by Kyle Johnson
“When you cast the Spell. You’ve got time to think about it; we can get together tonight and work on it as much as you want.” Aranos’ face turned red as he realized what he’d said, and Hector guffawed loudly.
“You’re lucky stabby elf wasn’t here to hear that,” Meridian grinned archly at the redhead. “Although you are all shiny, now. Kinda curious if everything’s shiny.”
Aranos blushed again before realizing that the woman was needling him. He made an effort to gather his wits and grinned at her. “Feel free to ask Saphielle if you can join us,” he said archly. “Just be prepared to respawn when you do.”
“Hah! True enough, brother,” Hector laughed. “So, what about me? You need some alone time with me, too?”
“Obviously,” Aranos said, refusing to be ruffled. “Can’t show favoritism, right? Everybody gets a turn at alone time with me.”
Meridian snorted with laughter. “That’s one hell of a goal,” she admitted. “Reminds me of my college years.”
“Shame I didn’t know you back then,” Hector murmured.
Before Meridian could reply, Aranos cut in. “I’ll let you guys get back to what you were doing, but I did want to check and see if you’d heard from Martina.”
Hector smacked his hand on the table and shook his head. “Sure did, sorry, slipped my mind. Yeah, she said she found out a few interesting things and will be coming back soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s ready to meet in the next half hour or so.”
Aranos nodded. “Let me know when she arrives in the camp, and I’ll open the portal so she can come in. I’m hoping she has some good news to tell us.”
Martina dove and rolled through the rubble of the nearest building as the damned naktraps swooped past, narrowly missing her. The creatures shrieked their frustration as their prey evaded them once more, and one landed on top of the rubble, clawing at it in a desperate attempt to reach its prey. Martina wasn’t waiting for that, though; the moment she was out of sight of the undead bird-creatures, she slipped into Stealth and stole out the side of the building, hugging the shadows. Her new half-undead nature gave her quite the boost to that; the undead could only sense her when she was close, and her grayish skin blended almost perfectly into the crumbled stones around her.
She’s lost track of the number of times she’d shaken off pursuit since slipping out of the ruined Treehome, the center of the city and Zoridos’ apparent home. The lich-thing hadn’t detected her, but Lily had; the Summoner’s senses weren’t limited by the game’s rules, and at some point, she’d spotted Martina and tried to ambush her. The Ranger was sure that if she hadn’t been a daywalker, she’d have been captured right then, but thanks to her new racial abilities, she was able to slip past both Lily’s summoned creatures and the undead the woman could now apparently command.
The area about the Treehome was alerted, now, and Martina was working hard to sneak back out. She’d headed south instead of directly north, toward the escape tunnel, and by doing so she’d missed most of the patrols sent out. This also took her into the area she’d scouted underground before, which was her real goal. Martina was certain that Zoridos would put a guard around the tunnel’s entrance, now, but she was hopeful that it wouldn’t fill the nearby tunnels with guards again. Even if it wanted to, Lily would warn against that; if there were too many of the creatures near the party’s campsite, Aranos would definitely have Silma and Martina dragging trains of the creatures back for the slaughter.
She ducked into a nearby building and shifted the stones aside, revealing a darkened hole that led into the earth. She crouched as silently as possible for a full minute, listening, but only silence reached her ears from below. That didn’t mean much, of course; she’d already learned that the undead could be eerily silent when they weren’t moving around. Still, it was chance the tunnels or chance the city above. Shrugging, she dropped noiselessly into the tunnel and moved northward through the darkness.
This part of the tunnel was in her map, so she had no problems navigating the maze of passages that wound below the earth. As she moved, she let her mind turn back to the scene she’d watched in the throne room – at least, she assumed it was a throne room, since it had a throne, and Zoridos was sitting on it. Lily had just appeared out of thin air, looking haggard and weak. She respawned, Martina had thought grimly but not without a bit of joy. Enjoy the XP loss and the death debuff, “Liam”.
Martina was pretty pissed at Liam – or Lily, or whoever – for betraying Hector and her and trying to sacrifice them. She’d had some time to think about it, and she had a feeling that if Lily had been successful in killing the two players, both Martina and Hector might have returned as true undead, not just daywalkers like Martina was. That thought made her fairly angry, since the two might have had to abandon their characters and start back with new ones if that happened, and she entertained a few fantasies of what she’d like to do to the Summoner if she ever got her hands on him. Or her. Whatever.
Those fantasies had seemed pretty cruel to Martina, and she’d never actually do them. At least, she’d thought that until she’d seen Zoridos’ reaction to Lily letting the Library be Redeemed. Apparently, something about how Aranos did that made it so it could never again be Corrupted, held out the necrotic effects of the city, and basically meant that if Zoridos went there to try and take it back, there was a good chance it would be badly hurt or even die.
It was not happy.
Lily’s screams still echoed in Martina’s mind. Zoridos hadn’t had to touch the Summoner, hadn’t had to raise a finger. It just glanced at the woman, and she dropped to the ground, shrieking in agony. Martina had expected the woman to beg for mercy, but Lily had instead turned the air around Zoridos blue with her profanity. Martina wasn’t shy about swearing, or anything, but some of the things the tormented woman said made the Ranger blush just thinking about them. Many of them weren’t even anatomically possible, but Lily promised Zoridos that one day, she would do all of those things to the dried-out corpse of a king.
Martina hadn’t wanted to watch, but she did want to see what plans the two undead made next, and she hadn’t been disappointed. Zoridos had finally relented – how Lily had kept from breaking during that time was far beyond Martina – and the lich had issued a series of commands to its newest underling. A vast troop of undead would be placed around the Library, ostensibly trapping the party within, and three lanohtars would command them. Lily’s job was to leave the city and try to retake the tower that they’d been occupying out in the forest; Zoridos wanted to test how permanent Aranos’ Redemption really was.
That was when Lily had somehow spotted Martina – the Ranger guessed that she had relied too much on the fact that undead couldn’t easily sense her and had forgotten that Lily had living summons she could call on. Martina was sure that one of those summons had detected her and warned its mistress, and at that point, the hunt was on. Martina had dodged patrols, slipped around wandering summoned creatures, and fought her way past a few smaller groups of undead when necessary. She’d managed to exit the Treehome a different way than she’d entered – hopefully, that would keep Zoridos from figuring out how she’d gotten into the palace in the first place – and escaped into the city. Since then, she’d been hunted by jangshie, nurhuins, and of course, the flying naktraps. It had been one of the most tense and stressful moments she’d had since she came into the game.
And absolutely the most fun.
Martina’s eyes shone and her heart hammered as she remembered the near misses, the narrow escapes, and the brief battles through the city. She’d been hunted by half the city – okay, maybe a tenth of it – and she’d managed to elude them all. This is what being a Ranger is supposed to be like, she thought with a tight grin. That was awesome!
Martina felt a sudden easing of pressure in her chest, as if a weight had been lifted off her, one she hadn’t even known was there. I’ve been forgetting to have fun, she realized suddenly. That’s why I’ve struggled so much,
here. I’ve taken everything too seriously, and I’ve totally forgotten that this is supposed to be a game.
Martina wasn’t really used to doing things just for fun. The oldest of five kids, she’d been taking care of her younger siblings as long as she could remember. In a household that was always one paycheck away from being out on the streets, fun was hard to come by. Both her parents had to work two jobs to make ends meet, and that left Martina as the de facto mother from the ripe, old age of seven or so.
She’d been determined to get farther than her parents had, and she worked her ass off in high school, graduating second in her class and getting offered scholarships to several good schools. To do that, though, she’d had to go without things that some of her friends had taken for granted in high school. She’d had to work part time to help out with finances, and that meant she had to choose between studying or making and hanging out with friends. She ended up not having a ton of friends, or really any good ones.
When she’d gone off to college, she’d kept up the hard work. Scholarships helped a lot, but she still had to work if she wanted anything for herself, and she wouldn’t let herself have less than stellar grades. She’d graduated with honors and, when she’d finally been hired by Neo-dyne, she’d felt like everything had paid off. Her new salary was enough for her to live on, save a bit, and still send money back to her family. It meant that some of her brothers and sisters could go to college without worrying that they were hurting their parents, and that if she wanted to, her mother could drop one of her jobs and be home more. She wouldn’t do that, of course, but she could if she wanted, now.
When the chance to join the Beta testing for Singularity Online had come up, Martina had jumped at, but not for the chance to play the game. She was sure that being a beta player would be a way to earn some extra cash. Maybe a lot of extra cash; she’d heard of people getting rich by selling powerful items from popular games for real money. She also saw it as a chance to get ahead in the company; being one of the top players in-game would surely bring notoriety and respect. She’d wanted to excel at it, to show that she could handle anything sent her way – to show that she could be both a leader and a team player.
Only, she wasn’t a team player. She never had been.
She had always done everything herself. She had learned early that you were the only person outside your family you could count on, and that if you wanted something, you had to go and get it. Nothing was handed to you. She’d accomplished so much in her life, but it had all been her own effort. She’d never had to rely on anyone else.
That didn’t work well in Singularity. Martina had chosen a non-magical hybrid Class on purpose: it gave her more options and more choices than specializing did, and it allowed her to handle more situations than a pure fighting or stealth Class. However, as she was learning, this wasn’t a game that you could play solo. She could fight, but not well enough to go toe-to-toe with uruks and undead without a tank. She could shoot, but not well enough to take out enemies with a single arrow or use fire-and-move tactics to whittle down a larger host. She’d been second place to everyone at everything, and deep down, it rankled her.
This, though; this, she could do, and do it well. She could go into enemy territory, scout around, and fight her way out if she needed to. A Rogue like McBane or Archer like Longfellow wouldn’t be able to stand long enough to fight when they had to; a Warrior or Spellsword like Hector or Phil wouldn’t be sneaky enough to learn anything. It took someone like her to do this – or, she supposed, someone like Geltheriel. The elf woman was stealthier than Martina, and there was no question that she could fight when she had to.
I should talk to her when I get the chance, Martina mused. Maybe she can give me some pointers on how to be better at this. I need to be better with a bow and my mace. I need to be stealthier – and I could use some magic, too.
That was a lot to work on, but hard work had never bothered Martina. In fact, it was a basic tenet of her life: nothing good came to you without effort. The more effort, the better your results. In Singularity, she’d been putting her efforts into the wrong place – trying to be the best – and not into discovering herself and figuring out her character.
Why did I really want to be a Ranger? Not because it was practical, but because Rangers go first. They’re the pioneers, the ones who’re first into danger and stay there the longest. They get to be out here alone and fight for themselves. That’s where I want to be: out in front.
A light ahead caught her eye, and she quickly stopped to check her surroundings. She was nearly at the campsite – the glow meant that one of the doors had to be open, which wasn’t a good sign – and so far, she’d managed to avoid a single undead. That also isn’t a good sign, really. Two guesses where they all are.
She crept ahead as slowly as possible, controlling her breathing and stepping carefully on the center of her feet. Stealth, she’d discovered, was just a matter of control. She had to control her breathing, her heart rate, every small movement of her muscles. She needed to make sure each step was careful, keeping her weight centered without trying to tiptoe – that just wore out her calves and made her stumble. Control was key, and Martina usually had excellent control.
As she approached, she confirmed that the door to their campsite was open, ever so slightly, and alarms went off in her head, alarms that grew louder as she felt the biting cold that filled the air as she grew closer. She slipped ahead until she could just barely peer into the room. Yep, a lanohtar and a bunch of draegs. The nurhuins probably can’t deal with the light in the place, but I’ll bet there are some nearby.
She moved back, carefully checking behind her as she did – she’d backed into an undead that way a couple days ago, and she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice – before settling down in a quiet alcove and sending off a quick message to Hector. The Warrior got back to her in a few moments – he must have been waiting for her message – and the message was simple and to the point.
Hang tight. Help’s coming.
Martina suppressed a grin as she read those words. She remembered how Hector had told her once that his favorite part about the game was being in a party. The Warrior was once in the military and had been retired – he was very clear that it hadn’t been his idea – and he missed the camaraderie. In the army, Hector told her, you had everyone’s back, and everyone had yours. There was no room for anything else, no place for doubt or dissent or mistrust. Everyone’s lives depended on everyone else.
The game wasn’t the same, of course, but Martina was starting to understand. All she’d had to do was reach out to Hector, and she knew that the party would be there to get her in minutes. There was no question, no doubt about it. She didn’t know, yet, if she liked Aranos or not, but she had to admit that he looked out for his party. He worked hard for them, and he expected them to work hard for each other. No one seemed to mind what he asked of them, because it was never more than he did himself.
Because of that, Martina wasn’t remotely surprised when the room ahead was rocked by a huge explosion. She heard Hector and Phil shouting and the clash of steel, and more, smaller explosions echoed in the large room. Martina unhooked her mace from her belt and rushed forward, seeing the draegs scattered across the room. She caved in the skull of the one nearest her and crushed the knee of another, following up with a blow across its jaw that shattered its teeth.
Phil and Hector had exited what appeared to be a glass tunnel that Martina knew hadn’t been there when she was here last. Aranos stood to the side of the tunnel, his hand stretched out to the lanohtar, seeming to freeze the undead in place. Longfellow stood at the other side of the doorway, his crossbows humming as he fired into the mass of undead. As the pair of tanks pushed the undead back from the door, a flash of silver fire leapt from the tunnel and slammed into the lanohtar, knocking the creature back into the far wall. Aranos lowered his hand, and the lanohtar began to fight, but it was too late. Saphielle’s fiery spear slammed into its eye and erupt
ed from the back of its head, then spun and smashed the creature to the floor. The spear drove down once, and the lanohtar was still.
Martina watched, amazed, as the party swarmed out of the glass tunnel and shredded the remaining undead. Geltheriel appeared out of nowhere, her blade trailing shadows as it carved undead flesh, while McBane emerged from Stealth and drove his twin swords into a draeg’s neck, severing its head. Last to enter the room were Meridian and Rhys, the two healers moving forward to close the small wounds on the tanks and damage-dealers. They came here to help you, Martina thought silently, feeling a thrill in her chest as she did. You told them you were in trouble, and they came. That’s what Hector was talking about. They had your back, no questions asked.
As the last of the creatures fell, Aranos walked to the middle of the room to stand beside Saphielle. “You figured out how to do that silver fire attack at will?” he asked.
“Indeed, as is surely obvious and unnecessary to point out,” the Warrior replied off-handedly, making Martina smile. “What you wish to ask is how I did it, and I will be happy to enlighten you at a later time, when we are not surrounded by rotting corpses.”
“Good point,” Aranos grinned at the woman, affection obvious in his eyes. Martina honestly wasn’t sure how she felt about the fact that her Party Leader was sticking it to an NPC – after all, while Saphielle seemed lifelike, she was really just a digital construct programmed to act like a person – but she’d decided it wasn’t her business. It wasn’t like Aranos was going around trying to get with every woman in the party, like some guys did, and it seemed like he genuinely liked the brusque Warrior. Why, Martina didn’t know, since the woman was about as offensive as someone could be without deliberately trying, but she guessed she didn’t have to understand to let it go.
