Ascension

by B F Rockriver

  It was dark by the time the last NPC signed their contract; the lanky Kaitzen named Myr’ Chamka, who interrupted his speech, was the last to sign. He seemed hesitant as if he were questioning Eli’s intentions. After a large pot of stew, made from a freshly killed deer, appeared in the center of the camp, he signed and rushed across the bridge. Of the over five hundred people who had traveled in search of a better future, only three hundred and fifty-six agreed to become citizens. Of those, only fourteen were adventurers.

  Most players had only made the journey hoping to find higher level mobs for fighting or to become the first members of a new guild who also had access to a place of power. They were opportunists, looking for an easy ride. The second Eli started talking about real work, building an entire city from the ground up, they checked out. Most of them noted the location on their maps, took a few quests to help people get set up and wandered around the woods. Exp was exp.

  Twelve of the fourteen who stayed were low-level crafters. They saw the new settlement as a goldmine of experience. They had accepted the invitation to join before Eli could ask them their names. One of them, a surly dwarf named Roscoe Underburough, had even asked about starting his own guild in the town. The final two were unusual.

  “Hey, I finally found you!” Came a small, somewhat familiar voice. “It took forever. But, when I saw the announcement and that wizard guy, I knew it had to be you.”

  “Kyle?” Eli asked as the small man ran up to him, a staff in his hand. “You look different.”

  Focusing on him, Eli pulled up his information, Kyle Blasts’ya - Lvl 4.

  “Excuse me.” The little man said, pushing someone out of the way, “Sorry, there’s people everywhere. It’s making me a little nervous.” Kyle replied, his eyes shifting from side to side. “Anyway, this is my new character. What do you think? Cool, huh?”

  The Gladekin player looked nearly identical to his old avatar, as he was the same race. He had made small changes, barely noticeable unless you looked closely. His face looked less Gladekin in nature, more full and less childlike. His hair was longer, more coarse, and he looked more feral. Looking at the man’s eyes, he saw sharp canine pupils. He was half-wolffen. Instead of simple leather armor, he wore robes. In his hands was a small staff. Across his chest was a bandolier filled with throwing stars, as if he were some ninja monk hybrid class.

  “I ditched those guys and re-rolled my character. I’m going to be a monk, like Don, but I wanted to be a gladekin. My only option was something called a Gladewolf. It’s half kinder, half gladekin. I was thinking about going for a more long-ranged offensive type. Radiant soul, I think it’s called.” Taking a deep breath, the player started shooting words out like an automatic weapon, “Oh, and my pops got me one of the last full immersion capsules too so that I can play longer. Just got it set up today, but I think it’s bugging out. When I try to log out, it just glitches and sends me back in. Whatever. I feel fine if I sleep in-game. They hooked the pod up to the grid so that I can stay here forever.” The player, who was a child, rambled. His words made Eli’s eyes bulge with terror.

  “That’s, that’s good, man. I’m glad you’re happy. I have a lot of work to do; we’ll catch up later. Welcome to Blight’s End, talk to Don if you want to join the guild. We need members.” Eli rushed, not wanting to freak the poor kid out. “And Kyle, try not to let anyone know about your buggy capsule. We don’t want anyone to get worried. I’ll help you out after we set everything up.”

  “Sure thing, boss, I’ll see you later. I gotta claim a spot to sleep, anyway.”

  Looking for a place to think, Eli walked towards the temple, which he had locked and adjusted so no one could enter. As he picked up his pace, he felt someone watching him. Scanning his surroundings, he saw nothing out of place, other than the hundreds of people rushing to set up tents and makeshift shelters. Before reaching the entrance to the temple, he felt a thin, yet powerful, arm wrap around his neck, as something sharp dug into his back.

  As the realization hit him, a tender voice whispered in his ear, “You’re a hard man to track down Eli. It’s been a while.”

  Chapter 43

  Rage swelled in Eli’s heart, as memories of his family’s death forced their way into his mind. He felt heat as if his cabin burned around him, and his children died. The bickering and shouting around him turned to screams of agony and death. His vision blurred, turning a familiar red as if being painted over. Fury overtook him as the cool voice of his assassin crept into his ear.

  Time slowed as the icon of his rage buff flashed into existence. With a quick motion, he grabbed the arm around his shoulder and hurled the figure into the sturdy wooden doors of the Temple. Opening both of his palms, he channeled his wrath into arcane missiles. Bolts of energy glowed red, twice as large as they should be.

  Explosions rocked the massive slabs of wood as magical power flowed from Eli’s palms. His shots were inaccurate, his rage making them hard to aim, but that did not matter. He would just fire more. Harley grew in size, his tail turning into a vicious-looking stinger. As Eli continued his magical assault, his Familiar lept from his shoulder. A moment later, acidic fog covered ground. Voices crept into his mind from every direction as he emptied his mana. Explosion after explosion rang out, decimating his enemy as a cloud of noxious fumes filled the small clearing.

  As his mana hit zero, his head swam. Crippling pain nearly caused him to lose balance. Pressing through it, as his rage dulled his senses, he charged the nearly dead figure lying on the ground, fists raised. This person, whoever they were, had killed his family. They had stolen his life, and they had corrupted the system. Every ounce of pain Eli felt was because of them. In an instant, he was kneeling over the figure, raining blows until his knuckles bled.

  He heard crying. Someone called his name. It was the person he was attacking. Then his movement stopped, as glowing shackles bound his wrists, and a shimmering field surrounded him. Words of power enveloped him, blocking out all sound, and his world spun. Harley fell from the sky, trapped in a cube of red energy.

  Suddenly, color returned to the world around him as his rage vanished. It was as if someone had raised a veil from his eyes, bringing with it his anger. With his world returning to normal, he saw the bloody form of an ambiguous looking, pale-skinned, Mist Elf sobbing on the ground, crying out his name. He recognized this person. Not from his time as an NPC, but from before. From his real life. Then he felt his eyes droop, and his body sag with exhaustion. The last thing he felt was his body hit the ground, as his world darkened. Unable to move, Eli stared at the sky above, with William standing over him. Staring down with a look of confusion on his face, the man smiled and knelt down. As the wizard touched his forehead, Eli’s body succumbed to sleep.

  To Eli, no time passed before he awoke in his bed. His face was wet, and his familiar licked at his face. He remembered being attacked, then nearly killing his attacker. Then William restrained him and felt really, really tired. After that, there was nothing, just him waking up in bed. It was the strangest sensation he had ever felt. He thought back to a time he had gotten so drunk that he passed out. It was eerily similar.

  What happened to me? He thought, not expecting a response.

  A moment later, Aida appeared, floating above him, “Well, that Mist Elf grabbed you. Then you freaked out and almost killed her. Him? I’m not sure; I’ll have to ask. You almost killed some Mist Elf named James. So, William shielded him, then restrained you with a binding spell. After that, he cast Calm and Sleep. You were on time-out.”

  “Wait, did you say James?” Eli asked, his head on fire as he was still recovering from bottoming out his mana.

  “Yes, it was a Mist Elf lady named James. Whatever, moving on. Then Don patched James up, and Michelle carried you in here. Now there’s a bunch of people outside who think they are under attack or have a crazy murder hobo for a leader.”

  As Aida repeated the name, Eli’s heart sank. It couldn’t be. Why would James be in the gam
e? And why would he have, “I need to talk to James, where did they take him.” Eli shouted as his mind finally pieced things together. “Also, James goes by "he." He just likes to play female characters.”

  “How should I know? I can’t be over five feet from you. All I heard was that they are going to keep him on lockdown until you tell them what’s going on.” Aida responded, before fading from view.

  Stumbling out of bed, Eli nearly fell. Mana sickness had taken its toll, causing his motor function to all but fail. Every step was agony, as he made his way down the long hallways, towards the portal room. After five agonizing minutes, his mana refilled at an average pace, dulling the pain in his head with every small increase. As he appeared in the central room, Harley immediately took to the sky, to terrorize the guardian beasts. A still bleeding James sat on the floor, bound by magic.

  “Let him go,” Eli shouted, his words echoing off the walls of the nearly empty Temple.

  As he jogged through the small clearing, he saw William look to him, questioningly, as if he should, in fact, release the prisoner, “Are you sure? You seemed intent on killing this person only minutes ago.”

  Eli nodded as he approached, “Yes, I’m sure. He’s not a threat to anyone. Well, except maybe Don, and maybe Alyssa.” He paused, before looking Michelle up and down, “And, maybe Michelle after a long day.”

  “Yeah, right. As if this little twig could handle me.” Michelle shouted.

  From the corner of his eye, he saw the Mist Elf nod and wink at the Troll. Blood trickled down the Mist Elf’s feminine face as the barriers and shackles fell. An instant later, Eli knelt next to James, embracing him. His pain and anger washed away at the sight of his best friend. One that he knew he loved, but could not remember. For the first time since being reborn, the world made sense.

  “I’m so sorry, James. I didn’t mean to.” Eli started as his friend hugged him weakly.

  “It’s okay. I kind of deserve it after literally stabbing you in the back.” James laughed, wincing in pain. “But I think you broke something.”

  “Don, can you please?” Eli asked, looking to the monk.

  His friend nodded, “On it. I’ll have him back to full in no time.”

  While the turta healed James, Eli explained what happened. Leaving out the details of how he was the one who had broken the system, he told him everything. He was afraid that Michelle might kill the elf before Don could finish healing him. Knowing he would have to tell her exactly who James was eventually, Eli grew nervous.

  Not wanting his reunion to bring up too much information, he changed the subject, “William, James, why don’t we give you guys a proper tour of the temple.”

  “About those books,” William said, an inquisitive tone in his voice.

  “I hear you have a flying dog,” Kelly’s voice called from somewhere in the tall grasses of the field-like chamber. A moment later, Eli’s familiar swooped down in response, “There he is!” The Gladekin chuckled, trying to catch Eli’s familiar from the sky.

  With introductions made, and James healed, Eli led the group through the Temple. He first let James pick a room, the one next to his own. Then Williams and Kelly picked their own. While exploring the still empty third floor, he adjusted the strongholds settings, allowing them both full access to the Temple, without being able to take anything. After seeing the Gladekin pocket a spoon from the kitchen, he felt it necessary.

  As they teleported to the library, William's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. The wizard ran off, muttering something about never leaving, before casting a silence spell and disappearing. A moment later, a quest completion notification flashed into his vision, before being promptly closed. Thinking about Kelly’s response to Harley, Eli whistled.

  James, who had been silently poking a few books in confusion, yelped as Rufio strolled into the library. Magma-like drool spilled onto the stone floor as she knocked books from a table with her tail. Excited at the sight of a much larger and easier to chase dog, Kelly laughed and ran towards the beast. With a nod, Eli signaled to his friends. It was time to leave the two to their work. Whatever it was they were planning to do.

  After calming down the screaming mass of new citizens, Eli, Don, James, and Michelle made their way to an empty room in the Temple. They needed to get started on a plan. Deciding that standing in an empty room would suck, Eli went into his Stronghold menu to assign it a function.

  *Would you like to change, Large Empty Room, to War Room: Yes / No.

  After selecting yes, ten of his faith points and ten of his build points disappeared. A moment later, each of them appeared in the hallway. Looking at each other in confusion, they re-entered the now militarily fashioned meeting room. Sitting in the center of the room, surrounded by matching chairs with comfortable looking cousins, was a large table made from mahogany and oak. On the far wall were several large, detailed maps. Glancing at them, Eli noted one of the lands owned by the guild. Another showed the entirety of Scorn, and a third much larger map contained the known world. Immediately, he saw his world map update, with only slight differences to the maps displayed. They were not perfect, but they would work. Two desks sat in the corners opposite the entryway, intended for scribes or messengers. Already exhausted, the group sat down to think.

  Their first plan was simple. Cure Eli, Don, and any infected citizens. How they achieved that goal was much more difficult. To do it, they needed to complete the shrine, and people would need to pray. If this were done, Aeryntorr could start healing people. After looking through his stronghold menu, Eli learned that he could request a minor boon called Divine Cleanse. The Boon would remove all negative status effects, regardless of rank or level, if he had enough FP.

  The problem was that it cost fifty FP and only affected one person. This was on top of the one hundred needed just to build the shrine. If no one worshipped Aeryntorr, it would take seventeen days to cure them both. They didn’t have the time unless William pulled out the leeches and got to work. So they needed followers.

  They also needed to write a charter, form a set of laws, build defenses, and prepare for whatever the blight was planning. All this, on top of building housing for over three hundred people. Before long, the group started fighting over what order to build things, and how long it should take. After the second hour of bickering, it became apparent, at least to Eli, that making a list of everything they needed to do was pointless. James seemed to agree.

  “Look, if you want to do this right, you need to hire someone who knows what they are doing. One of these NPCs or Players has to have some city planning or bureaucracy skills.” James barked in frustration. “I know just about everything about this game, and I still wouldn’t be able to do this. We are wasting our time.”

  “So, what’s your plan then?” Michelle screamed, kicking her chair over as she stood. “I still don’t know who you are? You can’t just show up, hug Eli and expect us to follow your orders.”

  “Listen, I get it. I’m the new guy, at least to you. But, again, we can argue later. We designed this part of the game to be difficult, and it’s supposed to take an entire group of people to manage. No one should have a stronghold yet, let alone a tiny group of low-level adventurers. The game is not functioning properly. Every failsafe has broken. NPCs are going off-script. And people are locked in the game. Nothing about this is normal.”

  “Uh, dude, that doesn’t change the fact that we need to do this. And, we kinda need it to not die, possibly for real.” Don chimed in as he slumped over in his chair.

  “Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry. It is what it is,” James stammered, unused to being so vocal. “This situation sucks. I thought bringing Eli back would fix the situation. But, he barely remembers who I am. I don’t even know how it happened. But, you have at least one thing going for you. You have money, a fuck ton of it. Pay people smarter than yourself to do the work for you. It’s rule number one in doing any large-scale project—especially one that’s out of your scope. Get funding, use i
t to pay people who know what they are doing. Capitalism.”

  “I have an idea,” Eli said, calmly.

  Opening up his stronghold menu for the fiftieth time in the last hour, Eli pulled up the tab for citizens. The number had dropped slightly after his outburst, but there was still a large pool to choose from. What he was looking for appeared as he scrolled to the right on his massive list of villagers, their preferred occupation. Every NPC who joined him as a resident was immediately cataloged by the system to show their highest priority requests, and the jobs they would be best suited for. Scrolling through the list of hunters, fishermen, bakers, cooks, smiths, and other trades left him with only a handful of options. Most of the people were uneducated and untrained outside of general labor or basic survival skills.

  A few options stood out to him. Alyssa could be both a doctor or steward and had already proved to be a good leader. Her pack would follow her anywhere. The Wolffen merchant, Rou’gar Goldenfang, was a crafty merchant and decent bureaucrat. He had proven that by being one of the few Wolffen doing business with the Dawnport guards. There was also a Forest Elf named Gilroy Thos, who was listed as a foreman. The final two, however, caught Eli’s attention. Seeing William's name, who was listed as a scholar, scribe, teacher, and researcher, made his brain hurt. He was perfectly suited to run a school or some sort of research facility. If he would ever leave the library, his skill set also wouldn’t help them run a city, so he saved that idea for later.

  The last name he found was confusing, Myr’ Chamka, the sickly looking Kaitzen who had been so hesitant to become a citizen. It listed his preferred position as a castellan, and his highest skills level skills were battlefield tactics and strategic planning. If he would cooperate, he had the most potential out of everyone on the list.

  “Our mayor is a cat person?” Eli asked aloud.

  Shortly after explaining his findings, Eli called their meeting to its end. He needed to get to his final tasks of the night, opening up the first floor of the Temple to all citizens, and set the defenses to passive. Earlier, he decided that creating a job and quest board would be the priority for the next day. Staring at his city’s treasury, he sighed. If he were going to convince people to do his job for him, he would have to pay well. There goes the bank account.