by Alex Mulder
“Because I’m serious about doing my job,” he said. “And I still think that should count for something, even when the world is falling apart.”
Luke turned toward Ben and Sam. Both of them looked nervous, and he decided it was time to give them an out, if they wanted it.
“You don’t have to come with me,” he said. “I don’t know what we’re heading into. Honestly, I can’t make either of you any guarantees about whether we’ll even be able to make it back.”
Ben nodded to him.
“I know, Luke,” he said. “I’m with you. It’s not about me, man. It’s about saving Yvvaros, and saving my sister.”
Sam’s reaction wasn’t as immediate. She stared at Luke for a moment, and then closed her eyes.
“I never wanted any of this, Luke,” she whispered. “But it’s here. And I have to deal with it.”
She walked past him and past the pilot, making her way onto the plane without another word.
“Alright then,” said Luke.
Everyone else got onto the plane and settled into their seats. The inside of the cabin had a warm and cozy feel to it. It was the first time Luke had been on an airplane before and had enough seats open to feel comfortable.
“Just keep your seatbelts on during takeoff and landing,” said the pilot. “The bathroom is through the door in the very back. It’s a long flight, but I’ll get you there safely.”
“Where is ‘there’, exactly?” asked Sam.
“Morioka, Japan,” said Luke. “It’s one of the smaller cities in the northern part of Honshu.”
The pilot didn’t waste any time, starting up the plane’s engine and getting the four of them into the air within minutes. Luke stared down at his hometown as they gained altitude, keeping his eyes locked onto his house until it became too small to make out.
“We should all get some rest,” said Ben. “There’s no telling what’s going to happen when we land.
He’s right.
Luke had already slept earlier in the day, but he did his best to will his body to relax and get some more sleep. Eventually, he drifted off.
He woke up a couple of times during the flight, but never for more than a few minutes, outside of a bathroom break he took midway through. It was a struggle for Luke to keep his anxious energy in check, but somehow he managed it. The fourteen hour flight went by much more quickly than he’d expected going into it.
Luke blinked his eyes open as the plane banked to the left. He could see the lights of the runway down below as the pilot circled the vehicle around, readying it for a landing. It was late at night, but he felt surprisingly well rested.
“Finally,” said Ben. He yawned and set his hands on the back of the empty seat in front of him.
“Get ready,” said Luke. “We’ll be meeting up with Jun as soon as we land. After that, all bets are off.”
Sam had been sitting next to Luke on the flight. She’d warmed up to him on the flight, and reached over and set a hand on top of his.
“If all of this works out,” she said. “Will it also help my parents?”
That’s why she agreed to come along. She’s still trying to save them.
Luke met her eyes.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But… I think so. That’s the best answer I can give.”
Sam nodded. The plane dropped in altitude, and then smoothly transitioned down onto the runway, slowing to a stop. The pilot spent a minute wheeling the vehicle over to where the drop off station was, and then turned the engine off.
“Well, here you are,” he said. “Unlike a regular flight, you can just go ahead and get off. No waiting on the tarmac.”
Luke nodded and thanked the pilot. He led his friends down the stairs and into the night.
There was exactly one car parked in the waiting lot, and a familiar looking man stood leaning against.
“Are you… Jun?” asked Luke. The man smiled.
“Yes. You must be Kaoru’s friends,” he said. “Welcome to Japan.”
“Thank you. I’m Luke, and this is Ben and Sam.”
Luke toyed with the strap of his backpack, unable to get a thought out of his mind.
He looks exactly like what Kaoru’s old avatar looked like.
When Luke had originally met Kaoru in Yvvaros, she’d been using a male avatar, to everyone’s confusion. Luke had come to know the face that he now saw in front of him, and it was hard to set his memories inside.
“Come on,” said Jun. “We shouldn’t wait around for too long. It’s not exactly safe.”
Luke nodded and climbed into the front passenger’s seat. Ben and Sam climbed into the back.
“So you were the one handling the construction of the private server?” asked Luke.
Jun nodded as he started up the car.
“Yeah,” he said. “That was all me. I was never especially interested in VR myself. But… Kaoru was, and I’ve never been very good at letting her down.”
The memory of Kaoru’s I saw, the birthday party. That was him, wasn’t it?
Luke wanted to ask about it, but it felt a bit too much like prying. Instead, he looked out the window, seeing what he could of the buildings and architecture of Japan through the veil of night.
Morioka was beautiful. It wasn’t as densely populated as what Luke had seen in pictures of places like Tokyo or Osako, and had more of a rustic charm to it. There were still a couple of cars out, though by the way Jun drove, sneaking through red lights and ignoring turn signals, it was clear that the social system had broken down in much the same way it had back home.
“How long will it take us to get to the server?” asked Luke.
Jun shook his head.
“It’s at the estate of Kaoru’s family,” he said. “I, uh, don’t live there. I’m taking you to my apartment for tonight. We can set out to the north for the estate first thing in the morning.”
He pulled his car across a lane and parked half on the sidewalk, next to a small apartment building. There was a parking lot nearby, but a gate had been drawn across the entrance and sealed with a padlock.
“And here we are,” he said. “Come on, let me get all of you set up.”
Luke got out of the car and looked around. He wasn’t tired, but his body still felt sick, and out of sync with the local time. The lamplights on either side of the street looked a bit like origami oil lamps, more aesthetically pleasing than anything Luke had seen back home.
“This is amazing,” said Sam. She walked over to Luke and smiled at him.
“Yeah,” he said. “If nothing else, at least we got a cool vacation out of all of this.”
Ben was talking with Jun about something. Jun was about the same age as they were, and had a laid back air about him, as though he was observing the events taking place rather than being a part of them.
“Come on,” he said. “My apartment is on the first floor.”
He led them over to a door, unlocked it, and then waved them inside. The apartment was tiny, a single room studio that barely had enough space to sleep all of them on the floor.
“I’ll get some blankets for you out of the closet,” said Jun.
“I need to get back into Yvvaros,” said Luke. “Can you give me your wifi password?”
Jun nodded, and within minutes Luke had his computer and headset connected. Sam watched him as he sat with his back against the wall, preparing to pull the VR headset on.
“Are you going to say something?” asked Luke. She shrugged.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I do think I was right, in the beginning. But that doesn’t matter now.”
Luke met her eyes. Sam was out of her element, but he could see how hard she was trying. He pulled on his headset, and entered Yvvaros in an instant.
CHAPTER 33
“Hold on!”
Luke was back in the guildhall. He could hear a battle taking place outside, greeting him as he reentered the world. He rushed outside, drawing his sword immediately and straining his eyes again
st the darkness of night.
“Hold the gate!” Kaoru was leading a small group of players toward the gate, which was threatening to burst open from repeated enemy attacks. Katrina was up on the wall, guiding her guild in a ranged offensive.
Luke rushed forward. He didn’t see Tess anywhere, but there wasn’t any time to look for her. Even with Kaoru working and leading the repairs, the gate looked to be on the verge of collapse. There wasn’t any time for him to do anything but fight.
CONJURE SWORD 5
MIRROR IMAGE 3
Maneuvering his swords into the air in front of him, Luke sword stepped his way up and over the wall. He gritted his teeth upon seeing the horde of Tymians that waited for them outside Dunidan’s Rest.
That’s more than I’ve ever seen at once before. How the hell are we going to fend them off?
“Luke!”
Tess called to him from atop the wall. She gestured with her hand, beckoning him over. She knew what he was about to do.
Luke nodded to her, and then stepped into the open air, dropping into the midst of the rampaging Tymians.
I can’t rely on Progenitor’s Soul anymore. My own skill is all I can count on to carry me through this.
Luke spun his swords around him, creating a metal edged tempest with himself at the center. He pulled one of the conjured swords into his open hand and began striking at the Tymians, duel wielding and fighting with desperate aggressiveness.
One of them fell immediately from a lucky stab through the eye. Luke pulled his sword back and kicked another back that was attacking from behind. He rolled through the space he’d cleared, trying to get close enough to the gate to set his back against it.
Several claws gripped his shoulders, painfully digging in through his armor. Luke’s swirling swords severed the hands from the arms of their respective Tymians, and Luke countered with a spinning strike that bought him a couple of extra inches of space.
PIERCE ATTACK 5
Setting both his swords in front of him and aiming his charge toward the gate, Luke tore through Tymians, knocking a half dozen aside easily. Pierce Attack was wickedly effective against the crowd, the Tymians being bunched together closely enough for him to hit them almost without trying.
Luke reached the gate and turned back toward the monsters. There were enough in front of him to block out the desert, the Tymians unnaturally tall bodies making it impossible for him to see over him.
In his new position, only four could approach him at once. Luke killed the two to his far left and right with angry, reckless chops. His conjured blades, cut into the flesh of the ones in the middle, but a claw strike managed to sneak through his defensive perimeter, slashing into his breast plate. He lost a third of his health.
HOLY REGENERATION 2
Luke took a deep, calming breath, and focused on fighting defensively. All he needed to do was hold them off until the gate was repaired from inside. That was all he could hope to do. He stabbed a Tymian through the stomach, and missed a second strike aimed at decapitating another. One of the Tymians bared its razor teeth at him and tried to sink them into his face. Luke managed to get a conjured sword in front of its jaw just in time.
A hail of arrows and spells from the archers above killed a few of the Tymians closest to him. Luke got a look at the horde behind him and smiled grimly.
We can’t fend them off. There’s just too many…
The gate into Dunidan’s Rest flew open, not breached by the Tymians, but from the inside. Kaoru charged out, leading a group of no more than a dozen players.
“No!” yelled Luke. “Stop! This is insane!”
He saw Tess’s face amid the group. Rage filled his heart, and Luke sprinted ahead of them, charging into the Tymians in what he suspected would be their last stand.
He hacked into them viciously, his anger giving him strength beyond what he thought he had left. The Tymians were surprised by the assault, but the advantage it gave the defenders only lasted for a couple of seconds.
Luke swung, slicing the arm of a Tymian off at the elbow as it moved to strike at Kaoru. He stabbed another in the leg, stopping it from approaching Tess. With his conjured swords in front of him, like a cloud of angry hornets, he threw himself toward the center of the monsters.
Time lost its meaning. Luke’s inner thoughts faded away, and only the experience of the moment existed for him. He swung his swords as though they were all extensions of his body, killing the Tymians more efficiently than he ever had before.
Miraculously, a few of them began to retreat. After a moment, the entire Tymain army, massive and unstoppable, turned away from Dunidan’s Rest. Luke chased after them for a moment, caught up in his bloodlust, until Tess called after him.
“How is this possible?” He stood in front of the gate of Dunidan’s Rest, watching the black and purple mass of evil moving toward the edge of the zone.
“They’re headed north,” said Kaoru. “They’re headed toward Stark Town.”
Nobody said anything. Luke slowly walked back inside Dunidan’s Rest, letting a member of Athena’s Wrath close it behind him and start on repairs.
“We can’t stop them,” said Luke. “Not on our own.”
Kaoru nodded.
“I’ll put the word out that we’re looking for other guilds that are interested in fighting back.” She frowned slightly. “I’m not overly optimistic, Kato. This isn’t like it was with the Arbiters. Nobody is taking any risks anymore.”
Luke wasn’t listening. He walked over to where Tess stood, casting healing spells on a group of wounded players. She glanced over her shoulder at him, but didn’t stop what she was doing.
“Why…?” He asked, his voice soft. “Why are you so intent on getting yourself killed?”
Tess met his eye, and Luke saw something in her stare.
She’s determined. Maybe even more determined than I am.
“I’m not going to get myself killed,” said Tess. “I have to fight. How else will I save the people I care about?”
Luke pulled her into a hug, slowly tightening his arms around her, savoring the sensation of her body against his.
She’s right.
The repairs were the main focus during the aftermath of the fight. Everyone had been inside Dunidan’s Rest during the assault, and thankfully, no lives were lost. Crafting resources were in short supply, however. Everyone pooled what they had, and the laborers at the gate did what they could.
Luke met with Kaoru outside the guild hall. She was frowning, and the exhaustion on her face was clearly evident.
“Did you manage to do it?” she asked. Luke nodded.
“I’m at Jun’s apartment, in Japan,” he said. “It’s strange. I traveled halfway around the world, but I can still get to Yvvaros in seconds using the headset.”
Kaoru was deep in thought, and didn’t hear him. She looked up and met his eyes.
“I’ve been trying to figure out something that you could do to change what’s happening in-game.” She frowned. “I… haven’t come up with anything yet. You can’t turn the server off or even experiment with it without risking the lives of everyone inside.”
Luke wrinkled his brow.
“There must be some way for me to log in with admin access,” he said. “I tried to do that once with my dad’s laptop.”
“I don’t know, Kato,” she said. “I never got a chance to take a look at the server in the real world for longer than the time we spent in the original server facility.”
Luke sighed.
“Alright,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out. And I’ll be careful.”
She nodded at him and then leaned her back against the wall of the guild hall.
“In the meantime, we need to proceed with trying to raise support of the guilds,” she said. “There’s one in particular that I want you to make contact with.”
“Which one?”
Kaoru frowned.
“You’re not going to like this,” she said
. “The Revolutionary Rebels have gotten in touch with us about forming a military alliance to defend key locations in Yvvaros.”
Luke blinked. He remembered the Revolutionary Rebels. They were a guild that he’d come into conflict with during the early days of Yvvaros, before permadeath and the lock ins began. Hearing their name reawakened a kernel of anger inside of him that had been dormant for weeks.
“Forget it,” said Luke. “Marcus is an asshole. I don’t trust that this isn’t just a setup to stab us in the back.”
“Arex is in control of the guild now,” said Kaoru. “I already talked to Tess about it. She’s fine with it.”
Luke didn’t say anything.
“They were going to be part of the alliance to overthrow the Arbiters, in case you don’t remember,” said Kaoru. “Set your differences aside, Kato. This is important.”
Just then, the gates opened. A few ragged looking players rushed into the courtyard. Tess set about casting healing spells on them, and Luke broke away from his conversation with Kaoru to see what was going on.
“What happened?” He stood in front of them, tense.
“Stark Town,” said one of them. “It’s been sacked. The defenders couldn’t hold off the Tymians. Hundreds of players are dead… maybe thousands.”
Luke fumed.
“God damn it!” He turned away from the players, staring at the sand.
“Kato, we need the rune circle in Stark Town,” said Kaoru. “It’s the only way we’re going to get an army to Makorin. Please… talk to Arex.”
Luke sighed.
“It doesn’t look like I have much of a choice.”
CHAPTER 34
Against the wishes of Tess and Kaoru, Luke set out immediately. He insisted on not taking anyone else with him.
It’s too dangerous. If this is a trap, I don’t want to be responsible for saving anyone other than myself.
Arex’s zone was in the southern section of the Sarchia Desert, hidden among the dunes. It was still night, and a mild sandstorm was spinning through the zones in front of Luke. Visibility was close to zero.
It didn’t matter to Luke. Regardless of the weather, he was walking into the situation blind.