Somnia Online, K.T. Hanna [best books to read now .txt] 📗

would have stood about six feet tall. Their shrimp-like bodies and tails had dozens of tiny arms with hands attached to them, and a huge shell-like helmet encased their heads, protecting from the ranger’s headshots.

It looked like they came in groups of six. Which wouldn’t have been that bad for trash, except those groups of six came in bundles of three. She braced herself for another huge fight, only to find that the raid separated seamlessly into the three groups it had been allocated as add combatants in the last fight, and they mowed through the strange shrimp-human creatures in next to no time.

“Well done,” she announced over raid, unable to keep the surprise from her voice. All it took was two and a half hefty dungeons to get them to this point. As they readied to move out, Murmur realized the shrimp humans had been hiding some sort of cave beyond them. Or wait, it appeared to be a passage split, one that went through a tunnel of some sort. Which made no sense because they were in a damned lake, but she couldn’t let that bother her.

Pulling up her map of the zone, she paused to study it, making no sense of it whatsoever. It seemed like one big loop.

Which fork should we take? she asked the guild, not entirely trusting her own decision-making ability right then. She was practically running on empty like most of them.

Merlin: Well, either way they lead back to one another, so…maybe the easier way leads to the easier boss.

Rashlyn: That could totally be a trap, though.

Jinna: It could also mean that it doesn’t matter which way we choose. We’re going to have to fight both of them, and they’ll both probably annoy the crap out of us. Let’s just get this done.

Murmur couldn’t help but notice how irritable her friend had become. Like there was nothing anyone could to do make it better. He was constantly snapping and wanting to push forward, far less cautious and contemplative. It was almost as if he wasn’t himself. But she didn’t want to risk using her abilities on him to check it out.

Are you there?

Me? You mean the me that you don’t like talking to anymore? If Murmur hadn’t known better, she would have thought Somnia was sulking, but that wasn’t possible, right?

Of course, I like talking to you, just not when you’re being frustrating by picking and choosing which of my thoughts you comment on. Murmur thought that was just self-explanatory.

Oh. There was a pause that sounded pregnant with thought and contemplation. Then I accept your apology. And what did you want me to do?

Murmur skimmed over the fact that the AI had forgiven her for something that wasn’t necessarily supposed to be forgiven, and went straight to the point. Can you see…can you check on Jinna? He has one of our better headsets, and I think something is wrong.

How do you mean? The curiosity in the tone made it easy to forget what Somnia was.

I mean, he’s not acting like himself, he’s not being himself, and he’s treating me and others differently than normal. Murmur was a bit scared that nothing was wrong, and that he’d just had enough of her shit with her pushing emotions and taking away feelings and just wanted to be rid of her. Or maybe he was like this when overtired. Except that couldn’t be it because she’d raided with overtired Jinna way before this.

Let me check. I’ll need to run a few things. I’ll be discreet. Don’t worry. Be right back.

Murmur let her hand fall and scratched Snowy’s neck. He turned with his cold snout and nuzzled her hand. It was amazing what a comfort he was.

Sinister bumped into her side gently. “What are you thinking?”

“Probably too much. You know me. Never a dull moment.” Murmur half-joked, even though she was only half-paying attention.

Somnia Online

Continent of Curet: The Glacier Lakes Dungeon

Version 8.4282.5 - Triggered by Murmur of Fable

Early Day 31

Jirald kept an eye on the whole raid, most of the time. He’d found his ability to multitask had improved since absorbing so many of those shards into his avatar. With so much to regulate, and so much to keep an eye on, he was glad of the added focus.

When they stopped in front of the battleground of the Pivya, he paused, calling the others to him all the while wondering why on Earth there was a sign pointing the way down a clearly marked path they were meant to take, with an actual name for the area. There were too many things in this game that weren’t making complete sense to him. He doubted they’d make sense to anyone.

Jinna came, as did Risk and Masha. Such a small group, and yet they’d already planted the seeds in many of the others. Just a brief touch and a word, just a thought to chew on that might instill doubt in those they came across. Doubt in Murmur and her capabilities, doubt in Fable. Sure, it didn’t always work, he’d seen that already, but when it did, it took well.

He’d already managed to approach Murmur twice now, without even her wolf alerting her. It definitely felt powerful to out maneuver the enchanter. He grinned and let the others fall in around him.

“These are taking way too long. We aren’t children.” Risk’s tone held a defiance, and yet some begrudged respect. Jirald would have to take care of that. Couldn’t have the leader of another guild growing respect.

Jinna propped himself up against a well-placed rock and shrugged. “This is how they work. All the time. If you have patience we’ll get through it.” But even though his words sounded reasonable, Jinna’s glance at his raid leader was not. There was resentment in there, and some sort of sadness.

But Jirald could twist sadness; it was the easiest thing to morph it into bitterness. He’d have to test it, though, in order to be sure. “But of course. Their way