“No,” Jake growled at her through clenched teeth. “You run.” He stepped forward menacingly, raising his sword to attack even as Ryden lifted his staff. Kari hesitated for only a second, then turned and fled downriver.
Roaring, Jake thrust his sword savagely into Ryden’s middle. But the magician’s body had already begun to flicker, and even as the heavy blade penetrated him he vanished. Jake stumbled forward, thrown off balance. Fighting his momentum, he turned and scanned the surroundings.
“Up there!” shouted Des, turning and launching three arrows almost straight up.
Jake’s eyes followed the arrows to find Ryden the Prime standing, feet braced far apart on a broad stone outcropping in the center of the ankh’s top circle. The magician waved his staff and Des’s arrows lost their speed and fell away. From hundreds of feet over their heads, the Prime glared angrily down on them.
Jake ran his eyes over the cliff, tracing the outline of jagged rocks. There, he thought. That ledge…that rock…and that one…
“I see a way up,” he told Des, breaking into a run toward the base of the cliff. “Keep him busy!”
The land rose up on this side of the river, the foot of the cliff higher than on the opposite shore. Jake reached the bottom, scrambling over fallen rocks to reach the cliff itself. Behind him, Des fired volley after volley up at the Prime. Jake started to climb.
Overhead, Ryden raised his staff and pointed it downriver toward Kari. She had found an outcropping of stone and appeared to be weaving a spell. Ryden’s lips moved silently and a strong gust of wind blew out from his staff. The gale caught her and she was thrown back like a ragdoll.
Des fired another volley as Ryden cast the spell. The Prime was fast, throwing up a shield like Alys had used, but he was not quite fast enough. One arrow found its mark, the steel head drilling into Ryden’s left shoulder. The mage’s face contorted in pain, but he fought it off and hissed more words of power. The shield protecting him grew larger, forming an impenetrable bubble all around him.
Jake was halfway up the cliff face. His arms and legs burned from the effort of climbing but he was determined and his anger urged him on. They never listened. They never thought about what he wanted. Ryden wouldn’t listen, but Jake was going to make him listen.
Ryden laughed behind his shimmering shield. Seeing he couldn’t hit the mage from where he was, Des sprinted up the hill and started up after Jake. Ryden dropped his shield long enough to launch a blast of pure energy. As the shield re-formed around him, the burst of power struck the cliff face just above Jake and showered him with pulverized rock and scree.
Jake ignored the stinging bites of rock and ducked his head as a large chunk of rock plummeted past. He had to reach that ledge. He would reach that ledge. Glancing down, he saw Des clinging to the rocks a hundred feet below him.
“Stay down,” he shouted to his friend. He didn’t know if Des could hear him over the thunder of the waterfall. “Stay low!”
Jake resumed his climb, but with Des no longer shooting at him Ryden was able to weave his magic without interruption. The shield dropped again and a massive ball of flame shot out before it re-formed. The fireball hurtled directly toward Jake. The knight pulled himself up with every ounce of strength and clambered out of the way just in time. The fireball smashed into the rocks inches below his feet. Jake gritted his teeth and climbed on.
Another fireball crackled through the air faster than the last and Jake couldn’t get out of the way quickly enough. He turned his face away and the flames struck him across the shoulders. He screamed as the chainmail on his back turned red-hot, searing into the flesh of his back. The agony nearly overcame him. Jake’s fingers slipped and he started to fall.
Gritting his teeth against the blazing fire in his back, Jake threw every last ounce of strength into a wild leap from his perch. He flung himself toward Ryden, but he was still half a dozen feet too low. His leap took him directly under the cascade. The pounding water cooled his superheated chainmail but pummeled him at the same time like a barrage of fists from above. Jake’s hands grasped for purchase, slipping over the soaked rocks beneath the water. He knew he would fall. He always fell. Jumps were always his downfall in Xaloria.
But then his desperate fingers caught hold around a tiny, jagged rock jutting partway out of the water and he felt himself swinging. Gravity dragged him and the pounding water shoved at him, but Jake’s other arm shot up and forward and found another handhold.
Lifting his head, Jake squinted against the thick spray and the steady torrent of the falls. Ryden’s ledge was directly above him, and the mage couldn’t see him. He thinks I’ve fallen Jake realized, seeing the steady barrage of fireballs the Prime was shooting down at Des.
Looking down, Jake saw Des had found a narrow ledge about halfway up the cliff. The thief pulled out his bow and readied an arrow. Jake grinned despite the fearsome pain in his back. Looking back up, he started to climb. Inch by inch, he closed the distance. Water crashed against him, constantly threatening to knock him down, but he climbed.
It seemed like an eternity of climbing before his fingers finally reached the relatively dry rock of Ryden’s perch. Pulling himself out of the streaming water, Jake stopped for a moment to breathe. Looking up, he could see the tip of Ryden’s staff extending out over the edge of the wizard’s perch. Bolts of flame leaped from the tip of the staff. Jake took a deep breath and hauled himself up.
Ryden spun in surprise, whipping up his staff. An invisible weight struck Jake, flinging him back against the rocks. Struggling against the magical force, Jake drew his sword. Ryden whipped his staff through the air, and another crushing weight slammed into Jake. This time he was nearly flung off the edge, but he grabbed at an exposed root and held on. Grunting, Jake pulled himself up.
Three arrows whistled through the air all around Ryden, and the Prime was forced to return his attention to Des. Jake got to his feet, panting from exhaustion, barely able to lift his sword. Ryden sent three rapid fireballs hurtling down toward Des, then threw up his shimmering shield. It took only seconds, and then he spun again to face Jake.
“You won’t defeat me,” Ryden sneered, hefting his staff. The shimmering energy shield tightened around him until it was a bubble that completely surrounded the wizard. “You can’t!”
Des ducked the barrage of fireballs and rose to fire another volley. He saw the Prime enclosed in his protective shield and grunted. Hooking the bow over his shoulder, he resumed his climb. He couldn’t leave Jake up there to fight the wizard alone. He had seen another path, one that led higher than the ledge where the Prime stood. There was a broad platform of stone twenty feet above Ryden and Jake. If Des could only reach it…
“Listen to me!” Jake shouted over the roar of the cascade. He bellowed so loudly it hurt his throat. “YOU’RE GOING TO LISTEN TO ME!”
Ryden sneered again, and with a wordless roar Jake launched himself forward. He hacked at the shield with his sword, but the heavy steel blade bounced harmlessly off the flickering barrier of energy. The Prime laughed harshly. Jake slashed again and again but he couldn’t break the shield.
Des reached the ledge, and looked down with clenched teeth as Jake swung at the laughing magician. He looked out and saw Kari, still dazed from the blast of wind. He gritted his teeth, racking his brain desperately. He couldn’t see any way to beat Ryden. The mage was too powerful.
Des could hear Jake’s shouts over the roaring water, and he could see Ryden laughing as he readied a spell. Des’s heart pounded and he knew that the Prime was about to kill Jake. He had already taken Kari out of the fight. If the knight was taken out as well, Des would be alone against the…
Wait a minute. Something about the thought stopped Des cold. Out. The mage was going to take Jake out. Kari was out. Two outs, thought Des, but there’s a runner on third. Jake could take Ryden if not for the shield. Jake could score, he could win. Sacrifice bunt.
Des closed his eyes and hurled himself off his perch.
>
Ryden whispered arcane words of magic, building an enormously powerful spell. Jake’s arms ached and burned but he kept up his flurry of useless blows. He wasn’t thinking clearly. He didn’t care. He just wanted to make Ryden listen. Why wouldn’t they listen?
“Jake!”
Ryden’s concentration was broken. Jake’s slashing sword fell still. Both looked up in surprise. They saw Des, plummeting straight toward them. He was going to crash into Ryden’s shield. The impact would carry them both over the edge. Des would die, but so would Ryden.
Jake blinked, his fiery rage burnt out in an instant. Des must know it was hopeless, but he was willing to sacrifice himself…to complete their quest. They had come to rescue Kari. Maybe that was all that mattered. Dropping the useless sword, Jake watched Des fall and tried to time it perfectly. He threw himself at Ryden, determined to make sure the wizard was knocked over the edge…
“STOP!”
Ryden’s shout thundered through the sky, echoing in a sudden silence. The entire world shuddered at his voice and… stopped.
Jake found himself suspended in mid-air, his face inches from Ryden’s. The shield had winked out, but it didn’t seem to matter. Des dangled upside down barely a foot above them, his arms flung across his face. The waterfall itself was frozen, a three-dimensional model frozen in time. Ryden’s eyes were wide, full of fear and confusion.
“This action will destroy you,” the Prime said in a dazed voice. “You’ve chosen your own destruction. Why?”
Jake shook his head, and was surprised to find that he could move. He felt pity now, more than anger. He opened his mouth to explain. “Being alive means more than just being able to choose what we want for ourselves. It also means letting other people make choices, too, even when we don’t like those choices.”
“But people make incorrect choices,” Ryden insisted. “They choose poorly.”
Jake sighed. “It doesn’t matter if the choices are bad sometimes. That’s the whole point of being alive – everybody does the best they can. We just have to believe that people will choose to do what’s right.”
The mage shook his head. “This still doesn’t explain why you have destroyed yourself.”
“This is the only way we can help Kari get what she chooses – to go home. She’s our friend and we want her to be happy. This is our choice – mine and Des’s.”
“You choose to… end? So your friend can continue her existence?” The Prime’s voice was soft.
“If that’s the only way, then…yes. We choose to die.”
“It is your choice…and…to leave Xaloria is…Kari’s choice. We must all be free to make choices.” Slowly, realization dawned in Ryden’s eyes. Despite everything his old friend had put them through, Jake found himself smiling.
“You understand,” Jake said gently. A thought struck him, and he grinned through his exhaustion. “It’s complete. You’ve completed the Path to the Next.”
“I have completed the quest?” Ryden whispered, awestruck. “I am a…”
“A person,” Jake finished for him. “You’re a person, just like us.”
The mage looked into Jake’s eyes, astonished.
“Please let us go home. I’ll put Xaloria on the Network where it can run forever. I promise,” Jake assured him.
Ryden’s thoughts turned inward. The air shivered and instantly, Jake, Des and Ryden were standing on the gravel at the foot of the waterfall. Kari ran to the boys, tears wetting her cheeks.
“I thought you were about to die,” she sobbed. “I thought he’d killed you.”
Ryden’s face was somber. “I was wrong,” he said. He looked from Kari to Des and finally to Jake, his eyes wide and glistening wetly. “I am sorry, so sorry. I didn’t know, I didn’t understand..” His voice trailed off and the Prime’s shoulders slumped in misery.
Jake glanced at his friends as he said, “It’s okay.” Kari and Des nodded slowly in agreement, though Des was grudging about it. “You didn’t know, Ryden. And neither did we. An AI with a mind of its own…I don’t think that’s ever happened before. I’m so sorry you lost Alys.”
Ryden turned his face away, hiding tears that spilled suddenly down his cheeks. “The others,” he whispered. “They didn’t know either. The New Ones who still live don’t understand. They may never understand.”
“You’ll have to help them understand,” Jake suggested.
“No.” Ryden’s voice was firm again, and when he turned back to Jake he had wiped his cheeks dry and stood resolute with his shoulders thrown back. “No, this ability to make choices…Xalorians are not ready for it. They don’t know what it means. They can’t know. They will cause harm. I must undo what I’ve done. I must reset the structure to the way it was before.” He smiled, a tiny flicker of amusement in his eyes beneath an endless weight of shame and remorse. “I have to restore the gods.”
Jake gasped as he realized the full extent of what Ryden suggested. “But you’ll lose everything,” he protested. “You can’t! You’ll die.”
Ryden smiled sadly. “You have always been my friend, Jake, even when I was not yours. I have to do this. I want you, and everyone like you, to be safe. That is my choice.”
Jake swallowed a lump in his throat. Ryden was right. Everything they had been through, it all came to this. Choice. Ryden was alive and Jake had to respect his choice, whether he agreed with it or not. Whether he liked it or not.
“I’m sorry,” Jake said softly. “I never meant for any of this to happen.”
“I know,” said Ryden, reaching out to pat Jake’s shoulder. “I know. Goodbye, Jake.”
Ryden stepped away abruptly, leaving the three stunned youths. Kari took Jake’s hand, gripping it tightly in her own. He glanced over and saw she held Des’s hand as well. He looked back at Ryden, burning the wizard’s image into his memory and promising himself he’d never forget. “Goodbye,” he whispered as the Prime closed his eyes.
Ryden’s brow furrowed in concentration. The world trembled. The earth rumbled. The sun blazed brighter and brighter overhead. The light was blinding. Jake and his friends threw up their arms to shield their eyes. Jake felt himself falling…and then there was nothing.
Chapter 25
Jake’s mother rubbed her thumb slowly over the back of his hand, fingers wrapped tight around his. Her other hand stroked his hair where it spread over the pillow. She turned her head to wipe one wet cheek on her already-damp shirt. The hospital machines beeped and chirped.
“I don’t know what I’d have done,” she said again. “I don’t know what I’d have done if I’d lost you.”
“I’m okay, Mom,” Jake said sheepishly. He and Des had both been found unconscious in their separate VR rooms. They’d been in a coma for three days. The doctors had no explanation, but of course Jake knew the truth. Ryden had found a way to override their neural implants and keep them connected to Xaloria.
“I don’t remember anything,” he lied when they asked.
“I’m just glad he’s okay,” said Gerald, standing behind Jake’s mother with his hand on her shoulder, comforting her. His voice was angry and Jake could see he wanted to pace back and forth, but Gerald stayed where he was. Jake said nothing, but he was surprised by how angry Gerald was.
Jake’s mom reached up to Gerald’s hand on her shoulder and squeezed it, looking up at him. Jake watched, remembering Ryden and Alys together on the island. People get to make their own choices, he thought, even when we don’t like what they choose.
“I’m sorry,” he told them.
“Oh, honey, no,” his mom said. “Whatever for?”
“For yelling at you and stuff,” he said. “I was wrong.”
His mother laid her hand on his forehead, tears filling her eyes. “It doesn’t matter, honey. We…Gerald and I had a talk. We thought maybe you had…I know you aren’t happy about us getting married and you’re right…what you want should matter. You’re part of this family, too. So we’re going to have a long engageme
nt.”
“There’s no rush,” Gerald piped up. “We can wait a while and maybe I’ll…grow on you.” At a look from Jake’s mother he added, “And maybe we’ll get you some of that newer VR software you’re always talking about. You know, so you can practice or whatever it is you do in there.”
Jake chuckled. “I think I’m going to take a break from the VR room for a little while,” he said, and saw relief in both their eyes. The doctors hadn’t made any connection between VR and the comas, but it was pretty obvious. All three of them had been found in their VR rooms. It was no wonder they were happy to hear him say he was taking a break from it. “Just a little while,” he said. “But that would be really cool.”
Gerald smiled and Jake smiled back. His mother’s happy face said all he needed to know.
Chapter 26
As Jake prepared to launch the program, his stomach clenched.
“Remind me again why we have to do this,” Des’s voice said over the com.
“Yes, remind both of us,” Kari said.
“I have to make sure it’s really reset,” Jake told him. “I’ve looked at the program and it all seems correct. But even if Ryden did understand, that doesn’t mean he made the right choice in the end. I have to be sure that no one else gets trapped in Xaloria.”
“And we’re not letting you go alone. Okay, that’s it then. Let’s go, Jake.”
Jake took a deep breath. “Resume Xaloria,” he commanded, voice cracking.
They found themselves standing in a familiar courtyard. Around them, Myrrordom’s men-at-arms busied themselves sparring. Jake watched as Kari smoothed the front of her long red jumpsuit, her gem-tipped staff in her free hand.
“Welcome back, Lady Alista.”
“It’s been a while,” she replied, smiling nervously.
Several of the guardsmen greeted them happily. Nothing seemed amiss.
“Let’s check on Lord Ryden,” Jake said.
Des and Kari followed Jake into the castle greatroom. At the far end, a young mage sat uncomfortably on an oversized marble throne. He smiled as he saw the three travelers approach.
Game Alive: A Science Fiction Adventure Novel Page 18