by Jack Crosby
“If going through you ends this, then so be it,” I spat at him.
“Me? No. I am not the boss of this level.” The one called Ares laughed just a bit. “My role plays out much later. I just came to see your faces when you found out Norad was under my command this entire time.”
I wish I could say I was surprised, but I wasn’t. The moment Ares outed him, he hopped away from us and landed in the center of the arena. I wasn’t hurt, but Ali was. “Norad?! How could you?”
“Easy.” The aura of evil was clear around him. “Now that we know what Baba is up to and how to enter the real world, I have no need to continue following you three.” Ares tossed him a large black weapon with red edges. It looked like the battle axe from Hell. “As soon as we retrieve the boy and The Neon Underground, the cache of codes will be mine to hand over to our masters. Then this world will be ours to do as we see fit.”
“How original, Norad.” Even as I mocked him for his transparent traitor turn, Ali was broken. I knew she had feelings for him, but now I saw how deep they went. “Ali, snap out of this. We need to defeat him.”
Even as she continued to shake and look at the ground, Norad already proclaimed victory. “They three of you will never beat me.” He slammed the axe into the ground, sending out shockwaves. “First I’ll kill you, and then I’ll kill the last legacy of Vector!”
Chapter 8 – The Turning Point
Ares walked out of the arena, phasing through the force field. That left us with Norad and the last Unforgiven. Baba quickly cast of level detection spell, Investigate, which laid out the tall task in front of us. Norad was a level fifty-one berserker and the Unforgiven was a level forty-seven captain. Both would be very difficult to bring down alone.
From the get-go, we got some excellent news. These two weren’t seasoned partners. Both foolishly went on the attack after Ali, our warrior. I was able to pull her away and Baba provided some relief with an ice attack. The best news was that Norad’s axe collided with the Unforgiven captain, sending him to the ground. It also took off a chuck of his life bar, easily thirty percent of it.
Norad had no care for his teammate. He continued to charge at us, wildly swinging his axe as he got close. While Ali was still in shock over the betrayal, it was up to Baba to keep us alive. She fired off two more spells at Norad, connecting well with the second one, Slow Ride. Norad’s movements went into slow motion.
“Ignore the berserker, attack the Unforgiven!” Baba yelled.
“Norad’s under your spell, we should attack him.”
“Ira, look at his health bar, we’ll never chip away at it like that.” He had quite a bit of health to render down. “Get rid of the weaker enemy.”
She had a point. Norad was still trying to finish his attack, which was aimed at air now. I grabbed Ali by her jump suit and slapped her across the face. “Snap out of it, we need you!”
He red hair shimmered in the star light and her eyes returned to me. “Sorry, Ira. Let me make it up to you.”
This was the Ali I knew! She took out her sword and faced off with the Unforgiven. The Unforgiven charged her and the two of them met in the air. The Unforgiven used his black claws against her sword and pushed back. Ali let go of the attack and ducked his swiping counterattack. The maker he was fast! Watching a seasoned warrior like Ali struggle with the Unforgiven made me pause to even offer assistance. Yet I couldn’t just sit back and watch. We needed to get rid of him before Norad was free.
Baba expertly put a sheet of ice under the Unforgiven. He slipped away a bit from Ali and that allowed me to get off two shots without fear of hitting her. Both were true and hit him in the chest. Based on his reaction, they hurt and he had to retreat again.
Baba wasn’t in the mood to allow him to regroup; she opened up her baddest magic skill I’d seen. “Meteor!” she yelled.
The sky opened up and black orbs of fiery death reigned down upon the battlefield. All Ali or I could do was huddle close to the ground and pray to survive.
As quickly as it started, the attack was over. Baba was slumped over in the middle of the arena, breathing heavy. The Unforgiven captain was no longer there, having been completely destroyed. Norad was behind us, smoke was coming off of him and there was an odd red glow to him. But he was very much alive and very much angry.
I ran over to Baba. She was barely hanging in there. “I don’t use that attack much for the obvious consequences. I just felt it was the right time.”
It was clear she was out of the battle. Ali joined us and tried to pick her up. “Come on you old witch, you can’t drop out like this on us!”
She wasn’t move though. “This is not my fight.” Not going to Ali, but to me. “This is your fight. You want to find Ash, you defeat Norad!”
This was indeed my battle. It was time to take the forefront and fight for what I wanted. “You’re right.” I stood up straight and pointed at the traitor facing me. “This is the end of the road, Norad. You had a chance to do the right things and instead, you chose to side with evil.”
There was a berserker rage beginning to form around him. “If you thought what I could do before was bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” He hefted his axe high in the air and lightning began to crack with thunder booming all around. “When the red consumes me, there’s no turning back.”
Ali was no longer the suffering, love struck girl. Her features were fierce, ready to strike. “I always knew, deep down, you were a coward, Norad. I wanted to believe you’d changed, but you didn’t.”
The red aura was nearly all over him. “I am a survivor. And you two aren’t.” He went all red, turning into an uncontrollable monster.
Chapter 9 – The Fire and Flame
There was no more conversation to be had, it was us vs him. Norad, in his complete berserker state, charged with his axe wilding swinging from side to side. There was no way to meet such power head on. Ali and I scrambled in opposites directions, hoping to confuse him. Like a bull, he kept going in a straight line, finishing his attack. While preoccupied, I fired two rounds at him, but it wasn’t even remotely damaging.
“Ira, physical damage will do no good in this state!”
Ali was right. Our magic user was down and my only skills were in healing. “Tell me you have some sort of art or skill we can use?”
Norad wasn’t waiting around for us to strategize. With his bearings back in place, he tossed his axe high in the air and clasped his hands together. Lightning blasted down from the sky in our directions. It just missed me, but the radius of the attack sent me crashing off my feet. Ali did a little better, cartwheeling out of the way but was still hit with some debris. He caught his axe at the finish of the attack and tried to take Ali out.
She was ready and slid between his legs and kicked him in the ass. His forward momentum carried him a ways from us, if only for a moment. “Ira, I don’t have any skills that aren’t physical damage. We’re screwed.”
It was a fair assumption. I cast a quick Cure on myself and stood back up. Looking around the environment, I was hoping something would give. Other than being flat, dark, and arid, there wasn’t much we had to use. There was the pale greenish, toxic gas that hovered right above us; I just didn’t think Norad would succumb to that at this point.
Nothing quite said desperation than being in a situation where there was no winnable outcome. Neither Ali nor I had the right skills to handle Norad. Baba was out due to her usage of Meteor. Granted, that attack killed the Unforgiven captain and ruined a good deal of Norad’s health, we were just left looking for the final piece of the puzzle without having a clue where to go.
There was something Baba said – she had told me this was my battle. Did the witch know something about me that I didn’t yet know? Was I the answer? Ali, for her part went to engage Norad head on. Watching her try to face him was painful, as he was clearly super powered at this stage. She only lasted a few attacks before he grabbed her and slammed her to the ground twice and tossed her aside.
&
nbsp; Norad stretched his arms out and roared triumph. My friend tried to get up, but she was pretty much down for the count. If she had anything left to give it was very little. I quickly used Heavenly Cloud to help her out, only to see Norad pounce again and beat her into oblivion. It was almost as if he was daring me to continue to heal her.
Anger was building up inside. Anger at Norad and his treachery. Anger at myself for being so helpless. And most of all, anger at the fact I was so close to getting back to Ash and not being able to finish the fight. That was all I wanted, to reach my goal and find the man who had won my digital heart.
Then it happened. Around my feet, a white glow formed – the fabled Limit Break! There were rumors that each character had one, but no one had ever been able to unlock it. Norad stopped his assault on Ali, looking over at me with his cold, dead eyes. He knew something was about to happen, too. As the light engulfed me, I knew exactly what skill needed to be unleashed.
“Doomsday Flare!”
As the words left my mouth, much like Baba’s Meteor attack, the sky opened up. Instead of dark hellish rocks falling, a bright light opened up in the sky. Like a homing missile, the light on the ground focused solely on Norad. Once locked in, the infinite power of the flare was unleashed. I couldn’t even look, it was so bright!
The noise was deafening as the attack proceeded. I couldn’t even tell you how long I had my hands over my ears and my eyes shut tight. Eventually, the attack dissipated, allowing me to see the devastation left behind. The ground was scorched where Norad had been. I say had been because there wasn’t a trace of the man left. All the remained was the blackened, ruined area where he had once been standing.
I knew the battle was over as I leveled up again, three times for this battle. Ali and Baba were both getting to their feet, obviously leveling up themselves. There were no spoils of battle this time, just the knowledge that our path to Binary Cove and the portal was clear.
I had done it. I had won the day!
Chapter 10 – The Real World
What used to be Binary Cove was actually still Binary Cove, believe it or not. The sea that lashed out against the rocky shores was still there, too. Just beyond reach was a storm. Baba looked out at the devastation over the open water and shivered. “We had better hope that doesn’t reach our shores.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“That is a virus, meant as the final failsafe if those searching for the stolen information cache can’t find it.” Lightning crashed into the water, sending it everywhere. Thank the maker it was quite a distance offshore. “I believe it is being shown here as a sign to us, that those who are in control aren’t afraid to destroy what they’ve created.”
I gave one last look as Baba and Ali were walking away from the shore. I needed the reminder what we were up against and what I needed to do once I crossed over.
The path we went down took us closer to the water’s edge. The shore was filled with tiny pebbles, making it hard to walk. Baba, even in her heeled boots, was as graceful as ever. It was hard to keep up with her, but I did my best. She turned a slight corner and when I made the turn, she saw had stopped. We were in a little alcove along the beach. The only light was provided by the great big star overhead.
With victory in her voice, “We are here.”
The odd glow of the star from above made this feel quite different. I felt warmth, a sense of accomplishment. “What do we do now?”
“You have nothing left to do. This is where I do what it is I do and you prepare yourself for the transfer.”
“Will this hurt her, Baba?”
Ali’s concern was sweet, but there was nothing that the witch could say that would change my mind. “No, Ali, this will not hurt her. The only risk is we get caught and a firewall is built to keep her in place.”
That didn’t sound bad. “What are the chances of that?”
“It depends on how closely they are watching the master file, or perhaps their attention has turned to Ash.” She winked at me. “That’s another perk of being sent out to the real world, we will be able to protect him better.”
Baba closed her eyes and began chanting. It was a strange language, one I’d never heard used before. The longer she chanted, the more intense it became, freaking me out of bit if we’re being honest. Then without warning, her eyes flashed open. “Upload complete!”
That’s when the world went dark.
****
I tried to open my eyes but the world was so bright. What was the problem? It took a few moments to adjust myself to the conditions, but even then, I’d never been somewhere so full of light before. The ground was hard, bare even. It was a hard, grey material, something I wasn’t familiar with. I pushed myself up so I could get a better look at my surroundings. Whoever lived here kept a very sparse existence.
There was a pretty beat up coach in front of a box with a screen flashing ‘The Electric Mile’ on it. I had made it to the real world. I must have been in Ash’s residence.
He wasn’t home, so I stayed put, trying to orient myself with the differences between this world and the game file I’d just come from. Besides the brightness, the other annoying thing was how heavy my breasts felt. I’d never noticed that before.
I was laughing to myself about how they jiggled when a door opened at the far end. Behold my eyes, it was Ash! He wasn’t dressed like he had been in the game, he was wearing a black suit. There were tears in his eyes, too. Had he just come from something bad? He wasn’t paying attention and walked right in, not even noticing he had a visitor.
I cleared my throat ever so slightly. He jumped and turned, afraid to see where the noise was coming from. When he realized who it was, “Ira? Is that really you?”
“The same girl who gave you a raid viper king card the first time we met.”
He stood perfectly still, the sadness melting away into joy. “It was real… you are real!”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I ran over to him and wrapped him up in a perfect hug. The companionship we had shared so long ago in The Neon Underground was immediately rekindled. It was no time at all before we were on the floor, fucking like wild animals. The feeling of Ash once again inside of me was crazy. The magic we experienced was back, like it never left.
He finished inside of me right before I did. I couldn’t stop myself and I screamed as loud as I could, squeezing his arms with everything I had. Never before had an orgasm taken a hold of me in such a way! When it subsided, I could barely speak.
It was okay though. Ash was here with me and together we would be unstoppable. As we gathered ourselves, “Ira, how’s it possible you’re here? This is incredible!”
“It is a very long explanation, Ash. It all started right after you beat the game…”
To be continued in…
The Neon Underground - Fall, 2017
Credits
Jack Crosby – Story
Pseudosynth Press – Publisher
Morganna Williams – Editor
Jeremy Croston – Cover Design
Gen X Formatters – Formatting
…?
“Norad, you disappoint me.”
The hostility in my master’s voice was evident. “I am sorry. I wasn’t expecting the administrator to unlock a Limit Break. Not even the brat who the witch brought over discovered his.”
“Excuses aside, it matters little.” I couldn’t see my mater, as he/she was hidden behind a veil of darkness. “Ira is in the real world; she’s found the player, Vector.”
I was angry that I failed. “I could’ve survived that attack. There was no reason to pull me away.”
Ares stepped out of the shadows. I didn’t realize the Unforgiven was here. “We know how to get from the master file to the real world.” He reached out and grabbed my arm. “Come, the two of us are leaving nothing to chance. We will find The Neon Underground and make sure it stays put.”
“This isn’t a request, Norad,” my master went on. “Fail me this time and you’
ll be deleted, forever.”
