Deserts Of Naroosh

by Bradford Bates

  Happened all the time in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

  Any puzzle in that game might as well be a big sign that said, “huge ass monster about to be dropped on your head.” That’s why you never ran into a room and hit the big shiny buttons. So while the space in front of them looked innocent enough, looks could be deceiving. Developers always liked to keep a gamer on their toes, and Tim’s were positively tingling.

  Still standing outside the entrance, they all took in the scenery as JaKobi sent his lights flying over the space. The room was massive, and in the very center was a raised dais with a large stone panel on it. It looked like each wall had an enormous door built into it, so it was safe to assume the panel probably controlled the doors. All they would have to do was figure out how to get them open. This appeared to be the point of no return, a player's last chance to back out without dying.

  Fuck that noise. He was ready to rumble.

  Tim took the first step across the threshold into the room. “Let’s check out the panel. Try not to touch anything until we get a sense of what it does.”

  Tim let Cassie move in front of him, but he hovered over her shoulder like that annoying person in line always trying to watch your phone. He hoped she could ignore his rudeness since he really liked solving puzzles in games. There were a few games where the mysteries seemed a little much, but so far they hadn’t run into problems.

  They moved up the small slope as one unit until they stood on the flat surface of the dais facing the panel. Small colored stones lined the panel's face, and Tim had no doubt about what that meant. They would have to figure out the proper pattern to open each door, and the clues were hidden around the room.

  Finding the clues was his least favorite part of problem-solving. He liked figuring out the visual puzzles a lot better, but games weren’t built only for him. There was also the question about whether it mattered which door opened first. Not every game did the order of importance, but in some, opening the wrong door triggered a trap.

  Despite all his big talk, they would have to be careful. The panel in front of him clearly looked like a representation of the room. Etched into the surface for the one on the left was the image of a snake. The symbol in the center had worn away, and there was no way to tell what used to be there. A small button off to the panel's side looked like it would lock in any choice after they made it.

  Right away, the risk-averse side of his brain said to skip the middle option. If there was a sure thing on the right and left sides of the room, they should probably start there. It always paid to have as much information as possible before a battle, and mysterious blank spots didn’t help much when planning. In his experience, cats were less creepy than reptiles so he was leaning hard to figure out the cat side of the equation first. However, it was a choice for the group to make so if they found out how to open the snake lock first, then snakes it was.

  “Let’s spread out and look for clues. If you figure out how to open one of the doors, come back to the central panel and wait.” Tim descended into the room and hoped this part of the process would be quick.

  JaKobi moved up to look at the panel, and his eyes raced across it for a second before he reached out and moved some of the tiles around. “I think I’ve got it.” His hand moved up and then slammed down on the console's only button.

  There was a loud click, and everyone turned to stare at him. “Aw shit guys, sorry about that.” He held out his hands defensively. “The whole thing was so sparkly, and somehow I just knew how it fit together.”

  Tim wanted to be mad, but searching the room for clues was low on the fun totem pole. “At least tell me your sparkly little brain decided that we’d be fighting the cats first.” He watched JaKobi intently, hoping for the best.

  The fire mage looked back at the panel, then at Tim. The look on his face clearly said cats weren’t on the menu. JaKobi slowly shook his head. “Sorry, boss.”

  “Cassie, I take it back. JaKobi is trouble, and you should dump him immediately.” Tim shuddered as he thought about what they might be facing next.

  The tank turned and looked at the fire mage, then grinned. “I don’t know. He’s kind of cute. I think I might keep him for a while.”

  “We all make bad choices,” Tim grumbled as he stomped over to the ramp.

  “Love you too, boss,” JaKobi barked back as he descended to join him.

  ShadowLily met Tim at the bottom and nuzzled into his shoulder. “Not a big fan of the creepy crawlies, huh?”

  “Plus, who wants to kill kitties? What are you, some kind of monster?” Lorelei snapped.

  Laughing, Tim pointed at the now open door. “Kitties, lizards, kitty-lizards, it’s all the same to me.” Sometimes a guy had to put on a brave face.

  Lorelei huffed, clearly not buying it. “Just think happy thoughts.”

  Yeah right.

  Cassie jumped from the dais to the floor to join the group. Warm, humid air poured through the entrance—the kind of environment snakes and crocs thrived in. The weather change didn’t give Cassie any pause, but he noticed that her fur-lined cloak disappeared as she crossed the barrier. Once the entire group was inside, Cassie moved forward.

  Reptiles were creepy.

  Snakes were the worst of the bunch. What kind of person loved a snake anyway? It wasn’t as if a snake loved its owner. They ate and plotted ways to escape. Kind of like cats, but at least the little fur demons showed some emotion. Yes, it was mostly when the little bastards wanted food or attention, but at least it was something.

  JaKobi was pretty sure snakes didn’t have feelings. Their id probably drove them just like a zombie. All they cared about was the next thing they wanted. Sleep, hunt, eat, sleep. While it was cool to watch a snake strike on a video, he was less than thrilled to think of himself as the meal. Nothing said unattractive like bruised, swollen, rotting flesh.

  He wondered if Cassie would still feel the same way about him if he was all deformed. Then he realized it didn’t really matter. Inside the game, he’d never be anything besides what he was right now. If he was ever hurt and couldn’t be killed, a quick trip to Randy, his caseworker, and he’d be back to a hundred percent lickety-split.

  The same was true for Cassie.

  He watched her moving now and wondered how he’d gotten so lucky. It wasn't only her he was thankful for. The entirety of the Blue Dagger Society made him feel like he had a family. As an only child, he didn’t have any brothers or sisters to rely on. It was only him and the Ps. They were getting older now, and he was starting to wonder what it would be like when they were gone.

  Did a person still have a family when he was the only one left?

  Before he could dwell on it for long, JaKobi decided it was time to change his perspective. Shit, he knew plenty of people who hated their families, and he was lucky not to be one of them. He was trying to spend more time being thankful for the things he had in life instead of wanting what others had or being jealous of it. Some people needed a mansion. He just wanted to be happy.

  Snakes weren’t going to get him there.

  Although it could be worse. At least the group wasn’t facing a Lake Placid situation. He’d been to Florida exactly one time, and nothing in his life ever freaked him out as much as seeing those two eyes rise out of the water. There was something primal about seeing death staring back at you.

  What big eyes you have.

  Even as a teen, JaKobi had taken one look at those alligator eyes and knew what it felt like to be on the lower end of the food chain. It didn’t matter that he was staying at a fancy hotel. The gator sure didn’t seem to care how much his parents paid for the room. That bastard's room was free, and it came with snacks that paid for the privilege of being there.

  So one look in those cold reptilian eyes, and he ran back to the room.

  He’d spent a lot of time running since then. Part of him was always afraid. He liked to call it prudence, but he was really just scared shitless. Since then, JaKobi had been in awe of
people who seemed fearless. Two of his heroes growing up were Matt Hoffman and Tony Hawk. Watching those guys sail through the air was something special. While what those guys did was dangerous, at least they weren’t as crazy as those nutters who went swimming with the sharks.

  Andy Casagrande has some big brass ones, that’s for sure.

  Since entering The Etheric Coast, JaKobi felt as though he was one of his fearless idols. While swimming with the sharks and flying through the air weren’t on his to-do list, somewhere along the way he’d found his courage. Maybe it was the people he was with, or perhaps he’d found something within himself, but he was doing things he would never have thought possible. Not only was he involved in the fights, but he was also a big part of them.

  Facing down a werewolf on his own certainly didn’t hurt his confidence.

  Plus, he finally had a girl. Sure, Cassie hit him a little more than was strictly proper, but that was the price you paid for being with a warrior. If you wanted soft around the edges, his girl wasn’t the one, but JaKobi would take substance over niceties any day of the week.

  The view from behind wasn’t that bad either.

  If he were able to pick a role for her, it wouldn’t have been a tank. JaKobi hated watching her run headfirst into danger. It wasn’t his choice though, and even if he didn’t like seeing her get hurt, he’d always support her right to make her choices even if she got hurt.

  That was the thing with tanks. None of them lived forever. He knew deep down that he would have to watch her die during one of these fights. He was going to lose his shit when that happened. Controlling the magic inside him was easy when his emotions were in check. When they weren’t, the fire always wanted out. Fire was hungry, and the flames wanted to burn.

  It was funny how they were so different. His entire class was based on self-control, and hers was about letting her fury loose. Somehow, despite their different personalities, whatever they had going on worked. He didn’t know how long it would last. It wasn’t as if he had a ton of relationship experience. One thing JaKobi knew for sure was that as long as their relationship lasted, he would enjoy the fuck out of it.

  JaKobi looked up from his musing and realized the hallway they were walking down was quickly drawing to an end. There wasn’t a door or anything, but the hallway widened into a large square room. Foggy glass holding cells lined two sides of the room. The lighting sputtered like an old-school horror flick, covering the cages in light one second and darkness the next. His additional lights took some of the creep-factor out of it, but certainly not all.

  He stopped in front of the nearest glass cage and tapped the glass with his staff. JaKobi leaned forward, trying to get a good look inside. Something shot out of the darkness and hit the glass in front of him so hard it cracked.

  He found himself sitting on the floor, not exactly sure how he got there. The cage was cracked, but the glass wasn’t broken. He must have fallen on his ass when he saw the snake coming right at him. That was some scary shit. His instant reaction had been to get away when it should have been to cast his Flame Shield spell. No reason to run when you could let the threat incinerate itself.

  Next time he’d be ready.

  JaKobi stood and dusted off his robes. If the rest of the group was watching him, he had no idea. All he wanted was a better look at the snake in the cage. This time he approached the glass cautiously, trying not to disturb the creature within so he could get a better look at it.

  Oh fuck, it’s huge.

  And the snake wasn’t alone.

  He stepped back from the glass, turned, and looked at the rest of the room. Cages lined the walls. There must have been hundreds of them. If they had this many snakes, who knew what Doctor Zacharias was up to?

  He silently thanked Eternia that it wasn’t worse. These snakes wouldn’t crush boats in their coils like on late-night science fiction television although a person wouldn’t stand much chance against one of them, at least not without some serious training. He was pretty sure their group could handle about twenty of these things at a time, but not if they got bigger or had human intelligence.

  Cassie rounded the corner in front of them and made a gagging sound. “That’s so disgusting.”

  Normally the sound of retching wouldn’t make him eager to see what was around the corner of the last cage, but now he almost felt compelled to look. It was like watching a slasher movie. The scares were gross, but they were also the best part. Flames danced around his fingers in case trouble waited around the bend, but as he cleared the corner, the fire instantly snuffed out.

  Cassie wasn’t in danger, and disgusting was exactly the right word.

  Human legs had been tossed around the room as though a toddler threw a tantrum at a doll shop. Men’s, women's, long, short, black, white, there didn’t seem to be any pattern at all. The only thing missing was children's legs, and for that he was grateful. You take any crime and do it to a child it’s a million times worse. It seemed that despite the savagery of this place, Doctor Zacharias had some lines he wouldn’t cross.

  “What do you think this means?” ShadowLily held up a giant decapitated snakehead.

  Tim's face lit up. He might have even been excited as he spoke. “Naga.”

  “Well, shit.” JaKobi looked at the piles of body parts and couldn’t help but agree with Tim’s assessment.

  Although these wouldn’t be naga in the traditional sense. Normally the monsters remained mostly snake although they had arms like a human. These creatures would be more like driders or centaurs. He’d never seen a half-human half-snake before but couldn’t wait to see what one looked like.

  They would certainly have their hands full now. With the tops halves of these creatures being entirely human, they would be at least as smart as they were, with the advantage of being able to slither. Unless Doctor Zacharias had to do a few test runs, there might also be a lot of them. All the legs had to come from somewhere.

  As he continued to look over the carnage, Tim stepped to the front of the group. “We have a pretty good idea of what’s waiting for us on the other side of the door. Make sure to keep your wits about you and move as a group. We’ve got this.”

  Cassie watched Tim for a moment to make sure he’d finished his little pep talk, then moved toward the last door between them and a fight. Just in time, too. The flames were calling to JaKobi. They wanted to be set free.

  The first naga that showed up would have a real crispy day.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Bigger than I expected.” Cassie frowned as she ducked back around the corner.

  Tim certainly didn’t like the sound of that. Bigger than expected could mean a lot of things depending on your starting reference point. He’d kind of thought The Etheric Coast’s version of nagas would be about the same height as an average person or maybe a foot or two larger due to their tails having to curve below them.

  Clearly, he was naïve.

  ShadowLily popped back into existence next to the tank and motioned to her. “I counted three of them.” She pointed at the stone wall in three places. “Here, here, and here.”

  Cassie looked at where she pointed and poked her head back around the corner to look at the room again. “Got it.”

  Tim inched closer to the corner. When he reached the two women, he stopped. “Mind if I take a look?”

  “He’s going to freak.” ShadowLily smirked at Cassie. “We probably shouldn’t let him see.”

  Cassie grinned back at her best friend. “I mean we only keep him around because of his brain. We might as well let him use it.”

  “Here I thought it was for my magnetic smile,” Tim quipped as he crept the last few feet to the edge.

  There was always a chance they were playing a trick on him, but Tim prepared himself for the worst because statements like bigger than expected and he’s going to freak didn’t tend to ease a person's mind. No matter what, he was determined not to freak out just because they said he would. Whatever he saw, he would pr
etend it was what he’d expected.

  He inched closer to the edge and leaned out around the corner.

  After ducking back to safety, Tim pressed his back against the wall and drew a deep breath. He drew more deep breaths and repeated to himself, “I’m not freaking out.”

  Who was he kidding? He was totally freaking out.

  Bigger than expected was right. Magic had altered the naga in more ways than simply being created. Vitaria’s spell also increased the monster’s size by double or triple what he’d expected. It was one thing to look around the corner to see a snake with the torso of a man, and another to see a fifteen-foot-tall monstrosity with a chest as wide as the Hulk’s, and arms that looked like they could rip an oak tree in half with the ease Tim could smash a soda can.

  The giant halberd resting casually on the naga’s shoulder was all Tim needed to see to know they wouldn’t be hashing out their differences over a cup of coffee. With a weapon almost as big as the naga itself, it could probably cut a person in half as easily as a chef cut a tomato.

  Wait, did ShadowLily say there were three of them?

  “I don’t want to be a tomato,” he blurted before he could stop himself.

  ShadowLily’s laughter was the deep kind that came from way down low in the belly. It was the kind of sound someone made when they couldn’t help themself. “A tomato?”

  Cassie snickered. “Okay, you were right. We shouldn’t have let him look.”

  Tim wasn’t scared. He just didn’t like the thought of being chopped in half. All he remembered from his last death was that it hurt a good deal before it was over. Hey, what’s a few deaths between friends, right? All new fights brought with them a bit of the unexpected. In other games, you got into a fight and repeatedly died until you figured things out. A person could probably do the same thing here, but it would slow their progress tremendously. When every death cost time, it was best to avoid them.

  He’d rather spend the time leveling up than chatting with Barbara.