The air next to Zealous Calm rippled and shimmered as it took on the properties of water, and a moment later Bellowed Mist and the Orange King stepped out of the distortion. Mist’s avatar abilities were incredibly useful to move undetected over great distances, and the plan was for Pantheon to strike at the Black Guild from a new location as frequently as his skill’s cooldown would allow.
Pantheon was just about to ask Zealous Calm for a status update on the Marauders’ assault on the Black Guild’s territory when he saw the wizard’s eyes grow wide.
***
Aaron almost threw himself of the bed he sat up so fast. He could still see the death notification as the game faded to overlay mode. The pain was slow to hit him, but when it did it felt as if he’d gotten all of his ribs smashed in with a wrecking ball. Pantheon had died quite a few times early on to insane amounts of fall damage as he’d trained using Skyborne and later Sky Climber, and the feedback from a mile fall hadn’t made his body ache this bad.
What the hell had just happened!? He sent that very question to Bellowed Mist and Zealous Calm in the game. Zealous Calm responded first, with Mist’s reply flashing in a fraction of a second later.
From: Zealous Calm
To: Conquest Pantheon
Subject: Re: WTF
Someone didn’t take kindly to you throwing a stick at their window. There isn’t much left of Pantheon’s body, but it looked like your own spear just appeared through your chest and then kind of exploded. Some of the guys here almost pissed themselves when they saw their king just kind of blow up.
From: Bellowed Mist
To: Conquest Pantheon
Subject: Re: WTF
It was definitely Heavens Torn Asunder that hit you. Either the enemy has a player who can copy abilities, or you got really unlucky with your aim and happened to hit somebody that had Reflect up. Either way, for them to have reacted in time to your attack should have been impossible.
Aaron thought about what this could mean. First, the enemy knew exactly where he was when he attacked. It was incredibly unlikely, as he’d made sure to avoid detection by taking Bellowed Mist with him, and he’d approached from the air. Second, the enemy knew exactly when he was going to attack. How could they have, when the only reason he’d chosen that moment to attack had been the clouds moving to give a clear line of sight? Third, the enemy had the ability to nullify his most powerful attack and throw it back in his face as if it was nothing.
Aaron picked up his book from April’s desk and barely stopped himself from throwing it across the room. Instead he opened the book slowly and looked at its contents, his eyes reading nothing. When he’d calmed down, he closed the book and stood up. He wasn’t going to give up, he wasn’t going to lose, not to
her. Sliding Darius out of the way, Aaron left April’s room and walked in no hurry back to his own room.
He didn’t like being in his room; it was always too dark, too empty. The greatest fear of the Orange King was that he’d meet the same fate as his predecessor. He didn’t want to just disappear, to die alone in his room with no one knowing how or why. People would talk, maybe a few would mourn for a day or two, and then he’d just be gone from their memories. The possibility chilled is heart and made it hard to think every time he was alone. It was terrible, something Aaron didn’t want anyone else to have to go through. If there was one thing he could do, he would keep the Black King’s murderous attention away from the other players of Deep Ground Online.
Aaron pulled three darts from the board he had hung on the far wall of his room and threw them back at the dart board. Three dull thuds barely a second apart left three darts embedded just outside the bullseye. He repeated this process of pacing back and forth from the dart board to the far side of the room, each time marked by three thuds, over and over until Aaron stopped thinking entirely and just let the motions take over.
It was a message from the White King that pulled Aaron back to lucidity.
From: Stalwart Bruiser
To: Conquest Pantheon
Subject: What you said...
Hey, I remember back in the group conversation that you had an alternate plan to defeat Moon Rider...Maybe I can help? You'll probably hear about it soon, but I don't have anything anymore. I gave it up before she could take it from me....Just, if you're interested in something different than the alliance, message back and we'll meet up.
Aaron sat heavily on the corner of his bed and leaned back to stare at the ceiling. The game popped up in overlay mode, and Aaron spent ten minutes just looking through everything posted about the day’s events. If he hadn’t already accepted the day as lost he would likely have been furious anew. He saw the fallout from what the White King had done in the most recent postings. It wasn’t good. Aaron brought up Stalwart Bruiser’s message and entered his reply.
From: Conquest Pantheon
To: Stalwart Bruiser
Subject: Re: What you said...
Very well. I’ll be waiting in the library.
Aaron sighed as he stood up and left his room. He stopped and bought a coffee to try to chase away the cold that had settled in his chest on his way to the library, arriving to find the place as unpopulated as usual. People only ever came here due to the fact that it was quiet anyways. It was a convenient place to meet others to, since there was hardly ever a lot of people there. Aaron spoke to the ever-present librarian for a while about nothing truly important, but they could tell that he wasn’t interested in talking today though, and it wasn’t long before Aaron found himself sitting alone in his usual spot.
While he was waiting, Aaron was notified that someone had posted a message in the Kings-only chat. He opened it and read what the other Kings had to say about the day’s events.
