by Taj McCoy El
Margaret nodded as she took it all in.
“Just wading through these duskrass has me a third of the way to Level 12. We could stay here and eradicate all the duskrass just to level up, I would rather fight something stronger for more XP. It comes with a few more risks but you gotta risk it to get that biscuit.”
“Amen, sister, amen!” Grax added. “Plus, it’s a lot more fun.” He gave a feral cheshire grin. After a few minutes Mayah got a notification that made her smile as she glowed.
DING!!!
Level UP
Pretty Princess Cuddle Fluff
Level 11
931XP till next level
You have 2 unspent Stat points and 4 Unspent Attribute points to assign.
“Noice. The rewards of farming.” Mayah celebrated with a bit of bravado, then went back to work.
“Nice glow there, princess” Grax chuckled.
They continued burning their way through the deepest patch of duskrass, rapidly removing the annoying shadows from their path. Margaret got to Level 11 as they were forging their way over a small rise. In her glow they saw the golden light reflected off a pedestal rising from the ground in front of them. They worked their way closer inspecting the pedestal. It glowed a dull orange color.
Grax stopped beside Mayah.
“Portal stone?” he asked.
“Only one way to find out.”
The area around the pedestal, thankfully, was free of the duskrass. Mayah entered the space and magical lines rippled outward and wound their way beneath her feet creating a complex diagram of symbols and circles. She walked the circumference of the lights taking a video of it from every angle before going forward. Grax squatted down outside of the circle to examine the lines and watched Mayah filming everything while Margaret stood on guard peeking over her shoulder at the circle.
The ground under Mayah’s feet hummed with power. She approached the pedestal and touched it with one hand. The light expanded from her touch and enveloped the area. When it receded, she was awarded with a notification.
Ding!!!
You have found the entrance to Vuurmin Fields.
A section of earth just outside of the circle collapsed exposing a pathway into the ground. The Pedestal hummed and a glowing ring of copper, the size of a bracelet, floated out towards Mayah. It patiently floated in front of her until she hooked it with a finger and got another ding.
Ding!!!
You have received the key to Vuurmin Fields.
"I got the key! who wants to go for a ride?” Mayah teased.
“You know I do!!!” Grax replied. He ran towards the pathway and leapt towards the empty space of the opening only to be met with an invisible floor that he slammed into chest and face first, and then slid for a few feet on his face.
Margaret couldn’t hold back the sniggers as she asked, “Are you okay?”
Grax didn’t move. He lay there in his shame pretending to be invisible.
“Anywhoo… I’m going hunting in Vuurmin fields.” Mayah wrung her hands greedily. “Who’s coming with?” she mockingly inquired.
With that she walked down the pathway past a cat staring at its navel, shamefully suspended on an invisible surface. Margaret was right behind her and was stopped as she jammed her foot down onto the invisible surface as well.
“Why can’t I go in?”
Mayah snapped her fingers. “Maybe you just need a bit of pixie dust?”
“Pixie dust?”
“No silly…go touch the pedestal.”
“Oh…”
Margaret ran to the pedestal and received her copper ring and went to follow Mayah. This time she passed through the barrier easily.
“C’mon, cat!!!”
“Zust leabe me…” Grax mumbled into the invisible ground, which allowed Mayah and Margaret to see his face.
“What?”
“Nuffin.”
Mayah huffed, and then went back up to ground level and used happiness to slide him off the invisible floor and over to her.
“We are about to go into a dungeon and you’re just laying here? What in the flarfing five kingdoms is going on?”
Grax looked at her, and then sadly looked away.
“Well, fine!!! If you don’t wanna say, then we’re going ahead without you.” With this Fluff got up to leave. As she turned, she felt a pull on her cloak.
Grax’s eyes wouldn’t meet hers as he said, “Bidden dung debuff…”
“Ooh…” Mayah winced. “Really? Again…?”
Grax nodded and Margaret couldn’t hold back her laughter. It came roaring out of the hole in the ground, the walls of the pathway amplifying the sound. Grax closed his eyes in shame and the duskrass waved about wildly searching for prey.
“As embarrassing as this is for YOU, I’m gonna need you to buck up and get a move on. Nudge, nudge… dungeon, dungeon, XP, treasure, treasure…” He didn’t budge.
“ASAP AND FORTHWITH!!!” She clapped her hands twice in front of Grax’s face and walked back down the pathway to where Margaret was leaning with her back against the wall holding one hand to her mouth and one over her stomach. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she looked at Mayah who she knew got the joke.
Mayah couldn’t fight it and barely mouthed the words, "I know, right?” Before covering her own mouth to stifle her own laughter. She grabbed Margaret by the arm and yanked her further into the tunnel while barely keeping control.
..…
Mo sat on a stool in the medical bay holding Mayah’s hand. Somebody’s gotta be here with you in this world—to take care of you, he thought.
There were several pods across two of the walls. Mayah’s pod had been placed on a support in the center of the room. Wires and tubes rose into a bundle that disappeared into the ceiling. Most of the outer panels of her pod had been stripped away when the pod had been lifted, allowing easy access to all the circuitry.
And here he was holding her hand and looking at all the devices they had attached to her and her pod. If she was here, she’d be able to figure this out, he thought. He didn’t want Mayah to be alone while their parents had gone to visit her. He stroked her hand, wondering what they would think about Majesta.
It sucked that his sister was stuck but if he was being honest, he had to admit it was fun trying to get to her. He had been in the game for days Grinding his way towards her. In the family, he was the only one who truly understood how much time Mayah had actually experienced.
A whole week without the family has to be tearing at her.
Even though they always argued and manipulated each other, he would never wish this upon her. As a matter of fact, he would trade his life for hers in a heartbeat. Mo understood that loss made you appreciate what you had lost. He didn’t ever want to lose Mayah.
She had become the driving force for the family. She enhanced whatever she touched, making them all better. Without her the family wouldn’t be—he, wouldn’t be, okay, ever again.
He silently vowed not to let that happen.
With a hiss of pneumatic doors and a flurry of activity from the med techs, Mo became aware of his parents return. He let the techs do their job. He knew from experience nothing would stop them until their checklist was through, so he let them finish and kept hold of his sister.
With their checks done the techs parted to let his parents and Josh Bannon out of the pods. Brenda and Gyasi wore smiles as they saw each other. His heart thumped happily in his chest. He knew that meant things had gone well. His parents walked over to him after clasping hands and came to wrap their arms around him.
He returned the hug savoring the warmth of his mother and the strength of his father. His cheeks warmed, and he felt the first tear roll down his cheek only to be absorbed by his father’s shirt. He squeezed them tighter for a moment then let them go to wipe his face. He let out an embarrassed chuckle as he did so.
“What did you think?” Mo asked.
Brenda looked at her son and scooped him back up in her
arms and said, “It was wonderful.”
His father put a hand on his shoulder looked him in the eyes and gave him a wink. A wink that said, it’s going to be okay, then added himself to the hug. After a few moments Mo extricated himself and hopped off the seat, giving them a smile.
“Okay, time to go save the brain.” He took Mayah’s hand one last time, looked at her unconscious form and said, “I’m coming to get you.”
He nodded at his parents. “Love you, guys.”
“We love you too,” his mother said clutching Gyasi tighter and trying to keep a smile on her face as tears threatened to flow.
“Go get her, Mo,” Gyasi said returning the nod.
With that Mo turned and walked towards the pod they had given him. Josh raised a fist that added strength to his crumbling façade, and he returned the gesture. They bumped knuckles as they passed each other. The techs opened the door to his pod and spun up the power core. He could hear the whine of the fans as they got up to speed. This pod was a super high end, scientific facility version of what he had at home. It was Sleek, Elegant and beautiful. He climbed into the wonderful rig and the techs began their checklist as the hood rolled down over his face causing everything to go black.
……
Mo opened his eyes. He was in the village square. It looked almost exactly like a duplicate of Mayah’s training village. He didn’t know that, so it offered him no comfort.
He checked over his gear. His long, black scarf was hanging over his shoulder in front of him. He flung it back, so it was draped behind him, flowing in the breeze. Its bulk mostly covering the bottom half of his face. His leather uwagi vest was a dark maroon fastened tightly at his waist and the missing sleeves left his arms free to move. Underneath, he wore a tight stretchy hooded shirt that felt like sports lycra. It was colored black to match with everything.
I can’t belive they have wicking fabrics in Majesta. And the thumb holes to keep my sleeves from rolling up? Genius!
His hands were covered by maroon leather bracers that covered the backs of his hands and had small bands of metal on the knuckles and forearms. He flexed his hands just to make sure they were situated properly and could hear the leather creak.
His black hakama were fastened into his navy kyahan leg wraps and held in place by his navy tabi boots. He wore maroon leather shin protectors with small bands of metal on them as well. He flexed his lean muscular six-foot frame, jumped around and stretched to make sure everything was sitting correctly and decided he was ready to go.
He accessed his messaging and sent a shout to his friends. They were all level ten and had to leave the village by 6 PM MJT and It was already 3:30. They were headed to Techros to meet up with Mayah. He hadn’t told them what was actually happening with his sister, but he wanted too. He honestly didn’t know who to trust. Techros had been a hard sell but once he explained his sister was Pretty Princess Cuddle Fluff the idea had gained some traction. He checked his return messages and waited for them to arrive. Ziggurast was first. A four-foot tall block of glossy black metal hovering a few inches off the ground floated towards him. It was two feet across and about a foot thick.The circuitry on its surface glowed green, small pulses running through it constantly. Mo focused on the larger circle in the circuitry as he had begun to think of it as its eye.
“Hey Ziggs, how’s it hanging?”
Ziggurast responded, its voice cold, robotic, and annoying, “beep- Pretty good. Ready to get this show on the road? -boop”
“Of course, Just waiting on Mephi.”
“beep- As usual. That guy would be late to his own formatting -boop,” Ziggurast replied. The beeping and booping that Ziggs made was irritating to say the least. But that downfall was made by it being a great shield to hide behind in battle. Ziggs could soak up damage and hits like nobody’s business. So, Mo had gotten used to the little chirps that surrounded its speech, Mephi on the other hand, had not.
“beep- He’s probably eating somewhere. -boop”
Mo caught a whiff of skunk and turned to find Mephi standing behind them. He was six feet and three inches of pure, unadulterated Skunkman. His large bushy tail fanned out behind his broad shoulders. The white stripe Making his black face stand out in stark contrast.
“So, I’m somewhere eating?” Mephi’s eyes slanted at Ziggurast. “You are so lucky you don’t have a nose.”
“beep- Yep. Ha ha ha ha. -boop” Zigurrast’s laugh sounded like a maniacal computer. Mo hated that laugh but only because it reminded him that malicious code was attacking his sister. But Ziggurast was a good teammate, maybe even a friend.
Mephi turned to Mo and grumbled, “So, Booms, do we still have to go to Techros?”
“Look Mephi, I know your heart was set on N’tha’a but I have to get my sister first. After that…” Mo shrugged. “It’s high in the list of priorities, but not higher than family.”
“beep- Don’t worry Mephi. N’tha’a is right next door. Don’t make such a big stink about it. -boop”
Mo covered his nose as he knew the skunkman was about to get angry. And when he got angry or frustrated or even happy, you could definitely smell it. “look, let’s not do this again. We all decided to go to Techros. I can’t force you to go but it would be a shame not to have you.”
“Just a little skeptical is all. I got a quest line for my class that I need to finish in N’tha’a.”
“beep- We know. Just be patient. -boop,” Ziggurast monotoned.
“Besides Fluff has promised us free upgrades. And if I know my sister it’ll be something rather superlative.”
“You and those big words, man. But can you really be certain?” Mephi looked torn. He had only known Mo and Ziggurast for a few days in-game and had his own goals in mind.
“In the last year, she’s created items or strategies that had to get nerfed four times.” Mo showed Mephi the back of his hand with four fingers extended, “Her overall record is seventeen. Remember the Chroma-Mage in Soular’s End?”
“Yeah…” Mephi responded.
“That was her.”
“beep- Ho… Lee… HA HA HA HA!!! -boop” Ziggurast rocked back and forth like a trash can on hydraulics as it beeped and booped. “beep- I want to meet her. She sounds interesting. -boop”
“Sure thing,” Mo chuckled. “So, how about you Mephi? If you don’t like the scene, I’ll pay for your portal to N’tha’a.”
Mephi looked away mulling it over. “Fine, and you promise to pay my way if I’m not satisfied?” He emphasized the word promise.
“Absolutely, I Mojo Boomstar promise to pay for Mephitadeus Viribus’ portal fare to N’tha’a as long as he meets my sister first.” The telltale glow of an oath washed over him and Mephi smiled.
“Alrighty then, what are we waiting for?” Mephi rubbed his hands together.
“beep- The winds to change. -boop”
Mo just shook his head and walked towards the portal. If these two weren’t so useful I’d have just left already.
They approached the portal and placed their hands on the sphere floating in front of it. A prompt popped up.
Training Village Debriefing
You have reached Level: 10 and are required by Majestan law to vacate the training village. You will be granted a one-way pass to any city in the lands of Majesta.
Please select Territory:
Majesta
Crelton
Lamdark
Techros
N’tha’a
Neldor
Mountün
Techros Selected
Please choose Principality / City:
Drahtspule – Capital
Flüxhall
Röntgen
Amperium Majora
Eastern Amperium
Öhmstadt
Sëlekah
Sodder
Other: enter search parameters or
coordinates: __________
Oh Crud. She never said where to meet her.
“Okay guys, it looks lik
e we’re going to the capital.” Mo’s act of confidence inspired the others as he selected Drahtspule.
You Have Chosen:
Drahtspule, Techros Capital Principality
Your respawn point will be set at the city center.
Do you accept?
Y/N?
He selected yes and the portal came to life. “Well, we’re off to see the wizard.” He boldly strode towards the portal hoping to find his sister and also that his friends would follow him.
8.4 Twilight and Truces
Grax caught up with Mayah and Margaret which caused another fit of snickers to erupt from the necromantic ranger.
“Haath..haaath…” Grax lisped testily.
Margaret choked with laughter and coughed. She bent over and tried to stop laughing while coughing, her face going almost purple. In a vein bulging fit she made a long warbling retch that echoed into the distance.
Mayah’s ears perked.
DING!!!
Awareness level 7
Starting to use your other senses…. FINALLY!!!!!
17% increase to Perception
“Guys… shush.”
Margaret kept coughing
“Margaret cover your mouth and be quiet,” she hisspered.
Grax came even with Mayah and swiveled his ears while looking down the tunnel.
With Margaret mostly silenced they could all finally hear the sound that had caught Mayah’s ear. A tremolo burping sound caused them edge forward warily.