The Road to Red Thorn

by Blaine Hicks

  The yellow eyes kept staring and seemed to peer into his soul. He could feel a growing part of his mind giving into the demand. It had caught the scent of rabbit meat and had come to collect. But another part of Radley’s mind pushed back, and he said in a weak voice “Stop right there.” The words came out as a whisper, much softer than he expected but it focused his mind. He took a slow breath and tried again with all the force he could muster. “What are you??!” This time the words came out too loud - almost a yell. The snake dropped its head and recoiled, cowed by the intensity of his question but it didn't respond.

  Radley had regained his mental control and the itch to give the snake his food began to fade. He tried communicating again but this time he imagined the meaning of his words along the mental thread that hung between them. Radley asked, “Who are you?” This time the snake responded but in a hushed obedient way.

  I'm Noah, it projected back to his mind.

  ...and what are you? Radley asked again.

  snake, it responded simply.

  “Yes...I can see that…” Radley agreed with more than a little irritation.

  The snake wasn't attacking. In fact, there was no longer any hint of aggression and the snake now stared at the ground. Radley insisted on more information. “But what kind of snake? Are you venomous? How are you able to talk? Are you magical? How did you get inside the house? Are you going to attack me??”

  The torrent of questions washed over the snake but didn’t seem to have much effect. Water Boa, the snake specified, then added, …just want to share. With the smallest movement, the boa flicked the tip of its nose towards the backpack next to Radley holding the rabbit meat.

  Wait. Radley said with the hint of a smile to the corner of his mouth, “You're Noah, the Water Boa??”

  The snake began to undulate with a series of head-bob's and Radley could detect that this was its equivalent of laughing. It found this question very funny. “Oh yes” it confirmed “Noah the Boa. Master was very clever.”

  Radley just stared at the snake for a moment as it continued to convulse with mirth. He reached into the pack and pulled out the bundle of rabbit meat. He wasn’t hungry, so sharing was possible. He decided to move past the snakes silly name and asked, “You just want food?” The snake took another minute to calm down again before answering then finally said, oh yes, just food. Radley slowly peeled away the notebook paper that wrapped the meat and asked, “Where are you from?”

  Master said I came from the ON-LIE-NAH, Noah said slowly, then added ...but I remember no life before master. The snake obviously had no idea what online meant and was only repeating a sound it had heard the master say. Radley smiled inwardly at the snake's description of its origins but let the response pass without comment.

  Instead he asked, “Is your master nearby?”

  Oh no. The snake answered, So many moons have faded since master went cold.

  Radley was disappointed the master was “cold” but finally felt like he was getting some answers. The snake seemed to remember what had happened to the world even if it didn’t make clear sense. It could tell him what was going on. Radley leaned forward and asked, “How did your master become cold?”

  The snake paused again without answering and peered toward Radley’s hand that was holding the bundle of meat. It seemed to be considering whether the meat was really worth all this trouble. It was well fed and hadn’t expended the inquisition for a morsel of food when it had pushed its way in through the window. It must have concluded that it still wanted the meat because it eventually answered the question.

  I was still very small when my sleeping rock went cold and no food came. I left the box to find a warmer place but only found more cold. I could smell master and went to him but even his lap was cold. I got so hungry. Then the world shook and opened the wall. I followed the scent of food. The water rose while I was hunting for mice on the hill and I could not go home. Over many moons I came here, where more food lives. It is still sometimes cold, but the rabbits are sooooo tasty.

  The snake held itself in silence after the brief story, apparently content that it had explained everything. Radley could feel its hunger through their link and with a casual toss, he delivered the boa its due payment.

  Mine? the snake asked, almost politely.

  Radley nodded and the snake began to engulf the meat. Noah tumbled around the offered food until its body pressed the meal down its throat. It may have been the psionic link but it made Radley happy to watch it eat. With the meal gone Noah turned and left without another word, leaving Radley alone again in the dark.

  CH. 18 The Adventure Begins

  Radley didn't sleep again. Between the giant snake and his morning departure, his nerves wouldn’t hear of it. Instead he was up and ready to set out before first light. The beacon marking his destination was pretty far away and he wasn’t sure he could make it in a single day of hiking. He was faster than a human but had less stamina and the thought of being stuck in the forest overnight was not a pleasant consideration. He still feared this reality and that fear drove him to action. That meant waking up early and doing his best to avoid any delays. Mother Nature had other ideas.

  The weather had grown colder during the night and the humid evening air had frozen covering the exterior of the house in a thick layer of sparkling frost. It coated the windows and made seeing outside impossible. Despite the morning chill, his breath made no mist as he exhaled. Instead, his body moved slowly like he was walking underwater. It wasn’t immobilizing but it was annoying. As he walked up the steps to his room, he noticed the snowflake icon hovering again at the edge of his vision. When he selected it with a mental command, he received the notification that his attack and movement speed were both reduced by 10% due to the cold. It reminded him again that life was now playing by the rules of game-logic. In AFR, the game’s AI worked hard to balance the playable races. The same way that dark races were blessed with innate skills but given difficult environments to live in, each race had pros and cons as well. Cold weather was apparently a weakness for naga. A 10% slowdown wasn’t a deal breaker, so Radley pulled on his backpack and pushed open the window. They resisted at first, then sprung open with a cracking pop as the seal of frost broke free.

  The air outside was even colder than his house had been and his movement debuff increased to a 20% speed reduction. He didn’t shiver like a human might and his exposed skin didn’t burn with pain from the cold. In fact, he felt no instinctual danger from the exposure, he just moved slowly. Radley flicked his tongue a few times, searching for the trace odor of anything unusual. The small creatures weren't out in the meadow yet, but he could still detect their scents permeating from the forest’s edge.

  He stepped down from the roof but stopped and surveyed the early morning scene. He could tell there was a significance to leaving. It hung like pressure in the air and would have raised his neck hairs if he’d had any. This was the beginning of something big, or at least big to Radley. Maybe it wasn’t a first-man-on-the-moon moment, but it was at least a going-off-to-college moment. He was leaving home and could sense that he would probably never return. No matter what came at him, he would now be responsible for himself. The safety net was gone. He slowly exhaled and the gaze of the starlit sky moved on as the moment passed. Radley adjusted the backpack on his shoulders and set off again.

  It was still dark so he turned on his thermal vision. Without the fog bank blocking his view, the darkness brightened into a sharp contrast. The ground was slightly warmer than the air and plants, making the view appear abstract like he'd turned on a negative filter instead of thermal vision. A few other brighter flecks of white light marked the heat of tiny animals hidden in their dens. Radley ignored them all and focused on his route towards the barely visible beacon in the distance.

  As he walked, Radley reminded himself to be careful of the sundew vines that radiated down from the top of the ant hill. Stepping on one as he hiked would bring a quick end to his progress. To improve h
is chance of success, he didn’t immediately enter the forest. Instead, he followed the meadow around the hill’s base. The vines were apparently warmer than the ground and showed up grey against the darker backdrop of the world. Radley relied on his thermal vision until the pre-dawn light was bright enough to see by. The first rays of the sun were still hidden behind the tall trees when he flicked the augmented vision off, but the sky above him was growing lighter. As long as he moved slowly which his debuff required, and paid attention to where he stepped, the vines were easy to avoid.

  It took Radley more than an hour to make his way around the giant hill to its north side, the circumference being about three miles. As he passed along the east side of the hill, the meadow became rougher with longer grass and intermittent shrubberies. Radley eventually had to follow a path higher up the slope to continue making good progress. He opened his map a few times to check his progress. Without it, he would’ve had no idea how far around the hill he had come. The map was priceless and although most of the landscape was hidden in the fog of war, it still offered a clear picture of his progress towards the waypoint.

  His circumference around the ant hill gradually turned westward before Radley finally reached the northernmost point. Here, he turned northward again, finding and following a well-trodden trail that cut through the waist-high foliage towards the treeline. Unlike the low-cut meadow on the south side of the hill, it didn’t appear that any animals grazed here, and he wondered what had made the path that he now followed. Radleys attention could now focus less on each step he took since the sundew vines ran parallel with his coarse and he began to relax. Despite the cold morning air, and his dismal pace, Radley was pleased to find the barefoot hiking enjoyable. He moved lightly along the trail and watched the sunrise climb over the trees. The frost was beginning to thaw in the morning light, but the chill remained in the air. He had spent relatively little of his life outside despite being raised near an unusual amount of undeveloped land. Part of this had been due to the ever-present odor of waste and artificial pine outside his house but mostly because there had been no other kids to play with after the other families took the buy-outs and moved away. His solution was in-person school and multiplayer video games that connected him with others. In some ways being alone was liberating. For the first time in his entire life, his choices weren’t being recorded. His opinions wouldn’t be up or down voted, and nobody was reposting or blocking his comments. Nobody was reviewing any comments either but that was a different problem. He supposed this made his choices a little more genuine, based on the desires of his heart rather than the image he wanted to create. It was a strange paradox that the world had to end for him to finally be himself.

  The truth was, he really wasn’t sure who he was. In the absence of outside observers who he had to impress for a social score, it was completely possible he was a psychopath. He hoped not which probably meant he wasn’t. He was still pondering the philosophy of it as he neared the forest's edge. Here, the long grass and shrubberies thickened into a veritable wall of brush. Without the game trail, it would have been difficult to reach the forest from this direction. Radley’s pace slowed as he scanned the area for danger. Among the thick tangle of branches and bushes, some large green pods the size of Radley’s hand extended above the brush. They looked like the heads of venus flytraps.

  Radley was still a fair distance from the pods and out of curiosity, he tossed a pebble into the open maw of the closest pod. The jagged plant snapped shut like a freshly oiled bear trap. Radley focused his gaze on the pod and the flashing magnifying glass icon appeared at the edge of his vision. With a mental command he selected it.

  Spotted Snap-Trap - 704 HP

  Snap traps are carnivorous plants that capture small creatures as food. These plants are equipped with a potent toxin that will paralyze prey when bitten. They become aggressive when touched.

  Battle consideration: This snap trap is level 41. This snap trap is much stronger than you. It would be best not to get too close.

  Radley paused to survey his proximity and make sure he wasn’t in immediate danger. The plant didn’t seem mobile but at level 41 it was obviously deadly . If he kept his distance, he would probably be okay. If any had been close to the trail, it would have meant a long and arduous detour. Whatever had made the trail had also cleared away the pods that could reach it. The bigger lesson was that avoiding the sundew vine was only the first step to avoiding death in this forest.

  Radley gratefully stepped past the pods into the shadows that marked his entrance into the forest. Beneath the canopy, the tall bushes ended for lack of sunlight and Radley’s view expanded to reveal a shaded wonderland of trees. Gnarled roots supported dark black trunks that reached upwards to astonishing heights before their branches scattered into a mind-boggling expanse of green leaves. Some of the trees were truly huge; larger than any Radley had seen on old earth. There were mushrooms growing at his feet and a few other scattered plants growing on the forest floor, but it was too dim for much to grow. The mushrooms were red and white and identified as poisonous. Even more disturbing was their ability description that said they produced spores with a sleeping effect. That was not what Radley needed at the moment.

  The musty scent of rotten wood filled the cold morning air, accented by a fainter scent of small animals. Radley could also smell some grendel, but the odor was faint enough that he didn’t worry about an immediate confrontation.

  He looked around in awe. His idea of “nature” had always been the summer camp he’d visited as a young kid. It was called Captain Sam’s Fort Wilderness and had been complete with paved walking trails, a well stocked cafeteria called “The Mess,” and bathroom facilities with obscene quantities of toilet paper. In contrast, wilderness camp seemed like a joke now. This forest was not a watered-down nature experience. It reverberated with power and strength and trees that groaned as they held aloft their mighty loads. This isn’t so bad, Radley thought to himself, just before the blade of a sharp spear pressed firmly into the side of his neck and a cold voice told him not to move.

  CH 19 The Darkness of Elves

  The spear’s edge didn’t break his scales but the pressure against his neck hurt. Radley obeyed the voice and instantly froze until a tall lithe man walked silently into his line of sight.

  The man had skin blacker than the shadows of a moonless night. His face was framed by long black hair pulled into a loose braid over pointed ears. In the dim light of the forest he all but disappeared among the shadows...except for his eyes. His pale green eyes were set in white borders that glowed against the darkness of his face. The contrast was hypnotic and made the eyes almost appear to float in mid-air. He wore exquisite leather armor from head to toe that was nearly as dark as his skin and appeared to be a matching set. It was tooled and textured with fine silver markings that blurred in Radley’s mind when he tried to look at them. A dozen small handles jutted out of a weapon harness that crossed the man's chest. Each weapon radiated an aura of energy that promised death if called upon. Radley couldn’t fathom why the man would need so many daggers.

  “Why is a naked snake wandering through our forest?” the man asked with a faint accent of british aristocracy.

  Radley started to answer but the spear pressed deeper into his neck implying that the question was rhetorical. He wanted to look back and see who was poking him but he also got the impression that any movement would be a bad idea. He flicked his tongue in irritation and zoned away from the conversation to identify the man.

  Dark Forest Shadow Elf: Warrior

  Edensu White-Fawn - 1478 HP

  Shadow elves are physically similar to sun and moon elves but have a dark alignment. They are tall with slight builds and very agile. Most dark forest shadow elves live in the emerald caverns beneath Elderwood. They do not like visitors, nor do they tolerate races of light. They quickly become hostile when provoked or if in a bad mood.

  Battle consideration: This shadow elf is level 68. Attacking this
elf would be an act of insanity but feel free to give it a shot.

  Shadow Elf, Radley thought, ignoring the sarcasm of the prompt. He had almost picked the dark elves as his character race and wondered where he would be right now if he had made that one choice differently. Would he still be lost and alone? At least naga were dark aligned which meant he wasn’t an immediate enemy.

  Edensu was still talking to him when Radley returned his attention to the conversation. “...into the heart of Elderwood without express permission! What could you possibly be thinking? If not for the fragile truce we hold with your kind, I would gut you for the pleasure of your screams.” The promise of violence got Radley’s full attention. He needed to diffuse the situation before someone (probably himself) got hurt.

  “Heeeey...” He said in his most soothing voice. He made sure to keep completely still except for his mouth. “There’s really no need for that.”

  The shadow elf blustered like he had been slapped but didn’t interrupt. The unseen companion holding the spear also eased up perceptibly on the pressure against his throat. Radley slowly faced the palms of his hands forward, like he was under arrest and continued talking calmly as if he were trying to tame a cornered animal. “We’re all on the same side here friends. I’m just passing through Elderwood on my way north.”

  He actually had no idea what type of truce the elves had with the naga, but he decided to bluff with every bit of confidence he could muster. Common sense told him that if the shadow elves were allies, even distant ones, he should be able to get through this confrontation without being gutted, if he kept his hands to himself. He continued, “I promise to honor the alliance between our people as I travel through your woods.”

  Edensu considered his words and looked more than a little disappointed, like he had been hoping for a provocative response. Belligerence was apparently the normal reaction when confronting wandering naga.