The call went silent and soon the only sound was the movement of water as it flowed around her. She reached out and wrapped her fingers around a piece of the wood. It snapped off in her hand, sending small pieces of long rotted timber into the liquid. She glanced at the piece in her hand before tossing it away. She lifted her foot up and brought it slamming down so the wood planks crumbled under the blow and fell down, out of her range of vision. A smile slowly spread across her face before she swam in through the hole.
It opened into a rotting wooden room, filled with long broken furniture and damaged crates. She moved over towards one of the crates and tore a chunk of moldy wood away. A scream burst from her throat when long slimy creatures, with bodies like eels and small glowing orange orbs dangling from their foreheads, burst out of the crate and darted past her. When they passed she felt their slick bodies rubbing her flesh and it sent a shiver down her spine. After a few moments the creatures were gone, leaving behind a crate holding a few rusty chunks of metal.
“Calm down, you can do this,” she whispered to herself before she turned back around and glanced up. “So I just need to go down, huh?” A quick glance at her enemy-pass made her blood freeze. Something big, so big it took up about a fourth of the device and still continued out past its boundaries, was coming towards her. Slow, but steady.
She kicked the floor out from under her and slowly swam through. A skeleton suddenly appeared in front of her and she quickly drew her mace and shattered the bone. After a few moments she realized it hadn't been moving. “Oh... well. I'm happy no one saw that.” Once again she broke through the rotten floor and this time she was gifted by the sight of rock under it. The seafloor.
She glanced back at her device and trembled when the thing came ever closer. It's body now took up almost half the screen and still spread out past it. It would be on her soon. A loud hum filled the air and she heard something above her crackling and snapping. A shard of wood came down between her legs and she let out an eep. Quickly the leviathan girl turned and swam as fast as she could, keeping as close to the floor as possible.
Light suddenly filled the underwater region when thousands of eel like glowing creatures suddenly burst out from behind her. Turning back she saw the wrecked ship she had been moving through was being torn asunder by massive tentacles that, as far as she could tell, were attached to a wall of purple flesh and fangs. The wall moved after her, chewing through the ship and grabbing mouthfuls of the glowing fish as it swam.
Asura gulped and looked around. With the new and temporary light she saw a large number of sunken ships and, to her delight, a large crevice in the sea bed. She swam at it as fast as she could and, right as her hands went into the breach, she stopped. She shrieked and looked back. A long, purple tentacle had wrapped around her leg and was slowly drawing her towards the gaping mouths. The teeth jutted out in random directions, but they moved and wiggled about as if they were alive, cutting through wood and fish with ease.
She lifted her sword in her right hand and pulled her leg as close to herself as she could. Before she could strike, another tentacle shot out and latched around her arm. “NO! Let me go! AHHH!” she yelled before another tentacle wrapped around her left arm, stopping her from drawing her dagger. Slowly but steadily the appendages drew her closer and closer to the wiggling teeth. “No no no! LET ME GO!” When she got closer she could see weird things moving around the mouths of the creature. The teeth were alive!
They buzzed around the creature's massive mouths, cutting and slicing all that came closer for the thing to absorb as its tentacles brought larger things within reach. “No no no! Flaming body!” Flames erupted from her body. The water around her boiled and the tentacles pulled away, though the fire quickly disappeared. An ear splitting cry that seemed to come from all directions deafened her before she turned, unwilling to see the monster a moment longer. With a powerful kick she took off towards the crevice and within moments she entered it. When she finally worked up the courage to glance back, back she saw one of the tentacles attempt to slide in after her, but it wasn't nearly long enough.
When she swam she occasionally bumped the walls and had to crawl, rather than swim, down. She glanced at the enemy-pass regularly, but nothing appeared on it. The crevice began to get narrower and she struggled to squeeze through. Finally, she saw a strange glow ahead. Gripping her sword tightly in her right hand she clawed and crawled her way to the glow until, eventually, she saw the source.
The crevice opened into a large underwater cavern. Glowing magical orbs drifted through the space, casting their light and creating shadows throughout it. The water was crystal clear, allowing her to see all the way to the opposite side of the chamber. There was no life in the chamber, not even coral or moss. All that resided in the wide open space was an underwater castle. It had five towers, though three of them had long since collapsed, with pearls the size of her head on top of the tower tips. She slowly swam to the building to get a closer look.
The stones were smooth and, when she ran her hand along them, she didn't feel any slime. She pushed on them a few times and they didn't budge. Finally she drew her fist back and punched into the wall, hard. Pain shot through her and sparks enveloped her arm, sending her flying into a pile of rubble.
“Ow. Magic protections on it still work. Mental note, don't kick the walls,” she said with a groan. She glanced at her health. “Good, not too much damage. Guess this is where they wanted me to go. Here's hoping this works okay.” She gave one more look at the massive stone building before swimming in through the large open gateway in the front.
The inside was much like the outside. Small glowing orbs were fused with the walls to spread light through the halls. Many of the walls had collapsed, but a few of them were still standing. Aside from the lights, the halls were completely bare white stone in all directions. Not one speck of algae anywhere. As she looked in the bare rooms she sighed in annoyance. “Come on, something like this and there isn't even any treasure? There should at least be a golden chalice or something. I wonder if someone else found this ages ago and-- ahh!” she yelled when she saw something move from the corner of her eye, darting into one of the rooms. She gulped and slowly made her way towards the room and peered inside. Empty.
“Okay. Keep it together. There's nothing... hostile down here. If there was, your enemy-pass would be going off. Calm down,” she whispered to herself before peering down another hallway and saw a stairway heading down at the end. She swam to it and began her descent. The staircase ended in what had once been a dead end. The stone, however, was broken to pieces and continued on into a dark cave. She gulped and slowly swam forward. After a few moments words appeared in front of her. 'This is a one time event. Once you participate you will be unable to attempt again this year. Would you like to proceed?'
She gulped and clicked accept. The world around her shifted for a moment, but soon she was back swimming through the dark tunnel. Despite the lack of lights she was still able to see thanks to the leviathan's racial abilities. The walls were covered in algae and moss, which slid across her body as she swam. She was soon out of the tunnel and into a new cavern, much smaller than the one holding the castle. Dozens of similar tunnels opened into the large rock filled space.
She slowly drew out a sword and dagger and looked around for any sign of her challenge. “Come on. I don't know what kind of challenge you are, but I know I'm going to crush you. Just hurry up and show yourself...” Nothing happened and she swam about.
After a few minutes of waiting she sighed. “A puzzle? Come on. This is my fourth masterhood! I was expecting something... major! You guys didn't even make me choose a category this time.” She swam down near the rocks. She sat down on one of the larger ones and sighed. “Okay, tunnels. Probably supposed to go through one of them.” She failed to notice the rocks behind her when they slowly began to shift around and gather into a pile. “But which one? Any of the tunnels could be it,” she said with a frustrated groan. “Going throug
h the wrong one probably makes me fail the challenge too. I won-- AHHH!” she yelled when she was suddenly sent flying forward into the ground. “Owie...” She slowly looked back while getting to her feet.
The stones had gathered together into a large humanoid shape. One large rock stood in the center of the massive creature and the chunks of smaller rocks came together to form crumbly limbs for the creature to walk, and others to strike with. “A golem? Really? My big challenge is a golem? Easy!” she said once the name appeared over the creature. Guardian of the lost city.
Asura swam straight at the beast, weaving around its arm when it struck, and stabbed her blade into the stone in the center of its body. Her sword shattered to pieces. “W-what? But that's imp-- ugh!” She was sent hurtling back when the creature's other arm slammed into her. She hit the wall opposite the creature and slowly peeled herself off it. “This has to be a joke,” she said as she held up the hilt of Excalibur. “This sword can't be broken. It's a master level weapon! Ahhh!” She ducked down when the golem's arm attempted to crush her. Turning around, the leviathan quickly darted into one of the tunnels.
“Okay, think. You can do this! It's obviously weak somewhere. Maybe the game glitched and it was only supposed to break normal weapons. But how do I kill it then?” she asked herself. A loud scraping could be heard behind her, and when she glanced back she saw stones barreling down the tunnel in pursuit. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me!” She kicked her legs harder and she flew through the tunnel. Hanging clumps of algae made it difficult to see, making her brush against the walls with each turn. Fortunately, the stones were slow and unable to keep up with her speed.
Unfortunately, she popped out of the tunnel's opposite end and found herself back in the chamber. The massive stone creature charged immediately after her, not even pausing to turn around. She swam to the right as one of its limbs shot at her. As it went by she held out her right hand. “Freezing draft!”
The rocks went still as the water between them froze solid. She quickly swam out of reach as the creature remained still for a moment. “Okay, new sword, new sword... come on!” she said before bringing up the menus. The dagger changed in her hand to an exact replica of Excalibur. “Really? I don't get to keep all the benefits I had with it? That sucks,” she said. “It better not be permanently broken.”
She swam down to the ground before the golem finally freed its arm. It slowly began to lumber back to her. “Come on you over grown lawn ornament...” After a few moments the creature's arm lashed out at her and she tapped on the ground twice with her foot. She disappeared and reappeared a few feet away and lifted her hand. “Freezing draft!” The arm was encased in ice and she charged the golem. “HIYA!” She brought her blade down. When it struck the ice, a large fireball burst from it and enveloped them both, boiling the water. Fortunately she was immune to the fire from her blade.
Once flames died down the ice was completely melted and, to her horror, the creature appeared unhurt. “Oh come on! I hit you with... everything...” She caught sight of the massive stone in the center of the creature. Cracks and burns had formed across the boulder, covering about one fourth of it where the arm attached. Once the arm returned the damage began to heal quickly.
“So that's it!” she said before swimming back at the creature. “Freezing draft!” She froze the beasts other arm before slicing down on it with her blade. When flames enveloped the two, she was knocked aside by the stony monolith's other arm. She slammed into the chambers opposite wall and alarms went off. Her HP was dangerously low.
“Ow, okay. But too little, too late big monster. I know your... what?” she said and stared at the thing. Not only had the first damage marks already completely healed, but there was no damage from her second strike. She peeled her way from the wall with a groan before the beast lumbered towards her. “Okay, so this is going to be harder than I thought. Greater heal!” she cast and her health recovered. She began swimming up again and the beast sent its arms flailing about to crush her. Stones rained around her as she weaved around, struggling to avoid them.
When she turned to avoid one of the arms the monster's leg shot out. Unable to avoid it in time, she lifted her arms with a shriek. The stones crushed and cut her as they drove her back with the strike. Rather than hitting the wall, she was sent hurtling into one of the tunnels. Trapped in the confined space the rocks pelted and twisted around her, crushing and smashing her as she tried to crawl out. Her armor began to crack and dent under the fierce assault and she felt herself being torn apart. Desperate and hurt, she finally kicked out with her foot and tapped twice on the wall.
She fae-stepped away and appeared outside the tunnel. “Ice wall!” she yelled out before ice coated the exit, trapping the limb of stone within. She stared for a few moments while the rocks pounded on the other side of the wall, but couldn't break free. “Of course! That's it! Okay, you over sized lawn gnome! I've got you now!” she yelled and turned around to the golem, which was now missing a leg.
She turned towards the nearest open tunnel and swam in a tight circle for a few moments. The creature struck out in a horizontal swing as she moved out of the way and narrowly dodged the blow. The creature swung again and again as she dodged and weaved, never moving more than a few feet from the tunnel. Finally the creature sent the stones hurtling straight at her and she quickly dove to the side. When the stones brushed past her and disappeared into the tunnel she lifted her right hand. “Ice wall!” Instantly ice covered the hole and blocked the stones.
She tore off at the stone again and, diving around the golem's remaining arm, drove her sword across the stones now bare side. Her sword cleaved through the rock and fire enveloped them again. She kept swimming and moving towards the next tunnel. “Yes! Hah! I've wo-- AHHH!” Suddenly stones shot out from the hole and enveloped her. “No! Aghhh!” She struggled and slashed with her sword in an attempt to break free, but to no avail. The creature lashed out with its other arm and enshrouded her in stone.
Within seconds her HP hit zero and the world turned dark. After a few more moments she appeared back in Everlight. The words 'Mastery quest failed' flashed in front of her, but she didn't look at them. She just fell to her knees, mouth hanging open.
Chapter 14
Age: 18 years, 4 months
Asura couldn't move while the world went by. A few players stopped to ask if she was okay, but her lack of response made them eventually leave. Finally, after she didn't know how long, she got to her feet and slowly made her way through the halls of the fortress. Her stomach felt like it was tied in knots and she nearly puked a few times but, eventually, she made her way to her room and crawled into her bed.
Once she laid down her entire body began to shake and tears formed in her eyes. “Why... just... not fair. I... I deserved to win. I worked hard. I figured out how to win. I did everything right. I've thrown everything I have into this game. It's not fair... IT'S NOT FAIR!” She reached for her pillows and threw them across the room. The sound of them hitting the wall and making a gentle poof sound did little to ease her pain.
Her hands reached out and brought up the menu and went through her friends. Only a few were online, and only one she felt close enough to. Slowly she brought up the recorder as she spoke, “M-Mutt... when you get this please respond. P-please meet me in my room. H-here, I'm sending you an access key. P-please come a-as soon as you can.”
With another pained cry the girl rolled onto her stomach and pulled the pillows up against her face, screaming into them. “IT'S NOT FAIR! I deserved it! I've given everything to this damn game! I don't... I don't have enough time to g-get another chance... I just want something to still be here after I'm gone. Why did you have to take that away from me?” She kicked the bed as hard as she could.
She drew her hands back and she punched the bed as hard as she could. After a few minutes of abuse she finally went limp and sighed. “I give up... I can't win. I can never win. I just wasn't meant to,” she whispered into the pillow before clo
sing her eyes. She slowly drifted off, neither fully awake nor asleep, just dazed as she let the pain gnaw at her like a demonic dog.
A gentle shake of her shoulder brought her back to reality. She slowly stared up at B4hamutt with tear stained eyes and smiled. “H-hey...”
“Holy crap, Asura,” he said when her looked her over. “You look like hell. What happened?”
“I... I failed,” she said softly before rolling onto her back. “It's done. I failed. I'm not a master. Heh heh. It's all over, done, game, set, match.”
“What? That's it? I thought your sister or parent had died or something,” B4hamutt said with a roll of his eyes. “Lots of people failed too, but you don't see them crying. It's just a game.”
Those words cut through her like a knife, causing her heart to throb. She grabbed her chest and shook, though the pain slowly dimmed. She looked up to him as the tears began again. “It's... it's not just a game. It was my only chance to do anything with my life! It was my only chance and I blew it!” She stared up at him with tearing eyes.
“Asura, relax,” the man said with a sigh. “You're what, seventeen?”
“Eighteen.”
“Fine, eighteen,” he said and rolled his eyes. “You have your whole life ahead of you. It's just a game. You'll probably play hundreds of games like this one if you want. No need to care so much--”
“I'll be dead within a few years,” she said.
“--About th... what?”
“I said I'll be dead within a few years. Possibly even this year.” She rolled over to stare at the roof.
“But you said, you said you're only eighteen. How...?”
“Didn't you wonder why I've been on so much this last year?” she asked with a soft sob. “Why I'm constantly playing? I come online first thing in the morning, don't even go offline half the time when I sleep? It's not because I'm addicted to the game! It's because there is nothing out there for me! I just lay in a hospital bed! I can't even move to change the channel or call for help if anything happens! I'm just trapped there!”
Landasy Reality: Angel's Escape Page 28