The Devil In White: An AA Online Novel

The class had dragged, and she had literally skipped her way to the gym to get her workout in before rushing back to her apartment. She knew they wouldn't be there in her apartment, but she was really looking forward to seeing the second floor of the Royal Apothecary's Tomb under Brack. More than that she had a whole bunch of new questions, and every painful turn of the minute hand told her she was being incredibly impatient.

When she finally got home there was no one there, as expected, but a note was on the table with a covered dish. "Eat me." She read aloud.

Forsythe. Amelia snickered as she uncovered the dish. It steamed immediately as the heat retaining bowl activated to warm itself. She stared for a long time, wondering how someone who had never cooked in their life managed to make a meatloaf that made her mouth water by scent. She remembered his pained look when she told him she was mostly a food pill person. Well not everyone could cook! She wolfed it down as fast as she could and placed the bowl in the washer, where small slides pulled the dish in and began humming to shake off extra food before the sonic wash.

When she got to her bed she found her portable terminal with a note on it. She muttered as she read it aloud. "Fred Template loaded. Use if you want. - A." She thought about it for a moment then connected the terminal to her account and uploaded the interface graphic that would replace her standard light spell. Light was a colorless spell as it had no purpose other than to bring illumination to dark places, so she could actually use it. The little load bar did not, however, show her what it looked like while it loaded to her AA account. She was going to be really mad if it was something outrageous or inappropriate.

That being done she plopped down on the bed and pulled the thin helmet on, closing her eyes and getting comfortable as she used the voice command to turn the system on.

Amelia opened her eyes in the dark of the first floor of the tomb and sat up slowly. She saw that she had appeared off to the side where she had set herself to disappear and that most of the people from yesterday were already on. She was technically right on time, but she had been worried that the group would start and she would have to catch up. Excited chatter hummed in the air and cooking smells, blacksmith hammer blows, and the sounds of other trades made the whole place seem like a lively party rather than a serious underground exploration. Residents were laughing around mobile grills and forges, eating and mingling with the Transients. Everyone looked to be having a pretty good time actually. The Transients were using materials given to them by the Alliance and were skilling up at a brisk pace. The cooks, for instance, got to cook for a huge number of Resident Soldiers, all of whom seemed to have no problem moving between the different cooks and trying different dishes. The same could be said for the hard crafting Transients. Blacksmiths and Tailors, Sketch Artists, Map-makers, all of them were surrounded and chatting amiably.

Aidan wasn't hard to spot. He had… an orange globe with him and had his own excited entourage. Wizards and Sorcerers were pointing at it and jabbering at him, and he was explaining with open hands.

"[Light Globe]." Amelia turned on her spell, surprised when a prompt appeared.

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Would you like to use custom graphic "Fred"?

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"Yes."

Immediately a small purple globe the same size and illumination as her normal globe appeared. Inside that globe of beautiful violet light, a dragonfly beat its wings rapidly, making it appear that it was really working hard to stay in that one spot. When she moved experimentally the globe turned horizontally and the dragonfly seemed to swim through the light toward her. It was adorable.

She was going to fuss with it a bit more but Aidan spotted her and she decided to head in that direction. As Amelia walked toward him, pulling her blue hood over her face, she began to hear the others around her more clearly.

"The carpenters working on the sh.i.p.s have been joined by wood carvers. They're carving ornaments and pictures into the sh.i.p.s and they found out that the sh.i.p.s are going to go faster as a result or become more sturdy. The better the art the better the ship buff."

"That's amazing! Do you think it works on the other tradecrafts? I mean people carve stuff into their own goods, but they don't have other artists do it for them."

"Oh god. That food that Iodlis was selling had buffs on it. He said he just hit Master Cooking, and I have over 120% satiation. I won't have to eat as often! He said that it varies on what he uses, and he's still experimenting."

"The first floor wasn't bad. That spider though."

"I screamed. Hahaha. When we got lit on fire? Jeez."

"That's the worst!"

"Ho, Amelia." Aidan greeted her, and the other people around him turned to regard her as well. "Oh, you are using it. I thought I'd use purple for yours. I was thinking it went better with your cloak and didn't make you stand out as much."

Before she could say anything a wizard to his right chuckled. "Failed then. Everyone wants one of those now. We're all tired of the same light globe."

"Oh. I unlocked a job." Aidan said, ignoring the man masterfully. "Graphic Spell Specialization. I specialized a lot of my spells and when I logged in I had the choice. I can edit spell graphics for myself and other people in the game now. It's a really neat display window." He made an opening motion and waited for her, but she didn't see anything.

"Sorry, I think that's a you only thing." Amelia smiled.

"Oh." He looked bummed out. "Maybe when I get past Beginner 1."

"Hey. Are you the Chronicler of the Heavens?" A woman pressed forward. "I'm Seras, and I've been dying to find you. I'm a Chronicler and I really want your specialization. What are the prerequisites?" She blushed. "I mean if you don't mind. I realize competition in this game isn't something everyone wants."

"No problem. Seras." Amelia looked up and called her character menu. She dug for a moment, curious herself. She had never looked at all the requirements.

"We're online over here." Forsythe and Elisha through party chat.

' "Yep." Hunter, sounding tired.

"Pirate Queen reporting." Raven chimed in.

"Uhh. You have to write 300 pages. Be level 30. Have at least Intermediate Chronicler, probably no problem for you. Have visited 50 dungeons lowest floor. Have witnessed and recorded a real event. Have worked in one of the great academies and completed at least one quest for its headmaster… I think that's it. The rest is just stat stuff that looks ordinary." Amelia looked down, canceling the window.

She was not ready for the stares. Even Aidan had stopped whatever he was doing in his graphic interface and was staring at her. Seras mumbled her gratitude, writing down the requirements in her book and somehow looked suddenly devastated. Everyone hastily startled when they realized she knew they were staring, and most made their goodbyes and vanished.

"You are a monster." Aidan grinned.

"What? I really don't get what's so amazing. I wasn't even looking for this special job." Amelia said, hastily looking at the retreating backs and wondering why everyone was fleeing.

"That's what makes you a monster. 300 pages? Good grief Amelia." Aidan grinned at her again, teasing entering his voice. "50 dungeons? You do realize that's a continent full of dungeons where you have to see the BOTTOM floor right? Just how many groups did you go with? Why don't you have any friends?"

"I have friends!" Amelia protested, and then felt her stomach curl. "They just quit. You know, they had jobs. Or I was just tagging along in a lot of groups. When you're a stranger no one talks to you, they're just glad you do your job. You may have noticed but I don't stand out that much. Only weirdos want me in their party."

"Shadow Fall be praised I am a weirdo," Aidan said gently.

"Whatever. Let's go." Amelia muttered, feeling her stomach flutter weirdly.

"I don't control the army." Aidan reminded her.

"Not THIS one." Amelia whispered harshly, immediately regretting it. If she hurt his feelings they didn't show on his face. He shrugged his shoulders in a 'what can you do' sort of way and they waited quietly for the Resident General to start rallying the troops. Which, thankfully, he eventually did.

"Ranks will be four shields wide, two shields deep! We will split into smaller groups as the labyrinth allows! Archers, Healers, and Lancers to the rear." They had gone down a series of stairs of monolithic proportions, and when they arrived on the second floor the first thing everyone noticed was this was not like the first floor in any sense. It was a series of hallways that branched in every direction. Where the first floor had been one giant open room, this floor seemed to be a genuine maze floor.

All hallways would probably lead to the end, but there would be different encounters. To expedite this, the General was assigning groups with orders to fall back and use their shields to cover the hallway if they met any real danger. Transients had volunteered to friend each other from each group so that if a group got in trouble they could send messages requesting aid. It was a pretty good idea.

The problem became apparent minutes later as Aidan and Amelia followed a group of 20 in front of them. They met large vermin swarming the halls that were easily dealt with, simply because the Allied force was so great in number. Everyone was eager to hit something, and the hallway just wasn't wide enough to provide enough targets for everyone to participate. At least everyone still shared the experience, even from the other groups. Still many people began complaining, and after a suggestion from Aidan, the group commander, a Resident Paladin named Jeremy, agreed that they would cycle people from the back of the group to the front to give everyone breaks and to give everyone a chance to fight. This suggestion was relayed to all the groups, and a series of wary gratitude poured out. Everyone had been feeling the strain of just marching along behind the people doing all the work, and in the case of the people of the front, the feeling that they were doing all the work while these leeches followed them.

"What else did you change?" Amelia wondered when it was their turn to return to the middle of the pack.

"Hmm?" Aidan asked.

"What does your new job do for you that your out-of-game can't?" Amelia asked.

"Uh. I can give people templates in the game. I can work on them in the game. I think I'm even being given more colors. It's too soon to know how cool this is but I am kind of excited about it. I was never a crafter you see. I like to do different things and I don't stick with the single trades long enough." Aidan said.

"You seem excited now." Amelia smiled.

"Yeah. I-." Aidan was interrupted by Elisha.

"Forsythe. What was your daughter's name?" Elisha asked over the party channel. It was an innocent question anyone her age might ask. Immediately though, she sounded contrite. "I am so sorry. I forgot the party channel was on. I'm really sorry. Please forget about it."

"I don't have a daughter, and didn't have a daughter." Forsythe replied, sounding perplexed.

"But Aidan said you lost your family in the game?" Elisha said, losing all uncertainty about the appropriateness of asking. Hunter must have been busy because she didn't scold her.

"I said I lost my family. Everyone did. We weren't going to see them again so isn't it natural to say you're alone?" Forsythe was sounding baffled again.

"You didn't have a wife and kid?" Aidan demanded.

"No?" Forsythe, pausing a beat, then asking. "Why would you think that?"

"I just. Inferred. I mean. I never asked because I wanted to be considerate." Aidan burst in, and then backpedaled, sounding harangued. It was really nice that he was on the receiving end for once, is what Amelia thought.

"You were super considerate then," Forsythe replied generously. "Since you're so ignorant it means you didn't even get any useful information for your fantasy about my life."

"Our friendship is a lie! I don't know you! Who are you?" Aidan demanded, suddenly sounding peeved and childish. It was probably a sign of how embarrassed he was. Sure enough, Aidan had a panicked look on his face when Amelia looked over.

"Hey Forsythe, I'm glad your imaginary family never existed and, therefore, didn't die." Raven popped into the conversation. She was practically gloating.

"Thank you Raven, that's sweet of you." Raven and Forsythe seemed to be enjoying this all of a sudden. "I am thankful your imaginary family seems to be doing well?"

"Oh yes, thank you Fours." Raven said as politely as she could. "That is so considerate."

"Oh shut up!" Aidan said, looking fl.u.s.tered and glancing over at Amelia for aid. She was of no help. She was turning her head away, sniggering loudly. "How is it going over there, Forsythe. IF THAT'S YOUR REAL NAME." Aidan finally demanded.

"Of course it's not my real name. Only weirdos like you and Amelia use your real first names for a character." Forsythe chided, and then he paused. "We are moving through a subterranean swamp. People get dragged underwater but there are so many of us that we haven't lost anyone yet."

"I'm a weirdo too then." Elisha chimed in.

"No. Elisha is a superhero name." Raven protested. "It's only natural you use it."

"I see. So just Amelia and Aidan then." Elisha wondered aloud.

"Don't drag me into this imaginary family debate." Amelia protested.

"How was the big snake yesterday?" Raven wanted to know.

"Oh, it was so cool. Did I tell you guys that Forsythe has Invincible morale?" Elisha sounded excited again. "This snake right. It came up and it paralyzed our first group with fear. Just stared at us and we couldn't move. Started to move up to us, and Forsythe he walks up and bops it on the snout with his sword. 'For dominance' is what he says, and he's cutting at it and he looks back and he asks us why we're all standing still. Like, he didn't even get hit by it at all and can't figure it out, and so he's fighting it and we finally break free. We fight it for a while and it paralyzes us again, and he just keeps bopping it on the nose with his sword until we get free. After that, it couldn't paralyze us. I guess watching it getting hit on the nose over and over made it less scary or something."

Hunter was giggling helplessly. "I would have loved to have seen that. Ahh. I'm sorry you had to hear me giggle like that."

"Oh mom, it gets better. So we're done with the fight but there's this girl wizard, Aphalia or something with a name close to Amelia's, and she's having a panic attack. She has a fear of snakes. So Forsythe reaches into his pack and takes out one of the fast mount handles. I think he got it from the horse we rode to get here, he musta gripped it so hard he broke it off and then he put it in his storage. He hands it to her and tells her 'it'll help with anxiety'! She is so confused she calms right down, and he takes it back, nodding and saying that it was exactly like he expected. The General put him in charge and now we're just wandering around in circles in this swamp killing things. Everyone is chatting and having a good time." Elisha was laughing now.

"What? You told me it reduces anxiety." Forsythe said accusingly.

"Apparently it does!" Elisha crowed.

"That's adorable!" Hunter was still giggling, forgetting about being contrite at laughing over the channel.

Aidan and Amelia were laughing now, and it must have been infectious. The once dour mood of their group in the hallway turned light, and people began casually chatting to each other as they advanced when they were on breaks.

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Global Announcement

Far Western Isles Area Unlocked!

Braving the dangers of the treacherous straits, the crew of the Scarlet Raven has succeeded in passing both the Sea of Monsters and the Whirlpools of Agony - agreeing to sell their routes to other sh.i.p.s! The Far Western Isles people were impressed with the navigation of the crew of the Scarlet Raven and her sister fleet, and have vowed to begin journeying East toward the Northern Continent to explore and establish relations.

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"Raven." Forsythe said ominously, almost as if he were threatening her.

"What? Would you believe it wasn't me?" Raven w.h.i.n.ed.

"You didn't just open up some huge enemy on us did you?" Hunter asked anxiously.

"No. Funny story. There were these monsters in the Sea of Monsters. I was forcing… err… commanding everyone to fight them to raise their levels and then there was this whirlpool and I made… err… suggested we take the routes near them to raise our navigation. Then these smaller boats began appearing. Well, Brudy wanted to sink them, but I convinced him that sinking them was a bad idea. I mean they could have STUFF on them. We could have blown it up. Then they were mostly women, and the pirates, my guys, they're really weak to women who are impressed by sea men…" Raven explained.

"I lost interest," Forsythe admitted.

"Shut up Forsythe. You're not even a pirate." Raven complained.

"I don't know why you pretend you're not a tyrant." Aidan snickered.

"I'm a benevolent ruler!" Raven insisted.

"Amelia, do you know of any benevolent rulers that string their competition up and hang them out in the sun to slowly starve to death until they come around?" Aidan asked.

"I know of one, I guess." Amelia admitted, remembering Raven and that twirling captain, cursing her until she had him brought down and gagged.

"Whatever. My ideas are progressive." Raven sneered.

"This place is too big," Aidan muttered. He had said it to Amelia, out of the party channel.

Amelia looked up, noting that the frontlines were still having no trouble with the vermin that literally crawled over one another to attack the group. There wasn't enough space for the sheer amount of high level vermin. Still, they had been fighting forward for some time, groups had been chatting, and the chatter had increased with the global announcement.

"Makes me wonder what we're going to face later on. The game seems to be preparing us level wise." Aidan mused.

"Nah. If there weren't over a hundred of us this would be tense and exciting right? I mean we'd be constantly fighting." Amelia argued.

"Perhaps. I think two mages casting fields and hopping them forward would clear this fairly quickly." Aidan insisted.

"Yeah." Amelia allowed. "We won't do that though because the Residents and Transients want to raise their martial skills though. Doesn't do them any good to be high level with sub-par skill expertise."

"That's my point. This is turning into a grind of XP. I mean just walking along on breaks and I've risen 2 levels today." Aidan grimaced. "I didn't level once while traveling with you, but here we're just… strolling and I'm leveling."

"You didn't get any meaningful experience when you were fighting things so far below you." Amelia pointed out.

"Hmm." Aidan had already lost interest. Not in Amelia, because he kept looking over at her and making wisecracks, but in the topic of the conversation. He was looking left and right and moving his hands up and down. Probably messing with his new Graphic Spell Specialist job.