by Dawn Chapman
When the door went, I didn’t open my eyes. I knew who it was. She entered the room with grace, and with intention. I knew she was ready to fight if she had too.
“How on Puatera did a Visitor get involved with a demon like Gestal?” she asked, though it was more of a statement.
I didn’t answer. I wanted her to reveal as much as she could before I’d open my eyes. My senses were everything I needed.
Maddie carried on. “Noc wants us to trust you, but Alia’s dead set against it.”
Oh, her choice of words was spot on. Dead meant exactly that. Alia would drop me in a heartbeat if it meant I was going to hurt her, her family or the Guild.
There was silence. I could barely hear her breathe.
“What do you want?” I eventually asked, and then I looked at her. Her eyes were steady, and she was calm, though she seemed hesitant. The way she held herself. Unsure of me.
“I want what’s best for Puatera.”
Her dark hair was fully black now, not like I’d seen it before, but it was an illusion, that was obvious.
“And that includes?”
“Killing you if I must.” At least she was honest.
I noted the glint of her weapon. No, weapons, it looked like she meant it too.
I swallowed. Would telling her everything leave me wide open to be stuck here for the rest of my life? The thoughts from earlier returned and bile rose up the back of my throat.
“Killed many kids?”
Her smile was frightening, “Katie,” she said. “If that’s your real name, I don’t even know if you’re the age you’re pretending to be. Or the gender you’re playing.”
I nodded. She was right. “You’d never know. I’d respawn and plot your demise once I was dead.”
Holding her gaze, she never looked away, but I was sure she’d seen through me.
Maddie laughed. “So, tell me what your plan is now?”
Her eyes were a continual look into my soul, I was sure of it, and I’d no way of warding off any of the magic that surrounded me now.
“I’m trying to not get killed,” I almost whispered. “I’m trying to…” I stumbled and then said it. “I’m trying to get home.”
Maddie’s face changed, and she scrunched her hands together. “What do you mean?”
“Killing you would have fulfilled my quest for more information. I could have found my sisters and gone home.”
“Sisters?” Her eyes widened. “Tell me your real name.”
I started to get more than miffed at her constant questions—for a piece of programming she was doing a good job of foiling my plans.
“I’m not telling you anything else,” I said, and closed my eyes again.
She was probably just going to kill me now. I’d be back to square one in the dungeon of Gestal’s home, being tortured, or worse.
I shivered as I tried to regain control.
But she’d said, I want what’s best for Puatera.
I glanced at her again. Her stance hadn’t changed, but her face had. She was excited, confused.
“Why does an NPC want to help the game?”
More laughter, infuriating me. “The game is why I’m in this city. I left my home in search of someone to help me.”
Now I was the one confused.
“Your real name?” she asked again, with a hint of impatience.
Holding her gaze almost hurt as she tried to bore into my soul. Like she was trying to see who I was from my stats maybe? I wasn’t even sure if an NPC could do that with enough power.
“It’s Lila,” I spat out. “Happy now?”
She put her weapons away. “I’m Maddie,” she said, “and I’ve been looking for you for weeks.”
Chapter 11
I sighed. Maddie was making it sound like everything had led me to this point. Yet here I was in another dungeon, having been trained to kill the person next to me, only to find she’d been sent by the same mysterious entity behind the game to find me. It didn’t make much sense, but I listened to her story.
“I’ve learned to trust the game when it gives me quests seemingly from nowhere,” Maddie said, getting back to her feet.
All of a sudden there was a pop up in my screen.
QUEST - JOIN FORCES WITH MADDIE AND FIND YOUR SISTERS TOGETHER.
My eyes went wide as the woman in front of me waited. I hit accept, after all, what had I to lose? I wanted my sisters more than anything, even if I was a pawn in a bigger plot. Maddie held her hand out to help me up.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s figure out how we’re going to fix this city and why it’s so important to stop Gestal’s affairs from going forward.”
I nodded, sighing again. Gestal had never been good to me, but he had taught me everything I knew. A part of me didn’t want to stop him, but something about his plans or someone he was working with were evidently very evil. And now I had to stop them.
Once we were outside the small room, I spotted Noc leaning against the wall. A small wooden table and chair stood to one side of him, a discarded empty plate, the food long gone, sat on top. It was obvious he’d been there as long as I had. The gesture made me feel warm in a way I hadn’t felt since entering the game. Someone finally seemed to care about me, not just use me for their own gains.
“Noc here tells me that you’re quite the student. Did some impressive things during training, even if you did try to hide your most elite skills?”
“She’s a pro.” Noc gave me a nod, his voice was tinged with pride.
“Good. Let’s gather everyone else and make our plan of assault. No doubt Lila can give us the last few bits of information we need to infiltrate Gestal’s Hamu and finally end this.”
I nodded, not sure how else to respond as Noc hurried one way down the corridor and Maddie took me in the other.
At the end was a small door and a spiral staircase that led upwards several floors until we emerged in a circular room with a fantastic view of the city from every angle.
“Don’t worry, the room is warded to make it soundproof and safe. Gestal wouldn’t be able to hear us in here even if he could find it. It looks nothing like this from the outside.” Maddie grinned as she walked to the table in the centre. A large piece of parchment was spread over it and it didn’t take me long to realise it was a rough, partial blueprint of Gestal’s Hamu. My home for most of my time in Puatera.
Maddie held out a pencil to me, her eyes hopeful, expectant and trusting all at the same time. After gulping slightly, I took it, searching my memory for anything I could add, blanks I could fill in and errors I could correct.
By the time I was done, the blueprint was still incomplete but far less so than before, and several more people were in the room with us. Noc had come to my side; his mother and her lover were there as well. Neither of them looked at me with any form of malice, although they still seemed wary.
As they saw my handiwork, Noc’s mother smiled, nodding her thanks. She seemed glad I’d cooperated. I wanted to tell her of course I would have helped. It was the least I could do. Instead of killing me for the treachery I’d been planning, they’d freed me from a bond I hadn’t even known had been controlling me.
Over the next hour, I stood back and listened as they talked about the best way in, their resources and what they knew of the guards, wards and defences in place. I continued to give them what little information I knew, but the details were still incomplete.
“Right, I think that’s as good as we’re going to get. It’s our best plan,” Maddie said as she finished assigning a role to everyone but me.
“Wait,” I said, before I could stop myself. “There’s a better idea.”
Maddie’s eyebrows rose but she looked my way, and allowed me to take the floor.
“Let me return, with something of yours, something he’d think I’d own if I’d succeeded and killed you. He trusts me, and I could easily let you in tonight when it’s quiet. It gives me time to gather more information too.”
&nbs
p; “No,” Noc said before Maddie could reply. “It’s too dangerous. He’ll know we removed the eye from you, and if he decides to put another in...” Noc trailed off, shaking his head. “Just no.”
“I think it’s worth a try,” I said. It was the only plan that didn’t put everyone at risk, only me.
Maddie frowned, evidently considering my offer.
“If we found you a few extra bits of kit and gave you a way out if things go wrong, I’d be happy to send you in.” Maddie didn’t look at anyone but me. Her words sent relief flooding through me. If there was more I could do to be prepared and if Maddie thought it possible, then it gave me a sense of courage.
“I wouldn’t say no to some boosts in my stats,” I said. “I’ve got a Karma point I’ve not spent yet.”
“Good. That will help us prepare you.”
“I’ll take you to our equipment store,” Noc’s mother said, holding out her arm to motion for me to go with her.
“The rest of us should prepare ourselves as well. And I’ll get you what you need to convince Gestal you triumphed over me,” Maddie added as she moved towards the door, heading back the way we’d come.
Noc’s mother led me out another route, down a different set of spiral steps and through corridor after corridor until we were in a large room full of shelves and racks. Although it was similar to the equipment room in Gestal’s Hamu, it had one big difference. There was no price attached to the items.
“Have I got a budget or a way of figuring out how much I can take?” I asked when my escort backed away. She shook her head and laughed.
“No. Take what you think you’ll need. We don’t operate like that. People in our Guild aren’t greedy and don’t covet material possessions for the sake of it. We all know that if each member of the Guild is given the opportunity to prosper, the whole Guild prospers. If you need something in here, it’s yours for as long as you need it. If people stop needing something they bring it back.”
“Wow,” I replied, unable to help myself. It was an entirely different level of trust and respect. I was really starting to understand why Gestal felt threatened by Maddie and this Guild.
Taking a deep breath and knowing time was short, I looked through the items in front of me, picking out equipment for what felt like the third and final time. I had speed and silence nailed, as well as accuracy with a dagger down well enough to be deadly, but for this mission I needed to make an impression. I needed to convince someone of something not entirely true, and appear to be something I wasn’t to have achieved the goal Gestal gave me.
On top of that, I had to appear loyal. Like I’d returned willingly, and not to keep others safe. Whatever was going to help me with all that needed to be special, an item out of the ordinary.
After what felt like a lifetime of searching I found it. A set of contacts of all things. Fixing my gaze on them I studied the box that popped up.
CONTACTS OF SOUL PROJECTION
THESE CONTACTS MASK THE INNERMOST SOUL AND THOUGHTS OF THE WEARER, ALLOWING THE WEARER TO PROJECT ANY STATE, EMOTIONS, THOUGHTS AND AGENDA THEY WISH WITH CONFIDENCE
I grinned and picked them up. They were exactly what I needed. Something that would hide my true intentions, and the nervousness I already felt.
“Done,” I said as I headed back towards the door.
“Good choice,” Alia said, and smiled. “I hoped you’d pick those. I got a random quest a few weeks back that led me to them. Maddie didn’t seem too surprised, told me not to worry about it. Won’t deny I thought of them the second you volunteered to go back to Gestal. You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.”
“Well, that explains why you didn’t worry or object.”
“This game has a way of making things come together if you let it.” She smiled again, looking more like Noc and making it easy for me to smile back. Maybe, just maybe, I could pull off this final quest and get back to my sisters.
It wasn’t too much later that I thought I was almost ready. The others were in the main room, talking. I was tucking into some food. I had no idea why but this game and its food gave me the appetite from hell. Either that or it was every teenager’s dream to be able to eat anything they wanted and not care about weight or looks.
I took a sip of the hot drink they’d made for me. It was rich, fruity. “It will give you some extra energy over the next twenty-four hours.”
I turned to see Noc standing beside me. “I think I need all the help I can get.”
“Lila, you’re braver than most of the people in here; you’ve no idea what that monster’s capable of.”
I swallowed. “If you mean his torture rooms, I’ve seen them. I’ve been part of his practice for over a month.” I paused. It had been longer than that, nearly two. Damn, I’d totally lost track of time. I looked at my hands. I wasn’t sure if I’d fool him at all.
Maddie approached and held something out to me. “There aren’t many things I can do to help you prove to him that I’m dead, and I can’t part with my head. But you can take this. He should know what it is, and what it means to be parted from it.” She wriggled the beautiful pink ring off her finger and passed it to me. “I’m lending it to you, okay?”
I nodded and the stats of the ring popped up.
LADY MYSIOL’S RING – RULER OF TROFOTH
STRENGTH + 5
INTELLIGENCE + 10
CONSTANT HEALTH BONUS + 10
EXTRA BONUS – HEALTH BOOST + 10 – To activate, twist the ring twice.
“Thank you,” was all I could muster. There was something else about the ring, an echo, a presence. The way Maddie looked at me gave me lots of weird feelings. No, not weird. I missed Jessica, and this was the kind of look she’d be giving me right about now. One of hope, and love.
Alia held her hand out with something in it. “Go to the edge of our protective barriers, prepare yourself as planned. Then swallow this. It will be instant, it will hurt, but you won’t be able to explain the missing eye otherwise.”
I took what she offered and stared at it.
EPOL’S EYE – THE ALL-SEEING WATCHER OF THE DARK. CAPTURED AT ITS MOMENT OF DEMISE, PRESERVED IN A LIVE DONOR EGG.
Err, yuck, there were some truly horrid things you had to do in this game. My stomach turned.
Alia then put her hand to her chest. “I’ve something else for you.” It looked like she pulled a gold star from inside herself.
“Use them wisely,” Noc said, and did the same.
Maddie complied with a wink. “It’s all we can afford, but it should help somewhere along the way.”
REWARD – YOU HAVE BEEN GIFTED 3 KARMA POINTS – USE THEM WISELY
The music and buzz that followed was amazing, I was totally on a high when I straightened up and made my way to the door. “Six hours, right?”
Maddie nodded. “We’ll be ready.”
I glanced to Noc once more, then left.
My plan wasn’t to head straight back to the Hamu. If I did that after supposedly taking out my target that would be a clear giveaway that something was off. His people would be watching me.
Slipping out the back doors and towards their perimeter, I kept the egg in my hand, when I neared their shimmering shield wall, I looked at it, it’s internal darkness almost seemed to know what I was going to do. I popped it into my mouth and swallowed.
My initial reaction was to gag, to throw it back up, but I stepped through the barrier and kept my throat as tight as I could. I couldn’t reject this; I had to have it.
Pain erupted through me as the fragile outer casing of the egg hit my stomach and was destroyed. The creature, the horrid blackness inside it, flooded my veins and I fell to the floor in a horrid spasm of agony.
It was only feeling rain against my skin that brought me around. I’d no idea how long I was out for. The darkness was indeed back inside me, but I felt comfortable with it this time. A small amount of my mind was protected so that it wouldn’t cloud my judgment. I could do what I needed to, and lie.
Would that be the best thing for me, for getting home? I pushed myself up, wiped the rain from my face, and set off to weave my way through the city.
Chapter 12
I saw the Hamu ahead of me, feeling nervous for what I was about to do. Denny and Keld were there, their familiar faces at least settled my mind. I headed towards them and they rushed out to greet me.
Keld reached for my hand and noted the ring straight away. “You did it!”
Denny jumped up and down and started to giggle like the idiot he was. I had kind of missed these two. “Yes,” I said. “You know what this ring is?”
“Can you call on them?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that one. Oh crap, this was going to be a test, wasn’t it? What the hell were they expecting this ring to do?
“Come. Come!” They pulled on my arms and dragged me along. I gave in and went with them a little more willingly, or I really would have looked like a fake.
The more the guys pulled me on, the sicker I felt. Somewhere deep inside me, I wanted to have done the job for Gestal. I wanted to have killed Maddie. I tried to shake off the terrible feeling of guilt at betraying the one person who had shown me loyalty, trust and…. What the hell was I thinking? Loyalty? Trust? I shook my head and slapped the side of my face. I couldn’t think like that.
Giggling like kids, Denny and Keld knocked on Gestal’s office door and waited. Their excited chatter mentioned a few things.
She can call the Tromoal!
Game changer for us!
The world started to dip before me; I felt his presence even before he shouted for me to enter.
I hadn’t been that stupid, had I?
I suddenly knew I had.
He didn’t want me to kill her, it was obvious now. I would never be powerful or clever enough to take her out. They’d both baited me. Now there was nothing I could do. If I turned and ran for it, Denny and Keld would take me out. Before Gestal could. The ring would be theirs no matter what. I had to think of something, anything. I had to protect it.
