Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (54 page)

Shandra
wasn’t actually a mage of any sort according to my notes. She
was more of a hedge witch with a steep learning curve. I idly
followed the markings all over town and found a few good starter
methods for learning magic. Of course doing that made me feel like a
dirty cheater with a personal walk through but I was also Old Man
Carver, guide to the new and confused. The balance was strange.

“
You
might be missing something.” Teeth chewed on one lip in
thought.

“
Like
what?”

“
Mh.
Not everything is as simple as learning abilities right away, not
even for Travelers.” How should I explain a topic I barely
understood? William Carver had no access to magic or any sort of
alternate energy form. According to his skills everything went ‘swing
the big sword, swing it some more, swing it harder and scream!’.

“
Come
on. Come.” We took another trip slowly. The sun was setting and
I was getting extremely tired. Plus being out too late would get me
in trouble with my progress bar. If this quest attempt failed I would
need every point available.

“
Need
a ride, geezer?” A bell from the bicycle dinged a few times as
Phil navigated the metal device to a halt nearby.

“
Phil.
It’s about time.” I loaded myself into the cart's plush
seating. Moments later I had a map out and was jabbing one finger at
the meditation cave from earlier.

“
Can
you get us here?”

“
I’m
pretty beat. Maybe to the base of the hill here, but any further up?
No. Not on this thing.” Phil was wearing a slight frown and
both eyebrows creased together.

“
That’s
good enough.”

“
Fine,
but deal's a deal's a deal right? The bike's all ours after today?”

“
As
long as it stays with the orphanage.” I nodded.

“
Of
course, geezer. The other kids wanted to ride around before lights
out, figured we could take them on trips.” Phil was talking
really fast. “Mylia wants to use it as a reward to those who
help out.”

“
You
take her up on that.”

“
Hah!
If we had a few more of these then the older kids wouldn’t be
worried about jobs.”

That,
my dear Phil, was the entire plan. I wanted the orphan kids to have
something to do for money while growing up, plus bikes were cool for
children.

“
Seriously,
Mister Carver, I can’t believe you made a bicycle.”

“
You
Travelers aren’t the only ones with brains,” Phil shouted
back at us. The cart was going entirely too fast for me, but Carver's
body rode it out like it was a standard day.

Icons
and text boxes for riding skills and safety checks appeared. More
pluses and minuses from the state of our cart showed up. Phil's
driving skills were even factored into it somewhere. Poor SweetPea
and Awesome Jr. had no idea what to think. The girl clutched at her
knitted hat and Awesome Jr. was almost a dog sticking his head out
the window.

After
a slew of bumps and awkwardly broken up conversations, we arrived at
the cave. This place was south of the town’s main gate. Close
enough to be part of
[Haven Valley]
but very much out of the
way.

“
What
are we out here for?”

I
squinted through trees and brush up the hill. Phil was laying over
the handle bars puffing in gasps of air. Poor boy had worked hard
today. A routine involving morning stretches would help.

“
Up
there.” I lifted the cane and pointed towards a ledge.

“
What’s
up there?” Awesome Jr's neck looked funny being tilted so far
back.

“
A
cave.” Dirt, rocks, some plants. I felt empathy for William's
abrasiveness when dealing with Travelers. Where had their adventurous
spirit gone? Had it been bred out of humanity?

“
Caves
have bats.” He protested.

“
It’s
only bats.” SweetPea looked confused. Was Awesome Jr. afraid of
bats?

“
They
poop everywhere,” He said.

“
Gross.”

“
This
cave has more than bats.” I didn’t even try to sound
reassuring. Carver didn’t do reassuring! WWCD? Grump and shrug!

“
Why
go to it?”

“
Go
as deep as you can into the cave. Spend the entire night.”
SweetPea went red, but not as red as Awesome Jr. I lowered my
eyebrows in a level glare.

“
It’s
not a romantic date. It’s a place to train.” The two of
them had that annoying young love gaze that turned everything lovey.
It was best to put a halt to that right away.

“
Will
we learn magic?” She asked. Her mouth curled in an excited
smile.

“
You’ll
learn something. What you take away is up to you.” One of my
shoulders came up in a half shrug. The other was too stiff to move
properly. Magic was one of the possible outcomes according to
Carver's map. There were many others as well, each one a slightly
different flavor.

“
How
come you never told us about this place?”

“
You
didn’t ask the right questions. No one ever does.” I
didn’t ask James the right questions most of the time. It was
more fun to treat our conversations as a lax chat rather than an
interrogation. These would be the first players I guided to this cave
since becoming Carver.

“
I’m
in, how about you Adam?”

“
If
you’re going.” Poor boy was still red-faced. I smirked as
they retreated into the distance. Surprisingly, sending them off
together earned me a few more points on the progress bar.

“
Come
on Phil. I need to go home.”

“
No
can do, geezer, Mylia wanted you to drop by tonight.” Phil
responded with half his normal cheek. He still looked winded. I
sighed. The timing was never convenient. Not when it really mattered.

“
You
can take the slow route then.”

Session
Fifteen - Unaware Farewell

Whistling
is hard with partially chapped lips. Old Man Carver also couldn’t
carry a tune to save his life. I couldn’t hear one either, at
least not without an extremely loud tone. We passed by a man in the
park who looked like he was trying to woo
[Coo-Coo Rill]
s with
his voice.

Phil
commented on how terrible he sounded, I grunted because none of the
noise had made it to me. Even the man’s shape was a pleasant
blur. Reactions like Phil’s are why I avoided dancing in public
back in the real world. Too much judgment abounded in our world of
instantly uploaded videos and attention mongering. Here, inside
Continue Online, was easier. More than once I had taken Carver's body
through a slow jig of happiness. Plus dancing a jig is kind of fun.

I
enjoyed irritating Phil with my own terrible whistle between the cave
of mysteries and Mylia’s orphanage. Though neither name was
accurate. Cave of mysteries had a nice ring to it. Better than
[Maze
of Midnight]
.

“
Thank
the Voices. Home. Finally.” Phil was beyond tired. His legs had
slowly dwindled to half spastic jerks.

“
Careful
with your balance.”

“
I
know. I know.” He huffed.

“
Bicycles
take even a Traveler time to learn. Stretch first.” That was me
talking, not Carver, I was almost forced to do stretches every time I
exited the ARC or risk problems. “Make sure the younger kids
don’t try to run off without supervision.”

“
I
know. I know.”

Neat.
I was really getting into this role of being a nagging old man.
Though my behavior wasn’t entirely accurate for a Carverism.

“
And
money up front when working.”

“
I
know!” The youngsters head was hanging down in that sulk
children do.

“
And
you’ll need a map.”

“
I
know!” Phil paused and blinked a few times. “Wait. What?
You never said anything about a map.”

“
Here.
I can’t be doing this forever.” I handed over one of the
maps Carver had. During the last five days, I verified that this one
actually displayed information. The rest was at Carver's house. That
place was filled to the brim with notes and bits of information.

“
Wait
what?”

“
Ehhh.”
I ignored Phil and slowly lowered myself out of the cart, cane and a
tentative foot first until my landing was secure. Then everything
shifted onto tired hips.

“
What
is this all about, geezer?”

Phil’s
questioning tone was ignored while my feet shuffled towards the door.
Sunlight had nearly completely vanished. Hopefully everyone was doing
alright with their individual training methods. That Cave was
probably going to be the worst of the trials. Though Wyl likely had a
few tricks up his sleeve to keep Shadow guessing.

“
Geezer?”
Phil sounded urgent.

I
think he was Shadow the fifty-second. That was the count James had
given me.

“
Geezer!”

The
next mystery was Mylia standing in the doorway with an upset
expression. Even these tired eyes could make out a half frown and hip
tilt of annoyance.

“
Phil,
you leave him alone and go get the littles ready for bed!” She
pointed one finger at him then gestured to the back of her orphanage.

“
It’s
Jane and Jill's turn!”

“H
elp
them or I’ll whack you!” Mylia wasn’t getting any
better these last few days. A few weeks ago she seemed pleasant and
polite, but now she was tired and irritable. I let the whole woman’s
issue slide right out of my mind and hobbled up to the door.

“
Mister
Carver.”

“
Mylia.
You wanted to see me?”

“
I
wanted to ask you what you’re trying to make these children do.
They’ve been driving me bonkers for days with your silly story
request.” I imagined a serious expression across her face but
couldn’t really make one out in the blurry light.