Yvvaros: The Digital Frontier

by Alex Mulder

  Traveling in the game worked differently with the new headset on. Luke felt as though he had to pace himself as he moved across the desert, his feet sinking into the stamina sapping sand with every step.

  Other players occasionally passed by and Luke would watch them, judging whether they were friendly or not by assessing them through their eye contact. It was much more revealing than it had been.

  Stark Town was buzzing with activity, and the noise of a thousand different conversations created a vocal background hum. Luke felt like he was experiencing the city, actually experiencing it, for the first time. The sun was almost directly overhead, and it had the effect of creating a perfectly circular shadow from where Kantor blocked out the light above them.

  “Kato!” Tess was standing next to a small merchant stall, holding what looked like a map. She waved to him and Luke hurried over.

  “Hey,” he said. “What’s going on?”

  Tess handed the map to him and smiled. Northern Stark Town was at the bottom of it, and the focus was on the area far to the north. It had been painted with watercolors. Luke could see how the light green of the Inner Plains slowly gave way to the white and blue of the northern mountainous regions and the tundra valley beyond them.

  “This is the Blue Void,” said Luke. “Is that where we’re headed?”

  He looked up at her and almost did a double take. The new headset had changed more than just how he saw the in-game world and felt the environment. Tess brushed a couple of strands of hair out of her face and smiled at him, not just with her beautiful lips, but with her eyes, too.

  “I have to finish finding the crafting ingredients I need for the guild’s new carpet,” she said. “But I thought you might be interested in giving it a go.”

  “Yeah, of course,” said Luke. “But what is it, exactly?

  Tess stepped in closer to him. Luke could smell her scent, for the first time ever, and it was enough to make his heart start beating madly in his chest.

  Calm down, it’s just Tess…

  “There is a World Event taking place in the Blue Void. If you head through the mountain pass in between the Teeth of the North, you should be able to find it pretty easily..”

  “What’s the event, though?” Luke scratched his head. “A snowman building contest? A sledding race?”

  Tess laughed. The sound was sweet on Luke’s ears, like the ringing of a soft bell.

  “They’re calling it, ‘The Winter Beast.' Some type of monster that has been making its way out of the blizzard zones in the far north toward the south. If you help fight it, you get a share of the bounty money for it, even if you don’t strike the killing blow.”

  Luke smiled.

  “That’s perfect. I’ll… get started right away.”

  Contrary to his words, Luke stood right where he was for a moment longer. He couldn’t turn away, and it almost felt as though Tess’s gorgeous eyes were pulling him in. The area around them was crowded and full of noise, but the silence between them was powerful enough to drown all of it out.

  Tess slowly leaned forward and into a kiss. Luke felt an explosion go off inside his chest. He let his hands rest on her hips, and he could feel the warmth of her body through her robe. She was soft and perfect.

  “Tess…” He couldn’t keep from grinning as they parted.

  “I need to shop!” Tess hopped backward and blew him a kiss. “I’ll see you later, Kato!”

  This is amazing…

  CHAPTER 21

  The journey north took longer than Luke had been expecting. He bought some extra food on the way out of Stark Town, and then slowly began traveling across the Inner Plains to the north. There were some other players headed in the same direction, toward the same goal, and it gave him a sense of being a part an expedition.

  Some of the zones that were right outside of the Inner Plains had been claimed, with guild halls similar to the one in Dunidan’s Rest.

  Luke fought off a couple of Yvva Wolves as he went. These were the same creatures that had given him and Silverstrike so much trouble at the start of the game. Now the fights were one sided he didn’t even need to use any of his combat abilities.

  A thin rugged forest marked the boundary between the end of the Inner Plains and the start of the Blue Void. The ground was coated with a thin carpet of pine needles. As Luke made his way deeper into the woods, the canopy overhead blocked out most of the sun’s light. Unlike the Msitu Wilds, the forest in the north felt much emptier, quiet and barren.

  The trek through the forest was filled with interludes of silence broken up by encounters with aggressive creatures and occasionally friendly encounters with other players. After about an hour, Luke spilled out to the other side. The trees didn’t slowly taper off, but rather, came to a stop altogether, as though there was a line past which they could not grow.

  The mountains that loomed on the horizon like strange, snow dusted pyramids were the Teeth of the North. It was suddenly cold, colder than what Luke had been expecting, and the ground underneath him was frozen and dusted with fine powdered snow.

  This is the Blue Void. It’s remote, even by the standards of Yvvaros.

  Luke could see another player who had thought the trip through further than he had. He was wearing snowshoes and making good time toward a small gap in between the nearest two mountains.

  Luke followed the player, taking high steps through the snow as it began to grow deeper and more troublesome to move through. After a minute or two, he was hopping forward instead of walking, mimicking the gait of a snow rabbit as he did his best to keep from disturbing the snow with his movements.

  As he passed into the mountains, snow began to fall from the sky. Luke would have found it fun and exciting if it wasn’t for how cold he was. Instead of marveling at the work the developers, his father included, put into creating the unique snowflakes, he cursed and rubbed his hands together for warmth.

  I just need to get to this Winter Beast, help take it down, and then get back.

  Luke’s stamina bar drained more quickly in the tundra, and he found himself grateful for the extra food he’d brought with him. He munched on some dried beef as he went, ignoring the missing sliver from his health bar that the cold had also drained.

  Ben had explained to him that it was part of how the game was designed. Typically, the further you traveled from Stark Town and Kantor, the more difficult it became to survive. The enemies in the outer zones were higher level, and the weather conditions were much less forgiving.

  But the outer zones offered valuable incentives to make up for it. The resources were plentiful, and any players or guilds that managed to claim one for themselves would instantly become trade powerhouses. As far as Luke knew, there weren’t any guilds that had managed to push out more than five or six zones beyond Stark Town’s borders, at least not yet.

  The mountain pass sloped downwards and Luke was able to travel forward at a quicker pace. He found himself wishing that he could build a makeshift sled to take straight to the bottom, like a happy child on a snow day.

  The winds were whipping walls of white at the lower part of the pass, but Luke could still make out the clearing below.

  The Blue Void… The name fits the scene perfectly.

  Nobody had made it all the way across yet. In fact, from the rumors that Luke had heard, many players suspected that it might be used by the developers as space for further world building or events.

  He could just make out a semi-circle of players at the bottom of the pass. Luke began running toward them. As he drew closer, he was able to see what was happening through the veil of falling snow.

  The Winter Beast…

  The creature that he was staring at was huge, at least thirty feet tall. It was covered with white fur with an oddly reflective property, almost neon. Its eyes were a mixture of jet black and purple. Spikes adorned the top of its head, like a crown made of halberds.

  WINTER BEAST: One of the legendary monsters of Yvvaros. If left undefeate
d, it will eventually traverse the mountain pass through the Teeth of the North and begin a rampage that ends in Stark Town. Similar to many creatures in the Blue Void, it has a strange interdependent relationship with the Ancestor Glacier.

  It was swatting aside players left and right. Its massive size made them look like stick figures in comparison. Luke willed himself to move forward. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and made the scene feel like it was playing out in slow motion. Doubt pushed against his every step, licking away at his courage as he continued his approach. The beast was massive.

  Calm down. It’s just the new headset.

  It was more than that, and Luke understood it on a base and instinctual level. He could feel what happened in the game now. He could smell something humid and metallic on the air as he walked by the bodies of defeated players, all of them past the point of saving.

  The group attacking the beast was organized around it into different rings of proximity. Closest to it, the fighters, warriors, and knights danced at avoiding blows, occasionally launching into counter attacks that got them killed about as often as they made contact.

  The next ring was composed of the ranged offensive players. Mages and archers were hailing down a torrent of projectiles and magic. The Winter Beast paid about as much mind to them as it did to the falling snow.

  In the middle were the healers, which the monster seemed to take a particular pleasure in dispatching. They were running from fallen body to fallen body, casting revival spells, buffs, restoration magic, and anything else they could manage.

  Luke sprinted forward, crouching and drawing his sword as he passed over downed players. The beast was turned slightly away from him but he saw it shift its attention as he approached.

  “Move!” A knight wearing heavy armor and wielding a two-handed sword yelled at Luke as he passed by.

  Luke ducked and rolled, his instincts kicking in as the Winter Beast slapped its grotesque, ten fingered paw down at him. He gripped his sword tightly in his hand and launched forward into the air, flying toward the creature’s arm and managing to cut it in retaliation.

  “Go for the legs!” Another fighter on his left rolled in front of him. Luke nodded and charged in, taking advantage of the beast changing targets.

  This is life or death. I’ll feel it, at least some of it, if it gets a hold of me.

  He managed to get close enough with Pierce Attack 2 to strike a meaningful blow to its knees. Immediately he realized why he’d seen the other players only warily moving into that same range.

  With surprising speed, the Winter Beast spun and focused back in on him. It wrapped its hands around Luke’s chest before he could react and lifted him into the air.

  Fuck!

  The other players nearby immediately went into an all-out offensive for his sake. Luke could see that it was too little, too late. The Winter Beast’s health bar was still above halfway.

  “Graaaaaaaahhhh!” The creature let out a roar directly into Luke’s face, close enough for him to smell its putrid and humid breath.

  CONJURE SWORD 2

  Both of the magical blades sprang forward as Luke threw his hand out in the direction of the monster’s face. With impeccable aim, they struck both of the creature’s unnerving jet black eyes.

  Luke didn’t realize just how high up he was until the beast let go. He flailed uselessly in the air, falling for what felt like an eternity before hitting the ground. He cracked his head against the hard ice and felt sharp pain shoot through his skull as his health bar slipped down to a third of its maximum length.

  The Winter Beast stumbled back and all of the players rushed in. There were at least a hundred, maybe even more, and Luke picked himself up in time to charge in a second after. The creature pulled the conjured swords out of its eyes with surprising dexterity and then swung its arm into the approaching fighters.

  The screams were jarring. Players flew through the air all around him. At least two of them were literally pulled into pieces.

  “We… we have to retreat!” A couple of archers ran by him, headed away from the fray. Luke tightened his grip on his sword.

  Too many players will die if we run…

  An idea popped into his head, and he had just enough time to start putting it into action as the monster’s ice cracking footsteps began to draw near.

  ELEMENTAL INFUSION: FIRE

  Luke’s sword started to glow bright orange and a spiral of flames surrounded it. The heat from it was enough to make his hand sweat and his palm sting, but he kept it clutched tightly.

  I’m only going to get one chance. Let’s hope this new skill works.

  A couple of the remaining warriors were preparing to make a charge. Luke waited until they were midway toward the creature, timing his offensive so that he could strike right when it was the most distracted.

  It knocked away the players quicker than he’d been expecting. Most of the ranged offensive units had fallen back, and the healers were all either dead or too distraught to be of any use. The beast turned and locked eyes with Luke, with Kato, as he sprinted out the final few steps in his approach.

  This is it… If I get hit again, I’m out.

  The beast swung. Luke dodged, and then counterattacked. The flame from his blade spread slightly to the creature’s fur and it flinched, stumbling back.

  PIERCE ATTACK 2

  Luke flew forward and struck again knocking the beast back even more. He glanced quickly behind him and saw that once again the healers were reviving people.

  There is hope!

  He continued forward and didn’t realize until it was too late that he’d taken a step too far. The Winter Beast was fast, and before Luke knew what was happening, its fist was coming down on him. It collided with his head and he crumpled to the ground.

  Unfortunately, he still had health left, and the creature knew that, too. Luke was lifted into the air again, this time without any magicka left to fund his combat skills. He screamed as the beast gripped one of his wrists between two of its grotesque fingers and began to pull.

  “Ahhhhhh!”

  The arm separated at the elbow, and Luke felt pain beyond anything he had ever experienced before. He stopped screaming, his lungs suddenly empty and inanimate.

  The creature squeezed him tighter and tighter, and then it reached its free hand back over and began to squeeze Luke’s head. The pain was unreal, and suddenly his eyes moved in separate paths across his face as the inevitable happened.

  The black interlude between when he died and when he respawned was only a fraction of a second. This was what happened when a player was killed in a way that would rule out resurrection. Experiencing it instead of just hearing about it was enough to make Luke feel sick to his stomach.

  Oh god, I just…

  Luke sat down on the white marble stone of the Temple of Rygon and forced himself to breath deep. It was unbelievable, even though he perfectly understood the mechanics of it. The fear and pain he’d felt had been overwhelming.

  I’m never going to forget that, even if I try to. My head… what did that thing do to my head?

  He felt uncomfortable and violated, as if something essential had been stolen from him. The thought of heading back through the mountain pass, even just heading into the Blue Void, caused his conscious mind to scream in terror.

  Dying isn’t then end in Yvvaros… but it’s still dying.

  CHAPTER 22

  The experience had left Luke mentally exhausted and almost completely depleted his stamina bar. He ate to regain strength and then moved through the city in a daze. It felt as though his heart was still beating abnormally, left over adrenaline keeping him from being able to fully relax.

  I’m not going to let myself be killed again. I’m not going to let Tess, or Silverstrike, die either.

  Instead of heading straight back down to the continent through the rune circle, Luke walked over to the edge of one of the outer fences and stared off into the distance. The regions further out from Sta
rk Town were full of danger. He’d known that even before encountering the Winter Beast, but the reality of it still took some getting used to.

  I guess I’ll have to buy some new equipment. I’m about overdue for an upgrade anyway.

  Luke headed to the one of the few weapon and armor vendors in Kantor and pushed his way in through the front door. Luckily, by the rules of the game, everything in his satchel, including his gold, was secure even after respawning.

  “Welcome, welcome,” said the merchant. “I can take care of all of your equipment needs.”

  A couple of minutes later, Luke was back outside. He’d upgraded his basic Leather Cuirass to a complete set of Level 9 Dunidan Scale Armor. The merchant had given him a discount after Luke had remembered the left over Dunidan teeth and spikes, trading them in and getting the best price he’d seen offered in-game so far.

  Next time I should just find a player with armor or weapon crafting skills and see what they can do with the stuff.

  His new sword was an Emerald Hilt Long Blade. It felt strange in his hand, lighter than either the basic one he’d been using since the start of the game or the one that Tess had given him. The pummel, true to the sword’s name, had an emerald embedded into it. Luke checked his character record and discovered that it did almost twice the damage of his old weapon.

  I’m going to have to explain to Tess that I lost the sword she gave me. That’s not going to be a fun conversation.

  A message icon appeared in the corner of his vision, and he fished the envelope out of his satchel. It was from Silverstrike, and Luke knew better than to waste any time before opening it.

  Kato

  I’ve set up a meeting with the guild I told you about before. I want you to come back to the base and be there for it. Don’t worry, they are reasonable and seem to need us as much as we need them.

  Silverstrike

  Luke folded the letter in his hand and tucked it back into his bag, thinking about his friend’s words.

  They need us as much as we need them? What’s that supposed to mean?