by Dawn Chapman
“That may be what you came here for, but the body you possess belonged to an elven princess.”
I swallowed and glanced at Abel. “That’s not possible, right? I’m in someone else’s body?” I didn’t hesitate to ask him, no matter the consequences of the words being free for all to hear.
Abel stuttered out. “I don’t know. I mean, no. I’m sure it’s not possible at all.”
“Then I want to know how it did. You need to go log off right now, and ask your friend what the hell this is.”
I pointed back to the main doors, but one of the other men stood. “It is safe in here. I’ll take you to a back room where you may speak to your friend.”
He stared at me, and then, with dropped shoulders, he left.
“I’m sorry you had to see that, but if he can give me any answers, then I think it will help me understand more about who I am and to what end I will be here.”
“I will try to help.” Ruadhar reached forward and touched my arm. “May I?” he gestured up it, to where I knew there was a tattooed design. I’d seen it, bathed it, but I didn’t understand its meaning.
With a gentle finger, Ruadhar ran it up the side of the design, tickling me slightly. “This is your royal lineage, Akillia. The lines detail where you’ve come from and where you’re going. This, I believe, is where your original owner of the body died.” He stopped on a given line, and it was clear that there had been a big event. I turned my arm around and noticed that the line ran the full circumference. Then there was a little silver one, which started at the centre of my inner elbow. I followed it down and into the design that covered my forearm “You’re telling me that all of this design is my journey here, now?”
Ruadhar pulled his finger away. “It is not very often at all that we get Visitors, but you’re from the original colonial elves over in Shiroth. Their families have been in hiding for generations. Having you here is a blessing for us.”
“Tell me what’s going on at your borders?”
Ruadhar moved to indicate the map before us, and then the far walls surrounding their forests.
“We’ve had skirmishes for the past two weeks on both sides, from the Night Guild to Port Vocal. It was when the trading wagons stopped moving that we knew there was a big problem. We fortified our defences and sent out the word to some of our brethren, but,” he lowered his head to Chinso, “it seemed we were already too late. I got word that my nephew and nieces were on their way here, and I tried to send out an accompanying party to meet them. It seems they crossed paths or were killed before they could get to them. I am just glad that you were there.”
“Then I am too because I don’t think they would have made it here otherwise. That goblin lord or whatever he was, really had it in for them.”
Chinso moved to take something out of his pockets. “I don’t think it was us they were really after, but maybe they were attracted to these.”
When he put his hands on the table, there rested a set of gems, not much unlike the ones that I had in my backpack. They glowed differently, though.
“It seems my brother knew what was coming. Chinso, I am so very sorry.”
I had no clue as to what they were. Powerful, yes, I could sense that.
“Ruadhar, would you do me the honours of bestowing me the title.” Chinso lowered his head, but I could see the worry etched across his brow.
Reaching into his belt, Chinso pulled out his sword, the sword that he was killing monsters with a little more than half a day ago. Ruadhar bowed.
“Of course.” Picking up the gems, Ruadhar moved towards his nephew, and all I could do was watch. The gems glowed even more as they reached near to the young elf’s sword. There, Ruadhar placed them carefully at the hilt.
“From father to son, the dawn will go on. From the dawn comes daylight and in turn becomes life. Your father would have been proud of you, and for his sake, I am. Leader of the Ellen Brights, you are, leader of the dawning you will become.”
The sword wasn’t put back into its sheath. Chinso looked to me. “Akillia, we need Royal blood to bind this, but it cannot be ours. Would you be so kind?”
He pointed the wrong end of the sword at me. As if I knew what to do with it. “Any amount?”
“Yes, please be careful. It is a sharp sword.”
I took it and pricked the palm of my hand enough so that it bled. I wasn’t scared of a little pain, but there wasn’t any, so I palmed my fist to stop the bleed and passed it back to him. “Thank you.”
“Now to the battle ahead?”
Ruadhar reached into his pocket for a clean cloth. I wrapped it around my hand and smiled. “It’s tiny. Don’t worry. Won’t be long for it to heal.”
“You know what we’re fighting, don’t you?”
“No,” I said. “But I do know that we all will be fighting. The goblin lord was most likely on his way to Kamaal’s borders. They’re in exactly the same fight that you are, except they’re managing to hold the enemy off for now. If the others, I’ll call them for now, get through your lines, they will sneak past and into Kamaal’s lands from any side, pinning them essentially against the coastline.”
“What are you suggesting?”
I noticed that he stiffened, and I knew he wasn’t going to like my answer. “That I am the connecting piece between you and Kamaal. That I guide you both into battle, and together, we’ll beat back these others.”
Chapter 31
Abel had not returned to me by the time we’d finished talking. I left the hall to go back to the others. Zurath perched with his foot up, and his head tucked in his back feathers. It almost looked like he was asleep to anyone else, but to me, I knew he was patiently waiting. As I moved to go past him, I lowered my arm so he would just hop on.
“I’ll inform my party of our plans, and we’ll begin travel to the border right away. We should be there by nightfall. It will give us time to settle, refresh, and assess the situation before Kamaal arrives.”
“I do not trust Kamaal, but I do trust you. For the good of all of us, I believe you will bring us together to stop this fight.”
“I aim to finish it and find out why the portals are here. There’s something weird going on, and no one knows what, but we will get to the bottom of it. Then, new peace treaties and alignments might be needed.” I looked to Chinso. “You’ll be needed for those.”
He lowered his head. “Yes, I believe I will.” He moved to grasp my other hand with his and then stepped backwards. “I hope to see you again, Akillia.”
I moved back and away to where my party had settled.
Myleen and Ferris greeted me, taking me to the small campfire and offering me food and drink. I knew they’d fed Zurath, but not me, horrid creatures. I laughed and dug into the fresh food that Myleen and Macie had stewing.
“Thank you. We’ll need the energy. We’re to head to the borders.” I pointed to the darkening skies and watched their faces.
Taffie was the first to stand. “We’re not leaving you just because we think you’re heading into dangerous waters, lassie.” He drew his short sword and pointed it to the sky. “If there’s a fight going on, we’ll be there to defend you, and those who need it.”
I glanced at all the other nodding heads and smiled. This was the strangest bunch. Sven poked his head out of the wagon, “I’m in as well if you’ll let me come.”
This time, I shook my head. “No, you’ll be waiting here for our return. Your sister wouldn’t thank me if I allowed you off to fight wars. We’ll be back. What I would like you to do for us is look after the other wagon and its wares. We’ll need those on the way back. We’ll gather you and them, and then continue to Hell’s Pass to find out our next stage in the journey.”
He sighed, and I watched as he looked at Ferris. “You’ll have to give me some access to the tech.”
Ferris cursed and moved to go inside with the kid.
That’s when I noticed a ping and a message pop-up in my view.
“This is Jane. E
mma, we need you to log out for a few moments.”
I had thought this might be coming, as there was still no sign of Abel. I also moved to get into the wagon. “I’ll be out as soon as I can. Finish the food. We’re waiting for Abel too, and then we’ll make a move.”
The others watched me carefully, and then I stepped inside. “Ferris, I just need some rest for a little while. Ignore me. I won’t disturb you showing him the ropes.”
Within a moment, I was on a spare bunk, the curtains pulled about me, and then I settled to hit the log out.
Everything shimmered, colours everywhere.
Then it all went blank.
I expected the room to be dark and there to be minimal lights as there had been the last few times, but the lights were on, and it was bright. Oh, so bright. It stung my eyes at first, and I tried not to look.
I heard rustling up ahead of me, and then a voice, “I apologise for getting you here under false pretences, Emma.”
“What?” I struggled to focus, but the light hurt.
“Take your time, Emma. I’m not rushing you, but I thought you needed to see me.”
“Who are you?” I asked. “Where am I?”
“You’re inside the games programming components. You might call it a computer, but if a computer could span a thousand worlds, I don’t think you could still comprehend the actual size of this, or us.”
“Us?” I was getting more confused now.
“My name is Tibex. I am the one who has been sending you messages.”
As the light settled, and I finally thought I might be able to see, I opened them again, just about making out the shadow of this figure. “I’m not really corporeal enough for you to see without me taking a lot of energy from the fight, and at the moment, I cannot afford to do this.”
“You’re fighting, as well?”
“Yes, I am. Here.” I felt a hand on mine, and it tugged, I eased up and into a standing position and looked around the room that I thought I was in.
It wasn’t a room, though. It wasn’t anything. The floor, the walls, nothing was physically there. “This is a little bit of a shock to your system, I understand. I just need you to focus on the space in front of you.”
So, I did. There were thousands of sparks inside the space. “These are almost like neurons, right?”
“That is correct. Each spark is a new direction for an NPC or for one of the creatures on Puatera. Look deeper.”
So I did. There I spotted darkness. A blot against the sparking energies. I could see where it was coming from, and where it was going. It wasn’t big, but it wanted to be. It wanted the whole of Puatera.
I stepped backwards, suddenly afraid of the thing. Its creeping spread was horrifyingly slow. “This is the thing Kamaal and Ruadhar showed me. This is what’s behind the war?”
“To some extent, yes.”
It didn’t look like a virus or anything I could comprehend in the digital world, but it did look like there was also a fight going on in here. I could see as the darkness tried to envelop the sparks there were stalemates and small fights going on. In some places, there was the surrounding light that tried to keep the darkness from gaining on the other possibly weaker elements.
“Thank you for showing me this.” I tried to understand its strategy. Finally, I connected the dots of the area and saw where the shadows were targeting, and said, “I think if we can fight and turn the tide back even if it’s just towards the portal, then we’ll stall this all the more. Then maybe find a permanent way to stop it.”
“That is why I wanted you to see it from my point of view. Abel is talking with Dresel right now about his components in the game world.”
I turned to look at Tibex, but I couldn’t see him. “Abel, he’s okay though, right. He will come back to us?”
“Yes, he’s been a great help so far. I trust him as much as I trust you in being here.”
“Ruadhar doesn’t trust anyone, it seems.”
I tapped the screen, and Tibex pulled my arm. “What do you mean? You can see that?”
I stared at the space before me, and said, “I can hear him. He’s telling his advisers that if Kamaal puts one foot out of place, then they must destroy him while he’s out of his safety zone.” I glanced to Tibex even though I couldn’t see a face. “Kamaal will be in danger away from his citadel, and I’m the one putting him at risk.”
“Yes, you are, and yes, he will be.”
“Then I need to get to the borders now, and we need to make headway before they all collide with one another. There will be more than bloodshed of both elves and the Night Guild if we don’t do this. They’ll fight amongst themselves instead of the others. It’s the others we can’t have spreading, and they won’t see that when they’re locked in a stupid battle for their own leadership.”
“That is why, you are here, Akillia. You need to reign above them all and lead the both of them.”
I swallowed and turned away. “Um, how do I get out of here?”
Tibex laughed. “Close your eyes, and just think wake,” he whispered.
When I closed my eyes and thought about waking up.
I felt and smelled the familiar scent of the bunk. I opened my eyes to normal lighting and blinked a few times. Would Abel be on his way back? Would the party have finished their food?”
I moved to leave the wagon and was right. I saw Abel heading my way, and the party was all packed and waiting with horses and weapons to the side.
Myleen glanced down at me. “Alec’s meeting us there. He’s travelling with Kamaal and his guild for safety. He said the forest was more dangerous now.”
“All right.” I could see worry across her creased brow. “Kamaal won’t hurt him.”
Her eyes narrowed. “He better not, or he’ll have to answer to me. Demigod or not.”
Abel looked at the others and to me. He reached for the reins of his horse and looked to the darkening skies. “We have a battle to win. Come on.” No mention at all of what I’d asked him. Maybe he had to tell me those answers in private? I tried my best to hide that fear.
I watched him for a moment, smiled, and then went for Bracer, mounting up quickly enough to call forth Zurath. He wasn’t taking to my arm though. He wanted to see from above. I let out a chuckle and harnessed my energies to connect with him at larger distances. He would be our scout while we traversed through to the border.
Nudging Bracer on, I led, and they followed. Quite the turnaround for my character and I didn’t think twice about doing so. When I started out, I would have worried over the decisions something wicked. I was getting stronger and more confident. For that, I liked Puatera even more. I had to do the best I could. I wanted this game to survive.
A while later and up ahead, we could see the smoke, and the fighting was easier to hear. I reached out to Zurath who allowed me to see what he did.
I expected to see creatures fighting. Elves and creatures of the night. Instead, there was just a dark black mist, and when I looked in closer, it actually seemed pixelated. Wrong. I motioned Abel up closer to me and reached for his hand. “I know you have answers for me, for where I came from, but I’m not worried about that right now. What did Dresel say about the glitches?”
Abel squeezed gently. “They were getting harder to track down and isolate, but they’ve managed to track it down to one isolated area. They’re working on cracking it, but it’s going to be a long process.”
“Our job here will be to push it back to the portal. Wherever it came from, I have a feeling it will return if pushed hard enough.”
“It won’t cure the problem though, right?”
“No, it won’t. It just means it will be someone else’s problem for a while, and we can continue to our first mission objective. Get to Hell’s Pass, meet up with Maddie, find out what she has discovered, and then tackle it again.”
“I think you’ve got a good plan. I’m looking forward to seeing what this is and in strategizing how to take it down.”
&nbs
p; I never thought I would be a thinking, moving cog in a system like this, but the more I let Bracer trot through the growing bush of the Elven Forest home, the more I liked it.
I got used to the idea of actual fighting, in using any method necessary to take out the opposition. I could see why any gamer would like to do this. It really was a rush. I’d started out as a basic elf, despite now knowing I possessed the body of a Royal with a few advantages already. I traced over the tattoo design on my arm, but as I’d started to train, I had made a decision. I would learn to do things I never thought I would. I was even riding a horse and carrying a giant bird on my shoulder.
It wasn’t that I had been afraid of any animal. I’d just never spent a lot of time with them. Now that I was here wandering around Puatera, I was fascinated and wished I’d spent time with the animals of our world. It was something I would remedy when I was home and living life again.
That begged the question I couldn’t help but ask, “What happens after the six-month beta testing?”
“You mean if the game’s designers send it out into the world?”
I looked at his face and watched for any reaction. “Yes, this was a testing phase. The plan is for everyone to be able to play and enjoy it. To start farms, craft, do the things they want.”
“Including fight monsters?”
“Yes, that too. There are many quests the A.I. can set up and help with, without there being major repercussions in the land itself. Just there seems to be a few issues with the way things are going at the moment.”
“Not for too much longer, I hope.”
Abel tried to smile, but I could see he was genuinely worried. The way his brow creased was a telltale giveaway.
Myleen approached us and asked, “What does Zurath see from above?”
I focussed in again on him, and once my view adjusted, I let Abel take the reins from me while I saw the view from high above the treeline.