by Dmitry Bilik
“What’s this, for crying out loud? What do they think they’re doing?” Traug said, apparently as surprised as I was.
“These bastards aren’t afraid of anything,” Harph said. “The Red Moon is their time. Okay, let’s just sneak past him.”
“Can’t we just shoo him off?” I suggested. “There’re six of us and we’re all armed. We’d just ripped a whole bunch of rachnaids apart. And this guy is all alone.”
“That’s what you th-th-think,” Litius spoke. “Antalopes are never solitary. They always group together in herds. So if you attack one of them...”
“Then very soon we’ll have to deal with the whole bunch,” Harph concluded.
“In any case, we need to get to town before the sun goes down,” Arts said. “We don’t want to be wandering around under the Red Moon. Today is the last day of its cycle. Which means that all the nasties will be out and about.”
“I agree,” Harph said. “We have to be in Virhort before sunset.”
“In that case, we’ll have to be moving,” I said, “even if we have to make a detour.”
“You’re dead right,” Jan said.
“So what are we standing here for?”
“Because if it’s like that, we’ll have to clamber back up.”
Still, the dilemma offered its own solution. With a resounding roar, the creature took off.
“One second,” Harph said, splitting again.
After about thirty seconds he was already back. “He did leave to warn the herd,” he said. “There’re thousands of them there. Hurry up! We need to break through before they arrive.”
We walked around the mountain heading for the valley. I could see a dozen antalope about two hundred yards away, all looking warily in our direction. And to our left, far ahead, the mass of the herd was already bearing down on us.
Jan frowned. “Do you think they might attack?”
“Hardly,” Litius replied. “They may be predators but they never attack sentient beings. Also, don't forget there’re quite a few of us.”
“There’s our problem,” Harph said, pointing at the moon. “The Red Moon makes even the most pacific of creatures run amok.”
“By the way, the sign over that antalope’s head read ‘Unruly’,” I added.
“Exactly. It looks like they’re heading toward the river. All we need to do is try and get to that far hill before their whole troop blocks the entire valley.”
“Let’s get a move on,” Arts said, reaching for her sketchbook.
“I wish I could oblige,” I said, “but my Vigor drops too quickly. It takes it less than a minute to deplete.”
“That’s all because of your weight,” Traug said. “Give the eggs to me. My inventory’s not even a third full.”
I didn’t play hard to get. Relieved, I loaded the whole of my 150 lbs. onto Traug’s sturdy shoulders. Or to be more accurate, I transferred them into his inventory. It didn’t look as if my compatriot had even noticed the difference. His Strength must have been mind-boggling.
Now things started to go better. We set off at a fair pace, occasionally breaking into a trot, as we gave the antalope’s avant-garde a wide birth. We’d managed to cross their path before the arrival of the main herd.
“How many of them are there?” I asked.
“A couple of hundred,” Traug said confidently. “Too many if you ask me. I’ve never seen so many of them here.”
“It’s the last day of the Moon cycle,” Arts added. “They’re all out for a slap-up feast.”
We were sitting on top of a high hill. About three hundred yards below us, the antalope herd flooded past, completely ignoring the cowering humans. From time to time, some of them would stop to confront each other; others simply roared, ignoring the challenge. The bulk of them, however, kept moving peacefully forward.
“There’s something over there,” the ever-observant Litius said, peering ahead.
Traug laughed. “I bet there is. Tons and tons of half-baked venison drunk on the madness of the Red Moon.”
“That’s not what I mean. Over there,” Litius pointed with his hairy paw.
Now I too could see a man’s outline which approached the herd at a considerable speed. The antalopes must have noticed him too because they lowered their heads, pointing their horns at him. He was only several paces away from them. A few more, and he’d be-
Dumbstruck with amazement, I mumbled something unintelligible. The man had suddenly disappeared, gone in a split second. His shadow continued alone, flitting over the ground. It was his shadow, wasn’t it?
“There’s only one Seeker who can turn into his own shadow,” Arts’ calm voice rang with jealousy. “It’s Hunter.”
Chapter 27
CONFRONTED with a miracle, people always react differently. Some fall into a stupor while others become hysterical while yet others turn pale and try to find a logical explanation to what they’ve just witnessed. Which isn’t a bad thing, either. No matter how hard I’d tried to convince myself of the existence of all the multitudes of development branches within the game, each one weirder than the next, I too froze open-mouthed.
The shadow kept coming nearer and nearer, stealing along the scorched earth covered with dry grass. The antalopes appeared just as surprised as we were. They roared anxiously, shaking their horny heads from side to side as they sniffed the air, not even realizing that the man who’d made them so restless was already in their midst.
Arts even stepped out in front in order to be the first to greet him. Litius frowned; in contrast, Jan’s face dissolved in a smile. Traug and Harph were the only ones who just blankly stared at the fleeting shadow.
“It looks like I might get a dressing-down,” I said in a low voice. “Unbelievable that he found me here.”
“Well, what did you want?” Arts replied. “You can’t hide from him so easily.”
“It’s all right,” Harph said in a calm voice, looking somewhat detached. “I’m gonna take him out now.”
Before we could say anything, he threw his hands in the air and cast some crazily powerful spell. A cloud appeared in the sky, directly above Hunter. It dropped to the ground, enveloping him as well as the nearby antalope.
Hunter’s shadow shuddered. Once again the figure of my neighbor materialized, lying face down on the ground.
“You shit for brains!” Arts spat as she darted toward the fallen Seeker.
“Harph, what’s the matter with you? It’s our Hunter!”
Harph just stood there with a nonchalant look, staring at what he’d just done.
Pointless to reason with him now. I dashed after Arts, shouting to the others as I ran,
“Follow me! We can’t let the herd near him!”
By the time we’d approached my mentor, the antalope had already recovered from their initial shock and were on the hoof. Staggering and snorting, they were shaking their heads, trying to come back to their senses. Judging by their blood-shot eyes, they much have blamed everything that had just happened on the man lying in their midst.
Arts had already managed to reach into her bag and equip her armor as she ran. She now launched a pre-emptive strike with her staff right in front of the nearest tiger heads. She stepped next to the prostrated Hunter and drew her sword.
Litius promptly stepped on the other side, crouching and growling his fury. Even Traug’s full armor and raised shield hadn’t hindered him from getting in front of me. As soon as we got back, I’d have to do something about my physical shape.
Your Athletics skill has increased to level 6.
I stepped in front of Hunter and bent down, panting. He hadn’t dematerialized yet which meant he was still alive. I could see him stir and open his eyes as he climbed back to his feet. That was already a good thing. The only thing left to do was to sort out the infuriated antalope.
To say that our situation was difficult would be an understatement. The herd heaved as all those incredible animals started to move all at once, surrounding us in
a dense semicircle. We only had one option: to retreat back toward the hill. Still, I had a funny feeling that the moment we began to back off, the antalope would go for us.
“Don’t kill any of them, for crissakes,” Hunter grunted as he climbed to his feet. He was still staggering but on the whole, he was in one piece. “They’ll take us apart if you do.”
“It’s easy for you to say,” Arts said, her back pressed against mine, as she swung her sword at the advancing tiger goats.
A thunderous bang came from the opposite side of our little defensive circle as one of the more impatient antalopes smashed his horns against Traug’s shield. Still, Traug wasn’t born yesterday. As soon as Hunter had issued his warning, he’d put his weapon away, freeing up his right hand. Now he used it to grab the headstrong animal’s twisted horn, then stepped to one side and took a swing, sending the antalope flying.
Traug grinned, stepping back toward us. “It’s a good job cows can’t fly.”
I didn’t find it funny at all. Five Players against a couple of hundred animals beefed up by the power of the Red Moon. I had a funny feeling that the setup wasn’t in our favor. Actually, why were there only five of us?
I turned around and looked back at the hill. Two figures were standing upon it, coolly watching our approaching demise. I even got the impression that they had no intention of interfering.
What was that now, a mutiny? Or some personal grudge against Hunter? I thought that Jan had been happy to see him arrive. I knew he’d seen Hunter the first time I’d got to Purgator, which meant that the two had already met. Harph, however, might not have done so because it had been a while since Hunter had turned up at the Community. But in that case, what had possessed him to cast that stupid spell?
“Don’t attack them,” Hunter said under his breath.
“B-b-but they’re g-g-gonna attack us n-n-now.”
“No, they won’t. They’ll be waiting for him.”
“For whom?” Arts asked.
Hunter didn’t need to reply. I saw the herd’s alpha male from afar. He towered a good head and shoulders above all the others, his chest broad and powerful, his horns massive and blunt from years of infighting. All the antalope in his way lowered their heads in submission with every step he took. Even I could sense the powerful aura of confidence and control exuded by this proud animal.
Antalope leader
???????
???????
Invincible
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“But this one, he will attack you,” Hunter said, stepping forward.
A sword materialized in his hand. Hunter raised it to eye level. Did he really want to stop the herd’s leader with this piece of steel? Don’t get me wrong: the sword wasn’t bad as far as swords go. Maybe. Then again, maybe not. It was a rather plain weapon, crude even, as if the blacksmith had hastily fashioned it on the eve of battle.
Hunter took another few steps forward to break away from our group, then stopped dead in his tracks. He was waiting for the leader: the alpha male confident of his invincibility, the great warrior strongest amongst all antalope. Unconquerable.
The leader stopped a mere fifty feet away from his intended victim. There was no anger nor hatred in his gaze: he eyed Hunter the way a butcher who’s about to set to work eyes a carcass hanging in front of him.
Then he moved forward in a confident gait, slightly faster than he’d been moving before, and gaining speed with every new step. The sight of the horned monster galloping toward you made you quake in your boots. I had a lump in my throat.
All Hunter did was disappear.
Or rather, stealthed up — or became his own shadow, maybe. I might be mistaken in my terminology but what I did see was the dark silhouette of a man with a sword dashing toward the bull.
The animal seemed completely nonplussed. He was used to fighting opponents who were visible and could put up an honest fight. Head to head, horn to horn.
The antalope leader stopped and sniffed the air. He even turned in the direction of Hunter’s lurking shadow. Still, my mentor was quicker.
He materialized with his sword already raised to strike. In one clean swoop, the herd leader’s long twisted horns thumped to the ground. Now the bewildered animal looked like a regular tiger goat, his head topped with two short stumps. His gaze now betrayed terror and dismay.
Hunter disappeared as promptly as he’d materialized. His shadow flitted toward us. Before I knew it, he stood before me, his sword lowered.
I didn’t get the chance to pose him any of the questions I meant to ask him. How had he ended up in Purgator, when only recently he’d sworn never to set foot here again? What kind of shadow ability was this? And finally, what had just happened? The fight, the bull’s severed horns...
To tell you the truth, I didn’t even get the chance to breathe, let alone say anything, when everything around me quickly became hell again.
The bull’s horns lay on the ground, quivering slowly from side to side. Finally, they stopped moving.
That’s when all the other antalope attacked their leader. Several pairs of horns hit his powerful flanks at once, forcing him to his knees; countless hooves trampled over him. The more brazen ones were already ripping large chunks of flesh from their former leader. The entire herd was now trying to get to the dying animal in order to tear off a lump of flesh for themselves.
They seemed to have forgotten all about us.
“Let’s get the hell outta here,” Hunter said under his breath.
We were witnessing a veritable mayhem as ordinary herd members stampeded in their attempts to get to their stricken leader, trampling each other, breaking bones and ripping through flesh. We promptly retreated to the base of the hill. Only now did we finally feel relatively safe.
“Hunter, I thought you said you weren’t going to travel between worlds anymore?” I asked, putting my knife away.
“And I thought you said you weren’t going to stick your neck out. The fact that I said that you weren’t in any immediate danger didn’t mean that you had to join the Darkest One on his Purgator raid.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, uncomprehending.
“Look up.”
What did he want me to see there? It was only Jan and Harph standing on top of the hill. The latter had retrieved his amulet and was now busy casting something powerful. The guy was completely off his head.
A translucent cloud enveloped the top of the hill, then spread about a hundred feet in all directions.
Arts gasped. “Anti-magic!”
“What?” I asked quietly.
“Nobody else’s spells will work here now, whether cast by a wizard or by a charmed weapon,” she put her staff back into her bag.
“Expect for weapons made by a god,” Hunter said, playing with his sword.
“Can someone explain to me what Harph is up to?”
“It’s not him,” Hunter said. “Your friend is only obeying somebody else’s orders.”
I peered at Jan which admittedly wasn’t easy from this distance.
My hair nearly turned gray.
Admittedly, my former friend also looked a lot worse for wear. In the short time it had taken us to rescue Hunter, his face had become deeply furrowed. Black circles framed his eyes, his cheeks gaunt and sunken. You could barely recognize the cheerful magus I used to know.
But that wasn’t the main thing. My Insight had now allowed me to see this Player’s only characteristic.
There was no mistaking. I was looking at the Darkest One standing atop the hill.
“It took you a while, Hunter!” the fake Jan shouted from above. “I was already about to kill all those idiots. Apart from your precious student, of course. How else am I supposed to lure you in?”
“No need to lure me in, Two-Face. As you can see, I’ve come of my own free will.”
“Ha!” the Darkest One’s voice rang out over the valley, remarkably strong and clear in contrast to his appearance. “So it must have been that idiot G
rand Master who told you, wasn’t it? Good. It means that everything went according to plan. Never mind. Now I can finally get rid of him, as well as all the other Seers. I don’t need them anymore.”
“I’d already known before he told me. All the Grand Master did was confirm my suspicions. Which Player could have gone on a killing spree and still evade the Seers as if he didn’t exist? It took me some time to think who that Player might have been, but in the end, I did remember.”
“Not a Player! A God!” the Darkest One snapped. “I’m over two thousand years old! Don’t you dare dis me!”
