by Terry Schott
Her head shook. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Of course they do,” Xander said. “Fealty must be shown in order to know that it is truly given.”
Mercy scowled, and Xander laughed. “You wanted the role, now you must accept it.”
“Fine,” she sighed, and the guards stood. “Dispose of the body and spread the word. We will perform my dedication ceremony a week from today, at midnight. All who wish to remain in the fold will be present.”
The guards nodded and bent to grab the Shard’s body. They dragged it out through a side door in the chamber.
“That went easier than I thought,” Xander said.
“It’s been coming for a while. Training you forced me to put a hold on things, but now that I have finished with that, it is time to tackle this.” She sat and poured wine into the two glasses.
“What’s next for me?” Xander accepted a glass.
“A ceremony making you a full-fledged Death Stryker, with all the rights and privileges that come with it.” She raised her glass. “And then I put you to work.”
“Raising hell for the Dark Lady?”
“With the powerful gifts you wield in her name?” Mercy smiled. “Absolutely.”
Chapter 64
Aleron opened the door to Kieran’s office and stepped inside. He walked around the room, examining things more closely than he ever could when the Master Scout was present. When he scanned the desk, he noticed the envelope resting there.
It was addressed to Aleron.
Aleron pulled the chair out and sat. Then he opened the letter and began to read.
Aleron,
I know it sounds cliché, but by the time you read this I will be dead.
Aleron felt a stab of sadness.
As you will have also discovered, everyone else is missing from the keep. I hope you’re sitting down, because I have a bit of serious news to share.
You are now the only living Scout in Preu Treya.
Aleron looked up from the letter. A wave of something swept over him. It was a combination of sadness, nervousness, and fear.
Don’t be frightened. I know that is the most natural feeling to have at this moment, but don’t. The good news is that you will not be alone forever. Young NPCs are being born with the talent to become a Scout even as I write this. Your job is to find them, train them, and help the Scout Class return to the world.
Yes, at first the absence of our services will cause issues. People have become lazy these past two hundred years. They came to us and we levelled them. But adventurers levelled before that, prior to Scouts walking the land. Do the best you can, and encourage the people to discover the old ways.
One of the side effects of fewer individuals who can level others is that people will slow down and focus on other aspects of life. It wouldn’t hurt to build better cities, live and enjoy each other, dance and sing a little. I know. Many will not agree, but it is your job to encourage them to do so.
There’s more to life than levelling.
I hope that people can remember that truth.
As for the keep, it’s yours. So is the treasure and artifacts that we have collected over the years. I have left a series of books that detail every location of a Scout stronghold or treasure area. Spend some time and get to know that inventory. I am sure you will put it to good use.
And that’s about it. It was great to meet you. It was amazing to be able to live for centuries inside the game we dreamed about as kids. I don’t know if I’ve gone to another adventure or if this is it. Either way, I have no regrets.
Live your life the same way, Aleron, and all will be good.
Your friend,
Kieran
Aleron read the letter once more.
Then, he set it on the desk and leaned back in the chair.
“Well,” he said. “Looks like I won’t get bored any time soon.”
Chapter 65
Six Months Later
In other news, ARC Gaming Industries is closing its doors today. The once popular game maker overextended itself fiscally when it tried to develop the world’s first FIVR (fully immersive virtual reality) game, Blades VR.
The company spent a considerable sum of money developing Blades VR and, for a while, it looked as if the bold move would succeed. But serious issues identified during beta testing that could not be corrected caused the company to file for bankruptcy a few weeks ago.
When asked if he would do anything differently, President and CEO Isaac Chase replied that the company learned a great deal from the endeavour and had no regrets. Rumours are already popping up that Chase will gather another round of funding and attempt to try again under a different corporate name.
Having come so close, many industry experts believe that Chase’s next venture has an excellent chance of succeeding.
Gamer’s Roll Call — Tracy Halpert reporting
Jeremy Granger opened the door and stood to one side. “After you, my lady.”
Shale entered the room, eyes wide. “Oh, wow. There it is.”
Jeremy closed the door and came to stand beside her. “There it is.”
They stared through the window that made up the entire far wall. Beyond was a clean room filled with computer hard drives and gadgetry. There were desks located throughout the area with computer technicians staring at monitors and typing on keyboards.
Shale walked to the window. “A quantum computer.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s huge.”
Jeremy laughed and pointed. “Actually, it’s kinda small. See that tiny area over there?”
“The part that looks like a walk-in freezer?”
“That’s right. The actual quantum hard drive is inside that little room. All the other equipment is peripheral. Monitors, traditional hard drives to deliver commands, analyze feedback, queue functions. Boring stuff.”
Shale laughed. “The little room is the brains, but the entire huge room is required to run it all, right?”
“Yep. Come grab a seat. I had some tea made for us.”
They moved to a corner of the office and sat in rich leather chairs. Jeremy leaned forward and poured two cups of tea from an ornate china pot.
“That teapot looks expensive.”
“It’s from some dynasty in China. Couple thousand years old or so.” Jeremy winked and handed her a cup. “Makes the tea taste better, if you ask me.”
Shale laughed and raised the cup to her lips. She sniffed and then took a sip. “You know, I think it actually does.”
Jeremy smiled and leaned back in his chair.
“How did this happen again?”
“Before Isaac shut his original world server down, I let him know that I had made a backup a few weeks prior.”
“Was he mad?”
“Not at that point. He’s a bit different since his encounter with Xander. You know, before he exited the game.”
“I heard about that. Is he okay?”
“Yes. Not really…but I think he will be. Anyway, he was happy that I had created a mirror server. I hired some of his lead people—they were looking for jobs anyway—and then they made sure that what was here matched their system.”
“And it did?”
“Perfectly. Blades VR was officially shut down, but the entire world lives on in the room behind us.”
“We can’t go in, though?”
Jeremy shook his head. “Not until we can fix the mortality issue.”
Shale laughed. “Mortality issue. Makes it sound like a minor problem.”
“I was calling it the ‘kills people randomly’ issue, but that didn’t go over well.” He grinned and took another sip of tea.
“Do you think we ever will? Fix the mortality issue?”
“I’m committed to trying.” He shook his head. “Sadly, the more we learn, the more we realize how serious a problem it really is. In the end we might have had a chance to immerse ourselves in Blades VR not because we are smart, but because we were too stup
id to see the dangers at the beginning.”
Shale sighed. “That’s a shame. It was so fun.”
“It really was.”
“How are the boys doing? Inside.”
“Alive and well. Aleron is roaming the land, meeting with the different races to teach them how to live without the presence of Scouts. Xander is being a very good Death Stryker, which means he is being very bad.” Jeremy laughed. “And Seb is laying low at the moment, living a boring life. Although he isn’t technically alive, being a lich and all.”
“If you get technical enough, none of them are.”
“That’s true.” Jeremy laughed.
“You know, there’s one thing about this whole adventure that I still don’t get,” Shale said.
“What’s that?”
“The original Scouts. They claimed to be from Earth, yet they arrived two hundred or so years earlier than we did. How is something like that even possible?”
“I looked into that and I’m positive that it wasn’t possible. The only conclusion that makes sense is that the Scouts were NPCs just like all the others.”
“They didn’t act like it. They knew about our world. And they were more powerful than anyone else.”
“All of that could be accomplished by coding them to behave that way.” Fen smiled. “I think Sebastian programmed the Scouts to believe that they were from Earth; that they came to Preu Treya hundreds of years earlier and waited for us to get there.”
“Hmm. I guess that does make the most sense.”
“It added a kick-ass element to the game, though, didn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Shale considered the explanation and nodded. “It really did.”
“Disappointed?”
“Not at all. Like you said, they added a huge amount of fun and realism to the game and storylines. Hats off to Seb for coming up with such a cool twist, and playing along with it.”
“He always loved being the Lore Master, according to Isaac.” Fen took another sip of tea. “You’ve gotten the tour and seen what I’ve been up to. How ’bout you, Shale? What are your plans?”
“Gaming and school. Although the gaming isn’t as fun anymore without Aleron.”
“And after you graduate?”
“I’ll likely go to work at my dad’s company.”
“Nanotech, right?”
She nodded.
“Sounds exciting.”
“Sounds that way, yes. But it’s actually kinda boring.”
“I’m sure you’ll do great.”
“Thanks, Fen.”
He chuckled. “So what do you think? Are you interested in a summer internship here?”
Shale’s grin widened. “Working with you for a few months? Absolutely.”
“That’s great. I’m excited to have you with us. I’m sure we can teach you some awesome things.”
“I have no doubt you can. And who knows?” She looked past him at the Blades computer system. “Maybe I’ll help discover a way to allow us to go back to Preu Treya someday.”
Epilogue
The three dice tumbled across the desk and came to a stop. The boy looked up and laughed. “Three sixes. Eighteen on my first roll, Mr. Fischer!”
Mr. Fischer smiled but raised one hand and waggled a finger. “What’s the rule about using our mundane names?”
“Sorry, Lore Master. I forgot.”
“Come on, man.” His older brother jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. “You’ve been here for less than an hour and already you’re forgetting the rules?”
“It is his first time with us, Gorm,” Mr. Fischer smiled. “That’s why we mix rookie players with veterans such as yourself. To help us all learn and assimilate well.”
The boy smiled. He had been looking forward to this moment since his brother had come home two years ago and announced that he’d been accepted into one of Mr. Fischer’s Blades of Verchinor role-playing groups. The grade six teacher had been running these games for so long that being invited to play had become a rite of passage among many teenagers in town. The boy had listened carefully each time his brother came home and recounted the adventures he and his group would have. The wait had felt long, but now he was finally old enough to join himself.
“Write the score down, lad.” Mr. Fischer opened the player’s guidebook and pushed it across the desk. “Check the tables and copy these stats: encumbrance, plusses to hit, and armour class adjustment beside the eighteen.”
He found the familiar charts—this wasn’t his first time playing Blades of Verchinor—and began to write them down.
“Did you hear the bad news?” Gorm asked the teacher. “ARC Gaming went out of business yesterday.”
“I heard,” the teacher nodded.
“Apparently Blades VR wasn’t one hundred percent safe, or something like that, and they couldn’t figure out how to fix it.”
“I’m sure it was one hundred percent safe, Gorm, but games like that need to be more than perfect. It’s called a safety factor. The designers likely wanted it to be one hundred and thirty percent safe.”
“Think anyone died during beta testing?”
“I’m sure no one died. My guess is that the beta testing revealed safety issues that were simply outside acceptable safety limits.”
“Yeah, you’re likely right. Still, it’s a bummer that we aren’t gonna be able to play. I was really looking forward to a FIVR Blades game.”
The teacher laughed. “Don’t worry. I guarantee you that a fully immersive virtual reality version of Blades will exist within the next few years.”
“You think so?”
“Absolutely.” Mr. Fischer turned to the boy. “How are you doing, nameless one? Looks like you’re finished copying the stats?”
“I am, Lore Master.”
“Excellent.” The teacher pulled the character sheet close and skimmed the contents. Then he pushed it back. “Write your character name on the top. Remember, your first name is what we will call you during your entire time with us. You will play many characters and give them all different names, but the first one is your name in this room during play time.”
The boy nodded and began to write the name that he had chosen.
Mr. Fischer looked past the brothers to the five other kids sitting at the large playing table. “Ladies and gentlemen.” The kids looked at their teacher. “It is time to welcome our newest player. Please stand for the naming ceremony.”
The players stood, solemn expressions on their faces, hands behind their backs. Mr. Fischer stood, picked up the new character sheet, and nodded. The boy and his brother followed the teacher to the long rectangular table at the back of the room and stood in front of the two vacant chairs on one side.
No longer a teacher, but a Lore Master playing his role, the man took his place at the head of the table. “We are gathered to welcome our newest member for the Tuesday night campaign group. You all know his brother, Gorm. I am certain this new,” he paused and looked down at the character sheet, “Crafter, will make an excellent addition to our party.” He handed the character sheet to the boy. “And now, please welcome…” The Lore Master nodded.
The boy smiled. He looked at his brother, took a deep breath, and spoke. “Kieran. My name is Kieran.”
This Concludes the Blades VR Trilogy
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The Crumbs
I’ve always been nuts about reading and games.
I have read a ton of books in many genres, but fantasy was my go to.
For as long as I can remember I’ve dreamed of being able to enter a reality of swords and sorcery, wielding magic and a blade as I adventure through wondrous new lands filled with strange races and monsters.
I played Dungeons and Dragons as a kid and even returned to playing when I was in my twenties and found a new group of
guys still sitting around the table once a week throwing dice and dungeon crawling with pencil and paper.
Then I heard about a new game called Everquest.
Look it up on Youtube today and it is unimpressive. Blocky polygon graphics, sparse effects and flora spread throughout the game environment, wooden animation of the avatars.
But when it first came out, Everquest was the closest anyone had ever come to creating a visual fantasy world that people could immerse themselves in, and it was incredible.
I spent a lot of time living in that virtual world. A few years later I left Everquest and began to play World of Warcraft. The graphics, characters, systems, blew me away.
As I logged into that world I remember thinking, ‘Imagine if someday virtual reality exists and we could fully enter such a place.”
And then this came to mind immediately. ‘If that were possible, I don’t think I would ever want to come back to the real world.”
That’s where the concept for Blades VR was first conceived in my head.
Writing this trilogy was an attempt to show you what will likely be possible in my lifetime (fingers crossed) and to hopefully convey how cool such a thing will be.
Hope you enjoyed the ride.
I appreciate that you tagged along.
Terry
Acknowledgements
If you enjoyed this series—especially books two and three—then join me in thanking my writer best friend, Shawn Inmon. He was the biggest fan of this series, and he deserves a huge round of applause for campaigning to have me keep writing. Thanks Shawn, I am thrilled that some small part of me listened and somehow drowned out the larger whining part which considered stopping after book one.
Doreen Martens edited this one and I think she did a great job. Sometimes editors get a bit ticked off with me because I use non-American English. Doreen had no problem with this and made sure I added those extra letters where required along the journey. Thanks, Doreen. Can’t wait to work with you again on the next project.
