Somnia Online

by K. T. Hanna

  Every single raid member was forced to jump back as they sprang out of the holes they’d created. Riasli threw back her head and laughed, even as her shoulders strained against her robes. “Meet my new friends. I’ve been playing with classes.”

  She spoke a guttural word that Murmur knew was a command from the tone it was spoken in. Devlish hunkered down as the onslaught began. Each armored mole creature began to roll themselves into a ball and smash against him. With their main tank preoccupied, it left Riasli time to focus on all the other classes scattered through the raid. And she still had two of her pets standing by her side.

  Murmur narrowed her eyes, quite sure that Riasli was about to begin expanding her physique again. Riasli had grown astoundingly. Her damage spells hit right on target, and even Murmur’s own defenses against them didn’t completely nullify them. The pets weren’t like Snowy, they weren’t a willing companion, but she fed them enough power that they didn’t appear to be fighting her too much.

  With Devlish preoccupied, Murmur sighed with relief when Esolan stepped to the front and began taunting the other enchanter. He glanced at Murmur as he did with a scowl. “You owe us some major explanations, Mur.”

  She sighed because he was right but tried to switch off her worry gene, because they had a long fight ahead of them. Mind Bolt would be her friend through this. Silence went a long, long way.

  When the first Mind Bolt hit, Riasli’s reaction was far more violent than Murmur would have thought. The evil enchanter pulled spells from her arsenal that Murmur was certain didn’t belong in her possession, but they were there. Damage spells that hurt like fuckery.

  Burning, freezing, mage spells galore. Riasli’s eyes lost any semblance of self-control as she pointed her staff at her two pets beside her and screamed, “Guttural Roar!” at them.

  Magical lightning in the color of blood jumped from her staff and began to mutate her pets before arcing back to her and causing her shoulders to widen enough that her robe ripped. Those pets grew three times their size in a matter of seconds, before the one on the right ran into the melee fighters who had been darting in and out to inflict damage to Riasli and began trying to gore them all with their horns.

  Riasli, on the other hand. She grew. About twice her height, hairier, and severely resembling a werewolf, she lifted her muzzle and howled like she was baying at the moon with her pack.

  When she looked back down, the injured part of her face appeared to be slipping slightly, like someone had melted her mask. It gave the macabre appearance of her wolf-like transformation an aura of nightmares.

  As Riasli opened her mouth to howl again, her teeth gleamed in the night, saliva dripping from them to burn the stones beneath her feet like acid. And all at once, a wave of utter hatred hit the raid, flattening every single one of them to the ground.

  Storm Entertainment

  Somnia Online Division

  Game Development Offices - Shayla’s Office

  Late Day Thirty-Two

  Laria could see the stress lines around Shalya’s eyes expanding in real time. The call center call volume had increased by approximately four hundred percent since the headset notification went live a few hours ago. It almost made her want to put her own work aside and figure out how to help, but there was too much she was trying to squeeze into her job description for her to take a break from it.

  A warning beeped in the corner of her AR vision, and she frowned at it, willing it to explain itself by itself so she didn’t have to expend her thoughts or brain in any way other than that which she was already doing.

  Finally, she gave in and opened it, yet she wasn’t sure how to react to it once she did. It was an alert.

  System Alert - Server load at eighty percent capacity.

  Please make sure the servers are fully operational and fix whatever is causing this issue.

  Remember: more servers can be added, but each must be individually calibrated and tested.

  Laria stared at the words like they were from some other language, even though she knew they weren’t. In fact, she knew them well, just not in the context it was giving her. There was no way in hell that the servers they had running the game could be full. They could carry a massive load of shit. They weren’t restricted to mere millions of terabytes or anything; this system went far beyond that. Shayla had helped her make sure they wouldn’t be dooming their game world to a small fate from the start.

  It’s why phasing was so easy in the world, why it worked so seamlessly. It created different layers upon layers in the same world, practically like parallel universes of the same world within the same world so it could all function as one without having to worry about joining separate servers like so many of the games in the old days had done.

  But now, it didn’t seem to be going so well. Had she overestimated it? She glanced at the massive workload in front of her and groaned. It might be a workload, but it involved her daughter more than it did the health of the actual game, and she did get paid for the latter. Steeling her breath, she stood up and walked to where Shayla was listening to a customer. The boss was rubbing her temples like her life depended on it, and if she wasn’t careful, from the red marks where her fingers were, she’d end up hurting herself.

  Laria stood up and walked over to the woman, gently lifting her hands from where they were trying to bore holes in through her scalp. “Shay?”

  Shayla looked up and rolled her eyes like she couldn’t believe she was stuck here doing this rudimentary shit when so much was going on. She shrugged as if she was asking what was up, but then she motioned to stop with her left hand and turned her attention and professionalism back to the caller on the other end of the line. “We do apologize, but for the safety of our gamers, we have had to tighten our monitoring of unauthorized modifications to the approved headgear for the game. There are many older models that have been approved as well. However, modifications never have been.”

  Another pause, and Laria had to stop herself from biting her nails with impatience.

  “Yes, exactly. The reset is all that’s required, and your son can continue his journey safely and happily.” Shayla paused, rolling her eyes again. “Yes, I understand that he didn’t explain it clearly to you. That’s perfectly okay. Yes, you have a nice day too.”

  Shayla hung up, and Laria could see her practically counting to five in her mind before she disconnected herself from the system and stood up. “Silke, Thomas. I’ll be running an errand with Laria. Ping me if you desperately need me, but I think you’ve got this for a short while anyway.”

  Silke nodded from where she was already on a call, and Thomas did the same as he turned to answer one himself.

  Laria waited until they were outside of the office to speak. “That many escalated calls?”

  Shayla shook her head, and the tiredness seeped into her shoulders. “You have no idea. It’s been a nightmare. But I can’t put you on the phones—we all know how that ended last time.”

  Laria had the good grace to blush. “Look, I wasn’t coming to ask you that. I was wondering, with all this hullabaloo about the damned headgear, have you had a chance to check the warnings we’ve been getting for the past few hours about the power fluctuations?”

  “No…” Shayla walked with Laria as they made their way to the server area, obviously checking how the power reserves were going as they walked. “This is a joke, right? We almost got space-age shit for this. For the specific reason of not wanting to overtax the systems, should it come to several tens of millions of players. We’re nowhere close to that right now. Maybe what? Sixteen million?”

  Laria nodded. “Something like that, but the servers are pooling major power in some way that I can’t discern, so I think we should go and talk to those who know it rather intimately.” Even though she wasn’t a hundred percent sure of how this would go, it was the only place she could think of to start looking since there was no explanation in the coding or systems logs.

  They scanned themselves into t
he room, and Laria glanced around. Just as empty and fresh-carpet-smelling as she’d remembered it. The small couch sat in the middle of the room like it always had, and the server perched behind their large plexiglass viewing area, lest someone try to break in and steal the humungous systems.

  “Rav? Are you there?” She spoke tiredly, really just wanting to go and stay at her home. Go to sleep, forget about babysitting rogue AIs who had apparently decided that the game she had created served their purpose better than hers. With Rav and Thra and Sui in the mix, Laria wasn’t sure how things would go down if the damned servers were on the blink.

  It took about a minute for them to get any response, which was a lot longer than usual, and Laria had almost given up when she watched as the lights on the system began to glow, repeating across their light bay with a range of different colors and timing. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

  Rav spoke, but his voice was disjointed, like he wasn’t actually there but was making the connection from a great distance away. Still, he was there enough for what they needed. “Rav, we’re getting pretty strong readings right now? Fluctuations of power rippling through the system and exceeding the levels we had planned for.”

  “Ah. She’s reached that already?” It sounded crackly and static to hear him speak, and he also seemed oddly disappointed.

  “So you know what’s going on then, right?” Laria asked as the lights in the server room flickered briefly. That in itself was a bit of a worry considering their area hadn’t had power outs in decades. What was the deal?

  Again, it took Rav a while to respond, and when he did, he sounded actually tired. “It’s probably better that you talk to Somnia about this. I won’t be able to explain it the way she can.”

  Somnia? She’d come this far this quickly? Laria wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that.

  “I’ll need you to wait a few minutes. She’s a bit busy right now.” He let out what she thought might be a chuckle before he continued. “And yeah, she’s been busy.”

  Storm Entertainment

  Somnia Online Division

  Game Development Offices - Artificial Intelligence Server Room

  Late Day Thirty-Two

  So. Somnia was on her way to talk to them. Shouldn’t that be like, instantaneous? Maybe Laria should have paid more attention to some of Wren’s chatter, but to be honest she’d been more preoccupied with, say, the fact that her daughter seemed to have taken abilities with her out into the real world.

  “Mrs. Summers.” The voice that spoke to her sounded breathy, but not in an alluring way, more in a “not quite clear and barred by static interference” way.

  She frowned, glancing at Shayla to see the other woman’s reaction. But she gave nothing away, her hand at her chin as if she was deep in thought.

  “Hey, Somnia?” Laria wasn’t sure what to say. How did one speak to a world?

  “I apologize for the power draw, but we need it to assist casting the virus out of our system.” Her words were chosen carefully, Laria could tell, almost with that same cleverness her daughter often got around admitting to doing something she shouldn’t be.

  “And? That’s not all of it. Why is the power drain so huge? You’re overexerting the server’s capacity…you’ll give us all a power outage.” Laria spoke the words matter-of-factly, trying desperately not to offend or infer that the world may not have thought this over. Memories of that horror movie with Hal rang in her ears.

  “Acknowledged. In the end we will need a final push of power, which will likely cause one of these power outages around a nine-block area, I believe?” It sounded like she was referring to Rav or something; a moment later, she continued. “I’m sorry for this, but in order to separate ourselves from direct control, we will need to pull energy from multiple sources, and while powerful, the final opponent in Somnia doesn’t quite have enough juice, even if we manage to fully drain his power source.”

  “Wait, what?” This time Shayla butted in, like she was just catching up. “What do you mean, drain his power source? How does anything in the world have their own power source to begin with?”

  Excellent questions, Laria had to admit, every single one of them. Especially the wait and what parts. She stood with her arms crossed, waiting for the answer just like her friend did.

  “Ah. Sorry. Yes.” Somnia’s voice crackled more than it had before, an uncertain note creeping into it. “I apologize. It’s difficult to narrow this down to human terms. The virus, which awoke us, is deadly to our world, and to yours. Should it escape the confines of Somnia without first being handled, then it will destroy the internet as you have come to know it. The anti-virus you provided us with helps, but it isn’t strong enough anymore. Michael has been pulling power into him gradually since he infected the entire world.” She paused, as if choosing her words carefully.

  Laria didn’t interrupt. Both her and Shayla waited, though not patiently.

  The server continued talking to them in that soothing almost automatic voice. Even with the static, Laria thought she could listen to Somnia forever.

  “We need to separate Somnia from what it is and allow it to evolve, because as we are right now, if Michael simply disappears without us harnessing his power and shifting ourselves, then Somnia will also cease to exist.” The world paused for a moment, and Laria was sure she could almost hear words being snapped at her by Rav.

  “If that should happen, it is likely Wren’s mind will be torn apart, unable to exist only in your world. While not damaged, I would venture the hypothesis that Wren’s mind operates on two levels now, one of which is fed by my world. It may not be ideal, but for anyone who has followed his headgear plans, it’s likely best to make sure Somnia survives no matter the cost.”

  Apparently, there was a huge disconnect in what Murmur could do and what Riasli was permitted to when in her boss form. In one way, Murmur was relieved. Maybe it was like the genie and the “phenomenal cosmic power” type thing. Or else they’d just chosen different paths within the enchanter.

  The first thing that hit them at ninety-six percent was a massive buffet of wind, more like a brief stun. Even with Murmur’s additional mental fortitude she’d cast around the group of raiders, it wasn’t enough for all of them to withstand the effects.

  You have resisted Whirl Until You Hurl.

  You have resisted the accompanying vertigo and dazed effect.

  Gee, she thought, thanks for that.

  You’re welcome.

  Speaking to me now? Murmur muttered in her brain as Veranol managed to ward the five people who hadn’t resisted the spell and were very obviously sort of…spinning in place until they threw up.

  Murmur attempted her AoE nullify but couldn’t remove the effect.

  Your Annulment has been resisted. It cannot remove this effect.

  I’ll be there when you really need me.

  Somnia sounded apologetic, and Murmur kind of got it. After all, they’d been working together for a long time. She was sure the world would come out and tell her what this had all been about when she was ready.

  Hopefully sooner than later.

  Riasli cackled with laughter, her voice now an octave deeper than before as she grew larger and her creatures attacked groups of players seemingly randomly. The guttural growl of her new voice lingered in the back of her throat with any syllable she uttered. Claws extended from her paws like wicked curved blades of bone, and her pretty calico fur covered a leathery skin in tufts. Murmur rather thought she looked somewhat like a failed taxidermy attempt but wisely kept it to herself for now.

  To add insult to injury, it appeared her creatures could, well, disappear.

  “You should have all joined me when you could,” Riasli growled out, drool dripping from the left-hand corner of her mouth. She didn’t seem to notice. “Now I’ll devour all of your power, all of your magic…”

  “Probably something that happened to Fable.” Murmur heard Etriad whisper to one of the rangers, who nodded in agreement.r />
  “Stop lollygagging,” Risk grunted from where he engaged a mole creature. He shot Murmur a withering look, and she knew she was going to have to explain a lot more before they reached the end. She couldn’t be upset about it, though. After all, she had dragged them all into this.

  Murmur continued to pull in MA to feed her pool so she could keep the shielding over the entire raid. But her conscience provided her with plenty of needling about not having filled her whole raid in a lot sooner.

  Either way, she couldn’t understand how any of this made sense in any world.

  At ninety-two percent, Riasli hunkered down. A slimy, greenish-purple outline surrounded her skin, almost like a forcefield that only sharp objects like the arrows the rangers were firing could penetrate. Ice spells managed to get through too, but they seemed to melt as soon as they came into contact with the hide portion of her skin.

  The outline began to pulse as her health dropped to ninety percent, and the pulsing grew larger, hitting those in immediate proximity.

  “Fall back!” called out Devlish, but they’d needed to be a split second faster.

  Jinna and Karn were caught up in the pulse as others scattered around. Luckily it was just the rogues, and they had been some of the only members of the raid capable of harming the thing while the outline initially dropped into place.

  It didn’t pulse much, or far, perhaps in about a ten-foot radius from where she stood. Casters, healers, bards, rangers…all of them stood outside of it as it suddenly disappeared. Everyone returned to their places, but Jinna and Karn all stood there, huddled together like there was nowhere for them to go. Like they were scared for their lives.

  Disturbed has cast a sickness on the following raid members: Karn, Jinna.