World-Tree's End

by E A Hooper

  World-Tree’s End

  World-Tree Trilogy Book 3

  “World-Tree’s End” by EA Hooper

  “World-Tree Trilogy” by EA Hooper

  Copyright © 2019 | All rights reserved

  Book Edited by JD Book Services

  Cover Art by Richard Sashigane

  Contents

  World-Tree’s End

  Vincent’s Story So Far

  Prologue

  Year 180

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Year 230

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Year 359

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Vincent’s Story So Far

  Year 1 – Vincent enters the game to distract himself from the second anniversary of his wife’s death. An update begins that stretches the time dilation and prevents players from logging out. He learns about negative energy and begins to research it.

  Year 15 – Vincent completes his first negative-energy spell. He sets out to climb the World-Tree and forms a team with Quinn and Xan they call the World Knights. His oldest friend Jim stays on their team chat as they explore new worlds. Jim begins work on a guild called the Jiminy World Crickets.

  Year 35 – The World Knights reach Midrun. Jim decides to jump to them after a run-in with a moderator named Lucas who’s using his powers to control various City-Worlds. However, Lucas’s guild, the Justiciars, invade Midrun and take over the city. The World Knights fail to stop him, but Vincent realizes his negative energy bypasses Lucas’s Mod Shield. They flee to a hellish Dead-World where they can grow strong enough to stop the Justiciars.

  Year 72 – The World Knights temporarily change their team name to the Void Knights to strike fear in the Justiciars. They lead the Jiminy World Crickets to take back Midrun. After fighting through Lucas’s forces and powerful generals, Vincent uses negative energy to turn Lucas’s Mod Gun against him and then remove him from the game. Those still in the game have no idea if Lucas is really free or just trapped in darkness for hundreds of years. Having spent decades training to defeat Lucas, the World Knights agree to a several-year vacation. They go their separate ways, and Vincent begins a solo journey to rarely traveled worlds.

  Year 93 – The World Knights attempt to regroup, but Jim is being held captive in Risegard due to his debts to Isaac Bell, one of ARKUS’s developers and the head of the Ark Foundation. Vincent works to pay off his friend’s debt by helping rebuild the city which has been ravaged by the Demon Lord’s forces. However, they’re forced to flee the city after the Demon Lord is discovered to be a top player named Noah who’s been working with Isaac Bell. Isaac traps many of the game’s top players in Risegard, forcing them to fight endlessly in the hopes that they’ll one day be strong enough to face the angels that guard the worlds above. Vincent and his remaining allies begin training on an especially harsh Dead-World until they’re strong enough to rescue the friends they left behind.

  Year 135 – Vincent makes a pact with the devil king Izrid so the monster’s forces will help the Jiminy World Crickets attack Risegard. The city is destroyed in the war, but after it’s over, Isaac surrenders and is magically tethered to the NPC Archie Goodman. He plans to make up for his mistakes by helping Archie build a Jump Gate superhighway. Vincent’s avatar is taken over as part of his deal with Izrid. He won’t be freed until someone kills him or Izrid has had sixty-six years to cause mayhem across the World-Tree. Noah has been released from his own pact with Isaac and the devils, and he decides to redeem himself by freeing Vincent.

  Year 180 – Noah finally chases down Vincent’s avatar and defeats Izrid in battle. Having redeemed himself, Noah and his wife kill themselves repeatedly to escape the game. Vincent’s fate, however, remains unknown…

  Prologue

  The old man stared blankly as his wife’s coffin was lowered into the grave. For over fifty years, she’d been the center of his world. More than that, though, she’d been the great adventure of his life. They’d been together through countless good and bad moments. The world had changed in ways he couldn’t have imagined when they were teenagers, but his wife Monika remained his rock through all those years. She’d never really changed and always kept a cheerful attitude. Even toward the end of her life, she never stopped looking for an adventure.

  As robots emotionlessly shoveled dirt into the hole, Vincent couldn’t imagine that any more adventures were awaiting him.

  The rest of the day felt like a blur. Friends and family gave heartfelt condolences and then disappeared like shadows. Every so often, Vincent glanced at the dark clouds overhead. He kept hoping it’d rain, so he could cry without anyone noticing. The last thing he wanted was more attention. He just wanted to be alone with her grave, but he had to wait until dusk before the last of his few friends left. His oldest friend Jim had refused to depart until it was only the two of them, and then Vincent asked to be alone.

  He sat at the grave another hour, trying to think of something to say to her. There needed to be some way to express how meaningful and important she’d been to him, but nothing that came to mind seemed good enough. All he knew was that he felt numb without her. He wanted so badly to speak to her again, but the idea of talking to her grave felt so final that he eventually walked away without saying anything at all.

  When he reached the self-driving taxi, it finally started raining.

  A half-hour later, Vincent stepped back into his home. The quietness of the small house felt suffocating. Every second that ticked by reminded him that she was gone. He tried to distract himself with online videos, but his mind continued to wander back to Monika’s quiet grave.

  I need a distraction, he realized. A video game or something.

  He hadn’t done any gaming since Monika’s last trip to the hospital. The last thing he’d played was Titanus Online, Monika’s favorite game. She’d been obsessed with that virtual world in her last year to the point of bouncing between platinum and diamond rankings. Vincent had never beaten the main campaign because of its notorious final boss, but in her final days Monika had told him several times to make sure to beat it.

  She said there was a surprise at the end, he recalled.

  He put on the headset and jumped into the game. The neural feedback in the headset made the fantasy world feel almost real at times. Every death sent a little jolt through your body. You could practically smell and taste the food in the game. Movement and attacking were done through mental commands, where you focused and envisioned your avatar doing something and it’d imitate those movements to the best of its ability.

  He loaded up his level sixty Swordmage and spawned in at the final area, the Divine Sanctum. A thousand other players were there, preparing themselves for the unforgiving challenge that awaited them. Vincent had made it to the end often enough that he wasn’t too worried about anything other than the final boss, an enemy he’d yet to defeat after dozens of attempts.

  Vincent squeezed through the crowd and stepped into the large
entryway. All the other players disappeared from his sight as he entered a separate game instance. The Divine Sanctum had been created as the game’s ultimate single-player dungeon in a game whose AI controller learned as much about you as possible. It turned all your weaknesses against you while making your strengths useless. However, Vincent had run the dungeon enough times that he’d grown familiar with the different combinations of obstacles, enemies, and traps that awaited him.

  Over the next three hours, he worked his way through the challenges. Huge boss monsters fell to his blade as he traveled the mazelike dungeon. Puzzles barely slowed him down as he became hyper-focused on winning. Sometimes he saw rooms and floors shift and move as the game tried to throw him off the right path. He followed the astral projections of friends’ avatars that zigzagged through the several dozen floors of the maze, giving hints or misdirection in the ever-changing dungeon.

  It hadn’t taken him long to figure out the ghost of his wife’s avatar was the right one to follow. He couldn’t help but notice she’d modified the character to look more like her real self since the last time he’d seen it. Sometimes he’d catch a glimpse of her ghost in the maze and almost forget it wasn’t really her.

  Monika’s ghost eventually led him through a hidden passage many floors down from where he’d started. She disappeared into the glowing white entryway, and Vincent stepped across to find himself in an otherworldly garden. His eyes narrowed on the massive, twisting tree. It almost looked like the trunk continued into the heavens above the garden.

  One of the shimmering fruits fell from the tree. Dark shadows poured from it and formed into a shape that copied Vincent’s avatar. He saw the words Shadow Self above the copy. It held a relaxed position, but kept its hand on its hilt.

  Vincent raised his blade, cast his strongest sword buff, and charged the copy. Their swords clashed several times. Despite having the same stats, spells, and fighting style, the copy moved more efficiently than him. It reacted quicker and knew what he’d do before he made a move. The copy canceled out his attack spells by using the same ones at the same time.

  As Vincent grew more frustrated, the copy took advantage of the openings in his defense. It depleted out most of his health with Greater Fireblade strikes that bypassed his heavy armor. He moved back toward the glowing forcefield that surrounded the fighting arena and began to fight more defensively.

  This is so stupid, Vincent thought. The AI controller takes all this information about me and then makes this thing better than me in every way. It knows every trick I’ve ever used, and it only seems to get harder the more times I fight it.

  Vincent’s hands gripped the sides of his gaming chair, and he saw a message pop-up that his heart rate was elevated.

  I need to relax. It’s just a dumb game.

  Vincent remembered the meditation technique his wife had always told him to try. He slowed his breathing, and his body became more relaxed. His movements in the game became a little more fluid as he fended off attacks from his copy. The boss seemed a little slower now that he was relaxed, and Vincent noticed it was wearing the same heavy armor as him.

  Huh, maybe I can turn that into an advantage. I’m one hit from death, so I might as well go for it.

  Vincent blocked the next attack and rolled away. He went into the menu and unequipped his armor as quickly as he could, then rolled past another Fireblade. Without the armor, Vincent moved faster than the enemy. He went on the offensive, but he still didn’t seem to have an edge and couldn’t land any attacks.

  Vincent continued to focus on his breathing. He started to feel more detached from the game, making it seem less real. However, that relaxed state helped him react quicker and more instinctively. His in-game movements became more rapid as he barely thought about his attacks. He swapped sword buffs on the fly to counter the boss’s moves.

  A few of Vincent’s near misses with Greater Staticblade slowed the boss thanks to the attack’s area of effect. He cast Time Counter with his offhand, and this time the boss wasn’t fast enough to respond. Once he stacked three of the counters, he activated them, completely freezing the boss. Vincent landed a flurry of Greater Fireblades that left the boss at just as low health. The copy blocked a potential finishing strike, and then rolled away.

  Vincent followed it to make sure it wouldn’t remove its armor. The copy’s slower movements were the only thing giving him an edge. Their blades clashed a few more times, and Vincent struggled to focus on his breathing through the excitement.

  Breathe in. Breathe out. Come on, relax. It’s just a game.

  Vincent’s Chain Bar had finally maxed out, which meant the copy’s had as well. He had six different Finishers for that character, but he knew once he mentally envisioned and activated one, it’d likely mean the end of the fight. Either his choice would deliver a killing blow, or the copy would choose the perfect Finisher to counter his. His mirror self must’ve realized the same thing, because it had taken a defensive stance and put distance between them.

  If I go for Lightning Blitz or Blade Tornado, he’ll kill me with Combo Counter. My other two can be dodged with Ghost Strike, and he’ll get a free hit on me as my Finisher ends. If there was a way to get the boss to use his Finisher first, then there’s a fifty-fifty chance I could counter it and win. That might honestly be my best chance.

  Vincent lowered his blade to his side. “I’m not using my Finisher,” he told it. “You’re just going to have to use yours first. We’ll decide this all with a coin flip.”

  The Shadow Self raised its blade.

  Now, what Finisher would I use against myself? Ah, screw it, I’ll just do whatever feels right in the moment.

  The Shadow Self charged forward, and a white light enveloped its body for a split-second as it activated a Finisher. Vincent used his Finisher in reply, envisioning his avatar using Combo Counter. His copy moved lightning-fast with electricity running along its body as it swiped through Vincent numerous times. However, Vincent’s avatar automatically moved to block each attack, then stabbed through the copy as its long combo ended.

  The shadow smiled and nodded at Vincent before fading away. A prompt appeared, asking the old man which choice of legendary loot he wanted between three randomly generated options. He decided on a sword that had stats equal to his current one, only it also had Auto-Blocking 5, which hugely increased the chances of his avatar stopping enemy attacks.

  A gate made of white light appeared at the edge of the garden. Vincent approached and stepped through, finding himself in a massive great hall. Beings made of light sat at the heads of huge tables that were covered in food and drink, and Vincent knew them to be the gods of Titanus Online’s mythology. A timer at the top of his HUD showed him he’d get five minutes to feast and talk to people in the Hall of the Great Gods.

  However, what caught his attention most were the avatars of people from his friend list feasting at the table. They all talked and interacted realistically using information the AI controller had gained from each player during their time in the game.

  “Vincent!” the voice of Monika called out. “Come eat with me!”

  Vincent found his wife at a crowded table, and he sat across from her. He watched with awe as she ate, drank, and even tried to joke with him. She also had some of the real Monika’s quirks, such as cramming too much food into her mouth at once and then awkwardly covering her mouth with a napkin. After forcing down the food, she even looked at him with that same loving smile. Vincent barely said a word as the five-minute timer counted away.

  “Is something wrong?” Monika asked as the timer reached ten seconds left.

  “No, I—” Vincent paused. “I just really miss you.”

  The timer reached zero, and a flash of white light took Vincent’s avatar back to the area before the Divine Sanctum. He felt tears running down the sides of his real face. Even though it must’ve been past midnight, he sent his avatar running toward the entrance of Divine Sanctum once again.

  I need fi
ve more minutes with her, he told himself. Just five more minutes.

  Over the next year, he beat the Divine Sanctum a hundred more times.

  Year 180

  Player: Vincent the Demon Lord

  Class: Ranger

  Subclass: Mage

  Vitality: Lv 370

  Spirit*: Lv 398

  Resolve: Lv 371

  Perception*: Lv 394

  Agility: Lv 369

  Strength: Lv 368

  Chapter 1

  Forty-five years had gone by since Izrid, First King of the Devils, had taken possession of Vincent’s avatar. The devil had committed countless evil deeds in that time and killed countless players while wearing Vincent’s face. Early on during his possession, the Ranger had kept some hope that his friends would free him from Izrid’s grasp. However, the devil’s ability to open portals to distant worlds always kept him ahead of anyone that might stand a chance against him. Izrid brought him from world to world, city to city, destroying everything in sight.

  Finally, Noah of the Great Vanguard found him. They fought a vicious battle, and Vincent internally cheered for the axe-wielding man the entire time. When their fight brought them to the ground, and Noah almost choked him half to death, Izrid made a desperate attempt to raise a sword with Zero Field to impale him in the back.

  Noah dodged the blade, and it instead went through Vincent’s chest, pinning him to the ground.

  The Demon Lord continued to snarl and struggle until his strength failed him. He looked up at the worlds he’d no longer be able to torment.

  Thank you, Noah, Vincent thought as the light left his eyes.

  You’ve died. Respawning at Daiglass 0167.3076.0775.0729…

  Vincent found himself standing in a homely bedroom with the daiglass shard sitting in a basket on a shelf. He almost fell over, having gone forty-five years without controlling his avatar, but he managed to catch himself on an open dresser.

  “I’m free,” he said out loud. “Oh, my god. I can talk again. Blah, blah, blah. Why does this feel so weird?”