The Road to Red Thorn

by Blaine Hicks

“Woah” Radley shouted aloud in surprise. It had felt like a short jolt of electricity. Not painful exactly but still unpleasant. It startled him, but his excitement at having such firepower literally at his fingertips trumped the embarrassment of discharging it on himself. The stinging sensation had been brief and was replaced by a warm throbbing sensation. It wasn’t the kind of pain felt from real injury. It was more like licking the business end of a 9-volt battery. The discharge also left a brown and black burn pattern on the left arm of his cotton shirt. Master Sseviss stared at him with an even darker glare than before and spoke through tight lips. “Magic iss not a toy and we don't wield it casually.”

  Radley nodded along in agreement but in his mind, he couldn't wait to go play. With the master’s glare fading they moved on from magic training to physical combat. He was given a tall wooden stick and told it was a weapon. The flashing magnifying glass icon at the side of his vision let him identify the new object.

  Simple Mage’s Staff

  Weapon type: 2-Handed Blunt

  Damage:1-4

  Quality: Average

  Effects: None

  Value: 30 c

  The staff was lighter than it looked and was made from pale wood. As Radley examined it, Master Sseviss continued to lecture about how to become a good elementalist. The old snake said that elementalists rarely used blades because elemental magic could deal substantial damage. He added that it offered less physical protection than other magic disciplines, especially at lower levels. “The goal of a weapon in your hand” the master said, “iss not to do the damage, but to create disstance and time between you and your adversssary. This will allow you to kill with your true weapon.” With that statement, the master tapped him on the forehead. The heavy claw caught Radley off guard, and he took a step back before realizing what the master was saying

  “Oh...my brain is a weapon. I got it... Very clever.” Radley added sarcastically.

  Master Sseviss ignored the sarcasm and continued the training. “A true master of the elements should keep himself protected with shields or a proper embodiment, negating any need to dodge and hide. We leave the pummeling of heads to the barbaric melee fighters. Until you have those spells though, use the staff.” They practiced a few simple bo staff techniques, including proper starting posture, strikes and blocks. As they worked, the sky began to lighten with the breaking dawn. Under the watchful eye of his master, Radley reached level two in his Two-handed Blunt weapon skill and his Elemental Magic skills. He also learned the new skills Battle Tactics and Dodge. Bright flecks from a red sunrise had grown into a blue sky before Master Sseviss seemed satisfied and the training ended. Radley was told to go back to the village and that a new path would now be open to him. The strangest part of the training was that Radley actually felt more comfortable using the staff. He wondered if the principles he’d learned might apply outside of the game. He shrugged the thought away, eager to begin his adventure and followed the still burning torches back towards the fire pit at the center of the plateau.

  CH. 7 The Others

  Radley’s heat vision was still toggled off, but it had grown light enough that he didn’t need the firelight to see anymore. The circle of masters seemed less intimidating now that he could see them in the light of day. He also realized he wasn’t the only player being initiated. Three other Level 1 naga had chosen masters and began to train while Radley was occupied with elemental training. It was kind of strange that none of these other players had considered Master Sseviss or the elemental class. Nevertheless, all three were receiving instructions from their chosen master.

  Two players had chosen to train as rogues; one was a naga-tao, the other naga-hass. They were each holding a short dagger and appeared to be practicing the proper technique to slip it into a mannequin's back. The third player, also a naga-tao, had selected Master Hasshhassen to train as a dark paladin. Radley was stunned by this third player's ruthlessness and watched him for a minute. A fluid shadow seemed to surround him as he stood in the dim morning light. He held a black, jagged longsword, with both hands. When he moved, the shadow made him hard to track. He struck at an armored mannequin again and again, splintering the carved form with each blow. He seemed to burst in an out of the darkness like a deadly game of whack-a-mole (except that in this version, it was the mole doing the whacking). The attacks themselves were powerful and the mannequin stood no chance. In seconds, the brutal series of strikes had reduced it to a pile of shredded body parts.

  Radley felt a sudden pang of regret as he watched the player train. He compared his simple wooden staff to the jagged dark paladin sword and realized that as an elemental mage, he had drawn the shorter straw for starter equipment. In retrospect all his choices had combined to make his start a bit underwhelming. He had chosen dark alignment, which was designed to be difficult, combined with naga-tao who were fast but physically weak, and his elementalist class started him with only a stick and a melee power slap. With trepidation growing inside him he decided to get the opinions of the other naga players. Maybe he was just being too hard on himself.

  He looked back to the rogues who were now cutting the throats of their mannequins. The rogue master was indicating that they weren't cutting far enough and made them do it again. They seemed to be the more approachable group, so Radley jogged down the trail to talk to them first. “That looks pretty awesome” Radley said when he got close, indicating toward the deep grooves across a mannequin’s neck. He made brief eye contact with Master Ffess before turning his attention to the players. Master Ffess didn’t seem to mind and moved away so they could talk.

  “So true!” the taller naga-hass said in a feminine tone and an accent that Radley was pretty sure came from California, “This game’s real.”

  The smaller naga-tao joined in and said “My girl Chuchi’s from Sa-Mo, an’ you can call me XFlickable from golden Ess Ef.”

  Radley realized this was an introduction but didn’t really catch what XFlickable was saying. He nodded along anyway and identified them with a mental command.

  Nyssraski Naga Initiate

  Name: Chuchi

  Class: Rogue

  Alignment: Dark

  Size: Medium

  Health 37/37

  Battle consideration: This naga is level 1. Class selection is a safe zone.

  Nyssraski Naga Initiate

  Name: Xflickable

  Class: Rogue

  Alignment: Dark

  Size: Medium

  Health 37/37

  Battle consideration: This naga is level 1. Class selection is a safe zone.

  Their game names were really Chuchi and XFlickable with no last names and Radley mentally kicked himself for not coming up with something cleverer to call himself. He introduced himself back to them, “Well...I’m Rad Fabulous.”

  Both players paused then began to laugh out loud. “Rad Fabulous” Chuchi repeated between giggles. “Quite a name”

  “That’s epic” Xflickable added when he could breathe again. Radley tried to laugh along with them but he mentally added his name to the list of changes he needed to make when the game went live. Desperate to change the subject he asked “So, you know each other IRL?”

  “Course” Chuchi said still grinning, “Flick an’ I go way back.”

  XFlickable added, “Chuchi and I are both pro-holotubers.

  “Gaming stuff mostly.” Chuchi chimed in.

  Xflickable continued, “We team up sometimes for RPG’s or duo’s in FPS, an’ BR comps, an’ things…” he paused for a second then added, “but sometimes we’re rivals too.”

  Radley liked gaming but pro-gaming was its own world and these guys were on another level. He had caught that they teamed up from time to time and AFR was apparently one of those times. What he couldn’t understand is why they both had picked naga rogues. That seemed to him like kind of a pointless duo in a traditional RPG. A more important thought also popped into his mind and his mouth went dry. “Are you streaming now?” he asked with a coug
h, thinking of the millions of people who might be watching him at that very moment.

  “U’course” Chuchi said with a giggle “this’sa payin’ gig.”

  XFlickable reached over to give Chuchi a friendly shoulder massage and elaborated. “Drummin’ up buzz for AFR ain’t glorious but you gotta get paid, right?

  “Yuwa streamer too?” Chuchi asked before Radley could answer the first question.

  Radly shook his head and Xflickable continued as if it didn’t matter either way. “I’m not doin’ this just for AFR. I got 18 million subs on my channel, an’ Chuchi’s bout double that. With this game’s coverage, I’ll top 20 mil eee-zeee.”

  Even though Chuchi said they were streaming live, Radley knew the bragging probably meant they weren’t. The current meta for successful streamers was to maintain an image of the guy, or girl next door. The name “XFlickable” was a perfect example of this. It was what online trolls called somebody on a very low social tier. It meant you could flick them (usually their ear or forehead), without any repercussions to your own social standing. The X-flick had become a nostalgic method of torture like the noogie, wet willy, or swirly. By calling himself XFlickable, he was calling himself a nobody. It also guaranteed that any of his bragging would be cut in editing. If it was a live stream, they were probably on a commercial break or something. Either way, Radley’s stage fright began to fade.

  “So how do you stream from inside your brain?” he asked them. “When I went through the menus, I didn’t see any options for video capture.”

  XFlickable smiled widely and winked. “That my friend is a little secret. Let’s just say we got a little help from AFR.”

  Chuchi nodded along and added “Our gear isn’t exactly stock.

  Radley didn’t press them for more. It was really cool to meet famous gamers on his first day in AFR, even if he didn’t subscribe to them personally. The improbability of it implied that the beta slots were being hand-gifted to key personalities. It made his selection as a tester even more inexplicable and he pondered again how it had happened.

  XFlickable interrupted his thoughts and asked “so, wha’dju pick proggy?” This was a compliment. Proggy was a term that had become popular in gameplay over the past 10 years and meant something like ‘professional gamer’. It was typically reserved for someone considered an equal, and by using it XFlickable had welcomed Radley into his social crowd. Radley was flattered and smiled at the comradery. These guys could instantly advance his social ranking enough to meet the entrance requirements of his top colleges, if he could solidify some type of ongoing interaction with them. He hesitated and glanced over towards the dark-paladin before answering. The player’s cloak of shadows had expired but he was pummeling a new mannequin with the jagged black sword and grinning in a maniacal way that conjured an image in Radley’s mind of a wolf being taught to shoot a gun.

  After the awkward hesitation, Radley looked back at the rogues and replied, “Elementalist.” Then he added “I’m not sure it was the right choice.”

  “Naw,” Chuchi encouraged with a smile, “don't beat yourself up. In a week, this is all goin’ live and our progress will be wiped anyway. Don’t sweat it.”

  “Besides,” XFlicable added with a sly grin “A snake caster might be clutch. We heard from a reliable source that naga reflexes are still off the charts! They’ll probably get a nerf before the final launch”

  Radley talked with the rogues a little longer and they all rhetorically agreed to group up at some point for team XP or an easy boss raid. Since they were all damage dealers though, Radley didn’t think it was likely to actually happen. He turned back to the bonfire and left the rogues to their training. His immediate need was for someone to tank enemies while he cast his spell. He glanced back over to the dark paladin training grounds. The player was gone and Master Hasshassen had returned to his spot at the fire pit. Radley flicked his forked tongue in disappointment. He would just have to go out alone to find something to kill.

  CH. 8 A Lesson of Life and Death

  From the central plateau, Radley took the trail back to the village. In the light of day he could see the landscape more clearly. The plateau was shaped like an abnormal hand. Each of the seven masters had a training ground that branched off of the central formation like fingers. The route back to the village would be the arm, though it was too thin to be realistically proportioned. The temperature was rising quickly as Radley descended down the steep path and the view of an arid landscape stretched out to the horizon. His hometown was situated below him and he stopped to examine it from his bird’s-eye perspective. A faint white word hovered above the village like a label on a map: Nyssrask. This was apparently the name of his hometown.

  The village was mostly made of dull sandstone stone. The center point was a large manicured plaza surrounded by tightly bundled buildings and narrow streets. A tall sandstone wall surrounded everything. On the east side of the plaza, a tall pyramid dominated the geography. Its architecture was careful and elaborate. The temple was reminiscent of a Mayan Temple design, but it had a spiraling step like a screw instead of the typical layered step design. Beside the temple, clusters of stone buildings that looked like administration offices or government buildings filled the remaining space to the north and south. The hot weather of the night was becoming a sweltering morning as the sun’s rays lit the ridgeline from Radley’s right. This heat distorted the majestic view into a slowly waving panorama complete with illusions of water shining at the horizon. Radley didn’t mind. His naga body enjoyed the heat and felt invigorated by it. The physical sensation triggered some confidence in him as he headed down the hill towards the town. He had a spell and a staff and was ready for danger. He smiled to himself with a sense of excitement to be a mage. Just as this feeling of pride was peaking, Radley was attacked by a beach ball sized swarm of insects.

  He swatted at the cloud of bugs that quickly enveloped him, but it didn’t chase them away. They were so small that he couldn’t see them individually but a flashing magnifying glass icon in his HUD allowed him to identify the swarm as a whole.

  Vampiric Gnat Swarm - 18 HP (aggro)

  Vampiric gnats are pack hunters and prey on animals too slow to get away. They kill by blinding, maiming and suffocating their prey. They lay their eggs in the corpse of their victims which hatch together to create a future swarm. They are aggressive and will attack any animal that gets too close.

  Battle consideration: This swarm is level 1. This is an even match.

  Some of the gnats were beginning to land on him but Radley’s tough snake scales covered most of his body and were too hard for the swarm to penetrate easily. Instead, the insects went for his softer tissue around his eyes, ears, and nose. Even in these more sensitive locations, one gnat could do almost nothing, but in a swarm of thousands they were relentless, clogging his eyes and nostrils. After only moments, it was difficult to see, hear, or even breathe. Radley was overwhelmed by the sudden attack and began to frantically bat at the living cloud with his staff. Again, this had no effect and the small bugs began to press their attack. Thousands of tiny bites began to make progress and Radley’s HP began to tick down.

  The complete failure of his physical attacks and the ferocity of the swarm around his face began to drive Radley mad. He shouted the incantation for his fire palm spell. He had to swallow dozens of insects but completed the cast before their invasion into his throat prevented any further speech. He could no longer see but knew the spell had worked as a tingling sensation from the magic fire spread over his hand. He drove his flaming palm into the swarm of gnats, but their insubstantial nature prevented the spell from discharging. He swiped at them and swiped again but nothing happened. By now, the insects in his throat and nose had cut off his breathing completely and his stamina was dropping fast. The gnats still flying avoided every attempt at contact and the spell apparently needed his hand to touch something before having an effect.

  When his stamina bottomed out from having no air
, his HP began to drop quickly. The biting attacks weren’t actually painful, but the experience was becoming exasperating. On a primal level, he felt like he was suffocating and no matter how hard he batted his hand into the swarm, the fire palm did nothing. Though the chaos of the battle, Radley remembered the accidental contact with his arm after learning the spell and in desperation he turned the still active fire on himself. He slapped the flaming hand directly onto his own face. His tightly closed eyes and mouth offered only minimal protection against the fire damage as the spell triggered and washed his head in flames. The gnats were instantly caught in the flash of deadly heat. Each tiny body burst to add sparks of volatile fuel to the quickly expanding inferno. The fire spread through the swarm like a forest fire in high wind until nothing remained. Even the bugs choking his airway were burned to ashes. Radley had been injured by the gnats, and his spell burned him for another 22 HP leaving his status bar in single digits, flashing red. To his relief, he retained enough health to resist death and with no active status affects his HP began to tick back up as soon as he took a breath. The victory was as exhilarating as the battle had been terrifying and Radley was euphoric with adrenaline. This was so much more than a simple game. His heart was still hammering but a grin settled on his face as he spit the bug ash from his mouth.

  He ignored his flashing notification icon and paused for a moment to enjoy the wild scenery before him. The sun was growing higher in a deep blue sky, and the air was hot but fresh. Two small white butterflies fluttered above a nearby cactus as a gentle breeze caressed his stiff scaled skin. The wonderful combination of fantasy and realism made his smile widen. The game was surreal and violent, and he already loved it. It felt right. It made his real life as a human, with its social media hierarchy and petty dramas, seem like a laughable game.