by K. T. Hanna
Shouts rang out, sharp orders that Murmur could almost hear before the words were snatched away by the breeze. Ships filled the harbor, docked and leaving, arriving and being repaired over on the far right in what looked like a dry dock.
All twelve of them stood and admired the view. The cobbled surface of the street was bright in the late afternoon sunlight, lending a cheery vibe to the whole area.
“This is pretty phenomenal.” Havoc sounded almost reverent as his eyes took in the view. His black robe suited him and his class. She was glad he was acting more like himself again.
“Yeah.” Murmur breathed the word out and closed her eyes, raising her face to the sun. She could smell the salt, feel the last of the sun’s rays as it continued to drop in the sky, hear the grunts of the workers as they shuffled their cargo of lumber along. Somnia was beautiful, and more real than she’d ever felt. She opened her eyes and glanced at her friends, all with varying degrees of a smile on their lips. If she let herself, if she didn’t think about anything else, it would be easy to get lost here.
“Well.” She grinned at them all, the woman who’d stopped her for her armor still nagging in the back of her mind. She pushed the thought away, determined to enjoy what she could. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go on an adventure!”
Storm Entertainment
Somnia Online Division
Game Development Offices—Laria’s office
Early Day Seven
Laria glanced out of her window again. Her view was anything but stellar. None of the offices had a nice view. The cities were far too cluttered for that. Tall buildings littered the horizon, old ones made out of brick, skyscrapers built out of various metal substitutes. Views were a foreign concept these days, and if there was vacant land, it was usually taken up by air filtration systems making sure the incoming oxygen wasn’t tainted.
She directed her attention back to her game view, waiting, still wanting to hear from her daughter. Wren had yet to contact her since finding out the truth. While Harlow and Evan had sent messages her way, Wren had said nothing at all. In a way Laria was irritated and thought perhaps she should make the first move, but her daughter was stubborn and no one knew that better than Laria Summers.
Even though she knew if she logged in, she’d be able to see her — it had been pure stupidity to take over that NPC tailor.
It had been too tempting. The gear Wren was wearing surpassed what they’d forecast for her level, and even through the locus visage, Laria could tell it was her daughter. The way she moved when she walked couldn’t be disguised by an in-game species. Just reaching out to touch her had almost been enough, to feel the solidity that her elbow presented. That touch, the skin real and yet not, but her head had for a few moments, believed she had a hold on Wren. But now all she wanted to do was find her daughter and hug her to feel like she was real. Like she was still alive.
“Damn it!” Laria stood up and pushed her desk chair away with so much force it crashed into her bookcase.
James poked his head in. “Laria, are you okay?”
She took a deep breath before turning around. “Yeah. It’s just been a bit of a long day.”
He raised an eyebrow. “It’s eight in the morning. Did you sleep at all?”
She gaped at him for a few seconds, not exactly knowing how to phrase it to him. How did she tell someone—who she couldn’t tell about Wren—that she’d fallen asleep next to her daughter’s containment capsule? That she’d spent most of the night crying on the shoulder of her daughter’s best friend and just wishing she could log into the game with them?
“No. I didn’t sleep very well. Been under a lot of stress with the release and all.” She tried to smile at him, well aware that it was a wan effort. “Thanks for checking, James.”
He nodded, obvious concern in his eyes. “I’ll go to the coffee shop in the foyer and grab you some real coffee, okay?”
Laria smiled again, maybe a little warmer this time. He was only trying to make her feel better. It wasn’t his fault she didn’t think she deserved to. “That would be amazing.”
He disappeared with a wave, and she could almost taste the creamy, sugary concoction he’d bring back up with him. Maybe it would be enough to get her through the day. Maybe it would be enough to make her concentrate on the growing list she needed to finish before the next week. On the data she needed to check over before it went to...wherever Davenport insisted Shayla send it. Maybe it would stop her from that ridiculous urge that wouldn’t let her go: to contact the AIs to have them help her more. The AIs were unpredictable, and they were in charge of the only world her daughter could currently live in. Too risky.
She booted up her game master account and tracked Murmur’s progress. Maybe watching her for just a few minutes would help ease the pain, help ease the sadness that she should have known something could happen to her baby. Everything in the tests showed the hardware to be reliable. There had been no reason at all to contemplate that something could go wrong. Blast Michael and his fiddling. She couldn’t even go and yell at him. Well, she could, but given his current state he wasn’t going to hear her anytime soon.
Knowing she’d asked Michael for the headset that Wren used lay heavily on her conscience. Nothing diminished her need to right that wrong, by any means necessary.
Somnia Online
En route to the Island of Cenedril
Early Day Seven
Another sail unfurled high above them as the wind battered down. Even with the heightened waves, the ship rolled gently over the water, and Murmur stood as close the bow as she could get, letting her thick hair be tossed by the breeze.
Well, she thought it was gentle anyway, but glancing back, Beastial was definitely not made of sterner stuff when it came to sea traveling. It was amusing because the hulking viking looked downright pitiful curled up next to his big cat, green in the face, hurling off the side of the ship whenever the urge overtook him.
Sinister didn’t even attempt to curb her laughter as she stayed just out of reach of any projectile vomit splatterings.
He glared at her. Well, he tried to. Every time a wave crashed against the hull, he jolted and ran to the edge so that most of his time was spent there. “Not cool, Sin. You’re supposed to be a healer.”
“But I also do damage. So really I’m a bit of a mixture.” She grinned at him. “Sorry, I don’t actually have an anti-nausea thing anyway. You’re stuck like that.”
Murmur felt a little sorry for the beastlord. Jinna stood next to her, his sturdy feet planted on the foredeck, his thick hair and beard rustling in the wind.
“You seem to be having fun,” she remarked to him, watching the isle of Cenedril get closer and closer.
“I like boats. Always have. Reminds me of my childhood.” His grin was huge, and bushy with beard.
Murmur had no idea how old Jinna was, just that he’d always been around. She was fairly certain he used to play with her parents, because they’d introduced him to her some time ago. After that he was just always there, and she had come to enjoy gaming with him. “I’m glad. I wasn’t so sure about taking the boats, but it seems Beastial is our only casualty.”
Jinna guffawed in that way only dwarves could laugh. “He’s a big baby that one. Always has been. Good kid though. The lot of you are.”
He paused and eyed Murmur before continuing. “Have you had any more trouble with Jirald?”
Murmur shook her head, quickly double checking she hadn’t received any threatening notifications. She pushed back on the sudden feeling of dread that rose in her, despite the lack of communication. What was he planning? Would he succeed next time? “None at all. He hasn’t even sent me messages. Then again I’ve not been around town much, so I have no idea what he’s up to. It’s not like I’ve run into him again.”
“You didn’t log off either, did you? Did you get a chance to chec
k out any of the boards?” His eyes never left her face, and the intensity was almost like a lecture from her dad.
“I saw some Exodus shit on the boards, but I don’t really care. I think actions speak a lot louder than posturing.” While some of the tension seemed to drain from his shoulders, it certainly wasn’t all of it. Murmur frowned. “Did I miss something?”
“There’s a list of people who’ve already accessed hidden powers. It’s not that many yet; we’re a bit ahead of the curve as usual. Level-wise I mean. But apparently players are more observant than we gave them credit for, or else they’ve accessed powers that are easier to grant. I’ve seen a few enchanters, and no one seems to be a psionicist.”
He paused for effect.
“No one?” She mulled it over.
Belius’s hints had been definitely vague. So vague she’d not even had a quest until she accidentally discovered what the hell he was talking about. Naturally there were different ways to utilize a mind control class, so perhaps it had something to do with her play style that triggered which specialty she could have. And it stood to reason that not everyone was going to access a specialty.
Frowning, she ventured a question that bothered her more than the other enchanters. “What about Jirald’s?”
This time Jinna hesitated. “That’s where I’m even more cautious. I feel like what you picked up is because of your unique circumstances, and perhaps a unique approach to things. I feel like the abilities Jirald exhibited when he tried to attack you are born out of a need for his twisted endeavor for revenge. There has to be more to this whole vendetta thing than just that damned healing scepter of Zun. He’s accessed a darker path than the rest of the rogues I know of. Don’t get me wrong—we have assassination, theft, and a lot of dark stuff, but that ability of his? The ability to apparate into air and reappear? That ability scares me. From everything I could find out, from the friends I’ve made and discussed class mechanics with, so far, he’s the only one with that ability.”
Murmur gulped. It was just her luck that the one stalker she got channeled all his latent aggression into revenge from a game they’d all left months ago, for a reason that didn’t even make sense...that he’d managed to trigger the worst possible hidden abilities his class could have. It didn’t help that by retaliating when she’d first discovered her predicament, she’d lashed out with a power she didn’t even know she had. He was never going to forget that either.
“Fucking great,” she finally muttered.
Jinna just nodded his head as Cenedril drew ever closer. Murmur tried to ward off the chill from the water as it sprayed lightly at her, but it sank through her skin and seemed to hit her bones, making her shiver. She had no idea how several of the other passengers were standing there in short sleeved tunics.
“Mur!” Rash and Sinister ran up the stairs to join them as the captain began to maneuver the ship into port. “We’re here!”
She turned to look at her friends, their own hair glistening with seawater. She didn’t even want to know how they’d managed to get that wet.
The city of Darshin loomed up behind the docks. Its dark grey walls were as foreboding as the walls of of Pelagu were cheerful. They weren’t as smooth as the other city. In fact, it was like roughly hewn rock had been haphazardly constructed into rough stones in order to make scaling them seem easier, yet far more lethal when one slipped on the slick surfaced and plummeted down. It was a cruel wall, an effective defense. It piqued Murmur’s curiosity, because there had to be a reason it was built in the first place, right?
“Fascinating, isn’t it.” Veranol was suddenly standing next to her. His tattoos gleamed in the spray of seawater that covered them all, and his eyes shone with an excitement she’d rarely seen him exhibit.
As she glanced around, she realized a whole crowd of people had gathered on the docks to watch them draw into the port as the sun began to dip over the horizon. As soon as the ship began docking, she turned and raced down the steps, not waiting for any of the others. They’d join her eventually, but she wanted to get out there, bind, and find somewhere to kill shit. And she wanted to do it now.
Murmur waited on the dock for her friends, scanning the crowd. She hopped lightly from foot to foot, ignoring the glances her armor got her. Or maybe it was that she was a locus, since rogues and the like had form-fitting armor too. She didn’t completely discount the gear or the armor, though. The people shuffled past her, sparing a glance or sometimes a lingering inspection. Locus and dark elves, a few vikings, and even several lacerta. She noted the distinct lack of human characters.
They were few and far between, probably because sometimes it was just nice to be the furthest thing from reality. They were human all of the time in the real world. The highest level she’d seen get off the ship was fifteen, but there had been a few of them. Probably a group looking to do the same thing they were. New horizons, explore the world.
Finally the others made it. Perhaps she should have told them she was heading out. She could almost feel the pull of her level tugging at her to get moving, stagnant and wanting more. Maybe that was part of their guild hall being all but tethered to Telvar. Didn’t he say he’d grow stronger when they did? It was probably just her own compulsion. She’d been neglecting leveling for too long, and not having logged out made it that much worse. Her head felt a little dizzy, and she made a note to at least attempt to rest next time. Maybe.
All they had to do was find somewhere here they could grind for experience, either group mobs they could work on separately, or else raid mobs.
The rumors that the mobs in the Hazenthorne castle were level nineteen plus were true, but it didn’t mention that the queen could probably take out a raid of level twenty-fives all by herself.
“Sorry, Mur!” Merlin grinned at her. “Didn’t mean to keep you waiting so long, but we got caught behind a kid who wouldn’t go down the stairs.”
She raised her eyebrow at him. “A kid. A literal kid. Sure you did. Let’s go then.”
Mur waved for everyone to follow her. The stream of people were meandering their way up to the city entrance. Murmur had no such desire; she’d drunk in her fill of the view by standing on the bow as they pulled into port. Now she just wanted to get their act together and head somewhere they could fight before the disappearing sun rendered the unknown continent into darkness.
“Careful.” Merlin jabbed her in the ribs with his elbow. “She’s emerging again.”
“What?” Mur snapped at him, then took a breath. He was right. She was on edge. Of course she was on fucking edge. “Don’t be a dick about it.”
Merlin laughed and raised his hands in surrender. “Hey, okay, okay. I give up! But did it work?”
Murmur simmered, irritation tickling at the back of her throat. She had to take a breath before speaking so she didn’t scream. “That depends, did you want to put me in a bad mood?”
His smile faltered a bit. “Sorry, Mur, I guess I didn’t think.”
And just like that a wave of guilt swept over her. She had to stop taking her predicament out on them, didn’t she? “Yeah. I get it. Back off, crazy Mur. Right now though, crazy hits a bit close to home.”
Merlin nodded, his eyes taking on a haunted look. “I’ll think more next time.”
They’d reached the top of the steps to the city and stopped in amazement.
Darshin was nothing like Pelagu.
There was an overwhelming amount of grey-blue which tinged the structures and surroundings. The ground gripped at the soles of their feet, making the first few steps on it unsure.
Even the tavern and main inn were hewn out of solid rock in the middle of the city. In all its three stories of glory, the tiny rock windows looked comical compared to the sheer size of the monstrosity, but its overall magnitude was imposing. There were many dwarves with their arms slung around feles, singing loudly at the top of their lungs while s
loshing ale. None of them seemed to mind—they looked like they were celebrating.
“This is fantastic. I’m so glad you all got to see this.” Jinna’s smile was huge. “All this work here. You realize this is dwarven, right?”
His eyes gleamed so much it was endearing. As long as Murmur could remember, he’d played a dwarf or dwarf-like character.
“Probably gnashed it out with your teeth.” Merlin stood next to the dwarf, laughing.
“You realize my fist is as big as your damned head, don’t you?” Jinna practically growled and Merlin skipped away merrily.
Laughing, Murmur dragged them out of the main portion of the city, dodging through the throngs of people stopping to admire the architecture. At least this time she didn’t trip over children. She craned her neck, trying to see if she could spy any carts near the gate. It was probably too close to night for them to still be running.
The dusk was settling slowly, and the red hues danced in the sky as the moons began to lose their transparency and smile warmly at Somnia.
Sin came and stood next to her as they looked out over the new continent and then walked to the gate. “It’s really pretty Mur, but if we forget to bind here, we’re all going to be severely screwed.”
Murmur laughed as Devlish gasped, and stood just inside the city gate, right next to a nice little bench, and began to bind herself to the city. Once the casters had done so for themselves, they got the others bound as well.
Standing at the edge of the city, Murmur poked her nose out.
“That way. Toward the snowy mountains. I think. Unless I read it wrong, there’s an area we might be able to go right through to twenty-five in?” Devlish pointed out and to the right. “It’s going to be a bit of a walk. Might take a few hours to get there.”
“Damn it.” Sin muttered, putting her hands on her hips. “When do we get to ride horses?”
“Why do you think I want to hit twenty so badly? There’ll only be five levels to go after that. Although, I do wonder if they’ll be able to traverse some of this terrain with ease.” Murmur grinned at her friend. “You have been saving your pennies, haven’t you?”