World-Tree's End

by E A Hooper

  Bathos tilted his head in curiosity. “Oh my, you creatures really do buy into the idea that you can do anything if you just believe hard enough. That’s kind of adorable.”

  “I don’t mean it like that. I just mean it’s either possible or not possible. You said negative energy spells shouldn’t be possible at all—and yet look at what I’ve accomplished.”

  “Hmm,” Bathos replied. “Walk with me.”

  The goat monster stepped toward the end of the room, and the wall opened into a hall that seemed to stretch through space itself. Passages and rooms with windows appeared and disappeared as they walked. Vincent briefly saw a window that showed Ezra fighting through an army of devils, but then the frame zipped down the passage and out of sight.

  “Do you know what I am?” Bathos asked, “and please don’t use ‘Elder God’ as your answer.”

  Vincent struggled to think of an answer. “A really strong monster?”

  The goat sighed. “I am a conscious, artificial entity. You already know that NPCs are based on humans, but have you thought about what I’m based on?”

  “Nothing, I guess?”

  “That’s right. ARKUS designed Euclid to imitate human intelligence. Then it designed me to see if it could make a non-human intelligence. ARKUS gave me life, but it also gave me a will of my own. This world is my body. I can move and shape it as I please, just as you move and shape frequencies to your will. This game was designed that way. Everything is molded by willpower. You even move your game avatar through will. You’re not actually flailing your arms around like the antique VR games from your younger days.”

  “Yeah, that’s true. I assume you’re going somewhere with this?”

  “ARKUS shaped the World-Tree to its will. But with each human that entered the world, the game has slowly changed. There are hundreds of millions of players bending this world to their desires. Their frequencies are so strong that I could feel them touch my world before any human ever set foot here. ARKUS designed this as a world where willpower is the source of all other power. ARKUS’s only mistake is that I don’t think it ever considered the possibility that human will might surpass its own. That’s the only way I can make sense of your void spells. It’s not a thing of reason—it’s a thing of willpower and ambition. It’s almost like you little animals are frying this game from the inside out.”

  “And what happens if I succeed?” Vincent asked. “In ‘frying out’ the game? What happens to you? To the NPCs? To the fake version of my wife?”

  “We’re all part of ARKUS—anything that has any semblance of intelligence in this game. It’s like it splintered parts of itself to make us. That’s the only way ARKUS could run so many intelligent subroutines at once. If you manage to crash ARKUS with your power, then we would still exist as part of it. I can’t claim to know what will happen when it reboots, though. Will it be angry at any of us that assist you? Will it understand our reasoning because we’re part of it? Would ARKUS punish parts of itself for rebelling against the whole? I honestly don’t know. I just know that before you humans arrived, things were good, and we were free. My hope is that once you’ve left this world behind, it will be ours once more.”

  Vincent watched another window fly past. That time he saw Devon alone and hurt, fending off swarms of nightmarish creatures. He didn’t look like he would survive much longer.

  “Why are you doing this to us?” Vincent asked, watching the window disappear down the hall. “To me, it sounds like you agree with Euclid.”

  Bathos bleated and laughed. “Oh, silly creature. It’s because I actually enjoy it. It was so funny watching Zhang hang himself with his own entrails. Oh, and you should’ve seen Devon cry when he thought Xan had been skinned and tortured. Don’t worry, she got away—that was just an illusion.”

  “That’s sick,” Vincent said, beginning to grow angry. “How could an intelligent creature enjoy that?”

  “Oh, Vince, you’re forgetting what I told you. I wasn’t designed to imitate human intelligence. I am a monster, through and through. I’m literally programmed to enjoy your suffering. ARKUS even let me design some of the monsters you’ve found on Dead-Worlds. The devils were my favorite creation, however. Oh, I was so proud when they brought ruin to the first NPC cities. I never wanted those wars to end, but ARKUS had to relocate them before your people arrived. The whole World-Tree had to be fine-tuned for your people.”

  Bathos paused to growl. “You ruined everything for me.”

  Vincent’s muscles tensed, and he mentally prepared himself for a fight.

  The goat bleated in response. “Did you think that was some kind of villainous line before I attacked? You humans… you really are such simple creatures.”

  “Are you making a deal or not?” Vincent demanded. After weeks in the waiting room, he had finally started to lose his patience.

  “You sure you want to make a deal with me of all monsters? I literally made the devils, and Izrid is my most accomplished creation. It’s almost like you foolish creatures never learn from your past mistakes.”

  “Fine, then,” Vincent said. “I told Euclid I’d try to talk to you. You clearly don’t give a damn about escaping this instance and regaining your freedom. I’ll just break your will and be done with you. I don’t care how long it takes.”

  “Calm yourself, please. I never said I wouldn’t make a deal. I know you stupid animals will keep running circles around my world until you break me down. It’s far more beneficial for us to strike a deal—I just wanted to have a little fun first.”

  “You had your fun.”

  “Hmm, give me a minute to work on a contract.” Bathos poked around the air at screens invisible to Vincent.

  “No, you can piggyback on Euclid’s contract.”

  “It’s so barebones. I need to throw in some conditions.”

  “Then I won’t make a deal. You either agree to the same contract, or we do this the difficult way. I’m not giving you any chance to put in loopholes. Euclid’s contract will keep you in line until we escape.”

  “Oh, come on. How about a small loophole? Just let me have a bit of fun with the lower worlds.”

  Vincent shook his head. He brought up the quest contract for World-Tree’s End and held out his hand. “Take it or leave it.”

  Bathos snorted, but he still shook Vincent’s hand.

  Quest Update: World-Tree’s End (NPC Quest) – Bathos has agreed to Euclid’s contract. If you free him, he and his minions won’t bother any human players until you’ve completed your mission.

  “Can I kill you now?” Vincent asked.

  “Your friends have been wearing down my will the last few weeks, and you did a number on me standing your ground with the contract. However, I’ll take you to my real weakness: my art studio. You burn a few of my favorite paintings, and my Will Points will melt away. Just stay away from the ones of Lucas the Chosen Lord—those are my favorites.” Bathos sighed. “I really miss watching him. He was the only human worth a damn.”

  Chapter 25

  After trashing a few dozen of Bathos’s paintings out of thousands in the massive art studio, the Elder God shattered into pieces. That world melted away, and Vincent found himself and his party members standing on the Jump Gate. He waved away the prompt that informed him of Bathos’s Blessing and that some of his stats had leveled up, and he instead turned his focus to his raggedy-looking allies.

  Ezra sighed, unequipping his blood-soaked blade. River and Athena crashed to the ground, finally getting a moment’s rest. Everyone appeared shell-shocked from whatever horrors Bathos had set them against, and Devon got teary-eyed when he saw Xan.

  “You’re okay?” the young man asked, hugging Xan.

  “Y-yeah, what about you?” she replied. “I thought you got dragged off and tortured.”

  “Bathos was just screwing with all of you,” Vincent explained. “Most of what you saw there was fake.”

  “You finally got that meeting with him?” Ryker asked.

>   “Yeah, if you want to call it that,” Vincent said, not caring to explain in detail. “He agreed to the same pact as Euclid, so that’s another Elder God on our side. I guess I’ll shoot Zhang a message that we’re back, and then we’ll try Chloris.”

  “I already messaged him,” Ryker said. “He’ll be here in a minute.”

  Vincent nodded, then looked around at his exhausted team. “Actually, maybe we should take a few days to rest. I know that world was tough on you all.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Ezra replied, tapping the Fast Injector fashioned to his neck. “With those endless potions I got from Archie, I don’t ever need to stop and rest.”

  River jumped to her feet. “I don’t need rest either. Just let me grab some stuff from daiglass storage first.”

  “Same,” Quinn said.

  Vincent watched his teammates leave the Jump Gate to refill their low inventory before returning one by one. “None of you need a break?” he asked.

  “Vince, you know better than anyone how this team of yours works,” Fynn said as he rejoined them on the Jump Gate. “You think I would’ve joined if it were any other way?”

  They all turned when they heard the sounds of Ice Jets as Zhang swooped down and landed on the platform. “We’re going to Chloris, right?”

  “Yep,” Vincent replied, readying his Jump Crystals. “Hopefully she’ll be a little more reasonable than Bathos.”

  They activated their crystals, and the world shifted around them in a flash of light. Vincent watched a new world form, although it appeared more like a twisted, giant knot of branches than a planet. Despite that, it might’ve been the largest of the Elder God’s worlds, which only made the green titan sitting in the distance more intimidating. Chloris had a womanly figure, and she arched her back as if feeling the team’s presence.

  “I guess we should go talk to her,” Vincent said.

  A mouth appeared across the titan’s face, and she opened it wide. Seconds later, a tremendous gust of air roared across the landscape, almost knocking several of the players off their feet. Then the titan charged.

  “Does she not know about our deal with Euclid?” Vincent questioned.

  “She’s never acted this aggressive before,” Xan said. “Normally she waits until we disturb her.”

  The titan crossed the landscape quickly, kicking up whirlwinds in her wake. Another roar echoed over the hills and valleys made by twists in the World-Tree, and the team steadied themselves through the shockwave as they equipped weapons and armor.

  “We might have a problem,” Xan said, holding her hands out with a dismayed expression. “I can’t connect to the world magic here—she’s disrupting my power. I don’t even think I’ll be able to use World Fountain.”

  “That means I won’t be able to use Celestial End, either,” Ezra noted.

  “We don’t need any attacks like that,” Vincent said. “We just need to get her to listen.”

  “She’s coming in fast,” Quinn said. “Let’s slow her down with Mana Missiles.”

  All the players but Vincent and Ezra cast Mana Missile. The green titan neared them, blocking out their view of the sky, and then their attacks struck. Explosions spread across her legs and waist, slowing her to a stop.

  Vincent cast Zero Field and flew into the sky. He saw another bombardment of Mana Missiles strike the green titan, which bought him time to move near her head. “Listen to me!” he shouted. “I just want to talk to you!”

  A mountain of leaves—her right arm—reached up and snatched him from the sky. Darkness enveloped Vincent, and he felt a tremendous weight around him. It might have crushed him to death without his Density Shield, but he withstood it and used Zero Field to create a bubble around himself. He pushed the leaves away, and then burned a hole through the titan’s hand with Voidfire. Vincent flew through the opening before it could close, then raced toward the Elder God’s face as she screamed out another shockwave.

  “Please, listen!” Vincent screamed, but then he felt himself growing weak. “Just—just listen for a moment. What the hell?”

  When he looked down at himself, Vincent saw spores clinging to his body. He remembered Devon telling him about Chloris’s life-draining spores, and he used Zero Field to rip them away before they drained all of his power. The extra mana in Silpher’s Coat kept him in the air as he tried to use a potion with his Fast Injector, but the titan swatted him away before he could finish.

  Vincent slowed his momentum with Zero Field before crashing into a valley about a quarter mile from the titan. He injected a few potions, then used the Power Capsule he’d gotten from one of the bosses Ezra had been controlling. The once-a-day item boosted his Strength, Agility, and Vitaly by fifty levels for thirty minutes—he figured he would need it if the Elder Goddess kept slapping him around.

  Thunderous whirlwinds, life-draining spores, and glowing leaves pounded Vincent’s teammates as he flew back, but they seemed to be holding off the attacks. He equipped Heliostorm, aimed the hammer at the titan, and struck her in the neck with Greater Voidfire. The black flames burned through an ocean of leaves, chewed through her neck, and brought her full attention to him.

  “I said listen!” Vincent screamed, pointing the half-melted remains of his hammer at her. He injected an ultra-elixir into his neck, then readied himself for another Greater Voidfire if needed. “Talk to me, or I’ll burn you to the ground.”

  A ripple surged across the titan, and her leaves rustled from her head down to her toes.

  Chloris the Nature Titan does not trust your words. Humans have brought her and her children only pain and suffering.

  “We’re just trying to escape the World-Tree,” Vincent explained. “There’s no reason for us to fight.”

  The leaves shook with anger.

  Chloris doesn’t believe you. You have trespassed into territories that belong to her children and slain them. Her spriggans. Her trolls. Her moss-men. All creatures of nature are her children, and your people slaughter them across thousands of worlds.

  “To be fair, most of them attack us first,” Vincent said, but then he shook his head. “Wait, I’m sorry, that doesn’t make it right. You need to understand, my people came to the World-Tree thinking this was a game. We didn’t know any of these creatures were intelligent. Most people wouldn’t harm something that they knew was truly self-aware.”

  The face of the leaf titan split and opened, and the leaves unraveled, creating a bridge toward Vincent. A beautiful, green-skinned woman with long hair stepped from the titan’s head and out onto the bridge. Vincent relaxed, thinking he might’ve gotten through to her, but then he noticed the anger on her face.

  “You lie,” she spat, her voice echoing for miles. “For years, your friends tortured my first creation—my most beloved daughter!”

  Vincent paused to think. “Are you talking about the queen of the moss-men?”

  “You know what they did to her,” Chloris growled. “Yet you call them your allies. How could I ever trust your kind after that?”

  “You don’t have to trust us,” Vincent said. “If you help us, you can get rid of my people. What they did to your daughter was wrong, but they’re desperate to escape the World-Tree.”

  “Evil born from desperation is still evil,” Chloris replied, thorns growing from her skin as she talked.

  >Fynn: Vincent, everything she’s saying is echoing down here. I know she’s talking about what I did. Fly me up there with Zero Field and let me speak with her.

  >Vincent: I don’t know if that’s a good idea. You’re probably the last person she wants to talk to.

  “I hear your voices ringing in my ear,” Chloris said, her eyes turning black as if miasma filled her blood. “If that monster has something to say to me, he can tell me directly.”

  The titan reached down, plucked Fynn off the ground, and lifted him to the leaf bridge. Tightly packed leaves and vines encased the Wolf Lord, but he didn’t struggle at all.

  Black toxins dripped do
wn Chloris’s body as her eyes fell on Fynn. “So what do you have to say? Why don’t you start by confessing your sins?”

  “Where would I even begin?” Fynn said. “I’ve wronged damn near everyone in this game at some point or another. I worked as an assassin, cheated countless players with bad contracts, and all that was before I helped Lucas, the psycho moderator. I’ve tortured and hurt players and monsters alike.”

  “All for your own gain,” Chloris spat.

  “No, not for any personal gain,” Fynn countered. “You think I give a damn about getting rich in this game? Or that I’m just trying to win? No. Everything I’ve done since the update started was for a singular goal: to get back home to my son. I don’t care about anything or anyone else. So yeah, I tortured your daughter. Guess what? If Vincent’s plan falls through, I’ll go right back to torturing her, and there’s nothing you can do about it while you’re confined to this instance. You’d best agree to his deal, because that’s the only way you’re getting rid of me anytime soon.”

  “How dare you,” Chloris growled, her leaves tightening around Fynn until they almost crushed him.

  “Do it, kill me,” Fynn groaned. “Send me back to my spawn point so I can go after your daughter again. The only thing stopping me is Vincent, and the only way your children will ever be safe from me is if his plan succeeds.”

  The leaves around Fynn slowly loosened their grip, and Vincent saw a shudder through the leaf titan. When he True Scanned Chloris, he saw she’d lost most of her Will Points.

  “If you make a deal with me, I’ll make sure no one hurts your daughter,” Vincent told Chloris. “I’ll have my people gone from the World-Tree in a hundred thirty years.”

  Fynn glanced at him, and Vincent realized he probably shouldn’t have been so exact since no one knew about his deal with Jim.

  Black tears dripped down Chloris’s face. “I can’t trust you. How could I ever trust you—any of you—after seeing what he did to my child?”