Zane barked out a harsh laugh. “A plan? We’re fucked.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Finn retorted, giving him a grin. His mana was still burning through his limbs, and his eyes danced with orange flames. Zane seemed slightly taken aback by his crazed smile. With that, he began casting another shield, reinforcing the first one behind an even thicker layer of molten energy.
I just need to keep my mana above 50%. Which meant Finn could just barely afford to cast the two shields.
“What’s this plan?” Vanessa asked as he finished the second spell, eyeing the pack of golems as they prepared to send another wind-up pitch of molten glass, even as the sixth ambled up behind them.
“I’m going to take this hit,” Finn said. “Once they launch their attack, you two run away and get some distance. Don’t move any closer to the golem behind us or he’ll aggro.”
Zane opened his mouth to ask a question, but Finn snapped at him. “No time.
“Assuming I survive this, I’m going to do something crazy. His eyes focused on Vanessa. “When the golems glow red, strike with Frozen Orb.”
“How do you—?”
Finn cut her off, turning to look at Zane. “Then you cast Earth Spikes right afterward. You’ll only have a window of a few seconds. Got it?” he demanded.
The two just stared at him. “Do you understand?” Finn demanded. “We don’t have much longer.”
They both nodded.
Finn turned his attention back to the golems. As they prepared to strike, their hands glowed an angry red. Their arms moved backward and then arced forward rapidly as Finn braced himself.
Shit, this is going to hurt.
That was an understatement.
Multiple blasts of molten glass smashed into Finn’s reinforced Magma Armor. The momentum alone was so powerful that it sent the group stumbling backward a few feet. Finn was certain he would have toppled over completely – leaving his body exposed to the follow-up globs – if it hadn’t been for Zane and Vanessa.
Droplets of the molten substance ate through Finn’s shields, swiftly eroding the armor. At the same time, the terrible liquid sprayed outward around the edges of the shield. Yet Finn didn’t back away. He needed to take most of this blow. He felt the burning substance splash against his arms and face. His skin felt like it was on fire, the glowing red substance burning through his flesh at an alarming rate before rapidly cooling and hardening.
Notifications flashed in Finn’s peripheral vision, and stars danced in his eyes. Yet he was alive. If only barely – a sliver of health still visible on his health gauge.
“Run!” he croaked, sparing one last look at Zane and Vanessa. They hesitated for a fraction of a second, taking in Finn’s ruined arms and the glass riddling his skin. Then they sprinted for safety.
Leaving Finn alone.
Six golems lumbered toward him, their hulking forms surrounding him and trudging ever closer. After that last barrage, he would have a few seconds. After watching the other students get demolished, his guess was there was some sort of cooldown on that “molten pitch” attack. If they followed the same pattern, they would try to move into melee range now.
Which was right where Finn needed them.
He struggled to his feet, the process made difficult by his arms. They felt rigid and inflexible, half-cooled glass practically coating his skin.
Yet a moment later, he stood upon the sands.
The golems were only a few yards away now and slowly trudging forward.
Finn forced his burned fingers to move, words escaping his lips. His mod immediately filled in the remaining incantation for Fire Nova, Finn focusing on those flowing symbols like a lifeline. As he cast, flames appeared in the air around him, dancing like wraiths. The fires swiftly grew until the golems were hazy dark outlines, growing ever larger as they loomed around him. Although, this time, Finn was prepared. He had held his breath – preventing himself from passing out until he cast the spell.
For a fraction of a second, Finn hesitated. He thought he saw an image in the flames. It almost looked like a woman’s face. She looked eerily familiar – her eyes challenging him in the way only Rachael could.
Then he blinked, and the face was gone.
And Finn spoke the last word of the spell.
The Fire Nova raced away from him in a fantastic cascade of fire and flame, crashing through the golems that lingered around Finn. At the same time, Finn sunk to his knees, suddenly unable to stay standing. The blast pushed the golems back and superheated their glass bodies until all six shone brightly, liquid glass dripping down their limbs.
Yet the creatures didn’t stop. They still lumbered toward him, glass droplets splattering against the sands of the courtyard.
A grin stretched across Finn’s face, his eyes awash in orange energy.
Those same glowing eyes turned to look at Brutus. The mage was watching the scene intently, his hands still moving through a rapid-fire series of gestures.
“Checkmate, mother fucker,” Finn mouthed at him.
Then the fire magic master suddenly dropped out of sight, falling into the sand as it disappeared below him. Finn would never forget the look of shock and disbelief on his face.
Several things happened at once.
An orb of ice suddenly crashed into the middle of the pack of golems, before exploding in a shower of icy fragments. The miniature avalanche was consumed by the molten bodies of the golems, streamers of steam arcing into the air. However, the ice rapidly cooled the glass golems, their limbs growing suddenly rigid and fractures appearing along their skin as a result of the makeshift tempering process.
The blast of icy energy was soon followed by lances of earth that speared out of the ground, smashing into the golems. After the rapid heating and cooling, the earthen spears caused the brittle golems to explode in a shower of glass fragments. Their bodies blasted apart so forcefully that it rocked Finn where he sat in the middle of the maelstrom.
Steam, glass, and rock shards filled the air and rained down upon him. He could feel stray fragments pelt his fragile body and impale his ruined flesh, his own blood leaking down his skin and staining the sands.
Yet the pain felt muted and distant enough that he barely paid attention to it. His thoughts were focused on that face he had seen in the flames. He had endured far worse than this. This pain was only physical, after all. It wouldn’t last forever.
He knew from firsthand experience that there were some wounds that never healed.
As the last of his health finally disappeared, a triumphant smile was still painted on Finn’s face, and flames danced in his eyes. A single thought roared through his brain, even though he was no longer able to say the words aloud.
It had worked!
Then the world went dark, and a single translucent blue notice filled his vision.
System Message
You have died.
Thanks for playing Awaken Online!
Chapter 16 - Deadly
Finn blinked as the world suddenly popped back into focus.
He let out a heaving gasp as he clawed at his arms. He looked down, expecting to see ruined, burnt flesh mottled with cooled glass. Yet his fingers only met solid, healthy skin. Despite the evidence that he was whole and uninjured, it took Finn’s mind a minute or two to catch up.
When his pulse slowed, and he no longer felt phantom burns along his forearms, Finn was finally able to take stock of his surroundings. He was standing in the field once again. However, his surroundings were… different. The scene looked washed out. Sunlight still shone down on the yellow sand, but it was like someone had forgotten to add the bloom or had reduced the saturation on the world. Even more strangely, Finn noticed nearly transparent motes of sapphire energy drift down around him like ash. He held out a hand, but the substance passed through his palm.
“Alright, whelps, group up!” a familiar voice barked. Finn whirled to find Brutus addressing a crowd of students.
“What the hell?” Fin
n murmured.
His eyes widened as he noticed himself standing in the crowd. Finn probably wouldn’t have recognized himself if not for Kyyle standing beside him. He looked younger in-game – a lot younger. Finn suddenly realized he hadn’t had a chance to survey his new appearance in a mirror. He placed his own age in the early forties, graying stubble dotting his chin and his hair chopped short in the same no-nonsense style he had maintained for decades.
Finn pulled his attention away from examining his doppelganger as flames suddenly erupted around the edge of the field, and the golems once more began to pull themselves from pools of molten glass as the battle played out once again.
Although “massacre” might have been more appropriate.
He could only assume this was some sort of deathscape that allowed him to view a replay of how he had died. Finn had to admit it was an interesting concept. In a game that focused on realism, it would be helpful to analyze how you had fucked up.
“I wish real life had a replay button,” he muttered to himself, his voice sounding muffled like his words were being swallowed up as they left his lips.
The scene continued.
Finn watched as he and Kyyle ran away from the golem and as the other students were gunned down by balls of molten glass. The strange part was that parts of the scene were blurry, only odd shapes and washed-out colors. It was like someone had taken a paintbrush and smeared together part of the picture. It took him a second to realize what was happening.
He could only view a replay of things that had happened in his line of sight.
It was easier to see if Finn walked over to his clone and faced the same direction. As his perspective shifted, so did the focus of the replay.
“Interesting. So, I can only view things that I actually saw.”
At first, this seemed like a major limitation. Then Finn realized that he could see details that he hadn’t focused on in the heat of battle. For example, he could see the other students fighting in the distance, even though he hadn’t really focused on them at the time. He would have to remember this. Maybe he could think of some way to expand his visibility when he died – that might offer invaluable information later.
Even while he had walked around the field muttering to himself, the battle had continued to rage across the field. He soon saw his other self huddled with Kyyle and then his mad sprint across the sands toward Zane and Vanessa.
Finn watched in silence as he saw himself cast Fire Nova, the flames exploding outward in concentric rings, and the golems glowing red hot. Vanessa’s Frozen Orb struck next, crashing into the cluster of golems like a frozen grenade. And hot on its heels came Zane’s Earth Spikes, causing the magical creatures to explode in a torrent of stone, ice, and shards of glass. Finn remembered that part vividly and he instinctively clutched at his arms, feeling his heart race.
Then the scene faded away, restarting from the beginning.
Finn rubbed at his chin for a moment. Now that he was dead, he had a bit more time to think about the fight. How had Vanessa and Zane known those spells? He doubted that they had invented them on the fly. Now that he thought about it, he realized that Kyyle had already known about them – otherwise, Finn couldn’t have come up with that plan. He’d have to remember to ask Kyyle when he respawned.
There was also one incredibly interesting variable on the field.
As the scene played out a second time, Finn’s gaze shifted to Brutus. He hadn’t had eyes on the fire mage the entire fight, his form blurring out during certain portions. But he had usually been in his line of sight – even if Finn hadn’t had time to watch him closely.
Finn now noted the way the man’s hands twisted together, moving so quickly that he almost had difficulty following the movements. At the same time, Brutus mouthed the incantations. A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he pulled up his in-game console, taking notes. He doubted he could recreate the fire wall or golem spells, but he might as well record what he could. Although, as he watched Brutus’ hands, he noticed something strange. The rhythm felt off. It took Finn a few seconds to figure out why.
The fire mage was actually moving each hand independently!
Is this like some sort of ambidextrous casting? he wondered. If so, then that was incredible. He’d have to add that to his list of questions for Abbad.
Unfortunately, Finn hadn’t managed to catch every word that Brutus had said over the screams and shouts of the players racing across the field, but he transcribed the incantations as best he could. They might be useful later.
Then the scene shifted again, starting to play the battle’s climactic finish.
However, Finn’s attention was solely on Brutus. The ground opened up under the mage, and he plummeted downward, his eyes widening in shock. Surprisingly, the image only began to blur as Brutus fell below the lip of the sandy pit that Kyyle had formed. Finn glanced back at himself where he stood surrounded by the golems. His eyes were pointed in the same direction of Brutus.
“Interesting.”
What happened next, however, was enough to make Finn’s jaw go slack.
Brutus soon reappeared above the lip of the pit. At first, Finn couldn’t see how he had managed the feat – not until his feet crested the edge. Then he noticed the nearly translucent discs of still-cooling glass that had formed in the air, the fragile material exploding as Brutus’ feet struck home. Brutus had formed these small platforms quickly, using them like a staircase to run out of the hole.
“Holy shit,” Finn murmured.
“How did you…” He trailed off, turning his attention back to Brutus’ face. He looked calm, his eyes blazing with orange energy.
How had the mage maintained the fire wall, the golems, and managed to cast this new spell? Finn glanced back at himself, inspecting the scene more carefully. He almost didn’t catch the detail before the scene reset again. However, he did see the fire inside the golems dim and then wink out just before he died.
Then darkness descended upon the field.
Finn stood there in the void, his thoughts whirling.
What had Brutus been casting before Kyyle sprang his trap? Their instructor had already summoned the fire wall and the golems, so why were his hands moving? Was he actively channeling mana into the spells? And to what end? This seemed at odds with how Finn had cast his spells – namely his Magma Armor and Fire Nova. He simply recited the incantation and performed the gestures and then let’em rip.
Finn chewed on the inside of his cheek. Something more had been going on there – which would explain why the fires inside the golems had dwindled when Brutus had cast a new spell to get himself out of Kyyle’s trap. Even more disconcerting was that the fire mage had never stopped casting nor lost his balance. He hadn’t even looked harried.
As the world flashed back into existence and Brutus’ harsh voice once more echoed across the field, Finn was still numbly trying to process what he had just seen. Despite his questions, one thing was clear. Brutus was on an entirely different level. It was his mastery of multiple spells, the ambidextrous casting, the physical prowess needed to pull off that recovery – all while maintaining his composure and thinking through his steps logically.
There was one easy takeaway from all of this.
Finn had a long way to go.
***
Finn appeared on the field in a flash of multi-colored energy. The sudden change was mildly disorienting, but he was growing more accustomed to the abrupt transitions. A glance around the courtyard confirmed that phantom ash no longer rained from the sky.
He was back in the regular game world.
Several tears formed in the air around Finn, flashing with multi-colored light. As these rifts disappeared, the members of Finn’s class stood in their place. A rift ripped open beside Finn, and he stepped aside to avoid the flash of energy.
A moment later, Kyyle stood beside him, the young man blinking rapidly and raising a hand to blot out the harsh light that shone down on the field. Then he suddenly
noticed Finn beside him and their eyes met.
Finn arched an eyebrow, not needing to ask his unspoken question aloud.
Kyyle grimaced, rubbing at his neck. “Yeah, so we all died right after you. It was… pretty bad. I can honestly say that I was never curious to experience being burned alive.” He hesitated. “Or melted alive, I guess. Although, that doesn’t have the same ring to it…”
Finn wasn’t surprised. After what he had observed in the deathscape, he was surprised they had lasted as long as they had. The only answer he could come up with was that the golems were rather “stupid” – possibly a product of Brutus casting multiple spells.
That or the mage hadn’t meant to kill them immediately.
“Well, we tried,” Finn finally added.
“Welcome back!” Brutus barked, interrupting the students.
Finn and Kyyle turned to find the man lounging on a glass throne in the center of the field. At some point, he must have gone to retrieve an umbrella and what appeared to be a glass of lemonade.
“If you all want to gather round, we can review today’s lesson,” Brutus continued. His voice sounded positively cheery, particularly after his more-foreboding tone at the beginning of the class. Not to mention the part where he had killed them all.
“So, I imagine you all have some questions regarding the point of that little exercise,” Brutus began once the students had grouped up in front of him.
He shrugged. “I might not have been entirely upfront, and I’ll be the first to admit that. Just yelling ‘run’ was probably a bit vague. However, this first lesson is important, and I can assure you I’m not just a sadist. Anyone want to take a stab at the goal here?”
Vanessa raised her hand. “Were you trying to emphasize the importance of physical skills while casting? We sure did a lot of running away.” She couldn’t entirely keep the bitterness out of her voice.
Awaken Online: Ember (Tarot #1) Page 16
