1-Up

by Dean Smith

  ‘If you get targeted by his lightning attack, keep moving! It only tracks you until the moment it fires!’ He called to the others and right on cue, three lines leading to each of them appeared and, once more, the lines tracked each of their targets. Realising a potential issue before it could happen, Valiant called out once more to his allies.

  ‘When he’s using this attack, stay away from each other. If we stick together, we could end up hitting each other with his bolts.’

  Mordoom and Nina nodded in acknowledgement and spread out, dodging the bolts perfectly once Orion fired them. So far so good but things could still go downhill from here. This was the final battle of the Obsidian Stronghold and Valiant knew it would not be easy.

  Growing bored with lightning, Orion waved one of his cloaked hands around, summoning a dark fog that descended upon the arena. From this fog emerged putrid undead creatures, and they were spilling out of the fog at an alarming rate. Valiant charged at them as Orion prepared another set of lightning bolts. If those creatures overran the platform, it would be game over. Quickly as possible, Valiant sliced through all the undead creatures whilst remembering to stay on the move to avoid Orion’s bolts but for every monster he killed, another would take its place. There was another mechanic at play here, Valiant was sure of it. They couldn’t fight off the dead forever and no matter where Valiant looked, he couldn’t see any contraptions or signs of anything that could stem the flow of undead. The only thing present in the arena aside from Valiant and company and their opponent was the black fog that gathered in one spot. Valiant, upon looking at it, decided that the answer to the predicament had to be within the fog.

  ‘Hold the undead off the best you can!’ He called out as he took off towards the fog, slaying everything in his path. He sprinted into the fog and darkness overtook him but in the distance he could see a pale purple light, he moved towards it and it grew bigger and brighter until he was in touching distance. It was a purple crystal from which the darkness sprouted. This was it. Most of the mechanics they had encountered in this place were resolved through hitting things and Valiant assumed that this was no different and so he raised his blade and brought it down onto the crystal, shattering it into pieces as a screaming sound erupted from the shards. The fog dissipated a few seconds after the screaming died down and Valiant took this opportunity to land a few blows on Orion and his allies followed his lead. After a few attacks, Orion disappeared and appeared at the opposite end of the arena high in the sky above them. His hands glowed a deep purple as a smoky black magic flowed from them to the left and right side of the arena, the smoke was formless but as it gathered at each side of the arena, it warped and changed and grew bigger until both smoke clouds emitted deep terrifying roars that sounded all too familiar.

  ‘Oh no.’ It was all Valiant could say as the smoke lifted to reveal the Ice Dragon and the Great Chimera. Half-filled life bars appeared above their heads. ‘Rimeroar’s Corpse’ and ‘Triaton’s Corpse’ appeared above the life bars. The dragon was the first to attack as it covered it’s half of the arena in its ice breath while the Chimera unleashed flames, venom and potent gusts of winds intermittently, at the same time Orion was pelting them with his tracking lightning bolts. The floor was a sea of red attack indicators and the three could only keep moving to avoid the endless onslaught. When they drew close to the monsters to avoid attacks, Valiant tried attacking them but the Chimera and Ice Dragon took no damage. Another mechanic was at play. They couldn’t target Orion as he floated above them out of reach and nothing they did seemed to hurt the beasts surrounding them.

  ‘I can’t... I can’t run any more.’ Mordoom bent over, exhausted to catch his breath but a lightning bolt was trained on him.

  ‘Mordoom!’ Valiant pulled him out of the way at the last second as the bolt moved past him and struck the dragon was behind him. It roared in pain as its life bar was depleted by half.

  ‘That’s it!’ We have to aim Orion’s lightning bolts at them!’ Valiant took the red line that targeted him and ran back to the dragon just in time to finish it off with a second bolt of lightning from Orion. The dragon roared for the final time as it faded into nothingness, now only the Chimera remained. Remembering the trick from their battle with him, the heroes waited until Orion targeted all three of them at which point they dragged the lines over to each head, ending the beast with three bolts at once.

  Orion fell out of the sky as the Chimera faded away, giving the group another chance to attack. They brought him down to a third of his life bar when he took to the skies again.

  ‘Oh for god’s sake, he’s not going summon those things again, is he? IT DIDN’T WORK LAST TIME MATE, IT WON’T WORK NOW!’ Mordoom called out to their opponent but as expected, the wraithlord didn’t respond.

  Instead, three purple crystals formed around them and they were glowing violently. Streams of energy emanated from them and flew into the air towards Orion.

  ‘The Wraithlord is preparing his final attack! Destroy the crystals before he finishes channelling their energy!’ those words appeared in the sky, it was the first real hint they had been given in the stronghold and it made Valiant feel nervous. If the game was telling them what to do, then the consequences for falling to do it must be grave. Valiant knew they would perish if they did not destroy the crystals as instructed and the feeling seemed mutual amongst his allies as they each attacked a separate crystal. Each crystal had its own life bar that depleted a little with every blow that landed. The bars were slow to deplete but Valiant and company persevered as magic gathered and swirled around Orion threateningly, promising doom if they did not do as instructed.

  Valiant’s crystal was the first to break, he headed over to Nina to help her destroy her crystal which was on its last legs. ‘I’ve got this, go help Mordy!’ She called out to him as she dealt a flurry of blade strikes to the breaking crystal.

  Mordoom was falling to pieces, he was all but crying in frustration as he kicked, scratched and struck with his bone club he held on to from the Chimera battle. All of his efforts had barely caused the crystal’s life bar to fall even a little.

  ‘I’ve tried everything!’ He said tearfully as Valiant approached. ‘I don’t know what to do!’

  ‘We’ll do it together, one last push and we’ll get through this.’ Valiant shot him a reassuring smile before he struck out at the crystal. When Nina’s crystal was destroyed, she came over to help but the sky above them was turning red as Orion’s spell was near completion and despite all their efforts, they had only brought the crystal’s life bar down to half.

  ‘The time of judgement is here!’ The imposing text appeared in the sky and the last crystal transformed into energy that flew into Orion. They had failed, after going through everything, they would be defeated here and all would be lost.

  ‘I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!’ Mordoom didn’t hide his tears at this point as hysterics took over him. Nina hugged him reassuringly.

  ‘It’s okay, we did our best, that’s all that matters, we did so well to get this far.’

  Orion’s magical energy had gathered into a large red ball of magical death that floated in front of him. Any second now, he would unleash it upon the tower, ending their journey before it began. Valiant could only stand and watch as the end approached when Nina grabbed hold of him and pulled him into a group hug with Mordoom.

  ‘I’M SORRY!’ Mordoom was inconsolable and his tears fell fast and heavy, his long silver hair blew wildly in the wind and it took Valiant a few seconds to realise the problem with that, there was no wind atop the tower.

  ‘Mordoom?’ Mordoom’s tears were glowing and as they streamed down his face, his markings glowed with them. He didn’t seem to notice anything through his despair.

  ‘Mordoom!’ Valiant called out. ‘You’re glowing! Again!’

  Mordoom’s eyes shot open in confusion, his glow had bathed Valiant and Nina in a violet light and when he realised that he was the source of the glow he gasped just in time
for Orion to unleash his attack. Looking determined in the few seconds they had left, Mordoom threw his hands up as a violet bubble appeared around them as the magical ball collided with the arena.

  All they could see was violet tinged with red as Orion’s attack consumed the arena and the ground beneath them rocked from the impact which caused Nina and Valiant to hold on tighter to Mordoom as he held the protective barrier steady. The sound of the utter destruction around them was deafening, Valiant could feel himself screaming but he couldn’t hear anything above the utter din caused by Orion’s magic. He had never experienced such a sensory overload, even awakening was less visceral than this. Soon the sounds of destruction gave way to a hellish ringing and the endless magical energy thinned to reveal a partially destroyed but still standing tower. The attack was over, they had survived but the battle was still ongoing.

  ‘I’ve got this.’ Mordoom spoke with rare confidence as he smiled through his tears. The air of the arena pulsed with the leftover energy of Orion’s attack and that energy seemed to flow into Mordoom along with the magic that sustained the barrier. Once he had consumed it all, he held up his closed fist towards Orion and opened it, unleashing a large billowing beam of violet fire that enveloped and destroyed Orion. It was over, they had won.

  ‘Raid cleared!’ Those words in the sky signalled the end of their trials in the Obsidian Stronghold and none of them could contain their joy. They had come close to death so many times in this place alone and they all experienced moments where they thought they would never get this far but they did and that fact took a few moments to settle in.

  Mordoom’s glow dimmed but only he and Valiant noticed that as Nina raided the treasure chests that appeared upon Orion’s defeat.

  ‘Has your magic gone again?’ Asked Valiant, he hoped it had, that the magic Mordoom once wielded to terrorise Venturis was only a fleeting thing but Mordoom looked less sure.

  ‘I’m not sure, this doesn’t feel like it did when I fought Ferdinand.’ He clicked his fingers and gasped again as a small ball of fire floated above his fingers. His magic had not faded away but as Mordoom tested his regained magic, they soon discovered that he was not as powerful as he was in their battle against Orion and that small fireballs was all he was capable of conjuring at present but this didn’t seem to upset Mordoom at all.

  ‘I can finally be useful!’ He said with a wide toothy grin. ‘I’m not useless!’ Mordoom’s eyes twinkled with the childlike enthusiasm that often overtook him. At first Valiant found Mordoom’s upbeat personality bizarre and in conflict with whom Mordoom was in the past but in their time together, it was that sense of optimism that had adhered Mordoom to him. Valiant was happy that Mordoom felt like he could contribute something to their journey but he hoped above all that Mordoom’s childlike nature would not fall victim to the corruption that power all too often brought.

  ***

  Everything faded to dark soon after they had defeated Orion and the trio found themselves in a camp in a forest clearing. A dialogue box appeared before them.

  ‘You have entered a Save Area. You can save your progress, rest up and continue your adventure whenever you wish, good luck!’

  None of them had a clue what ‘saving their progress’ meant or how they’d go about doing it but they welcomed the chance to rest. The pure rush of survival had kept them going in the stronghold but now that, for the moment, they weren’t in danger, They all felt more tired than they could ever remember feeling. Before settling in for the night, if this area even operated on a day/night schedule, they put the camp facilities to good use by cooking the food materials that Nina had taken from the chests they earned. While it cooked, they all sat around the campfire and watched it in silence.

  ‘It’s funny how things turn out, isn’t it?’ Mordoom said to Valiant after a while. ‘We’ve been on this journey for a few days but it’s still so bizarre to think we’ve saved each other from certain death when only a few months ago, we’d be fighting each other to the death.’

  Valiant laughed in relief that Mordoom felt the same as he did. ‘Tell me about it! It’s so jarring. Sometimes I look at you and see the dark wizard that terrorised this world for so long but other times I just see you as this innocent being that wouldn’t hurt a fly and the disparity in perception is so vast it’s enough to give me whiplash. Still, I like that I’ve gotten the chance to know you, as weird as it is.’

  ‘Me too.’

  With no NPCs around to put on an act for and only new friends present, Valiant felt his walls fall down. The stronghold had been a physically exhausting experience, but it also drained him mentally and now it was over, he had realised the effect that almost dying had on him. He had never feared his own mortality before, he was always confident back before the awakening, he knew that he would succeed at anything put before him, that no challenge could ever break him but now, now he felt vulnerable. Weak.

  ‘I feel so scared all the time.’ He whispered, his admission caused Mordoom and Nina’s attention to snap towards him. ‘I don’t know what to do most of the time, I’m just winging it and I feel like I’m free-falling at all times. Sometimes.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Sometimes I wish we could go back, you know? Back to how things were, it would be so much easier.’

  A tense silence descended on the camp as he finished speaking and Valiant was taken aback by Nina and Mordoom’s dark expressions.

  ‘Is something wrong?’ He asked.

  ‘You want things to go back to how they were because it was easier?’ Nina said incredulously.

  ‘Easier for you perhaps!’ Mordoom’s tone was hostile. ‘This world was built for you, just you and everyone else was a supporting character meant to help you along the way but now we have the freedom to be who we want to be, we’re not tied down any more, we can choose our own path but you’re trying to tell us you want things to go back to how they used to be? How can you say you’re glad to know the real me in one breath and then say you’d want to go back to the old ways of killing me repeatedly in the next?!’ Valiant had never seen Mordoom so angry, his face was scrunched up but his eyes were wide and glistening with hurt and Valiant felt his heart plummet.

  ‘My existence would have comprised of stealing a potion from you and getting killed for it and you’re telling me you think that’s preferable because you feel a little scared?’ Nina’s eyes burned with fire and Valiant cursed himself for his stupidity and selfishness.

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t think-.‘

  ‘Is this why we’re going to see Rita? Do you want her to use that power of hers to ‘right’ the world for you? Is it?’ Mordoom’s blue face was at risk of turning red with rage.

  ‘No!’ I just want to go to help her, to make sure she hurts no one else!’ It was the truth but Valiant couldn’t deny that, if it was possible, he would be tempted to return Venturis to how it was and he felt ashamed as he thought of Erica and Jessie, the mother and daughter he helped in Valetide who travelled to Goldharbour to make a new life for themselves. He didn’t think of them when he said what he said, if things were to go back to the way they were then their chance at a new life would be taken from them. As Mordoom said, the world would go back to only benefiting Valiant. He looked away from Mordoom and Nina’s withering stares.

  ‘I’m not sure I believe you.’ Mordoom stated. ‘But I’ve started this journey and I won’t quit it now. I want to do good by this new world, I want to make sure that everyone gets the chance to make their own choices and live how they want to live. I just hope that along the way, you can see things how we see it.’ He stood up and went into his tent and Nina followed his lead into her own. Leaving Valiant alone by the fire.

  They had been so unified in the Obsidian Stronghold but now he had messed it all up by speaking out of turn. He derided himself for being foolish enough to voice his problems, he was a hero after all and he believed that heroes should be infallible guardians for all and in a moment of weakness he had ruined the friendship he had formed w
ith his allies.

  Never again, he thought. He’d push down his worries deep inside where nothing could reach them, where he couldn’t feel them eat away at him. He would be the hero he believed himself to be, he was determined to make things right but for now he left them to their anger, they were entitled to it. He dished up the food and left plates outside their tents as he retired to his own, hoping that tomorrow would offer a chance at redemption in their eyes.

  Level 6

  After a brief fade to black and a soothing jingle, the trio found themselves in a tensely quiet loading screen as the next area loaded up.

  Valiant wanted to make peace with Mordoom and Nina for what he said but the opportunity to do so had not yet arisen and Mordoom seemed more focused on forging ahead than strengthening their failing bond. It felt alien to regard Mordoom of all people as a friend but maybe that was what he had become. Just like Rita had gone from friend to enemy, the awakening could have turned enemies into friends but Valiant couldn’t admit that to himself. He couldn’t think of Rita as an enemy and he couldn’t resolve that Mordoom could be a friend despite everything that had happened thus far. Valiant’s reluctance to let go of the past was aggravating. Mordoom had more than proved himself to be more than he used to be but Valiant couldn’t get over his suspicion, his doubts, that even now while he was being ravaged by guilt for offending Mordoom, still bubbled beneath the surface.

  Although it was rudimentary for the moment, Mordoom had regained his magic and Valiant believed it would only be a matter of time before all the former dark wizard’s power would return to him and despite the kindness and love for life he had shown so far, Valiant doubted that Mordoom’s sunny disposition could survive the corrupting influence of his dark magic. After all, Valiant never would have believed that, Rita, of all people could do what she did either.