Page 3 of The Glass Unicorn: Part 1
twenty-one… twenty… nineteen… eighteen… seventeen…
“Get up!” I tugged on his arm, helping him up. He managed to scramble to his feet and we sprinted for the border, but before we could reach the others, who were waiting on the other side of the stone circle, the clock ran out.
you have failed to clear the area.
As the voice echoed out of our watches, a loud noise sounded behind us.
I turned, catching my breath as I looked up into the face of a scruffy looking creature. It was eight feet tall, pinkish, with a flat nose, a large mouth that was filled with sharp teeth, and one single eye in the center of its forehead.
“Yikes!” Thornhold said. “What the hell do we do?”
I fitted an arrow to my bow and prayed that the skill transferred to me when I was transported into the game would be enough to stand up against the Trogger—a combination of troll and ogre. As I took aim, it loomed down on us, and I thought the game was about to end before it could start.
But at that moment, Reggie bounded past and held out his staff.
“Flame-blades!” he yelled, and the fight was on.
CHAPTER 2: FIRST ENCOUNTER
I shieldedmy eyes as the flame blade spell hit the Trogger. Unlike when we were sitting around the table rolling dice, here, light reallycouldblind you. Fire could burn. And a sword could end your life. And if your cleric wasn’t high enough level to resurrect you, you’d end up out of the game for good—both the world of Abarriaandthe game of life. The waivers we’d signed were air-tight. Our families couldn’t sue if we were killed, and we couldn’t sue if we were hurt.
The Trogger turned toward Reggie, and strode toward him. Reggie let out a squeak and jumped aside—he was nimble for a mage. I trained my bow on the monster and let an arrow fly. Even though I had never lifted a bow in my life, my body here knew what to do.
The bolt lodged itself in the left back shoulder of the creature, and he bellowed. My pulse racing, I nocked another arrow, ready to shoot again. I hadn’t been this scared since I almost drowned in the bay, four years ago when a dangerous riptide caught hold of me. Luckily, Thornhold had been there and he had managed to swim out and drag me back, before the tide pulled me too far out.
Brynn carried both a sword and a big-assed hammer. She darted in, raising the hammer and whirling it over her head as though she were about to throw a discus. I watched her, mesmerized. She truly looked the part of a Valkyrie.
The hammer slammed against the Trogger’s stomach, knocking him back. A glimmer of light shimmered around her hammer, and Brynn cheered.
“Critical hit!” she said. “We have to finish him off while he’s stunned!”
Thornhold dove in with his double-bladed axe. He brought it down across the Trogger’s neck, slicing through the thick, leathery skin. As it fountained blood, I grimaced, but I managed to shoot again. This time, my arrow lodged in the Trogger’s heart—that is, if the creature’s heart was in the same place as the human heart. Brynn swung her hammer again, this time managing to smash his head. As he fell, a chime sounded.
The sound of experience points adding up.
I stared at the mess of brains on the ground and promptly felt sick to my stomach, turning to the side. I waited, expecting to throw up, but I hadn’t eaten in awhile. Another moment, and I let out a long breath and turned back.
“What are you thinking?” Thornhold asked, looking concerned.
I swallowed, hard. “Killing someone in a game is easy. But killing someone in the flesh is a lot harder,” I said, staring at the prone monster.
Thornhold caught my gaze and held it, nodding gently. I could see the same feeling reflected in his eyes. He reached out and patted my arm.
“It’s okay, Erenye. Remember, the world’s full of harsh realities. Both the one at home and this one. We knew that when we signed up.” He tugged on the neck of his tunic. “The Troggerwould have killed us if we hadn’t killed him. And these are Syms, they aren’t real in the sense that you and I are.”
I ducked my head. Thornhold was right. I’d signed up for this, and if we hadn’t attacked the Trogger, he wouldn’t have hesitated to attack us. But I still wondered if this was going to desensitize us to taking life.
“Yeah, I know. Thanks, for understanding.”
As Thornhold had said, the monsters and characters in Abarria were Syms—generated in the laboratory. Oh, they were full flesh and blood, but they hadn’t been born, they’d been created, solely for this purpose. They were programmed to react and to speak…The Game-Guides promised they had no real feeling. Still, it seemed terribly real.
Brynn was searching through the creature’s clothes. “I found a coin purse, and he also had this on him.” She tossed a long club on the ground. She seemed to have no trouble with beating the crap out of the Trogger.
I tried to pick up the club, but it was far too heavy. And I was stronger here than out in the real world. “I can barely lift it. You arestrong, lady.”
“You know shieldmaidens. Strength is our highest stat. I’m stronger than I ever dreamed possible.” She grinned. “This sure beats sitting in my office, staring at the computer screen.” She poked the Trogger again and then opened the purse, pouring out a handful of silver coins, along with two rings. One had a ruby in it, the other—an emerald.
“What are those? Are they just jewelry or are they magical?” I asked.
