Adam was still alive. The medic resuscitated him there on the spot but it wasn’t enough. His body was responding but the rest of Adam was not.
Within ten minutes they had him and several dozen others on life support. The first responders managed to save a dozen lives.
—————
Ellie sat at a sushi bar drinking an low carb beer. It tasted like piss but she was upset that Adam, her fiancé was running late. It wasn’t like him and she got anxiety anytime something like this happened. She was always worried. He always told her she didn’t have anything to worry about. He did his best but nothing can prepare you for the worst. A TV monitor stood on the wall of the bar. Across the screen Ellie looked in horror as breaking news showed the disaster that had just occurred at the bridge. A terrorist bombing. The middle of the bridge had collapsed causing dozens of cars to fall into the river below. Lifeflight was on the scene within minutes and dozens of lives were saved. At that moment Ellie knew without a doubt that Adam had been on that bridge. She felt her heart sink into the back of her chest. Tears began to fall from her eyes. She wanted to scream but there was no sound. She was mute. All the sound inside the bar grew quiet. She began to go into shock.
An hour later she found Adam. He was in the ER. He was being treated for life threatening injuries. Long gashes were strewn across his body from broken glass. He was breathing through a tube.
She sat in panic for hours as they saved his life again and again. Finally they told her she could see him. His body was frail, broken, bandaged. He was still breathing through a tube but his injuries were stable. The doctor said there was brain activity but there were no motor skills or responses from him. He was in a near vegetative state. No quite a coma but not quite awake. They weren’t sure exactly how much damage had been done to his brain but they assured her that they would run tests soon.
As the doctor walked out another woman walked inside. She was dressed in a lab coat with glasses. She looked more like a scientist than someone that worked at the hospital. She was holding a chart in her hands. She introduced herself to Ellie as Dr. Rebecca Luyten. She told her that she had a niece who had similar injuries. She smiled as she told Ellie that she could save Adam’s life.
—————
Day 20
“Any day now you are going to die and you can’t do that, you can’t leave me here alone, they are saying that if you lose all your health again they won’t be able to revive you, that there is nothing else we can do on our end to help you,” Ellie spoke over Adam’s broken body.
Rebecca walked into the room holding a small binder.
“The latest, it looks like he’s growing stronger now, gaining his strength back, dammit I wish we knew what he was doing in there,” she said.
Ellie took the binder from her. She had been studying the source code and code read some of it now. Mostly it was just Adam’s stats but she could also read enough to know whether he was fearing for his life or not. The last few reports had been bad. Mostly it seemed Adam was running into trouble more often than not. Ellie had hoped he would reach the hub. Rebecca said they had established some kind of connection, a small interface through there that would allow them to communicate with Adam.
“We gave him a new weapon, the ‘Ithil Naur’, it should help, we overpowered it as much as we could given our time restraint, he should be picking it up any day now as long as we guessed the right dungeon,”
“Moon fire, Ithil Naur, that’s elvish,” said Ellie.
“Yes that’s right, that was the name of the game the two of you use to play right? We are hoping that he’ll know its a gift, we may not be able to pull him out just yet but we can give him some hope,” said Rebecca.
“Why not just call it ‘Moon Fire’,” asked Ellie.
“The games code won’t allow it, simple as that,” Rebecca shrugged before explaining that that was because Darkness Beyond had included so much code from the original ‘Moon Fire’ game that the words in English had been used in too many other circumstances.
“Its all just zeroes and ones,” said Ellie. She didn’t quite understand the problem.
“Its a little bit more complicated than that,” said Rebecca.
There was a pause. Rebecca stood there staring at Ellie.
“Look there is something I want to try, a little experiment that might help us reach out to Adam. It’s risky though, he could end up stuck in a kind of limbo between worlds,” said Rebecca.
“How risky? You mean it could kill him?” said Ellie.
“It could, most likely though Adam would just feel like he’s in a lucid dream, if all goes to plan he’ll just wake up but if it fails he’ll be trapped in that limbo and we won’t be able to communicate at all, ” Rebecca smiled, “I don’t think that will happen though, we’ve run a test like this before and had excellent results, the subject even came back stronger, powerful, overpowered really, they exhibited great control over their environment,” Rebecca finished.
“Adam is not some subject for you to play around with,” Ellie snapped.
“Sorry, feelings, I forgot. You know as well as I do that what we are doing here could change the world, I want to show you how.”
Rebecca smiled as she left the room. For Ellie it felt like everything was happening so fast. It had almost been a month and already there were so many things changing. Inside the game Adam was becoming a different person. She knew he still had the same morals and values but she saw that he was being beaten. The game world was hostile and he was relying on others to help him survive. Ellie quietly began speaking to Adam again wondering what he would want her to do.
Chapter 24
I moved slowly throughout the dark hallways that I guessed were the royal halls. I had successfully made my way into the third level of the troll kings palace. From the corner of a room I heard a guard. A troll standing seven feet tall, bulky, covered in bone armor spoke in a grumbling voice, “Good you are awake, a raiding party made through arena, killed the plagued, king’s quarters now, all us are summoned.”
For a moment I felt relief, they had made it. All the way to the king’s chambers. Seemed likely he was allowing them their audience. Maybe they had managed to prove themselves - - or the king had something worst in mind for them. ‘It’s a trap, it has to be,’ the thought crossed my mind like a dagger.
Quietly I moved towards the troll guards. As they turned I took my sword and ran it through one from behind before pulling back and stabbing the other before he knew what had happened.
Killing had become second nature now. It really was starting to feel like this was a video game again. I hid their bodies in the room the one that had been sleeping walked out of. Perhaps the other patrols wouldn’t think to bother looking for them. I turned off the lights, mechanical… just like the vault underground and the scavenged technology that ran throughout the whole palace. I closed the door behind me and made my move towards the throne room following several more guards from the shadows until they passed through two solid metal doors. I was there. The big boss level was right in front of me. I saw it just barely out of the corner of my eye as they walked inside. Following them from behind would be my end. I had to find another way in…
I spent the next several hours making my way through the rest of the third level hoping to find air vents or some kind of crawlspace big enough to fit through. Nothing. Along the way I happened along a goblin slave. It attacked me trying to bite me with its fangs. It made a loud crying sound as it died and I was just lucky enough that no one heard it. Killing the goblin leveled me up again. I was now at level 35. Hadn’t even noticed myself leveling before now. Guess I was too freaked out by the strange girl I had encountered back in the sewer. I had just barely made it out of there alive. Maybe it was possible the world around me was still glitching but I had my doubts. I couldn’t count on that kind of phenomena happening again.
I felt pity for the goblin slave. More than I liked. It was a priso
ner and it was possible my friends were prisoners now. The same way I was a prisoner here to this world. If it hadn’t gone after me like a rabid animal I might have had the heart to let it free. I wasn’t really sure why the trolls hated the goblins so much. Far as I could tell they were both ugly and both lived by similar means. The goblins were a bit more humble. They were vile creatures but they weren’t war mongering monsters like the trolls. Many of the villages we passed on the way over had been relatively defenseless.
I passed through another empty hallway. The trolls were gathering in the throne room. Had to be. Had to be the reason this palace felt deserted. That or I was the one walking into a trap. Maybe this was how the troll king planned it. If we survived long enough to make it down here than all he had to do was wait us out with his army. Eventually we would grow weary and leave or we’d be forced to confront him the only way we could… head on. Not that I have any problems being outnumbered and out powered, I just didn’t feel like dying today.
I crept inside a kitchen. I could smell rotting meat still stewing in a giant cauldron. Even the cooks had left. I was checking for supplies. With enough items I could potentially make a bomb and cause some chaos. A few minutes of searching turned up nothing but a spoon and a handful of dented tin cans. I couldn’t even find any wire. I thought maybe I could create a grenade by putting the spoons inside the tin but there was nothing. Anything useful was gone or poured down a drain. They didn’t even have a decent pressure cooker which would have been perfect. All the scavenged tech and they were cooking with sticks and cauldrons. I guess it didn’t matter to them. Trolls and goblins could eat pretty much anything raw unlike humans.
Like a roar of thunder I heard a sound. A screeching if it were coming from around the corner. I readied my rifle. Something about it didn’t feel right. I felt my heartbeat speed up as my adrenaline kicked in and a beast, a daemonic watchdog turned the corner. It was just like the one from the entrance. Maybe it was the same one. It’s eyes were red and full of rage as it drooled staring down the kitchen towards me. It could barely move as it slid sideways through the corridor at me at full speed. I fire a burst from my rifle. Not even a scratch. With my mana and strength at full I unleashed a flurry of ice, a blizzard inside the kitchen from my hand. I felt the power of ice surge through me. The creature slowed as the temperature dropped and I backed away creating a sheet of ice between us.
Another guard came in from behind me. I dispatched him with my blade. Instinct. It could have been anyone. I was jumpy. I was letting the atmosphere around me wind me up so tight I could feel the tension in my neck. This was exactly what the troll king wanted. I was playing right into his game. No more. I had to confront him. I had some incredibly awesome powers. If I used them right. If I used them the moment I kicked open the door to his throne room and created a barrier between everyone and myself I could win.
I turned back to look at the war hound. It was whimpering behind the cold sheet of ice. I wish I had the same skills as Croon. Maybe if I were a bard I could have tamed it. No luck. All I could do was leave it alone.
I didn’t kill it. I couldn’t kill it. Already I had taken so much from this place, if we were going to make peace I couldn’t kill anymore. That moment I made a vow. I was only going to kill if I had too.
I approached the troll king’s throne room door. This was it. I had been avoiding it and for what. My friends real or not were on the other side suffering.
Chapter 25
I kicked open the door and let out a loud scream as I used the power surging through my veins to create a burst of wind chill that froze anything within ten yards of the door. Inside I found myself surrounded by hundreds of trolls each standing lined in rows staring towards me. A handful of them had been close to the door. They stood now frozen like statues.
“They’ll thaw, I’m here to speak to the king,” I said without hesitation. The throne room was lit with blue and red lights from far above. More scavenged tech but that wasn’t surprising. This whole mountain looked like it had once been some kind of ancient vault re-made again and again. Down the hallway I saw the silhouette of the king. He didn’t look like the others. No. He looked human.
A troll guard, one of their elite shouted from the back of the room that the guest could approach with safe passage. The others stared at me as I began walking forward. I cast a cold chill around myself like a force field. A warning to the trolls around me as I passed through that I was not someone they wanted to fuck with.
The troll king looked nothing like what I thought. He was human. At least on the outside. He was young, mid twenties, pale skin, long dark hair and a rough patch around his chin. He sat on a throne made of various dark colored crystals wearing black robes. The only thing that made him stand out were his silver eyes.
“Adam, correct? You’ve come seeking an audience with me?” he said. His voice was deep and raspy. He sounded like an old man. There was something off about his voice. His english was broken in a way as if he had just started learning.
“Yes, I’ve come to end this war, my friends, they came before me. What have you done with them,” I demanded.
“The raiding party, yes, they are here,” he said holding up a purple gemstone about the size of the palm of his hand.
“What is that?” I asked both curious and horrified.
“The devil’s work,” he began, “they came to me, looking for a trade, the life of my son’s killer for peace, as if peace would be that simple, as if this wasn’t inevitable,” he stopped, the gemstone shined in his hand, “allow me to show you,” he said. I felt an invisible strand wrap itself around me.
I was inside the gem.
It was a maze of brightly lit passageways that felt like I was inside some kind of madhouse. Reaching towards one of the passageways I thought I saw five figures. Jace, Ariane, Kale, Ethan, and Bendi. I moved towards them but the closer I came the further away they seemed. I criss crossed into another section and deactivated a small device that looked like a tripwire.
“Ok, so I’m trapped inside a gemstone that’s actually a maze filled with traps,” I said to myself. I had done this before. It was kind of like a mini-game in Moon Fire. A virtual reality set within only here it was some kind of magic. I had to think for a moment. There was always a trick, some kind of puzzle that had to be solved to break free. Maybe I needed to build something or find some kind of terminal. No. That didn’t feel right. This world was all about illusion and the thin line between magic and technology.
I crawled through another passageway into a small field of blue flowers. Things seemed to be getting worst. The flowers I’m sure are deadly. Probably don’t want to get too close. Hopefully Jace and the others are figuring things out for themselves. Dying in here would be the same as dying out there. Maybe that was it though. Maybe I had to die. Respawn. Maybe that was the only way out? No. Wrong again. I’m an idiot. I’m inside a crystal. A portal. I NEED to make noise.
The king should have taken our weapons away from us.
I aimed my gun at the ceiling and fired. I fused the energy from my rifle with energy from myself creating a bolt of ice that cracked the gems surface. I could see the troll king on the outside. He hadn’t noticed what I had done. It looked like he was giving some kind of speech to the room. The gem had been placed on the throne beside him. Sometimes I could see his fingers rub against it. He and the other trolls looked like giants.
I felt like I an ant.
An ant with a deadly weapon.
Small and deadly.
The blast had earned the attention of something else. We weren’t alone. There was a daemon trapped in here with us. I could hear it moving towards me. I thought to myself how I wish I had been more prepared. If I could have set some kind of trap in the gem I could have lured the daemon there and whether. I thought about running back the way I came but this was a maze. It probably already knew the inside of the gem. The Troll king’s pet. A daemon he fed would be prisoners to
o. Maybe there was something here I could use. Perhaps I could trick it into running itself into a wall. That would never work. I might have caught this thing off guard once if I hadn’t already given myself away but doing it now was going to be tricky. Already I could feel my hand shaking as it moved circling me. I could see its reflection in the mirrors. It had survived this long because it could adapt. It wasn't intelligent by any means but it was a master at survival.
When it came at me I moved my sword towards it. Pushing forward it vanished and I felt my body fall forward as I hit the ground. I lost my grip on my sword and watched it slide away. I turned around on my back and saw the daemon make its move again towering over me ready to crush my neck with it's jaws. I felt the weight of it's body as it moved forward. It wasn't crushing me but rather applying only enough force so that I couldn't move my legs. For such a raggedy creature it must have weighed close to a ton. Like the daemons I had faced before it had chains grafted up and under its skin. I used my mana too freeze it as much as I could but I was still recovering.
It could have easily killed me right then and there. I could feel the creature's cold breath as it came in closer. I didn’t mind the cold as I felt the temperature around me drop. The inside of the gem was turning cold as it froze over. I barely managed to aim my rifle slinging up from my hip. Immediately I shot several rounds that ate away at the daemons hide.
I was lucky. I lost my sword but not my gun. Once again my rifle was of no real use though. The energy passed through the devil. I dropped my gun as I felt it's teeth sink down into my neck and then it was gone. I laid there for a few seconds waiting for it to come finish me off. With my hand I reached up and felt the wound it had given me. I was bleeding but I wasn't bleeding out. It's teeth were long and sharp but it barely punctured my skin at all. I used my cold hand to numb my wound.
Glimmer, A Throne of Souls (Convergence Book 1) Page 18
