1-Up

by Dean Smith

  ‘Go away.’ A gruff voice spoke from within.

  ‘We need your help, Venturis needs you.’ Nina spoke up from behind Mordoom. ‘We’ve been travelling in order to find party members to join our group. The world is in danger and if you don’t help us, everything could very well end.’

  ‘That’s nice, it also doesn’t concern me. Now leave me be.’ The wizard continued to speak through the door. Mordoom couldn’t believe what he heard.

  ‘You’re a HERO! It’s your job to save the world, how can you turn your back on people who need help?’

  ‘Very easily.’ The wizard responded. Mordoom grew more annoyed with every short sentence this person spoke. ‘I don’t care if the world ends as long as I get some peace and quiet before it does. I might have been a hero when we were all dancing to the game’s tune but now I couldn’t care less. Go away, I won’t repeat myself again.’

  Mordoom was at a loss, they needed all the help they could get and Mordoom didn’t know if they were strong enough to save the day if they didn’t have all the party members on board. He looked at Nina, hoping she would know what to do and she spoke up.

  ‘The person we’re trying to stop has the power to change things at a fundamental level, she is the reason everybody woke up to the truth of this world and, you know what? She has the power to return things back to the way they were too. What she gave us, she can take away. We’ve seen it. The end of the world might not bother you but do you want to go back to the old days? Because if we go back, you can say goodbye to your solitary existence because you’ll be out there in the world, saving the day until the end of time. Is that what you want? If so, we’ll be on our way.’ Nina waited for a moment for a response and when she didn’t get one, she motioned to the group.

  ‘Let’s go, I guess we’ll have to wait until Rita takes away his freedom for him to be more agreeable to what we’re saying.’

  ‘Wait!’ The gruff voice sounded annoyed and conflicted and they heard a long sigh before the door opened. An elderly looking man with hair styled like a flame and glowing yellow eyes stared at them from behind his door with a jaded and put out expression.

  ‘Tell me everything and be quick about it. You’re interrupting my scheduled three hours of quiet contemplation!’ Mordoom opened his mouth to tell him the story but the man held up his hand to stop him.

  ‘You seem like the monkey and I’m only interested in speaking to the organ grinder.’ He looked to Nina. ‘Well, get to it!’

  Nina looked affronted by his rudeness but she told him everything and when she finished, the man let out an exasperated sigh that surpassed his first.

  ‘I suppose I can’t say no, can I?’ He spoke in a defeated voice.

  ‘If you help us with this, we won’t bother you again, I can promise you that. Be a hero one last time and you’ll be left in peace forever.’ Mordoom could see the cogs in the man’s head turn, he was looking for any other option but to agree to help them but Mordoom knew that the man only had one choice.

  ‘Fine. I’ll help. Let me gather my things, I suppose. You guys wait out here.’

  He went to shut the door but Mordoom called out to him, stopping him.

  ‘Wait, we don’t even know your name, we’ve got to do some introductions!’

  ‘I’m Trevor and I don’t care who you are.’ He slammed the door and the chaotic sounds of him rattling around his little house filled the air.

  ‘Charming.’ Mordoom dead panned. Somehow he didn’t think he would have such a heart to heart with Trevor like he did with Sabine but no matter, they only needed Trevor’s help, not his friendship. With Trevor on board, Mordoom and Nina’s task was complete, and all that remained to do now was to return to Goldharbour and await Valiant’s return.

  ***

  Valiant’s eyes stung as he stepped out of the dark cave and back into the light of day. With the solution to his problems safely in his inventory, all that remained was to return to Goldharbour and meet up with Mordoom and Nina and their new allies. Even though he had no logical way of knowing, Valiant knew that they were successful in their task,. Maybe it was the last vestiges of his code powers kicking in as, like when they first activated against Rita, Valiant’s powers faded as more distance was put between him and that strange temple within the cave. Soon he would be without his powers until he would confront Rita again.

  Valiant felt put upon by this annoying weakness as he had planned to use that power to teleport back to Goldharbour but he doubted, at the speed it depleted, that he could teleport a few steps never mind a town a few loading screens away. He looked to his menu and saw one the new features he had unlocked in the temple but he felt as hesitant as he did back then to put it to good use, the other feature he had unlocked was integral to the plan forming in his mind so its use was inevitable but this feature gave him pause. If he used it and it was still bugged, it would spell disaster.

  He decided to was better to be slow and safe than hasty and dead and to that end he would take the long way back to Goldharbour via a boat from Valetide. Doing so would give him time to develop the strings of a plan in his mind into something he could share with his allies once they met up. He tossed over ideas in his mind until he climbed onto the boat that would take him to his friends.

  He had the weapon that would take away Rita’s code magic in his inventory and with that power gone; he hoped that Rita had the sense to surrender as she wouldn’t stand a chance against a party of heroes without her code powers. It was one reason why Valiant had Nina and Mordoom gather the allied heroes but the main reason was because he knew Rita would be putting the entirety of Vilemire’s army of creatures between them and her and without help or access to his own brand of code magic, Nina and Mordoom would be lost to the onslaught and Rita would be free to do whatever needed to be done to get Valiant to comply with her wishes.

  That dark possibility raised fear within Valiant’s heart, Rita knew she couldn’t force him to do her bidding through her powers directly and she was smart enough to know that it didn’t mean he was beyond harm. He was immune to her powers but his friends were not and if Rita had descended into villainy like she had planned then such thoughts would have no doubt crossed her mind. These thoughts made Valiant eager to return to his friends as anxiety took hold. Valiant looked out into the ocean and the approaching loading screen after which, the boat would be in Goldharbour’s bay.

  ‘I’m almost there.’ He said to no one, or possibly to the pit in his stomach that was growing wider by the second. Something was wrong, he could feel it in the air, he could feel it clog in his throat. Valiant’s breath became bated as the boat passed through the loading screen. He didn’t understand why he feared seeing what was on the other side, he knew that it would be the same old town that looked just the same as how he left it but the fear kept rising. In his mind he saw the town ripped apart by flames, Rita’s cackling echoing out from the destruction like a crazed soundtrack to the devastation. The loading screen would pass any second now and Valiant knew that the nightmare imagery in his mind would come to pass. He almost wanted to close his eyes, to deny reality for a few seconds more but when the loading screen faded, he didn’t have to avoid reality.

  Goldharbour was still standing. There were no billowing flames, or the haunting sounds of a cackling fallen princess. He shook his head as a smile broke out on his face, he had got himself into a panic over nothing. Everything was good, and he had everything he needed to save Venturis and the people he held dear. Valiant breathed in and out, he felt silly for getting so worked up and he was confused as to why he gave into hysteria like he did. Maybe he was tired, so much had happened and he barely had time to rest since the journey began. He told himself that he was in the home stretch, that in a day or two, this ordeal would be over and on that day he would sleep for a week. The thought of it calmed his mind and his heart. His friends were waiting for him and together they would save the day and ensure that the entire world would remain free.

  He
broke out into a smile, If he could picture that happening he could make it a reality. After playing catchup with Rita since this journey began and scrambling when it came to knowing what to do, things were looking up and the deck was now stacked in Valiant’s favour. Victory was in sight.

  Sadly, such thoughts couldn’t last as the sky above Goldharbour opened up and an eye of static appeared.

  ‘Oh no.’ Valiant said breathlessly. He wanted to jump from the boat and swim to the town but he was stuck on the boat until it reached its destination, if he tried to jump overboard, he would come into contact with an invisible wall keeping him where he was. He could only watch as the eye surged with power. He roared with terror and anger as a static beam blasted downwards upon the town, enshrouding it with such a bright light that it looked as though the town and its people had disintegrated within it. As the beam thinned out and subsided, the image of destruction Valiant had feared returned in his mind’s eye but once again that image was proven wrong as Goldharbour stood unharmed but Valiant was no calmer for it. The beam might not have destroyed the town but it surely did something to it.

  He thought of Mordoom, Nina and the allies he had sent them to recruit and then his mind set on Erica and little Jessie and his heart dropped.

  ‘Oh Rita, what have you done?’

  Level 11

  Goldharbour was typically a place bursting with a joyful chaos and the noise of free-living but when Valiant stepped off the boat, he knew something was wrong. The people weren’t talking as they did before; they walked set paths and only spoke at strange intervals.

  ‘Be careful, good sir. I fear a storm is coming.’ Said a nearby sailor as they passed.

  ‘I think it’s come and gone...’ Valiant uttered to no reply from the man.

  ‘Be careful, good sir. I fear a storm is coming.’

  Valiant’s heart sank as his fears were confirmed. Everyone on the dock, people that he recognised as being previously awake, were reverted to who they were before, NPCs. Slaves to the behaviour patterns written for them in the code, they were doomed to say only one or two things when prompted and, if they were lucky, they were given a small route to move around on.

  In his travels, Valiant had seen fewer NPCs as the wave of energy Rita had unleashed in the Wingcrest throne room seemed to have worked its way though the entirety of Venturis but now the clock had been turned back in this town. While Valiant took it all in, a deep fear set in within him as he remembered, with a heavy heart, who lived in Goldharbour.

  ‘Oh no...’ He spoke with a choked voice as he bolted from the harbour to the quiet little house a short distance away from it. He hammered on the front door and it swung open weakly. Valiant peered inside and saw Erica gazing out of the window contently. When he drew near, she turned to face him.

  ‘Blessings upon you, hero. It’s going to be a beautiful day.’

  ‘Erica?’ Where’s Jessie?’

  Erica kept that blank content expression as though she didn’t hear what he said.

  ‘Blessings upon you, hero. It’s going to be a beautiful day.’

  This was too much, Valiant felt the weight of it all push him down but he couldn’t let it crush him yet. He needed to find Jessie. He reminded himself that he needed to help others before himself and that his feelings would have to wait but such words were hollow. He couldn’t hold back what he felt any more than he could hold back the sunset but as always, he had little choice but to forge ahead. He left Erica to her gazing and stepped towards the only other room in the house, a bedroom.

  In the middle of the room, was Jessie. She lay peacefully in her bed, unstirring and unmoving. Valiant tried to wake her up, but she continued to sleep. The people of the town had been reverted back to being NPCs and the consequences of that were dire for this little family. Unable to cope with staring at the sleeping child for much longer, Valiant ran from the room and closed the door behind him. He felt short of breath, he felt like the world was closing in on him, that this house’s walls were drawing near and he couldn’t breathe.

  ‘There’s no time for this.’ He said to himself, trying and failing to pull himself together.

  ‘You don’t get to feel like this, not when people need you.’ He chided himself as he slapped his head, hoping to snap out of the despair he felt.

  ‘This is a problem, I just need to find the solution.’ He attempted to breathe steadily, that was what Nina would say and do and in this moment he felt the need to follow her example. His breaths grew deeper with each passing second until the walls retracted and a sense of fragile calm descended upon him.

  ‘I can fix this.’

  He looked at Erica, at the space above her head and felt dismayed, if Jessie’s condition had been reverted with her return to being an NPC then Valiant believed that the sidequest that woke her up from her cursed sleep before would have been reverted too but there was no glowing golden exclamation point above Erica’s head and without it there was no sidequest she could give him. Without that sidequest, Jessie would sleep forever.

  Unwilling to give up although he felt that resolve crumble. He opened his menu and clicked on the sidequest tab, he scrolled through all the completed tasks he had undertook until he found Erica’s. It had a big tick next to it, just like it did before. Valiant roared in frustration, he couldn’t undertake a sidequest that was already completed and if he couldn’t undertake that quest then the items he needed to complete it wouldn’t spawn in the world. The cure for Jessie’s condition was beyond his reach.

  Desperate and despite knowing it wouldn’t work, Valiant held out his hands and closed his eyes.

  ‘Bring them back.’ He whispered as he conjured the images of Jessie and Erica in their awakened states in his mind. He remembered every step of the quest involved in waking up Jessie and how grateful Erica was when he succeeded, how full of life Jessie became when she was no longer a prisoner to the endless sleep. He felt the joy he did back then of doing something worthwhile and heroic after spending so long on meaningless tasks but now that feeling was tainted with the bubbling of grief. As hard as he tried to call upon his unreliable powers, they didn’t manifest and in his failure, those happy memories of helping Erica and Jessie darkened. Valiant felt lost and useless. He had all the power that Rita possessed but he couldn’t fix anything. She had taken so much from this town and it’s people and he could only watch as it happened.

  Lowering his hands in defeat, he walked past Erica.

  ‘Blessings upon you, hero. It’s going to be a beautiful day.’

  ‘I doubt it.’ He responded as he closed the door behind him, his conviction that everything would be okay in the end was spent. He believed in hope but such belief felt empty in the wake of Rita’s actions. Rita had sent a message and Valiant received it loud and clear. ‘This is what happens when you don’t play the game.’

  She needed him to do what the game commanded of him, only with her defeat would the game end, but who knew what would happen to them all beyond that? If he didn’t do as she wanted then she would likely repeat what she had done here to the entirety of Venturis and as the only person immune to her powers, Valiant would be alone. The thought of that made him feel dizzy with fear. He didn’t want to be without his friends, he didn’t want Nina to become a thief again and it was agony to think of Mordoom becoming the villain he used to be but that would be their fate if he continued to defy Rita.... If it hadn’t been already.

  He had no idea if they had returned to Goldharbour before the blast and part of him didn’t want to find out for fear of seeing them how they were before but he had to know either way, not knowing was worse.

  He took off throughout the town, calling their names but hearing nothing but the NPCs saying their repetitive script back at him.

  ‘MORD?! NINA?!’

  He didn’t know whether the lack of an answer was good or bad, had they not returned yet or were they incapable of answering now they were forced to play their previous roles? Valiant let out a groan of
anguish as his mind put him back in Erica’s home, looking on helplessly as he could do nothing to save Jessie from her fate. He was supposed to be the hero, he was supposed to save the day, but he had done nothing but stumble through this journey and get lucky. If it weren't for his friends, he would have met his end before their journey began and now he was alone and he felt powerless to resist the tide that was Rita’s will. He felt his feet give way underneath him as the weight became too much once again. He couldn’t stop himself colliding with the floor and he couldn’t stop himself from sobbing.

  ‘Val?’

  Valiant gasped as he wiped his tear stricken cheeks. He had fallen just short of the city gates and a few metres beyond him were a group of people that were briefly blurred by his tears but now had become clear, three of them he didn’t recognise and two of which he was never more glad to see.

  ‘Mord! Nina!’ Words failed him beyond that as he jumped to his feet and ran to his friends. They bombarded him with questions of what was going on but he couldn’t answer them, not now. Instead he pulled them into a hug as a flicker of hope reawakened within him.

  ***

  Valiant regained his composure after reuniting with Nina and Mordoom and their new allies. The pain of what befell the town was still fresh but he no longer felt alone. With Nina and Mordoom by his side he felt empowered and ready to talk about what lay ahead but first they had to catch up on what had happened since they separated and Valiant went first. He explained the events that took place within the cave but focused most of his recollections on what Rita did to Goldharbour. When he spoke of her now, he felt a burning hatred within when before he felt compassion. He saw her as someone to be helped, someone who was lost but he struggled to reconcile that image of her with her actions. He felt hate for her but he also hated that he felt that way. He had come a long way since the start of his journey; he wanted to free himself from the expectations of what the game’s ideal hero would be and instead he sought to become the hero he wanted to be. Inspired by his friends, he wanted to reach out to Rita and make a difference not through violence but through another path but now that path felt distant and wrong to him and for the first time in a long time; he wanted to do as the game willed him to do and deal with Rita like he would any other villain in the game.