Doolittle starts handing out the heals. Ahh, Days will be happy about that.
Sid commands Dragon’s Grasp.
Xiuhcoatl finally, for the first time, acts like a summon and commits fully to his command. He wraps his long, sleek golden body around the undead witch as she wails like a banshee, and squeezes so hard the scales on his sides pop up a little bit.
Over the next 20 seconds of the spell’s duration, Doolittle and I hit everyone with buffs, multi-targeting. Simple does DoT spells on Keres. She looks like she’s in more pain than any human can bear without passing out, but her HP bar is still 50% when Xiuhcoatl releases her and flies to my side, eying her. He doesn’t even casually hit to protect me like the others.
She’s palms-down on her knees, but her head snaps up, eyes right on Days as I read in my interface:
Lucky uses Complete Denial.
But her eyes aren’t gleaming. They have a star of shining white in the blackness of each one. Her face isn’t anguish.
It’s not her. That’s what it looks like. Not Keres.
I see a blue glow to my right. I spin. Lucky’s holding a katana made from Malochrome, mage metal, and pointing it at Days. “Do it!” he yells. He’s sweating and shaking all over. Sure, he hadn’t been doing anything, but he said… and Days is targeted by him now.
Oh, he lied.
I know for sure it’s true when Keres launches onto Days. Lucky is using her as his undead pet.
Keres uses Gnawing Teeth.
I’ve never seen anything this awful in my life. Keres’ giant, needle-toothed mouth runs all over Days, after knocking him over by slamming into him face-first in the stomach, tearing through his armor with her teeth and starting gnawing flesh exactly then. His armor hangs in pieces, and his flesh is gone in seconds. Just a bloody pulp with the face of my friend.
His shocked expression, blank eyes, skin eaten off him in frantic chomps, and the blood. All the red blood, and then the pure white face without even computerized comfort movements.
She ate Days.
Lucky made her do it.
Didn’t he?
I look at Lucky again, trying not to think about what I just watched. Lucky is still waving the blue sword, shaking, sweating… man, he’s crying.
Sid commands Simmer.
Xiuhcoatl spews a thin stream of yellow fire on Keres, and her skin lights up like her flesh is now the flesh being devoured, just by flame and not teeth. She’s frozen in place and knows she’s a Dead One’s minion. He did say they try to kill you after you capture them.
Keres drops into a pool of fresh blood and seawater, and Simmer seems to stop.
“Sid, Mantra me,” Simple hisses, eyes pointing at Lucky.
Sid casts Mantra.
“Silvia,” I say. I think it again, but don’t say it twice.
Simple gains +203 ATT.
Didn’t even have to think casting Mantra. Hate fills me. I know what Simple has in mind.
Simple casts Death Lightning.
Lucky gets hit so hard by Simple’s lightning that he’s down on the ground in an instant. He has 35% HP... and no longer does Keres obey his commands. Death Lightning must have a dispel effect.
His beard has been fried off his face. He’s lost Keres. The white stars in her eyes are gone, now back to shiny and black, glaring at Lucky.
Keres uses Devour.
In what feels like a solid minute of watching Keres, the undead lost soul summon, devour my betrayer with those teeth, ripping at him with her claws, I know horror, disgust and pity. It takes that full minute for 35% to go down as she eats him inside out alive, until he isn’t.
I don’t do anything until she stops. Simple casts electric shocks from her wand that seem to do zero damage. She doesn’t want anything to do with that hate. Probably a warding enchantment on that wand.
None of us make any real moves. Doolittle’s group-curing us and rebuffing us in a rush with buffs that aren’t cumulative. His nerves made him a robot.
“How are we going to damage her?” I call out. “I have no sun.”
Keres stops eating once Lucky’s no longer twitching, and turns on my summon.
Simple casts Ball Lightning.
Keres’ HP drops some, but she’s involved in trying to get a bite of dragon meat. Xiuhcoatl is more irritated than hurt. He continually slaps her to the ground each time she tries.
“I don’t know!” Simple says. “Do something!”
Simple uses Reverse to Light.
Simple takes on healer qualities and loses destructive qualities in magic until the end of battle.
I’ve never heard of that before. Why would she do that?
And then, Keres is coming right at Simple. She has the hate. Healers run the biggest risk, next to The Blacks, for hate aggro. The smarter mobs know who blows them up hardest, and who keeps those ones alive.
“Xiuhcoatl, hit her like you’re supposed to!”
He flips his spiked tail in seeming irritation, but proceeds to nip at her head and shoulders with enough pressure that she falls hard to the floor and fumbles to get up, wings twisted.
Simple casts Shield of Honor. Xiuhcoatl gains Protection of the Ages.
“Do something, anything!” Simple says, obviously relieved that Xiuhcoatl stopped the hag Keres’ descent on her.
Anything… Anything!
I pull Master Gronai’s scroll out of my bag and into my interface. The one we made that day. He said something… something about using it. The runes, thinking of what made the ink and the feather, and the fingertips moving over the parchment…
I highlight it in my bag in my interface. Can this work? I don’t actually have to chant Elorian and ancient Nuudle?
I select “Use.”
The yellow parchment floats up and unravels in front of me. What is Satisfy Undead: The Scroll going to do? I hope Master Gronai hadn’t had too much Contemplation or less desire that day.
Keres holds her clawed hands up to Xiuhcoatl’s snout, and clamps it shut gently, not a talon scratch one, as the yellow parchment turns to yellow glitter and lands on her, then spins around her.
“Stop, you can stop,” a wrecked, weak voice says from the wicked mouth. She bows her head, thin, greasy hair falling in her face and dragging on the floor.
Sid dismisses Xiuhcoatl.
“Why…?” Simple says to me in a panic.
The undead bare-breasted hag who ate Days alive, and then ate Lucky alive, looks deep into my eyes. “Now, we will discuss.”
All goes dark, and then I’m in the arena again with her, but the others are gone.
I got her. How? What did that scroll do?
“You are the very first being who has satisfied my hunger since I became Keres.” She narrows her eyes, having a hard time getting a look at me so far below her. “Nuudle Mystic, I thank you. What can I do for you as repayment?”
“Want to be my summon?”
“Mystic summon? I have not done that in many hundreds of years.”
“Yep. I’ve never done it.”
Her eyes cut down to me again. “No, of course you haven’t. You’re a Mystic.”
Alright. “So, I would be happy if you did,” I urge her, stifling memories of Days and Lucky’s bodies just long enough. It’s what she had to do. She was fighting for her freedom.
No, she wasn’t. I can’t kid myself. She was fighting for a mouthful. Am I sure I want this summon?
“You defeated me, although not in strength. You satiated my eternal longing for destruction, if only for a moment. I already feel the satisfaction fading. I am your summon, and I will clean up your battles for you. All I ask is that there be many battles.” Her voice is crackly and thin, whispery.
“Oh, there always are. Keres, thanks.” I force a smile, hoping it appears assured.
Black mist shoots into my heart, formed from what she had been, and I feel she belongs there.
Ah, full heart summon claim.
Fade to black, then fade back to underwate
r in the unnamed cave in Paradise Sea. The Luna Lamp glows eerie purple, casting strange shadows on Days and Lucky’s shredded bodies crumpled by the cave wall, waiting for their spirits to come find and fix them, make them live to die another day, and live again. And again.
Sorry had been at a nearby graveyard and made it back to Keres’ cave before we were done. She said she couldn’t get back in. She can’t stop staring at Days, and she says nothing else.
Sid summons Varengan.
My glorious heart-lifting luxury summon comforts me. I bring him out still sometimes when I’m walking and want to watch him fly around. He stays with me and enjoys the flights. I never use him in fights. Right now, his soft blue glow is heaven, and I can rest for a moment until they’re both here. We’re getting this sorted out. No Comfort Rings, no teles—
“Sid.” I hear his voice as I see his tan skin glowing blue-green from Varengan’s iridescence. Seeker is at the opening of the dead end, hands on his hips, floating an inch from the cave floor.
“You’re Seeker?” says Simple, voice cracking in shock. “What in the world are you doing here, and how did you even know… ohhhh. The spell. Clairvoyance.” She’s scared again. That’s why she can’t speak. I also know I want to give her a Mantra right now, see if she still has the mindset she had with Lucky. She’ll choke. Right now, in this light in this place, after what we had all seen, Seeker gives even me bad creeps, though my anger toward him keeps me from letting it take over. He’s here, though, and that’s the creepiest part.
“I use a spell—yes, Clairvoyance—that enables me to see where any player whose name I know is at any time. I can even see NPCs. A map appears in my interface with coordinates and directions.” Seeker explains all this to me, ignoring the stunned Simple and on-standby Blessed Doolittle. He knows. Blessed’s are the best healers in game, but they suck the worst solo. Seeker could smash him in a second and he has no defense.
“Okay,” I say. “Why did you use that spell and come looking for me right now? Why are you here, Seeker?”
He lowers his arms. This is the second time I’ve seen him in water, and he looks like an angel with his white hair floating all around, and in fine robes he stole that most players work years to be able to wear swirling around him with the currents. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. “I have been giving thought to the last few times we spoke. I came to two conclusions. You either don’t like me, or you like them more than what I offer. From my point of view, you look down on me, and I don’t understand that. I’ve explained myself perfectly, and you are chosen. I give you gifts, offer the world to you. I gave you this thrilling place to own and form.” His white eyes show no emotion, but for the first time, I think he’s letting out frustrations in a non-violent way.
“What is it about them over me?”
I stiffen. “What do you mean by that? What do you mean, two conclusions like that?” I want to punch him, almost do, but remember the water. Slow fist. Wish Djinn was out. First Wish him. Varengan will keep us alive no matter what he does to us, but I want him to vanish immediately.
Days’ body lights up in the same moment as Lucky’s. They are resurrecting. If it’s at the same time so soon, they both set graveyards somewhere nearby in Paradise Sea. Lucky got the wrong berries, but he remembered to set his grave close to the battle if he died. Everybody does that when there’s a good chance they’ll die. They can sometimes get back in time to help in dungeons. No way he had time to do all that if he had actually run out of air.
I couldn’t set mine there because I haven’t done the quest to be sent there. I haven’t done any new graveyard quests. I want to go back to mine every time in case I catch Anella.
I turn my back on Seeker and watch as their bodies reform solid. Their gear is a mess, but all the flesh is on and all the inside stuff is on the inside. They don’t sit up much after they rez. Doolittle goes to work right away. I noticed he hasn’t even looked Seeker in the eye. None of them have. Not to mention, he won’t let them. He’ll only look at me, as though they don’t exist.
“Seeker…” Days mutters. “You’re an asshole. I’ve been looking for you to say that. Thanks. Nice to meet you finally and get to say that.” His breathing is labored, and Sorry rubs his arms and legs.
I can’t look at Days yet. It’s my fault. Seeker is here. Lucky turned. Days had that happen to him. It’s all connected. I won’t get a thing out of Seeker, but I fly into Lucky’s human face, which is easy for me because I’m small. Small is faster in water. They don’t see you coming. He didn’t, and he almost pukes nothing on me. Just some residual body sensation when your nerves are going to stop your heart.
“What’s eating you, Lucky?” I yell at him.
I hear Simple gasp, and then clap her hands together once.
Lucky’s eyes reflect that Keres did to him something nobody should ever have to live with a memory of. “I’m so sorry,” he whispers.
I get off him, float up.
“It was a business transaction,” Seeker says from behind me.
Lucky reaches out for my hand, but he is so weak he can’t grasp it. “Wait. He paid me, but it was to get Days. He wanted me to get you with the Counts of Hell and Days, and then we heard about this. Before the letter you sent. I didn’t want to. Sid, he offered so much. It’s not worth it now.” He’s pleading for forgiveness, and I feel sorry for him. Mainly because Devour looks like the worst summon ability to inflict on another player.
Seeker walks up in our group and stands between Lucky and me. “He now has +100 more in all his stats. Only took a week. Not to mention the cash. You feel for him, and all he’s doing is begging you to let him get away with it.”
“Maybe that’s how you are.”
“We’re all the same, Sid.”
“No, you and I are nothing alike.”
“We are the two best gamers in this framework.”
“Framework? We’re not the two best players. We had a duel. You’re crazy and got delusional some years back about some idea you had, and I just happen to be the one to kill you and get away. It was pure luck. Leave me alone.”
“Don’t you want to know why I had Lucky make Days take the worst of it?” he says in a private message.
I don’t answer.
Aloud, he says, “Because your reaction proves to me my second conclusion is true. You care for these low-level nobodies who don’t excel. They feed off your greatness as a Mystic with all these summons. Keres. Nobody has ever heard of Keres. Go ahead. Show her to me.”
“No!” Lucky cries out. “Please, I can’t see her again.”
Seeker ignores him. “Maybe next time. And yes, Lucky was paid up front.”
“How did you even know I met Lucky?”
“I made sure he introduced himself to you and got you on his friends list. He’d either reach out to you when I told him, or he’d wait for you, but this was for my Counts of Hell trick to figure out your motivations. Keres and what she seems to have done here… I don’t know what to say.”
“Then why don’t you just stop talking?” Days mumbles.
It’s not my fault Days got targeted. No, I’m not going to let him make me think that way. I can see he’s trying it. The only reason Days was flayed alive is because Seeker made it possible. He’s the one who did this to Days.
I spin on him, reach up, and slap him across his high cheekbone. His head doesn’t even move, but I see a change in his glowing white eyes. I hurt his feelings.
Good.
“Get the hell out of here, Seeker. You too, Lucky. Just forget it.” I sit down next to Days in the sandy sea floor and float there. Simple, Doolittle, and Sorry all sit in a circle with us, shutting them out. We say nothing, but we feel strong. I can tell it’s not just me. We keep our eyes on the sand, ignoring the heavy stares and Lucky’s last attempt at a broken apology until they are finally gone.
“Okay, okay.” Sorry breaks the silence. “We’re all going to die of suffocation, but first you gotta summon Keres. L
et’s see her abilities.”
I shake my head and smile. “You really want to?”
Days stands up. “Okay, I got this. Short-term memory loss from Nuudle Beer. Yes, yes, yes. I want to know what Devour is. That’s what happened to Lucky, right?”
Sid dismisses Varengan.
Sid summons Keres.
Black shoots out of my chest and she forms just outside our circle.
“Master, have you brought me to battle to feed?”
“No, Keres, I’m looking at your ability list,” I tell her, my heartrate picking up just seeing her again so soon.
Description:
A great leader and innovator, Keres died of a broken heart when the world she loved ten thousand years ago changed for the worse. She took her life in despair, but her madness keeps her half-dead and in our plane. As punishment for her defying them by taking her own life, the gods of the ancient Sleenatos gave her eternal hunger. She feeds…
Drain Blood—Drains target of 30% HP.
Gnawing Teeth—Eats target’s living flesh, dealing high, sometime fatal damage.
Visit the Grave—Sends target to graveyard.
Seizure Move: Devour—Feeds on target, dealing damage and making target unable to attack until death.
Sid dismisses Keres.
“Is she a real summon?” Sorry finally asks. We’re all wondering it, but we’re low on air to get us to the surface. No mounts for water. We have to swim.
We speculate over Keres plenty over the next day or two, and I finally get up the nerve to summon her again to find Calla. I dismiss her as soon as Calla, her umbrella and blue bubble rain shelter appear out of nothing in front of my and Seeker’s graves.
And yes, I get another Mystic summon quest, one for a summon named Oni. The marking on my hand looks like a beast of magic and knowledge, good and bad. Yeah, these little palm markings are getting fancier and more detailed. Maybe it’s because I have them for so long in between fights the farther down this Mystic road I go. My CON is at 261.1, INT at 156.9, MND at 167.5, and my other stats are all over a hundred. That’s with the quests for boosts and the gear.
Calla said Oni is a demon. I can’t help but wonder where a demon evolves from in Dark World. I ponder the mark on my hand over the next few days, trying to guess what kinds of moves he’ll want to devastate us with…
Total Immersion: Dark World: A LitRPG Adventure Page 16
