Chapter 74: On The Move

One of my readers recently wrote to me and asked:

“Why is it that Killhiem has such a terrible reputation? Is it the weather, the people, why? I have been wanting to visit after receiving my second contract mark but have been advised by close friends that only fools stay there for longer than a few days.”

Though I have written at length about the northernmost area of Esem, Killhiem, I realize that I have not covered much about the general atmosphere which new players experience upon their first visit. Killhiem is a cold place; one which is proven by it’s frozen lakes, icy tundras, and hardened NPCs who call themselves Vikings. The world is constantly in upheaval as the NPCs vie for the dominance of their clan, and this can cause precarious traveling situations for new players.

Killhiem is less inviting than Tangamar, more fierce than Avalon, less cultured than Nabonoban, and incredibly prehistoric compared to Great Nexia. It is known to have the roughest training area (which is atop a towering mountain) and the highest mortality rate for players who spawn there. Put all these aspects together, and, indeed, even a player with several contracts should hesitate before embarking off alone to Killhiem.

Though it has been my life’s work to bring the beauty and wonder of Killhiem to Esem, I feel it my duty to also inform my readers of her particular pitfalls. Killhiem, indeed, has a “terrible reputation,” but also a terrible beauty which can only be experienced by those who dare to sail her seas and travel her cold landscape. To add to that, here is a list of things one should NEVER do while there:

1. Mock the Viking NPCs

2. Overfeed the Kelyshendrils

3. Drink with the Vikings

4. If you do drink with the Vikings, see number 1

-From the aily column of Oratil Melrose, Esem Monitor

It was a long way to Outpost Jade.

Shortly after concealing Argo’s body, Chase and the others had quietly left the village. None had been around to see their actions and thankfully few had seen them leave. It hadn’t been until until they were well down the road that Chase had spied the last person he had wanted to see.

“Where you off to?” Meredith had said listlessly. She had dark bags under her eyes and had appeared to be recovering from an endless amount of crying. The rest of her guild stood around her on the path. “You guys quitting the tournament then?”

Chase had done his best to skirt around their reasons for leaving. Clark had looked suspicious, but too haggard to put up a fuss. Hackney and Seb both barely said a word and only limply waved their goodbyes when the two guilds departed. As the Banes watched Young Valorous continue on down the road Alex had sighed.

“What?” Said Brent.

“This might be the last time we see them,” said Alex, still staring down the road as the other guild disappeared around the bend. “I wish we could have told them goodbye.”

“Don’t think that way,” Claire had quickly said. “You don’t know what will happen once we get there. Perhaps we find a way to free Amelie and Thomas.”

“I seriously doubt—.”

“Enough,” Chase had said. “No more gloomy talk, okay? Claire is right—-we don’t know what will happen. I think we got a good chance of getting our friends back.”

The three fighters had looked at him with a mixture of incredulity, doubt, and sadness, but Chase met their reactions with a smile and tried to sound as confident as possible.

“Banes! Move out!”

They muttered some but overall looked marginally more confident as they continued on down the road.

Now they were well down the road, and if Chase’s memory served him correctly then they would be at the outpost slightly after 12 o’clock. The tournament in Birchtown would soon be resuming and the females would be fighting. Despite everything that had happened Chase wished they had at least gotten the chance to finish the tournament. They had trained so hard for so long only for it to come to this, that it felt like the worst joke possible that AION could play.

“Chase?”

“What’s up, Brent?”

“I forgot to tell you, but I spoke to Christie this morning.”

“Really? She was at the Inn?”

“No,” said Brent, shaking his head. He sounded hesitant to talk about it. “Actually I left. I didn’t want to see Daniel while he...you know...and so went to a cafe. You know, the Noble Brew.”

“Oh yeah? Isn’t that the one with the pretty Pyromancer?”

“Um, yeah, that’s the one.”

“I used to think she was crazy for wanting to start over,” said Chase. He snapped his fingers. “Robin! I nearly forgot her name. Guess she had the right idea all along. I heard her coffee is nearly as good as her fireballs.”

“I didn’t really like it,” said Brent. “But Christie came in and we had a chat, I guess.”

“Interesting,” said Chase. He thought once again of the last time he had spoken to her-as Chase, and not as Spade. He remembered them having an argument but over what he could not recall. “And what stupid thing did you say?”

“Huh?” Brent pulled up short. “How did you know?”

“She has a way of doing that.”

“Oh, well, yeah, I did say something pretty dumb near the end.”

Alex chortled.

“I bet he asked her out.”

“What!” Brent spun around, his face red. “I did not do that!”

“Bet you wanted to,” said Alex, still laughing. “C’Mon, admit it. You’re obsessed with her.”

“Alex! I...,” Brent slapped his own face in frustration. “First of all, she is an Old Guard, and not someone who I could ever be with. Second, she is older than Chase—.”

“Hey, I’m not that old,” protested Chase.

“And third, one of the oldest rules for a guild is to never date or marry someone who your guild mate has been with. It’s like ‘being a guild 101,’ Alex.”

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“Sure,” said Alex, shrugging his shoulders. He still seemed amused but at Brent’s reaction toned down his response. “What do you think Claire?”

Claire had been standing there with her arms crossed the entire time, and did not seemed happy.

“Brent was trying to tell us about what they talked about, Alex, please let him continue.”

“Fine,” said Alex, rolling his eyes.

“As I was saying,” said Brent, venom in his voice. “She told me about how you and Karkren messed with Mack the Tooth and how he got his name.”

Memories of the old days came back to him in a rush. It was like a dam being opened and the waters coursing through his memory.

“I hadn’t thought about that for years,” marveled Chase, hand on his chin. “I forgot we teased Mack. I wouldn’t have done it if Karkren hadn’t have had my back. Of course it had been my idea.”

“What did you do?” Said Claire curiously.

We probably don’t have the time, but they look like they could use some distracting, thought Chase. He signaled for them to keep walking and told them the story as they continued down the road.

“Mack had a huge chip on his shoulder when he joined us,” said Chase. “He had been a Deadly Solo for years, but capped out around his fifth contract. He was known far and wide for being a ferocious player, and must have gotten on Solomon’s radar because one day he told us that we were going to meet the newest addition to the guild.”

“That must have not happened very often,” said Brent.

“Almost never,” said Chase. “Anyway, turned out Mack was doing time in a player jail for...I can’t remember now. I think he killed someone, or maybe a lot of people. And it wasn’t a regular jail like Astor was probably in—the kind that are ran by the NPCs of one of the major cities. This was Abogandor, the prison of the Waste.”

“Abogandor?” Said Brent suddenly. He sounded shocked. “I read about that place. It was the Dark Lord’s private prison for high level players.”

“Yes,” said Chase. He remembered marching through through the scorching desert of the waste and wondering why Solomon had been so set on freeing this criminal. “It was just as bad as you have read about, I am sure. It was guarded by the nastiest monsters you have ever seen, and even had a battalion of human players loyal to Lord Oscuro. It was dismantled after we defeated him.”

“Sounds lovely,” said Claire dryly.

“Mack was the first successful escape in the prisons history,” explained Chase. “It took all of us working together to get him free, and then we were pursued for years over the breach. That’s a whole story in and of itself, but the reason we pranked him was because—despite us freeing him, mind you—Mack was the most arrogant player you could ever imagine. He refused any basic responsibilities and even talked back to Solomon constantly. Of course, Solomon would just slap him unconscious when that happened and so he turned his ire upon me.”

“Glad none of us are like that,” said Alex.

Chase could feel Claire rolling her eyes.

“Right,” said Chase, continuing with the story. “Anyway, I guess Christie told you we painted his face and how everyone called him Mack the Beauty for years?”

“That’s what she said,” confirmed Brent.

“Heh, well she doesn’t know the half of it,” said Chase with a chuckle. “Karkren had refused to help me prank him for a while, until one day Mack turned his attitude towards Karkren. I think the words Mack used were: “How can someone so strong be so ugly?”...something like that. Karkren, for all his natural gifts, was always very self conscious about his looks. He’s a big, strong guy but his weakness is his vanity. Anyway, finally he was ready to help me. Karkren knocked him out and then together we painted his face.”

“Yeah,” said Brent with confusion. “That’s what Christie told me. And then one day he bit someone’s arm off who called him that and his name was suddenly changed.”

“Ah,” said Chase, all of a sudden feeling some chagrin. “I wish I could forget that moment. Yes, he did do that, but it wasn’t just the make up and the name. After we had painted his face, and he was still unconsciouss, Karkren decided we go the extra mile and take some pictures of him. We had to use some tape to open his eyes, and put sticks in his mouth to make him smile. It was rather disgusting work, but after we had the picture, we sent them to a now defunct publication called ‘Love Finder.’ It was a magazine that specialized in helping players find romantic partners who were having trouble with dating. We even wrote a profile for him and included the pictures to be published.”

“You didn’t!” Said Claire with shock. “Chase, that’s horrible!”

Alex and Brent were laughing uncontrollably.

“Amazing!” Said Brent.

“I can’t believe it!” Chortled Alex. “That is far and beyond the worst prank that Thomas has ever done.”

“Well,” said Chase, feeling somewhat proud. “Give him a few years.”

“I would kill you if you did that to me,” said Claire, shaking her head. Despite herself there was a small smile on her face.

“And I wouldn’t blame you if you did,” laughed Chase. “But it didn’t end there. His profile in ‘Love Finder’ was an instant hit. Every time we got our mail Mack would have a massive bag from the Gryphon Post of lonely men and women who were interested in him. This was on top of people now calling him ‘Mack the Beauty’, and it only enraged him to no end. He tried to get Solomon to punish us, but in a rare moment of humor Solomon thought it was the most funny thing he had ever seen. I think he laughed for weeks anytime someone brought up the situation, or the another giant sack of mail would come for Mack. Ah...those were the days.”

“Did he ever try to get revenge?”

“Not really,” said Chase with a shrug. “Solomon was well into his twentieth or so contract by that point, and Karkren was so close to OP that he knew messing with me would be the end of him. He took it on the chin and began to calm down. Well, I am sure when he bit that man and got a new name that helped a lot.”

“These are the things not mentioned in the books,” said Brent. Then he got quiet and glanced at Chase. “Actually that is why Christie got mad at me. I mentioned...something I had read and she said her life wasn’t something to be examined in a history book or something.”

“Sounds like her,” said Chase. He barked a laugh. “She never liked having her private business for the world to read. Fame wasn’t something she ever sought. Now, had you met Karkren or Mack they would probably stay up all night telling you old war stories. They loved the fame.”

“And what about you, Chase?” Said Claire.

“Me? Oh, fame was alright. It certainly opened up doors that would have otherwise remained shut.”

“You don’t feel like we are prying by asking questions, then?” Said Brent.

“Of course not,” said Chase with a wave of his hand. “Ask away. I am an open book—to you lot, at least.”

“Really?” Said Alex.

Chase saw they were coming close to Outpost Jade. They had passed a sign a few minutes before and now he saw the top of a caravan. Markon and the others were likely some distance beyond, and he wondered whether he would have time to send a letter. If possible, a letter to Ghelion would at least assuage some of his fears. If they died, then Ghelion would know what happened to them, and could at least have some closure if not satisfaction at the lost guild.

“Go ahead,” said Chase absentmindedly to Alex’s question.

“Ok,” said Alex hesitantly. “I’ve always wondered why you left Christie at the alter.”

Chase stopped in his tracks.

“Um, sorry I mean...” stammered Alex. The big boy was red faced and looked sorry to have asked.

“That’s so rude!” Said Claire. “Alex!”

“Sorry, I—,”

“It’s alright,” said Chase, shaking his head. “I suppose you all might be curious, after all.”

Maybe Christie is right about the frustration of having our lives in books, mused Chase. Long before he had quit the Old Guard to respawn he had done everything possible to forget about that time of his life. Despite all the years there as still a raw pain in his heart about his actions.

“I broke up with her...because...” Chase raised his hands. “Well, I figured what was the point? A marriage is just a symbolic thing in Esem.”

“What do you mean?” Said Claire.

“I mean, in the Old World, marriages always led to children being born. There was a real reason to marry a person. But in Esem, where people are spawned and not born, what was that point?”

Claire was looking at him with a mixture of horror and disgust.

“And so you left her at the alter?”

“Pretty much,” said Chase sheepishly.

“You couldn’t come to that realization before the wedding?”

“I mean, it had been on my mind.”

“Good AION,” said Claire.

“That is cold, boss,” said Brent. Alex was also nodding his head.

“Look, we got past it, and remained friends up until I left,” said Chase. “It wasn’t right what I did, I know that.”

The three fighters were silent a moment, and then Claire sighed and walked past Chase.

“Here’s the outpost,” she said. “Let’s get this over with.”

Indeed the outpost was near. Chase had never been to Outpost Jade, but it resembled the rest. Unfortunately he did not see a single Gryphon Post member but thought again about leaving a letter in their mail box. It was a risky idea, however, considering Markon could be watching them from afar. Suddenly he got a pit in his stomach and he wondered whether they might have heard them talking about being Spade.

“Who’s that?” Whispered Alex as they neared the caravan.

A man robed in black had stepped out from behind the stationary wagon. His hood was up and Chase could not make out his face.

“Maybe one of them came to meet us,” said Chase. “Hey you! Who are you?”

The man raised his hand and pointed a finger at them. A bright light suddenly appeared and Chase felt a well of energy pulsate at the tip of the mans finger.

“Duck!” Shouted Chase.

A laser shot from the man’s finger, obliterating everything before it.