by KJ Harlow
He sheathed his axe and walked over to the large weeds. They stood seven feet tall and swayed in greeting as Cal lay his hand on one. He could just close both his hands around its stem. Cal furrowed his brow and looked at the massive, brown moon. The giant dandelion sighed as he put one hand on its rubbery surface. There were about a dozen of these seven-foot weeds clustered together. I guess I could keep…
Cut me…
Cal yanked his hand away from the giant plant. Did it just say, ‘cut me’? His shadow fell over the dandelions, clustered together as he eyed them. Tentatively, Cal reached out his hand again.
Come fly with me…
He flinched but put his ear towards the stem of the plant this time. What the hell was going on?
Gong!
You have learned Verdant Whisper! This is an ability that users with an Earth Affinity can learn. You now can ‘hear’ plants talk. Listen carefully and you can find clues that can help you advance to new areas or help you in dire situations.
This is one of several Abilities in Terrafaytum, which you have to discover for yourself. How many can you find? Note: Abilities cannot be levelled up.
The grass tittered as the wind flowed around them. Cal turned and looked at the large brown moon, observing the numerous craters that pockmarked its surface.
Cut me…
Cal narrowed his eyes at the plant. It swayed innocently, pretending not to have said anything. A notification faded in as kept staring at it:
Dandeflyin
These plants pop up in clusters near river banks and lakes. When they’re not ferrying passengers across water, they produce seeds which can travel long distances in search of new soil to grow in.
Cal chuckled. Glad the developer in charge of naming plants loved puns… and Frank Sinatra. He’d only been here for half an hour and he was loving this place already. Cal looked down at his feet again. He kicked up some dirt and pulled out his hatchet again. He looked the plant up and down. ‘Cut me’, you say? He laid a hand on the Dandeflyin again. It said nothing and became stiff. Was it… holding its breath? Cal let his fingers trail down the stem until he reached a spot about half a foot from the bottom.
Here…
If you say so. Cal drew the axe back and thwacked it into the stem. The head sliced through the stem like celery. White droplets of blood oozed out of the xylem. He raised an eyebrow and looked up. “Are you… OK?” Silence. Cal hacked off the rest of the stem. Cal got up, sheathed his axe and looked at the plant.
The Dandeflyin was rotating slowly, suspended in mid-air.
Come over here… don’t be shy…
“I’m not shy.” He shook his head; he was not talking to a plant. He ran his hands over the ribbed surface of the Dandeflyin as it rotated.
Hug me… come fly with me…
Cal looked at the other Dandeflyins, huddled together. Were they… judging him? “H-hey,” he said, taking a step back. “He told me to do it.” Great, now he was referring to the plant as a male.
No, don’t step away… hug me…
Cal sighed. This was getting weird. He ignored the judgemental Dandeflyins and watched the hacked off one twirling in the air. He closed the distance and put his arms around its stem. It didn’t sag towards the ground when he lifted his feet off. “So how exactly do we–”
LET’S FLY, BITCH!
“What the faaaaargh!” Cal’s stomach almost fell out of his asshole when the Dandeflyin shot up. He clawed at the Dandyflyin as he looked down. Mercat Lake was all around him, 100 feet of air all that separated him and the shining liquid below.
With the wind blowing into his cheeks, Cal looked into his top-right periphery. “Log out, log out, log out…” The cross pulsed but didn’t respond. Wait, where are my health and mana bars? They were conspicuously absent from their usual spot in the top left. Cal slipped a few inches down. If this is a game, then…
He let go. The Dandeflyin flew further and further away as Cal plunged into Mercat Lake.
…I can’t die.
Cal sunk deeper and deeper. Circular fish with coin-sized mirrors for scales flitted around, staring at the intruder for a moment before darting off.
As he held his breath, Cal thought about the last time he swam. He was five, maybe six. Dad was still around, so was Mom. He made it from one end of the kid’s pool to the other… then he peed in it. Cal closed his eyes and smiled. Bubbles started escaping his mouth. Any moment now…
Water starting rushing into his nose. Cal coughed and more water poured down his throat. Silver bubbles obscured his vision. Two slimy, slippery limbs hooked him around his elbows. The water gushed into gut. Oh man, what a way to d–
He burst through the surface of the lake. Droplets shimmered all around Cal as he arced towards the bank. Cal was hurling up water before he slammed into the damp ground back first. He threw up even more water, diluted orc bile leaking back into his nose. Cal rolled over onto his side.
“If you want to drown do it somewhere else!” Cal looked out towards the lake. A purple tabby cat with skin like a seal bobbed 10 yards away, its nose wrinkled and whiskers twitching. Cal Examined the creature just as he hacked up the last of the water.
NAME: Mercat
LVL: 16
AFF: Water
HP: 250/250
MP: 200/200
ABILITY: Hydro Surge
Mercats are amphibious felines that live in the underwater networks of Terrafaytum. They regularly patrol Mercat Lake and will strive to prevent outsiders from intruding. Masters of Water Craft, they can bend liquids to their will.
“Hey Fluzel, let’s go.” Another mercat, smaller in size and with fur the color of seaweed splashed up.
“Why did you save me?” Cal croaked.
“We didn’t save you,” Fluzel hissed. “We were just keeping our home clean.” The purple mercat jumped into the air, its tail slapping the water before it disappeared into the lake. The green one looked at Cal apologetically and slid back beneath the surface.
Cal rolled onto his back. He shivered as a breeze blew through. To his relief, he noticed that his health and mana bars had reappeared in the top left of the screen. He wiped his eyes and blinked while a “1” hovered in the top right. The screen expanded out and he read the notification.
This concludes the ValorVale tutorial. If you wish to go over what you learnt, you can re-watch your experience in the Videos section.
Closing the notification, he saw a screencap for a video 2 minutes, 37 seconds long. “Play,” he muttered. He watched himself flailing above Mercat Lake as he clung on to the Dandyflyin and got a closer look at the Mercats that flung him out of their lake, all while lying on his back. The remaining silvery water dribbled out the side of his mouth as he chuckled.
He had just been in a cut scene.
Rawdriad Forest
Cal’s hatchet whistled through the air as the bat screeched angrily, flapping out of the way. Its half a dozen comrades oozed thick darkness as they shrivelled up and twitched on the damp earth beneath. Cal aimed another slash at the remaining bat, wiping away blood from the puncture marks above his right eye.
Cal swung wildly and the bat pulled back. “Gotcha.” The momentum allowed Cal to spin on his heel and he connected with the flying rat on the second pass. It slammed into a tree and bounced off with a squeal.
Level Up!
Clarions trumpeted and Cal raised his hatchet, his heart thumping against his rib cage. Wait, ‘Level Up’? The “1” shone momentarily before the notification screen expanded.
Congratulations! You have just Leveled Up! You are now one level stronger and have received 10 points to allocate to your stats. Monsters can strike down at any time, so make sure you are at your strongest before you take them on.
“Status screen.” The notification screen collapsed and was replaced a second later.
NAME: Callahan Rogers (10 points to allocate)
AGE: 29 (Earth)
CLASS: Orc Fighter
LVL
: 6
HP: 105/105
MP: 105/105
AFF: Earth (x30)
STR: 10
DEF: 10
AGL: 10
INT: 10
ABILITY: Examine, Verdant Whisper
SKILL: NIL
WEAPON: Axe – Level E – Next Level in 87%
Cal bumped the top of his axe against his chin. 10 points didn’t go evenly into four stats. Should he go 2, 3, 2, 3? Then again, if he was faster, the bats might not have had such a field day with him. He stared at ‘AGL’.
“Plus one to Agil–”
A six foot fireball crashed through the trees, hurtling towards Cal. Holy shit! He leaped into the foliage to his right. The fireball scorched a path out of the forest, leaving a trail of burning, dead leaves in its wake. Argh! Cal jumped up, stomping his left foot into the damp forest floor. The fire had nipped his boot and was devouring it. Embers scattered off his foot and created spot fires all around him. Hopping on one foot, Cal dragged the boot off, hurling it after the giant fireball.
-5 Damage!
You are Burned! x1.5 damage by fire attacks!
Cal hobbled over to a patch of foliage that hadn’t been burned to a crisp and fell onto his backside. He ran his fingers over his foot, wincing as he touched his singed toes. As dark as the forest was, he could tell they would have looked just as ugly as the rest of his body.
Rooooooar!
Cal’s hatchet was back in his hand. He edged towards the tunnel the fireball had created. People – or beings – clashed about 50 yards ahead. He followed the path, staying close to the trees. He crept through the greenery and crouched behind a shrub. What the…
Around 50 spotted wildcats stood on their hind legs, forming a rounded “U” shape in a clearing. They wore loincloths and brandished spears, growls and muted roars rippling around the group. Two figures battled it out, their shadows dancing against the wall of the cliff mere feet away from the bipedal felines. The hunched over shadow clearly belonged to a standing leopard, but what was the other? Were those… wings? Cal inched up, his bald, scabby head nestling against a droopy surfboard-sized leaf.
The wildcats leaped 10 feet into the air, breaking the ring around the fighters. One of them landed a yard away from him, its leg grinding into the soft soil. Shit! Cal shrunk back. It was a matter of time before they found him out.
“Who sent you?” The blue, muscular leopard spat. It clasped a flaming spear in its furred hand, circling its prey.
Cal craned his neck from underneath the leaf and saw who the large cat was talking to. Cal had never set foot in a church, but the first thing he thought was that he was looking at an angel. Donning light, leather armor and a gleaming nasal helmet, she twitched her wings and manoeuvred away from her opponent. She was holding her short sword slightly behind her body and had her buckler raised.
“Hyah!” She swung her short sword and a micro tornado spun out, scattering the cats behind the blue warrior. He gripped his spear with both hands, jumped five feet into the air and slammed it into the ground. The air rippled and a six-foot fireball rolled out towards the angelic fighter. Their attacks collided, the resulting boom making the trees in Rawdriad Forest shudder in unison. The tornado absorbed the fireball and flung embers all around the glade like a possessed blender. The angel raised her buckler, shielding her face from the secondary attack.
The blue leopard was in the air again, its flaming lance drawn back. At the last second, the flying fighter parried the blow, the lance striking the buckler, then her breast plate.
“Aaargh!” The blue fighter roared in pain. The winged fighter twisted her blade in his stomach and pushed him off with the bottom of her boot, dirt whooshing up as she pushed herself back. The blue leopard dropped its weapon into the dirt with a dull thud and stumbled back, covering the gaping wound.
She stared emotionlessly at her wounded foe. Three big cats had rushed in and helped their fallen warrior retreat. A new blue leopard, slightly smaller but no less ferocious took his place. Her wings flapped against the cliff face. Damn it, she was trapped… and dead.
“Not only did you invade our home uninvited, you attacked our chief.” The smaller, blue cat was trembling with fury. “For that, you shall perish.” He raised his spear and a dozen others did the same. One by one, flames burst from their hands, enveloping their weapons. The angel folded her wings in and lowered her sword and shield. She laughed and shook her head, resigned to her fate. This seemed to infuriate the new warrior even more. He drew his spear back and…
…a notification expanded into Cal’s sight screen.
Decision Mission
Decision Missions allow you to alter the fate of Non Playable Characters (NPCs) in ValorVale. These missions require a choice to be made in 10 seconds. If no choice is made, the default option will be chosen.
Decision Mission I: To Save Or Not To Save?
Don’t save: the eryn will be skewered by the Rawdriad werejaguars.
Save: the eryn will be able to escape. You will gain a new Skill to enable this to happen.
Don’t Save? | Save?
10…
In the background, Cal could see the flaming spear leave the warrior’s hand in slow motion. Save a life and get a new skill at the same time? Sounded like a no brainer. “Save.” Cal’s selection pulsed.
Gong!
You have been bestowed with Earth Wall! Manipulate earth, clay, dirt and stone to create walls. Focus your mana and protect you and your allies. Note: this is a Skill, which can be levelled up over time.
Cal stood up and threw his hand out towards the eryn. “Earth Wall!” A one-foot thick barrier burst out of the ground and charged up towards the forest canopy. Flame spears twanged into it, bounced off and smouldered on the ground. It kept rising and rising, then stuttered. Damn it. What was the mana drain rate on this move? The wall drew itself back down into the dirt, as fast as it came. He cast his leafy protection aside. Cal breathed a sigh of relief; the eryn was nowhere to be seen.
A second later, he was on his back, the wind knocked out of him. The blue werejaguar straddled his torso, planted his hands into the dirt either side of his head. “You!” Flecks of spittle bounced around the warriors fanged maw.
“Wait I…”
The livid cat warrior ripped Cal’s throat out with its jaws. He wrenched the neck flesh left and right, globules of green and gray splattering all over the forest floor. So this is what it feels like to…
Critical Hit!
-120 Damage!
You have died
Continue from last save point?
Yes | No
No
Quit?
Yes | No
Yes
3
Trapped
“What’s up, doc?” Cal hacked a glob of phlegm into the tray on his lap.
“I’ll tell you what’s not up: your muscle density, particularly in your legs.” Through the scans that Doctor Tran raised in front of him, Cal could see the deep groove of concern between his eyebrows.
“I feel like shit," Cal croaked. Doctor Tran placed the films onto the bed and swept over to Cal. He shone a penlight into Cal’s bloodshot eyes then checked his tonsils.
“Minor swelling. More water, more sleep.”
“Dr. Tran, I–”
“Aristotle.”
“Aristotle, I’ve been here for five days now. Moon Microsystems is riding my ass.”
“I’ll write you a medical certificate.”
“I’ve already used up all of sick leave.”
“You’re showing early signs of cardiomyopathy. Blood is not getting around your body.”
A gurney whooshed down the hall, a flock of intern doctors chasing after their attending. Nearly 20 years and Tran’s bedside manner still sucked.
“I can’t afford all of these tests you’re running on me.”
“I’m doing them pro-bono.”
“I get that my Mom died under your care.” Cal coughed again, hacking
another glob into the tray. “but it’s been 20 years. Get over it. It wasn’t your fault.”
Aristotle regarded Cal through his severe, rectangular glasses. Even with the wanky, philosophical name, Cal knew that Doctor Tran wasn’t an asshole. The only reason he stopped visiting him was because his determination to fix him bordered on stalker levels.
“Your heart may stop working soon.”
“So in other words, no change in my situation: I’m going to die young.”
Aristotle exhaled a long sigh. “When it was just your MD, we didn’t have much information to go off. We knew that people could live up to their 40’s, but that was it. From the scans we’ve taken when you came in and from yesterday, we can extrapolate how long you have before your heart fails.”
Another clump threatened to escape Cal’s throat but he held it back. “So what, is it 5 years, 10 years…”
“It’s about a year. One and a half, tops.”
Cal stared at his doctor. “So when can I go back to work?”
He stood up. “I’m going to see my–”
Cal’s hand clapped onto Aristotle’s wrist. Hi spitting tray had slipped off his malnourished legs, its contents edging dangerously close to the sheets.
“Don’t tell Erika. Promise me.”
Aristotle gently wrested his hand free from Cal’s grasp, tipping the spitting tray up just before the phlegm and mucus ruined the sheets. He cocked his head to the side, noticing Cal clenching his fist next to his decrepit legs.
“Excuse me.”
Damn that doctor to the pits of hell. Cal spit out his umpteenth clod phlegm-mangled spit. Next time someone’s getting raped or beaten to death, I’m going to mind my own damn business.
A trolley squeaked down the hall, turning into Cal’s room. “Dinner’s here!” The chubby-cheeked nurse from the other night smiled at Cal. “I hope you like peas and mash!”