Mage

by L. J. Swallow

  More voices. Swearing.

  The hallucinations continue. I'm in a bed in a bright room.

  No. In a chair.

  The images blink in front of my eyes and away again and the band on my arm grows heavier and tighter. I want to scream as a face looms down on me again. The same pale human face but this time solid. He speaks but not to me, but I can't hear his words.

  The sky above me flashes into a blinding light as if the sun exploded overhead, and I lose my vision completely.

  I didn't take the magic energy potion.

  This is my waking nightmare.

  Chapter Forty

  A scream escapes my lips as I can finally move again, and I roll on my side, ready to push myself from the ground and run.

  Instead, I tumble onto the floor in my room at the Academy. My stomach cramps and I tug my knees into my chest, fighting the urge to vomit. Light streams through the window and everything round me remains the same. I grasp the edge of the rug and the roughly woven wool, grounding myself.

  What the fuck?

  I lift my arm and stare at my band, convinced something will have changed.

  The usual display: time, vital statistics, level. I tap onto my quests. Nothing new. The map. Dark where I entered the elven realm, as if I never visited. My bag lies open on the floor close by and I reach out. Groping inside, I pull out three bottles. My Magic Energy potion. A healing salve. No potion of Waking Nightmare.

  How did I do that? It makes sense because I deliberately put one vial in each of the bag's pockets. Magic Energy on the left, Walking Nightmare right.

  Wasn't it?

  Something swapped them.

  I don't trust anything anymore—including myself.

  I don't have time to think about this, or to hang around and be given a new quest. I could return to Reuben and discover what temporal magic he can teach me now I’m level 20. But I have one objective: find my friends and hope they're alive.

  I sit at our unofficial meeting place, on the fountain wall, and focus on the water trickling across the carved stone.

  I look over to where a guard holds his daily argument with the one late for his watch.

  The way they do every morning.

  Townsfolk pass by and I attempt to ignore them. The same two women, dressed in simple shift dresses and carrying wicker baskets pass by, baskets still empty. The pair talk about their husbands, fighting for the king, and "the price of meat these days".

  The way they did ten minutes ago.

  I grip my hair and lean forward, flashes of last night's nightmare assaulting me. I know what happens next. I don't want to listen out for him, but I know I'll hear anyway.

  "Morning!"

  I turn my head to the sickeningly familiar voice. The fisherman with his rod, passing by.

  As he does every day.

  I stumble to my feet. I need to leave this place before I lose the remains of my sanity, but the world lurches, forcing me to sit again. Again, I grip onto my surroundings, relieved to feel the cold, hard stone.

  "What happened?" Jay stands before me, eyes wide as he studies me. "Did you die?"

  I can't answer as relief floods through me when I see him. I shake my head.

  "You looked dead. We uh... left you and went through the portal."

  I’d express my disgust at this, but that would be hypocritical coming from the girl who walked away from Jay’s body.

  "I don't know," I whisper. "I don't know if I died. I took the wrong potion and saw... Things I can't explain.” " I swallow hard. “Dean. Is he…?”

  Jay sits and takes my hand and I'm a breath away from breaking down, but I can't. My throat thickens and eyes blur. "Dean's alive. I saw him ten minutes ago."

  "Where?" I stand, still holding Jay's hand. “Is he okay?”

  "He's fine. Reappeared bloodied and triumphant, as usual."

  “Is Aidan around? Zara?"

  "Zara, no. Aidan, yes. He was vague too—said something about finding a talisman and that we should wait here."

  I stare upwards. "Shit. Why do we face this all the time? I need to find Dean, but we need to wait for Aidan. All I want to do is to talk to Ethan. I have his potion and now I've used it, I need to know what the fuck is going on."

  A woman tuts loudly and pulls her young son closer to her skirts. Like I give a shit. "We need out of here. Now. Where did you see Aidan?"

  There's a commotion nearby as somebody rushes through the crowds and a flustered Aidan appears. He runs over and grabs me in a huge hug, tighter than anybody has squeezed me before. I gasp for breath, but he doesn't let go. This is more than a hug for me. This is Aidan holding on too. The thought chokes me up further. We're frightened. All of us.

  "What happened?" He says, voice muffled by my hair. "Are you alright?"

  "Yes. Woke up in bed."

  He moves my head and grips my cheeks, eyes searching mine, and I will the tears not to fall. This is Aidan. One of my best friends, and we're locked in a nightmare—one I've seen another side of. I reach out and touch his face, reminding myself he's real.

  "We need to take the potion to Ethan and get answers," he says. “Hopefully complete a quest.”

  "Correct.” I look to where Dean joins our party, face sterner than I’ve seen in the past. A larger dagger than last time I saw him is sheathed against his hip and he wears a metal talisman around his neck, visible through his open shirt. “I’m not wasting any more time.”

  “Should we wait for Zara?” Jay asks.

  “We do what’s best for the group. If Zara decided to go her own way, we can’t do anything about that.”

  I’m inclined to agree but her absence leaves a huge hole in our defences. Can we take on whatever we’re about to face without her help?

  Chapter Forty-One

  Dew covers the grass we walk through, soaking the bottom of my dress as we make our way to the edge of the zone.

  Zone.

  Because from now on, I refuse to accept this as a reality.

  We reach the bridge where we first met Ethan and veer onto the muddy path leading along the river bank. At first, I think he isn't here, because how would he know I'd arrive?

  But perhaps he's here everyday, the way the fisherman walks through the town on the way to the lake.

  "There." Aidan points to a figure sitting on the river bank. Stones skim across the water, sending ripples across as he tosses them. I watch as they skip three times before disappearing under the water. His focus stays on his activity as we approach.

  "Where's your other party member?" he asks without looking up.

  "Zara left," I stammer out.

  My hand is already in my backpack, ready to give him the potion and complete my quest.

  "Did she? Interesting." Ethan finishes his game and stands, brushing dirt from his trousers.

  He moves towards us and fixes his steady gaze on me. Of all the men I've met in this crazy world, this one unnerves me the most. At first, I thought this was because he held secrets, but there's more than that. Hell, I feel like a cliché, but I could look into his eyes for an eternity and still be captivated. They're framed between the darkest lashes and his face looks as if it's been created to be perfect.

  Which it probably has.

  My body has an instant reaction to him each time too, and only this time do I realise this is a physical attraction and not a fear. He smiles and his face transforms again, into a captivating and oh-so-sexy expression.

  Ethan dazzles and tempts me. Like a shiny piece of loot.

  I snort at my metaphor and his heavy brow dips. "Eleanor?"

  “I need to talk to you about what happened when I took the potion.”

  Ethan’s mouth falls open. “Why did you take it? You needed to wait.”

  “It was an accident,” I mutter. “Don’t worry, Aidan has the spare potion. Good thing I made two.”

  Aidan hands the bottle to me. Before I can give him the quest item, Ethan stills my hand by closing slender fingers around m
ine. His touch fires my body further, blinding me with confusion at his effect. Am I being lured into him and away from the questions I’m bursting to ask?

  "Not here. Come to the house." He steps between Jay and Aidan, examining them carefully. Without a word, he seizes a chain around Aidan's neck and yanks until it snaps.

  "What the hell are you doing?" he protests. "That's a Mythical item."

  Ignoring him, Ethan holds his arm back and throws the pendant and chain far into the trees behind.

  "How about you, Jay? Do you have a new quest reward?"

  Jay runs his tongue along his teeth and looks at me. "I have a new talisman that gives me unlimited spell energy, El."

  "Give the item to me," Ethan demands.

  "We need the advantage for the final battle," he says.

  "Believe me, carrying a talisman like that will put you at a disadvantage. These items are tracking you. Somebody is worried you’ll interfere with the wristbands and hide yourselves. This is their backup."

  Water trickles over the stones as Aidan and Jay fall into silence. "Who's tracking us?" asks Jay eventually.

  "Those who want to know where you are when you disappear."

  "Our bands are used to track us," puts in Aidan.

  "I can interfere with that technology, but not the new." He beckons at Jay. "The talisman."

  He steps back and grips his pack. "Technology? How do you know what that means?"

  "He's not a character, Jay," I say quietly. "He's a player."

  Jay opens and closes his mouth like one of the fish swimming by and Aidan shakes his head.

  "What do you mean, a player? Why is he hiding in the house then? Why aren't you levelling up and getting the fuck out?"

  "So many questions, Aidan."

  "So many secrets, Ethan," he retorts.

  "Which you can choose to learn or choose to walk away." He nods at Jay. "You can't come with me if you have the necklace on you. El?"

  "I've nothing new since I saw you, apart from the gem and stone Jay gave me."

  Ethan tips his head. "Oh?"

  I place my pack on the floor and rummage around for the small brown pouch I placed them in. Straightening, I hand them to Ethan under Aidan's suspicious eyes. He tips them into the palm of his hand and pokes at them.

  "Have you been told what these are for?" he asks.

  "I thought it was a quest reward to help summon a dragon. I don’t know what the stone is, but it has the symbol."

  Ethan’s mouth tips into a smile. “A dragon? How strange. Okay, I don't think these are trackers, but I think you need to guard them. They could be needed to find your way from the fringes."

  Aidan snatches back the gems. "The fringes?"

  "That's where you need to go."

  "For a quest?" asks Jay. He looks to me. "El, this man is a quest giver."

  "He never gave me that quest, Jay. That was when I was with Jeremiah at the apothecary."

  Ethan places a hand on my arm. "El. Come with me. All of you."

  Aidan's doubt remains, and I shake my head at him as he opens his mouth, likely to protest. Jay stares at Ethan for a few moments, then glances at Aidan. "Whatever's happening here, whether it’s a quest or something more, we need to go with him."

  "We can't separate anymore, Aidan," I add. "And I'm calling this. We go with Ethan.” He blinks at me. "You tell me to be more assertive. To follow what I feel. This feels right."

  I step back from the river bank and begin the walk back to the path and the fringes of the area where Ethan lives.

  My band's screen fades to black as I step inside the small cottage again. Aidan shakes and taps his. "Do you have something blocking communications with our wristbands?"

  A woman sits at the rough wooden table and watches in silence. She glances upwards and I follow her line of sight. Symbols are etched on the ceiling, and I squint at the small marks. No. This is numbers and letters, repeated over and over until they cover the space.

  "I never saw those before," I say.

  Aidan frowns upwards too. "Is that computer code?"

  She remains silent. The woman is older than us, perhaps mid-thirties, with thick black hair plaited across her head. She wears dark pants and a tunic-style top woven with silver and gold thread. Around her neck hangs a small silver clock pendant. She smiles as I stare at it, then lifts her hand to click it open.

  A digital clock. As she swipes a finger across the screen, the numbers and letters above shine brighter and the room shimmers.

  "We're hidden,” says Ethan. “You knew that.”

  "What the hell is this?" Aidan slumps onto a seat. "Are you a programmer?"

  "I’m a magician." She snaps closed the clock pendant. "Ethan found me."

  "The way you found us?" I ask.

  "Not quite. She was alone and her unusual skills helped her survive. I think she was placed in the game by somebody to help me. Someone on the outside."

  "Beyond the fringes," the woman says.

  "Are you a player?"

  The woman's brow tugs and she looks to Ethan for help. "Rebecca doesn't understand fully. She plays the game she was told to. Or she did—now she plays with me."

  He gestures at parchment on the table and I sit. He spreads out the paper and I stare down. "Is this a map?"

  The lines and circles must represent something, but they appear random and are interspersed with letters. Some lines stop abruptly, as if there are gaps that need filling. Rebecca chuckles and snatches a deck of cards from the table.

  "We play and, if he wins, I draw him pictures."

  Jay sinks onto the seat beside me. “Pictures of?"

  "I have travelled far in my mind. I can see the world from above but it's as if the ground has been etched by the gods."

  Aidan leans over and traces the pattern. "This is a schematic. What is it?"

  "I don't know. Something the developers have added to the game."

  Rebecca smiles proudly. "Ethan is learning. Slowly."

  "I think there's enough here to show you the way to the fringes." He taps the edge of the drawing, where a circle is touched by converging lines.

  "And where is that?" I ask.

  “A location close to the edge of this zone. I’m unsure what’s there, as Rebecca only drew me the last piece of the map yesterday. I think we need to travel there."

  "The potion." I place the bottle on the table. "What is this? I accidentally took some last night and found myself stuck in—"

  "A waking nightmare?" asks Ethan. “What happened?”

  I explain, pulled back there in my mind, and Dean takes my hand as my voice breaks. They’re hearing the full story for the first time too; I gave them sparse details on the walk here. I can’t make sense of what I saw and heard, and neither can anybody else.

  "I suspect this potion switches off the reality the game constructed around you, but only for as long as the effects last."

  "What use is it apart from to terrify us?" I ask.

  He takes the bottle and twists it in his hands; the gold flecks dance around the purple liquid. "You need to drink this when you reach the location, Eleanor. This will reveal the reality of where you are, not what has been created around."

  Aidan steps in front of me. "Or send her spiralling into another nightmare. No. I’ll take the potion instead."

  Ethan shakes his head. "It has to be Eleanor."

  “How do you know that?” demands Dean. “Who told you?”

  Ethan jerks his chin up at him. “We know she is the key to all this.”

  "This is our way out!" Jay slaps his hands on the table and stands. "Come on, we need to move if people are tracking us."

  “I need to come with you." Ethan stands and hands me the potion. “I need to see what happens. If this is a way out, I’m coming too.”

  "I thought you stayed hidden?" I ask.

  "I do, but I have ways to hide myself. I will follow but you won't be able to detect or track me until I reveal myself.” He nods at us. “I'm
concerned that Zara has disappeared. Was this voluntary?"

  I nod. "As far as we know."

  “Did she have a choice to go with you or go elsewhere?"

  "Yes.”

  Ethan chews on his lip. "If she returns, be careful. As you've probably discovered, not every role in this game is clear cut."

  "She's okay," puts in Jay. "She just found a distraction for the night."

  Ethan chuckles. "Lucky guy."

  "Girl," I put in.

  Ethan's expression remains non-plussed. "Lucky Zara. I hope she found what she needed."

  He picks up the schematic and studies the lines, tracing some with his finger. The room falls silent at his concentration, and he speaks place names beneath his breath as he does.

  “How do you know all these places?” asks Jay.

  “I played the game for longer than you have. I quested further, but never as far as this.” He takes a piece of parchment and Rebecca’s ink pen and sketches a mud map. “This takes you to the edge of a zone a day's walk away.”

  A familiar symbol is drawn on the schematic beside where he points to compare them.

  The one I’ve seen repeated through the game. “The rune has always been significant,” I whisper.

  “Yes. We’re being led there. I hope this represents a door. Portal. Something. If you walk there, I will follow at a safe distance.”

  Aidan shifts. “And then?”

  He looks up as if Aidan asked him what colour the sky is. “We leave.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  I’m wary of walking through higher-level zones, and when we cross the bridge into Greenvale, I’m instantly on alert for gremlins. One thing’s for certain, we stick to the exact path Ethan has shown us. The zone has a similar layout to the one we leave: a straight path bordered either side by fields or trees, and mountains in the distance. I shield my eyes and look along the horizon. Mountains which surround the area like a barrier.

  “Is that where we’re going?” I ask and compare the map to the mountains.