“Ayerelia let him know that I was here and alone. And he came to help with the time dilation problem.”
“That was nice of him. -Wait does he like you?” She turned to me. “Are you blushing?”
“No, no. Just friends.” I smoothed my hair back and tried to think of boring things. Pale and cold cheek things. “I think we could have been good friends.” I looked over to where his bedroll had been, wishing he could have stayed a little longer.
“Well, he certainly is taller than me.” Rose muttered.
“What?”
“Oh nothing,” She bent down and gave Dekka and good fuffling of her scruff. “Shall we get going?”
“Where? Back to Bistmore?”
“We could. But then we would have to go all the way back this way. We should be closer to Mare’s Meet. It’s a large market town just north of her. Or so people told me.”
“Can we make it before you have to log off?” I hated backtracking with a passion, but having to wait for her to come back while I waited in a makeshift camp seemed far worse.
“We should. And being a bigger town than Bistmore, there is a better chance of finding what we need.”
“And just what is it that we need?” I asked and started packing up my gear.
“A wizard,” Rose said, hoisting her pack onto her shoulders and adjusting the straps until they sat comfortably over her new spooky black robes. “We need a wizard.”
I blinked, pausing in the middle of rolling up my heavy fur bedroll. “A wizard? Are we ‘Off to find the wizard?’” I half sang the last part at her.
She chuckled. “Maybe not the wizard, but a wizard. One that will sell an artifact imbued with necromantic mana. Like a battery for your leg.”
I finished tying off the bedroll and stood up. I braced myself for the drag, the heave, the dead weight, but it didn’t happen. My right leg obeyed instantly. I shifted my weight, and the knee locked. I flexed my quad, and the muscle engaged.
“A battery,” I mused, taking a test step. Then another. I did a little hop. “So, basically, I am going to be some sort of magical necromantic android?”
“Better than being a magical marionette,” Rose mused, “You need to self power,” leading the way out of the clearing.
“Would my leg start to smell and rot if you went away for too long?”
“If you didn’t have an artifact, probably?”
I thought about that. “Gross.”
“Very. So you have to be nice to me.”
“Hey, when am I ever not nice to you?”
Rose grinned over her shoulder and set out. We set a brisk pace leaving the campsite; we needed to get to the city before she had to log out. The forest quickly thinned out completely, and we were hiking across mountain scree as we climbed.
Walking was a bizarre, disassociative experience. My left leg felt everything. The sharp rocks through my boot sole, the ache of the incline, the stretch of the calf muscle. My right leg felt … nothing. It was like operating a machine by remote control. I knew it was moving because I was telling it to move, and I wasn’t falling over, but there was zero sensory feedback.
I stomped my right boot down on a jagged rock. Thud. Nothing. No pain, no pressure. It was like stomping with a prosthetic made of wood.
“You’re walking fast,” Rose noted, actually having to jog a little to keep up with my long barbarian stride.
“I don’t get tired on the right side,” I marveled, swinging the leg forward. “It’s like half of me really is a robot. I could march all day. I just have to remember to look down occasionally so I don’t step in a hole I can’t feel.”
“Great. A cyborg Barbarian. Just what the game needed. Maybe we can install a laser in your kneecap next.”
“Don’t tempt me. I’d use it to cook dinner. And would it be magic flame, I don’t think there is such a thing as a medieval laser.”
The hike grew harder as the morning wore on and the incline increased. We were heading north toward the coast, and the wind picked up, every now and then carrying the distinct, brine-heavy scent of the ocean over the mountain to us. The damp breeze was a welcome surprise in the thin, dry air. The path wound up the side of a grey granite mountain, hugging the cliff face.
To our right, the mountain shot up in vertical slabs of stone, imposing and cold. To our left, a sheer drop fell away into a ravine filled with mist and the tops of pine trees. The sound of our boots as they crunched on the loose gravel was loud in the empty air.
“So,” Rose shouted over the riding wind as it whipped around us, “Arjun. Did he build the … ah structure… in the latrine?”
“Oh, the toilet? Yes.” I blushed.
Rose grunted, adjusting her pack. “Show off. I could have built a toilet.”
“I bet you could. But I am not sure I would trust an undead toilet.”
“Hey but think of it. Bones would be way smoother than wood. And bonus, no slivers. And I’m sure I could figure out basic plumbing.”
I shuddered. “You make it sound so … biological. "
She paused, hopped over a fissure in the rock and laughed at me. “I’m just saying he just seemed very … attentive. For a guy who isn’t playing the game.”
“He’s a caregiver in real life,” I said, defending my friend. “It’s in his nature. He takes care of his mom. He saw a cripple in the woods and his instincts kicked in.”
“Mmhmm.” Rose didn’t sound convinced. “Well, I’m glad he was there. And I’m glad I’m here now. Walking beats toilets in the rock paper scissors of usefulness.”
“No,” I admitted, patting my numb thigh. “He couldn’t do this. You’re the only one who makes me whole, Rose.”
“Hey don’t go getting sappy on me; I have a reputation to maintain.”
I smiled. Dekka bumped up against me, seeing if I could carry her for a bit. I scooped her up. I should get a dog carrier for her. She looked happily around from the higher vantage point as I ferried her up the mountain.
We fell into a comfortable silence for a while, focusing on the climb. The path was getting steeper, and my left calf was starting to burn. My right leg felt fresh as a daisy, which created a weird, lopsided fatigue.
“Hey,” Rose said after a few minutes, her voice dropping lower. “About the email. From Aeven.”
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“Yeah?”
“I’ve been thinking about the ‘danger’ part. They breached protocol to warn you through me. So it could be has to be something external. If it was someone in the game, they could just do a server wipe. You’d just … turn off.”
“Unless I don’t turn off,” I said, the thought chilling me more than the coastal wind. “Maybe I would just reboot when it turned back on.” I thought about the void, where I could click yes. What if I clicked yes and nothing happened? “Or maybe I could get stuck floating in the void of nothingness….”
Rose shuddered. “Okay, new rule. We don’t talk about the void. But who would be looking for you? In the real world?”
“I have no idea. If my body is in a VR pod somewhere, I hope it’s in a secure facility.”
“Unless the people running the facility are the problem.”
We walked in grim silence after that. The idea that my physical body—my helpless, sleeping meat-sack of a body—might be at risk while I was traipsing around a digital mountain fighting six eyed beasts was a horror I wasn’t ready to unpack.
“Let’s just find the wizard,” I said eventually. “One problem at a time. Leg first. Existential dread later.”
Dekka gave a little sneeze
“Deal.” Rose agreed.
The path narrowed again as we rounded a sharp bend. We were high up now, high enough that the air was thin and crisp. The drop to our right was terrifying a straight shot down to jagged rocks and a thin ribbon of churning white water far below. It felt like we were walking on the spine of the world.
Dekka squirmed, so I let her down. She trotted ahead, her nose to the ground, tail wagging. She seemed unbothered by the altitude or the precarious footing.
It was nice to have my arms free for balance. The sky was so large from up here. Suddenly, Dekka stopped, and I almost tripped over her, so busy I was looking at the scenery. This game was so real at times. Too real during fights but stunning now.
Dekka began to growl, and I threw my arm out to signal Rose, who was coming up behind me, to stop.
Dekka's ears swiveled forward, and the fur along her spine stood up in a rigid ridge.
“What is it?” I unslung my shiny new war hammer, the unfamiliar heft of it settling into my hands. I moved in front of Rose instinctively.
“Movement,” Rose hissed, her hands starting to glow a sickly green. “Big. Around the corner.”
From behind a massive rocky outcropping, a shape emerged.
It was a goat.
But calling it a goat was like calling a dragon a lizard. And goats were kinda scary to begin with. I felt they always looked shifty, like they were planning crimes. The way their creepy eyes watched as they chewed their cud.
This one was the size of a small warhorse, covered in shaggy, dirty-white and maple coloured wool that looked matted with stone dust and moss. Its legs were thick as tree trunks, ending in hooves the size of dinner plates. But it was the horns that made my blood run cold, massive, spiraling rams’ horns that spanned four feet and narrowed to sharp tips.
It pawed the ground, stones cracking and echoing off the mountainsides like gunshots.
“A big fucking goat,” I said flatly. “I never thought I would miss slimes.”
“It’s a Crag-Horn,” Rose warned, her voice tight. “My party fought one, and it got me and a couple of others. Close to a TPK. They have a massive knockback ability. Do not let it hit you. If it rams you, you’re going over the edge.” She shuddered and moved so her back was closer to the cliff face. Then after a pause as she processed what I had said — “Wait, you faced slimes in here?”
I glanced to my right. The cliff edge was three feet away. “Right. No flying lessons today. “Yeah, a slime ate my hair once. It was a really bad day.”
Rose gave a look, and I think she was going to stay something, but the goat lowered its head, aiming at the smallest threat, Rose, and charged.
It was like watching a furry boulder accelerate. It moved with terrifying speed for something so bulky. And for all its hair, I bet it would feel more like solid rock when it hit.
“Dekkaaaa! I hope you are big. …. Intercept!” I shouted.
My dog didn’t hesitate. She blurred into motion, and she was already in full hellhound form. She slammed into the goat’s flank like a dark missile.
Thwack.
The impact knocked the goat off course, but it didn’t stop it. The beast stumbled, bleated, no screamed, and whipped its head around. One of the massive horns caught Dekka a glancing blow across side, sending her skittering backward across the loose stone. Thankfully, she wasn’t flung towards the edge.
Dekka! My heart sped, and my blood heated. “Hey! Mutton-head!” I roared, stepping forward, swinging my hammer around. “Over here!”
The goat’s long rectangular pupils locked onto me. It snorted, a puff of steam shooting from its nostrils in the crisp air. I could feel its rage. I could feel its thoughts all tangled up in fear and hate. I spared a thought to wonder why the beasts in this game were all so angry.
I was too focused on feeling its feelings, and it almost hit me with its horns. “Watch out!” Rose yelled and hit it with her [Life drain] skill. This caused the goat to slow briefly and shake its head as if it had just been stung.
I had to focus! I planted my feet. My job was to pull aggro, to be the shield for my friends. Bracing my left boot dug into the dirt for traction. My right leg was numb and unfeeling, and jammed into a crack in the rock like an iron piton. I bent my knees and swung my new hammer to keep the beast’s attention.
The goat stopped and looked at me. Then reared up on its back legs, lowered its head and, tucking its chin in, it lunged forward to ram me. At the same time, I swung my hammer.
The impact was incredible. Shockwaves travelled down my arms and all the way down my spine. But not in a bad way. In a way that made me feel powerful. I grinned. I hadn’t even used a skill; I had just wanted to try my new toy out. I swung it around a few times, and the goat backed off warily. The blow hadn’t harmed him, but I don’t think he was expecting me to face him head on.
Deciding I was too strong, the goat rocked back and spun on a back leg like one of those fancy western horses that intimidate cows, and rushed at Rose. Oh, no you don’t! I lunged forward across its back and grabbed it by the horns. My boots carved grooves in the gravel, and my body weight draped across it as I tried to hold it back.
Heavy as I was, the goat still managed to make headway. Dekka joined in and grabbed it by the throat, slowing it further but still not stopping it. The goat bellowed in pain. I was afraid to let it go so I could try to use my hammer. Without me holding it back, it would be on Rose in a heartbeat.
“Got any skills?” I shouted at the necromancer.
“Maybe! Can you break a leg?”
“Be ready to dodge towards the mountain!” I pulled myself across its back so that my legs were dangling on its left side, closest to the cliff, and let go of the right horn at the same time and leaned backwards as hard as I could. The goat’s head swung hard around to the left and with its momentum it was now dragging us to the edge of the cliff.
It slammed on the breaks and I let go and used [Crippling Blow] on its front right leg just above the knee. It screamed again, and now all I could get from the goat’s thoughts was incoherent rage.
“Now what?” I asked. But her hands were glowing and weaving a pattern in the air before her. The green light shot straight for the injured leg and disappeared into the goat.
The goat went rigid, as if shocked by pain or something deeper. I got no thoughts from its mind. The goat’s eyes looked glassy and vacant as it took one lunge forward.
Then, the life came back into its eyes, and its leg stretched forward. Its hoof found only air. There was a moment of suspension, where the goat seemed to realise what was happening. Its yellow eyes met mine, and the rage turned to fear.
Then, gravity took over.
It didn’t scream as it fell. It just tipped backward and vanished into the mist. A few seconds of silence followed, stretched taut.
Thud.
Then, the distant sound of a splash.
30XP!
I slumped against the rock wall, sliding down until my butt hit the dirt. My arm was throbbing from being yanked around, and my left calf was trembling from the exertion. My right leg just sat there, perfectly still, perfectly fine.
“You ok?” Rose asked, dusting off her knees as she walked over to the edge and peered down.
“Ask me in a minute,” I groaned and leaned against a wall of stone. “Dekka?”
Dekka walked over. A bit more slowly than usual and back in terrier form. I ran my hands over her. The thoughts I got were a bit about hurting, but far more thoughts were of the sheer joy of the fight and the triumph of the win.
“You’re a good girl,” I cooed, digging into my pouch for a piece of dried meat. “Brave girl. You get a whole steak when we get to town. And scritches. Lots of scritches.”
“That was close,” Rose said, stepping back from the edge. She looked pale. “Too close. If you hadn’t tanked that hit…”
“I’m heavy,” I said, patting my thick thigh. “Pros and cons of being a Barbarian, I don’t fly easily. But it was your move that got it. What was that?”
“Oh, I just got the spell of [Possess Mind] when I levelled up in the dungeon. I need to get into the bone or through the skull. Though creating an opening in the skull could be counter product.” Then she paused. “Or solve the problem. Depending on the situation. Anyway, I thought a broken leg could work.”
The three of us stared down over the cliff edge, each with our own thoughts. I was mourning the loss of the goat loot, which was probably currently being washed out to sea.
“I only have a couple more hours in-game time before I need to log off. We need to move.”
The path eventually began to widen. We were past the worst of the cliffs now. The trail cut upward one last time, aiming for the V-shape between two tall peaks that marked the pass.
“My map says the city is right on the other side of this ridge,” Rose huffed. She was sweating, her stamina bar likely dipping low. Mine, as usual, was still over three quarters full. “Come on. Almost there.”
We pushed hard for the half kilometre or so. My lungs burned, which was strange. Perhaps the air was thin? But the promise of a city—of beds, of food, of a wizard who could fix me—drove us on.
We crested the top of the pass, and the world fell away before us.
I stopped dead, my breath catching in my throat.
“Woah,” I breathed.
Below us, the mountain sloped gently down into a wide, verdant valley that rolled all the way to the sea. And there, nestled in the curve of a massive, crescent-shaped bay, was Mare’s Meet.
It was spectacular.