Book 1: Chapter 4: Godsend

Son of Eternia

Book 1: ‘From Dusk ‘Till Twilight’

Chapter 4: ‘Godsend’

A story by TSMC\_Minecraft2009

Edited By Superbattleshipyamato & LordOfPixels7

Not a wink of sleep had been obtained by Valorie since Declan had left her room, 10 hours ago. And it was all thanks to that headset he had given her. All that time had been spent in the virtual realm of Aetheria, one that had previously only been familiar to Declan.

She chucked at the thought of this; it was almost like she was becoming more like him, and he was becoming more like her by the day. Even a few weeks ago, this wasn’t something she would have done. Things were changing, in more ways than one.

     As she logged out of the server, she stifled a yawn that hadn’t been able to work its way out. Every limb of her body felt stiff, but from use rather than from a lack of it. This was a warning that the headset had given her 8 hours in, but she had ignored it, thinking it was just an excessive precaution. She thought to herself how the last 24 hours had panned out, and began reciting it aloud, a daily repetition of hers.

“Alright… so Ashgem and Phe… Alex and Damien, sorry, told me more about the server, and actually managed to get me hooked on the idea, *somehow*. I told Declan, and he eventually came… to my room… and… hang out with me…”

Like Declan, she had never thought of her best friend in a romantic manner, and they seemed to both be happy to stay as friends. But things seemed to slowly be changing, for the both of them.

“C’mon Valorie, you can think about that later… just get ready for school now, all that can wait…” She said with a tap of her palm to her temple.

     It was at this time that Declan O’Connor began to rise, along with the first light of the morning. He reached for a remote that he kept on his bedstand and pressed the off button. The lights on the wall that drenched his room in a dim, red light turned themselves off, and he began to wipe the grogginess and sleep out of his eyes. He had never usually been a good sleeper, mostly due to the insomnia-like condition he had been suffering from for almost a year now. But today, he felt tired from a good sleep, not a bad one. He began to wonder why. Could it be that he hadn’t been on the Aetheria server in almost half a week? It was a new record for him, so perhaps it wasn’t far from the truth…

Aetheria server…

Valorie….

     Upon remembering those words, the floodgates of his memories began to open back up, drowning his mind with every last detail that he could remember of the night before. How he had gone over to Valorie’s house and stayed in her room for almost 3 hours when he was supposed to simply drop off a headset. A wave of emotion crashed over him, but he wasn’t really sure of what it was. Fear? Shame? Embarrassment? Or some mix of them all?

His train of thought was interrupted by the knocking on his door.

“Hey, Declan, everything alright? School’s starting soon, so you might want to get ready…”

“Sure dad, just had a good sleep…” Declan said with a stifled yawn. “Best one I reckon I’ve had in ages…”

“That’s good, son. Wondered why you hadn’t come through yet… Anyway, breakfast is on the table in 5, so hurry it up a little!”

Declan turned over and got out of his bed, slicking back his jet-black hair with his hand. Usually, he liked to keep it loosely tied up, since he didn’t really bother much with his physical appearance, save for a few exceptions. But today, something was telling him to do otherwise, almost like he was turning over a new leaf, both outside and in.

Chuckling to himself, he began to mutter under his breath. “Ah, why the hell not?”

     Around 45 minutes later, he met up with Valorie at the pair’s usual spot. Both looked surprised to see the other looking the way they did, with neither being able to say anything. It was Declan that cut the ice.

“Valorie, not to be rude, but… you look a bit like a wreck… and are those circles under your eyes? I thought that was my thing…”

“Yeah, thanks to that headset, I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night… You look different too, your hair isn’t usually…”

“Yeah, I actually went to a bit of bother this morning… Dunno why to be honest, haven’t got anything special planned today.”

The two continued talking as they made their way to school, both avoiding the topic of last night. Neither of them wanted to instigate anything that made the other feel uncomfortable, but they both wanted to know; did their interaction hold any significance?

     “Feldacia, would you be so kind as to pass the saddle? I just need to put it on this fine steed in front of me, and we should be set for this morning.”

In another realm, Feldacia Godwinson helped one of his old friends to set up his shop for the morning in the capital.

“It would be my pleasure, Sareth. Honestly, you should have asked me to come sooner, I’ve been missing you recently.”

“Aye, I should have. But I didn’t. I know I probably asked you this last night, but the Stormfire Ale’s made my memory a bit fuzzy. How’s everything with the clan? Things holding up well?”

“Better than ever to be honest. I was surprised that our policy of peace has worked so well for us, knowing the world we live in.”

Sareth took a sip of his Stormfire ale and seemingly zoned out, pondering over his friend’s words.

“Hello? Still there, or do I need to punch you in the shoulder again? I’m getting too old for this…”

“Feldacia, you’re 32. And yes, still here. Just thinking about what you said…”

“I know that look on your face all too well. You may be thinking about my words, but something else has caught your attention, hasn’t it.”

There was a lapse in conversation has Sareth tried to figure out the best way to explain his thoughts to his friend.

“I’ve just been thinking… have you ever wondered if there’s… Anything more than this? Another realm?”

“Sareth, everyone knows that there’s around 256 realms, of course there’s another…”

“That’s not what I meant… I was thinking about the possibility of… A completely different world, bound by another set of rules that we couldn’t possibly imagine…”

“My friend, I do not wish to sound brash, but Terraria is just a fairy tale; a legend told in old scriptures, back when the priority was a good story over the truth.”

“True as you may be, every… ‘tale’ is founded in truth somewhere. What are we talking about worlds for? We’ve got a shop to set up!”

Back in the realm that Declan called home, he was sitting at a table outside, talking with his friends, about all things, the Aetheria server.

“Anyway, considering the fact that we’re all into this, there’s no time like the present to have a little conversation about it.” Declan said

“Yeah, true as that is, Valorie here doesn’t have a headset yet. Don’t want to overwhelm her and put her off it!” Damien retorted.

Declan and Valorie shot each other awkward side-eye glances, not sure how to break the news to their friends.

“Let’s just say that the headset issues has been… sorted.”

“And you can’t put this seventh-level gal off the server anyhow!”

The ice that seemed to line every conversation the group had re-frosted, and it was up to Valorie to break it away again.

“What… you think these were caused by my manga obsession?” She said, pointing to the dark rings under her eyes. “Hah! Nah, I pulled an all-nighter… and… it has taken a toll on me…”

Alex was the first to reply, talking in the same manner that a narrator would. “Yesterday, thou did say that thee had never played the server before. Now, thy hath obtained the seventh level? Valorie, even a leap of a single level in a day is impressive… but going from first to seventh in… what I can only assume to be under 8 hours? That’s nigh unheard of!”

He failed to get a response, as Valorie had fallen asleep, her head resting on the table.

“Yeesh… last time I pulled an all-nighter, I was a complete wreck. And I’d been playing on the server for about 9 months at that point, so I was used to the draining feeling that you’re left with after logging out.” Declan replied. “I don’t want to overexaggerate, but… it’s a miracle she even had the energy to reply…”

“Can’t say I disagree, Declan… we should probably just let her be for the rest of lunch… looks like she needs it.”

The trio all moved to sit together, watching over their sleeping friend, wondering why she decided to do that.

“Declan… One question… Don’t want to intrude, but I can figure that you did give Val the headset. And this was after school, meaning that you were at her house…” Alex said in a hushed tone.

“All I did was give her the headset, which was one of my father’s old ones, and I left shortly after. Nothing you two need to worry about… Anyway, speaking of the headset, the Aetheria server; it’s been alluded to that you two have been on the server before, but I never did get your account names… mind telling me?”

“Well, you already know them. Ashgem and Pheonix. Speaking of accounts, you *are* that Decadence guy, right?”

“Uh, yeah? Why?”

Damien took a glance at the sleeping Valorie, before turning back to face Declan.

“You are a wanted man. There’s a bounty of at least 10,000 emeralds **and** Draken on your head. You’ve really made some enemies, Declan.”

Declan paused for a second to speak. It had been a while since he had last been on the server, so he tried to remember what he might have done that may have warranted such attention. But his thoughts were soon brought back to the memories of the Grave of the Fallen Star.

“Let me guess. The Boss Wizards, right?”

“And you’re on the money. The message boards have been blowing up in the past week after you killed one of their best in that dungeon. They’ve been trying to get every scrap of info on you they can; some are even threatening to dox you, man! It’s a dangerous game you’re playing, so tread with caution.”

“Wait a minute, message boards? How’d you access them, you need a decryption key to see them, and you only get those if you’re a member…”

“Let’s just say that Alex here is an expert in that sort of thing and move on. We have too much honour to even consider joining them, no matter the pay.”

“That’s good. Anyway, seeing as you have access, do you know if they know where I am? Last place I was in the server was in the dungeon, before I logged out.”

“Good! They think you already cleared the dungeon, so you won’t have anyone trying to spawn camp you. *However,* you’re going to need to clear the dungeon to get out, and that will effectively set of a biome-wide alarm. Alex will explain this, I’m not really sure how it works still.”

“Thanks bro. Anyway, you probably haven’t faced the dungeon boss yet, which is a giant, blind basilisk. While it can’t see you, it will hear every sound that you make. One of the tougher bosses this side of the frontiers.”

“Wait, I remember something… Inscriptions on the wall said something about how taking a shard of the star would set the server into a darkness? Know anything about that?”

“I do actually. Taking a shard of the star will cause the *biome* the dungeon’s in to fall into darkness until the next sunrise, meaning that you’ll encounter a rather large quantity of monsters before you’re out. *That’s* what’ll alert the Boss Wizards.”

“The inscriptions also said something about how a shard would grant a user god-like powers… is there any truth in that?”

“Some truth… Lazenbeam, the guy who built the dungeon, did like to embellish a bit. A Fallen Shard is a one-use item that adds +50% to all your stats for a grand total of 10 minutes, meaning that you *could* obtain god-like powers if your stats were high enough. And knowing that the Boss Wizards will be on your tail second you exit the dungeon, it sounds like you’re going to need it. Best of luck, Dec.”

And because of this, the trio exchanged numbers and drafted up a plan of attack. Damien and Alex would clear the dungeon up until the boss room, where Declan would log in and join them. They considered allowing Valorie to join, but one glance at their sleeping friend reminded them that she wasn’t of a high enough level to join them yet; to make her join, only to die and have to restart would be cruel.

After they exited the dungeon, they would fight off the hordes of creatures of the night that would be waiting for them, along with any potential Boss Wizards members, each utilizing a shard of the star to empower themselves.

“And… you’re sure that this plan of yours, archaic as it sounds, will work?” Questioned Declan.

“100% positive. If you have any questions, and I mean any at all, please! Just call us after school. We’ll get to the dungeon by around 5-ish, we’ll let you know when you can log on. And not a word of this to Valorie…”

Declan placed a hand on the shoulder of his sleeping friend. “Yeah, not a word… wouldn’t want to betray her trust…”

After class finished for the day, Declan and Valorie walked on their usual after-school route together. To Valorie, it was obvious that Declan was holding something back: not telling her the entire truth.

“So, what were you and the twins talking about while I was out? I know it had to have been something, you can never keep your mouth shut for that long.”

“Nothing in particular, just… stuff…”

“About what?”

“The… Aetheria Server…”

“Yeah, I can tell. But what specifically?”

“Val, you’re prodding again. I don’t answer questions under interrogation.”

“Then you have the right to remain silent. I’ll find out though, one way or another, through you or the twins.”

“Yeah, sure…”

“Anyway, speaking of the server, fancy joining me tonight? I don’t have anything on after school, neither do you, so I think we should…”

Declan felt the sweat beading itself on his forehead. He knew that to lie would be to betray the trust of one of the most important people in his life, but to tell the truth would be to also. He decided to go down the middle.

“Sorry, can’t actually. Last place I logged out of was a dungeon, and I can’t exit unless I complete it or die, and I don’t fancy the latter to be honest. Ergo, can’t really meet up with you for another… 3 or so hours. And by then, I’ll be sleeping.”

Valorie let out a mock sigh of dissapointment. “Phooey, just when the stars aligned themselves. You better hope you don’t have anything on tomorrow because I’m joining you regardless.”

“Fine, fine. Just make sure you make it to level 10 tonight. But don’t pull another all-nighter, Val, you’re a wreck. See ya!”

“Fine, fine. No all-nighters for the time being. As the French would say, Au Revoir!”

Declan and Valorie then departed, heading their own separate ways. It was not even a minute after this that Declan’s phone began to ring in his pocket, with Damien waiting for him on the other side.

“Hello? Oh, hey Declan… You like her, don’t you.”

“Eh? Damien, what are you on about, heheh…” Declan said awkwardly.

“Valorie. Ever since that night at the school, you’ve been going all goo-goo eyes over her. C’mon just admit it!”

“This isn’t what I gave you my number for, Damien. And to be honest, I don’t really know.”

“You don’t know? You don’t know?! How could you not know whether you like someone or not, it’s a simple yes no… hey, Alex, gimme back the phone!”

“Sorry ‘bout that, Dec. Damien thinks you like Valorie as maybe more than just a friend, he hasn’t stopped going on about it.”

“Damn, that brother of yours, eh? Anyway, get him into the headset, I’ll be home about 5, okay?”

“Yeah. Maybe that’ll occupy his mind on something else; it’s all he’s been talking about since we got home. Anyway, we’ll ping you once we reach the boss room, but until then…”

“You got it man. See you then.”

Declan hung up the call and continued his commute back to his own house. But something that Damien had said was still floating around his mind, like bits of fish in a bowl. Did he like Valorie? It should have been a simple answer, either a yes or no, but it was more complicated than that. He and Valorie had been friends for years, and that not a relationship he wanted to ruin. Valorie, actually, had been his only friend until very recently. And he couldn’t deny that the relationship that they already had was deep and intimate as it was. But his feelings towards her and thoughts about her were slowly turning less platonic, and he knew that deep down. What scared him to death though was what he could lose if he confessed, and she didn’t feel the same way towards him. Such an event would most likely ruin their friendship, or at least it would in his mind. So, he kept his feelings to himself, trapped in the darkest and most desolate corners of his mind, where they wouldn’t disturb him during the day. Out of thought, out of mind. Not for the last time, he pushed these thoughts aside, and focused on something else; a bittersweet distraction, anything to pull his mind away from these thoughts and emotions.

Declan made his way back to his home, knowing that there was at least one person who he could talk to about this. His father, Ethan. He had time to kill, so he decided to do just that.

Walking in the front door, he was greeted by his dad, as usual. However, this time it would be him that would initiate the deeper conversation.

“Hey Declan, seems like you made back in one piece, more or less.”

“Yeah… Dad, there’s something I’ve got to talk to you about…”

They both made their way to the living room, and sat down on the couch, each unsure of what the other would say.

“Dad, I need advice… on something complicated…”

“Judging by the look in your eyes, I’m guessing that this probably isn’t related to school. Go ahead, then. I’m all ears.”

“Well, I’ve been… I’ve started having confusing thoughts and emotions towards someone that I’m close to. Not gonna say who, but…”

“I can respect your decision. You have a right to privacy, and I won’t invade that. But do continue.”

“Okay… The confusing thing is that, I’ve known… them… for years, and until recently, these… feelings haven’t surfaced or been prominent. I just don’t get it. It’s like, one day, I thought of them as a friend, and the next, this! And I’m not scared of much, you know that… but talking about this… to them at least… that petrifies me! I honestly don’t know what to do in this situation… Do I confess my confusing feelings towards them, and potentially ruin a friendship that’s been years in the making, or do I just bottle up these feelings, only for them to explode out of me later! I just don’t know what to do…”

Ethan paused as he absorbed all the information that his adopted son was giving him. For the longest time, Declan’s social circle wasn’t exactly what one would call large, so he had a rough idea of who he was talking about. But that wasn’t what he focused on. His kid was beginning to grow up, and even if he didn’t say it directly, he yearned for a bit more independence. But how could he help him with this situation, right now?

He sighed before he spoke. “Declan, I understand all that you’re saying, and I appreciate that you feel comfortable enough to open up to me about this. But… I’m not exactly what you would call an expert in this subject, so I don’t… really have any advice to give you other than this. Whoever you end up with, make sure they make you and you make them… happy…”

Declan returned the sigh. He knew that his father’s advice for him would have been something more or less like this, mostly down to the fact that Ethan didn’t really feel attraction to anyone, romantic or otherwise. But it was advice none the less, and he would take it in stride.

“Thanks… dad, for the advice… I’ll… be in my room if you need me…”

Declan walked up the stairs into his room and shut the door. These thoughts of his were easier to ignore, and he thought that it was for the better, for now at least, to do so.

Back downstairs, Ethan slumped back into the couch, rubbing the temples of his head. He wanted to help his son, but he didn’t really know how. Where Ethan had lived before adopting Declan, things like this weren’t really commonly discussed topics. Both he and his son felt stuck on what to do with and how to talk about the situation that had been dealt to them; Declan due to his fear of expressing himself, and Ethan due to his lack of experience.

Meanwhile, Declan lay down on his bed, loosening the collar of his shirt, waiting for a call to arrive in his phone. It was only around now that he realised that he hadn’t been on the server in days; a personal record for him. In fact, for a moment, it almost seemed like he was going to stop playing. But fate had dealt other cards to him, and back in he would go. All he needed to do was put on the headset, lay down, and the world around him would fade away and turn into a better one. But was it actually better? A month ago, he would have thought, nay been convinced so, but something was different, and he knew it. It was this thought path that led him to ask himself a question he never would have expected to think.

“Do I actually want to go back there?”

He knew people on the server, but only as temporary allies, or those who were ‘fans’ of his ‘work’. But in the real world, he now had connections that felt genuine.

“To be fair, these connections… friends of mine are in the server now too… Just think of it as an immerse Tabletop-RPG session… albeit one you can feel immense pain in…”

He was almost considering calling the twins himself, when a notification sound played from his headset, which had been sitting in the corner of his room, collecting dust. It was time to meet Ashgem and Pheonix, time to return to the Grave of the Fallen Star… Time to let the world around him blur once more.

“Declan? Dec? You there? Oh, look who finally decided to show up. Nice to finally see you here.” Right in front of where he spawned stood one of the twins, although he couldn’t quite tell who yet.

“Yeah, yeah. Just had to have a conversation with my dad, that’s all. I’m assuming you’ve been doing nothing but clearing the dungeon since you got home?”

“Yeah. It was a pain, trying to speedrun it all, but good thing we have this little room to rest in, eh? No battles to be had in here!”

“You’re right… You know, I actually can’t tell which one of you is which… your avatars look like inversed versions of each other.”

“I thought you’d say something like that. Alex over there has the red robe and the blue hair, and I have the blue robe and red hair.”

“Well, thanks Damien, that clears everything up. All we gotta do now is… walk through the giant doors at the end of this hallway and try to kill a blind basilisk. No biggie.”

“Dec, no need to get all cynical about this. We got this! Alex is checking the wiki one last time to make sure everything we know is correct. And it seems to be, right brother?

“Indeed… Judging by the current time in the server, combined with how long it would take to kill the basilisk and escape, we should only be in the abnormal darkness caused by taking fragments of the star for… around an hour or so. Still, better to be safe. Should we revise over our plan of attack again?”

“Probably a good idea. We’ll attack the basilisk in unison to deal the most DPS. If one of us gets too injured, we’ll fall back until we’re sufficiently healed. Before we go in, mind if I can see your swords? Just need to know what I’m working with.”

Ashgem and Pheonix each drew their own blades; rapiers made of ruby and sapphire respectively, complimenting their colour schemes. While not the most powerful blades that the realm could offer, they would more than likely be sufficient for the fight ahead. As they drew their own blades, they became curious of the ones sheathed on Declan’s belt.

“Well Declan, we showed you ours. Now, if you could reciprocate, that would be appreciated.” Ashgem mentioned.

“If that’s what you request…” Declan drew his own blades, ones that he hadn’t felt in almost a week. His Katana, Daybreak, and his Wakizashi, Nighthunt. The weapons, in their familiarity, gave him some form of comfort.

“Now, that is a good looking pair of blades. That longer one, the katana I think, is pretty similar to that one you brought in 2 days ago to the tabletop session. You’re fan of Medieval Japan, aren’t you?”

“I suppose there’s no point in denying it, but I do recommend that we get a move on…”

Declan’s words seemingly came to a halt. He felt that something was off. He couldn’t quite tell what it was, but there was something stirring. The occasional footstep sound that he mistook for either his own or the twins. They were being watched. He raised his finger to his lips, indicating that he needed total silence. Again, there was that footstep sound, coming from the east wall. But where specifically? He drew a throwing blade from his inventory, waiting for the sound again. Before the sound even reached his ears, he threw the dagger in the direction of the noise, hitting the wall. He heard another sound, obviously human when this happened. Whoever it was that had been spying on them was now stuck to the wall, stapled to it with the dagger.

“Gah!”

“I knew it. Ashgem, mind helping our mystery guest become a little less… transparent?”

“Certainly.” Damien threw a splash bottle of cleansing towards the dagger’s location. Upon impact, it revealed someone; a face that was all too familiar to Declan. She had the pointed ears common of elves, yet her skin had an almost human-like quality to it, being abundant in freckles.  Hanging around her neck was a pendent that resembled a waning gibbous. Her hair was a deep shade of orange-gold that seemed as natural as the midday sun.

“Kathnisha? What the hell are you doing here!” Declan yelled.

“I’m assuming you two are at least acquainted, then.” Alex chuckled under his breath.

“You could say that.” Kathnisha sighed as she looked down. “Just so you know, I’m not here to do a repeat of last time. I’m not even part of the Boss Wizards anymore; they kicked me out after our last *little encounter*.”

“So, mind being a dear and explaining to us why you’re here then, hmm?” Declan walked up to Kathnisha, his arms folded over one another.

“Well, they did kick me out, but I still have access to all the message boards. I did build them after all.”

“Elaborate.”

“Okay… I noticed that recently there had been a security breach. Someone outside of the clan managed to get past the encryption, which you need an encryption key for. I managed to see what the breacher was looking at, and all they glanced over were the bounty and hits we’ve got on you. I put 2 and 2 together, figured whoever it was that got past our security was after you and came here to warn you.”

“Right… how did you know I was still here then?”

“Just a hunch. I knew that you hadn’t logged onto the server in days, so I assumed you were still here in the tomb. I made my way here, and saw two people, entering the dungeon, one of them being the one who got into our… sorry, the Boss Wizard’s databases.”

Alex raised his hands in a sarcastic defence. “Guilty as charged.”

Kathnisha chuckled, in spite of the awkward position she was stuck in. “I guess I was right about one thing at least then, huh?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, from what I can tell, these two fine gentlemen, the very ones that got past my encryption defences, aren’t bounty hunters, but instead close friends of yours… I am right, right?”

“Alright, you made your point. Now get out of here!”

“Listen, Dec, I know you don’t want to see me… I understand that, with that thing about killing you have, it must feel like you’re talking to a ghost. But even if I could leave, I wouldn’t. I want to help you, to make it up to you. I’m sorry about what happened that night… I was drunk, in the real world that is, and I know that it doesn’t excuse my actions, but… just let me do this. I need to clear my conscience.”

Declan turned around, silently screaming at himself, the words of his mind echoing throughout the digital skull he found himself in. “Drunk? I thought you were 15… never mind. Fine. But, I swear to God and all that is unholy, you try something like that again…”

“Hey, swear on the honour of the server. And I’m not in the Wizards anymore, I don’t have any reason to.”

Damien interrupted the conversation. “Sorry to break it up, guys, but we have a basilisk to kill. You can continue your little happy union once we’re out of here.

“I suppose you’re right. Now, if you could just remove this knife from my robe, I should be fine.”

“Hmph.” Declan walked over to Kathnisha and removed the blade that had pinned her against the wall from above her shoulder and pocketed it into his inventory.

The group turned around to face the doorway that led into the boss room, each one not sure who would go in foremost.

“Traitors first.” Mumbled Declan.

Kathnisha made no notice of his jab at her, and instead turned the knob on the towering wooden doors that stood before them. But what stood behind those doors was not a basilisk. Nor was it a monster of any kind. It was a human, torn and tattered by time and battle. A human that Kathnisha knew from her time in the Boss Wizards. An archimage, and one of the most notorious bounty hunters in the northern Eohune continent. A person who’s name drove fear into even the most powerful of warriors in the server.

Delemier.

End of Chapter 4.

Declan ‘Decadence’ O’Connor will return in:

Chapter 5: ‘An Uneasy Alliance.’