by Seth Ring
The carriage trembled as it flew, the sheer surprise of the situation making several the chasing players forget to dodge. With a tremendous crash, the carriage came back down to earth, crushing four of them. Amid the splintered debris anguished screams sounded from those under the carriage’s broken bulk.
Not even bothering to look at his handiwork, Thorn resumed his dash toward the leader, whose face was white as a sheet. As he charged, Thorn felt the bite of an arrow in his shoulder. Gritting his teeth to ignore the sting, Thorn focused his attention on getting to the red-armored leader. Another scarlet bolt lanced forward, this time hitting Thorn in his side, cutting through his armor and leaving a massive smoldering wound along his ribs.
“Two more steps.” Thorn thought, narrowing his focus even further. Readying his weapon, Thorn crossed the last twenty feet in two of his massive strides. Smashing down with all the force he could muster, Thorn brought his iron-bound tetsubo down on the shifting red magical shield.
Horrified, his target broke into a hurried mumble. A deep stream of red mist poured from his mouth, reinforcing the shield. With a crack that shook the ground, the tetsubo landed on the shield, causing a massive amount of the mist to dissipate but not managing to get through. Seeing the thin layer of mist still swirling in front of him, Thorn tossed his weapon into his inventory and reached out his massive clawed hands, grabbing the bubble of mist and squeezing it with all his might.
With an ominous groan, the shield warped as Thorn’s claws pushed into it. The shield thinned at a visible rate, the stream of mist pouring from the leader’s mouth unable to reinforce it quickly enough. Just as the silver claws were about to pierce through, Thorn felt a stinging pain. The other players had caught up, burying their blades in Thorn’s broad back. Ignoring his dimming world, Thorn gritted his teeth and redoubled his efforts, pouring all his strength into breaking the shield.
With an ear-rending crack, the mist shield shattered into nothingness, causing the leader to stagger in pain as the feedback hit him. Thorn lashed out, his claws connecting with the leader’s chest. Yet just as he made contact the red-armored woman landed a strike to his neck, causing the strength to drain from his hands. Still, the weight of the blow could not be stopped and as Thorn fell to the ground, he could feel his claws ripping a furrow through the front of the leader’s red armor.
Still trying to fight off the encroaching darkness, Thorn grinned. This was the first time he had used any of his new abilities and despite not managing to get his main target, he was quite pleased.
“We’ll try this again another time.” Thorn’s deep voice sent chills down the leader’s spine.
Hearing Thorn’s defiant statement, Telis readied her scimitar for another strike, only for Thorn to turn into motes of light, drifting off to the ether.
Scrambling to his feet, white-faced and shaking, the leader looked around and let out a string of obscenities. Seven of his eleven subordinates were dead, and he was badly wounded. The carriage lay in shambles, the wheels and walls splintered beyond repair. In the distance, he could hear the shouts of the town guards on their way to the mine.
“Koral, get the chests, we’re leaving,” he snarled. Who was that monster? And why had he shown up tonight?
“Um, boss?” The red-armored warrior looked up from where he had been searching through the wreckage of the carriage, his voice panicked. “They’re gone.”
“What!” The leader screamed, the veins on his neck popping out.
A hundred feet away Oberlin smiled at the sound, patting his belt.
As the world faded to black, Thorn found himself standing in the now familiar login area. As before, Myst stood in front of him holding her tablet.
“Hello, Myst,” Thorn greeted her warmly. “It is nice to see you again.”
“Hello, traveler. You seem quite cheerful for having just experienced your first death. Would you like to talk about it?”
“Haha, I guess I am. I knew pretty much right away that I would not be making it out of that situation alive. There were twelve of them after all. But I think I did pretty well.”
“You seem to have adapted to Nova Terra’s light-hearted treatment of death quickly. Why do you think that is?” Myst asked, jotting something down on her device.
“That is a great question, Myst.” Thorn paused and watched for a reaction. Faced with Myst’s impassive face he sighed and continued. “I had a good, long think about it. And, ultimately it seemed a bit silly to care too much about it. Since death is impermanent, why not use it to your advantage?”
“What do you mean by ‘use it to your advantage’?”
“Think about it. If the worst that is going to happen is that I’ll have to spend twenty-four hours in Fantasia, then it is easy to weigh death against my objective. In this case, it was worth it to try my hand at killing the leader of my opponents. While I wasn’t successful, I learned about my abilities and I think that next time I will do better. Trading that knowledge for a day of rest seems like a pretty good deal to me.”
“You traded your death for understanding?”
“It would be more accurate to say I traded a time-out for understanding. After all, I’m not dead, am I?” Thorn smiled.
“Thank you for answering my questions, traveler. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, you will no longer meet me upon death. You will find the entrance to Fantasia behind you. Please enjoy your stay,” Myst finished writing on her pad, giving Thorn an appraising look. With a small nod, her figure faded into the air, leaving Thorn alone.
The door to Fantasia was an oversized affair, just right for Thorn. “Nice of them to take my height into consideration,” Thorn thought as he walked through. As soon as his foot crossed the threshold, Thorn found himself in a futuristic city. He was joining a large crowd of others in exiting what looked at first glance to be a railway station.
Overhead levitating cars and buses zipped by, stopping on platforms to let their occupants head into the floating bullet trains. Around him, people rushed about their lives, not even sparing him a glance. At first, Thorn found it strange, until a dragon-headed individual brushed past him, jabbering away on his communications device while he tried to sip a scalding beverage.
A closer look showed that the people around him were of all races and shapes and sizes, having brought their in-game race with them into Fantasia. Walking to the side of the road, Thorn gingerly sat down on a wall. After being sure that it would hold his weight, Thorn opened his menu and called his aunt. Rather than wander around Fantasia as he had when he first entered Nova Terra, he was looking forward to saying hi.
“Xavier. How are you, hun?” Julia’s excited face popped up on the screen.
“I’m well. Have I called at a bad time?” Thorn asked, noticing the sheen of sweat on her face.
“No, no, this is great. I just finished my morning practice. Hold on one second.” Taking a towel, Julia wiped her face and her neck. “Ah, much better. So, what’s new? Did you complete your quest?”
“No, not yet.” Thorn shook his head. “I ran into some more people from Ragnarok and ended up dying. I’m in Fantasia now.”
“Oh, again? Are you sure you don’t want me to get the girls to pay them a visit?”
“Yeah, really. I want to take care of it myself,” Thorn’s heart burst with warmth at his aunt’s concern. “I was hoping to meet up with you if you are free.”
“Of course. Why don’t you meet me at our offices? I can show you around.”
Agreeing to meet up, Thorn pulled up the address that Julia sent him and walked over while looking around at the city. All the traffic on the ground was either foot traffic or small scooter-like devices while the levitating cars flitted around between the tall buildings above everyone. Since he had entered the city Thorn had seen almost nothing but skyscrapers, each uniquely designed.
After twenty minutes of walking, Thorn reached the center of the business district. Despite housing almost half of the world’s 11 billion
people, Fantasia did not seem overly crowded. Where the five and a half billion people who used the city were, Thorn was not quite sure. According to what he had read, the city of Fantasia was almost another game in and of itself.
Stopping, Thorn looked up. Rising over six hundred stories, the building in front of him was truly massive. At its base it took up four city blocks, dwarfing all the nearby buildings. A wide-open walkway took Thorn up to the huge glass entrance, exotic plants hanging from levitating planters. At the door stood uniformed greeters, welcoming the people streaming in off the street. As soon as Thorn stepped inside a familiar figure made its way over.
“Welcome to Fantasia, Master Xavier.” Henry, the head of Atlas’ security team bowed his head slightly to Thorn.
“Hello, Henry. It is nice to see you again.”
“Thank you, sir. If you’d come this way, we will take the private elevator up to see your aunt.”
Following Henry, Thorn could not stop looking around. The building was truly magnificent. A masterful neomodern structure, the smooth curves, and quirky edges blended peace and energy. Thorn had seen pictures and even video walkthroughs of the Atlas headquarters, but he had to admit that being here in person was completely different.
Standing comfortably in the elevator as it rapidly rose, Thorn could feel the care that his aunt gave him. One of the features of the massive buildings that sparked much attention when it had first been built was its scale. ‘Scaled for a giant’ some of the articles had said, unaware of how right they were.
“Xavier!” As soon as the doors to the elevator opened, Thorn’s aunt rushed in and gave him a big hug. “I’ve missed you.”
“Hi, Aunt Julia, I’ve missed you too.”
“Come on in, I want to introduce you to some of the girls.” Taking Thorn’s large hand, she pulled him out of the elevator. “We practice here when we are not in the game. The facilities are better. Our practice room is state of the art. Oh, that reminds me. Before you go, set your home to this location. This floor and the two above it is the private residences. I hope you don’t mind but I have been letting the girls use it since there are so many rooms.”
“Of course, I don’t mind. You can use it however you want. It is your home too.”
“I know, I just feel bad because it is your building and here I am making all the decisions about it.” Walking through a wide doorway, Julia let go of Thorn and pointed to a large staircase on the right. “Up that way is the living space. You’ll find your room in there. You can set that as your login point for Fantasia and use it to get back to the game when your lockout is up. Come this way though, I want to introduce you.”
Julia led Thorn into a spacious lounge with comfortable-looking sofas spaced around a round fireplace in the center of the room. Three women in their late twenties or early thirties were sprawled out on the couches chatting quietly. As soon as they spotted Julia coming in, they rose and came to greet her.
“Xavier, let me introduce you to Esmire, Bluefire, and Odele. They are the Society of Roses’ management staff. Esmire is our COO, Odele handles our PR, and Bluefire oversees combat and training. Girls, this is my nephew, Xavier. He just started playing a little while ago.”
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A few hours later Thorn lay comfortably on his bed for the first time since he entered Nova Terra. Relaxing on the mattress that could easily fit a family of five, he put his hands behind his head and stared up at the aquarium overhead. Countless exotic fish swam through the water above him, yet they failed to catch his attention as Thorn’s mind was drawn back to Nova Terra.
After spending less than a month of real time in the game, Thorn could easily see why this alternate world had become so important. He could hardly wait for the 24-hour lockout period to be over so he could dive back in.
But before he went back in, Thorn had something to do. With a deep breath, Thorn opened his panel and stared at his messages. About to open the message from Mina, Thorn paused and looked around. His room was quiet and empty. “Hmm, must just be my imagination,” thought Thorn. The last few times he had been about to open the message something had interrupted him, making Thorn wonder if the game did not want him to read it.
As Thorn had played Nova Terra, everything seemed to fall into place, allowing him to progress from one adventure to the next. Yet, despite the apparent randomness of everything that had happened to him, Thorn wondered if there was a guiding hand behind it. Fortifying himself, Thorn pressed the button.
Dear Thorn,
First, and most importantly, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for betraying you. I am sorry for trying to kill you. I am sorry for lying to you. I was pressured into doing it by someone else, but at the end of the day, I did it. I am so sorry.
I know I don’t deserve forgiveness for betraying you, but I hope you would be willing to give me a chance to make it up to you. What we did was terrible and has hurt you, but if it is at all possible, I’d like to make it up.
Ever since that day, our party has broken up. Jorge was really scared after he died in town and has not been playing. Ouroboros has gone back to set up his faction in Ragnarok but Velin and I did not go with him. Something about him has changed. I haven’t been able to sleep well because I feel so bad about that day.
Velin is helping me write this message because I am terrible with words. I know she feels the same way I do (haha, she didn’t tell me to write that).
Please give me a chance to make it up to you.
Sorry,
Mina
CHAPTER EIGHT
Reading over it twice, conflicting emotions bubbled in Thorn’s chest. The message reopened the painful memory that the last four weeks had dulled. Still, it was not as painful as it had been at first. At least now, Thorn felt like he could think about the situation clearly without being consumed with hurt and anger.
Part of Thorn wanted revenge, wanted to crush them into pieces over and over again. But another part of Thorn remembered how much fun he had with the group and longed to restore that relationship. Restless, Thorn looked at the timer. Still another ten hours before he could go back into Nova Terra. Getting up he headed to the gym. Maybe moving would help him think.
The workout room was an entire floor of the massive building and housed two pools, multiple tracks, an obstacle course, training dummies of all sorts, and a weight training area. Taken aback by how huge it was, Thorn paused at the door. In the distance, he could see his aunt practicing with one of her guildmates on a large square platform. If he was remembering correctly, she was named Bluefire.
Wandering over to them, Thorn looked on in admiration at Julia’s skillful use of her halberd. He had trained a bit in using a spear with his taijiquan master, but Julia’s weapon was a bit different. With a longer, wider blade, she could cut more effectively, creating a whirling storm of blades that served as an offense and defense at the same time.
As he got closer Thorn noticed that, despite her skill, she was still struggling against her opponent, Bluefire, who was armed with tonfas. The silver weapons were fast and unpredictable while providing Bluefire with an impenetrable defense. The two women struggled back and forth, sending slashes and strikes at each other without any regard for safety.
Bluefire slipped through the silver net Julia was weaving and, flipping one of her tonfas around to increase her range, landed a solid strike on Julia’s solar plexus, launching her backward across the room. Seeing her hurt, Thorn was about to run to her when she threw down her weapon angrily and shouted, “I concede.” Instantly, her tired, sweaty figure was refreshed, and she stood up, restored to a perfect state.
“Hey, Thorn, coming to train with us?” Julia had seen her nephew come in, creating a slight gap in her concentration that Bluefire had taken advantage of.
“I’m just checking everything out. I still have about ten hours, so I thought I’d work off some steam.”
“You want to try sparring with Bluefire? She was just saying how she wanted to go for a couple of rounds
with you.”
“I’d be happy to spar with you,” affirmed Bluefire, tightening her blond hair into a ponytail.
“I don’t know, I’m not super great at controlling myself yet.”
“Oh, come on, give it a try. Bluefire is one of the best PvP players in the game. You are not going to hurt her. Plus, this room is special, it allows us to use our abilities and skills from Nova Terra. And when we’re done it will heal everyone. Just like the sparring rings at the training halls.”
After a bit more prodding, Thorn stepped up onto the training ring. As soon as he did, he realized he could summon his weapons and armor again. A glance at Bluefire showed that she was not wearing any armor, so Thorn only summoned his tetsubo and got into his stance. Across from him, Bluefire bounced in place. Seeing that Thorn wasn’t moving, she smiled and flexed her fingers.