Awaken Online: Inferno (Tarot #3)

by Travis Bagwell

The pitter-patter of rain drummed against the nearby wall, distracting him from the globe of screens that whirled around. That sound reminded Finn unmistakably of Rachael, and he abruptly decided that he needed some fresh air.

  He rolled himself to the far wall, tapping at the controls along the arm of his chair. The surface of the wall rippled and then disappeared, revealing an unobscured view of the city skyline as well as the second-story terrace installed along the side of the house. The glass was nearly three inches thick and bulletproof, laced with an electronic polymer that allowed him to change the opacity at will.

  Another tap of his fingers and the door slid open, likely the first time he had ventured out onto the terrace in… Well, he couldn’t precisely recall the last time he’d opened this door. And yet the area was tidy, Daniel regularly sending drones to blow off and clean a terrace that Finn never used. He usually just kept the glass opaque to block out the harsh sunlight that reflected off the nearby buildings.

  Rolling himself outside, he felt the raindrops strike against his skin. That felt real. And yet, he couldn’t help but imagine what rain would feel like inside AO. Would he be able to tell the difference? Was there a difference? The sensation he felt right now was just neurons firing in his brain. The same neurons that the headset manipulated in-game.

  And then there was the real question bouncing around his head.

  The one he was reluctant to face.

  Would she be able to tell the difference?

  Rachael had always loved the rain. She used to sit out on their porch for hours – in a different house in a different part of the city. And at night, lying in bed, she’d listen to the patter of the droplets striking the roof. Sometimes she was even moved to step out into the downpour, to take long walks, occasionally attempting to drag a reluctant Finn along with her, grumbling and grousing about getting wet. But whether he accompanied her or not, she always used to come back soaked and with a huge smile stretched across her face.

  Finn choked back the tears he could feel welling at the corners of his eyes.

  If he succeeded – and that was a big if – would Rachael remember those long walks in the rain? Would she be able to experience that pleasure again? And, if she did, would she be content to experience the rain in-game? Would digital water elicit the same joy?

  Because what he had told Julia was the truth. The harsh reality was that Rachael would be trapped there, perhaps indefinitely. And even if he could help her new digital self escape that world… where would she go? She’d never have her real body again. Not in a way that could touch these raindrops or feel the weight and warmth of Finn’s hand in her own. Not here in the real world. At best, she’d likely be trapped in a cold metal shell – forced to live inside a mechanical body that could only attempt to simulate the feeling of the rain.

  No, he decided abruptly. He couldn’t bear that thought – of confining her in some sort of hollow purgatory. Perhaps it would be better to leave her inside AO. At least until he figured out a better option – one that wasn’t dependent on George-Fucking-Lane and his damn company.

  He squeezed his eyes shut, letting the water stream down his face and soak his shirt. A sense of despair coiled in his stomach, twisting and writhing. This was all silly. Ridiculous. Insane. He was acting like the Khamsin – betting everything on blind hope.

  That the person who came back would be his Rachael.

  That she would accept what he’d done in the aftermath of her death.

  The pain he had caused their children – caused Julia.

  The lengths to which he’d gone to bring her back.

  That she’d accept her new life inside a fucking game.

  “I’m bringing you back in a desert of all places…” he whispered in a hoarse voice, the tears mixing with the water that already streamed down his cheeks. There was a sort of morbid irony to their situation. There wouldn’t be any rain in Lahab. Clouds rarely marred that deep blue desert sky.

  His eyes snapped open, watching the dark-gray storm clouds rolling across the sky. Finn remained frozen there, unmoving as the water soaked into his clothes and washed away his tears. He watched as lightning arced through the cloud bank, as sheets of rain cut through the air and pounded against the city that was sprawled out before him – all flashing lights and wet glass and concrete.

  Even if he succeeded, Finn doubted he would be able to leave that desert city. The conflict wouldn’t end with Bilel. The Seer had her claws in him now, and she wouldn’t relinquish her hold anytime soon. There were people there that counted on him. Enemies that would be standing in line to stab him in the back. And, besides, where else would they even go? Those unexplored lands would only hold more enemies and more problems.

  She’ll never be able to watch a storm front roll in again, he realized.

  Hell, Finn couldn’t even manage that feat either – at least, not like this.

  With the mass of crystal and metal fused into his eye sockets, this scene would look entirely different. A massive front of water mana so dense he wouldn’t be able to penetrate the many layers of energy. Streamers of yellow mana pushing all of that vapor along on a massive current of air – heat and cold colliding to form those billowing clouds. The flash of amber light as electricity crackled between the clouds. An endless haze of sapphire energy as the rain pelted the ground.

  Finn hesitated, his eyes widening slightly.

  It was true that he’d never experienced a storm front inside the game. The closest he had come to seeing one was the clouds circling the mountain peaks that loomed above the Forge. Something, or someone, had gathered that energy together. That collection of water mana had indeed been too dense for his sight to penetrate.

  And the phenomenon also implied something more…

  The virtual world’s weather could be affected by its residents.

  A thought occurred to him – like a lightning strike to the brain.

  “I couldn’t… could I?” he muttered, his practical mind warring with the faint flicker of hope that lit in his chest.

  “Sir, the scan is complete,” Daniel reported, interrupting Finn’s thoughts. “You should move inside. I have noticed a precipitous drop in your core temperature. You will catch cold out here.”

  Finn eyed this sedate, mannerly version of Daniel. He’d written those words himself – a script the AI now re-enacted perfectly. That realization fed that flickering flame of hope just a little more. Maybe he was right to think that this world felt strange – empty.

  Perhaps the in-game version of the AI had become something new… something real.

  And what did that mean for Rachael? For the plan that even now circled the edges of his thoughts, refusing to be ignored. He could feel the coil of despair beginning to disintegrate, that renewed sense of hope flaring brightly.

  He shook his head, pushing himself inside the office and the door sliding shut behind him with a soft hiss of hydraulics and a dull thump as it settled back into place. Finn left a trail of water in his wake as he rolled himself into the center of that globe of screens.

  Which was when he saw the results of his scan.

  “How is this possible?” Finn murmured, leaning forward slightly and peering at the display. It showed an image of his body – standing upright as though to mock him – and data streaming down the margin, swiftly collating itself into a tidy summary.

  He hadn’t been imagining it. The system was recording an 11.3% average increase in muscle mass across all muscle groups. His cardiovascular and respiratory strength had also improved tremendously. And even more startling were his legs. The nerves at the base of his spine were showing renewed activity – they were actually beginning to reform the severed connections from his injury. Whether they could successfully repair the damage was far from certain, but he shouldn’t even be seeing that feeble activity.

  Finn stared in shock, his thoughts racing.

  His eyes drifted to the helmet, resting on the small table beside him.

  The hard
ware had to be responsible for this. He sure as hell hadn’t started working out recently – or somehow regrown his own nerve endings. Could it possibly be stimulating his nervous system while he was plugged in? But that “feature” certainly hadn’t been advertised by Cerillion Entertainment.

  Although, neither had his confrontation with a mind-reading goddess or the promise of resurrecting his dead wife. No, something more was going on here.

  Something incredible.

  And with that realization, Finn could feel that faint spark of hope finally bloom into a full-fledged flame, burning away the last traces of his despair. Sudden energy filled his body – a renewed sense of purpose. It was possible to bring Rachael back. It was possible to build a new life. And it was possible to bring down a demon king.

  He could work with that.

  “Is there anything else I can assist you with, sir?” Daniel asked.

  Finn just shook his head. “No… no, I’m good.”

  “Certainly. What do you plan to do next?”

  A smile crept across his face as he lifted the helmet from that table, holding it gingerly in his hands while staring at that dense plastic.

  “I’m going to make it rain.”

  Chapter 35 - Nebulous

  “Someone said you need my help in here! Never fear, for I have… uh, arrived,” Brutus declared, faltering as he witnessed what was transpiring in the cavern.

  Charlotte’s eyes lit up as she saw the fire mage. “It’s about time.” Her many mechanical legs tap, tap, tapped along the stone floor as she settled next to Finn and the rest of the group. “You’re apparently the last piece in some sort of experiment that our fire-mage-turned-prophet has designed.”

  “And I see he roped you into this too… whatever this is. Looks more like madness than an experiment,” Brutus muttered, his eyes wide as he took in the expansive cavern that had been formed beneath the Flagship.

  “You wouldn’t be too far off there,” Kyyle muttered in reply, wiping sweat from his brow as he finished carving another large swath into the nearby cavern wall. The emerald streamers of energy encircling his staff slowly dissipated, and he slumped down on a nearby boulder as he allowed his mana to regenerate. “He’s been having me expand this cave for an hour now – as though it really needs to be any bigger than it already is.”

  “Hey, you all need to have some faith in your prophet,” Finn offered with a grin, slapping the earth mage on the back. The rest of the group stared back with skeptical expressions, apparently unconvinced.

  To their credit, the scene in the cavern likely did look crazy.

  Finn had spent the better part of the last day continuing to administer the Forging to the fighters, mages, and merchants. It had given him plenty of time to mull on the idea that had occurred to him back in the real world while watching the deluge of rain beat down on the terrace outside his office. He had used his downtime in between administering the rite to digest an abnormally large number of articles and papers on the formation of storm fronts. With Daniel’s assistance, he had then started modeling his experiment, using the data they had collected from their previous encounters. He was relatively confident that the real-world mechanics would translate.

  After all, the game world had already proven itself to be incredibly detailed.

  And now he planned to put his plan into action – at least, on a limited scale.

  Most of the guildsmen in the Flagship had proven remarkably helpful. He’d only had to start gently asking questions about whether the guildsmen knew of an abandoned cave, and then an earth mage had approached him with a solution – along with a waypoint marker. The cavern hadn’t quite met the parameters of Finn’s model, so he’d been forced to make a few renovations. And by that, he meant he’d begged Kyyle until the earth mage agreed to help expand the cavern to his specifications.

  The result was a narrow cave that stretched more than 100 yards. They’d also been forced to expand the ceiling – height would be crucial for purposes of this test. Kyyle had dissolved the rock and stone until he reached his control range. The upper edge of the cavern now lingered more than fifty feet above them.

  He had also asked Abbad to conscript a few mages.

  Specifically, he needed a water mage, an air mage, a fire mage, and himself.

  “Okay, so, Brutus, I need you in the middle of the cave,” Finn explained, tapping at his map to indicate the fire mage’s position. “Fahima here will be accompanying you,” Finn offered, gesturing at the guild water mage that Abbad had recruited. The woman nodded politely – although her expression said that she’d prefer to be training her new soulbound wand with the other mages rather than participating in this mad experiment.

  “Uh, sure. But what exactly are we going to be doing?” Brutus asked in confusion. “You’ve still been a little vague on the goal of all of this unless it’s to cave in the Flagship and kill off all of the guildsmen simultaneously. In which case, I completely understand the impulse, although that might be counterproductive to defeating Bilel.”

  “Nothing that dire,” Finn said with a wave of his hand. “Your roles are relatively straightforward. Fahima is going to continuously cast Obscuring Mist, and then you’re going to help heat that growing pocket of moisture. Use your judgment on which spell to use. We don’t necessarily need to create steam, just a dense cloud of moist, warm air.”

  Another thought occurred to him. “Oh, and once this gets started, you might want to move back toward Kyyle and me. If this works, then the far end of the cave might be a bit dangerous.”

  “Oookaaaay,” the fire mage murmured, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

  Despite his tone and their hesitant expressions, Brutus and Fahima followed Finn’s instructions, walking toward the middle of the chamber. The water mage immediately began casting Obscuring Mist over and over again, creating a dense billowing cloud of vapor that slowly stretched out toward the edges of the cave. With a few swift gestures, Brutus began to heat that air, collecting two Fireballs and slowly circling them through the mists – just enough to heat the vapor. He kept the movements gentle, not wanting to displace the cloud. Soon, the mist began to shimmer with heat and rise slowly toward the ceiling.

  “Charlotte, you can stand on the far end of the cave,” Finn instructed, tapping at his map again and placing another marker. “On my signal, start channeling a continuous gust of air toward the other end of the cave. Keep going until you run out of mana.” The merchant nodded and scurried toward the other end of the cave, tendrils of air soon curling around her hands as she prepared to cast.

  Finn assumed a position roughly in between the two groups, eyeing his control range carefully. This was going to be tricky – maintaining a dual Mana Absorption.

  “You going to clue me in on what we’re doing?” Kyyle asked softly, keeping his voice low so that the others couldn’t hear him. “I get keeping these other people in the dark with Eldawin’s snooping and guild politics, but I’ve been slaving away down here for hours.”

  “Laying on the guilt thick, huh? If it works, then you’ll get to see it for yourself,” Finn replied with a grin, his fire mana simmering in his veins. His excitement was burning through his body now – snapping and crackling just beneath his skin. If this worked… well, he supposed he’d cross that bridge when, and most importantly, if they got there.

  “Alright, we’re ready. The moist air has reached the requisite density and temperature based on our calculations,” Daniel reported, whipping back from Brutus’ position and hovering beside Finn’s shoulder. With his Mana Sight, Finn could indeed see a large clump of hot, dense moisture forming in the center of the cave – a hazy orange and blue cloud that was swiftly turning into a mottled brown.

  “What the hell? So, you let Daniel in on the secret experiment, but not me?” Kyyle grumbled.

  “My superior fiery form and analytical skills make me instrumental for this project,” Daniel chirped. “Silly organic creatures such as yourself wouldn’t understand.”r />
  Kyyle raised an eyebrow. “You’re getting pretty cocky for a fledging elemental. Maybe Brock here needs to teach you some manners,” he offered, gesturing at the earth elemental that now accompanied Kyyle everywhere and stood stoically nearby.

  Daniel just flashed once and darted back behind Finn.

  “Display please, Daniel,” Finn instructed, ignoring their banter. “Also, make certain you use the feed from my Mana Sight to record the experiment. If this fails, I want to be able to figure out why.”

  The AI flashed once in acknowledgment, and a three-dimensional model of the cave abruptly appeared in the air before Finn, each of the mages’ positions marked with a color-coded dot. Kyyle examined that display with a furrowed brow, cocking his head as he tried to guess at what Finn was planning to do down here.

  But Finn had other matters to worry about for now.

  He would need to absorb the heat from two areas of the cave – just above Brutus and Fahima’s position and the area in front of Charlotte. Normally, this would have been difficult, as he would be constrained by his control range, but he had discovered something quite interesting during the last day in-game. He wished he could claim that he had conducted a series of complicated tests to divine the purpose of the Focusing Prism set into the back of his new crystalline appendage.

  But the truth was a bit less glamorous.

  It had gotten rather hot in the cave that he was using to administer the Forging, sweat dripping down his face and causing Finn’s robe to cling to his back. After hours spent sitting upon that crude stone throne, he eventually just couldn’t take it anymore. In an act of frustration, he’d tugged at the ambient heat in the air… only to accidentally pull the warmth from the entire chamber simultaneously, leaving the guildsmen shivering and wide-eyed.

  That feat shouldn’t have been possible – not with his limited control range.

  But neither should what happened next. The flames swept into his new hand, swirling within the depths of the Focusing Prism and lighting the gem with a brilliant orange glow that had the guildsmen backing away warily from his makeshift stone throne.