Virtual Horizon

by Kris Schnee

They hadn't. Horizon said, "But there's a small underwater ruin just ahead, north."

  "Could be fun," said the dragon. "Can you help us breathe underwater?"

  Nocturne pointed at Typhoon, who objected, "We're on our own quest."

  "Do you have somewhere urgent to be?" Nocturne asked.

  They all sailed north and anchored in a grid square with an unremarkable island of flame-hued trees. Horizon turned on a vision feature and grinned. Two hundred people had planted checkpoint flags on this beach to mark their achievement in getting this far. Generally each flag was only visible to its owner.

  What they wanted was below the isle. Typhoon danced on deck and created a bubble of air that could shield them while diving. "Are you all going?" he said.

  One of the birdmen said, "Sure, all seven of us. Haven't done a large party lately."

  Horizon wasn't comfortable down in the depths. He and the others stood on a shallow seabed in front of a castle overgrown with coral. A sphere a few paces wide around Typhoon held air. The otter transferred his spell to target Nocturne so that he'd be free to swim outside it; everyone else would need to stick together.

  Before they'd even entered the castle, a fish with jagged fangs swam right at them. Horizon crouched, ready to spring, but the fish tore into the bubble and immediately fell onto the ground at their feet. It flopped uselessly. Typhoon ran up and whipped it over his head and back down onto the rocks, with a wet thud. He slid it into his backpack with one hand as though sheathing a longsword. "Next?"

  The coral castle had a shattered front gate. Within, every surface was jagged and fragile. Horizon broke off a chunk for his occasional alchemy experiments and another to throw. One of the birdmen conjured a hovering light and another lit a torch that shed worrisome amounts of smoke into the air bubble.

  "Check it out," said one of the Earthside players. He'd found a room overhead that held an air pocket and some better-preserved furniture. "Typhoon, can you drag me up there?"

  It was a long swim outside the air spell and flight was nearly useless inside the slow-moving sphere. Typhoon took the hands of two adventurers and hauled them up through the water, taking their mystic light along.

  Horizon shrugged his wings at Nocturne, but she froze. "Crabs." Three of them were scuttling into battle.

  Nocturne stepped forward to see what air would do to them. The blue-shelled critters kept coming. She did a basic talon slash and dodged an attempt to pounce her.

  Horizon hurled a coral chunk, cracking a shell for a major wound. He followed up by defending Nocturne in melee. The other adventurers fended off some kind of evil seahorse-man that had tried to sneak up from a side passage. "Easy!" Horizon said as they finished the puny minions off. "Are we going to get a boss, though?"

  They looked around but nothing else attacked. "How're you doing up there?" asked one of the avians. He nodded, then relayed what he'd heard by private message: "There's a puzzle involving pouring different sizes of cups into each other. Still working on it."

  Nocturne said, "Let's poke around." She led the others to explore the few side rooms, finding a crab ambush and a nasty steaming-water trap that boiled everyone for a major wound each. "No treasure?"

  One of the birdmen cried out, "Aha!" and dislodged some coral. Behind it were two ingots of shimmering brown metal. He took them, saying, "What's this?" Nobody knew.

  Horizon turned to look into the central room. A squad of the hostile seahorse-people had swarmed in, two blocking the way while three more menaced the group above.

  Nocturne used the air bubble aggressively, getting close. The fishmen realized the danger too late and flopped down just like the fish, gasping for breath. Her group rushed them before they could crawl back to the water. Talons and claws and rusty spears traded hits. Horizon released a healing spell on Nocturne and a lightning-charge enchantment on one birdman's spear.

  In the main room, the other adventurers were pinned in the air-filled ceiling but easily fending their enemies off. Horizon said to the man with the electrified spear, "Can we boost you up to them?"

  "No, boost Nocturne."

  "Oh yeah." Horizon grinned and grabbed his wife to toss her, squawking, as high as he could. The air bubble surrounding her got high enough to catch the mermen and drop them like the rest, making them easy prey. Horizon and company got drenched and stunned, but Typhoon darted down through the water and landed the first blow with his knife before the seahorses could recover. The rest went quickly.

  Everyone converged within the bubble, soaked but victorious. "All right!" the dragon said, holding up a bottle with a torn map inside.

  "One of the pieces you need?" Horizon asked.

  "Yup!"

  They headed back up to the ship with some difficulty; Typhoon had to create a little waterspout to lift them without drowning them. Up on deck they conferred about the brown ingots (useful Earth-aspected stuff) and other minor loot.

  Horizon asked, "Are you four trying for any more of the elemental transformation stuff?"

  One birdman said, "No, we already hit the highest level of it. You start as human and can go three levels in one of the four elemental directions... ha, but I guess you AIs know that."

  "Uploader, here. So what's next for you, if you've maxed out the elemental quest?"

  "Starting a town if we can," said the dragon. "Then run it. Maybe try conquering another village."

  A wounded birdman accepted healing from Horizon. "We need to fly off and find a place to save. Can't use your ship. But thanks!"

  Typhoon watched the flying party head out. "They didn't seem to care what we are. They don't gush about meeting digital people anymore."

  Horizon said, "Linda once told me, a technology starts to matter when it turns ordinary."

  * * *

  They hadn't yet found clues to the master-level skills they were after, so they sailed on. Horizon and Nocturne argued by interface with a couple of hardware vendors and helped solve somebody's friendship problem. Horizon considered himself to still be on vacation.

  "Haven't found much of note yet," said Typhoon. "But we could hit Island East-10 North-20 and save there."

  A rule that had become tradition in the Endless Isles zone was, Talespace residents normally couldn't teleport in and out at will. They had to reach islands at multiples of 10, like that one or Central (Zero-Zero). Some players had deliberately placed towns in less convenient access points, discouraging uploaders and AIs from meddling.

  "Let's claim it," Horizon said. Sticking flags in the place would make it a viable access point for them.

  So they sailed northeast. Their target was far enough from Central Island that Player-Versus-Player battles were allowed with few restrictions. The three voyagers tried to keep on guard.

  Typhoon observed, "Hardly anyone has come this far. The sea's practically infinite, but people's attention petered out beyond ten islands in any direction."

  They all knew Davis, a rabbitty AI who lived on Island South-10 or Tourney Isle. He'd made a permanent home for himself there. Horizon said, "They'll spread out more over time."

  "What makes you say that? The inner sea has what, 400 zones of adventure for the players."

  It still amused Horizon that AIs could get math problems wrong. "We're a race of explorers," he said. "Wait long enough and the frontier will expand."

  East-10 North-20 was a zone with several little islands ringing the big one. The main land was a mile or so wide, craggy and forested. A vague, false scent of flowers wafted toward them. The scent made Horizon think of the greenhouses of his old Community. "We're going to get smell and taste working again, too. And then I am going to eat until I explode, and plant a garden of flowers, and bake cookies."

  "Another frontier, huh?" said Typhoon.

  He nodded, then smiled and turned to Nocturne too. "Neither of you have ever had real food. It'll be like showing light to a blind man for the first time. Fun!"

  They discovered a dock and a few shacks on the beach. Nocturn
e said, "A town? But it's not on the map."

  The griffins flew off to investigate while Typhoon anchored. A drowsy NPC watchman was on duty at the pier. "Eh? Welcome to Nameless Town."

  Horizon recognized the near-useless guard as something any settlement could summon by building its first structures. "Is there a Stability Gem here?"

  "There is. Master Venn owns this place."

  Nocturne said, "That's a new entry for the fan site."

  Horizon asked, "Is Master Venn around?"

  "No, sirs, but he's usually awake evenings, Western Australia Time."

  Hours away. Typhoon waded ashore, and Horizon explained. "Want to wait?"

  "Sure."

  The guard let them look around. Two housing shacks, a locked storage shed, and a simple two-story stone tower. Usually a village had NPCs doing background tasks that generated resources and services, like farming. This place was either brand new or secret.

  The explorers took out simple flags from the ship's inventory, each of them using the default Thousand Tales logo rather than the anime girls or meme images some players liked. It was satisfying to stand on the beach of an unknown land and stick a flag in it, even if a simple command would reveal that others had already done so. In this case only two previous banners flew, each with a cross design.

  Typhoon caught fish to keep everybody in good health, and they sat around tending to paperwork and playing a card game called Red Dragon Inn. At last, a man stepped out from the tower.

  He dressed like an elderly martial artist, showing off most of his tattooed arms and legs under a thigh-length sleeveless robe. A golden sun design decorated his exposed chest. He took one look at the newcomers and summoned a metal staff, whirling it into place in his hands. "Who might you blokes be?"

  Horizon stepped forward and sat up with his wings slightly spread. "Horizon, Knights of Talespace. We're just exploring. Master Venn?"

  The man relaxed. "No worries, then. And you, are you an uploader too?" He pointed at Typhoon.

  The otter said, "Native."

  "Well, this is my slice of paradise. I went on a long quest with a friend to find one of those crystals that lets you establish a permanent town. If you come in peace, I'm glad to meet you. Notice the coordinates?"

  "Multiple of ten," said Typhoon. "That's nice of you."

  "I've been fussing over whether to open the place up to settlement, but I don't want it to be just like other towns. It should be distinctive. I just don't know how, besides wanting residents around." He looked Typhoon over. "Fellow shaman? Doing magic has been my passion in this game but I've already maxed it out."

  "I'm looking for a master-level trainer." Typhoon pointed to his many markings.

  "Good on you!" He grinned and stepped back, twirling his staff. "Show me what you've got."

  Battle music on drums and trumpets began. Horizon and Nocturne took wing and found a distant boulder to perch on, before two high-level shamans threw down.

  Nocturne said, "He has a sun mark on his chest. Fire theme?"

  "No elemental changes though," Horizon said.

  The two men stood in the open, rocky ground outside the wizard's tower, and started dancing. Typhoon waved his arms and took a step forward to swing a ripple of blue light from his hands, becoming a blade of water. The local shaman parried with his shiny hexagonal staff and pulled it backward like a fishing rod. The griffins couldn't see exactly what he was doing. But the light-trail he wove next incorporated an element from the staff itself to pull off a complex spell faster than should've been possible. A flurry of glass blades shot out from him and shredded the grass. Typhoon leaped aside and took a major wound to his tail.

  "How'd you do that?" Typhoon said, trying to salvage his second spell in progress. He trapped some drifting motes of light and closed his hands around them, ready.

  The sun-marked shaman was preparing something complex too. "Staff and a magic talent. Dodge this!"

  Typhoon sprang to one side, but this time there was no attack. The shaman flared with energy that surrounded him as though bathed in the sun. Typhoon feinted as though trying a melee attack, then spun in a dance step that added an extra piece to his latest spell before he set it off.

  Venn set off a quick attack spell like a shotgun blast of white-hot darts, scoring a minor wound, and immediately started preparing again. "He's too fast for normal shaman magic," Horizon said. "I bet he has a way to chain elements from one spell to another."

  Nocturne speculated, "Then the next one will have something in common."

  Before Typhoon could finish whatever he was trying, the solar guy flung blazing pellets into the air that hung in place for a moment, dazzling everyone. Horizon couldn't see, but a few seconds later Typhoon was on the ground getting the tar beaten out of him with the man's metal staff.

  Typhoon grunted and yanked, throwing his foe off-balance. He used the momentum to get up, roundhouse kick, throw his knife, and slam his other fist into the ground.

  The physical blows did nothing, but then the grass erupted. It was Typhoon's deadly ice geyser again, a whirling mass of frozen blades. Venn tried to fight his way out but took three major wounds before he could stagger free. Three didn't necessarily mean defeat, but he was probably relying on a high Spirit stat to keep alive. Rocks flew in all directions, forcing the griffins to duck.

  The enemy fired off a counter before Typhoon could do much. Typhoon forfeited his spell in some kind of desperate water-wave that blocked a spinning burst of light. Then his ears perked up and he started whirling elements in a faster, more aggressive way, creating trails of light as though gouging holes in reality with his claws. "Copy this," he muttered, and released a weird dark streak of black and blue energy that Horizon hadn't seen before.

  The master caught the spell with his staff and added it to his own weaving. Typhoon tried to follow up with a simple, quick ice blast, but the master had yet another complex trick ready. He stamped the ground, rapped his staff on it, and unleashed... a backfiring blast of light that slammed him backward and into a tree, shattering it. The shaman vanished in a burst of pixels.

  "Ha!" said Typhoon, limping and sporting three red wounds and several minor ones himself. "Oh right, death quote. 'That's the danger of cribbing someone's work!'"

  Horizon beak-grinned. "You fed some kind of defective element into his spell?"

  He nodded. The shaman had left behind a small pile of items, but Typhoon ignored them.

  A minute later, the stone house's door opened and the solar expert walked out again, saying, "Good fight! Can you do non-combat magic too?"

  "Mostly water, air, and ice related."

  Venn nodded and offered his hand. "You'll never be as versatile as those lame wizards, but in your chosen areas you can do impressive things -- but you know that already. Want me to formally train you up to max level?"

  "Please!"

  Horizon courageously emerged from cover. The ground was gouged and scattered with stones. "You wouldn't happen to be a master of the Flight skill too, would you?"

  "I don't have it at all."

  "Ah, well."

  Typhoon said to the griffins, "This is my next quest. I'll spend some time here, learning."

  The old master said, "Any of you are welcome to start building here. I'd like the first wave of colonists to be Talespace residents. It can be part of the place's theme."

  "Word's bound to get out soon," Nocturne said. "Want me to ask my friends before somebody posts to the fan site?"

  "Please."

  Horizon said, "We'd better get going, and try to get that ship sent automatically back. Mind if we leave you, Typhoon?"

  The otter waved them off. "You've got things to do. Go ahead."

  Horizon raised one taloned hand to draw a portal into the side of a cracked boulder. He and Nocturne leaped through.

  * * *

  They appeared next to the subterranean pond that marked Ivory Tower's entrance to Endless Isles. "Well, back to the office," Horizon said.
"It was nice getting to do a long adventure."

  "Do you think Typhoon will settle down in the Isles?"

  "I hope so," Horizon said, walking into the main cavern. "He's already abandoned the pirate theme. Being a master of magic and co-founder of a town would be a good thing to hold onto. Something to be proud of."

  If Horizon had been completely dependent on Linda's favor for his happiness, he would never have come here, and probably wouldn't have earned either her or Nocturne. Typhoon needed something to anchor him that wasn't about trying to impress or woo anybody. He hoped the man would figure that out.

  A few hours later, while Horizon was consulting with another lottery winner who wanted to upload, he got a message from Typhoon's Eye.

  [I picked 'Water' as my first top-level element; managed to move it to the heart slot. It's arbitrary, but I may as well pick something, right? And for simplicity's sake, I've asked to formally change my name. I'm just Typhoon, now. Maybe still calm, but nobody's eye.]

  Horizon nodded to himself and thought, He's starting to get it.

  * * *

  A few days later, Horizon was decorating.

  "Get these ninjas out of here," groused Brother Krupp. The uploader looked human today, dressed like a medieval merchant in puffy pants and a fine white shirt. Meanwhile a pair of pajama-clad adventurers were running and jumping along the rooftops of the city, dragging streamers of blue and white flags behind them.

  Horizon was helping out with the Oktoberfest decorations too. He hovered here and there to hang more flags above the cobblestone streets of Mercator. He said, "We don't have a strict dress code."

  "It's bad enough that we're mixing Bavarian tradition with Frisia --"

  "Isn't that an anime thing?" Horizon said.

  Krupp exploded. "I've been trying for months to get the history right!" He stomped out from the narrow street and into the sunny plaza beyond.

  Horizon looked past him, to the docks. Three sailing ships rested there and another was circling, out for tourists to play with. Warm wind ruffled his feathers and stirred hanging bells, giving some little music AI an excuse to improvise a tune. A teacher and a tour guide dressed as a jester led a procession of high school students.