by Dawn Chapman
“This is a huge project. She’s darker than anything we’ve ever seen.”
I watched as the two of them made it out the grounds with the wards still flickering in their wake. I knew they were heading to the one place I wish they wouldn’t, but I also knew it might have had a few changes over the last few days. This was something I wanted to see out, even if it hurt.
We followed in the shadows as they walked through the streets and toward Wren’s Bar. I grinned, and my steps quickened.
I felt that Wren was very much alive still and in good spirits, but this didn’t show when we got to the doors.
There was an atmosphere about the place of like I’d never seen. It was new, so new, freshly painted, all new chairs, gear.
I hesitated to step inside, looking around the streets. There in the distance, I could see a shadow, something. No, Wren. She dipped her head at me and then the image faded.
When I stepped inside, I noticed all the patrons were the same. Someone else was dancing for them. Life went on here. I felt weird about it, but then happy.
Chapter 10
I pushed on forward and made myself scarce at the back of the bar. Noc and Lila hadn’t seen us. They got a drink and moved to sit watching the entertainment at the front of the room. This was good because I was also watching as the dancers moved about. They were mesmerising, and even then, as I looked, I noticed who it was. Alia.
What the hell?
I moved to touch Steve, but he was already grinning at me. They knew this was coming. There were Vee and Zeb in the back. The barkeep also had a few wards up his sleeve. I didn’t know him, though I had seen him around the guild.
I wondered how it might go down, but for the most part, the evening seemed to just settle into enjoying the night, and I loved this about the place. There wasn’t a need for anything bad, at least not yet. I liked sitting here, listening to the music. I found peace. But time was ticking by, and the other patrons soon left. Asked to? I wasn’t sure. The tension was growing, I could feel it, from Noc and even the young girl.
I hadn’t expected it to blow up like it did. The fact that Lila then spotted and already recognised Alia and what was going on showed more for her internal integrity than anything else, and I really loved that from her, her spirit was hotter than anything I ever wanted in a rescue. I think I liked that, and I wanted to protect it.
No sooner had Alia and Vee in the background powered up to strike at her had I managed to step in and stop him.
“No,” I said. “There needs to be another way to tackle this, and we will find it, but you aren’t hurting that child.”
It was then I realised how dark she really was. I could see things and manifestations forming about her form. That’s when Cray, the new barkeep, made a move in from behind the bar and stepped right into the path of both Alia and the girl grabbing her hand, a soft yellow glow around him.
“Can’t you see she’s in agony?” he spat at them. “There’s no use fighting over who she works for now she’s here. Let’s get her into the dungeon and the eye out of her head. The wards here can’t mask him anymore. Then we’ll discuss what we do with her.”
I could do nothing but watch their exchange and hope that this wasn’t going to go down in a bad way. Then he scooped her up as she collapsed, and my heart sank. I almost ran to her, but Steve stopped me. “They need to sort this out. We’re but watchers here, remember.”
I knew this, but it was tough to stand back and watch. He took off with her, and we followed.
I watched from the side of the room as she was thrown in the dungeon style room. Vee brought a tray of different gemstones and silver artefacts with them. The objects were placed around the room and a vial handed to Lila.
“Drink,” Alia said. “If you don’t let us do this, we’ll kill you.”
She looked at Noc’s frowning face as she took the drink.
“Give us a chance,” Noc said, so she did. I watched her down the potion.
Lila twitched just a few seconds later and then started to rip off her clothes in a frenzy. Alia and Noc were at her side then, holding her down. The bright glowing fire spread through her veins.
She screamed, glaring at me. “What is it?”
“It will chase out the demon residing in your body. You’ve been living within the walls of a Hamu, right?” Alia asked her.
“Here, I’ll have to cut her wrist, let it bleed out,” Cray said.
“Cray, if you get this wrong, she’s dead,” Alia replied, looking to Noc.
“She’ll respawn though, right?” said Noc. “She’s a Visitor?”
“Please, no,” she begged. But Cray used the dagger. Thick black blood started to drip and then pour out of her.
“Burning,” she screamed. “Stop it, please!”
We couldn’t stop. She then passed out. Thankfully. I couldn’t watch any longer. So I stepped inside their circle.
Zeb tried to stop me, his eyes hard. “She has to do this on her own.”
“No,” I said, “she doesn’t. We’re all here for her, and though she won’t ever know it, I do—I know she can’t fight this without us. So I’m going in, and I am going to give her what is needed to get rid of that thing inside her head.”
His eyes lowered, and I saw what it might have meant to him to win this, to help her win it.
He nodded, and Steve moved in beside me.
“She might not know it, she won’t ever know it, but she’s got a lot more than just the guild with her. They are watching. Every single person who wants to see into Puatera can see this right now.”
“I don’t understand. I thought their streaming was delayed.”
“No, Dresel wanted them to see this live. Because this was and will be what gets the real investors interested. This is a real story within the game world.”
I laughed. “What? That a young girl has managed to escape her home and be lost in a world that she doesn’t know or understand?”
“Yes, yes, it is. He’s gone live with the truth and with Jane, their mother.”
I swallowed a huge gulp of air and stepped through into the room. Noc looked up at me as he gently moved the sweaty hair from her face. She wasn’t with it. she had no idea that I was there, but I moved beside him and kneeled to her. I took off the ring and instantly felt the energy it gave me drop off.
HEALTH - 65%
I didn’t flinch, though.
“What are you doing?” Noc said. “You can’t?”
“Oh, I can, and I will.”
When I slipped the ring onto her finger, I also did the one thing I knew I really shouldn’t. I kept my skin to it.
I pulled up my character sheet, and Steve stood shaking his head, but then he started nodding with a great big grin on it.
Aspects - Advantages - Aptitudes - Affiliations
I clicked through quickly. There wasn’t anything I could do with what I already had assigned.
Karma - 7
I then went to my other inventory and pulled up the ring. I had stacked six Karma onto it for it to save my life. I didn’t know how much I’d have to use to help Lila, but if I needed too, I’d use it all.
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.
KARMA BOOSTS AVAILABLE.
I dropped one Karma onto it.
When the first point hit the ring, it glowed, I felt the energy pulsating from it into her, and I knew what I was doing was right. But it wasn’t enough.
I dropped one more Karma and then another.
I knew this was what I had to do.
It took four Karma points for her skin to pink up, and then I twisted the ring on her finger.
I saw the energy pulse out, and she jerked on the bed. Noc gasped as she started to come around.
I removed my hand from hers and put it o
n Noc’s shoulder.
“Let her know you’re here, what you’re doing, and that you truly care for her,” I said to him. “I want you to take off the ring before she knows it’s there and get it back to me. You can do that, right?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Good because I do need it. I don’t think I can be without it for too long.”
I almost felt the Tromoal voices fading, and their connection was something I felt I now needed to survive. Like we gave each other something, and then I knew we did. We actually fed from each other. Both emotionally and physically. If they needed something, and I allowed it, they could take from my life force too.
I loved this about them, about what they were to me.
Life, love. Family.
I stood up and moved back to the side of the room. I glanced to Lila once, and then I left, though I was sure her eyes lingered on mine.
Noc had returned my ring to me just as quickly as he could get it off her without her noticing. Katie/Lila hadn’t said a lot or moved much. She was dehydrated and weak but surviving.
I spent the day and night watching how she was, waiting with the others. She said a lot when she was fighting off the demon inside her, far more than I thought she would or should have. About how she was supposed to kill me. That was her quest. To see her sisters again, she had been tasked with my death.
We had food brought down to an adjacent watch room, and I listened to her ranting and fretting in the dreams state of her healing. When it seemed she was awake enough to talk to Alia for a bit, I made my way to the door. I knocked and stepped inside.
“How is she?” I asked Alia.
“She’s very weak, but she’ll survive.”
Lila spoke in whispers to her, but I caught her saying, “She knows, doesn’t she?”
Alia looked directly at me, took her hand from Lila’s chest, and then moved away from her. “A lot came out while you were in the throes of being separated from your demon, yes. We’ll have some questions for you in a few hours but rest some more.”
Alia joined me at the doorway. Noc was there too and slipped in between us before edging toward Lila, his nerves showing.
“Is she clean?” I asked Alia.
“She is, but she’s been under a lot of pressure. I don’t know the lasting damage to her mind. Visitors are so different, hard to judge.”
“She’s a kid,” I said.
“A very skilled kid,” Alia said. “In this world, she’s a killer, Maddie. Remember that.”
I saw Noc take her hand, but she shied away. “I’m a killer,” she said. “Don’t.”
I let everyone go about their business and do their things. Noc and Alia had guild problems, and they left Steve and me on a rotation with Lila. I wasn’t sure about going in, but if I didn’t get answers to my questions, I would perhaps never trust her, especially with her employer being so dark
“How on Puatera did a Visitor get involved with a demon like Gestal,” I asked, though it was more of a statement. She didn’t answer. “Noc and Alia want us to trust you. I’m dead set against it.”
She didn’t talk or say anything or even move much, but I wanted her to admit who she was to me. I had to get her to open up and to talk.
“What do you want?” she eventually asked, staring right at me. Defiant.
“I want what’s best for Puatera,” I answered not moving away from the doorway just yet. I wondered if she had any idea what I gave to her earlier, how much I had sacrificed to save her life.
I wasn’t sure if she could see the real me, through some of my own facades, my hidden white and black hair. The easiest sign that I wasn’t normal to everyone else.
“And that includes what?” She didn’t look away.
I wanted her to say it.
So, she did. “Killing you if I must.”
I let my daggers sit in my hands. She’d seen them too, and she swallowed.
Could I really kill her after saving her life? I would if she were a threat, but I hoped with all my heart that she wasn’t.
“Killed many kids?”
I tried to smile at her. “Katie,” I 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.”
She nodded at me because I was right. “You’d never know. I’d respawn and plot your demise once I was dead.”
Katie held my stare, not looking away, but I was sure she’d seen through me, so I 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,” she almost whispered. “I’m trying to…” she stumbled and then said it. “I’m trying to get home.”
So, we were right, I knew my face changed, and she scrunched her hands together. I prodded. “What do you mean?”
“Killing you would have fulfilled my quest for more information. I could have found my sisters and gone home.”
“Sisters?” I needed her to say it. “Tell me your real name.”
“I’m not telling you anything else,” she said and closed her eyes again.
I didn’t move, I couldn’t, I was riveted to the spot. I hoped she would see and understand why I had to let her make these choices, for her to say who she was, and not just agree to it when I mentioned Lila’s name, just in case she wasn’t the young girl I was after.
She glanced at me once again. “Why does an NPC want to help the game?”
I couldn’t help but burst out with more laughter, yet I could see it was just infuriating her more even. “The game is why I’m in this city. I left my home in search of someone to help me.”
She pushed herself up slightly.
“Your real name?” I asked again with a hint of impatience. I needed the answer now.
“It’s Lila,” she spat out. “Happy now?”
I put my weapons away. “I’m Maddie,” I said, “and I’ve been looking for you for weeks.”
I saw her eyes change instantly, and I heard the ping before me.
QUEST
INFILTRATE GESTAL’S HAMU TO FREE LILA AND TRAVOYS GUILD FROM HIS CLUTCHES.
Y/N
This was interesting. Alia wasn’t planning to try to take him down, but it seemed this was the next step. I didn’t need to think about it any further. My mind hovered over the Y.
I needed time to think about this one. Talk to Steve maybe. I would do whatever it took to get Lila away from him and back to her sisters.
But this was full-on war with the other side.
That scared me. No matter how brave I pretended to be.
I focused back on Lila. Her worried expression said everything it needed to me. Hope.
Chapter 11
“I’ve learned to trust myself when it gives me quests seemingly from nowhere,” I said, pushing up from having sat on the floor.
I knew there were notifications going off inside her mind, I could see the same fuzzy look Steve and Alex got when consulting the inner world. I held my hand out to help her up.
“Come on,” I 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.”
She followed me out into the corridor. Noc was leaning against a wall. They shared a look I didn’t think I’d seen between anyone who hardly knew each other, especially Visitor and NPC. Gah, I hated using that term on Puaterans. We were real.
“Noc here tells me that you’re quite the student. You did some impressive things during training, even if you did try to hide your most elite skills.”
“She’s a pro.” Noc gave Lila a nod, his voice 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 aid the guild in restoring the balance here.”
She nodded, not sure how else to respond a
s Noc hurried one way down the corridor, and I took her in the other.
At the end was a small door and a spiral staircase that led several floors up 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.” I grinned as the young girl walked to the table in the centre. A large piece of parchment was spread over it, and it didn’t take her long to realise it was a rough, partial blueprint of Gestal’s Hamu. Her home for most of her time in Puatera.
I held out a pencil to her. We needed her to finish the drawing and tell us where all Gestal’s security weaknesses were. After gulping slightly, she took it.
By the time she was done, the blueprint was still incomplete but far less so than before, and several more people were in the room talking and planning things. Noc had come to Lila’s side. His mother and her lover were there, as well. Neither of them looked at the young girl with any form of malice, although they still seemed wary. I knew I sure was. This was huge in their world. She was make or break between this war that had been going on.
As they saw the young girl’s handiwork, Alia smiled, nodding her thanks. She seemed glad that Lila had cooperated.
It was for Alia now to take over the planning. This was her city after all, but she looked to me. I raised an eyebrow. “Maddie, we need you on this. We can’t go in like I wanted to originally. We need a heavy hand, please.”
I hesitated. Then the quest prompted me again.
QUEST – INFILTRATE GESTALS HAMU. FREE LILA FROM HIS CONTROL. PROTECT TRAVOY’S GUILD AND SAVE THE CITY.
REWARDS - ALLY, NOT FOE. FRIENDSHIP ACROSS PUATERA.
Y/N
I mentally clicked the Y and accepted the quest, despite any reservations in taking the lead position. I straightened my back. I would do it. For Puatera. For Alex.
