by Trevor Darby
“Holy crap, is that a freaking centaur?” she gasped, pointing.
Taz let out a high-pitched squeal as the half-human, half-horse bolted past us.
“Yup, looks like it,” I said, holding onto a tree for balance and chuckling. "You're going to see a lot more crazy creatures around here, so get used to it.”
Taz smoothed his Godzilla t-shirt, glancing at Maps as she stood and nodding nonchalantly as if he hadn’t just completely freaked out. “Sure, ...yeah. No problem.”
“Let me see the map,” Maps said, standing up and rubbing her hands together excitedly.
“All yours,” I said, handing it over.
“So, you’re sure that we’ll be back in the Human Realm before a day has passed there, right? My mom’ll kill me if I’m not back in time to get some rest for school tomorrow or if I miss a bunch of her calls,” Taz said, turning to explain to Maps sheepishly. “She’s real paranoid that someone is going to kidnap me, for some reason.”
“Yeah, Twee Twyla said that we’ll be able to slow the time down in the Human Realm significantly because nobody too strong is here to throw me off,” I said, trying to be reassuring even though I still wasn’t entirely clear on how it worked myself.
“I told my parents I was playing in a PWO tournament all night, and it would mess up my concentration if I were disturbed, so I’m in the clear as long as we get back before late tonight,” Maps said, not looking up from her map. “Pfft, as if you could have a tournament of PWO,” she snorted and rolled her eyes, “parents, man.”
“Our parents think we’re going to each other’s houses for the evening after we spend the afternoon hiking in the woods, which I guess isn’t entirely a lie,” Taz said, gesturing around us.
“I don’t think they’ll go looking or calling around for hours,” I said. “Now let’s get going, we need to get back on Raven’s trail.”
“Do you have any idea where you were when you last saw tracks?” Maps asked, rubbing her chin pensively as she gazed at the paper in her hand.
I walked over and studied the map over her shoulder for a few moments. “I don’t recall any notable landmarks on the way, but I was headed in this direction," I said, pointing to a spot north of the cave.
“Let’s get a move on then,” Maps said, looking up for the first time since she’d gotten the map.
"Leading away from here," I said, gesturing to the area where I remembered the trail started. It was still slightly visible after all these days, and we could still navigate by it.
Maps deftly rolled the paper back up and handed it to me.
I gave her a quizzical look, “Why don’t you just hold onto it?”
“I doubt I’ll need it again. I’ve got everything within a hundred miles right in here,” she tapped her head a few times as I took the map from her hand. “I’ll just change my mental map of the place as we go and see which things have moved.”
“That’s pretty awesome, I bet you do like, really well on tests and stuff,” Taz gushed from her left.
Someone had a crush.
“Always,” Maps said with a frown as if that was a given as she led the way towards the cave.
Taz followed after her, nearly tripping over his feet to catch up. On any other day, I might have had some fun with him over it and teased him a little, but right now, my mind was on Raven.
“Geez...What the heck is all this?” Taz murmured as we approached the field of golem parts. “Did you guys really take all of these things down?”
“I was inside the cave over there,” I pointed at the cave, “fighting the Sorcerer of Sumeria while Raven held the golems off,” I said quietly. My mood still turned to crap every time I thought of what my Protector and friend had done for me. And I’d repaid her by abandoning her.
I was a real hero.
“Incredible,” Maps said, hunched over the cluster of fallen golems nearest the fallen cave. “Look at this,” she said, “the ones over here are all completely intact except a small hole in their chests.”
“Seems weird that the ones further away are hacked to pieces,” Taz said as we approached the pile of golems and parts that Maps was looking at.
“There’s a shattered red crystal here,” Maps said, pointing to the hole in a bird-like golem. Sparkling crimson fragments sat inside its bronze torso. “I’m guessing it was acting as a sort of receiver for the Sorcerer's magic, so she took them out by destroying those with her magic.”
It was classic Raven to be as efficient as possible in taking them down. And the fact that Maps had used her massive brain and determined all that with just a glance proved to me that she was precisely the right person to help us find Raven. My mood lifted slightly.
“What do you think happened over there?” I said, pointing further away from the cave.
“She must’ve run out of magic after defeating the ones closer to the cave,” Maps said, eyes wide. “Are they pretty weak or something?”
“No,” I said, too lost in thought to say anything more. Raven was even more skilled than I’d thought. She had beaten over a dozen golems at once and had defeated almost half of them with sheer brute force and her hand to hand skills while completely drained of magic. The encounter that we’d had in the Human Realm with the massive golem that had nearly killed me flashed in my mind. Even though it had been larger than any of the golems lying on the ground, it brought home again how far I had to go. I had a lot to learn before I could ever be as powerful as Raven.
But first I had to find her.
“Let’s get going,” I said, standing up and pulling my thoughts back to the task at hand as I led them towards the footprints, “we’ve got a friend to save.”
“Aye, Captain,” Maps said, shooting a mock salute at me and following.
“Aye aye, Sir," Taz said, following suit. They always insisted on roleplaying when we played PWO, and I guess this wasn't too much different. Only this time, the stakes were infinity higher.
Instead of losing a few rating points, I’d lose Raven if we failed.
“Failure is not an option,” I muttered as much to myself as the others as I led them down the trail of faded Troll-prints up to the area where I’d seen the Cerberus. “I made it up to around this point before a Pixie came to warn me about a Cerberus nearby. I would’ve died if she didn’t hold him off for long enough for me to escape.”
“Ugh, the Cerberus...” Taz groaned. “I think I blocked that out before we got here. Are you sure it was a Cerberus? As in a three-headed watchdog from hell?” he pressed as his steps slowed.
“I guess it’s no crazier than the centaur we saw before or you teleporting us all around,” Maps said, shrugging. “No point getting too hung up on it. Chace was able to get away from one before, and I'll keep an eye for fresh tracks. Let’s keep going with these footprints and see if they lead anywhere. Best case is that we can just follow them straight through to wherever Raven is, but I doubt we'll be able to see them once they enter that forest so I'll take point now," Maps said, stepping in front and leading us after the tracks and into the woods.
I was struck by the lack of concern in her voice when talking about the Cerberus. Though I knew it would change if we actually encountered one, it meant a lot that a friend who I’d never even met in real life until just recently was willing to risk so much for me.
As she expected, there were significant gaps where we couldn't find any tracks, and Maps had to lead us by following subtle signs like broken branches and dead foliage. It was pretty impressive, and Taz and I exchanged amazed looks as she pointed to a trampled bush.
“The flowers are browning and the leaves are dried instead of weeping, which means this didn’t just happen. I’d say the troll came through here a day or two ago.”
“How did you learn to do this,” Taz asked after the third time she deftly led us through a long stretch without any tracks to follow.
“My dad is pretty into survivalist type stuff. He taught me how to track when I was younger, and playing
PWO helped by forcing me to pay attention to detail and look out for anomalies,” she said, suddenly scurrying over to the right and crouching low. “Check this out,” she said as she stood and held up a small, translucent object in her hand.
A slight buzzing sound grew as we approached. She put it into her open palm and showed it to Taz and I. Two vibrating wings sat in her hand, iridescent, lovely and familiar.
“Fairy wings,” I said, awed. “How’d you see them?”
"There was just a little sparkle in the bush over here, so I wanted to take a look. Seemed like the type of place a game designer would put a magical item or an easter egg in a game," she said, grabbing the wings by the base. I turned to look at Taz, wondering why he was so quiet, and he was just standing there open-mouthed with a look of shock on his face.
“I think I recall Raven telling me that fairies sometimes shed their wings for faster ones and—”
I broke off as I turned and realized I was talking to myself because Maps was gone.
“Maps?” I peered around, turning in a circle, heart racing. Had some sort of creature snatched her just like that? So fast, so stealthy that I hadn’t seen or even heard it? “Maps!” I shouted, panic clutching at my chest.
I was a nanosecond from a full-on freak out when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to find Taz pointing up at the sky in awe.
“Dude.”
“I’m flying!” Maps cried, giggling with childish joy.
Sure enough, thirty or so feet above our heads, Maps was flitting around like a butterfly, the wings in her hand fluttering furiously as they swept her through the blue sky above.
“Holy cow. Those things must be super strong to hold her up like that. Maps!” I called, watching as she began to gain altitude and soar above the tree-line. “Come down lower if you can. We don’t know how long they will hold you!”
“What?” she asked as she erupted in another peal of giggles.
But she was too high up to hear my words of warning. She zipped out of sight as Taz and I broke into a jog in the general direction she’d gone. We’d just crashed through a bunch of pine trees and into a clearing when Maps’ laughter turned into a scream.
“Help!”
Chapter 11
Taz and I looked up to see Maps falling rapidly at the far edge of the clearing, and we sprang into action. As Taz bolted towards her, to do who knew what, I focused on stopping her fall with my magic. My efforts helped, and she slowed some, but she was still plummeting from the sky at an alarming rate. Like a cannonball dropped from the sky and I just wasn’t quick enough to stop her completely no matter how hard I tried.
Taz had his gaze locked on the sky as he ran with arms extended, clearly intent on catching her.
“Taz, um, I—”
But the words died on my lips as he ran face-first into a tree and fell flat onto his back. Maps hit the ground not even a second later...or she would have if there wasn’t a chubby ball of Taz laying face up right below her to break her fall with a loud “Ooph!”
My heart hammered as I jogged over.
Maps pushed herself to her feet and stared down at Taz. “Holy cow, are you okay?” she asked her face a mask of worry.
His mouth opened and closed like a trout on land as he tried to catch his breath. “Yeah, yup, I’m fine,” he finally managed, barely choking the words out.
Maps rolled her eyes and chuckled as she reached down and helped him to his feet.
“You sure neither of you are hurt?” I asked, scanning each of them. Aside from Taz’s jeans being covered in leaves and dirt, surprisingly, neither looked worse for wear. “She was coming in at a pretty good clip when she landed...”
“Nah, I’m all good,” Taz said, holding onto the tree he had just face-planted into as he tried to regain his balance. He forced a shaky smile and held up one thumb. “No problem. Ready when you are, team.”
Maps studied him for a silent moment, head cocked to one side. “Thanks, Taz.” With that, she turned and strode out of the clearing and back into the forest, leaving Taz red-cheeked and grinning after her. “Are you guys coming or what?” she called over her shoulder.
We scurried ahead to join her. Maps slowed her pace, pausing to pocket the now motionless fairy wings with a fond smile.
“So, while I was flying, I noticed a few changes in the landscape. More importantly, though, there was a strange glow just outside the forest that I want to check out. It was sort of the same type of glow I noticed when I spotted the fairy wings. Come on!”
She led the way quickly through the thick undergrowth and trees. It was hard to hold back a laugh at Taz, who was following just behind her and trying to pretend he wasn't entirely out of breath.
“Sorry, we’re going to have to slow down a bit. Using all the magic to get us here made me a little tired,” I said, leaning over and pretending to be out of breath for Taz’s sake.
He shot me a grateful glance as Maps slowed her pace some.
“Don’t worry, it's just a little further," she said, pointing ahead of us at a cluster of massive trees larger than I'd ever imagined possible. The trees marked the border between the forest and the mountain on the other side of it.
“Wow, cool. Taz, do you see that glow?” I asked, turning to him as we approached a massive hole in the side of the mountain. A shimmering mark was emblazoned on the ground near the entrance.
“What glow?” he asked, his gaze flitting around aimlessly.
“Right here,” Maps said, pointing to the symbol.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It doesn’t look like anything to me,” Taz said, leaning in and squinting.
“It’s Raven,” I interrupted, the breath catching in my throat as I realized what I was looking at. “It’s a picture of her amulet.”
“It just looks like a shimmering blur to me,” Maps said, frowning.
“It’s some sort of magical mark. She must’ve left us clues on the way for us,” I said, not able to stop a grin from spreading over my face. That meant Raven had likely decided to wait for me to come and get her rather than just trying to escape by herself. She knew I wouldn’t leave her behind.
The thought made my whole body feel warm.
“You saw that from the sky, Maps?” I asked.
“I saw something from the sky. And I see something in front of me now, but it’s like trying to see through a dirty window. Know what I mean?”
I did. But it was fascinating. If Taz couldn't see it, but Maps kind of could, that meant there might be even more to Maps than met the eye.
I tucked that nugget of info away to examine later, maybe with Raven’s help once we rescued her, and focused on the task at hand.
“At least we know we’re on the right path now for sure.”
“Pretty small cave,” Maps said, stepping inside and stooping down to look at something before continuing, “looks like they stayed here recently. There are remnants of a fire, and some animal remains here.” She toed a long, white thing on the ground and nodded thoughtfully. “The meat left on this bone doesn’t stink of rot just yet. They were probably here overnight and left this morning. Let’s keep moving, we have a lot of distance to make up if they left at daybreak.”
“Aye aye,” Taz said.
We marched through a rocky wasteland for more than an hour. Although we veered off the path every so often, we kept finding our way back to the trail of magical markers that Raven had left for us to follow.
Well done, you genius Protector.
We had just arrived at the bank of a massive river when we decided to stop for a bite to eat.
"How the heck are we gonna cross that river?" Maps said, chewing a chocolate bar thoughtfully. "There's no bridge, and I couldn't see the end of the river in either direction when I was flying earlier."
I took another bite of my candy, mulling it over.
“Why don’t you just teleport us over?” Taz chimed in, breaking my concentration.
“I’m pretty sure I
can, so long as I know where I’m headed,” I said, gazing across what looked like a half-mile gap between one side of the river and the other. If I didn’t have a mental image of where I was going, I could end up zapping us all the way back where we started, or just about anywhere else in the Magical Realm. Not ideal.
Maps stood up, wiping her hands on her jeans and nodding. “Only one way to find out.”
I popped the last of the chocolate bar into my mouth, holding my hands out for my friends to grab as I stared across the raging river at the far bank. A strange feeling came over me. The more I tried to focus, the weirder everything felt.
Why did we even need to cross the river, anyway? It was so beautiful. We could just dive right in and swim. My body swayed in place as the urge to pitch forward into the water grew stronger. I could see thousands of fish in the crystalline depths, shimmering with colors so beautiful and true...colors that English had no name for. I found myself wondering if I had ever seen in color before or had everything just been in black-and-white. It was as if I’d lived in a pit for my entire life and just stepped into the light of day for the first time. I laughed giddily and took a step toward the water.
“Come and play with us, it’s fun you’ll see, become part of our family,” a voice echoed gleefully in my head. Other voices joined in, repeating the sentiment, all laughing with such joy that my heart swelled. What I was even doing here in the first place? And who was I?
Five sleek forms appeared in the water, and their pretty, childlike faces bobbed to the surface. All of them reached out their arms, beckoning for me to follow.
I lurched forward, the cold water enveloping me, dragging me in deeper as the current rushed around me. Giggles shimmered past like colors in the breeze as I sank deeper into the water until my head was submerged, and the breath left my lungs.
It was only then that my brain clicked back on, and I realized I was still holding my friends' hands. What were their names again? Taz. Maps!
A swirl of bubbles exploded beside me. Then the hands holding mine were gone. I kicked my feet, panic closing over me as I fought my way to the surface.
