by K. T. Hanna
She shrugged her shoulders and leaned back to stretch her arms up. “I think it’s real, but I know people can come and go, and when they log out they are somewhere else. Not sleeping here, not staying here, just not here. Maybe it’s like our hub, where the real us resides. Where we are who we were originally meant and programmed to be.”
“Well, now you’re just making it complicated.” Belius laughed softly. “Let’s not make things more complicated than they already are.”
“Deal!” she agreed enthusiastically. But it had been a while since she saw Telvar, and she wasn’t sure where he’d gone off to when he said he had something to take care of and would be back as soon as possible. They were supposed to meet here an hour ago.
As if thinking of him summoned him, Telvar popped into being in between them. For once Belius didn’t make an irritated sound at his presence. She thought their baby brother was growing up.
“So, we have a bit of good news.” Telvar smiled at each of them, the view catching his eye too as he followed it down to the forest floor. “And then I also have some bad news.”
“Of course, you do,” Emilarth said. Why in Somnia would they be able to have some actual good news without counterbalancing it with bad news? “Well, spill it, then.”
Telvar hesitated briefly and then shrugged. “The good news is that I think we’ve got everything in place in time for them to finish the dungeon. The bad news is that I do believe Riasli has been on the move while we’ve been preoccupied.”
“And what has she done this time?” Emilarth sighed, not for the first time regretting that she’d ever created that damn NPC.
“It appears that James, who entered the system, may have been subverted by her.” Telvar hesitated. “Look, it’s better that Somnia explain it to you.”
About to ask where in the world Somnia was, and trying not to laugh because of the unintentional pun, Emilarth stopped as the world in question flickered into view. Her voice lingered inside Emilarth like memories that were almost hers.
I could track her somewhat. And him, but only to a point. I don’t have much time. Somnia shook for a moment, like her picture was trembling. Telvar’s dungeon is the opposite of what it was, and some of Murmur’s guildmates have been infected with virus-like properties. I’m barely keeping it together.
Emilarth shivered, worried that all the work they’d done to make sure the anti-virus was in place had been for nothing.
There is a fissure, near here. I have sealed it so they can’t get out prematurely. But I acted too late and couldn’t catch Riasli in there too. So she is still free. For now, it’ll hold them in, but when it’s triggered...I won’t have a choice. The prison will have to rise.
“Wait, what?” Sui seemed genuinely alarmed, like he knew what she was talking about and it instilled some form of fear into him. “You sealed her into the fissure?”
Somnia shook her head. No. I sealed James in, in with the shards and the source of it all. Because if she feeds HIM anything else before they’re finished and ready to engage him, there’s no way we can win.
Another group of guards joined the first, from a patrol they’d not been able to sense on the other side of the pillar. Murmur caught them in her AoE Mez, and Devlish skillfully pulled the others back slightly so that any other AoEs wouldn’t hit them while Murmur replaced that Mez with Annulment and singular target Mez.
Locked into place, it at least helped the raid not get overwhelmed. The guards and their serrated legs were terrible to fight. If there had been six of them, it wouldn’t have mattered AoE-wise. But it would have been damned difficult to dodge those windmilling legs all at once. That was one nasty ability.
Jinna’s DPS output had bottomed out. Murmur was getting more worried about him. Another group down and they turned to the Mez’d ones, plowing through them fairly easily too.
Just as the last one fell, another roar let out echoing through the cavern. Every single Shalan in the cave turned to look at the source of the roar this time. On the side where there were still many Shalan groups of guards, the groups they hadn’t yet thinned out, and a piece of the wall began to crumble away.
Murmur watched it, concerned. What if killing the monsters on this side of the cave area caused whatever alarmed Snowy behind that rock wall to break out? Then it would likely pull all of those mobs with it when it came. Sure, she could keep a heap of mobs Mez’d at once, but there were always resists. And she’d be bound to doing just that unable to do almost anything else.
Devlish. She spoke over raid. I want to test something out. Can we pull the first ones that are on the other side of the ramp?
Devlish: Sure.
He turned around as the last of the Shalan had been looted and pointed at the opposite side. “Testing a theory out. Switching to the other side!”
Everyone followed him, and they rinse-and-repeated the earlier attack on the opposite side of the cavern. Sure enough, when the final of the six Shalan fell, there was a crumbling on the side they’d just left, followed by a low growl that did little to belay Murmur’s fears.
“Okay.” Devlish spoke up. “We’re just going to clear each side a little at a time, and then we’re going to figure out when those growling things are going to break out of those walls.”
“Fun.” Merlin’s deadpan voice echoed how Murmur actually felt.
The raid kept hammering away at the groups one at a time. Pull, Mez the second group a bit away from the first. AoE down the first group, move onto the second. Make the creatures behind the walls roar.
And the creatures did roar, and they did sound angry, like they’d probably rip the whole raid limb from limb. Hell, occasionally Murmur found herself thinking of doing just that herself.
Finally, with one group left to fight on each side, the raid paused.
“Okay, so with the trash cleared but for one group, what are we thinking will happen?” Veranol eyed very obviously weakened walls. “The walls are going to break once we fulfill whatever the requirements are, right?”
“Of course.” Merlin shrugged. “But my money is that we’ll have two massive monsters at once.”
“Really?” Rashlyn looked doubtful. “I would think we’ll have the opposite wall come down, and have to fight the group that’s left close to that one. And then, because we’ll have to AoE those down and just get them out of the way, the other monster will then come and join us.”
“Couldn’t we just have Mur Mez all of the adds—the weak ones?” Havoc asked. “I mean, those are just trash mobs, so we should be able to just Mez them and kill the big dude and then kill the trash, and then kill the other big dude.”
“Sure,” Dansyn said, his arms crossed. “Or we could just kill one group and see what happens. I’d really, really like to get a few actual hours of sleep.”
Devlish sighed and spoke over the raid channel. “We’re going to kill the right-hand side group first and see what happens. If the wall breaks once we are done, we will tackle the new mob with the Shalan guard group from the opposite side at once. Rashlyn will off tank the Shalans, and then Esolan will off tank the big guy from the other side, if he pops out when we think he will.”
Then he continued. “And if we have to wait until we’ve killed both groups of Shalan, then we will have Esolan tank the right-hand side, and I will tank the left. DPS will go to Esolan’s first.”
Murmur sighed, glad to have Snowy by her side. At least they had a plan.
The final group of Shalan came running when Devlish pulled the first of the first group over with his Lariat. It left Murmur time to Mez the others and get them under control while the rest of the raid gathered around the first group. She could feel the tension in the entire raid, because no one was sure just what would happen once these six guards were dead. It was an undercurrent of excitement edged with a hope of not wiping and having to swim all this way again.
Even if it was a cavern, being out of the water felt so much better than in it. As long as no one knocked a hole in
the side and flooded them with water.
Devlish broke the Mez carefully, making sure he had his taunts in place and that no harm would come to Murmur. He’d definitely taken to the tank role, considering that a little over a month ago, he’d been mildly irritated about the fact that he’d been stuck with a class he wouldn’t have chosen to play.
Guess I know what I’m doing after all.
Shush. You and I both know it wasn’t quite you then.
Take away all my fun. It almost sounded like Somnia was pouting. She’d certainly gained some attitude since her presence made it known in Murmur’s mind.
Shh. I’ve got to concentrate. The final Shalan was down to ten percent life, and the entire raid was bracing for what came next.
A big, rather conspicuous, nothing.
Followed by another roar and some wall crumbling.
Well, that and Sheladrios, locked behind those rusting iron bars, began to glow. While the raid was still coming to terms with the fact that nothing happened, and while it might sound silly, nothing happening when you expect something to, is more of a shock than people might realize.
Murmur took a few steps toward the massive cage. The giant turtle had moved. His massive eyes blinked slowly, opening to stare right at her, or perhaps through her. She felt like he saw everything. Snowy whimpered slightly next to her, but it wasn’t a fearful sound, just more of a concerned one.
“You have come to free me?” The thing spoke softer than its grand voice implied, its eyes full of emotion and hope as it watched her.
“We have come to free you,” she said softly and received a smile in return. Or she thought it was a smile, since she’d never really thought about turtles and smiling before.
Quest Update.
You have spoken to the prisoner and realized his plight.
You must kill all of those who imprison him to obtain the key to his shackles.
You must stop all of those who are responsible to complete this rescue.
“Great,” she muttered, as she turned back to the raid, only to realize they’d all gotten the update too. It made sense, but if she hadn’t noticed Sheladrios glowing, she would never have realized she needed to speak to him.
“Other group it is?” Devlish asked as she walked back.
She shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Did they lock him up?” he asked, sounding deadly serious.
Murmur nodded. “I do believe so.”
“Excellent reason to kill them, then.” He bared his teeth and loosened his Darkness Lariat, as it was off cool down. They’d grown skilled at avoiding the serrated attack from these Shalan, skilled at keeping their heads above water, so to speak.
When the last one fell, the walls shook again, loosening more mortar. Enough that they could see sharp claws begin to try and make their way out of the holes in the walls. Rubble and dust cascaded down to rest at the foot of the walls as the inhabitants began attempting to free themselves.
Murmur knelt down to look the Shalan they’d just killed. Sure enough, there was a key. She wondered if it would have been on the last group no matter which it was.
Probably.
Again, with the answers to my rhetorical questions, Murmur snapped. Stop it. I’m trying to have my own thoughts here. She could have sworn she heard Somnia laugh.
She pulled the key out and held it up in the bright neon luminescence that shone through the cave. Making her way over to the cage with Devlish on one side of her and Snowy on the other, she hesitated before inserting it.
“What should I know?” she asked the creature. Sheladrios’s leg was bound by iron, bleeding and obviously painful.
He nodded at the key in her hand and slowly spoke. “This will lower the prison, and with that, I shall be able to help you somewhat. My healing power has been returned, but not much else, and not all of it. I will aid where I can.”
He paused, and Murmur was certain there was more to it that he wanted to express. “Go on,” she urged.
“You don’t have long. The right wall always collapses first. I will need the key to unlock my leg and more of my powers. You will get that key off the right opponent.” Sheladrios sighed and seemed oddly fatigued. “After that, the final key from the left wall will free this chain around my neck and thus my full strength. But we will need it to escape Abysioss Zonama.”
“Who is that?” Because the similarity in names didn’t escape Murmur, nor did the fact that she’d mistaken the necklace he wore for some sort of adornment instead of a restricting chain.
“My brother.” Sheladrios grimaced. “He isn’t in his right mind. Zonama has been infected.”
Murmur shivered as the monster behind wall number one began to pound in earnest, shattering it a chunk at a time until it could reach through with both clawed arms and rip the remainder of it down behind him.
“Shit.” Devlish stood and stared, before giving himself a shake.
The creature in front of them could have been a dinosaur. Of some sort, anyway. It walked on its haunches and had powerful arms that hung to its knees. Kind of like the old water monsters in the black and white movies. The ones that could bring entire cities down. Except this one was only about twenty feet tall. She caught herself giggling at the thought that it was only that tall.
“Lariat doesn’t work,” Devlish called out, and the entire raid moved over.
“Watch out for potential Tail Lash and a Stomp of some kind. Steer clear of green shit on the ground, and don’t make me waste mana,” Veranol called out, an edge to his voice. But everyone in the raid knew he was right, even if it was reluctantly.
That was the thing. Murmur could always recognize someone who’d played a healer. They didn’t step in much shit at all.
Finally, the monster shook itself all the way from its head down to its tail. Scales shimmered over its body and gave it a blood-red undertone to the boring brown it had been, and she realized originally it had been covered in dust from the walls it had torn down.
It opened its mouth and roared, its teeth glinting in the subdued lighting. Debris tumbled down from above and made the ground shake beneath them. Murmur eyed the ceiling, quite certain it couldn’t be coincidence—because this was Somnia, after all.
And then it spat bright red vomit everywhere.
Location Redacted
Brainwave Focus Study Laboratory - James Hartfield’s Home
Subdivision of Military Brainwave Research Institution
Somnia Online - Location Unknown - First Login Continued
Late Day Thirty-One
“What do you mean his vitals are destabilizing?” Davenport sounded like he was doing his best not to lose it on the other end of the connection. David sighed, trying not to get ahead of himself. Staven shot him a sympathetic glance from where he stood at attention in the corner opposite the door.
“His vitals are all over the place. We have your medical staff here trying to stabilize him, but they are quite sure they’ll have to pop him into the same type of coma we used to contain Wren.” David waited while the news sank in for those on the other end of the line.
“Is it the only way to contain him and not let him share Michael’s fate?” There was genuine sadness in Davenport’s voice. They all knew Michael was but a husk now. No brain connectivity, nothing. He was thoroughly brain dead.
“If we contain him like this, we know we have a higher chance of getting him out. Not like we know how exactly, but if Wren did it, the possibility remains that she can help him do it. If he’s not too far gone already,” David added, just to prepare the older man for a possibility. At least when Wren had been in the pod, she’d been accessible through the game. They’d been able to reach her, talk to her—hell, her entire guild had been able to play with her.
But James, well, he wasn’t so lucky, and David had a really bad feeling that the story wouldn’t end as well for him as it did for his daughter.
“I guess then,” Davenport sighed over the connectio
n. David didn’t think in all the years they’d known the man that he’d ever heard him only guess at something. He’d keep that portion of this to himself. “I guess…make the call. If you can preserve him, do so. We can’t afford this game to take another life, even if it isn’t the game that’s at fault. And make sure Staven stays there. I’ll feel better with security in place for the coming and going of the medical staff too. Tell him I’ll make sure he gets swapped out once the roster is adjusted.”
The connection disappeared, and David couldn’t help but wonder why this project was having all of these problems. His wife’s first solo design and this happened to it. Maybe he should have dragged her out of game design way back when, but it brought her so much joy.
He approached the doctor, who was frowning at the clipboard in his hand, and gave the directions. All of this was hush-hush. All of it was kept inside this room and only shared with Davenport, Shayla, and Laria apart from himself. If any of this got out, Storm Corp would take a massive blow, and the virtual reality protestors would get fodder for their movement. The game would be shut down, and he had no idea what would happen to those who had a more tangible connection to it. Like James. Like Michael.
But above all, like his daughter. Whether he wanted to or not, their family was all in. And he’d do whatever he had to protect his family.
Storm Entertainment Headquarters
Artificial Intelligence Server Room
Day Thirty-One
Rav twitched. He didn’t think he should be able to twitch. Especially not in this virtual space. It wasn’t a part of him, not like the outside world. In here, he was just an AI, not the person he’d developed into. Although, perhaps his brain processing center was the same. Anyway, he didn’t have much time to spend in their safe space. Not after Somnia sealed the fissure, and not with as little time to go before the raid finished the dungeon.
Then Michael’s prison would be freed, and if they didn’t have all of their ducks in a row, they were all fucked. He paused, taking stock of his surroundings. He said he’d handle it and had let his siblings go off to finish scouting out the Cognitia and Verendus and Hightower. Then they’d rendezvous back at the shore closest to Glacier Lake, because Fable should be finished in there by then.
