Calista flinched when he turned his bow on them. “Bishop…it’s me, it’s Callie. Please, just come back with us. Come home.”
His lip twitched in a leer and he slung his bow over his body. “I am home.”
He clapped his hands and a swirling portal appeared behind them. Jimmy yelped in alarm when it sucked him backwards into the dark void, followed by Maverick. Calista dug her feet in and grabbed hold of the stones of the floor, but the power was too strong and as Bishop mockingly waved good bye to her, it sucked her right out of the fortress, with Daemyn flying in right behind her. She yelled as she was flung around and finally came to land back in Hillside, on her back, staring up at the night sky.
“What…what happened?” Jimmy sat up. “I don’t understand.”
“He thinks he’s Bishop,” Calista murmured, not moving. “She’s made him believe he’s actually the character he created and she turned him against us.”
“Then we can’t get him back,” Maverick mumbled. “He’s stuck here, just like that?”
“Maybe not,” Daemyn said from beside them. “There is still hope.”
“What hope?” Calista snapped rounding on him. “He won’t listen to us! He’d rather try to kill us!”
“In game,” he pointed out gently, “but there is still hope. If he believes he’s part of the game, then a storyline I created but never thought would happen has started.”
“Explain, now,” Calista said, ready to draw her ax on him.
“One turned player would become Valen’s right hand man, or woman. He or she would help Valen bring her armies to Samar, but this player had to meet very specific standards for this to happen.”
“Like Bishop?”
“No, but Valen has manipulated the system so she could use him.”
“What’s the point?” Maverick asked.
“The point is if you play to the end of the game and beat it, beat Valen, the player would be freed from her control.”
Calista ran her hands through her hair as she realized what this meant. “You’re saying Bishop is stuck here, in this world, until someone beats the game? That’s fifty levels from now!”
“You’ve already come much farther in less time than I imagined,” he said.
“This is crazy. You’re crazy and it’s all your fault!”
Daemyn hung his head. “I know and I’m sorry you have been dragged into this and now, with Valen keeping Tavin, I’m not sure what damage she’ll be able to do to this world. You have to play through and stop her. It’s the only way.”
Calista exchanged a helpless glance with Maverick and Jimmy as her heart ached in her chest. They had no choice. They had to beat the game and pray they did it in time to save Bishop from Valen’s clutches.
“What happens if we lose?” Jimmy whispered.
Daemyn, hesitated, but finally replied, “Then Bishop’s mind may be trapped here, forever.”
***
Bishop grinned as Tavin struggled, still pinned to the wall by his arrow.
“You are meant to be a hero,” she said, but her words were laced with pain. “You can’t turn your back on Samar now, on your friends.”
“I don’t deserve friends,” he murmured. “Never did.”
Valen sighed from her throne and Bishop gladly took his seat beside her. How could he ever think he was meant for greatness in this vast world? He had Demon blood in his veins and a Demon was what he was. Godfrey was merely a puppet. He and Valen would come to rule over everything, in time.
“Tomorrow, we begin our assault on the world of Samar,” Valen informed him. “With you at the head of my armies, we will be unstoppable.”
“Don’t listen to her!” Tavin yelled, but Bishop shot another arrow at her, silencing her for a few moments at least.
“I look forward to it,” he replied to Valen and settled back in his throne. “I look forward to it immensely.”
Table of Contents
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Chapter 01
Chapter 02
Chapter 03
Chapter 04
Chapter 05
Chapter 06
Chapter 07
Chapter 08
Chapter 09
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
The Dead Fortress: A LitRPG Epic (World of Samar Book 3) Page 22
