Landasy Reality: Angel's Escape

by Fredrick Stokely

  “Still think we should give it a shot. Worse comes to worse we just come back and do it later,” the other twin whispered.

  “Maybe after. The entire point of this attack is to help future attacks, not win the city on our own. Without their head obsidian mason the repairs on damaged structures will plummet in terms of speed, allowing our sieges to actually deal some decent damage...” Asura said while they descended underground along a spiraling staircase. “Are you sure this is the right way?”

  “Ye--” Sauna fell silent and the four instantly pressed themselves up against the wall and held their breathes. With heavy foot steps, two demons made their way up the steps.

  “So I found this new spear, dropped from the lava guardian. It doesn't deal much damage, but you should see the life drain on it. Seventy-three percent! I haven't seen one that high since that legendary dropped for Regi last year.”

  “That's awesome. You gonna use it or sell it?”

  “Not sure yet. Thinking I might use it until I get my mastery. Could probably...” Their voices finally went out of range and the four let out a sigh of relief.

  “That was close... come on,” Fauna whispered once they continued down.

  They heard a yelp from behind them... moments before 5t4r slammed into Asura, who slammed into the twins, sending all four toppling down the stairs with pained shrieks. They landed hard in a pile of limbs and hurt body parts, their stealth disappearing.

  “The... hell... Star!” Asura said, struggling to resist yelling while they slowly dislodged themselves.

  “S-sorry! It's hard to see where I'm going when my bodies in stealth. I missed the step...”

  “Heh. I bet he was just leaning forward to sniff your hair, Asura,” Fauna said with a snicker and soon Sauna joined in on the laughter.

  “I-I was not!” 5t4r said with a squeak as his face turned bright red. “I just tripped!”

  “We know Star, we know. They're just kidding. Come on, we need to go,” Asura whispered while she looked around and tried to hide the blush in her own cheeks. The hall was far brighter down here, with torches every few feet so shadow stealth wouldn't work. With an annoyed sigh she activated her class change, transforming into her angel form. “Time to change and go guys. We'd better hurry in case someone decides to investigate--”

  She was cut off when they heard steps from up the stairs coming down towards them. “Hey! Who's down there?”

  The two demons who passed them moments ago made it to the third from the last step before she turned and charged at them. Her blade slashed clear through the first while Fauna rapidly turned and stabbed her spear through the chest of the other. Within moments they disappeared in a shower of red sparkles.

  “Players, low level ones. Dang it. We need to move fast before they revive and set off the alarm. Come on!” Asura said before motioning down the hall. “Fauna, take point. Get us there.”

  “On it,” she said before she charged down the hall. Stealth was no longer an option so they quickly dispatched any guards that stood in their way, only spending a moment to peek around each bend. After half a dozen guards and about three players fell at their hands, the group made it to a large wooden door with a small key hole. “They should be behind this door. We'll need to try to lure them out or--” Fauna cringed when Asura jammed her sword into the lock and slashed it to pieces with her sword, before kicking the door open. “Or that.”

  “Come on! Let's go!” The four charged into the room, weapons drawn. The room had a number of large beds, lined up in lines like a barracks and a few lit candles on nightstands. Other than that the room was completely empty.

  “What the... I thought you said they'd be in here?”

  “They should! This is where they've always slept! Why would they...” Fauna gasped and turned back. “They must have moved them when the war started, in case... we need to get out of here!”

  “No. We have to find them. We can't leave here empty handed,” Asura said before she took off and out of the room. Moments later they heard alarms going off and she silently cursed. “We'll need to move fast. You know this castle better than anyone else. Do you have any ideas where they would send the mason?”

  “It would likely be close to the--” Fauna started but was quickly interrupted.

  “I got it! Come on!” Sauna said before turning down the halls, the others following close behind.

  “Where we going?” 5t4r asked as they began to hear footsteps far down the hall. A lot of them. In preparation he had switched to his angel class as well.

  “To where they store harvested obsidian before they forge it into needed parts! They'd have put the man somewhere near there, I know... it...” She stopped when demons, dragons and fae began to flood in from the end of the hall they were running down.

  “Crap. Okay, this is going to be tough everyone! Get ready for a fight!” Asura yelled before she charged straight into the startled warriors and slashed out with her sword, cleaving through a few of them before the blade was stopped by an axe. Flame exploded from her blade however, enveloping the player's and forcing them to take a few steps back. “Damn it, missions over! We need to escape, now!”

  The four crashed against the wave of enemies. All four were masters and their blades cleaved through the armor and many of the weapons of their opposition, but they were heavily out numbered. As quickly as the weaker players fell two more would fill their place and, down the hall behind them, heavy foot steps could be heard charging to them. Asura and 5t4r pushed themselves back to back as they fought, covering each other as best they could as they tried driving themselves through the torrent of enemies.

  Wounds covered their bodies but, amazingly, their HP didn't seem to be falling quickly as they covered each other and circled around, their blades cleaving death through their enemies. Asura lost sight of Fauna and Sauna when she finally broke through to the stairs. More were coming down, but she quickly held her hand out. “Tornado!” She sent it spiraling up the steps and knocking the enemy reinforcements back against the walls. “Sauna! Fauna!” she yelled back before starting up the steps, only stopping a moment to see if she could catch sight of the two.

  “Come on! Asura, they can find their own way out, they know this place better than us! We need to go!” 5t4r yelled before tugging her hand and the two began running up the stairs again, stepping over the members of the legion who had been knocked down. The two made it to the next floor and, after using another tornado spell to clear some room, they dove through the windows and made it out to the world beyond.

  A handful of players were out there, waiting for them. Dark angels with red glowing eyes and a few dragons with wings took off from the roofs when the two came out.. Fortunately, they didn't have to carry or set any bombs this time and, since they already had a bit of a lead, they managed to quickly outrun their pursuers when they soared higher and higher, out of range of the city's arrows and other weapons.

  It took nearly an hour before they returned to Everlight and stopped on the roof with heavy hearts. She slowly sent out messages to the remaining four members of her force and, as she expected but dreaded, she found they had all been captured. She sighed and sat down on the ground before glancing to 5t4r. She didn't even notice when other members of the coalition made their way around them and through the fortress.

  “What do we do now?” he asked nervously.

  “I... think it's pretty obvious. We get some help and we get them out of there. We've done it once, I'm sure we can do it again,” Asura said before getting to her feet, though dread weighed in her stomach. “Come on, we need to build up a new force and try to find out where they are.”

  5t4r nodded with a smile, “Of course Asura.” After getting to his feet the boy followed after her into the fortress, glancing back for a moment at the sky behind them. It was clear with barely a cloud in the sky, aside from the pillars of smoke that rose from the siege camps held by the legions. “I wonder how long Everlight will really be able to hold on...”r />
  “You say something?”

  “No! Coming!” he yelled back before running after her.

  Chapter 12

  Age: 17 years, 10 months

  “Wakey wakey!” a voice said before lights flashed in Asher's eyes, many days after the capture of his allies in the game world. He groaned and, slowly, moved his head away. His limited control over his neck and the tubes in his mouth made even the small movement difficult. Slowly he looked around with blurry eyes before he was slowly sat up and a wet cloth was used to wipe the gunk from his eyes.

  “Huh? W-why?” he said wearily before he tried to catch sight of a clock. Why on earth would they wake him up? It wasn't like he had to be awake for breakfast with the tubes inserted.

  “Now now, don't be like that. Today is a special day. Your parents are coming to visit so they wanted to make sure you were up and ready when they got here,” Amy said before using a damp washcloth and sponge to slowly clean him, rolling him around to get to the less pleasant areas. His mind tried to focus on other, less degrading things. Such as why on earth would his parents be visiting him. They hadn't visited him in months, at least not in person. They still played games together regularly, but face to face was almost unheard of now. He imagined they just didn't want to see his slow descent into... this.

  “Yep. I hope you're excited,” she said rolling him onto his back and laying his arms at his side. “There, how do you feel?”

  He just looked up at her and didn't say a word, just watched with annoyance. At least he hoped he was able to make such an expression.

  “They should be here in an hour or so. Anything you'd like to do while you wait?”

  He sighed and then decided to take his chances. It was only an hour, so the worst that could happen would be a short time of torture. “T-tel... te...tee... vee...”

  “Ah, of course dear,” she took the nearby remote and turned the box on and flipped through the channels. Cartoons, news about more strikes, old black and white show, finally stopping on a gaming station where an online tournament was being held. “Ah, how is this?”

  “F-fine...” he said softly. It was a virtual reality game tournament, team versus team. This one in particular allowed each team to decide where their 'abilities' came from, such as technological, natural or magic. Each one offered different bonuses and weaknesses. In the current game blue team had chosen natural and was crushing red team, which had chosen technology, through the use of stealth abilities and picking off the other team one by one. It was a best of five game though and the red team had apparently won the first two games.

  One of the reasons these kinds of shows had become so popular over the last year was because more and more advances had been made in the field, allowing the games to appear and feel more realistic as well as more interesting to watch. Supposedly, most games played with the pain feedback on full, creating a real kill or be killed environment for the viewers pleasure. Judging by the screams red team was making when they were killed, he imagined this game was one of them. Or they were very good actors.

  Asher was eventually drawn away from the game by a knock on the door. He glanced over toward it when it opened. He caught sight of his parents and just stared.

  His mother was huge. Her stomach stood out like a massive watermelon and she was wearing a hideous yellow and orange shirt with expanding belly fabric. She was was pregnant. At least, he hoped that was what it was. If she wasn't that was probably the worst allergic reaction he'd ever seen.

  “Hey son,” his father said nervously while he struggled to avoid looking Asher in the eye, pretending to focus on the television.

  “Y-you're... y-you're preg... n...na...nant...” Asher managed to say while he stared.

  His mother squirmed a little before she took a seat across from his bed. “I... yes. I had you when I was still pretty young and you've almost fully... grown.” He couldn't help but catch the way she almost sobbed when she said that. “We... thought it might be time to try again. We're sorry we didn't tell you, but with all that's coming up we thought you'd rather not be bothered...”

  “W-what? W-wh...wh... why?” he asked before he looked to his father, who still refused to look at him.

  “Tell him,” she whispered before her gaze turned to the floor.

  “Your condition is getting worse and... they say within about two years you won't be able to speak or move anything aside from your eyes,” his father said, unwilling to look Asher in the eyes. “They've been talking about removing the tube from your mouth and inserting one directly into your stomach and we wanted to know how you... felt about it.”

  He stared for a few moments. “What... i-if I... d-do... d-don't g-g... ge... get it?”

  Neither of his parents even tried looking at him now. He understood perfectly.

  “I-I'd die?” His hands clenched and panic flooded him. It made sense, though. Most families would have never been able to afford the costs of keeping him here, as well as the government fees in place for cases like this. “T-this... y... you w-w... wa... w-want?”

  “No!” his mother said quickly. “We just know... you haven't been... this has been hard on you. Harder than any of us. We just want to know what you want.”

  “I-I... I...” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Why did talking have to be so hard? “I... I... There... s-s-still... wa... wan... want d-do...” He gasped out and closed his eyes, his breathing fast as he struggled with each word.

  “I know. You don't have to decide now. Just... tell us what you want when you want,” she said as she slowly pulled herself out of the chair and wobbled towards him. She leaned down and gave him an awkward hug. “You'll always be my little baby, Asher. I just want what's best for you, what will make you happy.”

  “I... c-can... t-talk... next game? E-easy.” He tried not to inhale any of his moms hair when she hugged him.

  “Okay...” she whispered before pulling back. “It's your birthday in a few months so ummm... you'll finally be eighteen.” Her cheeks turned red as she looked towards the door. “I know you're... young and want to try things that, errr... well... you tell him.” She turned towards his father as the man looked like a deer in the headlights.

  “Well, son. We know you can't, err, try things in... normal life so we ummm... for your birthday we got you a few thousand credits for the red light district and just... don't do anything too wild.”

  He stared for a few moments while he tried to be sure he heard that right. Thousand credits in the red light district. His cheeks burned bright red as now he couldn't look them in the eye. “T-thanks,” he managed to say in a pitiful whisper.

  “Well, now that err, all that's settled, we'll uhhh, we'll be heading out,” his father said. “Ummm. We'll see you tomorrow on the station. Errr... yeah,” He'd never seen his father so embarrassed before, but he couldn't blame him. They left as quick as they could after that, and he found his thoughts wandering towards the gift they got him.

  He eventually tried to feel happy they hadn't told him about the pregnancy. If they hadn't felt so guilty they might not have gotten him the gift. A few minutes after they left Amy popped into the room and smiled. “Wanna get to your game?”

  “P-please...” he whispered before she slid the headset back on again. The world began to shift and change around him. He already found his mind wandering to the red light district.

  ------

  Asura appeared on the top floor of the fortress. To her right she saw a gaping hole where a catapult rock had hit, but it was already being repaired by a number of NPC masons. She glanced around for a few seconds before stepping back, close to the doorway to the lower levels, and moved her hand through the air. She hummed softly when a few new messages popped up and she flipped through them.

  “Mmm hmmm... no news... no news... no news... ah hah!” She came to a message from B4hamutt. “Found them... small squad of seven... perfect!” She sent out a response and within a few minutes she received another message. “Hmmm... we'r
e almost good to go. Two of our group won't be on until later tonight so... well that sucks. What am I going to do for hours?”

  An explosion nearly sent her toppling when the ground a few feet from her exploded, pelting her in pieces of stone while her ears rang with the deafening blow. She laid there, stunned on her stomach while the world shook and her hearing slowly returned. She stared at the hole for a few moments and struggled to recollect herself and shake off the sudden blast. With shaking legs she got to her feet and moved to the edge of the fortress to peer out. Right. War. Defending the place was still important.

  With a deep breath she reached out and performed a quick class change so a mace and shield formed in her hands and smooth blue scales formed along her body. “Might as well work on maxing out the mace while I've got a few hours,” she said gleefully before jumping off the roof and flying down to the battle.

  It was madness. There were three areas of defense set up to keep the fortress secure. The internal fortress, which had yet to be breached, and housed all the leaders of the coalition. The inner courtyard, which was surrounded by a thick wall and had been breached once, but they had barely been able to hold it. Finally, a base of operations outside. Fortunately there were plenty of advantages allowing the defenders a fighting chance, even with the numbers outside.

  For one, any of them who died resurrected inside the fortress while their opposition resurrected at their own set bases, far away. Two, the only way to get through the gate outside was by getting massive battering rams to the entrance and breaking the door down, not an easy feat. Three, people couldn't betray while inside the fortress. Which meant they couldn't try to help people get inside or kill the leaders without first leaving. Fortunately, they had managed to catch everyone so far who had tried to sneak in and the leaders were under constant guard in case someone finally did.