Spear of Destiny
The Archemi Online Chronicles
Volume 5
By James Osiris Baldwin
Published by Tamtu Publishing LLC
Dedication
Spear of Destiny is dedicated to You: the fans of the Archemi Online series. Thanks to you all, 2020 was a much better year than it could have been.
A huge thank you to all my Patrons on Patreon: Zohatu, Anira, Rhea, Jed M. Ryan C., Jordon W., Jo M., Heather, Max S. Jakob M., Gary S. and others. Your ongoing support of this series is just incredible – thank you!
A special thank you to all those who helped with the editing and development of this book: My wife, Canth; Mimi, Kirri, and G.M.M.A Hamish, and Pete. I owe you all a beer and/or book of your choice, no questions asked.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Preface I: Important Characters
Preface II: Important Game System Concepts
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
To be Continued…
Author’s Note
List of James’ Books
Copyright
Preface I: Important Characters
Player Characters:
Hector Park (Park Jeong-Ho, Dragozin Hector) – Dark Lancer, Lvl. 25
Suri Ba’Hadir – Berserker, Lvl. 27
Rin Lu – Arcane Engineer, Lvl. 24
Baldr Hyland (Possessed by ‘Ororgael’) – Spirit Knight, Lvl. ???
Lucien Hart – Unknown Path, Lvl. ???
Violetta DeVrys – Elemental Sorceress, Lvl. ???
Nethres of Gilheim – Valkyrie, Lvl. 23
Casper Willis – Sharpshot, Lvl ???
NPCs
Karalti, the Black Opal Queen – Queen Dragon, Lvl. 15
Vash Dorha – Baru (Dark Monk), Lvl. 35
Istvan Arshak – Dragoon, Lvl. 31
Ebisa, the King’s Blade – Assassin, Lvl. 42
Rutha of Vasteau – Primal Sorceress, Lvl. 44
Ignas Corvinus II – Volod (King) of Vlachia; Swashbuckler, Lvl. 48
Andrik Corvinus III – Former Volod of Vlachia (deceased)
Owen & Kira of Lyrensgrove - Healers
Sergeant Anya Blackwin – Captain of Fort Palewing
Jasper – Mage at Fort Palewing
Pavetta Blackwin – Primera of the Church of Kyrie
Taethawn the Bleak – Meewfolk Exile, mercenary commander
Count Lorenzo Soma – lord of Litvy County, Arcane Engineer, Lvl. 30
Masterhealer Masha – Arcane Physician, Lvl. 50
Lazar Skalitz – General Physician, Lvl. 23
Ashur of the Thousand Swords, AKA The Demon of Myszno (deceased)
Preface II: Important Game System Concepts
Archemi
Archemi Online, colloquially known as ArchOn, is the world’s first hyper-immersion VR-RPG, though it is not the only VR-RPG extant in Hector’s world. ArchOn was not designed to be an MMO in which millions access a single world: to support the massive memory demands of processing human brain data in a full-immersion VR, Archemi supports capped ‘cells’ of players, to a maximum of 5000 players per cell. Due to cataclysmic plague on Earth, there is only one cell supporting approximately 2389 players, almost all of whom are ‘virtual refugees’ uploaded to escape their death from the HEX Virus.
Paths & Advanced Paths
Rather than set, static classes, Archemi has an organic Path system that evolves with a player’s interests and abilities. New players initially select one of four base paths – Warrior, Specialist (Rogue), Mage, or Artificer. At Level 5 and Level 10, characters are offered the chance to choose an Advanced Path, which takes them down a specialized stream from their initial Path. Advanced Paths are offered on a per-character basis by the game’s system, which reads into a person’s play-style, quest choice, and other factors to offer Advanced Paths the player is suited to. Advanced Paths themselves have customized progressions that unfold for players as they advance.
Renown
Renown is the measure of fame or infamy you possess in a locale. In every location where you complete (or fail to complete) quests, you can potentially gain renown. Renown is important for players interested in Mass Combat.
Like most things in Archemi, Renown is accrued through points. After accumulating a certain number of renown points, you gain bonuses or penalties to dealing with people in your locale. The size of the locale where you command fame or terror varies depending on your renown tier. The tiers are as follows:
0-300 - Stranger: Unknown and unnotable.
301-700 - Adventurer: Some people have heard of you, and neighborhoods where you completed adventures are friendly/hostile. You can gain the alliance of small units.
701-1081 - Local Hero/Villain: You are a person of note in your city, able to command respect, fear, or both. You can potentially command loyalty from a medium-sized organization.
1080-2217 - Public Figure: You are well-known everywhere in your locale. Bards begin composing and singing about you, spreading the news of your deeds. You can command small armies under a General or other important figure.
2219-5628 - Idol: You are known across your nation and are sought after for your abilities. You can potentially command larger armies as a general.
5629-12450 - Celebrity: Your deeds have spread internationally, and your fame is recognizable across borders. You may command generals in warfare.
12451+ - Legend: Your deeds will go down in history, heroic or villainous. You may qualify to rule a kingdom.
Chapter 1
The self-styled Emperor of Archemi was a lot bigger than I remembered.
Baldr Hyland was nearly seven feet tall, dressed in silvered armor that reflected the desert sun. A great helm that resembled an eagle’s beak shielded his face, complete with piercing jeweled eyes. He looked like a paladin out of legend, a hero to inspire awe and terror. Like most other things about him, it was a steaming pile of horseshit.
[Warning. The Void draws near.]
[You are immune to Corruptionn nn nn nn-]
“Jeez...” I let go of my dragon’s wrist and dropped back down to our arena: the enormous expanse of Withering Rose’s back. The great machine kneeled on hands and knees in the desert sands, st
eam still pouring through the cracks of her armor. “Look, Baldr or Oral-Gel or whatever you’re calling yourself now: if you’re about to do some crazy villain speech, could we find some shade before you get into it? I don’t know about you, but I’m boiling my ass off in this armor.”
“Steven Park’s kid brother,” Baldr’s deep Appalachian drawl was gone, replaced by a cool neutral tenor from somewhere in the far north of the UNAC. Canada, maybe, or Minnesota. Ororgael’s voice. “He always said you were witty, with a sharp sense of humor. I see he was wrong about that too.”
“In his defense, Steve didn’t know me real well.” My skin crawled as I turned to face him. Intellectually, I knew that something had possessed Baldr back in Cham Garai all those months ago, but actually seeing it was creepy as hell. The way he spoke, the way Ororgael used Baldr’s face, the way he stood... it was all wrong. Like something out of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
I opened a telepathic link to my stunned, frightened dragon. “Karalti. Get out of here.”
“No!” Karalti sucked in a deep throatful of air, neck swelling. “I won’t leave you!”
“He’s going to kill me, and neither of us are jacked enough to stop him. Go back to Myszno and hide somewhere. Not the castle—somewhere else.”
“I see my Queen is in good health, all limbs intact.” Ororgael pushed the visor of his helmet up so I could see his face. Hard cut, handsome... pitiless. The Trial of Marantha, the mutations that had turned us both into dragonriders, had sucked the melanin out of Baldr’s skin. The admin’s borrowed avatar was as pale and heartless as a Roman sculpture, a lock of white, feathery hair flickering in the gusts of searing desert wind.
“Hey! Asshole! I have a name!” Karalti’s crest of horns flared out in a fan around her skull. She pulled her lips back over her teeth, a low, menacing growl rumbling up from her chest.
“Cute.” Ororgael snorted. “But she’s small. My silver bull, Hyperion, is not. That’ll be a problem come egg-laying time.”
A fierce spike of rage surged up through my body. “Whatever he’ll do to you is worse than what he’ll do to me. Go! NOW!”
Karalti flinched visibly at my command. Ororgael chuckled, thinking he’d riled her, then froze with a small frown as the dragon abruptly warped into a dark nimbus before vanishing.
“She can teleport?” He cocked his head in a way Baldr never would have.
“It’s gotta be real crowded in there with two people sharing half a brain,” I remarked, ignoring his question. “Do you go by Baldr or Ororgael now? Orbal? Baldo?”
“Ororgael is fine. ‘Your Majesty’ is better. Capital M—I can tell the difference.” He let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “Baldr’s gone, Park. I use his name for the sake of convenience, and because Hyland is a decent name for an emperor. I didn’t see the need for a surname when I was playtesting.”
“I... what?” My skin crawled as I shifted into a defensive stance. “Baldr’s dead?”
“Oh, he’s not dead. Though, I suppose he’s not really alive, either. I held onto his data in case I needed it,” Ororgael said absently. “He was a fairly talented FPS gamer. The military training is useful, too. I’ve mined some bits and pieces out of him, left others.”
“Dude... what? He’s trapped? Inside his own body?” I wasn’t sure why it was important to me, but it was. “You’re keeping him like... what? Like a slave or something?”
“No. More like a toy that I pull apart and put back together. Every human is just a big wet database, after all.” He shrugged. “You’re upset by this? After what he did to you?”
It was my turn to sneer. “Baldr was a back-stabbing asshole, but he didn’t deserve this.”
Ororgael’s lips played in a small, confused smile. “There are so many bigger things to worry about, Park—and besides, the player’s not exactly anything to write home about. Real name, Brandon Marshey. Poor white trash from a fly-over town in Kentucky. He was just starting to make money as a streamer before he got addicted to pills and blew it all away. The only reason he joined the army is because the courts ordered him to. There, he spent the rest of his short, miserable life as a mechanized grunt. No awards, no accolades, no heroic battlefield achievements. The only time he ever felt like he mattered was when he was gaming. We don’t need that kind of pathetic data cluttering up the AI’s learning cycles, Hector. Trust me. He’s better off this way.”
The rage that had ignited when Ororgael had creeped on Karalti was now at a constant rolling boil. “Dude, fucking... that’s a person you’re talking about! What kind of fucking headcase are you?”
“The only one who really knows what is happening to Archemi. But as I thought, you have no knowledge and no interest in knowing, so you’re stalling for time.” The big man cocked his right hand near the pommel of the broadsword sheathed on his hip. “You know why I’m here.”
“Sure I do,” I said. “Prices are as follows: handjob only, fifty bucks. If you want me to slap you in the face while I do it, that’s an extra twenty.”
The curious light drained from Ororgael’s eyes, leaving them flat and hard.
“Sorry about the surcharge. I have sensitive hands,” I continued. “Either way, you gotta provide the lotion and take me to dinner at least once. No McDonalds shit, either. Whataburger, at least.”
“You really think you’re funny.” He grimaced to one side. “I know where she is, you know. The Queen. The Admin Panel shows her co-ordinates and everything else about her.”
He’s lying. An inner voice—hard, dark, quiet—whispered from deep inside me. He doesn’t know her name. He didn’t know she could teleport.
“Yeah, okay. It’s not like there was a global system message announcing that I was the new Voivode of Myszno or anything.” I was still partly thinking about burgers, which weirdly helped with the fear churning deep in my chest. “Not to mention, I’ve got it on good authority you don’t have access to the Admin Panel.”
Ororgael’s eyes darted from side to side, as if looking at something. “Mmm... let’s see here. Dragozin Hector, Level 25 ‘Dark Dragoon’, whatever that is... 4231 EXP to next level, only 69 Strength?”
An icy chill seized my guts like a cold hand.
“The hell is this identifier? TypeNew...?” The big man’s brow furrowed. “Your Seed Code is corrupted. I guess that answers some questions I had.”
Somehow, this motherfucker could see my character stats. He could see my fucking sheet. I swallowed down the fear—for Karalti’s sake. I wasn’t sure where she was, but I knew she was smart enough to go somewhere she wouldn’t be found. “Wow, super. I guess you know everything. Maybe you should ask your magic eight-ball how I kicked your ass in Cham Garai, then Taltos, then Myszno.”
“Easy.” Ororgael drew his sword. The weapon he pulled from the sheath was not a steel blade: it was made of glass, and as soon as it was free, the blade burst into incandescent white flames with a shock of power that nearly forced me back a step. “The Drachan are my biggest priority. You progressed because I let you.”
The energy from the sword felt like it was singeing my eyebrows from ten feet away. I shifted into a low, wide stance, the Spear of Nine Spheres held at a low angle. “That’s one of the Top Ten Things a Loser with No Admin Panel would say.”
He let out a short laugh of disbelief. “Park, it’s over. You found the Warsinger, I found you, and now we can make progress against the Drachan. I can either take what I want from this machine, or you can hand it over. But don’t think you can fight me and win.”
“That’s your first mistake: assuming I think.” I crooked a couple of fingers at him. “Bring it.”
“Have it your way.” Baldr lunged at me almost faster than I could follow.
I desperately parried the blazing flurry of blows, startled to find that I could actually keep up. Every blow was powerful enough that, block or no block, I took about ten damage with each hit. Breathlessly, I dove out of the way of his next slash and ducked as he teleported above
me and flew down. I saw the hit coming, and blew apart into a cloud of shadows just as the blade struck the spot where I’d been standing. The glass sword missed me, but cleaved a new blazing scar into Withering Rose’s armor. When I whirled back around to face him, Baldr looked as surprised as I felt. Neither of us had expected me to last long enough to trade blows.
I laughed, a harsh whiskey bark. “Okay, Baldo. Tell me one thing: if you’ve got access to the Admin Panel, why don’t you just fucking delete me and these Drachan mobs and be done with it?”
“To my great regret, you can’t delete people from inside the sandbox anymore,” he rumbled, lips twitching back in a sneer. “Your brother ensured that.”
I threw my arms open. “Then spawn one of those player-killer swords and gack me!”
“Those won’t kill you, because you’re not a player.” Ororgael’s voice seemed to blur for a moment, as if two people were speaking at the same time. “You’re a virus, and the code in those swords is older than you are.”
“I’m a virus?” I fell back into stance. “My dude, you’ve got a serious case of projection going on.”
Baldr closed in again, stone-faced. I was faster, driving the blade of the spear at his exposed face, then switching to thrust it toward his armpit. The weapon clashed off the flaming crystal blade with an impact that made my fingers vibrate. I spun the spear around, bringing the heavy butt up like a mace. The blow crashed into his jaw, nearly knocking the fancy eagle helmet off his head. He staggered back a step, eyes wide with disbelief.
I gave chase. The spear whirled in my hands, a blur of bluesteel and black fire as I activated Blood Sprint and rushed him with a series of blows too fast for the eye to follow. He blocked the first four strikes flawlessly, but slipped up on the fifth. The point broke through his guard, screeched along his breastplate, then pierced the chain protecting his underarms. I followed through, ripping the links and the flesh beneath. Blood spattered, and he gasped in pain: just before his face turned red and he made a sharp gesture with his other hand.