by Cate Ryan
At the bottom of the garden she stopped. Settling on to the low wall she watched as the sun rose. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks. She wished for nothing more than to hold her mother, her sister, even her boyfriend in her arms again. To be back in her own house with her family in the next room and playing her regular game. This was just meant to be a twenty-four-hour vacation. Now it had ruined her life. She choked a little at the irony of it all.
“Ugh, figures. Of course, you joined Rolling Wave. Now I’m stuck with you all the time.”
From behind her a familiar voice full of bitterness rang out. The woman from yesterday. The one with the icy spears.
Taysia turned.
“Racquel?”
She’d heard Isaac say the name yesterday. Did the woman ever tell Taysia her name?
“I figured it would be you. Of course, you chose to join Rolling Wave.”
Racquel placed her hands on hips as if waiting for a response from Taysia. None came.
“Well, get to it. You’ll be training with me.” Taysia groaned inwardly, the one unpleasant person she’d met in all of Pantheon and that would be the person training her. There was a glint of something in Racquel’s eyes, but it disappeared too quick for Taysia to figure out what it was.
“First things first,” Racquel continued, “Collect me enough grapes and olives for breakfast.”
A quest popped up on Taysia’s display.
[New Quest – Breakfast
Reward – 15 XP]
[100/100 Olives (any type)
100/100 grapes (any type)]
Taysia watched the screen scroll past slightly stunned. Surely, she hadn’t collected that many olives and grapes this morning.
She pulled up her inventory screen.
112 grapes
102 olives
Racquel tapped her foot impatiently.
“Well what are you waiting for?”
Taysia looked up. “I’m finished.”
“You can’t be.”
Taysia felt the urge to punch the woman again. “Want me to prove it?”
“Fine. Let’s get going. You need to cook breakfast for everyone too.”
[New Quest – Cook and serve breakfast at Rolling Wave Regional Headquarters
Reward – 15 XP]
Taysia sighed. Some kind of ‘everyone pulls their weight type thing. She could live with that.
She trailed Racquel to the kitchen. She still couldn’t believe she’d never see her family or friends again. It was more than she could absorb.
She really needed to talk to Isaac.
She wondered how long he’d been there. She didn’t catch his level, but the others around certainly seemed to look up to him.
“Racquel.” The woman turned, body rigid.
“This better be important.”
“Um, well, I just wondered what level Isaac is?”
“Of course, you did.” Taysia held her breath waiting for an answer, though she could guess what it would be. “Max.”
Racquel turned back to the path, her pace brisk. The redhead followed a twisted route through the unfamiliar headquarters, forcing Taysia to jog to keep up.
“Better get started,” Racquel told her when they got there. “Breakfast should have been served half hour ago. Nobody likes to be kept waiting.” Racquel gestured to the angry people seated at tables in the open air. Easily thirty or forty. She noticed Mack among them. Seated at a table by himself. Many of the other folk gave him a wide berth.
“Taysia. You’re here.” She nodded.
And breathed a sigh of relief. He could help her.
“Not with this.” Racquel grinned.
“Sit, Minotaur.”
“His name is Mack,” Taysia corrected. Mack shrugged and returned to his seat.
Looked like she was on her own.
The kitchen was a mess. There were dirty pots and pans everywhere.
“Does nobody clean anything here?” she muttered to herself. There was no time to worry about the mess, she had a breakfast to prepare.
She hunted around the small kitchen searching for a knife first off and then other produce. Grapes and olives alone didn’t make a very fulfilling breakfast. She wished the game prompts were more helpful.
She tried to bring up the crafting menu as she would with Shizuku Tani, but nothing happened. Racquel sat outside with all the others. There was no sense in asking her. She tried again, this time verbalizing the command while holding a pot. A menu overlay appeared with a list of crafting options related to the pot. Bingo.
[Olive Soup – Food
Value 15 gold
Rarity Common
Properties Serves 10
Description
This olive soup is a staple in Hellas kitchens. Best served with fresh bread and extra olives.
Ingredients 20 olives
10 gallons water
1 flask olive oil
10 tomatoes
6 potatoes]
She scrolled to the next item wrinkling her nose slightly. Soup for breakfast. Olive soup no less. That did not sound great.
[Greek Salad – Food
Value 5 gold
Rarity Common
Properties Serves 4
Description
The perfect salad for any occasion
Ingredients 50 olives
2 whole lettuce
1 flask olive oil
10 grapes
2 portions feta cheese]
[Eggs with Strata – Food
Value 12 gold
Rarity Uncommon
Properties Serves 1
Description
A breakfast to make all your friends want to visit and all your enemies want to steal your recipe book.
Ingredients 1 egg
1 portion of milk (any animal)
1 flask olive oil]
[Cheese Pie – Food
Value 18 gold
Rarity Common
Properties Serves 20
Description
This pie is for all those adventurers who find themselves saying ‘One can never have enough cheese.’ Honest, it’s an old Greek proverb.
Ingredients 2 wheels of cheese (or 30 portions of milk from any animal)
10 eggs
30 olives
20 bread]
[Milk Pie – Food
Value 15 gold
Rarity Common
Properties Serves 10
Description
It’s a pie, made of milk. Honestly, we’re not too sure what to think. This one isn’t for the faint of heart (or weak of stomach).
Ingredients 30 portions of milk
10 eggs
30 grapes
20 bread]
[Yogurt – Food
Value 5 gold
Rarity Common
Properties Serves 15
Description
A staple in any household, and it goes well with everything from lamb to fruit salad.
Ingredients 100 portions of milk (any animal)]
[Fruit Salad – Food
Value 9 gold
Rarity Common
Properties Serves 10
Description
It’s not the hearty breakfast you need for a day of grinding but it’s sweet and full of flavor.]
Ingredients 30 grapes
30 melon (any variety)
30 apple or pear]
Taysia was overwhelmed by the options. Each grayed out. She didn’t have the ingredients. She scrolled back through, some were missing just one item.
She searched the kitchen for anything that could help her. Opening cupboards and looking on shelves. She managed to find 19 bread which was almost enough for one of the pies, but she still had no idea where to get either milk or cheese to finish it off. Was there some kind of fridge in there somewhere?
Just as she was ready to give up on the quest a hard rap on the doorframe pulled her attention.
Isaac stood in the doorway, instead of his bare chest fr
om the previous evening he was clad in the same pants with a simple white shirt over the top much like Farmer Kostas.
“I thought you might need a hand. I know you had a rough day yesterday, so I thought I’d help you out.”
Taysia fought back tears. “Thanks. I’ve gotten almost enough ingredients for the pie but, I just have to find some cheese or some milk. Any ideas? Is there a cow I can milk around here somewhere?”
Isaac laughed at that. “No cow. But they hide the ingredients pretty well to give the newcomers something to work for. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Taysia opened her inventory screen
[Bread (19) – Food]
[Olives (80) – Food]
[Grapes (36) – Food]
“Not too bad. I think we can come up with something quick enough.”
Without warning a simple text appeared across her screen.
[20 Milk has been added to your inventory]
Isaac winked. Before she could say anything, he was gone.
Okay, milk pie it was. Hopefully it would be enough for everyone. She hadn’t had time to count the exact numbers. Perhaps she could serve up the grapes on their own for the others.
A quick hunt around the kitchen gave her the final piece of bread she needed.
The pot took care of the rest as soon as she selected the recipe. Thankfully it wasn’t like cooking a real meal because she suspected the people outside would not have waited that long for breakfast. It was only 3 minutes but Taysia paced the kitchen impatiently.
Finally, a beep sounded behind her signaling that the pot had concluded cooking the meal. She simply had to transfer it to her inventory until she could take it outside and set it down.
She smiled. One task down. Maybe the game wouldn’t be so hard, especially if she never had to carry things around.
Racquel looked positively furious as Taysia set the plate on to the table filled with grapes and milk pies for everyone. The rest of the folks at the tables greedily tucked into the breakfast. Taysia sat back, taking a seat next to Mack at the isolated table. Isaac was sitting with a large group of men huddled around a table on the other side of the courtyard. She could see a few people had icons indicating they were players, Isaac and Racquel, but also a man she’d not seen the previous night. The rest of the people in the courtyard appeared to be NPCs. Curious.
Only Isaac had the strange triangle symbol above his head. But all of them held the symbol for Rolling Wave of a wave crashing against nothing.
“Better eat quick. We’ve got a full day of training ahead of us,” Racquel’s voice was so close that she could smell the slightly sweet milk pie as the air brushed against her face. She groaned. A whole day with Racquel. She rethought her earlier statement. It would be that bad. Or worse.
Chapter 6
“No, not like that. You need to be quicker.” Racquel had been training her all morning. Racquel called it training. Taysia thought it was more like torture. Taysia steeled herself for the next shard of ice from Racquel, instead of the slight jolt she’d gotten used to over the course of the morning, there was a whoosh of fire that singed her skin and hair. She doubled over, coughing, tears welled in her eyes as her skin stung. It felt like it was melting away. The fire lasted only an instant but the feeling that remained on her skin lingered.
“What the hell did you do that for?”
[-80 HP (Electric Shock - Racquel)]
Something flashed red in the left corner of her vision
[Health below 10%. Take immediate action to avoid death.]
“To teach you.” Racquel smiled across the empty field, long hair pulled into a tight bun, she obviously meant business.
“To teach me what?” Taysia coughed angrily unsure whether she should touch her skin or just leave it be. Her health regenerated very slowly by itself. It was already up to 11%. The flashing red continued.
“You won’t miss your block next time.”
Taysia glared and turned to walk away from Racquel. She was taking a break while her health regenerated.
The training room they were using was of a simple design, vaulted wooden ceilings, walls painted white, two walls lined with basic wooden benches, one was open to the Rolling Wave grounds and the last held small items and memorabilia, as well as a basic weapon rack.
As she reached for a bottle of water that had been left on the side of the training space, she heard Racquel behind her, before she had time to turn, a bolt of electricity slammed into her back leaving her fingers tingling.
“What the fuck?” Taysia turned, she didn’t think.
“Bolt.” A bolt of energy shot from her own fingers hitting Racquel squarely in the chest. Taysia saw the other woman’s health bar drop almost imperceptibly. She did it again. Unleashing as many bolts as she could until a warning flashed in front of her.
[Mana 0/120]
Racquel laughed.
Her health bar read 95%
Taysia leapt across the clearing slamming her fist right into Racquel’s face. The punch did almost no damage, but it felt satisfying. They tumbled around fists flying into each other.
[-3 HP (Racquel - Fist)]
[-2 HP (Racquel - Fist)]
Her bar flashed lower and lower.
“Stop!” a voice bellowed through the area that made her pause.
Racquel heard it too.
Isaac was standing above them, a fistful of each of their clothes in his hands.
“What is happening here?”
“She started it,” Taysia spat, blood dripped to the ground.
“I was merely teaching.” Racquel scrambled to her feet brushing dust from her clothes.
Taysia heaved a deep breath her skin still burned. She struggled with each breath.
“Racquel. I know what your teaching involves and usually I’m all for it. But, could you go just a little easy on this one?”
Racquel shrugged.
“Let’s call it a day on the training.” Taysia nodded eagerly.
“Come with me and I’ll get you cleaned up, then I thought I’d show you Athens. You ever been to Athens?”
Taysia shook her head. ‘I’ve barely left my house, let alone all the way to Athens.’
“Great.” Taysia grabbed the water bottle took a quick swig and spat more blood and water onto the ground before following after Isaac.
He led her to a quiet room, ‘Drink this’ She took the small stoppered vial from him and downed it in one gulp. Immediately the flashing red disappeared from her vision and her health bar shot up.
[Healing Draught – Potion
Value 10 gold
Rarity Common
Properties Immediately regenerate 10% health
Description
This healing potion will bump you up a little. You can find them everywhere. Nobody is quite sure what they’re made from, but they taste foul.]
Isaac’s eyes fixed above her head for a moment.
“Better take another one.”
Taysia gulped down the second vial.
[Healing Draught – Potion
Value 10 gold
Rarity Common
Properties Immediately regenerate 10% health
Description
This healing potion will bump you up a little. You can find them everywhere. Nobody is quite sure what they’re made from, but they taste foul.]
Her life total flashed in front of her eyes at 27%. She grimaced. It would slowly regenerate, roughly 1% per minute.
“Thanks for rescuing me, she’s been driving me crazy all day just throwing spells at me and expecting me to block them, but I just can’t get the hang of it.”
Isaac chuckled. “Important skill but kind of tricky to master. Here, let me try with something a bit less lethal and see if we can’t help you along.”
Taysia leaned closer, eager to finally learn something that would keep her alive. “Yeah, I’d like to know how to do it, since that fire was definitely not fun. I don’t want a repeat.”
“T
he trick is to anticipate what’s coming. Always be ready to block. I know I’m not an illusionist like you but, you should always have that word block in the back of your mind, ready to shout it at a moment’s notice. You’ll be able to cast without saying it eventually but it’s a good habit to get into anyway.”
Taysia nodded, internally she repeated the word, “Block. Block. B-lock.”
“That’s really the only trick. The timing can be tricky at first. If it’s something really close you just do it immediately. If it’s a little further away, I’d also do it immediately. For stuff that’s really far I usually wait a second or so. Unless it looks really fast.”
Taysia forced herself to concentrate. Isaac wasn’t a very good teacher but at least he wasn’t hurling bolts of energy at her when she didn’t even understand the basics of blocking.
“Okay, I’m going to throw something at you. Just this empty vial. It won’t hurt if it hits you. And you try to block.”
Taysia forced the word to the forefront of her mind. “Block, block, block,” the words cycled through her mind.
He threw it slowly as if aiming for a small child who didn’t know how to catch yet. Immediately she thought the word block. Then she said it.
Just as the vial would have hit her, a wall of smoke flew up in front of her. She could see the small vial disappear within it, dissolved, before the smoke dissipated.
“Very nice,” Isaac praised her. “Let’s try the other one.”
She nodded again. “Block, block, block,” it cycled through again.
This time she was quicker. The wall of smoke appeared a second before the vial reached it swallowing it whole. She smiled. He wasn’t such a bad teacher after all.
“Let’s try a real hit this time. I’ll go easy on you.”
Slowly Isaac raised his fist. Taysia briefly admired the flex of his muscles as they formed into a fist. At the last moment she remembered what they were doing.
“Block!” she bellowed.
The smoke halted the movement of his arm. It didn’t dissolve like the vials had but rebounded slightly as if the wall was solid.
He tried again, this time she anticipated his attack.
“Block,” she called out breathlessly and a second wall of smoke appeared to her right where his other arm was swinging around to clip her shoulder. Again his arm bounced off the smoke.
[Skill improvement: Block – Rank 2 (Novice)]
[Current block activated Wall of Smoke. Please see your character menu to change.]