“The totems are ready!”
Bishop nodded and motioned for them all to retreat. He held out his hands towards the nearest two, tilted his head back, and uttered the guttural language of the Demons. The words came out smoothly on his tongue, as if he’d spoken them for a century. Power flowed through his body, down his arms, and seeped into the totems. One by one, they lit with the green flames of his Queen, shooting out to catch the next and the next until a great ring of green flames lit the sanctuary.
As the last word left his lips, Bishop staggered back, weakened from the exertion. But when he lifted his head and saw the swirling portal before him, he nodded. “Bring me a hero!” he bellowed and waited.
Darien arrived, dragging one along. His name was Simmons and he was marked with a number above his head and a green and blue bar, just as the other heroes. Bishop shook his head at it, but didn’t worry any longer on it.
“Will he do?”
“What the hell is this, man? Why can’t I log out?” Simmons ranted.
“Log out?” Bishop asked.
“Yeah, leave this crap. I didn’t sign up to be taken prisoner.”
“Thank you, Darien,” Bishop said, ignoring the protests of the hero and dismissing the Demon. “A messenger will arrive shortly with your new instructions. Until then, hold Hillside.”
Darien bobbed his head. “Man, I’m so glad the best player in the game switched to our side. We’re totally going to win now!”
“Quiet,” Bishop said for lack of anything else to say.
These other Demons spoke as the heroes did, using strange words he did not understand. He would do as Valenastrious instructed and ignore them.
Holding onto the hero, he stepped through the portal and stepped out in the throne room of Valen’s keep. “Bishop, my pet, I take it Hillside is now ours?” Valen asked with her sultry voice as she stepped down from her throne.
Bishop sank to one knee and shoved the hero forward. “Hillside is indeed under our control and I have brought a hero as requested.”
“Hmm,” she mused, circling the man. “Not who I expected. I assumed you would bring one from your own guild. Calista perhaps.”
The name struck a chord deep inside him.
You can’t hurt her! You won’t hurt her, do you hear me! I won’t let—
“Bishop?” Valen snapped and his gaze locked onto hers. “Is something wrong?”
“No, no nothing. She and the others in my old family escaped before I could grab one of them.”
“Such a pity. I would have loved to test this theory out on one who’s hurt you.”
Bishop nodded as he straightened. “Will he do?”
“Do for what?” Simmons snapped. “I don’t like this, alright? Get me out of this place, right now.”
“Silence, you insolent fool,” Valen said with a snap of her fingers. Simmons’ lips still moved, but no sound came out. “Now, that’s better.
Chains rattled and Bishop turned to see Tavin, now with a gag in her mouth. She shook her head frantically at him, but he ignored her, turning back to watch his Queen at work.
“If this incantation works on one hero,” she told him, pulling a vial of dark, green liquid from thin air, “then it will work on them all.” She nodded and Bishop reached out to hold Simmons still. He fought, but Bishop was stronger. Valen’s words fell heavy into the air of the room, surrounding Simmons. The torchlight flickered against the stone walls and the hair on Bishop’s arms stood on end. The room seemed to shimmer in and out of view, and strange lines of numbers appeared. Bishop blinked, his thoughts slipping as other images assaulted him. A strange headpiece and a box with a magical screen…voices…so many voices…
Then everything stopped and Valen let a single drop of the liquid fall from the vial onto Simmons’ head. He jerked around, trying to see what she was doing, but nothing physically seemed to happen with him.
“Now then,” Valen said, stepping back. “Bishop, would you do the honors?”
He stepped back obediently and removed his bow from his body. Simmons’ eyes widened in fear, but he still couldn’t speak. And with another snap of Valen’s fingers, he was rooted to the spot. Bishop drew back on his Increased Swift Bow, three arrows ready to fire, and with a heavy breath out, released. They struck the hero straight in the chest, and the strange green bar over his head went to less than half.
“Again, finish him!” Valen ordered.
He drew back on another shot, Executioner he called it, and with another breath in then out, let it fly. The hero fell back from the force, his body unmoving. A blue orb hovered over his body. Bishop expected it to race off as they always did, but it didn’t move. Instead, it twitched and jerked before, with a loud pop, it vanished into nothing.
“Was that it?” Bishop asked.
Valen nodded, circling the body of the dead hero. “Your next task will soon be at hand. We must infect all of Samar and quickly, but for now, rest. You have many long hours ahead of you yet.”
Bishop slung his bow over his body and left the throne room to return to his private chambers. Once inside, he closed and locked the heavy door before unburdening himself of his gear and weapons. Today had exhausted him, but it wasn’t physical. His mind ached as if it had been stretched too far. He slumped to his washing basin and the mirror hanging before him. A familiar face stared back, but it wasn’t his, not really.
“Do you have any idea what you just did?” his reflection snarled at him.
“I am following my Queen’s commands,” he replied, trying to keep his calm in the face of himself. “You will be silent and leave me be.”
“No I won’t! This is not real, do you understand? None of this is real, but whatever that Demon is doing? She’s going to hurt a lot of people. You have to stop her.”
“Why would I do that?” he asked with a laugh.
“Because your real name is Harrison Harper and you do not belong here.”
He glared furiously at his reflection. “That name means nothing to me. You mean nothing to me. You are merely an unwanted presence that has tainted my mind.”
“No, I’m you if you’d stop being so stupid and realize it,” the man in the mirror shot back. “You could seriously hurt our friends, our family. Is that really what you want?”
“If they get in the way, I’ll do whatever is necessary to stop them.”
“You don’t even know what she’s after, do you?”
Bishop opened his mouth to reply then snapped it shut. Valen wanted to rule over Samar, but he overheard her speaking with Tavin. Whatever she planned involved something much greater than just the dominion of this world.
“Free,” he whispered. “She wants to be free.”
“You can’t let that happen, do you hear me? You can’t!”
Angry, he moved away from the mirror, hoping as always it would stop the voice, but now he merely heard it in his mind.
If you hurt Calista, I will find a way to destroy you.
“Why do you care so for the warrior? She is nothing.”
No, she is everything and she’s the one that’s going to save us in the end. I know it.
“Not unless I destroy her as Valen did that hero.”
He waited, but the voice didn’t respond to that. He fell onto his bed and closed his eyes. The band of merry heroes would soon make their move against Jinx and Bishop had to be there to stop them from succeeding. As sleep claimed him, his mind drifted and he saw Calista and him back in her shop.
They were laughing together as he wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her in close, resting his chin on her shoulder. He watched her work and, even in sleep, a smile crept over his lips. She meant everything to him and he longed to have her back. The image shifted and he was staring her down in the town square as she pleaded for him to take her hand and come home. But he was home, wasn’t he? Samar had been his home until his Queen had shown him the truth.
No, our home
is not here. Our home is in another world where our friends are waiting for us Where our son is. We have to get back there…we have to…
Bishop shot upright on his bed, staring right into the mirror across the room. The man stared back at him intently and Bishop’s legs slid off the bed. He was nearly to his feet when a sharp throbbing started behind his eyes and he cursed, sinking back to the bed and turning his back on the mirror. He was where he belonged.
There was no saving him now.
***
“What did you say?” Dennis whispered on the other end of the video call.
“Taylor, his character, it’s been killed,” the tech repeated. “Actually killed.”
“No, no that’s not possible,” Dennis said in a state of shock.
“Sir, you need to come in and see for yourself. There’s more news, too.”
“I’m on my way.” He ended the call and pushed back from his desk. Three faces watched him from their portraits on the wall as he left his private lab, walked quickly through the gardens, and into the lab. Several players stood gathered around Taylor, another player, sitting at his station as white as a ghost. “Taylor?”
“I’m alright,” he replied, but his voice was shaky. “I think I’m alright at least.”
“What happened?”
“Hillside…it’s gone.”
Dennis flinched. “I beg your pardon?”
“It’s true,” Callie said from behind him. “Bishop came with an army of Demons and players and took Hillside. We lost it.”
His heart raced and sweat broke out across his brow. “And this is where your player died?”
“No, they took me somewhere,” he muttered. “To see…her. The Queen. She did something to me and then that jerk killed me, but then I was thrown out of the game.”
Dennis looked to the tech, tapping furiously away at the keys. “We can’t log him back in. It’s as if he never had a character to begin with. Everything about Simmons has been erased.”
“What the hell’s going on?” Taylor yelled suddenly. “What aren’t you telling us all?”
Dennis had hoped to avoid telling the entire population of beta testers what has happened with Harrison. He prayed it would be an isolated incident, but clearly he was wrong. Valen was no longer just targeting Bishop’s old guild; she was going after every hero in the game.
“Call a meeting with everyone,” Dennis finally told the tech. “Force everyone out of the game, now.”
“But sir? Won’t this cause a panic?”
“If players are going to lose their characters, we don’t have a choice. This is more serious than I thought.”
“More serious than having someone trapped in the game?” Callie murmured.
“Wait, what?” Taylor asked. “Who’s trapped in the game? Those rumors were real?”
“Everything will be explained shortly and, Taylor, I am very sorry for the loss of your character. We will of course give you everything back you had if you choose to make a new one.”
“Why wouldn’t I want to?” he asked confused.
“Because the game has just changed, drastically.” Dennis ushered those already logged out to leave the lab and he made the announcement for everyone to meet in the auditorium.
As he stepped out into the hall, directing the players as they logged out in droves, a chill breeze blew across the back of his neck. He froze, then whipped around. A familiar, sultry laugh met his ears, but there was no one behind him. He chanced a glance up at the security camera in the hall, with the blinking red light, and swallowed down his panic. She couldn’t actually manifest outside the game. He was safe and so were the players and staff. She was trapped on the servers.
For now, you mean.
There was no time to panic. He followed everyone into the auditorium and climbed up to the stage, not prepared in any regard to make the announcement he should’ve made a few days ago when they had found Harrison locked inside Samar.
“Everyone, if I could have your attention,” he said, holding up his hand for silence. It took a few moments, but eventually the room fell silent and all eyes were on him. “Yes, well then, as I’m sure most of you have heard by now, there have been several incidents today that need to be addressed.”
His lips moved, but no other sound came out. There, standing in the very back of the auditorium, he swore he had just seen a faded outline of Valenastrious before it shimmered out of sight.
“Dennis?” one of the techs whispered from the front row. “Dennis?”
“Yes, right, sorry,” he said, clearing his throat. “Several days ago, a hero player switched sides, as occurs in this game. That player is Harrison Harper.”
“Yeah, and now we have him,” a player spouted with a cheer. “The Demons can finally get a leg up!”
There was a scattering of applause, but it was short-lived as Dennis held up his hand. “I’m afraid that’s not exactly the case. Harrison did not switch sides on purpose, nor did the storyline guide his character there.” He took a deep shuddering breath and said, “Harrison Harper is currently trapped within the game and, as such, believes he is truly Bishop. He truly believes Valenastrious is his Queen and he is leading her armies against the heroes of Samar.”
Stunned silence met his words before a few people laughed, thinking it was a prank.
“This is no joke. An issue has occurred within the game. So far, it has only affected him and I believe we have isolated the problem so no other player will fall into the same problem that he has.”
“Wait, you serious?” another player called out. “We could be trapped?”
“This is bullshit!”
“I don’t want to be trapped!”
The shouts of complaint erupted in the room and Dennis could do nothing to stop them. They had a right to be angry, and he let their ranting continue for a few moments before he tried to call them back to attention.
“I understand the fear and concern. If you choose not to continue your game play, you will of course be paid out in full and sent home. If you decide to remain, however, there are some changes that must be made in order to try and return Harrison’s mind to us and, in turn, make the game safe for everyone involved.”
The idea came to him out of nowhere, but it might be able to help them, if enough players were willing to stick around.
“All Demon players will be turned into heroes, at least for the time being,” he said louder over the protests. “Until we can fix this bug where a player’s character actually dies, I do not want any player being responsible for destroying another, and certainly you don’t either. You’ve all worked very hard and put in an extreme amount of time to get to where you are.”
A few still looked annoyed, but most nodded in agreement with his decision.
“I will ask that you do not log in for the remainder of the day until we can sort out this change.”
“And what if more of us get sucked into the game?” a woman asked.
“I can assure you, that will not happen. I had built a quest line into the game that a player would potentially become the right hand of Valen and help move her plans along. However, Bishop does not meet the qualifications for said character. The glitch dragged him into it and, as such, has trapped his mind. I must urge all of you to avoid him if you see him in game. We are working around the clock to get him out, but as I have said, none of you are in danger of being trapped. You will have some time to make your decisions to stay or go. Thank you for your time.”
Dennis removed himself from the stage and took the rear door out of the auditorium. Being swarmed by a mob of potentially angry people would only slow him down in getting back to his lab and to work. But the second he stepped foot in the gardens, a hand closed around his arm.
“You’re really just going to sneak off like that?” Callie asked.
“From you, no. Walk with me, before they see us out here.”
She followed him to his lab and they stepp
ed inside. “So? Did you know this could happen?”
“The destruction of characters? No, that was never programmed into the game,” he said as he sat down and went to work on the computer.
“What are you doing?”
“If she has found a way to change such a structural part of code to the game, then she’s becoming stronger than I anticipated in a very short amount of time.”
“But I don’t get it. How is Bishop helping her?”
“As strong as she is, the program still limits her. Bishop can go where he wants in the world because the system still recognizes him as a player. She, however, is not and as such the three fail-safes in place stop her, somewhat.”
“Fail-safes? I thought you said you had no idea she would evolve like this?”
“I didn’t, but I put them in place for the main AI of the game, just in case. Those are the only things keeping her in check.”
“And if she destroys them?” Callie asked. “If she breaks those down, too?”
He remembered hearing her laughter in the hall and seeing her in the auditorium. “I don’t know, but I know it won’t be good for anyone remaining in the building. Or Harrison. You and your friends have to keep pushing on as discussed.”
“Seriously? If we die now, we have to start all over!”
“Let me worry about that,” he insisted. “I suggest you take the rest of the day to rest and discuss your plan for tackling the Demon Lord Jinx. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you Bishop will make an appearance.”
“You could help us out with the Demon Lord fights at least. You programed them, tell us what they entail, what we have to face.”
“I’m afraid with Jinx anything I tell you won’t help. His algorithm was set up as a trickster and his attacks are random for each group who attempts to kill him. He focuses on the players at the time,” he informed her. “Sadly, there’s no set pattern or I would share it with you.”
The Final Chapter Page 3
