Luke yelled in frustration, before he dashed to the temple’s wall just below where the thing capered and danced thirty feet above him. The temple’s walls were smooth. There were no handholds for him to use to climb up. His Dexterity was nowhere near high enough to leap to the edge and pull himself up either.
There was another scream that had his head snapping around towards his friends. Cassie’s back arched like a bow, and her mouth opened in a silent scream of agony. Her soul left her all at once in an unending stream
And then her body fell backwards into her brother’s arms.
This is wrong! I saved them! We escaped!
“Cassie.” Christopher cradled her against him as he wept.
And then she was gone, too. Her body had disappeared, and Christopher leaned forward and keened.
“We need to retreat!” The words felt ripped from Luke’s throat. He looked back towards the opening in the sewers beneath Lethbridge. It looked so far away. But that was their only chance.
“Yes. We must,” Alicia agreed, shaking off the shock of losing Cassie, too.
Luke forced himself to act. “I’ll grab Christopher. You keep that thing off us!”
“With what?” Alicia spread her arms wide, showing they were empty. Her cudgel was lost somewhere up above.
“Throw stones at it!”
She grunted and leaned down to grab some of the white stones that had tumbled to the ground when the roof was ripped off. Luke dashed towards Christopher. The high elf cleric was touching Cassie’s daggers, coins and other items that were scattered before him like carelessly discarded children’s toys.
“Christopher! C’mon! We’ve gotta get out of here!” Luke grasped Christopher’s arm and tried to yank him up to his feet. Christopher, though, was dead weight. Losing his sister twice was clearly too much for him.
“Cassie. I can’t leave my sister,” Christopher murmured. His voice sounded disconnected and faint.
Luke’s mind kept screaming at him that this was all wrong. The true deaths of his friends couldn’t be happening, but they were. He closed his eyes for a second, and tried to think of some way to reach Christopher.
“We need to go, Christopher! Cassie and Mack would want us to go!” Luke shook the slender high elf.
“I can’t. You leave me here. I have to stay with my sister.” Christopher touched the air where his sister’s body had been as if he could still feel her.
There was a roar from Alicia as she hurled one of the two-by-two foot stones up at the thing. The thing dodged stone after stone until it almost seemed like it was dancing, showing surprising Dexterity. While nothing had hit it so far, the need to dodge had stopped it from taking another soul. But then Alicia was out of stones near her to throw.
“Christopher, we have to go! We have to go now!” Luke cried as the thing tittered in that familiar way that said a soul was about to be taken.
Alicia charged towards another pile of stones. But Luke already knew it was too late. As he wrenched Christopher to his feet, he saw his friend’s soul streaming through his fingers.
“NO!” Luke screamed. His mana had recovered to send one more volley of Ice Balls at the thing
It didn’t try to dodge this time. His magic didn’t faze it at all. He started to drag Christopher back towards the hallway into the sewers underneath Lethbridge. But the “smoke” kept streaming out from Christopher.
“No, no, no, Christopher! Stay with me! Don’t go!”
Luke tried to capture the “smoke” with his hands, attempting to keep it at least near Christopher’s body, but it simply slipped around his frantic grabs and flew to the wooden box. And then the dead weight of his friend’s body was missing. Christopher’s staff clattered to the ground, coins tinkled, and potions bounced and scattered. Luke stared down at them in shock. Christopher was gone.
“RUN! GO! LUKE, RUN!” Alicia raced towards him. She was gesturing for him to go into the sewers again.
Luke’s legs, though, wouldn’t respond to his mind. He was frozen. He still felt the ghost of Christopher’s body in his hands. His friends were dead. Again. He hadn’t been able to save them. It felt like a hole opened inside of his chest, and threatened to swallow him. There would be no more coming back. His eyes stared at the empty Special Ability bar.
What do you need? What has to happen for me to save them?
But he knew there was no saving them even if the bar filled completely right at that moment. He was weak. He was powerless. And they had died.
“LUKE, RUN!” Alicia screamed again.
But it wasn’t him who needed to run. It was her. Only she couldn’t run fast enough. The thing had directed its attention to her. With every pounding stride he saw the thin trail of “smoke” leaving her. Her steps faltered. Her mouth opened in a silent shout. He saw the life leaving her eyes.
“No… NO!” He wasn’t going to lose her, too. His slowly recovering mana allowed him to send a stream of fire towards the thing to distract it. But that, again, did not work. There was only one thing that might. Surely, it must work now. “Dragon Call!” Luke shouted. “Dragon Call!”
But his HUD responded, We’re sorry, but you can’t use the Special Ability, Dragon Call, at this time as your Special Ability Meter has not yet filled.
With a growl of rage and frustration, Luke flew towards Alicia’s smoking form. If he could drag her out of sight of the thing then maybe the spell would be broken. She was five paces from him. She stretched out one hand towards him. He reached back for her. Just as their fingers brushed, she collapsed onto the ground, and he saw her soul completely wrenched out of her body.
And then she was gone, too.
Luke fell to his knees. He waited to have his soul taken. But nothing happened. He looked up at the thing. It no longer capered and danced. It stood, frozen, box still open with glowing smoke spilling out from its sides as if it were filled with dry ice.
“Take me! TAKE ME, DAMNIT!” Luke screamed at it.
But the thing did not do what he demanded. It did not even seem to breathe.
And then Luke knew why as the arctic chill that accompanied his father flowed over his back in a wave.
3
OBJECT LESSON
Goose flesh rose up on Luke’s arms and the back of his neck. He didn’t turn as he heard armored feet click against the temple’s stone floor. Luke felt the brush of his father’s long cape against his back as the Dark Lord stood behind him. One of his armored hands landed on Luke’s right shoulder and he squeezed. It was not painful, just possessive.
You’re mine, it said. Just like all of Neverfall is mine.
“This is how it will always be unless you become stronger, my son. You will be unable to save those you love,” the Dark Lord said, his voice resonant yet crisp. “And only through me can you achieve that strength. Walk the Dark Path, and all shall be ours.”
Luke shuddered. The sweat on his skin had turned to ice. He slowly reached for Dragon’s Claw, the magical sword he’d won in hard fought battle. His fingers brushed against the hilt. Even through his glove, he felt the magical connection between him and his sword spark.
Luke’s voice sounded low and controlled, even as an icy fury filled him. “You are responsible for this. And I will not let you get away with it!”
Luke rolled forward and jumped up onto his feet, unsheathing Dragon’s Claw in the same fluid movement. Blue flames ignited along the blade with an almost maddening intensity. He felt his magic surge into the sword, his very life force giving it power, but he didn’t care if he burned himself to nothing. He’d give anything to make his father pay for what this game had done to his friends.
His father stood before him in that black antediluvian armor and hood. He had a massive two-handed sword slung across his back. The magical snake that usually wrapped around his body was not there, but the interior folds of his cloak flared with crimson light similar to that of the snake’s.
“This is good, Luke. You are not too intimidated
to fight. Even though you will lose.”
His father unsheathed his sword. It was more than three feet long. The metal was a black matte in color that did not shine. Red flames whooshed to life starting at the hilt and flowing along the whole length of the blade. Luke licked suddenly dry lips. But then he caught sight of Mack’s axe, Cassie’s daggers, Christopher’s staff, and Alicia’s empty armor. His friends were gone and it was all his father’s fault.
With a thin cry, Luke rushed towards his father, Dragon’s Claw primed for a sweeping cut. He sent a wave of fire right at his father’s chest with his other hand. The Dark Lord stepped into his flames without any harm to himself. No health bar even appeared above his head. He effortlessly parried Luke’s thrust. Luke let out a scream of frustration and frantically slashed right, left, right, left, over and over again. He used both hands on the sword. His father used one. The Dark Lord moved almost languidly while Luke used all of his speed and strength to try to hit him.
Sweat coursed down Luke’s face. His arms were already tiring. Sparks flew. Dragon Claw’s blue fire blazed higher every time it met the red flames of his father’s blade. But no matter what he did, he could not get past his guard. Rage burned within Luke, hot and bright and brilliant as the sun. Only the sense of loss he felt was larger.
“You’re doing well for someone untrained and being driven by his emotions,” his father remarked coolly.
“Shut up! You killed them! YOU KILLED THEM!”
Spit flew from Luke’s mouth even as he sent the last bit of his magic at his father. He swung his sword as powerfully as he could. The Dark Lord side-stepped his blow. Luke stumbled forward, unable to catch himself. He landed painfully on his hands and knees. Dragon’s Claw skittered away. Its blue flames went out. Luke tried to jump to his feet to get it. But suddenly a boot was pressing down on the center of his back, pinning him to the ground like a butterfly to a board. The tip of his father’s sword touched his left cheek. Luke went very still.
“Your friends are not dead,” his father said.
Luke let out a strangled sound. “Their souls are… are in a box.”
“Their souls are not in a box.” His father sounded almost amused.
“Yes, they are! That freak you created up there has them!” Luke screamed.
“Yes, that is what I showed you. It is what would have happened if Tethic had not obeyed me earlier about leaving you alone,” his father answered patiently.
“T-tethic?” He said the creature’s name who had taken his friends’ lives like it was an alien liquor.
“Tethic Bonecall. Necromancer extraordinaire. Until he raised the Lich King and then… well, then things went badly for him,” his father chuckled. “The master became the slave.”
“You created them both!” Tears of anger and loss ran from Luke’s eyes. He couldn’t hold them back. “And now my friends are--”
“Asleep. In The Drunken Dwarf Inn. Right where you left them.”
Luke blinked. “T-they’re alive?”
He thought of his memories of saving them. Those had been real. So this was a dream?
Or more like a nightmare. But this feels so real, too.
“Yes, they are alive and well. For now.”
“You can’t be here,” Luke said as realization suddenly flooded him. When his father had tried to enter the Kingdom of Itaeria before, the whole game had started to self-destruct. So the Dark Lord couldn’t really be here. And if he couldn’t be here, then maybe Luke’s friends really were alive and in the inn. “Are my friends truly okay?”
“Yes, my son. This was just an object lesson.”
The flaming sword was sheathed. His father removed his boot from Luke’s back. Luke quickly rolled over and leaped up to his feet. He faced his father. Dragon’s Claw was about fifteen feet to his right. But it didn’t matter. He was too weak to take his father down even with that magical sword.
And if this truly is a dream I can’t do anything to him here anyways.
But still, Luke sidestepped over to the sword. His father made no move towards his own sword, though he tracked Luke’s movements. Luke snatched up the weapon, and kept a hold of it. Even if this was a dream, he was superstitious about not having Dragon’s Claw in his hands.
“It feels very real here,” Luke said carefully.
His father spread his arms wide. “Of course. We are Dream Weaving. We can communicate like this.”
Luke swallowed bitter bile as his gaze took in his friends’ weapons again. “And what did you want to communicate to me by showing me this?”
“You know. That right now, you are weak. And weakness in Neverfall means death,” his father answered mildly.
“Let me guess, if I come to you I will become strong and my friends will be safe?” Luke shook his head and let out a bitter laugh. “I don’t believe that for one second. I think that you’ll hurt them to keep me in line.”
His father chuckled. “Perhaps. But I do not think it will be necessary. I believe--no, I know--that you will choose me in the end. Your path is one of darkness, as was mine. It is in your blood. It is your nature.”
“Choose you? Be like you? No, never!” Luke shook his head. “The very fact that you would make me watch my friends die to prove a point--”
“I am showing you the reality. I am trying to save you the pain of their loss. Is that not what a good father does? To be kind, sometimes one must be cruel,” his father said as he began to pace the floor of the temple. “But I see that I am going to have to let you learn this lesson on your own.”
Luke stared at him, consternation furrowing his brow. “What do you mean?”
His father stopped his pacing before him, and pointed a gloved finger at Luke’s chest. “I will let you and your friends experience Neverfall fully so that you see how very vain your attempts are to get strong enough to defeat me. In the end, you will realize that the only true way to keep them safe is for me to train you, and for you to rule by my side.”
“If you’re going to keep sending your minions to come after us that’s hardly us just experiencing Neverfall!” Luke scoffed.
“I will give you a reprieve from that.” His father’s cloak with that crimson light shifted in unseen winds. “But I assure you that Neverfall will test you in ways that you could not imagine. And this, what you have seen here, will seem like nothing.”
“But if I just give into you, it’ll all be grand?” Luke shook his head. “You don’t understand. Even if I believed you, which I don’t, we’d still be in danger.”
“Because of the man who calls himself Dr. Armitage?” His father cocked his cloaked head. His voice had taken on that silky dangerous quality.
Part of his father’s delusion was that his friend and mentor of 20 years, Dr. Richard Armitage was an enemy trying to take him down, and that Luke had been deceived by him.
Maybe Dr. Armitage did deceive me. He told me it would be a simple thing to come into Neverfall, take my father down, and get out again. Everyone saved. Everything fine. That’s not how this has gone.
Luke raked his hands through his hair. “Yes, because Dr. Armitage could be forced to shut down the game. And that would kill all of us, though I am guessing he will delay that as long as humanly possible. But, eventually, someone may just pull the plug no matter what he says or does. We need to--”
“Need to what?”
“Think of a way out of here. Out of Neverfall.”
“Your mother is the only one who would know how to do that.”
Luke opened his mouth to object, but then stopped himself. Maybe his father wasn’t completely delusional about this. Maybe there was some hint in A’nlian, the high elf kingdom where an NPC his father had styled as his mother ruled, as to what was wrong with the game.
“Have you talked to her?” Luke asked.
“Your mother will not speak to me.”
“Then… then I’ll go to her. I’ll convince her to tell me everything.”
His father went still, bu
t his cloak continued to move around him like it was a living thing. The crimson sparkling light within it was almost hypnotic. Luke found himself lost in the beauty of it. But he pulled his gaze away as he sensed that this, too, was some kind of trap.
“Perhaps you will get that far. You are very determined. But I think you will have come to me well before then,” his father said softly. “And once you choose me--and you will--that path will be closed to you.”
“You’re so sure. But you’re wrong.”
“Time will tell, my son.”
The Dark Lord stepped towards Luke. One long stride. Luke almost retreated as that sickening wash of magic and cold came over him. But he didn’t. He forced to stand still, and face his father. The Dark Lord lifted a hand. .
His father reached out, and lightly touched Luke’s forehead. “Now, it is time to… wake up.”
With those words, Luke was sent into blackness.
4
GETTING STARTED
Luke flew upwards in bed. His heart jackhammered in his chest, and sweat rained down his face as the remnants of the dream--or nightmare--cleared from his mind.
Did we Dream Weave or whatever Father called it? Or was that just a nightmare? He reached up to his forehead where his father had touched him. There was a zap of electricity that had his hand snapping away. He stared at his fingers where, for a moment, there was a sizzle of white light around them. It was real. My father was able to enter my dreams.
The memory of the loss of his friends hit him again, and he quickly looked around the bedroom on the second floor of The Drunken Dwarf Inn. Both Mack and Alicia were still sleeping in their beds. That meant that Cassie and Christopher were still in theirs as well in the adjoining room. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
Neverfall: The Dark Path (Book 2): A Gamelit Lit RPG Series Page 2