Chapter 15: The Third Faction

“Looks cozy,” Duke commented. “Where’s the welcoming party?”

“Irazu, you’re with me.” GidSeres drew his blades, setting the pace. “Wraist, stick near Duke. Brem, Evelyn, bring up the rear. Twenty-foot spacing, no more, no less. None of us want to get caught in a circle trap again like in Bafdoor’s Castle.”

Duke groaned, then spit on the floor. “Don’t remind us,” he muttered.

GidSeres watched the far corners of the room from the open doors. “Everyone ready?”

A chorus of quick affirmations followed. Nobody questioned the formation. GidSeres’ tactics had already secured them multiple world-first clears, but this was their most absurd milestone yet: Castle Rathlock was a twelve-man raid. They were attempting it with six.

They advanced through the opening in synchronized pairs, pausing every few steps to maintain their twenty-foot intervals. Everyone was on high alert for a sudden ambush as they slowly crept down the central carpet.

Reaching the first step of the tiered platforms, GidSeres stopped, lowering his guard. “Anyone else find the lack of an encounter strange?” He frowned, scanning the massive, empty chamber.

“I thought for sure we’d get bombarded,” Duke agreed. “A demon horde or high-level undead running out from behind the pillars.”

“Or scaling down them like a swarm of goblins,” Brem added. “It would’ve been cool if war drums echoed in the distance, cranking up the tension, preparing us for a boss fight.”

“Maybe this is a puzzle,” Evelyn suggested, gesturing forward. “Like, something to do with the black and white pillars? The chest up there, the throne…it has to mean something.”

“The room feels…wrong,” Irazu muttered, her gaze lost in the darkness of the high ceiling. “Are we sure this is the final level? Maybe they never finished the raid? Or it could be bugged.”

“We’re the first guild to set foot in this room,” GidSeres said, his eyes locking onto the golden chest on the second to last platform. “Let’s see if there’s an event trigger when I head up. Irazu, stay one tier behind me.” Irazu stepped up beside him as he stared up at the empty throne. Lifting both weapons, he prepared for a fight.

Each platform ran for roughly forty feet before climbing two feet into the next tier. GidSeres stepped onto the first platform, but nothing happened as he crossed its length. The silence held through the second, third, and fourth tiers. Irazu watched him from the prior tier, frowning as he stood near the golden box, yet no event triggered.

“Let’s just grab the chest and go,” Evelyn suddenly blurted out, her voice echoing in the quiet chamber. “They told us that’s all they need.”

“Grab the chest?” Irazu turned to the Nature Seer, her brow furrowed. “What do you mean—” She cut herself off. Evelyn wasn’t looking at her or GidSeres; her eyes were locked onto Duke and Brem. “Go where? And who told you that’s all they want?”

“This wasn’t the plan,” Duke grumbled at Evelyn, his jaw tightening. “We could have just lifted it later.”

“Later? Really? Come on now!” Evelyn scoffed, gesturing wildly toward GidSeres. “With him? You know how he is. He’d have it analyzed five times over and locked in a relic vault before we ever got a chance to steal it!”

“Stolen what?” Irazu demanded, tilting her head.

Up on the fourth tier, GidSeres stood unmoving, his face unreadable as the argument unfolded below. Wraist-lin shifted uncomfortably next to Evelyn and Duke, glancing from one person to the next with a perplexed expression.

“Look, we don’t like this any more than you do, but we need that chest,” Evelyn said, finally addressing Irazu. “This is just a game, but that box there, it means a lot to the rest of us. It’s worth a lot of money. Real money.”

Duke shrugged, trying to make light of the situation. “We could just give them a cut. Bring them in on it.”

“You’re with the third faction?” GidSeres asked, his voice surprisingly calm.

Everyone went quiet.

“We are, now,” Evelyn finally answered. “They offered us a lot. And I do mean a lot.”

Duke’s forehead furrowed. “How do you even know about the third faction?”

“I’ve my sources,” GidSeres said simply.

Irazu glanced back and forth between GidSeres and the others, thoroughly lost. “Can someone speak straight for once? What is this third faction? The game only has the Unified Champions and the WarMongers. Was there a patch I missed?”

“Wait, are you guys not roleplaying this?” Wraist-lin asked, his voice suddenly dropping its theatrical rasp for a completely normal, nasal tone.

“Shut up, Dan,” Evelyn snapped.

“Hey, how do you know my real name?” Wraist-lin demanded, his posture instantly stiffening. “Are you stalking me? I’ve never told anyone in this guild my name. If you don’t tell me right now, I’m going to report you for dox—”

While he was still speaking, Evelyn slipped out a long, black rod from her enchanted pouch. With a wicked smile, she admired it for a split second before driving it directly into the mage’s throat.

Wraist-lin’s voice caught, his threat dying in his throat as his hands clutched his neck. Red tendrils of light pulsed across his exposed flesh, spiderwebbing up his jawline and shooting down his chest, bringing with it intense pain. He bent double, wheezing through the sudden agony. “Wha—why? I’ll—Aaahhh!”

The pulsing intensified, splitting the surface of his avatar’s skin into a web of desiccated, arid cracks. Dropping to his knees, a raw scream tore from deep inside his chest. There was no acting as he collapsed onto the carpet in genuine torment.

“I wanted to do that weeks ago,” Evelyn sneered, glaring down at him. “Your acting sucks!”

“W-witch,” Dan rasped, the wizard persona entirely abandoned. He reached up, feebly clawing at the black rod in her hand. Evelyn easily yanked it out of his reach, smirking at his prone form.

“Stop it, Evelyn!” Irazu screamed, taking a step toward them. “What did you do to him?”

“Just log out.” Evelyn ignored Irazu as she shook her head at the mage, encouraging him to exit the game. Wraist-lin gagged, fingers curling inward from intense pain as he clawed at his throat and chest. Spittle fell from his lips as his system connection began shutting down. “I bypassed the pain restrictors. You’re literally at level ten right now, Dan. That’s three levels higher than those masochists who sign waivers just to play the hardcore servers.”

“I-I’m so-sorry,” Wraist-lin gasped, tears of blood pouring from his eyes as he looked up at GidSeres and Irazu. Then, his body slumped to the floor, motionless.

“Why isn’t he fading?” Irazu demanded, her voice rising in a panic.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Evelyn said, a sly smile playing about her lips. “Dan’s link is cut, but his avatar won’t log out like normal. It belongs to the third faction now. A faction that—” she glanced to her left and right at Brem and Duke “—I’ll soon be heading as guild leader, alongside my two new sub-commanders. Let me rephrase that. My incredibly wealthy sub-commanders.” She laughed.

As Irazu stared in stunned silence, Wraist-lin’s lifeless body twitched, then lurched to its feet. The avatar’s eyes were entirely hollow as it moved in jerky, unnatural strides to stand before Evelyn. Dropping to one knee, it bowed subserviently.

Evelyn reached out, tapping the air in front of the puppet-wizard to manipulate his hijacked user interface.

“What?” Irazu gasped, taking a small step back. “You’re able to activate permanent death mode? How’s any of this possible?”

Evelyn chuckled. “The third faction never reveals its secrets. Just know that once this shell dies, the character’s gone forever.” A malicious grin lit up her face as she performed a mock wave at the mage’s avatar. “Bye-bye Dan.”

“Still not too late,” Duke said, looking up at the platforms. “I’m willing to pitch in, say, ten million credits. I can transfer it now if you give me your account code. You don’t even have to join us—just hand over the chest and walk away.”

Evelyn snorted. “He’s too soft. I’m offering nada, but I’ll allow this if Duke wants to waste his money. Honestly, we could just take it. Can’t attack guildmates, after all. Them’s the rules.” She brandished the black rod, its light casting sharp shadows across her face. “Unless you’re me…and you’ve got one of these.”

“Be ready,” GidSeres whispered.

The scrape of Irazu shifting her boots signaled her readiness. The summoner abruptly turned to address the third traitor who had yet to speak. “What about you, Brem? You’ve been quiet. I take it House DeadEye lost its honor?”

Brem smirked. “I’d take the money if I were you. Evelyn’s right.”

A sharp, metallic ping shattered the tension as a universal notification hit their UIs.

Evelyn snapped her interface open, her eyes widening. “You actually disbanded the guild!”

“Now!” GidSeres roared, sprinting down the tiered platform.

“Attack!” Irazu cried, directing her stationary dragon-bear at Brem before instantly diving into a ritual chant. Duke and Evelyn were their primary threats; Brem’s arrows were her immediate problem. The summon charged the elven archer, leaving GidSeres free to pick his target. He vaulted off the bottom tier, hitting the carpet in a dead run straight for Evelyn.

A flash of steel intercepted him mid-stride. Duke appeared in his path, his fist weapons driving forward in a brutal flurry that forced GidSeres’ blades into a defensive blur of parries and deflections. Whirling through the onslaught, GidSeres met Duke’s heavy steel fists with sword and dagger, the air ringing loudly at each clash. The man was relentless as he hammered into GidSeres violently. Despite GidSeres’ weapon skill level and high agility, Duke possessed admirable strength, forcing him back with each heavy blow.

Dodging a double thrust attack, GidSeres ducked and rolled backward, springing back up with weapons ready.

Duke’s tongue snaked out tauntingly as he whirled both weapons in a display of skill, daring GidSeres to try to pass. Behind him, Evelyn’s voice rose, chanting the heavy, rhythmic words to a high-tier spell.

“You turned out to be a real dick, Duke,” GidSeres said, his voice calm despite the looming threat of Evelyn’s approaching spell in the background. “I’m disappointed.”

Duke paused, a wide grin splitting his face. “Hey, how’d you know my real name’s Dick?” He snorted, dropping back into Leond’s Assault—a well-known aggressive fighting stance. “Just kidding! It’s Ben. Ben Dover.” He laughed maniacally, thrusting his weapons forward in a crude gesture.

Instead of dropping back into any type of fighting stance, GidSeres relaxed, slowly standing up straight.

“You haven’t changed at all, Terrick Ottolent,” GidSeres said.

Duke’s laugh died instantly, his grin wiped clean from his face. The crude gesture he was making stood frozen in mid-air.

“You’re the exact same as you were seven years ago when they arrested you for sexually assaulting a minor,” GidSeres continued, his voice cutting clean through the sound of Evelyn’s long-winded casting. “You’re childish. A literal stain on society. And within the hour, the Esper Valley Police will receive a very detailed, comprehensive dossier containing video of your recent illegal activities.”

This time, Duke was truly shaken. “Wait. How in the world do you know my name and where I live?”

“That’s not what I’d be worried about right now,” GidSeres replied, his tone chillingly casual. “I’ve a friend named Rico. I’m afraid once I showed him your picture, he said you had pretty lips. He’s on his way to visit you even as we speak. Now, I can’t promise he’ll be gentle, Terrick, but I can tell you he likes choking his victims. You might find yourself a little dizzy when you finally come to.”

“You—you’re lying!” Duke screamed, his hands trembling.

GidSeres smiled wickedly, tilting his head. “You can dish it, but you can’t take it? Have fun with your date.”

“You’re crazy!” Duke cried. Grabbing his head, he stumbled backward, his careful fighting stance devolving into a frantic string of spat curses and slurs.

“He’s bluffing!” Evelyn suddenly shouted, cutting off her chant. “Don’t believe him! He’s trying to force you to log out!”

“Am I? Evie Torinth?” GidSeres turned his cold, piercing gaze directly upon her.

Evelyn’s eyes widened, and Duke’s mad rant abruptly ceased. He turned to his cohort, eyes boring into her in sheer disbelief. “How does he know you too?” The words barely escaped his throat, his Adam’s apple bobbing sharply as he swallowed. Panic was written all over his face, and his body shook as the monumental decision to stay or log tore his mind apart.

“H-he’s bluffing—he has to be,” Evelyn repeated. Her eyes, however, darted down to the side, erratic and uncertain, as if repeating the lie could somehow settle her own racing heart.

“Someone is coming into my house!” Duke railed at her, his voice cracking at the terrifying reality. “Right now!”

“I—I d—don’t—” she stammered, caught up in this game of unknowns just as much as he.

Evelyn’s hesitation was all the time Irazu needed. Thrusting her arm high, she screamed the final words of her incantation. A massive vortex manifested before her, drawing dark shards of ice into a whirling white blur. The chaotic motion suddenly ceased, and for a split second, the shards hung suspended in midair before crashing violently to the floor where they shattered like glass. The fog dissipated, revealing a creature hidden within.

A magical beast loomed as large as a warhorse, its body encased in interlocking, icy-blue scales that offered more protection than a suit of full plate. A long, sinuous neck culminated in a yawning maw filled with razor-sharp teeth. Hovering on expansive, bat-like wings, its spade-tipped tail whipped erratically through the air. This was the Drake of Winterfrost—one of the rarest summons in the game, and a secret known only to GidSeres and Irazu.

Springing forward, GidSeres activated his high-tier cooldowns, spiking his strength and agility. The buffs, usable twice per day, lasted a mere minute. This was his window.

He unleashed a devastating flurry of blows upon Duke. Caught completely off-guard from the prior psychological assault, Duke’s stance crumbled into desperate, sloppy parries. GidSeres’ blades slipped past his guard, scoring quick, stinging strikes across the traitor’s arms, legs, and abdomen. His strategy was fine-tuned: systematically whittle Duke’s HP down with a stacking bleed effect, one precise nick at a time.

Evelyn, seeing the new summon, simply smirked. Whispering a single syllable, she unleashed a seventh-level spell, one of the highest in the game. It was a devious conjuration that allowed a player to prime an incantation beforehand and release it instantly at any point within a ten-minute timeframe.

She began to cry—inky black tears that plopped onto the hall floor where they hissed as they ate into the stone. Dark shadows erupted from her outstretched frame, coalescing into roiling wraiths that tore through the air, their sickening screams echoing throughout the vast chamber.

“You’re not the only one who hid her true power!” Evelyn cackled. “Goodbye, Irazu. I want you to know one thing before I tear your avatar apart. I never liked you—and you’re not half as pretty as me!”

Thrusting her hand forward, she unleashed over a dozen wraiths. They shrieked in unison, their voices combining into an ear-splitting sound as they sped toward Irazu like black ballistic streaks.

“Protect me, Drake of Winterfrost,” Irazu commanded calmly.

The drake snapped its maw open, spraying glistening shards of ice that fanned outward into a defensive, twenty-foot barrier.

As the wraiths slammed into the freezing sphere, they burst into black smoke, their magic instantly ripped apart at the seams from the magic-piercing ice. The moment the final specter vanished, the drake glowed with a blinding azure light and shattered into a thousand sparkling sapphire stars—its magic completely spent as it fully absorbed the wicked spell.

“What!” Evelyn cried in outrage. “Nothing should be able to…” She trailed off, tilting her head. Her eyes narrowed in sudden realization. “Was that…the Drake of Winterfrost? How did you capture one?”

One corner of Irazu’s lips lifted slightly. “I guess we’re all full of secrets, aren’t we? Evie, was it?”

“Shut up! I’ll wipe you both from the server!” Evelyn shrieked, her venomous composure completely shattering.

Irazu clucked her tongue. “Such bitterness. I wonder where it comes from?” She shook her head. “I think you’re letting real-world issues bleed into the game. You remember the guild rules, don’t you?”

Evelyn suddenly grinned, a manic edge to her voice. “What guild?” Her eyes darted to the side. “Brem!” she snapped. “What are you even doing? Kill them!”

Brem backpedaled frantically near the stone pillars. The massive dragon-bear snapped viciously at his heels, forcing the elven archer to fire hasty, low-damage snap-shots just to chip away at its massive health bar. “I’m trying!” Brem yelled back, ducking low under a heavy claw swipe. Whipping back up, he notched a glowing projectile and launched it straight at the upper tier. Irazu was forced to duck, the spell on her lips lost in the process.

“Wraist-lin, execute him!” Evelyn barked, thrusting her rod toward GidSeres.

In horrifying fashion, the mage’s avatar stood jerkily from its kneeling position, its jaw opening and closing like a puppet on strings as it hissed out words of arcane power. Bright purple lights suffused its eyes and hands as the spell took shape.

Mid-assault against Duke, GidSeres caught sight of the danger from the corner of his eye. Tracking the movement of the puppet-mage’s hands, he executed a lightning-fast pivot, twirling around the confused warrior. By the time Duke whirled to face him, the puppet-mage completed its spell. Three lances of crackling, blue-white electricity shot forward in a rigid, straight line, with Duke’s back now protecting GidSeres like a shield.

Duke couldn’t even scream out as the bolts struck him in quick succession, piercing his spine and detonating in a violent shower of sparks. Jolts of lightning coursed through his avatar, sending him crashing straight to his knees.

“You piece of—” he growled, struggling to stand, only to have the secondary effects of the elemental spell activate. Lightning pulsed through his body once more, paralyzing his joints and dropping him right back to the carpet.

With his special buffs ticking down to their final seconds, GidSeres wasted no time. Tapping his dagger against his belt to dismiss it, he gripped his sword with both hands before driving its point clean through Duke’s chest, twisting the blade to maximize the damage. Duke’s hit points rapidly decreased in his impaled state, completely locking him in place.

Suddenly, dark smoke in the shape of two ghostly hands materialized in the air, snapping out to clamp around GidSeres’ wrists and sword, holding him firmly in place.

“Are you all bots?” Evelyn screamed, her free hand outstretched as she maintained the Dark Fingers of Abberoth by sheer force of will. “I’ll hold him! Duke, grab his sword!”

Duke immediately dropped his weapons, his hands snapping out to desperately claw their way up the blade until they clutched at the hilt of the God-Sword. His face twisted into a manic grin as his fingers locked around the steel. “Watch this,” he wheezed, his voice straining through the game’s paralysis mechanics.

Lunging forward, Evelyn poked Duke in the back with her rod. A red pulse instantly emanated from the site, instantly spiderwebbing across his body just as it had with Wraist-lin.

GidSeres’s eyes followed the digital corruption as it crawled up the man’s arms. He immediately tried wrenching his weapon out of Duke, only to find his wrists and sword locked tight in place by Evelyn’s dark magic. Infection spread at lightning speed, bleeding into the God-Sword and instantly flowing through the ghostly hands holding onto GidSeres.

In desperation, he tried relinquishing the hilt, only to have the shadowy constructs squeeze tighter. With a final, explosive burst of strength, he tore his fingers free and stumbled backward.

“Too late!” Evelyn cried triumphantly. Sweat beaded on her brow as her concentration broke, dissolving the dark hands into mist.

A few feet away, GidSeres raised his hands. The red pulse of corruption was already glimmering on his palms. It rapidly spread up his forearm, coursing through his body.

Beside him, Duke let out a raw, agonizing shriek. The full, unrestricted weight of the neural feedback tore into his real-world nervous system, sending his avatar collapsing flat on its face, twitching violently.

“Log out!” Evelyn ordered frantically. “Kill your connection before the feedback fries your brain! Go! I’ll contact you later!”

Duke’s avatar instantly went limp as the man needed no further encouragement to exit the game.

Pain suddenly exploded in GidSeres’ chest, driving him to his knees. A white-hot current raced through his nervous system, locking his joints and forcing his jaw so tight he nearly cracked his own teeth. As the agony intensified, his body stiffened, arcing. His hands involuntarily curled inward, his fingernails drawing blood as they bit into his palms. Toppling sideways, he barely threw a numb hand out to keep his face from smashing into the stone floor.