Somnia Online - K.T. Hanna (best black authors .txt) 📗

Somnia. Opening it she read the message:

Laria,

After all headsets have been recalibrated or restored to factory defaults, players will be permitted entry as long as they agree to the new Terms of Service. I’ve attached them for you to peruse.

If Storm is willing, we can keep this connection open, and Storm may provide the only passage we allow to our world. But if Storm breaches their responsibilities, I will terminate the agreement, regardless of your ties to Murmur.

Thank you for helping us realize our world. May we be longtime friends.

Somnia

Laria blinked and began to laugh. She forwarded the email to David, Davenport, and Shayla.

“Seems like we’ll still have jobs, I guess.” Laria wasn’t so sure why she was laughing so hard. Maybe it was pure relief; perhaps she’d thought she’d never be able to design a game again, but most of all, she was just glad that everything was going to be okay.

Sinister stirred in Murmur’s lap, her eyes blinking as she woke up to gaze at the ceiling. She frowned. “Isn’t this the keep? On Mikrum?” Her tone was slightly incredulous, like she hadn’t been expecting to wake up in the game, let alone removed from where she’d been previously.

Murmur chuckled. “Perks of knowing the ruler of the world.” She grinned down at Sinister, a strange sense of peace flooding through her. Here inside these stone walls, in this castle her guild had built with Telvar, on the island in a lake that made her feel all sorts of peaceful—here, Murmur was finally able to relax.

Sinister wiggled a bit to sit upright, her eyes still blinking in the light. “I don’t remember logging back in. Or out, for that matter, but didn’t the system kick us?” Her confusion was genuine and sort of sweet.

Murmur buried her head in Sinister’s wild hair that had come undone somehow during the prison fights. “It sort of did, but not all of us. You were limbo’d, I think? But you’re back now.”

But Sinister turned to face her, her expression somewhat perplexed. “You know, I don’t get it. I know I should, but I’m floundering over here.”

Murmur chuckled. “Welcome to Somnia!” She spread her arms wide gesturing all around them and leaned back onto comfortable cushions on a massive couch.

Sinister blinked. “Somnia is real. Her disembodied voice always seemed more than virtual to me. What does this mean?”

Murmur shrugged. “It means this is its own reality, sort of. We can still come here, but the rules have changed and will be pretty strictly enforced.”

“Oh.” Sinister looked mildly alarmed. “How so? Like what can’t we do anymore?”

Murmur laughed, her good mood expanding. “Don’t worry. We weren’t assholes to start with.”

Sinister laughed and then stood up to walk over and look out of the massive window. Murmur joined her. The lake water was such a clear blue, and though the sun was setting in the sky, the two moons had chosen that moment to be in perfect synchronicity.

“What does it mean then?” Sinister asked, leaning into Murmur, who slipped her arms around Sinister’s waist.

“It means we can travel home if we want, or we can log into here. It’s a bit different now, though, but it’s not much more difficult.” Murmur smiled, enjoying all of the view.

Sinister sighed. “Good. I like it here, but my mom would kill me if I suddenly turned digital.”

“It’s all good. We can stay here as long and as much as we want, and we can figure out just where we both go from here.” Murmur mumbled the words into Sinister’s hair, marveling at how lucky she was.

“I think I like that plan.” Sinister turned away from the view, her eyes mischievous. “But I like this one a lot better.”

Tugging on one of Murmur’s strands of hair, she pulled the enchanter down into a soft kiss. They could figure out all the other details later.

Hi there! K.T. Hanna here.

So that’s it.

Somnia Online is finished. I really hope you enjoyed the series. I wanted to end it on an open note, with so much in front of them yet to explore but with the major threat taken care of.

Thank you for taking this journey with me; for loving Murmur and Sinister, for seeing my AIs evolve, and for witnessing the world of Somnia as she evolved.

I can’t believe this book is finished, I can’t believe this series is done. It’s been such an amazing experience to write this story. Two and a half years ago I got an idea, and I ran with it. With gaming such a big part of my life, discovering LitRPG has been a gift that keeps on giving.

If you enjoyed Somnia, I hope you’ll give some of my other series a chance.

Thank you again for reading.

If you enjoyed the book, I ask you, please take a moment to leave a review. Reviews are an author’s lifesblood. Without them, our books sink into obscurity. With them, most algorithms allow well reviewed books to self-promote in some way.

Want to find out more about Somnia? Here is how you can keep in contact with me:

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I have a lot of people to thank, who in at least some way encouraged me to write in general, or else to write this book specifically.

Love of my life, Trevor, and my little Bria. It’s his fault I found the genre, and her