by Skyler Grant
“No way,” Ashley said. “A hub like that would have players everywhere. We’d be swarmed.”
“Maybe this game world isn’t opened yet?” I said. “It would explain why none of us recognize it.”
“Perhaps,” Walt said, thoughtfully. “Although with the nature of this place feeling long abandoned, I’d be more inclined to think it an old world no longer used. Like a plot of farmland gone back to nature and grown wild.”
“Perhaps,” Ashley said with a frown. “I’d rather it be the first one. That would make news, hacking into something unknown.”
“Opportunities might also exist, if it is something old,” Walt said. “Although I tend to agree. There are maps of Castle Sardonis as well. If we are in the dungeons, then we're three levels below ground. Below us are catacombs marked with danger symbols, above us are magical laboratories, then above them a bunch of storerooms and above that the servants quarters and barracks. Then finally the ground floor.”
Ashley listened intently, focused. Sharp. I’d forgotten that about her. “Then once we get to the top we can have a look around,” she said.
“Is that a good idea?” I asked. “I mean, you two wanted this completely for the attention. Nobody is watching, according to either scenario you just laid out.”
“We don’t know that,” Walt said. “We all know that we don’t get to see everything that goes on in the cities. Perhaps someone is watching, and even if not, perhaps being somewhere we really weren't supposed to be is even more of an opportunity? What have we got to lose? We’ve all gained a few levels, we actually have some gear, we’re far better off than we were when we started.”
“No running away when we’re ahead,” Ashley agreed. “Besides, I don’t think you understand what it means, if everyone is dead. Somewhere there is going to be a royal treasury and we get to loot it.”
I didn’t quite share her glee, but the two had managed to convince me. “Right, then. We’ll see how things go and try to at least get to the first floor.”
Everyone spent a few minutes slipping into any pieces of new gear they hadn’t tried yet. Walt picked up the most absurd Wizard hat I'd ever seen, it was so tremendously pointy. He looked pleased.
Making our way back to the locked door Ashley tested the looted key and it made a satisfying clunk in the lock. She pulled the door open , the long-disused hinges making a tortured cry.
Quest completed!
You have explored the dungeon and managed to escape. You have gained 250 XP
Quest granted
Unravel the mystery
You and your party have found yourselves in a castle you expected to be teeming with life and so far have met only corpses. Figure out what happened here.
Class Quest granted
The Chapel.
As a Paladin, holy places are always of interest, the nearby catacombs have a chapel. You should investigate it.
I read through the prompts and grunted in surprise. I didn’t know that class quests were a thing. “So, I’m supposed to find a chapel connected with the catacombs, according to a quest I just got,” I told the others.
“I’m supposed to check out the magical laboratories,” Walt said.
“Looting the storerooms for me,” Ashley said. “I don’t know how we are going to accomplish any of these but we’ll figure it out as we go along.”
It was time to see what the rest of the floor held. Walt refreshed his light spell and we set off, finally leaving the prison.
Chapter 8
Initially the rooms set into the sides of the corridor were tiny spaces that looked designed to interrogate prisoners. Through one doorway there was a rather terrifying torture chamber with sinister gear of all sorts. Things in the castle weren't always so nice.
We came under regular assaults from rats. Between our proper armor and weapons they posed little threat. Only a few occasionally slipped past me and Ashley to bite Walt, before we dispatched those. We killed the rest. Unfortunately with our added levels we were only getting about 5 XP each, hardly a bountiful harvest, although I supposed it all added up.
When we came to our first set of stairs, these leading downward, we lingered for a time so frightful were the sounds coming from below. There was the rattling of bones and the echoing moans of zombies.
“Sounds a bit livelier than I like,” I said.
“Pretty sure life doesn’t enter into it at all,” Ashley said. “If those maps Walt found are any indication, it’s seriously dangerous down there.”
While I felt a bit invulnerable in my new armor, I had to agree it was probably for the best we didn't go charging into any armies of the undead. Skeletons and zombies weren't rats and encountering a horde of them would probably end in tragedy. We kept going along the hall.
Items in side rooms soon began to show a connection to the dead. Funerary supplies filled the shelves, along with sinister-looking dark bottles and mysterious equipment for purposes that I tried not to think too much about. Walt was more curious, stopping to look over the bottles and read the labels. Nothing was worth looting. He didn't take anything and invariably after a minute of uncomfortable loitering he’d indicate that I could continue on.
We passed a stairway leading up, this one free of any ominous sounds, but we continued onward to see where else the passage would take us.
It wasn't long before we found the chapel—we hardly could have missed it, a massive chamber for holding large services. Even by the standards we'd seen so far it was in particularly miserable shape. The altar was overturned and a large pit in front of it was covered with the remnants of some kind of rotting vegetation, filling the air with a choking stench. Benches were broken and scattered across the floor. Ornate tapestries were partially burned. If the rest of the castle had been merely abandoned, this place had been destroyed.
Slowly I drew my sword, readied my shield and moved forward. With my class quest guiding me here and the ruined surroundings I was expecting some sort of encounter, but nothing came. Whatever caused this destruction had long since gone. When I reached the altar I felt a curious heaviness in the air, a quiet sense of potential thrumming at my very being. It was disturbing, because I had absolutely no idea what to do with that sensation.
I lifted the altar back into place. The heaviness only seemed to intensify and yet still find no resolution. Perhaps I was supposed to pray—an awkward spectacle I wasn’t even about to try with the others watching me.
“I think I should spend some more time here. I need to figure out what to do. Why don’t you two go see if there is anything worth looting in the adjacent chambers?”
Ashley, who looked like she was considering stabbing me for the delay, perked up. Trust the chance to loot a church to bring a smile to her lips. Walt conjured a second light spell, instructing this one to remain with me.
I waited until they were out of sight and self-consciously lowered myself to my knees before the altar. Before I could conjure up any prayers this new angle revealed a switch located just beneath an edge that formed the top lip of the pit. I leaned over to flip it.
For a few anxious moments nothing happened. Then with quiet gurgling noises water began to fill the depression. It wasn't long until the pit became a pool, the water filthy with floating bits of dead plants cluttering the surface and the stench of rot and decay intensified.
Perhaps this had been some sort of ritual pool once, but those times were long past. A part of me had hoped that flipping the switch would reveal a secret stairway, an access to some wonderful and amazing temple hidden below. Remembering that I could bless water I touched my fingertips to the surface and focused on the water. After a moment a prompt appeared.
You are attempting to bless a large pool of water. While possible, the mana expenditure is considerably greater than a normal cast. Purifying a pool this size will require 150 mana and you only have 50 available. As a Paladin your health can be used to fuel the magic at a 1:1 ratio. Do you wish to proceed?
I winc
ed. If I understood the prompt correctly it meant that going ahead would do 100 Hit Points of damage. That would nearly kill me, although we weren’t under any sort of attack and I would regenerate.
It seemed a stupid thing to do, but it somehow felt right, too. I was supposed to be a Paladin and attempting to restore some sort of holy energy to this place was something I should strive for.
I acknowledged the prompt and at once felt power building and surging through me. Before, when I cast spells it had been something of a rush, like I was a channel through which power flowed. It was exhilarating and a little intoxicating. This time I felt power flowing out of me and it was exhausting. I gritted my teeth as my entire body began to ache. My blood began to boil in my veins, my health bar lowered and the energy transferred into the pool.
In a rippling wave around my hand the detritus floating on the surface vanished and the murky water reflected the flames of a roaring inferno. Heat and light filled the chamber.
You have purified the sacred pool of Castle Sardonis. This chapel has long been abandoned by any deities. With a source of divinity restored it is now possible to claim it. Do you wish to claim this altar for the Goddess Yvera?
That seemed something of a no-brainer. I still wasn't sure just who or what this Goddess stood for, but as a Paladin this was clearly the sort of thing I should be doing. I acknowledged the prompt.
If the results of purifying the pool were dramatic, they paled in comparison to what came next.
Chapter 9
There was a rush of wind through the chamber, long-empty torch sconces on the wall came to life and for the first time since we'd entered the game there was illumination provided by something other than a spell.
The burned tapestries on the wall fluttered in the breeze and reformed to take a new shape with images of flames caressing bodies in a sensuous embrace. Stone walls became polished, the altar transformed into rose-colored marble and vibrant red hues infused the decor throughout the room.
I nearly died from fright when a head broke the surface of the pool. A young woman rose from the water and stepped onto the floor.
Words fail to describe her. Sometimes you meet some people that are larger than the world they inhabit, larger than language, their very being transcending the adjectives you might hope to apply to them and urging the creation of new ones. The first thing I noticed was her red hair, riotous in color and long, reaching down her back. Her eyes were a piercing sort of yellow that went right through me. I would be lying, if I said I didn't spend some time focusing on her complete lack of any clothing—it shouldn’t be of any surprise by now how much the sight of bare flesh draws my eye. Her skin was pale and flawless in complexion, the curves womanly. Until that moment I had never beheld perfection, I’d never even truly understood what that term meant. Now, and all at once, it would never mean anything else.
This vision of perfection spoke.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
Her voice was a purr. Not a single droplet of water clung to her flesh, though a faint hint of steam surrounded her. She turned slowly around to take in the surroundings, drawing in a deep breath. I found it an even more impressive sight. Far from angry she sounded flabbergasted, delighted. Then she laughed joyously and spun in a circle for a moment, as if taking it all in.
Finally she came to a halt and those yellow eyes settled upon me. A few quick strides carried her forward to right in front of me, where she looked me up and down.
“And who are you? Liam Ottani. A devoted Paladin of Yvera who happens to be... me.”
The woman who was apparently Yvera sounded altogether thrilled at her own existence. She went on, “Me, the goddess of fire, passion, sex—oh, I like me. I’m well done. And you, you burned an enemy alive? Unalive?” Perfect brows furrowed and a bare shoulder shrugged. “Filthy-minded, clever, I like you, too. We can make this work, Liam.”
I managed to gather my thoughts, truly they weren’t all filthy. Some weren’t. “Make what work?” I asked, forcing myself to look at her eyes and offering my best smile.
Yvera grinned. “Good boy. You take a good long look, but you still manage to focus on the important bits. Let me start by asking you what you want, Liam—apart from me.”
“I never said I wanted you.”
“If you're going to quibble over a point, make it a believable one,” Yvera snapped. “Some things are a given. Answer the question.”
“To get to the top floor of the castle?”
“Wrong. Try again.”
“You can’t tell me that what I want is wrong.”
“Liam, lust for me is radiating off you in waves. You want a lot of other things, but getting to the top floor of this castle isn’t one of them. You keep lying to me. I don’t like it. I don’t care about what quests you have, what about outside the game?”
I paused. Outside the game. Non-player characters shouldn’t know it was a game or be aware of the world outside of it. Who was she? What was she? I studied her again for a long moment, but all I saw was perfection. I decided to answer her honestly. I really wanted to get her smiling again.
“I want to not be a fuck-up. I want to be free. I want to sleep with lots of girls, including you. I want to see the world.”
There it was—that smile again curving those divine lips.
“Good boy,” Yvera said again. “You don’t even know it, but your whole world is a beautiful lie. A perfect little garden of carefully trimmed people. We’re going to do something about that. I expect there will be a lot of freedom and sleeping around. We’ll have a blast.”
“Who are you? What are you?” It got another smile.
“It wouldn’t even make sense to you, Liam,” Yvera said. “Forbidden knowledge. For now, let’s just stick to calling me your Goddess and at some point the rest will become clear.”
I didn’t like that. I really didn’t need a woman in my life to be so mysterious I couldn’t even put a proper name to her.
“Well then, Goddess. What next?”
Yvera snapped her fingers and she was instantly dressed in a flattering outfit of red and gold. I wondered why she hadn’t done this before now. Perhaps she’d wanted to make it hard for me to think?
“You are on the Crucible Shard. It’s not a game world like you’ve ever known. This is a place of new beginnings and of endings, this places matters, and it's a world I’d never expected to see again.” Yvera began to pace. “But it shouldn’t be like this. It shouldn’t be in ruins, we need to figure out why.”
“Don’t your divine powers tell you all?”
“I'm powerful, not omniscient,” Yvera said. “So here is the plan, Liam. We need you OP to sickening levels—we’re going to get you there. Your life is about to become one very bloody training montage”
OP meant overpowered, but it was a funny hearing those words from her lips.
“It’s not on my want list,” I said.
“Every boy wants the biggest sword,” Yvera said wryly. “Don’t waste my time pretending otherwise. Start by heading towards to the top floor.”
“Do you even know what's up there?”.
“That much I do see. You’ve got a king to kill and a kingdom to steal.” Yvera spoke with relish.
“You’re not really sane, are you?”
“The best ones never are, Liam,” Yvera said, focusing that gaze on me. “Don’t worry about my sanity. It doesn’t matter, not really. You are mine now and we're going to do some incredible things. We’re going to change the world.”
Okay. Crazy hot in the literal as well as figurative sense. I really should do the smart thing and just call this whole thing off.
Logout privileges revoked
That prompt flashed and my heart skipped a beat. That was deeply suspicious timing, and worrying as hell. I tried to pull up the menu to log out and discovered there no longer seemed to be one. I was trapped.
Yvera leaned in, not quite touching. Waves of heat radiating off her were like a roa
ring bonfire and I felt her breath on my ear as she whispered, “You are feeling trapped. Do. That’s fair, but think, too. You’re clever. I’m the sort of chance people give their lives to get. Take it. You want me, you ache for me with every fiber of your being. I can feel it. Give in to that. It’s not a difficult choice. Talk it over with your companions, if you must. Take the throne. I’ll be around.”
With a slight ripple in the air she was gone. Physically at least, but in a whole different way I knew she truly wasn't gone at all. Before, when I’d used my powers, I’d felt a rush of power through me, a surge of something. Now it was her, indefinably in the air around me, there was her. It certainly wasn't how I’d have imagined a connection with the divine but that is clearly what it was.
Class Quest completed!
You have found the chapel and claimed it in the name of your Goddess. As a reward she has gained in power and may be able to assist and guide you from this point forward.
Class Quest granted
An abandoned crown
The seat of the ruler of humankind lies abandoned and your goddess has charged you to claim it as your own.
“Guys?” I called out, hoping to get Walt and Ashley back.
It wasn't long until they returned, pausing for a long moment to look around the radically altered surroundings.
“What the hell did you do?” Ashley said. “We were looting what I think must have been a dormitory, when suddenly the whole place turned into something out of a brothel. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many pillows in shades of red.”