Continue Online The Complete Series

by Stephan Morse

  “I don’t know everything. I’m only human, Gee.” She winced, then looked away. “Mostly. I feel human.”

  “You’re alive, babe, don’t doubt that,” I said quietly, then tried to make a joke. “Even if you went from a sexy space pilot to a brooding necromancer.”

  Xin had taken a few more steps forward to look at the destructive scene in front of us. Three skeletons stood ready to defend us from the energy arcing off the dome. I wrapped my arms around her while keeping quiet.

  “Hey!” Xee shouted at us. “Hecate, Hermes, what the hell are you two doing?”

  She’d used our character names. The other Travelers probably had an [Identification] skill like mine.

  I let go of Xin, then turned to see this town’s leaders standing near each other. Despite their apparent feud earlier, they were comfortable enough to be close. Everyone else bunched in around them. They looked like a gaggle of fully grown schoolchildren afraid of shadows.

  “Jesus Christ. Haven’t you heard of sneaking?” the man next to her said. Dwight looked uncomfortable walking in all that plate. He had far more weight on him than I did, and it showed in his face and chubby fingers.

  “Really, idiot?” Xee said while shoving her hand in Dwight’s face. “Hey, we need to camp before trying to go in there! Some of our people are going to log out and handle real life. We can’t all be no-lifers like you.”

  The woman stomped closer to Xin and me, and Xin’s trio of skeletons approached her with large serrated blades. They stood between the sweating townsfolk and us. I put a hand calmly onto my wife’s shoulder, which caused a brief shuffle of bone. Xin’s robe rippled as she flinched.

  “It’s okay. They’re just tired,” I whispered to her.

  Scanning the crowd made the problem obvious. None of these people were high-end players. They were probably closer to what I would be without William Carver’s legacy, or being pushed by the Voices and Shazam. Average, confused, and probably scrambling for the [Save Yourself] feature.

  “If you want to take a break, you can. I’m going to go in there and hopefully find Awesome,” I said while lifting a hand toward the distance.

  One of the domes glowed a bright emerald intertwined with a new thread of deep violet. The colors had to signify something with the fight. I didn’t know what though, and I couldn’t see a simple way of walking in. The energy might have been a design to keep people back during the boss fight, but then why had the town been built close enough to suffer feedback?

  “In the dome is a broken Sage’s Guardian. It’s got to be fighting someone, but no one we know has ever beaten one. Our only saving grace is they’ve been bound to the domes,” Dwight said.

  That sent a line of possibilities through me. If those bosses were part of a legacy item or key, then beating them would be a good goal. Awesome hopefully was in there too, which meant he’d either stumbled into this place or had guidance.

  “You don’t need to go in, and fighting them is stupid,” Xee said. “They react to some trigger words, but that only makes the fight harder. This idiot kept hoping to find the right words and make them into mounts.”

  Dwight shuffled while saying, “You didn’t need to tell them that. And we don’t know if they’re going to steal them from us.”

  A few people behind him were rapidly typing words onto their personal interface keyboards. People’s eyes looked at nothing while reading, then others would respond with more air gestures. They were likely talking within the guild about us.

  “So why are you here?” Dwight puffed up and tried to look demanding.

  His eyes went wide and focused on something behind me. I shifted to one side and saw the dome. The earth trembled as the dome we had been headed toward shifted colors again. Green changed and contained a thread of purple, which lashed off against the ground. Dirt sprayed into the air, showering broken buildings with new decorations. I shook my head.

  “I’m here for a quest!” My voice barely made it past the sound of crashing. “And I don’t think there’s time to explain it!”

  “Phase four! Whoever’s in there is really pushing the guardians!” Calamity stood nearby with her two axes at the ready. She was one of the few people actively looking around besides me.

  “But there’re more domes!” I didn’t understand this boss event, and it appeared to be going downhill quickly. We had one going haywire, and I had a feeling the others would be worse.

  “Yeah! The fourth dome is half broken too! Those World Eaters destroyed one boss’s shackles, so we tried to manually lock it up! Two’s the one going haywire!” Xee shouted while pointing in turn at each building.

  I took a breath and readied myself. Sitting out here wouldn’t do any good.

  “Anything from Awesome?” I asked my wife.

  Her head shook while her eyebrows wrinkled together. Seeing her frown upset me. This place would only get worse.

  “You’ve got to stay here,” I told Xin while looking around.

  Xin ignored me. She normally did when I made that kind of statement. [World Eater]s were a threat to her entire existence. Like other Locals, she would lose pieces of herself upon being eaten, or pulled into their pits, or whatever gimmick the [World Eater] in question used.

  My chest heaved with a sigh, but I didn’t argue. She had given me an earful on the subject more than once over the last month. We were in this together, despite my preference.

  Travelers bunched up behind us. Some eyed the sky. A single clap of thunder preceded the sky letting down all the water it could carry. In unison, a dozen players opened huge slick-looking umbrellas. Xin and I just stared blankly at them.

  The weather was easy enough to ignore after our month of traveling. I scanned through the growing sheet of water to figure out this town. There had to be more to this stupid boss than four domes with big ugly monsters inside. For instance, where was all that power coming from? Continue Online had rules for its events, even if they made no sense at first.

  “What are those?” I pointed along the city roads. Covered up by rubble were large black bundles at least three feet thick.

  “Grounding wires, we think.” Xee pushed back a strand of clumpy, sweaty hair.

  “Did nobody tell him about the grounding wires?” The player with huge thick glasses threw up his hands. He grumbled while stomping large plastic boots, then he pointed at guild members. “We need to get them working again to drain the charges. We can avoid the fight that way.”

  “But then those things attack. It’s easier just to let the boss power down after the party inside is wiped,” the plate-wearing man said.

  “No, we can’t resurrect those with a third strike. So people we need may be gone from the game forever. And what about your Locals? You’re just going to let them die?” I ranted.

  Dwight annoyed me, and his casual disregard for other people’s lives only made my attitude worse. He only cared about these Sage’s guardian devices.

  “All the Locals left already. They packed up the minute the event started.” Calamity wrinkled her nose and looked around with me. She, unlike the others, was intent upon figuring out a way through this.

  I sat down on the dirt and started scrawling out the summoning circle for Dusk. Hours of practice had solidified my ability to form this circle without Continue Online holding my hand. We didn’t have time to waste and needed the extra manpower.

  Summoning Dusk had turned into a last resort of sorts. My hesitation involved worrying about the [World Eater]s. Even a [Messenger’s Pet] could be deleted in a scuffle gone wrong. I tried to protect Xin and Dusk, but they were strong-willed and didn’t care about my wants.

  The other Travelers kept conversing while I summoned Dusk by whispering, “How about a cake instead?”

  “If we get the lines connected, we can drain out the arcs.”

  TockDoc and four other players were hefting the large black cords into different positions. I stared at the lines briefly and could see them stretching from each dome tow
ard the city’s center.

  “That will let us approach, or better yet, let those inside find a way to escape,” TockDoc said.

  Golden light flashed brightly in front of me. Two people dropped what they were doing and reached for weapons. As the glare faded, I saw both Xee and Dwight pointing crudely made weapons in my direction. It made me thank my lucky stars that William Carver had seen something in me. Not just because of Xin or [Morrigu’s Gift] being part of saving her.

  A panting [Messenger’s Pet] sat in front of me. He looked like a giant black cat whose tongue lolled out to one side. Wings and scales broke up the illusion of him being Mister Sniffles the Second. I rubbed under his chin and scratched the space above Dusk’s eyelids. He purred, then chirped once in happiness.

  “Cake comes after we get Awesome to safety. Do you think you can help with that?” I whispered then pointed toward the arcing dome.

  Dusk’s head tilted to one side. A single chirp escaped and his head bobbed in a nod. The small beast opened his mouth wide to yawn. I took that to mean yes and it was so easy he felt bored already. Being out in this weather was annoying. Dusk ran abnormally hot despite the chill of rain. Bits of steam floated off his dog-sized form.

  “There’s probably something to fight in there. A big monster who is killing Travelers.” I nodded as water dripped down my face.

  That perked him up. One ear tilted forward, and a thought bubble of question marks appeared up above him. I often worried that the [Messenger’s Pet] might be crazy, attacking rodents and [Leviathan]s with equal fervor.

  “But if you feel like you’re in danger, come back here. I’d rather have you safe,” I said.

  Dusk nodded. His body turned to face toward the dome. He ran forward while hopping. Each bound went farther than the last. His wings swept out to the side, batting at the electrified air. Moments later, he was sailing toward the haywire dome. I watched while trying not to bite my nails. The [Messenger’s Pet] dodged bolts of lightning like he knew where they would be ahead of time.

  A long sigh made it out of me. He should be safe enough. Going against those blasts would be better than fighting [World Eater]s. Worst-case scenario, he would end up back in the Voices’ realm. That was far better than risking deletion.

  Multiple Travelers stared at me in confusion. Dwight’s jaw moved up and down like a gaping fish’s, but no question actually came out.

  “Were these lines always here?” Xin clarified, “Before the city?”

  Her general nonchalance helped the others regain their wits. The man with seven layers of glasses nodded. He and a few others had kept working the entire time.

  “Yep,” TockDoc said while directing guild members around.

  Once recovered, they quickly worked in unison, even those on autopilot. Clearly this task had been performed multiple times.

  As they connected the lines, electric arcs started to polarize. They traveled into the large black bundles and surged through. Purple and green energy passed through, changing color as it went. Travelers carrying the grounding wires would either drop the cord and wait for surges to pass, or ride out the bolts while grunting in mild pain.

  I glanced down and tried to understand. Those still working as the energy surged through wore rubber-looking boots. Heavy, thick, like oversized rain goulashes. They also shimmered with a nearly white blue.

  “Neat,” I said. Both the boots and entire process of connecting cables interested me.

  “We’ve done this a lot. By using the lines to drain energy, we can reset bosses. It helps when Dwight thinks he’s found some new trigger word.” TockDoc dropped the latest load and straightened his oversized glasses. “Too bad the trigger words only seem to enrage the creatures quicker.”

  “That still an oddly specific setup,” Xin said for us. “Is there one to each dome? Do they all come back to the same spot?”

  “That they do, but we haven’t figured out anything useful. We tried for something with the colors or looked for patterns, switches, books that explained anything. Whoever designed this was probably crazy,” he responded. “But it was convenient for power. We figured out a way to siphon off some of the drainage into enchantments for the city.”

  “Seriously, guys, stop telling them everything!” Dwight shouted. “We can’t trust them!”

  “You saw the quest, we’re all on it now. This is our task, a unique way to contribute for the event. Help out or shut up,” Xee said. Her body jangled from the mismatched assortment of gear.

  “Can you tell Awesome we’re going to try to cancel the event?” I frowned while trying to understand what was happening here. If we could get Awesome out of the boss fight or event going on, then maybe we could all regroup and find the actual key I’d been sent here for.

  A brief explanation couldn’t possibly solve the mystery here in a few hours, despite all the foreknowledge provided by living as William Carver. I didn’t even think this place had been on any of the old man’s maps. Michelle must have set this place up alone some time back. Before I started playing at least. Getting the large cables set up took longer than I expected. Apparently their prior battles had knocked them all out of position. I looked down to see small grooves in the ground with metal conductive points every few feet.

  That also made no sense. I felt as though this entire thing was a circuit board, but not one I knew. Well, they were a little familiar. I didn’t know where from though.

  “Do you hear that?” someone asked.

  My ears perked up as a distant sound worried me. I had heard something, which only grew clearer. We all stood still for a moment while straining to hear.

  “Goddamn this event! What bullshit are they throwing at us now?” Xee shouted. She kicked at the ground and pulled out two clunky-looking swords. One was driven into the ground while the other came to her hand.

  The odd noise grew into a droning sound. Hundreds of small critters poured over the walls. I knew that sound, and my neck tensed and my skin crawled as a result.

  “Spiders?” I asked while looking around.

  The patter of heavy rain made it hard to hear anything beyond bolts of lightning sliding off the haywire dome.

  Dwight put on his helmet. Xee and her crew were buckling down behind half-broken barricades. Even TockDoc had stopped his wire movement to get ready. He started setting items that crackled with electricity onto the ground.

  “No. They’re World Eaters. Look at them,” Xin said next to me.

  “World Eater spiders,” I ground the words through clenched teeth.

  I fucking hated spiders more than anything else in this stupid game. Ever since those first ones had made me gain a [Soiled] status, every bug had become fair game.

  Xin made a small barfing sound in the back of her throat. She got over it quickly, then lifted the staff crosswise in front of her. Lights flashed on the black robe as white bits of bone appeared in the air all around.

  “I hate spiders!” I shouted, then charged.

  [Awareness Heightening] kicked in, along with a number of other effects tied to my bug hatred. [Morrigu’s Echo], one of my two shapeshifting weapons, turned into a large three-pronged trident. It soared through the air and stabbed into three of the spiders before I had even registered what was happening. My distaste for all beings squirmy had reached a level of instinctual destruction.

  Xin’s white bone bolts shot off a moment later and riddled the next row. Other spells and abilities triggered too but were far less effective. The horde of shadowy spiders barely slowed, and rain kept pouring down.

  I [Blink]ed into the middle and swung [Morrigu’s Gift] in a large flat circle. Bugs splatted against the sword’s flat edge as if I had hit a homerun. The edge of Xin’s skeletons could be seen charging in. A pack of the bugs mobbed them, and I switched targets to the new formation and bunched my legs. I bounced off one of the remaining wall ruins to get added height. It wasn’t Shazam’s level, but I’d worked hard to learn.

  Midair, I turned. [Awareness He
ightening] kept the world moving nice and slow. Xin also enjoyed the shared buff. Small bone shards endlessly flew out like white bullets of death into the front row.

  [Breath of Flame] caused my neck to bulge. Two small balls of fire pelted in rapid succession into a nasty shadow arachnid’s back. It screeched and twitched exactly how any other large spider would. The fire spread and caught a few more aflame.

  A dozen of them landed on me. Their terrible little limbs made me freak out and ram into the nearest wall, squishing two. Bugs drove most sane thought from my mind. Two of Xin’s bone missiles pelted one of the shadow beasts. A bolt of lightning hit another.

  People were shouting out contradicting orders. Dwight and Xee’s guild members were mostly useless. Calamity at least was hacking her way through bugs. A few could be seen chewing on building parts and trying to get to TockDoc. He huddled under a small field of electricity that fried them like a bug zapper.

  They bite back!

  Total health loss: 20%

  One foot stomped down and twisted to activate [Power Armor]. My mind bent in focus to limit the skill to only one body part, a new trick I had picked up during my honeymoon. Armor flashed into being upon my forearm, and I punched one of the spiders. Two more skittered across my body. One foot went up to squish another crawling by while I swiped the air again with [Morrigu’s Gift].

  My course took me to the skeleton that had also been mobbed. It stood calmly as spiders waved their stupid gross pincers and tried to chew away at it. I flipped [Morrigu’s Gift] into a giant hammer, then brought it down. Xin’s skeleton vanished, recalled at the perfect time to leave me with a free-falling clump of soon-to-be-paste bugs.

  I squished them and moved onward. Moments later, Xin had formed all three skeletons into a giant one. It cleaved entire swaths at a time while I [Blink]ed around, taking glee in landing upon spiders with my heavy metal boots. [Power Armor]’s increased skill was super neat.

  We fought off the small mob of bugs for a rapid-fire five minutes. I went longer than needed, making sure every single enemy had been ground into dust. Absurdly large hammers sat in either hand. They were unwieldy, but awesome when the need to squish bugs arrived.