《TantaMount》 Chapter 1 (We All Start Somewhere) Hello, would you like to be my friend? The screen said to me, invitingly. She certainly looked cute enough, in a pixelated way, and off the top of my head I couldn''t find a reason to select NO instead of YES. Would I come to regret the decision? No. Would it change my normal, boring life? Absolutely. But did I know how it would change my life, top to bottom, with no reset button? No, I did not... CHAPTER 1 ¡°All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day and put the pieces back together my way¡± - Aesop Rock - PEW PEW blared my morning alarm at 6:53 AM, a time that I couldn''t explain to you if I tried, but just works. Throw off the blankets, right foot first, strip it down for shower time. Dry off, down the stairs, throw a couple eggs on the stove and tossed over some bread for its transition to beautiful toast. Check the mirror, check the phone, move on. How is my virtual life doing while my real life stagnates? Yep, and yep. All good, five by five. Say what up to my cat Teppei before heading out the door. Morning routine in a nutshell, I am nothing if not a creature of habit. And, chances are, I''ll always be that guy. Or at least, I thought that I would. Destination: College. Onwards, Buttercup, my trusty steed (bicycle). But first, of course have to check the groupchat for the latest: DQ: I heard Leo is hot to trot for this crazy chick that dresses like a ninja FD: Story gets better, I heard she''s a chick from a game that he thinks he saw in real life Day has just started and I''m already the hot topic of conversation. Oh, right, I''m Leo, by the way. Lionel if you''d like to get fancy with it. Those idiots are Donovan and Felix, my two best friends, and they always think they know best. Which normally they do, but this is a bit of a special case. I swear I''m not crazy, hear me out on this one. Last night I totally saw this hot chick from a game in real life. Hah, you''re funny, Leo. Classic Leo. Slow down, mate. But no, I swear this is what happened. Event of record took place yesterday. I sidelined Buttercup since she struggles in the rain, so I walked over to the local comic book shop Stormlight Archive to pick up the hard copy Scott Pilgrim comics I''d been saving up for. Headphones in, moving to my own beat, the last thing I expected was for a beautiful ninja chick to come crashing into me. Cliche much? But crash she did, and the rest is immediate history. She was five foot nothing, half-asian looking and intense, with an I-kid-you-not two katanas strapped to her back, on a futuristic looking motorcycle. Should I have seen her coming? Probably. Should I have seen that coming? Maybe not. Long story short, she plowed through a red light, I was grounded, she came over to make sure that I was alright, and I''m pretty sure if I wasn''t already breathless I might have passed out entirely. ¡°What were you doing there?¡±, she asked, like that was a normal question while looking down at the person you almost just wiped off of the face of the Earth.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Chillin''¡±, I confidently replied, while cringing both at my situation and response. She offered me her hand while still looking concerned, but I felt like it was more for my general state than the situation itself. ¡°I''m Sarai. Sorry about that. It won''t happen again.¡± Well I would certainly hope not, crazy ninja chick. But I still had to redeem the cool factor. ¡°Hakuna matata¡±, I replied magnanimously. Better in my head, I reminded myself a thousand times afterwards, but I swear she did offer up a small smile in return. Small smile, hair flip, motorcycle hop, and then whoosh, back off to the great beyond. Snap back to reality. Dono (Donovan Quentin, or DQ), is on my way to school so we usually meet up and cause minor chaos as we go. Felix has some home stuff going on, so we catch him at school. We''re three amigos that are all really tight, we''d probably call ourself something like ¡°The Tri-Force¡± if we didn''t think it would make us a target. As is we just do our thing. Dono turned to me and before he said anything I knew what was coming: ¡°How''s your fake ninja chick, bro?¡± I love DQ but that doesn''t mean I don''t want to occasionally throw a left hook to his face. ¡°Sweet as, brochacho¡±. A weak left, maybe. My comebacks are always cooler in my head but this one was enough to at least slightly stifle his grin. But he knew it, and I knew it. No one believed me. The night before the whole attempted murder played out I was innocently playing this MMO when all of a sudden this girl pops up in my screen, yelling some Obi-Wan stuff like I''m her last hope and I''m the only one that can save her. Then she straight ghosted, and the game went back to normal. Then back to the attempted murder. It was the same girl. THE. SAME. GIRL. A million question marks forced into my head, all answered with exclamation marks of the same result. ¡°Shove it, Dono¡±, I said with more confidence than I really had at the time. But it seemed to work, and he left me alone until school started, when Felix met up with us for Chemistry. ¡°How''s your ninja chick Leo?¡±, he asked. Right, back to it then. ¡°As existent as your real life girlfriend, Felix¡± That shut him up for a bit, but he''ll never stay quiet for long, and it''s one of the things I love about Felix. A decent girl is going to find him one day, and what a prize he''ll be. But I digress. Why can''t I stop thinking about her. I''m not normally like this with girls, but every thought seems to wander her way. What''s her deal? And why is she popping up in my life? Got through the normal day and went to grab drinks and do some trivia with our friend Renna, who of course immediately piled on the fantasy bandwagon. ¡°So Leo I hear you had to make up a new DnD girl to date since there''s been a vacancy at your hotel for awhile.¡± SHOTS FIRED. ¡°How''s your latest Abercrombie not pleasing you?¡± REBUTTLED. ¡°This round is on me. I''m gonna ask the bartender if she knows how to make a ¡°ninja biker chick¡±¡±, said Dono, and wandered off. I glanced briefly at Felix and Renna, and wondered not for the first time how they''d fare as a couple. Being the last person anyone should ever ask, I sipped my beverage and quickly contemplated my life, the universe, and everything. Then made a snap judgment. ¡°I''m gonna find this girl, no matter what¡±, I said quietly, although ears perked up at the notion. Renna donned her devil''s grin and threw it my way suggestively, ¡°And what makes you think she would like that, bro?¡± ¡°He read Snow Crash recently, so the idea of a biker chick has him all hot and bothered¡± Felix said, like the traitorous scum that he is. Is he wrong? No comment. Dono came back with four questionable looking purple drinks, but he at least knows the bartender so nothing shady down the hatch. Renna had that look where I felt like she was examining my soul, I was pretty sure I knew why but wasn''t sure where it was headed. My guesses were way off base, as she launched into a new realm entirely: ¡°So Leo, what makes you like or not like a girl?¡± Dangerous waters that we swim in, indeed. ¡°Cute and nerdy¡±, I replied, ¡°you fulfill one of those categories but I''m not at liberty to disclose which¡±. Solid punch to the arm as riposte, as expected, but a smile nonetheless. Chalk that one up for a minor victory. BUT THEN. Out of absolutely nowhere a motorcycle crashed through the side wall, with almost Kool-Aid man levels of absurdity. He ripped off his helmet, looked directly at me, and said, ¡°How are we going to save Sarai when no one else will?¡± Chapter 2 (Kool, Kool Kool Kool) CHAPTER 2 ¡°Maybe it''s just hiding somewhere. Or gone on a trip to come home. But falling in love is always a pretty crazy thing. It might appear out of the blue and just grab you. Who knows ¡ª maybe even tomorrow.¡± - Haruki Murakami - A wrench in my plans before I knew those plans really existed. Kool. Kool kool kool. I looked faux Kool-Aid man directly in the face and said ¡°Where''s the Oh Yeah?¡± My humor was apparently lost to him, as he looked desperate and grabbed me by the collar. ¡°You can''t let her die. You CAN''T!¡± So far from my perspective she''d come much closer to killing me than I had to her, so I wasn''t tracking one hundred percent. But the situation seemed fluid, and Dono seemed to be chomping at the bit to be a part of it. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Yo Rando, if you''re gonna destroy one of the walls you''d better buy a round for everyone at the least¡± Thanks, Dono, we needed that. Kool-Aid man shook me like a martini and gasped out ¡°She''s the only one that knows how to-¡± And promptly exploded. Not like, figuratively exploded with rage, literally exploded, all over us. Looking back evidence suggests high powered sniper rifle at close range, but none of us had any idea at the time what was going on. We fled to the corner like pups from a wolf, and remained there until all seemed quiet on the western front. ¡°You guys alright?¡±, I asked, trying to keep the shake from my voice that I knew was there. I looked over incredulously at Dono as he was somehow still holding his drink and sipping it. ¡°Five by four¡±, was his reply. A backwards 80%, good enough. Renna and Felix were huddled together and gave me a weak thumbs up, and I figured that we needed to get out, and get out real quick. Renna made a gesture that said follow me and I wasn''t in a position to argue, so we ducked down, hung a left, sprinted down the hallway, burst out the emergency exit, and Chinese-Fire-Drilled into the van. Safe for now, but honestly, what on earth just happened. Chapter 3 (The Rundown) every story written is marks upon a page The same marks, repeated, only differently arranged¡± - Max Barry - The rest of the room met this with radio silence which, to be fair, was probably the right response, considering the fact that some of us were still picking brains off our denim. Felix looked the most scared out of the group, for completely understandable reasons. Fair enough big guy, no one does. Crazy, right? Let me give a wee bit of backstory, because it gets all the better. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Enter: Me. ait, that''s Aladdin. Snap back to reality. So what, I liked 8 Mile. ¡° This somehow seemed to placate the quiet giant, which surprised even me, but I take small wins wherever I can get them. Renna looked quiet and withdrawn, and opened her mouth to speak for a second when Felix rumbled over and gave her a big bear hug. She started sobbing almost immediately. Not much fazes her either so it was a pretty clear indication of how surreal the whole situation was. Felix the Bear to the rescue, at least temporarily. I tried to gather my thoughts before speaking since the last thing I wanted to do was create even more panic. But Renna shrugged off Sir Bear and withdrew a bit into herself, quietly muttering: I briefly contemplated the depth of that statement, realizing that even though I had, a life blinking out in front of you is something that will stay with you forever, regardless of whether you knew them or not. We''re always a second away from returning to dust. But let''s focus on living. ¡°There''s a glitch in the matrix¡± I said, immediately regretting the cringe factor but honestly not knowing a better way to explain it. The collective groans said enough in response, but I was determined to push forward. Her eyes said Why but the response was ¡°Three, parents'' have an office desktop and a laptop, and my laptop.¡± I took a deep breath and scanned the room to draw eye contact, since I knew this would sound insane but I had a feeling that somehow, it was the only thing that made sense. ¡°I need you guys to make TantaMount accounts, and we need to find Sarai there¡±. I''ve never seen the word dumbfounded so literally encapsulated within three faces before, and they stared at me for some time before I realized some kind of explanation was probably needed. ¡° Dono chimed in helpfully as usual: ¡°Cool, but I ain''t playin'' no cleric¡±. Thanks bud. So, thusly, Sabriel (Class: Warrior, irl handle Renna), Blank (Class: Rogue, irl handle Dono), and Ender (Class: Priest, irl handle Felix), were born, and three recently traumatized idiots joined the virtual world that I''d come to know and love. We were tired, scared, and uncertain, but what was coming for us, and what it would do to us down the road? At that point, we had no idea. Chapter 4 (A Whole New World) ¡°Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.¡± - Neil Gaiman -Welcome to the world of TantaMount, where your dreams are always tantalizingly close. On first glance, TantaMount is nothing special. You create your avatar, pick a name, choose your affiliations, play a bit with your stats, and off you go. Standard stuff. But what really sets it apart was the world itself, a sprawling landscape with three gigantic mountains, each more massive than the next, and all that was keeping you from them was a mount (be it bird or dragon) that could fly you high enough to reach the summit of each and begin the journey. And let me tell you, those summits were nothing to scoff at. Each of the three mountains had a temple near the base of it, with each of them containing pieces of the three parts of a song you would need to create in order to tame the creatures that could lead you up the mountains. The amount of rewards collected would affect the three pieces of the song: the rhythm, the melody, and the soul. No one had ever collected all of the pieces from any dungeon, but the rhythm would affect the strength of the bird''s flight, the melody its gracefulness in movement, and the soul its willingness to risk it all for its companion. There were five total tiers of power for these birds, the first being companion, the second being ally, and the third, fourth, and fifth tiers being needed to climb their respective associated mountain summits. Now in theory, you could either start with a lower tier and gradually grow it with resources through the tiers with parts of the song that you get from the temples, instead of saving them to create a song that would lure a stronger, much more mature companion to guide you to the summits. Most veteran players employed these tactics to advance through the game quickly, taking any shortcuts available to get through the temples and gather as many parts of the song as they could to reach the mountain summits. Call me a purist, a completionist, or maybe just a downright moron, and you might not be wrong on any accounts. But for me, the mountains were an eventuality, not an immediate quest. I was happy to wander the quiet, peaceful plains, explore the rustic, intricately designed little villages, and slowly meander through the three temples with my best virtual friend and journey companion Clipse. Right, Clipse. How does one describe a mute (but trust me, never silent) companion that has walked the face of a planet with you, thrown themselves in front of killing blows for you, slashed open the throats of your enemies, but also nonchalantly act as a virtual pillow on the nights where things got so real that you just couldn''t handle everything going on? real. Meanwhile. ¡°This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Loading... burn everyone Doesn''t mean I don''t hate him on occasion though. ¡° Duel initiated Things were going swimmingly, as expected. Meanwhile... and Meanwhile^2... Ender and Sabriel arrived to the town of Erso roughly around the same time to meet up with Blank, but were immediately slammed with rumors and speculation of a major duel the next morning between the mayor''s son and some idiot named Blank. They''d heard about the glove but didn''t know what it meant, as apparently Dono didn''t either. The reasons for said offense cascaded through my brain, but we couldn''t afford any holdups, and I just wanted to see if my theory about Sarai held any weight. Desperate times, etcetera, etcetera. To review classical dueling technique I had him go back and watch the episode Shindig from Firefly, where the proper techniques were clearly put on display. No Inara for him to bat his pretty eyelashes at, but we had to start somewhere. Well then. Mighty fine shindig. Time was so pressing in real life and my mind was still processing everything that had happened, but all I could think was: ¡°Get em, Dono¡±. And let me tell you, my brother from another did not disappoint. Starting gun popped and within a heartbeat he was flowing like a river on something special, moved in close with a feigned left and popped a right shot to the head and a low body blow with the left afterward. ¡°To the death, Dono!¡± I shouted at him, knowing he was cat-playing his opponent. ¡°You owe me for Marle!¡±. Something in his eyes changed, and I knew I''d gotten through to him. I would launch into Marle and all that, but things were over so quickly I barely had time to even think about it. enraged Mission complete. So there we all are, bearing witness to the destruction before us. Out of left field comes a call from an unknown party: Was the gist of it anyway. We''d later learn what happened and trust me, it wasn''t pretty. Chapter 5 (The Storm of Calms Before) ¡°I keep swinging my hand through a swarm of bees I can''t understand why they''re stinging me But I''ll do what I want I''ll do what I please I''ll do it again ''til I''ve got what I need¡± - Thrice - Two.Makes sense. Day done. ¡°Who the hell are you?¡±, she asked, while immediately reaching for the mace in her purse. All three looked at her briefly and looked like nothing doing, status quo. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Something in her body immediately tensed, like that feeling you get when you just reach the peak of a roller coaster and are about to plummet. Things are going to change, and quickly She dove into her purse but was too late as two of them had flanked her each rocking guns of the taser variety. She blankly looked back at them, up at them, and then half dark almost through them, fading into tomorrow. WAKE UP The voice screamed in her head and all around her, but she couldn''t tell if she was dreaming or what the hell was going on. She looked to her left, wall full of nothing. To her right, a door with the window blacked out, which didn''t scream endless possibilities. She looked around fully once more, took a deep breath, and then looked inwards. The door opened with an almost comical BANG, and a sharply dressed male and female duo sauntered into the room, like it was business as usual. ¡° Sarai tensed up a bit at that, and her mind flitted towards every escape option that she could think of, which were the same options she''d already thought of, none of them good. ¡° ¡°Money, fortune, fame, all of it¡±, Valentine countered with, grabbing a knife off of the nearby table and swaying back and forth like a drunken kung fu master, waiting to pounce on an unwitting opponent. ¡°But what do I want from you? ¡°NOTHING¡±, she screamed. someone stabs a knife into your thigh. Her consciousness began to fade, but for some reason focused on that idiot who''d jumped out in front of her bike the other day. ¡° Chapter 6 (The Eclipse, Full Dark No Stars) CHAPTER 6 ¡°Tonight I, I sing for you And all the things you do I sing for you¡± - Nilu - You know that moment where something happens to you, and no matter how big or small what actually is happening is, it will change the ¡°you¡± that you ¡°knew¡± forever? For me, TantaMount was literally and metaphorically a game changer. I haven''t gone down this route yet, having somewhat successfully repressed the memory for some time now (SURE, says my rational/semi-rational brain), but I suppose it''s tragic backstory time. TL;DR version. My parents died in a plane crash when I was 16, and yeah, the idea that it happens to almost no one is absolutely correct, but I''m one of the lucky few. Two years afterwards time spent floating around questionable foster homes and just wanting high school to be over with until the inheritance kicked in. TantaMount to me became tantamount, since at the time I had a hard time connecting with people in real life and just needed a break and an escape from all of the noise out there. It gave me a tangible goal to accomplish and a way to do it: ¡°Find a mount worthy of climbing the first mountain, and befriend it¡±. Fair enough, in game commentary. Level 1, Knight Class, no other affiliations, off to explore the wonders of the world. Game on. I wandered out into to the fields, taking those three mountains and their epic ramifications in, and thinking: ¡°Hard pass¡±. Too much work, just too much, I was dealing with enough nonsense as is, and I didn''t want any in game stuff piling on top of it. But then out of nowhere, a gentle giant wandered up to me and changed my life forever. Well, that''s not entirely true, I fast forwarded a bit. Here''s the brief recap. To first be able to be strong enough to leave the town that you start in (Lastlove) you have to reach Level 15, by gaining experience through helping people out in the town, and an apprenticeship that can give you a baseline trade to help you out through the rest of the game. Most people would choose the obvious ones like welder to build gear, trainer to help gain fighting skills, herbalist to help create potions or weaponized concoctions, or even cook to make sure you constantly can stay well fed and strong. I chose an apprenticeship as a Veteranarian, so my specialty was mainly in caring for wounded animals. At the time there were no wounded animals in my life, but to me, it felt right. If I ever ended up finding the right companion to help guide me to those calamitous cliffs, I would want to be able to take care of it as best I could, were the situation to arise. So I chose it quickly and never looked back, and (at least to me) it paid off like no other in the long run.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I''ll never forget the day that my parents died because honestly: how could you? I remember logging in out of habit, and just sitting there, in game, looking out at the vivid red and violet sunset with the long grass whipping against the back of my neck and thinking, for some reason, that I wish they could be here with me now, even in the virtual, to see what I was seeing, and experience it with me. And, not realizing that my mic was on (and if affected those within a 2 mile radius of you in game), I laid back, stretched out on the grassy field, and sang a song that my mom used to sing to me when I was nothing but a stupid, cute little brat: Alone she sleeps, in the shadow of night Falling from her dreams, she lands Upon a star, in a river of black As time passes through her hands But stars all die, as dreams all fade, So she left to find her way, Across the night, into the dawn She dreamed ¡®til dreams were gone I faded into a gentle nothingness like I usually do when my mind skips back to that melody, but was rudely interrupted by a giant awkward bird squawking and flailing around like I owed it a back payment on rent. Ran a quick stat check on the bird and confirmed Tier 1, fairly strong base stats for a lowbie but nothing too outlandish. Nothing against the idea of building from scratch, but it just didn''t seem like- The melody I had just sung was belted out very roughly and repeated back to me with a very different tone, but he/she sure nailed it, and it tugged pretty hard at ye olde heartstrings, no lie. I sat up with a blank stare at the chocobo-looking creature, trying to figure out exactly what it wanted from little old me. I brought up its in game info but was caught off guard as the world seemed to go entirely dark, at least for the moment. Right, the eclipse. Once it passed I was surprised to feel Chocobo-lite behind me and pressed up against me, seemingly scared as to what was going on. Probably not a great sign. I turned to the creature behind me almost to push it away, but the look in its eyes caught me off guard. It was alone, and scared, like I was, and it needed someone or something to hold on to, like honestly, I did. I put on my best real life smile that translated to an in game silly jig, and the creature backflipped and bounced around seemingly delightedly in response. At this point I had such a stupid grin on my face that our bond was all but a formality, but I looked back to double check on their profile, just to make sure: Mount Name: Clipse Class: Unknown Affiliation: Unknown Rhythm: Unknown Melody: Unknown Soul: Unknown All other stats that normally are displayed showed exactly the same thing. My first thought was that I''d come across a creature so weak that their stats weren''t even worth showing, but that notion was snuffed out as we were ambushed by a pair of nasty looking sharks, on rollerblades of all things. How they rollerbladed through the plains, and just got onto land and survived in general, I have no idea. Opening salvo started as expected, I was quicker than the rollersharks but my damage output still wasn''t off the charts. I landed a quick hit on right shark (my heart is always with left shark, so I''ll never hit them first) and then buffed Clipse with additional speed and damage, hoping that he/she could do some work. And work she did. Once buffed she launched into some crazy combination I''d never seen anything like before, flipping and spinning like she was Yoda from Star Wars Episode II and just going flat out crazy. I was wondering what the damage output would be but once she finished, none were left standing. Huh. Proverbial food for thought, I suppose, but even before the fight I knew what needed to be done. I walked up to Clipse, self exposed, and held up a hand gently to show that I meant no harm, and that I was wanting for us to partner up to conquer this mad world. She responded in turn, in an unexplainable but meaningful way. You mess with my girl, you get the horns. And you probably don''t want to see that situation in reverse. I get caught up reminiscing about Clipse, mea culpa, we''ve had too many good times together. Although at the moment my brain is still caught up in all things Sarai, My brain quick switched to her and I wonder what she''s up to now... Chapter 7 (The Dilemma of Renna) CHAPTER 7 ¡°Does the hatred you feel ever disappear? Or is it something that never goes away, no matter how many times you try to erase it? What I have always feared the most is myself. Because I, too, have hatred inside me.¡± - Naoki Urasawa - Sarai stared deeply at the knife deep in her left thigh for a second and tried to do her best to either not scream or pass out. She failed at both understandably but came back to quickly, immense pain and pressure cascading all up and down her left leg. ¡°Why,¡± she gasped out, breathless and frustrated. Damian and Valentine were on the opposite side of the room from her, pouring over a map they''d printed out, with a disturbing amount of X''s on it. Sarai was no math major but she could put two and two together for what it probably meant. She eyed the keys on the table adjacent, but would have to pull off something miraculous to get to them and use them quickly enough to unlock herself and fight the both of them off. Keep calm and blah blah, she told herself, with the tiny hope that somehow someone would realize what was happening. Unfortunately for her, Valentine didn''t seem to share the same optimism, and came back and ripped the knife out of her thigh, leaving blood spouting from an opening wound. She then looked at it, shrugged, and walked away. Sarai screamed at the pain that was unlike anything she''d ever felt before, and retreated to her mind palace. Yeah, that''s right, Sherlock shit, anything to avoid the here and now. All survival instincts kicking in left and right. For reasons she couldn''t entirely explain at the time, her mind floated to the room that TantaMount occupied. She was so close. She was one of the dozen or so players ever that had managed to finally reach the summit of the third mountain, and had geared up to get ready to enter Castle Azure, which no one had ever successfully beaten. That''s right, no one. The game had existed for six years and not a single person had ever made it past the castle before the actual climb of the third mountain. It''s what turned so many players off to the game and the reason why so many had quit: there was a tandem boss fight in the castle that was supposedly unbeatable. No one had even really come that close, but Sarai and her companion Solian were up near the strongest in the game, and she figured she had as good a shot as anyone. She''d watch YouTubers and their attempts to try to take them down, and understood the general strategy (or at least what seemed to work best, since no one could beat it). She wasn''t sure why TantaMount had crept into her mind now of all times, but now she was sure. Nothing else could explain it. It''s them. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Damien and Valentine, her kidnappers and torturers in the real world. They were dressed differently, and looked a bit out of place, but she''d watched enough videos of people trying to beat them to know what they were like. They''re the two bosses no one could ever beat. ¡°It''s you two, isn''t it¡±, Sarai tried to get out, but blood was flowing from her leg and she was slowly becoming more lightheaded. Damien perked up at this though, abandoning his casual swaggering and switching on into full alpha mode. The change was terrifying, and he stalked over to her like a cat finally done playing with a mouse. He reached down and grabbed her chin and slowly lifted it up so that she was looking directly into his snake-like eyes. ¡°And what do you think you know, girl¡±? He delivered the line with such gravitas that it was almost a slap to her face, despite only being slightly louder than a whisper. The intensity in his eyes was only matched by the glee in Valentine''s from the other side of the room, her finely pressed outfit now covered with splotches of Sarai''s blood all over. ¡°Ooooh, I love it when he gets like this¡±, she mewed, ¡°you get to see his fun side¡±, and unwrapped a lollipop and popped it into her mouth, hopping up on the counter and tuning in like she was ready to throw on the newest season of Stranger Things. But being small and non-white Sarai had been dealing with bullies all of her life, and she knew one when she saw one. And that, whether it cost her her own life or not, she would not stand for. ¡°I know who you are, what you are, and what you''re doing¡±, she managed to get out incredibly calmly, despite the scenario. Her composure seemed to catch even Damien slightly off guard. ¡°What do you mean, young one?¡± he smiled a full shark''s teeth smile. ¡°You are Damenocles, and she is Valanastia, and you''ve found a way into our world, to kill those of us that are strongest in yours¡±. Damien and Valentine looked briefly stunned and exchanged a glance, almost looking as though this was something that could be overly concerning. But Damian slowly tilted his head back to her, and the shark-toothed grin returned. Clap. Silence. Clap. Silence. Clap. ¡°Credit where credit is due, youngling¡±, the arrogant drawl returning to Damien''s persona, ¡°You might be the only one that''s actually figured that out¡±. Valentine hopped down off of the counter, tossing the remnants from her sucker in the trash and almost prancing over towards where Sarai was tied up. ¡°Is it time, Damien? Is it time?!?¡± she said, giddy with apparent glee. Sarai looked back and forth between them, trying to figure out her next play. She didn''t like her options. ¡°Almost¡±, said Damien, ¡°But first, let''s see how much she knows about Ozma¡±. And pulled a large blade out of its sheath, holding it up in front of Sarai''s face. Without intending to, she gulped, and tried to prepare herself mentally for what was about to happen. ¡°Time to start the party!!!¡± Valentine said, bouncing around the tied up Sarai. She leaned in really close so that Sarai could smell her expensive perfume and sweat from seemingly never stopping her movement, ever. ¡°Now the fun begins¡±, she said, coolly. Chapter 8 (Jurgens Jargon) CHAPTER 8 I understand aggressiveness in only one way: being prepared to hurt yourself, not someone else. - Jurgen Klopp - One of the first things that I did after the crazy Sarai shenanigans was text Oz (or Ozma, Ozamataz Buckshank as far as the full made up name is concerned) and see if he knew what was up. That''s the general go-to for anyone that knows anyone who is anyone in game. Oz is a legend, always has been and always will be. He''s that guy that you might forget about because he''s been around for so long, but remember that you might need him to help because he''s been around for so long. Any boss fight? He did it before it got nerfed. Any crazy raid? He was always the first on top of the totem pole for gearing and strategy. He was always a step ahead, and honestly, that was the step that I needed right now. But I had to find a way to corral him for that to actually work. But Oz was, for all intents and purposes, AFK. ¡°Jesus wept¡±, I muttered, under my breath, waiting for a response from the legend himself, about a week ago. A week passed, piling up the Jesus tears. ¡°He wept, and wept¡±, I thought to myself nonsensically, under my breath, a few days later. But, on occasion, ask and you shall receive, and in this case Oz finally did hit me back. ¡°Yo¡±, he messaged me out of nowhere, with levels of biblical proportion considering the current situation. ¡°I''ve heard things are a little crazy out there right now¡±. Oh, are they now. ¡°I hate you but you know it''s still all love¡±, I replied, ¡°What have you heard?¡±. Short span of silence that made me think he''d gone rogue again but he ended up coming through loud and clear: ¡°This sounds crazy, and I feel crazy just for saying it, but I think Damenocles and Valanastia have found a way into real life, and have started killing us players here.¡± In my head I laughed, then briefly contemplated my sanity, then I considered what he had actually said, and how that lined up with what had been happening. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Sarai pops into our world, briefly and only in strange spurts. Damenocles and Valanastia are two bosses no one has ever found a way to get past in TantaMount. Stronger players have seemed to have been leaving the game, supposedly for other games/challenges, and never really heard from again. Occam''s razor does always have its place, and its place at this point in time seemed to be right here, and right now. I had guessed most of that in my head but now had to figure out the actual implications of what that meant. My conclusion sounded a bit abstract but honestly it seemed like the only thing that made sense at the time. ¡°We somehow have to stop the killers, now, in real life. While protecting our in game characters.¡± Right then. Oz hopping into full turtle mode (full defense) meant that the rest of us needed to take it seriously, one hundred percent. Since we were already mostly on the defensive though, the real question was what that meant for us on the offensive side going forward. No one had ever beaten them in the game in the first place ¨C so start there, I suppose? But where to even start? The numbers, resistances, and move lists were all of staggering implication. To even begin to come close to being able to not die within seconds of the encounter in game, Clipse and I had a long road ahead. So especially did Dono, Felix''s and Renna''s characters, although they were off to a rousing start, with Dono now somehow the toast of the town and soaking up all the free rounds from the locals at the tavern. Jerk move, I admit, but I cut the night of in-game debauchery short by pulling out the power cord and bringing them back to reality. After the messages from Oz I knew that we need a plan, and we needed one quick. Both in our reality and in TantaMount. Otherwise Game Over signs were looming on the horizon for both, with Start Over not being an option. ¡°Alright guys, hear me out¡±, I said in my best deep and gruff leader''s voice, which was probably neither but worked in my head, while picturing the groans I knew would be coming in response to what I was about to say. ¡°We need to try to find Sarai in real life, quickly. I think she in some serious danger, of the virtual variety. And we need to get a better grip on what''s actually happening here, and I think Oz can help out with that.¡± What we really need was for anything, literally anything, to make any kind of sense right now. The last 72 hours have been such a blur that if it wasn''t for the absurd doses of caffeine and the constant adrenaline I''d be laid out of the next stretcher next to Kool-Aid Man. I scanned the room briefly, knowing how well this next part would be received considering the levels of insanity we''d been dealing with over the last day or so. Groans galore, incoming. ¡°Also ¨C tomorrow I think we all need to go to class and pretend everything is normal while we get this sorted¡±. And so it was that we attempted a pretend return to normalcy. Chapter 9 (Dreaming, Scheming) Humans need to dream, you know. It''s how the mind breathes.¡± - Max Gladstone - Since I''d moved on from the foster system and gotten a place of my own the one thing that struck me the most out of everything (besides the obvious freemdom and space because of it) was how much my dreams seemed to change, almost evolve, when I had more time on my own and with my own thoughts. I was never much one to deep dive into dreams and what they meant to me, and how much they affected me; but lately with reality seeming to appear not quite a solid as I had once thought it was, an unconscious part of my mind must have been reviewing them constantly, as images started to appear from them whenever I would close my eyes. I lay awake in bed after we split ways earlier before our plan to pretend to be normal school kids again the next day (I guess technically we still were), and for some reason found myself hung up on my brain recycling this recurring dream I''d had on and off for years but had never really understood. It went a little something like this.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. My dream dropped me straight into what seemed to be a fairly straightforward platformer, three lives to go, one 16-bit dream to achieve. It was more Metroid than Mario, a bit futuristic with some sci-fi elements, a somewhat tricky boss or two but honestly I mostly just breezed through until the end. And there, without fail, I died, quickly, tragically, and dishonorably every time. I say dishonorably because I tried literally everything I could think of, from tricks to possible glitches, and the problem was so frustratingly dumb that I''ve woken up many a morning in a state of tired fury. One simple crevasse jump, but so far that I couldn''t make it. That''s all folks. Nothing complicated, nothing extreme, I just fell short every single time. No hidden blocks to jump on, no enemies to bounce off of, no pipes to wander down into. The closer I got to the perfect jump to get my to the final boss, the farther off I felt, since I had though that was the one that would get me there. Everything is easy until things get hard, I kept telling myself, but no matter what I did in dreamland it was never enough, and to this day I still wake up falling just short it of. Long story short is that this dream felt like the life I was currently living in, where everything feels just out of reach and I feel like I''m always short one piece of the jigsaw. Where is Sarai, and is she ok? What is the actual deal with these bosses and how did they end up in our reality? How do I beat them in their reality, or even find a way to get as far in the game as to where I can? How in the hell do I make that actual jump? Literal leap or metaphorical, it had my brain spinning, and I wanted answers sooner rather than later. But, and a J-Lo sized but at that, the dark night beckons, and my brain was a bit fuzzy already, so a return to the world of dreams it was, then. Until tomorrow. Chapter 10 (Dwayne Johnson) CHAPTER 10 ¡°Even if it means oblivion, friends, I''ll welcome it, because it won''t be nothing. We''ll be alive again in a thousand blades of grass, and a million leaves; we''ll be falling in the raindrops and blowing in the fresh breeze; we''ll be glittering in the dew under the stars and the moon out there in the physical world, which is our true home and always was.¡± - Philip Pullman - I woke up the next morning with a renewed sense of a clarity, and a purpose that I''d never felt before. ...Nah, I''m just playing around, I woke up after a night full of brief bouts of sleep and the occasional flits of dreamless reverie. Bit of a mixed bag, but I guess it was enough fuel for the day, so I suppose, back to school I go. No idea how this is going to all play out. How can he be so glib about everything?, the nonexistent audience asked. Everything was so crazy right now that I didn''t know how to deal with it exactly, so my normal response is attempted cleverness paired with some side snark. Best I''ve got. Swung by DQ''s to grab him before heading to school and he launched out of his house wearing, of all things, an old school WWF wrestling belt (not the World Wildlife Federation, that''s another story for another time). He one-two-step hopped on his bike and gave me arguably the cockiest grin I''ve ever seen in my entire life. I briefly entertained whether or not it was even worth diving down into that rabbit hole, but given everything that had been happening, I bit off on the prospect of it: ¡°I see that stupid smile of yours and call. What''s crackalackin''¡±?¡± He flashed a Cheshire back and sped away on his one speed, and I followed on Buttercup in pursuit, not fully understanding what the reason behind the chase was. We finally arrived after fifteen or so minutes of mindless pursuit at uni, when Dono flipped an insane 180, landed, braked, and threw it up on one wheel like he was the Headless Horseman, jumped off while throwing it to the ground, and yelled out ¡°DO YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKIN''¡±? An obvious reference based on his stupid belt that I grokked, but the context, not so much. I parked Buttercup and approached my idiot friend for further clarification. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Meanwhile... Renna was normally the type that found it easy to be very sure about things. Although she''d never admit it to Leo, after creating her TantaMount profile and dealing with all of the Donovan nonsense she''d gone back to her room not to sleep and prepare for the day ahead, but to hop back into that world for a little bit longer and see what it had to offer. She didn''t like things she didn''t fully understand. She tried to think logically about what type of bird she would attract since she''d never owned a pet before and wasn''t sure exactly how that relationship played out. What do I need, and what does it want from me? Thankfully she''d help from various other questers with gear and such so she was quickly a leg up on the competition, albeit having to successfully navigate some awkward situations from those that had helped her along her way. But she was off, goal numero uno being finding away to reach the summit of the first mountain. Fact check of what she knew for sure: 1. She didn''t know what the hell she was doing 2. She knew that she needed a mount of one million overall strength to reach the first summit 3. She didn''t know what the hell she was doing I wonder what Felix thinks about it. Wait, where the hell did that come from? He''s cute and cuddly like the teddiest of sorts, but I never really thought about him like...hmm. Brain check, and back to real life. I like knowing when things make sense, and nothing about any of this makes any sense at all. Leo is a moron, but he''s a fairly intelligent moron, and usually can get things done. Leo is just Leo, he''s one of those guys that just walks into any situation and no one gets offended by him. That''s not an insult, it''s a compliment, him and I met up thankfully when Dono was taking a piss break and we shot the shizz over gaming and music and what not. He''s fine, however. Don''t get me started on Donovan, but every village has its idiot. Enough said there. I bring a certain je ne sais quoi to the group. Yeah, I''m a little cocky, arrogant even. Fight me. But I love my friends and I will do anything for them, even idiots like Donovan. And Felix, especially. Hurt these morons and you will get hurt. Guaranteed. Signed off, for the moment. Renna Chapter 11 (The Real NPShe) CHAPTER 11 ¡°A woman''s strength should not be in her role, whatever she chooses to be, but in the power to choose that role.¡± - Brandon Sanderson - Sarai had, finally, accepted her fate, knowing that there was no realistic other option. No matter what she told them, what she could say, she was six feet deep. Time to accept the consequences. So far the only real way she''d been able to make any connection to TantaMount was unconsciously, so she looked around for anything that could do any kind of harm to her. Fun. There was a piece of broken glass which in her opinion was the worst freaking thing could possibly be available, but it was there, and so was she. She steeled her mind for what was about to happen. She had to cause enough pain to herself to force her mind back to the unconscious. Here goes. Jab it quick, try not to think about it. OH MY GOD- Back into Tantamount. She didn''t fully understand why it worked like this but she knew she didn''t really have to to think about it. She immediately went to try to access the in-game chat but remembered she was technically an NPC, and not able to directly affect the world with actions of her own. ¡°We''ll see about that¡±, she thought to herself, and sprinted towards the closest town she vaguely remembered seeing Leo in. On the way Sarai had nothing to do but think, and think she did. She knew at this point she was just escaping to prolong the inevitable, and being in the small percentage of people that knew they were going to die shortly, what would she spend her last moments thinking about? Food, oh my god, food. Haters used to give me flak but pffft yeah I''m tiny but I like my fried chicken and my burgers, deal with it. I''ll karate chop you if it comes down to it (there are no chops in karate, but MMA is my thing, so I can show you what''s up if need be). What else? Family back in Japan. My mom, my dad (rest in peace), and my little brother Katsuya. They know that I love them so I don''t have to say it here but I will anyway. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Wow I put food before my family, didn''t I? Stomach has a mind of its own. Good thing I''m getting to where I need to be in one relative piece. WELCOME TO LOVELOST The sign said, like she didn''t need a reminder of ever relationship she''d ever been in. Leo had seemed alright. Right? He''d quoted a Disney movie and didn''t seem too butthurt about me swiping him on my bike. And, I mean, he was kinda cute. Kinda. Right. The things I think about when I''m probably dying. Write it on my tombstone then HE WAS CU- Am I dead now? How would I know? I''m not even really sure. I know that I can feel my heart beat in my chest and my breath ease out but I can''t tell if that''s me thinking that or actually knowing that. Am I even re- No. Stop. Game time. - Interlude - Dono had heard Leo''s request for normalcy, and wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. Having just landed a bitching 180 on the bike, he marched up to the approaching Leo and jabbed a finger gun straight up into his ribcage. ¡°You and me partner ¨C we ain''t normal, never have been and never will be. So let''s rock¡±. A small crowd had gathered in front of the school to try and determine what the hell was going on, and Dono loved him a crowd and always aimed to please. He went full Cusack-Say Anything mode and threw the faux title belt over his head, screaming to the masses. ¡°STILL HERE NEVER LEFT¡± And busted threw the front doors, leaving the Jigga quote with the masses and the masses unsure of what exactly had just happened. But if there''s one subject that one can learn from it in theory should be History, so he dragged Leo with him into the classroom before the bell and tossed him into the seat adjacent, Professor Whatshisnugget stood up to address the class. ¡°I hope all of you read through the assigned material last night, as I''ve prepared a pop quiz to see just how much all of you know about the Battle of Marathon¡±. ¡°Knowing is half the battle¡±, Dono replied out of habit, but was fairly sure he''d be lucky to get half marks. Just a few things had happened that resulted in a lack of historical knowledge gained over the last few days. He busted out the finely sharpened No. 2 in anticipation of imminent failure, when a wheezing, panting, breathless Sarai popped out of nowhere in front of him and Leo, almost like an R2 projection, blinking in and out. ¡°Finally¡±, she said, catching her breath. ¡°We need to talk¡±. Chapter 12 (Siren Song) ¡°If only the last dozen years were just a dream my younger self was having, how wonderful that would be.¡± - Inio Asano - I saw Sarai and lost my breath for now a second time. Yeah, she''s real, deal with it. Doing my best and failing to ignore my schoolboy crush, I attempted rational conversation. ¡°Hey, you¡±, I said, with all the cleverness I could muster. That went over about as well as anyone could expect, and her response highlighted how absurd my original attempt was: ¡°I think this is the last time I''ll be able to to talk to you¡±, she said. Considering that''s not something anyone would ever say lightly, it ran through my head a number of times before I deemed a reasonable response was in order. And trust me, I ran this back in my head about a bajillion times. ¡°I think I might be in love with you¡± I said, with almost certainty. ¡°All signs point to it anyway¡±, as I immediately backtracked, as I always do, and always kick myself for it. ¡°Well, anyway¡± she said, which is the response you always want to hear to that. Confession well received. ¡°D You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°They''re killing people. And I think they might have just killed me¡±. And blinked out of existence. How exactly does one take that surrounded by a room full of classmates and teacher wondering what in the hell actually just happened? Great question. ¡°Hah, excellent practical joke¡±, I said to the room and no one in particular, while motioning to Dono that it was time to bounce, ¡°The uh - restroom population is looking a bit sparse at the moment¡±. And dashed out, back to Renna''s. Not the smoothest of exits but we can''t always be KY. What I wanted was to do was to get back into the game ASAP and figure out what exactly was going on. Logged on, Clipse greeted me with her standard Zidane headbutt, and I hopped into the verse trying and consequently failing to find Sarai. She just wasn''t there. Not wasn''t there as in probably ignoring me since I''m often an idiot, wasn''t there as in I legit don''t think she''s actually around any more. That''s scary to think about in the virtual world, and even scarier in real life. Wait, which is scarier? Another question for another time, I suppose. I didn''t even really know her and I can''t get her out of of my head. Does that say more about me or her? Why am I even asking this? I''ll say that I''ll figure it out tomorrow, which basically means that I won''t, and so we move on then. The posse headed back to the saloon in Lovelost to regroup, since because of Dono we somehow now drank there for free. Logic escapes even the most rational minds on that one. I sat there trying to wrap my head around the current situation, which was SNAFU at best. Here''s where we''re at: 1. Oz says that video game characters are killing people irl 2. Sarai also says that video game characters are killing people irl 3. Sarai might be dead now 4. Am I even alive? I''ll leave that last one as a cliffhanger since dear reader can theoretically confirm my existence. But the first three especially have some terrifying consequences. What do D Who or what is Sarai? I had to check myself while phrasing the question since I realized I wasn''t even 100% sure that I knew myself. That was, of course, until she slid into the seat next to me, beer in hand, acting as though nothing had happened, business as us ¡°Heard that you love me¡±, she said intensely, with an expression that even after the fact I could not tell you was serious or not; ¡°hope you like dead chicks¡±. Chapter 13 (The First Mountain) CHAPTER 13 ¡°Sure, this will probably end up being another in a long line of emotionally crippling misadventures...but let''s try to have some fun along the way.¡± - Brian K. Vaughan I remember the first time that I logged into TantaMount, looking at that first mountain and wanting nothing to do with it. Then the more I played the game, the more rose-tinted my glasses became and I saw it as something very achievable; for when I so deemed fit, at least. Even conquering the first was a major achievement in the community at the time, but I was loving the stress free life of sandbox style do what I want, when I want, and figure that out when I get there. Obviously, the stakes have been upped significantly. Ahnald ¡°GET TO DA CHOPPA¡± levels of importance. So, the first mountain, Altran. I''d been through the temple that leads up to it a few times before so I was familiar with it, but only by myself as a one man escapade. Not that I necessarily thought the idiots I''d have with me would help in any way, shape, or form, but at least more party members lends a certain strength in itself. Primo Temple had never been fully cleared by anyone before, and no one was entirely sure why. It wasn''t that difficult of a temple to get through, and everyone had seemingly explored every part of the map and every shortcut, hideaway, or trigger to lead to something new. So, I entered it with a few idiot noobs and one fresh zombie trying to unlock the secrets no one had been able to unearth before, since in my mind conquering all the dungeons completely and gaining the maximum attributes might be the only shot we had in overcoming the crazies. Real life was a different beast entirely, but the game aspect I could handle. In theory. Solid (not solid at all) crew heading into the temple: Leo ¨C Bobby Firmino, Level 100 (which should be the max for any game), Paladin Donovan ¨C Blank, Level 15, Rogue and general degenerate Felix ¨C Ender, Level 15, Priest and general teddy bear Sarai ¨C Sarai, Level 1, crazy dead zombie ninja Renna ¨C Sabriel, Level 15, Warrior that is confident borderline cocky (definitely cocky) You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. My cup of confidence doth not overfloweth. Donovan and Felix had managed to corral some decent chocobo-esque creatures and Sarai and Renna somehow both had low level dragons, which I''m sure would eventually lead to a ¡°Queen of the Dragons¡± dispute, but we''ll burn that bridge when we get there. I think part of the reason the dungeon had never been cleared was that the design was just straight up weird. It''s got that old school Zelda 1 screen hopping nonsense built in, but also has a time system built into it (?) So when you enter the dungeon it gives you a 24 hour countdown clock which you can spend in it before it kicks you out, and you can never get a piece from it that you''ve gotten before if you go and do it again. So once you''re in, you''re in, and you no matter how many times you run it you can never get any reward twice. So every rerun that you do you''d better be getting something new. Fast forward to me and my idiot crew. Dono: ¡°Cool I''ll just get everything the first time around. What''s the problem?¡± Not for the first or one billionth time I breathed deep before responding: ¡°No one has actually managed to completely clear the dungeon before, and the whales (big spenders on the game) have been trying for years¡±. Dono looked like he was briefly contemplating the everything of that statement, and hit back with a response that honestly caught me off guard a bit: ¡°Tell me what I need to do¡±. Well shit, if Dono is speaking in rational terms you know something real is going down. Ender (Felix) the priest chimed in, asking if there were any rez (resurrection) restrictions, and we both laughed and high fived him for it. Or at least I did. These weren''t even Dungeons and Dragons rules but I always appreciate when rule based questions make sense. And then I hugged Felix because he''s the calmest bear ever and gives the best hugs in existence. Back to Dono, I briefed: ¡°As a rogue, we need you to basically clear any room we get into, and help us find shit that''s hidden¡±. At least that''s the way I always understood it. I played TantaMount since release but I always played it solo. I occasionally ran with groups here and there since I did a lot of the side stuff that could help them out but (even though it''s probably weird for a massive multiplayer online game), I kind of just liked the idea that people like me were there in the universe doing their thing, but I was doing my thing. TL;DR always loved the world but made it more personal for what I took from it. Sarai came back (apparently she''d bounced without me noticing) with something in her pouch, looking a bit sheepish. ¡°This was all I could find on my first sweep. Hope it helps.¡± Pulled it up in inventory and it was one of the five pieces I was missing from the dungeon, so HELL YEAH ALLL MY LIFE I PRAYED FOR SOMEONE LIKE YOU¡± But I played it cool, and said ¡°Awesome, nice work. Four more to go.¡± No need to go all K-Ci and JoJo yet. Two pieces of soul left, one rhythm, and one melody. And a whole, whole lot of grinding. On to the next stage.