Everyone’s a critic.
Chapter Fourteen
The weather was just about perfect.
Tim could see where that perfection ended, and the magic of the farm faded away. There wasn’t even a small zone of weather change between the two spaces. On one side of the divide the weather was warm, and on the other, it looked downright chilly. If he wasn’t mistaken, there was frost on the ground in a few places.
“We didn’t explore much farther along the footpath since none of us came prepared for the cold,” Lieutenant Greer stated as he pointed up into the hills and the forest beyond.
“I hate the cold,” Cassie grumbled as she equipped a fur-lined coat.
JaKobi looked like he’d won the lottery. “I’ve been spending my free time in the library ever since we came to Tristholm, and I’m pretty sure I have a spell to help with the cold.”
Tim didn’t want to get his hopes up, but not being a fan of the cold himself, he was intrigued. He leaned forward like the co-host of a late-night infomercial. “Tell me more.”
“It’s nothing too special, only a small area of effect spell, but it should be able to handle a little cold. We run into a blizzard or something you better bundle up.” JaKobi looked rather pleased with himself despite downplaying the spell’s usefulness.
“Might as well go and test it out.” ShadowLily pointed into the cold. “I don’t like wearing bulky clothes since they restrict my movement.”
It was hard for Tim not to be excited about ShadowLily’s class choice. Who wouldn’t like their sexy half-elf girlfriend running around in skin-tight leather outfits? If anything, he got the better end of the deal. While his body in the game was damn near flawless, he also spent almost all of his time in robes.
All this gorgeous and no one gets to see it.
Suppressing a smile as he poked a little fun at himself, Tim watched as JaKobi stepped out in the cold and cast his spell. The ground around the mage in a twenty-foot circle took on a slightly different shade, clearly defining his magic’s boundaries. The fire mage turned and waved to let everyone know it was safe. Cassie kept her coat on, but the rest of them decided to trust in their fiery friend’s ability.
Before stepping out of the farm's dome of influence, Tim turned to the lieutenant. “Thank you for your help.”
“Not a problem. Now it’s up to you to end the threat.” Greer jumped back into his horse’s saddle and headed back to the farm.
Tim stepped off the farm and into JaKobi’s spell. There was a brief instant of being punched in the face by the cold. It reminded him of answering the door for a pizza during a winter storm. He’d shove the money at the startled driver, grab the box and slam the door. Hopefully, a little extra cash smoothed over the abruptness of the encounter. He hated the cold, but clearly not as much as Cassie.
Despite the warmth of JaKobi’s spell, the little tank was still wrapped in her fur-lined cloak. Tim wasn’t sure how she could stand it. If there was one thing he hated more than the cold, it was being too hot. At least in the cold you could pile on layers like it was nobody's business, but when it was hot out, there was basically zero you could do if the AC wasn’t enough.
The realization that there wouldn’t be air conditioning in the desert hit Tim like a ton of bricks. He decided it was time to stop complaining and be thankful he wasn’t sweating his ass off and gave himself a little pep talk. A little cold never hurt anyone, challenges build character, rub a little dirt on it. He finished quoting useless one-liners and started walking. The last thing he wanted to do was fall behind and get left in the cold.
Following the path was simple enough. Tim noticed some new growth breaking through in places, indicating no one had used the trail in a while. Maybe some of the farmers used to hunt out here, or animals used the path before they realized the weather was perfect not so far away. Not knowing how the trail was created didn’t stop him from being thankful for it.
The trees on either side of them grew denser. The large pines towered into the air, almost covering the group with their canopy. Tim looked up and realized that it was snowing. None of it reached their group because of JaKobi’s spell and the trees’ protection. Watching the white flakes fall out of the darkness of the canopy and melt as they hit JaKobi’s shield was beautiful. It was almost like hitting the brights at night when driving in the snow. It made everything look like you were going warp speed.
When there was beauty in a game, there could also be a trap. Tim had to remind himself this wasn’t simply a hike along a forest trail. The scenery and the warm bubble they were in made it easy to forget they were on their way to a confrontation. Until now, he’d assumed it would be a dungeon, but it could be a single boss encounter. It certainly wouldn’t pay to stumble right into a boss fight unprepared.
Tim quickly cast his buffs and made sure he was in his Way of the Boulder stance. Not being prepared when they faced off against the harpy made him realize he’d grown a little overconfident. It was time to get back to basics and make sure they were ready if they ran into unexpected trouble.
“Be ready for anything. Any long-lasting buffs you have cast them now, and if it’s a dungeon up ahead, we can reapply before we enter.” Tim felt a little like he was gamesplaining to seasoned vets, but if he’d been caught up in the new scenery, maybe they had too.
JaKobi’s hands moved through a quick spell. “Self-buffs are the best buffs.”
Cassie snickered. “Sounds like someone who spent most of their life without a girlfriend.”
“Gross.” Lorelei tried to suppress a laugh.
The fire mage continued strutting forward. “Solved both of those problems at once then, haven’t I?”
“Don’t mistake problem-solving for luck.” ShadowLily gave Cassie a high five before turning and sticking her tongue out at JaKobi. “Burn.”
Before he could respond and dig the hole deeper, Tim reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “You mind creating one of those light orbs for us and sending it out in front a little?”
A ball of perfect white light formed in JaKobi’s palm. The sphere leapt from his palm and hovered in midair. With a small flick of his hand, the fire mage sent the ball out about thirty feet in front of them and set the light about fifteen feet off the ground. The orb gave off just enough glow to let them see if anything was lying in wait for them.
Tim let out a small sigh of relief when he saw what looked like a dungeon entrance in the distance. If they were this close to it without running into trouble, all the danger was probably inside. It was a nice change of pace from having to fight your way to a dungeon just to fight some more inside.
No one liked trash mobs.
Although the trash gave everyone time to chat and relax before the next big encounter. Sometimes it was a nice relief after the stress of raiding. So far in The Etheric Coast, Tim hadn’t used the same methods to relax. Inside the game, he couldn’t talk about sports or world events because he had no idea what was going on in the real world. At first, he kind of missed getting sports updates, but then he realized the benefits far outweighed the downsides.
There was no politics inside the game.
What he wouldn’t have given not to open the news every day to hear one side or the other with some new crazy theory about how life in America was over as we knew it. Tim couldn’t live his life dialed up to eleven. All he wanted was to graduate, get a job, and get rid of his debt as quickly as possible. So far, he was two out of three and moving in the right direction. On top of everything else he even got the girl.
If it weren’t for my family, I’d probably never want to leave.
The group continued up the path. Cassie moved into the lead now that their destination was clear. Tim kept his eyes moving, trying to take in as much as he could. The trees peeled away from the path and created a wide clearing. It wasn’t until they were in the open that he realized they were in a small valley, and the dungeon’s entrance was in a large cliff face.
Trees did a d
amn good job of hiding the terrain change.
Outside the dungeon was the perfect place for an ambush. Providing a person got there first and secured the high ground. The good news for their group was that stuff like that only happened in Braveheart and Vikings.
Lorelei moved around the clearing and stopped at a little pedestal. It looked like the one that played the cinematic trailer to The Hallow. She looked at the group for confirmation and hit the button.
A holographic projection appeared in front of them.
The camera panned in from above, on a young doctor in his thirties. Half of his shoulder-length hair was pure white, and the other half as black as midnight. There was no way to tell who or what was on the gurney as the doctor hunched over his patient.
Slowly, as if to draw the viewer's eyes across the dry blood on the floor and walls, the camera panned until it settled on a woman entering the room. Her nurse's outfit was tight in all the right places, but her face held the look of someone who was hired for their expertise and not merely because they were hot. Tim heard Lorelei suck in a sharp breath as the camera panned over the nurse’s shoulder and followed her into the room from behind.
The nurse had a tail.
Not a little piggy tail, or something that might match her size like a dog or cat tail, no this woman had a full-on crocodile tail. It was thick enough that Tim wouldn’t have wanted to get hit by it, and it looked sturdy enough she probably would never need to use a chair ever again.
He’d heard of stuff like this back in the real world. Of course, as science pushed the boundaries of what people thought was possible, there were always those willing to take the next step. Folks weren’t only getting Lasik now; sometimes, they also had blue light filters or contacts inserted under the flap.
Many people didn’t consider Lasik real surgery anymore. They could get it done at the strip mall, then grab a froyo. There were all kinds of body modifications going on. Once people started using plates under their skin to change their appearance, shit got real. This seemed like a natural evolution of the practice, but using magic instead of science.
In a hundred years, everyone might have a tail.
Tim let out a little snicker thinking of how fashion would change in his lifetime. It didn’t matter how old you were. Something you owned would go in and out of style, maybe even more than once. People might have laughed at his Phish World Tour t-shirt, but in thirty years, some kid would find it at a vintage shop and think it was the coolest thing ever.
The nurse handed the doctor a medical instrument of some kind, and he used it to make a few final adjustments before stepping away from the table. Tim wasn’t sure what he was looking at. Then it slowly dawned on him. There was a woman on the table, and she had a set of giant wings sprouting from her shoulder blades. The raw red around the base of the wings showed the wounds were fresh.
“Doctor Zacharias, how is she doing?” the nurse asked as she took the patient's vitals.
The doctor ran a hand through his hair, leaving a bloody streak through his pristine white locks. “The patient struggled with the changes I made to her skeletal system, but her body seems to have accepted the wings without issue. We won’t know more until she wakes up.”
The nurse bent so she could look into the woman’s eyes. Taking one of the patient's hands in hers, she spoke. “Wake up, sister. Come back to me.”
A groan escaped the patient’s lips as she tried to push herself up from the table. Her eyes locked onto the nurse’s. “Help me up, Jenna.”
“Take it easy, Elenor.” The nurse helped her into a sitting position.
Standing away from the two women, the doctor observed them impartially. He didn’t look happy despite the fact the surgery had been successful. The two sisters continued to chat absentmindedly as the doctor cleaned his tools. The room darkened, and Tim expected the film to jump to the next scene, but it didn't. Instead, the doctor turned as white as a sheet while he waited to see what would emerge from the darkness.
An inky black blob formed in the air of the lab. The darkness expanded until it filled half the room. A woman stepped out of it, and it wrapped around her to form a dress.
Vitaria had joined their little party.
Doctor Zacharias immediately dropped to one knee. “Goddess, I am yours to command.”
The goddess smiled. “So you have been successful yet again?” Her eyes moved over the two women.
“Only with your help. The intricacies of the magic used here are beyond my ability to comprehend.” Zacharias moved to the table. “As you can see, perfection.”
Vitaria turned away from them. “These simple constructs were merely a test of your abilities. What I desire is for you to create something exceptional.”
Favoring the doctor by allowing him to meet her gaze, Vitaria moved forward as dark energy swirled around her hands. “Are you ready to receive my gift?”
The doctor’s face couldn’t have been any more split with emotion if it matched his hair. Part of him was clearly thrilled by what he’d accomplished, but there was also a look of disgust on his face. It was as though Zacharias finally realized that once you made a deal with the devil, there was no backing out.
Dropping to his knees, Zacharias lowered his head. “I am.”
Vitaria reached out and clasped Doctor Zacharias’ head in her hands. The dark energy coalescing around her fingers pulsed as she moved them around the doctor’s skull. With each pulse, the darkness faded slightly, and Doctor Zacharias moaned. There was no way to know exactly what was happening, but it looked as if the goddess was infusing the doctor with magic.
“You have the blueprints for my creations. I expect to see progress when I return. Do not forget what rests in the balance.” The smoky dress Vitaria wore started to pull apart.
Zacharias rose to his feet and held his arms in front of him as if he were begging. The hair on his head was almost entirely white now. A single streak of black ran across his scalp like a lightning bolt. “I don’t have the resources for this kind of operation.”
“You are resourceful. I trust you will find a way.” Vitaria made a small gesture, and a chest full of golden coins appeared in the room. The rest of her dress pulled apart, and the goddess stepped back into the darkness and disappeared.
Elenor rose from the table and stretched her wings. “What do we have to do?”
Doctor Zacharias began speaking, and the camera slowly pulled away so Tim and company couldn’t hear the words. The doctor and the women looked like they were having a massive argument about what would happen next.
Tim couldn’t help but feel for the guy. Sometimes people let their ambitions run away with their better judgment. It was never a good idea to take the short road to success. Highly successful people were that way for a reason. Most of them worked with a relentless focus until achieving whatever goal they set for themselves.
Not always fun but highly effective.
“Anyone else not excited to find out what else Vitaria had him making in there?” Lorelei looked kind of creeped out.
JaKobi moved toward the door. “Are you kidding? I can’t wait to get in there. This shit is so fucked up it’s like walking into a horror movie.”
“I guess if the guy protecting us from the cold is going in, I am too.” Despite her words, ShadowLily also looked excited by the prospect of the dungeon.
Cassie pulled her cloak in. “It better be warm in there.”
Tim put an arm around their tank’s shoulders. “What do you say we go find out?”
Together they strode into the entrance of Doctor Zacharias’ lair.
Chapter Fifteen
The market was a hive of activity.
Neema watched from her seat as she sipped a cup of tea. The price for a pot had been exorbitant, but they weren’t going to let her sit here for free, and she’d recently come into some coins. The spot she picked kept her back to a wall and gave her a good view of the market’s busiest intersection.
Keeping an eye
on the foot traffic was testing her patience. It was like hoping to spot a grain of sand in the desert. She wanted to scream, shout, and cut every single one of these smugglers down until she had the scroll in her hand, but that wouldn’t work any better. Asking for help was out of the question.
No one in the Grotto gave two shits about your problems.
It wasn’t only the sitting that was getting to her. Neema was a creature who needed to be on the move. Sitting and hoping wasn’t usually on her to-do list. Khalid would have told her that when her mind pulled in two different directions, the best thing to do was pray to the goddess for insight.
Praying wasn’t really her thing.
She’d recently learned that a small amount of humility went a long way. It was why Khalid always played defense in a battle before going on the attack. Her leader's advice never steered her wrong, although she seemed determined to prove it for herself instead of taking his word for it. Everything up until this point had been instinct. Maybe it was time for a little divine intervention.
Eternia, Goddess of Light, please find it in your heart to point me to the scroll. I know I might not be worthy of your assistance, but Khalid is. All we want is to stop our city from falling further into darkness.
Neema waited with her eyes closed, hoping for some kind of response, but nothing came. Maybe all those nights she spent cursing the gods for her fate as a youth made today’s pleas fall on deaf ears. That was fine. She’d spent her entire life relying on only one other person. If the scroll was gone, they would find a way.
She drank the last of her tea and set the cup down on the table. Reaching into the pouch tucked into her vest, Neema pulled out a few coppers and tossed them on the table for a tip. While the tea had been overpriced, she couldn’t risk some disgruntled waiter following her back into the tunnels. It was time to get out of here. She’d pushed her luck as it was.
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