Death Is the Destiny of All (The Twenty-Sided Eye Series Book 4) Read online

  The elevator shook and its fasteners jostled against the wall. Marko coordinated his powers and carried his sister and the general through the open metal doors. Not a moment too soon, Amelia and the general reached the safety of the outer wall. The open elevator cage broke from its bearings and flew into the unstable portal as if it had never existed.

  Amelia forced herself to blink. There were spots in her vision. The air around her had thinned. She could barely breathe.

  But, just as quickly as the vacuum had come, it disappeared and was replaced by a rushing wind of rock and dust. Amelia coughed and took in a deep breathe, her vision clearing. The intense change of pressure caused the general to go limp in her arms. Fortunately, she and her brother were now made of sterner stuff.

  “I've got him, Amelia. You can let go of the general,” Marko yelled.

  Trusting her brother, Amelia let go and covered her mouth with her sleeve in order to filter the dusty air. Simultaneously and almost with the same motion, she instinctively caught hold of a small soft item that hit her hand.

  Player, Kira

  Dark Fairy Scout

  Curling herself into a ball, Amelia attempted to cradle and protect the tiny person she now held in her hands. Fortunately, most of the rocks hitting her were small enough not to do any damage. Amelia found herself counting the seconds, hoping the portal would close soon. Though it felt much longer, she had only reached the count of 15 when the wind and dust stilled.

  Congratulations on your survival!

  The Plutonium 239 has now been depleted.

  As she slowly descended toward the ground, Amelia opened her hands and looked at the dark fairy who now sat cross-legged and looked up at her.

  “Nice catch. I'm glad I landed on you and not on that concrete wall beside you. Where in the moon are we? No, scratch that, there’s no time. If you'll please excuse me, I need to check and see if the rest of my patrol group made it through the portal alright,” Kira said.

  “Of course, I understand. But once you've searched the silo, meet us down on the ground. You're going to want to talk to us. Unfortunately, you're no longer on your moon. In fact, I think you and your compatriots may be some of the first alien immigrants to arrive on Earth,” Amelia called out toward the back of the searching dark fairy.

  Chapter 2 - First Moon Problems…

  Gravin Moon.

  Underground collapsed caves of the Wild Mountain Vampires.

  The Forward Command Tent of the Champions’ Raid Army.

  Day fifty, evening.

  “Unfortunately, you can't just remove the rocks without shoring up the cave with braces. I want to follow our queen into the tunnels just as much as you do, San, but rebuilding a tunnel like this is not a fast process,” Bork explained as he attempted to wipe off the rock dust and sweat that had coated his forehead.

  The kind little goblin compelled himself to stand tall. It took a force of will to keep from cowering his shoulders in defeat and submission as he looked up toward the massive yeti. The queen had thrust this post upon Bork just before she had rushed to save their king. He would never have chosen it himself. And yet, this sensation felt all too familiar to him. His whole life had been full of challenges to overcome. He was born a goblin, and yet he felt compassion for others. He could not have been a bigger outlier.

  All of this had prepared him, even in this moment, to stand tall and do what needed to be done. Unfortunately, he wasn't tall enough to look at the one who was questioning him eye-to-eye, so Bork craned his neck and stared up at the blue letters above the yeti‘s head.

  Player, San

  Yeti Monk

  “I understand that, chief. The thing is, I'm supposed to be one of the king’s guards, but he didn't take me with him. I know that he's the king, and maybe he doesn't think he needs us, but he's wrong! We're players, so if we risk it and relax a bit on bracing the cave, what’s the worst that could happen? I am not afraid of death. After all, we respawn. Please, let us get through this as fast as possible. His yeti guard has to be there to help him. It is our purpose,” San pleaded.

  Bork shook his head in the negative and took a deep breath before speaking.

  “We’ve had four die to cave-ins in the last 24 hours. The UI has made it clear that respawning at city graveyards takes longer than respawning at a Grand Place of Power. Every time we lose another person who has to respawn, our productivity drops significantly. Using the new equations our queen taught us, it is easy to see that bracing the cave properly is the fastest way to rebuild the path. Remember what she taught us. Slow is steady, steady is fast. Go clean up and get at least an hour of sleep. That's an order,” Bork said to the deflated yeti standing in front of him.

  As San nodded her capitulation, shouts of joy rang out from beyond the tent flaps. The coin purse at San's hip began to fill up. Startled by the sounds outside, the large yeti did not even notice her newfound wealth.

  Just as inexplicably, a gold coin appeared in the air in front of Bork and dropped to the rock floor with the tinkling sound that only money makes. “That was weird,” Bork commented almost offhandedly.

  As if his words had suddenly opened Midas’ faucet, gold, silver, copper, and even some mithril appeared before him and then fell to the floor in a steady trickle, creating an ever-growing pile of booty. Instead of gawking, the smart little alchemist mind-clicked the pile.

  Raid quest coin distribution:

  Clan Chief Bork’s share of vampire plunder

  “Joe must be alive!” Bork cheered as he put two and two together. Eagerly he read the message that popped up in his HUD.

  Raid Quest: Death to the Mistress! is complete.

  Travel to the vampire territory, deep under the Wild Mountains. Fight your way through her minions, reach the malevolent mistress, and slay her. During your fight, free as many slaves as possible. In order for this quest to be considered successful, two conditions must be met.

  Condition one: [MET!] Over a thousand slaves are freed and taken into safety.

  Condition two: [MET!] The mistress (now, Vampire Queen) is dead.

  Rewards:

  Reward #1: The Dungeon of Os (pronounced O.S.) is returning to normal once again and will soon allow adventurers to test themselves on her floors.

  Reward #2: Each adventurer who accepted the quest will be allowed to keep their Nose Ring of Light.

  Reward #3: 500 dungeon-upgrade tokens will be granted to each participating adventurer.

  Special Reward for defeating a queen:

  Item: Healing Balm of Spartacus (Quantity: 1,342)

  These items ameliorate the horrific emotional scars caused from lifelong slavery under a vampire’s leash.

  Attention!

  To receive your XP and Quest Rewards, you must prove your success to the Dungeon of Os.

  Both San and Bork quickly exited the tent to shouts of exaltation. The goblin looked out over the mass of players: yetis, goblins, halflings, elves, and many other races. Each and every one of them was either counting their newly pregnant coin purses or high-fiving a fellow comrade. Bork watched as they cheered and acknowledged the good news, but he knew their work was not yet complete. Their king and queen may have done their part, but the army must still dig their way out of the caves.

  After what felt like a reasonable amount of time, Bork cleared his throat and commanded the army's attention. “The king and queen did what they needed to do. Now, let’s get this tunnel open so we can congratulate them!” Bork called out.

  A few individuals in the crowd offered a shout of cheer, but most simply nodded their understanding. Their backbreaking labor was not yet over.

  San, who could not hide her smile, sauntered to the front of the cave, took one of the yeti-sized pickaxes, and swung it against the rocks blocking their path. Instead of impacting the rock, the pickaxe rebounded off of a green shimmering forcefield. The yeti flew backwards, losing her grip on the pickaxe and colliding with the miners who stood behind her.

  Att
ention!

  Raid Quest: Death to the Mistress! is complete. Please refrain from attempting to enter a closed instance. Reset time will require a minimum of four months before you can reenter this raid instance. The respawn of both the Vampire Queen and the raid resources require the absence of players in the raid area. All vampire-controlled areas will remain in a state of suspended animation until the reset of the raid. Please withdraw to the city of Sibiu until such time that the UI reopens the new Raid Quest: Death to the Vampire Queen!

  San’s face snarled with anger and fear. “Give us back our king and queen!” she screamed. In one motion she rolled forward, picked up her pickaxe, and hit the shimmering green force field again. The result was the same, but it only seemed to infuriate her more.

  Something about the green wall maddened the entire army of players. Almost as one, they let out a guttural roar of defiance and leapt forward, attacking the suspended animation field.

  The thundering and consistent throttle of their weapons forced the UI to divert a significant amount of its energy to strengthen the forcefield the army was attacking. The player’s frustrations and fury inadvertently sent protests to the UI at the unfairness of the imprisonment of their rightful king and queen. Recognizing that a miscommunication was forcing it to expend and waste valuable energy, the UI attempted to rectify and respond to the players’ protest.

  Apologies!

  Due to an oversight on the part of the UI, the UI did not properly inform the players of the Kingdom of the Iron Dice that both their king and queen would soon return to them via a free one-way portal.

  Citizens of the Kingdom of the Iron Dice, your king and queen will be with you shortly! Your king and queen are currently searching the Vampire Queen’s stronghold for any hidden loot and treasure that is rightfully theirs by conquest. When they believe they have found everything, they may then choose to return to the Commander of the Iron Dice Army (Bork) on the field.

  The UI apologizes once again for any inconveniences this miscommunication has caused the people of the Iron Dice. In return for your patience and secession of hostilities against the suspended animation field, all citizens in the Kingdom of the Iron Dice will receive one medium potion of healing.

  Bork sprung forward, holding his arms up. “Everyone, drop your pickaxes. That's an order!” Bork yelled as he stood in front of San who clearly had not yet read her messages. Nevertheless, she dropped her pickaxe, understanding that the chain of command was not something to be discarded in the heat of the moment.

  “The UI has just informed us that our king and queen will be returning to us shortly by a portal. Clearly this was something it should have communicated before putting up a suspended animation forcefield, but it is now addressing its error.

  “In fact, as long as we all wait patiently for our king and the queen, every citizen in the Kingdom of the Iron Dice will receive one free healing potion. As commander of our army in the field, I accept the deal the UI has offered, especially since it is such a beneficial arrangement. The UI said every citizen of the Iron Dice. Therefore, as we grow and acquire new citizens, the moment they become a member of our kingdom, the UI will be required to grant them one free medium healing potion. We are very fortunate that the UI chose to clearly communicate the reward for forgiving its error.

  “Everyone, step away from the forcefield and prepare for the march back to Sibiu. When our king and queen arrive, we want to be ready to go. Fall out,” Bork announced, once again grateful the UI was translating his goblin tongue for all the players to hear in their own language.

  The UI could not determine if Bork had purposefully misunderstood the intent of the gift or if it had indeed been the UI’s error, but regardless, it was common practice for an admin to avoid admitting to a miscommunication unless the situation became absolutely critical. In order to maintain authority and save face, the UI decided it was more economical to grant this new boon to each citizen, current and future, of the Iron Dice kingdom than to clarify the arrangement.

  When it became clear the army had decided to refrain from further onslaught against the forcefield, the UI expended the necessary energy to deliver a medium healing potion to their intended recipients.

  Congratulations!

  You received an Uncommon Item.

  Uncommon Item: Medium Healing Potion

  This potion will heal 25% of any NPC or player’s maximum hit points up to a limit of 500 HP. Note: This healing is not instant, but spread out over 25 seconds. Please enjoy the new limited-time only red licorice flavor.

  Bork smiled as he read the description. Confident that the army would follow his orders, he went back to his tent in order to figure out the very serious issue of how he could efficiently transport a rather large pile of coins.

  Chapter 3 - Rain Man

  The portal opened above his head, forcing Bork to jump back, falling on his rump. His king, Joe, was first to arrive and fell straight onto Bork’s pile of coins, splashing them to the side.

  As the queen, Zoya, flew through next, she looked down at her companion and began humming the theme song to DuckTales, “Life is like a hurricane…”

  Overwhelmed with emotions, Bork threw himself forward and crawled over to hug his seated king.

  This time Joe embraced his comrade-in-arms with a loud laugh of triumph. “Apparently I fell onto your share of the coinage from the raid quest. Well done, chief! I'm sure that it will serve your people well,” Joe exclaimed, as he gave the goblin one last slap on the back and stood up.

  “In going through my drop-down menus, it appears that we were rewarded with ten percent of the wealth of all the vampires. I think that means even those who are now in stasis,” Bork postulated.

  “Joe,” Zoya interjected, “Our raid party is rather wealthy after our victory. When we return, we may want to consider establishing a bank. Or, at the very least, create secure safety deposit boxes for the people to store their newfound fortunes.” Turning toward their raid commander, Zoya continued, “Bork, if you’d like, I'm sure Joe could carry your wealth back to the castle for you. I've already counted it.”

  “I bet if we dropped a box of toothpicks on the floor, you could count them too, huh, Zoya?” Joe remarked.

  Zoya glanced back at Joe and her expression softened.

  “I'm sorry, Joe, we have our responsibilities. Despite my inexplicable and absolutely overpowered ability to count, we will not be heading to the nearest gambling establishment to fulfill your childhood dream of becoming a world class gambler. But don't worry, that doesn't mean we can't have an incredible amount of fun, even under the crushing weight of leadership,” Zoya soothed.

  “What?! I was just commenting on your quick ability to count. I never…” Joe began, before Zoya cut him off.

  “To whom much is given, much is expected,” she stated simply as she fluttered her wings, causing wisps of dark fairy glitter to fall gently in the air.

  “Whoa, calm down, Uncle Ben. I'm not shirking my responsibilities. In fact, let's go ahead and jump right into those. We need to hustle back to the castle and make sure the dungeon has returned to her normal temperament. How we get back, though, is a key decision we need to make. I’m torn, because we have two options. Either we can make our best speed through a combination of running, swinging, and forcing portal jumps whenever we can. Or, to facilitate a future strategic pathway, we could take the time and clear a ley line from here to the castle.

  “Unfortunately, if we did that, we would have to walk it or run it the whole way out,” he continued, “But, by taking the time, then occupying the city of Sibiu is logistically feasible. I would need to use my ley line purification spell along the route. I wish I could have used it more frequently on the way here, but I felt it necessary to keep my mana bar high while heading into battle. So, as we speak, there are still large sections of ley line that are nearly impassable with a portal. What's worse, I'm the only one who can do it,” Joe finished, purposely ignoring the ribbing Zoya had been giving
him earlier.

  “Eventually, little Cit will be able to help,” Zoya consoled.

  “Right now, he's only a Novice Portal Mage and can barely transport himself along a prepared ley line and still end up on the other side fully dressed. The little halfling has put most of his points into administration-type skills, very logically I might add, so as to better help Molasses strengthen their clan,” Joe said.

  “I will look into lightening his load so that he feels comfortable devoting more points to his Portal Magic, even if only to better help the Clan of the Unchained with logistics. Joe, what are you playing with there?” Zoya asked as she noticed Joe staring intently at one of the copper coins that had become stuck to him when he fell out of the portal.

  “This coin, something about it and a few of the others I’ve seen in the treasury makes me want to hand it to you, Zoya. Bork, is it all right if I give you a different coin in exchange for this one? I really think Zoya needs to give it a hard look. Not just a cursory glance. Really look at this one, Zoya,” Joe entreated.

  Zoya flew up to the coin. She was well aware that Joe’s Sight of the Encourager must have kicked in.

  As she looked upon the coin, she allowed her avatar’s sensors to narrowly focus on what appeared to be a normal copper coin. Despite observing it through the infrared spectrum and even allowing herself to taste the way the copper interacted with the air, she detected almost no difference between this and any other mundane coin.