Arcane kingdom online co.., p.137
Arcane Kingdom Online: Complete Box Set, page 137
“I think they want a rematch,” I said.
“Well, let’s give it to them,” said Shade.
“My thoughts exactly,” I replied.
I raised my gun hand up and triggered sniper’s eye.
My eyes focused in on the red glowing eyes in the night.
“Clay Hopewell: the bloody human pistol,” cheered Shade. “I bet you wish you had this move back in Illyria.”
Sniper bullet was clearly meant to be used for assassinations and stealth kills. Preferably in better lighting conditions as well.
I couldn’t fully see the incoming dogs approaching us in the shadows of the forest, but I didn’t have to fully see them.
I just needed to aim between the eyes.
BANG!
The demonic dog squealed and whimpered as it fell in the darkness. Its red eyes faded from view.
“I’m not going to lie,” said Shade. “It does feel a little messed up that we’re killing a bunch of dogs.”
BANG!
I finished off another.
“I agree,” I said. “But there’s mitigating circumstances. The main one being these are demonic flesh-eating dogs that want to kill us. In desperate times, I’m willing to make exceptions.”
“That’s what she said,” said Shade.
BANG!
“Please don’t ever do that again,” I said.
“That’s what she said,” cried Shade with laughter.
“You’re not doing it right,” I said. “You’re supposed to sound cocky-funny when you make that joke. It’s not meant to be self-deprecating.”
BANG!
“Maybe you’re right,” said Shade. “I’ll have to review the interaction with Kari when we get back.”
Shade finally ran into the darkness to help out with the demon dog slaying, but he stopped after a moment.
“Where’d they all go?” he said.
“I shot so many of them,” I said. “I scared them away. They will come back for us though.”
“Damn,” said Shade. “Should we turn back around then? Find a different route.”
We didn’t have time to backtrack, but Shade did have a point. The woods would continue to be infested with these demon dogs.
What were we going to do?
A new message appeared in my HUD.
Congratulations! You have unlocked a new special ability: double jump.
Awesome.
I must have unlocked more of my nanite avatar’s abilities from shooting down all those demon dogs.
It was the perfect ability to unlock right then as well. I was wondering if something like this would come up. Double jump must have been my nanite avatar’s rendering of my racial Aeri ability: power jump.
I tested out the new move, jumping on the spot. Once in the air, I then jumped again even higher.
I landed on my feet.
“Impressive,” said Shade.
There was one last thing I wanted to try.
I ran forward and leapt horizontally. As I glided through the air, I jumped one more time, as if I was landing perfectly on a platform and launching myself forward again.
This was the moment of truth.
As I glided across the air, I tried jumping again.
Poof!
Just like the second time, I was able to leap again.
The question then became: could I go for a fourth jump?
Poof!
Again it worked. Would I be able to keep doing this endlessly?
I finally attempted to leap a fifth time and found myself crashing to the forest floor.
Warning! Double jump can be used four consecutive times. Unlock further nanite capabilities to stretch the ability even further.
Okay, good to know.
“Four consecutive jumps,” said Shade. “Not quite the level of OP bullshit you can pull in Illyria. You disappointed?”
I shook my head. Not disappointed in the slightest. Four jumps would be enough for my plan.
“I think I’ve found the solution to moving forward in this forsaken forest.”
“I don’t like that look on your face, Clay,” said Shade. “It’s the kind of look I make when I’m thinking of something absolutely dangerous and ridiculous. It’s a face I like making, but definitely one I don’t like looking at.”
“Tell me, Shade,” I said. “How do you feel about tree climbing?”
19
“Yippee!”
Shade yelled at the top of his lungs, while clinging onto me. I carried him piggyback style as I jumped between the branches of the trees.
“You’re screaming right in my ears, you know?”
“I’m just feeling the wild freedom of soaring through the forest.”
“I really think you could’ve tried a bit harder to jump between the branches with your acrobatic skills,” I said.
“Yes, Clay, I can triple backflip easy-peasy. But here’s the thing, there’s only a few things guaranteed in this life: death, taxes, and your OP double jump ability. Strapped on your back, I know I won’t ever fall. Now, yippee!”
By using the branches as a stopgap between jumps, I could effectively hop swiftly through the forest, using the double jump power.
I did this for a couple of hours. Shade fell asleep behind me and I had to grip him extra tightly as I jumped through the forest rooftop.
Shade snored gently into my shoulder. It was sort of sweet, I guess. Except for his drool soaking into my shirt.
The forest thinned out just as the night sky drifted away and the orange-pink sky of morning emerged.
Shade yawned, waking up on my back. “Are we there, yet?”
“Almost,” I said. “But it looks like the forest portion is over. Look.”
Just beyond the tree branch I stood on was a rushing river and waterfall.
Those were the famous Gravette Falls. We were getting closer. Our detour in the woods may have actually sped up our journey. If we hadn’t ended up there, we wouldn’t have fought those dogs and I wouldn’t have unlocked double-jump.
Maybe things did happen for a reason.
I jumped down to the ground and let Shade get off me.
“Oof,” said Shade, stretching his arms. “My body feels stiff. I don’t know who invented these nanite avatars. They were clearly a work in progress. I can feel back pain, but I don’t get hungry? What the heck is that about?”
I ignored his whining and took in the rushing river in front of us. To get to Gravette, we’d have to cross the river and hike our way down the forest from the other side.
The river rushed furiously towards the cliff and then down into the waterfall.
The black water rapids were wide enough that I’d need about twelve double jumps to cross, so it wasn’t going to be easy to get over there.
“Now might be a good time to let me know you’ve unlocked the nanite equivalent of summoning a giant grumpy bird to fly us across,” said Shade.
“Unfortunately, I haven’t,” I said, wondering what the nanite rendering of my summoner abilities might look like, if I ever did unlock them.
I did notice, however, some rocks jutting out of the river. It’s possible with Shade on my back once more that I could double jump between the rocks and make our way across the river.
The sounds of rushing water filled my ears.
“It won’t be easy,” I said. “It’s definitely a risk, but I see no other way.”
I bent over and told Shade to hop on.
“Choo-choo! It’s the Clay Hopewell Express!”
I ignored his joke and gripped Shade’s legs behind my back.
Let’s get this over with.
I ran to the edge of the river and leapt.
With the momentum of my run, I pushed off the edge of the ground and hurled Shade and myself into the air above the deadly rushing river.
“We’re gonna die!” screeched Shade into my ears.
I gripped Shade’s legs tighter as I triggered double jump again, creating a platform at my feet to jump even higher. Two jumps were what I needed to get to the first rock.
We landed on the rock two meters out from the edge of the forest. I wobbled for a moment until I got my balance.
I took a moment to catch my breath as the river rushed furiously all around us.
“Oh boy, that was close,” said Shade, still hanging on my back. “Good thing you had me here for moral support.”
I didn’t have the energy or care to respond to such outrageousness. I simply kept my eyes focused on the next rock we had to go to and the one after that. This was a wide dangerous river.
Gravette Falls had once been a popular suicide spot back in the day. I remember hearing a story when I was younger about a teenager who leapt off the rapids. His girlfriend had passed away a week earlier in a car accident. The couple were so madly in love, the boy said he could no longer belong to this world if it didn’t include the girl. I remember the boy had left a note that had leaked online. I’m going home, the boy had said. Those were his last words before leaping off the waterfall, his misshapen remains fished out of the pond below a few days later.
The sounds of the rushing river made my stomach churn. The edge—where that teenager had jumped from and where we’d go if I made one false step—was right over there. Just a few meters away.
Splash!
Something poked out of the river. At my feet was a long pink tongue, emerging from the water below.
“What the—” gasped Shade. “Jump, Clay! Monsters!”
What kind of creature was able to live below the rapids like this?
I didn’t even care to find out. I pushed myself off the rock and leapt towards the second rock right in the middle of the rushing river.
I double jumped as I descended through the air back towards the water. The second jump got Shade and I across to the middle rocky platform.
“Keep going, Clay,” shouted Shade. “Whatever you do, don’t look behind you.”
More splash sounds echoed around me along with strange gurgling noises. I didn’t want to look to see what type of creature was attacking us, but I needed to. It was a strategic decision. If I knew what we were up against, I might be able to better steer clear of it.
I adjusted my body on the rock slightly so I could look back at the rock we had just come from.
I did not like what I saw.
Resting on the rock was a slimy frog the size of one of those big stuffed teddy bears you could win at a carnival booth. The size was where the similarity ended, however.
“I told you not to look, didn’t I?”
The frog must have contracted the ZERO virus and this was how the virus had mutated it. The creature had bubbling yellow warts all along its murky green scales.
Another tongue poked out of the rushing water onto the rock we were positioned on. I kicked it away and the tongue darted back into the water below.
How many of these damn things were there?
From below the water, I spotted more bright glowing yellow balls. The river was full of them.
I turned to jump to the next rock, but a mutant frog climbed up onto it. Same with the rock beyond that.
We had no way of crossing the rapids now.
“Are you comfortable to stand on this rock with me, Shade?” I said. “I think we’re going to have to fight these things if we want to get across?”
“Alright, mate,” said Shade, climbing off me and crouching on the other end of the cramped rock. “These are not ideal fighting conditions.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I said.
I lifted up my hand and triggered bullet finger.
The nanite shroud around me created a silver bullet, propelling at hundreds of miles an hour towards the nearest mutant frog.
“Heck yeah,” shouted Shade, whipping out his own shadow knife at the same frog.
It would be hard for the mutant frog to dodge both projectile attacks. Hopefully it would be enough to knock it back into the water, giving us enough time to jump on to the platform.
The bullet smashed right into the mutant frog sending it back a step. The shadow knife knocked it to the side and it leapt back into the water.
Piece of cake.
Shade jumped onto my back and said, “Hop us the heck out of here, Clay, c’mon!”
He was right. There was no time to waste.
I leapt in the air towards the now empty rock.
SLURP!
Something wrapped around my leg.
Uh oh.
I attempted to double jump in the air and the thing gripping my leg pulled me back.
The original mutant frog’s tongue had stretched out six meters and wrapped itself around my leg.
“Let go of me, Shade,” I shouted. “Get back to the rock.”
Shade leapt off my back.
SLURP!
The other mutant frog sitting on the furthest rock from us had stretched out its tongue and caught Shade.
I triggered fireball.
My hand lit up with a ball of flame and I threw it at the fleshy tongue wrapped around my leg.
“Agh! Throw a fireball over here, Clay!” shouted Shade. “Of all the horrible ways I thought I might die, I never once thought it would be to giant frog monsters.”
The fireball burst into the mutant frog’s tongue, setting it aflame and turning it into a burnt red.
The mutant frog hissed and wailed. The tongue squirmed and shook, flailing around in the air, dragging me with its jerky motions until it let go, throwing me into the rushing rapids.
“Clay!” shouted Shade, using his slice ability to cut through the mutant frog tongue.
The water swirled around. I tried to plant my feet on something, but I was losing my bearings.
Water rushed into my mouth as I took panicking gasps of air.
Shade was hurled through the air and into the rapids ahead of me.
We were at the edge and there was nowhere else to go but down.
20
You have taken significant damage. Nanite shroud will repair damage to your nanite avatar. Please hold....
Nanite avatar restored. Please remember minor and major injuries can be repaired, but total destruction of the nanite avatar will result in complete irreversible shut down.
I blinked and puked out river water. I felt around with my hands. I was on a damp bed of sand.
I rolled over.
Gravette Falls was just a little ways away from the sand bank I’d ended up on.
Holy crap. I can’t believe I survived that fall.
I looked around. What about Shade?
“Looking for me, mate?”
Leaning on a tree was Shade. Alive and well.
“I’ve been waiting ages for you to come to. I guess my nanite avatar is just better than your nanite avatar,” he laughed. “Still, wish we could actually eat and drink. I honestly didn’t know how to pass the time as I waited for your avatar to repair itself. This was a perfect relaxing drinking opportunity. I’ll just have to make up for it when we get back home to Illyria.”
Back home to Illyria.
I looked at the waterfall behind me. I thought I was back home.
I didn’t dwell on the thought.
I stood up and said, “We’re not far from the city now.”
An hour later, we were on the outskirts of Gravette.
We walked by abandoned roads, warehouses, and gas stations. We kept alert for flesh-eaters and other mutations, but we didn’t see any.
“Weird that there are no flesh-eaters around here,” said Shade. “They’re usually everywhere we go. Not that I’m complaining. Heck no. I hope everywhere we go is like this.”
It was nice not having to deal with those awful monsters, but I wouldn’t let myself relax that easily. We were always seconds away from a new terror making itself known to us.
In some ways, the fact that there were no flesh-eaters around here made me more nervous.
I kept alert and then I saw something.
In the distance was a familiar building: a roadside restaurant with a giant burger-shaped sign.
I hurried over to the building with excitement.
“Mate, where you running off to,” hollered Shade.
I couldn’t believe it. I thought I’d never see one of these again.
“Why are you so excited,” said Shade. “What am I looking at? Is this your world’s equivalent of pubs?”
“No,” I said with a grin. “It’s a restaurant. The best restaurant.”
The sign on the window said it all.
Bob’s Bangin’ Burgers.
I ran up to the front window to see if anyone, or anything, was still inside. I checked the front door. It was unlocked.
Perfect.
Bob’s Bangin’ Burgers was my favorite restaurant as a kid. Maybe even favorite restaurant ever. In high school, it’s where my friends and I always went on Friday night. It was where I went on dates. It was the best. It also had the tastiest burgers and the most delicious cookies and cream milkshakes.
“Shade, you gotta try one of these burgers,” I said, excitedly. “Milkshake, too!”
“Clay,” said Shade, softly. “I’d love to, but I think you’re forgetting something.”
I was about to swing the door open and I turned back to him.
“What?”
Shade frowned and shrugged his shoulders.
Then I remembered.
I was an idiot.
How did I forget?
In these nanite avatars, we didn’t need to eat or drink. We were super powered versions of ourselves and yet...were we really 100% ourselves? Was I—Clay Hopewell—really back here in my home world? Right then, I felt more like a scuba diver, observing a foreign world through goggles and lots of equipment. I was in a world I was knowledgeable of, but not necessarily apart of. At least, not any more.
“Let’s keep going, huh,” said Shade. “Like you said before, we’re almost there.”
I stared through the windows of the unlit abandoned restaurant. This wasn’t the Bob’s Bangin Burgers I’d gone to as a teenager. It was a different one in a different city, but it still reminded me of my lost life and memories.
