by Max Jager
- Chapter 21: Search and Rescue -
Zanath casually walked across the desert sands, pistols in his hands and an odd device attached to his wrist. He was invisible to all of the creatures around him, but with the desert being filled with so many giant snakes and naga he made a point of not walking too close to any of them. His device didn't mask his scent or his body heat, both of which could easily be traced by those two types of creatures. He knew he wasn't completely undetected.
It was as he had expected, he wasn't finding many people out here. He had found several bodies, and a few places where the sand was soaked in blood, which he presumed is where someone died and was dragged off by one of the desert creatures, or eaten, probably both.
As he walked through the sands, he eventually spotted a flashing light in the distance. The sun was reflecting off something metal that was moving back and forth. He watched it for a moment and quickly picked up on what it was. Someone was using the flashing light to send out an S.O.S. message, clever. Zanath walked towards the flashing light, as he got closer he noticed that it was coming from the entrance of a cave. As he approached the cave he saw a man standing in front of it, holding up a sword to reflect the sunlight. He was the one sending the message, and he was an odd one at that. This guy clearly was a roleplayer, because he came to this game dressed for the part. He stood about 5' 10" tall and had black hair that was a little long for a man. His bangs were long enough to cover his eyes if they hadn't been swept to one side and the rest of his hair was almost chin-length. He was dressed like a magician, he wore black pants with a long, black coat. A white collared shirt with a red bow tie could be seen peeking out from under the coat, and he also wore a red cape. The cuffs of his white shirt were folded back over the sleeves of his coat, and he of course wore a tall, black magician's hat.
Zanath disabled his invisibility cloak and walked towards the man. As soon as the strange man spotted him approaching he waved. When Zanath waved back the man urgently gestured for him to follow and walked into the cave.
Zanath watched the man go inside and paused for a moment. He crossed his arms under his tan trench coat, concealing his pistols, before he walked after the man into the cave. It was narrow and small, the entrance was steep and seemed to go deep underground. Zanath wondered why there was no desert creatures living within the cave. As he walked deeper he eventually saw a light at the end of the incline, the flickering light was too bright to be a torch so he assumed it was a campfire. The ground beside the light also had some large bloodstains, and three dead Nagini. Those half human half snake creatures were usually armed with weapons and poisons, they were no easy feat to take down.
He cautiously walked down towards the light. Once he reached the bottom of the incline he turned to see where the light was coming from. He was right it was a campfire, but the people sitting around it did not seem happy to see him. There was a few people there who looked disappointed. "They got another one." A man sighed. Noticeably absent from the group, was the magician.
Zanath felt the sharp tip of a blade prod his back, gently enough to not harm him but hard enough to let him know there was a sword to his back. "Hands on your head." The man behind him ordered in a calm and casual tone. This clearly was not the first time he did this.
Zanath carefully holstered his pistols under his trenchcoat, so they wouldn't see them, and put his hands on his head. Once he did that the man walked around in front of him, it was not the magician but was another human, only an inch shorter then the magician. He had a similar haircut but his was even longer in the back. He wore a blue shirt with black pants and had two extra swords sheathed and attached to his belt. As he moved to the front he kept his blade at Zanath's throat. The man began checking Zanath's pockets, pulling out his potions and crystals. The man didn't seem to know that the crystals are the currency of this world. He then grabbed the strap of Zanath's backpack and tugged on it.
"Fix your arm so I can take the backpack." He ordered.
Zanath straightened his arm and the man pulled the strap of the backpack off. Then Zanath put his hand back on his head and straightened his other arm so the man could get the other strap. As the man reached out to grab it, Zanath slipped his other hand down and touched the blade of the sword, as soon as he touched it the sword instantly turned into sand and fell apart. The man was shocked to see his sword just suddenly disappear and in that split second Zanath immediately threw a powerful hook into the side of the man's head. The punch knocked the man backwards, but he immediately sprang back onto his feet and grabbed his other two swords.
Zanath grabbed his pistols and took a warning shot at the man, forcing him to back up, then he heard something move above him. He clapped his pistols together and they suddenly merged, transforming into a single shotgun. Zanath quickly used the shotgun to block an attack from above. The magician had jumped down from the ceiling and had attempted to slash Zanath as he fell, but the rusty copper sword could not pierce the metal barrel of the gun.
"Zadar, left." The magician called out as he himself moved around Zanath's right side. The swordsman followed the instructions and moved around the left side. Zadar's movements were swift and calculated, while the magician was not. Zanath could tell right away that Zadar was by far the better fighter, but the magician was not to be underestimated.
But Zanath wasn't an ordinary human anymore. He had been in this world for over two years now, his body had changed, adapted, and grown. As the two tried to flank him he backed up, and with his superhuman speed they had no chance of keeping up with him. These people were not even remotely a threat. Zanath raised his shotgun and pointed it at Zadar, but hesitated, shooting him with a shotgun when he's this close would kill the man without a doubt. Zanath focused and his shotgun transformed again, splitting into two pistols. He immediately shot at Zadar's stomach with his first pistol.
Zadar was quick to sidestep the bullet, but as soon as he evaded the first one Zanath fired a second shot at his leg. His other leg was off the ground in mid-step, there was no way he could evade that bullet. Zadar screamed out in pain as the bullet pierced him and he dropped to the ground.
Zanath immediately turned on the magician, and in a flash both of his pistols were pointed at the man. The magician hadn't even had the time to get close enough to strike, Zanath was just too fast.
"Vincent, give it up. We can't take a guy with a gun." Zadar's voice was laced with pain.
The magician stopped, hesitated, then dropped his weapons and held up his hands. "You okay?"
"Yeah, this just hurts like hell." Zadar replied.
Vincent turned back to Zanath. "You win dude. But we have nothing of value to you if you have a gun. Just a few swords and potions. We have hostages, you wanna take one of the cute girls? That's the only bargaining chip we got."
"I'm not here for your stuff. And you no longer have any hostages, as of this point they are now free." Zanath sighed and shook his head.
"Can we keep one of the cute girls?" Vincent asked as he handed Zadar a healing potion.
"No." Zanath was not amused. "Do you not understand the severity of this situation? This isn't a game, you can really die out here."
"Yeah, we had a hunch about that the first time we got hurt and couldn't find a way to log out." Zadar answered, he had finished drinking a healing potion and his voice was a little slurred now that his body was numb. "Which is why we didn't harm or kill any of the hostages. Didn't even touch em, well, any more than was needed. We did take all their stuff."
"If you knew how dangerous this was, why would you start robbing other players?" Zanath questioned.
"Partially for the thrill. Partially as payment for letting them survive in our cave, whether they wanted to or not staying here kept them alive and their items kept us alive. So we are mutually helping each other." Vincent replied. "Would have been a lot easier to get your stuff if we just stabbed you first. And we could have. But we didn't."
"How many of these weapons were stolen f
rom the people in this cave?" Zanath asked as he looked at the four swords the two of them held.
"None" Vincent answered. "We just took money, credit cards, licences, and potions. We got the weapons from the snake ladies, which we killed on our own."
"You fought three nagini and won? While you were unarmed?" Zanath skeptically raised an eyebrow. "Regardless, the weapons will be shared with the other survivors. If there's no counter claim to your story, you will get them back once we escape the desert."
"I didn't fail to notice, you said nothing when I mentioned pain and not being able to log out." Vincent stated. "So, our hunch is right?"
Zanath nodded "I am Zanath, one of the four Alpha testers of this game. We have been trapped in here for over two years. We can only assume that death within this world will kill you in the real world too. Since there's no way to go back to the real world. While none of us humans have died, we've seen the creatures of this world die and none of them came back. So we assume the same might apply to us."
Vincent nodded. "Yeah, once we got in things did not seem right. Had a feeling. So that makes us heroes for saving these people, we getting paid for that?"
"Am I getting paid for coming all the way out here to save you?"
"Touche. Had to try." Vincent turned to the others in the cave. "You hear all that? If you die here, you're probably dead for real."
Zanath turned to the former hostages, who had been keeping quiet. Everyone was taking this surprisingly well. "I will be escorting you all to safety, the other Alpha testers are building a city to protect everyone. I will need everyone's names." However, as soon as he spoke he spotted a familiar face amongst the hostages. The panda girl from before, she had aged over the two years and appeared to be around thirteen now, but otherwise he was sure it was the panda-girl they had met before. But Thomas wasn't with her anymore.
Most of them remained quiet, but a tall man with a green jacket and brown pants stood up. He had messy black hair and sharp brown eyes. He looked to be in his mid twenties. "I guess I'll go first, I am Andrew" He started.
A tall, older woman with long, braided red hair stood up next. She stood at 5' 10" and had a strong and athletic build. She wore just a simple white shirt with khaki pants and looked to be in her early thirties. "I am Em, and this," She gestured to the other woman who was tending to Inami "is my wife Amanda."
Amanda raised a hand to wave in greeting, but was otherwise trying to calm down Inami who seemed to be upset. "We are getting out of here, don't worry."
"But green wall scary." Inami countered. "That's what the spider man do, the spider man here! He's make me go away, like he did everyone else."
"There is no spider people in the cave, do not worry. We are leaving, right now." Amanda gently spoke to the small girl. "If any spider people come we will beat them up, okay?"
"But you can't. Even my mom not stop him. He made her disappear, I no can find her." Inami was visibly shaking. "All I find is this. It feel like her, but it not." She almost cried out as she held out a small ruby in the palm of her hand. The ruby was carved into the shape of a drider. It looked like a spider, but where the spider's head should have been was a man's torso and upper body. Notably, it was missing one of its spider legs. The half human half spider hybrid not only looked creepy, but the expression on its human face looked so real, and so angry. The gem gave off this ominous vibe, it felt like they were in the presence of a very powerful and malicious creature.
Zanath recognized the feeling as similar to when they fought the abyssal demon, it too gave off that feeling of immense power and malicious intent when they were near it. But this, was stronger, it was far more malicious, and it was so very angry. He remembered Inami mention that she felt her mother's presence around the abyssal demon, and now she said she felt it in this crystal. It begged the question, if this feeling of immense power and malice is what felt like her mother, and considering Inami had enough raw power by herself to break the demonic rift. Zanath had to wonder, who or what her mother really was. And if he interpreted her speech well enough, it was a drider who killed her mother, just like the one on the ruby she carried. And she said that drider was here, or at least did something to a wall here? Zanath was going over this information over and over again in his mind.
"Zanath? Dude? You're spacin man." Vincent called out, snapping Zanath out of his thoughts.
"Sorry." Zanath answered. "Inami, where is the green wall? I want to see it."
"You know this girl?" Amanda asked as she stood up and turned to Zanath. She had shoulder-length blonde hair with soft blue eyes. She stood at 5' 4", standing beside Em made her look a lot shorter then she was. She wore an elegant looking purple dress, and was barefoot. However there were heels on the ground beside her which were presumably hers since everyone else was wearing their shoes.
"I've met her before, but do not know her." Zanath replied. "We only crossed paths two years ago, didn't talk or anything."
Inami pointed deeper into the cave, so Zanath walked down the path to go and check out what she had found. Everyone else stayed behind, they had already seen it. Zanath kept his pistols at the ready as he walked down the wide tunnel, he knew that if what inami said was true, and if his deductive reasoning was correct, that there might be a monster here that would be too powerful for him to take on by himself. But, on the other hand, it hadn't come out to kill the other humans so maybe it was gone? Or maybe she over exaggerated her mother's power?
As Zanath walked down the tunnel it eventually opened into a huge cavern. It should have been dark in here, but there was a green light emitting from behind a pile of stones on the other side of the room. Zanath activated his invisibility cloak and cautiously made his way to the other side of the room. It was clear there had been a fight here, there was scratches and blood on the walls, dents and small craters in the walls and ground, stalagmites and stalactites that had clearly been broken by heavy blunt force. And the most outstanding thing he passed on his way to the green light, was a giant spider leg. It was five feet long, and looked like it had been ripped off in a fight. It was red though, which he found odd. Upon closer inspection it looked fresh, like it had just come off mere seconds ago. But that wasn't possible, all the other signs of a fight looked to be years old, and there clearly was not any fighting within the last few minutes or he would have heard it. "Which could only mean the leg had some special property that is preventing it from decaying. Creatures with body parts that do not decay, typically are immortal in one way or another." Zanath thought out loud.
He kept walking towards the green light, and when he finally got around the pile of rocks what he saw perplexed him even more. A large section of the wall and floor were just, missing. Where the wall and floor should have been was nothing more than a giant hole, a hole that looked bottomless and to top it all off there were green ones and zeros flying past within the hole. Zanath was perplexed by this not only because there was a giant hole, but also because the green ones and zeros were not a normal game design feature. Clearly, this part of the game world had not loaded, been deleted, or maybe they just forgot to finish the cave, who knew. But the ones and zeros would have had to be deliberately added in as a background for missing or unfinished areas. Come to think of it, he also saw this when Inami destroyed the rift, the rift turning into these ones and zeros before disappearing must have also been deliberately added as part of whatever spell the little girl used.
But why? Was it just a reminder that this was a game? In any normal virtual game it would make sense, so people don't get too sucked into the world and forget the real world. But, they can't get back to the real world, so why have this reminder? What of Inami's mother? The drider? The weird gem? Inami herself? Zanath was getting a headache trying to figure it all out, there was just too much going on. He decided to return to the group and just start moving on, he could figure it out later.
When he returned to the group Zadar had finished healing and the two con men had handed their extra swords
over to Andrew and Em. Everyone was ready to go.
"Inami, I checked and the spider man is not there. Where is Thomas?" Zanath asked.
"I no know. Scary things came, and we got separated in forest. I look for him but no find him." The little panda girl lowered her head and her eyes started to water. "I no good at finding people."
"I will send him a message telling him I found you. He's probably worried. Come with us to the city for now." Zanath instructed. He gathered up the rest of the people here and began heading towards where the new town was going to be. He would Keep a lookout for any other survivors on the way back, and would gather as many more as he could on his way back. Zadar and Vincent were made to walk infront of everyone else, so they didn't try to pull anything.
Back in the valley, Mendelen and Estellese arrived before the carpenter fairies did. As soon as they arrived they quickly discussed who would search where. On one hand, Estellese's wings made it easier for her to navigate and search the mountains. But it was almost night time, and her magic also made her better at fighting the werewolves in the forest. Mendelen had tailored his abilities to make himself very good at going toe to toe with one incredibly powerful foe, which didn't help here. Whereas Estellese had tailored her skills to be more versatile.