Yvvaros: The Final Transcension

by Alex Mulder

  “Tess!” he yelled. “Use the gust rod! That way!”

  Luke helped Kaoru finish off the Chime Mantis she was engaging, and then crossed his fingers as Tess let loose her staff’s magic. He lifted himself a few feet higher in the air and saw most of the Chime Mantises flying backward.

  “Alright,” he said. “Everybody okay?”

  Tess and Kaoru nodded.

  “Then it’s time for us to get moving.” He started leading them forward again, pushing the experience out of his mind.

  Let’s hope he get to that hill sooner, rather than later.

  The three of them tried to keep a lower profile as they continued through the high grass. Tess used her magic sparingly, and Luke focused on listening to his surroundings, trying to discover threats.

  “I think we’re close,” whispered Kaoru as they reached the end of their currently cleared path. “The grass… it’s getting thinner.”

  She pulled a blade of it aside, demonstrating her point. Luke took a deep breath and readied himself.

  “Alright.” He nodded to Tess, and she used her wind magic again. The grass pushed down and aside. This time, the blades were a bit shorter than they’d been before. Luke walked ahead, noticing the ground beginning to slope upward underneath his feet.

  The grass slowly progressed down in size until it was no larger than regular grass. Luke looked toward the top of the hill in front of him.

  “It… just looks like a regular village,” he said.

  “What were you expecting?” asked Kaoru. “Giants?”

  Luke shrugged.

  “Well… yeah.”

  A small fence circled around the top of the hill, sitting at the same angle against the mound that a crown sits on a head. The hill was steep enough to make the climb a bit difficult. When the three of them reached the outside of the fence, Luke held up a hand for them to hold on.

  “I’ll head in, first,” he said. “There’s no telling what could be on the other side.”

  “What?” Tess shook her head. “No, we have to go in together.”

  “This way, if the locals aren’t friendly, I can sword step my way out.” Luke watched as Tess grudgingly nodded. Kaoru gave him a thumbs up.

  The fence was only a little taller than him, and he realized that he could actually just climb over it. He scanned the inside, seeing a number of huts. Most of them were made of woven strips of giant grass and twigs, with the huge, star shaped tree leaves layered over again for the roofs.

  Luke took a deep breath and dropped to the ground inside. No alarms sounded, and nobody came running. He took a step forward, and then, considering his options, loudly cleared his throat.

  “Hello?” He walked forward and finally saw a woman walking down a path in between a couple of the huts. “Uh, hey there.”

  She froze and dropped the basket she was holding. Luke frowned and held his hands out, trying to make himself look unthreatening. The woman took off deeper into the village.

  “Greku!” Her voice was high pitched and scared. “Somebody get Greku!”

  “Hmmm…” Luke looked behind him, where Tess and Kaoru were making their way over the fence.

  “That could have gone better,” said Tess.

  More people began streaming out of huts and side streets, keeping their distance from Luke in his friends but clearly intrigued by his presence. At first, he couldn’t tell if they were players or NPCs, but after what Kaoru had told him, the latter seemed more likely.

  A tall, red haired man finally cut through the crowd that had formed. He was wearing brown cloth trousers and a vest that looked to have been cut from one of the giant leaves.

  “Greetings, friend.” He smiled at Luke. “Your arrival is most timely.”

  Luke stared at him for a moment. Something seemed a bit off about him.

  “Uh, hey,” he finally said. “We didn’t mean to scare anyone. My name is Kato, this is Kaoru and Tess.”

  “My name is Greku,” said the man. “Welcome to Sanctuary Hill, player.”

  Greku stared at him blankly. He held his arms stiff, almost unnaturally so.

  What is going on here?

  “Yeah, uh…” Luke scratched his head. “We came here to investigate a potential disturbance that may have taken place in the area recently. Have you seen a figure cloaked in blue light, maybe flying over the island, or ocean?”

  Greku swallowed. He seemed very, very nervous.

  “Before I answer your question, I must ask you and your friends for a favor,” he said. “As you may have noticed, our fortifications here in this village are the only thing holding off the fierce enemies of the jungle. We ask that you help fund the repairs to the outer fence, if you would be so kind.”

  “I don’t see why not,” said Luke.

  “Yes, thank you,” said Greku. “10,000 gold should suffice.”

  Luke raised an eyebrow at him. Before he could say anything, Kaoru jumped into the conversation.

  “Is this a quest?” she asked.

  Greku coughed and glanced.

  “Uh, yes, of course it is,” he said.

  “Then why hasn’t a quest notification popped up?” Kaoru frowned and crossed her arms.

  That’s… a really good question.

  Greku scratched his head and sputtered for a moment.

  “Well, that is, uhh…” He looked over his shoulder at the rest of the villagers, waiting behind him. “Here on Azanora Island, quests… work differently.”

  “Just be straight with us,” said Luke. “We don’t mean you any harm. We mean what we say about why we’re here, and will leave you and your village alone regardless of how much help you can provide.”

  Greku stared into his eyes, apparently seeing something in them that he could trust.

  “Alright,” he said. “I guess there’s no point in hiding it. Come on, follow me to the town hall. I’ll explain everything there.”

  He took a step back and then slowly turned around. Luke looked at Tess and Kaoru, and then followed after him. The NPCs in the village shied away from them, staying near the edges of the street and within the entrances of the huts.

  Greku led them into a large building that was different from the rest of the huts. It was cut into the base of a gigantic stump, the tree trunk above nowhere to be seen, and jagged chunks of splintered wood shooting up three stories high. The door was made from a star patterned leaf, and Luke ducked around it.

  The village leader shooed a couple of people out of the building, and then leaned against the back wall, facing his three guests. Luke waited for him to begin.

  “We do not mean you any harm,” said Greku. “This settlement is… different from much of the rest of Yvvaros.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Luke.

  Greku took a step forward, examining the faces of Luke and his friends.

  “I came from Stark Town, originally,” he said. “I was an NPC there, a quest giver.”

  …What?

  “My existence, my life, was oriented around accepting flower petals and doling out gold coins in exchange.” Greku smiled and wrinkled his brow. “It wasn’t bad, not as bad as some of my friends here had it. But… it wasn’t what I wanted. It wasn’t representative of the thoughts I had, and the depth of emotion I could experience.”

  “Wait, hold on.” Luke shook his head. “You’re telling me that you were an NPC? And you… ran away?”

  “A couple weeks ago, after the event that you players call the ‘Battle of Kantor’, something changed.” Greku looked up at the ceiling. “I’ve always been able to think, to feel, but I suddenly became aware of the range of possibilities out there for me, of what Yvvaros could really be.”

  Kaoru started laughing. Luke turned toward her and shot her a harsh glance.

  “Many other NPCs went through a similar transformation,” said Greku. “We gathered together, stole a ship, and headed out to find something else for ourselves. This town is the end result of that exodus.”

  Luke no
dded. He could see the serious expression in the NPC’s eyes.

  “I understand,” he said. “You and your people are very brave.”

  “Any help you can give us would be appreciated,” said Greku. “You three are the first players that we’ve seen since arriving on this island. I do not wish to beg, and I apologize for attempting to fool you earlier, but truly, we are at the mercy of the island in our current state.”

  “We can help,” said Luke. He reached into his bag for his gold pouch. Kaoru frowned at him and stepped in close enough to whisper without being overheard.

  “Are you serious?” Her voice was quiet, and a little amused. “This has nothing to do with us. He’s an NPC, this entire village is NPCs. They aren’t like us.”

  Luke looked back over to Greku. The village leader was shifting slightly as he stood in front of him, almost fidgeting. He looked desperate, and the mannerisms were as much in line with a human as they were with an NPC.

  “Who’s to say they aren’t like us?” whispered Luke. “He’s part of Yvvaros as much as you are.”

  Luke pulled out several hundred piece gold coins and handed them to the guild leader.

  “Here,” he said. “It isn’t much, but-”

  “Greku!” An NPC villager burst in through the leaf curtain, out of breath. “The monster, it’s come again!”

  Greku scowled and hurried toward the door.

  “What is it?” asked Luke. Greku scanned the three of them, and then clasped his hands together.

  “Please…” he said softly. “One of the native lifeforms on this island has been attacking us for the past few days. We can only barely hold it off. It’s killed some of our people already.”

  Luke looked over at Tess and Kaoru. Tess was already pulling out her staff, but Kaoru looked indifferent.

  “We’ll help you,” said Luke. “But after this, you have to help us.”

  CHAPTER 21

  Luke led his friends outside and into the courtyard of Sanctuary Hill. The NPCs were gathered in a panicked, group, slowly backing away from a creature that Luke had never seen before.

  SPORE SEEDLING: The offspring of Spore Sailors. They attack with no regard for their own safety or wellbeing, focusing on depositing their spores into as many targets as possible.

  It looked like something out of a nightmare. Freakishly light, the Spore Seedling was about the size of a small tree, and floated on the air. It appeared to inhale air through a hole in the top of its mushroom shaped upper body, pulsing spores and seepage out through its bottom.

  “Everybody, get back!” Luke’s instincts kicked in. He was caught off guard, surprisingly intimidated by the enemy, which he wouldn’t have considered a threat if it weren’t for how the villagers were reacting.

  “Don’t get too close!” Greku set a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back. “Get inside! Quick, get into your houses!”

  Luke stayed where he was. The Spore Seedling lazily floated toward him and his friends. He steadied his blade and took a step forward.

  Green ooze spilled out from the upper hole of the seedling, launching into the air as though somebody had thrown up a bucket full of liquid. He pushed Tess and Kaoru back and rolled forward, hoping to get underneath the splash radius.

  He was not so lucky. The ooze struck his right shoulder pauldron, leaking in through the crack and causing him an immense amount of pain along with half his health bar.

  “Damn it!” He forced himself to his feet, charging forward.

  CONJURE SWORD 4

  HOLY REGNERATION 3

  “No, don’t!” Greku cried out as Luke attacked with every single one of his swords. “You don’t understand!”

  His attacks made contact. The Spore Seedling didn’t flinch back or even move to defend itself. Luke cut through it with ease, and as his sword made contact with its center, the monster exploded with tremendous force.

  He was thrown back through the air, his health dropping to a sliver as he landed in a confused, injured heap. Tess rushed over to him, chanting as she ran. Greku was cursing under his breath.

  “You idiot!” he shouted. “Did any of the spores get on your face?”

  “…What?” Luke blinked, still recovering.

  “Eyes, nose, mouth, and ears!” screamed Greku. “Did any-”

  “Oh god!” A stomach wrenching, feminine scream came from outside a nearby house. A female NPC was kneeling over a young girl, fanning her face with panicked motions.

  Greku glared at Luke, and then hurried over to the scene.

  “Tara…” Greku frowned and crouched down next to the woman.

  “She was saying something when it, when it…” She trailed off, delirious, and then shook her head. “Danica was staring right at it when that bastard set it off! The spores…”

  Greku set a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

  “You know what this means, Tara,” he said, softly. “I wish on my life that it wasn’t the case.”

  “No…” All of the color drained from the woman’s face. “No!”

  “We need to…” Greku sighed. “We need to put her to rest soon.”

  “I can’t…” whispered the woman. “Not Danica…”

  Luke couldn’t watch for a moment longer. He pushed through the crowd over to them and pulled Greku aside.

  “This is my fault,” he said, only loud enough for the other man to hear. “What do you need to save her?”

  Greku stared him up and down blankly.

  Come on, don’t give me that!

  “If we feed her the core of a spore flower, there’s a chance that it will pull the spores out of her system along with it,” said Greku. “We used to always have a stock on hand, back before the situation here became actively dangerous.”

  Luke nodded. Tess and Kaoru were standing behind him, contrasting each other perfectly. Tess’s sad eyes were locked onto the tiny girl, while Kaoru stared up into the sky, tapping her foot impatiently.

  “I’ll get it for you.,” he said to Greku. “Where can I find one?”

  “In the forest to the west of here,” said Greku.

  Luke clapped him on the shoulder.

  “Well, I guess you did have a quest for me after all,” he said.

  The NPC did not laugh. Luke broke away from him and joined his friends.

  “Did you two hear all of that?” he asked.

  They both nodded, and Kaoru jumped in with her objections first.

  “Kato, this is ridiculous,” she said. “We’re short on time as it is. How can we-”

  “It’s my fault,” he said softly. “I won’t let the girl die because of me.”

  “I’m with you,” said Tess.

  Before leaving town, the three of them stopped at one of the NPC merchant stalls. It took a minute for the NPC that tended it to show up, drawn away by the chaos.

  “You… want food?” asked the merchant, curiously.

  “Yeah,” said Luke. “Is that a problem?”

  The merchant shrugged.

  “We don’t usually charge for it among our own,” he said. “Given that you’re off to rescue the girl, I wouldn’t feel right charging you either.”

  He pushed a surprising amount of bread, salted meat and dried fruit into Luke’s hands, which he passed off to Tess.

  “Consider this a donation, then,” said Luke, pulling some gold coins out of his satchel and setting them on the merchant’s table. He nodded appreciatively.

  Luke walked a few paces in front of his friends as they hurried out the town’s main gate to the south. It was happening again, and this time it felt especially difficult to keep up his confident façade.

  I wasn’t even thinking, and now I’ve doomed a little girl. How many more have to die because of me?

  “Hey…” Tess skipped up next to him and grabbed his sleeve. “Don’t let yourself slip under the waves, Luke.”

  He shrugged, barely hearing her.

  “If you always managed to save everyone when you tried to protect
them, it wouldn’t be called protecting,” she whispered. “It would just be normal.”

  He didn’t say anything.

  They followed the outer edge of the town’s fence back around until they were facing due west. The area looked different from how it had further up to the north. The grass was only medium length, and mixed in with it were some of the most bizarre plants Luke had ever seen.

  There were large, neon, umbrella shaped plants about the size of tent canopies. Their upper umbrella flesh would rise up and down as the wind blew, and in the early evening light, Luke could already see fireflies dancing around them.

  Another species of fauna looked a bit like a regular sized tree, except in groups of two or three and twisted together, as though a giant had arrived and decided to tie knots out of their trunks and branches.

  And the grass moved, not just at the wind’s bidding. It pulled in close to Luke as he took each step, running blades along his leg as though trying read his movements with blind touch.

  “Let’s find what we’re looking for and then get the hell out of here,” he said softly to Tess and Kaoru. “I have a bad feeling about this place.”

  CHAPTER 22

  They soon made it deep enough into the western forest for Sanctuary Hill to disappear in the distance behind them, which seemed to intensify the strangeness of the landscape. For his part, Luke kept his eyes focused on the ground, scanning spots in between blades of grass for the spore flower that Greku had spoken of.

  “Hold on!” Kaoru stepped in front of them and held out an arm. Something moved off in the distance.

  Luke nodded. The three of them waited motionlessly, breaths held. Something was moving ahead of them, and it was making noise, too. It almost sounded like…

  Is someone crying?

  “Come on,” said Luke, pushing forward. “Keep your eyes out for the flower, but also for what or whoever that was.”

  “Kato…” Kaoru’s voice was serious. “I think we should go back.”

  “We came out here for a reason, Kaoru,” he replied.