by Cate Ryan
But they needed to know everything about the artifact and quick. There was no point pretending that Athens wasn’t the best place to do that.
Isaac led them to a house on the edge of town. It didn’t boast the size that headquarters did, but it came close. A nice little farm house with a private courtyard and some extra buildings that looked like barns and the like. Taysia could admit to being a little impressed, she didn’t know players could get their own houses in the game. She filed that new information away for later.
Isaac knocked on the door, but got no answer, he led them around to the side of the house. Hoping to catch sight of his friend.
Instead they came across a pretty, young human girl.
“Hello Isaac, Rufus isn’t home right now, but he should be in soon, would you like a drink while you wait?”
“Oh, that’s quite all right Daisy, we just wanted a chat with him.” He tried to sound casual, but truth be told he was a little worried the same thing had happened to Rufus.
“We’ll come back a little later.”
As they turned to go Taysia heard a little girl behind them, “Mama, did I hear uncle Isaac? Is he going so soon?” Taysia’s brain went into overdrive.
Isaac, answering a question Taysia didn’t even think to ask, “That’s Rufus’ wife, and his little girl.”
“Wait, what?” Taysia turned trying to glimpse the girl, what did her name say hovering above her head? Did she grow like a normal child would in the real world? At the same rate.
“I didn’t even know that was possible.”
Racquel chimed in, “I’d heard rumors, but I didn’t believe it. I guess some people really do spend all their time in here.”
“Speaking of.” Isaac turned to her. “You’ve been spending more time than usual in here lately. Usually you’re only in game a few hours a day.”
Racquel shrugged. “Well, my favorite streamer hasn’t been streaming much so I’ve been in here a bit more.”
Isaac shrugged.
“Now what?” Taysia asked. “Your guy wasn’t around. Where should we go?”
“I think there’s one other place we might try. Hopefully Aristotle isn’t in today because I don’t fancy a trip to the library with him there after last night.”
Racquel glanced between Isaac and Taysia but didn’t bother asking what had happened.
“You want to go to the library?” she said instead, “But it’s always so dark and musty there.”
“There’s a library here?”
“Yes, and it’s where we are headed. Sorry Racquel.”
She shrugged.
The library would not make it on to a list of must see Athens landmarks as it turned out. Just a single small building that barely housed the four of them. Each of its four walls was lined with parchment and hand bound books. The only decoration was a single table and chair.
Nobody else was there.
Blessedly.
“We should see if we can find any reference to it, or any reference to people not coming back.”
Taysia sighed. “Luckily it’s small or this could take a while.”
“How about I hang outside and check the wiki instead?” Racquel offered, she was hopping from one foot to the other in the cramped space. There were no windows.
“Sure. Sounds good. Do the forums too.”
She waved her hand to show her agreement as she slipped out the door.
Taysia sneezed repeatedly as the three of them pulled down books dislodging dust throughout the tiny room.
Taysia read the title of her book with a sigh, ‘Hellas animals and fauna’. It seemed unlikely to be helpful, but she flicked through the book anyway. As she flicked through the book, she read a few passages.
[Congratulations, you have learned a new skill
Herbalism – Rank 1 (Novice)
This skill is useful for crafting potions]
[Congratulations, you have learned a new skill
Fauna – Rank 1 (Novice)
This skill is useful for identifying fauna all over Pantheon]
[Skill improvement: Animal Handling – Rank 2 (Novice)]
This could be useful. She watched as more messages scrolled past finally -
[New skills – Herbalism and Fauna. 30 XP awarded]
[55 XP until next level]
[Skill Improvement – Animal Handling. 5 XP awarded]
[50 XP until next level]
“I’m not finding anything.” Taysia put the book she’d been reading back and grabbed another, ‘Important items in Hellas’
That might be more useful.
“Mack, describe the item to me again.” The little Minotaur looked out of place hunched over a book.
“It was round, with like a second ring on the outside. It was silver. And oh yeah, it had little symbols cut out of it. There were lots of them.”
“Yes, we tried to decipher them. But nobody could figure it out.”
Taysia turned back to the book in front of her and began flipping pages. Although she found plenty of very interesting items and things, she would definitely love to get her hands on, nothing that matched what the Stone Soldiers taken.
“Have you found anything yet?” Racquel poked her head inside an hour later.
Isaac shook his head.
“You?” Taysia asked.
“Bunch of assholes bragging on the forums using some pretty disgusting language that I would rather not repeat. No mention of the artifact. And nothing from any of the people who haven’t come back.”
Taysia wondered if that was significant, without knowing what had happened to them there wasn’t much to be done.
“What about this?” Mack asked, holding up the book he had been reading to show them.
“It’s a pebble that can trap someone in the afterlife. Whatever that is.”
“I mean, we’re not looking for a pebble,” Isaac reminded them.
“But, what if it’s true?” Racquel was curious. “That would explain why none of them have posted anything in the forums.”
Isaac nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, but we just don’t have any proof. Either way, I don’t think this is getting us anywhere.”
Racquel sighed. “Either way, I don’t think this is getting us anywhere.” Taysia breathed a sigh of relief and slapped her book closed without waiting to hear what the others thought. Another cloud of dust had all four of them sneezing.
“I’ve been trying to think of something for a while. And I think,” Isaac paused, “We need to capture one of them.”
“What?” Taysia and Mack yelled in unison.
Racquel came running back inside a questioning look on her face.
“He wants to kidnap a Stone Soldier,” Taysia explained quickly.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Racquel agreed.
Racquel looked to Isaac then back to Taysia. “You should let us do most of the work since you’re still so green. We’ll try to find a higher level one so they’re more likely to know something.” Taysia looked to Mack and they both agreed silently that the other two had gone completely crazy.
“How on earth are we going to find one alone?”
Racquel shrugged. “Easy, in my real life I know how to hack things.”
“What?” This girl was full of surprises.
“Yeah, I’ll just hack into the servers and figure out the location of a lone Soldier and jump back in the game and then we can head there. Grab him. Interrogate him and be on our way.”
Isaac nodded his agreement. “Great. Let’s do that. You got time tonight or do you need to log off?”
Racquel looked to Taysia and shrugged. “We can do it tonight. Better get these poor folks their accounts back.”
“Wait, if you can hack stuff why don’t you just hack in and reinstate their accounts?” Taysia wasn’t well versed in hacking terminology but if a user was locked out surely Racquel could fix that.
“I already tried. Last night when I logged off. I hacked in there and tried to find
the accounts of the people I know were there. They haven’t been locked out. I don’t know what’s happened, but they’re not locked out. It’s like their accounts are gone. But there’s no record of them being deleted. It’s strange.”
Racquel shrugged. “Weird,” Taysia agreed, secretly worrying that if her own account got deleted she’d be deleted along with it. She looked to Mack, what would happen to him if she was deleted?
“Okay, you log out and we’ll get ready to go.”
Racquel nodded. No sooner had they agreed than her from faded away in front of them as if she’d never been there.
“I’ve never seen it happen before.” Taysia was shocked.
In Shizuku Tani there were log off points. Nobody ever simply disappeared. You just walked through a log off terminal like you would through a door.
“Ah yeah, takes some getting used to.”
“Where did she go?” Mack continued examining the spot where she’d been. “And what did she mean about hacking and servers?”
Taysia turned. “Um well, it’s complicated.” Isaac shook his head warning her from explaining further. “She’ll be back soon.”
Mack nodded. “And then we’re going to get a Stone Soldier?”
“Well they are.” Taysia gestured to Isaac clarifying.
“We really need to get you more levels,” Isaac reiterated.
“I know. It’s not like I haven’t been trying. But there’s a lot happening.”
He nodded. “Well, tomorrow. Once we sort this out.”
Chapter 12
“Okay, you guys all know the plan?”
Mack nodded, his only task was to lure the Stone Soldier towards him. Racquel had found someone who’d been in the tavern the previous night and had been issued the same quest.
“All right.”
They were approaching the spot they’d planned for the ambush. The guy Racquel had found had been really close. Still within Athens but in a quieter area.
Taysia snuck into an alley way that Isaac pointed out taking up her position. It would be up to Racquel and Isaac to hide around the next corner ready to take him.
They waited.
They waited for nearly two hours.
So long that Racquel was tempted to leave and rejoin the game to make sure he was still around.
Taysia spent the time counting the bricks on the wall in front of her. The first time she counted 212 the second 213. She was midway through a third count at 108 when she heard a bang as the door next to her was slammed shut.
Then everything happened very suddenly.
She signaled Mack on the other side of the street. He strode out into the pathway and just as quick Taysia tried out her newest illusion skill by creating an illusory wall right in front of the guy as soon as he noticed Mack. The wall blended perfectly with the stone walls surrounding them. Unfortunately, a wall springing suddenly out of the ground did not fool him. He searched the area trying to find the source of the wall. His eyes landed on the alley way she was hiding in. She watched him advancing on her, her mind blank of all the spells she knew. She realized that Isaac and Racquel had both told her to put the wall around the corner where he hadn’t already been, but she had panicked.
Racquel and Isaac remained oblivious to how wrong things had gone for Taysia.
She glanced behind her trying to see if there was a hidden door she hadn’t noticed earlier or some other way of escape. A stone wall loomed nearly 15 feet high and buildings lined each side. Thick stone walls with no doors. She turned back, he had almost reached the mouth of the alley. She tried to get Racquel’s attention or Isaac’s but they couldn’t see her.
Her only choice was to run past him and hope he didn’t have much in the way of agility. She ran forward, looking braver than she felt and ducked as the reached him. He moved far too quickly and trapped her easily, her ear striking his wrist leaving a terrible banging in her head.
She cried out. Hopefully Isaac heard.
The guy wasted no time. His tag read Noah Level 182. She had no chance. She didn’t know how Isaac and Racquel were going to manage.
That was her last thought before his fist slammed into her face and she lost consciousness.
When she woke Taysia could remember everything that had happened. She’d never been knocked out before. She checked her health bar. Green and miraculously sitting at 100%.
That was the moment the system chose to send her a message.
[-3335 HP (Noah – Fist)]
[You have died. You will resurrect at your nearest fellowship headquarters or location set by you]
She looked around. She had not been resurrected at the headquarters, or if she had, they’d done some redecorating in the last few hours.
Everything she looked at appeared a disgusting shade of brown or gray. Clay walls the color of copper, dry dirt floors, and a smell that made her want to slice her own nose off. As if a thousand dead creatures decomposing just outside of her view. She screamed. Something scurried over her feet. Looking down she realized in a fit of terror that the giant brown thing was a rat and screamed again.
Then realized maybe screaming wasn’t the best idea.
“Isaac?” she called out quietly.
“Racquel?”
No answer.
“Mack?”
Finally, she heard a loud “Oof” as something nearby seemed to push itself to its feet. She prayed it was something friendly.
“Taysia?” The voice belonged to Mack though he sounded bigger than before.
When her eyes adjusted to the dark, she found that he now stood over six feet tall rather than his previous four feet, his horns had grown several inches, but his soft tufty fur remained unchanged.
“Wow.” No other words came to mind.
“What?”
His voice had deepened too. Perhaps the leveling only took effect on him when he did. Did that mean he‘d died too? What about the others?
She tried again.
“Racquel, Isaac?”
Taysia received no answer, so she turned back to Mack “Well, it’s just, you’ve grown. You didn’t notice?”
He shrugged looking down at his hide. “I guess I have. I thought you’d shrunk.”
Taysia laughed. “Well I guess I should stop calling you small fry. Come on, let’s go see where we are.”
She could only see one path to follow from their location. A deserted cavern. Luckily, they’d kept all their equipment. Down here they might need it.
[New Location Discovered – Underworld (Hellas). 15 XP awarded]
[35 XP until next level]
She pulled up her map, but it showed nothing. Wherever they had ended up, it hadn’t been mapped.
Mack took out several rats for Taysia who squealed every time they came across one. But otherwise they saw nothing else.
Until finally the path opened into a huge cavern. The smell intensified becoming even worse than the alcove they’d woken up in. A waft of hot putridness hit their nostrils. Taysia coughed, pressing her arm to her face to cover her nostrils as best she could. At first glance she’d thought the huge cavern was empty but on closer inspection it appeared to be filled with a lot of very still people. Suddenly a voice cut through the smoke filled cavern.
“Guys, it’s just the new girl. I think we’re okay.”
The voice sounded familiar, but it wasn’t until the man got closer that Taysia realized the man was a member of the Rolling Wave who’d been there at her breakfast. He must have been one of the men who’d been killed in the attack. Were they all stuck here? Wherever here was. Slowly dozens of people emerged from the cracks and shadows along the wall of the cavern.
They were all covered in dirt, soot and smelled as terrible as the rest of the cavern.
Most of them looked tired, hungry and generally unhappy with their lot.
“What are you all doing down here?”
Taysia dropped her arm to her side, she found that if she took shallow breaths, the smell wasn’t so bad.
“Well, I’m sure you know the Stone Soldiers made an attack on HQ by now?”
The man’s tag identified him as Nolan level 43. Not too shabby.
Taysia nodded, as did Mack. “Well, they stormed the gate and those of us on watch got slaughtered immediately. Those of us who weren’t, grabbed whatever weapons we could lay hands on and tried to fight them. I don’t know how they did it, but I’ve never seen players that strong. Even the low-level ones. We managed to kill a couple of them. Or we thought we did but I’m sure I saw them wandering about again a few minutes later. Like they’d just reanimated.”
“I got done in the first few minutes of the fight, some of these guys say it lasted hours but between you and me,” his voiced dropped to a whisper, “It probably didn’t last much longer after I went down. If you ask me, they shouldn’t have been that strong. No way. They didn’t even have great items to buff them.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t explain why you’re all here instead of back at HQ. We waited for ages. Now correct me if I’m wrong since it’s my first time dying but Isaac says when you die, you’re meant to regenerate at your HQ. The message I got when I woke up said you could set your point other places though.”
“That’s right. We should’ve all woken up at HQ once the fight ended. Instead we woke up here. As if someone had changed the coordinates and moved our spawn points to Hell. That’s where we are by the way. The Underworld. You know, Hades and all that.”
“Great.” Taysia sighed. As if her day couldn’t get any worse.
“Oh, and another fun thing. If you die down here. That’s it. Your character gets deleted forever. Permadead.”
“Even better.”
“Same goes for logging off. I think a few people tried.”
“Fantastic,” Taysia groaned. They needed to get out of Hell as soon as possible. If she died down here, she’d die forever.
Not an option in her eyes.
“Okay. So, where’s Hades? Let’s go ask him to let us go home?”
“No can do.” Someone from the back of the group piped up. We’re relatively safe in here. We cover the entrances and kill anything that wanders in. But out there. Who knows what we’ll find. I checked the forums and there’s people who came down here for the laughs early on and they had an awful time of it. None of them ever made it out alive. Well, their characters all got deleted. There are awful creatures down here. One guy swears he found a level 2000 monster. It didn’t even have a name.”