Party Hard

by David Petrie

  "How?" Kira stepped to Max's side.

  "I wasn't lying when I said you were some of the best players available. But we have millions of users online, so obviously there are others out there with track records just as good as yours or better. However, you two are …" Alastair paused to choose his words, "different."

  Max tensed up at the word. "What do you mean, ‘different?’"

  "Let me ask you, do you know how the Nightmare's contract reward system works?" Alastair asked matter-of-factly.

  Max breathed a simple, "No," through his teeth.

  "Neither do we." Alastair threw up his hands. "At least, not entirely."

  "What do you mean, you don't know?"

  "Oh sure, we know how it was supposed to work. A player offers an item, and the darkness gives them something in return from a preselected list based on their class and what type of item was offered."

  "Yeah." Max gave a nod, following the explanation.

  "Notice, I said, that the player is supposed to offer an item," Alastair emphasized the word, "but not everyone offers an item, do they?" He turned his eyes toward Kira.

  "Umm, no." She fidgeted with the fabric of her dress, looking guilty.

  "And what did you offer the darkness every time it called your name in the past?" Alastair asked the question, making it sound like she had done something wrong.

  Kira responded in a quiet, sheepish tone, "I offered forgiveness." She paused before defending, "I thought it would be cute. I didn't think it would accept it."

  "And it shouldn't have. The game doesn't understand things like concepts. It should have just repeated the question until you gave it something normal." He raked a hand through his hair. "But it didn't. And that was how you broke the contract system. From that point on, if anyone offered something other than an item, such as a month of their life or their left eye," he looked at Farn and Corvin before continuing, "the system errors out and asks the player's subconscious for an answer instead. It then tries to adapt it in some way that will work within the game, which is how you end up with crazy abilities or weird items. It can't even store those contracts on our system since it doesn't know what to make of them. Instead, it drops it into your brain along with all the imaging data for the game."

  Kira clutched her pendant absentmindedly. "Why did it accept my offer if it wasn't supposed to?"

  Alastair let out a sigh and took a step away from Max, probably making sure he was out of punching range. "That's where I may not have been completely honest." He hesitated, glancing at Max for a response before continuing, "When I told you that I didn't know of anyone that had ever overpowered the system with their will, I may not have been totally honest."

  Kira covered her mouth in disbelief as she took a step backward. "Oh my god."

  "It was one of us," Max finished her thought before adding, "Who?" in a tone that demanded a straight answer.

  Alastair's eyes fell away from Max, hitting the floor before rising back up to Kira. He didn't have to say more.

  Max felt like an idiot as everything fell into place. It had never been about him or his willpower. It didn’t matter that his stat was higher. No, it had been about Kira from the start.

  "How?" The fairy shook her head back and forth. "My will isn't even that strong."

  Alastair shifted in his chair. "Most of the time, that's true. But there are times when it fluctuates. And in your case, it can do so wildly. In your fight against Rasputin, your will dropped to zero then shot up past Max by double, so while you may not have meant to, you did push your thoughts out enough to alter the system."

  "And that's why you picked us? Because you thought she could influence the quest to help us win?" Max stepped forward, feeling his anger rise once again. "Didn't you consider that you might be playing right into Craver’s hands?"

  Alastair flinched at the sudden movement. "Yes! I thought that if I was going to pick people to do this, I should pick someone that could do the impossible. And you're probably right; it was exactly what Carver wanted. But I swear, I didn't know this would happen, and I never—"

  "I don't care!" Max shouted over him. "We're running out of time, and you put Kira's life at risk!"

  She shrunk back and tightened her grip on her pendant as he said the words that everyone had been avoiding.

  He ignored her and continued to yell, the night's frustrations pouring out of him all at once. His failures and fears overpowered him until he lost track of his point altogether. His shouting grew less productive from there, leaving the others standing uncomfortably, unable to interject.

  Alastair did nothing but apologize, which only pissed Max off more. Finally, one word put an end to his tantrum.

  "Stop," Kira's voice came out soft, sounding sad and a little frightened as she continued, "Alastair didn't know, okay. He didn’t do this to me on purpose." She avoided making eye contact.

  "It doesn't matter!" Max tried to explain, refusing to let it go and yelling at her by accident.

  She flinched before shouting back. "You're right; it doesn't matter! None of it does. I don't care, okay. I don't have much time left and shouting at Alastair isn't going to help!" She spun on her heel without giving him a chance to respond. Then she was gone, her bare feet padding their way out of the bridge.

  Max stood, stunned. He had been so mad at Alastair for lying, and if he was honest, it had hurt to find out that he wasn't important, that the quest wasn't about him. It had all just overwhelmed him, and he'd let it take over. He hadn't stopped to ask or even think about how Kira felt. It wasn't like she was dying, but there was a chance of it, however small it might be. From her words, it was clear she was thinking about it no matter how well she hid it, and like an ass, he had just blurted it out in a tantrum because of his wounded pride.

  They had always been together, ever since the day back in school when they'd met, and no matter what she looked like, she was his best friend. Even when he was in a bad mood, she was always there with a joke to cheer him up. But now, she was actually afraid for her life, and he hadn't even noticed. Not really. He'd just been so caught up with the idea of being a hero that the danger hadn't even registered. He thought he could brush it all away with a few confident words and save her from whatever lay ahead. There just wasn't a reason to truly worry.

  Max lowered his head.

  He was an idiot.

  Alastair started to speak, but Max held out a hand to stop him.

  "We're done. I'm sorry I hit you," Max finished, losing hold of his anger.

  Alastair nodded, accepting the apology without questioning it.

  Max turned toward the door but stopped, noticing the expression on Farn's face as she, too, looked to the exit. Her eyes said it all - she was worried about the fairy. She even leaned in the direction of the door with one foot half up as if she was about to take off running, but for some reason, she stayed put.

  His shoulders fell. "Would you mind checking on Kira? Tell her sorry for me.” It was like he'd pulled up a nail that had pinned her foot to the floor, her body shrugging off a weight as she rushed after the fairy.

  Max would have gone himself, but Kira and Farn seemed to have grown close during their short time together, and it was clear that the Shield valued the budding friendship. Still, if he was honest with himself, he was just afraid.

  Whenever he and Kira had a disagreement in the past, they would just joke about it and move on. There was never a need for anything else. Then again, they had never been put in a situation like this before, and Max didn't know what to say. It was more emotional than their partnership got.

  He sighed and pulled off the gray cloak that he had been so proud of before. He didn't deserve it.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Farn stepped out onto the deck, her pace slowing as she realized it was empty. Kira must have flown away as soon as she had gotten outside. She pulled out her journal and checked her map to make sure the fairy was at least still aboard the ship. She breathed a sigh of relief. The map
wasn't quite large enough to give a precise location, but it showed enough to know that Kira was near the back of the craft. She turned and continued walking.

  She couldn't imagine what Kira was going through. All she knew was that she liked her and hoped that they might stay friends when the quest was done. Of course, that would first require her to live through the night. She shoved the thought out of her head. If it came to it, she would pull her from her rig in the Nemo unit herself. The idea set off a chain of realizations that ended with the fact that Kira wasn't real to begin with, just a character played by Seth. Farn wasn't sure how that made her feel. She shook off the question and stepped onto the rear deck.

  Farn scanned the area. It was empty, too. She glanced back at her map to confirm that Kira hadn't moved. She hadn't. That's when she heard the slow notes of a song she recognized. It was the theme from a video game Farn had played as a child, one that she had loved. It wafted down with the breeze from on top of one of the cabins, giving her a nostalgic feeling that brought her back to a time when things were simpler and she wasn't quite so lonely.

  She climbed a maintenance ladder on the side of the cabin that was more for decoration since there wasn't any real need for maintenance on the ship. At the top, she found Kira.

  The fairy sat with her legs folded, plucking the strings of a small harp while resting her chin on the instrument.

  "Since when do you play the harp?" Farn climbed onto the roof and worked her way across on her hands and knees for stability.

  Startled, Kira stopped playing and wiped her eyes to make a futile attempt to hide the fact that she'd been crying. "I felt I should learn to play it since this dumb game pulled it from my subconscious."

  Farn sat down beside her, noticing her tears but not mentioning it. "That's a contract item?"

  "Yup."

  "What does it do?"

  "Plays music," she answered matter-of-factly.

  Farn laughed at the obvious answer. "That's it?"

  "Yup," Kira repeated. "No other purpose. I do find it calming, though, so I guess there's that."

  "Max said he's sorry." Farn changed the subject.

  "That's nice," Kira responded without offering more.

  Farn hesitated before asking the question in the front of her mind, "Are you okay?"

  Kira sunk down and hugged the harp. "I'm scared."

  "There's nothing wrong with that." Farn leaned back on her hands. "Being stuck here would scare anyone."

  "I know, but that's not why. I just don't want the responsibility. I liked it better when I thought I was being used to encourage Max. I could deal with that. He might be an idiot, but I trust him. He can save the world and look cool doing it. I'm sure of that. But me, I've never excelled at anything in my life."

  "I'm sure that's not true," Farn argued.

  "It is, and what's worse, it's not even because can't. It’s that I don't try hard enough. I never have. Not back in school or dating or even work. Sure, I could have tried to break my way into an illustration career, but that just seemed too hard. So instead, I go to a dumb job that I hate every day because it's easy. I know that about myself. It's what I do. Life is simpler when all you have to do is stand in the background a crack jokes." She sniffed and plucked a few strings. "Even now, I'm not afraid of failing or even death. I just don't want to be important. I liked it better when I thought I was a hostage. What the hell does that say about me?"

  Farn didn't know how to answer, so she sat quietly while Kira played a sad song from an old JRPG. They both must have played it because Farn recognized the tune.

  We really are alike, she thought before blurting out, "I almost didn't accept this mission."

  The song stopped. "Why?"

  "I was scared, too." Farn looked up at the stars. "The idea of working on something so important with people I didn't know terrified me."

  Kira picked up the song again, looking a little less depressed. "Do you regret it?"

  Farn shook her head and answered a quick, "Nope," before looking away to avoid eye contact for what came next. "I got to meet you."

  Kira snorted, a smile finding its way back to her lips for a moment before retreating back inside her. "Thanks, but I'm nothing special. Not really. I only stand out because I'm a goon and Max convinced me to make a weird character."

  "That's not true. You're amazing and fun." Farn leaned forward and pulled her legs up to rest against her chest armor. "And you're nice to me." She bit her bottom lip to form a period at the end of the statement.

  Kira stopped playing again and cocked her head to the side. "Why wouldn't I be?"

  Farn shifted uncomfortably, almost regretting bringing up something personal and feeling torn as she realized that she wanted to tell her more. "I know that sounds weird. But I kind of don't have any friends. I haven't for a long time. I'm not good at making them."

  "Oh." Kira resumed playing as Farn cringed at having put herself out there. The fairy plucked a few strings before adding, "That's stupid."

  "Sorry." Farn lowered her head.

  "Oh no. I didn't mean it like that." Kira sat up straight and shoved her harp down into her lap before turning to face Farn. "You're fine at making friends. I mean, we're friends, right?"

  Farn’s cheeks burned, and she looked away into the distance. "I think so?" She let a tell-tale inflection of doubt enter her voice.

  "Oh god. I hope so at this point! I practically let you see me naked. If that doesn't say we're friends, I'm not sure what does."

  Farn laughed. "I think everybody saw that, so by that logic, you're BFFs with the whole crew of this ship."

  "Ugh, don't remind me." Kira sighed as Farn relaxed. Then the fairy gave her a quasi-fist bump that tapped their rings together.

  Farn was glad to see it back on her finger.

  "I'm happy just being BFFs with you," the fairy added.

  "If you're not careful, you're gonna make Max jealous." Farn laughed some more.

  "Nah. He's more of a bro. That's different. Besides, I think I can speak for him as well when I say he'd be happy to be your friend too. And hey, he's single, so you know, there's that." Kira waggled her silver eyebrows.

  Farn smiled, not really considering the option but happy that she had someone that she could talk about such things with. "Does that mean you're not mad at him anymore?"

  Kira waved her hand away. "I was never really mad. He gets tunnel vision when he's angry, so he didn't notice I was upset. He just freaked me out is all. I'll get over it, provided I don't die or something." She fell silent again.

  "Do you regret it?" Farn leaned a little closer. "The mission, I mean."

  Kira tapped her fingers on her harp for a long while. "Maybe. Or, at least, a part of me does. I'd be stupid not to. At this point, no matter what happens, I'm not going to come out of this the same as when I went in." She put her instrument down beside her and leaned back. "But I don't want to lose this world. And as scary as things have been, it's also been fun. So part of me really wants to keep going. I like this party. I want to do less frightening quests and go to taverns with everyone, and we can't do that if we stop here."

  The Nostromo suddenly leaned to the side to adjust its course, reinforcing her words and reminding them both that they were still on their way to another fight.

  Kira grabbed her harp as it started to slip away down the incline of the ship's cabin and clutched the instrument with both hands rather than holding onto something more stable. The result was that she began sliding toward the edge as well.

  Farn reached out, catching her by the back of her dress, causing the fairy to let out an awkward laugh as Farn’s fingers touched the skin of her back.

  "Maybe we should go back with the others," Farn suggested, trying to be the responsible one.

  Kira nodded. "Yeah, maybe."

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Max turned toward the door of the bridge as Farn and Kira entered, the Shield giving him a nod to let him know that he was off the hook. He let
out a sigh of relief, noticing that the fairy had found her smile again. He smiled back in apology, grateful that she didn't need anything more. It wouldn't be fun for her to stay mad anyway.

  "Just in time. We have some good news for once," he said before giving the floor back to Alastair, who stood from the captain's chair. He wasn't quite over the fact that their boss had lied to them, but for Kira's sake, he put the conflict on the shelf for the time being.

  Alastair cleared his throat. "How familiar are you with the lore involving the lost city of Sierra?" His question was met by a room of shrugs. He sighed. "Really? Nobody? Not even Corvin?"

  The reynard's ears twitched in a way that somehow expressed confusion.

  Alastair pushed a hand through his hair. "Alright, that's disappointing. There's a bunch of quests that mention it." He opened his journal and sent a file into the large window at the front of the bridge as if it was a theatre. "This is a rough trailer for our next major expansion. We planned to release it this holiday season." He tapped play, and a voiceover started.

  "Over four hundred years ago," it began.

  "Skip it!" Kegan yelled out, provoking a sharp look from Alastair as the trailer continued.

  An enormous dragon appeared on screen, scales glowing with a fire that raged from within. It was joined by a second, bearing shards of ice protruding from its back. Both were far larger than any dragon that Max had ever encountered. Hell, they were larger than the airship they rode on.

  The voiceover stated that the two dragons were, in fact, kings of their kind, and there wasn't room for both of them. As long as they lived, Noctem would never know peace. Their conflict split the dragons of the world into two opposing sides that laid waste to all that got in their way. They fought for ninety-nine years in what became known as The Dragon War.

  Cities fell as the people tried everything to put an end to the relentless violence, but it seemed nothing could quell the beasts. Then, on the hundredth day of the hundredth year of the war, the city of Sierra and its citizens, the deru, found a way. With their vast knowledge of the elements, they crafted four crystals that could seal away the two dragons, but in the process, they sealed away their own city along with themselves.