Awaken Online- Flame

by Travis Bagwell

  His hand inched toward the energy.

  Before he touched the liquid, Finn saw two familiar eyes open among the energy that permeated the well. They were wrapped in silken threads of fire. He had never seen the Seer appear like this when he was around others or in the middle of combat.

  Perhaps her connection to the temple was closer than normal? The memory of Bilel’s journal flashed through his mind – how he had seen her floating above the basin. Or maybe it had to do with the concentration of fire mana…? Although, this clearly wasn’t the time to ponder on that mystery.

  “I can help you,” a voice whispered in his mind – the Seer’s voice. “You’re not yet ready to channel this energy, but the mana well has been weakened severely by the battle that was once waged here and a century of decay. With my assistance, you could harness the power and possibly survive the process.

  “But, we will need to amend our bargain…”

  Finn grimaced. Of-fucking-course. When she had his back to a wall, the Seer wanted to renegotiate… “What do you want?” he thought back.

  “Nothing – for now. I believe you travelers call it an IOU. A quaint expression. Suffice it to say that you will owe me a favor.”

  “That wasn’t our arrangement. We’re only looking for this damn relic because of our bargain – is that not enough?” Finn insisted, anger simmering in his veins.

  “Do you want my help or not? Or perhaps I should rephrase… do you want to bring back Rachael or not?” the Seer demanded, her mental voice calm and measured.

  Finn hesitated for only a moment. What he had told Vanessa was the truth. He would sacrifice anything to complete his goal, even if it meant altering the terms of the Seer’s bargain. The goal was important – Rachael was far too important. And he didn’t have time to deliberate.

  I really hope I don’t regret this, Finn thought to himself.

  “Fine,” he answered. “You have your favor. What do I do?”

  “Simply drop your hand into the well, and I’ll take care of the rest. Although, you won’t have long, even with my help,” the Seer replied. She sounded pleased, honey dripping from her mental voice.

  Finn stared into that energy and dipped his hand lower. As it neared the surface, he could feel the warmth radiating from the mana. It wasn’t hot – not exactly. It was a comforting glow, like a warm hearth. It promised power, love, anger, excitement, and creation. It promised unbridled passion.

  Then he took a final, deep breath and made the plunge.

  As his fingers slid into the liquid mana, it felt like a volcano had erupted along his arm. The mana slid into his veins in a torrent so thick and strong that his legs buckled, and the air was squeezed from his lungs in a single hissing breath. It took every ounce of willpower he had to remain standing – to keep his hand frozen in place despite the raging inferno coursing through his veins, circling through his stomach and chest and drifting upward toward his head. Then it was at his neck, burning forward inexorably.

  For a moment, Finn felt panic flit through his mind.

  He wasn’t sure he could handle this much power.

  Yet it was too late to stop, and only an instant later, the energy entirely consumed him.

  His vision was obscured in a dense wall of orange mana so thick that he could no longer see – the energy overwhelming the wards etched into his temples. That was only the tip of the spear. The mana seemed to grow with each passing second, the heat becoming so intense that he trembled in place, barely holding back a scream. It threatened to explode out of his measly weak flesh.

  He couldn’t control this. Couldn’t contain it. It was like trying to hold on to a hurricane or ride a tornado. He could feel it eating away at him, burning him up from the inside. This energy was at a scale that he could hardly comprehend.

  An orange notification slid down into his vision, Finn barely able to focus on it.

  System Notice

  You have consumed far more mana than your body is capable of channeling. However, the goddess of fire has intervened on your behalf, helping you to absorb the energy more safely. Even so, the fire will consume you eventually.

  A death counter has been added to the corner of your UI. You have precisely two minutes to channel the energy before it destroys you completely.

  As he swept aside the notification, Finn felt the energy begin to relent. Although, a glance at his UI confirmed that his health was dropping rapidly. The mana was almost overwhelming, but he was in control once more – his vision beginning to return and with it, the feeling in his limbs.

  All at once, the room popped back into focus. The battle still raging outside. Kyyle still desperately trying to assist Julia. Vanessa still chained to the floor, staring at him as though Finn had grown horns. His body was now wholly awash in flame, the fire eating away at his robes and licking across his skin. His eyes were twin glowing suns.

  Finn’s gaze fixed on the design on the nearby wall. He kept one hand in the mana well and raised the other, his fingers moving of their own accord. Strange, unfamiliar words spilled from his lips – an incantation he didn’t recognize. It seemed to come naturally, as though someone or something was whispering it directly into his mind. And yet as he muttered each word, it disappeared like sand running between his fingers. He instinctively tried to rebel against that strange otherworldly force.

  “This spell unlocks the vault,” a whisper explained. “An ancient key to an ancient door that can only be opened under the heat of passion.

  “Raise your other arm toward the vault; don’t fight me,” she instructed.

  Finn did as he was told, raising his palm to face the wall. A massive ball of fire began to form in his hand, channeled directly from the well, through his body, and into his palm. It grew by the second, the fire curling back on itself until the sphere glowed white-hot. Finn could no longer breathe, the heat burning off the oxygen in the air.

  And yet he couldn’t stop.

  Then the spell finally completed.

  A thick beam of fire nearly two feet wide rocketed out of Finn’s palm, striking the disc along the wall. The only mercy was that this channeled the heat away from him, giving Finn just enough room to breathe – although, the oxygen was still thin, and the air was superheated. Each gasping breath made it feel like Finn’s lungs were on fire.

  The energy pooled and coiled, quickly turning the center of the disc into a glowing orb of molten metal that shone brightly in Finn’s sight. As the energy expanded, it began to creep toward the edges of the first ring. With a twist of his hand, Finn saw the layer shift in place, edging around the center ever-so-slowly. He could see how far he would need to move it now, matching up the glowing edges of the design.

  He realized then that this would have been impossible with just his Imbue Fire. Even with the energy that he was channeling into the disc, the first layer barely moved. The metal was far, far too heavy for any normal spell to work. This lock could only be opened by using the well – could only be opened by a fire mage attuned to the goddess. Yet he had that power now, the inferno blazing through his body and screaming in his mind.

  The first layer locked into place, glowing lines of orange energy bleeding out of the central orb and filling in the pattern.

  He began on the second, and it soon followed.

  Then the third…

  Finn could hear shouts and sounds of battle, but they were closer now – much closer.

  He spared a glance in the direction of the temple door.

  Julia was fighting in the mouth of the entrance, using the ruined door as a chokepoint. Kyyle had moved farther back into the temple, getting as close to Finn as he could without coming into contact with the massive amount of fire mana that was being channeled into the vault. He tossed up wall after wall of emerald-green stone to block the advancing attackers and buy Julia some breathing room.

  The fourth layer locked into place, and Finn could almost see the image that was beginning to emerge, orange lines of power tracing the sta
rt of a familiar design. He had seen this only a few times, always accompanied by thick canvas, burning incense, and dim lighting – the image of tarot cards filling his mind.

  He wrenched his hand to the side, rotating the beam of fiery energy that tore through the air and blasted into the nearby wall. He needed to move faster.

  Finn suddenly felt the floor tremble, a massive blast rocking the temple and forcing him to lean against the mana well for support. Glass sprayed into the chamber, ricocheting off the ruined pews. Finn turned his head slightly to see that the entire entrance had been blasted apart – likely a final barrage of the mechanids since he no longer saw any of their green spider-like bodies. His daughter stood among the wreckage, her health at half, and her shield and lance wavering in place.

  Through the larger opening and the cloud of debris rushed the fighters.

  The tattooed warriors raced toward Julia.

  A wall of earth erupted in front of Malik. The man leaped over the obstacle, mana flaring briefly along the wards in his legs. Julia’s lance speared forward, crashing against the metal of his swords and halting his advance. Julia struck him with the lance like a club, sending him arcing away toward a nearby wall before turning back to the other fighters. Her lance was a blur as more earthen barriers erupted around her. She used her superior reach and Kyyle’s obstacles to keep pushing her opponents back.

  Finn also noticed that the merchants had moved in behind the fighters. Sadik stood beside Kalisha in the temple’s entrance, his massive pack swaying and nearly filling the larger hole blasted in the wall. At a gesture from Kalisha, the man set down the pack. With a heave and flash of mana from wards inscribed in his arms, Finn saw him rip the bag down the seams, the leather tearing open in a rush.

  What emerged was a massive metal suit of armor, its hulking form springing nearly nine feet into the air. Its arms and legs were formed of heavy panels of glowing green metal. Behind that shielding, Finn could see gems glimmering along the interior of the suit – wires, firing mechanisms, and weapons he couldn’t easily identify outlined in a multi-colored rainbow of energy.

  A metal hatch opened along the center of the suit with a hiss of pneumatics that was barely audible over the crash of metal on metal and the crumbling, crack of breaking stone. Inside was a space just large enough for a normal-sized human.

  If Finn hadn’t been distracted, he might have been impressed by the creative use of game mechanics. Kalisha must have used the bags’ extra-dimensional storage and weight conversion to haul that monstrosity all the way down here – although, the burden must have still been incredible. His guess was that Sadik was a former member of the Fighter Guild, bought and paid for by the merchants to act as Kalisha’s pack mule. And, as the man stepped toward the mech suit’s hatch, Finn realized he must also intend to use his wards to help him operate the suit. Once that thing came online, they would be in even more dire straits.

  Shit, Finn thought frantically. Shit, shit, shit.

  His eyes darted to his death timer.

  He had less than a minute now.

  The last layer of the disc was turning ever-so-slowly, much larger than the rest. It was barely creeping forward in the corner of his eye.

  The fighters were crashing against Julia in waves, pressing her farther and farther back into the room. She couldn’t keep it up for much longer.

  Kyyle was barely able to assist her, emerald energy cascading around the earth mage in glowing ribbons. Finn could see that his mana was hovering at 30%.

  Sadik was already climbing inside that massive suit even as Kalisha stepped around to the back, powering up the giant crystalline core in its center, an enormous pulse of air mana surging through the armor and spreading through its limbs as it came online.

  And, in the center of it all, Finn stood near the basin next to a molten lake. One hand was plunged into the mana well, and the other channeled a beam of pure destruction at the nearby wall. He couldn’t stop now. The vault was almost open – the design almost complete. Once they had the relic in hand, they could execute the next stage of their plan – assuming they could live long enough for that to happen.

  Just a bit more…

  At that thought, Finn finally felt the last layer of the disc click into place.

  Everyone in the room seemed to freeze, all eyes turning toward the blinding light that rippled along the far wall of the temple.

  The entire circle was flooded with orange light, the lines finally connecting and revealing the design emblazoned in the wall. The center was a massive ball of molten metal, creating a rough glowing red egg, a crack forming down the center. A phoenix emerged from the vessel. The firebird arced up and out of the shell with its beak pointed at the sky, its wings awash in flames.

  The design melted apart into a wave of molten metal, the liquid tendrils drifting away and forming a rigid, rectangular frame around what Finn could now see was a small room. And in the dead center of that room rested a gem about the size of his fist. The crystal glowed with an incredible brightness, almost like it had been made entirely of fire mana.

  That was it. That was what they had come all this way to retrieve.

  That glimmering orange gem.

  The relic.

  Chapter 47 - Death-Defying

  Bilel’s Journal – Entry 147

  I believe I now know where the relic is hidden. The mana well is the key to opening the vault. Although, I’m afraid that the energy may be too much for me to handle. There is a risk that the flames might consume me completely. On the other hand, if I do nothing, then I risk letting this sickness continue to spread.

  I must accept that risk. I will not stand down – even in the face of incredible odds.

  As I said in the beginning, fear is the death of passion…

  [The remainder of the page has been torn from the tome. It looks to have been ripped harshly from the seams, leaving a jagged edge of paper. Text dots those fragments, but it is incomprehensible. The rest of the journal appears to have met a similar fate: the pages ripped out and singe marks marring the back cover.]

  ***

  Silence hung across the room, each person frozen in place, and their eyes locked on that glimmering orange gem in the corner of the temple.

  That moment seemed to stretch on for an eternity as Finn’s thoughts raced – a chaotic mass of half-formed ideas, worries, and strategies. The board was laid out before him, the pieces arranged, the game in play, and a single question echoing through his mind.

  What’s my next move?

  He could already see how each option would play out.

  If he went for the crystal, Julia and Kyyle would die. Once that mech suit was online, the fight would be over. Finn would be forced to try to rabbit with the gem. Stuff it in a bag and then leap out into the lava – kill himself as quickly as possible to force a respawn and destroy his body.

  That might work…

  However, channeling the energy of the well had taken a toll. A glance at his UI showed his health was on its last legs, less than a minute left on the death timer counting down in the corner of his vision. If he left the cover of the basin, even a glancing blow would kill him. And if he didn’t destroy his body completely, his enemies could still recover the gem. It was just too risky.

  Yet what was the alternative?

  He could help defend Julia and Kyyle. Try to push back the merchants and fighters. Except his companions weren’t in much better shape than himself. Julia’s health was still barely above 50%, but only because Kyyle was running dry on mana, throwing up one wall after another to protect her. In a straight fight, they would likely lose. They were outnumbered and outgunned.

  Or he could flip the game board. Order Kyyle to blow the explosives below them with the last of his mana and blast this place sky-high – the gem with it. Hope that they killed everyone, and his group could make it back here somehow after they respawned. Maybe use his sight and Kyyle’s Dissolve to try to find the crystal in the rubble.

  A
lthough that assumed the gem wasn’t destroyed in the blast and that they could actually find it again. With the amount of fire mana in this temple and the crystals lining the cavern outside, he couldn’t accurately predict the size of the blast. They could cave in the entire side of the Abyss, burying the gem under a mountain of rock.

  Finn considered and discarded each move in turn.

  They were all flawed. Terrible really. The reality was staring him in the face.

  They’d already lost. He wasn’t strong enough to fix this.

  He was just one man. Half-dead, one hand dipped in liquid mana, and a death timer counting down to their imminent failure. Despite how far they had come, he could feel it all unraveling. Each path leading to a digital dead-end and a taunting system notice. He couldn’t save his companions. He couldn’t ensure they’d recover the relic.

  He couldn’t bring back Rachael…

  “Not alone you can’t,” the Seer’s voice whispered in his mind, the goddess still connected to Finn through the well. “Not alone. But together, you can build a truly magnificent blaze – a fire so bright that others will turn to watch it in awe.”

  At those words, Finn’s brow furrowed. His eyes skimmed back to his teammates again. What did the goddess mean? Was there another move? One he hadn’t considered?

  Then his eyes locked on Julia, and his perspective shifted.

  He was still so used to thinking in terms of their individual abilities, like they were participating in the Mage Guild duels. But that wasn’t how they had made it here – not alone or on the merit of their own unique efforts. They had done this as a team, combining their strengths to accomplish incredible things.

  An idea came to him – terrible and impossible. But if they were going to die anyway, then why not go out in style?

  Finn could feel his resolve harden, the fire mana flaring through his body.