The Sleeper Must Awaken

by Kip Terrington

  Unique Item: Thrice-Blessed Thrice-Pressed Elm Stake

  Congratulations! You have found a unique item: Thrice-Blessed Thrice-Pressed Elm Stake. This rare and powerful artifact of a lost holy age has the strength to utterly sunder any evil aligned being. When thrust into the heart of evil, nothing shall stop this elm from piercing the creature, no matter how big or how strong. Note: this is a one-time use item. Don't waste it on an evil fly if there's an evil frog right behind you.

  Joe closed his eyes, knowing that his words could have no effect. Os had prepared her meal just right. At least the group had left their most powerful un-soulbound items back in the Mezzanine.

  “Don’t do this. It won’t work,” Joe cautioned.

  The female elf used her free hand to reach into her pocket and pull out a stone that emitted a soft purple glow.

  “You could be right, but it's worth the risk. The UI confirmed for me that it recognizes you as my heir. If I'm quick, I can use this soul-binding stone to bind this stake to my soul. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, you can't bring it with you in the end. My wish is that my one soulbound item will be given to my heir when he respawns. Child, your mother has a task for you. Find a home for my new stake, and free them all,” Hollowbirch said as she quickly activated the soul-binding stone and grasped the stake.

  Hollowbirch smiled and quickly packed the stake away in her pouch, and then pulled out a dagger.

  She spoke quickly, “The UI has confirmed the stake is now soulbound. Let's see if I can beat the dungeon at her own game.” Rumbling was felt and heard throughout the Floor of Wonders. With the efficiency and grace of a childless mother, she quickly plunged the dagger in. Joe raced toward her.

  In the seconds she took to bleed out and die, many things occurred.

  Moes realized he was going to die anyway, so he began to sprint and look for his coveted potion. In his flight, he grabbed every ring and small item in his path, hoping the powerful tools might help him live long enough to find his prize.

  Joe had rushed forward and caught the woman who had decided to adopt him, just as she fell. In his arms, he looked down at her pale face. She offered him a farewell smile and closed her eyes in peaceful death.

  Almost instantaneously, her body turned to ash. On his knees, with empty hands, Joe was too busy to notice that the whole of the gigantic cavern was beginning to collapse.

  Chapter 35 - Not the Little One

  It had been such a satisfying couple of weeks. Os couldn't remember the last time she had fed so consistently. And the menu had been so diverse. Not only had she been able to partake of humans, and goblins, and elves, but she had had the pleasure of tasting a few hybrids that, as far as she knew, had never before existed.

  There was, however, still one bee in her bonnet. No matter how hard she tried, she hadn't been able to get Joe. He was the one danger, the one variable, that she could not yet quantify.

  And not only had he stubbornly refused to die, he had also made it nearly impossible to eat anyone in his current combat group. His healing magic had continued to snatch away what should have been hers. Os could not see the blue letters above the adventurers’ heads, but she believed them when they spoke of how they existed. Joe had spent a lot of time in the dungeon of late, running groups of these NPCs through the first three floors. He was incredibly inconsiderate, never once allowing her to taste the difference between a player and an NPC.

  However, it appeared that all that was about to change. Because of an earlier overheard conversation, Os understood that all of the current adventurers within her wanted to kill an undead creature they called the mistress. This gave the dungeon an opportunity. She had scoured her memory for an item that could meet their particular need. It required a considerable amount of stored power to manifest the item, but Os planned on reabsorbing it later. She wasn't planning on giving the item away, only use it to tempt. She hoped Joe would see it and stick it in his bag, counting on chance, but she knew it wouldn't work. Nothing could leave her Floor of Wonders.

  When Joe's group had entered the Floor of Wonders, Os had watched closely. Unfortunately, except for some colorful language from the halfling at the beginning, most of the walk had been rather boring. As they had continued to travel forward, Os had begun to feel insulted. Other than the NPC female, none of the group members were even looking at her beautifully displayed treasures. The rule was look, but don't touch. If you weren't going to look, why even walk in? The item that she had carefully set out to ensnare Joe had not even turned his head. He had walked on by as if it had been a common trinket.

  In that moment, Os wanted to smite his disrespectful face, but instead, she chose to take the high road and ignore the insult. While she had been distracted by her anger, however, the situation had begun to evolve.

  The NPC female had sprinted back to the carefully laid trap and now had her hand poised over the item. If Os had had saliva, it would have been dripping from the walls. The determination on the elven female's face all but promised that the dungeon would soon be free to crush the whole party. The excitement was so deafening that Os didn't even register the words that Hollowbirch was saying.

  Then, Os spotted the purple stone and realized she had made an error. Most of the loot given out in the dungeon had been decided by her, but there were times when the UI had intervened for its own unfathomable purposes. The reward of the soul-binding stone had been from the UI and Os had forgotten all about it. Not that she could have stopped them from using it, even in the Floor of Wonders. In order to maintain an unbiased position, Os had randomized when the fifth-floor elevator would allow access to the Floor of Wonders. It was no longer a process that she consciously controlled.

  Then, the worst happened. Os felt the stone activate and the treasure that should not have been taken, was well and truly lost. Os was so distraught that she hesitated a moment to activate the cave in.

  Quickly moving from sadness to fury, Os turned her eyes upon the now forfeit lives of the whole party. She prepared to smite as she had never smote before, …and then she felt the death of the mother.

  This death was different than she had ever experienced. It was eager. The crude dirty mana of life had almost instantaneously absorbed. Then, as the memories began to come, it was less like Os was consuming them and more like they were consuming her.

  Os was a 13 year old elven girl who had snuck away to play under the Night Lights and practice her archery. The ignorance of youth assured her that there was nothing to fear. As she ran, she felt the soft grass wet underneath her feet and the cool night breeze slide across her skin. Nothing could spoil a perfect night like this.

  A deathly pale hand reached out from behind a tree and caught her by the hair, lifting her immediately off her feet. Before she could scream, a hand cupped over her mouth. She was caught.

  “The mistress asks, and I deliver. A ripe, yet untouched and untasted elven daughter. Luckily for you, her craving called when it did. Otherwise I might not have come to harvest this area for another decade. Then, in all likelihood, you would have been deprived the pleasure of being the property of the Children of the Night.”

  Os struggled to pull herself from such deep immersion in the memories, but only succeeded in moving to a less pleasant one.

  Os nursed her precious child, this baby girl was the one bright spot in what had been a complete and utter terror. Gently, she stroked the one-year-old’s head, which she had carefully positioned above her already pregnant stomach. Once the vampires had learned that she was pregnant, they had stopped feeding on her. The reprieve had been desperately needed.

  A human vampire walked up and Os quickly lowered her eyes.

  “Such good instincts you have, little one. You are a survivor, that makes you special. That, however, is not the only thing that makes you valuable. Your beautiful little daughter is half elf, half human. She will one day be quite a delicacy. Such versatile fertility is sought after, in our community. It is the reason I was able to sell you for
such a high price. I enjoy discussing my windfall, but it's time that you went to your new owner. Stand up and walk to the end of the hall where you will be collected,” the human vampire crooned.

  Os hastily stood up, keeping her eyes downcast as she began to walk in the direction the vampire had pointed. Her head jerked back as her hair was yanked. She fell on her rump while carefully protecting the child she carried.

  “Ignorant little whelp! No one has cut off your ears, so use them. I said that I had sold you, not your daughter. Leave her on the ground. Someone will see to her after you go.”

  Os froze with fear. She couldn't leave her child, but she couldn't fight the vampire either. Her hesitation had already wasted too much time and the vampire would have things to do. Faster than she could blink, her child was ripped out of her grasp. Os was thrown by the neck to another vampire who caught her mid-air.

  “You’re lucky I was here to catch my property; you've already taken payment. If the child inside of her had been injured, I would have taken it out on you,” her new owner said.

  The memories didn't stop. They were different, but always the same. Rape, birth, loss of a child. Sometimes not in that order. Yet, miraculously, and almost terribly, she felt the love for each child.

  It was too much. Os had had enough! She screamed, but the memories would not stop. Just as Hollowbirch’s cries had been in vain, so too were the cries of Os. She could feel herself changing. She could feel the growth that were these new foreign emotions. The distilled love of a mother, the yearning for justice. But more than that, permeating everything, she felt the hatred for the monstrous species that called itself ‘vampire.’ They were the torturers of children. They were the enemy of life. They had no rules!

  Rising purpose…

  Rising fury…

  Unquenchable thirst…!

  Death to the mistress and all her kind! Death to the mistress, righteous genocide!

  Everyone is staring at me!

  How dare they look at me in my grief!

  Death to the mistress and all her kind! Death to the mistress, righteous genocide!

  I must be alone!

  They all must leave!

  Chapter 36 - Timetable’s Changed

  Joe felt the cavern falling around him, but he paid it no heed. Hollowbirch was dead. One of his people had truly died because he couldn't protect her from herself. He would have stayed in that position, kneeling on the ground while everything fell around him, but he was shocked out of his stupor by a sudden silence.

  The walls stilled. One could have heard a pin drop. Instead, what Joe heard was the distant pitter patter of halfling feet running in his direction. Joe looked in the direction of the sound and saw Moes. It was surprising how fast the little halfling could move his feet when truly motivated. As he ran up to Joe, he held a bottle.

  “I found it, Joe! Quickly! Put it in your bag, and then we've got to run,” Moes said.

  Despite the loss Joe had just experienced, he understood how important this was to Moes, so he opened his bag to receive the bottle …but it wasn't meant to be.

  Before the halfling could throw the bottle into Joe's bag, the bottle lost cohesion, turning to mist in his hands. Moes looked at his empty palms and noticed it hadn’t just been the potion that had disappeared, but also the rings he had found and the small Necklace of Quick Feet. He, too, fell to his knees, feeling his own loss.

  “I hate this place,” Moes spoke the unvarnished truth.

  “What's happening?” Muck asked, clearly afraid of the future.

  “I don't know, but I'm pretty sure we have to die soon. I'm honestly confused it hasn't happened yet,” Joe said and a piercing scream reverberated from the whole of the dungeon.

  “Where are my CHILDREN?!!”

  “Dark Stars, this is freaking me out!” Moes gasped, before another scream resounded and echoed off of every surface.

  “Why are YOU here and my children are NOT?! Get OUT! Get out, NOW!”

  Above them, tunnels suddenly opened and far above, they could see daylight. The ground under their feet changed into wide pillars which began to ascend rapidly. Before any of them could even understand what was occurring, they traveled rapidly through the tunnels and were flung up and out of the dungeon. All of them landed in the snow around the mesa, and they were not alone. Every dungeon diver who had been inside Os had just been thrown out. There were a few broken bones, mostly from those who had been startled out of their beds and been unprepared for the flight out of the dungeon.

  Almost as soon as Joe stood up and began to dust himself off, Zoya flew up to him.

  “Everyone who had been in the dungeon, except for Hollowbirch, has just been expelled,” Zoya said without any ceremony.

  “Hollowbirch is dead,” Joe said and the look of pain flashed over Zoya’s face.

  “’Why are you here and not my children?’ I think I understand now. The dungeon has only been eating players and she can't access all of their memories, so she's been struggling to get as much as she wants,” Zoya began, when Joe took over.

  “So, she fell too deep into the most tragic life story I've ever heard. Our dungeon may never recover,” Joe worried.

  “Tell me everything that happened,” Zoya said as they began making their way back to the castle.

  Joe recounted their journey in the Floor of Wonders and he didn’t find it any easier, thinking about it the second time.

  ***

  It was silent in the Little Yeti Vault. Tig rolled over, restless. His scream of mourning and pain reverberated off the walls. Every yeti on the floor, and around the castle, felt his agony. The first one to respond, however, was not one of his kind. Rather, it was Bork.

  As the security door opened, Bork rushed in and saw Tig crouching on the floor, sobbing.

  Player, Tig

  Yeti Mage

  “What’s wrong, Tig?! You shouldn’t be awake now,” Bork said.

  “Can’t you feel her pain? It’s going to devour the whole world,” Tig whimpered.

  “Whose pain?” Bork asked, looking around for another yeti child who might have been injured.

  “The dungeon. It hurts so much, Bork. We have to help her! Tell the king. Maybe he can help her like he helped Lil,” Tig pleaded.

  “It’s okay, Tig. The dungeon will be alright. Dungeons are very hard to destroy,” Bork said, attempting to reassure the little yeti child.

  Tig shook his head, almost violently. “No! No! You don’t understand, Bork. I know, in here,” he said as he touched his chest, “Her agony has grown beyond all bounds. She’s gone mad, Bork. We have to hurry or, in her grief, she’ll kill us all! Please, tell the king. He must hurry!”

  The security door opened once again and Chabrid rushed in to comfort her son.

  Bork stood. “I’ll tell the king what you’ve said. He will fix this. For now, take comfort in your mother. She is here for you.”

  Chabrid squeezed Bork’s shoulders in appreciation before he quickly exited the Little Yeti Vault.

  ***

  Both Joe and Zoya stared at the solid wall of stone that used to be the entrance to the Dungeon of Os.

  “Well, our people definitely benefited from training in the dungeon. Hopefully, it'll open up again someday. For now, I don't think there's anything to be done,” Joe said as he began to turn around to find some other work to do.

  “No. Os was clearly in pain, and though I can't fathom its depths, I will not allow her to think that I won't be here when she's ready,” Zoya said.

  “That's a stone wall. There's nothing you can do,” Joe countered.

  “It is a stone wall, but if you reframe your thinking a little bit, it could just be a locked door. All I'm saying is, we could knock,” Zoya suggested.

  “I guess so… it's just hard to want to go back in there. I know that Os is suffering, but it is the suffering of indigestion. She ate one of our people, and this time, there's no respawn. The reason that Hollowbirch gave her life was so that I coul
d get that forsaken item. That didn’t even work out. So, what did she die for?” Joe asked, unable to stop his voice from cracking at the end.

  Zoya flew over to Joe and hugged the side of his face.

  “I'm sorry, Joe. You did everything you could to keep her safe. I know that you wish it could have been different, but no one could stop her from her path. I'm sorry, Joe. You should go upstairs and get something to eat, maybe visit the Little Yeti Vault,” Zoya encouraged.

  “They're all asleep right now, anyway,” Joe countered.

  “So, you think there's nothing comforting about watching adorable yeti children sleeping? You should go. It'll do you good to see that there are some who are thriving because of your protection. Also, it would be good if someone informed the chief and chieftess of what just happened,” Zoya said.

  “Yeah, I'll talk to Bridcha and Molasses,” Joe surrendered.

  Zoya watched him go and then turned back toward the solid stone wall. Flying over to the direct center of it, she hovered in place and lifted one hand. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and knocked solidly three times.

  Tink

  Tink

  Tink

  In the place where her knuckles had hit the wall, a small opening began to twist and widen just enough for her to walk in. She looked at the straight tunnel that it felt somewhat similar to her bunny tunnels. Only, this one she had no control over. There wasn't quite enough room for her to fly in, so she walked. It wasn't long before she entered the first floor, only it no longer looked like the mushroom garden.

  The illumination on this new first floor was moonlight. Its gentle shine revealed forty-three well-tended, but aged gravestones. In the distance, at a far grave, a single mourner wept gently.

  With Zoya’s sharp vision, she could tell that it was not Hollowbirch, but the familiar features were striking.