by Noah Michael
“Second to the left is the Absorber. He can move one step per action, yet his attack can reach three steps away in a straight line. As compensation, however, his attack only eliminates a fourth of an enemy pawn’s health.” The Absorber was unarmed, yet his hands glowed brightly.
“Beside the Absorber is the Builder. The Builder can move two steps per action. His attack inflicts only twenty-five percent, yet he has a special ability. Any pawn positioned beside him, from any direction, inflicts double the damage.” The Builder was hidden under a robotic suit, its shoulders carrying laser guns, ready to fire.
“Beside the builder is the Reader. The Reader does not inflict damage. Instead, it takes control of the enemy’s pawn, making it your own. And finally, between the Reader and the furthermost Surger is the Fuser. The Fuser inflicts 50 percent damage and can strike opponents up to two steps away.”
Sarah organized the information in her head while looking out at the playing field, trying to form strategies.
“Do you understand?” Grith asked.
“I think so,” Sarah answered uneasily. “Can you help me?
“I would rather not risk it. I’m afraid the mirror may be listening.”
“What happens if I lose?”
“Let’s just say we’ll be stuck in this mirror much longer than either of us had intended.”
Sarah took a deep breath and focused. “I’m ready,” she said.
“Then begin.”
Sarah nodded, thinking over her strategy. “Both Surgers move diagonally inwards one step. Builder moves up two steps. Fuser moves diagonally inwards one step.” The holographic pawns moved at Sarah’s command, strategically centralizing power around the builder.
When Sarah ended her turn, the opposing Reader moved two steps up and two steps diagonally to the right. Sarah watched carefully.
“Both Surgers move once more diagonally inwards. Builder and Fuser move down one step.” Her pawns were now packed together in a square, the Surgers in front, the Builder and Fuser in back, each pawn’s power boosted by the Builder. Her army was now consolidated, but to stay that way, it would have to move one step at a time to stay together.
The opposing Absorber moved up two steps, the Builder four.
“Absorber one step to the left. Surgers and Fuser one step forward.” The opposing Builder moved up two steps, the Absorber up one. The Absorber raised its hands and pointed them at Sarah’s Surger three steps away. It fired two shots, powered up by the builder in front of it. Sarah’s Surger fell to its knees, then disappeared from the tile.
“Fuser one step diagonally. Surger one step diagonally. Builder one step forward.”
Sarah pawns aligned themselves in a straight line facing the enemy Builder and Absorber.
“Fuser destroy the enemy Builder.”
Sarah’s Fuser placed its hands together, and a fiery star formed between its palms. The star shot out towards the enemy Builder and exploded on impact. The Builder fell to its knees and disappeared.
Sarah smiled contently. With the sacrifice of two pawns, her formation would move towards the scattered opponents and destroy them one by one. However, when she looked down at Grith, her smile faded. He shook his head, his expression grim.
“You’ve made a grave mistake,” he scowled. “You forgot the Reader!”
Sarah looked anxiously at the playing field.
The enemy Reader moved diagonally two spaces beside her Surger. The Surger’s eyes began to glow. He turned against the Fuser before him and drew his sword.
“No!” Grith shouted. The Surger struck the Fuser, who fell to his knees, struggling to stand back up. Grith ran his hand nervously through his hair.
But Sarah broke into gleeful laughter. “Builder two steps diagonally, Fuser one step to the left. Fuser, destroy the Reader and the Surger.” Her Fuser raised its staff and fired explosive stars at both the Reader and the Surger, destroying them each in one hit. “As long as I have a Reader and he doesn’t, I’m in the lead.”
The opposing Absorber moved a step left and a step diagonally and fired at Sarah’s Fuser, destroying it. It then fired at her builder, taking a fourth of his health.
“All your most powerful pieces are gone,” Grith said. Sarah ignored him and analyzed the playing field.
“Absorber down two steps and inwards one. Builder back two steps.” The enemy Absorber moved two steps outwards and fired twice at Sarah’s Reader, leaving it with a fourth of its health. “Reader outwards one step. Take the Absorber.”
Sarah’s Reader moved to the Absorber, whose eyes glowed. The Absorber turned around and joined Sarah’s team.
“Reader down two steps.” Sarah’s pawns advanced, trapping and destroying the remaining enemy Surgers with her two Absorbers’ long-distance attacks. “Both Absorbers attack the enemy Fuser!” Her Absorbers fired their blasts of energy and destroyed the enemy’s final pawn. The Fuser fell to its knees and disappeared. The tile she stood on lowered back down to the platform.
“Congratulations, Sarah. I shouldn’t have doubted you,” Grith beamed. “You remind me of a woman I once knew. She was very good at Moruku. She smiled just like you each time she won.” Sarah looked up at Grith and saw sadness deep within his eyes.
“Grith,” she said softly, “Who are you? Why are you here?”
His mind drifted off to distant memories. “I have come to fulfill a duty to my people.”
“To the Surgers?”
“Yes.”
“There are others like us?”
“No. There used to be.” Grith painfully closed his eyes. “They were killed off. Every last one of them. I believed I was the last of our tribe until today.”
He opened his eyes and looked at Sarah. “You are a miracle.”
“Who did it?” Sarah whispered.
“Our people were decimated by Vespirus, and then the Following. The few of us who remained were hunted by the Order. They were searching for something they believed was possessed by one of us.”
“What’s the Order?” Sarah asked. “And what were they searching for?”
“None of it matters. What’s important is that we didn’t have the power to stop it. But soon, we shall. I am here to revive our people.”
“You can’t bring them back from the dead.”
Grith refused to answer that. “We must go now. The exit should be in the next room.”
“We can’t leave yet. We need to find Raiden.”
“The human is gone, Sarah. If he survived the fire at all, then he was sent to a different location than us, with different trials. There is no way to go back. The only way is forward. We have no choice.”
Sarah looked at the back wall for an exit, but Grith was right. They couldn’t go back.
◆◆◆
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Raiden moaned. He looked around the room at the multitude of doors. He’d been walking in circles for so long already his legs had begun to ache. No matter which door he chose, he always ended back in the same room.
“Has something been sullying your day?” came a cheery voice.
Surprised, Raiden turned. Facing him was an old man in knight’s attire. His beard was long and white, his eyes wide and slightly crossed. “Who are you?”
“Who, me?”
“No, the wall,” Raiden said sarcastically.
The man peered backwards. “Well that’s just silly now, isn’t it? He’s just a wall.”
“Not the wall, you! What’s your name!?” Raiden asked impatiently.
“Me? Well I don’t have a name.”
“Everyone has a name.”
“Let me guess...his name is Everyone?” the man said as he leaned up close to Raiden’s face, analyzing it with curiosity.
“What are you doing?” Raiden asked, watching him uncomfortably.
“Your eyebrow...can I touch it?”
“No.”
“Please?”
“No!”
The man moved his finger closer anyway
, slowly poking Raiden’s eyebrow. “Pop,” he said with great pronunciation. Raiden remained unamused. “Well I’m awfully sorry! It was so puffy and plump I just had to!”
“That’s enough!” Raiden shouted. He stormed off towards another door, “I’m in a hurry.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t go through the-” Raiden ignored him and walked through the doorway.
“Uh oh,” the old man said, tugging at his long, white beard.
◆◆◆
The doorway deposited him into a huge cave, the floor of which was made of sand. At the other end of the cave was a deep pond, its waters cold and dark. “Well it’s nice to finally be outdoors again,” Raiden muttered, walking towards the pond.
He bent down by the shore, cupped his hands, and drank. He looked back down into the pond and reached for more water. As he did, he noticed the water was rippling. Looking closely into the water, he thought he saw a woman’s face.
“What the-”
A huge tentacle shot out of the water and struck him in the chest, sending him crashing into the cave wall. He jumped back, drawing out his blaster. A terrible beast shot out of the pond, surrounded by a torrent of water. It had the face of a woman, but the teeth of a shark. In place of hands and legs it held a multitude of scaly, green tentacles, a sharp spike protruding from the end of each one.
The woman roared ferociously, barring her teeth. She lifted her upper tentacles into the air and pointed them spike-first in Raiden’s direction. Raiden fired frantically at the woman, which only heightened her anger. She shot forth her tentacles. Before they reached Raiden, a glinting sword came out of nowhere and slashed the tentacles in half.
“I told you it was a bad idea.” The old man held a sword twice his size. He turned back towards the woman-beast, who aimed her next set of tentacles, preparing to strike.
The old man struck first. His thrust his sword with incredible strength towards the woman beast. The sword morphed mid-flight into a trident and struck the beast in the stomach. The beast let out one last cry, then collapsed into the water, creating a tidal wave. The old man walked back towards Raiden, dragging along his sword.
“What in the world are you!?” Raiden asked.
“Who, me?”
“Yes, you! We’ve been through this!”
“Oh. Well, I’m not very sure then...Depends on who’s looking, I suppose.”
The man walked over to a nearby boulder and reached his hand towards it. To Raiden’s shock, his hand went through the rock, pulling a large, golden trident from its core.
“This is what you’re supposed to kill her with,” the old man said.
“How did you know that!?”
“Know what?”
“Listen,” Raiden said. “You seem to know your way around here. Do you think you can help me get back to my friends?”
“Your friends?” The man asked.
“Yes. Fr-ien-ds,” Raiden said slowly, as if explaining to a two-year-old.
“Ohhhh. The girl I played the game with? She was good! I like her!”
“Well I’m happy you found someone you like, but if you like her, then she’s probably not the one I’m looking for.”
“Then who are you looking for? The man with the long black hair?” He’s almost done.”
“Yes! The man with the long black hair! The Chief! Can you take me to him?”
“Can I take you to him?”
“Yes. You,” Raiden said, pointing to the man. “Take me,” pointing to himself. “To him.”
“I, take you, to him,” the man repeated, following Raiden’s pointing.
“Yeah, yeah that’s it! You got it.”
“Yeah, that’s it! I got it! I, take you, to him! I take you to him!” The man smiled widely.
“Close your eyes! It will be quick, one two three!”
“What?”
“Goodnight!” And with that, the man head-butted Raiden into unconsciousness.
◆◆◆
“Woah!” Sarah exclaimed, “Where are we!?” They stood on a see-through glass floor. Around them was endless darkness, empty other than an array of glowing spheres which seemed to be floating around aimlessly. “Are those stars? They can’t be...”
“Those are not stars. They are light.”
“What do you mean they are light? Light can’t just float around like that.” Sarah put out her hand as one of the spheres grew close. She touched it gently. As she did, the sphere bounced off her skin, changing it trajectory upwards.
“Can you feel it?” Grith asked.
“Feel what?”
“The light’s frequency.”
Sarah touched another one of the spheres, sensing the movements of the light particles moving in a wave-like motion. “That’s amazing!”
“Play that same frequency on your kaza.” She did, and the spheres danced in circles around the darkness, growing larger and larger. “Keep going!”
Sarah played louder, and the orbs moved faster and faster until finally they all merged into one massive ball of light, shining so brightly that Sarah had to close her eyes. But she continued to play, completely engulfed in the shining orb. Suddenly, the orb burst outward into a line and shot outwards farther than the eye could see, carrying Sarah and Grith with it, through the endless darkness.
Chapter Twenty-four
The Warrior Within
The Shadow Kingdom
July 25
7 a.m.
Arias roared as he rolled and chopped off the legs of a nearby drone. He moved on his next target while dodging a hail of bullets from above. He looked around at the battlefield. Despite the extensive damage the Shadow defenses had inflicted, Roko’s main army had reached the mountaintop and was attempting to drive them down into the valley. There were simply too many drones. By now, about twenty thousand drones and half a thousand enemy Enlai had stormed the mountaintop, and there wasn’t a thing he could do to stop them. There were just too many. They’d even managed to drive up some of the devastating artillery tanks, which the archers worked frantically to destroy.
Arias looked around for Montis, catching him as he drove his battle-axe into the iron-skinned stomach of a Shifter.
“Montis!” Arias ran over to him. “We need to retreat!”
“We cannot! If we lose this mountain, we lose the war! Better we die here than be crushed down in the valley!” A drone charged towards them and swung its blades. Arias parried and kicked the drone in the chest, sending it flying backwards towards Montis, who took a powerful swing with his battle-axe and smashed the drone to bits.
“We must—” a tank blast struck nearby to where he stood. The ground blew up, the force of the explosion sent him crashing backwards, his ears rung violently. He stood up and looked around for Montis, but he was nowhere to be seen. Around him, Shadows were being slaughtered left and right. He was left with no other choice.
“Abandon the mountain! Retreat to the slopes! Retreat to the slopes!” The warriors dove to the ground, and fled towards the end of the mountain, the enemy advancing behind them. They emerged from the ground at the edge of the mountain and jumped down into the slopes below. “Set up the defenses! We cannot allow them to push us down the hill!”
The Shadows lined the mountain edge with crossbows and barricades. They set up a line of defense while enduring continuous fire from the wasps above. A young warrior caught Arias’s eye as he stood at the top of the barricade, attempting to lift a heavy wooden log to the top. His chest was riddled with bullets, but only once the log was in place did he collapse off the edge. He couldn’t have been older than sixteen.
As Arias watched them, working with every last bit of energy, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride for his people, despite the pain and sorrow. They were tired. They had endured a slaughter. Yet they didn’t give up.
“My brothers!” Arias shouted, looking the warriors in the eye, “If we lose this mountain, then we lose the war! They will pillage our homes, they will enslave our families! We shall no
t let that happen! I demand of you, as your commander, as your tribesman, and as your brother! Hold the line! For this line shall hold the kingdom!”
The warriors cheered, knocking their swords against their armor, screaming out their battle cries. Arias turned around to face the oncoming enemy. However, something was wrong. For some reason, the army had stopped their advance. Arias scanned the battlefield, trying to figure out what had caused them to stop.
And then he saw. His jaw dropped. Montis stood alone with his blood-stained battle axe. Facing him were hundreds of enemy drones. Arias tried anxiously to think of a way to save him. Ten drones stepped forward, pointed their blasters at Montis, and prepared to fire. Montis eyed them down furiously, gritting his teeth.
Montis dove into the ground, dodging the blasts. He pounced at the closest drone and smashed his axe into its chest. He ducked swiftly under a swinging blade and spun, smashing his axe into a second enemy. Another drone jabbed its sword at him. Montis dove into the ground and emerged quickly in back of the drone. He kicked it forward, sending it smashing sword-first into its comrade.
As Montis tore apart the drones, more and more joined the battle. The ground he had been standing on slowly rose into a pile of scrap metal. Montis fought vigorously, his eyes burning with fury.
“Crossbows, help him!” Arias commanded. The crossbows fired their arrows, aiming mostly at drones attempting to shoot Montis from afar. The drones surrounding him had grown to the dozens. Montis fought them off fearlessly, swinging his axe in every direction with incredible speed and accuracy. He planted his axe into the shoulder of a drone and used it to fling himself into the air, dodging nine blades. He flipped and smashed his axe straight through the head of another drone. He sidestepped another three blows and spun, returning them all in one powerful swing. Montis cried out as a bullet struck him in the back. But before the drone could fire again, an arrow struck the drone’s shoulder and blew it to smoke. As he finished off the last of his twenty opponents, more drones moved forward.