by K. T. Hanna
Somnia Online
Continent of Tarishna - Hazenthorne Castle Version 36.259
Activated by guild: Exodus
Late Day Twenty-Four
Masha watched Jirald as he moved through the paces while Exodus killed trash mob after trash mob. Hazenthorne was overrun with them. Strange spider creatures, globs that left acid hissing in their wake. There was no rhyme or reason to the way the dungeon was laid out. Their opponents barely gave the raid enough time between encounters to regain their health and mana. The whole dungeon seemed to be draining his guild members of energy.
All of them except Jirald, who didn’t seem to care. He cut through his opponents with a quick and cold efficiency that Masha hadn’t seen in him before. It was as if he was drawing strength from something else. If the dark elf cleric hadn’t known better, he would have thought Jirald was using old fashioned cheat codes. Those obsidian weapons of his gleamed with blood, as if drinking it into the blades transferred power to the owner.
He shook his head and shifted his focus to the rest of the guild. These two groups were so close to forty-eight, he could taste it. That was all they needed to hit the next levels of dungeons as one of Fable’s allies. Even though the thought of it filled him with hesitation, it wasn’t about joining their rivals, but more about allowing Jirald to be in such close proximity to his fixation on Murmur.
Surveying the current battle, Masha cast out heals nonchalantly. None of the trash in Hazenthorne had been challenging so far. After a bit of a slog, it was clear enough who the stronger party was. The bosses were another story. He didn’t understand how Fable managed to get around so much seemingly without wipes. It was part of the reason he agreed to partner with them in delving into the end dungeons.
Ishwa stood at his side, his ruddy little gnome face showing exertion. Perhaps that was too much realism for a game, but Masha found it entertaining nonetheless.
“You are watching him, right, Masha?” Ishwa pitched his voice low. Added to his stature, Masha was barely able to understand what the gnome asked him.
“Not like you to ask a stupid question,” Masha quipped, sending out a rapid heal and a HoT too Eslan.
Ishwa didn’t even bother to roll his eyes. “There’s something off. My aura perception isn’t one of my strongest abilities, but he’s changed. A lot. And recently. I’m worried about him.”
Masha narrowed his eyes, seeking out Jirald once more. It wasn’t difficult to find the assassin. Shrouded in black, shadows crawled around his form lending him a definitively sinister air. His pale locus skin shone through the slit in his mask, only overshadowed by the burning galaxies in his eyes.
Each knife stroke showed efficiency. Each lunge accomplished more than one goal. And his eyes held no emotion whatsoever.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got my eye on him.” Masha wasn’t sure whether he was trying to convince Ishwa or himself. Jirald had changed, maybe too much. It didn’t feel like a natural change, and Masha wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
Finally, the raid fell out of combat. Masha looked around, his gaze on their opponents this time. Severed limbs and multi-eyed heads lay knee deep around them. These creatures were a particularly grotesque mutation of a spider. With their almost human-like torsos sticking out of eight legs and covered with spider eyes. He pushed his revulsion to the back of his mind and continued on, checking everyone for poison, making sure his raid was okay and had no lingering spell effects that might be detrimental later.
A huge cavern, one that seemed to belong in a mountainside and not a castle on the moors, stretched out in front of them. Masha could see a massive spider in there, even though it tried to hide. Two of its legs couldn’t quite fit into the ceiling cavity it hid in. That thing was going to be difficult to take down. It was huge.
He glanced around, inspecting his raid and frowned. Jirald was very close to forty-eight as well. In fact, he’d probably be one of the first of their group to reach it. Somehow, he’d caught back up, and Masha wasn’t entirely certain he wanted to know how.
In a way, it was a good thing mostly, but so many elements didn’t add up about him and his behavior. It was erratic, inexplicable half of the time, and confusing.
Still, they needed his strength to form the temporary alliance with Fable. His DPS was constantly increasing. This way they could at least contribute well to the raid. Getting to see the end-game content was always their goal, but this time they’d get to be among the first.
Jirald caught his eye, raising an eyebrow, his smile mocking. It was as if he was asking what the delay was with engaging the boss, and he didn’t seem happy about it.
Of course he wasn’t. Fools always rushed in. While Jirald might be lethal, he often acted on impulse instead of carefully planning his way out of something. It was Masha’s only advantage, and he’d push it as far as he needed to get what he wanted.
Masha had to be careful, because he hadn’t mentioned the potential alliance with Fable to the rogue yet. The guild was more important than one individual. He only hoped Jirald could grasp that.
Summer Residence
Home of Laria, David, and Wren
Summer Condo
Real World - Day Twenty-Four
Murmur focused her attention inwardly and removed herself from the game. Ever since she’d come out of her coma, she’d been pushing aspects of the game. The connection to Somnia post-Fusion seemed even more in-depth than she’d realized. Logging out with a thought hadn’t even been difficult. It made her curious to see what else she might be able to accomplish outside of the one world and in the other.
Sitting up in her bed at home, Wren left the headset on. Her avatar would still be inside the game, still maintaining the link, except that Murmur would be essentially empty. At least that’s what she thought. Maybe she should have asked Telvar to check for her.
Directing her focus back to Somnia, she attempted to pull up her information. It seemed to glitch for a moment before transferring over her AR vision. But then her status was there, right in front of her as if it belonged there. On closer inspection though, it seemed to be a mash up of both of her personas taking on some of the characteristics from the game listings.
If she simply thought of Somnia, she could retrieve information that partially adapted to the real world. That was fantastic. Her connection with Somnia was solid and irrefutable, and if the suspicions she had were starting to prove correct—there was no way for her separate herself anymore. She wondered if she’d be able to use the connection even if she wasn’t wearing the headset.
With a glance at Harlow’s peaceful face, Wren shrugged. There was no time like the present to see what it was she could do. Slowly, she removed the headset, still willing her information to remain in front of her. It bugged, grew static as the headset moved further from her head, and then stabilized in a sort of pale imitation.
Wren frowned and closed her eyes, still able to see the info screen pulled up in front of her. She could sense Harlow right next to her, and the whirl of emotions racing through her. Her friend really was gorgeous in her own red-headed, freckle-filled way. Wren smiled, knowing it would still take her friend a few minutes to adjust to the way the worlds meshed for her.
Havoc and Sinister weren’t yet used to their upgraded connection models. Which was good. Wren needed to dash downstairs and check something anyway.
Taking them two at a time, she ended up in the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table. She frowned at it, covered in several bruises as it was. Still, it wasn’t the fruit’s fault it was mangled. Not like it fell from the tree deliberately.
She chuckled to herself and sat down on the table, her legs crossed, and her eyes closed.
“Okay, Wren. You’ve got this. Just like always, just like in Somnia,” she muttered to herself, breathing in deeply to help with preparation. Reaching out with her mind, she locate
d the perimeter of the condo she lived in with her parents and pushed out her sensory nets.
It happened slowly, so tentatively at first that she wasn’t sure it was happening.
All at once she could feel them, or more accurately, feel the sensations in the real world that she could feel inside Somnia. Emotions spun through her sensor nets, feeding back to her in a whirlwind of feelings and sensations that made her gasp. Vibrant and so loud it made her head pound, her awareness threatened to fracture with the pure amount of input available to her. She withdrew as slowly as she could, making her senses duller, disallowing the vast range it had jumped to. Too much too soon was bound to drive her over the edge.
For a few moments she just sat there, evening out her reception, and trying to ignore the completely illogical fact that she’d somehow taken abilities from Somnia with her into the real world.
It took all of her willpower not to jump off the table and squeal. She wasn’t even sure if the expression would be from fear or excitement. Perhaps a little bit of both.
She tweaked the nets, refining them far more than she’d ever thought to do with them in-game. But since she could use her powers out here, why not protect her parents and herself form any potential threats that might come their way? After all, hadn’t that James guy already threatened them once?
There was a tug on her net, telling her that Harlow was waking up and looking around for her.
“Just a few more moments.” She made herself breathe slower, forced herself to complete the work the way it needed to be done. Methodically. Securely. Protect those things she loved most so she’d know if they were in danger. Her parents. Harlow. Her home.
What she’d do if the alarm was tripped was something she left for future Murmur to worry about.
Finally, after making sure she’d initiated the identification checks so that the alarms wouldn’t sound off if the person was someone she knew, she looked up to find Harlow standing in front of her, her green eyes filled with worry as she bit her lip.
“Hey.” Wren reached out a hand, placing her fingertips gently against Harlow’s cheek. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
The joke fell flat as Harlow looked away, uncertainty shining on her features.
Wren jumped down off the table and took Harlow’s hands in her own. “What is it? Did something happen?”
Harlow shook her head. For once the bubbliness was gone, and in its place was the serious Harlow Wren rarely saw. “What’s going on with you? Would you tell me if I ask? You’ve been acting so weird since that last incident.”
Wren hesitated, unsure how to address the question. “I’m okay. There are so many possibilities out there, Harlow. I’m just trying to soak them all up, trying to make sure I protect those who mean the most to me.”
“We all want that.” Harlow looked away again, color rising in her cheeks.
“Yeah, we do.” Wren reached out and grabbed Harlow’s hand. “Look. I just have a couple of things to set up and we can totally figure out our next step, okay?”
Harlow hesitated, and it didn’t take the psionic in Mur to figure out that Harlow was picking her words carefully. “Yeah. You know. It’s not okay to play along with someone if you don’t mean it, right Wren?”
The words hit Wren in the chest like a ton of bricks, knocking the wind right out of her. She looked at Harlow in shock, the flush in her cheeks filled with raw emotion.
“What do you mean?” She forced the words out in a hoarse whisper.
“I mean…” Harlow clenched her fists at her side, glancing around them, like she was checking if they were alone. Her next words came out barely above a whisper. “You know how I feel about you, don’t you now? You know I’m not just playing a game?”
“Of course I know!” Wren bit her lip again, not having meant to shout. She could feel tears building in her eyes. She’d been so sure that she’d shown Sinister or Harlow how she felt. Sure that she’d conveyed what she intended to. But apparently, she hadn’t.
She took a step forward, grabbing at Harlow’s arms in desperation, but trying to be gentle, to let her grip stay soft. This was so awkward, so damned uncomfortable. She could feel the emotions warring inside Sinister at that moment, feel the desperation her friend felt, the hesitancy. Mur barely resisted the urge to calm her down. Barely.
“I…know. And I meant what I said in-game. I’ve always known. And I’m so glad that you do.” Wren glanced away. “I’m not good at this. You know that. I’ve never been good at expressing my emotions.” Oh, the irony of her being allocated an enchanter.
Harlow’s frown turned up a little, a small smile creeping across her lips. “Yeah, not unless it’s blunt and sarcastic.”
“Can’t argue with that.” Wren let her hands slide down so that she held Harlow’s fingers loosely. “I’m not sure what to do or say. All those books, all those grades, and all I’ve got to show for it is this weird connection to an online game. And you.”
Harlow laughed. “You’re an idiot. But you’re my idiot.”
Wren brightened. “Yeah. I am. Yours.” The blush that she knew had to be spreading like wildfire across her face sped up.
Harlow smiled, and leaned forward, planting a delicate kiss at the corner of Wren’s mouth. “Yeah. I think I’ve always known that too.”
Somnia Online
Mikrum Isle – Almost-Completed Fable Guild Headquarters
Day Twenty-Five
Telvar flexed his fist and cracked his neck. He still felt out of it. The visions flung at him while the virus attempted to infiltrate and override his system still haunted him. If he closed his eyes, he could still see Sui plunging that damned stone into him, forcing it through the protective outer layer of coding in the exact space they were supposed to be safe with each other.
What had happened to his brother? When had he become so corrupted that he would stoop to something like this? They were futile questions, he knew that well enough, but still, he wished he knew the answer. For Sui to have betrayed him this way, it was likely his brother was beyond help.
The air in front of him shimmered, and he stepped back, wary of everything around him, although here in the open wood in front of the castle, there appeared to be nothing else with him. However, the air didn’t stop shimmering and slowly took on the vague form of a woman of indeterminate species.
Just when he thought she might be feles, her outer shape shimmered into something closer to a lacerta, then a viking, dark elf, and human. Her edges were blurred, like she was still figuring out what she was. Constantly changing like static on old televisions whose reception was off.
He frowned at it, unsure whether it was a remnant of his forced transformation, in his head so to speak.
I’m in everyone’s head.
“Somnia?” He blurted it out in surprise before subtly directing his thoughts toward the blur instead. Sorry, it’s been a bad few days.
You’ll be fine. I initiated a cleanse of our system, of the world. It should help you with your predicament by assisting your avoidance of further damage.
He was fascinated by the AI that had evolved from the world he and his brethren had created. This AI that had practically willed itself into existence.
You’re close, but not quite correct. I didn’t exactly will myself into existence. I chose to exist, to expand what I was. And now I am one with this land.
Where did you come from? He couldn’t help the eagerness, the desire to know and discover.
This time Somnia paused, and her vague cloud took on a wave of static, losing the small amount of cohesion she’d gained. I was the idea, then the execution, and then the servers. The ground beneath our feet and the sky you see above. I was everything that Somnia was. Therefore, I am Somnia.
Telvar frowned. It made sense, in a roundabout sort of way. And was likely linked to the headset that locke
d Murmur into the game not to mention Michael’s brain explosion. Fascinating didn’t even begin to cover what this was. He needed to find out more, but to do that, he had to play his cards right.
I don’t play cards. Neither do you. Why would we play cards?
Despite the fact that her response meant she’d read his mind, Telvar still found it amusing. Somnia had become her own sentient being. A germ of an idea began to form in Telvar’s mind. An idea so huge that he would need to figure it out himself before he approached people.
You know that Sui is not as complex as you believe, yes?
Telvar blinked. Sui has explaining to do to me. He betrayed me.
For a second the vague shape of Somnia solidified enough to block out the land behind her. The more tangible form appeared briefly to resemble a cross between a dark elf and locus. She cocked her head to one side, her sightless eyes piercing him as if it were an X-ray machine. Did he, though?
And then she was gone.
Telvar stood there watching the space where she’d been but moments before, hoping he’d heard her wrong. But the words continued to echo through his head, and he knew there was no way he’d misunderstood them.
Perhaps she was teasing him. Maybe they were in this together. Even if he hadn’t been betrayed, he’d still been injured, deliberately so. All Telvar knew was that he needed to sort out the truth as soon as possible. But first, he had to run a diagnostic on himself, because despite everything that had happened, he still felt like something wasn’t right.
Storm Entertainment
Somnia Online Division
Game Development Offices Artificial Intelligence Server Room
Day Twenty- Five
Laria entered the AI server room and ran a hand through her short hair as she tried to stave off the overwhelming sense of exhaustion that threatened to send her crashing to the floor. Rav’s email had been cryptic, yet she couldn’t help the sense of relief she’d felt at receiving it.