by K. T. Hanna
This ability allows you to cast a spear of mental anguish into the depths of an opponent’s brain.
Effects: Opponents will be unable to concentrate enough to use spells or abilities for four seconds. This time increases as the caster’s level does.
Cost: Requires Mental Acuity to be at 20.
Caution: Use sparingly. Backlash from overuse or improper use can cause the same effect in the caster...or worse.
Murmur blinked at the spell. It sounded powerful. And dangerous. Gingerly, she handled the second scroll as if it might bite her.
Phase Shift
This ability allows you to negatively affect your opponent’s mind. Believing they are a second or two apart from reality, they will reside there for up to fifteen seconds.
Effect: Target’s mind is encased in a phase of illusion. The target will be convinced they’ve shifted to a different time pocket, and thus are incapable of moving. This effect begins at fifteen seconds duration, and levels with the caster through to a maximum of ninety seconds.
Cost: Requires Mental Acuity to be at forty. For larger castings, the cost will double.
Caution: Phase Shift may be utilized on single or multiple targets at once. Weigh the number of targets carefully, else it backfire and shift you. Sometimes the shift in mind can cause illusions near the caster. Make sure the voices you’re hearing are your own.
“Wow.” While the cautions were making her wary of the abilities, the results would be fantastic! Murmur readied herself and squared her shoulders, looking directly at Belius.
“Is there a catch it’s not telling me? “
Belius smiled, and this time there was all his cunning and intelligence behind it. “This is why I’ve taken a liking to you, Murmur. You don’t take things at face value. In fact, you question everything, even when you have much information written down in front of you.”
He stood up and walked over to one of his shelves. It had plenty of tiny artifacts on it; small stones and scrolls, even tomes. He picked up something and headed back to her. Belius placed a smooth round stone made of what appeared to be a clear quartz crystal in her hand.
“As you progress, you will activate new skills. Not even I know them all. Some will need to be learned or notated to activate them fully, but that is a while away.” He smiled at her shocked expression and held up a hand.
Picking up the quartz, Murmur hefted it in her hand. It was large enough that her fingers didn’t quite meet when she tried to close her hand around it. “What is this?”
Belius hesitated long enough that Murmur made a note of it. Whether it meant what he was about to say was the truth, or perhaps the opposite, she’d take what he said with a grain of salt.
“It’s a focusing crystal. It’s never been used before, and thus should easily attune to your mental waves and acuity. Use it when you require a boost in power, be it for distance, or even for use of your abilities. This will help you and may offset some—but not all—of the consequences for the use of your power.”
“Consequences. You mean just for me as the caster?” She watched him, her eyes never leaving his.
Again, he paused slightly before answering. “Not only for you, but for the world as a whole. There must be a certain amount of balance. If what you do, you do unprovoked, then yes, the consequences for yourself and those you care for would likely be dire. However, self-defense means a lot here in Somnia. We don’t take lightly to those who try to bully their way through life.”
Murmur smiled. That was a sentiment she could get behind. “Very well, Bel. I think I understand.”
Her trainer smiled and saw her to the door, but as per usual his smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Real World Day 2: Somnia Online
Bleep Bleep Bleep Bleep.
Wren’s eyes shot open as the alarm sounded. Sunlight shone through a gap in her curtains turning her already irritated mood into annoyance. Launching herself off the bed she closed the blackout curtains, cursing at them for daring to let in light. Who did they think they were, seriously? A wave of disorientation swept over her, and she fell hard against the wall, steadying herself. The room seemed to glitch around her. After several seconds, the vertigo faded and her sight stopped playing tricks on her. Wren sighed. At least she hadn’t been wearing her headset.
Harlow was still asleep, curled up on her side, her skin even paler against the indigo sheets. Maybe it was because she was used to seeing Sinister. Wren set her alarm for fifteen minutes before they were due to log back in, mainly because she wanted to grab something to eat. Running down the stairs, Wren almost ran into her mother at the bottom of them.
“Sorry, Mom!”
Her mother had deep rings under her eyes, but a soft smile crossed her face when she looked at Wren. “Sweetie. You look raring to go. Did you have a nap?”
Wren nodded, making her way to the fruit basket before yanking a protein bar out of the cupboard, grabbing one for Harlow too. “Yeah, had to. We’ll make mistakes if we don’t get some sleep, after all.”
“Be careful.” Her mother said. A shadow flitted across her expression. She turned toward the stairs again but paused and looked over her shoulder. “Oh, congratulations.”
Wren blinked. “How’d you know?”
“You’re the first one to unlock any of the hidden classes. Of course I know.” She started climbing the stairs, coffee in hand. “Keep up the good work.”
Wren stood there, watching her mother, and dwelling on her words. Any of the hidden classes? So there were lots of them then, just like hidden skills. The time crunch came rushing back to her, and she bounded up the stairs. By her calculations she’d managed about two hours sleep. In another twenty-four to thirty-six hours, they’d probably need to take a four to six hour break. But by then, they should be what, level twelve? She laughed at the thought as she shoved down the last bite of her food.
Entering the room she noticed Harlow was up and in the bathroom. She sighed and waited, doing some stretches to give her body a break. She made the bed hastily and finished just in time for Harlow to emerge.
“Morning, sleepy head. Catch.” She threw the bar at Harlow who smiled gratefully.
“Thanks Mur. Wren. Person I’ve known most of my life.”
Her slip up was just a sign of how tired her friend was. Maybe they’d needed to break sooner. It had never been a problem when Wren played a healer—she’d always gotten by on less sleep, but sometimes Harlow didn’t do so well.
“It’s okay, Wren. Sin is working on her crafting in-game while we’re gone. Yay for level ten.” Harlow’s expression was contorted by tiredness, and she missed her hand when she tried to rest her chin against it.
Wren blinked at the words, having completely forgotten that perk of hitting level ten. “Damn it. I forgot. I don’t think I even gave you the cloth I have.”
“It’s okay. Let’s get in before the boys take off without us.”
Murmur sat at a table in the Enchanter Guild.
She couldn’t even remember having sat herself down before logging out, but apparently she had. Come to think of it, she also hadn’t activated the new skills she got. The guild foyer was practically deserted, so she took the scrolls out and activated them.
Runes flowed up her arms with a soft glow, welcoming the powers into her body, absorbing them into her being. She watched them, marveling at the almost ticklish sensation.
Congratulations.
You have changed classes.
You are a psionicist.
You are the first psionicist of Somnia.
Not only do you possess the skills of an enchanter, but you have gained Mental Acuity. This allows you to access the psychic ability line. With enough practice you might manifest kinetic abilities too. From now on you must be in control of yourself at all times. A stray thought could hurt someone. Anger might kill. Make sure you are aware of your moods.
She sighed and stood, puttering over to where Elvita stood behind the counter perusing a book. Making sure her shie
ld was up, she cleared her throat. “Hey Elvita.”
Elvita glanced up and smiled warmly. “Murmur. Pleasure to see you.”
Her eyes narrowed and then her smile widened. “Well, well. Belius’ first psionicist. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Murmur didn’t want to sound conceited, nor did she want the NPC to influence her mood, so she made sure she’d clamped down on her shielding.
Elvita chuckled and held out her hand. “Come on. I bet what you’ve got in that bag of yours is heavy. Make me poor, Murmur.”
“Gimme a sec and then gladly.” Murmur grinned and rifled through, retrieving meat, herbs and spices, butter, and quite a few mushrooms. “Thanks, Elvita. I owe you one.”
The NPC cocked her head to one side and her expression didn’t budge, making it seem etched in stone and stilted. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Murmur shivered as she headed in to see Arvin. From now on, she was going to watch what she said to people. Now she had no idea what sort of favor she owed the guild NPC.
Just as she reached the kitchen, a cascade of chats invaded her party line.
Sinister: What the fuck, Mur?
Havoc: Psionic-what?
Devlish: I leave you alone for a few hours and what do you do?
Beastial: What aren’t you telling us?
Merlin: Damn it. What the fuck happened?
Sighing, she sent her reply back. Give me ten and I’ll be there. Just cooking up a batch. I forgot about the crafting thing. See you soon.
Ten minutes later and forty-two meals and thirty-five gold richer, Murmur gated to Ululate.
She stepped onto the path quickly, still getting over the disorientation, and glanced back at the binding spot, but the creepy binding NPC didn’t seem to be there. Turning around quickly, she couldn’t spot him anywhere in the middle of town either. The locals were packing down their carts and goods for the day, even though there were still many travelers passing through.
“Mur!” Sin ran toward her and hugged her. “What the hell?”
Murmur felt decidedly uncomfortable. There were too many people about. While she knew anyone could access the abilities if they played through the quests properly, she still didn’t want to give away her guild’s small advantage. “Let’s talk on the way to the caves?”
Dev glanced at her, frowned, and then nodded. “Sure thing, boss.”
As they headed out she handed around her parceled food, her own thoughts distracting her from where they were going.
Merlin examined the new bow one of the guards had dropped in their encounter with Lieutenant Gashik. “This thing’s pretty sweet for a level ten bow.”
Murmur began to relax. Having her friends around helped.
She pulled up her character information as she activated her shield and sensing net, and watched the Mental Acuity bar. Sure enough, it ticked up very slowly with the use of her activated skills. That made sense. She’d have to charge the Mental Acuity up before she could use it.
“Mur?” Havoc’s tone held concern, and she looked up to see that they were already well out of the city and on their way to their destination.
He waited for her to make eye contact before continuing. “You’re being so quiet. It’s worrying. Talk to us, because you’ve got to know we’re dying to understand how you, well. Changed classes.”
She sighed again, shrugging her shoulders more from discomfort than anything else. “It’s not really a class change, but more of a class evolution.”
And she launched into everything that happened from when Belius had first told her about thoughts and people who could read them. When she was finished, they walked in silence for a few moments, already most of the way to the caves.
“So I guess I really should go through those vague ass screen alerts again.” Sin gently elbowed Murmur in the side.
Murmur laughed softly. “Yeah. I have so many of the vague ones I don’t know where to start. What is a good idea is killing heaps of bandits. Booya!”
Guild chat lit up, streaking across her vision only to end up blinking at her sullenly from the bottom of her range.
Rashlyn: Hey Mur! What the hell is a psionicist?
An enchanter. “What?” She glared back at Sin. “I’m not lying.”
Rashlyn: Cool—I didn’t know we could change titles.
Veranol: Me either. How’d you do it, Mur?
Long and arduous quest line. Hey, we’re ten too, you gonna let us overtake you or what? Murmur hoped she’d changed the subject.
Rashlyn: Bullshit. We’re headed out that way. Beast mentioned some caves out there. I say we dominate the whole fucking area.
Girl after my own heart. See you soon. Mur smiled. She’d forgotten how well they got along with Rash. Girls had to stick together in games, and they’d been in a few together.
They walked wide around the outside of the first bandit camp, making sure to keep cover as much as possible, considering the weird and wonderful intelligence levels of the NPCs. They made their way to the cave mouth. There were no groups in the vicinity that they could see. Merlin snuck up to the entrance, scouting out the guards and any patrols he could see.
Murmur hugged herself, running through everything that had happened in her mind, still pushing to listen for anything that could harm them. Havoc nudged her elbow.
“What aren’t you telling us?”
She looked up at him, always the kind, level-headed, quiet one. He’d have made a much better psionicist. She smiled a little sadly. “Just—it’s weird. I get the feeling, the sense that the NPC members of the Enchanter Guild aren’t giving me all the information. And I don’t mean it in a ‘damn it, help me win the game’ way. I mean that I feel like they try to soothe me, enchant me. Or at least they used to before I could shield. And once I could, they got more wary about me.”
She shrugged. “I’m probably just being paranoid.”
Havoc pursed his lips and shook his head. “No. You’ve never been one to be paranoid. You might be blunt and sometimes callous because of that, but you rarely let in room for paranoia. I’d say go with your gut.”
Despite herself, Murmur laughed. His words mirrored Belius’ in an eerie sort of way. “Thanks, Evan. I appreciate that.”
He grinned and moved forward. “Come on. I believe it’s time for you to try out some of those new abilities.”
Suddenly, being an enchanter didn’t seem so bad anymore.
Storm Entertainment
Somnia Online Division—Development offices
Countdown: two months before release
Laria Sommers paced the floor of her office, biting at her nails before bitterly remembering that she needed to stop that habit. Shayla popped her head around the doorway, “What’s up? We’ve only got a minute before that blasted meeting.”
“I need to test one of the containment devices.” Laria pulled her hands forcibly from her mouth, trying not to fidget with nervousness. “There are some simulations I think I can run to make immersion more complete.”
Shayla raised an eyebrow and frowned. “Somnia launches in two months, Laria, shouldn’t you be thinking about that instead of that stupid defense contract we’re hoping to impress?”
“Technically, they’re tied together. Somnia’s software and hardware will all be under scrutiny. Let me undertake some tests.” Laria hated the pleading tone in her voice, but she needed this more than anyone could understand. If she couldn’t create the right atmosphere, the right environment, none of what she was trying to do would work. Her timeline was minuscule, but her husband was helping her and perhaps, with all of that, they could still pull this off.
“You’re planning on doing all of this at home, aren’t you? Okay. But I want daily reports. You’ll need David to help you with this.” Shayla’s eyes narrowed. She tapped a finger against her chin, a thoughtful look in her eyes. “No. Listen to me, don’t object. You have way too much work going on as it is.”
About to leave, Shayla stopped and looked ba
ck. “Maybe Wren can help you too? She’s very bright. You know she has a place here if she ever wants to intern.”
Laria paled, but tried to smile through it. “If I get Wren to use it, I won’t be able to stop her from helping.”
Real World Day 2: Somnia Online
Murmur stood at the top of a stone pathway carved into the cave and stared at the scene below her. The path wound down in an oval spiral, to make one huge warren, different paths leading from the other entrances far across the way. Huts with small fireplaces dotted the interior and patrols of bandit members walked in all directions. They chatted and played games, looking very little like NPCs.
She frowned.
Beastial was practically beside himself. “Guys. This is an open world dungeon. A freaking open world dungeon!”
“I wonder how many named are in here.” Devlish mused half to himself as he stood in the shadows with the others, watching the activity below them.
“Only one way to find out.” Sinister grinned. In the dim light it looked like she had blood on her lips.
“Take it slow though,” Havoc cautioned, and Merlin laughed.
“Yes sir, Mr. Havoc sir!” Merlin mock saluted, and stealthed, making his way to the roughly hewn rock wall. Murmur liked the strategy of not getting knocked off the edge. A fall like that would mean death, and a long way of fighting without their stuff to retrieve their corpses.
“Eleven through thirteen.” Beastial muttered as he joined them. “I couldn’t see anything higher than that, but these caverns go on for days, so for all I know, there could be twenties down there.”
Merlin waited for a two-man patrol to reach them before pulling, with nowhere to line of site them, Murmur glanced at her Mental Acuity and figured she may as well try it out. “I’ll silence the ranger once Mez breaks. He’ll have to run to us, because he’ll only be able to melee. At least that’s the theory.”
An air of excitement hung over the group once she finished speaking.
Merlin pulled, and Murmur’s Mez got the ranger before he could pull off a shot. She had the timing down now to where she began casting as Merlin pulled his elbow back. So far, it had worked.