by K. T. Hanna
A black aura surrounded him, like it was a part of him, as if he were made out of it. Clouds of darkness billowed around him, and his grin reminded her of a macabre clown. Even Leeroy was raised far above the necromancer’s head, slowly turning in circles, beckoning with his scythe as the clouds began to gather with renewed energy.
And still the ghouls came. Riasli’s screams tore through the fascination with their movements. There was a peaceful look on the faces of those undead, as if they were finally coming home and being laid to rest.
“No! You can’t do this! I sacrificed so much to gain access to this ability.” Riasli was almost weeping by now.
Left alone in the middle of the battlefield, with blood and dirt intermingling on her grotesquely transformed body, she reached out with a clawed hand for her minions as they closed in around Havoc. Even the last of the warriors had begun to turn their backs on her and wander aimlessly away.
The necromancer was still muttering the spell—or the curse—under his breath. Murmur wasn’t close enough to figure out exactly what it was he was saying. But he was bringing peace to these poor souls. Well, these poor pixel-generated souls that still somehow seemed real.
The game was a game. She had to remember that. Especially now she could log out.
But is it really a game? Or is it, perhaps, turning into an actual world? What am I if not aware?
The thoughts weren’t hers, nor was it one forced upon her. Instead, it was a legitimate question that she didn’t know how to answer.
Finally, all of the undead reached Havoc’s rock. They shuffled, limped, and gathered around, their eyes staring up at him, like they were begging him for something, for anything.
Havoc smiled, and the expression was the saddest one Murmur had ever seen. Especially on Havoc. Deep down, despite his sometimes gruffness, she knew he was gentle and caring. Even in a game where he commanded the undead, he didn’t roleplay the evil side of it.
No, he glanced at each of the undead in front of him. And then he turned in a slow circle, carefully perched upon his rock, and swept his arms wide.
Above him, Leeroy did the same with his scythe. The clouds spread, reaching down to envelop the monsters Riasli had torn from their graves, or risen from a pile, or however she’d managed to gather so many.
Her screams blended into the windy background, a discordant key, making the scene appear all the more poignant.
Havoc chanted under his breath. The words bled together until they were indistinguishable and flowed into one piece of song. Suddenly he clapped his hands. And every single undead disappeared, leaving only the bewildered feles soldiers behind with their angry, broken leader.
“What do we do with her?” Asked Veranol, his voice dubious.
Murmur shrugged, her eyes still riveted on Havoc. He was surrounded by a circle of the undead. Well, it was more accurate to say the dead, undead, or the re-dead undead. She was confusing herself. He’d wrested control away from Riasli and let those creatures rest in peace. They’d splayed out around him, like a halo of mercy.
“I don’t know. Take her to the dungeon?” Murmur raised an eyebrow, never having had a prisoner before. Most games didn’t pull that shit. But this one…
“Maybe see if we can interrogate her?” Jinna spoke up, his eyes gleaming.
“I take it you volunteer to see if we can?” Beastial sounded bemused. “No offense, but she’s just an NPC.”
Sinister laughed. “What? She is most definitely not just anything. She raised an army of undead, which I believe included player corpses, and feles with whatever manipulation abilities she’s gained and somehow got them to our island to stage a full-on assault. Not only that, she managed to completely hide them from our senses until they were almost on top of us.”
The blood-mage whirled around, gesturing to the island as a whole. “This wasn’t a quest. This wasn’t a triggered thing. No, this was a freaking computer AI deciding to go rogue and attack us because of who knows what.”
Beastial looked at her, a frown on his face. He opened his mouth a couple of times to comment, to say something, but closed it again and then shook his head. “You’ve got a point. But I also wasn’t expecting a battle a couple of hours long as soon as I logged in.”
“None of us were.” Havoc surprised Mur by speaking close to her side. He’d descended from his rock, and he looked tired.
“You okay?” She watched the way he moved. Like his limbs were heavy.
“Yeah. That just took more out of me than I thought it would. It requires bones and an extraordinary amount of power to cast it. All of which leeches from my health pool. So thanks to Sin and Ver for keeping me alive.”
Murmur kept glancing back to where Telvar had been. That huge, hulking dragon had been such a tiny memory from what seemed like so many levels ago. Before she knew the truth, before she died, and before things started to turn crazy.
Telvar had reverted back to his lacerta form and was dusting off his jacket as he approached the group. “Seems the leveling up of the guild and the castle really helped my powers.”
His grin showed sharp teeth and an excitement she’d not seen from him for a long time.
“Where is the instigator?” he asked before Murmur could say anything.
“Taken to the dungeon. She’s barely conscious and has used way too much power. At least we think she has. Neva is picking up the pieces, repairing armor and weapons.” Murmur cracked her neck, suddenly feeling bone weary. Maybe a third of a day out of game hadn’t been enough after all. “I’ll walk over with you if you’re going to interrogate Riasli.”
Telvar nodded, and they headed over to armory with most of the group in tow. He sighed.
“Why are you sighing? You just turned into a huge fire breathing dragon and took out a heap of evil minions. You should be happy.” Murmur muttered the words as she walked, still feeling like she hadn’t done much at all. Although she was happy that Havoc got to show off a mega new skill, she still felt somewhat restless. Like she should have done more, should have defeated Riasli herself. But that level of power…
“My transformation wasn’t natural. I had to force it. She needs to be wiped. Her programing has been infected with something I can’t seem to access. Nor can I seem to make any improvements from where I am. I don’t know how to fix her.” His eyes were shadowed, and his self-recrimination was all too familiar to the enchanter.
“Maybe. Glitches might not be welcome, but they do happen. It’s technology. I mean, it happens all the time.” She tried to soothe him, but even while she spoke, she knew the words wouldn’t work. It wasn’t that they weren’t true, it was that they were. And this was Somnia, and those things shouldn’t happen.
“No, you’re not understanding me. Riasli is an infection. The getashi has corrupted her core system. But she was such a good NPC once.” He shook his head, refusing to look at Murmur. “She was an NPC with purpose, with a design. I never realized the shards could have infected one of them. I thought only the bosses were susceptible.”
Murmur sort of got it. After all, wasn’t it like getting rid of a part of himself if he had to terminate Riasli? Wasn’t she born of the AIs because she was one? It was all so confusing.
“Infected? I didn’t realize it was possible to infect an AI.” Thoughts bombarded each other in her head, vying for attention. This left so much more of the world vulnerable. So much less was certain.
“Not necessarily.” Telvar bowed his head. “We didn’t even realize it was possible until it happened. It’s not something we want to advertise.”
She watched him for a few moments, noticing the way his eyes grew distant and how colors flickered through them like he was flipping through a series of photos. Strange though it was, she knew he was communicating with the others.
Riasli was going to have to wait; Murmur had too much else on her plate. Like how the dam
ned enchanter had managed to summon the undead. Havoc’s own gaze held an element of haunting in it that hadn’t been there prior to this battle. Murmur wanted to approach him but was hesitant about bringing it up. Sinister nudged her with an elbow.
“You look far too serious for someone who found out she can die in-game and not in the real world. And who can log out. So spill. Things are mostly looking up. What gives?” Her dark eyes bled into deep red, matching Sinister’s outfit. Whether a conscious choice or coincidence, the blood mage looked amazing.
Mur sighed. “Putting aside the whole, our island just got invaded by a magically invisible force and we have no idea how this character managed it, there’s the whole thing about this being a game. Of course we can exit it; that’s what it was built to allow. But there’s this part of me that doesn’t want to, that feels attached. A part of it came with me, and I can’t help shaking the feeling that in particular means a whole slew of things I haven’t considered yet. Somnia is always there, not just when we power it up, and it’s not just gone when we disappear. It’s always here, these people are always fighting, living…”
“That’s what a game is.” Sinister laid her hand gently on Murmur’s arm, her large eyes beseeching, gentle in their look. “It’s a world that we’re unconnected to unless we choose to be.”
Murmur shook her head. “No. It’s not. It lives, it breathes, and when I’m out of the game, it’s still with me. You were there. You saw. You can’t deny what it did, what I can do even out of the game.”
Sinister drew her hand back hesitantly, a look of confusion taking over her previous certainty. “I know what I think I saw.”
“Don’t pull that shit, Sin,” Mur snapped and then bit her lip, because if it hadn’t happened to herself, she knew she’d be skeptical despite everything too. “Sorry. But you know as well as I do what I did. What we saw. You can’t deny that shit. Or you can, but you’re only lying to yourself and to me. And I know we both hate that shit.”
Sinister laughed, the tension draining from her shoulders. “Perhaps. You can’t blame me for wanting to wish all this weird shit wasn’t happening around us. I just want to play and have fun. Be strong and kill shit that respawns so everyone else can have at it.”
“Don’t we all?” Havoc stood beside them, gazing out at the battlefield and the soldiers that sat in the middle of it. Confusion permeated the whole area, like the feles minions Riasli had taken with her didn’t understand how they’d got where they were, or who they were, or anything. Now that she wasn’t in control of them anymore, they posed little threat and instead wandered back and forth across the battlefield.
He gestured out at them, at their quagmired island. “This is far too realistic. It’s not where I thought we’d end up once we’d finally got you out of the game.”
Murmur tried to shrug off the cold that crept into her bones through the soles of her feet. He was right. Somnia wasn’t anything like the game she’d thought they’d be playing. If she were wise, she would try and walk away from it. But the thing was—she was about one hundred and fifty percent sure that was something she couldn’t do.
Laria: Wren, love?
Mom?
Murmur wasn’t sure why her mother was contacting her, but a thousand bad things popped through her head.
Laria: I need you to log out. We need to get some readings from your headset.
Murmur frowned as she watched her guild still in the aftermath of battle, picking up the pieces. I’m really kind of busy.
Laria: This can’t wait. They’ll be fine without you. The sooner you get out, the sooner you get back in.
Fine. Her mother better keep her word. She’d already taken way more time off from the game than she’d wanted to. But what did she know? For all she knew, the headset might even save the world.
Somnia Online
Hightower Castle
Version - Triggered 8.207 by Guild - Spiral
Day Twenty
Karn flipped a coin. Heads again. It wasn’t one sided. She really hated feeling like she had no choice in the matter. But apparently it was better to just clear a continent. Not that she disagreed with Risk, but she really wanted to hunt down Jirald and beat the crap out of him. Rogue style of course.
Grudgingly though she could see the guild leader’s point. Beat the whole guild in the race to clear the dungeons, instead of just one person. Fable wasn’t even that far ahead of them. If they played their cards right, they should be able to catch up to them too.
And she knew they’d be able to conquer the ruins.
So what was it that ate at her nerves so much? What was it bothering her so deep down?
“You assumed you were the best rogue. You’re not. You hate it. You’ve always hated not being the best.” Risk stood beside her, and she managed to swallow a gasp of shock having not heard him creep up on her.
Risk laughed at her lack of an answer. “Wow, you really are on edge right now. We need to meet more rogues who kick your butt. I’ve never seen you this motivated to improve.”
Karn scowled at him. “Fine. Whatever. But I’ll get that good. I’ll beat him sooner than later.”
“Maybe.” Risk frowned, and it was a thoughtful expression, not one filled with his usual anger. “I’d prefer you just remain the way you are. Eventually you’ll overpower him through skill and guile. It’s better than giving into whatever he had to in order to obtain that skill.” He sounded wiser than usual, and it made Karn take a step back and reevaluate.
“You really think so?” She needed to know if he was just kidding, or if he believed what he said. The game had slotted her into her usual class, but she knew that actions and mindset were a portion of what made the system allocate hidden powers.
Risk shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t think that ability was really intended in the first place. Not that I know for sure. But this system doesn’t seem to do anything randomly. Everything is a result of how you conduct yourself in this game.”
She grimaced. After all, she knew he was right because he’d received a couple of very odd abilities after overpowering other guilds. There was no doubt he was right, and he’d been more cautious after gaining those abilities, but that didn’t negate the fact that Jirald had a totally overpowered skill that made it nigh impossible to kill him. Unless of course, he got stunned. Karn through it over, thought through what she could do to undo him and ended up grinning.
Didn’t he have a running rivalry with an enchanter? Couldn’t enchanters stun? It might be difficult to redo her hybrid class choice, but if she could get an AoE instant stun, it would be more than worth it. Now all she had to figure out was if she could, how the class adapted to a rogue.
“You look like you’ve had an idea. I’m not sure I like that look on your face.” Risk crossed his arms and looked at her, with that see-right-through-you look.
Karn shrugged but grinned widely. “Shut up, Dad. We still have to finish this last boss. Let’s snap to it. We haven’t got all day.” And she left him standing there to join the rest of the guild who were ready to move on.
She could hear him chuckling behind her. It meant he knew she had a plan, and he’d support it regardless.
Summers Residence
Home of Laria, David, and Wren
Summer Condo
Day Twenty
Having her headset measured definitely didn’t improve Wren’s mood. Shayla not only took measurements of the actual headset, but also of Wren’s skull. Distances between nodes, elasticity of the band and more, she felt like a lab rat.
Sort of, anyway.
Wren watched them as they cast a mold of the headset. She didn’t understand why since it looked exactly the same as the one Harlow was wearing next to her on the bed. She couldn’t see any visible differences.
They popped it in some kind of clear device on a stand and closed the small door. A series
of light strikes ran through it, over it, around it. Testing parameters, gauging effectiveness. If they fried her headset, she’d be pissed.
Wren wanted to reach out and feel how that sort of power felt, but instead, she flexed her fingers, practicing casting intricate spell loops with one hand instead of two. While more difficult, it should free her up to cast two spells at the one time. Technically anyway. If she could get that whole coordination thing going.
She’d managed to refine some of her skills in the last sixty minutes. Making only her hand disappear and then just one finger at a time. It made her head ache slightly with the concentration it took to direct the power. And she couldn’t move for long and maintain it, so a future of master thievery probably wasn’t in her sights. Luckily her mother and Shayla weren’t paying much attention to her. She wasn’t sure how they’d react to her having brought some of the abilities into the real world with her.
Even her Thought Sensing net seemed to work. More to gauge the mood of the room with accuracy, but also to let her know if anyone had thoughts against her. Wren was tempted to suggest that they just keep looking away, that what she was experimenting with was normal.
Shayla frowned, and a buzz sounded from the container. She raised her eyebrows. “Fascinating.”
“What is?” Wren was curious just how the headset had managed to connect her to Somnia. After all, she now had a pretty permanent friend in her head and in-game powers at her fingertips.
“Just the way he constructed this. It’s the same, yet different. It accesses the same portions of the brain but on a deeper level. Allows the connection less interruption. Frankly…” Shayla paused, glancing at Wren as if seeing her for the first time since walking in. “Sorry. Just thinking out loud.”
Wren tsked under her breath. “Way to avoid shit, Shayla.”
Laria laughed. “You have to finish the thought now. She’s not stupid. Though she hasn’t been eating well, so maybe she’s not thinking clearly.”