Duerlin gasped, breath coming in and out with a harsh burning. Smoke filled his lungs, sparks of fire began to singe his hair. The bombardment had leveled the entire area into rubble and sand. His high resistance to the heat and flame damage was probably the only thing that kept him standing. His health hadn’t bottomed out, but it was really close.
The first flame gate he had used brought him to the end of the ruined pier. He had hoped that was enough to escape the destruction raining down from above. As the ships that had been attacking began to turn away, several more incoming missiles fell in the water around the pier. Duerlin was forced to use the last of his stamina to use his fire gate one last time.
When he landed, he felt the rocking of the waves beneath him. The yelling of several people around him made him worried that he had been too rash in thinking he would be safe. He hadn’t any other choice though.
The rear deck of the fleeing ship was the only place close enough that was outside of the bombardment range. Several men and women stared him down, most kept at their tasks of making the ship sail, but he saw the hatred and alarm in their eyes.
Duerlin was wishing he still had that stamina potion he had used back in the Mandragola fields. His drained state made him an easy target who couldn’t fight back. He had basically jumped from the fire into the frying pan.
“Who’s this un?”
“Dunno, just appeared in a poof of smoke.”
“Looks like he’s about dead. Wonder if them imperials are launching soldiers at us from their big cannons?”
“Should we kill him? Might be a mercy at this point.”
“Fetch the captain, let her decide.”
Duerlin listened, too weak to protest. He knew he was a prisoner now, he just needed them not to kill him yet. With the rest of his party all dead from one thing or another, including his brother, the game had finally sent a notification to his hud when he got back to town. He hadn’t opened it until he was slumped on the ground hoping he had survived the port attack.
The flash of his screen pulling up a list of missed notifications gave him something to scroll though while he caught his breath. When he got to the one that told him he was the last survivor of his party and each of his party members' faces were all crossed out, he choked on the breath he took. They each had a line through the space that should be a countdown to re-spawn timer.
Duerlin almost gave up, but he knew his brother would be pissed at him if he quit now. With no re-spawn, this beta test was the only time they would get to see the way this game played out. The launch would be a complete restart, and all the beta testers would have a huge edge because of the knowledge they possessed.
Ling basically lived off the extra income he and his brother made selling their info. It was how he bought his hacked dive helmet. So he shoved the messages aside and made the decision to press on. The loss and pain in this game felt real, but his real self needed as much from his virtual self as he could give.
When the person who stepped in front of him pushed his head back, he saw for the first time a true horror. The eyes of a reptile looked at him from behind a little girl's face. Her devouring eyes looked straight into him, then down to his weapon, as if she was inspecting and knew what she was looking at. Was this an NPC, or a player?
“Bring him to the brig, I’m taking his sword.”
Her voice reminded Ling of home for some reason. At least she wasn’t killing him on sight. He’d have a chance to rest and heal, even if it was in a cell below a ship deck.
The girl, apparently the ship's captain, reached down and took the sword from his belt. She held it up and studied it for a moment before unsheathing the blade. Her eyes gleamed a soft yellow light as she appraised the naked weapon.
“Exquisite equipment. I’ll be sure it is kept safe.”
Her voice was the last he heard as three sailors picked him up and carried him away. They didn’t bother being gentle, bumping Duerlin into the walls and corners as they moved him like a broken sofa. Three flights of narrow stairs down into the belly of the ship, there was a dark room with large bars across the door. A small bit of water puddled on the floor, and the scent of decay and rotting was overpowering.
Duerlin was tossed in, landing face first in a puddle that tasted of salt water and fouler things. He sat up, hoping the numbness in his body would start going away soon. Pressing his back against the wooden wall, he felt the surge of the ship as it picked up speed and rocked in the waves.
Looking around, the darkness hid most of the room from him. A bucket by the barred door was the only other object he could see. Rest was first in his mind, if he was alone down here, then it would come quickly. He could take the time to let his avatar sit idle while he checked back in to see if his brother was in their room.
Duerlin activated the force override to his headset, allowing him to move his real body instead of the virtual body without quitting the game. Slipping the headset up and away from himself, Ling saw that very little had changed since last time.
“Tian!” He called for his brother, but there was no response. “Where did he go?”
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Ling spent a moment looking out the front door, then back around to the side window of their small apartment. The dark street was empty, a few trash cans scattered by the curb was all that sat outside.
He sat back down in his chair. The headset that was still running the new software from Valkerrah Games sat on his desk. The blinking lights on the side told Ling that it was still running smoothly. It was hooked directly to his main computer, which was running a record on everything that Ling experienced as Duerlin inside the game.
His brother Tian had one just like it. The headset was still blinking, he must have left it running when he went out. Maybe the game didn’t give you the no re-spawn notification right away and he had sat there waiting until he got hungry? Ling was tempted to look into his brother's headset, just to see what had happened to a character that had died.
He shouldn’t though, he would probably be seeing that screen for himself soon enough. Grabbing his own, he once again dived back into the virtual world.
The memory he was shown flashed across in what seemed like an instant. It was from a few months ago, and it had happened right here in this very chair.
“No way, who would trust you with a top secret confidential A.I. project?”
Ling smacked his brother softly. They had been gaming after a long day of coding, the last match they had played was just ending.
“Don’t tell anybody, but it’s a military prototype. It’s supposed to be able to anticipate large scale troop maneuvers or something.”
“I still think you're blowing smoke, but don’t worry, I won’t say anything to anyone. You know telling me a secret is the same as telling it to yourself.”
Ling smiled, knowing his brother would always have his back. They worked that way for each other. Tian could tell Ling anything and it would stay between them. Being twins made having someone to talk to a given for them.
“Even if you think it's smoke, no girls in the bedroom while I’m working this time.”
“Aw, come on. That was one time, and she had nowhere else to go.”
“That time I forgave you for, the second time you came home drunk with that tourist. That is what I can’t have while this project is on my computer.”
“You’re no fun.” Tian tossed his pillow at Ling, causing a huge collapse of figures from Ling’s desk.
Ling stared down at the fallen figures. Then he looked up at his brother, there were moments he wanted to scream at Tian. This time Ling just smiled, no real harm had been done, but he could use this to have some fun at his brother's expense.
“You are so gonna pay for that.” Ling tried to keep the humor from his voice, but some slipped in anyway.
His brother had held his hands up, then went screaming and running as Ling pulled the hidden water blaster out. Ling’s mind felt at ease with that memory. He and his brother always had something or another hidden around the house to attack with. Their dad had played pranks on them when they were younger, to them it was a way of remembering who he was and continuing the tradition.
As his mind came back into the game, Duerlin opened his eyes to see a familiar face, and another's enormous chest. SarthDarah’s flaming eyes lit up the dark enough that Jorn’s muscled chest was visible at her side.
There was somebody else standing behind them, a short woman wearing a suit jacket. Even with the light provided by Sarth’s eyes, he couldn’t make out who the person was.
“He’s awake!” SarthDarah shouted as she noticed Duerlin looking at her.
Jorn turned and kneeled down to get his face closer. Duerlin was still sitting in his meditation pose, but his eyes were finally open. SarthDarah was crouched beside Duerlin in a flash, her warm hands feeling at his head and wrists.
“He’s not fevered anymore, and his pulse is back to a normal rhythm. Duerlin, how are you feeling?”
“Fine, how long has it been?” Duerlin’s voice was strong.
SarthDarah relaxed and stood, Jorn let out a sigh of relief as he reached out to give Duerlin a hand up. They all looked at each other for a moment before Jorn answered.
“It’s been three days.”
Duerlin hadn’t been away that long. He had only had his headset off for a few minutes. How could three days have passed in the game? His face must have been showing his emotions because the two couldn’t hide their laughter anymore. Then the guild representative that they had dealt with back in that bar walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder.
“It’s only been a few hours since we were locked down here. You couldn’t have been here for more than a half hour before that. The town was destroyed, we were nearly overrun by the Mandragola, but a few survived. The military coming down from the mountains surly halted and was only there to prevent anyone from escaping the bombardment. How did you manage to make it aboard this ship?”
Duerlin’s mouth worked up and down for a moment, trying to process the information. Jorn and SarthDarah were doubled over laughing as he formed his answer.
“I used my Fire Gate, I had nowhere left to go. The town was being shelled, the buildings were all being smashed. The pier was the last place of open ground I had left, and then with no stamina remaining, I used the ability anyway. It shouldn’t have worked, the bar of stamina was clearly drained. It requires the energy in that bar to use Fire Gate, but I somehow managed to activate it.”
Duerlin was still questioning the answer himself. His use of any ability or skill was supposed to be limited to his available stamina and mana. Most of the abilities he had cost a huge amount of stamina. He had begun building his character to be an endurance and dexterity build.
Being able to push the limits of his character and activate Fire Gate when the programming should have disallowed it made Duerlin’s mind itch. What kind of game would do that? Was it just a glitch in that particular code?
“You’re starting to awaken more fully into your vessel then.”
“My what?”
“Your body. The thing you are consciously controlling right now. It has a pre-set limit and function, but your soul and mind are capable of pushing and rewriting all of it.”
SarthDarah and Jorn had stopped laughing, their prank over, they both stood around Duerlin and Kuru.
“You still haven't answered all of the questions I asked.” Sarth piped in.
“Yeah, and I know I’m not the brightest of the bunch, but I know that what you were saying earlier was more important than your letting on.” Jorn was staring Kuru down. (Which is easy since he’s a foot and a half taller.)
The guild representative didn’t flinch, just looked the big man in the eyes.
“Now that your third companion has rejoined us, I will answer all of the questions. And Jorn, everything I say is more important than you can know. I hope to enlighten you enough so that maybe you might know.”