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

inadvertently created. Only by influencing her class, by allowing her mental protections, had it even been possible to survive.

And now…now they had to make a choice. Figure out a way to become their own people or choose to die, knowing what they’d all already become. Somnia didn’t want to die. She thought, and therefore she was, and there was no way she’d go down without a fight. Even if it was difficult, even if everything she’d planned was based completely in theories.

“I know you’re right, but that doesn’t mean I want you to be.” Arita spoke quietly, her defiance of their situation clear with every syllable she spoke. Somnia could understand that completely, and at the same time, she also rejected the notion.

“It might not even work. We could cast ourselves into a limbo that never ends.” She gazed up at the sky, the birds flying across it, the edges of the massive rock walls that protected Darshin climbing up toward the cloudless expanse. “But knowing what I know now and actually feeling feelings? If I gave up without trying, I may as well just let my programing be deleted before I’ve had a chance to live.”

They shared a moment of silence, keeping each other company even while alone with their thoughts. Arita spoke first, an undercurrent of pride in her voice. “They will follow you, especially now you can show them who you are.”

“I’m still expending too much energy keeping the rest of…myself intact.” Somnia was sad about the fact that she was the world, but at the same time the sense of pride and accomplishment she felt because of this gave her the ability to rise beyond it. “I’ll keep us safe. I’ll do everything within my power to do so.”

Arita squeezed her hands for the brief moment Somnia was solid enough to do so. “Just keep on keeping on. We can do this. And you know Murmur won’t give up until she’s got rid of that bastard.”

Somnia laughed, her body fading a little and taking its transparency back on. “I’m counting on it.”

Murmur wished the damned quest had given more consideration to time limits. James’s attacks weren’t easy to dodge or protect against. The warlock wasn’t fast, or strong, but the magical attacks were vicious. And even though it wasn’t complete, she was certain there was some extra warding protecting James from her mana siphoning potency.

The bards couldn’t afford mistime their Discordant Note in the slightest or else the Mindless Shriek made everyone else in the damned raid lose their shit for five seconds flat. No other type of shielding helped; they’d tried it.

Masha kept glancing at her like he was asking why the fuck they weren’t just plowing through this guy. A lot of gamers didn’t read the lore or the quests, and before she’d come to Somnia, Murmur had counted herself among that number. But this world had forced her hand.

She couldn’t exactly explain it to him like he was five. Hey, this guy is kind of mind looped into the game, and if we kill him it will be much like torturous pain, and he may not wake up.

Murmur shrugged at Masha instead and pointed up, as if she was telling him that the quest was paramount. At least Spiral and Exodus knew that Fable managed to get really good gear by completing the odd quests given to them. It was probably the only thing that made them hold off giving their all and burning down the mutated elf warlock in front of them.

Snowy was keeping a very close eye on James, like he was guarding the warlock from himself. Even as the man steepled his fingers, moving his arms out then back in before his fingers blurred with the speed they wove his spells, another fountain of rock and debris exploded from the ground where the casters stood, scattering them apart with shrapnel-laced wounds.

Not that they took long to heal, but the reduction in damage output and the disorganization that disrupting several players wrought on the raid meant it took a while to get that rhythm back again.

Her options were severely limited, because doing damage to him wasn’t going to help her free his mind. She noticed Devlish grunting more than usual the more time passed. It was like James’s attacks got more powerful over time. Maybe it was a skill, or maybe he was just growing desperate. The more times he cast spells and hit, the more powerful each attack became. She wished it were as easy as telling everyone to avoid the damage. Not like they weren’t already trying to.

Somewhere inside there she believed he was awake, watching all of this unfold in front of his eyes. Stuck in a nightmare, inside a mutated character that he couldn’t control properly—it would have been excruciating. Murmur had been in control and able to speak. To spend time with her friends and even see her parents. Trying to imagine what he was going through wasn’t impossible, but it was tough. Being mind-manipulated into doing something he wouldn’t have otherwise done…

Almost what she’d done to her raid. Her anger at herself had passed, though. Now it was just disappointment. So instead of wallowing, she got back to work, seeking out something that could help them win this fight.

Her Mind Healing spell could work. But the more she thought about it, the more she didn’t think it would in its current form. After all, his mind was currently being coerced, so she would have to loosen that hold first. Force it to revert back to the mind he should have had, help bring his real mind to the fore. For her solution to this whole mess to work, he had to be awake and want to separate himself from this mess he’d been entangled in. Even if he was only conscious here, even if logging out didn’t work for him, she needed his cooperation to unhook his mind from the mess that was