At this point, Cole was prepared to see the “game over” screen. He had even come to terms with waiting another two hours before he could log in again. However, neither happened. Instead of dipping to zero, and the scenery fading to black, his health slowly increased, and the world went from blurry to vivid.
At the moment, Cole couldn’t make sense of it, but he was grateful. With adrenaline coursing through his virtual veins, Cole knew that his next best step would be to make sure that his sudden rejuvenation wouldn’t be in vain. He grabbed onto the girl's hand and pushed it away from his body.
She fought hard to keep the dagger inside him. Her strength nearly matched his, but despite her obvious higher level, she wasn’t strong enough. Cole believed that to be because of her class. Fortunately, he was able to pry the dagger from his stomach. He saw her lips moving as if to speak but no words came from her mouth.
Instinctively, he knew she was invoking a skill. Cole jumped back several times to put about six feet between himself and the woman. But it seemed like he never moved. A second later the girl was in front of him. This time she aimed two daggers at his torso.
A flash of silver and blue came between them. There was a metallic thunk as the girl’s daggers struck Daniel’s shield. Daniel pushed her back and then swung downward. It seemed he missed the girl completely as the sword dug straight into the earth. The girl made it her prerogative to take advantage of this misstep.
She now turned her wrath from Cole and aimed it at Daniel. She swiped at his torso, but the hand was caught by golden chains. It went up, wrapped around her hand, and then bolted into the ground. More chains soon sprung up and wrapped around all the girl’s limbs with a few extra restraining her torso. Once she was properly secured, under weights of chains, the gold bindings shone a bright white.
Daniel left the blade standing in the earth and went over to the girl. He wrenched the daggers from her hands and slipped them into an invisible space. Cole looked around to see if there was anyone else, but they were all gone. The only thing that remained was the dust from their heels and the corpses of those who couldn’t run away. Or rather chose not to. Cole’s focus shifted from searching for the bandits to inspecting his health.
Name:
Cold Fate
Stamina:
71/81
Class:
Barbarian
Strength:
89
Level:
8
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Agility:
112
XP:
625/1550
Mind:
38
Rank:
Unranked
Persistence:
14
Health:
44/221
He was now at twenty percent of his total health. He also lost 10 stamina, which he assumes is due to using Whirlwind. He’ll investigate his new skill later. He had to focus on the matter of his health first. He knew that he didn’t take any potions and so was curious as to how his health regenerated. A sharp pulsing pain in his right arm drew his attention.
Upon checking the limb for the source of affliction, he saw a wooden dart sticking from his upper arm. Cole put two and two together and realized that Daniel must’ve stuck the dart in him just before his health hit Zero. Cole ripped the dart from his arm and threw it to the ground. Unconsciously, he crushed it under his foot as he approached Daniel and the girl.
“If this quest wasn’t so important to my friend, I wouldn’t even be talking to you right now. Have you ever been to our in-game prison before? Judging by your level, I don’t think so. You better take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with me.” Daniel stared down the girl as if his eyes would compel her. Could they?
The girl looked away. Her eyes caught Cole for a second but soon shifted to the vast sandy distance on her left. Daniel pulled up his control panel. A keyboard appeared, and he started typing.
“What good is a bandit in prison?” he continued. “As far as I can tell, being locked up in a cell strips you of all the freedom you pride so much. Not to mention your reputation.” He stopped typing and glanced at her. “Nor how heavily it impacts your Persistence.”
She matched his gaze then. Defiance still burned in her eyes but self-preservation glimmered just under the surface. A player’s Persistence points are the world to them here. The benefits of high persistence are numerous, (random stat boosts, higher privileges, faster level increases, etc.) but dip your persistence by just a few points and it hits you hard.
Revoked access to certain areas, higher damage from environmental effects, and login delays that range from a few hours to even weeks. No one even knows if that last one has a limit. No one would dare test it out. For the gamers here — no, for the people here — Fate Maker isn’t just a game, it’s a second life. Now imagine that life is taken from you.
“What’s the deal?” she finally asked.
“Help us get back the food, and I’ll lower your jail time.”
“By how much?”
“At least half,” Daniel replied. “More if you play nice.”
Her eyes widened. She looked from one boy to the next and finally settled her eyes on the one she was negotiating with.
“You’re messing with me.”
“Deal or no deal?”
“How about no jail time at all?”
“Don’t push it,” Daniel said. The page on his control panel switched from Incident Report to P2P Quest sheet. “What’s your decision?”
“Deal.”
Daniel attached a half-time card to the quest rewards. “What’s your name?”
“Saucy Syrian.”
After inputting her name and confirming the quest details, he sent the offer to her. Syrian acknowledged the notification but shot Daniel a mean glare. There seemed to be a hitch in his next movements as if he didn’t even want to do it all. Cole watched Daniel whisper under his breath. The multitude of chains unwrapped themselves from Syrian’s body, save for one on her ankle. The chain links glowed to a burst and then disappeared. The cuff remained on her ankle, and soon, the chain links that burst settled on him more like a belt than a restriction. Syrian summoned her control panel and accepted the quest.
“Good, let’s go then.”