by Natalie Grey
Gracie pulled on the VR harness and logged in without saying a word.
“Uh, Gracie?” Alex’s voice disappeared as she settled the headset. He’d been covering his mouthpiece, but now he spoke in-game. “What’s going on?”
“Everyone here?” Gracie hated the way her voice sounded. She saw the whole team online and already in a party with Alex. “Let’s run Blackbeard’s Gauntlet.”
“Whoa, hey.” Kevin was laughing. “We are not the right level for that.”
“I will pay everyone’s repair costs,” Gracie said through gritted teeth. “Right now I need a fucking win, and I need to not think about anything but this game. So, you all coming?”
There was a pause.
“Yeah,” Jay said finally. “I’m in. Everyone?”
“Yeah,” Alan agreed.
“I’m there,” Kevin added.
“Of course,” Alex said quietly. In the real world, his hand brushed her arm blindly, and she reached over to squeeze it for a moment.
“Good,” Gracie managed. “Well, let’s find some more party members and head in.”
Chapter Sixteen
Harsh breathing echoed in Gracie’s ears. Her own, certainly, but the coughs and the varying pitches of the mutters let her know she was not alone in being exhausted.
The entrance to Blackbeard’s Gauntlet was an unassuming path into the jungle, winding from a black-sand beach toward a live volcano at the center of an island. Dropped onto the island by one of the game’s portals, their small group had basked in the sound of birdsong and watched the light slanting down through the trees.
Gracie appreciated the attention to detail. Metamorphosis Online had a free pass to be a bit buggy or cut corners. It was the first MMO of its kind, and the game was massive. People would have forgiven them for making the environments tightly controlled and linear. However, the game’s developers clearly embraced its role as a virtual reality. There were often pauses like this to help the players sink into the world.
Then again, she reflected as there was the twang of bowstrings and a battle cry and Kevin gave a shout of alarm, maybe all of this was just to lull them into a false sense of security.
Sneaky bastards.
Gracie swung into action against foes with painted faces, camouflaged in the jungle and coming in waves that propelled the group forward, ever forward. They ran along the path with shouts to one another, Alan and Gracie alternately shouting orders for who needed to get healed or take point on a fight until they came to the warren of caves below the volcano.
The true genius of the game designers, Gracie thought, was that they could convey so much without certain key elements. In the jungle, with the rustle and lap of the water, she could almost have said she smelled the greenery.
Here in the caves, creaks and groans let them know how fragile the walls that stood between them and the lava were, and the shimmers in the air and sweat beading on their faces almost made Gracie feel the stifling heat.
Then again, after that run through the jungle, she really was dripping with sweat.
“Not much farther,” she told the group as they edged along the passageways.
There was a chorus of agreement. The tunnels seemed to be getting smaller, until the hulking pair of Ocru they’d picked up—confusingly named Freon and Chowder—complained that they were having to crouch to get through. Gracie could see that she was going to have the same problem soon, which meant Jay would, too.
At least Kevin would be able to get through, she thought with amusement.
“Is it possible we came the wrong way?” asked the human woman who rounded out their group, a warrior named Lakhesis.
“I don’t think so,” said Chowder. “I didn’t see any turnoffs. I think they’re just trying to put us off-guard, you know?”
“Yeah, fuck that,” Gracie muttered. On another night she might find it funny, but tonight, she was uncomfortably reminded of that date.
It had all been a set-up; she could see that now. Kyle hadn’t really thought she would know about the wild-mushroom crostini. He’d taken her somewhere he could throw his wealth in her face to make her feel small.
In fact, she was pretty sure that if she looked online, she’d find a play-by-play spelled out on some blog somewhere.
She really wished she had something to punch right about now.
Maybe Kyle’s face. Maybe you could pay an extra fee each month and get to punch whoever you wanted to. Bad Gracie, creating a cyberpunk dystopia. Her lips quirked as she peeked around a corner…
And gasped. She whipped back around and motioned the others to be still, holding one finger to her lips. When she motioned them forward again, all of them crept very slowly and very carefully.
“Hoooooly…” Jay muttered. “Goddamn, I forget how incredible this all is sometimes.”
Gracie gave him a curious look, but he said nothing more. The two Ocru were taking screenshots of each other emoting in front of the view, and Kevin had edged over to the abyss to look down.
If there was a perfect marriage of pirate ship with evil villain lava lair, this would be it. Lava ran around the edges of the room in shining streams spanned by rough stone bridges, while dozens of flags hung from the ceiling. At first, Gracie thought they must be denoting the ships in Blackbeard’s fleet, but then she recognized the flag of the Aosi and realized with a chill that these must be trophies.
It shouldn’t feel real, but it was so immersive that for a moment she thought she could smell the salt spray and gunpowder and hear the screams and the splintering of wood as the cannons roared and belched flame.
She cleared her throat hastily.
“What are you thinking?” Jay asked. He’d come to stand next to her, the hulking barbarian’s frame covered in soot and sweat.
“Two things,” Gracie said. “First, they made this game really realistic, and I kind of want to see if I can draw pictures on your chest, it’s so dirty. Second, if they could figure out how to package whatever heat-shielding technology they’re using to keep those bridges from melting, they could be rich.”
Jay gave a choking laugh. He craned his head to look down at his body as he dragged his fingers over his stomach.
“Nope.”
“Well, it took a while, but we’ve finally found the limits of the game’s immersion.”
“So you mean I can’t sneak up behind you and cut your hair?” Kevin joked.
“If you can reach it, Piskie, you can cut it.” Gracie gave the summoner a feral grin. “All right, let’s plan.” She went to crouch at the edge of the ledge that overlooked the cavern. “We’ve got some patrols, some guards… Wait.”
She squinted toward the end of the cavern. It was even set up like a ship, with the contents in a long rectangle down the center, benches even set out at the edges as if for rowing…what, the whole island? Gracie grinned.
But it was something about the guards flanking the throne that had caught her attention. The throne looked rough and was backed with a ship’s wheel that framed Blackbeard’s head like a spiky halo. A for effect, there, buddy, Gracie thought. He was lounging, one booted leg swinging over an arm of the chair, and the guards around him…
Were skeletons. Gracie jerked back when she realized. Her eyes darted to the patrols and the drudges—all skeletons, she now saw. Given the way their clothing hung from their bodies, she had thought they were prisoners, emaciated and starved into submission while Blackbeard’s crews were away.
Now she saw that they were pirates pressed into eternal servitude. Even death had not freed them. They wore the marks of their deaths on their tattered clothing, and their bones gleamed even through the soot down here.
There was a loud rumble, and the roof shifted.
Run, Gracie wanted to order. It’s not worth it. We don’t need to die here just because some maniac built a pirate-inspired pillow fort in a volcano.
But this was the beauty of Metamorphosis Online; you got to do things you’d never do otherwise. Gr
acie looked over her shoulder at the team and saw all of them looking up at the ceiling instinctively.
“I think it’s safe to say the game devs put a clock on this one,” she said simply. “All right, here’s the deal. Freon, I want you and Mirra standing together while we attack. If I yell, ‘Scatter!’ head in different directions, but try to meet up again after, all right?” Both of them nodded. “Same for Fys and Gary Swiftbolt. Freon’s also on backup healing,” Gracie said. “Cool? Cool. If shit hits the fan, I want one of you two to tell us to self-heal. That means all of us use potions, and summoners, keep track of your pets.”
Everyone nodded.
“Okay. That leaves me, Anders, Chowder, and Lakhesis on the front lines, along with Teef and—Fys, does your demon have a name? No? Okay, the demon, too. I want all of you on the opposite side of the boss from me unless there’s a breakaway. Anders, you’ll take point on that.” She’d fought with Jay enough to trust that he’d be aware of what was going on and keep the squishies from getting…well, squished. “Gary Swiftbolt, you’re Anders’ backup on that.”
“I love how you use my full name each time,” Alex said, grinning.
“You called yourself ‘Gary Swiftbolt,’” Gracie said. “I think it’s pretty necessary. Okay, all, ready for some trash pulls? We’ll try to creep up the near side and pull Blackbeard away. Gary Swiftbolt, your service is needed for the pulls.”
“You have my bow,” Alex intoned softly. “You know, maybe I could get a new nameplate for my desk at work. I think I’d really like to have clients call me—”
Without warning, the rough stone path down to the cavern floor collapsed, sweeping the group down toward the center of the room…and all of the mobs.
“Oh, shiiiiiit.” Chowder sounded more anticipatory than worried. “It’s gonna get real.”
“Fuck!” Alan, with a healer’s eye, saw only the fall damage waiting for all of them at the bottom. “Potions ready!”
“Wheeeeeeee!” Kevin, making full use of the Piskie voice filter, was clearly trying to get Fys to surf. Her demon was oozing along behind all of them as if manifestly untroubled by the avalanche in which they found themselves.
“KILL THE INTRUDERS!” Blackbeard yelled. There was a hiss of assent from the skeletons, and bones rattled and clanked.
The party slammed to the ground with a thud of haptics, and the world spun crazily as Gracie’s character rolled and came to her feet. She didn’t even think, unsheathing the sword as she rolled to her feet and gave a battle cry.
The skeletons had rushed her as soon as she got to the ground, and she heard the team calling to one another as they scrambled into position and she waded into the fray. The other three melee fighters would let her build up threat before coming into the fray, something Jay seemed to judge expertly.
Gracie heard his command and charged forward, all of the mobs swinging around to face her…and leaving their backs to the rest of the group. She hacked and slashed, every once in a while slamming her sword point-first into the ground for a shock blast.
“This would be—a terrible way—to treat a really nice weapon,” she panted as she fought.
“Yeah, don’t do that with your dick,” Alan advised sagely from the side of the room as he sent a major heal Gracie’s way. “I do NOT have a spell to un-bruise that.”
Groans and laughter filled the air as the next wave arrived. The group had developed a rhythm, Jay fighting with Alex’s panther and Kevin’s demon, Lakhesis and Chowder backing each other up, and Freon sending bolts of ice to slow various mobs who were trying to retreat and pull new enemies into the group.
“Mirra, how you doing over there?” Gracie called out.
“I should be good. I’m getting a fantastic boost from Freon, and my mana is refreshing at a good— Oh shit!”
“What?” Gracie spun, ducking under a wooden stave brandished by a hulking skeleton. “Mirra?”
Then she heard it. The battle cry echoed off the roof of the cavern and kept echoing. It came from everywhere and nowhere, and the group making it could be twenty or a hundred—or a thousand. The pirates had returned, and everything from the thud of their feet to the heft of their weapons proclaimed that they were going to be much tougher adversaries than the skeletons.
“They’re flanking you!” Kevin yelled. “Gracie, pick a side!”
Gracie looked left. She looked right. She looked at Blackbeard.
And a plan formed.
“Anders! Come with me!” The rest of you, round up these pirates and hold them—looking at you, Freon! Gary, Fys, keep your pets on anyone who tries to break away.” Before the two waves of pirates could close in from the sides, Gracie took off straight for Blackbeard. Behind her, she heard Jay give a whoop.
“Foolish girl,” Blackbeard boomed. His guards rattled to attention, helms wobbling on their bare skulls. “But the Aosi always did believe the myths. You know what you are, Aosi? You’re Ocru. Ocru warped by magic, telling themselves lies about their origins. You’re nothing special.”
Gracie didn’t waste breath replying. She slammed into the group at full speed, ramming her sword into the platform that held Blackbeard’s throne. The shock wave funneled the guards to her, and Jay, understanding her plan without her spelling it out, circled around to the back of the platform.
Gracie swung, dislodging a skeleton’s skull from its shoulders and disassembling its ribcage with the next stroke. She was breathing hard, just angling her sword to slash at the next one when her chest haptics went nuts. She saw the ceiling of the cavern and realized she’d been flung off the platform. She just had time to snatch at thin air before she came down on solid rock and her whole chest shuddered.
“Ohhhh, that had to hurt.” She got to her feet, her character moving more slowly than it should as she tried to run back to the platform before Blackbeard could get his hands on Jay. A shower of glowing particles around her let her know that Alan had sent her a huge heal.
“Watch that guy, Gracie!” Alex called. “Christ, he swiped you off that platform like you were nothing.”
“Yeah, if you could not have that happen again, your friendly neighborhood healer would appreciate it!” Alan added.
“Sorry, Mirra. You’re a champ. Totally sprung this whole thing on you. You’re doing great.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Does this guild have year-end bonuses?”
Gracie laughed as she reached the platform. Blackbeard had indeed turned his attention on Jay, who was dodging and weaving desperately to stay away from him. Gracie considered, then went up the stairs in a rush and leveled a major strike at Blackbeard’s back.
“What’s up, bastard?” She raised her weapon and brought it down as hard as she could. “What’d that do for your— Oh, shit, he’s a glass cannon!”
“On it!” Jay launched a flurry of his heavy cooldown strikes and Gracie did the same, dodging as Blackbeard yelled his fury and wound up for another punch to send her flying—
He fell unceremoniously, and the battle from behind them ceased almost at once. Gracie, panting, looked around to see that the room was still. The pirates were gone as if they’d vanished into thin air, only a few gold coins remaining to say they’d ever been there.
On the platform, a chest carved of bone was cracked open, with light shining from inside. Gracie instinctively looked at Alan, who readied a healing spell and nodded at her. If it was a trap, they were ready.
But it was armor; piece after piece of it, far too much to fit into that little chest.
“Baby’s first loot chest,” Alex said, coming over to sling a digital arm over Gracie’s shoulders. “Fys, I’m going to go out on the limb and say that toddler-sized number is yours.”
“You be careful, or I’ll stab you in the shins,” Kevin warned. “Gracie, that’s some incredible mail armor.”
“Isn’t it?” Gracie was running her hands over the mail, reveling in its shimmer. “It really moves. They made it move. And look at the gems.” Sapphires winked in the
dim light.
The ceiling groaned again.
“Everybody grab the loot and get out!” Gracie yelled, and they scrambled to obey. As the portal opened to take them back to Kithara, their last moments saw the cavern ceiling break open, with lava pouring into the space where they had just been.
“Ohshitohshitohshitohshit—” Alex was still saying as they materialized in the main square of Kithara. He broke off. “Ohhhh, that’s going to haunt my nightmares.”
Gracie was laughing. “Wimp. All right, everyone put on the good stuff; let’s see what we got. Nice, Lakhesis. Oh, Freon, that really accentuates your, uh…”
“Magnificent ugliness,” Freon said contentedly.
“Yeah, that,” Gracie agreed. “Jay?”
“Gotta go.” Jay’s voice was suddenly tight. “By the way, did everyone else get a new quest stage to complete?”
“Oh, yeah,” Alex said. “First Among Her Followers.”
“That’s the achievement we got when that one boss battle went sideways,” Kevin weighed in.
“We weren’t there for that,” Chowder pointed out, “and we all got it too.”
“Mmm.” Jay sounded very pleased. “Well, I’ll see you all tomorrow for that. Night, all. Hope you feel better, Gracie.” He was gone before she could formulate a response.
Then she noticed she had a new quest stage too, for Long May She Reign.
“Huh,” she muttered.
Jay took his headset off and nodded to Sam. “What’s up?”
Sam gave a meaningful look at the screen. “Playing during work hours?”
“The dialogue is how I found the last piece of the quest.” The lie came easily to Jay’s lips. “This time, everything seems to have gone as it normally would.” He didn’t mention the new quest, and he didn’t mention that he was intending to hold the next information he found hostage.
And it was just as well he didn’t, because Sam swallowed and looked down for a moment.
“Look, I… Well, I wanted you to hear this from me first. And I want you to know I argued against it, okay?”
