by Isaac Hooke
Amoch neared the main tent and the two hunters with their giant daggers and telescoping blade weapons parted to let him pass.
Wraylor was within. She wore a hooded black robe similar to his own, except her version was tighter and accentuated her figure. Also unlike his outfit, her face was completely visible. Her eyes stood out like two glowing emeralds underneath that hood. She had chosen a green skin tone for herself, so dark it was almost gray. Her face was blemish-less of course, and her features slightly different as compared to the Outside: her cheekbones more chiseled, her nose more pinched, her face less circular. You could be as beautiful as you wanted on the Inside. Or as ugly.
Wraylor smiled when she saw him. Amoch couldn't tell if that was tenderness he saw in those glowing green eyes, or contempt.
"Welcome, my love." She wrapped her arms around him, enveloping him with limbs that quickly quadrupled so that he was enwrapped in the hug of an octopus. When she released him, she had two arms again. "I've missed you."
"You shouldn't be here," Amoch told her. "I want you on the Outside."
"But I thought we could—"
Amoch raised a dismissive hand. "Do not think. Do not. Return to the Outside immediately."
Wraylor seemed about to protest but then curtsied instead. "As you wish." She left the tent, no doubt to go somewhere quiet and disbelieve reality. Then again, he wasn't sure what exactly she would do.
"Follow her," he instructed Sammuel. "Make sure she leaves this world."
"Yes, my lord." Sammuel made his way toward the front of the tent.
"And Sammuel," Amoch told him. "Careful that you don't let her see you."
Sammuel nodded and hurried from the tent.
Amoch approached the planning table and stared at the layout of the miniature city before him. His advisors had already pinned out the best attack routes. Because of its sprawling size and the number of guards, the place wouldn't be as easy to take as Emerald, but Amoch had no doubts the city would eventually fall. No doubts whatsoever. Especially when he disabled most of those guards in one fell blow.
And when victory came, it would be their greatest yet.
"Sir." One of the hunters peered into the entryway. "There is a woman here requesting to see you. She says she met you before, and that you gave her brother a set of Lightning Rings."
Amoch waved a hand absently toward the gol. "Let her in."
An uncollared woman entered the tent. She was dainty and young, with a grimy face and torn clothes. Her movements seemed confident, though there was more than a hint of fear in her eyes.
"My lord," she said, bowing slightly.
Amoch simply stared at her, saying nothing. He would let the darkness that covered his face unnerve her for a few moments. At that distance, and with the current lighting, she could probably see the black swirling fog that made up the impenetrable mask. That darkness was only visible to outside observers, of course: his own vision was completely unmarred.
The young girl fidgeted, but to her credit, her fear didn't seem to increase. Amoch wondered if he should change that.
"My lord," she repeated. "My name is Gemma, do you remember me?"
"No I do not." He truly didn't. He had met far too many people these last few weeks and months to remember all of them.
"You let me serve you once before," Gemma said. "I would like to serve you again."
"I have no need of the service of one so young," Amoch said dismissively. He returned his attention to the miniature city.
"My lord, you gave my brother Lightning Rings. You taught us how to evade the guards. But now he is dead. The huntress gol killed him."
Amoch looked up. "The huntress gol?"
"Yes. The one who calls herself Nine. The one I have sometimes seen conversing with the Keepers. I will kill her, someday, along with the male gol who helped her. With your blessing, of course."
Could it be the sister? He could use that. Revenge was a powerful motivator.
He regarded the woman in a new light. Yes, she was dainty, but venomous.
She might be precisely what he was looking for.
"Can you fight?" Amoch asked her, glancing at the hilt that protruded from a scabbard tied to her back.
"I've been fighting since I was a child. I grew up on the streets. The sword is an extension of my hand."
"But do you know the sword forms?"
She hesitated. "The sword forms?"
Amoch smiled. "No matter. Come." He approached the back of the tent, set his staff against the fabric, and opened a small chest. He produced several items and set them out on the floor.
"This armor will give you strength." Amoch indicated the thin platemail that was covered in curlicued designs. "Speed, and agility. It will protect you from extreme heat and cold, and will deflect the hardest blows."
"It looks too big for my body," Gemma said.
"Once you put it on," Amoch told her. "It will shrink to conform to your figure."
He lifted the silver mask. Forged into the shape of a Chinese dragon, it had wide eyes, thick nostrils, and a gaping grin. "This mask will allow you to see through walls, and it will give you a complete overhead map of your surroundings at all times. You'll be able to easily pick out gols from a crowd, as they will be colored a bright red. And you will be able to see the glow of vitra use through buildings."
He lifted the long, curved katana and unsheathed its blade. "And now the crowning item. This sword." He offered it hilt-first to Gemma.
She accepted the weapon reverently. It seemed to hum in her grasp.
"That is no ordinary blade," Amoch continued. "It will guide your hand. Teach you the sword forms as you fight."
Amoch retrieved his white staff from where he had set it against the tent wall and abruptly attacked her, sweeping high. Gemma instantly responded, blocking the blade. Her widening eyes betrayed the fact that the sword had acted for her.
He struck again, sweeping low, then thrusting. He moved impossibly fast, yet Gemma countered both movements.
"Impossible," she said, stepping back, staring at the weapon in awe.
Amoch grinned, though she could not see it. "Yes. I make the impossible, possible."
"It seemed... it seemed to pull my hand."
"As I said, it will guide you." He tossed her the sheath. "Once you don the dragon mask, you will see the sword's planned movements as a green path overlaying your vision. Eventually you will learn to anticipate its movements, and control it, rather than the weapon controlling you."
She sheathed the weapon solemnly.
"There is one last item I have for you," Amoch said. He reached into his cloak and produced a small, silver disk, which he handed to the girl.
"What's this?" she said, holding it to her face. The rim caught the light.
"An item you will use in your first mission," Amoch said.
Gemma wrapped her fingers around the disk and formed a fist. "Tell me my mission."
"I have decided that you will be the one to hunt down she whom you hate. The gol Nine."
"Thank you," Gemma said. "I won't forget this."
Amoch raised a hand. "I didn't say what you are to do yet. You are not to kill her, do you understand? Not this time, at least. I highly doubt you could do so on your own anyway, even with all that equipment."
Her expression became one of confusion. "Then what must I do? Tell me."
"Simply place the disk I have given you upon her head. It is up to you how you wish to do it. Through combat or subterfuge or a mixture of both. I could care less. Though I suspect you'll have to resort to the latter option: she has a distrust for disks like these, due to certain past incidents. Whatever you do, don't underestimate her. She is a formidable foe. Find her, place the disk on her forehead, and then return to me."
Gemma pocketed the item. "If you are all powerful, why don't you do it yourself?"
Amoch couldn't hide the amusement from his tone. "My dear, I am all powerful, there is no doubt about that. I will say this,
I'm not quite in the necessary mindset to face her. I fear that I would let our past interfere with my judgment. So I prefer to operate from afar, for now. From the shadows. Twisting and pulling the hidden fabric of the world, shaping it as I see fit without fear of guilt or hesitation.
"Besides, she is little more than an aberration at the moment, one with little bearing on my plans. That is precisely why I'm sending an amateur like you. Prove yourself to me in this, and perhaps I will give you greater missions. Maybe I will even let you kill her when the time comes."
The woman's eyes glinted with the fervent light of revenge. Perfect.
Amoch nodded toward the armor. "Take these and practice before you leave. Hadrian, see that she has a chance to try out her new equipment on living subjects."
Hadrian approached from where he loitered with the other followers. "It will be done."
Gemma donned the breast plate reverently. "Thank you for entrusting me with this task, my lord. I will not fail you."
"No," Amoch said slowly, the warning clear in his tone. "You will not."
eleven
Ari and Tanner were investigating a lead. One of Briar's eyes and ears had reported a hooded figure matching Amoch's description traveling through the streets of Rhagnorak. Stanson had informed her via aReal and she'd tethered to the Inside in the relearning center, while Tanner injected from the Control Room.
They had appeared in random places in the city and met up in the neighborhood where the hooded figure was last spotted. An hour would have passed on the Inside since then.
"You think we're too late?" Tanner asked when he joined her.
"It's possible," Ari said. "Keep an eye out for anything unusual."
She sensed the heavy, unexpected use of vitra then, coming from inside a nearby inn. She exchanged a glance with Tanner, and hurried to the building. Screams came from within.
In the lobby they discovered an odd scene. A lightning wielder was standing before another uncollared man who was forcing himself on a half-naked woman. Her clothes had been ripped.
Tanner was on the first man before he realized what was happening and clamped a bronze bitch around his throat. Ari did the same to the rapist and hauled him off the woman.
The man struggled in her grasp, but she held him fast. Ari asked the woman: "Are you all right?"
The frightened woman quickly gathered her torn clothes in front of her and then dashed upstairs.
"You are not Users," Ari told the man she held. She noted that neither of them wore Lightning Rings.
"Users?" The man laughed. "No, we're not Users."
"Where is your master?" Ari asked him.
The first man looked at the second, but didn't answer.
Ari lifted him into the air with one hand, taking advantage of the enhanced strength of her avatar. "Your master?"
"She's upstairs."
Ari felt her brows draw together. "She?"
Ari heard the thud of a ferrule striking wood as a robed figure with a staff descended the stairs. She threw the man toward the steps to free her hands and then drew her fire sword. Tanner did the same with the second man and drew his blade, joining her.
Bone staff striking each individual step, the robed figure slowly descended. More and more of its body came into view until the face was revealed and the figure halted.
Those features weren't draped in darkness like she had expected. Instead, a beautiful woman stared back at Ari. She didn't recognize her. The woman's eyes were hued a deep emerald and seemed to glow. Her skin was colored a dark green, almost gray.
"Amoch?" Ari said.
Amusement filled those features. "I am Wraylor, not Amoch. Though my husband is looking for you."
"Your husband?"
"Yes," Wraylor said. "I'm debating whether or not I should give you to him. But if I do that, he'll discover I disobeyed his orders."
"We're taking you prisoner," Ari said.
Wraylor lifted an eyebrow. "Are you?"
"I can't move my body, Ari," Tanner said.
Ari turned toward him. "Wha—"
And then she felt it. Her own body had frozen. "What have you done?" She could still move her head and speak.
Wraylor smirked, then slowly approached, stepping between her two underlings, who wore similar expressions. When she reached Ari she slid a finger seductively under her chin. Ari tried, unsuccessfully, to look away.
"You collared my playthings," Wraylor purred. "That is not something I approve of." She tossed a key to each of the collared men and they removed their bronze bitches. They gave Ari defiant, victorious stares.
"Who are you?" Ari said. "What do you want?"
"I'm not sure of the answer to either question." Wraylor paused. "And that is the truth. Think about that for a while."
Wraylor stared at her for a long moment, the emerald glow of her eyes leaving afterimages in Ari's vision; abruptly Wraylor turned away and strode slowly toward the stairs. She spoke as she did so.
"I follow my husband and yet I'm not convinced I believe his plan is sound. And so I have come here to give you a warning. You see, I knew you would show yourselves when I was spotted in this city." She beckoned toward the uncollared men. "These two fools were supposed to keep an eye out for you at the door, not play with the proprietor of the place. I will have to have a friendly discussion with them later."
The smirks instantly left those faces.
"You know where Amoch is?" Ari asked her.
"I do," Wraylor said, looking over her shoulder. "Or rather, I know where his army is."
"Where?"
"They are traveling through portal hops and are on their way to attack Crane at this moment. The city where I was born. Go there and stop him if you can. This is the only aid you will ever receive from me. Good luck. If we meet again, it will be on the battlefield."
The woman turned to go.
"Wait!" Ari said.
The woman ignored her. She walked up the stairs with the two men and in moments all three of them disappeared from view.
The invisible binds that held Ari released five minutes later.
She and Tanner bounded up the stairs to search for the woman and her minions but there was no sign of them in the hall. Ari barged into the various rooms but found only guests, along with the frightened proprietor, who still trembled in her torn clothes.
"We go to Crane?" Tanner asked her.
"First we return to the Outside," Ari said. "And dispatch reinforcements."
"The attack could be over by then."
"We have no choice," Ari said. "The two of us can't face an army of lightning wielders alone. And if Amoch has the ability to freeze us in our tracks like Wraylor..."
"You're right," Tanner said. "The Outside, then."
twelve
Ari opened her eyes in the Outside world. She was still in the relearning center. On her aReal, she pulled up Stanson.
"Stanson," she said. "I need you to summon all the Keepers and send them to Crane."
"Crane?" Stanson returned.
"Yes," Ari said. "There's going to be an attack. Tell them to gather as many of the Users as they can and prepare to defend the city. Spawn extra guards. None of the hunter class, this time. I don't trust their codebase. Also, I had logging enabled for my avatar. Download the last ten minutes and run the face of this Wraylor woman through the records. See if we can find a match."
"On it," Stanson said over the aReal. "By the way, I'd recommend against trying to collar the lightning wielders you find."
Ari frowned. "Why?"
"Because Dhenn was a mess. It took hours to collar everyone, and for what? The enemy used our preoccupation with the city to attack Emerald. We can't let them distract us like that again. I say we should just terminate any attackers with extreme prejudice. Let them wake up in the real world and have the system sedate them. We'll sort out their reintroduction into the Inside later."
Ari hesitated. "What if that's precisely what Amoch wants? Don't you remember the
original threat we received? That we were to bring five hundred people into the Outside, or more bombs would go off near the Forever Gates?" Though Amoch had taken the threat much farther than that.
"I don't see how it could be what he wants," Stanson said. "If we're sedating them immediately upon wake up, and not allowing them into the Outside."
"Tanner agrees?" Ari asked.
"He does."
She sighed. "All right. I guess it makes things easier. Relay the orders to the Keepers and Users. We show the lightning wielders no mercy."
"Done."
"By the way... please tell me you have news on the lightning shields?" She had instructed Stanson to develop a personal shield against lightning attacks shortly after learning that Amoch planned to build an army of the uncollared. Fire swords could be used to absorb incoming electrical attacks, of course, but it required immense concentration to turn the weapon into a lightning rod, putting the sword out of commission in the meantime.
"Henrietta tells me she almost has the shields ready. Just a few more tweaks and we can start injecting them inside with you."
"All right," Ari said. "Get them ready as soon as you can. Did Tanner surface yet?"
"He's here, yes," Stanson confirmed.
"Tell him I'm going back in, and have him meet me at the statues in Avian square."
"Will do. And Ari, good luck."
She smiled. "I make my own luck."
* * *
Ari materialized in the medieval streets of Crane. Screams drew her attention to the north, where several citizens were dashing toward her. Behind them, four lightning wielders unleashed havoc, destroying the buildings. They were using a lot of charge. Probably had rings.
Ari retrieved the sword that had injected inside with her and she buckled it to her belt. She recalled the order she had just given Stanson.
We show the lightning wielders no mercy.
She drew the weapon and began walking toward the lightning wielders. She increased her pace, changing to a lope, then a run, then an all-out sprint. She fanned the spark of vitra in the blade, pouring all of her being into it, until a veritable conflagration waited to be unleashed inside the glowing red metal.
