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

by John L. Monk

  Rita nodded. “I can tell. So, you gonna kill yourself or leave and freeze to death?”

  “Freeze to death?” Steven said, face blanching. “Oh, man, I hate cold. And fire … and poison … and acid. Ah, shit. You got a knife?”

  “I do,” I said, and pulled a cooking knife from my bag. I handed to him.

  “Would you mind doing it?” he said.

  I shook my head. “No PVP. Sorry.”

  Steven grimaced. “I can’t do it with you two looking. If you wouldn’t mind…?”

  Rita said, “It was nice meeting you.”

  Steven grunted and stared miserably at the knife. We left him there and shut the door.

  “You think he’ll really do it?” I said.

  From the other side of the door, a pained yelp, followed by a low groan and a heavy whump.

  “Wow,” I said, impressed. “I could never do something like that. Not with a knife.”

  Rita didn’t reply. She stared straight ahead.

  I nudged her with an elbow. “I could barely cut my own finger off. Remember?”

  “You gonna open the scroll?” she said evenly.

  Wondering if I’d said something wrong, I nodded. “Yeah. Sure.”

  I opened the note.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Dear Ethan and Rita,

  My full name is Thomas Owens, though you know me by my game name, Jaddow.

  Several minutes ago, I awoke from Raul’s Greater Vision, a diviner spell available upon reaching rank 2000. The price I paid to cast it was one hundred levels, but it was more than worth it.

  At Cipher’s orders, I’m writing this from my micro-universe, sheltered from the normal passage of time, and from where I typically feed him a steady stream of illicit karma. Though I was commanded to write these final instructions, he foolishly left the wording to me. If we are lucky, this small act of hubris will spell his doom.

  For reasons too lengthy to relate, I am Cipher’s minion, along with a great many other players. The timeless properties of this place, and our assistance generally, has allowed him to do some truly terrible things over the years.

  Long ago, he discovered a backdoor communications channel hidden deep within Mythian. Many of the game’s developers loved the world they’d created and planned to retire here. They’d hoped to keep abreast of worldly events. But in so doing, they put us all in terrible danger.

  After his discovery, Cipher had a problem: he didn’t know how to use computers or navigate networks, and that’s where I came in. As a former engineer, I could figure out the interface and instruct him in its use.

  In return for my help, he promised to show me how to beat the game. Eager to escape the drudgery of my Mythian existence, I told him yes.

  At first, Cipher’s forays into the world seemed benign. He was curious about Earth-style gaming, and about the world in general. Anxious to please him, I didn’t question his motives beyond face value. Little did I know he was learning far more than our history, politics, and entertainment news.

  To my eternal regret, it was he who caused that flitter car accident with your wife. He’d hacked the guidance system using skills developed in secret.

  I only hope that one day you and Melody can forgive me.

  On the top level of the Hall of Heroes, near the entrance, you’ll find a door with the name Henry Wilkins on it. Henry is one of the original game designers, and he can raise you—and Rita, if she wants—to rank 2000 in each of your classes. You will also receive the secret to winning the game and leaving it. A secret, as it turned out, that I could never use.

  It is nearly impossible to beat the last guardian, otherwise known as the Domination. Rather, you must teleport beyond it to the exit rune, and from there, into Everlife’s famous skin frame bodies. In the entire history of the game, only four other people have done so, and all of them were game developers. The system is rigged.

  According to my vision, Henry will help you—provided you promise not to reveal the location of the Hall of Heroes, or how to get in to anyone who doesn’t already know. He’ll bind you with a geas that will permanently destroy you if you break it, as he once bound me.

  Getting you both here without being obliterated will prove a tricky piece of work, but according to the vision, I’m up to the task. I guess we’ll find out.

  Raul’s Greater Vision is different than the lesser version in one important way: it shows multiple futures. My vision showed hundreds of different possible futures, all but one of them resulting in the destruction of this world and its inhabitants. If I’ve been anything but friendly to you in our interactions—if I could have helped more, but didn’t—understand that I had a very tight rope to walk.

  Cipher is an evil piece of work. He seeks revenge on humanity for casting him aside—for creating him without a role in the world, like the other gods. If he ever gets the power to operate outside the karma system, he will deliver unholy hell upon every retiree. No sanctuary flag will stop him—not even the other gods, bound as they are. Even giving up will not be an option. Everyone in the game will burn in endless fire like something out of the Old Testament.

  By now, you two will have fallen in love. “It was written in the stars,” as they say. When I was a young man, I was an idealist. I grew up thinking only love could save the world, and now it might actually happen. Congratulations. You’ve found in each other something I never could, at least in this world, and I am truly happy for both of you.

  Find Henry. Tell him everything you’ve seen and done. Show him this note!

  Know that as soon as you reach rank 2000 in your various classes, Cipher will receive an alert. After that, my use to him as anything but a karma battery will be over. It’s my own fault—I’d accepted the siphoning perk that allowed it. Karma laundering, as it’s known, is the only way for fiends and divinity to directly harm players and get away with it, and Cipher has mastered the technique.

  Resist him! Find a way to beat him. I can’t tell you how, but I promise: you have the power to do so. I know this because I’ve seen it.

  Good luck.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Steven’s body was gone when we checked the sepulcher, as well as any trace of blood. The Hall of Heroes, it seemed, liked to keep things tidy.

  Rita sat on the sleeping bier and read the note again. I sat down beside her.

  “Hard to believe,” she said, “that someone could hack the flitter system from a game world.”

  There had never been a flitter accident attributed to a routing failure—at least not after the system was taken over by Q4. Barring component malfunction, the engineers had told me, such a thing was mathematically impossible. And yet, after Melody’s fatal crash, they’d analyzed those very components, and none of the parts on her flitter had been defective.

  At the time, I’d been devastated, but what could I do? The investigation was closed within a day of the accident, and the world kept turning. Then along comes Cipher, and wow does he have a tale to tell. Like a gullible fool, I’d eaten it up.

  “Jaddow didn’t know he’d do that,” Rita said firmly. “I believe him.”

  “Me too,” I said, surprising myself. “The only one I blame is Cipher.”

  Quietly, I pondered the rest of the note. Cipher was using Jaddow as a “karma battery.” In a way, he’d used me the same way, though without the special siphoning perk. He’d placed that karma ring in the Awful Calamity’s treasure chest with the intent of getting it back from me.

  I glanced at Rita, markedly prettier than before going to sleep. Jaddow’s vision shouldn’t have included something so trivial as our newly realized love, and yet it had. It was bizarre that he’d brought it up at all—borderline rude. Then again, the man had always shown an inexplicable interest in the health of my marriage.

  I tried to stand up, only to plop back down. In Mythian’s perfectly simulated way, my leg had fallen asleep. Activating my amulet, I rose into the air and supported my weight on my other leg.
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  “Cipher’s a god,” I said. “Whatever that is. At the very least, he’s powerful. What chance do we have against that?”

  Rita said, “No matter how powerful he is, he can’t beat Everlife. If you tell them what’s happening, they’ll stop him.”

  “You really think they’ll listen?”

  “When you win, you’ll be a media sensation. Everyone will want to talk to you. You’ll make them care.”

  I wasn’t sold, but nodded anyway.

  “For now,” she said, “Cipher has to think you’re on board, same as before. Right until the moment you’re not.” She held up the note. “He may be a god, but he can’t read minds. Otherwise he’d know Jaddow’s not his bud anymore. Keep a good poker face and we can trick him.”

  I nodded thoughtfully. “You ready to find Henry?”

  “Only for the last hour, now.”

  “All right then,” I said, and cast Seek.

  “Here it is,” I said maybe ten minutes later.

  The spell had led us to a door near the entrance on the top level, which agreed with the note.

  “Henry Wilkins,” Rita read. “Kinda funny, making a game so boring he can’t stand playing anymore.”

  “When we get in there,” I said, “keep it down this time. We’ll wake him when we’re ready. Whispers only.”

  Rita rolled her eyes, took two steps in—and gasped. “What the heck?”

  Unlike all the other rooms, this one was massive. On the inside, it resembled something akin to a fantasy Taj Mahal, with soaring colonnades, exotic statuary, and pools of crystal-clear water fed by trickling waterfalls. Exotic woods and precious metals made up a bas-relief frieze girdling the intricately coffered ceiling. The frieze showed a young man in business attire working in the real world on an important project. It followed him around the room as he progressed up the corporate ladder and ended with him standing in a noob tunic on the road to Heroes’ Landing.

  Standing vertically in the middle of all this opulence was an enormous golden sarcophagus. The thing was lit from countless hidden sources, to dazzling effect.

  “Holy cow,” I said.

  “Yeah,” Rita said, shaking her head in wonder. “Oh, wow, would you look at that floor?”

  With all the gold and sparkly light, I’d missed it. The floor around the sarcophagus was a shimmering mosaic of countless tiny gems colored in every imaginable hue. As we shifted our heads, pictures appeared: windswept dunes, cloud castles, deep caverns, and seagoing scenes with tall ships and sea monsters.

  “You think he’s in that thing?” Rita said, pulling me from my reverie.

  “I can cast Seek again.”

  “Nah, he’s there,” she said. “Let’s go see.”

  She stepped onto the mosaic floor … and ghosts floated in from everywhere at once. Not missing a beat, Rita flew through the air kicking and punching like a human whirlwind. With every hit, the ghosts disappeared, but more were flooding in.

  “MLB!” I shouted. “MSB! MSS!”

  Lightning, shadow, and a solar attack rocked the suddenly too-small room as more ghosts crowded in.

  Searing pain stabbed through my left shoulder when one of the slow-moving creatures floated too close and raked me with its claws. Afterward, it disappeared, and I received a notification:

  YOU HAVE LOST 10 LEVELS!

  Another ghost slashed me across the face and disappeared.

  YOU HAVE LOST 10 LEVELS!

  I cast more spells, killing them easily, but there were so many now I could hardly see Rita.

  YOU HAVE LOST 10 LEVELS!

  YOU HAVE LOST 10 LEVELS!

  YOU HAVE LOST 10 LEVELS!

  YOU HAVE LOST 10 LEVELS!

  In desperation, I tossed Mighty Shield on Rita and cast normal Rain of Fire.

  Given our higher levels and the size of the room, it shouldn’t have been powerful enough to kill Rita outright, even in an enclosed space. Like me, she had skills to mitigate damage, as well as my best shield and that new amulet. For myself, Aspect of the Swami would keep me from dying, no matter how big the blast.

  The spell knocked my health down 20% and hurt as much as a literal rain of fire should. Rita screamed but didn’t die, and I chewed on the guilt that came from hurting a friend. But it worked. All the ghosts vanished in that single hit.

  “Ethan!” she shouted in a voice made raspy from breathing superheated air. “The thing—the coffin! We have to open it!”

  Already, more ghosts were filtering in.

  Together we grabbed one side and shoved as hard as we could. The lid shifted, though barely.

  “We need help!” she screamed. “One of your demons!”

  “Kandoo! I summon you!”

  The bullfrog form of my favorite utility demon materialized in front of me.

  “The coffin!” I screamed at it. “Open the coffin!”

  The demon leaped through the air and rammed the sarcophagus head on, knocking it over and spilling a human form onto the shimmering mosaic floor.

  The ghosts disappeared, and the man sat up rubbing his eyes. Then he yawned loudly. When he saw us, he blinked in surprise.

  In a voice thick with sleep, he said, “Who the hell are you people?”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Henry Wilkins looked much younger in person than in most of the images around the room. But then, so did everyone who retired to Mythian.

  Upon seeing us—burned, bleeding, groaning in pain—he rolled to his feet and healed us to full health with twin beams of sparkling blue light. Our lost levels, however, did not heal back.

  “Damn that Jaddow!” Henry said. “Surprised he didn’t go for the prize and leave the game. Said that’s what he wanted. I guess he lied about that too.” He grunted and shook his head. “He swore a magical oath not to tell anyone about this place. Too bad for him.”

  “Um,” I said cautiously. “We’re fairly certain he’s not dead.”

  Henry snorted. “Impossible. I wrote the code myself. One second after you break your word, you’re deleted. Harsh, yes, but that’s Mythian for you.”

  “But what if he got us here without telling us?” I said. “What if he sort of … you know, tricked us into coming?”

  Henry started to reply, then pursed his lips. Finally, he said, “He did that?”

  I nodded.

  “Clever bastard,” he said. “Persistent. Still, a deal’s a deal. I can trigger the geas manually and delete him that way.”

  “Please don’t do that!” Rita said.

  Henry eyed her curiously. “And why not?”

  “At least hold on for a bit,” I said. “Until you hear what we have to say. Not like you’re on a schedule.”

  Henry’s face relaxed into a comfortable smile. “Ah, yes, this place. All we have is time. Like anyone else, I went to sleep because I was tired. Of this game, of life … of everything. You have no idea how sweet my dreams are now. Such joy! Dreaming and happiness are the way life should be, in my opinion. If I were still alive, I’d make a retirement world where all you did is sleep and dream and feel good. Now that’s Heaven.” His smile faded and he blinked as if seeing us for the first time. “Anyway … What do you intruders want? An easy win? Artifacts? Levels? Jaddow had a lot of demands. A good negotiator, too. Said he’d tell everyone how to get here if I didn’t give what he wanted.” Henry laughed. “You realize I’ll have to put a geas on you, too, right? You won’t be able to talk about this place with anyone but each other. Now I gotta add a clause saying you can’t trick people into coming here.”

  “Not so fast,” Rita said. “Our friend, Jaddow—I’m sure he would have honored his pledge under normal circumstances, but—”

  “Don’t care,” Henry said. “He’ll keep tricking people into coming here. What do you think Everlife will do if people keep winning? Shut it down, that’s what. We need to fly under the radar. One or two winners every ten years is one thing. A flood of immortal robots running around is quite another. I’m sorry for your fri
end, but my hands are tied.”

  I opened Jaddow’s note and said, “You need to remember two things. One, we’re not going anywhere until you help us. Two, you need to read this note first. Here.”

  I handed it to him, but he didn’t read it.

  “Okay, fine,” Henry said. He closed his eyes, waved his arms theatrically, and exhaled slowly. “Jaddow’s geas is lifted. Are you happy?”

  I pointed at the black truth orb over his head. “You’re a liar. Just read the note.”

  Henry swore. “I was dead set against putting diviners in the game. Not even an adventuring class. All right, fine. Gimme a moment.”

  Henry read the note while I watched to see if his eyes moved. Hard to tell. He did make a few hmm noises. A minute later he said, “I’m going to read this again. If you’ll excuse me…”

  He went to his overturned sarcophagus, sat down, and proceeded to read it again. When I glanced at Rita, her face registered hope.

  A few minutes later, Henry waved us over.

  “Well?” I said.

  He gazed worriedly at us.

  “I’m every class in the game, you know,” he said. “Made myself that way when I entered. One of the reasons I got bored so quickly. Which means, like you, I’m also a diviner. This note of yours … Is it true? Is it real? End of the world, everlasting torment?”

  I nodded. “Yes, sir, it is. There’s more to the story if you’ll listen.”

  “You have earned my complete and utter attention,” he said.

  I began with Cipher’s first messages to me, back in the real world. How he’d claimed to be a fan of Melody’s gaming career and promised we could be together again. Next, my arrival in the game, meeting Jaddow, and eventually choosing Hard Mode. When I got to the part about Myrialla, Henry stopped me.

  “You beat her?” he said, staring intently over my head.

  “Yes,” I said, “but I had help.”

  I proceeded to tell him how Cipher had swayed Myrialla to let me win on the chance that I’d bring her acorn to Ward 2, where she’d have more access to high-level victims.