Openings Page 3

  Leo’s door turned a golden yellow. Olivia curtsied to her version of Haliel and then reached for her door. There was a flash and she was gone. Her version of the angel slid over and rejoined with Chris’s. The teenager fought the urge to scream.

  Chris’s angel tried to explain, “I do not believe it is the intention for you to protect them. They are fellow players, your peers, not your charges.”

  Chris’s thoughts were flooded with dark ideas. Typical. Heartlessly sending the innocent and weak to their deaths. “Can you at least send me to the same place as they are going?”

  Leo stepped through his door, and there was another flash. His angel slid over and joined into Chris’s.

  Haliel had a look of sympathy on his face. “I am not sure you actually understand. But, time is short and...”

  Chris’s door turned a deep crimson.

  “...The others have made their decisions already. The elves and the dwarves have been selected. You shall play the humans.”

  Chris smiled. “That’s great actually. Shows why you should be sending me with the others to protect them. They picked the shiny, exotic options. Those are never the best. Humans always get extra benefits to outweigh how boring it is to play what you are in real life.”

  Haliel did not comment on Chris’s reasoning. “The central mountain and northern forest kingdoms have been selected. You shall have the southern lowlands and the plains.”

  “Thanks for the tip. Olivia and Leo are north of me. Got it.”

  “The only remaining choice is of your class or occupation. Please look at this scroll and decide.”

  “Do I get to know what the other two picked? How are we supposed to make an effective party if I don’t know what they are playing?”

  Haliel looked at Chris sternly. His face was too perfect to betray any emotions or opinions. “This decision should be from your heart, based upon who you are. That is the way that you will be most successful within the Game.”

  “Oh, I’m going to be a paladin for sure. I’ll need to tank, do some damage, and be able to heal others. This way, I’ve got most of the bases covered no matter what crazy classes Olivia and Leo picked.”

  Haliel stood aside and extended his hand toward the crimson door. “You have made your final decision. The Divided Lands await you through this passage. May the Lord bless you and keep you.”

  “And you. And Olivia and Leo and all these people here.” He was afraid to say it out loud, but he glanced back over his shoulder at Abby. God better not take her away from my parents too. Losing Jack almost killed them. He stared at his sister’s face. He wanted to be able to see Abby’s face whenever he needed extra motivation in this Game. Reluctantly, he let go of her and stepped forward into the Divided Lands.

  Chapter 2

  Christopher woke up in the dark. He had no idea where he was, but something was trying to suffocate him. It was covering his face and making it almost impossible to breath. He reached up and pawed at whatever it was.

  Rolling around a little on what felt like a cold, hard floor, he struggling with whatever was on his face. Finally, he was tugging it up and off. He rolled a little more and there was no floor anymore.

  A resounding crash filled the small space he was in. Chris struggled to his feet. He was standing in a pile of what looked like metal cups, bowls, a couple candle sticks, and a shield. In his hand, he was holding some linen strips that looked like bandages. That was what had been wrapped around his head. Looking down at himself, he realized he was covered head to foot in the same strips of white linen. He looked like a mummy.

  “Did I die already?” he asked aloud to no one in particular. Looking down at himself, he determined that he looked pretty much like he had before. He was still a six-foot-tall, broad shouldered but trim young adult. Not quite tall enough for basketball, not quite big enough for football, not quite fast enough for soccer. Yep, he was still the same Chris as before.

  He was standing in a richly decorated crypt. It was covered in crimson and white and had an intricate cross symbol repeated all over. He had been lying on an elevated marble slab in the middle before he had rolled off.

  “Uhhh, where are the others... Aren’t we supposed to be playing a not-a-video-game game or something?” Confusion was jumbling his thoughts and memories.

  Looking up at one of the walls, he had a burst of clarity.

  Armor.

  War hammer.

  Magic book with glowing crimson symbols on the front.

  “That’s right, I’m a paladin here. McKnight in shining armor here I come!”

  Christopher had been too upset and terrified in the cafeteria to think much about it, but living out a not-a-video-game game was going to be fun. Even if it was the last thing he did in the land of the living, he would go out in style.

  When Jack had still been alive, they gamed as much as their parents would let them. Then, after "screen time" had been up, they had told each other stories long into the night about what would happen next in their games. That sort of thing was a long time ago, before Jack had gotten sick. Chris resisted the urge to hold onto the warm memories. He refused to turn them over and over in his mind, to relive those good times from before. Letting the memories slip away like Jack had, the feelings passed through him like a ghost. His little brother was gone and Chris was here now, in this Divided Lands place.

  Slamming down all those thoughts like he always did, Chris looked around his cozy crypt again. There was a small treasure chest in one corner. Little alcoves held statues that looked like knights and saints along one wall. Another wall was covered with the painting of a man in armor charging into battle with his banner waving over his head. The third wall had his armor, hammer, and a table with the book on it. The last wall had a heavy door in it.

  Eagerly, Christoper walked over past the head of the stone slab where he had just woken up. Reaching up, he hefted the war hammer down off its pegs on the wall. Chris jumped back and almost fell over again. Faintly glowing golden words were floating in the bottom third of his vision no matter where he looked.

  You have acquired an Exquisite War Hammer. It does (2-12 + STR) damage.

  After a few moments, the text finally disappeared.

  “That was weird. Must be the way the game interfaces. I guess it makes sense. It’s not like I’ve got a screen or anything to put it on. I mean, they could have gone the PipBoy route, right? Maybe they’re not Fallout fans. I guess I can’t lose it if it’s integrated into my head.” A dark possibility occurred to him. He shook it off.

  “Hmm, where are Olivia and Leo? I wonder if I can open a mini map or something...” He reached up and scratched his head with the edge of his new war hammer as he wondered how to do it. He tried thinking, “Map.” Then, he said it out loud. Next, he tried, “Open map!” He could tell he was getting desperate when he shouted, “OPEN SESAME!” and “Map map mappity map map!”

  Before he could figure out how to do it, he heard a muffled scream coming from somewhere beyond the opposite end of the room. Was that Olivia? Did she need his help? Would they still be just friends if he saved her?

  Ashamed at having thought that last part, Chris tried to ignore his romantic speculations.

  Uncertainty ruled him for a moment. He could not tell who it was who screamed. It could have been a Senior girl like Olivia, or it could have been a Freshman boy like Leo. Deciding that it did not matter who it was, Christopher knew he should help.

  Forgetting the armor and magic book, Chris gabbed his shield off the floor, hefted his war hammer, and headed for the door. He flung it open and was greeted with blindingly bright daylight. Confused and with his shield raised up to cover his eyes, he tried to blink away the light blindness. He heard another scream.

  Across what looked like a church graveyard was a young boy running along the top of a stone wall. On the ground chasing him was human skeleton that was moving on its own. A huge dog was barking at the skeleton, but giving ground in front of it.

 
; Adrenaline surging, Chris charged out of the doorway of the crypt toward the skeleton. He promptly tripped over a low tombstone because he was still half-blinded and not used to how his shield blocked a significant portion of his vision.

  Scrambling to his feet, he adjusted his path and tried to get between the skeleton and the little boy. Chris hoped the dog was on his side. It looked scarier than the skeleton. He wondered to himself, if we are on the same team, maybe we will get a flanking bonus.

  Chris wished there had been a combat tutorial.

  As he got within a few yards of the skeleton, text popped up over its head.

  Weak Skeleton

  Relieved, Chris swung his new war hammer back and muttered, “Good thing that it’s weak...”

  The skeleton looked toward Chris just as he started to swing the war hammer down at its skull. The monster had red, glowing coals for eyes. Unnerving as the sight was, Chris had already started swinging.

  He had played baseball, dueled Jack with foam swords, even chopped wood with a real ax on a camping trip. Christopher McKnight had certainly never fought with a real medieval weapon before. Despite all that, his muscles and body seemed to know how to swing the war hammer just right. It came naturally, like something he had done a thousand times before. Text popped up at the bottom of his vision again.

  You attack the Weak Skeleton. Chance to hit 80% [(4 - (-2))x 5% + 50%]

  The hammer made a solid connection with the skull of the skeleton. There was a snapping sound and then a pop, The side of the skull caved in, and suddenly half of the bones seemed to dissolve into a find dust. The dust and the rest of the bones fell down into a powdery pile. The first set of text disappeared as more text popped into Chris’s vision.

  You hit the Weak Skeleton for 10 points of damage (7+3). It dies... again.

  You have defeated the Weak Skeleton. You received 100XP.

  Bounding in on the kill, the huge dog snapped up one of the bones of the skeleton and ran a little way along the wall. It sat down and happily began chewing on the bone. Chris had never seen any dog that size. Despite having the overall appearance of German Shepherd with long legs, this dog’s shoulder was as tall as Chris’s waist.

  Victory infused Chis with confidence, but he was still confused. He looked down at the war hammer. “Now I see how this is going to be. This isn’t going to be like some computer game at all. I’m really living the Game. Oh, this is weird. Does this mean that if I die, wait, didn’t the angel say something about dying...”

  The little boy screamed again, but this time it was comprehensible. “Look out behind you, Sir Paladin!”

  The dog by the wall let out a long, low, suspicious growl.

  Reacting on instinct, Chris spun around. He realized that he had only his weapon and shield. His armor was still hanging on the wall in the crypt. Well, he had taken care of the first enemy easily enough.

  A vertical oval of swirling purple light and unnatural darkness had appeared from nowhere between two headstones. A ring of evil-looking purple runes swirled backward and forward around the oval. More text appeared in Chris’s vision.

  Sir Jeremy the Necromancer is giving you a gift of: 1 Gold.

  Out of the portal stumbled a human form with rotting flesh. Its arms were bound loosely to its sides. This was not some video game with great graphics. This was as real as could be, right down to the stench of the grave that was clinging to this new arrival.

  “What is that? A zombie? Those are pretty low level right?”

  As if in answer to his question, the creature threw its arms up snapping the ropes, and a label appeared above the creature’s head.

  Strong Ghoul.

  The monster opened its mouth. Between pointed rotten teeth, there was a single golden coin. It spat the rot covered coin out onto the ground.

  “Wait a second, aren’t ghouls like level 3 or 4 monsters? I wish there was a rule book somewhere...” He remembered the glowing book in the crypt and wondered if that was what it was. “How did Jeremey manage to...”

  “Mr. Paladin, Sir, should I go fetch Brother Aleksandr from the church?”

  Chris did not take his eyes off the ghoul as he answered the boy. “Only if he’s a cleric or wizard or whatever classes match those abilities. Otherwise, he’s just going to be ghoul chow like me. Definitely run for it though, kid. No reason to stick around here. I’ll try to slow this thing down.”

  “I’ll go get him!” The sound of the boy jumping off the stone wall and running along a gravel path actually gave Chris a little hope. Maybe Grandpa was a high level wizard or something. What did not give him hope was that the dog took its bone, jumped over the wall, and made off after the boy.

  The portal disappeared, but unfortunately for Chris, the ghoul did not. The grotesque creature had ripped free of the ropes with frightening alacrity. It was squatting for a moment beside a tombstone. Chris wracked his brain trying to remember what ghouls were like in the games he had played. They were usually about the third or forth kind of undead enemy, maybe even a little later. He was pretty sure they had some sort of stun or paralysis attack. If his nose was any indication, the smell alone might be the source of that sort of attack.

  A vicious snarl came from the undead monster. The ghoul launched itself through the air toward Chris.

  Strong Ghoul CHARGES and attacks you with Claws.

  He sidestepped the flying monster, hiding as much of himself behind his shield as he could. Chris swung as hard as he could at the rotten head.

  It misses!

  You attack the CHARGING Strong Ghoul. Chance to hit 55% [(3+2-4) x 5% + 50%]

  You hit the Strong Ghoul for 7 points of damage (5+2). It’s Tough Hide absorbs 3 points of damage.

  The war hammer had missed Chris’s intended target but still slammed into the ghoul’s shoulder. Rotten flesh was tougher than the smell indicated. At least it was when it was part of a ghoul.

  The ghoul swiped at Chris’s legs with its claw of a hand.

  Strong Ghoul attacks you with Claws.

  Somehow, Chris avoided the attack.

  It misses!

  He swung again at the crouching monster, hoping for much more damage.

  You attack the Strong Ghoul. Chance to hit 45% [(3-4) x 5% + 50%]

  You hit the Strong Ghoul for 5 points of damage (3+2). It’s Tough Hide absorbs 3 points of damage.

  Chris had only done 6 actual points of damage to the monster. He tried not to worry about this or the fact that he had a less than 50% chance to hit the Strong Ghoul when it wasn’t recklessly charging him. He needed to stay on his toes and not get hit. He was pretty sure that ghouls used their special power by touch. At least he had his shield.

  The ghoul darted around, trying to maneuver an open shot at Chris around the shield. Chris bobbed back and forth, constantly adjusting the shield. The ghoul was moving way too fast for something that was supposed to be dead.

  Chris bumped into a marble grave marker. The ghoul literally jumped at the opportunity, flinging itself through the air onto the off balance paladin.

  Strong Ghoul charges and attacks you with Claws.

  You block the attack!

  You attack the Strong Ghoul. Chance to hit 55% [(3+2-4) x 5% + 50%]

  Chris swung his hammer pitifully as he stumbled. The ghoul had grabbed onto his shield when he had blocked its attack. The momentum and extra weight sent Chris and the ghoul tumbling over onto the ground.

  You missed the Strong Ghoul.

  Strong Ghoul attacks you with Icy Hand of the Grave.

  Strong Ghoul touches you. You are paralyzed for 10 seconds.

  All of the text disappeared except a timer.

  He could hear someone shouting in the distance as the ghoul on top of him leaned back.

  8 seconds.

  7 seconds.

  The monster glanced toward the direction of the shout for a moment.

  6 seconds.

  5 seconds.

  The monster turned back to Chris and yanke
d his shield off of his chest where it had ended up during the fall.

  Chris screamed inside his own head. His vocal chords were paralyzed along with the rest of him. “NOOO! I can’t believe I’m failing this fast! Everyone at home is depending on me! Why did you bring me here just to die, God?”

  You have been disarmed by Strong Ghoul. You no longer have a shield equipped.

  4 seconds.

  This was too real for Chris. He could not remember what the angel had said about players dying and coming back. Death was sitting on his chest, stinking of rot and decay, and he was powerless underneath it.

  3 seconds.

  The ghoul raised its claws up over Chris. Out of the corner of his eye, the teenage paladin saw an old man with a staff running toward them down a little hill. The old man was waving his hands in some intricate pattern. They were glowing.

  2 seconds.

  Whatever the old man was doing, it was not nearly fast enough. Chris felt a flash of shame for questioning God with one of his last thoughts as the ghoul struck.

  You have been CRITICALLY HIT by the Strong Ghoul for 18 damage [(4+2)x3].

  The monster’s filthy claws plunged through Chris’s white linen wrappings and into his chest. The pain was searing, his whole body felt like it was on fire.

  You now have -2 Health. If you are not healed above 0 by the end of the combat interval, you will be slain.

  An excruciating fire of agony engulfed his whole mind. Thoughts, hopes, regrets, all were consumed by it.

  You have been slain.

  Mercifully, the pain faded away as his vision did.

  The last thing he saw was a blast of light slicing the ghoul in two.

  ***

  Giant Abby was playing chess against Giant Jack. Except Jack looked even worse than he had at the end, a giant skull-face towering over one side of the board. Abby was the innocent little girl she had been growing up. Chris was sitting in the middle of the board where a knight would be a few moves into the game. The pawns in front of Giant Skull Jack were all undead soldiers with glowing red coals for eyes. Jeremy stood where Giant Skull Nate’s king should be. Giant Innocent Abby reached down and picked up Chris. He got ready as he flew through the air. She set him down right next to the line of undead pawns. Click-click.