by Tony Corden
At the end of her roll, Leah brought herself upright and turned only to immediately throw herself backwards as the Anaconan brought the sword around in an arc, aimed at her head. Leah rolled out of her backwards dive and stood upright. This time she was further away and had time to cast a bolt of lightning at the snake and to bring the Amber Dragon around to block the slightly slower moving sword. Leah cast Tangle and trapped the lower section of the snake. She unequipped the Amber Dragon and equipping her bow fired two arrows into the Anaconan’s chest before casting Summons and sending one of Orumeck’s warrior drones to attack. It was a battle of attrition, but Leah soon harvested the Anaconan.
As soon as she had harvested the Anaconan, the die appeared again. This time she rolled a two. Two squares over was another large snake, this one even longer than the one she’d just beaten. What interested Leah was the foot of a ladder resting on the square. Instead of a humanoid body, the upper half of the snake divided to support three heads.
CITIZEN SIX - HYDRYTHON (MAGE) (Level 320) 153600/153600 HP (16000 EP)
Leah could see the aura of mana around their mouths. Leah’s leap onto the square was much more effective the second time around, and she landed on her feet holding the Amber Dragon and parrying a strike by one of the heads.
The other two heads each spat at Leah, sending both a ball of fire and a stream of acid in her direction. Leah cast Shadow Chain Lightning, and while the serpent recovered she managed to wound one of the of the heads seriously. Leah cast Circle of Sloth to slow the Hydrython down but couldn’t prevent it from casting heal on itself. Leah finally killed one of the heads with an arrow through the eye. She was glad for the armour because without it she would have been burnt by acid several times. Even so, the suit’s durability had taken a small hit. The remaining heads struggled with the dead weight of their sibling and Leah soon finished it off.
Leah harvested the dead citizen but ignored the die and began to climb the ladder. It moved Leah forward four rows toward the exit. The ladder was sturdy enough although it did pass close to several other squares and in one place Leah had to manoeuvre around one of the snakes which moved people down. The ladder protruded past the edge of the square, so Leah wasn’t forced to somehow leap up and off the ladder. However, she knew that as soon as she stepped off the ladder, her new opponent would attack.
CITIZEN FORTY-SEVEN - COBRAZOR (Level 325) 158738/158738 HP (16250 EP)
The snake was red with the occasional band of black. Two-thirds of its long body was coiled on the ground, forming a circle with a diameter of almost two metres. The remainder was raised in a graceful curve, the head gently swaying two-and-a-half metres above the ground. Whoever had designed it had taken their inspiration from a cobra, and the distinctive curved hood began at the very base of the head and flared over a half-a-metre on either side of the body before tapering off near the ground. The edges of the hood resembled the half-moon shape of an oversized battle axe, and Leah could see a faint sheen of moisture coating the length of each blade. As Leah climbed above the level of the square, the snake’s tail also lifted above the circular base, looking more like a like narrow leaf-shaped broadsword than a tail except it was swaying side to side like the head.
With a sudden move, Leah leapt onto the square, but the Cobrazor was lightning fast and struck instantly. Even so, Leah had moved further than it anticipated and it just missed her, although its hood sliced through the ladder taking off the top metre. Leah wasn’t fast enough to avoid the hood on the follow through as the snake whipped its head sideways as it brought it back for another strike.
Leah’s armour partially resisted the sharp blade, so that instead of losing her arm Leah had a deep horizontal cut halfway between her shoulder and elbow down to the bone. Leah couldn’t move the arm, and her health began to drop quickly from blood loss and the venom in her bloodstream. Leah cast Heal, which slowed the speed at which she lost health but didn’t stop it. Her suit immediately began to self-repair due to the enchantments she’d included. She dodged a second strike and this time she was ready for the return attack and rolled under it. She cast Rain of Fire and then cast Darkness Dragonscales. The scales formed over her body and closed the wound but it did nothing to stop the slow spread of the poison.
Leah caught a glancing blow when dodging the third strike that sliced through the armour but couldn’t penetrate the dragon scales. The blow did, however, throw her sideways and out of range for the returning swipe. Leah summoned one of Lord Kötü’s Level One Minions, and while it attacked the snake, she cast a second Heal and got to her feet. The minion was cut in half by the Cobrazor’s next strike, but this time on the return Leah was better prepared and defended herself with the Amber Dragon. Her sword sliced through part of the hood, causing the snake to rear back in pain and giving Leah a much-needed increase in health.
Leah cast Dragonfire through the sword, and the blast scorched and turned to ash one side of the snake’s hood. As the Cobrazor reared away, its tail which was hidden behind the swaying body, struck from ambush. The sharpened blade penetrated both the armour and the Darkness Dragonscales and pierced deep into Leah’s left upper thigh. Before the tail could pull back, Leah brought her sword around and cut off the tip. She had to un-equip her sword to reach down and pull the end of the tail out of her leg. She had time to do this because her opponent was dealing with a second minion Leah had sent into the attack. Tangle and another blast of Dragonfire finished off the snake. Leah had to take a restore potion to stop the poisoning. When she was back to full health, she harvested the Cobrazor and then threw the die which had appeared.
Three steps later and she faced a Tigersnake, a serpent with a humanoid upper body and the head of a tiger. It was a blood mage with sharp claws. Before leaping into the battle, Leah changed her armour to the blue one designed to fight mages. The Tigersnake used the tip of one claw to cut through the skin on its forearm and formed the blood into a whip similar to the one Nemo had used only this was longer and thicker.
Leah leapt onto the platform and dodged the first strike, but the second wrapped around her torso. It didn’t cut through the Darkness Diamond Dust encrusted suit but it did grab hold of Leah, and she was tugged sharply toward the mage. Instead of resisting the pull she rushed forward and just beat a descending claw to be inside the circle of the Tigersnakes arms. Leah used her momentum to drive the Amber Dragon through the serpent’s heart.
Leah’s armour had resisted the mage’s attack, but it still left its mark. Where the whip had circled her torso the dust had absorbed the Blood Magic, and there was now a circle of deep red running around the armour. Leah harvested the Tigersnake and in addition to the skin, claws, and vials of blood there was a spell for the Bloodwhip. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to learn Blood Magic but could see how dangerous it could be. She waited for the die to appear but when it didn’t, she turned, and there in the corner was a large snake’s head waiting. She’d landed on a square with a descending snake. Leah knew she was expected to slide down the snake but wasn’t sure how to get on. As she approached, it rose higher, and there was room for her to slip past its head and put her arms around its body.
As soon as she did this, it began to descend and at the same time wrap her in its coils. By the time it had dropped down to the square where its tail was, Leah was surrounded in loops. It didn’t release her but immediately began to constrict its muscles to crush her. Leah unequipped her weapons and misted through the coils before reforming and extended her fangs. She started to feed. She’d forgotten the citizen on the lower square, and before she’d finished killing her ride, she felt the citizen’s fangs sink into her left shoulder.
Without pausing her feeding, Leah reached under her chin with her right hand and cast Freeze as soon as she felt the hand touch whichever creature was behind her. It died instantly and her spell also froze a part of Leah’s shoulder. When Leah had finished feeding she had to use a small ball of Dragonfire to remove the frozen head from her shoulder, and then s
he pulled loose the fangs which had been left behind. Throughout all this, she could feel excruciating pain as the venom slowly ate away at her flesh. Leah had to cast Heal five times before the poison was neutralised. Then she needed ten minutes to recover her health. She unequipped the armour to check on it and found that the holes caused by the fangs weren’t closing. The venom had eaten away or destroyed some of the inscribed runes. She looked around and was discouraged to find she was back on the second row and now only on the twelfth square. The die appeared.
Re-equipping her armour Leah rolled the die. For the next four hours, she went up and down the chamber. At one time she’d been on the highest level but had rolled a three and landed on a snake which took her back to the third row. Toward the end she was defeating a new snake every three minutes, many of them were repeats as she’d discovered that when she repeated a square, there was a similar but slightly stronger opponent.
At last, she stepped off the game onto the exit landing, only to see a portal waiting to take her to the next level, the Court of Courtiers. She checked the time and decided she didn’t have enough to do another level, so she logged out and planned to finish this the following Dunyanin day.
THE STORK TOWER
As she appeared in the Tower, she was surprised to find herself in the meditation garden rather than near her sofa. Gèng said, “Sharon is showing the reporter around downstairs, and I thought you would like to be prepared. Also, I have a request from Dunyanin for you to meet privately with one of their developers. The Dunyanin officials wanted it to be clear that this meeting isn’t for official Dunyanin business but relates to a personal matter, and they are helping to facilitate the meeting on the advice of their HR department.”
“When and where would I meet this person?”
“He would like to meet you as soon as possible and is happy to meet wherever you choose. I have the details of his private world if you are OK to go there.”
“How much longer does Sharon need to get ready?”
“About twenty minutes.”
“OK. I’ll meet him in his world. Tell him I only have fifteen minutes free.”
AARAV JOSHI’S PRIVATE WORLD
Leah changed her clothes, equipping a simple t-shirt and pair of jeans. Gèng created a portal and Leah stepped through to find herself standing outside an apartment door, which was the usual entrance to someone’s private space. Leah knocked and a thin man in his twenties opened the door and invited Leah inside.
Gèng took samples looking for any form of malware but couldn’t find any. The man put out his hand and said, “Atherleah, my name is Aarav Joshi. Thank you for agreeing to see me.”
He led Leah to a lounge area where they both took a seat. Leah waited quietly. Aarav took a few moments to compose himself and then said, “I wanted to apologise for the scenario I placed you in this morning and to explain why I did it.”
“You developed the scenario with Rik?”
“I did. I could tell you were extremely upset by the situation, but I had a reason for putting N’den and Rik there, and I hope my explanation will help in some way.”
“You’re right, I was upset. I almost logged out, I was so angry. I thought I’d hidden that. Is my face that easy to read?”
“Not really, it’s just that I have seen that look so many times when I look in the mirror. You see, I have a younger sister and she means everything to me. About six years ago, my sister, who was one of Dunyanin’s brightest developers, was visiting our parents in northern India and naively went out late one night for a drink at a local nightclub. She was beaten and raped and then left on the street. She finally got home around five in the morning. My mother didn’t even ask why she was late but started yelling at her and talking about the shame that she would bring on the family if she kept acting like this.
“Well, my sister took that to heart. She didn’t tell my parents what happened and when she got back to Mumbai she resigned from her job and kept everything quiet. I imagine by now you know what happened next. She got pregnant and gave birth to a little girl. They live in my sister’s apartment, and I am probably the only person who is even aware that little Hatisha is alive. I think the only reason she told me was she needed my financial support.
“My sister spends her time looking after Hatisha and watching the virtual universe. She doesn’t play, she just watches. She’s lost the will to do anything more than exist. In fact, the only animation I’ve seen in her for six years was three days ago when I visited. She lets me visit once a week. She was watching your feed, and she said, ‘Sometimes I wish I was stronger.’ I’ve tried a thousand times to get her to realise that she isn’t to blame and that she has nothing to be ashamed about, but she doesn’t listen.
“My bosses keep asking me to get her back. After watching her interest in you, I approached the HR department and for the first time broke a promise and explained why my sister had resigned. I raised the concept of putting you in a situation where you had to respond to all the emotions that my sister has. We talked back and forth, and finally, they agreed. I don’t think they really care about anything except her brilliance as a developer, but they did agree. Their only condition was that the scenario had to fit the storyline.
“After I saw your reaction I felt I needed to apologise. The lawyers were afraid of letting you know they’d used your gameplay in a way outside the scope of your contract, but I finally convinced them that it was a matter of honour with me that I try and explain. I don’t know what the result will be but my sister will be watching the feed tomorrow, and I hope she hears the truth of what you said because she isn’t listening to anybody else.”
As Aarav was sharing the story Leah’s anger had disappeared and she felt only heartbreak. Tears were making a trail down her cheeks as he finished. She didn’t acknowledge them and her voice was still and even when she spoke. She said, “I’m honoured that you shared your story and you have nothing to apologise for. Let Dunyanin know that there will not be any repercussions, although there might have been if I hadn’t been told. I’d appreciate knowing if you have success but will leave you to your privacy if that is better.”
Without waiting for a response, Leah stood and said, “Let me know if I can help in any way.” Then she had Gèng bring her back to the Tower.
THE STORK TOWER
When she arrived, she said, “You know, Gèng, if his plan works then for the first time I’ll think the loss of my privacy is a good thing.”
Gèng smiled and said, “Now I want you to hold that idea in your head and walk downstairs because Sharon is waiting with a reporter.”
Leah smiled at Gèng’s humour and started down the stairs.
15
December 15, 2073 - Part 7
THE STORK TOWER
Sharon was waiting with a young looking woman in her late twenties. The reporter was Caucasian with shoulder length dark blonde hair and dressed in a smart-casual skirt and jacket. Sharon introduced her as Erica Morrison and then said, “Erica and I were just discussing where the best place would be for the interview. We want to respect your privacy but also show that you deserve the ranking.”
Leah said, “What do you mean, ‘deserve the ranking’?”
Sharon responded, “I told Erica you either wouldn’t understand why this is so important and that if you did that you personally couldn’t care less, but I don’t think she believed me. Leah, the virtual universe rankings are a big deal. People have gotten divorced over who is ranked above whom. A lot of contracts have clauses related to ranking. Sponsorship levels are usually pegged to how well someone is ranked. Shopping worlds are ranked, training worlds, news worlds, … everything is ranked. So, as soon as ranking changes someone's income, power, or friendship group, to name a few, then the discussions start about favouritism, prejudice or corruption. I, as your PR person, want to pre-empt those sorts of discussions. You can be sure that other interviews are happening as we speak where people are trying to stir up that conflict.”
> “OK, I understand what you are saying, and I’ll get on board, but don’t expect me to ever start thinking like that. If I do, then I order you to give me kick in the pants.”
Erica said, “I’d love to put that in the interview.”
Sharon looked horrified. Leah laughed and then Erica said, “But I won’t, mainly because people wouldn’t understand.”
Leah said, “What did you decide on as the best place?”
Sharon said, “Almost, we agree it may be best outside which lets people get an impression of your world which hints at excellence but is without all the details. If it were inside it’d be hard to choose just one place, and we don’t like the idea of moving from spot to spot.”
Erica said, “I found a place I liked outside. It has the mountains, the streams and the Tower in the background but the more I think about it, the more I think it will look odd just standing there.”
They walked outside and Erica showed Leah the place. Leah said, “Gèng, could you put a small gazebo here? Furnish it like a small outside lounge. Keep a similar theme to the entry pavilion and put a small garden around the perimeter so that the occasional flower shows above the railing.”
As Leah was speaking the gazebo appeared, and small changes occurred as Leah fleshed it out. Leah said, “I was thinking just a touch bigger than that. Could you add a meter to the diameter?”