by Dawn Chapman
As we rounded a corner, I could see the light up ahead, golden glow that also hummed. “The portal is something to behold, but you’ll need goggles, so it doesn’t hurt your eyes. I can’t do anything to protect your ears, though. It’s quite a sharp pitch when you get into the room.”
When he reached a doorway, we could see goggles hanging on the wall, and he handed us both a set. We put them on and then followed him out into the next room.
There before us was a large shimmering object. It seemed to float in mid-air, the size of the wall ahead of us. The humming indeed was quite loud and very high-pitched. It hurt my ears, but I held them closed and didn’t let the noise win. I stepped closer to it, just like he did. And when Doctor Foster pointed and vanished through the gleaming object, I moved to do the same.
This wasn’t like what Riezella had shown me. This was far different. There was a boisterous wind swirling from inside the portal, whistling and very strong. I turned to make sure Abel was following me. I couldn’t actually see him or the room anymore.
Panic set in, and then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I still couldn’t see anything, but there was a familiar presence.
Tibex.
Yes, Maddie.
Is this a real place?
Yes, it is.
Is this where Alex’s body is?
There was no reply, but then a soft whisper came to me. “Yes, Maddie. Your next task is to locate his body and turn off his life support.”
“What’s that?”
“There are machine’s keeping Alex alive, you must stop them.”
I stopped walking, and the hand that was on my shoulder squeezed gently.
“Maddie, closure is needed here. You need to see him, and you also need to finish what he’s started with choosing to become more than human.”
I actually agreed. I wanted nothing more than to see him be what was intended for him now. And if that was to do this one act, then I would.
I stepped forward once more, the wind in my hair settling down. Finally, I was able to breathe in and taste the air from this new world. This world that was something similar to Abel’s.
Abel moved in beside me, his voice catching on the wind that was around him. He gasped and touched my arm. “That was some rush. Are you okay?”
I nodded and caught my breath. Doctor Foster was ahead of us and beckoned us on, but I needed a moment to do more than to catch my breath. I wanted to see where we were.
The green grasses around us were beautiful, the plants and trees, so much more than we had on Puatera. I wanted to touch them and smell them. Everything about it was meant for me to be here, and it was an experience I needed to savour.
I didn’t allow myself to become too carried away with the new sensations. Doctor Foster urged us forwards.
I looked at him and then to where he pointed. There was indeed the largest building I’d ever seen. Moors Memorial Hospital, the label over the door said.
I then spat out the first thing that came to mind. “You knew about this? You know about Alex? How?”
“Because I was given a quest by the game. To bring you here, to aid you, and in return, they took away the curse.”
I swore under my breath.
“Maddie, what is this?” Abel said moving to stand before Foster and me.
“I’m here to end Alex’s life.”
“What?” his question said how he felt, but I could see with his shaking body and wandering eyes that he was freaking out. I knew I would, everything here felt real, but to him he should only be playing the game. “You can’t be serious.”
I was, and I knew it was something I could do. But I wasn’t sure if I could do it on my own.
“There’s a lot that I don’t know, Maddie. This place, the way the game guides you and what it has asked of me. But I feel much better. I feel like I’m doing something for the greater good. I did so many bad things, and you know I did. I’m trying to make up for it, to help where I can, and to let my people survive.”
I moved to whisper into Foster’s ear, “You need to keep Abel out here. He can’t see this, even if he thinks this place is a game. We know differently. Four portals—one is real, this one.” I moved to go inside the building.
I expected Abel to put up a fight, and I could hear him shouting behind me. “You can’t go in there, Maddie! You can’t do what you’re saying. What if this isn’t the simulation? What if this really is his world and you’re actually going to kill him?”
I turned to Abel and met his stare. His wonderful eyes now held such intense fear. Fear of something he knew nothing about.
I moved to him while Doctor Foster moved behind him, and I placed my hand on his cheek. “This is your world, Abel.” I saw something else then, a shimmer from his nametag. “This is your world, Mark Langlos, age twenty-seven, born and raised in New York City.”
His eyes faded, his shock evident as his jaw dropped. “You can’t know that kind of information. It isn’t stored anywhere. I have a fake name—even Dresel doesn’t know that.”
“No, he doesn’t, but I do. I know your mother and father are dead, your sister works and lives with her boyfriend not far from you.”
My hand started to glow, and I felt the energy coming from within me, no, not just me but from within the ring itself, from all the Tromoal and from even Tibex.
“You need to let me do this. You’ve seen more than your share of this game already. You’re in our own world in a digital form while your body rests back in another country. That’s not possible, but it’s happening.”
“Don’t kill him.” Tears started to stream down his face. I noticed several people giving him strange looks. I guess we were out of place. This world had vastly different clothing than we had. There probably was no need for armour, for goggles, or anything.
I glanced to Foster as I moved away from Abel. “He won’t follow me, but take him somewhere he can start to believe in this, in himself. He’s a special guy.”
Foster nodded. “Will you be okay?”
“I’ll be more than okay. This is a quest that only I can complete. For something to change in my world for real, it must end in this one.”
When he lowered his head and began to walk away with Abel in tow, he didn’t look back at me.
I made my way forward. All of a sudden, there was a bright flash and the clothes I wore vanished from my skin. I now wore something similar to the clothes I’d seen them wearing earlier with Riezella.
I moved to the door. It was made of glass, almost like something we’d have on Puatera but finer, easier to see through. I pushed it open. The ring around my hand started to glow, it’s eerie pink sparkles lighting up the corridor I traversed.
I didn’t know where Alex was, but I was listening to the one thing now that was inside me. There was hope, love, and more importantly, my instinct now to help and set him free properly.
I made my way through the building. People seemed to ignore me, which was weird. I didn’t know if they could see me or not. I wondered if maybe it had something to do with the ring or who I was.
Tibex’s words came through for me.
This is who you are.
I can traverse worlds and be seen or not be seen if I want to?
Yes, which is more than many can say.
Would Riezella be able to do this?
No, she cannot. Not in this way. She can see and view things, but she doesn’t have a solid form that can swap between worlds. She’s in digital form from her own world, and that’s all she can do.
I watched as several humans milled around. They stopped when they seemed to see something around me, but then they kept going once more.
I saw a box like what Dresel used on us and entered it. The lift started to move, and I went with it, following the path upwards towards the sky.
Once, there was a ping, and the door opened. I moved into a different corridor where there was a woman on a desk. She looked up at the empty lift but then went back to work. On the board behi
nd her was a list of room numbers and names. Then I spotted it—a name. His name.
Alex Dubois.
I moved to the board and saw some of the diagnoses on there, understanding them, I sighed. Then I moved to leave the area and walked into the room where I knew he would be. Where I at least knew his body was, because his real soul, his inner person, was back on Puatera.
Sucking in a breath, tears flowing freely down my face, I paused, I wasn’t sure I could go in to do this one thing to save him and to help save Puatera. I had killed people before, but I had never killed someone I loved.
I placed my palm on the door and opened it.
Chapter 7
The room was dark, but there was a little light coming from the window. I wanted to look straight to the bed, to see Alex. But I also needed light, so I moved to the window first and opened the curtains a bit. The world below us was immense, and I started to speak. I could hear breathing behind me, but it was mechanical, something I’d never heard nor probably wanted to ever again. It was the only thing keeping Alex alive in this world. What I was about to do to him was tearing me apart on the inside.
I watched as birds flew from one side of the building to another across the street, and I let my tears flow.
The sun on my face was warm, and finally plucking up the courage to turn, I faced my worst fear.
Alex lay surrounded by machines. They beeped and ticked and breathed for him. I knew they were the only things keeping him alive. He wasn’t really with us. Not now.
Taking a step towards the bed, I reached out and placed my hand on Alex’s hand. His skin was pale and clammy, thin, and he was so very weak. I picked his hand up gently and felt how real he was.
“Alex,” I said, watching his face. “I know you’re not really here, but I am. I am here in your world. I wanted to see you, but it seems my task is greater than that. I’m here to sever the ties you have with your world.”
The tubes and machines breathed for him, and the mask shook gently with each forced breath. I traced my finger up his arm. There was a mark there, something in ink. I looked at it and pushed up his shirt so I could make it out. There was a picture of a Tromoal, what he called a dragon. Stunning reds and blues, just like Riezella. I smiled. I knew he’d said they were mythical in his world, but seeing this version on his arm was something else. I leaned forward, placing my lips on his arm, and kissed him, letting out a breath, but then I sucked in quickly as my kisses turned to sobs. There on his bed, I cried, and I cried.
Cutting his ties to this world would have been hard for him, but it was even harder for me. Here he was still alive and still breathing, even if it were only machines. The machines are breathing for him. I didn’t know if the transference would work. Would he still be alive there?
There was so much I wanted to say to him, and the words tumbled out as I moved from the bed to the machines. I had no idea what they were doing, but I did know they were doing the job of keeping him alive, and it couldn’t keep doing it.
“Tibex?” I asked aloud. “I have to do this right now because the transference won’t work, will it?”
There was silence for a while and then an answer.
You’re correct, Maddie. There’s not much time left for him to finish the process.
I followed the leads to the machines from his arms and the mask on his face. Gripping the machine, I allowed my thoughts to flow through and into the machine. I could see the inside of the machine, the way it worked the rhythmical in and out. It was a lot, but it was also very easy to see where the mechanics were going, and where they went out of the room towards where that lady was sitting at a desk. I could interrupt the lines, and there wouldn’t be any clues to what was going on. I did so, making the alarms silent. I then gripped his arm and tugged the lines out. There was a small spurt of blood, but it stopped with some pressure. I then moved to the mask and pulled it from his face. Lines and dark circles caressed his cheeks. I ran a finger down them as his body stilled. There was nothing now to keep him alive. Nothing here to keep him.
“Let yourself go,” I said. “I’m here to be with you, listen to me, my voice. I am here. I won’t let you down. I won’t leave you.”
Pulling his frail body to mine, I could feel his warmth, but then I also felt his body surge. His life was leaving him as he struggled for air even though he wasn’t conscious. I focussed inside myself and allowed my energy to flow into him to help calm his struggling body. I knew it was working as I felt the energy inside him soothe.
Then he opened his eyes, and they locked with mine. There was recognition. I saw it. “Shh, my love. It’s all right. I’ll see you on the other side. I love you. I’ll see you soon.”
The light in his eyes started to fade, and I kissed his forehead, then his lips.
A moment later, Alex’s body was still.
Tears ran freely down my cheeks, and finally, I was able to let out soft sobs. It wasn’t long before those sobs turned into full-on wailing as I clung to his body. Still warm, soft. My heart was truly shattered, even with the hope that something of his essence would survive.
He’d gone. I’d helped him to leave this world. I felt sudden and terrible guilt for my actions. My only solace was the egg and Riezella’s words that he would become something different.
I sat there with him for some time, able to realise that while I’d done something bad, this was also a gift. I wanted to believe now that the soul inside the egg was his, that we’d have a chance at a relationship.
Tibex’s message came through.
It’s done. Return to the portal. Doctor Foster and Abel will be waiting for you.
A little too cold, but I tried not to feel the hurt that pained me so much. I eased out from beneath Alex and moved to the door. I couldn’t look back. I wouldn’t remember him like this, an empty shell.
No sooner had I managed to get past the table at the front, my focus on the electricals in this world waned, and alarms sounded. I knew there wouldn’t be anything they could do to revive him or to stem the pain to anyone who knew him in this world. I kept walking.
I seemed to walk for hours, but it wasn’t. Eventually, the tiny flashing light in the corner of my eye annoyed me. So I looked at it.
A new quest had come through, but I pushed it away. Figuring out where I was on the human hospital grounds, I spotted Abel and Foster standing at the side of the road, talking.
I approached them, the icon in my view still flashing, this time red. This quest must have been super important. I glanced at the notification and stepped closer to them.
QUEST - TASK TO LOCATE THREE SISTERS WHO HAVE BEEN TRAPPED IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS. RESCUE THEM FOR THEIR ALLEGIANCE IN THE WAR FOR MAICREOL.
What?
“Did you just get that?” I looked at both Abel and the doctor.
“Yes, I just don’t understand it. How can Puatera send us a quest for going into another plane of existence?”
“There are some very strange things goings on here,” Foster said. I couldn’t agree more, but I wasn’t allowing a stranger any information on the thoughts now whirling around in my head.
“Maddie, what are you thinking?” Abel asked.
“I can’t tell you my thoughts. You won’t believe any of them.”
“Maybe I will,” Foster said. “Please let us return to my home. Let me show you something that you won’t have been able to see on your notification screens.”
Doctor Foster moved to walk through the portal, and we followed him. Moments later, he sat and started to type away at a small touch keyboard. Then a screen popped up so that both Abel and I could see it.
Before us was a 3d hologram of my world. The five islands and two other mirror images of two other worlds. “This is what I’ve discovered so far. Puatera and its five islands. Follow this line, and you’re taken to a VR world of Earth. On this Earth, my colleagues and I have noted several differences. They make me believe that it isn’t real. That it is indeed just an alternate reality.”
“That, we don’t know. If you follow this mirrored line, then there’s also this alternative. We’ve discovered one almost desolate planet here, and there seems to be nothing other than a half-buried spacecraft.”
I glanced at Abel. “What’s a spacecraft?”
“A way of getting from one planet to another, like your Hog would from a town to a city.”
“You can travel to other planets?”
“Well, not really, at least not in any sense that we have found other life out there.”
I smiled. “I think there’s plenty of life around you that you just haven’t noticed.”
This time I focussed on my hands and the energy I had within me.
Maddie, are you sure about this?
I saw the pop-ups, and I ignored them. “This is who I am. I am not an NPC. I am not like you or from your world.” I pointed to the screen, to the desolate planet. To that spaceship. “I believe I’m from there. That’s another world, a world where many things have happened, where I ran from a very destructive being. Dresel discovered within my code that I was something called a Zofirax. I integrated with this digital world as best I could. Myself and a friend. It’s my friend who is managing a lot of the systems that Dresel thinks he created.”
Your memories are returning? I’m glad.
I saw the message and replied.
Yes, I know what we have to do. We must play this game out, but there’s a lot more to it than just this world. These sisters, do you know who they are, where they are?
I do not.
QUEST - REWARD - RESCUING THE 3 SISTERS WILL AID YOU IN YOUR WAR FOR MAICREOL.
I saw that and immediately wanted to go. We were so close already. But Abel shook his head. “There are many things we have to do before that, Maddie.”