Last Horizon: Beta

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Stepping outside and moving towards the bank, they checked what each member had picked out. Emelia had taken a ring that let her Parry any three attacks a day at will. Felton had a ring that granted him a chance to craft better items. Kittish had taken a ring that allowed her to Purge Poison from her group once per day. Amythyst had taken a ring to match her necklace, allowing her to cast an instant copy of a spell just cast for free. Terets had taken a ring that gave him an increased chance to crit when dual wielding. Dumadin had taken a ring that let him Block any three attacks per day at will.

  Upon reaching the bank they each deposited their money, which now came to a significant amount and walked out laughing about being so wealthy in game so far.

  They fast traveled to Thallien's and started to walk up the path, stopping for flowers and ore as they climbed. Upon reaching the canyon they found Thallien fishing by the pond. “Welcome back adventurers, you seem to be in high spirits which is good. Laughter is such a wonderful thing amongst friends. Did you come back to find the location of the third journal?” Thallien waited for a response.

  When they agreed that they had come back to aid him again in his quest to recover the journals he nodded and smiled. “So very glad I am to have your aid. This time the journal is at a 'Baron's keep. You might be able to recover it without issue or you might have to steal or fight for it. I can't help you with that information. But if you would be so good to help me I would thank you.”

  Quest: Find Thallien's journals, part three.

  Collect the first journal from the Red Baron's keep and return it to Thallien.

  Warning this is a group quest but is possible alone.

  Reward: forty thousand experience and a bonus to crafting.

  The group accepted quest, blinking at the part where was possible for a single person to do the quest. “We understand, Thallien. Where is this Red Baron's keep?”

  “He resides to the north in Toaman, a few days journey from the city of Bozings. He has a keep there that presides over the surrounding villages, demanding tribute from them to keep them safe. I think he is the son of the Baron that my group removed from power when we were there.”

  The group understood and reassured Thallien that they would be back with his journal as soon as they could. The group said their goodbyes as Thallien returned to fishing and they fast traveled back to Veno.

  “Off to Bozings it is, then,” Terets said as they walked towards the Mage guild.

  “We should be able to get close to the keep before we take a day off for my doctor’s appointment.” Dumadin mused as they walked in the front door of the guild.

  They quickly paid the mage on duty for portals to Bozings. The group found themselves outside a walled city very like Veno and Dalton. The wandered into the city long enough to get it to show on their maps, then walked out of the city and headed north.

  “Two days won't be bad, let's see what kind of critters infest this part of the country.” Terets touched his blades as he spoke.

  Amythyst stopped and looked around and the group looked at her, “I always wanted to see Montana.” She smirked as she finished, which caused the group to start laughing.

  “But you aren't a Russian submarine officer,” Terets chuckled. “Which is good, otherwise something might shoot you unexpectedly about now.”

  The group laughed harder and started north, not bothering to mount as they took their time enjoying the scenery.

  Two days later they found the keep and had answered their question about critters. It was wolves and bears that seemed to be the predominant attackers. As they got within sight of the Red Baron's keep they noted it sat on top of a hillock. The cliff face was sheer and smooth, as if masons had made sure no one would scale the cliffs.

  They found the path that led up towards the keep and followed it, noting the wagons from nearby villages coming and going. Making conversation with the people as they went, they found out the Baron was not as bad as his father had been but still ruled with an iron fist. He didn't raid, pillage, and rape the towns and kept his men mostly in check. He had come to the aid of a few towns when goblins had attacked a few years back.

  They finished the climb and found a gate with guards outside of it checking wagons going through the gate. The gateway loomed black as night, with an oily sheen and no ripples.

  “So that is the instance, and we're going to have to log out soon.” Felton noted looking at the guards who stood in half-plate.

  “Yup, this will be fun in a couple of days,” Dumadin commented and looked it over. “See you guys in two days, around ten am.”

  Saying their goodbyes, the group logged out looking forward to trying this new instance when they met back up.

  THE END?

  The next day David and Miriam made the trip to Vegas. The appointment wasn't until late afternoon so they visited a number of shops, making a day of it. They stopped for a bite to eat at Celebrity Franks and talked about meeting Lavender there for the first time. Finally they headed for the doctor’s office.

  They arrived, checked in and were ushered into a richly appointed office. “Dr. Johnsburg will be with you in a few moments.” The receptionist said as she closed the door.

  The two lovers sat there looking over the oak desk, the leather chairs and paintings on the walls. “I think he is the head of the clinic here,” Dumadin said checking his phone to see if he was right. “Yup head of the clinic. Maybe they finally found some answers.”

  Miriam smiled and squeezed his arm, “That will be good, then we can finally move forward.”

  They sat there for a few more minutes when an old white haired gentleman entered and greeted them. “Ah yes David, and you must be Miriam. Please sit, sit and let us go over what we have.” They all sat and the Doc fired up his computer, pulling up the necessary files before turning back towards them. “I know you've been trying to find out the cause of your issues for over two years now. We've finally found out what is wrong.” As he spoke his voice changed slightly, “I am sorry for the delay. If we'd been faster then things might be different.”

  David looked at him puzzled as he felt Miriam tighten her grip on his arm.

  “I am sorry to tell you that you have a type of multiple myeloma which has already progressed to stage three. This cancer, sadly, is fatal at this late stage. The time it took us to pin it down has also cut down on your expectancy and for that I am sorry. You have less than one year left to live, David.”

  David heard Miriam gasp and start to sob next to him as her grip became painful on his arm. “Wait, what?”

  The doctor frowned and pushed a box of tissue towards Miriam, who was crying and shaking. “The test confirmed it and we sent the samples off to other labs to confirm. Your myeloma is a different one than we currently have on record. I ask only that when you are gone that you leave your body to science so we can find out why your cancer took so long to diagnose.”

  David sat there in shock, his mind refusing to grasp what was being said to him as Miriam clung to him, sobbing. He pulled her in and tried to soothe her as his mind tried to process the news.

  “I have less than a year to live? But that can't be right...”

  CANCER

  David sat there holding the love of his life in his arms, soothing her. The doctor continued to speak about various ways of trying to prolong the time David had left. After a few minutes of not getting any response, the doctor excused himself to give the two time alone together.

  Stroking Miriam's hair, David tried to get his brain into gear again. He tried to recall what the doctor had been prattling on about. Various treatments that might extend his life by a few months, but at various costs. It wasn't the money cost but the mental and physical costs of undergoing some of the treatments that bothered him. It was watching your loved ones as you slowly and inevitably slid into death that was the issue.

  Miriam's sobs slowed as she clung to him, as he continued to try and soothe her. His mind raced trying to think of what he should be
doing or feeling. He just felt numb, shock his brain informed him, this is shock. Soon he would break as Miriam already had and be reduced to uselessness for a time. It had always been their way that one of them was strong while the other broke and then the tables turned eventually. It had happened with every major crisis in their time together.

  Miriam finally composed herself enough to pull away and use the tissue to clean her face and some of David's shirt as he sat there blankly.

  “We should look into these treatments and see what we can do to help you.” Miriam moved the chair closer to his and sat there holding his hand.

  “No. It is not going to do anything but extend the pain. None of them will cure me, he said so, they will only extend the time I am here. That just means it gets more painful for my loved ones as it takes longer for me to go. We have less than a year but the doctor seemed certain of more than six months. So we need to focus first on getting the will and affairs in order. We will need to tell my sisters and our friends.” David shook his head as he started to organize his thoughts, making walls out of the things that needed to be done. The walls he always made when crisis struck, the walls that held back the emotion until the objectives had been met.

  Miriam watched him, knowing what he was doing and that when the time came he would break worse than she had. She was certain he was buffering himself away from it with the lists and orders he wanted to make. She snuggled to him as best she could in the chairs and waited for him.

  “Right, first thing is calling my sisters and having a family get together so we can inform them. Best include the nieces and nephews as well as their kids. We then will need to have dinner with Will and let him know personally. After that we will call our other friends and let them know.” Standing and taking Miriam by the arm they went to leave.

  The receptionist called to them when they got to the lobby. “Sir, I have the information about the various treatments here for you.”

  David turned to her, a little anger sparking in him, but he stopped it and gave her a tight smile. “No, thank you. Inform the doctor I might call in the next week with other questions but right now I am fine.”

  The receptionist began to speak, but the look in his eyes stopped her. “Yes sir, I will. Have a good day.”

  David stood there for a moment fighting his impulse to yell at her about good days now being over. He knew he must have had a look in his eye that caused her to flinch away from him. With a long deep sigh he turned and walked out with Miriam.

  As they got to the car Miriam snatched the keys from him, which sparked him off. “Give me those back now!”

  Miriam put a hand on his chest and stared him in the eye, “No. I am driving home, because you still need to finish your thoughts and I am better at the moment.”

  Growling, David reached for her and stopped cold. He knew he was not behaving normally and that this anger was because of the fact he knew he couldn't do anything about the cause. Nodding once stiffly he got in and slammed the door.

  Miriam took a moment and sighed before going around to the driver side and getting in. “You need to call or text your sisters and set up the family get together. I will inform the group once we get home that we won't be on Last Horizon for at least a week.”

  David nodded as he took his phone out and began to text his family with urgent attached to it. He was striving to hold back the emotion and turmoil. He knew though that when he told his family it would probably break him. His sisters were softhearted and even when they had arguments and differences they had always been there for each other.

  FAMILY AND FRIENDS

  The next day David's family came to his house for the urgent family meeting. He greeted each of them as they showed up with the best a smile he could muster and made sure they were comfortable. Once they’d all shown up, he had them takes seats in the living room and stood there looking at them. Memorizing them at this moment, what he viewed as the last moment of just getting together without bad news.

  “Thanks for coming tonight, Miriam has made the family pasta for dinner. I know you’re wondering why it was urgent you come over. I am sorry to say it is not good news. I haven’t kept you updated about all my appointments so you didn't know that I saw the doctor yesterday before I called you all. I was informed that I have terminal stage three cancer, there is no treatment and I have less than a year to live.” He rushed to the end wanting to get it out.

  The family all started clamoring at the same time, all trying to ask different things. David grabbed a stool and sat down and began trying to calmly answer their questions. Everything was composed for a few minutes until his younger sister sobbed, and tried to deny what he was saying. Shortly after that the entire family started crying and moved to hug and hold each other.

  Dinner sat on the stove getting cold while the family tried to get their emotions back under control. His sisters kept insisting that he look into the treatments and look around the internet as there might be a trial for a new treatment. He lied to his sisters, agreeing he would look into everything he could.

  Eventually most of the family departed for the evening as the grandchildren had school the next day. His sisters lingered for a bit longer just wanting to spend more time with him before they also departed. Once they were out of the house David sat and started to shake. He had broken for a bit when the tears flowed until he could stonewall himself again. Now he sat there trying to control himself as Miriam sat next to him, holding him and silently being there.

  He eventually got control back again after the tears stopped and nodded his thanks leaning his head against Miriam. “Thanks hun, it’s that reaction that’s the hardest. They don't see how much it hurts me to see them like that. Me staying around is what they want as they don't want to let me go. I don't want to prolong it as it will only make the loss more painful eventually.”

  “I know dear, and I understand both sides of that. I am selfish. I want you to stay for as long as possible. I know that it will cause you more pain to watch me see you slip away as well. I will not insist that you prolong your time, but I do insist that we spend it in as much happiness as possible.”

  David smiled into the embrace, “Yes dear, anything for my love. Tomorrow we tell Will and that will be as tough as this but at least he is more a pragmatist. I do ask that we keep playing though, the game is so real at times it will be easy to forget and find good times there.”

  Miriam frowned slightly as he spoke but nodded for him. “If that is what you want dear-heart. It might help us find a few more moments of happiness. I don't know if it will help me but if it helps you then I will.”

  They eventually retired to bed exhausted and emotionally wrecked, knowing tomorrow wouldn't get any better.

  The next day, Will came over at their invitation to dinner only being told that they had news. He knew it had to be bad news as they hadn't said anything else and wondered just how bad it was going to be. Miriam had refused to tell him anything only telling him that David would explain. His tires crunched into their driveway and he got out of his car and started to the door. Knocking he smiled and greeted Miriam who answered it. He looked for David but didn't see him anywhere.

  “So what’s going on, Miriam?” He asked a moment before David came around the corner from the computer room with a forced smile on. Will raised a brow at his friend, “Okay, so what’s the bad news? You wouldn't have insisted I come over and not give me anything to work with unless it was bad.”

  David barked out a short bitter laugh, “As always you’re right, Will. Have a seat and I’ll fill you in.” He motioned Will over to the sofas and fetched them a couple of sodas. Sitting down in his favorite seat, David sighed and opened his drink. “As you know, I had the appointment the other day. I had my family over last night to tell them.” David looked up, his eyes taking on a sheen from unshed tears, “I am dying. Terminal stage three cancer, no known cures. The results were verified by multiple labs the doctor said. There are treatments that might extend my life
a little but I currently have somewhere between six months and a year.”

  Will just watched him, knowing his friend was on the brink. “Okay, so you have a little time left and nothing can be done about it. The treatments will give you a little time but not cure you.” Will shook his head, trying to focus his thoughts. “So what is the plan? I know you too well, you’ll have started making plans and laying ground work. What’s the end game here?” He did his best to hold back his own emotions not wanting to tip his friend over.

  David smiled softly at his friend, thankful that Will was so level headed. “I don't have one besides the obvious. I have an appointment with my lawyer to get the will updated and my pensions secured to Miriam. Tomorrow we’ll be notifying all of our other friends after the appointment with the lawyer. At the moment I’m not going to prolong this as it will only hurt my loved ones more.”