by Matt Moss
To bypass our adoring fans, Gio takes a turn at the bottom and goes through the corridors, towards the middle of the arena.
Down at the bottom of the Colosseum where the slaves and gladiators used to be held in preparation for battle, we meet the top-shelf members of the guild.
Six players are huddled together talking, then turn and stand at attention when they see us coming.
Giology introduces me.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he addresses, then looks to the kid that’s with them. “And Squirt. I give to you, Ace the Great. Your new Commander.”
“Hello,” I greet.
“If you would, introduce yourselves. Since you are all five-time Grandmasters, go ahead and tell Ace your primary classes.”
The kid is the first to step forward. “My name is Squirt. My primary class is Thief. Secondary class, Bard.”
I reach out to shake his small hand. “What are you, eight years old?”
“Twelve. I’m just small for my age,” he replies proudly and pulls his suspenders tight with his thumbs.
“You don’t dress, or look, like a Thief,” I note.
The boy procures a teleport scroll from his inventory and smiles deviously. I check my inventory and see that I’m one short. I know that because I always keep track of my teleports and potions.
The boy hands it back to me, and I snatch it out of his hand. The rest of the group chuckles.
“Not bad. I’ll be sure to keep an eye on my inventory whenever you’re around.”
Squirt grins and takes a step back.
Two Dragoons—dressed in sleek plate mail from head to toe, carrying rare and powerful spears across their backs—are next to meet me, one male and one female.
“Meric and Seric, at your service, Commander.”
I shake their hands and, with their visors up, I can see that they resemble each other. “Dragoons. That’s one of my two chosen classes, with Warrior being the other.”
“We chose Ranger as our secondary,” Meric says, his voice deep and raspy.
“You two siblings or something? You look a lot alike.”
“We’re twins,” Seric replies. Her eyes shine with vigor, and I can tell that both of the twins are eager to follow my instructions. They may be Grandmasters, but whether or not they are good in a fight, we shall see. They seem to know no struggle here on Thannadas, so I don’t know if they’ve ever proven themselves on a field of battle.
“Nice to meet you,” I tell them.
A Dwarf steps to greet me next, looking like a character straight out of middle earth. But instead of an axe, there’s a bow strapped across his back.
I shake his hand. “Hello.”
He shakes with a firm grip, then takes a step back. He doesn’t answer.
Squirt speaks up. “His name is Fance. Though, many people say that’s just his nickname and nobody knows his real name.”
“Fance sounds good to me,” I say and grin at the Dwarf. Rub my chin as I size him up. “But I’m a little confused by the bow. Shouldn’t you be carrying an axe?”
He grunts. “Oh, sure. Judge a book by its cover, do ya? I’ll have you know that I’m one of the best Archers in Alterlife, along with being one of the fastest Scouts.” He spits to the side. “By the looks of you, the Legend, I’m not that impressed. You walk in here, thinking this is your guild now. You can go diddle yourself in public while hiding under your Cloak of Invisibility, you inflated son of a pig fu…”
“That will be enough, Fance,” Giology says, interrupting him.
Fance works his jaw, always wanting to say more but knows to keep his mouth shut.
“Apologize,” Gio tells him, then looks to me. “I’m sorry Ace, but he can be a bit of a hot head sometimes.”
The group stifles a laugh. All except for the Dark Elf who’s dressed in black and hasn’t taken her cold stare off of me this entire time.
Fance grumbles. “Ahh, shit on it all. I apologize. Sometimes my mouth runs faster than my brain.”
“That’s an understatement,” the old man who I’ve yet to meet adds.
“No need to apologize. I’m used to, and encourage, healthy banter between friends,” I tell him, thinking back on my days working construction. “It’s nice to meet you, Fance.”
The old, short man steps up and eagerly shakes my hand. “My name’s Hedwig, but you can call me Hed. Or Wig. Or Hedwig; doesn’t really matter.”
“Nice to meet you, Hedwig.” His grip is overly firm. With gray hair extending from the sides of his head and bald on top, he grins behind a thick, white mustache. He’s wearing leather overalls that have an abundance of pockets, each of them containing some sort of tool or piece of hardware. “You’re a Tinker.”
He steps back and holds his arms out, looks at himself, then back up to me with a gleam in his eye. “Ah, you’ve a keen eye. I’ve been mistaken for a Mage on more than one occasion. I always figured it was my hair that made people think that I’m a Tinker.”
“I think it’s your clothes,” Squirt notes. “Those are Tinker clothes. And your face is always covered in soot.”
“Well, that’s possible,” Hedwig says. “Anyway, aside from metallurgy and mechanics, I’m an Alchemist.” He leans in close to whisper, though everyone around us can hear him. “If you’re ever in need of some stiff drink that’s sure to have you whistlin’ dixie, come see me. Can’t nobody make it better.”
I grin as he backs away slowly.
“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks. Pleasure to meet you.”
I turn my gaze to the remaining person who’s been eyeing me ever since I walked up. She’s a Dark Elf, and her demeanor matches her character perfectly. My hand reaches out to hers in greeting. She looks at it, frowns, then narrows her gaze at mine.
Confused, I let my arm fall.
“Don’t mind Precious. She’s still bent over you being Commander and all,” Squirt says.
“I’m sorry?” I say to her. “Is there something wrong with me?”
“Precious used to be Commander. Oh, and that’s not her real name either. She won’t tell anybody. But others started calling her Precious because of how she acts, so I guess the name stuck.”
“That’s enough, Squirt,” Giology says and speaks to me on her behalf. “I had to demote her in order to promote you.” He turns his gaze to hers. “And it was necessary and beneficial to all, and I’m sure there will be no hard feelings over it.” He smiles and speaks to the group. “I’m sure that the feeling is mutual—we are all happy to have Ace among our ranks. I, for one, am. And I count him as friend and loyal member of the guild.” He pats me on the shoulder.
“Hey, I’m just happy to be back in Alterlife and to be among such great company,” I tell them. “Even you, Precious,” I add with a grin, which draws a laugh out of the other five that I just met.
She looks away and folds her arms.
“Thank you for trusting me to be your Commander. I promise, I won’t let you down.” I nod, looking from one to the other. “I can also promise you that, in a short amount of time, we’re going to do great things.”
Time to saddle up.
I hope they’re ready for this.
I hope I’m ready for this.
12
Taking Command
Inside the arena, twenty of the best that the Soldiers have to offer are patiently waiting for me to begin.
I scratch my head and glance up at the sun that burns bright overhead.
I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve never trained an army before. And I’ve never been in a war. Hunting beasts is all I know.
And killing gods. You’re pretty good at that.
We’re on the road to war; none of us are ready or have any idea of what that’s like.
“Apologies if it seems like I don’t know what I’m doing. I can confidently remove any doubt that you might have and reassure all of you that… yeah, I have no damn clue what I’m doing.”
The statement draws a laugh from the line of p
layers ready to train. I suppose it’s a good thing Giology isn’t here. He’d probably be embarrassed for putting someone in this position that’s unfit to command.
You’re not unfit. Just teach them what you know. Don’t bullshit and be someone you’re not.
I am Ace…
I kick at the dirt, then look back up at the line as I speak. “I’ll be honest with you. Everything I’ve achieved in Alterlife has been part luck and part determination to adapt to whatever change comes my way—the biggest part being luck. But I cannot preach enough about how being adaptable and always looking for an advantage in a dire situation is one of the greatest attributes a player can possess. That is what I know, and that is what we are going to try to prepare for.”
I step closer to them, starting at the edge of the line and working my way across, meeting each of their eyes as I pass. “Make no mistake. Though we’ve yet to step foot on the battlefield, we are at war. And I fully expect that you all assume the same rank as me—each of you becoming Commanders of the Saviors.” Their eyes widen at the statement, as they’ve surely never been given that much authority before. “Let me be clear. My command still reigns high, but I am just one man. And if we’re going to win this war, we’re going to need every one of you to step up and become leaders. We have over fifty thousand members, so each of us will be commanding a troop comprised of no less than two thousand players.”
“Now we can sit here while Korin, our Grandmaster Summoner, can manifest a mirror of any beast or elemental into the arena for us to train against. But since all of you are Grandmasters in your own respects, we’ve no need to go over the basics of combat. You all know what you’re doing. So we will prepare differently.” I put a finger to my head. “We must hone and use strategy and military tactics in this war because we are not fighting just one or a few enemies. We will be putting our lives against nearly a million other players, all eager to erase us from this world. Let that sink in real good.”
My words are earnest and sharp. They’re meant to be. I can see a few of the players already second guessing their involvement with being in command.
I continue. “Ever since Thal showed himself to the world, death has become real. If you die here, you die in the real world as well. It’s like the virus, but somehow acts immediately. The Gamemasters have figured out a way to trigger something inside the mind that acts like a switch. So let me say again, if you die in the game, it’s lights out for you in the real world.”
“We know this,” Meric says, and pounds the butt of his spear onto the ground, sending up a small cloud of dust. “And we are not afraid. The Creator has blessed the Saviors, and we will do His will in fighting against the darkness that is threatening to take over this world.”
Damn. Giology has already done his cult thing on all these peoples’ minds.
Then they will make good fighters. Unshakable faith can be one of the greatest, most powerful weapons a man can wield.
I clasp both hands behind my back and square up to the group.
“I just want it to be clear so that you know. If any of you want to step down from command now, I understand and will think no less of you for doing so. There is no shame in it.” I point towards one of the corridors that exits the arena. “There’s the door.”
A few look, perhaps even longing to go, but none move. Each of them stand firm.
I nod and fold my arms. “Good.”
Twenty days. We need to be ready in twenty days. Before the blood moon and the ritual takes place.
But the Sanctum Stone is here. It’s safe. Without all five stones, they can’t perform the ritual.
You don’t know that. That’s just what Deana said. What if they can perform it with just four stones? Either way, we need to be ready.
“We’ve got twenty days to prepare. After that, we go to war.”
“What? Why the sudden rush?” Fance says and throws his arms out. “There’s no way we can be ready in that amount of time.”
“Is anyone ever ready for a thing such as war?” I reply. “No. But we will do the best we can to prepare ourselves in that amount of time.”
“But why twenty days?” Fance growls back, stepping towards me from the line.
“I have it on good authority that the gods will be performing a ritual on the blood moon in an attempt to bring Thal back. And if Thal returns, our chances of winning this war will decrease drastically.”
My words draw worried looks upon their faces.
We may not even have a chance if Thal comes back. Deana says tenfold, but no one knows what his strength will be upon his return. I’m worried that it will magnify to some indomitable amount.
It’s not necessarily Thal that concerns me. The gods and the million-man army that we’re going against scares me the most. How can we overcome such a force?
We will find a way.
“Do not let this undermine your spirit. We will overcome our enemies.”
“But how? Our numbers are nothing compared to theirs,” Seric notes.
“Ya, I’m not so sure about this,” Squirt says.
I look at the boy. “I’m not either. But we have to try. There’s no other option.” I walk away from the line, turn and stand in front of them as I give orders on what to do next. “I want everyone—every single player in this guild—to focus on healing and countering magic. I want everyone to be a Grandmaster Mage and learn those magics the best they can. So, for now, this arena will serve as a training ground for that. Gather the guild and spar with one another—against single opponents and multiple.” I walk the line. “We’re not going to win this fight with sheer force, so we’re going to have to be smart about this. I also want potions. Lots of potions.” I look to Hedwig.
“I’ll round the Alchemists up and they’ll get to cookin’,” he says. “And I’ll be workin’ on something myself. I’ve heard that the players on the Asia server have mastered flight with machines, and, well, I’ll be damned if I let them figure that out while we’re here walking on all-twos like a bunch of monkeys.”
“Monkeys walk on all-fours,” Squirt rebuttals.
The old Tinker waves the boy off without even looking at him. “I’ve been working on a sky ship of my own, and I’ve almost got it complete. If I can get it done, I think it’ll prove to be useful in this fight.”
“It’s pretty awesome. I’ve seen it myself,” Squirt adds.
“That sounds great,” I tell Hedwig. “A weapon like that would help us tremendously. I would very much like to see it.”
“My shop is just on the edge of the city and over the hill. Follow the main road, and you can’t miss it.”
“Noted.” I give the line one last look. “You have your orders. That will be all for now.” Before they leave, I offer a request.
“Now I’m going to need one of the best Scouts we got and a Ranger to go with me to the mainland. I want to see Baleton and the enemy numbers for myself. Any volunteers?”
Precious, the Dark Elf who clearly doesn’t like me, is the first to step forward.
“I thought you were an Assassin and a Tamer?” I ask her.
“She’s a seven-time Grandmaster. One of them being a Ranger,” Squirt says.
Seven? Impressive.
“And does she speak?” I ask, never once hearing her say a word. I look to her for an answer.
“I speak when necessary,” Precious replies with a clear, icy tone. She takes a few steps forward.
“Alright then. Anyone else? If there are no other volunteers, then I will be forced to choose.” I look to Fance, who claims to be one of the best Scouts in Alterlife.
He furrows his brow at me. Mumbles, but eventually caves. “Argh, fine. I’ll go with ya.” He steps forward, looks up to Precious who’s standing beside him, mumbles something inaudible again and levels his gaze back at me.
“I’ll go too,” Seric states and steps forward. Behind her, I can see Meric wanting to protest his sister’s decision, but he doesn’t.
Seric tak
es her place beside Fance and stands proud.
“Okay. I guess two Rangers are better than one.” And it does make me feel better that another Ranger is going along who doesn’t hate my guts. Precious, though I’m not scared of her, still gives me a bad feeling.
“You’re putting a lot of faith in the rest of us,” Hedwig says.
“A good leader delegates and has trust in those under his command.”
The old Tinker inclines a nod of respect, then walks out of the arena, followed by the rest of the players.
“We’ll leave to scout the enemy tomorrow. I’d very much like to see what we’re up against.”
“Tomorrow, then,” Fance says and walks away.
“Commander,” Seric salutes, then follows Fance.
In a rare instance, Precious speaks—her voice low and crisp. “I’ve always wanted to see the rest of the world. To me, Thannadas has always felt like a cage.” Her cold stare finally breaks away from me when she turns to leave, her black cloak flowing behind her quick steps.
I make my way through the city with minimal delay from the rest of the guild who flood the streets to meet me, still enamored and starstruck by my presence. As I make my way to the palace, I smile and greet them, and apologize for not being able to spend more time with them right now. Halfway across the bridge, the crowd turns back around and leaves me alone.
Walking through the open gates, I see the NPC servants dressed in white undergarments and working the garden grounds. I hurry into the palace, knowing full well that they may go all Discovery Channel on each other without a moment’s notice.
Giology meets me inside the palace. He beckons me to follow him. To the far right of the main hall, there’s an altar in the middle of a small fountain that I didn’t notice the first time I came to this place.
Standing in front of the fountain, I gaze upon the altar and stare at the stone that rests on top. It’s clear, and looks an awful lot like quartz. ‘Fool’s Diamond’ is what many people call it because it looks valuable, but isn’t. Very common and can be found in most regions.