by John L. Monk
“Gate,” I said. “Take me to Melody Crane!”
I expected a jet-black doorway to open in front of me, like Jaddow’s, but nothing happened. Had I done something wrong?
Carefully, I intoned, “Gate, take me to my wife, Melody Crane. Go!”
No black doorway, no Melody, no nothing.
Grinding my teeth in frustration, I tried one more time, but with a slight change.
“Gate,” I said. “Take me to the assassin, Greenie Red!”
Chapter Fifty
Everything in Mythian is pain. Even pleasure was a kind of pain, though of the psychological sort. Opening a portal through the power of so-called “magic” should have been as easy as clicking my heels together and wishing I was there. Instead, it felt like my body had been sucked through a meat grinder nerve endings first and seared back together.
Greenie Red wasn’t too happy about it, either. He issued a strangled yelp and fell over, mouth agape.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!” he shouted. “Where did you come from?”
We were on a deserted quay next to the ocean in a town I didn’t recognize. In the distance, on a hill, stood a dark keep. I checked my location and saw I was in a town called Brighton on the eastern edge of Ward 1. The name of the keep was: Crimson Sigil Stronghold.
“Where’s my wife?” I said with barely-checked fury. I pointed at the keep. “Is she in there?”
“What? How would I know? Discern!”
I felt the faint tickle of the creep’s divination, followed by vicious amusement as the color drained from his face.
“Six thousand? How the hell do you keep doing that?”
“Listen close,” I said calmly. “One of my new spells, in the diabolist class, drags its victim to a place called Abaddon. It keeps you there alive, torturing you and healing you so you don’t die. Eventually you’ll give up. Real nasty piece of work. What color is my truth orb?”
Greenie was visibly shaking now. He pointed behind me and said, “Oh no!”
When I looked, he ran in the opposite direction.
“Trapzich,” I said, “seize him!”
Black tentacles slithered around Greenie’s feet and up his body. They covered his face, leaving only his nose and eyes visible. Though a low-level demon, Trapzich was still quite handy, and it’d stop Greenie from casting anything.
Taking my time, I approached to within a few feet and said, “Free his mouth.”
“I’m sorry!” Greenie said. “It’s my job! They pay me and I do a job, okay? Please don’t cast that spell on me! You’re right, she’s in the keep—in a tower. If she tries leaving, she’ll die. You can’t teleport in, either, but you probably know that already.”
Everything he’d said was true.
“How will she die? Guards?”
Greenie shook his head. “Explosive runes. Anyone goes in without the counterspell, she gets it. Unbreakable windows, so she can’t shape-shift and fly out. Oh, and they know she’s not a player. Probably only has one life, right? Yeah … One of their spies found that woman—diviner named Dory. She said you said this woman’s your wife. Is that true? You really married a lucid?”
During his short tale, I noticed Greenie’s composure had started to recover. Almost as if he had the upper hand.
Couldn’t have that…
“Abaddon,” I said. “Take Greenie Red for five minutes!”
The ground cracked open beneath his feet and a hellish red light seeped out. Greenie screamed and fell into it, and the ground sealed shut after him.
The moonlit night was quiet, the air slightly humid but temperate, with a steady breeze off the water. I stared over the combers, smelled the sea air, and tried to convince myself it was all a veneer. The tall ships along the quay, triple-masted with furled sails, seemed plucked from the late 1700s. They even had ports for cannons, though as yet I hadn’t seen anything like a gun in Mythian.
Behind me stood the keep with its dark tower rising from the middle. There was a yellow-orange light in the top window. Using my Bird’s Eye Amulet, I zoomed in on it.
“Melody,” I breathed.
I could see part of her head in profile beyond the glass-paned window. She appeared to be standing in the middle of the room. I flew up fifty feet and saw her talking to a woman in a suit of fantasy chainmail baring more skin than it protected. Melody was yelling at her. About what, I couldn’t tell, even with the amulet. A minute later, the woman left and Melody stepped out of sight.
I floated back down and checked my internal clock. Three minutes to go. Now I regretted getting mad. Like me, Greenie was Hard Mode. If he gave up, he’d be dead forever. Other than making me a murderer—something I didn’t want, no matter how awful he was—I wouldn’t be able to get more information.
“Dammit,” I said, and canceled the spell.
The ground shuddered and split open, and Greenie Red was ejected onto the quay. Afterward, the evil passage sealed perfectly as if nothing unholy had just happened.
Greenie Red was weeping. His signature green-and-red doublet was shredded, and his face was streaked with blood. Some of his teeth were missing, too, and his right hand was a chewed-up mess.
Despite all that had happened to me, I was still the same sixty-five-year-old history teacher I was in life, and I felt awful for what I’d done.
But I couldn’t let Greenie know that.
“You’re a resourceful man,” I said in a heartless tone. “If you had to save my wife, how would you do it?”
“Talk to Ilsha,” he pleaded in a voice free of guile. “Tell her how you leveled so quickly. You do that … heck, she’ll probably make you a leader in the guild. You could be her right-hand man.” He laughed nervously. “You could even run the place if you wanted. Just please, for the love of god, don’t send me back to that place again! You have no idea…”
Greenie trailed off gibbering to himself and twitching.
“Hey!” I said. “Snap out of it. How many explosive runes are in the tower? Could I shield her?”
“Hundreds of them,” he said. “In an enclosed space, there’s no telling the size of the blast. And you can’t fly up close or the whole thing’ll go boom. Please let me go. Please don’t send me back there!”
If he knew anything else, I felt he would have told me.
“Run away, Greenie,” I said. “And don’t bother me or my wife again.”
Tired of looking at him and worried at the line I’d crossed tonight, I took to the air and flew toward the Crimson Sigil Stronghold.
Chapter Fifty-One
Hovering about thirty feet out from her window, I scanned my spells in search of an easy solution, but couldn’t find anything.
Melody’s demonic escape in Heroes’ Landing must have prompted them to apply some sort of anti-teleportation magic. I couldn’t Gate in, and I couldn’t use Aushiel again. Even if I could, the demon’s sudden appearance inside would trigger the runes.
Desperate and out of options, I cast my biggest available shield on her—Godlike Shield 4, because 5 was still active.
“Just in case,” I said.
If Melody noticed she was suddenly protected, she didn’t let on. She remained seated at a table by the far wall reading a book.
For me, I cast Aspect of the Sorcerer, which was self-only. It’d ensure I never lost more than 5% of my total health from a single hit.
It couldn’t hurt to follow Greenie Red’s advice. Besides, I wanted to meet this Ilsha person face to face. To that end, I flew down to the massive doors of the keep and banged on them with one of the swords in my bag.
When no one answered, I looked up at a small window and shouted, “Hello? Anyone there?”
Not waiting for a reply, I cast Godlike Solar Strike 3 and watched in astonishment as the thick wooden doors vaporized in a white-hot cloud of smoke and fire.
The jagged hole around the door still glowed from the heat of the strike. Wrinkling my nose at the harsh smell of burning stone, I strode through the openi
ng and entered a short anteroom with another set of doors ahead.
A Godlike Ice Bullet took care of that, shattering the doors into a million splinters with a tremendous bang. So loud was the blast that my ears rang with a high-pitched hum afterward, and the world sounded muffled and strange.
“Dammit,” I said, moving again. If only I’d taken more time to test these things.
I entered a large room decorated with grotesque dragon heads, bear hides, and medieval weapons, lending the place a fantasy hunting lodge vibe. Twenty or so people were sitting at small tables situated around the room. Judging by the long smear of red streaking away from the door (and a look at my game log), that number had dropped by two priests, a warrior, and a thief.
Standing in front of a wide table at the far end of the room was the same woman I’d seen in Melody’s room. I squinted her and saw she was level 511. She looked surprised, sure, but mostly outraged.
I needed to fix that.
“Is your name Ilsha?” I said.
“How dare you come in here—to my home—and question me?”
“Great,” I said, “you didn’t deny it. I’m Ethan. The woman in the tower is my wife. Bring her down and I’ll let bygones be bygones. What do you say?”
Her expression changed, but not in a comforting way. She smiled.
“Ethan Crane,” Ilsha said. “How lovely to finally meet you. Don’t worry about them.” She pointed at the tangled mess of limbs and shattered wood in front of the table. “Normal modes, all of them. But I’ve heard you’re not. Isn’t that right, Dory?”
From one of the tables, the woman I knew from Lord Beast’s raiding party stood up and came over.
She waved at me. “Hi, Ethan. Sorry.”
Ilsha said, “Dory, be a dear and discern him for me.”
I felt the tickle of her silent spell.
Dory’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Oh my god.”
“Spit it out!” Ilsha snapped. “What level is he?”
“Allow me,” I said. “I am a level two thousand sorcerer, a two thousand diabolist, and a two thousand diviner. My player level, thus, is six thousand. I also know about the explosive runes in the tower. You need to go up there now, turn them off, and bring my wife down.” Gazing at Ilsha, I finished with: “Do it now, or I’ll send you to a place called Abaddon, where you’ll be tortured so bad you’ll be forced to give up.”
Ilsha’s expression during all this ranged from confusion to anger to embarrassment. Finally she said, “I … you’re a liar!”
Dory shook her head. “He’s not lying. Not about any of it.”
“How do I know you’re not lying?”
Dory’s expression darkened. “I never lie. I’m only here as a courtesy from Eye Aeternum. If my help isn’t needed, I can leave.”
Ilsha rolled her eyes. “Fine, whatever … Go sit down.”
Dory tossed me a wink and took her seat.
“So you’re a tough guy,” Ilsha said.
“This is my gentle side. Now, are you gonna let my wife out, or do I have to—”
“Marty,” she yelled, “hit him!”
Out of nowhere, singing and lute music filled the room, and my combat log began filling with messages:
“FAILED ATTACK: Mana Block”
“FAILED ATTACK: Mana Block”
“FAILED ATTACK: Mana Block”
…
I’d been mana blocked before, back in The Festering Swamp. On that occasion, my mana was completely inaccessible. But that was over five thousand levels ago.
I looked around and sure enough, it was the same bard. I smiled and waved as guild members scrambled from their tables to surround me.
“Now what will you do?” Ilsha said. “I’m genuinely curious.”
“Glintz,” I said, “show Marty a good time.”
The air filled with perfume and the people surrounding me fell back in confusion. Then Glintz appeared.
“As you command, Master Ethan.”
Glintz zipped across the room and tackled the bard. She tore off his clothes, giggling with pleasure, and in no time at all he was the happiest person in the room.
“Everyone, back off,” Ilsha said, eyeing the hedonistic spectacle with a disgusted look on her face. “Not you, Paul.”
“Who, me?” a man in wizard robes said.
“This is Paul,” Ilsha said. “He’s the one who cast the runes. We can still come to an agreement. You could rule by my side. You could even take over, if you wanted. But why would you? I know all the members, their skills, our agreements with other guilds, contracts, assets … I’ve also been in the game a lot longer. I could guide you. Together, we could advance the Crimson Sigil from a Ward 1 guild to a Ward 4 powerhouse. In time, you’ll realize you made the right decision.”
“Please don’t hurt me,” Paul said, earning a nervous chuckle from his friends.
“Are you the one who put my wife in the tower?” I said.
He shook his head. “No! Just the runes. I’m the only one in the guild with the spell. It’s why they keep me around.”
I smiled happily. “Great. Then you have nothing to worry about. Abaddon—take Ilsha for twenty-four hours.”
The maximum spell duration.
Beneath Ilsha, the ground split open with a deafening crack. She yelped and tried to fly, but didn’t get far as a dozen flaming strands of barbed wire shot out. They wrapped her arms and legs in sizzling bands and dragged her below, screaming and kicking.
When the ground sealed shut, the only sounds in the room were the frantic moans of ecstasy from Glintz and her quarry.
Chapter Fifty-Two
I turned to the assemblage and told them to leave. Other than the bard—still preoccupied—they filed out through the blasted doors quickly and without trouble.
“Paul,” I said, “take me to my wife. We’re getting her out of there.”
Despite all he’d seen, he surprised me by shaking his head. “I can’t. She’ll have me griefed. Blacklisted. No guild’ll take me…”
“She’s not gonna bother anyone for a long time,” I said. “Pretty soon she’ll be level zero, trying not to get killed for noob gold. Now, let’s go.”
Paul flinched as if I’d yelled at him. He stumbled to a nondescript door on the side of the room. When the door closed behind us, I dismissed Glintz.
“So, what, uh … happened to Ilsha?” Paul said.
I grunted. “What isn’t happening to her? How much farther?”
“Couple more sets of doors,” he said.
As promised, we went through more doors. The last one took us into the courtyard with Melody’s tower.
“Ilsha’s tougher than you think,” he said as we approached it. “She’ll get her friends to level her again, then sick Greenie Red on me for helping you. The guy’s a lunatic.”
I smiled. “If that happens, tell Greenie I said anyone who touches you is my enemy. Tell Ilsha that, too.”
“Right…”
Paul raised his hands to the tower door and chanted fantasy gibberish at it. With each word, scarlet runes flared across the door, then faded away.
He opened it, smiled at me for some reason, and we went in.
“Kind of a slog to climb,” he said over his shoulder, “so I’m gonna fly. My vitality’s awful.”
“That’s fine. I’ll be right behind you.”
We ascended in a long spiral before stopping at another closed door. Paul did his rune trick again, then knocked politely.
“Melody?” he said. “It’s me, Paul. I’m coming in…”
He smiled apologetically, waited a few seconds, then opened the door.
Upon entering the comfortably furnished room, I ground my teeth in frustration.
“Dammit,” I said, “where is she?”
“She was just here! I came up with Ilsha not twenty minutes ago.”
“Well, she’s gone now,” I said.
“There’s a note!”
Paul picked up a folded piece
of paper on a table next to the window.
“It’s got your name on it,” he said, handing it to me.
I began to read.
Ethan,
For the first time in our association, I find myself truly disappointed in you. Why haven’t you followed my instructions and left the game? You have that woman’s heart, but you still haven’t cast the spell. I’m afraid you’ve left me no choice but to apply considerable leverage. Know this: I have taken both Melody and Rita to my domain in The Void. As punishment for your insolence, I plan to delete one of them and keep the other alive until your task is done. Because we are friends, you may join me now and choose the one who lives.
—Cipher
I fell into the chair and stared at the note in disbelief.
Leverage? He didn’t have to do this. He simply wanted to.
In a fit of impotent rage, I crumpled the note and blasted it with a Flame Bullet.
Behind me, Paul said, “I’m sorry! I didn’t—”
“Just go,” I said.
Paul ran down the stairs as fast as his awful vitality would carry him.
Not waiting for him to reach safety, I blew away one side of the tower with a Godlike Invisible Fist 5. As the ceiling caved in around me—bouncing harmlessly off my shield—I flew outside. My intent was to get far enough away to teleport successfully.
“Gate!” I cast, using my fourth mythereum gem that day. “Take me to The Void.”
NEW LOCATION: The Void
EXPLORATION AWARD: (null) POINTS
Absolute darkness, or so it seemed. The truth was revealed when I held my hand up and saw it perfectly illuminated, though there were no obvious light sources. There was neither sky nor horizons, and I couldn’t see the ground I was standing on. Just my feet.
“Hello!” I shouted. With nothing to reflect off, my voice sounded flat and muted.
“Seek! Cipher,” I cast.
Worried I’d need my mana, I’d chosen the normal version rather than waste 23,000. It seemed to work—my local map showed a dotted line going on forever. I followed it for a bit, then stopped and canceled the spell. This place was simply too vast, too empty.