Lord of the Flame: A LitRPG novel (Call of Carrethen Book 2)

by Stephen Roark

  “Well, yeah,” I laughed. “I don’t think my family back home would either.”

  “Oh, wait—yeah, I guess you would have no way of knowing…”

  “No way of knowing what!?”

  Kodiak shook his head. “The consequences for death in the Dark World are far worse than they were in Carrethen.”

  “Worse than death?”

  “You…lose part of yourself when you die,” Kodiak explained. “First thing to go is your memory—knowing who you are. You become less and less human every time you die, until eventually you’re just an empty shell of the person you once were. We call them the Sunken.”

  “The Sunken,” I repeated, shuddering at the thought. “How can that be?”

  “I don’t know. But I’ve seen it, and it’s not pretty.”

  “You’re not Sunken,” I remarked. “So you must be pretty smart. Or tough.”

  “I’ve died once,” he admitted. “I can remember most things, but others are a bit fuzzy. I’ve been trying to play it a little bit safe. Ending up as one of them…well, it terrifies me.”

  “Yeah.” I nodded. “I can understand that.”

  We pressed on, leaving the former Bandit Tower behind us as we struck out for whatever was left of Stoneburg. It felt strange walking beneath the tumultuous sky, passing familiar landmarks that had changed somewhat in the Dark World. It wasn’t just the darkness from the clouds, the whole place felt as though a shadow had been cast over it. Everything felt dangerous.

  A few minutes later we came upon the dirt road through the woods that would lead us into town, and just then, the sky broke and the downpour began.

  “Ah, here we go,” Kodiak groaned, moving to the side of the path to walk under the cover of the trees. “More rain.”

  “This happens a lot?” I asked, doing the same.

  “More often than it used to.”

  “At least we can’t feel cold.” I smiled.

  “Yeah, that’s what you think.” He smiled as the rain hit me. A shiver ran down my spine. I was already soaking wet from the fall into the lake, but I guess I’d been so amped up by my brush with death that I hadn’t noticed that I was actually cold. The raindrops were like an extra jolt that awakened the chill inside me, and it wasn’t long before my whole body was shaking.

  “How is this possible?” I asked, rubbing my arms. I realized I was wearing basic starter gear: brown cloth pants and a dark blue tunic. How had Wintermute not saved my character profile from Carrethen? Everything I’d collected was gone.

  “The Dark World is full of surprises,” Kodiak replied.

  “That doesn’t help!” I scoffed. “There has to be a reason.”

  “Another one of The Ripper’s tricks?” he suggested.

  “No,” I replied, shaking my head. “No, this is something different. Wintermute told me he created a backup of the world, but it’s obvious he wasn’t able to get everything. NPCs are missing, buildings are screwed up. The weather settings are completely off.”

  “But why would he program pain into the game?”

  “He wouldn’t,” I said, thinking out loud. “You know, I played this game when it was still in beta, and I remember them discussing whether or not players should be able to actually really feel things in game. But everyone decided it was best that they couldn’t. I wonder if sensation was originally programmed into the game and some sort of safety measure was added to block those inputs through the Wellspring device.”

  “And when Wintermute made his backup, those safety measures broke?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Makes sense,” Kodiak mused as we pressed on towards Stoneburg.

  “Doesn’t do much for us though,” I groaned as the cold sank into my bones. “We need to find shelter, build a fire.”

  The trees opened in front of us and I felt a pang of nostalgia as I gazed out over the town of Stoneburg, or at least, what was left of it.

  The general layout of the town was there—all the buildings were where they were supposed to be, but like the Bandit Tower, more than half of them were incomplete. The whole place looked burned out, like a fire had swept through and taken half the town with it before anyone was able to put it out.

  The Bindstone hovered in its usual place, but Kodiak was right; Stoneburg was dead. There wasn’t a person in sight. The cows by the town square were gone, and I couldn’t see a single NPC from where we were standing. But what was worse, there wasn’t a single player in sight. Cavey and his men were nowhere to be seen. The town they’d fought so hard to protect was nothing more than an old decaying skeleton, a shadow of its former self.

  Part of me had secretly been hoping to find Xavier at his usual post, a brand new halberd in his hand, interrogating some poor newbie who had wandered into town harmlessly but was now looked at as a potential threat.

  Cavey would be in the town square with some of his men. Lookouts would be posted on the outskirts, eyes peeled for Sinful or The Mercenaries, and Kattenschind would be in Gehman’s hut, working hard on some new upgrade or weapon.

  But of course those were just dreams. None of them would be in town. They had died in Carrethen and there was no telling where they were now—or if they’d survived their time in the Dark World.

  “Bleak,” I muttered, gazing out at the ruins of the closest thing I’d ever had to a home in Carrethen.

  “You can say that again.”

  “Come on,” I said, starting off down the slope in town. “Let’s see if there’s anything that could help us.”

  5

  Ghosts

  Stepping into Stoneburg’s deserted town square was like stepping back in time, a version of history that had gone catastrophically wrong. Gone were the sounds of players chatting, the chirping of birds and business being done with the NPC merchants. It had all been replaced by the thunder overhead and the heavy rain crashing down all around us.

  “Here,” Kodiak said, leading me to the general merchant’s shop that was missing half its roof. “The only NPC in town.”

  I followed him and saw a single merchant standing behind the open counter. He didn’t even have a name.

  “Greetings travelers,” he said as we approached. “See anything you like?”

  I opened the trade window and quickly scrolled through the items he had for sale. Starter clothes, a few scraps of worn leather for crafting, and a few pack dolls—basically just collectible aesthetic items. Absolutely nothing of use. I closed the window.

  “Come again!” he said cheerfully, his mood a sharp contrast to the rest of the world.

  “Nothing?” Kodiak asked. I shook my head and looked around. The town was dead. Absolutely nothing going on without another player in sight.

  “Ghost town,” I said softly. “No Blacksmith in town?”

  “No,” Kodiak replied. “But then again, it wouldn’t help you much even if there was.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “You uh…realize you’re level 126 right?” he asked.

  “What!?” I replied, realizing I hadn’t even taken a second to open my character sheet. But he was right. I opened it up and saw that I was max level—well, what used to be max level. All my points were allocated perfectly as an archer as well.

  “Wow, 375 HP!” I gasped. My bow skill was a whopping 410, coupled with 310 Coordination, 260 Strength, 270 Quickness and 110 Focus and Wisdom.

  “Yeah, you’re a beast. I’ve only got 240,” Kodiak said with admiration. “Now we just have to get you some equipment.”

  “Easier said than done,” I grumbled.

  “Why would Wintermute send you here without any gear?” he asked. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “None of this makes any sense,” I scoffed. “But he is an A.I. Who knows how he thinks.”

  “Still…it seems pretty basic that if you send someone into a game world you give them some stuff to survive with.”

  “I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing here to be honest with you,”
I told him. “He told me that I had to be the one to help get people out of the world, but I have no idea how to do that. Like, do I just wave at them or something?”

  “You don’t see any sort of special interface or anything?”

  “I don’t think so,” I replied, scrolling through my player interface. Everything seemed like it should. The extra admin tab that had been there after I defeated The Ripper was gone. I didn’t know if that surprised me or not.

  “Maybe a special gesture?” he suggested.

  I frowned and waved my hand around at him, tracing different geometric shapes through the air. Of course, nothing happened. I shrugged.

  “Maybe you got duped,” he suggested.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Did you ever consider that Wintermute might—might actually be The Ripper?”

  A fresh dose of anxiety flooded through me as my eyes went wide. “Jesus Christ…that—that never even crossed my mind!”

  I felt like a complete idiot. How could I have been so stupid? Getting contacted like that on my computer by an artificial intelligence? It didn’t seem possible. But Norman being on the other end of that communication and using this as a way of getting me back in his clutches? That was well within the realm of possibilities.

  “I’m not saying that’s what’s happening,” Kodiak said quickly. “I’m just saying, this is all really strange.”

  “Yeah, strange,” I replied as I fought to keep my breathing regular.

  I turned around and stopped. A billow of smoke was coming out of the door of the Blacksmith’s hut—Gehman’s hut.

  “I thought you said there was no smith in town?”

  “There isn’t,” Kodiak replied, turning to follow my gaze. Then he saw it. Instantly, his dagger was in his hand. Again, I reached for my bow, but found nothing. I felt completely vulnerable, despite my high level.

  “I thought you said this place was deserted!?”

  “It was!” Kodiak hissed, stalking forward towards the hut. I followed slowly behind.

  “It’s—it’s probably just another bug,” I suggested. “This backup copy of the world is obviously full of them.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” Kodiak replied.

  But he wasn’t buying it and neither was I. Still, it was the only sign of life we’d seen since Kodiak had rescued me from the lake. We had no choice but to check it out.

  As we reached the hut, another cloud of smoke spilled out from beneath the door. The rain beat down on us from above as the same familiar, acrid smell of soot and metal filled my nose. Kodiak reached out and took hold of the handle.

  “Stay behind me,” he whispered. I wanted to protest, but I knew he was right. I may have been the higher level, but I had no armor and no weapon. There wasn’t anything for me to do.

  He took a deep breath, then yanked the door open. Smoke spilled out from within, twisting around our ankles like black, vaporous snakes. I glanced behind us in case we were walking into an ambush, but the rest of the town was still.

  Kodiak stepped inside and I followed closely behind. It was hard to see in the hut, and the soot and smoke stung my eyes. A glowing orange light shone in front of us, and as we pushed further into the hut, I realized it was the forge, its coals alive, burning hot and fierce.

  “What the Hell?” I whispered. In the Dark World, I could actually feel the heat. I held my hands up to warm them and got as close as I could handle in an attempt to dry out my clothes. The warmth felt better than I’d expected. I hadn’t realized just how cold I was until I began to warm up.

  “Just a glitch.” I shrugged as my clothes continued to dry.

  “One of many.” Kodiak grinned, putting away his knife.

  “Let’s stay here for a while,” I suggested. “Until the rain ends?” I smiled hopefully at my companion, and that was when I heard it.

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  The unmistakable sound of metal on metal—a hammer. A smith’s hammer.

  “What is that!?” I hissed, keeping my voice low. Kodiak stepped in front of me, his dagger held at the ready as we both tried to peer through the dense curtain of smoke in front of us. I felt trapped, absolutely helpless again, stuck in the blacksmith’s hut without a single piece of equipment to my name, my safety in someone else’s hands.

  “Work…work…work…” a tired voice groaned from somewhere in the smoke. The hammer rang out again and again, like a punctuation after every word.

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  I watched as the cloud of soot began to move, shifting as though a gentle breeze were blowing from the other end of the hut. Slowly, it began to thin out, and the shape of a person began to appear.

  “There!” I hissed, quickly pointing to the man with his back to us, holding a smith’s hammer, pounding away on a slab of hot metal.

  “I see him!” Kodiak whispered back.

  There was something recognizable about the way the man moved. I felt a sense of familiarity as I watched him hammer away.

  It can’t be, I thought as I slowly took a step around Kodiak to get a better view. Something caught on my back and spilled to the ground. Scraps of metal clattered across the floor of the hut, and Kodiak and I both froze instantly. But it was too late. The hammering ceased and I watched as the figure turned awkwardly towards us. Slowly, his face came into view, and when I saw who it was, my heart skipped a beat.

  “Oh my God,” I said softly. “It—it can’t be!”

  6

  Sunken

  “Gehman!?” I blurted out, unable to believe what my eyes were seeing. It was definitely him, but he was different. His features were harsh and shriveled like a rotten apple. The baby face that I remembered was gone, replaced by a ghoulish visage with hollow cheeks and eyes that had all their life drained from them. They seemed to focus on everything and nothing at the same time, sweeping aimlessly across the room with no control. For a moment, they landed on us, and he took a step towards us, moving like a broken toy or someone close to death.

  Like a zombie.

  Sunken…

  “Gehman, is that you?”

  Kodiak whipped around to face me.

  “You—you know this guy!?” he hissed, still keeping his voice low.

  “I used to…” I replied slowly as Gehman staggered towards us. I couldn’t believe it, and quickly inspected him.

  Gehman—level 24.

  He still held the smith’s hammer and his wrist moved up and down as though pounding an invisible anvil at his side. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words, a horrifying banshee-like scream rang out, causing Kodiak and me to clamp our hands over our ears.

  “What is that!?” I shouted, backing up as he staggered toward us. My heel caught on a stack of metal bars on the floor and sent me toppling over. I slammed down hard on my back as Gehman cried out again, the distorted howl tearing through the room like a sound that didn’t belong in any game.

  Kodiak lunged forward to strike.

  “No!” I yelled, reaching up and grabbing him by the wrist. “He’s my friend!”

  “Not anymore he isn’t,” Kodiak replied, yanking his arm free and preparing to strike. I leapt to my feet and scrambled in front of him.

  “He’ll kill us!” he shouted. “Get out of the way!”

  “No!” I roared back.

  He tried to push past me again, but like Leonidas, I Sparta-kicked him straight in the chest and sent him tumbling backwards out the door of the hut.

  Gehman’s distorted voice rang out again behind me and I turned around just in time to see him bring his smith’s hammer down on me.

  The blow slammed straight into my forehead and sent my head spinning. A small portion of my health dropped and the blow took me off my feet, sending me crashing out the door and down to the ground beside Kodiak.

  “Gehman, stop!” I shouted as he emerged from the hut, acrid smoke spilling out all around him like a plume of pure corruption.

  “He’s Sunken, Jane!” Kodiak screamed, leaping to h
is feet. “He can’t hear you!

  “Gehman!” I cried, holding my hands out towards him. “Please! I’m your friend! It’s me, D!”

  “He’s Sunken!” Kodiak repeated. “There’s nothing you can do! We have to kill him or he’ll just keep coming.”

  He turned to me, a grim expression on his face. I tried to focus, understand what he was telling me. How could this be possible? Another form of game corruption caused by Wintermute’s backup? How could that be? Wintermute said death would result in death, just like in The Ripper’s Carrethen. Had he somehow been wrong about that?

  “There’s no way to cure it,” Kodiak replied, taking a battle stance as Gehman advanced on us. “Only one thing to do.”

  “No, stop!” I shouted, grabbing his wrist.

  “It’s the only way!”

  “There has to be another option!” I cried out. “I knew him! He helped me and my party very early on and he died because of it! We have to be able to help him now!”

  “There’s nothing we can do!” he shouted.

  “There’s nothing you can do,” I replied, taking a step forward.

  Wintermute sent you here for a reason, I thought. You are the only one who can bring them back. Do something!

  It was horrible seeing him like that, staggering around like a corpse, his eyes vacant and his body completely out of control. I had no equipment, nothing to fight him with, but I had to have some sort of power from Wintermute—something to fix the Dark World and bring everyone back.

  “Gehman,” I said slowly, raising my hands to him. “It’s going to be okay. I’m here to help.”

  He raised his hammer again to swing, but he was slow, and I easily dodged the blow and slipped around behind him. I had no idea what I was doing, so I did the only thing I could think of and pressed my hands against him.

  Use the Force…I thought, praying something would happen.

  But nothing did.

  Gehman howled again and whirled around with his smith’s hammer, almost taking my head off. I tried to roll out of the way, but my foot slipped in the mud and sent me toppling over. I hit hard and rolled away from him. And that was when I heard it.