1-Up

by Dean Smith

  ‘I’m not going back, Valiant.’ Mordoom said firmly. ‘I believe them and I want to help them. I’m gonna stay here and see if I can help with plans to rescue that cub.’ Valiant wanted to argue against this plan of action but he knew anything he said would fall on deaf ears, he would have to prove to Mordoom that the monsters were lying and the only way he could do that was by going back to the village.

  ‘Okay but there’s no cub to be rescued, I will prove that to you. I love that you’re willing to see the good in everyone, it’s endearing but in this case, it’s misplaced.’

  ‘Yeah, maybe you’re right but maybe this time, you aren’t.’ Mordoom stares daggers at Valiant and walked away from him, the rift between them was deepening by the second.

  ***

  Nina was waiting for Valiant as he returned to the human village, her relief gave way to concern as she saw he was alone.

  ‘Where’s Mordoom?’ She said with an edge of panic.

  ‘He’s fine, he’s staying at the monster village for now.’

  ‘Monster village? You mean their lair right? You’ve got to go back for him!’ She bolted past him and down the path, Valiant called her back before she vanished from his sight.

  ‘Mordoom is safe, I think. The monsters don’t have a lair, they have a village and get this, they are awake.’

  ‘What? Monsters are becoming self aware now? What does this mean?’

  ‘That whatever Rita did back in Wingcrest is spreading in ways we can’t imagine. It started with NPCs, then enemy characters like yourself and now monsters are waking up too but I don’t know if I can trust that those monsters are telling the truth.’

  ‘What did they say?’

  Valiant told Nina of the thrown together village, of how the monsters feared them but then the Ogre, the leader it seemed, spoke for them all and told them a tale that painted the humans out to be the bad guys. Valiant scoffed as he finished.

  ‘It’s ridiculous right? These people aren’t killing those monsters for their drops, we saw that they could barely hold off an attack when we arrived! The monsters have to be lying, we need to tell the humans what’s going on and figure out our next move. This situation is a powder keg waiting to happen.’

  ‘Hmm, that I can agree with.’ Nina looked as though she wanted to say more and Valiant was about to ask her to divulge what she knew when the village elder walked towards them.

  ‘Were you successful?’ He asked anxiously.

  ‘No, there’s been some complications.’ Valiant told the elder what had happened while Nina looked antsy at his side. When Valiant finished speaking, the elder looked furious.

  ‘Those beasts would accuse US of such things?! This can’t stand! This has to end!’ Valiant agreed, but he was taken aback by the fire in the elder’s eyes and the shadows behind that fire. Without another word, the elder turned away from them and barked orders at the villagers which resulted in a commotion as they raced around to prepare for something and judging by the way they were arming themselves, it was not something good.

  ‘This is bad.’ Nina spoke quietly. ‘I wanted to tell you before you said anything to the elder but there’s something weird going on here. You know the barn they were protecting from the monsters? They said it was full of the fruits of their harvest right? I’ve been looking around this village but I’ve not found a single field, rice paddy or any housing for crops. How can they have such a bountiful harvest without any kind of farm?’

  That was peculiar but not something that couldn’t be explained, Valiant thought.

  ‘Remember this world is a game, it might just be that they have enough resources because the game wills it so. This world makes little sense sometimes. In my adventures with Rita, I’d go from desolate deserts to lush forests in a single loading screen. It’s not beyond reason that the villagers simply have what they need to survive.’ Valiant thought it was sound logic but Nina didn’t seem too convinced.

  ‘That’s not how things worked in Goldharbour though, sure, the farming process is simplified now. You plant items in a field, water it once and the next day you have crops but you still require items and a field to do it. There’s something weird going on here and we need to get to the bottom of it and to do that, we need to get inside that barn.’

  It was easier said then done as guards were posted outside of it and while Valiant believed they could be easily dispatched, he did not want to harm someone that wasn’t a danger to him.

  ‘But we can’t get in without hurting the guards and I’m not going do that.’

  ‘I don’t want that either which is why you’re going to follow my lead.’ Nina ushered him to follow her.

  With the preparations for battle taking place around them, few eyes were looking their way and Nina led Valiant around the back of the barn which was thankfully left unguarded. There was a backdoor, but it was locked from the other side.

  ‘Up there.’ Nina pointed to an open hatch on the wall a ways up, too high to climb.

  ‘Give me a boost.’ Valiant complied and Nina stood on his shoulders and leapt onto the wall. Carefully she climbed up the wall and entered the barn. Valiant looked around and hoped that nobody would happen upon him. The villagers were spoiling for a fight and he would have to defend himself if attacked.

  The sound of an unlocked door eased his worries in that regard as Nina opened the door and let him in.

  There was no wheat, rice or any other vegetation within the barn. Just piles of meat and food drops, reams of hides and mounds of treasure. Valiant was familiar with the surrounding items, defeated enemies often dropped them in battle. He looked around in disbelief as the realisation that the monsters were telling the truth was settling in. Whilst he was taking it all in, he heard mewling from below, a child’s whimpering. Knowing what it was, he searched around for a door or another hatch that led below and he found one hidden under a bail of hay. He threw open the doors and ran down into the depths. At the bottom he found a small cage in the dark and within it was a terrified wolfcub. The little creature recoiled as Valiant drew near and the cub ran away from him to the other side of the cage like he was trying to make himself look smaller and invisible. The sight wounded Valiant’s heart. This creature was an innocent, a scared child that had been mistreated for profit and Valiant wanted to do everything in his power to help him. He slowly opened the door and held out a hand to the little creature but the creature wept in fear.

  ‘I won’t hurt you, I promise. I want to take you back to your mother and father. I want to fix this.’

  Valiant was unsure whether the cub could understand human speech but he perked up at the mention of his parents and cautiously, he stepped forward and grabbed hold of Valiant’s hand with his little paw. Carefully, Valiant lifted the cub from the cage and into his arms.

  ‘Shh, little one. It’s okay now.’ The cub cried in relief as Valiant rocked him in his arms. The sound of his tears made Valiant’s own eyes water.

  When he reached the barn, Nina looked more worried than she did before.

  ‘Do you hear that?’ She asked.

  He couldn’t hear anything, silence reigned in the village.

  ‘No, nothing.’

  ‘Exactly. All that commotion and then nothing.... I think we need to get to that monster village as soon as possible.’

  ***

  With the cub in his arms, Valiant and Nina sprinted to the monster village, and they made it just in time to see the villagers and the monsters opposing each other, ready to give into violence with only one person giving both sides a reason to stay their claws and weapons.

  Mordoom, he stood between both groups with his hands glowing and his arms outstretched towards both groups.

  ‘If any of you even thinks of getting violent, then I will get violent and you don’t want that, trust me.’ Mordoom threatened, his voice was high with panic and far from intimidating but his magic was doing the job well enough. Valiant and Nina joined him in the middle. Two Wolfmen cried out when
they saw them and the cub in Valiant’s arms reached out to them. Valiant set the creature on the ground and everyone watched as the cub returned to his grateful parents’ arms. The sight brought a lump to Valiant’s throat, but he had to focus on the current situation, both sides would wipe each other out if the situation erupted.

  ‘This can’t continue!’ Valiant called out to both sides. ‘Humans, I know the truth. You’ve been targeting monsters for their drops, you kidnapped one of their children to use as bait! They may be monsters but they are awakened and they have as much right to live as you do. They just want to be left alone!’

  ‘But they wouldn’t leave us alone before! We lived our days in fear and now our days are numbered without their drops!’ The village elder responded. ‘We don’t understand how to farm in this new world, we can’t grow our own crops and so we must hunt if we wish to eat, we need those drops to survive!’ Valiant could understand the desire to survive but there had to be another way, a better way that allowed the villagers to be self sufficient while leaving the monsters in peace.

  ‘There has to be a better way.’ He said but his words fell on deaf ears with the humans.

  ‘Then tell us what we should do! This forest is our home, we’ve known nothing else and we can go nowhere else, what are we to do if we are to live?’

  The Ogre from before stepped forward, his arms raised as a show of meaning no harm but the villagers still tensed and gripped their weapons at the sight of them.

  ‘We know how to farm the land. We have created our own village and fields to go along with it. We can help you create a field so you can grow your own crops to sustain yourselves.’ It was a good solution and a kind one considering how the monsters had been wronged by the humans. It was more than the humans deserved, Valiant thought.

  ‘That’s kind of you.’ Valiant said. ‘Humans! I’d take his offer. You may have been enemies in the past but the world has changed and with it there are new possibilities for us all. This Ogre has shown more humanity in one moment than you have since you all decided to hunt these monsters down. Consider co-operation, abandon hunting these beings and instead work with them to secure your future.’

  ‘And if we refuse?’ Asked the elder in a dangerous voice.

  ‘Mordoom?’ Valiant smiled at him and Mordoom took the hint.

  ‘Boom!’ Mordoom’s hands exploded into flames that were harmless but sent a message all the same.

  ‘So? Are you going to play nice?’ Asked Valiant. The elder nodded fearfully.

  ‘Then it’s settled, the monsters will help you by showing you how to live off the land and in turn you will leave the monsters in peace.’

  ‘I can agree to that.’ The elder said mousily.

  ‘Peace is all we want.’ The Ogre said, he stepped forward and extended a hand to the elder and the elder took it with a palpable sense of fear. With a deal agreed, tensions deflated as the uneasy alliance took shape. The Wolfman family nodded to Valiant in gratitude and Valiant smiled back. They had avoided needless bloodshed, reunited a family and had secured the future of two separate villages. Valiant considered that a very successful day’s work indeed.

  ***

  Valiant and company stuck around in the forest for a while after talking the two villages out of war to make sure that peace between the two would be more than an empty promise. True to their word, the monsters led by the Ogre soon visited the human village and helped them create fields they could use for farming. Valiant was intrigued to see how it could be done, he had learned early on that the land of Venturis itself was immune to change or development, that any attempts to destroy or build upon the structures or environment would be met with failure as even the trees themselves were harder than diamond if someone tried to cut them down. As far as Valiant knew, the world itself was static and nothing could ever change in that regard but today would prove that theory wrong.

  The monsters descended upon the village and inspected the surroundings for a good spot to create the fields and when they did; the Ogre revealed the key to creating something new, an ordinary looking shovel which left Valiant more than a little confused. What could a shovel do to change an environment immune to change?

  As he took a closer look, a dialogue box popped up.

  ‘NEW SIDE ACTIVITY: Farming!

  Patch 2.21 introduced farming to the world of Venturis! If you grow tired of adventuring, why not take it easy with a touch of farming? All you need is a shovel and a stretch of land and you can plant a variety of seeds that will soon grow into potent herbs and vegetables that can aid you in your journeys ahead! To create a plot to farm on, strike applicable ground with the shovel. Happy farming!’

  The Ogre struck the ground and a square plot appeared, he looked up at the trio’s bemused faces and did it again to create another patch that connected to the first square. He did this several times until he created a large field, Upon doing so, he presented the sheepish village elder with a bag of seeds and instructed him on how to make use of them. After the monsters’ role in the agreement was concluded, they left the villagers to their own devices and returned to their own village and Valiant and company followed them. It intrigued Valiant to learn how they happened upon such a shovel and asked the Ogre as they walked down the path.

  ‘I found it in a chest in the forest, it was purely out of chance. As far as I knew, only heroes could open chests, but I saw it and tried anyway and lo-and-behold, it opened and this shovel was inside. It might not look like much but it’s been our salvation. It’s given us monsters a chance to live without being prisoners to old habits and now it’s helped settle old feuds but I won’t contribute this new time of peace entirely to it. You are the reason our future is secure, you came to our aid when you had no reason to and words aren’t enough to show my gratitude. Thank you Valiant, Mordoom and Nina, your actions won’t be forgotten and our children and their children will know of what you did for us.’

  When they reached the monsters’ village, the Ogre pointed them toward the Spirit Tower, their final stop before reaching Vilemire.

  ‘It’s another straight path and you’ll find the tower at the end.’ The Ogre had not stopped smiling since they had returned from the human village but as he waved them off at the edge of his village, his smile dropped a little.

  ‘Listen, I just wanted to tell you that, I know that most monsters aren’t awakened like we are and it’s not known if they will ever be awake. We could be an anomaly after all so I just wanted to say that, if you come across monsters that are unawakened and are doing harm, please stop them regardless of what you’ve seen here. In an ideal world, all monsters could have the chances we have been given today but that would mean allowing unawakened monsters to rampage and take lives in the hope that one day they will wake up and it’s not worth it. Don’t feel guilty for slaying monsters, everybody here understands why it must be done. Keep doing what you are doing, keep saving people in whichever ways you need to save them and always act with the best intentions.’ He waved them off one final time and returned to the village. His words stuck with Valiant and they humbled him. He had written off the monsters of the forest as soon as he encountered them and they had shown him how wrong he was to do so. They had displayed more humanity and empathy than most humans and his time with them had left him reluctant to harm another monster should the need arise but the Ogre’s words put him at ease, Vilemire would be full of monsters that wouldn’t hesitate to kill them and the Ogre’s words had assuaged him of his guilt over the thought of killing monsters that weren’t awakened. Sometimes difficult things had to be done for the greater good, and the right thing to do was rarely easy.

  Before they reached the tower, they were greeted with a loading screen that took them to another camp identical to the one outside of the Obsidian Stronghold. Valiant felt uneasy as the memories of yesterday came back in force. When things got rough in the forest, Valiant worked with Mordoom and Nina without incident but now that there weren’t people to save, an awkwar
d air hung over them all, reminding them of the argument that had divided them.

  ‘Listen, Valiant?’’ Mordoom approached him uncertainly. ‘Can we talk?’

  Valiant nodded, and they sat by the fire with Nina watching the flames within earshot.

  ‘You did a great job today, I thought the situation was gonna end with a bloodbath and that you would have led the humans into it but you thought outside of what you thought you knew and you saw the truth. You saved everyone today, and it wasn’t because you played the role of the hero in the way the game taught you to but because you took a different path. It’s not my place to say this, but I’m proud of you and I’m not beyond admitting that I was wrong. I said that your words didn’t mean much, but you backed them up with actions.’ Mordoom’s eyes watered as he smiled at Valiant, Valiant’s own eyes were stinging. ‘I’m glad we’re here together like this, I’m glad I got the chance to know you and I’m especially glad you proved me wrong. I’m sorry about the way I acted and I hope we can go back to the way things were.’

  Valiant laughed in relief.

  ‘I’m the one who should apologise, I was an idiot, and you were right about everything. What I said about wanting things to go back to the way they were was wrong and the way I dismissed the monsters’ plight was wrong too but you were right to trust them and to take me down a peg or two. You make out I saved the day but you’re the one that inspired me, that made me want to be better. Today is as much down to you as it is to anyone else. You’re a hero, Mordoom, you truly are.’

  Mordoom wiped his eyes as Nina watched on beaming.

  ‘Thanks Val- I meant Valiant.’ He added nervously.

  ‘I told you, only friends call me Val..... So call me Val.’ Mordoom had never looked happier and Valiant had seen how happy he was when he obsessively cleaned the entirety of Valetide. The rift between them had been healed and actions proved more valuable than words.

  ‘Before we move on, there’s one thing I insist we do.’ Said Nina with a mischievous smile which made Valiant worry. ‘I think it’s about time we have a group hug, reel it in, people!’