by Jakob Tanner
I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to believe it.
We were surrounded by death in this field. The Arethkarians marched forward towards us. Thousands of soldiers. They were more than ten times our size in sheer manpower.
I didn’t want there to be anymore suffering.
With a deep sigh, I yelled out to our soldiers: “RETREAT!”
We headed back towards the walls. The army pulled back. We streamed through the gates of Crystal Port. The look of defeat was on every soldier’s face.
I sent a message to Shade in party chat.
Clay: Shade—how’s the development of the keep gateway. How much longer is it going to take?
Shade: We still got another thirty minutes. How’s the battle?
Clay: Not good. Message me as soon as gateway is done.
I turned to my party and the crowds of soldiers, desperate for hope.
“Spread the word, help citizens, we need to defend the keep. We need to survive another thirty minutes against the impending army before we can escape to safety. We can do this everyone. C’mon!”
They all nodded and got to work. Having a task, a pragmatic goal was better than simply running away. It reinvigorated everybody.
Families, children, citizens were told to emerge out of their hiding spots and hurry to the keep. A passage lined with guards was created to provide comfort for the hurrying civilians.
I walked over to Raylene who was overseeing the defensive measures. “Raylene—Shade says it’s going to be thirty minutes until we can get everyone through the keep gateway to Iron Citadel. Do you think we can last?”
Raylene stared out at the battlefield beyond the walls “It’s not impossible, but it won’t be easy. Without us fighting back offensively on them, they can rush the city and they have the military might to do so.” She shook her head. “You focus on getting as many civilians safely to the keep and I’ll focus on keeping our defenses up, sound good? See you in thirty minutes, hot shot.”
I ran down one of the less populated alleys of Crystal Port. The street had been turned to rubble during the dreadnought siege. Roads were a pile of broken rocks and dirt. Smoke billowed out from burning shops. I knocked all the doors running up and down the street like a mad man.
“The city is evacuating,” I shouted. “Hurry to the keep. Last minute escape measures have been procured.”
I was out of breath at the end of the street, back where I started. A small head poked its head out of a broken doorway. It was a little kid.
I ran towards him. I crouched down. The boy’s eyes were filled with tears.
I sucked in a deep breath. I needed to remain calm and friendly to the kid. I didn’t want to freak him out even more.
“How’s it going bud?” I said. “Do you want to come with me to the keep?”
He cried and tried to speak but it came out as gibberish.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Do you have siblings or family in the building?”
“Mom…” the little boy said. “Dad…”
My heart panged. “Take me to them,” I said.
The boy brought me into the dilapidated home. Pots and pans were all over the floor, the table leg was cracked and lopsided. A puddle of blood was on the floor. I followed it and found a pale corpse of a woman impaled by a fallen ceiling panel right through her stomach. Half of another body—the father—was further on crushed by the roof caving in.
At the sight of his dead parents, the little boy cried even harder.
I crouched down to him. “I’m going to help your parents now, but I’m going to need your help. Will you help me?”
The kid wiped snot and tears out of his face and nodded.
“Good,” I said. “So first off, I need you to stop crying, alright?”
The kid blinked a couple of times and put on a strong face.
“Alright,” I said. I turned to the mother, a Haeren woman. I put my hands out and let nature’s revival do its course. The woman’s body glowed and went transparent. The woman gained sentience, wiggling her body out from the impaled wood. Once removed from the sharp broken wooden beam, the woman’s stomach patched itself. She stopped glowing and she blinked, entirely conscious and back to life.
“Mommy!” shouted the kid, rushing up to the woman and hugging her.
The woman turned to me. She was shocked. Unsure what was happening. Death had struck her with as much surprise as revival.
“You…saved…me?”
I nodded my head.
“Let’s help dad,” said the kid.
The father’s body had been crushed by the roof. I turned to the mother. “If you help me drag his body from underneath, I can then cast the revival spell.”
We lifted up the fallen cracked beams and the woman pulled the crushed corpse of her husband from underneath. She had tears in her eyes. The boy wasn’t crying as much but he still looked on with fear.
I leaned over to the Haeren man. I recognized him. It was the man from before. The man who had yelled at me. No one cared about Crystal Port until you came. He had a patch of brown hair and a thick moustache. He looked kind of goofy, but I imagined he made a good father to his kid and a good husband to his wife. It was weird. Only three weeks ago these people were Arethkarian. Now they were civilians I was hoping to save. Their humanity—or, maybe that wasn’t the right word, given we existed in a world with fox-people and humanoid cat species, so more likely, their personhood—was no different than it had been before. These were people trying to live their lives and survive. Arethkarian, Laergardian, it didn’t matter. Not that I ever thought it did, but these people were good and two weeks ago I may have called them bad, complicit, evil. Everyone was trying to survive. No one consciously thinks of themselves as the bad guy. Arethkarians weren’t all bad, and neither were Laergardians all good. I wasn’t just fighting for those I love, but for everyone on either side of the conflict.
The father coughed awake. The woman and child comforted the man as he looked around in desperate panic. Revival was disorienting. Reviving to find your whole life turned into a warzone was even more reality-shattering.
His eyes bulged with recognition at me.
“It’s…you…” he said. “You…saved…me?”
“And I’d do it again,” I said. “And if you’re wondering: yes I’m still a piece of garbage for getting us all into this mess.”
A huge explosion rocked the house from the outside.
“We have to go,” I said. The family blinked with hesitation. They were frozen with panic, so I shouted, “NOW.”
They got up and headed towards the door. I shuffled them out and saw a new dreadnought floating beyond in the sky. The outer wall of Crystal Port had been smashed to bits, creating an opening for Arethkarian soldiers to pour through. The city streets had become a skirmish zone: spells, laser blasts, arrows, bullets all zooming across the cityscape.
“Hurry,” I said, guiding the family through a narrow alley. My ears were ringing from the explosions and blasts. The ground at our feet trembled.
We got to the steps leading to the keep. The family hurried towards the open doors. I shuffled them through the doors and looked out at the city. More fires, more smoke, more bodies. The first city I’d conquered and it was going down in flames. Seeing a place—a home for many—burn to the ground like this, had never been my intention when I’d set my sights on Arethkar. Maybe my brother was right: I was too naïve. Too idealistic.
A message appeared in my HUD. It was from Shade. The keep gateway was done.
I hurried into the keep grounds. They were all standing by a large portal, dozens of people, families, citizens, newly freed Chosen.
Raylene hurried into the room. “We’ve lost the wall. Are we ready to retreat?”
I nodded my head. “I want you to take these people to Iron Citadel. Get them food and shelter. Also, start planning defenses for the area. We won’t be able to teleport anywhere after this. Iron Citadel is our last hope.”
R
aylene nodded, then paused. “Wait, what are you doing?”
“My party will stay behind a little bit longer,” I said. “There’s people still streaming into the keep. Citizens. Children. The wounded. We have to stay here and save as many people as possible. We will meet you back at Iron Citadel soon.”
Raylene nodded. She had a questioning glance on her face, like she didn’t fully agree with my plan. She thought we should all leave together right then. She turned to Jackson. Another long look. She then moved to the gate and barked orders at her soldiers as well as the civilians.
“Alright everyone,” she said. “We’re moving out. Iron Citadel, here we come!”
In a matter of seconds, the keep was empty again. We stood at the portal of the keep gateway. Serena, Will, Jackson, and Kari. My party.
A hand appeared through the doorway of the keep, clutching at the walls. A wounded soldier.
“Is it too late?” asked the soldier, limping into the hall.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “There’s still time. Head through the portal over there.”
I was relieved to still be here to guide people, even if it was just this one extra soldier we saved.
“Let’s go out there and gather as many more survivors as we can,” I said.
The party nodded and we headed out. The city was covered in smoke and fire. We rushed down into the streets. The roads were abandoned. There weren’t even Arethkarian soldiers streaming through. They must have been given orders to stand their ground.
What the heck was going on?
We turned a corner. Flecks of ash floated in the air alongside a flurry of rain.
Then I saw it. The reason everyone had retreated.
Walking in the middle of the street all by his lonesome was a striking figure.
Konrad Takeshimi.
37
Konrad Takeshimi walked down the empty street of Crystal Port. He looked like a ghost. He had a silver hue. His gray beard, his rimless spectacles, his faded eyes—all had a peculiarly ghostly sheen.
A rustle made me jump. Three orphan pickpockets ran out of a house and up the steps towards the keep. They’d been hiding from Konrad and were waiting for a distraction before they bolted away in escape.
I was happy to be their distraction.
“Should we turn back?” said Kari, in a quiet voice.
I didn’t have to answer to know it was too late.
Konrad was right behind us. He was in line of sight of the running orphans. The man lifted his arm and shot out a spell. I wasn’t sure what it was. It headed towards the kids, running up the steps. One of them tripped. The others turned back to grab the kid, but the spell went through. An expanding circle of nothingness captured the fallen boy, expanding until nothing was there.
“RUN!” I shouted at the kids.
They blinked with terror at the sight of their friend who’d been gobbled up out of nowhere. Then they charged away in sheer terror towards the keep.
“What the heck?” said Serena.
“Warp,” said Will. “Another OP chronomancer skill. I have a move to cancel if it comes up again. Also, make sure to not look him in the eyes. That’s the best way to avoid getting hit with petrify.”
Konrad blinked back to the front of the street where we’d first spotted him.
Serena and Jackon charged him head on. He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. Both Serena and Jackson ran at a slower pace, like they were wading through mud.
Kari threw out a slow removal buff to Serena.
Konrad lifted his arm and a bright green blast emerged from his fingertips and went straight through Serena, dropping her HP to zero.
A Party Member Has Fallen
Jackson squirmed. His body was moving too slowly to do anything. Konrad lifted his hand again and shot a green blast at him.
A Party Member Has Fallen.
Holy crap.
Kari threw out a raise spell at Jackson. I electric blinked to Serena’s corpse and triggered nature’s revival. We rushed away from Konrad.
“I don’t think we can defeat this guy,” said Serena. “At least, not yet. Not here.”
Konrad lifted his arms up high. He was readying a new move.
“Oh no,” said Will. “Everyone needs to run. He’s about to cast an AoE version of Warp.”
“What about you?” I asked.
“I’ll cancel the move and then follow behind. Now go.”
We ran back the way we came. We turned down the alley towards the steps of the keep. Jackson and Kari went ahead of me as I stayed by the corner. Serena grabbed my arm. “Clay—c’mon we gotta move.”
“No,” I said. “I need to stay and make sure my brother’s alright.”
The two spellcasters stood on either side of the street. Konrad readied his AoE spell while Will closed his eyes and let a sparkling black orb appear out of his person.
“What is happening?” said Serena.
“It must be a cancelling-move.”
The orb grew and grew and then the wind howled—like a gasp—and then went quiet.
The move had been cancelled.
Konrad dropped his arms. His face didn’t show any emotion. Not anger, not frustration.
Will stood there. I didn’t understand why he wasn’t running towards us.
“Will,” I shouted, appearing from the alley. “C’mon. Let’s go! What are you doing?”
Will shook his head. “You can’t keep going on like this, Clay,” he said. “You can’t save everyone. You can’t save everything. You can’t save every city and town. You have to choose your losses.”
“What are you saying?” I shouted, tears forming in my eyes.
Serena hand’s tugged on my arm.
I shook her away and ran towards my brother. I’d drag him back with us if I’d have to. I hadn’t lost him once only to lose him again.
When I appeared in the alley, Konrad’s eyes widened. I didn’t know why, but for whatever reason he wanted me. He thirsted for my death.
He lifted up his arm, revealing the spiraling black mark of the Prophetic Seal. He pressed down on the mark.
Will ran out to me and when I reached to grab his arm, he pushed me. Shoved me to the ground.
A black blast shot out from Konrad’s palm in our direction.
Will stepped in front of me, shielding me from the blast. He didn’t even face the blast. He stood over me, smiling a forced grin. “I’m happy I got to see you again little bro. You’ve taught me what it means to be a good person, a true hero, like yourself.”
Tears filled my eyes. “Will! Goddamnit! NO!”
“Goodbye, Clay. Take comfort knowing this is truly goodby—“
Will was gone.
I stood in horror at the empty space on the street. No spell or item could undo what just happened. Will’s consciousness had been permanently destroyed from the game. Never to return.
38
Konrad continued towards me. His face remained emotionless.
Someone’s arms yanked me up to my feet. Serena. She was pulling me forward, away from the man who’d just killed my brother.
I could barely think. See. Feel. Hear. It was like someone had messed with my brain and I was only experiencing every third second. I kept moving further and further away. The keep got closer. I kept turning around to see whether Will was behind us. I kept confronting an empty space every time. Nothing followed behind.
Emerging from the keep gateway, I fell to the floor of Iron Citadel’s control center. I breathed in and out, heaving massive breaths, between sobs.
Serena rubbed my back.
Kari and Jackson rushed over. “What happened?”
I waited for Shade to say a stupid line and hand me a beer, but he didn’t. Even the goofy cat-drunk was aware something wasn’t right.
“Where’s Will?” asked Shade.
Serena shook her head. Shade didn’t press the matter further.
The brief silence was interrupted by Raylene, kicking the
door in.
“Glad to see you’re all—“ she barked and, noticed the missing member of our party. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have any time to rest. Things aren’t going to hot here at Iron Citadel. There’s a small Arethkarian army surrounding this place. So much for our safe haven.”
For a brief second, I heard Will’s voice, arguing back with her. Airships cannot reach Iron Citadel making it a perfect defense against the Arethkarian armada.
He knew so much. So much more than I ever did. I was so happy to see him again; I had made zero preparations to say goodbye so soon. A hardness formed in my heart. Cold. Anger. I clenched my fists. I dug my nails into the palm of hands. I gritted my teeth.
“Clay?” said Serena.
I looked up. Everyone was staring at me. They were waiting for me to lead. To decide what to do next. I suddenly didn’t want the responsibility. I didn’t see the point.
Serena put her hand on my back. “I know the last thing you want to do is think and strategize our next move—but we really don’t have a choice. Once we get out of our current predicament, you’ll have all the time you need.”
I shook my head. “I’m fine,” I said. “A distraction sounds perfect. What’s happening out there?”
Raylene nodded. “General Syrus must’ve gotten a message from Konrad and the other generals at Crystal Port. They’re trying to put maximum pressure on us. General Syrus’ band is camping beyond our gate.”
“Do we have any idea how many soldiers they’re working with?”
“I sent a scout out to investigate,” said Raylene. “It looks like they’re around two hundred soldiers; about double what we’re working with. They’re the ones with the advantage.”
“But we’re fortified,” I said.
“Yes, but we’re also sitting ducks,” said Raylene. “What happens when their number of troops doubles again? Or quadruples? We need to remove their foothold from the area.”
