Nova Terra- Greymane

by Seth Ring

  Dismissing the notification without reading it, Thorn’s gaze was fixed on Salliish’s Avatar. Gone was the gentle, unassuming aura that Thorn normally projected. Under the effect of [Wolf’s Rage], Thorn resembled a smoking volcano more than a peaceful mountain. His tightened muscles seemed to stretch his chainmail to the edge of breaking as if it were containing a monstrous pressure waiting to rip free.

  Something about the titan’s gaze pierced into Josephine’s soul, unnerving her. Sneering to hide her discomfort, she pointed an arrow directly at his heart.

  “You think you are the only one with powerful abilities? My poison won’t take long to bring you down. Why don’t you give up this pointless fight? Salliish crushed Hati in the past and no matter how you struggle you cannot escape the coils of the god of Shadow.”

  “Coil around this.” Taking a sudden step forward, Thorn wound up and threw the large chunk of the pillar that he had picked up with as much force as he could muster. With a tremendous ripping sound, the stone cut through the air toward Josephine. Horrified by the force and speed of the rock, Josephine froze, forgetting to release the arrow she was pointing at Thorn.

  Blurring through the air the stone passed Josephine’s head, the force of the air ripping out a few strands of her waving hair as it went. Cursing his lack of practice throwing things, Thorn stormed forward, protecting his head with one arm while getting ready to smash out with his tetsubo.

  It took Josephine half a second to snap out of her shock and when she did, Thorn had already crossed half of the distance toward her. With a hiss of fury, she slid back on her giant snake tail, shooting a poisoned arrow at the advancing titan. Not even bothering to dodge, Thorn took the shot directly in his chest. Feeling the sting as the arrow sunk into his chest, Thorn ignored it and continued pushing forward, focusing on getting into melee range.

  Continuing to kite backward, Josephine was able to release one more arrow before her back hit a pillar. In her haste, the arrow cut past Thorn’s shoulder, disappearing into the darkness behind him. Seeing that Thorn was only a few steps away, she turned and curled her body around the pillar, slithering up it as she readied another arrow. Undeterred by her escape, Thorn drew back his tetsubo and, with a tremendous bellow, smashed at the pillar.

  *BOOM*

  Massive chunks of stone rained down, pelting the floor and walls as the pillar exploded. With a terrified shriek, Josephine lost her grip, falling to the rubble-littered floor. Having lost her concentration, the bow she had summoned disintegrated into a purple mist. Reaching through the scattering mist, Thorn grabbed Josephine and lifted her into the air.

  “Concede, or I’ll crush you,” Thorn growled through clenched teeth.

  “Hah,” regaining some of her wits, Josephine wrapped her giant tail around Thorn, squeezing for all she was worth.

  His eyes narrowing, Thorn stood unmoving as the coils tried in vain to crush him. The fury in his chest built and it was all Thorn could do to not smash Josephine into the floor. Controlling himself with effort, he wrapped a large hand around her tail and pulled, separating himself from her coils.

  “Enough, let's be done with this, or so help me I will end it.”

  For a moment, Josephine was silent. Then she sighed and her body shrank, separating from the giant snake who faded into the shadows.

  “Yes, we are done. I concede.”

  *ding*

  Altar Smashing

  You have successfully beaten the Avatar of Salliish, the Shadow Serpent in their own temple, Hati is pleased. It is about time someone put that slimy snake in their place.

  Reward: Hati’s Favor

  Looking at the quest popup, Thorn confirmed that his quest had completed. His rage still had not faded but, keeping it tightly under control he put Josephine down.

  “Do you have an antidote for this poison?”

  “Yes.” Sullenly she pulled a vial out of her inventory and handed it to him.

  “Thank you.” Gulping down the antidote, Thorn felt the burning sensation fade from his wounds. Josephine stared, completely dumbfounded as he, without flinching, pulled the two arrows that were stuck in his chest out, ignoring the spurt of blood that accompanied each one.

  The red-hot fury in his chest was starting to fade, leaving behind an empty, tired feeling. Looking around at the utter ruin around him, Thorn could not help but wince. He had always been a careful, controlled person who tried his best not to break or hurt anything but that restraint had steadily evaporated after coming into Nova Terra. He was not the only one looking around the room in dismay.

  “You are like a human wrecking ball!” The Avatar of Salliish was ready to pull her hair out over the state of the underground temple. Rubble from the broken statues and demolished pillars littered the room, and only a few torches had survived the frenzied struggle.

  With a smile, Thorn turned to Oberlin who was still cautiously waiting to the side and gestured him over.

  “You can go ahead and get your statue.”

  “Uh, that’s okay. I might stay over here.” Oberlin shook his head while he nervously patted his belt pouch, not wanting to get anywhere near Josephine who had resumed her High Priestess look, cloak and all.

  “No problem. I can get it for you.” Thorn looked back at the altar. “Which one is it?”

  “I think it is one of the ones on the front corner.”

  “You mean one of these?” Thorn walked forward toward the altar while pointing.

  “Wait for a second, would you consider taking a different prize?” Josephine stepped in front of Thorn, blocking him from the table.

  “What are you trying to do?” Thorn’s eyes narrowed.

  “I can provide you with all manner of things that are better than a silly statue. After all, the statue is of no use to you. It is only useful to the cowardly thief over there. Salliish has informed me that he thinks highly of you and is willing to give you magic items or wealth, even a high position in our organization if you are willing to give up on the statue.”

  “The Order of Snakes, or something, right?”

  “Ordo Serpentes.”

  “Right, that. I wouldn’t have to pledge myself to Salliish would I?”

  “No, serving Salliish is not required. Though, the Shadow Serpent is a gracious Lord and would bless you greatly if you wished to submit to him.”

  “Nah, not interested.” Thorn waved his hand dismissively.

  “Don’t be so quick to turn me down, Thorn. Even if you do not want to serve Salliish, there is room for you in the Ordo Serpentes. The benefits are fantastic and the pay is generous. Especially for someone with talents like yours.”

  “Isn’t the whole point of the Snake Order to sneak around? You know, shadows and stuff?”

  “It’s the Ordo Serpentes!” Struggling to put a lid on her temper, Josephine’s eyes narrowed. “The Ordo Serpentes does have a covert operations branch, but that is only a small part of the organization. While we have an intelligence organization that rivals even that of Avalon, our force can be compared to the largest of guilds.”

  “Hmm. Then why haven’t I heard about you before?”

  “For one, most of our forces are focused in the southern continent. While we gather intelligence in the north, we are short staffed among the human lands. If you were willing to join us, it is possible that you could grow to control an entire army here in the northern continent. Imagine, a full army of players who would jump to obey your every word!”

  “Players?” Thorn’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “The Ordo Serpentes is a player organization?”

  “Like most of the larger organizations in the game, it is mixed. We have countless natives that support us, but players make up the majority of the foot soldiers in the Ordo Serpentes.”

  “This all sounds interesting but too restrictive. Plus, I don’t think Hati likes your god so much.”

  “Please, what does that matter? They don’t have to like each other for us to work together.” Josephine rolled her
eyes. “What is important is what you can get out of it.”

  “So far, you have not told me what I can get out of joining you. And don’t give me that talk about becoming a leader in the north. There is no way that you would hand me an army.”

  “As I said earlier, it is nice talking to intelligent people,” Josephine giggled. “Of course, like any title or class, you would have to work for authority. But the Ordo Serpentes does have several classes and titles available. There are even triple category classes that you can trade merit for. In the shorter term, you would gain access to the information network, supply points all over the northern and southern continent, access to specially crafted gear, and much more.”

  “And what would I have to do for all of these things?”

  “You would be assigned a quest every two months. The rest of your time is yours to do what you want. The only exception is that if a war were to break out, you would have to participate. Oh, did I mention that you would get paid?”

  “You pay?”

  “Of course. It is a standard non-disclosure, employment contract. You would be hired as a professional player and we provide a generous compensation package based on your level in the organization. With your raw power, it would not surprise me if you were making six figures soon.”

  “That is a very kind offer, but I think I’m good. I’ll take the statue now.” Thorn shook his head.

  “You really are dense. The statue is useless. Why not take the…”

  In the middle of Josephine’s question, Thorn’s eyes flickered and without waiting for her to finish he took a large step forward, a large hand shooting out and pushing her to the side. With a short scream, the High Priestess flew, tumbling to the ground when she landed. Two large steps brought Thorn to the altar where he saw some of the statutes had lost their glow. More and more of the glowing orbs held by the statues were fading out by the second, leaving dim, lifeless orbs behind.

  Gritting his teeth, Thorn pulled his tetsubo and swung hard, smashing straight through the still glowing statues. The blow smashed the statues into pieces, sending shards of stone pinging off the walls. As each statue broke, the glowing orb in its hand dissipated, a sigh rising into the air.

  The first blow cleared three-quarters of the table and the reverse swing cleared the rest. Many of the statues along the edge of the table had already gone dark when Thorn attacked, the orbs shattering along with the statues. The statue that Oberlin had pointed out fractured and broke, the pieces scattering across the floor. Furious, Thorn turned to glare at Josephine who was staggering to her feet, white-faced. The now broken statues lay scattered across the floor.

  “That was not part of the deal.” Her voice trembling, Josephine faced Thorn.

  “Neither was whatever you were doing,” Thorn growled. “Pulling the souls out of the statues before we retrieve the one we want is not playing fair.”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t have any control over what Salliish does.” Josephine couldn’t help but take a step back under Thorn’s glare.

  “But you do have control over what you do.” Thorn’s anger burned hot in his chest and he forcefully restrained it. “The things I hate most are people lying to me or trying to trick me.”

  Furious, Thorn turned back to glare at the altar. Reliefs along its sides showed a giant serpent that seemed to be moving in the flickering light. The shadows danced, growing larger and larger. Behind Thorn, Josephine gasped.

  With a whoosh the few flickering torches flared brighter, the rising flames causing the shadows in the room to jump. Streaming together, the shadows intertwined, forming dark, twisted cords, meeting over the altar. As Thorn looked he could see glittering scales forming as the pillar of shadows grew.

  “Um, Thorn, something is happening, and I don’t think it’s good.” Oberlin pointed nervously at the shadows gathering on top of the altar.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Grim-faced, Thorn watched the growing shadows as they solidified into the form of a massive snake. Even larger than the snake that Josephine had summoned, this snake was black as night, it's dark scales seeming to absorb the last remaining light in the room.

  [FOOLISH MORTAL] boomed a voice, seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere. [CROSSING ME WAS THE WORS…].

  *BANG*

  The voice cut off abruptly as Thorn stepped forward and slammed a fist into the altar, sending a massive vibration through the room. With a tremendous cracking sound the altar split straight down the middle and the materializing snake rippled before shattering into shards of shadow. Josephine froze, shock painted on her features. She watched in growing horror as Thorn kicked one of the halves of the altar away, grabbing the other and hoisting it over his head with a grunt. She flinched as Thorn smashed it into the ground, sending shards of black stone flying across the floor.

  As the echo reverberated around the chamber, Thorn stood for a moment, his breathing growing calmer. After a moment he turned, all signs of anger gone from his face. Ignoring Josephine, Thorn looked toward the side of the room where a figure detached itself from the shadows and gave him a grin, patting the belt pouch at its waist.

  “Big enough distraction for you?” Thorn asked Oberlin while brushing shards of black stone from his greaves.

  “Yes, sir.” Oberlin’s grin widened. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better one. Seriously though, how freakishly strong are you? Those snakes were huge!"

  Thorn ignored the question, turning to look at Josephine, who was still in shock. He gave her a slight bow.

  “It was very nice to meet you, Josephine. Thank you for explaining how the Avatar challenges work and for entertaining us all this time. We must get going now. Sorry, we can’t help to clean up, but I’m sure we’ll run across each other again.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure we will,” Josephine said, her bright eyes fixed on Thorn.

  Uncomfortable being stared at like that, Thorn waved to Oberlin and they left the underground temple. As they made their way up to the surface, Thorn heard a notification.

  Friend Request: Josephine - High Shadow Priestess - Avatar of Salliish

  Accept

  Reject

  Taken aback, Thorn hesitated for a moment before he hit the accept button. At his side, Oberlin chatted away, obviously in a good mood. Pushing the door to the outside open, the thief froze. Standing in front of the building was a half circle of rough looking players, all staring at the door. Thorn, seeing Oberlin stop, frowned and moved him aside, stepping past him to face the other players.

  “Excuse me, do you mind moving? We are headed out of town.”

  “Oh, are you?” At Thorn’s words, a tough looking human with a scar running across his lips stepped forward. “You haven’t paid the tax though. You can’t come into our town and not pay the tax.”

  “Tax? For coming into town? Are you serious?”

  “Do I look like I am joking?” Despite facing Thorn’s imposing bulk, the scarred man spat on the ground in front of his feet. “It doesn’t matter how big you are if you don’t want to die, you better pay up.”

  “And how much is the tax?”

  “Haha, that is a better attitude,” growled the scarred man. “Five gold for the thief, ten gold for you since you are oversized.”

  “And if I don’t pay?”

  “Then you can enjoy some time in Fantasia. And when you come back, we can have this conversation again.”

  Feeling a tug on his arm, Thorn looked down at Oberlin.

  “We’ll respawn here since this is the last town we’ve visited.”

  “Oh,” realization dawned on Thorn’s face. “So if we don’t pay the tax they’ll kill us and then keep killing us when we respawn.”

  “Yup. That is why most people don’t visit red towns.” Oberlin nodded, not seeming worried.

  “Huh, I can see why.”

  Annoyed that he was being ignored, the scarred thug stepped forward. Unfortunately, that brought him closer to Thorn, making the difference in their size m
ore pronounced. He quickly took a step back.

  “Fork over the gold or face the consequences!”

  “Oberlin, you said that there are no town guards?”

  “No, there are guards, but they don’t really come out. And if they do, it's only to extort people. They are always absent when a player breaks a rule that would get them locked up in another town. But the benefit is that they will not stop you so long as you don’t mess with the native in charge of the town.”