World-Tree's End

by E A Hooper

  “Nah, I’m good,” Vincent said, casting Voidfire on Wallace.

  The devils watched their leader burn into ashes, but they didn’t seem frightened, worried, or even happy to be free.

  “That wasn’t very nice!” the voice of Wallace called out.

  Vincent turned, watching as one of the skeletal figures grew new skin and took on Wallace’s shape and face. The devils brought him a set of clothes and helped him out of the red lake.

  “You seem like a man that values his time,” Wallace said. “It’s only fair to tell you I have hundreds of spare bodies. You’ll probably run out of mana long before you kill them all, and that’s assuming I don’t start slinging attacks from the lake. That lake is all the mana I’ve gathered from my comrades ever since they were first damned. You might be strong, but I could probably turn the tower and all the nearby farms into a crater if I wanted. I’d prefer a different path, but I guess it’s your choice.”

  “Then go ahead,” Vincent said. “Your devils already razed all the farms within ten miles of you. It’d save me the effort if you nuked yourself.”

  “I don’t have to use it all at once,” Wallace said, waving his hand. A blob of mana rose into the air and launched a Vaporize spell that knocked Vincent off his feet.

  The Ranger managed to stand, but the blast had burned parts of his flesh down to the bone.

  “I’m surprised you survived that,” Wallace said, raising four more blobs of mana from the lake. “You heroes sure are tough. I know you’re connected to the Daiglass Tower too, and you’ll just keep coming back here. Maybe next time you’ll listen to reason.”

  Wallace crossed his hands, and then four more Vaporizes struck the Ranger.

  You’ve died. Respawning at Crownkeep…

  Okay, I’m not playing around next time, Vincent thought as the city formed around him.

  The Ranger equipped Eferia’s Boots to set his weight to ten percent, then equipped Silpher’s Coat and stored all his mana into it. He headed out of the city on foot, then jogged toward the southeast. However, instead of heading straight for the tower, he went off the trail a few times to search for areas where he might find Reddy. While looking around, he continued to pour mana into the coat until it was full.

  Although he spotted a few mountain trolls while looking around, he didn’t find Reddy atop any of them. Once his mana reserve had refilled, Vincent returned to the gates of the tower, where Dreg greeted him with a smug look.

  “Just take me back to the pit,” Vincent said, waiting for the gate to open.

  Dreg complied and led him to the pentagram, which the devil opened once more.

  “You and your buddies might want to run as far as you can,” Vincent warned Dreg as he dove into the dark.

  Once again, the red lake greeted him in the underground cavern. He glided over to the mountain of bones, and Captain Wallace seemed excited to see him.

  “You’re back!” he said. “I was actually getting worried my theory was wrong, and you were dead for good. I’m sure you’ve had time to think about my offer, so how about it?”

  Vincent didn’t reply. Instead, he drew all the mana from Silpher’s Coat, and together with his mana reserve he attempted to combine Greater Mana Bomb and Greater Voidfire.

  Wallace tilted his head in curiosity. “Hey, that looks neat! What’re you doing?”

  Black flames exploded outward, consuming everything in Vincent’s line of sight—including himself.

  You’ve died. Respawning at Crownkeep…

  Vincent used Zero Field to fly back to the gate, but he could tell from the chatter of the NPCs that something big had happened since he’d died two weeks ago. As he left the city and levitated to the sky, he saw a red glow over the southwest quarter of the world. When he reached the area of farmland, he found most of it devastated, and groups of soldiers from Crownkeep had set up camps at the edge of a massive crater.

  The middle of the crater went straight down into the ruins of the underground cavern, and Vincent saw the rocks below had a magical red glow. Even the air felt dense with frequencies from the explosion two weeks ago.

  My experimental attack must’ve caused the red lake to explode, Vincent guessed. The only question now is how the hell do I get my reward? Did Wallace leave anything like the Necromancer’s Eye behind?

  Vincent descended into the depths of the crater. He searched the cavern for any signs of items, but waves of heat and pressure continued to crash against his body, making the search difficult. His eyes spotted something moving along the glowing rocks, and he flew toward it, pushing through sparks of magic that leapt out whenever he moved too close to the empty lakebed.

  It’s like a thunderstorm of magic down here. Wallace must’ve been gathering mana from his comrades for centuries while they waited for players to arrive. What the hell would be running around down here?

  His eyes eventually caught a silhouette dashing across the rocks. Wherever it moved, the red magic would fade away, almost like the figure was pulling the magic into itself.

  “Wallace?” Vincent questioned the figure. “Is that you?”

  Vincent fell silent as he found what was actually moving across the lakebed.

  Reddy the Cat looked up at him and hissed.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Vincent said with a sigh.

  He pointed his fingers and cast Void Gun, but Reddy dodged it, creating a sonic boom as he snaked across the lakebed and devoured more mana.

  Vincent gaped as the cat’s shockwave almost knocked him from the air. “W-what? What is even happening here? What the hell kind of questline is this?”

  As the surprise wore off, Vincent chased after the cat. He noticed Reddy had grown several times larger, but Vincent still couldn’t catch him with Zero Field as the cat zipped across the lakebed. The longer he chased the cat, the more magic Reddy absorbed from the rocks, which caused the heat and pressure to diminish.

  After several minutes of pursuit, Vincent saw the cat standing still on the now cold lakebed. Reddy’s body had mutated, becoming larger, and his bones and muscles seemed to be moving underneath his skin.

  Vincent readied Voidfire, then used Power Launch to throw it even faster than the cat could hope to run.

  Reddy’s body expanded in an instant, taking on a humanlike shape as the spell hurtled toward him. He raised his hand, and a huge wall of world magic came up in time to stop the attack. The Voidfire shattered the wall, but Reddy looked unharmed, even growing angel wings and floating off the ground.

  “I’m free!” a man’s voice came from Reddy. “Not even that mutated state—but my true form! I never thought it would happen. I thought I’d be stuck in that cycle and reliving that questline for all of eternity.”

  “Seriously, what the hell is happening?” Vincent shouted.

  Reddy turned to Vincent. Despite taking on the shape of an angel, he still had catlike eyes and a sharp-toothed smile. “You! This is you’re doing, isn’t it? You released this storm of magic for me to absorb. I knew the lake was down here, but it was untouchable with that captain in my way. He would’ve killed me, and I’d have respawned as a mere cat and had to work my way up all over again.”

  “That really doesn’t answer my question,” Vincent said.

  “My brother and I were chosen by the World-Tree millennia ago,” Reddy said. “However, we didn’t obey its commands, so it warped us—stripped us of our power. I’ve been stuck in cat form, doomed to follow that questline over and over again for eternity. I could regain enough power to take that monstrous form, but then heroes would defeat me. However, because of the tremendous power available here, I’ve achieved my angel form once more. Now, I can find my brother Pidge—save him from whatever cruel fate the Voice has forced upon him. Then we can… we can…”

  The angel stared off as if suddenly dazed, and he grabbed the sides of his head in dismay. “I can’t remember. I swear before I was warped, my brother and I had discovered the true nature of the World-Tree.
We understood it! We understood our purpose, and we defied it. If I could only remember, I could avoid making the same mistakes—I could avoid the same fate.”

  He’s like Monika—a copy of a real person, Vincent thought. Only, he didn’t follow his programming and was punished for it. Should I try to help him? Maybe Archie would know how.

  “I might know someone that can help you,” Vincent said. “My friend Archie is like you. He’ll be able to explain everything and assist you.”

  “Archie—Archie Goodman?” Reddy questioned, his eyes widening in surprise.

  “Yes, that’s him,” Vincent said, smiling. “Maybe he was a friend of yours in a past life.”

  Reddy shook his head, and his eyes sharpened like a cat on a hunt. “I remember something now. It’s Archie’s fault this happened to me. He told us the truth of this world, but my brother and I couldn’t handle that knowledge. We saw our reality was a falsehood. It’s a playground for others that want to use and torture us. The Voice tries to make us forget, but I remember the earliest of your heroes, the ones called beta testers, would kill us for fun. I remember the evil of you heroes!”

  Reddy raised his hands, and twin waves of world magic poured forth.

  Vincent dodged to the right, watching as the magic created new caverns where they struck. When he glanced at where Reddy had been, the angel moved at supersonic speeds and slashed at him with a world magic blade. The attack cut through Vincent’s flesh, but his bones seemed just rigid enough to prevent it from going any deeper.

  Vincent cast Zero Field over the angel and slammed him into the lakebed. Before he could cast Voidfire, however, Reddy broke free and knocked him out of the air with a beam of magic. It reminded Vincent of the attack that Rosaria had used to sever his limbs all those years ago, but this one only cut a few inches deep.

  As Vincent plummeted to the rocks, Reddy caught up and stabbed him through his right lung. The Ranger summoned Voidfire to his hand, but the angel pulled up a shield of world magic and moved to retreat. The black flames exploded against the shield, sending an injured-looking Reddy crashing into the lakebed.

  Vincent went to equip some ethers before his mana ran out, but he realized he hadn’t brought any with him.

  Ah, crap.

  Vincent released Zero Field to conserve his last bit of mana, and he dropped a few dozen meters to the lakebed below. As he landed, he equipped Endless Edge just in time to block a slash from Reddy. The angel had lost his wings and one arm, but he seemed just as vicious as he struck with rapid-fire attacks.

  He’s stronger than the twins for sure, but definitely not Rosaria, Vincent noted as he blocked repeated strikes.

  That thought gave the old man courage, and he pushed back with his own slashes. Their blades must’ve clashed a hundred times before the angel’s injuries got the best of him and Reddy’s movements began to grow sluggish.

  I might have him, Vincent thought, striking more aggressively. He forced Reddy onto the defensive, and a few of his slashes cut the angel down to the bone.

  Reddy snarled and lashed at the man with wild swings, but when the last one missed, Vincent drove his blade into the angel’s chest.

  “Got you,” Vincent said.

  Reddy replied with a toothy grin, and then the remnants of his wings curled around Vincent, locking the two of them together. With his stamina low, the Ranger couldn’t break the angel’s grip no matter how hard he tried.

  “You must be cleansed,” Reddy said. “Your kind must suffer. You need to learn this world is not yours. It’s not your playground!”

  The angel clamped his cat teeth into Vincent’s neck, then tore away a chunk of flesh.

  Vincent screamed in pain, then forced out, “I never thought that! I didn’t want to stay here this long. The Voice made me.”

  Reddy’s pupils lost their sharpness in an instant. “You… are trapped here?”

  “Yes!” Vincent yelled in reply.

  “But the Voice made this place for your kind,” Reddy said. “Can’t you leave whenever you like?”

  “No, we’re stuck here too. I would love nothing more than to escape the World-Tree and go home. The Voice never asked if we wanted this, and it clearly doesn’t understand that you and the other NPCs have your own wants and desires as well—you were based on real people, after all. All the Voice cares about it is getting us to stay here for as long as it can. It equates time experienced as living, but it’s not letting anyone choose how they want to live.”

  Reddy loosened his grip, and he dropped Vincent on the ground. The angel huffed in exhaustion, but his wild eyes continued to stare off in confusion. “Pidge—I have to find my brother, Pidge. Even if there’s no point in cleansing this realm, my brother and I can find some world to make our own.”

  “I saw your brother once,” Vincent said, causing the angel’s eyes to snap to him. “It’s a faraway world, but I can tell you how to get there.”

  Reddy smiled, and tears filled his eyes… and then a flash of world magic destroyed the top half of his body.

  Vincent shielded himself from the explosion, but he watched the white light fade. Behind Reddy’s remains stood Atarah and Ezekiel. The male angel stepped over to Reddy’s corpse as it turned into dust, then he grabbed an item crystal and tossed it to Vincent.

  Demon Cat’s Eye (Soulbound) – A token that proves a hero defeated Reddy the Demon Cat. Take it to the castle to exchange for your reward.

  Vincent raised his eyes to the angels, only to see flashes of white light. Despite his other injuries, the blasts didn’t kill him right away, since he was wearing Warro’s Necklace, and the two angels peppered him with more attacks until he finally ran out of mana.

  You’ve died. Respawning at Crownkeep…

  Vincent respawned with a sigh, then equipped his most useful Soulbound gear. The mercenaries that hung around the Daiglass Tower tried to call him over for some reason, but he ignored them and approached the castle’s gate. When the guards stepped in front of him, he handed them the Demon Cat’s Eye.

  “By the Elder Gods!” the guard shouted as his fellow soldiers gasped. “I’ve seen such an eye in books of legends. This belongs to a Demon Cat, one of the most powerful monsters to prowl the World-Tree! Don’t tell me you defeated such a fearsome beast by yourself?”

  “I got a little help for the killing blow,” Vincent admitted.

  “Either way, the king will be amazed to hear of your deed,” the guard said.

  NPC Quest Completed: Reddy the Mischievous Cat Part 3

  Crownkeep Respect Rating: 480

  “Hey, I also took care of Captain Wallace,” Vincent told them. “That should earn me entry to the castle, right?”

  “Surely you’re not taking credit for that massive explosion?” the guard said with a scoff. “That was clearly an act of the Elder Gods! You would need incredible proof you did such a thing.”

  “Well, my proof got disintegrated in the blast,” Vincent said. “You can’t just give me credit for it?”

  The soldier shook his head.

  “Do you have any other big quests for me?”

  “Things are peaceful with the necromancer and Wallace gone. You should come by in a few weeks. I’m sure new trouble will reveal itself in no time.”

  Vincent held back a groan as he stepped away from the soldiers. The mercenaries tried once again to get his attention, but he ignored them and walked back into the city. He scoured the streets for significant quests, but only managed to find a hundred or so minor ones. Vincent accepted a few jobs that involved killing some weaker monsters at various places on Cryasal, then agreed to offer his protection to a small caravan going to the farms in the south.

  It’ll take me weeks, maybe even months, to get those last twenty points, Vincent realized. At least I can make some extra gild and stock up on potions in the meantime.

  Vincent climbed into one of the wagon’s, and the caravan began its incredibly slow and boring journey to the Southern Farmlands.

&nb
sp; Chapter 11

  Several months after his exciting battles with Wallace and Reddy, Vincent found himself working in the Southern Farmlands. With Zero Field, farming was simple enough, and it certainly wasn’t any more monotonous than living on the Challenge World had been.

  The farmer NPCs didn’t have much money to offer him, but his work had still earned him another point toward his Crownkeep Respect Rating. However, the text pop-up caused him to reply with a disgruntled sigh.

  Crownkeep Respect Rating: 498

  Vincent had long since exhausted any worthwhile quests in the city, and the ones still available seemed designed to waste time more than anything. He’d even convinced a few of the teams roaming Cryasal to abandon their quests so he could pick them up instead, but that had required a lot of picture-taking and signature-signing to get them to agree. Those teams also came to Vincent regularly, asking him to take care of the angels that guarded the gates, and he’d made a few thousand gild off their payments.

  After saying goodbye to the NPCs he’d become friendly with over the last weeks, Vincent flew back to Crownkeep. The soldiers allowed him entry like always, and then he searched the city up and down for quests. The only ones he discovered offered gild payments or items, but none mentioned a Respect Rating increase. Eventually, he made his way back to the castle, though the guards still didn’t have any quests.

  “Hey!” one mercenary shouted. “Come here, will ya?”

  “Sorry, I don’t need your services,” Vincent said, walking away.

  “I ain’t offering it,” the man replied. “I was wondering if you’d help us. You’re that tough wizard hero, right?”

  Vincent perked up. “Yeah, that’s me. Do you have a quest available?”

  “Sure, if you want to call it that,” the mercenary said. “I like to think of it as more of a job… or a hit.”

  “I’m not killing anyone for you,” Vincent replied.