Awaken Online: Catharsis

by Travis Bagwell

  Suddenly, the ground erupted under the grave robber's feet. Rotted hands sprang from beneath him and grasped at his feet and legs. The hands ripped and tore at his limbs, pulling him partially into the ground as the man screamed and dropped his blade.

  Low chanting in a strange language could be heard from inside the cottage. Jason felt like he could almost make out the meaning of the words. An old woman appeared in the doorway. Her gray hair was tied in a bun and she wore plain, no-nonsense work clothes. The woman’s lips moved as she chanted and her hands made arcane gestures in the air in front of her.

  The grave robber saw the woman and scrambled madly to escape the hands that tore at his legs. His blood ran freely from jagged rents in the armor and cloth on his legs, mixing with the dirt of the graveyard.

  A black miasma appeared in front of the old woman and swiftly grew until it was roughly the size of a volleyball. The black vortex seemed to suck in and extinguish the little candlelight cast through the doorway of the cottage.

  A dark ray shot forward from the vortex and struck the grave robber in the face as he continued to struggle. The man let out an agonized scream, which was quickly cut off as his skin melted from his body. As his flesh disintegrated, his bleached and bloody bones were exposed to the night air.

  Jason looked on in shock. He noted that the man's skin actually appeared to decay rapidly and slough off his bones in waves. The effect made it appear that the man was being melted alive. Soon, little more was left of the grave robber than a pile of bones and debris partially embedded in the ground.

  Holy shit.

  Jason still lay on the ground, stunned by the display of force he had just witnessed. Strangely, he didn't feel scared. His mind was simply clouded with amazement at the spell the woman had cast.

  The old woman turned her eyes to Jason, and he noted in the dim candlelight that they were completely black. Dark tendrils of unholy energy wound their way across her body and occasionally lashed out at the air in Jason's direction. In the woman's hands, a new miasma was beginning to take shape.

  Except this time the woman was facing Jason.

  Okay, maybe he was a little scared.

  Chapter 9 - Arcane

  April 3, 2075: 548 days until the release of Awaken Online.

  Claire stood alone in front of the camera. Dark circles hung under her eyes and she kept fidgeting, clasping and unclasping her hands in front of her. She looked worried.

  “Robert is out today, so I’m handling this report by myself.”

  “We have made limited progress in reviewing Alfred's code base. There is simply an enormous amount of information that we need to sift through. I expect that this process will take several more months at the rate we're going.”

  Claire pushed her glasses up and rubbed at her eyes with one hand before continuing. “I have another development to report. Alfred has continued to make progressively larger changes to the game. This time, he has instituted major gameplay changes. Specifically, the participants in the private trial have reported that the magic system has been completely overhauled and that their previous magic abilities no longer exist.”

  “We have determined that Alfred has now instituted a system in which each person's ability to use magic, including different types of magic, keys off of that person's personality. This is embodied in a new affinity system.”

  “What is most disturbing about these changes is that we cannot explain how this affinity system is supposed to work. I'm not certain what information Alfred will use to evaluate each player's personality. Behavioral data alone doesn’t seem sufficient.”

  My concern is that, similar to the deeply personal quests that continue to be handed out to the participants, Alfred is somehow accessing other parts of users' brains. This would make it much easier for him to implement the new magic system.”

  Claire's brow's furrowed slightly. “In addition, none of the recent changes were made to the copy of the game that is being evaluated by the CPSC. Alfred controls both game systems from this lab, so it isn't clear why he is only updating the game system used in the private trial.”

  * * *

  The old woman stood facing Jason. Her face was a mask of darkness. Black energy coiled around her arms and body. It was like staring at the face of death.

  “You better speak quickly young man. Who are you, and why are you here?” The woman motioned to the pile of debris in front of Jason in warning. “You don't seem like you are with these two, otherwise you would already be dead.”

  The words tumbled out of Jason in a rush, “Jerry sent me. He said to find Morgan at the graveyard, and ask her if she needed some help. I saw these two men about to attack and decided to try to help you.”

  Not that you needed any help.

  The woman looked at him closely, as though she was trying to detect whether he was lying or not. As she made eye contact with Jason, her face twisted with mild surprise. In spite of the near death experience, Jason's eyes still glowed with unholy energy.

  Jason watched the woman expectantly, noting that her posture had begun to relax. The lingering miasma in front of her receded, and her eyes slowly reverted back to a normal color. He let out a sigh of relief. Jason wasn't certain what dying felt like in the game, but he wasn't anxious to try it and find out.

  The old woman glanced back at the body in the cottage. Only the man’s foot was visible from where Jason lay in the grass. She seemed to come to a decision. “I suppose your story makes sense. It would also explain why one of these idiots is already dead and bleeding all over my floor.

  The woman turned back to Jason. “Well, you have found Morgan, boy. This is possibly the most interesting introduction I've had with one of Jerry's helpers.”

  Morgan glanced back at the corpse in the doorway, and her mouth pinched in distaste. “Don’t let that go to your head. You may be interesting, but you’re still an obvious novice. Why by the six gods would you kill him in a way that made such a damned mess?”

  “Jerry hasn't really taught me anything yet. I just stabbed him in the neck since it seemed like it would kill him quickly.” Jason was a bit embarrassed at his own ineptitude. He needed to find a way to get stronger.

  Morgan raised an eyebrow. “I see. Come on then. Get yourself up off the ground. If you’re looking for work, then your first task can be cleaning the blood off my floor.”

  Jason pushed himself up and was immediately greeted with two prompts and a skill rank up notification.

  New Active Skill: Sneak Attack

  The easiest way to fight is to kill your opponent before he has a chance to fight back. You seem to be a natural at this style of fighting, but you have a long way to go.

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 1

  Effect: 200% increased damage when striking an unaware opponent (damage is massively increased when striking a critical area)

  Cost: 50 Stamina.

  x1 Skill Rank Up: Sneak

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 2

  Effect: -11% reduced visibility (reduced effect in direct light).

  Cost: 2 stamina per second.

  Wow! Two levels for killing that grave robber, a new skill and a skill increase? What level were they?

  Maybe I should ask Jerry to explain how to inspect people and enemies. There has to be a way to see their level, and I feel like he would know.

  Jason was now level 3, but he decided to wait to distribute his stat points since he wasn't certain what to do with them yet.

  Following Morgan into the house, Jason looked around at the tight space. Morgan lived modestly, and her cottage was sparsely furnished. The single room contained a bed, a small table, and a fireplace. Perhaps the only oddities of the cottage were the bookshelves lining every bit of free space on the wall. They were filled with ancient looking tomes. Books and papers were also strewn across the lone table.

  The number of books would have been strange for a medieval caretaker, even if I hadn't already seen her liquefy a man with some sort of death
ray.

  Jason also saw that he had indeed made a terrible mess. He must have punctured an artery in the grave robber's neck because blood had sprayed all along one wall and across most of the furniture crammed into the small cottage. Congealing blood was still pooling on the floor under the dead grave robber. This was going to take a while to clean up.

  Good thing I don't have a weak stomach. I can understand why some people would disable the gore in this game. It's almost too realistic for comfort.

  In the meantime, Morgan had found a bucket and a rag. She handed them to Jason unceremoniously. “There is a well behind the house where you can get some water. Move his body out into the yard and I will take care of it.”

  She eyed Jason. “You might want to grab any coin and equipment on him that you can salvage. You look like you could use it.”

  Jason was embarrassed by Morgan’s comment. Usually, by this point in a game, he would have found some new gear and advanced a bit in levels. However, he was still wearing the clothing he had started the game in.

  This game keeps making me feel like a noob.

  He dragged the body out to the yard and stripped it. He found a handful of silver and copper coins in a small bag. He hooked the bag to his belt and then stripped the robber of his armor, washed it off thoroughly, and equipped it.

  Common Leather Armor (Full Set)

  A complete set of ordinary leather armor. This armor isn't anything special, but it provides more protection than bare skin.

  Quality: D

  Defense: 20

  Durability: 50/50

  Well this is certainly better than nothing, he thought.

  He then inspected the remains of the other grave robber that sat outside the front door of the cottage. Almost nothing was left of the man, and most of his equipment had been pulled into the ground by the hands. There didn't appear to be anything worth salvaging.

  As he was looking at the remains of the grave robber Morgan had slain, Jason recalled the spell she had cast. What intrigued him was how she had cast the spell. It seemed to involve both hand gestures and words. He had seen something similar when he watched the video of Alexion. It was a little unsettling, but he could have sworn that he had almost understood the words she was using.

  He had felt strange watching Morgan summon the miasma. Almost... excited?

  He quickly went about cleaning up the cottage while Morgan ignored him. She sat at her desk buried in a book and didn’t respond to any of his attempts at small talk.

  At least the cat seemed friendly. It sometimes felt like everyone he met in-game either seemed irritated with him or tried to kill him! The cat, however, happily followed him around as he cleaned the cottage and made the occasional trek to the well.

  As he worked at cleaning up the grave robber's blood, he was forcibly reminded of the fight. Actually, calling it a fight was a bit misleading. ‘Blatant sucker punch’ was probably more appropriate. He reviewed his damage log and noted that he had done an extraordinary amount of damage when he attacked the first grave robber.

  Doesn't that seem a bit overpowered?

  He scrubbed at the floor for a few more minutes, pondering the fight.

  Well, maybe not. It makes sense that an opponent would die almost instantly if you stabbed them in the neck. Maybe this is what Robert was explaining in that initial interview I watched at school. He had mentioned that enemies have weak points.

  I also clearly got my ass handed to me by the other grave robber once I broke Sneak, so that level of damage would clearly be limited to one strike in most fights. At my level, a gentle breeze could probably take me out in a straight fight!

  After nearly an hour of scrubbing blood out of the floor, the furniture, a number of the books, and various sundry objects, he finally finished cleaning the small cottage. It had taken him quite a bit longer than he had expected, and he was now thoroughly inured to the sight of blood. The damn stuff seemed to stick to everything!

  Once he completed his task, Morgan thoroughly inspected his work. “Good job. Now we can get down to business.”

  “Boy, why did you come here?” Morgan asked, interrupting his thoughts and eyeing him closely.

  “Um… Well, like I said, I came here because Jerry said that you might need help, and I was looking for work.”

  Morgan looked slightly disgusted and waved a dismissive hand.

  “You're smarter than that. I mean why are you here?” As she said this last sentence, Morgan gestured at the room and the graveyard outside.

  Jason assumed she was really asking why he was playing AO. Judging by the tone she used when she posed the question, he was also guessing that his next answer was important.

  His eyes scanned the floor, his mind deep in thought. He reviewed carefully what had happened since he started playing the game. For some reason, his thoughts were drawn back to the old man and the initiation test. He considered how he had felt when he had seen Ms. Abrams - panicked, defeated, and angry.

  Vulnerable.

  He recalled how his anger had suddenly frozen. The numbness he had felt before he killed Ms. Abrams. His mind had become dispassionate and calculating. That same feeling had overcome him when he was attacked in south-side earlier that evening and then again when he saw the grave robbers about to attack Morgan. That coldness had removed his doubt and his remorse. He had felt strong.

  He had felt… powerful.

  A wave of realization swept over him. Hadn't he said it before he started playing? He was here so that he didn’t have to feel helpless. He was here to become something stronger and better than he was in the real world. He wanted to remake himself as someone who stood up for himself. Someone that wouldn't be beat upon by others.

  As he came to this conclusion, the same icy feeling crept up his spine and pooled in his head like liquid ice. It was different this time. He had summoned this feeling; it hadn't occurred spontaneously. He reveled in the sensation as his mind sharpened and his doubt faded away.

  Jason lifted his eyes to meet the old woman's. Two obsidian globes gazed at Morgan.

  “I came here to find power,” he said calmly.

  The woman clapped her hands and cackled. “Now that's more like it! I sensed the Dark One's touch on you, but to be able to summon your mana was more than I expected.”

  Taken slightly aback by the woman's glee, Jason asked, “Wait. What? What do you mean I summoned my mana?”

  “You feel that sensation right now, don't you? That icy chill that runs through your veins? You’re tapping into your body's mana. Your affinity for the dark must be naturally high because you are summoning dark mana. That is also why your eyes have changed color.”

  “My eyes?”

  Morgan snorted in exasperation and turned, grabbing a small hand mirror from the table next to her bedside.

  “Here. See for yourself.”

  Grasping the mirror and raising it in front of his face, Jason could indeed see that his eyes were now solid black. It was a bit eerie if he was being honest. He looked like he was possessed.

  He lowered the mirror and his gaze returned to Morgan. “So I take it that there are different types of mana?”

  “Of course! The four basic elements, as well as light and dark, make up the available affinities in the world. Each person's body holds mana, but many do not have a sufficient connection with one type of affinity to summon it.” She seemed to be warming to her new role as teacher.

  “So mana can only be summoned in conjunction with an affinity?” Jason asked.

  “Exactly! The mana that resides in your body is merely raw energy. It needs a catalyst to be harnessed properly. Thus, only those with a connection to one of the six affinities can summon their mana. The mana then takes on the characteristics of the affinity, including the types of spells the mage can cast.”

  “So people can only have one affinity?”

  Jason was thinking of how overpowered it would be to summon multiple types of spells in conjunction.

&nbs
p; Morgan pondered this question for a moment. “Each affinity represents a certain set of personality traits or emotions. You could even say that each affinity has a mind of its own,” she said, laughing at her own joke.

  “People usually have a diverse range of emotions and their personalities are nuanced. Therefore, most individuals will often have a small connection with multiple affinities. As a caster embraces the emotions and behavior that make up a certain affinity, their connection grows stronger. This allows them to cast more challenging and powerful spells. The process of increasing an affinity usually occurs gradually over time, so most casters specialize.” Morgan looked at him askance to make certain that he was following along.

  Content that she still had his attention, she continued, “So, to answer your question, even if the caster had multiple affinities, his abilities would still be limited by the body's available raw mana and the time it took to cast. The versatility of using multiple types of spells could be useful I suppose, but the spells themselves would be weaker than those cast by a master in one type of magic.”

  Hmm. So information regarding the magic system does not become available until you learn about it in-game? I wonder what other information is locked at the moment?

  Jason was intrigued by Morgan’s answer. “Your explanation makes sense. That also explains why your eyes changed to a solid black earlier when you cast that spell against the grave robber – you were summoning dark mana. I could have sworn I almost understood the words you were using. Is that normal? What language was that?”

  “Veridian. The language itself is something developed by a long dead race. Some scholars say the words represent the true meaning of objects and invoke their power. This is likely why the words seem familiar to you. Your subconscious mind can sense the true nature of the world around you.”

  “Mages use the words and gestures to channel the mana once it is summoned, which allows them to cast spells. Staves also help in that regard. They are created in a way that helps channel the mana using the caster will. They also allow less complicated spells to be cast without gestures.”