1-Up

by Dean Smith

  Mordoom took one last glance at Valiant and ran towards the battle outside. His words weighed on Valiant’s mind but he was unsure whether he could do what Mordoom asked of him, he doubted he could ever forgive Rita for what she had done. He understood where Mordoom was coming from but he just didn’t believe he could rise above her actions and be better. Unsure of what to do and with no time left to think it over, Valiant climbed the stairs. One way or another, it would all be over soon.

  Boss Battle

  Mordoom’s words stayed with Valiant and he went over them again and again in his head whilst climbing the staircase but try as he might, he couldn’t reconcile Mordoom’s request with how he felt and the burning desire within to end Rita’s reign of terror.

  Once upon a time when this journey began, everything he did and all the trials he overcame were all in service of trying to help Rita and she had responded with vicious cruelty towards the innocent just to prove a point. He couldn’t help but think of Jessie, doomed to sleep forever without the quest needed to wake her up and Erica who lived in tragic ignorance over her daughter’s condition as, within the code of the game, Jessie’s quest had already been completed. Rita’s actions had destroyed many lives, not least of all, the monsters of Vilemire who had awakened and had sought a better path than the one the game offered. They were all but destroyed now, reduced to their in-game incarnations and forced to act as guard dogs against their will. They were monsters, but it was Rita whose actions were truly monstrous.

  He couldn’t help her, he couldn’t see her as Mordoom or Gedea did. In his mind she wasn’t a scared girl in need of help but a villain looking to damn the world because of her own selfish desires. Thinking of her like that hurt him, within the lore of the game, they were true lovers destined to be together but as soon as they had awakened, they both realised that they had no romantic interest in each other. Valiant saw her as a friend and a comrade but never as a lover and she seemed content to see him the same way. His heart ached as he recalled when Rita was so determined to be a hero, to be more than just a damsel in distress. She could have been the greatest hero in all of Venturis but her heart was torn asunder by confusion and deep-seated issues brought on by her awakening and Valiant ignored them. He hoped that the path of heroism would lift her troubles but he only condemned her to the conclusion that she couldn’t be a hero and she couldn’t be a princess and in her mind in which the game’s rule was absolute, only one role remained for her, the villain.

  Valiant shook his head, he didn’t want to empathise with her; he didn’t want to see things from her perspective. It wouldn’t make what he had to do any easier, only harder and the thought of it was hard enough already. Rita was too dangerous, too far gone, and he had to value the lives of everyone in Venturis over hers, there was no other way.

  The sounds of battle intensified as he reached the top of the stairs and he was greeted with a door, behind it a symphony of chaos raged. This was the door to the balcony, he was sure of it.

  Valiant took a moment, this was the point of no return. To proceed would be to commit to his chosen course of action to its end, whichever end it may be. The fate of Venturis and everyone in it hung in the balance and everything would be decided within the next few minutes. The weight of it all could have made Valiant fall to his knees, he had faced down villains before but that was back when the odds were stacked in his favour by the game itself. This time however, an unseen force wasn’t guiding his actions, everything he did was of his own volition and the stakes were very real.

  Valiant grabbed hold of the large door handle and turned it, if he waited any longer, he would lose his nerve. The smell of brimstone and the sight of smoke and lava assaulted his senses when he stepped through the door. As expected he was on a balcony above the battlefield and close by was Rita, her back turned to him. She was watching the battle unfold below, she could have easily ended it by now. With a flick of her wrist she could have altered the code and deleted everyone but instead she created more soldiers for Valiant’s allies to fight. He wondered why that was before deciding it didn’t matter, nothing could change the course he had committed to now.

  ‘Rita.’

  She sighed in response before looking at him, her shining eyes betrayed her otherwise stoic expression.

  ‘You’re here. Good, this has gone on long enough. End it, end me.’ She outstretched her arms as though she was reaching out for a hug but she remained in place. ‘I won’t fight back, I’ve grown tired of hurting people.’

  Valiant drew his sword in one hand and she smiled when she saw it.

  ‘Be the hero you’re meant to be.’ Her voice echoed with sincerity and quaked with fear.

  Valiant gasped as Mordoom’s words returned to his mind once more, he had said something similar albeit different. He had told Valiant to be the hero he wanted to be but Rita, as ever, was still beholden to the rules of the game although they no longer applied. For so long, he wanted to reclaim the glory of being the hero he was but that seemed hollow now. Slaying monsters and villains, completing quests, none of it mattered because the world had changed. He could never be the hero he once was because those days were gone and now, now he could be a real hero.

  He looked once more at Rita, he saw beyond her actions, beyond the villainous getup and the immense power she had amassed and saw her for who she truly was. Someone who was scared. Scared of change but scared of staying the same, scared of being lost in this new world but fearing that finding her place would confine her to a role she hated. She was so scared that she was blind to what the world had become.

  ‘Damn it.’ He couldn’t hurt her, he couldn’t defeat her, not now, not yet. He sheathed his sword.

  ‘What? Do it already! End my suffering!’ She yelled in frustration but the fear never left her voice.

  He opened his menu and selected the patch dagger. He would fix everything, he would make sure of it. When the dagger materialised in his hand, Rita backed away from him, her eyes narrowed in suspicion at the dagger.

  ‘That.... That’s new.’ Her eyes became a sea of static as she stared at the dagger. ‘I don’t understand, the code doesn’t recognise it.’ She raised her hand at Valiant as he stepped forward, a fireball flared above her hand. Valiant cursed internally, Rita was opting to use the magic she had taken from Mordoom instead of her own power and he could only assume that she knew that his own abilities came from absorbing code. If so then she wouldn’t likely use it against him which meant he would have to go without.

  If he could just touch her with the dagger it would be enough to rob her off that power and seal the ability to manipulate the code forever and without that power she couldn’t accomplish her goals.

  ‘Rita, you don’t have to do this, you never have. We want the same thing, we all want to belong and be happy. I’m here to end the game as well but your plan won’t do that, it’ll just ensure we’re all slaves to it again. Trust in me, I’ll end this game for good. I promise.’

  Rita regaled him with doubt but she looked uncertain of even that.

  ‘Stand with me, together we can change the world for the better.’

  Her expression turned painful, she looked as though she was being pulled in two different directions from within. The fireball in her hand shrunk somewhat as she closed her eyes in thought.

  ‘We don’t need to fight, Rita.’

  She sighed as the fireball in her hand grew larger than before.

  ‘But we do.’ Her voice was filled with poignant regret. ‘This game only ends when the boss, the villain, is defeated and I’m that villain. This game has to end and whether we face oblivion or blissful ignorance, anything has to be better than feeling like this. I’m so lost, I just want to feel normal again, to be secure in my own skin and to not question everything. This can only end one way, the hero must defeat the villain.’

  ‘No, I don’t accept that, Rita. I’m done with trying to be what this game dictated I should be and so is everyone else in this world. We�
��re all scared, do you think I wasn’t freaking out the entire time we travelled together and throughout this journey as well? Do you think I knew what to do? I was lost as you were but I gave the world a chance, can you say the same?’ He stepped forward and Rita’s fireball flared threateningly. ‘Things have changed since you lost your way; The world woke up and people have been choosing their own paths and writing their own destinies. No one is beholden to the game, not them and not you. You might think the old ways dictate the way we live now but they don’t. You made your own choices since Vardant’s defeat, you chose to try to be a hero, you chose to kill that princess and you chose to play the role of the villain. You have made your choices but you know what? You can also change your mind. You don’t have to damn us all to your version of reality, you don’t have to be the villain.’ He extended his hand to her. ‘You hurt me and people I care about more than I thought possible and until a few moments ago, I was prepared to end you but Mordoom convinced me otherwise. Yes, Mordoom, the one who the game dictated was the villain, told me to embrace kindness and empathy and he was told to do the same by a monster that you enslaved. A villain and his minions taught the hero how to be truly good and you think this world is still at the behest of the code or the game? We’ve outgrown it and this world is what we make of it so please, take my hand and I’ll do everything in my power to help you feel like you belong. I swear it.’

  It looked as though a battle was raging within Rita’s mind that was far more intense than the one happening below. Valiant could feel that she desperately wanted to take up his offer. Rita looked vulnerable in a way that Valiant hadn’t seen in a long time and Valiant saw a glimpse of the woman he once considered a friend. Despite her actions, Valiant couldn’t see her as a villain like she claimed to be and now that he had an unwilling understanding of her motives, he felt his anger towards her evaporate. She was a broken person and Valiant had learned through this journey that it wasn’t a hero’s job to simply slay monsters and villains but to heal the hearts of those that needed help, to provide hope so they can see a future for themselves and to infuse them with the strength to make it their own. He didn’t need to defeat Rita to save the day, he just needed to be there for her, to show her kindness and to talk her off the ledge. True heroism wasn’t about brute strength, it was about being kind enough to inspire that same kindness in others and foster true change. He hoped he could help her understand that and that she could know that she was not alone.

  ‘I wish I could believe you, I do.’ Her voice quaked with sadness. ‘But I feel the code within my veins, I’ve seen too much within it to believe that we can ever break free. I so desperately want what you are saying to be true, but I know that it’s not. Blind hope isn’t enough in the face of cold facts and the code is infallible. This game can only end one way and if you won’t fight me, I’ll force you to.’

  Valiant was so certain he had brought her around to his way of thinking so much that her sudden turn left him dumbfounded to the extent that he almost didn’t react in time when she threw her fireball at him. He blocked it with his shield but the explosion threw him off his feet. Even though he blocked the attack, he still lost a quarter of his life bar.

  Rita’s own life bar had appeared, ‘Rita?1code:MISSING?!LostVALUE=FATALERROR’ was the name written above it.

  ‘Rita! Stop, you don’t need to do this!’ Rita wasn’t listening, instead she conjured lightning in a ball within her hands as red attack indicators littered around Valiant’s position. He ran from the spot and if he had done so a second later, he would have been struck by lightning from above. The attack indicators followed him around the balcony as more lightning struck it. He ran to the only safe place left for a reprieve from the lightning and when it ended a large circle covered the once safe zone and Valiant threw himself out of its radius as a mighty explosion covered the area. The second he hit the floor, a line indicator spread out towards him from Rita’s position, the lightning ball in her hand crackled with wicked intent. Valiant only had time to gasp when a bolt of lightning erupted from the ball and struck him. He screamed out as every pixel in his body seemed to wail in unison at the pain that was tearing him apart. Through blurred vision, he could see his life bar deplete, he had less than a quarter of it left. Another bolt would kill him, hell, another direct hit of any kind would do the same. Shaking, he got to his feet and looked to where Rita was gone only to see she had vanished. He took the opportunity to select a health potion from his inventory but before he could use it she appeared right in front of him and grabbed hold of his throat. He could feel magic erupt from her fingers and into him as the remnants of his life bar drained. He tried to gargle at her to stop but she did not relent.

  ‘You only have one choice, kill me or die. I’m sorry Valiant, I wish there was another way but there isn’t.’

  But there was. Valiant gripped onto his last hope and prayed that things would work out as he had planned. With the last part of his lifebar about to be depleted, he accessed his menu and selected the dagger again. With no time left to doubt his actions, Valiant pricked her hand with the patch dagger, causing her to let go of him. He had very little health left, not enough to even form a visible segment on his lifebar.

  ‘No!’ She screamed as her eyes erupted into static once more and her life bar switched to a bar of another kind.

  ‘Now patching, time remaining: five minutes.’

  Rita looked at him, he didn’t need to explain what had just happened, she had read the code enough to know what was happening to her. Her ability to manipulate and rewrite the code was being taken away from her and she looked at him with a newfound desperation. She reached out to him and Valiant recoiled, expecting another attack but she placed her hand on his head and closed her eyes.

  He felt a familiar rush of power flood through his veins and a rush of anticipation and excitement took hold.

  ‘This is your power now, do the right thing.’ Rita spoke weakly before falling to her knees.

  Valiant was stunned by Rita’s actions and he took her words to heart. Using the power he had been given, he dived into the code and looked at what Rita had set in motion. She had changed the game code so that, if the game somehow continued beyond the end, Venturis would be reset to a point before the awakening and Rita would instead by the hero in place of Valiant. Valiant couldn’t let this happen and so he removed the code she had created and ensured that the patch would work as intended. His whole plan revolved around one of the two features that the patch introduced into the game and if it didn’t work out as he expected then they would all be reset to who they were before and that grim ending would the best case scenario. If the patch failed this time, they would face the oblivion of an ending game and the terrifying unknown possibilities it presented with them.

  With the code corrected and the patch in place, Valiant turned his gaze to the battle down below. He felt shuffling from his side as Rita got back on her feet.

  ‘There’s been enough violence today, Valiant.’ She said, her voice worn from their battle.

  ‘Agreed.’ Valiant lifted his hands and pointed them at the battle. He thought of the monstrous armies that had been consigned to being disposable grunts and wished from deep within that they could have the chance of a life that other people in Venturis had. He felt his hands grow warm as static emerged and flowed around them. In his mind, he spoke three words.

  ‘Set them free.’

  The static blasted forth and encapsulated the battlefield and the sounds of magic and warfare ended shortly afterwards. When the static cleared, the monstrous army had lowered their weapons and Valiant’s friends maintained a cautious defensive position but didn’t attack. Valiant hoped that he had used his power correctly and from the lack of continued violence, he was cautiously optimistic that he had. If he had the power to free people from the dream that was the game then there was one place above all else that he wanted to go. In his mind, he pictured that place, it’s tropical beaches, it’s picturesque s
etting and even the catchy background music. To the left of him, a gateway of static appeared and within it, he could see his destination, before he walked through, he turned to Rita and held out his hand.

  ‘Come with me, I want you to see the world as it is, to know that the game and the creators only had control of our pasts, not our presents or our futures.’ Rita seemed to know where the portal lead as she seemed nervous and almost fearful of facing what she had done but despite all that, she took his hand and held on with a steely determined grip that was only matched by the determination in her eyes.

  ‘Lead the way, Valiant.’

  The sunny surroundings were a world away from the dark oppressive mountains of Vilemire and Valiant shielded his eyes for a moment when he stepped out of the portal with Rita and onto the docks of Goldharbour.

  Just like when he left, everyone was still slaves to their game behaviours, still repeating their one or two lines of dialogue while walking back and forth on their assigned routes. Valiant could feel Rita squirm beside him, being brought face to face with the damage she had done would not be easy but they both knew it was necessary. Rita had to see it all first hand to understand what she had taken from these people.

  Repeating what he did at Vilemire Castle, Valiant unleashed a wave of static throughout the town that seeped into every individual. It took a minute for everyone to wake up but when they did, the town burst into life like Valiant had never seen before. The grateful people crowded around Valiant, knowing full well what happened to them and what it meant to be free from the game’s control. Valiant acknowledged their gratitude with plenty of gratitude of his own. He looked through the faces of the people gathered around him, hoping to see two in particular.