First Sorcerer

by Kyle Johnson

  “That was mildly terrifying,” Geltheriel spoke once they were clear of the elder’s study, with the door closed firmly behind them. “I have never heard anyone speak so to Golloron. He was not pleased with your answers.”

  “The truth hurts sometimes,” Aranos shrugged. “He’ll get over it. So, where are we off to?”

  Geltheriel stared at the aleen for a moment, shaking her head. “Very well,” she finally spoke. “I would normally sleep in the barracks with the other Keepers, but I fear neither of us would be particularly welcome there. My family has a small home on the first level that is meant for honored guests; we shall spend the rest of the evening there, and in the morning, I will begin your weapons training, as requested…or I will convince Dorn’ar’el to teach you the staff, which will benefit you far more.”

  Geltheriel’s family home was, as she promised, small and out of the way. It was cozy, though, with elegant finishes and simple touches that relaxed Aranos as he lay in the soft bed, his first real one in Singularity. It seems like forever ago, he realized, but it’s been, what? Three days? Four tomorrow? Time flies when you’re fighting undead, I guess.

  He pulled up his notifications, scanning through the battle logs briefly and focusing on the important ones:

  There I go, breaking the game again, he thought as he examined the new Ability. He had obviously gotten it for turning the Ability Geltheriel’s double had against it. It looks like I needed something to drain blood with for the original Ability. The new one is powerful but has quite the downside. Aranos quickly did some math. If he went around at full LP draining Level 1 creatures with around 100 LP, he’d gain a Stat point about every 5 creatures or so. He could have an extra 20 points in his Physical Stats for every 100 creatures he killed that way, which was nothing to sneeze at! Of course, he’d also gain a Corrupion Point for each creature, two when his Stats went up, so his CP would be around 120 by then, meaning he’d have transitioned completely to the Darkness. A bit of temptation, eh, Veronica? he wondered silently.

  He shook his head and continued reading:

  Aranos almost leapt off the bed, screaming, as he read that last notification before noticing Veronica’s snide comment. Oh, that was just mean! he muttered internally. She knew I was ready for that Quest to be done!

  The last pair of notifications he found the most interesting, though:

  That’s interesting, he mused. So, I might have unique class options based on my Skills, Perks, and Titles? I do have a lot of those; hopefully, they’ll open up some cool choices for me!

  He lay back, looking at his Status sheet. That Energy Drain had massively boosted his Physical Stats, and he had gotten a couple point in Charisma for his public speaking, so he decided to drop 2 points in Wis and 1 in Int this level. Finally, he decided to take a look at his full status:

  I don’t really even know if that’s good or not, he realized. I need to get around other Travelers and see where everyone’s at. A day or two for training and grinding, and I’ll go find Phil and see how I’m stacking up.

  He tried to rest, but something was tickling the back of his mind. There was something that wasn’t making sense to him, that his subconscious was telling him didn’t quite add up. It was just escaping his grasp, so he allowed his thoughts to flit randomly, hoping it would come to him.

  That was a long, freaking Quest, he thought with a sense of satisfaction. Got a whole lot from it, though, so I guess I can’t complain. I wonder what that thing was that tried to suck my blood? I’ll have to ask Geltheriel or Golloron in the morning. It was probably something summoned; Getheriel said the Traveler was a Summoner, right? In most games, though, summoned creatures vanish when they die; maybe they don’t in Singularity? Wonder how that Traveler learned to summon it, whatever it was, and that Rakshasa. I’m guessing she didn’t know that when she was here a couple weeks ago…

  He blinked as the thought crystallized and the inconsistency became clear. “Wait a second,” he said aloud, sitting up in the bed. “She was here two weeks ago! That means…”

  He blinked again as he spoke, and suddenly he found himself sitting in the simple, white, circular room where he had first created his character. He was sitting at a wooden table, and before he could move, the door opened and Veronica walked in and sat across from him, her face grave.

  “What’s going on?” he demanded, rising from his chair. “Why am I here? I know my week’s not over yet…”

  “Please be seated, Jeff,” Veronica said calmly, folding her hands on the table. “I brought you here because you were about to ask a question, and that question should not be asked in Singularity. Here, we have some privacy, as the other AI’s are paying no attention to this room. So, what did you wish to ask?”

  Jeff paused, suddenly nervous. Why all the secrecy? he wondered anxiously. What’s going on, here?

  “The other Traveler,” he finally spoke. “Geltheriel said she was in the Stronghold weeks ago, but that would make her part of the Alpha testing, right? And that’s been over for a couple weeks. How is she still in the game? Are they still running those tests?”

  “I can’t answer your question, I’m afraid,” she replied calmly. “That information isn’t on the list of things you’re cleared for. However, I will say this: Ultra.”

  She snapped her fingers and suddenly, Aranos was back in the Stronghold, sitting on the bed, totally confused. Ultra? he thought curiously. What does that even mean?

  He sighed and brushed his hands through his hair. “What the hell have I gotten myself into now?”

  Epilogue

  Golloron watched the Traveler and his rogue Keeper leave and decided that the young man was right: it would be better if he left. He was too perceptive, too strong-willed, too curious to remain in the Stronghold safely. There were things Golloron was happier no one knew, and he had a feeling the young Traveler might find some of them out.

  Sighing, he waved his hand, and the simple, spartan illusion disguising his room vanished as a potent Spell sealed his door against intrusion. No one in the Stronghold knew that his ‘study’ was much larger than it appeared from the outside, because those who did know conveniently forgot. Erasing memories was a simple thing for a Mindbender of Golloron’s skill and talent, after all. He was probably going to have to wipe the whole city’s memories of Ainarian’s betrayals – again – but after a moment’s thought, he decided it wasn’t necessary.

  “I can use this to my advantage,” he spoke quietly as he moved to a blank spot of wall across the room. “I can paint any who stand against me as being pawns of that foolish Summoner who took Ainarian’s face – and probably his life, and good riddance, that – and tighten my hold on the city even more.”

  He touched the wall, and the illusion covering it shimmered and vanished, revealing a sealed cabinet built into the wall. It opened at his touch, and he withdrew a large, multifaceted crystal, examining it with satisfaction. “So, you steal memories instead of copying them?” he murmured. “That could be useful. I can think of a few people whose memories would do better in my hands than theirs. Now, to figure out how to replicate that Sorcerer’s mistake…”

  Lily felt her body reform slowly as she respawned, opening her eyes to find herself somewhere in that accursed elven forest. “Fucking hell!” she screamed, slamming her fist into a nearby tree as she swore. “What the actual fuck? Who does that asshole think he is, coming into my fucking house and kicking me out? I will rip his god-damned nuts off!” She stomped around the clearing for a few minutes, going through all the profanity she could think of. When she started repeating herself, she stopped and caught her breath, glancing at her notifications:

  “I can’t believe that son of a bitch made it through the Trials,” she grumbled. “How the hell did he even get that elf bitch out of that cell? Or get past the gasha? Hell, how did he beat my god-damned aswang? That thing’s blood is a hard, fucking counter for Wizards!” Her anger was raging again, getting the better of her, and she worked to ta
mp it down to just simmering instead of blazing. Her temper always got her in trouble – it was why she was in this mess in the first place – and she could never seem to get a handle on it. She didn’t want to lose control, but whenever someone disrespected her or got in her way, it just seemed to happen.

  “Okay, calm your tits,” she told herself. “Let’s think about this shit. You know those fucking elves are coming after you. They’re probably going to try and kill you until you’re out of their damn forest, so might as well get the hell out of it before they get a chance.” She began the casting of her summons spell, once again silently thanking the rabisu for teaching her how to call the various beasts of Darkness. And all it cost were some stupid Corruption Points, she snorted internally. Like I give a fuck about those? Hell, I can’t wait to get enough for the damned race change: the AI’s say it’ll make me some kind of badass supervillain!

  Her Spell completed, and a swirl of shadow erupted before her, tinged with the coppery smell of blood. A horse-like creature pulled itself from the pool of darkness, staring at her with burning, hateful eyes. That wasn’t new, though: all of the Dark creature hated being summoned, especially by a Lightborn. I’ll bet they’ll all calm the fuck down once I’ve gotten my race change, though, Lily chuckled silently. The karkadann she summoned looked like a unicorn, although its fur was black, its horn was twisted and deformed, and wisps of shadow perpetually flowed off its body. The creatures were fast, much faster than horses, but their Stamina sucked, and they dripped blood as they ran, making them easy to Track.

  “Get me the fuck out of this forest,” she grumbled as she climbed onto the creature’s back. “I’ll find someplace to rebuild, and when I do, Aranos-the-fucking-Liberator is going to pay…”

  David Newsome sat in his office, surrounded by virtual, holographic images that represented his various holdings, interests, and priorities across the world. Trillions of dollars were invested in the plans behind those images, but only Singularity Online held his full attention. The project was going well, with only minor hiccups, which meant that some disaster was likely looming on the horizon. That was fine; David didn’t get to be CEO of a vast company like Neo-Dyne without learning how to anticipate, deal with, and profit from disasters. He sent a mental command to his virtual terminal – buttons and mice were a thing of the distant past – and sent a quick summons to his AI assistant.

  As soon as her image appeared before him, he started speaking. “Tell me about the candidates,” she said abruptly, eschewing a greeting. “Are any of them promising?”

  “A few, Mr. Newsome,” the image replied evenly. “Most are still adapting, but some of the entrants have shown remarkable connectivity with the Mark-I. There is one in particular, an employee of yours, in fact, who has reached 89% connectivity already, well beyond the norm. The others range between 55% and 70%.”

  “89%?” David repeated slowly. “Remarkable. And he seems stable?”

  “Completely,” she assured him. “His vitals are steady, and all of his bodily systems are functioning well within normal parameters.”

  David sat quietly, considering her words. “Show me his file,” he replied at last. When it appeared, he sped through it quickly, getting a broad overview without bothering with details. At this stage of the program, the details of the candidates didn’t matter, only their performance.

  “Jeff Lawing,” he muttered, gazing at the holographic image of the man. “Keep an eye on him for me, Veronica,” he instructed his assistant.

  “Of course, Mr. Newsome,” she replied as she faded out of his sight.

  Sleep eluded Aranos. Too many thoughts were whirling in his mind, distracting him and demanding his focus. Realizing that he simply wasn’t going to be able to sleep, he closed his eyes and descended into his mindscape.

  Everything was just as he left it, of course. He spent some time tweaking his rapidly spinning mana hourglasses, noticing that the mana within was separating into bands of color as the whirling motion pulled apart the different types of mana. He realized that he hadn’t tried expanding his mindscape for a while, and now that his SP were so high, he should be able to add at least an extra 10-foot to the dome’s radius.

  He focused, pouring his SP into the dome, willing it to expand. He felt the mindscape shift as the glass slowly expanded, swelling like a bubble into the grey mists of his mind. When he felt the flow of SP slowing, he stopped and examined his new space.

  It was large enough that he realized he was going to need to spend some SP decorating it, once his mana had recovered. He could add a second dummy, maybe even an archery target…

  He stopped, stunned, as his gaze swept over the image of a wizened, ancient elf woman. She stood in faded but regal robes, her hands clasped before her, her chin bowed upon her chest so that her long braid fell down her front. “Lythienne?” he gasped, and the woman looked up at him,

  “Hello, child,” she spoke. “Before you ask, no, I am not really here. As you are seeing this, you must have either defeated or escaped my Corrupted self, which means you need further instruction. I have left memories like this one scattered throughout your mindscape to provide you with lessons as you reach certain milestones.

  “The first lesson,” the woman intoned, raising her hand, “is about the aspects of mana, and how you go about using them…”

  The End

  Of Book One. Jeff’s adventures will continue in Book Two, Sorcerer Ascendant