“She’s trying to lure us to Gorgoth for a trap. Dennis said the source of coding she needed to break through the final fail-safe was here, in the capital, somewhere in the castle. The Staff of Kings. If we can get to it first, we can break it and stop her. Besides, this was all your plan, remember?”
He nodded frantically. “Right, stop the crazy AI from breaking out of a computer game, wreaking havoc in the real world, and then probably attempting to kill us all,” he muttered.
“Way to stay positive,” she mused with a grin.
“How can you smile at a time like this?”
“Because we’re finally at the end and, for the first time in weeks, I have hope we might actually succeed. Bishop will come back to us, you’ll see.” She tugged her cloak tighter around her shoulders and nodded subtly at a group of three more heroes they passed.
Two days ago in game time, they had made a big production of marching out of Weston with every hero who remained in the game. But the deeper into the woods they had gone, the more had broken away until the majority of them got back here, ready to defend Weston. A handful of brave volunteers had continued on towards Gorgoth. They would set up an encampment and make it appear they were preparing for an all-out assault on Valenastrious there, while the rest remained behind to wait for her to make an appearance.
“And if you’re wrong?” Jimmy asked. “If she doesn’t attack Weston?”
“That’s why we have Hunters. They’ll transport as many people back from Gorgoth as quickly as they can and hopefully we won’t lose too many there.”
But she knew it was a trap. Valenastrious, Rosalyn, was only after one thing in truth. Everything else was just for show, and because the last bit of the game script commanded her to do it. They reached the sixth level of the city and she spied Trajan and a few other dwarves sitting outside a tavern. They laughed heartily as if they didn’t have a care in the world.
“Maverick and the others are in place?”
“Sitting outside the castle gates, waiting,” he promised. “I should be up there.”
“No, we need you out here with the rest of the exorcist priests. When that army comes, there’s enough of you to attack with full force using that ability. It could wipe out a number of them before they even reach the castle.”
He puffed out his cheeks, shuffling his feet.
“Maverick is one of the toughest players in this game,” she assured him. “She’ll be fine.”
“I know you’re worried about leading us,” Jimmy whispered, and Calista drew back, waiting for him to tell her she was horrible at it. But then he grinned and she felt strength rush through her. “But you’ve done a damn good job with us. We’ll get Harrison back.”
“That’s the spirit.” She leaned back against the nearest wall and waited.
The usual bustling sounds of the city suddenly seemed muffled then fell away entirely. Calista shoved her hood back far enough to peer up at the darkening sky overhead. The thunderheads loomed high into the sky, lightning splitting them wide open. Green lightning.
“This is it,” Jimmy whispered.
“She’s here,” Calista confirmed.
Thunder rumbled, shaking the ground beneath their feet violently. The hush over the city grew eerie as the players held a collective breath and the NPCs even paused to stare at the sky in confusion. She wanted to yell at them to get back inside, but they weren’t real. The only ones who mattered in this city were the players. She had to keep telling herself that, yet the urge to save the innocent had her moving before she could stop herself.
“Get back inside,” she whispered to those she passed, and she heard Jimmy doing the same behind her. “Hurry, go. Get inside.”
“What is this?” one of them asked.
“Not a storm,” she replied and realized they had to be scripted for this battle, or one close to it. If the Demon players ever succeeded in getting this far in the game, an attack on Weston of this magnitude would happen.
However, this was no longer about winning the game.
“Over here,” Trajan said and whistled to grab her attention. She hustled to his side, watching him hold his hammer in his hands tightly. “You think they’ll attack only from the gate?”
“What are you thinking?”
His eyes drifted to the sky. Calista cursed. He had a point and she feared seeing a dragon suddenly manifest in the clouds ready to swoop down on them all. “I’ll find some Hunters and move them to the rooftops, just in case,” he said and started to walk away, but Calista caught his arm. “What?”
“Do you hear that?”
The thunder that had been booming for the past few moments, so loud it was nearly deafening, ceased. The heroes stepped further out into the street at the strange silence, even as the clouds continued to light up with intense, emerald light. With a narrowed gaze, she watched, heart pounding painfully in her chest, waiting…waiting…
“That’s not thunder! Run!”
She yelled for everyone to take cover as the first ball of green fire fell from the clouds and exploded in the street. People screamed and the heroes all formed together, moving en masse towards the front gate. The attack was coming soon, very soon. They had to get in position and make ready to stop her. Calista cursed as another one exploded a few feet away from them, sending them flying backwards into walls and windows. But they had to push on. They had to be ready.
Valenastrious would not win this day and she would get Harrison back no matter what that Demon whore thought.
***
Darkness hovered over Weston. The people screamed and ran for cover as fire rained down from the sky, striking structures and destroying the city that was once a marvel. Now it would be nothing but rubble, just as Old Weston was. Valenastrious cackled in delight, her voice like thunder rolling over the landscape.
“You see, Bishop? You see how they flee in terror? And this is only the beginning. Once we win Weston, the world will be ours!”
“Yes, my Queen,” he answered automatically.
You can’t let her win! Remember what they said! She’s going to break free of this place.
He shook his head at the nagging voice, frowning as it refused to cease its endless prattling.
You have to stop her from taking this city. Don’t let her control you. You are stronger than this and you know it!
“Bishop? Everything alright?”
He looked up at her and nodded firmly. “Of course, my Queen. Merely wondering why we wait outside the walls when moving in now would assure you a faster victory.”
They had taken up the space atop a nearby ridge, watching the destruction from afar. Was his family in there? Were they in danger? No, Valenastrious had sent them a challenge saying she would meet them for the final battle in Gorgoth at her stronghold in the human world, and yet here she was, attacking Weston. No hero would be able to stand against her if she won this city. There was a source of power here, or at least that’s what she claimed. A source that would allow her to finally be free. Bishop wondered free of what. She could already travel throughout the realms with a second thought and nothing could stand in her way.
The coding…the coding stopped her. Bishop paused. What the hell was coding?
“Are the armies in position?” she asked as they strode along the ridge.
“Yes, they merely await your order to attack.”
But we can’t attack, can we? You know this! If she gets her hands on the Staff of Kings, more than just this world will end!
The staff. He had to get to it first. No, not him. He was no hero.
He needed his family to get to it first. Guilt shot through him white hot as he remembered their last stand off and how badly he’d hurt Calista. They’d been together once, and the longing for them to be together again rose up within him so strong, it nearly sent him crashing to his knees. He adjusted his bow slung over his body and turned to the trees…to see a pair of glowing eyes staring right back
at him.
“Willy,” he said on a breath.
He expected the wolf to launch out of the trees and attack as he almost had at the camp of the Red Witch. Instead, the furry wolf bobbed his head and then disappeared. Willy had been his first friend in this world when he had come here from destroyed lands of his ancestors. No, no that wasn’t right. He had come here from somewhere else. Somewhere far, far away. Somewhere Valenastrious wanted to go… or return to.
His hand drifted to his dagger as he followed his Queen to where the troops awaited the order to attack. He nearly warned her to wait. If Willy was here, his wolf and a friend to his family, something was wrong. They had watched the heroes leave Weston in a large parade two days ago and head for Gorgoth. They had received word not long after of an encampment appearing at the base of the mountains leading into his Queen’s territory. They’d taken the bait and he should have been thrilled. The city was unprotected and, once the gate was breached, reaching the castle and taking over would be a walk in the park.
However, why was Willy here and not with the guild?
“My Demon horde!” Valen yelled, raising her hands high.
The Demons at her command growled and roared for their Queen, preparing to die for her.
“Take the city! Kill all you see and bring me the head of the King! Go now and destroy the last city that stands in our way of domination!”
The Demons threw their heads back and the ground shook as they charged towards the walls of Weston. Bishop was ready to fall in line behind them, but Valen placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
“Yes, my Queen?”
“You appear nervous, my pet. Something the matter?”
“No, my Queen. I’m ready to end this battle.”
Her eyes glimmered with disbelief. “If you turn on me, I will make you wish you had an easy death. I will trap you in a world where you’re nothing but a coward, and you will die every day for the rest of your days, over and over again in an endless loop of pain and despair.”
Bishop kept his face blank at her words.
She tilted her head and removed her hand, seemingly satisfied. “When you reach the castle, call for me. I will come and, together, we will take the Staff of Kings.”
He bowed his head and, summoning his mount, climbed into the saddle of his half-demon steed and galloped for the city, running alongside the army of Demons.
***
“The gate won’t hold long,” Trajan whispered.
“We have to wait until they’re inside the city,” Calista said. “We have to wait until we see her or Bishop. Both would be preferable.”
The gate shuddered beneath the onslaught of Demons. She wished the Hunters atop the wall could start attacking, but they couldn’t give away their position. The Weston soldiers were, fighting and calling out commands, but the game would not let them hold off the assault. It fell on the heroes to end this attack and end it they would. The walls trembled and dust fell from the stones threatening to give way.
“Is Jimmy ready for this?”
Calista prayed he was. Attacking this many Demons at once was going to be insane, and she was sure it would break some sort of record, if they all lived. There were over fifty priest players who had picked the exorcist line. That and they had managed to track down the NPC priests who had run from Hillside and the ones from High Ridge. Together, their number was nearly a hundred. They were scattered around the city, forming the pattern of an ancient rune for cleansing. Those of the Order were there as well, taken up residence inside the castle itself. Godfrey knew none of this of course since he wanted nothing to do with the heroes and their plans. They would be forced to save the King, no matter what he seemed to believe of these heroes in his city.
The rest of the heroes were scattered in groups on each level, with most of the hardest hitting ones near the castle as a last fall back position. If they couldn’t stop Bishop and Valen, they would retreat, growing their numbers as they went. Calista’s hope had been to reduce player casualties if at all possible. They were only characters but, from what those who had died had told them, the pain was even more real this time. She had felt it when she had been attacked the last time, so much pain it had taken her breath away. And when she’d logged out, she felt that slash wound from the whip, burning across her front as if the attack had actually happened. Then there were the nightmares that came with it.
The gate shook again and this time a giant crack split down the left side.
“Not long.” Trajan hefted his hammer up as Calista drew her mace and ax. “Whatever happens next, this was certainly a one of a kind experience I could not think of sharing with any other people.”
“Same goes for you,” she whispered. “Too bad it had to end like this, right?”
“You know, I always wanted to be in some grand adventure where I got to save the day,” he mused. “And here I am, finally living my dream.”
“Here’s to hoping we live through it.”
The splitting of the gate was as loud as the thunder they had heard earlier, and the first Demons peered through, clawing and kicking at it until they finally destroyed it enough to get inside. The Weston soldiers yelled as they engaged the Demons rushing into their city, but the heroes held their positions. Bishop or Valen, she needed to see one of them before they stepped out of the shadows.
“There!”
Trajan nudged her and they watched as a half-demon steed galloped through the gaping hole where the gate had been, Bishop riding atop it, his bow at the ready.
“Where’s Valen?”
“Not here, at least not yet,” she whispered as they pushed themselves deeper into the shadows and Demons ran past the alley they hid in. “He’s not attacking anyone.”
Bishop pushed through the main town square at the entrance to the city and, as far as she could see, wasn’t even directing the troops. He disappeared around the bend in the road and she cursed.
“He’s going straight for the castle! We have to stop him.”
“Go! We’ll hold the lines down here!”
She wanted to argue, but the stern look on his face followed by a wink said he would be fine. She raced out of the alley, mounted before she was engaged in combat, and took off. The Demons roared at the sight of her, her cloak flying free, revealing who she really was, but Trajan’s battle-cry drew their attentions away. She spared a second to glance over her shoulder and see him and the other heroes pulling the Demons back to them. There were too many. Trajan and those with him couldn’t hold them for long.
But they would have others to fall back to. She had to get to Bishop.
She flicked the reigns and her horse picked up speed, rearing back on her hind legs before racing off. Bishop’s back came into view right before he passed beneath an archway leading to the next level. She had to stop him.
***
The moment he was through the gate, Bishop felt their presence, his family. He couldn’t begin to describe how, but he knew they were there. Valenastrious had tried to trick them, but instead, they had played her. The city, it was filled with heroes. He could sense each one he passed, as if they called to him, however he pushed onwards.
A second set of galloping hooves started up behind him and he turned.
“Calista.”
She was catching up to him, to try and save him or kill him, judging from the grim determination on her face. He had his orders and he would carry them out though.
No! You can’t do this! You have to find the Staff first and destroy it!
But that was going against his Queen and his Queen was everything to him. Another hot sharp jolt of pain rushed through his chest and he clutched at it, almost toppling off his horse. So close, only a few more levels to go. Once he was at the castle, he’d take care of the guards and be inside in moments.
No, I won’t let you do this!
“You can’t stop me,” he snarled at the voice in his head, but another pain made h
im gasp and, this time, he couldn’t hold himself upright. His horse bucked and reared, and Bishop went flying into a stack of crates nearby as his mount raced off down the cobbled street. “No!”
Angrily, he threw the crates away from him and prepared for a fight as cloaked figures suddenly closed in around him.
“I will kill you all!” he warned, knocking back a shot. “I will destroy you!”
One by one, they threw back their hoods, revealing faces of heroes, some he knew to be his family, and others he recognized from what felt like a lifetime ago. They held their weapons in easy reach, but none of them moved to attack him.
“Stand aside and let me pass!”
“No!”
Calista. He whipped around at the sound of her voice, his shot aimed for her as she dismounted in one smooth move and sheathed her weapons at her hips. “Don’t make me do this,” he growled.
“You are stronger than her, Bishop,” she said. “You can fight this!”
His fingers curled and uncurled around his bow while his other hand trembled. “You don’t understand. She is my Queen. She holds sway over me and no other can break that.”
“I can,” Calista insisted, taking a step closer. “And I will.”
“Stay back!”
“No! You won’t hurt me. I know you, Bishop, we all do. You are our family, and family does not hurt one another.”
“But I killed them,” he whispered, a rushing in his ears as his heart thudded hard beneath his ribs. His palms grew clammy as he repeated, “I killed them. It’s my fault.”
“They’re not really dead.”
“What do you mean? Yes they are! I saw them die!”
“This is a game, Bishop, remember?” She took another step and he readjusted his aim, but she didn’t stop. “It’s a game where we log into these characters, these bodies, and we play a game. None of this around you is real. It’s all just a game. Valenastrious isn’t really a Demon Queen and you, you aren’t a half-demon.”
His head ached and he licked his lips as images appeared one after the other in his mind. “No,” he gasped, staggering backwards. “No…I don’t…I don’t understand.”
The Final Chapter Page 18
