by Dante Steel
“Some fire would be nice right about now,” Olivia remarked, coming to a halt. The others stopped too.
Gary winced. “We’re fine,” he said in a rush.
Nicoletta said nothing.
“If I had fire,” Olivia started.
“You wouldn’t be afraid to use it,” Nicoletta said quietly.
“Not at all,” Olivia chirped. “But I know all about being afraid to use my power. I mean, seriously, it’s just my luck that I can fly, and I’m deathly afraid of heights.”
“No roller coasters for you then?” Nicoletta asked.
“God, no!”
“You’re missing out,” Nicoletta said.
“Seriously?” Olivia shook her head frantically. “Do you not understand phobias?”
“I thought with what you’re studying, you would be willing to work on your fear,” Gary said.
“I do understand phobias,” Nicoletta said quietly before Olivia could respond to Gary. “My power is…” She shook her head.
“Something you’re afraid of, too? Hmm.” Olivia rubbed her chin. “That’s curious. It’s almost as if the developers know us, know our fears.”
“Guess that would make Gary fearless then,” Nicoletta said.
“Ha! Hardly,” he said. “I have plenty to fear.”
Nicoletta grabbed his hand and gave it a sympathetic squeeze.
“Look, we’ve come this far, and I can only play so long,” Olivia said. “Let’s get us a Runed Ruby and get the heck out of here, what do ya say?”
A few more steps forward and the cave was so dark they couldn't see anything. Nicoletta tried to use her fire for illumination, but the moment a spark formed, she began to tremble so severely she couldn't walk. Gary held her to his chest. In the darkness, Olivia might not have been able to see them.
Eventually, Nicoletta could walk, and up ahead, they saw a faint blue. The tunnel was luminescent just enough for them to be able to see.
“Bats love caves,” Olivia said. “What else does?”
“Maybe vampires,” Gary said. “Think about it. Dark. Damp. No light, no fires.”
“I think this cave will be vampire free,” Nicoletta said dryly.
“You never know,” Gary said. “Vampires are one creature that can go toe-to-toe with a superhero.”
“Right now, we hardly qualify as superheroes,” she pointed out.
“Once we level up enough,” Gary hinted.
“No vampires,” Nicoletta said with a slight edge.
Okay, so she didn't like vampires. Gary just might have to find an excuse to nibble on her neck later… just for fun.
A scurrying sound was all the warning they had before a horde of rats rushed them. As soon as they killed the last of them, thankfully with none of them getting bitten, snakes came. They managed to kill them and head down to the next portion of the passageway before a few rabid raccoons pounced. One nearly took Gary's head off. These weren't ordinary raccoons by a long shot.
Up ahead, they found a dead bear carcass rotting away with a volt of vultures eating it. The girls were repulsed, vocalizing their discomfort at the sight, but Gary had it so much worse because he could smell it. He thought he was going to hurl.
The vultures must have sensed the gamers because they paused and then converged on them, some taking flight, the rest stalking along the cave ground with their claws scratching against the rocks. Gary settled in to slice off wings, to cut through flesh, and even to shove his sword down one vulture’s throat. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
Gary was breathing heavy by the time they finished the vultures off. He glanced at the girls.
“Are you two okay?” he asked.
“Nothing a potion won’t handle,” Olivia said. She drank it and wiped her mouth.
Nicoletta bit her lower lip and darted a glance at Gary. “Are you okay?” she asked pointedly.
He inhaled deeply to try to hide the fact he was gassed. “Sure. Never better.”
“That’s my Gary.” Olivia thumped him on the back and then let her hand wander lower to cup his ass. She patted it and then waltzed around the bear carcass, swaying her hips. Gary knew she was doing that on purpose.
He started forward, but Nicoletta touched his arm, and he hung back, afraid she was upset about Olivia’s attention.
“This is starting to get harder,” she said, jutting her chin to encompass the tunnel. “We have no idea how long and far this goes. The monsters will only get stronger. What if we aren’t a high enough level for this?”
“We have to be,” he said grimly.
“Gary, I know you think you’re in the game—”
He placed a finger over her lips.
She rolled her eyes and knocked his hand away. "Gary. Please. I'm worried about you."
“You don’t need to be. I’m big and strong.” He flexed.
Since entering the game, Gary was getting more powerful. It wasn't just in his mind. Granted, lifting heavy garbage cans had given him powerful guns to begin with, so it wasn't as if he had started out as a skinny chicken. All of the walking had caused his legs to finally start to catch up to his upper body some. You didn't need a gym and weights if you were hacking away at creatures. More times than not, Gary used both hands on the sword. He was still getting used to it, and if he had to face someone proficient with the weapon, he would be in trouble. He didn't have any formal training with it, and blocking and parrying a creature's claw or mouth was a lot different from a lethal piece of blade.
“Yes, yes, I’m not worried about you physically.”
“Just frustrated with me physically?”
Crap. What the hell did he just say?
“I mean just frustrated physically? Er, um… I think I’m gonna shut up now.” Gary shrugged sheepishly.
She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “Really?” she asked dryly.
"Fine. I'm the frustrated one," Gary muttered.
Nicoletta laughed. “So I can see.”
“Let’s just go.”
Again, he started forward, and again, she halted him. This time, she grabbed his palm and traced her finger against the new scar.
“Scars aren’t an option for your avatar,” he murmured. “Not that I saw.”
She jerked her hand back as if burned. “Come on. Olivia might need our help.”
He wanted to ask her about the kiss, but he figured now wasn’t the time for that. She was right that this wasn’t going to be easy, and he needed his head in the game—the head decidedly attached to his neck and not the one between his legs, which was beginning to stir yet again.
Mumbling a curse, he rushed to bypass her so he wouldn't be tempted to stare at her ass. The other two were lovely, but Nicoletta had the most exquisite ass of them all.
“Head on shoulders,” he murmured.
Olivia was heading back toward them, the frown on her face not marring her beauty.
“What’s wrong?” Nicoletta asked.
"There are no more enemies. Not living ones. Someone else has cleared them all out. All the foxes, bears, bodies everywhere."
“We must be getting close,” Nicoletta said.
“Yes, and someone is ahead of us,” Gary said grimly. “We might have to fight the guy.”
“A supervillain. Has to be,” Nicoletta said.
“Or just a villain,” Olivia suggested. “We aren’t powerful enough yet to be considered superheroes.”
“Especially since we won’t actually train with our powers.” Nicoletta grimaced.
Olivia held her hand. “It’ll be all right. I’m right here.”
Nicoletta nodded and grabbed Gary’s hand with her free one. “We can do this,” she said.
“I sure hope so,” Gary muttered.
“Think positive,” Olivia admonished.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I’m too young to be ma’amed.”
“Sorry.” He sighed. “I was trying to be—”
“Shh.” Nicoletta lifted her hand entwined wi
th Gary’s. “Did you hear that?”
Olivia’s face looked colorless behind the pale blue of the cave walls. “We all ready? Everyone use up all of their points, all healed up?” She gulped. “Ready to use magic if need be?”
Gary always felt so disconnected when he fiddled with this part of the game. Because of that, he hadn’t allocated his points from his last several levels.
“Does dexterity help with being a thief?” he asked.
“Yes,” the girls said at the same time.
“Good.”
He dumped twenty-five points into that skill to bring it up to forty. He always felt a little zap of life when he added to vitality and more powerful when he increased his strength. With dexterity, he couldn’t perceive any change.
“Here’s the plan,” he said. “We’ll see what we’re up against. If he seems too powerful, you two will come at him from two different sides, distracting him. I’ll steal the item, and we’ll bolt.”
“What’s the signal for us to leave?” Olivia asked.
“A whistle.”
Nicoletta shook her head so harshly that her hair tumbled free from her ponytail, and she had to fix it. “I can’t whistle.”
“You can’t?” Gary couldn’t believe it. “I taught myself.”
“Good for you, but I can’t, and I need to—”
“Hoot like an owl,” Olivia suggested.
“I’ll be the judge of if we have to go or not,” Gary said.
“So you’re the boss?” Nicoletta crossed her arms. “I don’t think so.”
“I agree with Nicoletta.” Olivia put her back to Nicoletta and mimicked her stance. “You’re going to pull one of those macho tough guy acts and get yourself killed. I heard that if you die in the game, you lose ten levels.”
“I heard that points are stripped,” Nicoletta said.
“That’s not going to happen,” Gary said firmly. “We’ll be fine if we work together. Worse comes to worst, I’ll swipe the item, remember? No one is dying.”
Olivia winked, grinning broadly. “That’s the kind of thinking I like, pumpkin!” She patted his cheek and skipped a few paces down the tunnel.
“She’s gonna get herself killed,” Nicoletta commented.
“She’s a fighter,” he murmured. “I just hope that if she pukes again, that it doesn’t land on me this time.”
“Oh,” Nicoletta said faintly.
Gary tried to grin but failed. “You ready?”
“Maybe.”
“Come on.”
He placed his hand on the small of her back, and they hurried to catch up to Olivia.
Chapter Eighteen
Abruptly, the tunnel widened into a large cavern. Instead of the ground being solid stone, it was made of rocks and pebbles that slid around. Gary inched forward. In the middle of the room was a tall pedestal.
The ceiling above them stretched endlessly high, and he couldn’t see any bats or vultures or any other creature, winged or footed.
“Something isn’t right,” Olivia whispered.
She was spot-on. Movement to the left revealed a man wearing a cloak standing by the wall and another opening just like the one they had passed through to reach this point. He was holding his hand up toward the ceiling, examining something small and red.
The Runed Ruby!
Gary couldn’t help himself. He rushed forward and then hesitated, but at that point, the girls had started to follow him.
The man immediately snapped his long fingers into a tight fist that he slowly lowered to his side.
“Leave me be,” he said coldly in a voice that brooked no arguments.
“Yeah, not happening,” Gary said.
“You aren’t getting away with that,” Nicoletta ordered.
“Go be a villain somewhere else,” Olivia added.
The man laughed and swept his other arm back, causing his cloak to flutter behind him, the billowing material almost looking like a wing.
“You want this?” He held up his fist. “Come and get it.”
“How original,” Nicoletta muttered as she grabbed her twin daggers.
Olivia had her spear, a real metal one that she had bought and was wielding with decent proficiency. Gary, of course, had his sword. He debated yanking out his dagger too, but if he needed to steal the Runed Ruby instead of killing the man for it, he would need at least one hand free. Ideally, the dagger would be his preferred weapon in this scenario so Gary could fight close quarters, but he had no idea how powerful this guy was. He had no one else with him, no team. Clearly, he had powers, so the longer reach would keep Gary at a distance, even if it would make stealing more difficult.
Maybe it was his added dexterity, or maybe he was just that furious that someone might swipe the artifact right under their nose, but Gary ran faster than he had since so long ago when he’d won races. He reached the man first, and Gary went to slash with his blade when a terrible gust of wind blew him back so far that he collided with the girls.
Nicoletta recovered first. Her face was bright red, full of anger. She held up her hands, which glowered slightly.
Her fire? She was willing to use it? Was the firecracker trying to overcome her fear?
Before a flame could appear, the man threw out his hand, and a thin tendril of water flew out, coating her hands and causing the fire to diminish to black smoke.
Wait, so the man had both air and water? What level was he?
As if she didn’t want to be outdone by Nicoletta, Olivia took flight. Of course, with the guy exploiting wind, that didn’t work out well for her. In fact, he slammed her against the wall so hard that a crack echoed.
The man laughed manically as Gary and Nicoletta rushed over to Olivia. Nicoletta forced the unconscious woman to drink a potion, and Olivia stirred.
“We have to try to fight him,” she said.
Nicoletta nodded. “I don’t see a weapon on him. If we can get in close, maybe you can swipe it.”
“We can do this.” Olivia stood and nearly collapsed onto Gary.
“Are you okay?” he asked her.
She shook her head and cracked her knuckles. “More than okay.”
Gary wasn’t so sure, but the air in the room was beginning to spin faster and faster. The guy was trying to make a tornado. Pebbles gathered to join the funnel.
Desperate, Gary shoved away his sword, grabbed his dagger, and whipped it at the man. Of course, the man used more wind to knock the blade to the side, but Gary was already closing the distance between them. Before the man could blast him, Gary had tackled him.
A gust of wind slammed into Gary, causing him to fly backward.
Nicoletta dashed over to take Gary’s place, her twin daggers crossed to form an “X.” She slashed and sliced at the man, but he seemed to float above the ground, moving away from her without walking.
Abruptly, the man placed his hand on her chest, and the stench of burnt clothes and flesh seared Gary’s stomach. He thought he would hurl as Nicoletta collapsed to her knees and then lay face first on the ground.
Rage filled Gary, and he tried once more. The man formed a small fireball in his hand that connected with Gary's dagger. The hilt immediately grew too hot for him to handle, and he dropped the weapon as the blade melted.
The heat! That power! The command this man had! Olivia was right. He was a villain or even a supervillain, but if he was a supervillain, he was holding back on purpose to toy with them.
Nicoletta was lying there, not moving. Gary darted over to her and dragged her back slightly. He started to give her a potion when he heard Olivia scream.
Gary whirled around to see the man lowering his arm from clearly having backhanded her. Olivia staggered back before trying to stab him. He gripped the spear in his hands to block the blow, and in seconds, the metal glowed as red as his hands. Olivia had to release her hold on it.
And that was when the man began to attack with a weapon instead of his powers. He viciously jabbed toward Olivia in a blatant attemp
t to impale the woman with her own spear, but Gary lunged across the distance and just barely used the tip of his sword to block the blow.
The man nodded to Gary, and the two fought in earnest. The jabbing nature of the spear made fighting him with the sword awkward and unnatural, but then again, Gary wasn’t super proficient with sword fighting so maybe that helped him, considering he wasn’t as thrown off as someone who would have trained for years.
The foe was as deadly with a weapon as with his power, and Gary was suffering. A slash to his upper thigh. A cut to his bicep. A massive bruise when the guy jerked his feet out from under him. Gary didn’t know how he managed to bring up his sword to block off what would have been a finishing blow, but he did and then rolled away and jumped to his feet.
Gary was breathing hard. The cave had been chilly all along, but now, he was dripping with sweat, and he wiped his forehead. The last thing he would need would be for sweat to drip into his eyes and blind him momentarily.
Blood dripped from the cut on his bicep. Thankfully, it wasn’t trickling down his arm to his wrist gripping the weapon, but it was making the ground slick. Gary had no choice but to watch his footing more carefully, which meant his attention wasn’t on the man as much as it should have been, and the man took advantage with a sharp whack to the side of Gary’s head.
Gary went down hard. His vision was spotty, growing dim, and a roaring sound filled his ears. Had he dropped his sword? Yes, but where was it? Where were the girls for that matter?
Dazed, he sat back and watched as the man raised the spear, the metal glowing red hot. It jerked down toward Gary when all of a sudden, Nicoletta was there, holding the spear…
…and not being burned.
Olivia rushed over to Gary’s side and helped him up. Her lips moved, but he couldn’t hear what she was saying above the roar still overwhelming his ears.
Just then, the man jabbed the spear toward Olivia. Gary tried to shove her out of the way at the same time that Olivia took flight, and Gary staggered forward to slam into the pedestal. The platform wasn’t that steady. It didn’t support him at all, but instead of breaking, the dais shook a bit and then started to descend into the ground accompanied by loud grumbling that finally sounded over the ringing. The ground shook as if from an earthquake, and hundreds of snakes descended from the ceiling.
