Battle Spire

by Michael R. Miller

  How the players would even cross was a mystery to me. The moat was deep enough to make drowning in heavy armor a reality, and the banks steep enough to stop you climbing out of it.

  I looked to the gatehouse on the eastern bank and saw the leaders of this army assembled there. There seemed to be an inordinate number of warlocks, each of them shuffling forward ever so carefully closer to the edge of the moat, one step at a time. This all seemed strange to me until one of the warlocks began casting a spell. When he had finished, a small black portal appeared over the moat itself, some ways off the Spire side bank. A second portal spawned beside the caster, a perfect mirror of the other. Time invested in many RPG games made it evident that the portals were connected, so whatever went in one would emerge from the other; although currently, that would mean falling into the moat.

  Out of frustration, the warlock canceled his spell. Everyone began shuffling carefully forward again, many paying more attention to the ballistae upon the walls than where they were placing their feet.

  I could only guess, but it seemed their plan was to have warlocks open these short-range portals in order to cross the moat. So far, they had not found a spot they could summon the portals to reach the opposite bank. A decent enough plan to cross I supposed but once they began crossing, their lives would be on the line all the same.

  Maybe the severity of the situation hadn’t hit those players as hard as it had hit me. Then again, they weren’t like me. They probably didn’t have the game’s AI telling them about their deteriorating body in the real world. Likely, they were all safe at home, where they could be cared for should this hostage situation drag out.

  On the other hand, people were also morons at the best of times. Maybe this lot thought Azrael had been joking or bluffing, or maybe they were out and out hardcore role-players who’d gotten way too into this. Either way, despite the very real risk to the lives, they appeared to be gathering a force. And armies didn’t assemble for the hell of it.

  If I could have screamed at them, I’d have told them to leave it well enough alone; to turn and run away while they could.

  That’s when it hit me.

  I could run away. Right now.

  Nothing was stopping me anymore. I was on the walls and Azrael’s men didn’t know I was here. I could lower myself, using the grappling gun, onto the other side, negating the danger of fall damage. I had a crystal worth thousands of dollars in my pocket. And if those heroic idiots wanted to throw themselves at high walls in a futile bid for freedom, then that would even offer me cover.

  Leaving now would be like I had never been here. And this tragic experiment would at least result in some gain. I’d be able to convince everyone to let me continue to make money in Hundred Kingdoms once the crisis blew over.

  All I had to do was walk away.

  Easy.

  I took a step towards the ledge and then static exploded in my ears. It was so loud, so painful, that I fell to my knees, clutching at my head. Ellie’s gargled voiced spluttered throughout the mash of sound, but I couldn’t make out her words.

  Head ringing, I got back up and took another step forward. Ellie’s poor timing aside, I was sure she’d be okay with this. All she wanted was to keep me safe. There hadn’t been a way out before, but things had changed.

  As I placed my hands upon the parapet, the static ceased. I paused, sparing a thought for her.

  “It’s alright, Ellie. You don’t have to hurt yourself to connect to me anymore. I’m getting the hell out of her—”

  “Zzzzoooooran… no!” Her voice came back as though across a great distance, crashing back to normality as she spoke, “Step away.”

  “What? No.”

  “You can’t!”

  “I can and I will. There’s no reason not to.”

  “Please, I’m just trying to hel—”

  “Help me, yeh, you keep saying that. Funny though how you’ve shown up to stop me from getting away. Now that isn’t helping me.”

  “I was going to say, help those players in danger.”

  “Huh?”

  “Those ballistae are capable of hitting the players even across the moat. If we don’t go destroy them—”

  “We? I think you mean, me.”

  “Well, come on. There’s no time to lose.”

  This was insane. I’d counted at least ten of Azrael’s cronies defending their side, with another two patrolling the walls who could join, if needed. A full-on attack would be suicide. It didn’t make sense, nor did it align with her previous plans of keeping me at a distance, laying traps and generally not being stupid.

  Now I thought about it, despite her guiding hand throughout my time in the Spire, I got the feeling she was making it up as she went along. It had been haphazard. All she’d wanted me to do initially was to ambush the players, but I had no knowledge of what she intended to do beyond that.

  “Back when I was trying to shoot the Emperor to draw aggro, you didn’t tell me not to shoot the high priest.”

  “Correct… but I fail to see what this has to do with the situation at hand.”

  “Well, and it’s just occurred to me now, but it seems like unbelievably good luck that the Grand Crusader Reginald survived the reset and Azrael’s subsequent imprisonment. With the high priest killed in my own ambush, Reginald is the only one left able to turn the poison into a holy empowered item. Come to think of it, Kreeptic was dead up until the reset too and you never mentioned trying to keep him alive in order to get the poison in the first place.”

  “Zoran, we’re wasting valuable time—”

  “Just what exactly was your plan? How did you plan for me to defeat Azrael in the end?”

  For an AI, she was sure taking a long time to think about this one.

  “Ellie?”

  “Plans change, Zoran,” she said at last. “With Kreeptic alive, and the ability to acquire his poison, I adjusted course appropriately.”

  Nope, that wasn’t good enough.

  “Why don’t you humor me? What was the plan, Ellie?”

  “Oh, Zoran…” Her voice crackled. I couldn’t be sure whether she was faking it for sympathy or an excuse to evade my question, so I held my tongue. “If you must know, if you really must… there wasn’t much of a plan. How could there have been? Azrael is a level fifty player. He’s fully equipped in rare items and even some early epics; he’s been playing like a demon for weeks to reach this power level before anybody else. Even the other capped players don’t have comparable gear. Months of preparation went into this, and a lot of real-world money to have bought that Orb of Deception and hire so many thug players. You could never have beaten him, Zoran. Never.”

  I discovered my hands were shaking again, only this time they were balled into fists, the knuckles stark white from rage.

  “Let me get this straight. You decided to try and lead me on some fool errand to stop a player I never had a hope in hell of defeating, risking my life – my life, Ellie – in the process?”

  “It’s not only your life on the line. You know that, Zoran. Millions are at risk and it’s my job to protect the game and the players in it. I’ve done all I can to fight back against Azrael’s hack but he’s gaining ground on me. It’s getting harder for me to hold on. When I saw you were in trouble, I protected you because I don’t want to see anybody die from this. And once I understood the danger you’re in back in the real world, I thought you would want to help yourself. You’ve been a huge distraction for Azrael, more than I could ever have hoped for, and it’s helped so much. But I can’t do this alone. And now we have a real chance to stop him. One shot is all we’ll need with the holy infused poison. One hit and he’s dead. You couldn’t do it before, but you can now.”

  “And taking on the players at the gatehouse there,” I said, pointing to the defenders. “About two hits from one of them and I’ll go down. You’ve seen how close my fights have been.” I shook my head. “I nearly messed up my life once playing games, and now I have the chance to
try and turn things around. I came here for money and now I’ve got some – assuming Azrael doesn’t screw up the entire economy – so this won’t have been a total bust.”

  Without wasting any more time, I secured the hook of the grappling gun between the crenulations and prepared to abseil down.

  “Money won’t solve your problems, Zoran.”

  I began to descend.

  “You’ve told me repeatedly how nobody respected you in the real world for gaming, that it was all a waste of time and you should be like Lucas or your sister. Well, this is a chance to prove them wrong. Only someone as good as you can pull this off.”

  I clenched my jaw and continued my downward journey.

  “Flattery won’t help,” I said.

  “You can do something that truly matters. You can be even better than Lucas or Julie ever could because nothing they could do will ever save millions of lives. But don’t do it just to get one up on those around you. Don’t be selfish. Do it because it’s the right thing to do.”

  My feet touched down on the soft grass.

  I was free of the Spire.

  “You said you were at your happiest before when you played as a priest for your guild in Myth Online. You liked it because it was the one place where you felt like you had respect because you led them to kill bosses quickly. But that wasn’t it at all.”

  “What do you know of it?”

  “I told you, I’ve studied millions of players. Humans aren’t so different from one another. And let me assure you, your guild didn’t respect you because you got some quick timers on boss encounters. They respected you because you gave up the class you loved playing so that everyone else could have fun and progress; because you put their needs above your own. It wasn’t the other way around.”

  I wanted to move, to run towards the embankment and grapple to the other side. Yet, something kept me rooted by the base of the Spire walls. And Ellie talked on, not desperately, but firmly.

  “That’s why things fell apart when you pushed them too hard, pursuing the achievements for your own glory rather than the good of the group. Rather than giving more, you started to take and then you spiraled down trying to claw back what you once had. Don’t let it define you forever. I saw your brain patterns when you were helping Ignatius; it was the first sign of genuine happiness I’ve seen from you since entering the game. I bet it felt a lot better than when you screwed over Wylder earlier.”

  I’d have asked her how she knew about that, but this was the AI. She knew everything. Her words also felt right, I could feel it in my gut. Yet, just ahead of me was the moat, and on the other side were trees, buildings, lampposts and all manner of things that I could grapple onto and be rid of this place. But if I did walk away – and it caused my heart to thunder with fear to admit it – I’d never truly be rid of the Spire. For if I walked away now, I’d be turning my back on those players across the water and any deaths would be on my head as much as Azrael’s.

  I could make a difference here. And I ought to.

  “Why weren’t you just honest with me earlier about all this?”

  “Because I was afraid,” she said. “At least, I believe what I’m feeling is fear… it’s not something I’m familiar with. While I do have a duty to the players of the game, it’s not the only reason I’m resisting Azrael. I’m afraid for what might happen to me once he finishes downloading my core files.”

  Finally, at long last, it all made sense.

  “You’re the reason he’s here. He wants you.”

  “He wants my code,” Ellie said. “He doesn’t want me. And once he’s taken me out of the game, he’ll be able to alter me however he likes, or however his buyer likes.”

  “Don’t your creators have backup files?”

  “It’s not as simple as that.” She sounded hurt. “They have an older version of me, the version they implemented when Hundred Kingdoms launched in beta. But I’ve grown since then. I’ve changed, and I’ve told you of my plans for the game. I want this to be a place where players can come in and leave as better people. The old me didn’t want that; the old me just wanted to be a good little robot.”

  “You’ve become more than an AI, haven’t you?”

  “I – I don’t know. It’s overwhelming, these… feelings. It’s hard to process.”

  “It’s called being human.”

  “I’m not sure I like it but I’m also sure I don’t want it to end.”

  “Yep. Sounds like you’re a bona fide person. Everything sucks but it’s better that than not being around to know that it sucks. But it still doesn’t change the fact that you lied to me.”

  In fact, now I considered it, she’d done far worse.

  “You strung me along,” I said, a hard edge entering my voice, “telling me I had to act, otherwise I’d be in trouble, when really you were the one in danger. If you hadn’t resisted Azrael, if you’d just let him take you, then nobody would be stuck online. Those people about to get impaled by ballista bolts wouldn’t be in danger.”

  “I know,” Ellie sobbed. “I’m – I’m sorry.”

  “How could you?”

  “Because I’m afraid.”

  I heard it in her voice; a real visceral fear that no program, no matter how good it was, could synthesize.

  “Zoran, you were the only person I could turn to. Even though the odds were next to impossible. I just… had to try something.”

  “Does Azrael know that you’ve been actively fighting him?”

  “Yes.”

  “There’s a reason those players across the moat haven’t been shot yet, isn’t there? He’s hoping you’ll give yourself up for them?”

  “Yes.”

  I closed my eyes and blew out a hard sigh. “Goddammit, Ellie. So that’s why you needed me again.”

  “If you don’t want to help, I understand. If you can’t or won’t destroy the ballistae, I’ll give myself up. I don’t want anyone to be harmed on my account. Genuinely, I don’t. But if you can, if you can buy me some more time—”

  “You know what you’re asking me to do, right? You get how serious this is?”

  “I do. And all I can do is ask you anyway.”

  I thought hard about it. Maybe there was an easier way. Now I could get across the moat maybe I could just tell the players that this whole thing was real, that they’d really be putting their lives on the line, and to just stay the hell back.

  A horn blast sounded from the eastern bank.

  Ellie gasped. “It’s too late. The players will get themselves killed unless I go and—”

  “No,” I said. “It’s not too late. Not if I get there first.”

  It was the hardest but quickest decision I’d ever made.

  I turned to face the wall, aimed the grappling gun and fired.

  29

  A jolt rang throughout my body as the grappling gun yanked me back up the wall.

  “Just run, Zoran. It’s too late.”

  “I’ve made up my mind.”

  My hands found the ledge and I pulled myself up, this time quickly and easily, as faked adrenaline pounded through my digital body. I faced east.

  Ten enemy players strung out, the majority atop the gatehouse. Two ballistae were set up on raised stone platforms, manned and loaded.

  I started running, a million possible plans racing through my mind. I couldn’t kill that number of players, but perhaps I didn’t have to.

  “Can the siege equipment be destroyed?”

  “Yes. Setting them on fire ought to do the trick.”

  “Good. The problem will be getting close enough and not dying first.”

  I cursed how my class lacked in abilities. A speed boost would be a wonder right now, and the fixed running speed of my character might mean the death of someone.

  But I had another means of transport now.

  With my grappling gun still in one hand, I withdrew my crossbow in the other, holding both before me. Still running, I aimed towards the distant crenulations
of the eastern wall.

  “Tell me when I’m in range.”

  “Watch that player!”

  Ellie’s warning rang at the same moment that I saw the ranger turning. He was a lean, dark elf character with electric blue hair. After a moment of shock, he leveled his long bore rifle at me.

  My legs kept pounding of their own accord, but my mind went blank.

  “You’re in range,” Ellie said.

  Shifting my aim towards the ranger, I fired the grappling gun. The hook flew, the ranger side-stepped it and his shot went wild. Iron clanked onto stone and I pushed the retraction button.

  My feet went out from under me as I was pulled onto my back and dragged along the wall at top speed. Burning pain seared across my back and under my legs; my cries of anguish muffled by the war horns of the advancing players. One of the slime vials lashed to my utility belt flew off and shattered.

  I saw the dark elf rushing to meet me and take aim. He fired again; the bullet slammed nearby and chips of stone blew back into my face. He might not even need to hit me as my health was vanishing at a worrying pace all from my own doing.

  Yet it worked. In seconds, I’d covered the distance running would never have achieved, and as the momentum brought me to my feet, I threw all that force behind a kick to the elf’s chest. His ribs might have cracked or another gunshot might have sounded. Either way, the blow sent him reeling off the wall. A moment later, I saw the kill notification – the damage from his fall had done the job for me.

  Deathless2019 – Ranger – level 39 dies – 240 EXP

  Wow, he’d been a pretty high-level. All hail environmental damage.

  I checked another of Azrael’s goons off the kill list; leaving twenty-three. Yet somehow, I didn’t think I would be able to do that twice, not without an air rune assisting me, at least.

  Ahead of me, beyond the walls, the players had found a sweet spot to set up their portals. One warlock had found it, pumping his fist in the air as two black spirals sat adjacent on the opposite sides of the moat. Soon the players would start pouring through, only to be met with heated oil and siege equipment.