Dissonance

by K. T. Hanna

  One more second. He was almost ten feet away, still bounding, just one larger jump, and Merlin’s root caught him mid jump, pummeling him against the ground as the roots reached out and brought Urohne into its grasp.

  He let out a guttural roar as his shield disappeared and he was once again vulnerable without his invincibility. His eyes remained focused on Murmur in pure stubbornness for a few more seconds before it finally broke free and attacked Devlish in a frenzy of claw strikes that left the dread knight’s right arm shredded.

  Rash Jeered at their enemy, pulling its attention onto her and activated her hidden ability, Phantom, again. Try though he might, Urohne couldn’t get a hit in, which seemed to enrage him even more.

  Murmur’s debuffs stuck, potentially reducing the damage and strength the creature could put behind its hits. She smiled grimly at their opponent, glancing briefly to see how Devlish was doing. The arm was slowly coming back together as he applied a salve to it instead of taking the healer’s mana. His lacerta face had paled, and tiny beads of moisture dotted his brow. Murmur glanced down at her timers and realized that mana drain wasn’t quite ready yet. It had another thirty seconds, and with their opponent nearing the twelve percent mark she needed its mana gone now, not later.

  She steeled herself, and pulled out Mana Theft. Nothing better than trying it in actual battle. The remaining fourteen percent of the mana Urohne had disappeared, popping into her bar and filling it back up. With another scream, the tiger hybrid doubled up momentarily, blood pouring out of its various wounds faster than it had before.

  Did it have some sort of healing mechanism it’d been keeping together with mana flow? She had no idea, but her Sinuous ability had done far more damage than she’d assumed it would, and she wasn’t about to look that particular gift horse in the anything.

  Urohne looked up from where it clutched its stomach, hands dripping in blood and fixated on her, never leaving her gaze while it died, while its health whittled down to nothing. Even when she tried, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from it, haunted by the despair mixed with loathing in the creature’s expression.

  Finally, with its jugular exposed and severed practically in half, it managed to croak out as it flopped down to the floor with a resounding thud. “I’ll be back stronger. And then, you’re dead.”

  Storm Entertainment

  Somnia Online Division

  Game Development Offices

  Day Sixteen

  Shayla frowned and let out a huge sigh as she acknowledged receipt of an email she’d been dreading receiving. Edward Davenport, CEO.

  She knew it was coming, and still she didn’t want to accept it. But it’d taken longer than she’d anticipated it would, so wasn’t that a victory?

  Reluctantly she signaled it open.

  Please note that due to the unscheduled shutdown that occurred in the previous twenty-four hours, there are several issues that must be addressed in accordance to server uptime and population control.

  We realize the need for regaining stability and have thus allowed the team more than a day to correct this oversight. Please have detailed reports ready, along with the cause of this interruption in the services we provide, and a strategy to avoid them in the future.

  Please also make note of how this will affect the overall long-term strategy for Storm Entertainment as a division. Reports compiled need to include all variances from the norm, and all potential threats that could cause a repeat.

  You are to have these reports ready by one in the afternoon, two days from now. Please be at the conference room of the Game Development Offices with the lead developers and analysts who will need to take part in this session.

  Sincerely,

  Edward Davenport

  Shit. Shayla had known it was coming, but this also upped the need for them to get all of Wren’s anomalous crap into their data and make sure it didn’t present like it was a huge problem. She wished what Laria had said was true, that Wren was only stuck in there because the system needed her and wanted to keep her brain as a lifeline or something.

  It sounded so futuristic—even in these days of fully immersive virtual reality—that Shayla couldn’t help but laugh at it. More like desperation from the coma patient who didn’t want to admit she was probably stuck in there forever.

  Pushing herself up from her desk, Shayla began pacing. It always soothed her, somehow calmed her, and made her feel like she might just have a slight grasp on her sanity still. She glanced up from where she studied the patterns on her floor, only to see a shadow behind one of her blinds. Frowning, she studied it, knowing instinctively who it was without having to try and catch them in the act.

  James. Who but Laria did she have to voice her concerns to? No one. If he was indeed one of Teddy’s underlings, then talking to her boss about it wasn’t a good idea, but what if he wasn’t? What if he had a different agenda?

  She frowned, and decided that on the day of the meeting, regardless of whatever else was on her plate, she was going to make sure she observed him closely. Depending on his actions, she might be able to determine just whose side he was on, because it definitely wasn’t on hers.

  Reaching up to her ear, she activated the intercom to call Laria to her office, only to hear her friend’s voice directly outside her office before she could do so. She paused, about to call out, when she realized Laria was, in fact, speaking to James, and not keeping her voice down either.

  “Are you waiting to go in? I know she’s not busy; do you want to come in with me? Well, not busier than usual of course.”

  Shayla could just imagine the bright lead developer winking at the assistant in her sassy, positive way. She leaned back to see what her friend would get out of the other, if anything at all.

  “No, I was just on my way back to my desk.” She could hear the smooth smile on his face in the way he spoke, like he was congenial and friendly, everyone’s buddy.

  “Really?” Laria’s silhouette moved back and forth as if turning around to get her bearings. “I could have sworn you were down the other way. Did you get to move desks? Or did I miss that you have your own office now?”

  She sounded excited for him at the possibility that he might have gained a slight promotion she hadn’t heard about, and Shayla had to suppress a chuckle. Damned if it wasn’t good to see her friend back to her old self, or at least acting like it.

  “I went to grab some water,” James said, effortlessly lying through his teeth.

  “Oh, was the one in the middle office too busy? That sometimes happens, although,” Laria paused for effect, again leaning forward to inspect the guy. Shayla could hear the pouty frown in her voice when she next spoke. “Did you forget to take your drink with you? I mean, I’ve heard of dedication to the job, but be careful you don’t get too muddle headed there, James.”

  She laughed, but didn’t leave him a chance to respond as she barreled straight into the next thing. “I’m sure you’ve got piles of work to be getting done, I’ve seen Shayla churning out those reports. We have a huge meeting coming up soon, and we’re going to need all those memos written up. We can’t thank you enough for your help. I have to duck in now. I’ll check in and see how you’re doing on my way back to my office.”

  The door clicked and Shayla moved to stand back in the shadows behind it and Laria leaned back out into the hall one more time. “Have to go now, work, you know.”

  She closed the door behind her, just this side of slamming it, and raised an eyebrow to see Shayla standing in the corner. At least she lowered her voice when she spoke. “Hiding from him now, are we?”

  She waved away Shayla’s questioning look. “He’s gone. Back to his desk like I told him to. You should keep a better eye on the guy. He’s getting a tad creepy.”

  Shayla let herself fall into her seat again and drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “I know. And I’m not entirely sure
how to handle it except to spy on him before and after our meeting with Davenport in two days.”

  “Say what?” Laria’s smile dropped from her face, a haunted look entered her eyes. “That’s a day early, Shay.”

  “I’m well aware of that, Lar.” Shayla said with a pointed look.

  “Yeah. That did sound pretentious didn’t it? Sorry.” Laria leaned back and sighed. “Fine, give it to me.”

  Shayla simply read out the email and waited for her friend to digest it. She could practically see the calculations running through Laria’s head as she sat there, contemplating every single avenue as best she could, just like Shayla had already done.

  “We basically have two days to finish the reports we still had no idea how to develop and give to him in three days, now with less time. And we have to be able to justify the shutdown, and have a plan for it not to do it again? Pretty much sum it up?” Her tone might sound bored to anyone else, but Shayla knew she was simply resigned to have to do something nigh impossible, yet again. It was just the way things worked in the gaming world.

  “We can’t exclude Wren. However it is they know, they know something. We can’t exclude any of it. Not even when Fable didn’t log out with the rest.”

  Laria waved the words away, tiredness flashing over her face before she squashed it and squared herself to the front. “I know. We’ve got this. I have a few ideas. Give me some time. I’ll have a plan to you tonight.”

  And without waiting for acquiescence, or permission, or anything, Laria jumped up and let herself out of the office again.

  Several of their party had dinged after Urohne’s experience hit them. But the chimes that echoed through the hall only made his parting words that much more ominous.

  “Well,” Rashlyn said as she cautiously approached Urohne’s body. “That was pretty creepy. Last dying breath and all.”

  “You don’t say.” Havoc rolled his eyes and reached back to work out knots in his neck. The tension in his shoulders could have held up buildings. Murmur didn’t know how to help him relax.

  “What I say,” Beastial added, “is let’s see if there’s any loot from this guy, probably up near that dilapidated throne over there.”

  He gestured toward the back of the hall, where Murmur could see a small dais shrouded in shadows. It appeared to be crumbling, and as they made their way over to it, she noticed it had once had two seats, side by side, like a regal reception room.

  It wasn’t the same room they’d met Arita in last time, but a sad imitation of it. It made her wonder just what it was the monster they fought had been. Had it been the original ruler of this castle, relegated to a supporting role when Arita was put in place as the dark elf queen?

  Beastial let out a roar of triumph, which made Murmur jump. She’d not been expecting the outburst and didn’t appreciate it after having faced down the roaring Urohne as its plaything.

  Still, the beast master was obviously very happy. “We gots us some loot, boys!”

  “Can we not English or something after we fight animal amalgamations?” Havoc, again, sounded tired and a bit fed up.

  “I can English perfectly fine.” Beastial sounded reproachful, but nothing too bad because he chose at that moment to flip the chests open. “I choose not to English fine to have more fun.”

  He said the last words as beams of gold light shot up toward the high ceiling of the chamber they stood in, revealing treasure chests on the broken-down platform. In this new and brighter light, the austere room vanished and reverted back to a semblance of cheerful.

  Murmur trudged her way up to the dais and glanced inside the first of two chests. It held a lot of crafting mats, and she knew her friends were a bit disappointed that there wasn’t anything of immediate use in the chest. At least not for them right now. Though she was certain Neva would be foaming at the mouth to get her hands on them.

  Again, a tug of regret nagged at the back of her mind. She hadn’t realized the role crafting would take in this game

  It was the one thing odd about Somnia. Okay, there were a lot of odd things about Somnia, but sometimes adventurers just liked to be able to kill and gain a reward. Not kill, gain something they could craft with, and find a crafter of the level they needed in order to craft the specific upgrade they needed.

  “It’s lucky for us that we have Neva,” Devlish piped up, echoing the thoughts of everyone in the raid. Murmur hadn’t told them yet about her relation to Exodus. She wasn’t really sure they needed to be told. If Neva had wanted them all to know, wouldn’t she have told them herself? She’d deal with that later. Shaking her head, she waited for the others to open the next chest.

  This one spilled out silver light, reaching for the top of the dim ceiling, and bathed the room in a warm silver glow that permeated even into the dark corners, changing the flickering torches to a bright white light that lit up the whole area and took away the feelings of gloom that surrounded them, and, had it not been for Murmur’s shielding, probably would have affected their inspiration levels during battle.

  “Oh, wow.” Sinister’s excitement was catching, and the rest of them huddled around the chest with her while she drew out what appeared to be more pieces of the special crafting items Neva needed to make the magical armor. Small ones this time, not a chest piece, but belts, and gloves, and one dagger.

  “I’ll give these to Neva,” Jinna said. “I don’t trust the guild inventory for this, as I’m not sure who has what access.”

  “Good idea.” Murmur frowned at the guild bank and balked. Last time she’d checked the permissions on it was about fifteen levels ago, when they had about thirty people in the guild. Now Fable was easily twice that size now and she knew she’d have to sit down and adjust permissions as soon as they got out of this castle. At least this world didn’t limit guild storage space once a stronghold had been established.

  At this rate Beastial was going to have to set up guild trial memberships sooner than later. Finding the right people for the guild was always a problem, and as they expanded past the people they already knew, or knew of, they were going to have to be stricter. Right now, there was no way for them to proceed otherwise.

  Reaching down to the bottom of the chest, Murmur frowned. The only thing there was a midia crystal, no getashi. Panicked she looked around to see if maybe it had fallen with something else when it was pulled out, but there were no smooth, pebble-like black rocks anywhere.

  Merlin took a step closer to her and whispered. “I’ve got it. You’ve become a target having these, so I’ve got the black thing. I’ve wrapped it up and I’ll give it to Telvar, but you’re not holding those things anymore, got it?”

  She bristled under his words. No one told her what to do, but even so she could see he was right. Logic only extended so far. And when she was around those small brain shards of Michael’s she couldn’t always think straight. “Good idea. The more of us that are holding them, the more difficult it’ll be for Jirald to complete his quest.”

  It sounded good on the tip of her tongue, but she still felt an insatiable need to be the one who collected them, and she didn’t like it one bit.

  Even the corridors were brighter after their defeat of Urohne. Not like the silvery white light that now shone in that hall, but still, brighter and friendlier. The monsters they encountered, however, were not.

  A new one added into the mix, every now and again. A stealth creature that managed to inch its way around and surprise them every single time despite the fact that Murmur cast See Invisible on everyone.

  In the middle of fighting off one unstunnable gargoyle and un-Mezable vampire, what appeared to be a small child jumped into the middle of the group, decloaking in an instant. Instead of the body of a human, it was the torso of a child with two arms, but that’s where the human resemblance ended. Each of its hands had eight fingers, and hundreds of small black eyes beaded all over the head. The
front of its chest held a gaping maw, fangs drizzling drool in slow motion.

  Murmur didn’t even have the time to gag at the sight of the monster. It shrieked loudly, and a disorienting effect emanated out from its mouth, pushing waves of confusion throughout the group that had them stumped for a couple of seconds. The room swam, and for that precious amount of time, they couldn’t cast without fear of hitting each other.

  The only good thing about it was that the same effect hit the other monsters they were fighting too. Effectively it was two seconds of inanely stunned players and monsters while the stupid spider screamed in the middle of all of them. If it hadn’t made her head pound so much, Murmur might have found it comical.

  Once the disorientation was over, Murmur was able to Mez it until they’d killed the others and then they all alternated stuns so it wouldn’t do that again. The name of the monster appeared to be Buntu, which was a strange name for an eight-legged shrieking horror.

  Several monster packs down their next corridor choice, both Sinister and Merlin hit level thirty-five, and Murmur glanced at her HUD to determine that yes, she was about half way through her level. She frowned and surmised that it must mean that while learning an encounter, their experience loss was lessened. Each of the others had died multiple times during dungeons, but she wasn’t any significant amount of experience ahead of them. Not really in the scope of things anyway.

  While death definitely made a dent in their experience, it also explained the extraordinarily high experience they gained for completing a dungeon in Somnia. More of a gain and loss equalizer. Like they expected you to die a lot and thus diminished the amount of experience you lost only while in an active dungeon. If you did indeed complete the encounter, you got rewarded.

  If those two dinged, it meant the last of the group would shortly too. She crouched slightly to give Snowy a piece of meat from her inventory and scratch him behind his ears, which had mostly been lying down flat since they’d finished fighting Urohne. He didn’t appear to like the enclosed space any more than she did, although it was apparent that wasn’t his only problem in here. It didn’t take long for the newly leveled to learn their spells. Unlike her, she was fairly sure they’d already read theirs.