Gamer (Gamer Trilogy)

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Gamer (Gamer Trilogy) Page 10

by Christopher Skliros


  It was too much.

  Calling on every bit of hatred I had, every bit of anger, of jealously, of contempt, I attacked his presence in my mind. His temporary flinch was all I needed and I battered his body with yet another blast of air.

  As he flailed, air-borne, I moved a piece of rock of through the air - directly into his line of travel, and I grinned at the crunch of the collision as Xander slammed against it. Xander then slumped to the ground.

  Not willing to let him get the upper hand, I pinned him to the ground moving the body-sized piece of rock on top of him. I watched it float silently through the air and then land with a thud on top of his torso, listening to the strange sound of him being deflated.

  I relished the power as it coursed through me.

  Chuckling, as an adult would laugh at a silly child, I walked over to him, satisfied that he could not escape. I had stretched to my limits in placing that rock on top of him and there was no way, in his state, he would be able to remove it.

  “Thought you could defeat me, did you?” I sneered at him. He was dirt to me, not smart or famous – a waste of an Academy position.

  Xander attempted to make a sound, but a liquid gurgled at the back of his throat – perhaps I should just kill him now, I thought.

  “It doesn’t matter that you escaped the first time anyway,” I said. “You weren’t smart enough to run away and now look where you are.”

  I laughed again.

  I turned as I heard something stir behind me. It almost sounded like a person.

  I caught a glimpse of a shadow and instantly launched a hail of fist-sized rocks at the intruder.

  A small groan and a series of thuds had alerted me to the fact that I had hit my target. I walked a short distance between the trees, searching for my prey.

  Keeled over between a particularly colourful bunch of mushrooms and a golden tree, was a smallish looking man who I had never seen before.

  A thought occurred to me and exploring the idea, I reached out with my power, intending on brushing this stranger’s consciousness. Between us I felt the frequency and vibration of every living and non-living thing. The dirt as it lived with an almost undetectable pulse, the small insects that were hiding in the grass, the trees resonating with high, clear amplitudes, the air itself, humming with energy and then – a half-mind. That was the only description there was for it.

  This person’s mind was unlike Xander’s in a strange way. It was as if it was intangible, like trying to catch smoke. He slipped through my mental grasp and unexpectedly stood up and dematerialised, fading to first a ghostly form of himself and then nothing. I was left gazing at empty space.

  I returned to Xander, anxious that something had happened. However I was relieved to see him still pinned down by the small boulder.

  Looking around however, my feelings of unease stayed with me. I needed to kill Xander and go, something wasn’t right.

  As if on cue, a giant cracking sound reached my ears and almost as if I could sense the power being used – the hairs on my body reacted as if touched by static.

  I watched as the boulder lying across Xander cracked into hundreds of smaller rocks, still easily the size of my head.

  Barely reacting in time, I deflected the chunks of rock now flying towards me as the entire structure exploded outwards.

  Clouds of dust billowed into the air and suddenly nervous about Xander’s presence, I cleared the atmosphere with a steady breeze.

  The sound of trees crunching, rocks landing with pronounced thuds and basically, the sounds of chaos, reached my ears.

  Watching the dust clear, the sight I saw made me nervous.

  Standing in the middle of a crater littered with debris, with a look of pure anger on his face, was Xander.

  I blanched with fear.

  His mental attack wasn’t even worth resisting – he brushed aside my defences effortlessly as his mind probed mine and I wondered where all this power had come from. His being felt godlike in my head, so immense that I was barely a fly in the midst of his sudden energy rush.

  I heard his voice in my mind.

  ‘ Don’t even try to resist me. If you do, I might just decide to

  kill you, or worse. I want your help, and you’re going to give

  it to me. There is a far bigger threat out there and if you

  think THIS is powerful, you will be crushed without a

  batting of an eyelid.

  ‘Do you understand me?’

  I nodded weakly, never having thought that any of these people would be a real threat. However he sounded serious and I knew that if he wanted to, he was in the position to end my life. In any case, I needed to know more, needed to buy more time.

  “I’ll help you,” I said verbally.

  I felt his presence withdraw from my mind.

  What had I just agreed to do – and who had Xander become?

  13

  VICTOR Footprints, a good sign. When I left Stefanie, it felt good. Bad, but good. No longer did I have to ask her what she thought I should wear, or what I should eat or tell her that she looked good a thousand times before she would even think about leaving her dorm.

  Stefanie was too good for me, too nice for me and even though I didn’t want to end it before I could kill her, Grace had pushed me into a corner that was probably for the best.

  Grace. What she had pulled in the meadow was too far – sending an army after us?! It just made me contemplate her powers; she had somehow blocked my teleportation.

  Now my manipulation of her had backfired. I wouldn’t commit to her even if she was the last person in Simulator – Stefanie had been a very special circumstance herself – yet I had to keep her hooked on the idea that I was into her. A common enemy, Xander, united Grace and me and now we were also going to have to take out Stefanie and Lily too. B3ast, on the other hand, would be more easily convinced. He adored Grace and she would surely use that to our mutual advantage. 3 vs. 3 – Tech would be having a ball.

  With my mind still full of questions, I surveyed the area more closely. For the first time since arriving in Simulator, I was out of the forest, or at least I thought I was.

  For at least fifty meters in any direction, there were no trees whatsoever. The grass was also gone, replaced instead by yellowish sand and also for the first time in Simulator, I was standing in front of a building.

  I enjoyed the feeling of civilisation for a moment, not having realised how much I’d missed the feeling of not being out in the wilderness.

  Soaking up the finer details, I came to the conclusion that the building was odd. It looked out of place, contrasting against the bright blue sky. It was made of very large greystone bricks, and it looked large enough to house a significant number of people. It definitely did not look like a part of the scenery and yet it was a sight to behold in and of itself.

  The aspiring real-estate agent inside of me rattled-off; built from sturdy, long-life materials, a short-walk to some of the world’s most unique scenery, architecture that will take you back to medieval times, a spacious home fit for a king…

  I chuckled softly to myself and felt my voice catch. It was just a small cough, odd but like any normal cough – probably just the air…

  Feeling a little adventurous, I walked up a small set of marble steps, arriving in front of the doors that were as proportionately large as the rest of the building. These themselves were made out of wood.

  And then it clicked. I realised what made the building so odd and yet at the same time, familiar. The marble steps, wooden doors, stone walls, golden sand and blue sky all created such a mix of colours that made for a really interesting building, but had it all been monotone, it would be identical to the Whitehouse, minus the dome. Odd.

  Hedging my bets I raised my hand up to knock on one of the doors, but instantly teleported myself away. I struggled for a second to find a spot where I couldn’t be seen and ended up teleporting myself to the corner of the building and crouched down. Peering around,
I could still see the doors.

  I held my breath as the giant door swung outwards, as I knew it would, and watched as a figure emerged…

  Grace.

  I contemplated leaving before it was too late, but I needed to find out more. Waiting, I watched as Grace began to vibrate almost and I thought I could hear a buzzing in the air around me.

  Within seconds, Grace became a blur and then out of nowhere, materialised a figure slumped on the ground, face invisible behind a pair of hands.

  Grace stopped vibrating and laughed. The figure climbed to its feet – B3ast!

  He bowed his head to Grace and I watched as he disappeared once more.

  “Holy…” I whispered.

  Grace went back inside the building and the door closed behind her. I attempted to process what had happened.

  Suddenly I felt a cold hand on the back of my neck. Before I could even think about teleporting, I found myself paralysed, unable to even speak.

  Whoosh.

  The oddest sensation of being teleported against my will came over me and I found myself standing in a poorly lit room that was unfamiliar.

  So far, however, I seemed to be safe.

  “Victor,” a voice whispered strongly, as if struggling to remain unheard.

  I tried to see through the darkness and was aware of someone standing in a shadowed portion of the room.

  “Who’s there?” I called out, voice echoing off the walls.

  A high-pitched laugh filled the room and my heart skipped a beat.

  “Victor, dear, who else would it be?”

  A harsh white light radiating from several bare light-bulbs, hanging from the roof, exposed the room and I realised it wasn’t a room at all, but a hallway instead. The floor itself was made out of the same grey stone that matched the outside of the building and I realised I must’ve been on the inside now.

  Most worrying, however, was what was lining the hallway

  – cells, with metal bars.

  Grace began to walk towards me and I tried to back away. For some reason I couldn’t teleport and then something slammed against one of the cells’ bars.

  A voice called out, “Victor!”

  It was Stefanie, looking tired, bloody and extremely unclean. The tone of her voice said it all, she was begging for my help.

  I didn’t respond.

  When Grace reached me, she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed me. Once on the forehead and twice on the lips.

  Calculating quickly, I realised that Grace was in power now. B3ast had probably been teleported into one of these cells and for all I knew, Xander and Lily could also be somewhere here.

  Realising I was only still free because Grace thought my love for her was still genuine, I knew that I had to continue to play the part, or risk being trapped.

  “I’ve missed you,” I whispered as seductively as I could.

  She kissed me again and I heard someone cry out.

  Looking up, my eyes met with Stefanie’s. The look on her face was something that I could only describe as anguish.

  I kissed Grace again.

  “Oh stop it, you,” Grace responded playfully, while pushing me away. “I have a job that needs doing, but at the moment I’m a little weak. All this magic,” she gestured around to the cells, “has made me tired…” Her fingers trailed down my chest.

  “Would you be willing to help me out?” She asked with exaggerated sweetness. What choice did I have?

  I dry-swallowed and cleared my throat.

  “Of course,” I said.

  Grace pulled herself away and smiled, “Oh I hoped you’d agree.” She twirled back down the hall, “I need you to find Xander for me…” she continued just as sweetly. “Pleeease.”

  I briefly flicked my eyes to Stefanie again, who was watching me with a mixed look of disgust and horror.

  “No problem,” I smiled, satisfied at Stefanie’s confusion. I only now realised how much I disliked Stef. She thought she was better than everyone else – myself included, and so now I was going to give her a legitimate reason to hate me, because we both knew that she already did.

  Grace was still retreating down the hall when she called out to me, “You should be able to teleport now! Have a good time… babe.”

  I saw her wave her wand-like weapon and the lights went out. I remembered offhandedly that that stick was the same stick that had turned Lily’s cloak into maggots when we had all entered Simulator. This was before anybody knew Grace was a threat… it seemed so long ago. I flexed my arms out of nervousness.

  It was a safe assumption that somehow Grace had found a way to use her wand to make the illusions real and that she had some power that was strong enough to get at least two, possibly more, competitors to bow down to her. Which meant that she probably had two powers - her extremespeed and something else. Either way, it was probably best not to enquire.

  I also briefly thought about why exactly Grace hadn’t managed to already kill Xander – wasn’t that the point of knocking Stefanie out in the first place?

  I longed for the opportunity to go after Xander and now I could, but Grace was a rising threat – I needed a plan to get rid of her. If I left it too late, I’d become Stefanie’s roomie… no thanks.

  Mind buzzing with ideas, I closed my eyes and focussed on bringing myself to Xander – wherever he was. I would surprise him, knock him out and then bring him back. Sometime around then I’d do the same to Grace, then kill everyone who was already here and find whoever else wasn’t.

  Pop. I felt the familiar rush of teleporting and then felt the world become solid again.

  I opened my eyes – and felt something literally grab my heart. My eyes bulged as my chest strained against the force restraining it.

  Behind the red spots across my vision, Xander advanced on me. Suddenly I felt like I’d been plunged into cold water. A voice sounded in my head.

  ‘Victor, if you value your life, you’ll do exactly as I say.’ The presence left.

  Fear and adrenaline coursed through me, I felt sure that I was going to die. I would not give in to Xander’s threats, however.

  My heart struggled to beat harder and harder. Red spots became black spots. Black spots became white spots.

  Then nothing.

  14

  STEFANIE

  Victor had left me – fine. Victor had left me for Grace – not fine. I prayed, for Victor’s sake, that he was just manipulating Grace - because even he had standards. At least I thought he did…

  I wished Grace was dead.

  When I came to, I found myself in complete darkness. My

  hands had already been chained, the weights on my feet stopped me from moving too far and after a short time, I discovered that there was no way of escape.

  Only three times, had the deafening silence been interrupted. Twice, an uncharacteristic thudding noise, each time from a different place – and the other time was when Victor arrived and looked me in the eye while hooking up with Grace.

  The worst part about my imprisonment was the silence. I was scared to break it myself, however, for fear of Grace coming back.

  Letting the events wash over me, I relived the forest scene, where Victor pushed me away. I went back further, and remembered when I had protected Grace, patted her hair and hoped that Lily hadn’t hurt her.

  I shuddered – now I wished she was dead.

  Lily. I hadn’t seen Lily since she ran from the meadow – I wondered briefly if she was okay, or if she had been killed. Surely somebody must’ve seen her at some point. I mean, she wasn

  ‘ Stefanie.’

  I shrank back. Somewhere, I had heard somebody call my

  name, but it definitely wasn’t aloud.

  ‘Stefanie, it’s me. Lily.’

  I looked around, convinced I was going crazy. I stood up

  and dragged my feet around my cell, exploring every last bit of space. ‘Stefanie, it IS m e. I’min the cell next to you,’ the voice said.

  “Stefanie,” a w
hisper that definitely sounded like Lily’s emanated from the silence.

  Wow. Coincidence or not? I’d just been thinking about Lily, and at that exact same moment, she’d found me. But now I was alert – how had she gotten into my head?

  ‘It’s my power,’ Lily’s voice mentally sounded again, ‘I can read minds –and use my power to talk to people in their minds.’

  Oh shit, I mean shoot, I mean, agh. Hi Lily.

  ‘Hi Stefanie,’ she responded. Somehow I could tell she was finding this humorous.

  We sat in silence for a moment and then I was reminded of the fact that I had zero powers thus far. Eugh.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Lily said, ‘you’ll get themwhen you need them.’

  How optimistic of her.

  Sorry, I meant thank you.

  I heard her laugh mentally.

  How can you be so cheery? I asked her, Grace has fricken locked us up and she’s probably going to kill us very soon.

  Suddenly Lily’s thoughts took a different direction.

  Rather than telling me, Lily showed me images of what had happened to her while I was either asleep, unconscious, or absent. It was horrific.

  The memories rang through with fear; in all of them, Grace was using her wand to get Lily to tell her what her powers were. Lily was yet to concede, but each time she remained silent, the illusions and the pain got worse.

  I watched in mental silence while illusions of electric shock, icy coldness, extreme heat, lashings and maggots plagued Lily and yet somehow she remained silent.

  Even more worrying were Grace’s thoughts, that Lily could hear the entire time. They were so laced with hatred, anger and cruel intent that the barely sounded human.

  Just as worrying was the fact that Lily was coping easily enough to suggest it seemed like something she endured on a regular basis. She was tough.

  I could feel her fear and I realised that she just needed a friend.

  A memory of a metal collar flashed before my eyes.

  “What was that?” I called out to her.

  ‘Nothing,’ she responded mentally. I could feel the vulnerability behind that sentence.

 

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