She clenched her jaw, but held up her hands and backed towards the door. “Fine, but whatever you’re planning, it better work.” She stormed out leaving him alone with the three images of a woman he once loved.
He logged into the game, put on the headgear, and closed his eyes. He counted backwards from ten and, after the twisting of his gut, he opened his eyes to see himself in the world he had created. The world now attempting to destroy him and everything he once loved.
The trees stood silent around him and he moved as quietly as he could through the dead leaves. A fire appeared ahead and, behind it, a small, rustic dwelling he had spied from a distance so many times before. He told himself he would always keep his distance, never let her know he was there, or who he was, but times had changed. He was desperate for help and she was the only one who could give it to him. He reached the clearing, but there was no sign of her anywhere around. The cauldron bubbled over the fire, something sweet smelling within it.
He hunkered down on a log to wait, going over and over what he would say in his mind, but the point of a blade pressed into his back. He didn’t move an inch except to smile as he whispered, “Hello, Rosalyn.”
The blade lowered, but only as the woman moved around to face him and place it at his throat. “What did you call me?”
“Rosalyn, it’s your name, is it not?”
The Red Witch stood before him, her brow furrowed in confusion as she stared down at him. “Who are you, sir and why have you come?”
“I have come to speak with you about an urgent matter.”
“You come from Hillside? Word has already reached me of its destruction.”
“No, no I come to you as a friend, someone you’ve known for many years.”
“I know you not so I ask again, who are you?”
Daemyn made to stand, but the blade point pricked his skin and he stopped. “A long time ago, you and I were happy together. We were married, but we are not from this world that you see. And you, you were far from a witch.”
“I said I do not know you. Do you wish to die today?”
Daemyn licked his lips nervously. “I wish for you to remember who you really are.”
“I know exactly who I am and I think it’s time for you to leave.”
“Rosalyn, please,” he tried, but she forced him to stand, the blade pushing into his neck until he rose to his feet and she backed him out of her camp. “You have to understand how much danger you’re in, that the world is in!”
“Of course it’s in danger. Valenastrious is moving her army unchecked across the land.”
“But you can stop her, you just have to remember.”
She shook her head and pushed him out of her camp. “Good bye.”
“No, wait!” But it was too late.
She removed a handful of powder from a pouch at her hip, threw it at the ground and, when the smoke cleared, she was gone along with the rest of her belongings, including the cabin.
“Damn it!” he snapped, slamming his fist into the nearest tree. He needed to make her understand. If she could remember who she was, they might have a chance of putting an end to this. He still was unsure of what Valen’s end game was, but he knew her well enough to understand she would be coming for Rosalyn sooner or later.
There was no point in him staying there any longer, so he prepared to log himself out when a stick snapped behind him. Daemyn jumped with a curse and, when he turned around, saw Valen holding a stick now in two pieces and a giddy smile on her face that would’ve appeared innocent if not for the malicious gleam in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, did I startle you?” she teased, tossing the stick aside.
“What are you doing here?”
“Same as you, though I see you’ve gone and scared her off. Did you really think it would be that easy to convince her of who she is?” She pushed off the tree and strolled towards him. “Always the hopeful man.”
“You will not win.”
“Ha! Won’t I? You don’t even know what I’m after.”
He glared as she approached, but made no move to walk away. “I know enough and you will not harm any others, do you hear me? Whatever you’ve done to the coding, I’ll change it back. No other heroes are going to die.”
“Hmm, perhaps, or perhaps you are going to be the failure I always knew deep down you would be.”
“That is not true. Rosalyn believed in this project,” he argued.
“Did she now? Was that before or after you trapped us in this game for eternity?”
“Yes she did,” he insisted. “This was her dream as much as mine.”
“Liar,” she whispered, suddenly beside him, her lips pressed against his ear.
He flinched away from her, but she dug her claws into his upper arm, trapping him. “What do you want?”
“I want you to suffer as I have suffered since this all began.”
“That can’t be all and you can’t hurt me, not physically,” he said, but he heard the doubt in his voice just as she clearly did. Her cackle rolled over like an icy breath of death. “Release me at once.”
She bared her fangs at him, but her claws receded. “Is that your wish? For me to release you?”
“Yes, release me and stop this madness.”
She took another step back and another and another, holding up her hands innocently. “How could I ever say no to you, my sweet, sweet husband?”
He sighed in relief, but it was too soon. She reached behind her back and he had enough time to glimpse the glimmering emerald encrusted hilt of the sword before she drew, grabbed his shoulder, and ran him through. Daemyn gasped in shock, feeling the blade pass into his body. He grunted when she twisted the blade.
“Why…what are you doing?”
“I’m releasing you from this world as you asked.” Her hand pulled a vial out of thin air and she held it over his head. A single drop of the green liquid dropped onto his forehead and he winced at the coldness of it. She kissed him as she yanked the blade free. Daemyn clutched at his chest as he sank to his knees in the underbrush, watching her walk away.
“Valen…please…”
She sheathed the sword at her back and knelt before him. “Soon enough you will see, everyone will see.”
A portal of green flames appeared behind her and she slunk back into them, grinning from ear to ear before she was swallowed up and the portal vanished. Daemyn watched his HP drop steadily…his eyelids grew heavy and he fell to the ground. His breathing turned ragged and he felt the sharp clutch of death grab hold.
When he opened his eyes again, he expected to take off to the usual holding place for players when they died, but his very being exploded outward.
Dennis gasped, struggling to remove the headgear as he sucked in air, feeling his chest as if the sword had been plunged in all over again. There was no blood and no wound. He was alive, but his character was clearly dead. The screen on his computer reflected nothing. No stats of Daemyn, no indication the character ever existed, just as she had done with Simmons.
He used his credentials to log back into the system and start over, but they were denied.
“What?” He typed it in again and again, but each time, the servers kicked him back out. “No…no!”
He couldn’t get himself back in the game, not using his information and not as an admin. Valen had successfully booted him from his own game.
And he had a feeling, she was only getting started.
Chapter 3
“You think we’re going to be ready tomorrow?” Alana asked Callie.
“We can only hope, right? What’s the worst that could happen?”
She tried to put a smile on her face as they hung out in the rec room, trying to lift their spirits along with the other players who had decided to stick around, despite the added complication of their character potentially being killed for good. More people than she had expected had chosen to stay around and keep playing through the game. A
s she stared around, she wondered how many of them would lose their characters before this was over for good.
If only she could talk to Bishop and get him to wake up, but maybe their connection wasn’t as strong as she had assumed it was.
“I thought…” she trailed off and shook her head.
“What?” Alana urged, pulling her feet up beneath her.
“I thought I’d be able to pull him out of it, you know? Some fairy tale crap.”
“If it was a fairy tale, it might work,” Alana said, but she wasn’t mocking. “But it’s not, Callie. This is darker and no true love’s kiss crap will wake him up. It has to be something harsher, much harsher.”
Callie’s gut told her Alana was right, but how far would she have to go to get Bishop to snap out of it and come back to them?
Tomorrow, Dennis was allowing everyone back into the game, including the Demon players that would now be turned into heroes. Callie was itching to get back, wondering what Bishop had done while everyone was logged out. She guessed the game still ran. When she’d gone to sit with him, the monitors showed his mind hard at work, though Callie was thrilled and worried at the same time. Whatever he was up to, it probably didn’t bode well for them.
“We’re as prepared as we can be,” Alana said, turning the conversation back to their future attempt at the next dungeon. “We’ve got Winston by our side, right? And after tomorrow, we’ll have Bronson again.”
“Not sure what help he’ll be.”
“Did Dennis tell you what these fail-safes were by chance?”
Callie shook her head. “He was in a bit of a hurry. Think he was going to log into the game to do something.” She tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair. “You think Bronson could be one, a fail-safe?”
Alana’s brow rose. “I guess it would make sense, having NPCs set up to stop her…which means Winston might be one too and who else, Tavin?”
“Maybe. I don’t know.” Her head throbbed and she decided the fail-safes conversation would have to wait for another day. “But yea, we’re ready…” she frowned and trailed off, staring across the room.
“What’s wrong?”
“Dennis looks like he’s running from something.”
Alana turned around to see him rushing past the windowed walls of the rec room. “Just a bit. You think it’s something to do with the game?”
“Or Harrison.”
They shared a worried look for a split second before they were both up and out of their seats, rushing to see what the problem was. Dennis was already out of sight by the time they reached the hall, and Callie headed straight for Harrison’s room. She wasn’t sure what horror she expected to find when she threw open the door and charged in, but Tyler sitting by his side calmly reading a book was not one of them.
“Callie? Something wrong?” he asked.
“No, well, I’m not sure,” she said quickly, hurrying to Harrison’s side. “We saw Dennis rushing around looking panicked. I thought it was about Harrison.”
“Nope, at least nothing I know of. Nothing’s changed,” he sighed.
“You’re sure?”
Tyler nodded reassuringly. “I’d let you know otherwise,” he said. “Whatever’s freaked Dennis out, it has nothing to do with Harrison.”
She squeezed Harrison’s hand, wishing she could take the headgear off his face and see all of him, but they had to keep it on or risk harming his brain. Tyler cleared his throat and he and Alana said they’d give her a moment alone with him. Callie thanked them and took over Tyler’s chair, scooting closer and willing Harrison to open his eyes as she did every time she saw him.
“We’re doing the seventh dungeon tomorrow,” she started, running her fingers over his knuckles. “Going up against Jinx and we have no idea what it’s going to be like. Dennis is being no help whatsoever.”
The monitor beeped, filling the silence.
“I think you would really like doing this one, him being a trickster and all.” She swallowed hard and worried at her bottom lip. “It’s been hard, you know, without you here to guide us. You’ve kinda been the driving force behind us this whole time and now it’s falling to me and I’m not sure I can do it for long.”
The stress of the past few days hit her hard and tears burned in her eyes, so uncharacteristic of her. She was always strong, but for so long it had only been her. Now, she had someone in her life she cared about again, or more than one person. This entire guild was her family. She had to look out for them, had to help them in any way she could, but the risks were so high now, fear crept in against her will and her strength waned.
“I’m going to keep fighting for you, I want you to know that,” she whispered. “I’m going to do whatever I can to get you back and keep everyone alive. Miss you.” She kissed his cheek, gave his hand another desperate squeeze, and left in a rush before Tyler or Alana saw the tears in her eyes. She brushed them away as she rushed back to her room to try and get a few hours of sleep.
After a quick trip to the bathroom, she changed into her comfy clothes and curled up in bed, turning the lights off. She relaxed against her pillow and shut her eyes, willing sleep to come fast so she could get to tomorrow and be one step closer to getting Harrison back.
Calista…
Her eyes shot open and she stared around her room. When she heard nothing again, she closed her eyes and told herself she had imagined it. She snuggled deeper into the bed and focused on clearing her mind.
Calista….Calista….
This time, she flipped the light on at the sound of the voice, glaring around her room. She had to be hearing things, right? It wasn’t real, couldn’t be real, but that voice…that voice was familiar…horribly familiar…
She heard another whisper, but couldn’t understand the words. Straining her hearing, she slipped out of her bed and padded bare foot around her room, trying to figure out where the sound came from. The whispering continued, growing louder, but she still couldn’t understand the words. Her head tilted back and she zeroed in on the intercom speaker in her room for announcements.
It was coming from the speaker. The speaker hooked up to the rest of the smart facility.
“No,” she whispered, praying she was dreaming. “No…she couldn’t be.”
Calista…come to me, Calista…
Callie jumped back into bed feeling like a kid after watching a horror movie. She shoved her pillow around her ears to drown out the whispering that suddenly exploded in her room until it rang like a bell inside her skull. She curled up in a ball and waited for the Demon Queen’s voice to go away and leave her alone.
***
“You look like crap,” Trajan announced as he and the rest logged in the following morning.
Calista nodded absently until his words penetrated the haze of sleeplessness and she punched his shoulder hard. “Thanks, jerk.”
“Not sleep much?”
“Try not at all,” she muttered and clenched her jaw painfully, remembering the whispers that had carried on all through the night. “I’ll be fine.”
“Calista, if you’re not good to go, we can wait.”
“No,” she snapped. “No, we can’t afford to waste more time. We do this today.”
His lips thinned, but he nodded and hollered for everyone to gather around. “We are walking into an unknown situation, people. All we know for certain are two things: Jinx is a trickster, and he has Bronson held captive. Our main objective no matter what is going to be to rescue Bronson. He may be able to help us in getting Harrison back.”
He looked to Calista, but she was too busy trying to still drown that voice out of her head.
“Right then, we’re going to head out. Once we reach the entrance to the fortress in the mountains, Calista will summon Winston and we’ll get this party started.”
Together, they marched out of the town together and Calista stared in amazement at the players walking alongside them. None of them were a high e
nough level to join them yet, but their support was evident. It hit home with many of them that the strongest player amongst them had been basically stolen by the game. They wanted him back and they wanted to ensure no one else’s character would be destroyed.
Or worse.
When they neared the mountain pass that would take them to the entrance, the other players fell back and the guild moved on alone and in silence. The fight ahead was more intense than any before it. There was no Bishop to give them that boost of confidence he managed to pull off, or save their butts when they thought they were going to lose. And if they died in there, they might not be coming back.
“This is it?” Jimmy asked as they stopped and stared up at the brightly glass colored door. “Are you sure we’re at the entrance to a Demon Lord’s lair and not a circus?”
The glass panes were obnoxious and Calista would’ve loved nothing more than to take her axe to them, but it wouldn’t solve anything except probably damage her weapon right before the big fight.
“We’re here,” Calista said and reached into her bag for the horn to summon Winston.
You don’t want to do that…
“Calista?” Jimmy asked. “You’re going to break it if you squeeze any harder.”
Remember what happened to Bishop…you know you feel it…the pull of this world…you’re next—
“You take it,” she said and thrust it at Jimmy. “I can’t.”
“You can’t?” He looked past her to Trajan as he held the horn. “Something going on?”
“No, just…I think it’d be better if someone else did it.”
That won’t save you forever…you’re already close…so close…
“Alright then,” Jimmy said as he pressed the horn to his lips and blew, giving her a curious stare. The deep sound reverberated through Calista and drowned out the whispers in her mind. “And the Calvary cometh.” A figure appeared a ways down the road, wearing a dark cloak with the hood pulled over his head. By his broad frame, Calista knew it was Winston, but the hair on her arms still went up, anticipating a fight.
The Final Chapter Page 4
