CHASING HORNPUB'S MEAD

Aildrin remembered receiving a barrel of mead. "How do I access my inventory?" he thought.

He willed the image of the barrel in his mind, and a storage room with a wooden floor appeared on his screen. There were no shelves. The container and the other things he had collected were just on the corner.

Aildrin reached for the barrel with his mind, and then it appeared in front of him with a thud. It had a red label on its polished surface with a dwarf's head as a logo.

The old man's eyes shined. "Ohhh! Hornpub's Mead! White and foamy! Where did you get this? This is a priced possession by the dwarves of Quagmire City!"

Aildrin placed a hand on the barrel when the old man tried to touch it. "It won't come for free. I need answers to my questions."

The old man smiled. "Ohhh, questions. The young adventurer has questions. But I shall only answer one, make it count."

"What? That's no fair! This is a barrel of mead, a supply that would last for a week."

"It won't last a day, young man."

"Fine." Aildrin racked his mind on what to ask. "Will he have the answer though?" he thought.

"So, tell me. What is it that you seek to know?"

Aildrin gulped before asking. "Where is the Empty Throne?"

The old man's face blanked before he cracked a peal of laughter, showing missing teeth.

"Do you have the answer or not? I'll take this mead back." Aildrin felt uncomfortable. He looked around for any eavesdropper, but there was none so far.

"Follow me." The old man stood up; his tattered robes swayed with the gentle breeze. His hands then glowed and absorbed the barrel.

"Hey!" Aildrin's eyes widened. He scolded himself for being stupid. There was no return for that barrel.

The old man smiled and waltzed through the winding alleys.

Aildrin followed, but every time he turned a corner, the old man was already far ahead. He would have lost him if not for the trail of his robe. But despite the increased pace, he could not catch up to him.

Finally, after a minute of turning here and there, Aildrin came out of the alley. He squinted to adjust to the bright light.

He had just entered Alistor's market.

Many stalls displayed crops, weapons, and accessories. Players checked their wares; a diamond icon floated above their heads, distinguishing them from NPCs.

"Where's that old man?" Aildrin looked around and finally found the hem of the robe entering between stalls.

Aildrin rushed out. He squeezed his way through the narrow gap separating the merchants.

"Hey, kid! Watch out!" a merchant said when his wares rattled.

"Sorry!"

"Where is he now?" Aildrin said. He had entered a long street filled with NPC crowd and where the vendors squatted on the cobblestone with their items on a blanket.

"Necklace for your lady, young man?" said a woman in a black robe.

Aildrin smiled and continued to squeeze his way through.

"Thief! Somebody catch him!" a lady shouted from ahead.

The crowd froze, making it harder for Aildrin to pass through.

"Great!" he said. "Let me pass! I'll catch that thief!"

The crowd immediately gave way, showing a figure in a black hood dashing to the end of the street.

Aildrin sprinted while craning his neck for any trace of the old man. But it was impossible to search for him amongst the multitude. He chuckled and refocused on the chase.

The thief reached the end of the street with a dagger in his hand. No civilian dared to block his way. They froze at the sight of the sharp knife.

Aildrin then unsheathed his flamberge, causing the crowd to gasp again—the children cried and closed their eyes under the embrace of their parents. He then threw his weapon like a spear, and it chased after the target with precision.

The thief made a sudden turn and parried the sword with his dagger. Sparks flew while blades clanged. There was a bronze diamond-shaped icon on his head—a player.

Any wrong move between the two players could claim innocent life. And soon a stampede ensued when the crowd ran for their lives.

Aildrin gritted his teeth for the delay. The old man and the thief were now out of sight, and so was his weapon. "How can a game be this dramatic?" he said to himself.

After a minute of searching through the mad march of feet, he finally found his sword. "Ah, my poor weapon!" There were footmarks on its blade, but it proved its durability for not bending.

Up ahead, another commotion broke out. The city's soldiers clad in white had surrounded the thief with their spears. But a good number of them had already covered the street with their blood.

More soldiers were coming out of the castle, through its surrounding stone bridges.

The castle sat in the safety of an island, together with a white tower. Balustrades protected its inhabitants from falling into a wide chasm, while armed men and various weapons of war fortified its sacred grounds.

Aildrin had finally reached the heart of Alistor City. The rushing river roared beneath amidst the clang of metals and cries of men.

With no signs of the old man, Aildrin convinced himself that he just got scammed. And the thief shall bear his frustration.

He then rushed to join the battle, when a soldier with a gash on his neck crawled towards him and said, "Please help me, sir...my two sons and wife are waiting for my—"

The thief pounced on his back and imbedded the dagger to his heart. A black cloak shrouded the killer's face, only revealing a pair of cold blue eyes.

Aildrin's anger blazed. Sword Dance! He roared and turned into a fiery trail of light and slashed with reckless abandon.

But the swift thief parried all of his attacks. He rolled and jumped from one soldier to another, slitting their throat while using them as a meat shield.

Aildrin finally got to check the player's detail when it paused for a breather before resuming the slaughter.

[SleepNot, Level 17, Bronze Rank—Tier III, Human Assassin.]

"You won't get away with this!" Aildrin said.

"You can't even stop me," SleepNot said in a gruff voice.

A spear from behind slashed at the thief's head, but he ducked in time. He then cut the soldier and gutted him.

Defensive Blade! Aildrin's three sword lights surrounded SleepNot, but when they attacked, they had pierced nothing but a shadow.

SleepNot reappeared on top of the balustrade. His blue eyes smiled with ridicule for Aildrin. He then gave himself to gravity and vanished into the chasm.

The soldiers marching on the bridges turned grim. They stopped their pursuit.

But Aildrin did not. He chased after SleepNot, and when he reached the balustrade, his knees wobbled. It was a hundred feet fall towards the unfriendly river, slapping the sharp rocks with its wild waves.

Aildrin never got the chance to withdraw. When he saw SleepNot's falling figure, a golden chain was already a few meters away from him. It came from the sleeves of the thief and locked on his neck, pulling him down. He struggled for breath and dropped his flamberge.

The river swallowed the two. Its dark waters were icy and prickled their skin.

Aildrin knew how to swim in actual life. But with a chain on his neck and a heavy cold current pushing its weight against him, he went further down. The surface became distant until his screen turned black.

"Am I dead?" Aildrin thought. He waited for a system pop-up or anything that would inform him of his status, but after twenty seconds, there was still no update.

"Hm. Maybe I need to log off." The CommCenter's icon was the only thing that remained on his screen, and only Harvy was available. Aildrin immediately made the call.

Harvy answered and said, "Hey, dude. Can you please mute the background noise ASAP? In case another of those bombs explodes."

"Harvy, I'm out of the coliseum. But I think I'm dead," Aildrin said.

Harvy cracked a burst of laughter; he gasped for air in between.

"I'm serious. My screen is nothing but black for a long time."

"Hm. Once dead, your screen should hover over your corpse, and a pop-up to resurrect should appear. Were you blinded, stunned, or shackled? What are you up to, anyway?"

"Hm. Might be a glitch in the system. Can you log me—"

Color returned to Aildrin's screen. It was the glint of a dagger.