Race and Class? the voice prompted.
He'd had enough of putting himself in harm's way. He wanted to be in bed with Khoraja, Emma, and maybe Bel. This time he wouldn't be the hero, nor do the quests. He'd leave well enough alone, find a woman or two, and live a long time.
Elf. Mage.
Gender?
Male.
Specialization?
Did sex magic exist? He could ask for that. Druids worked with nature more, and might be a better choice for everyday life. Being able to heal would make him popular. Let's be a druid instead.
Then it got suddenly light again.
"Nightwolf," Emma said. "You're babbling."
He blinked. The first thing he saw was Emma's blonde hair. Her features were indistinct, but he could make out the globes of her breasts and a hint of metal.
"But at least you're alive," said Khoraja.
"How?" said Nigel. He'd fallen fifty feet to a stone floor. Deluca had stabbed him, twice, and he was sure the second one was fatal. He turned his head to see Bel. And Deluca's head. The villain's body was probably around somewhere, but his bloody head being detached was prooved he was dead.
"Bel and I healed you, of course," said Emma. He could make out some features now. A smile. Teeth. A teardrop amulet hanging from her neck. She'd taken it from Deluca. Grisly to be wearing it already.
"I wasn't dead?"
"Oh, you were dead for sure," came a booming voice. Gragoth. Nigel had sent Bel to the orc chieftain so he'd arrive at the tower when the party did. This time, the orcs knew they were creating a diversion. "But the witch dry humped your dead body until you came alive again. Speaking of which, I've got some dead orcs out there who deserve to come back to life, too, if you can stop cooing after Nightwolf and help us out."
The vision of Emma dry humping orcs didn't sit well with him. But he owed them a favor.
"I'll do my best," Emma said. "With your permission, Nightwolf?"
The orcs had given their lives to help. He knew that wasn't so much a favor to him as it was a need to restore their own honor, but he still owed them one. He didn't like it, but he wouldn't sleep at night if he didn't agree. "Yes."
"Don't worry," said Emma. "I won't do more than I need to." She straightened. "I'm not sure I even can. It's draining and having a sexual connection helps my magic. But maybe, with the aid of Alissandra's amulet, I can. I'll try."
"Yeah," said Gragoth. "Do your best. At least the boys who are alive will get a show."
"Ugh," said Emma. "No they won't. Bring one body here at a time. And bring me food, to keep my strength up. The rest will depend on them."
Gragoth ordered one of his warriors to fetch a body.
"Don't worry, love," said Emma. "I don't think there's a point in me doing sex magic with people I'm not attracted to. It worked with you and Khoraja, but with the orcs I'll do my best with just my hands on them."
"'Kay," said Nigel. He couldn't deny that he was relieved, but he was too tired to argue. If Emma revived an orc, the orc would be too tired to grope her. "When did you learn to resurrect people, anyway?"
"Apparently by resurrecting Khoraja. I don't know. I had to try, and it worked."
That made sense with the way skills worked on Aldrya. One gained skills be doing things in stressful situations. Nigel pulled up Emma's character sheet. He'd glossed over the ones before, but he found Resurrection quickly. Emma had it at a two now. She'd probably gotten another skill-up from raising Nigel, and had gone from a zero to a one with Khoraja. With all the ones and zeroes on her character sheet, he hadn't noticed it.
"Help me up, will you?" he said. He meant Khoraja and Bel, but Gragoth offered him a meaty hand and Nigel took it. The orc nearly took Nigel's shoulder out of his socket helping Nigel to his feet. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," Gragoth said. "Thanks to you, my tribe has its pride back. That's worth everything -- including the death of a few of my people. Without pride, we are nothing. Even those who died, died proud. Now, let's see if the witch can revive the dead."
Nigel nodded. His vision had returned. Gragoth left and Bel was sharing snacks from her pack with Emma. Khoraja stood next to him. "What happened to the guards working for Deluca? The ones we bypassed?"
"They surrendered when Bel and I came back down the steps," Khoraja said. "The demons disappeared the moment he hit the ground, or maybe when your sword took his head off. That was brave, Nightwolf."
"I'd hoped that would happen. I didn't know of another way to rescue you."
"Good guess, good thinking. And thank the gods Emma could bring you back. That surprised me. But you knew she could."
Nigel shook his head. "No, I didn't." He explained the 1's and 0's on the character sheet, and how hard it was to look at all the information.
"Hmm. Even more brave." Khoraja turned toward him and rubbed his chest. "You'll be in for quite a reward."
Later. There were bodies all around him, and the place smelled like death and burned flesh, with a sulfur odor from the demons. Nigel changed the subject. "What will we do with the prisoners?"
"That's up to you. But I promised them we wouldn't kill them. I was thinking we'd take them back to Belden Village -- I imagine the farmers around could use a few extra hands rebuilding burned buildings."
Nigel frowned. "What kind of people work for a guy like Deluca?"
"Desperate people, I imagine, who don't see a better option," said Khoraja. "Or maybe people who liked the lust-filled orgies."
"Did you see any women around?"
"Two of the guards I fire balled, plus two of the archers that surrendered, were female," Khoraja responded. "Plus the demon with the gigantic tits."
Nigel nodded. He still didn't like taking them to Belden, but he didn't have a better option. He couldn't just slaughter them.
Orcs brough in bodies one at a time. Emma resurrected three, and failed with eight others. Emma "putting her hands on them" resembled more pumping their lungs with her hands for CPR than anything sexual, which suited Nigel fine. He couldn't deny he was possessive, even if bringing an ally back to life was more important than his feelings. Whatever debt they'd owed him had presumably been paid, although maybe they now owed a new one to Emma. She looked exhausted after casting so many spells.
"Bel," Khoraja asked. "I take it Nightwolf sent you to tell the orcs to meet us here. But how did you do it so quickly?"
Bel looked over at Khoraja and smiled. "A girl gets to have her secrets." She winked at Nigel.
Khoraja stared at Nightwolf for a few seconds. "Hmm," she said. "But apparently, not from you."
Nigel shook his head, not wanting to get into it. "Let's head for home," he said. "I don't want to sleep in this place, we have prisoners with us, and Emma's dead tired. We can go by the trading post, perhaps, and get a horse or at least a cart for her."
"You don't look so good yourself," said Khoraja.
They bought a cart, exchanging some of the scales Bel had harvested from the demon. The prisoners pulled it, and Emma and Nigel both rode in it. When they got back to Belden, they let the prisoners go, with the understanding that if they hurt anyone around town or in the farms, Nightwolf and company would hunt them down and make sure their deaths were creative.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Nigel disentangled himself from the two naked women sleeping with him. A meal had renewed Emma's energy. She and Khoraja had kept him up virtually all night, sometimes together and sometimes tag-teaming him. In spite of that, he was awake at dawn. Either death, or amorous exertions, or both, had him ravenously starving. He put his clothes on quietly and headed down to get breakfast.
Bel was sitting alone downstairs. She signaled him over, although he would have joined her, regardless.
"Good morning," said the pretty ranger. "I didn't expect to see you until noon."
"I didn't expect to be up, either. Have a good night?"
Bel nodded. "Quiet. Peaceful. Alone."
Nigel didn't have a reply, so he sig
nalled Abby to bring breakfast, and then raised a fist to indicate a mug of liquid would also be welcome. Abby nodded and scurried away.
"Thank you for keeping my secret," Bel said.
"You're welcome."
"You're not a shape changer yourself, are you?"
"No."
"Will you tell me what you are?"
"Maybe sometime. When we know each other better."
Bel smiled shyly. "I'd like to get to know you better, Nightwolf. When lust possessed us in the field -- oh how I wanted you. But it's more complicated in real life, isn't it?"
Real life. She means here in Aldrya. "Yeah. I guess it is. I know I wanted you too."
"Give me time, please. When the demons destroyed my town, they did some terrible things. Horrible, sexual things. I think that's why I can become a cat, so I wrestle with my nature. I want to heal from that, but I'm scared. Someday, though, maybe... I don't know."
He didn't have to worry about what Emma and Khoraja thought. "Take the time you need, Bel."
"Good," said Bel. "Thank you."
They ate breakfast and chatted. For the first time since he arrived in Aldrya, Nigel had nothing to do but hang out and avoid danger. It felt good. He talked to Bel, mostly about her childhood, occasionally answering questions about his own without giving away what a different place "Oakland" was.
Sivestara visited Belden three days later. Maybe Alissandra had sent word somehow, but Nigel was surprised when she came walking into the inn, resplendent in full armor.
"Emma," she said, with a smile. She nodded at Bel and Khoraja, who were also sitting with him, but didn't seem to remember their names. "And Nightwolf. Might I have a word?"
"Sure," said Nightwolf. He suspected Sivestara wasn't used to asking, and if she did, it was a formality.
Sivestara waived him over to a table away from the others.
"Excuse me." Nigel picked up his plate and mug and went to sit next to the priestess.
"You killed Deluca, I hear," Sivestara said.
"You have good sources."
Sivestara smiled. "Nothing mysterious about it. Emma told Alissandra. Alissandra told me. I'm appreciative. And impressed. What do you intend to accomplish next?"
Nightwolf shook his head. "I don't know. I have no immediate intentions."
"No quests to undertake?"
How did she know about the quests? "Nothing that involves adventuring," Nigel said. "Just waiting." He wasn't sure if he'd already failed, actually. Would Windstar know, if he showed up in two weeks, that he'd checked out for a few minutes?
"How unusual. I know what you are, Nightwolf. That's why I sent the others away."
"Emma, again?"
"Emma knows? No, she kept your secret. It seems she is more loyal to you than me. As it should be, I suppose, but unfortunately for me. No, I know because I was once a young woman on Earth. I came here thirty-five years ago, ready to kick ass and take names. Now I do a more boring task, but I like to think I make this world a better place. I did divination magic on you. Divination gives vague answers, and if I hadn't been an ascendant myself, I wouldn't have figured out what it all meant. Anyway, here's what I know. When you came to the world, you were not the only ascendant here. There was another."
"Yes. A pretty girl."
"You knew that."
"Deluca murdered her soon after she arrived."
"So she probably respawned," Sivestara said.
"Yeah."
"So she's somewhere. Might be worth finding out what she's up to."
"Do you have a lead?"
"No," admitted Sivestara.
"I don't intend to roam the entire world looking for her. I'm thinking I'll stay right here for a while. Maybe go visit a library Khoraja told me about."
"Khoraja's presence with you is not an accident," Sivestara said. "I know that. And your fate, Emma's, and Bel's, are intertwined as well. Hold your friends close, Nightwolf." She paused. "Nice name, by the way."
"Thanks. Was Deluca an ascendant, too?"
Sivestara nodded. "Yes. We have a remarkable effect on this world, for good or evil. I think Deluca killed others, before you finally got to him. Tell me, what do you think the others are? Those who aren't ascendants, like Khoraja, or Emma?"
"I suppose they are rather complex AI's." Nigel frowned. "This world runs on rules like a computer game, so I imagine in some sense it is a computer game. A very complex game with amazing AI and virtual reality technology."
Sivestara nodded. "Just so. And I agree with you. But at what point does an AI become, well, human?"
Nigel smiled. "I think Khoraja and Emma are their own beings, with as much free will as you or I have. There are people who think humans don't have free will either, even if we're flesh and blood. Further, whatever is here of you and I is probably in a computer somehow. All bits and bytes."
"Yes. That's a difference between good and evil ascendants, I think. The evil ones think other people aren't real."
"People have decided other people aren't wholly human since the dawn of time," Nigel said. "The ancient Greeks thought everyone who wasn't Greek was a barbarian. Americans thought people from Africa were three-fifths of a person, and property, and 'the only good Indian was a dead Indian.' Infidel, Saracen, Barbarian, Heathen, Alien -- we have a zillion names to designate people as 'other.'"
"Yes. I wish I could tell you more. Divination is hazy. But I think you're important. And I'd guess whoever Deluca was working for thought so too."
"Why bother to kill ascendants when they'd just pop up again?"
"If we respawn, it's always far away from where we started. So I would guess that someone is afraid of what an ascendant might accomplish here. Or they don't know that's how it works. Or they are working off Divination as hazy as mine."
"Deluca said something about us being pawns."
"Of the quest givers? That might be. It depends on what we choose. I don't like the idea of being a pawn."
Nigel chuckled. "Deluca said that, too. And I share that feeling."
"If you find out more, I'd be interested. And in exchange, I'll share anything I find out."
"An alliance of equals?" Nigel didn't think Sivestara would regard him as an equal.
"Yes. I may act distant sometimes because it suits my office. People expect it. But yes, I will share with you equally. And I have gifts from my adventuring days." She put a bag on the counter. "The ring is for you. The boots for Bel, the scroll for Khoraja, and the amulet for Emma. They should each help you, and I don't need them anymore. I found them myself in the Burning Wastes, years ago."
"Thirty years ago," said Nigel. "You guys didn't even have MMOs, did you. MUDs, maybe. And tabletop roleplaying games."
Sivestara blinked. "We totally had MMOs. What are you talking about?"
"What year are you from, anyway?"
Sivestara quoted a time, and a place. The place was a town in the Netherlands called Apeldoorn. Nigel had never heard of it. The date was two years ago.
"You?" Sivestara asked.
Nigel told her. "But I can't be sure what month it was. It's hard to be sure with only two data points," he said, "but if you've been here thirty years, time moves at a different rate here. Maybe the computer processing us all is super fast. But how it's possible I don't know, because whatever technology was used to create this world it belongs far in our future."
"Lucky future."
"Maybe," said Nigel. "But why send it back in time? In any event, for right now I intend to enjoy myself with my lovely companions."
"I doubt the quest givers will have you waiting long," Sivestara said.
"I may not do what they ask," Nigel said.
Sivestara smiled. "Follow your own path. I'll be in touch." She got up.
"May I walk you to the door?" Nigel asked.
Sivestara looked at him curiously. "You aren't trying to seduce me, young man, are you?"
"No," Nigel said honestly. She was an attractive woman, but she was significantly
older than him. His life was complicated enough.
"No, I don't mind," said Sivestara. Together they walked outside. Nigel wanted to see the gryphon again. In most MMOs he played, getting a flying mount was a massive grind, and he suspected this wasn't an exception. He'd probably have to make a lot of money, or do some crazy quest. But it was still cool. He watched Sivestara mount it and give it a command, and then he kept watching while it rose the air and headed for Lionguard, until he could no longer see the tiny speck in the air it became.
He walked inside and realized he'd left the bag from Sivestara on the table. It was still there. He picked it up and took it back to where his friends sat.
"What's in the bag?" Emma asked.
"Goodies. Magic items. One for each," Nigel said. "Hopefully we won't need them for a good long time."
"Agreed," Emma said.
"As you wish," Khoraja said.
Nigel spilled the contents of the bag onto the table.
"Well, personally," Bel said, taking the boots and trying them on, "There are still demons to kill, and I intend to kill them. And I wouldn't mind help."
He supposed she couldn't use the scroll, and the other items were metal. He pushed the scroll toward Khoraja, the amulet to Emma, and slipped on the ring.
He looked at his character sheet.
Strength 18 (19)
Dexterity 13
Intelligence 11
Constitution 18
One-Handed Sword 9
Shield 7
Unarmed Combat 7
Two-Handed Sword 4
Sex 4
Stealth 3
Character Sheet 2
Looks like the ring pumps up my strength. Well, for the next few weeks I can learn how to ride a horse, maybe practice some of that first aid magic. He looked over at his tablemates.
Emma had fastened the amulet around her neck. It looked like a little golden representation of a smiling sun, and on the chain that came with it, it nestled deep into Emma's bountiful cleavage, drawing attention downward as it reflected the surrounding light. "What do you think, Nigel?" Emma asked, arching her back.
"Beautiful," said Nigel, not sure himself whether he was complimenting the amulet or her breasts.
Ascendant of Aldrya Page 22
