Sigil Online: Paragons Read online

  Contents

  Title

  Jeff Sproul

  Chapter 1: Fall

  Chapter 2: Postmortem

  Chapter 3: Zero

  Chapter 4: Old Friends

  Chapter 5: Amber Caves

  Chapter 6: Resurgence

  Chapter 7: Surprise

  Chapter 8: Rare

  Chapter 9: Enhance

  Chapter 10: Keep Up

  Chapter 11: Choices

  Chapter 12: New Friends

  Chapter 13: Rook Den

  Chapter 14: Saros

  Chapter 15: Red Hand

  Chapter 16: Combos

  Chapter 17: Lightning

  Chapter 18: Reinforcements

  Chapter 19: The Hunt

  Chapter 20: In Other News

  Chapter 21: Underground

  Chapter 22: Fight or Die

  Chapter 23: Dibs

  Chapter 24: Business As Usual

  Chapter 25: Eye See You

  Chapter 26: Crystal Fields

  Chapter 27: We Meet Again

  Chapter 28: Relinquish

  Chapter 29: No Strings

  Chapter 30: Gambit

  Chapter 31: Death's Chasm

  Chapter 32: All In

  Epilogue

  Newsletter

  Special Thanks

  Books

  About the Author

  Sigil Online: Paragons

  Jeff Sproul

  Text Copyright © 2017 Jeff Sproul

  All Rights Reserved.

  This book may not be reproduced in any form or medium without the express written consent of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters and places either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

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  Chapter 1: Fall

  Riley smacked into an older gentleman with a barrel chest and thick arms. The boy of sixteen years stumbled away from the large man and looked up to him, a tinge of fear in his eyes.

  “Sorry! Really sorry!” Riley fumbled for words as he side-stepped around the man who was glaring daggers at him.

  Without waiting to see if the man was going to get upset with him, he turned and dashed down the street, his arms pumping to close in on his destination and put as much distance between him and the man he’d ran into.

  Enormous display screens hung on various portions of the nearby buildings. Some were seven stories high, others were dozens. The large displays all had one thing in common. No matter the ad or the service they were depicting, they all referenced something called ‘Sigil Online.’

  Riley weaved around other pedestrians, doing his best not to run into anyone else. The last thing he needed was to get into an actual fight in real life. His chest burned. Damn he hated running!

  He stopped at the outside door to the stairwell for his apartment complex. He tapped in his keycode and pulled it open. He dove inside and ran as fast as he could up the steps, taking two at a time until he almost slipped.

  He swiftly ascended to the floor his apartment was on and ran down the hall. He probably shouldn’t be running! But he didn’t care.

  When he got to his door, he fumbled for his keys and unlocked it. He rushed in and swung the door closed behind him with a loud ‘clunk.’ He locked it and turned to the kitchenette. His chest rose and fell rapidly. The apartment he lived in wasn’t anything extravagant. It was only a single room, with a bathroom. Within that room, was a small kitchenette, a full-sized bed, a dresser, a television in front of a recliner, and a computer with a monitor on a desk.

  Riley opened the fridge and tossed the entire bag of groceries inside. Why did the store have to be so far away? Why did he have to take a cab? Why did there have to be traffic? Who the hell could live with traffic every single day? He was going to be late!

  He unzipped his gray hoodie and checked a digital clock on his desk. “Already late!” he growled as he partially sat down on the chair by his computer. A quick keystroke of his password gave him access to the system.

  “C’mon, c’mon,” he murmured as the system booted up and ran the starting applications, which were predominantly news based, along with any recent activity for updates on the game called ‘Sigil Online.’

  He scanned the news feeds. Nothing too vital there. The usual mentions of certain in-game events, along with the demise of a couple ‘tier two’ players which must’ve operated in a different part of the game-world than he did, because he didn’t recognize their names. Maybe they were new and hadn’t been around long?

  He shook his head. Nothing worth reading. He shouldn’t have wasted his time. He pulled his shoes from his feet and quickly changed into a pair of green plaid shorts, since pants were always a bit constricting. He pulled his hoodie off, leaving him in a gray t-shirt. Once he’d finished changing his attire, he grabbed a crescent-shaped visor from his desk, which had wires running over to his computer. He crawled into bed, visor in hand. He didn’t worry about his comfort this time around, he just needed to get into the game quickly. He pulled the strap on the back of the visor and situated it around the base of his skull. He flipped a switch on the side of the visor which caused a dull mechanical hum to emanate from it, which subtly tightened the strap against his head, but only enough for a secure fit, while the visor itself rested over his eyes and forehead.

  Having flipped the switch on the side, he’d already initiated the bootup sequence of the visor itself. There were two small displays on the inside of the visor. As they lit up, they depicted the number 10, then 9, then 8. Riley used this time to calm himself and shift around to get comfortable. 5...4.

  He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Hopefully he wasn’t late.

  2...1

  When his eyes opened, he was no longer laying in bed staring at a visor. He was still inside an apartment, but this one was located within the virtual world of Sigil Online. It was easily ten-times larger than his real-world apartment. He was able to set his in-game apartment as his spawn point, which allowed him to appear directly inside of it upon logging in. If he didn’t own an apartment, he would’ve had to of found an inn somewhere.

  Now that he was in the game, he rushed to the door and opened it, which took him out into a hallway. He ran down the hall and entered an elevator which took him to the ground floor. The elevator opened up to a large spacious lounge where numerous other players were milling about, talking, eating, watching the news and even playing various gambling mini-games which were coded into the virtual world.

  He was no longer dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. That’s because in the game world, he was no longer Riley. He was a paragon known as Radiance.

  He had short-cut gold hair and a white form-fitting jacket with gold trim. On the side of his partially exposed neck, was a gold tattoo with the letter ‘R’ and a silver circle around it.

  He had on a pair of dark gray denim pants with silver stitching. A pair of black boots, and a pair of silver and gold chain bracelets on his wrists, which he happened to be very proud of. Not simply because of the stat boost they gave him, but because they matched his entire ensemble as well.

  On the right side of his jacket, he wore a black pin that looked like a plus sign made of two lightning bolts.

  This, was Radiance.

  He walked through the lounge, his sights set on an older man who wore a fine black suit. His head was shaved bald and his attention appeared to
be on one of the news-reporting televisions on the side of the wall.

  Radiance made his way over, but was stopped by a guy who appeared to be around eighteen or so, which made him several years older than Radiance’s apparent age.

  “Hey Radi, are you available for a boss on Saturday?”

  Upon hearing the shortened version of his name, ‘Radi’ looked over to the casually-clothed player, and several heads nearby turned to look at him as well.

  “Uh, I don’t know,” Radi replied. “Kinda busy right now! Check with me later, alright?” he said as he quickly dodged around the player who had spoken to him.

  “Alright!” the guy called back. “I’ll catch up with you later!”

  Radi wanted to roll his eyes, but he had to upkeep is ‘nice guy’ persona, which meant that he couldn’t go acting like a complete douchebag, when he really felt like being one.

  Radi hadn’t managed to take more than six more steps before he heard someone else speak his name.

  “Radiance!” a woman called from a couch nearby.

  He turned his head and saw a silver-haired woman with a bright smile on her lips. “You going to need a support to team up with today? I’m a paragon now, you know!”

  Radi lifted his eyebrows, his steps faltering for a moment. “Uh, sorry Glint, kinda in a rush today. The group is full. I’ll keep you in mind though!” He then continued to walk, heading past where the woman had been sitting.

  “You better!” he heard from behind him.

  He took a deep breath, trying his best to just stay focused. He actually liked Glint as a player, but she really wasn’t too knowledgeable when it came to using her powers effectively. Not to mention, she was kind of greedy when it came to loot. Which, he supposed at the end of the day, a lot of players were like that. It wasn’t always easy to gain an advantage in a game like Sigil Online.

  “Hey Radiance!” another voice called from nearby.

  “Hey!” he called back, even lifting his hand in a brief greeting to whomever had said his name, but this time he didn’t even bother looking in their direction. He had somewhere he needed to be! Being one of the well-known tier-two healers in the game, made him a bit too popular sometimes.

  Managing to avoid any further distractions, he finally made it to the finely dressed man. He wore a black suit with thin green lines running down the jacket.

  Riley stepped into the dark-skinned man’s field of vision, but didn’t fully obstruct his view of the television he’d been watching. “Hey, Teller. In a bit of a rush, can you get me to the entrance of the glow mine?”

  Teller slowly looked over to Radi. His bald head glinted from the outside sunlight. “You know, you said something similar the other day, and you still haven’t paid for my expert services from then. My line of credit doesn’t run far, boy.”

  Radi swallowed and nodded. “I know, I know, I’m sorry. Right after this fight, I’ll head right back and I can pay you. Please? I’m already super late! I’ll pay you, like...ten percent more, for this time and last time, alright?”

  Teller lifted a brow. “Twenty percent extra, for both times,” he countered.

  Radi’s lips parted, about to complain, but he knew he was in no position to barter. “Fine, good! Twenty percent extra. So let’s go, glow mine, ok?”

  “You better not forget, I’ll be coming after you if you do! Might just teleport a bomb on your ass. Then you’ll remember to pay your debts.”

  Radi’s patience was running thin, but still he managed to keep his composure as best he could. “Right right, I’m good for it, I swear,” he said.

  Teller shook his head as he reached out and grabbed Radi’s wrist. “Glow mine entrance, go!”

  Upon that two-letter word being spoken, Radiance was transported across the city, to the far outskirts, beneath the planet’s surface and to the entrance of the glow mine.

  It happened in the blink of an eye, just like it had been when he entered seamlessly into the game world; he had been transported to the the meetup location where the rest of his team was waiting. Electrical energy discharged from his body upon his arrival. Creating a ‘zzzt’ sound as he found himself staring at the tunnel entrance to the mine.

  Nearby, a man who looked to be in his thirties was sitting on a large rock on the ground. He looked up and spotted Radi.

  “Bout time you showed up,” Glasser murmured. “Why is it we’re always waiting on you, man?”

  Radi sighed and shrugged. “Sorry, couldn’t be helped. Came as fast as I could. We all here?” he asked, glancing around to the several other people nearby.

  To the left of Glasser was Blue Blaster, who tended to go by ‘Blue’ or even ‘BB’ to anyone who ever teamed up with her. She was a young woman with frosty blue hair and a pair of dark blue gloves. She wore a blue corset and black denim pants. “We’re all here,” she said, in an unamused tone. “Just been waiting on you, as always.”

  “Traffic again?” asked a woman from behind him.

  Radi turned his head and spotted Warcry. She was somewhat simply dressed. A pair of black cargo pants, black boots and a red t-shirt. On both arms, were a pair of coiling red tribal tattoos. Her hair was red as well and shaved down on one side.

  He smiled at the sight of her. The two of them had been in-game friends since he first logged in. He’d known Warcry back when her in-game name had been ‘Wendy.’

  “Yeah, still not used to it,” he said with a half smile.

  “Well let’s get going. Less chat, more kill kill,” said a woman on the right side of Glasser. She had deep black hair down to her shoulders, and a somewhat gothic form-fitting leather outfit with cloth frill coming from the hips like a skirt.

  “I forgot how you’re such a busy person, Shadow Witch,” said Radi as he walked towards the entrance to the cave. “You got the mirror, right?” he asked, glancing over to Glasser.

  “Yeah, I got it. I’m not forgetful like some people,” he said pointedly while looking at Radi. “No use in even bringing you, if I wasn’t going to bring the mirror as well.”

  Radi managed a smile. “Good, I mean, I’d have been just as happy to sit the fight out after rushing here, but at least I’ll be able to...you know, keep you all alive.”

  “Which is the only reason we waited as long as we did,” said Shadow Witch as she got up and headed into the glow mine.

  Glasser followed after her, and then Blue Blaster after him. Radi glanced back to Warcry, who walked in beside him.

  “Well it’s not like I ‘really’ need anything from a boss down here anyway,” Radi spoke up.

  “You don’t know that,” said Blue Blaster. “It’s not like anyone’s killed it before. It just got patched in today.”

  “How did we know it was going to be here?” Radi asked.

  “The developers released patch notes last night, saying that certain areas were getting some tweaks. Which, is essentially cryptic developer talk for ‘we’re adding things in that you should go take a look at.’ So I came out here right after the patch came out and scouted the rooms. That’s when I spotted the ‘Glownaconda.”

  “The...what?” Radi asked. “That’s probably the most ridiculous name I’ve heard for a boss. I also doubt that anything down here in the glow mine has loot that would be better than what I’ve got right now. Unless they coded in some new equipment or we get some super rare drop no one’s seen before.”

  “Yeah, the name's a bit of a stretch,” said Blue Blaster. “I guess they thought it sounded cooler than ‘glow worm’ or ‘glow snake.’”

  “Ehh,” Radi murmured.

  “If it drops something we can’t use, we’ll just split the profits like always,” Glasser said from ahead of the group, having listened in on their conversation.

  “Right, right,” said Radi.

  The group of five walked through the tunnel, surrounded by dark black stone, which had small traces of green glowing veins throughout. It emitted enough light so that they could see each other’s silhouettes, but
nothing much beyond that.

  “We know anything special about this glow worm?” asked Radi, just to break the silence that was going on. “Weaknesses? Weak spots? Resistances? Damage?”

  “We kill it till it’s dead,” said Shadow Witch.

  “An excellent strategy, Shadow,” Radi allowed himself to roll his eyes, since no one would actually notice.

  “It’s always the best strategy,” she replied.

  “I’ll just, you know, yell at it...and yell at you guys. Done deal,” said Warcry. “I might even yell a bit at the walls. We’ll see where the day takes us.”

  Radi smirked at Warcry’s comment. Without her, the group would definitely be more dismal. Warcry was actually a perfect fit for a group like theirs. Each of them could deal damage in some regard, and Warcry amplified the damage they could do. Their team was centered around the ‘if you do enough damage, it will die,” mentality. But that’s also why his role was so important. With so many damage-dealers, he had to really be on top of his game if he was going to keep everyone alive. A healer that couldn’t keep his team alive, wasn’t going to be invited into many groups.

  Glasser was the only one of them that could actually do much of anything to mitigate damage. His powers allowed him to glassify any inanimate object, or himself. It was both defensive and offensive, which gave him the role of ‘tank.’ A tank was a combat role in most games where the player put themselves in the most danger and absorbed whatever damage they could, so that the less-defensive members of their party weren’t in harm’s way.

  The light in the passageway was gradually increasing, as it began to open up into a larger room. This was the first chamber in the glow mine. There were multiple passageways that led to other rooms and tunnels. There was also larger formations of green glowing crystal, which helped illuminate their surroundings.

  “Which way?” asked Glasser.

  “Hmm, I came out of…” Blue Blaster murmured and then pointed to one of the passageways to their right. “Over there.”

  The group moved, and Blue Blaster assumed the lead role. They’d reach various forks in the tunnels which caused BB to pause for a moment. She’d turn her head to look in the opposite direction, then head quickly down a tunnel. At one point, they had to backtrack a tunnel, as BB seemed adamant that she’d made a navigational error.