by A. J. Markam
A giant roar of celebration went up from the Peregrine.
I stood there, stunned.
Was he dead?
Really dead?
What happened next seemed to suggest he was.
Every skeleton in the Black Fleet dissolved into smoke.
The green glow around the enemy armada flickered, then died…
And the rotting ships began to fall from the sky.
Unfortunately, that included the dreadnought –
Which the bow of the Revenge was rammed into.
They were locked together, like an ax head sunk into a log.
The dreadnought began to fall, pulling the Revenge down with it.
The Revenge groaned as the bow tipped 10 degrees down, then 20, then 45.
I was sliding down the deck, first on my feet, then on my ass, faster and faster –
Until a shadow passed over me and a crimson hand grabbed my arm.
“Got you!” Alaria cried out.
She pulled me clear of the masts and sails as they raced past –
But I saw another figure sliding down the almost-vertical deck: a woman in a green dress, tumbling end over end like a rag doll.
“Tarka!” I yelled.
As the Revenge plunged down towards the sea, Tarka’s body went into freefall –
Until a metallic bird with one white wing swooped down and caught her.
Meera sped out of the way of the masts as the Revenge followed the dreadnought down into the sea.
The dreadnought hit first, its black hull splitting like a rotten pumpkin.
The Revenge followed two seconds later. The masts splintered, the hull shattered, and the entire ship burst apart like a child’s wooden toy dropped from a skyscraper.
“Oh shit,” I whispered as I watched the wreckage spread across the waves.
“Krug’s going to lose his mind,” Alaria said worriedly.
She spirited us back up to the ship, where Krug was drooped halfway over the railing watching the destruction below.
I’d never seen him upset before.
Angry, yes – but never sad.
Now he looked like a child whose dog had just died.
“My ship!” he wailed, his voice cracking.
It almost seemed like he wanted to tumble over the side and follow the Revenge to its watery grave.
Meera landed with Tarka in her arms and laid her gently on the deck.
The pirate queen was on her last few hit points and fading fast.
Alaria, Krug, and the other pirates gathered round. You could see from their faces that they were conflicted. After all, they had spent years enslaved in her service; most of them had hated her.
And yet, in the end, she had at least tried to redeem herself.
Tarka sensed the mood, too, and chuckled – then grimaced in pain.
“…didn’t think… I would die… surrounded by all of you…”
“We would’ve preferred to keelhaul you,” Krug said with dark humor.
“…there’s… still time…”
“Not today,” I said.
I could have just let her die and finished another bit of the ex-masters quest – but she had completed her end of the bargain.
In fact, her surprise attack had been crucial in Nix’s defeat. Without her distracting him, it’s unlikely Krug and the others could have joined us in time to kill him.
My hand reached into my pouch –
And touched leather.
Nothing was there.
I realized with a sick feeling that I had never replenished my supply after Vos.
A wave of helplessness crashed over me, just like when Eluun had died.
“Shit – does anyone have a healing potion?!” I cried out. “ANYONE?!”
The pirates stared back at me in shock.
No, voices murmured.
No.
“Shit,” I said, and fell to my knees beside Tarka.
“…doesn’t… matter…” she whispered, then smirked. “…kept… my end… of the bargain…”
“You did,” I agreed.
She looked up at Alaria. “…goodbye… beautiful…”
Alaria put her hands to her mouth and backed away, overcome with emotion.
Then Tarka looked up at Krug. “…sorry… about… your ship…”
Krug looked as though he wasn’t going to say anything… and then, at the last moment, he did.
“Our ship,” he murmured.
Tarka smiled. “…our… sh…”
The last word died on her lips as she did.
Krug and the other pirates bowed their heads in respect. The hunters and mages kept their distance, realizing it was a somber moment.
Even the game was somber, delivering its message without the normal celebratory music.
Tarka defeated.
10,000 XP
Wait –
That hadn’t happened when Nix had died.
Dread filled my stomach as I turned towards Alaria.
She had backed away from the rest of the group as she wrestled with her own private emotions over Tarka’s death.
The eyes of everyone else were on the dead pirate queen, so no one had noticed the black cloud of smoke that was silently building behind –
“ALARIA!” I screamed as two moon-like eyes appeared in the cloud.
A spindly arm emerged and wrapped around Alaria’s neck, and Nix formed behind her as he held her in a chokehold.
“Oh, Mr. Hertzfelder… you didn’t think it was OVER, did you?” the wraith said with mock sympathy. Then his voice grew cold. “Come alone, or she DIES.”
Then he stepped backwards, dragging her with him, as both of them toppled over the side of the ship.
34
I rushed to the railing and looked down in a panic, as did Stig and Meera and Krug.
Down below us, Alaria and Nix were tumbling towards the ocean –
When a sparking portal opened up beneath them.
Inside the ring was a hellish landscape.
Acheron.
Not the volcano I had seen before, but a plain of yellow shale with no sign of life.
Alaria and Nix tumbled towards it, end over end.
I jumped up onto the railing.
“I’ll go with you!” Meera said as she spread her wings.
“NO!” I shouted. “You heard him – he’ll kill her!”
“You can’t face him alone!” Krug said.
“I have to!” I shouted, and then dove off the railing headfirst.
Air whipped over my clothes and snapped my cape out behind me.
I had a pair of mechanical wings I’d used to fly with Wylla and the other fairies. If they’d still worked, I could have just shrunk with my Ring of Diminution and flown down to the surface of Acheron. But the wings had been damaged in my fight against Hritch, and I hadn’t had time to repair them.
I had another plan, though I wasn’t sure if it would work.
If it didn’t, I would resurrect at my tombstone back on the Peregrine with a hell of a headache.
I prayed that wouldn’t be the case.
Far below me, Alaria’s wings opened like a black glider. I wasn’t sure if she had done it of her own accord or if Nix had forced her, but the two of them seemed to land safely on the barren terrain.
I passed the fiery ring of the Hell’s Pont and immediately crossed over from OtherWorld to Acheron.
It was like suddenly being transported from Earth onto Venus, where the surface is hot enough to melt lead.
The air was scorching, like I’d stuck my head inside an oven.
It also stank of sulfur, making my eyes water and nearly overpowering me with the stench.
The atmosphere was hazy. Everything seemed to be enveloped in yellow smog.
Miles away, I could see volcanoes erupting, spewing plumes of lava high into the air.
Burning bits of sulfur rained down around me, stinging my skin. It was like my power Hellstorm, except it came from the
atmosphere and not tiny bat-winged demons.
The heat and sulfur hail was so intense that I was losing 1% of my hit points every second. My Health counted down in a grim procession:
99%…
98%…
97%…
I ignored the pain as I plummeted towards the ground. I had to time this exactly right.
With only a few hundred feet to go, I summoned my magic carpet and decelerated hard.
It was like being on an elevator in freefall when the brakes suddenly kick in.
I struggled to my feet as the pressure weighed down on me, crushing me.
And then the carpet started to burn. The bits of sulfur had lit it on fire.
Smoke rushed up around me as the carpet was eaten away by cinders.
Now it was just a matter of whether I would make it to the ground alive.
60 feet –
50 feet –
And all the while, my hit points were still falling.
90%…
89%…
I was slowing down, but would it be enough?
The carpet was disintegrating beneath my boots.
20 feet –
10 –
I slammed down onto the surface of Acheron as my carpet exploded into ash.
The impact took another 5% off my Health, and my mount was destroyed –
But I’d made it in one piece.
I looked up to see if anyone from the Peregrine had been foolish enough to follow.
Thank god they hadn’t.
The ship loomed far above me, suspended in a blue sky. I could only see the bottom of its hull, like I was viewing it from the bottom of the ocean –
And then the fiery ring collapsed inward, both blue sky and Peregrine disappeared, and a hazy yellow sky was all that remained.
The Hell’s Pont was closed.
I was trapped on Acheron.
I looked over at Nix, who stood 20 feet away with Alaria in front of him as a shield.
One black arm was still wrapped around her neck, and the palm of his free hand was pressed against her temple.
My stomach sank with dread.
In my mind’s eye I saw every demon at Orlo’s lair who had been killed by Nix’s death ray.
Tears of panic streamed down Alaria’s face, and she struggled futilely against the arm wrapped around her neck.
“IAN!” she screamed.
“Shh, shh, shh, shh, shhhhhhhh,” Nix murmured in her ear. “Don’t worry… if he answers incorrectly, you’ll only feel it for an instant.”
Then he directed those two glowing, round eyes towards me.
“Well, Mr. Hertzfelder, we have finally reached the end – and it is time to play the game. What is your answer?”
I stared at him in terror, nauseated with fear.
My hit points were dropping with every second… 72%… 71%…
And there was no use in attacking him. My most powerful spells would barely make a dent.
“You should hurry, Mr. Hertzfelder,” Nix said with fake solicitousness. “Your succubus’s resistance to heat protects her from Acheron’s environment, and MY form is impervious to all extremes of temperature. But your human body is especially vulnerable, and I would hate for you to lose by default, simply because you DIED and resurrected elsewhere. Besides, I wouldn’t want you to miss your lovely darling’s final seconds… staring into her eyes one last time… IF you guess incorrectly, that is.”
“Let her go,” I croaked. “You can have me – you can do whatever you want with me, just let her go.”
“What would I want with YOU? No no no no nooooo… I want you to GUESS, Mr. Hertzfelder. And apparently the only way to MAKE you is to FORCE you, by putting her life in the balance. So… what is your answer?”
I stared at her helplessly, my body hurting not only from the acid air and burning sleet, but from the grief and panic filling my chest.
“I don’t know!” I cried out in anguish.
“You’ll have to do better than THAT, Mr. Hertzfelder, if you want to save your beloved. Or is that your final answer? ‘I-don’t-know’? Such a curious name – ”
“LET HER GO!” I screamed.
“Then GUESS, Mr. Hertzfelder. Play the game and GUESS.”
I watched my hit points counting down towards the inevitable end.
58%…
57%…
I saw the tears streaming down Alaria’s cheeks, and I had to look away.
All I could think about was losing her, and it filled me with overwhelming panic.
Instead, I forced myself to stare at the round, glowing, emotionless eyes inside Nix’s pitch-black face…
And I willed myself to slow down and think.
What did I know?
What had the riddles said?
“Yessss… that’s it, Mr. Hertzfelder,” Nix purred. “You have everything you need to guess his name. The ninth ex-master… the last on the list you must kill…”
“SHUT UP!” I roared at him.
Had to think, had to think –
I am the alpha and the omega –
The first, the last, the only –
At the end, he will be there –
You say his name and never take notice –
Others say his name and you perk up your ears –
None of it made sense!
I wanted to beat at my head in frustration, to claw at my skin in terror –
43%…
42%…
“Ian,” Alaria choked out.
I looked at her. She was blurry, and I realized I was crying.
She smiled at me, tears still streaming down her cheeks. “It’s alright… no matter what happens… I love you… I’ll always love you… till the very end…”
I’ll always love you…
Wait –
There was an echo of memory inside my mind.
She’d said something else like that before – back at Vos –
You were the first man I’ve ever loved.
What am I saying? You’re the ONLY man I’ve ever loved, or ever WILL love.
The first, the only –
No –
No, that can’t be it –
31%…
30%…
The other clues – what about them?!
Others say his name and you perk up your ears –
Wait –
Alaria had cried out my name –
And I had looked at her.
First man I’ve ever loved –
Alpha – first letter in the Greek alphabet.
Till the very end –
Omega – last letter in the Greek alphabet.
At the end, he will be there –
Nix’s voice floated up in my memory.
Well, Mr. Hertzfelder, we have finally reached the end.
But who was here?
Nix, Alaria –
“…no…” I whispered.
It made no sense –
It made no sense at all –
23%…
22%…
“Well, Mr. Hertzfelder?” Nix demanded. “What is your answer?”
“That’s impossible,” I said, muttering to myself in anguish. “It’s impossible – ”
“Your ANSWER, Mr. Hertzfelder!” Nix roared as he pressed his palm into Alaria’s head. “Or I will – ”
“ME!” I screamed at him. “IT’S ME! I’M the last ex-master – the answer is ME!”
Alaria froze, tears streaming down her face.
Nix was silent.
We stood there staring at each other for what was probably only a few seconds…
…but it felt like an eternity.
Then Nix lifted his hand away from Alaria’s temple.
“Well played, Mr. Hertzfelder,” he said simply.
Then he put his palm against the side of his head and blew out his brains.
35
A violet ray blasted through Nix’s temple.
Black shadows erupted like blood and
spattered across the ground.
His entire body melted into smoke…
…and then he was gone.
“IAN!” Alaria cried out, her voice a mixture of relief and joy.
I staggered over to her, my feet nearly giving out beneath me.
XP numbers floated up in the air, but those weren’t the numbers I was fixated on.
9%…
8%…
I reached Alaria. She threw her arms around my neck, I grabbed her waist –
And I cast my last remaining portal.
A fiery ring opened up before us…
…and we stumbled through it, out of Acheron.
The air of Abaddon, normally hot as a desert, felt like a cool mountain breeze.
I collapsed on the ground with Alaria entangled in my arms.
4%…
The number stopped.
4%.
And then it slowly began to climb.
4.05%…
4.1%…
I had survived.
“Ian!” Alaria sobbed, and kissed me deeply.
I could taste the salt of her tears on her lips.
When she finally pulled away, she shook her head. “I don’t understand… you were my last master, yes, but you’re not on the list! You can’t be!”
“I know,” I croaked as I lay there on my back. “I don’t understand it either.”
She looked at me in fear. “You don’t… you don’t think… he was saying I’m going to kill you, do you?”
“No. And I don’t give a fuck what he was saying. He’s dead, and that’s all I care about.”
She caressed my face and peered into my eyes. “I almost lost you…”
“I almost lost YOU.”
She smiled and began to cry. “You’ll never lose me. Never.”
And then we kissed again tenderly and held each other tight against the horror of what had almost happened.
36
We made love there in the ruins of Abaddon.
It was like our final time with Eluun – full of the realization of how short life is, and how fragile.
We never understand the worth of what we have until we almost lose it.
Afterwards, as Alaria lay sleeping in my arms, I considered whether I should wake her and return to the Peregrine. After all, Meera and Stig would be worried.
I considered it… then decided to let Alaria sleep.
Meera and Stig were NPCs. As much as I cared for them, I knew they would stay in a holding pattern, not doing anything until I returned. Time would hold still for them and they would be none the wiser.