by Paul Bellow
Miscommunication Mirror
Josh
I climbed the stairs with the Four Wizards behind me until I reached a room on the very top of the tower. A tall full-length mirror stood next to the wall near an open window. I walked over and glanced out.
“Hide!” Ferris hissed.
As they scurried to either side of the mirror, I glanced at the strange clouds in the reflection.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “What do I do?”
“Shut up!” Ferris hissed. “He might hear us.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Magi Inyontoo,” Sherlock said. “That headband of intelligence you purloined ain’t helping much, is it?”
I concentrated on my breathing to keep my emotions in check.
Ferris pointed at the mirror. I turned and saw Magi Inyontoo in the reflection.
“Can you hear me?” I asked.
“Loud and clear,” he said. “Almost can’t believe it’s working so well.”
“You’ve got me convinced you’re our best way out of the game,” I said then glanced to my left briefly. “Any news on that?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “But we’re closer. The pendant is charging still, but with more dead players, it’ll go faster. Any news on killing your friends?”
I emphatically shook my head.
“Not yet,” I said. “But I’m close.”
The mage in the mirror nodded.
“I don’t think the others I sent to kill them could finish the job, so I’m counting on you,” he said. “If I can’t talk to them in private, we’re not getting out of here...I can’t convince them to stop working against us.”
“Understood,” I said. “I should get going.”
His eyes narrowed as I glanced to the left again.
“Is someone there with you?” I asked.
“No,” I lied.
Magi Inyontoo stared deeply into my eyes.
“Report in when you know something,” he said.
I pursed my lips together then said, “I’m trying my best.”
“Let me know the minute you kill them,” Magi Inyontoo said. “I’ll need to meet them in the tower. Can you do that for me?”
“You’ll be the first to know,” I said, then added, “I’ve got to go.”
I stepped toward the Four Wizards and out of view of the mirror.
“Well?” I asked. “How did I do?”
Ferris shook his head while Sherlock chuckled.
“Your new headband must be cursed,” Thom said.
“Will you shut up already?” I snapped. “Maybe Magi does have a way out of the game.”
“He’s been saying that stuff for years,” Ferris said.
“Yeah,” Sherlock added. “He doesn’t have a way out.”
“Where are we, anyway?” I asked, glancing around.
“The Tower of Sherlock,” Aaron said. “We like to stay here.”
“Yeah, but where in the game…” I sighed. “Nevermind. It doesn’t matter.”
As the Four Wizards talked to each other, I walked over to the only window in the room. Mountains surrounded us. Peering out the window, I saw a ledge far below.
“Don’t fall out,” Thom said as he slapped me on the back.
“Hey,” I said, turning around. “Be careful.”
The mage in once-white robes grinned as he stared up at me.
“Get over here, Thom,” Ferris snapped.
As the mage wandered over to them, I followed. Unlike Rizzo and his crew, they didn’t feel it necessary to hide their conversations from me.
“We need to kill Magi Inyontoo once and for all,” Sherlock said. “The bonus we get for killing him will propel us to new heights in the game. We might end up ruling it all.”
Ferris whipped his head toward me. “Why are you eavesdropping?” he asked.
“I just want to find my friends, so they can pay your stupid debt,” I said.
They laughed at me yet again. I felt anger welling up, but I held it down.
A ferocious roar outside got everyone’s attention. I walked over to the window and caught a glimpse of a red dragon flying past the tower. Wiley? Is he okay?
“He’s back,” Ferris said. “We should talk to him.”
“Maybe he’s come to his senses,” Sherlock said.
I kept looking out the window at the flying dragon.
“Come on,” Ferris said.
I turned and saw them standing around an open hatch in the floor. They waited for me to climb down the ladder before doing it themselves. I saw a spiral staircase leading down.
“Keep going,” Ferris said.
I headed for the stairs and made my way down. The Four Wizards followed a few steps behind me, whispering amongst themselves. Sherlock seemed serious about my debt, so I decided to take the next opportunity to run, no matter how awful it might seem.
I was tired of their bumbling anyway, and I was no closer to finding Sarah than I was when this whole thing started. If anything, being someone's slave while I was trapped in a virtual prison had put me further away from her. Eric would pay for what he had done.
Thoughts of finding Sarah had kept me going, but with each day that passed, I became less convinced I would ever find her again. Would she even recognize me?
At the bottom of the stairs, I stepped aside and waited for the Four Wizards. One after another, they passed me and walked to a dark wooden door across the room.
I saw another staircase leading down. Should I make a run for it? While I had promised myself I would do it, the time didn’t seem right. Maybe the dragon had found Eric and Sarah.
When I stepped outside the tower, I marveled once again at the beauty of the game. Mountain peaks looked close enough to reach out and touch as I stood on a ledge.
The Four Wizards walked away from the tower and toward Wiley. I slowly sauntered after them, also admiring the beauty of the massive, fire-breathing reptile.
“Stop,” Wiley commanded in a deep voice.
He lifted his head, smoke coming out of his nostrils.
“Old friend,” Ferris said. “We’ve been worried about you.”
I stopped behind the Four Wizards, close enough to hear them.
“You’re all liars now,” Wiley said.
“We think something’s wrong with you,” Ferris continued.
“Yeah,” Sherlock added. “You ate a poisoned sheep or something.”
“No,” Wiley roared. “Something’s wrong with you four.”
He raised his head and shot flames into the air.
“Calm down,” Ferris said, raising his arms.
“Now!” Sherlock shouted.
I watched in horror as the Four Wizards simultaneously cast spells. A giant web of energy formed over the dragon, dropping down on it.
Wiley screamed and thrashed about, only entangling himself more.
That’s it. I’m out of here.
As they continued restraining the dragon, I left.
I kept my gaze on them as I slowly stepped backward. Once I got back into the tower, I could run down the stairs and maybe hide from them.
The dragon continued shrieking. Every time it blew flames, the net kept them contained. Were red dragons resistant to fire? I kept walking backward.
“Hey!” Thom shouted as he noticed me.
The others turned as he pointed in my direction.
“Don’t let my barbarian get away!” Sherlock shouted.
I turned and ran into the tower, slamming the wooden door behind me. As I made it to the stairs leading down, the door burst open before flying across the room.
Not caring about anything but getting away from the mad wizards, I flew down, taking the steps two or three at a time. Near the bottom, I missed one and went tumbling.
I rolled down the rest of the stairs, grunting the entire way.
At the very bottom, I hit my head against the hard stone wall.
What’s with that big pile of wax? That thought disi
ntegrated into a thousand pieces.
I blacked out.
19
How to Befriend a Dragon
Josh
Waking up after my fall, things got a lot worse. The Four Wizards literally enslaved me in an unknown location high in the mountains somewhere.
A week after first being imprisoned, I glanced down at the snow-covered ground as I pushed the wooden handle of a grindstone in a never-ending circle.
Were they going to use me to grind wheat into flour? Or did they have other, more devious plans for me? Either way, I regretted leaving Monky behind.
According to my internal (and spotty) calculations, it was four months after I had originally spawned back into the game. That meant I had eight months left.
Could I last that long? What would happen after that amount of time? I wanted to see Sarah more than anything. Even seeing Eric would help a bit.
I had been playing the stupid game so long, I routinely forgot it wasn’t my true reality. The Tower of Gates had a way of sucking you in deeper somehow.
Halfway around the rut I was walking in, I saw Wiley magically chained to the ground nearby. The wizards were using him to burn their garbage.
“Are you doing okay?” I asked.
Wiley twisted his head toward me, fire in his eyes.
“No,” he grumbled. “I’m a bloody dragon. This is humiliating.”
“At least we’re still alive,” I said to cheer him up.
He passed out of view as I continued pushing the grindstone. On the way around, I blocked out the pain of my aching muscles. Hard labor was well named.
“I should’ve never followed the Four Wizards to this new timeline,” Wiley said.
“Wait,” I said, confused. “How do you know about something related to players, unless…”
I stopped talking as the dragon came back into view.
“Exactly,” he said. “My name’s Jason. Nice to meet you.”
“You’re a player, too?” I asked, still not understanding.
He nodded his reptilian head, light from the setting sun reflecting off his scales.
“One of the oldest prisoners,” he said.
I kept walking, afraid to stop. Last time I had tried, they’d taken away my food for an entire day. I hated the Four Wizards with every ounce of my being.
“They shouldn’t be treating a new player like this,” Wiley said.
He came back into view as I kept walking in my rut.
“Thanks,” I said. “And they shouldn’t be mistreating an old player like you.”
Wiley laughed, smoke rising into the air.
“You’re the newest, and I’m one of the oldest,” he said. “The Tower of Gates knows how to mess with your mind. Don’t let it get to you.”
“Easier said than done, my friend.”
I went around one more time as Wiley burned more garbage.
“Do you know a Drex or Bernard?” he asked after starting another fire.
“No,” I said. “Why?”
“I ran into the two of them at the Four Wizards’ tower where I stay sometimes,” he said. “I thought they might be more new players.”
“He should’ve been traveling with a female elf named Sarah,” I said.
“I don’t remember seeing her, but I may have slept through it,” Wiley replied.
Both of us grew silent again, not concentrating on our mindless tasks.
“I may have met her,” Wiley said behind me. “The glitches are getting worse.”
“Glitches?” I asked, hungry for conversation.
“The Tower of Gates is melting, in my opinion,” the dragon said.
“You really think so?” I asked. “Melting how?”
“Breaking down,” he said. “There’s too many people in here fighting against the gamemaster AI. And nobody wants to truly work together to get out.”
“I’ve noticed,” I said.
He blasted another pile of garbage as I walked.
“The Four Wizards used to be nice,” he said. “I’m not sure what happened.”
“All I know is what I’ve seen of them so far.”
“They bumbled before but never to this extent,” Wiley said.
“If nothing else, I’m glad we got some time to talk.”
“Yeah,” the dragon said.
I saw the Four Wizards walk toward us, trudging through the snow.
“Heads up,” I said.
“I see them,” Wiley replied in a low voice.
“Are you ready to see it our way yet?” Sherlock asked.
The four of them stopped near the grindstone. I kept walking, ignoring them.
“You’re not making it easy on yourself,” Ferris said. “Not that I care.”
“We heard you talking to the dragon,” Aaron said. “You shouldn’t.”
“Then why did you place us next to each other?” Wiley asked.
As I came around, I saw him sitting up with his head back.
“You better not breathe fire at us,” Thom said.
“Don’t do it,” I shouted. “They’re not worth it.”
Wiley chuckled, more smoke coming out of his nostrils.
“Seriously,” Aaron said in a concerned tone. “It’s not safe.”
“Does it look like we care about safety right now?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Wiley added in his deep voice.
“Your penalty for not having a PIN is worse than we thought,” Ferris said. “We’ve been doing some calculations, and there’s a chance…”
His voice trailed off. I kept walking.
“A chance for what?” I asked.
“Bigger glitches,” Wiley said, surprising me. “They’re probably right.”
“Finally,” Sherlock said. “The dragon comes to his senses.”
“I’m not sure about any of that stuff, but you need to let me go. My friends are looking for me, and they won’t be happy if they find me as your prisoner.”
All four of the wizards laughed.
“That would be great,” Ferris said. “We need to talk with them and make sure they’re not doing permanent damage to the Tower of Gates.”
“I don’t think they’ll find us,” Thom boasted.
“Time to separate you two.” Ferris stepped forward. “We can’t risk anything happening.”
“Just let me go,” I begged. “Please.”
They laughed again, apparently oblivious to my feelings. Would I grow as cold as them if I spent too long in the game? At least Wiley wasn’t like them.
I stopped walked as the wizards cast a spell in unison. Their magic came together then blasted toward me. I grunted as the multi-colored beam hit me in the chest.
After teleporting through a wormhole—different this time compared to when we had teleported before by blinking—I found myself in a man-sized cage. Being a half-orc, I barely fit in the space.
Exhausted, I fell asleep sitting on the floor of the cage with my back against the bars. While not a comfortable position, after dozens of hours of working straight, I didn’t care.
I woke up the next morning—or was it afternoon?—with a plan. While I had no idea of whether it was day or night, the time of day didn’t matter for what I intended to do.
After Thom brought me my morning gruel, I let the bowl sit instead of gobbling it down like usual. My health, already low, would drop to deadly levels, killing me.
If they didn’t want to be reasonable, I would take away the value of owning me. Death wasn’t real in the game, so it didn’t matter to me one way or the other.
Whether I lived or died, I wanted to be free. Captivity, even for just a week, had dulled my mind and killed whatever hope I had of getting out of the Tower of Gates.
Thom nudged the brown clay bowl with his foot. I stared at the leather boot, wanting to snatch it and twist. My hunger and exhaustion were driving me mad.
Could I go into a barbarian rage and break out? The steel bars looked tough. Even if I managed to get out of the cage, w
hat then? Where would I run?
“You better eat,” Thom said. “You won’t like the alternative.”
“I don’t care if I die,” I said defiantly.
Thom laughed in his carefree way.
“I didn’t say you’d die.” He grinned. “There’s stuff worse than death.”
“You four will pay for what you’re doing to me,” I said.
I grabbed the claw bowl, smashed it on the stone floor, then picked up one of the sharp shards all in one motion. Thom’s eyes widened as I moved it to my throat.
“Better dead than a slave,” I said.
“Don’t you do it!” Thom shouted. “Guys, get in here.”
The other three wizards appeared in the outer room as I slashed my own throat. My eyes widened in shock as blood spurted out like a fountain.
“Get the cage open!” Sherlock said.
Aaron fumbled with the lock then opened it. I started to black out from the loss of blood. Ferris leaned into the cage and slipped a collar around my neck.
You are alive.
You have [1/123] health remaining.
“No!” I shouted, my voice gurgling with blood.
“The wound will close eventually,” Ferris said as he stood up straight.
“You deserve the extra pain,” Sherlock snapped. “Worst slave I ever had.”
I floated in and out of consciousness. Whenever I slipped too close to death, the magic collar healed me just enough to keep me alive. A single tear fell from my left eye.
The Four Wizards, joking and laughing with each other, left the room. I leaned back against the cold metal bars of my cage. Would I ever escape?
I fought my emotions. Whenever angry, happy, or sad appeared, I put them in a box and pushed them to the back of my mind. I needed to think rationally to survive. That was the only way.
My captors gave me a day off after slitting my own throat, but the next day, I was back doing manual labor for them. One day the grindstone, the next chopping wood.
The ring of steel around my neck wouldn’t let me die. If I could somehow get away and keep it, my character would be so powerful. That thought (and Sarah) kept me going.
Days turned into weeks. I sunk deeper into the depths of the Tower of Gates. Hope of ever escaping grew smaller with each passing hour. Could I somehow survive?