Forsaken

by Cebelius

  Abram's musing was interrupted by a breeze against his face that made him realize how muggy the air had gotten. It was much warmer now than it had been, and the air carried with it a scent he didn't recognize at all. He glanced around to see that they were approaching the end of this tunnel, and that there was a light source beyond. It was pale, diffuse, and the sight came with the sounds of animal life.

  Angie and the others pulled up short at the entrance to the tunnel. Abram stepped up to stand with them at the edge of the light and looked out into a much more open space. He saw that the light came from the ceiling as a whole, which seemed to be entirely composed of iridescent crystal.

  The roof of the space was at least fifty feet above them, though it was rough and rose in some places while dropping in others. The cavern spread out in all directions, and Abram's jaw dropped as he saw plant life in glorious profusion. Not mushrooms either, but real plants: ferns, moss, trees. A glance at the ground showed him grasses and herbs coming up out of rich black soil.

  "Wow," he breathed, forgetting entirely in that moment he was supposed to be a hard-ass.

  "Disgusting," Lygi breathed. "I hate this part of the journey."

  Abram glanced at her, but didn't bother to reply. She was gazing out at the underground forest with the look of someone desperately in need of a flamethrower. What he saw as amazing beauty, she clearly saw as a mess desperately in need of cleansing.

  "We'll camp here and wait for dark," Angie said with a look at Sif, who was now all but cowering behind her. "Then we can make the crossing. Unfortunately, it will be a good ten hours before we can set out. Bad timing."

  Abram looked at her, but didn't ask. He'd remembered by now that he had an image to maintain, so he'd save his questions for later. What she'd said made it obvious there was some sort of day/night cycle at play in the space beyond. It was also clear that both Sif and Lygi were relieved to hear they wouldn't be immediately setting out. No one else had so much as set foot in the direct light from the crystal roof, so Abram followed their example.

  "I will take first watch," Lygi said. "It will allow me to sleep uninterrupted after, so that I do not infuriate the mage by dying on the way."

  There was more than a hint of snark in the tone, but Abram actually saw the wisdom in the move. Apparently, Sif did as well because she said, "That is fair, though one of us should watch with you."

  The implication being we don't trust the noob, Abram thought with quiet amusement, as he spoke up and said, "I'll watch with her. Uninterrupted sleep sounds good to me too."

  Angie looked dubious, but shrugged as Sif nodded her agreement and said, "I will take the middle watch. I would prefer my protectors be fresh for whatever comes."

  The shifts decided, everyone settled as best they might in the rounded tunnel. Now that the answer wouldn't be immediately forthcoming, Abram was more than a little curious as to why they weren't going to just venture out into the light, but again felt that asking would give too much away to their surly hanger-on.

  Time passed. Angie fell asleep almost immediately — her arms folded across her chest — and Sif wasn't far behind her, drifting off as she leaned against the giant proxy's side.

  Lygi sat opposite them, and glanced with almost metronomic regularity to her left and right, checking both the tunnel down which they'd come and the comparatively open air of the world beyond.

  Abram leaned back against the wall a little bit closer to the light than the others, mostly so that he had a wider view. The ceiling really did appear to be one massive crystal, and the size of it would have been mind-boggling in any real world. He had no background in geology and only a basic understanding of rock formations, so he had no clue whether the crystal was even technically possible or pure bullshit. If he were honest with himself he didn't really care. Whatever it was, the light that shown from its myriad facets wasn't split into its component colors, but was pure white. That suggested — to Abram at least — that the crystal was actually the source, rather than just a filter.

  As time went on and the burden of absolutely nothing happening began to weigh on him, Abram decided to log out for a little bit. He knew time would continue to pass. He could grab a bite to eat, and maybe look up a little bit about crystal formations while he waited for his 'shift' to end.

  With a last glance at Lygi, he shut his eyes and had Hantu log him out, trusting that the deeper darkness of his hood would keep the dwarf from realizing anything had changed.

  16

  Hard Light

  Daji gazed around in mild confusion.

  She had continued to tail the group, staying far beyond the visual range of even the template. She could divine his location at will, and so had no need to follow close. Once they had stopped, she too had settled in to relax.

  When Abram abruptly went to sleep though, leaving the dwarf alone on watch, she saw a chance for a bit of exploration and decided to take it. She knew precious little about her quarry, and there was no better place to learn about a man than his dreamscape.

  She slipped into the Wildervast. There she moved to where she knew the template slept, and found his dream thread without trouble. Most dreamers did not transition fully into the dreaming plane, but if one knew where a dreamer was in the real world it was a simple matter to follow their threads. His had brought Daji to this place, and as she looked around she had to wonder at just what man could do given a few thousand years.

  She stood upon a sidewalk next to a street defined by buildings taller than anything she'd ever seen. That mere humans could construct such monstrosities beggared her imagination, and she wondered idly if the magnitude of the structures around her was an exaggeration of the young man's mind.

  Much as she wished to believe that, the vivid detail of the dreamscape suggested otherwise. Objects she did not recognize were everywhere. Conveyances moved up and down the streets, and though the people inside them were faceless and indistinct, the vehicles themselves were vividly detailed.

  She sensed movement near her that caught her attention, and turned to face Abram as he walked out of the tall building next to which she'd appeared. His eyes were on her, and he asked without preamble, "Who are you?"

  Being addressed so directly startled her. She had thought that her presence in the dream would go unnoticed. As she considered this, Abram stopped in front of her, eyes narrowed. After a moment he said, "You don't belong here."

  As Daji opened her mouth to speak, Abram lifted his hand. She had just enough time to see that he held something darkly metallic as he pointed it at her head. She heard a sharp, cracking sound, saw a bright flash, and startled awake with a jerk, sitting bolt upright for a bare second before the pain hit her.

  Her eyes crossed and her vulpine body went limp as she dropped bonelessly to the ground and lay shivering. Physical pain was something she could handle, but psychic backlash did not constrain itself to the physical. It was a pain of the spirit and as a spirit — albeit one granted a true body — Daji felt it more keenly even than most eldritch. Bodily pain she enjoyed, whether receiving or — much more often — giving. Psychic pain was truly beyond the purest physical torture: it was hell.

  Time passed, though she had only a vague awareness of the world around her as she sought to pull herself together. She had been wounded for the first time in ... countless years. As her energies slowly resumed their normal courses, her body ceased to shiver, but she did not rise. Daji instead reviewed all that she had seen in her brief foray into the template's mind.

  No mortal should have been able to do what he had just done. Daji was a celestial being: a demon spirit given physical form. Entering and controlling dreams was child's play for her. How had Abram even noticed her, much less been able to expel her so easily?

  Uncertainty wound through her thoughts. Uneasiness roiled her emotions, and her lips peeled back to reveal her teeth as anger extinguished both lesser feelings. That she should be made to feel such things was a grave insult.

  She cast
a small spell, and the dwarf noticed Daji's illusion immediately as it stood at the edge of her visual range.

  Daji's guise was once more that of a valkyrie, and without a word she pointed at Abram's still slumbering form.

  Lygi bowed her head and got quietly to her feet as she pulled open her pack. Daji allowed the illusion to fade, satisfied that no matter how the template had cast her out of his dreams, he would not find this next test so easy to pass.

  Abram glanced up as he heard the knock at his door, then trotted over and looked out. Just as he suspected, it was the pizza guy.

  Opening the door, he accepted the pair of boxes and set them on the counter of the kitchenette next to him before reaching for his wallet.

  As he did so, the delivery guy surprised him by asking, "Say, you know any pretty asian girls?"

  Blinking, Abram said, "Uh ... maybe? I deal with a lot of people I don't actually ever see, why?"

  Though Abram had pizza delivered fairly regularly, and always by the same local joint just down the street, he realized that he'd never seen this particular man before. He looked Asian, though Abram couldn't quite place what type of Asian, with distinctive epicanthic folds at his eyes and a complexion dark enough to suggest that he spent a lot of time in the sun.

  "You new?" Abram asked.

  "Yeah, just hired a few days ago, but I serve this building pretty much exclusively and live here. I just moved in, so you'll see me around," the man replied in a rapid patter, giving Abram an easy smile that revealed darkly stained teeth. "As for t' girl, I saw her out on the street as I was comin' in. She was askin' about a man kinda looks like you. Figured I'd ask. I told her I didn't know anyone like that, and she walked off. She didn't give her name."

  "Speaking of, what's yours?" Abram asked.

  "Harry. Harry Ray. Pleasure't'meetcha."

  The man held out a hand, his wide grin never wavering, and Abram shook it, smiling despite himself. Something about this man put him at ease. He spoke with a rapid patter that barely gave him room to draw breath, but it was refreshing to talk to someone real for once.

  "Well Harry, no, I don't know any pretty Asian girls, much to my regret."

  "Ahright. No worries," the man said as Abram took out a pair of twenties and handed them over.

  "No change," he said as Harry reached for his own billfold, and the man's smile got even bigger as he said, "Hey thanks, Mr. Gallant!"

  "Just Abram is fine. Thanks for the pizza; you got it to me quick."

  Harry winked as he said, "I'm the fastest there is, but I better letchu get back to whatever you was doin'. See you round, Abram!"

  "See you," he said as Harry turned and trotted back down the hall toward the elevators.

  Abram grabbed a couple slices and dropped them on a plate as he slid the rest into the fridge, swapping the boxes for a soda. He actually preferred the pizza cold, but he was hungry.

  He carried the rest back to his desk and sat down, chewing idly as he glanced at the shades set on his desk. He noticed a flashing red icon on the interior of both lenses and blinked.

  Maybe they need charging?

  The glasses hadn't come with a charge cable or a power station, so Abram had been wondering when this would happen. He picked up the shades and examined them from every angle, but aside from the red exclamation points outlined with triangles blinking in each lens, there was no hint of what to do.

  With no better ideas, he put the shades on, thinking perhaps if he did so instructions would follow.

  He was immediately dropped back into the game.

  Abram awoke as the blood rushed to his head.

  He opened his eyes and got upside down glimpses of a forest landscape past his own feet dangling in front of him.

  As his bodily awareness increased, he realized he was slung over Lygi's shoulder and being carried as though he were a sack of flour. He realized he was gagged, and the cloth that had been stuffed into his mouth tasted foul. His hands and feet were also bound.

  An ordinary wrist binding wouldn't have kept him from casting his lightning, but Lygi had wound cloth through his fingers in such a way that each was locked either forward or backward, and he couldn't do more than wiggle the last knuckle of each.

  Uh ... Hantu? What the hell is going on?

  'Oh, finally decide to clue in to your own kidnapping? Welcome back, oh master of magic.'

  Bullshit, seriously?! Dude, I HAVE to log out every once in a while to do my business. I may like this game, love it even, but I'm not going to shit my pants for it! What the hell?

  'Are you trying to blame this on ME?' Hantu asked. 'Abram, please. I don't control Celestine. I just live here, and even that is a recent development. You were supposed to be on watch. You fell asleep. Whether it's in your pants or not, shit happened, and this particular shit is entirely of your own making. Now you will have to deal with it.'

  Abram suppressed a groan. He realized Lygi's rolling gait was a consequence of the crutch. It was seriously uncomfortable, but there was precious little he could do about it. He was quite effectively bound, and dared not move lest he give away the fact that he was awake. Instead, he did his best to remain loose, breathing as he got the chance, and catching frequent but incomplete glimpses of the area they were passing through.

  The light was still strong, but one thing Abram did eventually notice was that the dwarf was now clad in a rough brown robe that completely covered the portion of her body that he could see. Given everyone's reluctance to enter the light earlier, it was obvious that there was something harmful about it, at least to the natives.

  Time passed, and he quickly lost track of it. He was tempted to log out again, but feared where he might wake up if he did that. He was already apparently in deep shit for doing that once; it was entirely possible if he did it again he would wake up back on the rack, starting over. Just the thought of that kept him firmly where he was.

  The ache in his middle got worse, but Lygi seemed tireless as she strode on through the verdant forest. The smells were sharp and distinct in his nostrils, though he had a hard time picking out anything familiar. He could recognize most spices by scent, but the more general smells of the great outdoors were as alien to him as the surface of the moon, and he had no idea if what he smelled should even be anything a normal man might recognize.

  Eventually he thought, Does this qualify as 'at rest?'

  'You're slung over a dwarf's shoulder being hauled across a possibly hostile landscape like a sack.'

  So?

  The cursor blinked for a moment as though in hesitation before Hantu replied.

  'Yes.'

  Dramatic pause, or were you not sure?

  'A little bit of both. I suffuse every part of you, and whether I can swap your spells out or not depends on a variety of factors, chief among them the stress being placed on you physically, mentally, and spiritually. As it turns out, your high constitution is standing you in good stead, because without it your stamina ... and then health, would be compromised by the rough treatment.

  Mentally and spiritually? Are you honestly telling me that there's a mechanic for that?

  'Oh ... trust me. I am aware of all the stresses being placed upon you at all times.'

  At least, while I'm in game.

  'Of course. Should you leave the game, you will be beyond my help.'

  Abram thought about what sort of spell would be most appropriate. He needed to ensure that whatever he did was either subtle enough to go unnoticed or powerful enough to kill immediately. His divination on Lygi was gone because he'd logged out, so he had no idea what her hit points were at, but presumed that she was still operating on willpower, which meant her hp was likely in the low twenties. None of his normal spells would work because they all had verbal and somatic components.

  Except there's nothing that says somatic gestures have to involve my hands. Hantu, what are the actual requirements for a gesture trigger?

  'The gesture must express the inward intentions of the user.
Just as speech conveys meaning, so do gestures. If the gesture is meaningless or nonsensical, it will not work to activate the spell.'

  Abram would have scowled if his mouth weren't stuffed with cloth. That was not what he'd hoped to hear. It meant that while it wasn't necessarily required that he use his hands, they were the primary mode of expression. Sign language was the obvious proxy for speech, and his hands were literally tied in knots at the moment.

  'Almost as if she knew you were a mage,' Hantu commented idly.

  I think I hate you.

  'Make up your mind.'

  Time slipped by as Abram scrambled to come up with something that would get him out of this mess. Meanwhile Lygi trundled on with machine-like tenacity. While he couldn't see her numbers, it began to dawn on Abram that she might legitimately run herself into the ground trying to get him to wherever she was taking him.

  'Even if that happens, it would still leave you in a rather unfortunate situation. Bound, gagged, and with no aid.'

  Ever the ray of sunshine, huh, Hantu?

  'Oh, are you not entertained? My apologies, Master Wizard. By all means, continue. I'll be over here in my quiet little corner of your mind, blaming you for getting the both of us into this mess.'

  Try as he might, Abram couldn't come up with anything useful, and it wasn't until the light began to fade that his circumstances changed.

  They topped a low rise that took them to within twenty feet or so of the massive crystal overhead, and beyond, Abram saw a vast underground sea spread out before them.

  Its waters were a vibrant swirl of color. Most of the water along the shore was a brilliant red which gradually faded into green, then a deep blue toward the horizon.

  There was a small, ramshackle town on the shore that was dominated by a tremendous black wooden barge flanked by massive tar-stained piers, but before he could see more he was unceremoniously dumped to the ground. He landed painfully on his shoulder and neck, and groaned as he rolled onto his back.