Somnia Online

by K. T. Hanna

  Sinister: It feels dangerous over here. Like…that trapdoor thing just ripped free and is coming to gobble us all up.

  And just as Sinister spoke, the statues in front of Murmur, the very statues that had been standing in the fountain, including the one with the nice tattoo she’d just given him, began to move. That couldn’t be good, could it?

  The elf, the feles, and the dwarf stepped out of the fountain. Angling the middle support over and revealing it to have a hidden hinge, the elf moved it toward him. The dwarf flipped his axe and handed it over, and the feles pulled out what looked like a staff. It didn’t take long, and Murmur couldn’t rip her eyes from the fascinating visage in front of her. The fluid movements of the rock, the way the weapons fit together and then into the stone support—now the whole contraption looked like an old-fashioned crank. With a nod, the dwarf moved up to the elf, and they both began to wind it, like they were in the bowels of a ship, rowing to get through a storm before it killed them. Their silent communication and knowledge of just what to do made it all the creepier.

  Sinister sounded panicked this time: The fucking fountains just…oh, my gods!

  Murmur knew exactly how she felt. More cranking sounds joined, and this time it seemed like there was more power to them, as if the fountains had lent them their weight, and now everything was turning as it should. The quaking beneath her feet made it difficult to hear anything else over the guild speak. Which Murmur found strange momentarily because, after all, the speak sounded in their minds; it wasn’t like it played on a speaker. At some fundamental level, they should always be able to hear it.

  Quest UPDATE: The Fountains

  You now understand the true purpose of the fountains. They have long since channeled the power of the species they depict, the restlessness, the danger, and the magic of Somnia.

  Thank you for seeking their explanation. You will be rewarded after their revelation is dealt with.

  Murmur sighed. Great. Just then, Snowy pressed himself against her legs, growling, his hackles up. Maybe he was trying to protect her from the statues, but she didn’t think it was as simple as that. Just like she could sense through her nets, she knew that whatever was being cranked up wasn’t going to be pretty.

  People braced themselves in doorways, shied away from the appearing cracks that ran everywhere and huddled in groups as if the company might make imminent death better. Again the wave of fear that ran through the NPCs, it was unsettling, enough to make Murmur reconsider hunting anything ever again.

  “Oh, shit!” She heard someone call out. It must have been one of the players or NPCs who were standing watch. “Look over there. To the northwest.”

  Murmur ran to the balcony overlooking the side of the city and shaded her eyes and looked. Slowly, as the grinding of stone on stone and the rumbling began to die down, as the shaking began to subside, a massive rock formation appeared to be emerging out of the water. Off in the distance, like an extra continent. Liquid sluiced down its sides, gushing to reach the ocean again as the structures, so large they were even visible from the shore, emptied themselves of that burden.

  Trees ran all around the edges of the jagged cliffs that barred entrance. Barren and rickety is how it appeared to her. And it might have been slightly foreboding if it looked less like a bedraggled cat.

  The horn that sounded across the channel rang through to her bones, even as the waves from the emergence pushed at the already existing shores. That sound resonated in her teeth, setting them on edge, and making them chatter. It hurt, a cold pain that ran all the way through her.

  She’d do almost anything to get rid of it. This feeling of utter desolation, loneliness, and defeat.

  “Wait,” Telvar cautioned as people began to move. “The portal should appear momentarily, and only those who’ve completed the necessary dungeons to be here will be allowed passage.”

  Devlish righted himself, pulling out his tower shield just in case. “So we get to walk through the portal any moment?” He inched closer to Murmur and Telvar, reaching out a hand to idly pet the wolf.

  Telvar nodded, but Murmur could see the hesitation in his expression. Something wasn’t going the way he’d expected it, and he was rather put out.

  “Should it already be here?” She decided to ask, even though he probably knew she’d already guessed the answer. After all, it wasn’t like anything had gone to plan since Michael came and exploded his brain onto the scene.

  “Yes. It should.” His words were crisp and clear, just on the nice side of snapping. “It should have appeared before the horn sounded.”

  Like a trigger, a large, white and round barrier of foamy clouds formed around them on the ground where they stood. She took a split second’s glance to look down at her feet and groaned. This was so typical of her dungeon experiences so far. They had but a moment’s notice. Murmur screamed out: “Brace yourselves!”

  Then the area inside crackled a dark purple-blue like the starry night sky, and all eleven of them fell through the portal.

  Somnia Online

  Cenedril - City of Verendus

  Day Thirty-Two

  Dirsna stood outside the Verendus Enchanter Guild and watched the surroundings as the sky darkened. It wasn’t supposed to storm; he didn’t even realize it was supposed to snow, being in the mountains as they were. There were multiple reasons this could be happening, but from the fluctuation he could feel in Murmur’s energies, he knew they were likely and finally ready to do battle with that intruder. He eyed the incoming weather and turned to his friends. “I think they’re up to something. Again.”

  “Really? You think?” mumbled his aide, Geshua. Without Geshua, the whole Verendus Enchanter Guild would fall apart. Dwarves were a solid chance for the class, and it was surprising the number of players who had chosen either enchanter as a hybrid class, or else enchanters who were hybrid warriors.

  Geshua was still grumbling. “Look, they’re always up to something, creating an imbalance where there should be none. Usually it turns out well for us, though. Just look at us?”

  Dirsna chuckled, but the sound caught in his throat as the world around them began to shake fiercely. He grabbed the door jamb, bracing himself against it as Geshua came to stand with him. Their eyes widened as the earthquake leveled their clock tower, and slowly but surely transformed their fountain.

  The dwarf statue in it twisted, becoming languid and pliable, and the fountain jets faced inward, pushing down and yet draining the water. All the while, loud whirring and clanking sounded through the village, setting Dirsna’s teeth on edge as he watched the transformation take place.

  The massive statue stepped out of the pool, casting glowing red eyes around as it tried to find willing victims. Instead, it heaved a rumbling sigh that resembled the way the ground shook, and he cast a spell on the fountain. A crank appeared, and he began to wind it in time with the fountain’s pumping. Up and up, and more.

  Even the shaking of the earth subsided, like it was waiting for something to shift into place. Dirsna held his breath, reaching out with his mind to contact his allies, his friends, and anyone who could help. Nothing but chaos greeted him, nothing but the same thing in every single town, with every single fountain, and all of the inhabitants cowering in fear.

  Alarms began to blare, their sirens like an earworm trying to draw blood. Suddenly a massive voice sounded over the world. A booming announcement that set Dirsna’s teeth on edge.

  The Prison of Chetorang on the Isle of Gefängnis has been raised. Defeat its inhabitants before they take over this world on their way to the next.

  Hightower’s animated statue stopped moving as the announcement faded, and Dirsna allowed himself time to move again.

  “What was that?” Geshua said, standing next to him.

  Dirsna shrugged, finally glad to have received a message from Belius. The guy was supposed to be the enchanter leader, but he’d been rather absent of late.

  What do we do? he asked, requiring guidance bec
ause this wasn’t like the actual battle they’d designed. No, this was far more than that. The sludge that had been creeping through the system since the incident had reached the prison, and Dirsna wasn’t sure how to approach that.

  Belius took a few moments to respond, and when he did his voice came through patchy, like something was in the way, and he was trying to speak through it. “Sucked…portal. Must fight. Keep…–nters organized. Call…allies.”

  Dirsna analyzed the message for a few moments, his mind racing. Sure, it sounded fairly self-explanatory, but then when was he not? He sent back a Done and hoped it got through.

  Now he just had to contact the allies Fable had made while they were here, and city of Curet, and Cognitia. All in a day’s work. At least, a day’s work where the statues in the fountains came to life and cranked a prison island into existence.

  Shaking his head, he set about to contact the Loch’Ni’Dar and the Noch’Mar nomad elves from when Fable had been regularly in this region. Chief Intanko may have forgiven them for their accidental killing of Disestru because of the quality of battle they got, so he just had to hope she was still in charge. Because he didn’t have enough to do anyway.

  Purple void swirled around her, disorienting Murmur in the tiny space of time it took to transport her to wherever they were when she landed unceremoniously on her butt. Not for the first time, she was glad locus didn’t appear to have tailbones. The small rocks beneath her when she landed would have given a human severe pain.

  She stood up, brushing her robes off as she did, and looked around her. Snowy stood unperturbed off to the side. He seemed to land like a cat was supposed to. Always on his feet. He noticed her and trotted over, sniffing at her hand before he gave a wuff of approval and headed over to Telvar.

  The walls around her were made of densely packed rocks, like something had hammered them together in a high-powered press. They were in an oval shaped room with no other entrance than the tunnel that lead out from the roughly hewn area. She couldn’t for the life of her think about why they’d been deposited here.

  “So. That happened.” Devlish rubbed his head. He’d somehow managed to fall next to a wall and smash his head into it. Fantastic landing skills. “Who do we have to thank for this mode of transport?”

  Telvar didn’t answer at first, and Murmur got the distinct feeling it was because he was talking to the others, or trying to, and because from what she could tell, they were nowhere near the other groups. Either that, or her sensing nets just weren’t working in this environment, and she wasn’t sure which one scared her more.

  “Sorry.” Telvar shook his head, like he was switching his concentration modes. “Some elements of this dungeon have changed with the self-evolving nature of the game.”

  Murmur was impressed by his well-phrased excuse, but she knew there was more to it. All of the AIs were likely surprised, but not so surprised that they hadn’t expected something to happen, just maybe not of this magnitude. It seemed Michael’s mind created a far more potent virus than anyone expected.

  “So?” Veranol pushed the subject gently as the rest of the group got themselves sorted out. “Just where are we, and what have we gotten ourselves into?” Then he narrowed his eyes before continuing. “Or should I say—what should we have gotten ourselves into, and how has it changed?”

  Telvar seemed conflicted, but he had to know most of Fable were at least aware of the extent the AIs had developed, right? They’d been treating him as an actual person since she could remember.

  “Well. We’re not as far from them as I initially thought, but we will all have to get through some monsters before we can join back together as a group.” He paused and looked at Devlish apologetically. “I can’t be as effective as I’d like in these rock hewn corridors. There’s just no room for my dragon form. I can, however, work as DPS or a tank if you need me to. I am a monk, after all.”

  Murmur patted his hand. “It’s okay. We can do this.” She said it, trying to put grit into her voice even if she didn’t feel it. Even if she was completely worried about Sinister being stuck with Risk and his crew. But Karn was there, and she was fairly certain Karn was mostly okay and at least at little danger herself since she was separated from Jirald.

  “Everyone ready?” Devlish called out, hefting his sword and shield tightly as he moved to the front of the pack.

  The other nine of them nodded, Snowy barked, and Telvar grinned. Murmur followed Dev closely as they moved out from the strange circular dead-end rock-room they’d found themselves in when transported. It was like the portal had opened a hole right through the rock and closed after it deposited them in there.

  “Look out for rockslides and other rock-like things,” Merlin called in a sing-song voice, and she recalled the strange cage maze with elven children they’d encountered where he’d been impaled by a gigantic wooden spear. The blood, the way his body had twitched, how Sinister had cried when she couldn’t heal him. Images flooded her mind, making her hope they wouldn’t encounter that sort of thing in here. She was all for realism, but sometimes it hurt to realize how horrible things could get.

  Casting out her net, she tried to feel through the rock, but there was nothing outside of it. Murmur hadn’t realized quite how dependent on it she’d become. She bit her lip as she tried to navigate the area without it, worried that maybe it had somehow broken.

  Stop that! Somnia’s tone was demanding, even if it felt slightly harried.

  Are the others okay? Murmur had to ask, because she had to know Sinister was all right. Granted, she would be in the real world, right?

  You’re thinking too much. Take a breath and just follow the clues, follow the trail, and you’ll all find each other again. I don’t have much time; there’s too much in here for me to combat. Just trust your gut. And Sin is fine.

  Somnia sounded, just for a moment, like her mother used to when Wren got ahead of herself as a child. The tone calmed her down instantly.

  Thank you.

  No problem. Just—don’t add to my workload. Okay?

  Murmur would have rolled her eyes but for two things: Somnia couldn’t see it anyway, and secondly, vibrations began in the tunnels, reverberating down through the soles of her feet. An overwhelming presence exerted pressure, like it was coming to smother all of them with a huge feather pillow.

  She glanced down at Snowy, whose hackles were standing on end. His teeth were bared, and while he was growling, the sound from his throat wasn’t what was causing the strange suffocating aura.

  “Mur?” Devlish asked without looking back at her.

  “Not getting any readings.” She pushed down at the panic, trying to make sure it didn’t take over. Not being able to access the abilities provided to her by her sensing nets proved to be more difficult than she’d ever imagined. Whatever these walls were made up of, she couldn’t see through them, feel through them, or perceive an aura through them.

  For once, she was as blind as everyone else.

  Telvar spoke softly so the only people that heard were Murmur, Devlish, and Veranol. “This wasn’t in the original schematic. Just in case you were wondering. This dungeon was originally an amalgamation of all the effects we didn’t think anyone would be able to overcome—or at least that they couldn’t overcome without great difficulty.”

  “Let me guess. Along with the rest of the game, it hasn’t exactly gone according to plan?” Veranol added in a dry whisper.

  “In our defense, though, no one expected an egomaniacal maniac with a god complex to create a headset that allowed him to quasi upload and explode his brain into the virtual word.” Telvar managed to deliver the words with a deadpan face and all in a whisper.

  Murmur had to choke down a nervous laugh.

  “Not to worry you guys, but that rumbling is only getting worse. We’ll be lucky if we can stand a bit further in.” Devlish’s tone held impatience, though luckily the tiredness seemed mostly gone.

  As if to punctuate his comment, the ceiling
began to rain down small stone fragments and dust on them all, and Murmur gripped Snowy’s neck fur, trying not to give into that whole claustrophobia thing waiting just around the corner of her brain.

  As they kept walking, they moved warily, and the tunnel opened out to reveal a truly massive cavern. What was it with Somnia and caverns lately? Stalagmites and stalactites rose and hung from the floor and ceiling. Beyond the beast that blocked their way, a gorgeous, aquamarine underground lake glistened, a waterfall somehow dropping into it from above. Overall, it wasn’t what she’d expected to see on a prison island.

  Something splashed onto the ground with a sizzling finality, and Murmur found herself staring into the face of a beast it took her mind moments to comprehend.

  Its jaw appeared to be unhinged, as though it had more than one. Rows of teeth operated independently of one another, glistening like they’d had veneers placed over the top. The roar that rang from its throat made the cavern shake and caused the stone dust to cascade down on everyone. His skin was covered in a fur that reminded her of a polar bear. Coarse and hollow.

  This wasn’t a boss. It was a carniverior—or so its stats let them know. Probably ate meat. Big surprise there. It gnashed its teeth at them, flinging out long, gorilla-length arms to attempt to grab some of those people facing it. Luckily, most of their people were able to dodge out of the way. Including Jinna, who suddenly seemed far more capable than he’d been during Glacier Lake.

  It also appeared to be one of triplets. The other two were guarding other entrances into the area as well. Though they were so far away that they appeared to be much smaller. Murmur didn’t know whether to be relieved or irritated that theirs wasn’t the only group whose entry was blocked.

  Casting out her sensing net, Murmur sighed with relief as she felt Sinister there. Far away, but there. Sure, Somnia had told her she was fine, but Murmur needed to know for herself. The relief was short lived when the roar reached her nose. Why everything they fought had to have some sort of stench lately, she wasn’t sure, but she attempted not to breathe in as she began casting. Devlish had already dived into the thick of it with Veranol’s warding and his own life-sucking capacity at hand. Without those two things, they’d be mincemeat.