Exile Read online

  -8hp

  -23hp

  Then the fire stopped and a body collapsed to the floor. “I. Shall. Return...” the Steampunk said, his voice trailing off into a deathly sigh.

  A message appeared in Ajax’s mind.

  Quest Complete

  Player killing level 3 Steampunk “Raggamuffen” vanquished (Shared kill +100xp).

  Your reputation with the Sinjharian Imperium has increased by 100. Your reputation with the Independent City-State of Thorn has increased by 20. Your reputation with the Guild of Player Killer’s has decreased by 200.

  Return to Captain Tryvork at Hallsford for your reward.

  Ajax breathed in, still blind as a plague bat. Soft feet approached him. “Who are you?” Had the mage come back?

  He rolled onto his side and felt for his weapon. His blood was everywhere. He must be lying in a pool of it. But he needed to be ready for another fight. As he searched, he did a quick check of his status.

  HP: 66/184

  MP: 13/130

  Status effect: Bleeding profusely (-1 to 3 hp per 10 seconds)

  Damn. Slowly bleeding out, with mana for only one small heal. Crap...

  Suddenly, a clawed hand grasped him by the hair and a bottle was forced to his lips. “No... go away. Gorf.”

  A foul-tasting liquid was poured into his mouth. Fingers squeezed his nose shut, and his head was held back, forcing him to swallow.

  Once he had drunk whatever had been given him, the hands let him go. A warm feeling started in his belly and spread throughout his body.

  +30hp

  +30mp

  Someone had given him a healing potion. Not the ordinary healing pots, but one of the rarer rejuvenation ones. Using his newfound mana, he quickly incanted a few small heals, then checked his status.

  HP: 115/184

  MP: 8/130

  Better. But until he got the bleeding sorted, temporary. “Who are you?” he asked, cursing his lack of vision. He could see a vague outline of a door, and maybe some wall, and that was about it.

  “Well, I’m the gal that just saved your pretty little life.”

  The voice belonged to a young-sounding woman, and oozed lighthearted mockery. Ajax sat up, gritting his teeth against the pain. He caught a vague outline of someone standing just inside the doorway. He did a basic inspection of her player profile.

  Lillus Pwnfire

  Race: Half Elven

  Class: Demon Mage

  Skill Focus: Unknown

  Level: 2

  Allegiance: Unknown

  Origin: Unknown

  Player Kills: Unknown

  HP: 140

  MP: 90/165

  Active Abilities

  Aura of Curse Protection: Reduces damage of curses and disease for all party members by 15%

  The Demon Mage must have had one of the rare trinkets that allowed her to hide her stats. Ajax had only seen that once before in this current life, but may have seen it several other times in his last life. Those memories were lost to him now. He knew enough to know that such trinkets were rare indeed.

  And she was a half elf. Another rare thing, as to unlock the elven race required a player to undertake a long quest chain that culminated with them leaving the known lands and venturing far to the unmapped south of the continent of Dernmore where humanity dwelled. Few ever returned from the journey, and fewer still unlocked the elven race.

  Then they had to die and select the elven race for when they respawned in their new body. Being only level 2 suggested her last death had been fairly recent, much like his.

  Ajax couldn’t understand why anyone would risk their finite lives for a purely aesthetic reason, as being an elf granted no benefits other than the elvish look. But perhaps getting to meet the mysterious NPC race and respawn as one of them might hold attraction to some. For him, he cared nothing beyond serving the Imperium.

  “Lillus. I’ve never heard of you.” He buried his fear, giving up on finding his weapon. “What are you going to do to me?” With limited vision, being wounded and unarmed gave him little chance of survival in another fight against an equal-level player at full health. Being a Demon Mage probably meant she had a demon pet nearby. It might have been the one who had forced the potion down his throat.

  “What am I going to do with you?” She chuckled. “Well, first I’m going to have my demon Yana drag you out of this house, and then when I am done cooking my marshmallows, I’m going to take you to the hospital.”

  “What...?” he stammered.

  “Oh, poor dear, that shot to the head must have given you brain damage. I’m helping you, alright?” There was a short pause. “Yana, take him outside and see what you can do with his bleeding. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

  “Yes, mistress. It is always a pleasure to caress a handsome man like this.”

  Clawed hands grabbed Ajax again and he was dragged outside. He stared back at the house as a flash of light filled his vision. Then he heard a popping sound. The clawed hands began to wipe off his face and arms with a cloth.

  Ajax let the hands do their work, and stared intently back inside the house. He could smell the sickly stench of cooking meat, something he detested, being a vegetarian and all. His vision slowly returned enough to see what was happening. Dressed in a flowing black cloak, a dark-haired young woman that had to be Lillus hovered near a fire, holding out a stick of marshmallows over it. Then Ajax saw what fueled the fire and he almost puked. Lillus had set the body of the Steampunk ablaze and was melting her candy over it!

  What the hell?

  She finished cooking her marshmallows and strode outside, licking the running pink goo from the stick. She reached Ajax and said, “Yum, yum. You want some?”

  CHAPTER 3

  JUST NO

  Lillus had her demon succubus companion (the one who had bandaged him up) help Ajax off the ground. “What happened?” Lillus asked, wiping gooey marshmallow from her lips with the other.

  Ajax let the succubus hold him steady. His stomach still felt like it was turning itself into knots. “Nothing.” He swallowed bile at a sudden gust of wind that brought with it the smell of cooking meat. “I am weak from the bleeding is all.” At least his vision had returned.

  She proceeded to lick the goo from her fingers, then smiled at him, her perfect white teeth sparkling bright. “Good.”

  “I like this one,” Yana, the succubus, purred.

  Ajax glanced at her. The fiery-haired succubus was dressed in black leather, a whip at her waist and a tail with a ball of red fur on the end swishing behind her. She somewhat resembled a human but had yellow eyes and claws on her six fingers, and scaled pink wings growing out of her back. Everything about her was made to attract the straight male gaze, so much so he was sure the artists who had designed her looks had chosen all the best elements they liked about beautiful women (big firm breasts, curves, rounded butt, large soft lips) and incorporated them in the succubus’s design.

  Yana blew him a kiss. “Don’t worry, I won’t be here long. There is only one minute until I despawn. But when my mistress summons me again, I am so going to have fun with you,” she cooed, then turned to Lillus. “Mistress, please make sure you clean him up before you summon me again. I like my men muscular and covered in sweat, not blood.”

  His face burned and he turned back to the Demon Mage, and found her admiring him. “Yes, you do need a good wash. I’ll help you back to Hallsford so you can get medical treatment.”

  The succubus handed Ajax over to her mistress. Then, with a final blown kiss, she disappeared. Lillus let Ajax lean on her, quite a task for a petite woman supporting a much larger armored man. “Boy, do you smell,” she said, starting forward.

  He gladly let her lead him away. The further they got from the burning corpse, the better. “Were you on the same quest? The one to kill that Steampunk?”

  She nodded. “Yea, I need coin. I started this life wretchedly impoverished and have to seek out whatever fortune I can.”

/>   Ajax glanced down at her. Lillus was very pretty (one of the best-looking goth chicks he had ever seen), her skin porcelain smooth, ears pointed in the way of elves, eyes innocent and full of mirth. The complete opposite of someone who would set a corpse on fire and use it to cook with. She appeared a little younger than him, around twenty years old.

  Considering everyone looked the same here as they did in the real world (except for the pointy ears), she must be as beautiful in life as she was in Visaria. Feeling suddenly nervous being around such a gorgeous woman, he cleared his throat and stared at the path ahead.

  They were out of the ruined village now and walking through the dense trees toward the frontier town of Hallsford. The town itself had once been the Sinjharian starter area, with low level quests and enemies for beginner players to fight. Now the old game systems had been replaced by a sand-box system of dynamic quests based on the needs of the local NPC population. Unlike the old days, before Visaria Online had become humanities home in exile, when a non player character died, they were gone forever. No more respawning bandits back in that village, just a dead player Steampunk who had caused the local peasants no end of trouble.

  After a few more minutes of silence, Ajax grew increasingly uncomfortable. Not talking to her seemed to make him even more nervous. “What region are you from? You can’t be from around here, being that you’re a Demon Mage.”

  She waved vaguely around. “Oh, you know, somewhere other than here.” Her accent suggested she was from one of the Independent City-States outside of the Imperium and the Republic of Dern, but he couldn’t be sure.

  “Well, I am from Ironmark, a town near the capital of the Imperium. It is known for its great service to the Imperator and her armies.” Ajax felt proud as he spoke. The Imperium stood as a bastion of the old ways, from the time before the digital world of Visaria was made. The real world, out there, was now a lifeless, frozen wasteland thanks to the machines that had risen up against the people who had made them. The Imperium still worshiped the One God, the god that represented all the gods of humanity, while the godless Republic had turned their back on the spiritual teachings of the past.

  “Yea,” Lillus replied to his proud statement.

  “Yea? Is that all you have to say?”

  She grinned. “You ask a lot of questions, pumpkin.” She pressed herself up against him, her cloak open just enough for him to see her black lace undergarments. “You like what you see?”

  He blinked at her, his pain forgotten. “What do you mean?”

  Lillus rolled her eyes. “Are you really that dumb?”

  She studied him, her eyes distant. No doubt checking out his stats. “Oh, now I see. Your Intellect is two. That makes you twice as dumb as a rock. A handsome, chiseled-jawed rock, but a rock nonetheless.”

  “Hey... I don’t need intelligence. My class focus is on Might and—”

  “Spirit.” She waved dismissively. “Even with your dim-witted Intellect, I thought I’d have awed you with my beauty and glowing personality. I’d have most men licking my shoes clean by now.”

  He rubbed at his left shoulder. It throbbed from where it had been shot. “I barely know you. What do you expect?”

  She frowned at that, and they walked in silence all the way to the wooden gate of Hallsford. When they had passed through the guarded gate, she turned to him. “Most men don’t care about the details. They want me from the moment they meet me.” Her frown turned into a toothy grin. “But I like that you haven’t fallen for me yet. It makes you a far better traveling companion, and trust me, we have a lot of traveling ahead of us.”

  “Is that so?” He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Having a Damage focused companion around could be useful, and allow him to level faster. For now, he would get healed, then decide what to do.

  Leading him down the narrow dirt streets, past the bustling markets full of NPC peasants going about their daily lives, Lillus led him to the three-story stone building at the end of the main street. The local hospital.

  HE EMERGED THREE HOURS later, clean, medicated with painkillers and best of all, healed. Well, there would be a few permanent scars from where he had been shot, and some lingering pain, but there was no lasting damage to be concerned with. Lillus met him in the street. “Wow, you look a new man. Now you need some new armor and to grow a scruffy beard so you get that rugged look of a frontiersmen I so admire.” She sighed wistfully. “Then you can be the man of my dreams.”

  He ignored the last bit of her statement. “I need to go hand my quest in. Then I’ll fix my armor.”

  “I’ll hand it in with you, so we can share the reward.”

  He growled under his breath. Of course. She helped kill the Steampunk so would get half the coin promised upon completion.

  Together, they went to the local barracks and found Captain Tryvork at his desk filling in some paperwork. The captain was a level 9 Martial Warrior NPC who had held the station of leader of the local town militia for many years. He looked up at them. “You do it?”

  Ajax saluted, trying to remain solemn in the face of his duty. He had carried out his orders, and was one step closer to reaching level 6 and being able to join the Sinjharian Imperial Army. “I did, sir. The Steampunk—”

  “Is a pile of blackened bones,” Lillus finished for him. “He burned nicely too, I might add. Lots of sizzling fat, juices and tender pink meat. It’s making my mouth water just thinking about it.”

  “What the?” Ajax began, but the captain held up a hand to silence him.

  “I know this one,” Tryvork said. “She’s been very helpful to me in the past.”

  “I gained level two here.” She held her head high. “And soon I will hit level 3.”

  The captain stood and proclaimed with a grandiose voice, “Your task is complete. The innocent people of Hallsford are saved and can once again return to their farms without fear of a marauding Steampunk madman picking them off from a distance. For this great service I offer you both 200xp, fifty silver coins, magical rings and also I bestow you with 100-point reputation gains for the Imperium.” Two pouches and rings materialized on his desk, and he handed them over. Then he sat down, losing his aura of grandiosity. “Now get out of here, adventurers. I have work to do.”

  When Ajax and Lillus were outside, they pocketed their coins and studied their rings. Ajax soon found he lacked the intelligence to know what his was. “Great. You think he’d have told me what this thing is,” Ajax said, staring back at the barracks.

  “Lillus studied it a moment, then said, “Its a ring of +10 defense. Same as mine.”

  “Right.” He slipped it on and checked his defense stat on his character sheet that appeared in his mind’s eye.

  DEF: 60 (BASE: 20 +40 from equipment)

  Ajax was also close to level three. Real close. As in, he was only a handful of experience points away. Lillus hadn’t gone up a level either.

  “So now what?” she asked, admiring her new shiny ring on her middle finger.

  “We go our separate ways?”

  Lillus lowered her hand. “Are you that eager to be rid of me?” she swooned. “I am the dashing young heroine who swooped in and plucked you from the hungry maw of certain death.”

  He took a step back. “And thank you for that. But I have duties to peferm and stuff.”

  “Stuff? Like what?”

  He let out a weary sigh. “I want to join the Imperial Army, so I’m going to complete quests until I reach the level in which I can join.” He turned to leave, but didn’t walk away. For some reason, it made him feel like he was doing something wrong leaving her behind, like he was breaking the rules.

  Lillus put her hand on his arm and made him face her. “Stay grouped with me, for now. If you really can’t handle me by the time we’ve gained another few levels, then I’ll go my merry way.” She fluttered her eye lashes at him.

  Before he could say anything, a horn blew from a tower on the city wall. Moments later, Captain Tryvork and several f
ellow soldiers rushed out of the barracks and hurried past them. “You two, follow me.” He yelled over his shoulder.

  A quest notice appeared in Ajax’s mind.

  Quest

  Follow the Captain to see what is up.

  Reward 100xp

  Enough experience points for Ajax to level up. He felt that Lillus had already accepted the quest. She took him by the hand and started tugging on his arm. “Come on, you aren’t getting rid of me that easily.”

  Ajax accepted the quest and let her lead him away. Her over-the-top personality was at once grating to him, while at the same time he found it uncomfortably endearing. He barely knew her, and yet she acted like they were old buddies. Had he known her in his previous life as a Poacher? Or was she like this with everyone? If only you could remember everything about your past life when you died, Ajax lamented. Things would be so much easier!

  They arrived at the center of town as a dozen men on horses galloped in. They were led by a man in shiny plate armor—an NPC field marshal in the Imperial Army.

  NPC townspeople dressed in simple homespun clothes gathered to watch. Some had children sitting on their shoulders; others watched in groups. It wasn’t every day that a detachment of Imperial troops came to their small village at the edge of Imperium lands.

  When the detachment of horsemen came to a stop, Ajax got a Quest Complete notification, 100xp and a flashing exclamation mark in his mind’s eye. He had leveled up. Finally. Just 3 more levels and I can join the army and serve my people, just like I have always wanted!

  At such a low level, Might was more important to him than Spirit (so he could better defend himself). Back when Visaria was a game, and one could read the wikis and forums, there had been some debate as to whether Paladins like him needed Might.

  But those days were long gone. Things had changed, and dying had far more consequences, as did being wounded. Now pain felt as real as it did in the real world. He might be a healer, but that didn’t mean he would never need to fight. For now, his healing was adequate for his level of HP.