“So, people bet on us dying in the wave,” I said. “And then they pay the programmer to make the wave harder. It’s play to win all over again.”
“And the bastards will be watching us right now,” said Jack.
I stood up. The EXP messages had stopped now, and I knew that my traps were finished. That meant that the creatures would be looking for us. Rex had spread mud and leaves over the canopy so that we were camouflaged, but it was only a matter of time.
“We’re not just going to sit here and pray we survive the night,” I told my friends. “How long have we got left?”
“About 4 hours,” answered Rex.
I nodded. “They’re going to find us eventually. Maybe on a normal night we’d have been okay, but someone out there has paid GD to make the wave stronger. We need to show them that money isn’t everything.”
“What do you suggest?” said Jack.
“First up, I want you to use Coin Flip. You need to boost our endurance and strength.”
Jack looked at Rex. “Do you mind?” he said.
The barbarian nodded. “Go ahead. And thanks for asking this time.”
“Gabriella,” I said. “Do you have any spells that can increase our hitpoints?”
“Hitpoints?” said the witch with a confused look on her face.
“Something that makes us harder to kill,” I said.
She nodded. “It’s called Bone Hide.”
“Then cast that on us. With Coin flip and Bone Hide, we’ll be much tougher to kill. I’ll make some more traps and set them on the beach. When I’m ready, I want Gabriella and Jack to join me. Rex and Clive, you guys lead the creatures to the shelter, and let them follow us to the beach.”
“And what then?” said Jack.
“And then we fight until daybreak,” I said.
Chapter Forty-Five
Maybe it would have been wiser to stay in the shelter and pray the rest of the creatures didn’t find us, but I had to prove a point. Someone out there was paying money to make sure we died. I wanted to show everyone watching that sometimes, play to win didn’t work.
After hastily assembling some traps, I ran to the beach and set them in intervals. Jack and Gabriella watched me and took note of where I’d placed them. The sea was calm behind us, as if it had decided to settle down so that it could watch the battle.
Minutes later, Rex and Clive came running at us from the direction of Gossard. Behind them, I saw the text labels of dozens of wave creatures bouncing up and down. For a second it made me doubt our plan, but I shook the thoughts away. With Coin Flip and Bone Hide, I felt stronger. I held Death Bringer up, ready to strike some elemental damage against the creatures of the night.
Battles happen fast. That was one thing I’d learned in Artemis. It seemed like no sooner had I struck a blow on one creature, then another appeared. They sprouted up in front of me, behind me, on my left, on my right. They howled in pain when I pierced their skin with Death Bringer. I heard Rex grunt as he swung his sword. Jack shouted out as a creature scratched him, taking away both hitpoints and EXP.
Traps snapped shut. Dead bodies thudded onto the floor. The creatures’ numbers started to drop. Then a pale light gathered over them, and I heard their claws scrape on the sand as they got to their feet. At the edge of the beach were the reanimators.
Not only had the dead wave creatures gotten back up, but more of them had poured onto the beach. They outnumbered us three to one now. Although they didn’t hunt with much intelligence, the sheer volume of them would be enough to kill us.
“Rex,” I shouted to the barbarian. “Think you can take the reanimators out?”
The barbarian nodded and started to run up the beach, though his feet sunk into the sand with each step. I was glad that he was starting to embrace his role more.
That left Gabriella, Jack, and me with nearly twenty of the beasts prowling around us. My arms were starting to tire now. Even with the bonuses from Jack and Gabriella, I still wasn’t cut out to be a fighter.
Across the beach, a reanimator shrieked in pain. With no other option, the three of us fought back to back, each of us swinging at any creatures that came near. One by one the creatures fell, until we were left with just 5.
One of them approached me warily. I could tell it was about to leap at me. Just as it pounced, I swung Death Bringer at it. To my surprise, I couldn’t move my arm.
The creature swiped out at me, and I felt a stinging pain across my face.
25HP lost!
20 EXP lost!
Warning – Stamina Drained!
“Gabriella,” I called out as the creature in front of me prepared for another attack. “Can you do something? My stamina’s gone.”
“Mine too,” said Jack.
“I’m out of mana,” said the witch. “There’s nothing I can use.”
With the creatures ready to attack, I knew that we were done. It didn’t matter that Rex had killed the reanimators and was running back toward us. Jack and I couldn’t swing our weapons, and Gabriella couldn’t use her spells. We were done.
There were few enough creatures for us to kill, if we could only use our attacks. After that, it would have taken a few hours for the next wave of them to respawn and find their way here, by which time it would almost be daybreak. We’d come so close to surviving this wave, that I felt an ache in my chest. Whoever had betted against us was going to be that little bit richer soon.
As I prepared for the inevitable respawn that awaited me, a light shot out above us. It was white and blinding, like a sustained flash of lightening. A warm feeling spread through me, and I felt my energy start to seep back into my body. Death Bringer felt lighter in my hands, and the ache in my arms and legs left me.
I looked across the beach to see a figure stood in the shadows. A text label hovered over his head.
Francis Drake – Leader – Level 2
I knew who it was. I was so excited that my heart almost dislodged and went up my throat. But I had to focus. The wave creature in front of me lowered onto its hind legs, like a trap ready to snap.
The next ten minutes were a blur of pouncing creatures and swinging weapons. Shrieks of pain, grunts of frustration. Several messages flashed on my screen, but I ignored them, even the one advising me that I’d reached level 7 and my trap skill had gone up to 5.
When the last wave creature fell, I was so tired I could hardly breathe. I sank down onto the damp sand and panted. I heard footsteps crunch as they walked toward me. I took a deep breath, looked up, and I saw the figure above me.
“Nice night for it, bro,” he said.
Chapter Forty-Six
Even when it was light and I could see him properly, I still couldn’t believe it was him. The text above his head was a giveaway, but I still found it impossible to comprehend that my brother was here. His character was taller than the rest of us. He wore standard issue leather armor, and a small dagger was tucked into a sheath on his waist.
“I got your message,” he said. “And then I decided to watch your feed. When I saw how well you were doing, I had to come.”
For a second, I forgot about everything. I wasn’t angry at Terence Pierce or Ellis Taunton, I was just happy to see my big brother. He had a look on his face, even if it was his character’s face, not his, that I hadn’t seen in a while. He looked alert, full of energy.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I said.
As we all sat in our shelter, Francis explained that he’d watched our feed, and he’d decided that rather than wallow in self-loathing, he’d take up my offer of a subscription.
“Not only that,” he said. “I’ve been doing some research. I know where Helder’s Bane is.”
Rex sat against a wall with Clive by his side. “So, this is your brother?” he said.
Francis grinned. “Can’t you see the resemblance? Anyway, we don’t have much time, guys. Star Horizon have almost found Helder’s Bane, and we need to catch them up.”
“Where is it?” I asked.
Francis carried on, ignoring me. “Not only that. I don’t know if you’ve been keeping track, Chris, but-”
“My name’s Columbus here,” I said.
“There’ only 1 day to go until the forestry commission grant the license to Star Horizon. We need to get a move on.”
“So where do we go?” asked Jack.
Francis crossed his arms. “I’ve spent the last few days on the net. I’ve been pouring over forums and trying to find out anything I could about Artemis. It turns out that there’s a techie who’s selling information about the quest. I sold my motorbike, paid him, and he told me where to go.”
“You sold the beast?” said Jack. “You were supposed to teach me to drive.”
“That can wait,” said Francis.
I was getting impatient. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s cut to it. Where do we need to go?”
“It turns out that Helder met a girl who he wanted to marry, but her father was against it. He locked the girl up in a tower in his castle in his city. Helder went there to help her escape, but the girl’s father caught them. He imprisoned Helder.”
“So, we need to go to the city?”
Francis nodded. “The girl’s father was Lord Ashok. He lived in a city north of the Grey Plains. Helder’s Bane will be there, somewhere.”
“What made you change your mind about everything?” I said. “I mean it’s great, seeing you like this. But I just-”
Francis walked over to me and pulled me into a hug. “It was you, Chris. You made me realize I can’t just sit around feeling sorry for myself.”
“So where do we go?” said Rex, standing up.
“Hand me your map,” said Francis. “We need to go to Ashok’s forgotten city.”
We found Ashok’s city north of our shelter. We took a raft over the river and through the rocks, which led us to the start of the Grey Plains. Francis had marked a route on our map which allowed us to skirt the plains, before following a country path for ten miles. The six of us had begun to tire before the city finally loomed into view.
“Why’d you choose the leader class?” I asked my brother, as we stopped for a rest.
“I knew you guys were short of someone with real fighting ability,” said Francis, eyeing Rex. “Since your barbarian prefers raft building and Burr-taming to swinging his sword. But since I was entering the game a few days after you, there was no point me choosing a warrior class. I’d just be playing catch up. So, I decided on leader because it gives me skills that boost the whole party’s stats. Kind of like Jack’s Coin Flip, but without the danger of it backfiring.”
“Coin Flip’s served us pretty well so far,” said Jack.
Francis nodded. “But you have to lose sometime. You can’t be lucky forever.”
The landscape around was different from the rest of Artemis. We hadn’t been this far north yet, and it seemed that the deeper we got into the island, the more decayed things became. There was no forests or woodland around us now. Although it was daylight, the sky was so grey that it was almost dark. There was no grass to be seen, and instead the terrain beneath us was made of rocks and dirt. The songs of the birds were gone, replaced by a growling sound that came from somewhere in the distance.
Location Discovered – Ashok’s City
15 XP gained!
“Call me stupid, but I still don’t understand this. You’re saying Helder’s Bane is in this city? What about the curse?”
Gabriella scoffed. “The curse was ages ago,” she said. “Keep up, will you?”
Francis put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Helder was the mayor of a different city. There, he lived in a castle. He met a girl and they were going to be married, when the wizard cursed Helder and his people. After that, Helder still wanted to marry the girl, but her father put an end to it. See, without his castle, Helder was a nobody.”
I carried on the story. “So Helder came here to get the girl, escape somewhere and marry her?”
Francis nodded. “But her father caught them. After that, I’m not sure what happened. But this is where it all leads. Somewhere in this city, we’ll find Helder’s bane.”
As we walked toward the city, I saw cigarette butts on the ground. It was a sure sign that Ellis Taunton and his party had already been here. I didn’t know how far behind we were, but I got the sense that our chase was coming to an end.
“Is everyone ready for this?” I said.
The city gates were ten feet tall. The metal bars were covered by rust, and one of the gates hung from its hinge. The air was thick with dust. I could see the city streets beyond us, though the buildings lining them were broken and decayed.
Stepping through them, we saw that although this had once been a city, it didn’t come close to resembling one now. The streets were made of cobblestone, though parts of them were stained with blood. The buildings on the sides of the streets were packed so closely together that there was no way through. It seemed that we had no option but to follow the streets and see where they took us.
In the distance, sat proudly atop a hill, was a castle. It seemed to watch over us like a sentinel, it’s broken bricks and crumbling walls silently marking our progress.
There was no doubt now that we needed to reach the castle. I had to remind myself that despite how real it felt, Pana Reborn was a game designed just like any other. The programmers would have made the world with the player in mind. They had deliberately chosen to place the castle high above the city, where we’d always be able to see it. It was a not-so-subtle hint that our goal lay in that direction.
As we followed the city street, I saw that the buildings lining it were normal, once. We passed a dye shop with a notice on the glass that was still legible, where the proprietor was advertising for an apprentice. We saw a store that specialized in leather scabbards of different sizes and color. The strange thing was that the buildings looked like they had been pushed together. They were squeezed against each other like an accordion so that there wasn’t even an inch of a gap.
“Is the rest of the island this cheerful?” said Francis.
He stopped at the window of a hat shop and peered into it. He started to adjust his character’s hair, though the glass was too dirty for a reflection. Stupid as it was, I was glad to see this more than anything. When Francis was in his teens, he’d been so vain that our bathroom had started to fill with his hair products. After his accident, that had stopped.
“A lot of it reminds me of Gossard actually,” I said. “With the trees and stuff. Only more dangerous.”
“And more Burrs than bears,” said Francis.
I nodded. “The thing I love is that it’s all new. Nobody has been here before except us. I just wonder how big the island really is. Even with the ranger’s map and the extra parts you marked, we still don’t have the complete picture.”
“I landed with the public ships,” said Francis. “People set off in all kinds of directions. A lot of it is thanks to you, you know. They’ve been posting clips of your feed on forums, and it got people excited.”
Ahead of us, the street turned a corner. We’d walked five minutes and the castle on the hill seemed no closer than it had before. It still loomed over us, almost big enough to cast a shadow over the city. Whether it was the castle, the grey clouds, or the crumbling buildings, something gave the place a dark air.
When we followed the street, we saw more of the same. On the left a library had collapsed into a butcher’s shop, and rubble lined the floor. On the right, a row of boutiques had been smashed into each other.
I felt like something was different. It was the same feeling I’d had a few times in my time in Pana. It was a warning siren going off in my head, sounding off dimly in the recess of my brain. There was something wrong here, but what was it?
And then I saw it. In the library, visible through a four-foot hole in the wall, a body was on the floor. It was a man, stretched out, his arms in front of his face as if to shield him from something. His body was chalk white an
d encased in stone, as if he had become a statue.
Awareness increased by 25% (75% until level 5)
Chapter Forty-Seven
It was like seeing a car you wanted to buy, or a pair of trainers you fancied. When you saw them once, you started noticing them everywhere. The further we walked, the more stone bodies we discovered. It reminded me of the ruins of Pompeii, where residents of an ancient civilization perished when a volcano erupted. This was different, though. Although most of the buildings were in ruin and were squashed together to form walls on either side of us, none bore marks of ash or lava.
As we rounded another corner in the street, we came to a section where the path led in two directions. One went to left, another to the right. The buildings were so tall that we couldn’t glimpse any of the paths ahead.
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