Chapter 1
* * * “Don’t close your goddamn mouth. I only have a handful of these left,” I said as I duct-taped two missiles to the back of her head. We found Samantha on the street, covered with black soot and growling as she attempted to chew on the side of an ursine house. Her long, bone-colored hair needed to be brushed, but there was no indication her entire head had just been on fire. We now stood a block over in a small park. On both sides of us, buildings had been leveled by the artillery. The distinctive whine of an incoming rock whistled through the air, landing right where we’d been standing a few minutes before. The wall near the entrance of town cracked and fell in on itself. Donut growled. I, once again, installed my xistera extension. I eyed Samantha warily as I placed her in it face down. The back of the missiles were now pointed directly at my chest. If she set them off now, I would be crisped. Carl: Okay, Mordecai, I’m taking the potion. I hope this shit works. Mordecai: It’ll work. Just remember the side effects. My intelligence was at 25, but with all the daily buffs, it sat at just over 30. The potion Mordecai had made for me was called Major Charlie for some inexplicable reason that even Mordecai couldn’t explain. He said it was usually called “Brain Juice.” It raised my intelligence by 10 points for thirty seconds. It came with a nasty side effect. After it wore off, it lowered my intelligence by 10 for five minutes. My Ping spell had a reach of one kilometer plus 500 meters for every ten points of intelligence. However, environmental factors could raise and lower that effect. After I downed the potion, my Ping spell would now reach three full kilometers in every direction. We weren’t sure how far these assholes were and if they were using some sort of camouflage, but we were hoping it was within that circle. If I could spot them, they were fucked. I could lob Samantha 50+ kilometers, so I had to be careful with how hard I threw. “Here we go,” I said. I pulled the loaded xistera to my chest to keep it in place. The twin rockets pressed right up against me. I drank the first potion. Levitation. A slider appeared in my interface, up and down along with a 60-second countdown. Shit, I thought. I did this in the wrong order. I tried mentally touching the slider thing, and my feet rose a foot off the air. I knew Elle had a similar thing in her interface, but she could actually move back and forth, too. I was stuck just going up and down. “Whoa, this is weird,” I said. I tapped my foot on the air, and it felt as if I was standing on glass. I raised up another five feet as I waited for my potion timer to reset. I knew the ground wasn’t as solid as it felt. Mordecai emphasized how dangerous these potions were. He said it would not stop me from dropping if I had enough momentum. They were not a suitable alternative to feather fall. We couldn’t use these things to keep from plummeting to the ground unless we took them before we jumped. Treat it like you’re standing on thin ice, he’d said. “Don’t hurt yourself, Carl,” Donut said from the ground, looking up at me worriedly. I waited for my potion timer to zero out, and then I drank the Major Charlie potion. Boy, are you smart! I pushed the slider up, and I zoomed upward, pushing through the green cloud. The wide expanse of trees spread out around me, surrounding the town. The wide, naiad-infested river spread out like a snake. I glanced over my shoulder, and it was the same in every direction. Nothing but trees. In the distance to the south, however, I caught quick sight of something terrifying: multiple dinosaur heads peeking over the tree line, like duck heads coming up from a lake. These were brontosaurus things. We were going to be journeying through that area soon. I returned my direction north toward the hunters. I cast Ping. The noise spread out, extra loud in the cloud-filled sky. I watched my map, looking for the tell-tale purple dots of hunters. The map populated, flashing white, suddenly becoming useless. Every non red-tagged mob filled the area. That included all the goddamned snakes and monkeys and birds. After a moment of panic, I remembered I could filter it, and I clicked over, removing everything except purple-tagged hunters. There. Closer than I thought, about one and a half kilometers away, northeast of town. I couldn’t see them, but I could see exactly where they were. There was a break in the trees. A clearing. There were only two of them. They both had the glow indicating they had magical gear. They were probably already running. “Go get ‘em,” I said. I reached back and hurled, lobbing Samantha directly at them. She shot away, arcing through the air, moving ridiculously fast. I quickly lost sight of her. My eyes caught the twin flames of the rockets flaring up. She’d pulled the cord, almost perfectly over the clearing. Shit. I paused my descent. She didn’t veer off like I’d hoped, but continued her forward momentum, the rockets spinning in a circle like a flaming tire rolling across the sky. I’d tried not to throw her too hard, but it looked as if I had. But then she shot down at a right angle, just as something shot from the ground up at her. A fireball shot into the air, trying to knock her from the sky. The slow-moving projectile missed, and Samantha disappeared into the trees past the clearing just as I lowered myself fully to the ground. I could hear the distant detonation. “Yes!” I cried, pumping a fist into the air as the experience notification rolled in. “I got one of those fucksticks.” Samantha: BRING ME BACK. BRING ME BACK. FAST, FAST. BRING ME BACK. I quickly dropped the xistera extension, which recalled her to me. She popped into existence at my feet, growling and gnashing. Her hair was on fire again, and she was covered in dirt and leaves and a lot of blood. She’d also brought something back with her. She’d clamped down on the ankle of the second elf. The thin, pale elf was unconscious, likely as a result of the explosion that had killed his friend. He was drenched in blood, and most of it wasn’t his own. His leg was on fire. Clint turned and started smacking the flames out with his beaver tail. The sound was oddly squishy and wet, but after a moment, the flames were out. Samantha continued to growl and thrash at his ankle. She was unharmed. The elf’s health was almost all the way down. He remained unconscious. He’d be out for another forty seconds. I went to a knee and pulled a black bracelet off his arm. Constitution +10. Along with something else. I sighed, taking it into my inventory. I’d give it to Donut in a minute. I examined the man. Akland – Moon Elf. Level 51. Artillery Specialist. The Dream. “Samantha, let him go,” I said. I pulled the still-growling head off his ankle. She made a spitting noise. She still had duct tape stuck to the side of her filthy head. “It’s my kill. My kill!” “Not this one.” Actually, I’d gotten credit for the other guy too, which was interesting. It probably had something to do with her being a withering spirit. I’d ask Mordecai later. “Hunter Killer?” Donut asked, all business. He was going to wake up in seconds. “No,” I said, pulling the ring from my inventory. Hunter Killer was a move we’d just come up with. “Heal him, but I want to talk to him first.” I slipped the ring on, and then I pulled the enchanted handcuffs from my inventory. * * * “It’s not supposed to be like this,” Akland the elf said after Donut healed him. He was handcuffed to a pole. He wouldn’t be going anywhere. Donut was behind him, magic missile ready in case he tried to pull something. Clint and Holger stood on either side of him. Holger claimed he’d be able to sense any spell being cast. Samantha had somehow returned to his leg and was gnawing on him like a damn piranha, biting and growling. He tried to shake her off, but he couldn’t. “Please. I’m just an accountant. They offered us money to come and to hunt. I have a family. Please. Please.” “How was it supposed to be?” I asked. “What?” “You heard me. You said it wasn’t supposed to be like this. How was it supposed to be?” “We weren’t even hunting you. The Dark Hive and the Skull Empire have both laid claim. But you’re in our territory. The bridges are all out. We were going to take the city. Epitome Tagg doesn’t even care about the gear. Or what you did to the factions. He just wants us to find that crawler.” “You mean Louis?” I asked. “Yes. Yes. That human besmirched Tagg’s mother’s honor. Please. I didn’t want to get involved. I did well at fantasy hunter camp, and I won a spot on the faction wars army. Then they asked me if I wanted to come down to the hunting grounds. It was supposed to be easy. They offered me so much money. I’m not even a member of the family like the others.” “Fantasy hunter camp?” Donut asked from behind. “Is that what it sounds like?” “It’s so people can pretend like they’re on the show. It’s run by Vrah’s family, but once a cycle, the Dream always rents the whole moon out and lets the employees and family members play for a few days. It’s not real, but it’s fun. The best players get to play in faction wars. I did well, and I won a spot. I wasn’t ever supposed to be in real danger. But they offered me money. Please.” “Real danger?” I asked, leaning in. “Fun?” “That’s right. Please. I’m just an accountant. I work with soy crop shipping manifests all day.” “Do you know what I do every day?” I asked. Donut: CARL HURRY UP. YOU’RE DOING THE BAD GUY SOLILOQUY THING. YOU ALWAYS SAY TO NEVER DO THE SOLILOQUY THING. She was right. I was keeping an eye on my view counter, and it was spiked. I was doing this for the audience. This was important. It was important that they heard this. I wanted to drag it out a little so more viewers had a chance to tune in. At least that’s what I was telling myself. I couldn’t hear myself think. The river in the back of my brain raged, flooding, filling all the empty places it could find. This is my birthday present to you. I am giving you a chance at life. I’m sorry it took me so long. This will stop it. It’s so loud, Carl. It’s so loud. “I… I think I saw a thing. You fix boats.” “No,” I said. “That’s what I used to do. I don’t do that anymore.” “Please.” “I had a world. A whole world.
