Tower Of Sol

by Kris Schnee

  I dropped the wand and stepped back from the fight to see if the others could win.

  Adam was acting as Mike's sidekick, never letting either Red Horse man get in an easy blow. Julia was hanging back close enough that one of the two kept trying to charge at her, but every time they tried it the two swordsmen made them regret it. I saw a lot of minor wounds get traded. Then an arrow forced Big Guy to dodge, right into a slash of Mike's red-gleaming blade.

  Carla called out, "That's three, dumbass! Quit or your side forfeits!"

  The bear growled but didn't interfere. Big Guy looked ready to keep fighting, but threw his club down in disgust and backed away.

  From there it was quick, three versus one. Julia ran out of arrows but still had her daggers, just effective enough to distract Squiggly. Mike and Adam flanked him and stabbed him hard with their blunt blades, hard enough to make him reel and clutch his stomach, dropping his club.

  "And that's three to you! You lose!", the griffin screeched.

  The Red Horse men were winded and bruised but barely even bloodied. Physically they were fully ready to pick their clubs right back up and try to kill us for real, with the help of their ursine monster. They swore at us... but took a step back.

  Big Guy said, "It doesn't matter. The game doesn't end here. You can't beat us all."

  Carla got between the tribesmen and us, saying to us, "Come on; we have a job to finish."

  * * *

  The enemy let us pass. We hurried around the east side of Freehold, to within sight of the tribal army. Those guys jeered at the sight of us but didn't attack. I shouted, "Here's your proof!"

  Carla spoke up with an amplified voice. "In the name of Sol, I swear that the treaty with the settlement of Freehold is real. I'm here only by special permission. This land is not Sol's territory, and therefore, not a legitimate target for you getting any help from Gaia. Do you idiots understand that, or do I need to use smaller words?"

  I said, "Well, Gaia monsters? You have no business here. Get off our land, unless you want to break whatever truce you have with Sol. I understand Sol has some special assets to use against you, if it comes to that."

  The bears and deer and chimeras that made up the heaviest, most frightening part of the Red Horse forces gashed the earth with their claws and hooves, and as one, growled and hissed at the walls of our town. Then, together, they turned away and withdrew.

  The tribe itself hesitated. I spotted the chief or speaker or whatever he was and said, "And how about you? Looks like you're Gaia's pawns, now. Doesn't that force you to leave, too? You people already cheated, trying to ambush us on the way here."

  Carla said, "That was a cheat, you know. We had a truce. If you thugs want to keep pushing the limits of that deal, we'll have to get nasty. And you don't even know what the deal is because you think your new god is so great."

  The chief swore at us, then said, "Fine! You have less than a year, now. Your playing in that tower saved you for now. And then, we'll be back. Everyone, withdraw!" He raised one arm and hooted. The tribesmen were a ragged bunch, shouting and arguing, but a few of what passed for officers were more level-headed, and browbeat the rest into following them away to the south.

  Rapidly the space next to Freehold emptied. That left me, Mike, Adam, Julia and the griffin outside the walls and looking up at Mayor Berg and Father Cypress. More men and women stood ready with weapons, jeering our departing foes. Then our friends waved for us to come to the gate.

  Berg called down, "So it's true? We've got a year's reprieve from the tribesmen because of the AIs' legal loophole?"

  Carla said, "It's true, sir."

  The mayor glared at the machine, then ignored her. "What happened to you four? You look like you've been beaten up."

  I said, "I'm sorry to drag Adam and Julia into this, but they insisted on coming along, and they helped get us back safely. We're going to have to play along with this game's rules, if we're going to be safe against Gaia's creatures."

  Carla said to me, "That's right. In a direct fight, you can probably take the tribe on, but with Gaia's help they're a real threat to you." She paused. "Ah, good; now that the threat is in the open, I'm allowed to speak more freely about it."

  Adam asked her, "So what happens now? Are we safe?"

  "Only within this area around your town, where they can't attack at all. Outside it, well... the route to the Tower will be clear. I'll help make sure of that. But outside that, you're still in danger."

  "From thugs wanting to fight us by game rules, or from them using real weapons? Or from more Gaian ambushes?"

  "Yes, all of those. But as you saw today, the AIs' treaties make it hard for anyone serving Gaia to attack you, except by following game rules. At least, if they might get caught."

  Julia said, "What about this magic stuff? Is it spreading?"

  The griffin looked embarrassed, scratching her head with her talons. Why, I wasn't sure. "Long story. Basically, you're going to see more and more regions around here where the 'spells' work like they do in Sol Tower. It's all still technology-based; I mean we didn't break physics. But yeah, keep the headsets and train up. Your enemies will start to do the same, like it or not."

  I sighed; we were going to be doing more "adventuring" now, not simply for the prizes and not even just to keep Sol at bay. Instead, we'd be doing it to protect ourselves from Gaia's minions.

  Mike seemed to sense my worried mood. "We'll find ways to fend those guys off. And hey, we have a year to practice for the real war, right?"

  "A war of games?"

  "Sounds fun," Adam said.

  I turned to Carla. "I can't let you in, you know. But... Thank you. You've bought us a reprieve."

  The machine saluted. "I'll be around, on the road. Good luck, Sven."

  "Thank you," I repeated, as I watched the machine go. I didn't know what her life was like, how much time she'd experienced within Sol's realm, or whether she'd upload again if she had the chance to take it back. For now we were allies. Maybe, though I couldn't admit it to anyone in town, even friends.

  I waved to the gate guards, who opened the way for us humans to go home again. We went inside to tell the people what we'd seen and done. We were Freehold's only game-trained adventurers so far, but it seemed there'd need to be a lot more of us soon.

  * * *

  A week later, I was escorting Adam, Julia and a friend of theirs to visit the Tower of Sol. Today I wouldn't be exploring it myself; they'd train faster without me, they'd said, and I needed to have a long talk with a griffin.

  The robot dragon met us near the one-kilometer boundary, bearing a scroll. "Welcome, travelers! I have news."

  "A chance at an extended treaty?" I asked.

  "Sadly, we can't do that. You need to prepare as well as you can, this year. But that's why I'm here: to tell you about the Dungeon of Gettysburg." The dragon unrolled its scroll to show directions to our west, to a place where "worthy heroes can gain an edge over any foe".

  "Why there?" I asked. "Why not upgrade the Tower?"

  "Space restrictions. Out there at our other territory in this region, we can do all sorts of interesting things, and help you to the full limit of what's allowed. But come prepared; just getting there won't be easy, and the challenges within are geared toward people for whom the Tower has become routine."

  "A high-level zone," said Adam. "Can we go there next, Mr. Dahlson?"

  "Like he says, that won't be easy. It was over an hour's drive back when we had cars. But yeah, we might need to go, soon."

  The dragon pressed the scroll into my hands, saying, "Take these instructions, sir. There's only so much we can say, and promise, but you'll find a trip out there useful in your fight against the Red Horse Tribe and the Gaians. You might even say..." But its voice buzzed. "Bah. I was trying to give you a hint too far. Just go see for yourself."

  I saluted. The dragon wasn't taunting us, wasn't necessarily trying to talk us into uploading. Instead it was, in some strange sense, on
our side.

  I said to Adam and his friends, "Let's get you to the Tower. It looks like we should all get more practice soon."

  It was going to be a strange year, full of high-tech magic and dungeon-crawling and being pawns in a war between AIs. It wasn't just bare survival, though. Maybe we'd come out ahead in this fight. And maybe, helping Sol do a little conquering would be a good thing for humanity.

  We marched on, to see what adventures awaited us today.

  Author's Note

  Thanks for reading! Please consider leaving ratings and reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, or other sites like Reddit. Independent authors don't get noticed without fans helping to get the word out!

  This book takes me back to doing live-action roleplaying in college. There's a strange kind of dual thinking needed for that type of gaming: in-character planning for how to win or act out your part, and out-of-character thinking about how to keep up with your real responsibilities (and not look too foolish).

  Part of the inspiration for this one is the tabletop setting "GURPS: Reign of Steel" by Steve Jackson Games. That one's premise is basically "The Terminator" except that multiple AIs conquered the world together, and now have different agendas that leave humanity scurrying under their feet.

  The board game shop that the Freehold villagers found is Six Feet Under Games, of New Holland, PA. If you're in the area, visit it before the robot uprising! Or if you're in St. Petersburg, FL, check out Serenity Games, where I've spent a lot of time.

  If you're interested in the game-like aspects of this story, there's an entire genre about it called "LitRPG" or "GameLit". Here are several Facebook groups devoted to the subject, for readers and writers:

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGsociety/

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPG.books/

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/GameLitSociety/

  What's the relationship between this story and the Thousand Tales setting? This one is in a different, darker timeline similar to the bad futures (probably) averted by Ludo's heroes. I think the contrast highlights how important it is that the settings' technological elites stay involved in real-world problems, as more than salesmen who think they know what's best for you.

  About the Author

  Kris Schnee has been a parrot trainer, an MIT graduate, a zoo intern, a lawyer, a game designer, and most recently a software developer. He lives in Florida.

  Galleries:

  http://www.amazon.com/Kris-Schnee/e/B00IY1HDDY/

  (Amazon author page)

  http://kschnee.deviantart.com

  http://kschnee.xepher.net

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  Mail: kschnee at xepher.net

  Interested in hearing about new books by the author, and commentary on writing and world-building? Sign up for a mailing list at http://eepurl.com/cRvqWH.

  The Crafter Series

  Crafter's Passion

  Crafter's Heart

  The Thousand Tales Series

  Thousand Tales: How We Won the Game

  2040: Reconnection

  The Digital Coyote

  Thousand Tales: Extra Lives

  Thousand Tales: Learning To Fly

  Fairwind's Fortune

  Liberation Game

  Also By Kris Schnee

  Everyone's Island

  Striking the Root

  Dragon Fate: Interactive Fiction

  Perspective Flip

  Mythic Transformations

  Tales of Kitsune

  Fateweaver's Quest

  Striking Chains

  Tower of Sol: A GameLit Novella

  God In a Bottle: Stories Of Exploration (Q2 2019)

  The Dream Of Aveire (Q2 2019)