Lightningbreaker Read online

  Lightningbreaker

  Book 1 of the Axis Mundi Chronicles

  L.T. Thornhill

  Stormhaven Press

  Copyright © 2020 L.T. Thornhill

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Level 1

  Level 2

  Level 3

  Level 4

  Level 5

  Level 6

  Level 7

  Level 8

  Level 9

  Level 10

  Level 11

  Level 12

  Final Level

  Afterword

  Level 1

  It wasn’t fun being impaled to an old stone wall, but at least it wasn’t painful.

  G0dl1ke looked down at his chest, half of the shaft of a golden spear protruding out like a flagpole, ending in an ornate serpent’s head. A golden tongue stuck out of the snake’s mouth, as though mocking G0dl1ke’s predicament. The stone wall pressing against his back seemed old, but in this virtual world, it was stronger than it looked. Hooray for realistic graphics. He looked down to see his legs touching empty space, a grassy field nearly forty feet below. This was not the way he had imagined he would get the “upper ground,” but he had no time to ponder about his misfortune.

  Grabbing the spear with both hands, G0dl1ke pulled with all his might. The shaft barely made it a couple of inches out of his chest when a raspy voice stopped him.

  “Pull that out and not only will you fall, but you will suffer paralysis for ten seconds.”

  G0dl1ke looked in front of him to see a figure standing atop a broken pillar. A mask covered the lower half of its face, which might explain the coarseness in his voice. Two golden filters that looked more like the oversized buttons of a giant coat dotted the mask, although G0dl1ke doubted their purpose was to clean the air. The figure ran a hand through his immaculately combed sand-colored hair. A single lock broke free and dangled in front of his eyes, as though eager to touch the tip of his nose.

  “This was a lucky shot, Olympus,” said G0dl1ke, resting his forearms on the spear’s shaft.

  Olympus, or olyMpus as his virtual name specified, raised his forefinger and wiggled it like a metronome, making tsk sounds of disapproval. “Admit your defeat. It’s going to be less humiliating that way.”

  “And we won’t have to take pleasure in attacking you bit by bit,” chirped a feminine voice.

  G0dl1ke peered down and spotted two figures at the base of the pillar. The speaker was a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair. She was leaning against the pillar with one hand and with the other hand, she ran her thumb across her fingertips as though wiping something off. The other figure was a young boy, with similar shoulder-length hair that matched the blonde shade of the woman’s. He sat cross-legged in the grass, resting his back against the pillar. Every so often, he would pick at the blades of grass in front of his feet and flick them sideways, seemingly disgusted.

  To someone who was not aware of the identities of the woman and the boy, it would seem as though they were siblings. G0dl1ke knew better. They were teammates of one of the most powerful classes in the virtual world, Zeus, and olyMpus was their leader.

  “The fact that you take pleasure in such an act is a concern in itself,” said G0dl1ke, raising his voice to be heard.

  “Your body is nearly immobile but your mouth still runs,” remarked the woman. “Desperate last words? One last attempt to launch a verbal attack?”

  “Can we just take his equipment sets?” asked the young boy, who was now examining a plant as though it was a rare species of insect. “We can sell it to some ignorant newbie at a higher rate. Make it seem more valuable than it’s worth.”

  olyMpus cocked his head to one side, as though he had heard something that piqued his interest. “That’s not a particularly bad idea.”

  G0dl1ke knew that his chances of survival were next to nothing, but he wasn’t about to go down without a fight. He booted up his inventory. A floating eight-by-eight block grid arrangement appeared in front of G0dl1ke. It was his inventory, a digital storage space that held all the items he had collected in the virtual world. Right now, it was nearly empty except for two blocks on the top-left corner.

  Within each block, two identical orbs slowly rotated in hyper-realistic 3D graphics. Both represented a form of grenade that had one purpose: They would produce a flash that would momentarily cause blindness.

  In the virtual world he was now part of, the flash grenades would do nothing to his or any other avatar. It was a different story in the real world. If an avatar witnessed the explosion directly, then the player’s visual field would turn completely white for ten seconds.

  Most people—if not everyone—controlled their avatars using a Virtual Reality, or VR, headset. The sudden appearance of whiteness might be disorienting to them. The problem, G0dl1ke realized, was that olyMpus was standing high enough to look at him eye-to-eye, whereas the woman and the young boy were standing at ground level.

  Even if he did manage to fling the grenades at his opponents, there was no guarantee that the orbs would cause the desired effect. After all, not only should he activate the grenades, but there was a delay of five seconds before they exploded—more than enough time for the trio before him to avoid the effects of blindness. On the other hand, the grenade activation was not a problem, since it required a command in the real world.

  G0dl1ke needed to have the element of surprise. He did not switch off his inventory. That way, he could quickly make use of the orbs without wasting precious seconds booting up his virtual storage.

  “I’m recording this moment,” said olyMpus with a hint of amusement in his voice. “Maybe I should upload the video online, post it on every streaming service and forum I can find. Show the world how one of the greatest players in Axis Mundi spent his final moments hanging on a wall like a hunting trophy.” He ran a hand through his hair again. “Not far from the truth, since you are like grabbing a trophy. And perhaps we are the hunters.”

  “Is that, like,” said G0dl1ke, waving his hands in front of him like an orchestrator about to begin conducting, “a villain speech? Because that wasn’t impressive. Maybe try an evil cackle or something?”

  “How about we all blast his face with lightning at the same time?” suggested the woman.

  “Easy there,” said G0dl1ke, showing the woman his palm. “Don’t act like you’re anything more than just the team’s mascot.”

  He saw the woman close her fist and knew what was coming. The Zeus class were well known for their control over lightning and electricity, and none of their powers were anything less than devastating. He couldn’t see any expression on the woman’s face, but that was probably because it was an avatar in a virtual world. He imagined the real person might be fuming inside her VR headset.

  The arc of lightning was too quick for the eye to catch. One second, G0dl1ke was looking at the woman’s fist and the next, a bright flash popped into existence, creating a connection between the woman’s hand and a patch of wall next to G0dl1ke’s face. Stone and dust exploded outward. Even though he was merely an avatar in a virtual world, the realism of the environment and everything in it reached out to some primal fight-or-flight part of his brain. He looked away from the dust, as if it might cause him physical harm. Quickly realizing he wasn’t going
to feel any of the dust in his eyes in the real world, he refocused his attention on the woman.

  “Say that one more time,” she threatened.

  “If you say so,” said G0dl1ke. “As I was saying, don’t act like you’re—”

  “Enough.” olyMpus spoke without raising his voice, but the effect was instant. Everyone stopped speaking like some invisible force had hit a mute button.

  G0dl1ke noticed that the woman was about to hit him with another lightning bolt. The only thing that stopped her, he guessed, was olyMpus’s command.

  “Control your emotions Mayden,” said olyMpus, using a nickname instead of the woman’s actual player name, IronMayden.

  The young boy got to his feet. “We’re wasting time here. Let’s finish this.” He clenched his fists, sparks of electricity sizzling along his arm. IronMayden imitated the boy’s action.

  There was no time to lose, but G0dl1ke still hadn’t found an opening. He’d hoped that by provoking IronMayden, he would be able to create an opportunity—her famed short temperament would be his advantage. Sadly, olyMpus had killed that idea with a single word.

  “Seems like my colleagues no longer find your presence pleasing,” said olyMpus. “Even Barak here is worked up.”

  Barak, the young boy who was more than eager to release his power, now closed his other hand into a fist.

  “Bit of an overkill, eh Barak?” asked G0dl1ke.

  A blast of lightning struck G0dl1ke’s face. In the real world, his VR headset briefly flashed golden before his vision returned to normal.

  A floating red bar appeared in front of G0dl1ke, hovering just above his inventory. It instantly shortened to half its width, indicating that he had lost a huge chunk of his Hit Points. Barak wasn’t messing around. There was no time for G0dl1ke to waste. It was now or never.

  Grabbing the spear’s shaft, G0dl1ke pulled with all his might.

  “You are quite resilient, I’ll give you that,” said olyMpus. “I guess you do want to embrace a hero’s death.”

  The spear shot out of G0dl1ke’s chest. He did not allow his thoughts to halt his reaction time. Using instincts honed by months of practice in the virtual world, he flung one orb above him. He held out the other hand in front of him, his fingers wrapped around the second orb. Without the spear pinning him to the wall, there was nothing to keep him from plummeting to the grassy field below. Before he could make the descent, he turned his head sideways, anticipating the effects of the grenade.

  A split second later, words began to float before his vision.

  STATUS EFFECT: PARALYSIS. MOVEMENT DISABLED FOR 10 SECONDS.

  For the next ten seconds, G0dl1ke would remain immobile in his current posture—one arm held out in front of him, as though making an offering. His fingers wrapped around the orb and activated it, allowing it to count down toward its eventual purpose.

  Nine seconds.

  G0dl1ke watched the world blur past his vision, the view moving too fast for him to look at any one detail for long. Since he couldn’t move his head, he had to content himself with the view of the pillar.

  Eight seconds.

  The landing was rough. G0dl1ke’s avatar stayed on his feet, crouching slightly. The virtual world’s software wanted characters to mimic realistic actions, such as the one made when someone lands from a height, bending their knees to minimize impact. The action did not break G0dl1ke’s paralysis, however.

  Seven seconds.

  Out of the corner of his vision, G0dl1ke spotted IronMayden and Barak standing in an attack pose, their arms sizzling with electricity. G0dl1ke saw the red horizontal bar float in front of him again, quickly reducing in length until it was the width of a forefinger. He had lost a lot of Hit Points from the fall. All it would take was a mere slap on the wrist to ‘kill’ his avatar and end the game.

  Six seconds.

  G0dl1ke activated the second grenade. The blonde duo leaped toward him, their outstretched hands ready to deliver a lightning attack. They didn’t get far. Both quickly halted in their tracks, their feet kicking up dirt and their momentum causing them to lose balance.

  Five seconds.

  They looked at the object G0dl1ke held, which was now beeping loudly. The grenade went off in his hands. He saw a flash of light and heard a short whining sound that lasted for a few seconds, like listening to an airplane engine powering up in fast-forward. G0dl1ke was not staring at the grenade directly. He didn’t have to worry about suffering its effects.

  Four seconds.

  When the sound subsided, he hoped that his plan had worked. If either Barak or IronMayden had looked away in time, then there was nothing he could do to stop their attacks.

  Three seconds.

  olyMpus landed in front of G0dl1ke, the golden spear in his hands. “Smart move. But it’s time for you to log off.”

  Knowing there was no point in trying to move, G0dl1ke instead spoke. “Heads up.”

  Two seconds.

  olyMpus looked up. That would be his biggest mistake. The first orb that G0dl1ke had thrown in the air had reached the zenith of its flight and had made the returning journey toward the ground. Now, it was just a few feet above the only characters who were not blinded. It was also beeping loudly.

  One second.

  G0dl1ke hadn’t looked up. He watched as a flash of light lit the surrounding area, including olyMpus’s face.

  STATUS EFFECT REMOVED: PARALYSIS.

  There was no point in waiting. G0dl1ke had a single moment to escape, and he would take it. He was in the process of turning around to flee when olyMpus, still blinded by the flash grenade, grabbed the spear in his hands in a two-handed grip, as though he was holding a baseball bat. Without warning, he swung the weapon in an arc in front of him. G0dl1ke realized what was about to happen a split second too late.

  olyMpus was blinded. He knew he couldn’t aim well. Instead, he swung the weapon out in front of him in the widest possible arc, hoping to at least strike G0dl1ke. It seemed as though his tactic worked. G0dl1ke watched as the blade of the spear struck his upper arm, sending a burst of yellow sparks into the air. The finger-width red bar reappeared in his vision, and it quickly shortened to nothing.

  He had lost. The screen went dark.

  Back in the real world, Matteo, who was known as G0dl1ke in the virtual game world of Axis Mundi, removed his headset. Game over. It wasn’t the actual defeat that wounded his pride; rather, it was the fact that he’d lost for nothing.

  Placing his headset on his computer desk, Matteo looked around this dark room. The only illumination was from his computer’s screensaver, which was a still image of a wheat field. He could imagine waking up on a field, a gentle wind blowing against his face. Blue skies that could only have come out of a painting. The sounds of the tall wheat rustling and birds calling out in their sing-song voices. If only it were possible to instantly transport to another world.

  Matteo removed the skin-tight elastic gloves that every player wore when entering Axis Mundi. The gloves were used to mimic realistic finger and hand movements in the game—movements that he couldn’t make use of, since he’d been left paralyzed.

  He quickly walked over to his computer and shook the mouse to clear the screensaver. After a second of blank screen, an image appeared before his eyes. He noticed that his web browser was left open, the page in front of him showing a private forum for the game.

  He scrolled up past the various discussion threads to the very top of the list.

  It seemed as though olyMpus had kept his word. The title “G0dl1ke OWNED BY olyMpus” greeted Matteo.

  Matteo knew what awaited him. He clicked on the title and was taken to a message board, already filled with what seemed like more than two dozen comments. It would only get worse from there.

  He spotted a video embedded at the top of the board, but chose to ignore it. There was no point in reliving the experience from a different perspective. He scrolled down to check the latest messages on the board.

  Damn,
son! He just went from Godlike to Nooblike.

  G0dl1ke: I’m one of the best players in Axis Mundi. olyMpus: Hold my spear.

  Serves him right. That godly ego must have gone to his head. It’s time someone shut that @$$hat down.

  Guy is supposed to be a walking Wikipedia of Axis Mundi, apparently. Sucks that none of that knowledge helped him.

  On and on it went, a string of remarks that showed Matteo that there were a large group of people who were pleased to see him fall. He pressed his finger and thumb to his eyes, trying to stem the flood of a rushing headache. Having spent so much time in the virtual game world he was fond of, he knew that his fame attracted both praise and condemnation. He was fully aware that a large group of people despised his rise to prominence. It wasn’t because of his skills. People loathed him because he was a loner. He never shared his glories and he didn’t care about the different classes.

  Blinking a few times, Matteo looked at the digital clock on the bottom corner of his computer screen. Only five hours left before he had to wake up for his part-time job. He wondered if he could call in sick, but realized that he might probably need the money. If he couldn’t pay his Internet bills, then it was bye-bye Axis Mundi.

  Switching off the monitor, he made his way to the single mattress in his tiny apartment. It was pushed against the opposite wall to create as much space as possible in the middle of the fifteen-square-foot room. He fell back on the mattress, allowing a deep release of breath to escape his lips. His eyes were closed for only a few seconds before he realized that he had better have something to eat before he fell asleep. It wouldn’t help his mood the next day if he had to ride the bus to work on an empty stomach.

  When he opened his eyes, however, he found himself lying on a grassy field, a pillar shooting into the sky beside him.

  Level 2

  It was wonderful to dream about a video game he might just be addicted to, but Matteo wasn’t in the mood to head to bed yet.