by Natalie Grey
The melee team began scattering, and Gracie realized a moment later that Kevin must be telling them individually to leave. She caught his wave and headed out with a nod, hearing Harry’s shriek of anger.
He had the strike ready to go now, which put them in a strange position. The moment anyone came in close, he’d kill them.
Gracie knew what had to happen, but it was a risky game. They only got so many chances.
“Everyone, get your strongest strike ready,” she said quietly. “Dathok, you’re going to try to get his attention, and Lakhesis is going to sneak in behind. She’ll stun if she can, and you get off the strongest strike you can. Lakhesis, you try to get out. He might kill both of you, though. Everyone else, as soon as he’s loosed the AoE, get in and burn him as much as you can.”
Dathok ran in, Jay accompanying him until they were close to Harry. Both of them dodged in and then circled out, staying in front of him so that if he swiveled, he might not see Lakhesis.
When her stun went off, Jay peeled off, and Dathok and Lakhesis darted into range for their strongest strikes. They were burning Harry down as quickly as they could, and Lakhesis scattered out of range again before Harry could recover and use his own stun.
Dathok wasn’t so lucky. As the sacrificial lamb, his health bar plunged to zero a moment later, and there was a heavy sigh down the line.
“Good man,” Gracie said. “Everyone else, avenge the fallen.”
There was a roar of agreement, and ice and fire came rushing past Gracie. The remaining melee team charged, and Harry staggered sideways, trying to get off spells as stun after stun stopped him.
“Stuns are done in two seconds,” Lakhesis warned, and Gracie waited for the others to run as she wound up her own shield bash.
Just one more second…one more…
She swung her arm to send the shield flying at Harry’s face, and he staggered back with a yell. With the shield out of her hands and circling around, Gracie gave a two-handed slash with her sword, then returned it to her left hand, and grabbed her shield in her right as she ran out of range.
This time, they needed to use more than one distraction to get inside Harry’s range. Kevin’s amarok ran forward with Chowder, while Lakhesis snuck up behind, and when Harry turned on Lakhesis with a roar, Gracie charged at his now-turned back to stun him.
A few moments of furious strikes and they ran, Lakhesis sending a parting stun so the mages could dart into range for a few fireballs.
Harry was at a quarter health, and hardly able to get a single one of his spells off. He should be dead, Gracie thought—but Dragon Soul had done their work well with this patch. Harry was hanging on, stronger than he would normally be.
If this was how they wanted to play, she’d do it.
They just didn’t have much time. She could practically feel their attention turning towards the servers, the Dragon Soul founders running for that room—
“Give it everything you’ve got!” she called. “Jay—” It has to be you.
He looked across the group to give her a nod. Gracie couldn’t die in this fight, so he would do it without question. He charged, and when Harry waited, sure Jay would dart out of range again, Jay just kept running.
Harry had swiveled, sure this was part of a group effort, so Jay got in three heavy strikes before Harry was able to stun and kill him. Jay’s health bar plunged, and his character sprawled to the ground.
Gracie yelled in fury. It wasn’t real, she knew, but she had felt her heart twist when Jay’s character fell. He was lying near Dathok’s body and Teef’s, and Harry was trying to tear the whole team down so Gracie would be alone.
Like he was.
“Everyone!” she shouted. She didn’t need to, because they were already in motion. Alex had switched from ice to fire, taking advantage of the higher damage, and the other team members followed suit. It was risky—they had this chance, and no more—but they knew that the longer they delayed, the higher the chance the servers would go down.
Harry screamed his anger. “You’re a coward!”
“And you’re an asshole.” Gracie used Jay’s words. “You know,” she called to him, as she threw her shield away and launched into the fight with two-handed strikes, “I felt sorry for you. I wondered if you were right. But all you wanted was to control people—and the story you wrote here, what happened to Yesuan? It’s what would happen to you, too.”
Harry snarled his fury at her. “You don’t have the first idea what it means to rule.”
“No, I don’t,” Gracie agreed. The others had stepped back to let her finish this herself, and she shook her head. “Don’t give him any chances, guys! I don’t care who gets the killing strike.”
They began burning him down. Five percent, four, three—
“You’re right,” Gracie told Harry. “I don’t know what it means to rule, but I know what it means to lead.”
Whoever fired the killing shot, Harry staggered and dropped to the ground.
“And that’s better,” Gracie said. “Because it means I’m here with my team. I have people who back me up, and we go farther than you ever would have on your own. If you only want to rule—”
The world went black, the servers down at last.
Too late, Gracie thought with satisfaction.
“If you only want to rule,” she finished, taking off her helmet in the stillness of her living room, “you’ve stopped viewing humans as people—and that means you’re not fit to lead them.”
Dan stared at the servers, his heart pounding. The message had come in on his phone and he had run—sprinted—for the server rooms, fury and disbelief coursing through him.
Had he made it in time? Had he—
His phone buzzed.
Game mode activated, the message title read. He opened the email with shaking fingers. It took two tries, and when he saw the email, his shoulders slumped.
The Forgotten King Returns.
To his surprise, what was bubbling up in his chest was laughter. Harry had planned this meticulously, to the point of a taunting email when the quest was finished. Only, it wasn’t Harry who’d won. Dan hadn’t been watching, but deep down, he knew Harry had been outflanked.
“Not the Forgotten King returning,” he said out loud. “The new queen rising.”
The door opened, and Thad practically fell into the practice room.
“Hello,” Jamie said equably.
“What. The hell?” Thad said through gritted teeth.
“Funny thing,” Jamie said, his tone bland. “The more you see of her, the better you understand why she wins.”
“She won because you helped her!” Thad yelled back.
“Yeah,” Jamie said. “So ask yourself why I didn’t help you instead?” He slipped past Thad and tossed a glance over his shoulder. “I’ll clean out my room and be gone by this afternoon. And you can all go back to doing all the backstabby bullshit you didn’t grow out of in the fourth grade.”
Gracie’s phone was buzzing, vibrating against her arm as she wrapped her arms around Alex and hugged him tightly.
“You should get that,” he said.
“Nah, it’s just Harry.”
“Okay, but counterpoint: you’re crushing my ribs. Good Lord, woman, you’re a menace when you work out.”
Gracie let go of him with a laugh and looked at her phone. Harry’s number. She gave a sigh and a shrug. “I’m not answering that,” she said.
“You know what you should do,” Alex said, “since the servers are down?”
“What?” Gracie went to the fridge and grabbed two beers. She peered around the doorway of the kitchen as she popped the caps and brought Alex a bottle.
“You should talk to Jay,” Alex said, taking a sip.
Gracie choked on her beer. “I, uh…maybe.”
“Maybe? Now, where’s the Gracie who took matters into her own hands and gave Sydney my number? Could it be that she’s perfectly happy to push other people into relationships, but she’s
… Oh, what’s the term I’m looking for?”
“Stop it!” Gracie shoved him, laughing.
“A total coward,” Alex said. “Harry was right, you know. He just had the context wrong.”
“Asshole.” Gracie was laughing, though.
“No,” Alex said. “No, this is the asshole move: you call Jay and get things moving or I’ll drop a bomb, just like you did with Sydney.”
“No.” Gracie gave him a pleading look. “No. You wouldn’t.”
Alex leaned forward until his nose was an inch from hers. “Try me!”
“Oh, shit. I know that expression.” Gracie tipped her head back and drank as much of the beer as she could in one sip. “Oh, maybe that was a bad choice. Now I’m going to be tipsy. Crap.”
“Best get it out of the way before the alcohol hits, then,” Alex said blandly.
“Fuck you. Okay, fine. But go to your room, I don’t want you listening.” Gracie put the beer down, smoothed her suddenly sweaty palms on her pants, and opened her laptop. Her stomach flip-flopped when she saw that Jay was online, and she pressed the video call button with shaking fingers.
One battle at a time. And it was time for this one.
Author Notes - Natalie Grey
April 12, 2019
Thank you for reading the Metamorphosis Online series! As someone who has found solace, courage, and inspiration in video games, this series is near and dear to my heart. Playing and writing video games has been a transformative experience in storytelling for me, and I count myself very lucky to have these stories as part of my life.
One of the things I love about working with Michael is that he pushes me to step beyond myself and trust my instincts. From his first concepts of Gracie and the world, I felt both very inspired…and somewhat as if I’d been thrown in the deep end of a pool. Working together to bring the world to life has been incredibly fun, a challenge every day to bring my A game to match Michael’s. I am so lucky to be able to work with him.
I want to thank the whole team at LMBPN—the incredible editorial staff, Jay (who designed these amazing covers), Steve, and all of the people behind the scenes who I haven’t met, but have helped bring my books into the world. I also want to thank the team at Abyssal Arts for giving me my first opportunity to write a video game, the readers whose appreciation pushed me to find new and better stories (as well as new and better ways of telling them), and B and L, who inspire me to be my best self every day, in everything I do.
I can’t wait to bring you more of this world, and new worlds!
Sincerely,
Nat
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
April 9, 2019
THANK YOU for not only reading this story but these Author Notes as well.
(I think I’ve been good with always opening with “thank you.” If not, I need to edit the other Author Notes!)
RANDOM (sometimes) THOUGHTS?
Right now, I’m working out the blurb for this book, and this story has me a bit melancholy.
Why? I’m glad you asked.
Many of LMBPN’s stories (like one series about a Witch, the FBI, and friends in school) are pretty straightforward. The challenges and prospects might concern relationships, but they are often just a handful in quantity.
In this series, the concepts in question (I am guessing) have been a concern for MMORPG creators for years.
If a human does something with no consequences, will that change them? If they are allowed to live out being an ugly asshole, will they act this way in real life?
OR
What if they live out being courageous in the game? Will that change them in real life? Will they grow a backbone and stand up for their rights?
I think the answer to both of these questions is the same. If something about the game changes a person, it would change some people in good ways, and some people in bad ways.
However, there is nothing to say that bad people won’t find another conduit to encourage them to do bad things. If we want to limit the societal impact, you would need to shut down the Internet, cut off television, and limit books.
Even then you would have some go nuts.
So, instead of dreaming up reasons that MMORPG games can hurt people, how about figuring out if the risk is any greater than the other forms of input which feeds a person’s thoughts.
I’m against randomly shutting stuff down, but I’m a realist as well. With the latest news coming out that a man planned to become a copycat terrorist and rent a moving truck and run over people, it proves that delivering examples will affect people.
So what? How about we hold people to account for their actions, and realize that the decisions we choose now will affect the world in a hundred years?
What will be our population at that time? Assuming we don’t have a post-apocalyptic event, it’s going to be a metric buttload.
We have the technology to feed everyone; we just need to do it. We have the nascent abilities to create housing with 3D printers. Start paying to implement it.
Hell, I’m curious what it would take to build a few houses. Let’s start it in countries where a good-enough home is a hundred times better than the home they have now. I’ve been blessed to travel the world, and I’m very aware of the homes some live in now.
I live in the United States of America, and I am very aware of the quality of some homes. In a couple of words, THEY SUCK.
There are a ton of reasons that providing homes here in the USA is stupidly expensive, and they start with regulations / codes / laws about building houses.
However, before someone points out the regulations are the reasons for it being expensive to build, I’d like to ask just WHO the jack-wipes were who did such piss-poor jobs of building homes that we needed a big book of rules in the first place?
Unfortunately, we have self-centered people so focused on themselves that they are incapable of considering the benefits to others over themselves. It isn’t until someone ‘makes’ them do the right thing (which they bitch about) that they perhaps realize it was their effort to screw someone that put the law in place.
And they will only care because now there are rules / laws / certifications which they must abide by, and it makes their days more difficult.
In other countries, the regulations can be ignored by greasing some palms. This only works if the building doesn’t fall down. When that happens, the government looks for the culprits, and sometimes, lines them up in front of a firing squad.
I would love to have a chance to use a virtual world and try out our new technology (food, housing, etc.)
I bet you with ten million freaking gamers and the right game, we would fix the world’s fucking problems inside ten years.
Give enough young people a few stats, a sword, and a way to level up by feeding people, and get the hell out of the way.
I might be a realist, but I’m ALL the way an optimist.
Now, go play something and SMITE THE SHIT OUT OF IT!
(Editor’s note: And THIS is why we love ya!)
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
One of the interesting (at least to me) aspects of my life is the ability to work from anywhere and at any time. In the future, I hope to re-read my own Author Notes and remember my life as a diary entry.
Inside a metal tube flying over the Sea of Cortez heading to San José del Cabo
Not much to say. I’ve been reading this book, working on the Author Notes, and heading towards the blurb. The mountainous region of Baja California shows me we have plenty of land. We just need to figure out how to engineer and use it.
I’m heading to rest for a week (I hope) and take it easy. I plan on reading five to ten books and have a stupidly glorious grin on my face when I fly back to LAX.
Peace, fellow readers. I’m outta here…
;-)
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HOW TO MARKET FOR BOOKS YOU LOVE
Review them so others have your thoughts, and tell friends and the dogs of your enemies (because who wants to talk to enemies?)… Enough said ;-)
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael Anderle
Reign With Axe And Shield
Metamorphosis Online Book Three
Chapter One
The computer rang and rang, and Gracie jiggled her leg impatiently. Maybe she should hang up. After all, if she didn’t hang up—
The call connected with a bloop that sent her stomach flip-flopping out of her torso and into some interdimensional abyss. Somewhat unfairly, since her stomach seemed to be entirely gone from this plane of existence, she was also completely sure that she was going to throw up.
That wasn’t going to be a great way to start this conversation.
Jay appeared, smiling. “There’s the champion,” he said.
Gracie had forgotten literally every word she knew.
“Gracie?” Jay leaned forward, frowning at his screen. “I think you froze.” She could see a beer in his hand. “I was toasting you. I figured I should have champagne, but beer’s what I’ve got. Aaaaand I don’t know if you’re even hearing this—”
Gracie finally managed to make a noise come out. Unfortunately, it was halfway between a braying donkey and a quack, and she choked and started coughing.
“Gracie?” Jay had been inspecting the connection interface, but now his eyes jerked up to the screen. “Are you okay?”
