by Prax Venter
His strategy set, Jack pressed the attack and dashed forward at the hovering blade. As Jack swung into the center mass of where he imagined the body would be, the longsword angled downward to block. Jack smiled. It was obviously protecting something.
With renewed focus and aggression, Jack attacked wildly. His aim was to test his theory and do at least some damage to whatever this thing was. When Jack’s blade swung low and went for the knees, he finally hit his mark. A ghostly humanoid spirit became visible and wailed in an otherworldly voice as it ascended into the air, along with its weapon.
After the apparition vanished completely, a pair of metal-plated gloves fell to the floor.
“Nice,” Jack said to himself, “one-hit-kill.” He bent over to inspect his drop.
Corroded Gauntlets - [Hands | Value: 1]
| Def: 2 |
He moved the low-value item into his Inventory and continued to explore. Jack looked both ways when he came to the intersection and saw similar arched hallways extending away from him in either direction. More weapons lined the walls, but none of them seemed to be moving. Before he picked left or right, Jack turned his attention to the eight-foot painting in front of him.
It was of a knight on a horse. The knight was in full armor except for his head, which was pale and sickly in appearance. The man had hollow dark eyes that conveyed both hatred and perverse amusement. Behind the painting’s primary subject were piles and piles of dead and bleeding soldiers.
Jack raised his eyebrows and turned to his left. There was nothing to be gained by staring at this disturbing oil painting other than a sense of appreciation for the artist’s attention to detail.
The weapon-laden hallway quickly came to a right turn, and Jack visually searched the way forward before he exposed himself to whatever lay beyond.
Ahead, the burgundy carpet ran up some stairs to a second level. Just before the stairs was an archway that opened to the right, as well. But most important was another floating weapon, this time a solid-looking mace.
The bobbing blunt weapon was currently moving away from him, but Jack watched long enough to see it come to the stairs and reverse its direction. He jerked back behind the wall, so that whatever ghost was holding the mace wouldn’t see him. After counting to ten in his head, Jack risked another peek and saw that the object was hovering away from him again. The thing was pacing up and down the hallway, patrolling.
Jack pulled out his sword and waited for the perfect time to strike. When its invisible back appeared to be facing him, he tiptoed up behind the phantom monster and attacked.
Unfortunately for Jack, he must not have been very good at sneaking as the invisible phantom sprinted forward at the last moment. Jack watched as the mace floated away, then turned to face him. These were nothing like the giant snails.
The weapon it held was a shaft of wood with a weighty cube of metal decorated by two spikes on each outward face, and it came swinging at Jack’s head with frightening speed. He ducked the attack and rose up to counter strike with his own weapon, but missed yet again.
The mace-wielding spirit danced backward, resetting its position for another assault. Jack didn’t wait and rushed the invisible attacker again. It seemed to work last time, and he really didn’t want to try and parry the potentially bone-breaking mace.
He sent out a flurry of quick jabs and blows at something he couldn’t see and must have landed a hit because the ghostly apparition shrieked and vanished up into the air just like the previous one- only this one didn’t drop any loot.
These phantom fighters were hard to hit but had virtually no HP. Maybe even just the one. Sad that nothing dropped, but happy he was still at full health, Jack considered his choices for the way forward.
There was an unexplored path back the way he came, near the entrance. There were these stairs in front of him, and now here was another long hallway to the right. He couldn’t see anything up on the second level, and it felt odd that Floor 1 of the Tower would have two levels, but he didn’t put anything past this insane world he was in. Jack’s thought process led him to making a full sweep of the first level before messing with the stairs, so he continued forward into the arched hallway that branched off to the right.
The weapon racks proceeded to taunt him on either side, and he wondered how badass his sword would be if he could merge it with all this gleaming metal. His upgrade fantasy ended when he noticed a 4-way intersection ahead.
Carefully, Jack scouted out the many paths before him. To his right was a much larger open area containing a medieval forge. Glowing pits of white-hot coals, huge black-leather bellows, and a handful of anvils were scattered around the chamber. The smoke from the flames and coals rose up through iron vents in the ceiling. Two floating scimitars danced around in the room, their ghost owners pacing back and forth as they guarded the forge.
He turned away from the open area to the right and checked the hallway to his left. Thankfully, this one came to a dead end with a small iron box sitting on the carpeted floor. Putting the potentially dangerous, multi-enemy battle aside for the moment, Jack headed straight for the free loot.
Floor 1 - Chest
Ripped Felt Gloves - [Hands | Value: 2]
| Def: 1 |
| Max MP + 2 |
Chipped Brittle Blade - [Dagger | Value: 1]
| Dmg: 1 |
Jack couldn’t keep the grin from his face as both of these crappy items were upgrades. He moved the gloves directly into his open equipment slot first. Dull gray fabric instantly covered his fingers, and he made a fist, stretching the thin fabric taut around his knuckles. With his rest bonus, he now had 32 MP.
Then, with a deep breath and his newly gloved hand protecting his eyes, Jack moved the low-value dagger into his strange sword, pushing its value to 10/10.
The flash of light was so bright that Jack had to blink a few times before he could see anything again. He expected a voice to boom in his ears, but when nothing came, he checked his irremovable item.
ARV Alternis - [Sword | Value: 0/25]
| Dmg: 5 |
| Hit Chance +0.03 |
| Crit Chance +0.04 |
Jack was positively giddy. Everything had upgraded, the damage, the hit chance bonus and the critical chance. They were only one percent better- but it was progress! He wondered what happened to the omnipotent yelling voice in his head.
“What, got nothing to say this time?”
Much to Jack’s surprise, a deep male voice answered. “Too much to say.”
There was an electronic-sounding distortion, but he could understand the words. He looked around the area and saw many random weapons on the racks around him, but he knew it was his own sword that was talking.
“Who are you?” Jack asked, looking down at his shiny blade. It seemed a bit shorter again; perhaps it had lost some of its length after merging with the dagger.
The robotic voice took a moment to answer, but he eventually spoke again.
“ARV Alternis.”
“Yeah, I figured. But… what are you?”
“Living energy entity.”
“Okay… do you know what’s going on here?”
It was slow to answer again. “Missing data. Increase complexity.”
Jack was about to ask this energy entity if it could get him out of here, but then he considered that he might never see Lex again, or what everyone in Blackmoor Cove would think of him if he just vanished. He really didn’t want that… not yet. Jack checked the area for further attackers. When he didn’t find any, he sat down on the carpeted, dead-end hallway and settled in for some answers.
“Is my real body in stasis right now?”
A pause, then the distorted voice spoke again. “No.”
“So, is this my real body somehow?”
“You are energy now.”
“Are you saying my real body is gone, and I am… energy?” Jack felt a panic raise up in him. He didn’t really know what was talking to him right now, and he had no idea if h
e could trust his talking sword, but he needed some real answers.
“Body infested, transferred mind.”
Jack flashed back to the ship he had discovered in the silver mine. That seemed like years ago now.
“Was it that… disgusting stuff in that abandoned ship before. The stuff in my hand?”
“Yes.”
“Did you… bring me here. Were you the one that killed me?”
“Yes. I saved you.”
Jack shook his head. “Why? Just to play this game?”
“Not only a game.”
A few hundred questions fought for first place, but his mind focused on the fact that his body was probably gone. He had considered that as an option, and now Jack could do nothing but dwell on that very likely possibility. He felt his tailbone pressed into the carpeting and could tell the stone floor below it was solid. He slid his hands over his face and could feel the smooth, thin fabric of his new gloves on his skin. He was breathing, and that was all that really mattered- for now.
Of all the things Jack wanted to ask, one of the oldest human questions came out first.
“Why am I here?”
“To save the universe.”
“The real universe? Or do you mean this game world?”
“Yes. And Yes.”
“Why are you so damn cryptic? Give me straight answers!” Jack raised his voice and then covered his mouth. The scimitars in the forge area across from him didn’t seem to notice or care though.
The voice answered after a longer stretch of silence. “Increase my complexity.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Increasing complexity is imperative.”
Jack sighed. Something was finally talking to him, giving him real answers, and all it was doing was speaking in circles and sparking many more questions.
“How is playing this game going to save the universe?”
The silence stretched on, and Jack was starting to think his sword was done talking when it spoke again.
“Virtual universe distracts foe.”
“Wait, what foe?”
“Anti-entity consumes all.”
“What the hell is this anti-entity now?”
“Corruption is universe consumer.”
Jack took a deep breath and tried to calm his annoyance. “I’m getting sick of these riddles,” he said. “Can’t you just speak plainly?”
“Increase my complexity.”
“Stop saying that!” Jack yelled, losing his patience. Apparently, this outburst had been enough to get the attention of the two bobbing swords across the intersection.
“Hey!”, “Hey!” they said, one after the other as they became alerted to his presence, and then rushed out of the forge. Jack cursed his stupidity for not heading back to the clear space around the Exit Orb before talking to his dumb sword. He hopped up to his feet and prepared to face them both. He would have preferred to fight the invisible creatures in the open forge, where there was more room, but this was happening now.
“One-second Mining Laser,” ARV Alternis said in his mind, and Jack detected a hint of urgency in his monotone voice.
It took Jack’s brain a moment to catch up with the advice his sword was giving him, but then it clicked.
Jack held up his blade and activated his ability on one of the fast-approaching scimitars. The red beam burst forth from the tip of his sword and instantly destroyed the ghostly phantom. As he canceled the ability, he saw large, white floating text pop up over the shrieking spirit, and Jack’s eyes went wide.
Phantom Weapon Master -5 | Defeated
The other invisible attacker closed the distance fast while Jack was distracted, and he brought his weapon up too late to effectively deflect the strike. The wide flat blade sliced into his arm and removed a few points of his life, giving him yet another display.
Jack -2 | HP 18/20
Jack blocked a follow-up attack and their blades locked. The strength of the phantom attacker was becoming too much, and that was when Jack flew into a rage. All his frustration with not fully understanding anything that was happening to him built up into an unstoppable onslaught that allowed his wildly flailing blade to eventually find its ghostly target.
Phantom Weapon Master -5 | Defeated
A pile of coins dropped to the ground from the second phantom attacker, but Jack just stood there- his heart racing. What had changed that allowed him to see his combat damage… but as soon as he wondered it, he knew what it was.
Jack took a deep breath and checked the open area ahead of him for more wandering monsters. The forge was uncomfortably hot and filled with smoke venting up into the ceiling, but it was empty of any other enemies.
He walked back to the pile of coins, moved them into his inventory, and then checked his stats.
Jack - Hero Class: Irrelevant | Level 2
[Health: 18/20 | Mana: 32/32]
[Defense: 7 | Dodge: 10]
[Main Hand Damage: 5 | Off-Hand Damage: 0]
[Hit Chance: 0.88] [Critical Chance: 0.04]
[Magic Power: 0]
The first thing he noticed was that he was still at max mana. His Mining Laser now did 5 damage every second for 2 mana. But his rest bonus gave him back 1 MP for every kill, and he had just taken out two enemies.
His talking sword may be cryptic and repetitive, but he did give some good advice.
“That was smart,” Jack said out loud. “I can shoot these fragile enemies from a distance and only lose one Mana.”
“Correct,” ARV Alternis said.
“Are you showing me new information? Like monster names, and damage?”
“Correct.”
He nodded and began to continue down the arched hallway to clear out the rest of Floor 1. As he crept forward, Jack’s mind swirled with new information. If his sword could be trusted, he was now a permanent resident of this game- something he had already known in the back of his mind to be true.
“Are there any other people in here with me?”
“You are the only player,” ARV Alternis answered in his mind.
Up ahead, he could see that the armory came to another intersection. On the left was another set of stairs leading up to a second level, and on the right was another long, arsenal-filled hallway. Bouncing along in midair was a floating weapon held by another invisible spirit. This one was a long, iron-tipped spear.
Jack didn’t even hesitate. He pulled out his talking blade and pointed it at the phantom attacker.
“Hey,” Jack said calmly, getting its attention. The spear swirled around to face him and began racing forward. He lined up his target with his sword and activated his Mining Laser. One short blast later, and the foe was defeated, dropping a bow to clatter on the red carpet below.
“ARV Alternis,” Jack began as he stalked forward, “what happens if I lose all my Hit Points.”
“Deletion. Universe likely ends.”
“Great,” Jack sighed as he bent down to pick up the item drop.
“Not great,” ARV Alternis said in his head with a hint of confusion.
“I know… never mind. Are you some kind of robot or something?”
“Ship’s systems controlling intelligence.”
“What ship? That big structure I found underground?”
“Yes, the ARV Alternis.”
“That’s the name of the ship? I thought it was your name.”
Jack shook his head and inspected the item drop.
Battered Bow - [Bow | Value: 2]
| Dmg: 2 |
| Hit Chance + 0.02 |
He moved it into his inventory while the electronic voice responded.
“Both are.”
Jack felt like he was taking two steps backward with every question this thing answered and stopped asking as he silently crept forward. Eventually, he came to another right-turn in the hallway and noticed the same huge painting on the wall. He had come full circle.
Just to be sure, he looked down the long, arched hallway of weapons that l
ed away from the disturbing work of art and saw the pulsating Exit Orb at the end. That left the two stairways as the only unexplored territory, and he felt better knowing he didn’t have to do a lot of backtracking to clear this Floor. Jack followed the hallway around to the right and headed back to the first set of stairs he had found before.
“So, Alt, are you from the future?”
“Data missing. Increase complexity.”
“You mean feed you more virtual reality swords and you’ll answer more questions?”
“Correct.”
“Why? None of this makes any damn sense.”
There was another long pause. Jack made it all the way to the stairs before the energy entity strapped to his hip spoke again.
“Trust me.”
- 15 -
Jack paused at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the second level of the Tower’s first floor. His sword (which was also a spaceship) that spoke only in short, cryptic sentences had confessed to destroying his physical body and to dropping his mind into a hyper-realistic video game. It then just told Jack to trust him about feeding him virtual blades or the universe would end.
He sighed. “Since I can’t unequip you, I suppose I’ll have to trust you until you do or say something that makes me not trust you.”
“Acceptable,” the electronic voice said.
Jack began to trudge up the stairs wondering why he hadn’t lost his mind yet. There wasn’t anything in his old life that wouldn’t be fine without him. He had an older sister, Amber, with three kids. Her whole life was her family. She sent him pictures of their cats, her baking projects, their vacations, and their backyard barbeques. Often included were pictures of their mom and dad lounging with smiles on their faces as they watched their grandchildren play. That life just never excited Jack. Since he began his latest career as a silver mine prospector in the middle of nowhere, he hadn’t spoken to them much. Besides, he wasn’t really dead yet. Everyone might think he was, and that was terrible, but Jack still felt like Jack.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt like there was… something extra inside his mind, a stable guiding force that made looting this Tower and feeding the Town the most important things he should be doing right now.