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

her credit for her own regal appearance. Stick with these guys for long enough, and they’d all surprise her.

Right then, Emilarth offered her a very subtle wink, and Murmur had to stop herself from groaning.

Belius still sounded so old when he spoke, and Murmur still wasn’t sure what had possessed him to use such and aged voice. “Each group will journey to one of the three major cities. Pelagu. Darshin. Multagen. You will move inside the city walls to the fountains positioned in the middle of them. Each fountain will have a corresponding keyhole. It is there the keys must be placed and turned at the same time in order to activate the mechanisms. The prison will raise, and all monsters within must be defeated.”

There was a mumbling from the crowd as they listened to the NPCs, all of them thinking it was just another quest, while Fable at least had an inkling of what was really at stake. They’d seen it in Mur, and in the dungeons, and even in the headgear they now wore. Not to mention they were all aware that Telvar and the other two were much more than NPCs.

QUEST UPDATE:

You will journey to the three pillars and activate the mechanism with the obtained keys.

You must subdue all of the prison monsters, lest the world as you know it fall.

QUEST UPDATE: The Fountains

You’ve come a long way since those early days. Keep your eye out now more than ever. The fountains literally hold the keys.

“You know?” Sinister said beside her, her fingers intertwined with Murmur’s. “So when you said you could hear voices in your head, I’d always thought that was a remnant of the coma, your class, or you were just kidding with me, but it wasn’t, was it? It’s a remnant of that modification he did to your headgear.”

Mur nodded, still trying to follow the discussion the AIs were having. She didn’t really need to. She’d already marked the to-do list on her calendar. Telvar told them to go and unlock the three sluice gates, so to speak, that would raise the lost continent or something and bring about the destruction of Somnia unless the wee adventurers decided to be magnanimous and stop it.

Something like that. Somnia sounded partially amused.

Might be nice to actually give me an answer every once in a while, Murmur commented dryly. Just one more dungeon. She could do that.

Somnia hummed in the background, sort of like a set of servers communicating with the internet, so Murmur waited for the inevitable lecture or speech or explanation that was obviously on its way.

About that. See—the connection we have can’t be severed anymore. I’m amazed you humans are so bad at understanding your own brains, really. It’s all so interconnected. It’s not like firing on one area is going to only change the portion located in that exact spot.

Murmur rolled her eyes, not really wanting a science lesson right then. Give me the short version. I’ve got a raid to plan.

Oh, the others are fully capable of doing it, and you know it. You’re just a bit of a control freak. Somnia sounded like she was smirking.

This coming from a virtual world who decided she wanted to be real?

Touché. Somnia chuckled, but she didn’t sound happy about it. Look. The short version is: when I shorted out your connection it sort of...rewired a portion of your brain, and now you’re kind of stuck with me. There’s so much we can do together. At least, the more information I gather, the more I realize it`s possible, anyway.

She sounded so excited, but Murmur felt a coldness spread in her stomach. Her brain was totally rewired, and it wasn’t just the headgear. What did that mean? Wasn’t she still her own person, though? Does the headset provide me some protection at all?

Definitely. You shouldn’t go crazy while wearing it, at any rate. Somnia laughed and had probably attempted to be comical, but Murmur couldn’t shake the feeling of dread in her bones.

“Mur?” Sinister tugged on her hand, looking up at her with worried eyes. “You sort of blanked out. You okay?”

Murmur nodded and then squeezed Sinister’s hand. “Yeah, I’ll be okay. I have to be. I’ve just got a lot to sort out once we finally get this next raid over with.”

Sinister continued to look worried. “You really need to stop bottling shit up, remember?”

A stab of guilt hit Murmur. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just worried about how my connection to this headset has altered aspects of the way I think. There, better?”

Sinister laughed. “No, not really. But I’m glad you told me. Now we can both worry.”

Murmur couldn’t help but smile, even if something about this quest nagged at her. She busied herself with making the groups they needed to go and unlock the prison.

 

Murmur stood in front of the fountain in the center of Darshin, Telvar by her side. For some reason she always felt safer with him close.

Thanks.

You’re welcome, you crazy little self-actuating AI.

My pleasure.

These fountains had always been sort of creepy, and Murmur didn’t think it had changed. In fact, they felt even more odd now. Like something was lurking beneath and waiting for them. She guessed, from what the quest had said, that it was true.

Murmur smiled as she waited for the rest of her team to make it to the center of the city. It was weird not having Sinister with her, but since Veranol had wards and Murmur had stuns, they’d figured sending each of the other two groups with two healers each was more conducive to survival should they get portaled into different sections of the prison.

Murmur glanced at the gold key in her hand. It was sort of pretty. The large key dangled the three smaller ones beneath it, and she glanced up at the fountain to check for holes but frowned when she didn’t see any immediately. Sinister had Emilarth’s key, and Mellow had the black one.

Each key was held by members