Mage

by L. J. Swallow

  In the game I play, shifters always magically transform back into humans with their clothes on, which also begs one more question.

  “If you're an ex-player, how are you also a dragon?” I ask.

  Ethan laughs at me. “That’s your question? I expected something more along the lines of shock and awe.”

  “Why didn't you tell us?” asks Dean.

  “Yeah, that’s a pretty big secret, dude,” adds Jay.

  Ethan runs a hand along his hair, and his skin holds a gold luminescence in the way Aidan’s does when he returns to human form. “I haven’t shifted for a long time. It’s harder to stay hidden when you're a huge dragon.” He gives a wry smile. “But it makes travel quicker.”

  “How did you do that?” asks Aidan breaking his silence and pointing at the crumbling wall.

  “I knocked it down. Not all dragons breathe fire, you should know that. I’m more into using my strength. Which I have a lot of.”

  “More coincidence,” mumbles Aidan. “This is a quest chain, I’m telling you.”

  “Why are you in denial, Aidan?” Ethan walks towards him.

  “Because only half of what you say and do makes sense. Somebody was messing with our heads before we landed in this nightmare. Was it you?” They stand face to face, Ethan impassive and Aidan’s features filled with suspicion. “Remember the texts, El?”

  I nod. I’ve avoided asking as much as Ethan has avoided telling us. “I think he’s right, Ethan. You need to explain more about who you are.”

  He turns to Jay. “Don't you think I’ve avoided telling you for a reason?”

  “What reason?” I ask. “Because it’s not true?”

  He sucks his lips together. “We should move on. I’ll tell you the story on the way, but let’s not waste time. I’ve waited a long time to see what’s at the fringes.”

  “Have you ever been this far?”

  “No. My quests never took me to this zone.” He strides away, towards the cavernous whole he created, and rests a hand on the edge. Ethan pauses before stepping forward, and his figure disappears from view.

  I hurry to follow and step into the space I saw earlier. There’s no signal from my wristband to tell me where I am, but as we step further towards the cave the screen flashes in a way I’ve never seen before — a white glow, on and off, like a torch.

  “I wish we’d managed to get those off,” says Ethan and takes my arm.

  “How did you remove yours?”

  He looks ahead and closes his eyes. “Somebody removed it.”

  “Who?”

  He opens them. “Someone who died and never came back.”

  My mouth dries as he walks to the cave entrance and I warily follow, looking and listening for attackers. With each moment my instinct grows that he isn’t a player. Things aren't adding up. Did my desire to leave stop me considering the truth?

  Smooth rock makes up the cave’s interior, and the ground is a stone floor too. Ethan’s brow pinches as he walks around, touching the wall and swearing. He stamps on the ground, and for the first time, he becomes agitated.

  “There’s nothing here.” Jay copies him, and Dean joins in, crouching to examine the ground.

  “What did you expect to see?” I ask.

  “I don't know.” He rubs his nose. “I guess I was stupid and expected an obvious door. One we could open with magic — or that someone would open for us.”

  “And your dragon form can't do anything?”

  He laughs again at Aidan’s words. “I wouldn't fit in this cave as a dragon. This is the time and place where El’s potion is needed, I think. If you drink it, El, you might see something we can’t.”

  I swallow hard.

  “I’ll drink it instead,” says Aidan. “I don't want El to go through anything else.”

  “She had the quest, Aidan,” says Ethan.

  “He’s right,” adds Jay. “Any one of us would step in and do that, but what if it has to be El and we waste the potion on the wrong person.”

  I look to Dean who rests against the cavern wall; his long legs stretched in front of him. He stares directly at Ethan. “I don’t think El should do anything until you tell us the truth, Ethan. Who or what are you?”

  Ethan sighs and drags a hand through his hair again. "I was in the game the way you were. I had all these cool abilities - a Druid who could transform into a dragon. But I was never part of a group like you guys; I spent days alone, walking around in circles, following quests. Then I met with this annoying guy, and we quested as a pair. We didn’t do well or get far in the game, and the guy became really frustrated. After a big argument with him, he disappeared.”

  “And?” asks Jay.

  He scuffs the floor with his boot toe. “I was reset to the beginning of the bloody game. Level 1 again, and then an equally annoying guy joined me. This situation happened several times until it finally hit me what was happening.”

  My hands tremble. “If we fail as a group, we end up back at level 1 and need to start again? How many times did you try?”

  He shakes his head and casts his eyes to the cavern floor. “No. That’s not what I mean. I eventually figured out that these people were the players, and I was a character in the game. When they left the game, I reset."

  A heavy silence drops and almost knocks me over. We exchange looks, and I’m confident we’re all thinking the same thing. Are any of us characters?

  “I died and never reset,” announce Jay. “I’m real.”

  “We’re all real,” protests Aidan.

  “But are we?” I whisper. “What if Zara is the only one of us who’s a player? Or that Damon guy? Omigod.”

  “That’s ridiculous. We’re a group trying to finish the game and get out. People,” snaps Jay.

  My mind leaps back to the men in the street and what I thought was a dream, how they spoke about me. I meet Ethan’s troubled eyes. I don't want to ask the question, and definitely, don’t want to hear the answer.

  What am I?

  "You're lying."

  "I'm sorry Eleanor, I told you this was a headfuck when you asked me to explain before. I thought if I told you all you’d back out. Not cope. Hide"

  "We need to get out of here," I mumble. "I don't know what the fuck is happening right now.” My whole body shakes as I attempt to open the backpack to find the potion. A pale-faced Aidan helps me unbuckle the fastening, and I pull out the bottle.

  “Don't listen to him,” he urges, but the doubt is in his voice.

  “Don't drink that if you don't want to.” Dean steps forward and touches my face, breaking me from my fear as I look back. He told me he’d keep me safe.

  We will keep each other safe.

  I am a player.

  I am not a character in the game.

  This is a quest.

  Potion of Waking Nightmare? Hell, someone must’ve already spiked my drink with one of those.

  How could this nightmare get any worse? I uncork the bottle.

  Ethan’s eyes widen in anticipation as the watermelon and lemon scent circles around me and I steel myself.

  “No. You can’t leave yet.” The child’s voice is familiar, as is the figure standing in the cave entrance.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  “Kyle?” I ask.

  He’s dressed the same as the day I escorted him to his grandmother’s house, unscathed by wolves or anything else that would harm him.

  “How did you get here?” asks Dean. “You’re a long way from home.”

  “You can’t leave,” he repeats. “You're not allowed.”

  Aidan stands in front of me, and I’d be amused by him protecting me from the child if I wasn’t genuinely scared what’s happening. I re-cork the bottle and back up, bumping into Jay who pulls me closer.

  “Drink,” urges Ethan.

  “No!” The boy’s small voice shouts out, and I gasp as Ethan’s thrown to the floor by an invisible force, landing with a crunch of bones breaking.

  What the hell?


  Kyle stands over him and faces me, face dark. “Give me that bottle.”

  “No.”

  Kyle glares. He lifts his arm, and in his hand, he holds a small device, no bigger than a phone. “If you try to leave, I’ll kill you.”

  The band around my arm tightens, and a sharp pain shoots along my arm, circling my chest and squeezing my heart until it skips beats. I gasp again and fight against dropping the bottle to pull at the painful bracelet that acts as a manacle around my wrist.

  I whining sound begins in my ear, growing in volume until pressure builds behind my eyes. Dean leans forward and covers his ears, grimacing in pain and Jay stumbles backwards. Their bands flash red as Kyle’s anger grows.

  The pain coursing through grows too, and I edge towards unconsciousness. The magic in my veins is counteracted and I have no energy for spells. Jay digs his fingers beneath his band, perspiration growing on his face as he grimaces with agony. Dean shares the same expression, and Ethan lies with one leg twisted into an unnatural position, grimacing in pain.

  Through my darkening vision, I study the screen which repeats a familiar pattern:

 

 

 

  Kyle lunges at me, and I pull the cork from the bottle with my teeth. Eyes on Aidan’s, I tip the bottle upwards and drink the contents.

  “Run!” rasps Ethan from the ground.

  Everybody disappears, as if I’m sucked away into nothing. From the cave entrance, I can see stars appear in the night sky—the night sky that was sunset moments ago. A feeling of déjà vu seizes my mind as the cave floor transforms and becomes etched into identical rectangles.

  The cave blackens and I grip my forehead as the same pressure in my head grows as last time, and voices whisper in the air around. I look around for the others? But there's nobody here. Nothing.

  My body wracks with the same pain as if I’ve been electrocuted and zaps through my veins. I collapse to the hard floor where the rectangular lines glow white against the black I feared I’d fall into. The burning plastic. The strong disinfectant. Every sight and sound is back. I call out to my friends, but I can't speak. The vial remains in my hand, and I throw it into the black, not hearing it shatter.

  The band on my arm grows heavier and tighter. I want to scream as a face looms down on me again. This time I try to register the face. Male. Older. Grey hair.

  I struggle to stand, as if I could run from the visions and manage to steady myself on the cavern wall. I snatch my hand away when it feels wrong. Smooth. Metallic. Light shines, and a door appears on the opposite wall.

  A symbol is printed in the centre of the door. The one that has haunted my time here:

  I step closer, and the door fades away again.

  Desperately, I place my hands on the wall, willing the exit to reappear. The world flickers, and the door emerges again—a smooth door with no visible handle.

  I take a shuddering breath and stare, picturing a handle. An unlocked door. One I can walk through.

  A handle appears. I blink in surprise.

  I’m conjuring this.

  I spin three hundred and sixty degrees and look for my group—for a friend to take with me when I walk through. I can't see anybody or anything, but the shrieking sound in my head grows.

  I manage to hold onto consciousness for mere seconds, pulling on the handle with all my remaining strength as the darkness finally takes me.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  I wake in time to fight the vomit forcing its way into my throat and scramble in the dark for the lantern always beside my bed in the Academy.

  Instead, I knock a lamp from my nightstand.

  I jump from my bed and spin around. The pain that wracked my body remains and I stumble to steady myself on the desk. My desk. My room. My apartment.

  The confusion and relief evaporate as something on my wrist hits the wooden desk.

  Text illuminates the screen on a silver wristband.

  Eleanor

  Mage

  Level 20

  Speciality: Pyromancy

  Advanced Specialisation Unlocked: Temporal

  Bile pushes upwards and I fight against it again. This isn't possible.

  I flick the switch on the bedroom wall, and my room lights up. Everything is as I left it, including my clothes dumped over the desk chair, and the blue screen on my laptop which was the last thing I saw before I woke in the game world. I hit keys on my laptop, but nothing happens.

  I’m dreaming.

  I have to be.

  Footsteps sound along the hallway and I stare down at my fingers as the fire gathers in my palm. I shake my wrist, willing the flames to disappear. No. I can’t perform magic. That’s a different El. I’m not her.

  “El?”

  Someone knocks on my bedroom door, their voice muffled. Gingerly, I pull on the handle and peek out.

  Dean

  Assassin

  Level 20

  Speciality: Stealth

  Advanced Speciality Unlocked: Hitman

  He no longer wears the leather pants and jerkin; no daggers by his side. He’s in slim fitting jeans and a T-shirt with a logo and the words ‘Raging Thirst’ emblazoned across the grey material.

  “What the fuck is happening?” I whisper. “How are you here?”

  He shakes his head at me, and we stare at each other, speechless.

  I jerk my head around as someone knocks again, this time on the door to my apartment. Dean’s eyes drop to my hands where flames flicker still. He nods and steps into the shadows.

  Holding the flaming hand behind my back, with a fleeting idea I might set fire to myself, I open the door.

  The hallway to the apartments is the same as always too, right down to my neighbour’s bike he always leaves propped against the scuffed and dirty wall outside his flat door.

  I stifle a scream as a figure steps from the dark. He’s a tall man, face hidden by the hood of his blue jacket. A silver dragon-shaped ring glints beneath the hallway light as he lifts a hand to push down the hood. The defined cheekbones and large eyes are half-shadowed, but my stomach lurches in recognition.

  Ethan looks back at me. “I don't think the game is over yet, Eleanor.”

  My band buzzes and I glance down.

  Welcome to New London

  Tap screen for your first quest

  TO BE CONTINUED

  The Fringe Realms: Synergy releases later in 2018. Sign up to my newsletter for release information.

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  Read on for information about my other books.

  OTHER BOOKS BY LJ SWALLOW

  The Four Horsemen Series

  Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy

  (COMPLETE series available now)

  Legacy

  Bound

  Hunted

  Guardians

  Chaos

  Descent

  Reckoning

  Sinister and Tricked (Halloween Special)

  Bright

  The Demon’s Covenant Series

  Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy

  Held by Magic

  Elements of Magic

  Coming Soon

  Shades of Magic

  Daughter of Shadow Series

  Reverse Harem Fantasy

  Dragon Soul

  Coming Soon

  Silvercrest Guardians

  Trial of the Gods

  Reverse Harem Fantasy

  Written with Angel Lawson

  Huntress

  www.ljswallow.com

  LJ Swallow is the pen name for USA Today bestselling author Lisa Swallow… if you like contemporary romance then read on!

  Books by Lisa Swallow

  Like contemporary romance? I write those too!

  What would you prefer to read?

  British rock star romance?

  Try broody Dylan…

  Summer Sky


  Or bad boy Jax…

  Cadence

  College romance at an English university?

  Because of Lucy

  Hollywood romance?

  Unscripted

  A gamer romance?

  End Game

  And More….

  amazon.com/author/lisaswallow

  About the Author

  LJ Swallow is a USA Today bestselling paranormal romance and urban fantasy author who is the alter-ego of contemporary romance author Lisa Swallow.

  Giving in to her dark side, LJ spends time creating worlds filled with supernatural creatures who don’t fit the norm, and heroines who are more likely to kick ass than sit on theirs.

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  For more information:

  ljswallow.com

  lisa@lisaswallow.net