Rebirth Online

by Michael James Ploof

  The NPCs were programmed so well that they passed for human at first glance. They walked and talked like regular people, they laughed, the children cried and tugged on their mother’s dresses, and when speaking to them, they carried on as humans would. The most striking feature of the NPCs, however, were their eyes. There was an awareness in those eyes, and knowledge.

  I noticed what looked like a flat screen TV hanging outside one of the pubs and drew closer. It was broadcasting what looked to be Rebirth Online game play.

  “Hey, what’s that?” I asked the ladies.

  “A looking glass,” said Anna. “The programmers broadcast game footage, major achievements, stuff like that.”

  “Cool.”

  “Alright,” said Trinity, “Do you think you can find your way around? I’ve got to go see the warrior trainer.”

  “Yeah, I’m good,” I said, and pointed at the big clock at the center of town that was made up of about a hundred separate gears encased in glass. “It’s noon now. Let’s meet back up in an hour.”

  “See you then, Loverboy,” said Trinity, and she surprised me with a kiss to the cheek.

  “Bye Trin,” said Anna to which the beautiful warrior waved over her shoulder.

  Anna smiled and hooked her arm around mine. “Come on, I’ll show you where the mage trainer is.”

  We went left of the clock in the center of town and started down Shimmer Street, which sold supplies and offered trainers for characters dabbling in the arcane. There were wand shops, staff makers, enchantment specialists, apothecaries, alchemists, and even fortune tellers. But the prices displayed in some of the windows told me that my meager 5 gold from grinding the day before wasn’t going to go far.

  “Excuse me, good Sir, but my husband hasn’t returned from his post—”

  “Not interested,” Anna told the woman.

  “Peter? Peter?” said a woman by a fruit stand who looked to have lost something or someone. “Oh!” she said and grabbed my arm as I passed. “Would you find my son? His name is—”

  “No time, lady,” said Anna as she pulled me along.

  “I’m putting a crew together,” a hawkish looking pirate said to me as I passed.

  “Sorry, I get seasick,” I said over my shoulder.

  “Two gold to the man who finds my prized horse!” a man yelled on the other side of town.

  “So many quests,” said Anna with a shrug, “So little time.”

  “Have you done many quests?” I asked.

  “Shit yeah, dozens. Beats the hell out of grinding on random baddies to level. But we can grind on you to level instead,” she said with a delicious grin.

  “I need only a dragon’s tooth to finish my elixir…” said a wild-eyed man from inside a funky smelling tent.

  “Good luck!” I yelled. “Hey, Anna, how much do you think my new spell is going to cost?”

  “Probably like two gold, same with the alchemy instructor.”

  “I’ve only got about 5 altogether.”

  “No worries,” she said and led me over to what looked to be a tiny bank vault. It was the size of a dog house and sat on a block of stone about waist high. “I can loan you some. You should also get a vault space, it costs twenty gold, but you can pay in installments.”

  “Okay, thanks,” I said as I watched her interact with the strange little safe.

  She tapped it three times, and to my surprise, the door swung open and an angry little leprechaun smoking a cigar stomped out onto the metal platform.

  “Anna Darkbane,” said the leprechaun in an Irish accent and high pitched, yet gravelly voice. “Deposit or withdrawal?”

  “Both,” she said happily.

  The leprechaun grumbled to himself and tapped something in the air in front of him, likely his own interface.

  “Tap and slide your items into the slot on your interface.”

  “I know the drill,” Anna told him, and the angry little dude rolled his eyes and gave a sigh as he rolled a short cigar around the edge of his mouth.

  “You have withdrawn 25 gold from your account, and you have deposited—”

  “Thanks, I’m all set,” Anna interrupted. “Can my friend open an account now?”

  The leprechaun glanced at me, scowled, and shrugged. “Name?” he droned.

  Once my account was set up and Anna had transferred 20 gold into it, we went our separate ways.

  “The mage trainer is down at the end of the street,” Anna explained. Then she kissed me on the lips and smiled. “See you soon.”

  “Bye,” I said, and watched her cute little ass disappear into the crowd.

  “Watch it!” came a deep voice from behind me, and I leapt out of the way as a dangerous looking man dressed in black leather armor along with a ten-foot-tall troll walked by.

  “Sorry,” I told my fellow players, and proceeded to the mage trainer.

  The small building looked no bigger than an outhouse, and I glanced again at the sign above the door. It said Mage Trainer, and my interface map confirmed that this was the right building, so I knocked on the door, not quite sure what to expect.

  When it opened, a tall, gangly NPC with a long gray beard and dark red robes glanced at me over wide spectacles.

  “Yes?” the old man said absently. He kept glancing back at the big spell book in his left hand.

  “Hello, my name is Samson, I’m here to learn Scorched Earth,” I told him.

  “Ahhh!” he said affably and snapped the book closed. “Hagus McArkin at your service. Come in, come in, please do come in.”

  “Thank you.”

  I followed the old man through the threshold, and a reactionary “Holy shit,” escaped me when I beheld the size of the interior of the building.

  “Hmmm,” hummed the master mage as he ogled me sideways.

  “Oh, sorry, it’s just, this place is huge, and it looks so small on the outside.”

  “Well, that’s magic, my boy,” he said with a frown.

  “Yeah, sorry, I’m new to town, new to the game really.”

  “Yes, well, we were all noobs once, there’s no shame in it, no need to apologize.”

  To the left of the door was a huge bookcase that was somehow over fifty feet tall and twenty feet long. There was a walkway every story and ladders connecting the many levels. Seven fellow mages were up there searching for books or reading from the giant tomes. To the right was a kind of shooting range with over a dozen bays, four of which were currently occupied with mages practicing their newly learned spells. Straight ahead a large, glowing crystal hung at the center of the chamber, and beyond it I could see other players gathered around long tables full of beakers, vials, and bubbling cauldrons.

  The real-world characters consisted of humans, elves, goblins, dwarves, minotaurs, and even a harpy who hovered in the air on quick wings. But the strangest of all the people inside were the replicas of the mage master that I was now following. He seemed to have created at least a dozen copies of himself, and I found myself wondering if I was talking to the real Hagus.

  “Master McArkin,” those others who look like you...are they really you?”

  “Hmmm,” he said and glanced at me, then at the other versions of himself. They in turn glanced at me, and half of them winked. “Yes, indeed, they are simply mirror images of myself, you will learn a similar spell, but not any time soon. Now, what did you say you were here to learn?”

  “Uh, Scorched Earth, Sir.”

  “Ah, yes,” he said, and walked over to the impossibly tall bookcase. After a few minutes passed of patiently waiting for the old grumbling NPC to find what he was looking for, I followed him over to a large wooden podium. He thumbed through the book, found the page that he was looking for, and began to read.

  “Scorched Earth, a brief history of Orraen Fracco, the man behind the spell. Part 1, Orraen’s early years. Orraen Fracco was born on the banks of the River Spearnt. His father, a talented traveling bard and painter--”

  “Excuse me, Sir, but the la
st time that I learned a new spell, the trainer just showed me a hand gesture,” I said as I eyed the size of the tome.

  Hagus McArkin slammed the book closed and eyed me disapprovingly. “Oh, you’re one of those, are you? You think that the best way to learn an ancient spell is by memorizing a hand gesture?”

  “Uh, yeah, kind of. I mean the lore is interesting and all, and I definitely want to read up on it all. Is there any way you could just show me the gestures and send the text to my interface?”

  “Kids these days,” he said and shook his head.

  “I’m not a kid,” I informed him. “I’m twenty-four years old.”

  I was getting a little tired of the act. This dude was an NPC after all, and the lore wasn’t even real. Sure, there were probably useful bits of information in the book about tactics, but I could get through it all faster on my own.

  “Have it your way,” said the trainer with a lazy sigh. “Now watch very closely, for this one is not as easy as the two that you know. This one takes a little more finesse.”

  The trainer watched me to make sure that I was looking, then he made two fists and pushed them together in front of his chest so that the knuckles interlocked. He then pressed his thumbs together, rolled his fists away from each other so that the second knuckles on each finger were touching their twin, and proceeded to extend his fingers until he looked like he was in prayer. Finally, he curled his right hand back into a fist, covered it with the left hand, and opened them to show me.

  “Pretty, isn’t it?” he asked as he smiled up at me, his face illuminated by the tiny glowing speck of shimmering crimson light in his hand.

  “It’s beautiful,” I admitted wholeheartedly.

  “Now watch this,” he said with a devilish grin, and tossed the glowing ember overhand and into one of the empty bays.

  The small speck of light hit the floor at the feet of a suit of armor wearing dummy and exploded like napalm.

  “Holy shit balls!” I said as the ten-foot-wide circle of fire raged. Then I noticed that I couldn’t feel any heat and I asked the trainer how come.

  “Because you are not my enemy,” he said with a sly grin. “Scorched earth only negatively affects your enemies, while at the same time helping your allies.”

  “That’s cool. What’s the buff that allies receive?”

  He nudged his chin toward the pyre. “Go walk in the flame and find out.”

  “Hah, funny,” I said with a nervous laugh.

  “I’m serious,” he said.

  “You are, aren’t you.” I let out a sigh. “Alright, but this better not be a practical joke.”

  I walked slowly toward the ring of fire and held out my hands. It still wasn’t hot, and I became confident that it wouldn’t hurt me. With an internal “Screw it,” I stepped into the fire.

  Scorched Earth

  + 50 fire Resistance

  Stackable

  10-minute Duration

  “Stackable? Now that’s legit.”

  “Of course it is legitimate,” said the trainer as the spell died down and winked out. “You would have known that had you bothered to read the tome.”

  “Alright, let me take a crack at it,” I said rubbing my hands together.

  “Excellent.” he gestured to the dummy at the end of another shooting range. It looked like a scarecrow holding a wooden sword. “Try it out.”

  I walked to the entrance to the bay and shook out my hands, preparing myself.

  “Keep in mind that the longer you hold the pose, the more mana you will drain, but also the more powerful the spell will be,” said the trainer from behind me.

  I pressed my knuckles together, then thumbs, rolled my fists down, into a prayer sign, curled my right hand into a fist again, covered it with the left, and instantly felt the magic spark in my right palm. I gave it a moment to grow, watching as my mana bar drained to 50%, and then opened my hands. My speck of light was a little bigger than the trainer’s had been, and I marveled at it with a big grin on my face.

  “Well then, you going to kiss it or throw it?” the trainer asked hastily.

  I tossed the small spark of light at the scarecrow at the end of the bay, and flames suddenly engulfed a fifteen-foot radius around the target.

  “That was sick,” I said as I watched the fire rage. A new alert popped up in my field of vision.

  Congratulations! You have unlocked Scorched Earth.

  See Spells for more details.

  “That’ll be 2 gold,” said the trainer.

  I transferred the gold from my account to his with the tap of a virtual button, and he squinted to make sure it was all there.

  “And where do you want to spend your skill points?” the old man asked.

  “Uh, put it all toward Stamina,” I said, remembering how winded I had become trying to pummel the ogre.

  “Now, how about we get you some new gear?” he said with a grin.

  “Is it expensive?” I asked apprehensively.

  “Best quality and lowest prices around. Why, I have robes starting at only twenty gold.”

  “Twenty gold? Sorry, I can’t afford anything like that right now.”

  “Your loss,” he said with a shrug. “I’m sure that you can find your way out.”

  I left the trainer’s and ventured back down the street. When I got to the clock I found Trinity waiting for me, but no Anna.

  “Hey, Trin. Where’s Anna?” I asked.

  “I haven’t seen her,” she said, glancing around at the crowd.

  “Maybe she lost track of time like I did,” I suggested.

  We talked about our respective trainers and our new abilities for a little while, but when fifteen minutes had passed I started to get worried for Anna. I was about to suggest that we split up and go looking for her, when a scream issued from the east side of town.

  “That sounded like Anna,” I said, “Come on!”

  I raced down the street toward the sound of the growing commotion and pushed through the crowd of players and NPCs. I broke through and skidded to a halt when I saw five high level players surrounding Anna. The highest level among the group was a level 20 mage, and he was holding Anna intimately close to his body.

  “Hey!” I yelled and stepped forward. “Let her go!”

  Trinity broke through the crowd and unsheathed her sword.

  “Piss off noob, this is between me and the lady,” said the mage.

  “Let me go, Kincaid!” Anna yelled, and yanked her arm back.

  Kincaid gave her a shove and she fell in the mud. The mage’s lackeys laughed, and fury surged through my body. Before I knew what I was doing I had unleashed a fireball right at the mage’s chest.

  The blast took him and everyone else by surprise as it exploded against his chest, but his robes absorbed the spell, and as the smoke cleared I saw his smug grin aimed in my direction.

  “My turn,” he said, and produced a basketball sized ball of fire between his palms and shot it in my direction. I tried to dodge the attack, but it zipped across the open ground in a blur and hit me in the shoulder. I spun about seventeen times and landed in a smoldering heap ten feet away. The crowd whooped and cheered, and I groaned against the pain.

  Warning: Health 20%

  I shook as I tried to handle the incredible pain and glanced down at my chest, which was charred and bloody.

  “Sam!” Anna yelled, but as I watched from the ground, a warlock among Kincaid’s group lifted her into the air inside a ball of crackling green lightning.

  “Someone call the guards!” Trinity yelled as she came to stand guard in front of me.

  “Step aside,” said Kincaid as he raised a glowing hand and stalked toward Trinity.

  “Halt!” came the voice of one of the guards, and the crowd suddenly scrambled.

  Kincaid stopped a few feet from Trinity. He looked her up and down with a sly grin, before looking past her and glowering at me.

  “This isn’t over, noob.”

  With that he and his
guild suddenly disappeared, and two seconds later the guards came charging around the distant corner.

  “Come on!” said Trinity as she grabbed me under the armpits and hauled me to my feet.

  “Get Anna out of here,” I told her. “I’m right behind you.”

  She offered me a nod and raced toward Anna.

  “You there, halt!” came the voice of the quickly approaching guards of Riverton.

  Trinity scooped up Anna, raced around the corner, and disappeared down another street. I tried to keep up, but my chest still felt like it was on fire, and I had all I could do not to cry out with every excruciating breath.

  I almost reached the corner, but I was tackled by one of the guards and driven to the ground. Glowing shackles were quickly applied to my wrists and ankles, and a spell word connected them together with a ribbon of crackling magic.

  “We warned you not to cause trouble,” said the guard with the big red mustache.

  “It wasn’t me. Ask anyone. The trouble maker was a mage named Kincaid. He was manhandling my friend.”

  “Sure, tell that to the judge,” said the guard, and they dragged me along toward the jailhouse.

  Chapter 8

  The guards marched me through the jailhouse and unceremoniously threw me in the brig. To my dismay, all my gear disappeared from my interface, and I was left wearing only my trousers and thin undershirt.

  “Hey! Don’t I get like, a phone call or something?” I yelled through the bars, but they suddenly began to crackle and buzz, and a quick jolt of electricity coursed through my body.

  My health was still below 25%, and the jolt from the bars didn’t help. I felt like I had a terrible hangover, not to mention my chest still felt like it was on fire. I thought that perhaps they would at least give me a healing potion, but instead I was left to regenerate on my own.