Retribution
Book 2.5 — reading order #3 (side story)
Chapters: 30 · Words: 73,472
This page describes the full plot of the book.
Synopsis
AO2.5: Retribution follows Riley as she embarks on a standalone quest for vengeance while Jason faces real-world troubles that keep him offline. Beginning with Riley suffering escalating harassment at Richmond High School, she seeks escape in Awaken Online where she discovers a mysterious bow called Vendetta that belonged to a woman named Lily whose family was murdered by cultists. This discovery sets Riley on a path of revenge against those responsible.
Riley forms an unlikely alliance with three other players—Ethan, Emma, and Lucas—as she travels to Vaerwald, the floating mage city, to investigate a magical plague affecting children. The plague is connected to her revenge quest, as the cultists are harvesting mana from the victims. As the group investigates, they uncover a conspiracy involving the fire guild purchasing undead slaves and the Great Library being used for dark magical experiments.
The investigation leads Riley through Vaerwald’s rigid caste system and guild politics, where she witnesses the brutality of the fire guild’s training methods and helps Flare, a disillusioned fire mage, attempt to join the earth guild. When Ethan undergoes the earth guild’s torturous advancement trial, Riley realizes the harsh realities of the magical world’s power structures. Meanwhile, Emma’s jealousy and resentment toward Riley’s leadership grows, eventually leading to betrayal when she tips off bounty hunters to Riley’s location.
The climax occurs during a dangerous infiltration of the Great Library, where Riley discovers that the librarians themselves have been replaced by cultists who are using the facility’s resources to sustain the magical plague. When confronted, the head librarian Clarence reveals his true nature and transforms into a monstrous Mana Abomination. Despite coordinated attacks from her team, including the powerful NPC Marie, the creature proves overwhelming and kills the entire party.
In a supernatural encounter between death and resurrection, Riley meets Lily’s ghost and undergoes a ritual transformation to become a Fury (Erinyes), gaining blood-based magical abilities and a second chance to defeat Clarence. Empowered by divine rage and her new class abilities, Riley systematically destroys the creature and reclaims The Dark One’s presence in the city. The victory comes at a cost—Riley faces trial before the five-guild Council and receives permanent exile from Vaerwald.
The book concludes with Riley’s complete character transformation as she successfully integrates her in-game confidence and combat skills into real-world confrontations, brutally defeating her high school tormentors. However, her personal victory is overshadowed by devastating news: Jason has been arrested for a double homicide at his aunt’s house, setting up the tragic circumstances that transition into the broader Awaken Online series.
Story arcs
Riley's Descent - From Victim to Avenger (1-5)
Riley endures escalating harassment at school following her breakup with Alex, suffering physical abuse during lacrosse practice and social isolation. She seeks refuge in Awaken Online, using violent combat training as cathartic release from her real-world trauma. The discovery of the Vendetta bow unlocks a revenge quest tied to a woman named Lily, whose family was murdered by elemental cultists.
When Jason mysteriously disappears offline due to unspecified real-world issues, Riley seizes the opportunity for independent action. She disguises herself in the Twilight Throne’s market, upgrades her equipment, and joins a group of British university students traveling to Vaerwald. Despite concealing her true combat level and Original Sin guild affiliation, her exceptional skills become apparent during an ambush by undead deserters from the Twilight Throne.
Riley’s tactical leadership saves the group, but her cold execution of a cooperative prisoner shocks her new companions, revealing her transformation into a ruthless pragmatist. The arc culminates in Sibald village, where Riley discovers a thriving slave market selling captured undead with explosive collars. Her moral outrage at witnessing the auction—particularly when a fire guild Prefect purchases the entire inventory—highlights her growing inability to distinguish between game and reality, setting the stage for future confrontations with Vaerwald’s mage guild hierarchy.
The arc establishes Riley’s evolution from a bullied victim seeking escape to an independent operator grappling with violence as both therapy and moral corruption, while introducing the broader conflicts between the Twilight Throne and the surrounding political landscape.
Confrontation and Consequence: Riley's Path to Vaerwald (6-10)
This arc marks Riley’s transformation from passive victim to active agent, beginning with her decision to confront the bullying at school after her parents encourage her to fight back. Empowered by this real-world support, Riley applies this new assertiveness in-game when she witnesses fire mages brutally enslaving undead.
Riley’s moral outrage leads her to challenge a fire guild Prefect to a formal duel, publicly revealing her true identity as a member of the Shadow Council for the first time. During the intense combat, she discovers her bow’s blood magic abilities, ultimately defeating the Prefect through brutal melee combat that shows her capacity for violence when justice is at stake.
After arranging for the freed undead slaves to be safely returned to the Twilight Throne, Riley’s group travels to the magnificent floating city of Vaerwald. Here, Riley begins investigating the magical plague affecting poor children, initially struggling to find leads until street thieves steal her bow. This theft leads to a pivotal encounter with Marie, an orphanage matron who reveals the bow belonged to Lily, a tragic figure whose family was kidnapped by cultists.
Marie shows Riley the horrifying reality of the plague - children lying comatose while their eyes weep liquid mana, slowly draining their life force. The breakthrough comes when Marie reveals these victims all worked as runners for the Great Library, finally providing Riley with a concrete lead to pursue the cultists responsible for Lily’s family’s disappearance and her eventual death.
Guild Alliances and Brutal Trials (11-15)
Riley and her party continue their investigation into the magical plague by visiting Vaerwald’s Great Library on level ten. They discover that Vindictus, a Fire Guild Prefect, has been repeatedly requesting library runners to deliver books on dark magic manipulation - a suspicious pattern given the fire guild’s recent purchases of undead slaves. This connection provides their first concrete lead linking the plague to potential dark magic experimentation.
The investigation leads them to the Fire Guild on level eleven, where they negotiate with Flare, a disillusioned fire mage who wants to escape the guild’s brutal culture. Flare agrees to investigate Vindictus’s activities in exchange for Riley arranging a meeting with the Earth Guild for potential membership transfer. This deal requires the party to navigate the complex political relationships between the magical guilds.
At the Earth Guild, housed within a mountainous structure, they meet Vivian, a Master who maintains the city’s gravitational systems. To secure Flare’s meeting, Vivian demands one of them complete the guild’s advancement trial. Ethan volunteers and endures a brutal four-room obstacle course designed to test mental discipline through extreme physical suffering - including fire chambers, lightning eel attacks, hurricane winds, and crushing gravity.
Though Ethan fails to fully complete the trial, his exceptional progress earns Vivian’s respect and Flare’s promised meeting. Ethan gains earth magic affinity and learns a Stone Skin spell as reward. Meanwhile, Riley faces escalating harassment in the real world when explicit photos of her are broadcast throughout her school, highlighting the stark contrast between her growing virtual world power and real-world vulnerability.
Underground Alliances and Library Infiltration (16-20)
Riley’s investigation into the magical plague deepens as she follows the trail from fire guild undead trafficking to mysterious library experiments. After meeting with Flare, Riley discovers that fire mages are using undead slaves for dueling practice while selling some to unknown buyers for experimentation. This leads the group to Cecil Stone’s enchanting shop, where they learn the Great Library itself purchased the undead for research laboratories rented to ranking guild members.
The investigation takes a violent turn when
guild bounty hunters ambush the team, revealing Emma’s betrayal of Riley’s location. The attack is thwarted by Melissa’s rogue team, but trust within the group is shattered. Emma’s fate is decided by Lucas’s coin flip, allowing her to remain despite Riley’s threats of future retaliation. At Marie’s orphanage, the scope of the crisis becomes clear as Cecil reports plague escalation to 217 new cases, with mana tears becoming valuable commodities threatening city stability. Riley theorizes that cultists are harvesting mana for god-creation rather than simple destruction. The revelation of Jerry’s connection to both Riley and Melissa adds personal stakes to the investigation.
The arc culminates in detailed planning for an illegal infiltration of the Great Library through the sewage system. Cecil reveals his intimate knowledge of the library’s construction, having helped build it, and provides detailed architectural maps. The diverse coalition - including a retired rogue leader, ancient enchanter, professional thieves, and novice adventurers - commits to the dangerous nighttime mission despite extreme risks to their freedom and lives.
Library Infiltration and Ultimate Betrayal (21-25)
Riley’s investigation team executes a high-risk infiltration of the Vaerwald magical library to uncover the source of the plague affecting children. The mission begins with careful coordination as the group meets their guides - Marie, Melissa, and Cecil - before descending into the dangerous sewer system filled with massive Crawler worms. Despite being outmatched by the creatures, they navigate through with the help of explosive fire crystals and the superior combat skills of their NPC allies.
The infiltration escalates dramatically when they encounter Clarence, a helpful librarian from their previous visit. When the group needs emergency access to restricted areas, Melissa creates a literal emergency by detonating explosive crystals in the dining hall, setting the library ablaze and triggering alarm systems. This forces Clarence to invoke emergency protocols, but also activates the library’s magical defenses including paper golems, animated books, and ultimately a massive paper dragon that nearly destroys the entire team.
Fighting through increasingly dangerous magical creatures, the group reaches the laboratory level where they discover the missing undead specimen and torn log pages - clear evidence of tampering. Riley experiences a crucial breakthrough, realizing that the librarians themselves could be the cultist infiltrators due to their unrestricted access to both the plague victims and the laboratory facilities. Her suspicions prove correct when she tests Clarence with a magical affinity crystal, revealing his true nature as a cultist who had killed and replaced the real librarian.
The revelation triggers the arc’s devastating climax as Clarence injects himself with a transformation serum, becoming a massive Mana Abomination that systematically destroys Riley’s team. In the final battle, Lucas and Emma die permanently, while other team members are thrown unconscious or critically injured. Marie makes the ultimate sacrifice, throwing herself in front of Riley to block Clarence’s killing strike. With her dying breath, Marie reveals she knew Riley’s true identity all along, calling her ‘Lily’ and apologizing for an unknown past transgression. Riley, overwhelmed by helpless rage and the loss of her allies, makes a desperate final charge that ends in her own death, leaving the investigation incomplete and the plague threat unresolved.
Fury's Ascension and Jason's Fall (26-30)
Riley’s transformation reaches its climax as she dies in battle against the corrupted librarian Clarence, only to be approached by Lily’s ghost in a supernatural death-space. Lily reveals the full tragic history of her family’s disappearance, her training under Marie as a Fury, and her ultimate death pursuing the cultists. Recognizing kindred rage and purpose in Riley, Lily offers her initiation into the mystical sisterhood of Furies - blood-wielding avengers blessed by The Dark One. Riley accepts the painful transformation, gaining powerful blood-based abilities and a divine resurrection buff called ‘Hell Hath No Fury.’
Returning to battle with supernatural empowerment, Riley systematically destroys Clarence by exploiting his crystal-powered regeneration, culminating in a devastating bow attack that creates a massive crater in the library courtyard. Her victory is witnessed by all as The Dark One manifests a blood-written message above the library, reclaiming his presence in the city and striking fear into the mage authorities.
The aftermath brings Riley before the five-guild Council for trial on charges ranging from property damage to treason. Despite her team’s guilt, Riley successfully argues their actions were necessary given the Council’s failure to address the magical plague. Through political maneuvering and subtle intimidation using her dark mana, she secures relatively lenient sentences - though she and Cecil face permanent exile from Vaerwald.
The arc’s climax extends beyond the fantasy realm as Riley faces real-world confrontation when Carrie and three accomplices ambush her outside school on Alex’s orders. Initially falling into old patterns of victimhood, Riley experiences a transformative epiphany - realizing there’s no fundamental difference between virtual and real conflicts. Drawing on her Fury training and mindset, she systematically defeats all four attackers with brutal efficiency, delivering a clear message that the harassment ends now. This marks Riley’s complete integration of her in-game empowerment into her real-world identity, transforming from victim to empowered individual who refuses to be intimidated.
However, Riley’s personal triumph is overshadowed by devastating news upon her return to the game world. When she contacts Frank to report her mission success, she learns that Jason has been arrested for a double homicide at his aunt’s house. The revelation that her friend and guild leader now faces murder charges creates a shocking cliffhanger that transitions Riley’s completed character arc into the broader Awaken Online series crisis.
Major characters
Key locations
- Richmond High School And Campus
- Vaerwald Floating City
- Great Library And Its Levels
- Fire Guild Compound
- Earth Guild Mountain Complex
- Jerry’s Underground Training Facility
- Twilight Throne Market
- Sibald Village And Slave Market
- Vaerwald Sewage System
- Marie’s Orphanage
- Vaerwald Guild Districts
- Laboratory Levels
- Council Chambers
- Dark Forests Between Kingdoms
- Transportation Tube Network