Resurgence: The Rise of Resurgence Book 1

by Joshua W. Nelson

  It was a no brainer that we were going to take the quest. The question was whether we would do so now, or wait till the next day. It was “several hours” to the outpost, but who knew how long it would take once we got involved in the quest. I was hoping to train more with Stan, learning how to manipulate the shadows. But if we did the quest that likely wouldn’t be happening today.

  “What do you guys think about just doing our own thing today? I mean I don’t really want to start this quest today, seeing as it could be many hours before we get to that outpost. I know we need to be online a bit more to fulfill our contract to AltCon, but I was thinking about doing some merchant stuff. What do you guys think?”

  “Woohoo! Tavern time! I’m gonna get me some witches with my britches!” Dan naturally said.

  “Thank you for using the term witches Dan. I certainly appreciate the alliteration, and the avoidance of calling women an even worse derogatory word,” Jason said.

  “What? Sandwiches is offensive? Really?” Dan said and then spun on Wayne. “Why didn’t you tell me man! I’ve been saying that line in the tavern since I got these things! No wonder the ladies aren’t trying to hear none of TheClaw’s mad game.”

  Dan then turned to Jason and bowed deeply saying, “Thank you Alligorical. I’ve been such a fool and you have saved me from my self!”

  Jason gave Dan what we had started calling “the look” and then turned to me. “I like this idea Alex, there are some things I would like to investigate as well. Naugha?”

  “Dan’s on his own for any early hour tavern runs. But I wanted to look around and see if there are any single quests out there that we can get. I’ll let you guys know what I find.”

  And with that, we all went our separate ways. We planned to get back online together the next day and get the new quest from Sir Kenyon.

  I headed off into the forest to work with Stan, and hoped I could recreate the success I had the day before.

  * * *

  “I’m hesitant to give praise lad, but you deserve it. I ain’t never seen anyone take to the shadows like you are doing now. Moving faster than me through this,” Stan told me as I sat in the room with the candle and moved the shadows around my body. I had successfully covered my head and my arms. It gave a slight cold feeling, but it was entirely bearable. Stan wanted to push me more though.

  “I want you to try for the whole body son. Get it from yer head to yer toes.”

  I reset the shadows to normal and then began again, concentrating on the shadows on my neck and quickly moving them over my head and then down my arms. I tried to focus on the shadows at my back but couldn’t feel them as well since I had a shirt on. My head, neck, and arms were bare. But my back was covered.

  “Common problem you are having right now lad. Don’t fret. You can feel the coldness on yer skin and that makes it easier to feel the shadows. Your back, not as much. Ye can try a trick moving the shadows from your neck down yer body and then wrap them around, but it ain’t as effective and takes longer,” Stan told me.

  “I’m not going to half-ass this. I either get it right, or I do it again,” I responded in a flat tone. I was deep in concentration.

  My eyes were closed, effectively in darkness with the living shadows over my face, so I couldn’t see Stan’s face when I responded. But his grunt sounded approving.

  Since I couldn’t feel the shadows against the skin on my back I tried to think about how to access the shadows properly. I had no problem with the ones on my neck and head, or the ones on my arms. But with my boots and pants on, I couldn’t feel them on that part of my body either.

  I thought for a few minutes, Stan being ever patient with me, and decided to try a different tact. Instead of reaching for the shadows against my whole body, I would feel for the ones I could and reach back deeper into those shadows to bring them forward.

  I started my breathing technique again and then focused on the shadows behind me, the ones I could feel. Then I began to reach back through the shadows, trying to feel the connection between the shadows I could feel and the ones deeper in the recesses of the room.

  All at once I was overwhelmed by the feeling. I wasn’t just feeling the shadows behind me but all of them in the room, and then those in the next room and moving further out. I could feel my presence moving out farther and farther.

  I lost all my concentration as Stan pushed me to the floor, and my focus came back to the singular candle in the room.

  “What the hell did you do that for? I was close Stan; I could feel the shadows. I mean so many of them. It was amazing!” I said while getting back to my knees.

  Stan walked up to me, eye to eye with him being so short. I’ve never seen this look on Stan. He looked genuinely afraid. “Lad, what you just did, you can’t never do that again boy. Ever.”

  “What? I was just reaching for the shadows like you told me.”

  “I don’t know how you did it lad, but you found the Connection. All light and all shadows, they a part of something greater. I can’t tell you where the light goes, don’t much care. But the Connection, that only takes you one place lad. The Dark. You go into the Dark boy, and there is a chance you don’t come out. Ever.”

  As I thought about what Stan was saying I recalled the experience I just had. I did have a desire to keep reaching out, further into the darkness of the shadows. I wasn’t even trying to wrap myself in them, I was just going towards them.

  “Ah, there’s the lantern of realization. Figgerin out what I’m sayin’ ain’t just the blabberin’ of an old man huh?”

  “It was so peaceful there. I wanted to go farther and farther.”

  “Ultimate darkness is death lad, don’t get more peaceful than that. Want you to promise me ya ain’t never gonna do that again lad.”

  I looked Stan square in the eyes and swore to him, “I pledge to you Stan, I will never do so again. You have my word as your student.”

  Stan rolled his eyes at my choice of words, but they seemed to satisfy him. He told me to get ready to try again, so I closed my eyes and began my deep breathing.

  “Now listen, I know I just told you not to do what you did. But that ain’t exactly what I was meaning. You figured out something some Blacksuits never learn. The depth of the shadows. And you can use that. But you gotta be smart about it. I want you to focus like you did before.”

  I slowed my breathing and closed my eyes and prepared to pull the shadows over my arms and head again, but Stan stopped me.

  “This time, just reach back from yer neck and feel the shadow there, don’t move none yet.”

  I did as he asked, nodding when I had my connection.

  “Now, listen carefully. Don’t do nothing till I finish speaking,” Stan said and I nodded my head again.

  “Reach back like ya done before, but this time only a couple inches, no more. When ya done that, I want you to focus from the top of your head down to the floor, dat der distance, don’t go further than yer head. Got it? Couple inches back, head to ground.”

  I nodded my head for the third time.

  “When I says, I want you to do that, then pull them shadows all the way around yer body fast. Ok, go!” Stan said emphatically.

  I followed his instructions as best I could. I might have gotten more than a couple of inches back from my body, but I was sure on the head to toe. And then with a mental yank, I pulled that tether around my body.

  “Well I’ll be a Griffon’s beak boy, you did it!” Stan yelled.

  I opened my eyes and looked down at my body. Indeed, I was one hundred percent wrapped in living shadow. I stood up and looked at myself closer. I moved around a bit and the shadows stayed close to my body, moving with me. This was awesome!

  Stan had told me early on during our training that he had an item he wore that allowed him to see anyone that was invisible. Didn’t matter how good my Conceal/Stealth was, Stan was always able to see me. So I was a little shocked when he turned in my general direction, but didn’t look right at me w
hen he spoke next.

  “Damnit lad, you shouldn’t have been able to do that so quickly. Like I dun told ya, there be some Blacksuits don’t never learn that trick. They get the shadows, but nothing with the speed you just showed.”

  I looked down again, and this time noticed that with the shadows I looked like I was wrapped in a full black suit, head to toe. Name made sense now.

  “Stan, I thought you told me you had an item that let you see anyone invisible. You aren’t looking at me. You’re close, but not looking directly at me.”

  “Ah lad, heard you get up and move around. But here is the best part about the shadows boy. This ain’t invisible like you used to. Invisibility warps the light around you so no one can see ya. Shadows doing the same thing lad, warping the light, just different. Ain’t but a few items in this land that are made to see that kind of thing. When you use your other skills to make you invisible, you warping the light like normal folk. But when you become a Blacksuit, even I can’t see ya lad.”

  This seemed like a totally unfair skill in the game. I mean a skill where only a few items, and those I figured had to be really high level items, could see through my invisible was a total game changer. This had to be something that was going to be nerfed by AltCon at some point. I hated when games gave skills to a Class, and then later decided it was unfair to everyone else and took them away, or made them less effective. That was what it meant to nerf a skill, and I guess I would just enjoy this one while I had it.

  Over the next two hours Stan had me practice with the shadows. He wanted me to get quicker with them, but he made me first focus on control. For the first hour I didn’t even wrap myself in a shadow again. Stan made me reach back and feel for the shadows, working on my depth and feel. Then when he felt I was using my control better he allowed me to start wrapping myself in the shadows.

  The goal, naturally, was to get me faster and faster with the shadows without losing control. And I grew in my skill leaps and bounds in those two hours. I was saddened to think I would be finishing with Stan soon and moving on.

  “Why the down look boy? You should be all smiles right now!”

  “I’m just thinking about how much I learned Stan, and how it’s going to suck moving on to someone different.”

  Stan just laughed at me and said, “Oh boy, you ain’t even close to being done wit me! You got ya a Blacksuit, sure, but you only know how to grab them shadows sittin’ in a room filled wit ‘em! What you gonna do when there ain’t no shadows like this? Or when you trying to do so while walking? Or runnin’? Oh no boy, you ain’t done with me. Yer trainin’ gonna go on for a while yet.”

  That made me smile. I admit that training with Stan at first was a bit tedious, but seeing the results were amazing. And I was going to jump into the next part of this training with everything I had.

  I promised to return the next day and wrapped my self in the shadows one last time before walking out Stan’s front doors and past the guardians of his home. Which I might note were still all Red to me.

  * * *

  September 3rd, 2043

  When I logged in the next day I was quick to check my character. Indeed, there had been a new skill added to my character:

  I wasn’t sure what that meant at first, the addition to my Conceal and Stealth. If what Stan said was true, then with the shadows I was using a totally different skill set than I was with Conceal and Stealth. Perhaps by learning the Blacksuit, I had alternately also modified my Conceal and Stealth skills. I checked that part of my character and saw that I was on the right track. The training with Stan had already given me a +10 in Conceal and Stealth, and with Blacksuit added to my repertoire, I was now at +20 total for each.

  At level 13 I should have been moving between 60 and 65 percent of normal speed. Since we had just got level 13, my skills were still at 60, as I hadn’t had a chance to practice them yet. As they increased through the level, going from 60 to 65, I should be moving at that percentage of speed. But with my bonus I was moving at what felt like 80 percent. This was awesome, since that meant I would be moving at 100 percent at level 16, instead of waiting for level 20. My Blacksuit movement was equal to that of my Conceal/Stealth speed as well. Unfortunately, one couldn’t move faster than 100 percent without a movement speed buff, which Dan would get at some point, but still hadn’t.

  Speaking of Dan, I saw him log in at the square next to me. I still giggled a bit every time I saw his furry bunny legs. But you couldn’t deny the benefit of the item.

  “Sup homey. You ready to rock it today. We gonna be the muscle on this run,” Dan said to me.

  Wayne, who had popped in behind Dan, thunked his war hammer against the ground, which made Dan jump a bit. “The only muscle going on this trip is the guy with the hammer, tree hugger.”

  “Be nice Wayne or I’m going to get Jason talking about British rock bands again. And you know I have just enough knowledge to make him go ape shit.”

  Earlier in the week, Dan had made an off comment about a band that I had never heard of, and how they represented everything wrong with music. Apparently they were legendary in Britain, where our companion Jason had spent some formidable years. The resulting tirade went on for a good 15 minutes. Jason missed two heals on Wayne while tearing into Dan.

  “I’ll burn down your house. Both of them,” Wayne replied.

  “Damn. Should have kept the second one secret!”

  Jason came strolling down the street about that time and Wayne shot Dan a very stern look, to which Dan put his hands up in surrender.

  “I miss anything?” Jason asked

  “Well, Wayne and I were…” Dan began to say.

  “Grouping up so we could go get that quest. Let’s get this started,” I said interrupting Dan and likely saving his life. And his houses.

  After getting the group formed, we went to Sir Kenyon and I accepted the quest. Sir Kenyon nodded at us and reached into his jerkin.

  “Bring this scroll to the wagon master leaving from the gate. He will advise you of the route and when he will be leaving. I think it is soon, so I wouldn’t tally.”

  I took the scroll and we were wrapped in the golden glow that informed us we had accepted a quest. I looked at the quest dialogue in my inventory screen and saw there was a time limit on the first part of the quest. We only had 30 minutes to get to the wagon master.

  “Glad we didn’t take this yesterday. With this time limit we wouldn’t have had any choice but to do the quest, and who knows how long it will take. And I could have missed out on this amazing antique ottoman I found that works with almost anything! Dan if you ever want me to design one of your places, let me know. I would do amazing things, get you some of that ‘tail’ you keep talking about, but in the real world.”

  “Not much you can do with bean bags that I haven’t already come up with Allirama. But let me think about it!”

  The two went back and forth as we continued toward the front gate. Dan insisting that bean bags were universal for all furniture, to include coffee tables, and Jason trying to get Dan to see reason. Guess who lost that fight?

  * * *

  We were to be security on this wagon run, and would be riding in the two middle wagons of a four wagon team. I grouped up with Dan in one wagon, and Jason and Wayne went in the other. I thought it important to keep our Tank and Healer together, and the team all agreed. Plus this kept Dan away from Jason, stopping Jason’s descent into insanity.

  Dan and I were lounging in the back of the wagon, legs hanging over the side, and enjoying the scenery as we traveled.

  “So what do you think of the game Alex?” Dan asked out of nowhere.

  “I love it man, you know that. Haven’t had this much fun in a long time. You know, usually when I get in a game I am solely there to be a merchant, make some money. This is the first time, in a really long time, that I’ve been in a game for the purpose of solely playing.”

  “Right, but you are getting paid too.”

  “Well sure I
am. We aren’t all independently wealthy,” I laughed while saying to Dan. “But this may be the best job ever.”

  “And what do you think of the game play? Have you encountered any problems? Seen anything weird?”

  This was very out of character for Dan. He was making sense. I wondered where this was coming from.

  “Well, other than popping in that first day out in the forest, and my log in and log out seeming to be slightly out of whack, I don’t think so. But AltCon got my IT report on that and they seem to be addressing it. My log point is still slightly different, but negligible.” I certainly wasn’t going to tell Dan about my secret quest and had decided to continue keeping my messed up Chance stat from the guys. It just didn’t feel like the right time yet.

  Dan nodded thoughtfully. Another first I was seeing. Dan seeming to think on something seriously.

  “And what do you think of AltCon as a whole? You know, the company, their products?”

  “I don’t have any feelings about them one way or another, AltCon is just a company. They seem to be on the ball with this new VR system, and the RACs are top rate, but I’m sure someone will come up with something better down the line. Who knows?”

  Dan nodded his head again. Then was quite a for a few moments before muttering, “Interesting.”

  “What’s interesting Dan?”

  “Oh, I was just thinking about dandelions bro. What an ingenious campaign some mastermind dandelion in the depth of the earth came up with to get people to think they were magical, and convinced them to propagate the species further by blowing the seeds around for “wishes,” guaranteeing the continuance of the genetic line. And it’s just a weed. Oh, and contact on the right side.”

  “What? where?” I said while moving out of the back of our wagon.