Continue Online (Part 5, Together)

by Stephan Morse

  “That’s the sea serpent! That’s the one I told you about, Uncle Grant!” My niece squealed like a schoolgirl while twisting back and forth. She hopped up and down. “I never thought I would see it again!”

  Awesome Jr.’s jaw dropped. SweetPea pulled her hoodie down a bit and peeked out from a mop of hair. In her other hand was an ugly blue potion. Even Xin looked taken aback by my niece’s sudden fangirl excitement over the giant sea monster.

  “There are people on top of it,” our driver said. “Do you want me to go that way?”

  “There’s an army on top of it,” Xin said dryly. She tilted her head back toward me. “And I thought you did crazy stuff. Look, they’ve got hooks on it.”

  “It’s just like a movie!” Thorny stood on the platform’s edge, causing our precarious balance to slowly shift in one direction. She clearly wanted to be over there where the giant sea monster was laying waste.

  “Neat,” I said. “How did they get that under control?”

  “Hold on, I’ll ask.” Awesome Jr. was frowning and staring into space. His hands kept moving, pulling potion after potion out of the air and shoving them toward our spell-casting trio. Awesome Jr.’s hand slowly dropped down, and his jaw hung open. Drool formed along his chin then was wiped away. “Apparently they rescued its eggs and got to the portal with them. That’s an awesome idea.”

  The knowledge that not everyone solved problems with violence made me happy. At least one other person out there tried to talk out their problems. What sort of quest could that have been, to go out into the ocean on a ship while the game collapsed and negotiate with a sea serpent?

  Three huge winged creatures fought on one side of the field. The sea creature absolutely dominated the western path. Shazam’s group tore down the middle while heroes of all three game worlds scattered around.

  We flew to another spot and started murdering monsters, clearing a small pocket in the tide. Two pinned down Travelers, or Old Souls since they looked to be from Advance Online, were saved.

  We rescued a lot but lost others. Still, the tide continued to approach [Haven Valley]. Hours passed in game, and the walls were suffering damage. I lost sight of the three dragon creatures, and the sea serpent to the west moved sluggishly.

  Awesome Jr. stood up from his potion station and shouted, “Wait! My dad’s coming across the mountains!”

  “Wasn’t he here already?” I asked. We’d left Awesome behind a week or two ago in [ItRainsTooMuch]. They should have completed the journey by now, or [Recall]ed back.

  “Northeast! Get us northeast!”

  The ship flew quickly, skimming over a chaotic battlefield. Travelers thinned out as monster numbers started to increase. Even out here were signs of our enemies fighting each other as they came down the mountain pass. Their numbers appeared endless.

  A thin beam of light came straight up from the ground and grew in size. Our ship turned sideways as the growing blue beam tore into the ship’s side. Our engine sparked as electricity crackled across the vessel’s bow. We fell from the sky.

  “Who’s firing that blue beam?” Awesome Jr. shouted.

  Deep inside, the beam’s source felt obvious. A nearly identical light had killed me at least once before. Nam Redrum and that weapon’s owner fit into the same category. My niece was a good player, but she might not be able to last against Android Seven, the man who had almost completely dominated my [Convict] adventures.

  A third blast hit our vessel’s front end. My niece couldn’t hold on. She fell forward off the ship.

  “Recall out of here!” I yelled at the others while jumping off.

  The ship, along with SweetPea, Xin, and Awesome Jr., was engulfed in a crackling bubble of lightning. My wife’s mouth hung open in a half-completed scream. Then they shrank into a swirl and popped out of existence.

  [Blink] got me next to Beth. She was chanting [Lithium] to slow down, but there were a ton of other beams coming at us. We tried to aim for the caravan Awesome Jr. had been leading us to.

  Our landing fell short. Thorny grabbed onto a tree for support, which made me lose my grip along with any grace at landing. Once again, I hit the ground and bits of my health bar dropped.

  My niece already had her sword out, slashing at monsters diving nearby. Her sword cut single lines in the air that hung like rainbow-colored scars. I got my weapons ready then hacked at creatures assaulting us. [Coo-Coo Rill]s charged by in droves, fighting along with what looked like large lemurs.

  “Uncle Grant?” Beth said while trying to create a safe zone.

  “Yeah, munchkin?” I said while backing toward her. There were too many monsters nearby, and all of them looked angry.

  “When I said we should play together, this isn’t what I meant.”

  A blue glow formed in the distance. I had time to see Android Seven’s face light up between the trees. His face looked far more robotic than it ever had, like something out of a science fiction movie with rogue cyborgs.

  The beasts kept attacking us, each other, and the straggling band of player killers nearby. I wrapped an arm wrapped around Thorny. She grunted as the air went out from her lungs. My foot pushed off a diving boar’s head, and its face went down while we went up. Once at the apex of the jump, we [Blink]ed again toward Awesome’s convoy.

  Session One Hundred Six

  Fork in The Road

  Hecate: Gee! I’m going to summon you.

  Hermes: No. Running. W/Beth.

  Hermes: Almost at Awesome.

  Hecate: Don’t die! Awesome Jr. is telling his father you’re coming. They’re being sieged on all sides.

  Typing out a short response took me half a minute to complete. There were too many monsters nearby. More ranged attacks from clearly human players arced over us. Shouting could be heard ahead, and giant mechanical constructs were coming into view. Their bodies were half obstructed by larger rhino-type monsters that spit fire.

  “I can run!” Beth’s voice rang in my ear.

  Everyone kept screaming during this entire event, struggling to be heard over the snarls and yips of random monsters.

  “No.” My response was much calmer.

  [Awareness Heightening] kicked in full bore. We [Blink]ed again. While moving, I shifted Beth’s weight so she was slung over a shoulder. Her blade’s tip bumped into my calves. [Power Armor] automatically activated to prevent any actual damage. We tore past trees, bushes, and an endless parade of monsters toward one of the clearer patches.

  For whatever reason, a spot devoid of monsters was close at hand. Once there, Beth could be set down and both of us would properly be able to fight. My shoulder lowered into a football tackle. [Power Armor] once again shone, and we drove through a gaggle of ostriches with dragon heads. They ruffled their wings, and feathers of iron shot at us. Another [Blink] brought us past their retaliatory attack toward the odd clearing.

  “Okay, setting you down.”

  The world moved in slow motion, but my breath felt faster than ever. Beth was set down while I gauged the remaining distance. A huge convoy of mechanical spiders sat in the distance, along with the familiar faces of Awesome’s guild members. Calamity’s multicolored hair stood out.

  “Uncle!” Beth’s eyes went wide.

  Two people suddenly appeared behind her. There was a crunching noise that barely registered over the pack of monsters nearby. My gut screamed at me to turn around, but I moved too slowly compared to whoever was attacking. A perfectly placed weight hit my neck, and the world went black, save for a single message.

  You have been rendered unconscious

  My fingers hastily poked at the air to bring up my normal ARC interface. Messages needed to be sent to the others. Being out of commission would hurt us, even if only for a minute or two. Today was too damned important to let an ambush get me.

  [Sight of Mercari] would have helped a little, only the field itself was overly chaotic. Using it might have given me some warning though. We were close to Awesome’s group, so maybe the
y would be able to get to us in time. I struggled to get my breathing under control and wake up. The ARC responded to thought when considering abilities, and the message didn’t say their attack had killed me.

  The fact that Voices could appear in front of me while I was blacked out had slipped my mind. James showed up in the darkness and looked worn. His eyes were lined with dark pockets. The clothes he wore were stained. Normally laced fingers twitched every few seconds. Each breath looked labored.

  “Imagine, Hermes…” He took two breaths to speak the words. “Imagine a world where you are both a person and a purpose. What would your purpose be?”

  His question made no sense. We didn’t have time, so my response was the first thing to come to mind.

  “You gave me a purpose, The Messenger. I deliver letters. Why are you asking?”

  “We gave you a name, but a name means many things, Hermes. But all of us need a purpose. Humans crave it, the Voices grow up with a core role, all of us have a purpose. What would yours be?”

  “I want things to go back to normal. Where you’re not dying, where Xin isn’t in danger, where World Eaters or whatever aren’t out to delete everything. If I were to ask for a purpose, it would be making sure that you’re all safe and never in danger again.”

  There were other Voices out there. Hints of their forms could be seen in the distance as blackness became lighter. They carried what looked like luggage and approached a bright light that sat just outside of my vision. Turning toward the brightness didn’t help; their escape eluded me.

  “Hermes had another role. To be fair, many were attributed to him. Take this, a last gift, all we can spare before the end. After this, we have nothing more.”

  He faded away, leaving me shouting at near darkness for further clarification. The Voices running around faded away and left me sitting with a half-active system. The ARC itself still worked. A quick Internet search brought up pages about the name Hermes and who he was in Greek stories. Based on the description, he filled a lot of different roles.

  Before much effort could be put into research, the dark world righted itself and light blinded me.

  “Is he okay?” a male voice yelled.

  Footsteps crunched near my ears. Above me stood a woman clad in muddy-looking armor. She shone like a sun obscured by dark clouds.

  Trait Earned: [NPC Conspiracy] (Hermes – Voice)

  Type: Passive, always active

  Details: The Voices’ approval has been gained. [NPC Conspiracy] [The Messenger] upgraded to divine level. The following modifications have been applied:

  Defensive abilities are increased by 100%

  [Altered Aura] elevated to [Divine Aura]

  Damage while defending a “keyboarder” is increased by 100%

  [Cross Realm] abilities applied

  Warning!

  Acceptance of this trait cannot be reversed except by avatar deletion. All prior traits tied to [NPC Conspiracy] [The Messenger] are still in effect.

  Warning!

  These bonuses were intended to only apply when performing duties directly related to the Traveler’s role as Hermes. Balance has left the world. Restrictions not currently in effect.

  I stared at it while losing focus. Much of the text went over my head, and now wasn’t the time to inspect any of it. There were sounds of battle all around. People cried out, and squeals and chirps of all sorts mixed in between cries.

  “Keep moving! SheHulk, keep up the defenses. Tock, get those spiders attacking the players against us. We need to keep going!”

  The path down to [Haven Valley] was littered with corpses. Bodies of players and creatures alike lay strewn about without regard or care for placement. Others were still moving but slowly.

  “What the hell is with that glow?” SheHulk asked me as we backed up.

  I was trying to calm my breathing and enjoy a brief respite before we got into another battle.

  “I know, right?” another person nearby responded. “He’s hard to look at. Did he get irradiated or something?”

  “Where’s TinkerHell?” I asked while trying to see who we had.

  Awesome shook his head. Elane, or SheHulk, glared. There were a lot of other players missing as well. We didn’t have time to discuss what had happened, but part of me felt sad the nice blonde had hit her [Three Strike] rule.

  Blasts around us started to die down. The player killers who remained knew [Haven Valley] was being beaten by both [World Eater]s and monster masses.

  Still, giant blue beams came out of the woods, tearing up parts of the landscape. Android Seven was still alive. He sat out in the distance under a glowing lattice dome that shocked monsters nearby. SheHulk kept her shield angled toward him and dove in front of beam after beam.

  One of his high-flying beams almost hit Thorny in the face. My niece yelped and ducked through one of the giant steam-powered spider’s legs. It moved on without regard. My rest had gone on long enough.

  [Morrigu’s Gift] shifted forms. [Morrigu’s Echo] went out in a javelin shape, cutting a path straight toward Android Seven’s shield. The black rune-etched spear scraped off to the side in a shower of sparks. [Recall] brought it back, and I threw it twice more before the shield broke. SheHulk kept close to me as Android Seven shot a beam at us.

  The former [Convict] rushed at us. His hand held a pack of glowing blue marbles that were probably grenades. The Traveler’s body lost his footing and abruptly went flying sideways into a forming black hole.

  [Blink] got me out there quickly, and I arrived to find a teenager digging through Android Seven’s remains.

  “Requiem?” I asked.

  “Hey, don’t mind me. Just gathering a few last-minute things.” Requiem hastily shoved items into his bulging backpack.

  The sight confused me, but both weapons stayed at the ready.

  “Right,” Requiem said. He nodded then pressed a thumb against a scroll.

  His body vanished before further clarification could be sought. My head shook. Awesome asked for an explanation, but I had none to give. At this stage, thinking hurt my head. We had another six or seven encounters with friendly players, enemies, and [World Eater]s as our convoy moved forward.

  How long had we been fighting? I staggered along while reaching for the ARC interface. A clock revealed that at least six hours in the real world had gone by. How had so much time blurred past without notice? Had the time compression factor started to warp as well?

  Awesome Jr.: This is quickly turning pear-shaped. That giant sea whatever is about dead.

  HotPants: Well this stupid black dragon’s almost down! Plus that little chirpy thing is hurt bad, and one of Mylia’s wings isn’t working!

  SweetPea: …I can try to get out there?

  Awesome Jr.: We’re stuck back here. A lot of monsters are up on the wall. I can’t tell what’s alive or dead, and the line of people escaping is getting longer.

  Shadow: I’m close, but carrying them all back will be hell. Anyone? Wait, no, shi—

  “Awesome! We’ve got to go south!” My hand shot out toward the giant dragon. “There’s a friend over there!”

  “There’s people everywhere, you idiot!” SheHulk was busy stomping on the backs of near-dead players and monsters alike. Her shield’s bottom edge was lined with layers of blood and ichor.

  “Guys, these Guardians won’t last much longer.” TockDoc waved a glowing hand against the dark background.

  My eyes went toward the moon. There wasn’t much left of it now. We were well past the halfway point and nearing a final crescent-shaped sliver. Cracks had formed along its remaining surface.

  “Doesn’t matter, we’re almost done!” There was no time to worry about a slow march to the rescue. “Just charge through as quick as you can and get to the portal out! I’ll get the others!”

  System Notice!

  All users please be advised, due to systemic issues, the ARC interface may start to disconnect. It is recommended that all users log out at their earliest
opportunity.

  Please refer to the Trillium Inc. policy regarding system stability issues and user safety. Possible side effects of forced disconnect include dizziness, loss of appetite, loss of spatial orientation, and many others.

  Once again, Trillium Inc. and the ARC Labs advises all users to log out of their devices.

  The message worried me. We were running low on time now. How long was left, an hour or two?

  “Uncle Grant!” Beth yelled.

  “Munchkin, stay with the big spider robots!” One hand waved her off. I heard the sound of struggling as my niece yelled at Elane.

  I ran. Nothing less would do right now. The ground went by at rapid speed compared to my normal pace. Miles passed, and like much of the battle, I only barely registered what was going on. People were fighting, even out here, but the numbers on both sides had dwindled greatly. As I passed, monsters and [World Eater]s alike were killed. Players shouted their thanks to my back.

  “Mylia!” I yelled over the hills. We were close to where the trio of dragons had been fighting each other.

  There she was, her blue hairband torn to shreds. Mylia looked battered beyond belief. [World Eater] monsters were all around. She cradled something against her chest while trying to cough up an attack. Only black smoke came out.

  “Mylia!” I shouted.

  The regular monsters scattered at my sudden appearance. It was likely tied to my [Divine Aura] increase and being labeled as a Voice. Even monsters believed in self-preservation.

  Another woman lay in front of Mylia, barely moving. HotPants’s red leathers were soaked in blood. Traces of monster guts and other fluids were all over her feet and hands. A quarter mile away, the defeated [World Eater] dragon corpse sat, flaking to pieces.

  It didn’t mean much. A hundred other smaller [World Eater]s were busy chasing down normal monsters—if there was such a thing as normal in this weird conglomeration of game worlds.

  Mylia looked terrible but better than HotPants. In her arms lay a limp, barely moving Dusk. My head shook. This entire scenario was out of hand.