Goddess Complete

by Michael Anderle

  “Not great,” Therese replied. “We have no way to hold them all back.”

  “I can’t believe more allies didn’t answer the summons.” Abe sighed. “We’re vastly outnumbered, and that’s even without their leaders coming onto the battlefield.”

  Therese looked down toward a horde of growling creatures, recognizing the tell-tale black veins of the infected. “Where did they even find this many to fight?”

  “Evil breeds evil,” Abe said simply.

  “We have to move to phase two,” Therese said. “We have to slow them down.”

  Abe nodded. “Give the order.”

  Holly and Molly were making their way quickly down the streets when they heard the gate collapse. Of course, they had no idea what the sound meant from where they were, but that didn’t stop them from realizing that something bad was happening.

  They hurried on through the city, joined by several other mages who came out of their houses along the way. They were due to replace the group currently protecting the rift within the next hour, but as they emerged into the scene of the battle, they realized that might not exactly be the case now.

  Leaping into action, Holly summoned her shadow familiars to attack. A pack of wolves darted into the fray, guided by her hands and thoughts. The wolves sped through the orcs, knocking them over or sinking impossibly sharp teeth into their throats.

  Molly’s hands glowed with power as she manipulated the rubble around them and created a series of stone men from the rocks. She sent these ahead of her, creating a barricade that destroyed anything that tried to attack.

  Several of the other mages joined in, manipulating the etheric with powers of water, electricity, fire, and earth. Soon they were carving their way through the enemy, blocking the progress of the oncoming orcs and infected that were looking to try to get farther into the city.

  “Not today.” Molly grinned while her stone men clobbered a series of orcs.

  Royal Notice:

  All available mages, make their way to the front gates.

  King Abaxis and Queen Therese

  Holly and Molly blinked away the intrusive notification, realizing that in the half-second their attention had dropped, several orcs had almost reached them.

  “Bit over the top,” Holly muttered.

  “Let’s see what they need.”

  When they finally managed to make their way to the front line, they saw the problem. Dozens upon dozens of orcs and infected had scrambled over the dead body of what appeared to be a giant, warped elephant.

  “Girls,” Queen Therese said when she saw them arrive. “We need help closing the gate. Do you think you and your people can help?”

  “Our people?” Holly said, casting a glance behind her. She was surprised to see that over two dozen mages had followed her and Molly to the front wall.

  “What do you think, Sis?”

  Molly nodded. “We can give it a go. First things first: I think we need to shift this elephant.”

  “It’s not an elephant,” Therese said.

  “Well, what is it then?” Molly asked.

  Therese’s face dropped. “Just fix it, please.”

  Holly and Molly summoned the mages to them, using their projected defenders to keep them safe while they discussed things and came up with a game plan.

  When they broke apart, all mages aimed their powers at the elephant thing. Their hands glowed purple, and their brows were furrowed in concentration. The glow of power spread to the elephant thing and made it twitch.

  “Ooo, look. We’re puppet masters.” Holly laughed.

  Molly didn’t.

  The elephant began to shake, its weight almost too much for the mages to shift.

  Almost.

  After several moments of concentration, the elephant hovered a foot off the ground. They began to walk as one, step after slow, pained step as they carried the elephant’s body beyond the gate and back onto the battlefield.

  Orders were called by the king and queen. Warriors blocked and defended the mages. Archers targeted enemies on the ground where they could. Soon the elephant was outside the city and hovering beyond the gate.

  “Think that’s enough?” Molly grunted, sweat covering her brow.

  Someone called out from the back. “It’s going to have to be!”

  One by one their focus slipped, exhaustion on their faces. The elephant slammed to the ground, a giant mound of thick skin decorating the battlefield.

  “Quick, behind the lines. Dwarves! File in. Defend the front line.”

  All nearby dwarf units obeyed Abaxis’ command. They lined up, shields creating a solid wall where the gate used to be. The orcs and infected ran at them, breaking against the shields like water on rocks, unable to move past them.

  “I’ve got one more trick up my sleeve,” Molly said, rolling her sleeves up to her elbow.

  “What?” Holly asked.

  Molly called to several mages out in on the field they recognized from their training groups. She held out her staff and closed her eyes as several others joined her.

  “Prepare to witness the power of rock specialization...”

  All rubble and dust within view began to vibrate and rise into the air like a static cloud of particles. Obeying the mage’s commands, the rocks began to fly toward the gap in the gates, finding a place on the ground in front of the dwarves. One by one, the rocks stacked on top of each other, forming a large, imperfect wall that caged them back into the city.

  The rocks continued to fly, growing thicker than the wall that had been there before, replacing where the wooden gate had been with solid rock. Awe engulfed the surrounding fighters as they realized they had been afforded a moment to breath and re-gather themselves—

  Down on the ground, at least.

  When the mages were finished, they lowered their hands and let their shoulders drop. They all looked exhausted. Even with etheric manipulation on their side, the magic they had just performed had drained a sizable portion of their mana.

  “Okay,” Therese said, amazement on her face. “You guys must stay behind the lines. We’ve found your purpose.”

  Molly smiled.

  “But what about the mages beyond the wall?” Holly asked. “They’ll need people to sub in now. That was why we came down in the first place—to take our turn by the rift.”

  Therese thought about that, then fit two fingers between her lips and blew a loud whistle. A moment later, the beating of wings signalled the arrival of one of Tag’kir’s men.

  “Yes, Your Majesty?” The cowladite bowed low.

  “Give orders to your men to take provisions to those at the rift. The mages there will be growing low on mana. Take them potions. Make them as comfortable as possible. Lift anyone who needs removing from the group and replace them with any of our available mages here.”

  She looked at Holly and Molly. “Except these two.”

  The cowladite nodded and disappeared into the air without a word.

  “As long as we can keep our defenses up, we might stand a chance,” Therese explained.

  Huk suddenly appeared between the groups of fighters, who were all taking deep breaths.

  “Huk!” Talbot exclaimed. He rushed toward him and swept him into his arms.

  To their surprise, Huk looked really disappointed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Huk shuffled his feet, looking out darkly from the ledge of his brow. “You could have let me get a few more kills. I’m only a few more off leveling up.”

  Leonie rolled her eyes.

  “You can still do some damage.” Therese grinned. She bent down and tossed a baseball-sized rock to Huk. “Take some of these and go to the top of the wall. Ten points for every enemy you knock unconscious.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  “You think this is it?”

  Chloe stared at the black wall ahead of them, rock as smooth as ice. Black as the darkest shadows.

  She nodded. “I’d say so, wouldn’t you?”

/>   After making their way through the troll-guarded door, Chloe and the others navigated through a winding tunnel that seemed as endless as the canyon had. There was nothing in the way of light, so Chloe and Gideon led the way, hands glowing with purple fire illuminating the tunnel before them.

  They had stopped, but only briefly, for a bite to eat.

  “What comes next?” Ben asked, mouth half-full of food.

  Chloe knew the answer. Had given it a lot of thought while walking through the tunnel. She had even gone through great pains to scroll back through her notifications—an endless list of monster kills and quests—until she had found one of the first celebratory messages she had received.

  You’ve done it! You’ve outwitted the trolls, trodden through the realm of fire, swum the unforgiving lake, and emerged victorious through the fractal labyrinth of death. You’ve truly proven yourself—

  #ERROR404

  #ERROR404

  —a champion among champions—

  MISSING_SEQ

  REBOOT_POPUP

  —Carry on, adventurer Untitled, and soar to ever greater heights!

  At the time, she hadn’t truly processed the effort she’d have had to go through to complete this task if she had attacked it properly, but now she could see what each item meant.

  They had just outwitted the trolls, catching their attention with a shiny object and sending them off the ledge into the abyss.

  They had swum across the unforgiving lake (or so Chloe hoped), the waters that held the ancient Keeper.

  Although they hadn’t exactly seen fire, Chloe hoped the blazing canyon under the unblinking sun would contribute to that part of the mission. She truly hoped she wouldn’t have to play in lava again.

  And while she thought about what was to come next—the Fractal Labyrinth of Death—she wondered now whether this was meant to be her path all along? Whether somehow the game knew her destiny better than she did, and all roads had been leading her toward the Nether Realm from the start.

  Tag broke from the pack and moved over to the smooth rock face. He ran a hand along its surface and let out an awed breath. “It’s obsidian, the finest black stone in the land.”

  “A bit obvious, isn’t it?” Gideon asked, joining Tag. “A maze made from obsidian in the game Obsidian?”

  “I think it’s more than that,” Ben said. “Obsidian in its purest form can act as both a reflector and a vacuum for light. It’s clever, really. Something tells me that the minute we step into that labyrinth, it will all get incredible confusing.”

  Chloe stared at her reflection, wobbling in the purple light. Her face was shadowed, her armor an unnatural hue. Already her heart rate had quickened since she was apprehensive about what lay ahead. “We stick together. If we somehow get separated, who knows what’ll happen to us?”

  They all agreed. Even Gan’gor, who looked equal parts terrified and excited, remained close as they took their first steps into the maze.

  Within their first few steps, it had swallowed them whole. They entered and took a left, and before they knew it, they were surrounded by that impossibly smooth black rock.

  Their Purple Blaze helped light the way, but it wasn’t long before they realized the mystifying effects the labyrinth had on the group.

  With every turn, they encountered a new smooth wall where their reflections stretched far beyond rhyme and reason. Though there were only five of them, in the slippery rock faces, there was an endless ring of the party, as if someone had cloned the group and multiplied them across an endless field of black ink.

  For every minute move, a thousand replicas followed suit. It was unsettling, reminding Chloe of the first time she’d encountered the waif and the trick his people had played.

  “This way—”

  Chloe had sped up, feeling ahead with her arms, but hadn’t noticed that the ceiling got lower, and she smacked her head.

  Tiny crystalline fractures spider-webbed from the point of contact. Ben and Gideon laughed, and Gan’gor let out a sympathetic exhale.

  “Thanks, guys.” Chloe chuckled, rubbing the metal of her helmet, as if that would do anything to dull the pain.

  Without looking back, she felt ahead once more, trying to find the next bend in the path.

  They went on like this for a while, blindly stumbling and guessing their direction, before Gideon voiced what they were all thinking.

  “Are we going the right way?”

  Chloe paused and took a breath. She didn’t realize how warm it had become, but now she was aware of her stickiness inside her armor.

  “There’s no way to tell,” said Ben, resigned. “We just have to keep pushing on, I guess.”

  “There has to be some way to tell where we’re going. No maze is ever built without a fail-safe, a route to help the creator get out, surely? I once went to a hall of mirrors in a theme park where they had a thin strip of tape on the floor that led people all the way back out.”

  “I hardly think they’re going to do something as obvious as show people how to escape,” Ben replied. “They wouldn’t have called this the Fractal Labyrinth of Death if it was going to be easy to get out, would they?”

  “Why ‘Death?’” Chloe mused.

  “Huh?”

  “Why death? I mean, I’ve been on high alert since we entered this maze, waiting for something to jump out and get us, or for the walls to cave in, or for something to go horrendously wrong and kill us all. ‘Death.’ That’s the operative word here, right?”

  Gan’gor stroked his chin. “Perhaps ‘Death’ is more about the length of time it takes to free yourself from the maze. Maybe those who enter the maze never return, only to find themselves starving and alone, surrounding by the reflections of themselves?”

  “Wow, that’s miserable,” Gideon replied.

  “Tag? You’ve been quiet. What do you think…” Ben’s voice trailed away. He suddenly whirled, realizing that their dwarf companion was gone. “Tag? Tag!”

  As he shouted, the obsidian shook around them. Several pieces fractured and chipped away in angry shards.

  “Dude! Stop!” Gideon hissed, pulling Ben around to face him. “No shouting, okay? No shout. Besides, if you’re shouting, how are you going to hear him?”

  They cocked their ears and strained to listen. They could hear nothing at all; even the cracking rock had fallen silent.

  Ben ran a hand through his hair. “How did we even lose him? He was right here a moment ago.”

  “It’s the labyrinth,” Gan’gor said, as if reading from a prophecy. “Try as you might to stick together, the labyrinth has a mind of its own.”

  They discussed their options, but all conversations led down the same road: they had to look for Tag.

  Which was a lot easier said than done in a maze that played tricks with your mind. They had no clear sense of direction, so there would be no retracing their steps. They had no compass to say which way was north, south, east, or west, so getting their bearings was impossible.

  “The chat!” Ben said. “I’ll put a message in the chat.”

  It was their best hope, and all they had. Only, within half a second, that idea was crushed.

  “‘No signal.’ What does it mean, ‘No signal?’”

  Chloe threw her hands in the air and let out a frustrated grunt. Without thinking, she punched the nearest wall, feeling a shockwave pulse down her arm and jolt her shoulder.

  “Hey! Do you mind?” KieraFreya scolded. “You know your armor is a rental, right? And I wouldn’t want to upset the original owner by breaking it right before she’s about to finally get it back!”

  Chloe shook her arm and clutched her aching wrist, thankful to already feel the pain receding. “I’m sorry, okay? I…”

  Her thoughts were pulled to the place she had hit the rock. A spiderweb of fractures had appeared around a small hole in the location of the epicenter of her punch. Through this hole came a soft whistling.

  “Do you guys hear that?”

  B
en, Gideon, and Gan’gor leaned closer.

  “Is that…”

  “Wind,” Gideon confirmed. “There’s wind or something on the other side of that rock.”

  Chloe pressed her cheek to the hole. She could feel the gentle breeze. “Come on,” she said, rising to her feet. “We need to break through.”

  “What about the falling rock?” Gideon asked.

  Chloe put her finger on her chin. “Oh, yeah. If only we had a mage who could cast a pretty sweet protection bubble and save us from the falling debris.”

  Gan’gor chuckled, but Gideon looked doubtful.

  “I don’t know, Chloe,” Ben said, seeing Gid’s reaction. “We have no idea what’s going on around us. If we break something and the whole thing topples, it might not just be shards of debris falling down on us. It could be mountains of rock, too.”

  “Not to mention that Tag might still be somewhere around here. What if it falls on him? What then?”

  “Well, we can’t sit and do nothing. The longer we leave Tag, the less likely we are to find him.”

  “Hey! I’m over here!”

  Their eyes widened. Ben, Gideon, Chloe, and Gan’gor looked around when Tag’s voice came floating through the maze. They turned their heads in all directions, and their thousands of replicas copied them, which made their stomachs sick.

  “There!” Thousands of Gideons pointed, the angles of the rocks aiming his arms in several different directions.

  Chloe looked at the Gideon nearest to her, the one she knew was real, and followed his arm exactly. There, in the center of the multitudinous gang, was the little dwarf.

  “Tag? How are you… That’s impossible.”

  Without thinking, Ben sprinted toward Tag. He grunted in pain as he ran straight into a wall of rock and stumbled back.

  “I don’t know,” Tag called back, managing his words between tears of laughter. “But you guys stand out like a sore thumb. A thousand versions of me and one cluster of you guys?” His face suddenly saddened. “Why did you leave me?”

  “We didn’t,” Ben called back, his raised voice causing obsidian shards to tinkle to the floor around them. He lowered his voice. “Dude, what happened?”