Fragments (Somnia Online Book 3), page 18
Axes weren’t cutting into it too well, except for when they hit a joint. The joints were made of softer stuff and actually appeared to give way easier, as long as the attacker managed to aim correctly. Devlish’s frustration showed on his face as the Fissure twisted quickly for a third time, causing his axe to grind against the stone. Murmur didn’t want to think about the blunting effects.
“Aiming for the joints is harder than it looks,” Merlin called out from his vantage point atop a rock near the forest side of the path. “It’s surprisingly quick for how bulky it is.”
“I have an idea.” Exbo grinned, drew back a flame arrow and fired it into the tar pit it carried on its back. Merlin turned and blinked at the other ranger, a wide grin spreading over his face.
“Don’t know why I didn’t think of that.” He muttered as the both of them began firing their flame arrows straight into the fire pit. Sure enough, while one didn’t take hold, after about a dozen of them filled the tar pit, with Veranol managing to shield the group from one flaming tar toss, the creature began to scream, and its health dropped rapidly.
The material holding its limbs together began to melt in on itself, and Murmur could only surmise that it came from the tar pit in the back of it. The low flame spread until the entire basin was covered, and the creature screamed its shrill sound again, forcing them to block it out however they could.
Just as it was about to fling more flaming tar at them, it shuddered and collapsed, rolling into a defensive ball.
Devlish waited a moment to poke it with his axe. “Is it really dead?”
Merlin nodded. “Seems that way to me.”
The dread knight sighed. “Definitely not the sort of beast I want to encounter again. How about we walk on the tree side of the path? I’d prefer shady elves over those damned Fissures any day.”
“No shit.” Havoc’s tone seemed irritated. “Fighting stone creations is just laborious, and all it gave us was some crafting material. Not worth our time.”
No one argued as they mounted up and began their trek to Curet once more.
Storm Entertainment
Somnia Online Division
Game Development Offices - Shayla Johnson’s Office
Day Thirteen
“David and I had a talk.” Laria stood at the door, leaning against it, her arms crossed, and her eyes, for the first time in two weeks, were almost normal. Sure, a little haunted around the edges, but overall, not too bad.
Shayla smiled. “I’m guessing that for once you’re the one who did the listening.”
“Wild guess that, don’t know how you came to such a conclusion.” Laria smiled and moved into the room, closing the door behind her.
“It’s all good. He’s going to research some different ways to help bring Wren out of it. I’ve no idea what he means, but he has a totally geeky doctor friend I think he may pose a couple of hypotheticals to.” Laria leaned back in the chair, stretching her legs. “Plus, he’s set a theoretical assignment for his students, so that should get interesting.”
But Shayla frowned, unsure if that was a good idea. “He needs to make sure these are really treated as hypothetical though. Too many people know already. We can’t let it get out.”
“I know.” And Shayla kicked herself, because Laria did know that the possibility of Wren being taken in for observation was very real, and very possible if they couldn’t get her out first. Not to mention being fired for keeping such information to themselves. Bridges that could all be crossed later, or burned.
“Sorry. Helps me remember shit if I repeat it to myself.” Shayla leaned back and stared at the ceiling, listening to Laria choke down a laugh.
“It’s all good. I feel more like myself after some actual rest.” Laria stood back up and crossed her arms, walking to the window and parting the blinds with a thoughtful frown on her face. “It probably helped that Wren came back to talk to me. Yell at me might be more accurate. But I deserved that.”
“Yeah, you did.” Shayla watched as her friend’s shoulders tensed, but Laria didn’t explode or quip back. Instead she sighed, and it turned into a soft chuckle.
“True. It’s been just over a week since she found out, and it’s calmer now. I should have got my head together sooner. Can’t change my stupidity in the past, but I can try to rectify the future.” She leaned toward the inner office window, her frown deepening as she looked at something in the corridor outside. “He really is always just out of your reach, isn’t he?”
Shayla stood up smoothly and joined the other woman at the window. “James is hovering these days. Always just out of hearing range, maybe.” There was no reason for him to be there that she could think of. His desk was a ways down the hall. Giving him the benefit of the doubt didn’t sit well with her anymore, not with his questionable behavior.
“Keep an eye on him for me when you get the chance to, Laria? He might not think that you’re suspicious.” Shayla ran a hand through her hair and sighed, scrolling through her to do list in an effort to multitask.
“Sure thing, boss.” Laria laughed again, causing Shayla to raise an eyebrow. “Sorry. I just have a speck of hope for the first time in a while, and I’d like the chance to feel good about that before I go and confront the AIs again and get all flustered and frustrated at them.”
“Going to see the AIs again?” Shayla phrased the question and watched the way her friend’s expression reacted in little to no way at all.
“David had some ideas for Rav, since he seems to be the AI most attached to Wren.” Laria shrugged and leaned against the sturdy oak desk in the office. “Of course, knowing my luck, Rav is becoming obsessed and trying to figure out ways to keep her in there instead of ways to get her out.”
“Well, then.” Shayla spoke her thoughts out loud to avoid them taking a dark turn inside her head. “Shall we head on and see how the servers are doing?”
Laria’s answering smile was a bit tighter this time, but she nodded and opened the door to reveal James raising a fist to knock, a completely surprised expression on his face. Too surprised perhaps.
Shayla frowned, not liking the coincidence at all. There was no such thing. “What’s up, James?” She knew her tone was curt, but she didn’t have the time to deal with a potential spy in her office right now.
Expression affable, his light blond hair and blue eyes attempted to lend a soothing aura to the mood, but Shayla only found it more annoying. “I was just checking if you wanted coffee, and if you remembered that you have a meeting at three.”
“We’re about to run a routine check on the servers, and we’ll pick up coffee on the way.” Shayla gestured to the hall in front of her as she exited her office fully and clicked the locking mechanism very deliberately so the state of her office was obvious.
“Ah, my timing is off. Next time I’ll catch you sooner.” He nodded and half bowed as the women walked down the hall. Until they turned the corner, Shayla couldn’t get the feeling of eyes boring into her back out of her head.
Giant trees rose up, their leaves spreading wide to envelope the rainforest in a natural canopy. Vines swung down from the trees, and Murmur could see feles in various states of ascent. Small huts wound around trunks at different intervals, with only the vine-ropes to traverse between them.
Curet was, in fact, the polar opposite of Cognitia, at least insofar as the mood that pervaded the city.
In the center of the clearing was a huge platform that dwarfed the one they’d seen in Cognitia. It looked like it was formed on a massive lily pad, and its fountain at the center gave off a joyous vibe. There were larger huts all around the perimeter, with stalls selling wares ranging closer toward the middle. Small feles ran around, some with stripes, and others solid, like Dansyn and Rash. Their tails whipped around, steadying them as they ran and jumped, tumbled and squealed. They tagged and dashed, ears twitching, taking leaps that seemed impossible with what appeared to be ease. They were captivating, just like all the other children had been in their own way in the other cities.
Murmur stopped, realizing they’d not seen any small elves. No children had been running anywhere, everywhere, and almost careening into her. Not even one.
You have noticed an abnormality within the world. This might be worth further inspection.
This time the vagueness didn’t bother Murmur so much; after all, it was right. That she hadn’t noticed it while in Cognitia spoke volumes about the atmosphere in the place. Even with her shielding, it had affected them all.
Rash nudged her with her hip. “What do you think, Mur?”
“I like this. It’s got a much friendlier vibe. Don’t you think?” Murmur grinned, and glanced at the rest of the group. Everyone’s expressions seemed surprised and happy, more relaxed and relieved. A small test of her sensor net let her know it was genuine and not a forced sensation. After their run in with the elves, she couldn’t be too cautious.
A flash of speed stopped right in front of them, actually skidded to a halt, feline eyes blinking at them. “Travelers! Wait.” Their eyes squinted while their tail lashed back and forth and their grey mouth pulled back slightly to reveal sharp teeth.
“Dansyn and Rashlyn!” The sound practically mewled from their greeter, and Rash and Dansyn smiled, hugging the slightly smaller feles tightly.
“Hey, Ceshli. What have you been up to?” Rash’s tone held a fond note that Murmur hadn’t often heard from her. Ceshli’s excitement at seeing them was palpable and it took several seconds for the enchanter to realize she wasn’t a player. At least the elves had kept it mysterious and irritating enough that she didn’t feel they were real. Everything else in this world was slowly making her believe that Telvar was right. Somnia was a world of its own.
Ceshli smiled, which was a disconcerting effect on a cat. While Murmur had gotten used to it on her friends, it seemed that didn’t translate to foreign kitties. Their ears folded back slightly and their face took on a brief look as if it had been scratched behind the ears. The wide smile was very Cheshire Cat-like in appearance, just without the disappearing face.
“People will be so glad to see you!” Ceshli clapped their hands together, their claws extending. Murmur frowned. She’d not noticed her friends doing that at all. Conning the friendly greeter, she realized they were still red to her. Must be a quest NPC, beginner anyway.
“Ceshli, these are our friends.” Rash smiled as she gestured to the group of them. “We wanted to bind here and show them where we grew up.”
It was all Murmur could do not to laugh. She’d never seen Rash role-play before, wasn’t even sure that was quite what this was, but at any rate, it was endearing.
“Fantastic! Are you thinking to go out into the jungle? You’ve grown so fast, you’ll overtake me soon. I think you should be able to weather the storms out there. Frankly,” Ceshli stepped closer, their whisper loud enough to hear even in the conspiratorial tones. “Just between us, there’s something not right out there. At night, if you go to the edges of Curet, you can hear noises. Not like a jungle-monkey crying for food, but real screams. Ones we’re not used to around here.”
“How long has this been going on?” Murmur asked, trying to fish out whether this was a quest or not. The right questions, the right actions. All of it triggered things. Which meant taking even innocent seeming comments or information as a prompt for something bigger.
“About a week now. Very strange actually. Has the kids actually listening to us when we tell them it’s bedtime.” Ceshli grinned again in that cat-like way, and then gestured to them. “Anyway, come, come with me. You must need supplies, and I’m sure you’ll want to bind at the statue. Makes the most sense in the long run.”
You have noticed that the Feles are worried about the cause of noises in the jungle between Curet and Cognitia. It even scares the kittens at night. Surely you love kittens. Everyone loves kittens. Find out what’s scaring them and what you can do about it.
That was a specific task for once. At least it was along the lines that Murmur was already considering pursuing. Fountains, quests, odd occurrences. Sometimes she just wished she could mindlessly grind away until she hit fifty. But then again, where would the fun in that be? Glancing at the rest of the raid, she frowned. Everyone had looks of consternation on their faces, which probably meant they’d all gotten the prompt. In a way that was good, because this solo questing shit was getting annoying.
As they walked through the city, Murmur noticed a slew of other players. All green to her. As usual, it seemed the cat race was getting deserved attention. Most of the players seemed to be around level five to ten, with some teens loitering about.
Dansyn spoke right next to her, and Murmur almost jumped.
“They have some quests here where higher levels need to help younger levels. There weren’t any players to help us, so Ceshli… I mean, NPCs took that job. When we’ve leveled, we’ll come back and do the same. This village,” he gestured around them, a soft expression on his face, “seems so real some of the time. Caring, helpful, and sort of jolly. If you ever need to come and forget worries for a while, just come and watch the children play. Or else, just come and play hide and seek with them. You might be surprised.”
“Hide and seek with sneaky cats, huh?” Murmur found her own mood softening as she glanced out over the city that was bustling with life. It seemed her friends didn’t always see NPCs as such either. Maybe reality was just perception. Ululate had its fair share of players mixed with NPCs, as did Frangit and the big cities. Yet she hadn’t seen many players hanging around Verendus. Perhaps it was because everyone who’d come that far was intent on leveling.
Which left her to wonder where the hell Exodus was now. They didn’t appear to be anywhere near her, which she was actually grateful for.
“Mur?” Dansyn was trying to get her attention. “You sort of stopped in the middle of saying something, I think?”
She blinked at him and backtracked. “Oh, I just meant playing hide and seek with sneaky cats might actually be fun.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Sneaky, are we?”
“Yes. Soft footed and hard to detect when you creep up on people. Sneaky.” She nodded emphatically, trying to catalogue the rest of her thoughts so she didn’t keep running in circles.
It was a longer walk to the huge lily-pad center than she’d thought. From a distance it had appeared smaller, but in actuality it was solid—if a little bouncy underfoot—and the fountain at its center captured pure feline grace. As she bound herself in front of it, she studied the fountain. Two feles graced the structure, one at the bottom dual wielding axes, its leg lunged forward to provide what appeared to be support for the feles above it. The second appeared to have catapulted itself off the other’s knee, twisting in midair. It drew back its bow and had an arrow ready to shoot. There appeared to be no actual connection between the two statues, and no other way for the second to be secured, but even still, it hovered there in perfect stationary motion.
Yet another piece of the puzzle, another path to a key. What will the arrow hit? Can you tell yet?
Murmur did her best not to get angry, literally clenching her fists so her fingernails bit into her skin. “No, I can’t bloody well tell yet,” she muttered under her breath.
“What was that, Mur?” Sin leaned in front of her, her dark hair hanging over her shoulders like a waterfall, and Murmur’s bad mood broke.
“Nothing. Just another quest pop-up.” She tried to belay Sin’s questions by smiling at her, but the blood mage wasn’t deterred.
“You seem to get a lot of quest pop-ups,” she stated, squaring her shoulders as she stood upright.
“Don’t you get any about the fountains?” Murmur was only slightly surprised. It seemed her thoughts about things triggered quests, and she didn’t for one moment doubt that Sinister had her own quests that she’d discovered without anyone else.
Sin pursed her lips, her brows furrowing in thought. “Not about the fountains themselves, just about some of the statues so far.”
Maybe it was because Sin noticed the artistry in the statues more than the way they interacted with the function of the fountain. Such small and subtle differences. Murmur wanted desperately to ask Telvar how this shit all worked, but she got the feeling all she’d get would be an enigmatic smile and avoidance of the question. “Mostly the same as mine then.”
“Oh!” Sin’s face brightened up. “I thought I was missing out.”
She winked at Murmur before moving over to the non-casters of the group and helping Mellow bind them.
Murmur watched her go, a thousand thoughts running through her head. Already having bound herself, she glanced around the huge platform. Several player-occupied stalls were scattered over the area, with other players and even NPCs stopping by to look at their wares. She glanced over at Beastial, who nodded at her.
“Already on it, Mur. Seeking out some new crafters even as you think.”
She laughed and wondered just how transparent she was. At least until she felt a spark of discomfort between her shoulder blades. She turned around to find the source of it and noticed several lower level players watching her, but with their focus slightly out of whack.
They had to be inspecting her and her gear. After the initial moment of irritation subsided, she remembered when she’d first begun gaming, before the endgame got a hold of her. Inspecting those who were higher level had spurred her on, made her want to be better at the game and her class. Sometimes she forgot others might like that too. A bit of incentive could go very far. She also guessed her sensing net didn’t differentiate between different types of observance. If something or someone was watching her, it flagged it. Maybe there was a setting of sorts she’d not yet discovered. Like, ill intentions only.
