by Terra Snover
By Terra Snover
For Rink
The gentle giant.
Another Online: Clockwork
Another Online: Book 2
Author: Terra E Snover
Art: Dawn Lingchen
Proofreading: Samantha Gove
Photo: Summer Snover
First edition, 2021, Terra E Snover
Part 2 in the book series: Another Online
Text copyright © Terra Snover 2021
Art copyright © Terra Snover 2020
Photo copyright © Terra Snover 2016
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Chapter 1
The New Normal
I sat on my dragon, Tundra, overlooking the battlefield below me. The Hellspawn, Vampires, Lamorea, and Undead rushing at the Alliance forces. Blade clashing against claw, magic being tossed back and forth. I felt Amber move behind me, loosening her grip from around my waist. “Looks like another insane battle.” Her new spiky black armor glistened in the moonlight, the magical red highlights glowed, giving her the look of cooling lava. “Should we intervene?”
“As if you need to ask.” I gave her a smile and licked my lips; just thinking about the chance to feast on the blood and flesh of the players below made me salivate in anticipation.
“Have fun, Var,” Amber said as she grabbed the dragon’s reins from me.
“I always do.” I turned in my seat and spread my wings, ready to take off. I pulled away and let the wind take my wings like a kite and drifted away from her and the dragon. I felt the wind blow through my red, silk trench coat, my long silver hair whipping behind me, and trails of flames flowing off my crown of fire.
I picked my target, a lightly armored Human player fighting with a cluster of Hellspawn. I put out my claws, ready to strike. I hit him like an avalanche, we went tumbling through the battle, knocking into players and Ns alike. Once we stopped he looked up at me, probably trying to figure out what the hell had just hit him. His eyes widened when he saw who was on top of him. I smiled at him and said in a whisper, “Shadow Swarm.” My shadow exploded into a swarm of black pulsating tentacles, each stabbing him repeatedly. He tried to pull himself away from me but was unable. I watched as his health diminished to almost nothing. The moment before his death, I sunk my teeth into his neck, draining the delectable and thick blood from his body. By the time I lifted my head away from him, he was dead. I turned to face a gaggle of players rushing at me, ready to strike me down. Well, they can try anyway. I pointed my finger at them and shouted “Firestorm!” and a flurry of fireballs came flying from my fingers, each flying to the attacking players. As the fireballs hit, the players were knocked down and soon after were overwhelmed by the Red Empires forces.
“So we meet again, Red Queen,” came a voice from behind me. I turned to see the sturdy framed man. I had met him a lot over the last two years; King Roe, the leader of the Alliance. His long, dreadlocked hair moved back and forth and he slowly walked to me. His cool, green eyes locked upon me, “We keep meeting each other in the most strange of places.”
“Oh Roe, you are as shiny as always.” It was true, he was shirtless and his ebony skin shined brightly in the moonlight. “I’m curious, do you take baths in body oil?”
“No, I’m just naturally like this.” He rushed at me, his spiked knuckles flying at my face.
“So, that’s sweat? You must feel sticky at every moment,” I retorted as I did a backflip away from his blow.
“Not sweat, I’m just this beautiful.” Roe came rushing to me with a number of blows, a few actually managing to make contact.
“Huh, Humans think you are good-looking? I feel bad for your species.” I grabbed his fist and tossed him over my shoulder into the ground. Tundra and Amber went flying close by us, Tundra blasting some Alliance players with a frost breath.
“You're not my cup of tea either, Hellspawn,” he grumbled, getting back to his feet.
“To each his own.” I gave Roe a shrug.
“I guess.” Roe came in for another punch. “Iron Fist!” he shouted as an amber flame emitted from his hand.
“Blackhole!” I cast my spell on him. We both hit each other hard. His punch knocked me back, leaving me with only a sliver of health left. My black vortex of a spell dissipated from around him, only leaving him with a few health points, or HP, as well. And then we both waited for the next part of this dance we were enacting with each other; we needed a player to kill each of us. One of the new Red Empire players rushed over to Roe and hit him with an arrow, knocking the last bit of HP he had to nothing. He could have easily avoided that arrow or cast a defensive ability, but he did nothing. Just like I was about to do nothing about the Alliance mage who cast a lightning spell on me. I watched my health drop to zero and a message flash across my vision, ‘N0-2244, Var Zargronith, The Red Queen, has been killed by P-1,522,191, Da’ Mann.’
Everything went black and then I found myself in a mostly empty room. The room was nothing more than simple wood walls and floors. There were no doors or windows, it was basically a large wooden box. In the center of the room sat three seats, again simple wood that looked like they had seen use but were not in any kind of disrepair. In one of the seats sat Adam; the Game Master had taken over my story since my last GM had been... how can I say this? Given an extreme timeout. I looked over to my left and, as expected, I saw Roe standing there, giving me a smile. “Do you take a bath in body oil? You crack me up, girl.” He offered me his hand to help me up. I took his hand, even though I didn’t need help, but the gesture was nice and I didn’t want to be a jerk to him if I didn’t need to. I looked at him and gave a wry smile myself, “I try to keep it light out there.”
“Well, I always enjoy our time together and thanks for bantering with me. It's hard to find someone to get any good verbal dueling matches with when you're surrounded by underlings.” Roe lightly punched me on the shoulder.
"Tell me about it. All I get every second of every day is, ‘yes, my Queen. Right away, my Queen, what can I do for you today, my Queen.’ Not to mention all of the bowing; I mean, I understand it's their job, but seriously, how much can people bow in one day?" I sighed. "But I guess it's better than being some item shop vendor."
“Are you two done?” inquired Adam. I looked over to Adam and as always he was unremarkable. He was an older man with a long, black beard and long, messy hair. He was dressed in simple brown clothing. He could easily blend into any crowd of this game without being noticed.
“Yeah, we’re done,” I informed him as I moved to one of the empty seats next to him.
“Okay, no rest for the wicked, I suppose,” Roe said as he took the last of the open seats.
“So, the Alliance defended the attack; Var, you didn’t gain any new territories.” Adam waved his hand at me.
“Ha, in your gray face!” Roe pointed his finger at me in victory.
“It happens.” I gave a shrug. Really, this happens all the time now. Ever since players were allowed to join the Red Empire, a worldwide war had been raging. We had been doing a massive battle every two weeks for the last 102 weeks where the Alliance and the Red Empire would jockey for territory.
“You both did well. Our simultaneous log-in is up by two hundred and thirty percent from this time last year,” Adam said dryly.
“Well, I’m happy things are going your way.” I leaned back in my chair.
“I wouldn't say things are going perfectly.” Adam eyed me. “But I do appreciate you two doing what is necessary for Another Online.”
“Yeah, wh
atever.” I looked away from Adam; I hated the fact I had grown so accustomed to all this crap.
“You can count on us.” Roe pointed his thumb at himself in his usual exuberant fashion.
“Good to hear.” Adam’s voice was soft and had almost no intonation in it. “Now onto other matters.” Adam pulled up a terminal out of nothingness, the ghostly screen floated in front of him and he started messing with it. This always felt strange; as Ns we had been trained to ignore anything out of the roleplay of Another Online, and this was way out of place. “We have some problems with faction membership. The Alliance is growing more and more outnumbered by the Red Empire each day. This wasn’t a big problem seeing as they weren't high level, where most Alliance players were, but that has changed. There are a lot of high-level Empire players and soon the battlefield will be uneven and the Empire will have an unfair advantage. More than likely this will make more Alliance players quit or make new characters in the Empire.”
“That’s because they have all the cool races!” Roe exclaimed. “Undead, Imps, Vampires, Hellspawn, not to mention you can be Lamorea or Human and still be a Red. What does the Alliance have that’s just for us? The freaking Siveen!”
“And the GMs agree with you, Roe, that’s why we have decided to release a race expansion pack.” Adam flicked his finger and a row of Ns appeared in front of us. They looked around once they arrived- being spawned someplace was always disorienting. Once they spotted the GM, they all walked over to us and stood silently and avoided eye contact. This was normal; for the most part, if you came into contact with a GM this is exactly what you were to do. “Please take turns introducing yourself and your race,” Adam ordered them calmly. First to speak up was ‘N0-0991, Pronoia Hester, Lady of the Sun’ a beautiful woman with a thin frame. “I’m Lady Hester, of the Puer Sole.” She gave us a slight bow as she spoke. On closer inspection, she looked like she was designed to be my exact opposite. Long, wavy, golden hair flowed over her white feathered wings. She wore a baby blue toga that covered her snow-white skin, and floating above her head was a glowing halo of light. I was disappointed in the GMs with this race; they couldn't come up with anything better than angels with a different name?
“Hello, I’m Augur Exto, of the Senso.” I peeked over Augar’s head to catch his N information, ‘N0-2245 Augur Exto, Lifebringer’. This race was much more interesting; it was a being made of coalescing wisps of light that flowed in and out of the wide-framed humanoid figure. It was almost like a swarm of fireflies. There were several pieces of golden armor floating close to his body but not touching it, like they were being held in place by magnets. And he had one large wisp in the center of its head making a single eye. Augur placed his hands together and inclined his head ever so slightly, “I look forward to working with you all.”
The next to step forward took me aback, ‘N0-1002, Vraklu Wildflare, Matriarch of the Shining Swamp’ was a frog on her hind legs dressed in flowing purple robes and a tiara adorned to her moist green skin. “I am Matriarch Wildflare of the Amphibira.” Her voice was smooth and calming, odd coming from such an odd creature.
“Greetings to you, I am Zajak Mezis of the Al’nor!” Zajack exclaimed extremely loudly. The long tangle of branches curving into horns protruded into his N title that read, ‘N0-0599 Zajak Mezis, The Mighty’; his body was a swarm of plantlife covered in ancient Roman-like armor adorned with a short red cape. He placed his fist across his chest and boomed, “I’m excited to be here with you all!”
Lastly was a tall, extremely skinny figure in a tattered puffy dress. Her chipped porcelain mask was slightly covered in messy long blond hair that looked like a bad wig. She took a step to us, and with every movement, I could hear mechanical sounds, like the turning of gears in a clock. I peeked above her head and read, ‘N0-8,985,211, Oracle, The Clockwork Princess’. She looked way out of place from this lineup. A mechanical whisper came from the woman, “I am the Oracle, I am one of the Machina, my people will be coming to the Red Empire soon.”
“Wait, I thought we were getting all the new blood,” Roe blustered.
“The Machina aren't going to be a playable race. They were designed by one of our GMs for story reasons,” Adam informed us. I cracked a small smile; I bet this was Lily’s doing. Leave it to the only GM I would consider a friend to give me something during an expansion for the other team. “One week, that’s when we’ll be releasing the new expansion. You should prepare for this grand event.” Adam got to his feet, “And that’s it, I’m going to let the new Alliance N0s get acquainted and the Red Empire get to know each other. Once you’re done, exit out the door,” a door spawned behind Adam, “and you will spawn back into the game world.” Before I realized it, it was just Oracle and me left in the void; everyone else was gone.
Oracle’s head slowly ticked so she was looking at me. Her mechanical movements were uncanny and unsettling. “Hello Var.” Her hand jerked suddenly to me with an open palm. It took me a second to realize she wanted me to shake her hand. By the Void, handshaking, I haven’t done this in years, everyone else has just been bowing to me. I grabbed her hand and we gave it a few shakes. “You have quite a grip there, Oracle,” I mused.
“Oh sorry, I’m still getting used to this body.” Oracle let go of my hand. She moved over to the seat where Roe had been moments before. Each step weared and clicked as she moved.
“I understand that, I was Human before this.” I gestured to my Hellspawn body.
“Weren't we all?” Oracle tilted her head ever so slightly.
“Well, I was a Human N before this,” I amended.
“Wait, you didn’t start like this?” She moved her arm to gesture at me.
“No, I was running an item shop before this, but I glitched into this whole Red Queen thing.”
“Oh. I was nothing before this.” She paused for a few seconds, more than likely reliving the training. I understood why- N training was unpleasant. “Then I was here in this room with you.”
“Wait?! You are new? Like brand new to AO?” I was genuinely shocked. Everyone I knew had been here from day one, I hadn't even thought about the fact that new Ns would be put into AO.
“Yes, I am new. How long have you been here?” she inquired, shaking me out of my ever growing hate for Gear Tech.
“I have been here about sixteen… or closer to seventeen years.” I looked away from her as I spoke. I hated the idea that I had been here this long.
“Hum, interesting. I didn’t -” She started to say but I cut her off.
“It is what it is.” I crossed my arms, “So, did they tell you what you should be doing?
She paused and watched me for a moment, and her arm twitched and her hand clenched, “No, I was not informed on what I should be doing.”
“You should expect that from the GMs around here, they are extremely unhelpful.” I narrowed my eyes angrily.
“I see.” Her voice was unreadable and even. “What I was informed, my people will be coming to your city a few days before the expansion release. So you should be ready for us.” She stood from her seat and started walking to the door.
“Woah, where are you going?” I stood and took a step behind her.
“I wish to leave,” she informed me simply. “I don’t have anything else to say to you.”
“You should take advantage of GM and System-free time, this doesn’t happen often.” I went to grab her wrist, but she moved it away from my hand. “I do not wish to keep talking.” She grabbed the handle of the door and vanished.
“What in the Void?!” I exclaimed. I looked around the empty space, now only me and the three chairs. “Damn it.” This was annoying, I looked forward to post-battle chatter, it was the only time I could truly be me and it had been cut short today. I let out a sigh. I guess that’s the way things go here in the shit show that is Another Online. I walked over to the door and placed my hand on the handle.
The next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes to see the silk canopy of my massive bed. Re
spawning was always strange, it was like when you fell asleep someplace crazy when you were a kid and you would wake up in your bed like magic. “Rise and shine, kiddo!” my Papa called out to me as he opened the blinds, letting the light into my bedroom.
“What?” I enquired as I blocked the light hitting my eyes.
“I said it’s time to get up, my Queen,” Xor spoke softly. She was lit by the morning light, her beautiful Imp body dressed in a black and silver handmaid uniform. Her silver hair cut short around her thin horns. Her bright red skin surrounds penetrating silver eyes. “There is much to do and little time to do it.” She gave me a soft smile.
“I doubt that.” I stood, sliding out of bed nude- well, almost nude there was a yellow ribbon that never came off my wrist. At this point the System had learned that was how I normally went to bed so it made sense to spawn me that way. As soon as my feet hit the ground, Xor was ushering me over to my dresser. “I think the red and gold sarong and halter top are in order today.” She held the outfit out in front of me.
“And the coat,” I added, crossing my arms, letting her know that the coat was a demand.
“And that awful beat-up trench coat,” she surrendered. I don’t understand why she hated that coat so much. I thought it looked cool. It was one of two things gifted to me by my friend Lily, the other being the yellow ribbon. Over the next thirty minutes, Xor got me ready for my upcoming day, cleaning me, dressing me, and filling me in on my schedule. This was our routine, a completely unnecessary one. Before I had taken her in as a handmaid, I just woke up ready to go, but apparently taking her on let The System know this was a story override for my character. I had to admit I kind of liked it; it made me feel a bit more like a normal person. Well, as normal as AO could get. Also, this was one of the only opportunities for genuine human, or maybe creature, contact? Well, whatever the correct terminology for the contact we were having right now was, it felt wonderful. Xor was currently brushing my hair and she gave me a smile, “You are grinning like a fool.”
