His power naps were useful, but he hadn’t realized how much he had been missing those full REM cycles until he experienced them firsthand. He’d then followed up his six-hour “nap” with a long shower and some breakfast.
The result was startling. He almost felt like a new man.
“Almost,” Finn murmured, staring at the black headset on the table beside him.
He now sat in his office, a globe of flickering displays slowly circling him, the AO logo emblazoned across the screens. No amount of sleep or food would make him forget what the Seer had shown him.
Am I really that guy? That asshole that was so caught up in his own bullshit that he missed his daughter’s pain?
He winced. Even worse, he doubted that was the first or last time he had made that mistake, and it likely wasn’t limited to Julia. Hadn’t he been just as bad or worse before Rachael passed? Always buried in one project or another. Missed family trips. Missed school plays. Or even if he was there, was he really there? Or just his body – his mind focused on something else? But back then, Rachael had been there to cover for him and reel him back to reality. Once she had left, it had just created a vacuum…
How the hell did he make that right?
Or worse, could he even make that right?
“Fuck,” Finn muttered.
He shook his head. He could already feel the self-pitying bullshit starting to surge in the back of his head – like some sort of depressing mental rabbit hole. Yet he forced it aside, refusing to give in. Maybe he couldn’t fix this. He sure as hell couldn’t change what had already happened. But he could make a choice about how he moved forward.
That he could control.
Finn’s fingers curled around the headset, lifting it from the nearby table. In some ways, his quest was even more urgent now. Maybe bringing Rachael back could give him some small chance at redemption – a way to atone for his mistakes. Perhaps he wasn’t just fighting for himself, but also for Gracen and Julia.
He had to hope that would be enough.
With that thought, he lifted the headset over his head, his vision obscured by darkness, and the sound suddenly muted by thick foam insulation. Only a moment later, a notification popped up in front of him.
System Initialized
Your temporary account freeze has been lifted.
Welcome to Awaken Online!
***
Only an instant later, Finn was greeted by an oppressive wave of heat, signaling that he was once again standing inside the Sauna. He blinked as he took in the cavern, the space illuminated only by the glowing red crystals and the pool of magma that hovered off to one side of the enclosure.
He had already forgotten how damn dark it was down here.
“There you are!” Kyyle shouted at him from across the cave.
Finn whipped around to find the earth mage standing near the lava lake next to a rather formidable-looking contraption formed from shallow walls and valleys of rock.
“We thought you might have died or something. For real – not in-game.” A wave of Kyyle’s hand as he navigated the series of trenches, stepping toward Finn. “You know what I mean. Anyway, we were a little worried until Julia checked in on you through Daniel. Finally decided to take a real break, huh?”
“The game physically locked me out,” Finn grumbled in response, not missing how his daughter had apparently kept a few hooks in his system. Clever girl.
“About damn time,” Julia snapped, coming up behind them while carrying a load of red crystals on a makeshift stone tray. “We’ve only been nagging you for days.”
Finn did a doubletake as he saw his daughter again. He knew she didn’t – couldn’t – know what he had been through. Even so, he felt oddly nervous. He still didn’t know what the hell he was going to do with the memory the Seer had given him. There also didn’t seem to be an organic way to transition to that subject.
“Remember that time when you were 13…”
“Hey, are you paying attention?” Julia said, snapping her fingers in his face. “Maybe you need another nap or something?”
“No, I’m good,” Finn replied, shaking his head. “My thoughts were just somewhere else for a second. Anyway, what are you working on here?”
“Well, I’ll leave that to Kyyle to explain,” Julia said, nudging the earth mage after gingerly setting down the tray on a nearby boulder. “He came up with a brilliant idea.”
Kyyle might have blushed, but it was difficult to tell with the mixture of dirt and sweat that covered his face. “I don’t know about that…”
“Ahh, shucks,” Finn quipped in a dry voice, earning him a reproachful look from Julia. “Why don’t you just explain what all this is?” he added, waving at the lake and Kyyle’s equipment.
“Whew, someone woke up from his nap a little cranky,” Kyyle said, raising his hands defensively. “Okay, so you remember how we were talking about the ants’ antenna? That we’re pretty sure they can only detect two spectrums of mana?” Finn nodded. “Well, that got me thinking. The ants seemed to have trouble tracking us right after that exploder blew up the tunnel and when we triggered our own explosives.”
“I recall,” Finn offered, crossing his arms.
“Well, my guess was that the explosions created a cloud of earth and fire mana that effectively blinded the other creatures,” Kyyle explained, ignoring Finn’s grumpy demeanor. He gestured at the contraption he had built in the floor of the cavern. “Then Julia had an idea. If we could intentionally trigger an explosion of fire, would that blind them? Sort of like an ant flashbang grenade?” He paused for a moment, cocking his head in thought. “Although, technically, it would act more like an incendiary grenade.”
Finn’s eyes widened slightly, his expression now appraising as he looked at what Kyyle and Julia had built. The earth mage had carved small furrows of earth and stone near the bank of the lake, creating thin trenches that each led to a shallow pit.
Finn paced over to one of the pits and crouched down, running his fingers along the edge gingerly. It was still hot. “You created molds and then filled them with the magma,” Finn murmured, his eyes darting to Kyyle. “I’m guessing you used Dissolve to turn on and off the shallow trenches like a spigot.”
“Exactly,” Kyyle said, a grin tugging at his lips. “My stone-forming ability is getting more precise, but smaller detail work is still a struggle. So, in the meantime, I’ve had to improvise. It took me a while to develop a system that worked. I read a ton of online tutorials and watched a bunch of videos on casting and prepping molds. The one upside is that my spells at least make it easy to form the molds, and I can get the dimensions extremely precise.
“With some additional time and practice, I bet I won’t need the molds at all.”
Finn nodded. That made sense. “But, for now, this lets you build a rough casing,” Finn continued, talking out loud. He glanced at the tray of fire crystals. “That you could then fill with the crystals…”
“To create this,” Julia offered, handing Finn a cylinder.
Finn was smiling now. “You created an incendiary pipe bomb.” He shook his head. “I’ll be damned. If this works—”
“It does,” Kyyle said, his smile widening. “While you were gone, we did some scouting and cornered a lone worker ant. Detonated the thing in its face, and he lost track of where we were. Of course, we ran away right after that because we couldn’t actually kill it… but it proved the concept.”
Damn, that was risky, Finn thought to himself but kept his mouth shut.
He must have been telegraphing his concern, because Julia was quick to add, “It was my idea, and we were careful. Either way, we were able to test the pipe bombs. And they work. Mission accomplished.” She grinned at Finn. “Even better, they can be detonated in one of two ways. You can just smash them – which means I can use them. Or Kyyle can crush them at a distance. So, we can set incendiary traps now.”
They were both staring at him expectantly as Finn struggled to think of
what to say.
“Well, that’s just awesome,” he said finally, an excited smile stretching across his face. With a way to blind the creatures, they might be able to put the ants on the defensive and take away the soldiers’ ranged advantage.
“Oh, and we’re not done,” Kyyle added, glancing at Julia before turning back to Finn. “I also tentatively designed something new, but I’m going to need some help,” he explained, walking to the other side of the lake, and urging Finn to follow.
Finn could see that the earth mage had dug out another set of trenches – although these looked much more complicated. It appeared that Kyyle had created a reservoir area beside the lake, with a small barrier wall of rock. This reservoir formed a bowl around a circular impression in the center. This was then connected by a long trench to a small hole – which Finn assumed was another mold, although the shape was obscured since Finn could only view the surface.
“What am I looking at?” Finn asked, tilting his head. Clearly, the earth mage had learned a lot about creating molds in just a day or so in-game – a rather frightening amount. The game seemed to accelerate their learning speed, but this was an extreme example.
“The reservoir will be filled with the magma once I break down the barrier wall. We would place a large quantity of the dark ore in the center bowl, using the combination of magma and your Imbue Fire to melt it down to a liquid. Then I can open up the trench to drain the metal into the mold.”
The earth mage looked a little contrite. “I had to get creative since we don’t have actual casting equipment or a real crucible. I also wasn’t sure how hot you can get the metal with Imbue Fire, so this seemed like a safe bet,” he rambled excitedly.
Finn shared an amused look with his daughter. It seemed Kyyle had taken to this new hobby with enthusiasm.
“That sounds like a plan… which will allow us to make what exactly?” Finn asked, interrupting the earth mage’s jabbering.
“A shield,” Julia replied curtly. As Finn glanced at her with a questioning look, she continued. “For me. I’m tired of being useless, and this should allow me to play defense and stop the occasional Fireball.”
“Which means you could block attacks, draw attention, and distract the ants with the new incendiary grenades…” Finn murmured, half-talking to himself. “That would basically make you our new tank and decoy.”
“Exactly. It’s clear we can’t rely on building traps or sitting in the tunnels – not with those exploders,” Kyyle observed. “So, this was a natural next step.” He flicked his wrist, and an image of the shield was projected into the air beside him.
Finn studied it closely. A few ideas were already tugging at the edges of his mind – possible ways to improve on the simple design. With his Imbue Fire and a few tweaks, he might be able to turn the shield into something rather devastating.
“Working together, we also developed some preliminary designs and schematics for more equipment that Julia could use – additional armor and weapons, for example,” Kyyle continued. “However, that all might be a bit too complicated given the limited tools we have to work with right now.” He shrugged. “Future projects, I guess.”
As he spoke, the earth mage projected a few more of his designs into the air. Finn saw one outlining a type of plate armor, although the hinges and joints did indeed look a little difficult to pull off. Fitting it to Julia would also likely be tough. The other designs were for possible weapons, all of which were incredibly large. It seemed that the pair were relying upon Julia’s exceptional strength to use this sort of equipment, focusing on weapons that could possibly penetrate the ants’ thick armor.
The earth mage nudged Finn, drawing his attention away from the schematics. “More immediately, I’d also like to get some help from you and maybe expand my own arsenal.” Kyyle swiped at the air, and the image shifted. Text fragments now scrolled across the screen, forming neat rows; the symbols were painstakingly familiar.
“A partial incantation?” Finn asked, glancing between Kyyle and his notes.
“Yeah, for a spell called Stone Coffin,” the earth mage replied with a nod. “I went back through all my old notes looking for anything that could help us with the ants. I saw Gaius cast it a time or two, but he never taught me the full incantation. I wrote down what I could remember at the time. I figured you might be able to work with a partial spell…” Kyyle trailed off, watching him with a hopeful expression.
Well damn, the kid’s notes definitely paid off here.
Finn nodded, chewing on the inside of his cheek. Creating brand-new spells was a massive undertaking, but working from a partial incantation… that was a different story. In fact, he could already see how he might fill in some of the holes even without loading it into his spellcrafting mod. With Daniel’s help, they could probably figure out the rest of the incantation rather quickly – which would leave Kyyle to work out the hand gestures by trial and error.
“Yeah,” Finn murmured. “Yeah, I think I can help you with this.”
Then he looked at his companions – really looked at them. He saw pride and elation shining on their faces as they surveyed their own work, despite the sweat and dirt on their brow and the dark circles under their eyes that spoke of hours of tireless work. He saw the glowing excitement of having created something new, and he could feel his fire mana respond, the energy simmering in his veins.
A smile tugged at Finn’s lips. “You both did great,” he said, waving at their work. “Actually, this is outstanding.” They met his praise with grins of their own. Suddenly their predicament didn’t seem quite so bleak.
For just an instant, the encounter with the Seer flashed through Finn’s mind. Maybe this had been her point. That he wasn’t alone. That he had companions that could help him, assuming he could get out of their damn way long enough for them to contribute. This might not do anything to resolve his personal issues with Julia, but maybe he could work on that.
Find a way to move forward…
And maybe take out a shitload of ants at the same time.
Which reminded Finn that he hadn’t shared his new ability yet. His fingers twitched, and his fire mana soon responded, the dull simmer shifting to a boil as the energy surged through his body – his eyes alight with fire.
“That reminds me,” he said. “I have something to show you too…”
Chapter 27 - Unified
Bilel’s Journal – Entry 115
Only a few moments ago, I had another breakthrough. My hand is trembling, even as I attempt to write this entry. Already, I wish to return to my studies…
Yet I must record my progress. All my attempts to absorb mana to date have failed – although, I daresay my testing methods have become safer and more precise. Initially, I was frustrated in my efforts until I happened to catch a glance of myself in the mirror while my sight was active.
My previous attempts to absorb mana were haphazard and used many different types of affinities. However, what if I were to focus on my dominant affinity? If that dominance provides greater spellcasting control – which has been conclusively shown time and time again – then that might make it easier for me to actively absorb that type of energy. For example, attempting to absorb a non-dominant affinity might be much like pouring oil into a vessel of water. The solution could be mixed, but I simply lack the ability to do so.
To perform the experiment, I crushed a crystal holding the appropriate mana. In an instant, the energy rushed and crackled into the room, and I tried to control it – much as I would my own mana. My first attempt failed, yet I tried again.
And I succeeded…
***
The group rounded the cavern, keeping to the edge of the wall and flitting between the clusters of fire crystals embedded in the stone. Finn raised a hand, and they came to a stop beside a particularly dense crystal cluster. He made a circular motion, and they huddled up. With a flick of his wrist, Finn pulled up his map, and a three-dimensional outline of the room and the adjacent tunnels popp
ed up in the air. He rotated the map so that the others could see it clearly.
They were crouched in a large cavern that acted as a crossroads, with tunnels branching away in a concentric pattern that reminded Finn of a spiderweb. These hubs were usually highly active, often containing all three ant variants, almost like guards defending a waystation. This was one of the first hub caverns they had found after upgrading their weapons and armaments.
And it was time to finally put their new equipment to the test.
Even as this thought crossed his mind, Finn glanced around the room. This hub cavern was flatter and less rocky than the last – containing a smaller magma pool. Yet what it lacked in terms of molten stone it made up for with crystals. The place was practically lined with the softly glowing clusters of orange gems, the light combining to fully illuminate the cavern.
Which also made it easy to identify the ants shuffling through the area.
By his count, there were at least eight. Some of the workers were busy chipping away at the crystals, slowly turning two more into exploders. A fully outfitted ant lingered nearby, its back already covered. Meanwhile, the remainder of the workers were on the opposite end of the cave, mining a vein of the familiar dark ore.
Two soldiers stood stock-still in the center of the room. They had observed that the more heavily armored ants acted as something like sentries for the colony, their antennae slowly drifting back and forth and scanning the tunnels as the others worked. Which made sense from Finn’s perspective. Their thick shields and ranged attacks made them an ideal sentry and shock troop for the other ants.
“The tunnels covered?” Finn whispered to Kyyle. He knew the ants couldn’t actually hear them, but it was more habit than anything else.
The earth mage nodded and tapped at the map that hovered in the air nearby. Yellow waypoint markers were sprinkled along each of the adjacent hallways to denote the location of the bombs he had planted in the walls. The only exception was the way they had come in – that tunnel would be their exit if they needed to retreat.
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