Tag shrugged. “One minute, you were all there with me. We turned a corner, then you were gone.”
“The labyrinth has a mind of its own,” Gan’gor repeated.
“Whatever has happened, we need to get you back,” Chloe said, careful to control the volume of her voice. “Stay where you are. We’ll come to you.”
Tag nodded and sat cross-legged on the floor. “Fine.”
Chloe gathered the others to her, arms outstretched once again as she felt for the walls around her. They moved in the direction of Tag but found that the minute they went around a bend, he disappeared.
“Crap, lost him,” Chloe exclaimed, alarmed.
They took a step back around the corner and saw Tag once more.
“I thought you were coming to get me?”
Chloe raised an eyebrow. “Stay put. We’ll find a way.”
As she made to turn back to the bend, she noticed Gideon fiddling with something on the floor.
“What are you doing?”
“Laying literal breadcrumbs,” Gideon said, holding up a stale loaf of bread. “I forgot I had it in my inventory. If I lay crumbs back to here, at least we’ll be able to find Tag again, right?”
“Great idea.” Ben smiled.
“I have them occasionally.”
Spurred on by the breadcrumb trail, they continued searching. They lost hope very quickly, noticing several forks down the road that they’d lost Tag once more. Yet, on the tenth switch in direction, they found him again.
“Yoo-hoo!”
They stared ahead, confused, before realizing the sound was coming from a different direction.
Chloe’s mouth fell open. “I thought you were…”
“So did I,” Ben said, flummoxed.
Gan’gor nodded. “He definitely was.”
“What’s the problem?” Tag called.
“Nothing,” Chloe replied. “We’re on our way.”
Yet they found that despite their changes of direction, they were no nearer to Tag. Every time they thought they were making progress, they’d look up to discover that he was either missing or in completely the opposite direction than where they had been heading.
After a stretch of time, and verifying that Tag was farther away than ever, Chloe once more grunted in frustration.
“Jesus! How the hell do we get out of here?”
Obsidian shook threateningly above her.
“Careful,” Gan’gor said desperately, ears flattening to his head. “The rock…”
Chloe followed his eyes to the ceiling as it began to crack. A splinter of rock came down and Gan’gor was too slow to move. It fell past his arm, leaving a small gash on his upper bicep.
Chloe immediately got to her knees beside the waif. “I’m sorry. Here.”
Her hands glowed white, and the wound began to stitch itself together.
“Thank you, Chloe.”
“Do you two mind? We’re stuck over here!”
Chloe’s ears pricked up. When she looked back up, she saw that Ben and Gideon were standing beside each other…
Quite a distance away.
“How?” Chloe said, flabbergasted. “I looked away for two seconds!”
“I don’t know,” Gideon said. “This is getting ridiculous.”
“Stay put.” Chloe sighed. She looked over her shoulder and saw Tag, who was standing now, his foot tapping impatiently. “Wait there. I’ll find you…”
“No!” Tag exploded. “No more waiting. I’m sick of this maze. I’m sick of being lost. I’m sick of feeling helpless.”
“Tag, calm down,” Ben called. “The rock…”
“Screw the rock!”
The ceiling began to groan and crack under the reverberation of Tag’s shouted words. Chloe was alarmed to see fractures on the walls around her.
How delicate was this maze?
“Tag,” Gideon said, palms out. “Just calm down. We’ll make it through this. Let’s not be hasty.”
But Tag wasn’t listening. Already he had his hammer in one hand. In the other, he held his shield above his head. Tiny fragments rained on the metal, creating a patter not unlike a heavy downpour on a tin roof.
“Let’s see how the maze deals with my hammer! Shields up!”
Chloe called to him, but it was too late.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Tag’s hammer smashed through the rock, sending a million shards in all directions. Using his momentum, he walked forward toward his friends and swung the hammer again, then again, smashing through each obsidian wall that blocked his path.
For the first time, Chloe realized how thin the rock was. It caved easily under Tag’s attacks. The entire structure turned to powder around them as the fractures grew into fissures and the whole structure lost its stability.
Gideon cast his Aqua Orb in seconds, protecting himself and Ben. It took Chloe a moment longer since it had been a while since she’d used the spell and she needed to suddenly remember how to cast it. There came a panicked squeal from Gan’gor before the blue water erupted around them and the obsidian rain upon their ball and hit the floor.
And still, Tag pushed on. He grunted as he began to struggle under the weight of the shards. Larger chunks of rock fell onto his shield. He shunted away as much as he could, but his knees began to bend under the strain.
“Faster, Tag. Faster!”
But Chloe’s words were not useful. He was already going as fast as he could.
She looked forlornly back at Gideon and saw the strain on his face from keeping his orb powered under the weight of the rocks. She tried to call out but knew that her words would not be heard over the shattering rock.
“Save us! Save us!” Gan’gor whined. He was crouched in a protective ball, hands laced over his head.
There was little Chloe could do. She thought of casting Telekinesis but wasn’t sure she could keep it powered while also maintaining her orb. She’d be no use to anyone if she was dead.
The rock continued to rain. Tag took heavy step after heavy step. When a considerably larger rock fell and clanged against his shield, Chloe feared he was gone. For half a moment, he disappeared behind the boulder, until with a smash of his hammer, it exploded into a thousand pieces.
“Almost there! Come on!”
Just when Chloe thought she’d seen the last of Tag, as another rock having fallen from above them, she saw something that made her eyes burn.
A shaft of light appeared and its thick beam shone into the maze, dazzling the party.
She couldn’t believe it. The hole was low enough that she could reach it if she jumped. The hole widened, the obsidian receding as it opened like a yawning mouth and allowed sunlight to flood in.
And then they were flooded in daylight. The last of the rock broke around them, and all that was left was the sky and the broken rubble of what had once been the maze.
Chloe waited for a moment, then dispelled her orb. Behind her, she was aware of Gideon doing the same. Tag pushed himself up from the rubble, brushing black powder off him and coughing dust.
“What happened?” he asked, craning his neck in awe. He had to shield his eyes to stop them from burning.
“I don’t know…” Chloe breathed.
Gideon and Ben stepped carefully over the shards of rock and joined them.
“Could it be…” Gideon asked. “Is it possible the maze was nothing more than an illusion? A trap of rock built to make those inside think that they were stuck forever? That the fragility of the maze was enough of a reason for people not to try to escape, for fear of death from the fragile rock?”
Chloe blinked stupidly in the light. The heat was revitalizing. The rays warmed her armor and what little of her skin showed.
“That’s crazy,” Ben said. He suddenly turned to Tag and shoved his shoulder. “That was a hell of a risk you took. You could’ve got us all killed.”
Tag pulled away from Ben, rubbing his shoulder. “You really think I’d take a risk like that without knowing the
consequences? I wouldn’t do that to you guys.”
“You’re the reason we’ve managed to get into half the scraps we’ve had,” Ben shot back. “You’re reckless. You don’t think, you just do.”
Tag looked hurt and his eyes narrowed. “I saw the sky above.”
Ben scoffed. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw the sky, okay? When I was lost in there, one of you shouted and something broke free. When I looked up, I could feel the breeze, and I could see the sun above. I knew we couldn’t have been that deep under the rock since otherwise, the light wouldn’t have been as strong. Sure, it was still a risk, but I got us out of there, didn’t I? We’re free because of me.”
Ben eyed Tag doubtfully.
“I promise,” Tag said. “Look, I know I can be a bit reckless sometimes, but losing Jessie got me thinking. I love playing these games with you guys, and I never want to be the liability that holds you back. I want us to succeed, and if I do take any more risks on our quests, they’re going to be calculated, okay? I’m in this for the long haul—thanks to our full-immersion pods—and I’m rooting for us to win.”
Ben was taken aback. He looked from Chloe to Gideon and back again. After a moment, he crossed to Tag and knelt to hug him.
“I’m sorry, dude. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“I don’t blame you.” Tag smiled. “I’d have doubted me too.”
They each hugged Tag, then turned their attention to leaving the crater of shattered obsidian. After a short walk, they found a slope of rock, which they climbed. They emerged onto the surface of the Nether Realm.
Chloe’s breath caught.
Despite the Nether Realm being a place for some of Obsidian’s most despicable creatures to inhabit, a prison for those who had wronged the world or for anything the gods wished to hide from mortal man, it was beautiful where they were.
Behind them was the tree line of the forest they had viewed from way back in the canyon. Chloe deduced they must have passed far beneath it on their travels and had made it to the other side.
The trees were in bloom. Great bunches of flowers dotted the canopy, which hung below a sea of fine mist. The calls of animals rang from the trees, and occasionally Chloe could see movement.
Ahead of them, though. That was where the real beauty was.
They had reached the edge of a meadow. Vibrant green grass stretched in front of them as far as the eye could see. Blades of grass grew to the height of their chests, and flowers sprang out of the ground in radiant colors.
The hills went on for miles. Somehow the illusion of the endless sun didn’t extend here. In the meadows of the Etheric Plains, the sun was lower in the sky, bathing the rolling hills in mystical colors burning under an eternal sunset. Insects glowed and flew in clouds, and over in the distance were the large silhouettes of—
“Horses!” Chloe cried. “I can see horses!”
“Horses?” Gideon said. “Plural?”
“Yeah.” Chloe pointed to a herd of horses that were busy grazing on the crest of a far-off hillock.
Chloe clapped her hands excitedly, scaring a cluster of birds out of a nearby clump of flowers. “I think we might be on the home stretch, guys. Hey, KF, are you ready to unite with Shikora and make the world a better place?
“Sure thing, girly. Let’s get across these hills and find my steed. I think the time has come.”
As they began their walk under the mystical sunset of the Etheric Plains, Chloe couldn’t shift the mixture of excitement and sadness deep in the pit of her stomach. She was unaware that the feeling was magnified by the goddess who lived inside of her armor, who was feeling the same thing.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Therese’s thoughts were all over the place.
The battle was happening on every possible square inch at the front of the wall. Orcs and infected were scaling the stonework and making their way to the parapet. The army was a black mass shrouding the fields.
And now they had competition above. The cowladites, who had been one of their biggest boons in the battle for Hammersworth, were no longer alone in the skies.
Just half an hour ago, the first cries of the creatures were heard. They were bird-like and close to the type of bird Sir Wingsalot was, only instead of a long, pointed beak, theirs were round and flat. They had tufts of feathers around the bases of their long necks and long legs with sharp talons on the end of each toe.
“Clachillas” had been the name someone had shouted when their presence first darkened the skies. A flock of several dozen soared above the army and targeted the cowladites as though they had been specifically bred to take them down.
The aerial fights were impressive. The cowladites had squared off against the clachillas, and they were locked in a gravity-defying battle. While the cowladites were more dextrous and had a lot more muscle and power in their arms, they still suffered wounds from those talons.
The battle on the ground wasn’t going much better. They’d already had to mend the wall twice after several more elephantine creatures made it through the swell of bodies. With each intrusion, more of the wall crumbled, and it became harder for the mages to repair the damage.
Now there were several elephantine bodies lying outside the wall, and they acted as mounds for the other creatures to climb and shoot their projectiles at the wall.
And then there were the wargs.
The wargs had laid low throughout the initial attack but had now crept to the front and taken the opportunity to launch into the city the moment the defenses lowered.
These were chased by members of the Thieves’ and the Warriors’ Guilds, to be rounded up and destroyed before they could do any more damage. Couple this with the ghosts that kept popping up and guiding away the women and children and the city wasn’t in great shape.
Therese flicked through the series of menus in her vision. She hadn’t expected to acquire so much responsibility by becoming queen. Sure, she had known that she would have to protect the city, but this was taking it a little too far.
Still, it meant that she had a chance to work out her tactical strategy. One of the added menus she had discovered after becoming queen was a blueprint map of all her soldiers and units through which she could keep track of people and give orders whenever necessary.
“How are we looking on the front?” Abe’s voice reached her ears. Another perk of being royalty in the city—the ability to communicate no matter where they were.
“It’s not great. We’re still holding, but only just. The apothecaries can’t keep up with the demand for mana potions, and the rift is still shrinking. The longer we wait, the faster it seems to be closing.”
Therese took a sharp breath.
“And your side?” Abe asked.
“I’ve re-sent the ravens, but I don’t know if it’s too late. If they didn’t come before, why would anyone else come now?”
It had been a desperate ploy, trying to summon more of Obsidian’s citizens to their side, but then Fukmos had struck too quickly. Even if there were armies out there wanting to help, they’d never get past the forest to the city limits.
They had even sent several cowladites out to scan the surrounding area and see if they could find some way to break the army’s momentum. They had been gone for hours, and now they had begun to wonder if the clachillas had gotten to them.
Or if another fate had awaited them.
Therese manipulated her display, finding the areas where soldiers had wandered and left gaps in their defenses.
These were usually created by those looking for other party members. Little did some of the inexperienced players understand the larger game or the amount of damage that could be done by neglecting the positions Therese had placed them in.
She looked over the balcony and could see the aura surrounding her husband. Even from afar, Abe sparkled and shone like the last living star on the canvas of the sky.
“Any word?”
Therese spun around, more surprised
than she should have been to find Beverley standing there.
She shook her head. “None. We’re still hopeful, though.” She gave a half-hearted smile.
“You need not fear, Your Majesty,” Beverley said, taking a step into her room. “The city has stood for thousands of years. It has taken the brunt of many attacks and has always survived.”
Therese looked back out over the sea of enemies.
“Anything like this?”
“Well, no,” Beverley replied. “But one must always remember that good triumphs overall. I have never seen a day on which darkness wins, and that gives me hope. You and His Highness are both credits to this city, and there’s not a fiber in my body that doubts we’ll come through triumphant.”
“I admire your faith,” Therese said, with a full smile this time.
“Faith is all we have when the lights go out.”
With that, Beverley left the room.
Veronica was growing tired.
Her stamina was threateningly low, but she couldn’t slow down now. The city was relying on her and her bonuses to keep them boosted against the tide of enemies.
Several hours ago, they had adjusted some of their tactics, trying to find ways to pick off enemies at a more rapid pace.
Several mages had scaled the wall, blasted an area in front of where the gate had been, and created a ring of fire to hold back the army. In that space, the cowladites had dropped several battalions of dwarves and human warriors to score more direct hits on those attacking.
They had also shipped over a group of the city’s sharpest and highest-level rangers to the mages and tanks surrounding the rift to increase the damage being dealt from behind the barrier. Now arrows were fired endlessly, picking off enemy creatures and allowing a bit of breathing room for the mages.
Not that they would last much longer.
The barrier had already begun to close in around them. Several times it had flickered and almost gone down as the mages waited for an urgent delivery of mana potions.
Several mages had had to be swapped out, calling on reinforcements to switch so that the blessed could log out and deal with personal issues in their own lives, but for the most part, people were willing to stay, knowing there wouldn’t be another opportunity to get involved in a battle like this for who-knew-how-long.
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