The World of ONA

Level 8

Loaf pulled me into the game before I could remove the equipment. “I’m leveling up Bromme! The Source Aura is a great in-game resource. Where did you find her?”

“She found you,” I said.

The connection flickered and the screen blurred with a loud static crackle. I pounded the desk in the real world and I was back online, in the tower, sitting across from the Red Knight in the guest room.

The sound of voices interrupted our conversation. I breathed a sigh of relief.

The Red Knight stood up from the chair and glared at the opening in the wall. She appeared to recognize the voices and shouted into the void, “Go away!”

I laughed as she turned to glare at me. “Watch your emotions or the game will log you out.”

The Red Knight said, “I’m a legacy player, a bored woman with nothing better to do.”

I said, “I was a pro gamer, until the long hours caused burnout and frustration with all things competitive.”

The Red Knight said, “The game is not a therapy session.”

The noise from outside caused both of us to turn and look for signs of the approaching conversation.

The king of the Crystal Breakers entered the room with an attendant using the opening in the guest room wall. “The Red Knight should be in here.”

The Crystal Breakers attendant followed the king into the room. “Hello! We are the last of our kind, the kindgdom has fallen and…”

The sadness on her face was too much to watch. I interrupted and said, “What happened to the others?”

The Red Knight motioned for me to pay respect to the king as she bowed. I did the same, a mirror of her formal gestures.

The king said, “A magic user cleared the mountain caverns of all creatures and features. She was guiding a man who appeared to think he was fighting his way through a series of challenging opponents.” He laughed and the mood changed from loss to friendship.

I laughed, “And inside the game world, the magic user was simply baiting the monsters and removing them before the fight got too dangerous.” I watched the occasional status update and video replay of his adventure. The magic user is somehow locking me out of the shared connection.

The king said, “The magic user was a lead programmer. I was too, until the game was discontinued.”

I reached out and hugged the Red Knight and she smiled.

I said, “Are you the avatar of a player or a character in the game?”
“A woman must keep her secrets.”

“Did you recruit me to save the Ona project?”

The Red Knight shook her head in denial.

The attendant to the king of the said, “The software engineers, programmers, and all support teams have abandoned the project.”

I said, “And who are you?”

The attendant said, “The Memory Keeper of Kiloss.”

I said, “Is the game still active? I thought Ona was in charge, but if you control the servers…”

The Red Knight raised a hand to stop the attendant from speaking. The king of the Crystal Breakers raised an eyebrow, but did not respond.

I found a chair and sat down, wanting a good story.

The Red Knight said, “The last memory keeper is the server stack in the mountain above the tower, the highest point on the map, where the game developers updated the game and introduced new features. The power will be shut down to close all outside connections in the wild. He was instructed to run a backup for insurance purposes.”

I said, “I feel like I’m talking to company employees, and not game characters in a fantasy world.”

The king said, “Master Bromme should hear the secret. The reason the game was not shut down when the company closed development.”

The others nodded in agreement.

The king said, “Ona is real.”

I was confused. “Real?”

The king said, “In my opinion, we can regain control by causing the Source Aura to react with exaggerated human emotions. The sensory input will log her out of the game world.”

The attendant said, “The flower field is simply a detailed recording of the characters and their actions. The restored characters will have the last recorded level.”

I stepped into the conversation with the intention of leading the group. “So we can build an army of advanced characters without the original subscribers logged into the game?”

Onisa said, “Yes, Bromme. I will lead the quest.”

I glared at the red knight in frustration, “I could lead the quest.”

Onisa returned the same look and I started laughing.

Onisa said, “No.”

The group fell silent as the sound of a stampede reached the guest room.

Onisa said, “Ideas?” She looked from the king of the Crystal Keepers to the Memory Keeper of Kiloss.

I said, “Onisa, do you think the Source Aura was gathering the monsters from all the realms?”

The group responded unison with a confident, “Impossible.”

I had the feeling one outside player was in charge of the characters in the room. I considered the possibility and said, “If you want my help, tell me who you are. I’m here for Loaf. He appears to be gathering the big game monsters into one location.”

Onisa said, “Impossible.”

I said, “Loaf is no longer in the caverns.”

The attendant said, “Perhaps you are speaking the truth Bromme. The guest player uses a paired subscriber account. So who is in the caverns? We are the last of our kind.”

I said, “We paid for the shared subscription!”

The opening in the guest room wall was blocked and the group left the tower, making their way to the surface.

Ona walked down the hill to meet us at the tower door.

I said, “Loaf is breaking the game.”

The king’s attendant helped him step over a stack of stones into the open air.

The king said, “Stop your friend.”

The Crystal Keepers king and his attendant waved goodbye and ran to the edge of the forest.

Onisa reached out to hold my hand. “I will share more secrets of this world, if you can find a way to delete the Red Knight from the Castle Bromme graduate training fight in level one. She is stationed at the draw bridge gatehouse, a kind of boss fight to prove your skills.”

I said, “I fought a giant at the edge of the forest back on level one, there was no boss fight in the castle.”

“Ah, the Source Aura deleted the training mission.”

Ona sent a message to the players and the world began to dissolve into another loading screen. “Onisa is wrong. I took control. Level nine.”

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