Shattered Lands: A LitRPG Series Page 9

  The endless field of white faded to grey, then black.

  15

  At first Daniel panicked when everything turned black – and then he remembered it was because the VR helmet he was wearing blocked out all light and sound.

  He reached up with his hands and felt the cool metal. He gingerly lifted the helmet off his head, and suddenly he was back in his own house, lying on a soft twin bed.

  It was an eerie parallel, starting on one bed in Merridack’s den and then winding up in the guest bedroom. In a strange way, it made it harder to tell where one reality ended and the other began.

  Of course, the beds in the guest bedroom were soft, clean, and didn’t have the lingering smell of sewage.

  He sat up slowly, his body stiff from hours of lying motionless, and looked over at his friend in the next bed over.

  Eric lifted off the helmet and looked at Daniel, his eyes wide. “Holy shit.”

  Daniel laughed. “Glad you decided to play?”

  “Hell YEAH!” Eric sat up and groaned. “Oh man… you feel a little weird?”

  Now that he mentioned it, it was strange going from a full belly in the game world to an empty stomach in the real. That, and the overwhelming need to use the bathroom, which had never been part of the physical sensations in the game world.

  “I need to take a leak, that’s for sure,” Daniel agreed.

  “Me too… let’s take a break, get something to eat, and get back at it,” Eric suggested.

  “You got it.”

  They reconvened in the kitchen five minutes later. No one else was home yet, so they took some leftovers out of the fridge and scarfed them down, along with a helping of potato chips and sodas.

  “Dude – it’s only 5:00,” Daniel said, amazed. “We snuck out of school just a little after 11:30.”

  “Glad you cut class now?” Eric grinned.

  “Oh man… I don’t ever want to go back,” Daniel said. “I just want to stay in the Shattered Lands.”

  “Well, depending on how late your parents let us play, we’ve got the rest of the evening… which should be a good 24 hours or more in the game.”

  “And then we’ve got the rest of the weekend,” Daniel said excitedly.

  “You think your parents’ll be cool with me staying around so much?” Eric asked.

  “Pff,” Daniel scoffed. “You know they’re never around.”

  In a strange coincidence, at that very moment the house’s computer voice chimed out, “Hello, Jonathan. Welcome home.”

  Eric and Daniel looked at each other in surprise.

  “Your dad’s home at 5 on a Friday?” Eric asked. “On launch day?!”

  Daniel’s father shuffled into the kitchen from the garage, his face weary and his clothes wrinkled.

  “Hey Dad,” Daniel called.

  “Hey Mr. Lauer,” Eric said.

  The tall, light-brown-haired man smiled sleepily. “Hey guys.”

  “You’re home early,” Daniel said. “Especially for launch day.”

  “No, I’m home late,” Mr. Lauer said. “I didn’t even get back here last night.”

  Eric made a face. “Damn!”

  “Yeah. We spent all night running diagnostics for the launch this morning, and then I helped the coding team with some patches that had to be done for China. I haven’t slept in over 30 hours.” Mr. Lauer rubbed his forehead, then seemed to remember something. “By the way, have you guys checked it out yet?”

  “Oh my GOD,” Eric enthused.

  “It’s INCREDIBLE,” Daniel said.

  Mr. Lauer laughed. “That almost makes the last 30 hours worth it. What’d you guys think of the total sensory immersion?”

  “It’s like you’re actually there,” Eric said. “I couldn’t even tell the difference between reality and the game.”

  “Yeah,” Daniel said, and suddenly felt a pang as he remembered how they had started their adventures. “Maybe too real.”

  Mr. Lauer frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “When we started out, we met this guy from Cleveland who wanted to be a bard – ”

  “Vadaleros Trebelan, by any chance?” Mr. Lauer asked.

  Daniel’s jaw dropped. “How did you know that?!”

  Mr. Lauer laughed. “He’s an NPC. If you select ‘Advanced’ when you’re first onboarding, he’s one of about ten options that can show up to throw you into the game immediately.”

  “WHAT?!” Daniel cried out.

  Eric laughed. “I told you it was just a game, dude!”

  “We needed some way to kind of break advanced gamers out of all their preconceptions. The newbies, they get to just wander into town and start talking to people, get the lay of the land… but you guys who’ve played thousands of hours of other online games? You’re a pretty jaded lot. The psych team figured something extreme might help throw you off balance and suck you into the game faster.”

  “That’s freakin’ brilliant!” Eric said. “It totally did the job.”

  “Well, it was definitely extreme, that’s for sure,” Daniel griped. For some reason, he felt like his own father had betrayed him, though he couldn’t say exactly how.

  Mr. Lauer nodded. “Did ol’ Vad die pretty rough?”

  “It was brutal,” Daniel confirmed.

  “Eh, whatever,” Eric said with a shrug.

  Daniel looked over accusingly. “You weren’t saying ‘whatever’ when he was lying there bleeding out on the ground.”

  “Yeah, cuz I didn’t know how real it was all going to feel,” Eric said, then added dismissively, “But it’s a game. You get used to it.”

  Daniel didn’t like the flippancy of that answer.

  After all, Eric hadn’t been the one with his hands covered in blood.

  “Who showed up afterwards?” Mr. Lauer asked.

  “This guy named Merridack.”

  “Ahhhh… you guys must have chosen to be thieves,” Mr. Lauer said knowingly.

  “Wait – Merridack shows up for everyone who wants to be a thief?” Daniel asked in disbelief.

  “Not Merridack specifically – but somebody with ‘M’ at the beginning of the name and ‘k’ at the end. It’s the thief mentor class we created. You don’t want every thief in the game world to have apprenticed under the same guy – or woman, in some cases – but we had to have the mechanics follow the same general pattern.”

  “I actually wanted to be a mage,” Eric said.

  “So did somebody with a name starting with ‘A’ show up?”

  “No.”

  “Huh… that’s weird,” Mr. Lauer said. “Did you wind up going to the temple and training with them?”

  “I went to the temple, but they turned me down,” Eric said.

  Mr. Lauer’s eyes opened wide. “What?! Seriously?”

  “Yeah. They said I wasn’t worthy.”

  “Great,” Mr. Lauer griped. “That’s a serious bug… I’m going to have to let QA know about that one…”

  “Quality Assurance?” Daniel asked.

  “Yeah, they were supposed to test all that stuff for the last ten months, but I guess you can’t catch everything.”

  “Does everybody who goes to the temple get training?” Eric asked.

  “They’re supposed to.”

  Eric got a strange look on his face. “What if you wanted to be a dark mage?”

  “That’s part of the general storyline, too. Usually you train to be a mage, learn some basic skills, and then you get approached by somebody who’s secretly a dark mage, and you have a choice to switch… anyway, try going back to the temple again when you go back in and see what happens. Maybe it was just a temporary glitch.”

  “You mean I can change my class anytime?”

  “Yeah – when the computer onboarded you, did it say, ‘You can always change the road you’re on’?”

  Daniel remembered that. So did Eric, apparently.

  “Yeah, right before I went in,” Eric said.

  “That’s sort of the orga
nizing principle of the game. We didn’t want to lock you in to one class from the very beginning. You have to be human for the first 24 hours you spend inside the game, and then whatever race you choose you have to stick with – but you’re not stuck with your skill set. So you can basically choose at any point to start a new specialty. You start back over at Level 1, of course, but any skill sets you developed before – anything that would apply to the new class – will carry over if you switch. So if you’re a thief, say, your dexterity and nimbleness would carry over at least partially if you decide to become a warrior.”

  “Huh…”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Mr. Lauer said with a yawn. “Check it out. I’m figuring you guys have only spent five or six hours inside the game itself, right? Not Real World Hours, but in-game hours.”

  Eric and Daniel looked at each other.

  Don’t mention about skipping school, Eric’s look seemed to say.

  “Yeah,” Daniel lied. “We didn’t get started until we got home from school.”

  “Cool. You’ll get to make a choice about character appearance soon… elf, dwarf, whether you’re a seven-foot-tall orc, that sort of thing. Having a whole new body is pretty disorienting when you log on the first time, so they make you get used to the total sensory immersion first. But you can choose to be a warrior, or a thief, or an archer, or a scholar, or a mage, or whatever, pretty much at any point in the game – just like you could choose to quit being an overworked project manager at a game company and go live in a cabin in the woods instead,” Mr. Lauer said wryly as he shuffled off towards the hallway.

  “Uh… do you mind if I keep playing with Daniel, Mr. Lauer?” Eric called out. “I mean… over the weekend?”

  “Sure – that’s why we bought it,” Mr. Lauer answered.

  Eric looked at Daniel with a cocked eyebrow, but continued to talk to Mr. Lauer. “You mean, you guys don’t want to play together?”

  “After three years of working on the damn thing, the last thing I want to do is log in and start playing it. No offense, son.”

  “None taken,” Daniel said.

  “Maybe in a month or two when the trauma of six months of 18-hour-days has worn off. Now I’m just going to go to sleep,” Mr. Lauer said. “Tell your mom not to wake me up unless the house is on fire. G’night, guys.”

  “Goodnight, Dad,” Daniel said.

  “Goodnight, Mr. Lauer.”

  “Have fun in the Shattered Lands,” Mr. Lauer called out before they heard his weary footsteps shuffle up the staircase.

  “Soooo… your dad bought it so the two of you could play together, huh?” Eric asked.

  Daniel couldn’t stop grinning. “Close enough.”

  Eric swatted his arm good-naturedly, then said, “Speaking of sleeping… want to go back in and see what’s happened?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Daniel said, downing the last of his soda before they both raced upstairs.

  16

  In fact, nothing much happened when they logged back on. Nothing new or unexpected, anyway.

  Their characters woke up to a loud banging on the door, at which point Daniel and Eric let Merridack and his men in – and were immediately put back into training.

  Even after only a few hours of sleep in the game, though, at least they no longer felt tired – and their Strength and Endurance stats were back to normal.

  “Got to practice to be a good thief,” Merridack shouted as they ran across the wooden obstacle course. This time the gears were turning slowly, courtesy of Merridack’s men. “And maybe – just maybe – if you follow my example, one day you’ll be one tenth as great a thief as I am.”

  “When do we get to go on quests and steal treasure?” Daniel asked, huffing and puffing after completing the course.

  “What, and risk getting roasted by a dragon? Filleted by an astorak? Gutted by an orc? Stomped by a giant? No thank you! I’ll simply let other fools do all the hard work… then slit their throats and relieve them of their shiny, golden burden.”

  “But… I wanted to go on adventures,” Daniel said, crestfallen.

  “Fine – let me know when you get back, and I’ll slit your throat and take your haul, too! Which is better: to be a thief who takes foolish chances, or a thief who steals from fools?”

  “If you’re such a great thief, why do you live in a sewer, then?” Eric asked contemptuously.

  Merridack looked around at Eric, hatred blazing from the shadows under the brim of his hat.

  Suddenly he lashed out with his walking staff, sweeping Eric’s feet out from under him and sending him crashing to the floor.

  In an instant Merridack stood over him, the blunt tip of his walking stick hovering right next to Eric’s face.

  Merridack’s hands wrenched the walking staff in two different directions, and the two halves shifted along an invisible line – sort of like someone using a large pepper grinder.

  But what came out of the end of the staff was a stiletto-like blade that shot past Eric’s face and stabbed the stone floor.

  SNIKT!

  Eric grew very pale as he looked sideways at the spike just inches away from his face.

  “Ask me that question again when you’re a better thief than I am,” Merridack sneered. Then a cold, cruel smile bloomed on his face. “I think someone believes that thieving’s easier than it actually is. Perhaps it’s time for your first real assignment.”

  Great, Daniel thought in alarm. What have you gotten us into, Eric?

  17

  Merridack, Eric, and Daniel stood atop city walls in the cold night air. Above them, the sky teemed with starry constellations that had never been seen on Earth – at least, not back in the real world.

  Merridack knew the schedule of the guards who patrolled the walls. During a lull, he had brought the boys up to the battlements to look out over the city at night – and to pick their target.

  Below them, great portions of Blackstone were swathed in darkness. Other parts – the castle, the temple, and various aristocrats’ homes – were lit by torches and lanterns and glowed in the darkness.

  “There – that one,” Merridack said, pointing at a mansion atop a hill. “Lord Naughton, Baron of Esquitaine. I want you to go into his house and bring back anything that’s not nailed down.”

  “Isn’t it going to be heavily guarded?” Eric asked.

  “Yes – but you’re the little fool who thinks he can question me. So I’m sure you can handle it.”

  Eric grimaced, but he held his tongue. Things were bad enough as it was.

  “Why do I have to go?” Daniel asked.

  “Because you’re best friends with the little fool who thinks he can question me,” Merridack said gaily. He was in great spirits. Apparently sending insolent apprentices off on suicide missions put him in a good mood.

  “Now, here are your weapons – a little going-away gift, you might say. Maybe a permanently going-away gift, depending on how well you use them.”

  Merridack handed over a dagger and a set of six throwing knives to both Daniel and Eric.

  Eric immediately put his in his permanent inventory and started hiding them in various places in his clothing.

  Daniel was a little less enthusiastic – especially when a text box appeared in the air:

  New Quest: Talk Merridack out of sending you on quest to steal from aristocrat’s house.

  Challenge Level: Difficult

  Reward: Not having to go on extremely difficult mission.

  Punishment for Failure: Good luck on your suicide mission.

  Great, Daniel thought. Even the GAME is calling it a suicide mission.

  “We could be worth a whole lot more to you as thieves if we train more,” Daniel tried.

  Merridack didn’t budge. “You’re still going.”

  “We could steal a whole lot more, too, if we learned more first.”

  “You’re still going.”

  “But we’ve learned so much from you – you’re by far the greates
t teacher I’ve ever had, and the most amazing thief I’ve ever heard of.”

  Eric rolled his eyes.

  Merridack smiled. “Flattery will get you everywhere – usually. But not tonight. You’re still going.”

  Daniel pointed at Eric. “He didn’t mean what he said.”

  “Yes I did,” Eric scowled, then added under his breath, “Kiss-ass.”

  “You’re not helping,” Daniel snapped.

  “I don’t want to. We can do this.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Merridack said, slapping Eric on the back. “If by ‘this’ you mean ‘die.’”

  Daniel turned back to Merridack. “What could we say to convince you to not make us go?”

  Merridack thought for a second, then smiled. “Your friend’s little insult gives me an idea. If your snotty little friend here will get down on all fours and actually kiss my ass… I’ll let you both go back to your training.”

  “I’d rather die,” Eric said.

  “Be careful what you wish for,” Merridack said as he thrust two leather satchels at Eric and Daniel’s chests. “Bring me back something good, gentlemen, or I’ll have your heads. Either by my own hand… or I’ll steal them off the pikes on the castle wall, which is where the guards will stick them after they’ve lopped them off.”

  A new text box appeared:

  You failed to convince Merridack to spare you from the quest!

  New Quest: Invade Lord Naughton’s house and steal something valuable

  Challenge Level: Extremely difficult

  Success: Avoid torture and death

  Punishment for Failure: Torture and death

  Daniel groaned as he took the leather sack. “Well… at least it’ll be over quick.”

  “Oh, they won’t kill you on the spot,” Merridack said.

  Daniel looked at him in surprise. “They won’t?”

  “No, they do that for stealing an apple in the marketplace. For invading a lord’s home, they’ll torture you first before they flay all the skin off your body. Then they’ll draw and quarter you.”