Chapter 38 - The Undying

Name: Price Norman

Level 21

Class: Rogue

Price lowered his hood and kept walking. The large caravan of cavalry headed by the king himself blew by at breakneck speed, almost knocking down a peddler as they passed by. The 9 others behind Price followed in close pursuit. All hooded and cloaked, they waded through the stalls and bustling crowd until they reached the gate of Rorington, capital city of the kingdom of Yosemar. As he and the rest of his guildmates waited in line to be checked into the city, he heard Vincent - his guild master - whisper to the others.

[English Dialect] “If they discover the bombs, we skip to plan B.” Vincent said softly.

[Human Dialect] “State your business.” a husky bearded guard with an eagle face tattoo said. He looked rather bored, wore an iron chain mail vest that dangled below his knees, and had a coif atop his head. He grasped a long spear in one hand with a wooden tower shield in the other, and a broadsword hung at his waist. Three other guards similar in appearance stood nearby checking other people into the city at the gate via different lines.

“We’re here to purchase supplies for our journey east.” replied Price nonchalantly. He was rather good at putting on a front nowadays, he’d had a lot of practice lying to people with this group.

“East?” the guard briefly seemed as if he were about to ask another question, but thought better of it after seeing the line grow further and further back. “Alright. There’s been a lot of drug trafficking lately, so I’m going to have to check your bags.”

Price tensed up. He smiled before taking the sack he carried and handing over to the man in front of him. The guard rummaged around in his bag and soon pulled out 5 oranges, a small sack of gold, one loaf of bread, and a map.

“Alright you’re clean,” said the guard as he handed the bag and items back to Price. “Now let me take a look at your cloak and pat you down. After that you’re free to go in.”

Price breathed a sigh of relief, trying not to make it too obvious. He stepped up with outstretched arms and let the guard pat him down. Out of the corner of his eye, and far above him, he caught a glimpse of what he thought to be nine sharpshooters at their stations with great-bows atop the large, looming stone wall.

A minute later the guard had motioned him forward through the gate. He shoved past another man gruffly, the peasant cursing at him when Price didn’t apologize. The crowds were large and this vibrant medieval city was full of opportunity… Price could hardly wait. But that would all come on after the BIG job. After a little more waiting, Vincent was through as well. Then they were followed by the others, one by one.

The capital was massive. A maze of bustling streets and cobblestone walkways lined with trees and gardens adorned the fronts of shops, inns, houses and markets as they passed through. Along the way, holy men dressed in blue satin and silk robes preached at a pulpit hoisted upon a platform - speaking to well over a hundred onlookers. It caught Price’s attention.

“These Earthborn are nothing more than abominations in the eyes of the gods!” one of the priests yelled as many of the onlookers clapped their hands encouragingly. “They invade our world and corrupt the balance of heaven’s fold! We must purge them! And purge ALL of them! They may think themselves unkillable, but nay - there are ways! The high priest is preparing a ceremony for the city to see in two weeks time! He wishes you all to attend. Come to the commons two weeks hence and witness the power of the divine ones!”

Price growled instinctively. Well, that didn’t sound good. All the more reason that they break out their comrades now instead of later.

“Keep your hoods down!” hissed Vincent, glaring at the pulpit where the god damned priest was spouting his sermons to the crowds. “They’ve got a professional Identifier up there!”

“Fuck...” spat one of the guildmates from behind as they weaved through the crowds. Price immediately pulled down the hood and adjusted his gloves so that all of his bare skin was covered completely by his clothes. In the time since arriving in this world months prior to now, they had come to find out that most people didn’t have the identification skills to make them out as Earthborn. The reason for that was you needed to be at a very high level with identification, along with actually having the class ‘Identifier’, in order to see the stats, traits or skills of any enemy. Stats, traits and skills often weren’t even listed as an option for most people - not even question marks appeared. But in this new society, on this new planet, the people called ‘Identifiers’ were there to fill in that gap.

People that called themselves Identifiers often were hired on by other groups, merchants, or law enforcement for a variety of reasons. They often spent all of their stat points on Luck, spent all of their skill points on identification, and were purely there to provide information for the ones they worked for. Quite the profitable profession, or so Price had been told. But it was hard to gain levels without any other attributes, and these identifiers often had to be carried - or helped along by others, to gain their levels as they usually couldn’t fight for themselves. This was due to their stat points going into their Luck stat, which helped with identifying things as well as a couple other odds and ends but didn’t help at all with combat. Thankfully though, most of the time if you were able to entirely cover yourself up - the identifiers were only able to inspect your clothing. They usually had to see a piece of you, usually being your bare skin, in order to identify you instead of the cloak or boots that you wore. Thankfully they were pretty uncommon, and the only other means of finding out about Earthborn was being shown the full version status page of that Earthborn. With the other two members of their guild ‘The Undying’ in prison, the rest of them were anxious to get them out. They were all Earthborn, and they wouldn’t let their own rot away for some priest’s experiments.

Price looked up to his top left area of vision. His party members’ names, HP, MP, SP and DP bars were all there. Price had been a professional gamer back on earth after retiring from the marine corp, and had many similar experiences like this in the games from home he’d played. He was half convinced that this entire scenario was set up by the AI’s somehow and modeled after the videogames that so many humans delved into, but he had no proof. And to be fair, he and his guildmates had even been treating it like a game. A very intense, realistic, and oftentimes incredibly painful game. The fear, excitement, sex, taste, and emotions were all very real.

The only big question on all their minds was whether or not they would really, TRULY die when the permanence cycle shifted. It couldn’t be too long from now, they’d already been there a few months… and the cycles went in approximately 6 month shifts.

The members of The Undying wound about a corner and out of sight of the identifier. They were slowly approaching the garden district, and Price could see it as they stepped foot out of the next alley. A small organized forest of cherry blossom trees decorated the pathway far to his left and right. It extended in a large circle all the way around the city. Behind the trees was a large moat the size of a river, and on the other side of the moat was a towering palace. Not a castle, but a palace. Its grandeur screamed ‘WEALTH’ out at the group as they stared at the beauty from afar. Gold trimmed steeples glinting out from underneath the snow and well built granite towers soared into the sky. Flags bearing the emblem of the wolf waved in the breeze and guards decorated in intricate armor much fancier than the ones who stood at the gate patrolled the far side of the moat.

“There are four gates,” said Vincent as he pulled Price and the others back into the alley. “Four large bridges indicating North, South, East and West all lead into these different gates. They are all guarded along the bridges as well as at the entrances. I assume you all also saw the guards patrolling the water’s edge on the far side. But as we discussed earlier, we won’t be taking any of those entrances.” He paused, his eyes narrowed beneath his hood and his black hair fell down to cover one eye. “We’re sticking with the plan. The inn just down the street should give us a place to stay as we scout out the area, and when night falls we’ll proceed. Price, Juan, Rick, Swan and I will be the forward group. Taylor and Nicky will be the supporting group. Abbey, Tod and Mohammed will be the diversion group. Everyone get some rest, because it’s going to be a long night.”

***

Their guild had stashed the small bombs inside oranges and sealed them back up as best they could to avoid detection from the guards. Fortunately it’d worked.

Explosions rocked the city from the opposite side of the palace where the forward and support groups stood waiting by. Mohammed, Tod and Abbey had been instructed to blow up a cluster of houses in one of the wealthier districts. Once the guards had their attention diverted to trying to save civilians from the flames, Vincent would make his move. And move he did.

With a signal from Vincent, the six others began drinking the nasty concoction they’d stolen off an alchemist.

Water breathing potions.

After each of them downed the potions, water breathing icons appeared beneath each of their names.

“It says we have four hours left, and the water breathing should also regulate your temperature. The potions we got were high quality and the guy who created them thought of this exact scenario… can’t go deep down and freeze to death when you get there.” Vincent stated quietly. “I’m bringing two more potions for Ashe and Jose. We have to make it out and back before the potions run out, or things may get a little more tricky.”

The others acknowledged him with a nod, and soon all of them had submerged themselves in the moat. It felt strange to Price as he acclimated himself to not breathing air, and he had a hard time not panicking at first. But soon he and the others were swimming towards the opposite shore. Starlight and large glowing lanterns hung from the walls of the palace guided them through the dark waters. It took them a while, and the water surrounding their bodies was very cold due to the winter weather, but at long last they felt grass and snow beneath their feet again.

They had re-emerged from the water in the shadow between two lanterns to their left and right. Nicky, Rick and Juan all pulled their bags open and took out three grappling hooks. Attaching them to ropes and loading them into crossbows, they shot the grappling hooks over the walls. Two of the three hooks seemed to catch well, while the third had to be sent up again twice before getting a good hold on the other side of the palace wall. Noiselessly, they then began to climb.

Abruptly from somewhere to their right, the voices of other men could be heard.

Vincent motioned for the remaining members of the guild who were not climbing yet to get ready and prepared his crossbow with a bolt. The others did the same. They continued to wait until the flickering light of a torch rounded the far wall and three soldiers could be seen walking towards where they sat hidden.

***

The first soldier yawned loudly. “Why the hell would someone light up the orphanage anyways? That’s terrible”

“Sick fucks, for sure. Those kids never did anything to anyone.” said the second guard. “Hopefully most of them made it out ok. The fire is still being dealt with though and it’s spread to some of the other buildings, people were being evacuated from the area. At least that’s what the messenger said.”

“It’s too bad most of the soldiers are out on a fool’s expedition with the king. 40 silver says that woman will be executed and King Hethemon comes back angry as hell, probably will beat the queen again in another one of his fits.” The first soldier sighed. “Those men could have really helped with putting out the fires.”

“And we have to stay here watching the moat. Shameful, and a waste of energy.” stated the third soldier.

Seven bolts simultaneously soared out from the black to catch the second and third guards in the face and neck, while two bolts bounced off the breastplate and helmet of the first.

The second guard dropped like a rock with an arrow sticking out from his eye socket, and the third guard gurgled loudly as he began to cough up blood while clutching his neck. The torch had fallen to the ground along with the third, and the first soldier immediately braced for impact and drew an odd shield from his back made from the same metal as the rest of his armor. He blocked the next volley before turning to run in an attempt at escape, but before he could alert anyone else of the danger - Rick had jumped down from the palace wall and kneed the man in the back. Both men sprawled out with the impact, but the soldier was faster. The soldier made it to his feet while Rick was still in a daze and with his broadsword - slashed open Rick's face, then jammed the blade into his exposed chest. Rick screamed.

Another bolt stuck deep into Rick’s skull from behind, and two more landed on their marks to strike the guard straight through the nose and jaw. Both the soldier and Rick slunk to the ground, lifeless.

Rick’s HP bar dropped to zero in the top left corner of Price’s vision.

“Hopefully no one heard that,” muttered Vincent worriedly. “When Rick respawns, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind. He may have just fucked this entire operation.”

“Let’s drag the bodies into the river. Take Rick’s bag, crossbow and bolts. We’ll need those.” Price whispered as he marched over to one of the corpses and began to heave at the heavily armored body.

Luckily, in upcoming minutes, the members of The Undying heard nothing from the palace grounds as they finished hiding the evidence of the fight. The bodies were tossed to sink into the cold waters and they proceeded as planned. The remaining 9 members climbed over the wall via the grappling ropes just as a second explosion was heard distantly on the opposite side of the palace again.

“That’s the second. Those larger bombs we brought pack quite the punch huh.” stated Swan, and Taylor chuckled savagely.

The wall they had just scaled was tall, but they could tell it was more for show and less for defense. It was thin and therefore had no walkway along the top like the walls on the outside of the city had. They were all trying their best to not fall over onto either side as a rope was attached to a small spire and they lowered themselves down to the inner garden beneath.

“This spot is as good as any,” whispered Vincent amongst the large bushes and flowers. “Perfect place to hide. Taylor, Nicky, have those grapples ready for all of us when we come back. We may have to get out fast.”

The support team nodded, and the two of them crouched down to await the others. Without a moment more - Price, Juan, Swan and Vincent all turned and crept carefully towards the palace.

***

The young servant tried to scream as a dagger sunk deep into her chest, but Juan’s hand covered her mouth and prevented her from drawing attention.

“What a shame...” whispered Juan and grabbed her lifeless body to move it into a nearby closet.

Thanks to her through interrogation, they had learned where their guildmates were being held. It had taken three different people to finally divulge the information, but it had been worth it in the end. They had barely escaped detection earlier when passing by the King and Queen’s chambers. Eight soldiers had been stationed nearby in the large corridor leading up to their room, and Swan hadn’t been able to control himself when a sneeze had come on.

In time, and a couple of bodies later, they had finally made it to the prison entrance. Price had been incredibly impressed that they hadn’t been caught yet, but chalked it up to Vincent’s past military experience. He had done stuff like this before.

Much to Price’s surprise, there was only one guard stationed at the front of what they assumed to be the prison doors. He sat in one of the four chairs around a wooden table, and seemed to be trying out card tricks… but was failing at it miserably. His back was even turned to the group as they quietly made their approach, so this was just too easy.

***

Izumi hadn’t been able to sleep. The past month had been literally nothing but torture and experimentation for the poor girl. She felt numb. Across from her, the latino man she had come to know as Jose was bound by his hands and feet. Three fingers were missing where they had been clipped off, and the bandaged stubbs were soaked in blood. He’d tried to kill himself after the many days of brutalism, and now he was restrained 100% of the time after he’d been unable to go through with it.

She heard Jase groan in the cell beside her. Jase had sustained multiple broken ribs after a severe beating the day prior, and on the opposite side she heard Ashe still crying lightly. Ashe had been repeatedly raped by three of the soldiers on duty just half an hour previously, and amid her screams and sobs they just laughed as they took turns with her. It wasn’t anything that Izumi hadn’t experienced herself many times over now, but she obviously still felt badly for her newfound friend.

Izumi let her face rest against the damp cold stone of her cell floor, trying to forget where she was. She hated this life of hers, and she truly wished that she could just die. Permanently. There was no peace for her, and it was excruciatingly frustrating. She had known nothing but misery since arriving here.

It just wasn’t fair.

A scuffle from outside the door vaguely caught her attention, but it died down as soon as it started. She turned her attention back to the cold stone floor, but before long a sound could be heard from the keyhole to the prison. Izumi eyed it in confusion, it seemed to be taking them a lot longer to open the door this time than it usually did. Finally the lock clicked and the thick door swung open.

“Your lockpicking needs work Price,” said Vincent softly.

Price rolled his eyes. “Shut it, I’m the best here and that’s why you had me do it in the first place. Not my fault he didn’t have a key on him.”

Juan pulled the limp, bleeding body of the guard inside and gently placed it on the floor, and Swan held up a bright torch he had brought in from the table outside.

“Oh fuck,” murmured Price as he saw the four imprisoned Earthborn. All four of the prisoners were absolutely ragged, obviously having been abused recently in various ways. “Alright let me get started on Jose’s cell first, then I’ll get Ashe and the others.”

Izumi was still incredibly confused, but a faint light at the end of her tunnel was beginning to show itself.

“... Price? Price is that you?” stammered Ashe between sobs. She picked herself off the floor, and tried to put her clothes back on while making her way to the bars in front. When she came over and saw past the side wall of her cell, she let out a weak, high pitched cry and slunk to her knees. For the first time, Izumi was able to finally catch a glimpse of what she looked like in the light. Ashe was a slim blonde and very pretty. Her long hair draped down to her mid back and her hazel eyes stood out against her tan features. “I thought you would all leave us here. How’d you get in?”

“We’ll explain later, just try to be quiet while we get you two out.” Price replied as he worked one of his lockpicks into Jose’s cell door. The latino man bound on the floor began to wake up. He groaned loudly and winced at the blazing light held by Swan, but when he finally hit reality his eyes grew wide with excitement.

“Homie, it’s nice to see you! And all of you!” Jose nearly shouted before he was hushed by Vincent. “I knew y’all would come! See what I told you, Jase!?”

Jase’s face was pressed against the bars, trying to soak all of what was happening in. He winced and clutched at his rib cage when he moved a bit too fast, then nodded.

“Yo, all of us here are from Earth. Get that Japanese girl and Jase out too, they’ll be good additions to our guild.” Jose eagerly said as his cell door opened. “Jase there is a water mage.”

“All of you, huh?” repeated Vincent who took turns identifying Jase and then Izumi.

Izumi’s heart was thumping loudly in her chest and she could barely contain her excitement at the prospect of freedom.

“You’re level 1. How did you manage that? How long have you been here?” Vincent asked with a look of condemnation. “Even the last wave would have had time to work up some experience.”

Izumi frowned, not sure why he was focused on something like that in a situation like this. “I spawned here in-”

“We’re only interested in recruiting talented members, Jose. We don’t take stragglers like this one.” Vincent interrupted and tapped on the bars with his sword. “Leave her.”

Izumi’s heart sank and the light at the end of her tunnel began to dim again. “Wait, I can be of use to you! I promise! Please, let me out!”

Vincent scoffed with a sideways glance, then pointed at Jase. “And why should we help you? Are you wanting to become a member?”

Jase, a brunette man of medium build with a southern drawl, coughed thrice before answering. “Get me out of this prison, and I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Count me in.”

Vincent nodded and smiled. “You’ll be the first mage we have. Congratulations, we’ll talk about the details later.”

“Stop!” snarled Jose as he swatted the lockpick out of Price’s hand. It fell to the ground, just as Price was about to pick the lock on Ashe’s cell door.

Juan and Price furrowed their brows questioningly, and Vincent put his hands on his hips.

“What are you doing Jose?” asked Vincent. “We don’t have time to be pussyfooting around here. We need to leave before the bodies we left are discovered, or something else happens.”

“She STAYS!” insisted Jose as he pointed a hand missing multiple fingers at Ashe. “She’s nothing but a traitor! She was going to leave the first chance she got!”

“Shut the fuck up Jose.” muttered Price who reached for another lockpick. Again the lockpick was swatted from his hand, but this time Price sent a swift uppercut into the jaw of the latino man and laid him out on his back.

“Stop.” commanded Vincent. He eyed the kneeling blonde in her cell. “Ashe, what’s he talking about?”

Jose pushed himself to his feet and wiped away the blood that rushed out from his bleeding lips. Ashe looked sheepishly back to Vincent and then to the floor. She cradled herself in her arms.

“He’s right. I was going to leave the guild.” admitted Ashe solemnly. “I can’t do this anymore. You have us butcher innocents to get ahead, steal from people who need it… I can’t live with myself that way.”

The admission was unexpected. There was an awkward silence, and then a cough from Izumi.

It was quiet for a few more moments after that. Vincent, Price and the other members of The Undying looked at the woman from the other side of the bars without saying anything. The silence was broken by Jose letting out a jeer. “Told you she was a traitor. Leave her to rot here. I’m sure she’ll get along nicely with her new boyfriends.”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Ashe screamed with tears brought to her eyes again. “Vincent, please. Just let me out, I won’t cause any of you any trouble. I can’t stand it in here. They’ve done horrible things to me... You can have all of my belongings, please. Just let me leave.”

Izumi was still coping with the idea that she may be left behind, and her mind raced trying to figure out a way to persuade them to let her come. But the words never left her mouth. It was as if she was struck mute.

“How disappointing.” stated Vincent with a soured expression and folding his arms. “We didn’t break into the capital’s palace to rescue traitors, Ashe.” He turned to Price. “Unlock the new guy’s cell. We don’t have much time left.”

“WAIT!” screamed Ashe. The scream echoed loudly and Vincent turned angrily back to her, slamming his foot into the bars and knocking Ashe back to clutch at her face.

“Quiet, you stupid bitch. Hurry it up, Price. We need to leave.”

Ashe continued to clutch at her face and began sobbing again. Price looked back and forth between her and Vincent before saying: “Sorry Ashe.”

He then turned and began to pick Jase’s lock. Before long, Jase had been freed. Jase clasped Price’s hand in thanks and did the same to the others with a large grin on his face.

“Let’s get out of here?” asked Jase before looking once more to Ashe and Izumi. “It was nice getting to know you two. Better luck next time!”

“Adios puta!” snickered Jose with a grin, and he gave a quick salute to Ashe on the floor.

A commotion could be heard from somewhere outside, and Swan took a peek out the door before quickly closing it again.

“We need to leave, RIGHT NOW!” whispered Swan.

Vincent pulled out a couple small throwable bombs and handed them out to his group.

“Please don’t leave me…” sobbed Ashe who pulled herself onto her knees again. “I can’t stay here!”

Izumi wanted to say the same, but still sat motionless and held her tongue. She was simply… dumbstruck. All that hope she’d had moments ago… was now just… gone. Her heart sank, and tears welled up in her eyes.

Soon the men were gone - leaving Izumi and Ashe to their fates in the dark, damp prison behind them. Izumi had never felt so worthless before that moment, being left behind as human trash, and would remember for the rest of her days... how they had left her behind.