The Once King Read online

  Tina shoved him away. She was breathing so fast now that her vision was getting dark. Her body felt small and weak and wrong, and her brain was overflowing with so many physical sensations and emotions she didn’t know which to feel first.

  “She’s gonna blow!” NekoBaby cried, scrambling off the bed.

  But Tina didn’t blow. She screamed instead, a high-pitched, panicked shriek as the raging chaos inside finally bubbled over.

  She wasn’t sure what happened after that. She must have passed out at least a little, because when Tina became aware again, there were a lot more voices in the tent. She cringed into the lumpy rope mattress, trying to get away, but someone with hands like cold iron grabbed her head and jerked her back into place, prying her eyes open to shine a bright light inside.

  “Well,” said Zen’s no-nonsense voice. “She’s definitely awake.”

  The light vanished, leaving Tina blinking away spots. When she could see again, her vision was filled with shockingly beautiful, giant people staring down at her.

  She recognized Zen first. The dark-skinned elven Ranger’s neon-green hair was a dead giveaway, but Tina didn’t remember her being so tall. She towered over NekoBaby, who was squeezed in right beside her, ears up and curious. Even the diminutive cat girl looked gigantic to Tina, who was starting to feel a bit like Alice after a lot of ill-advised drinking in a really rough Wonderland. But scary as the changes were, it was the third figure who made her want to run and hide.

  Hovering next to NekoBaby, his face so close to hers she could have leaned up and kissed it, was SilentBlayde. He’d been here the whole time, she realized, but now that she actually knew what she was looking at—or rather who she was looking at—Tina’s body was having a serious malfunction. He’d taken off his mask at some point, giving her a clear view of his sharply angled jaw and flawless elven features. His pale blond hair glowed like sunlight in the dim tent, and when he leaned closer, her bare shoulder came into contact with the leather-wrapped iron of his perfectly sculpted chest, causing her face to heat to surface-of-the-sun levels.

  “You’re really flushed,” Zen noted, her own supernaturally beautiful face pulled into a worried frown. “How do you feel?”

  Like a fucking idiot. Forcing her eyes away from SB, Tina scooted back to the far corner of the bed with the blankets pulled up to her chin to hide her body. Her frail, bony, totally naked human body.

  That thought almost started her hyperventilating again, and Zen’s hands flew up. “Easy,” the nurse said. “Just breathe normally and you’ll be fine.”

  “I don’t feel fine,” Tina said, then stopped. Was that her voice? It sounded like hers, but it was so small. Small and pathetic and terrified. “I think I’m freaking out.”

  “That’s to be expected,” Zen said. “You’ve been through a lot.”

  “Do you want a heal?” Neko asked, raising a green-glowing paw-hand. “’Cause I’ve got the good drugs if you need ‘em.”

  Tina shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to feel anything else, even the euphoria of magical healing. She already felt like her head was swimming in a sea of sensations she couldn’t handle, especially with SilentBlayde so close and unfairly handsome. God, he even smelled delicious. All she wanted to do was kick everyone else out and crawl all over him.

  Face burning hotter than ever, Tina pinned her eyes firmly to the blanket and motioned Zen closer. “Can you make him leave?” she whispered in the elf’s long ear when the Ranger leaned down. “I’m going to do something stupid if he stays.”

  Zen nodded and straightened back up. “Everyone out.”

  “Aww,” Neko groaned, but she went. SB, however, did not.

  “You too, Blayde,” Zen said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Tina couldn’t even raise her eyes to see if he obeyed. She tried listening instead, but the Assassin never made noise, so she had no idea if he’d left until Zen said, “He’s gone.”

  “Thanks,” Tina breathed, covering her burning face with her hands. “Sorry to be weird, but I can’t handle him right now.”

  “It’s not weird at all,” Zen said gently. “We’ve had nearly two weeks to get used to being this way. It must all be really shocking to you now that you’re not a stonekin anymore.”

  That was putting it mildly. Tina hadn’t realized just how much Roxxy’s stony indifference to fleshy concerns had insulated her until it was stripped away. “It’s pretty intense,” she admitted. “How have you all coped?”

  “We haven’t,” the Ranger said with a silvery laugh. “Remember Camp Comeback’s ‘Inappropriate Sex Hill’?”

  Tina blushed even redder. “Oh yeah.”

  Her embarrassment wasn’t helped by Zen’s proximity. The elven Ranger’s beauty was incredibly intimidating. Zen had a supermodel’s face and a willowy dancer’s body with mathematically perfect curves. Her salon-smooth emerald-green hair fell in picturesque curls around her elegant shoulders, and her long, dark lashes looked like they were coated in fresh, flawless mascara despite no such thing existing in this place. It was kinda scary being next to someone that perfect, and it made Tina all too aware of just how imperfect she’d become.

  Zen had already pulled back the blanket to examine her, so Tina took the plunge and looked down to see…well, herself. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it was incredibly bizarre to see her normal body—short, scrawny, pale, flat-chested, bony—in this world. Being Roxxy had left a lot to be desired, but she’d still been a huge, gorgeous, totally cut stone lady. Now she was just Tina. Frizzy-haired, awkward, normal Tina, surrounded by people who looked like gods.

  “I feel fine, really,” Tina said when she couldn’t stand Zen’s examination any longer. “What I’d really like are some clothes.”

  “That I can do,” Zen said, handing Tina a large square of folded cloth from the table beside them. “Garrond brought tons of extra uniforms for the Order. It’s a man’s undershirt, but it should work as a dress for you.”

  Because she was so short.

  “Thanks,” Tina muttered glumly, pulling the scratchy wool shirt over her head. At least it was warm.

  “Okay,” she said when she was no longer naked. “Tell me what happened.”

  “I was hoping you could tell us,” Zen said, sitting down on the end of Tina’s cot. “After you used One For All to soak up whatever the Once King did, your armor fell apart. SilentBlayde found you like this inside Roxxy’s chestplate.”

  The thought of SB seeing her naked made Tina blush all over again. If she hadn’t already wasted too much of their precious time on stupid boy-drama, she would have sunk straight down into the floor. “How did you escape the Once King?” she asked when she could speak again.

  “We didn’t,” Zen said. “He retreated. Richard thinks whatever spell he cast to bring your real body over here used up all his mana, which makes sense to me. You were the only casualty.”

  “I’m already being counted out?” Tina said angrily, then she stopped, looking down at her fragile, human hands. Why was she even asking that? Of course they’d counted her out. They’d followed Roxxy here, not some little girl. SB had found her inside her stonekin’s chest piece like a mouse hiding in a log. As always, no one followed Tiny Tina, and why should they? As she looked right now, she wouldn’t follow her, either.

  “Stop that,” Zen said sharply.

  Tina looked up in surprise, the tears she hadn’t realized she’d shed slipping down her cheeks. “Why?” she asked, scrubbing her face. “Look at me. It’s over.”

  “It’s not over,” the Ranger snapped, glaring at her. “Some people are jumping to conclusions, but the Roughnecks never doubted you. We retreated because you were hurt, not because we’d given up. Everyone’s been waiting for you to wake up to see if you’re still level eighty and can stand with us, not because of how you look.” She smiled. “Stonekin or human, you’re our Roxxy. We don’t want another leader.”

  No words could have hit Tina harder.
She tried not to cry, but the return of volatile human emotions after so long as a stonekin was too much. It only took a few seconds before she doubled over with a sob, clutching the blanket to her face. Zen, being wise, said nothing. She just sat there, rubbing Tina’s back until her muffled gasps finally subsided.

  “I’m sorry,” Tina said when it was done. “I don’t mean to be a basket case. It’s just…I’ve been working my whole life to hear someone say that, you know?”

  “It’s the truth,” Zen said, smiling at her. “But if you’re stable, we’ve still got some big questions to answer. You being human isn’t a problem—we’ve got plenty of those—but we need to know if you’re still level eighty or not.”

  Tina nodded, pulling herself straight. “That’s fair. But how do we tell? There’s no interface anymore.”

  “I don’t know,” Zen said with a shrug. “But all your gear is from the DMF raid, and that requires level-eighty minimum. If you can put it back on, that should be proof enough.”

  “What are we waiting for, then?” Tina asked excitedly, getting out of the bed. “Let’s go get my stuff!”

  Zen put a hand on her shoulder. “About that,” she said. “All of your armor became unbound when your body disappeared. Frank’s guarding it, but we need to be cautious. I don’t have to tell you how much damage a pile of unclaimed raiding gear could do in a camp full of players.”

  Damn straight she didn’t. Tina had seen guilds ripped apart by fights over loot. She could only imagine how many people would kill for Roxxy’s stuff, especially since gear no longer seemed to drop, a fact NekoBaby had loudly bemoaned during their boss extermination run in the fight for Bastion.

  “I’ll just have to get it back on fast, then,” Tina said, planting her bare feet on the dusty ground. “Let’s go.”

  Zen nodded and pulled back the flap. Adjusting her shirt-dress, Tina marched out of the tent…and nearly ran face first into a perfectly sculpted, leather-armored chest.

  The only reason it was “nearly” rather than “face planted” was because the chest’s owner jumped out of the way with impossible grace. “Tina,” SB said when he landed, his blue eyes watching her above his mask with a desperate expression. “Are you—”

  Tina shoved past him. It was cruel, but she couldn’t afford to be distracted right now, and SilentBlayde was more distracting than he’d ever been. Good god, even exhausted and dusty from the Deadlands, he looked like a model fresh off a photo shoot. Just seeing him made her brain go soft, so she kept her eyes ruthlessly turned away, following Zen straight across the camp.

  It was a terrifying journey. Being in a tent with Zen was one thing, but actually walking through the army of players was like stepping onto Mount Olympus. With the exception of the schtumples and a few of the female jubatus like NekoBaby, who was bounding along beside her, everyone was more than six feet tall. Some of the Berserkers were closer to seven, and GneissGuy, their only remaining stonekin, looked like a legit monster towering head and shoulders above the already towering crowd. Walking among them, Tina had never felt smaller or uglier, but she knew better than to let it show. She might not be Roxxy anymore, but she knew how to keep her face stony.

  It helped enormously that she had her friends surrounding her. The other players might not notice Tina, but they got out of Zen’s way fast, and Neko’s hissing kept anyone who did stare from getting too close. She hadn’t dared looked back yet, but she could feel SilentBlayde behind her, watching her back. That made her feel a lot better than it should have, but now was not the time to be picky. It was clear she was going to need all the help she could get as the crowd parted, and the situation came into view.

  The first thing she saw was James. Her brother was looking fiercer than she’d ever seen him, standing in front of Cinco’s giant red-armored form with his fangs bared and his tail lashing. His Taco-Cat brother and Frank were backing him up, but the head of Red Sands didn’t seem worried about them. His eyes were sliding warily over the circle of Roughnecks surrounding him and his guild. It looked like a standoff, which confused her for a moment. This sort of hostility shouldn’t have been happening between allies. Then she saw the pile of glittering gear beneath Frank’s protective crouch, and everything became clear.

  “What the fuck is going on here?”

  Her real voice was nowhere near as commanding as Roxxy’s, but she was pissed enough that it worked anyway. The moment she spoke, all the raiders looked her way, including Cinco, who looked her up and down with a sneer of disgust.

  Tina gave him one back. “Stealing someone’s gear, Cinco?” she said, crossing her arms over her chest in an effort to hide how ridiculous she looked in the oversized shirt. “That’s a new low.”

  Cinco didn’t even try to deny it. “Just doing what had to be done,” he said casually, giving her a charming smile that didn’t touch his eyes. “I’ve got tanks, and we’ve still got a boss to pwn, so I thought I’d put your stuff to use, seeing how you can’t wear it anymore. Waste not, want not.”

  “We’ll waste you!” NekoBaby hissed, fur standing on end. “That’s Roxxy’s gear, you thieving hack!”

  The gathered Roughnecks made dangerous noises of agreement, and Tina narrowed her eyes. “How do you know I can’t wear it?”

  Cinco snorted and waved at her tiny body. “Because I have eyes. You’re what, three feet tall? You couldn’t even wear schtumple armor.”

  “News flash, genius,” Tina snapped. “Those armor drops fit any class. By your logic, your tank wouldn’t be able to wear my stuff either since he’s not a stonekin. Maybe you never saw this since all your gear came from the PvP vendor, but real raid armor—the kind you get from killing bosses—resizes itself magically to fit whoever binds it.” She stabbed a finger at the pile of gear. “That’s my stuff. All I have to do is rebind it, and it’ll fit me just fine.”

  “Assuming you can,” Cinco snapped. “You don’t look level eighty to me, kiddo.”

  A muscle in Tina’s face twitched, but she forced herself not to rise to the bait. “Only one way to find out.”

  She marched forward, ignoring the sharp rocks digging into her bare feet as she crossed the gray, dusty ground. Like everyone else, Cinco was a lot bigger up close, but she forced herself to ignore him, walking straight ahead until she was standing over the dusty pile of her armor, which was nearly as tall as she was. This position also put her right next to James, which was a huge relief. Even in this body, she could feel the magic radiating off him like electricity. It made her feel safe, as did the familiar weight of SB’s presence in her shadow. She didn’t know if the two of them would be enough to stop Cinco from trying anything, but damn if they wouldn’t make it hurt.

  “T,” James said quietly as she reached down to grab her tanking necklace, the only piece of her gear small enough that she could actually pick it up. “Go slow. We still don’t know if you’re actually level eighty, and your stuff is really magical. If you try to bind it and you’re not strong enough, it might fry your brain.”

  “If I’m not level eighty, I’m dead anyway,” Tina whispered back, glancing over her shoulder at Cinco. “Because over my dead body is the only way that asshole’s getting any of my stuff. Now how do I do this?”

  In the game, binding gear had been as simple as putting it on and clicking the “accept” button. Tina didn’t think it was going to be that easy now, though. The amulet in her hands was absolutely massive. The links of sun steel chain were as thick as Tina’s wrist, and the fire ruby pendant was the size of a soup bowl. The necklace had been tackily huge even when she’d been a stonekin. As a human, she couldn’t even use it as a belt.

  “Let me help,” James said, putting his furry hands over hers where she was gripping the amulet. “Now that there’s no interface, you have to be able to see mana to bind things, and you couldn’t do that even as a stonekin. I’m going to tie the magic in the item to yours, and then we’ll see what happens.” He gave her a nervous look. “Ready?”

&nbs
p; Tina blew out a shaky breath. “Ready.”

  James bit his lip. “Are you sure? Because this could really—”

  “Do it, James.”

  The look on his face was not reassuring, but Tina refused to chicken out. Her whole guild was watching. Zen, Neko, Frank, SB—they were all here standing up for her. She’d fought her whole life to earn that kind of trust and respect. She’d wear the stupid necklace even if it set her on fire.

  Hands shaking on hers, her brother nodded and stared down at the necklace, his eyes getting that faraway look they always took on when he was seeing things she couldn’t. He let go of her a moment later, reaching down toward his stomach in the motion all casters used to start their spells. Taking hold of his mana, Tina supposed, not that she had experience with any of that. She just hoped it worked, because so far, James’s magic looked like just a bunch of hand-waving. She was starting to worry nothing was happening when, in one swift motion, her brother stabbed his hand into her stomach.

  That was what it felt like, anyway. Tina gasped and looked down to see James hadn’t actually plunged his fingers into her guts. He was just pressing them against her ribcage, his fingertips moving like he was sorting through a web of very small, very complicated threads. The tiny motions sent waves of nausea rolling through her. She was fighting not to be sick all over him when, suddenly, it was over.

  Power surged through her body as James removed his hand, sweeping away the nausea and every other feeling of weakness. The crushing weight in her hands vanished next, leaving the amulet feeling more like a feather than a bowling ball as the magical necklace’s hundred-plus Stamina and Strength kicked in.

  “Mwahahaha…Yes!” Tina laughed, drunk on the power.

  “Are you all right?” James asked nervously. “Did it work?”

  “Oh yeah!” Tina whooped, clapping James on the shoulder so hard he staggered. “I feel fucking fantastic!”

  James and Zen exchanged a worried look, and Tina realized she needed to get her act together.