by A. J. Markam
But this one was… and had fucking reprimanded me for it.
What the hell was going on?
I wanted to ask him how he’d known, but I’d been too shocked at the time.
Now he started talking again – and about something important.
“From here on out, the name of the game is that you must guess the identity of the ninth ex-master.”
THAT took me by surprise.
“What?”
“Alaria’s ninth ex-master, Mr. Hertzfelder. Do keep up.”
“But… how?!”
“The same way you guessed mine.”
“Riddles,” I said in irritation.
“Just so.”
I glowered at him. “Where are you going to leave them?”
“In the same places I’ve left them before.”
I frowned. “You’re going back to Abaddon and Fernburg just to leave some fucking riddles?”
“Ah – let me rephrase. I will leave them in the same TYPE of places, and in the same MANNER, as I have before.”
I frowned for a second until what he was saying finally hit me.
“You’re going to go to every place I’ve ever been?!”
“Very good, Mr. Hertzfelder. Perhaps you will surprise me and actually guess the ninth ex-master’s identity.”
Dread filled my stomach. “Wait – are you going to kill people wherever you go?!”
“Of course.”
Again, that sociopathic detachment… that slight amusement.
“You can’t!” I cried out.
“I can, and I will.”
“These are people’s lives we’re talking about!”
“Well… YESS. It wouldn’t be any fun otherwise.”
“You fucking bastard – ”
“Complain later, Mr. Hertzfelder. Right now, concentrate on the matter at hand. You will have to decide which is more important: arriving beforehand with your newly acquired powers, and saving the local population… or arriving afterwards to find the clues I leave behind. Saving lives will require you to backtrack to the scenes of devastation afterwards, in order to find the clues… and we both know you have very limited resources as far as your new powers go.”
I couldn’t decide if he was doing another freaky thing like knowing I’d viewed his stats, or if it was just common knowledge that newbie Warlocks with Hell’s Pont could only cast three portals in one day.
Then he said something that absolutely confirmed the freakiness.
“But no cheating, Mr. Hertzfelder. That means no more hints from your friend Luna, either in YOUR world or by message. I fear that in our first match-up, it was SHE who guessed correctly, rather than YOU.”
All I could do was stare at him in bewilderment and horror.
He’d known I’d performed a routine stat check, which no other NPC I’d encountered had ever done – not even Alaria, who was a hair’s breadth away from true sentience.
And now he knew that I’d gotten a message from Luna.
And that I had a ‘world’ outside this one.
That was impossible.
No NPC had that kind of knowledge.
Nix saw my reaction and chuckled. “Oh yes… I know EVERYTHING. So no more logging out, no contacting anyone, no using any resources outside of the game. If you cheat, I will end everything prematurely… and trust me, you DON’T want THAT.”
This wasn’t happening.
He knew about logging out.
He knew about messages.
The part about the ‘game’ was ambiguous – he could have meant OtherWorld or his little psychotic riddles – but I was betting he meant the one he shouldn’t have known about.
Was Nix being controlled by another player? Someone from my world? Chad, maybe?!
“How do you know all that?!” I asked in astonishment.
“I told you, Mr. Hertzfelder – I know EVERYTHING. I must warn you, I designed the first round specifically so you would win. I wanted you to learn the rules, not lose. But this time will be more difficult. I will not go lightly on you. And we will be playing for stakes.”
Creeping dread filled my stomach. “What kind of stakes?”
“If I win, I get to destroy something of great value to you. And I DO mean ‘destroy.’”
And with that… he looked right at Alaria.
My dread became overwhelming terror.
“NO!” I shouted.
Alaria cried out in fear, too. Nix ignored her.
“You have no choice in the matter, Mr. Hertzfelder. And it’s why you shouldn’t cheat, because I will take her prematurely if you do. The only chance you have at saving her is to play my little game.”
My mind started racing. Maybe once we got out of here, I could hide her somewhere – or put her in Limbo where Nix couldn’t reach her –
“And just in case you’re wondering, there is nowhere she is safe from me. Not even Limbo.”
It was like the motherfucker was reading my mind!
“So if I win and guess the ninth master’s identity – ”
“EX-master.”
“Ex-master’s identity, then what – you won’t hurt her?”
“Of course. And, in addition, you get to claim YOUR prize.”
“Which is…?”
“If YOU win – that is, if you correctly guess the identity of the 9th ex-master… I will kill myself.”
I stared at him.
The two little moon-like eyes stared back in silence.
“…you’re insane…” I said, realizing for the first time just how bad the situation was.
“…yes.”
Like he was merely confirming the obvious.
Nix clasped his hands together. “We shall begin in just a moment. But first I have a gift: your first riddle.”
Behind him, the stone wall suddenly glowed like lava was breaking through. Thick smoke boiled into the air.
When the light died away, there was something carved into the rock:
1
I AM THE ALPHA
AND THE OMEGA
I stared at the words in horror.
That was my fucking clue?!
It was something out of the Bible – something Jesus had said, I was pretty sure –
But that was the extent of my knowledge.
“What the hell does that mean?!” I cried out.
“Well, I can’t TELL you, can I, or it wouldn’t be much of a game, now would it? Remember it well, for this will be the last time you see it. I must also reveal the reason why I had Tarka detain you. You see, I wanted you to have a fighting chance with what comes next… and I believe you have another… what… three hours before you can cast Hell’s Pont again?”
No…
There was no fucking way he could know that…
Not unless he could see my menu.
And that should’ve been impossible.
“How do you know that?!” I demanded.
“No matter. All you need to know is that I postponed my plans so you had a shorter wait until you could use your spells again.”
“And why would I need a shorter wait?”
“Why… to escape from here, of course,” Nix said as he gestured towards the dungeon.
Apparently he didn’t know everything. If I died, I would automatically resurrect at the edge of the forest.
“Don’t think me stupid, Mr. Hertzfelder. I know all about your recently cast Gravesite.”
As soon as he said it, I felt like I might throw up.
“I know that you, Alaria, your imp, and the angel – ”
Nix stopped talking, turned, and addressed Meera directly.
“Hello, darling. You seem to have recovered splendidly from our last encounter.”
Meera trembled with rage, and I could tell she wanted nothing more than to ignite her sword and attack.
Luckily she didn’t. Between Nix and his army of skeletons, she would have been slaughtered.
“As I was saying, the four of you will come back to l
ife if you’re slain… but there is another in your party who WON’T.”
My blood ran cold as I glanced over at Eluun, who looked absolutely terrified.
Suddenly Nix raised both his palms and fired over our heads.
I ducked down by reflex, but I needn’t have bothered – he was aiming far above us.
The violet blasts exploded against the wall and caved in the tunnel back to the surface.
No one was getting out that way.
The explosion reverberated throughout the vast room…
And then, in the relative quiet afterwards, I heard the horrific screams through the walls start to get louder.
Nearer.
Not to mention that the latticework of black organic matter began to ooze across the stone walls like a fungus growing in fast-forward.
Nix lowered his arms and stared me in the face. “So you see, your REAL challenge is, can you keep your frost elf alive until you’re able to cast a portal once more? I suppose we’re playing for stakes at this point, as well… although it will be the dungeon that claims her if you fail, not me.”
Suddenly Nix’s body, and the bodies of all the skeletons, turned into black smoke. The only thing left as he dissipated into nothingness were those two shining white eyes.
“Best of luck.”
Then the eyes winked out of existence…
…and we were alone, trapped inside a rogue dungeon.
22
The muffled, nightmarish shrieks on the other side of the wall were getting louder.
“Ian, what do we do?!” Alaria cried out.
I quickly looked around and took stock.
Southern wall – tunnel caved in and impassable. (Whether it was actually south or not didn’t matter.)
Eastern wall – solid and impassable.
Northern wall – big fuckin’ hole Nix had walked through. Unfortunately, that was the direction all the screams were coming from.
Western area – vast, open space filled with shadows.
Above us – vaulted ceilings 50 feet above the floor.
We were probably going to have to head west, but I wanted to rule out our other options first.
“Meera, fire up your sword and fly up there,” I ordered. “See if there’s some hole or something we can get through.”
Meera lit up her weapon and flapped her wings until she was hovering a few feet away from the ceiling. “No – nothing.”
“Alright. Eluun, give us some light. You too, Alaria. Meera, get back down here.”
Eluun shone white light from her hands, and Alaria ignited a fireball in each palm as Meera touched down beside me.
“Alaria, Meera – can you move the rubble or cut through it?”
Meera struck one of the rocks, but her fiery blade created a molten scar maybe an eighth of an inch deep.
Alaria grabbed a boulder the size of a refrigerator and heaved, but she couldn’t budge it.
There were dozens more boulders, some the size of SUVs.
“Never mind, that’s not going to work,” I said, and Meera and Alaria abandoned their attempts.
I checked my portal timer –
2:58:14.
SHIT.
Almost three hours until I could get Eluun out of here safely.
If I died, I was going to resurrect outside of the dungeon, with no way to get back in.
So I either better not die…
…or I better not resurrect outside of the dungeon.
“Shouldn’t we get a move-on?” Alaria asked fearfully.
“Hold on,” I said as I triggered my Gravesite spell.
Immediately a window appeared.
Establishing a gravesite here will eradicate the previous gravesite. Accept/Cancel
I accepted. Ten seconds later, a tombstone stood in the rocky ground.
At least now I wouldn’t wind up outside of the dungeon if I died.
Or course, I might just respawn in the midst of a bunch of hellish monsters… but hey. Our options at this point were basically all shitty.
“Okay, everybody,” I said in as calm a voice as I could manage, “your job is to protect Eluun. If you have to sacrifice yourself to keep her safe, DO IT. I’ll bring you back. Eluun, your job is to heal yourself – and me, at least until I can cast the next Gravesite in 15 minutes. Don’t worry about anyone else. Your job is to stay alive; everybody else’s job is to help you do it. Got it?”
Eluun nodded fearfully.
I pulled three healing potions out of my bag and handed them to her. “Use these if your powers get temporarily exhausted. When you run out, let me know – I’ve got more.”
“Thank you,” she said gratefully.
I grabbed a lantern the Black Robes had left behind. “Stig, you take point. Keep out in front of us where we can see you and let us know what’s coming. Alaria, stay five feet in front of me. Eluun, you’re beside me. Meera, you bring up the rear.”
Stig’s face twitched in fear, but he scurried across the stone floor until he reached the edge of what we could see.
The women arranged themselves as I’d ordered.
“Let’s go,” I said, and we set off into the shadows.
The vast room was full of ruins – toppled pillars, crumbling walls, collapsed statutes.
Suddenly something screeched and jumped out from the rubble. It had a lower body like a giant black crab, with a diseased humanoid torso attached to the top. Two-foot-long claws clicked at the ends of its arms. There was no head; its gaping mouth and black eyes were part of its chest.
“HIT IT!” I yelled.
Alaria summoned her fire whip and lashed it with brimstone.
Stig slammed it with fireballs, and I blasted it with Soul Suck.
It took ten seconds, but we finally brought it down.
Shit – if one monster took that long to kill…
“Let’s go!” I shouted, and we kept on moving.
Monster after monster attacked us – though mercifully only one at a time. If they came in a group, they tended to be weaker.
A xenomorph-looking thing straight out of Alien scrambled along the walls like an eight-foot-long gecko.
A blob of black slime dropped down from the ceiling, then extended like a Slinky and attached itself to the wall, where it lunged outwards at us again.
A swarm of foot-long maggots with teeth jumped up in the air like Mexican jumping beans.
And a nightmarish thing out of H.P. Lovecraft’s worst nightmares, with a dozen giant eyeballs and several mouths full of fangs, oozed towards us in an elephant-sized blob.
The fast ones we killed. The slower ones we left behind.
And we always ran like hell.
2:45:11 to go.
After a quarter mile, the vast room ended in a terrace that overlooked a gigantic pit. Only a single, two-foot-wide footbridge spanned the abyss. Giant pillars every 30 feet or so held it up from beneath.
Horrifying things scuttled along the walls of the pit, like a thousand giant spiders infesting a sinkhole. As we approached, they began to crawl upwards towards the terrace.
“Across the bridge – GO!” I yelled.
Stig ran out ahead of us –
But after 40 feet the bridge crumbled beneath his feet and he plummeted into space.
“STIG!” I screamed as I put out an arm to stop Eluun.
Luckily, Stig’s teleportation power was already active because of the previous attacks on us, and he BAMFED! his way back onto the other side of the collapsed footbridge.
Unfortunately, there was now a 10-foot-gap between us and him.
And the spider-like things were swarming up the pit onto our side of the bridge.
“Alaria, take me! Meera, take Eluun!” I yelled.
Succubus and angel each grabbed a passenger, and we flew up into the air.
“Stay airborne!” I yelled. “Maybe we can wait ‘em out up here!”
Ha.
As if the dungeon was going to make it that easy on us.
> Things detached from the ceiling far above and began divebombing us.
They looked like flying snakes on leathery wings, and they snapped at us with razor-sharp teeth as they swooped past.
One bit me, and I felt a searing pain on my shoulder as I dropped 200 hit points.
SHIT.
“Get us down!” I yelled, and Alaria and Meera dropped us back onto the bridge.
I cast Hellstorm, and little bat-winged demons appeared far above us, raining down burning sulfur.
None of it hit us – but it fucked with the flying snakes. Chunks of brimstone set their wings on fire and they tumbled shrieking into the abyss.
“RUN!” I shouted, and everyone took off.
Stig was our minesweeper, sussing out the portions of the bridge that couldn’t hold our weight. Whenever a section would collapse, he would teleport to safety, and Meera and Alaria would ferry us over the gap.
Unfortunately, things began climbing the pillars holding up the bridge.
A squirming black shape reared up on the side of the footpath. It looked like a snake at first, but there were suckers lining its underside. At its tip was a tiny mouth filled with jagged teeth. It looked like someone had grafted a chest-burster from Alien onto an octopus’s arm and painted the whole thing black.
It got Stig.
“AHHH!” he screamed as it caught him in its coils. The mouth at the end bit into his shoulder, and a fourth of his hit points disappeared before he could teleport away.
Alaria hit it with a fireball, and the snake-like creature flailed through the air, screeching as it burst into flames.
Then the rest of it came over the side of the bridge.
The ‘creature’ was just one tentacle of what looked like a giant black octopus, but with a blobfish face on top.
More tentacles whipped through the air, their tiny chest-burster mouths snapping at us.
We slashed and burned our way through the tentacles, and finally sent the blobfish tumbling over the side.
Unfortunately, more of the damn things were crawling up onto the bridge ahead of us.
I replenished Stig’s health, and then we fought our way past them as best we could, flying over the creatures when we couldn’t kill them outright.
Unfortunately, if we didn’t fly far enough overhead, the tiny tentacle-mouths tagged us from below – and the flying serpent divebombed us from above.
