Endless Online: Oblivion's Promise

by M. H. Johnson

  Both of them gazed at Val long and hard.

  "You are a strange one," said the elder.

  The younger one flashed a cold smile. "His mind is unique. In some ways, it is simple. In some ways, captivating. It is nothing like a Highlord's."

  The elder nodded. "For all that his gifts are similar. I can taste that as well."

  They exchanged a fathomless glance, nodding in unison, turning to Val. "You have glimpsed the vulnerable heart of our people, and done us an incomparable service. We will not forget. But should the outside world ever hear of what you have found this day, those children you saved will suffer a fate far worse than spiders. Would you put our tribe in peril, Valor Hunter, even if our enemies offered you wealth and power?"

  Val's heart hammered. He lurched back. "Hell, no. Not for all the blood money in the world."

  "Good. Then we would spare your life, and call you friend." They turned to gaze at Sten and his crew; frightened, angry eyes staring back. "We can't speak with your companions. We can't taste the truth of their words. And after the great betrayal one thousand turnings ago, we will never trust a diplomat's half-speak again. But you can speak the true language. We can taste the truth of your intentions. So we have a riddle for you, Valor Hunter. How can we appease you with their lives, if you cannot assure us of their oath?"

  Congratulations! You have achieved Rank Two in Cypher! Mastering the vastly complex and intricate language of the dwarves is no small feat, especially for a brain as limited as your own! Good thing you have Psions and Mana as a crutch, just like a hound does his nose. Good luck sniffing out a solution for your friend's survival!

  Valor grimaced, turning to his friends, heart suddenly heavy with their expectant gazes. Their lives now utterly in his hands. How he hated being in this position. It was why he liked to work alone, for all that a team was vital to the games he used to play.

  He smiled ruefully at Elise. "Do you remember that skill you used on me, and Sten threw a fit when I was able to mimic it?"

  Elise frowned. "Do you mean Oathbinding?"

  Val nodded. "Elise? The only way I'm going to get us out of here is if you and the others open yourselves to me, trust me to do an Oathbinding without somehow crippling you, and are sincere in your oath. I will taste the truth of it, and the dwarves will taste my sense of it when I speak to them in their own language." Val smiled. "When you speak in Dwarvish, a tremendous depth of nuance and feeling can be conveyed. But deliberate lies are easily sensed."

  She paled and looked away, giving a quick nod. "Alright, Val. Let's tell the others."

  Predictably, Gregor was less than pleased, bushy eyebrows going wide, frizzy hair quivering with outrage. "What? Let this man-boy-simulacrum use his weird powers, wonking about in my head? Tearing apart my precious gifts? No thank you! Besides, he hasn't spent hundreds of hours being trained by a Senior Warden of the High Courts. There is no way he could invoke a sanctioned Psionic Oathbinding! I don't care how much of an idiot-savant you are, that's impossible. The only thing I'm sure of is how well Val fits the first half of that term!"

  "Enough!" Sten cracked, favoring Val with an intent gaze that could have seen him on the big screen in a heartbeat, if he had been born a world away. "Gregor is right about one thing, Val. Getting this wrong could cause us life-long agony if we have no access to a Psi-surgeon, and I doubt we ever will. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

  Val closed his eyes, throat dry despite the dwarf's rather generous dispensing of water. One reason, perhaps, why his companions had been far less agitated than they might otherwise have been. Water was life, and they had all the water they could want.

  Val drank deeply from the flask he had claimed as his own, gazing into the captain's eyes. "Honestly, Sten, I'm just playing this all by the seat of my pants."

  Sten blinked in confusion. Some things it seemed, didn't translate.

  "I'm not using any chart algorithm. No highest probability of success bell curve do I have access to. My gut just tells me that this is the only way we're all getting out of here alive, and I'm almost positive I can do a good job."

  Halvar chuckled ruefully. "Fate of the team in the hands of the rookie pilot."

  Gregor groaned, cradling his head.

  Elise squeezed Val's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on him the first time. If anything seems... off, I'll make sure he pulls out immediately.

  This didn't make his companions feel that much better, but it warmed Val to think that on some level, yes, fighting for survival by their side had earned him a measure of camaraderie and trust. He quickly got to work, gazing into Halvar's one very human eye, grabbing his massive hand.

  Halvar grinned. "Try not to fry my brains too badly, kid, okay?"

  Val nodded. "I'll try." He then closed his eyes, feeling a peculiar resonance between himself and Halvar, somehow knowing that it was only his friend's acquiescence, opening himself up to Val willingly, that gave him such access to put such a binding on the man.

  "Do you swear to reveal to no one your encounter with the dwarven people, keeping all knowledge of their location, culture, their very existence a secret? Never to record it, never to write it down even in code, never even to reference it deliberately, save between ourselves, when you are certain we aren't being recorded? Even should the worst happen, and Inquisitors seek to pry free any information regarding this clan, do you swear to allow those synapses carrying this information to severe all links, memories forever forgotten?"

  Halvar paled at the last, swallowing even as Elise hissed in faint alarm, before nodding solemnly. "This I swear, Val, so long as the dwarves free us in good faith."

  And with those words, Val felt an indescribable icy tingle flow through him and into Halvar, the man's promise given flesh and form. Val gasped as the shimmering strands of energy seemed to loop about the rainbow core of Halvar's very being, seen and understood in that single heartbeat of time. Val felt a curious ringing within his mind, able to taste with both sides of his Psyche the commitment of Halvar's oath, the truth of his words.

  Elise hissed, even as the dwarves, surprisingly, gave satisfied nods of their heads. As if they had somehow understood the significance of what Val had done.

  "That wasn't just a standard oath, that was a greater binding!" Elise declared.

  Gregor began to curse and Sten's eyes narrowed in alarm.

  "Halvar, how are you feeling?" Sten asked cautiously, glaring daggers at Val.

  Halvar smiled. "Relax, guys. I'm fine." He shrugged. "Honestly, I feel pretty good. Like I had just taken an oath of honor upon acceptance to a company I've yearned to join since forever." He gave a satisfied nod. "I'm happy with this oath, keeping my word to these people. I think it will better me, somehow."

  Sten frowned. "Are you sure you feel okay? No pain, no flash of anxiety, not like you're suddenly under terrible pressure, squeezing you tight?"

  Halvar chuckled, his baritone voice resonating through the chamber. "Hardly, my friend. As part of my Mercenary's Oath, I've had a Psionic Oathbinding once before, upon achieving officer rank." He grimaced in remembered discomfort. "That had not been a pleasant experience, and that had been performed by the best Junior Warden money could buy. This leaves me feeling strangely... whole. Complete. Balanced."

  "That's because Val somehow combined both sides of his gift," Elise said breathlessly.

  Sten's fingers tightened on the flask he himself was now drinking from. "Explain," Sten said.

  Elise frowned. "I think it was a Greater Oathbinding. Not that I've witnessed such, not that anyone has. But almost everyone feels a bit off after a Psionic Oathbinding. I'm surprised Val didn't when I laid my own upon him. But for Halvar to feel whole and complete? That suggests he has been, well, bonded at both ends."

  Halvar grimaced. "Okay, now I'm not feeling nearly so happy about it."

  Elise shrugged. "And the shimmering glow that had formed around Halvar as he spoke was kind of a giveaway that Val was using magic, as well a
s his other gifts."

  Gregor groaned. "We are all going to rue this day, just you wait."

  Despite his protestations, one look at the cold-eyed dwarves, and Gregor was suddenly standing before Val, desperation in his gaze. "Let's just get this over with. Please, don't fry my brains, alright?"

  And within moments all four of his companions had repeated the oath, and Val felt the potency of the bind grow a bit stronger with each strange use of the skill, Val himself feeling just a bit dizzy when it was all said and done.

  Eighty Mana used, fifty-one remaining. Eighty Psion used, fifty-one remaining. Val swallowed upon glimpsing what, for lack of a better word, was his character sheet, his sudden fatigue suddenly understandable. After a deep breath he began to feel better, more focused, even as he sensed his stores filling up once more, silver and gold bars for Psion and Mana refilling slowly but steadily.

  Congratulations! You have learned Greater Oathbinding! After all, why stop at just standard Psionic bonding? Pour your heart into forging oaths so binding that your friends will be torn to pieces if they ever dare to break them! Greater Oathbinding Rank 1 achieved.

  Val grimaced as the prompt flashed across his mind's eye, more certain than ever that his subconscious, whether or not it was somehow tuned into this quantized universe, was a snarky bastard.

  He turned to his friends. "How are you guys feeling?"

  Sten frowned, then shrugged. "Not too bad, to be honest. I think Halvar had the right of it. It almost feels good to take an oath that matters, to know that we are protecting an entire civilization."

  Elise smiled. "I think it's because the oath is balanced. It is not based on the mind alone, but on the ebb and flow of life and reality as a whole."

  Val blinked. "Do you mean magic?"

  Elise nodded. "Though most Highlords disparage it, those of us native to Jordia respect our world's culture, the harmonic balance of life and the gentle energies that nourish it, for all that we prefer that practicing wizards, save for healers with good internalized resonance, embrace their magics elsewhere than within the major cities."

  Val blinked. Magical healers? Now that seemed like a useful profession. He definitely wanted to learn more about magic and all its possibilities. Before he had joined the military, he had never thought of pursuing medicine, and since coming back home, he had been in too much pain to focus on anything save distraction, but the thought of easing the suffering of all the walking wounded, all the men and women who came home badly injured in mind and body, seemed like the noblest of goals. Even if he could never go back home, he was suddenly very curious to see what an arcane healer could accomplish in this world.

  "Val?" Sten's words, bringing him back into focus. "Our hosts are looking our way."

  Val nodded, smiling to see that not even Gregor had cause to complain, the little man's expression primarily one of relief that Val hadn't fried him inside out. He turned to the two patiently waiting dwarves.

  "It is done," he said in their tongue once more, speaking slowly, finding the words. "They will betray no confidences to others. They will make themselves forget, even should our enemies try to pry secrets from their minds."

  The pair of dwarves blinked at this, before giving slow nods of approval.

  "Well done, Valor Hunter." The older one smiled, nodding his head to Val's friends. "Tell your companions that they may make themselves comfortable here. They are now our honored guests. We shall bring them more food shortly."

  Val smiled, turning to the others. "You are now all guests. Feel free to wait here in comfort."

  Val's smile widened at Sten's frown. "You mean they're still keeping us in here?"

  "At least they're giving you guys more delicious mushrooms. That's something, isn't it?"

  Gregor groaned.

  Val's smile turned serious. "I think they want to talk to me. Of course I'll be back as soon as I can. At least now I think we have a shot of getting out of here. So relax and drink your fill." He winked at a frustrated looking Gregor. "See? I told you I'd find us water, and there you are. Cold flask in hand."

  Gregor scowled and Val couldn't help chuckling, though he saw the worry beneath Sten's smile, gazing so intently at him.

  "Just hurry back. Don't leave us hanging, Val."

  Val nodded his head. "I will do my best, Captain."

  He then turned to the patiently waiting dwarves who led him out of the chamber to behold a lost city of beauty and wonder, now only heartbeats away from its final death.

  2

  Val gazed upwards in awe. Massive buildings that seemed to be made entirely of a shimmering bronze gold alloy rose high above them, many with tiny lights flickering in odd patterns he could just barely make out. That cavern itself soared so high he could just make out crystalline stalactites glittering like far-off stars, amazed that the massive cavern had not collapsed centuries ago. It was then that his eyes caught a flash of indescribable colors glittering overhead, Val intuiting at that moment that the entire city was encapsulated by forces far stronger than metal. And for all that the corridor they took was lit by soft luminescence, he could see many other pathways that were dark as night.

  The pair of dwarves seemed amused by his awestruck gaze. Until the moment he whistled in amazement, Val blinking in surprise as a powerful hand covered his mouth.

  Cold terror filled him, looking into those fierce blue eyes.

  Then the glare softened, the elder's gaze becoming one of gentle reproof, his tone and inflection the same as that used when speaking to a wayward child.

  "Don't do that, Valor. You will alert the guardians, and you are not yet bonded to the garden."

  Val swallowed, flashes of strange looking bronze automatons flooding his mind. Some seemed small and harmless, maintenance bots, he supposed. Other mental images conveyed with those simple words made him think of giant bronze golems, or miniature mechanized artillery vehicles.

  Val took a deep, shuddering breath as his new acquaintance's pace slowed, the pair stilling more than once as the clank of bronze against stone or the tread of ancient pads made it clear that those very automatons were just a corridor or two away, eternally patrolling a near dead city. Only then did Val accept how perilous his situation had just become.

  Val most deliberately did not think about his favorite computer games, how chillingly close some of their depictions were to this reality. How many so-called visions of creative genius were but the twisted dreams of Jordian Psions or dwarves, percolating back to Earth somehow?

  "Stop." A hand on his chest. Brooking no argument. Val heard the soft mechanized sound of automated wheels rolling across the stone streets. He grew still. Utterly. The softest of breaths like the caress of shadow in the darkest of caverns. Hidden in darkness. One with darkness, the terrified mortal with his heart racing, desperately working on stilling it as a massive automaton suddenly turned, bright red lights and strangely sentient clicking mind focused on... nothing. Nothing at all. Light, flickering some distance away. To be investigated.

  Brilliant red cyclopsian light scanned the expected dwarves, caretakers of the city, as massive treads pivoted around, rolling off in the distance. Val felt it turn and turn again down distant corridors before slipping past his sense of the city that, save for occasional islands of light, was lost in ancient darkness, much as it had been for centuries.

  Val felt strange comfort in the inky shadows of the cavern, of his mind, coming to himself only as the dwarves' concerned murmurs resonated with such grim foreboding as to snap Val back into himself, both of his companions now gazing at him with wide, surprised eyes.

  "Where did you go?"

  Val blinked, searching for the answer in Dwarvish. If it could be answered at all. "We are in shadow," he said at last.

  The younger dwarf frowned. They were indeed between islands of light emanating from sources unseen, the physics of which still amazed Val, but seemed to be taken for granted by everyone else here. The elder nodded. "Yes, Valor, we are."

>   Val nodded back, as if there was nothing further to say.

  The exchanged a glance Val couldn't decipher before giving the dwarven equivalent of a shrug, making their way forward once more. And this time Val was silent as a ghost, doing nothing to stand out, ever keeping the dwarves between himself and the automated bronze robots that occasionally trundled by. The younger dwarf nodded, as if such was just common sense. Val did his best to quiet his growing anxiety by focusing on the wonders all about him; an ancient, glorious city still running at least partially under its own steam. He could only imagine the awe with which any archaeologist would view this find.

  And nothing was quite so impressive in this underground maze as the miniature forest they brought him to, in the middle of this city of gold and bronze. Val couldn't help smiling, tears actually coming to his eyes as he smelled fir and pine, passing a magnificent display of trees more like a border than a true forest, to behold the hydroponic marvel beyond. A massive automated farming system, rows of golden trays set up to grow endless supplies of any number of fruits or vegetables inside a massive frame of crystal and bronze, with the help of an exquisite matrix of tubing Val was certain involved the luminescent light right now highlighting only the tiniest fraction of the marvelous whole, in the lowermost quadrant of the magnificent structure.

  Only a minuscule portion of the hydroponic marvel seemed to be in use, a ten by ten plot of vegetables growing with a vigor Val could sense even from where he stood. It was presently being tended to by a young dwarven woman who gazed up at Val with a look that struck him to the core before her cheeks suddenly flushed, and she lowered her gaze.

  Val swallowed, speechless. Her shoulders were wide, hands square and covered in soil. She wore a simple purple dress that perfectly complemented her light gray complexion. He had no name for the curious flood of emotions welling up within him, but two things were undeniable. One, he had never seen anyone who looked quite like this girl before. And two, she was perhaps the most beautiful creature ever to catch his gaze.