Awaken Online- Flame Read online

  Awaken Online

  Tarot Book 2: Flame

  ______________

  Travis Bagwell

  Copyright © 2020 by Travis Bagwell

  All rights reserved.

  ______

  To my wife… okay, so maybe Rachael has some similarities to you. And no, you shouldn’t be worried about me recording your voice. Those electrodes on your temples are also just cosmetic.

  ______

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 - Burning

  Chapter 2 - Corrupted

  Chapter 3 - Drained

  Chapter 4 - Recruiting

  Chapter 5 - Wary

  Chapter 6 - Royal

  Chapter 7 - Prepared

  Chapter 8 - Learned

  Chapter 9 - Recharged

  Chapter 10 - Enhanced

  Chapter 11 - Conspicuous

  Chapter 12 - Harried

  Chapter 13 - Betrayed

  Chapter 14 - Weightless

  Chapter 15 - Elemental

  Chapter 16 - Molten

  Chapter 17 - Rash

  Chapter 18 - Artificial

  Chapter 19 - Inspired

  Chapter 20 - Experimental

  Chapter 21 - Predatory

  Chapter 22 - Militant

  Chapter 23 - Brittle

  Chapter 24 - Hasty

  Chapter 25 - Oblivious

  Chapter 26 - Manufactured

  Chapter 27 - Unified

  Chapter 28 - Explosive

  Chapter 29 - Transparent

  Chapter 30 - Subtle

  Chapter 31 - Winding

  Chapter 32 - Breached

  Chapter 33 - Royal

  Chapter 34 - Ingenious

  Chapter 35 - Fleeting

  Chapter 36 - Legendary

  Chapter 37 - Twinkling

  Chapter 38 - Gestation

  Chapter 39 - Incendiary

  Chapter 40 - Blind

  Chapter 41 - Enhanced

  Chapter 42 - Passionate

  Chapter 43 - Adjacent

  Chapter 44 - Devout

  Chapter 45 - Illusory

  Chapter 46 - Negotiated

  Chapter 47 - Death-Defying

  Chapter 48 - Manipulated

  Chapter 49 - Prophetic

  Chapter 50 - Welcomed

  Chapter 51 - Prescient

  Chapter 52 - Tyrannical

  Chapter 53 - Devious

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  13 years before the release of Awaken Online.

  Finn had never understood farmers markets.

  Rows of haphazardly placed tents filled with fresh fruits and vegetables – that part made sense. It was the junk crammed between the produce stands that made him scratch his head. An ancient bicycle, its chain long since rusted into a solid object. Antiques and relics from a previous century, their surfaces worn down by unfriendly decades. Poorly printed t-shirts. A dog constructed entirely of scrap metal, half-heartedly coated in chipped paint – perhaps to showcase that the artificial animal had weathered some sort of apocalypse.

  How many artisanal, locally sourced candles did a person really need?

  And yet here he was.

  Finn meandered down those rows of tents, which seemed to stretch on infinitely, bodies crammed into a narrow passage between the structures. Every time he paused or dawdled, he was tugged forward – his hand clasped firmly in Rachael’s. There it was: a reason for being here. And two more little reasons darted ahead of them to check out the next tent, Gracen and Julia chattering to themselves.

  The next stall appeared to be selling artwork. Judging from the unusual dimensions of the pictures, Finn assumed he was either looking at the next Picasso – or, far more likely – a student who had decided to peddle their treasured projects to other people.

  Finn felt Rachael squeeze his hand, her fingers absently fiddling with a small white scar at the base of his thumb like she always did. “You’re scowling,” she whispered, a hint of laughter in her voice.

  “Just properly appraising the majesty of this painting. The brushwork, the delicate color palette…” Finn retorted. He paused as he squinted at the canvas. “If you unfocus your eyes, it actually looks like an evil clown.”

  Rachael snorted out a laugh, but quickly stopped herself as she saw the stall owner’s eyes skim across them. “Behave,” she snapped at Finn, smacking his shoulder, but there was little force behind the words or the slap.

  “I’ve got a much better idea. If you buy one of those repurposed bullet necklaces at the stall over there and then one of those antique guns from that guy we passed, you could just put me out of my misery.”

  Rachael shook her head, trying and failing to suppress a laugh. “You know, this is supposed to be family time. It’s one of the few times we all get to see you.”

  Finn nodded solemnly. “You’re right. Buy a few bullets then. We’ll die as a family.”

  “Hilarious. You know what, try this.” Rachael snatched something from a nearby stall and twirled back to him. He opened his mouth to ask what she was doing, and she promptly shoved a small spoon into it.

  Within seconds, it felt like Finn’s tongue was on fire. He choked, looking around frantically for somewhere to spit out whatever poison she had fed him. Not seeing any options, he was forced to choke it down. The substance left a burning trail as it slid down his throat.

  “What… what the hell was that?”

  “Jam,” Rachael replied, barely holding back a laugh as she watched him.

  “No way!” Finn gasped.

  She glanced over at the nearby stall and the array of samples that were spread out across the table. “Yep. Triple Ghost Pepper Inferno… Strawberry.” Even the owner was chuckling as he watched the exchange.

  “The strawberry is subtle,” Finn bit out, his eyes tearing up as they skimmed the crowd. What the hell was the point of “lava jam,” anyway? Only at a farmers market… But now he had a mission, at least. He needed to find some beer.

  However, Finn was interrupted in his quest as their children came running back, Julia in the lead and Gracen’s taller gangly form trudging along behind her. Julia snatched at Finn’s hand, peering up at him excitedly. “Daddy, there’s a band! Dance with me?”

  Finn followed her finger to see that a clearing opened ahead, the junk-filled tents ringing a makeshift dance floor and the tang of country music drifting through the air. Finn’s expression softened. “Sure thing, honey…” He trailed off as he felt the device on his wrist vibrate. He tapped at the surface and saw a familiar name scrawled across the display.

  George Lane. Shit.

  “Just one second,” Finn said to Julia, raising a finger. He could see the light in her eyes dim, a frown tugging at her lips.

  “It’s Saturday morning,” Rachael interjected, glancing at the phone. “Can’t it wait?” Finn could detect the sharpness in her voice – all trace of amusement gone in a flash.

  “It has to be some sort of emergency,” Finn replied, glancing back down at the device. “Otherwise, why would he call?”

  Rachael just stared at him incredulously, giving him that look – the one that conveyed volumes in an instant. It’s always an emergency, it said.

  “I’ll just be a second,” Finn said, before turning back to Julia and gesturing at the dance floor. “Your mom can fill in for me in the meantime. She’s a better dancer anyway.”

  Julia’s eyes lit up, and she grabbed her mother’s hand, tugging her toward the dance floor with surprising strength for a child. “You owe me,” Rachael mouthed at Finn before the group headed off towards the clearing. He nodded and gave her a lopsided smile.

  Finn tapped at the implant just below his right ear. “Hello,
Mr. Harris,” a feminine voice spoke up immediately. “Please give me a moment to connect Mr. Lane.”

  “Thank you,” Finn responded distractedly, staring off after his family. He watched as his wife spun their daughter around the dance floor. He saw the smiles on their faces, the way their eyes seemed to shine, reflecting the soft morning sunlight. Gracen stood on the sidelines. He was just old enough now to be too cool to join his mother and sister, but he still watched their fun with poorly concealed interest.

  He felt a pang then. Of regret; of indecision. He could just hang up the phone, ignore the call. Blame it on poor reception. George could survive for a day. And he almost did…

  Yet before he could move, Finn heard a faint click, and George’s voice echoed across the line, “Hi Finn, do you have a moment to talk?”

  “Yeah… yeah, what’s going on?” Finn asked, turning away from his family.

  There would always be another time – another day, another market. Rachael and the kids could wait for a few minutes while he took care of this.

  Chapter 1 - Burning

  Finn stood still, his palms together, his muscles loose, and his breathing even. The tips of his fingers slowly traced the faint scar at the base of his thumb. It was strange how real Awaken Online felt to him now. Even his scars – nicks and dents earned in the real world – they followed him here.

  A faint dusting of sand drifted across the courtyard, carried by a light breeze. The particles slid around his ankles, the only movement that broke the tension that hovered over the field. His eyes shone with a glowing orange light as he took in the three mages surrounding him – their weapons held tightly and their expressions grim.

  At some unspoken signal, they moved in unison.

  A flash of sapphire light signaled an Ice Bolt slicing toward Finn’s head. Launching himself into a spin, he narrowly avoided the missile, even as his fingers blazed through a flurry of movements. He fell into the momentum of the spin, and his feet made contact with a lance of stone that erupted from the ground, pushing backward and sliding behind another pillar as it launched from the sands.

  Lightning slammed against the other side of the stone, forks of energy spearing along either side of the column and scorching the sand. The blast left half-melted puddles of glass in its wake. Finn tilted his head as he saw the effect of the lightning. That gave him an idea, and he could feel his blood boiling in anticipation as his mana responded, barely able to restrain the sensation. He just needed a bit more time.

  A few heartbeats later, he had completed his spell, and his daggers slid from their sheaths, flames rippling along the metal. His fingers never stopped moving, channeling mana into the spell to keep the blades aloft.

  Finn darted out from behind his makeshift cover. Leaping into the air, he spun over another bolt of ice and hit the ground with a soft thump. He kicked at the sand as he landed, sending a spray of loose particles sweeping forward. Meanwhile, his fingers directed his blades. They rocketed through the cloud, the flames melting the sand and forming globs of molten glass that hurtled forward.

  The air mage’s eyes widened in alarm, and he began to raise his arm to block the spray.

  It was too late.

  He let out a scream as the searing material coated his face. Streamers of smoke curled between his frantic fingers, as he clawed at his eyes in a vain attempt to remove the molten glass. Finn swiftly capitalized on the moment of weakness, his blades slicing through the tendons in the man’s arms. The mage soon crumpled to his knees, his hands hanging limp and useless, as his blood dripped onto the sand.

  One down. Two to go.

  Finn hadn’t stopped moving even as his blades cut into the air mage. He whirled toward the other two mages, who backpedaled quickly. Clusters of glowing runes appeared along the sands only to vanish a moment later, signaling that the water mage was building a defensive line of traps.

  “Daniel,” Finn murmured.

  “I’m on it, sir,” the AI replied from where he hovered above Finn’s shoulder. Glowing outlines soon appeared in Finn’s vision, marking each trap.

  Without hesitation, he raced forward, weaving a trail between the highlighted patches. The remaining mages saw that the defenses weren’t working; they were only slowing Finn down. The water mage began summoning a flurry of Ice Bolts to put more pressure on him, but Finn dodged and danced around the missiles as they raced past, keeping his daggers close in case the earth mage intervened. He could already see that the other man’s fingers were winding through a more complicated spell.

  Journeyman level, at least. But he didn’t recognize the incantation or gestures.

  Another barrage of ice soon followed, yet Finn neatly avoided the missiles. He needed to wait. His eyes were on the glowing line that marked the edge of his control range as it sped closer to his two opponents.

  Then the earth mage finished his spell, and something unexpected happened.

  A surge of green energy rippled through the air, and Finn felt a forceful tug that continued to grow in strength with each passing second, yanking him toward the mages. He quickly slid to a halt, resisting the gravitational pull before it could inadvertently drag him across a trap. Even so, his feet were still sliding along the sand as the pressure continued to mount. The earth mage must have been actively channeling the spell.

  “Danger! Attack from 6 o’clock,” Daniel chirped.

  Finn tilted his head slightly. He could see that the AOE Pull had caught the Ice Bolts Finn had dodged, causing nearly a dozen missiles to pivot in the air and speed back toward him – the projectiles accelerating rapidly. Even worse, Finn could see the water mage readying another spell.

  Time seemed to slow for a fraction of a second, and Finn’s thoughts raced.

  Then he landed on his only option.

  Finn stopped fighting the Pull and launched himself into the air, letting the gravitational anomaly send him hurtling forward. He directed a blade downward, and it went skimming along the surface of a trap. Lances of ice rocketed into the air, just barely missing Finn and creating a frozen wall to his back. The Ice Bolts trailing behind him slammed against the barrier, and the wall fractured under the combined impact. Then the icy missiles exploded, forming an even larger frozen block and trapping one of Finn’s blades.

  However, Finn was already gone, speeding directly toward the two mages.

  The earth mage’s mouth dropped open, and his fingers scrambled to construct an earthen barrier as the water mage abruptly stopped her spell. But Finn knew how to handle the wall after fighting Kyyle. A molten substance soon coated his left shoulder, spikes of magma arching away from his skin as his Magma Armor slid into place. He curled and pivoted in the air, his shoulder crashing into the newly formed dirt.

  He exploded through the wall, hit the ground in a roll, and his lone blade arced forward, cutting through the muscle and tendons in the water mage’s ankles. She went down hard, hitting the sand with a thump. His follow-up strike left her arms dangling uselessly and her bright crimson blood leaking onto the sand.

  Finn rolled back to his feet, pivoting to avoid a swing of the earth mage’s staff. He kicked the weapon to the side, stepped in close, and slammed an armored fist against the mage’s stomach. A soft whoosh of air escaped the man’s lips, and he stumbled backward. However, Finn pressed forward, grabbing the mage’s free arm, and twisting it up and behind his back until his elbow locked and began to bow. Finn’s free blade then slid into place, its tip against the man’s neck, just barely scratching his Adam’s apple.

  The earth mage froze, feeling the hot metal sizzling against his skin.

  “Do you yield?” Finn asked calmly.

  The man’s attention flicked to the other two mages, who lay crumpled along the sands, slowly bleeding out. Resignation soon settled across his face. “Yes. I yield,” he choked out, each word causing the blade to slice deeper.

  Finn abruptly released him, giving him a light shove to create some space. A few quick jerks of his fingers and h
is dagger slid back into its sheath. With a glance at the mass of ice that now coated the field, Finn made another gesture. His other blade swiftly burned through the ice that held it trapped and then rocketed through the air to join its brother.

  It was only then that Finn finally released his mana, letting out a soft breath as the burning energy evaporated. The loss of the fire mana always left him feeling… weaker, slower. No matter how many times he went through the process, it was almost painful to let go of the tantalizing energy.

  Without the mixture of adrenaline and mana coursing through his veins, Finn was finally able to focus on the hushed murmurs that drifted across the field and down from the balconies that ringed the courtyard. Other mages lined the arena, watching the duel. After the competition, he had hoped his reputation would fade – at least slightly. Almost two days in-game had already passed since he was declared the guild’s champion, but the crowd hadn’t waned.

  If anything, it had only grown larger.

  Finn grimaced as he followed the gaze of the spectators to where his opponents lay broken and bleeding on the sand. The man he had left standing hurried over to the whimpering air mage, who still pawed uselessly at his face. Finn had found that leaving his training partners alive garnered some goodwill from the other novices. The wounds would heal, and it was better than losing nearly an hour to the deathscape. Plus, it prevented the faculty from shutting down these informal duels.

  But it didn’t make his actions any less brutal. Perhaps he’d gone too far… again.

  The question was, why?

  Even as that thought crossed his mind, Finn tamped down on it, struggling to forget – to think of something else, anything else. Yet it was hopeless. The image of flaming eyes set overtop purple silks returned, and the Seer’s whispered bargain sliced through his mind like a burning blade.

  Rachael

  Finn swallowed hard, forcing aside the memories and emotions that threatened to surface. Instead, he leaned into the simmering, impatient anger that always came next. He was anxious to start the next leg of the Emir’s competition and complete his end of the Seer’s bargain… but he had been told to wait.