by J P Carver
His next period was lunch and he and Mason made it there two minutes after the bell rang.
The cafeteria was already filled with chatting students, their voices echoing off the high walls. Most were on their cellphones or talking loudly with friends. After so long of having to be quiet it was nice to speak normally.
He had only made it a few feet in when Peyton found him and pulled him into a hug. “How’s it going?”
“Bad. Real bad,” he said and she squeezed. “I gotta talk to you.”
“Gonna confess to me in front of everyone? That’s brave,” she said as she pulled away. “Who’s your friend?”
“Mason,” Mason said and held out a hand. Peyton grinned and took it. “I already know who you are.”
“Do you? Is that a good thing or a creepy thing?”
“I’m in your creative writing class. Your stuff is crazy good.”
Peyton blushed which Geo was surprised to find annoyed him. He stamped down on the feelings as Peyton pulled her hand from Mason. “Yeah, she’s got lots of talents. Peyton…”
“Oh, right. Mind if I borrow your buddy? Gotta talk about some home stuff.”
Mason nodded. “I’ll be over there when you’re done.”
“Awesome, mind if I join you two?” Peyton asked and Mason brightened up.
“You’re more than welcomed,” he said, his voice cracking. He swallowed hard and turned on his heel before hastily walking to the empty table.
“He’s cute,” Peyton said, catching Geo’s eye. “Think he’d be down for some fun? Too bad he’s an NPC.”
“Speaking of that, we got a problem.”
She turned to face him completely. “Such as?”
“Klara.”
“Klara? That hunter that Audra ate?” She grabbed his arm and pulled him away from a group of students that had formed next to them. “What about her?”
“She’s here.”
Peyton shook her head. “No, there’s no way she could be.”
“She is, but that’s not the main thing. I can touch her.”
Peyton’s jaw tightened. “You touched her?”
“Woah, not like that. I mean that I can’t close my hand over her arm. My hand stops, just like—”
“Just like with me and Audra…” she finished and turned to look out at the cafeteria. “That means she has one of the robotic bodies… which shouldn’t be possible.” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and gnawed for a few seconds. “Where is she now?”
“Dunno, she’s in my class, so I assume she’s here.” He turned to look around the room, but it was as bad as the hallways. It was hard to pick anyone out among the crowd.
“Then we’ll have gym together next period. I’ll talk with her then,” she said and Geo noticed a glint in her eye that made him uneasy.
“She doesn’t know what happened, so be nice to her. She said she just woke up here like we did.”
“Doubt that. She killed Audra so some kind of glitch must have happened. She isn’t one of my AIs… at least she wasn’t.”
“Is there a way you can check?”
She shook her head and then started toward the table. “No, I gave up that ability for now. Come on, let’s eat and I’ll plan about what to do with Klara.”
Geo followed, and they sat across from each other with Peyton next to Mason. They talked and laughed and Peyton had a grand time making Mason uncomfortable. About halfway through lunch, Aya appeared at their table.
“Mind if I join you, Geo?” she asked, a timidness to her voice that had Mason looking over in shock.
“Uh, sure, but wouldn’t you rather be with your friends?” he asked as she sat down beside him and moved over so that their shoulders were touching.
“No. They’re being idiots. Hi Peyton.”
“Hello, sweetheart,” Peyton said and batted her eyelashes which got a chuckle from Aya. “Don’t tell me you’re slumming it.”
“It’s not slumming. I enjoy being around you two idiots,” she said and her gaze fell on Mason. “Hi, you a friend of Peytons?”
“I wish. Been hanging with your brother today,” Mason said and it surprised Geo how little stutter there was in his voice.
“Oh, you got a new friend, Geo?” she said and faced him, a smile on her lips. In the next second she pulled him into a tight hug that actually hurt. “I’m so glad you’re talking to other people finally.”
“S—stop it, Aya,” Geo said as he tried to push her off. He looked to Peyton who seemed torn between laughter and annoyance. After a few seconds she reached over and patted Aya’s shoulder.
“Let the poor kid breath, sis,” she said and Aya pulled away with a start.
“Sorry, forgot where we were,” she said with an embarrassed smile.
“Uh-huh,” Peyton said, and the group fell into idle chatter while eating.
Geo would join in, but couldn’t quite get into it. Something felt wrong from where he was sitting, like someone or something was watching him. He would look around the cafeteria every couple of minutes, but no one was looking his way.
Gym Sucks
The gym teacher stood before the two rows of students, a whistle pressed between his lips. He pulled it away and regarded them. “Flag football today. Everyone is playing, no excuses. Raise your hand if you want to be captain.”
A few of the students rose their hands, but Geo kept his hands at his side and tried to look as small as possible.
“Geo, get out here. You too, Klara,” the gym teacher said and Geo cursed under his breath. “As captains, you gotta go get the stuff. The box of flags and the football are in the gym closet. Go get it and do it quickly!”
Geo sighed and started off toward the double doors that the gym teacher had pointed to and was followed by Klara. They entered and Geo flipped the switch for the lights as they pulled the doors closed behind them. The flag football items were laying on a pile of mats and Geo went toward them.
“Still not going to tell me what happened?” Geo asked as he reached for the box. “Because, I know you’re not the same as you were before.”
“Neither are you,” she said and picked up the football from the rack against the wall. “I don’t much feel like telling you anything considering the secret you and Peyton were keeping from me.”
“You were an NPC. You wouldn’t have understood.”
“I might have,” she said and turned to face him. The lights flickered and then came back at half the brightness. “That’s strange.”
“No kidding,” Geo said and walked toward the light. As he did so, the air began to sparkle around him and in the next moment, Peyton materialized. “What the hell?”
“That’s my line,” Peyton said as she looked down at her hands and then around at the room. Her eyes fell on Klara and they glared at each other. “This your doing?”
“I wouldn’t know where to begin to do something like that,” she said and looked toward the doors. “You all know more about this than me.”
Geo followed her gaze and went to them, leaving Peyton and Klara to their argument.
“Bullshit, you became one of my AIs,” Peyton said.
“One of yours?”
“Or Amber’s, it doesn’t really matter. What does, is that you somehow made the jump into Audra’s body, which means you know what’s going on,” Peyton said and then reached out and took Klara’s arm. “See, my hand doesn’t pass through.”
“I told Geo that I just woke up here. That’s the truth.”
“What else happened. How did you kill Audra when she freaking ate you?”
“I—”
“We can talk about this later,” Geo called as he stepped away from the door. He hadn’t expected to find anything new on the other side, but when he opened it, that was exactly what he found. A new world.
He turned to face the two girls, the handle still in his hand. “I think I know why you were teleported here, Peyton.”
“Why?”
“This,” he said and opened the door
completely. On the other side was the gym, at least in layout. The entire area laid in darkness with smears of orange light. Long red stretches of cloth hung from the rafters, some of them reaching all the way to the broken and dirty floor.
The strange new look of the place would have been enough to set the three of them on edge, but there was movement in the shadows. Creatures were shambling between the squares of orange light and Geo had caught a few glimpses of them and they were something out of a nightmare.
“What the hell is this,” Klara said as she went to the doors and placed a hand to the frame. “I’ve never seen something like this before.”
“Because this is part of the game,” Peyton said as she turned from the doors and looked around the room. She came back with three flashlights and handed them out. “Which means there is probably a safe room nearby and a way to move to the next floor.”
“Why is she here then,” Geo asked and gestured with the flashlight toward Klara who squinted under the light.
“Check your party window,” Peyton said as she turned on her flashlight and shined it along the floor of the gym. The walls were splattered with rust or blood, Geo didn’t care to know either way.
He opened the party window and was surprised to find a new name there. Klara Higgins. He tapped on her name which brought up her stat window.
Name: Klara Higgins
Level: 8
Health 450/450
Mental Status: AI Complex, Survivor Guilt (-2)
Body: 9
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 6
Stamina: 250/250
Psyche: 98/100
Affinity: 12
Experience: 0
Skills
Spirit Rise
The spirt of a person is stronger than anyone could ever realize, which is why it is weak. Without conviction in one’s cause the spirit loses much of its power. If given the chance, one’s spirit can change the world.
Restores all spell charges and resets currently running cooldowns.
Cooldown: 20 minutes
Spells
Phoenix Strike
Many believe there is only one life, this is a small minded view of what being alive is. We are all able to become born anew, no matter our history. There is always a way to start over and to do better if that is what one truly desires.
Creates a large flaming bird that does area fire damage of 350. Has a 20% chance of setting those hit on fire, doing an additional 200 damage over 15 seconds. Has a 5% chance of exploding after damage is dealt, causing another 350 area damage.
Affinity required: 12
Charges: 2
Cooldown: 3 minutes
Renew Soul
Our strength comes not only from ourselves, but from those by our side who hold us up when our legs are too weak. From the support of others one can climb from the deepest, darkest pit imaginable.
Heal for 100% of health, others in your party take on the negative status of Drained (-10) for twenty minutes. This status is unaffected by Elixirs
Affinity required: 9
Charges: 2
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Summon Creature
Friends should never be pushed away, especially those that are always there with a kind word or a hand to grab hold of. But the darkness sometimes makes these gestures hard to see and so one must remind themselves that help is only a call away.
Summons a creature whose level is based on affinity, e.g. 7 affinity will allow the summoning of a level 7 creature. Requires a blood sacrifice of 250 health per summon.
Charges: 4
Cooldown: 45 minutes.
Summon Limit: 2
“So you’re like Peyton now,” Geo said to Klara. “You’re part of my group.”
“Not by choice,” Klara said. “But it beats being stuck here forever. What are we to do about… that,” she said and gestured toward the hellish looking gym.
“It’s part of the game,” Peyton said. Her armor was back as was her tail and fox ears. Her ears were twisting from right to left, as if scanning the area with them. “We clear it. I can access my weapons again. Can you two?”
Geo tried and felt his armor appear over his body. His sword materialized on his hip and he grasped the handle of the shield which floated like a ghost in front of him. He looked to Klara who now wore deep black robes, though they were more like her hunter coat than the robes he had seen in most fantasy games. She looked kind of cool.
Her ears had changed, they became longer and almost knife shaped, pushing through her bushy brown hair. Peyton and Geo both stared at her.
“What?” Klara asked and looked between them. “What is it?”
“Nothing, you’re just a cutie as an elf,” Peyton said with a wide grin. Klara furrowed her brow and then reached up and touched the tip of her long ears with a finger.
“Aw, come on,” she said and glared at Geo. “Why are my ears bigger than a freaking drieger?”
“I had nothing to do with it,” Geo said and stepped away from her as he worried she’d attack him. “Come on, we need to figure out how to get through this.”
“You’re the leader. I’m itching to kill something,” Peyton said, teeth bared as they stepped out into the gym.
Among Demons and Puppets
Three of them came from the darkness, girls wearing the uniform of the school, but they were only girls in passing form. They moved in erratic moments, as if put into motion by the pulling of strings. Their arms were longer than normal and their fingers were each tipped with a shining piece of a blade, driven under the fingernails.
They were surprising fast when they wanted to be and that caught Geo off guard. He only just brought up his shield to stop a girl from skewering him with her knives. Her hand bounced off the shield in a painful cry and she cradled her hand for a few seconds before returning to the jerky movement.
“What the hell are these things?” Geo asked and deflected another attack. He took the opening it left and slashed at the girl with his sword. Each strike drew purple like blood that dripped to the floor and sizzled. The girl curled up against the attacks, as if trying to protect herself and Geo felt a pang of guilt run through him.
It was just long enough that another of the girls could flank him. Peyton appeared beside him and drove her spear into the girl’s chest and shoved her to the wall.
“Pay attention, Geo,” she called and stabbed the girl again. She fell to the ground as if someone had cut her strings, a rag doll on the floor. “They’re not real people, don't hesitate.”
“I am paying attention,” Geo said and defended once again and then attacked the girl in front. She went down in another two hits, crumpling to the floor. He turned his attention to where Klara was and the girl she was fighting. Except, she wasn’t fighting it. A demon looking creature was.
The demon stood a foot taller than Klara and was as red as blood. Its body was thin, but rippled with muscle beneath the skin. Its hands and fingers were large enough to encompass the girl’s head and its black nails dug in as its hand squeezed. The girl slashed at him with her knife tipped hands, but the ribbons she drew on its skin didn’t seem to cause any concern for the demon.
The demon squeezed more and the girl’s head popped like a balloon, purple blood spraying across the rusted floor and over the demon whom smiled, showing long fangs and a snake-like tongue that lapped at the blood that cover its chin.
“Uh… who’s your friend?” Peyton asked as she wiped the blood from her spear on the uniforms of the dead.
“He’s my summon,” Klara said. She bent down and started to search through the body. “They drop elixirs, but no items for me.”
Geo looked at the corpse before him and took a deep breath. In games it was always so easy to just click on a corpse. He was glad that he still had the area looting.
He found two Aceso’s Draughts, but nothing else. A part of him expected to find mania cubes like in the floor below and he felt some relief they hadn’t shown the
mselves yet. He looked to Peyton who was searching the girl she had killed. She grinned as she came up with a small box.
“What the hell is that?” he asked as he came over. She turned her grin to him and then opened it. It glowed for a second and then the box dematerialized and in its place looked like a cape with a hood. She twirled it around and it attached to her shoulders.
“It’s an agility cloak,” she said and put the hood up so that her face fell into shadow. “+3 to dexterity, dude. That almost doubles my damage.”
“Why do you always find the cool shit? First your spear and now the cloak.”
“Come on, my spear sucks. It’s nothing like this cloak… it’s orgasmic to wear. I feel like I could dodge bullets with this thing on.”
He walked over and opened a window on the cloak.
Cloak of Agility
Running is a viable strategy, except for when what you’re running from is yourself. Dodge and bargain all you like, your choices will always catch up with you.
+3 to Dexterity while wearing.
He sighed and shrugged. “Whatever, hopefully we all find new equipment, especially armor. Is there a way to check the levels of these things?”
Klara, looking annoyed, walked to a body on the ground and opened a window. She turned it to them. “Level 6, which is low for this floor. They’re trash.”
“They aren’t the only ones,” Peyton said with a glance to Geo. She then laughed. “I’m kidding. We need to keep moving if we’re gonna find a way out of here.”
“I’ll ignore that dig,” Geo said as he picked his way through the hanging cloth and toward the door. The area was creepy enough that it made him uneasy, but the breathing and the clacking of the summoned demon’s hooves took it to another level for him.
When he got to the door, he turned to Klara. Her demon was right behind her, hunched over and looking bored. “How long does that thing last?”