The screaming didn’t help. Facing consequences from my half-hearted efforts had me so upset that the ARC actually started losing connection. A small message to one side advised me of stability warnings.
Shazam stood nearby. Her hands wiggled with a thumb up, one down, and the ‘which’ motion. I felt dizzy and she was moving too fast for my brain. My head hurt and heart felt heavy.
“Terrible. Terrible. It’s all wrong.” I muttered.
The admission actually made Shazam raise an eyebrow. I put up my hand to forestall any more questions. There was too much going on for me to handle explaining it to her on top of everything else.
I wrote a note to James and chewed my lip. ‘How can I fix this?’. The question should be right up his alley. I closed my eyes and counted, tried to remember dance steps, hummed, anything to distract myself from the recent clear failure. It felt like sitting in the van again waiting to identify Xin’s body. To be confronted with reality.
No. This was a game. Xin was dead. Yet, this was like holding on to her memories. Whatever. There was no sane way to justify myself to another human being. Any reasoning used would be the result of half desperate madness.
It was hard to decide if I was angry at the Voices for holding Xin’s recreation and memories over my head. Maybe it was self-loathing for failing. Or frustration at Requiem for being so god damned self-centered that he needed to bone everyone over to make a few dollars in the real world.
Heat fed back through my ARC letting me know about an incoming message. I jerked the tube’s lid off and ripped the page a bit while trembling. The note was short and came with a projection of James’ face.
Hermes,
I do not have an answer right now. Deliver your remaining messages if you are able. I will discuss with the others what options remain.
-James
Deliver the letters. Okay. I would hand them over personally if that’s what it took. If it helped Xin these scrolls would become suppositories for some poor soul. There were two still outstanding. Shazam and my autopilot must have taken care of the others.
My hand shook as player inventory was accessed. Two items still displayed with burning borders on the interface. I pulled them out both and let the Continue Online world provide me with a quest beacon.
Both were nearly in the same place. This might be possible. I would deliver the messages quickly. There was a battlefield between me and there. Most people were divided into two groups with scattered people in between.
“Goodness.” I really looked at the war in front of me for the first time. The scene was madness incarnate. There was a castle on one side that was clearly under siege.
Shazam plopped down nearby. I turned away from a field of people yelling to look at her.
“I need to get in there.” I pointed at the castle. My quest markers had clearly bobbed up and down over there. Katelyn and Cathryn were the intended recipients.
She nodded then shrugged.
“Are you going to help?” There were at least six creatures that looked like giants. From here only a few of them were obviously players similar to me. One had a pack of dogs swarming along a flank of the enemy attackers. Spell effects went off as enemy mages cast bolts at each other.
Her head shook back and forth in a negative. One finger pointed towards me.
“My problem, huh?” I tried not to be angry with her. Shazam had already done a ton for me as a player and my autopilot. There were a lot of little skill ups that had been gathered during my time as a [Red Imp]. Too many in fact, I was still trying flick away a sea of plus ones and minor rank increases.
Shazam nodded.
“Did the Voices tell you that?” I asked while popping away something about [Wilderness Survival] increasing.
She nodded again.
Great. I had failed to deliver on my second real quest with them. Finding another way through the problem had to be accomplished on my own. My weapon skills showed minor increases. [Blade Dancer] went up along with [Actor].
“Any suggestions?” I tried not to feel upset at gaining all these stupid [Actor] ranks for being a [Red Imp]. It felt like getting rewarded for failure. Or grade school all over again where the teacher very happily said ‘nice try’.
Shazam stood up and pantomimed swinging a bat. Armor jingled as her shoulders got into the motion.
“Go down swinging?” I looked away from my battle with the system messages to focus on her.
She shook her head again. Then one arced arm pointed far into the distance.
“Swing for the fences?”
She nodded and plopped back down again. All I had to do was deliver these messages and the Voices might provide me more information. Fine, I could do that. There was precious hope.
Dusk was conked out nearby. It was hard to tell why he was so exhausted. The little guy probably terrorized all the small creatures around here for days and decided to take a nap. Maybe he was in a depressive funk. I lifted him gently and handed the small [Messenger’s Pet] over to Shazam.
“Can you watch him for me? I, I’m not sure what will happen to him down there.” I asked.
Shazam nodded then shrugged. Her hand lifted and pointed downward a few times. It was hard to see the gesture passed these last few messages that had piled up.
“Yeah. I’ll clear these on the way. Maybe there’s something useful.” I held little hope that anything neat had happened.
Her answering thumb up was the only encouragement I got on the way down the hill.
I muttered about each silly message. There were bonuses to [Brawn] and [Coordination] among other things. Something in here mentioned a new skill being created called [Rage]. It was an apt response to my anger, but something about it felt decidedly high school drama.
That message went away as I neared the end of my pile. The last three made me stop in my descent and stare at the screen.
Ultimate Edition User Grant Legate,
It has been brought to the attention of our Problem Resolution Program that your character was somehow bugged or impacted by a systemic error.
Error noticed: Bi-Location
This error may have caused issues when attempting to log on to the world of Continue.
Since your autopilot was still in effect in both locations we have merged the [Bound] items stored therein. Certain traits and skills have also been migrated over to your primary character.
This error should not happen again. Thank you for your continued support of Trillium International and the world of Continue Online.
Note: This message is automated. Any responses will not be addressed.
- Trillium Problem Resolution Program
What in the name of all the Voices was this about? Was this their clever way of rewarding me for trying to play the [Red Imp]? My tube heated up and another message popped in from the Voices.
Momentarily the issue of Xin was set aside. I pulled out the message and read what it had to say.
HERMES!
ACT NOW!
Ignore him, Hermes. He’s just a little wound up if you know what I mean.
AWWW YEAH!
Anyway, we’ve settled on a reward for you earlier suggestion.
I’M ONLY WEARING A BOW TIE RIGHT NOW!
So I and Vlad worked within the tools allowed to us, to give you a little slice of your Spite character. I think he’s kind of cute too. I may find other uses for him later, but since you’ve lost control, he’s all mine now.
ENJOY!
- Jean, and Vlad
“Goodness,” I muttered. As with any message from the Voices, I actually got a projection of them talking. Vlad's was an image of him from the shoulders up. His arms were bound up high. Not to mention his words boomed and his pectorals flexed despite being strung up.
Jean wore those smoky clothes and waved her index finger at the other face. There was a bead of sweat on her forehead from who knows what. I felt kind of embarrassed just reading the message.
She could have Spite, or whatever the [Red Imp] was. As long as we stayed well away from each other it would be okay. Honestly, meeting my other character might be too weird. Or it might be kind of comical. Hermes versus Spite!
I shook off the momentary amusement and looked at the newest boxes that popped up.
Transferred:
* [Blink] Skill
* [Awareness Heightening] Skill
* [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift], renamed [Morrigu’s Echo]
* [Seer’s Tear] [Left] & [Seer’s Tear] [Right]
My jaw dropped. For a moment all thoughts of Xin and delivering the messages fell sideways out of my mind. The [Red Imp] hadn’t possessed much at all, but this was it. There was a faint sound as the game plopped items into my inventory.
I had no clue how to utilize two weapons for much of anything. Maybe Shazam could offer me pointers. For now the second weapon, now titled [Morrigu’s Echo] stayed in the virtual hammer space.
The two [Seer’s Tear]s were pulled out and looked at. These were certainly worth looking into. Having them might help me get this delivery quest done. If nothing else having [Blink] would make life amazingly easy. Though now I couldn’t fly so that would be dangerous too.
Their puzzle was simple. Bringing them together produced a slight glow. Pulling them apart dimmed both halves. I tried not to think about the fact that these objects had been inside a [Red Imp]'s digestive tract along with all the other terrible food Requiem fed me.
Both the [Seer’s Tear]s and their combined form melted in my hand. A warm tingle rippled through my body and arm. Vision blurred for a moment then something displayed.
I read the latest pop-up box in my wall of text. The window started out saying something simple like the message box had with [Howard’s Ring] it shifted to something else. In my mind, this was another cue of the Voices interfering or my status of being an [NPC Conspiracy] owner. It might also have to do with the old [Legacy Wish] that had come down from William Carver.
Skill Gainted Received: [Sight of Mercari] Rarity: Rare (Variant) Details:
Initial rank of [Sight of Mercari] allows the Traveler to see all sentient beings around them. This change in perception can be disorienting. As proficiency increases the skill will rank up allowing additional details to be received.
The variant aspect made no sense, but it sounded like the game was giving me a miniature map interface somehow. I tried to focus on activating it to see if using it now would be worthwhile.
Everything swam. It was like the teleportation to my former [Red Imp] body only part of my eyesight seemed to peel away. There were almost two images coming in. One was the battlefield below where two armies were moving about. The other was, I don’t know, something with dots.
Both were trying to line up somehow in my mind and it disoriented me. Goodness. Activating [Sight of Mercari] gave me a headache. A battle zone couldn’t be the best place for practicing that. [Blink] at least had tons of uses.
For a moment, I wondered if the [Seer’s Tear] combination would have provided Requiem the same ability. It seemed more likely that the Voices were warping the original result somehow to match up with my [Messenger of the Voices] title. Part of me did not enjoy being a special little snowflake in this world because it was way out of scope.
I stared at the people below and tried to figure out how to best get through. One shoulder rolled, then the other. I stretched my legs a bit more and got ready to run. In real life, I was a slightly overweight middle aged man who looked more comfortable on a couch.
In Continue Online, I had spent tons of time traveling around and being tortured by Shazam. It was time to put all those skill ups to good use and see what happened.
I started running.
The ARC feedback was incredible as always. I felt the sensation of rushing through the air. It was more intense and natural than being in the [Red Imp] body. I had missed being me in this game and not someone else.
Below me, people shouted orders and pieces of armies clashed. Most people were standard foot soldiers. They were each outfitted a little differently, but there were clear colors and insignias themed throughout.
There was a pack of four wolves busy chasing down stragglers with low health bars. Two giants at least sixty feet high were striding through the army swinging clubs that might have been freshly uprooted. Casters much like TinkerHell tossed spell after spell into any groups that started bunching up. Lights clouded the plain below in greens, reds, blues and whites.
One of the healers, at least I assumed they healed based on the pure looking nimbus around her, crumbled from a sneak attack. There was a vaguely familiar looking person stabbing twin daggers into the person's back.
I tried to take it all in while moving quickly. There had to be a path of least resistance. If I skirted the side, the biggest risk would be one of the wandering giants. No, maybe they could be used as a vantage point.
That was the way I went. There wasn’t much time to dawdle and every second passing felt like one more where I was failing Xin. Plus there was something about letting loose that just felt really neat. Flashbacks of some of the new players running wild on a beach in [Haven’s Valley] flickered through my mind.
“Hey!” A castle defender shouted. Both the castle and this guy’s clothes were the same color.
“He’s alone, get him!” The second person shouted.
They moved to intercept me. I didn’t even waste time and applied [Blink] liberally to get by. One cast drained nearly five percent of my mana bar. The small fact that so little energy was used pleased me. Not only had skill ups made it easier, but Hermes as a character had way more mana than the [Red Imp].
“How?!” One of the former defenders shouted from behind me. I kept running and looked up towards my next destination.
I leapt and used [Blink] again. There was a two-second delay where I hung in the air before another [Blink] could be used. My third usage ended up stair-stepping through the air onto the giant’s shoulder. The lumpish brute was the best position to try and look over the field around me.
The giant was too dim to notice my weight on its shoulder. I grabbed one ear with absolutely no concern for my safety and tried to eyeball how many [Blink] usages would be needed to get across the remainder of the field.
This must be what Dusk felt like all the time. I laughed and almost felt bad for leaving the sleeping [Messenger’s Pet] behind. My ride's shoulder bobbed a bit as the giant swung lazily. Below us men in armor were shouting things. In the midst of my hanging on a small box popped up. This time it wasn’t some skill increase or event’s happening while I was on autopilot.
Thorny: Uncle Grant?
That was clearly my niece sending a message through. Focusing on responding was hard. Luckily, Continue Online had a default message keyboard that could be activated. I did an awkward one hand typing.
Hermes: Hi, munchkin. Riding giant. Looking for Katelyn & Cathryn.
Thorny: What? Where are you? What giant?
Hermes: On quest. Outside castle. An ugly one. Needs bath. Smells.
My typing wasn’t actually that neat at all. I was busy trying to use the giant creature's burly head as a shield while riding. The brute slowly meandered in the direction of my quest marker so sitting up here felt safer. Once I got past the smell of unwashed, stringy hair and rotten fish breath.
Another series of messages came up from my niece. An arrow nearly caught me in the head while I tried to read.
Thorny: If you can kill it, do, they’re part of the attacker's army. My friends haven’t been able to get them all. If you can get one then we can pull some defenders back, we need them desperately.
Katelyn and Cathryn are the princesses, is your quest for them? I’m on Katelyn’s side! We’ll prevent Cathryn from taking over!
Gotta go! Someone broke in. Meet me inside!
The giant made a violent swing to one side. I hung on to a large swath of hair while trying not to spit out strands that invaded my mouth. My response was badly typed out.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Message blocked: Target has become a [Prisoner of War] and is unable to communicate until the scenario is resolved or [Prisoner of War] is removed.
“Damn,” I muttered.
My bucket list did not include teleporting up to the top of a giant and bringing it down. At least this huge thing, with hunched shoulders and a jutting jaw, only vaguely looked human. If putting this creature down would help Beth then so be it. Killing monsters felt far less nerve wracking than other players.
[Morrigu’s Gift] shifted into a giant spear from my weeks as Spite. Being a [Red Imp] and flying around made me far less terrified of gravity’s call. Falling could be negated by using [Blink] correctly.
I put that practice to use and swung out to the spinal column clearly visible on a hunched neck. My tug on the giant’s hair finally got this creature's attention. We waved around while I braced myself for a rude separation of spinal nerves.
“Oooouhhh.” It said. A “Huurk” followed the first noise as I jabbed [Morrigu’s Gift] in between disks on the neck.
My niece said this guy was on the other team. My niece had just been captured in this stupid war. It may be a video game, nothing in here lasted out there. Yet I was too immersed, too invested. To me this place was rapidly becoming a second home.
And Beth was in danger. I shook my head and tried to remember that it would be okay. My niece had a life outside the world, where my fiancee didn’t. Failing Xin’s quest so recently got me all sorts of conflicted regarding Continue Online’s realism.
The giant fell to its knees and managed to take out a few more soldiers. A [Callibur] caught in the collapse let out a strangled snicker. Moments later it started shaking violently. Crushing the almost horse creature made me feel a little guilt. More so than the Traveler's passing did. Maybe the giant could have been tilted to fall a different way.
“What happened?!” Someone nearby demanded. A face peered out of crudely made armor.
“Someone killed it! Quick, clear the left!” Another defender ordered those around her.
I moved through indistinct shouting and kept moving onward. The inertia of falling had been mostly canceled out by a last minute jump and [Blink]. Over the course of a few days with the [Red Imp] and flying, doing a few smooth moves like this felt natural.
It took a few more minutes to navigate the field. Most obstacles were too easy to overcome with my [Blink] move. The cool down reusing it was only a few seconds. That was more than enough to dodge all around the landscape. This ability was clearly broken and I’m sure Jean and Vlad had a hand in bypassing the Voice of Balance on this one.
“Who is that? He’s not wearing colors!” There were defenders bunched together roaming the fields to pick off stragglers.
“Factionless?”
“Might be a ruse, get him!” A third person said.
“Too late.” One of them sounded sad that they couldn’t come stab me. I left them far behind by quick use of a [Blink] to get passed them.
Army members on both sides were left behind. I ran when able, thankful that [Light Body] had gone up so much. Speed wise my skills were behind Beth’s, but she may have been using spells or other bonuses. My niece also had at least a year of game time on my two months. Even with the advantages given to me by the Voices overcoming sheer playtime was difficult.
“Stop him!” Someone shouted. [Blink] confused a lot of people. I didn’t even have to draw [Morrigu’s Gift] out. In fact running at high speed with an oversized two-hander would have been awkward.
The castle itself looked broken and burned. There were people inside fighting and weapons clanged constantly. Most of the combat seemed a step down from Requiem’s normal skills. Maybe all these people were new players or not very good.
“Nnnooo…” someone near me groaned. I turned to see what seemed to be a servant severely wounded. Most were dead or dying and I had no skill for healing.
“Oh goodness.” I sighed while reaching over to the fallen servant. Life extinguished from him almost moments after I checked the wound. He had tried to reach out for another woman who lay across the hall. She was already gone. I passed my hand over the deceased man’s eyes to close them.
Travelers, other people from my world were easier to feel passive about. Keeping it between players meant none of the people of this world got hurt.
This game was too real. Involving the locals was dirty. What if this had been Mylia Jacobs or any of the children from the orphanage? None of them knew me, but I had spent a month together with all sorts of people native to Continue Online. To me, they were more real than most people outside.
It was official. War was stupid. I hadn’t liked conflict in my world, here nothing became muted by distance. All around me were signs of struggle and lives being lost. Digital people, but they still showed emotion.
Why had I looked forward to it? Had Beth’s excitement over this conflict been so contagious that I actually looked forward to fighting other people? Never again could I support anything that involved locals of Continue Online.
Symbols flashed on my screen, representing the two messages yet to be delivered. They burned with fire signaling a need to get moving. I stood up from the two bodies and kept striding forward.
A few corners later the shouts of people became clear. I came in from up above and ended up on the second floor overlooking a grand room. Heavy fabric curtains hung from ceiling rails then were pulled to the sides in bundles. My feet slowly slid across the floor in an effort to remain silent.
This time there was a box telling me the stealth attempts were successful. At least I hadn’t alerted an entire camp while falling backward down a ramp twice.
“It’s over! I’ve won at last!” A female yelled excitedly. She sounded high pitched enough to have sucked in a balloon of helium.
“You fool, we’re sisters!” Another one yelled back. Her tone was near tears. I peeked around the corner and ran a quick [Identification] on both of them.
“No! You’re nothing of the sort. Father's bastard spawn that should never have been born.” The gloating one with a high pitched voice was Cathryn and I guess the leader of the attacking team.
That meant the one in tears on the ground was Katelyn. I made a face trying to commit their names to memory. My lips curled with a frown.
“Why aren’t you killing her!” Cathryn demanded to know.
Someone mumbled back, but they weren’t loud enough for me to hear. Both of them had a few remaining guards. All of them were players from my quick scan. With them in the way trying to deliver my messages would be really awkward.
Twitchy. That was a good word to describe them. If the Travelers in here were like those outside then I would be fighting. I could rush in, shove the letters into both hands with liberal use of [Blink], but there was no guarantee that it would count. Plus the other Travelers might kill me, then one of the princesses, and I would fail this too.
Not this time. Delivering letters meant making sure they didn’t kill each other. I could watch over both groups until they attacked, after that it would turn to a mess.
“I’ll kill you, Katelyn!” Cathryn shouted. I heard a foot stomp down onto the ground. Everyone was so violent in this world.
“Why must you do this?” Katelyn answered. Both rows of players seemed nervous.
There might be even more people hiding about watching this high school drama unfold. [Sight of Mercari] should allow me to see dots. Maybe I could find out if anyone else was hiding below.
I triggered the skill again. This time my mind wasn’t completely caught off guard. My little blue bar signaling how much energy was available to me dropped rapidly.
The dots that appeared across my vision blurred in and out. They weren’t just in front of me. There were pinpoints behind me as well. I could sort of see them without turning around. I shook my head to let the skill go and tried to regain normal perceptions.
Seeing behind me without turning around was a downright weird sensation. I could try for a few more seconds and still have enough to [Blink] around some. This time I managed to hold onto the ability long enough to see names with the dots.
Well, one name that couldn’t be a coincidence. A young man was very badly sneaking up on me.
“Hello, Awesome,” I said.
“Awesome’s my…” The person started to respond automatically.
“Father. Yes, keep it down.” I waved at him. We were lucky the two princesses *below were too busy shouting at each other. Even the players had joined in the name calling. Neither side seemed willing to make a move.
“Who are you? Are you with one of the factions?” He said.
“Not exactly,” I muttered while trying to figure out what to do. No, wait. Awesome Jr. being here meant the others might be nearby. There had been four of them together during my Carver period.
Awesome Jr. had been using potions and stuff with some sort of [Mana Sense] ability. SweetPea cast healing spells and spent most of her time huddling in the background. They were sort of dating.
Shadow had immediately wanted to be an assassin. His playstyle would have been far sneakier than Requiem’s. He should be less flashy than Edward from the [Grand World Crossroads [Lerter Region]].
“Is Shadow here?” I asked after the cow mooing teen. Shadow the Fifty Second.
“Who?” Awesome Jr. asked.
“Please tell me he’s not sneaking up on me trying to be an assassin still.” I kept my voice low and looked over my shoulder. The princesses were still yelling, but one of the Traveler’s kept glancing up here.
“Uhhh…”
“Do you make mana potions yet? I could use some.” I waved his volume down. Awesome Jr. still seemed to be incapable of remembering how to keep his volume down.
“Who are you?” He asked again.
“Just a busy body. Where’s HotPants? She’s easier to work with.” And so angry. Goodness, but it would be funny to say hi. That woman was the oldest of the quartet that had guided me through the [Maze of Midnight] when I was acting as Carver.
“Well! Attack! What else are you imbecilic peons being paid for?” The angry one shouted. Nevermind. Now wasn’t the time or place to sort out the Awesome Quartet.
“Have we met?” Awesome Jr. was absolutely perplexed. He showed enough sense to stay away, though. I could be some player killer for all he knew.
Briefly thoughts of Requiem flashed through my mind. I was a player killer, I guess. So were most people here.
“Not exactly,” I said.
“Where did you get that weapon from?” The young man finally clued in on the fact that [Morrigu’s Gift] was in my hand. It was currently in the smaller cane shape which still felt comfortable to me when not actively fighting.
“An old man gave it to me when he passed away.” I smiled. Telling the truth without actually providing a straight answer felt amusing. It was a left over behavior from being a [Red Imp], where I constantly gave Requiem misleading responses.
Thinking about Requiem for even a second made my teeth grind. I sucked in a lung full of air and tried to keep myself focused. These letters had to be delivered or else my failure would never be fixed.
A door below shattered and pieces went everywhere. I pulled my head back behind the curtain just in time to avoid splinters of wood. Both princesses shouted and a few people cried out from below. People broke in from down below.
“Finally!” Cathryn the Angry shouted. “Kill them!”
“Protect Princess Katelyn!” The defending four players pushed back Katelyn the Crying. Two then dove towards the attackers. Everything quickly turned to chaos.
“Dammit. Are you still holding to that Legacy Wish?” I ran over to Awesome Jr. and shook the young man. He was still short, lanky and clearly hadn’t filled in. A few weeks of reality and months in-game made no difference to his build.
Trait Received: [Legacy Wish] Type: Passive, always active Details:
Travelers possessing the trait [Legacy Wish] will receive the following benefits for any action related to the bestowing entity's core beliefs.
* Personalized Quest Offerings
* 25% faster reputation gain
* 10% additional progress on all skills demonstrated during Difficult or higher quests
Conditions:
Upholding the core beliefs of the person bestowing the [Legacy Wish]
Beliefs:
William Carver; seek adventure, assist new players, care for the world of Arcadia.
For a moment, my back twitched like someone was sneaking up on me. I looked around found nothing. Below us, the players kept shouting at each other. Someone was clearly chanting [Lithium] which thankfully no longer made sense to me. Lightening splashed into a nearby wall.
“Who is this, Adam?” A female asked. I turned around recognized the shorter girl. Her knitted wool cap now contained a rainbow of colors.
“Finally, SweetPea, is one of you still following the Legacy Wish?” Maybe she would have an answer for me. I needed to keep the two princesses alive down below or this stupid quest would be impossible to finish.
She looked at Awesome Jr. He shrugged. Finally, SweetPea nodded.
“Good! Remember the rules! Adventure and care for the world!” I leapt up to the rail. “Letting princesses die is probably bad!”
Shadow literally faded into view a few feet away. He still wore darker clothes. The only bright spots were white wrappings around his fingers. I gave a quick chuckle. He had been sneaking about with a vaguely smug look. The young black haired teen that had inspired such grumpiness in Carver now struck me as amusing.
“Someone's up above!” One of the individuals attacking shouted. Their colors were a forest green that made Awesome Jr.’s stupid cloak look even uglier.
I saluted with two fingers. [Morrigu’s Gift] was pulled from the belt and a moment later my [Blink] triggered.
They were too slow. I ran between two of them, shifted [Morrigu’s Gift] to the two handed form and blocked the impact of a heavyset man in leather gear. The Traveler intended to attack Katelyn the Crying.
[Awareness Heightening] kicked in automatically as the action started. Everyone felt in slow motion as my second [Blink] landed near Cathryn. I had [Barricade] skill and a shape shifting weapon. This was the place to use it. One arm pressed out at Katelyn to keep her from standing up. I slammed [Morrigu’s Gift] into the ground between the attackers and us. Another bolt of lightning was shooting across at us.
Everything ran by slowly and ideas flashed through. A few seconds later [Morrigu’s Echo] was out and in the same giant sword shape. Thank goodness both were over the top and huge. Briefly I said a prayer to the Voices and slammed the second one downward to complete my corner shield.
I tucked in over Katelyn to protect her. Lightning hit the weapons and spun across. A second, then a third blast followed quickly. The system displayed a [Barricade] successful message.
The skill [Awareness Heightening] kept right on going as I stood up. Both sides were still fighting. Multiple Travelers swung blades in slow motion, [Lithium] being chanted by two different people, another initiated their scroll with a thumb. Everything about their movements seemed like the sloppiest football game ever. Neither group was organized. Shazam would have whipped them into much better shape.
I pulled out the scroll and put it right in a bewildered Katelyn’s hands. Her face looked up at mine with a delayed reaction. A check-mark popped onto the screen.
Message Delivered to: Katelyn
Message Status: Unread
Note: Completion requires recipient review of contents
That meant this war really needed to stop. Both princesses needed to go back to their corners. Given the sheer outrage and pushy attitude of number two, it was unlikely that this would stop with a 'please'.
I reached up to the hilt of [Morrigu’s Gift] and shifted it to a much smaller dagger, the same one I tried to use frequently in the mountains with Shazam. With the tall, flat blade now out of the way, my vision settled upon Cathryn the Angry. Two, three [Blink]s might cover it.
One of the Travelers after Katelyn the Crying got too close. Leather clad in near bondage gear combined with a wicked looking morning star to freak me out. I panicked and raised one foot to kick at the man’s midsection. He went flying.
Another door slammed open. The noise became buried under battle. A female voice registered in the background with a burst of familiar laughter. One [Blink] later and [Morrigu’s Gift] blocked another blow. [Barricade] successful popped onto the screen again.
My second [Blink] triggered and put me right behind Cathryn. I grabbed her by an arm and placed a longer version of [Morrigu’s Gift] at her neck.
“Attention!” I shouted. People turned towards me. Those attacking the castle in their forest greens wore expressions mixed with horror and confusion.
It was time to put a lot of trust in my [Acting] skill.
“Cease fire!” I demanded while backing us up to a wall. Some of the defenders were inching in my direction. “Or the princess never gets to visit another castle.”
A string of players flooded into the room from the defender's side. In the mix was HotPants in her angry red garb, a half cat creature, and my niece Beth. [Awareness Heightening] faded out and everything returned to normal.
“Jesus, Uncle Grant, what’s your brawn at?” My niece asked from the doorway. She wore a loose and flowing top. The leather pads I had last seen on her were scuffed and portions charred.
“Uhhh...three hundred,” I said while shifting both Cathryn and the blade around towards the nearest person. My heart felt insanely loud, or maybe it was the princess in my arms.
Holding a princess at knife point was another item to knock off my bucket list.
“That’s insane.” She said, which pretty much summed up my life in Continue Online.