Arcadia Unlocked: A LitRPG Novel (Arcadia LitRPG Book 1)

by Alyssa Archer

  Molly screams at me, “Now you’ve done it!” and at her shriek a mob of fighters bursts through the door. I have to get out, away from the melee. Then I realize they’re all coming for me.

  Molly attacks me first, and this time she’s got an elven security force as backup, all adorned in the queen’s royal insignias on the broaches securing their maroon cloaks. Molly and the doctor are aligned with the queen? This is getting weirder and weirder. Could Molly have noticed the credit deduction and gone to VR World and demanded that they get me out? Nothing makes sense right now.

  Molly shouts out, “I have him,” though that seems premature to me. Then I feel a stab in my ribs and sharp pain. My hit points take a sharp dive, then begin a slow dwindle.

  “Good, good,” a voice I don’t recognize shouts back. “Bring him down through the cellar.” I’m super low on energy; I need to eat something. Hands grab at me, drag me down the hall toward the staircase. I remember that I can do something about this and slippery fish my way out of their grip.

  I end up on the floor a few feet away from them, but it’s given me enough space to shadow cloak and then I can scramble away from them.

  We’re all bunched up at the head of the staircase, Molly’s soldiers scrambling to find me and there’s nowhere to go but back to my room when I hear a battle cry and a huge fight breaks out in front of me.

  Catriona’s there, leading a band of the rebels I’ve heard so much about. A rush of joy floods me. I can’t remember ever being so happy to see someone before.

  I’m so weak now that I scoot back into my room, dig into my bag, and gobble down my remaining food. The rush of energy I feel hasn’t lost its luster.

  The goons on Molly’s side leap into action. Fighting breaks out in earnest in front of me. The clanging of metal and the grunting of soldiers fills my ears. As soon as I’ve recovered, I shadowslide to an attacker coming at Catriona. The goons seem to have forgotten about me, except for Molly. She comes at me head on and pummels me, monk-style. My hit points take a dive as I move to block her action. Why is she doing this? Is she pissed at me for going into the game? Is she pissed at me for not coming out of the game? Is that why she’s trying to kill me?

  Maybe it’s not really Molly at all. Maybe they just did a little research between the time I signed up for the VR package and the time I entered VR immersion, and based an avatar off of her physical features for my “customized” quest. Now I’m sure I made the right choice with “Doctor Charles.”

  I slash at Molly with my daggers and then stick’em. My first series of blows gets my rage point counter kicked in. I pull up her health bar and see that we’re even, and that while we’re each hitting, her armor counterbalances my damage and my ability to dodge keeps her hits from landing as often. Fight’s going to take a long time if we keep this up. Can I knock her armor off? She’s not really wearing much. I whack at her again, then jump to her back and pull a backstab maneuver for a combined 1,167 damage. Meanwhile, she scores another big hit on me on me. At this rate, I’ll win, but it’s a war of attrition.

  The fight rages on around us. Molly and I are pretty evenly matched, too, and we go head to head for a while. She has me down to 64%—and she’s at 33%—when Catriona comes to my aid and heals the shit out of me, then does massive glowy bullet damage with her hands to Molly, who is taken down to zero and dematerializes before my eyes.

  “Good work,” I say. I realize I mean it. I don’t care if I’ve known Molly for two and a half years, I’m not mean to be with her any more. I belong here.

  There are a few more skirmishes going on, and we jump into the fray until the royal forces are all subdued. We shore up downstairs in the inn’s main room and I order more of that divine fried bread and broth and beer. My body is hurting and I need the reserves.

  Catriona turns to me. “Listen, I was wrong about you. Fidelius wants to see you. You’ll have to come with me. I can show you the way.” Her luminescent purple eyes are mesmerizing.

  Quest offered: Meet With Fidelius

  Go with Catriona to meet with Fidelius.

  Reward: 1 gold piece.

  Do you accept?

  I nod to her. “Okay. Sounds good.”

  We finish our food and get up to leave. Just in time, it seems, for as we step outside we see an ant trail of uniform elven operatives going into the joint we just left. “This way!” Catriona hisses at me, reaching back to grab my forearm. We blend in through the crowd, cowls up against the light.

  Chapter 22

  Catriona darts one way, then another, and I follow her doggedly. Now that she’s come back into my life, I’m not letting her out again. We charge into a shop and pretend to browse for a minute nonchalantly then we saunter out again and into the crowd to surf through it for a while. I see there’s a slow progression to Catriona’s chosen path; we’re getting closer and closer to the city’s center, and the cathedral. Makes sense; she is a priestess of the light, after all. I look behind me to see the elven goon squad is making a beeline for us. They can’t hurt us yet, because we’re out of melee range and they’re melee class.

  On the corner is my friend, the flying carpeteer. “Catriona,” I say. “We should take the carpet.”

  “Okay,” she agrees and we hop on. She directs the carpeteer to the cathedral. We arrive on its gleaming white steps, the spires of white looming above us, and the three of us hop off.

  “I’m with you guys,” the carpeteer says, casting a furtive glance behind him as he rolls up his carpet. “Don’t leave me out here to the wolves like some kinda beacon.”

  “Okay,” Catriona says. “But stay close.” The three of us dash in. The place is glorious and I have to stop and spin and look up and around for a bit as Catriona bounds forward, down the echoing marble hall to the head priestess and speaks to her, gains her blessing, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Cat runs back to us. “This way,” she says, and we follow her to a chamber along the backside of the altar.

  One of the attendant priestesses opens the priest hole for us. It’s like a little circular door in the wall usually hidden by a bookcase. We slip through and the priests move to shield the hole. There’s a commotion at the other side of the hole, and even though we’re engulfed in darkness, I’d rather be ensconced here than on the other side.

  Cat casts a light spell and illuminates the tunnel the three of us find ourselves in. Anguished cries keep sounding from behind the door. The elven goons must have arrived and engaged those with no metal on their persons with swordplay.

  “We have to get away from here while we can,” I say. Catriona nods her agreement and we descend into the catacombs.

  “What are all these little walled off chambers?” I ask. The walls look like giant honeycombs, all mudded in.

  “All of the dwarves who built the portal are buried here, and they’ll never have the children they were promised because Queen Lunacaller only wants the elven race to succeed,” Catriona says. “Only elves are allowed to breed with humans, and the only humans actually allowed into Arcadia proper are those with status to buy their way in, which Queen Lunacaller actually seems to thinks will ensure purity, that she’s getting the best of the best. The rest of us without links to the royal palace are doomed to know we’re the last of our family unless some fluke of genetics allows us to gasp out one more child.”

  “You mean that all of Arcadia has grown infertile?”

  “Yes. Apparently it’s the cost of using magic.”

  “And what you need is access to the human realm.”

  “Yes.”

  So, all that needs to be done is the toppling of a royal regime? So help me, I feel out of my depth. “What can I do?”

  Catriona says, “I don’t know, but Fidelius is going to help you remember things.” Her face shimmers with hope in the torchlight.

  “I don’t need Fidelius for that,” I say, suddenly struck by the moment.

  “Since when?” Catriona asks.

  “I know how I feel about you,” I
say.

  “Oh,” she says, and keeps walking. She is remarkably quiet the rest of the way through the tunnels.

  I know I messed up last time. I want to make it right. “Catriona, I dream of you. Every night. I dream of you. I don’t know if I love you, because I don’t remember our past together, but I want to find out if I do.”

  The carpeteer gives me a look of disdain, like I’m some kind of sad puppy, but I don’t care. I needed to say it. I was an ass earlier. I have to try to fix this or I’ll hate myself.

  Catriona stays silent. I let my words sink in and keep my mouth shut.

  Chapter 23

  Eventually, we make it to a room that’s guarded by the rebels. It’s cool and dark in here, with no furniture. The walls are made of mud. The rebel guards look askance at the carpeteer and I assure them he’s on their side. “He’s a friend,” I say. Even though I don’t know the guy that well, he seems like a regular NPC.

  “Look,” he says. “I want children too ...” and holds up his arms unthreateningly. The rebels on guard back down, making like they’ll accept him into the group.

  My vision is taken over by an in-game cinematic. It shows the cathedral district surrounded by fire wizards who are slowly incinerating everything they can get their hands on. Children in the priest’s care burning, their hair and clothes on fire. Priest’s robes going up in flames.

  Quest offered: Fire Wizards

  Put out five fires and rescue ten inhabitants from the fire wizards.

  Reward: Special, 5 gold pieces.

  Do you accept?

  That’s quite a reward.

  “Leeroy Jenkinz, I got it, too,” Catriona says. “She sent it out to everyone in the world. You can’t accept it. She’ll know how to find us if you do.”

  “But they’re dying.”

  “I know. But it was their choice. They’re protecting us to preserve a better future. Don’t fall for Queen Lunacaller’s tricks. Even as we speak, she’s doing everything in her power to get you. You don’t even see it. Look over there, on the wall.”

  I do as she directs and see a wanted poster with my likeness is on the wall, with a massive gold reward. The rebel leader, a monk, says, “Queen Lunacaller must want you bad. I hope you actually know something.”

  Catriona cuts him short. “We can’t turn him in. He’s the only one that can help us.”

  The monk says, “Fidelius will be the one to decide that.” He apparently comes to a decision and nods to me. “Come with me. You’ve heard about the portal, right?”

  “Of course,” I say. “Is there some kind of issue with it?”

  “You tell me,” the monk says. “Queen Lunacaller has some kind of big secret about it. Supposedly it’s buried in your blocked memories. If it’s there, Fidelius will dig it out.” The monk seems gruff, but not unkind.

  We go down another corridor and come to a small altar room. The monk bows and takes his leave, shutting the door behind him, and I am faced with a tiny female gnome shaman, whom I presume is Fidelius. She is nowhere near as old as I thought she’d be. She bounces on her feet as I approach, apparently excited to see me. The room is veiled in purple gauzy drapes, and a sky hole in the ceiling shows the daylight outside.

  “Fidelius, I presume,” I say.

  Meet with Fidelius Quest Complete!

  Congratulations! You have received

  1 gold piece

  “You presume correctly,” she says. “What do you want, Leeroy Jenkinz?”

  “Same as you. To remember.” I don’t know what else to say.

  “I can help you with that,” she says. “I’ll guide you through a ritual of remembering. Focus on me.”

  She starts chanting, slowly at first, and seems to go into a deep trance. Her voice takes on tenor and melody, and her body starts to move. She’s singing and waving her hands and after a time, the entire room glows with zinging crystalline globes of light. My eyes burn at their brightness. They start crashing toward me, and I seize up, cowering at the light. The room is thrumming and throbbing now, and I could honestly piss my pants.

  “Open up, don’t be afraid,” Fidelius tells me. “Let them penetrate you so that you can remember. A man is defined by his actions. Open up your mind.”

  I stop cowering. Underneath the throbbing I can hear a rhythm now. If this little bitty woman can take the lights, then so can I. I stand up to the magic, thrust my head up and my chest out, and sway with the thrumming room. The lights dance around me at first. Then they come at me with fervor, and I fill up my consciousness with what they have to say.

  My dreamscape shows me my past. It’s painful at first. I have to walk through a doorway and every step is like piercing my foot with a thousand needles. Have I mentioned how much I fucking hate needles? But I see it’s a doorway into the portal, the great white archway that the Elven Queen uses to control the traffic into and out of the real Arcadia, and I know I have to go to it, so I do.

  I open a doorway in the portal in my mind and I start to remember.

  The memories hit me like a waterfall. They fill up my brain with all the answers to all the questions I’ve been wondering about since meeting Catriona in person. I know what I did before, in the past. Better, I know what I can do to fix it. I snap to consciousness. My memories have shown me the way.

  The fireworks in the room have died down and Fidelius is staring at me intently. I feel so full of memories they must be written on my face.

  “I see that you’ve come to understand,” Fidelius says. “Come with me.” She leads me back to the antechamber where Catriona and the monk are waiting, says, “Wait here,” and goes to a side room.

  “What happened?” Catriona asks, wide-eyed? “We could tell great magics were worked, but were they successful, Leeroy Jenkinz?”

  I nod. “They were. I’ll tell you all when Fidelius returns,” which she does just as I finish speaking.

  Fidelius says, “I have gifts for you, great heroes of the cause.” She gives me a new black leather jerkin, one that’s studded with defense enchantments anchored in silver medallions, and I put it on immediately. I feel a surge of power and pull up my stats. The jerkin is +5 strength to what I was wearing before, and maintains the AGI bonus. Catriona is bestowed with a beautiful necklace—I presume it amps up her intelligence as my jerkin has amped up my strength—and the monk is given a new platinum-tipped wooden quarterstaff to swing.

  “So, tell us,” Catriona prompts.

  “I remember now. I used to work for Queen Lunacaller, when Arcadia was first discovered.

  “She came to us and promised trade benefits if our company helped to build the portal to give her control of access to Arcadia.”

  “But you’re human, how did you work for her?”

  “I work for a company called Goliath Corp., and they built the portal. I was on the human side. I was a programmer at the portal when the portal and then total immersion were created.”

  “What else did you see?” Fidelius asked.

  “I remember seeing the control station there, one that I helped to program to lock down the borders of Arcadia. I’m not just a code monkey, I’m a master programmer. I have been to Arcadia before. I fell in love with Arcadia proper. No wonder I’ve been longing to go back.” I clear my throat. “There’s more,” I say.

  “We can take the portal down and open up the borders so that Arcadians and humans can freely mingle.”

  Catriona’s face glows with hope at my words. “How?” she asks.

  “All I have to do is access that chamber in the portal, the one that houses the right server box, and erase the program. The portal will collapse; it’s supported by code that directs the flow of magical energies. When it comes down, the borders will open, the curtain separating our land from theirs will dissipate, and Arcadians will be free. Humans will be too.”

  “The borders will open.” Catriona’s voice is a sweet whisper. Like she doesn’t even dare to hope.

  I feel the same way. There’s a hollown
ess in my stomach. I could go to Arcadia. I could meet Catriona IRL.

  “Do you want to know the best news?” I say and then, without even waiting for an answer, “The human and Arcadian sides of the portal are linked through the immersion world. I can access it from this side. I don’t have to leave the game.”

  “We know what we need to do, then?” Fidelius asks. We all nod, but the truth is I have no real idea. I’m not sure how to get to the portal from here, or what we’ll encounter once we’re there. I don’t know what safeguards they’ve installed on it since we left.

  Chapter 24

  “Well, I know we have to get out of here,” I say. The gang nods and we gather together to leave. As we do so, the door to the catacombs bursts open, and the queen’s elven troops come storming through it and open fire on us. I immediately take 5% damage and my thigh roars in pain, having been grazed by a projectile. Fighting erupts around me.

  With dismay I find myself face to face with the flying carpeteer I’ve been traveling with. He’s fighting for the other side. “I thought you were my friend?” I say.

  The flying carpeteer says, “Can’t mess with the royal family, man, and the Elven Queen is my distant cousin.” The carpeteer aims while he’s talking, then looses an arrow for Fidelius and scores a critical hit. “Thanks for taking us to the rebel leader. Hat’s off to you, my friend.”

  I start to spew a curse back at him, but a whimpered moan from Fidelius captures my attention. The little gnome had already taken severe damage, because her body started to vaporize. “Leeroy Jenkinz,” she says with her final words. “You have to erase the program.”

  Quest offered: Bring Down the Portal!

  Destroy the portal that limits Arcadian and human interaction.

  Reward: Special

  Do you accept?

  “Yes,” I whisper.

  Catriona looks ashen. “I can’t believe she’s gone,” she says. “Just like that.”