Runeguard 045

My sword rose and fell. 

I didn’t have to judge the angle of my stroke or pause to aim. I was guaranteed a hit every time. There were more than enough foes pressing down on me for that. 

So I hacked. Nothing elegant. Like a farmer reaping his field. Again and again, my sword went up and down. Above me, Night, her form clear and distinct, laid down covering flames, keeping the ratkin off my back and flanks, and killing no few of them on her own.

But it couldn’t last, of course.

Inevitably, Night ran out of mana and I, out of stamina. Weariness pulled at me. But I kept going, desperately raising my sword again despite leaden arms.

“I can’t hold them back any longer,” Night whispered.

“It’s alright, take shelter in me,” I replied. “It won’t be much longer now.”

The black dragon’s spirit flowed into me, signaling the end. Almost as if they had been waiting for such a moment, the ratkin surged forward, clambering over one another in their haste to get at me.

From above and below, they fell on me. 

My arms stopped moving, held fast by dozens of tiny hands. I staggered, rocked forward by the sudden weight bearing down on my shoulders. My head was wrenched backwards. All but frozen immobile, I was helpless to stop my attackers.

I sighed. This is it.

My gloves were yanked off. My helm too. My cuirass and plate legs defeated the ratkin’s best efforts, though.

Then all further semblance of rational thought fled as teeth gnawed at my hands, hair and face and claws ripped open into my throat, eyes, and nose.

I screamed a wordless howl of pain. God, it hurts.

“Courage, Dace, we will have our revenge,” Night snarled. 

I sensed her seething fury and took comfort in it. “We will,” I managed to gasp before darkness claimed me and death came calling.

You have died.

Night has died.

✵ ✵ ✵

Consciousness returned abruptly. 

I jerked upright, eyes popping open and heart beating frantically at the remembered pain. Frantically, I swung my head left and right, searching for my attackers.

Nothing.

I was in an empty room, much like the one I had arrived in when I had first appeared in this world.

“Adi? Where am I?”

“You are in your starting chamber, Dace.”

“In the amphitheater?” I asked.

“No,” she replied. “The starting chamber is a separate instance from the Creche and outside the sector proper. When you exit the door, you will find yourself at your respawn point.”

“Which is?”

“The townhall.”

I winced. Would I find it overrun by ratkin? Had I respawned only to die again? Only one way to find out.

I rose to my feet and dusted off myself. I was in newbie clothes again. Another unwelcome surprise. “Adi, I assume my inventory is empty?”

“It is. All your items dropped on death.”

I bit back a grimace. Staying alive the second time around in the overrun town would be even harder than I thought. “Night are you there?”

“I am,” the black dragon replied. 

I felt an immeasurable sense of relief at her reply. I had been half-afraid I would have been bereft of my companion.

“I have tasted death twice now in a matter of days,” Night continued, her voice containing an echo of the same unease I felt at the experience. “It has not been a welcome experience.” She paused. “I strongly suggest we avoid it in future.” 

I chuckled grimly. “You’ll get no disagreement from me there, Night.” Gathering up my courage, I moved towards the door.

“Dace, wait,” Adi said.

I stopped. “What is it?”

“There are a few System messages you need to see before you return to the Creche.”

I frowned, impatient to get back into the fight to save the town. “Alright, go ahead and display them.”

Night has reached level 10! 

Maintenance cost increased to 100 MP.

+1 rank to Night’s strength, constitution, channeling, and chaos.

Your spirit expertise has increased to rank 12 and your spirit link skill to rank 10.

Your swords and heavy armor skills have increased to rank 16. 

Your restoration skill has increased to rank 17.

Your companion has gained a new spirit guard ability: shared sight.

Spell: Shared Sight

Effect: Allows a spirit guard to lend their guardian their own sight.

Parent Essence: none (Class ability). Parent skill: none. Requirements: spirit guard must be within their host. Duration: unlimited.

Creche Notice 1050-06

Attention all residents of Creche 1050. It is evening of day 6 in Creche 1050. Creche evolution C: Final Dissolution has been triggered! Creche destruction imminent. In twenty-four hours, Creche 1050 and all life within it will be destroyed. Exit the Creche before then.

You have died. Player rebirth token detected. Revival program initialized.

…

…

Player revival completed. 1 x rebirth token has been consumed. 4 hours have lapsed. The time is 6:07 PM. 

I stared agog at the messages, not sure what to ask first.

“Adi, have four hours really passed?” I blurted out finally.

“Yes, the player revival process is not instantaneous.”

“But it felt like I died only seconds ago!” I replied. In fact, the final moments of my death were still vividly replaying in my mind.

“I am sorry, Dace. During the revival process a player is kept in stasis. When they are returned to life, their memories resume directly from their final moments.”

I swallowed further protest. What is, is. Complaining about matters would make no difference. I could only hope the others had managed to successfully pull off their retreat to the amphitheater and were even now sheltering behind its fortified gates.

“What is the status of the Final Dissolution?” I asked.

“The final countdown has begun,” Adi confirmed. “The System message was received at 5:00 PM while you were still unconscious. The Final Dissolution event itself will occur at 5:00 PM tomorrow.”

I nodded slowly. So, we had less than twenty-three hours remaining. This changed matters somewhat. The town’s defenders could no longer afford to remain holed up in the amphitheater and wait indefinitely for the Wardens’ return.

We will have to go on the attack—with or without Everett and his Wardens. 

But first, I would have to ascertain if there were any other defenders remaining. I closed my eyes, pondering my next steps. I had a huge task on my hands, not least of which was remaining alive. I had no more lives to spare.

Let’s see what I have to work with.

“Adi, bring up Night and my profiles.”

“Coming up, Dace.”

Player Profile: Dace Tolman

Level: 10. Health: 300 / 300 HP. 

Stamina: 300 / 300 SP. Mana: 50 / 150 MP. 

Species: Human. Essence Points: 0 EP.

Remaining Lives: 0.

Base attack: 1.

Base defense: 0.

Classes

Guardian, a tier 2 Class.

Nodal Capability

Max Nodes: 17. Total Occupied: 13 / 17. 

Available Essence Nodes: 0 / 17.

Class Reserved: 4 / 17. 

Occupied Nodes

Strength, tier 1 Essence: 16.

Dexterity, tier 1 Essence: 10.

Constitution, tier 1 Essence: 30.

Life, tier 2 Essence: 17.

Channeling, tier 1 Essence: 15.

Perception, tier 1 Essence: 6.

Rune, tier 4 Essence: 1.

Guardian, tier 2 Class: 1.

Skills

Strength: swords: 16, heavy armor: 16, mining: 10, hammers: 10, armor synergy: 5.

Dexterity: evasion: 10, sneaking: 10, daggers: 10, herbalism: 10, light armor: 10.

Constitution: recovery: 27.

Life: restoration: 17, life magic: 16, life resistance: 0, spirit expertise: 12.

Channeling: regeneration: 14, spirit link: 10.

Perception: scouting: 1, insight: 6, detection: 6, weapon-throwing: 6.

Active Abilities

Life: lesser heal, lesser bless.

Guardian: spirit guard.

Spirit Profile: Night

Level: 10. Health: 100 / 100 HP. 

Stamina: 100 / 100 SP. Mana: 100 / 100 MP. 

Species: Black dragon. 

Class: Spirit guard. Maintenance cost: 100 MP.

Bonded companion: Dace Tolman.

Nodal Capability

Max Nodes: 7. Total Occupied: 7 / 7.

Available Nodes: 0 / 7.

Occupied Nodes

Strength, tier 1 Essence: 10.

Constitution, tier 1 Essence: 10.

Channeling, tier 1 Essence: 10.

Chaos, tier 3 Essence: 15.

Spirit guard, tier 1 Class: 1.

Skills

Strength: scale armor: 1, tooth and claw: 1.

Constitution: recovery: 1.

Channeling: regeneration: 8.

Chaos: chaos resistance: 6, chaos magic: 13.

Active Abilities

Chaos: lesser petrifying gaze, lesser dragon’s breath.

Spirit guard: shared sight.

Passive Abilities

Chaos: lesser fear aura.

My eyes, of course, were drawn to my tier four Essence. I had no doubt it was important—perhaps more important than every other Essence I had—yet I still had no Rune-related skills. Nor, for that matter, did I even know what purpose the Essence actually served. 

It was frustrating, but I schooled myself to patience. Eventually, I would uncover the Rune Essence’s secrets. I was certain of it. 

But for now, I could not count on it. The rest of my own and Night’s stats looked impressive, and together we would be difficult to defeat—but only if I could find some gear. Re-equipping myself had to be my first priority.

On that thought, I reached out and opened the door.

✵ ✵ ✵

I emerged in darkness.

“Lend me your eyes, Night,” I said, dropping instinctively into a crouch.

I felt the black dragon spirit within me flow upwards and the part of her being associated with sight merged with my own.

Night has cast shared sight, enhancing your vision.

The world snapped into focus. 

I could see again, and better than I ever could as a human in full daylight. 

“Wow,” I breathed, as even the tiniest of cracks in the room—some less than a hundredth of an inch wide—revealed their secrets to me.

My new sight, I knew beyond doubt, was better than an eagle’s and came with the added benefit of perfect night vision.

“Is this how you always see the world, Night?” I asked, rotating my head in fascinated study of the room. 

I was in the same townhall room from which Evelyn and I had sent our messages to the players, yet with my new eyes, it was as if I was seeing—really seeing—the room for the first time.

“Of course,” Night said, her voice threaded with amusement. “How else is there to see?”

I grunted. “You don’t want to know, believe me,” I replied, absently wondering what Night would make of human sight while I looked at the room again. 

I could see no sign of damage or debris. It seemed that with the building abandoned by its human occupants, the ratkin had not bothered to destroy it. 

Or perhaps, I mused, they are planning to return to that task once they kill off all the humans in the town.

I rose to my feet and padded to the room’s only door. Straining my ears, I listened but heard nothing.

“Night,” I said after a moment’s thought, “go scout the area.” As great as my new sight was, I couldn’t see—or walk—through walls.

The black dragon billowed out of me and instantly my world turned dark. I couldn’t help a start of disappointment—quickly suppressed—as my own mundane sight was returned to me.

You have lost your shared sight.

“I’ll return shortly,” Night said as she flowed through the door. 

Nodding in acknowledgment, I dropped to my knees. “Adi,” I asked while I waited, “what would have happened to my items?”

“Everything you wore and carried in your inventory would have stayed behind with your corpse. Since you were not slain by a player, your remains are open to looting by any player.”

I thought about that for a second. Given the state of the town, it wasn’t likely that any other player would have passed by my ‘corpse’—even hours later. “Would the ratkin have looted my body?” I asked finally.

“No,” Adi replied. “Very few of the Proving Grounds denizens can steal a player’s items, and the ratkin are not amongst them.”

That was a relief. “So, I can recover my items?”

“Yes, you have eight hours remaining to retrieve them. After twelve hours, all player loot—whether from dropped items or kills—is recycled back into the System.”

So, there was a good chance my items remained where I had fallen. If I could regain them, it would make everything else I still had to do easier. “Night,” I called, “anything to report?”

“Nothing,” the black dragon answered. “The town is empty of both humans and ratkin. I was just about to expand my search beyond the town.”

“Wait on that for a second,” I replied. “Can you check the area around my corpse again. Are my items still there?”

The black dragon took a second to respond as she made her way there. “There is no one here, Dace,” she said. “And I can see your armor and weapons on the ground.”

“Excellent,” I beamed. “Return to me then, so we can go fetch them. I’m feeling kind of naked in these newbie rags.”

 ✵ ✵ ✵

You have picked up 25 of your dropped item(s).

You have acquired 501 gold and 4 silver.

You have equipped a leather armor set, steel armor set, a longsword, and a large steel shield.

I heaved a sigh of relief as I put on the last of my items. Fully armed and dressed once more, I felt ready for anything.

Nothing was missing. Every single item I had carried remained on my corpse, and while my armor was covered in scratches and dents, it was largely undamaged.

“Alright, Night,” I said, “resume your scouting. Let me know the moment you spot anything.”

As the black dragon left me, my world darkened once more, but night had not fully fallen yet, and there remained enough ambient light in the sky for me to navigate my surroundings.

I scanned the nearby area. It was littered with ratkin corpses, dozens of them. I smiled grimly. Night and I had claimed a heavy toll for our lives.

Walking over to the nearest remains, I touched a mailed fist to it.

You have acquired: 1 silver.

I grinned, then proceeded to loot every corpse I could find. 

When I was done, the area was empty of the dead—except for the remains of the two-dozen slain by the alchemists’ bombs. Those were not my kills, so the System didn’t let me loot them.

“How much did I get, Adi?”

“You’ve collected nine gold and five silver coins.”

“Huh,” I murmured, “not bad.” I glanced down the darkened town streets and wondered how much more loot I would find if I wandered down them.

“Dace,” Night called, interrupting my musings. “I am done scouting the hill to the south.”