by Alex Mulder
“Good morning,” said Tess. “I’m just finishing up packing out stuff. We should be ready to go in a few minutes.”
Luke nodded and pulled himself to his feet. He was ready, and it was a strange, almost foreign sensation.
I have to keep moving forward. Treading water isn’t getting me anywhere.
He walked outside the guild hall. It was early enough for the desert air to still feel cool on his skin. There wasn’t enough moisture in it for dew to condense on anything, but it still felt like morning, with a fresh, sharp under bite.
Kaoru usually slept in the Dunidan’s Rest Inn. There was a small camp set up outside of it, full of refugee players on bedrolls. A few members of Athena’s Wrath were on patrol, and Luke nodded to them as he went by.
He found Kaoru headed down the stairs inside the inn. She smiled at him, and he could tell from her expression that she was ready to go.
“Perfect timing,” said Kaoru. “Are you all set to get moving?”
Luke nodded.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m all set.”
It was the truth, but saying it out loud made him feel as though he was betraying some deeply held conviction. He was walking into it again, the same trap that had lured him into it before.
Who’s it going to be this time? Tess? Kaoru? Both of them?
He shook the thought out of his head, forcing himself to consider what would happen if he left the situation in Yvvaros to fester further. Tess was outside in the courtyard, and she smiled at him, and then frowned at Kaoru. Luke looked back and forth between them, confused.
“I hope what we talked about last night won’t be an issue, Tess,” said Kaoru. Tess blushed bright red, and shook her head slightly.
“It won’t be, as long as you don’t make it one,” she said. “And it’s none of your business, as I already explained.”
“What are the two of you talking about?” asked Luke.
Neither of them said anything. From their expressions, he could tell that it wasn’t something that he could pry into, even if he tried. Luke sighed, and started walking toward the gate.
“I already spoke with Katrina last night,” he said. “I think she’ll be alright handling things here.”
Kaoru nodded in agreement, but Tess seemed worried.
“She’s already under a lot of pressure, Luke,” she said. “I realize that we don’t really have any other choice, but maybe we could divvy up more responsibilities to some of the other players?”
Luke shook his head.
“No,” he said. “She can handle it. She has to.”
He suddenly found himself thinking about Silverstrike, of all people. Usually it was him, his close friend and trusted ally, handling this kind of thing in his absence.
I’ve been spending so much time thinking about how things are going in Yvvaros that he’s been pushed out of my mind. How is he holding up in the physical world?
“We should head due east,” said Kaoru. “The source we’re going off of couldn’t tell me much, but I have a feeling that what we’re looking for is either in the Burning Coast, or out in the eastern ocean.”
Luke nodded. The Burning Coast was on the other side of the Msitu Wilds. The volcanos scattered through the dense, jungle forest of the area erupted often enough along the east coast of Yvvaros to keep the shore almost constantly aflame. The trees there grew quickly, and burned just as fast.
Luke led the group eastward. He was calm, surprisingly so. It was hard not to expect the Tymians, behind every dune, or just over the horizon. The sun began to heat the sand underneath his feet, and with every step he took through the deeper sections, it threatened to scald the exposed skin above the tops of his boots.
There was a strong, almost palpable tension lingering between Tess and Kaoru. Luke did his best to ignore it, both for the sake of his own sanity and the cohesion of the group. Something had happened between them, either last night after he’d logged out, or in the morning before he’d woken up.
“We should take a break for brunch once we make it up the sand cliffs to the start of the Msitu Wilds,” said Tess. “We can stop to eat at the same spot we found the last time we came this way, Luke.”
“There’s no time for us to be frivolous,” said Kaoru. Her voice was level, and neutral, but the words still had an edge to him. Both of the women waited, as though expecting Luke to step in and take their side.
“We’ll stop, but only for a quick meal,” he finally said. He was in front, and couldn’t see the expressions on Tess and Kaoru’s faces, but somehow he felt like he’d only manage to irritate them both.
It was hard for Luke to feel overly sympathetic for them. He was in the midst of his own struggle. Every step he took further into their quest felt ominous. He had both of them there at his back, but still felt incredibly alone and exposed, as though the real challenge was his and his alone to face.
That’s the truth, isn’t it? My dad couldn’t help me, even when he risked everything to try.
He started walking faster, pulling ahead of Tess and Kaoru and giving himself some breathing room. He heard the two of them having an angry, whispered conversation, but ignored it. A couple of Sand Scramps scurried across one of the dunes in front of him, and he let the sight capture his attention.
It took the three of them a couple of hours to reach the large sand cliff that separated the Sachia Desert from the Msitu Wilds. Luke remembered scaling it with Tess. The event almost felt like it’s happened to somebody else, somebody that didn’t have the weight of an entire world resting solidly on their shoulders.
“Can we just climb up?” asked Kaoru, sounding unfamiliar with the area.
“Obviously,” said Tess. She hiked up her dress armor and started forward, using all four of her limbs to dig into the sand and pull herself up. Luke smiled as he watched her, and motioned for Kaoru to go ahead of him.
CONJURE SWORD 4
Despite the situation, it was hard for him to hold back his smile as he sword stepped his way up to the top of the sandy, grass topped cliff. Tess and Kaoru took twice as long, and he sat back as he waited for them to catch up, trying not to gloat with his eyes.
“You could have used your swords to bring us up, too,” said Kaoru, as she made it up the last stretch.
“It’s harder than it looks,” said Luke.
Tess reached her arm over and pinched his cheek. In that moment, he saw her as Emily, the older sister of his best friend who’d always had a way of making him feel like a boy in the midst of a fully grown, sophisticated woman. She started pulling food out of her bag, and Luke found himself wishing that they could have a long, drawn out meal.
“We’ll have to be on guard past this point,” said Kaoru. “I’ve heard rumors about the Msitu Wilds. It’s not a friendly place.”
“We know,” said Tess.
Luke shot her a look and then turned back to Kaoru.
“It is dangerous,” he said. “But trust me, it’s nothing we can’t handle.”
Kaoru nodded, but still looked wary.
“I don’t want to get your hopes up, Kato,” she said in a serious voice. “We might not even find anything out this way. It’s a slim chance… better than nothing, but not exactly promising.”
Luke stifled a sigh.
This is it. It always comes back to me, my confidence, and my leadership ability. I was never any good at this, Ben was the one who was good at this.
“If this lead doesn’t pan out, we’ll look for another,” said Luke. “And if that one doesn’t, so on, and so forth.”
Kaoru scanned his face for a moment, and Luke knew what she was looking for. She wanted to see if there was he had any doubts, even just thin glimmers of it. Luke kept his expression relaxed, meeting her eye. It was easier for him to put on the show than it ever would have been to be genuine.
The three of them ate quickly, and then set off into the jungle. Luke was taken by the familiarity of the area, but he also remembered its dangers. The tree canop
y quickly grew thick enough to block out most of the sun’s light, and creatures were alive with noise in every direction.
“This is creepy,” said Kaoru. “I wonder-“
Her speech turned to scream midsentence as something swept her off her feet. Luke turned around and saw her being dragged into the underbrush by a powerful looking snake, wrapped around one of her ankles expertly.
That’s a Red Nyoka, and from the way it’s dragging her…
Luke whipped his sword out and moved in between Kaoru and where the snake was taking her. A writhing mass of red snakes, tangled into a humanoid form, stood on the other side of the bush. Dozens of Red Nyoka heads turned to look at Luke from the creature’s body as he moved toward it.
CONJURE SWORD 4
PIERCE ATTACK 4
He charged forward, his combat skills synergizing with each other, creating five impact points instead of one. Snake blood splattered through the air, and then Nyoka Combine fell backwards. Underneath, Luke could see the host’s body. He hacked into it unceremoniously, bringing a quick end to the fight.
LEVEL 27 ATTAINED
“Jesus…” said Kaoru. “That was…”
“Get used to it,” said Tess. “That’s not even close to the worst thing we’re going to face.
Luke stopped for a moment, quickly assigning his five attribute points. Then, he moved back to the front of the group, taking advantage of his conjured weapons to clear a path through the jungle more easily.
The plants and flowers in the Msitu Wilds were undeniably beautiful. They had patterns and colors that were much more intricate than anything else Luke had seen on the continent. Tess made a habit of stopping to examine the more eccentric specimens. Each time, Luke watched with drawn breath.
“Enough,” he said, as she approached a large group of red centered flowers. “You’ve already taken a dozen flower samples.”
“What?” Tess raised an eyebrow at him. “What’s wrong?”
“I just think… we should be careful.”
It feels like we’re walking into a trap. I don’t have any proof, but my instincts are screaming.
“Kato’s right,” said Kaoru. “We need to move quickly. There is no telling if this lead is time sensitive or not.”
Tess glared at her, but said no more. The three of them cut a path directly to the east, not curving south as Luke and Tess had on their last excursion through the wilds.
CHAPTER 10
The trees and flora began to grow thinner. They pushed out of the thick jungle and into an area that looked like a fusion between a rain forest and a volcanic plain. The ground underneath them was hardened igneous rock coated with ash, but trees were scattered about, poking through wherever they could.
Small mounds littered the horizon, most of them trickling smoke up into the sky and a select few dripping magma. They were tiny compared to Shahidi’s Vengeance, the largest of the volcanos, but the sky above them was grey, and ash flakes scattered through the air with every gust of the wind.
“We’re close,” said Kaoru. “These are the ash plains. The Burning Coast is just a bit further ahead.”
Luke nodded and gripped his sword a bit more tightly in his hand. He led the three of them through a tiny pass in between two of the volcanic mounds. As they passed by, a screech came from the top of one of them.
“Get ready!” yelled Luke.
Medium sized, ant-like creatures began filing their way out of the volcanic mound. Each one was rust red, about the size of a large dog, and had front pincers and a mouth hole with a circular teeth arrangement.
FIRE FORMICK: A superorganism composed of large, insectoid creatures. Despite their relatively unassuming appearance, they can communicate with one another instantaneously, and often use teamwork to lure their prey into traps.
More of the Fire Formicks moved to intercept them. Thousands more. The creatures poured out of every volcanic mound in sight. As Luke turned to lead the group back in the direction they’d come from, the Fire Formicks moved to encircle them.
“Not good,” said Kaoru. “This… is not good.”
Luke pushed Tess out of the way as one of the Formicks leaped through the air at her. He punched it with his sword in hand, unable to maneuver it into a proper attack in time.
“Stay close!”
The Formicks moved into formation around them, pressing in and attacking in a tight circle.
CONJURE SWORD 4
Bringing his weapons back to point, Luke spun them around the group in a motion blurred defensive tornado. A few of the Formicks moved into it and were thrown back. Unfortunately, Luke knew the swords could only give out so many attacks before shattering from the stress.
“There’s too many of them!” Tess pressed her back against Luke’s. The Formicks were coming from every direction, carpeting the rocky ground and climbing over each other to move in closer.
“Get ready to move,” said Luke. “Don’t try to kill them, just try to clear a path to the east.”
ELEMENTAL INFUSION: ICE
His blades hummed to life with frozen energy. The magical weapons orbiting around the group began to freeze the Formicks as they came into contact with the edges. He pushed the defensive circle forward, allowing the group to make slow headway.
One of his conjured swords exploded into magical ether as it reached its combat limit, followed by another.
“Now!” Luke strafed from side to side around Kaoru and Tess, swatting away the ants as they attempted to press onto them. The number of them was staggering. They had no chance of winning in an all out fight.
I can’t use Progenitor’s Soul. If I pass out here, we all die.
Instead, Luke made his way to the front of the group. Tess cast a slowing spell on the Formicks around them, buying him a second of time. Luke looped an arm around Kaoru and Tess, and then positioned his remaining conjured swords in front of him.
PIERCE ATTACK 4
He flew forward, pulling the women along with him as his swords skewered the Formicks in front of them. It was an audacious maneuver, but it worked.
PIERCE ATTACK 4
“Jesus, Kato!” Kaoru glared at him, her expression a mixture of anger and sickening dizziness.
PIERCE ATTACK 4
The last push forward brought them just out of range of the ants, into a short stretch of trees on the other side of the ash plains. Luke grabbed Tess and Kaoru’s hands and pulled them into a sprint. The Formicks outnumbered them, but when it came to sheer running speed, they couldn’t keep up.
Luke slowed to a walk, letting Tess and Kaoru get ahead of them. He turned back to the massive army of Formicks behind him. They had given up their chase. The front-most one watched Luke with a strange intelligence in its eyes. Then, together as a single unit, they turned away and began heading back to the volcanic mounds.
A single superorganism… What would it have done with us if we hadn’t gotten away?
“Luke…” Tess had walked up behind him and was pulling at his arm. He turned around, and saw the catalyst for the concern that he’d heard in her voice.
The Burning Coast was just ahead of them. It was clear that the coast had once been a thriving forest. Burned out skeletons of formerly thriving trees littered the area, some of them still smoldering with flames.
“The trees must grow back regularly,” said Kaoru. “It’s the only way that I can imagine these still being here.”
Luke nodded.
“The smaller volcanos might have regular large eruptions, or it might be from Shahidi’s Vengeance to the south,” he said. “Either way, this is definitely the Burning Coast.”
Now what?
Tess appeared to be thinking the same thing. She shielded her eyes from the falling ash as she moved forward, squinting at the horizon.
“I think I can see something,” she said softly. “There, down by the shore.”
She pointed to a tree that was noticeably larger than the rest. It looked like something had been attached to it
, but the tree was blazing with flames, and it was hard to make out any detail through their orange glow.
“Let’s go check it out,” said Luke.
The ground sloped downward as they headed into the Burning Coast. A reasonably thick layer of ash coated the ground. The entire area felt dead, like something out of an apocalyptic dream.
As they drew closer, Luke could hear a noise coming from the tree. The flames and the burning were audible, but there was something else that he could hear over them. It was the sound of someone taking loud, shaky breaths.
“What… is this?” Kaoru stopped in her tracks as they moved around to the side of the burning tree facing the ocean.
A person was hanging from it. The body was impaled to the tree by metal spikes in its shoulders and stomach, and charred to a blackened, grotesque crisp, but still somehow alive. Luke stared at the figure. The head twisted, locking its gaze to his with hollow eye sockets.
“Help… me…” The voice was ethereal, even though it did seem to emanate from the body.
Luke put his arm in front of Tess as she moved to raise her staff, readying a spell.
“How did you end up here?” he asked. “Who did this to you?”
“She…” The voice let out a pained moan. “Truth.”
Luke looked at Kaoru and Tess. Kaoru nodded.
CONJURE SWORD 4
ELEMENTAL INFUSION: ICE
With a wave of his hand, Luke sent his swords to work. He used the flats of their blades to push at the burning body from behind, sliding it off the tree and into a cradle made from more swords. Gently, Luke lowered the blackened figure to the ground.
Tess raised her staff to cast a healing spell, but there was no need. Almost immediately the body began to regenerate. Ash and char splintered off the bones as they returned to a healthy state. Muscles and flesh coalesced out of thin air, and finally, skin began to spread across the body, like spilled water pooling across a table.
The figure, an average, unremarkable looking man, stood up. He was naked, but with a wave of his hand, clothes materialized on his frame, a plain spun cotton shirt and trousers of the same variety that all players started out with.