Continue Online The Complete Series

by Stephan Morse

  Walls rattled. Dirt fell and got into my hair. I could hear something digging at the wall nearby. My [Messenger’s Pet] hissed in unison with Viper. Both were upset. Their echo made me turn around to stare at them.

  I surveyed the area, then quickly pinged with [Sight of Mercari]. Players weren’t near us, so that left [Heavenly Body Clone]s digging tunnels to us.

  Dusk had fireballs. I had [Blink] and the sharpness of shapeshifting objects. I was exhausted though. The disorientation of [Blink] and [Awareness Heightening] would probably make me pass out if used excessively. Sure, they were overpowered, but only if I was rested in real life. Running this character now was like putting a high-powered car in a drunk’s hands.

  I took a breath and looked up. The ceiling was a mixed sort of dirt. The walls kept flaking off, and I heard scraping. Muffled barks came through the walls and up from behind us. If monsters could dig through to me, maybe we could mine a path out.

  My eyes closed as I pinged again. Wyl was close. Other players were too, probably brought back to base by the [Convict Brand]. At least six people had respawned recently, but the names didn’t line up.

  “Dusk, can we get back to Wyl from here?”

  Dusk knew who Wyl was. We had spent hours talking to the man during the William Carver era.

  Dusk stared at me with his head tilted before his tiny claws tore away at the wall. Dirt gathered behind us rapidly. I reformed [Morrigu’s Gift] and [Morrigu’s Echo] into pickaxes and swung them. There was no finesse to my efforts. My actions might have been the flailing of a confused child. Still, [Brawn] and [Coordination] kept me moving forward through earthen walls.

  “Why didn’t we do this before?” I asked.

  The wall tore apart in chunks under our combined effort. Dusk squawked as larger pieces hit him, then he hissed with annoyance as smaller chunks came close. I didn’t have the brainpower to do much besides keep swinging. Rocks echoed with noise.

  My head felt heavy, and breathing was a struggle. Maybe dizziness hit me from a lack of virtual oxygen. Our steep climb had taken a toll. Even Viper lacked color. Or was it his autopilot being literally dull? I hammered away and tried not to grumble or huff. Without a ball of fire, I couldn’t see how much progress we were making.

  Walls below us crumbled. I could barely see hands from [Heavenly Body Clone]s wiggling through the dirt. Viper stabbed some of them. There were other noises in the distance. Sounds like power lines overcharging. A flash of blue poured into the monster’s freshly made hole, illuminating the darkness. Android Seven and his weird blue laser beams were completely insane. His dot sat at least three floors down. Fighting him again might be neat, from an objective standpoint, but deadly. The challenge of fighting another player didn’t outweigh survival.

  Dusk and I needed to get Viper and his stock of loot to freedom. More chunks fell away while I grew dizzier. Exhaustion messages came up. Breathing came slower. Air felt heavy.

  I swung again and prayed that we were getting closer. [Convict Brand: Docile Binding] drained me slowly. My physical abilities being constrained made it harder to swing. Dusk made more progress than me.

  Monsters had arrived behind us in droves, tearing apart the walls and wading through our dirty leavings. Viper fought off a few. There would be no fighting them in my condition.

  My chest muscles burned. [Morrigu’s Echo] went under my belt, but I gripped [Morrigu’s Gift] and swung. We lasted another four minutes while burying a pile of [Heavenly Body Clone]s behind us.

  My vision blurred. Every swing required three hurried breaths. I felt sharp nails dig at my heel. Dusk chirped in urgency at his tunnel. I tried to bend and look but fell instead. Pain radiated up my leg.

  A clear line of sight to freedom was visible. The narrow hole couldn’t be much larger than Dusk. He had broken through though. Three feet of dirt stood between us and the initial stairwell out.

  “Shit.” I huffed and tried to understand while Viper’s autopilot hissed. “Viper, put your hand through! I’ll pull!”

  I [Blink]ed and appeared in the barely visible pathway. My head swam and my heartbeat stuttered.

  Hugged the wall wrong

  Total health loss: 25%

  I got down on my knees and saw fingers poking through the hole. Dusk was on my side, trying to dig open Viper’s small escape way. Starlight dripped from the walls in large quantities, bleeding around the hole my [Messenger’s Pet] made. I briefly wondered why we hadn’t dug through veins of liquid on the other side, but there was no time to figure out these mechanics. The [Abyss of Light] had secrets.

  My [Brawn] was below half, but that was more than enough. I got a firm grip on Viper’s arm, then pulled. Dirt ground along his smooth features and the man’s health bar dropped. His shoulders looked disjointed, but somehow he contorted into a thin shape. His face had never looked more like a snake’s.

  His autopilot hissed on the way through then stood and ran. The face of a [Heavenly Body Clone] came through just behind him. I stabbed the monster with [Morrigu’s Gift], silencing its barks. [Dipped in Starlight] flashed again.

  Viper shuffled ahead with one possibly broken leg. Dusk tossed a few balls of fire at the dirt, doing more harm to the dirt than my latest victim. I pinged the area again with [Sight of Mercari].

  Big O and his trio were up with Wyl. Android Seven was behind us but getting closer. He had to be near the entry path. The Traveler would be in for a surprise upon seeing all these [Heavenly Body Clone]s. Electrical hums echoed down the hall.

  My legs refused to run and my head dragged. Exhaustion pulled at me. I gave a halfhearted toss of [Morrigu’s Echo] into the latest creature chasing us. It pierced through and distracted the train of monsters for a moment. I [Recall]ed, then tossed my spear-formed weapon again and again. Five throws and [Morrigu’s Echo] no longer had enough durability to risk another [Recall].

  We were so close to freedom. Liquid starlight faded in favor of actual sun. The dull scent of dirt and undead monsters mixed with flowers. I remembered that smell. Alyssum, tiny flowers with a sweet fragrance. I’d gotten them for Xin all the time. That thought was delirium.

  I stepped out of the dungeon and was blinded by the fresh light. An abrupt pressure on my hands resulted in my arms being locked in a restraining grasp. My body fell forward, and Dusk made an odd noise. My eyes closed and I almost dropped into unconsciousness.

  Continue Online felt distant. The ARC connection dimmed as my awareness shut down. There were no boxes telling me we were in a safe zone for convicts though.

  “What?” I mumbled.

  “Two more. They don’t look like our man,” an unknown voice said.

  Strong arms lifted me from the ground. Viper had been cuffed, and Dusk ran around anxiously.

  “One’s got a pet. Tamer maybe.”

  We came into the square where our caravan had first set down. Four weird ox-giraffes were dead. The guards who sat up top with arrows were no longer at their posts. A man nearby screamed, and it felt like an alarm clock going off. I tried to wake up enough to give everything a good look.

  [Arcadia] tilted sideways as I tried to reconcile everything. This was not neat. Three players were still alive. The guards who carried crossbows were dead and lying on the ground. People who didn’t belong to our convict caravan held Wyl and Knight Middleton hostage.

  “Who’s this?” A huge man moved forward. Scars rippled across the figure’s body. “Another prisoner? Kill him and continue to wait for Android Seven.”

  “Bounty can’t be worth all this. What, seven players, fifteen stupid NPCs?” one of the figures whispered.

  I felt too Voices damned tired to deal with this. Virtual statistics couldn’t cure my physical exhaustion in reality. My mouth opened in a wide yawn. This jailbreak wasn’t even for me, based on the few lines of conversation so far.

  After a deep breath of fresh air, I said, “Android Seven is down below. If I lead you to him, can you let us go?” My words came out as a slur. Nearl
y four game days and being awake for over thirty hours straight counted against me.

  “He said something about finding our bounty,” the man holding me said.

  “No need. These convict train gangs always work the same way. He’s bound to this place.” A large ogre of a man stepped over a dead body, walking in our direction. “We can farm the whole lot of them for easy experience, take the loot, anything else of value. Kill him, kill the remaining guards, and Android Seven will come out eventually.”

  Wyl looked upset. The Traveler holding Wyl had long pink hair. The player swept to the side and brought up a glowing hand. I had to try to help Wyl, but the world swam. My eyes settled on the broken pillar of light that the two guards had once stood in. Solid chunks of it sat on the ground. I tried to understand how light could turn solid, but maybe I had been mistaken the whole time.

  My eyes closed once, then opened slowly. [Blink] failed three times in rapid succession. Boxes appeared. My neck muscles jerked while I shook awareness into my head.

  This wasn’t my week. Luckily I could hear the solution coming in behind us. A body flashed into being as one of the other convicts resurrected. The timing worked out perfectly.

  “Dusk!” I shouted. “Help Wyl!”

  Dusk launched a ball of fire straight into the pink-haired Traveler’s back. His health dropped as his hair caught on fire. The former guard captain looked surprised but fell forward with a skilled tumble. In the span of three seconds, Wyl had broken loose, stolen another Traveler’s sword, and proceeded to stab someone.

  “Kill them all!” the giant Traveler said.

  Viper’s autopilot slipped an arm loose. I managed to initialize [Blink] on the fourth try.

  Others moved, but I could barely keep tabs on anyone. My normal skills at group dances plus Shazam’s training would have helped me predict people’s movements, but sleepiness won. For now, I only needed to get away from the dungeon doorway. I had clearly heard barks.

  Viper and I were magnets for monsters from the dungeon. I managed to get my two-handed [Morrigu’s Gift] out and swung at one of the Travelers. Big O was attacking someone while another random convict died. This madness would only get worse once the undead breeched.

  “Wyl! Run!”

  The guard’s head snapped up with an awareness I couldn’t manage.

  “Follow Dusk!”

  Wyl looked troubled and stared briefly toward another body. I followed his gaze while staggering under a heavy blow from the larger Traveler. Knight Middleton lay upon the ground, his health bar empty.

  Heavy hammering hit my giant sword again. I grunted, then twisted my right foot against the ground. The toga rippled and flexed. Metal clunked together quickly, then a helmet slammed on with a clink. [Power Armor] was in place. The next attack dented my side but was too late for a gutting blow.

  Barks came forth from the [Abyss of Light]’s doorway. Everyone turned in unison to look at the monsters pouring out. A small wave of legless [Heavenly Body Clone]s came first. One player stood his ground and hacked away.

  Then the [Undying] versions arrived. Small spiders scuttled along the doorway, followed by undead [Coo-Coo Rill]s. I heard the [Messenger’s Pet] happy chirp, which made me shout orders.

  “Viper! Dump the bodies or we’re all dead! Dusk, no cupcakes if you get distracted!”

  Speaking through exhaustion made me feel barky myself. All those monsters pouring out had parts of my mind reacting, but awareness itself seemed distant. Being slammed by a blade while in a tin suit didn’t help.

  “Oh, don’t worry!” another voice yelled from the crowd of emerging bodies. “I don’t take kindly to people hunting me down! You can all just die! And I’ll be taking those bodies too!”

  Android Seven stood in the doorway with an army of undead flowing around him. His arm held up another charging bolt of blue. It was aimed in my direction. For a moment, I stared at the blue light and contemplated checking out completely from Continue for the night.

  Reduced stats, sleepiness, low health—I couldn’t sit around here and deal with brawling nonsense. My teammate’s autopilot put bodies in a pile, adding to the chaos. Another respawning Traveler appeared with a flash of light and screamed like a girl seeing two rotting ponies humping each other.

  [Blink] failed again, and I was left stumbling to the right. Blue energy flashed across the yard and slammed into the brute who had been pounding on my two-handed [Morrigu’s Gift]. A woman stood on the wooden barricade that a crossbowman had been using prior. She looked to be reading a scroll while facing Wyl.

  I ran toward her. [Morrigu’s Echo] didn’t have enough durability for a [Recall]. [Blink] triggered on the third attempt, and a full-blown headache pulsed as my body tumbled into the female. Messages flashed across my screen, and I waved them away while readying my blade.

  Armor clinked as I rolled to my feet. My character’s stats were almost back to day one level, but I could still right myself. Each step forward must have been terrifying to her. This [Power Armor] would be littered with glowing blood from [Heavenly Body Clone]s. My two-handed sword sat comfortably in one hand, implying a level of [Brawn] that I didn’t have right now. All the unbloodied portions of gear were nearly black.

  “Not me! Don’t kill me!” the woman shouted while throwing up her hands. “I was paid to break the pillar!”

  “You tried to kill my friend,” I mumbled.

  Wyl was an NPC. They didn’t grow on trees or respawn instantly. They weren’t like monsters from some vague dungeon. When it came down to player versus digital comrade, one of them would survive a deathblow.

  Barks overpowered the area. I stomped forward, and wood creaked beneath my feet. People nearby screamed as convicts and free Travelers alike were overrun.

  “It’s just a job! They haven’t even paid me my share of the money yet!” She kicked away from me. Her weapon fell over the edge.

  “Don’t think of this as me killing you. Think of it as me speeding up your trip back to town,” I said while bringing down [Morrigu’s Gift].

  Her eyes dulled as the blade slid through her chest. I felt sick. My breath shortened to heaving gasps while I reminded myself she had been part of the group intent upon killing us. I didn’t enjoy being around other players anymore. They made me do things like murder them.

  Viper was shuffling after Wyl. Both of them looked worse off than I was, which was impressive. I heaved another breath to steady myself against exhaustion. [Blink] went off, and this time I managed to land on my feet.

  Viper’s autopilot halted in front of me. I tried to talk but was drowned out. Noises were overpowering the yells of players. Sizzles, blue beams, and earth rumbling filled in the silence between barks.

  I repeated myself a few times. “Viper, you’re a bodyguard, and I’ll pay you all the gold I have to get Wyl back to Haven Valley.”

  “I don’t trusst you to pay,” he said.

  “I saved your life, you saved mine. Trust me. I’ll pay for my friend.” My unprofessional glare was covered by the [Power Armor] helmet. Shaking my head was tough since my movements were restricted by the metal.

  “What?”

  “I can promise you the answer to one question, your choice, anything in the game.” To be accurate, James would tell me and I would pass it on. “But I won’t tell you if Wyl dies.”

  “I do like ssecretss,” Viper’s autopilot hissed. “Deal, for now, Hermess.”

  I nodded then spun toward the oncoming horde of monsters. This [Dipped in Starlight] status had to go. Without the dead bodies and me as a lure, those monsters would eventually crawl back below. Hopefully.

  “Carver!” Wyl yelled behind me. “Is that you?”

  “Not exactly,” I said, feeling slightly more energetic. There were far worse people to be called. “But I learned from the best!”

  I couldn’t see Wyl’s expression. Dusk was chirping in the distance. Those damned [Heavenly Body Clone]s were barking in an unending flood. Some were held up by the
pile of dead bodies Viper had dropped. The rest were locked in on me, the man stupid enough to hang around while being [Dipped in Starlight].

  My sword came up. WWCD? William Carver would happily go down swinging, and so would I. Still, after this week, I almost welcomed the release of dying. Not literally, but the game had taken a toll on me. Why then did charging those monsters in a reckless kamikaze of sleepiness feel so good?

  Session Seventy-Seven — When the Sun Goes Down

  Death came upon swift wings, and with it came the silence of dreamless slumber. Sometime later, morning arrived, trumpeted by a startling ringtone. My hands didn’t even move in a tempo with the pop song from twenty years ago.

  I groaned and tried to focus on the caller ID window floating nearby. Part of me knew the caller because of the ringtone. Sure enough, my sister’s tired face sat on the preview. Her cheeks were bloated out like a pufferfish.

  “Liz?” I mumbled. My throat felt dry. “What, what time is it?”

  My ARC happily provided numbers I couldn’t read off to the side. Liz’s words were lost.

  “Grant!” Liz shouted. “Wake up!”

  “What time is it?” I repeated as the world recovered from being shut down. It was like an ARC going out of service, only my brain had done it instead.

  “Mom’s having a bad day, can you cover for me? I have to show up at work today, and… you look like shit. Goddammit, what is with this family?”

  I waved at the screen and tried to speak, but words were difficult. “I played online too long.”

  “You sure it’s not that… other thing?” Liz’s voice turned low as though we were in a conspiracy drama.

  “No, it was a dungeon.” It was only four in-game days of running from zombies in dimly lit hallways while they tried to eat my flesh. “I’ll take today off and go visit Mom, but I need sleep too.”

  “So? Get in the van, and come watch Mom. You can sleep on the way,” my slightly older twin sister suggested.

  True to form, I listened to her. Not because she was bossy—Liz was—but for the simple fact that Mom might be in a bad spot. No matter how much the NPCs or Xin’s existence mattered, the video game side of Continue Online couldn’t overrule reality. I wasn’t a teenager anymore; loot and skill grinding didn’t mean more than my only remaining parent.