When the arrow hit, the ropes snaked across the chasm, dragging with them a wooden bridge. In no time, there was a pathway across.
"Well I guess it was good we teamed up," said Justin. "We couldn't get up the cliff without a Spy and you couldn't get across this without a Hunter."
"I wonder how many other groups have figured this out?" said Avony.
They looked around nervously, Gabby could see them each considering that the rest of the teams could be ahead of them. They would never know until they finished.
A tunnel led them to a charred hallway, charred in that the walls were covered in soot. Their footsteps kicked up puffs of black smoke. Gabby's palms grew instantly damp and she thought about pulling out her blades.
Zaela seemed to have the same idea and had one hand on her shoulder, resting near the hilt. In fact, everyone seemed edgy.
The tunnel, as they crossed its length, slowly turned to a stone-hewed chamber with two rune-etched brass doors at the end.
"Those certainly look like boss doors," said Stephan, looking more normal than he had since his fall, though still hunched over on his staff.
"Could we already be at the end?" asked Passel.
Justin wandered to the door and held his hand near the runes. "I wonder what's on the other side."
Gabby and Avony both answered at the same time: "Smoke demon."
Gabby cringed afterwards as Zaela gave her the how-could-you look.
"I wonder if we'll share the points for completing or if only one group can win?" asked Stephan.
As his words filtered through everyone, they naturally segregated themselves into two groups again, shifting slightly until there was a line between them. If weapons were pulled, Gabby didn't know who, except for Zaela, would be her ally.
Judging by the slow movements, Gabby gathered that a fight was imminent. She had to defuse them.
"Let's not debuff ourselves with mistrust. Given the cliff and bridge obstacles, it might be that two groups are meant to fight the smoke demon," said Gabby. "If we attack each other, then we might be too weak to take on the boss."
She hadn't banished the idea of fighting from their minds, but they didn't appear ready to fight, right now.
"Gabby's right," said Avony, getting nasty looks from both Zaela and Betsy. "Since we don't know if we'll share points or not, it's best to assume we will. And if you assume that winning together, even if one side gets second and the other first, is better than not being able to complete it and some other team beating us."
The only problem with that, Gabby thought, was that gamer theory stated that it was best to cooperate on open ended games. But on closed games, ones with a defined ending, it was always best to cooperate, until the very end, when betrayal would gain the maximum advantage.
The question was, who would betray first? It was basic gamer theory and everyone knew it. And in a different game, Gabby would betray the other side in an instant, even with Zaela on their team (knowing she could get Zaela's lost points back later for her.)
But the stakes had changed dramatically, even if most of them only knew half the story. Gabby wasn't sure she wanted to cause them deathly levels of pain, nor did she want to banish them from their society.
As far as everyone but Gabby and Avony knew, the losers just got lesser jobs, so playing for keeps was encouraged. If they knew the losers were possibly killed, would they still want to betray? Or possibly they would be more apt to, since the stakes were higher.
The faces of the two teams, warily eyeing each other, debuffed Gabby's heart with sadness. They should be cooperating, not trying to cut each other's heads off. There had to be a better way.
In that moment, Gabby decided to help the Frags. She probably wouldn't join them, especially if she survived the raid, but she would get them the information they desired. Work from within the system to change it.
With their continued cooperation in place, they turned their attention to the stone door. To their surprise, it opened the moment Justin touched it, revealing more cut stone walls covered in soot, leading into the darkness.
"I guess it's time," said Stephan.
"Wait!" said Mouse. "We need a raid leader."
The others nodded, and before Gabby could even put her name in for consideration, Avony had been elected, which shouldn't have surprised her.
Avony decided the two groups would split up inside, in case some catastrophic attack knocked them out, then at least the other group could continue. Gabby also thought it was to remove the temptation to betray, if distance separated them, though Passel's skill the bow gave the advantage to the red team.
In the end, they all agreed, though Gabby didn't like being separated from Zaela, so soon after they were reunited. Avony had split herself from Betsy too, but Gabby gathered Avony wasn't a big fan anyway.
If all went as planned, Gabby would win the raid, ensuring she passed rank, and help Zaela in the process. Then she could try and get into the Coders and help the Frags from within.
Gabby smirked to herself, drawing stares from the others, as they crossed the threshold of the stone doors and crept, two-by-two into the glooming darkness. When did things ever work out as planned?
The stone tunnel entered a low ceiling assembly room with stubby demon statues lining the path, and hallways leading out from the room at multiple points.
Avony motioned for the two groups to split up, heading down separate corridors, and Gabby shared a smile with Zaela.
Gabby knew things weren't going to be as easy as she hoped. She'd played a life time of games, her short life time anyway, and knew that plans had to change once the game started.
She thought at least the plans would last longer than the first room, as she was about to tell the other team good luck, when Justin tipped his staff forward, and belched out a wall of flame that enveloped both Mouse and Stephan.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Stephan's screams tore a hole right through her head. Game or not, with max pain settings, Gabby could practically smell his flesh burning, just from the depth of his screams.
Mouse had rolled out of the way behind one of the grotesque statues that lined the room. The heavy whispers of weapons being drawn were followed by shouts of alarm.
Grabbing Zaela, Gabby ducked into a hallway to escape the battle. As they scurried away, Gabby saw black shapes at the edge of her vision. Dripping from the ceiling like black water, wraiths were descending on the remaining combatants in the room.
As they careened through the maze of corridors, Gabby wondered if Justin had been targeting her teammates or had reacted to a wraith coming off the ceiling. It didn't matter now. The truce was ended and they would have to survive on their own.
Further away, they slowed their escape and the two girls crept through the hallways, barely disturbing the layer of black dust that coated everything. As they passed, their footprints were covered up, as if the soot was alive. Gabby wondered if they were walking around in wraith dust and the creatures were just waiting for the right moment to attack. Shivers trickled down her spine.
When Gabby felt a safe distance from the entrance room, she tugged on Zaela's arm to stop running. They shared a quick hug.
"I missed you, Gabby. I'm so glad we're teamed up again," said Zaela. "This raid so far has been awful. I'm not even sure I care about getting into University now."
Gabby wanted to tell her about the Frags and how worse it would be if she didn't, but the Coder was probably watching.
She grabbed Zaela by the shoulders. "Trust me. You do. We have to win this thing somehow."
Flickering torches lined the sooty hallway. Tiny reddish-orange flame tongues reflected in Zaela's huge liquid eyes.
"When my team ambushed the others and got killed, their screams were horrific. It sounded like they were actually being killed," said Zaela on the verge of breaking down.
"We have to treat this like we would be, Z," said Gabby, giving her another hug.
"Can't I just hide in a
corner until the raid is over? I meant it when I said it before. I don't care about getting into University," said Zaela.
"Now is not the time for doubt," said Gabby. "We've got to win this raid and get those points."
Gabby cringed internally when she saw the effect of her words on Zaela. She wished she had Avony's gifts at that moment.
Zaela's lower lip began to quiver. "You and those stupid points! You're worse than my parents, always pushing me to get more points so I can go up rank. What if I don't want to be a part of this system? What I want to do is important, too!"
Gabby tried to hold Zaela's hand, but she pulled it away. "Zaela, trust me when I say that now is not the time for this discussion. I would say more, but I can't. I'll support anything you want to do when we get out of here, but for now we need to win."
Zaela threw her arms out in exasperation. "When is it ever time?"
Gabby tried to quiet her friend, but Zaela continued shouting.
"If I don't stop this now, I'll be in University and then I'll never have time for my art," said Zaela.
"I'll help you make time," said Gabby, ready to promise anything to get Zaela to quiet down. Distant shouts made her feet itch to move and the soot around their feet seemed to be swirling around on its own.
Fat tears welled up in the corners of Zaela's eyes. Gabby hugged her friend and then held her at arm's length.
"Z, I've been helping you for years to get into University," said Gabby. "I can help find time for your art."
Zaela flinched. "You've been helping me still?"
"Well, a little." As soon as she said the words, Gabby wished she could take them back. She'd promised Zaela years ago that she wouldn't exploit LifeGame for her.
Zaela pushed her away. "See! You are just like them. Trying to get me to conform to their system." Zaela put her hands to her face, wheeling around as if she couldn't control her body any longer.
"You're worse than them," yelled Zaela. "At least my parents only ask me to conform. And the system, too. I could leave it if I wanted to. Get kicked out and go to a lesser school where I don't have to get crucified for not playing LifeGame and then I wouldn't have my best friend holding me hostage just because she's too much a loner to let her last friend be herself!"
Gabby was drained of any response. Her arms fell limply at her side. She wanted to reach out and explain to Zaela that she had it all wrong, but she wasn't so sure herself. She had exploited the system to keep Zaela with her. She had done it against Zaela's will. She had secretly controlled her school career, not for Zaela's benefit, but for her own.
Gabby had always felt superior to Avony and her coven of Evil Dolls because she assumed her friendship rung more true. Now her own motivations had been revealed to her as hollow, and the depth of the fall multiplied since she'd buoyed herself up on that superiority.
"I'm sorry," trickled out of her lips. But when she looked up, Zaela was gone.
Gabby was about to shout, or run after her, when something soul-suckingly cold hit her in the shoulder. She spun around, to find a wraith floating in the hallway, gleaming eyes watching her, almost welcoming her to join it.
It probably saw a kindred soul in her, Gabby thought. One wraith to another. A light breeze, like the swirling of leaves around her ankles, alerted her to what was happening behind her.
Three more wraiths were nearly formed, and all along the hallway in the direction Zaela had run, more were bubbling up from the soot. She would have to fight through dozens to follow her friend.
As the first one reached out to touch her again, she spun into a Cat and Cut. The way was clear, so she took it, hoping she could lead the wraiths a different direction and come back to that tunnel later.
That thought was quickly squashed as she found herself taking random turns, occasionally battling a lone wraith or two, floating incorporeally through the gloom. At times, shouts or battle-sounds like the impact of weapons, echoed through the hallways. Gabby would spin this way and that, trying to determine the direction and then sprint off, only to find she had picked the wrong way, or the battle had moved on.
Occasionally, Gabby found a room, some empty, some filled with ancient urns or blackened statues, all of it illuminated.
She peered around the corner into another such room, this one with a stone-stacked well in the middle.
Unlike the others that were empty, a figure waited at the far exit, cautiously examining the way forward. Though her white robe was covered in black soot, Gabby recognized her instantly.
"Avony," she whispered.
The leader of the Evil Dolls spun around in a ready pose, eyes alarmed with fright.
"Holy Mario! Don't scare me like that," said Avony, and then tilting her head in confusion. "Where's Zaela? I saw you two run off a side corridor."
"We had a disagreement," Gabby said plainly.
Avony nodded as if she understood, offering a hesitant smile.
"Betsy?" said Gabby, wanting to change the subject.
"When everything got debuffed, Unthar went insane," said Avony, her eyes all glassy and far away. "Everyone was fighting each other and the wraiths were streaming in like smoke."
Avony hesitated, eyebrows hunched in effort, as if she were trying to understand the words that were about to come out her mouth. "As we were trying to escape, Betsy and I, Unthar appeared, eyes raging in battle lust, and he cut Betsy's arm off."
The blonde Doll shook her head, staring in at the floor. "I'm certain that he killed her." Avony met her gaze. "For real, not just in game. It's possible right? The way her scream died, not like Stephan's scream, which was horrible enough, being burned like that. But her scream died."
"Did you kill him?" Gabby asked hopefully.
"No," said Avony. "I ran. I wasn't even sure he was following me. But I ran."
"Well let's see if we can find any survivors," said Gabby. "I have a hunch that Mouse survived that mess. If we can find her and Zaela and maybe one other, maybe we can finish this thing."
Avony wiped her forehead, smearing soot into her blonde tresses. "Yes. Let's finish this."
The distant screams and the battle sounds no longer echoed through the corridors. Either they were hopelessly lost, or Unthar and the wraiths had eliminated all their friends. She hoped it was the first.
In a room with a squat statue covering one wall, they found a hidden passageway. They had to climb over the statue to gain entrance and it quickly led to a ragged staircase with chipped edges. They moved up with slow methodical steps, careful not to cut themselves on the corners.
A faint red glow beckoned them upward. Gabby adjusted her grip, preparing for battle, but when they reached the top they found a round chamber with an open window into a larger chamber. The girls crept to the edge of the window.
A vast chamber filled with smoldering pockets of lava, bubbling up through the floor, lay below. Stone columns blocked part of their view of the area.
In the back, some gathering darkness shifted, like a storm cloud moving in. Gabby wasn't sure what it was, until the eyes gave it away.
Like a billion dying galaxies, two glittering eyes hung in the black cloud, baleful and ancient. Using the eyes as a reference, Gabby was able to discern the shape of the creature below. It was the smoke demon, in the form of a dragon.
"Asphyxia," Gabby whispered, pointing to the eyes, so Avony could follow. Avony nodded not long after, understanding.
"I guess the old man in the tavern wasn't lying, after all. But it's so huge. How do we defeat it?" Avony asked.
Gabby shrugged.
The barest hint of movement caught both their eyes. Mouse slipped behind a rocky column. She had covered herself in the soot, even her face, making her difficult to pick out. Only from their angle and against the lava, had they been able to see her.
"I wonder what she's trying to do?" asked Gabby.
"I don't know," said Avony. "But we should try and help her."
"I wish you'd given her the OOC program too," sai
d Gabby.
They were about to leave the upper chamber when a new figure entered the chamber. Avony gasped, and Gabby's heart constricted even before she saw them.
Unthar had Zaela by the length of her long black hair, yanking hard so Zaela grimaced in pain, leading her forward with his sword held at her neck. He made no pretense of hiding and seemed to be eagerly approaching the smoke dragon Asphyxia.
For a brief moment, Gabby wondered if Unthar was using her like a human shield, but then the dragon gathered up, growing taller, until its smoky head brushed the ceiling.
When it had attained its full height, it shook its wings, stretching out like a marauding cat, smoke dripping from its nostrils.
"Welcome, Unthar," said Asphyxia, in a voice that sounded too much like the pale Coder, Mr. Johnson. "I see you have brought me a sacrifice."
Chapter Twenty-Five
Gabby wanted to go screaming through the tunnels to have at their traitorous teammate, but Avony held her arm.
"We need to watch this, just a moment longer," said Avony, gaze never leaving the scene below.
"I bet Mr. Johnson promised him some reward for turning on us," said Gabby through gritted teeth.
The dragon, Asphyxia, breathed out a black mist that coalesced into an altar. Unthar struck Zaela in the head with the hilt of his sword. The sickening crunch could be heard echoing through chamber. Gabby nearly ripped a fingernail off gripping the stone.
Unthar lifted Zaela easily and deposited her on the altar. Asphyxia leaned its great smoking head over Zaela's lifeless body and sniffed.
"Ahh...the fresh scent of bait," said the dragon.
"That's definitely Mr. Johnson, the Coder. I can hear his nasally mocking tone," said Gabby.
"If the Coder is running the raid boss, then we're totally debuffed. He probably knows we're up here watching him right now!" Avony slid against the window and buried her face in her hands. "I'll never get into University, now."
Gamers - Amazon Page 16
