by Dawn Chapman
“I see amazing lands,” she said. “I see houses, and people and beautiful creatures I’d never thought could exist.”
She reached over and pointed toward the ground. My gaze drifted with hers, and I saw four-legged creatures with horns, A multitude of colours gracing their skin. There were birds flying around us, and I could hear the song of many of them. It rang in my ears, a tune of the love of more than life.
I tried to talk to Oragor again, and this time, I got through. Maybe that was just a glitch? “What is this place?”
“This is where we are from, this is where all of us reside, where our plains are our own, where life is everything to us.”
“But it’s real. Why do you choose to reside with us inside the digital world?”
“You will see and understand these things soon enough.”
And that I did. As we moved closer and further into the lands, there was something I hadn’t expected—destruction, death, ruins, fire, and blackness.
This seemed so bad, so harsh against the beauty we’d just seen. There, as he continued inwards, was more. Volcanos erupted, there were Tromoal lying, there was not much food if any. So, I could see why now, they got all their nutrients from Puatera’s lands. They got more than enough from us, and they got to bring back their beautiful offspring to here, but why did they keep returning?
“I don’t understand.”
His wings dipped some more, and they turned again inwards, toward a great mountainous peak. I could see it from here, so it must have been huge.
The barrier?
“We already crossed through. You freed me, remember?”
I remember accepting it. I guess I just never accepted that any of us were real, least not just yet. “We’re heading in now. They are expecting you, and they know I’m coming, but they are not happy. You need to be ready for any kind of confrontation at my return.”
I swallowed and knew Akillia was worried. She always seemed to be so stiff. I leaned in even closer to her and could smell her hair now and see the tiny points of her ears. They were kind of cute.
“This will be so hard for both of us. Keep your back straight, be confident, and we can do this together. They may be tough going, they may want to fight. We’ll fight them with words. They will not know what or how to respond to me, but they will respect me and everything I stand for.”
She nodded, and I saw the glint in her eye. Then I felt something else. She squeezed me. “I am here because I trust you. I knew there was something strange about all of this. I just can’t pinpoint exactly where we are in my world. This is the strangest thing I’ve ever come across. I know this land, I really do. I just don’t... know where.”
Oragor started to turn, and I saw where he was heading—toward the main bulk of the mountains. There was a sheer drop to it, and then I saw a platform. There were large Tromoal waiting there, and they had company. Were they humans or something else?
I sucked in a breath and steadied my nerves.
Oragor glanced the ground in a huge blow out of dust and rock. This was a tough bounce, and I groaned with the movement. Was he still weak or was this because everything here in the real world affected him more?
I pushed backward and realised my hand had slid down his spike, slitting it open. I churned out a cough and swore under my breath. I tried to see who everyone was. I could make out Dalfol. His human form stood to wait for me to dismount.
He looked up at me and reached out for me to take his hand. Then as I hopped down, he smiled at me. “I am personally glad you are here.”
“The council?”
“No, they are not. You’ve been requested to attend their audience tomorrow. I’m to keep you apart from the rest of the population until then.”
“You know you’re not going to keep me contained, don’t you?”
I looked out to the side of the mountain. There I could see I’d been noticed. “There’s going to be chaos if they don’t get to see me address them. You know that, right?”
He nodded at them and then out to the circle of people who had surrounded me.
I looked to them and then pointed to the surrounding sides of the mountain range. “You can’t stop me from talking to them, and you know it, so why are you even trying?”
They seemed to all talk to each other for a minute, and then Dalfol came in closer. “They don’t want you to speak, but they’ve also agreed if you don’t, it will cause more harm.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to address them, as you should, from the top of the mountain.”
I looked up. As far as I was concerned, there was only one way to get up there, and that was to go with Oragor.
Dalfol placed a hand on mine, and it felt cold. Was that how they were seen here, as the cold creatures they were, without sunlight to warm their flesh?
No, I was sure in the cave system, when he and Riezella had touched me, they were warm. They had a fire in their skin.
“No, that was there. You’re out of the realm of Puatera now. To reach them and to talk to them, you’re going to have to climb.”
QUEST
CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN RANGE OF MOLEY TO SPEAK WITH YOUR KIN
Haha. They had turned off all the game elements they didn’t agree with, yet this one crept in. No way that wasn’t right. I tried to twist my ring once more. Nothing.
Climb? No way. I couldn’t climb all the way up there.
I looked to Oragor, to Dalfol, but they both looked away. No ride then?
No, Tibex’s voice came over to me. You have to do this, for them, I’ve created this so I can help you the only way I know how. Or the real consequence for this would be much worse.
I turned to look at Akillia who had a scared look plastered across her face as she looked up into the mountains. “If you’re going, I’m coming with you. I need to be there, and I will be. You can’t stop me.”
“Can you climb?”
She didn’t seem to know, but she stared up to the sky. “I’m willing to try.”
“So am I,” I said as I moved to where the rock face reached up. I moved to place my hands where I could feel the peaks and dips in its surface. I put one hand in front of the other and started to climb.
I could and would see where this was going, and I would make this climb to the top even if I wasn’t happy with it. I would not look down. I would go up.
I could see and feel all eyes on me. From Dalfol’s own eyes, they almost seemed to boar inside my mind. I love seeing this side of me. I wanted to make it up to the top of the mountain. I was going to rise to the top.
One hand, one step, one hand. I would do this.
The entire time, as I could see behind me, could feel the world of eyes that were watching me, I wanted to shout to them then and make them understand what was coming to a head.
As I climbed, I thought about how this was really good for them because they could see how committed I was to the act of climbing up, to them. And I wanted to prove I would do this. Anything it took.
I stumbled over a few places to grip about halfway, but the dust and wind that went down didn’t even disturb Akillia.
She just called up, “We’re doing this. Keep going!”
And I knew I could. As we started to near the top, there was a roar of growls and triumphant screams and echoes with it. I also knew the council was cursing. They didn’t think I was capable of climbing such a place, and I wanted to prove to them and myself I could.
“So, we’re what now?” Akillia panted by my side.
“We move to the highest peak, and I prove to them that I’m not scared.”
“What do you mean?”
I knew then what I had to do.
I stepped up, could feel the warmth of the wind blowing my hair back.
Did I have a clue to what I was doing? No.
Over the edge, I could then see down, down to the bottom of the chasm where I’d come from, and I knew this was the right move.
Akillia gra
bbed hold of me just as my own weight was about to take me over.
“What the fuck!” she said.
I looked into her eyes as she held onto me, and I reached for the ring to try to twist it once more. “I have to do this. I have to show them I trust them.”
“By throwing yourself off a cliff?” I could only nod at her. “So, tell me…” she said, “I want to know, how is that showing trust?”
“You have to let me do this.”
Akillia’s face reddened. “You could die. Permanently!”
“I have already died a few times. More than I should have ever been allowed.”
“You mean you really think you died?”
“I did, Akillia. I died, and this amazing body of what I am was created.”
“You want everyone else to be something because you think you aren’t?”
She knew it, and I stared into her eyes. She really did know it.
Her fingers relaxed slightly, and I could tell she was getting used to the idea of letting me do this. To fall now would mean death. But I hoped it wasn’t going to end in my death.
There was one person out there that could and would know what I would do to get the attention of the clan.
Sakril wouldn’t let me down. I felt him, as much as I knew Riezella had said he’d left them, that they had to face their own fears, I had to do this, and it meant, if I had to, I would die once more for the sake of something that was better than me, to give my life for the better cause.
Chapter 33
I didn’t wait for any other reactions from her, I leaned back just a little bit more, and I waited for her to let go.
She didn’t. She didn’t react again. Another moment passed, then she let go. As my body fell backward, she vanished. The wind whistled through my hair, my stomach somersaulted, and I flipped over.
My eyes closed from instinct, but then I had to open them. I wanted not to die. I had to do the one thing I wished I didn’t, and I screamed.
The ground seemed to be so far away, and I could see there was many a creature and something else watching. I tried to focus on it and not see what was there, but I could see a lot more. I wanted to see more. I wanted to hear and feel everything. Could I die? Would I die? Yeah, there was something here that I really needed. I felt I was allowed this. Death would be and could be everything for me.
The few things I could pinpoint out there were a hole. They were the cities and the places I wanted to be here for, that I could fight for. There were people, there were lovers, and friends.
If I turned around again, I wondered if I’d see the amazing cliff I’d just fallen from. So I did. I faced the sky. There was something up there, and I wanted it to be everything I needed right now.
“Alex!” I let out a scream, and the voice that escaped came from deep within. A place I didn’t think I could ever reach.
I needed him now more than ever. I didn’t want to die without ever telling him, face to face, soul to soul, and I wouldn’t let it end this way.
The soul inside burst forth, and I grasped outward with everything I was.
I clung on with everything I had. I would never have let him go. I would forever search for him, and I would scream into eternity for him.
That’s when I felt it. I felt something reach for me.
There in the sunlit skies, there was a tender voice whispered on the breeze. I am coming for you.
I felt the skies growing colder as my heart sank. And I pulled on what I could, the sunlight. It reached for me, its loving embrace, its power. It would never let me go. It warmed me. I know there was so much more to this life, colours and amazing memories. There was so much here. I couldn’t be afraid of what was coming...
I turned back to see the ground coming at me. The winds whistled past my face, the wind blasting me. I could almost touch it. Reach for its hard embrace.
But then I felt the whispers, that someone was around me, the wonderful embrace of more.
The wind was ripped from my lungs, the ground pulled from my grasp. I was up and soaring before I even knew what was happening.
I said the words I knew wouldn’t ever be answered, and I reached for the claws that grasped my flesh so tight it was drawing blood from my now torn clothes.
“You’re not going to get out of here like this. I won’t let you. We have to fight this, and we will. They’re seeing something they never thought they would. They’re seeing the future coming from them in you.”
“You’re really here?” I looked up into the eyes of the Tromoal who had me in this death grip.
I’ve never left you. You just have to let these things happen. You can’t always be the saviour of the world.
“You left me no choice.”
You needed to grow, to become more.
I looked out to the sun as we careened over the top of the mountains now. The Tromoal were waiting on us, watched with their breaths rising out into the skies—fire, ice, hope, and love.
They’d needed to see they had never been abandoned, that their leaders were not really dead, that the choices made were and could be challenged.
I leaned over and kissed the talons gripping me and felt my blood drip through my clothes and out into the lands below us.
“Alex, I’m scared,” I said.
I didn’t need to feel his response. You’ve no idea what we’re to face. Only that we must.
I tried to breathe in, but the blood pounded in my ears, and I wanted to laugh, to curl up with him and push the thoughts of all the fighting away.
“Sakril has nothing on you, does he?”
Alex laughed, and I could feel the chuckle deep within him. No, he’s no leader, and neither is his father. You will come to me. We will take back Puatera with the right that we must. They need true leadership, and they need love. No one else can give them that but us.
I swallowed. “You really do love me, don’t you?”
More than the life I ever had, more than the thousands of years we will rule and beyond.
I felt myself slipping from life, from consciousness. I knew he wasn’t here with me, but I knew he would be.
I reached out, feeling the pain as we hit the ground. I looked up into the eyes of a man I didn’t know. Tetsu? Of someone I’d never seen in this life. But I wanted to hold him close. I needed to hold him close. It was still Alex. My Alex.
Tetsu leaned in, and his lips met mine in a wonderful embrace with which I needed more than the life I knew I was losing.
“Hold on,” he whispered to me. “They’re coming for you.”
I wouldn’t let go. I knew I couldn’t. Ever.
This was everything I could ever see in my life, and I would never stop fighting for him.
I stared into the blue eyes of his and knew life would give us many things, and we’d cross paths again.
Ruler of the skies, I know you’re there. I will be here for you.
Finding him now, and seeing him now, was my soul mission. No matter how many miles I had to cross, how many seas, or even galaxies, I would.
The blues of his eyes faded, and I breathed in, seeing the skies brighten and the sunrise higher. With the last few breaths of my own, I knew he was gone. But I also knew he’d be mine once again.
I let the pain take me, and then there was someone gently shaking me...
“Maddie...”
It was a voice I knew, and one I knew well... How did she get down here so quickly, but I looked up and into the face of someone else I knew I cared for.
“Dalfol?”
“The council awaits your words, my Queen,” and he kneeled his head lowering to his chest, his eyes never leaving mine. “Apologies for all the strain we caused. I tried to get the council to move. They did not think you could guide us through this dark time.”
Akillia helped me to sit up, despite a red splotch in my vision pulsing with a ferocity I never knew it could. My health bar. I’d never seen it like this.
I then felt her hand on my cheek. “I’ve never
seen anything like it, ever. Puatera, you...”
I met her eyes, tears running freely from her, and she swallowed. “Maddie, you’ve got my everything, you own my everything. As much as you command them, you can now command me.”
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
AKILLIA HAS PLEDGED HER ALLEGIANCE TO YOU.
YOU MAY COMMAND HER AS YOU WILL.
I couldn’t be sure of this. I couldn’t be sure that what I had done here was enough to bring them with me, but as I struggled to stand, and I looked out to the mountains that were the lands where we now rested, I looked out and met the faces of many Tromoal. Those amazing creatures were what I wanted to have by my side, and I knew they would follow me.
QUEST COMPLETE
THE TROMOAL WILL FOLLOW AND LISTEN TO ALL OF YOUR COMMANDS.
I raised a hand into the air, and I focused on what I knew was there despite the amount of distance between me and the game world. Between me and the person I had been, not the person I was now.
The ring glowed pink. It twinkled just enough. The spark began to light up. The more it did, the more I knew they’d feel it.
I forced myself higher and gave them everything with it. The power that burst free came not just from me, but from the amazing strength gifted from the one man I loved. The beautiful soul that had crossed through realms and through worlds to become something new.
“The council will listen to me, or they will die.”
With the fading of the energy, my knees wobbled, and Akillia held me up. The roar of their power and the might they gave to me, made both her and myself grin just before I collapsed into her.
Dalfol’s stern gaze met mine and he nodded. “As you wish.”
I couldn’t help but look out further to where anyone else could see. I knew Alex was there, maybe gliding back to where he needed to be, to what he must do before we would meet again.
