Distortion (Somnia Online Book 5)

by K. T. Hanna

  Sinister doubled over, and Murmur could see her red robes suddenly looking wet around her middle section. Despite the pain in her own chest, Murmur made her way to her friend, whose pain shone like a beacon of distress. She could feel the others in the raid taking their own beatings.

  Dansyn fell to the ground, unable to dodge another flung projectile even with his fleet feet. Havoc yelled out as he was struck by what appeared to be a blunt object.

  “Damn it!” The necromancer was pissed, Murmur could see it, but her concern for Sinister outweighed everything else.

  Even though she threw a Soothe onto Noichu, it did nothing. Not that Murmur had expected it to, considering it was supposed to be used out of combat, but it was all she could think of.

  As Murmur reached Sinister’s side, Dansyn pushed himself up, mostly healed now, and began a new song. This one wormed its way inside Murmur’s head too, calming her down and bringing her back from the edge of panic.

  And it had much the same effect on Noichu.

  Her rampaging stopped, and it took a while, but her eyes slowly cleared and the hatred that suffused her expression, the suffering, it all leaked away.

  Everyone calmed down, the soothing strains of a melody just out of reach for Murmur to define. It calmed her even more so because it let her know that what she sometimes did to her friends, the system technically had covered by bards. Making people feel better was a good thing.

  Even Snowy seemed at ease. His muzzle grinned, and his tongue lolled out, saliva dripping onto the ground.

  “Oh, my hell,” Sinister gasped, her hand around her waist like she was hugging herself. She leaned against Murmur, who cradled her gently. “That was not fun. Aren’t games supposed to be fun?”

  “Where have you been the last three weeks?” Mellow muttered.

  Maybe it was meant to be a joke, but it didn’t feel like one. While it could be fun, some of their quests felt so serious, so vital, that one wrong move would plunge the whole game world into nothingness.

  It was a heavy burden to bear.

  Noichu glowed, and her size shrank down to only slightly larger than normal gnome size. Her dress refreshed, no longer caked in blood and dirt. Her blue eyes shone in the dark corridor like a thousand tiny stars clustered together. Unshed tears only made them glisten more. “Thank you. My family thanks you.”

  A series of dings echoed throughout the huge corridor, and Murmur was relieved to see herself a portion of the way into forty-seven. She was so grateful that Sinister had reminded them all how much of their experience came from dungeons.

  Murmur turned her attention immediately back to Noichu and wanted to ask if it wasn’t her family who’d done this in the first place, but she didn’t have the heart. Also, she was fairly sure the NPC meant her little family of three.

  “Please come with me. Erichu needs to know he isn’t alone.”

  Her words prompted a quest for all of them, if their unfocused gazes were anything to go by. Murmur could dig that. Raid quests were fine. Sinister had probably caught the quest up to this juncture, or else it was a new one for her also. She had to be getting a heap of experience from these quests they kept helping her finish.

  It was why Murmur was usually the first to ding. She’d had so many quests along the way. And relatively fewer deaths because headset.

  Speaking of her head, she tried to will away the headache that was gradually growing in hers.

  Fully buffed, she grabbed Sinister’s hand and pulled the blood-mage with her. “Come on, let’s go rescue this kid.”

  Sinister grinned and looped her hand around Murmur’s waist. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Somnia Online

  Continent of Tarishna - Hazenthorne Castle Version 36.259

  Activated by Guild: Exodus

  Day Twenty-Four

  Jirald scowled, even if he didn’t feel that angry. The courtyard in front of Hazenthorne was where it all started. For this game, anyway. She’d booted him away with some overpowered ability and condemned him to a death loop. Murmur still had to pay for that, but now there were so many ways to draw that out and make it enjoyable.

  He shook his head briefly. Didn’t he just want to pay her back? Surely drawing it out served no real purpose. Still. The shard in his hand felt smooth. He was glad he hadn’t given all of them to Belius when he came calling. He’d forked over a few, gained the extra experience, and kept a couple to absorb for himself. They spoke to him, after all, in his mind in quiet whispers.

  He quite preferred the company of his own thoughts and these whispers over the annoying inadequacy most people presented. Or the fake friendliness they tried to peddle. He wanted to surround himself with competent gamers, people who could and would do what it took to reach the endgame. People like Masha, and Ishwa, and himself. But the guild didn’t focus its recruiting efforts quite like that.

  The voices in his head almost sang to him. Of how they would hold power over everything in the game. Was it still a game? He couldn’t even tell anymore, uncertain when the last time he’d logged out had been. His father was away on a business trip, and his classes had paused for the summer.

  Somnia was his world right now. His eating, breathing, existing world.

  But what about her? What about them? Don’t you want what they have?

  He twitched, the noise in his head making more sense than he’d like to admit. He wanted everything they had. Not only Fable, but Murmur too. Even Spiral. They didn’t deserve it any more than he did. He’d been hampered by second rate players who didn’t have his back.

  The twitch hit again, and he caught a glimpse of the friends he’d made in his guild. Friends he’d had since he was a freshman in high school. He didn’t mean those, did he?

  The only saving grace was Masha, and perhaps Eslan. The voices whispered again, and Jirald began to formulate a plan in his mind as the raid group moved in from forming up in the foyer. Shadows gathered in places they shouldn’t have existed, and the whole ambience in the castle beckoned to him, coaxing him closer.

  Masha had always been his friend. Always trusted him more than anyone else did and never fought him when Jirald had been healing lead. He was under no illusion that the older player wouldn’t tell it to him like it was. Because he’d done so in the past.

  As far as things went, Masha was the only gamer Jirald cared about. It was his prerequisite for anything. Keeping Masha okay.

  Then what are you going to do?

  Jirald didn’t answer the voice yet. Not quite. His thoughts flit around a bit while he thought of and dismissed several options out of hand. It all came back to what he needed to do. Fable needed to vanish; it needed to fall apart.

  Whether he achieved that by besting them or he achieved that by insidiously picking them apart, it needed to be done.

  Of course, there was always the third option. Killing Murmur over and over so many times that she deleveled. And oh, how he wanted to do it. But he had to wait. He didn’t want to have all the fun at the beginning. Biding his time, he would strip away all her protections one after the other.

  Darkness flared around him, like the castle had taken offense to his plotting. But it quieted after he sliced a bat down the middle.

  The voice in his head smiled, and he flipped the last getashi he hadn’t given Sidius up in the air and swallowed it as it came down. That buzz spread through his body again, expanding his mind, and his perception, letting the freedom and strength in.

  It made his brain feel like it was ten times larger, able to understand and deal with abstract concepts. Time grew slower, and everything became clear. It wasn’t just a world.

  Somnia was a living breathing thing. And in one way or another, Jirald was going to conquer it.

  The dank smell of the tunnel only grew worse the further down they headed. Murmur’s head ached, and she was starting to feel ho
t. She was grateful for the dim light afforded to them by Noichu’s presence. The grünlich gnome walked on the other side of her, her head held high, and her perfect nose upturned. Her skin glowed faintly. At least the vessels underneath the skin did, anyway. It had a similar effect to the locus runes that lit up when abilities and spells were gained.

  “Thank you.” Noichu spoke softly so that only Murmur and Sinister could hear.

  Sinister squeezed Murmur’s arm, and the enchanter wasn’t sure if that was for her or Sinister more.

  “You’re welcome,” was all Murmur responded with. She’d never been comfortable accepting thanks for anything.

  Noichu chuckled and pulled something out of her pocket. “I must give this to you, for I believe it is the root of the evil in this world. It needs to be taken and destroyed, far from here. Infecting those it comes into contact with means this reality will not survive for long if we are not careful.”

  Murmur was glad she had her gloves on and accepted the getashi from the gnome. Immediately Noichu shone brighter, as if the dimmer had been turned back up to full.

  A flurry of thoughts descended through Murmur’s mind. If that was the effect on the NPCs of the world, why did it make Riasli so much stronger? There had to be something she was missing about the whole thing.

  “We are here.” The grünlich gnome stopped. Her face was filled with sorrow, even to the point that tears welled in her eyes.

  “He is in here. He is not himself. He has been harmed by the curse. While I can calm him and can distract him, you will need to cure him of what ails him.” Noichu bowed her head. “I only hope you can do this before he succumbs to the madness they’ve fostered inside him.”

  From the howls deep in the room they were about to enter, Murmur wanted to know if he hadn’t already given into it.

  “I ask that you try your best,” Noichu intoned, “so that my family might be reunited again.”

  She strode into the room, her arms high, and bright white light shone out of the gaps between her fingers, like a carousel. It spun around them, leaving sections in bright light and darkness alternating.

  “Good luck.” And then all of the mother’s concentration was on her light and on her child.

  Erichu threw his huge head back and roared in what sounded like a cry for help before he threw himself at who he saw as attackers.

  Help him.

  Murmur shook her head to clear Somnia out. She didn’t have the time for heart to hearts right then. She threw Nullify, Weakness, and Languidity at him immediately. They hit him in quick succession but barely seemed to slow his attack speed.

  He was on Devlish so fast, Murmur didn’t think she was seeing right. Each blow beat down on Devlish’s tower shield. Every successive one hit harder, so much that the final one forced Dev to his knees before the lacerta lurched up and used the weight of Erichu’s massive fist to throw the gnome off balance.

  Tantrum attacks increase in strength.

  Devlish eyed the words above his head. “Thanks for that.”

  The sarcasm was so strong Murmur could almost see it.

  The massive gnome stomped his feet and leaned down to pound his fists on the ground. In the process, he swatted Shir-Khan away like a fly, and Murmur watched as the surprise on Beastial’s face turned to anger.

  Dansyn began to play his soothing song, and Erichu finally fell out of the tantrum. At least his blows while not in meltdown were hard, but not impossible to field. He was attackable, and they could defend against him. Murmur didn’t like this whole trend of not killing opponents who seemed quite keen on killing her. It was so much easier when all they had to do was defeat them. But defeating whatever ailed something was a lot more difficult.

  Treating the cause and not the effect. She reassessed her desire to enter medicine. Maybe it was worth it after all. Watching their target, she inspected him in great detail while keeping up her debuffs.

  The trick to this fight had nothing to do with defeating him. It seemed that the trick was waiting out his ability to do mega damage and using the rest of the time to try and convince him they could be trusted.

  “Hasn’t he been killed already?” Jinna muttered, a tiredness underlying his voice that Murmur felt only too well.

  Noichu spoke, her voice regal with pride. “Not this incarnation, not in this room. So many versions of time, of choices. Not this version, and not this time.”

  It partially answered the question and seemed to mollify Jinna enough. Dansyn’s song helped, but Murmur could see the rage bar trying to rise again. What on earth could they do to make it go further back down the other way?

  She quickly leafed through her sinuous abilities trying to find something that would adapt for her. That she could maybe swing from being damaging to helpful. She’d already morphed more than one of her spells, why not this?

  Basic Visions

  Cast: Instant - 3 minute recast

  Type: Offensive

  Duration: 20 seconds, or 75% of the caster’s level, whichever is greater.

  Effect: You may create and insert a vision for the target to experience—it’s best to have some of these pre-prepared. This will cause them damage (caster’s level x 2 per tick), and distraction for the duration of the spell depending on what type of vision you’ve given them.

  She frowned, wondering if that was really a viable option. It would last around thirty-five seconds and end up costing around 1030 damage. His hitpoint pool was huge, so maybe…

  But she didn’t have a chance to continue mathing in her head as Erichu’s rage bar hit maximum again. She barely dodged one of his wildly flailing kicks. Havoc wasn’t so lucky as the side of the gnome’s foot caught the necromancer square in the chest and sent him flying. His health plummeted down to twenty percent and Veranol frantically healed him back up.

  “Try avoiding the damage. Sin can’t do too much healing without sabotaging the plan.” He sounded like he was half joking and half strained. Murmur could see the frustration on Sinister’s face.

  Erichu’s series of running kicks had no rhyme or reason that Murmur could see, but they were fast and difficult to prepare for. His legs were sturdy, and his arms were strong, and the tantrums reminded her of toddlers who were throwing a fit. Except more powerful and explicitly dangerous.

  Mellow was the next victim and flew so high and wide across the room with super speed that they crashed into the wall with sickening thuds of breaking bones. They slid down the wall, just a lump of flesh contained by the robe.

  Murmur really hoped they’d be okay and get back as soon as possible. She’d just realized Mellow probably had a potion they could use for this. In fact, it might even be something she needed. Sinister was casting, her target Mellow, and Murmur could only hope that the blood-mage didn’t need damage to cast the in-combat res.

  With the second tantrum over, Murmur wasn’t sure how much more of this they could take. Resurrections inside battles had timers, just like potions did. Considering the rest of the game did what it wanted, she wasn’t sure why it chose those.

  She turned her focus back to basic visions. Erichu had over fifteen thousand hit points. Her tiny one thousand damage wasn’t going to do much since he’d have built in regen. Except she didn’t think she’d be able to use it yet. His threat was too high, and his rage wouldn’t stop increasing and never fully depleted. She was fairly certain she couldn’t give him the vision she needed to if he wasn’t amenable to it.

  Anyone have any lulling, or aggro wipes?

  Veranol: I have a lullaby

  What does it do?

  There was no response from the defiler at first; he probably had to check. It’s a momentary calming mesmerize. Sort of. From what it sounds like, it’s like a memory blur and lull in one. It’s like brand new. I haven’t tried it yet.

  Duration? Murmur was trying not to let herself get excited, bu
t it sounded perfect.

  A quarter of my level, so almost twelve seconds.

  Thanks, Ver. That’s great.

  It was easier to just direct her thoughts over the guild chat. It didn’t alert the creature, and it was easy to multitask.

  You could just make him calm down, you know.

  That’s not working as intended, she answered, and wished she’d ignored the voice instead.

  But you could still do it. It’ll save time.

  Murmur couldn’t tell if that was Somnia or something else, but she impatiently pushed the words out of her mind while she readied her spell, directing her thoughts yet again to the guild chat.

  Ver, just as he finished his next tantrum and drains his rage almost completely, can you cast that lullaby?

  Sure.

  She looked over at the viking and saw the grim look of determination on his face. Now all they had to do was weather this next tantrum. It was so much easier to avoid special abilities when they could do damage to their target.

  Just one more round.

  It was never just anything.

  Though it was relatively easy to stave off the normal attacks Erichu threw at them, they still hit hard, and Murmur made sure to top off Veranol’s mana with Manabalize every time the two-minute timer came up. She needed him to have enough juice or whatever he needed when it came time to cast Lullaby.

  This tantrum though, this one took the cake. Erichu began twirling, like a flying crane kick or something, knocking over players and pets like they were bowling pins. Murmur caught the tail end of one and only avoided hitting a hard surface because Snowy caught up in time to cushion her fall.

  Dansyn. Be ready with your soothe song at the end of this tantrum.

  Murmur coughed as she pushed herself up, waiting on a reply from the bard. She had a feeling they were going to need all the soothing they could get.