World of Eternia: The Complete Collection

by Antony W. F. Chow

  Wesley walks in front of the left guard station and returns the salute to another unit inside the building. He looks up above the cliff, some twenty feet above ground, and salutes another unit of five defenders overlooking the station. These men have direct line of sight over the guard station, and their ranged weapons will reach any invaders who choose to attack the station.

  With ten men on each side of the pathway towards the portal, plus another five directly in front of the path, the council is putting half the Eternia forces to defend against a direct, head-on assault from the other side. This deployment reflects the consensus opinion of the Players Council that Virtuous players will offer a direct assault and try to take the portal by force on the ground.

  The remaining fifteen Eternians, seven fighters and eight spell casters in all, are placed on the mountain top with most defenders looking outward and a handful overlooking the pathway. The defenders stationed on the mountain top are prepared to engage in extensive ranged combat, and they were specifically chosen for their skills and experiences in such encounters.

  “Hello up there!” the cavalier calls out. “Please lower a rope for me to climb up!” he requests.

  “Yes sir!” a lookout replies and quickly tosses a rope down.

  Wesley grabs hold of the thick rope, gives it a good tug to confirm that it will hold, and starts climbing up the cliff.

  “Pull!” someone up above yells. The rope slowly gets dragged up, and the climber with it.

  “Thanks!” Wesley yells out.

  Chapter 57 – Avoidance

  “Halt!” Marcus calls out, and the column of players immediately obeys his command. The leader strains his eyes looking into his virtual reality visor; something in the distance catches his attention. Finally, he could make out several horses on the horizon of his vision. “Riders! Drop to the ground! NOW” he yells out quickly.

  All twenty players quickly flatten their avatars against the ground.

  “Air mages, please cast an illusion to blend us into our surroundings,” Marcus barks out.

  “Ituk-noto-itto-ween-reen-yack-kiln-weer,” two spell casters chant in unison and quickly throw a camouflage spell over the column. Due to the enormous amount of space the spell has to cover, the spell drains five percent mana from each air mage.

  The leader of The Returned is pleased with how quickly the players obey his commands. “Gentlemen, these riders are clearly heading towards our starting point, perhaps to make a suicide attack on us. Their objective is to make us waste our lives here putting these riders down, so that fewer of us will reach their base at the mountain,” Marcus explains quietly while waiting for the riders to pass by. “By avoiding them here, these players will head towards the wrong direction, in a fruitless search for us. Meanwhile, we will be able to hit the Eternian base at full strength.”

  “What if these riders double back and hit us from behind?” Garmu, a young player and new recruit for the alliance, asks.

  “We’ll hear their horses long before the Eternians can reach us. Remember, they lose the element of surprise by riding on horseback,” the leader answers. “If they approach us, we can throw up another camouflage spell before the Eternians can detect our presence. Even if the Eternian riders manage to find us and decide to use their entire ten mounts allotment on this group, we still outnumber their contingent by two to one. So at worst, we’ll engage them and put them down at the cost of some of our lives. The more likely scenario, though, is us hitting the mountain at full strength.”

  “Just have a little faith in our leader,” JP interjects. “Marcus is a brilliant strategist who will lead The Returned to victory.”

  “Thank you,” the leader says while inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. “We’re going to wait just a little bit longer to allow the Eternian riders to put more distance between us, and then back head out again.”

  Chapter 58 – Backstab

  “Wow, looks like we’re getting close to the first encounter between the two sides!” says Evan the color commentator as the screen is split into two parts to show both the Eternian cavalry group and the hidden Virtuous column side by side. He checks the clock and notes that over half an hour of game time has passed. Undoubtedly many casual viewers have closed the live stream of the tournament already, due to the lack of action so far. He turns to Charles Winter. “Sir, what do you think your players should do in this situation?”

  The CEO of Virtuous Gaming Co. smiles for the camera, but keeps silent.

  The co-host immediate fills the silence. “Any opinion, sir?” Antoinette asks Richard T. Gibson, the CEO of Eternia Entertainment & Development, Inc.

  “Personally, I would ambush those riders,” Richard answers. “The Virtuous players have both the element of surprise, plus a heavy man advantage that looks like a two to one swing in their favor. If the hidden column plays this right, the encounter would turn into a rout in their favor,” Richard points his chin in Charles’ direction.

  Suddenly fireworks explode directly above the location of the hidden column!

  “What the heck is going on?” Antoinette asks with a shocked expression on her face. Why would Virtuous players forfeit their advantage?

  The riders notice the fireworks and immediate change course, heading directly towards the now discovered column!

  The camera immediately shows a shot of Virgil Santos lobbing more fireworks over The Returned’s location. The traitor notices he is now the focus of the camera shot. He smiles and flashes a victory sign with his fingers. He starts running away to catch up with other members of Easy Money, which had gone ahead already.

  “Damn you Virgil!” Marcus curses under his breath. Eternians don’t have access to gunpowder, and no one from his company discharged any fireworks either. Thus, the culprit is either the mercenary or someone acting or Virgil’s orders. “We’ve been discovered! Archers, let it fly!” he orders.

  Half-dozen archers pull out their bows. Each man notches five arrows onto his bowstring and pulls back. The archers aim their bows up at the sky, and use the special class skill, “Hail of Arrows.” A deadly barrage of arrows cut across the sky in an arch and start coming down on the charging riders like rain drops. The arrows immediately decimate one-third of the cavalry group.

  In retaliation, Loquist the Eternian air mage directs a master level “Chain Lightning” spell at the archers. Crackle! BOOM! A powerful bolt of lightning strikes a Virtuous archer, and the bolt jumps from one archer to the next until all six men are knocked out of the game.

  * * *

  “And there we have it, ladies and gentlemen!” Evan yells out excitedly with his arms raised as the lives counter drop from fifty blue to forty-four on the right side of the screen, while the red counter on the left is now showing forty-seven. “Can we get a video replay of the first encounter please?” the host requests.

  The screen replays the hail of arrows raining down on the Eternian chargers, followed by a retaliatory lightning bolt hitting the archers. “Fantastic!” Evan exclaims with excitement.

  * * *

  “Just what the hell happened?” Marcus yells out in frustration as he pulls his dual scimitars out of their sheaths. At this rate of loss, his company will not even reach the mountain! The fighter bravely stands his ground and gets ready to repel the lancer’s charge.

  Maximus sees the man waiting for his attack and obliges; the rider aims the sharp tip of his long lance right at the defender’s chest. “Yah!” the rider kicks his mount on the side to urge the horse to run harder. But a split second before the tip reaches the dual wielder, the target dive rolls to his left and the lance hits only air.

  Nonetheless, the rider continues to charge forward and pierces another Virtuous player right in the heart. Maximus urges the horse onward, and the steed tramples on another surprised opponent. Maximus strongly flings the tip of the lance in a downward motion; the momentum causes the impaled avatar to finally slide off the lance. The lancer sneaks a quick peek at the life counter on the co
rner of his player screen, and smiles briefly as he sees the number has dropped by two.

  “Neeeiighh!” the horse suddenly cries out in pain as its flank is cut by a blade.

  Maximus quickly drops his lance, swings his left leg over to the right side and dismounts as the horse is cut again. The owner smacks the horse on the rear and yells, “Go!”

  The obedient horse gallops away from the battle field.

  Maximus pulls out his bastard sword from the sheath behind his back, and barely blocks a scimitar aimed straight for his neck.

  “Glad you decided to drop in,” Marcus taunts his opponent as he feints a jab with his left scimitar immediately followed by a thrust to the gut with the other blade.

  Maximus jabs at the first blade and sidesteps the second. He counters with a feint of his own towards the dual wielder’s face and force the opponent to step back. “I wouldn’t miss this party for the world,” the Eternian player replies nonchalantly. He uses the brief respite from the sword fight to quickly assess the field behind his opponent. The cavalry leader sees two Eternian fighters protecting the air mage; the trio is surrounded by eight Virtuous opponents. I gotta dispatch this guy quickly to even the odds, the leader thinks.

  Marcus catches the eye movements of his opponent. “I’m sorry man, but you won’t be able to help your comrades,” the dual wielder taunts as he swings his left scimitar to drive his Eternian opponent back. “You’re going to watch the rest of your group gets slaughtered by my men. And once you’re dead and out of this tournament, you will watch helplessly as I step through the portal and win this Hundred Man Tournament.”

  Maximus chuckles at the lofty prediction. “Wow, you must have a crystal ball or something in your inventory. Or did you consult a fortune teller?” he asks as his bastard sword collides with the dual blades.

  * * *

  Loquist summons a Circle of Blades, and catches four enemy fighters within the circle. The avatars are quickly ripped into shreds by chest high, rows of deadly, rotating blades. The spell dissipates after a handful of seconds. That’s it; I’m completely out of mana, the spell caster sighs as he grabs his staff tightly and prepares to engage in hand to hand combat.

  Viktor and Trinity use the sudden swing in momentum to press their attack. The two Eternian swordsmen each deliver a flurry of swings and forces the remaining Virtuous fighters to regroup.

  Suddenly a shadow falls over the combatants. Crackle! Kaboom! A deadly bolt of lightning strikes the three Eternians and knocks them out of the tournament. The shadow quickly moves away, hidden by the clouds in the sky.

  * * *

  The two duelists are forced to stop as each man turns toward the direction of the lightning strike. As the moment of truth arrives and the identities of the fallen ones are revealed, one man is angered by sudden loss of his comrades and renews his attack with reckless abandon.

  Marcus can do nothing against this brutal, deranged assault but block every strike with both scimitars.

  The sound of the clashing blades draws the attention of the remaining survivors, and the four remaining Virtuous contestants quickly surround the two fighters. With swords in hand, the four prepare to intervene and strike the sole remaining Eternian on the battle field.

  “No!” Marcus yells out. “Do not interfere! Or would you rather have The Returned disgraced on streaming video for cowardly attacking this man from behind?”

  The chastened followers step back from the two, their swords still drawn. Either way, the Eternian fighter will not be leaving this field alive.

  “I don’t need your pity,” Maximus growls as he takes another mighty swing of his bastard sword against the apparent leader of this group.

  Virgil chuckles. “My friend, you have my utmost respect for continuing to fight despite the obvious foreseeable result of this battle. I admire your spirit, and merely wish to honor this one-on-one duel,” he explains. “But I have a traitor to catch up with, and no longer have the time to play with you anymore. So let’s end this right now!” With the bastard sword swinging down on his head, Virgil catches the blade with the guard of his right scimitar. Using his right foot as a backstop, the dual wielder dash forward with his left foot and lunges his left scimitar to stab his enemy in the heart.

  Maximus looks down at his avatar’s chest and releases his bastard sword before the player’s screen goes black. “GAME OVER,” flashes in red a few times before the player is resurrected back in church at Starter Town.

  Once his opponent’s body has dissipated, Marcus raises his left scimitar in the air and lets out a big roar! Since this event occurs in real time in virtual reality, the encounter is taking a physical toll on the player’s real body. His heart is still beating rapidly as the adrenaline continues to course through his veins. Yet, there is no time to waste! The victor looks at the remaining men on the field. From twenty men we are now down to five. Marcus hides the anger in his heart as he orders, “Let’s catch up to Easy Money, and give those traitors some payback!”

  The other four survivors quickly line up behind their leader, prepared to resume their march to the portal.

  Chapter 59 – Test

  “Wow!” Evan exclaims to the camera as the final moments of the duel between Marcus and Maximus is replayed on the screen. “What an exciting duel!”

  “But the encounter proved to be extremely costly to the Virtuous players,” Antoinette quickly points out. “The lives counter now shows fifty Eternians versus forty-five Virtuans remaining in this contest.” She turns to Charles. “This encounter started because a Virtuous player inexplicably threw fireworks over the position of a hidden group of Virtuans and exposed them to the Eternian riders. Aren’t all fifty players fighting on the same side?”

  The CEO of VG throws his hands up and shrugs. “Unfortunately, the company’s employee who was assigned to fill all fifty slots for this event is participating in the tournament. Since the hundred players are walled off inside a separate instance right now, I cannot contact her and ask what happened. I can only surmise that there may have been some bad blood between the two groups for some reason.”

  His rival chimes in. “What is unfortunate here is how the leader of the organization tries to pass the buck along to his lackey. When you have a player who backstabs another teammate, on live stream no less, this episode casts serious doubt on the entire culture inside Virtuous Gaming,” Richard remarks. “When I receive controlling interest in VG, fumigating this cancerous culture inside the organization will be one of my first priorities.”

  Charles laughs off the remarks, but shoots daggers at his rival.

  “That’s enough from the spectator table,” Evan quickly changes the subject to forestall Charles’ reply. “Let’s check the battle field and see which Virtuous group will test the Eternian defense first.”

  * * *

  The five Virtuan riders lead their mounts on a circuitous route around the mountain. Hugo Everheart is careful to keep his distance to avoid being spotted by the lookouts that Eternians have surely posted up on the mountain top. “Any contact with the column?” he asks.

  Yeva Truthseeker shakes her head, “No.”

  The contingent of three fighters, one priestess, and one mage keep silent. The five members of The Returned are aware that their side has already lost fifteen players. The radio silence means that the loss probably came from Marcus’ group, rather than Easy Money’s.

  Yeva begins to cast the spell for which her avatar is named, Clairvoyance: “Oh wondrous Gods of Eternia, Hear My Plea! Unveil the Truth to Thy Servant! Amen.” An image appears in thin air in front of the priestess, showing the enemy position on the mountain top directly behind the portal. An archer is perched almost directly above the portal, with a black robed spell caster right next to the bowman. On the left and right edge of the plateau, in direct line of sight of the archer, are two more spell casters.

  Hugo smiles in irony at the use of a spell granted by the grace of the Gods of Eternia for the express purpose o
f destroying Eternia and, by extension, the Gods themselves.

  Timmons Rangehand speaks up once the spell has expired. “Sir, I think we should scout the back of the mountain. The other Virtuans should be reaching the front of the base shortly. We should check for any weaknesses at the back to exploit and then report to the other players,” he suggests.

  Hugo turns to face the young ranger. “You’re half right.”

  Timmons looks at his leader quizzically.

  “Anyone know why I said that?” Hugo asks and opens the discussion. The players under his command are relatively new to the alliance, and Marcus does not fully trust them yet. One of Hugo’s assigned tasks is to evaluate these newcomers and determine which should be keepers as permanent members of the alliance, and which should be booted from The Returned, once the tournament is finished.

  Elmer Freeman nods. “We want to avoid waiting in front of the base for the other Virtuan forces to arrive, until we can confirm it’s a force led by Marcus rather than Easy Money’s group. Since Marcus has a personal bet with Virgil, our leader would not want us to provide assistance to the mercenary group and make our leader lose his bet,” he explains the thinking in depth.

  Hugo pats the berserker on the arm. “Bingo!” he says with an admiring look at the man. He’s a keeper. “Okay, let’s circle around the mountain to the back and check out the Eternian defense there,” he orders and stirs his mount ahead.

  “Nice one,” Jasell Firebrand says as the fire mage fist bumps Elmer. The mage lines up his horse behind Yeva, and Elmer takes the back as the rear guard for the scouting party.

  * * *

  Virgil finally catches up with the rest of his men, who are now standing within sight of the mountain. “Any trouble?” he asks.

  Demetrius Tripper salutes his leader. “No sir.”

  Virgil sighs. “In this game, there is no need to salute. We’re here for a cash paying job, and we’ll collect hefty bonuses doubling our payout if we win this tournament. Decorum goes out the window when it comes to mercs like us,” he says. He turns to Davida Wishbringer. “I want you to contact the cloud runners and the assassin corps, and find out their current status.”