Olympus

by Cate Ryan

  Mack was next to her, excitedly wandering the tiny cabin.

  “I wonder if we’ll meet Zeus,” he asked Taysia.

  “I really hope we don’t little guy.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he did some pretty awful things to a lot of people and he’s very powerful.”

  “Oh, okay.” Mack turned back to the group.

  Chapter 19

  “Holy crap. This place is even bigger up close.” Taysia climbed on deck to see that even here they were in the shadows of the giant mountain. She shivered. It would take ages to climb up that thing.

  [New Quest – Find materials to craft rope and pitons for climbing

  Reward – 75 XP]

  [0/12 Cotton

  0/50 Iron

  0/25 Wool

  0/20 Reeds

  0/25 Food]

  The list seemed random.

  She looked around. She could tell that some of it would be easy like the food. But other bits would be hard.

  Racquel grinned. “Pretty sure I’ve already got all of that.”

  As Racquel began crafting, the quest became complete. With the bump in XP a second notification scrolled across Taysia’s display.

  [Congratulations – You have reached Level 14

  You may choose between INCREASED MANA or INCREASED STAMINA

  705 XP until next level]

  The choice was a no brainer for Taysia. She selected IMPROVED MANA and watched as her began to fill to the new level.

  “Well, let’s start heading up then.” Isaac seemed less sure of himself now that they were there.

  They spent much of the morning searching for a good spot to begin their climb. It didn’t look like enough rope, nor did it look like enough pitons. Nor did Taysia like the idea of climbing up the side of a giant mountain with nothing but some pitons and rope.

  Now she definitely needed that agility snack from the giant octopus.

  They finally settled on a spot that seemed to have both plenty of hand holds which Taysia liked, and plenty of rest spot in the form of little rocky sections which suited all of them.

  “We should camp tonight then head up tomorrow.”

  That was Racquel’s argument. “We’ll never make it to the top before it gets dark and we can’t climb in the dark.”

  “Maybe we can find somewhere part way up to camp.” Isaac wanted to get started right away.

  “I think I’m with Racquel on this one. I don’t want to wake up and fall off a mountain.” Taysia shivered at the thought. She still wasn’t convinced they could climb the thing in one day, but it seemed better than having to camp on it for sure.

  Isaac shrugged. “Okay. But we should spend the afternoon leveling you up. How much til your next level?”

  He turned to Taysia, she didn’t need to check her character screen.

  “705.”

  “We’ll go hunting. I don’t like to hunt for sport. but these are desperate times.”

  “I’ll come with you.” Mack agreed.

  Racquel nodded. “No way you guys are leaving me here alone.”

  As a group they began the search. Old school gamers might have called it grinding, Taysia called it boring. He was right though. Any levels she could get would be useful. At 20 she would get access to some of the more advanced skills. That seemed like something she wanted.

  Isaac was quick to point out anything she could take out to potentially get her a few XP. They were lucky enough to come across a few larger creatures bears and such which granted her some extra XP.

  By the time night fell they still hadn’t made a camp site and she still hadn’t gotten a level. What they had done was load up on enough meat to last them until next year which was good because Taysia was pretty sure it would take them that long to climb Mount Olympus.

  She had the same dream that night. She climbed and climbed but never got any further from the ground.

  For her watch she found herself constantly moving her head to look at the giant stone surface looming above her, or trying her best to look anywhere but at the giant stone looming above her. She had one small issue. A minor thing really. She really didn’t want to climb it. She’d never been fond of heights. She didn’t mind living in a tall building so long as she didn’t have to go outside. She wouldn’t say she hated it as much as she hated rats but what she knew was that the idea of climbing a giant mountain terrified her. The only upside, if she fell, she’d probably just respawn at the headquarters. She supposed that counted as a good thing.

  She looked up. She couldn’t see the peak, it disappeared above them into the clouds. Maybe it snowed up there. She’d never seen snow. She hoped there would be snow, that might just make the climb worth it.

  They waited until they’d all eaten before strapping on packs the next morning. Taysia voted to go second where she couldn’t back out at the last moment. Racquel climbed up ahead of her. Somehow, she had skills in that too.

  They’d barely started when she got a notification

  [Congratulations, you have learned a new skill

  Rock Climbing – Rank 1 (Novice)

  This skill is useful for using climbing gear effectively and scaling vertical surfaces. At higher ranks you may be able to scale some surfaces without climbing gear.]

  [New Skill (Rock Climbing). 15 XP awarded]

  [290 XP until next level]

  They were about to begin the climb when 12 Stone Soldiers came out of seemingly nowhere. The first sign of trouble was an arrow that whooshed past Taysia’s head without landing. Immediately her mind came to the rescue.

  “Block.” The shield appeared in her hand. She turned. She’d already attached to the rope. So had Racquel. Thankfully all their attacks worked at range.

  She heard the whoosh of Racquel’s fireball and created one of her own sending it flying into the nearby forest where she thought the arrow had come from.

  [25 damage to Knight (Fireball]

  [23 damage to Shorn One (Fireball]

  Isaac and Mack had spread out. One to the left and one to the right. Each one seemed locked in a battle with a single Stone Soldier.

  “You can’t go up there.”

  The Stone Soldier in question looked young. So young that he was barely tall enough to see over the bushes. He sounded like a child issuing an order. Because he was.

  Taysia didn’t want to hurt him. But she had no choice. It was them or her and she preferred them. She threw a bolt of energy, her fireball remained on cooldown. His health bar dropped a few percent.

  [9 damage to Knight (Bolt of Energy]

  A fireball from her left dropped it to 0. The child fell to the ground.

  [Knight has been defeated. 20 XP awarded]

  [270 XP until next level]

  There were still 10 of them around the place. Three huddled together with bows and arrow and at the ready. Ready to launch an arrow at Isaac who flipped about acrobatically, landing kicks left and right on the heavily armored character in front of him. The armored man moved sluggishly compared to Isaac and it seemed there would be no competition between the two. At least, that would be true if the man’s health hadn’t decreased so slowly.

  Racquel realized it first. “Isn’t that the guy from Athens?” she called out.

  “Oh no.” Taysia looked, he didn’t look familiar, but she hadn’t gotten a good look at him.

  “You need to take care of it,” she told the more experienced wizard, “It’s complicated.” Racquel gave no indication that she’d heard Taysia but a moment later she flicked a crackling fireball towards the man.

  She headed over that way casting a fireball that seemed to only target the knight Isaac battled. That was very cool.

  Taysia sent another fireball bursting towards the archers. It landed right where she’d hoped, dropping each of their bars by 25%.

  [22 damage to Archer (Fireball)]

  [24 damage to Archer (Fireball)]

  [26 damage to Warlock (Fireball)]

  She flung a bolt o
f energy left to the player Mack battled with before another fireball to the clump of archers. Another 25% disappeared from their life bars.

  She did the same again. Bolt of energy to the left.

  [12 damage to Knight (Bolt of Energy)]

  [10 damage to Archer (Bolt of Energy)]

  Fireball center. One of the players had jumped away and she missed them. The other two were hit with another 25% drop.

  [23 damage to Archer (Fireball)]

  [24 damage to Warlock (Fireball)]

  She chanced a glance to where Racquel was sending fireballs at the knight. His health continued to drop slowly. Too slowly for Taysia’s liking. Clearly Isaac had realized who he was fighting, and his heart wasn’t in it anymore. His own health had dropped to just 20%.

  “Isaac.” Taysia called to him, she didn’t know what came next, but he caught her eye and understood.

  The time had come.

  It was his brother, but he needed to get to the top of the mountain. He performed a particularly spectacular flip and got out of the way of the knight for a moment to catch his breath before flipping back in as his health regenerated to 25%.

  Taysia turned back to her own fight. Mack had finished dealing with the knight to the left and had moved onto one of the archers. Taysia sent another ball of fire towards the other two. Dropping their lives to just 1% each.

  [24 damage to Archer (Fireball)]

  [22 damage to Archer (Fireball)]

  She flicked a bolt of energy towards the nearest one who looked ready to fire his bow. Instead he dropped to the ground.

  [11 damage to Archer (Bolt of Energy)]

  [Archer has been defeated. 20 XP awarded]

  [250 XP until next level]

  She waited a second for the bolt to come off cooldown before flinging another towards the other bowman.

  [12 damage to Archer (Bolt of Energy)]

  [Archer has been defeated. 20 XP awarded]

  [230 XP until next level]

  He dropped to the ground too. Satisfied she turned her attention to Isaac. The battle continued but now his brother had dropped to 20% life too. Isaac’s had regenerated back up to 30%. She smiled. That was a good start.

  She wanted to help but couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t hit Isaac with the way he flipped around.

  Instead she scanned the forest for anymore enemies hiding there.

  She caught sight of a single figure waiting in the forest. Waiting for what she didn’t know.

  Before she could send a bolt of energy or fireball his way he disappeared. She didn’t catch a good look at him, but she could have sworn he was familiar. Patrick maybe.

  She sunk to the ground. The rope around her waist pulling her closer to Racquel. Her body sagged with exhaustion. She waited for the others to finish the fight. She hoped they could handle it. The one Mack battled went down first. Then finally, it was Isaac’s brother. She watched as a pained expression came over Isaac as the body crumpled before him then disappeared.

  “I’m sorry.” She could see his lips moving but he spoke so quietly that she couldn’t hear the words.

  Racquel scanned the area for any other enemies too.

  “Pretty sure we got them all.” Taysia told her.

  “What was all that about?” Raquel gestured to Isaac who still looked very upset by the whole situation.

  Taysia looked to Isaac. “You better ask him. It’s not my place.”

  Isaac looked up, having heard the exchange. “He’s my brother.”

  “Wait what?” Racquel looked to Taysia. She nodded.

  “We don’t talk.”

  “I’d say that is an understatement. I think it’s time you both tell me what’s happening here. Because I know there’s something weird happening. You two literally never log out.”

  “Neither do you,” Taysia pointed out.

  “True. But I think there’s something going on here. And you. How did you get a companion? You’re not even level 20 yet.” She gestured to Mack.

  “It’s complicated.” Taysia told her.

  “Complicated. Yeah right.”

  Racquel waited for Isaac to answer. “We can’t.”

  That was it.

  “Well then I don’t think I can help you get to the top of Mount Olympus.”

  “Don’t be like that Racquel.”

  “Well, you two are keeping secrets.”

  Racquel turned away from them. Mack shrugged.

  “I wish I could tell you. But I really can’t.” Taysia settled next to the taller woman. They were still attached by the rope.

  “Please, I promise that if I could tell you, I would.”

  Racquel looked up, studied Taysia’s face and seemed to realize she spoke the truth.

  “Man, what have you guys gotten yourself into,” her voice softened, “It must be pretty bad if you’re not allowed to talk about it.” She stood up and returned to the wall dropping the subject for the moment.

  She pulled on the rope feeding it through the knots she’d already tied to herself and Taysia. She appeared satisfied and began the climb hammering pitons as she went. Taysia looked up. Wished she hadn’t. Took a deep breath and started up the rock face behind her, careful to step exactly where Racquel did.

  As they finally reached the top Taysia received a notification

  [Skill improvement: Rock Climbing – Rank 4 (Novice)]

  [Skill Improvement (Rock Climbing). 15 XP awarded]

  [185 XP until next level]

  As they had ascended the wall, she’d felt more and more confident in her climbing and footing, whether because of the increased skill or simply repetition she didn’t know. Plus, she hadn’t fallen off.

  She got her first look at where the Greek gods resided. It was every bit what she’d expected.

  Giant stone pillars. White marble floor. The area they’d emerged in seemed to be some kind of outdoor garden filled with green plants that didn’t seem like they should be able to survive in the Greek climate but thrived inexplicably. Silence. Not even the chirp of birds or rustle of leaves. Taysia was exhausted, she bent forward gulping in as much air as she could. Desperate to rest her tired muscles. Many times she’d had to stop for her stamina to refill. Her arms ached. Her legs shook. She needed a snack. She checked her inventory, glad for the stacks of meat they’d killed and found the previous day. After a piece of bear meat, she felt lots better though her current stats didn’t really explain why. Only her stamina bar hadn’t refilled entirely.

  She had expected to find gods lazing about all over the place, but they saw nobody. Not even a Demi God wandering the gardens.

  She looked around not seeing where to start on the hunt for the weapon. There was plenty that was gold around the place. Ornamented statues with gold plating. Vases. Tapestries draped on the wall.

  She looked to Racquel and Isaac. Did they know what they were doing.

  “We need to find whatever the Mount Olympus version of an armory is.”

  Immediately her quests updated

  [New Quest – Find Mount Olympus Armory

  Reward – 100 XP and possibly unique item to defeat Stone Soldiers

  Bonus – 100 XP if this quest is completed without being seen]

  Interesting. That was the first time the quest log had offered her bonus XP.

  “I’m going to try to keep an illusion covering me and Mack. You do the same?” She turned to Racquel. The woman nodded.

  “I’ve only got very basic skills in illusions, but I’ll give it a shot.”

  Around them the gardens rose in lush green leaves and vines, winding stone paths laid out between the exotic plants. The distant sound of running water muffled their footsteps.

  “We’ve been here before,” Mack whispered as they turned left on to yet another path surrounded by plants. They shared a quiet groan of frustration as they continued.

  “How about you lead us?” Isaac suggested to Mack.

  The Minotaur made his way to the front of the group and followed th
e path until they found the next intersection. He paused before continuing onto the left and after a few more turns which Taysia could not remember they came across an enormous marble archway which led into a long hallway. They still hadn’t seen anyone else. She supposed that it was rather a large structure for just a few gods. There weren’t that many Greek gods. She could think of only about five.

  She nodded. Maybe getting that bonus XP wouldn’t be so hard. Even though it was still some time away, she’d already begun thinking about the new path she would choose at level 20 that would unlock improvements to a selection of her abilities.

  Their footsteps echoed on the polished marble floor. The first room they came to had no label on it. Was it a bathroom or an armory? Zeus’s private chambers? Only one way to tell.

  Isaac opened the door carefully. Taysia created an illusion to make it look as if the door remained in place. Only she could see through it. It wasn’t Zeus’s private quarters. But it wasn’t empty either. She gestured for Isaac to close the door again. Quietly.

  At the next room they tried the same thing. A slow door open as Taysia created a realistic illusion of the door. Again, the room wasn’t empty, but it didn’t belong to Zeus. She saw no sign of a weapon. Just a woman straddling a man in what appeared to be quite a marathon session of lovemaking.

  She gestured for the door to be shut again. Isaac pulled the door slowly, careful to keep quiet. She could not erase that image from her mind. Of course, neither of them actually existed which helped a little.

  She looked down the hallway, only a hundred identical doors left.

  The next one appeared similarly occupied. The one after, another chamber sat completely empty.

  “We should search it.” The search turned up nothing of note though. Just a few items that Taysia had no idea ancient Greeks had access to What she surmised from this little excursion was that the ancient Greek gods were a bunch of horny bastards. They had never taught her that in school.

  She was surprised they hadn’t seen anyone in the hall yet.

  But, she thought it a second too soon as a door up ahead swung open. Exiting the room was a woman, clad in a simple green dress she looked more like a nymph than a god. Nestled in her arms sat a small creature. Mousey brown hair tied in a bun atop her head, she approached without noting the visitors. As she approached Taysia managed to read her tag [Artemis – Goddess of Nature]. The creature in her arms looked to be a tiny wolf, suckling directly from her breast.