1-Up

by Dean Smith

  Vardant’s new trick had put Valiant on the back foot but Valiant strove to regain his advantage. He swung at Vardant’s jewel but only struck the air as Vardant disappeared once again. he appeared once more a distance away but this time he looked as bewildered as Valiant did, his expression led Valiant to a realisation. Was the demon as confused by these new powers as everyone else was? It looked like that was the case as his control over his new power was limited. For every time he teleported correctly, he would also appear in a disadvantageous position and it was because of this that Valiant landed his first strike. Vardant had taken to the air but had disappeared on his descent, Valiant raised his shield but felt the ground shake beneath him. Vardant had teleported too far behind Valiant and had crashed into the ground. Seeing an opportunity, Valiant struck the Demon Prince’s jewel and watched as Vardant’s entire being contorted in pain and rage. Vardant swung up at him and Valiant parried his strike and knocked him off balance once more. He struck the jewel again and this time it cracked. One more strike and it would be over.

  Valiant knew from experience that all his foes were at their most dangerous when they were almost defeated and Prince Vardant was no exception. He took to the skies once more but this time he didn’t teleport. He bore down on Valiant with all the force he could muster and Valiant put everything he had into blocking the blows with his shield but Vardant was relentless and Valiant was losing grip.

  It all happened very quickly, Vardant’s latest blow had tore Valiant’s shield from his grip and with his other hand. He slashed at Valiant, cutting into him with his claws.

  Valiant cried out in pain as he shoved the demon away from him. His vision pulsed and blurred. That was almost a mortal blow, he couldn’t take another. He dived for his shield and covered himself with it as he searched his inventory for the one thing he needed. When he found the red bottle, he could have kissed it. He downed its contents as Vardant’s latest attacks shook his shield once more. Valiant could feel the warm liquid throughout his being and the pain left him, he could feel the gashes from Vardant’s attack stitch themselves together painlessly.

  God bless health potions!

  Ready to end this, Valiant thrust his shield forward just as Vardant’s claws hit the shield, the parry had thrown Vardant off balance and Valiant kicked him in the chest, knocking the demon to the ground. Without wasting a second, Valiant brought his sword down upon the demon, impaling the fire jewel with his blade. Vardant silently screamed as death took hold. Valiant had vanquished the Demon Prince, but he didn’t rest easy at the thought. Death could never hold on to Valiant’s enemies for long, but for now he was happy that the battle was over.

  He ran to Rita and broke open the chains that held her captive and now free, she flung herself at him.

  ‘Oh Sir Valiant, my saviour-AAAAAAAAAH!’ She pointed behind Valiant to Vardant’s corpse floating in the air, his head lolling grotesquely to the side. Valiant stepped in front of Rita and withdrew his sword, ready for another battle.

  Seconds passed as the corpse floated there eerily until Valiant saw it, the strange blizzard-y effect that the king had shown him on the castle floor. That same effect was now covering Vardant’s corpse until it swallowed him whole.

  Valiant stepped back with Rita, he didn’t understand what was going on and he would not risk Rita’s safety. When faced with the unknown the right answer was to retreat to learn more about the situation in front of them.

  ‘Let’s go, your Majesty.’ He backed away with her but situation had changed before their eyes. The strange body in front of them was warping into a circular swirling shape, a shape that was dragging them towards it. It was some sort of rift or gateway but Valiant did not want to know where it led.

  He could hear the Princess scream behind him as she lost her footing and flew towards the rift. Valiant grabbed hold of her but he was losing his footing and they drew ever closer to the entity. Valiant tried to stab the ground with his sword but the sword couldn’t provide stability and was dragged with them. Rita’s foot was inches away from the rift.

  ‘Valiant!’ She cried.

  ‘I’m sorry! I don’t know what to do! I don’t know, I don’t know!’ Rita’s foot touched the rift, and she screamed. Valiant tried to pull her back, but the rift had her in its grip. He could see the blizzard effect work its way through her clothes and up to her face and into her eyes. Valiant almost let go of her in shock when she screamed, her eyes had changed from a bright silver to that of the blizzard. He pulled his eyes away from hers and saw that the strange energy was travelling through him now, Valiant was terrified but he refused to let go of Rita.

  Behind the screaming Rita, the vortex or void or rift, whatever it was, had expanded and retracted violently and it let go of Rita’s foot and both Rita and Valiant collapsed to the floor. They watched in horror as the entity continued to contort until it exploded, sending a large shock wave emanating forth which sent them both hurtling through the air. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, Valiant could only watch as the shock wave from the explosion ripped through the field and beyond until it was out of sight. How far it would go, Valiant did not know and before he could do anything else, he collided with the floor as darkness took hold.

  Vardant.dat has stopped working. Processes failed. Please reboot.

  It was all he could see, endless words he didn’t understand it.

  System Failure. Source Code corruptions detected. HeroesOfVenturisVIII.EXE has stopped working. Will you send an Error Report to Pixelstar Studios? Yes/No.

  It was never ending and soon the words gave away to numbers.

  00000000000000000000000000011101010101010101010101010101111111111111111001010000000001010101010101

  ‘STOP!’ Valiant wanted to scream but he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t do anything but endure the overwhelming numbers before him as they multiplied and bore down upon him.

  10010100000001110101010101010

  After a while, minutes? Seconds? Hours? Valiant did not know, he came to understand the numbers. They made sense to him somehow, and they spoke of things he struggled to comprehend at first but in time, he saw their meaning as they formed strange words he couldn't understand but somehow knew. He was looking at the building blocks of his entire world. These words that so often ended with things like '.dat' and '.exe' made up everything, the trees, the seas, the kingdom, the people. Everything. These numbers were life itself. It was an overwhelming thought, too overwhelming, but Valiant couldn’t escape the knowledge that flooded his mind and the truth that changed everything.

  It dawned on him, and it shattered his heart into cold shards of ice. He knew what this world was although he wished he didn’t.

  Venturis did not exist, it’s people did not exist, he did not exist. It was all just fiction for someone else’s entertainment. His life was an interactive story for their amusement. He didn’t understand the term but in the 1s and 0s and the strange words they formed he saw what his world was. It was called a ‘Video Game’ and he was its ‘main character.’

  Level 2

  Princess Rita stood over Valiant as the visions of numbers and truths faded and he regained consciousness. Could it have all been a weird magical fever dream? Valiant wanted to believe that was true but he could feel that things were different. Everything that felt so real before now felt like a facade. He could no longer feel the gentle breeze or sunlight on his skin and as he looked around at the animals and creatures within this great field, he noticed things he never noticed before. He watched as a cow paced back and forth, repeating the same steps over and over and mooing at regular intervals and it wasn’t just the animals either. Valiant cast his eyes towards a humble farm and he watched for a few moments as a farmhand waved at another worker who would patrol the same route around the farm over and over. Repetitive patterns seemed to define this world and Valiant hadn’t noticed it until now. How could he not know that his entire world was just a game? How did he not see these obvious signs?

&nb
sp; ‘Valiant.’ Princess Rita spoke with steel in her voice, the breathless airiness was gone and she looked at him with analytical eyes. ‘Did you see it too? The Source Code?’

  Valiant didn’t know what the Source Code was but he could guess, it was those symbols he saw, the ones that told him the truth of the world.

  ‘I think so...’

  ‘Then you know the truth.’ Princess Rita stood up from Valiant and looked around. ‘It’s all fake, none of it is real, we aren’t real.’ It made Valiant feel anxious to hear her say that, to hear what he knew to be true said out loud. How could anyone process this information? What could they do with it?

  ‘What are we going to do?’ She echoed his thoughts.

  Real or not, he had only ever known this life of being a hero. When faced with change, he could only do what he knew to do and hope for the best. The times when the world was falling apart were the times he shone brightest, and he needed to shine for the princess now.

  ‘We’ll do what we have always done, we’ll save the day and carry on. Come, your Highness, let’s go back to the castle.’ He held out his hand for the princess and she took it reluctantly. She didn’t look satisfied with his answer and neither was he but being a hero meant putting a brave face on for the benefit of the people in his care. If he let go of hope, if he gave into fear, all would be lost.

  As they took their first step, the world around them became a swirling vortex and the only thing they could hear was an ear splitting ‘whoosh!’. Within seconds, they found themselves back in the field but they weren’t alone. A pack of monstrous wolves had appeared in front of them and above them, a strange floating box with writing within it had appeared.

  ‘Surprise attack! The enemies strike first!’

  The wolves descended upon Valiant. He defended as best as he could against their attacks but he could feel where their teeth and claws had struck true. Now it was his turn.

  As he prepared to attack, another floating box appeared, and it listed four options. ‘Attack’, ‘Defend’, ‘Skills’ and ‘Items’. The wolves outnumbered him, and he needed to end this quickly. He decided to use a technique he had felled so many foes with, Storm Blade. His father taught him this attack, a sweeping slash that could hit multiple enemies. It was one of his signature moves. As he decided on his course of action, the ‘Skills’ option became highlighted and selecting it brought up another box with a list of his combat skills. Storm Blade was the first skill on the list. Valiant was confused by what was going on but he had to focus on the problem in front of him. He unleashed Storm Blade, decimating the wolves in an instant but one remained and he had his sights set on Princess Rita. It bolted for her and Valiant screamed at her to run but she didn’t. He tried to intercept but he couldn’t move, that last attack drained him of his energy. He could only watch in fear as the wolf leapt at Princess Rita’s throat but it’s teeth never got the chance to make contact. Rita threw her hands up and that strange energy from the void erupted from them and blasted the wolf which exploded into a torrent of 1’s and 0’s. Valiant was speechless, he barely even paid attention to the strange fanfare that accompanied their victory or that another vortex had appeared to return them to where they were before the battle.

  Valiant could only stare at her in wonder. Princess Rita had no powers that he knew of, and she was vulnerable which the enemies of Valiant and Wingcrest used to their advantage but now she was far from powerless. She had not only defeated the wolf, she had destroyed every trace of it.

  She noticed him staring.

  ‘I don’t understand it either. It’s got to be the Source Code, maybe it changed us somehow? Try blasting something.’ Valiant looked around for a target and found a tree stump.

  ‘Just point at it and imagine energy flowing from your hands.’ She instructed, he followed her advice but nothing happened, he felt silly, he was pointing at a tree stump and waving his hands around to no avail.

  ‘Here, let me try again.’ She pulled up her sleeve and took aim at the stump, she unleashed another blast that annihilated the tree stump like it wasn’t there to begin with.

  ‘Woah.’ Valiant looked to his own hands, he was certain he didn’t have the same powers she did. He had experienced what she had called the Source Code, and it shared its secrets with him but not all of them. It seemed like the void preferred her instead. Valiant wasn’t envious of that power however, with power comes responsibility and such a great power would come with a great burden. A burden he would gladly help her with. He watched her as she looked at her hands and at the damage they had unleashed with awe and as he did, he came to a realisation. Before today, his heart fluttered at the mention of the princess’ name and even though his heroics came first, he always wanted to make good on the promise he made to marry her but now when he looked at her, when he thought of her, he felt none of that. Princess Rita was supposed to be the love of his life but he felt as much of a bond with her as a random stranger. It was a worrying thought, just how much had today’s events had changed them? It was a question that would have to wait, for Valiant had a duty to fulfil, he needed to return the princess to Wingcrest which proved to be more time consuming than expected as every few steps they were thrown into battles with more creatures. Princess Rita was getting used to her new power to such an extent she was wiping out enemies without any help.

  ‘You sure you’re not escorting me to Wingcrest?’ Valiant said with a smile as the kingdom came into view.

  She returned his smile and looked upon her kingdom with apprehension.

  ‘Today was the first time I’ve ever felt in control. I’ve been kidnapped, used in heinous plots and had more bad luck than the entirety of Venturis combined. I was always a victim but now, I can be something more.’ She grabbed hold of his hands.

  ‘Valiant, I don’t want to go back to being a princess, to being rescued every other day. I want to do the rescuing. I want to make a difference and now I’ve got the power to do it!’ She beamed as though she couldn’t believe what she was saying.

  ‘I want to be like you, Valiant, I want to be a hero.’

  It filled Valiant with pride to see her want to use her powers for good but it would be easier said than done, being a hero was more than just slaying monsters, it was about being a beacon of hope and he wondered whether the king would allow his daughter to go out into the world when she had faced so much danger already. That being said, he was taken in by her enthusiasm.

  ‘Then I’ll help you, We’ll talk to the king together.’

  Set on their course of action, they approached the gates of Wingcrest but a strange sight laid before them. They could hear the sounds of Wingcrest but the gate was a black void, Valiant was hesitant to proceed but Princess Rita took his hand.

  ‘It’s nothing to worry about, trust me.’ She guided him through the void and in the distance he could see golden words floating in the darkness.

  ‘Now Loading.’

  A few seconds passed, and the darkness subsided. They were greeted with the familiar sight of Wingcrest. The princess and the hero had returned but Valiant couldn’t rest easy. He had the king to worry about and even more than that, he would have to confront the truth of his world, eventually.

  ***

  On the surface, nothing had changed in the kingdom but everything felt different. In the wake of what happened, Wingcrest felt small and Valiant could see that the surrounding people were on repetitive routines just like those farmhands were. Watching the people go back and forth, saying and doing the same things ad nauseam was upsetting. Valiant felt alone in one of the biggest kingdoms in all of Venturis and he could tell it would only get worse when he came into contact with people he knew and loved.

  He glanced at Princess Rita who seemed troubled, their worries were probably similar which made Valiant feel a little less alone but still, the problems this revelation had bought were many and insurmountable. Valiant struggled with the idea of living in a world in which everyone was stuck in a routine and o
nly had one or two things to say and the thought of it had brought deep existential questions to the forefront of his mind. If this world was just a video game then how much of himself was truly him and how much of his personality and experiences were written by the code? Would he still be destined to follow the player’s direction as he did in the past or was he now free to act alone? Did he even truly know what freedom was?

  Valiant felt light-headed thinking about it all so he put those thoughts to bed the best he could. For the moment, he would only focus on the goal in front of him which was returning the princess to the castle and speaking to King Theodore about what happened. Upon seeing the townspeople, he wondered whether that would even be possible, If the king was like everyone else, he wouldn’t be able to talk to them beyond the script that was written for him. Valiant worried for the princess if that were happen. King Theodore was a dear friend and it would be difficult to see him as just a video game character, incapable of individual thought, but it could crush Princess Rita.

  Valiant wanted to say something that would fix their problems or at least raise their morale but nothing came to mind. What could he say? In his heroic career he always knew the right thing to say, the right thing to do and the right way of acting but now he knew that he was following the script, was he even capable of being the hero he once was now he was free of the strings that controlled him? He thought of holding her hand but it made made him feel cold. It was only a few hours ago that he loved the princess with all his heart but now he didn’t know what to feel. The feelings he felt before felt fraudulent, they weren’t his; someone wrote them for him. All he could do now was try to figure out, like with everything else, what their relationship was in this new status quo.