by Jesse Wilson
He spun around in the air and watched as he misjudged his leap and went too far. The worm struck the ground at about the same time he did on the opposite side. “Damn it,” he said. Getting up, he wasted no time in running back to the monster.
The one on the left turned in his direction and from its horrible mouth, red acid sprayed all over him. The acid bubbled on the Obsidian Armor and disappeared. Derek, in his fear of the general appearance of the things, forgot he was wearing it at all. He ignored the acid and kept on track. He ran at the rising worm and plunged his blade into the back of the thing’s head.
It howled and tensed up, but its green life bar disappeared, along with the body, shattering into a million pixels before disappearing. All of a sudden Derek didn’t feel so afraid of the other one.
He turned just in time to see it charging in his direction. He tossed his sword to the left. It hit the ground and the worm charged in its direction immediately. “Just as dumb as you are blind,” he said. He held out his hand and the sword flew to his hand just before the worm slammed down on it only to get a mouth full of dirt.
He ran at the beast and it in turn came at him again. “Eat this, slimy,” he said and jumped forward. The blade pierced the horrid mouth and the point of the blade pierced the back of the monster’s head. Just like the last one, it exploded into a million pixels and disappeared.
He turned around just in time to watch her use her arms as weapons. They had extended into spears and had impaled the two beasts at the same time while vines from her back held her off the ground. They exploded at the same time and she came back to the ground. All of the plant life was retracting back into her. “See, not even a problem for us. They just look worse than they really are. Lots of players try to run and that’s how they get most of their victims,” she said. He could see that happening.
“Yeah, I would have run from them too if I didn’t know anything about the game,” he said and was honest. Those things were creeping him out and these were basic ones. He didn’t want to meet up with any more of them.
“Hey, it’s time for me to get back. All of this dark is messing with my regen stat. If you want to come visit me in the forest, here’s my location,” she said and opened up her map menu, pushed a few buttons, then his own map opened. ‘Receiving a location marker, will you accept?’ it read and he pressed yes. The menu disappeared.
“I hope to see you soon, just remember not to forget who you are if you decide to join a clan,” she said to him with a smile. Then she looked into the dark, waved her hand and a blue portal appeared. “May Alica watch over you,” she said and stepped into the portal and it closed behind her.
“I wonder who Alica is,” he said to himself, but now he was alone, in the outworld of the Starlight Pit and the sudden silence weighed down on him pretty hard. “Doesn’t matter, I’ll figure it out someday,” he decided and started to walk away.
He didn’t get very far when suddenly his message menu popped up. ‘Did you get done what you needed to get done?’ it read and Derek hit the reply button. A keyboard of white light appeared in front of him. ‘Yes, I got it done, where do you want to meet?’ Derek typed and hit send. He waited a little bit for a reply. Then he got one.
‘Bone Yard Office, I’ll send you the location,’ it read and Derek groaned in frustration: that was the last place he wanted to go. ‘Fine, I’ll be there in a second,’ he typed and pushed the reply button. A second later he got a request to add a location to his map. He accepted it. He opened his map and pushed the teleport button.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Derek appeared in the Bone Yard office and it was much nicer than he expected it to be. He didn’t have much time to look around, however when a hand gripped his throat immediately and thrust him into a wall, picking him up off the ground. “This is the one who stole my armor,” Draxis said with a growl. He was stronger and his grip was as if it were a vice. The black armor was even creaking under the strength of his grip.
“Yep, it is,” Lucy said and got up out of her chair. “I need you to put him down, though,” she said and Draxis’ burning black eyes widened. “What do you mean put him down? I thought we brought him here so we could kill him,” he said with anger, but complied, dropping him to the ground.
Derek shook his head and regained his balance in a hurry. “Yeah, we were but Malf thinks this one could be useful,” she replied and Draxis turned to face her. This was a tall vampire. Tallest one in the room and huge. Derek remembered the juggernaut in the ring. It wasn’t the armor at all. This guy was huge without it.
“Useful, how can this neophyte be useful to anyone?” he asked and she nodded in his direction. Derek sighed and brought up his main menu. He pressed the log out button and the red error message appeared just like before. “I took your armor during the server shutdown,” he said and Draxis’ demeanor changed at once.
“Wait you’re telling me this guy is glitched in the game?” he asked and wasn’t sure to be scared or impressed. “Yes, that’s what it means. I don’t know how long it’s going to last, why it happened or anything so don’t ask,” he replied.
“Malf wants him in the clan, someone who can travel freely in the world alone can be useful,” she said and Draxis shook his head.
“And dangerous, what if he just decides to betray us? There isn’t much we or anyone can do about it,” he said and had a valid point. Derek was about to talk but didn’t get to in time. “Malf has spoken. If you want to complain, you can go to him. Also, we’ve decided that as an added bonus, he can keep the armor,” she said. Draxis was dumbfounded at those words.
“Do you know how long it took me to save to get this? Six months. I put six months of game time into getting the money, and the trust of the freaking moon people to even make it for me. Now you’re just going to let this nobody have it?” he asked and many emotions were trying to force their way up to the surface at the same time.
“Nope, I don’t care. Also, you’re going to be his party member to keep him safe. Clan members can only party up with other clan members, those are the rules,” she said with a smile.“Are you kidding me. I need to tag along with this guy, look how big he is. He’ll just slow me down,” Derek said and laughed.
“I’m going to kill you,” Draxis replied and punched him so hard that it took him off his feet. Despite the armor that had proven itself to be invincible so far, that attack hurt him. Derek crumpled onto the floor and thought his bones had been broken. But the pain soon faded away.
“Alright, you got your punch in, now party up with him, we have a job for you two,” she said and Derek opened his menu and sent a party request to him.
Draxis glared at Derek and he was sure that if looks could kill, right now he’d be as good as dead. Draxis pushed yes on his request box and it indicated that they were now in a party. Draxis turned to her. “What is the job?” he asked and tried to hold his frustration back and not let it get the best of him.
“We need you two to go kill the Silver Knight, it respawned in the northern sector of the pit and it’s giving our newer players fits. It’s killed three hundred players this week,” she said and Draxis just sighed. Derek had no idea what this was but the Sliver Knight had to be some kind of boss character or something.
“Lowdown on this guy, he respawns a month after he’s killed, a tough monster as pit monsters tend to go,” Draxis explained everything, yet literally nothing at the same time. “I see,” Derek replied and didn’t know what to think.
“What are you two still standing here for, go take care of it,” she said to them both and Draxis opened up his teleportation menu, pushed a button and they were both gone. Derek was going to ask about the sheriff but didn’t get the chance.
They reappeared in a one room apartment. “This must be where you live,” Derek said and Draxis turned around and stared at him.
“This is my Pit house, this isn’t where I live. But if we are going up against the Silver Knight we will need some supplies,” he said
, trying not to kill him on the spot. “I see, so what makes this knight so special?” Derek asked and Draxis was annoyed. He walked to a shelf, picked up a book and threw it at him.
“Read up on it yourself, it’s just a boss the developers put in the game to challenge newer players, but sometimes it gets a little too tough for people to beat. The lore is in there. Read it,” he replied and walked to a cabinet and opened it. Derek opened the book, the thing he was most afraid of had finally found him.
‘The Silver Knight is a legend of the Starlight Pit. But like all legends the story begins like anyone else’s did. A nobody from a no named town. The true name is lost to the ages of time but the story of who he is lives on,’ Derek read and kept going.
‘The knight exceled with swords, and the art of violence. The Knight took part in, and was a great influence in many battles between the Green Kingdom and the Voltarians, it fought on the side of the Green Kingdom many times and threw back the undead forces of the Voltars countless times, yet they pressed on,’ Derek read and turned the page.
‘The Silver Knight’s despair grew into a black abyss. No matter what they did, the undead hordes would simply not stop. The knight begged the gods for help. Alica, the goddess of life, answered the plea and granted the knight a gift of immortality.’ Derek read and turned the page. He couldn’t help but notice there was very little information on each page.
‘Immortality was a great gift for the knight, too great. What was gained in life, was lost in madness. The Silver Knight no longer could tell friend from foe. It became the bane of the undead. The Green Kingdom and the Voltaria Kingdom have long since crumbled to dust to the point barely anything of either remains. The Silver Knight remains, completely insane, slayer of the undead, completely immortal.’
Derek read and as much as that told him, it told him nothing. Usually lore gave clues on how to beat the monster, or something useful. This was a fun history lesson into the past that didn’t exist, but it didn’t help him. He closed the book and was tempted to store it in his inventory, but he didn’t. He set the book on the shelf beside him.
“Not very helpful, is it?” Draxis said and laughed. “All the lore is like that in this game, I think. I used to read every book I could, but it was all so vague that I gave up. It’s better just to kill the monsters that show up and enjoy yourself,” he said and Derek was half disappointed, half happy. If it was all like this, then he had nothing to worry about. But he couldn’t help but feel as if there was something more to it. Something he was missing.
“Since you took my armor, I need to use my other stuff for the fight. The titanium armor should do for this,” he said and was coated in thick armor that made him look more like a walking, black tank. “All of my armor is black, you can customize the looks of your stuff after level ten,” he said, feeling Derek’s eyes on him. “Oh, okay,” Derek replied.
“Mr. Knight is usually located in the southern plains, he likes to wander around there. I suppose it’s supposed to indicate where the old kingdoms fought or were nearby. I don’t know,” Draxis said and appeared like he was ready to go. With those words, he and Derek disappeared. Derek was almost excited to face this enemy, at the same time he wondered if this was some kind of test. Of course it was a test, who was he kidding.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The two of them reappeared on a desolate plain that looked like everywhere else in this place. The only real difference here was that the ground was red, there were no mountains in the distance and the moon seemed a little brighter here. “I don’t see the knight anywhere,” Derek stated the obvious and looked around.
“We are vampires, undead. It won’t be long before he comes to us,” Draxis replied and his blade appeared in his hand. It was a long, black and curved scimitar that reflected the moonlight in his left hand, and in his right a large round shield that looked too heavy to be even useful.
Derek decided that if this was a boss, he’d bring out the best weapon he had and called on the siege gun. Draxis looked down. “Where in the hell did you get one of those?” he asked and started to walk forward. “I had an encounter with a guard tower,” Derek replied, and continued. “It didn’t like me,” he finished and started walking to follow Draxis as he walked.
“Whatever, so listen, this is going to be the plan. When we meet the thing, we’ll disband the party after you start a fight with it. That will bring the level down to eight, ten maybe.” Draxis shrugged and didn’t know how it all worked. “Then I’ll come in and finish it off easily, okay?” he asked and finished.
“Yeah, that sounds a whole lot like I get nothing and you get everything out of this deal. I’m not sure if I like this plan so much, you know?” Derek asked and Draxis shook his head.
“You must know by now the monsters, most of them, are always stronger than the people they face. If we do it together it’ll be level seventy or more. Do you want to face a level seventy monster? Obsidian Armor might be strong but it won’t last too long against a monster like that, one made to kill characters like us,” Draxis said and Derek thought about it. His plan made sense.
“Fine, okay. I guess it really doesn’t matter how we get it done after all,” Derek finally agreed.
The southern plains finally started to show signs of life. Other players could be seen in the distance. They weren’t fighting anything either but it appeared they were looking for something. “So, what is the story on this place?” Derek finally asked and Draxis felt as if he was nothing more than a glorified babysitter right now.
“There is a quest called Treasure Hunter. Apparently, there is a treasure somewhere out here left for people to find. Lots of the new players like to complete it. The rookies usually get a nice sword, a magic tome or some other little trinket to keep them hooked into the game. It can only be completed once and everyone gets something related to their class type, but it’s random,” Draxis replied, trying to answer as quickly as possible.
“Treasure, sounds fun. I’ll have to give it a whirl once we are finished with this mess here,” he replied, but he was doing his best to not let the conversation let down his guard. This wasn’t a normal game, monsters had no scripted events. It could show up any time.
“Yeah, sure, whatever kid,” Draxis said seconds before the sounds of battle got their attention. It was metal hitting metal. The two of them wondered why they couldn’t hear it before now because it sounded so close to them.
The two of them looked to their left and all of a sudden they could see the knight fighting with two other players. The Silver Knight looked exactly how Derek imagined it might. A being encased in silver armor that shined in the moonlight. It looked as if it had come from a different age and time. The armor was plated, appeared that it should have been impossible to move the way it was right now. Its design did little to hinder its grace. Derek started to rush and join in the fight when Draxis held him back. “This battle is over in a few minutes,” he said.
The two of them watched as the knight moved with amazing speed and put the long, thick sword through the back of the lady vampire. She disappeared in a white light. “Damn it,” the guy said and charged the enemy with as much speed as he could. The knight spun around, smashed him in the face with the large shield. The blow knocked the player off his feet and he hit the ground. In the same instant he buried that silver blade through the heart of the other vampire. He disappeared with a final scream.
“Do you see how fast it is now? Be careful, go challenge it. Then disband the party at once. Remember the plan,” he repeated himself and Derek steeled his nerves and walked forward. “You can count on me,” he said and walked forward towards the Silver Knight.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Derek walked towards the knight. “Hey, shiny. We need to talk,” he said and wasn’t quite sure what he was doing or where this sudden confidence came from. The Silver Knight stood straight up and turned in his direction.
“A parasite dares talk to me. A Voltarian nonetheless too,” it re
plied and surprisingly, the voice it responded with was a lot less guy sounding than he expected it to be. Derek immediately wondered just how many people ever talked to it.
Draxis called it a guy but, maybe that was just an assumption. Also, it was talking back. Was there another way to do this? Derek, being a rookie of the game thrust into so many weird situations had lots of questions. He knew artificial intelligence was a thing so just maybe this thing had something more to say. “The Voltarians are dead. Gone, maybe thousands of years by now. The vampires and undead of today are kept in check by lots of things. You don’t need to fight anymore,” Derek said to her and the knight paused.
“Every vampire is a Voltarian. Every one of you that returns and defies death needs to be put down,” she replied through the helmet.
“You defy death you moron, how long have you been coming back? How many times have you returned to life?” Derek asked her a piercing question. It was apparent to him that maybe none of the players in this game had ever bothered to talk to the knight before. It was just another boss monster that needed to die. Just another piece of programming.
Draxis was getting impatient, he was watching the whole thing and didn’t understand what was going on. The two were facing one another, but not fighting. More importantly, the party hadn’t disbanded yet. The knight was now a level eighty three and might as well be unbeatable right now. “Come on man, move it, this shouldn’t take this long,” he said to himself, getting impatient.
The knight did not advance another step, nor did she answer the question. Derek thought he was making progress and in his focus, he’d forgotten to disband the party. “I have returned to life more times than I can remember. But I do not drink the blood of the living. I don’t kill anything but vampires. Protect the living,” she replied but that couldn’t have been true, unless, of course to her, everyone was a vampire. The book did say the knight went insane, maybe that part was accurate. If that were true, that would mean she had been suffering a long time, as much as an artificial intelligence being could do so, at least.
