"There was an accident, Henri." Em put her hands up in supplication. "Lex kind of landed on my arm and broke it. The tattoo helped me heal. No big deal."
"No big deal? Ma fille, did he tell you what that tattoo involves? What the tattoo meant? To whom -"
"That's enough, Henri." Lex had moved in-between them, tattoos pulsing a dangerous crimson. A burning on her own neck brought Em's hand up to her new mark and found that it too was glowing - and touching it sent a fresh wave of anger and discomfort throughout her. With only one tattoo! This must be unbearable for Lex.
"Again, I'm right here," Em growled. She pointed at Henri. "Start talking. What is this mark other than something to help me heal?" Before he could answer, she wheeled around to Lex. "And you, go hang the closed sign on the door and then sit down. If we are going to have to face this Valentin, I would prefer to get it over with now. He is coming here. Is he not?" Henri nodded as Lex stared at her for a moment before doing as she asked. "And what is in that bloody box?"
Henri looked at her sadly. "That box, cherie, is the way back to your world - the real world - but with that mark, you can no longer leave. That mark binds you here, to Arcstone, and to Val."
Fifteen
Em stared at Lex. "Did you know this?"
"Em, you have to understand, you were hurt and in so much pain -"
"DID. YOU. KNOW?"
Her heart threatened to burst from her chest - she was confident that the tattoo on her neck was blood red. Lex just hung his head and looked down at his boots. Em wanted to scream and run at him but didn't. She simply sat and stewed, the foreign anger and bloodlust churning through her veins and urging her to action. Malicious, bloody, gory action. She focused on Henri to hopefully tamp down on some of the vengeance she felt.
"Henri, I think you'd better tell me what you know about Lex and his kind RIGHT NOW."
The old man nodded. "I agree." He gestured to one of the tables, and Em sat down. Lex started to sit with her, but she warned him off with a look, and he moved back to the window. Henri joined her at the table, still looking at the tattoo. "Does it hurt terribly?" he asked, reaching out as if to touch it. Em dodged his hand and leaned back.
"No. Start talking."
"Right. So Lex is Prophis, but you know that from the game. He is a demon, but once was human like me."
"But not exactly like you because you aren't real. I mean, no offense…"
Henri shrugged. "What is real, exactly? But we are not discussing me. Here is what I know, ma fille - I know that Lex is a member of a race created by Val as the gatekeepers, the guards, if you will, of Arcstone. Tremendously powerful with magic that cannot be learned by any player character because it is innate. The magic is in the marks that the Prophis bear, their tattoos."
"So mine has power too, that makes sense because it was glowing before and burning." Em nodded. "So, Lex is just an algorithmic code, not real."
"No. Ugh, yes, sort of. But let me start at the beginning of what I know. Val created this game world on his own. It wasn't until he was running into glitches that he called me back to help him, threatening you and your mother if I didn't help him." Em started to remind him that he wasn't her father but instead formed a thin line with her mouth and gestured for him to continue. "It was in those first meetings that I came to understand that the man before me was not the boy I had known - and loved if I am terribly honest - so many years before. Where he had been curious, to a fault at times, about the wide world, he became paranoid yet arrogant. Perhaps one of those always follows the other? He was obsessed with his legacy, which I thought was peculiar because, despite my appearance here, neither Val nor I have entered the twilight of our years. Not even close!" He laughed and slapped the table, but Em kept up her steely gaze, so he grew quiet. “So at first, I was amazed at what he had been able to do. I mean, think about the first time you logged into the game. It was beautiful. Magnifique! Splendide! It was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen.”
“It is beautiful.” Em smiled as she thought of both the first time she logged in, and the first time she looked up at the sky. “He wrote some amazing code to create all this.”
“But why? This is what I wanted to know, and what I planned to ask him one my last trip to Paris.” Henri steepled his fingers as he leaned on his elbows. “I didn’t have the chance. When I got here, and Val picked me up at Charles de Gaulle, he drove me out of the city to his - I’m not sure I know the name for it in English - le refuge?”
“Oui, je comprends. His sanctuary. Go on.”
Henri smiled proudly. “I do love hearing you speak la française. Anyway, so we drove out there - it is really just a shed where he has built his computer setup for working on the game, and he shows me all the prototypes and runs the cinematics. And he has done this all by himself!” Henri wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “So I finally got to talk to Val about why he had done all this. Was he going to sell it to a company? Did he have beta testers to play the same? And that got his attention.”
“Beta testing?”
“Oui. He said he had a young man that had signed up to the beta who showed a lot of promise. A young American named Alexander.” The tension in the air was palpable as Lex turned back around from the window. Em looked over at him - clearly, he had no recollection of what Henri was talking about, based on the look on his face. “Oui, it was you, mon fils. He told me that this Alexander was perfect as a model for a certain class in the game.”
“Prophis.” Lex’s voice was barely a whisper.
“Right again. Val also said that the young man had some coding ability, so he was going to see if this Alexander would come to work for him.” Em closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Everything was starting to come together, but it was still just out of her reach. “This young man was the key, Val said, to get the one thing he needed out of life. Le prix.”
“What does that mean, the prize? The endgame?” Em was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice Lex move back to the table and stand behind her until he put his hands on her shoulders, and his index finger grazed her tattoo. “No - NO. Don’t you dare.” She swatted his hand away.
“So you think that I am this Alexander, then?” Lex asked Henri. He was avoiding Em’s gaze, and she was okay with that, at least for the moment. Henri looked up at Lex but remained silent. When Em looked back at them, she could tell they were keeping something from her.
“What is the prize, Henri?” she demanded. He shrugged and looked at Lex.
“You are, Em.” Lex’s voice was tight and pinched. “Valentin wanted you. I...I don’t know why, but you are le prix to him. That’s why I tried to get you to leave, once Henri told us about the danger. We still have time.”
“I’m not going anywhere - not with either of you.” Em closed her eyes and rubbed her temples for a moment. She didn’t really have a headache - none of the usual ailments to which she was prone seemed to be present here. This was more out of frustration. “The best way to find out why this Valentin is after me is to stay here and find out as much as I can. Henri, please, continue.” Lex growled loudly as he stalked back to the window.
“Be patient with him, chérie, he loves you and worries about you.” Henri kept his voice low as he inclined his head toward Lex. Em kept her face as straight as she could, but internally she was screaming. He loved her? How did Henri know that? Definitely revisiting THAT later. “Where was I? Yes, Val had found Alexander to use as part of his plan to get to you. I did not know at that time that he was after you, you must understand, or I would have done something about it. Anyway, he said that he had something for me to see that would convince me to help him and would bring us the world we had dreamed of as boys - a world that we could create and rule. We would be gods, he said.” Henri chuckled sadly. “Gods.” He shook his head. “I was, of course, curious about this thing he wanted to show me and agreed to a demonstration.”
Lex had moved back over to the table to listen, and Em looked up at
him. He seemed less angry and more afraid, and she patted the seat next to her. His tattoos were glowing a faint amber, and she wasn’t sure what that meant. He sat down next to her, and when he placed his hands on the table, palms down, she covered the closest one to her with her own hand. Lex looked at her, and she smiled up at him as he turned his hand over and interlocked his fingers with hers.
Henri was watching and smiling. “I am glad you came over to us, Lex because this next part involves you. As I said, I agreed to a demonstration, so Val sat down and fired up the sheer wall of computer monitors in his tiny, makeshift office. He asked me to step back to the wall and then turned out the lights. What seemed like a beam of light shone down from the ceiling, making a perfect circle on the floor. I watched the monitors which each showed different angles of that room except one. That monitor showed an image of a male avatar wearing a plain grey bodysuit and black boots and gloves. The image was rotating slowly, and as I watched and Val furiously typed, clothing rendered on the body followed by a face and hair.
“He wore a soldier’s uniform - very plain, blue coat and trousers with a red stripe up the leg. The lapel was wide and opened, buttoned down at the shoulder. He designed medals and bars and other indicators of rank that rendered in real-time on the avatar. Finally, he zoomed in and clicked through several iterations before he found the face he was looking for, and it rendered as well. That was the first time I ever saw Alexander, his new second and co-designer.” Henri looked over at Lex, who was gripping the table with one hand and squeezing Em’s hand with the other. “That was the first time I saw your face, only without the tattoos and your skin and hair color. Val asked me what I thought, and I said that it was a fairly standard male avatar. I remember he laughed and then nodded, agreed, and then asked me to look back at the monitor. The avatar’s skin turned a greyish color, the military uniform changed to all black, tattoos formed on his neck, and his hair grew, long and black. He grew in size, becoming more muscular and powerful looking. He asked me if that was better and I said I supposed so, but that I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. He laughed again, and the beam of light in the center of the room grew brighter by the moment.” Em again squeezed Lex’s hand as she felt a slight tremble vibrate up through her fingers.
“What was it?” Lex’s voice could barely be heard.
“I had to cover my eyes for a moment, that’s how bright it was. I remember Val’s hand on my arm moving my fingers away from my eyes, and when I looked…” Henri’s mouth closed in a tight line for a moment. “When I looked, I saw you, Lex. I saw you standing there in front of me, just as solid and real as you seem to me now.”
“What are you saying, Henri?” Em let go of Lex’s hand, but he clamped back down and would not let go. She patted his hand but kept her gaze on Henri.
“I am saying that Val brought Lex from Arcstone into the real world, and I saw it with my own eyes.”
Sixteen
Lex was shaking his head, unable to accept what Henri was saying. Em rubbed the back of his hand, noticing the color change in his tattoos. It would not do to have Lex lose his composure before Henri finished his story. She looked up at him and found Lex staring at her.
“It isn’t true. I don’t have any memory of that.” He seemed frantic that she would believe him, and she wanted to - she didn’t want her tattoos to betray the fear that was bubbling in the pit of her stomach.
Henri leaned over to take Lex’s hand off the table before he broke it. “Lex, I know you don’t remember that. I’m getting to that part. Relax, mon fils, I know that you are innocent in this tale.” Em’s thoughts jumped to the letter for a moment - Lex was not who he seemed, the writer called her darlin' - maybe she was about to get answers for that as well. “The truth is that it was you, but it was easy for Val to make sure that you didn’t remember it.” He patted Lex’s hand and leaned back. “Val encouraged me to approach the avatar - to approach you, talk to you, even touch you to make sure that I was satisfied that you were real. Again, what does that mean?” He shrugged. “I did, and found that you acknowledged me and could speak both French and English.” Henri covered his mouth with his hand for a moment before continuing to speak. “Val asked you if you knew who I was and you asked est-ce mon père? Val told you yes, and that I was going to look after you, and you seemed relieved. I don’t think you liked Val overmuch, so I guess I was a reasonable replacement.”
Em frowned. “First, you are my father, and now you are Lex’s father as well?”
“No, I mean not really. Val was still teaching Lex's words and language at that time, and it made it easier to teach him that concept if he had a visual to attach. At least that’s what I thought - it was one of the ways that he and I talked about teaching an AI if we ever had one. It’s how children learn a language.” He met Em’s gaze and cleared his throat. “That is not what you want to know. Right. I was still standing in the circle of light and admiring Val’s work when the light got brighter suddenly, and I shielded my eyes again, wondering which avatar Val would show me next or if he would just explain how he had accomplished this amazing thing. When I opened my eyes again, I was here. I was in the tavern. I was -” Henri threw his arms out in front of him and rolled up his sleeves past his elbows to reveal tattoos on each arm. “I was this. Marked. Stuck. I have tried every way I can think of to return, but I haven’t made it back.”
“Wait.” Em released Lex’s hand and stood up to lean closer to Henri’s arms. “Those don’t look like ours. Those look like…”
“Bar codes.” Henri nodded. “I was not part of the aesthetic of the game, so my marks did not need to be artistic like yours, Lex.” He rolled the sleeves back down. “I remember hearing Val laughing, but I could not find him. There was one table in here and a black box sitting on the table. I opened it, and there was a tiny screen in the lid. Val’s face filled that screen, and he was laughing. Next to him, I could see the shed and the beam of light - and in that beam, I saw myself. It was like looking in a mirror. I saw my face and heard my voice. That must be the Henri that returned home to you and your mother, Em.”
“That is just not possible. How could Val - I mean, that’s just a collection of commands and algorithms in the framework of the game environment, it’s not solid. It doesn’t have mass.” Em’s eyes were wide. “It can’t just exist, can it?”
“Well, not exactly. Best I can sort out, it is a swap. Do you remember the old sci-fi movie, Invasion of the Body snatchers? A personality is created in the game and then swapped with the personality in the real world. The real personality is trapped in the game. I don’t know how he does it exactly - my assumption was that he was somehow creating another body outside the game, and that is the part that I don’t understand. It’s like a hologram and an android - but a high-level one that can fool people. And how does he trap the real personality in the game world?”
“I knew I should have watched more Star Trek with you when I was little.” They laughed, but Em stopped when she noticed the sadness etched into Lex’s face. She rubbed the back of his hand, but his tattoos remained red. “So let’s say I believe you and you are the Henri Laurent that came from my world - you are my father - how do the marks, as you call them, keep you in this world? Surely you tried to escape?”
“Immediately I did, yes,” Henry nodded. “The box was the only connection to that world here, so I reached into it to see what was there. It was like the thing had no bottom, and I was reaching into cold space until my arm was far enough to reveal my tattoo. I couldn’t go any further. I wasn’t sure at first that I could even get my hand back out of the box!” He rubbed his arm. “Val reappeared in the tiny monitor and asked me about you and your mother. I told him to leave you out of it and to get me out of this world. He just laughed, and then the monitor showed nothing but static. I finally closed it and hid it here in the inn...until I gave it to Lex.”
“So you have been here that long -”
“I don’t know how long it has been. But I am hoggin
g the conversation.” Henri looked at Lex. “What can you fill in for me?”
“About what?” Em reached for Lex’s hand, but he had folded his arms across his chest. He was staring at Henri, and it looked like his eyes were rimmed with tears. His tattoos were red. “Oh, you mean about me. I don’t remember any -”
“Lex,” Em whispered. “Just try.”
He nodded. “I already told you, Em about growing up here and being exiled. I told you about being human and then becoming Prophis. What I haven’t told you is that I was lost for a long time - well, how long, I’m not sure. But I was in Ghostfell one day, and Val drove up in his carriage. He brought me to this tavern and told me to look for Henri. I remember the first time I saw him - saw you, Henri. I recognized you, and I felt - I felt like you were my family - like I knew you.” He bit his lip, and one of his fangs was visible. Em rubbed his back, and he flinched away from her. “But I have these other memories that I can’t explain. I have memories of Em’s voice without her face. I have memories of being called Alex. I have memories of looking at this world from outside of it - and before you ask me, Em, I don’t know what that means. That’s just the only way I know how to explain it.”
“I think it means that you are trapped here just like Henri and just like me.” Lex’s tattoos glowed red.
“That has to be what it means, mon fils. He has given you memories to confuse you and keep you from knowing the truth. But you must be Alexander, the young man he told me about.” Lex’s gaze held Henri’s as Em looked back and forth between them.
“If that were true, I could get us out of here, and I can’t. And now I have marked Em so that she can’t go.” He curled his hands up into fists. “I should have remembered who I am, and I should have never marked you.” Henri stood up and walked around to their side of the table as Lex rose from his seat. Em remained still, watching the two of them.
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