by Tamryn Tamer
“But I’m really good at fighting,” Kaos said confidently.
“Thanks for your help resolving it,” Raven’s grey face turned a hint of rose. “I’m a bit embarrassed not to have figured it out myself. If I’m being completely honest, I am a little bit upset with you and Terra. That probably had something to do with this.”
“Why are you upset with me and Terra?” Jericho asked confused. “The village? We all know that you…”
“Not that,” Raven said. “Neither of you have talked to me in weeks. From my perspective, you both gained a large amount of wealth and power and decided you didn’t have time for me.”
“You could have stopped by,” Jericho said defensively before stopping himself. While she could have contacted him and Terra, she wanted him and Terra to contact her. It took him many failed relationships to learn the simple truth that everybody wants to feel wanted. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I’ll make more of an effort.”
“I have a question,” Owl said staring at the nearby portal. “Where were you going before we interrupted?”
“I’m going hunting for Dragon’s Tongue and Lunar Roses,” Jericho answered. It wasn’t exactly a lie but wasn’t the entire truth.
“I’ll come with,” Owl said calling his bluff. “I’m always in need of rare herbs.”
“Fine,” Jericho sullenly. “I’m going to Raycastle.”
“Raycastle?” Owl said the name with a hint of disgust. disgust shifted to his eyes when he looked at Jericho, “You’ve met the requirements for entry?”
“Maybe,” Jericho answered defensively. He didn’t want anybody to think he was out getting his jollies off killing villagers. “This village had three elder fairies murdering the citizens when we arrived. I killed them. It’s possible I’ve met the requirement by killing important non-humans.”
“I see,” Owl said pensively. “What’s in Raycastle? The Library. Their bestiary. You’re looking for familiars.”
“You told him?” Jericho glared at Raven. Owl wasn’t supposed to know about familiars. Of all the mages in the game, he was easily Jericho’s main competition.
“I asked him if he knew how you’d acquired your familiar,” Raven sighed. “I guessed by his reaction that the word familiar itself was important information but it was too late. Had I known it was a valuable word I would have never used it. And let’s be honest, you were using it pretty freely yourself when we first met.”
“I suppose your right,” Jericho realized he was only careful to avoid using the word around other mages. “It’s my own fault.”
“I’m coming with,” Owl said assuredly.
“They won’t let you into Raycastle,” Jericho said.
“They might not let you in,” Owl countered.
“You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?”
“Is that rhetorical?”
“I suppose it is,” Jericho sighed. Owl was going to come regardless so he might as well make the most of it. He paused and looked at Raven. “I will make more of an effort and I am sorry for making you feel left out.”
“Jesus,” Kaos said. “You are just too fucking likable.”
“Shut up Kaos,” Raven blushed. “We have an investigation to finish.”
Chapter 21
Raycastle Rampage
Jericho disliked the homogeny of the area surrounding Raycastle. It was unnerving. In a game filled with dwarves, orcs, elves, fairies, and hundreds of other fantasy creatures, it was all humans. It wasn’t just the fact they were humans, it was that they were nearly identical humans. They all dressed the same, spoke the same, acted the same, and all lived on nearly identical farms.
“Do you see them?” Owl gestured at a large group of Raycastle Soldiers coming toward them from the opposite direction.
“They don’t look high level. If they attack us, we kill them.”
“We could always pre-emptively strike,” Owl offered as an alternate option.
“You really hate this place.”
“Yes,” Owl said coldly. He had a right to be judgmental. Raycastle was a pit of hatred and bigotry and the players who chose to make it their home were generally the same. The entire place was built around supremacist ideology.
“Me too,” Jericho nodded. He detested the place but simultaneously appreciated the massive set of balls on the developers for including it in the game. They understood that it’d cause conflict and in that conflict heroes and villains could be born. “But I don’t want to risk gaining access to the library by killing a bunch of their soldiers.”
“I suppose,” Owl said, obviously still wanting to kill them.
The soldiers passed them without issue which wasn’t surprising. They were both humans and unless they saw pointy ears or green skin they wouldn’t attack. But it still made Jericho feel dirty.
After a while, they reached the front gate of Raycastle. The architecture was a combination of medieval castles and old cathedrals. It would have been a beautiful city if not for the various head and limbs of non-humans hanging from the walls and floating in the moat.
“Halt,” the guards in front of the portcullis drew their weapons and a dozen archers trained their bows on them from above. “Name yourself and your deed!”
“Jericho Voidcaller,” Jericho said. “I killed three elder fairies and their guards.”
“Check,” the guards yelled. After several seconds a man came to the gate and whispered something to the guard. The guard approached with an excited look. “Denied. Now leave before I have you killed, freak lover.”
“Fuck,” Jericho mumbled while turning to Owl.
“Admittedly, I’m relieved,” Owl said. “Although it does seem like we’ve wasted a trip.”
“No,” Jericho sighed. He had another trick he wanted to try but wasn’t sure if it was going to work. “Be ready for them to attack if this doesn’t work.”
“If what doesn’t work?” Owl asked as Jericho created an illusion of two dozen non-humans in bindings behind them. He set their patterns, behaviors, scents, and sounds and dropped them into the world. He then adjusted the illusions so anybody could see them. Owl tried to hide his irritation as they appeared behind them, “I’d wondered if more types of magic existed, I suppose this answers that question.”
“I suppose it does,” Jericho said as they approached the guard once again. “Jericho Voidcaller and Owl Skyward with non-human prisoners.”
“Let them pass,” the guard didn’t hesitate in ordering the gate to be lifted. They marched into the city and Jericho had the illusions line up on the wall next to others but also shuffle around a bit. After about a minute they started to vanish and nobody noticed.
The city was more disgusting than Jericho had imagined. The outside villages were eerie in their uniformity but they were clean villages full of farmers. The city was a depraved hellhole where people openly tortured non-humans. They passed a group of players throwing knives at non-humans for sport. It clearly wasn’t granted the status of a safe zone like other cities.
“You fellas new?” one of the players called out to them. “Want to get in on this?”
“What are we here for exactly?” Owl asked as they ignored the interested glances from players and NPCs.
“Books,” Jericho winced as an elf was kicked around outside of a large tavern. Several players had formed a half circle around him to ensure he didn’t escape as a large player beat on him. Jericho looked away from the scene only to see a beast man being strung up like a pinata by the Raycastle soldiers. “Disgusting pieces of shit.”
“What?” Owl said as a layer of frost formed on Jericho’s coat. “What is that?”
“It doesn’t happen to you?” Jericho asked while brushing off the frost as another layer took its place. He saw a group of players at the blacksmith testing their swords on non-humans. Every direction if there wasn’t screaming there were people laughing. He tried to block out the sounds by reminding himself they were only NPCs. “My magic leaks out when I
’m angry or upset.”
“I see,” Owl responded pensively. It was no secret that Owl wasn’t the most emotional person in the world. Sometimes Jericho found himself wishing he could be calmer and more consistent like him. Owl always had a plan or a process while Jericho just reacted. He was worried that he was going to react again.
“This was a mistake,” Jericho said as a dark elf screamed in pain. The frost layer was transforming to ice as he felt hate fill him like it had when he faced the elders. All he could think of was how he wanted everything to just stop.
“The library’s up ahead,” Owl put his hand on Jericho’s shoulder. “Focus on the library. Shut everything else out. There’s only the door, no sounds, no smells, no sights. Focus.”
“Right,” Jericho stared at the door to the library. He came for the bestiary, not to start a fight. None of the killing was his problem, he wasn’t roleplaying as a hero, he was just a mage in search of power.
“Please stop!” A high pitched voice cut through Jericho’s trance. He looked over to see a fairy in chains being dragged along the ground by a tall player in dark plate armor.
“I found some new entertainment!” he shouted while pulling out a knife and holding it to her wings. “This fairy was flying over our land! Apparently, they think the skies belong to them. What do you all think?”
A bunch of players and Raycastles soldiers cheered as the warrior tormented the fairy.
“Jericho,” Owl pulled his hand away as the ice began to spread. Players and soldiers took notice of the ice forming around Jericho and that’s when several realized who he was. They started to take offensive stances.
Jericho barely noticed, he was seething. Owl realized that things were about to go south and summoned a Lichblade, an epic dark estoc, and took a defensive stance. Magic began swirling around the blade.
Jericho’s elemental pathways were ready to explode. He wanted to destroy everything in sight but the city was filled with innocents. He felt trapped, unable to lash out and unable to hold it all in as his anger and hatred grew. He envisioned magic that could kill them without hurting innocents and the first image that came to his mind was a familiar one. He began condensing his magic until it was the size of a marble, then he pointed. “Bang.”
A thin beam of fire flew from his finger and landed between the eyes of the man holding the fairy. They should have invested in magic resistance. Jericho pointed at another target and released the blast, then another. Within a few seconds, nearly a dozen Raycastle soldiers were dead and players were taking cover.
Owl swiped his estoc upward. A sharp wave of ice flowed from the blade slicing a guard in half. A few more elegant flicks and several more guards fell to the ground. He turned and thrust sending out a gust of wind that blew back a handful of rushing guards and immediately followed up with a downward slash splitting the earth.
“Above,” Owl said. Jericho looked up to see archers lining the walls and began firing with both hands. Each shot pierced them as if they were wearing cloth. Then he realized there were no civilians on the wall and snapped his fingers. The guards that didn’t die from the explosion died when they landed on the ground. More soldiers rushed in and players began to get more confident. “There are too many. We need to retreat.”
“We’re killing them all,” Jericho said staring at the incoming guards. There were a few dozen players and nearly a hundred Raycastle soldiers surrounding them and the archers he’d killed were already replaced with nearly twice as many. He looked at Owl, remembering everything about him as best he could and painted him onto a canvas in his mind. As the guards circled closer Jericho cast an illusion.
“What’s happening?” Owl asked as the enemy players all became spitting images of either Owl or Jericho. Simultaneously Jericho cast illusions making themselves appear like enemy players. He looked up as the Raycastle archers began taking aim at the players.
Within moments the enemy players were butchered leaving only the guards to be dealt with. Jericho shifted his illusions and soon the guards were focused on each other as Jericho and Owl continued to slaughter them. Jericho’s head began spinning and stomach started to churn, he turned his eyes toward the ground and focused on a single rock.
“Jericho?” Owl moved to check on him while making sure nobody was targeting them.
“I’m fine,” Jericho answered. “Large scale illusions with lots of moving parts are buggy. If I focus too much on them, I start to feel sick so I’m just focusing on a rock.”
“Buggy?” Owl said while looking around. Several of the Owls were making awkward or impossible movements and more than a few of the Jerichos were doing the same. After a few moments of watching them, he understood what Jericho meant. “It’s like rendering. The more detailed the illusions are the more processing power they need. You’re overheating.”
“Sounds right,” Jericho said regaining his composure. He fired out more shots killing the guards while the non-humans took cover. More guards started to stream in and Owl stepped forward.
He took a high stance with his sword and closed his eyes. Owl began repeating insults as if they were a mantra. Soon the insults escalated as his sword started to glow, Jericho realized that Owl was filling his elemental pathways. Then Owl released a powerful swipe that sliced over thirty Raycastle soldiers in half.
They continued for several more minutes until every player and enemy soldier in Raycastle was dead.
“What about them?” Owl said as the non-humans waited nervously. “Reinforcements will be here soon. Not to mention players.”
“Listen up!” Jericho whistled loudly. “Arm yourselves. Take every piece of equipment, every coin, gemstone, or thing of value in this city. Free every other person you find and have them do the same. Do that and meet us at the front gate in fifteen minutes. If you see any humans, kill them. Understand?”
The prisoners immediately obeyed Jericho and began sprinting through the city. Since they’d eliminated the players and the soldiers Jericho figured they shouldn’t run into any trouble. If they did, they had the numbers to make the trouble go away.
“I wouldn’t have considered something like that,” Owl said as they entered the Library. “Do you think they’ll manage without us?”
“My familiars would,” Jericho said while looking around the shelves. The library was small but focused entirely on monsters. He noticed several books he’d never seen before and grabbed them then turned to Owl, “Grab every book in here.”
Owl nodded and began seizing all the books he could. Before long they’d managed to fit the entire library into their inventories. Jericho double checked everything to make sure there weren’t any hidden manuscripts.
“Alright,” Jericho said waving his hand and igniting several bookshelves. “Let’s get out of here.”
They rushed to the front gate. As they approached, they saw nearly two hundred non-humans waiting for them. Most of them were armed which was good, it meant they’d listened and looted everything they could.
“Anybody left in the city?” Jericho asked a large plate clad orc that had the demeanor of an officer. He shook his head no. “Are you sure?”
Jericho scanned the group. They collectively agreed that nobody was left in the city. Jericho reached out as far as he could with his spirit magic to be sure and sensed no living things in the city.
Jericho lifted his arms summoning towering infernos that set the city on fire. He followed up with various pushes, pulls, and swings as he smashed load bearing walls causing buildings to collapse. Finally, when he’d worked through some of his anger, he summoned in powerful winds to fuel the flames.
“Well,” Jericho panted at Owl. “That was cathartic. And a hell of a lot cheaper than therapy. Let’s get to the portal.”
“We’re going to be attacked before we get there,” Owl said as they led the civilians to safety.
“I hope so,” Jericho said. He glanced at Owl’s Lichblade. “That looks so fucking cool.”
“That
it does,” Owl agreed.
Chapter 22
Knowledge is Power
“I’m still pissed,” Terra said as Jericho and Owl poured through books. “It was really unfair not to bring an elf along. Killing those elf murdering assholes was literally part of my bucket list.”
“For the tenth time,” Jericho groaned. “The plan was never to kill them.”
“What’s your bounty up to now by the way?” Terra asked. It’d been continually rising ever since the incident. “I can’t imagine those assholes are letting this slide.”
“Five hundred thousand,” Jericho answered nonchalantly. “Seems to be slowing down.”
“Mine’s only reached fifty,” Owl said. “I’m a little offended.”
“Don’t be,” Terra laughed. “Jericho’s just a showoff.”
“Me?” Jericho laughed while tossing another useless book to Ariel to shelve. “Owl was the one showing off. He was shooting waves of ice and fire from his sword.”
“More reason I should have been there,” Terra groaned. “But no. I only get to help with your stupid research.”
“You call that helping?” Jericho laughed.
“Hey,” Terra pointed to Jinx tied to a chair. “If it weren’t for me, she would have shredded up all of your books.”
“And I’m going to get you back for this! Traitorous elf whore!” Jinx snapped and looked at Ariel who continued to happily help Jericho. “Don’t you realize what’s going to happen if he gets a shapeshifter? Insect! Idiot!”
“We’ll have another friend,” Ariel reached to pat Jinx on the head but pulled her hand away just in time to avoid getting bit. Ariel glared judgmentally at Jinx. “You’re too selfish. He even brought you home a huge pile of jewels to make you happy.”
“Are you stupid?” Jinx roared. “He’s a lecher! A pervert! An irredeemable sexual deviant! As soon as he gets a shapeshifter he’s going to spend all of his time in the bedroom with her! Then what do you think happens to us? Gnat! Cockroach!”