The Devil In White: An AA Online Novel

"Hello, I'm Abhijita Thompkins, and tonight as a pre-game special we are converting all of our streams in preparation for viewers to watch the final clash of the Visage arc against the forces from the three kingdoms, the humans, silf, and dwarves. In addition to that, we have terminal communication with Hall of Famer Amelia who has been streaming events for us recently. Hello Amelia." Abhy turned toward a screen that had been placed opposite to her chair that simply had Amelia's name on it.

"Hello. I have to admit Abhy, you're much more beautiful than I thought you would be." Amelia said, finding it disconcerting that she could hear her voice seconds later from her screen that was streaming. She was sitting on her couch with her b.a.r.e feet tucked under her, watching the stream on the light curtain even as she spoke. It was kind of surreal to be talking and then to hear her words moments later coming from a network stream channel.

"Oh stop. I'm married, Amelia." Abhy chuckled, and then her face once again turned serious. "While we have other methods of confirming, I would like your acknowledgment that Gilduirn has started the quest before the main invasion fleet has arrived."

"Yes. We received a global announcement stating as much." Amelia said simply.

"Already we are hearing from our gamer audience that they think this might be a power play. He's recently lost a lot of prestige and has even fallen out of the Hall of Fame this month. Players think he is making a stretch to get back into the Hall of Fame, and that he's risking the world to do it." Abhy steepled her fingers on her knees.

"Was there a question?" Amelia asked after a pause.

"What do you think Amelia, as someone who has been power-leveling with a great number of players and NPC's, is Gilduirn being a hot-head?" Abhy rephrased. "Of course we're asking all our streamers to answer this question."

"There are many who think so. I don't believe that to be the case though. Gilduirn always believed that the outcome of this battle would be decided by Ominous. Each member of his guild has been vetted through a variety of the hardest raids available, excepting perhaps the Tombs underneath the City-Leader castles and fortresses. If I had an outlook like that there would be no reason to wait for anyone else to show up. He has also stated before that he believes resolution as quickly as possible is the best outcome." Amelia paused, and then feeling baited, felt compelled to add. "Also, it's in poor taste to call them NPC's. They're Residents. NPC as a term doesn't encompass the complexity of the personality or backstory that Residents have. You can't carry on unique conversations with NPC's."

"My apologies. I feel though that there is more to that statement. Can you tell us what makes you defend Residents? I mean they are generated by the game." Abhy said, smirking as if it were all part of her plan.

"If an NPC dies it respawns. If a Resident dies then their vendor stall, guard post, or role has to be filled by an entirely new Resident. The backstory, conversations generated from personality and their unique history, all of that is lost. That's what makes the Resident threat of this invasion so terrifying. If the Visage were to somehow win they would start converting Residents. The city that you find yourself in will be less populated. Stands and vendors that used to be there with Residents that remembered your name and past interactions will be gone, guards that are moving through the city giving it a sense of life will be absent, and in the most extreme cases Transients will not be able to continue their gaming experience in the same fashion because the economy relies a great deal on Resident purchasing power." Amelia replied gravely.

"What are your thoughts on victory?" Abhy suddenly asked, switching tracks with practiced ease.

"How is Gilduirn doing? I suppose you can't show us his stream because of copyright issues?" Amelia countered.

"Uh, unfortunately not. Which is somewhat embarrassing. Neither Gilduirn nor his agents could be reached to procure footage of the battle, though we are told he is streaming now and that they are fighting groups of 30 or so at a time. Much like the creatures that were seen at Port Laudable." Abhy pointed on her screen, and instead of Gilduirn it was Hunter leading a desperate charge at Port Laudable. "We would love to show his stream as well, sadly, much like how he didn't wait for everyone else he signed with someone before we could get him."

"No special types yet?" Amelia persisted, ignoring the hidden barb.

"No. They are all generically the same, though there are a few of the dark mages mixed in with them. It is going surprisingly well." Abhy admitted, leaning back in her chair and letting Amelia ask a question. Amelia was a player too and other players would be interested in her questions or be asking the same ones themselves.

"I see." Amelia was chagrined to hear the dread in her own answer.

"You have reason to believe that he will meet with trouble?" Abhy asked, pouncing on the tone of her voice.

"Yes. I have seen nothing in this game to indicate that what comes will be anything but the hardest fight ever recorded in the game. The sources that describe the Visage have been very accurate so far, which has surprised me. They are recycled enemies, so to speak, so we should be starting to see something different from them. Their teeth so to speak." Amelia said, talking aloud to herself more than trying to sound interesting.

"Recycled enemies? Can you confirm where they have been seen before and in which game?" Abhy asked, suddenly interested. Another leading question.

"It's no secret that Centra Holdings has purchased the Last Sojourn game data," Amelia said flatly. "They were an enemy bound to a certain sub-level in a dungeon somewhere, so they weren't a huge threat in that game. I say that with respect, of course, toward the game's state, not player safety."

"Wait, so you're saying they're from the death game?" Abhy's mouth was hanging open in the video, and she quickly dismissed her shock and schooled her features. "Isn't that a bold move on Centra Holding's part?" Quickly moving away from the fact they probably shouldn't be discussing this for legal reasons and blaming Centra Holdings instead.

"I do not believe so. In this game, we have dragons, snakes, manticore, and any number of other mythical creatures. Games borrow from fantasy and other games all the time because you can't get a true sense of…" Amelia paused, trying to sort out her words. She decided to start over. "It wouldn't be a fantasy game without it being a shared fantasy of pirates and dragons. Deadly and recognizable enemies might be less feared to some extent but their familiarity makes them fan favorites."

Abhy was holding a hand to her ear, listening apparently to someone over her earpiece. They had apparently told her to drop it because she switched tracks quickly and moved away from asking any more questions about Last Sojourn. "I'm being told now that you have an amazing number of support people with you. People who won't fight in the battle directly because they are not combat classes or because they are too low level. Why the decision to include them?"

"Their strength has been instrumental. The sh.i.p.s we sail on now are enhanced through carving and through the skills of master Shipwrights and Carpenters. A journey of a week was shortened to 3 days. When we arrive they will help us build walls, siege weaponry, maintain weapons and armor, cook us food, sing us songs of courage. All of these individually might seem to make their contribution superfluous, but it is no exaggeration to say that the strength of our army is carried on their shoulders." Amelia replied, feeling a little irked that she had to describe something so basic. She had heard the same line over and over telling her about how these people were of no use and were taking up space on the sh.i.p.s. These were the people that they fought for, people who understood the value of the world they played in, and people who had the courage to face a foe they couldn't fight while risking horrible death penalties.

"I thought weapons and armor couldn't be destroyed? What is the use of maintaining them?" Abhy coaxed. Amelia was starting to get the impression that she was being led to every one of her answers despite the fact there wasn't a script.

"We discover every day that simply making weapons is the tip of the iceberg. Carving and engraving can be added. New materials can be folded onto existing weapons and armors and giving them substantial boosts. This is only through the power of the Master crafters in our midst." Amela replied dutifully.

"Amelia I feel like you dodged me earlier. What do you, personally, think your chances of victory are." Abhy asked again. The screen behind her began flashing clips of her battles with the spider, the terror of the deep, and the death bird Airu as the silence dragged on.

"Amelia?" Abhy frowned and looked off to the side when no answer came.

"I can only tell you that I hope Gilduirn was right." Amelia said after a full minute of dead silence.

"C'mon! Your best guess. I personally assure you that if you're wrong, no one will hold it against you." Abhy boasted, and then she looked into the camera. "Right viewers? We're dying for more information before the final clash."

"Then I will tell you my fears, and let you extrapolate what I think from them. If Gilduirn is only fighting groups of 30 at a time, I have to wonder where the rest of the enemy is. It had to be a force large enough to wipe city after city off the map. The Refugees from the north report that their population exceeded 50,000 and this is an enemy that makes more soldiers from the dead." Amelia paused and added to ill.u.s.trate. "50,000 visage isn't something your eye can fully encompass even if they are all standing in rows in front of you. I don't know our exact numbers but everyone, non-combatants included, will be outnumbered by..." Amelia shrugged, forgetting they couldn't see her.

"I also wonder that the announcement said that the Super Level 1 quest was underway, yet we have seen no boss or lieutenant class monsters or any substantially dangerous enemy. It was kind of uninteresting for an announcement. Lacking detail or excitement, like a note about a schedule."

"I am also curious that a hidden god appeared during our level grind, someone who was so incredibly powerful that the Residents could barely stand to look at her and who wiped out an entire floor on her own. She seemed to think that we would have a formidable challenge ahead of us." Amelia paused, and stared for a moment at her light curtain when Vienne suddenly appeared on the monitors behind Abhy. "So if you really want to know what I think our chances ar-."

"Yes! The Hidden God Vienne!" Abhy said, quickly shifting away from Amelia's prediction of doom.

"She was overwhelming," Amelia admitted before going back to continue her thought on victory. Abhy had pressed for the answer and she was going to get it. Amelia was tired of being bull rushed. "The game itself through its flavor text for the quest has inferred that the world will be won or lost at this battle. Transients who are killed will resurrect days away from the battle, weakened from the death penalty. Residents who are killed will never return and it will be a devastating blow to the defense of the kingdoms. All our sh.i.p.s will be converted for enemy use or more likely, simply destroyed."

Abhy didn't interrupt her this time, so she continued.

"So I will say again, I hope Gilduirn was right. I hope he concludes the event before we get there. I hope we win because I don't play this game to go to these epic battles. I play the game to explore areas and dungeons, meet people, see interesting things, and I suppose probably now to eat Forsythe's cooking. The Visage from our intelligence cut down trees, flatten areas, destroy all indigenous life be it Resident or creature, and desecrate the land. Right now all I can say is I hope Gilduirn was right, and I hope everyone who didn't come with us is leveling up right now just in case we wipe."

Abhy was holding up a finger to the camera, holding her other hand over her ear. "Sorry to cut you off Amelia, I feel like that was a pretty robust answer right there anyway. Elias Thompkins, CEO of MKC Online, wishes to address the audience after my next question." Abhy removed her hand from her ear and turned to the screen with Amelia's name on it. "Amelia, some are terming you the most powerful Transient that plays the game right now. Especially after your comeback victory in the tomb under the Brack Kingdom and your sound and swift destruction of nearly 20% of a bosses life. What do you think about that? Do you think you're the strongest?"

Amelia snorted before she could stop herself, and had the embarrassing sound relayed to her again over her light curtain. She quickly spoke, "no, if anything I feel like I'm the weakest a lot of the time. Everyone always asks me about the buff's I cast. They seem really interested until they learn that I gave up all my schools of magic and I basically stand there. As for the question of strongest, I would have to say that's a ridiculous sentiment. I was walking through the Brack Kingdom the other day and I saw someone, in a cloak, who was walking down the street alone. I just happened to look up, and his level was not available. I examined him and he was wearing armor and material I had never seen. His level was so far above mine, by 100 or so I would guess, that I couldn't even formulate an idea of how strong he was. At that time I thought to myself that the strongest people aren't necessarily the one's going to the battle. They are the ones that tirelessly and quietly play the game alone or in small groups and don't care about meeting other people. Maybe they found high level dungeons and spend all day and night in them just for entertainment. Places that aren't accessible but through special events or jobs. It's possible they don't even know that there is a war coming because they don't check social media and don't go to town for more than a few days at a time to sell their goods. So no, I do not think I'm remotely close to the top." Amelia sat back, smirking to herself. The idea that she was the strongest was still as ridiculous to her as it had been when Aidan had told her that she was the strongest.

"Wow, 100 levels above you?" Abhy seemed flabbergasted. "Next time friend them and send them our way Amelia!" Abhy turned to the camera once more and smiled brightly. "Thanks again for tuning in and talking to us Amelia, we're going to let you get back to it but first an announcement."

-------------------

The screen darkened and then focused on Elias Thompkins, sitting behind his desk. He was a pretty cool looking older guy, Amelia thought. He had longer hair than she would have guessed.

"Hello. Earlier we asked a hard question. It was unfair and I apologize for that. You shouldn't have to wring an optimistic answer from someone who is worried about this coming conflict. It occurred to me as I was watching our stream that we at MKC Online, may have come across as taking this event lightly." Elias leaned forward and slowly pressed his palms on the desk.

"Let me assure you that we do not take it lightly. This is the first time in perhaps any games history where it may literally kill itself. This time tomorrow we could start grimly reporting that the game is going dark, reporting refugee camp evacuations and enemy deployments. We may have to provide information to Players unable to log in or resurrect in desecrated areas. Cities burning, forests burning, Residents being killed. I play this game myself with my wife, Abhy. I proposed to the woman, perhaps in part, because of interaction in the game. So this might seem like me being pretentious, or even ridiculous, but believe me when I say we at MKC Online take tonight's stream very seriously."

"All our channels and newsfeeds will be redirected to cover it no matter how many hours, days, or weeks it might take. All hands are on deck to make sure we cover the story and video and get it to you within 10 minutes of real-time for as long as we are able. We will continue broadcasting for as long as it takes." Elias seemed to shrink timidly behind his desk. "We all pray for a favorable outcome, and we are setting up a special forum through one of our subsidiary streaming companies where we will be accepting and discussing ideas to support and bolster our... army, I guess you'd say." He smiled.

"So far we have tossed around ideas like real life and in-game monetary rewards for support, MKC and swag and subsidiary company special offer merchandise where proceeds will be donated to broadcasting funds, as well as hiring more streamers and spreading them across the world so we can provide an early attack-warning broadcast system using real streamers and real-time video. Our sponsors have also outlined a number of commercials that will be created and played, advertising of course their product, but also underlining the danger that this threat poses to Awakened Aspiration Online. I encourage you to visit our forums, to watch our feeds, and to contribute any way you feel is appropriate. From all of us at MKC Online, good luck and good hunting tonight." The screen faded to black, leaving Amelia speechless. It was almost like one of those old videos where a general or a president came on and announced a crisis.

"Elias Thompkins declares a state of emergency." Amelia mused aloud. She was once again super embarrassed because it elicited a chuckle from Abhy as it played out over the streamed speakers just as she was getting ready to wrap it up. Apparently, nobody had muted Amelia.