by Dawn Chapman
I saw Abel’s body fluctuate in the game. He’d died, pangs of guilt flowing through me as I watched his body vanish. I turned to the last creature. It was still very much full of life.
The ticking clock in my head was telling me I had to distract it for maybe five minutes. Five more minutes of hell—I wasn’t sure I had it in me to keep going.
I swallowed. “Go back to hell, you fucking monster!”
It made a dive toward us, and Dahlia moved out of its path to turn on it and blast it from the side. As its body connected with her stroke, its claws reached for me. I dodged and sank one blade into its arm. It screamed in agony as blood spurted over me. I didn’t like the sickly smell of it. The raging waters I could hear were inviting and maybe being in them wouldn’t be so bad. At least I’d be clean. Dahlia made a mistake in her aim with her next shot into the creature, and as it moved, it caught the side of her face. I swallowed, watching her throat as it was sliced open. She crumpled over, and I tried not to watch her health bar as it plummeted even more.
The strange thing about this game was health debilitation had numbers, but I couldn’t see theirs; only their main health bar.
I knew from that hit alone, she wasn’t making it out of this cave, and then again, as I looked back into the creature’s face, I knew I wasn’t either.
Fuck, dying hurt, but dying for the right reasons, I didn’t care.
I watched on the map in the corner of my vision as it flickered, and then I could finally see my friends were heading out, and they’d make it. This creature wouldn’t get away with stopping them or hurting them as weak as they were. They would survive. I almost resigned to an easy death, giving myself up to the creature. Its fear switched to the need to escape once more, and when it dodged my next lunge, I realised I’d made a mistake. It could now make a run for it. I wasn’t in any condition to stop it.
But it hesitated. It still wanted to put me down.
“If you want to survive, go,” I said as my knees buckled. I was fit for nothing.
The clock ticked.
CAVE FLOOD – 2 MINUTES
TIME TO ESCAPE – 4 MINUTES
I looked to Dahlia’s body. She was still holding her neck but was weak. She smiled at me and mouthed, “Fucking awesome.”
My heart sank. To see your sister as she died in front of you with this amount of reality was the hardest damned thing I’d ever witnessed.
Rushing sounds of water filled my ears. I watched as the water rose in this section. Could I let myself drown? I mean it was a horrific way to go, I was sure. I think it was touch and go for my fight or flight situation. Actually, trying to make this easier on me might work.
I pulled my blade free of the dirt once more, and with one movement, I placed it to my chest. There was a nice little section where if I hit with the right force through my own ribcage, my death would be quick. Not like watching my sister’s ragged breaths as she tried to keep going. But it would be over fast. The cold water hit my ankles, soaking through to my knees, and then up toward my thighs.
I sucked in a breath and plunged the blade in deep.
Death was fast, and though the pain hurt like nothing before, I didn’t mind it this time. The reasoning for it made it bearable.
Whiteness spread around me, not blackness.
I squinted.
Then darkness did envelop me. I waited as the ping came across.
Ping. “YOU HAVE DIED”
Chapter 22
The darkness of the room kept me focused on being alive, even if I felt dead.
It seemed everything really hurt this time.
I opened my eyes and waited for the disconnect from the system. It took a few seconds and wasn’t uncomfortable, but it did make me think again about taking my life the next time. I mean if I had run, maybe I would have had a chance?
I don’t think I would have made it either way, and that meant maybe I’d have died a terrible death struggling for air instead of just ending it as I did.
The door slid open, and someone ran inside. “Dahlia!” I let out a squeal as we both met near the door. She hugged me tight and wouldn’t let go. So, this time, I finally breathed in and allowed myself all the feels. I didn’t stop myself from crying.
Mum was next in the room, and she hugged both of us. “I…” When I looked up into her eyes, I saw something I wanted to protect her from. “I saw you both die in there.” Tears streamed down her face, and I could do nothing but hold her close too.
“It’s a game, Mum,” Dahlia said, but it was and wasn’t. There was something going on, but maybe for us, it was still all just that, a game. I wanted it to be that, but I wanted the people in there to be real. It didn’t seem right that they might not be.
“Mum, you need to run tests on me again,” I said.
When she cocked her head at me, I knew she understood. She let go and exited the room.
“What do you mean tests?”
“Just baseline things for the game,” I lied. I didn’t want Dahlia to think something was wrong, even if there really was.
“No, please, Lila. Tell me.”
I struggled. I really wanted to… but I looked to the glass and wondered if anyone was watching.
Lila, talk like this to her… Tibex’s voice came to me.
What the fuck! I swallowed and shot back… Then I’m not cured the eye wasn’t the infection?
No, this is much bigger than that. Trust me.
Heh, he was telling me to trust him. I mean… ugh. Dahl, I reached out. You hear this.
Lila? Her eyes widened.
I’m infected by a pathogen. It allows some gaming elements outside of the game.
She giggled and covered her mouth. No way. This is amazing.
Have they said anything to you about being infected?
No, nothing. But I think they’re more worried…
She was cut off as Mum came back in. I watched as a doctor took blood. My sister watched but didn’t say anything else. When Mum left me, she just hugged me again.
“We need to get back there,” I said. Knowing her need to want to return to the game was going to be just as ingrained as mine was. The need was real, almost painful.
Dahlia let out a sob, and then it was as if my sister had been replaced by someone else.
“Dahl?” I had to ask. “They’re worried about what?”
She reached for my hand and managed to squeeze it, but I felt something there that was more than a squeeze. “Are you okay?”
“I didn’t want to tell you. Mum didn’t want me to either,” she said. “I’m sick.”
My heart sank. “Sick?” At first, I thought there was something going on from the game.
With a shake of her head, it was as if she knew that question was coming. “No, sis, it’s nothing to do with the game.” She pulled me over to a place we could sit inside the room. Just a small laid out area, and she tugged me down. “I have something they can’t cure…”
I didn’t want to seem weak. So, I added to it for her. “Yet.”
Dahlia couldn’t look me in the eyes. “I don’t know about that.”
“Well, it must be something they’re researching, right? What is it?”
She seemed to stare off into a different corner of the room. “Mom won’t tell me,” she replied.
I was gobsmacked at this, I was almost going to stand up, storm out of here, and go find Mum. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be, right?
Dahlia then met my eyes with hers. There were no tears. There was just emotion. “We can’t alter the timing that is everything. We can only hope what time we do have is worth it.”
I couldn’t do anything. I knew it. I would try my best to find out what she had, though, and to find out what was and could be done.
I mean something would be out there somewhere. The more I thought about it, the more I thought how things had been the last few weeks, months even. Dahlia had been off for a while. We all knew that. I remember Jessica asking Mum not long ag
o why she had lost some weight. Mum and Jess talked quite often in hushed whispers when I entered the room. Did she know? Had this been a secret for a while? Inside, I fumed. This hurt like hell. My twin was dying. It was as if a part of me was, too.
My head and my mind were spinning, but Mum came back into the room and gave us both a strange look. Dahlia seemed to straighten up and didn’t act like she’d just told me the worst news ever. I wanted to start screaming and demand answers, but my sister squeezed once more, and I backed down. She knew my pulls, my every way to react. I secretly thought that maybe Mum was looking for a cure from me for Dahl. I could hope, right? This was a good place for research, all the new tech, the best scientists and minds money could buy. I knew Mum would have anything she wanted or needed here.
I waited for Dahlia to take the lead in getting back to the game, and she did. It was weird listening to her now, so strong, so commanding. I had seen it a few times in the game, but it was usually so passive out here.
My mother started to question her, and the way things were inside the game, but Dahlia never gave anything away. She never mentioned Maddie being aware, the things we’d seen and done. Though some had been streamed live, other parts hadn’t. As soon as it glitched, they stopped. I heard Mum tell her the streaming code was corrupt, something inside the glitch they were trying to fix. But because our first adventures were corrupt, they were lost forever.
I smiled. I was glad of that little piece of information from the world gone. The things I’d done, the killing of monsters and of innocent people. I didn’t want to think others would have watched that and been disgusted by me. Heck, I was disgusted, but then again, I hadn’t been in complete control of my own mind. Or had I?
Dahlia dragged me back up, and we moved to the centre of my hospital room.
“We can go back?” I asked looking at Mum.
She nodded, and I looked to Dahlia. “You ready?”
“Hell yeah!” The grin she had spread from ear to ear. How could I not be happy for her with that? She looked so pretty yet so innocent. At that moment in time, she and I looked nothing alike. As twins, this worried me, a lot.
Dahlia then bounced up and down. “Come on! Puatera awaits!”
I laughed at this as I moved to stand in my spot so the AI system could take me back. The connections here were real. They didn’t hurt anymore, and I wanted to close my eyes, pretend my real world wasn’t real anymore. That the real one was Puatera, where my sister would be okay, we’d find something there to heal her, and for her to survive whatever was coming. I hoped. I really did.
“Go on! Hurry!” I said. Then I watched as Mum left the room. Dahlia looked back at me for a brief moment. Resigned, head and shoulders low. I didn’t like this in her, where did the strong young woman go who was here a few moments ago. My chest tightened.
Dahlia, don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. Mum will find something. She’ll fight for you, as will I.
Dahlia didn’t look back again. She also didn’t answer me. Maybe we had to be in close vicinity. I had no idea how to help her. What else could I do?
As the real world started to fade once more, there was someone else at the door. The blackness was trying to take me when a man slipped inside the room. I could see him clearly, yet I had no clue who he was.
He approached my body as I was being lifted up, the AI strong. I watched as he moved to the computer systems, inputting a few things.
“Shit.” He glanced back to me. “I can only stall it, not stop it. I’ll be quick.”
I saw his face as he came in closer, and there was no evil there as he smiled at me. Was there something he wanted to tell me? He leaned over, near my ear.
“I mean you no harm, Lila. I work with your mother, but I do have a message I need to get to Akillia. There’s too much riding on this now, for her to stay alive. She must stay alive.”
I tried to speak back to him, but the drugs were already working, and I couldn’t. Everything was inside my mind, but nothing came out.
“Don’t respond because they might know something from what you say.”
I didn’t move or blink or do anything, but my consciousness was struggling to focus on him now.
“I can see I don’t have long. The message for Akillia is don’t trust anyone. Andy’s hired Roel on the inside to kill her.”
I swallowed as blackness took me.
GLITCH RECORDED
RESPAWN POINT MISSED
SPAWNING NEAR TROMOAL CAVES INITIATED
Then the usual feelings followed that associated with respawning, but this wasn’t in the usual place or where I’d respawned last. It was indeed outside the cave system where we’d died.
Lucky… or Tibex?
I grinned. Yeah, I was sure it was him.
It was dark, but I could see there was a fire up ahead. The others must have waited for me, and that spurred me on. I tried to walk a little, and then it felt as if someone was watching me.
Tibex? I asked.
A shadow appeared near me, then his voice. I will contact Dresel and speak with him. I promise.
I stopped walking. “Is there a way you can do something for me?”
I could swear he was looking at me, and I noticed the features of a face. I wondered if it was real, that he was something tangible in some world at some point.
I will try. What is it?
“Find out what is killing my sister?”
Lila, his words said. I—I—don’t know…
“Please, I’m trying my best for you in here. I need something from you.”
The form started to move, then it vanished. I will try were his final words.
I walked in closer to the campfire, and Dahlia came rushing over. “I thought I’d be after you, what happened?”
I shrugged at her and moved in closer to the fire. It was nice to be around them again. I looked to Gestal, internally growling at him. I still didn’t trust anything of him. Not yet. Then I looked to Diogella and then Noc and Macie. I twinged when I’d realised he was injured. I rushed over to see Macie was still healing him.
“What happened?”
“There were a few creatures waiting for us outside the cave, we were weak, but we had to keep them from getting to the others.” She nodded to Gestal and Diogella.
I looked to both, and they lowered their heads. Diogella was the one who stood, coming over to me, with both her hands outstretched. “We owe you a debt larger than you’ll ever know, Lila.”
I looked between Macie and Noc, then back to Gestal. He hadn’t returned to the rotten demon of before. He stood up now, much taller than he was when I first met him back in his Hamu in Tridon. Now I noticed his horns and skin tone had changed a lot. There was also no more fur. He seemed... struggling for the word here, shiny. Like he had a new vitality about him. Was this his actual real form? Was any of it…
“Thank you,” he said, moving to me. He then lowered himself to a kneeling position. I hadn’t expected this and admit it felt weird. Then so did Diogella.
“I not only owe you for saving my life from Kamaal but for reuniting me with my wife. Here now I am pledging my allegiance to the woman you are and the leader you will one day become.”
“Don’t you already work for someone? Kamaal maybe?”
“He disowned me,” Gestal said. “I give myself now to you. Though be warned my second in command Kyllan may not be in favour of this.”
“Kyllan?” I looked at Dahlia. “I don’t know about that…”
She grinned. “I do! And you’ll make a great leader.”
I thought about it for a while and finally nodded.
There was a tab that appeared alongside the ping that came with it.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
YOU HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED THE CARE AND WELFARE OF THE COUPLE GESTAL AND DIOGELLA ALONG WITH THEIR DOMAIN. ALL THEIR PLEDGED MEMBERS OF SOCIETY ARE AT YOUR DISPOSAL.
YOU COMMAND GESTAL’S ARMY. USE THEM AS YOU WILL.
I swallowed. There in t
he corner of my vision was a number.
172,061 MINIONS
3,472 LESSER DEMONS.
140 MID-DEMONS
46 DEMON LEAD COMMANDERS
23 HEAD COMMANDERS
I looked at him and cocked my head. “I had no idea there were that many people in the city!”
There was also a ping and a pop-up appeared.
INCOMING INVITE
SECOND IN COMMAND KYLLAN DRE WISHES TO SPEAK WITH YOU.
ACCEPT
Y/N
I had no idea who he was other than Gestal’s second in command. Should I accept it or not? I guess I should.
My mind hovered over the Y for a second then pushed it.
I wasn’t expecting the voice to come through so thick with instant displeasure or anger. But it did.
Kyllan: Who are you and what have you done with Gestal?
Me: He’s alive. I’ll be joining you for a meeting soon. Call together everyone you can, we have a lot to organise.
Kyllan: At your request. Do you have an estimated time of arrival?
I didn’t, so I declined to answer him further and looked into the confused eyes of my sister. Dahlia looked at me. “What? what happened?”
“I just got control over a hundred and seventy-five thousand creatures.”
“Wow.” Her eyes went wide, filled with awe. “We could really do with those numbers here.”
I looked at Gestal. Damned, she was right. “Do you think that’s possible?”
Gestal’s eyes lowered to her, then to lock with mine. “To move the city?”
“No.” I laughed at this. “To get a good amount of your people here to help with this fight!”
Dahlia bounced up and down, her energies within the game sparking. “That would be amazing. We’d have a massive advantage they wouldn’t be expecting. We could win this war!”
“Diogella?” he glanced to his wife.
She seemed to consider the request, and when she looked up to me, there was a smile. “I do believe we might with a little help.” She looked to Noc with a raised eyebrow. “You’re of a certain family breeding, I believe.”
