by Jakob Tanner
They all nodded.
I moved towards the tall grass and crouched down and moved eastward. I forlornly glanced at the mountains and how I was no longer going in their direction, extending our journey by how many hours or days, I would only know later. The shadow wraiths were specks in the distance. They floated across the plains like ghastly drones monitoring the fields. I kept my head down, scurrying through the tall grass like a mouse sneaking through a kitchen.
I kept my steps light and agile. We travelled in a silent line for close to an hour. We stopped and eyed the wraiths. There were five of them, crisscrossing their way across the large prairie. We all looked at each other warily and then continued. Crouching was proving to be an irritating position to travel in. My joints ached, wishing to stand up straight.
A message appeared in my HUD.
Will: If we cut across the valley in a about an hour’s time, we’ll be well on our way to the foot of the Storm Mountains. This plan might actually work.
The party chat filled with “hurrays!” and happy emojis, but we weren’t in the clear yet. Will offered me a brief smirk. Maybe he was accepting I was right from our argument from before.
I continued crouch-walking through the tall grass. I was so focused on the positioning of my walk: the way my back was bent forward or how my elbow brushed against the thrushes and weeds of the grass. I was so focused on the sheer irregularity of how I was moving I noticed it straight away.
Mud rippling in the ground.
I stopped moving.
A dread worm sprouted from the ground in front of us, screeching and hissing. Spit and bile flew in all directions as the worm barred its hungry gnashing teeth to the sky and then swung its deadly mouth towards us.
The shadow wraiths floated in our direction. An angry dread worm didn’t pop out of the ground for no reason. Clearly there was a creature to feast on and the shadow wraiths were curious as to what.
I stood up and finally broke the silence of our group: “RUN!”
I flicked my fingers, creating a burst of lightning I sent to my boots, granting me shocking speed.
We dashed across the field. The shadow wraiths screeched and wailed. The dread worm churned the ground beneath our feet.
“We can’t run anymore, Clay,” shouted Will. “If even one of the wraiths leaves to warn their captors, our whole plan falls apart. We have to turn around and fight!”
He was right, but we weren’t going to fight to kill them, we were going to fight to free them.
The group of five shadow crawlers swarmed towards us.
“Guys, take out the worm quick,” I said. “I have a plan to handle these guys.”
I stretched out my fingers and cast status cure. Glowing golden diamonds emerged in front of my hands. I triggered the spell again and again, until I was in a fog of status curing diamonds. I then cast air blast, the wind picking up the status curing diamonds and flying in the direction of the shadow wraiths. The gust hit them. As the wind passed through them, for a flicker of a second, the dark inky wisps of shadow magic disappeared and innocent players emerged beneath the horrific magitech façade.
The players were all bald, their heads shaven. Three of them were Haeren, and there was one Rorn and one Aeri. They were different from the other enslaved players we’d seen. They didn’t look as weak and malnourished as the others had. They were strong and muscular. They blinked, shocked from the enslavement buff’s disappearance. It caused them to fall towards the ground. They landed on their feet comfortably. I waited for them to reach for their slave necklaces and rip them free as pretty much every other enslaved Chosen we’d met had done. They did no such thing. They smirked and glanced at each other.
“C’mon,” I yelled. “The enslavement debuff will only stay deactive for so long.”
They continued to smirk. One shrugged.
“What are you doing!?” I yelled.
“It’s as I told you Clay,” shouted Will behind me. “As hard as it is to believe, some of those enslaved don’t want to be freed. They’ve accepted the unique powers that comes with becoming a shadow wraith.”
The inky black shadow leaked out of their slave necklaces. They were transforming back into those monsters and were doing so willingly. Unbelievable.
I sent a message to the party who had just finished off the dread worm.
Clay: Alright, guys. These shadow wraith guys don’t look like they want to be freed. We’re going to have to fight them. We can’t let them escape and warn their colleagues. We’re going to have to defeat them and keep them as prisoner.
Will: You’re the boss, Clay, but your plan is only going to create more problems for us.
Clay: Let’s not argue big bro. Help me take these guys out and we can figure out what to do with them then, alright?
Will: First thing you’ve said in a while I agree with. Let’s do this.
The five players had completely transformed back into their shadow wraith selves. They were a new type of shadow warrior I hadn’t seen before. Above their status bars were the words, [Shadow Hunters]. They were able to morph into the different types of shadow creatures we’d fought in the past, going from shadow wraith floater to shadow crawler.
I quickly assessed their squad to figure out their strengths and weaknesses. The leader, the smirkiest smuggest bastard of them all, had a large bald head, flaming with inky black flames. The energy emanating around his body flamed all over him but reshaped around his fingers, creating extra large shadow fists.
The rest of the squad had similar unique features. The Aeri shadow hunter’s arms and legs were sharp black points that looked like they shot shadow projectiles. The Rorn had massive feet for curb stomping people’s heads into dust. The two other Haeren players were entangled within each other like deadly twin doppelgängers. Geez louise. So this was who we were facing off against: Big Fists, Big Feet, Sharp Limbs, and The Twins.
It was a six versus five grudge match.
“How are we going to play this guys?” I said.
“Stick to the basics,” said Jackson. “Until we learn more about their talents and see whatever tricks they have up their sleeves.”
“Right,” I said. “Ranged DPS and Support—Kari and Will—stay back with me. Serena lead the way. Jackson and Shade protect either side of her. Let’s do this.”
“You guys better keep me buffed and healed,” said Serena, lifting up her blade and triggering charge strike.
Our two parties met and clashed at the center of the Dead Plains. The gray stormy clouds swirled above us.
I threw out a burst of shocking speed into Serena’s boots, granting her an increased agility buff. Kari threw out protect spells onto her as well. She took a moment to buff Shade and Jackson, but her primary attention would have to stay on healing Serena.
Serena let out a battle cry, shouting, “Protect Thy Allies!”
The five shadow hunters turned to her as she drew their aggro. They descended onto her on mass.
“Bring the hate bitches,” said Serena, triggering blade tornado. She spun with her sword becoming an indecipherable swirl of spinning blade.
My stomach lurched as Serena took all the hits. Her HP fell to 15% but was brought back up to 90% with a healing blast from Kari. Serena’s health bar was a swinging pendulum. She was battling on a knife’s edge for her life.
Shade unleashed backstabs and ninja attacks into the attacking shadow hunters. On the other side of the battle, Jackson threw out fiery punches and kicks. Even with a few critical hits, it wasn’t enough to draw the aggro away from Serena.
Kari’s eyes stayed focus on healing and protecting Serena, as the blade soldier tank blocked attacks with her sword and came out swinging seconds later.
Will and I stood on either side of Kari throwing out our own DPS ranged support. Will was unleashing a Warlock DPS move where the blood on the ground—which there was already loads—flamed a bright red, dealing damage to enemies nearby.
I was throwing out lightni
ng cage spells and debuff attacks to help mitigate the amount of damage being thrown directly onto Serena. It still wasn’t enough. I decided I was going to draw out their hate, even if only for a second. I lifted my arms and clawed the air with my fingers as if I was dragging the ground beneath the battle with a pull and twist of the air. The muddy fields of the Dead Plains twisted and churned. Sharp rocks jutted out of the ground, stabbing the shadow hunters’ legs. I let my palms fill with flaming hot molten lava and then whipped the two balls like a baseball pitcher at the crumbling ground. The stabbing rocks of my earthquake spell lit up and burned with hot ember. Crippled and burning debuffs appeared beneath the shadow hunters’ status bars. They screamed out and pointed towards me. The Aeri shadow hunter shot diamond shaped shadow projectiles at me and the support squad.
“Everybody duck!” I yelled.
Kari and Will hurried away, while I flame dodged back. The shadow projectile smashed into my fiery trail.
“Clay,” shouted Serena. “What the hell are you doing!? You aggroed all of them!”
The shadow hunters all rushed towards me.
“Oh crap,” I said. I burst into a crackle of electricity and reappeared meters away. They were still coming after me.
“Guys, draw the aggro back,” I yelled. “Kari, heal Serena back up to full.”
I whipped my right hand towards the incoming shadow hunters. My whole arm throbbed and tensed as lightning burst through my arm and out my palm. The shot of lightning knocked into Big Feet’s gut and wrapped around him like a prized piece of meat at the deli. Two kunai emerged out of the air behind him as Shade broke out of stealth and delivered a devastating backstab. A mix of crimson red and black blood burst forth from the shoulder blades of the Rorn shadow hunter. The warrior flexed his muscles. His varicose veins throbbing all along his neck and reddened face. The lightning cage burst and flickered away as the Rorn shadow hunter destroyed the debuff spell with his sheer strength. He turned around and unleashed a spinning kick at Shade. The cat-man flipped away from the attacks.
“Well there’s one person’s aggro off you at least,” said Shade, kiting Big Feet around the blood stained battlefield.
“Make that two,” shouted Jackson, who delivered a devastating uppercut jab to Big Fists who flew up in the air, only to be smashed back down by a drop kick from the brawler extraordinaire.
The twins and the Aeri shadow hunter continued to chase after me.
“Alright, I think we’re ready to get back to our normal formation,” shouted Serena. “Clay—are you done pretending to be a tank?”
“I was never pretending,” I huffed, zigzagging in circles to avoid the projectile blasts of the Aeri shadow hunter. “I was only trying to take the heat off you for a sec.”
“More like you’re actually a control freak and want to be a party of one,” shouted Serena.
“Can you two please stop bickering,” said Kari. “It’s going to get us killed.”
“Too true,” said Serena. “Clay—kite the shadow hunters back to me. Jackson and Shade as well. We need to get them in the radius of my aggro-drawing shout.”
I cast shocking speed on my feet and ran extra fast towards Serena. Jackson and Shade came from the other directions. I got there first and watched as the shadow hunters got closer and closer. My stomach lurched at the sight of so many incoming attackers. I shivered and stood behind Serena. She didn’t blink or hesitate once. I admired her so much right now in the heat of battle. To stand and face our attackers head on, to protect her friends with her strength.
“You’re awesome, you know,” I said.
She smirked. “You don’t have to tell me, but thanks. You’re pretty alright too.”
“Ahh,” yelled Shade, rushing towards us, tears leaking from his eyes. “Take their anger away from me Ms. Serena, pleeeassseee!”
“Only because you said it so nicely,” smiled Serena. “Get ready to dodge and get out of the way everyone.”
Serena stood up straight and shouted, “Protect Thy Allies!”
A rippling burst of energy emanated out of her body, sending shockwaves through me. All the incoming shadow hunters turned on Serena. I quickly burst into a crackle of electricity and emerged on the other side of the battlefield.
I triggered frozen ground: a sheet of ice forming beneath the feet of Serena and the shadow hunters. They slipped and fell. The chilled debuff flickered beneath their status bars and one of the doppelgängers even got a cripple debuff from their fall. Serena unleashed blade tornado in their weakened state. The blade ripped through their armor and shadow skin, becoming a blender of flesh and blood. Shade stabbed them in the back while Jackson broke their ribs. With more blood on the ground than ever, Will continued his warlock blood AoE magic. The tide was turning against the shadow hunters, their HP falling below 20%. With the stack of debuffs now working against them, it meant their output of damage on Serena wasn’t going to outbalance Kari’s healing.
“Alright, Clay,” said Will, beside me, weaving his arms to continue his blood magic. “Decision time is upon us. What are you going to do? The way I see it, you have two options: we kill them and they respawn to their masters or you listen to me and paralyze them for eternity with the Prophetic Seal. Press your wrist and cast, ‘//run:freeze_avatar’. It’s the simplest option.”
Time was running out as the HP of the shadow hunters was dropping closer and closer to zero.
“There’s a third option,” I said, gritting my teeth. “We free them!”
“But they don’t want to be freed,” said Will.
I shook my head, ignoring my brother. “We’ll see about that!”
I spam-cast status cure until I was surrounded by curative diamonds. Then I shot the spell outward with air blast, shooting the enslavement curing spell at the shadow hunters. When the curative wind hit them, their special shadow limbs disintegrated and they fell to their hands and knees in weakness.
I electric blinked to Big Fists and reached for his enslavement collar. He squirmed in my grip, crying out, “What are you doing! Stop!”
I ripped the collar off and threw it to the side.
The man looked at his pale hands and fell to his knees. Tears formed in his eyes. “What have you done? You’ve taken it all away from me. They’ll never trust us now. Not with this blip. They’ll forever know there was a moment when we weren’t in their control. We could’ve been tampered with. Bugged. Swayed. Brainwashed. You’ve killed us, you fool!”
The man yelled at me and I was taken aback. The others screamed with agony as my other party members ripped off both the source of their enslavement and their power.
The Aeri player crawled towards his enslavement necklace and placed it around his throat to re-equip it. It didn’t work. It wouldn’t bind around his neck. The necklaces were completely depowered. He angrily threw the broken necklace at a rock.
They laid on the ground in agony, writhing with pain.
“We’re as good as dead in this world now,” said the twins. “We’re barely level 10. They captured us before we even understood the game, but we rose in the ranks of the enslaved Chosen and they gave us more and more power. More responsibility. More taste of freedom. Even if it was fake. They’ll come and find us now. You don’t know what you’re dealing with. The high council, they have the power to remove players.”
“Listen to me,” I said to the group of former shadow hunters. I showed them my wrist and the Prophetic Seal. “Arethkar’s not the only one with OP game-bending powers. We have some of our own. You guys talk about them as if the fight against them is already lost, but it isn’t. We have an army and a growing base on the continent already. We’re on our way to acquire even more strength. We will conquer whatever adversity is thrown against us.” I threw my hand out to them as a gesture of peace and partnership. “Join us. We’d love to have you guys on our side.”
Big Fists looked up to me and our eyes locked for a brief second. Behind his faded blue eyes was panic and trauma, someon
e trying to stay one second ahead of horrifying thoughts and memories. He assessed me and it made my heart pang. He was assessing me—not like a cruel politician seeing whether I’d offer him more power or opportunity—but merely as a lost and injured person who was desperately trying to keep going. He wanted to see whether I could provide him and his friends one simple thing: survival. He lifted his arm and reached out his hand to mine. Our fingers almost touched, our palms almost clasped, a deal was almost reached—when a split second before he pulled his arm away. He turned his head around in distress. He looked to his other weakened comrades.
“Do you feel that?”
“What’s going on?” I said.
“You better run,” said Big Fists. “We all better run.”
I did a full 360 degree circle and saw nothing but the normal Dead Plains. A boar was chewing on wheat. A group of harpies flew in a circle even further away from the Storm Mountains—our actual destination—which remained a depressingly massive sight in the far distance.
“Why are you ignoring me,” said Big Fists. “Run. I’m telling you. We’re all about to die. You fool, run. You goddamn idiotic—“
Big Fists’ eyes turned in on his head, revealing bright white marbles of iris. Then the eyes went a deep crimson and blood poured and dripped out his eye sockets. All of the former shadow hunters’ heads went pale as blood poured out their eyes. They collapsed to the ground. Dead in seconds.
“What the heck happened?” I said. I turned to Will. “You didn’t cause that, did you?”
I hated to ask my own big brother such a question, but the move did look an awful lot like a spell a warlock would cast.
“No, it wasn’t me,” said Will, looking around, panic-stricken. “We’re in deep trouble you guys. Five people don’t get struck with a spell without any sign or appearance from an enemy. Unless, we’re dealing with a—“
