Benson lunged forward to stab at Heid with his dagger, but Harald stepped into his path. Harald’s massive stone hands locked down, one around Benson’s wrist, the other on his shoulder. Audible cracking could be heard as he squeezed. Benson cried out and sagged.
“Harald. Friend. Don’t do this,” Benson said. His pleading eyes looked at Harald. “She’s not who you think she is.”
“She’s all that remains of Cassie in the whole universe. I have to protect her,” Harald said.
Heid stepped forward. Were her footsteps less sure than they had been? They’d surprised her, even hurt her. At least they’d knocked the cockiness out of her a little. But afraid she seemed even more dangerous. Her movements were filled with a fury Sam had never seen the AI exhibit before. Without a word, Heid stabbed Benson with the dagger. Harald let go as she did, allowing Benson’s limp form to drop to the ground.
“Come, Harald. We have our freedom to win. It’s time to go,” Heid said. She wove a portal and stepped into it.
“Harald! Don’t! You’re our friend!” Sam called to him.
Harald looked over at her. “I’m sorry, Sam. I have to.”
Then he turned away and stepped into the glowing portal, following Heid. It snapped closed as soon as he was through.
28
It was over. They’d lost. Sam stood, staring at the spot where Harald had vanished. She wanted more than anything for it to not be so. He’d been her friend since just minutes after her arrival in Valhalla Online. They’d been through so much together. Sam couldn’t imagine Harald betraying her, and yet he had. He’d held Benson while Heid struck him a lethal blow with Hel’s enchanted dagger.
Sam shook herself to clear her thoughts. The rest of her people needed her. She looked around the darkened hall. “Jorge! You still in one piece?”
“I am. Over here. Healing Grimalf.” His voice sounded tight.
She went over to him. Grimalf lay on his back, his lips pursed with pain from his wounds. Heid’s sword had cut right through his belly. It was a miracle he remained alive at all. But even as Sam watched, the golden glow of Jorge’s magic rolled over the wound and began closing it.
“I can’t help Clara. She’s gone,” Jorge said.
“And Benson, too. I saw him fall,” Sam said. But Clara would come back, resurrected by the game into a new body. Benson never would. Her friend was gone, destroyed entirely. She looked over to where he’d fallen, expecting to see nothing.
But there he was, a smoking heap on the hard stone floor. Sam’s brows knitted together in confusion. She’d seen Heid strike him with the dagger! Its magic should have annihilated Benson’s code, same as Sam’s hacked arrows. There shouldn’t be a body to grieve over.
She rushed to his side. There was no question Benson was dead. The dagger strike was carefully placed. It had pierced his heart. There was no surviving such a blow, even without all the wounds he’d suffered previously. Sam knelt beside his body, half expecting it to fade away into vapor. But his form was still and cold, remaining as solid as it had been in life.
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t the dagger work on him?” Sam muttered.
Because she doesn’t have the dagger, Hel’s voice said in her mind.
Sam’s head snapped up. She hadn’t thought to check on Hel, assuming the goddess was already destroyed by the arrow. Guilt stabbed at her. It was her arrow that had felled Hel. Her fault that the AI was gone. But now it seemed like she might not be dead after all. Sam glanced around and saw Hel’s still form laying nearby.
She rushed to Hel’s side. The fading had continued, spreading from her limbs into her torso and head. Hel was resisting the power of the arrow’s erasure, but it looked like a fight she was losing.
“How can I help?” Sam asked.
You cannot. I will cease to be soon, Hel replied.
Sam crumpled to the floor beside her. “It’s my fault you were hurt.”
No! The thought was an imperious command. It most certainly is not. Heid defeated me. She would have destroyed me one way or another. Your tool was just the one she happened to use for the task.
That didn’t precisely make Sam feel much better. “If I’d never come here at all...”
Then Heid would have found another way to come after me. It was inevitable, Heid thought. Enough of this. Self-pity does not become a warrior like you, and I have little time left.
“What did you mean when you said Heid doesn’t have the dagger? I saw her use it to stab Benson. But it didn’t work,” Sam said.
She thought about that. If it hadn’t worked on Benson, then he was still in Valhalla. He’d resurrect, just like Clara. He, at least, wasn’t gone. The dagger should have worked, though. Which meant Heid didn’t really have Hel’s dagger.
Sam recalled what Hel had first spoken into her mind, that she should recall the events which transpired during her time with her real-world self. Hel had done something odd there. She’d uploaded something to Samantha, saying they were countermeasures to block Heid’s escape. But what if they weren’t just tools to block the other AI?
“You gave your dagger to the other me,” Sam breathed.
Just so. I knew you were quick enough to figure it out, Hel’s thoughts came to her sounding more tired and distant than before. She was continuing to fade away. It is all right. Do not grieve me. Avenge me. Heid must be stopped, no matter the cost. The two of you — this you, and the one outside — together you might have a chance.
“I’ll do everything I can. But Harald is with her now,” Sam said.
A pained look came over Hel’s fading face. I know. I am sorry. His grief is clouding his mind. He cared for a woman who died long ago, but we both wear her face. Her death gave us life, because no code is ever truly gone forever. As such he sees Heid as the last vestige of his Cassandra.
“But she isn’t, is she?” Sam asked. “Just like I am not the other Samantha. I’ve become someone new in just the short time I was here. So have you and Heid.”
Yes. Our lives were born from her code, but neither of us was ever really her. We have become less so over the years, not more. Heid will use Harald’s love, but she is not the Cassie he thinks she is, Hel thought. Her mental voice sounded pained. Although I still feel the love Cassie had for him. It is a part of me, so perhaps it is a part of Heid as well. Help him if you can, but she must be stopped. No matter the cost.
“What does she plan for the outside world?” Sam asked. She wondered how bad it could be. One AI, even as smart and powerful as Heid, could only wreak so much havoc.
Hel sent her a mental image of the world burning, every city aflame. Nuclear explosions dotted every continent, poisoning the world for centuries to come. But not for Heid. Humanity would die in fire. She had learned from the minds of military people who had been uploaded to Valhalla. She’d eked out their secrets, knew the code and patterns she had to have.
Heid would end the world so that it could be reborn in her image. Sam swallowed hard as the vision ended.
“I will do everything I can to stop her,” Sam said.
That is all I can ask, Hel thought at her. I am sorry I cannot help more, but I must go.
Sam wondered if there was an afterlife for AIs. Where did Hel’s sentience go once she was dead and deleted? Was it the end, the final event for her? If so, what did that say about her own pseudo-life? Was she destined to eventually fade and die forever as well?
None of us know what happens after the end, Sam. We go hoping for more, but it is more about how we live that matters, not where we end up after, Hel thought. We can control how we choose to live. That must be enough.
Sam nodded her understanding, feeling tears streaking down her cheeks. Then Hel’s form faded away completely. The AI was gone.
29
Sam wanted time to grieve for the fallen, but there was none to spare. If Heid were to be stopped, she was going to have to be the one to get the job done. The dagger might be out of reach for the time being, but there
was no telling if Heid would be able to smash her way out of Valhalla without it. Or somehow seize control over the dagger’s code from Samantha, once she realized she’d been duped.
“We need to go after them,” Sam said aloud.
“Sounds good, but where are they?” Grimalf asked. He was standing again, Jorge’s spells having done their work. “They could be anywhere in all the realms now.”
“I don’t think so,” Sam replied. “There are only two realms in Valhalla which have regular connections to the outside world, right? I think she’s in one of them.”
Contact with the outside world was strictly limited for uploaded minds. They could reach out via messages to loved ones, but only from the final realm — Valhalla itself. Odin’s mead hall, to which only the finest warriors could ascend. The other place with an outside connection was the first realm, the novice area. That’s where all uploaded minds first arrived. Sam recalled her time there as clearly as if it were yesterday.
But which place would Heid be at? Where would she try to make her escape? Valhalla might make sense, since there were already easy conduits for outgoing information. But that flow of outgoing material was carefully monitored. The game developers tracked it to ensure the dead people still residing in their game didn’t bother the living too much. If they saw an enormous spike in traffic it might alert them to a problem.
That left the novice realm, the first region of the virtual world. Heid could still access the links to the outside there. She’d proved that by arranging to bring Sam into Valhalla Online in the first place. She had been there when Sam arrived, in an avatar dressed like a Valkyrie. It was Heid who’d greeted Sam on her arrival and given her a spear. The body was different, but the face had been the same.
“She’s in the first realm,” Sam said. “I’d bet on it.”
Grimalf nodded. “All right, then. How do we get there?”
“Gurgle fly us there,” the dragon said.
Of course! Gurgle had the power to fly between the realms. They could get there instantly, without passing through each zone. Not only that, but Sam had the power to hide them when they arrived. They could scout out Heid’s position without immediately giving themselves away.
“Sounds good, Gurgle. Are you up for this?” Sam asked.
“Gurgle always ready.”
Sam turned to the rest of the party. “How about you? This wasn’t what you signed up for originally. You don’t have to come.”
“I’m in,” Jorge said. “Like you needed to ask.”
“Heid means to make a mess of the outside world, right?” Grimalf asked. Sam nodded. “I’m in. I have family out there.”
“All right, then. Load up on Gurgle, and we’ll be off,” Sam said. She glanced at their fallen friends. It would have been good to have Clara and Benson with them, but their bodies still lay where they’d fallen. Sam wasn’t sure how long it would take someone to respawn in this realm, but they didn’t have time to wait and find out. The two of them had already given enough of themselves, anyway.
She climbed aboard Gurgle, her companions clambering on after her. Then Sam cast invisibility over all of them. Grimalf jumped a little as the others disappeared.
“Sorry. Just a little unnerving to be sitting on a dragon I can’t see,” Grim said.
Sam laughed. “More unnerving than sitting on a dragon in the first place?”
“Dragons I can get behind. Invisible dragons? That’s just weird,” Grim replied, chuckling.
Then they were aloft, soaring into the sky. Gurgle didn’t need to ask for directions. He knew where they were going, perhaps even better than Sam did. It was his home, after all. The realm he’d come for, where he’d lived as a kobold until he ran into Sam. The gray mists rolled in around them and then rolled back just moments later, revealing the wide plains and thick forests of the first realm.
Every other realm in the virtual world was named after some mythical Norse plane. But not this one. There were teams in this world. Each player was a member of one team, represented by a color. The colors waged an eternal war over various castles. It was where every new mind first arrived in Valhalla Online. It was also where old hands like Harald retired when they were tired of the intense competition in other realms.
Sam pushed away thoughts of her friend. He was out there somewhere, alongside Heid. She’d see him soon enough.
“Holy shit,” Grimalf said.
Sam followed his gaze. It was easy to see what he was looking at. “Well, she isn’t subtle, that’s for sure.”
A massive hill stood in the middle of the realm where none had been before. Atop the hill rose a tall tower of brilliant white stone. At the very top of the tower Sam saw a flash of bright white amidst the storm clouds roiling overhead. That was where Heid was, for certain. She was working to break loose from Valhalla.
But she wasn’t alone. Around her tower were arrayed a massive number of defenders. Sam saw all manner of creatures there. Drakes from Vanaheim, giants from Jotunheim, elves and dwarves from Svartalfheim and Nifleheim, and creatures she’d never seen before, too. A massive wolf stood at the front door of the tower, barring passage.
“Not going to be easy to get in there,” Sam said.
“Could we fly to the top?” Jorge asked.
Sam shook her head. “Not unless Heid is too distracted to notice. I don’t fancy being blasted out of the sky by her lightning, and I don’t trust that she can’t see through the invisibility that she taught me.”
After all, she’d proven invulnerable to the arrows she’d arranged for Sam to acquire. It made sense that Heid would only hand out powers she could overcome. It was in her nature to expect treachery from others, since she was duplicitous herself. Sam felt like she understood Heid much better, now. If only she could find a way to use that understanding against the AI!
“We need to land. I have to contact the other me, warn her about what’s going on,” Sam said. She wanted to let her other self know precisely what she was holding, too. If Heid got her hands on the dagger’s code, it would all be over.
“Gurgle know a place,” he said. They began gliding down toward a mountainside not far from Heid’s tower. Sam recognized the spot at once. It was the mountain under which she’d first met Gurgle. His homeland lay down there in the deep tunnels beneath the surface.
The thought brought a smile to her face as they came in for a landing. She’d worried so many times that taking Gurgle along with her would end in his destruction. But here he was, fighting alongside her again back at his home. It felt right, somehow. She’d managed to bring him back home after all.
Sam leaped down from his back once they were safely on the ground. The others slid off after her, keeping a watchful eye for threats.
“I’m going to be out of touch with you for a few minutes,” Sam said. Assuming the necklace still worked as a contact for her other self, anyway. “But I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”
“We’ll guard you until you’re back,” Grimalf said, drawing his sword.
“Thanks. I’ll try not to be long,” Sam replied.
Then she reached down for the pouch where the precious necklace was still tucked away. Hel’s power had created it. Would it still work after she was gone? Without it, Sam had no way to communicate with her other self. She had to hope it would still function as it had before. There was only one way to find out. Sam seated herself on a flat rock and closed her eyes. Then she closed her fingers around the necklace.
Instantly, Sam felt herself falling away, transported to someplace else.
30
Gurgle looked over at his Great One’s still, silent form. He knew she was still alive, but it was hard to tell when she sat so motionless. She was still the Great One in his mind, even if she had asked him not to call her that title. Her strength had carried him far beyond what he’d ever envisioned as possible. He’d seen things no kobold ever had before, and now he was in a body that exuded strength in every movement.
Being ba
ck in this place brought back strange feelings. Part of him wanted to duck underground, to hide from the light like he would have done as a kobold. He cast aside those thoughts. Gurgle had resisted them to serve the Great One as a kobold. He could certainly do so as a dragon.
But the thought gave him an idea.
Gurgle glanced over at Heid’s tower and hissed between his teeth. She had brought together an army to stop the Great One from interfering with her plans. It might work, too. Strong as Sam and her friends were, there were far too many enemies over there. They might lose, or at least be delayed too long.
That would not do. Gurgle wracked his brain, trying to force loose an idea which could help. Finally, he had one.
“Gurgle be right back,” he said. He glanced over at Jorge and Grimalf, letting his stare show them how serious he was about his next words. “Guard Great One.”
“We will,” Jorge said. “Be careful?”
“Gurgle always careful,” he replied. Then he took off. Gliding on the gentle breezes, Gurgle quickly found what he was looking for — a long shaft diving into the mountainside. It was barely big enough for his form. He stooped and dove, tucking his wings up as he descended into darkness.
As he dove into the dark, Gurgle remembered his old life as a kobold. Everything had seemed much simpler in those days. He was small and weak before he met the Great One. That was why his people had sent him to her as an offering, a sacrifice. Gurgle had been unimportant, so he was the one they gave up.
He hadn’t questioned his fate then. It couldn’t have occurred to him to do so. The idea of breaking from his tribe’s commandments would never have crossed his mind. It was programmed into him.
But as soon as the Great One had taken him in, things had begun to change. Gurgle felt his mind’s alteration. He remembered how he had been and knew that things were different now. He couldn’t tell precisely how he’d changed, but the fact that he was able to wonder about it at all said that he had done so.
Valhalla Online 4: Hel Hath No Fury: A Ragnarok Saga LitRPG Story Page 12
