Distortion (Somnia Online Book 5)

by K. T. Hanna

  Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a rain of arrows falling into a tight group of attackers. The ghouls were slower to move out of the way, but the tigers barely took any damage.

  Riasli let out a guttural roar. Murmur could see the waves of it stretching out from her and bolstering her troops with more energy. Replenishing their power. Then she watched in horror as the feles bulked up with each scream of rage. Veins popped beneath her calico fur, building her muscles. Her eyes flashed red, and drool dripped down her chin. Murmur took an involuntary step back, unsure of what else the transformation might entail. There didn’t seem to be an end to the soldiers throwing themselves at Fable.

  Since her Sinuous line hadn’t had much success, Murmur had given up casting the spells after a while, but she hadn’t tried Mana Drain yet. Surely that would help. She shook herself to clear her head and stop the stuns that were becoming a bit more of a reflex than they should be. She aimed her Mana Drain at the offending enchanter.

  Incorrect usage of spell. Cannot be used on your target. Please choose another method.

  What even was that? She knew for a fact that their opponent had mana; she was an enchanter. Glancing around, she saw Merlin and Exbo shooting their arrows with a rhythm that felt like a drum beat. Dansyn flitted around through the entire raid, providing speed where it was most needed. Veranol stood with Rashlyn, keeping her and others afloat from the damage.

  The monk fought like she was possessed by complete and utter rage. The scowl on her face said it almost as much as her flying fists and feet. At the start of every attack she breathed for a split second. Then she became a whirling blur of motion, cutting through their attacker’s defenses. Frenzied fighting had its place, and she was glad Rashlyn was a friend and not a foe.

  But as amazing as she found her friends, Murmur needed to keep her attention on Riasli. She grimaced and reached for her MA. Perhaps her basic MA abilities would help. Mind Bolt hit Riasli like a meteor, knocking her over with the disorientation that came along with it. Unable to cast spells or maintain her crowd for a few precious seconds allowed for Fable to gain ground.

  They pushed their attack forward, taking advantage of the tiger’s momentary floundering to finish off their opponents. Ghouls swaying to and fro in confusion were very easy to cleave in half.

  If Mind Bolt was going to have such a strong impact on the situation, then Murmur was going to use it until she collapsed from a migraine if needed. Riasli slowly pushed herself up, her half-unrecognizable face smeared with mud and dirt like a macabre mud mask.

  Mind Bolt flew to its target again before Riasli could regain complete usage of her magic. She screamed, and a system message popped up in Murmur’s line of sight.

  Mind Bolt will now have diminishing returns upon this target.

  Damn it. Murmur scowled, directing her irritation toward her friendly neighborhood Somnia voice.

  There are rules I have little influence over.

  I’ve seen you bend enough of them, Murmur snapped.

  Not like these.

  And the voice’s presence vanished. Fable pushed through. Fighting with foot and fist, sword and shield, spells and songs. It wasn’t easy, but it was possible. Murmur grated her teeth for a while and spied Snowy off in a corner doing the exact same thing. Blood dripped down from his muzzle, and his snow white coat held goops of intestines, or some sort of rotting flesh.

  Murmur didn’t even want to look at her own armor. Sinister’s blood red robes hid the worst of it, but some of the liquid had splashed onto her exposed skin on her neck, face, and hands, and it looked like she’d been diving around searching for her keys in an autopsied corpse.

  Mind Bolt the fourth time barely lasted more than two seconds. Diminishing returns were crap. Rendered the skill totally useless.

  Had Michael had any influence on this?

  Probably. He’s the reason for all of this.

  This time the voice in her head sounded weary, and Murmur wished she could help. We’ll figure it out, she offered, only knowing that she’d do her best to help.

  I know.

  The getashi made Murmur worry. She knew that was why Riasli had gone rogue. The shards had somehow infected her instead of making her drop it when killed. Maybe the fact that she was just an NPC originally and not a boss had something to do with it. She’d ask Telvar later.

  A scream to the right-hand side of her brought Murmur’s thoughts back to the battle. Rashlyn had been cleaved in the side. The axe had even stuck in one of her ribs, left there by the ghoul that Dansyn beheaded a heartbeat later. As Murmur watched, the monk was already being healed up. Veranol’s healing and regeneration spells were brilliant.

  An excruciating pain raked down her side as a feline assassin crept up on her while she was studying her raid members. Murmur howled in pain as the claws cut into her flesh down her left-hand side under her arm. The mesh of the armor was weaker there, the perfect spot to attack. And she’d let herself get distracted.

  Jinna successfully hamstrung the creature, pulling the aggro totally onto himself. Sinister was on it, and Murmur shook her head as the rips began to heal. Snowy, however, barreled into the tiger assassin, pushing it to the ground away from Jinna and ripped into its neck. Flesh, fur, and blood sprayed everywhere, even as Murmur released another stun to hold back the tide that was trying to turn on them again.

  She watched in fascination as her wolf demolished the feles warrior and left it staring at the sky with its throat ripped down to the backbone, eyes glazed over in death. Damn was she glad Snowy was on their side.

  Glancing across the field, she frowned. Their forty-odd strong force looked pitiful now, with perhaps twenty-eight still standing. What had been glorious was sort of scary. How could this one feles have brought so much power? Where had she pulled it from? The creatures themselves? Not just her formidable skills that didn’t even seem to be solely enchanter-based anymore.

  These aren’t just world creatures. These are also the corpses of players. Riasli has become something she was never intended to be.

  Somnia sounded sad. As if her world was falling apart. Perhaps it was. Murmur didn’t know how to respond to the world’s revelation, so she didn’t.

  At the very back of their fighters, standing near the workshop entrance, she glimpsed Neva. Even as Murmur watched, the brave little cleric remained out of combat and resurrected the dead that were within her reach. Sure, she wasn’t a high-level cleric, but all healers had a res by level ten. What a fucking trooper.

  “Hey, Dan.”

  Dansyn looked up and sidled over to Murmur.

  “Sup?” he asked, slightly breathless. His face was covered in mud and blood, and his armor was now an indeterminate color.

  “Get dragging permission for corpses and drag them to Neva to res.” She smiled softly. “But don’t let anything harm her or notice her. Do it as stealthily as you can.”

  His eyes lit up as he realized what she was saying. “Sure thing, boss.” Dansyn grinned and got to work.

  Murmur turned back to the battlefield, trying to eye it critically. She’d lost count of the stuns she’d cast, of the Weakness spells she’d refreshed. Her mana was doing okay, but there didn’t seem to be an end in sight to the troops Riasli had managed to gather. It was frustrating, irritating even.

  She could see the newer recruits that she’d met personally. Six the mage, Midas the druid, and Talir the other enchanter. All of them were concentrating, casting their spells with a fervor that edged on obsessive. She grinned. They were going to do just fine in Fable.

  Jinna appeared at her side, his ruddy dwarf face glistening with exertion, and his voice came in gasps when he spoke. “Can’t get close enough to her to end this. We need another strategy.”

  Sarcasm was on the tip of Murmur’s tongue, but her friend didn’t deserve her frustrations. She took in a deep breath and was ab
out to speak when she had to cover her ears instead.

  A deafening roar sounded, and Murmur blanched as she realized it came from behind her forces. Completely forgetting her need to answer Jinna, she gulped. This wasn’t good; they were sitting ducks. Except when she stole a split second to look, she could see the huge dragon with its golden red flare standing over the battlefield. It dwarfed the keep and every single fighter as it breathed fire out over to the far side. A few trees toppled, and dozens of Riasli’s minions ran around screaming as they caught on fire. The feles’s face contorted with rage, and it was all Murmur could do to choke down the laughter she felt bubbling within.

  It seemed Telvar had gone all in on the fight.

  Somnia Online Location: Ululate

  Beneath the Dunkel Tavern: Rogue Trainer Lair

  Twenty Days Post Launch

  Jirald sauntered into the tavern and made his way down to the Rogue Trainer Lair. The guards knew him by now and it wasn’t difficult to get in. If he really wanted to, he could have blinked past them anyway.

  As usual it was dark below Dunkel Tavern. But today it was also rowdy. There were so many more rogues in training now than there had been when Jirald was leveling up. He flexed his fingers into a fist and opened them again, frowning. Almost forty-one. He’d almost caught up.

  He towered above these low-level rogues, and more than one of the rooms as he passed them fell into hushed whispers. He liked to think they were directed toward him. Sure, they might not be, but it was highly probable they were.

  He fingered the getashi in his pocket, loving their texture, feeling the trickle of power that flowed into him from them. It was like an energy drug, like an IV of caffeine. He wanted more of it.

  Finally, he reached the lair and walked in without knocking.

  “Ah, you’re here.” Talyn sounded unimpressed, probably because of the lack of respect that just barging in demonstrated, but Jirald didn’t really care.

  “In the digital flesh.” Jirald laughed at his own joke, but Talyn’s eyes just narrowed.

  “Very well. He’s expecting you. I’ll be back when he’s gone.” Talyn paused just before leaving. “If, of course, you want to grace me with your presence, that is.”

  The door slammed behind him, and Jirald blinked, momentarily thrown off guard. What had he done to anger the assassin? Surely he wasn’t that prickly just because Jirald hadn’t knocked?

  “He doesn’t like what you’re becoming.” Sidius’s voice was soft and haunting, so cold it sent a shiver down Jirald’s back. “Do you?”

  Taken aback by the blunt question, Jirald thought for a moment, unsure of how to answer. He loved the power he was getting, the sheer feeling that he could take on anything by himself. He was unstoppable, almost, yet…he wanted more.

  “I do for now. But I want more.” What better thing than to be honest with his benefactor?

  Sidius’s eyes narrowed briefly and he finally stepped out of the shadows so that more than his face was visible. Except that was just it, wasn’t it? Most of his face was obscured, and the black clothing still almost blended with the shadows. But he was more visible at any rate.

  “You can have more when you earn more.” Sidius took another step forward, his outline becoming clearer. “Now, I believe you have something for me?”

  Jirald smiled to cover his hesitation. A thought had crept into his mind. What if he only handed over most of the getashi? What if he kept a couple for himself, just to try and see what all the fuss was about? He reached into his inventory and fished out seven small black shards. He handed them over to Sidius and received notification of receipt.

  You have completed a step of regaining the getashi. You receive experience for every one you hand over.

  Each piece yielded him another percent of experience. Just that much closer to his level. Jirald smiled. “Thanks.”

  Sidius cleared his throat. “I appreciate every one of these you return. For every ten, I will reward you with more than just experience.”

  The prompt was almost enough to get Jirald to give up the other getashi in his inventory, but he didn’t. Something else whispered in the back of his mind that maybe he should keep some of that power for himself.

  “Thanks for that,” he said instead, letting a big grin settle over his face. “I’ll make sure I kill more shit.”

  “See that you do,” Sidius responded and took a step back into the shadows, disappearing from view.

  Jirald watched the empty space for a moment with a thoughtful frown. He decided staying to talk to Talyn wasn’t in his best interests. Instead, he took out one of the three small getashi he’d kept for himself. Studying it, even in the dim light of the room, he got the distinct feeling that it was almost alive. A slight throb echoed through to the surface, like a heartbeat without a heart.

  On a whim, he popped them all into his mouth.

  To his surprise they began to melt on his tongue. At first in a sickly-sweet sort of flavor, and then it started to burn.

  Everywhere it touched in his mouth. From the roof of it, to his tongue, and the sides of his cheeks, he felt like the getashi was ripping open skin and melting into the membranes beyond.

  Murmur wasn’t about to look a gift dragon in the mouth. Telvar’s original form was tied to both the keep and the island, so it was only natural for him to join in. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it.

  A new buff popped up on her screen. One that she didn’t think she’d get in any other game. Because talk about overpowered much?

  You receive A Dragon’s Gift

  100% of hit points

  50% mana

  50% casting and attack haste

  100% mental attack protection

  Murmur blinked at the words again and managed, barely, to resist pulling up her stat screen. Mental attack was one of Riasli’s specialties. It was perfect for defending against her. And one of the dragon’s strongest abilities. So many questions flooded her mind. But they had to wait until they’d rid their island of this disaster. Right then, she had to focus on winning this battle and putting an end to the siege.

  Riasli screamed anew. Her visage barely resembled that of the delicate feles she’d once been. Her eyes bled with insanity, and her body had contorted to make her seem larger than life. Her minions formed a protective barrier around her, gathering together in defense, blocking themselves in like a ghoulish tiger warrior shield.

  Some of the feles warriors seemed to be waking up, though. They strained against the rest, pulling out of place. Though those holes in the defense were filled by ghouls, it made Murmur wary of just how much control the other enchanter maintained over her minions.

  Those warriors who’d broken formation began to move away, shaking their heads, blinking furiously as if they were trying to place where they found themselves.

  The ghouls remained. Even those with missing limbs, and the occasional head that rolled underfoot, its eyes still alive, its mouth still ready to bite. Somehow still animated despite decapitation. Murmur didn’t want to think on that too deeply. Only about a third of the tiger warriors remained to guard their leader.

  As Riasli mutated more and more, her control over her army seemed to wane. Her ears twitched with annoyance. Murmur watched her closely, noticing how many of her army were just ghouls now. Even as another wave of dragon flame overcame them, as it singed and burned their skin, devouring them until they were ash.

  The undead remained loyal, protecting Riasli with their very unlives.

  “I have an idea.” Havoc nudged her with his elbow as another wave of fire engulfed more of the undead. Telvar’s roars of flame engulfed with surprising accuracy on a very specific level. The heat rolled over Fable’s members, but it was worth it to see the dragon in action.

  His scales gleamed bright and bold. The fire was pure and accurate. For a moment Murmur wonde
red what it would be like to ride on his back but wrestled her attention back and gave it to Havoc.

  “What is it?” Murmur asked, stunning for all she was worth. Best. Spells. Ever.

  He hesitated. “Something I’m not entirely sure will work yet, but I really want to give it a try.”

  She looked at him, releasing yet another stun while she did so. Then she shrugged. “Can’t hurt right now. The worst that can happen is you lose some experience, right? Go for it.”

  He nodded, his eyes shining brightly as he moved back against the tide of the guild to stand on a rock that overlooked the battlefield. It was all the time she had to watch him. She really hoped Havoc had something spectacular up his sleeve.

  Meanwhile, she concentrated on getting to Riasli in the middle of the horde. Stuns, damage spells, and she found trying to weaken or slow the little monsters no longer mattered, because most of them were missing at least one appendage if not multiple. Bashing her way through them was easier, and apparently for Snowy, biting was too.

  Neva continued her work, but now it was more of a patch up from the sidelines. Murmur made a note to talk to the girl later about it. She was so proud of her, and grateful for her quick thinking. It was amazing that Ishwa had let her go.

  What. An. Idiot.

  All of a sudden, the writhing masses of undead stopped. Slowly, they began to turn toward the group of guilds and abandoned their post of guarding Riasli.

  “You fools, don’t leave me!” she screamed after them. The only reason Murmur knew it was still her was the sound of her voice. Even distorted by rage, she could tell it belonged to the feles enchanter. Her appearance had changed. The more she channeled whatever she needed to in order to maintain control over the ghouls, it seemed that it leeched something from what she was.

  The undead didn’t listen to her and continued to move slowly toward the guild, showing no signs of attack and no resistance at all. Stunned, Murmur turned to see Havoc standing on the rock he’d clambered up on top of several minutes ago.