World of Eternia: The Complete Collection (21 page)

The fire drake stares
at the mage cowering behind his skull throne, and turns away in
disgust.
Without his magic, this
coward is no threat to me
, the Regent thinks to himself.
Seeing the melee fighters still battling his last Nether
doppelganger, the fire drake starts pumping its powerful legs across
the room!

Diana sees the
rampaging creature heading right for her, and dives out of the way,
crashing against the left wall. “Oof!” she blurts out as the
player takes a 1% hit to her health bar.

The massive fire drake
tramples over the two tied up copies, crushing their bodies without a
second thought. The creature's eyes are squarely on the three
fighters at the end of the room.

Unable to draw magical
energy from the Nether Realms to regenerate their wounds due to the
presence of the anti-magic barrier, the two crushed Nether
doppelgangers start to disintegrate. Within seconds, they disappear
from the room.

The fire drake stomps
to a halt, takes a deep breath, and unleashes a breath of fire at the
melee fighters!

“Dive!” Conrad
blurts out as he dives forward and tries to roll under the breath of
fire.

Wesley takes heed of
the warning, and rolls to his left.

The remaining copy
Regent is caught by the fire breath and incinerated by the fiery
blast instantly!

The barbarian continues
his forward roll until he is standing next to the drake's head. He
springs back to his feet, and slams his ivory club on the monster's
snout!

The fire drake is taken
by surprise. The force of the blow causes its upper jaw to close down
on its lower jaw, thus ending the fiery breath attack.

Diana looks to the end
of the room, and sees the mage kneeling behind the skull throne, with
his palms and head resting on the ground.
He's
casting a spell
, she realizes, and quickly runs over to
join him.
I can't heal unless
I'm outside the anti-magic barrier, and I can't fight melee against
the drake
, she thinks to herself
.
The best course of action is to defend the mage by blocking him from
the drake's view. If the Regent realizes that part of the room is not
covered by the anti-magic barrier, Lucious can get one good spell in
before the drake could react.

Lucious tries to block
out all the distractions in the room. He feels Diana approaching his
position, and smiles to himself at her quick realization that the
mage had left a small pocket in the room not covered by the
anti-magic barrier. He continues to chant the arcane words of his
Summon Lesser Elemental spell: “eart-blik-tutt-jeth-qoup-jinn."
Too bad I don't have the mana to
cast a bigger elemental, but this guy is more than enough for what I
have in mind
, he grins.

Switching his normal
screen view over to his magical sight, the naturalist delays hitting
"Enter" to summon his earth elemental. The spell caster
waits until Diana has joined him behind the throne, and then summons
the elemental to appear. The summoner commands the elemental lift the
skull throne off the ground.

Diana crouches on the
ground next to the mage. She takes off her Cloak of Fire Resistance
and covers it over his body.
Just
in case the fire drake tries to breath fire to interrupt Lucious.

On the other side of
the room, Conrad jumps on the fire drake's neck, wrapping his legs
around the thick neck. He puts his ivory club under the massive
creature's lower jaw and pulls the weapon up, to keep the jaws shut
and prevent the drake from unleashing its breath attack again.

The Regent thrashes his
neck about, trying to toss the big human off. He feels sharp stings
on his hide as the armored cavalier slashes his long sword repeatedly
at the fire drake vulnerable underbelly. The Regent swipes at the
annoying knight with his right paw.

Wesley blocks the blow
with his buckler shield, but the powerful swing knocks him off his
feet, siphoning 5% off his health bar.

On the far side of the
room, the earth elemental grabs hold of skull throne, and starts
slamming it on the ground! Crack! Bash! Black sparks of energy dance
out of the throne as skulls are crushed and broken off the throne.

The polymorphed lich
shudders in pain as its focus is being damaged. The Regent starts to
run to protect his precious focus item, when he feels something
pulling on his tail. Turning its neck, the Regent sees that the
knight has grabbed his tail.

Using all the strength
that his avatar can muster, Conrad pushes his barbarian character's
body down, wedging the fire drake's head between his chest and the
cold, hard ground of the grand throne room.

The earth elemental
continues to smash the skull throne like a ragged doll, causing more
skulls to break off. Finally, the elemental drops the throne on the
ground. Forming a giant, granite like fist, the elemental pounds on
the remains of the throne, utterly pulverizing it.

The Regent shudders one
last time, and finally turns into ash.

The black dancing balls
slowly increase in size, as each ball turns into a ghost.

Lucious releases the
earth elemental, as his mana pool is totally drained by the
summoning. He takes a moment to allow the biofeedback loop to take
its course, and wait for his dizziness to pass. The player finally
switches back to normal vision, and lifts his avatar's head off the
ground. He sees the slowly gathering ghostly army, but feels no
enmity from them. Using his staff, the weary mage lifts himself back
to his feet. He gently pushes aside Diana, who is standing
protectively in front of him.

The priestess shoots
him a worried look, knowing full well that the battle mage is out of
mana and unable to assist in this next battle.

The two melee fighters
finally reach their side of the room, with weapons drawn and ready
for another fight. They go around the gathering of ghosts, and stand
on either side of the spell casters.

Finally, a ghostly
knight appears in front the Strangers. A weary looking man with
shortly cropped brown hair, steely blue eyes, and an aura of strength
about him, the knight speaks. “I am Raynor, the Captain of the
guard at Castle Eternia. The Regent had become mad and turned against
us, slewing the guards down to the last man with his foul magic. He
captured our souls, and used our eternal essence to make his focus
item and become a lich. By destroying his focus, you have freed us,
and lifted the Curse!” The man turns to look at his fellow
guardsmen. He turns back to the victorious party and lifts up his
sword in their honor, “Long live The Strangers!”

The gathered ghosts
hail in response. “Long live The Strangers!”

One by one, the freed
spirits slowly fade away.

“Yahoo! We're home
free!” Conrad raises his arms in jubilation when he finally
comprehends what the NPC has said. “We did it! We lifted the
curse!” He jumps up and down like a little child.

“You said it,
partner,” Wesley holds out his right fist for a congratulatory fist
bump, which Conrad eagerly obliges.

The two spell casters
look at each other uncomfortably.

Diana takes a small
step towards the battle mage, with her arms extended as if asking for
permission to hug him.

Lucious scowls for a
moment, before a goofy grin breaks out on his face. He steps into her
reluctant embrace, crooks his left arm around her waist, and pats her
back gently with his right hand. He throws the borrowed Cloak of Fire
Resistance around her, and gently ties the strings around her neck.

Diana looks up into the
mage's eyes, and tilts her chin up for a kiss.

“You guys should wait
'til you log out!” Conrad reminds the couple that the tournament is
live, and viewed by an online audience.

The couple look at him
with deer-in-headlight expressions frozen on their faces, and stare
at the ground in unison, their faces turning crimson.

The barbarian crosses
his arms and grins. “Diana and Lucious. Who would have thought?”
he muses aloud.

“Oh, I saw it coming
from a mile away,” Wesley replies absently, remembering all the
bickering the two had done in the past, or lovers' quarrels as he
affectionately called the endless back-and-forth.

“Really?” Conrad
looks at the elder man with skepticism. “Was it that obvious, or
was I just clueless?”

The retired military
man shakes his head. “It's more like personal experience.”

“I see,” the minor
league player replies quietly. He stares at the white portal hovering
in the middle of the room. “You ready to go head back?” he asks.

“You're asking the
wrong person,” Wesley laughs.

“Yes, you're right,”
Conrad agrees and joins the laughter. He turns to the two younger
party members. “Are you ready to go through the portal?”

Lucious looks at
Conrad. Without a word, he takes Diana's hand and the couple slowly
walk through the portal.

Conrad looks at Wesley
and shrugs. He walks through the portal.

Wesley looks around the
quiet chamber, and savors the memory of his adrenaline rush from all
the trials that the game designers have put The Strangers through. He
puffs out a breath of air, and hops through the magical portal.

* * *

The small screens
inside the four players' virtual reality headset suddenly turn black,
with the word “Loading. . .” blinking in white on their screens.
The party's apprehension at the possibility of a sudden disconnection
from the WoE server, after all that they had gone through, slowly
dissipate when the members find themselves back in Starter Town,
standing on a stage in the town square.

The Strangers are still
dressed in their regular party outfit, but with one major
difference—all the rips and tears on their clothes and gear have
been completely restored, along with their three vital bars of
health, stamina, and mana.

Gathered in the town
square are villagers and shopkeepers, NPCs that had been programmed
by the EDE to leave their homes and shops to gather for this historic
occasion.

Wesley looks around at
all the faces, and frowns.

“So you noticed too?”
Lucious whispers.

“What?” Diana asks
in a low voice, confused about the subject of conversation.

“Only NPCs are
invited. There are no players here,” Conrad notes after a glance at
the gathering.

“Exactly,” the
leader replies.

The four are gathered
on the left end of the stage.

Suddenly, a golden
portal appears on the other end of the stage, and a finely dressed
noble walks through the portal, followed closely by a half dozen
heavily armored bodyguards. The noble is wearing a crown that is an
exact duplicate of the one worn by the just defeated Regent, and the
man is holding a golden scepter in his right hand. The guards each
carry a shield with the emblem of the “8” painted in blood red on
the shield, signifying infinity. All men are wearing blood red capes,
with the “8” emblazoned in white.

The noble slowly walks
along the stage, until he is in the middle of the stage with his
entourage standing right behind him. He turns to face the gather
townspeople and speaks in a rich, baritone voice. “Greetings, my
fellow citizens. I, King Richard the First, am honored to present you
with the brave, valorous heroes who have lifted the Curse of Castle
Eternia.” The King finally turns to face the players. He lifts up
his arms in their direction. “I give you The Strangers!” he
exclaims.

The NPCs roar with
approval and start to chant, “Strangers! Strangers! Strangers!”

“Please come to
forward, to the center of this stage,” the king implores them.

Wesley says in a low
voice, “Guys, wave and smile at the cameras. Let's go!” He starts
marching towards the center of the stage.

The remaining party
members march in single file with practiced military precision, in
the order of Lucious-Diana-Conrad. Remembering their leader's advice,
the three wave and smile at the common citizenry.

King Richard smiles
broadly, knowing that the feed is broadcasting live and in real time.
The King graciously waits to allow the gathered common folk to shower
their appreciation on the players. After a minute has lapsed, he
finally raises his left hand, asking the commoners to stop. He turns
to look at Wesley. “You must be wondering what prize is in store
for your party,” he says with a broad smile. The host pauses for a
moment for the anticipation to build among the audience. “First,
each member of your party will receive one million experience points
for finishing this campaign. I understand that this award will push
some members beyond the current player level cap. WoE will lift the
cap restrictions to accommodate your party members. Also, the runner
ups, The Archangels, will receive half your award in experience
points. The third party finishers, The Gunners, will get a quarter of
your award.”

The common folk clap
their hands and cheer enthusiastically. More powerful players mean
more able protectors for Starter Town.

The Strangers politely
clap in acknowledgment of their award.

King Richard raises his
hand again. “Second, Starter Town will receive an expansion in
size. We all know that the town has seen prosperity due to the
increase of players into the World of Eternia, and Starter Town is
right where the player's immersion into this world begins. Therefore,
the Western section of town will be expanded to allow for player
housing. The Strangers will be provided a choice of prime real estate
to build their permanent headquarters. Players will now be able to
build two story houses that combine living quarters upstairs with
commercial shops at street level. Additionally, Game Masters will
maintain an office for players to report in game bugs, and violations
of the Terms of Service agreement.”