by Seth Ring
“Don’t mention it.” As happy as Thorn was to see Elder Havva’s advancement and recovery, he was still furious about the idea of Gelish’s betrayal. “Tell me, what happened with Gelish and Mayari?”
“It is a long story, my lord.” With a deep sigh, Elder Havva’s shoulders slumped.
“He probably has not gone far, so we can still catch him if we hurry.”
Elder Havva held up his hand, stopping Thorn from striding out of the throne room.
“A few more minutes will not matter, my lord. We know where he will go.” With another sigh, Elder Havva looked out past the balcony into the forest that stretched down the valley. “He has joined the Cursed in her quest to rewrite the fate of the Wolfkin in her own image.”
“It sounds like you have much to tell me, Elder. Come.” Gesturing for him to follow, Thorn led Elder Havva and Corvo into his office.
Once everyone was seated, Elder Havva squared his shoulders and began to speak.
“You are familiar with the story of Davyos, correct? Well, there was another player in that dark moment. There was a time when the Wolfkin and the Children of the Moon, those large wolves who have encroached on the valley, walked together under Hati’s light. Mayari was the high priestess of Hati, a beautiful, gentle young woman. Sadly, her heart was corrupted by the evil whispers of Karrandras and she in turn led Davyos astray, twisting him into the monster that he became.
“Having passed beyond a mortal state, Mayari sought to control the Wolfkin and the Children of the Moon. It was only through the courage and skill of the Greymane that Mayari was imprisoned and the Wolfkin were saved from her claws. But due to Davyos’ betrayal, the Greymane was killed and Davyos took his position. The Children of the Moon were able to hide Mayari’s prison from Davyos, and he eventually left the valley.
“Now, however, the Cursed has returned, and her deceitful whispers have spread among the disciples of the temple. I heard rumblings of it, but when I went to speak to those affected, Gelish ambushed me and fled with many of his brothers and sisters. It is my deepest shame that I was not able to see the truth sooner. I believed that the cleansing power of Hati had forever sealed the corruption in Gelish’s heart, but I was simply deluding myself.”
“Don’t blame yourself, Elder. A person’s decisions are their own. Gelish has chosen to embrace his ambition and selfishness rather than put it aside, and the consequences of that choice are his to bear.”
A small figure landed on the windowsill of the office and flipped into the room. Dusting off her hands, Peregrine stood up and walked over to Thorn’s desk, lifting herself up and sitting on it.
“Find something?” Thorn asked, her serious expression making his heart fall.
“Yeah, or rather, a lot of things. That Gelish guy has gathered a lot of disciples who are infected with corruption. They’ve made their camp around a broken temple that just appeared on the edge of the valley where the giant wolves used to be. The wolves have retreated into the mountains. Small bands of corrupted disciples have started to push out into the valley and attack players, killing without mercy.”
“Well, that isn’t good.” Grimacing, the furrows on Corvo’s forehead deepened.
“You think?” Peregrine rolled her eyes at Corvo’s words. “They are targeting the work camps and hunters nearby. Thankfully there are not many casualties so far, but it is about to get really bad. While we were up there we took a turn around the valley. It looks like there are groups of disciples getting ready to assault all the major resource points in the valley.”
Furious, Thorn slammed his hand on his desk, causing it to shatter under the force of his blow. Startled, Peregrine fluttered as if picked up by a breeze and landed lightly on one of the nearby chairs. Turning his eyes toward Corvo, Thorn was about to speak when a notification sounded, stealing the words from his mouth.
*ding*
Quest: An Ancient Priestess - Updated
Led to a ruined temple by a giant wolf, you have discovered a woman in white who claims to be the high priestess of Hati. She appears to be trapped in a magical prison.
Mayari has asked you to free her while Mani, the matron of the Children of the Moon, has asked you to slay Mayari after freeing her. To free Mayari you must unlock the magical circle by entering it with the Ring of the Wolf Lord.
While you were pondering over the best course to take, Mayari has silently enlisted the support of Gelish, former head disciple of the Temple of the Moon and a large number of Wolfkin disciples. After growing in secret, the corrupted disciples have finally rebelled, beginning to raid the valley and kill those who do not pledge their loyalty to Mayari.
Every day that Mayari remains alive, and for every player that is killed, the number of corrupted disciples will increase.
As a special reward, Mani, the matron of the Children of the Moon, has agreed to tell you what she knows about the Titan race.
Reward: Children of the Moon, High Priestess of Hati, Information about Titans
The anger in Thorn drained away as he read over the updated quest. Part of his anger had been toward Corvo for letting a situation like this develop under his nose, but based on the updated quest description, there was likely nothing that Corvo could have done to discover the malignancy. With a heavy sigh, Thorn shared the quest with Corvo and Peregrine.
“Oh, I was wrong.” Despite Corvo’s tone retaining some of its customary levity, Thorn could tell that the Elf was completely serious. “This isn’t bad, it's awful. Thorn, I don’t care what else you are planning, but it has to take a back seat. This is the new number one priority. If we don’t clean this up really fast we’re going to be in a lot of trouble.”
“It looks like the best option for us is to go wipe out Mayari.” Tapping the armrest of his chair, Thorn’s mind spun as he considered options.
“I’m afraid that isn’t going to be enough. Yes, we need to take down Mayari, but the corrupted disciples are a bigger threat.”
“Explain yourself, please.”
“Sure. This wouldn’t matter as much if it was just a raid, or if the corrupted disciples were targeting you. But from what Peregrine said, they are targeting normal players and the valley’s resources. Most players are not going to survive roving bands of corrupted disciples, especially if Elder Havva’s wounds are anything to judge by.”
It took a moment for Thorn’s mind to catch up to what Corvo was referencing, but when he did, his face fell.
“You mean the corruption?”
“Yes. It is a curse that prevents healing. If it nearly killed Elder Havva, it will absolutely wreck normal players. And the situation will only snowball since every kill means another corrupted disciple. It’s a zombie outbreak.”
“It’s not that bad is it?” Thorn was sweating under the serious stares that were leveled at him.
“It’s worse.” This time it was Peregrine that spoke. “Thorn, do you know how many people who are playing Nova Terra are doing it just for fun? Less than ten percent. The rest are doing it to make a living. They quest or hunt or work for gold. Gold that becomes credits. Credits that feed and house them in the real world. Chaos in the valley is chaos in their lives. If they are getting hunted by corrupted disciples they will not be able to hunt or work or quest in the valley. Remove their ability to work and they start missing meals.
“Corvo is right, this should be treated like a zombie outbreak. And like a zombie outbreak, it has the potential to sweep through the valley at an ever quicker pace if not controlled. If we are not careful, it could snowball quickly. Even more importantly, most people’s spawn point is set to one of the towns in the valley. If they fall, then anyone who dies will be continuously respawned there, only to be surrounded by corrupted disciples.”
Standing up, Corvo began pacing as he took over the thread of conversation from Peregrine.
“Exactly. We’re talking about the potential for the better part of a million players all trapped in the valley. Not only would that completely destr
oy any sort of credibility that Nova Luna has, it would ruin the Wolfkin as well. The negative effects are tremendous, and the positives are nearly non-existent. There are a lot of people who are relying on us to keep this valley, this ecosystem, going.”
Seeing how rattled Thorn looked, Corvo ran his hand through his hair and sighed. Walking over to the ruined desk, he and Peregrine stood next to each other, looking at Thorn.
“Look, Thorn, I know it is a lot of pressure. But it is really important that you understand this. It isn’t just the professional players who are making a living through this game. Very few people can live a life that is not intricately tied to Nova Terra. Even those who don’t play Nova Terra are either plugged into Fantasia, or they work in an industry that serves the game. The vast majority of players, of people, are so interconnected with this world that it might as well be the real one.
“And because people treat this world as the real one, they are going to bet on the players and guilds who are going to be able to help them. You are one of those players, and Nova Luna is one of those guilds. Guess what I did not get a chance to mention in our conversation earlier? I think that the last time we talked we had almost six million applications to Nova Luna that we were waiting to process. That number has tripled in the three weeks you have been gone. Even if three quarters of them don’t meet our requirements that would make us the largest guild in the game. People are flocking to the valley in droves.
“While we probably will not take more than a few thousand of the people who applied to join the guild, we have also had almost a thousand guilds apply to become subordinate guilds so they can move into the valley. I know you have been having fun running around and doing quests, Thorn, but I think your mindset needs to change a bit. You set out to build something, and for whatever reason, it took off big. Way bigger than you probably realize.”
Silence fell over the room as Thorn tried to process what he had just heard. It had not been that long ago that he had walked into the valley, determined to carve out a place for himself in Nova Terra. The ripple from that had spread quickly and far beyond his control until he found himself plunging forward on a surging wave.
Taking a deep breath in, he held it as his eyes drifted across the valley to the ruins of the old Greymane Keep where all of this had started. Everything had been simple then, just beat the monster into the ground as soon as you saw it. Then everything started to grow and accelerate until he found himself unable to keep up.
So far he had managed by leaving the details to the guild’s managers while he did his best to deal with the quests that Nova Terra threw at him, but even then he felt like he was barely treading water. The idea that countless people were relying on him was a weight that was almost too much to bear.
Almost.
Breathing out, Thorn could feel the last bit of his childlike innocence vanishing into the air. There were only two paths that he could take. Either he continued to chase adventure, ignoring the valley and its inhabitants to focus on himself, or he committed to protecting them properly. While it would not be easy, the choice was simple. Standing, Thorn looked down at Corvo and the Peregrine, a grim smile on his lips.
“Come, we have a cult to crush.”
End
Afterword
I really appreciate the time you have spent with me in Nova Terra. I am working on Book Five right now and cannot wait to share it with you. Before I tell you how to get a peek at advanced chapters for Book Five, please spend a few moments and leave me a review. Reviews are so important to indie writers, like me. Knowing that you are out there, reading and thinking about Nova Terra, is what keeps me writing.
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Acknowledgments
A huge thank you to my friends and family who encouraged and supported me on this wonderful journey.
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