A Second Chance

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “What’s the point of training?” I asked Gurt as he approached. “We’re newbies. Shouldn’t you be teaching us abilities?”

  “If it’s abilities you need, the portal’s just there,” he said irritatedly and pointed at the twinkling sphere. “You can have abilities and skills and everything you desire. While you’re here, you do as I tell you. And right now I’m telling you the Abyss awaits you. I was going to send Eredani again, but since you’re so inquisitive, you can go instead. I can’t stand loudmouths. I’ll be waiting by the tower in twenty minutes. If you’re not there, you’re out of the camp. Now get training!”

  Two timers appeared in my viewer: one — a countdown to my Leap into the Abyss; the second — my estimated time to the tower. Very convenient. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t forget and you wouldn’t be late. I tried to make eye contact with the other players to ask about the jump, but they were aware of Gurt’s temper, and looked away to concentrate more painstakingly on their exercises.

  The lone tiefling Eredani remained sitting by the fence, not even attempting to climb onto the simulators. Just the chap I needed. Gurt said he’d been in the Abyss. Eredani watched distrustfully as I approached and sat down next to him.

  “I’ve been sent to the Abyss. Can you help?”

  If you want to get in with someone, make them feel superior. A request for help is a good start, because you can kill several birds with one question: show him his importance and your helplessness, and most importantly, discover more about him. That way you’ll know immediately if he’s a degenerate.

  “How? Go instead of you?” Eredani’s voice was neither friendly nor malicious. It was the voice of someone who wanted to be left alone.

  “No, I’ll be fine. But there’s nothing in the guides about the Abyss, let alone about jumping into it. I’m led to believe you’ve been there. What can I expect?”

  “A thousand gold,” he said. But of course! A player from a social shelter couldn’t not think about money. A thousand gold was an average monthly wage in our world. Not bad for a simple question.

  “I see. Forget it then. Good luck in the game.” I stood up, determined to pass at least one obstacle before the Abyss, despite still not understanding what for.

  “Wait,” said Eredani. “How did you end up a tiefling?”

  “You mentioned something about a thousand gold,” I shot back. “I’ll tell you with pleasure.”

  “An exchange? Information for information?”

  “Sure.” I sat back down. I saw nothing wrong with disclosing the secret of my birth, since any player could read about it on the site, but I’d just heard about the Abyss for the first time. “You first.”

  “Agreement.”

  That one word made me take Eredani seriously. And when I read the text he gave me, he gained my respect. He didn’t offer me a standard agreement on ten pages of unintelligible text, but rather a one-page document in which our exchange was clearly described. You have to work with contracts for many years to be able to whip up a sample like that out of thin air.

  “It’s a quality text, thank you.” I signed the document.

  “Thank you for what?”

  “For the pleasure of reading a literately drawn-up contract. There are too many windbags around. Lots of clever phrases, but no common sense.”

  “Are you a lawyer?”

  “No. Their documents need editing too.”

  “What’s a bright fellow like you doing in Barliona during working hours? Have they abolished office slavery?”

  “Waving my tail about and butting folk with my horns. Let’s make it a closed agreement.” I wasn’t about to divulge my personal information to the first person I came across.

  “Okay. How did you become a tiefling?” Eredani shot the first question. I calmly told him about the bonus and my random character generation. Everything was open source, so he could check for himself. A green tick appeared next to my name on the list of current agreements. Barliona was acknowledging that I’d fulfilled my part of the contract.

  Eredani was silent for a time, staring blankly ahead. I was just beginning to worry about him, when he suggested another exchange.

  “I don’t want to say it out loud,” he explained and sent me the text of another agreement. “A free piece of advice for the future — keep quiet about how you became a tiefling. It’s a closed race, not accessible to players. They’re running tests at the moment. Most likely you were taken on to test the effect of the bonus on class and race balance.”

  He was quiet again, allowing me to read the new agreement. In order to give information to another player, you needed writing implements and paper, which cost money. So as not to spend money on paper, the cunning bugger had put everything he knew about the Abyss in the text of the agreement. Regardless of his level one, Eredani was far from a newbie in Barliona.

  Scrolling down to the right place, I immersed myself in reading. What was a leap into the Abyss? A long rope was tied to the player’s legs, and he was pushed off a platform into a separate location called the Abyss. Most demon hunters hauled weapons out of there. Then they purified them using Eluna magic, and gained enhanced attacking properties against the beasts of the Abyss. Some managed to retrieve armor, others — accessories. Players had even begun trading extracted objects. But there was a minus — every leap was accompanied by maximum possible pain. Jumpers had to remember that the Abyss was not intended for live players. Even if you turned sensations completely off, the leap enabled an Abyss debuff, which increased sensations by ten percent and was disabled only when you left the training camp. Anybody could survive one jump; some could survive two; only the few could survive more. However, as Eredani had written, this was all irrelevant to tieflings, for in the Abyss you were looking for weapons. Your task was to lasso yourself a demon, suppress it, and use your abilities to constantly recharge your remote demonic essence. In this lay the enormous difference between our class of tieflings and the other races. Everyone else used light magic, while we used demon magic. Parallel paths of development, which is why they were running the test, because they needed to evaluate the balance of the class. Eredani hadn’t written anything about capturing demons, because he logged out for his leaps. Basically he hadn’t told me anything directly useful to me. General information about everything and nothing. You call that experience? Barliona, however, was satisfied, and with a second green tick, the agreement was closed.

  “I overheard your question to the instructor. We could do another exchange of information,” Suggested Eredani.

  “For what?” I asked. Eredani was turning out to be quite the wheeler dealer.

  “What did you leave behind in Barliona?” For some reason he was curious about my presence in the game.

  “That’s personal information, and I’m not exchanging it for the nonsense you gave me. I can read about training on the forum myself. I haven’t asked why a social player with so much experience is only on level one and his sensations aren’t turned up to the specified thirty percent.”

  “And you are right not to ask,” he sneered. “You won’t be told where to get off.”

  “Fine. I’ll go and try a couple of obstacles before the jump. Thanks for the agreement, it’ll come in handy as a template. By the way, I’m Brody.”

  I extended my hand. Being called by your real name in Barliona wasn’t the done thing, although it wasn’t forbidden either. As a profoundly real person, it was far more usual for me to call someone Dave than AFingerUpYourNose. The tiefling’s eyebrows shot up when he understood my gesture; he wasn’t expecting it. There followed a second’s bewilderment, before he shook my hand:

  “Victor. But I prefer Eredani.”

  “Noted. Good luck in the game.”

  I only had time for the spike obstacle. On the first attempt I understood that the spot where the spike appeared from rippled ever so slightly just before it shot up. Just a second, but in theory it was enough to skip away. In training the spikes didn’t cause
any damage, only pain, and you were flung to the ground, just like in the real thing. After three attempts I understood it wasn’t my day. I didn’t move my leg or my arm or my tail out of the way in time, and each time the spikes knocked me down.

  The timer began to flash red — I had to get to the tower fast. The navigation arrow showed me which way to go, and I sprinted as fast as I could. Again I had no shortness of breath or decrease in speed or any other parameter. I felt like Superman, moving mountains without turning a hair. I even jumped a few times while I was running, to check how high you could go, and I left the ground by a whole two metres. Working as a counterweight, my tail allowed me to hold my balance going round corners. Oh, to have skills like that in the real world!

  “Up there.” The duty priestess at the entrance to the tower pointed the way up some stairs, and I bounded up them two or three at a time. Were my adrenaline levels running high or something? It seemed the only explanation for experiencing such exhilaration from controlling my body. I liked being a quick and nimble tiefling.

  Gurt was waiting for me on the upper platform with a rope in his hands. There was no one else around.

  “You’re not just a demon hunter. You’re a tiefling,” he began, tying the rope round my ankles. “There are different demands on you. In the Abyss, close your eyes and feel your essence. They may have burned out the demon in you, but you can’t fool Mother Nature. She’ll show you what to do next. Find a demon in the Abyss, subjugate it, and drag it out here. We’ll make a demon hunter of you, not an empty husk. When you want to get out, tug twice and I’ll pull you up. Go!”

  You have started the Taming the Demon scene

  Description: You can use demonic abilities only after subjugating a demon. Complete the test and gain access to abilities.

  Reward:

  The following abilities will become accessible to you: Demon Subjugation, Demon Retribution, Demon Strike, Automatic Attack, Tail Strike.

  You will be able to gain new abilities as you level up.

  The orc gave the rope a tug to check its strength, and pushed me off the platform. “Fu-u-u-ck!” was all I could shout. He should have warned me. An announcement flashed before my eyes, but I couldn’t read it. I tried to help myself as best I could by waving my arms and tail around. It suddenly became cold, and a sharp pain pierced my whole body from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. Even my horns hurt, although I had somehow forgotten they even existed.

  By the time I felt a massive jolt bring an end to my fall, the platform was high above me. The Abyss was aptly named — visibility was zero in the murk. I gradually became used to the nagging pain, and tried to get my bearings. First I brought my hand right up to my eyes — nothing. Something was most definitely absolute: either the darkness surrounding me, or the transparence of my body. At least the interface icons were in place, so I wasn’t strictly one-on-one with nothing. Taking a deep breath, I took Eredani’s advice and began to flail my arms about, trying to latch onto something. My hand touched cold metal. Whatever it was, it was sharp, cold, and had a handle, and that was enough for me, so I took it. I waved my free arm around some more. Nothing else. Now it was time to use Gurt’s advice. I hadn’t a clue what “feel your essence” meant, but I obediently closed my eyes and tried to tune into sensations. I was still in pain, but it was tolerable. The tip of my tail began to itch, so I clenched my buttocks, leant my head back, and scratched it with a horn. Two of the body parts I’d gained in the game had already come in handy.

  Progress of the Taming the Demon scene

  Progress description: You were able to perceive your own demonic essence, and you can now invoke a demon.

  Special conditions: You are granted a bonus for the random generation of your character. The rank of your subjugated demon will be 3 higher than standard.

  At last! The first mention of the generation bonus. I was already beginning to suspect Barliona had successfully forgotten about it.

  “Mother weeps for her sons,” came a drawled and sinister murmur. “She is grieving. Help her! Come back! Become one of us!”

  My eyes filled with tears. Mother! I have betrayed you. I defected to the enemy, became one of… What was all this? Why the hell was I getting these obsessive thoughts?

  Regress of the Taming the Demon scene

  Regress description: You lost perception of your demonic essence.

  Like that, is it? After chasing the tiefling out of my head, I had become Brody West again. The rope twitched. The supervisor had felt a change and wanted to know if I was ready to come back up. I wasn’t. I was all fired up.

  My tail brushed against my horns again, advancing the progress of the scene. The ominous murmur was right on cue. My head swam, like after a shot of vodka on an empty stomach, but this time I was mentally prepared. Again I pitied the outcast Ireness, deprived of her children, and I felt utterly discouraged by the knowledge of my own treachery, but a small, stubborn part of my conscious sneered insidiously at these emotions thrust upon me. My identity didn’t go anywhere, but it slackened the reins and allowed the situation to develop by itself. My head hurt from being in two consciouses simultaneously, but the pain was even an advantage just then. It was much sharper than the pain inflicted by the Abyss, and it helped me focus.

  “Ireness wants you back! Come with me!” The dismal murmur rang out right next to my ear. The enforced conscious rejoiced, recognizing the voice of Ireness’s daughter, the archdemoness Aniram.

  Reference information

  Hierarchy of demons in Barliona

  Supreme Demon: A creature without level. There exist only three Supreme Demons, who are the heads of their houses. They answer directly to the Emissary of Chaos. The Supreme Demons fight each other continually for territory. In Barliona they can only dwell within a one-mile radius of the Ziggurat of Defiance. They are the strategic commanders of the invasion.

  Higher Demon: A creature without level. The generals of the army invading Barliona. They answer exclusively to their own Supreme Demon. Depending on the strength of the Supreme Demon, at any one time between three and ten of his Higher Demons can dwell in Barliona. They are the operative commanders of the invasion. Their residence time in Barliona depends on the will and strength of their Supreme Demon.

  Archdemon: An officer of the army of demons invading Barliona. They are copious in number and strong, and subject to the invocation and suppression of their will. They command demons and lower demons, and are always surrounded by their corteges. They can dwell in Barliona for 6 hours, after which they are banished to the Abyss for 18 hours. Their residence time may be increased by means of sacrifice.

  True demon: A deranked archdemon. Subject to the invocation and suppression of its will. A lone wolf. They can dwell in Barliona for 12 hours, after which they are banished to the Abyss for 12 hours. Their residence time may be increased by means of sacrifice.

  Demon: A soldier of the army of demons invading Barliona. They are strong and have a human intellect, due to which they are not blocked by Barliona. They are subject to the invocation and suppression of their will. Lone wolves, although they can unite into groups. Demons of different houses feud with each other, and are occasionally prepared to cut deals with citizens of Barliona in order to banish a demon of a rival house to the Abyss.

  Lower demon: The cannon fodder of the army of demons invading Barliona. Copious in number and devoid of intellect, they are not blocked by Barliona, because it sees them as aggressive animals. They conform to a herd instinct, and are subject to the invocation and suppression of their will. They run in packs, and if for some reason they become left behind, they enter hibernation.

  The overwhelming joy of seeing my elder sister all but totally engulfed me, but I managed to retain consciousness by using mathematics. Previously, whenever a member of a project team did something stupid or openly sabotaged a job, I would mentally calculate the square of a three-digit number. You can’t shout at your subordinates; you can only discuss their d
egeneracy with their direct bosses in the hope of getting a more suitable replacement. I tried as hard as I could. Mathematics allowed me to handle my emotions then, and it helped me to focus now — Aniram was whispering something to me about Ireness and her inner turmoil, and I was squaring 329. Waiting until I could feel the aura right up close to my ear, I took a wide swing with my free arm, trying to catch the archdemoness. My hand fell on something cold and hairy, and was soon gripping a hefty clump of hair.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, before I tapped the rope twice with my pick. Gurt reacted instantly, and I shot upwards, dragging the archdemoness behind me. She tried to free herself without hurting me, but as soon as a glimmer of light appeared, she sank her talons into my shoulder and started to howl, “No-o-o!” We exited the Abyss together.