by Dante Doom
"I guess," Van whispered. "I just wish it was different."
"You say that only because you don't know what's waiting for you past this. What if the best part of your life is waiting for you outside of this game? What if you took all of this effort and energy that you put into this virtual world and applied it to the real world? Van, I've seen you do some incredible things in this game. I know you can do something great outside."
"You really think so?" Van asked.
"I know so," Sang replied. "You've never cared about the real world because there was a better option, but now it's the only option. You have no choice but to care, but the good news is that you have what it takes."
Van slowly nodded. "I really hope so, Sang. I really hope so."
7
Van paced back and forth as he looked out from behind the steel gate. He could count at least four other gates inside of the coliseum, and each gate would hold a separate team. There would be five teams all competing in a team deathmatch known as The Meanest Mother. The rules were exceptionally simple: the last team standing would go on to the next match. Those who lost would be ejected from the fight.
"I'm willing to bet we'll be fighting mostly warrior types," Kylian said. "So I say we let the wizard stay invisible for the duration of the melee, until it's all over."
"I'm more effective during an actual fight," Fredlin replied.
Van turned to face his team. Everyone had been transported behind the cage and given the simple rules for the fight. It would only be a few minutes more until the gates would all slide open and 25 players would pour out into the arena.
"I’m not so sure, Fredlin," Van said. "If you take a stray arrow or a stealth type gets on you, you're dead. If you hold off until the end of the fight, you'll have a better chance of winning it for us."
"Regeneration's been disabled," Sang said. "So that means no one is healing without a cleric."
"Like the clerics won't be the first to die," Sahara said. "I mean, the moment a cleric is pointed out, everyone is going to be on top of them."
"The order of kills are simple," Van said. "Clerics die first, then the wizards, then the ranger guys, and finally the warriors."
"So, we gotta keep you alive, Fredlin," Kylian said. "They'll all be too busy fighting each other to notice that only four of us came out of the gate."
"Agreed," Sang said. "You turn invisible and wait until there are only a few of them left. Best case scenario, you show up when we outnumber out opponents – "
"Worst case scenario is that I'm the only one left against a freaking tank," Fredlin grumbled.
"Hey," Sahara said, "you were the one who wanted to play the wizard."
A booming voice outside shouted, "Let the fight commence!"
"Well, get to it!" Van shouted as the gate began to slide open. Fredlin, still grumbling to himself, waved his hands, turning himself invisible.
"Alright, we'll try to stay tightly packed together," Van said. "Make them come to us!" Everyone followed after their leader as he walked out into the coliseum. The gates were all open and dozens of players were pouring out of the waiting areas.
The battle was absolute chaos. Arrows and spells flew through the air, and Van could see that very few teams had any semblance of cohesion. Archers were shooting at whoever was closest, warriors were clashing against one another, and as they had predicted, anyone with healing powers was killed immediately.
Sang snapped off a few arrows, but the team stayed together in a closely knit formation. Kylian and Van were holding the front, Sahara was at the rear and in the middle was Sang. This formation was like a two-pronged fork and would help them stay alive.
Kylian brandished his axes and growled, "Come on! Who wants to fight me!" His taunt was successful, as three players – all wearing plate mail and armed with spears – came charging towards him.
Sang fired arrows at the charging foes, striking several of them for 50 damage apiece, but this did nothing to slow them down.
"Watch my back!" Van shouted to Sahara as he activated his Berserk power. Energy surged through his body as he swung his warhammer straight at the first player who came within range. Kylian swung his axe at the same time, aiming for the oncoming spear and managing to chop the tip of the spear off before it made contact with Van's chest. Van brought his warhammer down with the full fury of a berserker and watched in satisfaction as the words 300 damage floated above the spearman's head.
"Crap!" The spearman shouted as he stumbled back, and he turned to run but two players had jumped him from behind and quickly stabbed him to death with their knives. The other two spearmen tried to fight against Van, but with four players fighting against them, they didn't stand a chance.
Van cheered triumphantly for a moment before realizing that, now that two men were down, two more were coming straight for him. They were armed with twin daggers and were easily evading the hailstorms of arrows coming from all directions. Van grunted in pain as he felt a crossbow bolt land directly between his shoulder blades. 100 damage! greeted him. A few more of those and he'd be out.
"I thought I said, 'watch my back'!" Van shouted to Sahara.
"I'm trying!" Sahara grunted, but Van couldn't glance behind him to see what was going on; it sounded like Sahara was in a fight with someone, of course.
"Heads up!" Kylian called out as he spun his twin axes and moved toward the advancing players, hacking up and down.
Van pressed forward in a charge, feeling more pain as two arrows struck him from the back. 250 damage! floated above him, but he didn't have time to think about it. Instead, he rushed one of the knife-wielding players and swung his hammer down hard. It was no use, however, as the word Dodge greeted him. The knifer, a rogue from the way he was dressed in leather, leaped to the side of Van's hammer and sank his blade right into Van's hamstring.
"Gaaah!" Van shouted as he saw the words Leg Injury ½ Speed hover in front of him. Fortunately, his berserk power allowed him to ignore all of the effects of wounds at least temporarily, and it seemed that this attack hadn't dealt any immediate damage.
"Hahahah, kill 'em!" the rogue triumphantly shouted.
Van glanced over to see that Kylian was busy trying to pin down the other rogue, but he wasn't nearly fast enough. He held up the haft of his hammer to block another blow from the rogue; the steel weapons clattered loudly against one another.
"This strategy isn't working!" Kylian grunted.
"Sang, a little help?" Van called out as he swung his hammer low, to try and knock the rogue off of his feet. The rogue flipped over Van's head and threw a dagger right into his shoulder at the same time. 50 damage floated above Van's head. His health was seriously starting to drop, and if they kept this up, he'd be dead in no time.
"Sang!" Van shouted as he spun around to face this foe, only to realize that Sang was lying on the ground, dead. "Crap! Sahara! I thought you were protecting her!"
"Trying… sir!" Sahara said as she wrestled against a large player who had grabbed her by the back of the head and was trying to pin her to the ground.
"This is a mess!" Van shouted to Kylian, who was now surrounded by four other players, all of whom were armed with halberds and axes.
"What? I thought things were going just fine!" Kylian shouted before an axe crashed into his skull, killing him instantly.
"Arrrgh!" Van yelled as he blocked the rogue's perpetual knife attacks against him. The entire area had descended into chaos now, and he could barely keep up with what was going on around him. People were charging at him, only to be shot down by archers, who were in turn attacked by other players. It was a nightmare, and Van had no idea if they were going to win this one. He had to think quickly, though. He took a deep breath and feinted swinging his weapon at the rogue, who quickly leapt back, giving Van just enough time to rush to where Sahara was still struggling.
"Hahahaha! I'm gonna win this one!" the hulking monstrosity of a man said as he tried to strangle Sahara. No one was paying them any attention
– probably because they were on the ground.
Van let out a berserker roar and swung his hammer like a golf club, crashing it right into the mouth of the man trying to kill Sahara. Critical Hit 500 damage! floated above the man's face as his head made a sickening crunch of a sound. He slumped to the ground, dead.
"I'm staying under here!" Sahara announced as she grabbed his body and rolled it over herself so that she was concealed. "Just stay alive!"
Van opened his mouth to call her a coward, but realized her strategy was brilliant. The longer each player stayed alive, the bigger a chance they had of winning this thing. Another arrow nailed him in the arm and he grunted as he took 15 damage. He turned then to see that there was a woman standing far off in the distance, armed with a bow. She had cleverly stayed back from all of the fighting and was on the other side of the melee. As soon as Van made eye contact with her, she balked.
"Grahhhhh!" Van screamed at the top of his lungs as he charged straight toward the archer. She panicked and fired more arrows at him, but thanks to his Berserker Charge special ability, he was immune to any damage he took while using the charge action. He raised his hammer high and smashed it down on her before she could leap out of the way, killing her instantly.
"Whew!" Van sighed as he spun around to see that there were only eight people left. They had gathered in the center of the arena and were brutally attacking one another. Van waited for a few minutes as they killed one another off. Eventually, three came out of the fray victorious. They all wore the exact same sort of blue ribbon around their arms. They must be on a single team, he realized. They were all fighters, from the looks of it.
"Crap," Van said when one of the shorter players, a woman wielding a morningstar, pointed at him. They all huddled together and then slowly advanced towards him, weapons at the ready.
Van glanced around, but there was no one else alive except for him. Was Sahara still hiding underneath of that corpse? He hoped that she was.
"Come over here and die!" Van shouted as he raised his hammer high. "I have killed many of you and I will continue to kill even more!" This bluff did nothing to dissuade the three fighters as they cautiously approached him.
"Ha!" cried a triumphant voice in the distance. Van glanced over to see that Fredlin was now visible, and was on the opposite side of the enemy team. "Now, I will cast my most powerful fireball spell!" he shouted as he raised his hands.
"Crap!" one of the players shouted, "A wizard!"
This was the perfect moment, Van realized, and so while Fredlin distracted them, he rushed the three with his hammer at the ready. Two of the other players, the men, decided to run after Fredlin, leaving their companion behind. Van was much larger than the woman wielding a Morningstar, however, and she was already severely damaged from all of the fighting. She tried to stand her ground and fight against him, but she didn't have a chance. With a single blow, Van was able to drop her.
"Take that, fiend!" Fredlin yelled as he cast his flash spell, causing bright lights to emit from his fingers. The flash of light struck both of the advancing fighters and they paused, screaming in agony as they dropped their weapons.
While it had been no fireball spell, it would do. Van rushed up behind them and began to attack them with his hammer, smashing the largest one in the back of his head and dealing 200 damage. This dropped him to his knees, but he was still alive. Unable to see, the other player spun around towards Van and fumbled about, grabbing a hold of the haft of Van's weapon. At that exact moment, the words Your Rage Has Worn Off and You are Exhausted appeared in Van's field of vision, and he felt his muscles grow tired and weak. He could barely hold onto his own weapon as he tried to wrestle for control.
"Need help!" Van shouted to Fredlin.
"What am I supposed to do? I used my strongest spell!" Fredlin shouted back.
"Why do wizards suck so much?" Van yelled in exasperation as he pulled back as hard as he could on his warhammer. The motion pushed the other player to pull back, too, and at the last moment, Van let go of the hammer, causing his foe to fall backwards. He drew his hand axe that he kept on his side and charged to finish off his foe, but felt a surge of pain run through his leg. The injury wouldn't let him move forward at anything like a fast pace.
The player that Van had nailed in the back of the head stood up and shook himself. "Arrrrgh!" he screamed as the word Enraged popped up above his head.
"Ah, great," Van muttered as the berserker charged him and began savagely punching him with his bare hands. Van tried to block the blows, but the fatigue from losing his own Berserk state was slowing him down too much. The words Nonlethal damage incurred: 200 appeared above his head and he fell to the ground, unable to move. Fortunately, a player attacking without martial arts training only dealt nonlethal damage, meaning that he wouldn't be killed no matter how much damage he took. However, he had been knocked down and would now be unable to move until the nonlethal damage healed, over time.
"Kill the wizard – this guy's out!" the berserker said as he grabbed the warhammer from the other player.
"Stay back!" Fredlin shouted as he raised his hands and slowly backed away from the two. "I am a highly trained wizard with amazing powers! Powers you have never heretofore seen!"
"Yeah, sure," the berserker said as he raised his hammer high and charged at Fredlin. In the midst of rushing forward, though, he suddenly stopped moving and grabbed his stomach, gasping for air. Van could see a long blade sticking out of his back.
"Ha!" Sahara shouted triumphantly as she shoved the berserker off of her weapon. "Now that was one well-used invisibility spell!" She looked over at Van. "I told your dumb ass to hide."
"My bad," Van chuckled, genuinely surprised at Sahara's ingenuity. He hadn't expected this at all.
The single remaining player took one look at Sahara's health bar and shook his head. "Aw, man, I'm not winning this one." And with that, he logged out.
"Did we really win this one?" Van groaned. He couldn't believe it. They'd actually managed to pull it off and win the game.
"Congratulations, players!" said an ethereal voice. "You have won the challenge! Your team gets to move on to the next round! At this time, we are suspending the tournament until tomorrow, as Sleep Time is upon us. Log back in at 8:00 am EST sharp."
"I can't wait for tomorrow!" Sahara said.
"I can't either," Van muttered as he closed his eyes. "Hopefully, we'll be able to finish everything tomorrow. For good."
Sang sat in the silence of her bedroom. A plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes was in front of her, but she didn't particularly feel like eating. Instead, she just sat at her desk and stared forward. That tournament had been exciting, but when she had been killed, she'd felt a real panic. For a moment, she'd thought that they would lose and it would all have been for nothing. Yet, somehow Van had chosen the right people for the job. Time and time again, he had proven his ability to manage and recruit the best talent. They'd survived to move on to the next challenge.
There was a thumping at her door, causing her to jump to her feet. The thumping was frantic.
"Coming!" Sang said as she grabbed the door and swung it open. Neil was sitting in a wheelchair in front of her, a scowl on his face.
"Normally, I just kick the door open and announce I'm here," he grumbled, "but as you can see, I'm a little less than mobile right now."
"Neil?" Sang gasped. "You're alive?"
"Of course, I'm alive," Neil said. "There's no way in hell I'm dying before that nerd of yours does his job."
"I thought you were in critical condition!" Sang said, shaking her head.
"That's what I made the orderly tell everyone," Neil replied as he wheeled himself into her room. He groaned and stood up then, staggering over to Sang's bed, where he plopped down. "Look here," he said as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "Something's bugging me and I can't quite put my finger on it."
"So you weren't in critical condition?" Sang asked, still unsure if Neil should be out and
about. He still looked pretty injured to her.
"Well, I was at one point, but I've got things to handle," Neil said as he took a drag of his cigarette. "Mainly, that guy who shot himself. Been driving me crazy. Why? Why the hell would Draco use an operative, only to have him just kill himself in front of us?"
"Don't make me think about it," Sang said as she sat on the chair across from her bed. "That was too horrible."
"Well, I start digging on this guy, right? Started looking up some information… and you'll never guess what I found," Neil said with a wicked grin.
"What?"
"This lunatic had no prior military service aside from working as an MP here," Neil said. "Someone set him up with a ton of false credentials. I did some searches and found out this fellow was actually in prison for an aggravated assault. His lawyer tried to prove him bonkers, but the court wasn't feeling it, so they sentenced him anyway. But from everything that I've read, it seems he had a history of mental illness. Severe hallucinations, schizophrenia, etc."
"Someone gave him false military credentials?" Sang asked. "Who in the hell would do that? Why?"
"It's gotta be a leak," Neil said as he leaned forward. "There's someone in this place that's been leaking information to the higher-ups at Draco. It's gotta be. When we, uh, politely questioned the senator, all of the information that he gave us had nothing to do with our operations. He didn't know anything about the specifics that we were planning, but he had been given orders to stop this at all costs."
"Hmmm," Sang said as she ran her hand through her hair. A leak? "That would make some level of sense, but who could it be?"
"No idea, but then a thought occurred to me," Neil continued as he finished his cigarette and flicked the butt onto her pristine floor. She wanted to yell at him for it, but didn’t have the heart. She was just glad to see that he was still alive. "What if we could lure this mole into revealing himself?"
"How?" Sang asked.
