Endless Online: Oblivion's Blade

by M. H. Johnson

  Sten shook his head and sighed, lip curling into the faintest of grins. "When you're right, you're right, Elise. Very well. Let's do a quick scan, but don't lose yourselves. I'm giving us one hour. Our supplies are limited, and our journey has just begun."

  Elise nodded as did Gregor, who was all but rubbing his hands in anticipation before they darted into a grand chamber filled with hollowed alcoves serving as bookshelves, each holding a number of bound tomes constructed of what looked to be metal plates.

  Val glanced the captain's way, getting a single curt nod before he also darted inside, heading for the nearest alcove, beginning to feel the explorer's bug himself. Exploring lost cities and ancient citadels had always been the highlight of his PvE experience when playing online games, and now he was getting a chance to embrace the archaeologist's path for real. He felt a tingle of excitement as he grabbed a tome and stroked its deep blue cover, a strange composite material, cool and solid like metal, but somehow... other. His hands tingled and he felt his heart rate kick up a bit, somehow sensing the wonder that lay just between the pages of the tome he had claimed.

  He cracked it open and blinked, unable to read a single word.

  More than that, he had no real comprehension of what he was even seeing. It was a strange web of interlocking lines and geometric shapes rendered in exquisite detail. He shivered as he gazed with ever greater intensity, feeling almost like he could fall into the strange design, sensing ever greater complexity as he continued to gaze at the exquisitely intricate matrix.

  He felt a hand gently brush his shoulders, immediately snapping him back into the moment. He closed his eyes and shook his head, suddenly dizzy.

  "Val? What did you find?" Elise gazed at him intently.

  He shrugged and smiled. "Something amazing, that's for sure. I've never seen anything quite like it. I just wish they would have used writing I could understand."

  Elise frowned. "Writing? Solid conversation? Sometimes your words don't translate, Val."

  Val blinked, nonplussed. "I mean...whatever words should be in this book?"

  Elise wasted no more words, plucking the tome from his hands, flipping it open, staring intently at the strange interlocking meshwork of lines and symbols. She shook her head and sighed. "This is just a booklet on basic meditation, Val. It's a basic conceptual-mapping. Really, I thought you had found something far more significant, considering how intently you were staring at it.

  Val swallowed, gazing into soft, violet eyes. "You mean you can understand it? What does it say?"

  Elise frowned. "It doesn't 'say' anything, Val. It's not a recording. It doesn't need words. It is a basic conceptual mapping. The terms are clearly defined and the ideas fully interlocked. It succeeds in its own proof, as any good scientific or mathematical exposition should." Her frown only deepened. "Surely you know how to read?"

  Val blinked, suddenly feeling more lost than he had since his freshman orientation at a private school that he knew was out of his league, years ago. It had been a humbling experience, for him and his father both. Val had many strengths, but he was no scholar. He had never felt depressed before that first week, or quite so much like a failure when warm camaraderie from his male peers and more than a few friendly smiles from girls who didn't mind the quiet athlete soon turned into looks of pity when Val just couldn't keep up. He wasn't stupid. Things would click when he studied them slowly, at his own pace, after class. But he just couldn't keep up with the pace his elite peers absorbed the material. What made it even worse was that most of the kids didn't even need to study. Their near photographic memories took it all in stride, just focusing on the professors during class.

  Val grimaced and turned away, unable to meet Elise's gaze, so much like that of a girl he had truly been infatuated with when first transferring to that school, whose early smiles had turned to complete disregard when it was clear to all by week two that Val just couldn't keep up with their elite pack.

  Perhaps Elise sensed something of his embarrassment, how awkward and slow he suddenly felt. "It's not that strange that you can't read, Val. You only, well, you only came into being less than an hour ago. The fact that you can even hold a conversation with me is nothing short of profound."

  Val smiled. "That's because I somehow sense the meaning of your words as you say them to me. As if it were a mental bit of information you wanted to impart, had imparted thousands of times before, so my mind can just sort of pluck it out of the ether and lock it into place. Even if your thoughts are mostly closed to me otherwise."

  Elise frowned. "Mostly?"

  Val grinned. "Tell me I don't seem like some sad lost puppy who you pity, even as your husband can't stand the slobber."

  Elise blinked, gazing at Val strangely before abruptly tilting back her head and letting loose silvery peals of laughter. "Oh Val, that's a priceless image! A man choosing to marry me, of all people, and you our adopted vilseg." She smirked. "Your flaws aside, Val, I'm far happier you're a man than an overly large rodent as like to want to stay and burrow your way to happiness here than come home with us."

  Val smiled, feeling a curious sense of relief, even if he did now feel like an illiterate fool. "Reading is quite different from symbols and interconnected lines, where I'm from."

  Elise tilted her head curiously. "Are you sure? Assuming your world is real, perhaps scholars mastered expositions of this sort? Abstract and scientific concepts considered the realm of scholars? You yourself said you were a soldier. Certainly your training must differ considerably from those of scholarly bloodlines?"

  Val slowly shook his head. "No, Elise. No language save maybe one designed for artificial intelligence in the most advanced labs used interconnecting links, lines, and symbols as a sort of self-contained language and discipline and set of proofs all at once." He frowned. "Perhaps geometry touches upon this, but only slightly. No, Elise. For the most part, we use phonetic languages to communicate. Much like speaking, only the words are written down."

  Elise blinked, gazing at Val strangely. "Your writing is comprised of mere recordings? But how do you ever tie your ideas down into a comprehensive mind-map? Easily memorized, putting a whole field of study in your literal mind's eye? So much useful, concise data at your fingertips? Surely you won't tell me that your professionals are idiots stumbling in the darkness of their own skulls, struggling to find bits of remembered lore from what, thousands of hours of stories told by their seniors?"

  Val shook his head, then grimaced. "Well, actually, school is sort of, well, dipping our toes in a dozen fields, often remembering very little, then when it's time for advanced studies or work, we just keep certain core facts and equations in mind, building upon them in class... but wait, it isn't as bad as you think! We have computers that keep track of these things for us. We can basically 'google' the answer to any question we have..."

  Elise frowned. "So even your scholars need to go through endless tapes of recordings to remember whatever it is they need to know for whatever problem they are solving? And what is this 'google?'

  Val grimaced. "We go online. On the world wide web? It's an incredible vast treasure trove of information and entertainment. The scholarly ones among us go there to learn new things. Most other people go online to catch sports, their latest shows, or whatever else suits their fancy."

  Elise blinked, her gaze one of utter confusion. "Even tasting the meaning behind your words, your world sounds utterly strange.

  Val grimaced and shrugged. "Don't you have an internet here? Videos? Music?"

  Elise frowned. "Do we have computational machines? Of course. They help us in our research, and we have devices to entertain us as well. But you act as if they should all be interconnected, somehow?"

  Val tilted his head. "Um...yes?"

  Elise shook her head strangely at that, a frowning Sten looking their way. "Elise, we have limited time. Val, if you can't read, fine. Just step back and don't touch anything." With that he was off on the hunt once more, Elise favoring Val
with a sympathetic nod before she too wandered off in search of whatever prizes were to be found.

  Val sighed and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. In... out. He opened his eyes, watching the entrance, just in case, but for the most part, he just let his mind drift as he meditated, existing only in the moment, embracing his connection to this strange, wondrous world, of which he had only seen the tiniest fraction.

  In... out. His eyes alone anchored him to the physical. He allowed his sense of self to grow. To expand, much as he did when meditating at home, as if he was encompassing his home, fancying sensing his father's animated conversations with venture partners, the soaps their sometime maid would watch on the family screen television when her tasks were done, even the stray cats they would leave food out for, embracing their silent patrols that kept their garden remarkably free of vegetable stealing vermin. For all that he knew it had been pure whimsy, some days Val truly felt like he was becoming one with his environment, an added bonus to the time he was able to escape his pain-wracked body.

  He couldn't help smiling at the one positive undeniable truth of the moment. Whatever else he was fated to suffer, his physical body felt vibrant, vigorous, and utterly free of pain. Even as he tuned back into his own thoughts, sensing a natural end to his meditative session, he became conscious also of the strange tingling he felt, as if feathers were tickling various parts of his body, somehow extending to the entirety of the library itself.

  He blinked, gasping as he snapped back into himself, hit by a sudden inspiration.

  "Val, where are you going?" Gregor's curious voice washed over Val as he darted between grand shelves of stone, suddenly hurrying to find the sources of the tingles before their memory left him entirely.

  "Val, stop!" Sten's voice, brooking no argument. Val instantly complied, grimacing with frustration, but determined not to piss off the man who for all intents and purposes held Val's life in his hands.

  "Alright, at least you can follow a basic order. Now, why are you rushing off?"

  Val licked parched lips. "I think, I think I might have an idea of where something valuable might be found. Call it a hunch."

  Sten gazed at Val some silent moments before finally nodding. "All else aside, I'm not one to discount a hunch."

  Flashing a grateful smile, Val did just that, worrying that his sense of things was already fading, worrying that he was already too late.

  There. On that alcove. A handful of the strange metallic tomes. And one of them, tucked behind the others... almost reverentially, he pulled it out, handing it to a highly curious Gregor. "Please don't say anything. Let me finish my search before the itch passes."

  Gregor blinked. "Go on then, I won't slow you down." He was already opening the tome, frowning curiously when Val flashed a grateful smile and continued on to the second place he had sensed something, scowling as he glared at a cluster of books, not quite sure which one he had felt. So confusingly faint was this one... almost as if it had been hiding.

  "Val?" Elise, gazing at him curiously.

  "It's in that pile, I think. Somewhere in there, but I'm not quite sure... and I'm losing a sense of the last."

  Elise nodded. "We can check this pile. Go. Follow your hunch. Find something to make this time spent worth our efforts."

  Val grimaced, feeling a sudden sense of pressure, doing his best to let it flow away, to let all care and concern flow away, as if he were naught but a stone thrown into a stream, all troubles and dust washed away, just one among thousands of others as the waters of life roared past, neither rejecting nor judging him, just accepting him as part of the flow.

  There. he pivoted left and turned down a corridor, finding himself suddenly before a dead end, sensing that something strange and profound lay beyond

  the wall of stone before him. Potent, yet inert. What had once been vibrant was still, now. It was almost as if he were looking at a hurriedly made shrine. He prayed he would find no bodies beyond.

  He flinched at the hand upon his shoulder, for all that he had sensed Halvar's approach. The mercenary whistled. "What did you find, boy?"

  Val shrugged. "Beyond this stone wall is something. I don't know what."

  Halvar nodded in approval. "You're an odd one, Val, but your nose is sharp." He grinned as the frowning captain and the others approached. "I always wanted a tracking vilseg," he declared to no one in particular.

  Gregor was gazing at Val with something close to awe. "How did you know?" he asked, trembling hands holding the tome Val had found as if it were a sacred artifact.

  Val blinked. "Know what?"

  Gregor blinked in disbelief. "This is a pristine tome of alchemy! Revealing the secrets of compounding the alchemically inclined plants of Jordia! Priceless. Absolutely priceless. The damn excuses for wizards inhabiting the southern continent refuse even to speak to foreigners of anything to do with magic! Most of them wish we'd all leave this world entirely, not that that's ever going to happen." He frowned, peering at Val suspiciously. "I'd almost think you found this tome too easily. And you did manifest just as the trap was sprung."

  Halvar smirked. "Yes. The lad here just radiates scheming puppetmaster. Don't mind Gregor, boy. He's almost as suspicious as the wizards that refuse to truck with us at all, wishing only that we'd all vanish. As Gregor said, that's never going to happen. But they need not worry. As long as they forbear assaulting the north, the Dominion will honor its treaties. We survived an ugly war that was far too costly. So strongly this world resonates with the arcane that their spells were shredding our tech, and even as we blasted those damn wizards and their summonings with laser fire, the smart ones managed to hide real fast. We thought we had them on the run, til the capital was bombarded by liquid fire!" He gave a grim shake of his head. "Ugly days, those were. We almost lost the only cities and ports worth the taking."

  Gregor nodded. "Fortunately, their more exotic magics are planet bound, as is always the case. The couldn't touch the Darklords' dreadnoughts, and unless they wanted their own capitals melted to slag, they knew the treaty table was the most civilized of solutions."

  Sten chuckled. "So now you know the basic history of this world, Val. Military conquest. The original natives were all but wiped out, centuries ago. Then the settlers who took over grew potent in unexpected ways over the years, turning the tables with enough bite to force the Highlords' hands, so a treaty was struck, and everyone benefited."

  Sten flashed a mirthless smile, eyes gently resting upon a solemn-faced Elise. "I have no love for them, but even I can concede that the quality of life for the average citizen has gone up drastically in the years since. The northernmost continent enjoys medicine, true education, and opportunities for advancement unlike anything experienced when they were basically stuck in the iron age.

  "And for those whose talents run to the arcane?" Sten shrugged. "They all tend to head south, where they will be most welcome and get to live like kings, even if half the population there live no better than serfs. Few mages choose to live in this part of the world. There are sacrosanct rules about casting spells in populated areas, for one thing, as very, very few mages can safely channel their magic without leaking arcane radiation like a Zyborg fusation and disrupting tech everywhere."

  All of them winced at that metaphor, though Val found it to be one of the few concepts that didn't translate for him.

  Halvar nodded, gazing at Val with what seemed very close to admiration. "All that being said, Val, our search here was a complete waste of time, save for the Silbion, which is far too bulky to take with us if the front entrance is sealed shut. We would have given up on the library as a lost cause, until you had whatever hunch you did, smelling out a tome that's not only useful, but absolutely priceless for someone who dabbles in the arcane like our Gregor here."

  Val blinked. "But didn't you find Elementium bars of some sort?"

  Gregor scowled. "Yes, pure Elementium on the surface. The core is lead!" He shook his head. "I suppose you did well enough, for a
n ancient homunculus. Not that I acknowledge being in your debt or anything, but well done."

  Halvar chuckled softly. "Well done indeed. I'm sure even the captain will agree that you deserve credit for your trouble, and we'll see you comfortably off before we part for saner worlds, Val, I can tell you that already."

  Sten glared at Halvar a moment before chuckling softly. "I think I've just been outmaneuvered. Very well. We'll see Val comfortably off. He's certainly earned us silver sufficient for the insults rendered, and youth forgives a number of sins, I suppose."

  Elise's gaze was gentle. "He's just about three hours old, now. The rules of etiquette and courtesy are not implemented until at least the eighth year." She flashed Val a smile. "You did well, sniffing this out, Val. I think you might have quite a useful knack." Her brows furrowed. "Too bad we can't properly define it."

  Gregor shrugged. "Even if it was just a one time hunch, I'll gladly take it. I think I can truly make use of the specimens we've collected now." He chuckled softly. "I've spent a lifetime studying the intricacies of Liquid Silbium and Elementium, in whatever quantities I could obtain such. Now we have an absolute fortune in both, the most powerful of all regents, and a nursery in our ship full of cuttings resonating strongly in the arcane spectrum. This tome will give us opportunities to explore the realm of alchemy like never before, and to bring our discoveries and findings before the Greater Council, assuring our eminence and place in scholarly circles throughout the system!"

  Halvar frowned. "Just be careful, Gregor. Not all of us are interested in scholarship to the degree you are. Especially if it costs us our home."

  Gregor flashed a cool smile. "Esteemed Scholar is a title that comes with diplomatic immunity for all past transgressions. It is understood that sometimes rules must be... bent, in the pursuit of knowledge."