Winds of Magic Chapter 13

 

Chapter 13

I had heard of environments like this before. Magically powered, they existed as an extension of the real world. I had even heard of environments like this being used for a virtual reality experience. But I had never heard of something like this being used as a password to unlock a file.

I had in my hands a single iron sword, no armor. I was in my street clothes. In the distance I could sense beings of immense power. This “game” was nothing to snuff at. I could really die if I wasn’t careful.

I followed a small path out of the main gate and headed towards the center of the new world. Whatever was out there, I had to overcome it in order to get where I wanted to go. The file hidden behind this booby trap was most likely worth the effort. Whoever had hidden it here had meant for it to be found.

I stopped. A magical presence made itself known to me, behind a bush to my side. I turned to face it and brandished my sword. The bushes shifted. A small rabbit bounced out from behind them. It looked harmless enough, but I had to be careful. I approached it.

“Hey, friend,” I said.

The rabbit opened its mouth and a gigantic row of teeth peeled out from under its lips. It charged me. The thing smelled of rotten flesh and dead offal.

Unable to cast a magic spell fast enough, I hacked in the general direction of the rabbit monster. My sword made contact and split the rabbit in two. Gore splattered me. The smell worsened.

A trumpet sounded and a blaze of light surrounded me. I was lifted up into the sky and a bright wall surrounded me.

“You have leveled up,” said the voice of a woman. A menu appeared in front of me. It showed a variety of standard RPG stats. I chose to put all my level up points into the magic ability “fire blast.” When I extended my hand a spiral of fire spewed out from my palm and rotated through the air.

“Cool,” I said. I held my hand out again and fired off a ball of flame. A singed spot was left on the wall.

Another prompt appeared in front of me and I touched it. The game returned me to the place where I had killed the rabbit. There was no sign of its remains or of the blood that had spurted out of it.

I shook my head and continued along the path. After about a hundred feet three rabbits stood in the middle of the road. Having seen the previous one, I was expecting the worst.

“Come at me,” I said, swinging my sword through the air.

The three rabbits charged. I slashed one in half as it passed me, but the second rammed straight into my chest. Its enveloping teeth spread out over my neck. I wrestled with it, pinning it against the ground.

The rabbit’s teeth came scarily close to my neck. Its drool dripped onto my skin, smelling of terrible maggot-ridden flesh. “Fireball!” I said, casting the spell I had just learned. The rabbit lit up with yellow flame and tumbled away, screeching. The third rabbit backed away from me, eyeing me with its beady little red dot eyes. It grimaced, showing a bit of those nasty teeth, and then turned to run away.

I crept forward, waiting for an ambush, but there was none. I was able to travel along the path for quite a bit before I came to a clearing. On the far end, a gigantic goat was sitting on a wooden throne. It stood up, its feet shaking the ground as it moved. In its hands it held a double-handed battle axe the size of a car. Was I really supposed to face this guy alone?

The goat monster approached me, swinging its axe side to side. I backed away.

“Firebolt!” I yelled, casting the spell. The ball shot toward the goat monster and fizzled against its fur.

Maybe I wasn’t supposed to defeat this thing. Maybe I was supposed to run past it.

I got ready to sprint. With a huge burst of speed, I ran directly towards the monster. The monster slammed its axe into the ground a second past the moment I was there. Dirt splattered everywhere. I rolled between its legs and sprinted for the door next to the throne. I then slammed into it, breaking it down and leaving the battle area.

I walked into an empty room. An angel with a halo of light sat on a tree stump. Her hair was long and crimson, and she wore a beautiful white dress.

“I see you have made it,” said the angel. “Brave hero, I will now unlock the first layer of the Elysian Box.”

“Elysian?” I said, and then I was sitting in the library in front of the lab computer. On the screen was a text fille.

“Eden. What is it?” read the file. “It is the culmination of human ingenuity. It is the place from before the fall of man. If Eden were to be created again, all humanity would celebrate before the culling.”

That was it. I imagined that I would have to keep beating levels of the dungeon to find out more. But what really worried me was the mention of a “culling.” If that meant what I thought it did, we were in for some strange and dangerous things in the future. I logged off and unplugged the flash drive, slipping it into my pocket. It was time to check in on the curling auxiliary team. I went across campus and entered the club room.

Alice was sleeping on a couch covered in newspapers and paint splotches. She did not wake up when I entered the room.

I walked up to her and sat down next to her head. She stayed asleep. I waited for a minute more, enjoying the silence. Then I shook her shoulder.

“Wake up,” I said.

Alice stirred, sitting up, revealing a pressure mark on her cheek. I grinned.

“What?” said Alice.

“Your face,” I said.

Alice took out her smartphone and looked at herself. “Ew. How long was I out?”

“You were asleep when I got here,” I said.

Alice sighed. “The rest of the crew has the day off,” she said. “Did you get the message?”

“Um,” I said. I checked my history. Yes, I did receive the message. I had just been too preoccupied to notice it.

Alice stood up. “Well, since we’re here we might as well work on something. I was wondering. Do you think you’d be able to create a single-crystal superalloy?”

“That’s the holy grail of materials science,” I said. “There’s no way I’d be able to do that.”

Alice rooted around in a bin and pulled out a dusty volume. “Not if this book has anything to say about it,” she said. “This is an ancient tome I managed to acquire not too long ago. If you can decipher what it says we may be able to unlock the secrets to a superalloy.”

“Do you know how valuable that would be?” I said. “Only major world governments know how to create the stuff. If a bunch of college kids manage to outsmart the government, with all its resources, there is no telling what would happen.”

Alice placed the book on an empty table. “Take a look at it anyways,” she said. “See what you can figure out. It didn’t cost me any more than ten bucks.”

“Where did you find it?” I said.

“An old antiques shop near campus,” said Alice. “Nothing special. I think whoever sold it to them didn’t know what they had in their possession.”

“You’ve already looked through it,” I said.

“Sure,” said Alice. “But I only understood half of it. I assumed you, being Reguis Alnum, would be able to parse the jargon.”

“Well you found the right person I guess,” I said. I took the book and turned it in my hand. It was thick, leatherbound, and with a title that read Gifts of a Mechanical Nature. I looked at it under the light. The leather was well-worn and covered with several stains.  I held it against my chest. “I’ll deal with this when I get back home,” I said.

“That’s right,” said Alice. “You don’t live in the dorms.”

“Speaking of which, I think it’s about time for me to go to my last night class and then get home.”

“Sure thing,” said Alice. “And next time you catch me sleeping here, please wake me up faster. I find it embarrassing that I was asleep with a club member in the room.”

I chuckled. “Well. See you then.”

“Bye,” said Alice.

I took my last class of the day and returned home. When I arrived at the door, something smelled good. I opened the door and entered the house. Rei was in the kitchen cooking dinner.

“Smells good,” I said.

Rei waved a ladle at me. “You need to be more careful,” she said. “I have a bad feeling about your involvement with the Forthier’s Club case.”

I sighed, sitting down at the table. “Don’t worry. I won’t make any stupid mistakes.”

“And besides,” said Rei, “You have enough work piled on you without that stupid case.”

I shrugged. “You never know. I could be saving the world. But first. Have you ever heard of something called Eden?”

“You mean from the Bible?” said Rei. “No, I don’t particularly believe +

in that.”

“I wasn’t asking about the biblical Eden,” I said. “I was asking about the name of, well, something that the cultists we fought before were trying to bring about.”

“Nope,” said Rei. “No idea what you’re talking about. You’ll have to educate me.”

“Well, the cultists we fought on the Pearlash estate were trying to awaken an ancient god, right?”

“Yeah,” said Rei, bringing food to the table. A delicious chicken pot pie. She really was a good cook. She set the food down and took a seat. “They were trying to prevent something or other. A bunch of bunk.”

“Who knows, really,” I said. “But here’s the thing. That flash drive I found underneath the lake. I opened it and it was booby trapped.”

“Seriously? Did you get hurt?”

“No, thankfully, but I did get put into a pretty bad situation,” I said. “I was forced to fight inside of a virtual reality dungeon where I would have died in real life had I failed.”

“Wow,” said Rei. “How does that work?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “All I know is that I managed to escape.”

Rei served herself some food. “Then you’re fine,” she said.

“The thing is,” I said, “I am planning on going back there. I’m going to need some help though. I believe that the system will let multiple people in at the same time.”

“And you want me to be there with you?” said Rei.

“Of course,” I said. “You’re the best combat mage the world has ever seen.”

“You flatter me,” said Rei. “But whatever. I smell adventure, and I am not one to let that by me.” She grinned. “I’ll fight this battle with you.”

“I’ll need your assistance bringing Tetra and Jade in on this, as well as any number of the student council members.”

Rei took a bite of food. “I’ll do my best,” she said. “I mean, even if it’s a world where you really can die, there’s an element of fun to that whole thing.”

“Well, I’m not planning on doing it because it’s fun,” I said. “I just want to know what Eden is and why it involves a culling.”

“And I’m with you,” said Rei. She pointed her fork at me. “Don’t do anything stupid. Don’t go back there until you know who’s coming with you.”

“Deal,” I said, and served myself some food.