He clapped and chuckled at the name. “That’s right! I stepped in as CEO back when it was Jamming, and it just seemed stagnant.” He shook his head almost as if guided by a cue card. “They’d had some small successes that had begun to fade, and the former leader of the company jumped ship, but I saw some potential. We revamped everything, threw out the old mottos, and rebuilt it all.”
Renée affected a look of understanding. “I see, and why the name change? Were you not worried about losing some of the success you could glean from previous titles?
“At first, there were some skeptics among the staff, but the vision we had for the future seemed constrained and almost smothered under any other moniker.” He smiled as the name of the company scrolled across the bottom of the screen.
“With the successful launch of your flagship game as a reborn company, how do you feel things are going, and how do you feel about the future of gaming as an industry?”
He blinked at the question. “I’m sorry, I didn’t bring the specific details or numbers with me, but based on the number of logins we’ve seen, over just the last not-even twenty-four hours, has been incredible.” His easy smile returned. “We realize that our system is rather steep in price, and we are working diligently to make it more accessible to our various friends around the world.”
“Around the world?” She interrupted before he could answer the rest of her previous question.
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded. “we want everyone to play. Not because it’s money in our pockets—which is nice, mind you—but because this game is the future. We’re trying to change the world.”
I snorted and shut it off. A video game? Change the world? Please. Then I paused, there were things I experienced from the game and I doubted it? I watched, a little more concerned than before, but nothing else of value was said.
“What does he think this is? Some kind of Orson Scott Card remake?” I shook my head, walking into the living room and hopped into one of the bean bag chairs to finish my meal while I researched weapon fighting styles for the game on my big screen, motioning through the various videos with an upraised hand, lazily eyeing each one for a second.
A few of them, like the glaive, seemed really difficult, especially the dual glaive that Filk had been talking about. It looked to take a lot of discipline, and I needed something sharp to deal the maximum damage.
So, what does a guy who is a guy with a disposable income do? Buys sharp toys, of course.
I bought a dual glaive, a sword, and shield of decent weight and a couple thicker daggers to practice with. I could pad them with leather so that I didn’t cut anything, I just wanted to get a feel for them. I almost bought something for Mona too, but there was nothing I could find that fit something she wanted that would be safe out of game for her.
With a few more minutes before I’d jump back into Mephisto’s, I watched another video of a fighter trying to defend himself with his fists and got an idea for an interesting spell.
I finished the video, and my alarm went off. It should be about dark in-game by now. If not a little before. Time to get back to it!
***
“So is Sundar in yet or not.” Albarth asked as we left the training circle and cleared out of Gage’s back yard.
“I think she’s still with Ünbin.” Monami scratched her chin and sighed. “She sent me a whisper. She’s at the tree, but the dryad hasn’t come out.”
“Well, let’s go support her!” I clapped them on the shoulder, and we headed toward the center of the city as the sun dipped below the city walls.
The center of the city reminded me of the center of a maze puzzle. The different streets and alleys acting as paths to try and get from the center to the gates. A small pool of water with green grass and stony pathways surrounded the massive tree.
The tree was awe-inspiring. Easily the tallest thing I’d seen in this world other than the mountain, but this was insane. Small decorations hung from branches and strung together shapes and sights created from the sparkling lights that flickered within them. Smatterings of golden light dotted the earth beneath it, and Sundar as well.
The large woman sat next to Ünbin on the ground facing the tree as lovers and passersby strolled the area.
“Will the dryad come, or not?” Sundar’s frustration rang out in her tone as we came closer.
Ünbin shrugged.
She sighed tiredly and just sat there with her hands on her knees, looking defeated.
“Sunset.” Ünbin said, then grunted. She looked up at him, but he nodded toward the tree, and I stopped the others from continuing forward.
The spells along the tree limbs flared to new life in hues of gold, green, and silver. The lights strobes at first, flickering then solidifying into a radiant halo around the tree.
“Nightfall,” Ünbin whispered.
The halo expanded from around the lights of the tree until they covered the circular center of the city, meshing into a thicker band that rose into the sky, collecting other colors. Crimson, brown, sea-foam green, black, and gray. Other lights filtered in that I couldn’t seem to put a color to, and once they were done, the halo fluctuated until it was far above the city.
Once it was high enough, it burst like the aurora borealis covering the world around us.
“What the hell was that?” Albarth breathed.
A creaking of boughs and the cracking of bark breaking made our attention fall back to the tree in the center of the city.
A large creature made of wood turned flesh climbed his way from the core of the tree, splitting it like a child climbing from a box.
He regarded the world around him, looking into the sky as if knowing something was good, he nodded and looked down at where Sundar sat in awe.
It pointed down at her, small creatures flocking to her from the world around the tree. Close but not touching.
“Why am I drawn to it?” Albarth whispered as he stepped forward.
“You’re a wood nymph, it’s likely to be expected, right?” Mona gasped as he moved again, grabbing his shoulder.
The creature—dryad—lifted his other hand and motioned toward us.
“Come.” A lighter voice than one might expect from a creature so large, like a wind through the forest, reached me.
Our wood nymph friend moved forward as if drawn like a bee to something sweet. Once he was close enough, about twenty feet or so, the effect lessened, and his faculties came back.
“Uh, hello.” He blinked at the dryad, and it nodded to him.
“Your magic, that of the animal class, is special for many reasons.” He laid a great, bark-covered palm on her, a flare of green exuding from her skin at the contact, and then he turned to Albarth. “And your race is rare as well among the wanderers, though there are quite a few in this world.”
“I feel…alive,” Sundar whispered, raising her hands to her eyes as if she were seeing them for the first time as they were meant to be seen.
“Animals are most alive when surrounded by their kind, and your magic is most alive when animals are near.” More of an explanation than I got for mine, but hey, the dryad wasn’t Trickle. “And you, little friend of the world, will feel most at home in the wood. Be careful in your journeys, as they will see you taken worlds away. But fret not, all will be as one in the end.”
I blinked at the cryptic message. Was that a plant thing? Like, the plant life cycle? Or something else?
“But wait, I’m still not sure about my other magic!” Sundar called, and the dryad stopped, body creaking as he turned to regard her quietly. “Sealing. My other magic is sealing. I can’t find any information on where to go to learn it. That crazy Kin took me to the castle gate and ran away after that.”
The tree turned and prodded a finger with leaves sprouting on it at a thin circle around his tree. “This was done by the most powerful sealing mage in the city, and likely the country. His name is Armenes, and he resides in the castle on the north edge of the city.”
“You’re sealed here?�
� I found myself asking before I could resist the temptation. The dryad looked up and stepped out of the circle toward me, his great gait seeing him to me in three steps.
I took a step back, wondering if he was going to kill me.
“Mageblood?” It blinked at me and prodded me in the chest painfully.
5 dmg taken
“Quite.” He dipped his head low. “Not strong enough. But yes, all of the guardians are bound to the city, as I am. We chose this life, forming a pact for protection against the demon hordes that swept our lands and homes. The encroaching darkness sweeps everywhere, and soon, nowhere, and no one will be safe from them. Grow stronger and take the fight to them. It is our only hope.”
“Why the thing about my name?” I called to his back; he’d already turned to walk away.
“Because, he who creates a moniker filled with so much ire is bound to make enemies, and those who fall to him may yet add to his name.”
I stood there at a lack for words. My name wasn’t filled with ire! It was filled with wonder and the thrill of magic! And I would show everyone that.
The dryad smiled magnanimously at all of us and leaned into the tree and shifted into it like it was a bed and the bark made of blankets that lifted and laid over it like nothing had ever come out.
“That was cool and so creepy all at once.” Monami raised an eyebrow as she looked my way. “And people have begun to take issue with your name?”
“It started at the beginning of the game—the god of the realm said that he would take interest in me solely based on my name, and my attempt to role-play didn’t seem to help.” I scratched my head and sighed. “All I wanted was a name that was familiar and for there to be wonder and magic about it, you know?”
“I know, dear.” Sundar patted my horned head comfortingly. “But sometimes blood needs to be spilled. And we need to go talk to a certain mage about unlocking my other magic.”
“It’s the middle of the night!” Albarth tried to reason, but I thumped his chest.
“It’s dusk, and if he’s asleep, then we come back another time, but I need my magic if we’re going to make a proper go at streaming all of this on Friday.” Sundar insisted. “We’ve promised to get our bearings, and one of us is already operating at less than his normal capacity—sorry Ky—not to mention all of us playing different roles.”
“So, first thing is magic, then gearing up.” Albarth sighed, the rest of us looked at him. “You can’t be serious. You all forgot about getting new gear, didn’t you?”
“Well, two of us did score apprenticeships.” I tried to smile, but his withering glance my way made me sputter uselessly.
“See if those pay off when we’re getting stabbed in a dungeon somewhere.” He sighed, thinking about what he would say next. “We may have to do a half stream at this rate; we aren’t ready.”
“So, we work hard and attack the problem as hard as we can,” Sundar pressed. “These apprenticeships help us, and we’re already learning weapons. Speaking of, how did yours go?”
Mona and I both turned to look at him, his face unreadable, so I answered for him, “Master with a rapier and would like to learn the bow or atlatl.”
“I take it that he just figured it out?” Sundar looked knowingly at Mona, who nodded, and Albarth frowned intensely.
“Figured what out?” The wood nymph looked at all three of us in consternation.
“I’ve known possibly the longest, but I take it that you fencing for Great Britain’s finest fencing team in the world three games long, has just now been ousted to the others?” Sundar motioned toward Mona and me, but Mona shook her head. “Oh. How long have you known?”
“About a year into our friendship, I finally figured it out when he was complaining about swordplay in Blood and Gore.” She thought a moment, but the expert among us beat her to the issue.
“It was a cockamamie way to try and diversify a skill set for two different kinds of weapons that are used to fight in the same way—it’s a damned sword, not a pig-sticker!” His chest heaved as he finished his rant, but Mona motioned for him to continue. “I said that it would put my mentors and trainers to rolling in their graves seeing sensible weapons disrespected so callously along with poor form and little imagination.”
“Wow, I see why he was asked to the Olympics four times,” I muttered, and he stilled.
“That fourth time was a farce.” He whispered, took a deep breath, then shook his head, and walked away. “I suggest we rest and get cracking in the morning. Good night.”
His back swayed out of sight toward the inn we had used the night before, and he was gone.
“What was that all about?” Mona asked softly, concern cemented on her feline features.
“He believes it was a farce because his friend beat him for his spot as the top of the team,” Sundar began and stopped, frowning.
“I know.” That had to have been around the time that his friend… “She didn’t go.”
“She didn’t make it,” Sundar corrected softly. “She had hidden away for a month or so after the breakup and then… just before the games…”
“Right.” I nodded; my heart thundered.
“How is it the two of you know so much about this?” Monami questioned us both angrily, her fists clenched at her sides.
“He told me out of respect when he first joined my guild when he would have sudden angry outbursts.” Sundar scratched her arm under the angry woman’s gaze. “After that, he’s opened up from time to time about it.”
Mona continued to glare at Sundar but seemed to realize there was nothing for her to weasel out of the large woman, so her gaze slid to me.
“I only found out when we woke up, he had something to talk to me about and it came up.” I offered nothing else, and she raised her eyebrows for me to continue. “It’s really personal, and I’m not comfortable speaking about it right now.”
She frowned; I had never hidden anything from her like this before—we were open books to each other.
“Fine.” She huffed and walked away in the same direction that Albarth had.
I glanced at Sundar, her hands already in the air, “Don’t look at me. That’s your mess, Ky.” I sighed heftily, then felt a heavy hand on my shoulder. Sundar looked down at me with a glimmer in her eyes. “Don’t worry, kid. She’ll come ‘round.”
“I take it you know about everything here, too?” I sounded tired despite the fact that I had too much energy in me right now to feel this worn down. Right?
“Know what?” She blinked, then looked from me to Mona, then thought for a moment before striking her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Well, I knew there was a special chemistry there that most couples seem to lack, but was Al giving you a talking to because of her?”
I nodded mutely.
“Hey, don’t worry about it, if it’s for you guys, it’ll happen.”
“That’s the thing!” I threw my hands up into the air. “I don’t even know if it’s supposed to happen! She’s like a sister to me—always has been. And with that…”
The world grew too large at that moment, spinning out of control, and panic set in.
“Hey—Hey!” Sundar grabbed my shoulder and whipped me toward her, making my head shake violently. “It isn’t just about you, Se—Ky. There are two of you. And the two of you deserve to hear things out from each other. Even if it leads to nothing, you have to air it.”
“Why?”
Her gaze slackened a bit, her hands fell away from my shoulders, and she looked almost defeated before she pulled her chin up and muttered, “Because cowards live in regret.”
She turned on her heel and strode away, making me call out, “Where are you going? That’s the wrong way!”
She glanced back, her hips swaying a little more exaggeratedly than before as she called, “Since we seem worried about waking an all-powerful mage? To grab life by the horns, kiddo. Don’t wait up.”
I stood there, lost to what she had said, the imagery her last s
tatement had battered into my brain making me blush, and roll my eyes.
***
The next morning in the game, I rose early maybe half an hour before the sun and went to the forge to see about a weapon. I would likely need to learn swordplay, and a glaive would be great too. Maybe a dual-headed one. No messages through the night, so I sent one to the others about what I would be doing.
—Gonna see about a weapon, anyone wanna come?— I waited but no response from any of the others, so I left it alone.
Clanging lifted into the air as hammering and barked orders filtered into my ears, “Now, feel the weapon forming beyond the top layer of the metal and hammer it until it bends and shapes to match the layer.”
I rounded the corner to find one of the other smiths working with Monami over a small, stretched ingot of a cherry-colored metal.
“Good, now put it back into the forge to heat some more.” The man stood and thumped her on the shoulder with a meaty palm. “You’re almost as good as I was just starting out.”
“I’ll be better than you ever were, Dirvish,” she joked, her eyes caught me as he chuckled and walked away for a moment. “Kyvir.”
The greeting was like a head nod, something given to someone you’re familiar with in a hallway, or store when you don’t have time to really say more.
“Hey, Mona, I wanted t—” she stopped me, her eyes hardening and a hand held aloft with her palm out as if to ward the words away.
“I’m a bit busy right now, Kyvir.” She turned and shifted the metal in the flames of the forge, then turned back to me. “I’ve already put orders in, and with me working here and what we’ve done for the city, they’re really willing to work with us on prices. I’ve put in what orders I think are good, and we’re alright for now. I need some time to myself for a bit, please.”
Seeing the cool look on her face made my heart sink, What had I done that was so wrong?
I nodded once and walked away, both of us having our first fight together, for once. At least, our first real one.
I decided some alone time would probably be beneficial and went to the low-level side of the city where we had fought the sheep, then decided against it. I was cool with Gage, maybe going to train with the army would be okay? Their training in the morning made sense, and maybe I would find them all there together. Going to Thea’s just seemed like it would exacerbate things more, so I dismissed that and headed on.
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