Awaken Online: Retribution (Side Quest)

by Bagwell, Travis

  Clarence’s body tripled in size before their eyes, his arms, legs, and torso thickening. Huge veins appeared along his skin, glowing with a rainbow of energy. Dozens of tendrils grew from his shoulders and back, long spindly growths of flesh topped with razor-sharp crystals that drug along the cobblestones of the courtyard. Meanwhile, thick crystals formed along the former librarian’s chest and shoulders, creating a glowing armor.

  “What is this?” Ethan muttered as the group backed away.

  Riley quickly inspected the creature, the notice revealing little information.

  Mana Abomination – Level ???

  Skulls were located near the creature’s name, as though it wasn’t already apparent that this was a boss-level creature. Riley’s gaze moved back to her group even as she nocked an arrow. “Ethan, guard the casters and Cecil. Marie and Melissa can take point on this one, and I’ll provide ranged support.”

  The burly warrior nodded, hoisting his shield. His skin turned a dark gray as he activated Stone Skin. Lucas and Emma moved behind him, their staves held at the ready. The light mage immediately began casting her support spells, a shimmer of white energy falling over the group and her protection against evil spell illuminating the monster in front of them. Meanwhile, long daggers appeared in the hands of both Melissa and Marie as they slowly approached the massive creature from each side.

  Clarence finally straightened. Pulling himself to his feet, he looked down at the group with glowing multi-hued eyes. His grotesque mouth gaped open, revealing jagged, uneven teeth. “You have no chance against me,” he rumbled, his voice coming out in a tortured, harsh tone.

  “We’ll see about that,” Melissa replied coolly, her eyes filled with deadly intent. Then she rushed forward at lightning speed. The tendrils on the creature’s back and shoulders lashed out, rapidly extending several meters. The rogue nimbly dodged out of the way, and the tentacles crashed against the courtyard, splitting the rock and throwing up a thick cloud of dust.

  “We are legion and serve a greater master!” the Clarence-creature cried. Then the air was filled with its tentacles, the tendrils growing and expanding as they raced toward Melissa and Marie. The older woman dodged an incoming blow with a quick sidestep. Her blade lashed out, slicing through the tendril. Sickly glowing blood dripped from the tip. Riley could see that the tentacle was immediately beginning to reform.

  “He’s regenerating!” she shouted over the crash of the tentacles slamming against the ground and Clarence’s mad laughter. Marie and Melissa were barely able to approach the monster, his body recovering faster than they could destroy it.

  They danced, spun, and dodged in a blur of motion – moving faster than Riley thought possible as they severed tendrils with wild abandon. Yet it was futile. They weren’t able to move any closer to the beast, and he was slowing pushing them back.

  Then Marie gave a frustrated shout and retreated a few steps away. Her eyes turned a void-like obsidian riddled with specks of red. A bloody mist began pouring from her skin, collecting around the woman in a dense cloud. The droplets slowly condensed, forming several crimson doppelgangers, blood-red daggers held in their hands.

  “A Fury?” the creature cackled as it watched the older woman. “I never thought I would see one myself. You will be a fitting sacrifice to our new lord!”

  A dozen tentacles raced toward Marie and her new blood army. Yet her doppelgangers made short work of the tendrils, moving with blinding speed as they sliced through the appendages in a frenzy. Meanwhile, Cecil threw vials at the monster. The glass shattered against the mass of tentacles, showering them with some caustic substance that ate through the creature’s flesh even as Lucas released bolt after bolt of electric energy at the monster.

  Working together, the group began to carve a hole in the creature’s defenses, destroying the tendrils faster than it could create them. Melissa took advantage of the opening and raced forward into melee range. At the same time, Riley summoned and released a Void Arrow; the bolt of dark energy raced toward the monster’s head. The impact staggered it, throwing it off balance for a moment.

  Melissa didn’t relent, jumping into the air and swinging around the creature’s body even as she rammed her blades into the base of its neck. A thick stream of multicolored blood jetted from the wound, staining the cobblestones. With a massive roar, the creature raised its arms into the air and then slammed them down.

  The blow threw up a thick cloud of dust, obliterating the ground beneath the monster. A ripple of debris and kinetic energy raced out from the point of impact, immediately disintegrating Marie’s blood creatures. Melissa was thrown back – her body slamming into one of the columns of the library with a sickening crunch. The rogue fell to the ground unmoving.

  Still, Clarence didn’t relent. He changed tactics and went on the offensive. The muscles in his bulbous legs bulged, and he launched into the air. Landing in the middle of Ethan’s formation, the force of the impact sent out another shockwave of energy that threw the players off balance. The creature’s crystal-tipped tendrils raced forward, penetrating the bodies of Lucas and Emma. Blood soon stained their robes as their health rapidly depleted.

  Another group of tendrils slammed into Ethan, the warrior barely able to get his shield up in time. The blow shattered his shield, fragments of metal shrapnel chipping his stone body. The force of the strike threw him across the courtyard.

  Cecil fared little better. The enchanter managed to throw a vial just before a tendril struck, creating a foam-like substance that muted the impact. However, the blow still sent him flying.

  And then only Riley and Marie remained. Their team lay upon the ground around them. Feeling numb, Riley could see that Emma and Lucas were already dead, and Ethan would likely soon follow. Cecil and Melissa were completely unmoving. Clarence turned to face Riley, ignoring the older woman as she struggled to regain her footing.

  His mad eyes bore into Riley. “You see this, girl? This is true power.” He took a lumbering step forward, his feet cracking the cobblestones beneath him. “The strength to crush your enemies. The ability to level cities. With this power, we will rule under his hand!” He let out another hoarse cackle.

  Riley just stood there in shock. How could they hope to beat this monster? Even her dark mana was not enough to push back the growing despair in her chest. She wasn’t strong enough to fight this thing.

  “But you won’t see our master come to this world,” Clarence continued. “I’ll make certain of that.” His tendrils raced forward toward Riley, a dozen crystalline tips glimmering in the lights cast by the lanterns ringing the courtyard. She witnessed her own death looming before her.

  Riley saw a blur of motion out of the corner of her eye and heard a wet impact, but no pain lanced her body. As she looked up, she saw Marie standing in front of her, the woman’s daggers raised defensively. She had managed to block a few tendrils, but that hadn’t been enough. Nearly half a dozen tentacles had pierced her armor, and blood ran freely down the leather.

  As Clarence retracted his tendrils, Marie staggered and almost fell, her legs no longer able to support her. Even with her heightened reflexes, Riley barely caught her before she hit the ground, easing her fall. The older woman soon lay on the ground, looking up at her.

  “I’m sorry,” Marie whispered.

  She coughed harshly, blood bubbling at her lips. “So sorry… Lily.”

  “What? What are you talking about?” Riley asked, watching the life fade from her eyes. Marie never got a chance to answer as she fell limp and her eyes clouded over, staring into the distance. A glance at her combat log confirmed that the woman had died.

  Riley just stared at Marie’s body and at the blood covering her hands. No epic music played, nor was there any sudden resurrection. The woman was dead – completely. She knew from her experience with Rex that the NPCs of this world did not come back.

  As Riley looked at the dead woman, helpless rage boiled in her chest. It was supposed to be different here.
In this game, she was supposed to feel in control – to feel powerful. Yet she hadn’t been able to complete this quest. She hadn’t been able to do anything to help her teammates. She just felt helpless. She felt that same sense of crushing defeat she had experienced at the hands of Alex – at the torment from her classmates.

  She could feel the rage and despair curl and coil within her chest, overwhelming the frigid mana in her veins. Riley looked up at the horrifying creature, its face leering at her – mocking her. For the first time in a long time, her dark mana faded. She was left feeling only her own angry rage as it pounded through her veins – an intense hatred for the creature and what it represented.

  Before she could stop herself, Riley rushed at the beast, a piercing scream erupting from her throat. She had no plan. She had no goal. She just poured every ounce of frustration and rage into that scream as she barreled toward the massive creature.

  She never saw the tendrils coming. Over a dozen crystalline tips penetrated her armor simultaneously, lifting her body off the ground and suspending her in the air. As her health depleted and finally hit zero, she looked into the creature’s crazed eyes.

  “Fuck you,” she said, blood staining her lips.

  Then Riley died.

  System Message

  You have died.

  Thanks for playing Awaken Online!

  Chapter 26 - Furious

  Riley opened her eyes a moment later, noticing motes of translucent blue energy drifting through the air around her like ephemeral snowflakes. She was standing in the same courtyard outside of the library, raindrops splattering against the cobblestones as her group squared off for the second time against Clarence.

  She watched the brown-robed librarian go through his evil monologue once more, his eyes wild with madness. Again, his body transformed into the same gruesome, bulbous creature. She couldn’t look away as she watched her teammates being torn down around her. However, it was watching Marie die in her arms and her own thin form rush at the hulking beast that caused her to slide to the ground, cradling her knees with her arms.

  It didn’t matter how far she had come. She had struck back at Alex, she had fought alongside Jason and Frank, and she had made it to the end of this quest. But it just wasn’t enough; it was never enough.

  She didn’t want to admit that some part of the rage she had felt only a moment ago was directed at herself. She hated Alex. She hated those girls. And she sure as hell hated that grotesque abomination that still leered at her in the courtyard. But what she really hated was that she was too weak to do anything about it – too weak to fight back.

  “We all feel that way at times,” a voice said from behind Riley. She started as a hand gently rested on her shoulder and scrambled to her feet. Riley turned and found a ghostly figure standing behind her, gazing at her with a compassionate expression. The girl was semi-translucent, her skin glowing softly. She was robed in a vaguely familiar outfit; patches of red fabric were embroidered on her worn leather armor.

  “Who are you?” Riley asked in confusion.

  “I expect you know me. You carry my bow after all.” She gestured to the weapon slung across Riley’s shoulder. “My name is Lily,” she said calmly, her mouth curling into a sad smile.

  Riley’s mind wheeled in confusion. “But why are you here? I don’t understand. Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

  “Of course. I died in that awful labyrinth you conquered in the north, but, in my last moments, I did something stupid. I imbued a part of my soul into the bow you carry.” The girl seemed a bit embarrassed, not quite able to look Riley in the eye.

  Then Lily glanced up at her, tilting her head. “That is how you came to receive this quest. I offered you a chance to pick up where I left off, and I have been watching you closely ever since. You have made it so much further than I did on my own…,” the girl trailed off as her gaze shifted to the hulking abomination in the courtyard.

  “So why can I see you now?” Riley asked.

  “Because you died,” Lily replied simply. “See?” She motioned to the courtyard where Marie once again dove in front of Riley and then she began her headlong rush toward the creature. She was painfully aware of how that had ended.

  Lily’s eyes locked on Marie. “Even in her last moments, she tried to help me. I didn’t deserve her…”

  “You mean Marie?” Riley watched the ghostly girl carefully.

  “Yes.” Lily glanced at her, hesitating. “The real story is rather long, but I suppose we have some time, don’t we?” she added with a morose chuckle, looking at the death-scape surrounding them. “Marie only told you a small piece of my tale. She neatly glossed over what happened when my real family disappeared.”

  Lily hesitated for a moment before continuing, “I was lost for so long. I had evidence that something had happened. My family hadn’t just abandoned me as the city watch said. Our home was torn apart, and I found blood stains on the walls – not that they listened to me or bothered to check. We were low-born street rats after all. Our people go missing all the time. So, I did what everyone in the low streets does when the mages ignore them. I went to the gangs.”

  Lily settled on the steps of the library as she told her story, her eyes misting over. “It took me a while, but I eventually met a thief who actually heard me out. He did more than listen; he took me under his wing. Together we searched for clues to what had happened to my parents.” She glared with poorly-concealed hatred at Clarence as he restarted his mad monologue for the third time.

  “We discovered the cultists were stealing people from the mage city – those with a high natural affinity for the elements. They would then send them north to that dungeon you found – food for their fledgling god.”

  “Was the thief’s name Jerry?” Riley asked as she slowly began to pull together the threads of the girl’s story. It felt like puzzle pieces were beginning to connect in her head.

  Lily nodded. “Yes, of course. Jerry was… Well, he was an interesting man. We found some evidence of the cult operating in the city, but I wasn’t strong enough to do anything about it.” She shook her head. “I was just a silly girl who liked enchanting. Then Lily’s expression hardened. “I knew I needed to grow stronger if I wanted to accomplish my goal – if I wanted to avenge my parents.”

  “What did you do?” Riley prompted as the girl drifted into silence.

  She looked up at Riley. “I went to Marie. Even back then people knew she was much more than the matron of an orphanage. I had heard the rumors since I was a young girl. A killer. A legendary assassin…”

  Lily rose to her feet, pacing the library’s steps. “Marie was something special. She had real power – the type of power that would allow me to fight back and take vengeance on the cultists who had harmed my family.”

  Her hands clenched into fists as her eyes turned a dark obsidian. Then her gaze rested on Riley. “She was reluctant at first, but I insisted that she help me – train me. When she saw that I wouldn’t give up or relent, she finally gave in, and she showed me what it meant to be a Fury.”

  Riley’s eyes widened in surprise. Suddenly she began to understand Marie’s guilt and her last whispered message asking for forgiveness. She had also heard Clarence – or the creature that had once been Clarence – use that word when he had observed Marie fighting and the blood mist that she had manipulated.

  “After Marie provided me the training I needed, I went hunting,” Lily continued. “I couldn’t figure out where the cultists were hiding within the city, but I managed to follow one of them north.”

  Riley nodded, her eyes clouded as more parts of the story fell into place. “Marie mentioned you had disappeared and that a local thief also vanished around the same time.” She looked up at the ghostly girl. “Which must mean that Jerry followed you…”

  She sighed. “I was arrogant. It’s so easy to see that now. I wasn’t ready for what awaited me in the dungeon, and I was blinded by my anger. Jerry was too late to save me. I think he e
ventually tracked me to the cultists’ lair, but, despite his own abilities, he couldn’t take on an entire coven by himself.” She glanced up at Riley, biting her lip and her mana fading slightly. “Is he… is he okay?”

  “He’s fine. I mean it’s hard to tell with Jerry, but I guess he’s happy.”

  “Yes, he always was the joking sort,” Lily said, her eyes on the ground. She snorted softly. “A natural-born comedian if he hadn’t been born with a lock pick in his hand.”

  “There’s still one piece I don’t understand,” Riley began tentatively. “What is a Fury? The creature used that word too when he saw the blood creatures that Marie summoned.”

  Lily’s dark eyes focused on Riley, her mana flaring again. “Some of the other mages that still know we exist refer to us as ‘Erinyes.’ They call us ghosts or demons.” She laughed, the sound coming out harsher than Riley expected as the girl approached slowly. “These are only silly rumors. The truth is that we are so much more.

  “We are a group of women devoted to a singular purpose. We have been gifted by The Dark One himself with the ability to control our own blood. With this weapon, we channel the desire for vengeance and become its living incarnation in this world. We are pure wrath – untamed and wild.”

  Lily’s fists clenched and her eyes bored into Riley. “And that leads me to the purpose of our meeting. When you touched my bow, I sensed the same struggle inside of you that I felt so many years ago. You were deeply wronged. You yearn to fight back and lash out at those that have harmed you and the people you care for.

  “I have watched you for some time now, sitting by your side as you pursued my quest. You fight to avenge others – to free your people. You fight to protect your friends. I also witnessed your last attack on the abomination. Your rage and hate – your desire for revenge. You have already begun to take the first steps along the path.