by Mark C. Wade
The poison began to deplete Aeden’s health. Henry knew that situation well. The opponent did a cartwheel into a backflip. What the hell was he? Henry didn’t recall seeing an Acrobat class.
Aeden needed to close the distance before the poison killed him. But this enemy kept darting around triggering more traps and easily avoiding the effects they caused in the room.
Aeden had taken too much damage, and because berserker was on, it hurt him more than it should have.
Suddenly Aeden’s sword disappeared.
Lukas gasped beside Henry. “He’s using shadow blade. It’s a special skill I’ve never seen before.”
The acrobatic opponent wasn’t paying close attention to Aeden. He was too focused on getting around the traps of the castle.
Aeden flung his sword like a javelin right at where the acrobat would land after his latest flip. The crowd went silent. It was Aeden’s last chance. If it hit, he might win. But if it missed, he would surely lose.
The blade struck true. It pierced all the way through the acrobat, and a look of confusion crossed his face as he stopped dead. The acrobat’s health shot to zero in an instant, only seconds before Aeden would have died.
The crowd erupted into explosions of cheering and clapping.
Henry stood as well to get a better look. He frantically glanced around the room as the victory music played. He didn’t want to miss another attack if it happened.
Henry saw Quillen on the ground level doing the same, and Henry felt bad for him. He’d never seen such stress and worry on one man’s face.
It must have been a nightmare operation to secure the large premises. The public was also probably on him constantly about the high-profile murder case with no promising suspects and repeat attacks.
Henry vowed to help make Quillen’s life easier from then on.
Henry looked to where the players exited the stage. He saw Nyissa there shake Aeden’s hand. It would be a good match indeed when they finally faced each other.
But now Henry had to go talk to Nyissa. They had things to sort out. He wanted her side of the story.
Chapter 17
“Have you been avoiding me?” Henry asked Nyissa.
“No, of course not. I’ve just been busy with all of this, and, you know, getting brain scans and stuff after my incident—as they’re calling it.”
That makes sense.
But something felt wrong. She had an even bigger need for Henry to find the killer because she was apparently their next target. She should have been contacting him constantly to find out his progress—not avoiding him.
Henry said, “There’s been a development, and I need your input.”
Henry looked around at the people meandering about the convention center. Most were leaving. Many were even dressed up as their favorite player’s avatar. The level of commitment of the fans never ceased to amaze Henry.
Then he saw Quillen barreling at him.
Uh-oh.
He looked mad. It kind of thrilled Henry.
Quillen yelled, “You need to get away from these players. Do not interfere in this investigation. I warned you this morn…er, the other day.”
Quillen’s cheeks flashed brightly as he stammered and nervously glanced at Nyissa. He was so cute when he was mad.
Nyissa said, “Follow me. I know where we can go.”
Henry said, “Okay.” He looked at Quillen and continued, “I’m sure I’ll see you later.” It took all he had to not add: to punish me for this.
Nyissa led him onto the streets of the city. The honking and yelling and zipping around of cars was pure chaos.
Henry loved it.
He always thought it funny that electric cars made so much noise without a combustion engine. It was a “safety” feature that had not aged well.
Nyissa weaved in and out of the people and cars like she was in Eburnean Passage. It was impressive that someone could do that in real life. Henry huffed and puffed behind her trying desperately to keep up.
He slammed into people who shouted obscenities at him. Nyissa turned into a back alley where people were clearly doing drugs. Henry wondered if she was taking him somewhere sketchy to kill him. Surely, none of these people would report it.
Henry had to constantly remind himself that Nyissa was still a suspect. It was a bit premature to fully rule her out, though being attacked during the tournament helped her case.
They popped out into a place he’d never been before. He realized it must have been part of the Cybernetics District. Everything had a high-tech sheen to it. Tall buildings had chrome finishes, reflecting the sun and blinding Henry.
This part of the city had an unfamiliar cleanliness to it that made Henry want to crawl back into the dark alley.
All the shops tended to be robotics or electronics. Nyissa slowed and pointed to where they were headed. The sign read: Café Solarguard.
They had finally slowed, and Nyissa entered the café like she owned the place. For all Henry knew about her, maybe she did.
The café gave Henry the creeps. Music thumped far too loudly, and lifeless faces stared at the glowing screens. He didn’t understand the point of the music, because everyone had headphones on or VR gear.
The central area was filled with stall after stall of large monitors and minimal, cheap dividers. Around the edge of the room were pods for VR. Henry figured those people were playing Eburnean Passage. The number of active users spiked every year during the tournament.
“What are we doing here?” Henry asked.
One kid stared over from his screen. This had to be the worst place to come if she wanted to remain hidden. All these people would know who she was. They had just watched her win a major tournament match on TV.
The kid’s eyes went bright with recognition, and he put his hand to his mouth.
He turned red but then luckily went back to the screen. Henry breathed out the air he’d been holding in. It made sense. Most people wouldn’t be brave enough to confront her here.
Nyissa said, “We just need somewhere with music. This was the first place I thought of. Plus, I find it comforting. It reminds me of my childhood.”
Henry arched an eyebrow at her.
Childhood?
Henry didn’t even know if these places existed when he was a kid.
She continued, “Don’t give me that look. I had to escape here. My parents wanted me to be a lawyer or doctor or something normal. I was always very good at games. I knew I wanted to be a professional gamer early on, and I came to these places to train without their knowledge.
“They used to say it was a waste of time. It wasn’t even a sport. How could I possibly make money doing it? I guess I showed them.”
Henry realized that even through this whole tournament he still hadn’t fully come to terms with the idea of a professional gamer. He still thought of this as a gigantic tournament for fun, with a prize at the end: more like a game show or something.
Henry never thought about the number of hours of intense training it would take to get to that high of a level. It really was like a sport.
Henry said, “I’m sorry about that. It sounds terrible.”
“Yeah, thanks. But that’s not what we’re here for. What did you want to know?”
“Did you have any signs that something was off while you were in the VR gear when…the incident happened? Do you have any idea who could have done it or would have done it?”
Nyissa said, “Things did feel a little off. I just thought it was the nerves of the tournament, though. I still think it’s Aeden. He had the motivation to do it before, and I’m his steepest competition now. It still makes sense. Although, I find it hard to believe he would do it so publicly.”
“That’s what I thought, too. I actually tried to pay him a visit at the Grand Manor.”
Henry explain what had happened in the first phase of the quest. A strange sense of pride surged through him as he recounted his victory over the goblin.
He knew it wa
s just a game, but it felt like he had done something epic. He had been weaker, and he outsmarted his opponent to victory. That was about as real as any reality he’d known.
Nyissa said, “Something strange is going on. Aeden doesn’t have the power to put such a quest barrier up. There is no way the Restin Corporation would approve it either. Quests are developed over a long period of time by expert game developers, and they are announced with big-budget commercials ahead of time.
“I was also just there. The quest doesn’t show up for me. I don’t know how it’s possible, but someone has put up a special quest only visible to you. They’ve made it look like a normal in-game quest so as not to be suspicious. Plus, they probably figured you wouldn’t know any better.”
Henry gaped and wanted to protest that he was smarter than he looked. But there wasn’t time for that now.
Henry asked, “Have you ever heard of this happening before? Is it common?”
“No. Not at all. I’ve never heard of this happening. Someone must have hacked into your account and altered the code. I don’t know who has that power or why they would do it. You need to be careful. Someone might have tampered with your VR headset to get it to work.”
Now Henry really wanted to know what would happen when he finished the quest. Was someone trying to give him a message through the game? But then again, it could be a trap. Finishing the quest could trigger the VR gear to kill him.
Henry said, “You’ve been a great help. Thank you. I have to go now.”
Henry turned to rush out the door.
Nyissa called after him, “I know what you’re going to do. Be careful.”
He put up a hand to wave that he’d be okay, and then he was on the streets. He told his phone to call an autocab. Henry grimaced at the price: a surge zone and time.
Stupid technophiles with all their money.
He needed Nyissa to win the tournament if he was going to afford all these charges. Soon enough, Henry had made it back to his apartment.
He paced the room, staring at his VR set. It was a real possibility that finishing the quest would kill him. He was the only one on track to catch the murderer, and now the murderer had a brilliant way to end all that.
Henry took a shot of Jim Beam bourbon.
The burn felt so good as it slid down his throat, warming his stomach. A calm spread through his body. What did it matter? This life had taken such a bad turn. It didn’t matter if it ended. At least this way it would be in pursuit of a worthy cause.
He would finish the quest that night even if it meant missing the rest of the preliminary rounds of the tournament—even if it meant it would kill him.
Henry took a deep breath and put the VR headset on.
The world went dark.
Chapter 18
Henry stopped dead at the location for the next goblin item. The dark cave taunted him. What had Nyissa called this? The Dungeons of Doom or the roguelike dungeon or something?
The warning from back then stuck in his mind: never go in there. Once you die, you’re dead.
Henry couldn’t believe this.
If he died trying to get the next legendary item, he would need to waste a ton of time getting a character back up to this level. By then, it might be too late. More people could be dead.
It was probably what the person who set up the quests wanted.
Henry opened the map back up and looked at the other marker. He had learned that he could set his own marker in the menu, and a beam of light only he could see would shoot into the air at the location.
This led him in the right direction without having to re-open the map every thirty seconds.
He slithered along at a quick pace. The thought hovered in the back of his mind. Even if he succeeded in the next one, he’d have to do that stupid roguelike area soon. He decided he could look up how to prepare for it on the message boards.
Now, he needed to focus on this.
As he neared the beacon in the distance, the sky turned dark and cloudy. Henry hadn’t noticed the weather changes in the game before. He wondered if it always went in cycles or if the darkness had to do with the location.
The ground shifted under his feet from the yellow sand to a gray slate. It shined even without the direct sunlight. Henry couldn’t feel exactly what the material was with his tentacles. It was strange and jagged and cross-thatched, almost like quilted rock.
He kept working toward the beacon, but he saw he was going to have an issue. The entire world came to a sudden cliff. He edged up to the drop-off carefully. He glanced down the infinite wall to see if there was a way forward.
He slithered a little bit along the edge back and forth, trying to make sense of this. Henry couldn’t believe it.
He’d come to the end of the world. How was one supposed to get all the way over to the indicated area?
A high-pitched voice startled Henry.
“Have you come to do the Path of the Damned as well?”
Henry spun around to see who had said that. There was no one around.
Henry’s voice came out shaky. “Who’s there?”
“My name is Eric.”
The voice came from almost underneath him. Henry looked down and saw the tiniest in-game avatar he’d ever seen. He still didn’t know how to tell if something was an artificial character or a real player.
Henry assumed this was part of the quest because he doubted anyone would pick this small of a character. Then again, no one believed he picked an octopus. Plus, people had the weirdest fetishes.
Henry said, “Thank God you have a normal name.”
“Oh, I spell it A-A-R-E-I-K-G.”
Henry laughed. “Of course, you do. Um, what’s the Path of the Damned.”
Aareikg turned into a small ball of glowing and pulsating light. The orb shimmered up to Henry’s eye level and exploded into a small fairy. He had on a flowing blue dress and had pink lacy wings.
Aareikg said, “It’s the path you must follow if you wish to make it beyond the cliffs.”
“But where is it?”
“It is where eyes cannot see; trust and it will come to those who seek.”
Puff.
The fairy burst into a cloud of drifting glitter. Henry waited for more, but he was gone. Henry thought: that was disappointing.
At least it confirmed his suspicion of it being part of the game and not a real character.
Why had it been so cryptic?
Trust and it will come. That line stuck out to him. Henry went back to the edge of the cliff and thought to himself: it’s just a game. I can’t die from falling off this cliff.
So, he decided to trust.
He shifted his whole body over the open air, bracing himself for an infinite fall. But his tentacles landed on solid ground. The path came up to him as he stepped. He followed it closer and closer to where the beacon was.
Henry thought the name of the path was a bit silly. It should have been called the Path of Trust not the Path of the Damned.
The thought had barely crossed Henry’s mind when a large white bug with a bright red underbelly buzzed up from the pit below the path. It was about the same size as Henry’s body, and it had a sharp stinger on its butt.
Henry instinctively scanned the creature’s spells to steal something, but it came up blank. This thing wanted to sting him to death not cast spells.
It seemed weak and manageable if he could just slap it with his tentacles.
Then another rose up on the other side of the path.
Then another.
A whole colony of the giant hornets buzzed so loudly that Henry couldn’t hear himself think. There was no way he could fight all these at once, and the path was too narrow to try to get into a one-on-one battle with each separately.
Henry decided the only way was through.
He made a mad dash, praying the path would keep rising to meet him. He’d become fast with eight appendages to propel him forward, but the hornets were faster.
They co
uld fly.
The first shot down at him, and Henry clung to the side of the path with the suction on his tentacles. The next darted, stinger first, at his head. He clung to the bottom of the path, and the sight of the infinity below him made Henry nauseous.
They kept zipping at him, one after another, and Henry kept barely outmaneuvering. Their stingers hit the path over and over with sharp clangs. That was going to hurt if those needles ever penetrated his soft, fleshy body.
Henry felt like he was making progress, but then one came at him from behind. The force knocked him from the path, and he tumbled into the abyss below.
Henry looked around.
What happened?
Then he realized it had teleported him back to the start of the path.
Shit.
He’d have to keep trying until he got it. He looked through his inventory and spells for anything that might help. He flicked to his skills and saw the key to victory.
He felt like an idiot. His class ability let him camouflage himself.
This time he confidently glided along the path until the hornets appeared. He camouflaged himself and pressed onward as quickly as possible. The hornets buzzed around, but none of them dashed at him this time.
This felt too easy. The path came to an end at another cliff. Henry got back to solid ground and felt much safer.
The treasure chest with the next item glowed in front of him. A ball of light gently drifted to the ground in front of Henry.
It was Aareikg.
The little fairy’s body cracked in half, and black, gooey blood dripped from the carcass. The liquid shifted into a large humanoid shape.
As its features came into sharper focus, Henry understood. It was a goblin just like the last mini-boss for the item.
I’ve done this once; I can do it again.
“Welcome to Hell!”
The words rumbled through Henry and shook the ground.
Well, that was terrifying.
The boss music started up, and Henry watched the words scroll across the screen:
Aareikg
Mini-Boss