“Usual plan?” Infect’s voice came from invisibility.
“Yes, let’s stick to that. Scyth, do what you think is best but try to focus on the same target as Infect. Hit them with a Stunning Kick if you can, maybe you’ll procc a stun. But for now you’re basically a wildcard. We need to gather more statistics before making any conclusions. So, is everyone ready?”
“Five targets spotted,” Infect reported from invis. “Warrior, shaman, mage, priest and owl druid. They’re running to the main entrance. Should we go out to meet them?”
“No,” Crawler answered. “Raid lead said to hole-up in the tunnel. So we’re gonna hole up in the tunnel. Then we’ll come at them from behind. Unless... Infect, get behind them. Tell us what’s out there.”
I looked closer and, in the middle of the running group of opponents, I saw fiery explosions blooming like flowers. That was Caramba scorching them from a distance.
“Okay, that’s all she could shoot. Now it’ll be a bunch of time for cooldown,” Bomber noted. “She took down about a third of each of their health.”
Waves of healing light ran over the attacking figures, not even thinking of stopping or responding to the grenadier’s attack.
“So are we just gonna stand around? Ed I don’t understand,” I admitted. “We’re here, there’s the enemy. What’s the hold up?”
“Because if we start acting independently, we’ll definitely lose,” he answered instructively. “And if you don’t agree with the raid lead, even a self-appointed one – and nobody contested Lord’s leadership – you should have said so before the battle, not during. Alright, Scyth, relax. It’s just practice.”
And then, time to talk was over. The assault was underway.
The enemies burst into the fortress through the main door, took out Morty the hunter and Vitalik the warrior, taking Infect out of stealth in passing, then grabbed the flag and ran out the same way they’d come in, through the main entrance. We intercepted them there, but didn’t manage to do anything. The attack group, their warrior carrying the flag, shot down Crawler and Tissa in a matter of moments, then stunned Bomber and splatted me. And my Resilience and Stoneskin were no help. They slowed me down, stunned me and slammed into me with the combined power of five high-levels.
Along with the rest, I apparated in ghost form in the graveyard then waited fifteen seconds for respawn. In that time, our enemies calmly overcame an ambush by Milord, Caramba and Urbex, dragged our flag into their base and put it up on the board – 1:0.
Once we’d reached 3:0, Vitalik went rogue and ran for the enemy flag along with Morty. Seeing the confusion, Infect in invis also ran off after the ill-fated banner. We stayed back to defend the base: Tissa rolled her eyes every time the logs said someone from our team died. Crawler smiled darkly and never tired of repeating that this was just practice but, based on Bomber’s uncensored and rampant cursing, they were not having a great time. None of us wanted to lose, especially this badly.
As for me, I was just learning to fight without using my cheap abils. Over the course of the battle, I realized how defenseless I was against a decent practiced premade where everyone knew their place.
I didn’t have any positional control abilities, so fairly often I couldn’t even get close enough to land a punch. And meanwhile I would find myself gripped by roots slithering up out of the ground, trapped in an ice cube, poisoned with slowing poison, blinded, or shield stunned plenty. My whole first Battleground was a series of deaths in various ways, all while stunned, then a bit of waiting in a churchyard as a ghost. And the respawn time went up with every subsequent death. By the end, I was relegated to ghost-hood for a whole three minutes.
Infect and Crawler each got a couple frags, but they were in brawls, just finishing people off. But I was holding back. No matter how badly I wanted to pour a bit of plague energy into the weak arrows from my bow, frustrated that I was stuck again. But I knew the revenge wasn’t worth revealing my nature.
Oh yeah, and another thing! No one had to hold their tongue. This was not a sandbox, so both sides were making frequent use of foul language. But the most hateful curses of all were belched out by Vitalik. Thanks to the built-in translator, I learned many Russian words, all with the literal meaning of either sex organs or acts. Surprisingly, most of the positions were unthinkable, physiologically impossible even!
Finally losing his mind at Milord’s idiocy, Vitalik called him both a homosexual and a woman of low morale at the same time. Caramba and Urbex he called obtuse vaginas, confirming in my mind that Russians were devilishly inventive and, from there, he was just spamming the raid chat with catchy, acrid comments.
When my enemies took my badge of honor and mocked me, it put me into a frenzy. The next time I respawned, I looked around and, from far away, shot them in the face, adding a hundred points of plague damage per arrow.
After that, I cut into Bomber’s skirmish, working with Milord to turn back the enemy incursion. And with one plague Combo I chopped up the maligned frost mage and then took on the especially impudent and bad-natured shaman, who was biting into Hung and carrying our flag. The flag carrier was too far gone. He didn’t even try to run away, instead trying to finish off Bomber, who had only one percent health remaining. But his Svetovid’s Valor ring procced, so the warrior survived.
Seeing our slight success, the others glommed onto us and, in the end, Infect managed to grab the opposing side’s flag and bring it to our base. So we lost the first Battleground, but it wasn’t a complete shut-out. 14:1.
We spent the rest of the day on a further six battles. We lost them all, but every time I was feeling more confident, and our defeats were getting less severe.
Overall, I would call my training day and the several Badges of Honor I’d been awarded an asset.
* * *
The next morning, I got a message from Rita, reminding me that she was planning to fly to Glastonbury by lunch for the Rock Festival. She cautiously expressed a hope that I’d go with her and Goosebumps. I answered that I would love to but I couldn’t. I had stuff. “Too bad,” she wrote back.
Over breakfast, I noticed my parents looking through different places for them to live after the divorce. That reminded me of the reality that, in the not so distant future, we would no longer be a family. My mood plummeted so precipitously that the Home Doctor immediately reacted, offering me a dose of children’s antidepressant. I told it and, mentally, my parents to go to the twilight zone, then climbed into Dis. The guys hadn’t entered the game yet.
I had messages in my mailbox. The first was from the organizers of the culinary tournament. At the end of the invitation, there was a stamp: a magical portal sticker in the shape of a roast ham. The letter smelled breathtakingly delicious, of roast meat, fresh bread and fried garlic. The portal could be used tomorrow, Sunday, at eight PM.
In the second letter, Arno the chef of the Bubbling Flagon wrote that he had received his invitation and was hoping to see me at the competition. I’d have to bring my own main ingredients, but they would provide the spices and seasonings.
I finished with the mail and decided to do something. Depths Teleportation sent me to the Olton Quarries, where I didn’t miss the chance to have a talk with Manny and Trixie. The noncitizens had been mining ore since early morning and, when the little guy frowned and wiped sweat from his face, I remembered that their pods transmitted pain and other sensations one hundred percent. Given that, even some salty sweat dripping into your eye might cause discomfort.
“I found a little ring,” Trixie boasted. showing me a finger adorned with an unprepossessing copper band. “Green! It gives me plus two strength!”
“Yeah, the little fellow got lucky for once,” someone from Manny’s brigade uttered enviously.
The foreman himself told me that even that small boost to a main attribute significantly sped up the mining process. Their energy was tied to endurance: they couldn’t swing a pick all day. They always needed to take breaks to rest. But with i
ncreased strength, Trixie had to swing his pick less times to get the same amount of rock.
I walked from the mine into the mountains to familiarize myself with the local wildlife. I shot at some Corpseeating Vultures and Rock Coyotes, came across a Feral Harpy nest. They were disgusting dirty and stinking caricatures of women with big wings, sickle-like claws and crooked undeveloped legs. They were almost naked, but there was nothing attractive there. Everything was covered in a layer of dirt. As for loot, they dropped Feral Harpy Feathers and copper. I didn’t fill my backpack, because the feathers were worth mere pennies as alchemy and tailoring ingredients.
My archery skill went up, reminding me of the guys. Suddenly anxious, I left Dis and called Tissa. She didn’t answer. Then I started calling everyone. Nobody was picking up.
Finally, Tissa’s father answered.
“Who is this?” he asked strictly, his eyes sparking just like his daughter’s under his bushy brows.
“Uh... Mr. Schafer? My name is Alex Sheppard...”
“I know you’re Alex Sheppard. I know how to use a comm. It showed me your name. But tell me, what do you want from my daughter?”
“Her and I were supposed to meet in Disgardium along with a few other friends. But none of them are answering their comms. Has something happened?”
“Melissa is ill. She has some kind of infection and fever they can’t diagnose. It isn’t even clear how the disease is transmitted. Last night, I took her to the hospital, which is where she is now.”
“Which hospital, Mr. Schafer? Can I visit her?”
“You can’t,” he replied, a bit milder. “It’s the infection ward, boy. Do you know what the word infection means? You might catch what they’ve got.”
“I know, Mr....”
“Then you must understand that it’s no place for you,” he interrupted. “If of course you don’t want to also fall ill. As far as I understand, her idiotic friends Rodriguez, Lee and that little Arab Malik are there too. I didn’t see them myself, but I talked to their parents.”
“Did the doctors give an approximate time when I could call them?”
“They’re in medical pods, Sheppard. Immersed in a dream. People are gonna be observing their condition of course but, at the very least, they’re gonna have to spend two days in there. They’ll be observed and the course of the infection tracked. I’ve gotta go. Stay healthy, boy.”
Schafer signed off. I spent a bit of time staring hollowly at the comm in my hand. On it I could see Tissa smiling and sending me a kiss.
What happened to them? What made them get sick and not me? Just in case, I had the Home Doctor run a diagnostic. Not counting my bad mood, it didn’t find anything. No disease-causing infections or viruses, apart from a pimple on my forehead, which the doc immediately treated.
I sent messages to the guys, wishing them a speedy recovery and started thinking. What should I do now? Keep levelling alone? After the last week, I’d had it up to my ears with Dis. I almost decided to get to studying but suddenly I remembered Rita and the rock festival. The mere thought that I was going to go have fun while my friends were sick, possibly severely, made me feel pangs of conscience. While I hesitated, mom came into the room:
“Son, you’re not in your pod? I’m impressed!” she squawked in false surprise.
“Did something happen?”
“Yes,” she replied. “We got a notification about your most recent test. You almost failed it!”
“But I didn’t...”
“Yes, at the very least you didn’t fail, Alex! If you keep this up, they won’t even allow you to take the citizenship tests!”
“That’s not likely...”
I tried to reassure her, saying that I was just about to dedicate my weekend to studying, but her answer surprised me:
“You need to get some fresh air, son,” she advised calmly. “You’re always going from school straight into Dis! You’ll have plenty of time to live in that world,” mom said, nodding toward the pod. “Use the rest of your childhood for something else. Go to the movies, fly to the beach, go to a theme park and ride some rides... Or if you want, we could go to the moon. All of us together, me you and dad, huh?”
“When, today?”
“Hmm... Not today,” she replied, upset. “Not tomorrow either, but maybe next weekend? Is that okay?”
“Of course,” I smiled. “Then I have other plans for today. A girl I know invited me to Glastonbury for the rock festival. With sleepover. Can I go?”
“Which girl?” Mom askes, startled. “Melissa?”
“No, Rita. You don’t know her, she’s from a different school...”
Dad, eavesdropping behind the door, started laughing. Mom’s pupils widened and, for a couple minutes, I explained to her that Rita and I weren’t exactly together but I did think she liked me. Still, she was like nothing to me, I liked Tissa but things were complicated. In the end, I got both of us totally bewildered.
In the confusion, I shuffled my female parental out of the room and called up Overweight. No matter how she tried to hide her delight, she couldn’t. And not only her. Goosebumps came into the call, having been standing just out of frame:
“Where should we pick you up? We’re on our way!”
The blonde looked great even if I wasn’t used to seeing her with so much eyeliner on. Only after that it occurred to me that I had never met either of them IRL before.
* * *
“Come on, you just keep going on and on about Disgardium,” said Goosebumps, her plump lips puffed out capriciously. Her real name, by the way, was Karina.
Our flight, first across the continent then over the ocean, was entering its third hour. We were almost there, and we’d spent almost the whole time talking about Dis. The three of us flew together, while Rita’s brother Chris and his girlfriend Raven enjoyed the solitude of a different flying car.
So far, we had avoided personal topics. Maybe that was because it was the first time we were meeting and it was taking time to get used to each other after the game world.
Rita Wood, by the way, was even fitter in real life than in the game. “I lost weight,” she explained in embarrassment. Actually, both of the girls looked a lot better in the flesh. They’d grown up a bit since the initial scan at age fourteen.
“So, what’s up with the Hive?” I asked. “You said something was happening there. Did they lower the entry fee all of a sudden?”
“No, it’s something else. Do you know JJ?” Rita waited for me to nod, then continued: “Former clan lead of the Night Stalkers. After they joined up with Axiom, he became Big Po’s second in command.”
“Did they have a fight?”
“Yeah, it was all because of Marishka,” Karina answered. “JJ’s girl.”
“Yep,” Overweight confirmed. “After the new instance opened and had its first run-throughs, Big Po reshuffled their main static. He removed Marishka and replaced her with Irina. She is a so-so damager, a mystic, and her magic only works effectively on intelligent creatures. But when it became clear the sarantapods were fully intelligent, and Irina could control them, Wesley made immediate adjustments. And of course, Marishka and Jay were very upset.”
“Ha!” Goosebumps exclaimed. “Upset! They threw a fit for the whole tavern to see! Even the Dome of Silence didn’t help! Marishka just about clawed Irina’s face off!”
“Goose is exaggerating a bit, but that’s the gist,” Rita agreed. “First Kill is too juicy a bite. In the end, Jay lost it: he left the clan together with his girl, a tank, a heal, and a top damager, and they said to hell with Po and his rules. They plan to walk right into the Hive after cooldown without paying.”
“And what about Po?”
“He’s mad,” Rita shrugged her broad shoulders. “What can he do? He doubled security at the dungeon, but that’s it. He didn’t put a bounty on their heads for betraying him or anything. The rest of his clan wouldn’t let him get away with it. They may be former clanmates now, but they’re still friends.
Same team. Plus there’s been a lot of grumbling. Some think it’s unfair that one of the main players in Wesley’s static was replaced with... well, this is just a rumor... but his girlfriend.”
“Irina?”
“Yep. They’ve been spotted together IRL a couple of times.”
And that was the last we talked about Dis. The girls, egging each other on, rained down personal information on me and, over our chat, we didn’t even notice we’d arrived. The thousands of flying cars landing and taking off made this place reminiscent of a beehive.
“A real concert! Real musicians! Ahhh!” Goosebumps shouted enthusiastically.
I understood where she was coming from. This was all new to me as well! I was slack-jawed and looking around with no idea where to go. There were crowds of people swarming all around us. And everyone was wearing weird clothes, which instantly put me in a better mood, getting me into the party atmosphere.
Apostle of the Sleeping Gods Page 38