failed at rescuing Fen.
What kind of sick world had the developers of this game invented? Purple liquid dripped from the blood-stained operating table. I bent down towards the puddle of violet ooze. I scanned the item from my HUD and received a prompt:
New Item Alert! Glob of Purified Mana (x1)
A crafting material. It must’ve been uncommon or rare even. But why hadn’t I seen it on the material board in the Trader’s Forum? Anything mana related came with a high-cost value. Unless this was an illegal material. Whatever it was, I didn’t like the look of it.
“They were extracting that from the people they brought here,” said Kari. “Those purple globs. They needed it for their experiments. ‘For the operation,’ I heard them say.”
More questions swirled in my mind, but did I really want to know the answers behind them?
26
We hurried back through the sewers and climbed up to the city’s surface level. The afternoon light felt oppressive after our trip underground. I squinted at the surrounding empty streets of the Aeri district. Where was Tien? Had the security force found anything?
We headed towards the district’s central square. Kari followed behind us. She kept her head low and glanced around furtively. She walked behind Shade, his legs her own personal protective shield.
What were we going to do with her? She’d been through enough messed up stuff already, sticking with us meant encountering more weird shit. Trouble followed our party wherever we went. She needed to know what she was getting into by coming with us. She needed a chance to bow out.
I stopped walking. “Kari. You’ve been through a lot down there. Things will only get worse for you if you stick with us. I’ll give you half of my gold now if you want. You can take it and find an inn, join a crafting or merchant guild, pursue a simpler life here in A.K.O.” I sighed. “What I’m saying is: you don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to. You didn’t get yourself involved in all of this mess. If you want—”
The fox girl shook her head. “You guys helped me out back there. I want do the same for those two kids. How does the old saying go: ‘keep calm and carry on’? Let’s do that, yeah?”
She was firm in her stance. I wasn’t going to fight her on it. I smiled and nodded. Good. I sent her a party invite and took in her stats.
Kari Foster
Level 1
Race: Muumuu (Asahna)
HP: 90
MP: 23
ATKP: 3
MTKP: 8
TGH: 3
SPIRIT: 18
LUCK: 8
She was only level 1. Of course. We’d have to train her up quick.
Kari’s eyes squinted as she read through our party information on her own head-up display. She glanced at Shade. “You’re a thief?”
The Lirana shrugged, “What can I say—the profession called to me.”
“But you’re so loud and goofy?”
The thief made a face and scratched the back of his head. “I, uhh—” I’d never seen the Lirana so lost for words. “It’s all misdirection, okay? I’m loud and goofy to distract you from all the stuff I’ve pickpocketed off of you. That’s right! That’s why I’m loud. It’s all orchestrated by me. Shade. Master thief.” He shook his head, flustered.
“Okay,” she giggled. “But you haven’t stolen anything from me though?”
Shade grinned, his whiskers perking up. “Because you have nothing in your inventory.” He tapped a finger on his forehead. “I checked, you see?”
Her face reddened. “You didn’t check, you knew already I didn’t have anything.”
“A master magician doesn’t reveal his secrets,” explained Shade.
Kari’s cheeks remained bright red with frustration.
“If you’re wondering if you ever get used to his antics,” I said, “Let me warn you now: you don’t.”
The square was filled with people when we got there. Tien and his local security force were comforting neighbors and children. Tien strode towards us when we arrived. His face was solemn and pale.
“He got away from us Tien,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“The shadow man must still be down in those sewers,” said Tien, shaking his head. “We still have men on patrol at all the exits and no one has appeared.”
“It’s a maze down there,” I said. “We’ll need an army to explore every nook and cranny. I’m going to go speak to the king right now.”
“Thank you,” said Tien. “The district will be on high alert until both children are returned home.” He walked back towards the crowd of distressed Aeri citizens.
“Let’s go,” I said. “We don’t have any time to waste.”
Walking away, I noticed a rubber ball across the street sitting in a puddle.
Fen’s voice cut through my thoughts: “Really! You’ll come back and play with me?”
I went over to the puddle, crouched down and picked up the ball.
New Item Alert! Kid’s Ball (x1)
I added the ball to my inventory and let it dematerialize in my hands.
We’re still going to play ball kid. I clenched my fists. I made a promise and I plan to keep it.
A cry pierced through the crowd of Aeri citizens. Sabetha and Old Noroo held up a middle-aged woman who was shaking.
Fen’s mother. She had the same eyes and hair color as the boy. Skinny too.
The two ladies helped the grief-stricken mother towards a tarnished door beside a bakery. I approached them, hating what I was about to do. But it had to be done.
“Sabetha,” I said. “Is this Fen’s mother? Is this their home?”
The woman nodded.
“May I please come in? We still don’t know everything there is to know about the kidnappings—”
“What are you saying?” cried Fen’s mother. “This is somehow Fen’s fault?”
I shook my head. “No. I doubt Fen is nothing more than collateral damage, a boy at the wrong place at the wrong time, but if he isn’t: I need to know.”
“We were doing fine before people like you showed up,” she said. Her words were coated in venom. Another attack on the Eldra Aeri. She then scowled at Kari. Oh. I had misunderstood. The insult had a wider range. People like us. The Chosen.
“I'm sorry,” I said. “The more I know, the more I can help us get Fen back. May I see his room?”
The mother was about to yell more curses at us when Noroo gripped the woman’s shoulders and said. “Listen to him, Reshya. He wants to help.” Noroo helped the woman sit down at a bench. She gestured to Sabetha, “Let them in. We’ll wait out here.”
Sabetha grabbed the keys from Reshya and opened the door to the apartment. We entered a foyer with a dusty wooden stairwell. We walked up the steps to the apartment overtop the bakery. The place was a mess: piles of unwashed dishes, clothes strewn everywhere, and empty wine bottles rolling all across the floor.
My heart went out to Fen. Reshya as well. It wasn’t easy being a single parent.
I told Shade and Kari to wait in the living room as I went across the hall to a room with a star painted on it. I opened it to find the tidie
st kid’s room I’d ever seen. The bed was made and the small shelf of toys was organized neatly. This was Fen’s oasis from the troublesome life beyond the walls. He kept it orderly, a safeguard against the chaos in his life.
The poor kid.
I went over to the window and looked out to the square. The district’s security force was still attempting to calm down the community as calls for protest and riots abounded. The alley in which I found the ball was in sight from here.
A thought came to me.
Fen had known about all sorts of available quests when we first came to the district. He was observant. He noticed things others ignored. His kidnapping was the first one of all the recent vanishings to be spotted. Why? All the other victims existed on the outer fringes of society, their disappearances shrugged off and forgotten, but a neighborhood kid who everyone knew was harder to ignore.
Unless Fen was never supposed to have been taken. It was an accident of fate. Fen must have seen the kidnapper, witnessed the crime and saw his face. The kidnapper couldn’t leave him behind so he made a quick decision and nabbed the boy as well.
This agent of Arethkar’s was calculating, precise. The necrotician hadn’t made a single mistake up until now. Which was both good and bad for us.
The good: we were closer to figuring out why Arethkar was orchestrating these kidnappings.
The bad: if the necrotician had never planned on taking Fen, it meant one of the kidnapped children—in the eyes of this calculating agent—was disposable.
There was no time to waste.
27
I stepped out onto the streets. “I have an idea.”
I transferred 100 gold coins from my inventory to Shade’s. “I’m going to head back to the keep and inform the king about everything we’ve found out. I’m hoping we get the army and the Kingsblood searching through the sewers for the Arethkarian agent. In the meantime, Shade, why don’t you and Kari go to Trader’s Forum and pick up a decent set of starter gear for her? The cloth rags you begin with are useless. Then go out and train against whatever beginner monsters they have outside the city walls. If things continue to get worse, we’ll need every advantage we can get.”
