Chronicles of Ethan Complete Series: A LitRPG / GameLit Fantasy Adventure

by John L. Monk

  The last thing I did (and I didn’t tell her about it) was purchase a high-level demon name from one of the more exotic magic shops. After procuring the ingredients—three diamonds, three rubies, and three emeralds—I summoned it while Melody was asleep.

  Aushiel was an invisible demon who’d teleport my wife to “The Nearest Safe Place” if she were ever attacked. Then it would disappear. The up-front mana cost was trivial, but the required gems left me with very little gold. Which was fine. I’d stocked plenty of food for the trip, and she needed the gold more than me.

  “Okay, Sammy,” I said after a last look. “Just you and me, now. Giddyap or whatever.”

  Because he was a horse, Sammy didn’t reply. But he started moving without me needing to flick the reins, and off we went.

  The trip north was nearly as uneventful as the one south, but for the arrival of Greenie Red halfway to the bridge. He’d crested a rise with the sun behind him, so I missed seeing him until he was almost upon me.

  “Lo, mighty sorcerer, halteth ye in the name of the Crimson Sigil!” Greenie called with mock formality.

  Dressed as he was in that ridiculous green-and-red doublet, with little silver bells along the hem, the effect was vaguely that of a court jester. All he needed was the funny hat.

  I tugged Sammy’s reins and we awaited his approach.

  “That’s far enough,” I said when the distance between us closed to about five paces.

  As always, I traveled with a guardian demon who’d stay invisible until I was attacked. No, not Aushiel. Each demon was unique and could only be called one at a time. This was a smaller one named N’Gok. I’d had to burn a deer’s head as part of the ritual. Hopefully it wouldn’t be needed here, as cutting off the head had been grisly work.

  “Just so you know,” Greenie said casually, “the Sigil finally figured out how you leveled up so fast. You killed the dryad—the one that snaps up every red-blooded male that crosses her path. Ilsha sent me here to find out how you did it.”

  The last time I’d seen the assassin, he’d been surprised at how quickly I’d leveled.

  “Even if I told you,” I said, “you’re too late. I killed her already.”

  “Come now, Ethan. We both know she’s resurrected and alive again in Ward 2. Not that I’ve checked. Far too dangerous. But we’ve heard the tale. A woman you were with spilled the beans in some bar in Heroes’ Reach. Something about a raiding party to win the kiss of … Oh, what was it again? Ah, yes: the Maiden of Melody. Seems you joined up with a raid led by a semi-famous raid leader named Lord Beast. Then he and the men in his raid vanished, but you didn’t. That sound about right?”

  Clapping my hands, I said, “Great work, Greenie. You figured it out. See you next time.”

  I clicked Sammy’s reins to pass him, but he blocked me with his horse.

  “So this woman you were with,” he said. “Beautiful by all accounts. She’s the Maiden of Melody, isn’t she? And before you answer: remember, I can tell if you’re lying.”

  Like me, Greenie was a Hard Mode player, and he’d chosen the Curse of Knowledge. In light of that, I answered with a look of suffering patience.

  Greenie smiled. “We’re doing our very best to track down any females in Lord Beast’s raid party. Seems there was a woman named Dory that keeps coming up. We’re hoping she might be able to shed light on the events in the Vale. I’ll be blunt with you: if there’s another power-up in Ward 1 or Ward 2—something repeatable, like this dryad creature—the Crimson Sigil will pay almost anything for the secret.” He pointed at me. “You killed her. You know the secret. So why not share it?”

  Beyond tired of Greenie and the Crimson Sigil, I decided to tell him the truth.

  “The secret’s simple,” I said. “You have to be stubborn to a fault, and want to get away from her so bad you’d risk never being happy again. It also helps if you’re in love with someone else, though that’s no guarantee.”

  All of which was true.

  Some nights, before falling asleep, my mind would slip back to my time under the tree, where I’d basked in love and comfort so absolute I felt close to tears. Then I’d force myself to remember the good things in my life—Melody returned to me, my friendship with Rita … Though never enough, the memories helped soothe the scars Myrialla had left.

  I could see Greenie staring over my head at the shining, golden truth orb. By the expression on his face, he wasn’t happy with my answer.

  “It can’t be,” he said. “Willpower? That’s it?”

  “You absolutely have to have willpower,” I said lightly—and carefully.

  The statement was true, but unfinished. The full truth was that Myrialla had let me slip away. A one-time edge, and now it was gone.

  My chief worry was Dory. If he ever caught up with her, the Crimson Sigil would learn Melody was my wife.

  “I’ve told you the truth,” I said, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to grind out something like six hundred levels to make it to Ward 3. Tell Ilsha I said hi.”

  Hoping we were done, I nudged Sammy forward and breathed a silent sigh of relief when Greenie got out of the way.

  Chapter Twelve

  Unlike my trip south with Melody, the Terrible Kraken was waiting for me when I reached the middle. My guess was I’d have to face it every time I went north.

  Though I was only about ten levels higher, this time our battle was barely terrible at all. Like last time, I employed Shrink Ray, Sprint, and Deep Freeze to draw it down the bridge, but I didn’t bother with big booming hits like Word of Death. No, I employed demons alone this time. Six of them, moderate in size, using semi-rare gem components. No drops of blood or animal heads, which was a nice bonus. Thank goodness I had a lot of mana—almost 19,000—because the clawed, winged, growling monstrosities drained me for almost 30 mana a second.

  My demons were fast, with moderate health and armor, and the kraken’s slower hits only killed one of them. Within ten minutes, I was nearly spent. Just in time for the enormous kraken to fall dead.

  As easy as the fight seemed this time, I knew it hadn’t gone down as efficiently as it could have. I was almost a hundred and fifty levels higher than the minimum required to beat it. There were players in Ward 2 much lower-level than me.

  Unlike our last battle, the win resulted in zero points, and no treasure chest. I supposed this was to keep players from killing it repeatedly, amassing a fortune, and leveling with very little work. Still, I had to laugh. I’d been without a coin purse or bottomless bag last time and had only managed to stuff a handful of coins in my noob pouch before proceeding north. Which meant, for the second time in a row, I’d killed the kraken and gotten essentially nothing for it.

  “Now what?” I said, prodding Sammy into a light trot.

  Cipher’s instructions had been purposely vague, in keeping with his mysterious persona.

  “Cross the bridge to Ward 2,” he’d said, “and you shall find your first clue.”

  “Clue to what?” I’d said. “I know where I’m supposed to go—out of the game. But how do I get there?”

  “By acquiring yet more power, of course,” Cipher had said, laughing. “That is the game we play. If you’d taken the Curse of Power we’d be farther ahead, sure, but everything turned out fine. Worry not, Ethan. You’ll get there soon enough—and without decades spent grinding experience points. Three cheers for Plan B, hmm?”

  As I approached Ward 2, my heart sank a little. The temperature had dropped steeply, and the bridge ahead was covered in snow.

  On our trip south from Heroes’ Reach, Melody and I had barely noticed the somewhat chilly weather. Now it was much colder, making me wish I’d packed more blankets.

  Sammy, for his part, seemed completely unfazed. He just walked along thinking horse-like thoughts. Absently, I summoned an apple and chucked it ahead—then held on tightly as he lurched forward to snatch it up.

  “Good horse,” I said.

  The far shore loomed larger. In
time, I saw the huge triumphal arch, signifying the end of the bridge and the beginning of Ward 2.

  After passing beneath, I stopped Sammy and gazed around for … well, I didn’t know what. A clue, I supposed. Anything to justify the long journey. A suspicious part of me wondered if maybe this was all an inscrutable joke, though of course that made no sense.

  Still, there was something about the guy … god … whatever he was. Yes, his truth orb had been golden. But I’d learned with Greenie Red that I could both tell the truth and lie at the same time—through omission.

  Cipher’s appearance in my life seemed like too much of a good thing. I was now convinced Melody’s rescue had nothing to do with him being an ex-guildy or gaming fan, but rather an opportunity taken. Clearly, Jaddow had been incapable or unwilling to leave the game for him. In response, Cipher had set his feelers into the real world, lying in wait for the right opportunity: a retiree who’d died prematurely, and a grieving husband who’d do anything to get her back.

  “Ward 2 sure is big,” I mused, staring at my internal map.

  Thousands of miles long and wide, just like Ward 1. So far, I’d seen only a tiny part of it—the Vale of Solace—the details of which I could zoom in on, now that I’d been there. The rest was masked gray.

  Cross the bridge to Ward 2, and you shall find your first clue.

  What he hadn’t said was, “Cross the bridge to Ward 2, then proceed to the Mediocre Marauder and trigger a response from Bernard by uttering the following phrase…” Or some such.

  I shivered and pulled my arms in through the sleeves of my robes. Thank goodness it wasn’t currently snowing.

  A stone-paved road led north the thirty or so miles to Heroes’ Reach. On either side were pine trees dusted with snow, the ground everywhere buried in foot-high drifts with tracks leading mostly from the bridge in the direction of the town.

  “What the…?” I said.

  Two fresh footprints had appeared about ten feet in front of me, right before my eyes.

  Wondering what would happen, I materialized an apple and chucked it over the spot. The apple vanished in mid-air. A second later, a ripened yellow pear came soaring back. It bounced off my chest and fell in front of Sammy, who quickly snatched it up.

  As I stared dumbfounded, Rita snapped into view.

  “You and your silly apples,” she said with a smirk. “Like my new invisibility trance? Once a day, only. I can’t fight while it’s on, but…” She covered her mouth and giggled. “Wow, Ethan, if you could see the look on your face.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Rita?” I said, hardly believing my eyes.

  “All day, every day,” she said. “Looks like you’re alone.”

  I looked around for some reason, then nodded dumbly.

  “Yeah. Melody … she’s in Heroes’ Landing right now. Not too happy about it. Wants to adventure. It’s complicated.”

  “I bet.”

  “What the hell … I mean, what are you doing here? Not that I mind.”

  Rita laughed. “If I said I was just passing through, would you believe me?”

  “Depends on the color of your truth orb,” I said.

  Rita made a disgusted face and flew over next to me. She reached out and patted my horse.

  “Hi, horsey.”

  “This one’s Sammy. My last one didn’t make it.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry.”

  I shrugged. “It’s all right.”

  Perhaps sensing we were talking about him, Sammy shook his head and whinnied.

  “Why not fly?”

  “I’m too slow,” I said, which wasn’t a hundred percent true. As the crow flew, I’d make better time in the air than by horse.

  “You really should throw twenty-five levels into wizard. You’ll fly twice as fast.”

  “I’ll think about it. Seriously, why are you here?”

  “Jaddow sent me.”

  “What for?” I said.

  “After the big fight, he said he needed to leave. We could see the purple mist filling up the shield over the ruins, and he was in danger.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t stay either. For other reasons.”

  There was a lump in my throat that hadn’t been there before.

  Looking away, Rita said, “Jaddow suggested I go with him. Practically begged me to. Said my destiny was with him for now.” She laughed and shook her head. “My destiny. Can you believe it? Anyone else says something like that I figure they’re trying to get in my pants. But not when he said it. Anyway, he opened up that little doorway of his and off we went.”

  “You went to his castle?”

  Rita nodded. “Quite the little bachelor pad, huh?”

  Despite myself, I became seized by a faint stab of jealousy.

  “If you like that sort of thing,” I said. “Cold, empty, everything black. Spikes everywhere…”

  “It wasn’t cold. My room was amazing.”

  Trying to seem less jealous and more married, I said, “Yeah, well … Did you see the library?”

  “Did I! He sure likes his fantasy. Sci-fi, too. I must have read a hundred books while I was there.”

  That was odd. “But you’ve only been gone, what—three weeks?”

  “Time slip. It’s different there. Way slower.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I forgot. But a hundred books? Why did you stay so long?”

  Rita shrugged. “Didn’t have anywhere else to go, and I was curious about my destiny.”

  When she giggled, I was briefly reminded of our early days in Under Town, braving skeletons with a guy named Jim.

  Continuing, Rita said, “Jaddow’s not so bad, once you get him talking. We took to meeting for breakfast, lunches, and dinners. He’d tell me about Mythian and the things he’d seen, and I just soaked it up. He’s a little squirrelly, not gonna lie. He’s seen it all, though. Knows all the tricks. But he’s so sad…” She shook her head. “Anyway, one day he tells me your friend, Cipher, came visiting. Wanted Jaddow to help you on some quest. Jaddow said no, that he’d helped you enough, and, well…”

  For the first time, she seemed uncertain.

  “What?” I said.

  “Um. Jaddow said he’d, uh … repaid his debt. To your wife.”

  I felt my back stiffen. “What are you talking about? What debt? He barely knows her! Why is everyone so interested in my wife?”

  I must have been yelling because Rita seemed taken aback.

  “Anyway,” she said, glaring at me, “I’m just telling you what he said. And yeah, it sounded weird, okay?”

  In a calmer tone, I said, “What else did he say?”

  “Nothing. Just that he’d repaid his debt to her. After he refused to help you, Jaddow put my name forward. My skills were singularly fitted for the role. He said it just like that.”

  What the hell does he owe Melody?

  Rita was still talking, but I’d missed it. “Sorry, what?”

  “I said I took the job. You’re welcome, by the way.”

  “What job?”

  Rita said, “The job! To help you with your quest. What’s wrong with you?”

  “Did he say how long it would take?”

  Rita frowned. “Jaddow said I needed to stay for the entire quest, and that you needed help finding the clue that starts it. What led you here, anyway?”

  I quickly caught her up on Cipher’s unannounced late-night visit, the details of his plan, and how I’d come to set up Melody in Ward 1.

  “You just left her there?” Rita said.

  “She doesn’t have a character sheet. She could die.”

  “She’s not property, Ethan. She’s a woman. You can’t just drop her off like a sack of laundry.”

  Of all the …

  “I didn’t drop her off like a … I wanted her safe! I’m doing this for her.”

  Rita leveled me a flat look. “There are those who say altruism doesn’t exist. That we only do things that make us feel good. Oh, sure, we may throw ourselves in harm’s way for oth
ers, but only because to do otherwise would distress us too much. Personally, I like to think it’s love that drives us. Or hate. You know—the big emotions.”

  “Can we please get back to the clue?”

  “Don’t get snippy,” she said. “Jaddow said there’s a clue here. Somewhere around the bridge, he said. He opened that portal of his and it brought us here.”

  The wind picked up, cold and biting, and we both ducked as a dusting of snow swept in from the nearby trees.

  “Actually,” she said, “he was pretty surprised by the weather.”

  “What about it?”

  “Just that he’d never seen it so cold this far south in Ward 2 before.”

  “Maybe the clue’s buried in the snow,” I said. “We should look around. See what we find.”

  Rita smiled brightly, then leaned in for a quick, safe, hug. “Good to see you again, Ethan.”

  “You too,” I said. And it was.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Large enough for a county fair, the clearing was flat, bumpy with snow-covered tufts, and surrounded by a thick deciduous forest. Most of the tracks followed the road, but one set didn’t. These cut across the field, northwest. Curious, we followed it to the tree line, then lost it in the tangled undergrowth.

  “What do you think?” I said.

  “It’s definitely unusual,” Rita said. “If there was anything good that way, there’d be more than one track. Also, why didn’t he fly?”

  “He?”

  Rita shrugged. “Or she. Whoever. Anyone who can get to Ward 2 can fly.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Yes, you can. You have those robes. Doesn’t have to be a skill.”

  “How are you flying?” I said. “I didn’t have time to ask in the Vale.”