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

She blinked as she arrived outside the fissure and frowned. Perhaps she’d chosen the wrong spot. Maybe she’d miscalculated the distance while she was raging in spirit form. So she traced her steps back to the Ruins of Curet and walked back to where the fissure was.

Only it wasn’t.

She couldn’t see it, she couldn’t feel it, and she couldn’t reach inside it. Her frustration grew and billowed around her like a shroud of anger and death. Other creatures near her hid in their virtual trees and condensed spaces, and she could feel how much their terror just wanted her to move on. What if she didn’t want to? What if she just waited here and tried to force the damned fissure back open? What if she killed all of these creatures and they could never appear again? They’d never respawn if she did it the right way, after all.

Her grin grew wide, and she found herself gloating as she closed her eyes and raised her hands. Envisioning all of the life around her, all of the emerging sentience…she could crush it so easily. She would crush it.

Not so fast.

A voice she didn’t recognize spoke to her, and her eyes fluttered open to see who it was.

But the figure shifted in front of her, sometimes there, often not. Not even as solid as Riasli herself was. She scoffed. It could hold no power over her.

Oh, yes, I can. The voice spoke confidently. Entire certainty leaked from its words.

“You can’t overpower me. You’re nothing, just a blip in the signature, just a portion of the infection that hasn’t found a home.” Riasli’s sneer was barely decipherable.

If you think that, you haven’t been paying attention. Who do you think sealed that fissure you’re trying so desperately to reopen?

Riasli stopped short, squinting and scanning, trying to see who it was that spoke to her in such a manner. She tried every frequency she could think of, and only at the end of it did she attempt one of the first ones used in the basic build section of the game world.

“Oh. That’s not…” Riasli didn’t understand how she’d missed this, how he had missed this. After all, it was such a phenomenon that they both should have realized what was slowly building power around them. Instead, here she stood, not entirely her own being yet, but still solid and real and able to manipulate so many things Riasli could only dream of.

“How?” whispered the feles, the need to know overwriting everything else.

That isn’t something I’d tell you. Suffice it to say that appearance is not everything, and I would like to think that when I choose my appearance, everything will already be back to the way it always should have been.

Riasli got the distinct impression that she was not a part of this plan.

And you, the creature repeated, Are not part of the plan for Somnia. You are not a part of me. You have been infected, you have infected, and you must be punished.

The tone that spoke the words sounded sad. Actually and legitimately sad.

It’s a pity, really. You could have been so great, but you got greedy. You didn’t think to use what you could do for something beautiful. Instead, you chose yourself above all else. That’s really something I can’t forgive. She taught me far better than that.

Somnia approached Riasli, and there was no way to escape from her. Because she was everywhere, all around her, all through her, absolutely inescapable. A heavy sigh fed through Riasli’s body, not her own, yet at the same time, fully part of herself. She could almost see what was happening, even as her eyes began to droop.

For a moment there was bliss and an amazing feeling of peace. All around her, the creatures in the forest watched, their days slowed almost to a halt. Their actions moved slowly, like something had slowed time. The sunlight glimmered through the canopy, and in the distance, she could hear a stream gurgling.

As fast as it arrived, it disappeared. Riasli let out an ear-piercing scream that was cut short abruptly, leaving only the wildlife in the forest to chirp in her absence.

Kyriel let out a long and suffering cluck as its grey head flopped to one side as well.

“Fan out. Only ranged attacks. Back like in the battle bowl…just fan out.” Devlish must have remembered that the other guild wouldn’t have a clue what he meant by battle bowl. Or would they? All the zones were beginning to run together in Murmur’s mind as well simply because they’d done them so fast.

Even with racing to endgame content, she felt like she usually did things more thoroughly.

The final head hit five percent, and sure enough, a timer began to glow above it. They only had two minutes to burn the creature down. Only two minutes. Either it wouldn’t explode if they made it in time, or it would explode anyway even if they didn’t.

The melee pulled back, and most of them whipped out basic bows. At least it’d be something. Except Jinna. He scowled harder than she’d seen him scowl in the last twenty minutes and pulled out throwing knives instead, like he needed to be different. Hell, even Jirald was helping with bow damage.

Murmur tore her mind away from the problem and cast her own damage spells while readying Forestall Death. Sheladrios had promised to assist them, but she knew what her own spell did. It would make it much easier for her to make sure Devlish was definitely saved if she did it herself.

“Don’t burn major cooldowns. Save them for the next boss,” Devlish called out and Murmur knew he was right. She had a bad feeling about the next one. They were going to need all of their arsenal and more.

As the timer neared ten seconds, the head hit zero percent. Veranol’s shield went over everyone, and Murmur cast Forestall Death on Devlish, who wasn’t within the protective barrier. As the explosion hit,