Somnia Online: Fragements - Chapter Twelve (Patreon)

All in the Statue

Murmur stood on the sand in front of the monstrous arena that held Dunforth, listening so intently she couldn't focus on anything else. The timing had to be just right. They'd already tried this four times and failed abysmally, but she was so certain she was right. All that had to happen now was for there theory to pan out.

"You're really sure about this?" Sinister stood at her elbow, her own eyes riveted in the same spot, watching for the horn to be raised while they got ready to duck the axe swing once again.

Murmur nodded, not taking her eyes off the horn. "We just have to time it right."

She was betting a lot on this, if she miscalculated even for a moment, she could wipe everyone, including herself. But her friends held their tongues and followed her lead, even though they hadn't activated the event she thought was hiding. She took a deep breath, and bounced down to the ground, barely avoiding the reverb from the swinging axe.

In the few seconds between its passing and the lasso that would lash out, the horn sounded that one mournful note, like the warning she'd heard from the fountain when they went to war with the scouts back in Verendus. While it was at full sound, she cast three abilities at almost exactly the same time. Altruism to raise her faction, Charismatic to boost her charisma, and finally her MA ability Mind Wipe to reduce its aggression. She dropped down into a full on curtsey, the rest of the raid following in suit, or bowing deeply.

For a split second she thought she'd totally fucked up as the lasso began to uncoil.

But the light of the lasso died, and it fell harmlessly on the ground next to Sinister, whose sigh of relief was audible in the sudden silence of the fallen whirlwinds and halted Boss encounter.

Dunforth gazed down, his golden eyes flashing as he hefted his weapons back onto his belt, looping the great horn around its clip. "You would choose not to fight me?"

Evening her breath out and hoping her heart didn't fall out of her mouth, Murmur raised her eyes to focus on his. "We would choose to solve the riddle."

Dunforth focused on her, his left hand stroking his beard in a gentle rhythm. He no longer conned battle ready, but a subdued orange that verged on yellow. Not quite friendly, but no longer kill on sight. Murmur gulped down on the sigh of relief threatening to make her melt into a gooey puddle on the floor.

"You have chosen wisely. As you have protected my city, you have now solved my castle. The riddles are done, the key is won, my treasure is yours without hassle."

Murmur had to bite back on the retort that he certainly still seemed to be in the habit of rhyming, but she knew Sinister was probably having a far worse time of it.

"Know this." His words held a warning that sunk through to her bones, ancient magic dancing through the wind. "You are marked already as a friend of Verendus. Should you ever seek shelter, Hightower castle welcomes you all."

He stepped to the side, his friendliness now vaguely green, and made a flourishing gesture with his right arm to reveal five chests behind him, all open and waiting for their group. He then held the same hand out in a wait gesture, and waited patiently for them all to focus back on him. "The key is for your guild alone. It goes to your leader. Take heed. Your experience here depended on many contributing factors. Not everyone will have the same event. Some will be similar, others will be much harder."

Glancing around at the others Murmur could only guess that Dunforth perhaps told them that because one guilds experience could differ greatly from another depending on their history. Well, they weren't about to give Exodus any hints anyway.

The hulking dwarf smiled down at them, "I may have died a thousand deaths, and I may die a thousand more, but you have my gratitude for this. I will take my leave now. But first."

He pulled out a massive silver key, that sparkled in the muted light of the cavern like it was embedded with diamonds. It tumbled from his hands all the way down to where Murmur stood, shrinking in size as it did so, until it landed neatly in her outstretched palms.

"Enjoy, Fable. As you were, as you will be, success has many faces."

And then Dunforth was gone.

#

The guild Fable has defeated Dunforth Hightower of Hightower Castle and completed the first of twelve.

The ground beneath them shook slightly as the message boomed across the game world. Murmur stumbled, almost dropping the key and clenched her fist around it.

You have completed the Hightower Castle Dungeon.
You gain experience.
You gain bonus experience for solving the dungeon with a unique approach.

A cascade of dings rang through the cavern and brightened her up a little. Strange though it was in this world, her thoughts weren't constantly on her experience numbers, but more on growing stronger. She pulled up her information, just shy of thirty-one. When had she hit thirty? Maybe they got a culmination of experience once the dungeon was defeated. Murmur frowned, trying to figure it out.

Exbo seemed downcast, and Murmur noticed he was the only one who hadn't dinged. He had died more than any of them. "How close?" She asked him, her voice soft.

"Probably a few undead dwarves." He grinned at her. "I'll go kite a few before I log off."

"We can help you know, it's what we do."

But Exbo just grinned at her. "Look at them, Mur. They're almost falling onto their faces with tiredness. My carelessness in that damned cavern back seventeen levels ago is what this is. I'll remedy it."

Even she felt so tired, she could see what he meant. She nodded as she noticed the bone weariness in her guild mates. They'd been ready to sleep about when they all stepped foot in this place, and now, they all looked ready to drop. The only thing holding them upright seemed to be a vague eagerness to investigate the contents of the chests Dunforth had opened for them.

She approached the open chests with them, automatically checking her thought sensing, and shielding were active. It often felt like an extension of herself. The chests on either end held a small mountain of gold, a getashi, and crafting materials. A whole lot of the latter.

"Can you push these to the guild bank, Beast?" Murmur blinked as a wave of exhaustion swept over her. Maybe she really needed to just rest her mind for more than an hour at a time.

"Not if you..." He paused and frowned. "When did you set that up?"

She shook her head. "I honestly can't remember. Feeling a bit tired myself." Hefting the getashi in her left hand, she squeezed it tightly. Maybe these should go in the guild bank too. After all, hadn't they just painted a target on her back for Jirald to hit? Her mind was on overload, so many thoughts at once. Spells danced around just beyond her reach. She counted to five and pulled herself together.

The next two chests held gear. Bard only boots, which she frowned at and gave to Dansyn. "You know, that's not fair, that's going to make your fleet feet even faster."

He laughed, somewhat subdued by tiredness, but she could see he was genuinely happy. "That's me. Fleet feet."

A healing circlet that had plus to blood drain on it. "Guessing this one goes to you, Sin." She passed it to her gleeful friend, and saw Veranon's frown.

"What, you can't use blood drain." She fumbled through and found a wisdom bracelet. "Here. You take this."

Veranon's expression changed and he laughed. "I feel sort of petty, but you know I also think we all deserve something. We took a lot of dying turns."

She knew he didn't mean to, but a part of Murmur felt guilty. They'd all have died a lot less, if she'd just been able to fucking die. Would it really hurt just to give it a try.

"I know that look on your face. Stop it." Sinister's whisper was so close to her that Murmur jumped, blinking at her friend.

"Sorry. You know me too well."

"Nope." Sinister shook her head vehemently. "Just well enough."

Both rangers got a new bow, Mellow a new cauldron, Jinna got an amazing agility armband that made him dance a little jig. Rash got an avoidance ring, and Murmur pulled a gorgeous silver circlet out of the chest with plus twenty to Charisma, and plus ten to MA.

"Wow, Mur. That's fucking pretty." Rashlyn said, a ghost of awe in her voice.

"Yeah." A smile spread across her face, and Mur inspected the filigree silver work for a few moments before moving onto the middle chest.

In it was a hammer, Beastlord only, and an Axe -- tank only. The final two members of the group taken care of and Murmur reached down to pet Snowy, her hand resting on his comforting head. "Shall we gate then?"

She didn't even wait for an answer.

Verendus swirled into view around her, depositing Murmur and snowy softly near the fountain. Her gaze fell on the dwarf with the horn, and she could swear there was a small smile etched onto its face, almost hidden behind the beard, that wasn't there before.

Congratulations. You have connected one of the mysteries of Somnia. Your MA pool increases permanently by a total of ten. Your mental fortitude stands you in good stead. Now to start piecing together the rest of the puzzle. You know you want to.

She was so tired, Murmur laughed at the prompt. Level thirty, huh? Level thirty could wait. Her friends appeared around her, waved once and began the logging out sequence. All except Sinister who stayed by her side until they disappeared. Well, and except for Exbo who was back up at the mountain kiting group mobs.

"I think I should log out Sin." Murmur said the words quietly, unsure of her friend's response.

But Sinister never failed to exceed expectations. She looped her arms around Mur's waist and gave her a tight squeeze. "I think that's a good idea."

Murmur leaned into Sin, oddly enough less awkward than she'd expected given their height difference. "Thank you. For always being there no matter how stubborn and irritating I can get."

"Hah!" Sin said, squeezing harder. "You know it's mutual, right?"

"Yeah." Reluctantly letting go of the warmth, Murmur pulled away. "I'm going to message mom. Do you want to log out with us?"

She hoped against hope that Sin could come, because right now she didn't feel like facing her mother alone. When her friend nodded, a huge wave of relief rolled over her. "Thanks Sin."

"I'll be there in a bit. Have to check on something first." Sinister smiled just as her character logged out.

In for a penny and all. Murmur took a breath, scratched the wolf's head again and sent Laria a message. "Hey mom, I'm going to log out into the house. I need more sleep than a nap in game, and maybe I can do it there?"

It didn't take long for an answer to appear, even though Mur had somewhat lost track of the timeline, and couldn't quite get her head around what time it was in the real world.

"I'll meet you there."

She couldn't believe how good it felt to actually hear from her mom again. Kneeling down she pet Snowy. "I have to log out now, it's something I need to do. But I'll be back in a few hours. I'll meet you out the front if you still want to journey with me."

The wolf wuffed softly into her hand and began trotting toward the exit as she logged out. Before she exited fully, he'd already disappeared.

#

Summer Residence

Home of Laria, David, and Wren

Summer Condo

Early morning Day Twelve

Wren's eyes flickered open, and for just a moment, one singular moment, she thought she might really have logged out. The curtain was still cracked slightly, and Harlow wasn't there. Nothing in her room had changed, not even settling dust. And while she knew her mother was taking care of her, she also knew she was busy and there was no way her real room was this spotless.

With a sigh, Wren pushed herself up, briefly disoriented as the room spun around her. She took in a deep breath, reaching out automatically with her thought sensing nets, forgetting for a moment that this wasn't the game. Not that it mattered, it was still a simulation, and her extended nets allowed her to see that both her mother and Harlow were in the kitchen.

Suddenly irritated, Wren stood up, taking her fake headset off and laying it on the bed. She opened the door with a yank, trying to release some of her pent up tension. Even fake, the house was home in a way. But now she noticed more, like flickering at the edges of her vision like the program only extended as far as she could see at any given time.

She took the steps down, two at a time, and stopped just as she saw her mother.

Almond shaped brown eyes looked at her like a mirror image fast forwarded about twenty-five years. For just a moment, Wren forgot everything else. Forgot that she was trapped in a virtual world, forgot that her mother and everyone had tried to keep it from her, forgot that a complete douche bag was after her on a murderous, self-imposed mission, and she took several quick steps into a tight hug from the one of the few people who always understood her.

Laria stroked Wren's hair, hugging so tightly it was almost difficult for Wren to breathe.

"Mom. I missed you." She murmured, closing her eyes tightly. Maybe if she just stayed like this for a while, maybe everything else would go away. Maybe this could be real.

But it wasn't. And so she pulled away, and held her mom at arm's length. "You should have told me. You should have made me aware of the dangers and consequences. You should have trusted me to be mature enough to handle something like that, to make my own choices regarding all of this."

Wren could feel herself getting angrier and tried to clamp down on it, aware that the waves of her emotions were reaching outward from her again. If she wasn't careful, her own emotions would start effecting her mother. A part of her perked up at the idea. Why not make her feel guilt, why not make her understand just what she'd put Wren through? But that was bad, right? A good person didn't get that petty, a good person wouldn't coerce someone's feelings.

Jirald wouldn't hesitate though

She blinked at the random thought just sitting at the forefront of her mind. He wouldn't hesitate, wouldn't even blink at forcing someone else to do whatever he needed them to do in order to make what he wanted to happen, happen. And she wanted to badly to make everyone understand.

"Wren. I'm so sorry. I didn't know how to handle it, and I really didn't do a good job." Her mothers words pulled her back. There was a plaintive tone to it, a sad note, of regret and guilt.

It was just enough to pull Wren back from the cliff she was dangling from.

Her head spun, and she clamped those shields around her mind, deliberately drawing her emotions back inside, bottling them up. Her mother's expression lightened, and Sinister blinked, like the sun had come out to shine on her. Guilt of her own bled through to Wren at having inadvertently projected her anger.

"It's ok. I'm figuring all this stuff out still, I'll be fine." But her own volatility was seriously beginning to make her question that mantra. Everything would be fine. It had to be, didn't it?

She sat down at the table, grabbing an apple from the basket, despite knowing it wasn't necessary. The juice broke into her mouth with such realism she almost choked. After the coughing fit, she eyed it, and laid it quite deliberately on the table. "I don't want to talk about the past. I just want to talk about how the fuck to get me out of here."

Laria nodded, hesitating slightly before she spoke. "Past is the past. Fine. The thing is, I have no idea how to get out of there."

Well that wasn't exactly the good news Wren had hoped for. She grit her teeth and tried her best not to glare too hard at her mother. "Great. We're on the same page then."

Her mother's expression took on the strain of regret again, and Harlow looked away, focused on something in the kitchen instead.

In the back of Wren's mind a part of her seethed. No answers? Still, after almost two weeks time in-game? She clamped down on the anger boiling within her, even while the voice in the back of her head egged her on. Sinuous tendrils wrapped themselves around her thoughts in a vice like hug.

For just a second she considered using her anger, breaking everything, forcing her own pain on everyone else.

And just as quickly it passed, leaving her emotionally drained and wondering if perhaps she wasn't going slightly insane.

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