The trip was short before I hit the ground. Not hard, mind you, more like falling off a chair. The bright light made me squint and blink my eyes. I looked up and found that the light was completely gone and had been replaced with stars. Lots and lots of stars. Something enormous and white floated high above and behind it was something smaller but no less luminous.
Moons.
I moved my right leg and found that it was elevated. Was I laying over a log? I shifted so I could see where I had landed and discovered that not only was I buck naked, I was laying on top of Oz.
“Get off me,” he groaned.
I rolled over and got on my hands and feet then pushed up to my feet. Wobbling off balance, I had to lean over and put my hand on terra firma again. There was something hard and flat under my hand. I grasped it and lifted my book. It still had the little strap, but there was no way to tie it to anything, so I looped it over my wrist.
The only thing I woke up with was this almost useless book that was flakier than an old man’s scalp. Seriously. I never wanted to go through that experience again as long as I lived.
“I feel sick,” I said.
“I feel like shit,” Oz replied.
My HUD flickered and came back to life. I glanced up and was relieved to find that my circles were back and they were full including my new mana pool.
“So that’s what it’s like to die here,” I said.
“I don’t want a repeat. That was the worst experience I’ve ever been through.”
“Dude! Karian was the woman in the cave,” I exclaimed.
“You’re imagining things. That was just some NPC.”
“No, man. I’m sure of it. She even recognized me.”
“So why didn’t she die and wake up here with us?” Oz got to his feet and covered his junk.
I did the same thing, and we stood there like a couple of idiots for a few seconds while we awkwardly looked anywhere but at each other.
“Because she was a ninja in there. Just before it went dark, she rolled over, grabbed your sword, and fought that guy.”
“See. Not Karian. She’s makes graphics and shit, she’s no fighter.”
“To be fair neither are you or I,” I said.
Oz blew out a breath and then laughed. “Truer words. We just got our asses kicked.”
“And we lost everything. I guess we’re going to have to go back on a corpse run.”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that,” Oz said. “At least in the old game you woke up with something even if it was a minor weapon.”
“In the upgraded game you did. As it got easier and easier they made death less impactive. At least I didn’t lose any XP,” I said.
Oz looked up and then nodded, “Neither did I, so that’s a relief.”
“Do you feel like walking yet?”
“Not really but we might as well head back,” Oz said. “Are you sure she took care of that guy?”
“Both of them. Karian’s got some moves,” I said.
He noticed my book, looked around and found his. He picked it up and flipped through the pages. Then he snapped the book shut and lifted it over his head.
“What are you doing?”
“Screw this damn thing, and screw this stupid game world. I want to go home. I miss my life, my apartment, my cushy couch and brand new holo-set. I want to sit back and watch superheroes shows all day, not live through all of this bullshit,” Oz said in frustration.
“Let’s go back, get our stuff, see what Karian has to say, and plan our next move. Throwing your book away isn’t going to accomplish anything.”
“Screw this book,” Oz said and tossed it into the woods.
I stood there for a full twenty seconds unsure what to do. Should I retrieve the book for Oz? Did I want to go tramping over that underbrush without my shoes?
Nothing made sense, so instead, I turned toward the road and began the long march back to get our stuff.
THE TRIP WAS WORSE the second time. It was dark, cold, and we didn’t have anything to wear. We didn’t even have a weapon between us and don’t get me started on not having a pair of shoes. Animals moved around in the bushes along the side of the road, and at any moment I expected something to burst out and eat us. There were so many dangers in this world. Bears, snakes, freaking two-headed lizards the size of ponies. Not to mention the human element. Bandits were one thing, but there were also necromancers who would love nothing better than to grab us, take out us back to his or her lair, and use our still beating hearts to animate the dead or feed bizarre experiments.
“My feet hurt worse than before. I don’t get it, how is it that our pools are full again, but our wounds are still there?”
“I don’t know. I guess we need one of those healing potions. Or rest and first aid,” I guessed as I took careful steps. Even in the bright moonlight, it was hard to see exactly what I was stepping on and every single little pebble or exposed root was like a dagger in the bottom of my already damaged feet.
“At least the mortal wound healed,” Oz observed.
A cluster of shapes hovered a few feet from the edge of our path. I skirted it but kept my eyes peeled. As we drew abreast, they took form. Like small women without any clothing, they hovered on wings the size of small kites. Beautiful and deadly these were the dreaded nymph-wisps that caused no end of terror to early level adventurers back in the day.
“Cover your ears and look straight ahead,” I said and slapped my hands over the side of my head.
We marched past them and didn’t dare look. After a minute of this, I risked a glance to the right, but we had left the nymph-wisps behind.
“Damn that was weird,” I said.
“Huh?”
“It’s okay we’re past them.”
Oz lowered his hands. “Those things are weird.”
“Yep. Let’s not look back. Making eye contact is a sure way to get lured to their lair,” I said and forced my eyes straight ahead.
We reached the edge of the forest, and the rock marker came into view. I took very cautious steps as we left the road and found the path. Leaves and branches were an obstacle that forced us to pause with each step and feel ahead. Twigs, old leaves, roots, and rocks sought to turn my already damaged feet into hamburger.
A branch scraped my calf and then another one got me across the gut. I ran my hand over my chest to check for blood and found a scar. Then I touched my throat and found another one.
“Have you noticed where you got stabbed?”
“Huh?” Oz felt touched his chest and stopped in his tracks.
“I wish I could see mine. I bet they look cool,” I said.
“Nothing about this is cool. This is pure misery,” Oz groaned.
“Agreed.”
The double-handed sword still lay next to the rock. Oz leaned over, picked it up, and then slung it, so the flat side of the blade rested on his shoulder. The fire was almost completely gone, and I didn’t bother messing with it this time around. What was the point?
We advanced into the cave again with Oz in the lead. We crouched and moved a few feet at a time in case one of the bandits had returned, and Karian had also been killed, although if she had, she must have woken at a different portal. If that was the case, I didn’t know how in the hell we were going to stop from dying again. Oz sucked with the sword, for now, and I had nothing. I didn’t trust my spell because the guy in the big room in the back of the cave had walked through it like a minor annoyance.
When we reached the room in which we had died, there was no one there except the body of the guy who had killed us. He lay on his back with blood leaking around Oz’s short sword because it was still stuck in his chest.
My clothes and gear lay in a heap where I had died next to the wall. Oz’s stuff wasn’t far away.
“Let’s get our shit and get the hell out of here,” Oz said.
“Going without me?”
A shadow detached from the back hallway and formed in the near dark. Karian was so g
raceful, and when she appeared in the light, I felt a weird combination of dread, embarrassment, and a flutter in my stomach.
“Uh,” Oz said.
“Wow. You guys are buck-ass naked,” Karian put her hand over her mouth to cover her giggle. “Hi, Walt and Oswald, you guys truly look like hell.”
WE GOT DRESSED while Karian turned her back, but her shoulders shook as she fought down more giggles. I was flustered, to say the least. This wasn’t how I had imagined she would see me naked for the first time.
Blood, still wet and sticky, soaked my shirt and when I slid into it the clothing stuck to my skin. Oz huffed and grumped while he dragged his worn clothing over his body, and let out a curse or two.
“So, what have you guys been doing since you got here?” Karian asked.
“Trying to survive, I guess,” I said. “How are you here and where did you get that sweet armor? How in the world did you end up in this cave and where did you learn how to roll and stab people so well?”
“Slow down. I woke up a few days ago and went out looking for adventure. I leveled up pretty quickly and bought my gear in Weslori a few miles up the road. There’s a cool armorer who had something that would fit me. Paid a premium but I can move in this stuff,” Karian said.
I had so many questions I didn’t even know where to begin.
“Is there anyone else in this cave?” Oz asked.
He had pulled his sword out of the bandit and dropped the big two-hander next to the bandit’s body.
“Nah. Just these two losers,” Karian said like she was talking about the weather.
“You woke up in Candleburn?” I said.
“Yeah, but I didn’t stay. That place was a shit hole. I sweet talked two guards, and they gave me some leather shoes a female recruit had left in the barracks a year ago. She never came back for them. Once I had that I begged them to give me a weapon and they were pretty eager to comply.” Karian grinned.
“Let me guess,” Oz ventured. “Hull and Quaint?”
“Yep. A couple of nice boys.”
“To you, maybe. They were complete dicks to us,” I said.
“Well, what do you expect? They have their NPC path ingrained in their programming. You just have to think outside of the box. Their AI can only handle so much before you get around it,” Karian said.
I sat on one of the beds, and it wasn’t too uncomfortable. Oz dropped to the floor and leaned back against the other bed. Karian sat on that one and stretched out her legs.
She did have nice gear. It wasn’t exactly form fitting, but it allowed her to be lithe. I knew this because I had seen her roll, grab a sword, extend her body from a kneeling position with her leg bent, and stab the bandit who had killed us. She had made it look so easy it made me feel like a loser.
“I assume you’re not level two?”
“Two?” She scoffed. “I hit seven when I killed that asshole right there,” she said. “So what was dying like? When you both went down your bodies shimmered in a bright light, and then they were gone. The only thing left were your clothes. I thought maybe you got out of the game but I’ve been hurt, and I know that the pain is real. I was too chicken to let something kill me out there.”
“So, you’re level seven and yet these guys managed to tie you up and drag you into their cave,” Oz said.
“A tactical mistake. I thought I could take a couple, but I didn’t count on the big guy with the two-handed sword. He rang my bell pretty hard,” Karian rubbed the back of her head.
“Then he went out and took a nap? Weird,” Oz said.
“Not really. It’s his programmed destination. Honestly, I thought I almost had the knot loose. I think that was part of the quest too. Go to the cave, kill a couple of bandits, and then return for a nice reward and a bunch of XP.”
“Just admit it,” Oz said. “We came at just the right time. I bet we’ll get some of that XP if we go back with you for the turn-in.”
“Cool. Whatever. We just have to bring back the bandit's ears,” Karian said.
“You know,” I interjected. “When I’m playing Th’loria, I don’t even think twice about bringing back body parts, tails, guts, or whatever. In this place, it’s pretty damn gross.”
Oz and Karian had been getting pretty heated, but my attempt at humor made them back off.
“It’s a gross world. I can back that up from experience,” Karian said.
“Dying was the worst occurrence of my life,” I said truthfully.
“How did you take him out so easily?” Oz said. “He was good, but he was also very cautious with me for some reason,” Oz said.
“That’s because you’re Asian.”
“What? I’m only half-Asian. My dad’s a Korean but my mom’s white.”
“You have the look. The eastern Monks? He probably thought you were going to disarm him with your hands and kick in his head.”
“Oh,” Oz said. “That’s why one of the townspeople mentioned the Calia Rai.”
“Yeah. You might not have the stat for it yet, but you should look into it. Did you ever study martial arts?”
“No, because not every Asian studies Kung Fu.” Oz frowned.
“Just asking. Sheesh,” Karian said. “I took Tae Kwon Do for a few years. Forgot a lot but some of it has recently come back to me.”
“Figures,” I said. “The only thing I’m good at fighting is a hangover.”
Which wasn’t true but it sounded kind of cool. Who had time to drink when you were raiding with your guild up to twenty hours a week?
“So you came in here because…?” Karian trailed off.
“Heard you screaming. Plus we thought we would get some easy experience,” I said.
“And you both promptly got killed. It looked like it sucked. So you woke up outside of the cave?”
“Nope. We woke up at the place where we were bound,” I said.
“So that’s how it works. Pretty smart programming,” Karian said.
“Screw the programming shit. How in the fucking hell are we even here in this real life game world, and more importantly, how do we get out?” Oz kicked the bandit’s foot. The bandit didn’t care and just lay there like a lump.
“I don’t know, honestly, guys. I’m as miffed as you are. I know Howard has his pet team of engineers, and I knew they were working on something big down in the dungeon, but I had no idea it was this,” Karian said with a heavy sigh.
The dungeon was the secret area under AlgerTech that only a select few were allowed to see.
“Goddamn, my head hurts. And my body. My shoulders and back feel like they were scraped raw with a rock,” I said. “And somehow we are still stuck here.”
“Let me see,” Karian said.
She stood, leaned over, and pushed my shirt aside. Then her cool fingers brushed my shoulder and goosebumps broke out. “Yeah. You have a nasty sunburn. The good news is that the next room has a bunch of supplies. You guys can probably get some armor and weapons in there. Plus there are potions. You should share a health, and you’ll both feel a lot better. Oh and there’s a dead guy in there as well.”
“Great. After that, how do we get out of this damn game?” Oz asked.
“I don’t know,” Karian said. “But listen. We have a lot of time to talk this out and a lot more time to figure out our next move. You guys gear up and then we’ll get some sleep. I’m pretty exhausted.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said even though I could have sat here and talked to Karian all night.
I got up, and with Oz following, we went into the next room. That’s when, for the first time since we had arrived, I felt something like hope.
11
FOUR’S A CROWD
Last year I did this quest to kill a high-level necromancer. I took a vacation day during the week, intent on spending all day in Realms of Th’loria, and took all of the necessary steps to ensure uninterrupted gameplay. Microwave food, a full pot of coffee, some protein drinks just in case I couldn’t get away, and I even
took some anti-diarrhea meds so I wouldn’t have to go to the damn bathroom more than a few times. Don’t scoff, this was serious business.
The day did not go as planned. First I wasted over an hour LFG (Looking for Group) before a multi-class thief/warrior showed and offered to get in. He was one level higher than me, and while it would be a tough challenge, I didn’t think I could waste any more time looking for more party members.
We did a dungeon dive and spent a few hours clearing the lower levels of creatures. When we made it to the next level and found the necromancer, the battle started to turn, and we were getting our asses kicked.
The other player, some guy named Blanderlain, urged me to cast a high-level spell that would take five to ten seconds to gather enough mana to toss at the necro. He promised to cover my back. So I put up a low-level shield and stood rooted in place while my resources pooled. The guy throws a cloak of darkness over the entire room and the next thing I know my character is getting pummeled.
I screamed for Blanderlain to help but that jerk ran off, exited the catacombs, and disconnected.
I died—terribly, and the corpse run required me to sheepishly ask a couple of guild members if they would help me get my stuff back later that night.
Entire vacation day wasted thanks to some asshole.
THE CAVE’S final chamber was a treasure trove.
Stacks of weapons, piles of armor, chests waiting to be opened, and on a rough wooden table in one corner, a bunch of potions had been lined in neat rows. There were leather satchels, bags, and a dead guy.
He had both daggers, the very same weapons used to kill us, driven into his gut. He still wore the same surprised look and smelled like shit. Oz and I dragged him into a corner and then found a blanket and covered his body.
“Let’s take him outside later,” Oz suggested.
“Good call. We can toss his corpse outside with the other two assholes.”
“Karian could take one outside. She killed them after all,” Oz said.
“She looks tired. We can handle corpse detail,” I said.
Oz leaned over from draping a blanket over the dead guy and put his hands on his hips. “Why don’t you just tell her you’re in love with her. Jesus, dude. She can help us clean up, it’s no big deal.”
SHARDS OF REALITY: A LitRPG novel (Enter the Realm Book 1) Page 10
