Somnia Online: Fragments - Chapter Four (Patreon)

CHAPTER FOUR

HighTower

The silence was overwhelming, and so intense it almost deafened the waiting players. Murmur frowned and Devlish backed away, seemingly instinctively.

Which probably saved his in-game, replenishable life. 

A massive clawed paw caught the light just as he jumped back, swiping where he'd been standing mere moments before. Devlish landed on his feet, half bent over with his hand steadying him against the floor. He took in two huge breaths while Murmur backpedaled to stand behind the rest of them. She wasn't in the least bit squeamish about using their bodies as shields if she needed to. They'd already proven that most of them could die in the game and return. 

Four, maybe five seconds at most later, a huge black panther type feline sprang out from its hiding place, heading straight for Devlish, who somehow made the change from dual axes to one axe and his special shield in the blink of an eye. Luckily, the shield took the majority of the hit from the cat with the lacerta tank bracing himself against the stone railing of the stairway to remain upright and fight back. The strain bled through to Devlish's face and neck as the exertion made his veins pop and skin redden even through the green scales.

Murmur shook herself out of her stupor and began casting on the animal, trying to keep her eyes peeled for the dwarf she was quite certain had to be around here somewhere. "Pay attention. The beast won't be alone. I'm pretty sure we're going to be facing a beast master, or else a hybrid nature something or other. Just, don't let your guard down."

Her friends moved around her in a formation she was sure the others did subconsciously now. She'd never really noticed it earlier, but now she knew, she realized they'd been doing it all along. Her irritation gave way to gratefulness, but only briefly, because the undead beast master moved into the middle of the doorway, framed by the shadows thrown by the massive doors. 

"Who dares enter this sacred place?" 

Its voice caused the stone landing beneath them to tremble, and boomed around Murmur's ears. Dansyn shook his head, and his songs stopped for a few seconds. It was difficult to resist taking a step back, but Murmur managed it, lifting up her chin to look at the massive dwarf in front of them.

The panther still snapped at Devlish's shield, barely held at bay by the huge object. Murmur glanced around at the shock on her friend's faces and frowned. No one else was going to speak up.

"We are Fable." It sounded like the right sort of intonation to use when talking to a massive undead guardian dwarf. "We come seeking knowledge. We come seeking the key."

She wasn't sure what made her say the latter. Perhaps it was because the clues about the keys were far and few between, and she really just wanted to start on their way to reaching the damned endgame that dangled so tantalizingly in front of them. Whatever it was that made her say it, it had immediate effect.

The dwarf's cold grey eyes glowed for a moment, and the cat backed off to sit at his feet, its teeth still bared in their direction. "You are young to enter here, and yet just old enough. Search and discover, solve and understand, and you may find what you're looking for."

A clap of thunder sounded overhead, and the huge dwarven beast master was gone.

"What the actual fuck?" Beastial blinked at where the dwarf had stood but moments before. "I mean, that wasn't expected."

Murmur shook her head, running the encounter back through her head. "No, it wasn't. But either way, I believe we have permission to enter."

"You can ago first." Rashlyn grumbled. "I'm not that eager to die..."

The monk paused and cringed, her brows drawing together. "Sorry, Mur. I didn't think."

Murmur laughed, sincerely amused. "There's no need to tiptoe around me that much. We're in an unusual situation, and I'm just glad you're all with me. It'd be really shitty if you weren't. So stop it."

"Thanks. And for that, since I can Feign Corpse and sic all of the enemies onto everyone else anyway, I'll go first." Rash winked, and took a step into the shadowed doorway, the others following reluctantly. 

Behind the doors, the ceiling rose so high Murmur couldn't see the top of it. It didn't help that there were no lights higher than head height and locked into bronzed sconces on the walls. Apart from the faint smell of sulfur caused by the fire that lit their way, there was a subtle hint of damp underlying everything. As if the walls and stone had been here so long that nature treated it simply like a part of herself. 

Snowy butted her hand with his nose as if to ask her to protect him from the strange smells inside. She opted to scratch his head instead, and he seemed okay with that. 

"So." Mellow cleared their throat. "Anyone catch what that was? It was a weird introduction to a dungeon, right?"

"Yeah." Veranol's tone was low, almost trembling in quality. "We came expecting a fight, and got a riddle. No matter what I think I know about this game, it changes with every encounter."

Merlin laughed from his place several feet in front of them. Ever the scout, he'd overtaken Murmur with lightly placed and silent footsteps. "You know it's all just one big puzzle right? We have to find keys. It was mentioning the keys that made them let Murmur enter. I wonder if she'd said something other than seeking knowledge, if we'd have a different trial."

"Wait." Havoc interjected. "You think the choice of words could trigger different quest possibilities?"

Merlin shrugged. "Why not? Every path we've been able to choose, even down to the lame old kill these mobs quests has been triggered by how we interact with the game. What makes this any different?"

"He makes a pretty good point there." Sin piped up, her face having regained some of its color. Murmur reached out and gave her hand a squeeze, sending her friend a small smile at the same time. The dim lighting didn't reach far, illuminating only the area in which the sconces hung. Much of the space in-between them was shrouded in darkness. While Sin never seemed to have a problem at night, she'd never been comfortable in dark and enclosed spaces. Not since she got locked in her closet when they played hide and seek back when they were about six.

"Figuring out what this all means will be fun." Mellow intoned in a serious manner. "Or at least, I hope it will be. I've never been good at riddles."

"It's okay, you're good at potions." Exbo smiled at Mellow, but the long shadows drew the expression down a bit, making it appear more like a macabre grimace. 

"Yeah, so don't do that again." Mellow laughed a bit, but it sounded more nervous than funny, and the group fell into silence as they slowly moved along again.

Finally they came to a large set of doors on the right hand side. The lit sconces stopped there, and all that lay beyond them was darkness and the gods knew what. Murmur took a deep breath and turned to face the door. It was far less imposing than the one they'd entered to get into the castle. 

Slowly, she pushed against it. No sound emanated from the action, but the door swung in soundlessly on perfectly oiled hinges. As she stepped into the room, script lit up in front of her face, but high in the room, and not directly in her vision.

It was like a fiery pen wrote the words on invisible parchment. And as each word appeared a loud and dissonant voice echoed through the room.

Turn to the side that faces north

Stay beneath the golden torch

One line in and two away

One line down one up to stay

Spell my name in capital

Just one, the first initial

Six by six and three by four

Watch the exits, hold the door

Make sure all my words to heed

Once you start, complete with speed

Move swift like birds on the wing

If you falter, feel death's sting

"What the fuck?" Devlish asked, and even in the dim light from the glowing letters that remained above their heads, Murmur could see the incredulous look on his face.

"It's a riddle." Exbo offered helpfully.

Merlin scowled at him. "No shit."

Murmur held up her hand. "Lets take a few steps in and stop trying to solve this from the doorway when we haven't even looked at the room yet."

She led the way, quite certain nothing was going to kill her... apart from being trapped in this room as her friends clawed each other apart if they couldn't get out of it. Jinna walked with her, his sturdy presence a great comfort. 

"Torch," he muttered under his breath, glancing up and past Murmur to the vast ceiling.

Murmur craned her neck, trying to figure out what they needed to stay behind. "Wait. What's that?"

She pointed to a slightly raised surface on the floor. At first glance it appeared to be a checkerboard, but it wasn't eight by eight. Instead, it was only six by six. She frowned and moved so that she could see the whole board, which, coincidentally, sent her facing north. Motioning to Jinna, she shuffled to the side a bit so she could find this golden torch. 

"There!" Jinna grinned, the expression a little uneasy in the flickering torchlight. Just above them was a floating golden torch. Sort of like it had been an afterthought. Murmur smiled.

"So if we stand beneath it, and then count in the lines?" Murmur asked Jinna, quite certain of herself, but, at the same time, not willing to take the risk all by herself. 

Jinna frowned. "Well, technically I think yes. But the letter... we need to spell out a letter and I think it has to be done in a specific way or why would it instruct us in this much detail?"

Murmur agreed with him, nodding silently until she realized he couldn't see her, so she spoke. "True. Don't suppose you know this guy's name then?"

Jinna turned a little, raising an eyebrow at her. "None of you ever read the lore, do you? As in seriously?"

Murmur had the grace to blush, but it probably wasn't visible in this low light anyway. "There's just so much else to get a good grasp on."

"Especially when it doesn't allocate you the class you were expecting, right?" Jinna winked at her before going back to studying the board in front of them. He was muttering to himself, his eyes closed. "Hightower, Hightower... Hightower."

Suddenly his eyes flew open and he grinned, more to himself than to anyone else. For a second Murmur felt like a bit of an intruder. 

"Dunforth Hightower. He's the ruler of the undead Dwarves. Something about taking his men with him when an ice meteor hit the castle. Preserving them for all eternity to serve with him and never die. Something like that." Jinna's smile held an eagerness Murmur hadn't seen before.

"It's a D. We need to spell out a D."

Murmur focused on the board. "So, it needs to be the three left middle boxes. Nothing in the two on the right?"

Jinna nodded. "Probably going to have to jump onto the first one to get it started." He moved as if to begin and Murmur grabbed a hold of his upper arm before he could jump.

"Wait." She glanced back up at the words that still hung in the air. "Once you start, complete with speed. You have to be fast, Jinna, and don't fall."

He gently took her hand and removed it, a twinkle sparkling in his eye. "Aye, I won't fall. I'll be sure footed and sturdy. Just keep an eye on whatever it is that's going to happen as soon as I step on that first space."

Murmur nodded, and looked up at the others who were already fanning out. She hadn't realized they were close enough to hear, but on second thoughts the room echoed like no one's business, so they'd probably heard it easily enough. 

"Okay, Jinna. Go." She kept her eye on where she knew the door was. Hold the door? She had no idea what that could mean. Open it? Don't let anything through it?

She watched Jinna out of her peripheral vision as he jumped across the one tile he couldn't afford to indent and straight onto the left bottom corner tile of the four by three. 

A resounding clack tore through the room as the slightly raised board indented the square he'd landed on. Its sinking caused the next jump to be much larger, but Murmur knew he could do it.

What she didn't count on was the clacking that began in the darkened corners of the room where the light from the script above them didn't reach. A sharp sound, like the pincers of very large crabs, or scorpions, or something. Murmur instinctively looked for Sinister only to find her friend so pale she was a grey dark elf as she stood staring directly into the mandible of a creature Murmur could only describe as a land lobster-scorpion mix.

Large pincers clacked together ringing throughout the room. Its whole body was armored in a blood red shell that was darker than a cooked lobsters orange. The huge tail raised around and over its butt as it skittered on what appeared to be six legs toward Sinister.

"Fuck." Murmur heard Rashlyn exclaim from behind her and off to the western corner. Not needing to look around when the next clacking came, she already knew there was one in each corner.

"Jinna... get it done!" She had no idea if the scorpion things were on a timer, or if they were going to spawn for every space the dwarf stood on. But since it said they had to do it quickly, she thought timer was the more obvious choice. Readying her spells, she positioned herself from the best possible vantage point, and Mez'd the one closest to Sinister to start with.

#

Summer Residence

Home of Laria, David, and Wren

Summer Condo

Real World Day Nine

Laria sat at the kitchen table with her head in her hands, eyes focused on the nothingness of the fake brown wood that made up the surface. Trees? Such a joke these days. They lived in protective greenhouses, with only a few of the hardier varieties surviving out in the wild.

Was that how her daughter would be then? Was Wren always going to stay in the bubble with her mind in a game world, lost to them forever? It's not like she could transfer her whole body over and live there. There'd always be a part of her stuck in some kind of limbo. 

She tapped her fingers across the table, but all that resulted in was a dull thudding. She'd chewed her nails down to the quick with worry and self-recrimination. When the accident first happened, she'd always believed she'd be able to fix Wren's situation. Never once had she given into the guilt. Never once had she thought it was her fault. And never once had she felt sorry for the incident.

But now...

"Now it's all different." She breathed out the words feeling the rush of warm air over her hands as it left her body. Blinking away the tears in her eyes, Laria looked up at the sound of the door opening, only to see David, his face paler than usual, drawn and pallid from a lack of sleep she now knew was her fault.

She wanted to stand up and hug him, wanted to reach out and tell him how sorry she was, but the energy just wasn't there, nor was the confidence she used to possess. After all, that confidence belonged to someone who didn't put her daughter in a coma and worry the fuck out of her husband. 

Finally he looked over and saw her watching him. A smile creased his face, washing away years of age and bringing back the man she'd fallen in love with in a video game. The same man she'd flown across the country to meet, nervously twitching hands holding a book they'd both enjoyed as if it were a lifeline.

The tears finally fell, cascading down her cheeks as he rushed over and kneeled down next to her, his arms cradling her like they'd done so many times during their lives together. When she'd got her first and only reprimand at her internship. When Wren had fallen out of her crib as a baby. And when she had trouble dealing with the huge responsibility that Storm Entertainment placed on her shoulders with the launching of Somnia.

He was her strength, he was her soul mate, and he was her best friend.

"Hey." His voice held all the kindness in the world, just like it had twenty-two years ago. "What's wrong, Lar?"

She shook her head and leaned into his shoulder, sitting awkwardly and almost falling out of her chair, but his steadying arms kept her anchored. "I can't figure it out. I don't know what to do to help her."

"Oh." Was all he said as he hugged her tighter, and she could feel the hitch in his breath at the mention of Wren's predicament. "You can do this. We can do this. I gave my students a hypothetical research paper today. You never know what someone might come up with when trying to pursue an A in my class."

Laria chuckled into the nape of his neck. "That I have you."

"You do. You always will. But you need to pull yourself together. For us and for Wren." And then he held Laria at arm's length, a sterner look on his face than she'd seen in years. One he probably reserved for stubborn students. 

At first Laria was offended, but after a couple of seconds she realized he was right. She was stubborn, and Wren got that in bucketloads from her. She took a deep breath, pulled back so she was sitting upright again, and nodded. "You're right. I won't do anyone any good like this."

He nodded as he pushed himself into the seat next to her. "True, but this is good for you."

"What do you mean?" She was almost scared to ask the question. 

David sighed and pushed a hand through his hair before looking her square in the eyes. "You get too cocky, always thinking you've got every single outcome accounted for. But you don't, and it's pretty impossible to do that. Now you know that you can fail, you'll be more careful. At least I hope you will. I love you, and I love our daughter, but you have to realize how lucky we were that this happened to our own flesh and blood. The repercussions if it had been anyone else would have been much more dire and out of our control. The sooner you can fix it, the sooner we'll know how to compensate for it if it were to happen to anyone else."

Laria blinked at him, anger welling in her throat, and yet... he was right. She deflated like a balloon that had been pricked. "I don't like what you said, but you're right to have said it."

David stood up and leaned over, kissing the top of her head very gently. "Sometimes I have to speak the harsh truth to my students, and there are some days I have to be brutally honest with the people I love. Today, I hope it made a difference."

She watched him walk into the kitchen to start making dinner, trying to quiet the tug of war going on inside her stomach.

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