by Paul Bellow
When the time for my match arrived, I strode up the ramp like champion. The Tower of Gates tried to beat me down, but I had decided not to let it get to me.
All my adoring fans stood and cheered as I entered the arena.
What’s up with all this sand? Did they import it in?
I also noticed a new pole rising in the middle.
The glowing green gem on top stood a few hundred feet off the ground dead center in middle of the arena. What’s that all about? I wondered as I walked over.
When I reached the thick pole stretching for the sky, the announcer yelled Wiley’s name. The crowd went even crazier than they had for the mention of mine.
I looked up at the sky and saw him dive toward the arena. The green gem on the pole quit glowing as Wiley landed on the sand in the arena.
“Good to see you,” I said.
He lifted his head and shot fire at the sky.
“Are you ready for this?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said quietly then roared.
I gripped my sword and scanned the other side of the arena. When would we find out what we would be facing? Nothing moved from the other entrance.
“Bleak!” Wiley yelled.
I swung around and saw an immense black worm with red spots clamped onto the dragon’s right rear leg. As it flapped about, I walked over and swung.
Your slash MUTILATES the dark worm for 69 damage.
Your slash DISEMBOWELS the dark worm for 101 damage.
My slices chopped the worm in two. Instead of dying like a reasonable creature, both halves slithered toward me. I saw the inside of the worm was lined with sharp teeth.
I took a few steps backward, keeping my eyes on the worms. Would they keep splitting if I attacked? Did we need to burn them or something else? I looked to Wiley.
Free from the grasp of the worm, the mighty dragon leaped into the sky. He only got as high as the green gem before slamming into an invisible barrier above our heads.
The two half worms shot toward me as Wiley fell back to the ground with a thud. His landing sent sand flying into the air. The dark worms reached me and attacked.
The dark worm DECIMATES you for 40 damage.
The dark worm MAULS you for 24 damage.
You have [935/223] health remaining.
We would be able to defeat these weak creatures even without all the extra health the Four Wizards had secretly given me. Neither of the worms had latched on, so I attacked.
After hitting them both, they further split into four worms all slightly smaller but with the same razor-sharp teeth. I glanced over at Wiley and saw two other big ones.
He roared then shot flames at them. They burrowed into the sand before the flames did any serious damage.
Uh-oh. This might not be as easy as I thought.
I didn’t even think about how Wiley would escape the forcefield above us as I continued attacking the smaller dark worms. They had become harder to hit.
The dragon kept breathing flames at the worms, but they easily slithered under the sand. I concentrated on the dozen small worms in front of me.
A couple of them latched onto my arm. I swung it around, trying to get them off, but they kept sucking health points from me a few at a time. It added up.
“Can I get some help over here?” I shouted.
“Busy,” Wiley replied then ran across the arena.
“Roger that,” I said. “Same here.”
I sighed as most of the small worms around me crawled underneath the sand. How can we kill these stupid things? I kept my eyes on the sand.
A flash of inspiration struck me. I looked up at the pole in the center of the arena. Time to kill two worms with one stone. I dashed toward the pole.
When I reached it, I stopped and put away my sword. I saw Wiley breathing flames across the arena. How can I get him to hear me?
“Can you hear me, Wiley?” I asked in my mind.
“Yes, but I’m still busy,” he replied.
“Come burn this pole down,” I said. “Then we can just fly out of here and escape. We don’t need to mess with these crappy worms. I think they’re trying to kill us.”
Wiley bounded over to me. I stepped back to give him room. He let rip with his ferocious flames, catching the pole on fire. I ran forward and sliced at it with my sword.
“The worms!” Wiley shouted. “There’s so many of them!”
I kept chopping at the wooden pole, not caring about my sword. Before the fight, I had secreted some water and other items on my person. We would be fine.
“Timber!” I yelled as the pole fell on its side.
Wiley scurried away, barely escaping its path. The crowd went silent as the announcer begged everyone not to panic. I looked over at the dragon and smiled.
Before I could go over and climb onto his back, the Four Wizards appeared between us. Ferris and Sherlock, frowning, pointed at me. Aaron and Thom went toward the dragon. Wiley screamed then leaped into the air, flying away and leaving me.
I watched him climb higher, wondering if he would come back for me.
Ferris froze me with a spell while Sherlock put the familiar leather and metal collar around my neck. Neither of them looked happy about the situation.
“He got away,” Thom said.
“We can find him,” Aaron added. “This isn’t a problem.”
Ferris sighed and shook his head.
“Back to the towers,” he said.
I watched, frozen, as he waved his hands, teleporting me to the original room without doors or windows they had kept me in previously. They didn’t arrive.
Anger I hadn’t felt in a while rose inside me. I banged my fists against the stone wall. Hands bloodied and battered, I sunk to the floor.
Tears streamed down my face as I contemplated my future. Would the Four Wizards punish me? Could they make my life even worse somehow?
Why had Wiley left me behind? I cursed him and everything else until I fell asleep, alone, cold, and unsure of what the next day would bring.
29
The Scent of a Woman
Josh
A week after Wiley escaped, the Four Wizards had finally allowed me back in the arena. My absence only served to drive the audience even crazier when I showed up.
I easily won against a dozen other fighters from various races thanks to my captors’ secret magical buffs. Winning wasn’t as much fun with the deck stacked in your favor.
The Four Wizards stood waiting when I walked down the ramp from the arena. After Wiley took off without me, my resolve to escape had diminished. I hated my windowless room.
Losing my privileges to walk around the city wasn’t cool either. Would things have gone different for me in the game if I had found Eric and Sarah earlier and not messed around so much?
Or was I doomed to fail inside the Tower of Gates the moment that Eric hacked us into the game? I expected the wizards to teleport me back to my small stone cell, but they didn’t.
When I reappeared, I found myself in a luxurious bathing room about triple the size of my current living quarters. A half-dozen beautiful women stood around a huge marble tub.
They giggled as I looked around, expecting some sort of trap or practical joke. When nothing happened, I undressed and slipped into the warm water full of soapy bubbles.
As I lay back to relax my arms on the rim of the tub, the women scrambled over. I said nothing as they bathed me then dressed my wounds. Why they were pampering me didn’t matter.
The Four Wizards came in through a wooden door a few minutes after I got out of the bath. Two of the women had wrapped a soft, black robe over my body, covering me.
“You clean up nice,” Thom said then snickered.
I ignored him and looked at Ferris.
“This is nice,” I said. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank us yet,” Sherlock said.
I turned to him, hating his sour, wrinkled face.
“We’re auctioning you off to the highest bidder,” Fer
ris said. “We’ve made more than enough by owning you. You’re too high-profile for us.”
“Yeah,” Sherlock added. “We’ve worked our way back up the social ladder, and we don’t need you anymore. I think Wiley’s owner was interested in purchasing you.”
“No!” I said, straightening up.
The four women around me scattered, cowering in the corners.
“Excuse me?” Sherlock raised a wand. “What did you say?”
“Leave him alone,” Aaron said. “We don’t want to damage him before the sale.”
“Good point,” Sherlock muttered, backing away.
A woman with dark black hair walked up and waved her hand through the air. Everyone in the room turned their attention to her. I couldn’t concentrate on anything else.
“We need time alone,” she said in a firm, commanding tone.
“I left a pot of water boiling,” Thom said suddenly. “I’m sure of it.”
“You’re going to burn down your tower again,” Ferris snapped.
Aaron frowned while Sherlock grinned, egging them on.
“He’s an idiot,” the white-bearded wizard said.
Thom turned to Sherlock and pushed him. “You take that back,” he said.
“Alone,” the mysterious woman repeated.
The other women scrambled out of the door the wizards had come in through. I took a step in that direction, but she grabbed my hand.
“Stop,” she said in my mind. “It’s me, Monky.”
Had she spawned as a female character?
“Downstairs,” Ferris snapped. “We need to check the boiling water.”
I grinned as the Four Wizards whisked out of the bathing room.
She looked up at me and said, “There’s not a lot of time. Listen.”
I nodded even though I had more than a couple of questions.
“The Four Wizards brought Thero and me here then sold us into slavery,” she said. “I escaped and bought a permanent illusion to appear as a woman and hide in plain sight.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “You’re a female playing a male character using an illusion to look like a female? I’m supposed to just believe you?”
“Trust me,” she said. “And I’ll get us out of here. I’m working on a plan. You need to be ready at a moment’s notice. I could show up at any time.”
“You have a plan or you’re working on one?”
“It’s complicated.” She turned her head toward the door then back to me. “The suggestion I planted in the wizards’ minds won’t last long. Can I count on you, or not?”
The Tower of Gates had turned me into a cynic, not really trusting anyone. At the same time, something about Monky made me want to believe anything she told me.
“You can count on me,” I said. “Anything else you can tell me?”
“Not now,” she said. “The Four Wizards are intelligent, and my suggestion won’t last long after they realize there’s no pot of water boiling. I need to go before they return.”
“Okay, but…”
She turned and walked to the only window in the room. I stared as she climbed onto the windowsill then leaped out of the building.
After rushing over and leaning out, I saw her gently floating to the ground several stories below. Ferris cleared his throat behind me.
“Where’s that strange woman?” he asked.
I turned and replied, “They all ran away.”
“Why were you looking out the window?” Sherlock asked. He walked over and peered out then said, “I don’t see anything.”
“Maybe he was thinking about jumping,” Aaron said. “I would if I were him.”
“Do you guys really have to sell me?” I asked.
“Yes,” Ferris said from just inside the doorway.
“We don’t need you anymore,” Thom said.
“Thanks for tonight,” I said to change the subject.
I hoped they wouldn’t bring up Monky again.
“We need you happy and well for the sale,” Ferris said.
“Yeah.” Sherlock stepped over and patted me on the cheek. “Like a fat, happy sow.”
I controlled my rage, not wanting to give them a reason to torment me. Whether it was Monky’s mind magic as a psionicist or the ineptness of the Four Wizards, they didn’t bring her up. They teleported me back to my cell where I slept on the cold, hard floor.
Getting back to the lower levels of the game and finding Eric and Sarah sounded more possible with Monky’s assistance. She impressed me in so many ways. After so many months on my own in the game, it didn’t feel like I had a girlfriend anymore.
That should’ve terrified me, but it didn’t.
30
Enter the Wastelands
Josh
Seven days passed swiftly as I waited for word from Monky. I began to wonder if I had hallucinated the whole encounter with her. On the seventh day, as I rested, she arrived.
“Yorg? Can you hear me?” she asked in my mind.
I glanced around the windowless room with no doors.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Underneath you,” she replied.
I looked down at the stone floor.
“Where?” I asked again.
A section of the floor slid down a few inches. I stepped back as it continued sinking. Monky poked her head out of the new hole in the floor and smiled.
“Ready for a rescue?” she asked.
I nodded earnestly then walked over to the square hole in the floor. Peering over the edge, I saw Monky standing on a ladder that dropped to the room below mine.
After she climbed back down, I went down without giving my cell a second look. With so many hours spent locked up, I had memorized the room. It would be with me forever.
“Thank you,” I said as I reached the bottom.
“Don’t thank me yet,” she said. “We’re still not free.”
I glanced around the room filled with shelves.
“We’re on the first floor,” she said, grabbing the ladder. “Come on.”
I followed her to another square hole in the floor on the other side of the room. She lowered the wooden ladder. Pungent spells hit my nose as we descended.
“The basement?” I asked. “Don’t we want to get outside? Can’t you just use your mind magic to plant a suggestion again?”
She sighed.
“They’re too powerful when they’re ready,” she said. “And they’re ready and waiting for me. There’s a price on my head on this level.”
“Oh?” I raised my left eyebrow which looked silly on a half-orc.
“Someone framed me for murder. We don’t have time to talk now.”
I once again followed her down the ladder. At the bottom, I saw a workshop with numerous beakers, vials, and other magical equipment.
She waved for me to follow then headed across the wide-open room underneath the Four Wizards’ tower complex. Their building took up an entire city block. On the other side of the basement, I saw another square hole in the floor.
“How did you burrow your way in here?” I asked.
She smiled and held up a wand.
“It’s good for precision cuts in stone,” she said. “Dwarven.”
“Nice,” I said.
She stepped toward me and reached for my neck. I flinched.
“I need to get your collar,” she said.
As she leaned against me to remove the spiked leather collar from around my neck, I took a deep breath. Was it really happening? Could we escape?
“There,” she said then stepped back. “We should get going. The Four Wizards are asleep, but they could wake up at any time.”
“Fine with me,” I said. “They have my sword and everything.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “We’ll be fine. I’ve planted a fog in their minds. They won’t be able to track you with your items.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Trust me,” she replied.
I took a
deep breath then nodded. She climbed down the ladder leading underneath the tower complex. The smell got even worse as I followed her into the darkness.
“Nasty,” I said as I reached the bottom and stepped in water.
“Sewers can be,” she said. “Hold on.”
A moment later, she held a glowing light aloft. It hovered in place as she took her hand away.
“That’s nifty,” I said.
“Come on.”
She motioned with her hand for me to follow.
I stayed quiet as we walked through the murky brick tunnels. The level of realism inside the Tower of Gates never ceased to amaze me. Working sewage disposal would be a necessity in a city of any size. I hoped my thick leather books would continue keeping my feet dry.
“That smell,” I said then coughed.
“What kind of half-orc barbarian are you?” she teased.
“The urban and civilized kind,” I said.
She chuckled and kept walking. We turned left and right a few times, taking side tunnels. As we kept going, I felt weak due to the lack of buffs from the wizards.
“Can we slow down?” I asked as I stopped and leaned against the wall.
The cold, wet bricks against my skin mimicked how I felt all over.
“It’s buff-sickness,” I said when she turned around and gave me a quizzical look. “The Four Wizards pumped me full of so many spells on a daily basis my body needs them.”
“Your body doesn’t need them,” she said as she walked over to me.
She put her palm on my forehead.
“You feel better,” she said.
“I do feel better…”
She took her hand away and smiled.
“It’s not permanent relief, but it should help,” she said.
“You’re so powerful,” I said as I straightened up.
“Ready to keep going? We’re almost to the wall.”
I nodded. She turned and kept walking down the sewer tunnel. Whatever she had done had helped. I didn’t feel fatigued as I followed her.
“We’re at the northern wall,” she said a few minutes later.
