by K. T. Hanna
Tapestries hung from the walls depicting great battles between humans, dark elves, and legions of beasts. Their quality was tangible and Murmur had to constantly resist the urge to run her fingers over them. No expense had been spared in here. If the owners had been real, this would have cost a load of money. Tapestries of this age and detail weren’t cheap, neither was the stone décor and the undeniable ambiance created by the lighting and atmosphere. As far as a virtual world went, the realism in the castle was astounding.
As they approached the throne room, it only became richer, gaudier, more overwhelmingly aristocratic. The arches curved, filled with filigree carvings. Crown molding twisted with flourishes that bled down the wall to end in ivy-covered pillars.
Murmur lost track of time. Fatigue no longer bothered her. She knew she wasn’t actually tired, couldn’t be, but sometimes her brain had difficulty with the concept. Perhaps finding out about her situation was more detrimental than had she remained clueless. Now her brain was struggling to reconcile what it expected and what existed. Ignorance had indeed been bliss.
The throne room’s archway was about twenty feet wide, with hulking mahogany doors bound by black iron. The stonework around its entrance teemed with intricate designs, flowers, thorns, and leaves all woven into one. Murmur glanced at it, wondering idly if it might come to life. She then recanted that thought as quickly as she could. She really didn’t need another AI-based dragon-lacerta thing complicating her virtual existence.
Devlish looked back toward the group, as Rash nudged him in the ribs with her elbow, her impatience showing.
“Any bets on what we’re going to find on the other side of the door?” He asked with a smile, but there was no belying the excitement making him tremble—or else perhaps it was fear. Either way.
“Certain death?” Mellow monotoned their answer perfectly, fluttering gorgeous eyelashes as they did so.
Close to level eighteen, Murmur couldn’t allow herself to contemplate death in that room. Not that she ever truly contemplated it, but it wasn’t always a determining factor. If they died learning a new encounter, then they died. A sudden chill gripped her heart, like a clawed hand squeezing the beats to a standstill.
How Sin noticed, she’d never know, but her best friend sidled up to her, linking their arms together and provided warmth, support, and an unwavering sense of trust.
“Thanks.” Mur whispered to her friend, suddenly feeling able to do anything, reinforced by her solidity in this world. Just maybe with a tad more advance planning.
“We’re not going to find out what’s in there just by standing here. Mur, Invis yourself so we can open the doors. I wonder if they use oil in this place. Those hinges look huge; they’ll probably squeak like mice.” Rash grinned back toward the rest of the guildies, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
Merlin coughed and drawled in his typical bored tone. “We just killed the two guards. Pretty sure they’ve used the doors before.”
“They probably know we’re coming then.” Exbo said, a maniacal grin on his face.
The two rangers laughed. Murmur cast her invisibility spell and prepared for the worst. After all, they’d been trained by an idiot ranger, accidentally pulled more mobs than they should be able to handle several times, been trained by an idiot bearing a grudge, not to mention hunted down by a small group of bandits. If anything, this next part of their adventure was only going to take it to another level. The castle was so elaborate she secretly wondered if it held one of the rumored keys, but at such a low level, she highly doubted it.
With that, the big doors opened inward, their hinges silent in a way that reinforced the supposition that they’d probably been used often.
Inside stood far too many monsters. From tall and willowy vampires to shorter imps with blackened skulls and glowing eyes. They were clustered around tables in small groups, standing with glasses in their hands, and all eyes swiveled to the silently-opened doors.
Murmur squelched down her panic as much as she could, but alarm bells sounded in her mind, starting with get the fuck out of here right now, and ending with holy shit we’re all dead. She forced herself to breathe, to count to five as her eyes scanned the overwhelming crowd in front of her. There was no way she’d be able to Mez more than eight of them, and that still left about four times that to come for them. This wasn’t a leveling castle. This was full on raid material.
And then her eyes came to rest on the throne in the center of the room, on the queen who sat upon it. Her black hair hung like midnight down her back, so black that everything around it seemed to be drawn in like a vortex. Her skin was such a deep purple that only the light in the room brought out its undertones, and her head held a crown full of spiked thorns that morphed and twisted into an intricate protective weave of vines cascading all the way down to her shoulders. Her armor was snug and functional, made of something that gleamed like metal and yet clung to her body, stretching with every movement.
Murmur’s breath caught in her throat as the woman on the throne slowly rose from it, eyes focusing on the entryway and its now unmistakably open doors. A sneer spread over her otherwise beautiful face. Her very presence radiated a hint of poison for uninvited guests, evident in the cut of her jaw and the malevolence leaking from her eyes. Raw power rolled off her in waves, like a radioactive glow. Her entire entourage turned to see what had caught their queen’s attention.
Holding her ground had never been so difficult. The atmosphere around this woman screamed at Mur to run. Not just run, but escape from this whole world and find a hole to crawl into so the queen might never chance to find her. Her power levels were nowhere near their low and measly levels. This queen was on a whole different plane.
“Holy fucking aura, Batman.” Mur whispered the words, and immediately saw the tension ease slightly in the backs of her guild mates. Not that it changed much. Not that it stopped the queen from finishing the rise to her feet. Not that it made any difference to the cruel smile as the dark elf commanded three huge hounds to lunged toward them.
Flashbacks flitted through Murmur’s mind. From the puppy her parents would never let her have, to a cousin when she was about eight, whose huge Rottweiler had been so happy to see her that it bowled her over, licking her face with wet doggy kisses.
These hounds were nothing like that. They were all sinew and muscle, with leathery black skin that showed every single rib, showcasing the movements as they galloped toward the group. ‘Hellhound’ sprang immediately to mind.
Devlish swapped his shield for a second axe, and for a moment Murmur was excited to see how he did with dual wielding. That had to be fun, right? Except the hounds were closing in, and Rashlyn crouched into a ready stance as Veranol hit both tanks with a ward, and Murmur, suddenly realizing they were about to fight, cast a Mez on the middle one, stopping it about ten feet from the group. Her mind had gone blank; she couldn’t afford such a lapse again. Especially against enemies this strong; their strength was a tangible pressure imposing itself on her. She refused to contemplate what might happen if they defeated the hounds, because, logically, stronger monsters came next. And that queen had to be around level thirty at the very least, which made Murmur frown, because none of that made sense for a dungeon in this area.
Time returned to normal for her, and the dogs crashed into each tank, saliva flying through the air as their ferocious jaws tried to clamp down on their prey. Keeping to her job of debuffing and locking down the third animal, Murmur also cast out her Thought Sensing net, disregarding the abject fear that roiled her gut while she did so. But if she had almost hurt allies, surely it meant she’d be able to hurt enemies with enough practice. The thought made her grin. She had to hone those skills, become stronger, more aggressive.
While she couldn’t tell what the queen was thinking, she could sense a complete and utter burning hatred from her. Murmur frowned. This world was so multifaceted; it no long
er felt quite like a game. The events that triggered, the way the mobs reacted. It was alive. It was so real she could literally touch it, or at least feel like she could.
Her body accelerated, her fingers a blur, allowing her to cast spells faster than she ever had before, allowing her mind to expand and her thoughts to coalesce into one terrifying weapon of prediction and control. Casting became second nature, instigated without a thought. Shielding came easier, and she projected fear at the dogs, watching the queen’s expression widen in her peripheral vision.
A grin gripped the edges of Murmur’s mouth, and she felt more than heard the odd cackle that began to emerge from her mouth. This was fun, this was power. She was powerful.
Rage blasted from the queen in waves. Perhaps it hadn’t been the best idea to aggravate her, but she’d sent the hounds in the first place, what had she expected?
The dogs’ health was difficult to whittle away, because their leather-like skin wasn’t as fragile as she’d assumed, but more like natural armor. Not as thick as the Brute’s had been, but definitely no easy task to hack through.
She could see the frustration on their rogues face every time he went to stab one of the beasts. Jinna’s face scrunched up in indignance at the supernatural toughness of the monsters. Most of the ranger’s arrows simply bounced off. The only things that really seemed to affect them were shield bashes to the head, disorienting the dogs momentarily.
The hounds snapped at anything within range of their razor sharp teeth, imparting plague and poison with every bite. Their reflexes were so fast they made her vision blur, despite the debuffs the group had piled on them.
Dansyn gave up trying to attack them with melee weapons and adjusted his song support to allow him to land at least some damage. For a second or two, Murmur wished she’d been a bard. It looked like fun.
She could sense the cures flying from Mellow and Veranol. Sinister could have clarified their blood too, but her heals were more powerful and her damage too great to let go of in favor of fixing up some poison and disease damage. The way they worked in synchronization was truly beautiful. Friends who trusted each other enough to back each other up no matter what they needed. And she trusted them still, in spite of everything. When she really thought about it, they weren’t the ones trying to kill her.
Mur cast Nullify on the third dog, reducing its magic resisting to ensure her Mesmerizes would land. There was a brief lull in the battle that allowed Murmur to take stock of the room beyond where they were fighting.
Tables and chairs spread around the entire hall. It was a huge area, and its opulence reflected that of the halls they’d passed through to get there. Running her eyes over the people in the hall multiple times, she came to the conclusion that there were at least thirty of them there.
But the issue wasn’t just the numbers, it was the level discrepancy. These monsters all conned red to her, a dark red at that. In and of itself that wasn’t bad—it wasn’t like they’d pulled the hounds themselves. No—the queen, who was fully aware of them had sent them. If the woman ordered them to, Murmur had no doubt that every single one of those courtiers, attendants, or whatever the hell they were was poised to attack them on the queen’s command. They needed to stay close, and hope that Evac worked in a dungeon-like setting, otherwise, they were dead.
She kept the courtiers in the corner of her vision, trying her best to figure out why they hadn’t been sent in to attack them yet. Each of their gazes were riveted on the battle with the queen’s dogs, and she had no doubt considering the reverberations through her thought sensing net that they were itching to fight too.
Murmur frowned, glancing from the queen to her court, and then to the dogs. Why weren’t they already overwhelmed? What were they waiting for? The dogs were so high in level, and their armor so tough that they’d yet to even manage killing one, and she knew it was only a matter of time before the dog under her Mesmerize broke free. Its will against her built up with every single cast.
So, what was the deal? Was this perhaps a test?
Murmur cocked her head to one side and on a whim, she cast Allure on the dog.
With Nullify in place, she wasn’t surprised when it just trotted over and sat down next to her. The queen’s eyes widened at the action, and a thoughtful looked crossed her dark face to replace the permanent sneer.
“Mur, please tell me it’s your pet now and isn’t about to start trying to claw you to death?” Beastial growled out as his cat took yet another hit from one of the hounds. “These things are ridiculously agile little buggers. Hitting them is hard.”
“Mm-hm, it’s my pet now.” Except even though Murmur knew it was, she was also fully aware that until a moment ago, it had been the queen’s pet. “I think we should stop fighting the other two.”
“Say what?” Devlish didn’t miss a beat, still attacking his opponent.
“Root them and back away.” Murmur urged him, eyeing Merlin because she knew he had a root spell. “It’s not like he’s going to projectile spit poison your way now, is it?”
Devlish laughed and backed away, keeping a calculating eye on the dogs as soon as Merlin cast the spell. Rash did the same after Exbo administered his own. A root would snap with too much damage done, so backing away made sense. The hounds snarled and snapped, their eyes flashing with hatred and fury. But it didn’t last long.
A peal of laughter echoed through the enormous stone room, and the dogs’ anger faded as they dropped down to sit and wait, still on guard, but no longer about to attack. Their hit points slowly ticked back up, and Murmur hoped against hope that she hadn’t just royally fucked up on reading the situation.
Murmur saw the surprise on her friends’ faces and could even feel her own, because while it was a thought she’d had, she’d never really expected it to work, just thought it was worth giving a go.
“Excellent play, little enchanter. No.” The queen’s eyes narrowed and she paused, her eyes raking Murmur up and down in such a way that Mur began to feel a bit self-conscious. “No, you’re a psionicist. Even better. Come. Come here so I can talk to you. And bring our pet along with you.”
The group gathered together, as if to move as one, but the queen held up a hand, stopping them all in their tracks.
“No. Just the psionicist. I don’t trust the rest of you as far as my dogs could throw you, and considering they don’t possess opposable thumbs, their ability to heft you up is quite lacking.” She turned a charming, evil smile in Murmur’s direction. “But you my dear, you have roused my curiosity. Do come here.”
Murmur gulped as surreptitiously as she could. She soothed the hound that walked at her side, letting him know it was all okay, and that it didn’t matter if he drooled a bit, they could always replace any carpet his drool ate through. If she wasn’t mistaken, by the time she reached the throne, which was much larger close up, the hound was smiling.
As she raised her eyes to meet the dark elf’s gaze however, she realized that the hound might be enjoying itself, but the queen was not.
Storm Entertainment
Somnia Online Division
AI Server Room
Day Six Post Launch
Shayla stood in the server room, several feet from the actual AIs, her arms crossed in front of her as she glared at them. She’d always felt as if the black towers with their blinking lights were watching her. Their lack of humanity put her on the defensive and made her feel crazy for talking to them.
Her dislike aside, she needed to test a theory.
“Report on the character named Murmur.” She muttered the command, not entirely sure she wanted any of them to obey. Maybe all her theories stemmed from spending way too many hours at the office and far too few sleeping. For a few seconds, lights danced across them in unison, like they were communicating in a way she could neither hear nor understand. That action alone sent chills down her spine. Were they somehow discu
ssing what information to give her?
Thra lit up first, its voice softly feminine, which came as a surprise since the last time Shayla had spoken to them, they’d all presented male. “Character Murmur, originally an Enchanter has advanced through to Psionicist. Her current level of mental affinity is two and her character level is about to increase to eighteen. Her leadership skills of the guild Fable have proved exemplary and Fable’s renown is close to an increase as well.”
Shayla had to stop herself from tsking out loud, and instead opted for a scowl. They were giving her gaming information, but not the information she’d wanted. Although, technically, they’d answered the exact question she’d asked. Damn it. She supposed it was a good thing the AIs they had running their entire future were smart, but to be cunning at the same time was a trait that worried her. Shayla refused to believe they might be stupid, because stupid was far worse than dangerous.
“Expand on the character Murmur within the parameters of her human body.” That should be enough. At least to garner some clarity.
Thra’s lights blinked several times, and the middle machine lit up. Rav’s tone was gentle, its metallic clang barely audible as he spoke in a soothing manner. “Wren Summers has shown an aptitude for game mechanics that exceeds that of her peers. Her ability to access hidden content and activate the questing system of the world is currently unparalleled. The guild led by this individual has already become successful, and we are monitoring their brain compatibilities to see what sort of makeup produces this type of success.”
Again. Exactly what she would want to hear if she didn’t suspect them of...what did she suspect them of? Shayla sighed this time. They were amazingly tight knit for a group of artificial entities. Their data completely in sync almost exactly what the military would need, with just enough suggested improvements that would keep Storm Entertainment busy for years, while still giving the military the advancements they wanted in order to keep the dollars flowing.