World of Eternia: The Complete Collection (37 page)

Bik-bik-bik.
Chiek-chiek-chiek. The axes start pounding the ground with a
monotonous rhythm as the miners work in unison on the chosen spot in
the ground. Three miners use pick axes to break apart the stone. The
loosened stone and dirt are then shoved over to the wheelbarrow. Once
the cart is full, the wheelbarrow is pushed over to the other side of
the work site, where the rubbish is emptied out on a pile. After an
hour of work, the crew has dug a hole which is deep enough to bury a
player while standing up.

Xavier loosens some
rock deep in the bowel of the earth and puts it on a small pan. “Pull
me up,” he orders. He has a rope tied around his waist, to allow
his crew to help pull him back up. When he is back on normal ground,
Xavier turns to the diviner in their company, Talnia. “Please check
the potency of this rock,” he requests.

The diviner examines
the rock. It is opaque but black, and resembles an uncut gemstone. A
small pulse emanates from the rock, bathing her avatar in soft
glowing light. Talnia touches her symbol of the Gods of Eternia and
makes her request: “Oh Wise Gods of Eternia, May you Reveal the
mystery of this item, So that your Servants may progress in Thy Name.
Amen.” The Identify spell takes hold, and a dark bluish light
envelopes the rock. Slowly the light turns to black, and fades a few
moments later. The priestess shakes her head. “This rock has very
little divine potency, I’m afraid,” she says regretfully.

“I was hoping the
game developers would make this easy for us,” Xavier remarks, as
the sample’s potency is as poor as he expected. He turns to the
miners. “Let’s pack up and look at another site,” he orders.

The guild mates reload
the equipment back onto the wagon in a proficient manner, and then
take their seats inside the cramped wagon.

Titus waits until the
miners are set, and with a tiny stir of his rein, the fighter urges
his horse deeper into the dreary landscape.

* * *

“Let’s stop here,”
Clarke yells out suddenly. He has a good feeling about this location.
Clarke had previously discussed with Xavier on which direction to
take their perspective caravans. The two agreed that Xavier will head
closer to the mountain, while Clarke will move further away from it.
It is logical to assume that the potency of the rocks would increase
as the distance to Mount Zissley decreases. However, the risk of
encountering demons also increases as well. Clarke was secretly
relieved when Xavier volunteered to take the direction toward the
mountain, leaving Clarke to head in the opposite direction.

Wilson, the fighter
taking the point position in front of the caravan, hears the order
and pulls up the rein on his horse. He sees the miners start pulling
equipment out of their wagon. The warrior raises his right hand and
chops down in front of his body.

The fighters with him
see the prearranged signal and start to expand their perimeter.
Demonologists previously assigned to partner with each fighter also
head towards the perimeter of the work site.

Bik-bik-bik.
Chiek-chiek-chiek. The miners start digging at the ground with their
picks and shovels.

A while later a
guardsman calls out. "Captain!"

Wilson turns his head
to face north. He sees flickers of flames in the distance. "We
have incoming!" he announces.

Lucious sees the demons
in the distance, a half dozen in all, and turns to Clarke. "Can
you guys stop digging for a bit? I want to create a mirage, and
hopefully get these demons to ignore us," he requests. "However,
I won't be able to muffle the sound from your digging," he
continues.

Another mage
interjects. "I'm an air mage. I could create a sound barrier to
keep the noise out for a bit. This would allow the miners to keep
working."

"I'm sorry. I
didn't catch your name," Lucious requests politely.

"Alain Windmill,"
the young looking player with deathly white looking skin answers.

"Let's go with
your plan, Alain," Lucious says. The mage picks up some rocks
from the ground. He closes his eyes to start the incantation for the
Mirage spell: "isla-volk-potu-ertu-qlod-bure-jiha-klop-lind."
The rock dissolves upon the end of the incantation. The player
switches to his screen view and clicks on the flashing mirage icon.
He points at the rocks from the surroundings, and expands the size of
those rocks to create the illusion of a small boulder. He clicks on
the "Confirm" icon to finalize the spell, and switches back
to the normal in-game player screen. Lucious looks at Alain for
confirmation of the silence spell.

“The spell is
working,” Alain mouths silently.

Lucious offers a
thumbs-up gesture. While Alain’s Silence spell takes hold, any
sound inside the area of the barrier will be extinguished. Thus, only
gestures may be utilized to communicate with one another during this
time. The mage looks at the flickering flames in the distance, and
sees that the demons are not drawing any closer to the work site.
However, they are not leaving either.
I
wonder if they can sense our presence on their territory somehow,
Lucious ponders as he sits down on a rock. His Mirage spell will last
for one hour. It should be enough time for the miners to get some
samples below ground. If not he could renew the spell again before
expiration. He looks at Alain again and holds up one finger to
indicate his spell’s duration.

Alain nods and
reciprocates the gesture immediately.

Lucious nods back.
The
silence barrier will also last for one hour
, he realizes.
What am I going to do for the
next hour? I can't remove my virtual reality equipment as that would
disconnect me from the game. That's the problem with playing a
virtual reality game. You can't leave in the middle of the game to
attend to other business, like you could normally for a game.
He leaves his magical staff on the ground, and starts doing some tai
chi movements to pass the hour.

The other mages
alternate between watching Lucious, and glancing at the demons in the
distance.

"Which way?"
the warrior asks. Titus warily eyes the Zisslean Mountain, which is
starting to loom over an increasingly greater portion of the horizon.

Xavier frowns. He knows
the fighter is concerned about the party's proximity to the mountain
and the hordes of demons within. The prospecting group has already
dug up three sites, and each one has been a failure.
The
only way to get the good stuff is at the mountain,
he
realizes. "We need to get closer," he says quietly.

Titus nods. He suspects
as much. With a small flicker of his reins, the fighter urges his
mount onward, towards the mountain.

* * *

"Hold!"
Clarke calls out, ordering the caravan to a stop. "Let's try
this spot," he says.

The group immediate
disembarks and get to work. This is their fourth attempt, and the
journey has taken them safely away from the mountain. However, the
group has also moved a distance from the other two groups. They are
very much on their own if any demons are encountered.

Pik-pik-pik. The miners
are already digging at the site.

Lucreia takes the
opportunity to update the home base with their status. “We are in
the process of digging at our fourth site. Do you have our location
on the map?” she tells Willa.

“Yes,” Willa
responds immediately. “Your group has moved in a southeastern
direction. I am concerned that you are heading too far away from us.”

“I understand your
concern,” Lucreia replies. “However, it seems we are heading in
the right direction. The divine potency of the rocks has been
steadily rising as we move further away from the mountain,” she
explains.

“The other
prospecting group is drawing an opposite conclusion, and moving
closer to the mountains,” Willa notes.

“Do you think that's
a wise course?” Lucreia asks, alarmed at the other group’s
surprising decision to move closer to the mountains. “Perhaps it
would be better for Xavier's group to merge with ours,” she
suggests.

“You may be right
about that,” Willa admits. “It is rather strange that Xavier has
not encountered any demons yet, considering that your group has had
three encounters already. It is almost like the demons are
deliberately avoiding Xavier's group, to lure them closer to the
mountain. I need to confer with our leader on this possibility. I'll
re-link with you afterwards to give you an update.”

“Okay,” Lucreia
replies and releases the communication link.

* * *

Willa turns to
Kassender. "Clarke's group has started digging at their fourth
site," she announces. The diviner holds up a map of the region.
"They are currently at this location," she adds while
pointing at a spot to the southeast of the base. The Communication
spell also allows the linked parties to know each other’s current
location.

The head priestess
frowns at the away party’s location on the map. "Why are they
so far away from us?" she asks. It would be difficult to send
reinforcements if the prospecting group is discovered.

"Apparently, the
potency of the ore seems to be increasing in that direction,"
Willa replies.

"Where is Xavier's
group now?" Kassender asks.

Willa points a finger
to the north, uncomfortably close to Mount Zissley.

"They are moving
too close to the mountain," the head priestess observes. "Please
contact Talnia and order Xavier to withdraw. If they are discovered
now, the demons will pour out of the mountain and overrun the
prospecting group," she orders. “If he refuses to leave,
Talnia has permission to withdraw the support of the Church.”

"I will make
contact now," Willa replies. “Talnia, can you hear me?”

A moment later, Talnia
replies. “Yes.”

“The expedition
leader is uncomfortable with your group's proximity to the mountain.
She is ordering your group to move away from the mountain,” Willa
relays Kassender’s order.

“I will relay the
order to Xavier,” Talnia answers back. The diviner walks over to
the pit, where the miners are busy digging. "Xavier, the
expedition leader has ordered you to pull the group away from the
mountain," she says.

The miners immediately
stop their work, and look up at the diviner. In unison they slowly
turn their attention to Xavier, and await his response. While the
miners are aware of the chain of command with the Church official at
the very top, the four men are unwilling to lay down their loyalty
toward Xavier.

The leader looks at
Talnia with annoyance. "We'll leave as soon as we finish with
this site," he announces loudly for his group to hear.

"Are you
disobeying a direct order from the expedition leader?" she asks
haughtily while folding her arms across her chest.

"Your leader ain't
the one shoveling in a dirt pit," the man remarks.

The diviner stifles her
anger at his remark, and tries another tactic. "Kassender is
concerned that reinforcements won't be able to arrive in time, if you
draw attention from demons at such close proximity to the mountain,"
she reasons calmly.

"We'll just have
to take that risk then," the miner dismisses her concern and
resumes digging.

The other miners follow
his lead and resume operations at the pit.

Talnia relays the
message to Willa. “Xavier is refusing to leave until he finishes
prospecting the site.”

“What an idiot!”
Willa exclaims. “In that case, you are free to decide whether to
stay with the miners or withdraw back to base. Kassender has given
you permission to do either.”

Talnia sighs. As the
highest ranking member of the Church within the prospecting group,
she has authority to make decisions for all Church members working
with the miners. If she orders her clergy members to withdraw, they
will obey her command. But that would tarnish the reputation of the
Church of Eternia in the eyes of the other guilds. There are certain
things worst than dying and losing experience points during a
campaign, and losing Church credibility is one of them.

“We will stay and
honor our agreement with the other guilds,” Talnia finally answers.
“Besides, even if we withdraw now, there is a chance of
encountering random demons too. We will be no better or worse off
than staying. However, if we leave then relations between the Church
and the other guilds will be damaged significantly.”

“I will relay your
decision to Kassender,” Willa responds and releases the
communication link. The diviner turns to the expedition leader.
"Talnia has decided to stay with the prospecting group and lend
the support of the Church," she reports.

Kassender nods in
acknowledgment. She didn't expect Talnia to leave anyway, because
Talnia realizes that to withdraw would invite criticism of the Church
and disdain from the other guilds. If nothing else, Talnia is loyal
to the Church. "Let us pray to the Gods of Eternia that they
won't encounter any demons," she says.

Clarke pulls a big
chunk of Zisslean ore from the vein. The rock is easily the size of
three footballs. He tucks it under his armpit. The miner looks up and
yells, “Pull me up!” He feels a tug on the rope tied around his
waist, and starts scaling back up with assistance from his guild
mates. When he’s back on normal ground, the leader presents the
possibly precious find to the diviner.

Lucreia nods and starts
casting the Identify spell to determine the ore’s divine potency.
Soon a yellow pulsating light envelops the opaque rock. The air
starts to crackle with energy. Tiny motes of lights dance around the
rock, and they twinkle in and out of existence. The beauty of the
divine ore, which reaffirms the existence of the Gods of Eternia,
steals the believer’s breath. At a loss for words, she can only nod
to Clarke.