I
AM
GAMER
II
Book 2
By:
Gabriel L. Rathweg
Cover Art By:
José Manuel Bethencourt Suárez
Text copyright © 2018 by Gabriel L. Rathweg
I Am Gamer, characters, names, and related indica are trademarks of © Gabriel L. Rathweg. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.
SPOTIFY LINK:
https://open.spotify.com/user/grathweg/playlist/3cbEhIiEvUKHUTRSm5v4WL?si=ZaWs6rX7SAKs2NBYZkqrxg
YOUTUBE LINK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR74KCJP7W8&list=PL4EpaEEUcnmdhWHGTN4EuEVt2tLJJZB1B
To Maggie, you are my love, my heart, and my life. I love you so much and am so glad you have become a part of my world. You make me believe in love, life, and magic. (P.S. I love the kitties as well.)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TRACK 1 – AFRICA – WEEZER
TRACK 2 – SUGAR – MAROON 5
TRACK 3 – IN THE AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA – NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL
TRACK 4 – THE GUITAR MAN – CAKE
TRACK 5 – COUGH SYRUP – YOUNG THE GIANT
TRACK 6 – YOUNG FOLKS – PETER, BJORN, AND JOHN
TRACK 7 – SHAKE YA ASS – MYSTIKAL
TRACK 8 – THUNDERSTRUCK – AC/DC
TRACK 9 – PARTY UP (UP IN HERE) – DMX
TRACK 10 – TEAR YOU APART – SHE WANTS REVENGE
TRACK 11 – EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE – THE POLICE
TRACK 12 – SIMPLE SONG – THE SHINS
TRACK 13 – PLEASE DO NOT GO – VIOLENT FEMMES
TRACK 14 – TIME TO PRETEND – MGMT
TRACK 15 – FAR BEHIND – CANDLEBOX
TRACK 16 – FOOL IN THE RAIN – LED ZEPPLIN
TRACK 17 – MAMI QUE SERA LO QUE TIENE EL NEGRO – LOS CANAMEROS
TRACK 18 – RAPPER’S DELIGHT – THE SUGARHILL GANG
TRACK 19 – WHAT GOES AROUND…/ …COMES AROUND – JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
TRACK 20 – THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMM…. – C & C MUSIC FACTORY
TRACK 21 – BAD AND BOUJEE – MIGOS, LIL UZI VERT
TRACK 22 – DAMN IT FEELS GOOD TO BE A GANGSTA – GETO BOYS
TRACK 23 – TRAMPOLINE – JIDENNA
TRACK 24 – BALL AND BISCUIT – THE WHITE STRIPES
TRACK 25 – LAZY EYE – SILVERSUN PICKUPS
TRACK 26 – TAKE A PICTURE – FILTER
TRACK 27 – BEAST AND THE HARLOT – AVENGED SEVENFOLD
TRACK 28 – (NOTHING BUT) FLOWERS – TALKING HEADS
TRACK 29 – REBELLION (LIES) – ARCADE FIRE
TRACK 30 – KNOCK YOU DOWN – KERI HILSON, KANYE WEST, NE-YO
TRACK 31 – HOLD THE LINE – TOTO
TRACK 32 – JACKIE CHAN – TIESTO, DZEKO, PREME, POST MALONE
TRACK 33 – I’M THE ONE – DJ KHALED, JUSTIN BIEBER, QUAVO, CHANCE THE RAPPER
TRACK 34 – MIC DROP (STEVE AOKI REMIX) – BTS, DESIGNER, STEVE AOKI
TRACK 35 – BACK TO YOU (ANKI REMIX) – SELENA GOMEZ, ANKI
TRACK 36 – WASTE IT ON ME – STEVE AOKI, BTS
EPILOGUE – A LITTLE RESPECT – ERASURE
AFTERWORD
SNEAK PEAK
I
AM
GAMER
II
TRACK 1 – AFRICA – WEEZER
“They, are not supposed to be here yet.” I groused.
“Who are they?” Cunning Wolf asked, squinting off into the distant night.
I stared hard at the blobs of glowing orange fire in the distance, my vision increased, zooming in on the sight. Thankfully, the bright moon and stars helped me see better, I could just make out a train of animals and people, carrying torches. My Identify skill popped off highlighting the whole train and lining it in a soft glowing red aura.
The light let me make out more detail on the figures, they had metal breastplates and helmets that gleamed from the fire of the torches, the light of the moon, and the red aura. Some of them rode on horseback, about a dozen, while others, not wearing shiny armor, walked on foot. There were also more horses, pulling what looked from a distance, to be cannons. Fuck my life… They had fucking cannons? An information bubble popped up.
FALCONET
WEAPON TYPE – Light Cannon
DURABILITY – 250/250
CLASS – Normal
UPGRADES – N/A
WEIGHT – 180 lbs
DIMENSIONS – 4’ by 2” Barrel, Two-Wheeled Single Axle
The falconet, or falcon, was a light cannon developed in the late 15th century. During the Middle Ages, firearms were decorated with engravings of reptiles, birds, or beasts, depending on their size. For example, a culverin would often feature snakes, as the handles on the early cannon were often decorated to resemble serpents. The falconet fired a small yet lethal shot of similar weight and size to a bird of prey, so it was decorated with a falcon, hence the name.
(1) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falconet_(cannon)
I dismissed the window and looked back out at the incoming train of soldiers, because that’s what they were, Spanish fucking Conquistadors, riding directly our way on horseback. They were covered in armor and had a contingent of indigenous foot soldiers following in their wake. They were still quite a distance away and had to come to us through the serpentine valley that led to the Jicarilla home. I judged by their speed that we had maybe five to six hours till they arrived. Luckily, the way the path they were on led, they wouldn’t be able to use their cannon, until they were almost at our front door. Thank the various gods out there for small miracles.
The figures reddish outline changed as they came closer, becoming highlighted instead with a very opaque light red outline. I did a quick count and the breakdown was as follows; 12 horsemen, 3 falconets with 2 horses apiece, and around a hundred or so foot soldiers. Which was an estimate because the mass of foot soldiers kept moving in and out, mixing up with each other, so it was hard to get an exact count.
“We need to prepare for battle, let’s get back to the Chief and Chieftess, their wedding will have to wait.” I said, turning to Cunning Wolf.
“Ok, let us move with haste.” He replied, motioning for me to follow as he turned and hurried back towards the exit. “Our conversation is not over, we still have many things to discuss.” He called, over his shoulder.
I nodded to his back and followed along behind him. My mind was already partitioned, and I was trying to figure out a plan to face this new and extremely dangerous threat. The second partition was not paying attention to Cunning Wolf. Instead, it was using my Total Recall skill to help me remember all I could about the Conquistadors that took over the Southwest of North America.
I remember this being so interesting to me when I was a teenager, I was into it for a bit and it was a long time ago, so it took a second to access all that information. After a moment it all came to me. I remembered that in my time it had been Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, even though this timeline had been skewed, who had conquered the entire Colorado area along with most of the southwest. He had led four hundred conquistadors, along with about two thousand Native Indian warriors, and various slaves taken from many different tribes. This was probably a detachment of that army.
Or it could be someone else entirely, fuck, I didn’t really know. But it made sense to me, that if Coyote had tried to send me back and the European gods had screwed with me coming, they had probably some type of version of me, ringers of their own, so to speak. At the very least, they may have accelerated the way the original timeline w
ent. Like I said, I didn’t fucking know. My mind was quickly spiraling into a worst-case scenario loop, so I started to focus on other information.
Whether or not they were Coronado’s troops or what, they were armor wearing, horse riding, cannon bringing enemies. The technological superiority of the Europeans was so huge it was laughable. Imagine a fight one versus one hundred. The hundred bring knives and guns, the one brings a tank. That’s almost the difference. The original Native’s had no way to penetrate the Conquistador’s armor, no answer for their gunpowder weapons, and no advanced tactics to speak of. It was no wonder that it had been a slaughter, not to mention the death of nine-tenths of the continent’s population, prior to the Conquistadors conquest, so the natives were disorganized as well. They were generally at a severe disadvantage in every way, shape, and form compared to their attackers. The Europeans rolled them right over in my time.
Well, not this time fucktards. I was going to change that. The dining room was full of laughter and good-natured frivolity as we burst in. I took in everything as I scanned the room in a second. Moon Flower and the Jicarilla Chieftess’s daughter, Dancing Lion, were arm wrestling, of all things. The Chief and Chieftess were playing kissy face, and everyone else was eating, laughing, and having a good time. Cunning Wolf cleared his throat, but no one heard him over the noise. He scowled and this time he clapped his hands together, the torches dimmed, and a loud boom sounded throughout the room.
“You need to teach me that trick.” I whispered, out of the side of my mouth, the old man grinned slightly.
Silence followed, then all eyes turned to the old shaman. He nodded in satisfaction and then gave me a nod and a wink. I nodded in response and cleared my throat.
“The enemy has arrived. They will be here within the next few hours.” I said gravely.
Moon Flower stood up and nodded, as with the rest of my group. The Chief and Chieftess detached themselves from each other standing as well.
“What enemy dares come for my tribe, in our home no less. Sound the alarm and prepare for battle. We will destroy these interlopers.” Chieftess Screaming Eagle commanded.
“Actually Chieftess, it’s much more complicated than that. It’s the main reason we’re here, and what I was going to talk to you about before everything happened, between you and the Chief.” I explained. “As a matter of fact, Cunning Wolf and I were just starting to discuss things, when he spotted the enemy. The have currently just entered the entrance to the valley and are coming our way.”
“It matters not who these attackers are, we will break them on our mountain lair.” Dancing Lion cheered, leaping to her feet and pumping her fist in the air.
“Not quite, you see, these are the ones that started the Great Suffering. They are not some weak enemy. They have horses, guns, cannons, and basically, better everything then we have.” I told the pretty girl.
“What are these guns and cannons you speak of?” She asked.
I sighed, time for a crash course on the firearm.
TRACK 2 – SUGAR – MAROON 5
“I still don’t quite understand. So, this gunpowder is what exactly?” Dancing Lion asked, a confused look on her face, mirrored by all of those standing around us.
Sighing and shaking my head, I glanced around the room. Everyone was staring at me with rapt attention. Lack of interest wasn’t a problem. It seemed that I was failing to explain things in a way that they could understand. I was using technological and abstract ideas that were lost on my fellow tribesmen. Moon Flower and I locked eyes, she gave me a smile and a nod, then stood up. She cleared her throat and the whole room turned to her.
“What my dear fiancé is trying to say, is that these are the ones who caused the Great Suffering. The way he explained it to me, was that they are wearing armor that none of our bows and arrows could scratch. They wear armor that our hatchets would break on and knives snap in half on, instead of plunging in. Their blades are made of metal so strong they can cleave through a person in one strike.” She paused letting her words sink in.
The confused faces were gone, now rapt attention and a bit of fear replaced them. She gazed around the room looking everyone in the eye, making sure they all understood what she was saying before continuing.
“These invaders each ride a horse like Winston, that means they’re faster and more mobile than us, as some of you have seen, Winston is a formidable fighter on his own, that is another weapon.” Moon Flower stopped, as a chorus of nods and grunts sounded from the listeners. “That is not the worst of it though, gunpowder is just a tool. The guns and cannon that the invaders wield are the most terrible of all. Each one carries what Law calls a harquebus. These weapons sound like thunder when they are used and strike like lightning.”
“They can wield the storms from their weapons?” Chieftess Screaming Eagle asked, interrupting my fiancé.
“Not quite.” I replied, nodding to my fiancé and silently thanking her for the help. “It’s not really thunder it just sounds like it. Now that you know about it won’t be as effective as they probably expect it to be. What they actually do, is send balls of iron faster than the eye can see towards their enemies. These bits of metal can rip through a person and go into the next. They can shred and blast through wood, they can make stone explode, they can render limbs from your body, and that isn’t even saying anything about the falconets. They are like harquebuses, which I will just call guns from now on, but bigger, louder, and more dangerous. If the invaders get the falconets in range, they will bring your stone home down around us.”
The whole room was silent, as they digested the knowledge bomb that had just been dropped on them.
“With weapons and armor like these, what can we hope to do?” Chief Running Hawk said softly.
I had wanted to instill real fear into everyone. I wanted to stress how dangerous and powerful these things were to them. The thing about fear is that it’s just an emotion. Fear isn’t a real or tangible thing. It’s some biological response that humanity evolved, from before, when we were monkeys, to help us survive. That makes it a tool. The trick with fear is to remember, it’s not a bad thing. The modern world has turned fear into something to be afraid of, it’s bad to be scared. My father taught me that fear is more akin to respect. A healthy fear of something is to respect it. You need to control your fear and use it to your advantage. Harness it and make it work for you.
I remember one time when I was a kid, my dad told me a story. It was when he was working in Manhattan, during the early eighties. He said he hadn’t met my mother yet, and my sister and I weren’t even a gleam in his eye. He told me he was walking home from a bar late one night, this is when he still drank, and stupidly decided to take a shortcut through a dark alley. He explained that he was thinking with his booze brain and was filled with liquid courage. Of course, a dozen steps into the alley he saw a shadowy figure enter the other end and start walking his way. At the same moment, he heard a sound behind him and turned to see a man blocking the entrance he had just entered from.
He told me his brain froze and he couldn’t think for a minute. Fear overpowered the liquid courage. Somehow, he knew that these two men would not only steal from him, but they would hurt, or even kill him. Time had stopped for him and he had a chance to make a choice. Give into the fear that was almost overwhelming him or grab that fear and wrestle it under control. He chose the latter and charged the man behind him.
The move surprised the man and my father hit him with a flying tackle, that carried them both out of the alley and onto the main street. The man had a knife and had stabbed my father in the side. There were people in the street and a crowd started to gather, the man panicked, and then ran away, leaving my father bleeding on the sidewalk.
Luckily, the knife didn’t hit anything vital and the bystanders called an ambulance. To his dying day, he swore that it was that life or death choice, that had guided the rest of his life. It would have been certain death in that alley, if he had given in to his fear. In
stead, he took charge and grabbed hold of his future. He took a chance and it payed off. He had lived.
I refocused on the now and looked at my companions, the old and the new. I could see the fear that now radiated from their faces and countenances. It was time to turn that emotion into a tool, into respect.
“My people fought these invaders. We figured out the ways to match them and eventually beat them. The biggest damage has already been done. The diseases that spread after their initial contact has already killed more people than are left. Now, they come with superior weapons and have suffered barely any resistance. It’s our turn to stop that. They expect to find a weak, disorganized, and scared people. They will instead find wolves and tigers.” I finished loudly, pounding the table with my fist.
Their visages hardened, I could tell that they were past the fear phase and were into the respect phase. Now it was time to tackle these motherfuckers, then knock them the fuck out.
“I’m sure all the tribes they’ve fought so far have been rolled over. They don’t have the luxury of the better bows and arrowheads that The People are now equipped with. Not to mention, we now have iron weapons that are suited to take down armored men. They won’t be expecting that. The arrowheads I made were devised to penetrate through the type of armor these men are wearing.” I explained.
“Then we can defeat these bastards!” Shadow Bear said, leaping to his feet as well, fire sounding in his voice, covering the quaver of fear that was right behind it.
“Yeah, we can Shadow Bear, but it’s going to take everyone working together and following my orders completely. Our new weapons don’t even come close to leveling the playing field. It’s the tactics we are going to use that’s going to win this for us.” I grinned wolfishly. “And win is what we are going to do. We are going to kill everyone one of those fucking pieces of shit, and we are going to take their horses, cannons, and guns for ourselves.”
I Am Gamer II Page 1