Awaken Online: Unity Page 2

  Chapter 2 - Adventurous

  Frank trod down the streets of the Twilight Throne, dark buildings looming on either side of the road. The windows seemed to stare at him, their gazes empty and vacant. Only the occasional swinging lantern cast an eerie green light upon the street.

  He had barely passed anyone as he walked through the city. Most of the undead were still nervous after the recent attack, and those brave enough to leave the safety of the keep had volunteered to help repair the city and clean up the destruction the ghouls had caused – which meant that they were primarily clustered around the market and the southern wall.

  Up ahead, Frank saw a group of soldiers heading toward him. The Kin marched down the center of the road – their dark mail making them easy to identify. They gave Frank a curt nod as they passed, recognizing his burly form and the axes swinging at his waist. Vera and Jason had instituted these patrols to both clean up any lingering ghouls that had hidden within the city and as a show of strength. Right now, morale was a problem, and any sense of safety they could impart to their residents would help return things to normal.

  Or at least whatever “normal” looks like for us, Frank thought with dry amusement.

  He soon saw his destination in the distance, a mound of gray dirt that loomed over the northern quarter of the city. Jason had only briefly described The Grove. It was a large complex of caverns that Eliza and Cecil had built beneath the city to grow herbs and brew the potions that they now sold on the player market. Frank had never seen the caverns for himself though, and with nothing else to occupy his time, he had decided to make a visit.

  He traversed the tunnels below the mound, making his way down a winding path that eventually terminated in a solid steel door. Frank rapped his knuckles against the surface and was rewarded with a harsh screech of scraping metal as the peephole slid to the side. A pair of white eyes peered out at him.

  “It’s Frank,” he grunted.

  The peephole slid shut with an abrupt bang, and he heard the whirr and clank of gears as the deadbolts slid out of place. The door soon crept open, and Frank edged through the crack, once again conscious of his own bulk as he was forced to suck in a deep lungful of air to make it through the slender space.

  On the other side of the doorway, Frank was greeted by a full contingent of Kin, arrows nocked and leveled at his position. A row of soldiers stood in front of the archers and slid their swords from their scabbards.

  “He’s okay,” someone barked from behind the soldiers, and Frank saw a small figure wind through their ranks. “Stand down.”

  Cecil’s bearded face soon appeared among the soldiers, glaring at the Kin who towered above him. He offered Frank a hand in greeting. “Hey, there,” the engineer said curtly. “We weren’t expecting a visit. Is there something I can help you with?”

  Frank shrugged his shoulders. He had been hoping to pose that question himself. He had logged in after the exchange with his sister, hoping for a distraction – or at least something that would make him feel productive. His hopes had soon been dashed. Vera had taken over the defense of the city, Grunt and Jerry were handling construction, and Jason had been off doing his own thing – whatever that was.

  He’d struck out with Riley too. She hadn’t been on much lately, which was strange. Frank could only assume she was dealing with something in the real world.

  Either way, he was left feeling…

  He wasn’t willing to finish that thought. His sister’s words still echoed in his mind – taunting him.

  “Uh, I just wanted to see the place for myself,” Frank finally replied, realizing that he hadn’t responded to Cecil’s simple question.

  The engineer raised a lone eyebrow, skepticism written across his face as he picked up on Frank’s foul mood. “Ahh, well here it is!” he said before gesturing theatrically at the cavern behind him. “Our little slice of underground paradise.”

  Now that the soldiers had relinquished their positions and moved back to lounge near the doorway, Frank had an unimpeded view of the cavern. It stretched on for at least a hundred yards, and dozens of floating orbs hovered near the ceiling, illuminating the length of the cave.

  Jason had described The Grove as little more than a big dirt patch, but that certainly wasn’t the case now. The entrance dipped down into a ramp that led into verdant green fields filled with an assortment of alien vegetation of all shapes and colors. They ranged from spindly gray plants covered in razor-sharp thorns to what looked like tropical flowers – the bulbs shining bright pink.

  “It’s starting to come together,” Cecil commented, noting Frank’s stunned reaction. “Anyway, if you don’t need anything, then I need to get back to work. We’re expanding the complex and creating ancillary caverns.”

  He grimaced. “Although, the stability of the cavern is becoming an issue – especially since Eliza is demanding that the rooms be able to support a much higher temperature. She wants to embed fire crystals in the floor! Can you believe that? It’s just a mess if you ask me.” Cecil was almost muttering to himself at this last part, glancing at the back of the cave as he spoke.

  The engineer did a double take, as though recalling that Frank was still standing there. “Anyway, if you want to talk to Eliza, she’s back in her lab on the north side of the cave.”

  Cecil moved to walk away before stopping and sparing one final look at Frank. “Oh, and be careful with the plants. They’re meaner than they look.”

  “Uh, okay. Thanks,” Frank murmured, confused.

  His feet carried him through the fields as he inspected the vegetation. He had no idea how Eliza had managed to grow all of this so quickly. Only a few short weeks had passed in game, but she had nearly filled the entire cavern. Although, after more than one plant tried to grab him or impale him with its thorns, he became less impressed and more concerned for his own health – moving much more swiftly through the field.

  Only a few minutes later, Frank found himself in an adjacent cavern. He froze in the doorway. What he’d seen in the fields had been a shock, but what he witnessed inside Eliza’s laboratory was enough to temporarily reset his brain.

  The entire side of the rectangular cave was filled with a skeletal monstrosity that moved and shifted in an unholy rhythm. Bone and bands of dark energy were bound together into a mechanism so complicated that he was having trouble understanding what he was looking at. After a moment, he noticed Eliza standing beside the contraption, feeding a tincture into an open ivory valve.

  “W-what is this?” Frank asked, raising his voice to be heard over the whir and thump of the machine.

  Eliza jumped slightly, nearly dropping the vial in her hands. Frank couldn’t help but notice the initials “AE” emblazoned on the side, likely denoting their new company – Avarice_Enterprises. Eliza clearly hadn’t heard him enter over all the noise, but her expression softened as she saw that it was just Frank. “Ahh, hi, Frank.”

  The water mage pushed at her glasses with a finger before returning to her task. “Jason and I built a… well, a factory, I guess you could call it. We automated most of the potion-making process, at least as it applies to healing potions.”

  Frank shook his head in astonishment. They built this?

  Jason hadn’t gone into much detail regarding how they were manufacturing the potions so quickly, and Frank hadn’t thought to ask. The thing standing in front of him was a marvel, and he could only imagine the reaction of the other players if this went public. They had found a way to completely circumvent the game’s crafting restrictions! However, his awe soon gave way to a familiar gloom. Not only had Riley and Jason turned into a fighting powerhouse, but Eliza had also helped Jason invent some sort of factory?

  What had he accomplished that could compare to this?

  “Are you alright?” Eliza asked, and Frank suddenly realized that she was staring at him, the now-empty vial resting lazily in her hand.

  “Yeah, I’m…” Frank had been about to brush off Eliza’s question, bu
t he hesitated as he saw her look away shyly. He didn’t know much about Eliza, but he felt like they had something in common – they tended to play more of a support role to the others. Maybe she would understand what he was going through, at least a little.

  “You know what? No, I’m not alright,” Frank finally replied with a heavy sigh.

  Eliza cocked her head to the side, meeting his eyes. “Hmm, do you want to talk about it?” she offered tentatively.

  “I’m not really sure where to start,” Frank muttered. “I guess… I guess I just feel like I don’t have anything to do. Like I haven’t accomplished anything lately.”

  Eliza bit at her lip and moved back toward the lab benches on the other side of the room, where the noise from the skeletal machinery was less overpowering. She placed the vial on a rack on a nearby table and proceeded to place a stopper in the vessel. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Didn’t you conquer the towns and retrieve the gate piece?”

  “Sure, but now the gate piece is gone, and I’m left here with nothing to do,” Frank muttered, sinking down onto a nearby stool. The wooden material let out a faint cracking sound as he settled his full weight on it. Why did all furniture hate him?

  “It just feels like everyone else has a role except me,” Frank continued. “Like you have your potions and that thing,” he said, gesturing at the skeletal machinery. “Vera leads the troops. Jerry and Grunt have the construction handled. What’s my thing?”

  “I think you might be downplaying your contributions,” Eliza offered tentatively. “Yes, we lost the gate piece, and Alexion got away, but that wasn’t your fault. We wouldn’t have had them in the first place if not for you.”

  She bit at her lip. “I mean, do you blame Riley for not stopping Alexion?”

  “Of course not,” Frank replied quickly.

  “Well, then I’m not sure you should blame yourself,” she offered, raising an eyebrow.

  Frank grimaced. He couldn’t really argue with that logic, so he shifted gears. “That still doesn’t change the fact that I don’t have anything to do.”

  Eliza’s brow furrowed in thought and then she seemed to brighten. “What about working on guild recruitment? You came up with some great ideas at our last meeting for encouraging new recruits to join Original Sin.”

  Frank grunted. “Except that I need to wait on Morgan to rebuild the nests first,” he replied. “Besides, the city is still mostly in ruins, and you need to set up your supply lines with the Sea’s Edge to scale up your manufacturing operation – that way we have the money to offer free potions and equipment to our recruits. There’s no point in ramping up guild recruitment if we have nothing to offer right now.”

  “Well, I guess that’s fair,” Eliza murmured, her gaze drifting to one to the nearby lab tables.

  The pair lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, and Frank let out a heavy sigh. As the moment lengthened and stretched, he began to feel a little embarrassed. He wasn’t sure why he was confiding in Eliza about this. Maybe he had been a little off the mark. Normally, he would have talked to Jason, but his friend had been so distant lately. Frank knew that was reasonable, especially with everything going on with the CPSC hearing and his fledgling relationship with Riley. Still, it stung. He had begun to feel like an awkward third wheel.

  He shook his head. Maybe the answer was that he didn’t have anyone else to turn to. Although, that didn’t make him feel any better.

  “You know,” Eliza said quietly, breaking the silence. “When I’m feeling down or overwhelmed, I like to work in my garden. It’s a chance to just get away from everything.”

  She saw Frank look at her in surprise and she blushed, her cheeks turning rosy. Eliza quickly looked away. “That’s actually part of why I started playing AO,” she continued in a low voice. “My parents put a lot of pressure on me. I guess I just needed a release. Working in Alma’s garden was relaxing. It was easy work – mechanical and simple – and I didn’t need to deal with other people’s expectations.”

  Eliza bit at her lip. “I guess what I’m saying is that maybe you should find something in the game that is fun for you. You seem very concerned about what everybody else is doing – or what you should be doing. But what do you want to do?”

  Frank stared at her, his mouth opening to answer. Then he hesitated. He suddenly wasn’t certain what he had been about to say. Ever since he had started playing, he had been focused on catching up with Jason. Or helping to build up the city and complete Jason’s quests. In a way, he had been focused almost solely on his friend – content to take his instructions instead of acting on his own.

  What did he want?

  That question circled in his mind.

  His thoughts landed on the image of Jason facing off against Thorn. His friend’s body had been clad in ivory plate mail, and practically every inch of him had radiated dark energy, wings of mana forming along his back. In his hand, he had held a staff, a blade of darkness slicing away from the tip. He had looked like a badass.

  If Frank were being honest with himself, he wanted that. He wanted to feel powerful – confident. However, even as the thought crossed his mind, he immediately discarded it. Riley and Jason were in a different league now, and he was skeptical that he could ever really catch up.

  “I-I don’t know,” Frank finally murmured.

  “Hmm. Then maybe you need to leave the Twilight Throne for a bit,” Eliza suggested gently. Her eyes clouded as she recalled some unknown memory, a strange mixture of emotion in her eyes – a combination of pain and hope that made him wonder what her path through this game had been like. He had never thought to ask before. “I know this might sound strange – especially coming from me – but you might be surprised by what you find out there,” she continued, meeting Frank’s eyes.

  “Or, knowing my luck, I could find someone worse than the Hippie,” he said with a faint grin.

  Eliza matched his smile. “I’m not sure that’s possible. Besides, say what you want about the Hippie, he does attract a certain amount of chaos – or cause it, I suppose. But there’s never a dull moment when he’s around.”

  The water mage glanced to the side, and her eyes widened. “Oh shit,” she muttered as she grabbed her bag and began stuffing vials and books into it. “Hey, I’m sorry to do this, but I was supposed to meet Vera by the gate 15 minutes ago. We’re preparing the caravan to head to the Sea’s Edge.”

  She stepped toward the entrance of the cavern and hesitated. “Think about what I said. Maybe you just need an adventure of your own.”

  And then she was gone.

  Frank sat in the cavern by himself, listening to the rhythmic whir and thump of the skeletal machinery nearby. He sensed some truth in Eliza’s advice, and a war was now raging in his mind. A part of him recoiled at the idea of going off on his own. Before meeting up with Jason, the simplest things had been a struggle. Even now, he could barely hold his own. The image of the ground littered with dead Kin was still fresh in his mind. Alexion had killed the entire division of Kin that he had led – men and women who had been following his orders. And Frank had been too weak to save them.

  Regardless, a spark of hope bloomed in his chest. Maybe this time, things will be different, it whispered. He would be alone, and the stakes would be lower.

  How much trouble could he really cause by himself?

  Chapter 3 - Frustrated

  “This has to be the worst adventure ever,” Frank grumbled to himself as another lifeless branch scraped against his arm, breaking through his skin and leaving a thin trail of blood in its wake.

  He broke through the brush, stopping to lean against a dead tree to let his stamina regenerate. The typical dark cloud cover had slowly begun to thin during his journey and faint rays of light now filtered through the clouds.

  Frank had been tracing the forest’s edge and heading steadily to the northwest. As he traveled, the lifeless forest had gradually transitioned to some sort of no man’s land between the undead kingdom and
normal vegetation. Trees – real trees – lingered only a few dozen feet away, their branches coated in thick green pine needles. In the distance, he could make out the outline of the snowcapped mountains that rested along the Twilight Throne’s northern border.

  With a swipe of his hand, Frank brought up his map.

  A display appeared in the corner of his vision, showing the area around the Twilight Throne. An irregular black halo emanated from the dark city to indicate its radius of influence. A lone green dot marked his location. Frank was currently standing in the northwest corner of the undead empire and far to the west of Peccavi. As far as he knew, this area was deserted. No towns were located nearby.

  “What the hell was I thinking?” he muttered.

  His plan had seemed like a good idea when he left and he hadn’t given himself time to second-guess it. Frank figured he could at least use this downtime to train his shapeshifting abilities. However, flesh-and-blood creatures were in rather short supply around the Twilight Throne. His best option was to leave the area around the city. Regular animals also tended to avoid major roads and cities, and so he had picked the region’s least-populated border far to the north of the Twilight Throne.

  Now he was staring at the barren wilderness and realizing that he wasn’t certain how he planned to track and hunt the creatures that lived in the mountains. That was putting aside the fact that he had no idea what actually lived in this area. Frank had always leaned on Riley’s Tracking and Perception skills in the past – or the other Kin to help scout for him. However, those weren’t viable options right now.

  With a sigh and another flick of his wrist, Frank pulled up his Character Status screen.

  Character Status

  Name:

  Frank

  Gender:

  Male

  Level:

  163

  Class:

  Thaumaturge

  Race:

  Human