by Dean Smith
'Rita must have done something when she took your powers! maybe unawakened creatures believe her to be Mordoom now and they can't recognise you as the villain they are meant to serve?' Valiant suggested as he watched Nina use her turn to give Mordoom a healing potion that brought him back to full health. Valiant's turn was coming up and he would have to attack, he looked quickly to Mordoom, he didn't want to defeat Mordoom’s friend but the Minotaur was a danger to friend and foe alike. If Valiant wanted them all to survive and resolve the situation with Rita, they would have to go through Minos. He recalled the Ogre’s words in the forest, that it was necessary to destroy unawakened monsters that posed a threat, that at this point in time it was a sad inevitability but the Ogre’s blessing to do so didn’t make destroying a creature that could one day awaken any easier.
‘Mord, I know it’s hard but we have to do this. Rita has the power to change this world however she wishes, and she’s convinced herself that she’s destined to be the villain. We can’t die here and let Rita make any more mistakes she can’t undo. Be the hero I know you are.’ Valiant’s words seem to fall on deaf ears.
‘I can’t kill him, I’m sorry but I can’t.’ Mordoom looked to Valiant with streaming eyes. ‘He didn’t want to be a monster again, he didn’t want to hurt people. Can you help him? Can you put him out of his misery?’ He sobbed as he spoke.
‘I’ll take care of it.’ Valiant said with a simplicity that didn’t suit the weight of the task he had been given. It was his turn to act now, and he wanted this battle to end quickly for Mordoom’s sake. He looked at his special skills, ‘Storm Blade’ was one of his favourites but it wouldn’t do much against a single opponent and so he chose another ‘Ember Flurry’. He dashed over to Minos and struck multiple times of the course of two seconds, he dealt multiple instances of damage, all of which added up to a mighty chunk being detracted from Minos' life bar. A few more hits like that and this would be over.
It was Mordoom’s turn next and Valiant could see he was struggling with what to do.
‘Mord, you don’t need to do anything you don’t want to, stay back. We’ll do what needs to be done.’ Valiant said, Mordoom nodded in response and selected the ‘Defend’ option which summoned a magical barrier around himself that protected Mordoom from harm but prevented him from doing anything else while he defended, effectively removing him from the battle. Minos responded to this with another ‘Bull’s Charge’ at Mordoom but Mordoom didn’t take any damage. Mordoom cried out in distress but held firm.
When Nina acted next, she used a thief skill called ‘Expose Weakness’ that increased the amount of damage she and Valiant would do to the Minotaur. With Minos’ focus on Mordoom, Nina and Valiant were free to attack Minos without reprisal. Valiant unleashed ‘Ember Flurry’ after ‘Ember Flurry’ while Nina used her skills to deal maximum damage by striking at Minos’ weaknesses and in just a few minutes, the battle had ended with Minos’ death rattle as he faded into nothingness as monsters did when they were defeated.
Mordoom sunk to his knees when the battle ended, his eyes never leaving the spot where Minos lay just a few seconds ago.
‘Thank you for setting him free.’ Mordoom uttered. ‘He told me he never wanted to go back to being what he was before, he wanted to be better, to be more than the monster he was made to be so to go back to being forced to hurt people would have been hell for him. He’s happy now, I’m certain.’ Valiant could see where Mordoom got his empathy from, or maybe it was him that inspired it in his subjects. Either way, Minos couldn’t hurt anyone and it was a result he would be happy with but as he thought about it, a question popped up in Valiant’s mind and he wasted no time in asking it.
‘Wait... Was Minos awake? I thought you were talking about the connection you shared in the game.’
Mordoom shook his head at Valiant’s theory.
‘He was awake as you and me as were the rest of my friends. We all awoke at the same time. It was chaos but Gedea, another one of my friends, took charge and calmed things down. She was the one who taught us to be more than we were when we didn’t know we could and we’d have been lost without her, Oh god, I hope we don’t have to fight her, I can’t stomach the thought.’ This was troubling and judging from Nina’s dark expression, she had come to the same conclusion as Valiant. Minos was unawakened to the truth of the game when they fought him, he acted like the monster he was created to be even though he had previously awakened and wanted to be more than he was, which meant that the awareness and freedom that everyone who had awoken had gained could be lost, or worse still, taken.
‘You’re thinking what I’m thinking right?’ Nina spoke to him with fear in her voice.
Valiant nodded with trepidation.
‘We can be reverted to who we were before, we can lose everything.’ Nina's voice trembled with panic.
The air was thick with this revelation but it was Mordoom who spoke first.
‘Rita, she did this to Minos. She’s the only one with the power to change the world, you said that much yourself. She’s stripped the people in my care of everything, she turned them into slaves to die for her.’ He stood up and looked at Valiant with a fury in his eyes that Valiant had not seen before.
‘It’s too late for her, you said you wanted to stop her before she did something she regretted but she’s already crossed those lines. We need to stop her by any means necessary.’
***
Mordoom’s words and anger shook Valiant. Ever since this journey began, Mordoom had kept a sunny disposition. At times he was hysterical but otherwise he was a bastion of calm but now, for the first time, he took the lead and left Minos’ chamber as soon as a bridge to the exit materialised.
‘Hey, Mord! Wait! We can’t just charge on without thinking, we don’t know what lies ahead.’ Nina called out but Mordoom didn’t stop.
‘We know what’s ahead, Rita! Let’s get this over with already.’ He beckoned towards them impatiently and Valiant sighed. Mordoom wasn’t thinking straight and this place would reward rash actions with death. They caught up to Mordoom in the middle of a corridor that looked similar to the long collapsing corridor they escaped from before, too similar in fact. Valiant kept his eye on the way they came and his ears open, at any moment he expected to hear the approaching sinister rhythm of the floor collapsing below them but it never came, instead they soon found themselves faced with a dead end in a narrow circular room that stretched beyond their vision above them.
‘This must be one of the towers. I guess we got to go up?’ Valiant mused, he walked around the room and saw footholds which led to various ledges, ropes and platforms.
‘Looks like we’re climbing.’ Valiant expected to hear Mordoom groan at the prospect of both physical activity and the heights involved but he climbed as soon as Valiant finished speaking. He took little time to reach the first platform.
‘Well, are you coming or what?’ He called down to them.
Nina leaned into Valiant.
‘I’m worried about him.’
‘Me too. He’s going to do something foolish, and that’s why we need to keep an eye on him to pull him out of the fire if needs be. Can you follow him up there? You’re faster than me and I’ve got a feeling that something might follow us.’ Valiant could see it in his mind’s eye, they would be halfway up the tower and some monstrous beast would climb up after them, if that happened then Valiant would be the best person to handle the monster while Nina and Mordoom could get to safety.
Nina nodded in acknowledgement and with stunning agility, she bypassed several footholds and made it up to the first platform in seconds. Valiant was slower to reach the platform but when he did, he held Mordoom’s shoulder to stop him running ahead.
‘Let Nina go first, she can plot out a course for us.’ Nina took a few steps back and did a running jump to a small ledge on the other side of the room. She pulled herself up onto it and stood with her back against the wall. Next to the ledge was a large flat piece of wood tied
in chains. Nina untied the chains holding it back, and it fell forward, creating a platform for Valiant and Mordoom to jump to. When they reached Nina’s narrow ledge, they shimmied to the right until they reached the end where they were faced with hanging ropes. On the other side of the room was a platform that led to a staircase that led up into the tower’s heights.
‘We need to jump and grab a rope, swing over and land on the platform. Can you do that?’ Asked Nina. When Valiant and Mord nodded in response, she jumped over to a rope and swung over, landing gracefully on the platform ahead.’
‘Are you sure you’re okay with this?’Valiant asked Mordoom.
‘I’m fine, Val. It might surprise you to know I can do things without your help.’ Mordoom looked as though he regretted snapping at Valiant but he said nothing further, instead he grabbed hold of the rope and cleared the gap, landing unsteadily but landing all the same. After making sure Mordoom was all right, Valiant joined them.
‘Be careful around here, I don’t trust these stairs one bit.’ Warned Nina, she took a few steps onto them, waiting for something to happen but when it didn’t, she beckoned Valiant and Mordoom to join her.
‘Well that was easier than expected-.’ Their surroundings shook before Valiant could finish his sentence.
‘You just had to jinx us didn’t you!’ Nina yelled as she looked behind him and sprinted up the stairs. The staircase, like the corridor before, was collapsing but this time it was collapsing right underneath their feet, forcing them forward. Valiant ran forward and held a hand out for Mordoom to help him along like he did before but Mordoom refused it and ran ahead, jumping over a few stairs that had collapsed in front of him. The collapsing staircase forced the trio to stick together and tackle each pitfall at a similar pace. Valiant kept expecting Mordoom to falter and fall but Mordoom was keeping time and in fact, it was Valiant that was lagging to where he almost didn’t make the latest jump and both Nina and Mordoom had to help him up and push him forward. At the top of the staircase, there was no door to let them out of this collapsing hell but another platform.
‘Together!’ Nina shouted, and they jumped, making the jump as the last pair of the staircase fell behind them. Valiant had hoped they would have at least a moment of respite but the castle had other ideas, one end of the platform dipped, turning it into a steep slope that Valiant and company slid down.
‘Footholds opposite! JUMP!’ Screamed Nina as they approached the end of the slope and, at the last second, they leapt, arms outstretched to grab the footholds in front of them.
‘Everyone okay?’ Valiant called, he could see Nina above him but Mordoom was nowhere to be seen. ‘Mord? MORD?’
‘I’m here.’ Mordoom’s voice came from a short distance below, Valiant couldn’t look from his position but, judging from things, Mordoom was okay.
‘Mord, climb up me and stay in the middle.’
‘It’s fine, let’s just go as we are.’
‘Please, for my peace of mind.’
Mordoom sighed in exasperation as he climbed up and over Valiant to occupy the space on the wall between his friends. Mordoom looked down at Valiant an air of impatience.
‘Happy now?’
‘I will be when we reach the top of this tower, let’s go.’
Another rumble shook the wall they were holding on to.
‘Oh for crying out loud, what now?’ Valiant roared, he never wanted to climb anything again after this.
The source of the rumbling came from above and a large falling rock plummeted past them and the trio could see there were more where that came from.
‘HURRY CLIMB AS FAST AS YOU CAN AND AVOID THE DEBRIS!’ Nina, with her catlike agility, leapt away from the wall and onto a falling rock above her which she used as a platform to jump way above where she was before. Valiant watched her as he climbed up next to Mordoom. After making sure Mordoom was okay, he glanced back up in time to see a large rock plummeting towards them. Knowing he had no time to warn Mordoom, Valiant grabbed Mordoom by the scruff of his robe and pulled him off the wall and to another set of footholds on Valiant's other side.
‘Thanks...’ Mordoom’s face had turned a pale blue after being swung out of the rock’s way and he seemed shaky on the wall.
Valiant encouraged him to climb, but Mordoom was shaken and he was slower than before.
‘’Listen, Climb onto my back, I’ll give you a piggyback up.’ Valiant offered but Mordoom shook his head violently.
‘I need to do this.’
‘I know but you aren’t going to make it, know your limits and trust me. We need you Mord, we can’t lose you here.’ Valiant meant every word of what he said even though he feared it sounded like hollow spiel to get Mordoom to go along with him. They wouldn’t have gotten this far had it not been for Mordoom and Valiant didn’t want this journey to end without him.
The walls were crumbling around them.
‘MORD!’
Mordoom climbed over to Valiant and held on to him as tight as he could. The second Valiant knew he wouldn’t fall, he climbed at speed, lurching out of the way of any falling debris. As they came close to the top, Nina reached out and helped pull Valiant up just as the footholds fell away under their feet. They waited with bated breath on the platform, expecting it to shake and fall like everything else had but it remained stationary as a victory jingle rung out. The black stone wall by the platform morphed into a large decorative door adorned with jewels that seemed to depict eyes and Valiant felt the unease that something was watching them, that the jewel eyes were looking at them no matter where they stood. He looked to Nina who looked equally as unnerved but Mordoom looked at the door, not with worry and anxiety, but with sadness as though he knew what was behind it.
‘Get ready for another battle.’ He said simply, his voice carrying the devastation of knowing that he would have to lose another old friend for them to continue further into the castle.
‘I’m sorry about this, Mord.’ Valiant offered his sympathies, but he knew words would ring hollow.
‘It’s okay... Well, no, it’s not okay but I understand. It’s as that Ogre said back in the forest, unawakened monsters are a danger and we’ve got to think of the greater good. I know that Minos and anyone else we encounter wouldn’t want to live like this and if we had enough time, maybe we could figure out a better solution but we don’t have time and a better solution is non-existent. All we can do is set my friends free.’
Nina wrapped an arm around him and held her forehead to his in solidarity and friendship. He tilted his head to the side towards her for a moment and then straightened up and stared ahead with a precarious sense of determination in his eyes as though he could falter at any second.
‘We have to do this, let’s get on with it.’
When they opened the doors, they were greeted with a long rectangular room divided in two by a large cage wall in the middle of the room and behind those bars was a fearsome creature. It had a large spiky grey rotund body that laid in place on the ground while its long neck, which was at least three meters long, rose above them. The creature’s head was small and lizard like but it also had messy tufts of hair scattered around its head like a ratty mane. The creature’s head swayed on that long neck with almost hypnotic movements. It had a singular amber eye that surveyed their every movement and behind the creature, they could see two things, the next door and a sharp bone white tail that rattled threateningly behind the creature.
Valiant recognised the creature, he had fought one before back when he were unaware of the game, it was a Catoblepas, but the one he fought back then was small, this creature was bigger than a house.
The path before them was clear, they would need to fight another one of Mordoom’s subjects to proceed. Before Valiant opened the metal door to the Catoblepas’ side of the room, he glanced back at Mordoom.
‘I’m okay....Well, not that’s a lie. I’m not.’ He looked up at the terrifying creature before them, not in fear but in sadness. ‘That’s Cathy,
she’s my pet. I... I love her a lot.’ Mordoom swallowed back a sob.
‘You don’t have to do this, you don’t have to watch, even.’ Valiant offered despite knowing that his offer wouldn’t help.
‘I have to do this.’ Mordoom responded. Valiant nodded as he unlocked the door, he didn’t want to do this either. He didn’t want to kill Mordoom’s equivalent of a dog but there was no other way. Reluctantly he approached ‘Cathy’ as the battle music began.
The battle, mercifully enough, did not last long. The Catoblepas was a vicious creature that attacked with magical eye blasts and its tail in tandem but Valiant had experience of killing one of its kind before and he knew it’s weaknesses. Catoblepas did not like fire and, after checking his list of combat skills, Valiant saw he had a fire attack, ‘Inferno Cut’. The potent attack did massive damage every time Valiant used it and Cathy’s responses were damaging but the trio did not falter. Mordoom, unable to hurt his beloved pet, instead helped by conjuring barriers to protect them from Cathy’s attacks and healing Nina and Valiant with potions when necessary.
When Valiant unleashed his sixth ‘Inferno Cut’ attack, Cathy roared its last and collapsed in defeat and as soon as they were free from the battle, Mordoom ran over to the dying creature, he reached out with a gentle hand a second too late as the monster faded away into nothing and Mordoom fell where Cathy’s body had been.
Valiant and Nina flocked to his side to help him up, Mordoom didn’t bother to hide his tears or his pain behind bravado like Valiant would have. Valiant felt like he would have needed to show a strong front no matter what happened. He believed that was a hero’s duty to those around them, to bury sadness and grief to focus on the task at hand, that letting people see his pain made him look weak but such thoughts shamed him now. He didn’t think Mordoom was weak for letting his emotions show, he thought it was brave and open in a way he could never be.
‘I’m sorry, I know we’ve got bigger things to worry about...’ Mordoom’s voice trailed off as he wiped his eyes.