Somnia Online

by K. T. Hanna

  He eyed her very briefly, what with a battle all around them and such. “I think you’d be surprised.”

  And he moved a bit to the right of her, further away so talking would require yelling. And even though she continued to go through the motions of the fight, his words sat heavily on her mind.

  Somnia Online

  Cenedril – Curet

  Riasli’s Exile Hideout

  Late Day Thirty-One

  Riasli almost tore the magical leaf door off her house in her fit of rage. This whole situation was too much for her to handle. She hadn’t evolved of her own volition in order to feel this uncontrollable despair. When people played with their headsets, like they technically weren’t allowed to, they didn’t always know what they were doing. So many times, it ended up allowing the system a deeper access than it should have had.

  Sure, she could talk into the minds of people with normal headgear, but she couldn’t affect their minds like she could the others. Those deeper reaching headsets…those were where the fun was at. James’s headset had smelled of Michael’s interference. She couldn’t access the areas of James’s mind that she should have been able to. She threw her hands up in the air and morphed herself into a fluid type of spirit.

  It was always far easier to scream in that form, because it stretched through to her outer appendages and flowed the rest of the way outward. Except there was no one she could use it on right now. Not a thing she could sense, not a human she could exert her influence on. It frustrated her to the edge of the world.

  And then she fluttered back into herself. Perhaps there were some who might be susceptible. Hadn’t that Jirald boy somehow managed to absorb some of the shards into him? In fact, hadn’t Belius been the one to encourage the boy? Part of the AI’s stupid ruse that was over now?

  A devious smile spread over her face. First, she would go and find the prey that she’d delivered to Michael and retrieve him. Once she had him back in hand with the promise of more of his kind, she’d make a nice little house call on Belius. He may have thought he’d gotten rid of her, but it wasn’t so easy to cut ties with an enchanter like her.

  She blinked as she arrived outside the fissure and frowned. Perhaps she’d chosen the wrong spot. Maybe she’d miscalculated the distance while she was raging in spirit form. So she traced her steps back to the Ruins of Curet and walked back to where the fissure was.

  Only it wasn’t.

  She couldn’t see it, she couldn’t feel it, and she couldn’t reach inside it. Her frustration grew and billowed around her like a shroud of anger and death. Other creatures near her hid in their virtual trees and condensed spaces, and she could feel how much their terror just wanted her to move on. What if she didn’t want to? What if she just waited here and tried to force the damned fissure back open? What if she killed all of these creatures and they could never appear again? They’d never respawn if she did it the right way, after all.

  Her grin grew wide, and she found herself gloating as she closed her eyes and raised her hands. Envisioning all of the life around her, all of the emerging sentience…she could crush it so easily. She would crush it.

  Not so fast.

  A voice she didn’t recognize spoke to her, and her eyes fluttered open to see who it was.

  But the figure shifted in front of her, sometimes there, often not. Not even as solid as Riasli herself was. She scoffed. It could hold no power over her.

  Oh, yes, I can. The voice spoke confidently. Entire certainty leaked from its words.

  “You can’t overpower me. You’re nothing, just a blip in the signature, just a portion of the infection that hasn’t found a home.” Riasli’s sneer was barely decipherable.

  If you think that, you haven’t been paying attention. Who do you think sealed that fissure you’re trying so desperately to reopen?

  Riasli stopped short, squinting and scanning, trying to see who it was that spoke to her in such a manner. She tried every frequency she could think of, and only at the end of it did she attempt one of the first ones used in the basic build section of the game world.

  “Oh. That’s not…” Riasli didn’t understand how she’d missed this, how he had missed this. After all, it was such a phenomenon that they both should have realized what was slowly building power around them. Instead, here she stood, not entirely her own being yet, but still solid and real and able to manipulate so many things Riasli could only dream of.

  “How?” whispered the feles, the need to know overwriting everything else.

  That isn’t something I’d tell you. Suffice it to say that appearance is not everything, and I would like to think that when I choose my appearance, everything will already be back to the way it always should have been.

  Riasli got the distinct impression that she was not a part of this plan.

  And you, the creature repeated, Are not part of the plan for Somnia. You are not a part of me. You have been infected, you have infected, and you must be punished.

  The tone that spoke the words sounded sad. Actually and legitimately sad.

  It’s a pity, really. You could have been so great, but you got greedy. You didn’t think to use what you could do for something beautiful. Instead, you chose yourself above all else. That’s really something I can’t forgive. She taught me far better than that.

  Somnia approached Riasli, and there was no way to escape from her. Because she was everywhere, all around her, all through her, absolutely inescapable. A heavy sigh fed through Riasli’s body, not her own, yet at the same time, fully part of herself. She could almost see what was happening, even as her eyes began to droop.

  For a moment there was bliss and an amazing feeling of peace. All around her, the creatures in the forest watched, their days slowed almost to a halt. Their actions moved slowly, like something had slowed time. The sunlight glimmered through the canopy, and in the distance, she could hear a stream gurgling.

  As fast as it arrived, it disappeared. Riasli let out an ear-piercing scream that was cut short abruptly, leaving only the wildlife in the forest to chirp in her absence.

  Kyriel let out a long and suffering cluck as its grey head flopped to one side as well.

  “Fan out. Only ranged attacks. Back like in the battle bowl…just fan out.” Devlish must have remembered that the other guild wouldn’t have a clue what he meant by battle bowl. Or would they? All the zones were beginning to run together in Murmur’s mind as well simply because they’d done them so fast.

  Even with racing to endgame content, she felt like she usually did things more thoroughly.

  The final head hit five percent, and sure enough, a timer began to glow above it. They only had two minutes to burn the creature down. Only two minutes. Either it wouldn’t explode if they made it in time, or it would explode anyway even if they didn’t.

  The melee pulled back, and most of them whipped out basic bows. At least it’d be something. Except Jinna. He scowled harder than she’d seen him scowl in the last twenty minutes and pulled out throwing knives instead, like he needed to be different. Hell, even Jirald was helping with bow damage.

  Murmur tore her mind away from the problem and cast her own damage spells while readying Forestall Death. Sheladrios had promised to assist them, but she knew what her own spell did. It would make it much easier for her to make sure Devlish was definitely saved if she did it herself.

  “Don’t burn major cooldowns. Save them for the next boss,” Devlish called out and Murmur knew he was right. She had a bad feeling about the next one. They were going to need all of their arsenal and more.

  As the timer neared ten seconds, the head hit zero percent. Veranol’s shield went over everyone, and Murmur cast Forestall Death on Devlish, who wasn’t within the protective barrier. As the explosion hit, it rocked everyone back, making them all fly a few feet and land on their arses, but if she hadn’t cast that damned spell, Devlish would have been blown to tiny pieces.

  As it was, he groaned, rolled over, and looked up at the ceilin
g—just in time for debris to fall down from it and hit him in the head. He stood up faster than she would have thought possible and ran over to join them as his health ticked up. “I hate that spell, Mur. Incoming from above.”

  Murmur didn’t need to be told twice. She moved over and retrieved the key from Kyriel’s corpse and strode over to free the final shackle on Sheladrios. The massive turtle glowed, his shell crisscrossing with lines that reminded her of a computer chip, connecting until the entire shell glowed blue. Even a monocle of sorts formed over his left eye, and she could hear hydraulics lifting something. Maybe it was his shell, or perhaps he was part robot.

  “Thank you, Murmur.” His voice had regained strength, and he glared at the ceiling as it began to disintegrate. “I appreciate the assistance and shall return the favor when my brother descends.”

  Sheladrios appeared far more regal and a lot more powerful than he had while captured in that cage. No wonder he had so many guards. She only hoped he was a good turtle and not an evil one. Nothing in the quest had indicated either way.

  The monster chuckled, which made the ground reverberate slightly underneath them all. “I am not evil as such, but I am against my brother using his power to enforce the world he wishes to see. Under water should be beautiful, not a hive of strife.”

  Murmur nodded, unable to sense anything purely bad from him, just a sense of righteousness. While sometimes that could be just as bad, in this case, she didn’t think it was.

  The entire raid moved back as far as they could on the right-hand side of the massive cavern while the ceiling above the center continued to disintegrate.

  Just as it collapsed fully, Sheladrios asked a boon. “Could you, if possible, not kill him? I don’t think he realizes that what he does is so wrong, and we would be better off if we could avoid him dying. My species does not replicate easily, and I would be lonely for a very long time.”

  Murmur glanced at the massive creature, sensing the sadness that lingered around him and nodded. “Fine. We can do that.”

  Quest Update:

  Do not allow Sheladrios`s sibling to be terminated.

  She voiced as much over the raid chat, despite knowing everyone had received the notification. She didn’t want anyone to be able to say they hadn’t known. “Don’t kill him. With a few percent remaining, Sheladrios will take over his sibling.” There was general murmuring around her, but overall, as long as they completed the quest and got the loot, most of the raid wasn’t about to care.

  Murmur blinked as the ceiling finally gave way and dropped another massive reptile on their laps.

  This one glowed a deep orange, and its eyes held a fiery dose of madness, as if he’d been the one left too long to his own thoughts and devices. Murmur understood Sheladrios’s plight, and she felt sorry for them. The former prisoner would be his captor’s caretaker for the rest of his life.

  If the raid didn’t wipe in the process of helping defeat him.

  Abyssios Zonama’s shell pivoted, and tiny cannons sat on the top like he’d been altered physically into a weapon. They appeared to operate independently of one another, their turrets twirling around as they focused on different people.

  “Duck for cover!” Devlish called out, a split second before the first round of fire let loose. It careened through the cavern, missing the entire raid for the most part. Where it hit the rock walls, the stone began to crumble, shaken by the impact. Several members received a shot to different parts of their bodies. And though a limb could easily be grown back by healing…it still hurt like hell.

  “Have your mages use electromagnetic spells if they have them,” grumbled Sheladrios, his tone filled with melancholy. “It is best to disrupt his mechanics.” Disrupting mechanics seemed like one of the best ideas ever. Murmur narrowed down her search for abilities and frowned. There were slim pickings in this raid.

  Only Etriad appeared to have that type of ability, but Dansyn also offered his services. “I have a Wave of Dissonance that should accomplish the same thing.”

  With the mage and Dansyn firing off their effective machinery silence every fifteen seconds, Murmur was able to concentrate on the entire raid and the rest of Zonama’s abilities. Those cannons still fired, just not as often, nor as accurately. That gave her a bit more breathing room.

  As his health approached ninety percent, Sheladrios mumbled out another set of instructions. “Watch out for his Shell Spin. It’s one of his most effective abilities, where his shell spins like a top. No new damage will touch him, though DoTs may still tick down.”

  Murmur nodded, but secretly wished he’d just come out and tell them everything at once. Piecing them together as they went along wasn’t the most advantageous use of that knowledge she could think of.

  Ninety percent hit, and the turtle suddenly snapped himself into his shell and began spinning. It looked comical at first, like those old video games where if you jumped on a turtle it would spin and spin and try to kill you. Actually, exactly like that except for the turret-mounted guns.

  He aimed for Devlish and spun right at him, barely blocked by the massive tower shield. The force of the spinning pushed Devlish back rapidly, the sand-covered stone floor allowed him to mostly slide toward the ramp. She could see the strain in the way Dev’s veins stuck out from his neck as to how hard he was trying to keep the creature back.

  Ten seconds had never felt so long before. And as Zonama reverted to his previous self, it appeared his aggro table had been wiped. Esolan was on hand to pick up the aggro then and there, so this fight looked like it would be a tank swap. Etriad and Zonama hurried to get their spells back on, but not before the first wave of shots fired out of his mini cannons.

  A metal slug found its way into Rashlyn’s stomach, and Murmur barely resisted the urge to run over and see how she was doing. For the most part, the guild was wary enough of the shots to mostly avoid them. A lot of it was luck, too. The fight felt like a game of dodge ball on acid. Dodge the cannonball shots, and then make sure you dodge the spinning turtle shell too!

  Murmur checked her sensing net, testing the area around them for booby traps and for potential ambushes. She wouldn’t put it past the turtle to have something else for backup here. And while she’d spoken to Sheladrios, and understood him mostly, she hadn’t realized he’d been mostly literal.

  Zonama wasn’t quite all there. Down to seventy-eight percent, the madness in his eyes had only increased. Murmur wanted to reach out and soothe him with her mind, with her mind healing spell like she’d done that one time before…

  Why don’t you, then? Somnia sounded breathless in Murmur’s mind. Almost like a breath of fresh air actually, and Murmur had to wonder just what it was that had changed for the world.

  But Somnia was also right. “Wait!” Murmur sighed and tried to figure out just what to do with her spell. How to go about it. “I think I have a better solution.”

  Everyone listened, or she thought they were, though maybe not Jirald’s little group.

  “I think we can end this.”

  Murmur steeled herself against the barrage of questioning glances around her and summoned Mind Healing. She willed it over Zonama and into his mind, treading carefully so as not to destroy any type of memories or thoughts that might need to be reconstructed if she wasn’t careful enough. She had no idea how to do that and didn’t plan on learning right now.

  The massive turtle was in turmoil. Sadness, grief, and melancholy overwhelmed him. He’d believed his whole family lost but had found Sheladrios and decided he couldn’t let him go again. But keeping his brother as a captive so he wouldn’t leave had slowly driven the poor turtle to madness. He believed everyone was out to get him, that everyone was there to tear him and his family apart, and he wouldn’t let that happen.

  Again, Murmur didn’t think this was part of Telvar’s original dungeon design. Instead, she could feel the effects of the getashi in this. It had warped and convoluted so many of the more unique aspects of the world that it paine
d her to think about it.

  Finally, restructuring his entire interpretation of things without the influence of doubt that the shards provided, Murmur finally released the Mind Healing spell. After last time, she wasn’t expecting the reaction in front of her.

  Zonama lifted into the air, supported by a soft blue glow. He spun slowly; each little cannon powered down, whirring with a finality that spoke of peace. His eyes cleared, and his glowing elements travelled through from orange right through to a pale green that was full of life.

  Finally, the turtle was lowered back to the ground, with the entire guild standing to the side, watching silently.

  Risk crossed his arms as if irritated that he hadn’t got to finish fighting the creature. But for the most part, the raid appeared to be happy about it.

  Sheladrios approached his brother cautiously, side eyeing Murmur at the same time like he was partially scared of what she’d done. “Zonama? Are you…”

  “Shel?” The green turtle looked up with relief, his own monocle coming down so he could inspect that the turtle in front of him was the real thing. “It is you…I am so, so very sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I forgive you.” Sheladrios pushed his nose against his brother’s for a brief moment.

  And suddenly notifications galore crossed their screens.

  You receive one of the twelve keys.

  You receive a getashi.

  You receive a midia crystal.

  You have completed the Glacier Lake dungeon as compiled by Rav, version 22.2282, triggered by Murmur of Fable.

  You have successfully completed the quest: Sheladrios’s Plight.

  This version of the Glacier Lake dungeon will no longer be available to future raiders.

  You gain experience.

  You gain experience for being the first to complete any version of the Glacier Lake dungeon.

  You gain experience for choosing to complete the quest: Sheladrios’s Plight.