by Domino Finn
I took advantage of the hounded enemy. My deadshot had recharged, but I waited the extra second for the combo. I activated it together with dash and rocketed into him, plunging my blacksteel halfway into the ogre's midsection. Despite the deep penetration, the spear hadn't exited the wide monster's backside. I twisted to pull it out, but the ogre caught me with a vicious backhand that sent me tumbling down the hill.
For a few seconds my world was alternating sky and ground. My dizzying fall came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. I should've recovered quicker but my body was in agony. I coughed on the ground.
Although we were near the edge of the army and most eyes were on the legionnaires, several imps noticed I was an easy target. They converged on me. Without a better weapon, I menacingly drew my whittling knife and lunged.
Icicles rained down from above. These were much smaller but greater in number, harrying the imps. Only a few died, but the magic pushed them away from me. I punched half an inch of bladed death repeatedly into the closest imp like an inmate with a prison shank. The brutal attack gave me the space to climb to my feet. Bandit galloped past. I scooped her horn and jumped onto her back. We sped away faster than the imps could recover.
Above, Kyle had hit the ogre with more poisoned bolts but was now backpedaling. The damned thing had a spear stuck in him and was still advancing. The red mob had half his health, making me wonder why we kept tangling with them. My roommate frantically shoved a second bolt into his crossbow.
I saw it happening again.
"Get out of there, Kyle!"
He fell backward as a large fist swiped over him. Kyle lay on his back but didn't let up. He took quick aim and emptied two more bolts into the beast. The corrosive DoT at this point was impressive, even with the minimized effectiveness of the stacked damage. That massive health bar was shrinking fast.
But nowhere near fast enough.
Izzy charged toward the towering thing. I could only guess she didn't have the juice for more icicles. I squeezed Bandit forward. She galloped straight at the ogre. We were still too far away. The beast leaned in to take a bite out of Kyle when Izzy's frost wand zipped through the air. The jagged end bit into the ogre's shoulder. He flinched away as expanding ice crusted over his arm and up his neck.
At the same time, Kyle produced his sword and plunged it upward into the ogre's sternum. The great monster listed, three weapons and numerous crossbow bolts protruding from his body.
Bandit lowered her head right as we were about to ram him. I leaned forward and grabbed the side of my spear.
Agility Check...
Passed!
Two horns pounded into his belly as the blacksteel spear punched through his back. The deafening cry of the ogre choked into gurgles and he toppled to the ground in a cloud of dust.
Bandit and I took some damage from the collision and fell to the ground. For a moment I worried the heavy ogre would roll over her, but his body settled. Kyle and I scrambled to our feet. Bandit scurried out of the way as Izzy arrived. The three of us simultaneously yanked our weapons from the massive corpse and faced the bottom of the hill.
A group of seven converging goblins skidded in their tracks, slack-jawed. They eyed our bloody hands and faces. The gore on the weapons and the bodies littering the hill. They took special note of the dead behemoth beside us.
Until that moment I wasn't sure if goblins were smart. The seven of them turned and fled, disappearing within the safety of their army below.
Fire roared over me.
BWOOOOOM!
You have reached Level 5!
It pleased me to hear Kyle shriek in excitement.
"Holy shit! I leveled up! I'm level 3!"
I wasn't surprised.
Izzy rolled her eyes. "You'll never see level 4 if you don't keep moving. Now let's go."
She retreated from the army without seeing if we followed.
We sure as hell did.
0370 Night in the Woods
Despite all odds, we escaped the insanity of the pagan battle. We raced along the foothill until reaching the intersection of two paths: the outer road lining the hill and the road to Stronghold that divided the forest. Going against reason, we headed toward the city. Instead of moving in plain sight we skirted the tree line, but we were more concerned with speed than attracting notice. It was an unnecessary precaution. The forest road was empty.
Once the pagan threat was in our rearview, I scouted ahead and found a large part of the legion had remained behind in the tended lands. That complicated matters a bit, but it's not like we were planning on strolling back to Stronghold anyway. I backtracked and convinced everybody to head south through the lower forest.
Free of an immediate threat, our pace slowed. Izzy healed but since Kyle and I had leveled, we were already maxed out. We grew relaxed, if you could believe it. As we hit the bottom border of the trees and saw the darkening sky, we decided to set up a hidden camp within the tree line.
Funny that after our bold escape, battling, and all that running, the walls of Stronghold were still in view across the tended lands. Sometimes the best place to hide was close to home.
Izzy sat with her back against a log. She whittled a chunk of ice with her frost wand, her dour expression revealing her thoughts to be elsewhere. The elation of our freedom had worn off. I was level 5 and Izzy was still level 6. I should've been ecstatic. But seeing her like that troubled me. I couldn't focus enough to spend my new skill points.
Kyle dutifully went through his menus, thinking long and hard about his loadout. It had just been a day but he'd come a long way. Less spontaneous, more careful and measured. I trusted him with his skill selection and left him alone.
Bandit was curled into a ball, asleep.
After mulling over several ways to distract myself, I decided to bite the bullet and come clean. I trudged over to Izzy and plopped down beside her. Her indigo lips twisted but she didn't otherwise acknowledge me.
"Thanks for your help back there," I said. "You can do some real crowd control." It was a solid opener.
"Flattery won't get you anywhere," she answered. "I'm still wondering why I risked my life for you."
I cracked a smile. "Well, we appreciate it. Both of us."
Izzy didn't say anything. All her focus remained on her whittling project.
"Look, Izzy, I feel I owe you an explanation."
Her eyebrow twitched. "Figured that out all on your own, did you?"
"You're really not making this easy." I took a calming breath. "That's okay. I deserve it. Lucifer tricked me and I'm still not sure why."
Her eyes fixed on me. "Lucifer? As in, the head of the Fallen Angels?"
"You know about him?"
She snorted. "Of course I know him. He tried to recruit me once. He's a crazy hacker who wants to bring down the system."
I thought Kyle was preoccupied but he butted into the conversation. "Sounds like you two should've melded minds before you helped the dude bring down the city."
I gave him the side eye.
He ignored my glare and stood excitedly. "Okay, check it out," he said, presenting his hands upward.
I blinked. "What?"
"Me. Check me out."
I inspected his character info. "Level 3 Brewmaster. Pretty cool."
"I know, right?"
Izzy spoke sarcastically. "A class kit. You must be proud of yourself."
"I am actually," he said defensively. "Maybe I'll finally get some respect around town. Don't worry, though: I won't expect any from you."
She rolled her eyes. "You think you're ever going back to Stronghold? You really are clueless."
"That's not cool," I cut in. "You did seriously good back there, Kyle."
He hiked a shoulder. "Well, I did need to be saved."
"I did too. But don't sell yourself short. You stirred up some real chaos on the battlefield and pumped that ogre full of sick damage stacks. Don't kill yourself over one mistake. That's what we have each other for."
/>
He seemed satisfied. Izzy had gone back to ice whittling. I wondered if she'd picked up the habit because of a starting whittling knife.
"Here's the deal, Izzy: Lucifer gave me a gem and dispatched the black dragon as a distraction so I could sneak into the Pantheon. I needed access to the Oculus. Only, once I was there, the glitched gem reverted into a recall rune and he teleported in and hacked some stuff. That's why I could initiate combat in town."
Both of them listened in rapt attention but I read their faces differently. Kyle admired the feat. Izzy just thought I was an idiot.
"So you threw the whole city into a frenzy and broke into the Pantheon," she said flatly. "I just wanted to go questing. Now I'm a fugitive. I should've let that gate lock you in. Then your roommate and I wouldn't even be on Stronghold's radar."
I felt bad about that part. "It's not my fault," I said weakly.
"No worries," said Kyle supportively. "Without you I'd still be a level 1 loser getting pushed around by Lash. I'm with you all the way, bro."
Izzy shook her head. It was obvious she wasn't used to being a team player.
"Look, Izzy, I didn't mean to steal the Eye. I didn't even know that was Lucifer's plan. I just wanted access to my records and on the Everchat white list. I just need to connect with my brother. To find out why I'm not really dead."
Izzy's wand paused mid stroke. "What?"
I sighed softly. "Lucifer told me I wasn't dead yet. My body—it's still alive."
"I told you, you can't trust that loon."
"It's true, though. I checked the personnel records myself. I'm listed as not deceased. I'm still hanging on after the car accident, and there's no way the saints are ever gonna give me access to Everchat like that."
She was too stunned to say anything. I kept talking, eager to shift the focus from my personal problems. "Lucifer revealed a lot. He explained the adaptive skill system to me. How we can make tweaks by trying new things. Evolve the game. He also admitted to being a hacker and leading the break-in that got the other Fallen Angels deleted. There's a lot about Haven that isn't quite as it seems. Even Lucifer himself. He's really an eight-year-old girl who died of cancer."
"Harsh," whispered Kyle. Izzy blinked wet eyes. He traded glances between her and me, slowly getting the picture. "I'm gonna go... check on... the status of..." He frowned. "Later." Kyle stomped through the brush and disappeared.
Izzy wiped her eyes. Her reaction wasn't about Lucifer, I knew, but about herself. Bringing up the personnel records, the knowledge of how certain people died—it was a reminder that I knew her dirty little secret.
"I swear, Izzy. I wasn't snooping. I saw it by accident."
She turned away. Instead of snapping this time, she nodded once.
I could imagine what she was thinking. Ending your life is supposed to be final, isn't it? A way of escaping pain or isolation or countless other problems. In Izzy's case, that connection was never severed. And she'd had plenty of time to rethink her actions.
This time tact came in the form of keeping my mouth shut. The silence gave Izzy the room to bare her soul.
"I... I'm supposed to be privileged or something."
I nodded.
"My dad invested heavily in Haven's development. This sim literally wouldn't exist without the great Mr. Sakata. He wasn't a developer but it was all he cared about. Not Mom. Not me, of course. He never wanted a daughter. He was such a strict asshole, setting limits on us but never giving us time. It drove my mom to a breakdown. She had to be admitted to a hospital, and she never got better."
I pressed my lips together glumly. "My mother was admitted too."
She flicked her gaze at me. She was still angry at my intrusion, but I saw a flash of understanding. A truce. Family was often the difference between Heaven and Hell, not programming. Knowing we shared a tragic past was something neither of us would dream of debasing. It was a bitter foundation to build on.
"The troops are headed back to Stronghold," reported Kyle, returning to camp. "A bunch of soldiers came back from the pagan line." He paused morosely. "A bunch didn't. Whatever's left of the legion is packing it in."
"They gave up on us?" I asked.
"They're retreating," said Izzy.
"Why bother with us anymore?" agreed Kyle. "With a pagan army on the march, we're sure to be killed."
I shrugged. "I'm not worried about dying in the game."
"Don't you get it? The centurions have our home surrounded. They know who we are now. If we die out here, they capture us in there." He thrust his fingers toward the city walls. "The saints are spawn camping us, man. Just waiting for us to slip up. And even if you can fight in town, we can't. We'll be overwhelmed."
Izzy frowned. "It's not even that. The legion's leaving us alone because we don't matter anymore. Stronghold has bigger fish to fry." We shared a heavy glance. "You were right, Talon. Stronghold's readying for a siege."
Kyle's eyes widened. "You think?"
"You saw those siege engines. That army's not just waiting for an ambush. They're gathering. Storming the gates as soon as they're ready. Maybe before that, since their secret's out."
I understood Kyle's disbelief. Stronghold felt so invincible from within. Vast, impressive. The city was a font of knowledge and strength. "Is it possible the pagans could succeed in sacking the city?"
Izzy tucked her wand into her belt and tossed the ice sculpture at me. The cold bit into my hands as I turned it over. It was an oblong eye, its wide pupil staring at me.
"Don't you know your lore? The legend of the Nine?" she asked. "Nine pagan gods were defeated to tame the wild. Stronghold is one of nine great cities. That's no coincidence. Each beacon of civilization was built on the back of a fallen titan. Each city holds hostage a pagan artifact to protect its walls from intrusion. Protect its people from invasion. You've just helped strip Stronghold of its greatest defense."
I swallowed nervously.
"The city will be in chaos. Besieged until walls fall and buildings crumble. Homes will be sacked. Your roommate over there is half right and half wrong: The saints might very well be waiting for us to die so they can catch us, but it's also likely we'll have no homes left to respawn back to."
Her conclusion was terrifying. I wondered what happened when homes were destroyed. Surely we'd respawn somewhere else. Another town, maybe.
But that wasn't the point. I wasn't sure exactly what the saints were up to, but a lot of innocent players depended on Stronghold. I didn't wanna tear it all down because of my personal quest for justice.
"This is my fault," I said darkly. "I'm going to find Lucifer, and it's bound to be dangerous. You two should stay in hiding. I'll send Bandit back to find you when I reach the summit. Just in case I'm heading to a permanent death, I don't want you to suffer the same fate."
I moved to the edge of the forest and watched the retreating army light fires against the night sky. The mighty city gates opened, and what remained of the legion returned to a safety that was only temporary. As if to punctuate that note, a long, bellowing horn smothered the landscape with its deep cry. The wail scratched the sky and sent shivers through us.
The silence that followed was short-lived. Far in the distance, pagan war drums began to beat over the wind.
"It's starting," said Izzy, next to me now.
Kyle was there too. "Sorry to outvote you, bro, but we're tagging along."
I turned to Izzy.
"You better send me a party invite," she said gruffly. She noted my smile. "Hey, it's not like I have anything better to do now. This land will be overrun with pagans soon enough."
Even Bandit was awake now. She bowed her head and licked my hand.
We faced the threatened city wearing grim masks. The tended lands were empty. The west gate was shut for good. I could only imagine the flurry of activity that was happening on the other side.
"Well," I said, "what are we waiting for then? It's time to go dance with the devil."
0380 De
vil May Cry
The countryside shook to the beat of thousands of unseen boots. The pagans were on the far side of the barrier forest that lined the tended lands, but not for long. Either the army would pick its way through the forest or, more likely, take turns traveling through the bottleneck of the forest road. Stronghold still had time to prepare. We still had time to find Lucifer and recover the Eye.
We trekked into the open, noting the lack of random mobs in the area. In the real world I would've said the horde scared off all wildlife. In Haven, the pagan war machine must've been a strain on the servers. With an epic battle brewing, there was no processing power to spare for randos.
"Where are we headed?" asked Izzy.
I pointed to the mountain range that sprawled before us in the night sky. "Lucifer hangs out at the top of that mountain."
"Blind Man's Peak," she said. "Kind of ironic. You think the name would've tipped you off."
"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king," joked Kyle.
I grumbled and opened my map. The land area was filled in after my visit and had the telling label. "Now you tell me."
Kyle and Izzy traded a conspiratorial look.
"I once was blind, but now I see," she said.
"The blind leading the blind," he added.
"I get it already," I snapped. I swiped the map closed and attempted to change the subject. "Lucifer said it was a holy place."
Kyle thankfully backed off. He slapped my shoulder as a peace offering. "Good enough for me, bro."
We traveled light and fast, making much more headway than the army could manage. We crossed the southern plain without incident and headed up the foothills. The full moon lit the way.
As we marched, I studied my level 5 spear upgrades, one from the vanguard discipline, one from deadeye, and a couple from defender.