by Raelyn Drake
As the steam cloud began to lift, the players put D4rkHunter’s plan into action. Rox_Ur_Sox ran into the middle of the cavern. “Come and get me, you giant fire turkey!” she yelled. She pounded her chest, the hilt of her sword clanging loudly on her armor.
The phoenix didn’t need much persuading. It screeched and swooped down toward Rox_Ur_Sox.
“Now!” Rox_Ur_Sox shouted.
D4rkHunter leapt up on a rock and shot two arrows, one right after the other, into a large stalactite on the ceiling. The arrows soared through the air, and when they hit the base of the stalactite, the electric jolt was explosive. The whole cavern shook and rocks rained down from the ceiling. Em3ra1d hoped it would be enough. With a loud crack, the stalactite came loose, coming down with a thunderous crash. D4rkHunter ran for cover, but Rox_Ur_Sox was still right underneath the falling stalactite and would never be able to get out of the way in time.
“Teleport!” Em3ra1d yelled. She appeared right next to Rox_Ur_Sox and grabbed her arm. A split second later, the two of them reappeared at a safe distance. A wave of dust and gravel blew over them as the stalactite crashed down right where Rox_Ur_Sox had been a second ago.
“Okay, okay,” Rox_Ur_Sox said. “Now you’re just showing off.”
“I believe that’s twice that the n00b has saved your life during the Fire Level,” E1_Kapitan reminded her with an amused grin when he joined them.
“Just because I don’t know all the rules of the game doesn’t mean I can’t figure it out,” Em3ra1d pointed out. “And the only way I’m going to learn is by taking big risks and learning from my mistakes.”
“Well, if your mistakes get me killed and your successes save my life, I suppose that balances out.” Rox_Ur_Sox rolled her eyes, but Em3ra1d thought she saw her mouth twitch into something like a smile.
When the dust cleared, they could see that not only the stalactite but also half of the cavern ceiling had collapsed on the phoenix.
Rox_Ur_Sox edged closer to the pile of rubble, her sword at the ready. “That must have finished it, right? Where’s my key?”
The pile of rubble suddenly burst into flames. As they watched, the rocks melted into molten lava, streaming down the pile and running into the lava pools around the cavern. Em3ra1d threw up the Flame Guard spell, which used the last of her Power.
But nothing happened. The bonfire burned itself out, and soon there was only a pile of ash where the rocks had been. There was no sign of the phoenix.
Then the pile of ashes began to glow and shift. Something was buried underneath.
“Oh no,” Em3ra1d said. “It’s rising from the ashes!”
“Isn’t that what phoenixes are supposed to do?” D4rkHunter asked.
“Yeah, but does this mean we have to fight it again?” Rox_Ur_Sox asked. “My Health hasn’t recharged yet. And after all that fancy spell work, I’m sure Em’s Power is shot.”
Em3ra1d pretended to check her blue Power crystal, but she already knew that it was completely empty. She just used the action to hide the smile that crept over her face when she realized that Rox_Ur_Sox had called her “Em” and not “n00b” for the first time.
“Maybe it’s a glitch?” E1_Kapitan said. “I mean, that’s why L33T C0RP needs beta testers, right?”
D4rkHunter sighed and notched an arrow to his bow. “Here we go again.”
Ashes flew into the air with a familiar screech and a blaze of golden feathers.
Then they noticed how much smaller the phoenix was. It still had wicked-looking talons and a sharp beak underneath its wild golden eyes, but it barely came up to Em3ra1d’s waist.
It landed in the pile of ashes and stared at them, cocking its head to one side.
“What are we supposed to do?” Rox_Ur_Sox asked, not daring to speak above a whisper.
The phoenix whipped its head around to stare at her, and Em3ra1d saw Rox_Ur_Sox fighting the urge to back away from its fierce gaze.
Rox_Ur_Sox knelt and held out her hand to the phoenix.
“What are you doing?” D4rkHunter hissed.
“Shut up, I don’t know if this will work,” Rox_Ur_Sox said through gritted teeth.
The phoenix bent its head toward her hand, and opened its beak. Fire shot out, surrounding Rox_Ur_Sox’s hand with flames.
Em3ra1d stifled a gasp. E1_Kapitan had to restrain D4rkHunter from rushing forward. Rox_Ur_Sox didn’t seem to be in any pain, though her wide eyes reflected the firelight.
The flame disappeared. With a final screech, the phoenix flew off into the shadows at the very top of the cavern and disappeared from view. The cavern was silent except for the glop of bubbling lava in the pools and the ragged breathing of the players.
In Rox_Ur_Sox’s hand, where the phoenix fire had touched it, lay a golden key.
They found Rox_Ur_Sox’s chest at the far end of the cavern, next to a stone door. When she inserted the golden key, nothing happened at first. Then the key began to glow redder and redder. Drops of melted gold hissed as they hit the cavern floor, and soon the key was just a puddle of liquid metal. The chest opened.
VOLCANIC WAR HAMMER
When Rox_Ur_Sox picked up the giant hammer, she had to grip the long handle with two hands. The hammer’s head was charcoal black with deep cracks of glowing red and orange, as though a thin, black crust had formed over a molten lava core.
“Much better.” With a mischievous grin, Rox_Ur_Sox hoisted the war hammer up so she could carry it over one shoulder. She looked happier than she had during the entire game so far.
They opened the door next to the chest. A flight of stairs spiraled up, lit by torches every few feet.
They began to climb.
And climb.
And climb.
Em3ra1d’s feet dragged and kept catching on the edge of the steps, threatening to trip her. From time to time, E1_Kapitan would stop, slouch against the wall, and sigh dramatically. Even D4rkHunter was breathing heavily.
“We must be near the top of the mountain by now,” Rox_Ur_Sox panted from several stairs below them. “You have no idea how heavy a full suit of armor and giant war hammer are.”
By the time they had reached the top of the stairs, everyone’s Health and Power crystals had recharged fully from the battle with the phoenix.
Em3ra1d looked at the stone door on the other end of the landing, and with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, she realized that what lay behind the door had to be her level. She’d been so caught up in the action and excitement of the last level that for a moment she had completely forgotten that she would have to face her fears, just like everyone else. D4rkHunter had completed the Water Level, E1_Kapitan had defeated the Earth Level, and Rox_Ur_Sox had beaten the Fire Level. That just left . . . the Air Level.
Em3ra1d thought of all the stairs they had climbed. Air Level. She knew what she would have to face, and the thought made her queasy.
Rox_Ur_Sox flung open the door. “Let’s do this!”
A cold wind gusted into the chamber. They stepped outside.
Chapter 10
After the dark of the forest and the lava caves, the players squinted and blinked in the sunlight of a cloudless sky. They were at the top of a snowcapped mountain peak, with no volcano in sight. Snow-covered mountains stretched away from them in all directions. Still sweaty from the Fire Level, the players shivered in the brisk wind.
D4rkHunter pointed across an impossibly deep chasm to another mountain peak. “I think we’re supposed to go there,” he said.
Em3ra1d could see a dark shadow on the mountainside that looked to be some sort of cave. A long and narrow stone bridge crossed the vast space without any support pillars. There were no handrails or guide ropes either.
It was the only way across.
A strong wind battered them and Em3ra1d’s Mage cloak billowed out behind her. She looked at the cave in the distance and then at the bridge again. It was barely wide enough for two people to walk across at the same time.
She looked do
wn into the chasm beneath the bridge. She couldn’t see the bottom. She was intensely aware of the empty space, of the nothingness that stood between her at this dizzying height and the ground far below.
Her heart thrashed against her rib cage, and the breath snagged in her throat. She breathed in wheezing, panicked gasps, her mind clouding with terror.
She heard everyone’s voices as if from a long way off.
“Em? What’s happening?” D4rkHunter asked.
“What’s wrong with her?” Rox_Ur_Sox asked. “Is she okay?”
Em3ra1d shook violently. She couldn’t stop gasping for air long enough to answer, even if her brain had been able to string together clear thoughts. Her heart felt like it was trying to crawl right out of her skin. Every muscle was painfully tight.
“I think she’s having a panic attack,” she heard E1_Kapitan explain to the others. He knelt down beside her but continued to give her some space. “Look, Em, I’m not going to tell you to calm down, but I want to you to take some deep breaths for me, okay?”
Em3ra1d managed to nod. She attempted a couple of long, shaky breaths.
“Good,” E1_Kapitan said. “We don’t have to start the level until you’re absolutely ready. Until then, just remember that we’re here for you.”
“We’re so close to the end,” D4rkHunter added. “Just one more level and the Boss Battle, and then we can get out of here. We’re going to help you get through this, Em.”
Even Rox_Ur_Sox chimed in. “You’re pretty decent for a n00b, I guess,” she said with a small smirk, kneeling in front of Em3ra1d. “And the world could always use more girl gamers.”
Em3ra1d felt a small laugh cut through her panic, and her muscles relaxed slightly. Her chest gradually loosened, and she began to breathe more easily. “Thanks, guys,” she said with a weak smile.
Rox_Ur_Sox helped Em3ra1d to her feet. “I know you can do this. At the rate you’re picking this stuff up, you’ll be a better gamer than me before you know it.”
Em3ra1d raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
Rox_Ur_Sox jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at E1_Kapitan and D4rkHunter. “Or at least better than those guys,” she said in a stage whisper. She dodged a playful shoulder punch from E1_Kapitan as D4rkHunter shouted, “Hey!”
Rox_Ur_Sox shrugged, unapologetic, and Em3ra1d laughed again with the others.
“Are we good to go?” D4rkHunter asked. “Just remind yourself that it’s only a video game.”
“Yeah, but I’ve already died twice,” Em3ra1d said. “If I die a third time, I’ll be trapped here forever. So it’s almost as bad as a real bottomless pit, except my avatar would pixelate before I splatted at the bottom . . . I hope.”
“We’ll go first, and you can crawl,” E1_Kapitan said. “No judgment if you crawl. We’ll handle fighting whatever monster shows up. You can attack it with spells from your safe crawling position, with a nice low center of gravity.”
Em3ra1d appreciated his light-hearted approach, but she knew that she had no choice in the matter. They could stand on this ledge in the freezing cold as long as they liked, but that would never win them the game. There was only one way forward, just like she had told Rox_Ur_Sox back in the Fire Level. If the other three players could face their fears, then so could she.
They started across. The bridge was a little wider than it had looked, but not by much. Em3ra1d didn’t crawl, but she stayed in the exact center of the bridge, her spell book tucked in her robe and her hands out for balance. The wind whistled around her.
At first, Em3ra1d had been thankful that it was a solid stone bridge. She had always hated the idea of those swaying bridges in action movies, with fraying ropes and gaps between the boards. But at least those bridges had some sort of handrails. Em3ra1d would give anything now for a bridge with handrails.
She had the feeling that if she even looked at the edges of the bridge too long, she would somehow be pulled over the side. She reminded herself that she had about two feet of space on either side of her and focused on taking deep, even breaths. They were halfway there.
A rumbling sound like thunder filled the air. The wind picked up, howling around them. Boulders broke loose from the mountains on either side of the chasm and started swirling together in a vortex.
The floating rocks came together to form a huge shape—some sort of giant, with a head and arms attached to its bulky torso and legs that stretched down into the chasm below the bridge.
Chapter 11
The air giant brought down its fist, hitting the bridge with a boom that echoed off the mountainsides. The whole bridge shook, and a huge chunk broke off and tumbled into the chasm. The air giant roared, and it sounded like a freight train.
“How are we supposed to fight that thing?” Rox_Ur_Sox yelled. “It’s huge!”
“This is my level, guys.” Em3ra1d tried to keep her voice from shaking. “You just focus on staying alive, and I’ll try to find some way to defeat the monster.” She had no idea how she was going to do that.
Dust whirlwinds appeared at either end of the bridge and spun toward them. The miniature dirt tornadoes might have been small in comparison to the air giant, but they were still as wide as the bridge. Em3ra1d threw herself flat on the bridge and the whirlwinds blew over her. Dust swirled around her and drained some of her Health crystal, but she stayed on the bridge. The other players did the same until the whirlwinds had passed.
D4rkHunter shot a few of his electric shock arrows at the air giant. Two passed harmlessly through the air in between the rocks that made up the giant’s body, but the third one struck stone. A part of the air giant’s arm exploded like the stalactite had in the lava cave.
The next time the air giant pounded the bridge with his fist, Rox_Ur_Sox ran up and struck it with her Volcanic War Hammer. As the blow landed, the head of the war hammer flared white-hot and part of the air giant’s fist melted instantly, bursting into a shower of sparks and molten rock. The air giant made a noise that might have been a yell or might have been a hurricane.
It hit Rox_Ur_Sox and sent her flying. She landed on her back on the bridge, catching herself right before she rolled over the edge. But Em3ra1d could see that her red Health crystal was dangerously dim. Em3ra1d knew they had to be careful with their remaining lives if they wanted to beat the game. E1_Kapitan and Rox_Ur_Sox each had two lives left, but she and D4rkHunter were down to one life apiece. Three strikes, you’re out, she remembered the Game Runner saying.
E1_Kapitan had seen Rox_Ur_Sox take damage too, and he did his best to distract the air giant until her Health crystal had a chance to recharge. He aimed his Shadow Staff at the air giant’s chest. At first it looked like nothing had happened, but then the rock began to fracture. Roots exploded from inside the rock, like a tree growing through a crack in the pavement. The air giant staggered back, then brought its fist down on the bridge, roaring angrily.
E1_Kapitan dodged out of the way of the fist itself, but the vibration from the impact shook the bridge and he lost his balance. With a shout, he tumbled off the bridge into the chasm.
Reacting on instinct before her fear of heights could kick in, Em3ra1d grabbed for E1_Kapitan’s arm. She actually managed to hold him for a second before he slipped from her grasp with a shoulder-wrenching jerk.
E1_Kapitan aimed his staff at the bridge as he dropped. Vines shot out from his staff and wrapped around the bridge. He stopped falling. Then the vines retracted back into the staff, pulling E1_Kapitan back up and onto the bridge.
“That was close!” he said to Em3ra1d.
A dust whirlwind appeared behind him suddenly.
“Kap, look out!” she yelled, but it was too late for him to duck. She watched, horrified, as the dust whirlwind sucked up E1_Kapitan.
EL_KAPITAN: DEATH 2 OF 3
Chapter 12
The whirlwind continued to spin toward her, and Em3ra1d threw herself down on her stomach again until it had passed over. She tried not to look over the side of the bridge at the gapi
ng space beneath them, but then she thought she saw something glint in the sunlight.
There it is again!
Em3ra1d realized it was her key. It was hanging on a rope underneath the bridge, and whenever the wind blew, it swung out into view. The rope was too far away to reach, and there was no way to climb under the bridge.
She flipped desperately through her spell book as D4rkHunter and Rox_Ur_Sox fought the air giant. The bridge shook as the air giant knocked loose another chunk. It was only a matter of time before it destroyed the whole bridge.
Then Em3ra1d spotted a spell.
She waited for the key to swing back out into view, glittering in the sun. Then she aimed her hand and shouted, “Levitate!”
The key began to float upward, tied to the rope like a balloon. The key floated in front of her, and she grabbed it, untied it from the rope, and put it safely in her robe pocket.
But the Air Level wasn’t over. They had to find the key and defeat the monster.
The air giant was taking damage from the other players’ attacks, but it wasn’t enough. Everyone was running low on Health and Power. They had to end this, and fast.
She stood up, too focused on the air giant to think about the height of the bridge. The spell has to work this time. She aimed both her hands at the air giant and yelled as loud as she could above the howling winds.
“Fireball!”
Green flames shot from her hands and wound around the air giant like a fiery rope. Fueled by the wind that held the air giant together, the flames roared higher and higher. In moments, an enormous tornado of swirling green flames had swallowed the air giant.
Then the air giant exploded. The floating boulders and rocks of the giant’s body shot out in a burst of green fire, narrowly missing the players’ heads. The players clung tightly to the bridge as the force of the explosion and the wall of rock fragments threatened to knock them all off.
Then the green flames disappeared. The air fell still—all trace of the air giant gone.
They had beaten the air giant. Em3ra1d had the key. Why hadn’t the Air Level ended?
