Fate of Camlan

by A. T. Gilbert

  I don’t know if it’s my hovering presence that makes the NPC more aggressive, but for some reason the tide of their battle turns and the knight starts pushing MadMachine back. The pair passes me and I land a blow to the knight’s back. Though I effectively knock off several hundred health points, it doesn’t slow him down at all.

  The NPC even seems to move faster. I don’t get it. And I don’t like it. And from where I stand I can see the look on MadMachine’s face shift from pride to slight panic. He is not able to keep up the speed and takes a hit to the side. I rush forward to help him, but the knight doesn’t even pause. Another hit to the arm, drains more of MadMachine’s health. A jab to his ribs takes him down even farther.

  While the knight is focusing on taking down the armored tank, I have a chance to land hits of my own, in spite of my poor sword-fighting skills. The knight is focused, though, pushing forward, destroying our last tank.

  I keep trying to attack from behind, pitiful though it may be, but it’s not enough to keep MadMachine protected. He stays on his feet as long as he can, until finally overwhelmed by the sheer volume of injuries.

  MadMachine has left your party!

  Damnit. That’s it. That’s almost all of us. I don’t see any way that just Erinocalypse and I can get free of this, with so many attackers left to defend against.

  As I’m having this hopeless thought, I feel a warm wave wash over me.

  [+78 HP!]

  I look over my shoulder and see Erinocalypse watching me. She’s just cast Bestow Relief on me, helping boost my health points only a tiny bit. Less than one percent. But it’s better than nothing; I’m at about twenty percent of my full health now.

  Maybe we can do this. With nearly everyone else in our party gone, what do we have to lose?

  I take a deep breath and throw myself into the fray. The final knight is still ignoring me and stalking his way toward Erinocalypse, even as she defends herself with magic.

  The faceless, aggressive knight thrusts forward, stabbing his sword deep into the sorceress’s side.

  Erin lets out a cry of anguish and doubles over. A deep patch of red spreads across her cloak where the sword hit.

  The knight standing over her has paused in his attack, as though just watching or gloating. It’s the perfect, tiny opportunity for me to defeat him. Erinocalypse has already taken down more than half his health, so just one final poisoned arrow to the neck disables the rest of the way.

  I don’t even give his dying body a second glance as I run to Erinocalypse. Leaping over corpses and blood, I only have eyes for her. Before I can get to her, she is already on the ground. I fall to my knees at her side, holding her hand as her strength leaves her.

  “No!”

  She shakes her head, closing her eyes, and doesn’t have enough energy to argue with me.

  “You’re not going to die,” I tell her, defiantly.

  Erinocalypse opens her eyes, now lying on the ground, and looks right at me. “Go,” she whispers.

  I hesitate. She’s so close to death; it would be so easy to save myself and run. To just keep going by myself, without the weight of others’ expectations and needs to slow me.

  But then, this would be almost the first time since entering Camlan that I have been without Erinocalypse by my side. I’ve always had her watching my back. I’ve always had her to help me solve the riddles or team up to battle an enemy. I’ve always had her to speak sense and talk me through the worst obstacles.

  I’m tempted to let myself be killed, just so I don’t have to do this without her.

  But that’s not what she wants. That’s not what she just told me to do.

  Which means I only have one choice.

  I take a deep breath, look to see where the knights are, and cast Bestow Relief on her. It’s barely anything, I know. She opens her eyes wide at me, surprised to feel some modicum of health returning to her body.

  “No, Asher. I’m not—”

  “Shhh,” I say. I have to stow my weapon, so my hands are free, leaving us almost completely without defense. But it’s necessary for what I’m about to do.

  With one arm under her head and one under her knees, I scoop up the sorceress and lift her into my arms. I can hear a knight near us stirring, so I know I have to go. I hope her health can regenerate if she’s resting.

  With Erinocalypse in my arms, I run.

  Chapter 46

  I run. Up the ravine, past the dead bodies of enemies and allies alike. Splashing in the edge of the creek, stepping around larger stones, and almost turning my ankle on others. Having to carry Erinocalypse slows me down, but I won’t leave her. She’s only barely hanging on to life as it is, and having to expend the energy to get out of this ravine could kill her.

  I strain to hear anyone following behind me, but I’m afraid to look. There’s no telling where the NPCs even came from, let alone where they are going to respawn from. We could be running directly into them, but this is all I can do. My balance carrying another person is precarious enough as it is, and I can’t afford to use any more of my health than absolutely necessary.

  So I run.

  While I admit to wanting this at various times throughout the game, now that I actually am almost alone I’m petrified. Erinocalypse is a great team member but just the two of us are so much less than the party as a whole. Who will stand between us and a Battle Troll? Who will heal us when we’re under fire?

  We can do this. We’ve done it before. But I’m still scared.

  We travel north, along the stream and find a path up the cliff soon after leaving the battle. I continue to run as fast as I can uphill, while still carrying her healing body. My breath starts to get ragged. I stumble on the loose rock periodically, but keep going, desperate to get away from the army of NPCs set on destroying us.

  On this side of the ravine, the foothills blend into the tall range of Pendragon Mountains. I continue to run, up one low hill and down the other side, until I can run no farther. My arms are beginning to quake with the effort of carrying my teammate. I check behind me. There doesn’t seem to be anyone following us—I think we killed them all—but I can’t be sure. The trees here are sparse and it takes several minutes of hiking to find one wide enough for us to hide behind. I duck on the other side, setting Erinocalypse down gently with her back to the trunk. I squat next to her on the ground, so I’m still able to get up and go as quickly as possible.

  With all my exertion, my health points have not had a chance to regenerate. Catching my breath, I check my inventory, wishing for a health potion to take. Even just having one as future insurance would make me feel better, but there’s nothing.

  I look down at Erinocalypse. She is still passed out, hanging on to the tiniest bit of health and slumped against the tree. I cast Bestow Relief on her again and again. It takes four rounds of my feeble health spell to get any reaction from her.

  Attention: You have unlocked Bestow Relief Level 3

  Description: Restores up to 5% total health; three second cool down

  Reward: + 90 XP

  I almost laugh out loud when I get that message. I suppose a small level up is better than nothing. At the very least, without TexBadass around, we can use that extra efficiency.

  It starts with slow blinks as she regains consciousness. Her eyes aren’t focused for a beat, until she looks up into my face, a confused expression on her face.

  “Asher?”

  I nod.

  “What happened?”

  I clear my throat, stalling for time. How much does she remember? “We were attacked, you remember that part?”

  She nods, and swallows.

  “We couldn’t … uh. We had trouble. We, um … everyone else is gone.”

  “What?” She looks panicked and confused.

  “It’s just us.”

  “Wait.” She shakes her head, confused. “But, I … I remember getting hit. I remember… falling?” She looks at me to confirm.

  “You did.” I don’t
know what else to say.

  She looks around, still very confused. “But now I’m here?”

  “Yeah. We’re here.” I duck around the trunk of the tree to check again that no one is following us. “It’s just us. Again.” I smile at her and shrug. I feel so awkward. “Just you and me.”

  She frowns, looking at me. “Asher… did you… ? Did you save me?”

  “Oh, well, I don’t—”

  “You did,” she insists. “I remember now. I remember pieces.” She closes her eyes and screws up her expression as though it will help her memory. “You were carrying me.”

  I have no response to that. I’m suddenly embarrassed by my actions. She could have died in the game and been just fine. I doubt any of the others would have done the same for me, not even Erin. I could have been wasting time and energy I didn’t have to. I could have died. I rub my neck and look away. “Yeah.”

  Erinocalypse is silent so long, I finally look back at her. The expression on her face is hard to read, but there’s a slight smile.

  “Thank you,” she says.

  I shrug again. “You’re welcome,” I mumble. “Are you okay now? How are you feeling? Should I … ?”

  She puts her hands on mine, stopping me before I could cast again. “Save your mana. I’ll be okay.”

  I nod, and look behind the tree again, watching longer this time. I see no movement, hear no sound. If there were any knights—or other enemies—still alive to come after us, they’ve either lost us or are biding their time. Neither option makes me feel safe.

  I know we can’t stay here, so I consult the Camlan Realm map. The yellow dot indicating a quest point blinks at me from Slade Pass.

  I realize with a shock that that is all the information I have. I have gotten lazy, relying on others, relying on MadMachine to communicate the plan. Relying on 88EGG88 to follow the map.

  I need answers.

  I pull up the game dialogue box and open a new message. I hesitate before entering anything in the search bar. Who am I even looking for? How is FGI going to communicate with me without raising suspicion at Toterra?

  I check the clock, wondering if MadMachine has already regenerated at his last save spot, or if he is logged out completely. No, the game tells me he is online.

  SirAsh3r: Dude. There you are.

  MadMachine: I can’t talk.

  SirAsh3r: Yeah, okay, I get it, but I think maybe there’s something I need to know? For the quest.

  MadMachine: No, just follow the quest.

  SirAsh3r: That can’t be all.

  MadMachine: It is. We’ll meet up with you as soon as we can. Same plan as before. Trust me.

  He logs out without another word and I’m stunned for a short moment before I get a hold of myself. This is fine. This is exactly what I wanted, and I don’t need him anyway. He’s right. We have the quest instructions and destination. Once we complete this quest, and find our guide, we’re sure to get the next part of the quest. Little by little, we’ll be able to make our way to the Citadel to take care of all of this.

  We just need to go.

  I stand, offering Erinocalypse my hand to help her up to.

  “Ready?”

  She nods and takes my hand.

  Chapter 47

  Erinocalypse still hasn’t recovered her full strength when we set off through the foothills of Pendragon Mountains to Slade Pass again. She won’t let me offer her a health spell, though, insisting it’s too weak to waste the time or mana. She is just as stubborn as I am, so I know there’s no point in arguing with her. Instead, we walk side by side, both on high alert for enemies and attackers from any direction.

  The animals and carnivorous plants we had been accustomed to while trekking through Dyrnwood are nowhere to be found. As we continue to climb into higher elevation, the trees here become fewer and farther between, much of the terrain resembling the damp, mossy terrain I imagine Scotland is full of. At some points my boots sink into the spongy ground, and I almost lose my balance, but I’m determined not to lose my shoes again.

  In this part of the game, since we’re not on a path at all, we don’t come across any NPCs or quests. We have a small skirmish with a group of gigantic newts, but they’re low enough level that we dispatch with them swiftly and gain a little experience points.

  We are moving as quickly as we can, both uphill and through the open landscape with no true trail to follow. Several times we cross small tributaries to the Bors River, wading in shallow water or even hopping over a narrow stream. True to real life, the air does feel thinner the higher we climb.

  Periodically I check the map of Camlan Realm, just to make sure we’re going the right direction. With no civilization in these foothills anywhere near us, the worst thing we could do is get lost out here. The fact that we haven’t had a spot to save the game in days worries me. That’s how we lost our entire party, after all. We have progressed literally halfway across the entire game countryside and if we were to die now we’d lose all that progress.

  Just like TexBadass, SteelFeather, Balderdash13 and the others have.

  Maybe that’s why I keep checking behind me—maybe I’m paranoid. I feel like we’re being watched or followed, but every time I look, there’s no movement or any suspicious signs of anyone coming after us.

  I’m not quite sure what I’m looking for—either ahead or behind. Slade Pass will be some break, some path through the mountains. Behind us could be—

  I pause in my hiking, putting a hand out to pause Erin’s walking and silence her footsteps. I could have sworn I saw movement down the hill below us. There are low bushes and a handful of trees, but we haven’t seen an animal in at least an hour. But something had caught my eye the last time I checked behind us.

  “What is it?” Erinocalypse asks, her tone full of fear.

  I shake my head, still scanning the landscape. What had I seen?

  There it is again, this time I’m ready for it. I see a flash of light, which confuses me for a split second before I realize it is the sun glinting off a piece of metal armor.

  Armor! Someone is coming.

  “It’s—” But before I can even lift my hand to point, I hear Erinocalypse gasp next to me. She sees it too.

  There, down the hill, an enormous knight hikes up the incline toward us. We can’t see his face, and he’s too far away for us to read the player name hovering in blue text over his head, but I recognize that bear breast plate.

  Jargonaut has found us.

  I have no idea where he came from. He may have followed us from the ravine, or for all I know Toterra is feeding him details and shortcuts to come after us. It’s as though he has appeared out of nowhere, and I suppose anything is possible in a video game. There’s no way to know.

  The only thing I know for sure is we have to get out of here.

  I tug on Erinocalypse’s arm, as I begin up the hill again. “Come on!”

  I almost fall in my haste to both get moving and still check over my shoulder to Jargonaut. He must see us; he can’t miss us. And he just continues to make his way steadily toward us. We can try to out run him, but I look around for a better option.

  “There!” I point up the mountain ahead of us. There’s a small dark corner that looks like the opening to a passageway. We’re still more than two hundred yards away, and it’s all uphill, but I think we can finally see our destination. “That must be it. Slade Pass. Go!”

  She fires one last Petrify at Jargonaut before she catches up the length of her skirt to run as fast as she can uphill. I don’t wait to see if the spell hits before I’m running after her. We can’t fight him on this open terrain. He’s too good, leveled up too far, and is way stronger than us. That armor isn’t letting anything through.

  But if we can get to that cave, at least we can control something. We can escape into the Slade Pass or at the very least we can fight with a wall to our back, instead of god-knows-what sneaking up on us.

  I’m just grateful Jargonaut can only hurt us,
and not kill us. But if we come to an animal, monster or other creature out here in the open country, that could end us. He could easily draw something to us, or bring another of his NPC armies out of who-knows-where. Just because it’s two against one does not give us the advantage.

  I’m frantic now, completely surrounded by uncertainty. It feels like normal game rules no longer apply, so any action we take is just a guess. I cling to the one thing I know and make a beeline for Slade Pass.

  I check behind me as we run. Jargonaut has sped his walking, but isn’t chasing us nearly as quickly as he could be. That worries me. What does he know that we don’t? What lets him think he doesn’t have to have urgency? His long, purposeful strides make plenty of progress, nevertheless.

  That thought spurs me on even faster.

  “Come on,” I say to Erinocalypse as I pass her.

  She glares at me, but digs in deep for another burst of energy to run over the rough ground along side me. Almost there. The hill is getting steeper now as we get closer to the open mouth of the cave.

  Chapter 48

  We’re almost to our goal. We’re so close. The incline of the hill slows us down. Slower steps, that I try to balance with longer strides. Next to me Erinocalypse is losing her breath. We’re both completely focused on making progress toward Slade Pass, toward where we can complete this quest and please-dear-god let there be a spot to save the game.

  In the short time that we turn our attention forward, the enemy at our back advances. I can hear Jargonaut’s ragged breathing and stomping feet get closer and closer as I try to put more distance between us.

  I almost turn around—I thought I heard him chuckle—when I feel excruciating pain, simultaneously from the sword at slicing through my side and on my knees, when I fall onto the rocks on the ground.

  [-3600 HP]

  [-130 HP]

  Even as I am crumbling to my knees, I know I can’t stay there. I can’t let myself be vulnerable to him. I only have a split second before that sword is on me again. I roll onto my back, away from my attacker. Erinocalypse stops when she hears my grunt and turns to see me on the ground.