Spell 12 : The Coercing

'Vanessa! Dad's getting pretty mad, sis!'

'Coming once I'm done!'

Vanessa's bedroom screamed nothing but 'typical teenage girl'. A queen size bed took up the middle portion of the room, and on the white-washed wall behind the bed, she had put up ivy-like wires of little lights and polaroid pictures of her and her friends. On her study table, more photo frames were lined up with photos of her family, though some were covered by a mess of her own hand-written paper notes she took during school lectures.

Clad in a pink tank top with beige shorts filled with flowery prints, Vanessa sat on her bed with a laptop balanced on her thighs as her long legs stretched across her bed. A frown hung on her perfectly-shaped face as she browsed through the school's website, looking through the different students' profiles just for that one person. Before this, she had tried looking through the yearbook, asking around her friends and had even tried asking the teachers, though they refused to tell her anything about this person.

'He does look a little familiar... His name is Julius, isn't it?' She thought to herself as she furiously clicked her way through the website. She was just about to give up when she reached the second last page of profiles where she finally found what she was looking for.

'Ah! Got it! Now to just send him the mail as well.. What should I put in it? I don't really know him actually...'

'He's cute though... The look he had on his face when he spurned off Tidus then had me there for a second. I don't know what they were talking about previously, but the moment when I went in the room and he said those words determinedly... Wow. Most people don't have that kind of tenacity.' Vanessa thought to herself, as a grin spread across her face.

She got to the e-mail page, considered for a moment before she started typing away...

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'Hey Julius!

My name's Vanessa! I don't know if you know me, but I'm from Class 11S2! Like everybody else, I play RoyalRoad too! I was extremely bummed out when I heard the school's anniversary was cancelled in the game! It would have been fun to see everyone's avatar in the game and fight the secret boss monster afterwards in the secret tunnels!

Anyway, my friend's in the castle right now! He mentioned that you were one of the people taking up the quest to find the missing banner. I'm writing this e-mail to you as head of Dance Society to thank you for whatever you're doing for the school! We came up with a dance to put up for the anniversary event, but because of the theft, all our efforts would be in vain. I really hope you and the others can find the banner soon!

Thanks!'

Message was sent from Vanessa Lin at 2214hrs .

Thoughts sped through my mind as I read finished her message. I knew she must have used quite a lot of effort to find my e-mail address since I was such a nobody in the school. That got me feeling pretty thrilled. However, it sounded like she wasn't in the castle though and was instead rooting for everyone in the castle from outside. Sleep caught up with me and I dozed off.

The next morning, I found my phone on the floor and fortunately, there were no cracks. I yawned and got up to brush my teeth. After having my breakfast of toast and marmalade, I stepped into the capsule and logged on to RoyalRoad.

As usual, I was the only one online since the rest of the idiots considered it a sin to be awake if the sun wasn't fully up in the sky yet. I poured myself a cup of the leftover tea from the previous day. Just then, there was a knock on the door and the maidservant poked her head in again. I told her to come in. She had a message for me from the principal inviting everyone to be present for lunch as he had something to say. I told her that I would be there and she left the chamber again. It occured to me then how funny it was that the NPCs in this game were aware whenever players were in the world or not. Because of the time difference in the game and in reality, sleeping at night for 6-7 hours could easily cost you a single day in the game, since 1 hour in reality equates to 4 hours in the game. This meant that the sleep from last night had already cost me an additional 1 day out of the remaining 6 days we were all given to complete the investigations and find the culprit. I had to speed things up somehow.

Today's agenda was to find the chamberlain. Ever since coming into this castle, I have not seen that man at all. You would think that as chamberlain of the castle, he would have definitely been present as the teachers welcomed us to solve the case. His absence served only to raise more suspicion about himself.

I left my quarters and headed for the great hall, where lunch was being served. Almost everybody was present, save my own group of people.

'Ah, Crow has arrived. I shall begin my address. Now, I believe most of you have heard of the commotion last n-' Palm stopped, and cleared his throat.

'Pardon me, I mean the night before last. There was an explosion of some sort that was set off by a dynamite in the garden yesterday. Through the debris, we found traces of explosive powder. Though at this point now we're still unsure of the identity of the culprit, we determined that the intent of the explosion was clearly to divert our attention. Fortunately, nothing else was stolen and no one was attacked. We checked the throne room but there was nothing we could pick up there too. Surveillance records could not be traced back however, which meant that they were either stolen or deleted off. We're guessing that this was the work of a group of people. All of you were already offline by the time we regrouped back in the castle, so we're also unable to put a finger down on anyone of you. Know this though, security of the castle has been tightened even further, but if you ask me, it's like shutting the stable door after the horse has escaped. In any case, do be careful as you continue to carry out your investigations. That is all.'

Chairs scraped against the stone floor as people got up to leave. The maidservants came forth to clear the plates. My need for satiation in the game was low, so I sat down to eat beside Redrow, who was sipping some jasmine-scented liquid from his teacup. He acknowledged my greeting with a raise of an eyebrow.

'So, sir, any luck on the teachers' side with the investigations?' I asked.

He put down his teacup and thought for a moment before answering.

'Not at the moment. I'm really not confident of our chances. Things are not really looking good for us.'

'I see. Well, it is to be expected. I mean, if we're not allowed to enter the throne room, then what kind of investigation is this where we probe into other places where the thief hasn't probably even gone into?'

'Precisely. But we have no choice over this matter.'

'Yeah. This whole thing sounds fishy though. Actually, that's why I'm here today. Do you know where I can find the chamberlain of this castle? I want to talk to him, see what he knows. Maybe I can even convince him to change his decision.'

'Not a chance. The chamberlain himself has disappeared since a while ago. Guards didn't see him leaving the castle though. He just vanished. If you ask me, that is weird.'

'He disappeared? Wouldn't that even make him more of a likely suspect in a period like now? But it doesn't fit. NPCs won't do something like that on their own accord.'

'You never know, son. Events are happening on their own accord at such a rapid rate that this world is changing much compared to what it first was when the game was just launched. When you have AI that is so ridiculously smart, events may just manifest on their own accord.'

'I see. Well then, that settles it. A pity that the school's anniversary is going down like this... Would have been fun to take part in the fight against the secret boss though.'

'Secret boss? What are you talking about?'

'Wasn't there supposed to be an event where we get to kill a boss in the somewhere under the castle during the anniversary?'

At this, Redrow suddenly got flustered.

'No! There's no such event! There's no secret tunnels either! Wherever you heard this from, it's pure nonsense! I must go now. Good day to you, Crow.' The moment he finished speaking, he immediately got up and left the hall.

Feeling puzzled, I picked at the pieces of leftovers on my plate. Could Vanessa have gotten the information wrong somehow? But it couldn't be! She was afterall the head of Dance Society. If there were any of such secret events, she would have known about them as a Head of a society for sure!

Just then, I got a notification that Cluck had just logged in. I sent him a message, asking him to come to the great hall. Moments later, he came in and sat down next to me. His maidservant immediately stepped forward but he waved her away.

'Hey, what's up?' He asked.

'I got an email from Vanessa last night. I read it, but I didn't find anything interesting. It was nice to receive something from her though.'

'Yeah, you horny bastard. Imagine you getting excited over just a simple email.'

'Oh shut up. Look, there's another thing. She mentioned something about a secret boss event in the underground tunnels during the anniversary, but Redrow flatly denied it. You should have seen his reaction! It was as if he was scared of spoiling the anniversary for us!'

'Did he now, really?' Cluck seemed to think for a moment before he continued speaking.

'I don't know if your sweetheart was right about the event, but I have been thinking a lot ever since you mentioned that little tidbit about the throne's missing ball. I noticed how this castle's occupants are extremely uptight about their art pieces. They treat any sort of blemishes on their artistic objects as though these blemishes were the work of the Devil himself and that they must be purged. Such fussiness within the castle's inhabitants would not have stood for something like a missing ball. Either they couldn't replace the missing ball or it was pr-'

'Or it was probably stolen and cannot be recovered! My thoughts exactly!' I interrupted, sensing that Cluck was on the same track as me.

'Yeah. But that's not all. Any castle, be it in this game or in the real world, would have been designed with some sort of escape mechanism in order for the king to escape should the castle ever be on the brink of losing its hold. I couldn't tell what this castle is equipped with, but from Vanessa's hint, I'm guessing it's underground tunnels. In fact, I believe our missing ball is the key to the underground tunnels. If you put everything piece by piece together, you know what this means right?'

I had my answer right in my mouth.

'The banner's underground! Right in the tunnels, if it isn't destroyed yet.'

'Exactly. It's the safest place to be since no one really knows about it. You could explore every inch of this castle, but the entrance to the tunnels is probably in the throne room. There may be other entrances, but so far, from the surveillance I did through the crystal yesterday, I couldn't find any hints of the other entrances. Right now, we have to find the chamberlain more so than ever. He is probably the only NPC alive that can tell us about it.'

'See, that's the problem. The chamberlain's missing. Gone since we came, I reckon. Redrow just told me.'

'He's missing, eh? But he's the answer to all our queries! Man, that's bad. If we can't find him, this castle's going down with the rest of us.'

I nodded in agreement. We had to find this guy, and fast. There's no telling what the thief might do with the banner now that the castle's efforts were solely focused on finding that banner. I finished my beverage, and we got up to leave. Cluck headed back to the surveillance room while I went off in the direction of my quarters. The great hall was situated in a tower by itself, so there was a bridge that connected the tower to the main part of the castle. It was an enclosed kind of bridge, where there was a roof that extended along with the bridge made entirely of brick, much like the one in the Harry Potter movies. You could see out into the massive gardens and the incredible ocean beyond. I stopped for a moment to enjoy the view, and that was when I got attacked.

A searing pain spread through my back as something sharp penetrated and retrieved my body at the same time. I could feel my limbs losing all their energy. I lost my balance and crumpled on the floor. I looked up and saw a cloaked figure standing over me. He raised his arm, with a dagger in his hand and struck down again, this time aiming for my throat.

'Cast Barrier!'

The shield blocked the impact and he was knocked back from the sudden impact of dagger against shield. The assassin was transfixed on the spot, clearly not expecting me to cast spells since the ability he used should have Silenced me, but thank God for silent casting. His hesitation was all I needed to get back on my feet. I took out Monkgar's staff and prepared for a duel.

I threw a FrostFire Bolt at him, which he easily sidestepped. He swung his dagger at me again, but I deflected it with my staff. It was a mock effort though; his attack swung sideways and ripped a hole in my Barrier near my arms. I launched another FrostFire Bolt at him, but he just leapt back.

Damn these rogues! No wonder they are known as 'Mage-slayers'!

I considered my options. Meteor or even Sunflare was out; the roofs above made sure of that or I could have easily pulverised him. Projectiles were out too since he was so agile. I couldn't use Mistcloak too since the poison he used on the initial strike was still in effect and I could feel my life slowly ebbing away, which would dispel the cloak the moment I take periodic damage. That left me with one last Invoked spell.

'Cast Lights of Heaven!'

Swords of pure golden light appeared out of nowhere and flew straight at the assassin. He managed to outmaneuver 4-5 blades, but the remaining 5 blades caught up to his movements and etched themselves into his torso. He was paralysed. I had him.

However, I knew I had only seconds. He had already broken one of the swords and all it did was make him grunt a little in pain. I charged up a FrostFire Bolt to a point I usually dared not reach and just at the moment before he broke the last golden sword, I launched the projectile at him. It hit him square on the head and he screamed in agony.

I was panting by now; the quick succession of trading attacks with both magical and non-magical abilities was something I was not used to. However, he wasn't at his last breath yet. He took out a smaller dagger and poured a foul green liquid on it from a crystal vial. I started preparing a Frostbolt but he was swifter; the dagger flew through the air. Its destination : me. I closed my eyes and braced for impact. I knew there was no escape from this since I could not really walk.

Only, it did not reach me. The dagger hit against something with a loud metallic clank of steel against steel. I opened my eyes, and saw a long lance just right in front of my face. I looked back, and saw Cluck grinning at me.

'Just in the nick of time. Now you owe me, bitch.'

The assassin was outnumbered, and he was starting to panic from this new participant in the fight. Clearly, everything was not going according to his plan. He took out another bottle, but this time I was faster. Just like the imps back in the Forest of No Return, I launched a Fire Strike at his bottle. It exploded with a flare and the assassin was stunned. He came out of it soon though, but by then Cluck had already reached him.

'Sonic Lance!'

Cluck struck again with a ferocity I had never seen before. His lance, now surrounded by wind, struck viciously and rapidly at the rogue. However, the rogue managed to fend off the attacks with calculated parries and even managed to get in a few swipes at Cluck.

How high is this guy's level?!

I knew that we were in trouble, even though we outnumber him two to one. Furthermore, the poison he used was too powerful; already my HP was at a critical point and Cluck's was also steadily dropping.

Just then, I suddenly felt a surge of life force in me and my HP was regenerating. I no longer felt the immobilization effects of the poison as well. I looked behind and saw yet another familiar figure. Saber was waving his hands around in a fluid motion, healing and dispelling the poison from us.

The rogue knew he had no chance against three foes. He took out another vial and threw it at his feet. The moment it exploded, white fog clouded up the entire area. We coughed badly, trying to see into the fog.

'Cleansing Rain!'

We felt the patter of water on our skin as rain broke through the fog and cleared our vision. The rogue was still standing there, clearly dumbfounded. The rain summoned by Saber had washed away his invisibility too.

'Impale Rush!'

Cluck charged forwards and stabbed the assassin. By now however, the rogue's fighting spirit was broken; he was giving up and hardly raised his dagger to fight. Cluck took him down with another few attacks, earning him a red mark on his head. We all knew what that red mark meant, but at this point now, it hardly mattered.

Because during the fight when I caused his bottle to explode, the flare caused allowed me a brief glimpse at his face. The rogue was one of Tidus' followers.

I was pretty livid.

To think that he would even stoop to such means...

I stormed off from the battle scene and ran towards the quarters, seeking my revenge against the one who ordered the attack. Saber tried to stop me, but I pushed him away. I didn't stop running until I got to Tidus' chamber. I didn't wait for Saber nor Cluck to catch up though I knew they were behind; I kicked the door open and walked in.

Tidus was there with his gang, all looking pretty shocked at this sudden intrusion.

'Tidus, what the f***? Why would you do something like that? That's pretty damn underhanded, even for someone like you!' I lashed out at him.

'Woah, woah. You burst open my door, frighten all the ladies here and you ask me what's going on?! I should skin you alive and ask YOU what is the meaning of this!' He shouted back, standing up and going into a hostile stance.

Saber and Cluck caught up just in time to hold me down. I struggled and fought against their hold but they were too strong. Before I knew it, Saber sprinkled some powder over my face and I felt my body becoming paralyzed.

Saber carried me out of the room, while Cluck stayed behind to talk to Tidus. I was placed on the bed in my quarters and I stayed there paralysed for a while. After what seemed like eternity, Cluck came in and spoke something to Saber. Saber then came over to sprinkle some other substance on me. Immediately, I could feel my limbs again.

I was about to go confront Tidus but Cluck held me down firmly.

'Relax, brother, it ain't him. Tidus didn't order his guy to attack you. Now, come have some tea. You must be feeling pretty shitty from the substance Saber put all over your face.'

Though I didn't believe him, I relaxed and joined them at the table. The tea helped ease the numbness throughout my body.

Man, druids really do have some lethal shit going on...

'Hey, Crow. Listen. After Saber drugged you, he brought you back here while I talked to Tidus. He didn't believe me at first until I brought him to the surveillance room to watch the fight. He gave me his word that he had never sanctioned an attack like that against you. He also added that he would have liked to remove you from the game as fast as possible, but he did agree to fight properly with you in a month's time so he never could have sent that guy after you. And besides, that rogue hardly hung out with Tidus. He was just someone Tidus agreed to let join his group in order to get close to one of Tidus' girlfriends. That rogue was hardly around all the time during this time in the castle. So whatever the rogue did, he was doing it because of someone else's orders.'

'You mean, the rogue was attacking me to frame Tidus?' I asked, in between drinking from the teacup.

'Possibly. After all, we do know the thief is a rogue, so maybe they knew each other. This could be one of their plans to force us quest-takers apart by adding tension into our ranks. Of course, it would have been best if he had eliminated you, but we saw to his demise instead.'

I sipped my tea slowly, letting everything sink in as I thought about the day's events.

Some serious business is going on around here. I need to find that chamberlain as soon as possible!