Gamers and Gods: AES

by Matthew Kennedy

Chapter 51: Darla: learning when not to heal

  Darla could feel herself weakening. Out in the real world, her body was getting tired. After she was sure Aes was getting comfortable with most of his new powers, there was still one more thing to do before she said goodnight.

  “Aes,” she said, landing on a rooftop in Boomtown, “I need to log and sleep soon, but there's something I need you to do for me. It's not going to be easy, and you won't like it.”

  He coasted to a stop and released his flight to drop neatly on his feet, crunching to rest beside her on the shingles. “That sounds ominous,” he remarked. “But if it is important to you, I can do it.”

  “It is,” she told him. “The only way you can practice your rez power is if you let me die first.” He started to open his mouth but she held up a hand to interrupt him. “Hang on. You know this is not my real body, right? All of Snarky's bullets never made a single wound.”

  “Yes,” he said. “It is hard to grasp, but I get it.”

  “Let me tell you how this is going to work,” she said. “There is a group of Jerx down on the street that are my level. I'm going to go get their attention and then just stand there, while they kill my avatar. It shouldn't take too long, but I need you to watch without interfering. If you heal me, you won't get to practice rezzing me. Understand?”

  “You're right,” he said grimly. “It won't be easy, and I won't like it.”

  “That's okay. I'll be talking to you the whole time so you'll know I'm actually all right. When my avatar's dead, I'll tell you what to do next. Ready? Here I go.”

  Leading him to the edge of the roof so he could see the gang of Jerx, she reached out and patted his cheek, then jumped off the roof. It was only a three story building, but enough to drop her health by ten percent when she hit the sidewalk. It was a start, she thought.

  The Jerx were only a few yards away. “Hey, morons!” she yelled, tossing her dagger into one. As one, they turned and charged her.

  This was the hard part, she knew. Aes was a good healer, so his instinct would be to heal her as soon as she started getting hurt. But that would be counterproductive. He simply had to tough it out and only watch...or she would have to do this all over again.

  She had picked this group because one of them was a nameless boss. As the others whipped out handguns and began popping away at her, missing too much, the boss reached behind him and drew a shotgun. BLAM! The blast knocked her off her feet and erased another forty percent of her avatar's health.

  Still nothing from Aes. Good. She almost smiled as she climbed back to her feet: she was feeling nothing but the shock of impact, whereas he was probably agonizing at the sight of it. “Is that all you got?” she taunted. Then she waved up at Aes. “This won't take long, Aes. Don't worry.”

  More popping from the minions; she took bullets in her right leg and her gut. Health down to thirty percent now. “What's the matter boss? Are you out of ammo?” she jeered at the one with the shotgun, throwing a knife at him that missed.

  BLAM! Another blast from the leader's shotgun slammed into her. Her avatar's legs gave out and she pitched on her face. Almost there.

  “A few seconds more, Aes,” she called, knowing he could hear her on the Team audio channel. This time she didn't bother to get up. Staring into the concrete from an inch away, she heard a couple more pops from the handguns. Her health went to zero and stayed there.

  “Okay, Aes,” she said. “Can you still hear me?”

  “Yes,” he answered. His voice was under tight control. “That was hard to watch all right.”

  “You did fine. The really hard part is over now. Are you okay?”

  “I am if you are,” came his answer.

  “Right. Now it's time to bring me to you. In a real team battle, if you rezzed me where I am now, they'd just shoot me again. You need to teleport me to you first. Time to learn how to use your Summon Friend power. Concentrate on my avatar and see if you can get it to work.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “It's like the other powers,” she reminded him. “You have to associate a unique gesture or whatever with it. If this happens in a real fight, you need to do it as soon as possible. This time, however, there's no rush. Take your time; I need to sleep soon, but I'll stay awake until we get this solidified.”

  She settled herself in to wait. There was no way to help him with this. She couldn't even see what he was doing.

  While she waited, she thought about Am-heh. Was he still in the Realm of Bushido? Either he was...or Farker had forgotten to tell them he'd left it. She wondered if they were going to have trouble tracking the Devourer down. You'd think all they'd have to do was follow a trail of bodies...except there'd be no trail, since he swallowed them.

  “This is hard,” Aes complained. “I'm thinking 'Summon Friend' but nothing's happening. I don't know where to start.”

  “You'll get it,” she assured him. “I forgot how tricky these games can be for beginners. What's going to happen is, my avatar's body will disappear like a popped bubble and appear lying on the roof next to you in a flash of light. Thinking the name of the power won't be enough, though, or it could happen when you are just talking about your powers.” She paused, thinking. “Try to imagine reaching out as if you were doing a ranged heal, but instead of thinking 'be healed', imagine you are grabbing my body and pulling it through an invisible tunnel to you while you think 'Summon Friend'; that might do it.”

  She waited. An inch away, too close to focus on, an imaginary ant crawled past her on the sidewalk.

  FLASH.

  The sidewalk turned into shingles. “You did it!” she said. “Good job. Now do almost the same thing as a heal, except imagine me rising up to stand on my feet.”

  “Ἀνάστασις” he said.

  Emerald flames mushroomed around her. Without trying, her body rose into the air and settled to its feet on the roof. The harmless flames died away.

  She turned to face him. “That's it,” she told him. “Now you're the complete package. You can fly, heal others, heal yourself, pull people out of danger and bring them back to health. Let's go back to Pelion and say goodnight before I zonk out.”

  Aes reached out his hand for transport, as he was used to. She was about to take it in hers, when a thought struck her.

  “Hold on,” she said. “One more thing we need to try. Let's get you access to inter-Realm travel in case you need to go and I'm not with you.” She whispered in his ear. “Say that,” she directed. “If it's paying attention, it should work, even without the menus.”

  “Finder,” said Aes, “Take me to Realm of Legends.”

  FLASH.

  He was standing by the cave again. But he was alone. It was a personal transport, he realized. Only someone he was touching when he commanded it would arrive with him.

  FLASH.

  Darla appeared in front of him. “Now, you're the complete package,” she said, smiling. “You can go where you want, and make a quick getaway if you're in trouble. It'll probably work for you if you just think 'take me to Realm of Heroes' or whatever, instead of saying it out loud. It does for me. Just don't go to Realm of Bushido without me, okay?”

  “I won't,” he promised. “Get some sleep. I'll be okay.”

  On impulse, she took his head in her hands and kissed him. He was surprised, she felt, but he did not break away. Instead, he let his arms go around her as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The kiss ended up lasting a bit longer than she had thought.

  “Wow,” she said, when they finally broke the kiss. “I was wrong twice. Now you're the complete package. And your package works, evidently.”

  He was actually blushing! She stepped back, grinning, as he straightened his chiton. “I'll see you soon, hero,” she said, and went back to Realm of Heroes before she logged out of the system.

  Chapter 52: Am-heh: don't pay the Ferryman