Matthias remembered a dream, a vivid one in which he was vaunted as a true Knight for the lady. His mentor had congratulated him on his success before he had awoken but only partially conscious. The sight of a vast area of sand lay before him before a hand had grabbed into his shoulder and a message from his chosen leader Carissa had entered his mind as part of their group connection and messaging.
He recalled it with more than a little humour.
[Group Designate: Thassalaphobia.
-Group Leader: Carissa Acqua has sent you a message.
-Read: Y/N.]
The fact that the letter y meant yes and n meant no were imprinted on him partially by Carissa during her brief run down of messages. Better though that he was able to simply read them in his mind’s eye as she was.
He had accepted the message without a moment’s hesitation. He knew that his hand was on the hilt of a coral sword and tried to let it drop before his body refused to listen to his commands. He read the message from his current leader in this game of ocean gods.
Matthias smiled and sent a message back thanking her for checking before he asked her a personal question regarding her life history and received a satisfactory response. So far the security measure, she had decided to instill as leader was working. He had been right to trust her.
As he took in the sight of the seemingly endless desert and arid air which filled his lungs he found that he was physically unable to move but could only look. The sand wasn’t comfortable for him to experience and his vision blacked out before he could raise a further issue as he became conscious of splashing water and a smell of dampness and the ocean.
The voice of Carissa called out to him drawing him from his own thoughts.
‘Matthias. To make it short, we experienced a person who apparently can make the ocean gods appear as shrimps in a pond. I think. The situation was more than a little confusing. I do know that we passed our initial stage though according to the rules and we’re next up to fight a demi-god. I know it’s only the two of us but other groups wouldn’t have a massive advantage first. We were pulled from the Deep Water Purification Facility as it was a trap designed for higher-level players as you mentioned. As I said confusing. But all of that aside, how are you feeling?’ said Carissa as she squeezed his shoulder.
The young man knew that she didn’t want personal physical contact unless it was by her choice but he was thankful for the gesture.
‘Well, my feet were sandy and now they’re getting wet. The suit stops the water coming inside but otherwise I’m feeling perfectly fine. Oddly so. I don’t like the sensation, even before I came to this world on behalf of the Lady for a quest I was tired. Healthy yes, but training made me tired. This is wrong.’ said Matthias as he opened his own spatial bag and stored away his coral sword under the watchful eye of Carissa.
Despite the experiences they’d been through, there remained a wariness between them and putting away his chosen weapon as Carissa was clearly unarmed without her own bone tooth club was a sign of trust.
Matthias raised both hands up in a gesture of peace before folding them over his chest.
‘I expect that in dungeons, when they’re not trying to actively kill you, there’s usually a plan to confuse or befuddle the mind. Treasure chests in the appearance of monsters, even shapeshifters pretending to be those in need. I explained this to you earlier. All that matters is we move forward. This being of yours, does it still remain? Does it act as a threat?’ asked Matthias.
Carissa shrugged her shoulders and gestured towards the white marble room with a single dried out fountain and two doors on the walls. There were blue marble reliefs of various figures which reminded Carissa of ancient underwater temples she had once visited during her allocated holidays and when she had been young and still living with her parents.
The oceans of Terrus had fascinated her from an extremely young age, but she had been also interested in the human aspects of how people had learned to adapt and live with the oceans in various forms. One aspect was how ancient civilisations had managed to build underwater temples enclosed in naturally forming air pockets inside caves.
The sensation of being inside this room reminded her of it except the entirely dry fountain.
‘Whatever it was, they’re gone. Them and their talking suitcase. Don’t ask. I only know what he was wrong, whatever he was. He had power and preferred to meet us inside a desert and his friend told me that he treated you for damage. I’m not surprised with that though. Any ideas of what this room holds for us? Perhaps each door leads the way to a separate demi-god?’ said Carissa.
Matthias considered the options that he had experienced on his home world of Avalon, he had been through a series of dungeons differing in difficulty but all of them possessed one element that was consistent.
All participants in dungeons were permitted rest rooms before main events. Some of them were deeply hidden, a few were traps or held dungeon creatures who took the form of help merchants or gave advice and most simply were that. A room to rest and prepare for the rest of the dungeon.
He was aware that the world that Carissa came from, Terrus, was entirely different to his own. Technology and a lack of magic or otherworldly aspects were key, but from what Carissa had explained to him they used their own types of science to build wonders.
‘I would suggest that we stay together, arm ourselves and quickly scout out the room. If we find not threats then we need to simply prepare ourselves for a fight with a demi-god. I must confess though that I barely know anything about them except the fact that they were once mortals who were transformed by the ocean gods. And obviously dangerous. I was told to avoid them at any costs until I reached intermediate level player abilities. This room appears to offer little but we need to explore the two doorways. Such is the nature of dungeons, if we happen to return to that Deep Water Purification Facility then I suggest that we check the items we received remain viable.’ said Matthias as he casually examined the dried up fountain.
An opportunity to replenish their water supplies would have been an opportunity. After he brushed his hands along the edges of the fountain he found them covered in completely dry sand, whatever water there had one been inside had dried up a long time ago.
‘Sand. A fountain with sand. We’re inside a game of Ocean Gods and their sacred quests and we happen across a fountain filled with sand. The work of your strange benefactor perhaps?’ said Matthias as he smiled and brushed the sand off on his own grey suit.
A headache hit Carissa as multiple Ocean Gateway System messages at once as though they had been restricted and then hit in her a sudden flood of information which forced itself into her minds eye. She lost the ability to respond to Matthias as she brought both hands on her head to manage the flow of information.
[Warning: Ocean Gateway System had been rendered inactive due to direct outside influence. All communication and direct engagement with players, player-candidates and demi-gods have been temporarily restricted. Please contact Administration Oversi- Connection re-established. Player-Candidate Group Designate: Thassalaphobia wait for further instruct-instructions.]
Even as she finished reading the message another came through.
[Player-Candidate Carissa:
-An unknown Ocean God sends the following me-
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
-Unknown Ocean Gods sending further messages:
Sender Restricted. Message as follows. Fight well and grow strong. Carissa. Listen. Ugly, twisted thing. Abomination. Blessed Waters. Faith. Don’t. Pity. So pitiful. Sharp. Sharp Teeth. Use. Fight. Listen. Don’t. Cyborg. Disgusting. Cheater. Die. Fight. Him. Pity. Blessed. Tides. Eat. Grow. Flow. Stop. Diediedie.]
Matthias noticed her discomfort and moved towards her but he remembered that she didn’t want to be physically touched so he tried sending her a message through their group messaging system only to be met with failure.
Additional messages began to flow into her mind’s eye, a mixture of emotions accompanied them, some were pity or sadness, others were hate and rage but not all of the emotions were directed at her personally.
A small spark inside her flared up and gave Carissa strength as the grey liquid which had bonded with her body spread to her brain and marginally reinforced her own brain patterns as she was able to ignore the messages gradually.
With her hands on her hand, the pain lessened as she straightened up and mentally shoved the messages to be reviewed later. She didn’t have a full grasp on the operations of the Ocean Gateway System but there was a lingering administrator authority granted to her by Oannes which had given her enough leeway to cheat a little.
Matthias had mentioned that the fountain contained sand, she could use that if the walking anathema with his suitcase servant were predators of the things that called themselves gods which had trapped her inside this world.
‘No. We’re done with that. Granted the Ocean System Gateway is active again, as player-candidates myself and Matthias as a group need to see our next active mission. Fight a demi-god. We need to see details in order to prepare. Even the ocean gods have to follow rules don’t they? Unless a special friend appears to make a few changes once more.’ said Carissa as she walked over to the fountain.
Taking her hands off her head and gritting her teeth to ignore the headache that the message attempts were giving her she reached into the fountain and scooped up a handful of sand from the dry base and let it trickle through her fingers as she looked up to the white marble ceiling of the room. Drops of water fell down onto the sand held in her hand but simply rolled off without making it wet. A standard type message from the Ocean Gateway System appeared above the fountain as a semi-transparent globe appeared and rotated slowly.
[Player-Candidate Designates: Carissa Acqua, Matthias Fischer.
Group: Thassalaphobia
-Set Mission: Challenge a demi-god and survive initial trial.
-Rewards: Starter Level Player Status Enabled, Player-Candidate Status Removed
-Rest/Recovery Room Unlocked.
-Single Item Upgrade.
-Emergency Resource Survival Pack.
The Ocean Gods blessings be upon you all. Remember, the Drowned Gods reward the faithful and punish the heretics.]
‘Matthias, take out your weapon’ said Carissa as she opened her own spatial bag and pulled out her bone-tooth club and willed it to extend and wrap around her arm.
They had been given several items from the Deep Water Purification Facility but none of them had combat value especially. Better for her and Matthias to be fully armed just in case a demi-god appeared inside the room and they had to fight.
Carissa knew that her combat was lacking but her body was at least partially reinforced by the grey virus which had infected her. She didn’t know yet how much Matthias had been boosted but the ocean god Oannes had wanted both of them to gain in power to fight other player-candidates such as the woman called Bonnie and her group.
Judging from the strength and abilities of Mike and Chas, Carissa had a long way to grow but at least she could fight a little. She did admit to herself that the jumbled up message from the ocean gods was confusing to her.
The fact that Oannes himself hadn’t sent any direct form of communication or messages to either of them when he had been so chatty before was likely due to a limit. This place didn’t belong to him then. Matthias grabbed his own spatial bag and pulled out his standard coral sword, holding it relatively freely in one hand as the other pulled out a ration pack and passed it to Carissa.
‘I told Mike, I’d teach you a little of surviving Carissa. Here’s a tip, eat and drink when you can. You can accept gifts from a dungeon but nothing is ever free.’ said Matthias.
Carissa paused for a moment before pouring the remaining grains of sand from her hand into her spatial backpack, likely it would sort itself out but if the strange man made the ocean gods wary she might have a use for it later. She had no interest in spending time to examine it or search the room for details.
They were inside a marble room with religious reliefs on the walls in an ancient style with a dry fountain. When she had been younger she would have loved to explore and record her findings and learn more about myths but in this place she needed to be aware and alert of dangers.
The water splashed pooled on the marble floor as Carissa with her bone-tooth club shortened and wrapped around her arm walked over to one of the wooden doorways noting that it had nothing written on it or any images showing what was behind.
‘Matthias. We enter together.’ said Carissa as she shoved the door open with with her bone-tooth club holding at her side.
The pair of them moved quickly, Matthias moved faster than her scanning the room for threats and holding his coral sword prepared to strike for potential threats.
The inside of the room was entirely illuminated with a range of pinks, blues and reds along both walls and the ceiling. There was a smell of freshly cooked seafood from within and a lone robed figure stood next to a table facing in the opposite direction to them.
The size of the room was comparable to what Carissa had experienced in the Driftwood Enclave. A smaller door was set off to the side, likely a toilet or shower area to change and a single bed with green-blues sheets and covers stood opposite the table.
The room was largely built of the same white marble outside and the coloured lights flowed along the wall and ceiling in waves forming patterns as they continually changed. Carissa recognised the mark of bioluminescence, creatures which reflected light in the darkness. Seen on beaches and in deep waters.
Matthias readied his sword and Carissa let her bone-tooth club extend as she called out to the lone figure. When they turned around Carissa saw a female human face but altered in a way, there were tattoos covering most of the face but both eyes were entirely blue, the iris and pupils were a slightly different shade. Her head was bare of hair
The figure raised a bluish hand, fingers slightly webbed as it waved in greeting to Carissa. The voice was female and husky as though worn-out from overuse or inhalation of smoke.
Her robe upon examination was made of fish scales or the skin of a sea creature stitched together roughly. The bioluminescence reflected off the outfit as the woman smiled and raised another hand in greeting.
‘Blessed one. I’m so happy we can meet face to face. Oannes sends his regards and both a gift and a warning. There was a previous construct here but sadly there was an accident and they needed a replacement. I offer myself for your service in this place. Do you need support, relaxation or food and drink? Even conversation is appreciable. Ah, to make it clear. I am not a construct. I am not an artificial being nor a player. I am one of the few natives of this world who survived. More than that I’m not permitted to say. Young Matthias, I think you would find the other room more to your taste. There is a construct there close to your age and preference. Please treat him kindly. He was once a player-candidate much like yourself. I am a person. With a name, as was he.’ said the woman.
Carissa considered her options in a split second, Matthias had mentioned to her that nothing offered in the dungeon was free. For all she knew this was a demi-god trying to trick them. Besides, she wanted to see how much Matthias would obey her orders by this point. The woman was an unknown. The voice was familiar but she couldn’t place it but part of her deep instilled instincts remained strong, the part of her brain which she had forcefully changed to adapt to a life living in the oceans of her world.
The part which made her kill on instinct told her that this woman was a predator, a threat, not a servant. Perhaps she didn’t mean them harm but the fact that she knew Matthias made her consider. The room itself was beautiful as the lights played across the walls, flicking her eyes to the table she saw various cooked seafoods and dishes still steaming with heat in the relative coolness of the marble walls.
He had changed she knew, listened to her, acted on her word but she hadn’t forgotten that during her first real kill of a human being transforming into a monster he had left her entirely alone. She needed an ally, not a friend, a follower who would both protect and follow her orders without hesitation.
The fact that he was armed helped. This time he could fight and she would watch and give him words of comfort.
No. No games. Action is needed. I learnt that from you Hua Pengfei. From your death.
A familiar headache preceded a message coming from the Ocean Gateway System but Carissa spoke aloud before it could enter her field of vision.
‘Matthias. Kill her.’ said Carissa.