“You okay?” Bishop asked weakly as we came to a stop a few seconds later.
“As okay as I’m gonna be,” I groaned, trying desperately to ignore the fact that I’d been shot in the back a few times and the vest had reached the point of being almost useless, “are you guys almost ready for the broadcast?”
“I don’t know, are we…” Bishop trailed off as he struggled to get up, “Ferra…”
I didn’t need to see her to know what had happened, and, to be perfectly honest, I really didn’t want to.
The bus door opened, drawing my attention over to the front where I saw Paul slumped over the dashboard and a clearly very injured Griegs standing by the open door with his SMG trained on anyone who’d have the bad luck to cross his path.
I think that’s right about the time I started to realise that it wasn’t likely any of us were going to get out of the situation alive, much less unharmed, and a dreary sort of ‘what’s the point of it all?’ feeling began to settle over me.
“Get back to work,” Bishop snapped as best as he could before unceremoniously shoving Ferra from her seat and taking her place, “we’re almost done here.”
“I… I can’t hand-”
“I don’t give a shit if you can’t handle it,” Bishop growled, “people have died for this, a lot more than are on this bus, and I’m not about to let you give up because it’s gotten a bit difficult, now-”
He was interrupted by a burst of gunfire Griegs had fired out through the door at some unseen target.
“Now get back in there, or I swear to God I’ll kill you before anyone else gets the chance.”
It’d been a hectic thirty minutes, so I was pretty quick to forgive Bishop’s apparent anger, but I felt like he wasn’t giving me enough time to process what was going on.
I’d met the people in that bus less than an hour prior, and suddenly they were all dead.
Did I weep?
Did I panic?
No, I opened the laptop, and I went back to work, forgoing any sense of fear for my safety or imminent death and accepting that I needed to do my job.
Armelia: Chapter 41
Piggy-Bank Lock 3 Activated.
Piggy-Bank Loaded.
The water in the lake bubbled and the small section of floor beneath the sigil opened up wide enough for me to squeeze through.
I was in a room, a white room with all but one of the walls covered in orange lines, the exception being the one with a massive screen on it.
“Turn it on and step back.” Bishop practically gurgled.
I went to do as he said, but stopped as a bullet finally ripped through the near-destroyed vest and lodged itself deep in my side.
Want to hear something really messed up? I was just glad that it hadn’t managed to get through and destroy the laptop.
Heh, despite all my efforts, my life was still completely, utterly, and undeniably fucked.
“Hey, Bishop,” I groaned as I forced my completely healthy avatar forward to what looked like some kind of console, “this whole thing, this is my first Let’s Play.”
I’m pretty sure I heard Bishop chuckle, but that very well may have been my imagination.
Run Agent Update?
Y/N
At first I thought it meant client update, which I thought would be the last thing in the world that I’d want to run, and then I realised that it probably meant agents like Bishop and hit ‘Y’ and walked backwards until the entire screen was visible in my viewport.
Running Update.
Loading WatchList.exe
Loading ActiveAgent.exe
Loading RogueAgent.exe
Loading ProtectionList.exe
Loading DossierGAD.exe
Running All.
“I did it…” I muttered as I took one last look at the LoT UI before pushing the laptop away, “I fuckin’ did it…”
Kylia: Chapter 11
Light poured in from the dozens, if not hundreds of holes in the side of the bus as I crawled out from under the desk, letting the laptop clatter to the floor as I did so.
“Griegs?” I coughed out weakly once I spotted him sitting on the bus stairs with his back propped up against the wall, “Griegs? Are you alright?”
I think I already knew the answer, even before I made out the blood splatters past my blurry vision, but I still had to ask.
To my surprise, he let out a bloody cough and looked at me as I failed to get up to my feet for the second time, “You… you do it?”
“Well…” I spluttered out with a laugh before falling down next to him, “they’re not shooting at you anymore, are they?”
“Heh…” the wounded soldier replied, turning his gaze back to where he’d been shooting, “S’pose you’re right. Looks good on the big screen.”
I wanted to agree with him, though I was having a hard enough time focusing on the shells that I was sitting on, let alone the bright screen that I assumed was a good hundred or so feet from me.
“I’ll have to take your word for it…” I trailed off with a tired sigh after giving up on straining my eyes before asking “You alright?” again.
Griegs let out a little laugh at that, then seethed from the pain such a strenuous activity caused, “Pretty far from it… Where’d they get you?”
Without really thinking about it, my hand drifted down to my warm, wet side where I’d felt the stinging pain before, “Just the side… They hit the vest a few times though, felt like someone was firing cricket balls at me out of a potato cannon after the first one though… How ‘bout you?”
“Oh, you know…” Griegs replied with a quiet groan, “little bit o’ everywhere. You reckon you’ll pull through?”
I went to shake my head and immediately felt dizzy, “Not counting on it. You?”
“Me? Heh, nah… I reckon I’m runnin’ on nothin’ but stubbornness and adrenaline now…”
My vision was getting worse, but things had stopped hurting, which I suppose was the best I could hope for at that point, “Bet you fall asleep first…” I chuckled.
“No way…” Griegs said with a smile as his eyes slid shut, “Imma stay awake well after your pansy arse passes out”
“You really think so?” I teased.
“I know so…”
I knew what he was doing, and while I was glad that we’d both had the same idea, I really didn’t want to be the last one standing, well, sitting.
“We did it, didn’t we?”
Griegs attempted a shrug in response and instead dropped his gun, allowing it to clatter and fall out of the bus, “Like you said, they ain’t shootin’ anymore.”
“And there’s no way you just killed ‘em all?”
Griegs smiled and shrugged again, “It’s entirely possible, I am that good…”
I tried to laugh, but I couldn’t for the life of me get it out, which I discounted as being probably due to the fact that blood was fast filling my lungs.
“Why aren’t-” I started then stopped as something caught in my throat and I was forced to clear it, “why aren’t they coming over?”
“Dunno, I’m guessin’ they’re still worried that we’re gonna shoot at ‘em…”
“Heh, pussies.”
“Damn right…”
We didn’t say anything for a while after that, instead opting to sit there in silent agony while Lady Ferra’s recorded voice played over the speakers, finally giving me the closure I needed.
“Wanna know the worst thing about all this?” I breathed out as best as I could, “I was like… fifteen XP from levelling up. And I missed out on this stuff with tower daemon, and all this-”
“You haven’t missed out on shit,” Griegs chuckled out as my eyes finally slid closed, “you ‘ear that? That sounds like an ambulance to me…”
At first I thought he was just trying to make me feel better, you know, say something to give me hope as the life slowly drained out of me, until I started to hear the tell-tale siren.
“Stay awak
e for a few more seconds… and I’m sure they’ll give us a ride… Might even be able to get one of those pizzas you love so much…”
Griegs’ voice was getting weaker, or my ability to hear it was, either way, I didn’t have high hopes for our chances of sticking around until the ambulance arrived.
A wave of doubt hit me as the sirens pulled closer, “We… we did do it though… right?” I asked as hopefully as I could past the croak in my throat.
Griegs took a few seconds to respond, undoubtedly due to the fact that he was probably in far worse shape than I was, but after a quick deep breath through his nose he was back, “Yeah… yeah, we did.”
“Good…”
My fingers started to tingle a bit after that, followed closely by all the feeling in everything from below my waist disappearing.
The sirens had drawn even nearer.
I could hear the sounds of tyres screeching.
Heavy boots were smashing through the glass and rubble toward us.
“Hey… hey Griegs… you hear that?”
I didn’t get a response.
My skin felt cold.
Everything felt cold.
There were voices.
Stern voices.
Worried voices.
Someone was asking if I was okay I think.
I couldn’t hear them.
Everything was fading.
There were hands on me.
My eyes opened just long enough to see lights.
Blue.
They were flashing blue.
Gerald was ther
Glossary of Terms
Nerfing: To nerf something is to make it less effective, and can be done to items, spells, and characters. This is done to balance the game so other players aren’t at a higher disadvantage than others for the sole reason of that particular something.
Glass Cannon: A Glass Cannon is a character who has an extremely high attack with little to no defence.
PvP: Player versus Player. Player versus Player refers to a combat wherein two players pit their characters against each other instead of against AI enemies.
Druidic Path: The Druidic Path is the doctrine of the druids that supposedly leads to eternal enlightenment by following the Path’s tenets. These tenets state all life is precious, nature is to be protected, and no one is irredeemable.
MoDA: Ministry of Druidic Affairs. The Ministry of Druidic Affairs is a group of members loyal to the Druidic Path as well as nature as a whole.
AOE: Area Of Effect: Area Of Effect refers to an attack, heal, or otherwise similar single action that affects an area of characters.
AFK: Away From Keyboard: Away From Keyboard is when a player leaves a game without exiting, usually to do something in the real world like go to the bathroom or eat.
QTE: Quick Time Event: A context sensitive event that’s typically triggered by a player entering a specific zone or performing a specific action. Typically it involves the player having to push a series of keys, or buttons on a controller, in order to work through what is essentially a glorified cut scene.
Fast Travel: Fast Travel is a videogame mechanic that allows characters to teleport to discovered areas. The reason for this is so that players have the opportunity to go from one area to the next without having to repeat the same journey.
Perma-Death: Perma-Death is a gameplay mechanic that states that if a character dies they’re dead for the rest of the game. With players this usually means they have to restart from the beginning as a new character but have the opportunity to find their lost items on their old body.
Rig: A term for computers that is used by gamers and those in the field of computer technology.
MPs: Military Police. The Military Police replaced and integrated the original members of the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service). They act as the protectors of law and order and have significantly more power than their predecessors.
OP: Over-Powered. Over-Powered refers to weapons, spells, or anything else that gives the player using it a distinctly unfair advantage.
HP: Health Points. Health Points are used to measure the damage that has been inflicted on a character. This is shown with a red bar in the bottom right-hand corner.
Mana: Mana is the energy that measures how much magic a player can use. This is shown with a blue bar in the bottom right-hand corner below the HP bar.
XP: Experience Points. Experience Points are used to track a player’s level by recording how much the player has gained from completing quests and performing various other tasks around Tarthirious.
SP: Stat Points. Stat Points are used when a character is initially created and when they level up to upgrade proficiency in Attributes.
Attributes: There are four key Attributes in Legends of Tarthirious;
Strength: This determines a character’s strength in combat and when exploring.
Dexterity: This determines a character’s ability to do a variety of tasks, examples include tasks such as cliff scaling and lock picking, as well as their ability to wield and effectively use weapons.
Wisdom: This determines what kind of and how much magic a character can use, as dictated by their mana, as well as their ability to control it.
Intelligence: This skill affects dialogue options in terms of the character’s capability to convince NPCs to their whim, as well as the ability to understand foreign languages, how to identify ingredients, and many other tasks.
NPC: Non-Playable Characters. Non-Playable Characters are the AI who typically work as quest-givers, shopkeepers, companions, and others who are built into the game to serve, attack, or otherwise interact with the player.
AI: Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence in videogames refers to things such as NPCs and fauna in the game that run on scripted paths and react to the player.
RL: Real Life. Real Life is essentially the game world, but filled with a lot more trolls and evil.
Bot: Bots can either be AI players that are used for training in the Arena, or characters that players have inserted to generate 75% of what they would normally get for fighting.
If you liked this be sure to check out the GameLit, GameLit Society, RPG GameLit Society, and LitRPG Rebels pages on Facebook.
They’rea great way to connect with authors and readers of the genre, as well as to discover new titles as they come out.
Other Works by Zachariah Dracoulis
Code Jumper : A GameLit Novel
The Mulligan Planet : Books One & Two
Just A Taste: A Collection of Short Stories
Æthyrium Rising : Guardians
Æthyrium Rising : Spectres
The Fallen Legion : Accidental Renegade
DilDozer : Parts One & Two
Peaceful Protest
Fragged
For more information on upcoming stories, or if you just want to ask a question or have someone to talk to, come find me on
TWITTER
@ZDracoulis
EMAIL
[email protected]
FACEBOOK
facebook.com/zachariahdracoulis
GOODREADS
goodreads.com/author/show/14168605
Legends of Tarthirious: The Complete Collection Page 68