by G. D. Penman
“I went to see him and… the stuff he told me was just crazy. The game exists in dream-space. Like, it is a real place that the headsets let us all visit and dream together? Or something. He mentioned Jungian psychology and something about an ansible and… look, I really don’t know. A lot of it was too crazy for me to even understand. But… well, even though it is crazy, it is what Klimpt believed, and what the Masters believe too. They don’t think that this is a game, they think it is some sort of religious experience. They think the thing at the bottom of Strata is the root of all evil. Except half of them don’t anymore, they think it is the source of all sentient life and that destroying it will end all thought in the universe. Like I said. Nuts, right?”
The girls were both staring at him with frozen terrified expressions. Neither of them was saying anything. Nobody in the whole inn was saying anything. Leaning a little closer, Martin could see that Lindsay’s beak was moving very, very slowly, but no sound was coming out.
“Did you say Klimpt, killer?”
Martin’s blood ran cold. The Master’s voice was right behind his ear, and, as he watched, a cloaked emptiness slinked out and into the chair beside him. “I knew it was you, and now I have proof.”
Martin forced a sneer onto his face. He had nothing to be afraid of. “What proof? Your word against mine? And you’ve already proven to all your colleagues that you’re nuts by calling me at home to rant at me. They aren’t going to believe you.”
Which was when the rest of the Masters made themselves visible.
There were ten of them at least crammed into the tiny inn, their heads bent crooked to fit under the beams of the low roof. One was seated comfortably between Lindsay and Julia. The one at Martin’s side, his own personal stalker, sounded positively delighted with himself. “I don’t think I’m going to have any trouble convincing anyone.”
Martin ground his teeth. “I didn’t hurt the old man. He killed himself.”
One of the other Masters intoned, “That is what his killer would say.”
“If you really thought I’d killed him, you’d have sent the police to come and get me.” The cogs in Martin’s mind were spinning as he tried to work this out fast enough to save their skins. “This isn’t about me killing somebody.”
There was a protracted silence. Martin watched as Lindsay noticed the shadowy figures all around her and started to launch herself from the table. Julia’s face was contorting into a mask of reptilian horror. This was really happening. They were seeing it.
Finally, the Master between the two girls spoke. “What did he tell you?”
There were two potential answers to this question that could provoke two potential responses. One was to claim ignorance of anything and hope that the Masters had not overheard any part of the conversation up until that point. There was no good logical support for that plan. It was almost certain that the Masters had listened to the whole thing. He would be a liar, lose any bargaining power and suffer the consequences. The other potential response was the one that he chose. Aggression.
“He told me everything. Everything you did. Everything you want to do. He told me it all, and if you come after me or my friends again, I’m going to tell the whole world. It doesn’t matter how good your media control is, I will get the story out. The whole world will know your dirty little secret if you don’t leave us in peace.”
Lindsay’s daggers blazed to life as she swiped at the nearest shadowed figure, not even disturbing the slow flutter of their cloaks. The Master being attacked looked at her with a vague sense of amusement emanating from their empty hood.
“Then you cannot be trusted outside.” The Master sitting opposite Martin lifted a sleeve to the air and began tracing patterns of lights with her invisible fingers. “Skaife, of the guild Iron Riot. Your group shall have some user-interface privileges revoked until this matter is settled. We will convene a committee to discuss the best course of action. Until then, may I recommend that you keep your profile low and do not prompt us to intervene more directly.”
With a snap of invisible fingers, time returned to its usual flow and the Masters vanished from Martin’s sight, leaving him there with two screaming women and a very confused inn full of people. Privileges revoked. What did that mean?
He squeezed his eye shut as the screaming went on, turning his attention to the menus. Everything was the same. He could see all his skills. He accessed internal mail, inventory, everything. Everything was the same? What had they taken away?
He only spotted the blacked-out option as he was opening his eye again. There at the very bottom of the field of his vision it said: “Log Out Unavailable.”
“They’ve trapped us in the game.”
Julia’s eyes widened. “What?”
“The Masters. They’ve trapped us in the game. We can’t log out.”
Julia slammed her eyes closed, then let out a terrified little whimper. Lindsay was still spinning her knives in her hands, searching for an enemy to gut. “Where did they go? What the hell was that all about? Martin, tell me what is going on, right now.”
“The Masters are insane.” He put his face in his hands. “They think the game is real. They’ve trapped us in here so we can’t tell anyone that the game is real. They’re going to discuss what to do with us.”
When he looked up at her, she was staring at him with a blank expression. “You’re joking.”
“Oh, gods below, do I wish that I was joking.”
She blew out a breath of air and started pacing, setting all the bar’s other patrons scampering away. “Okay so… Maybe we poop ourselves once or twice while they work it out. It isn’t the end of the world.”
“Did you eat breakfast?”
“What?” She rolled her eyes. “Really, mom, you’re fussing about that right now…?”
He shouted at her. “Lindsay, when did you last eat, or drink? I can’t remember. I didn’t eat this morning. Did I drink?”
Julia had a hysterical edge in her voice. “What does it matter right now?”
“It matters because a human can only survive for three days without water. It matters because me skipping a drink this morning means I’ve only got 48 hours to get out of this game or I die.”
“I skipped breakfast.” Lindsay snapped her fingers. “But I had coffee!”
Martin groaned. “You drink espresso. That is about a thimbleful of water.”
Lindsay flumped back down into the booth. Julia started crying. “We skipped breakfast too. I didn’t want to eat before the boss because it was so gross I felt sick last time.”
Eyes flitting between their faces, Lindsay put a wing around Julia’s shoulders and pulled her into a hug. “It is going to be okay. We are all going to get out of this.”
Julia almost screamed. “How? How are we going to get out of this? How do we fix this? We can’t even talk to the Masters. We can’t even… what are we meant to do?”
“It will be fine. They’ll go have their meeting. Agree to ban us or whatever, and then, sure… the game will be over, but life will go on. Right?” She looked over to Martin, nodding encouragingly, “Right?”
“The Masters are divided into two ideologically opposed camps. This is the first time I’ve seen them work together on anything. There is no chance they work this out within forty-eight hours. Especially when leaving us to die solves the problem for us.”
Julia wailed again. Lindsay shouted at him. “Dude!”
“Lying isn’t going to help us.”
The guild crest on their chests lit up and Jericho’s voice filtered through. “Is anyone else having technical problems. My game says I cannot log out.”
Martin had forgotten all about Jericho. He took a breath, touched the crest and answered. “We are coming to you.”
They fled the town, and the town seemed happy to see them go as rumors of the violent outburst in the inn spread ahead of them like wildfire. The gates were already hanging open for them to depart, heading east to the edge of the c
avern where Jericho awaited them.
He caught Martin by the throat when they arrived. “What did you do?”
Lindsay spun to Julia, to see the Sythvan’s fingers jerking away from her guild crest, she had been whispering away to her boyfriend the whole time they’d been fleeing.
Lindsay stepped up. “Hey, it isn’t his fault the Masters are cuckoo coconuts.”
“He did this! He provoked them. He killed us all. And still you tell me no. Still you tell me we must coddle your little pet rat. I say no. If we kill him, then maybe they let us go? Yes?”
Martin swayed in Jericho’s grasp, feet dangling uselessly three feet off the ground. He reached up, not to grapple at Jericho’s wrists, but to touch his own guild crest. “If that is the best option. You can do it.”
That hung in the air for a long moment before Jericho cast him to the ground.
[Skaife has suffered 4 environmental damage]
“You have better idea, you tell me now. You tell me everything. Now.”
Martin staggered to his feet, ignoring the hand that Lindsay offered him. “We win the game.”
Jericho howled and took a swing at Martin with his nine tails.
[MISS]
“This is best idea you have? Play stupid game while we dying?”
Martin surged forward inside Jericho’s reach, grabbing him by the front of his kinky leather harness. “Who is looking at us right now? Who is listening? We’re invisible. If we disappear, a few people on a few forums notice, but they just assume we gave up.”
Julia was following his logic. “But if we win…”
“The whole world is watching. The whole world will listen to whatever we have to say. The Masters wouldn’t dare let us die then.”
“So this is grand plan?” Jericho spat in contempt. “Play video games?”
All three of them stared up at the man in sullen silence until he threw up his paws. “Fine. What else is there to do but sit still and wait to die?”
He turned, scooped Speckles up under one arm and marched off into the tunnel beyond. Julia scampered off after him, tears still flooding down her face. Only Lindsay was left at Martin’s side. “So, what is the real plan here? Is this just to keep them occupied while you hack the game and get us out, or something?”
“This is the real plan.”
“Dude, there are seventy deeps left in the dungeon. Most of them people haven’t even reached yet. How do you think we’re going to get through all of that in two days?”
He smiled at her. “I might have a few ideas about that.”
Despite everything, Lindsay cawed right back at him and punched him in the shoulder with excitement. “That’s my boy.”
They turned to face the tunnel together, and then set off down into the dark.
Martin hoped that he’d come up with something soon.
To be concluded in
Heart of Strata
Portal Books - Newsletter and Group
Portal Books is a LitRPG publisher, and our team is passionate about the genre.
If you’d like to try out stories from the other fantastic Portal Books authors, you can sign up to our mailing list for 65,000 words of FREE LitRPG stories. Whenever we add more, you’ll get the update, absolutely free.
https://portal-books.com/sign-up
You can also find us on Facebook. Join our group to stay up to date on all our upcoming books, cover reveals, author interviews, giveaways, promotions and more!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGPortal/
For more general discussions about the genre, these groups may be useful to you:
www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGsociety
www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPG.books
www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGGroup
If you want to find more great LitRPG Books check out the Amazon store - www.amazon.com/litrpg
Best wishes,
The Portal Books Team
www.portal-books.com
More LitRPG from Portal Books
Shadeslinger (Ripple System #1)
Corporate flameout Ned Altimer dives into Earthblood Online ahead of other players. His advantages include a ridiculously handsome talking axe named Frank who has knowledge of the game’s deepest secrets…if the magnificent Frank ever feels like sharing them.
But this also makes Ned a target. His fellow players are about to conduct the greatest manhunt in gaming history is set to begin.
It’s available in Kindle Unlimited and in Audio, narrated by Travis Baldree!
God of Gnomes (God Core #1)
Reborn as a god, Corey must guide a village of bumbling gnomes as they build defences to defeat an invading army of kobolds.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and Audio.
Chrysalis (Beast Realms #1)
With regenerative abilities, a badass tail and the potential to evolve his body, how could Art resist choosing a lizard man as his avatar? All’s well until he accidentally joins forces with an acid-spitting, enemy-consuming shadow-bound grub, causing his light-bound guild members turn against him, and a deadly fire mage to wage a vendetta against him.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and on Audio.
Caesar’s Shadow (Gods & Kings #1)
Matt has always dreamed of commanding his own Roman Legion. The VRMMORPG Gods & Kings is the closest thing to a time machine he’ll ever get. With the powers of a Warrior Priest, Matt must build his army, level his followers, and discover new battle formations that will help him defeat his enemies and become a true Roman general.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and on Audio.
Occultist (Saga Online #1)
Welcome to the world of Saga Online, the newest fantasy VRMMORPG. Join Damien as he discovers the rare Occultist class and summons an army of demons to save his mother’s life.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and on Audio.
The Elemental Dungeon Trilogy (Complete)
Reborn as a dark dungeon, Ryan was happy defeating adventurers with undead minions. Then a necromancer arrived, and un-life got a whole lot harder...
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and Audio.
Dungeons of Strata (Deepest Dungeon #1)
When Martin's guild joins the race to complete Strata Online, he finds an impossible task. A 100-floor dungeon, filled with an ever-shifting ecosystem of monsters.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and Audio.
The Nova Online Trilogy (Complete)
Imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit, Kaiden's only hope of early release is in serving as a Warden in the game-world of Nova Online.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and on Audio.
Mastermind (Titan Online #1) - A Superhero LitRPG
Karna was just like any other comic book fan. He dreamed of fighting alongside colorful heroes and taking down dastardly villains. In Titan Online, the most popular VR MMORPG going, he finally got the chance to live out his cape-donning fantasies.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and Audio.
Gamified: Book One, Beastmaster
Ever wish your real-life was more like a video game? Be careful what you wish for…
What can a housecoat summoning Beastmaster, a barbarian cheerleader and a nerdy necromancer do to prevent the end of the world? Find out in Gamified!
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and soon in Audio.
Battle Spire: A Crafting LitRPG Book.
Battle Spire is a meeting of World of Warcraft and Die Hard, using crunchy LitRPG mechanics with a heavy focus on crafting. Readers can expect to find in depth item and spell descriptions, along with stat tables and profession recipes.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and Audio.
Join the Group
To learn more about LitRPG, talk to authors including myself, and just have an awesome time, please join the LitRPG Group.
Copyright © G. D. Penman, 2021
Published by Portal Books, 2021
The righ
t of G.D. Penman to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
www.portal-books.com