by Alex Mulder
“Oh.” Tess set a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry…”
“It’s okay,” said Luke. He walked over to the tent and started helping her tear it down, passing her the bedding and poles. “My life in the outside world… It doesn’t really matter anymore.”
Tess’s eyes saw right through him, disregarding his words.
“I don’t think that’s true,” she said. “I think it matters more now than ever.”
Luke didn’t say anything. They folded the tent’s canopy and slipped it into Tess’s bag. Luke started off, walking along the edge of the sand cliff to the north instead of straight down.
“What about you then?” asked Luke.
“Me?” Tess chuckled. “I don’t have a life in the real world anymore, in case you forgot.”
“I know,” said Luke. “I just mean… you left your life behind. Why shouldn’t I?”
“I didn’t have much to leave behind, Luke.”
“You had Ben.”
Tess was the one who went silent this time. The two of them reached the bottom of the slope, passing out of the borderlands and into the Sarchia Desert. Their path would take them northwest across the desert and the Inner Plains.
“I still have Ben,” said Tess, finally. “Silverstrike.”
“Tess, he’s still Ben in the real world.” Luke looked over at her. “And Ben needed you. He still needs you. Not Silverstrike.”
The second the words had left his mouth, Luke regretted them.
Damn it, I didn’t mean to sound so accusational.
“My brother barely even talked to me before,” said Tess.
“Ben’s just… confused.” Luke stepped in closer to her and slipped her arm through his as they made their way across the sandy, dune speckled landscape. “He doesn’t understand the full extent of what it means for someone to go all in.”
“Neither do I, Luke. Neither do any of us.”
A Dunidan rumbled the sand underneath them, surfacing in the next zone over. Luke paid it almost no attention, completely drawn into the conversation with Tess.
“What do you mean by that?” asked Luke.
Tess leaned in a bit closer to him and set her free hand on the outside of his looped arm.
“I’ve just had a lot of time to think lately,” she said. “And I keep coming back to the same thing. How deeply does Yvvaros simulate people who don’t have bodies and brains in the outside world anymore? Is it at the same level that it simulates NPCs? What level is that… sometimes when I’m talking with an NPC I almost forget that they’re just a programmed facet of the game.”
“Tess…”
“The simulation must have a limit. I’m in a simulated body, but is it actually made of cells and atoms? Are there even neurons in my brain, or am I just floating digital thoughts, controlling an empty vessel of a body?”
How can I answer that?
“Luke, I feel like part of me…” Tess stopped, and blinked back tears. “I worry that part of me died in my physical body, and there’s no way I’ll ever get it back, or even understand what it was.”
“It almost sounds like you’re talking about your soul.” Luke shook his head. “Tess, I don’t care about any of that. I know that you’re you, the same Tess, or Emily, that I’ve always known.”
“But what if-”
“I know it for a fact,” countered Luke. “Here, give me your hand.”
The two of them stopped walking and stood still, coming to rest on top of a dune that was higher than the others in the area. Luke stared into Tess’s eyes, and waited until she was really seeing him, really looking back at him.
“When this is all over, I’m going to join you inside of Yvvaros. Permenantly.”
“Don’t say that, Luke,” said Tess. “Please, just don’t…”
“I’ve already said it. Tess, you didn’t give anything up by going all in. You just stepped through a door. I want to step through it, too. I want us to really be together.”
Tess looked down at her feet for a couple of seconds.
“Thank you, Luke,” she whispered. “Come on, we should keep moving.”
“I love you, Tess.”
She leaned into him and pulled him into a tight hug.
The Sarchia Desert slowly gave way to the green, grassy fields of the Inner Plains. Luke briefly considered leading them to a pit stop in Stark Town on their way north, and then decided against it.
We don’t have any time to waste. It’s also an unnecessary risk, with the Arbiters still on our tail.
Instead of stopping, he led the two of them around in a wide arc to the west. Luke was a little surprised to see that the Inner Plains were still teeming with new players, many of them fighting with the low level enemies that populated the grasslands.
“Apparently Arbiters and permadeath aren’t enough to scare them away,” said Luke.
“It’s the allure of the game.” Tess smiled and squeezed his hand. “They’re all so innocent, and so clueless. I almost wish I could go back to being like that.”
Luke shook his head.
“I don’t.”
A flock of birds flew overhead, diving and dodging, ignoring the overcast sky above their heads. The air tasted humid, hinting of rain to come.
It took Luke and Tess all of the afternoon to make it to the thin stretch of trees that separated the Inner Plains from the outskirts of the Blue Void. They had crossed the Inner Plains diagonally, reaching the western edge of the continent and traveling up the coast. Luke shivered remembering the last time he’d made this trip.
“Once we push through the trees, it’s going to start getting cold,” he said. “There is a small gap between where the Teeth of the North ends and the edge of the continent, so we should be able to head to the Ancestor Glacier without having to do anymore climbing.”
Tess nodded.
“Good,” she said.
The forest was thin, and occupied by only low level enemies. It wasn’t a challenge for Luke and Tess to push through. The trees grew stubbornly at constant odds with the harsh climate. Unlike the Msitu Wilds before, the flora of the northern forest was sparse and nonexistent in some places.
The first hint of what lay ahead of them came from the air. It grew colder with every step they took. Tess tucked her arms into her dress armor, and Luke started wishing that he’d used some of the gold that Kaoru had given him to buy furs and heavy cloaks for staying warm.
“It’s not that bad,” he said, shivering. “We’ll just head straight north, get to the Ancestor Glacier, and then turn back.”
“Right!” Tess’s teeth were chattering, and she pulled in a little closer to him.
The trees became even thinner and those that survived were stunted and gnarled. They grew further and further apart, and finally they hit the point beyond which nothing could grow. The ground ahead of them was dusted in a thin layer of snow and frost, and beyond that was white as far as the eye could see. The Teeth of the North formed a wall to the northeast, and further past it, jutting out above, was the massive Ancestor Glacier.
There’s no turning back. We have to do this.
CHAPTER 17
“It’s really cold…”
Tess huddled in closer to Luke as they moved into the Blue Void. The snow on the ground was quickly getting deeper as they passed from the borderlands into the northern reaches, licking at their knees. Snowflakes gently floated down from the clouds above, and a chilly breeze blew in from the west.
“Yeah, it is,” said Luke. “We should be fine though, as long as we keep moving.”
The cold was having more than just a physical effect. Both of their stamina bars were dropping much faster than usual. They still had food left in their bags, but Luke began to wish that they’d stopped in Stark Town after all.
“You’ve been up this way before, right?” asked Tess. Luke nodded.
“Only once,” he said. “It was for the Winter Beast world event.”
And that time, I ended up getting mysel
f killed.
He frowned as he remembered the fight with the massive creature, and the traumatic experience of being torn in two.
“We just need to stick it out,” he continued. “Regardless of how bad it gets.”
The snow flurries grew stronger, to the point where the white flakes obscured the mountains in the distance. Luke looked over his shoulder at where the forest had been behind him and found that he couldn’t see it either.
“Luke…” said Tess. “It’s starting to get late.”
She was right. The sun was hidden by the thick snow clouds, but Luke could tell from the way the light was quickly dimming that they were running out of daylight.
“It’s okay,” he said. “We’ll manage.”
He reached his hand down and pulled his sword out of its scabbard.
ELEMENTAL INFUSION: FIRE
The blade came alive with magical orange flames, glowing brightly and giving off precious heat. Tess smiled and held her hands out over it, as though it were a campfire.
“Good thinking,” she said. “Here, my turn.”
She chanted something under her breath, and a circle of rainbow colored light pushed out from her body.
“Protection from the elements,” she said. “I’m not a high enough level for it to be all that protective, but it should help at least a little with the cold.”
“Thanks,” said Luke. The snow was getting deeper and it was beginning to affect their movement. Ahead of them, he could barely make out the edge of the Teeth of the North. To reach the Ancestor Glacier, they would have to cut beneath the range.
They traveled in relative silence for a couple of hours. Luke continually cast Elemental Infusion to keep them warm and light their way. He had to eat frequently in order to restore the magicka it took to keep the spell burning. Their repeated stops added time to the arduous trek.
Even with the flaming sword for warmth and light, the journey was hard and grueling. Luke lost feeling in his feet, and he felt the cold wind its way toward his ankles.
We don’t have any other choice, but this is ridiculous.
“Luke,” whispered Tess. “I don’t know about this. Maybe we should turn back for tonight.”
“Tess, that’s not really an option at this point. We’re almost there, it’ll be okay.”
The ground sloped up slightly as they passed by the western edge of the Teeth. The mountain next to them was massive, but it was so covered with snow that it was almost impossible for them to get a true sense of scale.
“Wait!” Tess grabbed his hand and pulled him back a step. “Do you… do you hear that?”
Luke listened and heard a rumbling coming from the ground. It wasn’t like the shaking that had come from the eruption of Shahidi’s Vengeance. It felt active, and somewhat directional. The rumbling sound shifted and soon Luke heard what sounded like the waves of the ocean. He realized what it was a split second too late.
“Avalanche!” He lurched forward, doing his best to pull Tess with him through the waist deep snow. “Look out!”
The snow came down the west side of the nearby mountain with the force of a tsunami, pulling everything in its path with it. Luke could only see it as a ripple of movement in a sea of white, but the strengthening vibrations in the ground and air were enough to tell him everything he needed to know.
“Luke!” Tess’s hand broke away from his as the wall of snow struck them. Snow pushed into Luke’s mouth and ears, and he panicked, gripping his sword with both hands and swinging it wildly as he tumbled forward.
He was locked in place as the avalanche came to a stop. The snow extinguished the flames of his blade, which he still held over his head, as though readying it for a downward strike.
No! I need to move!
Luke struggled to pull his arms back, or push them forward. There was far too much snow packed around him to get even an inch of wiggle room.
ELEMENTAL INFUSION: FIRE
Luke’s sword ignited, and then swiftly extinguished. Panic began to strike in the depths of his heart, not for himself, but for Tess.
I can’t breathe, and that means neither can she.
Luke thrashed every muscle in his body as he tried to unwedge himself. He felt paralyzed. His movements were stifled and locked away, and claustrophobia was setting in fast.
His head began to ache, and splotches of light and stars flickered in front of his closed eyelids. Luke knew that he was about to pass out, and decided to try something desperate.
PIERCE ATTACK 3
The combat ability shifted him up a couple of inches, but then he slipped back down. The extra bit of space it had given him, however was all the encouragement he needed.
PIERCE ATTACK 3
This time, Luke made it up and halfway through to the surface, far enough up to move his arms above the snow. He coughed ice chunks out of his mouth and sucked in air as he clawed his lower body out.
“Tess! Tess!” He didn’t see her anywhere. Snow covered everything as far as the eye could see. The avalanche had created a hill underneath him. Luke stood up, his entire body tingling with the biting cold.
ELEMENTAL INFUSION: FIRE
Luke began cutting into the snow with his sword of fire, making sure to keep it from going too deep and extinguishing itself. He had only a short amount of time before Tess ran out of air, maybe a minute or two, at max. His infused blade could melt the snow quickly, but he had to be careful with it.
If I hit Tess, it’s just going to make my hand in her death even more active.
“Tess!” Luke let out a shaky breath as he hurried across the top of the avalanche hill, gingerly testing the snow with his sword. He needed to know where to dig, he hoped to see a scrap of her clothing, or her hand above the snow.
A minute went by. Luke still hadn’t found anything. The worst case scenario kept pushing its way into the forefront of his thoughts. If Tess was deep under the snow, he could dig for hours and still not stand a chance of uncovering her.
Suddenly, he received the sign he’d been looking for. Something that looked a bit like a tree root, or a stick, was poking out of the snow a few dozen yards behind him.
That’s got to be her staff!
The sun had dropped over the horizon, and it was hard to make out anything in the light of dusk, but he was sure of it. He reinfused his sword with fire and rushed over and then slowly slid it into the snow about a foot away from the staff.
Luke’s first impulse was to chop frantically and to get as much snow out of the way as he possibly could. But that would have been far too dangerous. Instead, he forced himself to act with patience, slowly melting the snow away with the sword while he dug in the direction of the staff with his free hand.
“Tess! Hang in there!” Luke had created enough room with his sword to let him dig faster with his hands. He tunneled into the snow like a dog digging a hole, following Tess’s staff down foot by foot.
His fingers touched hair, half frozen by the snow. Luke cried out and began digging around it, freeing her head after what felt like an eternity. Tess’s lips were blue, and she didn’t open her eyes as he wiped ice crystals off of them.
“I’m going to get you out, just hold on!”
Luke used his sword to widen the hole he’d made, and then dug his feet into the snow and began leveraging Tess out of the snowy tomb. She was light, but it was still a feat of strength. The snow was sticky and packed tight, and it clung to her as though it didn’t want to let go.
After a couple of minutes, he had her back on the surface. She was unconscious, and her entire body felt as cold as ice. Luke felt for a heartbeat, and was relieved and a little surprised to find one.
I never thought about whether or not the game simulated that before.
“Tess, hey…” He rubbed his hands on her cold cheeks, trying to warm her up. He knew that even though he’d pulled her from the avalanche, the cold was still draining her stamina at a dangerous pace. She was still in mortal danger, as long as she remained
unconscious and unable to warm herself or eat.
“Don’t worry, Tess,” he said. “I’m going get you warmed up.”
Luke lifted Tess over his shoulder and carried her down from the snow hill, putting space in between them and further avalanches. After packing down a small area of snow he set her down and reached into her satchel for the tent. Snow was still falling overhead, and his first priority was shelter.
The tent went up easily, each of the poles digging into the snow without much trouble. Luke set down the animal skin carpet, and then covered the tent with the fabric canopy. Tess’s condition hadn’t changed, though the night had grown dark enough to make it hard for Luke to check.
He pulled her into the tent and tied the flap shut behind him. It wasn’t any warmer inside, but the cover it gave them from the snow was a start.
“I need to get you warmed up.” Luke lay down next to her and pulled her tight against him. “Tess… I’m not going to let you die.”
He knew what he had to do. Luke first took off his own leather armor, half frozen by the snow, and set it aside. Tess had a heavy wool blanket in her bag, large enough for two people, and Luke pulled it out.
“I hope you don’t get the wrong idea about this when you wake up,” muttered Luke. He forced himself to hurry through pulling her dress armor off, averting his eyes in respect for her modesty as much as he could. Then, he took his own clothes off, and hugged her naked body tightly as he wrapped the wool blanket around them.
It was still cold. The ground underneath them sapped at their heat even more than the air. Luke quickly set up a bed mat made of their clothes and then returned to the wool cocoon. It only helped so much.
I need more heat…
He’d set his sword aside in its scabbard not far from where they lay in the tent. Luke reached over, unsheathed it, and then held it clear from the fabric of the tent.
ELEMENTAL INFUSION: FIRE
The blade gave off light, heat, and luckily for them, no smoke. It was one of the upsides of using magic to create fire in the place of regular means.
Luke stabbed the sword a third of the way into the snow next to them and let it stay there, shining and warming the room. Luke lay back down next to Tess and made sure that the wool blanket was still completely wrapped around them both.