Continue Online The Complete Series

by Stephan Morse

  I stared at her and smiled again. What would happen between us if she went to a new place? Her survival meant more than us being together. This sort of information was exactly what I had been waiting to hear from the Voices. Now I knew that there was a part for me to play as well.

  “What do we do?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. But William’s friends might have more information,” she said while pointing toward the shoreline starter town.

  “Haven Valley,” I said slowly, then focused my thoughts on Wyl.

  It had to be coincidental, but it was a shred of hope. William Carver’s friends from [Haven Valley] might know what the old man had planned. Xin saw the bigger picture, and I had a rather unique insight to the old man’s past. High Priestess Peach, Peg Hall, and Wyl, or maybe one of William’s stories or journals could hold the key to the NPCs survival.

  One of my fingers ran along the smooth edge of [Morrigu’s Gift]. The weapon had been crafted by two of his friends and could change shape. Could it form a key? Maybe there were more people involved than we even knew. Either way, we needed to get back to town and search for answers before everything fell apart.

  Wyl stepped back through the door. Xin and I turned around to look at him.

  “They’ve got a few ideas, but sent me back to get you and the others.”

  “Wyl! Xin and I will be going with you all to Haven Valley. William might have left behind something to help everyone.”

  “From that destruction you talked about? I’m not sure I believe it, but that monster you fought…” The man shook.

  “Ask the others for anything you need to prepare yourself. We’ll have to leave soon.” I waved at him.

  Wyl’s lips went white from being pressed together. After a moment, he nodded. I sat down and scribbled notes to the Voices while Xin stared at the map. A knocking noise filled my head, making my hand skip and leave ink blots across the parchment. There was a hole forming in the world again.

  We had a lot of things to figure out, and time was against us.

  Session Eighty-Six — Skeleton Crew

  We stood on the beach being blasted by sea spray and salt. I held one hand up to block the overhead sun and wished [Wild Bill]’s brim was a bit wider. The other players had chatted about ways to cross the water before roping Xin in. I smiled at the sight of Beth pulling the shorter woman over to their workspace.

  “So I told the others we should just use your skeleton boat!” Beth said while Awesome Jr. gave two thumbs-up.

  “I don’t know if it will be enough for all of us.” Xin stared at our group. HotPants sat farthest away from us, on the other side of Shadow. “It takes all three skeletons to even make a two-person boat. We would need a lot of duct tape for a ship big enough to carry seven.”

  “Potions can fix it! I’ve got potions for everything!” Awesome Jr. proudly proclaimed, then deflated. “Except rashes, oddly.”

  The others grumbled but sounded positive. Three Travelers sat down and crafted one of the weirdest looking boats I had ever run across. Xin’s skeleton summons were pulled out piece by piece to make ribbing for the vessel. SweetPea rapidly sewed a two-layer tarp around their bodies.

  “Travelers are insane,” Wyl muttered next to me.

  “We could use a signal flare instead? Or start a fire maybe?” I suggested. “There are people with ships who may come pick us up.”

  “No. None of your friends know if the town’s still in one piece, so we can’t wait that long,” Wyl answered.

  He and I stood on the beach, watching them assemble their monstrosity. Awesome Jr. shoved one of his foam potions into the lining and jiggled it around. Our boat filled up like a balloon. Moments later, he boastfully declared the creation water ready. The group argued while SweetPea checked the edges of the tarp for possible tears or weaknesses.

  Dusk was off doing a flyby of the city, but it would take another half an hour before he made it back. He might also get distracted by every single bird, shiny object, and [Coo-Coo Rill] on the way. Afterward, getting information out of him would be a series of twenty questions followed by bribery. We could probably make it across before the [Messenger’s Pet] returned.

  Another set of two sharp raps made me jump. It had been forty minutes since the last set of knocking. I couldn’t tell if that meant the danger was close or far away. I knew how Miz Riley felt now, at least with regards to never having enough time.

  I needed to figure out something more useful to do than sitting around talking. My recent confession had left me jumbled and disconnected. Part of me expected to turn around and face a row of Travelers prepared to host an intervention. To top it off, I kept thinking about Xin’s lack of undergarments. Since now wasn’t the time to explore my fiancée’s clothing status, I turned to Wyl. Maybe interacting with him would loosen the man up.

  “Can you show me that weapon-stealing move?” I asked.

  “It’s not easy,” he responded.

  I had expected a denial. Apparently our relationship was high enough to warrant a vaguely positive response. At least Wyl didn’t call me convict anymore.

  We walked to a less sandy portion of the beach, then went through the motion a few times. Wyl demonstrated the process by taking away [Morrigu’s Gift] repeatedly. I still didn’t have a firm grip on how he was allowed to wield it. [Bound] should have prevented him from getting that far. In ten minutes, I got a prompt from the machine.

  [Weapon Steal] learned!

  Details: This movement will perform automatically when certain conditions are met:

  Nothing in current hand

  No negative effects on hands

  Enemy must have weapon

  Traveler [Coordination], [Limberness], [Speed], and [Reaction] will all impact this move. Unaware strikes will increase the likelihood of success.

  Rank 1: Generally unsuccessful and will likely cause damage to the Traveler

  I studied the box and wondered how the ability had come up so quickly, then I filed it away as an Ultimate Edition perk. Self-harm from grabbing a weapon wrong sounded like a fair enough punishment for low skills.

  “Thank you, Wyl.”

  I nodded to the guard captain, and he only stared in response. After all our time together, the man remained standoffish. He didn’t nod to acknowledge me. He handed back [Morrigu’s Gift] and wandered back to the small beach. Then he gazed across the span of ocean between us and [Haven Valley].

  I practiced the move a few more times but didn’t feel completely comfortable with it. My ARC dance program had similar activities. There was a series of paired events that involved handing fans back and forth while waving them around. Worse yet, the ARC had insisted I wear skin-tight clothing during those dances, but the solitude of practicing offline helped mitigate my embarrassment. Those pieces involved inertia, timing, plus excessive practice. Most dancing and combat did as well.

  After the twentieth attempt, I wondered about the weapon William Carver had left behind. [Morrigu’s Gift] never felt any heavier or lighter despite my insanely high [Brawn]. Changing shapes to such a wide range of items had to be downright unusual, not to mention having a second weapon that did the same thing.

  Had Carver thought things far enough along to put a key to NPC salvation in my hands? Me, of all people? What if I stopped playing? What if I got hit by a hacked car in reality? Perhaps the old man hadn’t found any better options. His role as a new player guide would have been perfect for judging Travelers for their worth to continue his mission, but maybe the other options were all terrible.

  I tried to picture the man, barely functioning and being more AI than human in his thought process. He could have easily been outfitted with a Second Player helm to pick up surface thoughts, and the autopilot would act accordingly. Maybe the people mentioned in his journals had scattered more pieces of the key about in case one person failed. Perhaps Wyl could use the weapon if I died or quit. He might be able to shove it into a key slot.

  Or maybe I was read
ing too much into it.

  “Let’s go, Uncle Grant!” Thorny shouted.

  My head felt dormant. The clock showed late afternoon in real time, so maybe I was crashing. A heavy sigh heaved through me, then I walked over. The boat looked like a lumpy hot air balloon that had frozen at partial deflation. Based on the size, we would be able to squeeze the lot of us together, but we needed a motor or paddles. Time and tide would take forever.

  Plus there were probably evil sea urchins that would spawn with so many players nearby. Honestly, this small island would probably mob us with stupid monsters if anyone stepped off the beach. I looked around and noticed some of our group was missing.

  “It’ll float,” Awesome Jr. said.

  “Maybe,” SweetPea responded. “Maybe it’ll float.”

  “Are you kidding? These potions are practically made of floatonium.” The teen male waved at their makeshift vessel.

  My basic understanding of boats amounted to a general shape and propulsion. Their conglomeration certainly looked right. SweetPea was doing rounds, and Xin stood there sweating.

  “What?” my niece asked him.

  “That’s great, but we need an engine.” I pointed at the rear of our new, possibly seaworthy vessel.

  “Well, we saved, like, seven days of riding by taking the doors. I don’t think we have anything that works as an engine readily available.” Beth put her hands on her hips, then chewed one lip for a moment. Seeing the Legate thinking expression replicated on yet another generation made me smile.

  “No portals. No scrolls. We can’t summon people because no one in the League has Arcane or Temporal Magic.” Awesome Jr. was typing away at an invisible screen and shaking his head every few seconds.

  “You mean hardly anyone in the history of ever has those,” Beth said while tapping her foot. “Even Hermes’s teleport move is pretty rare.”

  “I should have argued harder for jet powers,” Xin lamented quietly. She looked tired and worn out under the virtual sun. Her hair clumped together.

  I walked over and put [Wild Bill] on her head. My fiancée tilted her head back in confusion, then smiled.

  “Or we row,” Wyl said and frowned. “Your jet device foolery sounds dangerous.”

  “Rowing!” HotPants came out of the jungle looking sweaty and ragged. Her body was clearly worn from an excessive amount of combat, made apparent by nicks along her arms and legs. She had large boards cut into paddles.

  SweetPea didn’t bother sparing a heal in her partner’s direction. I wondered why she’d let a friend stay suffering, but HotPants looked strangely calm compared to her earlier explosions of rage. There were no hints of red anywhere in the woman’s hair.

  HotPants set down the oars, then motioned toward me. She pointed at the boat, and I got the hint. Between our [Brawn], moving the boat from shore into water was easy. The vessel rocked and bobbed, then righted itself. Xin and a few other people waved away messages, which made me smile.

  “It says we’re good,” Awesome Jr. stated, and his girlfriend nodded.

  The seven of us waded through the shallow water and pushed off. I debated swimming, but in the end, we rowed. I pulled one oar on each side and listened to the others shouting a count of sorts. The message that popped up barely preceded my screen turning fuzzy and nausea twisting my stomach. Our large skeleton raft rocked as waves pulled us back toward the island.

  [Seasickness]!

  [Focus] and [Coordination] suffering 25% reduction. Effects will continue until you reach dry land or drown.

  Warning!

  Drowning may cause a phobia to develop!

  “Stroke!” Awesome Jr. took over shouting for the group.

  We tried to row in unison but weren’t making enough progress. I took a moment to hurl up half a sandwich that Beth had prepared. The others were speaking, and I didn’t fully register what they said.

  Our vessel kept on moving, and none of the others looked to be doing that great. I glanced behind me. SweetPea was hunched over and kept reaching for her knitted hat. Xin looked bored despite the lack of color in her face.

  The game world felt disconnected. I took a breath and got a mouthful of sea splash instead, and my skin grew goose bumps. I spit out the water and kept rowing. I coughed constantly, which made my already tired muscles clench. Getting out of the ARC and stretching would help, but I had no time for such a task. We were on a time limit, and I would ride out the rest of this insanity until the problem was solved or I drowned.

  “Gee, are you okay?” Xin asked from behind me.

  I nodded, then pulled again, trying to stay in time with the others. My head felt heavy and my chest hurt. Each stroke of the paddles ground against dry hands. It would have taken too long to adapt [Morrigu’s Gift], and I wasn’t used to holding other objects.

  “Stroke!”

  My arms pumped once more to get the paddle through. HotPants’s ability to march into an island forest and come out with solid oars was worth admiring. Too bad she hadn’t made a better boat, but that probably would have taken far longer. They were doing better than my personal trade skills would have. All I knew was sleight of hand involving a deck of cards.

  The sky above was clear, but my every muscle burned. Sweat dripped into my eyes. Awesome Jr. yelled for more pulls, so I kept trying to focus on the timing. Though our world was digital, I still felt out of breath and my palms hurt.

  “You don’t look well,” Xin said from behind me.

  I shook my head, then lifted the oar and cranked it forward. “I feel weird.”.

  “Use your legs! Pull with your entire body! Stroke!” the teen captain shouted.

  We were almost somewhere. I lifted my head and saw town come into sight. Wyl next to me gasped, then pulled harder than expected. Our course veered to the right along a beach that I had once sent SweetPea to clean. A wave of energy washed over me, and I screwed up the timing. Our boat tilted even farther off course while HotPants cursed a storm next to me.

  “Straighten us out!” Awesome said, sitting across from Wyl.

  It took him, Shadow, and HotPants to balance out Wyl and me. Part of me felt smug, because I didn’t look like a muscled man. Hermes as an avatar was fit, but athletic rather than bulky.

  We drove the vessel onto the beach. I pulled the oars back twice more before it registered that we had arrived. Thirty minutes of hellish rowing had been long enough to make me almost miss the sensation. My hands gripped the wooden oars hard enough to turn my knuckles white. My chest ached from the exertion.

  “Gee, you should take a break,” Xin said in a low voice.

  I shook my head, then tried to stand up. One hand slipped and hit bone on the ship’s edge. Numbness rushed up my arm, robbing me of more than tingles. My character should have been in far better shape than this. Maybe the different style of exercise had hit harder than expected. Small boxes off to the side cited a stat increase, my first in ages.

  “Why do you call him Gee?” SweetPea asked while getting out of the vessel. She lost her footing and Awesome Jr. rushed behind the young woman.

  “It’s from her dad,” Beth answered while exiting. Her legs looked unsteady as well. “He said that Grant looked like a government suit just after high school. He said they used to call them G-men but pronounced it with an accent. It stuck.”

  “Dad did not like him.” Xin sighed, then frowned for a moment.

  I lifted my head and stared at her. Maybe it was stupid lovestruck emotions surfacing after so long apart, but part of me worried that she might vanish if I blinked for too long or dared go to sleep.

  “He still hates me,” I muttered after another deep breath.

  The man blamed me for Xin’s passing. He blamed everyone. I had leftover voicemails from when he called, screaming about how I was a letdown. His little girl was dead and he’d been left all alone in a strange country, despite having lived here for almost twenty years.

  Notice!

  Skill Merger Demonstrated

 
Skills merged: [Rowing], [Rowing [Lead]], and 100 [Brawn]

  Results: Rank one Oarsman Path Unlocked!

  Path Complexity: Simple

  Fingers unclenched and flexed. My palms were bloody with bits of wood shavings in them. The oars themselves had bloody fingerprints from where I had gripped tightly. Just rowing across the water without any correct skills had worn me down. On this end of the small shore, I gained a Path that meant nothing unless I got on a boat again. The likelihood of that happening was low.

  “Sir?” SweetPea said.

  I heard heavy footsteps and felt our boat rock. Water splashed through my open-toed sandals, making me shiver. I kicked one leg to get the liquid off.

  “Captain!” HotPants’s yell was rough as she coughed up water.

  The other players ran after Wyl. Their footsteps were drowned out by the sound of echoing knocks. I had confirmed through letters that the knocking meant those damn shadow people programs were going to burst through soon. I groaned and reached for Xin’s outstretched hand.

  “Do you have any ideas on where to go next?” my fiancée asked.

  “No.”

  I looked at Wyl. He was a speck in the distance, running toward a city that looked terrible. The former walls around its borders were in shambles. A bright road that had gone down the coast was cracked and torn.

  “Don’t push yourself,” she said. “It can be dangerous if you do.”

  “I know. Hopefully following Wyl will help.” I tried to stay steady, and I refrained from using [Sight of Mercari], [Blink], [Awareness Heightening], or any ability that disoriented me, which would make recovery that much harder.

  Feedback would grow increasingly unstable the more [Arcadia] was torn apart. Advance Online was apparently suffering black holes as well. Other games were lagging, and people were disconnecting randomly. I had only gotten small bits of information from the Voices.

  Their entire reality was going through hiccups. I hoped the higher-ups in Trillium headquarters might have a button to press that would save everyone, but I doubted it. I had no idea who to contact there and find out. Per the Voices, I could only move forward and handle my own end of the process.