CHAPTER 2

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Musket balls tore into the wall, sending chips of stone flying into the air. The Steampunk’s turret must have despawned because the crossbow bolts no longer flew Ajax’s way.

“Come out, come out, little mouse, and let me blow ya ugly head off!” the Steampunk taunted, firing another volley of shots.

Ajax swore under his breath. There seemed to be no way out of this one. If I ever see that mage again, I swear…

Taking a deep breath, gritting his teeth against the pain of his wounds and the endless torrent of gunfire, he thought through his options. He could stay where he was and wait for the Steampunk to get bored and come over and put him out of his misery. Or he could get up and make a run for it, get shot a few times and get back behind one of the other buildings and try to flee.

Or I get up and charge right at the stupid Steampunk and face him head on. That class wasn’t strong in melee, their preferred method of fighting being at range. If Ajax could get in close to him, he should be able to take him down. After all, he still had his full heal…

Touch of Light

Instantly restores full hit points of the Spiritual Warrior or a companion.

Cost: 50mp

Cooldown: 24hrs

Ajax almost had the mana for it, which meant he could heal himself on the fly. Any damage to his body the shots caused would later need to be fixed at a hospital—but he was already in need of a hospital anyway, for the wounds he’d already sustained would not fully heal without proper medical treatment.

As much as Ajax hated the idea of charging the Steampunk head on, he knew he had little choice. He was in desperate need of coin as he had started this life with nothing but the clothes on his back and a broken pineapple to his name. Perhaps I should have taken that window-cleaning quest instead of this. He grimaced. But that stupid mage convinced me to come out here. “Think of the XP,” the mage had said. “With two of us, it will be easy peasy.”

Easy, my hairy backside!

It took another minute for his mana points to recharge above fifty. Now he was ready to go out there.

Biting his lip, he counted to three, but when he got to zero he still hadn’t moved. Come on, let’s do this, he raged at himself.

Ajax counted down again, and this time he got to his feet. Shield up, weapon in hand, he ran screaming around the broken wall and charged the Steampunk. The man yelled something at him, and then opened up with a round of blunderbuss fire.

A hard blow took Ajax in the shield, twisting him around and exposing his side to the enemy. Shot after shot tore into his armor—which seemed about as effective as paper.

-15hp

-19hp

Oh, god, please let it end!

-20hp

-13hp

Somehow Ajax got the shield in front of him, but the Steampunk only aimed low and shot Ajax in the foot.

-17hp

Ajax collapsed, hitting the ground and losing his grip on his weapon.

-5hp

Then a round took him in the shoulder, and Ajax’s vision swam.

Critical hit -33hp (Sniper Shot)

Closing a fist, Ajax released his magic. The effects of Touch of Light were instant, and his hit points were fully restored. The pain was still there, and blood still oozed (or in one case, gushed) from his wounds. Eventually, he would bleed out and die without further aid, but right now he would live a little longer.

HP: 184/184

MP: 5/130

Getting to his knees and hiding behind his shield, he tried to stand and charge forward again. But the Steampunk had respawned his crossbow turret and both of them were now beginning to pummel his shield with missiles. The damned Steampunk must have put his talent points in the Contraptionist skill tree, as the turret was on a short cooldown timer.

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Each hit staggered Ajax slightly. This isn’t fair! How am I meant to push forward against this?

Then he thought of dying again, and of being reborn on his last life. The oblivion of being trapped within the confines of his own mind was one step closer to becoming reality. Maybe I should have become a scribe or servant or something, and not bothered with leveling up. Boring as hell, but at least there is little chance of dying!

“Do you want me to come over and put you down like a rabid dog?” The Steampunk laughed. “I use the hollowed-out skull of the last player who came out here as a bedpan.”

The Steampunk was so close. No more than twenty feet away from Ajax—but that distance seemed like a continent away.

Ajax’s shield took a big hit, and it nearly tore through the metal. I’m doomed. I’m doomed. Oh god, I’m fu—

Suddenly, the Steampunk screamed and the withering fire on Ajax’s shield stopped. He cautiously glanced around the edge and caught his breath. The Steampunk was on fire!

A bolt of purply-black energy slammed into the man, adding to the flames. He staggered back further into the house, and the flames died away.

It took long seconds for Ajax to realize what was happening. Someone else was attacking the Steampunk and they were going to steal his kill! With the turret busy scanning for the new threat, Ajax got to his feet and charged right at the doorway. The turret spun to face him, and got off one bolt (that missed) before Ajax took it down with a blow from his sword.

Instakill.

The Steampunk laughed like a maniac as he trained his weapon on Ajax. “Groovy.” He took something from his pocket, then hurled it into the air.

Stupidly, Ajax watched the item. It hit the roof and then exploded into blinding white light. Crying out, Ajax fell back, grasping at his eyes. He couldn’t see. All he could see was white. I’m blind.

“Ha, ha,” the Steampunk said. “Always works! Now, I better finish you quick so I can kill that other jacked-in mofo.”

Ajax heard the click of a musket and feet approaching him. He swiped at the sound with his sword, but hit nothing. A shot tore into his sword arm and he let go of the weapon with a cry.

-16hp

-6hp

His hit points were quickly trickling down due to increasing blood loss.

-3hp

-2hp

-3hp

Grasping around for the sword, Ajax swore as a foot stamped down hard on his hand.

“You no longer need that, bro. Not where you’re going.” The Steampunk’s laughter cut off suddenly.

A new voice, a feminine one, spoke from the doorway. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything, boys.”

“Da hell, woman?” the Steampunk raged.

The foot lifted from Ajax’s hand as heat washed over him. The Steampunk screamed, as if in great agony. Musket fire tore through the room, one hitting Ajax in the helmet and another tearing into his damaged armor.

-8hp

-23hp

Then the fire stopped and a body collapsed to the floor. “I. Shall. Return…” the Steampunk said, his voice trailing off into a deathly sigh.

A message appeared in Ajax’s mind.

Quest Complete

Player killing level 3 Steampunk “Raggamuffen” vanquished (Shared kill +100xp).

Your reputation with the Sinjharian Imperium has increased by 100. Your reputation with the Independent City-State of Thorn has increased by 20. Your reputation with the Guild of Player Killer’s has decreased by 200.

Return to Captain Tryvork at Hallsford for your reward.

Ajax breathed in, still blind as a plague bat. Soft feet approached him. “Who are you?” Had the mage come back?

He rolled onto his side and felt for his weapon. His blood was everywhere. He must be lying in a pool of it. But he needed to be ready for another fight. As he searched, he did a quick check of his status.

HP: 66/184

MP: 13/130

Status effect: Bleeding profusely (-1 to 3 hp per 10 seconds)

Damn. Slowly bleeding out, with mana for only one small heal. Crap…

Suddenly, a clawed hand grasped him by the hair and a bottle was forced to his lips. “No… go away. Gorf.”

A foul-tasting liquid was poured into his mouth. Fingers squeezed his nose shut, and his head was held back, forcing him to swallow.

Once he had drunk whatever had been given him, the hands let him go. A warm feeling started in his belly and spread throughout his body.

+30hp

+30mp

Someone had given him a healing potion. Not the ordinary healing pots, but one of the rarer rejuvenation ones. Using his newfound mana, he quickly incanted a few small heals, then checked his status.

HP: 115/184

MP: 8/130

Better. But until he got the bleeding sorted, temporary. “Who are you?” he asked, cursing his lack of vision. He could see a vague outline of a door, and maybe some wall, and that was about it.

“Well, I’m the gal that just saved your pretty little life.”

The voice belonged to a young-sounding woman, and oozed lighthearted mockery. Ajax sat up, gritting his teeth against the pain. He caught a vague outline of someone standing just inside the doorway. He did a basic inspection of her player profile.

Lillus Pwnfire

Race: Half Elven

Class: Demon Mage

Skill Focus: Unknown

Level: 2

Allegiance: Unknown

Origin: Unknown

Player Kills: Unknown

HP: 140

MP: 90/165

Active Abilities

Aura of Curse Protection: Reduces damage of curses and disease for all party members by 15%

The Demon Mage must have had one of the rare trinkets that allowed her to hide her stats. Ajax had only seen that once before in this current life, but may have seen it several other times in his last life. Those memories were lost to him now. He knew enough to know that such trinkets were rare indeed.

And she was a half elf. Another rare thing, as to unlock the elven race required a player to undertake a long quest chain that culminated with them leaving the known lands and venturing far to the unmapped south of the continent of Dernmore where humanity dwelled. Few ever returned from the journey, and fewer still unlocked the elven race.

Then they had to die and select the elven race for when they respawned in their new body. Being only level 2 suggested her last death must have been fairly recent, much like his.

Ajax couldn’t understand why anyone would risk their finite lives for a purely aesthetic reason, as being an elf granted no benefits other than the elvish look. But perhaps getting to meet the mysterious NPC race and respawn as one of them might hold attraction to some. For him, he cared nothing beyond serving the Imperium.

“Lillus. I’ve never heard of you.” He buried his fear, giving up on finding his weapon. “What are you going to do to me?” With limited vision, being wounded and unarmed gave him little chance of survival in another fight against an equal-level player at full health. Being a Demon Mage probably meant she had a demon pet nearby. It might have been the one who had forced the potion down his throat.

“What am I going to do with you?” She chuckled. “Well, first I’m going to have my demon Yana drag you out of this house, and then when I am done cooking my marshmallows, I’m going to take you to the hospital.”

“What…?” he stammered.

“Oh, poor dear, that shot to the head must have given you brain damage. I’m helping you, alright?” There was a short pause. “Yana, take him outside and see what you can do with his bleeding. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Yes, mistress. It is always a pleasure to caress a handsome man like this.”

Clawed hands grabbed Ajax again and he was dragged outside. He stared back at the house as a flash of light filled his vision. Then he heard a popping sound. The clawed hands began to wipe off his face and arms with a cloth.

Ajax let the hands do their work, and stared intently back inside the house. He could smell the sickly stench of cooking meat, something he detested, being a vegetarian and all. His vision slowly returned enough to see what was happening. Dressed in a flowing black cloak, a dark-haired young woman that had to be Lillus hovered near a fire, holding out a stick of marshmallows over it. Then Ajax saw what fueled the fire and he almost puked. Lillus had set the body of the Steampunk ablaze and was melting her candy over it!

What the hell?

She finished cooking her marshmallows and strode outside, licking the running pink goo from the stick. She reached Ajax and said, “Yum, yum. You want some?”