BladeDust Online: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 1) Page 15
“About what?” Tommy asked.
“This. Our new life. Do you like it?”
A serious look came to Tommy's face. “I guess,” he replied. “I kinda miss sitting on the couch though.”
“We can get a couch. That's no big deal.”
“Can we put one in that elf's home? You know, the elf who died.”
“Sure. We can go back there. I really like his home. We just gotta take down those paintings. If you want a couch, I will get us one.”
“Yea, that would make things better,” Tommy replied with a smile. “I just need to take a day off. You know? Like this is all so exciting, but it's also kinda stressful.”
“Aren't you having fun though?”
“I am. But, we are about to raid a bandit village. I just have a bad feeling about it for some reason. I mean, these are kinda like real bandits. We are just two guys in college. Aren't we?”
“Not anymore,” I replied with a stern voice. “We are much more than that now.”
Tommy looked confused. Then, he yawned. “I guess your right. This game could change our whole life.”
“Just stick with me. I'll make sure we are both successful here,” I replied with a nod. “You better get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be crazy.”
Tommy went to his side and tried to go to sleep. I looked around and realized everyone else was already sleeping. Next to Sonny, I saw the wooden box that contained his pet. In a weird way, I kinda felt bad for the little creature. Sonny sure didn't seem to let him out much. I laid on my back and closed my eyes. A warm fuzzy feeling came over me as the waves pounded the shore in the background. The nearby bird continued to make his odd sounds as my world became dark. Random shapes and objects filled my head. Many minutes passed as I slipped into a deep sleep. Then, I heard a noise. My eyes flew open. What was it? Something was walking near me. The footsteps were heavy. I wanted to look up, but I didn't want to move. Moments passed before I heard some whispers being exchanged. The whispers grew louder. “Just open my door. It's really simple. There's four latches that connect to the side.”
I recognized the high pitched voice. I flipped to my stomach and climbed to my knees. Standing over the pet's cage, was a peasant. He looked confused while he tried to open the door. “How does this open again?”
“it's the simplest thing in the world,” the creature whispered.
“Should I ask your owner to do it?”
No,” The creature softly yelled. “Don't do that. He doesn't need to know anything about this. It's a surprise. Yes, it's a surprise for him. You don't want to ruin a surprise do you?”
The peasant shook his head. “Surprises are good. But, how do I do this again?”
The creature became irritated. “All you do is unlatch it. Just look for the hook. Can't you preform this one simple task for me?”
The peasant scratched his head. “I think I should wake up your owner.”
“You don't do that. You said I should be set free. Did you forget about that? Well, now is your chance. What's it gonna be? Talk is cheap. I need to see some action from you.”
“I did say that didn't I?” the peasant asked with a firm nod. “Yes. You do deserve to be free.”
There was a click as the peasant unlatched all four hatches that locked the door. The small creature jumped out of the cage and shook his fur. He raised both of his little arms into the air and stretched. Then, he jumped into the air and did a three sixty spin. In front of him, Sonny was snoring. The creature rubbed his hands together. “I have been waiting a long time for this,” he mumbled under his breath.
Suddenly, the creature leaped on top of Sonny's face. “Die!” he screamed while biting into it. “I want you dead. And I want you dead right now.”
Strange sounds came from Sonny as I couldn't believe what was happening. I guess the creature's desire for revenge was too strong to suppress. “Stop it,” I yelled. “Sonny is your owner.”
I ran over to the creature and tried to grab him. But, he quickly turned towards me and hissed while displaying his razor sharp teeth. Man, this was one unhappy pet. I figured I would just let these two settle the disagreement at their own pace. So, I took a step back as I didn't know what to do. “Cosmo,” I yelled. “Wake up. He's going to kill Sonny.”
Tommy popped up from his sleeping position. “Heal yourself Sonny. I just wanted to tell you that before you were dead.”
Cosmo and a few other peasants jumped to their feet. “What's going on?” Cosmo asked.
“Sonny's pet is killing him. We are going to lose our healer.”
In a way, this was the ultimate test to see how good of a healer Sonny was. If he was good, couldn't he just heal himself? I was eager to find out as I continued to watch the struggle unfold. “I loved you,” Sonny yelled with broken words. “How could you betray me like this?”
Sonny tried to pull his pet off him, but it was too late. “You never made me happy,” his pet yelled.
Then, there was a sound I'd never forget. The most bone chilling scream I had ever heard in my entire life. Sonny's body began to go into a seizure. Then, it shriveled up. Sonny was dead. The creature turned towards us with a crazed look in his eyes. He began to laugh uncontrollably. The laugh dragged on before he finally said something. “I'm free. Can you believe it?”
The creature began to run away, but then, he turned around. He slowly walked towards Sonny's robe on the ground. He raised one leg, and began to pee on the robe. “Fuck your robe,” he said with a laugh. He turned towards us and hissed. Man, his teeth were still extra white. I couldn't believe it. The small creature pranced off into the distance as if he didn't have a worry in the world.
My head slowly turned towards Tommy. “I'm just glad he's free,” Tommy said with his eyebrows raised.
“I can't believe Sonny is dead. I feel bad for him,” I said.
Cosmo walked over to his loot. “I hate it that Sonny died. But, you gotta look at the bright side. At least I got a fourth of my gold back.”
The peasants gathered around us. They didn't speak. We all just stood for a moment and gathered our thoughts. After that, Cosmo pointed to his left. “We are already up. Might as well get started on our journey.”
Chapter Nineteen
We began to walk away from our campsite. I felt sorry for Sonny. He was kinda annoying, but I think he was just insecure. The longer I knew him, the more I realized that about him. As we got ready to leave, I had an alert pop up in front of me:
Friends Request
Sonny The Healer wants to add you as a friend. Accept? Yes/No?
Really? I Guess he was already a lost soul and wanted help. I accepted his request. After that, I had a message alert pop up. It was from Sonny:
“Can you believe it? My own pet has betrayed me. After all I did for him. You can tell him that I won't forget this. If he's wanting me to take him back, tell him it's over. I mean it! It's over! Also, I might need you guys to come and find my soul. I know you guys probably wanna get me back asap considering how valuable I am to the army.
I'm not scared or anything, just thought I would message you. Actually, the main reason I messaged you was to check on my robe. I actually took it off before I went to sleep. It should be on the ground. Can you please neatly fold it and put it in your inventory? Don't let anything at all get on it because it stains easily. I would appreciate it because it's a very special robe. You can't find them anywhere anymore. Thanks. Could you message me back when you have my robe?
Sonny.”
We began to follow the shoreline to the left. I walked faster and spoke loudly. “Sonny just messaged me.”
“That was quick,” Cosmo replied.
“Yea. He basically said he wants us to find his soul and tell his pet that he hates him forever. Oh, and he wants me to get his robe.”
I had almost forgotten about his robe. I turned around and jogged back to where he had left it. I leaned over it just to take a good look. Yep. I could see and smell the urine. Nasty.
I didn't want to pick it up, but I knew I should. If Sonny didn't want it back, perhaps I could sell it? I picked it up and added it to my inventory. Great, I was now carrying a robe covered in pee. What was so great about this robe? I opened my inventory to see what sort of stats it had:
Dyed Ferret Fur Robe
Description: Robe made with real ferret fur. Dyed the color of yellow. Provides warmth and unique style.
Slot: Upper Body
Level: 03 (Beginner)
Weight: 2 lbs
Defense: 0
Value: 17 Gold
Oh wow! This was worth 17 gold coins? But why? It was a crappy robe made with some dead ferrets. In fact, I felt bad for the ferrets who ended up being used for the robe. It just didn't seem fair. If I was a ferret and ended up being killed for a robe, I would have felt like I was cheated in life. Still, I couldn't believe the robe was worth so much. I quickly ran and caught back up with Cosmo. “Sonny's robe is worth 17 gold coins! Can you believe it?”
Cosmo continued to walk and didn't look back. “Not bad. Must be some sort of unique fashion niche.”
“Maybe. But, if Sonny doesn't come back to get it, I might sell it.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Cosmo said after coming to a stop.
“Are we almost to the bandit village?” Tommy asked.
“It's another thirty minutes or so.”
We continued to follow the coastline as the sun came up. I was excited and nervous at the same time. But, we were about to fight some bandits without a healer. Was that really a smart thing to do? “Aren't we going to get slaughtered without a healer?”
“I think we will be fine,” Cosmo replied. “Besides, Sonny didn't seem like much of a healer.”
“But, we need a healer don't we? How are we going to attack the village without a healer?”
“Don't worry. I will make sure everything goes smoothly.”
I continued following Cosmo while wondering how he could be so confident. We were about to raid a village with only me, him, Tommy and a bunch of half dead peasants. The truth was, I was starting to get nervous. We were quickly approaching the moment of truth. But, it's only a game isn't it? So what if I die? Then what? I become a lost soul?
Surely it couldn't be that bad could it? I would just join Todd, Ronald and Sonny. We would just be a couple of ghost trying to find our bodies. It didn't seem that bad. In a way, it seemed kinda exciting. But, I knew that wasn't true. Being a lost soul was not something I wanted to happen considering the current glitch. And what if being a lost soul led to me going to ZeroDust? The thought of potentially getting stuck in a space of nothing scared the hell out of me.
Besides that, dying didn't look fun either. I began to walk faster as I tried to drown out any negative thoughts that came into my mind. Nobody else was going to die. I was going to save Todd just like I had originally planned. And if time permitted, I would maybe save the others too. We walked for a long time before finally arriving at the top of a small sand covered hill. Around us, there were a bunch of small red cactus type plants. In the distance, I could see a small settlement. It wasn't really a village. A sense of relief flooded into me. We could do this! “This is it right? This is the bandit village.”
“Yep. This is it.” Cosmo replied.
“So now what?”
“We attack. That's what.”
“So, we are just going to go down there in broad daylight?”
“That's right. It shouldn't be too hard.”
I took in a deep breath. Crap. I had killed that one broom stick looking guy. But, it just kinda happened. I didn't go into that fight knowing that I was going to kill someone. This was different. I was about to go down there and turn into a raging maniac. But these were bad guys. These were low lives who stole from other players. So in a way, they deserved it. The weird thing was, I had never thought like this in a regular videogame before. In a regular videogame, I would just run around demolishing whatever I wanted. But, this was so different. “Are you ready?” Cosmo asked.
I nodded my head. “Take your formations,” I yelled.
Cosmo stood beside me. “Stand on my other side Tommy. You should be up front with us now since Sonny is dead.”
“But won't that put me in the line of fire?” Tommy asked with a quiver.
“Just be ready. Get your sword out and be ready to kill any bandit you see.”
Tommy took his sword out. He held it by his side. “I'm a little worried we might die in this battle.”
“Don't let those negative thoughts enter your head. Just get them out,” I replied.
“They are stuck there though. It's impossible to get them out.”
“Let's move out,” Cosmo ordered with his hand into the air.
“I am ready for battle,” a peasant yelled from behind us.
Our walk turned into a run as we held our weapons high into the air. This was it. This was the moment of truth. Our footsteps were quick as we entered the entrance of the village. Small fires burned as the tents rippled in the wind. In total, there looked to be about four or five tents. But, where were the bandits? My question was quickly answered as one came out of his tent. “We are under attack,” he yelled.
Several bandits emerged from their tents. One bandit ran towards a peasant. The peasant raised his sword into the air but was stabbed in the stomach. His eyes went blank as he fell to his side. Another peasant rushed over to him. “Are you okay? Answer me if you are okay.”
While he was asking his question, a bandit sneaked up from behind him. “Die,” he yelled with a blade to his back.
The peasant fell on top of the other peasant. Crap. This wasn't starting off well. Tommy got closer to me. “This is horrible. I think we are really going to die.”
I raised my sword into the air. “No we aren't. Just stay close to me.”
Tommy got really close to me. So close that he was touching me. “Not that close.”
Tommy took one step to his side. After that, a tall muscular bandit looked at me. He smiled. Around his neck, he wore a silver chain, and his black hair was slicked straight up. He pointed at me. “Grab him,” he yelled.
Suddenly, someone slammed me to the ground. My face was in the dirt and I couldn't see anything. “Cosmo,” I yelled. “Help me! One of them has me!”
Someone grabbed the back of my head and flipped my body over. Once on my back, I couldn't believe what I saw. It was Cosmo. “What are you doing?” I asked.
He didn't say anything. He just slapped me across the face. “Shut up,” he yelled. “Open your mouth!”
His hands went into my mouth as I tried to yell for help. “Tommy. Cosmos gone crazy! Help me!”
Still, Cosmo tried to pry my mouth open. But, I was putting up a fight. “Don't make me kill you,” he yelled with furious eyes. “Just open your mouth.”
“No. Stop it! Why are you doing this?”
He elbowed me in the face and I felt a liquid slide down my throat. Suddenly, my throat became numb. Then, my body began to shake. What the hell was happening to me? Did he just poison me? My vision went blurry and everything went in slow motion. But then, I saw something. It was Tommy. He was running away. He was leaving me. I couldn't believe it. My own best friend was leaving me to die? Cosmo turned around and pointed at him. “Someone get him! Hurry.”
My body became stiff and I couldn't move a muscle. Even my eyeballs wouldn't move. Darkness took over as everything went black. Shit. Was I dead?
Chapter Twenty
I didn't know how much time had passed. When my eyes opened, I was somewhere I didn't recognize. My body swayed back and forth. Almost like I was on a train or something. I felt my face. It hurt. I looked to my side and realized I was in a bed. What the hell? Where was I? I quickly raised up and looked around. Wooden walls and wooden floors. It didn't look like a house though. Then, I heard the sound of a crashing wave. Was I on a boat? I got out of bed and almost fell down. Yea, this had to be a boat. I wasn't used to the motion of the waves.
I looked to my left and then to my right. Wow. I was on a massive ship. Ahead of me, I saw a few players lined up for something. They were all dressed just like I was. At the very front of the line was a guy who looked like a captain. Was he really the captain though? I walked towards the line. “Get behind me,” the last character in line yelled.