Collecting The Goddess (Chronicles Of KieraFreya Book 1)

by Michael Anderle

Chapter Thirty-Three

  New classes available!

  Now that you have reached the standard level for any adventurer who is ready to go from crawling to walking and test their mettle in the land of Obsidian, you have unlocked a number of classes to further improve your character and help you specialize and find your true path.

  NOTE: A class cannot be changed once selected.

  Class unlocked: Warrior

  You’ve proven yourself a deft hand with a blade, now take on new heights as you harness your strength, train yourself in combat, and fight at the front of every battle. Warriors will have the opportunity to join the royal guard or can sell themselves as hired protection, and are often highly revered in populated communities.

  Boons: The warrior class will gain you favor in cities, granting negotiation and charismatic benefits to your character. Warriors are among the first to receive new quests and benefit from discounts in local taverns.

  +10 strength, +10 endurance

  Class unlocked: Mage

  So, you’ve dabbled in the arts of the etheric. You’ve played with the mystical and the unexplained, now unlock the opportunity to shape the very fabric of reality. Mages have the ability to further specialize their magic across three subcategories: mystic, destructive, and restoration. However, mages are often seen as dark threats by those who do not understand the ways of the etheric. A word of caution: mages make enemies faster than most.

  Boons: The mage will be able to access further training from the Mystic Academy, and will find that a place will open among the magical guilds once inducted. Mages benefit from discounts in local apothecaries and stores that sell potions and ingredients.

  +10 intelligence, +10 etheric potential

  Class unlocked (unique): Berzerker

  Thanks to your determination to excel at being reckless, you have unlocked this unique class. Berzerkers gain many of the benefits of warriors but have a tendency to fly off the handle and charge into battle without conscious thought. Your visible class will be set to Warrior for public viewing since your Berzerker status is private.

  Because of this, you gain all the benefits of the warrior class. However, when the red mist descends, you will be unable to control your character for a limited amount of time. Anyone who witnesses your Berzerker status during this Red Rage will be made aware of your true class.

  Boons: Berzerkers gain the skill Final Stand when health is critical, granting a sudden surge of strength and empowering players through a Red Rage. They are also viewed as more desirable to the opposite sex, holding influence over potential lovers due to their reputations as bad boys and bad girls.

  +15 strength, +10 endurance

  Class unlocked (unique): Battle Mage

  You’ve learned the basics of combat. You’ve gained the use of spells. You can’t decide which path to travel down. Well then, Battle Mage is for you.

  Battle Mages are dual wielders with the ability to manipulate destructive magic and combine this with the art of combat. Battle Mages are able to follow both the paths of the mage and the warrior, although they will be at a disadvantage across both disciplines, seen as less than their pure counterparts. They also suffer from a lack of discounts at both taverns and apothecary stores.

  Boons: Battle Mages are an experimental class who aren’t afraid to try new combinations of magic and weaponry. They also benefit from increased intelligence and are able to unlock unique and hidden spells.

  +15% luck in experimental magicks.

  +15 intelligence, +10 etheric potential

  Class unlocked: Cleric

  You have been touched by the hands of the gods, now devote your life to their purpose and increase their favor among the mortals.

  Clerics are highly revered among all spheres, able to take up residence in cities and towns for free as well as benefitting from increased boosts to the study of restorative magic. As a Cleric, you will be trusted among folks of Obsidian without question, and be able to learn the secrets of the world around you.

  Boons: Increased trust among all folk, boosts to restorative magic, able to talk to gods through prayer.

  +15 etheric potential, +5 intelligence

  Chloe chewed her cheek as she read through the class options again. And again. Her attention finally distracted when Tag asked her, “Would you like to do the honors?”

  Chloe shook her head, sending away the class information. Her mind was full of the possibilities of what was now available to her. She wanted to select a class that would most benefit her, but now wasn’t the time. From the sound of it, a person’s class choice was a big decision, and the last thing that Chloe wanted to do was rush into something so permanent.

  Chloe chuckled, reminding herself of how she had sounded the day she had turned 18 and agreed to legally be hired by her mother’s and father’s company.

  “I couldn’t,” she said, seeing Tag pointing to the mage’s corpse. “The victory is ours. We should all do it.”

  They nodded, Gideon still a little woozy on his feet. As one, they crouched and touched the mage’s body, activating the looting process. His skin melted into ash that flew into the air, leaving behind the mage’s clothes, a selection of coins, and two small scrolls tied in the center with red ribbon.

  “6 copper and 5 silver,” Tag tallied, scooping up the coins and attempting some mental arithmetic. “Divided by four, that’s...um, okay, so carry the one. One each, and that’s...two left over. Don’t know how many coppers are in silver in this game yet, so let’s call that...um…”

  Ben snatched the coins out of the dwarf’s hand and, with a chuckle, distributed one silver to everyone, and one copper. The remaining two copper and one silver he handed back to Tag. “Here. For your hard work.”

  Tag grinned. “Showoff. Just because my intelligence is shit in this game…”

  “Right,” Ben replied. “Only in this game.”

  Chloe inspected the scrolls, untying the ribbons and gasping as she perused the text.

  Scroll item: Spell of Resurrection

  New spell acquired: Resurrection (Lv 1)

  There are a great many forces at work in this realm. Though many choose to pursue the path of the light, magic can also be found in the path of the darkness. While life is sought and clung to with iron claws, death is the inevitability that comes to all.

  Or so it would seem.

  Summon the powers of this spell to bring the dead back to life. Higher tiers of this spell will allow control of the dark forces of the dead, while lower tiers will allow the resurrection of fallen comrades.

  A note of warning: there are those within the realm of Obsidian who frown upon the dark arts. Be wary of your surroundings before toying with the gods of darkness and snatching away their prizes.

  Requirements: 100% of player’s MP

  (NOTE: The Spell of Resurrection can only be cast once within a 48-hour period. Players must be a minimum of level 10 with a specialization as a magic user in order to cast this spell.)

  “What is it?” Gideon asked, looking over Chloe’s shoulder and reading the scroll.

  “Woah,” he exclaimed. “That’s pretty sweet.”

  “You’ve acquired it too?” Chloe asked.

  Gideon nodded.

  “What? What is it?” Tag said, shoving Ben aside and hopping up and down to try to read the scroll in Chloe’s hands.

  Chloe lowered the paper and presented it to Tag. Ben read it too, and both their mouths dropped open.

  “Sounds like some dark magic there,” Ben said. “How does it work, though? Are there any words or incantations you need to know to summon the power?”

  Gideon and Chloe looked at each other.

  “No? Didn’t you just get the notification saying that you’d just acquired a new spell?”

  Tag’s eyes went hazy for a second as he perused his notifications. “Nope. Nothing.” Then, under his breath, “Friggin’ magic users.”

  Chloe smiled, wrapping up the scroll and replacing it where the
mage’s body had been. She unfolded the second scroll and read the text.

  Grinyada,

  It is with urgency that I burden you with this quest of mine. A disruption has occurred in the wilds of Obsidian, a disturber of the peace on a mission to claim what is by rights my treasure.

  Seek out the girl who has obtained the mythical bracers and bring her to ruin. Return with the bracers to my manor in Nauriel to receive your not insubstantial reward. My spies claim she was last sighted among the Oakston people, accompanied by three of the blessed. Remove them from the equation to ease your journey.

  But remember, don’t waste your time on their deaths. The blessed only return.

  Tohken.

  P.S. Tell no one of this request.

  “Holy…” Chloe said, not quite able to believe what she was reading. She showed the paper to Gideon and the others, who raised their eyebrows in unison as they made their way to the bottom of the message.

  “Oh,” Tag said.

  Gideon nodded. “I know.”

  “That is...awesome!” Tag bellowed, his voice reverberating around the cave.

  “What do you mean, ‘awesome?’” Chloe said in disbelief. “What’s awesome about this? Didn’t you read the paper? Someone is trying to kill me!”

  Ben nudged Tag. “Get this, the woman who has died more times than we can count on one hand is worried about death.”

  Chloe couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The note was there in her hand, the words written in ink to tell someone to hunt her down and kill her, and these guys were...laughing?

  “Look,” Ben said, placing an arm around Chloe’s shoulder. “This kind of thing happens all the time in these kinds of games. You piss someone off, they come after you. You show exceptional talent, someone gets jealous. All we’ve got to do is track down the guy who sent this note, and we’ll get a nice bit of a boost to our experience. If I were to guess, I bet there’s already a notification—”

  “Yep!” Tag exclaimed. “Right here: ‘A most bloody request.’”

  Chloe opened her notifications. Sure enough, there it was.

  Quest unlocked: A most bloody request

  Someone has it out for you. Find the sender of the death note in the land of Nauriel and discover what truly lies behind this request.

  Difficulty: 3/10

  Rewards: 2,000 exp

  Accept quest: Y/N

  Without hesitation, they each accepted the quest. Ben asked to re-read the note to look for clues.

  “Seems strange that someone would be out to get you just for a set of bracers,” he said. “They’re just regular armor, right?”

  Chloe felt her blood run cold. She hadn’t even thought of the implications of showing the others the scroll. She had only hoped they would throw some kind of light or clarity on the situation. If someone was out to get her, she needed help.

  Now, though, the spotlight was on her and her magical armor. She cast a glance at Gideon, who was staring at his feet.

  “I don’t know,” Chloe said with as genuine a sense of confusion as she could manage. “All I did was find these in a cave. They give me a nice bonus to my stats, but otherwise, I can’t work out what the problem would be.”

  Tag’s face lit up with excitement. “Oh, God! I love a good puzzle.” He rubbed his hands together. “Maybe there’s a hidden story behind them that we don’t know about?”

  “Maybe they belonged to a high-status family and got lost in an accident years ago, and now the long-lost heir is on a mission to reclaim them,” Ben chipped in.

  Chloe turned once more to Gideon, their eyes catching this time, unbeknownst to Tag and Ben as they continued imagining scenarios and trying to guess what this Tohken guy wanted with something that was otherwise quite unremarkable.

  They’re on to you, KieraFreya whispered in Chloe’s head as they retraced their steps, looting as many skeletons as they could while they passed back through the cave.

  No. They’re on to us, remember? We’re a team.

  KieraFreya sighed. Don’t remind me.

  Chloe let the others go ahead, trailing slightly as she tried to process everything she had just discovered—the classes, the spells, the letter—in her mind.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Rain pattered lightly against the window. Outside, the wind picked up, heralding the coming of a storm. In the buildings all around, people stayed in the comfort of their warm rooms, happy in their sheltered bubbles as the world whirled by outside.

  Mia stood against the window, arm leaning on the glass as condensation gathered and crept down her arm. They had warned of power cuts. Of surges and blackouts as the wind built and tore through the city. She glanced at Chloe, wondering how the emergency backup would fare. Chloe’s pod was the first of its kind; the others had been replicated and produced based on this model. Should something happen, would everything be all right?

  The door opened. Demetri grumbled as he entered, lowering his umbrella, his hair soaking wet.

  “Wouldn’t think you’d be so soggy with an umbrella,” Mia said blankly.

  Demetri shook his head, fine droplets of mist spraying around him. “Damn thing got stuck on the way out of the subway. Had to wrestle like mad to get it open. Kinda wish I hadn’t bothered. It made no difference.”

  Mia gave an empty laugh.

  Demetri removed his wet jacket, placed his umbrella in the sink to drain, and sat in his place in front of the TV screen. That was his normal routine, now. Ever since that night, he had watched Chloe like a hawk, drawn in by her adventures and making a permanent ass-print in Mia’s armchair.

  “How’s she doing?” Demetri asked.

  “Fine.”

  The display showed Chloe trailing down a mountain, her sword drawn as a pack of wolves came at the adventurers. Something large and feathered flew overheard, joining the fray. Demetri smiled when Chloe said something wildly inappropriate as the soaring beast dived at her, a censoring beep ringing out from the speakers.

  Mia watched Demetri with a morbid kind of fascination. Ever since that morning, he had changed around her. Had become different. Not cold, exactly, but more closed off. Clinical. The psychologist she was sure his patients would see.

  There had been no more kissing.

  There had been no more lovemaking.

  There had been only Chloe and her adventures as they sat side-by-side in silence, waiting until night came to sleep and waking up early to watch some more. Demetri disappeared to his sessions and returned when the city fell dark.

  Mia wondered, if he had the chance, would he send an assistant in his place to check on Chloe? That was surely all that he was here for now, right?

  She shook the thought away. The doc cared about Chloe more than he probably should. She was his charge and he was her keeper, protecting her from anything that might go wrong while she was locked in her VR world.

  Mia left the window, finding her seat beside Demetri as she unscrewed the lid of a bottle of Coke long since gone flat. She took a swig and tried to catch Demetri’s eye. When he ignored her, she said, “Demetri, we need to talk.”

  Demetri’s lips tightened and his brow went stern. He raised his own flat drink and took a sip. “Now you want to talk?”

  It seemed strange to Mia that Demetri would be so cold at this moment. So calculating. Particularly when things had been great not long before. Then again, Demetri was only human. Could he be faulted for not following his own advice in circumstances such as these?

  “I…” Mia began, offended by the weakness of her voice and mad at him for making her feel this way.

  “You what?”

  “I’m sorry,” Mia managed at last.

  The words hung like a vapor cloud around them. The glare from the TV was bright in the darkened room, the only thing that flickered or showed any kind of movement.

  “Fine,” Demetri said, giving Mia the curtest of nods and returning to the TV.

  Mia’s nostrils flared as she felt those stupid fee
lings rise. That strange concoction of everything she had avoided since moving to the heart of the big city and pursuing this career. The feelings she had bottled inside her after reuniting with Demetri after all these years, but which came springing out into the open anyway. Those feelings…

  Those damn feelings.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, turning sharply now. Commanding his attention. “I’m sorry, okay? I never meant to not tell you that Chloe died and we spoke. I never meant to keep it a secret from you. I know how much you’ve got invested in this operation, so I understand why you’d be pissed, okay? If you want to hate me, then hate me. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t who I am.”

  She grabbed his hand with both of hers, and her heart sank as he withdrew it and placed it on his lap.

  “Then why did you do it?” Demetri said. “Why did you do it, and why did you lie about it?”

  Mia bit her lip, the question hitting her with a physical force. She had no idea why; that was the truth. When Demetri had questioned her in the morning, rolling over with a stony grimace, why had she lied? Moreover, why had she held onto the lie until they were shouting at each other? Until they were red in the face and unable to breathe?

  The answer was simple. It was just an answer she didn’t want to admit. Couldn’t admit.

  Had to admit.

  Mia closed her eyes as she said the words, fighting off the hot tears that collected in the corners.

  “Because...because I like you, okay?”

  Demetri froze, his stern expression melting like icicles on a hot day.

  “That’s your excuse? You ‘like’ me?”

  Mia rolled her eyes. He had her on the fence. She had to give him more, and when she started, it just flooded out of her. “No. I mean, I like-like you. Like, a lot. And it’s just… This whole thing is new to me. I don’t do this. I don’t fall for guys or think about them all the time or let their presence cloud my work. I don’t play hooky or get distracted from the things I love. I work in a male-dominated profession, and I’ve never once let a guy distract me from what I was focused on.”

  Mia stared straight into Demetri’s eyes. “And then I met you.”