Forest (Gaia's Rebirth Book 1)

by Caiden Walker

Nika grinned at her. "I'm growing more and more thankful that you're a part of this beta test, Ash." Then her face grew passive as her eyes flitted back and forth, fingers flying as she worked the menus only she could see. Then the smile returned. "There you are!"

  A couple of more quick hand movements and Ash heard the system's message. "White tiger has joined your party." Just to be on the safe side, she threw a heal spell at him and watched as his health bar went back to full.

  Cool. She hadn't realized just how worried she'd been about losing him.

  "So, now he’s a member of our party? Really?" Louella asked.

  "Looks that way," Nika said. "Which means we'll be splitting experience and gold five ways, but also means we'll be facing more and stronger monsters as the game is designed to match the player's levels."

  Ash chewed the inside of her lip. "Do you think maybe we should up the difficulty back up to Normal again? The pixie and the tiger are pretty strong."

  "They are, and I would love nothing more, especially as we still have a way to go before we hit level four," Nika said. "I really want that dang map feature. But I don't want to risk today's progress. Let's keep it at Novice until we reach Riser's Creek, then we can raise it after we save."

  Nika looked around at all of them, silently asking for their approval and one by one, they all nodded their assent. They'd do things her way. After all, she knew better than any of them what they might face next.

  “Speaking of Riser’s Creek,” Dean said. “How much farther do we have to go?”

  Nika shrugged, then glanced up at the sky. “Without the map, there really isn’t a good way to know exactly. But the Mayor of the last town said it was ten miles, and in the outside world, I generally walk about three miles an hour. From the sun’s path, I’d say it’s about noon and we’ve been walking for about three hours.”

  She stopped and gave Louella a sideways glance. “Of course we’ve had some distractions and battles along the way, but I’d say we should be about half way there.”

  Dean nodded slowly. “So you think we should reach the town in another few hours? Well before dark, right?”

  Ash fought hard to hide her grin. So the brave new Dean wasn’t so very brave after all.

  But then again, the night creatures in the game weren’t as warm and fuzzy as the daytime ones. There was a reason why people leveled up at night, and as close to the towns as possible. All the better to retreat to if they had the need.

  “Yes, Dean, we should get there while the sun is fully up,” Nika answered.

  Dean’s shoulders relaxed a little, and he seemed to breathe a little easier. “Good. Then can I ask one more tiny little thing?”

  Nika’s head cocked to one side, and she waited.

  “When do we eat?” he asked. “I mean, surely I’m not the only one hungry, am I?”

  As if in response to his question, Ash felt her own stomach gurgle. Yeah, a snack might be nice.

  They each dug through their inventory. Dean, of course, hadn’t thought to grab more than fruit from the morning’s buffet, but Ash had packed three bacon sandwiches, so she shared with Dean and the tiger. Luckily, Nika and Louella had prepared a little better.

  The meal was a fast one as none of them wanted to delay their journey any more than necessary. Within ten minutes, giving each of them time for a quick trip into the trees to take care of other pressing matters, they were on the move again.

  This time they didn’t make it far at all.

  Chapter Thirteen: Ambushed

  This time it wasn't land creatures or even insects. No, this time it was birds. Well, something like them anyway. Louella couldn't quite remember anything in real life or her history books that looked quite like these things.

  For one thing, they were about the size of a large human child. Roughly three feet long from beak to tail feathers, they had viciously sharp beaks and talons which they seemed intent on using to tear the small party apart.

  In this battle, her flight would not be an advantage, so she stuck to the ground and close to her new-found team mates. Luckily there were only four of the things because they didn't go down easily either.

  One of her magical nature punches had been enough to take down a wolf, but on these creatures, it only took them down about a quarter of the way. Swallowing, she realized that if the party hadn't taken her in, this would have been the end of the game for her. Over powered or not, these things scared her and made her hesitate. On her own, she would have been doomed to reboot.

  Here, Ash's fire spell was the key. Louella watched as she hit each bird with one as quickly as possible, taking their health bars down by almost a third. With that done, the others moved in for the kill and the mage stood back ready to heal anyone who needed it. Louella was pretty sure she had potions, too, in case her mana ran out.

  Feeling a little better knowing that someone had her back, she took a deep breath and lifted off to face one beak to nose. It didn't take long for one to target her and she didn't wait for it to get any closer before throwing her gathered nature magic in its ugly over-sized face. The magic almost did the trick, along with a well-placed arrow from the Ranger. Then the dang thing healed itself back to half-life.

  And, of course, the healing process didn't even slow it down. She braced herself for the attack, waiting for the talons to rip into her as the bird reached her. They didn't.

  Instead, they gathered her in their clutches and rose higher into the air. From the angle it was carrying her, she couldn't hit it with a spell, and the bird, or whatever the heck it was, was fast. It was carrying her away from the party.

  In terror, she watched the party grow smaller and the distance between them grow.

  NIKA HAD TRIED TO WARN Louella to stay on the ground. But then again, it might not have made any difference as the birds seemed to target the pixie right from the start. Maybe they had something against the girl's race in their programming, although she didn't see how as there weren't any pixie's programmed into the game except for her. But to be truthful, Nika also couldn't remember any birds like these in the program either.

  Just what the hell was Blake and the team doing to her game? Was this one of the surprises he had promised her? If so, she was not amused by it at all. In fact, if she could take one back with her, she might try locking Blake up with one and seeing how he liked it.

  Going on to Riser's Creek was now out of the question. The game had just turned into a rescue mission. She wondered how the others would take her decision, or if they would even back her on it, but she needn't have worried.

  Once the other three creatures were nothing more than glitter on the ground, Ash took off running through the trees in the direction the bird had taken Louella. Nika followed, and from the sounds coming from behind her, she could tell the tiger and Dean were coming too.

  The tiger was probably coming of his own free will. Dean most likely just didn't want to be left behind. That was okay with her as long as it meant the team stayed together. She really didn't want to have to go back to Travis town to get a rebooted Louella, and she was beginning to think the girl was the key to getting them the hell out of the game.

  She almost ran into Ash from behind when the girl came to a dead stop in front of her about a half a mile off the trail.

  "What's going on?" she asked.

  Ash just raised a finger up to the top of the tallest tree. This particular tree was different from the rest. For one, it was much taller and fuller than the others, and it seemed even the other trees gave it a wide berth, making it sit in its own little clearing. For two, it had no branches less than ten feet off the ground, so climbing the thing would be next to impossible. And three, in its very tip-top branches, it held a huge nest.

  From where Nika stood, she could see the edge of at least one egg, but not the creature itself. As her eyes searched the nest, Louella's scared face popped over the edge to look back down at her.

  She was still alive!

  But then it hit her. If she was
alive why didn't she just fly down to them? Then Louella stood, leaning over the side of the nest and Nika understood. Her beautiful wings were in tatters.

  She jumped as Dean spoke from right behind her.

  “Can she jump?” he asked.

  Nika shook her head. “She’s too high up. The fall would kill her.” And they’d all be traveling back to pick her up and losing a full day of game time. Of course, that she didn’t say. She didn’t want to come across as too heartless.

  “Okay, then,” he said, turning to Ash. “Can you heal her so she can fly down?”

  Another shaking head. “Already tried. She’s too far away for the spell to hit her.”

  “Okay, then,” he said again. “So, can one of you gals boost me up to that first branch?”

  Nika turned to him in surprise, then realized that of all the party members, he was the one for the job. Rangers were pretty nimble at climbing. It still shocked her that he offered though.

  “Sure,” she said, kneeling on one knee. Her power was in her Amazonian strength, so letting him climb on her shoulders and then standing under his weight was no huge feat.

  She watched as best she could as he climbed onto the branch. At least the branches seemed sturdy.

  “You might want to hurry before the bird comes back,” she said.

  He gave her a sarcastic grin. “Thanks,” he said. “I wouldn’t have thought of that.” And he started to climb.

  There was the sound of rustling behind her and she was once again shocked to see Ash climbing a nearby tree. What the hey?

  “What are you doing?” she called to her.

  “Getting close enough to help if they need it,” the girl called back.

  Made sense. If her heal spell couldn’t reach the upper boughs of the tree, her fire spell likely wouldn’t either. Getting closer was probably a good idea.

  Of course, a close combat fighter that couldn’t fly wouldn’t be of much use even if she was closer. Then she thought of her WarCry ability and started climbing after Ash. Maybe she could help after all. The tiger whined but stayed on the ground.

  They were all about half way up their separate trees when the bird starting coming back. A quick glance showed that not only had its health bar fully recovered, it had brought a friend along with it. Obviously, the bird didn’t like eating alone.

  Nika gave her WarCry, which served a dual purpose. Not only did it send a powerful rush of adrenalin and strength through the party, it also alerted Dean to the oncoming danger in time to prepare. The three of them took stances as best they could and watched as a ball of magic came from the nest and hit the leading bird.

  “Dean, are you in range to throw her a healing potion?” Ash yelled.

  He looked startled, then quickly drew one out of his inventory and tossed it up toward Louella. Then, without taking the time to see if it worked, he aimed and fired a double shot at the bird Louella had already hit.

  Seconds later the twice wounded bird blew apart in a sea of sparkles under the force of a fire spell. Down to one. Unfortunately, the second bird was now almost to the nest. If the heal potion hadn’t worked, they could be through.

  Then Louella raised up, half fluttering on mending wings and Nika’s hope blossomed. Giving another WarCry, she felt a little helpless that she couldn’t help the party more.

  Not that they needed it.

  The second bird didn’t last any longer than the first with the other three’s concentrated efforts. Of course, the fact that their spells and arrows were slightly strengthened had to have helped at least a little.

  She hoped so anyway. It would be a hard pill to swallow if she became the one holding the group back.

  She scanned the skies to be sure no other birds were approaching before starting the climb down. It wouldn't be a good thing to get picked off the tree like an apple while unable to defend oneself.

  When everyone had made it down, Louella under the power of her own two wings thanks to a final heal spell thrown by Ash, they gathered under the trees.

  Dean looked up at the sun's path, his expression grim. "We'd better get a move on if we are going to make it to Riser's Creek before dark."

  He was right, this excursion had taken far too long and now the end of their journey was no longer guaranteed to happen during daylight hours.

  They headed back to the path at a jogging pace and kept it up until they reached the next clearing, when Nika held up a hand, halting the group. Not because she saw anything, but because she didn't.

  To her knowledge, just about every clearing in the game had a creature of some kind to fight. The fact that this one appeared empty worried her to no end. What the heck was it going to be this time?

  Even worse, the clearing was a large one, stretching for a good quarter of a mile.

  They had two choices. They could run for it and hope to make it to the other side without harm, or they could hug the tree line in case the coming attack was an airborne one. Before she could put it to a vote, the first arrow flew.

  Luckily, Nika had been on guard and saw it coming out of the corner of her eye. She was able to deflect it and yelled for the others to take cover, quickly following them into the trees.

  Once they were well under cover with several trees between them and the now dangerous open space, they stopped.

  "The archers are most likely up in the trees and it won't take long for them to come down," Nika said. "Unless they've moved the damn town, it should be only a mile or two away. I say we run for it, keeping to the trees."

  "Sounds like a plan," Dean said, bringing his bow to the front, just in case.

  "No," said Louella.

  They all looked at her.

  Blushing, she tried to explain. "Look, if they are archers then they are most likely blood elves, right? And blood elves are pretty powerful as far as enemies go in the game. If we can take them out, we can all level up to four pretty fast."

  "That's too big of an if for my liking," Nika said. "I really don't want to have to start this trip over again and lose everything we've gained."

  Louella hesitated, but then gave in. "Okay, I guess you're right."

  But as they started to move out, the tiger blocked their path.

  "Not you too," Nika said. Then she caught a glimpse of movement to her left further into the trees. "Damn it, the archers were a decoy to drive us into the woods! Prepare yourselves."

  Double damn it, she thought, the girl had saved them after all. If they had rushed headlong into the woods toward town, they would have been slaughtered as they ran. Of course, now they stood to be slaughtered as they took a stand, so maybe they weren't quite saved at all.

  "Wait until they show themselves," Louella said. "Then when I give the word, turn your heads and close your eyes."

  It didn't take long for the elves to realize their ambush had failed and start rushing them. Three Elves, very high level according to their health bars and at least one more in the trees behind them cutting off their escape that way.

  But as the three broke into sight, Louella yelled and the rest of the party did as she'd instructed. Even through closed eyelids, the flash of light hurt. Nika could only imagine what it had done to the elves who were famous for their night vision.

  "Now," Louella cried. "Get them while they're blinded. I'll take care of the archers."

  Nika tried to stop her, but the girl had been lifting off even as she spoke. Besides, there were Elves to deal with. Hopefully, the girl could handle the archers on her own. If they were really lucky, maybe there was only one.

  Giving her fierce WarCry, she leaped into battle.

  Chapter Fourteen: Blake in Deep

  Cora leaned back in her chair, satisfied that her little programmed ambush would do the trick. It shouldn’t have come to this. She and the other Virtech moles should have been out of here well before now.

  But they had underestimated Nika and her father’s safeguards and software protection. This job wasn’t nearly so simple as plugging a c
omputer into the mainframe and downloading the program. No, due to the massive protection in place, they had been required to hard key copy every last line of code. Literally, every single word and symbol had to be hand keyed from the original program into their own.

  And it was taking forever. This isn’t what she had signed up for. Beyond the fact that they would easily be here another two weeks—and the beta test of the game was only scheduled to last for that—there was also the issue of Blake.

  He was starting to get on her nerves. No, scratch that. He had gotten on her nerves from day one. Now he was bordering on becoming unbearable. The bad thing was that there were too many loyal employees still around to do him in quite yet.

  As far as those loyal diehards were concerned, he was still a loving and caring husband to their dear Nika. If only they knew. And if Blake kept pushing things and making the mistakes he had been making, they would soon enough.

  Virtech and she couldn’t afford that. If he didn’t rein himself in soon, he’d find out his real place in the company’s plans sooner rather than later.

  And they weren’t nearly as pleasant as he’d been led to believe.

  Cora smiled thinking about that moment when he found out just what he really meant to the company. He had been a means to an end and nothing more. Really, it had been rather pathetic how easily they had gotten him on board. He hadn’t even taken any safeguards at all.

  With Virtech, safeguards were an absolute must. She should know. She had them in spades. The people here in-house with her were her employees, not Virtech’s. And they were loyal to her, not the company. She wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Once the program was completely copied, she and her employees would simply vanish. Then, once the money hit her offshore account, she would deliver the end result to Virtech. She at least could be trusted—by her employees at any rate. They would each get the cut they’d been promised, making them each rich in their own right, and she would get a luxurious early retirement on a nice Fiji beach.

  There were only two problems to overcome before reaping the rewards. One was keeping Nika and her party from getting through the game too quickly. That should have been handled by her recent changes.