by Sam Ryder
“I like watching you eat,” she said. “I can see how much you enjoy it.”
I did. A lot. But now that my stomach was slowly being filled, my mind returned to our previous conversation about Eve, the Three Goddesses and the Levels. “How many Levels are there?”
Vrill sighed at the question, looking none too happy by it. “Who knows? I’ve never known anyone who survived past Level 4.”
“Which is…”
“Seeker,” she said, spitting the word out like a bad taste.
If there were only four Levels and I was already at Level 2…this ‘game’ seemed way too easy. And I knew from experience that most games worth playing were not easy. There must’ve been something I was missing. “Why do the Three Goddesses want my help?” I asked.
Vrill wrinkled her nose at the change in topic. She paused for a while, her eyes never leaving mine. At first it was nice, but soon became uncomfortable. Finally, I looked away, defeated.
“Because they’re dying,” she said.
SEVEN
FLYING MONSTERS
“What do you mean—dying?” I asked. Though I still had a few bites of leafrat meat left, I was no longer hungry. I placed it on the ground beside me.
“Did you see them?” Vrill countered. “The Three?”
I started to shake my head but stopped. “One of them. Persepheus. She looked and sounded tired. Exhausted.”
“They are weakened—the Three. Persepheus is Goddess of the Sea,” Vrill said. “Not that there’s anything for her to rule these days. Not here, at least.” She snorted slightly.
“No sea?”
Vrill shook her head, tossing her beautiful mane of pink hair around. “She was the last to lose her kingdom, though it had been set in motion hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago. The sea dried up, leaving this place barren. The only water left is underground, except for—”
“The pond,” I said, remembering the way the goddess had vanished beneath the surface with a splash.
Vrill nodded. “That is one reason the Three stay there.”
“Are there other reasons?”
Vrill shrugged. “Ancient wards that protect them from the monsters. But even those are failing. The monsters keep testing their defenses. Eventually they’ll find a way to break through. If any of the Three are still alive, they’ll rip them limb from limb and devour their bodies.”
She spoke about the ending of the trio of goddesses like one might speak of which restaurant to go to for dinner. Not that there were any restaurants on this planet. She sounded almost…excited by the prospect. “Why do you hate them do much?”
“Because they brought me here. You too. All of us. So many, over the years. Most have died. Even those that survived for a while died on one quest or another. Not that the Three care. We’re expendable, don’t you see? You think they would’ve dropped you off in the Circle if you weren’t?”
She was right. I could see that. But it didn’t change the fact that we were here for a purpose, right? To protect the Three. To help them…what? “What are these quests you talk about?” I asked.
“Oh goddesses, don’t tell me you’ve already drunk their—what was the human expression Darcy used to use? Oh yes, Kool-Aid. Whatever that is.”
“I haven’t drunk anything. I’m just asking. This is all new to me. A couple days ago I was an unemployed loser with nothing to do but play video games.”
“Video games?”
“Uh, yeah, I can explain it later if you want.”
She looked up at the rocky ceiling, as if she could see through it to the sky beyond. “Goddesses save me.” She paused, seeming to rethink her statement. “On second thought, don’t.” She looked at me. “Fine. The quests are fool’s errands, that’s what they are.”
“Okayyy,” I said. “What kind of errands?”
“The kind where you run off to find some ancient relic or another—like a dusty old cup, for example—except monsters try to kill you the entire time. And if”—she gestured with a finger in the air to emphasize the word—“you make it back, the Three might see fit to advance you to the next of their meaningless Levels.”
“How do you know all this?” Though I had already guessed the answer, I needed to ask. The human woman she’d known from before…she hadn’t met her the same way she’d met me. I was sure of it.
Vrill said nothing, refusing to meet my eyes for the first time since she saved me.
“The human woman you knew, Darcy, you met her when you were with the Three, right?”
Vrill shook her head again, and at first I didn’t think it was an answer. But it was. “I met her in the Circle,” she said.
Another piece of the puzzle that was this beautiful alien woman’s history clicked into place. “You both survived it though,” I said. “The test.” It wasn’t a question, because she knew too much about Darcy and humans for it to be any other way.
“Yes.” She spoke the word softly, almost under her breath. “The other three Warriors did not. It’s rare one survives, but two? The Three were so pleased. Back then all of them were still conscious most of the time. They treated us like the chosen ones. They talked about how we could save them. How we could save everything. They lied.”
Those final two words drove home the truth that had been building in my chest, like a vice tightening inch by painful inch. Darcy was dead. No, it was worse than that. Vrill had watched her die. Maybe she’d even tried to save her and failed.
I didn’t ask about Darcy. If the roles had been reversed, I wouldn’t have wanted to be asked about something like that. The way Vrill spoke about the human woman…it was obvious they were friends. Good friends. A memory from my childhood stretched its arms, but I fought it back down. “You’ve been on a quest before, haven’t you?”
She snorted again, somehow making the noise sound attractive. Her armor gleamed in the demonlight. Her armor. The Three, or Eve probably, had taken all my clothes and left me with just a loincloth. Which meant they’d probably done something similar to Vrill. Which meant the armor had come from somewhere else.
“They gave you the armor, didn’t they? What Level are you, Vrill?”
She bit her lip so hard I was surprised when it didn’t draw blood. “4,” she said. “Seeker. So yes, I’ve been on a quest. I’ve been on too many damn quests, including the one for the dusty old cup. How do you think Persepheus created her godsdamn pond? From the stupid magical cup I brought her.” Her tone took on a scathing note. “Oh, don’t worry, she thanked me, all right. She rejuvenated me again and again and—you get the picture, right?”
I did, and typically the slightest hint of…rejuvenation…between the beautiful creature in front of me and that gorgeous mermaid goddess would’ve made me go half-crazy with desire, but not now. Not when I could hear the pain in Vrill’s voice.
“And she gave you the armor,” I guessed, trying to steer the conversation away from any topic that might be on the more sensitive side.
She laughed at that, scornful. “You think I’d wear a gift from one of them? I earned this set of armor. Another quest. It was when Darcy…anyway, I left and never returned. Eve found me once, but even she isn’t strong enough to make me go back. Chosen ones? Ha! We were the chosen ones for a while, but there’s always another chosen one.”
Like me, I thought. Eve had said something eerily similar when I’d been freaking out on the back of her motorcycle, which already felt like a million years ago. But just because the goddesses were using us to further their own agenda didn’t mean we shouldn’t help them, right? If the monsters were consuming this planet Black night by Black night, shouldn’t we fight back? It was my turn to laugh, because that was just the sort of thing my character on A-Civ would have to do.
“Does something amuse you, human?” Vrill spat.
“Sorry, no, I was just thinking about one of the video games I play back on Earth. You’re right. This isn’t some game, at least not for us.”
Her expression changed
, the jagged lines that had formed during the difficult conversation smoothing away. “Does that mean you’ll stay with me?”
The hopefulness in her tone made my heart hurt. It was almost childlike in its earnestness. This woman was probably the strongest person—male or female—I’d ever met, and yet she’d been utterly alone for so long, haunted by her own demons from the past. I couldn’t imagine living like that for a day, much less the years she’d been here.
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll stay.”
“Good,” she said, and that confidence was back, along with her playful smile.
She leaned forward, slowly, her lips parting to reveal the perfection of her tongue. My friend beneath my loincloth stirred. “I thought you were fully rejuvenated,” I managed to say before her lips devoured mine, her tongue crashing like waves in my mouth. I’m a dumbass, I thought. Why would I ask something like that?
In between hungry kisses, she managed to answer anyway. “That was…for strength,” she said, her breath washing over me as she began to pant. “This is…for fun.”
Her hands found my loincloth and ripped it away as if it was nothing—which it was. My hands didn’t need convincing, and I found the releases on her armor much more quickly this time.
Her armor fell away with a series of dull clanks, reverberating off the walls, echoing in the hollow space between the rocks.
Her body pressed against mine and all thoughts of goddesses and monsters vanished. Her lips pulled away from mine, but only to trace a wet path down my chin, my neck, my chest.
My abdomen.
Lower.
By the gods, I thought, arching my back and groaning in ecstasy as she took me into her mouth.
No, I thought. Not by the gods. By Vrill. Only by Vrill.
She moved me in and out, in and out, again and again and again until I was spent.
I offered the same to her next, my hands probing at her breasts as my tongue slipped between her legs. When her back arched and she released a soft gasp, I could almost feel her pleasure the way I’d felt my own. It was wonderful.
Exhausted and satisfied, she curled up in the crook of my arm and we slept once more.
Unfortunately, the next event would bring nothing but pain to us both.
~~~
“Sam, we have to go!”
I was summoned from the depths of sleep by Vrill’s hissed command. I blinked, trying to make sense of the stone tomb around me. I sat up quickly. Vrill had already donned the lower part of her armor and was just snapping the upper half together with practiced ease.
“What’s happening?” I asked, standing and fumbling for my pathetically small loincloth, my fingers awkwardly trying to tie it at either side.
“The Black,” she said, stepping forward to help me.
“But…” Had we really talked, sexed and slept the entire day away?
“No time for that,” Vrill said, grabbing my hand. “Hurry. We are not safe here anymore. The kind of monster that’s coming will not be fooled by our hidden entrance.”
And that, it seemed, was my new reality. For a few moments, I’d been happy with Vrill in her little cave. What I hadn’t thought about or considered was how little she had. A few demonlights. Two basins of water. Nothing else. Which meant she knew she would have to leave eventually. She knew they would find us, I thought. I wondered how many times she had been forced to flee in the middle of the Black, chased from her home and forced to hide somewhere else? Dozens? Hundreds? How could someone live like that, always fearing what would happen on the next day?
A survivor. That’s what she was. I’d survived two lousy days, and only because of her help. Was I really cut out for a life here? Even if some of the time was filled with happy moments with Vrill, that was no kind of life. Not for anyone.
While I’d been spiraling into a chasm of fear, she’d dragged me halfway across the cave, toward the dark tunnel we’d entered through.
“Shouldn’t we bring a demonlight?” I asked.
“It will draw them like moths to a flame,” she said. “If we hurry, they won’t even know we’ve left.”
Her confidence was an impressive thing. She sounded like the soldiers in my video games sounded. Hard. Determined. She’s Level 4, I reminded myself. A Seeker. Whatever that meant.
Through the tunnel we went, the darkness surrounding us. The side of my arm scraped against the wall and I stumbled, but Vrill was right there to steady me. She was a rock. Strong. Steadfast. Despite my new, stronger body, I felt less like a rock and more like a puddle of dog drool.
A stiff wind bit into me, stinging my eyes, and I realized we’d left the safety of the cave.
The wind was the only way to tell, because, oh gods, I couldn’t see a damn thing. Literally, nothing. Before experiencing it, I’d thought the Black was more of a melodramatic way of saying nighttime.
This wasn’t night. More like a nightmare. Above, below, in front, behind…nothing. I could feel the wind and the squeeze of Vrill’s fingers against my palm and my bare feet on the hard, unforgiving ground.
But I couldn’t see anything, not even the outline of Vrill’s dark body or the gleam of her armor. There was nothing to make the metal gleam, no source of light. Like Vrill had said, both suns had abandoned us. If there were stars out there somewhere, something in the planet’s atmosphere blocked their light.
I never knew how much I loved the stars until they were gone.
We ran, and soon I was breathing heavily. Not from the rapid pace of our flight so much as the fear and panic. Was I afraid of the dark? you might ask. If only that was all I feared. No, my panic and heavy breathing was from what I’d heard, the approach of something Vrill had somehow sensed well before their sounds had reached earshot.
Shrieks. Not unlike the call of a bird hunting in the night, the screech sent tingles down my spine. It was answered by another shriek, then another. Soon there were dozens more, approaching fast.
To my surprise, a light appeared just ahead, bouncing as Vrill ran across the rough terrain. It was a dull blue at first but began to brighten until I could make out the shape of her dagger, the very same I’d used to prepare my pathetic leafrat breakfast less than a day earlier. Its glow now illuminated the curve of her armored hip, but little else.
“Go!” Vrill cried, pulling me harder. I could tell I was slowing her down, her long legs built for speed.
I couldn’t let all her years of survival be ended because I was too slow. I couldn’t be the anchor that towed her into the depths.
I ripped my fingers from hers, veering left into the Black, angling away from the path she was on.
I wouldn’t stop and sacrifice myself for her. No, I knew she would be just fine on her own. She was smart and strong and resourceful. She would find a new safe place.
I would try to do the same, perhaps leading away whatever creatures were chasing us at the same time.
“Sam!” Vrill cried, and I could hear the alarm and confusion in her voice, which was further away now.
I didn’t respond, because if she heard my voice, she might try to run in my direction. Once the Black was over, maybe we could find each other again.
If I survived.
Her voice growing even more distant, Vrill said, “Find a place to hide until the Black is over! It won’t be long now!”
Even apart from me, she was trying to save me, a gift I appreciated more than any she’d given me so far.
I galloped forward with reckless abandon, fearing what pursued me more than the potential hazards I might crash into. Which, in hindsight, was a mistake. I should’ve remembered that our hideout had been in the middle of a boulder field. It was only a matter of time before—
My outstretched fingers crunched into a wall, and I heard the crackle as more than one of them broke on impact, crumpling under the force and giving way before me. The rest of me followed. My head was cushioned by my arms, which were driven by my skull into the immoveable boulder that blocked my path.
&n
bsp; Stunned, I bounced off, staggering. Seeing those stars I’d wanted so badly to see.
Shards of pain speared from my fingers up my arms, which also throbbed. My legs almost crumpled, but somehow, I managed to maintain my balance. It was my new body. Not invincible, but stronger. Able to take a hit without going down.
Despite all that Vrill had told me, I thanked Eve and the Three Goddesses for that.
Even if it was them who’d put me in this situation to begin with.
The shrieks were closer now, seeming to cut through the darkness like projectiles.
“Shit, shit shit,” I muttered, feeling my way around the edge of the boulder, each touch bringing a hailstorm of agony.
I hoped I would find another cave like the one we’d left. The kind of monster that’s coming will not be fooled by our hidden entrance. Vrill’s words came back to me. Still, out in the open felt more dangerous than burrowing myself into a cave. Plus, I might be able to find a way to barricade the opening. Or maybe I could wedge myself into a spot so tight the monsters that were following wouldn’t be able to come after me.
None of those ideas mattered, however, because the outside of this boulder was solid rock without nook or cranny.
I broke away from cover, wandering across the next stretch of open expanse. Sharp stones cut into the soles of my raw feet, but I barely felt them, adrenaline and fear washing away any physical pain I was experiencing.
I saw something.
I blinked twice to make certain it was real and not my mind playing tricks on me.
Sure enough, the outline of a mountainous boulder appeared ahead. Which meant one thing:
The Black was ending.
The same moment I realized it, sharp claws bit into my back from the monster who’d stopped shrieking to sneak up behind me.
EIGHT
FIRST BLOOD
The impact was enough to throw me ass over teakettle. My momentum carried me forward for a few steps as my legs crumpled. I managed to get my arms down first to protect my head, but I still rolled several times before coming to a stop.
