Continue Online (Part 5, Together)

by Stephan Morse

  “You may prepare for battle in your way, but our guild has its own. People of Valhalla Knights, join me and let our cries rouse the warrior spirits of those who willingly stand by our side!”

  Our group approached carefully. Everyone held a weapon. Fantasy fighters stood shoulder to shoulder with people wearing capes and spandex. One man wielded a huge bow that looked like an oddly mixed piece of living tree with a science fiction handle.

  “We hewed with the brand!” three hundred people shouted in unison with arms pumping in the air.

  Their voices were like thunder over the crowd. People jumped away.

  “Full gladly will we go!” A dozen people stood upon a mile of wall and shouted back to their guild members.

  Still Shazam stood, staring and unmoving.

  “We hewed with the brand!” the guild members screamed even louder the second time.

  Their words didn’t sound like actual English. They weren’t [Lithium] or any other familiar language.

  “Before cold death we brave do not flee!” the man said.

  It took me forever to remember that Urgot was his name.

  Their chant went on, and by the fifth one, everyone shook the area. One city, thousands of remaining players from multiple games, all joined together in a mantra that made no sense. Our noise easily drowned out the slew of monsters streaming down the hill.

  Hermes: What does that mean?

  Shazam: We fought with the sword, joined together in battle.

  Hermes: That’s intense.

  Shazam: They fight for the right to be remembered by the gods and carried away to Valhalla, where the brave may live forever.

  Hermes: Do they know? About how you returned?

  Shazam: No.

  The words of our private messages sat in front of me. Shazam’s face remained without expression, facing the rushing monsters. Their stampede thundered in the background. Even the football stadium of chanting couldn’t drown out the impending onslaught.

  “We hewed with the brand!” the crowd shouted. Their words were even more in sync.

  My skin tingled as the words hit me. Valhalla was a Norse myth, which might have been the hint of other language being sent across the ARC perceptions. We truly were about to enter a fight to be remembered by the gods.

  “Laughing gladly will we die!” Urgot shouted.

  The people of [Valhalla Knights] laughed in giant forced booms of noise.

  Shazam’s voice cut through the crowd. Her words a harsh, stuttering bark of noise. “Show your resolve to the Voices! Let them not doubt our bravery!”

  By the Voices, people listened. [Valhalla Knights] ran through gateways out of the town. They streamed forward in a senseless number against the horde. Hundreds of players took stances on top of the battlements. People readied their weapons.

  “I don’t have anything that can reach that far,” Xin said.

  “I do!” Beth pulled out her sword and took a careful stance. She began slashing at the air. [Lithium] words, along with slashes into the air, started forming spell circles.

  My niece wasn’t alone in this action. Tons of people were readying long-range abilities. A dozen heroes flew overhead. People with super-speed blurred through. Small floating platforms that looked like Advance Online ships moved out with casters sitting atop them.

  Shazam’s tall, tanned form was far in the lead. Light gleamed off of every ounce of armor. Her legs wrapped around the monstrous horse’s sides while she wielded two smaller blades. I typed out a message to the woman riding away.

  Hermes: Don’t die out there.

  Shazam: I shall live my last on my terms. That is the point—it is our choice what happens in this life. Death does not scare me.

  Hermes: Well, it’s my choice to be worried for you. I watched you die once. I’d rather not do it again.

  Shazam: Rest assured, I do not intend to pass willingly. A true warrior fights death as any other enemy.

  Suddenly it made sense why Shazam was the best on the server. Her skills didn’t come purely from an Ultimate Edition or being immersed for so long, though having so much playtime probably helped. The woman had fought hard in game because of being terminal for so long. She had only this to live for. Since the game’s release, she had been a screaming comet across the sky, with no idea when her life might end.

  The insight into Shazam’s life left me astounded. Could a machine have predicted that factor? Did it store away some instant message conversation where a dying girl desired to overcome her physical shell and fight for immortality? Had she even cared at the time? Such thoughts would only matter if we succeeded.

  We had barely started and already my focus had slipped. My eyes closed, and my thoughts turned toward techniques for managing stress. We were playing out a long dance where one moment simply flowed into the next. Extra thought only got in the way of what needed to be done. My chest lifted slowly with a deep breath.

  “Hermes!” Awesome Jr. shouted at me.

  My head jerked around. The teen and his ugly green cloak stood on a floating metal vehicle, along with some human-looking man who wore a glowing visor.

  “Let’s get out there!” Awesome Jr. said.

  Leaving the beam of light for that chaotic battlefield worried me. Many players had ventured forward without hesitation. It felt single-minded and shallow to be worried about Xin, but at the same time, we had already been separated once.

  “Shouldn’t we ride this out like a siege? Or something?” I said. Combat in large masses didn’t fit into my skills.

  “We can’t! In a game with spells and resurrection skills, sitting here is useless. We’ve got to whittle them down before they get to town, kill their spawners, then resurrect anyone we can as we fall back! It’s all about attrition!”

  SweetPea winced from his extreme volume. HotPants stood on the device, looking nervous. Her gaze kept drifting over the edge as the vessel bobbed. Shadow wasn’t in sight, but the sneaky player was probably with his League of Shadows members, those who had survived.

  “And look,” Awesome Jr. shouted while throwing an arm out in the distance. He pointed toward a mob of smoky black that could barely be seen. “World Eaters! We can’t let them get close. They’ll chew down the walls in a moment!”

  That made sense. There had to be monsters that would only get stronger if we let them live, and every single beast dead out there was one less to hit our walls. I didn’t know enough about other people’s resurrection mechanics, and a host of players from other games had changed the rules around.

  My wife stood beside me looking at the same scene of budding carnage. The field outside [Haven Valley], which had once been a pleasant mix of forestry, grassland, and well-paved roads in both directions, was going to turn into a bloodbath.

  My fingers grasped for Xin’s. She looked up at me.

  “You’ve got to stay here,” I said.

  “Nice try,” Xin responded. “I can help out there, and I’m not leaving you to wander the battlefield alone.”

  “You can summon me if it gets rough, and we need someone to stay here in case monsters get through.”

  “And you’ll need someone to resurrect you when you do something stupid like dying,” she responded in an angry whisper.

  That sounded likely actually. All my stats and skills meant nothing if a monster got lucky. There was just one problem.

  “But if you die, then there’s no point in fighting anymore,” my words were hushed. “I can’t handle that. Not… not after all this.”

  There were too many viewers watching. Controlling myself to not give away her reincarnated status was difficult.

  Her barely restrained irritation with me ran into an abrupt wall. Xin looked away for a single moment that signaled victory. My breath let out gradually in hopes that Xin would be reasonable.

  The mob’s leading edge was less than a few miles away. Smaller creatures scuttled along the ground. Birds were flying and nearly here. Dusk’s half meow and chirp of rage c
ould be heard as he took to the sky.

  A dozen huge beams of light spiraled outward. Spells, beams, ice, fire, and arrows alike went flying. Players below were pelted by a falling army of former fliers.

  “Bring her!” Awesome Jr. brought focus back to the argument at hand. “She can stay on the craft and use ranged. SweetPea will be doing the same thing, and healing, plus she can resurrect. We’ll avoid the Three Strike timer if we’re careful.”

  “Dammit,” I said.

  The promise of her being vaguely safe was all Xin needed to win this. My ability to argue with her had always been terrible. My eyes closed. We would lose ground with every second we stayed on the wall. Skills like mine were up there with Shazam’s, and we needed to be on the front line, keeping monsters back. As long as none got through, then we didn’t need to protect the gateway itself.

  “Stay on the—” Confusion made me pause. What exactly was that ship anyway? It didn’t look familiar.

  “Exo Platform Seven R,” the visor-wearing man said. Only his mouth was visible, and it curled in a frown. “It comes with a recall feature when we reach zero. So don’t worry, anyone on board will be brought back to the marker.”

  “Perfectly safe,” Awesome Jr. declared. “I mean, how awesome is that? A recall—”

  HotPants hit him on the head with her staff. Her lips turned in a worse scowl than before. Further arguing would be pointless. Xin glared at me, and I closed my eyes and nodded slowly. Her warm hands touched the sides of my neck and slid over my shoulders. Her lips pressed against mine. Looking at her was impossible. Letting her join us felt like a failure of one of my goals.

  “It’s okay, Gee, it all works out,” she whispered in my ear. My wife misspoke of course. She only wanted this all to work out.

  “It’s a party now!” Thorny shouted while pushing her hands toward the floating platform.

  All around us, a multitude of colors spun into being. Many twisted into larger cannon-like bolts of energy that arced overhead toward the monsters’ leading edge. They slammed into the dirt, freezing some monsters, burning others, or leaving behind green pools. Shazam’s army crashed into them.

  We got on the vessel and flew out after the charging players from three different games. [Morrigu’s Gift] sat in one hand while every possible skill usage went through my mind. [Mechanical Hades Crown] could be used to empower other people prior to their passing.

  Dusk was overhead somewhere and fully recovered from our earlier escape. The [Messenger’s Pet] would be able to establish his own uses. He probably intended to fight every flying monster and establish dominance over the skies.

  “Hang on!” the man driving warned us. “If you’ve got a preference for where we go, better tell me now!”

  His fingers slid along the tops of glowing orbs and spread wide. They tilted toward the front end of our vessel, and we tilted. HotPants hit the floor with a wild look in her eyes.

  We made it halfway to the spearhead that Shazam had formed. Xin was casting bone bolts while Beth charged up smaller spells. SweetPea hung over the edge, one hand upon her hoodie, the other outstretched with a blue glow of healing. We were trying to find places to be useful, and we weren’t the only ones mobile. Dozens of players were moving rapidly through the crowd. A man in powerful-looking armor swung a huge hammer at dense concentrations of monsters.

  People ahead were already using [Recall] scrolls or homing beacons. A few players in various locations screamed for heals.

  There was a thud as part of the mountain top far away moved. Huge, shadowy black wings unfurled. There was a [World Eater] dragon out there, of all creatures to be represented. The huge black dragon let out a roar that carried for miles. Players looked up in worry. Shazam’s bright glow in the battlefield changed course toward the winged serpent. Regular monsters were important, but against them, fighting was more about survival tactics. [World Eater]s were another issue.

  “We’ve got to remove that now before it flies over the town! A fully grown dragon’s rating is at least thirty-five! It takes an army on average to take one down!” Thorny shouted while slashing the air. Lights spiraled into a flock of birds circling overhead.

  A second roar came from behind us, and people started panicking. We turned to see a huge blue dragon flying straight for the other one. Which each pump of its wings, the air around us vibrated. One of the superhero players shot up a laser beam that weakly brushed off the creature’s side.

  “That’s one of ours!” Awesome Jr. yelled. “Get the word out! Don’t hurt the blue one!”

  “Is that…?” my words drifted off in wonder.

  She was brighter than last time. Her muscles were more defined, and the female dragon’s body wove through the air like a dancer.

  “That’s Mylia all right,” HotPants said. “There’s a woman who knows what’s what.”

  The red warrior-woman put her pinkies between both lips and gave a piercing whistle. Mylia opened her mouth and roared back, much softer. One of the giant dragon claws descended to grab HotPants’s outstretched staff. The redhead vanished from our vehicle in a sudden whoosh. A red aura rapidly grew in strength around the blonde’s body.

  “Yeeeehaaaaaaaaw!” Her face bordered between terror and delight.

  Two ships, fighter jets of some sort, flew overhead and launched missiles at the [World Eater] dragon.

  “And there she goes,” Awesome Jr. said.

  Mylia gave two powerful beats of her wings and soared another mile into the distance, straight toward the black dragon.

  There were too many conflicts going on. We had no one place to help out. The giant dragon sounded like a good bet. My mouth opened to utter a request, but the hovering ship rocked. Scales brushed against me, and we all readied for assault.

  [Morrigu’s Gift] was pulled back as the newest passenger became obvious. Scales brushed against uncovered skin on my leg as the [Messenger’s Pet] demanded attention. Dusk chirped urgently before his feet even settled. The hovercraft’s driver looked around in worry but managed to keep us stable.

  “Slow down, I don’t understand when you talk that fast!” I told Dusk. Understanding him based on noises alone was rough enough. Only months of traveling together gave me any idea.

  Pictures rapidly formed above his head. There were two sets of wings fighting against one. A picture of him growing two sizes flashed next. Then next to the big version of Dusk was a pile of cupcakes with an equals sign.

  “What?”

  The images repeated. Xin’s free hand gripped mine. She chanted while I tried to sort out what Dusk wanted.

  “You want me to make you bigger? To fight the World Eater dragon?” The message started to make sense. “And it’s worth that many cupcakes to you?”

  He nodded, chirped, then hopped up and down, making our ship rock. This vessel wasn’t that stable to begin with—we were essentially in a round flying motorboat. His gyrations made the man up front complain.

  “You need to escape before the rebound hits,” I warned the [Messenger’s Pet]. Being [Empowered] twice would certainly beef him up, and would last longer if he stretched out his other abilities. “Can you do that?”

  Dusk nodded, then shook his head. His body rolled with a shrug, and his thought bubble formed a smiley face.

  “You need to be safe, okay?” Dusk had nearly died once before, or at least he’d seemed to during Advance Online. If we were playing a normal game, then my worry would be pointless.

  He wanted to fight the big black [World Eater] dragon. Voices above, I thought, this was all going to go sideways. Siege warfare and large-scale battles weren’t anywhere in my skills.

  “Do it!” Awesome Jr. waved at me. “We need all the heavy hitters on that dragon! It’s the biggest thing out here!”

  The words rolled forth in a whisper. Chanting [Lithium] in front of Xin felt silly. She probably understood, as did SweetPea, the nonsense coming out of my mouth. Polishing armor like a future shoe shine boy sounded far more attractive. I p
ushed past the dislike and spoke the phrase again.

  Small gray lights streaked toward the black-and-gold companion. Dusk’s size doubled, tripled, and continued to grow. The ship tilted again as the [Messenger’s Pet] tried to fly away but fell to the ground instead. His wings didn’t expand in time. Bushes were demolished as he landed on his back. A dozen monsters were pinned underneath him, and many died right away, their health bars quickly reducing to zero.

  [Blink] got me down onto the ground. [Morrigu’s Gift] shifted rapidly as my legs twisted. The huge blade sliced across an enraged beast’s face. Slobber and blood washed my face as its head separated from its body. I kept twirling. Skeletons landed beside me in a clatter of bone. They assembled themselves promptly and started fighting.

  My pseudodragon friend rolled over and got all four legs under himself. He spread his wings wide and knocked over nearby Travelers and monsters alike with a sweep of his tail. Both wings beat against the ground, and powerful hind legs propelled his body into the air.

  “Good luck,” I whispered after his dwindling form.

  “Get back up here, Hermes!” Awesome Jr. hung over the ship’s edge and waved. “SweetPea and I have to get over to the main army and start ressing people!”

  Shadow: It’s a mess out here. We’re down six people. Four recalled, two aren’t checking in.

  Shazam: Seventeen down, three recalled, all accounted for. Healers are behind.

  SweetPea: I’m trying… there’s… so many… I’ve managed to get ten people back up… but mana…

  Awesome Jr.: I’ve got potions for days, so we’re trying, but it’s about to get worse. Look west and tell me we’re not in deep shit now.

  “What the hell?” Xin asked while panting. One of her arms brought up the robe’s hem to wipe off a trail of sweat. Skeleton monsters were busy clearing out low-Ranked creatures beneath us, but my wife gazed elsewhere.

  My vision found the only possible event she could be talking about. In the far western distance, near the beach’s shore, was an absolutely huge creature. It looked big enough to be a [Leviathan]. A starship-fighting monster with mollusks, or other sea creatures growing in droves, had beached itself in order to take down huge portions of the monster army.