I tilt my head to the side. “The what?”
He licks his lips and sighs. “They’re different than the ones that you and Myco come from. Instead of a small island with the ocean in-between, these Silos are separated by thick forests. I battled my Grip for months there. I remember every damn second of it, too. The Grip leveled me up and forced me to do some terrible things.”
He stares off into nothingness, as if he’s reliving the awful experience. I don’t press him. I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about any of the finer details of what my Grip forced me to do either.
“I was completely lost until I found Lucas on the arena island,” he continues. “I didn’t even know I was different until we met. Things just snapped into place. We’re brothers now.”
The memory that had emerged while on the arena island pops into my thoughts—the woman in the farmhouse.
“What do you make of the memories Lucas has?” I ask. “I wonder if any of those memories have anything to do with this ‘Salvation’ thing.”
“I doubt it,” he says, looking away.
Sensing he’s about to close himself off, I try harder. “Have any memories surfaced for you?”
“There’s nothing,” he says, returning his gaze to me.
“I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to,” I promise, suddenly suspicious that Lucas might not know if Rohan even has memories.
“I mean there was nothing,” he snaps. “No one was there in my memory. I was standing on a rundown street, staring off into the distance. I remember being cold and wet and miserable.”
“I’m sorry,” I say.
He turns away from me, peering into the woods. “Don’t be. It’s all crap anyway. Just system code to give avatars a richer backstory.”
He can’t believe that, but if it makes him feel better, then there’s no reason to push him.
Yet, that woman in the farmhouse floods my thoughts. There’s no reason to keep this memory to myself. But, if it is a trick of the system, I don’t want to show him how foolish I am to believe it, even though the vision felt so real.
“I didn’t mean to pressure you,” I say. “I’m just trying to understand it all.”
“It’s fine,” he says, brushing me off. He looks over his shoulders, trying to locate the others. I don’t think he wants to talk anymore.
A crackling of twigs sounds in the distance. I turn and Myco and Lucas emerge from the overgrowth. Tension lifts from my shoulders and I run over, wrapping my arms around her. I fully understand the bond between Lucas and Rohan now. It’s what I know Myco and I have. Being without her for any length of time is hard. We became fully self-aware the moment we met.
“Where did you go?” she asks, stepping away and holding me at arm’s length.
“Are you hurt?” Lucas asks placing a hand on my shoulder, his eyes moving over my body. A tingling sensation takes root at the base of my spine as he checks me for injuries. I’m not used to this kind of attention.
Myco nudges her way in-between Lucas and me, flicking her eyes up at him before returning them to me. “I thought you were gone for good.”
“I went to the village, and I’m fine.” It’s half true. Burdening them with my inner guilt won’t do anything to help us.
“We should discuss this somewhere safe.” Rohan points deeper into the jungle, at the hut off in the distance. We dart over and climb up the ladder. Once again, we crowd into the small storage area.
“Tell me everything,” Myco says, taking my hands in hers.
I glance at the guys to find I have their full attention. Starting from when I woke up while running through the forest, I begin telling them everything. I don’t go into detail about my emotions, as I’m not ready to delve into those. I stick to the facts and what I did to obtain each of the orbs.
When I finish, I take in their expressions. Myco’s mouth twists with disgust. Lucas’ eyebrows are drawn together with concern. Rohan has his arms crossed over his chest, wearing a smirk. I have to look away from him as the guilt resurfaces.
“As long as you’re all right,” Myco mutters before a slight smile inches over her lips. “I’m going to chain you up the next time we sleep.”
“Maybe we should,” Lucas adds, tousling his thick, dark, brown hair.
I chuckle, but avoid their eyes. Heck, that might be a good idea.
“So what do we do next?” I ask, hoping to divert attention off of me and onto the plan.
“We all still need to get to Level 10,” Rohan says. “Then we can find out what that message meant about ‘Salvation’.”
“I don’t want to do what Esa did,” Myco says.
“Isn’t there a way to just take a red orb without killing for it?” I ask. “The avatars in the village traded for them.”
“We have nothing to trade,” Lucas says. “Not to mention, we’d need to kill or hurt others just to obtain items for trade. Believe me, I don’t want to fight and do all of this horrible stuff either, but it needs to be done.”
“We can do exactly what Esa did in the village, minus the Grip’s involvement,” Rohan insists.
“No,” Myco argues. “I won’t.”
I felt the same way after my first killing in the village, but the guys are right. This is the only way, no matter how terrible it seems.
“They’re not actual people, Myco.”
She snorts and shakes her head. “We weren’t real people before all of this, right? Maybe they’ll become sentient, too. It all comes so easily for you three. Killing is like nothing.”
“It’s not!” I say, not wanting to be roped into Rohan’s twisted thinking. “But it helps to know they’re just controlled avatars right now. They don’t have feelings or pain.” I glance at the guys. I hope I’m right about the pain. “When I was out there, I went for the quick kill. Most of them didn’t even see me before they were down.”
“That’s not helping me feel any better,” Myco says.
“Esa’s right,” Lucas says, stepping toward Myco. “Of course you think so,” Myco says, glancing between the guys.
“We do,” Lucas says. “We’ve been at this longer. There’s no other way to level up. If there were a less violent way, then we’d do it. Think like Esa, and me, and Rohan. Those avatars—” he points out the window “— aren’t real people. They’re a step closer to getting us out of here. Isn’t that what you want?”
“Yes.”
Lucas steps back until his shoulder is against mine. “Esa gets it. It took us long enough to convince her. Trust her as she trusts us. We’re all in this together.”
Pride swells within me. Even though I don’t fully understand this place, coming to an understanding with both Lucas and Rohan gives me a sense of belonging that I don’t remember ever feeling before.
That feeling doesn’t last long when I catch Myco’s worried expression. I reach out to touch her, but she backs away as if I'm the enemy. Her gaze darts between us like we’re ganging up on her. I’m sure Rohan wouldn’t mind her feeling that way, but that’s not going to get her on our side. Myco crosses her arms. “Other than the obviously horrible experience of killing another avatar, what if we hurt someone like us? What if we come across a sentient avatar and break her neck?”
It’s an obvious call-back to her death, but I don’t dwell on it. I think back to my rampage in the village. I hope I hadn’t taken out another sentient avatar. Goosebumps race up my arms at the thought. If I did, then that person would remember me—their killer—after they respawn in another silo.
“Yeah,” I say. “Other than watching for behaviors such as teaming up, is there a way to identify other sentient avatars?”
“No,” Lucas says. “But we can keep an eye out before we target any of them.”
Rohan sighs, shoulders dropping. “We don’t have time to conduct a full reconnaissance for any possible candidate. We have to strike before we’re spotted.”
Myco takes a deep breath. “I still don’t think I can do this.”
“I won’t die again. I can’t,” she says firmly.
“We’ll protect each other,” I say, trying to soothe her fears. My heart breaks for her. It’s my fault she feels this way. Well, partly.
“And then if I respawn,” she continues as if she didn’t hear a word I said, “I’d be alone and risk exposing myself to the Moderators. With all of them on my island, I wouldn’t stand a chance. I’ll die again, for good this time.”
“Maybe so,” Rohan says. “But we can’t sit here and do nothing.”
Myco shakes her head. “This is crazy. I’m not doing this.”
“What are you going to do?” I ask. “Stay here forever? Once you’re out of the vicinity of the device, the Moderators will find you.”
Myco’s eyes glisten with unshed tears. “You’d leave me?”
“Of course not,” I say.
“What if we do all the work for you?” Lucas asks.
I turn to him. “What do you mean? You said this is how we’re supposed to get the orbs.” Lucas starts to pace the small room again. “Hear me out. From what Esa shared, it appears that the red orbs can be traded and killed for in this village. So, if we work together and steal enough of them, we can all share. You wouldn’t have to kill anyone by your own hand. Would that work for you, Myco?”
I glance at her. It’s not a bad idea.
She shrugs. “As long as I’m not in danger of killing someone or being killed, then yes, I’m okay with that.”
“Finally,” Rohan says, stepping forward. “Let’s get a move on then.”
Lucas holds out the device in front of him. “Remember to stay close.”
That’s not hard for me. I want to be as close as I can to all of them in case my Grip decides to make a reappearance. Though, I’m not sure what they could do to stop me if the Grip gains full control. At the very least, I hope Rohan is as strong as he makes himself out to be, or else they’ll be in serious danger. No device can save them from me when under the Hold.
I shiver just thinking about it.
After checking out the windows one more time for Moderators, we head out of the hut. I much prefer being out in the open instead of the cramped space.
Rohan takes the lead, as usual, and we walk toward the village, keeping to the edge of the path in case we spot any Moderators coming our way. Looking up, the murky sky hasn’t changed much. It’s coated by shades of gray that shift across a faint, blocked-out sun.
Myco bumps my shoulder as we walk, keeping a very short distance between us.
“Do you feel a little better?” I ask her.
“Not really, but this plan will have to do for now. I hope this ‘Salvation’ mission is what the quest promises, or all of this would be for nothing.”
I pat her shoulder. “It won’t be for nothing.”
“How do you know?” she asks.
I glance at Lucas. He’s held us together on blind faith in a strange voice in our heads. A little hope never hurt. But the reality is that I don't know.
“Well, it’s something to move toward.”
“I suppose,” she says.
We’re almost to the edge of the camp before Rohan’s head snaps to the right. His eyes narrow as he slows down.
“What is it?” I ask, panning my head in all directions.
“Hide!” he commands.
As a group, we run toward the trees, sloshing through the soaked trails. I hold onto Myco for dear life. My heart hammers in my chest. We finally have a plan to obtain ‘Salvation’. We can’t get caught now!
“Over here!” a monotone voice calls.
Myco grabs my hand and squeezes hard. I want to move out from behind the tree to see what’s happening. The damp bark seeps into my shirt while I wait. I imagine the hoard of Moderators surrounding us and then taking us down one by one.
Instead, their pounding footfalls head in the direction from where we came.
“Their code appeared nearby,” a Moderator says. Her voice is so close to our location that I crane my neck around the trunk, expecting her to be just behind me. “Split up and scour the area. They can’t have gone too far.”
The device hid our code from the game. If one of them takes a step off the path, we’re caught. I hold my breath and close my eyes, willing for the Moderators to move on.
We wait for what feels like hours. It’s the opposite of how I felt when I was in the village.
“They’re gone.” Lucas’ voice is so close to my ear that I jump.
“That was too close,” Myco whispers.
“The system probably found us when we were separated earlier,” Rohan says.
“They know we’re nearby,” I say. “We can’t go to the village right now.”
“You’re right. We can’t stay on the island at all,” Lucas insists. “Who knows how many Moderators are inside the village.”
“I didn’t see any before,” I say.
“You probably signaled the system as one of the ‘bugs’,” Rohan says.
Yet another problem with my Grip. Along with forcing me to kill unnecessarily, they nearly got us caught.
“Okay, so what do we do now?” Myco asks. “There’s no way we can get orbs without going into that village.”
“We have to go somewhere else,” I say. “Is there another merchant island?” Rohan runs his fingers through his hair several times. “There’s another place we can go.”
As much as it’s nice to hear that there is another plan, Rohan’s hesitation makes me a little worried.
I peer around the tree. There’s no sight of the Moderators. But once they get to the hut and realize we’re gone, we better be somewhere else far, far away or risk getting caught.
“We can level up much faster at this other island,” Rohan continues. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.”
“I know why,” Lucas says. “Because it’s too dangerous.”
Myco’s eyes widen. “Dangerous how?”
“Death Island,” Rohan says flatly. “It’s near the forest spawning area where Lucas and I came from.”
“Death Island? Seriously?” Myco pleads. “Um, no, I’m good.”
“Why is it called that?” I ask, curious but afraid of the answer.
“If you fight and die there, you don’t respawn,” Rohan says. “But on this island, there are system-level bosses that avatars can challenge for a high reward. No killing innocent avatars,” he says in Myco’s direction. “They’re game pieces that are there for the best players. If we work together, we can reap those rewards.”
“How do you know so much about this place?” I ask Rohan.
He hesitates and grabs the back of his neck. “Before I found Lucas, I was there for weeks, fighting and watching. All of the avatars who died were never seen again.”
“How do you know they didn’t respawn?” Myco asks.
“Since my spawning location was so close by, I recognized a lot of the avatars. Traveling to Death Island, I followed a few of them there. When they were killed during a challenge, I scoured the respawn silos. There were at least five that never came back in any form.”
“We think that’s the reason for the rewards being so high,” Lucas says. “If you challenge a boss and die, you never return.”
CHAPTER 17
“IF YOU’RE TRYING to get me to go there, you’re doing a crappy job of convincing me,” Myco says.
“The risk is worth the reward,” Rohan insists. “Do you have a better idea? It’s the quickest way for us to level up.”
“Or the quickest way to die,” Myco mutters.
“Going there will give us an opportunity to fight them together,” Rohan says. “I’ve seen it done before.”
“Really?” I ask, stepping closer to him. Rohan runs his hands through his nearly white hair. “I’ve seen player-controlled avatars in clans before, going up against the bosses.”
“Myco
won’t have to fight,” I say, looking at Lucas. “Between the three of us, we should be able to do it, right?”
Lucas and Rohan share a look. There’s an uncertainty in their eyes that doesn’t fill me with confidence.
Rohan sighs. “While it would be better to fight with four, your upgrade will help us, Esa.”
“And once we win some tournaments, we’ll all be able to share the red orbs and get stronger,” Lucas says.
I glance at Myco. She nods but says nothing. I doubt she’ll ever verbally agree to kill, even if it’s a game-created boss. I really did a number on her.
“What about the Moderators?” They’re always in the back of my mind now.
Lucas holds up the device. “As long as we keep within the radius and act as if we’re player controlled, we should be okay. The Moderators will stay away, and it will give the game no reason to flag us.”
“I don’t think they’re here anymore,” Rohan says, peering into the distance.
“How do you know that?” Myco asks.
“They ran up to the hut. If they sensed we were nearby, they would have come back this way,” he reasons.
“I’m sorry about taking off,” I say, still feeling incredibly guilty about letting the Hold take over.
“It’s not your fault,” Lucas says. “It was us splitting up that must have alerted them. I don’t think they can sense player-controlled sentients.”
At least I didn’t put everyone in danger. Splitting up was the boys’ choice. Though, they would never separated if I hadn’t left.
“We need to keep moving,” Rohan says, charging off toward the main path. “Standing here, discussing the plan over and over, isn’t getting us anywhere.”
Lucas, Myco, and I jog to keep up with Rohan. He holds a steady pace, but he’s right. We need to get out of there. The merchant island is much too dangerous now that the Moderators know our location.
After a little while, Lucas stops and turns to me. Rohan notices and slows as well. Lucas reaches around his back and pulls out one of the weapons we traded for.
“You might need this,” Lucas says to me. “Found it on the ground outside the hut. Guess your Grip wanted a challenge.”
Avatars Rising: SILOS I Page 11
