You're in Game! LitRPG Stories from Bestselling Authors

by Vasily Mahanenko

  You receive damage!

  You lose 3 hit points!

  The fallen skeleton stirred, the scattered bones were reassembling themselves into a human form. Jack dodged another attack from the still-standing skeleton and jumped onto the one lying on the ground. His boots skidded with a squeak along the rusty cuirass, something cracked beneath them, and bones once again scattered to the sides. Jack, stamping the prostrate ghoul and kicking aside its bones, turned to face off with the remaining skeleton. It didn't back down, but pushed forward, as if it were trying to drive Jack away from its fallen comrade.

  And the wounds left by the rusty blades continued to bleed.

  You lose 2 hit points!

  Another Guardian emerged from the darkness and stepped into the area lit by the violet flame of the torch. Jack had finally managed to stab the persistent undead. He immediately darted over to this new enemy and with a wide stroke, decapitated the skull with the helmet still attached, then turned toward the door. The skeleton lying on the ground just wouldn't settle down and was again beginning to reassemble its pieces. Its skull clanged inside the mangled helmet visor. The skeleton began to rise. Jack hastily kicked it, slammed it on the rocks, and planted the sharp blade into the visor slot.

  The bones froze for a heartbeat, then fell and scattered. Jack hopped over to the door and pushed. Nothing happened. It was locked. He'd have to kneel and switch out his sword for the Universal Lockpick. Once again a window appeared with the image of the lock interior and he wiggled the silver squiggle inside. Something cracked in Jack's hands, but the door remained closed.

  Failed. Used 1 attempt.

  You have 8/10 uses of Universal Lockpick at your disposal.

  Well, of course. This lock was more complicated than the latch of a law-abiding citizen under level 40.

  Failed. Used 1 attempt.

  You have 7/10 uses of Universal Lockpick at your disposal.

  The bony knocking and rattle sounded very close now, but Jack didn't let himself get distracted. He impatiently turned the lockpick in the keyhole. He'd already kind of figured out how to insert it, so that as many rollers as possible were compressed in the picture in the corner of his field of vision. Now the sound of bones crunching was right in his ear!

  Jack waited half a second and then leaned his whole body to the side. Over his shoulder, a rusty sword was sticking out of the door and he sharply thrust his elbow backwards. He struck something hard and, judging by the rolling clatter behind, sent the Undead Guardian flying.

  Another turn of the lockpick and -

  You have opened the lock. Used 1 attempt.

  You have 6/10 uses of Universal Lockpick at your disposal.

  Overhead something started to rasp again. Jack saw movement above him out of the corner of his eye, leaned on the door... and flew into the darkness with the skeleton, which couldn't stay on its feet due to the inertia of its own strike.

  They both fell onto the floor slab, Jack and the Undead Guardian, but the player was faster. He rolled over, struck its visor with his elbow, and bought himself a few seconds to withdraw his sword. Lying on the ground, he slashed at the pile of bones and rusty iron, which were languidly gathering back into fighting condition. The skull, knocking around inside the twisted helmet, rolled off to the side and he jumped up.

  He stepped to the door to shut it. In the opening, the yellow-toothed, grinning mug of another Guardian poked in. Jack drove it back with a strong kick, closed the door, fumbled with the bolt and slid it into the slots. A blow fell on the door from the other side, but the skeleton didn't have the power to break the iron-banded boards of this door. The game wouldn’t allow it.

  Having shaken off his pursuers, Jack took a look around. He was in a chamber. Finally, no more narrow corridors but some kind of open room. Rows of columns ran deep into the area, lit by violet torch flames. If there were no walls, then there were no alcoves in the walls, which meant there were no chained Guardians, who freed themselves easily from their chains. Having sorted out where he was, Jack checked his health bar. Frankly speaking, the sight didn't please him — little more than half. He'd started with 45 hit points, armor bonuses all together gave him another 10%, but now he was left somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty. Those skeletons banged me up pretty good. What now? Sit and wait while he regenerated? No, because night wouldn’t last forever and in the morning, Jacob and Milena would come down to the first floor. What if he had to leave the dungeon through their house? Which was actually the digitized house of Simon Wenzowich.

  There were still health elixirs, but only two, and they only gave five points of health each. It wasn't enough. Jack sighed heavily and very slowly wandered between the rows of columns. He couldn't take any more risks — his health was too low for another battle. And there would be at least one more battle. It wasn’t possible that this quest would end without a boss encounter. Jack, without needlessly hurrying, walked from torch to torch. Rows of columns materialized from out of the darkness, the chamber continued on. He held his sword ready, but nothing came at him. It even got a bit boring... but then an arch appeared in the darkness ahead. Finally, something.

  The arch turned out to be an exit. Well, what else could it be? The chamber couldn't be endless. Nearby, a chest sat under a wall. Jack looked around and opened the lid. There were three items in front of him: a bottle with a dark blue liquid, a magnificent snow-white feather, and a faded bouquet tied with a red ribbon. Pinned to the underside of the lid was a scrap of parchment. The inscription on it read:

  Choose one item and enter.

  Jack began to inspect the proffered gifts. If he held his gaze on an item, an information window would appear. It was clear what the dark blue bottle was:

  Elixir of Health, single use, +10

  Not bad, of course. It was just what he needed after dealing with the Undead Guardians. The feather also looked tempting.

  Helmet Plume, +10% power Duration: 1 hour. Cooldown: 2 hours

  Clearly not out of place, if there's going to be a boss encounter. But the bouquet was less obvious.

  Bouquet — the best gift for a lady. It will make her feel dreamy.

  "Simon, what are you up to?" Jack muttered. "The first two items are clearly useful in my situation. The third one is just absurd. Just as absurd as a basement full of evil skeletons under the home of the peaceful, Mr. Nice Guy Jacob and his gentle dove, Milena. The way I see it, decision is clear: I've got to take the useless flowers. But isn't the hint too obvious? No, it's not. You already know that I'm gonna run and fight. So now I have only one thing in mind: run farther and fight even more. But if you've screwed me over, Simon Wenzowich, I'll... I'll just call you a lot of bad names because you're already dead."

  Jack took the bouquet. The chest lid slammed shut and the door in the arched passageway very slowly vanished with a bone-chilling screech, inviting him to enter.

  With the bouquet in hand, he stepped into the opened passage. To say that he felt like an idiot would be an understatement. In the upper right above his head, his health bar loomed, just under two thirds full. His bastard sword seemed too puny for whatever he would find behind that door.

  He was right. The next room was downright tiny and a pair of Guardians were waiting for him a couple of feet from the threshold. Jack instantly realized that he wouldn't have been able to handle this, not even at full health or with increased strength.

  Across from the door stood a skeleton with long icy-blond curls and it wore a heavy dress of gold brocade. A silver girdle decorated with dark blue and green stones was tied around its extremely thin waist. Its bodice was also decorated with gems. The dress would be suited, perhaps, for a queen.

  In her bony, ring-studded fingers the dead woman held a heavy morning star. Its heavy club end was covered with curved blades, similar in shape to grappling hooks. The weapon burned with that violet light, obviously of magical and incredibly dangerous origin.

  Dead Necromancer Leonora

  Expertise:
45

  Disease: 50

  Behind her, looming like statues, were two soldiers clad head to toe in black armor. Heavy steel gauntlets rested on the hilts of two-handed swords. The slits in the helmet visors winked with the violet fire. The guardians' stats read:

  Dead Knight of Thergal

  Expertise: 40

  Disease: 80

  Without any doubt, there was no chance against this trio. The woman lifted her head with a bony creak and readily picked up the mace. With this movement, the glow that emanated from the weapon swirled up in rings. The knights clenched their swords and moved closer to the matriarch.

  Jack actually shivered when the holes in the skull beneath the fair curls stared at him. Really creepy when something like that looks at you. Yeah, and those light gold curls on bare bones were a wild combination. Well, Simon, you had quite the imagination. Maybe you just hated blondes?

  He carefully moved toward the bony Leonora, extending the wilted bouquet. The skeleton raised its club and Jack winced — it didn't work! But then the skeleton shook its head and there was a brief flash of fire in its eye sockets. As if something had responded in the wight’s bony soul... Dropping the club, the skeleton raised its other hand in a jerky, mechanical movement, took the flowers, and brought them to its nonexistent nose. The Necromancer Leonora shivered, her shoulders slumped, and the mace fell, its hooks scraping the floor. The knights behind her simultaneously stepped aside, opening the way. Jack, without removing his hands from his sword handle, passed between the undead and went to the next door. His heart pounded as he passed the sinister trio...

  Next was the throne room, if you could call it that. Richly decorated, carved walls surrounded a podium with a tall chair, which was also carved with skulls, snakes, spiders and other similarly fun things. In front of the throne were two skeletons, which were interlocked in a strange embrace. One, wearing a crown and gold-embroidered attire, had closed its bony fingers around the throat of the other, which was dressed like a soldier. The warrior's sword pierced its crowned enemy, the blade slicing between the ribs.

  Beleth the Knight

  Supreme Necromancer Thergal

  No expertise or any other indicators. These dead men were not coming back to life.

  "End of the road?" Jack asked. "Where's the thundering fanfare? And there's no one coming to greet me, to tell me that the quest is completed? So, is there something missing?"

  He took a few steps and stopped over the figures. The crown fell from Thergal'shead and rolled to Jack's feet.

  Crown of Thergal

  Level: Legendary

  The crown was gold and heavy-looking. It was rimmed with sharp teeth, slightly curved inwards over the top. Along the rim was a checkered pattern of alternating red, blue and green gems. The crown was emitting a soft glow.

  Nothing else was available to loot. Their clothes and gear were a part of the drawn images.

  "But still no 'quest completed' message." Jack noted when the crown had been placed in his inventory. "So what else is there? Oh, yeah!"

  He pulled out Beleth's Bracelet, the remaining piece from the possession quest, and fastened it on the dead knight's wrist.

  Attention!

  You have completed the hidden quest "The Crown of Thergal"

  You receive +1 XP.

  You have 28 XP

  Earn 2 XP to unlock new skills.

  Skills — in other words, specific racial abilities that are given for every ten experience points a player gets, and Jack had just made a decent step toward this award.

  A rat jumped out of the darkness, tore the bracelet off the skeleton's hand, and briskly ran off toward the throne. Jack took off behind it and managed to see the rodent disappear into a low, narrow tunnel. There was a staircase leading up. And here was the exit. Nice. Now he wouldn't have to go back through the skeleton-filled dungeon and the house with peacefully sleeping NPCs.

  Climbing the stairs after the rat, Jack realized that it had shown him how Beleth's Bracelet kept making its way back to the world of the living. The circle had closed. The bauble, carried to the surface by the rat, would somehow be picked up by a jewelry merchant, Jacob would buy the little thing for his dove, and the restless spirit of the knight Beleth would possess her. After all, Beleth swore his unbreakable oath on this very bracelet and spoke about it before being struck down by the exorcism. In Alterra, everything was planned. It was all linked to a single story.

  Jack emerged through a narrow access hole onto the street and looked around. It was strange to see the sleeping city before dawn. Below, Dead Soldiers with rusty blades wandered, the bony Leonora who was dreaming of something over a wilted bouquet... and everyone up here was asleep. Well, maybe not everyone. Almost everyone. The Guards, armor clanging, were striding evenly by torchlight through a sleeping Svetlograd. The thief Stang was sneaking through some stranger's home, shoveling loot into his inventory slots... all while the others were sleeping peacefully. The NPCs Jacob and Milena, for example. Here, by the way, was their house — about twenty feet from Jack. It was odd that at the end of all his wandering belowground, Jack returned almost to its starting point. That same red-brick house...

  Wait, hold on. Red-brick house? The digitized home of Simon Wenzowich? Simon's House in the Blighted Wastelands, two hours from the outskirts of the ghetto in reality? It couldn't be... But couldn’t it?

  Jack would have broken out in a sweat, if this feature had existed in the game. Well, it could be! Simon's House. It wasn't often that wasteland ruins had a proper name, but Simon's House has been called that for ages. Probably ever since the first Walkers still remembered the names of the leading developers of Alterra.

  "Now this is something to think about," Jack said to himself. "Maybe in Mr. Wenzowich’s house you won't wind up in the dungeon where the necromancer Thergal is hidden, but there is definitely a basement. Anyway, it could be. These ruins were well known to all Walkers, and everyone was certain that there was nothing there, that it had been explored long ago. At any rate, I was certain of it, and I'm not more stupid than anyone else. And if it never occurred to me to search the basement... Why hadn't it occurred to me? And how it came! It’s just dawned on me. I just need to grab a flashlight and spare battery. What if the basement turns out to be half the size of the dungeon of Thergal’s? Simon, did you invite me over? Thanks, I'll have a look around. You know what? Well done, Simon Wenzowich. You didn't exaggerate in your chat message: this really was the best quest.”

  * * *

  A DAY LATER, Jack was standing in front of Simon's House, trying to find some similarity between these time-eaten ruins and Jacob's tidy little house. The wind was sweeping across the Wasteland and bands of dusts slithered like grey snakes around Jack's legs, lifting the flaps of his loose cloak.

  "You never know until you try," Jack said to himself. "At any rate, no one's going to see me, so no one will laugh when I don't find anything."

  He walked around the ruins and crossed over what remained of the threshold. This would be Jacob's living room. There was nothing left of the staircase, but if it had ever existed... then he'd have to look there in that wall. Jack crossed the room and sat against the wall.

  "Beleth," he said quietly and put his hand on the bricks.

  Magic in the real world doesn't exist. It just happened that one brick shifted easily at the first touch. It wasn't any kind of secret. You just needed to know where to look. Jack stuck his fingers in the newly formed hole and pulled. Dust spilled out and a rectangular section of the wall opened up like a door. A staircase lead down, the steps lost in the darkness. Here it was. The basement.

  Jack turned on the flashlight and began go down. The basement, of course, turned out to be normal-sized and there was nothing magical. A square room, lined with old computers and shelves filled with all kinds of electronic junk.

  Faded posters advertising a new game world hung on the walls. A beefy barbarian in a crested helmet poked his axe at the viewer: "Have the guts to ta
ke me on?" A brunette with a barely-covered, voluptuous bust held a flickering flame in the palm of her hand and winked: "Wanna see my magic?" A grey-bearded priest in a wide mantle scowled: "The secrets of Alterra await you!"

  Web designer Simon Wenzowich had built himself a work space away from all the noise and had worked here in peace and quiet. Jack passed his flashlight over the room, scanning the game characters on the posters and trying to guess the uses of the various devices on the shelves.

  In the far corner across from the stairs stood a massive table, a chair with armrests next to it. There was a dust-covered monitor on the table, an ancient VR headset, a tangle of wires, some long-since obsolete gadgets... Jack, moving the flashlight, passed between the racks and sat down in Simon’s chair. Where was the computer tower? Under the table? Yep, there it was. And the power supply, the cables of which led to a dust-covered outlet in the wall. He bent down and flicked the switches. Nope. Of course, everything had been here for a long time and was certainly dead. But it would have been cool to see what was left on the computer desktop of a developer of Alterra.

  Seeing a whitish corner sticking out from under the cables on the table, he pulled on it and extracted an antique photograph that had been colored once, but now had almost completely faded. In it... Damn!

  In it was the merchant Jacob, his wife, and a little girl. I mean... there were three regular people standing somewhere in a park, against a background of trees. They were smiling. They were happy together. And two of the faces — Jacob's, in whom the long-dead developer had encapsulated his own appearance, and his wife's, although younger than in the game — Jack recognized at once.