Continue Online (Part 2, Made)

by Stephan Morse

  That monstrous arm carried Requiem right into the rotting trunk of a tree. Wood pieces shattered everywhere and Requiem’s health bar plummeted.

  “Ahhhh!” All the air left his body in a rush.

  “You’re doinga greatjob!” I happily encouraged him in getting hit. Maybe he got neat pop-up messages like I did. That latest slam could say ‘Shafted by The Biggest Butthole!’.

  “Oh, this is nothing.” He muttered. “Nothing at…” His words were cut off by The Biggest Butthole raising both arms and roaring out. Requiem winced from the loud noise but seemed unfazed.

  The giant unique boss monster hurled nearby objects and Requiem dodged the first two. The third scraped his face. Requiem grinned and the aura about his body kicked up another notch. The blue light shifted from deep blue to azure.

  Healthwise they were about even. I marveled at the small bits of the landscape being torn up. Pieces of The Biggest Butthole flaking off had made it over here along with chunks of broken trees. I stood there watching the fight with wide excited eyes.

  Requiem leapt towards The Biggest Butthole and swung his blade. A trail of ash seared into the creature’s face. It grasped at the Traveler but missed. Another roar sounded out as the boss monster tore at his face to try and clear away the obstructing flakes.

  There. Requiem was ten feet away and actually chanting something. It sounded like the same [Lithium] language that TinkerHell had spoken. A small pop-up box dinged in front of me.

  “Huh?” I said and poked at the air with one finger.

  “Ghost of a dead sun! Shadow of a singularity!” Requiem shouted.

  “Really?” I was horrified by the idea that [Lithium] spells were poetry in another language. I said a prayer above and hoped that was a silly translation issue.

  “Draw all into your grasp! Let nothing escape!” Requiem continued his chant while doing a series of hand gestures.

  Oh, Voices above, that was too much. I would rather have a box of crayons or use nothing but scrolls for the rest of my game life. I did not want to learn magic if reciting lame word strings would be required.

  His two swords had been planted into the ground on either side during his chanting. Quickly he picked up the darker weapon that had been fairly unremarkable until now. I watched as the blue aura about him brightened and seemed to reach a sky blue peak.

  All the extra blue energy compressed to his arms, then his hands, and finally up to the sword. His weapon was blazing brightly with the transferred energy.

  Requiem charged at The Biggest Butthole, who was still clawing at its own face in outrage. The sword jab went straight into the air in front of the boss monster. As it pulled back the blue energy compressed even further until it was a drop of water on Requiem’s withdrawing sword.

  The Biggest Butthole cleared its vision just in time to stare crossed eyed at the small drop of water. It released from the sword tip and hovered there in wonder for a second before unleashing a pulse. Everything nearby was pushed back half an inch and then sucked inward.

  My light body was no exception. I scrambled for the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] which was digging into the ground. My tail tried to find extra purchase. Over my shoulder, I could see the two fighters both reacting very differently. Requiem was full on leaning backward against the sudden shift in gravity. The Biggest Butthole gave one large roar before his head was yanked into the bright blue water droplet of energy.

  That jerk of a Traveler had a mini black hole spell. Everything drug towards the special move Requiem had unleashed for a few seconds before the pressure released. I dropped to the ground with a stutter. Sharp teeth bit into my lip and made me grunt. My tiny [Red Imp] kneecap felt like it was banged hard and the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] had slapped me in the face.

  “Neat.” I uttered a statement completely against the [Red Imp] personality. My synchronization bar dropped two percent because of it.

  “Good. Most of it is still intact. Hopefully, it dropped something useful.” Requiem muttered. He looked exhausted beyond belief. I could see the health bar above his head was below half but not critical.

  I tilted my head and stabbed the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] into the ground repeatedly. That mini black hole type move had torn The Biggest Butthole’s head completely off and left a small waft of smoke. The body stood for a moment before both of the monster’s knees gave out and everything toppled over.

  “Now do you understand? You can’t possibly kill me.” Requiem said while looking at me. This Traveler was far beyond both my [Red Imp] familiar self and the Hermes character. His super move was more impressive than William Carver’s heroic slash.

  I was playing the part of a sinister familiar out to get his master killed. This called for my best evil smile and proper [Red Imp] commentary. “You are tooslow andstupid.”

  “How can you say that?” He asked.

  “Now I know your weakness.” I had no clue what his weakness was. Requiem looked panicked for a moment and shoved his hand into a coat pocket. He did that motion a lot when the fight looked tough. Was there something in there?

  The Traveler must have one more trump card up his sleeve. The question was, how could I use it against him to complete this silly quest?

  “Get out of here.” Requiem waved a hand and the release of my summons started.

  Session Thirty Three – Until Morale Improves

  There was a huge wall of Travelers around me. They were crowded over a series of bulletin boards like the ones from [Camp Grey Skull]. Some clustered together to chat. More were arguing over the price of seemingly random items. I ignored all of them and read the rest of Xin’s letter.

  I hung my head and sighed. Of course, she would remember the one time I fell asleep on the phone. Xin had woken me from a dead sleep and unloaded. Normally she was very curt with her answers but something about the launch had her rattled. My fiancée chattered away for hours while I tried to utter complex responses.

  The message went on. I tried not to gasp while reading it. A few of the other Travelers looked over my shoulder to see what the fuss was about. Dusk snapped in their faces and completely confused a couple. Soon they left a small bubble around me and went about their business.

  Voices above. This was insane to read. I tried to remember how Xin had written her text messages. This letter was a lot more formal than anything we had exchanged. That didn’t mean it was fake or written by a program messing with me, did it?

  It was crazy to pin my happiness on a copy of the woman I had loved. Absolutely crazy. What would her father think of this? No, I couldn’t tell anybody at all. This had me on an emotional roller coaster and questioning my sanity. Subjecting anyone else to it would be asking for a trip to the asylum.

  It was time to distract myself again. If I focused on the letter too much then the result would be a complete mental breakdown. A normal person would have asked how a computerized reaction of Xin knew memories from before Continue Online.

  A strong hand grabbed the top of my head and turned it to the side. I was distracted and didn’t even resist as Shazam came into view.

  “Sorry. It’s me.” I tried to make sure she knew it was me right away. Shazam was probably used to dragging my autopilot around.

  She gave a thumbs up then pointed off to the side. Past the walls of bulletins, there was a single room. A line was formed up outside the door and dozens of people were waiting to walk in.

  “What’s in there?” I asked. That line was long, but it was moving.

  Shazam pointed at me then to the room. She repeated the motion a few times. There was a symbol up above the doorway that looked like an infinity sign gone Goth if such a thing were possible.

  “So I should go over there?” I stared at the picture up above and felt confused.

  She nodded and pushed me off towards the line. I clutched Xin’s letter and tried to clarify what was going on.

  “Is that the Porter?” I asked.

  She stopped pushing and gave two thumbs up. If
it wasn’t for her complete lack of facial expression I would have called the double thumbs up condescending. Like I had guessed something amazingly obvious and was now on par with a fifth grader.

  I went to the line and reread Xin’s letter multiple times. People gave me a weird look when they saw Dusk on my shoulder. Shazam didn’t join me. She poked through the boards. Their contents were a mystery. I wanted to take a look after dealing with this [Porter] issue.

  Time passed. I used a nearby wall to scribble out notes on how to respond. It was high school note passing all over again. A half hour later someone risked tapping on my shoulder. The person behind me coughed and pointed at the empty line in front of me.

  “Sorry.” I put the letter up and hustled inside.

  This felt oddly like a bathroom stall. There was a line of orbs. They were strangely out of place with everything else in Continue Online. Each orb was on a smooth pedestal and there was an alcove behind it.

  Everyone else was walking up to them and placing their hands on the orb. One person crowded out through the doorway behind me and another came in immediately. Xin had written it, when in Rome, do as the Romans.

  Putting my hands on the orb caused the orb to come to life. Deep inside the core, a spark lit up. Light scanned over my body and lingered on the eyes, obliterating my vision. I blinked rapidly and tried to shake it off.

  Inside the alcove was a list that went on and on. It outlined all the same stuff that was in my character profile and had a few other giant glowing buttons. I twisted my face and tried to figure out what was so special about a [Porter].

  “First time?” The man next to me asked. I glanced over and saw a man who had to be nearly fifty standing there happily. He was seriously wearing what amounted to silk pajamas. The man had one hand halfway down the backside of his pants scratching.

  I ignored the possible innuendo and answered “Yes.”

  “Some of us whittle down our interfaces and never look at anything outside of the Porters,” He said. The man grumbled and switched which hand was on the orb and which was down his pants scratching.

  “Why?” I asked absently. Above my character information was a menu of sorts. One said ‘social’ and another read ‘mail’.

  “There’s a theory that you get high gains that way.” He seemed dissatisfied with the scratching based on his continued grumbles. While he was chatting, I focused on the menu options to one side. A small keyboard popped up in front of me.

  “Any actual proof?” I asked. His idea seemed rather interesting. Beth had said something a while ago about one of her friends using a scroll to read everything. There, there was clearly a box for adding someone to a friend’s list.

  “Not an ounce, but it’s fun to go all natural in the game. It’s a change of pace from the real world, you know?” He said.

  “I can see how it might be.” I scanned the list of names resulting. There was a whole wall of them with basic information and titles. One of them was a Rank sixteen All-Star mage. That had to be my niece, Beth.

  “Yeah. All that technology out there and we’re drowning in it. Anyway, I’m done, enjoy the game.” The man next to me shrugged and walked off while holding his pants with one hand.

  “Bye.” I waved with one hand and finished typing out my message. Hopefully, this text would make sense. After a moment of hesitation, I pressed the final button.

  Okay. One task was completed. Now I had to figure out how to get my glitch reward. There had been another menu option for ‘mail’, that would be my next stop.

  The old man next to me was traded out for a girl with a rainbow colored mohawk. She was far less talkative. At her belt was a series of small axes. I guess there really was a play style for everyone.

  I shook my head and focused on the floating menu in its alcove. After a few moments of scattered concentration, I managed to get the mail pop-up to respond. If this room had been more private than perhaps this would have been done sooner.

  “Well, yeah,” I muttered. Of course, I wanted to open these letters and see what was in them! Receiving two was already more than expected. The first one opened with a bit of fireworks and a sound of coins rattling.

  I whistled slowly. It had been around two months in-game and someone had already figured out how to set up a Casino? Not to mention they seemed to be rolling in cash. I vaguely remembered that my percentage of any earnings was going to be amazingly minimal. Yet here it was, entirely too much gold.

  The accountant in me had run the numbers a long time ago. It was one of the tasks that kept me entertained while functioning as William Carver. One gold coin roughly equaled ordering an exquisite lobster dinner for two plus gratuity and wine. Doing the math, it was like someone had handed me nearly five thousand dollars.

  My eyebrows kept going up as the realization hit me. Two months of game time and if there was a way to convert gold to real money that would be a little bit more than a heavy month of work on the outside world. All that and I had just said some words to a Voice. This wasn’t even from me hunting high-Rank items or farming specific spots.

  “Neat. “ Finally, I shook it off and went for letter number two. The mohawk girl stood there poking at the air. On the other side was a mountainous man who had to be half fat and half muscle. He was chewing on some toothpick that looked more like a nail.

  Right, as if I had found it myself. This should have gone to Shazam for kicking me into it. Still, I wanted to know what was going to happen. The pop-up box tied to this latest message shimmered for a moment. There had been other text on there about a sizable stat increase. Now it read completely different.

  I jerked my head to one side in confusion. Was this a ring that acted like a second chance at life? What had that shimmering been all about when the message was abruptly replaced? Were the Voices behind this somehow? It wouldn’t be the first time they interfered in my player actions. But why give me a ring like this? Were they worried that I was too frail?

  A long time must have passed. Someone at the door coughed and I jerked out of the reflection abruptly. They weren’t looking at me or commenting on anything. It was a reminder that this place had a huge wait line. There was nothing else in here for me right now anyway.

  It was hard not to stumble out of the door. The gold had been enough to confuse the heck of out me. Getting a ring like that as part of my reward was another layer of crazy. It was also extremely neat.

  “Shazam?” I searched the crowd for my silent guardian.

  Dusk yawned in my ear before carefully digging a claw into my shoulder. It wasn’t enough to hurt me, but it was certainly attention-getting.

  “What’s up, Dusk?”

  The small dragon flew off. I stumbled through the crowd after my darkly scaled pal. For the first time since the [Messenger’s Pet] had started following me, Dusk actually landed on someone else’s shoulder. He was sitting with Shazam and staring at a wall of poster board items.

  Shazam was wearing a dress. The [Messenger’s Pet] kept looking at his own feet as he moved around. Dusk was clearly trying to be careful about damaging Shazam’s clothing. Most of her shoulders were uncovered save for two dark blue straps. From this angle, it was clear that most of her back was uncovered from the clothing’s cut.

  I tilted my head while trying to reconcile the woman in a dress with the one wearing armor. There was a noticeably different aura between the two images. She looked amazingly regal and almost seemed to glow. My head shook back and forth slowly.

  What? She had some skill that triggered a charm just because I stared too long? The dress alone couldn’t account for that. Shazam had no expression on her face but still managed to have a friendly pose. Her hands were moving around expressively at another man who wore a giant feathered cap.

  His hands rapidly moved back. It looked like a far better version of the pantomiming that Shazam and I engaged in. Clearly my game needed to be stepped up. Anything that would better communicate with her. Learning baby signs for the words fish or b
lack wasn’t very helpful in a real conversation.

  I stood nearby and stared at the wall of pictures with their descriptions. My hand reached closer to one of the postings and a system message displayed.

  “Oh. Neat.” I muttered to myself.

  There was a series of pop-up boxes telling me that it was possible to refine the search. It was strange to see a virtual sort of auction house interface overlaying the old fashioned notice boards. Maybe they could only go so far in maintaining realism in a video game. Or maybe all these options could be trimmed down like the older man at the [Porter] said.

  I looked around a bit. Indeed, some of the players were pulling down the actual notices then pinning them back up. Others were standing nearby poking fingers at the air. It seemed that each shopper could choose a different level of immersion even in a place like this.

  There were walls of items resulting, but I pressed a few buttons and trimmed it down. Finally, there was a wall of digital items displaying in front of me. All of them were gambling related. I figured there would be something in here of use. It was that or stare at player crafted chest pieces for hours.

  “A deck of cards?” I set eyes on one category that was a bit more interesting. They actually looked like the perfect type of item to pick up for a traveling player. “These prices are all over the board.”

  Dusk chirped from Shazam’s shoulder. I gave her a wave and she returned the greeting with a thumbs up.

  “I’m looking at decks of cards.” It felt like I was repeating myself, but Shazam had just arrived. “So we have something to pass the time with. Maybe you can teach my autopilot to be a card shark.”

  “You know this man?” The man in a feathered hat sounded clear but soft. I turned away from my wall of gambling items to inspect this newcomer. He was a bit shorter than I which meant Shazam towered over him.

  “She’s been helping me on some quests,” I stated for us. Shazam gave her thumbs up and then signed a wall of words to the man in the feathered hat.