A World Called Memory

by M J Sweeney

  “I’m also not much of a healer, nor am I planning to shake the world with my amazing healing powers. But… since being in this world, I have felt something new, something exciting taking me over. The healing gift is amazing. It feels great to receive it, and it’s even more amazing giving it. The other day, when I managed to save that scout’s life… well. And even the little things—helping the villagers cure their warts and flatulence and all that stuff. This world is my second chance, and I really don’t want to screw it up. I’m just really grateful to you for giving me that chance. So, this is just my way of saying thanks.” I played the lute a bit more and couldn’t help but feel a little… something. Energy, perhaps; some God speaking to me, maybe?

  I started to walk off when I heard some light laughter, perhaps female, coming from behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw no one.

  What the—? Then I saw Priestess I’Daon and the gardener Cuffad coming down the hill to meet me. Looking around suspiciously once more, I awaited their approach.

  Today the priestess was wearing all black—black pants and a black collared shirt. I didn’t think that was usual for an elf, but with her dark hair and blue eyes, it certainly suited her. Once again, I did my best to keep my eyes on her face and not drift too far south.

  “Greetings of the day,” I said.

  “Greetings,” they both replied.

  “I’ll be leaving on the morrow,” I began.

  “I see,” said the Priestess.

  “So firstly, I wanted to thank you for your help. I needed it.”

  “It was my pleasure. I think my thanks are also due. You have helped a number of the townsfolk, for little reward, and you have been honest and clear in your dealings with everyone who has talked of you, even little Maximus, who is known to be hard to please.” Her blue eyes twinkled, finding that amusing.

  “Just doing my job.”

  “And doing it well, I would say.”

  “All right, thanks for that, too. I appreciate it. There is one thing…”

  “Yes?”

  “Can you mark the location of the ruins on my map? I will be going there next to see what it looks like, then perhaps gathering a small team together to explore.”

  “Yes, this is no problem; I should have done it earlier. Oh, and before I forget, I will need to give you a holy symbol to get in the front door. The ruins are guarded by more than the undead. They are sealed, but this will allow you entrance.” She pulled a holy symbol from her pocket similar to the one around her neck—a circular metal piece with three stars engraved. “This is from Cylvai, blessed by her High Priestess, my superior. Just say the Goddess’s name and the door will open.”

  I took it, holding it gingerly. “Should I put it in my pocket or wear it?” I asked.

  “As you like. You can also wear more than one symbol at a time; you are unlikely to be struck by lightning.” She smiled. “It’s all about focusing your intent, and the will of the Divine, not the symbol itself.”

  I nodded and put it in my potion belt. I was new at this priest business and felt a little cautious. I fiddled with the side pocket of my pack and pulled out the map I had from Maximus and a charcoal pencil. We smoothed it out on the grass, and she carefully marked the place.

  “Okay, that’s it then. I will return when I have something to report.” I grinned at her.

  “I hope so, Cordaen of-the-Forest; I surely hope so,” she replied.

  “Thanks also, Cuffad. See you later at the tavern for a drink?”

  “Most like, Master Cordaen, most like.”

  As I walked off, back past the statues, I noticed something different. Two of the statues had changed somehow. Anthul’s staff had been transformed into an animal horn, which he was holding to his lips, and a harp had appeared in his other hand. A harp with one golden string.

  The dress on the statue of Seti had also changed, now dotted with little yellow flowers, and the flowers she once held had been transformed into some kind of medallion with a gemstone. They still looked like stone… I glanced back up at the priestess and gardener, but they had walked off. Shouldering my light pack, I continued on my way.

  Chapter 11

  /www.aworldcalledmemory.com/maps/

  I made good time as I headed east. I had to use the compass frequently, but found that good practice for reading my maps and gauging the contours of the land. Initially I stayed to the roads, as I didn’t feel the need to encourage encounters of a more violent nature. All of the equipment I had accumulated (despite my Bag of Holding), particularly the weight of weapons and armour, took a bit of getting used to. I could still walk at a fair pace, and running was easy enough, but sprinting was a chore. I made much better time sticking to the road.

  The main blessing was the relative weightlessness of water, food, and medicines—typically the heaviest items overall—now reduced down to ten percent. A walk in the park, as they say.

  I rather enjoyed camping and stargazing, and so improved on my solo cooking skills with some initial reluctance. I didn’t think I was ever going to make a great cook (I did burn things from time to time), and I wasn’t that brave with experimentation. I didn’t want to poison myself, after all. But I did use some of Drognad’s spices—gnomish food had grown on me more than a little.

  I passed some patrols on the Northern road, and some merchants and farmers and families. I wouldn’t call it busy, exactly, but there was definitely traffic. After five days of that, I had to leave the roads to head into the deeper woods. The going became slower, but still I made good time. The only thing that slowed me down was when it started raining on the third day in the woods.

  Although my elf-cloak was mostly waterproof, I still got wet anyway due to my pack and puddles and a whole lot of other factors. But I slogged on. Although the short month of monsoon had already passed and autumn was halfway done, it rained fat and heavy—slightly out of season weather. Fortunately, it only lasted for a few hours each day. It was then that I discovered the purpose of my socks. Although I got wet, and felt a bit miserable slogging through the mud, I didn’t get cold. I stayed warm no matter how ridiculous it got, and I could feel my socks pulsing with heat to warm me up, particularly at night, when I built a big campfire to dry off my wet clothes from the day. The socks also never got wet, so my feet never got any blisters, rot, or other hideous things, like foot fungus. I was quite pleased with myself.

  Still wet and bedraggled, I nearly stumbled into the ruins headfirst due to limited visibility. The area wasn’t too hard to find; the ruins seemed to cover a fairly large bit of land. I was on an old trade road that headed up to a pass through the mountains to goblin lands, but looked to have been abandoned for some years. It looked like little else was of interest here, other than the general forest and a few decent streams for water supply. I had noted some wild boar and geese foraging by a nice-looking lake which I passed by earlier, which posed some possibilities for hunting and camping.

  The ruins were set back from the road into a small hill, a series of semi-circular stone walls ringing the entrance. Much of the grey sandstone walls had crumbled, but some were still intact, giving the appearance of age and majesty. I couldn’t see much detail, but I decided to back off a little and explore some of the surroundings first.

  I climbed a few of the highest trees and ventured partway up the trade road. To the east were the mountains. The path quickly grew narrow there, so I didn’t venture too far that way. To the north were more hills behind the ruins, and sparse forest. To the immediate west was a small lake I had already passed, deeper forest after that, and more forest to the south. As the rain had decided to ease off again and a bit of warm sunshine poked through, I decided to put my pack in a tree—a large oak, set back away from the ruins. Carefully, I ventured a little closer to inspect the old structure.

  I took my spear and cloak with knives, despite the fact that it was a bit heavy with water. The first ring of sandstone walls circling the ruins was a bit lower than each ring after,
so I could see there were three rings and a set of hills behind. But I couldn’t see the final gateway from here, as the other archways were staggered to ensure that any attacking troops would have a hard time of it. The hill that it butted into looked to be about three hundred or four hundred metres away, and rose up into dense forest above.

  Through the middle of the first ring of sandstone, there was also an avenue of sorts with broken stone blocks littering the way, and a large and broken stone archway at the first junction. The main road or path through the ruins was a darker type of stone, but had also decayed with time. A number of pot-holes, some quite large, dotted its surface. It would make navigating the avenue quite tricky and possibly dangerous. This main avenue also curved around to each inner archway, winding like a snake, I couldn’t fully see where it went. There was also ivy and other creepers growing up the first set of walls on the outside, and hanging by the ruins’ underground entrance. But in between there were very few plants or weeds within the inner perimeter. Life and the corruption of undeath didn’t seem to go together.

  As I approached the first archway, to the first stone perimeter, I started to get goosebumps up my arm and a bit of a chill. As I was wearing my socks, I realised it wasn’t a cold weather kind of chill, but rather a creepy, oh-shit kind of chill. The leaves at my elbows were also twitching, as they were wont to do at the first hint of danger. I fiddled with my potion belt a moment, pulled out the holy symbol of Cylvai, and put it around my neck, next to the compass. It felt comforting somehow.

  Then, the first walking undead saw me and clacked its jaw. It was a skeleton with a pointy old helmet atop its skull, holding a rusty broadsword. It pointed the sword, its bottom jaw waggling insanely, and charged.

  Oh, shit! I widened my stance a little, noticing the thing was quite fast. Minimal air resistance, I guess, right through those ribs. I reversed the grip on my staff and quickly stepped to the side, striking with the butt and an added “Hai!” Holy Smite.

  A silver flash of light erupted in a small sphere around its side ribs, which were now caved in. But that didn’t stop it. It kept swinging its sword with abandon and clacking its jaw. I swung the spear-head around in a tight arc and deflected its first downward slash, then stepped back, activating Frenzy and Breath of Life in quick succession. It felt good. Frenzy gave a strong hit of adrenaline, and the heal spell sent warm, addictive tingles coursing throughout my body.

  It slashed at me with some rapid strikes of its own, so I kept sidestepping and dodging out of its way. One strike sliced through and scored my leather, causing me to jump a little. I waited a bit more, defending myself, until I saw its bony arm go back a little wider than normal for a backhand slash, so I v-stepped around its guard and yelled “Hai!” once again, activating Holy Smite and cutting through its arm and up into its face. Crunch. There was a silver flash and it went limp, the bones falling down in a pile. Tough little bugger. Relentless, but maybe not that smart.

  I backed off a little more. It was hard to see if there were more undead; the cloudy weather and sandstone made good camouflage for them. Then Frenzy expired and I started gasping like a fish out of water. Damn, that fatigue wasn’t nice. I panted for a moment, hands on my knees. I’d have to be careful with that when I timed its use. Slowly, I got my breath back.

  Rather than going up the main avenue, I decided to scout around the outer ring—the footing there seemed more stable. It didn’t take me long. Yes, there were more skeletons. I counted at least twenty in this first ring, maybe more, but I didn’t seem to alert them from out here. Hmm. What to do?

  I accessed my interface and logged on. Ruins of Eragdas Alfar. Strangely enough, there was nothing under the ‘Lore of Bel-Afron’ in the normal interface, nor anything on the forums either. Bel-Afron was the continent I was on, Memory was the planet. Curious. I typed in ‘Undead Ruins on the border between Geras Anandiel and Bolgas Dizzini.’ This got a few entries. All were dated from two to three years ago. A few adventurers had posts asking how to gain entry to the ruins, but with no answer. A couple of entries talked of the interior.

  The only semi-detailed entry read: “Outer, upper ruins include guardsmen, archers, and sergeants (risen elves). Inner ruins were mostly abandoned, as long as you didn’t try to steal the silverware. Some interior fights can be tough without a priest or rogue, particularly mini-bosses, boss fight at the end was incomplete.” I didn’t know what that last meant, but was fairly keen to find out. It probably meant no one had properly delved the place.

  The only other entry simply said, “Don’t try to steal anything from inside, other than the loot from the mini-bosses.” Curiouser and curiouser.

  Walking over to the front again, I had a look at the de-animated skeleton, then picked up its sword. It was rusty, but might be worth something. I dropped it by my pack at the foot of the oak tree. Not yet willing to quit for the day, I approached from the side of the outer rim this time, trying to pick a moment where I could attract and kill one skeleton at a time.

  Well, you know the joke: Wanna make God laugh? Tell him your plans. The first skeleton saw me and ran madly at me without hesitation, and then suddenly I had three of them on me. My heart in my mouth, I dive-rolled to the side, under the first wild swing. That put me further away from more of the creatures. The other two were still running at me, so I got myself on the other side of a large boulder, using the terrain as best I could. I also didn’t want to get backed up into a stone wall where they could pin me down. I activated Breath of Life and Frenzy in rapid order.

  Gripping my spear tightly, I took a wide stance and lashed out with the haft as the nearest approached, having to come around the rock. I connected with its lower leg, causing it to stumble, so I hit it again with the spear-head, a tight controlled arc into its torso. As it was all bones, it didn’t do so much other than spreading some ribs apart, minor damage only. The other two kept coming, so I kept dancing around the boulder, keeping at least one of them off me, and either jumping over the rock or sidestepping out of the way. They were fairly fast, but fortunately I was faster. I had to use everything I had; my spells, my footwork and everything Allih had taught me.

  When the first one went down, I almost cheered, but that moment of inattention cost me; the second one slashed into my upper leg, not penetrating the amour, but causing some bad damage. Hopping a little out of the way, I found I could still move, if with a bit of a limp. Frenzy was also about to wind down, so I used most of my remaining mana in a few Holy Smites, and ground down the next. I took a few more blows to my torso, more bruising and damage that made me gasp and wheeze. I was down on 30% health when the next one died, and then Frenzy expired.

  The last one held a shield, and after a brief flurry where I took some more damage, I managed to use my spear to trap its sword briefly. Then, with my superior weight, I shoulder charged the thing. It abruptly flipped on its back, so I half knelt, half fell on top of its shield and, with a crunch and pop, broke its shield arm in the process. I smashed down my spear-haft on its head. Finally it collapsed, deanimated. I was down on 15% health! Too close! I activated Breath of Life again, as the first had just expired. Catching my breath from fatigue, and on no mana and stamina, I staggered off a ways to rest for a little.

  After a drink of water, some twenty minutes later I crept in once more, but with no luck. Another skeleton stood there clacking its jaw, and two more came running up to it, as if called. The first one raised its sword, and the two behind pointed their swords with a bit of obligatory jaw-clacking and also set themselves to run at me. I turned, ducked, and ran. I felt a swish as a blade passed over my head. Fortunately, it had to set itself to strike, so I got a head start. Luckily, I was again faster, even without Frenzy running. I quickly gained distance as all three gave chase. I had a tricky moment as I almost tripped on my ass sliding on one muddy piece of sandstone. Once I got to the road, they turned as one and ran back to the ruins.

  Damn. That was close. I didn’t want to keep fighting three
at a time, particularly when the ground underfoot was so varied and treacherous. Sooner or later I’d make a mistake, or get unlucky, and that would be stupid.

  I looked at the crumbling walls and thought a moment. There were no undead elf archers that I could see, at least not yet. Creeping over to the outer rim, I climbed up on one section of sandstone wall that was relatively undamaged, using some of the tenacious ivy for purchase. It was a little crumbled at the top, but looked easy enough to stand on. This block was about two metres high, so as long as I stood back a little…

  The moment my head popped up in view, about four skeletons ran up and started flailing at the top of the wall, sparks flying from their swords. They didn’t attempt to climb; they just flailed and clacked their jaws and glared at me. Quickly, I got my feet and legs out of the way, recalling Allih’s advice. With a firm grip on my staff, I made a huge sweeping swing with the haft and smashed a skeleton. Its head caved and it crumpled. The others just continued to flail away, so I kept swinging. A little bit of footwork and dexterity required, but it was like catching fish in a barrel, as they say. The four went down easily enough.

  There were more skeletons in the distance around the curve of the wall, so I picked up a sandstone rock and threw it as hard as I could. That got some attention. A few more came running. I did the same for them, and partway through the dismemberment, I heard a fanfare. Great! Level 9. After checking my stats, I added one more point to vitality, making sure I was sitting still. It was great feeling these changes to my body and mind. That slow yet steady sense of improvement did wonders for one’s confidence.