Absalom’s Fate

by J. D. L. Rosell

  Sheika smirked. “Insider knowledge. Look, this game isn't like other RPGs — you can't just do something and expect to be doing it properly. The Everlands don’t reward incompetence.” She paused, growing serious. “This is the hardest game you'll ever play. It's less a game really, and more like an upgrade from reality. There are stakes here, real stakes.”

  I wondered what she meant by that. How could there be real stakes in a game?

  Almost as soon as she'd said it though, she shook her head and smiled. “But mostly it's way more exciting. Come on. I'll show you Sneak and Detect Traps.”

  We entered the dungeon, my heart hammering in my chest. In the first room, Sheika taught me the right way to sneak. I thought it had just been about crouching and trying not to step on noisy rocks, but it was so much more than that. She showed me how to roll into my step and distribute the weight evenly, how to breathe quietly through my mouth, and how to match someone’s footfalls when tailing someone, all while keeping in a low crouch. My stamina was nearly depleted and I was sweating buckets by the time the lesson was through, but a welcome overlay appeared before me:

  Sneak has increased to Level 2! You can now successfully creep up on a snoring bear! +50 XP

  So maybe I had a ways to go. At least now I knew what I was doing.

  With that accomplished, Sheika gently nudged, then bodily coerced, me into the next room, the great hall with the skeletons. The place where I’d died. I was shaking in my felt boots even as I clenched my jaw, determined not to die this time. Besides, I had a Level 34 next to me — there was no way a few skeletons would bring her down.

  So long as she helped me, that was.

  Some part of me didn’t fully trust all the aid she’d given, and watched constantly for the sign that would finally reveal it was all a practical joke. But Sheika seemed sincere. She’d bought me all kinds of things that were way out of my current price range, and helped me learn two channels and now a skill. Maybe I could rely on her after all.

  “Okay,” she whispered, coming up next to me at the entrance of the great hall. “Now let’s go over how to spot all those nasty things you tripped last time before you’re shish kebab, shall we?”

  “I couldn’t agree more. What’s first?”

  “Alright, let’s see…” Her eyes screwed up in concentration. “Sorry, this one’s a bit trickier to teach. So look down the side of this wall and tighten your gaze. Wait, that’s not right…” She scratched her head in a distinctly cat-like manner, and it was all I could do to keep from laughing at her. “Ah, that’s it! So focus in on a spot and pretend you’re zooming in, like you’re pinching on a screen or something. You get that?”

  I tried it out on a dark patch where I thought the wire that had triggered all the skeletons rising was. To my surprise, my gaze actually did zoom in. “Yeah, I do.” A notification appeared in the corner of my vision reaffirming it.

  “Great! Now, while you’re detecting, your stamina will decrease, so you can’t just keep it on the whole time you’re in a dungeon. But it pays to stop every few steps and look around if you’re in a trap-filled dungeon like this.” She gave me a sidelong glance with her luminous yellow eyes. “Or a complete noob.”

  I rolled my eyes, breaking my Detect gaze. Sure enough, I saw my stamina meter had a good chunk of it eaten away, though it was quickly filling back up now that I’d stopped.

  Suddenly, Sheika straightened behind me. “Well, I guess I’ve done my part. The rest is up to you, kid.”

  All the fear of my tremulous situation rushed back to me, and unfortunately, my dignity was one step behind. “Wait, you’re leaving?”

  I cringed as the words left my mouth, and all the more when Sheika smirked at me. “What, did you think I’d let you leech off me forever? You’re going to have to crawl your own way through the dungeon.”

  I started to speak, but she bowled over me. “Look, just do your best, and you’ll be fine.” She hesitated, then continued. “You’re on a pretty unique path here. I think some important people are watching you. But there are those who are going to hurt as well as help. Just … watch your back.”

  Before I could say another word, she danced over to the door and slipped through. Like that, she was gone.

  My mind was buzzing. What was that about? People watching me? I hadn’t thought about it, but in a virtual world, I guess everyone could be spied on anywhere. It was a bit unnerving. And these people would hurt as well as help — if that wasn’t ominous, I didn’t know what was. Still, there was nothing I could do about it. All I could do was keep going forward.

  I took a deep breath and looked around. What was I so afraid of? Ancient skeleton warriors coming out and skewering me? I’d just cast Turn Undead and they’d run away from me like I’d turned into some kind of kaiju monster. Just so long as I didn’t run into that bear trap again, I was fine.

  And maybe I’d miss Sheika for more than just her reassuring Level 34 company. But she did need to call in that favor later. Who knew?

  Using Detect Traps and Sneak, I first picked up all my old gear and put it on, then made my way steadily through the great hall. Along the way I picked up a few useless trinkets to no avail, and the only weapon I found was so rusted as to be useless. But I did manage to land some coins, upping my money by 12. By the time I made it to the other side, two notifications popped up:

  Sneak is Level 3! +50 XP

  Detect Traps is Level 2! +50 XP

  I was progressing fast now that I knew what the hell I was doing.

  Entering through the door, I breathed a sigh of relief, glad to leave all those skeletons behind. I went down the stairs that lied beyond to a much smaller, less ornate chamber below. This room was a bit more perplexing than the previous ones. The door, which was at the top of a landing, was locked tight, obviously needing a key of some kind to open it. I did a quick run-through of all the places it could be, but I came up dry. I did, however, find a stone crate with an empty slot where it looked like some kind of seal had once been. It couldn’t be that another player had already come here and stolen it, could it?

  Then I looked up and realized what was going on. Of course — it was a puzzle room. Suspended above my head were six ancient clay pots, swinging on fraying ropes. Just looking at them, I knew one of them had to have the key. But how to get them down? I didn't have a bow, and even if I did, I doubted I was a good enough shot at level 2 to shoot that thin rope. I also didn't have throwing knives, but again, my aim would have to be excellent to nail it. I stared up at them, stumped, my neck getting a crick in it.

  Then I occurred to me: I didn't have to cut the rope and get them down. All I had to do was break them open! They were obviously meant to break anyway, seeing as cutting then down would result in the same. Hoping none of them contained a trap, I considered my options. I had a few knives that I could try and play swinging shot put with, but I didn't want to risk dulling or breaking them at this point. That left me with Magic Missiles. My mana was precious as well, but I figured if I sprayed their projectiles, I could hit two or three in a go.

  Bracing myself for whatever would come out, I cast the spell, whipping my hand across as it emerged in a blast of light from my hand. Just as planned, three pots shattered as small missiles of light plunged into the clay. I cringed, expecting the worst, but all that poured out was a cascade of sand. Id have to sift them to see if there was more.

  After bursting the other three, I went to do just that, playing in the sand like I was a kid at a beach making yet another shitty sand castle. In each pile was not a key, but the piece to another puzzle.

  Holding the six pieces in my hand, I stared at them. From the straight edges, I think they formed a hexagon, though it was hard to tell from all the jagged and inconsistent shapes.

  The final shape became obvious once I happened to glance over at the stone crate from before, eyes wandering to the empty spot on its front in the shape of a hexagon. At least I knew what to do.

  Sitting on the fl
oor, I started fitting the jagged edges together, and soon had the shape I was looking for. The image formed in the middle looked like the bulb of a lily flower before it had bloomed. Shrugging, I placed it on the empty slot, then pushed it in. Something clicked. Suddenly, the top of the box scraped open, revealing a dull silver key inside.

  You’ve solved a puzzle! +100 XP

  Not bad! I grabbed it and triumphantly made my way to the locked door. At the last moment, though, I hesitated. What if there was something else in this room I'd missed? Just then, it occurred to me what had stopped me — I’d seen another hexagon-shaped hole in a wall and passed along it in my earlier search. If the hexagon opened the crate, why not a secret door?

  I scrambled back to retrieve it and press it to the depression in the wall. Sure enough, a click sounded as I pushed it in, and a moment later a section of the wall swung slowly inward. I was almost giddy as I entered. Here was the loot I'd come for!

  Then I heard behind me the scraping of stone and a long, hissing inhale. My blood froze in my veins as I turned around.

  A horrifying skeleton knight rose before me. Beneath his conical rusted helm, which was rent with what must have been the killing cleave to his head, the monster’s sockets glowed with a sickly yellow light. Its limbs were covered in armor from skull to bony foot. In both gauntlets was clutched a heavy war hammer, and it had a shield like a Crusader’s strapped across its back.

  Though panic was starting to rise up in me, I focused on it to see if I could bring up any stats:

  Skeleton Knight (Lvl 8) - An armored warrior from a past age, his bones are reinforced with necromantic power. “The last thing you’ll hear is my death rattle!”

  Level 8 — that was higher than my Turn Undead spell was supposed to affect monsters. There was no way I was beating that thing with what I had, and no Sheika was coming in to save me.

  I darted into the room I’d just opened and looked around, then seized upon the first thing that popped out to me. It was an ornate-looking knife mounted on a pedestal, but I didn’t give its stats overlay more than a glance before I darted back out of the room, not wanting to be trapped in the small chamber.

  Fortunately, I was up on the raised landing of the room, out of reach for the moment. The skeleton knight, now fully out of its coffin, lumbered towards the stairs. Despite knowing it probably wouldn’t work, I didn’t see that I had any other options, so I channeled Turn Undead. As I concentrated on summoning the ward, I felt the chill of channeling spread throughout me, and my spirit meter dropped nearly halfway. It was an expensive gamble, but what other choice did I have? Glowing silver-blue wisps began seeping from my skin, twisting away and out across the room. I looked like a spider at the middle of a luminescent web shooting in every direction.

  But though the strands darted to the skeleton knight as he mounted the last step and turned towards me, and curled about his armored limbs and seized tight with the sound of faint screaming, the monster didn’t halt his approach, but plodded along the landing, his yellow eyes steadily on me.

  I cut off the channel, knowing it wasn’t working. Time for Plan B: throw shit at it and hope something lands. I channeled another Magic Missiles, even though my mana was down to 50/100 and it would eat another 25 away. But though light bullets sprayed across the skeleton, it didn’t halt his march.

  He was barely fifteen feet away now. I clutched the knife I’d picked up in my right hand and drew my other dagger with my left, and despite the panic rising up and choking me, I prepared myself for a desperate launch at him, in the hopes of my knives finding enough chinks in his armor before he could tear me apart. But when the skeleton knight hefted his heavy warhammer and turned for a swing, my feeble resolve failed, and I leaped off the landing instead.

  The crack of steel on stone came from behind me, and a spattering of pebbles cascaded down as I landed on the floor. It wasn’t a clean landing, and the ten-foot drop hurt my legs and chipped away at my health meter, but I was still alive at least. I darted for the stairs, hoping to get to the door and unlock it before the skeleton knight could reach it, when I saw the shadow growing larger overhead.

  Only my investment in dexterity saved me as my reflexes kicked in and I rolled out of the way. The skeleton knight, having made a huge leap from the landing, crunched down on the floor where I’d just been and continued his stalk towards me more quickly now. I was sprawled on the floor and I scrambled to get away, but I felt the iron grip of the gauntlet close about my leg. A moment later, I was hauled into the air, the room zipping by in a dizzying rush.

  I was nearly numb with fright. As the skeleton knight wound up to dash me against a wall, I resigned myself to my fate. Two deaths at level 2 — maybe I wasn’t destined to play this game after all.

  Then the opportunity popped up. The monster, pausing at the peak of its wind up, had put me next to its head and the open gap under its helm. Without thinking, I stabbed into one of the yellow eyes with the knife in my right hand and felt the metal meet and break the bone.

  The skeleton knight froze in place. Then its hand jerked open, and I tumbled to the ground, rolling away from the ugly brute and looking back in amazement. The dagger — the dagger I’d picked up from the secret room — was still in its eye, but now it was glowing a bright, sharp blue, and getting brighter every second. I shielded my eyes, then plugged my ears as a horrible scream rent through the room. The light filled the room, overwhelming my senses.

  The Night Sisters

  A few seconds passed in almost intolerable pain, then the light began to dim. As soon as I could risk it, I opened my eyes to see what had become of the skeleton knight, and I stared in surprise. All that was left was a pile of rusty armor. Even the skeleton was gone, nothing but a fine, white dust like the ashes of a fire.

  And sticking out of the helmet was the looted knife, the glow fading and returning it to its normal dull gleam.

  +200 XP!

  I took it up in wonder, pulling up the overlay for its stats, though I quickly saw they weren’t very helpful:

  Iron Dagger of Minor Banishing

  Quality: Fine (38/50)

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Attributes: ? (You must identify this item to learn its magic attributes)

  I had to get this identified as soon as I could, to see what enchantment was powerful enough to take care of such a skeleton warrior. I replaced one of my knives to equip my new treasure.

  Then a noticed a notification lingering in the corner of my screen:

  You are now Level 3! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)

  I was advancing by leaps and bounds now! I could only hope I’d keep this progress up. People had complained about how difficult it was to level up in the forums, but this was a cinch.

  Of course, I’d had a bit of help. And Sheika said I was on an unusual path… Still, I could claim a bit of credit, couldn’t I?

  I started assigning my points. Despite my resolution to be a dark assassin who used a lot of channels, I was shaping up to use mana a lot more right now. Consider that, I put my 10 SP in mana. As for the rest, I considered what would have been useful in my fight with the skeleton knight. Two went to agility easily, and another one to dexterity, while the last went to perception. Maybe if I’d had enough perception, I wouldn’t have tripped whatever trap that had been in the first place. Though, I did suspect it was a magic trap, as I’d religiously been using Detect Traps as far as my stamina allowed.

  Points assigned, I gave my stats the once over.

  Not bad, not bad.

  An added bonus to the level up is that I now had topped off meters going forward. I’d need them if I encountered anymore creatures like that skeleton knight.

  Though it looked like the defeated monster wouldn’t have any loot, I checked inside the corroded armor, and was soon rewarded for my efforts with two amber amethysts, pulled from where his eyes had been. Gems often being receptacles of enchantments, I wondered if this was what had animated the skeleton, or per
haps augmented his power. Enchanted or not, the gems would fetch a pretty penny, and make me more than rich enough for some upgraded gear.

  Thinking there might be more loot in the secret room, I gave it a more thorough pat down and came away with 36 more coins from a small jewelry box and a pair of enchanted vambraces:

  Hard Leather Greaves of Resistance

  Quality: Fair (24/25)

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Attributes: ? (You must identify this item to learn its magic attributes)

  They had some sort of enchantment to them, and they were certainly better than the rags I had on my legs now. I quickly equipped them.

  Finding nothing else in the room, I used the key to head through the door and into the hallway beyond. Summoning my Magelight (with a sad look at my mana, which was depleted to 30/100), I cautiously made my way down the narrow passage, pausing often to Detect Traps. But there were no traps here, and nothing to loot. At the end of it was another door, this one unlocked, and I pulled it open.

  I thought instantly that I must have arrived at the end of the dungeon. The chamber rose up high above, its heights revealed from ghostly blue torches mounted on the curved walls. Beneath were three giant statues of three women. One had a ragged cloth over her eyes, another over her mouth, and the third had two rags trailing from her ears. Unless I was mistaken, these were the visages of the Night Sisters, the dark trickster demigods who caused trouble among the gods, as their followers did among the faiths.

  But where were the Sisters I was supposed to talk to? I wandered around the statues, to the other side, where an eerie conclusion dawned on me. Three sarcophagi were mounted on the walls, open and occupied. In them were three beings very much like the Night Sisters depicted above me, but smaller than myself, worn by the ravages of time, and clad in rags. As I approached, the three beings shifted. Blue eyes blinked open and, heads creaking slowly around, they leveled their gazes upon me. I tried not to tremble as the Night Sisters folded out of their uncomfortable beds and stepped onto the ground.