CA Chapter Thirty (Patreon)

Three in-game days later, there was still no sign of Uncle George. Fortunately, there was plenty to do to keep busy, and Amy was improving by leaps and bounds now that she was aware and working with them. Tess and Vexxx had logged on, been amazed by Amy’s improvement, and logged out again once they’d been told about the gelatinous cubes and the plan to eradicate them, and realized there wasn’t much they could do to hurry it along. Fortunately, they each set the same instructions for their Zombies, and the sound of wood being chopped filled the clearing from sunrise to sunset.

Alpha hauled yet another fallen tree to the bonfire that had been blazing for more than two days now. “I wish we didn’t have to cut them first,” she muttered.

Myles laughed. He was helping Amy go through a series of exercises designed to help her real body recover its strength and mobility. Generally, whatever a player did while immersed had an effect on their body, and since most players spent their time running around battling monsters, that meant their body would see at least a small improvement in strength and dexterity. Amy, however, had very specific areas she needed to focus on, so she and Myles had designed a treatment plan to which they religiously adhered.

“Blame the beta testers,” Myles said, not for the first time. “If those idiots hadn’t decided to literally try burning the world down, we wouldn’t have had to limit the effects of fire on the natural world. You can burn cut logs, but setting fire to a living tree, while it can be done, won’t produce lasting flames.”

Alpha tossed the tree onto the fire with a grunt, and Toggle, who was tending the small inferno, danced back from the resultant shower of sparks. She grimaced at him apologetically, and the gnome sighed, moving closer to prod at some thick branches that were threatening to smother the coals beneath them.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Alpha muttered, “but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Seriously, if I ever meet one of these beta Astrophyllites you keep talking about, I’m going to punch them in the throat.” She heard another tree fall in the rapidly thinning copse, and rubbed her temples. “And can you turn off this Fukuchilite profanity filter? I think I’m actually starting to swear more because I know it’ll get edited anyway.”

Myles tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Your use of swear words has increased 5.2% since I began monitoring it, but it’s funny, so no. Request denied.”

Amy, who was sitting on the ground, leaning forward as she reached for her toes, snickered. Alpha glared at them both. “As if one of you wasn’t enough,” she muttered, and stomped off to gather more trees.

When she reached the place where Vexxx and Tess’ Zombies had been chopping at the nearby trees, she found that Vexxx was now standing, staring into space as his hands twitched. Zombie-Tess, however, was still hard at work, and she was perilously close to bringing a tree down on the Lightning Mage’s head. Alpha had a split second to decide if she was going to let Vexxx be crushed, and to push him out of the way before his low Vitality sent him to respawn. Unfortunately, that left her directly in the path of the tree.

You have lost 72 Drops of Blood due to Falling Tree.

Current Blood supply: 1572/2100

The boy stumbled several feet before whirling around, shouting, “What was that for?”

Alpha looked up from pulling a particularly long splinter from her arm, wincing as the resultant ragged hole began to slowly ooze blood, and a Bleeding debuff appeared on her interface. She hadn’t replenished her Blood in several hours, so the buff from drinking Blood of a Servant had already worn off, and her regen was exactly zero.

“Because you’re an Idrialite!” she snapped. “What were you doing zoning out when there were literal trees falling around your ears?”

Vexxx looked slightly embarrassed as he glanced from Alpha’s wound to the tree on the ground, which was now liberally coated with blood. “I woulda been fine,” he muttered defiantly. “Who asked you for help?”

Alpha pulled a Bandage from her inventory and pressed it over the wound. The item would at least clear the debuff, even if it didn’t restore any of her lost health. “Great,” she said. “Next time I’ll just let your skull get crushed. Not like you use it for anything, anyway.”

The two glared at each other for a moment, before Vexxx’s brown eyes slid away. “Whatever. Thanks, I guess.”

She sighed and leaned over to pick up the tree at her feet, turning to set the trunk over her shoulder. Glancing back at him, she said, “A little help?”

With surprising haste, the young mage hurried over and burrowed into the thick leaves at the crown of the tree. It lifted a few inches, quivered, and then settled into a position that suggested the boy was barely hanging onto it.

“Ready?” Alpha asked dubiously.

“Yeah,” was the muffled response, and Alpha took a few steps toward the camp, which caused Vexxx to drop whatever grip he’d had on his part of the tree.

“Y’know what?” Alpha said, as groans emerged from the leaves while Vexxx attempted to lift the tree again. “I’ve got this one. I see a few saplings, though, and the fire could use some more small stuff.” Honestly, the blaze was big enough to engulf anything that could be described as a ‘sapling’ in moments, but it was clear Vexxx wasn’t going to be able to lift anything larger.

Slowly, a shame-faced Vexxx pushed his way out of the bushy leaves, and walked over to something that was barely large enough to be considered a tree. He leaned over and picked it up easily, then added two more of similar size to the stack he tucked beneath his arm, and scowled at Alpha. “Well?” he asked, belligerence in every line of his body.

Deciding that was not a battle she wanted to fight, Alpha just shrugged and headed for the camp again, awkwardly hauling the tree over her shoulder through the underbrush. Vexxx quickly passed her, casting a triumphant look over his shoulder as he did so. Once the caster was in front, though, he settled into a steady pace rather than heading on without her.

“My uncle’s getting married next year,” he said abruptly. “He and my mom don’t get along, so she’s just going out for a day, but she wants to leave me there for a week with my grandma and some cousin I barely know. Says it’s a ‘bonding experience’, but I know she just wants to get rid of me for a while.”

Alpha had no insights to offer, but the silence seemed expectant, so she finally asked, “What about school?”

He shrugged, almost dropping his bundle of sticks. “The wedding is the weekend before spring break.”

More silence, and as the camp came into view through the few small trees remaining ahead of them, Alpha almost thought she was going to get away without having to say anything else. Then Vexxx said, “What would you do?”

She snorted. “I don’t have any family. I don’t even have friends. If I did?” She looked down at her boots, half-buried in fallen leaves and soft loam as she trudged along. “I’d go,” she said, softly. “Your grandma won’t be around forever, and neither will your mom and uncle. Get to know your cousin now. It’s… amazing how easy it is to find yourself alone.”

Vexxx stopped in his tracks, and she almost ran into him as he turned to look at her. Shaking his head, he spoke with something that sounded a lot like pity in his voice. “Even I know you’re only alone because you make it that way, Alpha.”

Before Alpha could respond, if she could think of a response at all, Myles looked up from where he was helping Amy stretch her left arm, and grinned at them. “Hey! Welcome back, Vexxx! I was just about to downgrade this fire from five-alarm to four.” He tilted his head toward the six-foot-high conflagration Toggle was poking at gingerly.

Vexxx, who looked like he was taking in the scene properly for the first time, picked up his jaw from the ground long enough to say, “Why the heck are you still feeding that thing? Aren’t we done yet?” He looked at the thick layer of ash coating everything nearby and dropped his sticks so he could pick up his skirt like an antediluvian femme who’d just spotted a mouse.

Alpha stepped up, remembering to give Toggle plenty of time to back away this time, and hefted her tree into the flames. Then she walked around and tossed some half-burned logs that had rolled out back in as well. As she ineffectually brushed her hands off, she admitted, “We probably have plenty, but you and Tess forgot to set a limit for your Zombies. It seems wrong to leave a hundred logs lying around, so we just decided to use them.”

Vexxx’s cheeks darkened as he half-heartedly threw his saplings in after the tree. “Yeah, well, if you’d just turn me into a vampire, you could tell my Zombie what to do, right?”

Alpha sighed. “I am not going to bite you. Biting people is disgusting!”

Vexxx pointed at Amy. “You bit her!”

“Only because I had to!”

“Had to what?” Tess’ voice interrupted them as the half-dwarf entered the camp, hauling a tree even larger than the one Alpha had brought back. Since Tess was under five feet tall, it looked pretty impressive as she spun, swinging the tree up so it came down directly on the top of the bonfire, which was already almost eight feet high after the recent additions. Sparks and large chunks of burning wood spewed out.

Tess and Vexxx scattered, dodging the flaming rain, but Amy and Toggle couldn’t move fast enough. Myles crouched over Amy, protecting her until he could scoop her into his arms and hurry away from the spreading flames. It might be difficult to set the natural world on fire, but in spite of Alpha’s attempts to keep the area clear, there were several more half-burned logs, as well as three piles of bedding that had been pushed out of the way, but not picked up.

Alpha barely noticed all of this, however, since she was too busy diving for Toggle. The little gnome had been heading back in towards a brand that was protruding particularly far out of the main body of the fire, and as Tess’ tree came down, a small avalanche of brightly burning branches tumbled directly toward him. Much as she had done for Vexxx not long before, Alpha pushed Toggle, sending the gnome flying, and leaving Alpha just enough time to look up and say, “Oh, Dolomite,” before an inferno landed on her head.

You are On Fire.

You have lost 54 Drops of Blood. Damage is doubled due to racial weakness to Fire.

You have lost 82 Drops of Blood. Damage is doubled due to racial weakness to Fire.

You have lost 41 Drops of Blood. Damage is doubled due to racial weakness to Fire.

You have lost 17 Drops of Blood. Damage is doubled due to racial weakness to Fire.

You have lost 78 Drops of Blood. Damage is doubled due to racial weakness to Fire.

You have lost 62 Drops of Blood. Damage is doubled due to racial weakness to Fire.

Current Blood supply: 904/2100

You are now Bloodthirsty. +10 to Strength. +10 to Dexterity. -10 to Intelligence. -10 to Wisdom. -40% pain

As the all-consuming agony faded, thanks to the reduction in her pain input, Alpha felt herself rolling on the ground. Someone was beating at her with desperate hands, trying to put out the fire.

You are no longer On Fire.

You are Badly Burned.

You have lost 50 Drops of Blood due to Badly Burned.

You have lost 50 Drops of Blood due to Badly Burned.

Her world was drowning in red, and she heard heartbeats surrounding her, pumping precious, life-giving fluid through the veins of her companions. Reaching out a hand toward the nearest thundering heart, she felt someone’s arm press into her cracked and smoldering palm.

You have lost 50 Drops of Blood due to Badly Burned.

…

As her life steadily ticked down, Alpha opened her mouth and bit down, drinking greedily.