Queen of Ragnarok

by Dylan Keefer

  “Black Rainbow… hey, Neil when are you going back there…” I asked him as I watch Opa take on the two Statures like a slippery God, dodging each of their blows. Opa was pretty agile for a Giant I had to admit.

  Once we get it, we can fix it up. Add on to it. We can even place storage and teleport circles in there. We could not do this with property owned by the game. Those were only for story related quests and nothing more. But there were a lot of random ruins, old places that could be taken over.

  They were usually hard to. Any team that did would get a whole lot of praise.

  This fortress was nothing noteworthy but if we build on it we could really have a secure place. The only thing would be the Ogres trying to kill us. I will deal with that when the time comes.

  “Hmm…”

  A Stature goes down.

  “Onclash!”

  Alvain shone bright, Opa readied himself as the other Stature ran round the hut adjacent to Opa. I rush in, the pollen hits my face. Through the vast yellowish tint, I could make out Opa’s shape among the thick cloud of spores.

  He was really fighting with this lack of sight? I knew Opa and Neil were minor guys within the Shadow’s Grace, Nevas told me that much but this was on another level compared to us.

  I cast, a seven sign seal appears, “Burndideath.” The scream shatters the noise, all I hear is silence, I see a massive shadow but the pollen pushes out from where I stood as the spirit, a tall bearded man with four arms, he twisted crushing into Opa’s back.

  The shadow reveals itself as the Stature thrusting his fist at Opa, Opa jumps and dodges.

  “I’m ready, Celina move!” I jump left as the Stature’s leg nearly hits me out of the air. Alvain thrusts his hands through a two sign seal sending a blast towards Opa.

  Opa is hit with it, he cringes to the hit. But the Stature holds no regards thrusting his right, Opa swings his hammer upward into it. Sending a massive shockwave it blasts an offshoot of air shattering the Stature’s arm.

  “Oh my God!” Alvain shouts.

  The Stature was still, Opa walked out from under the advancing cloud of dust.

  “Moonlight.”

  He nodded, “Thanks.” He turned and looked back as soon as I did. The Stature was very still, its arms gone. I note that the plants ran off like cowards. Guess they had no backbone like that.

  The brown square blurb appears before me saying ‘Mission Accomplished’ it even showed the items we won.

  Neil asked, “Ya, Celina you there?”

  “Yes I am here. So when are you going?”

  “Probably Wednesday?”

  “You can use a bow yes?”

  “Sure, not as well as other weapons though.”

  “You, me, and Bain, give Bain the bow.”

  “Uh?!”

  “What?”

  “Then why ask me when you were already planning to give it to him?”

  “Because if you could actually use one, you would have gloated like using it was no problem and that God has shined down on those fingers of yours blessing each pull of the bowstring. If you don’t sound confident, that means you suck, might as well give it to someone who sucks less than you.”

  “Prfff…hahaa!” Joshua guffawed.

  “Yo Celina that one was savage.” Alvain said.

  “Hey, am I the only one here not laughing.” Bain utters.

  Neil interjects, “Nope, not only you mate.”

  “Alright settle down guys. Bain will do the speck work, you will be the one keeping the Ogre’s busy Neil if you are as good as you gloat.”

  Neil scoffed.

  Alvain interrupted, “Wait… what about using the thing we did a while ago?”

  Since the new patch, new spells were introduced. I only needed the see the effect of Onclash and the idea came to me. The beauty of Red magic Restoration spells is how they use damage to help the player. Shining Reversal was a perfect example, with the effect of Shining Reversal, ten percent of the physical damage received by Opa returns to the person dealing the damage.

  Onclash would damage a ally target to double any effect damage and physical damage they may cause. The damage of Shining Reversal would then be twenty percent, which was not enough to one shot the monster. So this is where Burndideath comes in, it is a spirit spell that causes the damage from any attacks inflicted on the target while active to increase their effect damage potential, the more critical the damage the higher the percentage. Burndiddeath was meant for users of enchanted weapons.

  Onclash damages the allied player badly so all that damage increases Opa’s one counter swing by an immense amount. I would wager it went far past one hundred percent. My only problem with it, it damages both of them, badly. Opa more so than Alvain, and coordinating it right was not easy. Onclash takes too long to charge also, nearly half a minute. We were lucky these enemies were so slow moving… they can only swing fast. Unless we are desperate, this is not a trick we would like to use.

  “Ogres are faster, so no.” was all I said.

  Alvain looked deflated. But it could not be helped. It was not that special a combo either, other players can easily get the idea.

  Joshua makes a fake cough, “So about the message, are we really doing it?”

  “Of course, we need new team members, slap that post in the forums and let us see how many spies come drawing their legs to enter our group.”

  “Hahaha! Girl, you are sneakier than Earvak!” Neil shouted.

  “Do not compare me to that snake.”

  Now that I think of it, what happened to him? I have not heard of him in ages.

  “So just post that, we are filling four positions and…I have someone I know who will join up.”

  “Sure you can trust that someone?” Neil asked blankly.

  The rest of the Stature collapsed, Opa went to collect the dropped treasure.

  “It’s my mom.”

  “What!?”

  “Cool your jets, I already checked her out she is not a noob to this game, well not too much of a noob anyway. We can use her for stuff outside of our gaming times since it would be best to have at least have one team member active at all times now.”

  Bain interjects, “you sure? You told me you would rather die than play with your mom.”

  “I have no choice, that’s the only way to give me full clearance for playing this game as often as I need to. Plus we need a Blue magic Mage.”

  “Man no one uses that magic. That magic is cancer.” Neil scoffs.

  “True but we need options, that is all,” I end the chat call and twirl around.

  Alvain ran up passing me, “you ain’t logging out?” His body faded away as soon as he said that.

  “Ya,” I stopped, looking out around me the grass hits my body as the wind picks up, “stop record.”

  Chapter 5

  The light glistened as the mouse cursor morphed into an hourglass. I moved around the cursor just to get some reaction out of it. Either way I clicked on the browser and got no response. Great, I have to wait.

  As I was doing that, I thought of what I needed to do with regards to the business. Which was steadily more than the sum of its parts, I was overwhelmed. The idea I had was simple enough. We get some happy members that were relatively unimportant enough to do the grunt work and be online often enough to keep things in the forums and the cities where they will operate.

  There were players like that, they would work if we were willing to give them high level gear they would never get because they were currently weak. It was a sweet deal. Then we recruit a few strong people we can trust to be part of the core. I already told Neil and Victor who would be watching the post in the forums and evaluating the candidates applying to look out for any member who would most likely be a spy.

  Allow one spy, but no more than one. Normally it was not typical for groups to do something like that but I was no idiot. I knew Fiona did it, often I might have been the one she sent in, I knew that much.

  “Hey…” Some
crumbling sound had me looking sternly straight to see the window appear with the image. Good, it unfroze. Clicking it, it widened the screen so I could see his face better. The quality of the camera was bad today, bad connection maybe?

  His hair was still high, but he was wearing a dark shirt with a chain.

  “Nice Afro.” I playfully said.

  Chester’s movement stops, I hear a click, “Celina, whatever.”

  “You know you are a terrible person, you cannot thank someone?”

  “I thank you every day.”

  “When?!”

  “I…”

  I move the mouse to bring up back the browser, “Hold on, I want to know when you thank me,” I checked the forum post, ‘Come join the evil ones, Ragnarok Group Recruitment’. The evil ones, I will hit that boy, Neil probably took the joy of the post a little too far into the realms of lameness.

  But I cannot argue, I was just surprised so many people would be submitting their own applications to join. If we used the game, it would be like sending out a blind invite, anyone can accept as long as they fit the requirements. Like if you said you wanted a Dark Knight, only players with the title of Dark Knights can respond.

  You choose the best one based on stats. It does not give you an idea on personality, history, and playing style.

  Here in the forum, you can ask them to write out why they want to join, which groups they were a part of and how they like to play, would they be a team player or a loner, do they have any professions?

  Stuff like that, “So, tell me how you thank me.” I continued to pester Chester.

  “I am here right now.”

  “Mmm?” I made a sound.

  “Yo your mother, what’s up with that?” Why is he changing the subject?

  “What about my mother?” I inquire wearily.

  He continues.

  “You sure about that?” asking again.

  I quiver my eyebrow at that, “No…” I think for a second, “Yes?”

  “Yo I do not want no damn Blue Mage next to me. They are more likely to kill me before they kill the enemy.

  It was not like he was lying. Originally, White, Black and Yello were the first magic, then Red and Blue were added after that. A lot of people ran towards using Red for its effects, all the players ran from Blue and used any other magic.

  The reason was because of Blue magic’s design. It was the only magic that could not be literally controlled. Whether it be Bless and Freedom spells required great focus to cast, while Downpour the branch that controls water literally, could not be controlled at will. According to the game data on it, that branch of the magic can only be controlled with the player’s heart. I personally thought it was a magic that was random. But from my research on people’s use of it, it was just that the magic could only be controlled with your subconscious.

  The conscious and subconscious were different. A conscious decision is what we decide. A subconscious decision would be what we really want. So from what I read, the hypocritical, indecisive, or selfish cannot use this magic. It had to be someone with a clear mind and conscience.

  The game would read your own internal desires and use that as the basis for how Blue Magic works. It was revolutionary, but the players hated it. Obviously such players were rare, it was a strangely interesting fact considering the game encourages so much teamwork.

  A good Blue Mage was rare and it was not like the magic was just water swirling around the player slapping Monsters around. For one, it was the most effective spell countering magic, White magic being a distant second.

  Fire may deal the most area damage, but water was best at controlling mobs. The other downside was that water was continuous and still unpredictable. It guzzles magic energy like a hungry homeless man, leaving the player with no energy pretty quick.

  Normally I would not even bother with a Blue Mage but once I checked her stats my mother was a different story.

  “You won’t die, I think my mother has a bit more control that she won’t kill you. Besides I was looking for her to do other things…”

  “Oh gotta prevent your dad from being on you?”

  “Uh?”

  “I am asking if it was to make sure you can play the game?”

  “That was already water under the bridge, even though my father don’t even know I am using this video game.”

  “He would probably flip if he found out.”

  I opened the thread and climbed through the long list of posts, the thread was twenty pages long. Wow, I had to admit the interest was major.

  “Nah, I think I can talk him down.”

  “So why you don’t tell him then?”

  “I ain’t that stupid Chester.”

  He laughs.

  “You say you aren’t stupid but you recruit your mother.”

  I stiffen at his biting words, I glower at him but sighing I shake it off.

  “Check her stats then.” I say as I have little time to explain this.

  I backtrack and return to the first post, he wrote out the post pretty well. Even the group bar looked neat, it had Ragnarok’s name layered within the chrome shell, inner shadowed and vivid in color. On the right of the bar shaped out into a Wolf’s head, gleaming in the shinning glint.

  From below the description he made was the positions being offered, one player good with bows, one fast player good at the smuggling profession, one really good offensive player, one Black Mage specialized in one branch. He also had a section for people who he liked and picked based on what they can offer.

  This seemed good, I saw he already picked two persons already. Deabush was picked as the sharpshooter and Forever Flair as a Black mage, who the hell was Forever Flair? The names people pick in this game, I swear.

  Anyways the other positions were still open. I see no one else picked. Well I was glad we have a sharpshooter. He can be the player that will use the Paradise Bow. Alongside Joshua both would be the main damage dealers.

  I was hoping for a Black mage with a specialty in Relish. That will help us a whole bunch especially in long battles. Let me see, maybe I can check the statistics of this player.

  I click on their name and saw Forever Flair’s avatar, a Flamorish, a pretty one at that, fiery red hair, and droopy light brown eyes. It only made look her sultry, she was wearing a thick navy blue vest with a short side cape protruding from the shoulder guard.

  Her speed and intelligence was high, strength was dismal. Oh, she specializes in shadows. Great, I will hit Neil with two punches later, why pick a Shadow Mage? True, they can do a lot of Defense Buffs but honestly, if we wanted Defense Buffs I would have asked for a Yellow Mage. It was not that important. I would have preferred a Spirit or Relish specialist.

  The worst part, there were other players who were applying. Some damn good Black Mages, one was a top Black Mage in the Relish branch. How could Neil and Victor overlook these ones? I go back to her profile, I get more pissed, she can only go as far as level eight. She was not even a top tier Mage.

  The hell, who picked her? The only use she had that would be worthwhile to me were the hiding spells, the hell was that useful for? I ain’t running no raiding group, besides we can’t raid since we are so damn popular.

  When I go back to the thread, I look through the other players and feel the weight of that popularity. Some top players were applying to join us. It was something else entirely. Wait, I wonder is Deabush a top player?

  “Celina,”

  “Yo?”

  “How the hell is this possible?”

  “Mm? Oh you saw it, the same thing ran through my mind too.”

  “How is her strength and speed so high, her defense sucks but with an intelligence so blasted high who needs defense. The hell your mother be eating in this video game man?”

  I giggle, “Yam?”

  “I’m serious.”

  “What, so am I?” Not really, Yam is a food you can eat in the game but it only gives a temporary boost to strength and speed. But this was h
er permanent stats.

  “Check her prestige that could give you an idea of what she working with.”

  “Ya….. Accomplished Blue Mage and…Godly Assassin? What she could not control her Blue Magic so she resorted to being a fighter unit? But an Assassin? Who the hell she been killing in this game…”

  “You know I asked her. Guess what,” I start laughing it was almost too funny. Clearing my throat, “so she was birthed in the Human starter city, Calobay in the continent of Alvador, you know around there is a really screwed up place. Groups would target lone players to have them join up. Groups go against other groups like breathing air. The Kingdom of Pain runs Alvador but you know how they do not care to control things like how Golden Blaze does in the continent of Riontiff. Because of that Alvador is full of groups active and fighting for turf.”

  “So she got missions from them?”

  “Nope, she said the Gamemaster that oversees Alvador started giving out these missions to take down rabid groups that were running the experience for the other players. She and a number of other players took the chance, plus she did not like how some of the players were being bullied. She is friends with a lot of these weak players. Anyways she got really good, actually she is feared up on the local side of Alvador.”

  “You got to be kidding me, for real?”

  I try to hold in the laughter, “I kid you not.”

  “How the hell I have not heard of her?”

  “Only the small groups know of her, she only does those missions. She has never gone into any high tier ruin or faced any powerful player that would make her notorious on such a high level. She is afraid to do that.”

  “…is that so…”

  “Oh oh…ya she won’t be afraid with me.”

  “You sure? You look frightening right about now.”

  “Shuddup,”

  “She already on a mission…?”

  “No, that is Joshua being a nice guy, he wanted to bring her with him. See how much she can, you know adjust. Actually she is behind me now.”