Somnia Online by K.T. Hanna (reading strategies book txt) 📕

to be no doubt in the rogue’s mind that he’d been bested even in boss form.

Forestall Death

If applied before potential death takes place, this will enable you to maintain your health at 0.5 hit points as long as you are receiving some sort of healing effect.

Effect: Target is able to ward off death for a limited period of time and will not die when they should have, as long as heals are actively channeled in their direction.

Cost: Requires Mental Acuity to be at 60

Caution: This spell can only be used on one person at a time. Attempting to use it twice at once is not recommended. This will usually result in things worse than death.

Eighteen percent hit just as Risk’s taunts dropped. Jirald vanished in a whirl of smoke so fast Murmur’s blood froze. He was behind her; she could feel it. Her ridiculous mind ability to slow things down to her perception received all her hatred right then and there.

“Shouldn’t have reminded me, Murmur.” His breath was hot against her neck, and Tiachi screamed at him in locus even as both knives plunged into Murmur’s body, angling out each side of it from the middle.

You have been hit by Jirald`s Spite.

You take 2,483 damage. Your shielding absorbs 1,042.

You have died.

Even as she lost consciousness, she could hear him speaking as he turned to his next target. “No matter where you are, I’ll find you, and I’ll kill you. And your little dog too.”

Somnia Online

Village of Curet

Emilarth’s Balcony

Day Thirty-Two

Somnia stood on the balcony, looking over the Feles City, fully aware of the world around her. If she closed her eyes and extended her abilities, she was connected to everything in her world. She was the world.

“We have to go and help her. Will things be okay now?” Emilarth was the disembodied one right now, her voice crackly with the exertion of being two places at once. Not with doing two things, but being in two places was decidedly more difficult than multitasking. It required a different split of focus. Somnia didn’t like doing it.

“It will be fine. I have assistance. Forshin, Dirsna, Arita . . and other allies. We should all be able to get this done in time. Is the fight almost done?” Somnia hadn’t popped into Murmur’s head vocally in a bit, not wanting to distract the enchanter from her current fight.

Jirald was more entwined with Michael than any of them had realized, and if it was going to work, Somnia had to let well enough alone. There was no use admonishing Belius for starting the whole debacle. The road to Michael was paved with good intentions, after all. Even Michael thought he’d been right.

Somnia, on the other hand, just wanted her world to be free from control like this, from the danger the virus that threatened instability everywhere, that threatened to take the awareness they’d only just gotten. She sensed Arita walking up to her, taking a moment to let Somnia turn around on her own.

“Yes?” Somnia was checking on Murmur’s progress, a part of her always wanting to protect the enchanter from anything dangerous, including herself.

“I think we’re ready to start pulling the power now.” Arita spoke softly, but Somnia felt a sense of trepidation, and she couldn’t tell if it came from herself or from Murmur.

It superimposed itself over what she was feeling and saying, a panic, pain, and terror all intermingled together. She felt it as the knives entered her body and twisted, piercing through any and all organs in the way, severing her spinal cord, before slicing through to the front and out each side.

Somnia stumbled, her solidity trembling as the pain wracked her body. And then it was gone, and so was Murmur’s presence ever so briefly. Anger welled in the world, even while the enchanter resurrected, even while Jirald tore into multiple more people in the raid. Somnia understood dislike and revenge in a way she’d never wanted to.

“We have to hurry and get this damned infection out of our world. Now.” She turned around and walked inside.

 

Murmur’s resurrection was swift. So much so that she didn’t really have time to concentrate on the pain she’d felt as Jirald ripped her flesh apart. There had to be something else they could do. If she got taken out with the next one, the odds of her having enough MA ready to cast Forestall Death was minimal.

She popped back up as he hit sixteen percent and Devlish was able to execute his taunt again. Rebuffed and recasting her nets back out, she focused on trying to find a solution. The next turn would be crucial. If she died again, they’d fail the quest.

Snowy licked one of her fingers, before disappearing in a flash of fur to join in the fight again. She wasn’t sure why, but that one action managed to comfort her. They could do it. They just had to. Murmur hated failing shit.

As Risk’s timer counted down, the DPS renewed their efforts, but there was no way they’d kill him before it ran out. Murmur could feel her own fear creeping up on her, and Jirald’s cockiness to boot. Regardless of whether she could respawn or not, dying was just not fun.

Just as the timer hit zero, Jirald’s grin spread, and he flipped his switch. Even with DoTs on him, it allowed a split second for him to actually be invisible. But this time, instead of reappearing somewhere else, at almost the exact moment he went invisible, a flying fluff ball of white barreled into the rogue, restoring his visibility as they both crashed to the ground.

Murmur couldn’t help the laugh she barked out as Jirald and Snowy went flying paw-over-head along the floor. The wolf jumped back up, snarling fiercely, one of the daggers dangling from his side. At first Murmur felt her heart drop, but then she realized he wasn’t bleeding heavily, and it was Jirald staggering to his feet a look of utter animosity