Chapter 7 - Whirlwind Barrage (POV: Edward)

“Roddy!” I shouted, the world spinning around me in a daze. Where had he gone? Where was my little brother? He had been sitting under a tree, just outside the proving grounds. I was sure of it. I saw him.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” Nana hovered above me on a cloud of ice. “That electrical storm was bad enough to knock out my optical interface. I’m literally flying blind here, and I don’t feel like myself at all. I feel old.”

Crackling thunder boomed in the distance as we regained our bearings. In every direction, towering cumulonimbi climbed high into the sky. The massive clouds seemed to ring our island, leaving us in the middle of a swirling eye.

“I’m going back to the house,” Nana flew off in a panic. “Find Roddy.”

She didn’t have to tell me. Taking care of my baby brother was my number one priority. It always had been. Ever since the night our parents died.

“Roddy! Roddy, where are you?” I limped towards the shattered root cellar, desperately calling his name. I kept replaying the events that had happened over and over again. Nana and I had been sword fighting, and then BOOM. Everything around us lit up in a flash of blinding white light, followed by a gust of wind that even Nana could not resist.

I rounded a small ledge and worked my way along the island’s rocky shoreline. A familiar object caught my eye, toiling listlessly in the choppy surf.

“Oh my gods,” I pulled the soggy volume from the water. Magister Brindley’s Guide to Buffing and Debuffing, it was a book that Nana had given Roddy to study. I had seen him reading it only hours earlier.

“Edward,” Nana came floating towards me, a look of shear panic gripping her face. “Our house is gone. Everything is gone.” She plopped down from her ice cloud and met me face to face.

“Roddy. He’s gone too.”

“Hold on a second,” Nana held her finger against her temple, “my optical interface is coming back online. I should be able to track your brother…No. No. This is bad.”

“What? What is bad?”

“Your brother – how do I put this? He’s not with us anymore.”

“He’s dead!?”

“No. I mean he is literally not with us. He’s flying over Tangeia, hundreds of leagues away from here. I have no idea how this happened.”

I didn’t know what to say. What was there to say? My brother was soaring across the world and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Even Nana was powerless to help him. But there was more to the story then I knew, something way bigger.

“Edward, listen up and listen close,” Nana gripped me tightly, “the tethers binding me to this place are breaking down quickly. If Roddy is gone – I don’t have much time left. You need to take this.”

“What!? Nana, I’m so confused.”

“Just take this! Nana pulled her staff from her back and pushed it into my arms. “You’re Guildmaster now. If you want to save your brother and your family, you need to survive. Conquer Tangeia, defeat the Great Evil across the sea and collect all 10 elemental stones. It’s the only way to end this madness.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Be strong. Be fierce. Be true to yourself.”

Nana’s skin began to wilt, turning a desiccated olive color. “Train your mana and train your skills as a Guildmaster. Find followers, and delegate responsibilities.” Nana’s snow-white hair fell out in clumps, flying away in the tumultuous breeze, “and no matter what you do – never make a deal with a demon.”

“Nana, what’s happening?”

“My deal has expired. Your brother's departure from this place broke the game mechanic keeping me on this island. This is the end. My end.”

I watched helplessly as Nana withered to dust. It was like losing my parents a second time. It had only been days, but Nana had become irreplaceable to me. She was my family. “The solstice is coming. It will all begin on the solstice.”

“Goodbye Nana,” I saluted my mentor, “I love you.”

“Hehe,” she cackled one last time, “I love you too.”

Like that she was gone – literal dust in the wind. Leaving me alone on a windswept island. No brother, no family, nothing. Life had changed in a matter of seconds.

[Personal Data Sheet Updated. View: Y/N?]

“Sure, I guess,” I plopped down in the sand, “at this point I have nothing to lose.”

Player Name: Edward Frostpyre

Age: 18

Class: Human Royalty (Unspecialized), Guildmaster

Level: 1

Mana Type(s): Elemental (Ice), Elemental (Frost)

Abilities: Royalty Mode, Guild Management Mode

A new class and ability had been added to my stat sheet, but I had no desire to examine them. My soul was hollow.

I brushed myself off and walked back to the courtyard. There was next to nothing left of the place. The garden was waterlogged, the baths were flipped over, and Nana’s house was gone. With careful footing I entered into the rubble, sifting around for anything useful.

[ALERT]. A message appeared in my optical interface.

“Oh no, what now.” I wanted to cry.

[ALERT]

The Circle has been violated. Status report incoming.

“What the heck is any of this supposed to mean.” I felt like collapsing. Too much was happening. Way too much.

Dismissing the message, I returned to salvaging what I could from Nana’s trophy room. From beneath the rubble, I pulled a few helpful items out – a silver dagger, a bulky satchel of potions, and a small circlet of simple design. It was amazing how little was left.

Dusting my tattered training uniform off I returned to the proving grounds where only 50 minutes earlier I had been living a different life. Everything had been as it was at the moment of the explosion. The sky was clear, the temperature was warm, and my rapier was begging to be used. Except, I had no one to practice with, and nobody to talk to.

[ALERT]

Two blinking messages appeared in the bottom left of my vision, urging me to open them.

“Open messages”, I said.

[Error]

Space-time distortion detected. You have been moved forward 4 hours in time. Contact the gamemaster for more information.

[Alert]

Shareem Bidwallah of House Silverwind has been charged with trespassing on holy ground. In accordance with Law 403b of the Summerset Concordat, you are hereby appointed as judge, jury and executioner of the accused.

“I SERIOUSLY can NOT deal with this anymore,” I dismissed the messages from my vision.

This was all too much for one person to handle. I needed a break, I needed to rest my tired mind so that I could think. That’s when I remembered another one of Nana’s strange traditions – meditation. It was worth a try.

I sat down in the middle of the proving grounds, my arms and legs crossed but slack, and steadied myself. I inhaled a deep breath and tried to calm my mind. According to Nana, many people from her homeland meditated. Some did it seeking enlightenment, others did it to maintain good health, and a few people did it to show off – but no matter their reasons for doing it, it was supposed to be universally calming. But, did I feel calm? No, I felt like someone was watching me. Likely the very someone who had stolen my brother from me and instigated Nana's premature demise.

“By The Circle,” a scraggly voice woke me from my meditation, “am I in the nether?”

“Who are you?” I numbly asked, feeling completely incredulous and fatigued at everything that was happening. As I suspected, I had company – an older man, covered in muck and bearing a wicked grin. He stood before me, a red bar hovering over his head. Nana hadn’t been able to teach me much, but she had taught me one very important lesson, if you see red then you should be prepared to fight.

“Hair as red as fire, eyes as cold as ice.” He backed away from me, his age-spot ridden forehead erupting in sweat. “This is true hell. I have breached the gates of oblivion and entered Frostpyre hell.”

“What did you do to my brother?” I rose to my feet and stared him down. I am sure that I must have looked quite intimidating, with my ragged clothes and muffled gaze, but the truth is that I was exhausted – barely holding on by a thread.

“This must be some kind of a trick – an illusion. Maybe that damn girl cast it on me.” The man talked to himself, ignoring my line of questioning.

“I am no illusion,” I pulled Nana’s staff from my back, and contorted my head to the side. “My name is Edward, King of House Frostpyre and Master of our Guild. Now tell me, who are you? What have you done to my brother?”

“A King, no, that does not conform to the written records at all, House Frostpyre followed a matrilineal inheritance system. This cannot be real. This must be a fabrication.” He pulled a string at his neck, causing his muddy gray robe to fall from his back. His tanned skin was old and wrinkly like Nana, but he was not even a fraction as muscular as her. “I’m going to kill you and pass this test!” He laughed, “I am not going to die fighting a phantom. I will live, and I will become famous for finding this place! Then I can get a real apprentice, and a lab of my own at the academy.”

[Evaluate Target? Y/N], a prompt appeared.

Yes, I thought.

Name: Shareem Bidwallah

Age: 68

Class: Human (Scholar)

Level: 5

Elementalist

Level 5. Nana had warned me to be wary of anyone above level 3. As a person climbed mana levels, their skills, item stat multipliers, and stamina all multiplied proportionally. To be at level 5, halfway to the rarely attained maximum of 10, meant that this man had to be something special.

“Royalty Mode,” I channeled my mana into my core, causing a cloud of ice to envelop my person. Though its duration was short, royalty mode was my only option for this fight. I would have 3 minutes to finish my adversary off, and that was assuming I was able to find time to replenish my mana with potions. Looking into my skill sheet I prepared a strategy.

Skills (Royalty Mode):

Frost Magic (Elemental, LV 1):

- Chill Air [Passive]

Ice Magic (Elemental, LV 1):

- Stray Cumulus [Passive]

- Ice breath [Active]

- Ice blade [Active]

Stamina (LV 1):

- Double Team [Active]

- Flicker [Active]

In only a few days I had amassed a decent arsenal of skills within my royalty mode. I had two passive skills, Chill Air and Stray Cumulus, and four active skills. Nana had taught me that passive skills remain in use continuously, so long as you feed them mana, while active skills require an input of mana every time they are used. The exact amount of mana used by a skill is dependent upon a player’s level and is hidden from them, requiring careful and self-reflective estimation. Stamina skills, she taught me, used stamina points rather than mana.

In addition to my skills, I had a rapier which dealt 100 points of piercing damage and 50 points of slashing damage, and my newly obtained staff.

Name: Guildmaster’s Staff

Rarity: Rare

Blunt Damage: 50 (x1)

Magic Amplification: x2

Description: Designed in the earliest of days, these staffs were distributed to the leader of guilds as a sign of their status.

Special Abilities – Hidden Gem. Class – Staff.

I emerged from my icy cocoon clad in my royalty mode armor. With my Guildmaster’s Staff at the ready, I set my footing and prepared my defense.

“Ready to dance?” The crazed old man yelled at me, before taking on a fighting stance, balling up his fists and putting them sternly in front of his body.

[Battle Mode Activated]. A prompt appeared in my vision. A red number appeared above my enemy’s head, 5250 HP.

“Whirlwind Barrage!” He darted forward at a pace well exceeding that of a normal man, punching the air in front of him. The fight had begun.

A barrage of stiff air pounded my body, cracking against armor.

“Flicker.” My body phased to the side, but I was too slow, the enemy was already on top of me.

“Concentrated Breath,” my attacker lept above me. With a belch, he concentrated a blast of wind outward from his lungs, crushing me against the ground. I felt my vertebrae crack and my joints ache as the attack pressed me against the dirt.

Under pressure I used another flicker, and then another, desperately attempting to get away from him.

“Whirlwind Barrage,” he came at me again. Pounding fists of air at my already weakened body.

That’s when I remembered that I had a height advantage. “Stray Cumulus”, an ice cloud erupted at my feet, carefully pulling me out of the range of his attacks. I didn’t know who this guy was, but he was fierce, especially for a scholar.

“You can’t escape me that easy, you devil.” He planted his feet into the ground and began a new assault on my position. Like a boxer, he punched the air above him, creating blasts of friction in every direction.

I did my best to dodge his attacks, but a few of them clipped my cloud anyways, requiring me to pour extra mana into my stray cumulus. With my mana draining quickly, I knew I had to make a move, and it had to be a big move.

“What’s wrong? Are you too afraid to fight?” He puffed up his chest.

Flicker. Ice Blade. I darted behind him in a flash, my cloud evaporating to vapor behind me.

[Critical Hit] [-1000].

My rapier pierced through his exposed flesh, rending through his vital organs, and scoring a 10x critical hit.

“Blasted devil,” he slashed at my with his hand, causing a razor blade of wind to dissect the proving grounds down the middle. With a flicker I darted out of sight, giving myself a moment to rest.

“Where are you devil?” He stammered around the proving grounds looking for me, but I had hidden myself deep within the husk of the destroyed root cellar.

I struggled hard not to scream as I pulled my satchel of potions off my mid-waist. I was experiencing a searing pain, especially in my back. Once my adrenaline petered out, I would probably be paralyzed from the waist down. I needed to replenish myself. I pried a bright blue mana potion open and chugged it down, allowing my royalty mode to be maintained. Unfortunately, I had no stamina potions and only a single health potion. I had to fight on, even with my injuries and fatigue.

“You can survive this,” I took a deep breath and allowed my ice cloud to carry me back to the surface.

“There you are,” the old man wasted no time resuming his attack, but this time I was prepared.

“Rawwwwwwrrrr,” I roared straight at him, with my mouth agape and my staff in hand. Amplified to level 2 strength, my attack hit him straight on, a full-powered Ice Breath. This was an attack Nana had taught me. And it was a strong one. It was the only attack spell that I knew outside of royalty mode, and within royalty mode, it seemed even stronger.

“Aaaaaahhhh,” he staggered backward, “my skin. My skin is hardening.”

I allowed my attack to continue, constantly pumping more mana into it. Ice Breath was not a passive spell, but I didn't care. I pushed all the mana I could into it, activating the spell over and over again. As each second passed, prompt after prompt let me know that I was winning.

[-200]

[-200]

[Critical Hit -400]

[-200]

They kept appearing, until my attack finally ran out of juice. My stray cumulus cloud collapsed as my mana depleted to 0. With my mana depleted, my royalty mode disappeared in a flash, leaving me completely vulnerable.

Unable to brace myself for the next attack, I laid on the dirt, helpless. Any moment my assailant would charge at me with his fists of air, dealing untold damage to my listless body. Any moment. Any moment. Why is nothing happening?

I pulled my head up. The old man was still there, but he was lifeless – completely frozen in ice.

[Battle Mode Deactivated]

[Alert]

You have learned a new royalty mode skill, Ice Prison [Active].

I had won. By some miracle, I had defeated a level 5 enemy.

"Owwwww," I howled painfully as I rolled on to my side. I needed that health potion, or else I would be in trouble. I took the corked flask between my teeth and pulled it open, chugging down the red liquid. In an instant, I felt my vitality replenish itself. I wasn't 100%, but I was good enough.

Using my staff as a crutch, I pulled myself to my feet.

If it hadn't been for my royalty mode and its advantages, I would have been screwed - like a Mossy Rocker at the edge of the High Cliffs. I looked at the bald-headed man, his body trapped deep in a mound of ice. He was strong, but I doubted that he was strong enough to send Roddy flying into the horizon. He was likely just as much a victim of all this as I was.

[Alert] a message pinged into my vision.

[Alert]

The trial by combat of Shareem Bidwallah and his party has been decided. Shareem Bidwallah has been found guilty by way of combat. The Chief Justice will now render a verdict on two points:

[1]. The fate of Shareem Bidwallah.

[2]. The fate of Shareem Bidwallah's party.

"Am I the Chief Justice?"

[Open Guild Management Interface? Y/N]. A prompt appeared.

"Yes, I guess,"

Guild Management Interface

Number of Guild Members: 2

Guildmaster: Edward Frostpyre I

Monarch: Edward Frostpyre I

Royal Heir: Roddy Frospyre

Chief Justice: Edward Frostpyre I

Head Priest: Edward Frostpyre I

Marshal: Edward Frostpyre I

Other Royals: 0

Other Justices: 0

Tradespeople: 0

Chaplains: 0

Officers: 0

Soldiers: 0

Civilians: 0

Slaves: 0

[Change Roles]

[Find Members]

[View Holdings]

I really need to find some more guild members, I thought to myself, at the realization that I had far too many roles. I was the Guildmaster, a King, a Chief Justice, a religious leader – I controlled every facet of government and then some.

"I guess that means I'm supposed to judge you then," I said to my frozen prisoner. What a day I was having.