Sorcerers quest, p.29
Sorcerer's Quest, page 29
“If that is true, then perhaps one day I will sit and be judged. But right now I am the one judging, and you were found lacking.”
Conti had made sure the explosives were set in many different places. Not all of which lead towards the cell behind him. Even if Echelon bothered with the place they would have to figure out which way to search and dig for those three. He walked out triggering the explosives behind him, a tired but satisfied smile on his lips.
Epilogue
Jane woke up in a white room. She tried to sit up, but no matter what she tried she couldn’t move any part of her body. Strangely she wasn’t upset. She felt like she was floating. The sensation was relaxing and kept her calm.
In front of her a light shone. At first it was dim and tough to see in the room, but it grew brighter. She wanted to squint or look away but she couldn’t even do that.
“Ah, you’re awake,” said a female voice from the light.
Who are you? Jane tried to say. Not even her mouth was working. She realized she must be sitting up somehow. It was only light, but the way it looked it seemed like it was standing a small distance from her, which meant she had to be looking out.
“I am a creature of the Game,” the voice said, “but not confined to it as most are.” The light pulsed slightly with each word.
You heard my thoughts? For a moment Jane thought she was dead. Dead in the real world, not just the game, but then she realized the voice had mentioned the game. Jane was growing aware that she didn’t have a body. It was a strange sensation, because obviously she needed a body to see, but she had nothing she could move.
“Yes. I can hear them in here. You are strong, and your spirit recovering.”
What happened back there? Are my friends okay?
Jane felt the light laugh as much as she heard it. “Even in your condition you ask about them first. Yes, they are fine thanks to you. They have returned to Thundershield, and besides their concern about you, are completely recovered from the ordeal. As to what happened, I cannot say for sure. I can’t go into the Edge Zones. I haven’t figured that out yet. From what I can piece together you drew too hard on your own spirit and weakened it.”
My spirit? Jane asked confused. What does that even mean? It’s a game. Spirits don’t exist in the real world. How can I draw on one in the Game?
“Spirit, soul, life essence, the energy that is your consciousness. Call it whatever you want. The pods connect to the Game almost too well. There are safeguards in place, but not all of those safeguards work in the Edge Zone. The rules are different there, different in each Edge Zone. In that one you were able to draw on your spirit to influence reality—as it were—there.”
So where am I?
“Ah, finally a question about yourself, and an interesting one. If you mean where is this place, then you are nowhere really. I created it to keep an eye on you as you rested. You are not really here, it’s more like you are looking back at me through my own looking device. In game you are in a small inn in a small town ran by an innkeeper paid to keep your stay quiet. In the real world you are still in you pod, your body waiting for you to go back to it or not. It is your spirit that still needs rest.”
Why are you watching me?
“Another good question,” said the voice. Again Jane could feel it laugh. She felt something else in it too. Amusement, perhaps, but also concern. Jane was even more curious as to what this creature was. “I will answer but then you need more rest. This interaction is already taxing on you. Simply put, you are intriguing. You exceeded far more than I expected from when I first looked at you. I cannot do much more than I already have, but you have friends to help and guide you along your path.” The voice paused a moment before continuing. “I can see now that you will recover. I will stop watching you so that you can rest again.”
But wait, what do you mean I exceed—
The light faded and Jane slipped back into unconsciousness.
~ ~ ~
She woke up again. This time when she opened her eyes she was staring straight up at a wooden ceiling. It was of simple make, and she could see straw from the roof sticking through some cracks. She sat up and her body felt stiff. She was in a small bedroom, a generic one she would find in an inn. She was ravenous and she could feel the pains of fatigue on her. Looking down, she saw that awful pink dress on herself. She needed to find a new one or at least a tailor to modify it.
She stood up slowly, glancing around the room. Her staff was on the small table, along with a small pack and a few papers. Inside the pack she found some field rations and ate them immediately. They took the edge off her hunger, but she knew she still needed to get a real meal inside of her soon. She looked at the paper on the table. They were notes from her friends. The longest one was from Ruby.
Sunshine,
First of all, Grendalt and Conti seemed sure you would wake up given time. It’s been a few days since we got back when I’m writing this note. We were taking turns watching you, but the longer this goes on the less we want to draw attention to where you are resting.
We all got back safely. If Conti is to be believed it was all because of you. It sounds like what you did was totally and completely awesome and I am sorry I was dead and couldn’t watch it. Conti set up the fast travel at the manor and we were all back in Thundershield in an instant. He set up this place for you to hide. We’re trusting him with you for now.
Contact one of us when you wake up. If none of us are on, then keep a low profile until you can reach one of us.
~Ruby
The other letters mostly said the same, along with some encouragement and hoping to see her soon type of messages.
In the pack was a plain green dress and a cloak with a hood large enough to cover her face. Jane wondered how low of a profile Ruby had meant. She stood up to change and saw herself in the mirror on the wall. Her hair was still in the simple pigtails Ruby had styled for her back in the manor. Her face and body really were striking. Even after so many days playing she was not completely used to her new face. It looked different than she last remembered. Harder perhaps. Firmer.. She had been through the fire and emerged the other side.
She spun to look at herself and the dress from every side. She could see why the guys thought it looked good on her. It wasn’t really her style, but she could see herself wearing it for the right guy. An image of Dave appeared in her head as she thought that, and her cheeks flushed. She shook her head. Here she was, waking up from a perilous ordeal and her mind was going straight to boys and how they might look at her.
Shaking her head, she changed into the green dress and put the cloak on. Inside the bag she also found a small pouch of mana crystals. Small being relative here. It fit in her hand, but the wealth inside was far more wealth than she had ever hoped seeing at once. It wouldn’t be inexhaustible by any means, but it was an astounding amount. She wondered where it came from. It had to be Conti. He was the only one who had access to even close to that amount of wealth, but then why give it to her?
She secured the pouch and went downstairs. The innkeeper showed a small surprise at seeing her, but quickly got her situated at a table and brought her some food.
“How long was I, you know, up there?” she asked motioning upstairs, as he placed down a meal that made her mouth water. There were two bowls of soup, a beef based one and a thick minestrone soup. The platter also had a sandwich on it and several kinds of rolls.
“Almost two weeks, miss,” the innkeeper answered. He was a tall man, with a wide girth. He was clearly a player, but an older one, who seemed to enjoy the business life more than that of an adventurer. His avatar looked in the mid thirties, and as always she couldn’t help but wonder how old he was in the real world. “Now, don’t mind me, I don’t need to know any details from you, it’s better that way. Your friends just asked me to make sure you read their notes before letting you leave, and make sure you weren’t wearing any pink. I can see why that last part. You’d look a lot like her.”
“Like who?” Jane asked, taking a bite of the minestrone. It tasted heavenly.
“When you step outside, you’ll see. Just keep your head down, you’ll be fine.”
He excused himself and left her to eat. She ate, enjoying every bite. She didn’t finish any one thing, but everything tasted amazing. She washed it all down with a drink afterwards.
She realized she could have just checked the in game calendar to see what day it was. Her short time in the Edge Zone had made her forget all the useful information found in the interface. It almost felt clunky pulling up menus and looking at stats and details that way. In the Edge Zone there had been less information, but she had felt it more intuitively.
Two weeks. It was a lot of time, but she had no one besides her friends who would miss her. She was tempted to log out for a few minutes, but there would be time for that later. She pulled up the log off menu in any case and was relieved to find the button available and not grayed out.
She looked at her other menus. Dying in the Edge Zone still had an effect here. She had dropped four levels. In her pouches she still had her death shards. There was no local alter to use them on. She was hesitant to break the first one, these had been altered somehow, but the worst thing that could happen here was death or a debuff of sorts. When she snapped the first one she gained back some of the xp loss with no ill effects. She broke them all, one by one, ready to be done with everything from the Edge Zone. She hit halfway through level seventeen. She’d have to grind out the last bit again.
And then she’d have to do the quest again. It was still in her quest log but grayed out. All that time wasted. She should just be glad to be alive and free, but she felt the wind go out of her sails knowing she had failed to complete her quest. Maybe the mana crystals would buy the help she needed, or maybe it was time to be done with the sorcerer. Her ticket was still open and pending. Two weeks was plenty of time for the GMs to catch up on the backlog. It could be answered anytime now.
Her friends list was empty except Conti, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to him first. She would keep a low profile, but she didn’t want to stay inside and wait. She made sure she had everything from the room upstairs and exited the inn. She wasn’t sure which town she was in. She may have been here once or twice, but not enough to remember it by look alone. On a wall across the street she noticed why her friends had said to keep her head down.
A mural was painted there. It had to have been put up recently. At the front was a blonde woman in pigtails, unmistakably wearing Jane’s pink dress. Her arms were crossed in front of her, her staff leaning out to one side. Behind her were many faces, looking poor and downtrodden, but now looking to her for hope.
Jane stared at it in disbelief for a few moments. The image was stylized and the face looked generic enough that it could be her, or it could be someone else. There were no words on the mural, but must be by someone who she had helped at Ressix. She pulled the hood up over her head and down as far over her face as she could. She needed find out what was going on.
Her map told her she was in Abion. She remembered the name, but couldn’t remember the last time she had been here. It was far enough out of the way to hide her. None of her teleport stones worked, but two weeks was enough time for them to decay so she took a flight back to Thundershield on a pegasus.
As she landed she heard a voice.
“So coming back to Thundershield is keeping your head down?” it growled kindly at her.
She smiled, glad to hear him. She had not noticed Grendalt log in. He must have seen her in fight and met here here. She turned to him and saw him standing in human form. A rare sight, especially in the city. He looked as wild and uneasy as ever, but he was clearly glad to see her. She gave him a hug. She was glad to see him too. He wrapped his long arms around her.
“I saw a mural,” she said, after the hug. “I was wondering what happened. Figured I would most likely get my answers here.”
Grendalt nodded. He stretched his neck, looking around them. He was clearly still uneasy in the city. “That’s a good story. Let’s find a place to talk.”
A moment later he shifted into wolf form and led her down some streets. She made sure to keep her hood up over her head, but soon wondered if it was needed. Everywhere she looked, girls and women wore pigtails. Many had their hair blonde, but even those who didn’t seemed to take to the style. She saw many of them wearing pink dresses as well. Most were not exactly like her dress, but were variations of it.
“Maybe keeping my head down would be wearing the pink dress,” she said quietly as she followed close to him.
Grendallt chuckled. “No, not exactly. The store that Faceplannt got it from made the connection almost immediately and put a patent on the dress style. They’re selling it for a fortune, so other places made the knock offs to sell. Fortunately Faceplannt didn’t tell them your name when he ordered it. They would have plastered it everywhere. Wearing your dress would make you stand out even more here.”
“You must have missed me.” she joked. “You’re talking far more than usual.”
He smiled, and she was certain she saw his eyes roll. It was difficult to tell when he was in wolf form. “It is good to see you up again. I was sure you would be, I just didn’t know how long.”
She nodded. “Two weeks is a long time. I’m glad it wasn’t longer. I slept through it, and I still miss you guys.”
Grendalt led her through the city. Along the way she saw two murals that were variations of what she had seen in Abion. Again there were no words to them. It seemed as much a symbol as anything else. Soon they arrived at a small inn: The Shieldmaiden. Grendalt walked in and straight to a back room. The bartender nodded as they passed but didn’t say a word.
It was larger than most common rooms of inns in the small towns. There were more tables too, but no one else was around. She sat down at a booth near the doorway.
“Give me five minutes,” Grendalt said as she sat down. “I’ll be back.”
He left back through the door and within moments Jane saw log in notifications for Dave, Gavin, Brett and Ruby. He must have alerted them she was awake. True to his word, five minutes later he came back with all of them in tow. She stood up and there were hugs and tears all around. Brett just grinned at seeing her, and Gavin gave his half grin, telling her how good it was to see her again. Ruby seemed ready to open some floodgates at knowing Jane was okay. She was wearing a knock off of Jane’s pink dress, and had pigtails and everything in her dark hair. She seemed to be enjoying the irony of it. Dave had tears in his eyes but smiled at seeing her. His hug was the biggest, and she had to tell him not to crush her.
As they sat back down Ruby sat down next to her and Dave next to Ruby. Gavin and Brett sat on the other side of the table. Grendalt shifted into human form again and sat down at one end by himself.
“So, can I know what’s happened now?” Jane asked. “There seems to be a lot I missed.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Dave said, leaning back in his chair. He sighed. “There’s a lot to tell. We were out for a few minutes when Wilhelm was doing that thing, but when Conti revived us, we worked with the zorcs to pin down the Echelon players. Once we were safe and the place secure we made sure there was nothing left of use at Ressix. You had destroyed it well enough that no one would imagine trying to use it again for what Wilhelm was using it for. You didn’t wake up but Grendalt over there was sure you would eventually. I am happy he was right. Wilhelm disappeared, but Conti assured us he wouldn’t be a problem again. Ressix was ruined, and the Edge Zone around it is already shrinking.
“We came back, tucked you away, and tried to keep our heads down. Conti warned us not to spread word of what happened or get involved in anything.” Dave shrugged. “It sounded good at the time, but the rumors still slipped out. The players we saved didn’t want to keep their mouths shut and the story blew up. Echelon is pretty much a shell of what it was now. Everyone heard about their involvement and wanted no part of it. Many players abandoned ship as fast as they could. Others seem only there because they’re stuck in some sort of contract, which isn’t helping Echelon’s image.
“Wilhelm’s whole life work? He had figured out how to make mana crystals far faster and in larger numbers than anything else in the game. He just needed a constant power source tied to sorcerers. Now that Echelon doesn’t have access to that they couldn’t afford upkeep in half their holdings. They’ve lost most of their cities already.”
“The collapse has been awesome,” said Brett, leaning in. “No one’s seen Wanda or Grego either, but that’s no surprise. If they showed their faces they’d get mobbed and lynched again and again. Even that is better than they deserve. The other Echelon leadership claim Russex was a private endeavour by those two. People are mixed on whether to believe them, but in any case, as Korrond said, Echelon is a shell of its former self.”
“The problem is Conti used our silence to try to take credit for saving everyone,” Dave continued. “It mostly worked, but I’m sure you saw the murals and that they were of you not of him. Gripe is still getting the credit for the raid, but no one can keep silent at the mysterious sorceress who saved them all. Everyone is still trying to find her.”
Jane shook her head, unsure of what to make of it. A week ago—well three weeks ago she supposed—she would never have imagined being on an adventure like this, or facing danger like this in the game. Being famous, even as a figurehead no one really knew, was an idea beyond what she could imagine.
Things had changed in their time in the Edge Zone, not that she wanted to be famous or anything, but she wondered how the normal game area would feel now that they were back. She had changed. Looking around the table, her friends had changed. Dave had always been a leader, but he seemed even more sure of himself now. He had seen how Conti had lead, but she felt it was more than just that. Brett always grinned like he knew something you didn’t, but he seemed more serious now that he had seen some of the darker side of the game. Gavin was his quiet self, but he had the same hardened look she had seen in herself in the mirror. Even Ruby had changed. Jane knew the plucky girl was still there under the surface—and there had always been more to Ruby than that—but she looked determined now. Determined to do what, Jane couldn’t say, but she wouldn’t want to stand between Ruby and what she was determined to do.
