Awaken Online- Flame

by Travis Bagwell

  “And that’s where Abbad came in?” Finn nudged her when she trailed off.

  “Not him specifically,” Julia replied quietly. “I never ran into Abbad in the library – for a librarian, he was almost always attached to Nefreet’s hip. However, you heard all his thief comments, so he clearly knew what happened. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter. The other librarians caught me, and you know exactly how they punish wayward mages in the guild.”

  Julia tugged back at the cuff of her right sleeve, revealing the layered patchwork of scars that Finn had noticed before. But below those healed injuries, her fingers traced a familiar star-shaped pattern – the induction mark for the guild.

  “Putting aside what it was like going through that gruesome torture machine, they took magic away from me,” Julia bit out, anger flaring in her eyes. “Fucking magic!” She shook her head. “After they dumped me in the sands, wounded and confused, I almost logged off right there – gave up on this bullshit world. Who wants to play a game that tortures you and strips away its coolest features?”

  Finn had to nod at that one. The game didn’t exactly pull its punches.

  “But you didn’t,” Finn observed. “Why not?”

  “The Khamsin came to me then – the desert-folk. They are mostly made up of mages who have been purged, but also others that have joined their cause over time. People the Emir or the guilds have hurt. They offered to train me. To give me a chance to strike back.”

  Julia glanced up at him, her lips curling into a grin. “You know me, I couldn’t resist a chance to cause some chaos and get some revenge – even if I knew it wasn’t real.” A shrug. “So, I accepted.

  “That’s how I got these scars,” she offered, running her fingers across her arm, her eyes going distant. “The Khamsin’s training is brutal. They throw you in a pit, beat you down to a pulp, let you heal, then do it again. And again. And again. Your skin and bone toughen, the game awards you more and more stat points. Eventually, you either manage to claw your way out… or you don’t.”

  She hesitated for a moment, biting at her lip. “Out of the group I started with, less than half made it. Many of the residents died, and most of the other travelers simply logged out and didn’t come back. But a few of us made it. Our reward for losing the ability to use magic was to learn to fight without restraint – like some sort of wild animal,” she said, bitterness tinging her voice.

  Finn’s brow furrowed, thinking back to when he had first encountered Julia. “So, when you first showed up in the guild, why were you really there? To break me out?”

  She nodded. “I didn’t want you to go through the same thing I had. I’d been scouting the place for days already, looking for entry points, ways to break up their supply lines and grief them. The Khamsin are devoted to undermining and destroying the guilds as best they can. In our world, they’d probably be called terrorists.”

  “But then the Emir introduced another option,” Finn offered, starting to see how events had played out from her perspective. “This competition could possibly allow you to shift the balance of power in a big way, assuming someone sympathetic won. Someone like me, I take it?”

  Julia nodded again. “Yep. The mission was two-fold. Help you win. And if you didn’t, then try to learn as much about the Mage Guild as possible. It was a win-win situation as far as the Khamsin were concerned.”

  “You were in contact with them then? The whole time?” Finn asked.

  Another nod.

  His thoughts were racing now. “You sent them a message when we stopped in the desert, didn’t you? Those strange markings we saw scribbled into the stone pillars? Maybe before we left as well? That would explain the way the sandworms chased us… the ambush at the edge of the Abyss.”

  Julia grimaced. “The worms were intended to distract and alarm the soldiers. Desperate and confused prey is easier to surprise. We were hoping to take out the other champions and Altair’s guards at the same time, ease you through this next leg of the competition. We already knew that the Abyss was going to be challenging – even without a three-way fight for the relic. At least, that was the plan. Although, I guess you can see how well that worked out.”

  She waved at the cave around them. “Now we’re trapped down here, have a shit chance of recovering this relic, and I still can’t cast a damn spell.” She rose abruptly, pacing the cave with angry steps. “You’ve seen me so far, I’m more of a handicap than a help down here without buffs from you and Kyyle tripping the ants. I nearly got us all killed back there,” she bit out, waving at the shield that leaned against her former seat.

  Finn just shook his head, letting out a laugh. He couldn’t help himself. The absurdity of her statement was just too much, especially after reading Bilel’s entries.

  “And now you’re laughing at me?” she snapped. “Did you miss the part where I explained how I was tortured for weeks and stripped of super-cool abilities? I can blend into the shadows and stab stuff… woo.”

  Finn held up his hands in a placating gesture, trying to tamp down on the laughter. “You’re selling yourself short. Did the Khamsin not explain what the purge does to your body? What about those so-called sand wraiths we fought? Didn’t you consider that they seemed to be using something that looked like magic?”

  Julia stopped short, glancing at him curiously. “They’re a tight-lipped bunch and don’t trust easily. Putting it in Mage Guild terms, I’m still just a novice to them. I haven’t yet proven my worth. As for the battle, I figured they must have gotten ahold of some enchanted gear – some of the clans regularly run raids on merchant guild shipments.”

  Finn just shook his head. “Bilel studied the purge process in detail – he had dozens of passages describing his results. The removal of your mana actually increases all of your base stats by about 20%. Add in your intense physical training and the fact that you don’t have to allocate a single point to Intelligence or Willpower…”

  His daughter’s eyes widened slightly. “… and I would have experienced a massive increase to my physical stats,” she murmured, glancing at the heavy shield that lay against the ground nearby.

  “Yes. And the effects should scale further as you level. That’s why you can use that shield Kyyle and I built. And why your health regeneration allowed you to carve that furrow down the side of the central Abyss shaft without dying. My guess is that your stats will continue to increase at a ridiculous rate relative to most of the other residents and travelers,” Finn explained. “Not only that…”

  He rummaged in his pack and tossed her something.

  Julia snatched the item out of the air with nimble fingers. A small fire crystal soon rested in her palm, his daughter eyeing it quizzically.

  “Crush it in your palm,” Finn urged her. She looked at him like he was crazy. “Trust me, it won’t kill you. Besides, it sounds like you’ve gone through much worse.”

  Julia only hesitated for another moment before curling her fingers around the crystal and squeezing. The gem fractured, and flame suddenly engulfed her hand. Julia flinched. Yet her reaction changed a moment later as she stared at her hand.

  As the flames touched her skin, her flesh changed, turning into orange bands of fire – a limb of living flame that still retained the same general shape as her hand. Within only an instant, the effect ended, and her skin reverted to normal.

  “Holy shit,” Julia murmured, staring at her hand in shock. “How the hell didn’t I notice this before? I mean, we spent days training together.”

  “Probably because you learned how to avoid getting hit,” Finn replied. “Have I actually ever struck you directly with a spell? Hell, has anyone else managed to touch you with a spell since the purge happened?”

  Julia bit at her lip as she stared at her hand – slowly shaking her head. “I guess not.” Her fingers traced the skin, and she let out a hissing breath, the skin pink and tender. Although, the effect quickly disappeared as her natural health regeneration repaired the damage. “It seems like this st
range absorption ability hurts me a little,” she murmured.

  Finn nodded. “From Bilel’s writings, my understanding is that the interaction is similar to my Mana Absorption, except you can’t actually store the mana, so it converts your body instead. The cost is some minor health damage – which you can compensate for with your enhanced Vitality and regeneration. The result is basically a form of passive spell resistance… putting aside the other possible advantages of being able to temporarily convert your body into an element.”

  Her attention shifted to Finn, a frown plastered across her face. “So, you’re saying you just endangered yourself in that last fight for no reason?”

  “Well, not exactly,” Finn offered, running a hand through his hair as he recalled that battle. “I bet that much energy would have overwhelmed you. You were already badly injured, after all. You likely would have died, even with the reduced damage. But you might be able to take a full exploder blast if your health was topped off – it would just hurt like hell afterward,” Finn offered.

  He hesitated, resisting the urge to summon Daniel as he started thinking through how they could test this newfound ability. “We could probably run some experiments with crystals of varying size and then use your combat log to get a better sense of the health cost. We might be able to quantify the percentage of spell resistance that way.”

  She nodded distractedly, a small smile starting to tug at her lips as she glanced back at her hand. The burns were already gone, her health regen working incredibly fast. “I could probably even carry some crystals for my own use. I bet they would make me temporarily immune to certain types of attacks while the effect was in place…”

  “Much like the Khamsin that attacked us at the top of the ridge,” Finn noted. “My guess is that they were using the ambient air mana from their opening salvo of grenades to help them convert their limbs to air and sand. It’s a powerful combination with the right setup. With some practice, you might even be able to control when and how the effect takes place.”

  At the mention of the Khamsin, Julia’s expression hardened, her eyes meeting Finn’s. “I can’t believe they didn’t explain this to me. Those… those assholes.”

  Finn grimaced. “That was going to be my next point. Say what you want about the Emir, but he may have been right about one thing. Everyone here seems to have their own agenda. I’m not entirely sure whose side the Khamsin are really on given your story. They sure didn’t seem to be pulling their punches fighting us when we arrived at the Abyss,” he offered.

  His daughter went quiet for a moment, likely mulling over everything. Only a few seconds later, she paced toward him, offering her hand and her eyes meeting his. “In that case, to hell with them all. I’ve already picked my side. I’m on your team.”

  Finn accepted her grip, Julia tugging him to his feet. “Well, then we’re probably going to need a name for our new faction. Maybe we could get Kyyle to come up with something,” he offered with a grin.

  She groaned. “If he comes up with a team name, it’s going to be super lame.”

  He chuckled in response, the pair starting to head back toward the Sauna. “Probably. Or he’ll just make a list of every possible name and then have us rank them in descending order, likely using a weighted numbering system.”

  “Ugh. You know what? Never mind. The Khamsin training is sounding less painful than that. At least we didn’t have to listen to horrible puns or review lists.”

  Their laughter echoed softly down the hallway, the sound standing out in stark contrast to the dark and somber setting of the caves. They might still be stuck in this hellhole, but Finn suddenly felt better than he had in weeks – maybe even years. Like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

  It gave him hope. That they could make it out of this place.

  That he could bring Rachael back.

  That maybe he could fix his mistakes after all.

  Chapter 31 - Winding

  Bilel’s Journal – Entry 132

  Over the past few weeks, I have continued absorbing multiple types of mana, consuming many of the crystals that I collected from the research participants – luckily, I have plenty to spare. As a result, my affinities have all begun to increase quite quickly, and my total mana has increased significantly. Similarly, my sight has revealed that my non-dominant affinities now comprise a larger portion of the ambient mana in my body.

  However, I noticed something unusual today. Specifically, I noted a dense cluster of dark mana localized to my head, ribbons of shadow energy that seem to wrap around my skull. Perhaps I didn’t notice this before because the dark mana was being obscured by my dominant affinity. Or perhaps my use of the sight has become more precise. Or this might possibly be some sort of side effect of the absorption. Although, that last answer seems unlikely. The energy doesn’t appear natural – not having the same chaotic ebb and flow of the mana throughout the rest of my body. In fact, it has a symmetric and uniform structure, almost like a spell or ward.

  Concerned, I undertook to shave my hair, looking for signs of any tattoo or design that would denote a ward. That was when I found it, a very faint pattern etched across the surface of my scalp, the design worn away by age and time. I have no recollection of the guild having administered the ward. Nor do I have any inkling as to its purpose.

  As you might imagine, this is disconcerting. Perhaps another mage manipulated me in my sleep? Or perhaps there is a more benign explanation. Renquist urged me to visit with a dark mage to remove the ward before taking any other action. However, given the complexity of the design and my tense relationship with the guild leadership, I anticipate that I may need to travel south to the undead kingdom. There may be someone there, both knowledgeable and discreet enough to address my problem.

  ***

  The Fireball arced through the air as though in slow motion, twisting and spiraling, as waves of heat rippled the air. It rocketed toward Finn’s head, on a direct collision course. He grimaced and prepared to duck without breaking the channel on his spells.

  With a flash of emerald energy, he was abruptly shoved to the side. A wall of dirt and stone raced out of the ground before swiftly enveloping Finn and shoving him into the nearby wall. Kyyle’s spell merged seamlessly into the natural cavern, creating a safe pocket for Finn to continue casting. He knew he had at least a few minutes of air before he would start to have a problem.

  “Mashhad,” Finn whispered immediately, his eyes snapping shut, and his fingers never ceasing their constant rhythm as he maintained his channels.

  The world was suddenly illuminated in color, cascading hues of green outlining the wall and floor of the room that lingered only a few feet away. This hub was one of the larger caverns they had discovered… and the resistance had been equally intense.

  Although the fight wasn’t over.

  Finn saw Julia – only visible due to the emerald circle of her shield and the faint outline of her clothing – race toward the bright-orange Fireball that had been aimed at his head. Her arm lanced forward, as though she was punching the ball of fire. As her hand entered the flame, part of the orange energy swept into the limb, cascading through her upper torso like a flashfire. He knew if he were watching this scene with his own eyes, he would be seeing Julia turn briefly into a living flame.

  She used the energy to slide forward through the Fireball, and the flames soon slammed against the other side of the cave.

  However, Finn’s attention was no longer on the fiery missile. He saw the glowing orange-and-green outline of a worker ant to Julia’s left. The creature had just barely managed to creep above the pit that Kyyle had formed for it. The angle was perfect. With a twitch of his fingers, Finn sent a sawblade hurtling through the air. The spinning blade carved through the base of the ant’s neck, and its head soon struck the ground. The body followed, listing backward into the pit with a thunderous crash that spewed dust up into the air.

  Julia hadn’t even slowed, continuing her charge toward the soldier a
nt that loomed before her, its massive plated head swaying as it summoned another blast of flame. At the last second, a ridge of stone popped up beneath the ant’s forelegs, causing its head and upper torso to jut upward…

  And nicely exposing its neck.

  Julia slid under the edge of its armored head, her shield rotating and cutting through the creature’s chitin like butter, barely slowing.

  The soldier’s head soon joined its worker brother’s. Its decapitated body fell to the floor, the weight sending a small tremor through the ground and causing a faint green puff of dust to cascade from the wall in front of Finn.

  He turned his attention to the rest of the room, sweeping it with his enhanced vision, although he didn’t pick out any additional targets. He could see Kyyle’s multi-colored form along the far wall near the tunnel where they had entered, a cloud of green energy floating around him and his eyes skimming the cavern just like Finn.

  Without exchanging a word, the wall of stone in front of Finn disintegrated, releasing him from his makeshift fortress. At the same time, he dropped his sight and stepped out, recalling his sawblade, and snatching it from the air with nimble fingers.

  “Clear,” Julia called out.

  “Clear.”

  “Clear back here too,” Kyyle shouted.

  It seemed the fight was over.

  Finn looked at the room, witnessing the carnage. This hub was about ninety feet across and just as deep, with at least a dozen branching tunnels connecting to the chamber. The ants had also put up an effort to defend it. He’d lost count at about a dozen before the first round of reinforcements showed up. Those corpses now littered the room, creating mounds of chitin and dark metal.