Continue Online The Complete Series

by Stephan Morse

  Wraith looked impressive in real life. The [Contract] demon had to be at least ten feet tall with huge bull-like horns. A heavy metal ring hung in each ear while his chest remained bare. The red-skinned elder brother of Spite could easily compete against Vlad in terms of expansive muscular displays. Only his nose and eyes were grotesque. Yellow eyes with twisted pools of darkness stared at me while his large nostrils flared. Steam poured out of his mouth, and large teeth were revealed as the monster grinned.

  Requiem’s demon stared at me for a moment while I struggled to get upright. I understood the young man’s nature and needed to be ready. [Morrigu’s Gift] sat in one hand, and the circlet about my head had enough essence for an ultimate move or three.

  “Someone broke through? You need the spell for this place,” Requiem said clearly enough.

  [Sight of Mercari] typed out every word like a closed caption. The sensation made my head quake with confusion.

  “Is this another foolish Traveler after your worthless hide, Requiem?” the giant creature asked with a deep voice that made me shiver.

  “Don’t know, don’t care. Get him.”

  Requiem’s words slowly registered as the text portion faded. The empowerment was already drifting away. The tone of his words reminded me of our numerous moments together, when he ordered me to act.

  Wraith shot in my direction, but he faded from sight with each step. My head still reeled from the overloaded version of [Sight of Mercari]. The dot for Wraith vanished and reappeared a few feet to my left. A crimson claw curled toward my stomach. A single heartbeat thumped as the world distorted under [Awareness Heightening]’s eighth Rank. Without Xin here to drain some of the effect, it felt like moving through a placid world.

  [Morrigu’s Gift] twirled into position, then clanked into Wraith’s outstretched hand. Sparks flew off as I stepped back into a [Blink]. The distortion caused by changing locations dragged at my head. I dipped out of the [Blink] and turned around to the edge of a barely visible face. The demon smiled as a curl of steam hung in the air. He closed both eyes, then vanished again, and his dot moved. Wraith lived up to his name and shifted like a ghost of vengeance or doom.

  “Neat.” I felt startled for a moment.

  The slow motion of [Awareness Heightening] gave me four glorious seconds to think. Wraith could [Blink] too. This would be a scary fight.

  I [Blink]ed a second time, trying to get ahead. Wraith turned with far more speed than I’d expected and deflected [Morrigu’s Gift] with freakish ease. We moved rapidly twice more. I kept trying to dodge past the large demon, but he would vanish, then appear in front of me.

  Voices, dammit, what was with all these creatures lately? I had happily breezed through a month or two of game time with Xin and hardly been challenged like this. Then I faced Nam Redrum, the endless horde of evil lizards, and now a demon that moved as fast as I did and seemed to know my moves before I made them.

  My foot went back and twisted. [Morrigu’s Gift] sheared a pile of dirt into the air as a screen. [Camouflage] went off, and my body faded. My eyes closed to ping Wraith—his body veered directly for me despite my attempt at hiding. I ducked, then propelled myself forward, holding my breath and trying not to crash into an object.

  A mass of dark-winged muscle flew overhead. [Blink] went off once more before a cloven foot could catch my head. My body hovered above Requiem’s, and I readied my blade with more intent to kill than expected.

  The moment moved in slow motion. Wraith’s body [Blink]ed in between the shorter male and me. His arm first blocked me. Requiem was twisting around with wide eyes. Then the view was blocked by Wraith’s smiling face and large horns. I gasped as the demon’s head twisted to the side. One large horn aimed for my body. [Power Armor] automatically flickered into existence and mitigated the damage but couldn’t stop such an insane force from sending me sprawling.

  My body slammed into the ground and bounced. Pain jarred my skull as I [Blink]ed again before the second tumble. Dirt ground between my molars and tasted dry.

  “You move like a demon!” he boomed.

  I could feel his happiness in my head. It wasn’t an impression or visual cue; the demon’s emotions were actually dancing around inside my skull. The sensation made my skin crawl and disturbed the hell out of me.

  “Voices.” I realized what the problem was. [Awareness Heightening] and [Blink] both came from my time as Spite. Both were skills picked up from a reported glitch being straightened out.

  Behind the demon’s widespread arms sat a young teen who looked downright panicked. Requiem was quickly equipping items. His shoulder pads were switched out. The sword in his hand changed. Shoes flickered and were replaced with larger items. While he put on good gear, I frowned and tried to figure out what would get me past Wraith and to Requiem. I had an overwhelming desire to punch Requiem in his damn face.

  If it weren’t for that overwhelming desire, I might have tried to talk it out. My mind raced, and I felt the demon watching me with a wide smile. This had to be Spite’s bigger brother. That meant he was much stronger than the [Red Imp] had been. Maybe stronger than Hermes. I didn’t have time to inspect him. I needed, or wanted, to force Requiem to a standstill, if not outright stomp the teen’s face.

  Fine, if the standby skills were obvious, then I had other tricks. After a moment of study, I noticed a thin blue aura appearing from behind the demon. Wraith faded from view again, and there stood Requiem, clad in that stupid battle aura.

  Requiem had his full powers back and somehow I had missed it. His character simply looked the same as always. The sword looked exactly like his old one. No, I should have expected something to go wrong when dealing with the younger man. He’d always had an ace or three up his sleeve.

  Too bad for him we had spent a long time together. His playstyle, if nothing else, was already known to me. He charged toward me while pulling out a second sword that trailed ash. His body crawled with a stronger blue aura as he chanted [Lithium] quietly. Their attack reminded me that I needed to do this at my pace, not theirs. It was time to stack skills.

  My mouth opened wide, and a stream of fireballs, courtesy of Dusk’s [Blessing], shot out. Requiem threw out two of his own and dodged the others. [Morrigu’s Echo] was unsheathed, and I turned both weapons into large two-handed blades. [Blade Dancer] worked just as well with two partners. [Battle Hum]’s effect kicked in, sending a rush of excitement through me. I took each step in conjunction with the tempo of unheard music.

  Months of playing had passed since our last true encounter. In total, almost a year of game time had passed. I was no longer the beaten little [Red Imp] with low health. I had fought [World Eater] giants, stood against an army of monsters, and fought one of the strongest NPCs to walk the surface of [Arcadia]. There was no way I would let a greedy teenager and his demon pet defeat me. No goddamned way.

  The smaller blades deflected [Morrigu’s Gift]. [Morrigu’s Echo] blocked flying claws. The demon’s wings cut across above me, and I ducked under the blow and came up stabbing. Both enemies moved backward, and I stepped off to the side. Requiem snarled, then pressure slapped my wrist. His slow motion fingers were grasping at [Morrigu’s Echo] and starting to twist its hilt against my fingers.

  I let the blade fall away and kept turning to punch Wraith in the face. His large nose flattened as I finally unleashed over four hundred points of [Brawn]. Yellow demonic eyes crossed, and I brought [Morrigu’s Gift] up to block a thrusting blade from Requiem. Ash clouded my vision as the blue-aura-clad sword jabbed across my knuckles. [Power Armor] struggled to activate and deflect the blow, but my grip suffered.

  “Hold him!” Requiem shouted while moving backward.

  The words stirred up months of lingering frustration. This little punk had abused me for weeks. He had been my first real chance at bringing back Xin, and I’d failed. My hum turned into an outright cry of protest. To one side, Wraith stomped down a foot, then righted himself. Our dance started again.

  �
�None of that!” I shouted while attacking Requiem directly.

  His swings were blocked by a combination of blade and armor. My own were dodged or blocked. A rumbling growl came behind me. [Blink] went off again, and I ducked underneath Requiem’s legs. His body fell over mine as Wraith came out of his own [Blink] to attack me.

  The man cried out as his demon’s attack hit the wrong target. Wraith’s smile went wider at the sound of Requiem’s pain. The world faltered as [Awareness Heightening] stuttered briefly. Requisite Ass flew farther away than I had ever seen. His arm grabbed onto a tree, then he righted himself quickly. I would have clapped if we were on better terms.

  Still, I had an idea to bait Requiem with. [Blink] bought me distance while Wraith shook his head. The blow I had given him must still be aching. I tucked away both weapons into easily reachable spots. I put my hands up as if striking a pose, then I started chanting [Lithium].

  “Mechanical God of the Underworld, lend me your ear!” I cried.

  Requiem might not understand this one, but he should believe it was a special move of some sort. It was, but I wasn’t frozen in one place like Requiem would be.

  “Gathered are these forgotten souls. Grant me leave to release them to a final task before crossing the veil! Empower Gait of Bowman!”

  “Beware!” Wraith shouted.

  “Hold him!” Requiem backed up and started his own chant. The ash-coated blade was tucked away as he adopted a similar pose, holding the black-and-blue sword in front of him. “Ghost of a dead sun! Shadow of a singularity! Draw all into your grasp!”

  He started performing the same hand gestures, confirming what I already knew; Requiem somehow had all of his original powers back. His aura started to condense.

  “Idiot.” I smiled, slammed my foot down to activate [Power Armor], and then I [Blink]ed forward.

  The armor didn’t clink into place but instead flickered into being in motion. The normal blockage by my helm was missing. I could see through the framing but still felt weight as the skill activated. My body hummed as if an engine sat deep inside me, its gears pumping. This ability felt like turning into a giant tank, then unleashing hell upon the enemy.

  “Rrrgh!” Wraith’s eyes went wide as I collided with him through the first [Blink].

  Two large fists slammed into his midsection, knocking the demon over. [Awareness Heightening] made it feel like an eternity as I pulled back both arms, then [Blink]ed forward once again.

  “Shit!” Requiem dropped his stance, then lifted both weapons to block.

  My arms went out to his blades and grabbed them. [Disarm], the move I’d learned from Wyl, worked perfectly. Requiem’s ash-trailing sword went flying in one direction. The sword with a teardrop bit of condensed energy on the end went another, and the half-formed spell faded. With the momentum, I planted my rear foot. Fully empowered [Power Armor] encased me with a shimmering set of black-and-gold armor. Requiem went wide-eyed as I bent slightly, then executed a full [Brawn] shoulder slam.

  [Blink] got me midair ahead of him. I grabbed my main weapon then lifted both arms overhead for a chop. I didn’t want to kill either of them. The edges of my blades had been blunted this entire fight. Part of me took savage delight in watching Requiem’s mouth burst open with foamy spit as the weapon slammed into his midsection, sending him back to the ground.

  He hit the ground like a meteor. Dirt and rock went everywhere. I activated the second [Blink], and the world shifted again. My body formed above his, and one armor-covered foot was shoved down to hold his prone form still. He froze with a glare directed toward me. The young man’s eyes screamed with defiance. I had killed players and human-looking NPCs alike by now. Requiem existed in real life, and his accusing look didn’t bother me as much. One arm lifted above my head. [Morrigu’s Gift] sat pressed against Requiem’s chest while [Morrigu’s Echo] looked exactly like the trident it used to be.

  I screamed while jabbing the three-pronged weapon into the ground near Requiem’s head. For some reason, I felt better but wild. Regaining self-control took effort. Each breath came quicker than the last. My head felt heavy, and [Morrigu’s Gift] threatened to slip loose. I almost lifted the weapon to strike again. Had the lingering rage I’d felt as Spite carried over? My eyes closed as I gave thanks that Xin wasn’t here to see this. This anger born of an abused man who had nearly ruined everything for me.

  “You’re lucky I couldn’t do this last time,” I ground the words out while trying not to clench my teeth. “And if I didn’t need you, I would happily kill you.”

  “Go ahead and kill me.” His chin lifted.

  “No. You probably have your stupid ring, and I would have to waste time waiting to see if you resurrect.” My head shook while his eyes went wide.

  He looked younger now. Requiem was another owner of a [Howard’s Phylactery]. Thinking about it got me heated up again. Maybe I could stab him once and that would calm me down completely.

  Laughter filled the area for a moment. My heartbeat sped up as [Awareness Heightening] skipped along, disjointed. Existing at eight times normal reality’s speed took a lot out of me, and catching up felt like watching a video that couldn’t render right.

  “What are you laughing at!” Requiem shouted under me.

  My chest heaved rapidly. I pressed the blade down tighter as Requiem tried to slip away. I scanned the trees for the Jester’s form sneaking through until I realized this laughing was more of a boom. The noise didn’t belong to a Voice mocking my change of heart in beating up Requiem. We had crossed that bridge.

  Wraith was laughing, and his voice sent skeleton birds into the skies. “I knew it! I knew my brother’s soul could not be dead! The Voices did not lie! All this waiting, all this time following around a sheep in wolf’s clothing to finally find him again.”

  My face twisted as Requiem’s chest heaved. I could see the edges of his wide eyes. His weapons lay upon the ground, and his body held very still under my boot. Part of me wanted to twist the other heel and stomp down with full [Power Armor] a few times, but I resisted the urge. Self-control was getting easier. In fact, this guy might be the first person I had ever left alive after engaging in combat. Normally it was either me or them.

  “What?” Requiem asked.

  “My brother has returned!” Wraith lifted his hands to clap. Each bang of hands thundered. “This, this is my brother!”

  The large demon walked over, and that freakish emotion of surging happiness crawled into the deep parts of my brain once again. I tried to shake it off but felt the weird, ticklish sensation linger behind one ear.

  “You mean Spite?” The teen’s face went through a full range of rapid emotions. “Spite’s dead! I killed him.”

  “His flesh is gone, but his spirit remains!”

  “I’m a lot nicer than Spite was,” I tried to defend myself but felt increasingly disturbed.

  This large creature unnerved me. How Spite would have handled it was absolutely beyond me. Part of me wondered if the NPC even existed before I had accepted Vlad and Jean’s deal. The [Red Imp] had felt like a blank slate, so maybe not.

  “You could have fooled me,” Requiem said sarcastically from beneath my boot. He looked less stressed but annoyed.

  I tried to reduce my aggravation by lifting off of Requiem and walking away. [Power Armor] faded. I tucked my weapons under my belt. I walked right by Wraith and started pacing to cool down. My racing pulse refused to calm, and as [Awareness Heightening] faded, the rampant speed became obvious. Words came across my screen in slow motion as players days away sent text messages to our group. Their chatter helped remind me of the world at large resting on cooperation with Requiem.

  Awesome Jr.: Anyone know what happened with Hermes?

  Hecate: My man just wrecked that kid’s face and his Rank 25 demon.

  HotPants: It was probably unfair, right? Hermes has the viewership bonus.

  Hecate: Against a beta player? Requiem Mass has been playing for years longer.

 
Awesome Jr.: He’s still alive, right? I thought Hermes said we need Req alive?

  Hecate: He’s alive. Babe, you’re reading this right? Summon me now. Whatever encounter is next will probably be worse than the Sage’s, and you’ll need help.

  SweetPea: …what about us?

  Awesome Jr.: We’re busy. Speaking of, anyone else up for their next assignment?

  HotPants: JR, I’ve got a few hours. Where’s the next group?

  Awesome Jr.: Hold on, I’ll check the board. Oh hey, Shadow before you log off for school, remind your minion army, whoever’s left, that we’re running low on time.

  Shazam: Everyone, World Eaters have chewed up half the mountain passes and started to come down. My guild is going to start losing the outposts soon. We have maybe a week. Be ready.

  Even Shazam had been included in our group. Interacting with her felt weird. She was like Xin, a recreation of the real person, stuck inside a machine. How many years of solid gameplay had been required to make that leap? Would everyone be able to transition over if they died in real life? Maybe there was a formula involving how many hours passed.

  “Fuck. If you’re not here to kill me, then are you the guy I’ve been waiting for?” Requiem took a breath, then asked, “The one who sent this letter?”

  He stood away from me with a scroll held up. Thankfully Requiem hadn’t pulled out an explosive or smoke grenade. The young man indulged in alchemy and collected all kinds of goodies. Nothing would have been surprising.

  “Maybe. Probably.” I waved dismissively. This character had delivered a metric ton of letters. For almost a month in reality, Hermes had wandered around without my input because of Advance Online. “I was looking for you, yes. To make a deal, not fight.”

  “Could have fooled me,” Requiem muttered again. “Maybe you are Spite. You don’t read like a player and knew all my moves, plus that weapon and those abilities. Jesus.”