The Greystone Chronicles: Book One: Io Online Read online

  Roughly half an hour later, as the sun began to approach the horizon, they emerged from the forest onto the main road leading into Stormforge. They had drifted farther afield than they’d planned, searching out herbs and killing mobs. They could see the city in the distance, maybe 2 miles out. Just ahead of them was a plank bridge wide enough for a single wagon that crossed a small but rocky creek. As the group crossed the bridge, a group of players walked out of the forest between the bridge and the city. There were 3 warriors, a couple of archers, and a caster that was likely a healer. All of them were between level 10 and 13. And they each had a red skull above their heads. Player Killers. PKs. Players that attacked other players for fun and profit. The lowest form of scum in the game, or in any game.

  Alexander halted his group halfway across the bridge. The narrow space would make it easier to keep the enemy from getting past Brick to surround them. He activated his camera, so that he could be sure and get the names of all these assholes. Alexander hated PKs with a passion. Hated anyone who victimized the innocent or the weak. They were going to kill these assholes now, and then find them and kill them again. And again. Until they gave up and quit the game.

  Alexander was standing there, lost in thought and growling to himself, when Sasha hit him on the head. “Hey! Pay attention!” she said. She’d known what he was thinking.

  He noted that Brick had taken position in front of the group, shield at the ready. Lainey was standing next to Alexander, just behind Brick and to his left. Max and Sasha were behind them. After all their fights throughout the day, the group had instinctively formed up without any instruction from him.

  As they approached at a steady pace, the leader of the PKs, a level 13 warrior in a combination of plate and mail armor and carrying a two-handed axe, called out to them. “You noobs are WAY out of the safe zone. I’m afraid that was a big mistake. But you don’t have to die for your foolishness. Give us your weapons and whatever loot and cash you have, and we’ll let you run along home in your skivvies!” he smirked at them as his buddies laughed.

  “BWAAHAHAHAHA!” Brick laughed back at them. “I don’t think ye brought enough friends, buttercup!” He yelled. Brick slammed his hammer against his shield and motioned for them to come at him. A couple of the PKs behind the leader looked hesitant. These scum were used to their prey being weak and afraid.

  Alexander decided to take advantage. “You pieces of shit are done picking on noobs in this game. You just chose the wrong group to fuck with. We’re going to kill you here and now. We’re going to find your bind point, and keep killing you until you’re back to level one. Or until you go find another game to play.”

  Sasha casually stepped behind Alexander so that he could protect her from the archer’s arrows. She whispered to Lainey and Max, “when I say go, take out the caster. I’ll hit him first with thorns, then Max, you silence him. Alternate between regular arrows and your stun and silence. Lainey, you stun the archers as often as you can. But focus on burning down the healer first. Alexander, you’re off-tank until we kill the ranged, then you do your own thing. Brick sweetie… you just be you.” Brick smiled sweetly at Sasha and they all nodded that they understood the plan.

  The lead PK had stepped closer, and was still spouting insults, trying to boost the morale of his group. “I think when you’re dead, I’m gonna sit on your corpse’s face and take a selfie that I can post…”

  “Go!” said Sasha.

  The leader’s threat was interrupted by a scream behind him. He turned in time to see an arrow sprout from the forehead of his healer, who was wrapped in vines that appeared to be shredding him. At the impact of the arrow, the scream cut off sharply. The archer next to the healer had dropped his bow and was stiff as a board with blue electric charges arcing off of him. Before the leader had time to even shout orders, the healer sprouted two more arrows, one in the chest, one in the eye, and fell dead. Then the archer who still held his bow and who had kept his head well enough to fire an arrow at the enemy, sprouted two arrows in his chest. In the space of about 5 seconds, the noobs had taken out his healer, incapacitated one archer and knocked the other down to half health.

  Enraged, the leader shouted, “Attack!” and charged toward the other group. His fellow warriors were two steps behind him. As soon he stepped onto the bridge and was between the railings, Brick activated his shield rush ability and rushed forward, crossing the remaining 6 feet between them instantly, and bashed his shield into the unprepared leader’s face. The man flew backward, knocking into the warriors rushing up behind him and leaving them in a tangled mess on the ground. Brick jumped forward, putting all his plate-clad weight into a swing of his hammer, smashing the leader on the head. Then he slammed the bottom edge of his shield down to bite into the wooden planks of the bridge and braced himself. Alexander rushed forward and stabbed the leader in the face for a critical hit, finishing him off. Then he stepped back next to Brick and raised his shield. The two of them side by side effectively blocked the bridge entrance. The two remaining warriors got to their feet and stepped forward, swords swinging.

  Meanwhile, Lainey and Max had each put two arrows into the second archer, whose health bar was down to the red and very nearly gone. The first archer’s stun had worn off, and he was retrieving his bow. Lainey hit him with another stun arrow as soon as her 10 second cooldown wore off, while Max finished off the other with a painful looking arrow to the groin area. Sasha cast her vines on the remaining archer, shredding his legs and causing him to scream. His arrow shot wildly into the trees. His screaming ended shortly after, as Max had placed a well-aimed shot in his throat.

  Lainey fired a risky shot between Brick and Alexander, hitting one of the warriors in the shoulder, but not doing much damage. She slung the bow onto her back and pulled out her sword and shield, moving to Brick’s left side, opposite Alexander. The two warriors, neither having taken the time to observe that their friends were all dead, fought on. The one with the arrow in his shoulder called out, “Heals, dammit!”

  Lainey actually laughed at him. “Your friends are dead, dumbass.” The genius actually turned around in the middle of a 2 on 3 melee to look for his healer.

  Alexander, in a rage, activated his Swift Strike ability and cleanly decapitated the warrior, who never even saw it coming. Seeing this, the remaining warrior attempted to flee. Brick’s shield bashed him in the back, knocking him to the ground, and was moving to cave in his skull when Alexander shouted, “STOP!”

  The friends all looked to him with questions on their faces. “Don’t kill him. Sasha, vines, but no thorns. Now.” Sasha didn’t hesitate. The downed man was wrapped in a thick layer of vines, unable to move. Alexander walked up to him, pointing a sword at his face. “Where is your bind point?” he snarled.

  “Fuck you, noob,” was the only response.

  “Max, come closer. I’m going to ask him again. If he doesn’t answer, or you think he’s lying, shoot him in the balls.” Alexander said, his eyes never leaving those of the PK. Addressing the man on the ground, he said, “I’ll make you the same deal your friend offered us. You tell me where their spawn point is. I’ll let you live. Otherwise you’re gonna die very slowly.”

  The warrior spit at him. “You can’t do shit to me. There’s rules against torture. You’ve got me held down. Kill me or let me go, or I’ll report you!” he shouted.

  “This isn’t torture. You don’t have a single injury. And in a moment those vines will wear off. Then my friend will shoot you in the nuts. Simple combat. Then I’ll ask you the question again. If you don’t answer, we’ll shoot you somewhere else that won’t kill you, just hurt. A lot. More than PK scum like you deserves. As long as you’re not restrained, we can take all day to kill you. After all, we’re just weak noobs with terrible aim, fighting a big bad level 12 asshole…”

  The vines spell wore off, releasing the warrior. He began to get up to run, and Max shot him in the balls. “Oops” was all he said.

  The man fell back t
o the ground, screaming. He weakly waved his sword in a feeble attempt to keep them away. Brick winced and covered his own groin with a plate gauntlet. “That be a horrible looking wound, there boy,” he said.

  Max drew another arrow and took aim. “Wait! Wait! I’ll tell you!” said the warrior. He made to stand up, hands up in the air. “The bind point is just north of here. An old temple next to the river. Maybe a 10 minute walk.”

  “I think he’s lying,” Lainey said. She shot him in the groin with a shock arrow.

  “I don’t think so. He’s too stupid to think up such a detailed lie,” Max offered. “His friends will respawn in a few minutes, and will be on their way back here to get their gear. Unless he’s warned them in group chat.”

  “You’re right, I didn’t think about that.” Alexander stepped forward, spinning to his left for momentum and cutting the top half of the warrior’s head off.

  Level up! You are now level 8!

  Your wisdom has increased by +1. Your intelligence has increased by +1

  Alexander waived the notification away. “Can’t have him warning his buddies. He can’t use group chat as a ghost. We’ve got 10 min before he can warn them. We can’t get to the bind point before they spawn, but I’ve got another idea. Take all their stuff except the armor, and get in the trees. If he wasn’t lying, they’ll be here in about 12 minutes.”

  The group looted the bodies and moved off the south side of the road into the trees. “Alexander…” Lainey put a hand on his back. She was shaking. “Are you ok? I’ve never seen you like this.”

  He looked down at her. “These assholes have to be stopped. Taught a lesson. They victimize innocent people to satisfy their own twisted kinks. There’s no money to be made off of noobs. No good gear to take. They’re doing this for the thrill, and the victims that use this road have no way to defend themselves against guys of their level. There is no room in this world for those murderers!” he shouted.

  ****

  Alexander was 10 years old. He was at his parents’ office, playing dinosaurs with Tommy, one of the developers. His dinosaurs were attacking Tommy’s vintage Star Wars action figures. “Rrrrawr! You better run Darth Vader! Here comes T-Rex! GRRRAWRR!” he roared. He expected Tommy was going to move the black cloaked figure out of the way of the large lizard. But he didn’t.

  Alexander looked up at Tommy, but Tommy was looking across the office at his dad. Who was in the conference room. He was crying. “Why’s dad crying?” he asked. Tommy looked back at him and tried to smile. “I don’t know, little buddy. How bout you and me go get some ice cream?” he stood and reached out a hand for Alexander.

  “Can we get some for Dad, too? He looks like he needs some,” the boy said.

  “Sure we can! C’mon, we’ll get him some too. What’s his favorite flavor?”

  Later that night, Alexander’s father had tucked him into bed. He had tried to explain about mom. That she had been in an accident. That she wasn’t coming back. That she was in heaven now. “Mom says there is no heaven! That heaven is a made up story, just like Valhalla and the Elysian Fields!” the boy argued. “Where is mom?! I want her to come home now!” he cried. And his father cried. They’d cried themselves to sleep there on Alexander’s tiny bed.

  A few years later, he’d learned the truth. His mother’s death was no accident. She’d been attending a tech conference on behalf of their gear manufacturing arm. She’d been speaking at a lunch seminar about the future of VR technology when a man walked into the room screaming about technology being the tool of the infidel. He’d run to the center of the room, and detonated a suicide vest. His mother and nearly everyone else in the room were killed in the initial blast. Hundreds more were killed as the hotel that had been hosting the conference collapsed.

  He had confronted his father. A small, angry 13 year old who was already mad at the universe for the loss of his mother, and who had been told little more than a year ago that he was sick and might not live to see 20. Alexander had had to grow up fast. Now he had discovered that his father withheld information from him. That’s he’d basically lied to him. Richard Greystone stood in the face of his son’s anger. Let him rage and scream, pound on his chest. When he had calmed down, his father simply said “Come with me.”

  Alexander followed his father into their living quarters at the compound. Richard told him to sit, and went to remove something from a drawer in his mom’s private desk. He’d moved back to sit next to his son, and said, “The man who killed your mother was part of a terrorist organization called Light of Truth. They believed that technology, and especially VR, was leading people away from belief in their ‘one true god’. The FBI investigated the bombing for about 5 minutes and declared it the act of a single deranged individual. I didn’t believe that.”

  He set a holo crystal on the table in front of them next to a glass of water. “Michael and I hired a team of private investigators and a private security firm. They found links between the bomber and this organization. They tracked them for several months, using the best tech we could provide and bribes, threats, whatever was necessary. The entire group had fled to Iran to avoid prosecution for the attack. We presented the information to the FBI, and to the governments of every nation whose citizens died in that bombing. Israel was the first to act. They issued warrants for the entire group, and demanded that they all be remanded to Israeli custody. The US wasn’t far behind. Iran refused to surrender the group, instead offering them sanctuary. We convinced Israel to try them in absentia. We provided them with emails, photos, plans of the hotel, plans for the bomb, all the evidence obtained by our security specialists. More than enough to convict them. Every member of the group was convicted in absentia. Do you know what that means?” he asked. Alexander nodded his head yes.

  “They were all sentenced to death. Iran still refused to surrender them. So Michael and I took action. First, we blocked all access to Europa from any IP address in Iran. More than 10 million people living there made their living playing the game, supporting as many as 50 million people with the money they earned. Any time they tried to log in, all they got was a message saying ‘Turn over the members of Light of Truth’. We waited two weeks hoping the people would pressure the government to comply. Then we issued a notice. We reminded them that we reserve the right to deny service to any customer at any time for any reason, and that in one week, if the convicts were not turned over, we would be canceling all 10 million accounts permanently.”

  His father looked at him, his face grave. This was a side of him Alexander had never seen. “This may sound harsh to you. But these people killed your mother. My wife. It is one thing to compete in sports or business. When it is over, you shake hands and respect your opponent. But when you encounter a true enemy, you show them no mercy. Do you understand?”

  Alexander nodded his head again. “Yes, father. How did it end?”

  “There were some very wealthy men living there, who had invested heavily in Europa. They had purchased whole cities worth of properties and businesses, paying many millions of dollars. Some simply tried to log in from other countries. But we had already flagged every account that originated from Iran or its citizens, and they were all blocked. Some paid hackers to get them access. We deleted their accounts. Permanently. The others took the hint and demanded the deportation of the convicts. The government still did not act. They called us terrorists. So we announced a world event in Europa. We informed all of our hundreds of millions of players that in less than a week, all property held by those players whose accounts were about to be deleted would be the prizes for a series of raids. We’d already canceled the accounts of the men who tried to hack access, so we put up a web page listing those properties. It amounted to tens of millions of dollars in value. The game went crazy. Guilds who were sworn enemies made agreements to work together to win the prizes. Holo networks began to speculate on the value of the properties that might get added to the list at the end of the week. Lawyers filed mountains of lawsuits
in an attempt to stop us. Every single one was dismissed.”

  Richard took a drink of water. “Two days before the deadline, a group of wealthy men who did not want to lose their millions hired a private security force to capture the convicts and deliver them to Israel. Every single member was rounded up, put on trucks, and sent on their way to Israel.” Richard reached out and activated the holo. It showed night vision footage of a military convoy of 4 large trucks traveling down a desert road. “About 30 miles before the convoy reached the border with Iraq, it was destroyed. No survivors.” The convoy on the holo stopped. The drivers and passengers in the front seats all jumped out. They opened the back gates of the trucks, pulling all the passengers out and lining them up along the roadside on their knees. The camera zoomed in on the face of the man farthest left. The man looked afraid. His lips began to move seconds before he was shot in the head. The camera moved on to the next, with the same result. By the time it was over, the camera had zoomed in 44 times. The bodies were loaded back into the trucks. All the soldiers got into the rearmost truck, which turned around and drove away. Ten seconds later a missile impacted the middle truck, and they all exploded in flames.