1-Up

by Dean Smith

  When he saw Erica and Jessie standing by their doorway and waving to him, he laughed and almost cried. Erica was crying whilst smiling the biggest smile and by her side was a very groggy but happy Jessie who did not waste a second in running over to him.

  ‘Valiant!’ She called out as she made her way through the crowd, he wiped his eyes before Jessie reached him and he awaited her with open arms. He lifted her up onto his shoulders.

  ‘You’ve saved us again.’ She said with a smile.

  ‘It’s a habit I don’t want to break but I hope we can break your own habit of falling under sleep curses.’ He responded, still high off the joy of seeing things returned to how they should be.

  ‘Me too, I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again.’

  ‘Oh god, don’t say that.’ Erica said as she caught up to her daughter.

  ‘I’m so glad you’re both okay.’ Valiant had to resist the burning in his eyes once more. not knowing what else could be said, Erica embraced Valiant and Jessie while Rita stood back.

  Valiant saw Jessie’s eyes fall on Rita who had been ignored by everyone thus far which was probably the best possible outcome given they knew she was responsible for their loss of freedom. Jessie however didn’t look at her with a glare of hate or terror. The child looked at Rita as though she was looking into Rita’s soul and after a moment, she reached out for Rita and patted her head.

  ‘I know why you did what you did, you were sad and lonely weren’t you? I can see it but you aren’t alone. I’ll be your friend so you don’t have to be sad anymore.’ Jessie leapt off of Valiant’s shoulders and in a move that touched his heart, she hugged Rita. Rita’s eyes widened in surprise but her face softened as a small smile briefly formed on her face before the sadness of what she had done took over.

  ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.’ She looked to Erica who seemed less forgiving than Jessie but proud of her daughter all the same and then to the rest of the town. They seemed to acknowledge her apology, but it seemed like forgiveness was still a long way off.

  With everything settled in Goldharbour and after promising Erica and Jessie that he would return soon, Valiant reopened a portal to Vilemire. Rita’s patch bar was almost full and the moment of truth was upon them.

  When they returned to the castle balcony, Mordoom, Trevor and Sabine (who was now wearing a full set of jewel encrusted armour) were waiting for him while Nina, who was holding Fabian up, stood a distance behind. They gave Valiant a hero’s reception while Rita hung back, as Nina passed the injured Fabian onto Trevor and with Mordoom, they both jumped on Valiant for his second group hug in a short time. When the hug broke up, Mordoom walked up to Rita and she held her breath in anticipation, expecting the worst.

  ‘I forgive you.’ He said simply before placing a hand on her shoulder. His expression was pained, his recent losses were still fresh but his eyes were full of forgiveness. It had been an emotional few minutes and Rita’s eyes watered once more

  ‘Why are you being so nice to me? I ruined your life, you should hate me.’

  Mordoom shook his head.

  ‘I don’t have room in my life for hate, Gedea made sure of that.’ Rita winced, knowing what became of her.

  ‘Gedea wanted me to forgive you and that’s what I‘ll do. She saw similarities between us, you know. We both awoke to a strange new world and neither of us liked our past, we both had immense power but the difference was that I had someone to guide me and take care of me, if it hadn’t been for Gedea, I would have ended up becoming the villain all over again. Unlimited power and a troubled heart rarely make a good combination.’

  She nodded before speaking.

  ‘I feel lighter now, I don’t want to blame the power for my choices, I still made them regardless but I feel clear for the first time in a long time and it started when I relinquished those powers.’

  Feeling a little left out, Valiant joined the conversation.

  ‘It won’t be easy but now you have the chance to atone for what you’ve done and start over and I’ll be with you every step of the way. I promise.’

  ‘Me too.’ Added Mordoom.

  ‘I’ll be there as well.’ Nina shot Rita an encouraging smile which caused Fabian to perk up.

  ‘Anywhere Nina goes, I go!’ He exclaimed while Nina rolled her eyes.

  Sabine stepped forward.

  ‘Thank you for all you’ve done, Sir Valiant. I must return to Foreverflora but,’ she turned to Rita, 'if you are sincere in your desire to atone. I shall gladly offer my aid.’ She held out a hand to Rita who shook it gratefully and bowed to Valiant.

  Trevor scoffed at them all.

  ‘I, for one, am going home… But, ugh, I can’t believe I’m saying this but don’t be strangers, okay?’

  He walked away and Sabine joined him, when they reached the door, they both waved at them before departing. Now that the battle was over and the day was won, they all looked around at each other expectantly and wondered what would come next before everyone’s eyes settled on Rita’s patch bar which had just completed. Taking that as his cue, Valiant equipped the patch dagger once more and poked his finger with it, applying the same patch to himself.

  ‘We’ve set things right and now we don’t need to change the code any further. No one should have such power in a free world.’ Everyone nodded in acknowledgement.

  Above them, the sky darkened and Rita looked up, her eyes wide in fear.

  ‘Oh no!’ She looked to her new allies. ‘The game’s ending! I don’t get it! I wasn’t defeated!’

  ‘You kind of were, you made the choice to give in by surrendering your power and I suppose that was enough to count as a defeat.’ Valiant shrugged and Rita was bewildered by their lack of surprise or fear by this recent development and the prospect of oblivion, but they were definitely interested in what was happening in the sky as a strange series of letters scrolled overhead.

  :IIIV SIRUTENV FO SEOREH

  EGNEVER S’MOODROM

  YB

  SEMAG RATSLEXIP

  SEIRTSUDNI NOTIRT HTIW NOITAICOSSA NI’

  Everyone but Rita gathered and sat down to watch the progression of letters across the sky and Rita could not understand what was happening, had they given up? Did they expect this to happen? Had they all gone mad? Rita didn’t know the answer, but she was freaking out enough for all of them. Valiant turned his head to her, his face was a bastion of calm. He tapped the floor beside him.

  ‘Come sit with us, enjoy the view. I’ll explain everything.’ Rita doubted anything could explain away what was happening, but she complied and looked up as the latest letters flew overhead.

  ‘YB DETCERID

  REERG AMLA

  RECUCORP

  NEERG DIVAD’

  ‘You fought to prevent the game from ending! Why are you so calm! If the game ends and my code isn’t in place, then there’s no guarantee that we’ll exist beyond the credits!’. Rita wanted to scream as she felt as though everything that had happened and all the bridges she had built from the ashes were for nothing.

  ‘We didn’t fight you to prevent you from ending the game, we just didn’t want it to end on your terms.’ Nina explained, unable to hold back a smug look as Valiant spoke up.

  ‘The patch I used to fix you came with two new features for the game, one was fast travel that allowed us to get here quickly and the other was implemented when I patched you. The game will end by the time the credits finish rolling but we won’t. In fact, we’ll have all the time and chances in the world to fix our mistakes and to make the best version of Venturis for all living in it. This world is limited, I know, but it’s ours and now we can make better than it’s ever been.’ Valiant’s eyes glittered as he watched the sky and Rita wished she could believe what he was saying to be true but it seemed impossible.

  ‘We can’t fix everything, I’ve deleted people and there’s no coming back from that.’ Rita looked down at the ground, her hope of atonement was fading as she considered everything she had do
ne.

  ‘You’re wrong. We can fix everything. This is not the real world and that fact used to keep me up at night but now I embrace it, you know why? Since this is a man-made reality, we don’t have to play by the same rules as we would if our world was real. We can go back and right the wrongs we’ve committed while still keeping our freedom.’ Valiant looked at her serenely but Rita couldn’t wrap her head around what he was saying.

  ‘But you can’t turn back the clock!’ She exclaimed.

  ‘We can and we will. That other feature I told you about, it’s what will allow us to change things for the better, to go back and make things right. Tell me, in all your time reading the code and changing things, did you ever hear of a function called ‘New Game Plus? It’s the key to everything, you’ll see.’ The credits came to a close as darkness took hold. Valiant and his friends didn’t fear the darkness for they knew that it would not last. It would fade and Venturis would remain, allowing them to make it the best version of itself. Kindness and empathy had saved their world and now friendship would be the glue that would hold it all together. Two final words appeared in the darkness and Valiant felt himself smile. This was the end but also the beginning and they all had as much time as they needed to get it right.

  ‘DNE EHT’