Lightforge and Sunbird were on a rooftop in an unfamiliar part of town. They had come to watch a confrontation between two high level characters. The fight had delivered a spectacle that they had no hope of matching, but there had been no definitive winner. But there was a loser.
The villain had escaped, and the hero had failed. That hero had immediately leaped up to the building that they had been watching from, staring down at them with a serious expression. He took in the pair of them and spoke.
“Hello there. Who are you?”
Out of instinct more than anything, LIghtforge attempted to identify the man with his scanning goggles.
Player Info
Name: Mister Spitfire
Level: ?
Current Alignment: Hero
Alliance: Heroes United (Leader)
Well, that was interesting. There was missing information, but only the level. With the villain, Louhi, he’d only been able to see her name and nothing else. He studied the other man while Sunbird hastily introduced the two of them.
When he heard where they came from, Mister Spitfire’s posture eased and he nodded. He said, “Chancery Hills? You’re a bit far from home, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” Lightforge said, “We know. That’s my fault, actually.”
“Oh? How so?”
“I’m a gadgeteer and I run a shop. The other day I got a visit from someone over level 40. A friend of mine thought I took it too casually, so they pointed me this way.”
“Wow, Louhi’s plan leaked all the way out there? I knew it was a trap, but that’s just excessive.”
“Um, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“I guess not, but I still have a few of my own.”
“That’s fine.”
Lightforge fidgeted a little bit, but there was no going back now. This man was a hero, and extremely high level too. If anyone had answers it was probably him. And he was probably trustworthy.
“I have a device that lets me see peoples’ basic information. But it can’t see your level at all.”
The fire hero raised an eyebrow at the statement and took a moment to study Lightforge. He nodded thoughtfully for a few seconds and considered the question. Then he grinned and snapped his fingers.
“Oh, I bet I know. Your device uses the public directory, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it does. How did you know?”
“Because I have my level hidden in my profile. It’s a privacy setting that few people bothered with in the old days, but it’s getting more and more common around here all the time. For example, I bet you couldn’t see anything about Louhi.”
“Only her name, yeah. Huh, looks like I still have some work to do.”
Mister Spitfire nodded and paused to think. In the moment of silence, Sunbird jumped back into the conversation. There was energy crackling around her as her excitement fought against her control. She had been impatiently bouncing up and down in the air for just this moment.
“Yeah, that’s cool and all, but who was that [BLEEP]?”
Mister Spitfire actually looked taken aback. He shook his head, still grinning.
“Huh. It’s been a while since I’ve heard a bleep. They’re so annoying that everyone just starts dropping curses from their vocabulary after a while.”
“Fat chance of that happening with me. Way too much bleeping work.”
That earned her a brief stare from the high level hero while Lightforge put his head in his hands. Sunbird was positively beaming with pride. But she only had the patience to spend a few seconds basking in her moment.
“But seriously, who was that? She didn’t even try to steal anything.”
Mister Spitfire’s shoulders slumped and he hung his head.
“No, she didn’t. She would have if I hadn’t shown up, but the attack on the building was really just a starting bell for our fight. That’s all she was after.”
“You sound like you have a history with her.”
“You could certainly say that. Louhi was one of the early arrivals. But, unlike other criminals who just want money or levels, she thrives on chaos. Sometimes it’s like this where she announces her intentions to the world, just looking for a fight. And then other times valuables will simply vanish in the middle of the night with a literal calling card left behind.”
He reached into a pocket and pulled out something that looked like a business card. The paper was black, but imprinted with white and blue snowflakes that glimmered in the sunlight. Sunbird whistled at the sight of it.
“Wow, that’s like a slap in the face. She’s basically declaring that she can do anything she wants and nothing can stop her.”
“More or less. She likes to stir things up and keep this world from ever settling down into a stable state.”
“Any clue why?”
“Not really. My best guess is that she’s trying to prevent a Surge Event from triggering.”
Sunbird slapped herself in the head and started to nod.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Of course! Wow, I completely forgot about those. I never even saw one during the game days. Did you, Spitfire?”
“Not personally, but I have a friend who was part of that whole EliteWorld thing. He was still new to the game when it happened.”
“Ew, that’s awful.”
Lightforge was looking back and forth between the two, face blank. He had no idea what they were talking about, and said as much.
“Hang on, what? What’s a Surge Event? Is that like a World Event?”
World Events were sort of like Missions on steroids. Some sort of world-ending threat would show up and everyone on a server would have to work together to prevent it. Everyone from a brand new level 1 to the end game elites would have jobs and missions to complete. Sometimes heroes and villains had to work together, and sometimes they were fighting against one another.
They were a huge deal, and they only happened once or twice a year. They were one of the best times to level up a new character, so it would be huge if one was on the horizon here in this world. But Sunbird shrugged and shook her head.
“Not quite. Surge Events were tools for the admins to rebalance servers. They only ever needed them two or three times.”
“And I’m guessing that EliteWorld was one of those?”
“Yeah,” Mister Spitfire said, “That was a fiasco. A bunch of arrogant high level players decided to make an ‘elite’ server with no characters below level 70. Heroes and Villains alike worked together to constantly hunt down every NPC criminal and block off all the Missions.”
“So,” Lightforge said, “A lot like this world now?”
“Pretty much. But the admins decided not to just ban them. Instead they added Surge Events. The server was hit with an alien invasion. Hundreds of enemies spawned at a time, all of them low level. And the aliens were coded so that players above 50 wouldn’t get any XP from them. The place became a low-level haven practically overnight.”
“Oh, wow. So the admins didn’t just stop the scheme, they turned the server on its head from what the high level players had been going for.”
“Bingo. They were sending a message about what they would do to anyone who tried something like that. I think it only happened once or twice after that.”
“Huh. Well, that sounds like exactly what we need around here. Is that Louhi person seriously holding it back somehow?”
“I honestly don’t know. But she’s always up to something. I’m just hoping that I can figure out what it is in time to stop it.”
The air hung heavy between the group after that. More than the fight, their conversation had given Lightforge a lot to think about. He’d been living day to day, with his biggest worries being whether or not someone would try to break the rules of his little shop. But now he was talking with a man who was concerned about the fate of the whole city. Someone whose decisions could change the course of all their lives.
It was humbling. His own facade as the powerhouse independent shopkeeper felt hollow and thin by comparison. If someone like this had come to make demands of him, he couldn’t have refused. Well, he could have, but it would be at great personal risk. If he so chose, this man could have his shop effectively shut down. Lightforge suspected that even villains would think twice before going against someone forty or fifty levels higher than them.
He thought a lot about all the hero had said, and realized that he had a pressing question. He resisted the urge to raise his hand and said, “Mister Spitfire, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“Sure, why not?”
“It’s about World Events. At your level you must have been here a long time. Have there been any in this world yet?”
The high level hero was visibly uncomfortable with the question, but he took a few moments to consider it before shaking his head.
“I haven’t seen or heard of one, but don’t put too much stock in my word alone. Others were here before me, and for all I know there won’t be World Events here. I wouldn’t plan on using one to get ahead if I were you.”
Lightforge nodded, though he wasn’t quite satisfied with that answer. Why wouldn’t there be World Events? They were a pretty important part of the game, and most of the other mechanics had come over just fine, even if some of them had been changed in the transition. Of course, if anyone had additional information about such things, it was probably someone who had been around for as long as this man had.
He was vaguely aware of Sunbird going stiff next to him, which broke him from his thoughts. Mister Spitfire had his eyes locked on something behind Lightforge. Slowly he turned around and found that they had been joined on the rooftop by a new figure.
The new arrival was a gaunt man with sharp features. He had jet black hair and crimson eyes that matched the tattered cloak that hung down around him. He had an unblinking stare and a mad grin that showed off the sharp fangs that filled his mouth.
Player Info
Name: Bloodwing
Level: ?
Current Alignment: Villain
Alliance: Anarchy Unleashed (Leader)
At that moment, it officially became a challenge for Lightforge to keep his knees from shaking. From the icy stares back and forth, it was clear that the high level hero and villain knew each other. When he spoke, the villain’s voice was a low rasp that surrounded them while never seeming to rise above a whisper.
He said, “New pets? I thought that you would be more focused after yet another failure, Spitfire.”
“Bloodwing, what are you doing here? Louhi’s long gone.”
“I know. While I have my grievances against that contemptible woman, she’s still a villain. Her chaotic pursuits will be far less damaging to me than it is to you. It affords me the opportunity to gloat from time to time.”
“And yet you’ve tried and failed to catch her just like I have. What do you want?”
“I want to satisfy my curiosity. It’s unlike you to stop and spend time with weaklings like these two. You have bigger concerns.”
“My choices don’t concern you. Though I’ll thank you in advance for the chance to redeem myself.”
The Will O’ the Wisps emerged again and the air began to sizzle and pop as rain fell on the flames. Bloodwing didn’t make a move to prepare himself, he only smiled even more widely.
As if on cue, explosions rang out from somewhere close by. Screams echoed up from the streets below as civilians began to run and panic. Mister Spitfire hissed and spun towards the sounds of chaos, eyes wide.
Bloodwing barked a laugh and said, “Duty calls. I guess we’ll have to wait until another day to have this little showdown of ours. Off you go.”
The hero growled, but he didn’t turn back to face the villain. He sprinted to the edge of the roof and leaped off. His familiars took hold of him in midair and shot him through the air toward the sounds of the nearest chaos.
Lightforge watched him go until a hand slid across his shoulders and he froze. Bloodwing’s hands were so boney and sharp that their tips felt like daggers poking into the back of his neck. The cloaked villain was nearly a full head shorter than the gadgeteer, but he seemed to tower in his blood-red cloak.
His raspy voice whispered directly into Lightforge’s ear this time. He said, “I’d heard a rumor that a new gadgeteer had arrived. How interesting to meet you here. I think I’ll keep an eye on you. Well, assuming you live, that is.”
There was a mild sense of pressure before the world went black and his body erupted in pain that started in his neck and flooded through the rest of his being.
You have been afflicted with: Poison
You have been afflicted with: Decay
You have been afflicted with: Blindness
You have been afflicted with: Slow
You have been afflicted with: Weak
You have been afflicted with: Bleed
You have been afflicted with: Drain
You are under the effects of 7 simultaneous afflictions from the same source. All current afflictions have been removed and merged together by another Skill.
You have been afflicted with: Marked by Blood
When the pain and darkness finally receded, the villain was gone, as was Sunbird. Both his HP and AP were below 10% of their maximum, and the world was swimming around him. He was completely alone on the empty roof, inches away from death. He stayed lying on the roof and tried to fight back the panic as he found himself terrified of the world that he had seen just a single glimpse of.