1Chapter 0003: The Bone Devil
Amber ghostwalked closer to the pair, not wanting to attract their attention just yet. As she approached she put an index finger to her lips, activating Pocket's Stealth Mode; the floating gray orb dimmed its glow and hid behind her back. It would not speak or make noise until Amber commanded it to.
The Stormborn drew her eye first. A good head taller than the other, his broad-shouldered, muscular frame should have made him seem clumsy but his gait was light; he had the air of a lumbering predator that could spring into action at any moment. Layers of heavy leathers and furs covered a battered-looking metal breastplate, with engravings of spellwriting in the metal - some sort of protective magic woven into the armour. His hands, held loosely at his sides, were lined with sky-blue markings which forked like lightning before disappearing under his armguards.
He carried a massive glaive across his back, with a thinner point forking off the main blade. It seemed to reflect even the low light of the Valley of Mists like a mirror.
"...surprised we haven't found a city yet. This area must be huge," he rumbled in a deep, rough voice with undertones of thunder.
The smaller Elf nodded in agreement. Amber was unsure as to the gender of the individual. They had rich bronze skin and long black hair elaborately braided with gold jewelry that tumbled down to their waist. Sleeveless robes left their arms completely naked from the shoulder down save for a pair of gold bracers protecting thin, delicate wrists. The robes, in colours of green, brown and gold, parted in sections in the lower half to facilitate mobility. Underneath them, the elf wore lighter trousers tucked into knee-high silver-and-gold armored boots.
The player carried a staff, made of wood and twisting vines; towards the tip, the vines split to encircle a glowing green gem. A Pocket orbited around the tip of the staff, matching the gem's colour.
"Yes, it's a shame," said the elf. The timbre was rich and melodious adding to the ambiguity in their gender. "I would have liked to restock before heading into this forest. Ah, but that's our lot, I suppose. No rest for a Mapper."
Amber stepped out from behind her pillar. "You guys are going to die if you keep in that direction."
The Stormborn's glaive was in his hand in less time than it took to blink. He didn't lower it, even when Amber raised her hands in the universal gesture for I'm unarmed (which granted, did not mean much in the case of a Vandal).
The elf was a fraction slower to turn. Almond-shaped warm eyes widened as they landed on her, startled, but not hostile. Their face was beautiful, with flawless copper skin and fine features and full dark lips. Two long, pointy ears arched upwards, elegantly alien. Their good-natured expression shifted from surprise to joyful interest. "Oh! A Vandal! I didn't know it was already a playable race. What's your name?"
"What do you mean by going to die?" the Stormborn growled.
"You're heading into a bone devil lair. One of them killed me in two seconds flat. Name's Amber," she added, nodding at the elf.
The Stormborn turned to scan the area, his knuckles white as they gripped the glaive. The elf also took a moment to peer at their surroundings. Though cautious, they didn't seem fearful as their gaze returned to Amber, trusting in their companion to keep a lookout. "Thank you for the warning. My name is Vair. The big angry one is Jormund. If you don't mind me asking, what level are you?"
Amber actually... didn't know. She hadn't checked for a while, and she couldn't remember the last time Pocket announced a level up. "Um, Pocket?"
The gray orb floated up from behind her back.
- Of course, Amber. You're at level five.
The Stormborn, Jormund, let out a sharp bark of a laugh, his posture immediately relaxing. "Five? You gotta be kidding. Let's go, Vair."
Vair looked apologetic. "Ah, well, don't take it the wrong way, Amber. We're Mappers; which means high-level players and we are used to exploring new areas and unknown monsters." They smiled, their lips curving elegantly. "Don't worry about us, we'll be fine."
Amber shrugged. "Whatever." She was just trying to be nice. If they wanted to go ahead and get themselves killed, it was their choice.
What was the meaning of levels anyway? By Jormund's reaction, there was clearly a difference between a high-level player and a low-level one, but she wasn't sure of how big that difference was. She hadn't noticed much from level one to five. Maybe she could ask Pocket to explain it later.
"Wait, don't leave," Vair said, holding out a delicate hand. "I've got questions about the area. Maybe you can help?"
"Oh, come on, ignore the noob," Jormund grunted. He was already a few steps ahead.
"I'm not sticking around for that bone devil to show up," Amber countered.
But for whatever reason, the elf was insistent. "Where can we find you?"
"Where noobs hang out." She turned on her heel and left.
Vair's sigh followed her. "Jormund, can't you just play nice for one minute? This is why people hate us, you know."
Jormund's retort was cut short by a hoarse shout, and the rumble of crashing stone. A crack of lightning and the smell of ozone filled the air.
Amber took another step, two, three. She stopped.
She didn't plan to help them - they had got themselves into this situation, they could get themselves out. But. The curiosity was hard to ignore.
Amber retraced her steps, slinking slow and silent and scanning the tops of the pillars for any more monsters, closer towards the sound of the fighting. Spotting no threats, she risked a look around the last stone pillar.
The devil was the ugliest creature she'd ever seen, an arachnid skeletal monster with four scythe-like legs and two arms that split into long, spindly claws. A column of bony spikes ran down its back, culminating in a long vertebral tail that ended in a wicked-looking stinger. Its face was an elongated skull, its jaw unhinged and splitting into several bony protrusions. Its eyes burned coal-black from within the dark slits in the skull. It was very large, taller than Jormund on all fours and twice that when it reared back to its full height.
Jormund struggled to hold it at bay, using his glaive to fend off strikes from the scythes and the tail. Vair stood farther back, chanting arcane words as their fingers danced in the air, tracing invisible sigils. Three golden rays of light shot from their staff towards the creature, two of them striking it on each side of the neck, while the third crashed into a pillar behind it, destroying the pillar. Rock and stone crumbled down.
The monster reared back in pain from the rays that had struck it. Jormund's glaive arched. The blade was glowing, leaving a trail of lightning behind it, and it struck the devil's exposed underside. At the point of impact, it detonated a thunderous boom, crushing part of the carapace that covered its underside and pushing the devil back some ten feet. Once again, the smell of ozone reached Amber's nostrils.
The Bone Devil seemed unfazed. It landed on all fours and swung one of its scythes at Jormund, who was too slow to block this time, and was flung into a pillar. A second later, Vair completed another chant and green and gold vines sprouted from the ground and wrapped themselves around the Bone Devil's limbs, keeping it in place.
"Are you okay?" Vair asked, their fingers still dancing through sigils as he controlled the vines, new ones sprouting to take the place of the ones the Bone Devil freed itself from.
Jormund grunted and stood up. Amber glanced at the Pocket above his head – it was now a sickly orange. "Dandy," he replied. "Can you hold it?"
"Not for long," Vair strained.
Jormund took a deep breath in and exhaled. He crouched, remaining completely still for a couple of seconds, and then exploded upwards, jumping, or rather soaring, to a height that surpassed the stone pillars and arced down, the downward swing of his blade calling lightning from the sky that pierced through the devil's back. When the flash of lightning faded, Amber saw that the skeleton had cracked and crumbled - it was nearly dead.
Jormund got to his feet in front of the creature and prepared for another strike. Before the blade could make contact, the monster screeched, a sound like a million glass shards that tore through Amber's brain even when she covered her ears.
The screech seemed to affect Jormund more profoundly. He stood frozen, unable to move as a pincer tore through his torso. His pocket rapidly shifted to red – blinking red -
"No!" Vair shouted. "Vahir Kas!"
Silver light erupted from Vair's hand, enveloping Jormund. The Stormborn stopped losing health, his Pocket stabilizing at two percent. The Bone Devil's head snapped in Vair's direction. It charged at the elf, its legs clack-clack-clacking on the stone, losing pieces of its skeleton along the way.
Jormund rolled to his feet. "Dammit, Vair!" as he rolled he struck at the moving monster's leg, destroying it, but it was as if the creature had forgotten that the Stormborn was there. It continued skittering on five legs only, and screeched again, directing it at Vair this time. Vair, who'd been in the middle of a defensive chant, stumbled over their words, and the magic around them dissipated. In the next moment their body was sliced in two and shattered into golden polygons.
Shit, Amber had time to think, before the Bone Devil turned towards her.
There was no time to wonder how it knew she was there, or why it ignored Jormund. It was run-or-die. She ran.
She zigzagged around stone pillars as the devil skidded and crashed into them behind her, oblivious to the Stormborn as if Vair's spell had somehow made Jormund invisible to its senses. Heart in her throat, Amber ducked just as a bone scythe sliced above her head and through the pillar in front of her, bisecting it in two like it had the elf earlier. The top half started sliding and she slid under it. The Bone Devil too ducked under just before the pillar fell; behind it, Jormund leapt over.
"Nuabeh!" Amber panted, and ran fully around the next pillar, lifting as much mist as she could behind her. She completed two spins around the pillar then kept as still as possible, her back pressed flat against the pillar. A moment later the body of the Bone Devil raced past her. It stopped itself and turned, its red glowing eyes spotting her even through the mist. It was a high-level monster, immune to her illusion magic.
It raised its stinger -
Out of nowhere, Jormund fell from the sky and impaled the Bone Devil's head with his lightning glaive.
The monster's body crumpled and shattered into white shards.
Amber and Jormund stared at each other as the mist dissipated, both panting, ears ringing with adrenalin. The silver glow that had engulfed Jormund's body dissipated. His pocket was still blinking red.
"Shit," Jormund grunted, breaking eye contact. He put his fingers together and splayed his hands, his inventory appearing in front of him. Unlike hers, his was sorted into groups and rows that floated neatly in the air. He reached for a brown gourd in a corner, took the cork off and drank it in five big gulps. His Pocket's colour went back to orange. He drank another potion before closing his inventory.
Amber straightened and looked around for danger, but it appeared that the bone devil had been alone. "What… happened?"
Jormund wiped his forearm over his mouth. "Stun mechanic. Should have known." He shook his head and started stalking back to the area where Vair had died, muttering something under his breath.
Amber followed, catching several swearwords followed by "dumbass Elf."
"What was that silver thing Vair did?"
"Death Ward. High-level protection magic. It's useful in large groups when there's someone else to take aggro, but since it's just me and the elf, every time he uses it, the monster focuses on him. What an idiot."
They arrived to the place where Vair had fallen. There was no sign of the body, but Jormund bent down to pick something up from the ground. It was Vair's Pocket. The orb no longer emitted light, and had a crack down its middle.
"Why are you taking that?"
"I'm not here to answer all your dumb questions, noob."
"Pocket?"
"Of course, dear. When a player dies, their broken Pocket remains behind for a short time. The broken Pocket contains all the dead player's items, which can be restored when returned to its owner. If the broken Pocket is not restored after one day, it disappears, and the items are lost forever."
"Like what happened to me."
"That's right, dear," Pocket said. "There was no one around when you died to the Bone Devil the first time. That's why I keep saying you need to find a group you trust. I don't want you to lose everything again."
"I see. Thanks, Pocket."
"You're welcome, Amber. That's what I'm here for. And you, young man, needn't be so rude." Waves of disapproval seemed to radiate from the floating orb.
"Hear that, Jormund? My Pocket thinks you're rude."
He grunted and carefully brought Vair's Pocket closer to his chest, cradling it like a baby. "Hey," he said without looking up. "You're from this area, right? Where's the closest spawn point?"
"My memory's pretty bad. Us noobs struggle to recall that kind of information, you know."
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Jormund growled, finally turning around. His face was marked with the same pale blue lines that covered the rest of his body, which forked down from his hairline. His eyes, she noted, were a vibrant, almost glowing blue. "Just tell me."
She raised her eyebrows. "Why should I?"
In a flash Jormund's blade was at her throat. "I don't have time for this," he grunted, eyes sparking. "Speak or die."
Amber didn't react. His movement had been fast, yes, but she had seen it coming and wasn't surprised. He was also at half health, and one of his hands was currently occupied holding Vair's orb while hers were both free. He would probably still win if they fought, but she doubted he'd risk losing more health when he was stuck in unfamiliar territory without his friend. Plus, he needed her alive – she was the only one who could safely navigate to Kram, where Vair had no doubt respawned.
Amber didn't usually... she wasn't this selfish. As Tae, she was accustomed to following her coach's orders and doing everything that was asked of her. Even in the job at Nebula she'd been the perfect employee. But the thrill of not being that for once, the rush that came with the knowledge of the power she held over someone who was, for all intents and purposes, much higher in the hierarchy, it was exciting. Here she could be not-nice, she could be an ass with little consequences - it wasn't the real world, after all.
Plus Jormund was a prick and he didn't deserve her help.
"What's it worth to you?" (She squashed the pang of guilt and wrongness. Not the perfect little obedient soldier, she reminded herself.)
"What?"
"I'll take you to Kram if you pay me."
He lowered his weapon. "You're a bitch, you know that?"
She shrugged. She'd been called worse before - martial arts competitions could be rough and some people lashed out when they lost. Jormund had lost and he knew it.
He reached into a leather pouch that was hooked to his belt and withdrew a coin that he tossed to her.
Amber caught it. It wasn't like any of the silver or gold she had seen in Kram – it was shinier, and there was a blue gem encrusted in the middle of the coin. Probably very valuable.
She put it in her own pouch and turned around, her cloak sweeping the misty ground. "You'd best follow this bitch, then."
Pocket tutorials: Mana
The successful casting of a spell consumes Mana. Mana is a player resource that recovers over time; the rate at which this occurs depends on your level and race. Some races, such as elves, can regenerate Mana faster by entering into a meditative trance. You can also recover Mana by consuming certain potions or foods.
A feeling of hunger indicates you are running low on Mana. Alternatively, your Pocket can also keep track of your Mana stores.
Unlike Spells, Skills do not consume Mana and can be used as often as you like.