by K. T. Hanna
Sure thing! His reply was almost as chipper as he was.
Murmur was finally upright again, just in time to see Veranol miss his cue to jump back in time and receive the toe in his chest. It hooked him up and sent him flying through the air.
“Snowy!” Murmur screamed at the wolf. He streaked across, blurring gold as he ran toward Veranol. He was faster than the shaman as he flew through the air. Gradually the air around Snowy filled up, the barrier bracing itself for impact.
He caught Veranol in what seemed like slow motion as the barrier he’d once used to protect Murmur bowed in and then gently let Veranol topple down to the ground. Snowy sat back on his haunches, his tongue lolling out, while Erichu continued his rampage.
Veranol got to his feet, immediately warding those whose wards had fallen during his flying venture. “You’re telling us about that as soon as this is done Mur.”
Murmur just grinned, her eyes focused on the rage bar that fueled Erichu’s tantrums. It was all going to be a matter of timing. Just as it reached the bottom, Murmur cast her own soothe and called over guild, two seconds apart. Dan. Ver.
She grasped the images she’d prepared, the visions she hoped he would take in well, and released them at the target. Ones of his mother’s brief time with him, and her pure joy that exuded from it. Another of his father the same, and one of all three of them.
Erichu stopped and stood like a statue. His eyes blinked and slowly, sanity began to enter them as. He sank down to sit on the cold stone floor. Slowly, he shrank, just like his mother had. He was still a grünlich gnome, mostly anyway, but he wasn’t nearly as big as he had been.
Your actions have created a subversion of the Basic Vision spell. You have now created: Mind Healing.
Mind Healing
Cast: Instant - 5 minute recast
Type: Restorative
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 not cause any damage but instead assist in soothing a tormented mind. Use with caution and be aware that people who could benefit from this skill might be closer than you realize.
Noichu ran to her son, the glowing lights gone from her fingers. She crouched down next to him and enveloped him in a hug, and suddenly he was a toddler, just a tiny child crying for his mother. Murmur took a step back, wanting to leave them peace as she felt like an intruder. Not to mention she hadn’t expected the spell to work so well.
“Nice strategy.” Veranol placed his hand on her shoulder briefly and she turned to face him. “Good thing it worked.”
Murmur laughed. “Well since I didn’t have a plan B, I’m pretty glad it did. Still, though. I feel like our quests are always odd.”
Veranol shrugged. “What’s odd is that wolf of yours. What the hell was that?”
“I honestly have no idea. I only found out at the start of this dungeon that he’d grown in abilities. He doesn’t exactly tell me these things.” She grinned at the wolf who was doing the same to her, momentarily forgetting how much more her head was hurting her.
“Thank you.” Eon was suddenly there, striding in from the entrance they’d used, a smile of pure joy on his face. “Thank you so much. How can we ever repay you?”
Treasure would be nice was on the tip of Murmur’s tongue, but she just managed to stop herself from saying it. She didn’t need to, either. Noichu waved a hand absentmindedly, and a whole row of chests popped up. Murmur had to secretly wonder if it was just the game’s way of gearing them up for the next dungeons.
It wasn’t me. Most of them can think for themselves.
Murmur wasn’t sure if that was comforting or scary.
You receive one of the twelve keys.
You receive a getashi.
You receive a midia crystal.
You have completed the Richnai Fortress Family Reunion.
You have completed the Richnai Fortress Test of Trials.
This version of the Fortress will no longer be available.
You gain experience.
You gain bonus experience for being the first to discover the trials.
You gain bonus experience for being the first to free the Prisoners of Rivalry.
You gain bonus experience for being the first to see through your greatest fears.
You gain bonus experience for being the first to see the caverns for what they are.
You gain bonus experience for freeing Eon from the curse.
You gain bonus experience for freeing Noichu from the curse.
You gain bonus experience for saving Erichu from a fate worse than death.
You gain bonus experience for reuniting Eon’s family in the face of adversity.
You gain bonus experience for understanding that force isn’t always the answer.
You gain bonus experience for tackling the dungeon before reaching maximum power.
You gain bonus experience for completing the dungeon and discovering a new level of truth.
You have hit level forty-eight.
“If those get much longer,” Merlin commented, “We’re going to level again before we finish reading the notifications.”
Devlish and Beastial laughed, and the rest of them joined in. Six keys. They needed two from each continent to get into the big dungeons on each of those. Murmur had no idea where it went from there, but right now she didn’t care.
She needed to sleep, but most of all, she needed to check on Telvar. It felt like she was being pulled in the direction of their island base. Getashi safely secured in her inventory, she had yet to figure out where to store them while Telvar was stuck in dragon form. Surely it couldn’t be healthy for him to have temptation so near.
Somnia Online
Stellaein Enchanter Guild – Belius’s Office - Secret Passage
Day Twenty-Four
When Belius walked back into the room, Emilarth simply sat on his desk in a way that let her feles tail wave free and whipped out a nail file to address her claws.
His footsteps echoed down in metered fashion, like he was trying to give her a sense of foreboding about his impending arrival. He needn’t have bothered, of course. The first time it had given her plenty of warning to get back into her place. And now, well, now she no longer felt like playing along. It was taking far too much time to do it this way.
His plans were mundane and frankly scattered, which told her he wasn’t completely in charge of the thoughts himself. It was unlike him, which left her to conclude that whatever his absorption had done, those shards had a mind of their own too. Clever Belius was hard to deal with. This distracted Belius not so much.
“What are you doing?” He yelled the question, but it devolved into stuttering. As if he couldn’t understand how she’d managed to break free of her confines.
She resisted rolling her eyes and tried to examine the situation instead. The virus was tricky, and she still couldn’t figure out how it operated. Belius was the youngest of the three and had always felt like he needed to prove himself. All the virus had done was made him bolder. At least that was all she could see on the surface. What she needed to be able to examine was the virus itself, but she couldn’t do that, not if she wanted to avoid being a victim of it herself.
Telvar’s situation confused her. The shard was doing its best to gain control of the AI, but Telvar was fighting it. If it was as strong as Belius let on, shouldn’t Telvar not be able to? She had to get back to him and see how he was right now.
Emilarth had received a message from Laria but didn’t want to reply. Going through Belius’s room that shouldn’t have existed made her wary. Since he’d forced it into existence himself, there could be consequences for receiving messages in it. Or sending messages in it.
“I’
m waiting!” he exclaimed, coming to stand right in front of her. His hair twitched, and his eyes filled with stars.
“I’m done waiting. Whatever it is you think you’re doing. I’m not letting you get away with it.” She looked up at him with one eye, eyebrow raised. “If you’re going to fight dirty, so am I?”
Belius’s eyes narrowed, but whatever thoughts he was having didn’t click soon enough. Before he could answer, Thra raised her hand and clicked her fingers.
The next moment, she was back on her balcony overlooking the jungle of Curet. She sighed, making several motions and code adjustments in her head to keep Belius off her bloody retreat. The one place in this world she had where she could come and think in peace and quiet.
She’d had a lot of time to think in that room. To examine what it was Belius was surrounding himself with. Time to read into his words and see behind them and his motivations.
All Belius wanted was power, recognition, control. They were all things he felt slighted on when it came to his siblings.
In his office, she’d found a huge map. And memorized it as best she could. At first it hadn’t looked like much, but once she got to truly checking it out, she realized it was a map of shards.
Monsters were listed, each with their type of shard. Those that had been absorbed were ticked off with a name of who had absorbed them. But there were a whole bunch of question marks next to many of them. She had the suspicion that those particular monsters had been killed, but Belius had lost track of their whereabouts.
In the middle of the continents was a swirl of water where apparently hundreds of them had fallen. It appeared to be an incongruous blob, but she couldn’t tell exactly what. Protected on all sides by crags and serpents. They seemed to guard their bounty jealously, under the water, just out of prying eyes. Except she didn’t remember that section being there in the initial game design.
Not to mention that quite a few of the question mark getashi had Murmur’s name with them.
Those caused Emilarth the most consternation. Surely Murmur wasn’t carrying them around with her? Especially given the predicament with her headset. She’d be highly susceptible to them. Which only left…
“Shit,” she whispered out loud as realization dawned on her.
That meant Telvar had to have taken them. If he had them, where the fuck had he hidden them? And how could they find them before the shard in him latched onto the memory of where they were stored?
Somnia Online
Mikrum Isle - Dragon Hoard Chamber
Day Twenty-Four
“What are you saying, Hiro?” Emilarth stared down at the huge dragon who sat on his hoard crunching on a deer. “He’s nothing like himself.”
Hiro shrugged uneasily. “I know he’s not. You know he’s not. He thinks he is. And to be honest, he’s definitely more himself now than he was a day ago. He’s begun to attempt changing back into his lacerta form. He’s not just rampaging around like he was. There are glimpses of him in there, portions of him that shine through regularly now. I’d say that’s a good sign. Right?”
Emilarth wasn’t sure how to respond. All she knew was that this made her feel uneasy. “We have to get him away from that hoard.”
She was genuinely worried. If he remembered even slightly what she believed was hidden there, they were all screwed.
“But it’s his hoard. You’re not going to get the dragon away from his hoard. You may as well give up now.” Hiro didn’t seem too worried. But then he wasn’t like Telvar, she didn’t think he was as susceptible.
Emilarth threw her hands up. She wanted to yell down at the lazy dragon and tell him exactly what she thought of him. She was so worried about him, it was all she could think about.
She couldn’t risk traveling down there because while she factually knew that those shards were bad for her, and she also knew that if she got too close, they’d get in her head. They’d whisper to her, lull her, and tempt her. Emilarth wasn’t sure she’d be able to withstand that.
It was her responsibility to remain shard-free. She had to; if she got taken over too, there was no one in their own mind left to run the game world. Chaos would ensue in Somnia.
A commotion echoed down to her from above, and a flare of panic shot through her as she wondered if Belius had come to the same conclusion she had.
Murmur decided not to check on Neva first. Though they did have some damned nice stuff for her, it was already in the vaults. The little crafter would find them when she went through it all later.
She wanted to find Telvar. See how he was doing. She hadn’t seen him in so long, hadn’t had his advice or conversation. It was like a compulsion, making her need to make sure he was okay.
Her pounding head felt hot. How long had it been since she’d slept? Way too long. She had to remember she wasn’t in a capsule anymore.
She had the feeling she should be hearing something, able to sense something, but for the life of her couldn’t remember what. Her head felt fuzzy. It had to be lack of sleep. Or else she was getting sick. She didn’t have time to be sick. Somnia didn’t have time for her to feel sick.
Murmur. You need to rest. You’re not thinking clearly.
The voice in her head was muffled, distant, like there was static in the reception. Murmur wasn’t even sure she’d heard it.
She entered the kitchen and was surprised to see Emilarth there. “Hey. Things okay?”
Emilarth smiled, but her cat ears twitched, and Murmur frowned. The whole world seemed to narrow down, and the whispers in her head became louder. Whispers that faded in and out, sounding nothing like Somnia and exactly like Somnia at the same time.
Save him.
“Is he okay?” She could hear her own voice trembling at the thought of her mentor not being all right. He’d done so much for them, kept them safe, and helped them through so much. Hell, he’d even saved her from obliterating her friend’s in-game avatars.
Emilarth tried to smile again, but Murmur could tell she was worried. The feelings emanating from the AI gave her away. Not to mention the fleeting thoughts she could almost grasp. One thing stood out from all the rest: Emilarth was hiding things.
“Don’t lie to me. What’s wrong with him?” Even Murmur could hear the tone of her voice. It sounded like it wasn’t hers. Dead flat and menacing. She put it down to the expanding pain in her head. That had to be it.
Emilarth’s eyes opened wide, like she was surprised and trying to figure out why. “He’s not himself yet.”
Murmur pushed past the feles, suddenly gripped by the urge to help her friend.
“Of course he’s not himself; he’s in dragon form. Why can’t he snap out of it?” she muttered as she ran to the edge and clung to one of the prison cells as she looked down to see him huddled over his hoard, finishing off a meal.
Then it hit her.
He was on top of his treasure. The hoard he’d hidden the getashis inside of. If he ingested another, absorbed another, he wasn’t going to win this struggle. He needed to expel the one he had inside if they were to have any hope of saving him.
Which meant she had to get them away from him. The thought consumed her. He’d saved her so often that she had to do the same for him. Pull the temptation away. The pain in her head was nothing compared to what he must be going through, so she pushed it aside and dug down deep to find the energy that the heat in her body was sapping from her.
She sprinted down the path, Snowy hot on her heels, and leapt down the last six feet to land on one knee. Shaking her robes to rid them of dirt they’d gathered, she kept running toward the hoard.
Telvar spread his wings, and his eyes blazed for a moment before he recognized her. Their eyes met, and he bowed down briefly in acknowledgement. The ghost of a smile whispered onto his face.
For a moment, just one moment, Murmur stopped and stared at him. She remember
ed when they’d first encountered him, and how regal he’d appeared, just like now. Rearing up to attack them, gouging Devlish’s shields into useless pieces of scrap. Then he’d transformed and offered them everything.
“Sorry, Tel, it’s for your own good.” Her voice hitched in her throat, and even though something screamed in her mind, she couldn’t hear it through the noise of her pain. “I have to.”
Murmur dove for the hoard and buried her long arms into it. She could feel the getashi, like they were calling to her, like they were trying to come to her of their own accord. The pain in her head flared again, but she pushed on, stubborn to the core. She could hear voices screaming at her from outside and in, none of it making sense as it all jumbled into an unidentifiable din.
Finally, she withdrew a bundle of wrapped getashi, and relief washed over her for a moment. It was so strong that for just a second, her mind cleared.
And what she was doing slammed into her like a freight train. The cloth in her hands began to disintegrate, falling to nothing and leaving only the getashi, exposed in her hands.
“Oh no, no, no,” she said, and her eyes opened wide, as that moment of clarity made her realize what she’d done.
But even as Snowy grabbed at her bracers trying to shake the stones free of her hands, the noise in her head began again. Throbbing with pain she raised her hands to her temples as the getashi absorbed into her like the scrolls she learned her spells from.
Her arms lit up like a festive tree, and a scream tore from her throat as the remnants of Michael’s brain began to work through her system.
Storm Entertainment
Somnia Online Division
Game Development Offices
Day Twenty-Four
The beeping of Laria’s Wren alarm pulled the developer out of her concentration. Brow furrowed, she accessed her daughter’s information and frowned.
“That’s odd,” she murmured, trying to push down on the rising panic inside.