“Altherite,” Eveck told Ethan as Kyle showed off his find. “It’s not super rare, but almost everything that gets found is quickly bought up by the spellsmiths, so it goes for a good price. Some of the temples also like it because they believe it has holy properties, and I hear monks like to shape and grow it.”
“So, Eveck, you don’t find it odd that the forest moves around and contains random pieces of treasure? Doesn’t that seem unreal to you?” Kyle asked as he put the crystals away. There was a curious look on his face as he studied the NPC guide.
Eveck shrugged indifferently. “That’s just the way it has always been. These lands are old beyond counting. Obviously, we Aknii are not the first people to settle along the edge of the forest. You’d have to find a scholar of such things if you wanted to learn more about the nature of these ruins.”
Michael had a more practical question for the guide. “Do you think we should head back now?”
Eveck nodded. “For a first expedition, this was a great success. You haven’t gotten rich, but you earned back my price and you also won’t go hungry for a few days. Going farther into the forest would be pushing our luck. If you want to do more exploring, you can do it tomorrow or the next day.”
Bowing to the greater experience of their guide, everyone agreed to head back. Eveck pulled out the compass he’d shown them earlier, spun around a few times, and headed off in a completely different direction than they’d come from.
“Are you sure this is the right way?” Kyle asked as they followed Eveck.
Eveck chuckled in amusement and kept walking. “Yes, the first thing a guide learns out here is that the compass is king. The forest can move around you, so you can’t trust your eyes or gut, but you can trust a good crystal compass to get you home every time.”
After several long hours of hiking that failed to bring them noticeably closer to the city, the players began to doubt Eveck’s word, but he was eventually proved right. A stabilized path appeared before them, and once they were on it, it was a quick walk back to the city.
“So what are you guys planning to do now?” Kyle asked once they were past the gate and Eveck had taken his leave.
Michael was the first to respond. “I want to explore the city for a bit and maybe try to track down some other players who might know more about the temple. Our expedition has made it obvious to me that wandering around in the forest without any clues is unlikely to get us closer to the right temple anytime soon. At the very least, someone in the city might have seen it or even know what challenges we can expect to face once we do find it.”
“Have fun with that. I think I’ll log off for a while. Message me if you guys find anything important,” Jude said before walking away.
Kyle shrugged and turned toward Ethan and Lily. “What about you two? Personally, I think Michael has a good idea. You wouldn’t believe some of the characters I’ve met in taverns here, and there are still lots I haven’t visited yet.”
Lily answered before Ethan could. “We were thinking of visiting some more temples and talking to some priests.”
That was news to Ethan. He’d been about to ask Kyle if he wanted company. Visiting Aknii taverns sounded intriguing. Still, if Lily wanted him around, he wasn’t going to say no.
“Yeah, what she said,” Ethan told Kyle. “This place has a lot of nice temples. You should check them out.”
Kyle gave Ethan a skeptical look but didn’t say anything about it. Michael and Kyle then wandered off to explore the city, leaving Lily and Ethan alone.
“All right, let’s go meet up with Adhut and take some more meditation lessons,” Lily exclaimed happily as she grabbed Ethan’s arm.
Ethan sighed. Ah, so that was what this was about.
“Why do you want me to take these lessons so badly?” he asked her. He didn’t mind doing them. They were cool, but he was honestly confused.
Lily shrugged. “It just seems like a neat thing to do together, and who knows where it will lead.”
Ethan couldn’t argue with that. He nodded and let Lily lead him through the busy city streets and back to the temple where they’d met Adhut the first time. Ethan was unsurprised when the monk at the door pointed them to the same room as before and told them Adhut was still within.
“So you’ve come back for more,” Adhut stated gruffly as he pulled the door open in response to Lily’s polite knock. He was looking at Ethan, not her.
“How could I stay away from such a charming teacher?” Ethan replied as he stepped inside.
Ignoring the obvious hostility, Lily beamed at both of them. When they were seated on the floor, Adhut sat across from them.
“No mind-bending drug tea this time?” Ethan asked as he glanced toward the table. There was no teapot on it.
“More of that wouldn’t help you now. You’ve already touched the Origin,” Adhut replied curtly. “Now create your sphere so I can see if you’ve progressed in your meditation.”
Grumbling briefly to himself, Ethan did as he was told. He relaxed, closed his eyes, and held out his hand. As he felt his mind drift into darkness, Ethan reached out to feel the pattern he’d touched the last time. It was familiar to him now and came when called. The moment Ethan felt a pulsing sensation above his palm, he opened his eyes. There was once again a tennis-ball-sized sphere floating above his hand. Instead of letting surprise overwhelm him, this time Ethan focused on holding the pattern. Thus, instead of vanishing, the ball of twisting air remained.
Grunting, Adhut leaned forward and eyed the orb skeptically. “You’ve improved slightly. You’re summoning more force and less heat and light. Still, creating twisting force from the Origin isn’t all that useful. You should focus on heat, light, or pushing force.”
“It’s difficult to figure out what part of which pattern does what. I mean, this is all going on deep inside my mind. The patterns all get tangled and look like one thing in my head,” Ethan replied sourly.
“Yes, that is what the meditation is for. It takes a lot of practice to find the right patterns,” Adhut replied with a hint of scorn.
“It also feels like I’m missing something too,” Ethan said in frustration as he stared at the orb. “There’s some part of this power I can’t quite figure out. It’s confusing me as I try to sort out the patterns in my head.”
Adhut frowned thoughtfully. For a moment, he seemed almost impressed. “That’s probably the aether.”
“Aether? I think you mentioned something like that the last time I was here,” Ethan said. He’d been a little out of it at the time.
“Every time the Origin is opened, a bit of aether leaks out into the world,” Adhut explained. “It’s a unique material that is normally alien to this reality, and it quickly dissipates after being summoned. However, even though it is rather short-lived, aether is incredibly useful to an evoker.”
“What does it do?”
“It is helpful to think of ether as being a lot like water, but while water is merely transparent, aether is completely invisible. It is also thicker than water and a pure element. Most basic evoker attacks use aether as a projectile.”
Ethan perked up as his interest was caught. “Really? How do they do that?”
“You’re not at that stage of training yet. Focus on what I’m teaching you now,” Adhut replied as he gave Ethan a disapproving look. “All you need to know is that alongside the energy, aether is also coming out of the Origin you’ve summoned. Try to remember that the next time you’re meditating on your mental patterns and what they mean. However, right now, let’s move to the next lesson. Attempt to move the sphere.”
“What?” Ethan asked him in surprise. He had no idea how to move it.
“Move the Origin. The sphere is focused around one single tiny point. However, don’t push it too far away from yourself or you will lose control of it,” Adhut explained coldly. He obviously didn’t like having to repeat himself.
Closing his eyes again, Ethan tried to picture the Origin. It was supposed
to be an infinitely small and indivisible point in space that changed when perceived. When he thought he had it, Ethan attempted to push it slightly to one side. Immediately, he felt the orb he’d created pop and disappear. He sighed in disappointment as he opened his eyes. Adhut was still glowering at him.
“You will need to practice that,” the monk said. “There is nothing more I can tell you that will help you achieve this exercise.”
“All right, but I’m curious. What decides the power of the energy that comes out of the Origin?” Ethan asked.
“Will,” the monk answered.
“That doesn’t help me much,” Ethan replied dryly.
“This isn’t something you should worry about or try to improve at this stage of your training, but I will give you a quick answer, lest you experiment and somehow hurt yourself,” Adhut told him. “You can improve the power of your connection to the Origin by stripping yourself of more of the illusion.”
“I already know this is all fake,” Ethan replied sourly as he waved at his surroundings.
Adhut shook his head. “Perhaps, but you believe it is real subconsciously. You act like it is real and your thoughts—whether you realize it or not—assume that what is around you is real. Knowing it isn’t real isn’t enough. The will is not finite, and there is always more illusion to overcome.”
Sighing despondently, Ethan turned toward Lily. “Why are you just watching? Do you want a chance to learn?”
“I’m learning a lot just by being here,” Lily replied.
“And, she has already passed this lesson,” Adhut said. “Don’t worry about her. Focus on your own inadequacies.”
“I feel like you could have worded that better,” Ethan mumbled as he closed his eyes and began meditating again.
Ethan’s next few attempts at moving his sphere were largely unsuccessful, and Adhut wasn’t very helpful. He gave Ethan some sarcastic-sounding words of encouragement and then kicked him out.
“Why am I doing this? I do not like that guy,” Ethan asked Lily once they walked out of the temple.
“You’re doing it for me and the team. This will help us. Besides, he’s not that bad.”
“Ha! He doesn’t have a kind bone in his body. It’s like someone sucked all the fun out of him.”
Lily just shook her head in disagreement, so Ethan kept talking. “What did you want to do now? We could explore the city together or meet up with the others.”
“I think I’m going to log off now. I’ve had enough Worldshift for tonight,” she replied.
“All right, I’ll go find Kyle or something,” Ethan told her as he forced a smile.
As Lily turned to leave, Ethan sighed quietly to himself. He really wanted to ask her about meeting up in the real world, but he didn’t want to annoy her. She had shut him down pretty hard the last time he’d asked. Thus, as she turned to leave, he let her go with a friendly goodbye. Once she was out of sight and he was alone on the city street, Ethan felt depressed and despondent.
“You’ll have plenty of chances later,” Ethan told himself as he looked around. The problem was he wasn’t sure he believed it.
Instead of trying to track down Kyle or anyone else, Ethan went to find a quiet temple to meditate. Despite what he’d told Lily, he didn’t really feel like talking to anyone. It had been a while since he’d been so social. Also, although he hated admitting it, he actually enjoyed the meditation techniques Adhut had taught him. When he’d sunk deep into his own darkness, he felt weirdly at peace and like he was headed in the right direction. It had been a long time since he’d felt that.
However, before meditating, there was one possible lead on the temple he could pursue alone. Ethan took a moment to make sure no one else was around. Then he activated his inventory, scrolled through it, and pulled out the control collar for the demon. He placed it on the ground in front of him and activated it. Immediately, the collar popped up into the air as the demon sprang into being, with the collar around its neck. Blinking, the red-eyed creature took a moment to scan his new surroundings before turning to glare at Ethan.
“How did a simpleton like you manage to get this far? Die already,” it remarked hostilely before snorting in disgust.
Ethan rolled his eyes. “It’s nice to see you too.”
“All right, what do you want?” the demon replied. “If you’ve summoned me, it must be because you’re dumb enough to believe you can get something from me. Let me hear it.”
“I have a few questions for you.”
The demon smirked arrogantly. “I don’t doubt that. It’s amazing how ignorant you are of everything around you. How you survive despite your complete inadequacy is a mystery to me.”
Ethan sighed in annoyance. “Right, so first of all, do you know anything about the temple I need to find to get to the next floor?”
The demon laughed. “I know exactly where your temple is and everything about it. I’m a demon of incredible knowledge and vision. However, why would I ever help you?”
“We could make another bet or trade. Is there anything you want?” Ethan asked hopefully.
“All right, kill one of your companions. Only then will I tell you what you want to know,” the demon offered as it grinned maliciously.
Ethan grunted sourly. This thing was beyond obnoxious. It was evil. “That’s not going to happen. How about a new question? The shadow I saw when I first entered the tower, do you know what it is? I think I saw it while I was offline.”
“Oh, I will answer this question for free, master of mine,” the demon replied as its grin grew wider. “The shadow is your death. Your doom has found you, and now you will never be rid of it. Hide or flee like a coward, it doesn’t matter. This death cannot be overcome or deceived. Soon, it will end your pitiful existence, and I will be free.”
CHAPTER 20
HEART TO HEART
The next day, Ethan awoke with a start. Sitting up, he glanced around his small bedroom as his heart thumped excitedly in his chest. He’d been having a bad dream. He couldn’t remember much of it, except for a feeling of being alone in the darkness while something unseen chased him, but it had clearly disturbed him. Dread from the nightmare lingered in his mind.
“I need to get a hold of myself,” Ethan muttered as he got out of bed. “Also, less talking to myself. That’s never a good sign.”
Ethan felt uncomfortable as he walked through his own apartment, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched. It didn’t help that he was probably right. It was likely the government was watching him using electronic bugs or even his own household devices, and the government didn’t like him much.
Ethan sighed morosely. There was an unpleasant buzzing in his head, and he felt jumpy and paranoid. It was obvious that real-life events were beginning to take a toll on him. Having to worry about powerful organizations was wearing him down. It was oppressive to even think about. Still, there was one place where they couldn’t track his every move.
After rushing through his early routine and doing some quick stretches, Ethan lay back down and logged onto Worldshift. Once online, he met up with his team. Disappointingly, none of them had found any clues about how to get to the next floor, so the team decided to go out and explore the forest again. They hired Eveck to guide them, but Michael had made sure to find a compass of his own, just in case. The man liked to be prepared.
The first part of the journey was much the same as before. They exited the city and then followed the stabilized paths into the forest until Eveck spotted a good area to leave it. Like their first, their second exploration of the shifting forest quickly led them into another exhausting run-in with the purple monkeys. They were prepared this time though, so they quickly repulsed the pests and the explosive fruit they threw. The beasts seemed to be common pests in the forest.
Two hours later, Eveck stopped them before they stumbled into a patch of man-eating plants. The guide then earned his pay by leading them safely around the huge yellow flowers.
>
“More carnivorous plants. Yuck,” Kyle remarked after they’d moved past the flowers. “I’m glad we don’t have to fight more of those. If you ask me, the game designers seem to be running out of ideas.”
Ethan started to voice his agreement, but then he felt a cold shiver go through his body. Had he heard something? Ethan shuddered, suddenly feeling like he was being watched. Looking around, he noticed the forest had grown darker and the shadows had lengthened, giving the trees and their outstretched branches a creepy appearance. No one else seemed to have noticed though. They were all still following Eveck. Was this in his head?
A faint snapping noise reached Ethan’s ears. He quickly stopped walking and glanced toward the source of the noise. It had come from a cluster of nearby bushes. Ethan’s eyes searched the shadows for a moment before locking on a pair of glowing red eyes. Instantly, icy fear froze Ethan stiff, and his guts twisted painfully. Then, the darkness shifted and began to slide forth. Dread and horror overwhelmed Ethan as he stared. It was the shadow being from the first room in the tower. It had come for him. He was going to die.
The darkness slid out of the bushes toward Ethan with a hungry growl. However, as it emerged into the light, it transformed. The sunlight revealed a huge grey cat with dark spots all over its body. Its natural camouflage had simply allowed it to blend in with its surroundings.
Startled, Ethan could only stare at it. It wasn’t the shadow after all. Relief flooded through him for a moment, but then he realized he needed to protect himself. He tried to reach for his sword and shout a warning, but his body still felt cold and slow. The huge cat roared and sprang at Ethan before he could do anything.
“What in selfishness are you doing?” Jude swore as everyone turned toward Ethan and the cat, which was now very hard not to notice. It was twice the size of a person and very loud.
The cat roared again as it opened its jaws wide in preparation to bite Ethan in half. He managed to throw himself sideways to avoid the huge beast’s pounce, but it still hit him with a swipe of one of its paws. Ethan was knocked backward as the cat’s claws tore into his chest plate. Then his back hit the dirt and he rolled several times before hitting the base of a tree. The duel impacts knocked the breath from Ethan’s lungs, leaving him wheezing and in pain. His ribs burned with every breath. He looked down and saw blood leaking from the gashes in his chest plate. Hacks and bugs, he’d messed up bad!
Worldshift- Virtual Revolution Page 22
