by David Petrie
Corvin grabbed her wrist as she took his and yanked him to his feet. They lowered their weapons and ran for the door, the opening engulfed in flames.
She shrugged off her coat and threw it over both of their heads, pulling him in close to her shoulder. “Try not to die, right?”
Corvin flashed her the status readout on his wrist, the sliver of what was left of his health shrinking as the heat grew.
“I’ll try.”
Chapter Nine
Kirabell stood tall in the middle of one of Lucem’s empty side streets. With one hand on her chest, she let the importance of what she was about to say fill her voice with emotion. “How about the House of Pizza?”
“Were not calling it that.” Ginger walked past her without even looking, her face buried in her journal, where a new page read 'House Settings'. A line labeled 'Name' remained blank.
Kira spun and ran back to the front of the party. “What about, the House of Badass Mother–”
“It won’t let you write swear words.” Farn walked past her as well, tapping away at her journal with a pen. A grid of shapes filled the page, allowing her to combine and scale them to form something new. “Are you sure you want me to make our house emblem?”
“Of course, you work as a designer at Checkpoint.” Ginger ignored Kira as she passed by her a second time. “I have no artistic talent whatsoever. It will be better if you do it.”
Kira deflated as both of her friends ignored her, resigning to following in silence. She had been making house name suggestions ever since they left the alley behind the registration building. None had been a winner so far. She pulled out her own journal and opened it to her map, the waypoint that Ginger’s friend Samhain had given them stained the page with a red dot. They were almost there.
Supposedly, the waypoint lead to a shop where they could buy custom clothes to blend in during the party tomorrow night. Kira made a face at the point highlighted on the map. She wasn’t looking forward to dress shopping. Especially with Ginger, who would probably force her into getting whatever was the most revealing.
Kira sighed and flipped to her house settings page to look at the grid of shapes that Farn had been agonizing over. It reminded her of when she had created her character, back when she had to pick the activation icon for her stat-sleeve that now adorned the underside of her wrist as a tattoo of virtual ink. She turned her forearm over to where the black outline of a keyhole sat below her caster and touched it with one finger. Her stat-sleeve, a delicate pattern of filigree bloomed from the shape, covering her skin to display her party readout along the underside of her arm. Her main menu options appeared on top, woven into the design. She tapped keyhole again, and it all shrank back into itself as if it was never there. Then she got an idea.
“Hey, what did you guys pick for your stat-sleeve’s activation icon?”
Ginger flashed Kira her wrist. “I picked a heart. Figured it was appropriate considering I only started playing to get a job at the club and make ends meet.”
“And you picked a Celtic knot.” Kira didn’t need to ask Farn since she’d seen her icon enough times while hiding behind the woman’s shield to remember it well.
“Really? I always liked those.” Ginger strafed over to the Shield, looking down at her arm. “What does it mean?”
“It’s a love knot.” Farn lowered her journal and clasped her free hand around her unarmored wrist. “It was the default icon that came with the Celtic sleeve design. I didn’t know what it meant when I chose it.”
“Then why did you pick it?” Ginger pried.
Kira cringed at the question, having asked it herself before.
Farn shrugged plainly. “Because Noctem doesn’t have many sleeve designs that show up well on dark skin. The Celtic one was easiest to see on my arm since it’s bolder than most. So yeah, being black doesn’t always give you many options.”
Ginger gave a sheepish nod. “You should tell Alastair to change that. I mean, you do know the head of the company. Then you could pick a new one. Something you like.”
“I don’t think I’d change it. I don’t dislike the design, and the love knot reminds me that I have people in my life that I care about now.” Farn ran the metal fingers of her gauntlet over her wrist.
“Well, that settles it,” Kira declared, grabbing both Ginger's and Farn’s hands so that their activation icons were visible. “We started this house together; we should use our icons as part of its emblem.”
Farn opened her journal again. “Okay, a heart, a keyhole, and a Celtic love knot. Let’s see what I can make with that. She didn’t take long, tapping the page here and there to move and scale the shapes until she gave a nod and smiled. “How’s this?” She turned the book outward to show a heart bordered by Celtic line work, a keyhole at its center.
“That’s perfect.” Kira bounced on her toes.
“Looks like we have a name.” Ginger raised her journal and started writing. “Welcome to House Lockheart.”
The moment her pen stopped moving, a system chime sounded in Kira’s ears.
Ginger opened the ring box that Finn had given them to find a plain, silver house ring. It rippled and reshaped like liquid to form the emblem of Lockheart. The Coin slipped it on her finger, then opened and closed the box to produce two more rings.
Kira admired hers as it resized itself to fit her small finger. She checked her status page to find that her title of Archmage had become official. On top of which several notifications faded on to the paper below her name.
WELCOME TO HOUSE LOCKHEART!
Loyalty: The City of Rend
Members: Three
HOUSE CHATLINE ENABLED
Activation Instructions: Hold your equipped house ring within three inches of your mouth and speak normally to broadcast your voice to all members
NEW SKILL SLOT UNLOCKED
As one of the three leading members of House Lockheart, you gain a fourth skill slot for your character
NEW ARCHMAGE SKILL, OVERCAST
Description: Allows any mage class to add additional mana to any spell to increase its potency
NEW UNIQUE QUEST, RECLAIMING REND
Objective: Unknown
Reward: Unknown
Part One: Locate a survivor of the fall
Kira’s heart fluttered as she read through the pages of her journal. “I didn’t know you got skills for starting a house. We should have done this sooner.”
Farn flipped a few pages as well. “Yeah, I read that online. You get a new one for being the top three members of a house. It’s different depending on your title.”
“Even I knew that,” Ginger added.
“Okay, I’m out of the loop, apparently. Max is the one who researches things. That’s too much work for me.” Kira shrugged. “Anyway, what’s with this unique quest with all the unknowns? I have to admit, I’m pretty interested.”
“Must have something to do with our house being loyal to Rend,” Farn assumed.
Ginger’s face lit up, and she started writing something in her journal. “What good is being friends with the head of Checkpoint Systems if you can’t ask him about a weird quest. He might not answer something like this, but it’s worth sending a message.” She fished writing, then scribbled the word send across the page, followed by a check mark to confirm.
Kira closed her journal and shoved it back into her pouch. “So what skills did you guys get?”
Farn and Ginger read off their notifications.
LADY OF LOCKHEART SKILL, ROYALTY
Description: Grants a player the power to claim a city for the glory of their house.
FIRST KNIGHT SKILL, SURE-FOOT
Description: Allows any combat class to hold their ground and fight while standing on any surface, ignores gravity.
“Holy crap, I think I can wall-run.” Farn grinned from ear to ear. “Max is going to be crazy jealous.”
In contrast, Ginger deflated. “Mine kind of sucks. I don’t really want to be royalty.”<
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Kira offered nothing more to the conversation. Instead, she kept her face hard to read and snapped open a caster, her spellcraft menu appearing after an upward swipe. A curved grid of glyphs glowed before her as she spun the rows to set up a simple pulse spell. She made sure to add in the new symbol for Overcast. She paused to choose a target, feeling a wicked, little urge guide her hand as she swiped down the activation column.
A circular sigil appeared before her, catching her off guard. Eventually, the system highlighted a hand print at its center when she took a second too long to figure out what to do with it. She pressed her palm against the sigil, feeling an electric tingle as rings formed around it, drawing lines between them as the shapes glowed brighter. Each circle seemed to represent five percent of her overall mana. At the rate they appeared, she realized how easily she could blow her points. She pulled away, leaving a full quarter of her mana in the spell.
Ginger let out a laugh. “Nice going, what did you intend to cast that on without any targets?” Her face fell as Kira’s mouth began to curl upward. “Oh, shi–”
The pulse spell was easily the weakest in the game. It was also Kira’s only offensive ability, leaving her capable of little more than throwing an annoying burst of energy that could at best deflect an attack. At least, that was before she had become an Archmage.
A white puff of power exploded into the air in front of Ginger, mid-swear, launching the Coin six feet through the air. She hit the ground in an end-over-end tumble that left her sprawled out in the middle of the side street with her rear sticking up toward the sky. Incoherent curse words spilled from her mouth as she shoved her body off the cobblestones.
Kira checked the Coin’s health, which was still close to full. Even with Overcast, the spell still didn’t carry much damage, but man, the force of it was ridiculous.
Ginger stomped her way back to Kira with rage burning in her eyes.
“Wait, wait.” Kira held up her hands.
Ginger didn’t wait, her hand darting out, fingers spread wide, their tips curled like claws. Luckily, that was when Kira remembered she could fly, and the Coin got a hand full of air as she shot up just out of arms reach to hover overhead.
“I regret nothing,” Kira declared before weaving to the side to dodge a grappling line that streaked through the space where she’d been. Damn, forgot Coins can do that.
“Hold still, damn it!” Ginger retracted the line that she’d fired from the launcher on her wrist. “I’m trying to murder you.”
Kira placed her hands on her hips and flew in a little circle. “But aren’t we in a hurry to buy fancy ball gowns. You can’t dress me up like your personal doll if I’m respawning.”
“I’m so going to pick out something thing you hate now. It’s gonna be all high slits and booty.”
“But, my Lady,” Kira kept her tone polite, “you were going to do that anyway.”
“Well, this House fell apart in record time,” commented Farn, somehow from directly behind Kira.
She turned to find the Shield grinning at her while standing on the wall of the building behind her as if it had been the ground. Kira laughed.
“Hey, Spider-Farn. What happens if you jump like that?”
Farn shrugged, then took an experimental hop, falling as soon as she broke contact with the wall. “Damn!” She reached out for anything to stop her fall, the closest thing being Kira’s foot.
“Nice, Farn!” Ginger jumped into the air and pumped a fist. “Now, drag her down. I knew having underlings would come in handy.”
Farn clutched her journal in one hand and clung to Kira’s ankle with the other. “Umm, I don’t really have that kind of control here.”
Kira gritted her teeth and pushed mana through the spellwork of her wings as the dangling Shield weighed her down. The result left Farn bounding along the ground like an astronaut on the moon before she let go. Ginger caught up soon after, rubbing her hands together like a cartoon villain as Kira settled back to the ground.
“Okay, truce?” Kira cast a light heal to recover the small amount of health the Coin had lost.
“Fine. I didn’t really want to kill you anyways.” Ginger flicked her in the forehead with two fingers.
Farn raised her journal and blew a layer of pixie dust off its cover before turning back to her map. “Good. 'Cause I think we found that dress shop we were looking for.”
Kira turned, rubbing at the skin between her eyebrows where she’d been flicked. The shop sat at the end of the side street where a single lamp flickered, its flame struggling to stay lit. “That’s it?”
“That is not what I expected.” Ginger double checked her map, then looked back up at the shop. Its cracked windows smiled back with a jagged grin.
Kira stepped closer to read the sign that hung next to the door on a pair of rusty chains.
“Fashion Souls?”
Chapter Ten
Kegan burst through the tavern door at breakneck speed, only to run smack into a railing. The river below filled his view. Apparently, the walkway outside had been smaller than he remembered. His heart made a run for it, leaping into his throat as the rickety wood cracked and splintered under the strain of his weight. A string of rushed obscenities escaped from his mouth.
Suddenly, the door behind him flew open as the entire fighting force of House Winter Moon erupted from within. Kegan spun, his back against the rail, his gaze meeting the furious stares of his pursuers.
Then he snorted.
He couldn’t help it.
Their eyes bulged, and their skin blanched as the look on their faces shifted from determined murder, to 'oh god, must stop now'! The player in front skidded and threw out his arms in an effort to hold back his comrades. His effort went in vain as the rest barreled forward, shoving him toward the edge where a flimsy bit of wood stood between Kegan and the empty canyon.
Well, here we go, Kegan thought before doing the only thing he could, leaning back and flipping over the rail. The world went end-over-end. He reached for an arrow, nocking it as he fell. He glanced at the fletching at the end to make sure he’d grabbed the right one. The silver feathers of a Shift Arrow glinted as he let it fly into a walkway below. It hit the wood with a solid thunk.
Kegan held his breath as his body imploded into a single spark of light, feeling like a beverage being sucked through a straw. A fraction of a second later, he burst into existence just a dozen feet to the side, holding the arrow he’d fired in one hand. He’d landed upside down on the platform, but at least he wasn’t falling. That was more than he could say for the Amelia’s men.
Wood cracked and snapped above as the lead player flew past him. Their eyes met for a brief second as the man plummeted to his death. Kegan gave him an upside-down wave as four more of his comrades flew past.
Five down, a few dozen to go.
“The Leaf is on the lower level!” a voice shouted from somewhere above.
“Oh good, one of their fallen must have told the others where I was over their house chat on the way down.” Kegan righted himself and waited. He was trying to keep them busy, so he couldn’t have them losing so fast.
He shoved the spent Shift Arrow back into his quiver as its fletching dulled from silver to gray. He grimaced at the fading enchantment. The feathers had cost him more credits than he cared to admit. He cursed Ginger under his breath for extorting him a year ago when she’d sold them to him. He’d been using them sparingly ever since, but now, he was running low.
Damn, only two left.
There wasn’t time to worry about it, as a group of unhappy players poured down a stairway nearby.
“There he is!”
Kegan took off at a sprint, an arrow whizzing by his head while bullets pelted the wall nearby. He ducked past a pair of players, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, just as an arrow struck one in the leg. The following dispute slowed down his pursuers, allowing Kegan to race across a bridge to the other side of the canyon in relative safety.
Or so he thought.
Suddenly, a massive woman crashed through another group of random players ahead of him, pushing two over the edge. Again, wrong place wrong time. Kegan couldn’t help but feel a little responsible as their screams faded into the distance below.
The woman was a faunus, judging from the curled horns that wrapped around her head. The leather gear of a Rage class covered her body, and a Winter Moon banner hung from her shoulder like a cape.
“I guess there’s no chance you’re here for someone else?” Kegan hooked a thumb at a player behind him, who backed away out of view in record time.
“Huraaaggggg!” The Rage pushed off into a run.
“Why do Rage classes always respond like that?” Kegan made a ridiculous pop with his mouth as he blew out a breath. Then he shrugged and started running to meet her. When in Rome and all that. “Yarrrrrrr!”
The woman ripped a rusty, two-handed claymore from its sheath with a metallic screech. She swung the weapon out to her side, holding it low so it smashed through each of the posts that held the railing to the walkway as she ran. The wood exploded on contact. A wave of splinters trailed in her wake. Her weapon damage must have been through the roof.
The pounding vibration of her steps shook the boards under Kegan’s feet as he closed the gap and leaped to the side. She swung, her blade tearing through the air, missing him by mere inches. He pivoted on one foot and slipped past her, only looking back to laugh. “Ha–yurk,” was all he got out before a hand snapped back and grabbed the collar of his shirt. Her claymore clanged to the floor as he was thrust out over the edge of the platform, held by a pair of meaty fists. He scrambled on instinct to get a grip on her wrist and keep from falling.
Kegan’s mind slammed into a wall of panicked confusion. The woman shouldn’t have been that strong. No, in Noctem, physical strength echoed a player’s real-world body, unless they’d done something dumb, like pick the fairy race as a character. Though, that would only make a player weaker. For her to be that strong, she would actually have to be that big in reality as well. He swallowed with an audible gulp.