VEIL Online - Book 1

by Cressman, John

  “You’re such a party pooper,” she teased.

  “Let’s see what the river looks like once we get to it,” he told her.

  They had walked another few miles when Luna hissed. “Dragon comes!”

  Charlena must have seen his expression. “What?!”

  “Luna just said the dragon is coming,” he told her. “Quick, into the trees.”

  The two of them dashed into the trees and tried to find a place to hide. Charlena found a rock outcropping surrounded on the sides by thick pine trees. The three of them rushed over and hid underneath. Then they waited.

  It was several minutes before he caught sight of it. The dragon, black as night, was gliding through the air near the mountain maybe 500 or 600 feet above them. Even from such a height the thing looked gigantic and Jace wondered how big it really was.

  And then, as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. They watched as it turned west and flew off into the distance.

  “It’s enormous,” Charlena whispered in a trembling voice. As it flew off to the west, she added. “Please tell me that thing isn’t heading for Airedale.”

  Jace had the same thought. After flying west for what appeared to be several miles, the dragon turned around and headed back. It flew over their position without noticing them and then disappeared around the mountainside.

  They waited for five minutes, then ten, and finally Luna looked at them. “Dragon gone.”

  Charlena looked over at him. “What was it doing?”

  “It was scouting,” he told her. “Looking for incoming players.”

  “Why?”

  “So, it can kill them in small groups before they can form the raid.”

  She looked at him. “How do you know?”

  Jace smiled. “It’s what I would do.”

  Chapter 45

  Once the dragon was gone, they quickly made their way back to the road and down the mountain. As they descended the mountain, the temperature became more moderate. Jace was very happy for the change. He’d had about enough of wintery temperatures for a while.

  When they reached the bottom of the mountain, it was dark. Charlena had to log off for the evening. Tomorrow was Monday, and she had classes. She kissed him good night, set her auto-follow and logged off.

  Alone once more, Jace set off down the road. He wasn’t sure how soon the higher level monsters would start showing up. He was still fairly close to Skystead but given the troll he’d already encountered higher level creatures could be anywhere.

  Jace set a normal walking pace with Luna beside him. Even with the Cat-Vision, he trusted Luna’s instincts more than his sight. Her superior hearing and sense of smell would hopefully gain him the edge he needed to avoid any high level monsters.

  They travelled west through the night until the sun rose behind them. The night had been chilly but not nearly as cold as the mountain. Just before dawn, the road had run parallel to one of the rivers he remembered from the map.

  He took the time to catch some fish. They were larger than the ones he’d caught in Sinking Springs and he thought they might be trout. Jace risked a fire to cook them, but set Luna to watch for enemies once she ate her trout.

  After his breakfast, Jace continued along the river road. Distances had been hard to judge on the map, but he guessed he had at least a day before reaching the crossroads and then another two days to Airedale. As long as he didn’t run into any monsters, he should make good time.

  As if the game had read his mind, Luna suddenly stopped and crouched low. “Monster.”

  Jace reacted instantly, ducking low and going into Stealth. “Which way?”

  “Road,” she sent back.

  Jace scanned the area for hiding places. To his right the earth dropped away about 10 feet away to the shore of the river. They could try to hide there, but if the creature looked over the lip, they’d be in plain site. To his left was the ground sloped up and was littered with trees and other foliage. He saw a thicket twenty yards up the slope that looked like it would make a suitable hiding spot. “This way.”

  The three of them ran to the thicket and ducked down. At least, that’s what Jace had planned. Charlena just stood there next to him. Darn that auto-follow. He tried laying down, but she continued to stand.

  He tried to get Charlena to duck or lay down but nothing he did worked. Then he heard large footfalls. Whatever was coming closer was big. Very big. Was that a giant? He needed to work quickly.

  Looking around, Jace ripped some branches from nearby trees and began stuffing them into the elf’s outfit and various angles. He manipulated her until she stood behind a large oak next to the thicket.

  Then he ducked down with Luna and waited, praying whatever was coming wouldn’t take notice of the leaf-covered elf.

  Over the next two minutes, the footsteps became louder. Finally, a shape came into sight. The thing was humanoid but was at least ten feet tall. It had thick leathery skin that was a blotchy olive green. The thing dressed in shabby furs and carried a huge club. Judging by the size of that club, Jace guessed it would take him out with one swing. Jace recognized it from his previous play experience. It was an ogre.

  Ogres were stupid but powerful. They were constantly hungry and enjoyed smashing and eating anything they came across. Examining it in his HUD, Jace could see this ogre was level 15 - strong enough to squash him like a bug.

  Forest Ogre

  Level: 15

  The ogre was seemingly out for a stroll and didn’t seem to be particularly alert. At one point, it stopped and dug into his nose with a finger. It searched enthusiastically for almost a full minute before removing the finger and wiping it on its furs. Then the ogre resumed its walk as if it had never stopped.

  When it reached the spot where his group had run off the road, the ogre paused. It moved its head around and Jace realized it was sniffing the air. Oh shoot! Could it smell them? If so, they were totally screwed. With Charlena in auto-follow, they couldn’t hide. The ogre’s large stride would make it impossible to outrun.

  Jace watched the ogre as it continued to sniff the air, walking around in circles. It did this for several minutes before finally turning towards them.

  It sniffed the air in their direction, then took a step forward. It sniffed some more and took another step.

  Feeling panic rising, Jace looked around for any way out, but there was nowhere to go at this point. He went through his abilities, but nothing he could do would help them against such a powerful foe. He couldn’t even sacrifice himself for Charlena since she would auto-follow him to her doom.

  As the ogre took another step towards them, he looked to Luna. “This might be it.”

  Luna was cowering but spared him a sad look.

  Suddenly an idea struck him. “Luna, I want you to grow big and then run past the ogre as fast as you can. Run to the riverbank and then turn back the way we came as long as you can. Can you do that?”

  Luna considered for a moment. When she answered, her voice was firm. “Yes.”

  She scrambled out from behind the thicket and the sound caught the ogre’s attention. The thing squinted their way and suddenly there was a lion-sized cat in front of the thicket.

  The ogre’s face split into a wicked grin and slapped its club into its meaty palm. “Kitty!”

  At that moment, Luna bolted down towards the trail. The ogre gave a grunt of surprise as the giant cat went past, just out of reach of its enormous club. “Kitty come back!”

  The ogre turned and barreled after Luna who continued down the embankment to the river where Jace lost sight of her. He waited a moment longer until the ogre hopped down the embankment and then he ran as fast as he could up the slope, making sure Charlena was following.

  Breathing heavily, they made it to the top of the embankment. He looked down but couldn’t see the ogre which hopefully meant it couldn’t see him either.

  From far below, he heard the ogre calling out. “Kitty! Where are you kitty?”

  Jace r
aced along the top of the slope the way the ogre had come. He looked back constantly to make sure Charlena was keeping up and not running into trees. Keeping a fast pace, he wanted to put as much distance as possible between them and the ogre.

  His Cat-Vision had winked out a few seconds after Luna made it down to the river, meaning her mana had run out and disappeared. He didn’t think the ogre had seen her disappear and there was no telling how long the ogre would look for her. Jace just knew they needed to be far, far away from the ogre when it stopped looking.

  They continued as fast as they could without the benefit of the Cat-Vision. It was early morning, but the thick tree cover meant the light that filtered down wasn’t giving him much to see by. Jace kept the pace as fast as he could for as long as he could.

  Pausing when he had a quarter of his Stamina left, he waited for it to regenerate. He looked back and listened to make sure they weren’t being followed. When he didn’t see or hear anything, he sat down.

  For the moment, it appeared they were out of danger. He used the opportunity to re-summon Luna. He took off his leather bracer and bit down on it while he summoned her so he wouldn’t accidentally cry out when the pain began.

  In a few minutes, Luna was back and walked over to rub against his leg. “Ogre gone?”

  “Yes,” he told her. “Ogre is gone. You did a great job!”

  The little cat gave him a smug, satisfied look.

  While he waited for his stamina to regenerate, he removed the branches from Charlena. As he did, he imagined what she would think if she logged in and saw herself like that. He chuckled to himself as he pictured the look on her face.

  Soon his stamina was back to full and he began his jog/walk routine. He knew jogging would attract attention. On the other hand, he didn’t want the ogre picking up their scent and following them. He didn’t think the Luna trick would work twice.

  He continued to jog and walk. The slope they’d been traveling on gradually leveled out. The further they moved from the mountains, the flatter the terrain became. That made traveling easier. It would also make spotting them easier and hiding more difficult.

  They continued to move all morning and into the afternoon, eventually moving back to the road along the river. They hadn’t run into anything else other than the normal wildlife one would expect in a forest.

  It was late afternoon when he heard a voice behind him. “How are we doing?”

  He stopped and turned only to have Charlena, who had kept walking, plow right into him. They went down, bodies tangled together with her on top. She smiled down at him. “Just like old times.”

  “Almost, except we’re wearing clothes,” he replied and leaned up and kissed her. She returned the kiss for a long time before finally the awkwardness of their positions forced her to sit up.

  Charlena looked around and spotted the river. “How far did you make it?”

  Jace looked around. “Honestly, I have no idea. We ran into a problem. A big problem.”

  “A big problem?” Charlena asked with concern.

  “We ran into an ogre,” he told her. “A level 15 ogre.”

  “I take it that’s bad,” she said blankly.

  Jace remembered she was still new to the game and wasn’t familiar with the creatures or the level differences like he was. “An ogre has a tough skin that basically acts as armor. It also carried a large club that could likely kill either of us in one hit. And it probably has at least 200 health.”

  “Oh,” she said with a deadpan face. “In other words, a big problem. Why didn’t you just say that?” She winked at him. Then her face became serious. “But you got away, right?”

  “I think so,” he grinned. “But it had a decent sense of smell. I don’t know if it’s enough for it to track us. I also don’t know where its lair is. It may come this way just to get home.”

  “Is there some other way we can go to avoid it?”

  “I don’t think so. If I remember your map, we have to follow this until the crossroads.”

  “Could we try to cut across?”

  Jace thought about it, trying to picture the map in his head. “No, we’re on the fastest way right now. We could walk out a few miles and run a parallel course, but then we risk getting lost.”

  “So, we have to stay on the river road?”

  “Yes, at least until we reach the other road.”

  “What does that mean for us?” she asked.

  “It means we’re going to need to be on guard all the time,” he told her. “If that thing catches us, we’re as good as dead.”

  Chapter 46

  While there was still daylight, Jace asked Luna to retrace their trail and let him know if the ogre was following them. “Run until dark. If you find it, let me know. Either way, I will dismiss you and re-summon you back here with us. Can you do that?”

  Luna was getting chin rubs from Charlena and didn’t answer right away. Finally, Charlena stopped scratching his familiar, and the cat looked at him with a content expression. “Yes.”

  Rubbing her head up against Charlena’s leg, Luna scurried off the way they had come.

  “Where’d she go?” Charlena asked at the cat’s abrupt disappearance.

  “I sent her back along the trail to see if the ogre is following us,” he told her.

  Charlena brow furrowed. “Do you think it really will come after us?”

  “I don’t know,” Jace shrugged. “But I would rather know if it is coming.”

  “That makes sense,” she said. “Do we wait here until she returns?”

  “No. We keep moving. When it gets dark in a few hours, I’ll dismiss her and re-summon her.”

  “Oh,” she said thoughtfully. “That’s a pretty good idea.”

  “Always the tone of surprise,” he grinned.

  She elbowed him playfully, then leaned in and kissed him. After they broke apart, Jace took her hand, and they started down the road.

  “Oh,” she said suddenly. “I forgot to tell you! I started making some calls today to the hospitals, telling them I was Luna Burton.”

  Jace perked up. “Did you find out anything?”

  Her face fell a little. “No. And I didn’t get to make as many calls as I wanted because there were other students around.”

  “That’s okay,” he told her. “Just do a few a day.”

  “But we need to find your body.”

  “We will,” he said soothingly. “But I don’t want you getting in any more trouble. If you go to jail, then what.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she said grudgingly.

  They walked until nearly dark, talking about their shared interests. He enjoyed having her to talk to and not for the first time, he wished he had met her in real life. Assuming they found his body, would she still like the real him? Would they get together in real life?

  Could he even get together with her in real life? Assuming he was in a coma in a medical pod, how badly was he hurt? He seemed to be cognitively okay. At least, he hadn’t noticed any issues. Would he notice?

  And how was he physically? Were things broken? Could he walk? Was he paralyzed? The last one was the most terrifying. The thought of being trapped in a non-working body was what he feared the most.

  If he had been deformed, crippled or paralyzed, would Charlena want to be with him? Would he want to be within anyone under those circumstances? He didn’t want to be a burden on anyone, least of all Charlena.

  He was getting ahead of himself. He still needed to get to the capitol. Once he got there, he still had to figure out a way to get into the castle and find the Help Desk. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, but he was confident he could figure something out.

  In the middle of his thoughts, Jace heard an urgent voice in his head. “Ogre coming!”

  Your familiar has been banished.

  “Oh shoot,” Jace said aloud.

  “What?”

  “The ogre is coming,” he told her. “And I think it just killed Luna.”

  Charlena’s eyes
went wide. “It what?!”

  Jace sat down on the ground.

  “What are you…” Charlena started but then realized what he was doing. “You’re summoning her back.”

  Jace didn’t reply, but instead began the summoning process. He poured all of his mana and the health he could into her and it a moment she appeared again.

  “Bad ogre!” she snipped as she appeared.

  He scratched her head. “Brave little cat. Did the ogre kill you or did you use your big form?”

  “Ogre kill,” she said. “Throw rock.”

  “It threw a rock?”

  “Big rock,” Luna clarified.

  Jace nodded grimly. He remembered that ogres could pick up large rocks and hurl them to devastating effect. Being hit by one was almost as bad as being hit by its club.

  “What’s going on?” Charlena demanded. “You know I can’t understand her.”

  “She found the ogre and it must have seen her and it threw a large rock at her and killed her,” he told her.

  “You poor kitty,” Charlena said, bending down to give Luna some chin scratches. “How far away is it?”

  The ogre was moving fast, that much was obvious. Jace had been alternating between jogging and walking all day, and yet the creature had kept pace with them. It couldn’t be more than a few hours behind them. Would it stop for the night? Or would it keep coming? How long could they stay ahead of it?

  Jace looked to the river. The current was flowing fairly quickly, and he remembered back to Charlena’s comment about rafting. He thought about it. If they built a raft, and rode it down the river, they wouldn’t expend any Stamina. The river might also help mask their scent and confuse the ogre.

  “Want to go whitewater rafting?” he asked her.

  After explaining the idea to her, she logged off to search the internet on how to make a raft. Neither of them built one before and they wanted to make a raft that wouldn’t sink or fall apart while they were in the middle of the river.

  Jace sent Luna to scout down the trail to give them some advance warning in case the ogre caught up to them. Once she was in place, he took out the axe they’d looted from the orcs and began chopping trees. Almost immediately he received a system message.