PrimeVerse: Dose of Chaos: A GameLit / LitRPG Adventure

by R K Billiau

  Ryan, the ever-helpful scout, was a champ at hunting for dinner and starting a fire. The gromlins were helpful with kid wrangling, and all the kids seemed so comfortable with them. I was really impressed with the kids as a whole; I’m certain I whined way more than they did on my first jaunt through the forest. Though Madison wasn’t nearly as entertaining as she was now. She sang sing alongs, told silly jokes. We were on what must have been our 405th round of “I-Spy” when I finally was able to talk with her alone.

  “So,” I said, as a kid spied something ‘green.’ “Why haven’t you ever sung to me before?” She rolled her eyes and laughed. “It’s cute,” I said. “You really are good with the kids.”

  “Aren’t they so much cooler than adults?” she asked, winking at me.

  “Hey, now, I’m pretty cool! So… what’s our plan, here?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked. “Aren’t we doing it? Just keep swimming.”

  “I mean when we get there. Are we going to just waltz up and hope Chief Arnold accepts us? We didn’t leave on a great note. And we’re bringing lots of little liabilities. And even a few gromlins.”

  She sighed. “I hadn’t really thought about it. I mean, Arnold’s a decent guy, maybe he just got caught up in the moment when we brought Tim back. He did have a Cora zombie that had to throw Arnold off. I think it will be okay. Maybe talking to him first might be the way to go, but I’m not sure we should leave the kids hidden somewhere to go do that. The second we’re on the hill in front of the cave, they’ll see us. We’d have to leave them a long way behind, and I just don’t think I’m comfortable with that.”

  “Yeah,” I said, thinking. “Maybe you’re right. I guess the waltz in is the way to go.”

  A kid stopped and complained of needing to use the bathroom, so Madison went off to help and there went our conversation. I laughed to myself thinking how strange it was that two days ago I had never spent more than a few minutes with a kid, and now here I was, leading a daycare.

  On the third night, Ryan came back to the group with three extra-large squirrel looking creatures complete with scorch marks from his lightning. He had really taken to that spell. I got the fire roaring, and we skinned them and put them on a spear, roasting them over the fire. Everyone went to sleep with a full belly, and I was reminded again of the difference in the forest now.

  The kids slept in bedrolls they carried in their inventory, and we put them all in a close circle, and laid our bedrolls out around them. Madison took first watch that night, and I stayed up with her for it, happy for an opportunity to talk alone. She sat, while I laid with my head next to her, enjoying a moment of peace. It seemed like with kids around the only time for peace and quiet was when they were all asleep.

  “Does it seem like the canopy is thinning?” she asked, “or am I just being overly hopeful?”

  I looked up and could make out a few stars through breaks in the treetops. “No,” I said, “I think you might be right.”

  It was silent for a few minutes, and I was enjoying the relaxation. The dark sky, quiet children, laying down with Madison.

  “How are we going to get their parents back?” she asked, breaking the silence with such a heavy question.

  I sighed. “I don’t know, Madison. But we’re going to. I know that.”

  “How did you even get through to these ones?” she asked, pointing towards the three sleeping gromlins by the children.

  “I didn’t, really,” I said. “Caden spoke to me right before I was about to blast him with a Mana Orb. I had no idea they could come back.”

  “That must have been awful, fighting them, knowing who they were.”

  “I didn’t recognize him until he spoke, actually,” I said. “When you really look, you can tell who they are. But they’re so creepy… it’s not that obvious.”

  “Shhhh!” she said, laughing, putting her finger to my lips to quiet me.

  I playfully bit at her finger and she laughed louder, covering her mouth to quiet herself. I couldn’t help but laugh with her. She leaned down and kissed me softly, upside down. I smiled up at her. I think I could have died a happy man right then.

  I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, Kai was waking me for my watch. I had the last of the night and it went by quickly and uneventfully.

  As the forest lit up with daylight, the children stirred awake and we started our day.

  We had only been walking for less than an hour when Madison shrieked. My whole body tensed and I quickly turned to find her. She was behind me by just a few steps and jumping up and down.

  “You guys! You guys!” she said, beyond excited. “Do you see it? Look!”

  “See what?” I asked, completely confused.

  “Look at the mini-map!” she shouted, and I did.

  And there it was. Glorious, glorious fields. Just a sliver showed up, but it meant it was the end of the forest. We were almost there!

  “Yes!” I shouted and hugged her. Excitement moved through the group like a wave and we all had a skip in our step as we continued our walk.

  It was only another fifteen minutes or so until we walked past the last line of trees out into the great, wide open. The sky overhead stretched on forever, a bright blue dotted with just a few white, puffy clouds. The morning sun shone on us brightly and the rays were warm against our skin.

  I looked over to Madison, and she had her head stretched back, face pointed to the sky, bathing in the sunlight. Her eyes were closed, but she was smiling.

  “Burning off the forest blues?” I asked, elbowing her playfully.

  “You have to admit, it feels good. Even without the doom and gloom, that forest is just too big,” she said. We laughed as the kids frolicked and ran in circles around us. Everyone was feeling the relief of finally making it to the other side.

  “Hey, look!” I said, pointing in the distance to a large herd of buffalo. “My old friends!”

  Madison rolled her eyes. “Please don’t go play with them yet,” she said, “we need you alive a little longer.”

  Using my Illusory Map, we headed in the direction of the cave which I hoped was still the home of our old tribe. The overall mood of the group was cheerful- as cheerful as a bunch of kids who just lost their parents can be- and we made good time. It was still a long hike, and dusk was quickly approaching as we got to the familiar slope and could make out our cozy little cave at the bottom of it.

  It almost would have felt like coming home, except it wasn’t exactly the home we left. Our cave wasn’t the only thing in the valley anymore.

  Instead, the area in front of it was dotted with numerous white cone shapes. There were a few fires burning and people milling about.

  I stopped. A little kid bumped into me and looked up, annoyed. “Hey!”

  “Sorry, buddy,” I said, moving to the side. I looked around and saw Kai with his jaw dropped. Madison looked the same.

  “They must have actually pulled together and figured things out,” Madison said, sounding both shocked and impressed. “Look at it!”

  “That looks like a good start for a village,” Graham said.

  “Well look at them go,” I added, impressed with our old friends. They had come a long way. They were a motley crew when we left, but I was excited to see they must be working together, and hopefully life was easier for them now.

  “Madison, Hudson, and I should walk in front,” Kai said. “I think it would be best if everyone else would walk a few paces behind us.”

  We moved towards this new tribal village, in an echo of the way we left. This time, though, we had two new people, a couple handful of kids, and even a trio of gromlins. I summoned a flunky and let it climb up onto my shoulder just for cool effect.

  As we got closer, we could tell the cones were intricately made teepees. Bleached white skins sewn together and pulled tightly around sizable sticks. There were five smaller ones, and one large one close to the center of the group. Next to the big teepee was a large, roaring fir
e, with a skinned bison roasting on a spit, and the smell wafted up to us. The people had stopped what they were doing and were watching our approach.

  A man waved both arms and jogged up to us.

  “Chief Arnold!” I said and shook his hand. Madison hugged him, which I think took him by surprise a little, but he smiled in his serious way.

  “Look what you’ve done!” Madison said, excitedly, motioning to the functioning little village.

  “We have made a lot of progress,” Chief Arnold said. His eyes wandered to our crew behind us, who were probably 20 yards or so behind. His smile changed to shock, his eyes widening, and his mouth fell open slightly.

  “Hudson,” he said, staring behind me. “What have you done?”

  “Hey, why is this my fault?” I said, feigning offense. Madison squeaked out a laugh. He looked at me but didn’t respond.

  “We do not want to inconvenience you and the tribe,” Kai said, “but we had nowhere else to go.”

  “We need to keep the kids safe,” Madison added. “You can understand that, right?”

  “Here’s the deal,” I said. “We need your help. We found a village. They’d been in game a year; they were beta testers and had real buildings and homes. There were about a dozen of them… and then all these kids.”

  “So why did you kidnap them?” Chief Arnold asked.

  “We didn’t take them, Chief,” I said. “Cora is back, and stronger than ever. She aligned with the Archon of Chaos and turned all their parents into gromlins then leveled the village,” I said, pointing to the three gromlins who stood behind the children. Arnold must not have noticed them before because his body tensed, and he pulled a spear from his inventory.

  “Woah, woah,” I said, putting my hand out, “hang on. They’re not dangerous. These came out from under her control. They’re okay.”

  The Chief eyed them suspiciously and simply said, “Continue.”

  “There’s not much more to say,” I said, shrugging. “The kids have no place to stay, and Cora has a gromlin army.”

  “An army of gromlins?” he asked, gulping.

  “Yeah,” I said. “That’s why we need your help.”

  He signed heavily and looked between me, Madison, and Kai.

  “I think we may have someone who can help,” he said. Then he turned back towards the cave and yelled, “Tim! Can you come out here?”

  We all turned to watch Tim- the Tim- come out from one of the teepees. He held the door flap open and someone followed him out.

  No. Not someone. Something. Tim had a zombie. And no one in the village even flinched.

  Epilogue

  The Chaos Lands. Cora hated it here. She had only been once before, but it still gave her nightmares. The ever-changing landscape, the wildly shifting atmosphere, these were fear-inducing on their own, but it was the archon that lived here that haunted her. Her master, the Chimera.

  The lands seemed strangely static today. She stood alone on a vast tundra of yellow grass tall enough to reach her waist. It wasn’t stiff and straight like the grass in the valley by the cave, but soft and somewhat curled, and very dense. Rolling hills of the stuff in all directions. The ground had a soft, squishy texture and when she placed her hand on it, it felt warm. She tried to dig her fingers in to find it would not yield, only indent slightly.

  She looked around, wondering if she would escape a meeting with her master this time. A shadow overhead warned her that things were about to change, probably for the worse.

  She looked up to see the massive faces of the Chimera blotting out the sky. A Fear debuff popped in her HUD and she began frantically searching for a place to hide, finding nothing and falling to the soft ground. The lion face watched her as she made eye contact with it again, large, round eyes under a fluffy mane. Horns as long as skyscrapers protruded from the goats head, and the turtle head snapped wildly in her direction. It erupted in an echoing laugh, bleating marbled with a fierce roar, as realization dawned on her.

  The three heads were connected to a neck, turning to look at her, and the neck to a body, a massive, fur covered body that she was sitting on. Never had Cora ever felt so insignificant.

  Little bug. You have come back to my realm, it said in her mind, the force of it flattening her against its flesh.

  She tried to calm herself, taking in huge lungfuls of air. “I was killed. Will I come here every time I die?”

  Yes. Each vassal returns to their master’s realm upon death. I have been watching you.

  Cora watched as the Chimeras eyes became like vast windows, displaying the outside world that she had just come from. She could see the horde of gromlins rampaging through the village where she had died, causing mayhem and destroying everything.

  You have done well. My presence grows in the world. Long have I wanted destruction of that place, and you have brought it to me. I am pleased.

  She shuddered at the touch of its mind on hers. “Th-thank you?” she said as she finally took ahold of her emotions, her eyes cinching with the prospect of an opportunity. “Does that mean I get some kind of reward then?”

  The ground she laid on shifted and bounced, sending her flying as the creature laughed. She landed gracelessly and came to a shaky stand.

  Indeed, you shall have a reward. You have earned it. It blinked and a system message appeared in her HUD.

  New title gained!

  Duchess of Chaos – You rule a territory of Chaos. As the ruler of this territory you have access to the Faction Leader menu, allowing you to grow your faction’s territory. When this title is equipped, you gain access to the unique skill Hostile Takeover.

  Hostile Takeover – With this skill you may claim a respawn point for your faction, spreading its influence in the world. Respawn points taken over in this way become inaccessible to everyone but members of your faction. Territory controlled in this way can not be accessed by any means other than physical unless it is by members of your faction.

  Cursed title – This title may not be removed by the player.

  Cora was both nervous and delighted at this new development. Finally she was given what she was due; leadership. But a leader of what, exactly? A horde of nearly mindless gromlins?

  “What do you want me to do with this?” she asked the Chimera.

  Spread my influence. Bring chaos across the land, grow, gain power. I thought it was obvious.

  She rolled her eyes. “Okay, I get it. But what do I have to work with? I need more!”

  You have all the tools you need. Serve me well and you will be given more. Now go, your horde is dispersing. You must gather them, the players you once controlled are already slipping out of your influence. They are the key to helping your army grow. Only travelers in gromlin form can be used to make more gromlins.

  Seek willing travelers to join your faction, they too will be given power.

  With that the Chimera turned its head, leaving her alone on its warm and hairy flesh, until the light claimed her and brought her back into the world.

  Cora spent a miserable few hours traipsing through the woods toward the village to find her horde. This menial work was beneath her and she couldn’t wait until the time when she had a proper following who would obey her again. She breathed a sigh of relief as she entered the village and found most of the horde had been sitting around in the ruins, lazily eating what food they had stolen and fighting with each other among the spots of burning rubble.

  She attempted to command them to build her another palanquin, but these creatures were practically nothing but beasts with the attention span of a toddler. She needed the player gromlins back; they had obeyed her and were capable of significantly more thought. They were perfect for Cora, able to think and do what she commanded but with reduced mental scores thanks to their new race and her control over them heightened thanks to the hierarchy of power of the creatures of chaos. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to be here. It was a mess of gromlin spawns that were all but useless.

  The village was
an utter ruin, which was a disappointment to her as she had been hoping to have a better base of operations than being out in the open. When she made her way to the empty fountain, she felt a strange tingle and a system message popped up.

  You have found a respawn point! Would you like to activate Hostile Takeover?

  Finally, something good. She activated the skill and all her expendables dropped to zero as she got another system message. She tried to move but found herself paralyzed as she read the message.

  Hostile Takeover activating – detecting…

  Opposing faction buildings…0

  Opposing faction members… 0

  Hostile Takeover complete! Congratulations! You have claimed a new zone for your faction!

  Binding faction node and territory, locations within range, binding complete!

  You have created a new faction territory: The Chaos Lands

  Expand your territory through any means possible!

  For starting a new faction you have gained 1000 faction points!

  Faction points can be spent to enhance your faction’s territory, creatures, or leader.

  All around Cora the world started changing, like in the Chaos Lands she found herself in when she died, only much slower. Patches of grass slowly melted into sand, plants took on slightly different forms. The changes weren’t sweeping and massive, but it was enough for her to realize what claiming these lands meant. She grimaced.

  She opened the new Faction Leader menu and was instantly granted a map of her territory, ranging from the village to the chaos node, which was listed as her faction base. The territory outside her map was blacked out, but she saw a cluster of white dots off to the side. She focused on the dots and a tooltip popped, showing her names in a jumbled mess, overlapping each other. She focused harder and the view zoomed in to show the white dots closer and larger, separating out the names of the player gromlins.