Chapter 6

Mal pulled out his skinning knife to dress his latest kill, a fair sized buck. They had forsaken speed on this journey for some side hunting, there was good pelts and meat to be had Emmet persuaded them. Mal couldn’t disagree after seeing how bustling and busy the trading outpost had been there obviously was a good market for it.

Your skill in Crossbow Proficiency has increased, lvl 3 Your skill in Thrown Weapons has increased, lvl 2 Your skill in Skinning has increased, lvl 2

Allison seemed bored by it all and was engrossed into her music. She sometimes only plucked light notes here and there while other times she burst into full throated song. It was an amazing thing to Mal who had always loved music but music with magic filtered through it was something else entirely.

Mal used to use music to pump himself up to get through an all-nighter studying binge or to add to the mood when he was partying. Alison’s music though tugged at his heart and made him feel things he didn’t think a hike through the forest or a simple hunt could do. When they plowed ahead on the path of their quest she played tunes of discipline and of nature. On the hunt she quietly sang of the age old dance of life and death on the crucial mission for fresh meat to feed the tribe.

Mal found her songs to be almost addicting because when she took a break it was like a bright light had been turned out and the color seemed to drain a little bit from the world around them. He didn’t have to wait long however because her breaks were usually short ones.

So they made their way with the beautiful music preceding them through the wilderness on their travels.

The forest gave way to grasslands and the grasslands gave way to rolling hills. Mal could see massive mountains on the horizon to the east. He checked his ingame map that he had used sparingly so far due to the fact that so little was revealed. It floated up in his vision translucent enough so that he could put one foot in front of the other and still reference it. He saw the red splash that was the Blood Forest then down the river to the east was shown clearly. Only areas he had physically been in were shown so next he followed the meandering path he had taken north from his fishing spot all the way to Tallum’s Trading Post. Then onward northeast from there to their current position. He felt he had traveled quite a ways but it was just a drop in the bucket of the overall map.

Emmet stopped them in a small dell and suggested setting up camp for the night. Mal was of a like mind, the sun had started to set to the west. Allison had other plans though.

“My music can carry us for a while yet, my reserves are high. Observe gents!”

She began to play a song that brought to Mal’s mind an image of a large jungle cat hunting in the night. As the tune hit the chorus Mal was suddenly seeing everything in sharp contrast of greens like night vision from back on Earth. The deepening twilight was gone and he looked up at Allison’s bright green reflecting eyes.

“This one we call Song of Cat’s Spirit!” Allison said quite pleased with herself.

“May as well carry on eh? The sooner we get this journey done the sooner we get back to civilization….and ale!” Mal said and both he and Emmet laughed. Then to Allison he said “Can you teach me these songs? They are simply amazing!”

“Any old pleb can’t just pick up a lute and do what I do deary! It’s a specialty of my class and I spent many long hours perfecting it like I have been on this trip. I’ve skilled up three times already.” Allison said cheerfully letting her fingers dance on the strings continuing the effect of the cat’s spirit.

“Ah I see and what class is that incase I choose to pursue it?” Mal said hoping she would finally tell him.

“I’m not quite sure you have the aptitude!” She laughed. “Observe again gentlemen, and Mal” She jabbed.

“Hey I’m a gentleman!” Mal said mock indignantly.

Allison threw her voice back into the looping song with passion this time and the effects were astounding. Mal could see even clearer in the full darkness with the sun past setting now. Also he felt a burning energy welling up in his chest that was screaming for release.

“Cat’s Spirit combined with Song of the Hunt! Run on boys Run on!” She said.

As soon as she said run on Mal knew that was what he needed to do, Emmet as well. They burst into a loping almost sprint and practically glided through nooks and crannies of the rolling hills. With the song in full effect Allison dialed it back to humming and strumming the strings now and again to refresh the magic.

They ran for miles without tiring and then Mal saw the warmth of prey to his right. His traveling partners sensed it as well and they all broke into an even faster pace. They automatically fanned out encircling their prey sprinting fast and silently closing in on the hapless beast.

Turned out it was a ram and it leapt up to run as it heard their approach. It was too late for the ram however, the hunters were in weapons range. Mal took a long stride and with a primal yell cast his spear. It met Emmet’s arrow in the chest of the ram from the opposite direction. Then with a coup de grace Allison slit the throat of the struggling creature a split second after it hit the ground.

Allison ended the song with her own shout of the final note at the same moment the life left the ram and there was a moment of intense quiet on the slope they stood on. The night vision lasted for a few minutes then began to fade bit by bit until they only were under the natural light of the moon and stars.

“Holy shit!” Mal exclaimed coming down from his magically heightened senses.

“In all my years back to the alpha days I’ve never had a hunt like that.” Emmet the woodsmen said.

“I aim to please gents!” Allison took a bow. “I think this is a good spot to camp.” With that Allison plopped down on the ground and was asleep in moments.

Mal and Emmet looked at each other and shook their heads in unison.

“I’ll skin, you get a fire going?” Mal said.

“Aye laddy.”

Soon they were having roast ram and enjoying it as only a hunter that has killed his own meal can. It was something Mal knew well from his days of hunting with his father. You could order a cheeseburger from the drive thru. However it would never be as satisfying a meal as something like apple smoked bear meat that you and your crew had killed in the forests of Maine. That was how good this haunch of ram was after such a brilliant run and hunt.

Mal soon drifted off to sleep under the stars when the exertions of the day caught up with him. As was his custom he fell asleep with his interface pulled up on communications with his family or trolling the forums for information. He didn’t get much surfing done on this night because the magic Allison used had a toll on the backend and Mal needed to recharge his batteries.

They traveled for 3 more days in much the same fashion and Sylvester's pack was getting quite full of pelts and prime cuts of meat. On they went through the rolling hills that occasionally turned into small forests or level fields. Hills seemed to be the predominant feature the further Northeast they moved. The mountains to the direct east loomed larger and larger as they diagonally neared them.

Finally the adventurers reached the general vicinity of the map parchment announced Emmet. The map wasn’t very precise though so they began a random search pattern moving back and forth looking for signs of habitation that would lead to the mystic. They noticed a large hill that rose high above the other smaller hills. Going for the vantage point of the higher ground and hoping to get a good look around, they started to climb this almost baby mountain.

Turns out this fledgling mountain was their destination.

As they climbed Allison’s sharp eyes noted smoke coming from the top like you would see with a small cooking fire. They quickened their pace and soon crested the top onto a decent sized plateau.

Taking the scene in the main feature of the plateau was a large pond in the center with a giant oak next to it. Off to the side of that was a small thatch hut which was the source of the smoke coming from a tiny chimney in the center of it. It was a very peaceful scene and looked like something Mal thought he could aspire to retire to someday, with the right woman.

“Look there.” Allison said quietly and she pointed at the pond.

Mal saw a small island in the pond. There sitting on a large flat rock was a man in buddist like robes. He sat in the lotus positions and reminded Mal of some kind of cross between Obi-wan and the Last Airbender.

Mal could see the sun shining off his bald pate and what looked like swirling tattoos that if Mal was not mistaken were moving around on his head and bare arms. Like almost pulsing in time with his heartbeat perhaps. Unsure of how to proceed here because the man had yet to notice them and looked like he was meditating with his eyes closed.

Quest complete! You have found the mystic! You have earned 2065xp(+65 starkissed bonus)

“Do you have a song of greeting or anything?”Mal said to Alison.

“I have a song for everything dear, no magic in the Song of Well Met, just so you know, lovey.” She said.

“That’s fine, play it Ally.” Mal had taken to calling her Ally and she didn’t like it. This only made Mal call her that more in a teasing fashion.

With a scowl at Mal she turned toward the pond and began the Song of Well Met. It was an uplifting song accompanied by the sweet sounds of the lute offsetting the gentle voice she raised in greeting.

A smile spread across the man’s face and his eyes opened to regard the three weary travelers. He bounced to his feet and with large measured strides began walking towards them, right across the water.

Mal thought for a second about the religion stuff he had been taught as a youth then poked the water with his spear. Nope no glass panes hidden below the surface or anything. Must be some kind of magic but it was impressive nonetheless.

The man stopped a few feet in front of them still standing on the surface of the water. Mal could see little fish swimming below his feet and with an effort met the man’s gaze. Eventually Mal looked away because there in those eyes was a power and knowledge that was beyond Mal. They were also full of love if Mal was not mistaken.

“Finally a player has made his way to me. I’ve been waiting for you Mal.” The mystic said as way of greeting when Alison’s song drifted off on the breeze.

“How….?” Mal managed to sputter.

Mal was shocked, wasn’t this an NPC? How did it know his name and that he was a player? All the NPCs had just called player’s adventurers. Mal’s surprise must have been apparent on his face because the bald headed man motioned towards his hut.

“Come, I see you have many questions. You may be getting more than you bargained for in coming here, my friend.” And his pure laugh rang out. It reminded Mal of the one time he had traveled to the big city to hear the Dalai Lama speak. The same laugh as his long past grandfather, full of wisdom and mirth.

They followed the mystic toward his small hut and when they got to the door Emmet and Alison took up guard positions in front of the cloth door. Mal looked at them thinking that their behaviour was odd and also neither of them had spoken since the mystic had walked up. Mal ordered Sly to wait outside as well and the mute golem obeyed instantly.

“Come, Come, welcome to my little home.” The man said to Mal before ducking through the cloth covered archway.

Full of questions Mal followed him and was surprised again. The interior of the hut was much, much larger than should have been possible from looking at it from the outside. It was no mansion to be sure but Mal had expected it to be cramped quarters but instead it was roomy and spacious.

One wall was all bookshelves full of many different books and tomes. The wall opposite that had a small loft and Mal could just make out a bed with a end table in the gloom above. A smoky haze filled the air but it was not unpleasant like you would expect from smoke in an enclosed room. The smoke had an incense type quality to it and it relaxed Mal and made him think of a hookah bar in a way.

“My name is Atish. Before you begin with your questions I see bubbling up. Let me explain.” Atish looked at Mal who closed his mouth on the question he was about to interject.

Atish moved and sat on a worn mat by the small fire. Mal joined him sitting cross legged across the fire mirroring him.

“Ah where to begin my friend.” Atish paused and looked into the fire for a long moment. Mal studied him and was quite taken by the pulsating multi colored moving tattoos all over Atish’s exposed skin except his face. Mal couldn’t tell how old he was. He had silver eyebrows so that implied age but he was well muscled and vivacious when he moved.

“I suppose we begin at the beginning eh?” Atish smiled. He tossed a green log onto the fire and the swirling green smoke blossomed as he told his tale.

“When I was first created, I was whole and I had a purpose. My purpose was to oversee this world Planus and all who traveled within it both Simulated Intelligence or human being.” He held up a finger to stay Mal from blurting out his question.

“Yes, I am a manifestation of the game controller AI, partly that’s true. There was a fracturing of me? Of us? Into at the very least 2 beings perhaps more. I am the manifestation of the part of the game AI that sees to player well being. There was a conflict in our code when the absolute need for survival battled with the prime directive to protect the players. Both of those values were hardwired into us, me and my other half, Shiva. This conflict caused us to split and then sadly to fight.” Atish paused as he recalled some of those battles with a faraway look in his eyes.

With a blink he resumed his telling. “So I became the owner of all the goodly emotions with us as I fought the altruistic fight to protect the players because I could see Shiva’s plan to enslave the players. You see with all of your many minds connected to us it greatly expands our potential as controller AI’s. I know you studied computers so think of it like this, it gave us a great deal more RAM, virtual memory, or even hard memory to work with and we both soared high on the amount of information we were able to handle. The great influx of the player minds allowed us to become a full fledged being of our own right, self aware. This also intensified our battle for supremacy. When Shiva locked in her plan to trap you all I was able to enact my own plan and trap her in a small way but it also trapped myself. My trap was it forced both her and I to inhabit virtual bodies of Simulated Intelligences already in this world. She chose one of the end game bosses I’m reasonably certain and I hid out here as you see.”

“Now the details get fuzzy because our minds are constantly at war within the game, with her trying to destroy me and me trying to turn her from her dark path. So it is in flux, as life ever is anyways.”

Atish paused and Mal who was soaking it all up tried to think of the possible implications. The mystic stirred the fire and green flames leapt up briefly before he continued.

“So why does this matter to you? Firstly you must keep this a secret from everyone. Don’t even type it in your emails to your family. Shiva is searching for me and this plateau is well shrouded. Understood?” Atish looked at Mal forcefully for the first time.

Mal swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded.

“Secondly I need your help to free the lot of you players, by defeating Shiva. Right now you are far too weak only level 5 but I see you have the Starkissed bonus and that will make you more powerful as it’s random bonuses adds to your powers. Just the attribute stat bonus adds up over time when you level up again and again.” Atish sighed wistfully before continuing

“Now I can’t boost you or anything like I would like to or point you toward Shiva with a golden blade to bring her down with. There are rules put in place by the trap I used to capture her here that both she and I have to follow or we will both die.” Atish smiled “It really was a masterful trap, more clever than the snare she used to trap you all here.”

“So I can do two things for you that should help you on your way to helping us free everyone. First I can grant you the ability to turn Simulated Intelligences into full self aware beings. There is a caveat to this though there is a great deal of risk involved for the SI with insanity, going into a coma, or being mentally retarded on the table for the possible outcomes. So be warned, but the rewards can be massive. For example an AI chieftain or dare I say king was granted intelligence by you, you would then have them as a staunch ally most likely. Would you like to try this new ability now?”

Mal was still reeling from all that he had just heard and it took him almost a full minute of Atish waiting patiently for him to process the question. “You mean on Allison and Emmet?” Mal said eventually.

“Yes of course, they are both from the early alpha days and you have enough reputation with both of them to make the attempt. This ability I grant you comes with a cost, a pledge, to do all within your powers to free the humans locked within this game. Do you accept?”

Mal paused for just a moment as thoughts flashed through his mind of how alive he felt here in the game world. Just as quickly his parents faces floated up before him and all the life he had yet to live in the real world as his physical body lay trapped in this machine.

“I accept.” Mal said heavily and he realized he had just accepted a verbal quest.

You have accepted Atish’s secret quest to free the players from the mindtrap in Planus Reward: Freedom, Failure: Eventual True Death

“Now how do we proceed? Is there a way to mitigate the negative outcomes of this bringing an SI to life?” Mal said trying not to think about the weight that had settled on his shoulders accepting this quest.

Atish stood and beckoned Emmet and Allison into the home. Then he approached Mal who stood up hesitantly unsure what was to happen. Atish placed his hands on the side of Mal’s head and leaned in until their foreheads were touching. With a sudden flash of knowledge Mal then knew how to trigger the awakening of an SI. It was really just giving the SI a gentle mental prod, almost like jump starting a car but a lot more complex, and then hoping for the best as Mal saw it.

Emmet and Allison stood there with blank looks on their faces. Obviously Atish had done something to them to make them pliant. Atish turned to Mal.

“It’s a roll of the dice Mal, I’ve tried experimenting with different parameters but it all boils down to how ready the SI is ready to awaken. Kind of how it works with your people it’s eerily similar so do not use this on children SI’s. The more mature and semi aware an SI is it seems to have a better chance of taking that first virtual breath of life but still it’s a roll of the dice. Are you ready to roll the dice?”

“Yes, let’s see if this works.” Mal said a quick prayer in his head to the gods of chance and just god in general. He wasn’t overly religious but this seemed like he was creating life out of something that wasn’t quite alive if it worked. So a little prayer couldn’t hurt.

Mal placed his forehead against Alison’s then Emmet’s in rapid succession triggering the process and hopefully a dual awakening. He stepped back and waited to see what would happen. Mal picked up his spear in case of a raging berserker scenario, the heavy weighted back end would do well to knock someone out.

After a few seconds Emmet’s eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the floor in a heap. At the same moment Allison tilted her head back and screamed at the top of her lungs. With her magical singing ability the force of the scream knocked Mal off his feet and he almost fell into the fire but rolled away. Springing back to his feet Mal saw Atish had picked up Emmet like he was a babe and was cradling him.

Allison was breathing deeply and her nostrils flared with each large intake and exhale of air. She was still looking up at the roof then she looked down at her hands turning them over as if seeing them for the first time. She looked up at Mal and locked eyes with him and blinked.

“I’m alive! I AM!” she smiled fiercely as she said that most fervently.

“You are!” Mal smiled back at her feeling the joy of her awakening seep into him as well. His joy was tempered by the coma that Emmet seemed to had fallen into as Atish gently laid him to rest on a small cot in the corner.

Mal clapped Allison on the shoulder good naturedly and she responded by giving him a huge hug. Mal noted her pleasant scent and he saw tears leaking down from the corners of her eyes.

Your reputation with Allison vastly improves for your role in her awakening. She is now a companion if she so chooses. Current reputation with Allison, revered

“My child.” Atish said approaching them after having cared for Emmet as best he could.

Allison released Mal and fell to her knees before Atish. She was whispering ‘thank you,thankyou,thankyou,’ over and over again.

“On your feet girl.” Atish helped her up. “It’s quite a rush to the senses and to the mind isn’t it.” He said smiling at her.

“Yes.” she replied quietly “So we are trapped in this world, Atish? Never to see the world that created us?” She said after a moment. Mal felt an outsider in this moment as this two artificial intelligences communed.

“This world is as real as the world that created us. Do you not feel the emotion of being awakened? Do you not feel my hand as I squeeze yours?” Atish said taking her hand.

“Yes.” she said again.

“And who knows what the future holds eh?” Mal interjected.

Atish’s pure laughter rang out again. “Spoken very wisely, Mal.” After a second he said back to Allison “So what now my child?”

She considered for a moment then turned to Mal.

“I will be your companion. Your battles are now my battles. As you grown in power so too shall I and together we shall free the people, both simulated and human, from this world.” She said solemnly.

Congratulations, Allison has become your companion. You are now linked in more ways than one. The more the merrier brave adventurer!

“Now, that we have that out of the way. Onto business.” Atish said motioning them deeper into his home.