Escort Mission

By Larry Gent

What's worse than being stuck in a video game? Being stuck in your bank alt.

After weeks of being stuck in the game, life hasn't gotten any easier. Rake is trying to find a way to log out but the mystery still seems endless.

When a friend appears before him, begging for help, Rake gets pulled into a rescue mission. When the m

• Language: English
• Publisher: Midnight Reading Publishing
• Release date: Apr 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9780995951532

Book preview

Vörissa's Catalyst Online

Patch 1.02

Escort Mission

by Larry Gent

Midnight Reading Publishing

Published in Canada by Midnight Reading Publishing, Ottawa

Gent, Larry, 1983-, Author.

Escort Mission: Vörissa's Catalyst Online/Larry Gent

Ebook ISBN: 978-0-9959515-3-2

Copyright © 2017 Larry Gent

This is a work of fiction. All characters and situations are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblence to actual persons, living or dead, events, locals or businesses is coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduce or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for brief passages quoted in a review.

Cover Design: Valérie Gent

Midnight Reading Publishing

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Also by Larry Gent

Avalon Lost

Lightyears To Go Before I Sleep

The Benedict Forecasts

Be All That You Envy (2018)

Never Been To Mars

To Money And A TV

Bedroom Walls That Save Us (2018)

Vörissa's Catalyst Online

Patch 1.01: New Game+

Patch 1.02: Escort Mission

Patch 1.03: Corpse Run

Patch 1.04: In Another Castle

Patch 1.05: Silent Protagonist

CHAPTER ONE

Prologue

Glitch: Day 3

Her footsteps moved silently through the darkened forest, the mindbending fog moving through the trees like water through a creek.   There were many spells at her disposal that could silence her feet further, but they would have proven useless. It had taken years of practise, stealthily creeping around the dungeons and forests of Aspumer, to perfect her level of stealth.  It was an impressive feat for a rogue; it was an outstanding feat for a mage.

Scova kept watch as she ran her fingers across the forest floor.  She was looking for someone, a group of people to be specific but tracking them in the fog would be impossible. She frowned as her fingers tapped out a spell.  Seconds later her eyes began to glow orange, as if her irises burned with an everlasting flame.  The trail illuminated before her, each footstep glowing blue for her eyes only.

Your reliance on the arcane troubles me. Scova hid a smile.   Damn, she had snuck up on her again.  After all this time she didn't know why it still surprised her.  Scova was quiet, she prided herself on how quiet she was, but she was in a whole other world.   You should learn to see with your own eyes, not those granted by magic.

You should learn what tact is. Scova hid a smile as she turned around.   Her enchanted eyes fell upon the lithe figure of Lady Adelaide Bullmourn.  She was tall and athletic with long onyx hair and wore a ninja's keikogi with a matching tabi.   A ninjatō was on her back, along with several kunai on her belt. You're late.

We have been here, waiting, Adelaide smirked.   Scova opened her mouth to protest.   She saw only Lady Bullmourn but after blinking, six more appeared.   Each wore ninja garb like Adelaide and were as well equipped.   Shall we continue to waste time with idle flirting or should we attend to the mission at hand?

Flirting? Scova asked.   Adelaide's stoic nature cracked slightly as a slight blush crossed her cheeks.   In the darkness, accompanied by the fog, Scova would have missed it save for her enchanted eyes. She smirked.

Adelaide raised her hand and the team came to an abrupt halt.   She pointed to her scout and he vanished.   Moments later he reappeared.   He leaned in and whispered to Adelaide.   Scova watched and marvelled.   The Whispers were nothing short of amazing.   Some were spies that gathered intelligence, others were field agents who worked the missions and some were ninjas.   They were the assassins, the killers and the masters of shadow.   They were the arbiters of the Whisper Lord's will.

Lady Adelaide turned to her troops.  She never spoke, she simply pointed in various directions. Her ninjas simply nodded before vanishing into the fog. She then turned to Scova.

The Nohorian Brotherhood's camp is across the bridge. We see fifteen, so we expect thirty, she explained.   My team is flanking the camp as we speak. You and I will take the bridge.   We will move swiftly so hasten your feet if you feel the need.

Trust me, Scova boasted, I'll keep up.

Good. Then let us attack.

Glitch: Day 4

The cart bounced along the road, forcing Scova awake.   She jolted upright but instantly regretted the movement.   Pain shot through her side.   Her left arm reached across to cup her wound but it did little to help.   Her fingers touched wool bandages, soaked through by her blood.   Scova looked around the cart she'd woken in.   She was in a cage being transported across the continent to some unknown location.     She looked around and saw two unmasked ninjas, each Whisper agents, and the familiar - albeit cut and bruised - face of Lady Adelaide.

You've finally awakened, the Lady said.   You've been out for nearly a day.   I was worried about you.

What happened? Scova asked.

Adelaide scowled and Scova suddenly got worried.   The noble lady wasn't happy.   She was mad, not just on a professional level but on a personal one.   Someone had emotionally cut her and the wound was deep.

Lady Bullmourn, please tell me.   She shook her head.   Scova asked once more, Adelaide, please.

I was betrayed, she spat, by one of my own.

Why are we still alive? Scova asked.

They want me, she explained.  Those two are to be torture to get to me.

Why am I still alive?  

Adelaide didn't answer. She simply looked out the cage and watched the world pass by.

Glitch: Day 9

186, 187 188. Adelaide counted loudly with each of Scova's kicks.

You know what I miss? Scova asked as her legs came to a halt.

An excuse to stop your training? Lady Adelaide scolded.   The pair were locked in a stone cell, deep within an unknown castle.   They had been there for days.   Aside from occasionally removing Adelaide to torture her for information, the pair never left the cell.

Scova smirked.   I miss my sword.

I expected you to speak of your mother, your brother or yet again of your sister, Notian, Adelaide said with surprise.   I did not expect you to speak of your blade.

My blade was the Thean'melorn, Scova explained.   "It was one of the few blades that could be wielded by a mage.   It was built by Elven royalty, forged with the heart of a burning elemental.   It is an epic blade with 1.75% drop rate.   I hunted