Yvvaros: The Digital Frontier (22 page)

The pain of the knife was gone, transmuted into a strange emotional conflict that instantly swirled within Luke like a tempest.

I’m never going back, am I?

He felt his simulated heart beating with furious intensity as he looked around. He was in Stark Town, right where he’d been with Tess before he’d last been pulled out of the game. She was nowhere to be seen, and around him, other players shouted and fought against creatures in the streets.

Those are the same as the ones I fought at the start of the game. The Tymians, the main quest monsters.

It was the middle of the night. Kantor hung in the sky overhead, blocking out stars and glowing slightly along the edges like a gigantic solar eclipse. Both moons were out on either side of it, and the formation looked like a far off, celestial mobile.

Luke clutched his sword tightly in his hands and willed his legs to bring him forward. He looked from side to side as he went, first toward the various houses and buildings on either side of the street, and then at the players who’d been brave enough to make a stand.

“For Kantor!” screamed one of them, spinning and striking his Tymian opponent with a spear.

It’s a repeat of what happened at the very start of the game, but this time for real.

One of the creatures spilled out of an alleyway to the left, and Luke moved forward to engage it.

CONJURE SWORD 3

Luke was only at level ten, and it was clear that the monster was at least a few levels higher than him. He launched all three of his magical blades at it, and they depleted the Tymian’s health bar by about a quarter of its maximum length.

Fuck! It’s strong enough to one-shot me if it uses a combat ability.

The Tymian moved toward him head on. Luke sank to his knees and rolled to the side, dodging its claws as it took a swing. He pulled his blade back as the Tymian moved into a lunge, countering with an overhead strike. The creature turned faster than he’d been expecting and struck back, leaving Luke with no option other than to take the hit, his health bar draining by half instantly.

“God dammit!” Luke swung his sword and connected with its neck once, and then again. The Tymian fell back and he pushed forward, a fire burning inside of him, pushing out of his eyes.

This is my world. This is where I belong now.

There were patterns to the Tymian’s movements and he began to pick up on them as it recovered and tried to retaliate. Luke dodged and then struck twice more.

PIERCE ATTACK 3

The Tymian lurched and fell forward as Luke lunged into it, skewering it with the point of his sword. Luke knocked it off and kept moving.

I don’t have time for this. I need to find her.

He was headed for the one place in Stark Town that he knew would still have a gathering of players and he hoped, Tess. There were fights everywhere he looked, but rather than stopping to help the players, he reminded himself of the critical facts of the situation.

Tess can actually die. They can just log out.

The inn was a madhouse. Luke could tell even from the outside looking in. Swarms of players attempted to push in through the door, creating a traffic jam of epic proportions as their avatars did everything they could to reach safety.

Some brave players had set up on either end of the street, protecting the makeshift sanctuary against the Tymian onslaught. Luke scanned his eyes across them slowly, until he locked onto a familiar figure amidst the chaos.

“Tess!”

He ran toward her, ignoring the battles taking place all around. She was desperately casting healing spells, buffs, and debuffs, the glow from her magic giving her a bright, constant aura.

“Kato…” She smiled at him as he pulled her into a tight, protective embrace. “I was worried about you.”

“You don’t have to worry anymore, Tess.” Luke pulled back slightly and stared into her eyes. Realization dawned on Tess’s face before he’d even said anything more.

“You… how could you?” Tess shook her head and pounded one of her fists against his chest. “You had a life in the outside world, Luke!”

I thought she would be happy?

“So did you,” he replied. “Why are you so upset?”

“You… can die now, Luke,” she whispered. “You went all in, knowing that. You’re the one who needs to explain why.”

A Tymian emerged from a side street. Luke whirled to face it out of reflex, landing three quick slashes as he readied his combat abilities.

CONJURE SWORD 3

PIERCE ATTACK 3

Luke went forward with his real sword while the conjured ones kept it pinned down. The combination left him drained of magicka, but it was enough to subdue the creature.

“For you.” Luke stopped scanning the scene of the battle and looked at Tess. “I went all in for you.”

A large group of Tymians were moving toward the defenders from the north end of the street. Luke moved away from Tess and into the fray, feeling her cast a buff on him as he went.

“Force them back!” he yelled. The rest of the defenders looked a bit warier in their approach, but they followed him as he charged into danger.

They don’t have anyone to protect. They don’t understand that for some of us, this is life and death.

Luke fought with all of the ferocity of a wolf backed into a corner. He didn’t focus on one Tymian, instead slashing and hacking into as many different ones as he could as he moved around the battlefield.

His magicka was completely drained, and an overconfident step forward into the ranks of the Tymians cut him off from his fellow players. Luke swung his sword in a circular arc, but it wasn’t enough to push back the press of evil.

“Looks like I got here just in time!” Silverstrike disengaged from stealth mode beside him, appearing from thin air. Luke smiled at him and ducked low to allow his friend to take advantage of an opening to throw a dagger at one of the creatures.

“You always loved making a dramatic entrance.” Luke laughed, despite the hopelessness that still loomed all around. “Where did you set up your computer in the end?”

“The library,” said Silverstrike. He shook his head and looked concerned. “There was a huge commotion at your place, what happened?”

It’s not going to be easy explaining this to Ben, either.

The Tymians were falling back, and it left Luke and Silverstrike with a clear path back to the main group defending the inn. The human players were enjoying a temporary respite, but even with their best efforts on the line, they were slowly losing to the World Event mobs. Many had already logged out, or died and lost their characters permanently. Luke gritted his teeth in frustration.

“We have to push forward and go on the offensive!”

“Are you out of your mind?” One of the higher level knights spoke with his mouth full, a crusty, stamina restoring loaf of bread clutched in his free hand. “We would get slaughtered. We’re heading back up to Kantor, at least up there the Tymians can’t-”

A blood-curdling screech came from overhead. Luke turned to look at it and saw a massive flying monster, bigger than anything he’d ever seen before. It was dark gray with unnaturally bright red eyes. Its wings created a massive draft as it flew toward Stark Town from the west, blowing thatch from the roofs of houses and making the cloaks and capes of the defenders dance behind them.

“What is that thing?” yelled Luke. “It’s… headed up!”

WYLLITE: A flying creature that grows to massive size through feeding on floating clouds of Ylgae, floating miniscule bits of vegetation in Yvvaros clouds. An omnivore, it has been known to supplement its diet with anything small enough to be taken by its jaws. Tymians occasionally tame them and use them for transportation.

The creature’s destination was not Stark Town, not the stubborn players left defending the tiny outpost on the actual continent of Yvvaros. It was heading to attack Kantor, the safest place for a player that wanted to avoid the chaos, or needed to avoid it.

It’s almost like it can sense where the players who’ve gone all in would be the most likely to go.

Luke glanced over at Tess, who looked just as worried as he felt.

“We have to stop it,” he said, and then repeated louder, turning toward the crowd of fellow players. “We have to stop it!”

“It’s over at this point,” said a mage. “Permadeath is on. I don’t know what your plan is, but I don’t want any part in it.”

The mage suddenly disappeared, and Luke knew that he had logged out.

“I’m not just going to give up!” Luke climbed on top of a small crate that was set on the side of the street. “We can take back Kantor! We can put a stop to this!”

“Why should we bother?” asked another player.

He doesn’t get it. None of them do.

“Because they aren’t going to stop!” Luke jabbed his finger into the air, first pointing at the flying monster, still headed toward the floating city, and then at the sky itself, as though calling out god. “This is the world that we play in… the world that we live in. Are you really going to cede your control that easily?”

There was a murmur of agreement through the crowd. Silverstrike climbed up next to Luke and cleared his throat.

“I think a lot of you forget that this is a World Event, a onetime thing.” He nodded at Luke and then continued. “Sure, permadeath is active, but if we manage to defeat the Event Boss, we’ll get gold, experience, and possibly even rare items. You guys can pass on that if you want, but I’m not missing out!”

Luke watched as a change came over the group of players. Some of them logged out, but others began checking their supplies in their satchels, casting healing spells, and preparing themselves for what was to come. Luke looked over at Tess, who was watching him with admiration in her eyes.

“Alright,” he called out to the crowd. “If we’re going to do this, we need to do it right.”

Luke stood in front of the rune circle in Stark Town with Tess on his left and Silverstrike on his right. Behind them was all of the manpower that remained after the town had been retaken.

The Tymians had not mounted a second attack, at least not on the ground. Luke and the rest of the players rushed to the connecting circle between Stark Town and Kantor, but the Wyllite had closed the distance to Kantor more quickly than they had been able to, depositing its Tymian passengers into the floating holy city.

“They’ll be waiting for us on the other side.” Luke spoke to the gathered group in a voice laced with confidence born of necessity. “I’ll lead the fighters and knights in first. Ranged attackers, rogues, and mages, will come through next.”

He turned to Tess, still speaking to the group, but making it clear that his words were really meant for her.

“Healers, don’t try to cross over until a minute or two has gone by,” he said. “We’ll focus on clearing the area around Kantor’s rune circle first.”

Tess stepped in close to him and grabbed his hand. Luke was still facing the group, but suddenly, it was an effort for him to keep his composure.

This could be it for us. We only get one shot.

“I’ll see you on the other side,” whispered Tess. Luke leaned in and kissed her.

“Alright, every second we wait is just more time for the Tymians to loot Kantor.” Silverstrike held one of his daggers up into the air like a battle standard. “Let’s get this raid started!

All of them joined together in a resounding battle cheer. Luke set his eyes into a determined glare, and then walked forward into the rune circle, leading an army behind him.

The transition from Stark Town to Kantor through the teleporter reminded him a little of putting the VR headset on, or taking it off. There was no time in between his departure and arrival, and the sensation was, as always, a bit unnerving.

The white marble, gold trimmed streets of Kantor were packed with activity from both players and Tymians. The screeching of the Wyllite was close enough to be painful now, and when Luke turned and looked at the creature, he was taken aback by its size.

It’s almost as big as Kantor…

A scream came from behind him. Luke looked and saw an army, several Tymians for every player he’d brought up with him. The creatures moved as a pack, slaughtering players as they went. The few remaining survivors were not fighting so much as fleeing.

Luke ran headfirst toward the pack.

Slowly but surely, the rest of the ground reinforcements flooded through the rune circle behind him. The nearest Tymian lacked no confidence in the way it made its way at Luke, gnashing its claws out in an attempt at intimidation.

CONJURE SWORD 3

Luke hung back, using the swords for defense instead of offense. The Tymians began attacking him in groups of two and three at a time. Luke met their strikes with quick counters, but the numbers were against him, against all of them.

Silverstrike was through the teleporter, and Luke could see him weaving his way through a crowd of Tymians just to get to him. Luke managed to knock one that had already taken damage from other players away from the pack, and the two of them fell on it with quick strikes, taking it out.

“Kato!” yelled Silverstrike. “There’s too many of them! We need to re-”

“No!” Luke turned to look at Silverstrike even as he continued to direct his conjured swords. He moved into a defensive position. As far as he could tell, Tess was still on the ground, but the healers were beginning to come up through the teleporter.

Giving up on this is the same as giving up on her.

“We can’t kill them.” Silverstrike swung his blade, forcing a Tymian that was quickly approaching to hop back.

“There’s got to be something…”

The clouds… they’re at eye level.

Luke felt two puzzle pieces click together in his head.

“We don’t have to kill them,” he said. “All we have to do is push them over the edge.”

“Push them over the edge…?”

Luke nodded.

“We lure them near one of the walls and get a couple of our mages to use wind magic to blow them over.”

Three Tymians in formation rushed toward them.

“Just go!” yelled Luke. “Get people coordinated for it. I’ll hold these guys-”

Claws whipped against Luke’s shoulder. A quarter of his health bar was taken away, but the larger impediment was the momentary stun it inflicted on his body.

The creature struck again, joined by others nearby. Luke’s health fell to precarious levels and then zeroed out.

Fuck!

Luke felt his screen fading to a strange, intermediary color. It wasn’t like the last time he had died, where the respawn was instantaneous. There was a pause that felt like a mixture of sleep and paralysis.

And then his eyes were open again. Luke was staring up at Tess, who was glowing with the familiar blue aura of the aftermath of a revival spell.

“Tess!” Luke stood up quickly, still hearing the sounds of battle raging all around him.

She was smiling, her face an expression of unbridled happiness, so out of place in the midst of the carnage of the sacking of a city. And, distracted by it, she didn’t see the claws as they approached her, just out of her line of view.

“No!” Luke screamed. She was too far away, and all he could do was watch.

The Tymian struck her down, and then struck again. Tess’s life bar was dropping just like Luke’s had, with the type of accelerating momentum of a ball thrown to the ground.

CONJURE SWORD 10

Luke used his combat ability and felt something tingle against the back of his head as swords began to materialize. Not one, or three, or any number that he’d summoned before.

Ten swords, like a small flock of birds, appeared and shot off at the Tymian that stood over Tess. All of them found their mark, and the creature fell backward.

“Tess!” He ran over to her, and then…

He helped her to her feet. Tess’s health bar was low, but not empty. She immediately cast another healing spell and brought herself back into safe territory.

“Jeez, that was close,” she said.

Luke swallowed hard and shook his head.

“Yeah,” he said. “It was.”

What the hell did I just do?

Silverstrike had put Luke’s plan into action across the city. Luke could see a small group of agile rogues and fighters running forward and carefully letting most of the massive Tymian pack follow behind them. Waiting ahead, a third of the way along the curved outer wall, were all of the mages, set in position to utilize their wind magic in the way that Luke had suggested.

“We might stand a chance!” he yelled to Tess. “We just have to-”

“Look out!” Tess moved to pull Luke back, managing to get him out of the way just in time. A spell exploded into harmless energy in the spot he’d been standing in. Luke followed its trail to the source and saw a different kind of enemy.

It was a Tymian, but larger than average and much better equipped. It looked more like one of the human players than an NPC, wearing a jacket of chainmail and wielding a glowing yellow two handed sword.

“This is it,” said the Tymian. “This is the end.”

It pushed forward past Luke and Tess, headed for a different target, the mages.

“Damn it!” He took off, running at full speed after the large Tymian. “We can’t let it reach them!”

“I… have your back!” Tess followed in his stead. Every fiber of Luke’s being wanted to tell her to get to safety, to not follow after him, but there was nowhere else she’d be protected.

If I die, she dies too.

The large Tymian wasn’t slow, but Luke was faster. He closed the distance and flew into action.

PIERCE ATTACK 3

He struck into the Tymian from behind. The blow wasn’t enough to take more than a sliver off the creature’s health or knock it down, but it got its attention.

The large Tymian had an amused expression on its face as it walked toward Luke. Instead of striking with the oversized sword, it held out a hand and used a spell.

Three large, magical arms, shot out in a triangle. Luke couldn’t move fast enough to keep them from dragging him in.

Damn!

The Tymian pulled him into range and lifted its sword into the air. Instead of bringing it down immediately, it hesitated, almost as though it had intended the strike as a threat.

“You’re a fool,” said the Tymian. “This should have never happened. None of it should have.”

“Luke, get ready!” Tess fired a gray colored spell at him that he didn’t recognize. When it hit, the magical arms disappeared and he had a chance to roll away.

“Just give up.” The Tymian was speaking to him again, this time directly, its eyes blazing with frustration and fury. “Just give up, Luke. You don’t have control here. You can’t win.”

…Dad?

Realization dawned on Luke like a brilliantly bright sunrise. He gripped his sword even more tightly.

“Get back!” Tess was moving forward, her staff infused with white energy in a similar manner to what Luke could do with his sword. He rushed after her, his heart sinking as he saw the Tymian raise its sword again.

“This doesn’t concern you!” The Tymian brought the weapon down, releasing a long range shock wave that knocked Tess to the ground like a rag doll.

“You bastard…” Luke glared at it.

Whatever you are… whoever you are… I‘m not going to let you dictate anything to me.

“I could have killed you several times over by now,” said the Tymian. “You’re lucky that I-”

CONJURE SWORD 10

Again, Luke brought more magical swords that he had realized that he was capable of into the world, shooting them off all at once at the Tymian. It blocked most of them, flinched back at the ones that snuck through, and was completely off guard for what came next.

ELEMENTAL INFUSION: FIRE

PIERCE ATTACK 3

In a cloud of flames, Luke flew forward at the monster. The point of his blade struck and broke through the first layer of chainmail. The fire did much more than that.

Luke was knocked through the air as the Tymian’s arm collided with his chest.

“You will learn!” The Tymian rushed at him, still smoldering and losing health. It swung its sword faster than Luke could dodge, and he felt his health bar begin to sink.

This is the end…

The Tymian struck him a second time, and the pain was enough on its own to let Luke know what the level difference between them must have been. It took an immense amount of effort just to keep his sword in his hand as his health again dropped to precipitous levels.

I can’t die! Not yet! Not until it’s safe!

He rolled away from a follow-up slice and jumped to his feet. The Tymian stood with its guard up for a moment and then let it down.

“Go ahead,” it said. “You can’t kill me. This is more than you know, more than you can even-”

The Tymian suddenly, and surprisingly, flew through the air. Tess was standing to the side of where he had been, aiming a rod that Luke had never seen before.

“It’s a Gust Rod!” She looked as though she would have smiled if the situation had been less dire.

Luke’s eyes followed the large Tymian through the air. The wall was only a few dozen feet away, and the rod had sent the creature up with a decent amount of speed.

Come on… come on.

The Tymian landed on its feet, just within the wall, unscathed.

“Damn it!” Luke took off in a determined sprint toward his enemy. “I won’t let you take this away from me!”

ELEMENTAL INFUSION: ICE

CONJURE SWORD 10

PIERCE ATTACK 3

Luke was capable of using all of his combat abilities at once, a feat that would have been impossible without one of the buffs Tess had inconspicuously cast on him during the fight. He flew toward the Tymian with superhuman speed, shielded by bright blue swords of ice.

Luke struck into the monster with everything that he had. The magical blades hit against it, followed by his real sword, and then followed by him. A thin layer of ice coated the Tymian, slowing it down just enough to make his grappling effective.

He wrestled it up and over the wall. It didn’t make a sound as it slipped off into the thin air, as if not even the prospect of dying was enough to unnerve it.

“Luke…” Tess was behind him, pointing at something across the city.

They… did it!

Using the battle strategy that Luke had devised, the main group of players was distracting the Tymians as the mages swept them over the edge with wind magic. There was even a player perched on the wall itself with a tiny telescope, peering down at the ground and confirming the kills from the fall.

“Come on!” Tess grabbed his hand and pulled him forward.

By the time they had closed in on the action, the number of Tymians left in Kantor could be counted on a single hand. The Wyllite moved from where it had been hovering, letting out another ear splitting screech before flying off into the clouds.