Awaken Online (Book 3): Evolution

by Bagwell, Travis

  “What does this thing need with two eyes anyway?” Jason muttered to himself. He could have sworn he heard Alfred let out a short huff of amusement, but the cat appeared to be sleeping beside Eliza when Jason glanced at him.

  He realized immediately that his new creature wasn’t going to have a mouth. He didn’t have the time or patience to deal with creating one. Instead, Jason began gathering tendrils of dark mana, rolling them between his fingers until they formed a tiny ball. He then gingerly inserted the dark mana into the eye socket.

  The final prototype was awkward looking but effective. It vaguely resembled a spider – with only four legs to conserve materials. A few tests proved that the eye worked okay. The creature had no peripheral vision, and its depth perception was lackluster, but at least it could make its way around the room without bumping into anything. The creature wouldn’t be able to attack or defend itself or communicate any information, but it would serve its limited purpose.

  With the design complete, the crafting terminal prompted him to name the creature. “Drone,” Jason said aloud, the word auto-filling as the spell saved his latest design. Finally finished, Jason sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He pressed the completion button on the terminal, and the spell abruptly ended.

  “What is that thing?” Riley asked, staring at the tiny creature in the middle of the room.

  Jason stumbled slightly as the time compression effects of the spell receded, pain pounding behind his eyes as a result of the extended use of the spell. “I’m calling it a Drone,” he explained. “I should be able to make a bunch of these guys with this many materials.”

  He experimented with ordering the creature to move about the room. Its movements were a bit awkward with its gangly legs, but it could move quite quickly when it tried.

  “That thing is super ugly,” Frank commented, still sitting on the floor with his back to a wall. “Your previous creations were a little more… scary, I guess?”

  “Well, it doesn’t need to be pretty to get the job done,” Jason replied. “I need to make a few more of these little guys, and then we are going to solve this damn puzzle.”

  He didn’t know about the others, but Jason couldn’t wait to see the look on the Hippie’s face when they finally found the exit. He could only imagine the irritating man was laughing it up right now watching them wander around aimlessly. The infuriating god had it coming to him, and Jason planned to show him what it meant to mess with .

  Chapter 20 - Devious

  “What exactly did you want to discuss?” Gracien demanded, slamming his mug down on the ornate wooden conference table, amber beer sloshing against the rim. The fire guild master and Alexion were sitting in one of the many studies within the Crystal Keep, sunlight streaming through holes carved into the crystalline walls.

  “You know that fast travel between the cities is quite costly,” Gracien continued. “I had to pay a king’s ransom to one of those irritating air mages to help transport me here again.”

  “I appreciate your time and expense in meeting with me,” Alexion replied graciously. “I am certain we can arrange for the payment for the air mage’s trouble.”

  Alexion nodded at Caerus who stood nearby, and the man excused himself to address the issue personally. The noble would likely return in a few minutes and listen in on their conversation from the secret compartment adjacent to the study. Alexion anticipated that Gracien would be more open with information if they spoke privately.

  “To answer your question, I primarily wanted to check in with you,” Alexion said, watching the burly fire mage closely. “Has Vaerwald’s Council changed its tune after our little… demonstration?”

  Gracien snorted in irritation. “They beefed up the fire mage patrols around the city, and there is now a permanent guard stationed in the field below the discs. Other than that – nothing. The fools are too scared of this ‘Jason’s’ growing strength to do much more than shake their fists at him from the safety of the city.”

  He slammed the table again with his open palm. “The time to strike is now, while the whelp is just getting his legs under him. Our spies believe that he has found a way to increase his undead population. If we wait, we may be facing a legion of the dead!”

  “Hmm. That is unfortunate,” Alexion said, leaning forward slightly. This was the first he had heard that Jason was able to increase his population. He would have to investigate that himself. “And the Council continues to ignore your warnings?”

  “They believe that I fear for the worst. They insist there is no proof that Jason authorized the attack on Vaerwald. As evidence, they point to the rising number of undead deserters near the Twilight Throne and the blossoming slave trade. Can you believe this idiocy? As though a group of disgruntled rebels would be clever enough to launch a concerted attack on the tube system.”

  “With the nominal casualties, I can appreciate why they might see it that way,” Alexion offered in a placating tone. “Primarily travelers died in the attack, and it is difficult to muster much sympathy for people who simply return to life after an hour.” Gracien just shook his head in frustration at this comment, taking another long pull on his mug and wiping the foam from his beard.

  “I wish there was something I could do to better repay you for your assistance with the undead slaves and forming the Confessors. Perhaps…” Alexion began and then stopped. “No, it’s too risky.”

  “What? Just say what is on your mind,” the fire guild master demanded. “I will be the judge of whether it holds weight.”

  “I was going to say that our original plan may have lacked ambition. Perhaps we need to demonstrate substantial casualties in order to convince the Council of the very real threat that looms at their border. Of course, I understand that you wouldn’t want to harm your own people. If only there were a group that was more expendable…”

  Instead of anger or outrage, a thoughtful look flitted across Gracien’s face. “The low-born,” he murmured, his eyes flashing red for a brief moment as he inadvertently channeled his mana. “Only beggars and thieves occupy the lower levels of Vaerwald. I wouldn’t mind seeing that filth purged from our city. They even assisted that girl in her attack on the Great Library.”

  Alexion managed to take the man’s revelation in stride, yet the voice in the back of his mind screamed at him to keep going. “Hmm. That does sound interesting,” he murmured. “Tell me more about these low-born. How many people are we talking about exactly?”

  ***

  A massive throng of skeletal spiders teemed and toiled about the room, their bony legs tapping incessantly against the stone floor. Jason had crafted as many of the Drones as he could and then set to work carefully creating a detailed list of instructions. He had given up on issuing simple verbal or mental commands and had brought up his in-game terminal, writing down the list of instructions in descending order.

  His most significant challenge was how to deal with choosing an alternate path if the Drones reached an already-discovered room. Some testing had proven that the creatures couldn’t tell each other apart and there wasn’t a simple way to identify each room – especially since he didn’t know how large the first floor of the temple was or its layout.

  It took him longer than he cared to admit to come up with a solution. He ultimately had to assign each minion a unique number. As the swarm entered a new room, a Drone was assigned to that room, and the remaining group logged which exit door was chosen. Upon reentering the room a second or third time, the swarm could then identify the room by the minion stationed there and choose an alternate path.

  “Okay, I think I’m done,” Jason murmured after scanning through his instructions one last time. He rubbed a hand at his eyes. It felt like he had been staring at the in-game terminal for a long time, and, at this point, the lengthy list of commands more closely resembled strings of code than a set of simple orders.

  “Finally!” Frank exclaimed, rising quickly to his feet. He offered Eliza a hand up, the water
mage looking at it skeptically before accepting his help.

  “Now let’s see if this actually works,” Riley added, nudging Jason with her elbow playfully as she joined them. “I’m half expecting his Drones to spin in a circle and then start dancing.”

  “Have a little faith,” Jason muttered in reply.

  He ordered his minions to take up a position near one of the exit doors. The Drones skittered along the floor and crawled on top of each other in a miniature wave of clacking bones. As they reached the door, Jason hesitated to give the final order to his minions. He really hoped this would work. He didn’t have a good “Plan B” if this failed, and they had already spent a considerable amount of time trying to solve this silly puzzle. He could feel the clock ticking.

  Don’t be a wimp, he urged himself.

  With a soft sigh, Jason executed his instructions.

  The Drones immediately swarmed the door. One of the skeletal spiders crept up the frame, its bony legs carving small grooves into the wood. As it reached the handle, the creature slammed down with two of its legs, and the portal drifted open slowly. The wood creaked and groaned in protest. The rest of the brood promptly poured through the crack and into the adjacent hallway.

  A moment later, the door slammed shut and disappeared. Jason assumed his minions must have made it into the adjoining room. Two new doors appeared along the walls of the room they were standing in, but Jason didn’t spare this much attention.

  His gaze was riveted on the projection of his map that hovered in the center of the room. He still couldn’t make out the layout of the floor amid the swirling black vortex, however he could track the throng of green dots that were swiftly spreading through the floor. As the horde made it to a new room, one spider would maneuver to the center of the area while the remaining Drones moved on to the next door.

  Minutes ticked by as the swarm navigated the maze of rooms, slowly dispersing and spreading out along the floor. After nearly thirty minutes, the remaining group of Drones stopped in the center of the last room – or at least what Jason was hoping was the last room. The creatures must have exhausted all possible paths through the maze.

  “It looks like there are two Drones left,” Frank observed, eyeing the map carefully.

  “It feels kind of anti-climactic that this floor of the temple is a perfect square, but I suppose it’s also sort of fitting after meeting the Hippie,” Riley added in a dry voice. Jason could indeed see that the floor was broken up into a seven by seven grid of rooms based on the locations of his Drones.

  “What’s the next step?” Frank asked.

  Jason rubbed at his chin with one hand as he examined the map. “I doubt the exit up to the second level of the temple will be in an interior room,” he began slowly. “They are all the same size and are too small to include a staircase, which means that the exit is likely located somewhere along the perimeter of the floor. Assuming I’m right, if we search the rooms along the edge, we should find the exit eventually.”

  “I have to say that you all are absolutely no fun.” The Hippie’s voice echoed through the small room as he suddenly appeared beside Jason. He stooped over as he examined the map, circling it with an irritated look on his face. Jason and the group jumped slightly in surprise.

  “It sort of feels like you cheated,” the god muttered in a morose tone.

  Eliza snorted softly, unaffected by the Hippie’s sudden appearance. “You’re one to talk. I bet you had us going in circles before. Do you honestly expect us to believe that doors have been appearing at random?”

  The young man put a hand to his chest, staring at Eliza in mock offense. “I will have you know that my character is above reproach. Just ask Fluffy. We have played tons of board games, and he has never once caught me cheating.”

  The sheep rolled its eyes at this remark before trotting over to Eliza and demanding its usual head rub. “He might not have caught you, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t cheating,” Eliza said, glaring at the god. “I guess you’re just going to have to accept that we solved your puzzle.”

  A flash of annoyance flitted across the Hippie’s face before he could control his expression. Then a carefree grin curled his lips. “Touché. But I will remind you that this is only the first level of the temple. You still have two more levels to go, and the temple’s defenses are still active. I’ll just have to make the next encounter more challenging!”

  “Fantastic,” Frank muttered.

  “In the meantime, I guess we can just cut to the chase,” the Hippie continued, ignoring Frank’s comment.

  With a wave of the god’s hand, the doors around the room shimmered and disappeared, a massive set of oak doors appearing along one wall. A pair of heavy, iron handles rested against the wooden surface of the doors, and they towered ominously over the group.

  Jason noticed that his minions had disappeared from his map. Before he had a chance to question this, the horde reappeared back inside the room, landing in a haphazard pile to the sound of scraping bone. A brief inspection revealed that the Hippie had returned Jason’s minions with little damage. Although he still didn’t feel like thanking the irritating god.

  “Where does this lead?” Jason asked, gesturing to the new doorway. He was skeptical that he would find a simple set of stairs on the other side. The Hippie seemed to be enjoying their painful journey through his temple.

  “To the second floor, of course!” the Hippie replied, spreading his arms wide and his tattered tunic flapping gently.

  “Really?” Eliza demanded, pointing a finger at him. “You mean to tell us that there isn’t some sort of trap or creature on the other side waiting for us? We’re not suddenly going to find ourselves back in the grotto, are we? Perhaps with the Tentacle Horror lying in wait?”

  The Hippie frowned slightly at the water mage, tapping his lips as though trying to remember something. “Well, now that you mention it, I do seem to recall there being some sort of guardian on this level. It has just been so long now that I can’t seem to remember who I left to guard this floor…” he trailed off and began pacing the room as he muttered to himself.

  After only a few seconds, the god stopped in mid-step, turning to look at Fluffy. “Ahh, yes! Fluffy chose the guardian. Do you remember who we left here?”

  The sheep huffed slightly in response, shaking its head and causing the small bell affixed to its collar to jingle gently.

  “Of course!” the Hippie exclaimed, slapping a palm to his forehead. “It was Felix.”

  “Who is Felix?” Riley asked in a tired voice.

  “You all will love him. He used to be such an invaluable helper around the temple. He never seemed to get tired of collecting Fluffy’s tribute and storing it. The process could get quite tiresome on our own.”

  “That really doesn’t help,” Riley began.

  “Oh, speaking of which, just look at the time,” the Hippie interrupted her, glancing at his wrist. Jason wasn’t exactly surprised to see that the god wasn’t wearing a watch. “I have a number of errands to attend to, and I really should leave you all to it. Make sure to tell Felix I said hello!”

  With that, the god and his pet sheep abruptly vanished.

  “I really hate that guy,” Frank said.

  “Try putting up with him for a few weeks,” Eliza replied, adjusting her glasses with a finger. “It’s even worse when no one else can see or hear him, and you have to pretend he doesn’t exist. I can tell you from personal experience that he never shuts up.”

  “What do you want to do?” Riley asked Jason, pulling her bow from her back. “It sounds like there is some sort of boss on this floor – not that the Hippie provided much detail.”

  Jason chewed on his lip for a moment in thought, his gaze shifting back to his minions. Right now, he had about a dozen regular humanoid skeletons and approximately fifty of the Drones. The smaller skeletons wouldn’t be much use in a fight – at least in their current state – and he would have to lean heavily on his teammates. He also
wasn’t certain how to modify his minions since he didn’t know what they would be facing.

  Jason finally replied, “We may have to play this one by ear. We can have Frank try to tank the boss with Riley providing support. Eliza should focus on inspecting the creature to identify any weaknesses and then support Frank so that Riley can focus on taking down whatever we will end up fighting.”

  Eliza nodded before rummaging through her pack. She pulled out two small vials: one purple and one blue. “Here, take these,” she said, handing the potions to Frank.

  “What are they?” Frank asked suspiciously, pulling one of the stoppers and sniffing the contents experimentally. His nose wrinkled in distaste at the smell and faint tendrils of smoke wafted from the bottle.

  “The blue one will increase your strength, and the purple one will increase your total health,” Eliza explained. “They will only last for a few minutes, and they shouldn’t affect your blood toxicity level too much. Although, you might experience some dizziness and feel more prone to anger than normal.”

  “Cool, thanks,” Frank said, smiling at the girl before downing the potions quickly. “It’s kind of nice traveling with our own vending machine,” he added with a chuckle.

  “I try,” Eliza replied, matching Frank’s smile.

  Jason couldn’t help but notice that the water mage was becoming a bit more assertive – first in her confrontations with the Hippie and now with Frank. Maybe she was becoming more comfortable with the group.

  Shaking his head, Jason forced himself to focus on the task at hand. “Let’s put Frank in front. My skeletons will take up position behind him, and Riley and Eliza can stand beside me in the rear.”

  His teammates promptly moved into formation. Jason ordered his Drones to stay behind him. He wasn’t certain how he would be able to use the creatures during this battle, but he planned to keep them out of harm’s way for now.