《Beta Tester》


 Chapter 1

    Sarah lived a comfortable life, she had a decent job and a three bedroom apartment that she shared with four others. Micheal owned the house, his wife Laura ran it like a bed and breakfast. Jason was basically a third wheel in their relationship, he lived with them and made it seem as if he was just a part of the family without trying. Kendra was a bit of a shut-in, but made her contributions by paying almost double the rent that any of the rest of them paid.


    Sarah and Kendra were a lot alike, but Kendra was way more into the developmental side of computers and programming. Connecting to the systems and experiencing the new worlds was where Sarah thrived. They made for excellent roommates in the upstairs portion of the house. Kendra always kept it clean and made sure to have new software for Sarah to test out. Sarah brought in needed hardware and ran errands for Kendra with the expectation of being an unbeatable main boss character in one of her worlds one day.


    Sarah worked designing websites and advertisements for all sorts of companies. She got the rare opportunity to flex her testing skills in new virtual worlds as part of a small contract with a large gaming software company. While her parents may never think that was good enough, Sarah didn¡¯t particularly care. She had enough to pay for what she had, and it left her enough time to enjoy the things she wanted to go out and do as well. Being a free spirit made an office cubicle tedious. Sarah always preferred to take her laptop out into nature. Even if it was just the small playground down the street. The handful of trees and swing set would be a five star vacation compared to a small desk with four close walls.


    Her fathers insurance company made millions every year. Taking money from other people and promising to pay it back if they ever needed it, and then when it was needed they always had the fine print to hide behind and protect their assets. Their fine print and miles of red tape led to the reason Sarah left home in the first place. When she had been in an incident that caused her truck to be totaled, her parents insurance had only been able to cover half of the value of the truck. When she complained and wanted to know why they wouldn¡¯t cover the whole cost of the truck, her father had said that she had not kept up with the required maintenance schedules so it was classified as poor condition.


    That had been the last straw with them, Sarah had enough to put a deposit in for the rent at Micheal and Laura''s home, so she left. She was twenty-three and going to spend the next few decades paying off loans for college, why shouldn¡¯t she at least do it in a place she enjoyed. Sarah knew several others that had gone into debt to pay for education, and then got stuck working a menial job outside of their degree field just to try and repay the loans.


    Between massive overcrowding in the majority of the world¡¯s cities and a sudden drought of food supplies, the sociopolitical scene was chaotic. Governments were being forced to limit population increases where they could. Several countries that had small populations were even seeing huge influxes of people looking for anywhere less crowded to live. Resources were sparse and created conflict between the most powerful governments. From food to energy, and housing to immigration, they all argued daily. Blaming the rest of the world for the entire world''s problem wouldn¡¯t solve it, but Sarah didn¡¯t know what should be done either, so she just let it play out and lived her own life.


    Some of the solutions had been to redistribute the population of the most dense cities into newly built neighborhood districts. Massive sprawling buildings that could house hundreds of thousands of people. One country had been preaching and trying to convince other world leaders that an alien had contacted them and shared knowledge that could help fix all their problems. They tended to leave out the part that the alien wanted absolute submission from the entire population of the planet as well as a majority of its resource harvests. So much for the easy answer, Sarah figured they had to be trying to scam the entire world for some reason, it wasn¡¯t working.


    As the populations of the major cities bloomed, the job rate plummeted. Many jobs that could be automated left a huge part of the workforce without jobs. They simply didn¡¯t need them to work anymore. Escaping the real world into virtual games and entertainment began to seize more interest as the mundane reality ate away at those left with no daily routine. Sarah would have enjoyed running into cyberspace regardless of the decline in society, she just made the most of it as she could. Designing and testing were her favorite parts of the virtual experience. Being an advertisement creator and website designer for many different companies kept Sarah in the loop of new things coming out well before they were released.


    A few of these companies let Sarah in on their testing phases before new games would release. Some were simple and just straight up games that had basic objectives. Some were all out battle royals that didn¡¯t have much for character or equipment customization, but left little want for violence and battle. Her favorites were the ones with complex story lines and open world mechanics that let the player choose how the world progressed. Some details in those games could only be found by playing an exact way, or by having completed one objective before another.


    Being able to traverse into new worlds, built by imagination and more hours of work and dedication than any player would ever understand, was what Sarah lived for. She had a love for nature, but the overpopulation of the world around her made the nature around her suffer.


    Turning on her game system, Sarah smiled. This was a new game, and not even released yet. The next two weeks would be an almost constant full dive experience into a virtual reality, play testing an unnamed game. That was just the beginning, the beta test would last a full three months. This was worth the vacation time she would have to burn with some of her contracts. This was a chance to experience an entire planet and new civilization, all in full immersion. And there was no telling how the time dilation would make the time pass differently in the virtual world. She might be able to live out several solar rotations in the span of what would normally be weeks.


    Valkeria Games, a new side project from one of her main designing contracts, had reached out to offer her a chance to be a part of the live beta release. They wanted several players to play through the world, help it progress and report back with their personal feelings of the game. The only info on the world progression that they gave was that all actions from all players would be constantly changing and adjusting how the game was going.


    Sarah figured that meant that once a dungeon or monster nest was cleared, it wouldn¡¯t just re-spawn five seconds later. That meant most quests and available items would go to the first person or group to claim them. It also meant that as the world progressed, more quests and items would appear. The later the game, the better the loot. Hopefully that meant her half day late start wouldn¡¯t set her back too much.


    The visor slid down over her face smoothly, the rest of the helmet contraption wasn¡¯t the most comfortable, but once Sarah relaxed in her chair it didn¡¯t bug her much. Her home screen from the gaming console blinked into view, the clustered section of swirling galaxy showing the Destructo Pup ship blasting his way through alien invaders. It was a cute animation she had helped design, unique to her console.


    The loading game flashed up a screen over top of the space battlefield,


    Loading¡­ Please wait while a boot up diagnostics and connectivity report are completed.


    Sarah waited, watching the errant laser blasts and small explosions in the background. It was only about thirty seconds later when she felt the tremor of static go through her entire body. She jumped slightly, and then felt as if all her limbs had fallen asleep. Another screen popped up in front of her,


    Initialized. Thank you for your patience.


    Begin? Yes / No


    Sarah focused on the Yes, then thought about her own physical self one more time. That shock had been enough to get her heart pounding, then make all her limbs numb. Was this thing safe to use? She thought about saying no, declining to play and just passing on it. Then the formation of the planet began to materialize in the background. Almost as if it was being zoomed in on from her galaxy background.


    She watched as the screen pulled her into the vicinity of a few stars. Their bright light blinding as they got closer, but as they zoomed past one, then another, a small cluster of planets came into view. Sarah was amazed at the detail, the blazing white hot star was emitting waves of energy over the planets around it as they orbited. At the very edge of the fast orbiting planets, was a slowly rotating tan dwarf planet. It was reflecting a huge amount of the energy the star was emitting. Sarah guessed it was shielded by an atmosphere of some sort, and that had to be the planet the game was taking her to.


    Sarah finally clicked the Yes, confirming her place in the game. She was already behind and needed to get a move on. The screen disappeared, and the planet she had been eyeing in the distance began to grow. Maybe not grow, she thought, but rather she was being thrown at it very rapidly.


    Welcome Traveler! This is the planet Tios, home to a variety of species. Here you can choose which race and class training you wish to choose. Before you begin, please take a moment to name yourself¡­


    Enter I.D.-


    Sarah blinked, then sighed. She knew who she would be already. Tios, though, that name sounded familiar from somewhere. Was it in a constellation? Was it a fantasy name she had already heard once and it just rang a bell? It didn¡¯t matter, she entered her name into the blank box.


    SarthDarah


    The text box cleared away after she made her choice to keep it forever. The planet of Tios was now the only thing in her immediate view. The tan surface made it look mostly desert covered. Jutting out from the equator area on one side, a huge spiral tower rose from the planet''s surface to come just to the edge of where the atmosphere deflected solar radiation.


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    As the game took her closer, Sarah could see mountain ranges spanning into the distance. The peaks of some seemed to reach towards the tower, desperate to be as monumental as the looming metal spire. Sarah meant to speak her amazement out loud, but when she tried to speak, no sound came out. She could feel her throat making the motions, her lungs were pushing air out, but no sound was being created. Was this a realistic experience of being in outer space? It was pretty intense since she didn¡¯t feel any other physical sensation beyond her own internal body functions.


    The spiraling tower was getting close, she could see it dominating the horizon of the planet. Around its tip Sarah could see several large ships. In the background, she could see two moons silhouetted behind the tower and planet. The dark green marbles of rock were minuscule compared to the planet, and the planet looked small even as Sarah was nearing the top of the tower.


    Welcome! Starway Space Needle number twenty-three, servicing planet Tios and the immediate surrounding cluster of celestial bodies, asks that you register with the travelers committee on the one hundredth floor before proceeding planet side. Enter the Registration Office.


    The looming tower, or Space Needle, was by far the most enormous structure Sarah had ever seen. It was a pastel purple color, some of it was darkened by shadow and looked almost black. She looked down again at the planet spreading on before her. Now that she was nearly at the top of the tower, the planet actually had discernible features beyond color. The first thing Sarah was acutely aware of was the lake of water. Her own planet had nearly eighty percent coverage of water. Maps were mostly covered in blue ink to show the vast distances between the small landmasses.


    This world had maybe thirty percent water. It was nearly the opposite of what Sarah was used to seeing on a planet. Mountains soared above massive steppes and plains, the few river valleys she could make out as the planet slowly rotated in front of her had the greenest land, but they were short and narrow. Did that make this an apocalyptic setting then? The developers hadn¡¯t really given too many details on the state of the world. Sarah shocked herself having the thought that maybe another player or group of players had already nuked the planet to oblivion. They wouldn¡¯t allow such game breaking so early on, would they?


    Sarah clicked enter on the screen still hovering in her view, it zapped her vision straight into the tower, where she now had a much more physical sense of herself. Almost as if the experience of traveling to the stars and around the planet of Tios had been an out of body one. The senses of smell and sound were suddenly oversensitive and Sarah flinched at the sudden wave of aromas and sounds. The absolute nothingness of space, the silence and purity of it, had been so suddenly broken that it took her a moment to orient herself. When Sarah finally stood upright and was able to take in her surroundings, she was blocked by a text box.


    Welcome SarthDarah, you have entered registration, please select a race that applies to you.


    Sarah¡¯s eyes grew wide as they scanned all the text that followed. Every racial creature that she had ever heard of in fantasy had its place. Plus several that were unfamiliar to her. They had Elven races, Pixies, numerous Human variants, Ogres, even Succubi, Kyuketsuki, and Draconic. If Sarah wanted to read through each one¡¯s benefits and handicaps she would be here the rest of the day. She was already a half day behind everyone that started immediately after the release. This was gonna be hard, but Sarah decided she would be able to come back and start again on the actual release date to pick more carefully.


    Clicking on a dexterity boosted Human Variant, she registered her first incarnation into the game as SarthDarah, Female, Luftl?ufer. The long messages about her racial benefits got minimized as another box with a long list of class options appeared. This list was even longer than the racial choices, and Sarah had little patience for the details at this point, she was ready to play. Scrolling through and scanning, she found a section of monk class variants. She noted a few good options among them, and with her dexterity boosted racial benefit, any monk class would do. Most of them had either insights into specialties or career path choices attached to them.


    The Spiritual Enlightened Monk Warrior seemed to scream at her from the text window. Sarah couldn¡¯t help the smile that crossed her face when she saw the energy based attacks that this class specialized in. She would have access and control over chi, her fingers already tingled with excitement over the anticipation of handling true power like that.


    With her choices made, and hopefully enough time to blast through whatever tutorial that was inevitably about to start, Sarah finally got a clear unobstructed view of the space dock around her. The multitudes of docking stations seemed to stretch on forever, warehouses and heavy machinery dotting the ground in between massive freight hauling ships. It almost looked like NPCs were busy at work, loading and unloading various crates and containers.


    Just as Sarah was about to start walking over to investigate, a notice popped up in her view.


    Transferring, location lock, please wait¡­


    And with a three second delay, Sarah felt her entire body suck in on itself like a collapsing star, then without even a split second to feel any pain, Sarah was standing inside a mountain top courtyard. Red tiled roofing surrounding her, the silver blue sky quietly filling in the backdrop, and a hard concrete surface under her feet. Looking around, a small set of doorways led into a temple.


    The temple doors had nothing but heavy shadows inside, and around the open courtyard it was a bright shining day. Even though the light was a silvery blue instead of a bright yellow like she was used to, it felt warm and made her want to lay down and enjoy it. Sarah had to shake her head at that thought, the rest of the real gamers playing would have started grinding as soon as possible, not wish to lie down and take a nap.


    Even if some of them were gamers who could spend hours or even full cycles to build a customized character, they wouldn¡¯t waste any actual game time in a limited beta like this. Each player was limited to one play through, and with limited progression available to an individual''s skills and ability paths, it would be a hard grind to max out as soon as possible. Especially with the continual world progression being driven by player actions.


    Everyone would be pressing to be the number one player, to be the one controlling the driving force and shaping the world to their endgame desires. Sarah was no different, this may be just a beta test for a game and it would probably all be wiped clean before the actual release, but this was still a point of pride for her. To have the world ending, and then being wiped, with her rule as the last imprint on it would be a highlight on her entire career.


    Taking a better look around, Sarah noticed a few things in her view that hadn¡¯t been there until she arrived at the temple. A health bar, stacked over top a couple of other brightly colored bars, sat neatly in her lower left vision. A few floating numbers and text bubbles were out of focus and looked like they were minimized into the distance. The cherry blossom trees all registered with small markers that named them.


    Sarah started walking around, testing her body¡¯s functions as she went. Her legs and arms worked just as if they were really her own. There was no lag in her thinking about swinging an arm up, and it was doing just as she imagined it should. It didn¡¯t bend funny, it didn¡¯t follow only a single preset travel path, it acted like her arm. She could jump and run, leap side to side, even do jumping jacks and burpees.


    After a few minutes of experimenting, Sarah began to wonder what she was actually supposed to be doing. No more pop ups had appeared, no one else had shown up to guide her. There wasn¡¯t even a quest log in her stack of gauges and status bars. She looked around again, the temple walls were white wash stone, the sky was wide open beyond the peaks of the mountain range she sat upon. The three doorways to the temple seemed her only option.


    Sarah began jogging over to them, starting to feel the strain on her lungs as the green bar drained slowly. She had been watching it blink down a fraction, then full again, as she was doing small exercises. Only when she had started to jog for more than a few meters did it ever go down steadily. It was slow, and only went about an eighth of the way down when she reached the doorway. The darkness didn¡¯t lessen as she came near. Even sticking her head tentatively into the archway revealed nothing more than shadow.


    Sarah thought about how handy her supposed chi ability would be now. She could imagine it condensing in her hands and lighting up the darkness. Sadly nothing happened. Sarah was about to just run into the dark, but decided to take one last lap around the courtyard to investigate thoroughly before leaving this place forever.


    The trees all were in blossom, the stones all lined up neatly to make a solid wall nearly the entire way around. Only when she came to the opposite side of the temple walls from the doorways did she find a set of solid stone stairs leading up to the top of the wall.


    ¡°Huh, I¡¯ll bet on this being the right way.¡± Surprised to find her own voice coming from her game character''s mouth, Sarah started up the stairs. Wasn¡¯t a game character supposed to be mute? Or have to mime frantic signals and hope the other players understood her? There hadn¡¯t been a chat box, just another feature Sarah thought she was going to miss. If she could just talk out loud, that meant communication was just as fluid as physical motion. This game had some seriously advanced sensory engagement software.


    At the top of the wall, a sudden rush of wind nearly blew Sarah back off the wall. Shielding her face with her arms, She held her ground until the wind backed off a little. It was still harshly cutting into her exposed skin, not exactly painfully, but harsh enough that Sarah registered the sensation of it. The view of the valley below was breathtaking, and it immediately made Sarah forget the wind and drop her arms in awe.


    A lush green field, thick in wild growing flowers large enough to see from the mountain top. The glittering blue sea beyond was reflecting the star light and looked like a mirror of the sky above. She could see a small city to the west, it was saddled on the winding coastline and partially hidden by the sharp peak of a mountain. To the south the green field gave way to dirt and sand, small hills and dunes climbed slowly back into mountains in the distance.


    Looking back around the temple, Sarah finally saw the pop up label giving the temple a name. Temple of Sky, home of the Windwalkers. Starting location for monk based characters. So this was a spawn point basically. Why wasn¡¯t anyone else here? Was she really so far behind that the starting locations were abandoned already?!


    Update: You have been gifted a starting item. Crystal of Mental Focus. Attaches to an internal upgrade slot in your vessel.


    A single finger length blue crystal appeared in front of her, right within reach. She caught it before it could fall, and then wondered how she was supposed to attach crystals to her internal slots. A simple pop up on her arm was all she needed to see to place the crystal against a thin line on her skin. It almost looked like she had ink markings made to look like seams all up and down both of her arms. When the crystal touched the seam, a small compartment opened up to accept the crystal. The slight rush of energy made her feel very alert and focused.


    The new sensation of pent up energy, combined with a lingering feeling of tardiness, made Sarah contemplate something incredibly stupid. Standing on top of the Temple of Sky walls, Sarah could look down over the entire valley. It was no short drop to the bottom of the mountain peak she was on. If this starting location was abandoned, and she was that far behind in only half a day, she would never catch up to any of the other gamers.


    But, if she took a short cut to the bottom of the mountain, and then hightailed it to the city in the distance, maybe she could at least tag along with some higher level groups until she could power level herself to even. At least then she would be near the front even if she was a bit under level. Sarah wondered what level the highest players could be at already, and then she focused in on the sloping cliff below her.


    ¡°Only one way to find out if this is a good idea or not.¡± Sarah felt the tombstone engraver laugh as he noted what might be her final words in this life, then promptly did a front flip off of the wall into the open sky beyond.

 Chapter 2

    Sarah¡¯s heart raced as she plummeted faster and faster. The cliff face she now raced down, passing in a blur, seemed to be calling out to her. Not in a sense of sound, but the colors of it, something told her she could turn her body towards it, and run.  Small patches looked more and more like footprints to her.


    So much so that she tried it. What the hell right, a game was meant to be something to push the limits of physics in. Stride after stride, gaining so much speed, Sarah had never felt such a freedom of self. What was the terminal velocity of a human body? Two hundred or so kilometers per hour, she had to be going at least that or more. The ground below was suddenly rushing forward, the clouds giving way to a bright green expanse of land.


    Pushing hard and leaping away, letting her momentum carry her away from the rock face as she continued to hurtle downwards, Sarah saw what she was hoping to see since before she started the game. A massive field, filled to overflowing with wild growing vines that had to be larger than most trees on her own planet. It was breathtaking how real it all looked. Even as she plummeted, Sarah swore she could see waves in the vines from the wind blowing on the ground level.


    A red flashing to her left brought her mind back to her current situation''s imminent shortcoming, how would she land? The red flashing indicator showed her velocity at one hundred and eighty-five kilometers per hour, and a dense object that was closing at the same rate.


    She would splat, that would be how she would land. If Sarah wanted to have the quickest and dumbest death of the game, she was on the right track. This was by far the worst moment to be regretting her decision to jump.


    ¡°Dammit Sarah, you should''ve spent more time figuring things out before just rushing headfirst into it, again.¡± Her admonishment to herself did little to help with her distress. The ground coming closer and closer was starting to look more like a landing zone that she had no parachute for.


    ¡°Come on, think. Aren¡¯t you supposed to be SarthDarah the badass here?¡±


    She was thinking that it was SarthDarah¡¯s wannabe badassery that leapt off that mountaintop in the first place. What would the badass superhero do in this situation? Superhero landing? Smash her fist into the ground to soften the ground, maybe roll with the impact. It might work, she might still end up splattered on the ground.


    With impact imminent plastered in front of her vision, and the rushing ground coming up to meet her getting ever denser with thick vines, Sarah hurled her right fist with all her might at the ground. Tucking her legs up and behind her, ready to roll out of the crater she was sure to leave behind. Just as she was about to impact, her hand glowed brightly.


    The sudden flare of light as she smashed through vegetation blinded her. Sarah felt the sudden stop less than a heartbeat later, and as she rolled back over front forward she felt the squishy mess of everything around her. Before she could figure out if the wet mess was her body splattered on the ground or not, a deafening squeal of pain shot up around her.


    Had she squashed some creature that was hiding or living under the plant life? Was that what this squishy mess around her was? Sarah tried to open her eyes and look around, the blue light finally fading some from her vision, but she could only see black. Reaching up to feel her face, she found it covered in sticky and slimy drippings.


    The ooze substance was like a mix between glue and corn syrup, and something that made sure it never dried out completely. Long thick strands of it peeled away from her face as she pulled her hand away. Sarah almost tried to say something, but the slimy feeling on her lips made her refuse to open her mouth.


    Why, why did she have to do a stupid hero landing? She had succeeded in stopping her momentum enough to land without killing herself at least, but the mess. Sarah had never before wanted a shower in a virtual world, she did now. The feeling of being slimed, the now overpowering smell of some kind of rotting or burning acid smell, weighed on her.


    Sarah had wanted to hurry into getting the campaign underway, she could only blame herself for the state she was in. Standing up out of the plant matter she had been wallowing in, Sarah began pulling as much of the slime from her face and arms as she could. The thick gel splattered on the ground beneath her. It wouldn¡¯t all come off, and her hands were stained yellow and green, but Sarah could see.


    Her eyes went wide at the surrounding fields of wildflowers. She couldn¡¯t see any of the dense vine vegetation from here. Acres of land covered in wild growth, from towering grain stalks to brightly colored flowers fighting to reach higher than the others.


    Then she noticed the five percent of health she had lost, the green bar in her lower right vision was missing a small fraction. Cursing inwardly at herself, Sarah began to walk out of the small mass of plant life she had mutilated. A slithering sound behind her made Sarah jump, leaping for the fields to get away from whatever was about to attack her.


    Just as she got her footing and was able to spin to meet her foe, all was quiet. Sarah saw just how much of an impact she had had now. The massive flower bell was at least thirty feet up and twice as wide around. It was missing a huge chunk from where she had just walked out of, making it looked like a poorly carved pumpkin.


    At her feet, Sarah saw green leaves, almost like she was standing on the leaves supporting the structure of the flower. The fields now behind her were thick, and now Sarah felt like she was surrounded by invisible enemies. The unnerving quiet was giving her the chills, she had to get out of here.


    Turning to continue out into the fields, hopefully in the direction she had seen the city in, Sarah felt something off about the fields as she looked out upon them. Nothing had seemed wrong when she first glazed out in it, but there was no other sign of life around. The quiet was unsettling. Sarah was slowly turning from left to right, trying to find the source of the unease. A few sunflowers, and a crop of daisy¡¯s were the only things that gave pop up windows though.


    ¡°What a terrifying feeling though.¡± Sarah thought out loud. ¡°It¡¯s almost as if there¡¯s something lying in wait for me. Would the developers really set an ambush so soon though?¡±


    As she was having the thought, another occurred to her. Yes, most games had a curve that would slap the face of any player that jumped out too far too soon.


    Being completely on edge, Sarah walked slowly through the daisy field. The flowers were growing wild, undergrowth tangled tightly throughout it. Walking was tough, so she moved slowly. As she moved, something slithered past her leg, then suddenly, she had been tripped up and something had tightly wrapped around her right ankle.


    ¡°Gwhaaa!¡± She screamed, as the feeling of falling was concluded with the sudden whack of her head hitting the ground.


    The feeling of pulling drug across the ground was so real. Sharp thorns had embedded into her ankle where the vine grabbed her. The pull was digging them into her calf harder. She watched her health bar drop even farther.


    ¡°Perfect! Just what I needed. A target!¡± Sarah was in pain, the game wasn¡¯t dulling it much if it was at all.


    Before she could be led any farther three more vines shot out from her left. One gripped into her arm, catching its thorns deep into her skin around her forearm. Sarah resisted screaming for that one, but when the second latched onto her left thigh and pulled back hard she couldn¡¯t hold back.


    ¡°Fwaahh!¡±


    Sarah¡¯s legs were being pulled in opposing directions and her left hand was being forced to bend backwards. The third vine wrapped tightly around her torso, squeezing her stomach. Sarah couldn¡¯t feel any thorns on this one thankfully, but it squeezed hard enough to make breathing hard.


    With only her right hand available, she aimed a heavy blow against the vine around her stomach. The bright flash of light that glowed an instant before impact told her that her chi skill worked. The scorch mark it left behind was promising, but instead of letting go it squeezed harder.


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    Sarah coughed, but remained focused and swung down again, this time throwing her rage behind the attack. How dare this vegetable think it could stop SarthDarah. The sudden explosion of light was expected this time, and Sarah closed her eyes just long enough to not be blinded. The vine released her and slunk away quickly.


    The two holding her legs began to twist and yank harder, tearing into her with their thorns. Sarah sparred a quick glance down at her health bar, nearly fifty percent gone already. She wouldn¡¯t survive a fight with whatever was controlling the vines. If she didn¡¯t get out of this now she would be dead and sent for re-spawn. If she could break one vine, she could break another.


    Taking a full breath in, Sarah focused chi into her left arm and pulled sharply. With a tear, her arm came free of the vine. Her health bar dropped to less than twenty-five percent, turning a yellow color as it did. She bit her tongue, refusing to scream out in pain.


    This game really didn¡¯t mute the pain levels of being injured, that could be an issue if she got something chopped off. Sarah resolved to write it into the first paragraph of her report to the developers. It wasn¡¯t so bad that she wanted to turn the game off, but she was definitely considering new ways to play that could keep her from getting hit.


    Sarah readied herself to try and break free from the vines holding her legs. With them split so far apart it was hard to bend in a way that let her hit the vines. Just as she thought to try and twist her entire body to tear them away, the vines cinched her legs together and twisted her entire body for her. The sudden motion almost made Sarah lose her stomach contents.


    ¡°Hiyaaa!¡± Came a loud rumbling yell, followed shortly by a large thud and impact shutter.


    Sarah looked down at the massive ax inches from her feet. The metal gleamed where there wasn¡¯t smearings of vegetation. The long handle was being held by two massive hands that could probably wrap around her entire body with ease.


    ¡°Are you ok?¡± The man¡¯s deep rumbling voice made her bones vibrate.


    ¡°Yeah, for the most part, thanks.¡±


    ¡°We better get up and out of this field. Something made the vines activate and become insanely aggressive.¡±


    Sarah felt her heart skip a beat as she realized her dive bombing that giant flower bulb  had probably been the activation event. While it was suddenly extremely dangerous to be here for everyone, she had a slight sense of accomplishment at driving such a widespread world event with her first action in the game. Even if it had been a boneheaded move, it had paid off in a small way.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Sarah asked.


    ¡°Jorn, you?¡±


    ¡°SarthDarah. Which way do we need to go?¡±


    Jorn pointed to the west, through the dense fields.


    ¡°What are the vines? Some bait trap?¡±


    ¡°They seemed to be dormant protectors of the flower fields. We had seen a few attacks, but only after players had tried to start harvesting the flowers beyond what the quests were asking for. If you stayed within their bounds, they just loomed overhead.¡± Jorn started walking, Sarah following close behind. ¡°We saw a huge creature get woken up from a cave, and after it rampaged in the fields for a minute, three vines wrapped around its neck and snapped its head off.¡±


    Sarah gulped, it had had her wrapped with four vines, how lucky she had gotten to be free of it all. Why didn¡¯t it just snap her into pieces?


    ¡°Well thanks for the help, I wasn¡¯t sure what else i could really do there.¡±


    ¡°No problem. After my entire starting party got wiped coming through the mountain tunnels, I spent a good bit of time wandering back and forth between town and the fields here. This was the furthest I had gotten, then the vine ambush started and took out twelve more players I had grouped with.¡±


    Sarah let out a low whistle. They were making good time across the field, nothing else had seemed to be ready to attack them. In fact, it seemed extremely calm around them again.


    ¡°Your entire starting party?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we spent a good few hours in the tutorial training session, then another two hours getting out of the caves. The last day or so I¡¯ve been out here carving up low level creatures for quests. There¡¯s a couple groups out here right now that I know of besides myself. I figure our best bet is to retreat towards town and try to regroup with some others on the way.¡±


    ¡°Did you say you¡¯ve been in the game for days already?¡±


    ¡°Uhh, yeah¡­ the time frame here isn¡¯t the same as real world time. I¡¯ve been logged in for maybe four hours in real time.¡±


    ¡°Dammit!¡± Sarah was thoroughly upset at being delayed in her start.


    ¡°What happened to your starting party?¡±


    The glare Sarah gave the enormous Jorn made him put his hands up in defense.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t get one. I left the starting zone on my own.¡± Her voice was full of contempt, mostly at her own actions causing her to miss out on something so important.


    He simply shook his head and kept walking, letting silence fall between them. With what seemed like miles of walking to do, Sarah thought more about what Jorn had said.


    His starting party had been wiped, all but him. There were more than a few reasonable explanations for that. One, he could have run from an unwinnable battle and left his comrades behind. Two, there might have been a trap that Jorn successfully evaded, but the rest of his party did not. Three, he could have turned on them and slaughtered each one of them as soon as the tutorial part was over and he could successfully claim their loot.


    Sarah didn¡¯t get the killer impression from him. Jorn had saved her without being asked, and he didn¡¯t ask for anything in return. Sarah was sure he had to have some reasonable excuse for being the only survivor. She was more worried about the fact that she had lost more than a couple days to the first players in the game.


    Jorn had spent maybe a day and a half of game time in four hours of real time. That meant the first servers online would have been a little over four days ago in game. She had lost a serious amount of time in terms of controlling the flow of world events.


    ¡°Your eyes are burning.¡± Jorn said suddenly, breaking Sarah from her mental meltdown.


    ¡°What the hell?¡± Rubbing her eyes, a prompt appeared in front of her.


    Enraged: Your Enlightenment adds fear into others you focus your energy towards. The stronger your emotions, the more dramatic the effect. This bonus adds eighty percent strength, activates a random known magic, and will blur your vision after you lose focus.


    ¡°What class are you?¡± Jorn had stopped walking to watch her put the small flames out.


    ¡°Enlightened Monk, you?¡± Sarah was still rubbing at her eyes. It didn¡¯t burn, but the foggy vision it left her with after the flames died out was bugging the crap out of her.


    ¡°I¡¯m a straight up Warrior. I¡¯m building my character to be a tank mostly, the greataxe does wonders for blocking attacks as well as chopping most things in half with one good swing.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll have to remember to duck when you swing it at me then.¡± Sarah was trying to joke with him, but it was still good to know. That idea of him wiping his own party members still lingered a little.


    ¡°Hmph, you¡¯ll have to do more than just duck little one. Someone as small as you, I¡¯d just swing downwards like I was playing whack a mole until I hit you.¡±


    ¡°You really think you could just barbarian smash until you hit me? I¡¯m a little quicker than that, and smart enough to know not to stand under the ax as it comes down.¡±


    ¡°Ha! You¡¯re feisty, Miss Enlightened Monk. And still new to this game if you still don¡¯t know how the skills can be adjusted to compensate for things yet.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a noob.¡± Sarah¡¯s voice had gone dark, losing all the joking attitude. ¡°I just started this game. I was sent the link for the beta test less than three hours ago.¡±


    Her character, SarthDarah, started to rise up off the ground slightly. The air around her began to swirl slightly, rushing down and away from her feet. Jorn stepped back from her, raising his ax. Sarah had raised herself up to eye level with Jorn. The two locked gazes, both ready for battle.


    ¡°Well then newbie, what was your trainer''s quest? Or did you leave before any of it had a chance to start?¡±


    Sarah couldn¡¯t answer, she just looked away from Jorn. Jorn smirked, knowing that he had found the spot to press for information. This crazy girl really did skip the tutorial and run headfirst into the second most dangerous area here.


    ¡°Help!¡±


    The loud and desperate cry came from somewhere to their south. Sarah instantly forgot her dispute with Jorn and pushed herself farther up. Surprised to find the act of levitating on the air relatively easy so long as she stayed perfectly still.


    If she had tried to hit Jorn while levitating, she was more likely to knock herself backwards than make any impressionable impact on the beefy man. Rising above the fields enough to see where the cry came from made her wobble, but she managed to get up high enough to see a battle going on only about fifty feet away. That spoke volumes for how dense the growth was, she hadn¡¯t noticed people fighting so close until someone screamed.


    Sarah didn¡¯t waste any more time, she looked back down at Jorn, who was already starting to run towards the battle. His ax chopped side to side in front of him, blazing a clean trail fast enough for him to sprint. Ok, the whole whack a mole idea just got a new meaning in Sarah¡¯s mind. If he was gonna whack his ax that fast up and down at her, she wasn¡¯t so sure she could dodge all the blows.


    Quest; Survive the Mandragola attack. Bonus, save the two wounded warriors in the meadow.

 Chapter 3

    ¡°We¡¯re here to help!¡± Sarah shouted as she landed next to the swordsmen.


    They had stepped aside to leave her room to land. The vines didn¡¯t hesitate though, they simply upped their attack rate. Thirty or so fist sized limbs struck out, all aimed straight for Sarah. Time seemed to be slowed, she could see clearly as each limb split away slightly, moving to ambush any of her escape routes. Pivoting slightly, two new things appeared. A red and a green outline. Each of the vines had one, and the ones in the center were all outlined in red. The ones to the sides were green.


    This was a battle interface, it was allowing her to see the incoming attacks that would hit, and which would miss. She bent her knees, the ones up top shifted to green, and then, she jumped. All of them turned green, and Sarah aimed a downward kick back at them. When a golden band of light marked her target, she almost didn¡¯t follow through, it had shown up unexpectedly. Her body was committed to the motion though, and her foot went right through all of the vines, directly through the golden outline.


    Numbers and symbols flashed on the left of her vision. Sarah didn¡¯t waste time trying to read them though, more red outlines were closing in on her. Ducking and sliding out of their paths, she found herself pressed back to back with one of the swordsmen. His blade swung around to the left, and then back across his front to cut down another surge of vines.


    Dozens of vines dropped to the ground, but that was barely a dent in the ones rising out of the ground behind. Sarah was dodging and partying them with her firsts, the other two had their swords flashing back and forth between them.


    ¡°There¡¯s no end!¡± The second swordsmen called out.


    He had gotten a few feet away, slicing to his left and right sporadically. He didn¡¯t see the limb that crept up behind him.


    ¡°Look out!¡± Sarah called, reaching out for the man, but she was too late.


    The swordsman screamed as the appendage speared his back, then sprouted from his chest. It had run him through, piercing him like a kabob.


    ¡°Dureft! The remaining swordsman was cutting and hacking his way to his friend.


    Sarah kicked and slapped the vines behind him, determined to at least keep him alive. Jorn had finally broken through the outside ring of vines. A path was open, but it wouldn¡¯t last.


    ¡°We have to go! Now!¡±


    Sarah pulled on the man¡¯s arm, trying to drag him away from his now dead friend. There was no way to save someone who was already sent for re-spawn. They ran, Jorn swinging in a wide arc to keep their path clear for one more second. Once they passed him, Jorn ran as well. The three all put several paces on the viscous plant before it turned to chase them.


    ¡°How are we supposed to beat this thing? I don¡¯t even know where it¡¯s main body is!¡± Sarah cried out.


    She was leading the trio, having to check her pace so she didn¡¯t get too far ahead.


    ¡°The bigger trunks lead to the main body. It will have a giant yellow-gold head. Giant flower with teeth.¡± Jorn cried from a few yards behind.


    He was huffing deep breaths as he struggled to keep up. Several dark green vines sprung up from behind him.


    Sarah focused on the ones that would hit him, the red outlines appearing only on a handful of them. She twisted, launching a blast of energy at each one. Her fists ignited the air around them as she attacked. The bursts of flame struck the vines either side of Jorn. The swordsman had dodged to the side before she struck. Jorn¡¯s eyes went wide as they struck the vines behind him. The swordsman swung an attack just in front of him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t attack me!¡± Jorn bellowed. His feet pumping all the harder to try and outrun the vines.


    ¡°Then don¡¯t get strangled!¡± Sarah joked as she ran next to him. ¡°Noobs get strangled.¡± She gave him a wink, then turned to blast a few more fireballs.


    ¡°I see you finally figured out how to use your character.¡± Jorn needled.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how I¡¯m doing the fire, but the damage is crazy high against the plants. Are these numbers that pop up on my left damage points?¡±


    ¡°Yes! Wait, how do you not know that? Did you not finish the tutorial?¡± The swordsman asked as he ran on Jorn¡¯s other side.


    He was slicing away the vines that reached them. Sarah sighed, that was going to become the most irritating question she would hear in this game. She knew it.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t exactly go through the tutorial. Can we get out of here first? It¡¯s a rather long story.¡±


    Jorn turned and swung his ax through the large vine that tried to take advantage of the moment. Sarah blasted faster, stopping with her two new companions in between her and the vines. Recovering quickly, the swordsman rolled away from, and struck out against, the vines around him.


    There was no end to the attacks, no matter how many they cut down, more vines showed up in their place. The three of them all kept attacking, but slowly they were being forced backwards. The edge of the meadow was on their left, only around a dozen yards away. Vines rose up in a defensive wall, keeping them from running away.


    ¡°Guys, this is getting a bit intense!¡± Sarah cried out. ¡°What are we gonna do?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re doing it!¡± Jorn called out. ¡°We¡¯ve been doing it, it¡¯s just too much for our low levels and numbers.¡±


    Sarah glanced at the numbers, they were scrolling up her vision as fast as she was punching. Each number was between thirty and eighty. She hadn¡¯t really paid attention to them before.


    ¡°Are you saying we¡¯re screwed?¡±


    ¡°Not yet, I have one skill that might get us through.¡± The swordsman cut in. ¡°Be ready to sprint, it will only be open for one second after I pass through. It¡¯s how my party finished the tutorial, but we lost two members who didn¡¯t pass through with me in time.¡±


    The explanation was hurried. His voice was flat and didn¡¯t show any emotion at losing party members.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°What¡¯s the skill?¡± Jorn asked, his ax severing a large cluster of vines behind the swordsman.


    Sarah dashed in and laid down cover fire, standing in between them. Sheathing his blade, the swordsman crouched into a ready position.


    ¡°Fire Gate!¡± His war cry was the start of his attack.


    Red flames billowed up around the three of them. The vines that came in range started singing and bursting into bright yellow flames. Smoke rose around the energy being built up.


    ¡°When I go, you go. No hesitation.¡±


    He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he breathed in deep. Sarah readied herself as well, Jorn was strapping his ax on his back. They all felt the tug of the fire¡¯s energy. The large wall that was nearly blocking out the horizon, was the target. With a metallic ring, the swordsman moved. Sarah launched off, sprinting a millisecond later. Jorn blinked before he moved his body.


    Crimson flame parted the air before them. Sarah could see as the sword sliced through the vines, dozens of strokes in the time it took her heart to beat once. The plant matter that was struck turned to ash, falling away and leaving a hole large enough to pass through. All three of them passed through unscathed, and continued their sprint to the path at the edge of the meadow.


    ¡°Now what?¡± Sarah yelled out.


    The three of them bursting free of the tall grass and flowers. Even if they managed to keep running down the road, the vines were keeping up with them easily. How far could they reach?


    ¡°The city is that way!¡± Jorn responded, he pointed down the road.


    The meadow ran alongside it for as far as Sarah could see. Pumping her legs, she began to outpace the other two. Looking back, she saw the mass of vine appendages chasing them.


    ¡°Duck!¡± Was the only warning she could give, before letting off several furious blows, launching fireballs back at the plant.


    Jorn barely moved out of the way, the swordsman had flattened himself against the ground. Fire rained over the vines, cutting back their assault. Jorn pulled his ax off his back and swung, clearing another section of them.


    ¡°Keep running!¡± A female voice rang out.


    Sarah turned to look for the origin of it, before she could find the girl though, the swordsman was dashing past her. Not wanting to be left behind, she chased after. A glance behind her, gave her relief at seeing Jorn running behind them as well. He was still slower, but he was swinging his ax behind him to keep the few scattered vines at bay.


    Cresting a hill, Sarah finally saw the women who yelled out. She was dressed head to toe in a silvery robe. Bright white light shone from her hands, her mouth was forming words without sound. As soon as Jorn passed her, she released the energy.


    ¡°Begone! StarBurst!¡± Her incantation was spot on, the brightness of the cast had brought the light of a star flashing down upon them.


    Sarah and Jorn both covered their eyes, the swordsman simply kneeled and kept his eyes closed. Something that powerful had to have cut the vines back a little, hopefully. Otherwise, they couldn¡¯t beat that creature anyway.


    When Sarah opened her eyes again, the bright spots in her vision still radiating painfully, she saw how the meadow had been culled away. Burnt to a crisp, not even ashes remaining.


    ¡°Amazing.¡± Her word was a long exhalation. ¡°That was seriously incredible. How did you do that?¡± Sarah had to know, because that was something she wanted to do.


    ¡°It¡¯s a skill. An extremely taxing one. And now that I¡¯ve killed the small one, the hive will swarm here. It¡¯s no longer safe out in the open. We have to go.¡± With that, the silver lady turned and walked away.


    ¡°But!¡± Sarah stuttered. ¡°But, who are you? And what do you mean by the hive?¡±


    ¡°I can tell you more in the city. It is not safe here. My name is Anunt. I¡¯m a healer, but after my attack, my energy is drained. We must get you three back to the safety of the city, and to see someone that can cure your wounds.¡±


    Sarah was about to say they didn¡¯t need a healer, that they had survived alright, but when she saw the swordsman still kneeling. Eyes screwed shut in pain. She knew they hadn¡¯t been unscathed. The prompt had been to save the two wounded warriors. One still died, and this man, he must still be wounded somehow.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡± Sarah was determined to save this man now.


    They had gone through too much to not to. She helped the man stand, helping him steady his arm after he sheathed his sword. It was like a puppet being let go of its support after the man put his sword away. He almost dropped back to the ground, Sarah hadn¡¯t been ready for all of his weight, but found she could hold him if she tried.


    Jorn stood behind them, ready to follow. His heavy ax was still out in his hand, ready in case anything else popped out in ambush. Anunt was already several paces ahead, but wasn¡¯t outpacing the group as they began walking.


    Up to that point, adrenaline and battle instinct had kept Sarah from noticing how fatigued she felt. Mentally, she was handling everything. Physically however, she suddenly felt like the warrior''s weight was growing indefinitely. They had made it to the next hill, but Sarah suddenly couldn¡¯t walk anymore. Gravity seemed to be forcing her feet to stay closer to the ground with each of her last steps. Jorn¡¯s head split between her and the swordsman. His arms embraced both of them, lifting them slightly again. He never stopped walking, just pulled them along.


    ¡°Duerlin.¡± The swordsman said weakly, his head held high even though his body slumped. His feet barely touched the ground as Jorn carried them up the road.


    ¡°Jorn, glad we could save at least one of you.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, and Dureft lost his head long before the plant killed him. Hopefully he is taking the re-spawn time to reflect and come to his senses.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m SarthDarah. Was Dureft the only other party member you had?¡±


    ¡°He was,¡± Duerlin¡¯s head fell slightly. ¡°All the rest of the people we have met have either died or not been people we wished to stick around.¡±


    Sarah thought about that, between Jorn¡¯s party wipe at the end of his tutorial and Duerlin¡¯s two person party that witnessed a bunch of players fall. That meant that either way more people had gotten a pass for this beta test, or that very few were surviving it.


    City scape suddenly popped up over the horizon. Several buildings, all only two or three stories tall, came into view. Walls were built around the majority of the buildings, a couple were set off the side of the road before the gate entrance.


    Anunt was aiming the group for the first building on the right. It had two large doors, wider than they were tall. A bright red cross had been painted in between the doors. Sarah guessed that was the emergency healing house.


    Upon entering, she found she was right. It was more of a war front, last ditch effort before you actually die, kind of place, but there were a handful of healers running around. They tended to people who had limbs blown off, giant holes could be seen in more than a few of them. One body was swollen so bad, Sarah couldn¡¯t even tell if it was male or female. The black and brown puss leaked out of sores all over the person.


    ¡°Meteora ants. Highly toxic.¡± Anunt explained, seeing how Sarah stared at the poor person. ¡°Luckily you all made it out relatively unhurt. Your friend has some slight poisoning, but if he takes this.¡± Anunt held out a handful of bright green leaves she had taken from a basket on one of the store tables. ¡°Chew one leaf every hour for the next three hours. You should be fine. Do not wander out into the high level areas again until you''re more prepared. This game, it¡¯s not forgiving. We are swamped here trying to heal so many. My saving you was luck, not design.¡± She began shooing them to the exit.


    ¡°You said you would tell us more in the city!¡± Sarah protested. Anunt just pressed them with a hard glare.


    ¡°I already have! Does it look like I have the time to be coddling newbie players? I¡¯ve a field clinic to run. Get out of here unless you''re dying!¡±


    She had gotten loud and angry, fire crackling in her eyes as she spoke. Sarah knew they weren¡¯t wanted here. They would be in the way of the healers work. She needed more info about the city though, at least she had Jorn to follow. He said he had been going back and forth from this city for almost a day now, surely he would know about it.


    ¡°Come on,¡± she turned to Jorn, able to stand on her own again. ¡°We need to get into the city and find a place to rest.¡±


    Jorn nodded, Duerlin had already started chewing on a leaf, but he nodded his assent as well.

 Chapter 4

    The trio walked out of the hut, the pathway into the city area was quiet. Four guards stood by the gate. One on either side, and two by the tower that looked over the wall. As they got to the gates, the guards looked them over suspiciously. They must not have found anything alarming about the group, because no one stopped them as they passed.


    Once inside, they came to a courtyard. Inside it, a few dozen people lined the walkways through the trees. Shops and services filled the bottom level of the buildings, each taking up space until they all seemed to blend together. Colors and signs marked the borders of the different shop styles.


    They stood off to the side of the road, blocking an alleyway that led to a brick wall. The scarce trees next to a couple buildings made the city look bleaker and barer than it truly was.


    Sarah had seen the enormous fields just outside, but inside, it almost looked like they had built the city on a beach. If the sea to the south and west rose even a few feet, Sarah thought for sure this place would be washed away.


    ¡°Blue store, on the left.¡± Jorn said, pointing out a bright blue entrance way.


    ¡°What¡¯s in there?¡± Sarah asked.


    ¡°Food, a place to rest, and hopefully some info on the quest we got.¡±


    Sarah blinked a few times, she had almost forgotten about the quest. The fighting had all finally come to an end, but there had never been a completion prompt. They had survived, and saved one of the two men out in that field. Shouldn¡¯t they have gotten the quest update already?


    ¡°I guess I kinda forgot about it, but shouldn¡¯t we have already finished our quest?¡±


    ¡°You have to get the credit applied through an official. Someone registered with the guilds. And since I know you don¡¯t know, you would have signed up for the guild membership and learned all of this at the start of the tutorial.¡±


    Sarah gave Jorn a sidelong glance, while she was able to walk on her own now, they had stayed relatively close as they walked. Duerlin was still keeping a hand on Jorn¡¯s shoulder, even if he had to lift it slightly above his own head to do so. He had confusion on his face, looking back and forth between Jorn and SarthDarah.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Duerlin asked Jorn, looking even more intently at SarthDarah.


    ¡°Yea Sarth, what do I mean?¡± Jorn¡¯s derision made Sarah want to punch him again.


    She could feel the heat build in her face, and was aware of her eyes lighting on fire this time. The sudden change wasn¡¯t painful to her, it almost felt like she was awakening to a whole new depth of senses in her vision.


    ¡°You mean to shut the hell up.¡± SarthDarah was gritting down on her words to keep from shouting. ¡°Inside, you tell me what I should already know, I¡¯ll tell you the story of how I jumped off a mountain.¡±


    Jorn stared blankly at her for a moment. Duerlin¡¯s mouth opened wide and it almost looked like his character lagged out for a few moments.


    ¡°That is, the most awesome!¡± He panted the words out in big breaths. ¡°Holy crap, I don¡¯t even know what to say.¡±


    He kept laughing. Sarah punched him. Falling backwards, Jorn landed with a thud.


    ¡°Oh come on! You gotta admit, that is totally a noob way to start a game you know nothing about.¡± Jorn¡¯s laughing fit started to turn to coughs before he stood back up.


    After they all took a few moments to collect themselves, Duerlin bowed a goodbye, then turned and walked back towards the city gate. His determination to see his friends re-spawn was admirable, but Sarah was ready to get her info and move on.


    She let Jorn lead her into the blue walled store. It had several tables inside, most had at least four or five people sitting around them. Were these all players, or inhabitants of this city?


    ¡°He¡¯s gonna be really upset after he gets the in-game message that tells him his last remaining party member has been removed from the server.¡± Jorn said as they sat at a smaller table in the back of the restaurant side of the store.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t he have gotten that message when Dureft died?¡± Sarah figured that would have happened right away if there was no re-spawn.


    ¡°Yea, well for me it didn¡¯t happen until about an hour or so after I left the cave. I had barely gotten to the city the first time, expecting to see a bunch of parties collectively re-spawning and waiting for the survivors. There were only a handful of people setting up that Medical Tent just outside.¡± Jorn almost looked sad, his voice was flat and missing his rumbling joyfulness.


    ¡°So, it has a delay, Duerlin will be standing there for a few minutes and then realize he¡¯s alone now?¡±


    ¡°Yup. He won¡¯t have to wait long, you only get one life in the beta test. It¡¯s why I was out there alone, It¡¯s why those healers are struggling to do anything they can to save the people that can at least make it back to them. Most go out and never return.¡±


    ¡°This game is brutal.¡± Sarah wasn¡¯t sure why she sounded excited, but even with the sobering notion of only getting one life, she relished the hardcore difficulty.


    ¡°Extremely so. Those vines I saved you from, those are connected to the area boss¡¯s main bodies. They say there¡¯s five of them out there, and you just happened to land near one of the most dangerous ones. The info on the Mandragola Fields label says that orange headed ones can spout a gelatin like substance that ignites with friction in the open air.¡±


    Sarah had to stop and think for a moment, that sounded way more dangerous than something low level characters should be able to handle. She still hadn¡¯t gotten any experience or levels, or skills or notifications of any kind beyond the starting ones and the single quest prompt. How was she supposed to gauge her character skill against a creature or other person?


    ¡°What level are you?¡± Sarah had to know if it was something that got turned on by the training master Jorn had mentioned.


    ¡°Well, my vessel has a level one upgrade rating. My ax has a level two.¡±


    ¡°What? How does that work? How can you be only level one? And how do you see that info?¡± Sarah was rapidly asking the questions as she searched her own vision and identifier gauges for any of the information she could find.


    ¡°Hahaha. You don¡¯t see that information until you start upgrading your vessel and or weapon. You haven¡¯t finished any quests since you skipped the tutorial and landed in those fields. You won¡¯t have any upgrade slots used yet, so there''s no level to your vessel.¡±


    ¡°I have one, it¡¯s a mental focus crystal!¡± Sarah basically shoved her arm into Jorn¡¯s face to show off where the tip of it gleamed in the light. It gave a blue shimmer to the seam on her left forearm.


    ¡°Wow, that¡­¡± Jorn paused, then undid a clasp under his right forearm. ¡°Check this out.¡±


    As the wrap around his arm dropped away, Sarah could see the gleam of six different colors. A blue one that matched the one she had shown brightly in a seam near Jorn¡¯s wrist. An orange and silver one lay either side of it. A red gem lay in between a green gem and a purple gem.


    ¡°All that equals level one?¡±


    Jorn nodded, then laid his hand out flat and tilted it side to side.


    ¡°It adds up to about level one and two thirds. But as games go, you don¡¯t get to the next level until you have gotten all of it.¡±


    ¡°And the ax?¡±


    ¡°I found that one already special. In that cave, I found it laying up against a pillar. Middle of the room, no traps had been found anywhere, and we all were just looting what we could. I was the only one who could lift it.¡± Jorn looked over his shoulder at the massive blade that stuck above his head. ¡°I almost wish I would have left it alone.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°It was the only thing keeping the lid on the creature that killed my entire party.¡±


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    Silence sat heavy between them for a while. Neither wanted to talk more about that, Jorn seemed to have said everything about that subject anyway.


    A waitress came by, Jorn ordered a couple drinks and some food, Sarah did the same. Before she left Jorn asked her to send the on duty guild associate over to them.


    ¡°We have to wait to turn in quests?¡± Sarah was irked by this quirk.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t take long. It keeps the realism in the game, I enjoy it. Besides the food here is amazing, taste works just the same as every other sense in the game.¡±


    ¡°It does smell amazing in here.¡±


    Jorn explained a little about how the place worked. Everything from food to associates, and even representatives of the government could be ¡°ordered¡± and in the time required to fetch the ¡°order¡±, it or they would arrive.


    Upstairs had a spa area for healing, but it was expensive and couldn¡¯t do anything more than ease bruising and small internal issues. Jorn then held his right arm over the center of the table, and a soft beep announced the flickering entrance of a computer screen.


    It had a bunch of script on it, but Sarah was unable to read it. She tried to reach her own right arm over the screen, and it flickered to show a second screen with script she could read.


    ¡°Cool isn¡¯t it. Safety features are set so only the person the vessel is linked with can read the stats and info on yourself. You can give allowances to others to read it, most don¡¯t. I know a few that sold the rights to read their personal info, they made a boatload of money on it.¡±


    ¡°But?¡± Sarah knew how that would end up.


    ¡°But, within twenty minutes, their info was posted all over the city. Everyone knew what their skills and stats were.¡±


    That didn¡¯t sound too terrible, but Sarah knew what leaking such delicate info could do to pro gamers.


    ¡°It ended up being used to hunt them, didn¡¯t it?¡± Sarah couldn¡¯t hide the pity she felt for them. Jorn simply nodded. ¡°I think it¡¯s about time for you to give me the info I need.¡± Jorn nodded again.


    ¡°So basically, the way the game puts it anyway, we are Vessels. Sent to this world to save it from the impending apocalypse. The planet Tios was a huge resource hub at one point, but they got overzealous with the harvesting. Forcing burdens onto the people that they couldn¡¯t handle. Some divine intervention the game made a speech about, led to this great Mistress giving her approval to send in a few hundred thousand souls picked from the stars and sent to aid Tios. When we were introduced to the training master, the game made a huge deal about the process of honing your soul into being one with the vessel. I assume it means to simply let yourself be one with the game and envision this as your real body. Others thought it meant more literally training to sense how your soul was connected in the game, maybe thinking it was a secret skill to unlock. Most just ignored it and wanted to try out virtual combat in a realistic manner. Between the eight players in my starting party, only three of us even bothered to take notes on the tutorial.¡±


    ¡°Wait, how do you take notes? I don¡¯t have any paper.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a mental log, just imagine that the words you¡¯re hearing are appearing in front of you as visual text. Then slide that text to the top and just keep scrolling as it fills your vision. I made mine so it auto scrolls in a small box to my right. If you want the trainer''s most important info, you need to know that only a certain few actually got to hear it. I was the only one in my group to survive, and when the trainer appeared in the mouth of the cave, just after the last of my party fell, I was alone with my ax buried deep inside the skull of some massive beast. Its claws had shredded three of what had become my friends in that short time. I cracked its head in two, and that old man just told me, ¡®It takes resolve to live life as a vessel. Don¡¯t die.¡¯ Then he walked off and disappeared. I tried to follow, but he was just gone.¡±


    Sarah was left with a lot to think about. Luckily she had figured out what Jorn was telling her to do with note taking. This game really was a whole new ball game, with a difficulty curve that stretched to the moon.


    Sarah was so lost in thought, that she didn¡¯t notice the return of Duerlin until he was sliding a chair out. He sat opposite Jorn and Sarah, head resting on his raised hands. His elbows propped him up from the table, just enough that they could see the sorrow in his eyes.


    ¡°Food and drinks are already ordered, help yourself when they arrive.¡± Jorn offered kindly.


    Duerlin nodded slightly, then pulled out one of the leaves the healer had given him to chew on. He stared at it intently for a short moment, then he stuck it in his mouth and chewed slowly. Sarah had a feeling the swordsman would be in a pretty bad space mentally for some time. It seemed that Duerlin was closer to his friend than just a gaming partner.


    When Jorn¡¯s food came, a girl came up to their table as well. She had a black suit jacket, and a blue skirt. Her midnight black hair was tied in a bun at the base of her neck. Sarah was suddenly reminded of the delegation dinner her mom had forced her to go to.


    ¡°Excuse me, I am here to fulfill your quest awarding.¡± Her voice was soft, but she spoke in an exacting way. Sarah felt a little intimidated by the smile the girl wore. She didn¡¯t even look old enough to drink at the bar, was this really a guild associate?


    ¡°Please, have a seat.¡± Jorn invited the girl to join them.


    His fries were steaming and distracted everyone for a moment, but as the girl sat and introduced herself, the fries became forgotten. She reminded Sarah of a politician''s daughter, all formal and extremely business focused.


    ¡°My name is Kuru, I represent the Guild of Artificers. Did you all have a quest to turn in?¡±


    Moving straight into the business, Sarah felt she had guessed right about this woman. Kuru may look young, but that was just a pretty face hiding a brilliant mind. She had to be more of a diplomat to the adventure¡¯s guilds, rather than an adventurer herself.


    ¡°That is correct. SarthDarah and I completed a similar request for aid from the swordsmen. Duerlin here was the last remaining warrior, the other perished.¡±


    ¡°Dureft.¡± Duerlin cut in.


    Sarah jumped, she hadn¡¯t expected him to even be paying attention at this point. Jorn nodded though, letting the swordsman remember his fallen comrade.


    ¡°Let me see, yes. I¡¯m awfully sorry for your team''s loss, Duerlin.¡± Kuru seemed genuinely sad at the loss of the party members.


    She also seemed to be interacting with an interface that Sarah couldn¡¯t see.


    ¡°We are always saddened by the loss of entire parties, but I hope you will consider joining these other adventures. Out here, only strength in numbers will let you move forward.¡±


    Kuru¡¯s sincerity had made Duerlin sit up right for a few moments. His tense body forcing the movements to bow, and acknowledge the associate''s kind words. Kuru nodded back, a simple gesture, but meaningful all the same. Duerlin looked back down at the table, his face once again hidden by his hands.


    Jorn started to eat his fries, the messy food spilling over the edge of the basket. Sarah looked back and forth between them all. With Kuru still sitting in a business-like manner, the entire group looked completely at odds with each other. It was almost comical, and Sarah couldn¡¯t stop the smirk that came across her face.


    ¡°About your quest rewards, since you technically survived, and saved one of the two warriors. You are entitled to the base experience plus fifty percent of the bonus. You both, meaning Jorn and SarthDarah, receive six thousand points each. Duerlin will receive half of the remaining six thousand points, awarding him three thousand, for being the last standing of his party during the quest.¡± A moment of silence followed.


    Kuru passed her hand in front of each of them, a plus six thousand scrolled over Sarah¡¯s vision.


    ¡°Since you technically didn¡¯t kill the Mandragora, the quest reward of five thousand points will be awarded to the slayer.¡± Kuru meant Anunt, whom stayed in her healer''s cabin. ¡°If you would be so kind as to inform them, otherwise, they should be awarded the experience the next time they come in themselves.¡±


    Jorn and Sarah both nodded. They could easily tell Anunt that she had experience waiting. Of course the hot headed healer might just tell them she¡¯s too busy and that she doesn¡¯t have time for anything they have to say.


    Jorn¡¯s fries were about gone already, he was eating fast. Sarah reached to grab one, quick as lightning, and as she was savoring the flavor. A smooth, cheesy, spicy delicacy that she hadn¡¯t experienced in years. Jorn glared at her, offended at the stolen food.


    ¡°Order your own.¡±


    He sulked for a moment, and then upended the entire basket, draining it of its contents into his mouth. The two of them had locked gazes, a battle of wills starting without their conscious knowledge.


    Kuru smiled and watched on, amused by the trio. They all had strong traits, but flaws as well. Duerlin seemed to be inwardly focused and against letting others in. SarthDarah was strong, but in more than just physical terms. She was hard headed, stone willed, and iron hearted.


    Kuru could see Jorn would become the father figure of the group, keeping them in line. His aura wove the tapestry of his will openly. Kuru focused in on it, her heterochromic eyes taking in everything about these adventures, her smile grew.


    Only the strongest among these new players would be able to save this world. It was too late for anyone else to do anything now. Mistress Nyx had commanded no outside interference beyond what could be summoned through means of a vessel.


    Kuru would never dare defy an open order, she knew better than to interfere directly. This group had something about them though, much like a few others she had visited. They seemed to be strong enough to transition properly, the remote control they were experiencing now was remarkable. It spoke volumes about how well their individual souls were synchronizing with the vessels.


    What if she gave them a power boost? Kuru almost broke her mask of business, her face muscles tensing and straining to hold back the emotions she was feeling. Playing with mortals had grown boring, her Father had become stifling, even her favorite rival was starting to become tedious to deal with. This was a new outlet, an enjoyable way to have fun.


    ¡°How about your bonus?¡± She enticed, broadening her smile and closing her eyes. ¡°You both did admirably well, rescuing a stranded adventurer. Although, there were two of them.¡±


    Kuru¡¯s voice had a hint of accusation in it. She was still reading from a screen none of the rest of the group could see.


    ¡°I can offer up another ten thousand reward points. I think it¡¯s fair to give four thousand each, for Jorn and SarthDarah. Duerlin, since your actions saved the party as well, you are entitled to the remaining two thousand extra points.¡± Kuru finished explaining, then set her arms down on her lap.


    With the bonus, Sarah and Jorn each received ten thousand points. Duerlin still got a healthy five thousand points.


    ¡°Now then,¡± Kuru stood. ¡°I must be on to my next appointment. Is there anything else you require of me?¡± The trio shook their heads. Sarah didn¡¯t know what else she could ask of the guild representative. ¡°Oh, one more thing before I forget. There is a city wide request for all adventures, it begins at sundown. Find a guard captain if your group is interested in joining in.¡±


    The business-like woman turned and walked away. Leaving Sarah wondering what a city wide request would be like. There was another question she had before that though, she waited for Kuru to be out of earshot.


    ¡°Are all the NPCs that lifelike? She acted as if she was an actual player.¡±

 Chapter 5

    ¡°All of the people here are as real as you and I. Everyone thinks it¡¯s either devs running multiple accounts, or some seriously ingenious A.I.¡± Jorn answered. ¡°The tutorial would¡¯ve walked you through everything, and you would have figured all of this out then.¡±


    Sarah was scowling at him. Duerlin was scrolling through his menus, not paying attention to their conversation.


    ¡°Well, just catch me up quick. Ten thousand points seems like an awful lot, but how much does it take to level up?¡± Sarah leaned closer to Jorn, the rest of the bar had filled up and the noise was growing.


    ¡°It is, that quest should probably have been handled by a full party, or even two. Then the experience would have been divided down farther. And the levels here don¡¯t go by just experience alone. You need to build your character up.¡±


    Before Sarah could ask anything else, Jorn waved his hand over the table interface. A small menu appeared before them all. It had several tabs to choose from, each a different type of service provided. He pushed his large finger through the tab that said ¡°Mods¡±. The screen switched over to one full of small crystals. Each had several symbols next to it, and a large number under that. Sarah guessed that was the type and cost.


    Jorn swiveled away the menu, leaving some space between them in the center of the table, then motioned for Sarah to try. She held her arm out over the center of the table. A soft tingle in her wrist announced the arrival of the menu screen. This time, she was able to see much more of the screen. It was full of menus, options, timers, and even a small map appeared.


    Sarah moved her arm around, the tingle in her wrist pulsed when she was focusing on the different tabs. She could mentally click each, and they would minimize or slide them around as she willed.


    She pulled up the map, just to see where she was. It showed the gate of the city, the building they were in, and a small chunk of the city around them. She moved her arm to the right, then pinched and pulled the map screen to the left. The gate moved, the field clinic came into view, then scrolled to show the meadow they had fought in. Slightly to the north was the mountain she jumped off of. South, was an arid area separated the meadow from the coast line. What an interesting landscape.


    Pulling his screen back over and into a larger view, Jorn scrolled down the menu. He hummed a little when he stopped to look at certain ones, but he kept going like he already had a choice and just wanted to look at them all anyway.


    Sarah watched as he scrolled through the menu. Then she started looking through her own menu, selecting the mods tab and being instantly confused again.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what those symbols say, how do you know which is which?¡±


    ¡°The symbols reference the energies it corresponds with, as well as how it directs or interacts with the energy.¡± Jorn sounded like a tutorial guide. ¡°The large sum under it, that¡¯s the cost to buy the upgrade. That¡¯s where the experience points come in. You need to gain the exp, and then come back here to spend it. With that ten thousand, I can afford my next modification. The energies your body is attuned with will be the only ones you can choose. If you''re not compatible, it¡¯s like speaking different languages. My tutorial had a section that explained it, but that¡¯s about the only thing about it that made sense to me. If you can¡¯t read what it is, you can¡¯t equip it.¡±


    He stopped scrolling, a larger, double edged brown crystal was floating center screen. Jorn was smiling as he eyed it.


    ¡°What is that one?¡± Sarah asked, she tried to read the screen, but only the numbers were clear.


    ¡°Earth crystal, Zircon. It¡¯s a plus ten in power production. Which means I can add the bloodstone obsidian I found to my ax.¡±


    Sarah looked at him with a lost expression, she was confused and had no idea what Jorn was saying.


    ¡°That will allow me to use it as a conduit for stronger attacks. All things you would have learned by following the tutorial.¡± He laughed, pressing the screen to make his order at the same time.


    ¡°How do I find what I can use, there¡¯s got to be millions of choices in here.¡±


    Sarah¡¯s teeth ground as she gritted the words out. She was on the verge of complaining to the restaurant owner, hoping to find a simpler way to do this. Or maybe just punching the giant man next to her for bringing up how she missed the tutorial so much.


    ¡°You gotta filter the selections and organize the skills and abilities you use into easier to read lists. All of this stuff we learned way back in the¡­¡±


    A hard punch to his shoulder cut Jorn off, SarthDarah¡¯s huff and sudden attack left him speechless. The hit hadn¡¯t been so much as to knock him over, but she had put a solid amount of force into it. Jorn hadn¡¯t felt the sting of a hit like that since he left the caves.


    ¡°Fine, just give me a second.¡± SarthDarah retorted, she almost sounded angry.


    Jorn looked down at his empty food basket, then waved his arm over the menu again and manually ordered another. Sarah was curious as to why he had waited for the waitress the first time.


    Sarah¡¯s menu read nothing but gibberish. She grumbled to herself for several minutes as she attempted to select a symbol that represented whatever element or skill she was attuned with. None of them seemed to work.


    ¡°Try that one.¡± Jorn¡¯s giant finger was poking straight into her screen.


    ¡°How can you read my screen?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t, but that¡¯s where the organize by usable button should be.¡±


    Sarah almost wanted to hit the man again, but calmed and reminded herself that he was just helping. She pressed the weird symbol that looked like a circle with bumps on it. Suddenly, SarthDarah had three choices to make.


    Garnet- add plus three to all fire energy attacks and defenses. Cost- 5,000.


    Mica- add plus ten to acceleration, required in tandem with emerald to create levitation effect. Cost 5,000.


    Ruby- creates inferno effect. If inferno effect is active before modification, gain napalm burst effect. Napalm will engulf the target with combustible gel, burn effect will last until the gel burns out. (This will increase attack rating to Vaporize.) Cost- 8,000.


    Sarah ogled the ruby. That little gem, barely a tenth the size of the one Jorn had just ordered, would turn her into a napalm slinging, face melting, action hero. Her punches would melt that stupid plant easily, the gel would burn right through the vines. Maybe not as quick as Anunt¡¯s attack, but it would still work.


    What about the garnet though? Simple as it looked, plus three to all attacks, and defenses. That would be a huge boost as well. What fire defense did she have though? She could make fire as she punched, that would hit a lot harder with a plus three. But the defense would be a waste until she learned more skills.


    The mica was an incredible modification as well. She was already fast, to get another ten points to acceleration would make it so she could launch even faster than Duerlin, maybe. The levitate was what really drew her attention to that one though, but there wasn¡¯t an option to get an emerald. The tandem benefit wouldn¡¯t activate until she had both.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Her choice was simple then, Sarah clicked her finger through the ruby. The screen disappeared and so did eight thousand of her experience points.


    ¡°Good choice. That will definitely boost your damage output. Too bad it cost most of your points.¡±


    ¡°What can I do with the last two thousand?¡±


    ¡°I would suggest a power generating upgrade. Try the upgrade tab.¡± Jorn pointed out the small page. ¡°Boost skills you already have, or weapons, here.¡±


    Sarah looked through some of the options, the list wasn¡¯t very long. It had her general martial arts skills, the flame punch was on there. The power generation skill was listed with a small red exclamation point behind it.


    ¡°Why does it have a red exclamation after the power generation skill?¡± Sarah was concerned at the mark, they usually meant something bad.


    ¡°It means you''re either at minimum power generation, or below. Did fighting wear you out physically?¡±


    Sarah thought back, she had been fine while they fought, but exhaustion had washed over her the moment they stopped. It had been like gravity intensified, it hadn¡¯t worn off until they sat down and took some time to rest.


    ¡°Well yeah, but isn¡¯t that normal?¡±


    ¡°For a regular person, maybe. For us, here, you shouldn¡¯t even feel fatigued after hours of fighting, unless you¡¯re properly upgraded. My vessel produces one and a half times the energy I need, so I always have extra reserves.¡±


    Jorn¡¯s explanation made Sarah consider, what would be the best upgrade path then? Would simply adding on highly potent attacks be enough?


    The power generation tab, with its red mark, was yelling at her to do more. That she would need to build herself a better foundation of power first. Then she could lay on more destructive abilities. Clicking into the tab, Sarah began reading over her choices.


    Energy Capacitor- stores an additional ten units of energy, does not generate energy on its own. Cost- 2,000.


    Energy Generator- harnesses the natural energies around you. Will only pull in and generate energy from attuned sources.  Will add ten units of energy to production. Cost- 2,000.


    Siphon Pump- steal generated energies from sources around you. This pump can siphon any energy, regardless of attunement. Adds fluctuating units of energy based on sources around you. Cost- 5,000.


    Energy Sphere- containment sphere. House any source of energy here. Can hold one hundred units of energy. Cost- 2,000.


    Energy Direction Focus Crystal- warning, must be placed in a properly attuned weapon or gauntlet. Creates a mental link with the weapon, allows for your attuned energy to flow through it. Cost- 5,000.


    ¡°These seem like good options, but what does the siphon one do?¡± Sarah was genuinely curious.


    It seemed like it would add in a lot of extra energy, if she was in a densely saturated place. It could also be a dry well, if she got stuck somewhere with barely any natural energy at all, that would be a death sentence.


    ¡°Hmph. You''re better off taking the normal generator, then saving for the focus crystal. Your ruby will consume a big chunk of your energy, and you won¡¯t be able to power it if you don¡¯t add to your generation now. The siphon, I haven¡¯t actually seen in person. It sounds like it¡¯ll make you an energy vampire though. Might be good if you jump into the middle of mobs all the time though.¡± Jorn laughed a little at his own joke.


    A waitress walked up, white uniform sung on her round hips. She had one tray in her hand, upon it, sat the two crystals they had ordered and another order of chili cheese fries.


    ¡°Zircon and a basket of fries, for the gentleman.¡± The soft woman''s voice announced, as she set the gem carefully in front of Jorn. ¡°And Ruby, for the lady.¡± The small red globe of power was set in front of Sarah. It looked like it was a frozen piece of fire, glimmering in the soft light.


    The waitress bowed and walked away. Jorn picked up his crystal, and a slot on his chest appeared. He inserted the crystal, the slot forming around it perfectly. Sarah felt a small surge of power as his aura flared for a moment.


    Sarah reached down to grab her ruby. The expensive piece of gemstone was warm to the touch and perfectly smooth. It had an oblong shape, the crystal matrix inside refracting bright red.


    Ruby- this will add the Napalm Bust effect to your inferno punches. Warning, napalm gel will stick to everything it comes in contact with, including allies.


    The description had popped up, and then disappeared after Sarah read it. A small slot on her left arm opened, near her wrist. Just as she had seen Jorn do, she slid the ruby into the slot. It was accepted and formed to fit it perfectly.


    ¡°Well, I figured it would be more difficult than that.¡± She said, the slot had closed and nothing else seemed to change.


    ¡°Since that¡¯s a fighting ability, you won¡¯t notice it until you actually use it. Mine boosted my energy output, so it had a somewhat noticeable effect.¡± Jorn explained.


    Sarah thought about that, a noticeable power up like that made her wonder just how much energy Jorn was capable of handling. She needed to have more energy to use, especially now that she was going to be firing napalm. Sarah noted that the ruby hadn¡¯t said anything about how much energy it used, but the blinking red exclamation next to her power output icon was worrying.


    ¡°What about the generator? What¡¯s the difference between it and the capacitor?¡±


    ¡°A generator will actively give you energy based on the available surrounding energies that you can harness. A water user can¡¯t get much from a dessert, and a fire user is of little use in a blizzard. That¡¯s why I like the ground, cause as long as I stay on land, I can harness way more than I¡¯ll ever need. A capacitor, well maybe as a monk class it would be useful to you. They need to be fed energy, that they then hold onto and can feed back to you when you need it. Not so useful if you¡¯re already short of energy, but for someone like me who has extra, we can put away however much they¡¯ll hold. Those charged capacitors have one big advantage that still makes them worth it. If you have a full capacitor, and don¡¯t mind a small backlash of damage, you can use the entire charge at once to power a single attack.¡±


    Sarah didn¡¯t have to know the specifics of how to do it to know that that was potentially a great asset. To have an overcharge ability, all for two thousand experience points, would be easily worth it. If only she had the energy output.


    It seemed like the generator was the first step, and then she would have to come back with a bunch more points for more upgrades. The progression in this game would be slow and tedious, but the realism in how it felt was amazing. Sarah was still conflicted on how she felt about it, but so far her adventure had been fun.


    The freedom to do nearly anything in this game was satisfying. The near death experience had taught her to not take this game lightly, and if it were true that she only had one life, then she had come to close to expending it already. She bought the generator, hoping it was enough to power her napalm and everything else without issue.


    Within a few minutes the waitress returned, once more with a tray bearing a crystal. This time Sarah had to ask Jorn where it went, and he pointed right at his own chest. Sarah blinked at him a few times, not really understanding.


    ¡°It goes in the seam of your chest plates.¡± Jorn was trying not to look down at the much shorter SarthDarah.


    ¡°You better turn your head.¡± SarthDarah warned him.


    When she looked down, her chest was barely a bump in the orange fabric of her shirt. It had an overlapping style, almost like a robe, and a simple belt tied at her front was all that kept it together. Well, hopefully game mechanics kept it together while she was fighting.


    She had seen Jorn have to unstrap just to show off his arm. Did that mean as long as she kept it tied she wouldn¡¯t be able to lose her coverings? One way to find out was to pull it open right here and see what happened. Sarah wasn¡¯t sure if she should though, there were still quite a few people in the restaurant.


    Jorn was already turned and facing away, Sarah grabbed at the overlapping layer of her robe with her left hand. It lifted away as easily as any real robe would. The underneath of the fabric was a thick padding, several hooks and loops in the padding suggested she could stick small objects in them. That could be handy.


    As she reached her right hand in to open the remaining layer of the robe, her heart beat a little faster. This was extremely in depth for a game. There felt like there was more realism here than she felt in her own real life sometimes.


    The layer peeled back, revealing her golden bronze skin to be a shade lighter inside her clothing. Six seams ran horizontally; the first two from either side of her neck, the fourth and fifth came from just below her collar bone, the last pair were large rounded lines that gave the tops of her breasts an elliptical outline.


    SarthDarah had under clothing on, simple cloth wrappings that kept her body tightly woven together. She stopped staring at herself only after Jorn coughed a bit louder than a normal person should have. The generator that she still held in her left hand fit in one of these, which one should she choose?


    As she brought it closer, her right collar bone seam split just a fraction. Sarah could only guess that it must be that one.

 Chapter 6

    Duerlin still sat motionless in his chair, his eyes were closed.


    ¡°What do we do about him?¡± Sarah put a hand on his shoulder. There was no reaction.


    ¡°Well, what are we going to do?¡± Jorn was focusing on something in the distance. ¡°Do you want to see what the group event is? I bet it has something to do with the plants again.¡±


    Sarah thought for a moment, she could do with some payback on that pesky flower. Maybe with a huge group they could actually cut it down. That Anunt, she had been able to devastate one of them.


    Then said it would bring the swarm. Sarah hung her head slightly, it was kind of their fault it was coming. They had been forced to have Anunt save them.


    ¡°I think we should. If that plant monster is attacking in a swarm, it¡¯s at least partially our fault. Plus, with my upgraded fire punch, I should be able to do a lot more damage to it.¡±


    ¡°Agreed. Let¡¯s head to the gate and see if we can find the Captain to get us filled in.¡±


    ¡°Duerlin? What about you?¡± Sarah was trying to ask gently, but the swordsman just sat there unanswering.


    Jorn pulled a pen and a scrap of paper from his side bag. He wrote a short message, slid the paper in front of Duerlin, then stood.


    ¡°He¡¯ll be fine here, just give him a little more time to figure everything out. It can be a lot to sort through if the person he lost was close enough.¡±


    ¡°Even in a game? It¡¯s not like their partner really died, just lost the chance to play now that their character has been killed off.¡±


    Jorn just shook his head, then motioned for Sarah to follow him as he started walking to the front door. Sarah followed him out of the building, then across the open area in the middle of the business buildings back towards the main gate.


    ¡°What did you tell him?¡±


    ¡°That we would be at the gate, or out in the fields. To meet up with us if he wanted to join the party, or to stay safe if he wanted to go his own way.¡±


    Sarah nodded, she agreed with that. He would be a good asset to their team, but they couldn¡¯t force him to be a part of it. Sarah thought of her friend, and how he hadn¡¯t wanted to play right away. The way you progressed in this game, it seemed like he was going to be a long way behind.


    It couldn¡¯t be helped at this point. She was locked into playing and wasn¡¯t about to give up precious time to check on him. He hadn¡¯t wanted her as more than a friend anyway, Sarah wished she could just forget about it and move on.


    ¡°Hey? Sarth? Yo!¡± Jorn was practically yelling at her before she realized that she was half a step from walking out of the gate. ¡°This way space cadet.¡±


    Sarah was about to shoot napalm at him just to see what it would do, but remembered how deadly it was supposed to be. And with only one life per player that would be a dick move. The guards at the post he stood in front of probably wouldn¡¯t be too happy about it either.


    Jorn took his ax out, the blade had a small area where a few ridges overlapped. Holding the ax near the blade in one hand, he brought a pitch black shard of glass to it. The ripples opened slightly, then accepted the glass, closing tightly around it. He strapped it back across his back, smiling merrily. The new upgrade must be really good.


    Guards milled around the tower base, dozens more people stood around them. The shiny star on the shoulder of one guard marked him as the captain. Jorn introduced the two of them, and asked what the request was.


    It was indeed about the swarming Mandragora plants. They had swallowed up everything from the base of the mountain, down to the road north of the Metora Ant hills. If they kept spreading, the road would be overtaken and the city would be cut off to the south. The Mandragora could even invade over the mountains, into the northern rivers, and cut the city off completely.


    The guards were hiring adventures to help with a mass raid on the meadow. The general plan was to create a boundary down the road. Allowing for a more widespread fight, without having to lose the path back home.


    It sounded like they wanted to send for the capital city¡¯s army. To have them extend the safety net indefinitely. Sarah wondered just how long she would play before needing to rest, she didn¡¯t even feel slightly exhausted at this point. The new generator had been humming warmly, making her feel more alert than ever.


    ¡°Well, this should be simple enough.¡± Sarah sounded confident.


    ¡°I dunno, I¡¯ve been in and out of those fields a few times. It was never overtly hostile, but then you showed up and the whole city is suddenly marching to kill it.¡± Jorn shot her enthusiasm down.


    ¡°Gee, thanks. Like I didn¡¯t already feel like an ass for missing the tutorial. Now I gotta live with knowing I set off the raid boss prematurely.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡±


    By the time they set out, over fifty adventures marched in a column. Nearly all of the city guard would follow, making the total number closer to eighty fighters. One group of Dwarves were pushing along a large ballista. It had a mechanism that would fire large projectiles repeatedly.


    ¡°Let¡¯s hang out by them, I have an idea.¡±


    Sarah held her hand up and looked at it for a moment. They had about half of the column ahead of them, so they would be the second wave of fighters to hit the front. The heavily armored warriors went out front.


    Jorn had pointed out a battle mage while they were leaving the city, fully decked out in shiny metal armor. The sleeves had been cut away, leaving the man¡¯s arms free to cast deadly attacks. Jorn had mentioned how he had shadowed that man¡¯s group for a raid to the Meteora Ant Fields, but when he saw how deadly the ants were Jorn had run back to town. Only that mage had returned out of the entire party Jorn had followed.


    When they got to the edge of the meadow, that battle mage was standing solo against hundreds of whipping vines. Explosions of water forcing them back. Several other fighters had moved down the road, bringing parts of the swarm with them.


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    ¡°Loading! Clear a path!¡± One of the Dwarves shouted.


    Loud clunking and rattling emanated from the ballista. A few knights cut aside to give a clear shooting range. Sarah watched as bolt after bolt was shot out into the field. The shots ripped through the vines and severed flower heads.


    It could only shoot in a straight line however, so they had to fire up a bunch of rounds, and then re-position. Jorn nodded at Sarah, both of them stepping up to the ballista crew.


    ¡°Can I add a helping hand?¡± Jorn called out, he stomped hard down onto the ground.


    The ballista rotated a few degrees. The path of destruction followed, as it continued to fire. The lead dwarf gave a thumbs up, and then shouted to the crew in a different language. They all hollered out a war cry, fists pumping in the air.


    ¡°Keep it up big fella, we be glad for yer help!¡±


    Sarah was watching the shots as they left the ballista, less concerned with where they were landing and more so with timing it out so she could light them with napalm. In truth, she really really wanted to try it. Even just to see how much destruction it would cause when sent downfield on a giant bolt, she had to know.


    Whoosh, went the first bolt. SarthDarah punched outward, her eyes tracking the projectile now coming free of the Dwarven machine. The intense burst of energy she felt rush down her arm made her feel alive. The heat and intensity of the punch she threw, culminating in the rush of combusting gel leaving her knuckles.


    Her heart didn¡¯t race, her vision didn¡¯t blur, but when she remembered she needed to breathe, it was after the rushing line of napalm covered ballista bolts vanished into the wind as ash. The Dwarves all turned to stare at her, anger coming across the commanding Dwarf¡¯s face.


    ¡°Sarth! Maybe aim that cannon towards the enemy.¡± Jorn called out, his face barely hiding the mirth dancing in his eyes.


    ¡°How about I aim it at you then?¡± SarthDarah grumbled.


    ¡°Tell the big¡¯un to go stand out front if you¡¯re gonna do that lassie.¡± Even through the anger, Sarah recognized his attempt at easing the situation.


    ¡°Or maybe you could shoot something a little more sturdy?¡± She never was good at backing down.


    The Dwarf eyed her for a second, then whistled and waved his hand in a quick circle above his head. The rest of his crew snapped into action, lifting the huge cylinder up and out of the loading section of the ballista. With a grunt of effort, they shifted it to the side and set it up on end. It stood nearly twice as tall as the Dwarven men.


    They all ran around to a cart that was being drawn up behind them, maneuvering curtains and side walls out of their way. When they had nearly dismantled the entire cart, a cylinder that looked nearly identical to the one they had taken out of the ballista was sitting on wheels. It took only a minute or two, but Sarah had watched back and forth between the Dwarves and the battle front.


    The huge caster magic battle had driven the first wave deep into the field and towards the south. The second wave that they had been a part of, had already pushed into the fields towards the mountains. A third wave, that had included the ballista crew¡¯s wagon, was just now starting to group up around them. Most were long range casters, support units, healers, or groups that were under powered but still wanted in on the fighting.


    ¡°Lass! I think we be ready for ye!¡±


    SarthDarah stood just to the side of the giant ballista, Jorn was out front with his ax. As he swung and sliced neat lines through vines, he also pounded the ground every so often to turn the ballista from side to side.


    Sarah was watching the shots, timing the bolts, ready to match the trajectories. Just before the dwarf leader could ask, she started punching. The flames left her hands, settling onto the bolts in midair.


    The sudden blazing effect caused the plants to scream. The noise was terrifying, it sounded like rats in a blender on loudspeakers. Sarah didn¡¯t stop punching though, she had to keep the rhythm.


    The flaming bolts were having a clearing effect. Smoldering vines tried to escape into the air, but before they could reach the artillery squad, knights and warriors cut them down. This was going surprisingly well, the plants couldn¡¯t break through their front lines. The farther down the road, the more dead vines littered the meadow. Sarah was getting exhausted though, keeping up the constant barrage was getting difficult.


    ¡°Take a break lassie! Boys! Switch ammo can!¡± The lead dwarf shouted. They stopped firing, a hiss of smoke rolled off the guide rail. Two Dwarves unhooked the large container that dropped in bolts. A third had carted over another. Jorn was standing near the front of the ballista, ax in hand. Sarah was ready to sit down, the exhaustion coming up in a huge wave. They had only been at it for a couple minutes. She had fought earlier, in deadlier conditions, and been just fine. What was wrong now?


    ¡°Ye power consumption is greater than ye¡¯r generation, isn¡¯t it?¡± The dwarf asked, he was holding out a vile of blue liquid. ¡°Drink this. After what you just showed me, I¡¯m impressed. Ye kept up, and matched my machine, shot fer shot. This has a power boost effect.¡±


    Sarah took the vial, it was about six inches long, and as round as her thumb. The light blue reminded her of the clear water at the beach resort. A note appeared next to it,


    Artificial energy collector; boosts the vessel''s ability to generate power for a short time. Dependent on current generation and consumption levels.


    ¡°I can¡¯t, this looks expensive.¡± Sarah protested lightly. She did want it, but it would be rude to just take it without hesitating, regardless of the offer.


    ¡°Please, lass, I insist. Besides, I ain¡¯t gotta worry bout power generating. That was extra loot that I just didna wanna to sell. It can be put to good use with you. I wasn¡¯t sure if the regular bolts would have any effect on the plants, but with your fire, it helped a lot.¡± The dwarf clapped his hands and turned always. ¡°So we¡¯ll need ya to do that again, drink up!¡±


    Sarah looked over at Jorn, her weary body ached, the ax wielder was going to town on a bunch of vines. Two knights flanked either side of him. She watched as rock spikes came out of the ground in front of the three men, impaling the bunch of vines descending in attack. The spikes rose in a wave away from them.


    The screams of the plants rose again, the battlefield hadn¡¯t been quiet, but this noise was unsettling. Three yellow flower heads rose up, skewered on rock. Jorn slammed his ax into the ground, and all of the spikes exploded outward. The shrapnel and plant matter shooting in every direction.


    ¡°Duck!¡± Several voices yelled in unison.


    Jorn had erected a small barrier around the knights and himself. It wasn¡¯t large enough to cover the whole ballista though. Sarah reacted by swallowing the potion whole, and launching herself straight up into the air for a massive counter attack.


    She hadn¡¯t known she had the skill, but the attack seemed right. With a sudden boost in power, she screamed as she thrust out both fists and released air energy towards the incoming projectiles. A sonic boom echoed outward, the rock shrapnel redirected away from them with it. With a quick follow up, Sarah breathed in and pulled back to send out another punch.


    She exhaled softly then punched out several times, gel substance exploded outward, staying mostly in the center of the blast. Napalm, fired without combustion, scattered into the air as it was forced outward.


    As it landed in the vicinity of the three yellow flower heads, SarthDarah unleashed a pure ball of fire at them. It hurtled through the air, gaining momentum and size as it flew. Igniting the napalm coated flowers and incinerating them in mere seconds. The sonic boom echoed a second time just as the flames burst up into the air.


    Quiet followed the loud boom, several eyes turned to look at her. Sarah felt her eyes twitch, it felt like she was sweating into them. The burn was real, or it felt real. This whole full immersion was getting intense, she could feel her energy coming back again, as the potion worked. The emotional toll it was taking, to keep draining herself like that, Sarah shook her head, she couldn¡¯t keep doing that.


    Cheers and hollers for everyone to rush forward broke into her thoughts. Still slightly dazed, Sarah looked around again. Everyone behind her was now rushing forward. They all smiled at her and some even patted her back as they passed. Sarah looked back to Jorn, he was leaning on the rock shield he had made. The two knights had collapsed beside him. He gave a thumbs up though, Sarah smiled.


    Maybe, maybe she could do it. She was SarthDarah after all, and she was starting to think she wasn¡¯t so far behind.

 Chapter 7

    Still floating up above the ballista crew, Sarah had a good vantage of the battlefield. The second wave forces that had pushed through to the mountains were still advancing, almost so far out that they risked being cut off from the rest of the group. To the south, Sarah could see the rise of the sand dunes known as the Meteora Ant Fields, and a slaughter that had driven the first wave forces into retreat.


    At least they were succeeding here, and into the fields where the group of first wave fighters had cleared a path straight east. That group was still functioning under a group of commanders that relied on numbers to slay the aggressive Mandragoras.


    The Ballista crew were all looking at her, the leader was staring open mouthed. When he noticed her looking at him, he turned to his men.


    ¡°Load it up! Come on! That shoulda been done already!¡± His commands were sharp, but his tone was light. In front of them, the wave had cleared nearly a hundred yards of everything. Bare earth and the rock spikes were the only things left.


    Adventures rushed across the open plain, ready to push the front line farther. Sarah was ready to go with them, but decided to stay with the ballista crew. Jorn was carrying back the two knights he had been fighting beside. They looked a little beat up, but not dead.


    SarthDarah landed behind the ballista crew, a few cheers from the road greeted her. She turned to see another wave of people coming down the road. Several of them were running towards the injured, and a few moved to surround the area in a defensive ring.


    ¡°My, my, you are talented.¡± A soft woman''s voice rang out.


    It was distant, and Sarah couldn¡¯t find her right away in the crowd. Soon, Kuru walked up, appearing with Anunt. The two walked side by side as they came closer. Anunt was eyeing each healer and injured person as she passed, checking to make sure care was being taken for each case.


    Kuru was studying the ballista crew like she was a cat, seeing them as a meal and ready to devour them for lunch. She watched SarthDarah land and couldn¡¯t help but call out to her. The display of firepower she showed was impeccable. And the fact that SarthDarah had willingly worked alongside and protected her artillery crew made Kuru feel extra compliant towards the fiery monk.


    SarrthDarah stood up straight, the presence of the guild representative had her on edge for some reason. Anunt was sending her subordinates to different areas of the battle. While they had given a great first push, they still had a long way to go. Kuru walked up to Sarah, the Dwarf leader had taken a few steps back towards the ballista. The women¡¯s dark clothing looked perfectly pressed and in place, even after traveling a few miles from the city on a gravel road.


    ¡°SarthDarah, I must say I am impressed by what you were able to accomplish here.¡± Kuru bowed her head slightly as she came to stand within a few feet of SarthDarah. ¡°I must also commend you on being able to work so well with such a rough handling crew, such as Maguura¡¯s is. The collaboration between your fire and their machine was a pleasure to watch.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, you are very kind to say so.¡± SarthDarah felt it right to dip her head in a small bow in return.


    Kuru giggled softly, then turned to look at the Dwarven artillery commander. Maguura, with his head bowed to look straight down at his feet. Her soft tone vanished as she took in the commander.


    ¡°Maguura, your crew needs some polishing. Finish up here, and then there is another task that will need our attention.¡±


    ¡°Of course, Mistress!¡± Maguura shouted his response.


    Sarah couldn¡¯t tell if it was from admiration, or fear, that the dwarf snapped to attention so hard. The dwarf was quick to start barking new orders to his men using their language. The entire crew was running at double speed now to try and look good in front of the guild administrator.


    ¡°Maguura! One last thing, make sure our new friends get an invite to our guild.¡±


    The dwarf turned and bowed his confirmation. Sarah was stunned to find that it was the artillery guild that Kuru ran. She was so proper and seemed kind, large siege weapons didn¡¯t seem to fit her.


    ¡°Your guild?¡± The words sort of slipped out of Sarah¡¯s mouth, she knew she was talking to an important person before, but hadn¡¯t kept in mind that a guild administrator might require some decorum.


    ¡°Yes, I am the administrator for the Artificer Guild. This crew runs an operation under my management. Their weapons and designs are all guild trademarks and their intellectual property. While they are members, and work for the betterment of the guild, they own the licenses to all of their creations, but the guild has ultimate access and control over the creations. Fully funded research teams work under me, developing tools and upgrades that this world needs. Some may be needed beyond this world as well, but it is my goal to find individuals that wish to work for the same betterment of technology and invite them to come to my guild.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s amazing, if we live through the rest of this we¡¯ll have to check it out.¡± Jorn said as he walked up behind SarthDarah.


    ¡°How are the knights?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ll live, the concussive force is what knocked them out. I nearly blacked out as that sonic boom passed by.¡±


    ¡°Sorry.¡± SarthDarah winced and shied away a little.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be, you saved everyone with what you did. None of us would have survived being skewered or strangled.¡±


    ¡°Kuru, can I ask why you¡¯re out here on the battlefield?¡± Sarah was curious.


    ¡°I like to see my guild¡¯s creations at work. Where else but a battlefield, would I get to see the dazzling display of such wonderful, imaginative minds?¡± Kuru spoke with a rich tone of culture, like she had been living her whole life dedicated to the guild.


    To the evolution of destructive artifacts. Sarah, again, was taken off guard by the realism in the character. Was she an A.I.? Or was she a player? Now that she was thinking about it, she couldn¡¯t tell the difference between these characters and real people. There were no name tags or anything that showed the difference between players and computer controlled bodies.


    Sarah was trying to think of a way to ask Kuru if she was a player, but was interrupted by a shout from the perimeter line. A looming red blossom flower was erupting up into the air, sending thorns flying in all directions. Several warriors that had rushed out into the field were skewered and fell.


    ¡°To me! Prevent that line from falling!¡± A deep shout rang out from the middle of the group in front of them.


    Turning to look at the meadow, several of the adventurers had spread into a semi-circle. The half dozen men in the center, farthest out from the ballista, were being overrun. Vines had shot straight upwards, then came crashing down upon the front line. Three of the men were swallowed, disappearing into the plant matter. Two others had been knocked down, and were trying to return to their feet. The last one has been the man to yell out. He was standing with a broadsword nearly as tall as himself. The shining metal was covered in green stains.


    ¡°Target the center mass! Fire at will boys!¡± Maguura shouted.


    The giant red flower head that rose above the ground was easily six times larger than the yellow ones.  The Dwarven ballista began a rapid fire, the bolts this time were glowing white as they left the machine. Each impact on the large flower sparked, hot spots appeared after the bolt passed through. Sarah realized they were trying to burn the plants with energized bolts.


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    ¡°Not gonna help?¡± Kuru asked, she was inches away from Sarah¡¯s ear.


    The voice made her jump, the tens one of her muscles was a new reflex she hadn¡¯t been expecting.


    ¡°I¡¯m just deciding where I¡¯m most needed.¡±


    Sarah tried to act like she wasn¡¯t spacing out. She looked to her left, the third wave was holding their own. Several large city guards with long handled axes chopped away at the remaining vines. Sarah could see dozens of shredded and chopped up yellow flower bulbs.


    To the right, the majority of the second wave fought. They were all still within a few feet of the road, not progressing. Their own battle turning out much the same as it was here. The ballista crew in front of her yelled in unison as they reloaded the white hot barrel for a fresh one.


    Just as Sarah was about to launch herself over the top of the ballista towards the front lines, the flower head opened up to reveal a center beak with long needle-like fangs inside of it.


    ¡°You might want to shoot another blast at that thing. I believe it¡¯s about to swallow anything it can reach.¡±


    Kuru¡¯s voice was slightly higher pitched, and she was giggling. Sarah¡¯s indecision was put on hold, as she took in this candid approach to the imminent death of people right in front of them.


    She had to shake off the extra thoughts. What blast could she shoot into that thing? The sonic boom would hit everyone. A napalm shot? Could she focus the energy into a larger shot?


    Taking a stance, Sarah faced the flower head. The roaring mouth of it was rearing back, readying itself to attack. She could feel power swelling in her hand, then up her forearm. Focusing on condensing it, she swirled it in a circle, centered on her fist. Just as the red flower head launched forward, Sarah blasted out all of the energy she was holding. The orange and yellow comet of fire that flew from the end of her punch, launched at blazing speed. The air rippled and rushed away from the fireball. Several trailing wisps of flame burned, creating an after image of the massive flame.


    It flew straight into the red flower, igniting it. The plant screamed in pain, withering quickly under the intense heat. The napalm kept burning, leaving a wall of flame where the flower head fell. Soon, there was black smoke rising into the air in thick plumes. Sarah gasped for air, falling to her knees in exhaustion. The potion Maguura had given her would boost her energy production, but it seemed it wasn¡¯t enough. That blast had floored her.


    Kuru crouched next to her, pushing Sarah¡¯s hair back from her face. The examining stare that Kuru gave Sarah clearly stated that she wasn¡¯t just some A.I.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have a sufficient power supply to be using that. Do you?¡± The question was cold.


    Like she knew the answer, but wanted Sarah to know there was a lesson to be learnt.


    ¡°No.¡± The word came out harsh. This game was extremely realistic, the fatigue factor was intense. It seemed like there was a real consequence for lacking power.


    ¡°You do understand that your vessel can¡¯t operate properly without energy, don¡¯t you? It will literally shut down, and you will die. You will suffocate limbs one by one if you overexert. That potion Maguura gave you, is not intended to be a true power source. It fails if you strain it beyond a certain point.¡±


    Kuru laid her hand gently on Sarah¡¯s back. Sarah thought she was going to hurl.


    ¡°Oh my¡­.. you, you have had an interesting day.¡± Kuru was lost in thought, her voice was quiet and distant.


    Sarah thought she imagined it, but she thought she saw her room for a moment, then her work. Then a snap of a conversation with Kyle.


    ¡°You can¡¯t live life like a game.¡±


    Sarah snapped back to herself. There was a battle still raging in front of her. She was still in the game. But that last sentence, it had rang in her head. Was it Kyle, or Kuru, who said it? The voice had been both, but that was a conversation she had in real life.


    ¡°I have given you some of my energy, it may cause some slight mental disruption. You are not attuned to my nature, so it¡¯s a side effect, but you should be able to stand at least.¡± Kuru stood, and turned to overlook the battle herself.


    Sarah stood as well, staggering a small bit. Jorn was walking up towards them, he had a limp in his left leg.


    ¡°Are you ok?¡± Jorn called out, he ducked under the ballista wing. The war machine kept firing. The flames in the background were spreading farther. Jorn stopped short of them as he got a better look at Sarah. ¡°Your hand is on fire!¡±


    Sarah barely even reacted, she just looked down, and noticed her knuckles still ablaze. Her right hand was glowing in the fire light, and the napalm gel was coating most of her fingers.


    ¡°Huh, would you look at that?¡±


    ¡°You act surprised, like she hasn¡¯t had a blazing wisp of fire trailing from her eyes this whole time.¡± Kuru smiled at the big man as he looked confused by the question.


    ¡°You sound like it¡¯s not surprising?¡± Jorn was concerned, he was looking over at Kuru now. ¡°Why is the guild representative here?¡±


    Kuru bowed slightly.


    ¡°I¡¯m supervising my guild''s inventions.¡± Kuru responded coolly.


    ¡°I¡¯m too tired for it to register I guess.¡± Sarah¡¯s response came a second later.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get you over to a healer.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t need a healer, I need an energy bar.¡± Sarah said blandly. She lazily waved away Jorn¡¯s attempt to steady her. Kuru smirked a little, she quickly put a hand over her face to hide it.


    Jorn snorted, then turned to watch the ballista continue to lay waste to the meadow. The flames continued burning, much lower now, but spread farther out. The effect of the fire had been a large area of respite. The third wave of fighters were advancing as well. Soon, they would be able to push farther towards the mountain base.


    ¡°I think, maybe you could make use of this.¡± Kuru was holding out a silver chunk of metal. The rounded front of it was barely bigger than her hand. ¡°This knuckle sheath will help direct any energy that passes through it. It will take the majority of the power load off of your body, that is the important part.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, why are you giving me this though?¡± Sarah wasn¡¯t sure if she should take the gift. Kuru was a guild representative, Sarah wasn¡¯t even technically registered.


    ¡°It¡¯s a personal design, and I will want compensation. The payment I ask, is that you finish clearing the Mandragora.¡± Kuru was all business, her sharp tone was at odds with her bright smile. ¡°Oh, and you must get the technicality of your guild association fixed. I will escort you back to the city, and then help with that immediately when we return.¡± Her smile faded and a dark shadow crossed her face as she spoke. ¡°That will be a requirement that I must insist on overseeing the correction of myself.¡±


    Sarah¡¯s face fell too, she knew. How did she know? Was there a registration mark that guild reps could see? Sarah would have to explain why and how she skipped it all. Could she just play dumb and go along with what Kuru wanted to do?


    It sounded as if the business woman just wanted to help, but there was the inventor in her too, who gave her a weapon first. A chance to still play and gain power. Even if this Kuru, was a dev or moderator, Sarah was getting a free pass for skipping the tutorial, and a free upgrade. Well almost free.


    There was a line of plants that needed to feel her wrath first. She looked at Jorn, his body was littered in bruises and green plant material. The large ax on his back was still glowing with power.


    ¡°You got one more shot in ya?¡± She asked the man, a large grin on her face.


    He gave her a thumbs up, and reached to unhook the ax.


    ¡°You say when, Sarth.¡± Jorn winked before turning to ready himself.


    ¡°Just aim at the last remnants of the fire. Use that spike wall skill to scatter it as far as you can, out into the meadow.¡± Sarah took a few steps closer to the Dwarven ballista. ¡°Maguura! Shift your fire upwind, we gotta start pushing forward to where the first wave is.¡±


    ¡°Lass, I don¡¯t take orders from ye, but ye be right. Boys! Ten degree, star side, make it a minute order!¡±


    Maguura shouted the order, then kicked a block away from the bottom mount on the ballista. It swiveled slightly, about ten degrees, to the right. Six sharp shots fired in a burst, then the ballista swiveled another few degrees before firing again.


    ¡°Jorn, now!¡± SarthDarah was already launching herself into the air as she shouted at Jorn to act.


    His ax swung, bringing large piles of debris with it. Flaming dirt and plant matter scattered away like dust on a strong wind. The two knights that had fought beside Jorn returned, healed and ready for more action, and followed SarthDarah¡¯s charge back to the front.


    They made it to where Jorn¡¯s earth wall was still somewhat standing just in time to take cover from a hail of thorns. The red blossom was throwing meter long needle pointed shanks at them. If even one hit, it could be fatal just from how big of a hole it would put in your body. Jorn ran out and around the wall, smashing up a huge amount of burning debris to deflect against the last few projectiles coming their way.


    ¡°Sarth, any fire power now would be helpful, it¡¯s right in front of us!¡± Jorn yelled, taking wild swings with his ax to defend himself from the vines.


    Sarah thought for a moment, then checked the knuckle sheath on her right hand. It was snug, but the added effect of having a conduit for her power was comforting. It didn¡¯t give her a description, and the only effect she felt after sliding it on was the warm and tight feel of the metal around her hand.


    Breathing in deep, SarthDarah jumped up over the barricade and punched out a burst of flame. She landed up on the peak of the wall and lashed out again, sending fire bursts in waves into the plants.

 Chapter 8

    The flames rose, flying backwards dozens of yards. Sharp rock spikes were scattered throughout the mini fire balls. Knuckle sheath over her right hand, Sarah used her momentum to leap high into the air, and unleashed a huge wave of fire from one punch. It cascaded outward and made the small fire balls look like sparks. It was quick, but the heat was intense.


    She landed, not out of breath, but rather ready to keep sprinting forward. The two knights either side of her, they made a path through the dwindling lines of fighters. Sarah didn¡¯t leap up to cause mass area damage anymore, but focused on sending small jets of flame in between the gaps of defenders. Slowly, like a huge balloon, they increased the distance of the front lines from the road. Scorched plant matter was left in their wake.


    Running from the northern part of the meadow, down to their southern flake, Sarah made lots of progress. She pushed only as far south as the ballista crew fired, and every time she made a down and back trip, they seemed to be farther south. Luckily, the third wave was keeping pace with them.


    They had a foothold at the base of the mountain now. Where Sarah and Jorn had first met, and saved one of two swordsmen. Sarah briefly wondered if Duerlin would be alright on his own, or if maybe he came out looking for them and was fighting somewhere in another group.


    ¡°Sarth!¡± Someone shouted.


    Sarah was getting more used to hearing that, her shortened nickname was a rallying cry that this field was starting to drown in.


    Sarah was blasting vines that threatened to overrun someone¡¯s position, she also helped kill more than thirty of the yellow flower bulbs that they came upon. A full hour had passed that way, the bulbs popping up and sprouting over and over again.


    Jorn had stayed up by the ballista on the road, helping move it slowly closer to the first wave and the front lines. Slowly they were wiping the Mandragora from the meadow. Kuru watched over them from the top of the hill on the road.


    Keeping close track of her guild members progress, even her newest prospect. She would convince SarthDarah, Sarah, Sarth, whatever the girl wished to call herself, to join her. Kuru already knew that Sarah would do as she asked, and she smiled knowing the girl would help expand her power.


    A huge explosion rocked the southern flank, smoke billowed up into the air. Sarah stopped, she had been on a pass to the north, now, she turned to head back to the south. What had that been?


    ¡°Sarth, we¡¯re with you, do you know what that was?¡± One of the knights came up beside her again.


    They still hadn¡¯t introduced themselves properly. Sarah was only known because of the crazy attacks that she had unleashed at the beginning of the battle. She nodded at the knight.


    ¡°No clue, but it was big. Hopefully it was someone on our side blowing a hole through the flowers.¡± Sarah hoped, but wasn¡¯t confident.


    Other than her, no one else had been unleashing large scale fire attacks. There were some with small, mediocre flames attacks, but nothing that would cause an explosion. Unless someone was holding back.


    Three more fighters came up behind Sarah, now they were a group of five heading for the blast zone. What they found when they passed through to the front, was a larger orange flower head with black stripes. It had smoke rising from the middle of its four branching petals.


    It wasn¡¯t as big as the red one they had killed earlier, but it still stood about a foot taller than most of the fighters. The sudden gout of flame that shot from the pistols coming out of it, blazed through several fighters, and the choking boom of the impact caused Sarah and her company to stop running.


    Ballista bolts rained down around it, but the burning effect wasn¡¯t slowing down this flower. Sarah watched as it soaked in the flaming attacks, it seemed to get slightly larger with each hit it took. The thing wasn¡¯t even defending itself, just letting the burning bolts tear into it.


    ¡°Turn it off!¡± Someone shouted, they were running back from the first wave fighters, waving his arms like a madman. ¡°You¡¯ll just make it attack more! Stop firing!¡±


    He continued to yell at the top of his lungs. Just as the man cleared the top of a hill, the orange flower swelled, and then collapsed suddenly in on itself. Thick amber colored blobs shot out of it.


    The impacts left craters of flaming debris. Cries of alarm were echoing out, the man who had cried for us to stop attacking, was swallowed by a wave of flame. The white hot wave engorged around him, and several others whom were too close to the blast points.


    The ballista team had been the epicenter of one of the larger blasts. Maguura and his team hadn''t even had a chance to stop firing. Sarah watched as the tempest of fire around her raged. It only lasted a few moments, but her sense of time seemed slowed.


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    The warning had been too late, and in vain. The first wave of fighters would all be wiped out now, the plants first attack having seared the entire front line. This second attack had been more widespread.


    As the walls of flame all died down, the brightness left the survivors temporarily blind. Sarah was yanked off her feet, a thick vine having wrapped itself around her thigh. She hit the ground hard, still unable to see properly, and now disorientated by the blow to her head.


    ¡°Grawwhh!¡± Came the scream of Jorn, his ax thudding into the ground a moment later.


    Sarah felt the vine slacken its grip on her, and she came to a stop.


    ¡°Get up!¡± Jorn¡¯s thick hand pulled at Sarah¡¯s slender arm.


    She felt gravity fail to act on her body for a moment, as Jorn pulled her up to his height. The fact that she kept floating for a moment after he pulled her up, was not lost on either of them.


    ¡°Retreat!¡± The command came from a group on the road.


    Three banners were waving in the air around them, one of them was a white surrendering flag. The other two were battle commands for the guilds and town guards. Sarah didn¡¯t know what either meant, colors and simple shapes, three blue dots on a green field. And two green triangles either side, and above of, a red circle, all on a light brown background.


    ¡°Retreat!¡± The command came again.


    Sarah and Jorn quickly headed it, sprinting for the small group of survivors.


    Only a few dozen of them were gathered on the road. They had lost so many of the original attack force. Sarah gazed out over the ruined meadow. The smoldering bodies and plants leaving a haze in the air.


    This was way too realistic to be a simple game. As Sarah looked around, she felt like she was in a dream. Everything seemed so real, yet she knew it wasn¡¯t.


    Maybe she needed to find a save point and get out of this world for a few hours. It may only be a few day beta, and she had planned on being in game for the vast majority of it, but this was getting to her. Her mind was starting to see this as all too real, the emotions were starting to boil inside her.


    Did she weep for the others who had been lost? That wouldn¡¯t make sense, they would respawn. Gamers died in game all the time. Massive raids always involved the majority of the large groups getting cut down.


    It hadn¡¯t ever felt real before.


    Not like this did, not like getting to know several others, and then to watch them die. She had been right next to several of them, heard, watched, as the life in their eyes faded away. The vessel never disappeared, but everything else about them did.


    ¡°We need to move, the town is on fire¡­¡±


    One of the leaders whom had called for retreat, solemnly spoke up. Breaking Sarah¡¯s thoughts, putting her focus back in the game.


    She looked, and just past the hill that hid the town under the horizon, black smoke rose. It was on the port side of town, not as far away as Sarah thought. She had imagined they were kilometers from the town by now, but that smoke was barely a few hundred yards away.


    The blue water running away into the bay, had been calm as they stood there. The road overlooked a small point of land that protected the town¡¯s port.


    ¡°It¡¯s not the town.¡± Kuru said.


    Her voice remained calm and cultured, but her expression was of concern, maybe anger.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Sarah asked, Jorn standing beside her began squinting at the water.


    ¡°I see a ship.¡± He pitched in.


    ¡°What kind of ship?¡±


    ¡°Boat.¡± Jorn said flatly.


    ¡°Gee, thanks.¡±


    Sarah threw a punch at him, but he ducked away just in time.


    Kuru was already pulling out a briefcase, Sarah hadn¡¯t seen where she got it from. The guild associate set the case on the ground before opening it. Inside, the red velvet lining was missing its middle, instead occupied by a large black and purple mass in the middle.


    Kuru didn¡¯t seem to find this odd, as she reached her left hand in without hesitation. She reached through the briefcase all the way up to her elbow. The mass of energy was rippling around her, like water after a stone breaks its surface.


    ¡°Here!¡± Kuru threw a small object at Sarah. ¡°You too.¡±


    Her hand flashed back into the ball of mass and back out again. This time a large silver handle followed.


    There was no way that wasn¡¯t a portal of some kind, Sarah thought as she watched a two meter long war hammer appear. The silver handle gleaming in the light, a huge purple sapphire glowing in the head of it.


    Jorn gazed lovingly at it as Kuru placed the hammer¡¯s long handle in his hands. The hammer must have been light for him, because he held it aloft with his right hand alone. After a couple swings, Jorn gasped loudly.


    ¡°No way!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°This thing is enchanted to let me dual wield two handed weapons!¡± Jorn¡¯s excitement was plain to see and hear.


    ¡°I hope you both enjoy the gifts, these are the rewards the guild was offering for the Mandragola quest¡¯s main objective. That ship is attacking the city, or it was, while we are all out here. That last Mandragola needs to be defeated before we can head back to defend the port.¡± Kuru explained quickly.


    Sarah looked at the small object Kuru had tossed her, it was a gemstone. Bright red and glowing with a yellow aura. It had been cut with one flat and smooth side, and the other was jagged.


    ¡°Where does this one go?¡± Sarah asked, her question drawing a few odd looks from the others around her.


    Kuru stepped up close to her, looking deep into her eyes. The stare made Sarah feel like she was glancing into an eternal corridor. One filled with more rooms and hallways branching into infinity.


    Kuru placed a hand gently upon Sarah''s left waist. Her fingers moving under her clothing and up slowly. Sarah was so lost in Kuru¡¯s eyes that other than a shiver and sensation of leaving her body, Sarah didn¡¯t even notice as Kuru opened a small compartment under her rib cage.


    ¡°It goes here.¡± Kuru whispered in her ear. ¡°Try not to let it turn you into something you¡¯re not.¡±

 Chapter 9

    SarthDara was flying, about thirty meters off the ground where the apex of her jump had taken her. The energy that she had at her command now was more freeing than jumping off that mountain.


    Rarely before had she been this energized to do anything. Sarah knew this was a game, it wasn¡¯t real, but it felt so much more fantastic than the life she knew in reality.


    That gemstone had given her levels of energy that Sarah guessed were God-tiered. The wind was as easy to ride on now as a bicycle that she had never stopped using in reality. The fire burning in her chest swelled, then compressed into her fists. This was easily four or five times the amount of fire essence beyond what she had unleashed in a giant wave before.


    The last of the Mandragola, a bright orange tiger striped bulb of a plant head, was a small speck below her. Jorn, his huge weapons raised either side of him, was rushing in on it from ground level. Vines and dead corpse parts went flying as the giant man went to work hacking at the Mandragola.


    The first wave of adventures had left more corpses of their own behind than any of the plant matter. Jorn made the scene look like Sarah was gazing down at a blender in motion.


    His new hammer, along with the deadly ax he already had, cleared large swaths of Mandragola away. Jorn¡¯s battle cry was clear even up as high as Sarah was. In her descent, she let out a cry of her own.


    Like a hawk swooping down upon its prey, she let out a piercing scream. The fire in her fists didn¡¯t expel away from her, but super heated her skin as she made contact with the plant head.


    At first, she was going to release the energy as soon as she made contact. She had been moving far too fast, faster than she had anticipated. Now, she was already halfway into the gelatin innards of the plant. The liquid inside was clear enough that she could see the color of its outer skin reflected all around her.


    And in a moment of pure clarity, she realized just how much trouble she was in.


    The whole plant exploded, the plum of fire and smoke rose higher into the sky then the nearby mountains. A raging inferno radiated out from the core of the blast. SarthDarah rocketed along with it. She was surprised to find that the fire didn¡¯t hurt, it wasn¡¯t hot and it did not cause her to fear.


    Jorn ducked under the wave of intense heat, using the crater of plant matter and body parts as a shield against the worst of it. The wave of heat was followed by a sonic boom, loud enough to cause auditory damage to his ears. Jorn howled in pain, but held his position as the plant matter vaporized around him.


    Kuru watched the plume of smoke and fire rise, awed by the sheer insanity of the attack Sarah had just unleashed. That girl was reckless, but must have understood her powers clearly if she went for the Kamikaze attack. The air had super heated and condensed behind her, basically turning her body into a jet engine fired straight at the blossom. Her desire to take the girl under her wing grew even more.


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    Sarah marveled at the sight, she had to be hundreds of feet up in the air, weightless and levitating just above the smoke from the explosion. Her vision blinked with a notification.


    Warning, low oxygen. Elevation roughly three thousand meters, levitate ability auto engaged.


    Three thousand meters?! That was as tall as some small mountain peaks! Sarah rolled over to look down at the land below. Her eyes bulged, the scarred land below was very far away. She couldn¡¯t even make out the people still down there. The sea was clear enough to see, and the city. The city was on fire.


    Sarah saw something else as she looked over the city, a long line of vehicles and marching suits of armor. There were enough of them to clearly see the line of an army marching towards the city from the north. That was an issue for later, right now, Sarah had to figure out how to get out of the sky.


    Levitate ability reaching maximum duration, five seconds to disabling.


    Oh, just great, SarthDarah trying to be a badass was about to get her killed.


    Sarah was plummeting down, watching the ground come up towards her. It wasn¡¯t as fast as she expected. After she ran down the mountain side when she first entered the game, this was tame. The Levitate ability that she had worked for about twenty seconds at a time. Then it seems she had to wait for about thirty seconds before she could activate it again.


    Her elevation was hovering as a blinking red number off to her left. The number plummeted quickly as she fell. Just as levitate became available again, she watched her altitude close in on fifteen hundred meters. She would have to time it out, or end up too far up or splattered on the ground when she used her ability.


    One thousand meters flew by, a few birds scattered as she fell through them. A feeling of complete joy was taking over. SarthDarah had never felt so alive, this body was meant to be moving at extreme speed and on the wind. The firepower was amazing, but the feeling of flying was quickly becoming more intoxicating to her.


    Seven hundred and fifty meters. SarthDarah¡¯s eyes narrowed intently on where she could see the little pricks of what had to be Jorn and the others.


    ¡°Gonna make it?¡± Kuru¡¯s voice suddenly came out of nowhere, startling Sarah and breaking her concentration for a moment.


    She twisted about, looking for the guild associate, but of course she wasn¡¯t in the air with her. Sarah felt foolish for breaking her focus, and renewed her effort to land without killing herself.


    ¡°I¡¯d rather not see you splat on the ground. If you require assistance¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m good. I¡¯ve just about made it back. Just give me a few more seconds.¡± Sarah had to interrupt Kuru, she definitely didn¡¯t need the NPC¡¯s help out of this.


    SarthDarah was the badass, and after finishing this fight, she was gonna be one of the front runners in this game. She had made up for her late start, and was gonna make sure that she left an impression on every witness. Then no one would forget who she was, and when it came time to make game changing decisions, SarthDarah would be one of the few making them.


    Two hundred meters.


    One hundred, fifty, thirty. Sarah¡¯s heart raced, the ground was only a tall building away now.


    Ten meters.


    ¡°Holy shit, Sarth!¡± Jorn yelled out as she got to five meters and still hadn¡¯t stopped.


    Three meters. Activate! SarthDarah felt her body catch for a brief instant, then all the momentum she had was gone. The wind rushed out from beneath her, pushing back scattered ashes and dirt. She was hovering, laid back as if she was relaxing on a beach somewhere, about six feet off the ground.


    Jorn was a few feet away, eyes wide and arms out like he thought he was gonna have to catch her. Sarah looked over at him, winked, then flipped over so her feet landed on the ground as she canceled the levitation.

 Chapter 10

    Hizumi strolled through the mansion as if it were her own. She lived and trained here, everyone knew who she was. Her Mistress dominated over everything, and Mistress Nyx was as good as a mother to her now. With only a select few council members here, Hizumi could easily act as if this was all hers. When she wanted something, she could demand for it. If it was something she herself could not take, then she could borrow an army to take it.


    This new desire of hers however, was more than what an army could do. She needed access to an entire planet. One that she could terraform and recreate for her own needs. Mistress Nyx, after several solar rotations since her last trial, was allowing her to try once again. Excitement shown in the sparks that radiated out in an aura around her. The purple flashes all around her spooked a few of the technicians that strolled the hallways around her.


    ¡°Mistress.¡± Hizumi bowed slightly as she announced herself.


    Smiling broadly as she entered the council hall, Hizumi took in every person present. Noting that a few of her conspirators were precisely where she needed them to be.


    ¡°Hizumi, welcome. Please find a seat, we are already in the middle of a discussion.¡±


    Hizumi quickly moved to obey her Mistresses command. The long hall had several seats and end tables lining the walls. Books and candles filled most of them, a few others had some trays of food and drinks.


    The two long tables that ran the middle of the hallway buzzed with conversations. The council members from the different planets and guilds that made up the Galactic Federation often came to meet here.


    With Mistress Nyx sitting in on daily meetings, they all hoped to gain her attention for some matter or another. Hizumi was about to be no different.


    ¡°So? Will the Federation send forces to help?¡± This was the commander¡¯s ambassador from Tios.


    ¡°What good will a military presence be on your farm land?¡± Mistress Nyx seemed unconcerned by the man¡¯s pleading.


    ¡°We cannot promise any extra arms for soldiers even if we could approve their presence.¡±


    ¡°But! Sirs, Mistress, can we please agree that something needs to be done. At the very least send me home with a cargo freighter full of the needed supplies for my people to survive another few rotations while we deliberate. Every hour I spend here discussing, is an hour my people go without aid.¡±


    ¡°So dramatic, Minister.¡± Hizumi had had enough of their bickering already. If this was all they were worried about, she had more important matters to see to.


    ¡°How dare you!¡± The Minister stood, suddenly extremely angry.


    ¡°There, your real feelings show. Your world suffers because of the greed it is plagued by. There are plenty of resources to go around, you just don¡¯t wish to share with those you see as lesser than you. What does an army do, I believe was the Mistress¡¯ question. That army patrols fields and the markets in towns. They arrest anyone caught stealing grain or fruits, vegetables or fiber crops. Mines become military checkpoints that require governmental referral. Transit stations run on limited schedules under extremely tightened security.¡±


    ¡°Only under Martial Law.¡± The Minister cut in.


    ¡°And what would you call requesting military presence?¡±


    Hizumi wasn¡¯t about to back down from this issue. She knew better than to let the Minister get his way. He was a part of a group that had been planning a turnover of power for several solar rotations. She knew because she had been in on part of the planning meetings under a different alias.


    ¡°That,¡± The Minister paused slightly, ¡°is definitely not the same as declaring Martial Law. We are simply asking for some more protective measures. We have many vast areas of uninhabitable land. It needs to be patrolled to protect the small areas of viable farmland safe.¡±


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    The Minister simply sat back down, having nothing more to say.


    ¡°What good is an army against the natural conditions of the terrain? Even if there were bandits attacking your villages and farm land, which you have not reported any of, an army is not for long standing personal guard. We can not afford to send in Federation trained Military, just so you can keep your hands on the power you wield.¡± The Chairman of the Council did not raise his voice, but commanded all of their attention nonetheless.


    Nyx waved her hand, addressing the group as a whole.


    ¡°What could win, where an army can not? You need a local hero figure, someone for the people you already have under you to rally to.¡± Her words were soft but loud enough for everyone to hear. ¡°Food and energy resources, those are yours to bring back to your planet. I will appoint a fund for relieving your shortages for a period of one central solar rotation. After which, a solution for making up for your own shortcomings should be in place. If it can be done sooner, I will revise the fund as a reimbursement fund for the remaining time in the rotation.¡±


    Hizumi blinked, but knew better than to question her Mistress. This decision could ruin her plan to take the planet under her own power. Did Mistress Nyx know? Or was this just her playing the benevolent deity for her people?


    That would fund the Empire that was trying to suppress the other factions that Hizumi backed. They would turn the food into profit and the energy would be channeled into producing and maintaining their weapons and defense systems. Hizumi¡¯s idea to have an insider into the workings of the Empire¡¯s government was hopefully going to pay off. She would have to get word to him fast.


    ¡°How generous of you Mistress Nyx, Commander of Chaos.¡± The Minister was all too quick to stand again, just so he could bow for his Mistress.


    ¡°Begone then, and start researching a plan for making it up to me.¡±


    There it was, her cold tone of ¡°Do my bidding¡± Hizumi was used to hearing. They hadn¡¯t been in contact for several months, but after so many rotations being her apprentice, or slave, or heir, or whatever she was supposed to be, Hizumi knew her Mistress¡¯ true self.


    She was only giving them the resources to end the issue, and to maintain the hold over the star system that she controlled. Each of the kingdoms on the Tios Planet were rich enough in resources. The current largest empire was rich in precious metals, one that was needed for conducting power in the Starway links.


    That was why Nyx demanded they be brought into the Federation. Hizumi had seen what a chance the world presented for military experimentation, the conflicts and monsters on that world needed quelling anyway. The two had then made the planet the next challenge in their game.


    Hizumi, with help from a few members of her growing circle, decided to take the underdog route and back the smaller population. With Nyx giving funds and promises of enrichment to the largest empire. For nearly six weeks they poured resources down to the planet. Shipping in food and supplies as well as hundreds of diplomats to help ease transitions.


    The power hungry empire was quick to accept Nyx and her handouts, never questioning what the return for her would be. That was just how Nyx played the game, she made you believe she was undoubtedly beyond understanding and yet extremely benevolent. The people worshiped her like a god, they gave everything she asked for in exchange for her gifts.


    Hizumi chose a different method. She stayed in the background, simply guiding others to help and connect where they would best suit her own needs. Stitching together a weave of smaller heroes and would be saviors. Her reach went beyond just a few like minded cities, Hizumi was able to have connections across the entire world. It gave her an edge that she hoped to use against her Mistress in taking control of this planet.


    Military relief in the form of a guild system was her main way of liberating people, and then redirecting the control of the lands to her own hands through that same system was her goal. Several of her associates that were showing signs of opposing Mistress Nyx, a few of them were here to assist in building the guild with her. A couple had gone to another world, a peaceful one with its own technology bloom. They had a special mission to help Hizumi test a new military prototype.


    If Hizumi could gain control of this planet and its resources, she might have enough to go after another before her Mistress could spare the manpower. She had a small faction building behind her, most of them were only partially in control or next in line for control of their respective world¡¯s government. Most were against the military expansion that the Federation was currently pursuing.


    Nyx let her armies do as they please to take worlds with no advanced civilization on it. Hizumi had seen what some of them could do, there was no fighting back against them until they had a way to gain equal footing. The new vessels were proving to be versatile in adapting to the users unique styles. Some were over zealous however and died quickly, it was becoming an extremely expensive loss.


    Kuru had reported a few that she was keeping an eye on personally, that should prove fruitful. That wickedly devious character was not to be underestimated. Hizumi knew who she truly was, but knew better than to share that secret with anyone. Kuru had her own role to play in the current schemes, and Hizumi really hoped she would have a place beside her for the future.

 Chapter 11

    The swordsman had stayed logged in, but had removed his head gear in reality. He had to check on his younger brother, that game had been so realistic.


    ¡°Yo!¡± He called out as his brain came back to he and his brother''s gaming room.


    He didn¡¯t get a response. Maybe he had gone out to get some food. Their apartment didn¡¯t have much, neither of them knew how to cook much. Ling looked around the dirty room, once this beta test was done they would have to spend a whole week cleaning.


    The room was the main area of their apartment, it wasn¡¯t large by any means, but their parents had very little to pass on when they died. This small one bedroom apartment with its tiny kitchen and bathroom was a luxury stay compared to what some of Ling¡¯s friends now stayed in.


    Some of them had been forced to live in small one room dormitories. A few that didn¡¯t do as well in school had dropped out and found themselves living on the street, begging for food. Ling just wanted to escape the reality of this bleak world for a little while longer. His coding job at a security company was waiting for him on the other side of the weekend. He didn¡¯t want to waste any more time not getting to play before then.


    His brother''s chair was empty, maybe he had run out to get a takeout order. Hopefully he would log back in soon and tell Ling that there was food waiting on his desk.


    ¡°Well I guess I¡¯ll just jump back in. Hope he¡¯ll have food for me when he gets back.¡±


    Slipping his head gear back on, he blinked a few times as the change in reality caused his brain to flicker. A quick memory of his childhood, from when his parents were still alive, passed through his mind. Sitting on the park bench, it was still winter, he and his brother had been throwing snowballs at each other until their father scolded Ling for throwing a ball of ice instead.


    He hadn¡¯t meant it, but the injury his brother sustained left an impression. They never had another snowball fight, or any fight really. Even though they were twins, Ling had felt bad for what had happened, and their father had impressed upon him the importance of protecting family instead of arguing with them.


    Back in his swordsman, sitting in the tavern, alone, Duerlin sighed.


    ¡°Why is everyone gone? There¡¯s not even a barmaid here anymore.¡±


    He stood, checking himself, then his inventory, to make sure all of his items were still in the right spot. Nobody robbed him while they deserted the place. How long had those few moments in reality been in here?


    An explosion echoed faintly from outside. Duerlin jumped slightly at the sound. A second and a third explosion followed. Echoing blasts in the distance made him think this city was suddenly a war zone with battling tanks.


    Several more loud explosions and thuds.  It sounded like trees splintering apart, followed shortly after each explosion. Duerlin ran outside, hand holding the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it in an instant if need be. The town, now barely lit by the disappearing star in the sky, was in chaos.


    The port in the bay, down and behind the tavern and merchant district he was in, was surrounded by ships. Several of which were firing cannons at the buildings and people running about. Without even a slight hesitation, Duerlin was sprinting down to help as fast as he could. His blade flashed as he ran, the steel heating up with his pyro-energy.


    Duerlin activated his aura ability, giving him a sense of everything that moved around him in real time. It was like having a live radar pinging targets for him. It didn¡¯t show different classes of people, or if they were friendly or not, but it did show projectiles vividly.


    When the next cannon fired, Duerlin launched himself into the air.


    ¡°Burst fire!¡± He yelled, slashing once at the explosive projectile in front of him.


    Three sparks lit up around him as the missile was cut in two. His body was falling just before the explosion triggered. The wave of force pushed him a bit farther towards the water line, but he had saved a building from being destroyed.


    ¡°Where is everyone?¡± He asked the empty streets around him as he landed.


    The port was deserted, the buildings were quiet even though most of them burned and were in states of collapsing. Six ships outside the barrier of the port continued to fire upon the city, Duerlin couldn¡¯t stop all of them by himself.


    ¡°What do I do now?¡±


    New Quest: Stand Your Ground.


    ¡°Well that''s almost helpful.¡±


    Complaining wouldn¡¯t get him anywhere though. He just gritted his teeth, then charged forward. Stand his ground? That meant defending the port, not destroying the ships. Cannon fire resounded over and over, his senses saw the dozen projectiles now zooming towards the port. Each of them were closing in on where he stood.


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    ¡°Oh fuck¡­¡± Duerlin barely had time to think about his action before he leaped up.


    The fire that he used to slay monsters would only ensure that a missile packed with explosives would blow up in his face upon contact. He got lucky with the first one, only getting away because that ability used a slight delay in the explosion of heat.


    He sliced out anyway, the projectiles had closed in on him faster than he could anticipate them. The first cut flared and destroyed the projectile as he continued rising through the sky. The explosion had the side effect of pushing him even faster, right towards three projectiles that were about to collide mid-air.


    Duerlin spun his body, concentrating his aura into his blade. This ability took a second to warm up, then he had to trigger it manually by slicing through something. It wasn¡¯t meant for direct combat, instead it was meant for fleeing an indefensible position.


    ¡°Fire Gate!¡±


    White hot flame spiraled out from his blade, the missiles about to collide were his target. This would also send him flying forward at an incredibly fast pace, higher into the sky. Duerlin hesitated, not sure if this was a smart idea or not. Then the moment came, just as the first projectile was in front of him, only a couple meters from the second with the third only a meter behind that one.


    He slashed, cutting though the first missile, heating the air around him and rushing forward into the second and third missile before his swing completed. Duerlin felt the rush of air from the explosion beneath him. His body was thrown upwards, twisting and being pelted by debris from the nearly vaporized projectiles.


    ¡°That¡¯s a long way down.¡± Duerlin couldn¡¯t help from noting how far up he had been thrown.


    He could almost see outside the city, he definitely saw the explosions from where that crazy girl and beast of a man had saved him. Duerlin had a moment to wonder where his brother would re-spawn, then he felt gravity pulling him down.


    Flailing, he became desperate for a way to stop his descent. His sword was gripped tightly in his right hand, with a moment to think, he wondered how much fire he could muster at once through it. It was called the Flamethrower Sword, would it be able to throw enough flame to counteract his fall?


    Ling had watched several large aircraft using extreme firepower to act as thrust control for landings, what would be the difference at this point? Duerlin was a falling aircraft, and his sword was the counteracting thrust control. He just needed to aim and focus.


    With explosions on the ground around him, and several more incoming projectiles making themselves known to his senses, Duerlin tuned them all out. He focused solely on his altitude and channeling his pyro-energy down through his sword. He was closing in on the ground, his fire was doing very little to slow him down.


    He was only a handful of meters from the ground when his sense of an incoming threat overwhelmed his focus on landing. A projectile was coming and would land right on top of where he was about to splat. Duerlin panicked, and without much thought, twisted out to slash at the missile that was suddenly only a foot away from him.


    The heat in his sword, and the explosion of the missile generated a massive concussive wave. Duerlin didn¡¯t feel the heat so much as he felt the pain of slamming into a building. His eyes were closed, the pain unbelievably real. He could still feel his sword in his right hand, his left was holding onto something hard and round.


    When he opened his eyes, a flashing red notification warned him of his depleted health. His senses picked up three more projectiles that were soaring over his head. Duerlin coughed and sat up straight, looking around at the rubble that used to be a busy port.


    ¡°Well, I made it down. There isn¡¯t gonna be much ground to stand on soon though.¡± His voice was weak and he felt like his body was having a hard time recovering.


    He had never before even noticed a stamina drain on himself before. Even after fighting for hours, and then running at nearly full speed all the way back to the city hadn¡¯t made him as winded as he was now.


    ¡°I guess that is what five percent health does to you.¡±


    Quest Complete: Stand your ground. Rewards are available.


    New Quest: Re-group with the extermination squad members outside of the city.


    ¡°So it¡¯s not over then? Fuck, why can¡¯t I just lay here for a few minutes?¡±


    His question was answered by a sudden siren, loud and alarming. The cannon fire stopped suddenly as the siren reached max volume. Duerlin looked out over the bay, each of the ships was trying to turn around.


    ¡°Where are they going?¡±


    Just as Duerlin asked, the ship farthest to his right exploded. It simply deconstructed itself into minuscule pieces in an extremely rapid time frame. Blinking, Duerlin thought he was hallucinating for a moment. Then the ship next to it blew up in a similar way.


    With two ships suddenly combusting, Duerlin thought the city must be saved. That new quest must be to try and get him to join the others in finishing that Mandragola quest. Maybe he could just lay here for a minute to catch his breath before running out there.


    Within a few minutes a shrill whistling sound roused him from thinking he was safe. Nothing seemed any different. The ships in the bay had all stopped firing and were beginning to turn away.


    Boom!


    Duerlin jumped up, suddenly nowhere near as tired as he was a heartbeat ago. That explosion had been right behind him. The buildings around him were already battered by the cannon fire, the latest explosion simply left a large crater where there used to be a house. His heart dropped, thinking of the people who might have been hiding inside the buildings.


    Two more loud explosions went off in the heart of the town. The merchant and tavern area that he and the rest of the players had all been using, they would all be destroyed in those blasts. Duerlin started walking, wondering what would be left to fight for here, but knowing it would be suicide to stay. If he could get out of town and meet up with the rest of the players and fighters, maybe he could survive and they would move on to what came next.


    He tried to walk back up the hill to the gates, but a rain of missiles came down to block his path. Explosions rocked the town, leveling the buildings and churning up the sandy earth beneath. Duerlin was forced to turn and run back towards the water. Seeing nothing but destruction and fire all around him.

 Chapter 12

    SarthDarah, Jorn, and Kuru stood slightly away from the road and the other survivors. There were only eight of them plus Anunt who was still administering healing to the injured.


    ¡°Well, that was definitely something. We have another issue at hand already though, so your next reward will have to wait.¡± Kuru said.


    SarthDarah was glowing with energy, her aura bright and radiating. Jorn looked painted green with as bad as he was covered in plant matter. His weapons still gleamed in the bright light of the afternoon though. He looked ready to fight all over again. Kuru was pleased at the success of the two, she had been right when she scouted them.


    ¡°What''s going on?¡± SarthDarah was just starting to scan the water where the ship had been.


    ¡°There were a bunch of explosions, the cannons stopped, then two of the ships that were laying siege to the port exploded.¡±


    Kuru pointed towards the city where thick dark smoke rose up. There were still three more ships quickly turning to leave the bay area. The way they were turning would bring them out near where they stood. SarthDarah was already trying to figure out if she could jump aboard when they passed by.


    ¡°We gonna go out there and do something about them? Looks like they trashed the town.¡±


    ¡°You read my mind SarthDarah, I think it best if we at least learned who attacked innocent civilians behind our backs. Jorn, I¡¯ll open a gate, we can take that way. Sarth, I think you could easily land somewhere in the main mast area and do some damage on your way to the steering deck.¡±


    SarthDarah smiled and gave a thumbs up, this was getting to be a lot of fun. It was all fast paced and coming at her in heavy waves, but she was enjoying the hell out of this game. It felt real enough that the sense of danger her real body would be having was starting to go off now. She could feel the nerves tingling and saying in her head how dumb she was for attacking a pirate ship.


    Jorn was standing next to Kuru, waiting for her to open a gate. Anunt still tended to the wounded, it didn¡¯t look like any of the rest of them would be joining them. As the ships came closer, taking evasive moves when another explosion rocked the water around them, SarthDarah saw the dark sails and shapes of dozens of heavy cannons on the decks. There had to be around two dozen people aboard each ship on the top decks.


    One ship in particular had a curious man waving flags from near the front of the ship. After watching for a moment, it seemed he was passing orders on to the two other ships. SarthDarah decided to hit that one.


    It had a tall middle mast and three forward masts that were each shorter than the last. One rear mast and an elongated sail reaching out to the back. Just below the rear mast was the large wheel, she could already see a couple people on the deck.


    ¡°The one with the big silver trimmed black flag!¡± Kuru shouted as SarthDarah leaped.


    The ship was starting to pick up speed as it came parallel with the coastline. SarthDarah had jumped fast enough to feel tears turn to steam as her eyes lit into blazing red coals. The trails of flame traced back to her ears, steam rose off the tips of the flames.


    The ship she aimed for was right below her, several people already seeing her and panicking. Most of them ran away when they saw her tear through the main mast¡¯s sail. Her momentum, and heat, made ripping through it like cutting butter with a hot knife. When she was about to land, her aim taking her straight for the steering deck, SarthDarah lit her right fist up with fire.


    It was engulfed in white hot flames, her battle cry echoing outward as she reached out to punch the one person who hadn¡¯t run from her as she came in. SarthDarah felt her fist connect, the heat billowing up and causing a small explosion of heat with the impact. She also felt how hard the impact had been on her hand, and how very little her target had moved.


    As the smoke from the explosion cleared, SarthDarah could see she had hit what looked like a little girl. A little girl with a big black pirate captains hat on. She was looking up at SarthDarah with a smirk, like she hadn¡¯t even felt the punch.


    SarthDarah backed up a step, ready to start a serious fight, when a black and blue portal opened up behind the girl. Kuru and Jorn stepped through, both had weapons drawn and ready. Jorn had both the hammer and ax raised. Kuru was holding a small pistol, something Sarah wasn¡¯t expecting to see in this world.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Kuru asked with a sharp tone.


    The girl slowly turned her head over to look at the two new arrivals on her ship. SarthDarah saw it then, where her blow had landed. There was a singed bit of her yellow dress near where her neck met her shoulder. The skin was a very dark green that SarthDarah had mistaken for a burn or a tan at first. Now that she was given a moment to look closer, she could see that it wasn¡¯t a burn, but instead hard scaling.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t guests announce themselves before boarding a vessel? And who gave any of you leave to address the Captain of the Porosus?¡± Her voice was smooth and her accent made her appearance seem off.


    Jorn stepped forward, his hammer already in a big back swing as he raised his ax upwards. Before he could take his second step, the girl twisted herself around and pulled out a firearm. It was pointed in the face of the large Jorn, the barrel was almost as long as the girl herself was tall. SarthDarah had twitched, thinking she could make a move to stop the girl, but a shiny needle of metal was aimed right between her eyes.


    SarthDarah followed the length of metal, from inches in front of her face, down to the arm of the little girl holding it. The rapier dripped at the hilt, a slow but steady pattering of water starting to pool at the girls feet. In less time than SarthDarah or Jorn had been able to react, this little girl had put both of them in checkmate.


    Kuru let out a soft giggle as she came up next to Jorn.


    ¡°Apologies, Captain, but you were the one who set fire to the town I was in charge of overseeing. I think that deserves an answer before we let this go any farther.¡±


    Kuru kept her short pistol lowered at her side, but came up to stand next to Jorn. She gave him a soft pat on his arm, then turned to SarthDarah and gave her a wink. SarthDarah was starting to worry that this crazy NPC was about to just let them die without fighting.


    That wasn¡¯t Sarah¡¯s preferred method of letting a story play out. If the next boss had to get a monologue out of the way for introductions, that was fine, but she wasn¡¯t about to go down without putting up a struggle. SarthDarah looked up and met Jorn¡¯s eye, he gave a slight nod. He must be thinking the same thing.


    The small girl, yellow dress and black boots, oversized pirate hat now pushed off to the side of her head and barely hanging on, sighed. She relaxed her weapons and started to close her eyes. Jorn didn¡¯t hesitate, he swung his ax down with a mighty yell. SarthDarah leaped to the side and away from the impact of the large blade.


    ¡°Your guards are impatient. Let me introduce myself.¡± Her voice came from up above them.


    SarthDarah looked up, the girl was standing next to the hole she had ripped in the mainsail. Perched on a horizontal beam, the girl looked sadly at the torn fabric. With a wave of her hand, the fabric stitched itself back together.


    ¡°I am Pirate Captain, Queen!¡±


    Her declaration almost seemed childish at first to Sarah, but the way that girl had stopped both her and Jorn made her think again. Jorn was still staring and obviously perturbed by his attack missing completely. Kuru hadn¡¯t even bothered to lift her firearm, she just watched the pirate captain with a smile.


    SarthDarah wasn¡¯t sure if they could beat this girl if it came to a fight. It was three on one and it didn¡¯t still didn¡¯t seem fair. The ship continued to sail in the wind, the hole in the sail was repaired and the whole ship started gaining speed.


    ¡°All hands, full sail and to open water!¡± Captain Queen yelled out as she jumped back down to the steering deck.


    She landed with a gentle tap about ten feet away from SarthDarah. Putting her on the front line before Jorn and Kuru behind her. If this was to be a fight, then she had better strike hard and early.


    ¡°What do you want of us?¡± It might work to distract her by talking first.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t want you at all. You interrupted my retreat.¡±


    ¡°Your attack you mean.¡± Kuru spoke up, letting her voice rise above the sloshing waves.


    ¡°Your Empire masters did more damage than I did. For now let''s call it even and get out to open water before we become collateral damage for their counter strike.¡±


    The loud explosion of water behind them gave a punctual point to her statement. Several shouts from the other ships and even a few from the one they were on made it clear that they were still under attack. Mortar fire was still closing in on where they were in the bay.


    ¡°Sarth, Jorn, stand down please. I think the safest way through this is to put aside the different sides we are on and to work together.¡±


    SarthDarah wasn¡¯t sure, this little girl seemed a lot more dangerous than her appearance let on. Jorn simply looked back at Kuru and lifted his weapons up over his shoulders. He relaxed and let the heavy weapons rest on his massive shoulders.


    ¡°You must be the smart one, I¡¯m not interested in killing willing and loyal persons. Remain loyal to your master, but be willing to help me.¡± Captain Queen¡¯s bored face suddenly turned into a twisted smile. ¡°Or don¡¯t, my crew is hungry!¡±


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    SarthDarah flinched a little at the menace of the little girl. Her cute demeanor gone, a ravenous bestial face replacing it. Her skin had gone from a tanned bronze to a scaled dark green. The teeth that elongated from her mouth made her snarl grow even larger. The eyes that never left SarthDarah became reptilian and piercing.


    SarthDarah felt the aura that radiated from this girl, it was the same feeling that she got when her own power was ramping up. The more energy she had called into one attack, the more this aura had flared. The way this girl¡¯s aura flashed out made SarthDarah step back.


    ¡°Are you a player?¡±


    Captain Queen blinked, obviously confused by the question.


    ¡°Player? No, I am a Captain. I have vowed my soul to the revenge of my people. For too long the ships of the Empire invaded our cities and our ports. I alone was able to overwhelm them and repel their fleets from our waters. Now I am pushing to take their lands, and their ports.¡±


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t an Empire controlled port.¡± Kuru was walking up to SarthDarah¡¯s side.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it? Why did they feel the need to defend it then? Is that not where you came from?¡±


    ¡°We are a neutral aligned guild of adventures that were tasked to help the free cities on this planet. The Federation is trying to work with all sides to create a peaceful future here.¡±


    ¡°So they attack and kill those who don¡¯t want their version of peace?¡±


    ¡°Sometimes, but only if provoked and seen as defending themselves from hostile forces.¡±


    There was a pause, soft splashing of waves the only sound beyond the shouting of the men on the main deck. The three all looked between each other, Jorn had turned to look back on the city. Captain Queen quelled her aura, letting herself relax back to her little girl look.


    ¡°Forced peace isn¡¯t peace¡±


    It was clear they weren¡¯t going to agree. SarthDarah watched as the two leaders sighed and turned back to watch the city behind them. Sarah turned as well, looking back to see what she thought was a setting sun on the coastline.


    After a moment she realized the sun was still in the sky off to her right. The glow of fire was the town that was now destroyed. Smoke and flame rose up to the clouds.


    ¡°Jorn, did Duerlin ever wake up and leave that bar?¡±


    Jorn stumbled as a wave rocked the boat. He almost looked sick as SarthDarah walked over to him.


    ¡°I hate boats.¡± Jorn was holding his head. ¡°And I really don¡¯t know. I hope he did, but he didn¡¯t come up with any of the waves behind us on the Mandragola field. He wasn¡¯t in the survivor tent, if he went out there to fight he probably didn¡¯t make it. If he stayed behind¡­¡±


    They both looked back at the slowly disappearing town. It would have been terrible for him to have stayed. The destruction looked severe, even from several miles out. The mountains behind the town reflected the glow of the fire in the late afternoon light.


    Sarah was just hoping Duerlin had found a way to make it out.


    They all stood upon the open deck near the back of the ship. The captain was eyeing each of them, waiting for a reason to kill them. Kuru had relaxed and was smiling almost as if she were having fun. Jorn¡¯s face was anything but joyful as he rushed to the side rail.


    ¡°What exactly do you three expect to become of yourselves?¡±


    SarthDarah heard a threat in that girl''s voice as she spoke. She wanted to start punching at it so badly, but Sarah knew that she would be outmatched instantly again if she did. Jorn couldn¡¯t even manage to acknowledge the question as his head went over the side.


    ¡°We expect to be prisoners if we are so outmatched, I suppose we are at the mercy of you and your crew.¡± Kuru responded.


    Prisoners? Us? SarthDarah didn¡¯t want to end up a prisoner. It would surely devastate her play time, and her rise to being the most powerful player in the beta test would be shot. To be confined by an NPC would be a tragic end in her mind.


    ¡°I should feed you to my pets.¡±


    This girl had pets? SarthDarah looked around. She didn¡¯t see anything, the entire upper decks of the ship had been cleared out. Not a single member of this girl¡¯s crew had stayed to watch what happened.


    Did that mean they were scared of fighting? Were they falling prey to a ruse? Could she actually get the jump on this captain and maybe free herself from this situation? SarthDarah didn¡¯t owe her allegiance to anyone other than herself. If she split ways with the Jorn she would feel bad for leaving him. Leaving Kuru behind seemed like the right choice after she simply surrendered to the girl.


    SarthDarah was focusing her aura inward, she would blast a wave of heat and wind at the girl when she came close. Then jump up and away, she could propel herself through the air a good distance. Hopefully this game allowed swimming and didn¡¯t just auto kill her for jumping into the wide open ocean.


    The coastline was fading into the horizon, it would be a long way back to shore. SarthDarah the badass was ready to keep pushing herself though. A little swim might even give her new ideas on how to use her new powers.


    Captain Queen turned toward SarthDarah, her piercing eyes boring into her. Sarah felt like her soul was being examined. She swallowed hard once, then twice. A few steps closer to the girl was all she needed. When she took that last step into SarthDarah¡¯s range, the pirate would be ejected from the ship with a blast of fiery wind.


    Kuru watched intensely, her eyes laser focused on SarthDarah¡¯s building energy. This situation was about to explode into chaos, and Kuru was basking in it ready for the influx of energy. Then she had a thought, and decided to step in before this escalated further.


    ¡°SarthDarah, please stand down. I promise this isn¡¯t the end of your journey here. It is only a minor detour and inconvenience that you must suffer through.¡± Kuru¡¯s voice was firm and clear.


    ¡°I won¡¯t be a prisoner to this little girl.¡±


    ¡°Then you can die.¡± Pirate captain Queen, with the radiance of a dark shadow, slipped between the cracks of the ship''s floorboards.


    SarthDarah faltered, her target had just vanished. Within a few moments of her disappearance, the emergence of dozens of oversized armored reptiles took SarthDarah by surprise. The crocodiles that swarmed the ship decks seemed to be in a frenzy. All of them turning and launching themselves straight for the spot Kuru and SarthDarah stood.


    SarthDarah jumped back, trying to stay out of range of the huge jaws suddenly snapping at her. Three loud blasts rang out as Kuru danced away from the crocs that had swarmed her. SarthDarah took but a moment to notice the black barreled pistol that Kuru used. The gun wasn¡¯t much of a surprise, but it kind of threw off the whole fantasy world setting.


    With large teeth about to latch onto her leg, Sarth didn¡¯t have time to worry about the details of the guild administrator. Jumping up, SarthDarah punched downward at the invading crocodiles. Wind blasts forced the heads of the massive creatures to turn away, but it wasn¡¯t enough to clear them away from her.


    Activating her levitation ability, Sarth took in the deck of the ship from above. The whole thing was swarming with scales. It was covered so thick that she couldn¡¯t even try to count them. Glancing at the spot where Kuru held her ground, Sarth noticed that it was the only spot of the ship where she could see the deck boards.


    Jorn was pinned against the railing. He hadn¡¯t even seen the ambush coming in. SarthDarah had to make a decision; she could flee and save herself, or she could surrender and hopefully have a chance to save all three of them. Sarah knew herself too well, she wasn¡¯t the bad guy.


    ¡°Stop!¡± SarthDarah released the levitate and fell back to the ship. ¡°I¡¯ll surrender!¡±


    She landed in the few feet of space that Kuru was holding onto. Her pistol was firing blasts of energy, almost like how her fire punching worked, but they were shots of a dark purple. They flew fast enough that it was nothing more than a blur of color to SarthDarah¡¯s eyes.


    The pirate captain appeared before them, riding on the wave of the next few crocodiles coming up to the steering deck. She had been waiting for them. This girl was more than she appeared to be. Her speed made the rest of them look lethargic, and the ability to summon all of these beasts in an instant made her a deadly enemy.


    Standing on Pirate Captain Queen¡¯s ship was akin to submitting to her will. There was no mistaking that anymore. SarthDarah was infuriated at the idea that an NPC was stronger than her.


    ¡°Rex, bring them below.¡±


    A burly man with several loops of rope hanging from his shoulders carefully picked his way through the crowd of crocodiles. He didn¡¯t seem to be too eager to be near them, and a few even snapped their massive jaws towards him as he passed by.


    Kuru simply slid her pistol into the pocket of her suit jacket, SarthDarah watched as the barrel slid in, but made no impact on the clothing Kuru wore. As the handle was swallowed up, her hand rummaged around like she was looking for something. Looking at the outside of the jacket''s pocket you wouldn¡¯t even know that her hand was in it.


    As SarthDarah wondered at this, Rex began tying her hands together behind her back. He didn¡¯t seem to notice Kuru¡¯s fidgeting, and simply tied knots to keep them from being able to move easily.


    After he tied Kuru¡¯s hands, he moved over to start on Jorn. The crocodiles had bitten into his arm and back, one had left a tooth embedded in his leg. Rex pulled them along on a single rope he had tied to each of them like a leash.


    He led them down the stairs, the whole time crocodiles eyed them hungrily. The Pirate Captain watched for only a moment as they passed her. It seemed she had already grown bored of them and was cooing to her pets. Kuru kept her aloof smile and walked along like the beasts weren¡¯t even there. Jorn was groaning, but SarthDarah couldn¡¯t tell if it was from the pain or nausea.


    Sarah felt her heart plummet as they were led into the deepest part of the ship. The darkness swallowed everything. The three of them were pushed in, the leash rope was cut away from each of them. Their hands were still bound behind their backs.


    Jorn slumped over onto the floor, his stomach releasing whatever contents he had left. Kuru turned to SarthDarah, her eyes glowing in the darkness. Sarah hadn¡¯t really noticed before, but Kuru¡¯s eyes had a spark to them.


    ¡°Your eyes glow¡­¡± SarthDarah spoke without thinking, trailing off as she felt herself getting pulled into the depths of Kuru¡¯s soul.


    ¡°Yours burn with the embers of passion. Mine are being quiet for now, you lack control of your emotions. Therefore they run wild and your flame burns bright.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying I¡¯m out of control?¡±


    ¡°In a way, but not exactly. Your soul is not yet adept enough at running this vessel. You have amazing power and ability, and you unleash them in ways that are extremely effective. However, you have very little skill in hiding your true intentions.¡±


    SarthDarah didn¡¯t know how to take that exactly. She thought maybe it was a warning, that burning too brightly would make her stand out. Or maybe burn out. It might be that she meant it as a compliment.


    Kuru just gazed back into SarthDarah¡¯s eyes, the fact of their imprisonment forgotten for the moment. She held their staring contest for what seemed like forever. Sarah felt her mind drifting as if it were on a sea of clouds. Her body was stone, rooted in front of Kuru.


    The glow in Kuru¡¯s eyes grew and seemed to come out to swallow her. The rush of feelings, dread and excitement, fear and passion, all of it overwhelmed her for a moment. In that moment she saw the brightness that Kuru hid behind her mask.


    It was like looking into a star, the burning passion there was raging and trying to be free. Countless times larger and more massive than the fire Sarah had felt inside herself as SarthDarah.


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°I am a being far beyond what you know. As a mortal, you have limited energy to use. In this vessel you inhabit now, you have nearly infinite energy. I go beyond that and yet hold myself to a higher standard than some of my cousins would. With power comes responsibility and all.¡±


    SarthDarah just stared in awe at the person in front of her. Kuru¡¯s eyes looked more like azure globes with streaks of molten silver coming out in cracks. A new appreciation for Kuru began to well up in SarthDarah. The way she explained it, almost made her sound like a god.


    ¡°How do I get that power?¡± SarthDarah said before realizing she was having the thought.


    Was that really what she wanted?


    ¡°You listen carefully to what I am about to teach you. And you take this.¡±


    Kuru handed out the gun she had been using against the crocodiles. SarthDarah looked down at it, and was about to refuse when Jorn interrupted them.


    ¡°Hey! Sarth, look over here!¡±


    Kuru pushed the gun into Sarah¡¯s hand, and smiled as the two vessels walked over to investigate the corner of the dark cell.

 Chapter 13

    Duerlin gasped, breath coming in and out with a harsh burning. Smoke filled his lungs, sparks of fire began to singe his hair. The bombardment had leveled the entire area into rubble and sand. His high resistance to the heat and flame damage was probably the only thing that kept him standing. His health hadn¡¯t bottomed out, but it was really close.


    The first flame gate he had used brought him to the end of the ruined pier. He had hoped that was enough to escape the destruction raining down from above. As the ships that had been attacking began to turn away, several more incoming missiles fell in the water around the pier. Duerlin was forced to use the last of his stamina to use his fire gate one last time.


    When he landed, he felt the rocking of the waves beneath him. The yelling of several people around him made him worried that he had been too rash in thinking he would be safe. He hadn¡¯t any other choice though.


    The rear deck of the fleeing ship was the only place close enough that was outside of the bombardment range. Several men and women stared him down, most kept at their tasks of making the ship sail, but he saw the hatred and alarm in their eyes.


    Duerlin was wishing he still had that stamina potion he had used back in the Mandragola fields. His drained state made him an easy target who couldn¡¯t fight back. He had basically jumped from the fire into the frying pan.


    ¡°Who¡¯s this un?¡±


    ¡°Dunno, just appeared in a poof of smoke.¡±


    ¡°Looks like he¡¯s about dead. Wonder if them imperials are launching soldiers at us from their big cannons?¡±


    ¡°Should we kill him? Might be a mercy at this point.¡±


    ¡°Fetch the captain, let her decide.¡±


    Duerlin listened, too weak to protest. He knew he was a prisoner now, he just needed them not to kill him yet. With the rest of his party all dead from one thing or another, including his brother, the game had finally sent a notification to his hud when he got back to town. He hadn¡¯t opened it until he was slumped on the ground hoping he had survived the port attack.


    The flash of his screen pulling up a list of missed notifications gave him something to scroll though while he caught his breath. When he got to the one that told him he was the last survivor of his party and each of his party members'' faces were all crossed out, he choked on the breath he took. They each had a line through the space that should be a countdown to re-spawn timer.


    Duerlin almost gave up, but he knew his brother would be pissed at him if he quit now. With no re-spawn, this beta test was the only time they would get to see the way this game played out. The launch would be a complete restart, and all the beta testers would have a huge edge because of the knowledge they possessed.


    Ling basically lived off the extra income he and his brother made selling their info. It was how he bought his hacked dive helmet. So he shoved the messages aside and made the decision to press on. The loss and pain in this game felt real, but his real self needed as much from his virtual self as he could give.


    When the person who stepped in front of him pushed his head back, he saw for the first time a true horror. The eyes of a reptile looked at him from behind a little girl''s face. Her devouring eyes looked straight into him, then down to his weapon, as if she was inspecting and knew what she was looking at. Was this an NPC, or a player?


    ¡°Bring him to the brig, I¡¯m taking his sword.¡±


    Her voice reminded Ling of home for some reason. At least she wasn¡¯t killing him on sight. He¡¯d have a chance to rest and heal, even if it was in a cell below a ship deck.


    The girl, apparently the ship''s captain, reached down and took the sword from his belt. She held it up and studied it for a moment before unsheathing the blade. Her eyes gleamed a soft yellow light as she appraised the naked weapon.


    ¡°Exquisite equipment. I¡¯ll be sure it is kept safe.¡±


    Her voice was the last he heard as three sailors picked him up and carried him away. They didn¡¯t bother being gentle, bumping Duerlin into the walls and corners as they moved him like a broken sofa. Three flights of narrow stairs down into the belly of the ship, there was a dark room with large bars across the door. A small bit of water puddled on the floor, and the scent of decay and rotting was overpowering.


    Duerlin was tossed in, landing face first in a puddle that tasted of salt water and fouler things. He sat up, hoping the numbness in his body would start going away soon. Pressing his back against the wooden wall, he felt the surge of the ship as it picked up speed and rocked in the waves.


    Looking around, the darkness hid most of the room from him. A bucket by the barred door was the only other object he could see. Rest was first in his mind, if he was alone down here, then it would come quickly. He could take the time to let his avatar sit idle while he checked back in to see if his brother was in their room.


    Duerlin activated the force override to his headset, allowing him to move his real body instead of the virtual body without quitting the game. Slipping the headset up and away from himself, Ling saw that very little had changed since last time.


    ¡°Tian!¡± He called for his brother, but there was no response. ¡°Where did he go?¡±


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    Ling spent a moment looking out the front door, then back around to the side window of their small apartment. The dark street was empty, a few trash cans scattered by the curb was all that sat outside.


    He sat back down in his chair. The headset that was still running the new software from Valkerrah Games sat on his desk. The blinking lights on the side told Ling that it was still running smoothly. It was hooked directly to his main computer, which was running a record on everything that Ling experienced as Duerlin inside the game.


    His brother Tian had one just like it. The headset was still blinking, he must have left it running when he went out. Maybe the game didn¡¯t give you the no re-spawn notification right away and he had sat there waiting until he got hungry? Ling was tempted to look into his brother''s headset, just to see what had happened to a character that had died.


    He shouldn¡¯t though, he would probably be seeing that screen for himself soon enough. Grabbing his own, he once again dived back into the virtual world.


    The memory he was shown flashed across in what seemed like an instant. It was from a few months ago, and it had happened right here in this very chair.


    ¡°No way, who would trust you with a top secret confidential A.I. project?¡±


    Ling smacked his brother softly. They had been gaming after a long day of coding, the last match they had played was just ending.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell anybody, but it¡¯s a military prototype. It¡¯s supposed to be able to anticipate large scale troop maneuvers or something.¡±


    ¡°I still think you''re blowing smoke, but don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t say anything to anyone. You know telling me a secret is the same as telling it to yourself.¡±


    Ling smiled, knowing his brother would always have his back. They worked that way for each other. Tian could tell Ling anything and it would stay between them. Being twins made having someone to talk to a given for them.


    ¡°Even if you think it''s smoke, no girls in the bedroom while I¡¯m working this time.¡±


    ¡°Aw, come on. That was one time, and she had nowhere else to go.¡±


    ¡°That time I forgave you for, the second time you came home drunk with that tourist. That is what I can¡¯t have while this project is on my computer.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re no fun.¡± Tian tossed his pillow at Ling, causing a huge collapse of figures from Ling¡¯s desk.


    Ling stared down at the fallen figures. Then he looked up at his brother, there were moments he wanted to scream at Tian. This time Ling just smiled, no real harm had been done, but he could use this to have some fun at his brother''s expense.


    ¡°You are so gonna pay for that.¡± Ling tried to keep the humor from his voice, but some slipped in anyway.


    His brother had held his hands up, then went screaming and running as Ling pulled the hidden water blaster out. Ling¡¯s mind felt at ease with that memory. He and his brother always had something or another hidden around the house to attack with. Their dad had played pranks on them when they were younger, to them it was a way of remembering who he was and continuing the tradition.


    As his mind came back into the game, Duerlin opened his eyes to see a familiar face, and another''s enormous chest. SarthDarah¡¯s flaming eyes lit up the dark enough that Jorn¡¯s muscled chest was visible at her side.


    There was somebody else standing behind them, a short woman wearing a suit jacket. Even with the light provided by Sarth¡¯s eyes, he couldn¡¯t make out who the person was.


    ¡°He¡¯s awake!¡± SarthDarah shouted as she noticed Duerlin looking at her.


    Jorn turned and kneeled down to get his face closer. Duerlin was still sitting in his meditation pose, but his eyes were finally open. SarthDarah was crouched beside Duerlin in a flash, her warm hands feeling at his head and wrists.


    ¡°He¡¯s not fevered anymore, and his pulse is back to a normal rhythm. Duerlin, how are you feeling?¡±


    ¡°Fine, how long has it been?¡± Duerlin¡¯s voice was strong.


    SarthDarah relaxed and stood, Jorn let out a sigh of relief as he reached out to give Duerlin a hand up. They all looked at each other for a moment before Jorn answered.


    ¡°It¡¯s been three days.¡±


    Duerlin hadn¡¯t been away that long. He had only had his headset off for a few minutes. How could three days have passed in the game? His face must have been showing his emotions because the two couldn¡¯t hide their laughter anymore. Then the guild representative that they had dealt with back in that bar walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder.


    ¡°It¡¯s only been a few hours since we were locked down here. You couldn¡¯t have been here for more than a half hour before that. The town was destroyed, we were nearly overrun by the Mandragola, but a few survived. The military coming down from the mountains surly halted and was only there to prevent anyone from escaping the bombardment. How did you manage to make it aboard this ship?¡±


    Duerlin¡¯s mouth worked up and down for a moment, trying to process the information. Jorn and SarthDarah were doubled over laughing as he formed his answer.


    ¡°I used my Fire Gate, I had nowhere left to go. The town was being shelled, the buildings were all being smashed. The pier was the last place of open ground I had left, and then with no stamina remaining, I used the ability anyway. It shouldn¡¯t have worked, the bar of stamina was clearly drained. It requires the energy in that bar to use Fire Gate, but I somehow managed to activate it.¡±


    Duerlin was still questioning the answer himself. His use of any ability or skill was supposed to be limited to his available stamina and mana. Most of the abilities he had cost a huge amount of stamina. He had begun building his character to be an endurance and dexterity build.


    Being able to push the limits of his character and activate Fire Gate when the programming should have disallowed it made Duerlin¡¯s mind itch. What kind of game would do that? Was it just a glitch in that particular code?


    ¡°You¡¯re starting to awaken more fully into your vessel then.¡±


    ¡°My what?¡±


    ¡°Your body. The thing you are consciously controlling right now. It has a pre-set limit and function, but your soul and mind are capable of pushing and rewriting all of it.¡±


    SarthDarah and Jorn had stopped laughing, their prank over, they both stood around Duerlin and Kuru.


    ¡°You still haven''t answered all of the questions I asked.¡± Sarth piped in.


    ¡°Yeah, and I know I¡¯m not the brightest of the bunch, but I know that what you were saying earlier was more important than your letting on.¡± Jorn was staring Kuru down. (Which is easy since he¡¯s a foot and a half taller.)


    The guild representative didn¡¯t flinch, just looked the big man in the eyes.


    ¡°Now that your third companion has rejoined us, I will answer all of the questions. And Jorn, everything I say is more important than you can know. I hope to enlighten you enough so that maybe you might know.¡±

 Chapter 14

    The four of them stood in the dark cell, soft light coming from SarthDarah¡¯s eyes illuminated each of their faces. SarthDarah and Kuru stood about the same height, with Durelin a few inches taller than both. Jorn towered over them all.


    The swaying of the ship forced Jorn and Duerlin to constantly shift their weight. SarthDarah let the motion roll up her body and didn¡¯t let it sway her, her focus was on the eyes of the guild administrator. Kuru¡¯s azure eyes beamed back, holding the stare. The flame red and the ice blue sparks of light danced between them.


    ¡°Who are you? And don¡¯t say guild representative or whatever it was, I wanna know who you truly are.¡± SarthDarah asked sharply, cutting the tension of silence that had grown between them all.


    ¡°I, am Kuru.¡± She bowed her head slightly. ¡°I am also the one in charge of overseeing this planet''s peaceful transition to Federation control.¡±


    She allowed them all a moment to soak in that information before continuing.


    ¡°This world is one of many that I have helped gain a place in the collective of worlds and people for the Federation. Mistress Nyx invites all planets with living mortals to join her, and she offers power and technology in return for the ability to construct and govern on those worlds.


    Many worlds jump at the opportunity. Many worlds have populations that resist, and some that outright refuse. In cases such as this one here on Tios, the planet is filled with hostile entities that I have been tasked with removing. One of my partners offered me a certain number of top secret experimental vessels to use for the cleansing of the monsters and aggressors here.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re using us for a cleansing?¡± SarthDarah interrupted. ¡°Like mercenaries to kill off anyone that doesn¡¯t agree with you?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly, but you do have the right to know. That is why I am telling you all of this now. So please, do not interrupt me again. I do not enjoy being interrupted.¡± Kuru¡¯s eyes flashed brightly for a moment, her anger clear.


    Jorn and Duerlin remained quiet, focused on the two females and the discussion taking place. The creaking of the ship and gentle pounding of the waves were the only other noises in the dark cell.


    ¡°You three are among only a few dozen remaining vessels here on Tios. My partner¡¯s experiment is seeming to have an extremely high cost. If I wish to create any good from it, I will need the remaining vessels to be much more effective at carrying out the tasks we have set for them.


    SarthDarah, you are worried I will order you to kill when you do not wish to, I can promise that will never happen. We are not here to kill those who disagree with us. We are here to settle the matter of rampant monsters on the planet. You already have succeeded in one, there are only a few others remaining.


    The mortal population that resists joining the Federation are not your concern. Neither are they mine, setting aside the current situation. Those who wish to deny the gifts of the Federation only deny themselves the future. The main population centers here already agreed to join Mistress Nyx. The rest will be left to do as they please elsewhere on the planet.


    However, that does not mean we can let those self ruled people freely attack us or our protected interests. You understand having proper defensive measures and capabilities, that is the second half of your tasks here.¡±


    Kuru finished speaking, letting the other three digest her words. SarthDarah finally softened her expression a little, offering a glimpse of how her mind was reacting. Jorn looked down at the floor, then around at his companions before walking away.


    The big man sat softly and leaned back against the bars by the cage door. His sigh was of exasperation, but Sarah could tell he was also tired. She was nearly at her limit with how far she could play in a single sitting. Maybe it was time to log off and let the world take her avatar for a little bit while she rested in the real world.


    SarthDarah looked at the other two players, then back at Kuru. The NPC was so lifelike, and definitely was a higher tiered character in this game than anyone else she had come across. Kuru had to be an A.I. account meant to follow along on story lines and help characters along.


    The story about collecting worlds for a Federation was a good way to keep them involved in a story that would keep unfolding. It just seemed to be too far from something a game needed. Was this going to become a huge multi-world game map?


    ¡°So, this game, how extensive is it going to get? You probably don¡¯t understand, but as a gamer I¡¯m curious to know how much of the story and map I can explore. And if you¡¯re taking over the entire planet, is it just this one and we pick a side to be on? Or are there going to be more and more worlds for us to try and conquer ourselves later on?¡±


    ¡°You wish to conquer worlds, SarthDarah?¡± Kuru¡¯s voice was soft as silk and as dangerous as poison. ¡°You have the power already to destroy them, you need only focus on it. If you want to rule, I can show you how.¡±


    SarthDarah gazed into Kuru¡¯s eyes, feeling the pull on her soul. The power called out to her, begging to be wielded.


    ¡°I wish to know if I¡¯m your slave.¡±


    Kuru¡¯s smile went a bit manic for a second. Her eyes flared and a soft chuckle sounded. Kuru¡¯s hands both disappeared into shadow. The unnatural darkness that was suddenly floating around Kuru gave off an alarming aura of its own.


    When her hands came back out of the darkness, she held long and thick chains. They dangled to the floor and clanked loudly as they met solid ground. The manacles on either end of them were open, inviting anyone foolish enough to set their wrists in.


    The maniacal face Kuru was making twisted her beauty into a horror. The frightening aura she was suddenly giving off was starting to make the hair on SarthDarah¡¯s skin rise.


    She froze, Sarah knew that this was a game. It couldn¡¯t be the hair on her skin she felt rising, maybe it was just a feature of the game. Something to give her the sense of fear. It was too realistic, SarthDarah was frozen and lost her breath.


    The sense of dread set into her bones. It was like being locked in a box, then tossed into a freezing lake. Her mind was screaming at her to rush back to the surface. In the darkness there was no surface, Sarah was stuck here.


    All too late did she try to gasp for air, the chains were flying at her as Sarah tried to scream. SarthDarah never made a noise.


    Duerlin watched the two girls, they had suddenly gone silent. He thought maybe asking if they were slaves was a bit much, but for Kuru to go so silent and to not answer made him worry. The silence continued on though.


    Jorn waved his hand between the girls, neither reacted.


    ¡°That¡¯s odd. What happened?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, did they lag out?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so, but I can¡¯t be certain.¡±


    ¡°What do you think Sarth meant by asking about being a slave? That seems like an odd question.¡± Duerlin was sure the other two had just lapsed into some sort of personal section of the game.


    ¡°I think she was trying to test and see if Kuru is a human or A.I. She already questioned whether the Captain was or not.¡±


    ¡°The little girl? I barely got a look at her before they drug me down here.¡±


    ¡°Yea, she was crazy fast. Fixed the mast that Sarth smashed on our way onboard with a wave of her hand. Then some crazy shit happened with some crocs that came out of nowhere.¡±


    Jorn held up a long tooth. It was broken at the root, and went down to an extremely sharp point. Duerlin¡¯s eyes went wide looking at it. The two looked back at the girls.


    ¡°So, is she?¡±


    ¡°Is she what?¡±


    ¡°Is Kuru a player, or something else? She is clearly more than an A.I., unless there''s new tech that no one has ever heard of. That is way too lifelike to be anything that was created in a game.¡±


    Jorn didn¡¯t answer for a few minutes. The silence broken only by the creaking ship and crashing waves. The girl¡¯s were spaced out and hadn¡¯t moved since Sarth had asked Kuru that stinging question.


    ¡°She¡¯s real, or at least she¡¯s as real as someone can be inside of a game. I saw her command similar power to what we use in the game, but she seems to be able to do things we can¡¯t. And she is a high ranking official in the guild system. Something tells me that she¡¯s been here a lot longer than the rest of us though. If only a few dozen of us are left, and she has knowledge of that without being given the message. Which means she intrinsically knows the state of every player. Maybe a dev?¡±


    ¡°Maybe¡­¡± Duerlin trailed off, waiting for any response from SarthDarah or Kuru.


    Sarah fell, deep into a black void. The chains that had grabbed her pulled her under. Kuru¡¯s voice echoed all around, over and over with different phrases. Sarah couldn¡¯t make out any of what she was saying. Her heart was beating hard enough she worried it might break out of her chest.


    With no sense of direction, only falling, Sarah reached out for anything to stop herself. The darkness seemed to rush by, though she couldn¡¯t actually see anything.


    ¡°Fire, burning out the rot and dead of the thickest forests, is the best way to wash the filth and leave behind fertile grounds for the next growth.¡± Words were starting to become clearer.


    ¡°You can only finish this journey when you start the real one.¡±


    ¡°For you, a gift of power, a cost of life.¡±


    ¡°In the darkness you can not hide, but if you burn bright, the world shall flock to you.¡±


    Kuru was streaming on and on about nonsense, almost in a prophetic like trance. Sarah was starting to feel nauseous, her brain was trying to sort out what the lines meant. What journey was she supposed to start? Was her fire supposed to end something, and bring about the next generation somehow?


    ¡°What do you want from me?¡± Sarah screamed, her voice echoing back in an eerie way all around her.


    ¡°Your soul, it is rather unique. I desire to have you serve me, willingly.¡± This time Kuru¡¯s voice came from near her, with less of the ethereal echoing.


    ¡°You want my soul?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly, I can see your soul. I want your talent and skill. I want you to be a driving force behind the wheels of change that my associate and I are designing.¡±


    Sarah didn¡¯t know how to respond. Her soul was visible to this woman? How? She had spoken of her soul driving a new vessel, in this game. This was still just a game right? The realism of how things felt left Sarah considering abandoning the entire thing.


    If she could just get some time logged off, maybe some fresh air and some real food. This whole world domination path really took her by the hand and ran at full sprint. Kuru was probably going to extend the same offer to Jorn and Duerlin if SarthDarah left. Sarah was ready to call it, but then she remembered the first moments of her time in this game.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The freedom of flying down the mountainside, the realistic way her emotions played out across her face, even the sense of pain that made her realize it was no simple thing to take damage. Her brain had enjoyed it all, the physical sense of adrenaline had made her feel more alive than anything in the real world had.


    ¡°What happens if I agree?¡±


    She had to know. What would being an underling of this woman be like? Is this selling her soul to the devil? Or is it more like giving herself to a cause she could believe in.


    ¡°If you agree, I will show you how to demolish any enemy. I will teach you how truly expansive the universe we live in is. You will become responsible for carrying out tasks that I give you. You become independent of mortality and anyone who would hold you back from satisfying our goals.¡±


    So, ultimate power and knowledge of the stars for being her task monkey. That wasn¡¯t so bad, depending on the tasks. Independent of mortality? That sounded like Kuru was offering her a chance to transcend death.


    This was still a game right? Could she mean a free life? Maybe a skill that keeps Sarah¡¯s HP from bottoming out in certain cases.


    ¡°Is this really a game?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°What is this?¡±


    ¡°An expansion of my power. I dropped your soul and consciousness into this pocket of Nether. You are essentially in another dimension that only I can open and control. I¡¯ll let you out, but we needed some time for me to make my point to you. The other two are not as understanding as you. The quickness you show in being on top of things and not falling prey to the stress of the situations makes you the clear candidate for a taste of my power. Your understanding is what opens your mind to the possibilities that I can offer you.¡±


    Sarah took this in for a moment. Jorn would have just tried to smash the problem. Duerlin spent so much time running and denying his responsibility that he ended up in a jail cell. Sarah had found herself in that same cell, but she had completed her task before setting out to try and accomplish this one.


    Maybe she had already started becoming Kuru¡¯s underling and just hadn¡¯t realized it. If her tasks would keep her slaying monsters and saving towns, then Sarah would gladly go along with it. It was if it turned into eradicating populations and worlds that she would have a problem with it.


    ¡°You pulled my soul where?¡±


    ¡°Let me show you.¡±


    Kuru appeared, the chains that had dragged Sarah into the darkness vanished. The sensation of falling suddenly stopped and a floor appeared. The white marble floor was dimly lit, the long stretch of doorways on either side seemed to go on forever. The wooden doors were all painted beige, standing out starkly against the polished floor.


    Each of the doors had a small slot, one made to allow someone to peak in on the occupant. Kuru walked up to the first one on the left, waved for Sarah to join her, then opened the slot. Sarah leaned in to see what was going on inside. The twisted reality inside shocked her into taking a few steps back.


    A man was being chased by crows, the blood was running freely from the dozens of open wounds on his arms and legs. His short sleeve shirt was in tatters and only bare scrapes of fabric were left of his pants. His screams were dull and muffled, but still shrill and easily identifiable as ones of terror.


    Kuru stepped down the hall, passing a few doors before stopping at one on the right. Behind this slot, Sarah saw a woman sitting in a flower field. This almost seemed in complete contrast with the first. Sarah couldn¡¯t see anything nightmarish about this one.


    ¡°She has allergies so bad that it renders her body catatonic to be around so much pollen. I found her drowning three newborns behind the orphanage she used to run.¡±


    As Sarah watched, the woman in the field seized for a moment, her whole body spasming before releasing a huge sneeze. The flowers nearest her all blew back from the force of it, then the wetness of the woman¡¯s face became evident. She was sitting in a spot of mud that her body had created over the period of her sitting there.


    ¡°That¡¯s torture¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s what she deserves. I can not allow her soul to be reborn on another world. That would amount to letting the darkness and taint of her to grow and cultivate itself into a more refined version of evil.¡±


    So Kuru hunted evil souls. Then maybe aligning herself with her would be alright. Sarah wanted to do good in the world. She also wanted to experience conquering a world. Kuru seemed to be offering a way to do both.


    ¡°What happens if I say yes?¡±


    ¡°You become mine.¡± Kuru gazed intensely into Sarah¡¯s eye¡¯s.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t a game is it?¡±


    ¡°Not in the way you think it should be. This is a game spanning the known universe, and the collection of the worlds that hold life is how we come closer to winning it. There are several worlds that have shards of the life crystal that my Grandmother scattered. The worlds that interest her have been conquered or controlled in one way or another in order to serve her greater purpose. That¡¯s the only game that I am playing.¡±


    Sarah blinked, the connection she was feeling with Kuru was starting to freak her out a little. The way Kuru told it, she was somehow the Granddaughter of some time transcending deity that she is also claiming to have seeded life across the universe. For some greater purpose¡­


    ¡°How is any of this possible?¡± Her mind was starting to break as Sarah tried to make sense of things.


    ¡°A bit of the power my Grandmother, a vessel crafted by a Master Smith out of an ore that resonates with an individual''s unique aura signature. It¡¯s essentially a tether for your soul to use to transmit consciousness through the body you are now in.¡±


    The body she was now in? Had Sarah, herself, transferred her conscious mind to a new host? Was that what the headset was doing? How was she here on another world?


    Aliens were real¡­


    Holy shit, tangents began sprouting all over in her mind from the implications. Sarah was on the verge of a breakdown, this truly wasn¡¯t a game. She was doing this all for real.


    ¡°That¡¯s why players who were killed didn¡¯t re-spawn¡­¡±


    The thought struck her, and the chaotic thought train running in her mind hit a wall. Duerlin¡¯s brother had died right in front of her and she hadn¡¯t felt a thing, until now. Kuru, to her surprise, looked sad.


    With so much information suddenly dumped on her, Sarah wasn¡¯t sure what to do anymore. This was a new life, already started. Her old life was, what? What exactly did she miss about her real life?


    The stale air, or maybe the overpriced and tasteless food. The job that she gave every waking hour to most days, but never got ahead in. Or maybe it was the non existent love life that Sarah might miss.


    None of these things sparked any reaction in her, even trying to say she had to go back to see her family roused no emotions from her. This new life had been so exhilarating and seemed to call to her. The fast paced action and knowing that her body was suddenly capable of doing fantastic feats made her smile.


    That reaction more than anything sold her on where she truly wanted to be. This game, or rather, this new world was her new home. If Kuru had pulled her soul here, then Sarah would call it destiny. Because she felt more alive here, even sitting in the void of Nether, than she ever did back home. If Kuru wanted her to be a freedom fighter for some cause, then SarthDarah was ready to kick ass.


    ¡°What do you need me to do?¡± Sarah asked quietly, testing how it felt to give in.


    ¡°I need SarthDarah to be your complete self, Sarah has to be let go of.¡±


    Sarah¡¯s heart stopped for a few beats, for a moment she thought this was going to be simple. How could she let go of who she was?


    ¡°It won¡¯t take but a moment. I simply pull the cord on your connection to Sarah¡¯s body, and leave you tethered to SarthDarah. Your mind will still remember who you are, but Sarah will cease to exist. Only SarthDarah will remain, as you are in the vessel I met you in.¡±


    ¡°So, my body has to die?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Sarah thought once more about the things she would lose, then about the things she would gain. The world she was seeing, and the many more that might be possible to see. Her fist clenched, no flames were produced.


    Looking at herself closely for the first time since being brought into the Nether, Sarah noticed that she looked like her real self. Her own pale skin, the wiry fingers and stringy arms. This was a huge let down after being in the body of a highly muscled and tanned monk.


    Would giving up her old self really be that bad? And if she had already made the decision to stay here, what was letting an old body that had no use for her die going to hurt?


    ¡°You¡¯ll grant me power to conquer worlds with you? For the good of the people that need it?¡±


    ¡°Of course. You already have enough power to level a small city, but I can offer you one more thing on top of the focus pistol I just gave you.¡± Kuru¡¯s smile was turning slightly manic again.


    Sarah hesitated for a moment, remembering the weapon that Kuru had shoved into her hands just after their imprisonment. It had fired black balls of energy when Kuru used it. SarthDarah suddenly had the urge to rush to the top deck and see what it would do for her.


    ¡°I want to know that I¡¯m not being used for evil.¡±


    ¡°You think I¡¯m evil?¡±


    ¡°I think you¡¯re all powerful, and most people I have heard of with that much power usually tend to stray from the path of good intentions at some point.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve seen too many movies, fairy tales, and legends. Those with power simply do what they desire, mostly in order to preserve or grow their power. The morality of right and wrong don¡¯t necessarily apply to them any more. Though I can see what you¡¯re asking isn¡¯t based on judgments already passed. You want to know if I would ask you to murder innocents?¡±


    ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°Innocents do not make it to my list. I target only those who grow corrupt and need to be removed from the cycle of life. We are approaching an age where mortality will be defined in a much looser sense. My Grandmother, Mistress Nyx, and her Master Smith have developed these vessels to combat the decay of mighty warriors and brilliant scholars. My task is to weed out potential cancer, so to speak. Removing the souls of what you call evil individuals to make sure that they are not given an opportunity to latch on and infect the immortality of the vessels. Leaving those who would skew the designs of this universe to their own whims alone, would wreak havoc on the game. Chaos is navigable only if you give no mercy to those that would derail you.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re the hedge trimmer, and I would be another tool keeping wild growth at bay. That almost seems like a perfect offer. I get all the power I want, you get a tool to ease the strain on yourself, and I get to fuck up bad guys. Finally this makes sense.¡±


    Kuru did a little curtsy, then smiled in a way that made Sarah feel like she missed something. She had just given in and demanded nothing more than what she had been offered. Kuru was getting a steal of a deal with her.


    ¡°Let''s get back to the ship, I have a feeling we will be called upon soon enough.¡±


    ¡°Ok, I¡¯m gonna trust you for now. I don¡¯t see how I have much choice though.¡±


    ¡°You could try and run. Or maybe you could try and fight the captain solo. You¡¯re stuck in this situation because of your own actions. I¡¯m simply trying to give you the best chance to survive this.¡±


    ¡°If I, SarthDarah I mean, die, is that it for Sarah too?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    SarthDarah clenched her fists, her face showing the obvious displeasure at the new knowledge. This beta test was turning out to be a lot more hassle than Sarah had wanted. Kuru seemed to take her moment of silence as acquiescence, because she was already starting to pull the darkness around them back into herself.


    SarthDarah stood frozen in the center of the swirling dark void with Kuru, their eyes locked and together they formed bright pinpricks of light in the infinite. Sarah had one last memory of home, of a love that burned out too fast. That summer had been the best of her life, but it was far behind her.


    She felt the tear roll down her cheek, as the tug on her heart suddenly tore away. The wound suddenly open and bleeding.


    ¡°You¡¯re not alone Sarth, we will do great things together. I would never leave you to chase someone else, though I do have my many work partners. Only you have a piece of me and my power in you. That weapon is the first instrument I crafted with my gifts. My father gave me most of my power to contain and control souls. The Nether control was a random quirk I was born with. That pistol is the first successful attempt I made at combining them. It doesn¡¯t trap a soul, but it hits it directly using the bearer¡¯s own soul force. Your power is far larger than you know, only now through the releasing and power expansion of this vessel can you realize it.¡±


    SarthDarah pulled out the pistol, it hadn¡¯t been on her while she was Sarah in this prison. Now as she looked down, the body of SarthDarah was there and the pistol was tucked neatly into her sash.


    Tears fell, dampening the wooden floor where they stood. As she looked back up, Kuru was smiling at her. SarthDarah hadn¡¯t even noticed a return to the ship. The darkness simply vanished and they were back, not a millimeter from where they had been before Kuru had pulled her in.


    Jorn and Duerlin both were staring at her like she had sprouted three extra heads.


    ¡°What¡¯s with¡­¡± SarthDarh started.


    She was cut off by the door to the brig being slammed open. Three bouncing and extremely bright lights came through and bounced as they came closer. The oil lanterns were carried by guards, each with a shortsword and nearly as much muscle as Jorn. A fourth man, wiry and a bit shorter than SarthDarah came to the cell door.


    ¡°Captain wants a word with you.¡± He pointed a finger full of gaudy rings at Kuru.


    ¡°Then where is she? Talking seems to go better when both parties are face to face.¡±


    ¡°Waiting for you in her quarters. Watch that mouth, or I¡¯ll cut the tongue from it.¡±


    Kuru did a small curtsy, then flipped her middle finger out at the man. He snorted a laugh, then opened the door. The lock clicked loudly before the hinges squeaked. Kuru walked out to be instantly grabbed by two of the guards. One taking her left arm, the other the right.


    ¡°You three stay put.¡± The wiry man said as he locked the door again.


    ¡°And if I start running laps around the cell?¡± SarthDarah challenged, feeling a rush of adrenaline surge in her.


    ¡°Then you just be tired out when I toss you overboard.¡± The man ran his hand over the bars, letting his rings click against the metal.


    The guards were already hauling Kuru out the door. The wiry man was watching the three remaining prisoners carefully as he backed out. Almost as if he expected an attack.


    When the door shut and all was dark again. SarthDarah¡¯s eyes lit up brightly, much brighter and clearer than before. The golden glow of flame no longer blocked out her eyes, but instead sharpened the detail of them.


    ¡°Guys, have I got some shit to tell you. You might wanna sit down for this.¡±

 Chapter 15

    ¡°Burn! You all will burn! The time is past nigh that sin overtakes the world. An alien walks among us, promising futures that should not be possible. Claiming they alone have the power to save all of us from the inevitably of death. Our leaders all fail to see, our elected officials meant to guide us are blinded to the truth of such things. They see only a convenient road paved in gold. It may look wide enough to support the people they lead, but it is a trap of honey. At the end of the road we all will be suckling at the breast of a tyrant. A would be master who wishes to claim the souls of every mortal. Turn back now! Save your soul from being devoured by an immortal beast! I have seen what it does to mortals, there is no mercy when it falls upon its prey.  Where the Mistress of Chaos commands it, Death consumes. I warn thee all, beware the life obtained through these impossible gifts. Knowledge breeds curiosity, which leads to discovery, which leads to burden, which drags down entire populations and will be the downfall that brings about the ruin of your planet.¡±


    <ul>


    <li style="font-weight: 400">Radical speech made by an unknown person on the planet of Tios, roughly eighteen rotations before beginning of the Beta Test for remote Vessels. </li>


    </ul>


    Nyx hadn¡¯t wanted to draw that card, she had placed the deck down for that very reason. When she had said she was going to draw a couple, the first had felt right and eagerly flipped up into her hand on its own. The next had felt so off putting, that Nyx knew instinctively not to draw it. It had turned over to reveal itself anyway.


    The foe card. Now, somewhere out there in the cosmos she had created, an enemy would appear. Not that it was anything new, she had a vast amount of enemies. This however, was a highly potent artifact imbued with her own chaos energy.


    This deck, these cards, had a life of their own. They didn¡¯t speak, never moved, and rarely did one ever even let you see what it was. Nyx had asked to draw the cards from it though, so it let her. As its master, she had the right to draw as many cards as she wanted.


    The deck got to set effects in motion for each card she drew, all corresponding to the face of the card drawn. Good, bad, neutral, life giving, world ending, the possibilities were numerous and as chaotic as her own soul.


    Nyx knew she needed to stop playing with the thing, but every so often she grew bored of the staleness. Her universe needed to grow, and mature. The time it was taking seemed to stretch eons. Her immortality made the passing time seem trivial, but watching the mortals squabble and continuously die out before reaching their maximum potentials grated on her.


    Time and time again she had experimented with making their bodies immortal. Her father had done it without even trying to. Nyx could only give immortal life to the offspring directly created from her own powers. Each one weakening her a bit more than the last.


    Small breakthroughs in technologies and magic let her grant long lives to a handful of mortals. Some were at extremely high costs, some were so painful that no one wanted to try it. Then she had found the ore radiating life essence. When Hizumi had poured her power into it, it had responded by becoming a tiny replica of her.


    This ore led to the need of a skilled craftsman, which had led Nyx to Theadora. She sent her liaison to scout her out and get her help with smithing the material, and he had come back with more good news than Nyx had heard in a long time. When the Master Smith had expressed her desire to work solely with the metal and created a production site at the mine itself, Nyx almost shouted out in joy.


    Even if the cache of the life essence ore was smaller than it should have been, it was enough to start. She could experiment with a few select worlds, hand over perfected immortal vessels to her trusted council when they were assured to work properly, then expand from there until she had everything she needed.


    Hizumi wouldn¡¯t need to siphon off of her anymore either, and that would be a huge step in her plans to turn her power degradation into cultivation. Giving her apprentice raw chaos was necessary for the end goals, but devastating to her short term defense. Nyx had never been this weak, not even after her banishment did she feel so drained.


    Time, all she needed was more time.


    Hizumi walked the courtyards, enjoying the clear sky and smell of salt water. The sea washing against the cliff side was calm today. She had no cares about much when she could walk freely during the days when the Mansion was peaceful. All of the politics washed away, drug out to see by the tide.


    Standing atop the massive cliff was Mistress Nyx¡¯s Mansion, a massive population center built to house dignitaries from all of the worlds united into the Galactic Federation. Hizumi hated the place.


    ¡°You can¡¯t keep this up.¡±


    The young man walking beside her broke the silence. He had been quiet the whole way out here, Hizumi had almost been able to forget he had asked to join her. She hadn¡¯t really agreed, just shrugged and kept walking.


    For almost three hours they had walked through the gardens and courtyards, finally coming to the cliffside overlook. Seclusion, that was what they had both wanted. Though for different reasons.


    ¡°I can do anything, you just worry about what happens to you if something goes wrong.¡±


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re not wrong. If my father or any of the council finds out it was you who hired all of the pirates to sack trade routes, or that you incited rebellion just to force the other side to accept your aid, or any of the other things you¡¯ve done¡­¡±


    ¡°Then it¡¯s my head. If they find out and I have a headstart on them, it¡¯s also whoever¡¯s head that told them it was me.¡±


    Darius just shook his head, unable to respond. The headstrong Hizumi never let him win anything. From their first sword fight practice, to the debates on moralities. Hizumi forced her domination with nearly as much pressure as the Mistress.


    Though he admired her strong will, her tenacity to see things done. She was probably the best choice for Mistress Nyx to choose for an heir.


    ¡°How goes Tios?¡±


    ¡°Bad, Mistress Nyx gave in to the governor''s pleas. They now have enough funding to feed and supply their people. Which means they¡¯ll use it to fund and supply their military.¡± Her sigh was a clear sign that it was eating at her to be losing again. ¡°My partner overseeing the Guilds says they are down to only two dozen vessels after major losses.¡±


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    Darius was shocked. That was a huge loss, both financially and in casualties.


    ¡°That few? I thought they were supposed to all be receiving massive power upgrades once a soul was connected? How do you lose nearly five thousand vessels in less than two rotations?¡±


    ¡°It was apparently foolish to let them run amok without training them properly first. Most were extremely powerful, but lacked the control and experience to use it correctly.¡±


    The wind blew gently, pulling at Hizumi¡¯s hair. Her eyes gazed longingly out over the horizon. She couldn¡¯t put her finger on the exact thought, but something was tugging at her. A pull, maybe a memory. She had been alive long enough to know that small things can be forgotten, but the feelings might still remain.


    She didn¡¯t want to talk about a failure at the moment, she wanted to change the subject.


    ¡°Have you ever missed your home, Prince of the Ice?¡±


    ¡°No, and don¡¯t call me that. My father is the King, and he is close enough to being immortal that I don¡¯t foresee taking that role from him.¡±


    ¡°Want to change that?¡± Hizumi¡¯s voice was playful, almost like she was joking.


    ¡°That¡¯s not funny.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a joke. If the Mistress is really creating an army, it can be used just the same as playing for planets. It¡¯s all about who gives the command and holds the reins.¡±


    Darius was stunned for a moment, but looking into Hizumi¡¯s eyes let him know that she was dead serious. The vessel project was supposed to be secret, him knowing was only because Hizumi hold told him.


    ¡°Not yet.¡±


    ¡°Time, it always takes time. You just keep up what you¡¯re doing, act the Prince. Save the lower tier worlds from oppression, become the person everyone wants to support. You¡¯re the good guy Darius, even if your father thinks otherwise. The planets I take are free from the tyranny Mistress Nyx eventually brings. Though they are also less represented and often left out of galactic politics. You are the voice that keeps those worlds from being pillaged and overrun. You even fought to allow free trade to worlds that don¡¯t have a galactic representative, that alone makes most people see you as the hero.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, but I¡¯m not King.¡±


    ¡°Not yet. Eventually, maybe. All things change in time.¡±


    Hizumi was certain he would be the right man for the job. He would actually care for the people. His ideals might actually be suited to making the entire galaxy a better place.


    Time, she needed to wait. Patience and cunning, she had a plan and needed to follow along with it.


    ¡°What are you two doing up here? Lovers escape?¡±


    Hizumi whirled, already crackling with lightning. Her aura had been relaxed and missed the approach of the newcomer.


    ¡°Katrosa, I didn¡¯t hear you coming.¡± Darius was quick to respond, trying to diffuse the tension.


    ¡°I was looking for Hizumi, might I borrow her for a few moments?¡±


    ¡°By all means, we were just about to head back. Walk with us?¡±


    Katrosa, in her brightly colored gown and sunhat, curtsied and waved an arm to let them lead the way. Darius elbowed Hizumi softly in the ribs, her face was still holding a menacing scowl.


    ¡°What do you want, Kat?¡± Hizumi was forcing herself to talk in a level tone.


    ¡°I wish to ask about your project, on Tios.¡± Katrosa spoke carefully when naming the planet.


    Hizumi closed her eyes and took in a long breath. This planet and failure of an operation were not going to leave her alone. If only it had gone to plan, what had gone wrong with it? She didn¡¯t do it herself, that was what went wrong.


    ¡°It is going over poorly, the project is not ready to be unveiled yet.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t particularly care about your abysmal performance in playing conqueror, I simply want a map of the planet before they wreck the place.¡±


    Hizumi was ready to reach out and strangely the girl. Hizumi knew better though, even if she looked barely older than a teenager, her mind was that of someone much older. Katrosa was an experiment in immortality herself, she was the only survivor of that style of testing.


    ¡°A map? What could you need a map of a world for? You never even go to any other worlds.¡±


    Darius was walking away, pretending to not notice angry glances being thrown between the two. Hizumi and Katrosa followed, but were staring intensely at the other instead of where they were going.


    ¡°That is why I want a map. It gives me a chance to imagine myself exploring the world through what I can see.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have one. Not a physical one anyway.¡±


    ¡°Then get me one.¡± Katrosa demanded.


    Hizumi was halfway into slapping her when Katrosa¡¯s cane rose up to stop her arm. Sparks started shooting out as Hiuzmi¡¯s blood began to boil. This experiment gone wrong was about to end.


    ¡°You¡­ do¡­ not¡­ command me!¡±


    Hizumi punctuated each word with fast punches. Each one found something solid, but Katrosa simply smiled and took them all. Her cane was pointed straight up in front of her like a dueling sword.


    ¡°Hahaha, I simply ask that you get me a map of the world you are about to destroy. I want to have a piece of history, so I can preserve it for the future.¡±


    Katrosa¡¯s laughter was like nails on a chalkboard to Hizumi. Even if the girl had a charming voice and appearance, Hizumi detested her.


    ¡°Get the Admiral to do it. He¡¯s already on his way to the planet, he might even be planning to create documented maps and surveys already. Your selfishness is leading to a lack of patience, and I will not suffer you becoming no more than a spoiled brat. If you wish to continue your existence in my Mistress¡¯ mansion, do not annoy me again.¡±


    Hizumi had gone ice cold with those words. Darius was several meters away, standing still and acting like he couldn¡¯t hear or see the argument. Katrosa put her cane down, tucking it back under the folds of her gown.


    ¡°Admiral Griffon is on his way there? Forgive my intrusion then, I will contact the Admiral and request my wants from him.¡± Katrosa dipped her head slightly, then walked away in the opposite direction of the mansion.


    Hizumi watched as she went, wondering if she could truly follow through on her threat. If Katrosa pushed her to the point of needing to take her out¡­ Hizumi decided she needed to know more about the powers that Katrosa could use. Mistress Nyx never shared what truly happened during that experiment.


    The only survivor had suddenly become immortal and independent of the chaos energy that the Mistress shared. Her strength had increased to an insane level, her speed and dexterity matched. Those hungry, nearly blank eyes, were the only part of her that wasn¡¯t beautiful.


    Hizumi needed to find the technicians that had set up that lab, maybe one of them could give her some insight. Darius was still standing there waiting for her, but now he was watching her with a concerned expression.


    ¡°What?¡± Hizumi snapped the question at him.


    ¡°Would you really do it?¡±


    Her nod was enough. They walked in silence back to the mansion courtyards. After they crossed into the covered walkways leading to the main housing compound, Darius waved and said his goodbye. He had a house with his father¡¯s court, up in the towers. Hizumi had rooms directly under Mistress Nyx¡¯s main rooms.


    The solitude of the private housing tower she had was comforting, and upsetting all at once. She stripped, ran boiling water for a bath, then screamed as she released a bolt of energy out of the window. Letting the sky taste her fury, announcing her anger and frustration to the cosmos.


    Her stress relaxed and she felt much better. She grabbed an old book from her nightstand before getting in the water. The steam rose and obscured most of the room after a few minutes. Hizumi relaxed into the warm water, opening the pages of her diary to the latest entries.


    She needed the time to meditate and reflect on her path. If Tios was lost, how could she make sure that it didn¡¯t end up being a fatal loss to her plans?

 Chapter 16

    SarthDarah had talked fast, but Jorn and Duerlin took in all the information without interrupting. This game wasn¡¯t a game, it was reality. Somehow they were linked directly into these vessels through Kuru¡¯s power. Jorn didn¡¯t understand it, but he grasped the idea that dying was permanent.


    Duerlin asked how the souls were being tethered, but SarthDarah didn¡¯t know. Other than what Kuru had shown her, it didn¡¯t leave a mark of any sort that they could find.


    ¡°I can still log out.¡±


    SarthDarah and Jorn looked at him sharply. They had been trying to figure out if they could just eject themselves and be free from this, but the menu buttons had all disappeared.


    ¡°How?¡± Jorn asked.


    ¡°My rigged headgear. It has a manual override that I can trigger with a thought process.¡±


    ¡°Well, are you getting out?¡± SarthDarah asked.


    Duerlin¡¯s face fell, then he shook his head slowly.


    ¡°My brother died here, and his body wasn¡¯t in our apartment back home. I need answers first, then I will decide.¡±


    The trio looked back and forth between themselves, the implication hanging heavy. Duerlin put his hands in front of him, studying them like he was relearning what his body was. This moment of realization that their lives were on the line and that so many had already been lost sobered all of their feelings about the rest of it.


    SarthDarah sat, which prompted the others to sit as well. The swaying of the ship, the sound of waves crashing against the hull around them, and the blank darkness all rolled up to a quiet atmosphere that was lulling them to sleep. It had been a long day for Sarah before she got in the game, then SarthDarah had spent the last several hours in a battle for her life.


    Barely surviving some of those instances she nearly died rang back to her now. In hindsight, she was extremely lucky to still be alive. She should¡¯ve been splattered at the bottom of that first mountain peak she leaped from. It was the only proof she needed that Kuru hadn¡¯t been lying to her about being in a different body.


    Having Duerlin confirm his brother''s disappearance only seemed to back her story up even more. Kuru had shown her the expanse of her domain for only a moment, but that was all it took for her to realize that she held more power than SarthDarah could yet imagine. All of those souls trapped within her, for what? How?


    Sleep came to SarthDarah while she pondered over those thoughts. Her dreams kept getting interrupted by the laughter of an unseen female. The dark corridors of an unknown cityscape sprawling on forever in front of her. Each time she ran out to find the person behind the voice, more long and dark hallways stretched on.


    The dark purple walls with navy blue trimmings were something she had never seen before. They almost felt alive, like they watched her as she went. The laughter kept drawing her around corners and farther into the city.


    Looking up, SarthDarah saw no sky. The walls stretched upwards until they were obscured by a heavy fog. The dense pink clouds could have been a ceiling for how dense they were. There were no sounds other than the laughter, and only when SarthDarah called out did she notice that she made no noise here.


    Her words never came out, and her feet never made so much as a scratching sound as she ran. Farther, closer, the laughter was getting louder as she went.


    SarthDarah ran, picking up speed as she careened around sharp corners. She felt like she was closing in on the laughter, it came louder and louder. When it was so loud that it had to be right around the next corner, SarthDarah felt her feet stride into open air.


    The sudden lack of surface to run on made her heart drop out. The buildings around her were gone in an instant. She fell, plummeting like she had from the mountain top. Only this time it was into a blank void of darkness.


    She had to be moving towards something, the wind was rushing past her face and flying her short hair like a flag. A pinprick of light came into view, slowly becoming the outline of a person.


    This time the voice that she heard wasn¡¯t a girl¡¯s laugh, it was a booming male screaming in rage.


    The pinprick of light that had taken the shape of a human, suddenly twisted into that of a creature with hundreds of legs on either side of its elongated body. It was no longer the light, now it was a silhouette in front of the light. It reared its head, two large incisors grew from atop the head of the creature. The scream of rage was replaced by a cacophony of high pitched wails.


    SarthDarah put her hands to her head to try and block out the noise, it had very little effect. Her eyes were glued to the creature, watching as it grew larger and closer. She could do nothing as she free fell towards the opening maw of the beast. Her heart raced, panic would do her no good; but what could she do?


    SarthDarah did the only thing she knew she could do at this point, she tried to fire off an attack at the thing. She punched hard with her left and right fist, over and over. The fire never sparked, nor did the wind bend to her swings. She was left as inherit as she had been as Sarah.


    ¡®This is just a dream, you just need to wake up.¡¯ SarthDarah tried to reassure herself, but again the words did not come out. Her brain knew what needed to be done, but not having control over her physical self left her more panicked than she had hoped to be.


    Long trails of smoke started wafting off of the creature, obscuring the remaining light that was behind it. Dread started to creep in as SarthDarah realized she couldn¡¯t escape her fate. She was going to fall into that monster¡¯s hungry maw, and never even be able to fight back. Now she would also be blind to when it would happen.


    With a last string of desperation holding her to sanity, SarthDarah felt around herself for anything to use. Something she could fight back with. She hadn¡¯t gotten any weapons since she came to this world, just her fighting ability. SarthDarah felt around her waistband, finding a large lump there.


    ¡®Shit! I totally forgot I had this, I don¡¯t even know what it does.¡¯


    Even though she made no noise, the speaking helped calm her slightly. Trying to be normal in an adverse time was a key to being successful. She studied the pistol for a short moment, still feeling the doom of the creature she was closing in on.


    Kuru had given her this. The black barrel was smooth, but still had small lines of detail running along it. Small branches and designs that made swirls that lead back and forth from one another. The dark cherry wood that encased the trigger housing and firing mechanism was fascinating.


    It had so many rings to the wood age that SarthDarah would have to spend hours to count them. Without a clear idea on how it worked, and no apparent opening to load a shot into, SarthDarah aimed the barrel at the creature.


    She had seen Kuru fire it without doing anything more than pulling the trigger. Would it fire off blasts of dark energy like it had for Kuru?


    ¡®Only one way to find out.¡¯


    BLAM!!


    SarthDarah felt the recoil as she was sent flying back upwards away from the creature. The large flower of napalm fire hurtling towards the suddenly still creature kept growing as it flew. It had started as a mere rose bud, barely large enough to fit the barrel. Then grew immense and insanely fast as it blossomed out into a white and orange flower of fire.


    It grew large enough to consume the shadow creature blocking the light. Once it had burned out, SarthDarah felt safe as she dropped past where it had been. She also felt tired, even in the dream she was exhausted.


    ¡°I wonder what that thing was.¡± SarthDarah wondered aloud, surprised to find her voice back.


    She let out a cry of joy, feeling her heart still racing from the encounter. The pinprick of light had become a giant disk. She landed softly, her feet feeling the warmth of the light.


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    ¡°Do you trust my power now?¡± Kuru¡¯s voice came from behind her.


    SarthDarah turned, seeing the girl in a new way. Her gift had been the only reason she could beat that thing. It was also an incredible way to focus her power.


    ¡°You will learn that your body will react to how much danger you are in, and accommodate the appropriate power to the attack each time you pull the trigger. So make your shot count.¡±


    Kuru was standing in a long dress, the soft purple trim on the silver gray fabric reminded her of the walls she had been running through. SarthDarah looked her up and down, taking in her eyes before stepping in closer.


    They both had similar bodies, slender and lean with a slight amount of muscle. SarthDarah noticed the soft white of Kuru¡¯s shoulders, the dress she wore left them bare. Even with her suit jacket, SarthDarah had thought that Kuru might have had more color to her skin. Kuru¡¯s face was at least a handful of shades darker, and still pale compared to SarthDarah.


    The sleeves that Kuru wore were pulled up from the fingerless gloves she wore and didn¡¯t attach to the dress. The silver gray stood out as a dark tone against her skin, but the purple seemed to draw her attention again. SarthDarah found herself staring down at Kuru¡¯s hand, lost in thought.


    ¡°Find something you fancy?¡± Kuru finally asked after a minute of silence.


    ¡°I did.¡± SarthDarah mumbled without thinking about it.


    Kuru giggled, bringing SarthDarah back to the present. She blinked a few times, then blushed as she realized what she had said.


    ¡°Uh, well. I mean I trust you. And I found a power that I like, from you.¡± SarthDarah paused, then stammered. ¡°Because of, from, thanks to you¡­¡±


    Kuru just laughed a little harder, then put both hands on SarthDarah¡¯s shoulders. She giggled for a few more moments, then let her hands fall free to her side again. When they were gone from SarthDarah¡¯s shoulder, a new set of armor wove its way around her.


    ¡°A present, if you can get me off of this planet. And if you care to join me in taking another one.¡± Kuru winked, then in a bright flash of light the dream ended.


    SarthDarah¡¯s sleep drifted into rolling waves and clear blue ocean. She felt like she drifted alone in the endless waters, staring up at the lightly tinted sky. The auburn streaks mixed into the deep purples of the clouds as the starlight dropped beneath the horizon.


    She gazed out, thinking about the path her life was taking. Her mind went back to her previous life, and found it hard to focus on her memories of being Sarah.


    A faint recollection of a bedroom she had when she was younger took her away from the water. She found herself standing in front of the dresser and searching the collection of knick knacks upon it. The odd figures and random shiny items she had been enamored with as a kid stood proud.


    Turning, she saw herself in the mirror. The first time she had really seen herself in her new body. Her mouth opened and she couldn¡¯t help but raise her hands to her face. It was hers, but it was her face after it had been enhanced and tanned. She felt the soft skin and sharp lines of her face, it was just as sensitive as her real body had been. She found the spot under her chin that always gave her goosebumps when someone ran their hand softly across it, and the skin pricked up like she expected.


    Her bronze eyes gleamed in the bright light of memory, the flecks of silver around the center shimmering. A hint of flame danced at the edges of her eyes, wisping slightly and keeping the tails mostly transparent.


    Cherrywood brown hair tied up into a tight bun on top of her head was the metaphorical cherry on top of her character. She was already forgetting that she could barely remember her past, SarthDarah was distracted with the possibilities of her future.


    She woke, still feeling the swaying of the ship beneath her. She also felt the pillow-like muscle of someone''s thigh under her head. Opening her eyes, SarthDarah was met with a close up view of Jorn¡¯s crotch. She quickly turned over to face the other way, nearly face planting herself into Duerlin¡¯s legs.


    SarthDarah twisted, sitting up and looking around. Jorn was sleeping with his legs straight out and torso against the wooden wall. His soft snores echoed in the room and relaxed SarthDarah a little. They were still in the prison cell, and they must have all ended up curled up on the floor sleeping. Jorn was too tall and had to sleep sitting up.


    Duerlin had his legs crossed over Jorn¡¯s shins and was silently snoozing next to her. He had one hand draped over SarthDarah¡¯s leg and seemed to be trying to reach for something with the other.


    ¡°You all look comfortable.¡± Kuru¡¯s voice sounded out.


    SarthDarah spun, looking for her, but saw only the darkness of the ship''s belly. Duerlin¡¯s hand had stopped moving, almost like he heard the voice and froze in reaction. Jorn let out a snore that echoed softly throughout the whole chamber.


    ¡°Where are you?¡± SarthDarah asked quietly.


    ¡°In the captain¡¯s quarters. The young girl became much more receptive of me after we talked and had a meal.¡±


    ¡°How are you there, and talking to us?¡±


    ¡°With words of course.¡± The sarcastic reply was followed by muffled giggles.


    SarthDarah felt like punching the woman, of course simple questions get simple answers. Kuru enjoyed toying with people a little too much, at least that¡¯s what SarthDarah thought.


    ¡°You can¡¯t get me out of this cell with any of those words, can you?¡±


    There was a moment of silence before she heard the response. Listening for it this time, SarthDarah realized that the voice was coming from inside her own head.


    ¡°No, the princess of a pirate captain refuses to let any of us go as of this moment. What I really needed was to get you aware of the next move I plan to make. Sit still and listen for a moment; and don¡¯t worry about including the overstuffed bag of muscles, or the one of anxiety, in on all the details. They¡¯ll play along and do what they need to do better if they just stick with following our lead.¡± Kuru seemed annoyed by the tones in her voice.


    SarthDarah was already giving herself to Kuru, so why should she question any of what she said at this point? Jorn would stand as a shield for her, she knew that much already. The big man had happily attached himself to her when he saved her in that field. SarthDarah smiled as the memory intruded into her thoughts.


    ¡°Cute, no stop that and pay attention.¡± Kuru¡¯s voice squashed out the memory from her mind''s eye; and replaced it with one of when SarthDarah first met her as a guild associate wearing a suit jacket. ¡°The captain was willing to talk. She wants the federation movement canceled and the empire that invited them to this planet brought to justice. The collapse and restructuring of a society is never easy, but stopping Mistress, that is next to impossible. We need an excuse to make the Federation High Council believe this planet is no longer worth their while. The captain has also given us a small lead to that goal, but it would be incredibly dangerous and she refuses to answer me fully on what that information might actually be.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just connect to her soul like you did with ours? Or the way you do with all of those souls inside you?¡± SarthDarah felt a whip of pain in her head as she thought out those words.


    ¡°No, and I said don¡¯t interrupt. I need you three to all be ready to go at any given moment. If this girl refuses me again over breakfast, we go on my signal. Subdue the people, there¡¯s only two on board who are of any danger. The crocodiles are another issue, but if Jorn is capable of fighting back this time he should be able to hold them in the narrow halls. Duerlin is your way out, his blade is more of a master key then he realizes. I think if he survives I can grant him more knowledge in how to use it, maybe that will cement his soul a little better. Either way¡­¡± Kuru trailed off.


    SarthDarah sat in silence for a moment longer. Her mind focused on visualizing Kuru. The dark hair, and piercing eyes. The way her smile had kindled a warmth in the cold body she now resided in. Kuru had brought her here, and as much as SarthDarah wanted to say it was against her will to be dropped into a new body on a distant world, she couldn¡¯t.


    Sarah had wanted to escape her reality, SarthDarah was her answer.


    ¡°She coming in, be attentive and wake the other two.¡±


    SarthDarah blinked, her heart racing as she realized that at any moment now she would be fighting for her life. She kicked Duerlins hand away as it started to travel up and down her calf. He must have finally caught whatever he was chasing in his dream. SarthDarah briefly wondered if she looked like that when she chased things in her dreams.


    ¡°Wake up!¡± She shouted, hoping to alarm them into action.


    Duerlin blinked a few times, never getting his eyes open more than a few millimeters, before rolling away from her and closing them again. Jorn¡¯s soft snore turned into a snort. He coughed and choked for a moment before returning to the steady rhythm of sleep.


    While they were sitting, SarthDarah realized she was level with the man for the first time. She was sitting up straight as an arrow and he slouched down the wall and was bent at a forty-five degree angle, but they were eye to eye. She watched as the big man took in a huge gulp of breath, and just as he went to let it out in a soft snore, she punched him square in the solar plexus.


    ¡°Ppwhhhaaaa!!¡± Jorn let out all the air in a rage of noise, then started gasping for air.


    His body found it couldn¡¯t take any in for a few moments. SarthDarah smirked and looked over at Duerlin, who¡¯s eyes had cracked open and turned to look at what had just happened.


    ¡°Up, or your next.¡± SarthDarah challenged.


    ¡°I¡¯m up! I¡¯m good to go. Where¡¯s the fire?¡± Duerlin was twisting around and trying to find which way gravity was pulling on him as the ship continued to sway.


    SarthDarah¡¯s head was yanked backwards as Jorn grabbed her by the hair. Even though it was short, he got a hold and pulled hard.


    ¡°Not cool, could¡¯ve just poked me in the face, or maybe said something?¡± Jorn was still panting out in long gasping breaths.


    ¡°I did say something. And from where I woke up, I felt you deserved the punch.¡± SarthDarah gritted her teeth, she could pull away, but she didn¡¯t want to lose half her head of hair.


    ¡°Where you woke up? You had been sitting in a trance for hours before I finally fell asleep sitting here.¡± Jorn let her go.


    SarthDarah twisted away as she stood up. She managed to find her feet much quicker than Duerlin.


    Had she fallen over onto the man herself? She had assumed they had pressed her between them on purpose. From the looks of Duerlin and his active sleeping, he probably had rolled around the entire cage during the night.


    ¡°Sorry, I jumped to an assumption. Kuru is trying to make a deal with the pirates. It sounded like it wouldn¡¯t go well, so she said to be ready.¡±


    ¡°Ready for what?¡± Both men replied.


    ¡°Taking the ship.¡±

 Chapter 17

    ¡°Admiral, we are ready to launch the landing ships. Approximately eighteen minutes of atmosphere burn is expected. We should land near the main capital, or if you wish to wait we can land near the outskirts of the island chain that houses the resisting population.¡±


    The report came clear in his head. Admiral Griffon knew that voice as well as his own. His second in command, Vice Admiral Sophia, had groomed the commanders for the Federation¡¯s Naval fleets for years under his supervision. They shared a goal to unite and chart all the planets that came under Federation control.


    Planet Tios was just another on the list, but the quirky little planet had a monster problem that required the main command vessel of the Federation¡¯s Navy to lead the defense. They had delegates on the planet dealing with the native population. The governments and states would all be absorbed together and left to be representatives of their people in the Galactic Federation.


    ¡°I¡¯m ready to go. I have a feeling this will get messy if we don¡¯t hurry.¡± Admiral Griffon responded in his gruff and gravelly voice.


    He stood from his position on the bridge, but stopped as he caught sight of a flashing purple light. The quick pulse of light was a portal made by the heir of Mistress Nyx, he knew her dramatic entrances all too well.


    ¡°No, wait. We have business on the far side of the planet. The pirates have captured one of my subordinates.¡± Hizumi was stalking up to Admiral Griffon as if she had heard the mental communication he had just sent.


    ¡°What do I care? There are people I am actually being tasked with inside the capital city. If you hadn¡¯t noticed, they''re about to be attacked. The Minotaur horde is breaking through the defenses in the mountain pass. Whatever happened to let them free of the labyrinth underneath the surface is an omen. We planned an evacuation of as many citizens as we could manage to carry, currently we are about halfway through the population. I have six more ships that will arrive in one rotation; if there are any remaining survivors, well, they¡¯ll be tasked with rounding them up.¡±


    Hizumi smirked.


    ¡°Already planning a heroic last stand and withdrawal? How noble of you, Sir Griffon.¡± She bowed in a mocking gesture.


    ¡°What are you planning? Without the Federation forces stepping in, which we cannot do, these people will be slaughtered.¡±


    ¡°I have my troops already on the ground. They¡¯ve already saved one village, that the capital city then bombed to make the excuse to call you in. They said an unknown monster attacked and devastated the coastline, right?¡±


    Admiral Griffon nodded, then returned to his seat. Hizumi followed suit and found a seat in the empty technicians chair nearest the Admiral. He stared at her, his eyes trying to bore into her thoughts.


    ¡°My subordinate was there, along with what was two thousand freshly mobilized troops. She is now down to eight, losing most of them defending the village they had set up base in. Only four or five of them are fighters, the rest are support and medics.¡±


    ¡°You think they are capable of leading a resistance against the horde?¡±


    ¡°I think they beat the pants off those cows, then turn into legends by the local civilians, who then deify those who lead them. We save them, and instead of making them refugees looking for new home worlds, we save their home as well.¡±


    ¡°You want me to attack pirates, to save a rogue band of would be heroes. All on the off chance that they succeed and somehow¡­ what? You expect to take control of this planet somehow?¡±


    Hizumi winked at him, gave him a wishy washy sign with her hands, then laughed. Admiral Griffon sighed, running a hand up and down his face. He had suffered many crazy fools, but Hizumi would somehow always find ways to make him exasperated.


    The girl was powerful, and extremely smart; but her unhinged behavior made it impossible to tell who she really played for. Mistress Nyx touted her as the next savior of the universe. Her tutors spoke highly of her intellect, but reprimanded her attention span and tardiness.


    Admiral Griffon had spent much to learn more about her, and a lot of others in the higher ranks of the Federation. To his constant annoyance however, nothing more could be found out beyond her general information. She was as protected as the Mistress was.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want the planet, it¡¯s very sparse on resources. The people aren¡¯t even that talented in production. As far as I¡¯m concerned, they could be refugees and I¡¯d just let them go. I¡¯m here because I see a favorable way to spin a story for the future. If we save this meaningless planet, all the rest that are better off feel reassured we would do the same for them.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a propaganda message then.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. What I get out of it is a team of well known heroes that I can then send to save other planets.¡±


    There was a pause, and several minutes went by before the Admiral spoke. The quiet tension that had built between them was almost a palpable thing. The command deck had been emptied a while before Hizumi arrived, the Admiral remaining to oversee logistics.


    ¡°Stand down, we wait for the second landing option.¡±


    Hizumi smiled and nodded her head. Vice Admiral Sophia strolled out from behind the station Hizumi sat at. She had been a shadow until she moved away.


    ¡°Sophia, nice for you to stop skulking.¡± Hizumi said with sweet malice.


    ¡ª


    ¡°You wish for me to work with you, yet you hide your intentions.¡± Pirate Captain Queen spoke with barely veiled contempt.


    Kuru dabbed at her mouth with a napkin, cleaning the small smug of sauce that was left behind by her latest bite. The meal before her was extravagant given that they were at sea. She had pulled it from another place, leaving all the cooks in awe as she put their potato soups and cabbage salads to shame.


    Kuru feasted upon glazed hams and roasted fowls. She stacked desserts high enough on her plate that she could hide her face, then laughed as the little girl across from her tried and failed to stop a bit of saliva from drooling out of her mouth. The best piece of confectionery pastry was what confirmed Kuru¡¯s suspicion that the girl was a living vessel.


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    How such a young girl on this remote planet was gifted such a thing was beyond her. Kuru simply needed to recruit her before the fireworks really started. The other side of the planet would be nearing mass confusion and panic by the setting of this planet''s star. The Minotaur horde that she helped unleash would be stampeding into the outskirts of the capital cities farmlands by now.


    Her smile grew as she thought of what would come next. If Hizumi had predicted it right, the Federation would send in Naval help to evacuate the citizens. Then the commanders would be sent in to lead a counter charge to repel the horde, if possible. Kuru knew they would ultimately fail at the endeavor.


    It would force them to take along any survivors and withdraw. The Minotaur horde would destroy anything left, then move on to try and find other pockets of life. Since there would be none other than the ocean-going pirate clans, they would eventually return to the labyrinth underground. Hizumi could come back and seal them up again, and then restore a population under her favor here.


    Kuru was all for it, but she didn¡¯t want to be left behind. So she called for extraction, and was told to sit tight. Hizumi would arrive and provide backup, and implied that she thought the plan needed her direct oversight to be finished.


    After losing one thousand and ninety three of two thousand vessels might have led her to mistrust their reliability. Would this end the vessel project if they couldn¡¯t get the job done? Or did Hizumi suddenly have a change in plans for Tios?


    ¡°And you continue to ignore me!¡± Queen smashed the table that Kuru had stacked her food upon.


    It shattered and scraps went flying in all directions. Kuru didn¡¯t flinch, nor did she respond in any way. She finished her thoughts, then looked about at all the spilled food.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t waste, isn¡¯t that an important rule for ocean sailors?¡±


    The pirate growled and in a flash of rage shifted slightly. Kuru saw the scales emerge and the sharp teeth try to jut through.


    ¡°You are not amusing. I will not let your friends out if you continue to ignore and belittle me.¡±


    ¡°Forgive me. It seemed you had no intention of letting us live in the first place, so I was simply trying to have a last, proper meal. You have not answered many of my questions either. You have deflected or avoided all of them.¡±


    The little girl pulled at her face and made grunting sounds. She was on the verge of letting the animal spirit take over. The vessel seemed to house two souls, one dominant and the other a sub that only showed itself when the girl¡¯s emotions ran wild.


    ¡°For the last time, I don¡¯t know what vessel you want or think I have. There are no outsiders living among my population, I had them all drowned or eaten. None of my people want what the Federation offers.¡±


    ¡°The Federation offers a peaceful transition to a world that can flourish in a Galactic union with other planets that have also joined.¡±


    ¡°I,¡± Queen gestured around at the other people in the cabin. ¡°We don''t want it.¡±


    ¡°Very well. Then we can offer solitude. There is a way to make a deal that leaves your planet off the map.¡±


    The Captain perked up at this. Kuru noted how her fidgeting and noises stopped for a moment. Then she moved in agitation again.


    ¡°You lie.¡±


    ¡°I do.¡± Kuru giggled. ¡°You must have an amazing sense if you could pick that one out.¡±


    ¡°You smiled without your eyes moving. It was a trap if I agreed.¡±


    ¡°We cannot leave you without oversight. While you¡¯d live here without outside influence, we would still monitor and inspect your growth from time to time.¡±


    ¡°Cruel, leaving us like cattle or a hatchery. Then inspecting the spawn as if they would be a science experiment. I should just kill you, but how can I prove I want peace if I give into the bloodlust? Kuru, of Federation affiliation, I sentence you to prisoner duty for the next decade. We need a talented salt miner, looks like we found four. My second and third captain¡¯s also report prisoners to send to the camps. How many of you were left?¡±


    Kuru paused, if the others were on the other ships¡­ She wondered how many truly were left. Last count she had was nearly a dozen. The souls were harder to track now that she had severed them from their host bodies. Each was now soul bound in their vessel; well, all but one.


    Her attachment to them was faint, but she felt at least eight of them nearby. The other ships must be within a few miles. Was there anyone left on the mainland?


    ¡°We had over a thousand left, just a small handful of us came to inspect your ships.¡± Her lie rolled off smoothly.


    ¡°You rotten dirty¡­¡± The curse words from the little girl''s mouth showed she was very deserving of the sailors title.


    ¡°Well then, might I be returned to my team?¡± Kuru waited for her rant to end and then simply wanted to end this.


    ¡°No.¡± was her answer.


    Below decks, three sailors were opening the doors to the cell SarthDarah, Jorn, and Duerlin were in. They led them up to the main deck, then tied their chains tight to the storm anchors in the decking.


    SarthDarah was forced to kneel with her arms tied far out in front of her and her legs underneath her. Jorn had each arm splayed to either side of him, and his ankles tied in a way that made him sit cross legged. Duerlin was strapped against the mast, his arms tied together high above his head and feet strapped tightly to the wooden trunk.


    Kuru saw out of the cabin''s window that her new crew was strapped to the deck. She was about ready to end the farce of them being prisoners. She needed to confirm the position of the other ships first, and how many other allies she would have if possible.


    ¡°I have a deal to make with a third party. The only party that I trust to take care of off worlders like your group.¡±


    Kuru blinked, what third party could she be talking about?


    The horizon was suddenly broken by the outline of another ship. A massive one, the banners still too far away to make out clearly.


    ¡°Ah, time to negotiate.¡±


    ¡ª


    ¡°You know the leader of those pirates?¡±


    ¡°Yes, they are not pirates. They are natives that choose to live independently. The governments of the main cities of this world branded them pirates for not wanting to go along with the centralization needed to join the Federation. They blame them for Tios not gaining immediate approval.¡±


    ¡°They weren¡¯t granted approval because their delegate asked for outrageous loans and don¡¯t have the resources to back up the payments. It¡¯s a bankrupt world from the start, who would approve of that?¡±


    Admiral Griffon nodded. Hizumi knew what she was talking about. She just didn¡¯t understand that the reality was they scapegoated the easiest targets every chance they got. Societies that used this philosophy never got far.


    ¡°She can be reasoned with?¡±


    ¡°I should be able to talk some sense into her. The people rallied behind her because she was willing to do whatever it took to keep the influence of the Federation out of Tios. She is still a young girl, but very wise and experienced because of what she has gone through.¡±


    They fell quiet, letting the sound of the atmosphere burn soothe them. Hizumi relaxed, knowing there was still a chance her plan for Tios could still work. Admiral Griffon sat stiffly as the ship descended towards the island chain. Vice Admiral Sophia sat quietly to the rear of the ship, tapping at a data pad that had number charts scrolling across it.


    The ship rattled, then slowed harshly as the parachute deployed to slow their speed. Hizumi looked out of the window, watching as a mountain range sank out of sight on the horizon.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention me to any of them.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention you?¡± The Admiral sounded confused.


    ¡°I need them to do this on their own. If they can accomplish their task without my interference, the grander the story will be.¡±


    ¡°I see. Will you still remain here?¡±


    Hizumi hummed for a moment. Then shook her head in the negative. She didn¡¯t want the Admiral to think she was around and give her away somehow.

 Chapter 18

    SarthDarah felt ridiculous being tied up as she was. She had only come and gone along with this because she was told to wait for Kuru¡¯s command. None had come.


    ¡°Psst. Jorn, what¡¯s happening? I can''t see.¡±


    The big man leaned down closer to where her head was. SarthDarah could hear the chains clink as he moved. The deck pitched sideways just as Jorn started to speak.


    ¡°There¡¯s¡­¡± He cut off to restrain himself from vomiting as the ship rocked. ¡°There is¡­ oh god, I hate being on the open ocean. New ship, getting closer. Me closing eyes now.¡±


    SarthDarah rolled her eyes at his grammar and weak stomach. She could only see the wooden floorboards of the ship''s deck. The chains pulled tight and forced her to sway along with the ship.


    The waves had been getting more and more violent since they came to the top of the ship. Below decks had made it seem like it was barely moving, now SarthDarah felt like she was swaying like a pendulum. Duerlin was tied upright, but far enough away they couldn¡¯t talk without yelling.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± She had to ask, the desperation coming out clearly.


    ¡°We wait, hope it¡¯s not a slave ship. They might just kill us if we try to fight back.¡± Jorn sounded better with his eyes closed.


    The big man was swaying against the motions of the boat, trying to keep his head steady above his body. Out of the corner of her eye, it looked like the worst reverse bobble head impersonation Sarah had ever seen. She snorted a laugh, then couldn¡¯t help but burst into all out laughter.


    ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± Duerlin yelled from the center of the ship.


    A few guards turned to look at them. They didn¡¯t look like much of a threat to her. SarthDarah had let them lead her up here and tie her down because she was waiting for Kuru¡¯s signal. She was going to trust that the time was about right, and do something crazy.


    SarthDarah kept laughing, her scheme coming into her mind as quickly as she could think it through. Her laugh went from belly laughs at Jorn¡¯s confused face, to a maniacal imitation of what she had heard from Kuru in her nightmares.


    The guards backed up a step, unnerved by the sound. SarthDarah laughed even more, seeing her plan working with such ease. One of the men turned and ran for the command deck, screaming about the lunatic prisoner.


    ¡°Sarth? You good?¡± Jorn sounded genuinely concerned.


    SarthDarah panted out a few more laughs, then stopped as quickly as she had started. She took a few long, deep breaths. Then her eyes glowed as fire flared around them. It licked up to her ears and left wisping trails of sparks flying away from her head.


    The intense heat was what made Jorn open his eyes. He blinked a few times, not expecting the bright light that SarthDarah was generating all around her body. His eyes went wide as he saw what she was doing.


    ¡°Sarth! Wait, I¡¯m still chained to the ship!¡± Jorn squirmed, feeling the warmth grow more and more around him.


    ¡°Just sit still, don¡¯t be a baby.¡± SarthDarah¡¯s voice was deeper, darker.


    Her fire burned, melting the chains away from her wrists and ankles. It didn¡¯t consume the ship, but the metal fizzed away as it was vaporized in her presence. She reached out for Jorn, caressing his arms and pulling the chains tight, before incinerating his bindings as well.


    ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± Jorn fell speechless as she helped him stand.


    SarthDarah had been pushed to the breaking point. She wasn¡¯t a slave; and didn¡¯t agree to end her past life just to be killed so suddenly in this one. She could feel the power in her body. The core upgrades she had simply been aware of before, now felt like another limb to her.


    The power generator had a throttle to it, she could boost her speed and her mana generation with it. The fire she had been careless with before was still burning bright, but she contained and compressed it. SarthDarah could feel the increase in heat and what she could do with it; as well as the control and how much she could tame it.


    Burning those that tried to keep her down, freeing those that would stand with her. Lighting the way for the ones that she owed her loyalty to. SarthDarah was ready to take down this pirate and anyone else that stood in her or Kuru¡¯s way. She would be the spark that lit the signal here.


    ¡°Jorn, get Duerlin down.¡±


    SarthDarah was already moving toward the crowd of guards and sailors gathering near the door leading below decks. They were running, again. SarthDarah wanted to bellow out in rage, but bit her tongue and settled for a confused glare. She had sauntered up to the guard that pulled her and the others up to the main decks moments before he could disappear below.


    The man was muscled, tanned with bleached blonde hair. His outfit was stained with so many different colors that SarthDarah wondered for a moment if it was the only set of clothes the man owned. He was reaching for the railing, the last of the crew still on the main deck. SarthDarah¡¯s show of exploding into a burning rage monster had sent them all running as fast as they could.


    ¡°Why are you in such a hurry to run away? You do realize you all simply cornered yourselves down there. I could simply incinerate the top decks, and you would all suffocate or drown.¡±


    The man looked her in the eyes, unfazed by her threat. He didn¡¯t seem frightened at all, just in a hurry to be out of the way.


    ¡°Death is not so bad, once you get to know him anyway. You should be more worried about the Captain, than me.¡± His accented voice was clear, and he was hustling his way down the stairs before SarthDarah could blink.


    The Captain, what was she going to do with that little punk of a girl? Last time she had rushed at her and been made a fool of. This time, this time she needed to remain calm.


    Jorn had untied the rope holding Duerlin aloft. They both watched and waited as SarthDarah confronted the last of the crew. Her body was glowing brightly and her eyes bellowed flames out to the sides of her face. The reds and oranges left trails of embers flowing away from her face, giving the Illusion of a bonfire burning into the sky from either side of her head.


    ¡°What now? Do we attack the captain, or wait for the other ship to arrive?¡± Duerlin asked.


    Jorn looked back out to the open sea, held his breath for a moment, then shook his head. He held up a finger to indicate for Duerlin to give him a moment to collect his stomach.


    ¡°Oh god, I hate the water. Still, we can¡¯t let that ship catch us. We need to either get Kuru to teleport us or steal this ship and flee.¡±


    ¡°She can¡¯t port us if we don¡¯t free her. The captain won¡¯t just sit by while we attempt to rescue her.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ attack the captain?¡±


    ¡°Let me lead, try and catch Sarth¡¯s eye quick.¡±


    Jorn looked back to where SarthDarah had been; but the door leading below was suddenly full, and SarthDarah was fighting off half a dozen crocodiles. Jorn just tapped Duerlin¡¯s arm a few times. A muttered string of curse words in a different language followed.


    Kuru was watching the start of the little resistance SarthDarah was attempting. The timing was almost right, that girl was as impatient as she was hot. Kuru¡¯s smile was at odds with the seriousness of the situation, but she knew in the end it was just a game, a test.


    ¡°You¡¯re awfully confident for someone about to lose three more companions.¡±


    ¡°You are extremely calm for a captain about to lose her ship.¡±


    They looked at each other, each smiling broadly. One dark haired and pulsing with an exotic uniqueness. The other''s dark green skin visibly changing to harden and thicken the scales.


    ¡°I will lose nothing.¡± The girl leaped, and was gone from sight.


    ¡°Check¡­¡± Kuru whispered as she alone remained at the large steering wheel.


    SarthDarah was actually enjoying herself. Battle seemed to be a source of exhilaration for her. It made sense, she had always enjoyed the new games she got to try out. This was just a hyper realistic one, her brain still had problems telling her this was actually real. The idea that she was actually able to bend fire around her was more boggling than the feats of superhuman strength she was displaying.


    The crocodiles were large, massive and weighed enough to crush her easily. Or they would have crushed a normal body her size, any real person should have died over and over. SarthDarah just continued on, pummeling the crocs with as much ferocity as they showed her.


    Two of them already lay dead, her flaming fists had caved in the skull on one, and the torso of the other. Scorch marks left the hides of numerous others scared and hesitant to attack her. They had all launched without thought at first, but now they were wary of the girl with the flaming fists.


    The crocodile that SarthDarah was wrestling with currently had a long and powerful body. The dark green scales were peppered with burn marks but didn¡¯t slow the movements of the crocodile. She rolled with it, punching over and over with her free left hand.


    The crocodile let out a guttural hissing sound, then twisted hard the opposite way. SarthDarah felt her right arm crack as it was pulled away from her. She let out a sharp cry of pain, then following the roll instead of fighting it, she landed atop the beast.


    ¡°Die!¡± She shouted, holding her now broken right arm above herself.


    Before she could bring down the Napalm Strike, two loud thuds interrupted her. Keeping the attack at the ready, and holding the crocodile still with her left hand, SarthDarah looked up to see which of the others had dared to try and stop her.


    She didn''t see a crocodile there next to her, she saw two bodies. Each lying prone and eyes closed. The Pirate Captain standing above them, her green scaled skin gleaming in the sunlight.


    ¡°Stand down.¡± The command made SarthDarah¡¯s rage boil all over again.


    ¡°Or what?¡± SarthDarah growled, her fists clenching even tighter.


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    The crocodile under her hissed, not menacing, but pleadingly. It had turned to face the Captain and it was making soft and long cries at her. Begging?


    SarthDarah looked back at the girl, noticing that her glare had softened as her eyes moved to the beast under SarthDarah. The command had been one not simply out of authority, but of desperation. This girl cared more for this beast than for the lives of other humans. It almost made SarthDarah snarl, and she was about to follow through with her attack.


    ¡°Wait!¡± A rasping male voice shouted out.


    The crocodile in her hand suddenly became light and soft. The shirt she now held up was around a young boy rather than a scaly beast. Her eyes went wide as she took in the frail, dusty blonde haired kid.


    SarthDarah drew inward for a moment, reflecting on herself and her decisions. What had she fucked up to get to this point?


    She was holding a boy, on a pirate ship, on an alien world, in a new body, while her eyes and fists glowed with fire. Wasn¡¯t she a normal person? Someone who just enjoyed nature and fantasy. Sarah had wanted adventure, but SarthDarah had always been on the side of good. Was a good person really capable of killing another person just because?


    And when that someone was important enough to make a crocodile stare down with sadness, SarthDarah couldn¡¯t do it. She let go of the boy and turned to the Captain. The bodies of Jorn and Duerlin lay motionless in between them.


    ¡°What did you do to them?¡±


    ¡°They''re alive, for now. If you don¡¯t stand down and return to your shackles¡­¡±


    The girl trailed off, smirking a little at the implied threat. SarthDarah stood, letting the crocodile boy scamper away on his hands and knees.


    ¡°Fine.¡± Her fire went out as she stood. ¡°I won¡¯t be your slave though, we are leaving.¡±


    ¡°And where would you go? There¡¯s nothing out here but us, and maybe a swimmer that would use ya as a quick meal if you venture out inta open waters.¡±


    SarthDarah looked around, scanning the horizon quickly. Water, water, and more water. There were the other ships within jumping distance for her, but that didn¡¯t get her anywhere. Could she out swim a shark or whatever lived in these waters? Probably not.


    She took a stance, widening her feet and squaring her shoulders. SarthDarah wouldn¡¯t harm the boy; but the Captain was in her way, and she knew how strong that little girl really was. Her fire reignited, her eyes blazing and sharpening on her target.


    ¡°You get one warning.¡±


    The girl did nothing. SarthDarah relit her flames.


    ¡°Move.¡± SarthDarah¡¯s voice was flat, but clearly sent the message.


    Captain Queen blinked at her words, not sure what to make of it. She couldn¡¯t truly think of running? Where would they go? The Minotaur¡¯s envoy was almost here anyway, if they started fighting now¡­


    SarthDarah¡¯s lunging strike cut that thought off. The flame passed right by the Captain¡¯s ear. If she hadn¡¯t moved at the last second, reacting only by instinct and not because she saw the attack, that blow could have scorched her face.


    ¡°You have no idea what your impatience is going to cost.¡± The growl was more beast than girl, as the Captain exploded into motion.


    Her body twisted as she lunged at SarthDarah. The elongated fangs looked like someone took a blender and ran the blades at max speed without the cup on. SarthDarah didn¡¯t have time to dodge.


    The Pirate Captain was in a hybrid form, larger now with scales all over her body. SarthDarah¡¯s brain was taking in the movements of the Captain like she was watching a stop motion film. A blink of light and teeth cut across her left flank.


    Pain and searing heat was all she could feel. The flames weren¡¯t burning her, but they were sealing the wound she had just received. The blood had not even managed to start spurting out before the heat seared her closed.


    Her robe now torn, SarthDarah turned and let it flutter away. The Pirate crocodile bitch had just about killed her with that attack. She could not let another one land. Her broken right arm was numb, but she could manipulate it somewhat through will and effort alone.


    SarthDarah the Badass would not end herself here to this little girl.


    ¡°You get one more chance, stand down.¡± The words came out raspy and harsh, but clear enough that SarthDarah knew she would not aim to maim this time.


    With a large intake of breath, and a little spark of insanity, SarthDarah let her smile turn manic. Her power generator kicked into overdrive and sent her yellow and red flames into a frenzy. The heat tripled, then doubled again, as the flames turned blue then white, finally settling on a silver core around her body with trails of deep crimson.


    The ship creaked and whined at the sudden outburst of power. Waves rocked away from them and out over the nearby vessels. The sun that had been trailing overhead suddenly looked dim in comparison to the Porosus. The black flag that had been flying so valiantly, blossomed with heat and vaporized under the intense rush of flame.


    For the first time since they had been on the ship, SarthDarah saw the Pirate balk. SarthDarah took a step forward, then another, watching as the Pirate Captain took a step back. Jorn¡¯s body was the first she came to, he was breathing long and deep. Duerlin seemed to be in the same condition. SarthDarah accepted that they would be fine so long as she pushed the Captain back and kept the fighting away from where they were.


    ¡°Do you really think I¡¯d stand down? Do you not know who I am? No, you can¡¯t know me yet I suppose.¡± It was an odd feeling, to be the one giving a monologue. ¡°But soon your whole world is going to know me.¡±


    SarthDarah didn¡¯t know where the bravado came from, but it felt empowering. Her emotions had settled on calmness of all things. This was just another boss fight, she was already past the fear of any surprise the Pirate Captain had once had over her. Her anger at the usage of her life as a testing tool had boiled over when she saw Jorn and Duerlin laying on the deck.


    This was the ultimatum the little girl had chosen to throw down, SarthDarah would rise to exceed that challenge.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to let us off this ship, or it will be at the bottom of the sea.¡±


    The Captain didn¡¯t even blink, she took the threat to her ship as a clear sign that this deal wasn¡¯t worth leaving this disrespectful flame sprite alive. She would tear her in half as she plunged the impudent trespasser into the depths to sink to her new home.


    SarthDarah was burning, letting her flames grow higher and brighter. When the attack came, the girl had to force her way through a burst of hot air. They met fist to fist and SarthDarah had to throw up her left arm to block a twisting kick that nearly took her head off.


    Flames erupted out of her blocking arm and a rush of wind roared the flames to a frenzy around them both. Whirlwinds of crimson swirled around in circles, rising up to the center and making it look like they stood inside a whirling blender. Teeth flashed and SarthDarah was forced to break away from the girl or lose her arm.


    She didn¡¯t separate far enough however, and the sudden flash of a scaly tail blocked out her vision. The blow was solid, and SarthDarah was forced to take a few steps back to steady her balance. As soon as she was standing still, SarthDarah reeled her right fist back and let a huge ball of crimson flame coalesce in it.


    ¡°Crimson Star!!¡± The shout felt natural as she released the condensed energy.


    A jet of blood red flame exploded out from her punch aimed straight at the Captain. Silver flame and rising heat waves followed it, causing it to look like a momentary bright red shooting star. The Captain, unable to avoid the attack, twisted and took the blow on her shoulder.


    It seared into her scales, marking the first attack SarthDarah dealt actual damage with. It had only taken her getting serious and pushing her new body to its upper limits. SarthDarah didn¡¯t feel like it was going too far yet, the power generator in her was humming along happily. A melody began intruding in her head, not distracting enough to take her focus away from the fight; but almost as an accompaniment to help sync her body and modifications.


    The flare died away, leaving SarthDarah standing ready to continue, and the Pirate curled up and laying still. The trap was clear, the Captain had only taken a glancing blow. SarthDarah was forced to shoot her star slightly upwards, or risk damaging this ship or the other about to dock in at their starboard side.


    Her body was still humming, the pain of the broken and battered parts of her just added to it. She was relieved to see the other ship coming had a familiar face riding aboard it. Anunt, healer and caster of the skill Starburst, barely waited long enough for the ships to bump gently into each other before leaping over.


    ¡°I am sure glad to see you.¡± SarthDarah raised her broken arm a little before letting it fall limp.


    ¡°You reckless fool¡­¡± Anunt raced over and gently took SarthDarah¡¯s arm in her hands. ¡°Let me see that.¡±


    The feeling of cool water running down her arm soothed away the pain, and it took a moment before SarthDarah realized she hadn¡¯t let her flame aura down. With Anunt standing inside her aura, and now physically handling her, she felt the need to turn it off.


    With a look at the Captain, who still hadn¡¯t moved, she relaxed her body. The flames whirled upwards into the air as they dissipated. A bright sunny, cloudless sky remained. A sudden gust of air blew a chill across SarthDarah¡¯s neck.


    Looking to the opposite horizon, another ship was sailing towards them. It was getting close, and it had a massive bull skull flag flying above it. The crimson and white bone shape stood out plainly against the darkening sky behind that ship. The wind was blowing it all right at them.


    ¡°No time to reprimand me now. How much longer do you need with my arm?¡±


    Anunt glared at her like she was being asked to get naked and roll around in the pig stables.


    ¡°Give me two minutes, then you can go get yourself nearly killed again. Then I will put you back together, and gain tons of experience from sewing an arm where a leg should go.¡± Her look made her statement sound deadly serious.


    SarthDarah swallowed hard, then put on a smile before saying.


    ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t realize you had wanted to become the Pirates¡¯ slave. Looks like they''re selling us to the bull people coming in on the next ship. Ever healed someone that¡¯s been raped by a bull?¡±


    ¡°No, and I wasn¡¯t saying I wanted to be sold off. Just try not to get yourself mangled in the process of saving all of us. I can only do so much before you lose functionality.¡±


    ¡°Deal, wasn¡¯t as fun as advertised anyway. Think we can get away before the Captain decides to stop faking it? Or before the other ship gets here?¡±


    Anunt shook her head. SarthDarah didn¡¯t think so either. She looked around at the ship¡¯s deck. A few large ballistae set to the sides and two cannons at the prow. The masts and sails took up most of the rest of the main deck. The walkthrough doors leading below and the large opening right in front of the steering deck were the only ways below decks.


    ¡°I think you should fight, we just got our reinforcements.¡± Kuru¡¯s voice came from right behind SarthDarah. ¡°The Minotaur commander won¡¯t accept no. He came for slaves, and if that is what this little girl promised, that is what he will expect.¡±


    Kuru waited for SarthDarah to turn to meet her eyes, then made a meaningful eye movement towards the Captain and then down to the deck. SarthDarah thought about it, then sighed heavily. The crew members below would end up being the slaves if they left.


    ¡°You want me to fight a minotaur?¡± SarthDarah¡¯s voice was a mix of exasperation and excitement.


    ¡°No, well, yes. There¡¯s more than one. It will be the whole ship of them.¡±


    SarthDarah¡¯s eyes went wide.


    ¡°That excited, are you?¡± Kuru purred. ¡°There are eight of you, Anunt will remain here along with Lyria and myself. The rest of you should be ready to defend our ships. The Captain might be willing to help, but consider this my ship now. Take it as an order, and as the informal beginning of your new squad.¡±


    SarthDarah smiled, she knew she would eventually be taking orders from Kuru. It sounded like she had already commondered this ship. With Anunt and the others arriving from the other ships, it seemed they had overpowered the pirates easily enough. Now it was time to defend their booty.


    SarthDarah wasn¡¯t about to let a bunch of bullheaded freaks end her winning streak.


    When Anunt was done with her arm, she had quickly gone over to assist Jorn and Duerlin. While those two were being woken up, four others came to stand around SarthDarah and Kuru. A stout dwarven looking man that reminded SarthDarah of Maguura was playing softly on a lute.


    The dwarf noticed SarthDarah¡¯s stare and did a slight bow without stopping his music. A younger looking man with white hair and blue robes stood next to him. A smaller, winged woman with short black hair floated a few inches off the ground. She still only came to about shoulder height on the dwarf when she did this. Towering over all of them, even Jorn when he came to stand nearby, was the largest woman SarthDarah had ever seen.


    She had a long halberd that was nearly as tall as the giant woman herself. When she reached out to shake SarthDarah¡¯s hand, she actually had to bend down a little to be in a reasonable range to not accidentally lift SarthDarah off the ground.


    ¡°I am Lavia. Nice to meet you.¡± Her voice wasn¡¯t extremely loud, but it did have a noticeable rumble that SarthDarah expected could shake everything around her if Lavia got angry.


    ¡°Nice to meet you as well. I hope you¡¯re ready to use that thing.¡±


    SarthDarah shook the massive hand that was offered, then pointed at the halberd as she spoke. Lavia hefted it up and twirled it once above her head. It made a swooshing noise as the wind was ripped up and around Lavia.


    ¡°Of course. We all know what is at stake. I watched my friends get massacred by that plant thing. Your fire saved me, I wasn¡¯t able to save my friends, but you saved me. Now, I fight for you. If we are all stuck here, then I will do my best to make sure anything you need me to do, I do it.¡±


    The others all nodded their agreement to Lavia¡¯s statement. Even Jorn and Duerlin were smiling and nodding. SarthDarah looked to Kuru, who¡¯s eyes glittered with anticipation. She had her own squad, with fantastical powers, and a boat full of minotaurs to slaughter. SarthDarah pushed any thoughts of how her life used to be out of her mind, this was her new life and it was one heart racing encounter after another.


    It was time to see if the Pirate Captain would provide aid, or resistance.

 Chapter 19

    Three ships lay stationary upon the increasingly churning water. The bright light of the star above had been cut off by the gathering clouds. The wind that had been blowing steadily, now swirled and whirled in all directions around them.


    ¡°Queen? Are you done sulking yet?¡± Kuru¡¯s silky voice carried over the intensifying sea around them.


    The Pirate Captain didn¡¯t stir, she remained a huddled pile of scales and torn dress. The group of crew members remained huddled by the railing, almost as if they were already to leap down to the waters. SarthDarah had to assume they would, being crocodile shifters they would easily survive and swim back to their islands.


    It would only be a short time before the Minotaur¡¯s ship reached them. With the sudden change in the weather, none of them wanted to waste any time. Even the Pirate Captain seemed to feel this way, because she rose slowly after a moment more of silence.


    ¡°She could have killed you with that. Even your precious ship barely survived the blow; and I am quite certain that is only because she decided to not blow the whole thing to ashes. The enchantments to resist heat and decay were nearly overloaded, and remain barely active at this point. What happens if that ship opens fire on us?¡±


    Kuru had laid it all out plainly. Captain Queen shook her head, knowing that there was only one answer to that question.


    ¡°What do you think you can do? A small group of humanoids are no match for a naval vessel of the Minotaur''s.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t think us so weak.¡± Lavia cut in. ¡°We can handle a few bull headed chumps.¡±


    SarthDarah let out a grunt of laughter, her new squad mates seemed full of spunk and ready to go. The large lady stepped forward and came to stand in line with SarthDarah and Kuru. They faced the Pirate Captain with a definitive glare. It was their ship now, nothing Queen or her crew said would make a difference.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you weak, my need for submission is obvious. That does not change the fact that ye not be prepared for what is incoming.¡±


    ¡°We never got a chance to prepare for anything, yet here we are.¡± The white haired man said coolly.


    The Pirate Captain growled, her menace audible from across the deck. This was a warning, though it held little threat. After SarthDarah had shown her power, none of the crew left on that ship were going to press their luck at the moment.


    With the six of them now standing in two lines of four, SarthDarah felt like she was heading a superhero lineup. With Kuru their sponsor, the rest of them made for an extremely mixed group. From the small pixie women and stout dwarf, to the large Jorn and larger Lavia.


    The cold air pulsing out from the young man with the white hair seemed to be battling the heat of SarthDarah¡¯s aura. She looked at the man, a question on her tongue. His eyes met hers, the cool blue looked almost as if it had dancing crystals in the color. He seemed to laugh and smile at every glare and questioning squint she gave him.


    ¡°Stop that.¡± She hissed at him.


    ¡°Stop what?¡± His tone was teasing.


    ¡°Children please.¡± Lavia placed a hand on both of them, breaking their nearly formed lines. ¡°The gator girl is getting upset, more so now that you stopped paying attention to her.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t call me that.¡± Queen came stalking up to them.


    ¡°Would you all focus, they''re here.¡± The dwarf¡¯s music stopped. ¡°If ye¡¯r gonna help us defend this place, that would be great. Otherwise, get out of the way.¡±


    The Captain''s anger didn¡¯t subside, instead it rose to another level. Her fury giving rise to a visible aura. The gray white bellowing of air around her signaled that the Dwarven man had taken it a step too far. No one backed down though, SarthDarah had proven she could fight evenly with the girl.


    ¡°Fine, I need to release some rage anyway. I¡¯ll make the first move, disabling their ship will be key to keeping ourselves from being sunk within moments. You can handle the raid that will follow.¡±


    With a glare that spoke volumes, Captain Queen left the ship. Her tail elongating was the last thing to disappear before they heard a splash. Within moments of the first one, several more splashes sounded from behind them. The crew had jumped as well.


    ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll actually help?¡± SarthDarah asked.


    A few shrugs came from the men around her. Lavia gave a reassuring smile as she looked back towards the incoming ship. SarthDarah looked to Kuru, Anunt and Lyria stood next to her. Their eyes met, and with a moment of understanding, SarthDarah knew that Kuru trusted her to succeed.


    Nothing else mattered.


    SarthDarah looked over her team, the five other defenders stood in a semi circle near the front of the ship. The Minotaur ship was close enough they could hear the yells and shouts from it. The massive ship was nearly twice the size of their own, it broke through a rising wave and SarthDarah could finally make out the individuals running about.


    Getting a head count wasn¡¯t easy, the bull heads all blended together as they ran from side to side. They hoisted up a couple of colorful flags, and SarthDarah guessed they were meant to signal something. Several of the Minotaur crew members pulled on ropes attached to a high pulley system. As they pulled, a massive door opened right in the middle of the ship deck.


    ¡°They¡¯re gonna be pissed when our former captor hits their ship. Or when they get here and realize we aren''t the pirates and don¡¯t intend on willingly selling ourselves.¡± SarthDarah ran a hand through her hair, the shortness of it a sudden reminder of how new this body was to her. ¡°We better have a plan to stop them before they get close enough to board. Just in case, plan A turned tail and fled.¡±


    ¡°I can do that.¡±


    ¡°I still don¡¯t even know all of your names, who are you?¡± She was already annoyed with this guy.


    ¡°Eldrin.¡± The man with the white hair bowed. ¡°We already know you of course. I¡¯m surprised Kuru didn¡¯t tell you who we are.¡±


    SarthDarah was going to be continually irritated with this man. Did he have to get a jab in on her? Of course Kuru told them who she was, but why didn¡¯t Kuru ever tell SarthDarah who any of these other people were?


    ¡°You can call me Ironfiddle.¡± The dwarf said as he began to play a few quick notes on his lute.


    ¡°Ok, well at least I know your names now. We don¡¯t have enough time to play twenty questions though, so I¡¯ll just ask that you all trust me and fight like your lives are on the line.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that how you¡¯re supposed to play?¡± Eldrin¡¯s sneer was audible in his question.


    The six of them stood waiting, watching, each of them focused on the incoming enemies. The wind was roaring in their ears now, the clouds in the sky turning dark. The salt smell on the air sharpened as the waves washed over the sides of the ships.


    SarthDarah glanced towards Jorn just in time to see his head disappear over the side of the ship. She shook her head, hopefully it wouldn¡¯t hold him back once they were fighting. On her other side, she saw Duerlin with both hands on his sword. The plain black sheathe blended into his armor well. The dark leather looked singed, almost as if it had been burnt at one point. SarthDarah almost felt a need to ask him about it.


    As the ship swayed, she felt sure that this was going to be different than any of her other fights. It wasn¡¯t against a bunch of plants, and it was going to be way more than one on one brawls. There was no way Minotaur''s would fight fairly.


    With the darkening clouds, it was hard to see when the waves broke and a massive scaled reptile launched from them. It opened a hole in the Minotaur''s ship, giving it an immediate change in direction.


    It sucked downwards and to their right. Roars of anger let loose from the horde. The sudden rush of water swelling into their ship caused it to stop getting closer, and it happened not a moment too soon. SarthDarah guessed she could jump the distance easily, a Minotaur should also be able to cross that distance.


    As the ship fell down the next wave, she used her momentum to launch into the sir. SarthDarah felt the ignition of her fire aura, the wind and flame burning a storm around her. The gap between the ships was a heartbeat of time to her. The sudden decision had been of instinct, not cunning.


    ¡°Fight!!¡± SarthDarah¡¯s command came as she was midway between the ships.


    When she landed, a hurled ax landed next to her. She recognized it as Jorn¡¯s, it had sunk into a bull headed humanoid. The blood spurted out of the wound, making an arc around her as she landed. SarthDarah let her flame flare out around her. The Minotaurs all flinched as she stood amongst their horde.


    ¡°All hands, attack!¡± Came a shout from the deck above her.


    Six harpoons rushed past SarthDarah as she ducked and twisted out of the way. Her goal was to draw all of the attention of the attacks on herself, letting her new squad get aboard without much interference.


    ¡°I¡¯m going for the captain, the rest of you clear the deck!¡± SarthDarah shouted as she dashed between attacking groups of minotaurs.


    Jorn was already pulling his ax out of the fallen Minotaur, Lavia was letting out a battle cry as she soared down towards the two minotaurs closest to SarthDarah. Duerlin was unsheathing his longsword, its fiery aura making a trio of minotaurs hesitate for a moment as the rest of the group arrived.


    Ironfiddle was riding down on a sheet of ice that Eldrin had created and skated across. SarthDarah could feel the music the dwarf played invigorating her. It was an odd sense, but the upgrade inside her vessel could feel the buffs that the song created.


    ¡°Judgment of the mountains, let thy fury rein! Holy storm of vengeance, power in a name! All their defenses sunder! Laid low, by the Hammer¡¯s Thunder!¡± The intense electric booms and wails of his lute seemed to be magnified as the fighting began to swell around them.


    Eldrin had iced one Minotaur as it swung a club at Duerlin. Duerlin had used the assist to slice deeply into another of the minotaurs, but his blow hadn¡¯t gone all the way through. In the moment the bull headed creature realized it was about to die, it unleashed a guttural roar. It glowed red for a moment and then burst outward in a flash of light and gore.


    ¡°Duerlin!¡± SarthDarah shouted as she rushed over to the swordsman.


    As the light faded, her two companions were revealed to be standing under a dome of thick ice. Eldrin had saved them at the last second. The outside was covered in a mess of red gore, something SarthDarah wasn¡¯t anticipating. The feeling of retching almost overcame her.


    ¡°Look out!¡±


    The words registered an instant before the blow of the hammer met her skull. The world twisted sideways and went black for a few moments. Distant shouts and screams echoed in her ears, but the ringing that persisted drowned the words out until they were just static noise.


    A spear whizzed by her head just before she collided with the deck. The impact brought sense back to her brain. Now, her eyes wide open, and the world coming back to her, SarthDarah roared. Her battle cry brought a momentary pause in the rush of minotaurs. The flames burst out from her and singed the sails as they fluttered overhead.


    She searched the top decks for the largest and most menacing creature among the Minotaur horde. The more she looked the more she realized how much larger this ship was. There had to be several times the crew aboard this ship, it was large enough the three ships they had been on could fit inside of it.


    ¡°The bigger they are¡­¡± She started musing to herself, then spotted a gleaming silver horned Minotaur in the crowd.


    It was pushing past its crew like they were stalks of grass in the way. She watched as it neared, and when it pulled a short curved sword, SarthDarah leaped. She landed just in front of the silver bull. She tsked at him, seeing his maleness now that she was up close.


    SarthDarah had never wanted to know what a bull looked like down there. She wasn¡¯t certain if a regular bull and a Minotaur would be comparable, but she was now scarred with the image. He stood nearly twice her height, meaning his waist was perfectly at her eye level.


    ¡°You¡¯re disgusting. I think I¡¯ll make BBQ with you.¡±


    She punched out her right fist, fire bursting out like a jet engine. The silver flash of his horns tracked to her left. He had dodged her attack, and the three minotaurs behind him got torched instead. Before SarthDarah could reset her arm to block, his sword found its way to her skin.


    The sting of pain in her abdomen caused her to jump back. The wound was shallow, but it had split her robes and dug into the flash. A quick touch and check of her hand showed no blood. The wound felt like a serious gash though, her normal body would be spilling its innards all over the deck at this point.


    ¡°Thank me for the vessel later, focus on staying alive now.¡± Kuru¡¯s voice came through her head.


    Right, she had to focus. In the two seconds the fear had interrupted her, the silver horned Minotaur had slipped away into the crowd again. She was surrounded and alone.


    Jorn watched as SarthDarah leapt up and into the horde. He and Lavia were holding six minotaurs back. Their big weapons and muscles were barely a match for the bull headed creatures. Each time they got one step forward, the horde would surge and force their weapons back into their chests. Each step forward had been met with harder resistance, but they managed to keep the spot they had all landed open for now.


    The stairs that the minotaurs were flooding down to get at them played a huge part in why they could hold back all six at once. Jorn¡¯s greataxe and hammer were great wedges to block the way. Lavia was easily as strong as he was, and her halberd spun back and forth to keep Minotaur hands from grabbing them.


    ¡°We won¡¯t hold them much longer!¡± Jorn yelled back towards Duerlin.


    The swordsman was busy dashing from the railing and back to the ice wall that Eldrin had made. He cut at the feet of the enemies he passed. They all hollered out in pain, sweeping large fists at him. None could keep up with the flash of speed Duerlin was capable of.


    Eldrin turned to see Jorn and Lavia¡¯s predicament. He had frozen the entire front of the ship so that the cannons couldn¡¯t fire at the ships they had left Kuru and the others on. He had saved the swordsman who couldn¡¯t get a kill on his own. Now here he was, throwing down patches of ice all over the deck to make the terrain difficult for the minotaurs to run across. Did he really have to save the tanks too? Where did SarthDarah go?


    Eldrin made the decision to take over for now, seeing no one else capable of leading the group. He needed to see this as a level in a game to be cleared. His mind was always better at seeing the steps he needed to take in a game. This was still a game, he was just living the adventure. They needed to clear the enemies and beat the boss to save the ship.


    ¡°Jorn, hold that stair for thirty more seconds, then fall back!¡±


    ¡°What?! Are you nuts! Sarth went that way, we need to push through.¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Just do it, and we will! Or stand there and get blasted with the rest of them, your choice.¡±


    Lavia chuckled next to Jorn, her small laughs soon turned into big belly laughs. Her eyes grew bright and her smile was infectious. Jorn was soon laughing at the minotaurs who dared to try and overrun them. It was a hilarious thought that they would intimidate him.


    Sarth would be fine. She was the badass that seemed to survive everything. His mind was counting all of her ridiculous actions in the short time they had been together. Good thing Lavia had been counting down, she grabbed his shoulder and pulled.


    They both leapt backwards just as Eldrin screamed a string of unintelligible words. Three of the minotaurs burst forward, falling the last few stairs due to the sudden lack of resistance. The next three were met with a bright blue light, it flashed out in a ray that encompassed the whole staircase.


    All six minotaurs fell silent and motionless as the ice settled over their skin. Within a few seconds of the light shining upon them, the frozen skin rotted away and blew into the wind like scattered ash. The minotaurs at the top of the stairs all hesitated, seeing the insta-death the first handful had succumbed to.


    That was until a silver horned Minotaur pushed his way to the front of them all.


    ¡°My god.¡± Lavia seemed to whisper without thinking about what she was saying.


    Jorn was suddenly feeling inadequate and a serious desire to hurl his ax at just the right angle to cut it at least in half. The thought was intrusive and he wished that it didn¡¯t have to be a naked Minotaur that he was fighting, but this is what he was faced with. Before he could launch into an attack however, Duerlin came to stand by him.


    ¡°This world sucks.¡± Was all he said before he dashed up the stairs and made a slashing cut with his sword.


    The wooden stairs were singed with fire, the strike Duerlin unleashed had been a move enhanced with his sword''s fire ability. He now stood at the top of the stairs with a clearing around him. Jorn wasted no time in running up to backup his new friend.


    ¡°How many¡­¡± Jorn trailed off as he saw the firestorm brewing in the middle of the main deck.


    ¡°Why are we here?¡± Lavia said as she came to stand with them.


    ¡°Hey! That¡¯s not what we¡¯re supposed to be doing!¡± Eldrin called out from below, he was still panting and sweat dripped from his face.


    ¡°We are supposed to be clearing the deck while she looks for the Captain.¡± Duerlin offered.


    ¡°How can we do that when she¡¯s soloing everything?¡± Lavia¡¯s complaining tone was more playful than hurt.


    ¡°Well, we can¡¯t help by standing here. Where did the silver horned one go? He was moving so fast that I missed him.¡± Duerlin was looking around the deck.


    Eldrin came up behind them, watching down the stairs as the others scanned the main deck. The four of them stood together for a moment, admiring the battle before them.


    ¡°Where did the annoying dwarf go?¡± Eldrin asked while glancing down over the side rail.


    The others all looked around, none of them had seen the bard since he had played the intro melody when they landed.


    ¡°Did he get one shotted while none of us were looking?¡± Duerlin sounded like he was about to start laughing.


    Jorn looked down and shook his head, taking a moment of peace for the poor guy. He had made it this far in the survival test, but some classes are just not meant to go into battle. Bard was one of them.


    Lavia started to chuckle, the rest of the group looked over to her in confusion. Was the death of another player that funny? The rest of them felt like it was a pretty somber thing.


    ¡°He¡¯s a bit more clever than that. He¡¯s good at what he does, and causing chaos is one of those things.¡± Lavia was still chuckling as she stomped forward to face the enemies now regaining their wits.


    Time seemed to be slowed. Each movement was like a simple practice walkthrough. She felt her body react to each incoming intrusion. She saw the minotaurs'' weapons and bodies as barely moving targets.


    She sent an elbow into the stomach of one, then ducked around it and let her foot swing into a roundhouse kick that sent out a jet of red hot flame into the face of another. She ducked as the spear of a third entered her personal space, he was about to get a full blast of her Napalm Strike. She sent two bursts as fast as she could at him.


    The bull was falling, singing skin giving off a cooked meat smell and screams of agony bellowing out. SarthDarah was vaulting over a crate and to her next targets. Her team hadn¡¯t kept up, she hadn¡¯t expected them to. They just needed to hold a spot of retreat. She could clear this threat and keep Miss Kuru safe.


    Three bull headed freaks jumped up and tried to pounce on her. She saw all of this in a stretched out timeframe, and smiled as she countered each one. A fist of flame to each, then a sweeping kick that sent them all blasting out and over the side rails of the massive ship. It had been a microsecond, but she had felt like she could sip a cup of tea as she danced in and out of the horde.


    This was the epitome of her ambition in seeking out this adventure. The nostalgic feeling SarthDarah got had her suddenly wondering why she felt that way. She was always an adventurer. Kuru had recruited her to join her, this was her life. Why would she feel like she had once longed for this?


    It had to have been from when she was a child. She kicked and punched her way through another group rushing out from a doorway that led under the steering deck. Her mind was pulling double duty, dealing with this intrusive feeling and confusion and the attacks that never seemed to cease.


    ¡°Enough!¡± SarthDarah screamed.


    Her aura erupted outward, sending fire spewing in all directions. Minotaurs burned and the ship began to catch fire in a few spots. Somewhere in the soupy mess that made up her current thoughts, SarthDarah realized that the enchantments that kept this vessel from burning were not as strong as the ones Queen had.


    With some space to breath, she backed away from the doorway, and leaped up to the steering deck. The two minotaurs who stood there sneered gleefully as she stared them down.


    ¡°Finally, time to end this.¡±


    ¡°Mmpphh! Says the stick girl. My clan has survived for generations by selling and using your type to breed our cattle with.¡±


    That left a disturbing image in her mind. She couldn¡¯t let more intrusive thoughts aggravate her now. These two were obviously the ones that were in command here. The one on the left was the one with the silver horns, he had gotten all over this ship easily and faster than she could track. The one that spoke to her was wearing a golden jacket. She could stare them down all she wished, but that wouldn¡¯t move anything along.


    SarthDarah wanted to be free, she wanted to give herself the chance to adventure and explore. She needed to get Kuru off of this planet safely. She wanted to protect her new friends. This Minotaur wasn¡¯t about to divert her new life.


    Her life? Wasn¡¯t this where she was going all along?


    Duerlin swung his sword. Another blocked and heavy blow. His arms were tired and he was barely able to keep up with all of the attacks. They hadn¡¯t seen a battle like this before. All of his previous experience was being overshadowed like he was a kid wearing his dads suit, expecting to go to work for the day.


    How had he ever been able to think they could stand a chance? He slew Minotaur after Minotaur, but they kept coming. Jorn was busy tanking out the main line of them. Lavia was hoisting around her halberd like it was a shish kabob skewer, Minotaur bodies split on it and fell to her angry attacks.


    Eldrin had gone the other way, damning them for not following his orders. Ice was still coating the port side of the ship. The sleet in the air was flying sideways past them all as they fought on.


    In the fog above them, as the clouds darkened and the wind began to rip. Sails were being tugged free. Although carefully tied away by the Minotaur sailors right before interception of their prey; the sails began to one by one rip free. It was not that the minotaurs did a bad job, but when you have a pesky bard running around unnoticed¡­


    SarthDarah stood ready for battle, hearing the screams and battle cries behind her. The two enemies in front of her were more important however. She needed to beat them so that they could get away from this. So that she could get away with Kuru. There was a promise of a more appealing life with her. More?


    What else was there?


    ¡°You could just surrender. Your underlings are strong for humans. We might have a place for them above cattle!¡± The one wearing the golden jacket yelled out at the end, just as the one with the silver horns disappeared.


    SarthDarah put her arms up to block in reflex. The blow pushed her backwards several feet. She saw the silver horns, they blurred as the blow landed and the Minotaur dashed away again. The shattering feeling in her forearms brought on the first real sense of danger that SarthDarah had felt in this body.


    A melodic voice, sounding much like an amplified version of Ironfiddle, was suddenly echoing out all around them. SarthDarah winced at both the pain in her arms, and the loudness of the music. Trumpets and hammers beating on steel joined in to the lute melody. With the cries that seemed ethereal echoing around the ship, the minotaurs paused.


    ¡°Where there¡¯s thunder, let there be Lightning!¡± Ironfiddle¡¯s fiddle appeared in the sky above them.


    SarthDarah¡¯s eyes went wide and she swore she was hallucinating, then noticed the crackle of energy that was spiraling down from the lute that was enlarged to look as if it were larger than the main mast. She dove off the steering deck just as the lightning bolt crashed down onto it. The explosion of wood and plasma erupted behind her, and in the briefest of moments she saw herself jumping off that mountain peak again. Rushing into something before knowing all of the details.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± She shouted as she landed hard on her back. The scattering of debris all around her began to pelt her like hail.


    Throwing both arms up to block her face, she cried out again in agony. Both arms responded, but they fell limp against her. The pain in trying to lift them was too much. Had that one blow been enough to shatter her arms completely? Was that all there was to it, was this the wall she was about to hit?


    ¡°My champion wouldn¡¯t give up that easily.¡± Kuru¡¯s voice resounded in her head, breaking her scattered train of thought.


    ¡°She¡¯s right.¡±


    The rain of debris had stopped, the creaking of the ship and the roar of the wind were barely audible to her. She needed to focus. If she had survived, then surely the two minotaurs had. It had been a good strike, and the images had been an amazing bluff; but it wasn¡¯t enough to kill something that strong.


    They stood atop a pile of bodies. In the end it only took about a dozen minotaurs to make a sizable pile. Jorn had started setting them against the door next leading below decks. It had taken a while, but as they started to work more as a team; the three of them began to make a dent in the onslaught.


    Lavia was a durable tank that rivaled Jorn. They had started making sport about who could stop the biggest attacks. Yelling out about having held back rushing bulls the whole time. Jorn wasn¡¯t about to let anyone beat him, and Lavia seemed about as aggressive when it came to competition.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you two ever get tired?¡± Duerlin called out, he was kneeling atop the pile behind the two giants.


    Jorn hurled one of the spears he had picked up from a dead sailor. He chuckled as it landed in the shoulder of the next Minotaur climbing the pile at them. They had slowed down their assault since they got up here, but they were still trying. Eventually they would run out of weapons to hurl.


    ¡°Nah, my generator puts out nearly forty points more than my consumption. All my skills are passive, well except the really big ones. But I only use those when I absolutely have to.¡± Lavia¡¯s voice got sullen when she spoke about using her big skills.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get over this wall, we need to catch up with Sarth.¡± Jorn was already almost head level with the top of it.


    ¡°What¡¯s up there?¡±


    ¡°I dunno, probably more bull heads to squash. Oh, and our friend.¡± Jorn seemed to enjoy going fist to fist with the minotaurs.


    Lavia nodded at him, then put her hands together to offer Jorn a boost up. He stepped up and onto her offered hands, then let her toss him up before he reached up to grab the railing. He vaulted over and landed with his ax swinging downward in front of him.


    ¡°ERUPTION!!¡± He shouted, unleashing an earth shattering skill. (Literally)


    The ship broke in two.


    For the second time in a matter of seconds, SarthDarah was covered in a shower of ship debris. Somehow, both had been friendly fire. Somehow, she survived both major skills the others had used, barely. This time she lay there waiting, when the shower of splinters was over, she felt it.


    ¡°Seriously Jorn?¡± She shouted, seeing the man on the other side of the massive fissure.


    She was laying on her back, looking at him upside down. The two parts of the ship were falling together though, slowly. With a spin and a kick, she righted herself and stood.


    ¡°What? I had to do something, they were about to attack you.¡±


    Who? SarthDarah looked about, then up, at the two Minotaur standing at the edge of the railing she had just leapt from. So far up, why did everything seem so far away all of the sudden? She had a sinking feeling in her gut, then realized it was the ship itself starting to sink.


    ¡°We gotta end this, now!¡±


    ¡°Right behind ya Sarth!¡±


    She leapt up, flame bursting forth to clear her way. Jorn hurled himself across the gap just as Duerlin made it to the top of the wall.


    ¡°What happened?¡± He shouted as Jorn leapt up to start climbing the wall. ¡°There are stairs!¡±


    ¡°No time to explain, big bads top floor, go!¡± The big man continued to climb.


    Duerlin ran for the stairs, Lavia was already pulling herself up. Her eyes went wide at the destruction. She looked up at SarthDarah as the fire began to burn upwards.


    ¡°Go, I¡¯ll hold the landing.¡± She was looking down at the remaining Minotaur sailors they had left below.


    Several raging minotaurs now all had ominous glowing red eyes. They were rushing to the stairs and several of them were pulling the pile of bodies away from the lower deck doors. No doubt in an effort to get back up and to save those remaining below from the water now rushing in.


    SarthDarah was throwing punches and kicks as fast as she could. Sacrificing power for speed, then adding Napalm to the blasts kept the Minotaur dancing backwards and in circles. Each time she thought she cornered him, he would jump or slide out away from her again.


    Ironfiddle, sweating and propping his large body up on his lute, watched as SarthDarah¡¯s barrage harassed the silver horned minotaur. He tried to stand, but the effort of using so much illusion and then pooling the brewing storm''s energy at the top of the main mast had drained his own energy reserves. His capacitor had burned out when he tripled the output in his Lightning strike ability.


    He couldn¡¯t do anything as the second Minotaur, the one wearing the golden jacket, stepped up behind SarthDarah from a shadow. He had disappeared and the monk¡¯s focus had been solely on driving the silver horned Minotaur into a corner. The ship rocked, falling forward and lurching as it collided with the other side.


    Ironfiddle blinked as he felt his body sliding, then it went numb and cold. Ice was spreading around him, holding him in place. The iceberg that grew out of the severed part of the ship was protruding dozens of feet into the sky. The whole ship was covered in a frosty white blanket.


    The Minotaur in the golden jacket was frozen still, his arm still in the middle of thrusting a small sword into SarthDarah. She was still punching away at the Minotaur in front of her, the aura of flame around her enough to let her feet clear the deck of the snow covering. When she kicked up, the fire trailed ice crystals that were rapidly turning to water, then steam. It gave her Napalm Strike an iridescent rainbow effect.


    The silver horned Minotaur himself was starting to show an aura, having had to dodge and circle for so long. His wasn¡¯t as bright as SarthDarah¡¯s, but it allowed him to keep moving freely in the effect of Flash Freeze.


    Even as Duerlin rushed up the stairs, he too felt as the ship tilted, then froze suddenly as he began to slide. Jorn had finally crested the railing, and was just peeking his head above it when the ship shifted his center of gravity. He hung at an angle between the two halves of the ship, frozen solid in the ice. Lavia was pinned beneath the now collapsed ship parts, encased in ice and below the water surface.


    Eldrin knew they wouldn¡¯t listen to him. He tried, but he knew it from the start. That fool was about to get herself killed, the rest were eagerly following along. He wasn¡¯t about to go down with the ship. The giant buffoon had sliced the ship in half, and then they all let the leader of the minotaurs slip into the shadows before having a plan of attack.


    She never learned.


    He had just stopped the ship from taking them all to the bottom of the sea, and frozen the big bad. Now all that was left was to let Sarth finish the secondary boss and slay his rightful bounty. Then they could get back to the real world. Kuru had promised him that if he won the game, he could go back home.


    He dropped out of the forming rain clouds. The skies above them were whipping up fast, soon there would be a storm. Now, there would be dead Minotaur.


    Her arms ached, the pain dulled as sleet began to cool and sizzle as it fell against her. Her form was getting sharper again, and she was almost able to land a solid blow. The silver haired Minotaur said nothing as he danced backwards, parrying everything that came close to hitting him. The flames didn¡¯t seem to aggravate the Minotaur, that fact aggravated SarthDarah even farther.


    ¡°Glacial Wrath!¡±


    SarthDarah looked up, watching the streak of blue turn to silver. She didn¡¯t even have time to think on what it could be, the silver streak exploded into a chilling wave.


    ¡°Gah!¡± SarthDarah shouted as she was blown back by the force of the blast.


    Eldrin stood atop the ice shards that speared upwards from the deck. The encasing ice made it hard to tell where the ship was, and what angle it might be at. SarthDarah took long labored breaths, she could feel the generator inside her humming along, an artificial heart pumping life and energy into her body.


    She kicked it into overdrive, feeling herself become lightened and overcome with energy once again. This time she just wanted to get rid of the ice and the idiot creating it. Kuru would have to find a replacement for him, she wouldn¡¯t be able to work with someone like that.


    ¡°Searing Temple!¡± The name came to her as easy as the move itself was to use.


    She simply let her mind calm, the hum of the generator whined into hyperactivity, and she unleashed the extra energy in a burst of heat radiating outwards from her core. It was as satisfying as getting a jet of cool air to the face in the middle of a sweltering day. While she still burned hot enough to melt the ice around her, she was way less frustrated than she was moments ago.


    ¡°Watch it!¡± Eldrin screamed as he dove over the side of the railing to avoid being scorched by the wave of heat.


    The Minotaur had backed off, leaving her to her moment of calm. The ice holding the ship in place suddenly creaked, then cracked apart as it was thinning. Her heat wave had melted through the majority of it, leaving the rest of it brittle and rapidly melting. Eldrin no longer giving it mana meant that they had only a few minutes at most before the ship would start sinking again.


    As Duerlin and Jorn began to move from their ice prisons, they looked around in concern. SarthDarah didn¡¯t have time for their confusion, they needed to get out of here. She grabbed Ironfiddle as he stumbled by on the deck, then pointed back to where Kuru was watching from the pirates ship.


    ¡°Go!¡±


    The dwarf nodded vigorously, then pulled a small crystal from his pocket.


    ¡°Here, never needed it anyway, wouldn¡¯t have fit my build.¡±


    SarthDarah looked at the small diamond, then slid it into a space on her left hand, just behind the ring finger. Her sense of nature tripled, and the smell of the sea and coming storm spoke volumes to her. Something else was coming, the Captain was still down there, waiting. There was something else too, calling from the depths.


    What had that upgrade been?

 Chapter 20

    SarthDarah faced down the silver horned Minotaur. Her glowing eyes tracking his movements, something she was just getting accustomed to. She forced herself to remain focused on his upper half, but sometimes seeing the naked lower parts was inevitable. She still cringed slightly each time she thought of what they wanted to do to her and her friends, and what that thing would have done to her.


    The ice had almost completely melted away from the top of the ship already. There was a decent amount in the waters below, no doubt the only reason the ship  wasn¡¯t sinking just yet. Could they make a clean getaway out of a bloody massacre?


    SarthDarah just hoped that she could take out this Minotaur and get back to Kuru. Her orders had been simple: get Kuru off this world safely. That wouldn¡¯t happen if she died in the middle of an ocean to a bull monster.


    The Minotaur let out a loud cry, it was long and throaty. SarthDarah took the chance to look at the front of the ship, her squad mates were already most of the way back to where Eldrin¡¯s ice bridge remained a short distance from the bow of the ship. Hopefully they would all get off the ship safely. She looked over to where Edlrin stood, still muttering curse words towards her.


    ¡°You should¡¯ve run with the others!¡±


    ¡°I could have said the same thing, but then you wouldn¡¯t be here to cancel out my attacks again!¡± he spat back.


    SarthDarah couldn¡¯t even argue that point, she had done that. Eldrin though had interjected himself right when it was most crucial he didn¡¯t. She hadn¡¯t lost track of the second Minotaur, just needed to draw him out. The golden jacket was bait, a misdirection from what his power truly was.


    The Minotaur had thought himself clever sliding along in the shadows. The only hint had been the small glints of light flashing from one area to another. SarthDarah had been trying to keep the silver horned Minotaur in line with his captain, but then decided the only way to draw him out was to let them surround her. It was risky, and that sword had almost gotten to her; but she had needed the golden jacketed Minotaur in the open, and right as it happened, so did Eldrin.


    ¡°Well at least I don¡¯t swoop in to try and steal someone else¡¯s kill. That¡¯s grounds for a PvP duel in my mind.¡± She kept her voice level, letting some snark into it to help push the guy over the edge.


    It worked, Eldrin didn¡¯t respond with words, at least not out loud. His face was red and his jaw worked up and down for a few moments. The Minotaur had stopped bellowing out, the rain and sleet had intensified, and SarthDarah was once again getting that excited to be alive feeling in her stomach.


    Any moment now the Minotaurs would attack, the silver horned one was flexing his muscles and making an effort to keep their attention on him. The ship was creaking ominously as it began to slowly creep downward again. The storm was beginning as well, streaks of rain pelted sideways as the wind raged on around them.


    SarthDarah had to admit, starting a battle with a naked Minotaur atop a sinking ship in the middle of an ocean during a hurricane wasn¡¯t something she had put on her bingo card. Sure, there had been some weird quests and monsters in other games, but this was real life. Having it be her here physically instead of inputting commands to a lifeless body on a screen made it so much different. SarthDarah was smiling despite the absurdity of it all.


    ¡°As the chosen leader of the squad, I¡¯m telling you to stay back and don¡¯t interfere. I won¡¯t pull a punch if you get in my way.¡± SarthDarah let the command come out in a dark tone, hoping that Eldrin would take her seriously.


    Eldrin was about to say something in response, but the sudden shift of the ship and swell of the ocean around them made him stop. They both turned to look over the side of the ship, where a giant wave had erupted and now joined the clouds in sending water washing over them. The silver horned Minotaur lunged, taking Eldrin by surprise. SarthDarah had kept her guard against him, never turning far enough to lose sight of him, but she wasn¡¯t fast enough to stop the attack when it happened.


    The Bull Rush ability didn¡¯t just make the Minotaur faster, it added a magical barrier to his skin and made him impenetrable for a second or two. Eldrin would have been given praise for his reaction if it would have worked. The ice spear he managed to put in between himself and the charging minotaur shattered into thousands of tiny shards that began to steam from the heat put off from the silver horned Minotaur.


    ¡°Gah!¡± Eldrin¡¯s scream was breathless, no more than a harsh guttural sound of immense pain.


    SarthDarah was only able to watch as Eldrin was skewered on the silver horns. The two shakes it took for the minotaur to launch Eldrin off his head were sickening to watch, but SarthDarah couldn¡¯t take her wide glowing eyes away. There was no gore, no blood, just Eldrin¡¯s silent screaming. The horns had pierced into his chest and twisted to pick him up. A normal body would have had its lungs and several other vital organs shredded in a heartbeat of abuse like that.


    Eldrin¡¯s body fell with a loud crash that broke more of the deck floor. He didn¡¯t move and the last few remaining chunks of ice around them vanished. Was that really it for him? SarthDarah felt her power generator humming faster and faster. The world around her suddenly got very narrow and she had to focus on breathing to stop the encroaching darkness.


    Was she being swallowed up by something? Had the storm finally blotted out the entire sky, leaving no light left?


    ¡°You fight with great purpose. Your friend, he had weak purpose and no true conviction beyond his own self worth.¡±


    SarthDarah didn¡¯t turn her head, she was still looking at where Eldrin lay. The Minotaur in the golden jacket was standing inches away from her, whispering in her left ear. The jacket brushed against her, the long flowing material was surprisingly soft where it touched her bare skin. Her tattered robes made her look like a vagrant standing in the shadow of golden royalty.


    ¡°You¡¯ll have time to mourn him, and the others on our way back to the labyrinth. Hell, a fighter like you, I won¡¯t even chain you if you promise to behave.¡± He was sneering down at her.


    SarthDarah felt the anger building, feeding her fire. She took a very long, deep breath. She held it in, feeling the wind energy intensify the heat building in her core. When she let it out, she activated Dragon¡¯s Fury. Roaring reds and blinding whites came out in a large jet of flame. Both Minotaurs leapt away, staying well clear of the searing heat.


    Rage overwhelmed her. It swept away all other feelings, leaving her alone on this shipwreck in the middle of the ocean. The darkness swelled around her again. She could feel herself bellowing flame, but she was losing sight of what she was fighting. The darkness suddenly began to feel like a cage, one she wouldn¡¯t escape from.


    Panic flooded her, mixing with the rage, sparking her desire for self preservation. She was still alive, still here, Kuru was there, she needed to focus.


    You do need to focus, or you¡¯ll kill everyone left. Your squad is still on that sinking ship. Quit raging and start fighting! Once again Kuru¡¯s voice came into her head, clear and commanding.


    The darkness faded slightly, easing the tension on her mind. Allowing her to spew out the rage and panic in a focused blast, rather than a random torrent.


    A breath in, the flames stopped briefly extinguishing the light around them. The momentary pitch blackness was punctuated by a revival in intensity in the storm around them. The darkness at the edges of her vision finally went completely away. Now she was left in the normal dark of the storm at sea.


    It was time to light it back up.


    A quick mental stability check told her that she was still SarthDarah the badass, and this was her world to conquer. No low level slave trading bull was going to get the best of her.


    ¡°For the fool who tried to steal my kill.¡± She whispered, watching the silver horned Minotaur rush from her left.


    She exhaled, this time the Dragon¡¯s Fury came out in a sharp line, looking more like a laser of death than a gout of fire. The Minotaur took only one step farther, his silver horns scorched black. He tried to bellow out, but the hole in his stomach was large enough to have atomized his lungs and all the other important organs. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    The pounding rain mixed with the spurts of blood that came out. More than the hollow pit that wouldn¡¯t refill after avenging her squad mate, SarthDarah felt a surge of nausea. The death she had witnessed so far hadn¡¯t been nearly as realistic. The bodies of the players never seemed to have any sort of blood or gore. The plant matter didn¡¯t count.


    Had Queen bled when she hit her? Had she hit her hard enough to ever manage a wound that would bleed? Where were the captain and her followers now?


    Now wasn¡¯t the time for her to lose her mind. There was still one more Minotaur she needed to deal with. She also had to make sure the others got back to the other ship first. SarthDarah couldn¡¯t help but shiver for a moment. Something wasn¡¯t right with how this day had ended up, but her brain refused to put together something that she needed to make the situation make sense. The fighting was definitely making it even harder to concentrate on critical thoughts beyond punch, kick, dodge, repeat.


    Her brain suddenly felt on fire, worse than any migraine she had ever had before. Pain shot so severely that SarthDarah was forced to take a knee, holding her head with both hands. The sharp ringing tones that pierced her thoughts drove free everything but the pain it was causing. She shut her eyes tight, trying to force out the pain.


    The ship rocked, lurching to the side. SarthDarah rolled over onto her side, panicking all over again. The situation was changing so fast, she was incapacitated with her brain screaming out in pain. The movement of her body wasn¡¯t natural, and it wasn¡¯t her own doing. She contorted outwards, spreading each of her limbs as far apart as possible.


    ¡°Gaahhh!!!¡± Her scream was followed by a crack of lighting and rolling thunder.


    The Minotaur laughing was drowned out by her continued screams. The storm was starting to cause larger and larger swells in the water. As it continued to sway on the waves, the buoyancy of a ruined ship wasn¡¯t going to stay afloat long in these waters. SarthDarah couldn¡¯t make two thoughts string together, and she wasn¡¯t able to move as the Minotaur stalked up to her convulsing body.


    ¡°I won¡¯t bother saving you¡­¡±


    This was it, SarthDarah was about to feel the end and she was too busy trying to stop her body from convulsing to do anything about it. Her eyes flew open just as the fist came down.


    The Minotaur landed a blow straight into her head. Lights flashed, was it lightning? She felt the ship give way under her, the falling was sudden but abruptly stopped by the floor underneath. Water lapped up and around her as SarthDarah began to regain her senses.


    Several intense seconds of pain had seemingly shorted out her brain for a moment. SarthDarah felt the intense wave flood her entire body. She would''ve screamed, but no air was left in her lungs. The only sound she emitted was the soft whir of the power generator working in overdrive to try and keep her alive. Never before had she had this feeling, one of complete terror and understanding of her own mortality.


    This wasn¡¯t a game, she knew deep down that she was about to die. How had she ever thought she could be the unstoppable badass? She wasn¡¯t going to conquer anything the way she was going now. She was going to die if he hit her again.


    SarthDarah looked up, feeling a sudden rush of calm as that thought entered her head. She was about to die, this was the end of everything she was. The shadow of the Minotaur flashed above her head, disappearing into the dark corners of the insides of the ship.


    ¡°Death¡­ is here for you girl.¡± The deep voice boomed and echoed from all around her.


    Her head began pulsing in pain all over again, but she kept her eyes open, a small spark of flame flaring up at the edges. She was about to scream, the terror and image of not being able to move as she was skewered came clear in her mind. Then the flash of the nightmarish prison that Kuru had walked her through interrupted it.


    ¡°Would you rather be here?¡± Kuru spoke in her mind.


    ¡°NO!¡±


    ¡°Then FIGHT!¡±


    The Minotaur¡¯s fist caused an explosion of wood as it crashed down next to her. She had been able to roll away at the last second, dodging a blow that would easily have sent her to the bottom of the sea. Kuru¡¯s words spurring her spirit into action.


    SarthDarah could feel the damage to her physical body, but her soul felt more alive than it ever had. She was resonating with her energy core, the generator humming a pleasant tune to her. Each time Kuru reminded her to fight felt like a boost to her self confidence. And that confidence told her she was SarthDarah the badass, she wouldn¡¯t lose until she disintegrated into atoms.


    ¡°Force Fire!¡± The Minotaur roared as three beams shot out from his hand.


    SarthDarah stopped the disintegration thoughts immediately and jumped. She was quick enough to dodge the first, but the second beam hit her with the weight of a speeding truck and the heat of a blazing bonfire. Her own flames hadn''t burned her, but as the third beam impacted her chest, she realized that these flames grew as they made contact with her.


    ¡°Gah! No!¡± SarthDarah ripped the rest of her robe off and tossed it away.


    The fire had scorched her skin in several spots. The seams that criss crossed her torso and arms were lost under the charred skin and soot. Parts of her robe had melted and stuck to her, leaving odd spots of fabric that still smoldered. SarthDarah wasn¡¯t about to give into the fear all over again.


    Her eyes lit in a ferocious flash. Her fists swung one after another, unleashing waves of heat and wind. When she made her first step towards the Minotaur, he flinched. The waves of highly compressed heat seemed to be getting through his defense. SarthDarah saw her chance to finish this fight. She rushed in, launching a kick and a punch to follow.


    She felt the solid impact as her fist made contact with the Minotaur''s chest. Then she felt the ship lurch again. Water began rushing up around them. Even as she found her drive to continue fighting, the world around her tried to drag her down.


    ¡°This is your last chance girl. Our ship sinks, this dance is concluding. My master comes from below, ready to feast upon the capital city nestled in the mountains.¡± The Minotaur was taunting her, taking the attacks she rained upon him without pausing. ¡°Become our slave, we could use a fighting champion to appease us. I¡¯ll take you with me on the ship, and when we blow your friends out of the water, perhaps I¡¯ll allow you to convince me to save one of them.¡±


    SarthDarah practically felt the sneer and wanted to hit him even harder. She felt like she was giving it everything she had before, back when she had been unstoppable. It wasn¡¯t the same.


    ¡°Never!¡± SarthDarah cried out, trying to muster the strength to activate an ability, but it didn''t work.


    Her generator sparked, causing her to feel like her heart had just stopped for a few breaths. The minotaur did not miss the opening, he rushed in and dropped his elbow heavily on SarthDarah¡¯s exposed back. She fell hard, collapsing to the floor gasping for air.


    ¡°Then perhaps I¡¯ll leave you to drown.¡± The Minotaur began walking away. ¡°You can¡¯t even judge your own exhaustion until the tidal wave of death looms above you. All I need to do to win this fight, is to just let you wear yourself down. You burnt out all your energy fighting earlier, then went berserk and drained any reserves or chance of rebuilding your stamina that you had.¡±


    SarthDarah felt his words like a slap to the face. She hadn¡¯t thought of her energy levels. The extra boosts that she had been given had kept up with her so far, but she had finally gone too far for them to keep up. Her body was so heavy she couldn¡¯t stand.


    The water was already coming up to swallow her.


    A few hard steps let SarthDarah know that the Minotaur was going up the stairs. Keeping true to his promise to leave her to drown. How could this be her end? She couldn¡¯t even go down fighting. This was more tragic to her than losing a fair fight. SarthDarah had never died because she ran out of energy before.


    What would it be like? The water lapped up into her face, her ears now below the water line. She had given up on fighting, Kuru could rage and try to force her, but it was too late. She had tried, but it hadn¡¯t been enough. SarthDarah had lost her fight.


    She felt a sudden weight in her torn waistband.


    ¡°I forgot I had this¡­¡± She tried to grab the handgun Kuru had given her.


    She fumbled with it, her fingers not wanting to work properly anymore. She felt the smooth handle as it slid free from her waistband. Kuru told her that it would use her soul force to fire an attack. Would it still work?


    It tumbled down into the water at her side. SarthDarah cried out in frustration. Tears flowed down her cheek, mingling with the water rising ever closer to the top of her face.


    ¡°You better not ask me to go farther than this. This is everything my soul is worth!¡± Her cry was echoed by the rejuvenated roar of her generator.


    She sat up, reached down and grasped the pistol in her right hand and pulled it up to aim. The Minotaur couldn¡¯t have gotten far yet. She pulled the trigger.


    ¡°YES!!¡± Kuru¡¯s voice rang out in her head as the shot fired off from her soul.


    SarthDarah felt her energy spool and gather into her palm and fire down the barrel. It was quick, no more than a mere millisecond; but it was way longer in her mind. SarthDarah¡¯s soul felt the release like it was a hot shower at the end of a long day.


    All of her pain drained in one pull of the trigger. When she felt time return to normal, the open sky was above her. The boards she floated on used to be below decks, now, there was just open wreckage around her and one ship sailing straight for her. Looking around, she saw a second sailing away not too far off, and in the opposite direction a third farther in the distance.


    She had made it? Right? It seemed so, she didn¡¯t see the Minotaur. The ship Kuru had taken was coming alongside her bit of driftwood. It had only been moments, but her exhaustion was overtaking her. She saw Anunt and Kuru standing at the side of the ship, Jorn was next to them holding the rope that dangled down towards her.


    Reaching for it seemed to drain the burst of energy she had just had. Her arms fell and she collapsed backwards onto the planks. She thought she heard a female scream as she blacked out. Who would scream for her?