Anomaly (Somnia Online Book 2)

by K. T. Hanna

  You gain experience!

  DING!

  Murmur smiled, despite the death warning. Couldn’t have given that to them beforehand could they? The whole raid dinged. Another huge boss managed to give them a massive chunk of experience.

  “Hey,” she said, patting Dev on the shoulder for once. “That was a nice bit of teamwork there. You absorb a massive hit, and I keep you alive. Makes me almost feel like a healer again.”

  “Hey!” Sin glared at Mur, but it was half-hearted at best.

  Dev laughed. “Oh, I’m just irritated I didn’t think of anything else to do that could have saved my own ass. Without that ridiculously overpowered ability of yours, I’d have been dead.”

  Murmur shrugged. “Probably, but it’s not easy to time. If you take other damage before the killing blow lands, I’m not sure if it’ll still take effect. I think it has to be activated before that blow, because otherwise it’s used on something that wouldn’t have killed you. Not exactly a skill I can test out much, you know? We probably got really lucky using it this time.”

  “I’ll take that luck anytime. Thanks, Mur.” He didn’t seem to want to let it go, or to let it be chalked up to luck. Murmur knew he wasn’t going to back down, so she just nodded.

  “This one has another of those weird stones on it, Mur.” Merlin stood, brushing the dirt off his hands. “And one of those crystals. And some wacky thick looking leather. A lot of it. Keep a hold of it?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Of course. Luckily we now have guild inventory storage on the island that I can empty all this shit into.”

  Rash stood up, holing a large key. “I didn’t even realize bears had the right type of hands for this.”

  A low chuckle rumbled around the group, loosening the tension. From what she could tell, Murmur didn’t think death or near death in this game was easy. It seemed to shoot pain through them, as if they were really dying, and while it might not be as dialed up as it could be, the after effects still seemed jarring. Hell, she’d not even died yet and she’d managed to feel pain, probably a lot less than Devlish had just experienced. It made her wonder how many people just kept coming back because of the rampant realism of it all. And how many secretly loved it.

  “Cave! Let’s find it!” Beastial turned around to Sinister, wagging his finger in her face. “Oh, and I don’t owe you shit now. Who’s the one who said oh gee, don’t you think there should be bears here?”

  “Well, don’t you? It’s a forest. Also, don’t wag your finger at me. Finger waggers don’t get heals.” Sinister crossed her arms and Beast looked appealingly at Veranol.

  The huge viking shrugged and held his hands out in front of him dismissively. “Don’t bring me into this. Finger waggers get jack shit from me too.”

  Beastial pouted, scratching his cat’s head. “No one gets me but you.”

  Murmur laughed and moved on with her friends, leaving Beastial to hurry after them.

  The cave wasn’t that far away. If they’d even taken five minutes to send Merlin or Exbo out to scout the area they would have known better than to be so loud. She was still being far too short sighted with this game. The monsters in it didn’t react the same way as they did in other games. They were clever. It required a total adaption of how she dealt with them.

  At least she’d gotten another piece of Michael’s brain, which meant it was another piece she could keep Belius from getting. Another piece of the literal brain puzzle, now wrapped in a piece of her old robe just in case it had ill effects no one had discovered yet. Maybe if Telvar researched it, he could figure out how to get her out of this world. He could figure out how to let her become whole again.

  The thought was as sobering as the cave was dark.

  Mellow pulled out a few glowing vials and handed them around. “Benefits of being a witch. I have all sorts of little gadgets at my disposal.”

  It definitely made seeing in the dark easier.

  The three chests in the cave had brass bindings, solid and gleaming with care. For an instant Murmur wondered what might have kept them clean, and imagined the bear licking them, which caused her to shudder and break out in a cold sweat. She dismissed the image hurriedly.

  “Should we just open them?” Exbo nudged one with his toe as if daring it to explode or something.

  Havoc shrugged and pushed forward. “We can always stand back and let my pet open them again. You know. He’s getting used to sacrificing himself for us.”

  “What, you don’t think that’s a new skeleton?” Rash stood, her arms crossed, a skeptical crease in her frown.

  “We’ve discussed it, and he just comes back better than ever for me.” Havoc half-smiled and then backed up. “In the interests of no one dying tonight, I say, let’s back away from the chests while he does his stuff.”

  They followed his directions, and Murmur wasn’t sure, but she thought he probably realized that everyone let him stand just a fraction in front of them. The skeleton moved forward, its bones clattering against each other with each step and an annoying cackle slipping from its lips.

  “Does it always make that noise?” Mellow asked, their eyes wide.

  “Hush.” Havoc whispered, following his skeleton’s progress. “You’ll hurt his feelings.”

  Murmur choked down her own chuckle, and even Jinna was shaking with his own suppressed laughter next to her. The skeleton approached the chest on the left, and they collectively held their breath. But nothing happened.

  All it held was gold. A lot of gold.

  “Looks like our guild bank balance will join our healthy guild vault.” Veranol grinned. “You’re not going to tax us, are you Mur?”

  “Depends on how much it costs for Neva to keep me in the armor I like.” She winked at him as they pulled back behind Havoc again.

  The second chest held armor. A couple of gorgeous bows that had the rangers salivating, and a staff that Mellow clutched like a fool. Once they retreated again, the skeleton approached the third chest, the huge key from the bear clutched in its hand.

  It turned easily in the lock, the chest smaller than the first two, but when it opened, there was a resounding twang, and a sudden emerging miasma of a green acid cloud that roiled itself onto Havoc’s pet and began to eat away at its bones. In a matter of seconds both the skeleton and the cloud were gone, with nothing left to remember either of them by.

  Havoc sighed. “I’ll bring him back shortly. The box is open though. May as well check it out.” He reached over and pushed Murmur toward it.

  “Gee, thanks for checking yourself,” she muttered as she and Jinna made their way over. Not that she thought there’d be more than one trap. Besides, if there was, Jinna would find it and take care of it.

  “Hey, I sacrificed my pet. Again.” Havoc grumbled.

  Murmur smiled despite herself. Even in his grumpy mode, he was a good guy. Still though, she wished she knew why he’d been so quiet when she first found out about the coma. He’d been stand offish for ages. Peeking into the box, her thoughts wooshed away as she took in its contents.

  They weren’t what she’d been expecting. Even though she’d hoped it might be one of the twelve keys, she should have known better. The likelihood of them being able to gather one of them this early through progression, would have been a bit stupid. Never mind that she hadn’t uncovered any lore that even pointed to the keys or what the end objective was.

  Murmur frowned and shook her head, knowing she was getting way off track. Scrolls upon scrolls and books upon books littered the inside of the last chest. There had to be something amazing about them since the box was magically sealed. She didn’t for one second think the bear had sealed these, just that he had obtained them by likely killing their previous owners. All in all it was a decent haul. She’d have to get someone to go through these back at the guild. When she finally got some downtime, she’d have to activate the
guild storage distribution better. That way people should, if she understood it correctly, be able to deposit directly into the guild bank as long as she set the permissions properly.

  While they were already level nineteen, they’d already wasted half the night with the stupid scouts and the bloody bear. “Okay everyone. We have a mission—you don’t get a choice whether to accept it or not. You saw that scout and how strong she was with a newly learned hybrid build. It’s our turn to hit twenty and go and get our own hybrid builds. Time to fight some golems.”

  “I refuse to cheer in case Disestru had a mate or something, but I agree completely with you.” Sin said solemnly.

  Beastial laughed. “If he’s got a mate...”

  “Don’t even think about continuing that sentence.” Sinister glared at him with the heat of a thousand suns, and Beast must have been wearing some sort of heat resistance because he was lucky he didn’t burn.

  Holding up his hands in self-defense he backed away. “Fine! Sorry! I was just—”

  “Don’t even contemplate it.” This time Murmur glared at him. “We’ve been tempting fate enough. It’s time we got unlazy and hit our next level.”

  “Whatever you say, boss!” Merlin saluted and dashed ahead. “But I’m trapping the entire region around those damn golems this time, even if I have to redo them every hour. We are not getting caught unawares again.”

  Murmur watched Merlin and Exbo dash ahead of their respective groups and couldn’t help thinking that it might sound grand and all, but she was quite certain getting caught unawares was part of this game’s MO.

  By the time they’d all hit level twenty, Murmur never, ever, ever, ever wanted to see a golem again. At least not a clay one. They were fucking annoying. Metal weapons got sucked into their flesh, and had to be wrestled back out. She couldn’t imagine the time Rashlyn had. Fists were probably stickier than metal. Skin was definitely sticky.

  “We’re never coming back to golems. I will skip clay golems and try to battle something five levels higher than me next time.” Sinister glared defiantly at the rest of the group, her hands on her hips, her mouth twisted in irritation. “You have no idea how damned hard it is to suck life out of those things? And I specialize in blood. Did you see any blood? Did you?”

  Murmur walked over and gave her a brief shoulder massage, and her friend let out a contented sigh. “Settle, Sin. It’s all good. They’re dead. We’re level twenty. Goal achieved. I even managed to get my dagger skill up.”

  “Even if it did get stuck like forty times,” grumbled Havoc. “I have no idea why you’re so set on going melee hybrid. Your freaking hidden skills are ridiculously overpowered, and you’ve already got enough to do.”

  Murmur shrugged. “I don’t like being about as good defensively as a wet sock, so humor me and let me go train in another profession. If they let me. I’m used to wearing plate armor and at least being able to take a hit.” And while she was at it, she had no idea how the hybrid class system worked. No one did. All there was out there for information was speculation galore. Perhaps they were allocated their hybrid specialty. Maybe there was a quest. She might want to be an assassin enchanter, but if this game had taught her anything, it was that what you get is what you least expect.

  They set off, collecting Rashlyn’s group on the way. Jinna strode out several feet in front of them, picking his way down the precarious slope. More than once Murmur’s feet slid against some gravel overlaying the rocky outcrops. But at least they weren’t cliffs, and at least Devlish didn’t have to walk back on his own.

  Climbing up the gradual slope would have been near impossible, but Jinna had been right in saying it was easier to get down it. In some places it was almost like a slide. The welcoming lights of Verendus shone like a beacon as they slithered to the bottom of the mountain. They traipsed across the snow-filled fields in the dawning light as the orange sun crested the horizon. The snow crunched under her feet with each step she took, slowly giving way to gravel, which felt uneven. A slight wind gusted past her, moving her hair and kissing coolness onto her cheeks.

  Even the air tasted faintly like the ice inside a freezer. The world was simply so real, it was difficult for Murmur to contemplate that it might not be. One of the guards greeted Jinna with a friendly wave, and the dwarf jogged over to talk to them.

  Murmur paused, and Veranol and the others took a few more steps before noticing she wasn’t with them. “Mur? What’s up?”

  She laughed. “I have no clue where my trainer is. I was going to wait for Jinna and ask him.”

  Rashlyn blinked. “Shit. I have no idea where the monk trainer is.”

  “Smart cookie.” Beastial nodded in Murmur’s direction.

  “She’s not a cookie!” Sin stomped her foot. “Well, she’s not your cookie anyway.”

  Dansyn laughed. “Well, I’m going to go find my trainer, and some cookies. You can all stay here if you like.”

  Hesitating for another moment, Murmur followed. “What the hell, it’s an adventure, right?”

  She walked away, her steps quick, excited to meet an enchanter trainer who wasn’t Belius. She hoped, and thought enchanters would be open minded and fun. Probably stemmed from their being able to sense minds and thoughts, deeds and motivations.

  Remembering how the enchanter guild was presented in Stellaein, she looked for the most decorative building in the city. With all of the evergreens in Verendus, it was a bit hard to see the buildings, but eventually, in the far left corner, she found a building that was a little less impressive than the one in Stellaein structure-wise, but just as colorful and welcoming, like a miniature fixed rainbow. In some ways it was soothing, like walking in here was walking in home even though it was half way around the virtual world. The counter just inside the door was to the left, and not across the room. But the dwarf behind it had shining eyes, and a jolly smile.

  “Welcome.” His voice was gruff, but reminded Murmur of her father in a way. Homey and welcoming. Still, she’d never forgotten the odd way Elvita looked at her when she realized Mur had learned how to shield her mind, so she double checked how tightly she was protecting herself, and only then did she return the welcoming smile.

  “I’m from Tarishna. Can I see the enchanter trainer here in Verendus?” She used her most polite voice. It never hurt to be nice to people, especially when a large distance from one’s hometown.

  “Of course! You’re far from home, young locus.” He eyed her with a bit of a knowing look. “I’m also betting you’re going to need to sell some stuff? You’re a brand new twenty.”

  Murmur laughed. “Yes, I am. I’d appreciate that. Can I see you on my way out then?”

  “Definitely. Name’s Geshua.”

  “Thank you.” She inclined her head. “I’m Murmur.”

  For a brief second, she thought his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “Might be an idea to head through now then.”

  Murmur headed through to the back, unable to get the tone of Geshua’s voice out of her head.

  Storm Entertainment

  Somnia Online Division

  Game Development Offices Conference Room

  Late Day Seven Post Launch

  Shayla frowned at the reams of paper in front of her. Her usual preference was to work through her augmented interface. It was far more environmentally friendly, and it saved her the risk of paper cuts. Considering how expensive paper had become, it wasn’t even an inexpensive method.

  It was late, and the lights in her office weren’t really built for nighttime usage. The world outside her window was pitch black, almost like the gaping maw her brain had become since the game launched. Shayla shook her head and continued to spread the sheets out on the floor, frowning more and more as the pieces began to fit together.

  While they fit, she had no idea what in the hell she was looking at. Code was missing (or at least it appeared to b
e) except where it was missing didn’t make sense. The columns didn’t look like they should work properly, as if there was something she couldn’t put her finger on. Brain data, readings, class allocation and usage—and all the computations worked out perfectly, regardless of what her brain was trying to tell her.

  She frowned. Perhaps it all fit too nicely. Considering the types of data they were extracting from the headgear, she’d not expected the output to be this symmetrical. Maybe there was something she didn’t understand about the way the funding worked, perhaps something to do with the results being sought. There were myriad reasons for them to be researching people’s brainwaves, many of them mostly evil ones she concocted in her head. Mind controlling the populace, or perhaps researching telepathy and telekinetic triggers, because enchanter. She almost laughed at her paranoia, but couldn’t quite bring herself to because at some level, nothing was off limits. Teddy’s reassurances as he faced her backed by an army of lawyers only made her stomach queasy.

  Shayla leaned back against her desk and ran her fingers through her hair, and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw James pop his head into the room.

  “Shit! James! What are you doing here at this hour?” She was quite proud of the fact that she didn’t screech at him.

  “You’re still here?” His brows pinched in confusion. “I thought I was the only one left.”

  Shayla looked up at him. “Laria’s gone? Oh right. I told her to go home early for once I think. Or was that yesterday?”

  James walked in and leaned against the wall, his eyes taking in the whole room in one glance. “You, like most of us, have been here so much the days have bled into each other.”

  Shayla noticed his look, and her fingers itched to pull in all of her research, but she wasn’t sure if he’d be able to tell anything more than she could anyway. He’d originally been a techie, and he’d only become her assistant after Ava died. Which was still something on her plate. She’d have to remember to make time for the inspector when he came around next Monday? Was it already next Monday?