Fragments (Somnia Online Book 3), page 22
Murmur knew her shields were tight, but she clenched them a little more anyway. Considering it was here that she’d first noticed some of the enchanters in here might have a little too much influence over things, even with Elvita seemingly excited to see her, she wasn’t about to take a chance.
“Elvita. Care for me to break your bank again?” She winked at the locus, happy to see her regardless of anything else.
“You’re out of luck. With all the newbies running around here, I don’t have enough money to spend on you. Your stuff is expensive.” She winked back at Murmur and waved to the door. “I’m sure Belius will be happy to see you. He’s not got many who grow as fast as you.”
Not many meant there were some more enchanters out there making leaps and bounds. Which was good to know. She should probably dive into that damned chat and see if any of them were any good or needed a new home. The guild was going to need more than one enchanter at this rate, and the game didn’t seem to worry about allocating classes for numeric balance. She was pretty sure in her brief scanning of the guild list that she hadn’t noticed another enchanter. But then she’d not seen another blood mage either, so that didn’t really mean anything. She needed to speak to Beastial. “Thanks, Elvita. I’ll see you after I talk to Bel.”
The lines to see trainers weren’t long anymore, probably because the game was almost two weeks old, and they’d begun to even out while leveling. She hesitated before knocking on the door, not entirely sure how he’d react. She hadn’t seen him since he’d stepped in and given her a figurative smack in the face to break up her panic attack during the war. That was over ten levels ago.
Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door, and watched it swing open without any sign of anyone opening it. The nostalgia of the action made her smile. It felt like an age since she’d last been here.
“Ah, Murmur.” Belius smiled kindly, eerily mirroring the first time she met him. He seemed sweet and old, but she knew now he wasn’t quite like that. “It’s good to see you again.”
Even though she was sure that in some way he was being completely truthful at that moment, Belius was just a whole mess of contradiction, and even though it was his fault that Jirald had painted a target on her back now, she still couldn’t quite get rid of the fondness she’d once had for the enchanter.
Still, she couldn’t bring herself to agree that it was good to see him again. “I’ve missed this place.”
His eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, as if he noticed the glaring omission. “Well then, come and have a seat.”
Somehow the tension in the room was so thick she couldn’t even have cut it with a knife. Almost suffocating, the atmosphere pressed down on her, and she instinctively pushed back, noticing Belius’s eyes open wide for an instant. But it was enough. The AI was playing with her, and Murmur didn’t like that shit.
“Look. Unless you’re the one who set Riasli on this path of destruction, I’m not upset with you for withholding spells from me. I don’t know everyone’s spell lines, but I know enough that she used some pretty tricky shit on some NPCs out there that neither I nor any of my friends could undo. So just help me make sure my MA skills are rounded out, please?” She tried so hard not to sound demanding, but she was actually feeling tired, and wanted a nap before the others got back. Not to mention she needed time to herself to experiment with logging out some. There was no way in hell she was letting others do all the work. It was her brain and her body. It was her own damned problem.
Belius’s vision clouded over for a moment and made her wonder who he was communicating with. “My apologies. That was neither myself nor anyone I know.”
The frown lifted his lips down and furrowed his brow so much, it took on an alien, horror movie appearance, and Murmur shuddered.
“Sorry,” he said, blinking rapidly. “Riasli seems to be acting on her own. I’ll see if I can look into it.”
Gee, thanks, teetered on the tip of her tongue just for a moment, but Murmur swallowed it. “Great. With you and Telvar looking into it, maybe we’ll find something out. Now, are you still able to see the spells and abilities I have?”
Belius nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, that damned frown was back. “You’re missing one of your kinetic abilities—the options, at any rate.”
He didn’t sound as sure as she’d expected, and a kinetic ability wasn’t one she’d considered. “So, the abilities she used, are they higher level enchanter?”
Belius shook his head. “In a way. I believe they’re from the Sinuous line as you level up.”
“Then what did she mean when she told me she forgot to teach me one?” Perplexed, Murmur barely realized she was thinking out loud. “Sorry. I’m just a little—”
“Upset that you’re not all-powerful?” Belius chided gently.
“I’m not all-powerful anyway,” she snapped and paused herself to steady her breathing. “But I do wish I could do more. I don’t like feeling that vulnerable.”
The enchanter master rolled his shoulders, much like a fluid octopus shrug, and gave her a half smile as if he didn’t quite know what to say, or else, how much he could say. “Riasli is a problem, but a problem I’m certain can be solved. For now, you’re the only guild who has a key, let alone who can tackle a dungeon for a key. Make use of that. Because others are pushing right behind.”
Enigmatic and cryptic shit yet again. “What’s the MA I’m missing, thanks?”
Belius chuckled. “Always straight to the point. Some divergence might be good for you, Murmur.” He waved a hand with a flourish and pulled a scroll out of his robes.
“This is a basic kinetic ability. It reinforces your Thought Shielding, Thought Sensing, and Thought Projection, lending it tangibility if required. Be cautious with this. While it will allow you to punch through someone’s own shielding, you could damage their minds if you hit too hard. You can also reinforce your own shielding and turn your thoughts into momentary solidity—as you level it up.” His gaze didn’t waver from hers, and for a few seconds, Murmur felt like she was falling until he handed her the scroll and gave her some grounding.
She unrolled it immediately and frowned at what she read.
Base Kinetic Structure
In order to take advantage of your ability to turn thoughts into weapons, you must reinforce the skills that ground all of your telepathic and telekinetic abilities.
Effect: This ability allows you to strengthen the base of all three arms of psionics. Thought Shielding will eventually physically repel an attack. Thought Sensing can break through others’ shields to reveal what is hidden. Thought Projection can lend solidity to the induced hallucinations managed once skill level 250 is passed.
Cost: This is a passive skill and will begin working to bolster your abilities as soon as you absorb it.
Caution: Do not presume to know how this passive ability works. You will need to test this out. The difference for these abilities between telepathy and telekinesis is very fine. What this ability does is allow your kinetic field to grow at the same rate as your telepathy. What it does not do is make you infallible. Always remember that if you’re not sure, you can do more damage than you think. Not only to yourself, but to those you target.
Murmur blinked at it, very confused. It seemed like she should have had the underlying structure for her kinetic abilities a long time ago. “How late am I getting this?”
Belius smiled, an easy expression that made her feel slightly better. “Not at all. MA four is when it applies. Before that you don’t technically have access to true kinetic abilities, and so won’t understand most of it. You’ll need to practice with this a lot, but with a kinetic base to your skills, subtle though it is, your kinetic abilities will gain power. Otherwise using those abilities could be tantamount to suicide. Without the kinetic grounding this ability gives you, you could have blown yourself, and all your friends up.”
Murmur suddenly felt queasy. Riasli hadn’t given this to her. On purpose. Which was probably what she meant by her cheeky oops comment. “So—”
“Yes. She deliberately withheld this from you. I, for one, would love to know why.” He seemed eager to know. Maybe he’d help Telvar figure shit out, but all that Murmur knew right then, was that Riasli had tried to fuck her over, and worse, potentially hurt her friends. Now she hated her even more.
“Murmur.” Belius broke her out of her reverie, and she had to jump to cancel her cast back to the isle.
“Yes?”
“Don’t rush things. Even with your new active and passive abilities, you need to grow. All of your skills need to be used frequently in order for them to be easier to cast, easier to activate. Just because you get amazing things doesn’t mean you’re immediately going to be a master of them all.” His tone was grave and his expression somber.
Murmur didn’t like the way the warning rang through those words, and the truth of them reverberated through her skull. She’d been getting far too cocky lately. He was right. It was time to dial it back.
Once again on Mikrum Isle, Murmur yawned, patting her wolf on his head as he nudged her leg. She really needed to sleep, but it was also the perfect spot to try a few things, once she’d spoken to Neva. Making her way through the work area to the crafting stations, Murmur sighed.
She’d really been remiss with talking to Neva. There was just so much for her to do on a consistent basis. She didn’t feel she was managing her time well at all. A slight surge of disappointment went through her as she realized Telvar was no longer outside. Maybe he’d gone to try and figure out what the hell it was Riasli was doing. It was better than letting her brain try to convince her that he was avoiding her.
“Neva!” She called out as soon as she saw the small luna, a smile coming unbidden to her face.
The master crafter looked up and returned the expression, sheer joy reflecting in her eyes. “Murmur! How are things? Oh no!”
Murmur stopped, slightly confused. “Oh no, what?”
“You’re already thirty-two? How am I supposed to keep up with you? I’d say stop leveling, but I realize that would be counterproductive.” Neva grinned mischievously.
“Well, leveling is what I do until I can’t anymore.” Murmur winked at her. “We’ve been stockpiling all our crafting gear and dumping it into the bank. Has it been helping?”
Neva nodded emphatically. “Another week, and I should be maxed out on at least tailoring and leather working. At least as long as you keep dumping all that inventory my way.”
“On it.” Murmur smiled. It was good to be around her friend. Someone she’d not gamed with before, who had no expectations from her but for her to just be herself and provide crafting materials for the guild. It was pretty awesome. “I will probably—”
But Neva cut her off. “Don’t worry, I’m already working on it. I hope you’ve just hit level thirty-two, because I made you a set of armor for that level, although you might not like it, since the tunic is longer. But it’s moveable like Sinister’s, and it’s a gorgeous deep purple.”
“I’m sure I’ll love whatever you’ve made me.” Murmur was past the need to avoid robes and have to have tunics. Even though she liked the latter, they just didn’t seem to last long enough while leveling up to matter.
“Oh, fantastic. Are you going to be here for a bit? I have to put some finishing touches on the five piece.” Neva stopped, hesitation written all over her face.
Murmur spoke gently, hoping to encourage her to share. “You were trying to tell me something a few days ago, weren’t you? Are you okay?”
Neva paused, and then nodded. “Yeah, there’s just something I need to talk to you about, and I have a few things to organize a bit more before I do. I’ll ping you when I’m ready.”
She flashed a nervous smile Murmur’s way, and the enchanter felt concern rise in her throat. “I’m sure that whatever is on your mind, it’ll be okay. We’ll work through anything together.”
Neva’s smile was so wide it made her luna tongue poke out slightly. Murmur had to stifle a laugh. “Thank you for all you do.”
“You’re very welcome, Murmur.” The luna took a breath and forged on. “Speaking of which, what will you be doing while you’re here?”
“Napping and testing a few things out.” Murmur smiled, her plan still forming in her mind. “Telvar not around?”
“Nope, he said he had a meeting to attend.” Neva began to focus on her work again, her answer somewhat absentminded.
“See you soon,” Murmur said, glad to hear Tel was probably talking to the others.
There were variables she needed to go over, so she headed to one of the fully finished rooms on the lower floor. Most of them had a couple of single beds placed in them, with a couple of drawers and cupboards. The stone floor was swept, and the bedding was simple cotton, or knitted blankets. It was clean, fresh, and serviceable.
She lay down, with Snowy curled up on the floor beneath the bed, his head on his paws, yet Murmur knew that if anything threatened her, he was highly aware. Closing her eyes, she activated her game interface, not the HUD, but the original login screen.
Hovering over the log out button with her mind, she paused for a moment. What if, directing her brain the way she was, logging out severed her connection? Trying to convince her brain to actually log out, to bypass the alternate reality of her home and just log back into her brain, was more difficult than she’d anticipated.
Maybe it simply was just a case of mind over matter. Taking a deep breath, she activated the log out.
Storm Entertainment
Somnia Online Division
Game Development Offices Artificial Intelligence Server Room
Day Thirteen
“Whose NPC is Riasli?” Sui spoke before Rav could say anything.
“I was going to ask the same question.” Oddly enough, Rav felt like his thunder had been stolen. Wren probably visited Sui straight after she visited the island, which was why it had taken the other so long to answer the summons for a meeting.
“I’d love to know what you’re all talking about.” Thra drawled the words out, sheer boredom working through her words. “Something to do with Murmur again, I take it?”
“She’s not yours either?” Suddenly Rav didn’t feel so strong anymore. His initial thoughts had been correct. They had a rogue NPC. How had that happened?
“She’s in Curet. Of course she has to be Thra’s. Not to mention she interfered and could have blown Wren up.” Sui sounded heated, leading Rav to believe that somewhere in there, he actually cared about the girl. In some weird, twisted, further-his-agenda sort of way.
Thra raised a disinterested eyebrow. “No. Arita was mine, and I’ve apologized for that indiscretion. But Riasli was not mine at all. I don’t even recall her being a blip on the radar. She’s not an enchanter master. She’s not even a trainer. She’s just one of the NPCs players need to talk to in that queen quest thing option for gaining access to the ruins.”
Rav pulled up data and subroutines, trying to calculate how Riasli breaking her role could have happened. He knew characters acted on their own due to interactions all the time in Somnia. They’d given them the ability to extrapolate and act individually for a reason, but it should have been within set parameters. From what he could see, there was no inciting event. Nothing Murmur had said to her should have triggered any of this. She’d simply gone off script before Fable even entered Curet, by killing or torturing the inhabitants of the Curet enchanter guild.
“Murmur didn’t activate this in any way. Riasli had already rendered the trainers immobile when they arrived. And so, she didn’t have to worry about the actual master respawning, she placed her in a type of stasis I didn’t even know we had.” Rav’s words trailed away, and he looked at his brethren with an air of hopelessness. Some things apparently, just weren’t quantifiable through his algorithms. It made him feel surprisingly vulnerable.
“Look.” Thra spoke out, irritation obvious in the timber of her voice. “Riasli might be in my city, but she was just one of the run of the mill NPCs placed there. If Riasli is out of line like this, I’ll look into it, since I’ll have to activate and assign a different NPC to be a part of the quest if a player’s choices trigger it. If not, it’ll be broken. Luckily, the only guild with any possibility of being close to doing that quest in that specific area at this point in time is Fable. So at least it’s not out of hand.”
“Not out of hand?” Sui’s bad mood rumbled through his voice. “You realize Riasli didn’t give Wren her kinetic grounding passive, right?”
Both Rav and Thra stared at him. “But that...”
“Exactly. Not only could that have killed her, but if she activated one of her skills to too great a degree, she could have blown the whole fucking game apart. Now that is a problem. And we need to fix it sooner, rather than later.”
Murmur’s head spun, so wildly that nausea threatened to take a hold. Her vision spiraled even behind closed eyes until she lay panting in complete and utter silence on a softer surface than she’d left. Her spine tingled, and her eyes felt as heavy as lead. It took a huge amount of effort to open them.
Light pierced her vision, blinding her for a moment, and aches entered all of the muscles in her body. She moved her fingers tentatively, their response sluggish, and she blinked the game’s login away from her vision as the light faded from its initial blinding greeting.
As the room finally spun into focus, her breath caught in her throat, and it constricted with unshed tears. There, directly in front of her, was that damned crack in the curtains. Exactly the same. Over again. She lay on her bed as it was rendered in her mother’s online version of their home, and there was no containment capsule visible anywhere near her.
The pillow and bed were soft, and she wished for a moment that she could truly feel the sensation of her sheets against her body instead of her brain’s approximation of how it might feel. Tears leaked down the side of her face, even then she knew that too was fake.
