The New Queen Rises: A Gamelit Fantasy RPG Novel (Metamorphosis Online Book 2) Read online

  The New Queen Rises

  Metamorphosis Online™ Book Two

  Natalie Grey

  Michael Anderle

  The New Queen Rises (this book) is a work of fiction.

  All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2019 Natalie Grey and Michael Anderle

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  A Michael Anderle Production

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, April 2019

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  Books by Natalie Grey

  Books by Michael Anderle

  Connect with the authors

  The New Queen Rises Team

  Thanks to our JIT Readers

  Angel LaVey

  Nicole Emens

  Crystal Wren

  John Ashmore

  Larry Omans

  Kelly O'Donnell

  Mary Morris

  Jeff Eaton

  Misty Roa

  If We’ve missed anyone, please let us know!

  Editor

  The Skyhunter Editing Team

  From Natalie

  For M and T

  From Michael

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  To Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  To Live The Life We Are

  Called.

  Chapter One

  Gracie watched, dumbstruck, as her friend touched a finger to his lips. Not half an hour into the game and the effort with her band had already gone sideways.

  “Man, I don’t know.” Chowder spun around slowly, muscles rippling beneath his gray-green skin. He looked over his shoulder and into the mirror before sticking his butt out and bending over to touch his toes, his back arched.

  When he came up, he ran his hands through his thinning hair and then dropped his head back, striking a pose with his chest stuck out.

  “Be honest, guys. Does this tabard make my ass look big?”

  Gracie dropped her face into her hands and shook with helpless laughter.

  Their team, fresh off the decision to start a formal guild, had decided to make their tabards together. It had been a unanimous vote to have Chowder model it while they chose, the Ocru male being best described as “gloriously ugly,” and he was hamming it up big time.

  For instance, at this particular moment, he was wearing nothing but the tabard.

  “I’m going to have to be the voice of reason here,” Kevin stated, his voice coming through the filters as a squeaky female Piskie.

  His character crossed her tiny arms and tapped one foot. She was dwarfed by Chowder…and by everyone else, up to and including her amarok, the ice-demon wolf that was her current companion.

  Kevin’s character looked at Gracie. “We can’t expect one tabard to suit all of us. It’s the bridesmaids’ dresses problem. Everyone needs a different cut.”

  “For instance,” Alex quipped, pointing at the Piskie, “you could wear a handkerchief.” His character was lurking in the corner with his bow slung over his back, a purple-furred panther at his side.

  “That’ll be just about enough out of you, Muscles McGee,” Kevin told him severely. “Don’t you think those biceps make you look a little bulky, honey?”

  Alex did a flex emote. “Muscle sliders all the way up, baby.”

  “Does anyone,” Gracie interjected in a long-suffering voice, “want to offer any input on the actual tabard?”

  Chaos ensued.

  “No.”

  “Nope.”

  “I think it should have a vomiting skull sigil.”

  “We said no to that already.”

  “Just thought someone might have changed their mind.”

  “Not in a million years.”

  “Ok, but some clan is going to have a vomiting skull, and I’m going to be pointing to it and raising an eyebrow.”

  “Not going to worry…”

  Gracie looked around as everyone kept talking. Finally, putting up a hand, she interrupted, “I mean it, guys. Keep being smart-alecky, and you’ll wind up with something olive green, which doesn’t go with anything in anyone’s wardrobe ever.”

  “Oooh, camo,” Alan cooed. His character twirled, her blonde hair flying out around her head. “That would…look terrible with these robes.”

  “I will dress you all in olive green burlap sacks,” Gracie threatened.

  “That would probably suit me, actually,” Chowder chimed in. “Especially if I could put it over my head.”

  “With no pants, that would be a particularly interesting look,” Lakhesis muttered.

  Everyone burst out laughing.

  “As someone whose head is around groin level,” Kevin looked up at Gracie, a pleading emote on his character’s face, “please don’t do that.”

  “Guys,” Gracie said a bit desperately, laughing despite herself. “The tabard! Honest to God. Someone weigh in on the damned color!”

  Alan sighed, taking pity on her. “Red, obviously. No one’s come up with a better name than Red Squadron, so we should go with that.”

  Gracie moved the slider over to the reds and had people weigh in until she selected a faded shade, something that reminded her of the scrappy, battered aesthetic of the Resistance.

  “What about a V?” Kevin suggested for the sigil. “For Red Five.”

  “I like that.” Gracie selected it in a very pale gray, and everyone stared at it for a few moments.

  They all laughed when Chowder’s armor reappeared.

  “I know you weren’t actually staring at my naked body, as perfect as it is in real life,” the Ocru said, “but it still felt weird to have everyone looking.”

  “Says the guy who did the whole burlesque show,” Gracie replied affectionately. “I live in Vegas, man, and even I’ve never seen some of those moves.”

  “Hey, I could come to Vegas and be a stripper!” Chowder gave them all a double thumbs-up. “Women like super-skinny guys who can’t dance, right?” He looked around. “Right?”

  “Who knows?” Kevin shrugged. “Lots of guys like skinny, though.”
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  “Gay guys have all the luck,” Chowder muttered.

  “Well, that’s just not accurate,” Kevin added.

  Gracie shook her head and chuckled as she paid for the tabard, handing glittering gold coins over to a very lifelike shopkeeper. The whole store was everything one would expect of a fantasy world, from the flickering candlelight—that somehow wasn’t too dim to see by—to the bolts of cloth hovering magically in midair along one wall.

  Everywhere Gracie looked, there were little details to revel in. A mouse ran along one wall, smudges and dents showed on the heavy wooden counter, and music filtered in from the street. Metamorphosis Online was one of the most immersive places she had ever been, a world so realistic that sometimes she almost felt like she could smell the street food and the smoke from the braziers at each corner.

  Of course, the whole effect was somewhat spoiled by the fact that the game’s creators hated her guts.

  But she was trying not to think about that right now.

  A moment later, the guild’s founding members burst into cheers as they found themselves dressed in the new tabard. Alan’s character looked tiny and delicate, her golden hair and flushed skin adorably set off by the red, and Lakhesis spun around twice to admire the way the cloth lay over her plate armor.

  “Love this,” she said in satisfaction.

  “All hail Red Squadron,” Gracie called, forcing a smile. She really wished she hadn’t thought about the game developers, but what was done, was done. “So, what should we do, now that we all look so snazzy?”

  “Somehow I sense you’re not talking about walking around town all dressed up, letting people bask in our glow,” Kevin picked a bit of non-existent lint off his tabard, “and I want you to know I think that’s a mistake. This thing is nice, and I don’t want to get blood all over it.”

  “You’re not a melee fighter,” Lakhesis pointed out, “so if you get blood all over you, someone else isn’t doing their job.”

  “Still.”

  “I know where we could go,” a new voice said.

  Gracie looked over quickly, emoting a smile, and there was a round of cheers and greetings. “Anders! Good to see you.”

  Jay’s character gave a flourishing bow. “Hello, all. From the way I suddenly found myself wearing a tabard, I figured I might find you all here.”

  “You look good,” Chowder said. “Not as good as me, of course…”

  “Does anyone look as good as you?” Jay asked philosophically. He slung an arm around Chowder’s shoulders.

  “No one answer that,” Chowder ordered, pointing around at all of them. “Anyway, where are you taking us?”

  “Oh, nowhere special.” Jay made a show of inspecting his clothing for dust, an especially ostentatious gesture given that in-game clothes never got dirty. “Just…the edge of the world.”

  “Oooooh,” the rest of the team said in unison.

  Each zone in Metamorphosis Online was bounded in various creative ways so that players could see the “world” stretching away endlessly in all directions, but could only play in a certain area.

  Lately, however, there had been rumors flying around that there was a way to get all the way to the edge of one zone and walk out into nothingness. Some people said the game’s moderators hung out there, and others said that the step into the void was actually part of the game’s lore.

  Whatever the reality, there were a lot of videos online of people searching for the edge…and none of them finding it.

  Part of Gracie wanted to protest that they shouldn’t try to go places they weren’t authorized for, but a larger part of her wanted to explore.

  Game glitches were always funny, for one thing.

  For another, the game developers already hated her through no fault of her own, so in her considered opinion, they could suck a bag of dicks.

  “Let’s go,” she said, holding one thumb up, the other hand pointing out. “Lead on, Anders.”

  Jay had his character gesture toward the door and led the gaggle of guildmates out into the street. As he walked, however, he opened a private channel to Gracie.

  “Hey, so keep your eyes open when we get out there. Let’s just say there’s a particular reason I wanted to go to this zone.”

  “Really?” Gracie’s interest spiked.

  “Yeah.” Jay sounded like he could barely contain his excitement. “Harry mentioned that he’d initially put some stuff out in the void, and he wasn’t sure we’d be able to access it the way he’d intended, but we should definitely look. He said if they didn’t find the quest, then they probably haven’t found this stuff.”

  “Hmm.” In the real world, Gracie wrinkled her nose. Their characters were striding down the street, surrounded by colorful flags and buildings all jumbled together in differing sizes, while NPCs hawked goods and active characters turned to watch this new guild…and the floating golden 1 over Gracie’s head.

  That 1 indicated that she was now at the top of the global Top 10, the highest-ranked players, and earning a considerable payout each month instead of paying to play. The other 9 players on the list were all members of sponsored guilds, and Gracie’s heading on the list had made her a celebrity in-game.

  It was the reason Dragon Soul Productions didn’t like her very much right now, and all of it was due to the interference of one of the founders, a now-ousted man named Harry.

  Harry had built a quest that boosted a certain player’s ranking, and Gracie had managed to start the quest before anyone else. What other advantages it conferred, she wasn’t sure. No one seemed to know. What they did know was that the other guilds and sponsors in the Top 10 didn’t want her waltzing in and stealing their spotlight.

  She could really care less from a rankings standpoint, Gracie reflected, but now she to stay number 1 out of sheer spite.

  Jay led them to the loading tower for the airship, a dizzy open platform covered in luxurious couches and carpets. NPC butlers stood around the edges, holding trays of various beverages and elegant, fantastical snacks, and a magical shield held the wind at bay, glimmering faintly in the corners of Gracie’s vision.

  As usual, she plunked herself down in the very center of the platform and did her best not to look around. Lakhesis and Alex were at the edge, trying to jump out onto one of the many elegant metal wings. Both of them thought it was hilarious to see the game world rushing by thousands of feet below, but the mere thought made Gracie shudder.

  “Hey.” Jay sat his character down next to hers. He had brought two crystal flutes of a purple liqueur, and he handed one over.

  Gracie held it up to the light. “What do you think this tastes like? I’m picturing lavender, which…isn’t really appetizing?” She laughed. “It’s so pretty, though.”

  “Cotton candy,” Jay predicted. “With a kick.”

  “Sounds about right.” Gracie had her character take a sip. “Damn, I actually swallowed. It looks so real.”

  Jay laughed. “So, glad to have some time before we get there. Harry’s been asking about you.”

  Gracie stilled. She took a deep breath and said nothing.

  “I haven’t told him much,” Jay said hastily. “I know it makes you uncomfortable.”

  “It does,” Gracie agreed. “I just wish I knew why.”

  When Harry had contacted Jay, it had made sense. After all, Jay had once worked for Dragon Soul Productions and had been fired for refusing to help them cut Gracie’s character out of the game. Like Harry, he had a grudge, and unlike Harry, he had up-to-date knowledge of the game. Harry had offered his help to Gracie and Jay so that Gracie could get all the way through the hidden quest before the game’s current owners could figure out how to stop her.

  “I feel like a pawn in someone else’s game,” she said finally.

  Jay drew in a breath to make a retort but held it back. There was a pause, and then he sighed. “Yeah. I get that. I…”

  “Maybe it’s that it always sounded like he was such an asshole,” Gracie continue
d.

  Jay burst out laughing. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, he really was. All of his secretaries quit, he made the junior developers cry on the regular—all that jazz. If he hadn’t been a brilliant programmer, he wouldn’t have kept his job for as long as he did. Metamorphosis is what it is because of Harry, in large part. It was his idea; the others just helped. And they helped a lot, but…” He shrugged and looked out at the clouds rushing by. “I guess I just want the window into all of it, you know?”

  “I know,” Gracie assured him. The airship was descending now, haptics shuddering in what she considered a far too realistic depiction of landing. “I get why you’re interested, Jay. That’s not what makes me worry. What I don’t like is wondering whether Harry’s trying to use us to nuke the game somehow.”

  “I have wondered that,” Jay admitted. “And I like to think we’ll be able to see something like that coming. More than that, I feel like if that were his goal, he could have come up with better ways to do it. If he was good enough to weave this quest in without them being able to find it, he could easily crash the servers and make the game fail.”

  “That’s true, I guess.” Gracie stood up as the airship landed. “Well, we’ll just play it by ear.”

  “Best kind of plan,” Jay agreed. He followed Gracie across the deck to look out at the Twilight Sea. “And even if we don’t find it, at least this zone is a gorgeous place to spend some time.”