Awaken Online: Dominion

by Travis Bagwell

  “Pretty damn cool, huh?” Rex asked with a grin.

  Jason could only nod in agreement. “Yeah, but can you do it again? I didn’t catch the hand gestures or the incantation.”

  “Certainly, boy,” Rex agreed. “That’s what I’m here for.”

  Jason watched the specter closely as it repeated the spell, trying to mimic the hand movements and the words as best he could. He quickly lost track of time as he tried to emulate the motions.

  After several tries, he realized that it was impossible to learn both the chant and the gestures simultaneously. So, he switched tactics – forcing the specter to repeat the motions of the spell and focusing on the gestures one at a time until he had mastered them. Only then did he move on to the incantation. The process was painful and time consuming compared to the way he had previously learned spells, but he found that it became easier over time. He discovered that his hands seemed to know some of the gestures, likely having developed muscle memory from his previous spells, even if he had never learned what the patterns meant.

  When he started memorizing the incantation, he encountered something strange. If he really concentrated, he realized that he could understand some of the words of the spell, although the meaning of the entire spell still alluded him. He assumed he had never really paid attention to this before since the incantations for his other spells had simply been planted in his brain. He had just thought he was spouting magical gibberish, but perhaps there was something more at work here.

  The entire process was disconcerting. Jason couldn’t help but recall his last conversation with Alfred. The AI had explained that he had created a living world in AO and had simply used the game mechanics to ease the players into it. For the first time, Jason was starting to see what Alfred meant. There seemed to be much more to the game’s magic system than what he had considered at first glance. Which inevitably led him to the next question; what more was there to discover?

  Nearly an hour later, he felt ready to try casting the spell. By this point, Riley had inspected the entire room, finding nothing more than bones lingering in the corners. She was now sitting atop one of the piles, watching him with a bored expression.

  “Okay, let’s give this a shot,” Jason murmured.

  “Finally!” Rex exclaimed, hopping back to his feet. Even he had grown tired of watching Jason mutter to himself as his fingers twitched.

  Jason summoned his dark mana the way he did for his other spells, the chill energy surging through him. Then he began winding his hands slowly through the gestures of the spell – as arcane words slipped from his lips. The dark specter mirrored his actions as it walked through the same steps. As Jason completed the spell, he waited expectantly…

  But nothing happened.

  He glanced at the specter in confusion, mentally reviewing the steps of the spell in his head. His gestures and incantation hadn’t been perfect, but it had been pretty damn close. “I don’t get it...” he murmured.

  “That was anti-climactic,” Riley offered from nearby. “I’m glad to see you made progress after an hour of muttering to yourself.” Jason couldn’t help but glare in her direction.

  Rex glanced between Jason and Riley with his head cocked to the side as though he was listening to something. “Ahh!” he suddenly exclaimed and smacked his head with his palm. Or at least he tried to. His hands just passed harmlessly through his skull, his face rippling and contorting as the mist split apart and then joined back together. “I forgot the other part of the spell.” He glanced at Jason sheepishly. “Sorry. I’m new to this whole spellcasting thing.

  “Bone Armor requires you to have sufficient materials to use the spell,” Rex continued. “In this case, bones. Original, I know. It’s also impractical to walk around carrying a bunch of skeletons in your bag, and it would take too long to retrieve them in order to cast Bone Armor. To address this issue, the Keepers invented a way to store the materials internally. They called it Soul Storage.”

  Jason was eyeing Rex with a curious expression. He could already envision a number of uses for such an ability. Could he summon skeletons using the materials? That would be awesome, although it also felt a little unbalanced. That would basically shore up one of his major weaknesses, which was easy access to materials.

  Rex seemed to anticipate his question. “Wipe that excited look off your face. Once the bones are absorbed, they can only be used to cast Bone Armor. Anyway, this ability is a bit easier to learn – at least, so I’m told by the creepy spirit voices. Simply grab a bone, summon your mana, and then visualize that you are grabbing the bone with the mana and pulling it into your body.”

  Jason did as he was instructed. He picked up a single bone and summoned his dark mana – the energy raging through his veins in a frigid torrent. Then he tried to visualize the mana peeling away from his body and encircling the bone, much like he did when he was creating a new skeleton. Slowly, a tendril broke away from his skin and snatched at the bone in his hand. Then, Jason ordered it to pull the bone back into his body.

  This took several tries, the bone bouncing awkwardly off his chest repeatedly. However, Jason eventually got the feel for it. The trick was to think about his body as something permeable – like the dark specter that still stood beside Rex. Finally, the bone sank into his body, and Jason was awarded with a notification.

  New Spell: Bone Absorption

  As a Keeper, you are able to absorb bones into your body – recalling the materials to empower specific spells and abilities. Higher level versions of this spell may increase your storage limit, absorption rate, and can alter and modify the bones themselves.

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 1

  Effect: Your storage limit is currently 100 units.

  Interesting, Jason thought to himself as he reviewed the spell notification. He was intrigued by how he might be able to modify the bones in the future – that had certainly been useful with his summoned skeletons. Maybe he could customize the armor based on the enemy he was fighting.

  “Okay, now absorb more bones until you hit your cap and then try casting Bone Armor one more time,” Rex instructed, snapping Jason out of his reverie.

  He did as he was told, drawing more bones into his body. By the time he hit the resource limit, Jason even felt confident enough to try absorbing two bones at once – although he quickly discovered that this was beyond his current abilities. He only managed to pelt himself with bones, much to Riley and Rex’s amusement. Once he hit the cap, he tried to cast Bone Armor again, his hands moving through the gestures carefully as he focused on the incantation.

  As he finished the spell, Jason felt his skin begin to tingle along his forearms, back, and thighs. He looked down at his arm to see bone drifting out of his skin and through his leather armor – the material semi-transparent. Then the ivory substance settled atop his armor, bound to his body by dark mana. The meager panels certainly didn’t look like the full-plate armor he had seen on the dark specter, but it was a start.

  New Spell: Bone Armor

  You have learned the defensive spell of a Keeper, allowing you to robe yourself in armor made of bones. Higher levels of this spell provide greater durability, coverage, and may allow the user to manipulate the shape of the armor.

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 1

  Cost: 50 units.

  Effect: Create simple bone armor. Each piece of armor has 100 health.

  x2 Spell Rank Up: Bone Absorption

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 3

  Effect: Your storage limit is currently 102 units.

  “Fantastic,” Rex said, his spectral form pacing around Jason and observing the plates. “Apparently, this defensive spell can become quite powerful at higher levels – assuming you have stored sufficient bones ahead of time, of course.”

  “He’s learned the new spell, so now what?” Riley asked, hopping down from her perch and approaching the pair, her hands already resting on the hilt of her daggers.

  Rex frowned in concentration and co
cked his head once again. “Next you will need to attempt the challenge. You must conquer it to advance to the next room.” He hesitated, his frown deepening. “I’m supposed to give you some silly cryptic riddle for this first challenge, but that voodoo nonsense never appealed to me. So, I’ll just be straight with you.”

  He met their gaze evenly. “The objective of this first trial is simple. Survive.”

  As soon as Rex finished speaking, he abruptly winked out of existence, his spectral dummy vanishing as well. The cloud of dark vapor drifted back into the globe, and the sphere lit up, casting an eerie blue light across the room.

  Challenge 1: A Trial of Bone has been initiated.

  Prepare yourselves, challengers.

  Chapter 9 - Durable

  Riley and Jason stood in the center of the of the room, weapons drawn and their eyes warily searching the nearby mounds of bones. Neither was certain what to expect from this encounter. While Rex’s instructions had been somewhat clear, he had been a little vague on the details. “Survive” seemed straightforward. But for how long and against what?

  Fortunately – or unfortunately – they didn’t have to wait long to find out. All at once, hundreds of bones launched into the air, spiraling and colliding in a frenzy of movement. Jason and Riley inched closer to each other, trying to stay inside the eye of the maelstrom.

  The ivory material collided and combined, and bands of dark mana lashed the bones together. Within only moments, nearly two dozen skeletons surrounded the pair, their glowing black eyes watching them with deadly intent. Even more disturbing was how familiar the skeletons appeared, their skulls framed by mighty horns and massive spiked shields held in-hand. Their skeletal tails swished through the air in anticipation.

  “Death Knights,” Jason murmured. “How…?”

  He didn’t get to finish his question as the skeletons charged toward them, their feet thundering across the room’s floor and scattering the loose bones. Riley didn’t wait for her opponents to engage. In a flurry of movement, she drew and fired her bow in rapid succession. The tips of her arrows pulsed with dark energy. Each missile struck an exposed joint or weak point, exploding violently, and tearing several of the Death Knights apart while sending others toppling headfirst into the ground.

  Riley’s assault barely made a dent in the horde of skeletons, who continued their mad rush, their feet pounding the stone floor. As they neared, Riley sprinted for a nearby pile of bone and leaped with surprising strength, placing her atop the mound and out of the immediate reach of the Death Knights. She then proceeded to launch arrow after arrow into the pack of undead. This might have provided the archer with protection, but it also meant that Jason was now standing alone near the center of the room.

  He shook himself out of his momentary shock, calling three bone shields. At least he didn’t lack materials here, although his summoning abilities had been disabled. Then he tried to cast his new Bone Armor, wondering if it would really offer any protection against the hulking forms of the Death Knights barreling toward him. His fingers fumbled through the new gestures, and Jason discovered that it was much more difficult to summon the armor while under pressure.

  He managed to complete the spell just as one of the Death Knights made it within reach. Jason dived forward into a roll, a rush of wind signaling that the skeleton had raced passed him. As he struggled to regain his feet, he heard the crunch of bone and was rewarded with the sight of two former Death Knights intertwined on the floor – the pair having collided when Jason leaped out of the way.

  However, more of the creatures were still racing toward him, and he didn’t have time to celebrate. He heard stomping behind him and turned, seeing that a Death Knight was only a few feet away. Before Jason could regain his feet, the creature spun and its tail lashed out at Jason, the ridged bone streaking toward his chest. Jason barely managed to get his arm up in time to protect himself, but the blow still shattered the bone armor along his forearm. Burning pain bloomed in his arm and chest, and he saw his health dip, black blood splattering the floor from the open gash in his forearm. Towering above him, the skeleton raised its axe to finish him off.

  The blow never landed. A missile struck the Death Knight’s elbow, a blast of dark energy shattering the limb and filling the air with ivory dust. Jason caught sight of Riley standing on the bone mound behind the Death Knight, the string of her bow still vibrating. Then she turned her attention away from Jason, her missiles targeting the other Death Knights.

  I need to get out of the open, Jason thought frantically as he scrambled to his feet. I’m going to die if I stay out here!

  He eyed the enormous crystalline columns that dotted the room. Maybe he could get near one and use it to keep the Death Knights from charging. Then he would only need to deal with them in melee. A voice in the back of his mind told him this was futile. Even if he could avoid their charge, he still had no spells that could hurt them, and he didn’t really know how to use his staff. It wasn’t exactly an improvement, but it was still better than dying immediately.

  As he raced toward one of the nearby columns, Riley provided occasional covering fire and kept the Death Knights at bay. Even so, glancing blows caused his bone shields to explode into dusty fragments, and his body was littered with cuts and scratches by the time he made it to one of the crystalline columns, pieces of bone falling from his arms and shoulders.

  He rushed around the pillar, his back pressed against it. His chest heaved as he cradled his injured arm and tried to catch his breath. This was not his element, and he didn’t know how he was going to help Riley take down the remaining undead. Before he could come up with a plan, he heard a shout of warning, followed closely by a scream of pain. Jason glanced around the pillar and froze in horror. A Night Child clung to a crystalline pillar near Riley, it’s tiny gray body difficult to make out against the dark substance and its razor-sharp claws embedded in her thigh.

  The archer yelled in fury, her daggers appearing in her hands in an instant and tearing through the creature’s arm. The next blow embedded a blade in its skull. Jason glanced at the group menu in his peripheral vision. Between constantly casting her void arrow and the surprise attack, Riley’s health had dipped precariously low. He wasn’t in a much better position. It would take them a while to regenerate.

  Time they didn’t have.

  The remainder of the Death Knights had broken apart, the bones streaming away on a river of dark energy. Yet as quickly as they flew apart, the malevolent energy pulled the bones back together, forming a legion of Night Children, dozens of glittering black eyes now staring at Jason and Riley. The lithe, little creatures darted about the room, scrambling up the pile of bones that Riley stood upon and climbing the crystalline columns with ease. What was unnerving was how quietly they moved, like they were more shadow than skeleton.

  Riley swatted at the creatures as they darted toward her, abandoning her daggers, and using her bow like a club – each blow knocking several of the creatures off the pile. It wasn’t enough. They continued to score scratches and cuts, whittling away at her waning health despite her best efforts.

  Jason tried to rush to her aid, racing across the room. He started using his bone shields more offensively, mentally ordering them to knock down the nearby small Night Children as he swung wildly with his staff. One of the creatures anticipated the strike of a Bone Shield and darted under the ivory circle, coming up inside Jason’s guard. He instinctively raised his left arm, and the creature’s claws skittered off his Bone Armor. Then he swung the staff around like a bat – using more raw strength than skill – and the blow blasted apart the skeleton’s ribcage.

  And then Jason was running again.

  The Night Children had almost overwhelmed Riley as Jason neared. “Riley, jump!” he shouted. She glanced at him, her expression frantic. Then she leaped.

  Jason used another Bone Shield to swipe at the Night Child behind her, ordering another to act as a platform for her foot, the shield exploding as she
touched it – likely a product of Alfred’s recent changes to the skill. Then he swept his final and third shield around in a wide arc, block a strike from behind him.

  His lack of focus cost him as a pair of claws raked down his back, pain blossoming along his spine. And then Riley was there. She dropped the creature attacking Jason with a well-aimed blow to its head. She glanced at Jason as the remainder of the undead circled around them – a massive horde of Night Children surrounding the pair, their eyes sucking in the blue torch light like miniature blackholes. Riley and Jason shared a look then. Riley’s expression spoke volumes, hopeless despair hanging heavy in her eyes.

  They were going to die soon.

  * * *

  In fact, Riley and Jason only lasted another 30 seconds before the undead swarmed them and their ivory claws ended their lives. Surprisingly, they found themselves standing back in the challenge room moments later – no strange blue motes of energy drifting through the air. Then the same strange voices whispered through the room.

  Challenge 1: A Trial of Bone failed.

  Total Time: 2 minutes and 43 seconds.

  Riley Kills: 43

  Jason Kills: 6

  “Well that was pathetic,” Rex said, the former general’s wispy black form leaning casually against the column in the center of the room. “I wasn’t really expecting you two to beat it on the first try, but less than three minutes?” He just shook his head.