The Cheater's Return

by Brian McGoldrick

  Looking away from me, Raven Goddess frowns. "That makes me sound rather pathetic."

  I shrug but do not say anything.

  After we finish eating, we continue our northward journey.

  The closer we get to the center of the island, the more sources of danger we encounter. Besides the barrows, there are more copses of trees, rock formations, dark holes in the ground, and other things that all give off a sense of danger. For some of them, the sense of danger is so extreme that it reaches the level of causing me physical discomfort.

  Near noon, it is like we cross a line, and all the danger disappears. The barrows in front of us are no longer threatening, and an enormous mental pressure that has been weighing me down since the fight with the Corrupted Wolves abates.

  After another hour, we reach a stone paved plaza, fronting a barrow easily three times the size of any of the others that I have seen. Despite the cloudless sky overhead, this barrow appears to be cloaked in shadow. Seven standing stones make a half-circle in front of it, and from their positioning, there should be five more that I cannot see around the back.

  The lintel and jamb with a stone slab plugging them are easily ten meters tall.

  Despite the feeling of immense age, the stones of the plaza and the standing stones seem to barely be weathered, and the barrow mound shows no sign of erosion.

  "Why did you choose the name Crom Cruach?"

  "Huh?" I stare at Raven Goddess blankly. Her question coming so far out of nowhere catches me completely off-guard.

  "I asked why you chose the name Crom Cruach. It is a simple question." Raven Goddess looks up at me, and she has a look in her eyes that I cannot interpret.

  I let out a sigh. "Don't laugh. The first time I logged into the game, when I was a fluffer, the name suddenly appeared in my mind. I never forgot that instant or the name. When I made my own character sheathe, I chose it for my name."

  Raven Goddess reveals a brilliant smile that makes the sun seem to dim. "Very good."

  "Why? What do you mean?"

  With that smile still lighting up her face, Raven Goddess points to the stone plugged entry to the barrow mound. "You will understand once you enter."

  "How am I supposed to get past that slab of stone?"

  "It will let you pass."

  "Why?"

  "Insufferable Man, it is the tomb one whose name has been lost to the mists of time, but it is known to you. The barrow will let you enter."

  "What do you mean?"

  Raven Goddess huffs. "I know you are not overly dense, so cease the games and enter the barrow of Crom Cruach."

  With a confused look on my face, I stare at Raven Goddess. "Crom Cruach?"

  Raven Goddess sighs and shakes her head. "I am showing you how to attain the legacy of a God, and you continue to ask questions. Crom Cruach was an ancient God of Tathlum. He is the one who made the crater we passed over. His name is lost to the mists of time, and yet, you know it. The barrow will allow you entry. Now, go!"

  "You're not coming?"

  The brilliance disappears from Raven Goddess' smile, and the darkness behind her eyes grows more pronounced. "I am not welcome there, but there is a nearby barrow that will surrender its legacy to me. Go! Claim an inheritance that will one day shake the foundations of the world!"

  With a pronounced frown, I walk toward the barrow. As I pass over through the circle of shadows made by the standing stones, a chill seems to pass through me, and the world turns dark. Looking up, I see a night sky above me, but on the other side of the circle of standing stones, the world is brightly lit by the afternoon sun.

  What the fuck?

  "Primacy Online may be a game, but if you do not treat this world and the legacy of Crom Cruach as absolutely real, you will be destroyed. Your mind, your consciousness, is here, and it can be snuffed out more easily than a candle in a hurricane." An air of sadness seems to surround Raven Goddess. She knows too many things and has too many secrets. Her long past seems to weigh heavily upon her shoulders.

  I feel a chill run down my spine. Raven Goddess' words hit too close to home. With not being in a cryo-capsule and not being in War Mode, I always considered the game to be safe. Well, aside from the effects of Thompson's Syndrome I considered it safe, but what if it is not?

  Turning my attention back to the slab of stone blocking the entry to the barrow, I walk forward and stop within arm's reach of it. It looks exactly like what it is, a big chunk of inanimate stone that probably weighs more than twenty tons.

  Reaching out, I put my hand on the stone slab. The rough surface of the stone is cool beneath my touch, but it is definitely solid stone. How the hell am I supposed to get past it?

  I look back toward the plaza, but Raven Goddess is already gone. I scan the area, but I do not see her anywhere.

  As I turn back to the stone slab, I freeze, and a chill runs down my spine. The slab is gone, and inside the lintel, I see a starry expanse like the night sky above.

  Nervously, I stretch out my hand. While I do not touch anything, my hand still seems to disappear, and I feel an unnatural chill encompass it. Taking a deep breath, I step forward, and the world disappears in blackness. The darkness is so complete that not even my Night Vision works, but I have never heard of any natural darkness that negated Night Vision .

  I take a step backward to return to the path leading to the barrow, but the darkness still surrounds me. I have the urge to chuckle morbidly, but I refrain from doing so.

  If I am inside the barrow, I should be in a tunnel, but it does not feel like there are walls around me. I feel like I am in a large open area. Without moving any further, I take out my starter staff, but reaching out to both sides, I do not encounter any walls. I put the tip of the staff against the ground in front of me…but there is no ground.

  Squatting, I try to feel the ground beneath me, but there really is nothing. With my hand, I reach under my foot and touch the bottom of my boot. I would swear I am standing on solid ground, but there really is nothing beneath my feet.

  Panic tries to sneak up and overwhelm my mind, but I laugh. Again, my laugh is a bit on the morbid side, but it is still a laugh. Standing up, I start to walk forward. If I do not act and do so with resolution, the irrational fears that exist within me might take hold.

  Even though I cannot see anything, I walk forward with confidence. There is nothing beneath my feet, and whether I stand still or continue forward, I could fall at any moment. The best option, the only option for me, is to push onward and keep trying to move forward. No matter what, I can only try to move forward. I am as one already dead. What do I have to fear?

  The impenetrable blackness disappears, and I see a dirt-walled tunnel that extends beyond the range of my Night Vision around me in greyscale. I am not moving. I do not have my staff in my hands, it is still in my storage. Looking over my shoulder, a stone slab seals off the tunnel behind me.

  Was everything I just experienced real or illusion? I have no way to tell. I do not even know how I wound up on this side of the stone slab. I find myself chuckling morbidly, again. Laughing is better than panicking. Right?

  I take a deep breath and walk confidently down the tunnel. At least, I tell myself I am confident and act accordingly.

  As I advance, I glance over my shoulder a few times, until the slab of stone behind me disappears into the darkness. I cannot see an end to the tunnel in front of me, but I do not pause. I keep walking, until I am certain that I have taken enough steps to have passed through the barrow twice over.

  Again, I look behind me, but the slab is really gone. Shaking my head, I keep moving forward. After what feels like an hour, I try to check the time, but I cannot bring up the game UI, user interface. With a grimace, I keep walking. I am not sure how long I continue on, but it feels like a day, maybe more.

  I am standing in a circular room. There was no sense of transition. At least, there was none that I can remember. I try to check the time on my UI, but it does not come up. I really d
o seem to be cut off from the game.

  "The Shackles of the Domination do not reach this place. For the moment, you are free from their dominion." The voice seems to come from everywhere and nowhere. It is deep and resonant.

  Looking around the room, I do not see anyone, and I do not see any means of entrance or egress. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all made up of dirt. In the center of the room, three multifaceted crystals hang in midair, and their light dyes the room with color. One is midnight black. One is grayish-brown. One is blood red.

  "Where is this place?" I am slightly surprised that my voice sounds as steady as a rock, and I do not feel any fear.

  "This place is on Tathlum, and it is not on Tathlum." Again, the voice seems to have no source. I almost feel like it is inside my head.

  "Who are you?"

  "I am not a who. I am a what. I am nothing more than the remains of a mental imprint left behind by the one called Crom Cruach."

  For a moment, there is silence. "I already know that you are yet another that seeks the inheritance of Crom Cruach. You are not the first, and if you do not pass the trials, you will not be the last."

  "There have been others that sought the inheritance?"

  "Many others."

  "None succeeded?"

  "All are dead. To fail is to die."

  "What is the inheritance?"

  "If you pass the trials, you will learn."

  I cannot help but chuckle morbidly. I feel like I am making a habit of it.

  "You may be an Outlander, but if you fail, you will die a true death. You will not return to your Outlander body. It will be your final death."

  I feel a coldness clamp around my heart. The residents of this constructed reality world call players Outlanders, but I have never heard of one being aware of the fact that our sheathes are not our real bodies.

  "Outlander, do you wish to attempt the trials?"

  "Yes."

  Inheritance of Crom Cruach

  Unknown Location

  Unknown Time

  "You are weak. If you are to overcome this trial, you must realize your Skills."

  "What do you mean?"

  "The Trial of Battle. You must endure and overcome." The deep voice of the mental imprint booms so loudly that it hurts my ears.

  Without any warning, the world around me changes in less time than it takes to blink. I am no longer in the circular room. I find myself standing on a plain with dirt the color of blood. I look in all directions, but at a distance of about a hundred meters, a cloud of blood colored mist cuts off my vision. The lighting is about the level of twilight. It is just dark enough to impede vision but not dark enough for my Night Vision to activate.

  Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

  It sounds like heavy footsteps, a lot of them. There should be at least ten people. Are they even people?

  The footsteps come closer, and a group of ten things walks out of the blood mist. They are about my size, but if they are Half-Giants, they are the radiation mutant version of Half-Giants. They have bulging muscles, but their bodies are deformed. Their limbs are bent. Their backs are twisted. They have cancerous looking lumps rising from their flesh. Their eyes are filled with a mix of surprise and bloodthirsty madness. For a moment, they look around in confusion, and then, their eyes fixate on me.

  "Raaaarrrrrrr!"

  The mutants charge at me. Their surprise and confusion are gone. Only, their bloodthirsty madness remains.

  Identify Monster. Nothing happens. It seems that in this trial I cannot use my game Abilities. If I had other active Abilities, would they work?

  The mental imprint did say that I need to realize my Skills. Skills and Abilities are two entirely different things, so maybe, I can only use my Skills?

  I activate my QCP vision, but I cannot see any Shackles. I do not have the feeling that my vision has shifted in the way it does to see them. Did it not activate, or is there some other reason?

  Maybe, that mental imprint told the truth, and the Shackles of the Domination really do not reach wherever I am.

  I smile grimly. With or without game Skills, I have had to fight all my life. My father was a piece of shit gangster and pimp. He put my mother out on the streets and did not give a shit what happened to me. I grew up on the streets and first learned to fight before I started school. My mother hid away money to send me to a good school, but I was an outsider. I was targeted by the slightly wealthy shits that filled the school, but I was used to fighting. When they came after me, I made them pay with pain.

  After my piece of shit father got himself killed, things went from bad to shit. My mother got strung out, and the money for school went away. I practically lived on the streets.

  As soon as I learned I had a talent for fluffing, I spent all the time I could in the Northern Warriors training complex. They loved using children that already had aggressive tendencies, it was easier to train them as killers to farm XP for their team's sheathes. The Northern Warriors ran three eight hour shifts of fluffers, and when I left their complex, there were always more fights.

  Fighting is as natural as breathing to me. I am very, very good at it.

  When I tell people I hate fighting, I am lying. The truth is, I love to fight. When people, who claim to be normal, know that violence is no different from breathing for you, you scare them. They treat like you are something not human. It is best to let the normal people live in their ignorant little bubbles and never let them know the world is still full of violence.

  The way these things move is awkward but powerful looking. They seem too animalistic to have any combat Skills, but they are no strangers to violence. I cannot tell what their Levels or Ranks are, but even if they are only Level 1s, ten to one, it will still be dangerous.

  I cannot access my storage, but the mental imprint did not take away my staff that was in my hand. As the mutants close on me, I lunge at the one of their left wing.

  Crack.

  The tip of my staff hits the center of the mutant's face. The bones break, but I do not do enough damage to kill it. The mutant staggers backward. The thing is at least as strong as I am. It is probably a bit stronger, but it does not use its strength well.

  I am faster and more agile than the mutants. Before they can mob me, I have already moved past the one that I hit, and I spin around targeting its knees. My blow breaks more bones, and the mutant falls to the ground.

  As I run away, I string out the mutants. Some are faster and more agile than others, and some are probably stronger than others. They are not carbon copies.

  The mutant that I attacked is definitely disabled. I try to bring up my game UI, but nothing happens. Without the UI, I have no way to verify how much damage I am doing, but it feels like my attacks are exceeding 100% Skill Expression. If that is true, these things should have over 1000 HP, but they should not be over 2000 HP. As long as I disable them, I can finish them at my leisure.

  I go after the fastest mutant. There is a gap of five meters between it, and my next closest pursuer. Spearing it in the stomach, I let it grab my staff and lift it into the air. Its twisted face reveals momentary surprise, and I slam it into the ground.

  Crack!

  Before the mutant I threw can get up, I hit the knees of the next one in line and shatter its right kneecap. As its leg buckles, the thing pitches face first into the ground.

  Three more are right on top of me, and I run away. These are not mindless zombies, and I do not have any armor. I do not dare to stand in the middle of them.

  As I scan the mutants to pick out my next target, I see the first one I put down is getting up again. Its knees seem to be perfectly fine. That is just flat out cheating. I am supposed to be the cheater in the house. If I kill it, will it stay dead?

  Moving through the middle of the pursuing mutants, I slip under and around their attacks. A few of them get tangled up with one another, and instead of attacking me, they fight each other. As I clear the last one, I sprint toward the first one I fought. With a
face as ugly and deformed as these mutants, I can only assume that the broken bones in its face have healed, since its knees healed.

  "Raaaarrrrrrr!"

  The mutant charges at me like an enraged bull.

  Crackle!

  The mutant does not even try to dodge, and my staff hits it clean in the throat. The bones shatter, but it keeps clawing at me. I step to the side, and spinning in a full circle, I smash my staff into the back of its head.

  The mutant falls limply to the ground, and I hammer the tip of my staff through the back of its skull. Skull fragments, brains, and blood splatter across the ground, around the body.

  With the rest of the mutants almost on top of me, I run and circle to the right. The second mutant whose knee I broke is getting up, and it charges toward me.

  I break the mutant's knees again, and once it falls to the ground, I use its head for target practice. Three strikes turn it into a bloody mush of brains and bone chips.

  The first mutant I killed is still dead. Once they die, they seem to stop healing.

  After that, it gets easier. The mutants are not as brainless as zombies, but they are not intelligent enough to work together. Using my superior speed, I disable, isolate, and kill them one at a time.

  "First wave completed."

  First wave? How many waves are there? The damn mutants did not even give me any XP. At least, I could not see any XP links rising from them, and since I cannot bring up the UI, I can only assume I did not get XP.

  The corpses of the mutants dissolve into a blood-colored mist that streams back into the clouds of mist surrounding my fighting field.

  For about five minutes nothing happens, and then, the sound of footsteps reaches me. There are a lot more of them than the last time, and they are coming from two directions.

  Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

  In a minute or so, two groups of ten mutants walk out of the blood-colored mist. They do not look any different from the last group.

  "Raaaarrrrrrr!"

  The mutants charge at me, and I charge at the group in front of me. Like last time, I break the knee of one of the mutants, but before I can shake off enough of the other mutants to isolate it, it heals and gets mixed in with the rest of the mutants.