by E K Baxter
And then Max knew.
“Oh, shit,” he said.
Chapter 15
Max took a step back. “Um, Kalrick? You okay?”
Kalrick didn’t answer. Instead, he lifted his hand and began clenching and unclenching his fist, watching it as though mesmerized, as if he’d never seen such a thing before.
Max heard footsteps behind him and Sam and Terra, recovered from the blows they took from the collapsing pillar, skidded to a stop on either side. Max took a quick glance at his friends. They’d taken the last of their potions but even so, Sam’s health was at 30%, Terra’s at 25%. Max’s was little better at just over 40%. It had taken everything they had to beat Lord Mespar and his acolytes.
“What are you waiting for?” Sam asked, hefting his shield in one hand and mace in the other. “Let’s finish this guy off whilst he’s busy admiring his pinky.”
He took a step forward but Max put a hand on his shoulder. “Wait, we don’t know what we’re facing here.”
“We’re facing the bastard who would have hanged us, the bastard who was Lord Mespar’s right-hand man. That’s all I need to know.”
Max tightened his grip on his friend, stopping him from moving. Couldn’t Sam feel it? Power was radiating off Kalrick in waves. And Agiel had vanished...
“Kalrick?” he said again. “Is that you?”
“Kalrick?” the man cried in a voice that boomed through the hall loud enough to force Max to cover his ears. “Hardly.”
He took a step, his form seeming to shimmer like heat-haze over a fire, and a whip suddenly appeared in his hand. Its coils were made from an inky black substance like oil.
Max, Terra and Sam began backing away, trying to keep a good distance between themselves and not-Kalrick.
“Who are you?” Max demanded, already suspecting the answer.
Kalrick laughed, a pitiless sound like nails being scraped over rock. “Who do you think I am? I am Agiel the Lightless, savior of all!”
“Savior? Demon is more like it. You’ve possessed Kalrick!”
“Demon?” Kalrick said. “That is a vulgar term you sniveling humans have for us. We are the Eidolon of the Abyss and we will have dominion over all life. Did you really think a paltry True Worlder could stop us?”
“Us?” Max asked, aghast. “You mean there are more of you?”
Kalrick smiled, a ghastly grin that seemed to split his face in half. “Oh yes. We are legion. I am to be an advance scout but when we’ve harvested enough energy from your world, the gate will be big enough for my master himself to come through. When that happens, all of reality will tremble at our feet!”
“You won’t conquer the Rogue Lands!” Sam shouted. “We won’t let you!”
Kalrick’s grin widened and those inferno eyes seemed to gleam with malice. “Who said anything about the Rogue Lands? I’m talking about the real world.”
Max staggered, a jolt of fear clenching his stomach. The real world? What the hell did he mean by that? Kalrick/Agiel talked as if he was aware that he was in a game but surely Agiel was just another NPC? One that had been programmed to highjack a player’s avatar? Max had to admit he’d never seen an NPC do such a thing before but this was a prototype game, right? So who knew what the developers had made the NPCs capable of? But one thing was for sure: NPCs weren’t supposed to be self-aware.
So how the hell did this one know about the real world?
Max pushed the thoughts away. All that mattered right now was stopping Kalrick/Agiel, completing the game and going home. They’d figure everything else out afterwards.
Max and his friends spread out into their usual formation, Sam stepping forward with his shield to take the brunt of Kalrick’s attack, Terra supporting him with her speed and agility, short-swords flashing in her hands. Max hung back, ready to use his range attacks and spells.
Kalrick grinned at them. “How very touching. Look at you. You really think you have a chance of beating me?”
“Let’s find out, shall we?” Max replied. “Or are you going to talk us to death?”
Before Kalrick could reply he equipped his bow and let fly an imbued arrow. It punched into Kalrick’s chest, knocking him back a step. The man bellowed in rage then lumbered forward, slamming his gauntleted fist into Sam’s shield. Sam held firm, pressing his weight against the shield whilst Terra darted forward and brought her sword down on Kalrick’s wrist.
In any normal player such a blow would have severed the hand clean off but Kalrick wasn’t a normal player, not anymore. Perhaps he never had been. Terra’s blade made a screeching sound as it bounced off Kalrick’s arm-guard, causing only a tiny amount of damage. Terra ducked back behind Sam’s shield and the two took a few steps back.
Max gritted his teeth and let fly another imbued arrow. This one sank into Kalrick’s shoulder. The man grunted in pain but it barely slowed him. He strode after Sam and Terra who were steadily retreating. The whip gleamed in Kalrick’s hand, like a viper’s tongue made of shadow.
Kalrick raised the weapon.
“Sam! Terra! Get out of there!” Max yelled.
The whip came hurtling down. It struck hard against Sam’s shield, which cracked right down the middle. The power of the blow knocked both Sam and Terra from their feet and hurled them through the air. They collided with the remaining pillar with a crunch and slid to the floor, stunned. Their HP dropped to 10%. One more hit like that and it was game over.
“Hey!” Max yelled. “It’s me you have a problem with, remember? Come on! What are you waiting for?”
Kalrick turned slowly to look at Max, his eyes burning with malice. He strode towards him. Max stowed his bow, realizing it wouldn’t help him, and instead cast Acid Rain now his mana had replenished. The small gray cloud formed right over Kalrick’s head and began dropping its big molten droplets right on him. Kalrick’s armor steamed as the Acid Rain began to eat through it. His shoulder plates clattered to the floor in a mangled mess, his gauntlets warped.
But still Kalrick came on.
Max backed away, trying to lead Kalrick away from Sam and Terra who were only just starting to come around with a series of groans. Max cast Winter’s Breath. Fog enveloped Kalrick, billowing around him like a shroud and covering him in a thick sheen of ice. Kalrick’s ears turned black with frostbite, shriveled like an overripe piece of fruit, and then dropped off to land on the floor by his feet. Winter’s Breath chewed through the flesh and cartilage of Kalrick’s nose, turning it into nothing more than a withered black stump that broke off like an icicle to leave a gaping hole in Kalrick’s face.
But still Kalrick advanced. He was slower, true, his steps seeming to take more effort, but he fought through the ice coating his body, ignored the frost-bitten body parts that sloughed off as he moved, and continued his inexorable advance towards Max.
In desperation Max cast Stealth then activated Find. He wasn’t quite sure what invisibility would achieve at this point but perhaps it might gain him an extra few moments in which to think, in which to come up with a solution. The world grayed out around him, the gate, the cavern and his friends becoming indistinct shapes picked out in grays and blacks.
All except Kalrick.
Gone was the man Max had known. Gone was the Corporation agent who had been the bane of Max’s life ever since that fateful day he’d agreed to work for them. Instead Max saw a tall, muscular man with pale skin of polished marble, riddled through with purple veins like worms. His face, all planes and angles, was shockingly handsome and, Max thought, the kind of face women would swoon over were it not for the eyes, eyes that were just swirling pits of fire. Two wings spread out from the creature’s back and his fingers ended in wicked claws that looked as though they could eviscerate Max with one swipe.
Max’s instincts screamed at him to run, to get as far away from Agiel as he possibly could, but he couldn’t move. Those eyes held him, draining away his will.
You really think you could hide from me, a voice spoke in his head. I h
ave watched your kind, studied your ways for millennia. I know what drives you. I know your basest desires and the darkest secrets of your heart. You cannot escape me. I am your doom, True Worlder.
With a supreme effort of will, Max forced his eyes closed, blocking out the vision of the creature. This is still a game, he told himself. And game rules still apply. You cannot reach the end of a game and have no way to win.
He scrolled through his inventory, desperately searching. His weapons had already proven useless. His spells hadn’t stopped Kalrick. There was nothing else. Then his eyes alighted on the one thing in his inventory he’d never used.
The Elemental Gauntlet
Max had never been able to get it to work. It required a Dark alignment which Max didn’t have. It would never work.
But he had to try.
He released Stealth and the world snapped back into its usual appearance. The pale, winged creature was gone and Kalrick stood in its place, glowering, half-frozen and with bits of him missing, but wholly human. He raised his whip.
Max equipped the Gauntlet.
He focused his will on it, commanding it to work. Nothing happened. In desperation he curled his hand into a fist, jabbed it at Kalrick and shouted, “Fire!”
Still nothing. The gauntlet might look impressive with its steel plates carved with arcane runes, but right now Max would have happily traded it for even the most basic of transportation spells.
Kalrick laughed, a deep, booming sound that seemed dredged from the bottom of the earth. It echoed around the chamber. “See? You cannot stop me, True Worlder. Now it’s time for you to die!”
He raised the whip higher and Max scrambled backward. His heel caught on a bit of debris and he went sprawling onto his back. Kalrick loomed over him, his shadow falling over Max, bringing with it a deadly cold.
But his eyes burned. “I will kill you. I will win the game. And in so doing I will be free. Your world will become my playground—one I will prepare for the coming of my master.”
I’m going to die, Max thought. He suspected that there would be no respawning. This was it. Game over. At least I’ll go home, he thought. That didn’t fill him with the relief he expected. Kalrick’s words made him shiver with unease. Your world will become my playground.
Max equipped his ax and held it up defiantly even though he knew it would be no defense against Kalrick’s weapon. He gritted his teeth as Kalrick raised his whip high...
Then Kalrick’s eyes suddenly went wide as a blade erupted from his chest. It was black, obsidian like the walls of the cavern. Kalrick stared at it protruding from his chest before it was ripped back out again. He staggered back a few paces.
A figure loomed over Max and held out a hand.
“Come on! That won’t slow him for long!”
It was Nightshade.
Max blinked stupidly. He’d forgotten all about her. The last he’d seen her she was lying unconscious on the floor. “What?”
She scowled then unceremoniously grabbed his shoulder and hauled him to his feet, dragging him across the chamber to where Sam and Terra were huddled by the base of the pillar.
“Are you all right?” Sam asked Max.
“I...I’m not sure,” Max replied. “I was sure I was going to die back there.”
“And you still might,” Nightshade snapped. “He’ll be on us in moments.”
Max turned to look at her. She was gaunt, haggard, but her eyes burned with determination. A little of the old Nightshade lurked in her fierce gaze, the Nightshade who’d won the Corporation’s flagship tournament four years in a row.
“Why did you save me?” Max asked.
Her dark eyes bored into him. “I was returning the favor. You saved me from becoming that.” She nodded towards Kalrick who had his hands pressed to the hole in his chest. A dark light was blooming, sealing the cut. Soon he would be after them again. “Why did you do that? You might have won the game by now if you hadn’t stopped to free me.”
Max shook his head. “It’s not about winning anymore. I’m not sure it ever was. It’s about surviving. It’s about saving our friends and getting home.”
Nightshade watched him from beneath lidded eyes. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking. In the gaming community Nightshade was legendary. She was cunning, ruthless and always had a hidden agenda. What was that agenda now? Would she turn on Max as she had turned on so many allies in the past?
“We have to work together, Nightshade,” he said. “We might have been rivals in the real world but that ends now.”
She didn’t reply. Behind, he heard Kalrick approaching, his footsteps heavy and ponderous, but Max didn’t take his eyes off Nightshade. Finally she nodded.
“You’re right. Allies?” she held out her hand.
Max shook it. “Allies.”
A message popped up on his UI.
Congratulations! You are allied with a Dark Sorcerer. Your alliance will allow you to use aligned magical items, including those aligned to Dark.
Max’s heartbeat quickened with a sudden surge of hope. He could use Dark items.
Like the Elemental Gauntlet.
He looked over his shoulder, saw that Kalrick was striding towards them, weaving through the debris and detritus that covered the cavern floor. He would be on them in seconds. Max turned back to his comrades and spoke quickly.
“I think I know what we have to do. We can’t beat Kalrick. He’s too powerful for that. Our only option is to send him back through the Devil’s Gate and close it for good.”
Terra nodded. “Nice idea in theory. How do we do it in reality?”
“We need to overload the gate. It won’t be easy now that Agiel is fully manifest but I think I can do it. I need to use the gauntlet somehow—there must be a reason to me having it.”
“What about Kalrick?” Sam asked.
Nightshade smiled grimly. “Leave Kalrick to me.”
Without waiting for an answer she strode towards Kalrick, arms out wide at her side.
“Wait!” Max shouted after her. “What are you going to do?”
Nightshade looked over her shoulder and smiled—that deadly smile that had reduced so many players to gibbering wrecks. “They made a big mistake when they brought me here: they let me keep my level and my powers. Couldn’t have a useless newbie as a vessel for Agiel, could they? That means I’m still a dark mage. Necromancy is one of my specialties.”
She began to speak, words of a strange language bubbling from her mouth. Purple light began to emanate from the acolytes that lay scattered across the floor like broken toys and the bodies slowly started to move. They climbed to their feet, lit with a purple glow. Nightshade spoke a word, made a gesture with one hand, and the acolytes drew weapons, began marching on Kalrick.
Kalrick paused as he saw the red-robed tide advancing on him. “What is this?” he snarled. “What are you doing?”
“Giving you a taste of your own medicine,” Nightshade snarled back. “I’m going to enjoy giving you pain, Kalrick.”
His lips pulled back in a grin, looking ghastly on his frost-bite ravaged face. “You were ever the feisty one, Nightshade. I would have enjoyed inhabiting your body. It’s time to teach you who is the master here.”
His whip appeared in his hand. In a heartbeat it lashed out, making a cracking sound in the air. Nightshade staggered, a red X carved into her cheek.
Nightshade pressed her hand against the wound and snarled. “You’ll die slowly for that.”
Kalrick cocked his head. “Perhaps when I’ve subdued you I’ll take your body instead of this one.”
Nightshade’s face contorted with fury. “Never! I’ll die before I let you put your hands on me!”
She made a chopping motion and the red-robed acolytes surged forward, weapons slashing at Kalrick. He was suddenly surrounded. A sword appeared in one hand, his whip in the other, and he began laying about him with the weapons, sending blood spraying and body parts whirling through the air. But the red tide seemed endl
ess and Kalrick was forced back one step and then another.
“Whatever you’ve got planned you better hurry,” Nightshade called to Max through gritted teeth. “I can’t keep this up for long. The bastard is too strong.”
Max nodded then looked at Terra and Sam. “Let’s go.”
Together they crossed the cavern floor and climbed the steps up to the gate. The swirling vortex tugged at their hair and clothes and sent a shiver across Max’s skin. This close he could feel its power. The air around felt charged, like the atmosphere before a thunder storm. They approached it cautiously and halted a few paces away from the roiling mass of energy.
Max glanced over his shoulder, saw Kalrick still battling Nightshade, her undead acolytes keeping him from advancing on Max and his friends. Beside him, Terra and Sam turned to face into the cavern, guarding his back.
Max drew a deep breath then equipped the gauntlet, the leather and metal glove clothing his fingers like a second skin. This time, due to his new alliance with Dark, it flared to life as soon as he put it on. The metal plates shone like silver, the runes blazing red. Power rushed through him, a power so strong and encompassing that it took his breath away and made him stagger.
Max straightened slowly. With the surge of power came an exhilaration Max had never experienced. He suddenly felt unstoppable, invincible. Power surged through his veins, obliterating exhaustion, obliterating pain, obliterating everything except this heady euphoria.
Yes, a voice whispered in his head. Embrace it. Use it. All you have to do is give yourself over to it.
Max paused. Something else was entering him now. Something shadowy and twisted. Something hungry. Ravenous. It flowed out of the gauntlet and into his veins like poison.
It was Darkness.
Max could feel it filling him, coursing through his blood, claiming him.
Yes, the voice in his head said. This is what you wanted all along. Power. Glory. To be the mage you once were. It is within your grasp. All you have to do is reach out and take it. All you have to do is embrace your power. Accept what you really are. Become a Dark Mage.
