Ascension

by B F Rockriver

  A moment later, waves of movement rippled through the hundreds of foul creatures, and they began a slow march towards the ruins. As if controlled by some inaudible command, each took mechanical steps towards the shore of the lake. Unworried about any inability to breathe or swim, they headed for the water.

  Before crossing the threshold, from dry land to churning waters, a barrier of solid light sprang into existence, enveloping the entire island in a shell-like membrane. The front line of undead warriors crashed into the protective field like a log hitting the forest floor. As the creatures behind them pressed forward, refusing to stop for the field of light, they drove their forward ranks through the boundary of light.

  Every undead, or blighted creature that crossed into the shining golden light crackled with energy. Skin, flesh, and bones smoldered and flared. Some caught fire, sizzling like meat on an over-hot grill, before crashing to the ground, motionless. Eli kept checking for traces of the still living, for any kind of leadership, as the torrent of walking corpses pressed into the barrier. As more and more of the monsters forced themselves through, they created holes big enough for others to pass without harm. Near the middle of the formation, on a small hill, he spotted two more stonekin. One was an unarmored, gray-skinned, female Ogre wielding a vicious looking two-handed battle-axe. The other an obsidian skinned Goblin covered in black robes. The smaller figure chanted, swinging its staff while unrecognizable words echoed through the open air. To Eli, the weapon looked similar to the one he now had in his inventory. Having marked them both with symbols, a red axe, and purple staff, he moved on. Every member of the army had their back to Eli and his team with one exception, a crimson-cloaked Cloud Elf surrounded by floating daggers.

  Sparks of Primal Rage funneled into Eli, and he felt his new ability pressing against the walls of his mind. His body attempted to move on its own, just as it had during the fight against Rotgutt. He knew what this meant. The system had classified that man as his Nemesis. If he wasn’t careful, he would soon charge into a battle he could not win. Out of instinct and a small amount of fear, Eli threw himself backward, behind a dense grouping of trees. With a soft thud, he landed atop of the still bound Goblin Assassin, Stabins McGee. The sudden movement broke his line of sight on the ghastly Elf and, with it, the controlling effects of his new ability.

  “That was close. If you had been even a step further, your rage would have kicked in,” Aida said, sounding slightly worried. “You will need to fix that.”

  “Oh shit, you okay,” Don asked in a hushed voice, before helping Eli up.

  “Yeah, man, I’m fine.” He accepted his friend’s hand, stomping on the goblins’ knee while rising to his feet. “Almost had a repeat of the Rotgutt situation. That wizard down there, the one wearing the black and red robes, is another player that attacked my cabin.” Eli said, dusting some debris off of his tattered hide armor, “He’s got a Nemesis tag. If I make eye contact with him, I’ll lose it. It’s part of my new ability, Primal Rage.” As he spoke, Eli grabbed his captive and started back off into the woods.

  “I knew it,” Michelle shouted, before adjusting her voice to a more reasonable tone. “I knew it was a rage ability. Fucking sweet. How do I get it?”

  As Eli walked, he motioned for the two to follow him before thinking on how to bring up the party invitation menu. A moment later, a semi-translucent screen appeared in his vision with an option to add players to his group.

  “You’re welcome,” came a voice in his mind, “No more sifting through tabs and settings. Just let me know what you need, and I can pull it up for you. If you have access.”

  Aida was proving to be more helpful than he thought she would be, but it was still quite jarring to have someone, or something, intruding on his every thought. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

  “As I said, you’re welcome. Oh, and it’s not that bad. I only have access to information that has to do with the game or system.”

  With a thought, he sent Michelle an invitation to his party. A moment later, he had a new set of status bars on his screen and could sense the trolls’ general direction.

  “Well, well, well, looks like we have the beginnings of an actual adventuring party here,” A firm slap on Eli’s back followed the rough voice of the large troll woman. “I’ll let you two do the thinking on this one. Fighting an army of undead is a little out of my wheel-house.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Don’s voice followed, as he made his way next to Eli and the Goblin, who was wriggling on the ground. “I think our first step should be, uh, getting out of here and asking this little fellow what the fuck is going on.”

  Eli nodded in agreement, before adding to the plan, “If he talks, that’s a good idea, and you’re right, we need to move. But, first, we need to make sure that Michelle here is with us on this one.” He said, dragging the Goblin on the ground while he made his way through the forest, “We can’t do this alone.”

  Eli’s two-party members followed him, and Michelle spoke up. “Well, I kind of have to be there, don’t I handsome.”

  “What do you mean,” Don asked, confused in his voice.

  “Well, the only way I see getting around these mountains is along that river.” She waved an arm behind her, towards the temple, “And, I don’t know if you saw that army back there, but I don’t think I’ll be able to fight my way through it all on my lonesome,” Her head tilted as she batted her eyes at the Turta, a mocking attempt at frailty.

  “That’s not the point,” Don replied. “You just want us to help you capture that fort.”

  “Well, shit,” Michell spoke, catching up to Eli, who was still dragging a now thrashing Goblin through the woods. “You’ve figured my plan out, haven’t you?” She slapped Eli on the back before passing him, “But, we can talk about that later. Let’s stop there.” She pointed at a small clearing with a view of one of the twin rivers, “That clearing has a good line of sight on anyone trying to sneak upriver.”

  After making it to the small clearing, Eli tied his captive to a tree, then fastened his manacles to his feet, so he could not wiggle free, sit, or stand. He wouldn’t let the assassin out of his sight again. While he was tending to Stabbins, Don, and Michelle secured their perimeter.

  Eli crouched next to the captive player, his face inches from the gagged assassin. “I’m going to release this gag; then you’re going to tell me everything I want to know in as short a time as possible.” A slight chuckle escaped from the hempen rope in the Goblin's mouth, before Eli smashed an open palm into the man’s stomach, eliciting a scream of pain. His pain settings were still active. “This is happening, and you are going to talk.”

  A moment later, Eli removed the gag, and the player started laughing even harder. The high pitch grating scratched like glass on stone. “Ha, you have no idea what you’re doing fuck-face. If you think I’ll tell you any,”

  Eli let a knee fly into the man’s sternum. He wouldn’t survive much more after the beating he’d already taken, but he had to get him to talk. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

  Another chortle followed a large cough of blood as Stabbins spoke. “No, really, we could do this all day. Or, you know, you could just kill me now and get it over with.”

  With a fluid motion, Eli grabbed one of his war-axes and smashed it into the man’s shoulder, the wound pouring blood down the assassin's arm. “Look, you and your asshole buddies may think this is a game. That this shit is funny,” another chop, this time on the other shoulder, “You attacked my family.” Another swing, this time in the man’s thigh. He was bleeding out. “You murdered my children,” Eli pressed the blade of his axe against the man’s chest and started carving. Flesh peeling back from his victims' sternum, exposing bits of his ribs. “And you turned me into a fucking player.”

  The man’s eyes went wide, and Eli could see hints of joy mixed in with confusion. Eli wanted to end this man, to wipe his memory from existence, but the sick bastard was enjoying this. Or he wants to die.
At the thought, Eli pulled his weapon away quickly as Stabins cackled.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, shit for brains. I’ve never seen you or your family before. I’ve been out here in these woods for a fucking week and haven’t run into anything other than wolfs, bears, and mountain lions. And, I really don’t give a shit what happened to you or your family. It is just a game. They’ll come back.”

  Eli readied himself to rip the creature's heart out with his bare hands, just before Don threw him aside and healed the Goblins wounds. “This isn’t how we do things here, man. You can’t just torture people; I won’t stick around for this type of shit. Besides, if I remember correctly, the system has things in place to prevent this type of psychotic behavior.”

  As Don placed his hands on the Goblins wounds, Eli noticed that the man’s expression changed to one of annoyance, as if he wanted to bleed out for just a second longer. “I think the game will give him an option to teleport back to his spawn point if we keep him tied up for too long or do too much damage to him while he’s restrained.”

  Michelle confirmed Don’s words with a nod, “Yup, I think it’s an hour of restraint, or half an hour while restrained and taking damage. Prevents weird perverts like you two from going all Buffalo Bill on some poor bastard.”

  With a thought, Eli had his guide teach him everything he could learn about torture. What Michelle had said was correct. But the rules were vague as if torture was an expected part of the system. The thought made Eli cringe and smile. He had an idea.

  After pulling up his inventory and looking over its contents, Eli found exactly what he wanted, a glass globe the size of an apple. Its black gaseous contents swirled and shifted as if alive. He had no idea what the items did, but he had a lot of them, and the things looked sinister. Whatever they were, they couldn’t be good, and he didn’t want to be the one to test them out. At the sight of the orb, the goblin's eyes filled with panic, and he slammed his mouth shut.

  “Well, that’s different,” Eli said, leaning back towards the assassin under the watchful eyes of Don. He knew Don wouldn’t let him torture the man any further, but he wouldn’t stop him from getting him to talk. “Why so quiet all of a sudden?” Eli waved the orb in front of the Goblins face slowly before leaning in closer, whispering, “Now, we can start by telling me what these things are and what they do. Or I start testing them out on you,” He pretended to drop it, and the man’s mouth fell open.

  “No, no, no, don’t. Uh, don’t do that.” He squirmed, panic in his voice, “I’ll tell you what I know, just don’t drop or make me eat that thing.”

  “Good, now we’re getting somewhere.” Eli slipped the object back into his bag, and the man calmed significantly.

  Aida’s voice chimed in, “You have about three minutes left with this guy. But, carry on.”

  If Aida was correct, which she likely was, he had to act fast. “Just tell me what they do, and why you’re working with the Blight or its lunchtime.”

  “They do stuff to NPCs. Strengthen them, turn them into mindless slaves.” The player paused, and Eli willed the orb back out of the bag, “Shit man, Chris is going to fucking kill me. If you feed them to NPC’s they become more like players than some NPCs, they level up and shit, you know, gain skills and stuff.”

  Eli nearly crushed the orb in his hands, the man’s words causing his body to shake from an intense urge to strangle something. Controlling himself, he spoke, his words coming out staggered, “What, do, you, mean.”

  “I’m telling you, man, they turn NPCs into players, or close to it.” Eli’s eyes narrowed, his knuckles turning white as he started inching closer to the captive. Stabbins started spewing words faster, “Well, not exactly. Not all of them do that. Some just turn into mindless thralls, the minions and beasts, and stuff.” The player burned through his stamina as he struggled, breathing heavily.

  “Hey, your intimidation skill just increased! Go you; you’re going to make this guy piss himself.”

  “Chris, oh fuck man. He said it depends on what type of AI is involved or something. I don’t fucking know. O-others, the more lifelike NPCs, shopkeepers and quest-givers and stuff, they change but somehow stay somewhat independent. I’ve only seen it happen a few times. But, everyone that changes becomes blighted and has to listen to Chris’s quest giver.”

  “Where do they come from, and what are you guys doing at the temple?” Eli’s voice was hard, tainted with his intent to kill.

  “We’re there on a quest. Chris got it. This is all his fault. Some creepy old NPC wizard guy gave him a quest to take the place. When the blight priest guy said it was a powerful stronghold, he accepted, no questions asked. When he did, he got a few of those orbs and a spell that allows him to talk to the priest directly; hive mind shit. He’s working for the fucking bad guys man. He said it would be fun. You know, be a part of the Empire or something like that.”

  “Yeah, but where did this army come from?” Michelle asked, tapping her club against her shoulder. “Some of them look familiar.”

  “Uh, that was him too. He has a title that lets him control up to a hundred blighted minions, more if he’s in a party with necromancers or something. It’s like a new leadership skill or something. That’s all I know. He wouldn’t tell me anything else. We found some injured Mist Elves, and an entire group of goblins, orcs, and ogres, who were sent here from the Stonekin Empire. We turned them with the orbs, and Chris took them over.”

  Eli pushed the orb to the man’s lips, feeling it press flesh against teeth, as the man squealed. “Look, man, don’t. Chris said we shouldn’t mess with these things. He doesn’t know what happens if you give them to players.”

  “Well, we’re about to find out.”

  “Hey, another one. I think he wet himself. That’s hilarious.” Eli’s mental assistant said, as warm liquid pooled in the assassin’s leather pants.

  “Please, man, don’t. I won’t do this anymore. Add me to your friend's list, and I’ll give you whatever you want. I’ll even help you stop this; I just wanted to have fun before Chris and Logan went all evil and shit. You guys seem like good guys, just let me go.” The players’ words came out muffled.

  “Well, how about we make a deal?” Eli said, the player contract window flashing into his vision, Aida knowing exactly what he wanted to do.

  Chapter 31

  As soon as Eli had spoken his intentions of forcing Stabbins McGee to ambush his people and create a diversion, Don vetoed the idea. Eli wanted the assassin to walk into the camp, report that a mountain lion had killed Rotgutt. He would then start taking out leadership, beginning with the necromancer. Eli wanted to deal with the Elf personally.

  “That’s not gunna' happen, man, sorry. Can’t let you do that.” Don’s said abruptly, halting Eli’s mental notations on the player contract form before he could complete the offer. “It’s not a bad plan, but we will not force this guy to do whatever we want, or extort him. We’re better than that.”

  “Psh, why not?” Michelle's words followed. “I kinda like the idea. It would make our lives easier. You guys need to get in that temple. He can help.”

  “If he wants to, he can; up to him. Otherwise, we leave him tied up here until he vanishes. Healing him to full after letting him go should restart his captive counter. Then we can just tie him up and leave him. It will hold for an hour unless he’s attacked.” Don said while looking at the confused Goblin, who would soon be forced back to the closest respawn location. “He said it himself; he doesn’t want to be a part of their plans anymore. Let’s let him choose.”

  Before Eli or Michelle could interfere, Don took one of his new obsidian daggers and sliced through the ropes binding the captive player. The turta then held him down by his shoulders while slowly healing his wounds. Stabbins face relaxed as a wave of healing energy washed over him, Don’s magic doing its job. Eli watched as his friends' mana and stamina bar dropped. The drain was slow at first but picked up speed as the wounds Eli had caused
to the man’s clavicles stitched together. When the man could move his arms again, Don’s mana bar dropped to one, and he cut off the flow of energy.

  “T-thank you,” Stabbins stuttered. “I set my pain settings as low as they can go, but that still hurt.” The assassin rubbed his shoulders and moved his arms in slow circles. “But, I don’t know if I’ll be helping you kill these guys. I don’t agree with them, or this bullshit blight. I don’t know if I want to play this fucked up game anymore. Something’s off; it’s buggy as hell.” The assassin nodded at Don, “I can tell you that they plan to take the temple over and use it as a staging area to wage war on Dawnport, Daggerfang Keep, and the abandoned fortress to the north. There’s also another fortress on the north-western coast of the Island. Apparently, it has another altar. That’s where the priest is going. You were right to go after the necromancer and Chris. Without them, that entire army of theirs vanishes or goes out of control. Those little blighted Goblins go all rabid if no one is around to tell them what to do,” The man said, itching at a spot on his wrist. “One of the little fuckers bit me gave me some strange debuff.”

  “You’re blighted?” Eli asked.

  “Yeah. There was this weird countdown. But Chriss has this spell that stops the timer. Keeps saying that it isn’t my time yet. He’s getting weirder by the day.”

  Don laughed, then sighed, “Oh man, you’re fucked. Have you read the description? Do you understand that if you die, you’ll turn into one of those rabid little fuckers, and lose control of your character?”

  “I have, but it can’t be right. There’s no way a game would just start taking over players’ avatars like that. It has to be a bug or something. It’s why I’ve been thinking of quitting the game.” His expression changed to one of confusion, “Wait, how do you know what the description is?”

  “Yeah. How do you know about this?” Michelle followed, her gaze hardening as she focused on Don.