I dug into my bag as we ran and pulled out a potion. Red. Shit!
I tossed it back into the bag and nearly tripped over a huge branch as I tried to keep one foot in front of the other. Karian’s figure wasn’t very far ahead of me, but my two faster, and thinner friends hauled ass away from pissed-off poppa bear.
He thundered behind us at breakneck speed, and I think the ground shook.
I dug out another potion, found the right one, popped the cork while I ran, and downed half of the potion of mana restoration. It sank into my belly, and my mana pool topped off.
I thought of the first spell as I came to a halt. The bear was less than twenty feet away when I unleashed it.
The beast roared as fingers licked up from the ground and slowed the bear. He snarled and bit at the ethereal fingers. I followed up with a blast of ice. The bear howled in fury, as it staggered back. Maybe that would be enough to turn the bastard around and let us make our retreat.
Karian’s fingers closed around my upper arm. I spun to find she had come back for me.
“He’s red. All you can do is slow him down. If you try to fight him we’re all dead,” Karian warned me.
“I got this,” I said and raised my hands again to cast a second blast of frost.
I still had enough of my potion to fuel another three blasts.
“No you don’t,” Karian pleaded.
I turned and looked her in the face and saw something I hadn’t since we had met in Th’loria. Fear.
“Shit,” I said and unleashed the second spell anyway even though the headache threatened to come back in full force.
The bear roared in a fury, broke free of the slow spell, and raced after us.
“Come on,” Karian pulled my arm.
I spun and nodded. “Just wanted to slow him down a little bit.”
“We can’t take him. Just run,” Karian urged again.
I finally did the smart thing and followed her advice.
THE ENTRANCE to the cave came into view as we pounded up the hill. We had left in the opposite direction of the path and struck out to find the cluster of mobs that Karian had marked from memory. Branches beat at me and more than once I took a full face full of pine needles. The bear had nearly caught up, and I could practically feel him breathing down my neck.
“Grayson. Grab your bow and kill this bear,” Karian yelled as the cave came into view.
Grayson sprang up from his perch and unslung his weapon.
“Ah, my dear. I see you’ve brought us a new rug. I shall have the beast dispatched momentarily,” he called back.
He whipped an arrow out of his sheath and studied the tip and then the shaft for a second before nodding to himself.
He notched and then drew the string to his cheek.
Karian ducked to the side as Grayson loosed. The arrow flew like a shot and struck the bear in the side. He roared again and charged onward.
“Can you kill him?” Karian asked as she reached Grayson’s side.
“Of course. I was merely testing his weaknesses, and that was not one of them,” Grayson grinned.
Karian’s face dropped as she realized she was talking to a madman.
Oz ducked behind Grayson, and I was right behind him. I leaned over and put my hands on my hips and breathed in big ragged breaths because I felt as if I had just run a marathon even though it was only about a quarter of a mile.
“Want me..” gasp…“to strike him..” gasp... “with another ice bolt?”
“No bother old chap.” Grayson grinned, took out another arrow, and notched it.
He pulled the bow taut once again.
Karian’s eyes grew large, and she backed away from Grayson. Oz and I followed her as we tracked the bear’s progress.
Grayson loosed and struck the bear again, but it ricocheted off the beast’s head.
“Tough bugger,” were the last words Grayson got out before the bear took him to the ground.
“Don’t worry, my love. I shall have him dispatched shortly,” he gurgled in his high lilted British accent.
“Run!” it was my turn to yell.
14
EMBRACE THE SUCK
The minute we got out of this world I was going get some real answers. I didn’t care what I had to do, even if I had to go to the media. It was unconscionable for the company to stick us in this world without our permission.
By the time Oz, Karian, and I were done suing AlgerTech for tens of millions of dollars, we would be set. That was actually enough to make me feel a little better about the new life we were stuck in. I’d have so much money I would never have to work another day in my life.
Unfortunately, a sick realization had begun to sink in.
As much as I loved Th’loria, I didn’t think I would ever be able to play the game again. Now that I had been in the real life version, the digital world would be hard to embrace again no matter how good my VR rig was. I wouldn’t even be able to play it on a small screen the way I played them ten years ago.
I had been here for all of one day, and I already hated it more than I’ve hated anything in my life.
It was hard to believe, but I’d had enough Realms of Th’loria to last me the rest of my life.
The bear dragged Grayson’s corpse into our cave with a snarl. Black eyes met mine as the beast ate Grayson’s face. I turned on my heel and fled with Karian and Oz.
The hardest part was leaving the location behind. I hadn’t even had a chance to sort out all of the stuff in the back room. There were more swords, pikes, bags of stuff that I assumed were money and jewels, and probably some incredible magical items. There were a few scrolls I had not had a chance to read or tuck into my pack because I had stupidly assumed we would be able to come back later today and collect what we needed. The bandits must have been fantastic at their job because it was a treasure trove in there.
Now a bear the size of a mountain lived in the cave, and he had a nice fat meal.
“Maybe we can climb up in some trees and wait for him to wander away,” I suggested. “If he leaves. He might finish eating our British friend and decide to hibernate.”
“Maybe we can climb a tree and yell, ‘Hey, bear. Look at the fresh meat popsicles,’” Oz said.
“Forget this place. Let’s go to Weslori and find more adventure,” Karian said. “And some better gear.”
“Then what?” Oz said.
“I don’t know. Find more adventure after that.” Karian shrugged.
“You’re actually enjoying this, aren’t you?” Oz asked in consternation.
“It's no big deal. You guys like fantasy games so now you get to live in one. And you already know what happens when you die, so what’s the big rush to go back home? I say enjoy it while we can.”
“Do you think we can find our way out of this shithole?” Oz said.
“You mean to a better realm?” Karian asked. “Because if you’re asking how to get out of the game world and back to real life, I already said I have no idea.”
“Right,” Oz scoffed.
We trumped out of the woods via the original trail Oz and I had followed. The rock marker was still in one piece, and beyond it lay the main road. If we backtracked, we could be in Candleburn in twenty minutes, but they would just turn us away at the gate. Karian would probably be accepted with open arms. Us, not so much. We hadn’t even retrieved the idol that might have gotten us back in everyone’s good graces.
“I don’t see that we have any choice but to move on,” I said.
Oz grunted and looked very unhappy about this latest turn of events. I didn’t bother voicing my opinion because he was doing a good job for the both of us.
The road was kinder to me as we walked. I had my new boots, and my robe, for all of its spaciousness, was a lot warmer than the crappy clothing we had awoken in. Good riddance to that noob-ware. The sun shone high overhead and the day heated up to something like a comfortable mid-seventies if I had to take a guess. We were probably the only people in the
world who even cared about something like how hot it would be at 3 o’clock. Back in the real world, it was a simple matter of checking your watch or phone to find out the forecast. Here you probably had to wet your finger, stick it in the air, and hope a monster didn’t come along and chomp it off before you determined which way the freaking wind blew.
Karian and Oz weren’t very talkative as we walked along a line of trees that made up a forest on either side. A half hour later the landscape opened up, and we found traces of civilization.
“Look at that field. I bet cows or sheep used to graze on it,” I observed, pointing to a long stretch of land with a fallen farm house and barn rotting in the center.
“Hmph,” Oz replied.
“I wonder if goblins still maintain their fort off to the west. I raided that place more than a few times,” I tried.
“Huh,” Karian said.
“You guys are a couple of grumps,” I said.
“It’s just this day. Not what I had in mind and now Grayson is gone. I wonder if he will respawn,” Karian said.
“I haven’t been here long enough to see if mobs respawn,” I said.
“He wasn’t a mob. He was a very well designed NPC if I do say so myself,” Karian said and took the lead.
“Yeah, well, he’s a very well-eaten NPC right now,” Oz said.
Karian ignored him and pointed up the road. “See where those trees end? That’s where the crossroad is. I don’t know what’s to the left, but if you go right, there’s the city of Weslori up on a hill.”
“There should be signs with street names.” I glanced up and down the dirt road. “And where are the travelers? I find it hard to believe there’s no traffic between the two towns.
“I haven’t seen any signs,” Karian said. “But I did see a few wagons in Weslori.”
“Probably NPCs coming back after failing to find a cliff to jump off,” Oz muttered.
“Not even a marker except for back at the bandit’s cave locations.”
“It’s fine. We can ask what the roads are named if it’s a big deal,” Karian sighed. “You can write them in a journal if we find one.”
“That’s a good idea. In the game, you have all of the screens that update where you are, who you’ve met, which quests you’re on and of course, a map of the world. Our books sure as hell don’t have those,’ I said.
“Maybe those pages open up later,” Karian shrugged. “I haven’t been checking mine.”
“Could be,” I said. “That reminds me. Oz, Did you manage to lose your book for good?”
“I have the stupid fucking thing. If I can’t throw it away, maybe I can sell it as a curiosity,” Oz grumped.
Man, this guy had become a serious drag since we had died.
We came abreast of a long row of bushes that were yellow and dying. Tiny branches arched away from the main trunk but they looked like skeleton bones. I touched a dried up flower, and it disintegrated along with half of the plant.
“I wonder when it last rained here,” I said.
“Looks like never,” Oz replied.
There was a small home set back from the road at the end of a dirt path, and it was more run down than the farm we passed a few minutes ago. The roof had caved in, and one of the walls had long since fallen away leaving both stories exposed to the elements. A bunch of weeds and vines like brambles had taken root and sprouted rudely among the remains.
A green shape appeared in one of the bushes next to the road and then was gone.
“Did you see that?”
“I saw it,” Karian said and drew her blades.
We slowed, moved off the road, and crouched next to a little copse of desiccated trees. At least the trunks had managed to hold out, probably hoping for rain like the rest of the dead foliage.
Something flashed across the opposite side of the street and then was gone.
“Looked like a little kid.” Oz drew his sword and moved away from us to investigate. He beat at a few of the overgrown plants and got nothing but dead leaves and twigs for his effort.
“Maybe it’s nothing,” I said as I followed him, even though I had the strangest feeling we were being watched.
“Let’s keep moving but maybe step up the pace, yeah?” Karian suggested.
Oz stayed on the other side of the road while Karian drifted toward the center. I unfastened my mace from my belt and hefted it in my left hand. I kept my right ready, so I could cast a spell if I had to. I thought of the symbols but didn’t summon them to mind, which took a little more discipline. A quick mana check assured me I would be able to get a few blasts off before I had to quaff another potion.
“I don’t think there’s anything here,” Oz said over his shoulder.
“That’s cool,” I called back.
A rustle of bushes, and then they came out in a rush. Five or six little green figures dressed in an assortment of motley armor. Pieces of leather, rusted plate, oversized helms, and rusty chainmail dangled from thin frames. No taller than preteens, they nevertheless brandished weapons. Mostly short swords, but one of them carried a double-sided ax with a pointed end. What drew my eye was something a goblin in the middle rank held.
The troop of goblins babbled between themselves in a mishmash of clicks, hisses, and a guttural language I didn’t pretend to understand. As they assembled in an arrow shape, the head goblin removed the double-headed ax from his back and held it in both hands.
“Give food. Give gold,” he grunted.
“The fuck is this happy horse shit?” Oz said as he towered over the child-like creatures.
I held back from unleashing a spell because they just looked so sad and pathetic, although they were a well-armed group of misery.
“What if we don’t want to give you gold and we kill you all?” I asked, lifted my hands, and formed claws like I was about to unleash a deadly spell.
The goblins in the rear backed up as their leader shot me a fearful look.
“We six. You only three. We kill you, suck marrow from bones,” the lead goblin grunted, his voice sounding like a guy who was trying to talk through a mouthful of marbles.
“Maybe you haven’t heard of me,” I said and flourished the sleeves of my robe. “I am Walt, a high-level mage from the school of Draedor.”
“You?” The goblin said and uttered a guttural laugh. A couple of his pals joined him.
Goblins were dirty, nasty little creatures that would stab you in the back at the first opportunity. They were sneaky and smelled like they slept in sewers, at least that’s how they had been described in the game. Some of them were capable of human speech, but for the most part, they were dumber than a box of rocks. I was all for cleaning the road of this scum if it came to that, but I was also afraid of having that ax sink into my arm, or worse, my head. Or, if I got a limb chopped off, how I would recover?
“These guys red?” Oz asked Karian.
“Green and blue to me. Probably a match for you guys. I can take at least two, maybe three if pressed,” she said.
“Perhaps we can come to some kind of agreement?” I ignored the talk of killing everything in sight.
“Agreement?” The head goblin scratched his head.
“Sure. I give you something, and you give me something, then we go our separate ways, as friends, and no one dies.”
“Friends?” The goblin stuck his finger in his wide nose and dug around, then pulled his digit out, and examined something that looked like a fat brown worm.
“Jesus,” Karian muttered.
“Yeah. We make a deal and promise not to kill each other,” I said.
A new icon appeared in my HUD of two heads talking to each other.
“Why no kill? Kill fun.”
“Because you guys can go back to rooting around in garbage, with a gift, and I can go to the large town of Weslori and not tell the soldiers there that a bunch of goblins are fucking around outside of the city.”
“This is not fair gift,” the goblin grunted.
“Sometimes you have to embrace the suck, buddy,” I told the dumb green little bastard.
I reached into my pouch and felt around until my hand closed on the object. I slung the mace back on my belt and spread my arms wide in a move I hoped they would perceive as non-hostile, and approached the group.
“Dude, what are you doing?” Oz said.
“Just trying something,” I said.
“You stop. Show gift.” The lead goblin swung at the air a few times with his impressive ax.
“Look. I’ll show you,” I said and opened my hand.
The goblins grunted excitedly among themselves.
“You want something from us?” the lead goblin asked.
“Yeah. That.” I pointed at the green creature in the center of the mass.
“That?” The goblin scratched his head again.
“What the hell, that’s enough to buy us a few nights of sleep in town, at least,” Oz said.
“We’ll be okay,” I shot him a wink.
“This is so weird,” Karian said in an amused voice.
The goblin consulted with his pals and then turned and nodded at me. “Deal.”
He lowered the ax and went to meet me. His friend came along with the object I wanted.
“You bad bargain,” the goblin said.
“It’s a good deal for all of us,” I reassured the goblin. “What’s your name, anyway?”
“Name Brunbrusprupreses,” the goblin said.
“Mind if I just call you Burp?”
The goblin grinned, and that wasn’t a pretty sight. His dagger-like teeth were yellowed and covered in black spots or growths, or maybe mold. Blech.
“Give stone. We give stick,” Burp said.
“Okay, but if you try to back out of the deal I’m going to drop a fireball on your asses, cool?”
Burp didn’t understand half of what I said, but the fireball part probably got through. The smaller goblin handed over the “stick” and I gave the stone Oz and I had looted during our battle with the chitterlings to Burp.
SHARDS OF REALITY: A LitRPG novel (Enter the Realm Book 1) Page 14
