Even in the early summer, the nighttime chill lingered in the morning. The stilled winds wouldn’t pick up until the sunrise warmed the atmosphere. After gobbling down an uncooked and unsatisfying meal, I moved forward.
Beaker spent the morning scouting around. He enjoyed the mountainous terrain. I summoned him to my side to remind him to scout for other travelers and to pop any floating eyeballs. It felt strange hiking so far without a canopy of trees overhead, but spectacular views, sweet air, and visible progress more than made up for the change.
Moving in the morning was also quieter without the wind howling in my ears. I could hear the rocks clatter and shift beneath my steps. The sun reflected off the mist still hanging across the lowlands, obscuring details of the surrounding valleys.
By the time the sun ascended to its midday zenith, I noticed the absence of my pet. He usually soared over my head when I was out in the open. I cast Familiar to teleport him to my side, but as soon as he appeared in the puff of green vapor, he launched himself westward, up the mountainside to a summit east of Mount Grenspur.
“What gives, Beaker? We’re going north.” I let him go, assuming I’d interrupted his meal. A half-hour later, I summoned him again, and he made off in the same direction.
“What did you find?” I sent him telepathic questions while he flew away.
If he found the gruesome twosome on my tail, I needed to be careful. Though I needed to hook up with Fabulosa, my curiosity got the better of me. Beaker didn’t normally ignore me like this.
I made off for the westward direction up the mountainside. It was a short but challenging climb, and it wouldn’t delay me to see what Beaker discovered. I’d follow him, at least, to the ridgeline, where I could see more. When I reached the top, I made sure to avoid silhouetting myself against the sky, a trick I’d learned while ranking up my survival skill.
Crossing the ridgeline gave me another unobstructed vista of Mount Grenspur’s western face. I enjoyed it for a minute before looking for my headstrong griffon.
“Okay, you turkey, where did you go?” I summoned my pet, who promptly pumped his wings up the ridgeline a few hundred yards away. I followed him to see what drew his attention.
He landed next to another griffon.
“Oh, Beaker.” My feet stopped, and my arms fell to their sides. Seeing him next to another of his kind conjured memories of finding him in a nest after Charitybelle’s end. My eyes watered, and I wiped them.
After a few moments, I collected myself and watched them. To a casual observer, it seemed a natural scene—two griffons sitting next to each other. They weren’t doing anything corny, like building a nest or rubbing their beaks together. But their proximity spoke volumes.
Even a casual observer could see where my griffon belonged.
I would like to think that his uselessness didn’t figure into my decision to let him go. But he looked happy, and it felt like a dagger in my gut. Why did Crimson have to make this game so realistic?
It deflated me to think we’d reached the end of the line. I sighed. It was easier to leave someone than to be left behind. One story began where another ended.
Hundreds of yards away, I spoke out loud to myself. “Okay, pal. I get it.”
After opening Familiar’s interface, I released one of the two slots. I’d get three when my nature rank reached 30, but at this rate, I was losing Familiars faster than I could collect them.
I wiped my eyes again and laughed weakly. “At least setting you free doesn’t cost me an advantage in the game. I never could figure out what you were good for.”
I didn’t give my pet one last ruffle of his chest feathers. I turned and made my way down the mountain. I focused on my footing, refusing to let our breakup choke me up enough to cause me to fall. I didn’t want Beaker’s last impression of me to be stumbling down the mountain.
Before I returned to my original route, two shadows drifted overhead. In the sun, I couldn’t easily make them out, but they circled me once before soaring south of Mount Grenspur.
I hoped my detour with Beaker hadn’t given away my position. While I’d avoided exposing myself on the ridgelines, I couldn’t be sure if anyone below spotted me. I wasn’t in a fighting mood.
It was a shame that the ground was too uneven to summon Jasper. His company would comfort me. Even so, I redoubled my pace. Memories of Beaker preoccupied me so much that I kept veering off course to Fabulosa, but as long as I wandered in her general direction, it suited me.
On the contest map, Fabulosa’s dot almost touched the one representing me, Bircht, and Duchess. That I hadn’t split from them made me wonder if they had spotted me, but the rocky terrain would have made following very difficult.
I also took the most accessible route, so it made sense that we traveled the same terrain. Occasionally, I stopped and scanned the hillsides with my farseeing goggles, but boulders blocked my vision.
While rounding a slope, I searched for a safe descent and spotted a row of figures weaving through rocks below. They were too far away for their nameplates to appear, so I hurried to catch them. They moved quickly, and soon, I found myself on a headlong run down the mountain.
Resisting the temptation to Slipstream over obstacles, I took extra care to watch out for monsters and watch my footing. Players with high survival ranks knew to look out for hazards, especially when they focused on something else.
The figures moved so swiftly that I caught up to them only because of my downhill advantage. When they stopped and fanned out, I closed the distance enough to make their nameplates appear.
Deep elves looked as short and thin as Uproar, standing only four feet tall. Their skin looked almost white. They wore sleeveless chest plates of metal, and their arms were lean and toned with muscle. Weapons, tokens, and bags covered their persons. Aside from identical chest plates, they wore different gear.
They carried daggers, short swords, and small metal bows. The economical size of their weapons made sense for an underground people where space might be tight. If a deep elf dungeon lurked nearby, I would avoid it—at least until I could hook up with Fabulosa. Everything I learned in the battle college taught me long swords weren’t useful in tight spaces. My next best weapon, the dragon bone mace, wasn’t any better.
I spotted their reason for stopping. Player nameplates floated over the two figures they cornered against the cliff side. Duchess and Bircht hadn’t been following. They had been walking ahead of me.
The duo didn’t dress as I imagined.
Duchess was the easiest to describe, for a funeral shroud covered her entire form. Black lace obscured her neck and head, blending her profile into her surroundings. Were it darker, she’d be very hard to see.
At high noon, even I could tell at a distance that she struggled with something wrapped around her ankle. When she bent over to pick at it, I could see armor and equipment beneath the lace.
The pragmatic melee student in me scoffed at her choice of clothing. Any weapon could easily tangle itself in that shroud—and whatever bonus it gave her for camouflage certainly wasn’t worth the poor visibility she had beneath it.
I never pegged Bircht for the goth type. Duchess’s companion wore shoulder pads beneath a black cape, creating a hulking profile. Bircht’s bare chest had black lines crisscrossing it, and I couldn’t tell if they were straps holding his gear or something else. Bracers and wristbands ran down his arms, contrasting with his pallid skin. I pulled out the Eagle Eyes to study his face. He didn’t have fangs, though he looked like he should.
Jewels around his neck, forehead, wrists, and fingers completed his vampiric ensemble. The baubles seemed out of place, glittering in the afternoon sun and surrounded by rocks and crags.
Perhaps overdoing the getup was a shrunken head dangling from his waist. Since players disappeared when they died, it must have belonged to an NPC. Bircht may have sounded reasonable and intelligent in the group chat, but his accessories repulsed me.
It marked a difference in a virtual world. While a shrunken head added flavor to miniatures, sculpts, and fantasy art, the realism in this game made it distasteful. I couldn’t believe he walked around with it.
Bircht looked out of breath and pulled at something around his arm.
A deep elf swung a bola and released it. The thing whipped through the air and connected around Bircht’s neck. He pulled at it, giving the bola around his arm no more attention.
One of the deep elves muttered something, but I wasn’t close enough to hear. Its five companions laughed. As Bircht and Duchess struggled, I crept closer. Even in the bright afternoon, I dared not draw my blade for fear its glowing tip might give me away.
Peering into the Eagle Eyes, I watched Bircht and Duchess struggling against a net whose knots contained glowing shards of amber.
Though half my level, the deep elves’ nets gave me reason to stay put. Perhaps all I would need to do is sneak away and let these NPCs do away with my macabre opponents.
Their nets could even stop Fabulosa’s cloak, and her name joined ours on the same dot on the contest map. Still, it could mean she was miles away and in no danger of running into these deep elves.
The deep elves took their time with their quarry. They didn’t taunt or poke at the helpless players. Instead, they methodically wrapped them in the nets. If anything, they seemed somewhat lackadaisical about their haul.
One deep elf directed others in the task.
To understand his language, I unsheathed Gladius, keeping his tip hidden from view.
Amadar pointed North. “Let’s get these two trussed and ready for the commander. We’re sitting ducks out here.”
The swords’ translation powers gave the deep elves a lazy twang. The deep elves’ down-to-earth demeanor befitted them. I liked it more than the imperious pretense elves had in other games.
The elf in charge pulled out a small geode and spoke into it. The gemstone glittered in his hand as he held it to his face. “Hail, Green Mountain 5, this is Topbird actual. Tell Nalia that I caught two captives on the east face of Galor. I’m bringing them into the hatch directly. Over.”
A tinny voice resonated from the geode. “Copy that Topbird. I’ll let the commander know. Out.”
The geode worked like a two-way radio. Between the net and their communication, these deep elves seemed advanced for a fantasy setting.
Amadar backed away from the cliff and led the others down the mountain. By the time they moved, they had cinched leashes around Bircht and Duchess’s necks. With arms bound by lines glowing with amber, they marched the pair down the mountainside.
One of the deep elves raised their voice loud enough for me to hear. “Quiet, you two. You’ll have time to talk in front of the commander.”
I waited until they got a good head start before sheathing my weapon and following.
Aside from the occasional rebuke, the deep elves treated their captives in a civilized manner. They showed no cruelty and chaperoned their wards across the rocky mountainside and down the valley.
Flagboi I’m being told that my deep elf friends have caught some fishies.
Duchess Are you kidding me, Flag?
Flagboi Mail is a luxury of city life, but what you really want is one of these walkie-talkie crystals. Nalia gives me all the latest gossip.
Duchess Unfortunately for you, I speak deep elf.
Bircht You’ve done it now, Flag. I’ve seen what she’s capable of doing to NPCs when she’s angry.
Flagboi That’s the thing about dark magic, Bircht—it’s not so potent down in Uterspur. You should be honored. It wasn’t easy to negotiate for your execution, and it cost me a lot. Luckily, I managed it within the comfort of my own workshop.
Bircht and Duchess looked to be in a fair amount of trouble. I’ve never heard of Uterspur, but it sounded like a deep elf settlement beneath Mount Grenspur. Judging by Captain Amadar’s snappy chatter, the deep elves would take Bircht and Duchess underground, and I bet the entrance stood somewhere around here.
The deep elves were small, but they weren’t kobolds. If being dragged to the bowels of Uterspur didn’t cost them their lives, fighting their way out would take hours, if not days. How two six-foot humans could escape a settlement beneath mountains, I couldn’t guess, but low ceilings likely loomed in their future.
Fabulosa’s timing worked perfectly. With Bircht and Duchess out of the way, we could go to Oxum and find out what Darkstep sent in the mail. Better yet, if these vampire wannabes somehow broke free, they’d go after Flagboi.
My spirits picked up for the first time since I’d let Beaker go. It was nice to see a little luck break my way.
If Flagboi sent deep elves after Bircht and Duchess, he would have sent them after me as well. I needed to get out of their territory as soon as possible.
When I heard a rustle of stones behind me, Fabulosa touched down to the ground using Hot Air. The faint outline of her grew stronger when she flipped her hood down. She’d reached level 33.
“Wow, you are easy to sneak up on. That new helm isn’t doing you favors.”
“Hey! You’re practically invisible with your hood up. How are you?”
“Fair to middlin’. I’ve been searching for you all morning.”
I pointed toward the deep elves. “I’ve been lucky enough to avoid Flagboi’s patrols.”
Fabulosa peered over my hiding place to the scene of deep elves apprehending competitors. “Nothing beats a view from the box seats, eh?”
“Did the deep elves see you?”
Fabulosa rolled her eyes. “I doubt it. But who cares? Most are like a third of our level. I watched you watching them as I drifted over. You’re level 30 now. Not bad.” She crouched down beside me and hugged me. “It’s so good to see you again, partner. Give your big sis a hug, now.”
I returned the embrace and gave her the bad news. “I had to let Beaker go. He was looking forward to seeing you—at least until he found a female griffon.”
Fabulosa’s eyes brightened, and she hugged me again. “Stood up for another woman—the story of my life. But, aww, that’s so sweet. So you let him go?”
I nodded.
Fabulosa gave me another bittersweet, sad smile and touched my arm. “You deserve another hug for that. You’re such a good guy. Charitybelle is going to be so proud of you when you get back to California.”
I shrugged. “She won’t know until she watches the playback.”
Fabulosa slapped my arm. “Still. Releasing little Chickers back into the wild was the right thing to do. C-belle would love that.”
I waved my hands. “Shhh! They’ll hear us.”
Fabulosa broke into fits of laughter as she lay down beside me. She laced her fingers behind her head and rested. “So what else is new? The town is doing well, I take it?”
I peered down once more to make sure the deep elves hadn’t seen or heard Fabulosa. I’d gone from one noisy companion to another. The patrol contented themselves to leading Bircht and Duchess away, bound and covered with hoods.
Satisfied that my hiding spot had gone undetected by everyone not named Fabulosa, I caught her up on all my adventures. I told her about my battle against Resan, the anomalocaris, the emperor, and how Yula and I chased him to Iremont.
I told her about Yula strangling her old nemesis from behind using a bundle of arrows.
Fabulosa’s eyes widened. “Did the arrows have black and red feathered flights?”
I thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I think so. How did you know?”
Fabulosa clapped and raised her fists in the air. “Whoo-hoo! Go, Yula!”
“Shhh! Keep it down. What’s wrong with you? There are deep elves everywhere! What’s so funny about the arrows? They weren’t the ones you left me beneath the floorboards.”
“Yeah, I know. But don’t you get it? Yula said she had been saving special arrows for the emperor. Back in the goblin mine, she said she was going to use them to silence her foe. I assumed she’d spread poison on them and snipe him. But choking him out is way more personal. Oh, good for her.”
Fabulosa listened to the rest of my story with rapt attention. “Yula lit off to the orc homeland? I reckon she’d leave with the emperor gone.”
“And I didn’t even have to kill Uproar. He’d gotten caught in the same trap that I’d fallen into on a previous visit.”
Fabulosa patted the hilt of her Phantom Blade. “It would have been cool to see a moving mountain, but I’m glad I missed that dungeon. I like my gear as is.”
I admired some of her new gear, including a bejeweled belt buckle. “You’ve been busy, too, it seems.”
I sighed after reading the item’s description. It perfectly suited her, and extending the cooldown made it perfect for finishing moves.
She also wore a new pair of boots.
The description didn’t explain how Air Jump worked, but it sounded like a buff or nature spell that I hadn’t unlocked yet. It seemed redundant with her cloak but probably allowed her to run into the wind.
Fabulosa dressed like a pirate queen, posing for her portrait. Her cape, Windshadow, floated around her as if she radiated power. She grinned when she caught me admiring her outfit. “Aside from the helm and Hardwood Girdle, I see you’re wearing the same old duds. I’m not sure being able to turn into a tree is better than your mithril breastplate. I still have mine underneath all this.” She clicked a fingernail on metal beneath her bodice.
As we talked, I felt the familiar kinship I’d shared with her since Belden. She stuck to her principles and would never betray me. I felt the same way toward her. In the years we’d spent in Miros, she’d lost a little of her Southern twang but none of her edge. If it weren’t for her weapons-grade self-assurance, I’d follow her into any battle.
Fabulosa’s eyes lowered to my celestial blade. “Nice poke-stick, by the way. Did you pick that up from the core from the first relic?”
“Oh, yeah! He talks, too.” I reached to pull Gladius Cognitus from his sheath, but before I could make introductions, a net woven with glowing amber shards fell on top of us. The net doused my weapon’s glowing tip, removed our buffs, lowered our stats, and rendered our spells as useless as if we’d entered the Dark Room.
