He sneezes, and licks his lips.
“You’re the coolest, Wolf.”
I turn to see Sam with her hand on Lothar’s knee. The giant is genuinely feeling terrible about what he’s done; I suddenly regret giving him shit just moments ago.
“It’ll be all right, buddy,” I say as I approach them. “And thank you. You saved my ass back there with that tree stump.”
“I did?” he asks, tears welling in the corner of his eyes.
“You sure fucking did. Sam would have been forced to use her reverse time spell again if you hadn’t thrown it.”
Sam shakes her head. “I don’t know if I should use that one again.” She shows us her hourglass necklace; I see that the fissure has now grown from the top to the bottom bulb.
“Shit, Sam.”
“Shit is right.”
“We have to be careful with all your spells,” says Lothar. “I don’t think you should be using as many as you used just now. That isn’t helping.”
“But I have to be useful and I’ve tried using a weapon; I can barely swing a sword, which is odd, considering my last avatar.”
“I never met your last avatar but I’m sure she was a fine specimen.” The giant removes his glasses, and starts to polish them on his robe.
I crack a grin. Can’t help it.
“What?” he asks, peering down at me.
“Former Sam was indeed a fine specimen, Lothar, the finest specimen I’ve encountered in Unigaea.”
“Interesting. Was she finer than Deathdale?”
My eyes go wide and I swallow his surprise question with a loud gulp.
“Because Deathdale was beautiful too, even with her eye patch.”
“Shit, of course she was, I mean, of course Sam is finer! Time to change the topic! So who is ready to check for loot? Anyone? No? Just me? Well, I don’t want to be the only one dumpster diving. Yes, that’s what I call checking for loot. Wait, no it isn’t. Okay, let’s go!”
My face redder than a McStarbucks during the holidays, I turn away from the two and whistle for Wolf. He trots over, I mount up, and scoot back, making room for Sam.
“Are you coming?” I ask her.
“You’re an idiot, Oric.”
(^_^)
“So you could go to your ship right now?” Lothar asks Sam.
We’ve been traveling for a few hours now, and haven’t encountered much aside from a group of traveling merchants, a shaman selling voodoo dolls, and, of all things, a phallically enhanced snowman crafted in the shade of misplaced boulder.
It isn’t snowing now, but it is cold enough in the shade to keep things frozen, which includes the anatomically correct snowman as well as a few patches of frozen grass.
“Yes,” Sam tells the giant. “The wristband I used earlier to level up is what takes me to my ship.”
“And can you bring people with you?”
“I can, but I’m afraid you’re too large. My ship is big, but you’ll retain the size you are here in Unigaea, and only the docking bay could hold you. And even then, it may not be large enough.”
“What about me?” I ask.
“I already told you I’d show you.”
“Wolf too?”
“I don’t think Wolf would enjoy being on a ship traveling through the Proxima Galaxy. It can be, um, quite the experience for the first timer.”
“He’s a super dog; he can adjust to anything.”
Sam scoots a bit closer to me as Wolf picks up his speed.
If he’s fatigued, he’s not showing it, and with only a few more hours of daylight, I believe we’ll be able to cover some pretty good ground today. Still won’t reach Tagvornin, but we should arrive late tomorrow night. And of course, there are the villages that surround the city. We’ll be able to get info there.
Speaking of villages, it isn’t long before we pass one that has been completely razed. I see something burning in the distance and I point to it.
“You think it’s a pyro afflicted?” I ask Sam.
“Can’t tell. Lothar?”
The giant lowers his meditations box and pops it open. He brandishes a monocular, adjusts the brass ring around it, and focuses on the flaming speck in the distance.
“Yeah, that’s one all right. It’s waving to us.”
“One of the afflicted is waving at us?”
“Yup!”
“We should keep moving,” I say immediately.
Lothar takes another look at the pyro afflicted. “To be honest, I’ve never seen one actually communicate with someone before.”
“We should at least try to see what the person wants,” adds Sam.
“Are you two serious? I’m not going to sit here and say I just fought off a band of these fuckers a few days ago, but yeah, you get my drift. We should keep moving. We don’t want to get involved with the afflicted if we can help it.”
“Please, Oric. I’ll just metastasize the person’s wound if they try to attack us.”
“I’ll tell you what,” I say after I’ve thought it over, “Lothar, you go forward first. Sam and I will stay behind – besides you are the most diplomatic of all of us. I will keep my crossbow gun trained on his or her head. Any funny moves and boom! Headshot.”
“I’m the most diplomatic?” he asks.
“Sure, why not? Sam, you stay back as well, and be ready to get any pyro afflicted that may come next. They move in waves,” I say as I narrow my eyes on the flaming person in the distance. “And do not, I repeat, do not let them touch your skin. Weapons are fine, but if they touch your skin, you become one of them.”
Lothar’s eyes light up. “Ah, children’s rhyme written by Olivas! If they touch your skin, you become one of them; if you become one of them, the flames burn within; within and without, the flames spit and shout; the flames keep ablaze and your dreams fade away; so keep your hands to yourself, for the good of your health!”
“A children’s rhyme about pyro affliction?” I shake my head in disbelief.
“You’re the one who quoted it,” Lothar says as we turn to the burning person on the horizon.
“I was unaware. Wolf, hold on.” I hop down and tell Sam to stay on. “If anything happens, I want you to get as far back as you can. In fact, maybe it’s better for you to ride Wolf in battles, because he can get away quickly if need be.”
Sam scoffs. “You act like I’m some type of invalid. I have magic, you know.”
“I just … ”
I think of Deathdale dying, and Sam’s death in her previous avatar. Even though Deathdale’s was her own fault.
There’s nothing you could have done, I remind myself, guilt causing a sinkhole in my gut.
“You just what?”
“I just want you to be safe, that’s all.”
Sam’s eyes soften. “I know you do, but treating me like some fragile doll won’t help. If it’s my time to die as this avatar, then so be it.”
“All right, everyone stop.” I look from the scholarly giant to Sam. “What’s our end game here? What could we possible gain by going to greet one of the pyro afflicted?”
Lothar shrugs my question off. “The mystery that is Unigaea is in a constant state of unravelling, even if it is ultimately the result of an advanced algorithm played like a finely tuned harp by the Obelisk.”
“Any response to that, Sam?” I ask as I pinch the bridge of my nose.
She smirks.
“Fine, fine, you two win, let’s get this over with.”
As we walk through the razed village, I equip my St. Lucia crossbow pistol and load a bolt. I bring it up as we near the pyro afflicted person, who looks to be female.
Her outline flashes red and a reticle appears on her forehead.
Sam and I stop, Sam still mounted on Wolf.
Lothar nears the pyro afflicted woman, each step slower than the last.
“You waved at us,” he calls down to her once he is about thirty feet away.
“I did,” she calls back, flames lashing out o
f her charred lips as she speaks. The fire burns on every part of her body yet her form is visible, her eyes completely white.
Something isn’t right.
I glance left and right, looking for any signs of movement. About the only thing good about the pyro afflicted is that they’re easy to spot.
It’s then that a realization strikes me.
“It’s the Obelisk,” I whisper to Sam.
“You sure?” she asks.
“I just know it.”
Lothar smiles at the burning female. “My name is Lothar Shane, and my companions and I are traveling north to the Rune Lands.”
“These are the Rune Lands,” says the woman as I approach Lothar.
“Hey, big guy!”
Lothar looks over his shoulder at me and hisses. “What happened to the plan?”
“It’s changed,” I say as I walk past him. “Obelisk, I’m glad you could join us.”
The burning woman grins. “Hello, Oric.”
(^_^)
“Obelisk!” Lothar takes a knee and bows his head to the NVA Seed. Embers flutter off her burning skull as she greets the giant.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lothar.”
Sam approaches on Wolf, her wand still at her side.
“And Sam Raid,” the Obelisk says, her voice raspy. “I am glad to see you were able to bring Wolf back.”
I feel that familiar pang of guilt in my chest. I don’t want to start accusing the Obelisk of anything, but she could have done something, she could have …
It was your fault, Oric.
I steel myself with a nod. What’s done is done.
“There has been a change in plans.” The Obelisk places her flaming hands behind her back. “Governor Florin Talonas of Stater has decided to ride north with his armies.”
“Ride north? Why would he do that?” asks Lothar. He swings his meditations box around and takes a seat on it.
“He’s trying to take the Rune Land,” I say bitterly. “It’s a power play.”
“At a time like this? Surely he knows of the source code bomb.”
“He does,” says the Obelisk. “I have visited him.”
“And?” I ask.
“And.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“He told me he would do what he has to do to solidify his power, no matter who gets in the way, even if the entity in the way is me.”
“Talonas is an RPC,” Sam says. “If the world is destroyed, he’ll be destroyed.”
The Obelisk turns to the west and holds her chin high. “Florin is of two beliefs. One, the Proxima company will get a handle on the Red Plague. If that doesn’t happen, he believes that he will be able to control it with the First Artifact.”
“The First Artifact?” I glance from Sam to Lothar, both of whom shrug.
“I was created at the same moment Unigaea was created, the world’s Adam and Eve. The First Artifact is a scepter I made from algomagic, the first and only of its kind.”
“Algomagic?”
“Algorithmic magic,” says the scholarly giant. “Basically a cool way to say advanced neuronal coding.”
The Obelisk nods in agreement. “It was the very first thing that I created, long before there were cities and walls and beasts and colorful NPCs.”
“What could Florin possibly want with it?” asks Sam.
“He believes it has the power to destroy the source code bomb.”
“And does it?” I ask.
“I don’t know.”
I stare at the burning woman for a moment, trying to sort out all the questions coming to me. I start with the most obvious. “And you say Florin has the First Artifact now? How did he get it?”
“The Artifact was hidden in plain sight, inside one of the monuments at the entrance to the Solidus Academy.”
“Which one?” Lothar asks.
“The Vampiric Mermaid Statue, the one in the Courtyard of the Fallen Scholar. There are hundreds of replicas across the land, and I figured that it would be as good a place as any to hide it.”
“Why didn’t you hide it on Hashmonean?” I recall what I’ve seen of the island, which isn’t much. Just a lagoon, really.
“I didn’t want people to come after it, and I didn’t want to destroy it. No one knew of the item, but I thought – and rightly so – that eventually someone would come to my island looking for treasure. Not that they’d get it, but I didn’t want to provide any added incentive.”
“So you put it in a statue?”
“Hidden in plain sight. That is, until the meteor attack happened, and it was uncovered during the cleanup process.”
“And now Talonas has it?”
The Obelisk shakes her fiery head. “Actually, an Arcane Warlock named Broken has it.”
I look skeptically from the Obelisk to Sam. “His name is Broken? Could he have thought of a lamer name?”
“Broken is no laughing matter,” says the Obelisk. “You may have wondered who brought on the meteor attack that destroyed most of Solidus. Now you have your answer.”
A series of images come to me – Deathdale rising to meet the meteors, Wolf and I surrounded by Solidus soldiers, the fire raining down from the sky. If a single warlock caused that, he must be one of the most powerful to ever walk the face of Unigaea.
As if the NVA Seed is reading my mind, she answers my next question before I can ask it. “Broken is at level 83, making him the most powerful Player Character in this world.”
“That’s great and all that they are riding north, but we are riding north as well, and we’re much closer,” I tell her. “We may be able to do something before Florin and Broken get here.”
“I need your help.” She lifts her fiery finger and points it at me. “That is why I have brought the three of you together.”
It’s then that I notice flames flickering in the distance. It takes me all of three seconds to realize that more pyro afflicted are moving towards us.
“We are helping,” I remind her, “and what’s with the backup?”
“Florin and his army are now in the swath of land between the Eastern and Western Splits. I will command an army of the afflicted to meet them. I will also utilize the Meticans, as I can extend control over their population through their new leader, Lady Desdemona. But I can’t control Player Characters, which is where you come in.”
“I can’t control people either,” I remind her.
“It will be very difficult to take on Florin and Broken together. I believe you three will be able to overwhelm Broken’s magic, and when you do, I need you to take the scepter.”
“You’re putting a lot of faith in us, which I can appreciate, but still.” An idea comes to me. “Hey, if you can control all NPCs, why don’t you just have some ants or something steal it while he’s resting?”
“You will need to kill him, and take it from his person. It is the only way.”
“And do what with it, exactly?”
Even though they are still far away, the burning people along the perimeter have me on edge. The pyro afflicted are truly cursed, even if they now have a leader. I can sense their heat, their fury.
“You will destroy the First Artifact by throwing it into the source code bomb. I believe this may be the only way to stop the spread of the bomb.”
“All of this seems crazy,” I say as the afflicted circle around us, their shared warmth reaching my face. They stand poised on their heels, ready to attack when instructed to do so. “So now we’re going to war, and once we get the First Artifact, we’re supposed to just toss the scepter into the bomb, into the lava that is the Red Plague?”
“It is slow moving,” Lothar reminds me. “It could work.”
The Obelisk nods. “When I made the First Artifact, I poured an unnecessary amount of algomagic into the scepter, enough to affect the game-time continuum. I sealed it in the statue, only after I was certain its powers were dormant.”
“And now they’re not?”
“
Unfortunately not. Broken reactivated the First Artifact. I believe tossing it into the source code bomb may reverse its course. The bomb has already taken Lucre and has moved on to the northern coast of Tagvornin.”
“I just don’t see how going to war with Talonas and getting the scepter will help us. And trust me,” I clench my fists together, “there’s nothing I want more at the moment than to take the fight to the governor. But I’ve had enough of trusting these feelings, these personal quests for revenge. Last time I tried that, I lost Wolf, and in the process of bringing back Wolf, Sam has suffered greatly.”
“I’m fine, Oric,” Sam says as she places a hand on my shoulder. “And if this is what the Obelisk thinks we should do, then we should do it. What else are we going to do? Ride north and yell at the source code bomb?”
“I wasn’t going to yell at it.”
“Then what was your plan exactly?” the Obelisk asks.
“I figured the plan would come to me at some point, as our quest progressed.”
“It has progressed as of now.”
Quest update!
The Obelisk has asked you to aid her in battling Governor Talonas and an Arcane Warlock named Broken. Ride south, join the war, and help her secure the First Artifact.
Chapter Eight: Warp Rider
“We can’t stick around here,” I say after the Obelisk presses past us, followed by a growing army of the pyro afflicted. A sinking feeling in my gut reminds me of just how skeptical of all this I really am, how futile I believe our newfound mission will be.
The burning bodies walking all around me only add to my apprehension.
Lothar brings his sandaled foot up. He picks at his toe for a moment, finds a splinter the size of a small twig, and tosses it over his shoulder. “I understand you are reluctant, Oric,” he says, oblivious to the moving fire people all around us, “but I believe we should have faith in the Obelisk.”
“And why’s that?”
Wolf trots over to Lothar, Sam still on his back.
The Hourglass Mage hasn’t said much since the Obelisk left, likely as creeped out as I was by seeing the army of flaming undead. Well, undead might not be the correct term, but that is what they look like, and since they can’t be reasoned with, they are not far from zombies.
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