PrimeVerse: Dose of Chaos: A GameLit / LitRPG Adventure

by R K Billiau

  She smiled up at me, and either time was moving very slowly, or we just stood like that for a long time.

  “I like you, Hudson,” she finally said, losing the smile.

  “I like you, too, Madison.”

  “I’m sorry it’s so complicated,” she said looking down. “I really hope you understand it isn’t you. Everything- everyone- I lost, it wasn’t that long ago. And every time I think about getting close with you- and I think about it a lot- I’m so filled with guilt.” I watched a single tear move down her cheek. She looked back up at me. “I promise I’m not just playing hard to get. I want this- I do- I’m just struggling to move on and take that first step.”

  I touched her cheek, wiping the tear away, and smiled. “I get it,” I said.

  She moved her arms from around my waist and grabbed my hand, leading me to our room behind the curtain.

  “How about we get you ready for bed?” I said, setting the jug of wine on a table, hanging the dress over a chair, and taking my boots off. I could feel the wine a bit now, too, a warm, heavy sensation rippling through my body. I turned to help her out of her shoes, and she was standing just where I’d left her, still staring at me statue still.

  “What?” I asked. She closed the distance between the two of us quickly, wrapped her arms around my neck, pulled my head down to hers, and kissed me. Like really, really kissed me. I bent and kissed her back, our lips opening and closing and moving all around, as if trying to meld together. I pulled her closer, one hand tangled in her hair, the other low on her back.

  She pushed me to my cot, where I fell to a seated position. She stood and looked at me, silently. If there were a thousand beautiful women in front of me, she’d still be the only one I’d want. Her happy, bubbly nature was covered by this new fierceness. She stared at me, unmoving, until she slowly slipped out her boots, and then her chainmail, never breaking eye contact.

  “Madison…” I said, but she shushed me. She stood in front of me, her system provided underwear barely covering all her parts. I was breathing hard, despite not exerting any effort. She moved toward me, again pushing her lips into mine, slowly and softly, then more forcefully.

  I groaned. “Madison, hey… Madison, listen…” I rolled her off me onto the bed and stood up. “Hey, woah, Madison.” She sat up on the bed, looking sheepish. I grabbed her hands and squatted down so my eyes were level with hers. “You know I want this. You know I want you. But it can’t be like this. I want to make sure you’re ready, and it’s not just the wine talking.”

  She used my shoulders to stand, and I stood too, grabbing her hand. “You really are something else,” I whispered in her ear and kissed her cheek. She smiled at me and I walked her over to her cot. “Let’s get you in bed,” I said, and she laid down, and I pulled the covers over her. I squatted next to her bed, rubbing her bare arm that hung outside of the covers, and sat there until I heard the soft, slow breathing of sleep.

  I had just gone over my notifications, having received an increase to Projection and Empathy, and was just taking my shirt off to lie down on my own bed when I heard a rustling outside. It was weird getting undressed in this world. You could just use your inventory screen to put on or remove your clothes, but sometimes old habits had me doing it the old fashioned way. No one had been out when we walked back from Caden’s house, so I quickly put my shirt back on, pulled my boots on my feet, and quietly jogged to the longhouse door to peek outside.

  Four silhouettes were walking toward the mayors office. I tensed for a moment, but relaxed as I heard Kai’s familiar voice. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but there was no mistaking it was him. But who was that fourth person?

  “None shall pass!” I said loudly, though not too loud as to wake everyone in the village. They stopped and looked toward me, and I jogged over to them. No one laughed; at least I thought I was funny. “Hey guys, how’d it go?”

  Kai simply shook his head and the mayor didn’t even acknowledge me but kept walking and entered the building.

  “Hey, what happened?” I said, keeping up with them.

  “Nothing,” Graham answered. It didn’t take a genius to figure out things hadn’t gone well. There was enough light that I could tell no one had been seriously injured. In fact, they all looked the exact same as when they’d left. They weren’t even dirty. Had they not been able to find it?

  “Who’s this guy?” I asked, gesturing to the fellow I didn’t recognize. He wore a leather outfit nearly identical to mine, but with a badass bow strapped to his back. I wasn’t sure why he didn’t just keep it in his inventory, but then again, if I had a weapon that made me look that cool, I probably wouldn’t either.

  His dark hair looked a little overdue for a haircut, but in that cool, intentional way. He was handsome in a very traditional fashion, and I half expected him to introduce himself as a prince. He didn’t.

  “Ryan,” he said. “You must be Hudson.”

  “Hey! Nice to meet you. I’ve heard good things.”

  “Fortunately, we ran into Ryan while we were coming back from the node,” Graham said. “Unfortunately, we all have to go back.”

  “What?” I asked, surprised.

  The mayor kicked something that clanked loudly. “Just once, can’t something be easy? Why does everything have to be so overly complicated!” she shouted, and threw herself into her chair, covering her face with her hands.

  I opened my eyes wide, but kept my mouth shut.

  Graham went over and put his arm around her. I could tell he was saying something but couldn’t hear what, just that he was clearly consoling her. I slowly moved over to Kai and looked at him questioningly.

  “What happened, dude? Could you not get there? Was it already claimed?”

  “We made it there with no issue. Graham is a decently skilled fighter and the few things in our path were not a challenge. When we got to the node, the two of them went in just like we had, but the only option was to claim the node for herself. The system told her all the members of the village need to be there, in the node, to claim it for the village.”

  “Oh man. I should have thought of that! Remember when Chief Arnold created a spawn point in the cave? He couldn’t do it until everyone in the tribe was there. We even had to kick out members that we couldn’t get back. I didn’t even think about that!” I said. “Have you thought about removing people from the town list or whatever?”

  “If we do that, those people won't be able to get the upgrade that claiming the node will bring to the town,” the mayor said.

  “Ah okay, there's always something. Well, it's not a huge deal, we’ll just all go tomorrow,” I said.

  “Hudson, all of the village must go,” Kai said.

  “Yeah, I got that. But it’s just a day trip, everything here will be fine.”

  “The children, Hudson. They have to go as well.”

  And then it clicked. What he was saying finally got through my thick skull. Why the mayor was so upset. The children- the children they conceived, and loved, who had no certain respawn ability, would have to go traipsing through the monster filled forest with us.

  Chapter 38

  Morning came early the next day. Evidently children hate sleep and get up before the sun. It’s a sickness, who doesn’t like sleep? The commotion in the next room woke me and I sat up to see Kai and Madison already gone. I got up and headed into the larger room, which was already full of bustling people.

  I huffed at being up and about doing things before the sun was even all the way up. It looked like oatmeal was on the menu today and I sat at the nearest table, bleary-eyed. I hoped someone discovered coffee soon. Piper brought me over a bowl of food and a wooden spoon and set it down in front of me. “Here you go,” she said with way too much vigor. “My mom said we’ve got a big day and you’re going to help us explore in the forest.”

  “Yup,” I said as I scooped a spoonful of the glop into my mouth. I had been used to eating bland, strange glops back on Earth, sometimes
that was all I could get with my food creds, so I expected something totally different than what I got. The bite of food was sweet and well cooked, not the mush I was expecting, and it contained nuts of some kind as well. “Yum,” I said.

  Piper continued to stand next to me, a questioning look on her face. I turned to her, “What’s up?” I asked.

  “Can you teach me how to summon creatures like you?” she asked. “I love animals and want to be able to do that.”

  I shook my head sadly. “No, not yet anyway. I have to get my skill higher before I can teach it. But maybe some time. If your dad says it’s okay,” I added.

  She smiled at me. “Okay, I won’t let you forget!” she said and bounced back to her mom. I didn’t doubt her one bit.

  When breakfast was over, the mayor called everyone out into the village square where I found Kai standing by the fountain. I smiled at Madison and she smiled back, but Mayor McKase addressed everyone before we had a chance to say anything.

  “Everyone! As you know, we all have to go to this Mana node in order for it to be claimed by the village. We want to be as prepared as possible, so between Kai, Madison and Hudson, we will teach you some skills to help with that.”

  It took some work, getting everyone placed, where they could be close enough to me to take advantage of my Audeo skill. We had to separate into several groups before Kai could begin training Martial Arts, but as soon as his hour of training ended, myself and everyone around me learned the skill, which was then boosted to level 10. After several hours we got everyone in the village trained in Martial Arts and System.

  It would have taken even longer, but the buffs from the oracle had cut that down drastically. I was stunned when I realized this. The oracle hadn’t known our plans to train the villagers, we hadn’t even known ourselves, yet here we were, the buff she granted being put to good use. I couldn’t tell whether her skill was actually telling the future, or if it was just a lucky coincidence.

  Finally, we gathered at the gate to the outside world. The whole village buzzed with a nervous energy. There was a lot of fear surrounding the children going into the known and unknown dangers out there, but there was also some excitement as life in the village was fairly monotonous. It always felt good to be working toward something, so while there was risk involved, everyone was anxiously anticipating the reward.

  We hadn’t been able to form a single large party, because of the maximum party size, and instead had to break up into several.

  It was near midday before we were ready, then many of the children were complaining about being hungry so we had to wait until we had all eaten before we could finally leave. As soon as we exited the gates, several of the children complained about having to use the bathroom, so their parents peeled off and guarded them while they did so. Finally, we were ready to go and the group formed up by party, children interspersed between parents. We made it a good five minutes before we had to stop because one young girl had her shoes on the wrong feet and had to have it fixed.

  We marched. Or rather, we moved as fast as a group of people with children could move. Which was frustratingly slow. At some point many of the parents picked up and carried children, either on their shoulders or in their arms, and we moved faster.

  Madison and I hadn’t had a chance to talk all day. It had been a pretty crazy day, and since we’d been traveling, she had been holding kids’ hands, carrying one of the little twins for a while, and talking with some of the others. When I noticed she was finally more alone, or at least not carrying anyone, I made my way over to her.

  “Here, thought you might need this,” I said, offering her my canteen of water. She looked at it skeptically.

  “Oh, thanks, I’m okay though,” she said, still walking.

  “Are you sure about that? No headache, no nausea? You know it’s important to hydrate after such a night.” She looked at me, my huge, ridiculous grin giving me away. She playfully punched me in the shoulder.

  “I’m just teasing you,” I said. “Are you okay, though?”

  “I’m fine. I didn’t even drink much, I’m not sure what happened. Maybe it was just really strong?”

  “I felt it, too,” I agreed, “and I know I didn’t have much. Just a couple lightweights, you and me.” She smiled.

  We walked for a few minutes without saying anything. We were in the forest now, and it was quite peaceful. It felt alive with birdsong and critters darting here and there.

  “Hudson?” she said, quietly. I looked over at her to see her face serious, those intense green eyes full of some emotion. I needed to get better at reading her. I wonder if there would be a skill for that.

  “Yeah?” I asked.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “For what?”

  “For being a really good guy.” I smiled, not knowing how to respond to that. I was happy she thought so, but saying ‘you’re welcome’ to such a compliment felt strange. She smiled back, and we continued to walk in silence.

  We had walked probably a quarter of the way when we had our first encounter: a blue glob. It was sighted by the ever-watchful Ryan, who had been ahead of the group, leading the way and looking for danger. He pointed it out with a yell. The glob was a good twenty yards away and coming towards us. I swear if it was possible for something as weird as a living jello-mold to look hungry, this one did.

  Madison and I took point, and as soon as she got the aggro we had the villagers join in, some staying way behind to shield kids. I sent my blue flunky in and summoned a red one, just to use the skill. The poor glob never stood a chance with this many people attacking it. Even with mundane weapons causing barely any damage, it died so fast it was almost comedic. I didn’t even have time to try out more than a couple Mana orb attacks before it exploded, showering everyone nearby with blue goo.

  I turned to see several of the villagers splattered and slowed by the goo, but any children who had been hit were merely painted blue with no other effects. It was good to be a kid, I guess. We continued in this way, having to stop occasionally to steamroll a glob, until at long, long last we reached the Mana node.

  “All right everyone!” Mayor McKase shouted. “We’ve made it! All that’s left to do is get everyone in the Mana node, so you can all get your bonus, then I can unlock it for us!” There was a ragged cheer from the tired villagers and children.

  “Come on, come on,” Ryan said, “into the node, it’ll unlock Magic for you. Hurry, hurry.” He ushered both children and adults into the silvery liquid. “It’s okay, don’t worry, you’ll all float, it’s impossible to sink. I’ve done it, it’s fun.” He was being very helpful in getting everyone into the liquid, pulling and pushing until almost everyone was in except for us and Graham, who had stopped and was watching Ryan with a thoughtful look on his face.

  One by one, the magic of the node was filling the villagers and unlocking their Magic skill. The kids were having a great time, bobbing in the liquid, trying to swim down as far as they could before it pulled them back up and spat them onto its surface.

  “Come on Graham, you’re the only one left,” Ryan said as he waved at Graham from the liquid. “Are you sure you guys don’t want to join in the fun?” he asked my group who remained standing at the edge, watching.

  “I think I will!” Madison said and took a moment to put her armor in her inventory, putting on the light leather dress that Shara had given her. I goggled at the sight of it, I had seen Madison in various states of dressed and undressed, but never in something like this. It was a thin brown leather that hugged all of her curves extremely well. I think I might have been drooling, which is why Graham’s shout caught me off guard.

  “Wait!” he shouted and pointed to Ryan. “Stop! That’s not Ryan!” His words were lost, though, on the frolicking villagers. Ryan’s face morphed into a scowl, then started melting like hot wax. I grabbed Madison’s arm and pulled her back just as she was about to enter the pool of liquid, and we jerked our heads behind us towards a voice shouting. Ryan,
or someone that looked identical to Ryan, was far off in the forest, running towards us and shouting something I couldn’t make out.

  “What?!” I said out loud, incredibly confused and turned back just in time to see the other Ryan’s melty wax face reforming into one I recognized. A beautiful woman with long, jet-black hair and permanent RBF.

  “Cora?” I said, and that beautiful face smiled a smile that will haunt me for the rest of my life. Time moved like I was in slow motion. My feet felt cemented to the ground, the world sharpened, and I could make out every tiny little detail, while the villagers seemed completely unaware, splashing and playing in the strange liquid.

  “This node is mine,” she said just loud enough for those of us on the bank to hear. I looked up to see the mayor smiling and laughing in the liquid. Her head turned and she looked at Graham, a curious look passing her face. Then Cora claimed the Mana node, and everything changed.

  Chapter 39

  The butterfly effect is when something minute happens in a complex structure to cause major changes. I don’t know what butterfly I pissed off to keep Cora, now a souped-up Cora, in my life, but its effect was catastrophic. The Mana liquid began to bubble, rapidly changing colors, then the entire pool of Mana lifted off the ground and into the air. Everyone was screaming. The children slid through it like super hydrophobic pebbles, plopping onto the ground below, while all the adults from the village were taken up with the multi-hued, shifting Mana.

  Then the liquid sucked together like it was being compressed into a huge ball in the center of the air, visible electricity pulsing and zapping through and around it. The adults were suspended in the air, chained by lightning to the ball, while they seized as the energy coursed through their bodies.

  The ball of Mana turned black, a black darker than anything I had seen before, or could even imagine. It was as if I was looking at another reality overlaying the current one, a reality of the most pure darkness. It made my brain swim to even look at it. I wanted to puke, but I couldn’t look away.