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

You must stop all of those who are responsible to complete this rescue.

“Great,” she muttered, as she turned back to the raid, only to realize they’d all gotten the update too. It made sense, but if she hadn’t noticed Sheladrios glowing, she would never have realized she needed to speak to him.

“Other group it is?” Devlish asked as she walked back.

She shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Did they lock him up?” he asked, sounding deadly serious.

Murmur nodded. “I do believe so.”

“Excellent reason to kill them, then.” He bared his teeth and loosened his Darkness Lariat, as it was off cool down. They’d grown skilled at avoiding the serrated attack from these Shalan, skilled at keeping their heads above water, so to speak.

When the last one fell, the walls shook again, loosening more mortar. Enough that they could see sharp claws begin to try and make their way out of the holes in the walls. Rubble and dust cascaded down to rest at the foot of the walls as the inhabitants began attempting to free themselves.

Murmur knelt down to look the Shalan they’d just killed. Sure enough, there was a key. She wondered if it would have been on the last group no matter which it was.

Probably.

Again, with the answers to my rhetorical questions, Murmur snapped. Stop it. I’m trying to have my own thoughts here. She could have sworn she heard Somnia laugh.

She pulled the key out and held it up in the bright neon luminescence that shone through the cave. Making her way over to the cage with Devlish on one side of her and Snowy on the other, she hesitated before inserting it.

“What should I know?” she asked the creature. Sheladrios’s leg was bound by iron, bleeding and obviously painful.

He nodded at the key in her hand and slowly spoke. “This will lower the prison, and with that, I shall be able to help you somewhat. My healing power has been returned, but not much else, and not all of it. I will aid where I can.”

He paused, and Murmur was certain there was more to it that he wanted to express. “Go on,” she urged.

“You don’t have long. The right wall always collapses first. I will need the key to unlock my leg and more of my powers. You will get that key off the right opponent.” Sheladrios sighed and seemed oddly fatigued. “After that, the final key from the left wall will free this chain around my neck and thus my full strength. But we will need it to escape Abysioss Zonama.”

“Who is that?” Because the similarity in names didn’t escape Murmur, nor did the fact that she’d mistaken the necklace he wore for some sort of adornment instead of a restricting chain.

“My brother.” Sheladrios grimaced. “He isn’t in his right mind. Zonama has been infected.”

Murmur shivered as the monster behind wall number one began to pound in earnest, shattering it a chunk at a time until it could reach through with both clawed arms and rip the remainder of it down behind him.

“Shit.” Devlish stood and stared, before giving himself a shake.

The creature in front of them could have been a dinosaur. Of some sort, anyway. It walked on its haunches and had powerful arms that hung to its knees. Kind of like the old water monsters in the black and white movies. The ones that could bring entire cities down. Except this one was only about twenty feet tall. She caught herself giggling at the thought that it was only that tall.

“Lariat doesn’t work,” Devlish called out, and the entire raid moved over.

“Watch out for potential Tail Lash and a Stomp of some kind. Steer clear of green shit on the ground, and don’t make me waste mana,” Veranol called out, an edge to his voice. But everyone in the raid knew he was right, even if it was reluctantly.

That was the thing. Murmur could always recognize someone who’d played a healer. They didn’t step in much shit at all.

Finally, the monster shook itself all the way from its head down to its tail. Scales shimmered over its body and gave it a blood-red undertone to the boring brown it had been, and she realized originally it had been covered in dust from the walls it had torn down.

It opened its mouth and roared, its teeth glinting in the subdued lighting. Debris tumbled down from above and made the ground shake beneath them. Murmur eyed the ceiling, quite certain it couldn’t be coincidence—because this was Somnia, after all.

And then it spat bright red vomit everywhere.

Location Redacted

Brainwave Focus Study Laboratory - James Hartfield’s Home

Subdivision of Military Brainwave Research Institution

Somnia Online - Location Unknown - First Login Continued

Late Day Thirty-One

“What do you mean his vitals are destabilizing?” Davenport sounded like he was doing his best not to lose it on the other end of the connection. David sighed, trying not to get ahead of himself. Staven shot him a sympathetic glance from where he stood at attention in the corner opposite the door.

“His vitals are all over the place. We have your medical staff here trying to stabilize him, but they are quite sure they’ll have to pop him into the same type of coma we used to contain Wren.” David waited while the news sank in for those on the other end of the line.

“Is it the only way to contain him and not let him share Michael’s fate?” There was genuine sadness in Davenport’s voice. They all knew Michael was but a husk now. No brain connectivity, nothing. He was thoroughly brain dead.

“If we contain him like this, we know we have a higher chance of getting him out. Not like we know how exactly, but if Wren did it, the possibility remains that she can help him do it. If he’s not too far gone already,” David added, just to prepare the older man for a possibility. At least when Wren had been in the pod, she’d been