by Rick Scott
She chuckles. “I’ll survive.” Then her look becomes more serious and I see genuine concern in her eyes. “But seriously, are you okay? I know what you went through wasn’t pleasant. It definitely wasn’t for me.”
I appreciate her candor, and wonder just how much she recalls from her own near-death experience. Did she see those monsters, too? I suppose now is as good a time as any to talk about it. “Aiko . . . when it happened to you, did you . . . see anything?”
Her violet eyes squint in question. “What do you mean?”
“Like . . . did you find yourself in some other place?”
She shakes her head. “It was more what I felt than what I saw. Like a void. Darkness. Emptiness. It was terrifying.”
I nod. I can feel those same feelings creeping back as I recall them. “Do you remember seeing anything else, though? Like a tunnel of flashing lights?”
Her eyes shift to me, and then light up with recollection. “Actually, yes. Briefly, I think. Just before I came back. It all happened so fast. But I wasn’t down and out for as long as you were. Why? Did you see something else?”
I pause for a moment and contemplate if I should reveal it or not. Sort of like when I saw those same monsters down in the crystal cavern. But this was way worse than that. Maybe it’s the fact that Aiko just saved my life, or that we’ve both shared the same near-death experience, but for some reason, I feel like I can tell her. More so than I do with Val Helena, or even my brother.
“I was someplace else,” I say. “Where we go when we die here, I think. I saw this girl, the one who was with my brother earlier. I think you fought her, too, in the PvP arena. A small blonde girl with a huge sword? She died just after we all got to the surface and—”
“Wait . . . hold on.” Her sculpted brows bunch together. “Your brother?”
Oh snap. “Sorry, I forgot you haven’t really met him yet. Well, not as my brother, anyway. My brother is Maxis.”
“Maxis? The PvP king?”
I chuckle at the stupid title. “Yeah.”
She goes quiet for a second, and then gives a short laugh. “Yeah, I guess I can see it now. No offense, but that guy really gets on my nerves.”
I shrug and grin. “Yeah, mine too, sometimes.”
“Plus, he’s a real pain to fight.” Aiko sips some more wine. “Anyway, sorry, you said someone else died?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Let me start from the beginning.”
I tell Aiko the whole story, starting as far back as when we arrived. I fill her in about who Maxis is, about our mom and why he’s here. I tell her about Citadel dying, and that if we don’t find it and supply it with fresh nano, we’ll all die within six months’ time. Aiko was present when we were discussing the same with Braxus, but whatever spell he had on her made her memory fuzzy, so she couldn’t recall any of the details. Then I move on to what I saw in the mines, and finally, the horrible mirror images I saw just now while at death’s door. By the time I’m finished, over an hour has passed, and the sun is growing weak on the horizon.
“So . . .” I say. “What do you think?”
Aiko pours herself another glass of wine. She sips it slowly before she answers. “Honestly, I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that before. The stuff with Citadel is crazy, too. I had no idea we were all living so close to the edge.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“I’m sorry about your mother.”
That one makes my heart ache a little. She’s still the main reason I’m here, the reason I’m doing any of this, and now, I can’t even communicate with her. I hope she’s okay. “I honestly just want to get home to my mom as soon as possible. Make sure she’s all right. But I made my promise to Val—and to you too now, I guess—to save your sister.”
Aiko lets out a bemused chuckle. “It sounds so weird to hear you say that. But thank you, Reece. For coming here. And for doing what you’re doing. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure my sister would even want to see me.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Seriously? Val did mention that you guys didn’t get along so well, but is it that bad?”
She laughs again, more to herself than to me. “We tolerate each other well. It was Val who was always the referee and peacemaker between us. But I do love her.” Her eyes glisten as she pauses. “Part of me doesn’t want to go inside that maze because I’m afraid of what I might find when I get there.”
I recall Val mentioning that Becky could have become a Shard Wraith already, and I can only imagine the dread both she and Aiko must feel. “I have faith she’s going to be all right, Aiko. Val said time moved slower in there. Maybe it’s only been a couple of days since Val left her.”
Aiko nods. “Maybe . . .”
A lull settles between us, and I can tell Aiko’s thoughts are already someplace else. There’s so much to do still, but I need to stay on track. Focus on one goal at a time. And that means getting to the Vale of Sorrows as soon as possible.
“We’ll save her,” I say. “I know we will. Your sister is top priority right now. Maybe we should get back on the road?”
Aiko raises the nearly empty bottle of wine. “I dunno about that, kiddo. It’s been a hard day. Let’s rest up here and make a fresh go at it in the morning.”
As much as I want to get back to Gilly and the others, my body agrees with Aiko completely. It’s been well over three days since I’ve had a good rest, and a proper bed sounds like a luxury we shouldn’t pass up. “Okay. Sounds like a plan. This place probably has rooms for the night. Let’s order some food and crash.”
We do just that, and dine on roasted pheasants until the stars come out. More townspeople appear, as well. Some even approach us to thank us for killing the Witch Spider. By the time Aiko polishes off her second bottle of wine, we’re ready to head in for the night. We check with the tavern keeper and pay for two rooms before we clamber upstairs.
“Hey,” Aiko says with a bit of a slur as she fumbles with the key to her door. “I need to give you something.”
She turns to me and initiates a trade.
Aiko wishes to trade with you.
Aiko offers you:
A Witch Spider’s Ring
+30 INT, 50% reduction to spell-casting and recast times
Cursed: Strong Poison Effect
A small ring containing the soul of a Witch Spider. While imbuing the wearer with its powers, it also ails them with its venom.
My eyes go wide. “Whoa . . . you’re giving this to me?”
She shrugs. “You nearly died for it. You might as well claim it.”
“I . . . I don’t know what to say. Are you sure?”
Aiko looks at me for a long time without speaking. And then, finally, she says, “You asked me once why I finally decided to come here after trying to stop you and Val from doing the same.”
“Yeah,” I say. “I still don’t understand that part. Why were you trying to stop us? Don’t you want to save your sister?”
She snorts out a laugh. “Of course, I do. But Val was going to kill herself trying, the big dumb idiot. If I barely survived as a Dodge Tank, there was no way she was going to do it as some dumb Paladin. Especially with a bunch of noobs from the Shards to back her up.”
I see Aiko’s motivations in an entirely different light now. She wasn’t trying to stop Val Helena out of some twisted sense of animosity or competition. She was trying to protect her. “Wow. You guys should really talk. Val has a totally different impression of what you were doing and why.”
“Yeah. You ever try telling Val she’s wrong?” Aiko lets out another cackle-laugh. “Good luck.”
I guess she might have a point there.
“That’s why I just competed against her. Blocking her was easier than me trying to talk some sense into her. Which brings me back to you,” she says. “Honestly, before I met you, I knew only that I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t fight the Shadow King again. I pretty much gave up on being able to save my sister. It was too pai
nful to even think about. So I tried to forget her. But when I saw you fighting Vulnar, I guess I saw in you the same thing Val does.”
I bunch my brows together. “What’s that?”
“Hope,” she said. “I saw the same thing just now when you were tanking the Witch Spider. You have a fearlessness to you, Reece. You took that thing on with complete confidence, even knowing you could die. Heck, you did die. And yet still, you pulled it off. You did it while I went to pieces.”
I’d never really thought of it like that.
“I didn’t want to believe it at first,” she says. “Like when I saw you in that jungle, soloing Sheeba. I didn’t want to believe that someone else could do what I couldn’t. Could do what I should be doing.”
She pauses, and a tear streams down her cheek. I rest my hand on the small of her back until she speaks again.
“Anyway,” she continues, “I figured that if you were actually coming, that between the two of us, with you backing me up, maybe I could do it. Maybe I could tank the Shadow King again. But now I think I was wrong.”
“Huh?”
“I think you should be the one to tank it, Reece.”
“What?”
“I may have more experience and better gear, but you’re the better tank. You’ve got the nerve, the focus, the reflexes that I don’t. That’s why you should have this, and not me. With you wearing it, it will make the fight more than possible.”
I look at the item again.
A Witch Spider’s Ring
+30 INT, 50% reduction to spell-casting and recast times
Cursed: Strong Poison Effect
A small ring containing the soul of a Witch Spider. While imbuing the wearer with its powers, it also ails them with its venom.
“It looks like mage gear.”
“Normally, something like this would be. Limited to mage classes only. But there’s no class restrictions on it. That’s what makes the ring so special. You can use it as a Ninja. The poison effect will drain your HP pretty fast, but with the INT buff, plus the 50% reductions, you should be able to recast Shadow Copy in about 7 seconds rather than 15. Your cast time would be a half second, too. Stack that with Shadow Haste, and you’ll be able to recast every 4 seconds near instantaneously.”
Holy crap! “That’d be amazing!”
“You will be,” she said. “And you’ll need to be, trust me. The Shadow King is no joke. A world boss doesn’t even compare. But there’s no one else I think better suited for the job.”
She confirms the trade, and I finalize it.
You receive the Witch Spider’s Ring.
“Wow . . . Aiko . . . thank you. For believing in me like this. I really don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she says. “Oh, and hey, there’s one more thing I need to give you.”
“Sure, what’s tha—?”
Before I can finish my sentence, she presses her lips against mine.
My heart triple beats with both shock and excitement as Aiko’s mouth explores my own in a sultry kiss. Before I know it, though, it’s over, and she pulls away with a sly grin. “Told you I’d give you a kiss for that level.”
My mouth hangs open.
She lets out a cackle-laugh and ruffles my hair. “Goodnight, pretty boy. You’re lucky you’re not a few years older, or that Gilly of yours would have some real competition on her hands.”
I laugh nervously, not knowing what to do or say.
Aiko enters her room and leaves me standing in the hallway, stupefied. I’m not sure if I’m okay with what just happened, but my body is saying something totally different. I enter my own room still perplexed, my imagination running wild.
I think I need an adult.
Chapter 33: Wakeup call
I awaken to a pigeon pecking and cooing outside my window. It takes a second for me to register what’s going on and exactly where I am. The bed is so soft and warm that I don’t want to move. Then it dawns on me what the pigeon is, and why it’s here.
Gilly!
I jump out of the bed and unlatch the window. The sunlight outside is bright and warm, and cascades over the elven village, illuminating it like something out of an ad for one of the Vacation Shards. We’ve probably well overslept and should be on the road already. I have half a mind to go check on Aiko to get us moving, but I have to know what Gilly has written first.
As I cradle the pigeon and remove the parchment carrier from its leg, I can’t help but feel a little guilty about that kiss with Aiko last night. Even though I had nothing to do with it, I still feel bad about how I reacted, and the thoughts it conjured up. I shake them from my head as they try to resurface. That was just Aiko being her crazy self, I guess. But I have a real girl who cares about me enough to write me a letter, one that I can’t wait to read.
I remove the scroll inside and see that Gilly has written me over two pages’ worth of stuff! I dive right in.
Reece!!!!!!
OMG, I was soooo relieved to get this message from you! D: We all made it out safely as well. We waited for a while just outside the city. We were still there the next morning when the army came out and started rounding people up from the tent village outside the gates. When we didn’t see you, we were about to mount a rescue mission, but thankfully, the pigeon came to let us know you were okay. Good timing! Can you imagine if we had gone in there to look for you and you were already gone? That would have totally sucked!! ><’’’
I laugh at her cute emojis despite the serious subject matter.
We left right after that and made good time. I actually think we’ve reached the border to the wild already. It’s the end of the second day as I write this, and I’m still worried about you a ton. I hope that Aiko isn’t up to tricks. >:( You be careful around her, okay?
I chuckle. Too late for that one, I guess. But I’m actually looking forward to reintroducing everyone to Aiko—the Aiko I know now; the one who saved my life by carrying me on her back for who knows how many miles. Not sure if I’ll tell Gilly about that kiss, though. That’d be way too hard to explain.
Today was actually a pretty productive day for me. Despite being on the road and almost running the whole time, I managed to gain a couple levels. Yay me (: When you pass through, you’ll see a whole bunch of these birds that look like giant blue flamingos. Rembrandt and I kept taking them down along the way. I think I’m like skill Level 70 something on the bow now. Already! Then, when we finally got here—oh, “here” is an abandoned farmhouse we found. That’s what you should look for when you come to find us. We’ve decided to wait for you here. I drew a map for you! :D
I see a small map that, when I touch it, illuminates a waypoint on my HUD.
So anyway, after we got here, I found this lake that has these huge catfish! And they’re like magic! Magic catfish! Can you imagine that? So awesome! >^_^<
I laugh at what I think is supposed to be a cat face emoji.
So I decided to try to take on one of these fish (Under Rem’s supervision, of course :P ) and blasted it with my Holy Fire spell. Then I ran like heck to get out of range when it started to cast on me. (They couldn’t chase me because they’re fish and stuck in the lake! xD). I was only doing 5% damage, but I worked it down bit by bit. It took forever running away each time. I think the first one took me like half an hour almost. But I did it! I soloed it and got like 35k XP! (: Rem was so proud of me! xD Anyway, I did it again and again and now I’m like Level 74! How cool is that? I plan on doing it all day tomorrow, too. Hopefully, I’ll be an even higher level by the time you show up.
It reminds me a lot of the dockworkers I speed-leveled on back in Swifttide using the hit-and-run tactics Aiko showed me. Man, that seems a long time ago now. It’s cool to think that Gilly found some version of that to speed up her leveling, too. With what Aiko has warned about the Shadow King, we’ll need her to be as high a level as possible.
That’s about all I have to say for now. I can’t wait until you get here
. Please write back ASAP and let me know what’s going on! Miss you!
XOXOXO <3 <3
Love,
Gilly
I start writing her back right away. I tell her that we’re okay, and that we fought a Witch Spider, but leave out the part about me dying. That will have to wait until I can talk to her face to face. I tell her to stay put, and that we’ll be on our way soon.
I’m nearly finished when a knock comes from the door.
“Just a sec,” I call out.
I’ll be there soon, Gilly. We’ll run all day to reach you. Miss you tons!
Love,
Reece
XOXO
I send the pigeon on its way, then throw on my Ninja garb. I open the door to see Aiko standing there, fully dressed, but she doesn’t exactly look ready to go. She still looks tired, with huge bags under her eyes.
“I think I drank way too much last night,” she mumbles and leans against the doorway. “You good?”
“Yeah,” I say, somewhat wary that she might try to kiss me again. She seems like a different person right now, though; far less sexually charged. Maybe she only did it because she was drunk last night. Heck, maybe she doesn’t even remember. “I got a letter from Gilly. Everyone else made it out of Stormwall okay. They’re waiting for us at a farmhouse at the edge of the wild.”
“So, you guys are really planning to get to the Vale that way?”
“Only way we got.” I shrug, and then share Gilly’s map with her. “How long do you think it’ll take for us to reach them?”
Her violet eyes light up with her HUD as she studies it. “If we really push it, we could maybe get there by late tonight.”
My heart leaps with excitement at the thought. “Really?”
