by Dawn Chapman
“Denny, why doesn’t she know this?”
They could tell I was different, and I should have known more and been able to see more, but the truth was, I couldn’t see a darned thing. I tried to access the interface, but I was getting nothing. No signs I was in a game at all. If Denny and Keld hadn’t been so out of place I would think I’d been teleported to the other side of the island. Which was, in itself, pretty weird.
“Are you guys cosplaying? You’re human, right?”
Denny burst into the loudest guffaw ever, and I frowned. I guess it was a funny statement, huh?
He pointed to where I’d woken. “That’s a spawn point. Visitors come, they go, they collect things, and die, then come back here.”
“That’s the basics of most MMORPGs, yes,” I said.
“So, why are you asking if the spiders attack? You should know they’re crypt spiders. They keep the place clean.”
Well, I didn’t really know much of anything, I guessed something had broken. “Where are my sisters? Are they around here somewhere?”
“No one else is here. There’s only one spawn point.”
If my sisters weren’t here, where were they?
Crap. I didn’t let myself panic though. I strode off, looking up and down the underground corridors and rooms to this place. It was biggish, hundreds and hundreds of feet of same old, same old. Just plain, boring, dirty, damp grey walls. Even the rooms that were dotted around had nothing in them.
“Is this all the same down here? Is it any bigger?” I asked.
“No,” Denny said. “It’s quite small. We looks after it...”
Keld giggled. “We looks after those who come back... and their wares.”
I almost giggled over the way they said looks. Cute. They were opportunists, looters, grave robbers really. They’d have probably killed me as I landed in the hope of taking my goods and avoid penance within the game for whatever they’d been punished for. This was a prison, after all. The more I observed them and this place, the more obvious it became.
I had to get out of here.
Denny and Keld ran up behind me. “You can’t escape,” they both said. “You’re new. There’s no escape for newbies!”
“What do you mean, no escape for newbies?”
“If you don’t feed the people you need to fight the Vorax.”
I sucked in a breath. “Oh. What’s the Vorax?”
Denny and Keld physically trembled and looked away from me. This worried me. Creatures that lived here shouldn’t be scared of what was down here.
“It’s not a giant-assed spider, is it?”
They shook their head. “Spiders protect. The Vorax kills.”
Wow, they were really scared of this thing.
“I’ve no intentions of fighting anything, but I am leaving.”
I had no clue where I was going, but I had to try, right? I wasn’t sticking around with these two goons. As crazy as this world might seem right now, I needed to search and figure it out. I couldn’t just sit around.
Up ahead of me was a door. It couldn’t be that easy to leave, could it? I stormed towards it anyway, with the two goblin-like creatures close on my tail.
“Don’t leave,” they begged, but I was going to.
I would open that door and step outside. Hopefully to somewhere with loads of people to ask things, to find out where I was, what I needed to do. Maybe I could get to see my character creation or stat sheet, maybe this was a test to see if I’d stay and fight, or leave. So many questions ran through my mind.
The truth of the matter was that the door wouldn’t budge, no matter what I tried. There wasn’t anything I could do to make it move.
Denny laughed beside me.
“You know it’s not gonna move, don’t you?” I asked.
He laughed even more and then Keld started too.
Ugh, I wanted to strangle them both.
“You gotta fight the Vorax...”
Vorax, huh. I wasn’t going to like this—I could see it. But I focused, sucked in a breath, rolled up my sleeves, and asked “Where?”
Denny pointed in the opposite direction. “Back that way.”
I took off, almost running, I wasn’t going to let anything scare me, and I was sure as hell not going to let some unknown monster get the better of me. I swallowed, thinking of my sister. Dahlia wasn’t so keen on things that crawled. As much as she loved animals, she ran away when insects were involved. I hoped wherever she was in this game she wasn’t confronted like this.
The door at the end of the corridor was open. I could see and smell the damp from here. The walls dripped with moisture, and cobwebs hung from all over. They were thick and deadly no doubt if you were caught in them.
I mean, how much could I take? Would I take one bite and die? Could I hit out at these creatures with nothing but my fists?
I looked to my hands. Yeah, I was trained in self-defence, in meditation. But it didn’t make me a killer. In most games, you learned how to do things quick, to gain levels, strength. I was sure my killing blow in here wouldn’t harm anything. I was too new to this world and everything that was involved in it.
I needed a weapon, and I frantically looked around for something. The rooms, the corridors were nothing but grey walls, cobweb-ridden ceilings—dusty, dingy nothingness.
On that note, it was as if Keld could hear my thoughts. He came up beside me and tapped my shoulder. In his hand was a crude sword.
“It’s all I have,” he said. “But it’s yours…if you’ll take us with you.”
I took hold of the sword, and grinned at its weight. I did note the blade was rusty, and that meant possibly blunt. “Of course I will. I could do with a couple of goofy friends.”
He was indeed goofy. If I stayed down here he was sure to grow on me.
“You ready?” Keld asked, and I swung with the sword.
“Give me a minute.” I needed to try its weight to see how it felt with different motions. I worked with it for a few minutes; it was heavy for its size, but maybe that was because I was so weak.
Ping: “You have learned the actions Stab, Slash, and Block.”
The game’s ping here was annoying, but at least it showed I was actually in a game. Not just transported to some very weird world. I was sure there were a ton more mechanics I needed to master, but that would probably come with time.
“Do you guys know how to handle yourselves with a sword?”
Denny smiled, and pulled out a sleek-looking sword from behind his back. It was silver, and I liked it instantly, but he wouldn’t give it to me.
“This is a marked sword, which means only I can wield it. Or I’d give it to you. There’s a lot of items in here that can only be held by one.”
That was interesting. “So, they’re soul bound?”
He didn’t know what that meant, of course. I did. It was all gravy for me. It meant there could be a lot of loot down here. Things I could possibly find. I really wanted to go digging, find stuff, then work out how to best myself. How awesome would that be to escape and become something special in Puatera? I had to do this.
“Is there armour and other items in there?”
Keld was the one who nodded this time.
I almost let out a squeal. This game might not be so bad after all. If I could defeat the first creature I came across, maybe I’d have a chance at getting out, as well as gaining some good loot and items to back me up. Without them, I’d be useless.
So, I walked to the door, swiping at the web as I went. The pings in my ear became ever more frustrating, but I also noticed a pop-up.
COMBAT MODE – TURN OFF NOTIFICATIONS WHILE ENGAGED WITH YOUR ENEMY.
Y/N
Thank goodness. I swiped the Y and heard no more. Now I was ready.
The stench from the room grew stronger the closer I got. Were there dead bodies in there as well? I tried not to worry about what would happen if I couldn’t fight this thing.
But there was no guessing. I had
to see what was in there before I could judge if I could kill it.
A glob of spider web clung to my face and I pushed it away.
Then I saw it.
It wasn’t just an insect, or a spider, or anything else. I’d never seen anything that looked like this. It had scales, fangs, and many, many more legs than a spider.
It noticed me and let out a screech. A horrendous bellow, but I didn’t move, frozen in place. It was totally freaky—had I been frozen by that screech?
Something appeared in the corner of my eye. A red splotch.
It read 10.
When I noticed it, it moved, and now stuck in the middle of my view with it, was an info panel. With a thought, I slid it out and read quickly.
The splotch I learned was my debilitation. The higher it was, the more I’d suffer. Though there were many types of debilitation, the main three were under:
Recoverable Debilitation
1 - General Wear and Tear
Fatigue, aches, bruises—anything that can be taken care of with some painkillers and a good night’s sleep.
2 - Sustained Debilitation
Lasting injuries. Large cuts that need stitches, bruised ribs or twisted ankles. First aid or basic doctoring required.
3 - Grievous Wounds
Specific wounds. Broken bones, internal bleeding, ruptured organs. It will need a specialist for surgery or a powerful mage.
Not only was I frozen in place, but I couldn’t speak. My splotch pulsed, and the number rose.
12
I wanted to scream but nothing came out, even when the insect creature rushed at me. Its jaws clicked, and the way its legs moved totally freaked me out. Then it was right in front of me, its many eyes boring into me. Goosebumps exploded over my body. I shivered.
15
I was going to die, and I had no idea if I would be reborn or if I’d die in the game. When its legs tentatively reached out and touched me, it was like my skin ignited. I’d never experienced pain like it.
My splotch pulsed faster.
I couldn’t move.
There was nothing to do but wait for the killing blow.
I knew it would come, but the spider thing was drawing it out, like it wanted me to do something. It just wasn’t happening. I tried to move and the splotch would flicker for one second, then it would go up another digit. I couldn’t force myself, I’d nothing to give. As soon as the Vorax’s fangs came for me, all I could do was close my eyes and hope it would be over soon.
Then came even more pain; it was beyond anything I’d taken in any other VR game. It shot up to 20, then 24, and it kept rising.
I felt sick, and something blew up in my vision. I realized it was my eyes as blood vessels popped. I wasn’t seeing anything; this was all the game. It was horrendous.
I wasn’t just going to die. I would do it in style.
26
28
29
Everything went red.
30
Blackness.
YOU HAVE DIED
PENALTIES GIVEN - ONE HOUR FROM GAME TIME. LOSSES INCLUDE ANY MONIES OR LOOT EARNED WITHIN THE LAST DAY.
Waking wasn’t easy. My eyes felt heavy—there was no other way to describe them. They were more than heavy. I couldn’t move still, but then my eyes flickered.
There was something.
Light, and then a voice.
“Denny,” I tried to say.
It was. I forced open my eyes and his voice was there, slowly grumbling and then it shifted.
There was no more pain. The splotch wasn’t even there anymore. It wasn’t just not there, it was nothing, zero.
How could it be zero after what I’d been through?
“Denny?”
“Yes?”
“What happened?”
“You died.”
Yeah, I really had. That obvious, huh?
“Seriously, that sucked.” I rolled to the side and saw Keld. His tiny, beady eyes stared at me.
“Yes, pain hurts,” he confirmed.
“How many times do I have go through this?”
“Ten. One hundred. I don’t know.”
Well fuck, that more than sucked.
The only way to do it was to beat the grind though, to get stronger, train.
“So you’ll help me?” I asked of them.
Keld nodded, but Denny said, “No.”
I wanted to slap him, but I couldn’t; I knew I needed them. For sanity if nothing else. They were goofy, kinda cute and had tried to help.
I would turn him around. I would make him accept I was going to do this. I would kill the Vorax. Eventually.
Chapter 2
I forced myself up and pushed off the concrete slab I was getting to know well. It was my respawn point, and it seemed I was destined to die more than live.
Every time I went into that room, the Vorax would kick my ass. In fact, it wasn’t just going to kick my ass, it would kill me, many, many times.
Would I get used to that horrible fanged mouth coming at me? No. But I wasn’t giving up. I would get out of here.
You have died.
You have died.
You have died.
The more I physically died and was respawned, the more it became my mantra. Something that would stay with me for a very long time.
Day after day, weeks—I had no idea how much time passed, but eventually, my sword passed through that sickening face. The teeth split and it came out the other side.
I’d sidestepped, dodged, had enough energy to run and miss it on entry but it seemed the more it learned the more it kicked back at me. And the more I wanted it to die.
I sighed. The blood splatter covered me. It wanted to cover me with more slime and gore than I needed to smell, but I covered myself with my stupid clothes and it took the fall. Burnt through with the acidity of her blood.
I survived.
I didn’t die this time, though my splotch had reached 27.
I sucked in a breath; I was happy.
I was alive.
I turned to see Denny and Keld standing by the door, grinning.
Ping. “You have killed Gestal’s Vorax, Sillki.”
YOU HAVE FREED DENNY AND KELD FROM THEIR PRISON. YOU ARE NOW RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR LIVES AND THEIR LOYALTY. IF THEY BETRAY YOU THEY WILL FACE PERMADEATH.
Err, who was Gestal, and why the hell was this horrible thing called Sillki?
My mind whirred. Hang on. Permadeath? So it was a bad game then? The NPCs would die and die quickly. I wasn’t so sure I wanted that.
I wanted them to have a life. How long had they been in this prison? I looked at them and tried to smile. They grinned back.
I pushed off from the table and moved to that outer door. I could actually push it now. It was easy. And I stepped into the scorching heat of a city. The air smelled dusty, though a little better than inside the dungeon. As fresh air filled my lungs, I breathed in deep. I could see the world I now occupied. No sky scrapers, no smog, beautiful sunlight. Soft-coloured plastered buildings, wooden roofs, quaint black and white etched windows. I loved it.
A blow to the side of my head took me by surprise, and I was eating dirt once more. However, this was different. I wasn’t dead. Splayed out, my legs and arms scrabbled for something, anything to get me back on my feet.
“This scrawny creature killed my Sillki?” A deep, rumbling voice asked.
Several squeaks to my left, Denny and Keld answered with a yes.
“Then she is mine,” the unknown male said. “She owes me. I will train her for what I want.”
Err, who the fuck was this, and what did he want me for?
I would soon find out though. He reached to grab hold of me, of anything he could grip. My tatty clothes tightened as he dragged me off, bouncing over harsh ground. Denny and Keld following behind.
The dirt underneath me, around me, becoming all darkness.
It filled my mind.
My soul.
I woke in a dark room
.
There was no more pain, but there was a lot of aching. It was like my whole body wasn’t happy. I tried to stretch out, but I couldn’t. I was stuck. Was the room that small?
I opened my mouth but all that came out was a pathetic squeak.
“Good morning,” said the same deep voice from before. “I will unbind you if you nod to tell me you understand that you are not to work with anyone but me.”
I didn’t want to work for anyone, let alone someone who had tied me up and stuck me in some dungeon.
“If you do not nod, then I will leave you here for eternity. You will die, and you will respawn. Again, and again.”
This guy knew what I was, just like Denny and Keld had. How was that possible? Unless he was a player.
My stomach knotted; I wanted out. So, I did the only thing I could to get out of a seemingly impossible situation—I nodded.
A weight lifted from my bones, and the ache went with it. “Who are you?”
My eyes focused on the man before me—except he wasn’t a man, not really. I wasn’t sure how to describe him. Skeletal? A Necromancer of some kind? There were no eyes, no skin, but there was rotting flesh. He didn’t smell, however, which surprised me. How could someone so vile not smell?
“My name doesn’t matter. What does matter is you belong to me.”
“I don’t belong to anyone.” The weight of his magic pressed down on me again. “Okay, maybe I will do your bidding, but I don’t belong to you. My world is different.”
He shrugged.
“We’re not so different.” He pushed himself up, and wispy, floating lights followed him, almost like he wasn’t in this world. Hazed, pixelated, I wasn’t sure. “Come.” He motioned at the door. “Let me show you some of the world you think you’re in.”
I followed him to the door, and we left the small dark room together. The world outside was bright, and as I looked around I saw we’d left the dungeon room and stepped out onto the street, in the middle of a bustling market. There were traders everywhere, with wares shown in multitudes of colours, boxes, and hanging rails. It was impressive.