by Paul Bellow
“What did you do to her?” I asked.
“Nothing…yet.”
“You better not hurt her,” Josh said, mirroring my thoughts.
“I’ll do what I want,” Magi Inyontoo said then laughed. “Everyone drop your weapons.”
“We’re not going down without a fight,” Derringer said.
“You don’t think I already have a way out of the game?” Magi Inyontoo grinned. “You’re still so naïve. All of you.”
“If you have a way out, why haven’t you left yet?” Bernard asked.
“Yeah,” I said, adding my support to keep Magi Inyontoo occupied.
A little more time, and I hoped to come up with a decent plan. We couldn’t die. Not at his hands. It wasn’t negotiable.
“Maybe I like it here,” he said. “Finally, I’m somewhere my powers are appreciated.”
“What powers are those?” I asked, trying to sound sincere.
“Gaming, bro. I told our father I wanted to help design and test the Tower of Gates, but he wouldn’t let me.”
“He was probably trying to save you,” I said. “He didn’t want me coming into the game either. This place is horrible on so many levels.”
“And our own father trapped us in here,” Magi Inyontoo said.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, more confused than ever.
“Enough talk,” Magi Inyontoo said. “Time to die for killing my father, Eric. Are you ready?”
I snatched the last Everlast potion from my side-pouch.
Magi Inyontoo laughed again, so sure of himself.
“You won’t take it,” he said. “You’ll die.”
“After five or six minutes,” I said. “That’s more than enough time to take you out.”
“You think so?” he asked, stepping forward.
He waved his left hand. Our entire party froze in place.
“What now, Eric?” He continued walking toward me. “Can’t take your potion?”
My eyes had frozen open, and I couldn’t stop staring at his ugly face. His gelled hair and self-sure smile made me want to punch him in the face. I breathed deeply, waiting for him to get it over with. After he kills me, I’ll respawn as an NPC, find a party, and go after him until he’s dead. He won’t be able to hide anywhere in the game.
“Poor, Eric,” Magi Inyontoo said in a whiney voice. “No one’s here to save you. I’m going to savor this.”
He put the wand away and pulled a knife out of his robes. Frozen, I couldn’t flinch as he flashed the blade in front of my face. My swords and the potion were useless without being able to move. What could I do?
As Magi Inyontoo brought the tip of the bone dagger closer to my throat, I heard a loud explosion outside. He frowned then turned around.
“Go check it out,” he said, gesturing toward the door.
The four quiet men in black robes rushed outside while Razzo walked over to the window and peered outside.
“What is it?” Magi Inyontoo snapped.
“I can’t see anything,” Razzo said.
A brilliant flash flared outside. The other men screamed, their voices fading as if they were falling. Razzo stepped back, rubbing his eyes.
“I literally can’t see anything now,” he said.
“Someone’s going to pay,” Magi Inyontoo snarled. “Give me your rings.”
Razzo stumbled over and handed Magi Inyontoo the Ring of Invisibility and the Ring of Flying he’d snatched from Raven’s finger earlier. I struggled to move, unable to even close my eyes.
Had someone arrived to save us? Sarah?
“Watch them,” Magi Inyontoo said. “The spell will wear off soon.”
I flexed my muscles, feeling my right bicep twitch. Magi Inyontoo strode toward the door then disappeared outside. I continued flexing my muscles, hoping to break the paralyze spell early.
Razzo pointed a short, stubby wand in our direction, frequently glancing behind him. I wondered who had come to save us. Would they be able to defeat Magi Inyontoo where we’d failed so many times before?
Chapter 25
Saved by a Valkyrie Skyrider
Eric
I wiggled my toes as the paralyze spell wore off. Razzo shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously then walked over to the window and looked out. Another bright light flashed outside. Razzo muttered something under his breath.
All of a sudden, the spell broke. I rushed forward, drawing both weapons on the way over. Razzo turned, but he didn’t have a chance to zap the wand or do anything else. Both my magic blade shot solidly. His red robes darkened with blood.
Combat is Over!
You get 5,000 xp
You have 5 party members.
You get 1,000 xp
You have 223,837 xp
You need 91,163 xp for
Level 13 Rogue -> Bounty Hunter
Bernard, Derringer, Josh, and Raven joined me at the window. The light from the flash had faded, leaving nothing but darkness. I walked to the door then opened it. Stepping outside onto the wide, sturdy porch, I glanced around, still seeing nothing. Bernard came out and stood next to me.
“Nothing,” I said, staring into the darkness. “They’re all gone.”
“I don’t know what happened, but I’m not complaining,” Josh said.
“We’re being watched,” Raven said. “I can sense it.”
“By what?” I asked.
“Probably Magi Inyontoo,” Bernard said.
“Why don’t you guys come in,” a familiar female voice said behind us.
I turned and saw a beautiful woman with patch-work armor and a flowing, dark grey cloak. She had her hair tied back and braided, looking like an ancient viking warrior.
“Sarah?” I asked, hoping it was her.
Josh rushed over and stopped before her.
“Is that you, babe?” he asked. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” Sarah said. “Come inside, and I’ll explain.”
I queried the game interface and saw she was a valkyrie skyrider class. Sarah turned and walked back into her treehouse. Josh rushed after her, almost tripping in the doorway. I followed, so much on my mind.
“Good to see you guys,” she said, her voice sounding so different.
“Is it really you?” I asked from just inside the door.
She smiled, looking graceful and strong.
“Are you going to let me join the party, Bernard?” she asked.
“Where have you been? How are you? What happened?” I asked.
The questions poured out of me.
“Slow down,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about this day for a long time.”
“Hold on,” Derringer said, raising his hand in the air. “I hate to interrupt, but what happened to Magi Inyontoo and his goons?”
“I ran him off,” she said. “We really need to kill him.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “He told me some crazy stuff about being my half-brother.”
“And?” Sarah asked. “That makes him less of a bad guy why?”
Josh stepped toward her, acting more awkward than I thought he would.
“How are you?” he asked. “Everything okay?”
“I’ve never been better,” she said.
“Have you been on this level the whole twenty years?” Bernard asked. “Are all the undead everywhere a recent development?”
“Slow down,” she said. “There’s a lot to go over. I see you’ve found my hidden room. Did Magi Inyontoo make it in there?”
“No,” I said. “We did read your diary.”
Sarah’s eyes widened.
“Not all of it,” I said. “Just enough to get some answers.”
“Magi Inyontoo interrupted us too,” Bernard admitted.
“His power isn’t all that,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot about him over the last twenty years. You guys don’t know how good it is to see you.”
“You’ve really been in here twenty years on your own?” Josh asked.
“It’s been amazing. After the brownies killed me…” She stopped and turned to me. “Thanks for avenging me, by the way.”
“You know about that?” I asked.
“I’ve been watching you guys from a distance for a while,” she said. “The game master in the tower gave me a choice after I died. I could respawn as an NPC near you during the same time-period, or I could respawn as a PC twenty years before you arrive on this level on a clone level and receive a new, unique class in the game.”
“What’s a clone level?” I asked.
Her smile widened.
“All in due time,” she said. “I’m thirty-eight years old in my mind, but my body hasn’t aged in the real-world. That is amazing on so many levels. This last twenty years have been great in so many ways. I missed you guys, but I had a lot going on.”
“You said something about food earlier?” Derringer asked.
Sarah smiled.
“Did you find the kitchen upstairs?” she asked.
“There’s an upstairs?” I glanced upward. “Where?”
“Follow me,” she said.
On the other side of the room, she removed a book from the bookshelf. A section of the wall slid away, revealing a primitive elevator.
“Come on,” she said then stepped in. “Two at a time.”
I walked over and got in beside her. Josh glared at me a few feet away but said nothing as she pulled a cord. The elevator went up, revealing a second floor. An impressive kitchen took up a third of the space on the upper level. The rest had been dedicated to sleep and leisure.
“Are you okay?” I asked as we stepped off the platform.
“Yeah,” she said, sounding different. “And you?”
“Better now,” I said then smiled.
“Send the elevator down for the others,” she said. “I’ll get some food going.”
I pulled the cord to send the lift down. As the others came up, I walked over Sarah where she was stirring thick gruel in a bowl. Neither the color nor the smell were appetizing.
“Watch this,” she said then waved her palm over the bowl of goop.
It transformed into a thick, hearty beef stew. My eyes widened as I looked from the bowl to her. She smiled and picked up the bowl.
“Tastes even better than it smells,” she said. “I’ve got to create some of my own spells.”
“I would’ve taken the twenty years alone for a new class too,” I said honestly.
Josh walked over, sniffing the air with his big, broad nose.
“That smells good,” he said.
Sarah carried the bowl to a round, wooden table. I took the seat to the left of her with Josh on her right.
“Pass me a bowl,” Derringer said.
“I wasn’t expecting so many guests, but hold on,” Sarah said.
She waved her hands over the table. A bright light emanated from them. Six smaller ceramic bowls appeared on the table with silver spoons in them.
“That’s amazing,” Bernard said. “A new class, huh?”
“A Valkyrie Skyrider,” Sarah said. “A mix of warrior and wizard mostly”
“What happened to your spider?” Josh asked.
Sarah frowned then looked down into the empty bowl in front of her.
“We had a falling out,” she said. “A long time ago.”
Derringer spooned some of the stew into his bowl.
“Where is she now?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Sarah said. “I’ve stayed here the last year, waiting for you guys and plotting a way to take out Magi Inyontoo.”
“Do you know he’s creating all the undead in the Tower of Sherlock?”
Sarah nodded.
“He loves that place,” she said.
“What level are you?” I asked.
“Only level ten,” she said. “This class has super-slow progression because it’s so powerful. I think the gamemaster tried to trick me.”
“Sounds like him,” Bernard said.
As everyone stopped talking and ate, I thought about my Everlast potion.
“You don’t have any powerful spells to stop addiction, do you?” I asked.
“What’s wrong?” Sarah asked. “You didn’t take the Everlast potions, did you?”
“Of course he did,” Josh said.
I shot the half-orc a nasty look.
“Eric…” Sarah said, concern in her voice.
“We were in a tough spot,” I said.
“He took two of them last time,” Derringer said.
“Didn’t you read the warnings?” Sarah asked. “Magi Inyontoo has been spreading them around to trap people.”
“Yeah, I read the instructions, but I needed to take one…”
My voice trailed off. I stared at her, wondering what twenty years in the game on my own would do to me. She’d changed, but I couldn’t put my finger on how exactly.
“All I care about is killing Magi Inyontoo,” Raven said.
Sarah nodded. “Me too. I’ve been waiting for you guys for a long time. We can sleep and rest here tonight. I’ll teleport us to Fishguard in the morning.”
“Now that’s a cool spell,” I said.
She smiled and stood.
“If you guys will excuse me, I need to meditate downstairs for a while.”
“Want me to come with?” Josh asked, pushing his chair back.
“No, that’s okay,” Sarah said. “I need a bit of privacy. You guys eat and relax.”
I watched as she crossed the room to the elevator. She pulled the cord then descended to the first floor of her amazing treehouse. Josh tilted his head back and stared down his thick, broad orc-nose at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “It’s good to see her is all.”
“Agreed,” I said. “We should all get some rest. Those undead trees were tough.”
“One more bowl,” Derringer said as I stood. “This stuff tastes great.”
I walked across the room and fell onto a pile of pillows on the floor, staring up. The intricately carved ceiling looked amazing. As I fell asleep, I thought about Sarah on her own for twenty years. How much had she changed from the Sarah I knew before she died in the game? The question haunted me as I slipped from conscious to subconscious.
A multitude of images, sounds, and smells assaulted my brain as my virtual body rested and dreamed. The Tower of Gates could be so strange.
Chapter 26
The Tower of Sherlock
Eric
The next morning, Sarah teleported us just outside the eastern gates of Fishguard.
“I need to go do something on my own,” she said.
“We’ll go with you,” I said.
She shook her head and frowned.
“You can’t come with me,” she said. “None of you.”
“What’s going on?” Josh asked. “Why all the secrecy?”
“If I told you,” she said. “It wouldn’t be a secret any longer, would it?”
“We should go equip for this battle,” Raven said.
“And see if we can get some help,” Bernard added.
“We’ll meet back here in two hours,” Sarah said. “If I’m not back by then, something went terribly wrong and you should go on without me.”
“You sure you don’t want us to go with you?” I asked.
“Positive,” she said. “I’ll see you guys soon.”
As she turned and walked away, I watched, curious about what she’d gone through all those years on her own. Had she met other players?
“Can we stop and get something to eat?” Derringer asked.
“Sure,” I said. “We need potions and anything else that can help.”
“I’ll visit a few taverns to see if I can find any other players,” Bernard said.
“Derringer, you get the potions and food,” I said. “Bernard, see if you can find anyone to join the party. Josh, you do the same. I’m going to use my
black-market connections to see if we can buy any high-level magic items.”
“Like an Everlast potion?” Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No,” I said. “An Everlast potion would kill me if I took it now.”
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll go with you.”
“No,” I said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll go alone.”
“You can come with me,” Josh offered.
She glanced up at the half-orc then sighed.
“Fine,” she said. “I know a few places to check for hirelings and mercenaries.”
As the others wandered off in different directions, I headed to the docks to check on Captain Skids. Hopefully, he hadn’t managed to kill Magi Inyontoo. I walked from the road to the wooden planks of the main boardwalk at the water’s edge. Several scruffy individuals near a run-down sailing ship gave me the evil eye as I walked by.
I marveled momentarily about how far we’d come in the game and how many levels were left. What if we didn’t find a way out after level one-twelve? I approached the bone ship at the end of one of the docks and cleared my mind. Something about Captain Skids didn’t sit right with me, but talking to him had completed our main quest for the level.
“Ahoy, fleshy,” Captain Skids called from the deck of the ship.
I glanced up, shielding my eyes from the sun with my hand.
“Permission to come aboard?” I asked.
“Granted,” he said, tossing down a rope ladder.
I climbed up then hopped over the rail and onto the deck. Captain Skids, bleached white bones from head to toes, stood before me with his outrageous clothes straight out of a low-budget pirate movie.
“We fought Magi Inyontoo last night,” I said.
Captain Skids nodded.
“I heard,” he said. “You let him get away?”
“We didn’t want to take the xp award away from you,” I said.
He laughed, his jaw bones moving up and down.
“I hunted him before,” he said. “Years ago. Me and my crew were new to the game, and we thought we could topple him from the top player position.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Long story, short novel,” he said then laughed. “Come below deck. I’ll tell you.”
