Battle Spire

by Michael R. Miller

  My movements were sluggish, and I knocked a mana potion to the floor by accident but was able to salvage the remaining six. These were greater mana swirls, able to restore up to 1200 mana. Not a lot for high-level players I imagine, but plenty good for me.

  I stumbled further along, keeping one hand against the wall to support me as I did so.

  “Five minutes until Azrael’s men check in, Zoran,” Ellie said. “Run out then come back in with your breath hel—”

  “Ahhhh, it’s fine,” I said lazily. “And that’s plenty of t-time.”

  “Hmmm,” Ellie mused darkly.

  “Y’know, I can’t blame this archmage guy for being... hic... addicted to this stuff. It’s gooooood.”

  “Is this how you felt in the real world, with your own obsession?” Ellie asked. As ever, her tone was perfectly innocent.

  “Like when I played Myth Online? That was… different.”

  “Different, how?”

  “Like, not soothing,” I slurred. “Big, big highs but… but it fell into lows too. Consequences. Stress. This is just so nice. Peaceful.”

  I lost balance and only remained upright by slumping against a larger cabinet. It had numerous small openings like a display shelf in a sneaker store. A crystal orb fell from above, smashing on the ground.

  “Maybe your loved ones did you a favor in stopping you playing?”

  “I stopped myself,” I slurred. “But they could barely contain their excitement when I told them.”

  “Do you resent that?”

  “Who wouldn’t? But y’know… y’know what, Ellie?”

  “What, Zoran?”

  “The thing I don’t like most... is... is that maybe they have a point. Maybe.”

  Memories of heated rage and frustration with my old guild rose to the surface; late nights with poor quality sleep, as I grew ever more strained. A vicious spiral. The image of Wylder’s disdainful look in the woods snapped at the heels of these older recollections, the lowliest of my transgressions but the freshest.

  I groaned and clawed further along the cabinet. More items were shaken loose, falling around me. Silver liquid oozed from smashed bottles, staining dry pages of worn books.

  “I love these games,” I said slowly. “But I’m not sure they bring out the best in me.”

  My eyelids fluttered, my head swayed.

  “Zoran? Zoran? You have to leave.”

  I heard her but didn’t quite register her words. My swaying head collided with the cabinet, bringing me a painful moment of clarity. Among the debris, I thought I could see a rune stone.

  My mind regained some measure of sobriety as a result of this, the way a fright sobers us up in the real world. Bending low, there were several stones, scattered from a fallen pouch, much like the ones I’d seen back in the armory. Picking up the stone, I turned it over to find a small white tornado etched onto it.

  Air Rune

  Reagent/Consumable

  Push back enemies using the power of the wind. Activating this will allow you to channel mana to unleash the untapped element inside.

  One-time use.

  Spells on use: Gale Blast or Whirlwind

  Gale Blast: target will suffer a knock-back of 0.25 feet for every 10 units of mana infused into the spell.

  Whirlwind: target will suffer a knock-back of 0.25 feet for every 15 units of mana infused into the spell. Radius of AOE effect increased by 0.2 feet for every 75 mana.

  Empowered Bonus: use of total mana pool will increase the knock-back effect on the target by 5 feet

  Everything in my gut told me to activate the rune.

  Gale Blast or Whirlwind?

  I selected the whirlwind effect and sent a few hundred mana into the spell. A brief howl of wind erupted from my palm as I let go, blowing outwards.

  The spores from the dream shade were blasted away and my head cleared.

  “Perfect!” Ellie said. “Azrael’s men must have left these runes. They wouldn’t have seen much use in them.”

  “Ordinarily, they wouldn’t be overly useful,” I said. “But we have our secret slime. I wonder how air runes interact with it?”

  “You can experiment later.”

  “I know. I’ll grab what I can and get going.”

  I scooped up the scattered air runes and placed them back in the pouch. There were 14 left, confirming these things seemed to come in bags of 15. With the air runes safely in my inventory, I turned my attention to the shelves directly above where the pouch had fallen. Two more coarse pouches teetered on the edge of their shelf, one emblazoned with a red flame, the other with three gray triangles overlapping each other, like the peaks of a mountain range. Fire and earth. Jubilant at finding more runes, I grabbed them and near enough skipped towards the door.

  “Wait,” Ellie said, “Before you go there is something else you can do. You see those pulsing bluebells at the edge of the garden?”

  I looked over to be greeted with the alien plants.

  “Eat one,” Ellie told me.

  Ever trusting of her, I picked one and stuffed it into my mouth. It tasted like a syrup-drenched ice blast and gave me the same feeling of brain freeze. Wincing, I prepared to chide Ellie for her prank, but the notification cut me off.

  Brainbooster Drops

  +100 to base mana

  “And that oversized sunflower,” Ellie went on, “Eat one of those too.”

  Excited to find what I’d get from this one I wasted no time. The sunflower tasted better, a bit like fried zucchini.

  Harvest Blooms

  +100 to base health

  “Very nice,” I said, “Lemme eat some more quickly.”

  “Not so fast,” Ellie said. “Did you really think you could just eat your way to a powerful character? Those are some one-off effects from rare plants, which you’re not likely to find in the wild until you’re in your level thirties.”

  I ought to have been grateful but I let loose a grumble anyway. At least the room had provided far more than I could have hoped for. High-level gear would have been useless while the runes and mana boost would serve me well. Yet my mood soured again as the memory of my drunken ramblings filtered back to me.

  I decided I should address the issue.

  “Ellie, about what I said back there... I don’t like talking about it too much.”

  “Why?”

  There it was again. Could she just not pick up on social queues or was she just trying to press me for an answer? What did it matter?

  I wouldn’t say I’m the happiest person in the world. Not sad, or mopey – well, not all the time anyway – and I don’t get envious of others like I used to either. I used to be all those things though, and it’s easier, when you feel that way, to just get angry; to feel aggrieved that your taller, broader, roommate with the messy blond hair and designer stubble has an easy lot in life. That’s Lucas by the way.

  Honestly, I got over a lot of this recently. I noticed how I was lashing out at others and being harsh on myself after I stopped playing Myth. That game had been my escape for a long time where I found friends; where I was happy. But something went wrong, and I’m not really sure what it was. And rather than think on why things were falling apart, I just got angry.

  For some time now, I’ve been feeling neutral. Flat. I know a part of the reason I wanted to play Hundred Kingdoms again was to try and get back to my old self; the guy who was excited and happy to forge a guild, a whole life, inside of the game. But things hadn’t ended well for me the last time and maybe I was afraid of going down that road again. In case, I mucked it all up. In case, I was my own undoing.

  I’m not sure I was ready to explain this weirdness to another person yet. I didn’t think anyone would understand. So how would a machine understand, even if I told her?

  “You’ve gone quiet again,” Ellie said.

  “Yeh, sorry,” I croaked.

  “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me more than you want to. But I’ll be here if you do.”

&nbs
p; “Thanks. Maybe. Yeh, maybe.”

  I made for the chamber doors, but not ten steps away, Ellie sent panicked instructions.

  “Get out of sight. Against the wall!”

  As though I’d trained for this my whole life, I threw myself against the wall, just behind the still open chamber doors. Some of the spore heavy air began drifting back towards me from the other side of the room, so I couldn’t afford to dawdle.

  “What is it?” I whispered. “Players?”

  “Two of them,” Ellie said. “I’m sorry, Zoran. I was worried about you there and lost focus. They are coming up the corridor.”

  “Maybe they’ll run straight in here to check and get caught in the dream shade.”

  “I doubt it,” Ellie said. She sounded worried.

  Crouching low, I took a risk and glanced around the side of the chamber doors. I couldn’t see anyone at all.

  “You sure there are people out there?”

  “Two rogues.”

  I felt my stomach give way.

  “In stealth,” I finished for her. “Let me guess, one of them is the skilled lockpick who must have opened the chambers before. They’ll know about the spores.”

  “Correct. He’s level thirty-six. The other guy is thirty-two.”

  “Two rogues, waiting in stealth to gank me as I come out. And I don’t have any grenades to bring them out of it, goddammit.” I buried my face into my hands. “I can’t do this. I am royally screwed.”

  22

  Slumping down, I felt my head turn fuzzy again. The spores were closing in on me. With little choice, I sucked in a breath and held it. The timer began.

  Holding Breath: 120 seconds

  Two minutes. That’s all I had to figure out a way to escape the higher-level rogues in stealth waiting for me. Two minutes before I’d become a drooling idiot again and probably stumble into a poisoned blade of my own accord.

  Yeh, this was the hardest puzzle I’d ever faced in a game. And I’d completed the first VR Zelda game in Gauntlet Mode with just one heart the entire time.

  Two minutes, I thought. Here I go.

  “We can still communicate,” Ellie said. “Nod if you’re going to fight.”

  I nodded. What else was there to do?

  An idea came to me. I didn’t have grenades to use radius damage to bring the rogues out of stealth, but perhaps a fire rune would do the trick? I held one up, pointing to it with my free hand.

  Fire Rune

  Reagent/Consumable

  Launch a targeted fireball or a wave of searing flames. Activating will allow you to channel mana to unleash the untapped element inside.

  One-time use.

  Spells on use: Fireball or Inferno

  Fireball: unleash a spell dealing 25 fire damage for every 20 units of mana infused into the spell. Benefits from your own Spellpower.

  Inferno: unleash a spall dealing 25 fire damage for every 25 units of mana infused into the spell. Benefits from your own Spellpower. Radius of AOE effect increased by 0.25 feet for every 80 mana.

  Empowered Bonus: use of the total mana pool will increase the fire damage dealt by 20%

  “Not bad,” Ellie said, “but you won’t get the reach on an AOE spell from here. You don’t have that kind of mana yet.”

  That was irksome if not unexpected. Perhaps I could achieve the same effect by pairing a fire rune with a splash of slime. I held out a vial of slime along with the fire rune, one eyebrow cocked.

  “You’d need a perfect aim. I wouldn’t risk that.”

  Desperate, I pulled out my grappling hook.

  “C’mon Zoran, you’ll never climb fast enough.”

  I frowned at her – well, I frowned at the air.

  “My advice would be to take advantage of the fact that you know they are there. They don’t know I’m helping you. Draw them in close and use their own ambush against them.” My frightened expression must have been a picture for Ellie hurriedly added, “I’ll tell you when to duck. Just don’t hesitate, okay?”

  That was about as good a plan as any I supposed. With any luck, the rogues would inflict a lot of accidental damage on each other. The questioned remained of what to do after my opener?

  Try slowing them? Five seconds of slowed speed wouldn’t help much with two enemies. They’d reach me eventually and then I’d survive about two hits judging from how much damage Gingey had dealt with one stab. An air rune probably wasn’t going to help me much either, as blowing my enemies away from me would only delay the inevitable. One last rune type remained unexplored. Taking out an earth rune, I read its description.

  Earth Rune

  Reagent/Consumable

  Create a defensive second skin or raise a barrier of rock. Activating will allow you to channel mana to unleash the untapped element inside.

  One-time use.

  Spells on use: Rock Armor or Rock Wall

  Rock Armor: summon a temporary armor of living rock to reduce incoming damage by 1% for every 15 units of mana infused into the spell. Base time of debuff is 5 seconds with an additional 1 second added for every 500 mana increment.

  Rock Wall: summon temporary wall of living rock 0.5 feet in length for every 15 units of mana infused into the spell. Base time of debuff is 5 seconds with an additional 1 second added for every 500 mana increment.

  Empowered Bonuses:

  For Rock Armor: use of total mana pool will increase the damage reduction effect by 5%.

  For Rock Wall: use of total mana pool will increase the length of the wall by 5 feet and the duration of the wall by 3 seconds.

  I held it up for Ellie’s attention.

  “That might work,” Ellie said. “But armor will help you for only for a short time and then you’ll be low on mana, if not out of it completely.”

  I’d just picked up six mana potions, of course, each able to restore more than all my mana in one go. Sadly, the cooldown would prevent me from doing that more than once every minute. But it seemed I didn’t have many other plays to make and I was running out of time holding my breath. Go big or big home, right?

  Deciding on my play, I pressed my thumb and forefinger together into an ‘okay’ sign.

  “You’ve got a plan?”

  I nodded.

  “Good luck, Zoran. I’m with you.”

  Gripping an earth rune in my palm, I stepped out into view of the corridor.

  “Pretend you’re still affected by the dream shade.”

  Putting on my best drunk face, I staggered out of the archmage’s chambers, grinning stupidly.

  “The higher level is approaching from the front, the other from behind.”

  Just out of the doorway, I stood still, feigning sobering up suddenly and looking down at my hands as though dazed.

  “Get ready, Zoran.”

  With every ounce of control, I fought the urge to gulp, to look up, to give any hint I knew that two players were creeping around me. Their stealth levels must have been high for I couldn’t catch a hint of them moving, not even a shimmer of a stealth effect. Mind you, I was about twenty levels below them. A level thirty-something mouse could probably have run circles around me. Even so, I could swear I heard the one in front of me breathing. They were shallow, excited breaths; this guy was thrilled at the idea of killing me – another human being – for real. Knowing that helped to turn my nerves into cold fury.

  “Now!” Ellie cried.

  I let my feet fall out from under me, dropping and rolling to the side. Grunts of annoyance were met with shrieks of pain as their intended attacks struck each other.

  Rising out of my roll, I twisted around, sprung forward and jabbed my bayonet into the back of the higher-level rogue. Through some miracle, it worked. His health flashed and fell, but I’d only get one easy hit in.

  The lower-level player was stunned from an ability, and my direct opponent was bleeding badly from a wound to his chest, his health continuing to fall from the bleed effect of his ally’s attack.

  “You hacking prick,�
�� he said, rounding on me, showing no mercy in his eyes.

  Activating the earth rune, I poured every drop of mana into it I had and released it upon myself.

  Rock Armor

  Incoming damage reduced by 62%

  Empowered! Incoming damage reduced by 5%

  Duration 6 seconds

  Sheets of stone formed around my whole body, including my head, snapping into place in the blink of an eye, like Iron Man’s suit. A protective suit, an AI in my head and lots of crafting, I wasn’t far off Tony Stark; except I was balls deep in debt and didn’t have my own Pepper Pots. Oh well. My armor made me feel invincible even if I wasn’t. With undue confidence, I leapt at the rogue.

  My transformation made him hesitate, allowing me to ram my bayonet at his stomach. I stabbed again and again and again, yelling from the effort as I struck, praying it would be enough.

  I felt the rogue’s strikes glance off my rock armor, the damage nicked at my health, which was greatly reduced. After a flurry of blows, the twin attacks became one and he threw a broken dagger away; its durability wrecked from repeatedly striking stone.

  This only angered him, and his next attack hit my crossbow. Chips of wood flew and the wire binding the dagger to the frame was cut. My makeshift bayonet fell away, leaving me without a melee damage.

  With a second left on the rock armor, I saw my second foe shake free of the stun effect. I couldn’t take on two at once, not unless I separated them.