Eden's Gate: The Arena: A LitRPG Adventure

by Edward Brody

  Rina finished another round of meditating and rose to her feet. She straightened her back and looked at the newbie thief’s corpse. “We don’t have much time left. Are you ready for him?”

  “Let’s do it,” I said strongly.

  Since we had plans to resurrect the thief, I ordered his weapons to be removed for safety, but I didn’t take any of his other belongings. I figured he might be more cooperative if he felt he had something to lose. Shal, the guards, and all the guild mates formed a perimeter around the man to ensure he couldn’t escape.

  Rina closed her eyes and waved her hand in an upward motion at the body. The body began to glow, and the heels of Rina’s feet rose slowly off the ground as if she were starting to tiptoe somewhere. There was the faintest of white light that emanated from Rina as she held her position, but as she as she opened her eyes and stepped flat to the ground, the light dissipated.

  The glow around the corpse persisted for a few seconds after Rina finished casting but quickly faded away. The thief’s hands suddenly twitched, and then he groaned as his head began to move.

  I looked up to everyone, signaling to be on alert, and the dark elf guards all grabbed their bows, nocked arrows, and pointed them directly at the thief.

  The resurrected man groaned again and pushed himself into a sitting position. “What the—?” He blinked his eyes and rubbed his hand over the area where his sword had pierced his shoulder. “Why am I not in…?” His eyelids suddenly shot wide, and he turned his head back and forth quickly, taking in everyone around him.

  He kicked his feet against the ground as he tried to stand up and reached for his empty sword sheath at the same time, finding nothing there.

  “Don’t move,’ I said firmly.

  The thief started to turn and make a run for it, but he just bumped into Jax, who gave him a hard shove on the shoulder, which not only shoved the guy backward but turned him back in my direction.

  The man stumbled a couple steps, looked at me, and gulped. “Uhh...”

  “Who are you, and why’d you attack us?” I asked.

  The thief bit his bottom lip. “You guys killed me first, the other day when I was… uhhh…“ He stopped mid-sentence and looked down as he started mumbling something unintelligible.

  “You were caught stealing,” I said.

  He looked back up. “Then you remember me? So I guess you know I’m a—”

  “You’re a Reborn,” I interrupted.

  The man swallowed hard, paused, and looked at me curiously. “That’s not a surprise to you? And why would you resurrect me after killing me a second time?”

  I scowled and clenched my fists together, remembering that I needed to send the guy a firm message that he’d made a heinous mistake. “No more questions from you. You answer me. Again—why would you attack our village?”

  The thief frowned and shrugged his shoulders. “Because you killed me. You guys got your stuff back, so you didn’t have to shoot me in the back. I wanted payback for that.”

  I shook my head and scrunched my eyebrows. “That doesn’t even make sense. The only reason we got the items back is because we killed you.”

  He shrugged again. “Yeah, I guess, but…” the thief trailed. “I mean, you didn’t have to kill me for those couple little items. I might be a Reborn, but dying in this game is painful as hell.”

  “Game?” I snorted.

  The thief rattled his head and held up a hand. “Oh, not a game. I mean—” He stopped and pooched his lips together. “Wait a minute. Are you a—?” He turned his head and scanned the others before turning back to me. “Are you a Reborn too?”

  I gritted my teeth, grabbed my falchion and held the point up towards the thief. “I said stop with the questioning. I ask the questions.”

  “You are a Reborn!” he said loudly and let out a chuckle. “Another Reborn! That’s why you resurrected me!”

  “That’s enough,” I said strongly.

  “Dude, I had no idea you were a Reborn!” He took a step towards me and held his hands out to each side. “I would’ve never tried stealing from you or attacked this place if I know it was being run by a Reborn.” He turned and looked around at the others, suddenly not intimidated by all the weapons pointed at him. “Are you looking for guild mates? Are there any other Reborns here?”

  “Shut your trap, asshole,” I snapped and took a step forward until my sword tip almost met his chest.

  “Whoa, whoa!” The guy said, moving his hands high in the air as his eyes once again went wide.

  “Who were the other men? Your guild?”

  The man twisted his nose and raised the side of his lip. “No. They were just mercenaries. I hired them to help me with this job.”

  “All mercenaries?” I asked.

  “Yeah… all of ‘em.”

  “How could you afford to hire that many mercenaries at your level?” I asked.

  “And how’d you get that armor?” Ozzy added.

  “Yeah,” I echoed with a nod. “Your gear looks far above your level.”

  The guy snickered, lowered his hands, and rolled his shoulders cockily. “Well, after you guys killed me, I spawned near Newich with nothing. I wasn’t about to try to make it all the way back here in the middle of the night to get my stuff, so I picked up what I could find… ya know? I gradually improved my shopping skills.”

  “You mean stealing?” I asked

  “I don’t believe there’s any such ‘stealing’ skill,” Keysia said.

  “But sneaking is skill,” the thief explained, “and pickpocketing. And the better you get at both, the easier it is to steal things without being noticed.”

  Keysia snarled. “Unsavory.”

  The man rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I had nothing, so I kept stealing. Lots of sneaking and lots of running when I got caught.”

  “That easy?” I questioned.

  “No way. Stealing in town is hard, but I got just enough to get back on the road.”

  “And?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “I was out grinding low-level MOBs in the Freelands when this decked-out guy walks past me. I was curious as to what someone who looked so strong was doing in that area, so I followed him from a distance. He eventually stopped at a cave built into a hill, lit a torch, drew his sword, and slipped inside.”

  I glanced at the guards and guild. Everyone seemed glued to the story.

  “I followed him inside and tried to stay unnoticed. Let me tell you…” He raised both eyebrows. “Snakes… The guy was killing these gigantic rattlesnakes left and right and collecting some sort of liquid from their bodies.”

  “An alchemist,” Jax suspected, “or just a supplier, maybe? Snake venom is a valuable alchemy reagent.”

  “Whatever he was doing, the guy was a badass,” the thief cooed. “I watched him take on a bunch of those suckers at once, and I couldn’t even ID the level of any one of them. He handled them pretty well until…” The thief clenched his teeth and sucked air through them. “…this colossal snake—biggest thing I’ve seen—comes out of nowhere.” He held his sword arm up to show a soda-can sized hole that was in the gauntlets. “It knocked the guy’s sword out of his hand when it bit him and he was obviously hurt. I don’t know exactly what happened after that. I just ran for the exit.” The thief shrugged. “I do know that the man emerged from the cave a minute later, shaking, limping, and looking like a ghost.”

  “Poison?” Ozzy suggested. “I’ve been there.”

  The thief nodded. “I suppose. Killed him faster than I would’ve expected.”

  “You didn’t help him?” I asked.

  “There was no way I could help him. I had nothing on me that could heal him, and I didn’t know if he was hostile or not. So, I just stayed hidden and followed him ‘til he eventually slowed down altogether and died. I was able equip the armor he had on, and I sold everything else he had on him…. It was enough to buy some better weapons and hire some mercenaries for a day.

  “I did a little grind
ing to get my skills up, but when I thought I was ready, I headed here with the mercs. I knew this little shop was in the middle of nowhere and filled with valuables.” He shrugged and looked to the side. “I thought there were a couple guards but not this many. It was a bad call.” He shook his head. “Look, I hope you can forget this ever happened. We can team up, and –”

  “No chance,” I said, and shoved my sword forward ‘til it touched the man on the chest.

  “Hey!” the man gasped. “C’mon dude. Relax.”

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Jeremy,” he replied. Let’s—“

  “No more talking,” I said again. “You killed our guards, some of our customers, and some of our guild.”

  “Oh, so this is a guild? Hell, yeah! Let me in, man! We Reborns should stick together!“

  “Shut up,” I hissed. I moved my sword up until it was right against the man’s neck. “How long have you been in Eden’s Gate?”

  “I don’t know. About a week or so now… I can’t be sure.”

  “Well, then let me tell you something, newb.” I moved my face closer to the guy and lowered my eyelids as I spoke. “Reborn or not, my guild mates mean the world to me. Since you came into our home and attacked us the way you did, I don’t give a damn what you have to say. You—are—no—longer—welcome here.”

  “But I didn’t know you were Reborn. C’mon bro,” the guy said. “I was just playing the game. I’m sure you’ve played other games where stealing and shit gets you ahead.”

  I paused and exhaled as I looked to my side. I had… I had played lots of games where stealing, killing, and looting would get you ahead. In fact, that knowledge contributed to my decision to make off with the sword that Jax had commissioned me to retrieve from Old Nambunga’s Cave. At that time, I still saw Eden’s Gate as just a game and Jax as just a NPC. I still had the idea that I’d log out and go back to Earth eventually. But that was then. The thief in front of me still hadn’t grasped the fact that Eden’s Gate was far more than a game, and that he shouldn’t just go about his life as if it were.

  For a moment, I wondered how much my life in the game would have changed had I actually made it back to Linden with the sword. I would’ve had a nice reward maybe, and maybe I would’ve never seen Jax again. There was even the chance that we all simply wouldn’t exist anymore if my death during the thievery hadn’t set off a chain of events that led me to meet Aaron, which allowed me to help him reach Dr. Winston’s castle.

  Whatever the case, it didn’t matter. I had made some less-than-honorable decisions since entering Eden’s Gate, but nothing like hiring mercenaries to attack a newly-formed village in broad daylight. It was clear that Jeremy was headed down a path that didn’t align with Unity’s goals.

  “Remove your gear,” I said pointedly.

  “What?” The man laughed and smiled at me. “So what? I give you my gear as tribute, and then I can join?”

  “Remove your gear,” I repeated.

  He looked at me again and seemed confused, but a second later he started removing his gauntlets, then his other pieces of his armor... “I don’t get it, bro. I’m really a good guy… I’m sorry about the attack, and I’ll be sure to make it up to everyone.”

  “Shhh…” I whispered.

  “We’re Reborns.” The thief turned to Ozzy as he threw his chest piece on the ground. “I’m guessing this guy is too, judging by his accent.”

  Ozzy shifted uncomfortably, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Your leggings,” I insisted as he was halfway out of his gear.

  “I realize that I have to face the consequences.” The guy snapped his lips. “But, the more Reborns we have together, the harder we can go, the higher we can make it.”

  I groaned as the thief took off his last piece of armor and threw a small bag on top of it.

  He stood there, naked except for his boxer shorts, and raised his hands up at each side. “Well, do you have anything simple I can put on? Just some training gear and preferably a sword weapon or a couple daggers.”

  “You just don’t get it, do you?” I asked.

  He held his hands in front of him and nodded. “I know you’re angry, and I understand your frustration, but I—“

  “I told you to take off your gear, because I don’t want to damage it any more than it already is,” I interrupted.

  He dropped his hands and frowned. His eyes fell to the sword that I was still pointing at him, suddenly realizing the true danger that he faced. “What do you mean?”

  “Look over there,” I asked and pointed to absolutely nothing behind him. It was a simple, lame, trick, but the moment he turned his head to look where I pointed, I lunged forward and drove my sword into his abdomen. I purposely missed his heart, or neck or any other area that I thought might end his life too quickly. I knew the pain of dying in Eden’s Gate, and I wanted him to suffer. I needed to send a message that he was not to come back, that Unity wasn’t to be taken lightly.

  The man gasped and croaked, “Dude, no…no.”

  “Shhh,” I whispered again. “Do you know the name of this forest?”

  The man swallowed, and when he opened his mouth, a bit of blood trickled out of the side of his lips. It looked like he was trying to talk but couldn’t.

  “Answer,” I ordered and swiftly pulled the sword back out of his body. “Answer!”

  He gasped, fell to his knees, and shook his head.

  “This is Edgewood,” I hissed, “and if we catch you here again, we’ll kill you on-sight.”

  I gripped the hilt of my sword tightly and swung it with all my might at the man’s right arm. As the blade slashed through his humerus bone, severing his arm in half, I could see a few of my guild mates take a step back, and the man made a croaking noise, then screamed through the blood and fell on his side. Red poured out of his arm and stomach. I knew he wouldn’t last much longer.

  “Stop… please,” the man managed to say. At least, I think that’s what he said. It was more of a bubbling sound like someone trying to talk underwater.

  I looked down to the man, then used my foot too shove him ‘til he was flat on his back. He twitched a little as he lay there, helpless and dying.

  “I’ll say it again to make sure you remember—Edgewood. Don’t come back here, or it’ll be worse next time.” I raised my sword high in the air and pointed the tip down as the man’s eyes shot wide and his lips started to part. I fell into a half kneel as I thrust the sword down, and the blade slipped into his mouth and smashed through the back of his skull.

  You have gained 2500 XP!

  The XP I received for killing another Reborn was ridiculously high, even with him being a lower level than me, and I wondered if Dr. Winston had programmed it that way to encourage PvP combat. I could see that fact creating a lot of blood-hungry Reborns once they reached higher levels.

  I rose back to a standing position, leaving the sword jutting out of the dead man’s face. I took a deep breath and looked up to all the guild members.

  There was a strange silence that hung in the air, and everyone looked a little uneasy.

  “Gunnar?” Jax said questioningly after a few seconds.

  “Yeah?” I asked.

  “What was the quest that I gave you the first time we met?” he asked.

  “Ummm…” I lowered my eyes as I thought and quickly looked back up. “Collecting pelts in Addenfall, right?”

  Jax nodded. “Yeah...”

  “Why?” I asked.

  Jax tilted his head a bit and sucked in between his teeth. “You seem a little different is all. I just wanted to make sure you’re not a shapeshifter.”

  Chapter Three

  1/25/0001

  I was sitting on a log, going through the thief’s loot, while the rest of Unity was bringing the village back to normal—some picking arrows off the ground and others going about their usual daily routine. The atmosphere was still a little weird after I had killed the thief, but I figured every
one was just tense after the crazy, unexpected attack.

  “Yo!” Aaron yelled as he pushed through a thicket of bushes and stepped into the clearing wearing nothing but his underwear. “Who were those people who killed me?! What the hell happened?!”

  “Hey, man,” I said and gave a quick, two-finger wave. “Glad you made it back okay.”

  “Ow, fuck!” Aaron snapped and make a little limp. He lifted one of his bare feet off the ground and looked at the bottom. “My feet are killing me!”

  “Your gear is in the same spot where you died,” I said. “No one’s touched it.”

  Aaron continued forward ‘til he was right up to the log. “Where’s Rina? I thought you said she can rez? Did she die too?”

  I shook my head. “No, she made it, but I told her not to rez you.”

  “What?! Why?!” Aaron moved in front of me and shoved my shoulder. “Another one of your stupid jokes? You let me sit in the void for two hours and walk all the way back here barefoot for what?”

  “I told her to resurrect the non-Reborn guildies first. You know—because they’d basically stay dead if she didn’t. I also wanted her to bring back the leader of the attack. She only had time for so many.”

  “Wait. What!? Why would you rez someone who attacked the village? Aaron turned and scanned the area ‘til his eyes met the dead thief. He took a step back. “Hey, isn’t that the…?”

  “That’s the one we resurrected. The same guy who tried to steal from our shop the other day.”

  “Looks like someone really fucked him up,” Aaron said. He pursed his lips together. “So you rezzed him, and then… someone just killed him again?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why would you guys do that, and why’s that sword still sticking through his mouth? And why not just rez me, damnit?!”