by J. R. Ford
Heather was in there somewhere, but I didn’t know where. She could be surrounded by apprentices. Rushing in would just get me butchered.
A pine copse huddled this side of the inn. Low branches offered ascent. The wet bark chafed my fingers.
The roof looked slick, and the gap was five feet. My mind flashed back to the fall that had loomed before me when breaking into the guild hall. My television aired an episode of “Pavel falls two stories and busts his head open.”
No time for imaginary pain. I assured my footing, then jumped.
My feet skidded on the slick roof, sending me over backward. My tailbone hit the tiles hard, and I smashed my fingers into the lip of the roof trying to stabilize myself. I huffed wet air and got up, not looking at the fall that had nearly ended me.
Beneath the storm’s rage, I heard splashing footsteps — had the smokers heard me? I stayed low and slipped to the other side of the roof.
A few window dormers stuck out. I peeked into each — all were barred from the inside and reinforced against the storm. Just as I was considering smashing one, the door inside swung open. I ducked and pressed my ear to the frame.
About time I got lucky. The voice that reached me was Edwin’s, loud and arrogant over the rainfall. “Come here…what’s wrong? Still thinking about your boyfriend? Forget him, he was nothing, weak, worthless. I don’t understand what you and Ana saw in him.”
Almost too quiet for my straining ears, “You wouldn’t.”
Edwin shrugged off the jab, or maybe he just wasn’t listening. “Anyway, he’s dead now. You’ll never see him again.” He laughed. “Look, you do still care! You’ll learn.”
I considered smashing the window, but I’d probably die trying to get through. I ground my teeth instead.
“Where are you going?” Edwin called. “Come back here…willful whore. She’ll learn, if she doesn’t log out first.” He chuckled.
I crept over to the edge. The two smokers had returned to their huddle. Heather emerged from the doorway between them, strode to the outhouse, and slammed the door.
I had moments before she logged out. I loped back to the edge, taking care on the slippery tiles, and jumped for the tree before I could think about it.
On landing, the branch slipped out from under my feet. I caught it in the crook of an elbow instead, the impact wrenching my arm. I wrapped the trunk with my legs, extracted my arm, and slithered the rest of the way down.
No time for pain, not even the real deal. I snuck to the corner and gripped my rapier and dagger. A third Enlightened was wobbling toward the outhouse.
He banged on the door. “Hey! Anyone in there?”
Would his pounding take Heather’s finger off the button, or make her press it? Was she still even in-game?
Only one answer mattered. I whirled around the corner and found myself facing one of the smokers. His mouth opened, his cigarette tumbling to the mud, then I was in motion. He followed his cigarette while I dashed for his companion.
She blanched, but before she reached the door, my rapier reached her neck. I shoved her back and turned on the drunk, who had drawn his sword. I met his terrified gaze with steel.
Then he turned and kicked in the door of the outhouse. Heather screamed.
“Don’t!” I shouted, and he actually paused, long enough for Heather to rush him. They hit the stone and wrestled around, twisting and tumbling so I couldn’t get a clean angle. Frustrated, I dropped my rapier, grabbed his shoulder, and pulled him to face me. My dagger deflected off of cheekbone and sank into eye. “Kill a player: +5.”
Heather, white faced, regained her feet and grabbed the apprentice’s sword. “Pav,” she said.
“We need to go.” I didn’t know if it was worth disposing of the bodies, but the longer we deliberated, the greater the chance of discovery. The scuffle hadn’t made that much noise, compared to the din of the tavern and the storm’s howl. I hoped it would be another pint or two before the apprentices began lining up. We crouch ran toward the cliffs and cave mouth.
“Is it true?” I asked.
She nodded. “There’s a giant in there, all right. Fifty feet plus. The Enlightened were decimated.”
“And Farrukh?”
“Broken arm.”
“One fewer to backstab us with.” Lightning danced overhead.
“Don’t blame him, Pav. He thought that we were all going to die.”
“He always seemed a die-on-his-feet type. Guess I pegged him wrong.”
We stopped behind a small ledge. “Why did you come back?” Heather asked, her voice quiet. “I told you to run.”
“I wasn’t going to abandon you, and I wasn’t going to give up on Ana.”
“So you can die alongside us?”
“No. So I can live alongside you.”
Her eyes were on my feet. Rain streamed over her face. “Why do you do this to me? Haven’t I told you? I’m not worth it.”
“You can say that all you want, but that doesn’t make it true. Let’s go!”
Two apprentices flanked the cave entrance. The one closer to me screamed before he died. The second’s sword clattered against my outstretched dagger while my thrust pierced his breast. I recovered, then dealt a blow to his face. He went down with a gurgle.
None of the death affected me the way it used to. There was still the disgust, and I was done pretending it wasn’t real, but Guilherme had steeled me. The Enlightened were the enemy, simple as that, and even if they weren’t individually evil, they worked toward evil ends.
Anyway, there were bigger fish to fry. I drew the Lightning Blade and offered the hilt to Heather.
She shook her head. “Distract it, try to stun it. I’ll go for the Storm’s Breath. Then we get out of there.”
I craned my neck. Of the three towers of the Durg, only one glowed against the thunderhead. “Got it.”
The cavern ceiling stretched high overhead, and an opening in the cliff face let some light in. Half the cavern disappeared into a dark crevasse, with a series of ridges culminating in an outcrop over the precipice. Lightning gleamed on a polished wooden chest at the very edge. Bingo.
The far side of the cavern, past the cliff, was bare except for a shelf of six-foot books. To the left, a corridor led into writhing darkness. I squinted. Black tar glistened on the walls and floor of that passage, beneath the squirming forms of hundreds of gastroliths. Not an escape route. But far along the lip of the crevasse, the light faded into a clear passageway.
“He’s down there,” Heather said, looking at the cliff.
No time to dally. The Enlightened could be after us any minute. We clambered up toward the chest.
The ground rumbled, then one giant hand reached over and slammed down before us. His palm was as big as my torso, and the veins on the back of his hand glowed fiery yellow through dark skin. A second hand came after, making the entire cavern shake. Then, with a heave and a rumble, the giant rose from the darkness.
His beard and chest hair were dark tangles with fiery streaks. Yellow eyes gazed down upon us. His entire body smoked.
His voice was a raspy whisper. “Come to try to kill me again?”
I shrank back.
“Can we have the Storm’s Breath, please?” Heather asked. “We won’t hurt you.”
His massive belly shook. Then his fist slammed down, and fire erupted around it.
I leapt away, fell onto hands and knees on the shaking ground, and rose in time to lunge away from a slap that made the world vibrate. His palm cracked on stone, sending a wave of heat powerful enough to dry my skin and sweep back my hair.
Heather bolted for the chest. A slamming fist and surging flame sent her reeling.
I cursed and sprinted at the giant, drawing the Lightning Blade. The ridge was level with his sternum — a good leap could put my sword through his heart. Based on the proportions, it would be about thirty feet to the base of the pit, but maybe I could ride the giant to a safe dismount. And even if I couldn’t, it would
clear Heather’s path to the Storm’s Breath.
My war cry gained his attention — as well as Heather’s. “Pav, don’t!”
I skidded to a stop at the edge. Who had I been kidding? That fall was deadly.
The giant recoiled, then upon my hesitation, tried to sweep me aside. I dropped flat, hot wind blasting over me.
When I looked up, his other hand was reaching for Heather. She shrieked and tumbled down a ridge.
I had to regain aggro. The giant planted a hand on the rim, and I closed in. Just as he leapt, the Lightning Blade pierced the flesh between his knuckles.
The giant flinched and, taking my sword with him, crashed back into the bookshelf. Tomes tumbled onto him with heavy thumps.
“Hey!”
I turned. Four Enlightened were in the cave mouth, drawing swords. One turned back, and the others scrambled up the slope, toward Heather.
I interceded. Looking down on them, they seemed half-drunk, half-terrified.
The giant stirred behind me. I put on my meanest mug and hoped my voice wouldn’t crack. “You want to end up like your friends? Points in my wallet? Run!”
They hesitated. I feinted at the foremost, who parried clumsily and turned tail. His companions followed.
Then the earth quaked and took my feet out from under me. Pain flashed through my already bruised tailbone.
The giant had vaulted up onto his side, between Heather and the Storm’s Breath, a ten-foot wall of flesh. Hot veins riddled his brown skin, only obscured by a tied loincloth and thick shackles around his ankles. Heather had her stolen sword in two shaking hands.
“That hurt,” he rumbled, then swiped at her. She ducked and made for his feet.
I scrambled toward his head, rapier in hand. If I could get one of his eyes, maybe…
He stuck his uninjured hand straight out in my path. My rapier sank in to the hilt, and I recovered before he could tear it away too. Then he twisted and sprung to his feet. Displaced rocks crashed around me, but I kept my feet.
Heather had a clear shot to the chest, as long as I could maintain aggro. “What kind of fire giant keeps books?” I shouted, lunging for his big toe.
The rapier caught underneath the toenail. He howled. A sweep from his other foot caught my legs and toppled me. Rocks dug into my backside, but the pain was overshadowed by a giant sole raised to end me.
“Pavel!” Heather shouted. She was leaping down onto the ridge where I lay.
I tried to roll away, but the giant was taking his time. The foot followed me with unerring precision, heel poised to crush my chest. “Get the Storm’s Breath!” I gasped. With its power, she could find the Nullifier, save Ana, defeat Edwin.
Instead, she planted herself above me, no longer even holding her sword. “No!” I cried. Not again!
The heel fell. Heather raised her palm high over her head. The foot struck her outstretched hand and knocked her down onto me. But the giant recoiled, stumbled back, and took a knee with a thump.
Heather smiled at me from atop my chest. Lilacs wafted. “I think it worked.”
I rose to find the giant shrinking. The fire subsided too, until all that remained was a tall Indian man, too small for his shackles. The fire had disappeared from his hair, but not from his bright yellow eyes. The Lightning Blade clattered to the ground, alongside something small and smoldering.
Heather opened her hand. She clutched the Amulet of Reverse Transformation. The sunstone had shattered under the impact, and the gold frame was warped.
I approached the no-longer-giant, retrieving the Lightning Blade and pointing it at him. He seemed familiar.
“Who are you?” I asked. He looked at me, and I knew. “You’re Pradeep Lokesh.”
Then boulders began to fall.
20
A thousand questions tumbled through my mind, but the cacophony of falling rocks smothered them all. Yellow robes at the cave entrance — no-go. Neither was the corridor squirming with slugs an option. But there was the third exit, along the lip of the cliff.
Heather scooped up the smoldering object and we took off. With Pradeep no longer on fire, its yellow light was our only illumination. We heard him behind us, footsteps pounding as if he were still a giant. I glanced back and saw him vault over a fallen boulder with acrobatic grace and a wide grin.
A crash before me sprayed stone shards. I tumbled over the split boulder. Heather hauled me to my feet and kept me running through the sharp pain.
We stumbled through the doorway just as a boulder fell in our wake, sealing the exit behind us. I panted and wheezed through an aching chest.
Heather’s hand shifted where it still held mine. The movement sent an electric shock through me as surely as if I’d been struck by one of Edwin’s spells. But I’d ruminate on Ana’s speculations later.
Pradeep lit a torch somehow, illuminating a huge spiral staircase. More torches were ensconced upon the walls, unlit. The steps seemed carved from the rock with the same impossibly sharp blade as had carved out the quarry. Each step was a perfect cube of empty space, all overlapping at the same angle, jagged edges eating into the walls. I could only imagine one exit: into Vedanth Durg, the demesne of the warlock.
Heather was inspecting the thing she’d picked up, which I realized was a heart pulsating with golden fire, about the size of my fist.
“How did you know the amulet would work?” I asked.
“We haven’t encountered any AI smart enough to speak or read, only animals,” she said, her eyes not leaving the heart.
“That’s no guarantee the amulet would do anything.”
“I figured it had to be good for something. Beyond that, I kind of had to trust myself,” she said, her gaze flicking to mine. “Your life depended on it.” Then she ate the heart. One bite. She shuddered as she chewed, and when she swallowed, her eyes changed from blue to yellow.
“Huh?” I said.
“I got a notification when I picked it up. ‘Obtained Fireheart. Consume to gain level in class: Alchemist.’”
“Cool, level 1! Do you have spells now?”
“Let me check,” she said, but Pradeep interrupted.
“Why did you come this way, and not toward your fellows?” His eyes were the same yellow as Heather’s.
“They’re not our fellows,” I said, “but that’s coincidental. Our friend suffers from the same ailment that plagued your wife. We’ve come to find a Nullifier, but seeing what happened to you, that’s looking like a bad idea. What happened?”
Pradeep said nothing for a moment. I noticed his palms were stained purple before he clenched them into fists. “I demanded Vedanth return with me, to cure my wife, regardless of whatever duties he had here. He refused, and it came to blows. Alas, I was defeated and imprisoned.” His expression was grim. “He wanted to humiliate me.”
“You’ve been down there since the Beta?” Heather asked.
He looked at her quizzically. “I logged out when the Beta ended. But part of the compensation as Beta testers was tickets for the main game. The developers let me log back into this body, perhaps seeing me as a useful early-game boss, and even spawned me some giant, flame-retardant books so I wouldn’t get bored. Though I admit, I was not expecting to gain my vengeance so quickly. I still had half that bookshelf to read.”
“Your vengeance?” I asked.
“Aye. I go to slay the man who imprisoned me, my brother. No matter what he says he must do.” He began stomping up the stairs.
We chased after him. I asked, “He’s here too?”
“Our feud cannot go unresolved. His monsters may have claimed Geeta’s life, but I’ll have his, and I’ll have the prize.”
“What’s the point in being vague?” I asked. “Spit it out.”
“We have one hundred thousand rupees on whoever can beat the other once I was freed. The whole Beta tester group chat has bets on it. I can’t lose, not again.”
“Well, let us ask him to transform our friend back first,” I said.
“Not an option,” Pradeep said. “I’ll show you out. This feud goes beyond the life of a single player.”
Heather surged ahead and planted herself in front of him. “You prick!”
“I won’t have warning of his downfall reach him. No doubt he would prepare some vile trick. I will reap my vengeance and bring you the Null Droplet after, or in the unlikely case that he kills me, you can ask him then. Once we reach the entrance hall, I’ll show you out.”
“We freed you, and you’ll as good as abandon us?” Her gaze could sear.
He avoided eye contact. “I cannot help you in this.”
Heather scowled. “Then teach me. You’re level 5, and I have some questions.”
He glowered, then popped the torch into a sconce and sat down on the steps. “I see no harm. What do you want to know?”
“What do you know about the gastroliths?” Heather’s question caught me off guard. Even just after reaching level 1, her first question was about saving Ana.
“Vedanth created the gastroliths with two spells imbued into their slime: an Alchemy, to transform, and a Hex to bind the transformation in place. You should have the power to undo the former.”
Her fingers tapped through the menus. “Yeah! Transmute, shapeshift, and reverse transformation!”
Pradeep continued, “The Hex can be undone by killing the source of the Hex mana, the Mollusking, but there is another way. Any level 1 Nullifier can nullify the Hex, allowing the hexed to be transformed back to their original form. Vedanth is indeed a Nullifier.”
“And what, exactly, is a Nullifier?”
“A class. To fully understand it, you must understand the nature of magic in this realm.”
We shared a glance. Time was not our ally.
“The more we understand, the better chance we have of saving Ana,” Heather said. “Get explaining.”
His sigh prompted me to sit down, though Heather still stood over him. “There are two phases when casting a spell. In the first phase, a spellcaster makes their symbols, drawing mana from their Artifact into their body. Check your ‘Spells’ tab.”