Mage Read online

  Robe of Darkwood

  (Slightly bloodstained)

  Level 1

  + 1 Wisdom

  The robe is roughly cut, with a belt made of twine, and no sleeves. I hold it against myself, and the dirty cloth reaches the floor. The original owner didn't have access to a washing machine, evidently.

  Or electricity.

  Or the twenty-first century.

  I glance up at Jay's intent expression. "Should we fight over this too?"

  "I don't want that. I'm not wearing a fucking dress!"

  "Dude, you're a cleric. You need the Wisdom bonus," puts in Dean.

  "Even if I wanted to, that robe is too small," he snaps. "I'll wait for something decent."

  "Not pretty enough for you?" I ask as I pull the item over my head. "I think it would look lovely. The colour matches your eyes."

  He swears under his breath and sorts through the rest of the items with the toe of his tatty shoes.

  Animal bones.

  Indistinguishable and foul-smelling food stuff, possibly cheese.

  "Jesus!" I hold my arm across my nose, but the smell invades my senses still.

  Jay sinks onto the floor and puts his head in his hands, muttering something. Have I overstepped the mark with my teasing?

  This shit is real and we're totally unprepared.

  Silence follows the loot distribution, as the item descriptions appear on my band’s screen.

  I pick up the green bottle. "This might be worth keeping."

  Anti-Disease Potion

  Cures all diseases up to Level 3

  "No healing potions?" asks Jay.

  I poke at the other items. “No. Some food.”

  Mouldy Cheese

  Tastes better than it smells

  Doubles Health Revival Points

  I hold the cheese up. "This?"

  Jay shakes his head in disgust. Does he not remember that at this low level we take anything and everything we find in case it helps? I shove the cheese into my backpack.

  "So, do you come here often?" I ask Dean with a light tone I'm not feeling right now.

  "Huh?"

  "Level 2. You must've seen more of the world than we have."

  He shrugs. “I’ve killed a crapload of spiders."

  "And that levelled you up?" asks Jay.

  "Yeah. I’ve been working my way through them. Figured I might find some decent loot too." He holds up the claw. "But nope; just this. I forgot how useless low-level area gear is."

  I rest my elbow on the table and support my head in my hands. "Has anybody thought how crazy this scenario is?"

  Dean fastens his bulging backpack and shrugs it onto his shoulder. "I'm not stopping to think anything. I'm going to level up and find out how the hell to win this."

  "Win?" I ask.

  "Uh. It's a game, Eleanor."

  "Oh? Thanks for the reminder," I say with snark. "If it's a game, where are the quests? And why didn’t we have a character selection screen to choose what we wanted to play?”

  Jay grabs his new favourite gardening implement and stands. "Dean has a point. Maybe we should clear the forest of spiders together and level up? Maybe find a town? We might meet someone with more information who can show us game mechanics."

  We. Together.

  The three of us eye each other, unable to hide the suspicion. I haven't thought past the end of the road we followed before veering off into this cottage. If past game experience is anything to go by, the further we go, the less likely monsters will dance around ignoring us and the more likely they'll kill us on sight.

  But Jay's right. We should find somebody to clarify what the hell is going on. If we're in a game that we must win, we need help to gain the skills required to fight and level up. We need quests.

  "What the hell is happening?" I mumble to myself, looking back to the empty chest. Something catches my eye, a round object resting in the bottom corner of the wooden box, around an inch in diameter. “What’s that?”

  Dean peers inside. “I can’t see anything.”

  “The stone at the bottom. It’s glowing.”

  Jay joins us in staring at the smooth rock inside. “You’re hallucinating. That’s just a grey pebble.”

  I reach in and close my hand over the stone and pull it out. It’s warm and there’s a faint luminescence, which is clearer now I’ve picked it up. As I hold the object in the palm of my hand, a faint blue pattern appears on the surface. A rune? I trace the circular symbol and a triangle with what looks like a letter S in the centre.

  Dean takes the stone and instantly the glow dissipates, and the rune vanishes. “Huh.”

  “Maybe it just glows for me?” I take it back and the stone lights up again.

  My wristband's screen flashes.

  Quest: Find Reuben at the inn in Grunwald and show him the stone.

  Reward: 500 XP

  Reward: A mysterious meal

  Experience points and a meal?

  “Look. A quest!” I can’t help the glee in my voice. This is our first step.

  “I don’t have one,” says Jay. “How about you, assassin?”

  Dean shakes his head. “We’ll go with you, though. Maybe we’ll find our own mysterious rocks on the way.”

  Despite his violent entrance, I warm to Dean already. He’s relaxed since talking to us and is less acerbic than Jay. His warm smile and offer to accompany me to find Reuben is also welcome.

  Jay takes the stone from my palm and immediately the rune fades. He wrinkles his nose and hands it back. "Fine, we’ll look for Grunwald. Hopefully this Reuben dude can point me to the game’s exit, because this is bullshit."

  Somehow, I don't think the exit will appear anytime soon.

  Chapter Six

  Dean and claw, Jay and fork, plus me and tree branch venture into the dark night now shrouding the game world. The temperature dropped too, and I shiver despite my extra robed layer.

  "We should kill every spider we see until we level up." Jay strides towards the nearest monstrosity.

  "Use your spell..." My words are too late, as blood spurts from a puncture wound when the unfortunate creature receives three prongs in the head.

  "Guys!" Dean steps back, disappearing into the shadows.

  A grey mist gathers across the overgrown field outside the cottage, spreading towards us. Dry-mouthed, I watch as a tall figure lumbers through the weeds, feet dragging behind. The thing approaches and the cheese in my bag smells delightful compare to the stench emanating from the rotting corpse. A ripped plaid shirt reveals bone protruding through skin.

  I don't want my bones protruding through my skin any time soon. "Okay... Time to leave," I whisper.

  A strangled noise emanates from the decaying mouth and I'm glad this monster is hidden by the dark. A close-up, brightly lit version of this thing's face wouldn't help my fear factor right now.

  The screen illuminates.

  Skip Morris

  Farmer (well, he was)

  Level 2

  Aggressive

  Jay spins around. "Where did the assassin go?"

  "Stealthed. He hid in the shadows."

  "Coward."

  “You know that’s an assassin’s combat move,” I retort. “He could be preparing to help.”

  “Sure,” he sneers. “Or he pissed off on his own.”

  I edge towards Jay as tingling begins in my shoulder, coursing along my arm and to my wrist. A small ball of fire forms in my hand, and I'm transfixed by the perfect sphere—and lack of third-degree burns to my fingers.

  The creature lurches at Jay, and blackened hands reach out for his fork. My fireball hits the side of the zombie's head as the magic leaves my hand, but Skip only pauses for a second before he continues his advance.

  "I think this guy wants his gardening fork back," I say.

  "Shit!" Jay drops the fork and backs up. He outstretches an arm and a ball of white light forms in his hand to match the way my fireballs do. Magic crashes from above, as if droppe
d from the night sky, and hits Skip on the arm.

  Again, the creature keeps moving.

  "Dean!" I call as the creature gains on us. “Where are you?”

  The undead farmer lunges at me and I sidestep him. He lurches towards Jay and before he has a chance to move, Skip sinks his teeth into Jay's arm and knocks him to the floor.

  His scream splits the quiet night-time air, and something surges inside at the sight of Jay's skin torn to his flesh. Not only terror for my own life but for this stranger who could easily be me. The energy builds in my arm again, but the length of time the tingling takes to build to a rushing power frustrates me.

  Dear Game Gods, an instant cast spell when I’m level 2, please...

  Dean's figure emerges from the shadows, his claw weapon instantaneously ripping Skip’s skin with as much force as the creature did Jay's. Skip drops his attention from Jay and me, and dull eyes turn to Dean. My fireball lights the surroundings again as it hits the creature's chest.

  The undead farmer shifts his focus to me, and I stumble back. Jay's no use, holding one arm and frozen in shock. I can't look. Don't want to see the injury. Seeing blood and gore in the Game online is fine, but I never watch gory movies or shows. Right now, I'm an extra in an episode of The Walking Dead.

  Dean continues side-stepping and slashing the creature, a criss-cross of jagged lines on the flesh, oozing black fluid. Skip suddenly reaches for Dean's arm and he yells as the monster twists it around. I throw fire, which scorches Skip's hand and the creature drops his grip with a guttural yowl.

  "We should run," says Dean.

  “Jay can’t run and we can't leave him." I incline my head to where Jay dragged himself to rest against a tree trunk, face contorted with pain.

  "Can you walk, man?" calls Dean, ducking another blow from Skip.

  Jay doesn't respond with anything but swearing from behind his clenched teeth.

  One thought skitters across my mind: if I die here, is my real life over too?

  "Hey, zombie asshole!" calls a female voice. Footsteps thud across the forest floor behind, sticks cracking beneath someone’s feet. Seconds later, the delightfully undead Skip's face meets a wooden shield with a bone-crunching result. He howls, and I stop my spell casting in surprise.

  A girl with a long blonde braid, holding a short sword and battered shield, launches her tall figure at Skip, goading him on as she dodges attacks.

  Zara

  Paladin

  Specialisation: Defensive

  Level 3

  Health 55

  Energy 15

  "Stop staring and kill it already, mage," she snaps at me.

  "Right." The situation sharpens into the need to survive. All other thoughts and feelings are muted as I summon fireball after fireball, the three of us wearing down the creature with our attacks. Our skill level isn’t up to much; I normally kill things much quicker than this. As his body crashes to the floor, my band chimes.

  You have reached Level 2

  The sound repeats around me, for Dean and the semi-conscious Jay, then silence. My breath comes in short bursts, chest aching, but unscathed. Zara bends down and wipes her ichor-stained sword on Skip's ragged shirt. Stony-faced, she rifles through his pockets and pulls out several items: a square of cloth which is crusty and possibly handkerchief, a handful of pebbles and something worth finding:

  Skip's Wedding Ring

  + 2 Wisdom

  "Hmm. No point me having this." Zara tosses the item in my direction and almost misses my outstretched hands.

  "His boots look okay, but I have better." She unlaces them and yanks one off Skip's foot. "Help me," she says to Dean. "These are good for an assassin."

  Skip's Favourite Boots

  +2 Dexterity

  While they're busy stripping poor Skip of his otherworldly possessions, I crouch down next to Jay and touch his arm. He snaps his eyes open, his pale face sheened by perspiration.

  I take his weak arm and look at his wristband’s screen. A number beside “health” ticks down and flashes red. Blue text reads:

  You are afflicted with disease: Undead saliva.

  Leeches 1 health per second.

  I turn to Dean who’s sitting on the floor, lacing up the light leather boots, and at Zara tossing a gold coin in the air and catching it. "I think he's dying. We don't have any healing spells."

  "I do. I used one on myself. It’s a weak one but might work on him." Zara says nonchalantly and straightens. "Besides, we can't let the healer die."

  This gets worse. I mean, it’s fantastic I'm not on my own, but somebody or something threw together a defensive character, a healer and two heavy damage dealers. And I'm willing to bet that the 'something' isn't fate. The stars push through the clouds above, full moon illuminating the scene around me. I could cope with spiders and Jay's rudeness, but he's dying in front of my eyes.

  And something tried to kill me.

  I focus on dampening down the panic as Zara leans over Jay. She places a hand on his forehead. "You're gonna be okay."

  "It fucking hurts," he mumbles and holds out his arm where his skin blackens.

  I tear open my bag and pull out the small bottle I looted earlier and uncork it with my teeth. "Here, this should help."

  Jay gulps back the liquid and the pain in his face alleviates as the black immediately dissipates from his skin. I meet his panicked eyes and my feelings towards him soften. He may come across as rude and aggressive, but in him I see something I recognise. His attitude disguises vulnerability, but he can't convince himself he’s in control anymore. None of us are.

  I hand him the cheese too, and this time there's no protest over the stench.

  Dean crouches down too and looks between us. “Are you okay? You look pretty shaken up too, El.”

  Thank God it’s dim, and he can’t see how pale I must be. “I’m fine.”

  Dean pushes himself to his feet. “Liar. Come on.” He holds out a hand.

  I glance down at the thick black blood shining on his fingers and fail to hide a grimace. He chuckles and wipes the blood onto his black tunic before offering his hand again. I gratefully take hold and stand. In his eyes, I see something similar to Jay. Uncertainty.

  “Look, my nice new dress is dirty,” I say and brush the dirt from the robe.

  Dean smiles. “Such a pretty dress too. Isn’t it Jay?”

  Jay places a hand on the trunk and unsteadily stands. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Zara rubs her nose as she watches us. "If Jay is okay, we need to find a town. I'm not staying out here all night again."

  "Again?"

  "Yeah, again." Zara turns and grabs her sword, sheathing it in a belt against her thick leather pants. She grabs the shield and takes a hard look at us. "Let's go before Mrs. Skip appears."

  Chapter Seven

  Dragging my tired feet along a path and up a steep hill isn't my idea of a great evening. The stars hide behind thickened clouds, the moon occasionally giving a glimpse of the tall, thick woods surrounding us on either side. Jay's walking on his own with no support now, and I hang back with him. Partly because I don't want to get squished if anything murderous leaps from the path, and partly in case he needs help again. I'm desperate to talk about the situation we're all facing, but we traipse along in silent exhaustion.

  An owl screeches and my heartbeat stutters. I pick up my pace to draw closer to Zara. Nothing else attacked us in the hour we spent slogging along the rough path through the trees, but I'm not straying anywhere near the path's edge. I've no fitness regime outside of work, and my legs and lungs ache by the time we reach the hill crest and gaze at what lies below.

  Grunwald

  Neutral Territory

  The information on my wristband confirms what I'd hoped—Grunwald is close by, with a population who aren't likely to hack me to death the moment I set foot inside.

  The buildings fill the valley, protected by the steep hills on either side. From this vantage point, and in th
e dark, I can't make out exactly how large the place is. A small spire pushes through the midst of the low buildings, but the settlement’s centre will be a long walk once we reach the edge.

  Walking downhill at least takes less time than walking up, and the trees thin the closer we approach; the walls surrounding the town grow higher. The dim lights shine through the metal town gates, and low buildings crowd together.

  "Shit. Guards." Zara halts.

  "Keep going," I reply. "If this is the first place we've found, Reuben might be there. Low-level quests equal easy-to-find game characters."

  "Who's Reuben?" she asks.

  I pull the stone from my bag. "Quest. I need to ask about this."

  "'Kay."

  "Do you have any quests?"

  "I needed to find someone called Cameron and give him this." She pulls out a chain with a gold medallion attached. "I hope he, she, or it, can explain more."

  A guard straightens as we approach and nudges the slouching guy next to him. They're dressed in thin chainmail armour, faces obscured by simple metal helms.

  Grunwald Guard

  Level 20

  Non-aggressive

  He lifts his broadsword and two pairs of suspicious eyes study us. "Who are you? It's late to be crossing into Grunwald."

  "We need somewhere to stay. Can we enter?" I ask. "Our friend is sick."

  Zara steps closer. "I'm running an errand. I need to find Cameron."

  "An errand to find degenerates and bring them to the town?” the guard sneers. "We keep people out, there's too much unrest to allow anybody suspicious through the gates."

  Jay steadies himself on me and I stagger to one side. "He's sick. He can't hurt you. I've been told to find someone too—Reuben. I don't want to hurt anybody." I gesture at my bedraggled self. "Do I look like I'm a threat?"

  The second guard snorts. "If you're looking for Reuben, you're a spellcaster, and they're not always trustworthy."

  I groan and sit on the ground. "Fine, I'll wait until morning."

  Zara looks down at me. "That's not helpful."

  "What do you suggest?" I ask. "I've nowhere else to go." My voice cracks and I grit my teeth. Tears? Seriously? But my body is at the edge, unable to cope with anything else today. Whatever brought me to this place left me sick and shaking, and a five-mile walk hasn't helped.