The Hour of Pain (The Way of the Shaman: a bonus story) LitRPG Series Read online

  The Hour of Pain

  by Vasily Mahanenko

  The Way of the Shaman

  A Bonus Story

  Magic Dome Books

  The Hour of Pain

  The Way of the Shaman, Bonus Story

  Copyright © V. Mahanenko 2017

  Cover Art © Roxanne George 2017

  English translation copyright © Andrew Schmitt 2017

  Published by Magic Dome Books, 2017

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN: 978-80-88231-19-6

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is entirely a work of fiction. Any correlation with real people or events is coincidental.

  The Hour of Pain

  “GREETINGS, BARSINA!” I said into my amulet as soon as Mahan entered his creative trance. “I’ve got deal for you worth a hundred million. Are you interested?”

  This was a code phrase that my mother and I had agreed to back at the very beginning of our epic plot against the Shaman, one that let her know that I wanted to speak to her privately. Glancing once more at the motionless Shaman, I sighed bitterly. What I was about to do would destroy our relationship. But I couldn’t not do it. My family’s welfare was at stake…Oh how sick I was of all of this!

  “Give me five minutes,” mom replied. “I’m in a meeting with an alderman. Is it urgent?”

  “Mahan is due to complete the sixth set of the figurines in a week.” Judging by her tone of voice, Barsina was with some NPCs, so I could speak openly. No one could hear us, so there was no point in being careful. “I think that we can set our plan in motion!”

  “Wonderful!” Joy seeped into Barsina’s voice. “At last all of this will be over and I will be able to return to Phoenix. Sign out to reality, we need to celebrate!”

  “In five minutes,” I muttered and hung up. That’s it then. I’ve said all I needed to say, done all I needed to do. Nothing depends on me now. Sitting down across from Daniel, I forced the cruel smile of a victor onto my face—and almost broke down in tears. I wanted to yell and bawl—to tear at, shove and embrace this dear man—to clutch him to me and never let him go, but I couldn’t! Even though the Corporation officials assure me otherwise, I know very well that every move I make, my every emotion and word, are all monitored and controlled by the agents of the Vecchi. The time had come when all my plans had come to fruition and it would be incredibly stupid to call everything off at the last moment. You have to go through with it, Stacey, you’re strong! It’s your move, Roxanne. It’s your move, Alexander…

  “And so the chess pieces will be complete in a week,” said my father, pouring me a glass of wine. “How is your leg? Is it bothering you?”

  “It’s fine,” I replied with a smile, accepting the glass. “The doctors promised to remove the brace in a week and say that I’ll be able to dance again in a week.”

  “Stacey…I…” dad began but fell silent. I even smiled—a millionaire, the head of a leading clan, a person who makes monumental decisions of life and death is embarrassed to speak to his daughter about her feelings. About his relationship with her. Fathers can accomplish all kinds of grand deeds, but simply chatting about personal matters…For many, it’s impossible.

  “Daughter,” mom came to dad’s aid. “I’ll ask you for a hundredth time—have you thought this through carefully? You understand that Dan will no longer be yours…Never again!”

  “Mom, I understand all of this perfectly well,” I smiled bitterly, closing my eyes from weariness. I sighed, sipped my wine, and sighed again, gathering the energy to continue the conversation—there aren’t many people who know that Anastaria is actually a huge coward. Only my parents, in fact, but they love me the way I am.

  “My little girl, you have to understand that we could overplay our hand! A year isn’t such a long time, and they…”

  “Mom, they’ll kill him! You know very well what the Vecchi are capable of—just look at my leg! If they realize that we know about Mahan, they’ll discard him without a second thought. I don’t want that to happen to him…”

  “In that case, we have nothing left to do but go through with our plan and hope that Mahan will behave as you expect him to,” dad said philosophically. “I have a surprise for you. I found two more people who have Scrolls of Armageddon. All we have to do now is transfer them to my brother on the sly.”

  “Mahan will have three scrolls?” I asked with surprise, since here, I’d been entirely outflanked. According to the plan, Mahan was supposed to receive only one Armageddon scroll, as we didn’t have anymore. Then he’d start running around Barliona terrorizing people. With two extra scrolls, he could start blowing up our castles, demonstrating his deep hate of Phoenix—just as I needed him to do.

  “That’s right. I’m looking for a fourth at the moment. You know, Stacey, I am amazed by the faith you have in Dan. Why do you think that he’ll do exactly as you say?”

  “I’ve already told you, dad. He’s a Shaman and that means he’ll follow his Way until the very end.”

  “Have you received a report about his immersion levels?”

  “Yes, it came yesterday. My hunch was accurate—Mahan is too deep into the game. We have to use hate to extract him. There’s no other option. Can we talk about something else maybe? I have an entire week to be with him and I want to use all of it.”

  “You’re planning on sitting at his side for the entire week?” Mom asked with surprised.

  “Yes. I already came up with the cover story. The King chess piece was crafted in a few hours, so no one knows how long the Lizards will take him. Mom, I don’t care what you think of me right now. I want to stay by his side. He won’t even speak with me when he returns to the game, so…”

  “I understand you, Stacey,” my mom comforted me. “Send me the text of the cover story. We’ll rehearse it until everyone will believe us. You’ll have a week with him at least.”

  Six days later

  “DANNY, YOU DID IT!” I yelled, jumping to my feet and throwing myself around the neck of the man I loved. At last the moment had arrived in which I no longer had to pretend and hide my feelings—the cover story of my love for the Shaman had been fed to the Vecchi, so I could be my true self. Kissing Dan joyfully, I added, “You made it! You’re the first in all of Barliona! You even beat the Celestial Empire!”

  My Shaman’s deep, gray eyes looked with puzzlement at the light surging in his hands. Two small figurines hovered in its midst. Judging by the smile that appeared on his face, Mahan was only just beginning to believe that he had managed to create the Lizards, without knowing their history. He made several rapid motions with his hands, activating the entrance to the tomb. I really wanted to yell ‘don’t do it,’ but all I could do to contain myself was press myself to Dan one more time.

  The Tomb of the Creator is being opened. Time until completion: 30 minutes.

  “You activated it?” I asked, hiding my sadness with forced excitement. As I assumed, the notification about the tomb being opened was sent to everyone at the plateau, so kissing Mahan one more time, I stepped away from him and wrote into the chat: “The process has been activated, we’re on location!”

  Dan’s extraction from Barli
ona had begun…

  “At last!” After several moments, Barsina appeared right beside us and began examining the gates like they were to her own house. “You were right yet again, my dear…”

  “Naturally,” I laughed, shutting off my emotions completely. The person before me was no longer the man I loved, but an agent of the Vecchi—the one who was supposed to destroy Phoenix from within, the one that everyone who wanted to destroy us was relying on, the one whom I loved…“Can you imagine it, mom, he has no idea what’s going on! It’s so easy to manipulate him…”

  Whenever he didn’t understand something, Dan’s eyes grew grayer. I always liked this about the Shaman—considering that what I saw in game was a complete reflection of his current physical state, somewhere out in reality, in his capsule, my love’s eyes had also filled with gray. A very unusual phenomenon.

  “All right, the activation will take another thirty minutes,” mom went following her script, after which she called Magdey and dad. Sitting down on a boulder, she basically stopped playing her role, giving me control of the situation. I’m the only one who knows Dan as well as my own hand, so only I can know how to proceed in a manner that would keep him from attacking me—while suffering complete and utter disillusionment in this life. And the later, I suppose I’ll cry and bash my head against the wall and call myself an idiot. At the moment, Dan must cease to exist for me. He’s just another enemy, no more…

  “Stacey, while we wait, do you want to play the villain from a sappy movie?” Barsina finished her part, while Magdey appeared on the plateau and got down to installing the anti-teleportation crystals. Only Mahan can receive the entrance to the Tomb, so we can’t have any unwanted guests. Who knows what the Vecchi have in mind and how many players they have working for them. They might for instance grant some powers to Exodus, and then good luck dealing with him. No—everything has to be precise and according to plan.

  “You want to finish him off completely? You really are quite cruel, mom! Sometimes what one doesn’t know is much more pleasant.”

  “Hence my offer! You have no idea how sick I am of playing my part…”

  “Ladies, maybe you’ll clue me in about what’s going on here?” Dan finally summoned the courage to start the conversation. Judging by his eyes, he was beginning to slowly understand what was happening—it wasn’t for nothing that I’d prepared him with my earlier argument with him, my talk of wanting children and paying his debt, and yet he continued to reject the idea that I could turn out to be a bitch. The Shaman refused to believe what was about to happen and that made everything worse. It’s difficult to tell the man you love that he’s a total zero.

  “All right, since he’s asking for it himself,” I said unable to control myself and sat down beside Dan, placing my head on his shoulder for the last time. How I’m going to miss his smile…“My dear, I must disappoint you—you’re a dummy. The most natural, ordinary dummy! You…Hmm…I don’t even know where to begin,” I was barely keeping myself from cracking, but maintained my mask through an act of will. “Okay, I’ll start at the beginning...In Anhurs, not far from the clan registration office, stands a small house that’s called the Hall of Fame. It contains a gallery with the images of all players who have received First Kills. And it is this place that received information that four players had appeared in Barliona who had earned these First Kills. The first to approach Phoenix with an offer to join it was Clutzer…”

  “Clutzer came to Phoenix?” Mahan asked incredulously. His narrowed eyes told me that he was no longer certain that this was all just some prank. Good. We were heading in the right direction then.

  “Clutzer, teleport to the tomb entrance, will you,” I invited the Rogue to the plateau in the clan chat. I can’t even quantify how much trouble this person has caused me. I’m ashamed to admit that I still don’t know who he works for—though I have absolutely no doubts that he’s working for someone. The oddest thing about him is that there doesn’t seem to be a single method of pressuring him into an open conversation. I get the sense that he’s been through an elite psychological prep course, and yet my friends in the special agencies couldn’t dig anything up about him. He simply didn’t exist before he first appeared on our stage. A perplexing person, so I must be careful with him.

  “Surprised?” I gradually began to get into my villain role. “Too bad. Not only did he come to us, but he brought with him the entire trinity. Ah! There he is. Clutzer—I hereby remove all disclosure restrictions from you. We have what we wanted…Now please explain how it all happened.”

  “Mahan, Mahan…I let you know that I was free and asked you to think!”

  “Excuse me? Mind clarifying that?” I couldn’t keep myself from interrupting, realizing that something had gone off plan. Yet again Clutzer was trying to play his own game, which I didn’t like one bit. He already drove me crazy with his contract, and here it turns out that he managed to tell Mahan something along the way too.

  “Forget it,” Clutzer smirked in reply. “Check the Imitator—I haven’t violated anything. As you taught me yourself—you always have to predict all the possibilities, even the least likely ones. So you can chill out—I’m clean as far as the law goes. I’ll pay my debt soon enough. I’ve done everything by the rules of our contract, oh Great Anastaria!”

  Clutzer began to relate the story of how he joined Phoenix, giving me the chance to think things over. I had drawn up the contract myself, so I could be confident that there weren’t any holes in it. And yet, surprisingly, Clutzer was still here and not back at the mine, so there had to be something I didn’t know. And I really didn’t like that fact. Whenever a certain amount of entropy is present, the plan ceases to become reality. When Clutzer reached the topic of Karachun, who had wanted to meet with Mahan and thank him, I seized control of the conversation again.

  “Unfortunately, I hadn’t planned on you becoming acquainted with Reptilis,” I decided to change the topic, pulling the rug from under Clutzer’s feet. “Everything went according to plan at first—the clan, the game with your feelings, which I didn’t even have to predict—I could see your mouth water when you looked at me from a kilometer away. But then, as they say, a force majeure situation arose, which we had to deal with as quickly as possible. So we sent Barsina to you.”

  When I said the part about his mouth watering, Dan’s eyes flared with fire. Nevertheless, he managed to come up with an objection, just about spitting it out at me:

  “Barsa joined the clan before I got the scroll.”

  Mahan was entering the very state that I needed him in. As painful as it was, I couldn’t change tactics right now—if Dan doesn’t hate me, he might never return to Barliona. All signs suggested that his game dependence level was at critical, so he could easily spend several years in the rehabilitation center, learning how to interact with reality all over again. I didn’t need that…

  “Reptilis refused to give us the scroll and threatened to hand it over to the Emperor or to the creator of the figurines, so we decided not to risk it. Mom deleted her former Mage and in several days we leveled her up to Level 147. Clan leveling can work miracles. When Clutzer told us that you were looking for an extra player, it became clear that this was our chance. Initially, Barsa was going to be leveled up to Level 250 and then introduced to you—but we had to work with what we had. That’s how Barsina ended up with you.”

  “I guess the first question I’d ask if I were you, was how a mercenary for whom this game is supposedly her livelihood, was only at Level 147?” Barsina walked up to us and began to go off script. If I could have, I would have kissed her right there and then—I really needed this short pause. As the person who knew me better than anyone else, Mom understood this and came to my aid. Enough, Stacey, take ahold of yourself!

  “When you kept missing out on scenarios in the Dark Forest, I was grinding my teeth, but I kept quiet,” I began to lie outright, trying to convince Dan that he was an awful player. On its own, his hate of me wouldn’
t force him out of the game. I had to crush him from all possible angles, especially when it came to the quests which, with the Vecchi’s generous assistance, rained down on him like from a horn of plenty. Here, Clutzer interfered yet again and began to talk about us coming up with the plan with Rick and Hellfire. Stupid little brat! That plan had been developed a long, long time ago. Clutzer was merely allowed to put it in action, since we considered him one of our own. Even if I can’t influence this strange person, I won’t allow anyone to beat me at my own game.

  “As I predicted, you read the scroll and began to accuse me of supposedly being with you only for the sake of the Chess Set. In some sense you were right!” I went on when the Rogue finally fell silent. At the moment I practically believed what I was saying was the honest truth—that I didn’t actually love Mahan and that I couldn’t care less about his feelings. I even laughed meanly, and sincerely, feeling like a true villain. Realizing that I couldn’t afford to surrender to my feelings, I forced myself to return to a normal state and continued to recite our prepared script to Dan. “Shaman Mahan is no longer useful to anyone…”

  “After the Dark Forest, Anastaria signed an agreement with us and Phoenix paid our debts, putting us on an installment plan,” said Clutzer, figuring no doubt that he was ruining all my plans by revealing how evil I was. In actual fact, by bringing up money, the Rogue was playing into my hands right now. The time had come to tell Mahan a fairy tale. It’s not like he could verify it right this instant, and in his current state he’d accept is as gospel.

  “They paid your debt after the Dark Forest? Leite took out a loan to pay his debt…” Mahan made a feeble attempt to refute what he had just heard. It was astounding that he could still reason objectively! I had better strike him in his most tender spot without delay—money wouldn’t do here. It had never really been a sore subject for him.