by Elliot Burns
The space around him was an expanse of nothingness, a clear land with no horizon or sky. The only thing he could see was a dark mound in the distance. It was tall and thin and seemed to be made of mist. It was the same shadowy presence he’d felt just seconds earlier. The mind shadow moved toward him. It took three steps. There was no sound in the mindscape, but Jack could feel each plant of the shadow’s feet.
“What is this place?”
“This is your mind,” said Elena. “And the forest behind you is full of your memories.”
“My mind? But how? Surely the game can’t get inside my head.”
“It doesn’t need to. The game isn’t inside your head, lord,” said Elena, and Jack realized that she’d switched to her ‘I know this is a game’ mode of thinking that Alfie and Henry had programmed into their NPCs. “Your head is inside the game. Everything you see, hear, and touch is merely the game tweaking parts of your brain. That is the only way that full immersion is possible, after all. When the atronarchs hurt you, you weren’t really getting hit by a monster, were you? No. the capsule stimulated the part of your brain that feels pain, and thus, in here, it seemed real.”
“So, this is my head, huh? It’s a little…emptier than I expected. What about the shadow, is that you?” he said.
“Yes,” she answered. “but look.”
“Look at what?” he said.
“Look behind you.”
Just ten meters south of him was a forest of bleeding colors, with trees jutting up through the ground at odd angles like spikes driven in by a giant. Upon looking closer, Jack could see memory crystals sticking out of their trunks. The crystal were bright at the edges where his new memories were, and washed-out and dull the further back they went. Several paths interweaved through the forest, and Jack imagined that he could walk through them and peruse his memories like books in a library. It was a sprawling expanse of recollections that would take years to walk through. What would wait at its outer reaches? His first memory, maybe?
The shadow began to take form now, and soon, it looked like Elena. She seemed to float rather than walk, and she covered the ground quickly. It was obvious that she was heading toward his forest of memories.
“Defend yourself,” she said.
“How?”
“Imagine a shield in your hands and use it to protect your memories.”
He saw that Elena carried a weapon. It was a wooden jousting lance with a flat steel tip, one designed for smashing rather than piercing. This one had been cut down in size so that it could be used on foot rather than horseback. Jack was supposed to use a mental shield to protect himself from it, but how did he do that?
“Make a shield, Jack. You must try.”
He closed his eyes. Since his real eyes were closed and he was in his mind, he was actually closing eyes within eyes. Or, given that his real body was in a capsule with his eyes closed, and that his game body was in Elena’s room with his eyes closed, he was closing eyes within eyes within eyes. This was getting confusing.
He imagined holding a shield in his hand. Something round and made of steel, with a leather strap that made it easier to carry. It wasn’t much, but it was something he could hold in front of him to deflect the tip of Elena’s lance.
He opened his eyes. He felt something heavy in his hands now. Jack had conjured a wooden buckler shield in his hands. The wood was damp and splintered and looked like it would struggle to absorb the hit of an arrow, never mind a lance.
Skill learned: Mind Manipulation
Level: 0
[Through meditation and practice, you can fortify your mind and guard your secrets from those who would try to steal them. With more mastery, you can even invade the minds of others.]
“That isn’t quite the shield that I had expected,” shouted Elena, and began charging at him. “But here I come!”
Jack made sure his feet were planted solidly, and he braced himself for the strike. He didn’t have much confidence in his shield, and it fell even further as Elena charged at him. The point of Elena’s weapon crashed through the buckler like a katana tearing wet paper. The force of it knocked Jack onto his back, and he smashed his head on the ground. His ears rang for a few seconds.
He got to his feet, only to see that Elena was on the outskirts of his memory forest. She plucked a purple crystal from the branches of one of the trees. As Jack watched Elena hold the crystal and close her eyes, he suddenly got the feeling he had been violated. He could feel Elena tugging at one of his memories, deep in the back of his mind. He just couldn’t tell which memory it was. What if it was a memory of him being on the toilet? Or even worse, having a little ‘personal’ time? This could get embarrassing.
“I don’t like this,” he said. “Quit it, Elena.”
When Elena put the crystal back on the tree, she looked serious. She seemed almost sad. “I didn’t realise the burdens that you carry in your own world,” she said. There was something deeply empathetic about the way she spoke.
“What the hell just happened?”
“Lord…your mother. What is wrong with her?”
“What did you see?”
“More than I should have been able to. You need to defend yourself better.”
The empathy in Elena’s face vanished. She walked away from Jack, away from his memory forest, and built up enough distance for another charge. “We must go on,” she said, holding her lance up. “Try harder this time.”
He willed a fresh buckler into his hands. This time he concentrated on firming the wood. He couldn’t make it any bigger than a dustbin lid, but as he stared at his circle of defence, iron cladding began to cap its circumference. There was a bulbous metal tip in the centre. It wasn’t much, but it was an improvement.
Mind Manipulation increased by 50%!
[50% toward level 1]
“Here I go,” said Elena, charging him.
Elena chose her spot carefully this time, aiming not for the centre but to the left, so that her lance caught just the wood. The shield cracked apart like a tree branch in a tornado.
With his defence shattered, Elena knocked Jack to the floor and entered his memory forest again. She took her time, searching amidst the trees and vines for what she wanted. She stayed near the centre, before seizing a crystal and holding it in her palm. Her eyes flickered for a while.
“What is that strange thing you were riding, Lord? With two wheels? It seemed to move faster when you rotated those black parts with your feet.”
What memory had she chosen? It sounded like she was talking about a bicycle. He hadn’t had one of those since he was eleven, and he’d crashed it into a wall and twisted the front wheel.
“Let’s go again,” said Jack.
“Lord-”
“Another try, Elena.”
She walked away again. Jack needed to ready himself. Everything here was purely mental, so that meant there was something in his mind holding him back. What was it?
“Use a memory,” said Elena. “When you create a mind shield, wrap a memory around it. One that is strong enough to you to reinforce your defence.”
“Like what?”
Elena started to run at him. “Something clear,” she yelled.
Having only seconds, he desperately sought for a clear memory. There were lots of his mum, but he sensed that memories like that would do his defence more harm than good. He needed something else. Something that meant a lot to him but wasn’t sad.
Elena was just a few seconds away now. He conjured a wooden shield. This was no buckler. Instead, it was a heater shield. This was kite-shaped and much longer than a buckler. It’s wide surface area offered him more protection, though he doubted the reinforced wood could withstand much impact.
Elena was just seconds away now. He hoped his shield would hold up.
Damn it! He’d forgotten to use a memory! He needed to conjure one.
Just as the tip of her lance came within an inch of his heater, Jack dredged up a memory of being with his uncle
back in his care home. He pictured reading to him for hours. The memory coated his shield, reinforcing the wood like a layer of paint.
Mind Manipulation level up level 1!
Power learned: Mind Shield
[You can conjure powerful mind shields at will, stronger enough to stop the blow of all but the strongest of mind lances.]
This time, the shield held firmer. It didn’t snap in half, at any rate, yet rivulets ran across the wood like the tremors of an earthquake. Elena rounded, and then jabbed again with her lance. She was surprisingly strong, and Jack felt a jolt in his wrist as the shield snapped like a biscuit.
Once again, Elena plucked a crystal from his forest. This time she headed straight for the patch she’d visited before, taking hold of the crystal she had first watched, the one about his mom. “Your mother is sick, Jack. I can see it. Not in her body, but her mind., What is it?”
Hearing about his mom and her problems set him on edge. It reminded him how far away from her he was. It reminded him how he was letting her down, and that she’d be alone at home. He didn’t want to think about it. Not only did it make him miss her, but it sapped the energy out of him. If he brooded about his mom, then he wouldn’t be able to face his battles in Royaume. He needed to stop her talking about it.
Just as Elena went to grab a crystal next to the one she’d just watched, probably another memory about his mom, Jack activated his mind shield. Rather than being a wooden buckler, this one was shield of a pure, blue energy. It seemed to fizz and spark in front of him. He felt his mana begin to drain. With each few seconds the shield was in front of him, his mana dropped by ten points. He couldn’t keep this up for long.
He ran at Elena with his shield held out. Just as she closed her hand around another crystal, he collided with her. The blue energy of the shield washed over Elena. She looked at him, surprised, and then the blue light covered her face. Once it had smothered her entire body, it began to fade. As it did, Jack realized that Elena was fading along with it. Soon, he found himself alone in his mind.
The forest began to disintegrate. The trees and the crystals crumbled and then began to float through the air like ash. Within seconds they were gone. The complete whiteness all around him filled with color. He began to see shapes; he saw books, a bed, clothes, and finally, he saw Elena.
He found himself back in Elena’s bedroom. The smoke from the herbs had cleared now. Across from him, Elena opened her eyes.
Jack looked around. He was glad to be back in reality. Well, not reality, since this was still a game, but the closest he would come to reality for a while, anyway. He saw the watercolor painting above Elena’s bed again. Before, he’d thought it was a man with an umbrella stood under a storm cloud., Now, he thought he could see it for what it really was. It was a man with a shield, and above him were some dark, mounting forces, ready to attack.
“Well done, Jack,” Elena said. “You defend yourself admirably. Stronger people than me will test you soon, so be careful. Practice this yourself, when you can. Light the herbs and find your mindspace, and practice making shields.”
Jack nodded. He couldn’t say this had been the most pleasant experience of his life, but he was glad that he could now protect his mind. It felt like he’d taken a step closer to escaping Royaume.
Chapter Eleven
The next day, Jack sat in his Emperium chair in the kingdom building room. He left the curtains on the giant window open so that he could see the land beyond his castle, but it was a misty day, and much of the landscape was hidden from him. He decided that after the incident with the infected horse, he needed to protect his peasants’ crops. If their crops were ruined, then not only would they be pretty pissed, but Jack wouldn’t get a cut of profits from selling them. First. he checked his current kingdom stats.
Flek – 257
Population Morale – 30/100
Population – 25
Farmers – 19
Watchmen – 1
Unassigned - 6
It seemed that his flek had risen from 134 to 257, and on further exploration he saw that this was due to one field of crops being sold. On top of that, the population morale of his people had risen thanks to his exploits with the field wraiths. The problem was that some buildings and some people units, like soldiers, for instance, could only be created once the population morale was at a certain level. He was going to have to work hard to please his people. Back at the factory back home, his boss sometimes tried to cheer people up by bringing in doughnuts, but he doubted that would work here.
He explored more of the buildings he hoped to build when he had enough flek, as well as the army and worker roles he wanted to assign to some of his population. He really needed an army, which he could make by assigning some of his unassigned population to be soldiers. The problem was that a) the current population morale was still too low, and b) he hadn’t built a barracks yet.
He wanted soldiers, he wanted a barracks, and he wanted big walls protecting his kingdom. With only 257 flek, he couldn’t have any of that. Instead, he had be content with spending 110 flek on a wooden fence capped with barbed wire, and he placed this around every peasant field. He also installed gates so that nothing could get into the field without going over the wire or through the gate. It wasn’t the best mode of defence, but it was something.
Fence built!
-110 flek! [Total: 157]
Population morale increased by 2 [32/100]
Congratulations! As your population’s morale increases, word spreads about your lands, and settlers travel from across Royaume to live there.
Population increased by 5! [Total: 30]
New Farmers: 3
Unoccupied: 1
**Man at arms**: 1
A man at arms? Okay…this might be interesting! He looked at his new arrival’s information. When he focused on the man at arms, a miniature character sheet for the man popped up.
Harry Fullen
Class: Man at Arms
Abilities: Can organize non-combatants into defensive lines, boosting attack and defence stats by +3 when your land is invaded.
Henry Fullen’s arrival in his lands was exciting. It meant that as his population increased and settlers came to live there, then there was a chance that people with different skills would arrive. It followed, then, that the more attractive his lands were, the more skilled people would migrate there.
Following this, he also created a new watchman, which meant that he now had two watchmen and a man at arms. It was hardly an army, but it was a better situation than when he’d first arrived to Royaume.
When he was done in the building room, he decided that it was time for him to level up a little. After all, if he was going to lead an army, then he needed to be able to fight properly. He found Mav in his bedroom and told him they were talking a walk. Mav grumbled, and then got dressed. Together, they left the castle.
In the forest a mile away from the castle, the tree branches intermingled twenty feet in the air and formed a thatchwork roof. Shafts of light broke through like searchlights looking for survivors, as though the forest was a maze that drew you in and then led you astray. He and Mav never went too far in, content to explore just enough that they felt the air change.
Every so often, they found hints of old buildings that were once built within the woodland. They saw the glimpse of a stone path not fully buried, and a stone staircase that rose out of the ground but led nowhere. After they’d walked far enough into the forest that it was dark, despite it being daytime, Mav took off his coat and set it down over a felled log.
“Okay, tough guy,” he said. “I’ve seen you fight atronarchs and wraiths, but I’m still not happy. Let’s see what else you can do.”
“What are we supposed to fight?” asked Jack, looking around and seeing no sign of anything hostile.
“You can’t see them?” asked Mav.
Jack peered into the dim forest depths in all directions, but he saw nothing. Then, as his eyes adjusted to th
e faded light, he began to notice little oval shapes in the shadows. They were small, and they were colored bright yellow and orange. It dawned on his that these were eyes. Sure enough, soon he heard growls, and then he saw a pack of wolves emerge into the light.
Jack didn’t like the way they were hemmed in. The wolves had formed a circle around them, and it was clear they were going to attack from all directions.
Mav smiled. He looked like he was in his element out there in the forest. He drew a dagger from a sheath on his belt. As soon as Jack saw it, he got a serious case of dagger envy. Mav’s weapon was a thing of true beauty; the hilt was made from gold and it was shaped so that it looked like a snake, while the blade gleamed and looked so sharp that it seemed to cut through the air itself.
“This is called a mughal,” said Mav, holding up his dagger. “And if you ever touch it, I’ll cut your hand off. Now, it’s time you saw how it’s done. Last one to get a kill has to go down into the cellar for the beers tonight.”