Neverfall: The Dark Path (Book 2): A Gamelit Lit RPG Series

by C. Wintertide

  Mack let out a scream of rage and ran straight at the dragon with Cutter held high. Mack was not as dexterous as Luke, and the dragon was able to bat him out of the way. Mack let out an “oomph” as all the air was knocked out of him. He skidded to the far wall. Just as he was getting to his feet, the dragon’s whip-like tail snapped around and slammed into his chest again. He was lifted off of his feet and sent flying. He lay still.

  Were he and Alicia dead?

  No, they can’t be!

  Had he failed them again?

  You will fail unless you walk the Dark Path, his father’s voice echoed softly in his mind. He wasn’t sure if it was his father’s actual voice, or his own mind conjuring up those words.

  I can protect them! But I didn’t… I just did a normal attack. It’s not enough. I’m not strong enough!

  Was he holding back against this dragon?

  Yes. I can do more. Father was right.

  He could feel the hunger flare in his tattoos. He could do something to quench it. He could do something terrible that would take the dragon down. He just had to seize it. He just had to choose. He wasn’t on the Dark Path. He was about to choose it. To save his friends. His father had lied. In a way. But Luke would make it the truth now. He would start down the Dark Path.

  An arrow flew through the air over his head. It struck the dragon’s left shoulder and sank in about six inches. Black blood flowed, and a red 35 rose. Luke had forgotten Cassie!

  “You big lizard, you’re going down!” she shouted, and another arrow flew towards it.

  The dragon smacked the arrow out of the air, and glared at her.

  Red light suddenly flowed around Luke, and he felt the strength of the Heal spell fill him. His health bar surged back up. Alicia and Mack started to stir. They were not dead. Yet. But they were out for the count for this fight. Luke had to kill this dragon now.

  I have to choose. I have to choose...

  “Cassie, aim for its other eye! Distract it as much as you can!” Luke cried.

  “Right!” she called back. “What are you going to do?”

  “I need to choose!” he yelled.

  “What?” Cassie sounded confused, but he could not explain.

  I choose to save my friends.

  I choose to keep others safe.

  I choose to pay any price myself so that I can have the power I need to keep my promises.

  “Luke…” Christopher called and stopped. Whatever he was going to say, he stated instead, “Be careful.”

  “Oh, I don’t think he’s going to be careful. He’s got that look in his eye, little brother!” Cassie laughed.

  And Luke agreed with her. He was doing the one thing he shouldn’t. But it was the one thing he had to do. Not just for this fight. But for all of them. To keep his friends safe. He’d do anything for that.

  I choose the Dark Path!

  His Special Ability bar filled completely and flashed. His HUD exploded with fireworks. Congratulations! You have chosen to follow the Dark Path! You now have access to the Special Ability: Drain. To use this ability, say “Drain” and then proceed to kill your enemies. Their energy will be stored for use in greater magic attacks or more powerful martial ones in later battles.

  Luke found a cold smile crossing his lips. Yes, perfect.

  He ignored the fact that he had just done what he told his father that he would never do. He ignored the fact that he had just taken a step down the same path that his father had. He ignored the fact that it likely meant the NPC version of his mother in the game would never even speak to him. He needed to do this so that he and his friends would have enough power to survive this game and go home to see their real parents.

  He could do this.

  He would do it.

  While Cassie sent arrow after arrow at the dragon, Luke ignited his left hand with Ice Daggers. He’d have one shot with it before his mana would be exhausted again. It wouldn’t be enough to kill the dragon, not even if all of Cassie’s arrows happened to go true. But he didn’t want to kill it with his magic anyways. He wanted to kill it with his sword. Though the HUD hadn’t said anything about needing to use Dragon’s Claw with Drain, he sensed that this would be the best course.

  He hunkered low, and then with a burst of speed and strength, he lunged towards the dragon. He conjured Ice Daggers that stabbed into the dragon’s back, causing it to arch in agony. Sixty more hit points were lost.

  He kept racing forward. It swiped at him with the bleeding forelimbs. He ducked away from one swipe, rolled under another, and dodged out of the way of the third before he was at the dragon’s chest. With all his strength, he plunged Dragon’s Claw into the red scales. The sword’s flames burned with a blinding brightness as it sank into the dragon’s flesh like a hot knife into butter.

  The dragon bellowed and reared back. Luke had to hold onto the hilt of his sword with all his might as he was lifted off of the ground. He expected at any moment for the dragon’s claws to rake across his back, but there was a thwump sound and the dragon’s bellows grew louder. He saw a feathered arrow sticking out of the other eye. The dragon’s claws went up to that as its pain increased.

  Need to put it out of its agony, Luke thought.

  “DRAIN!” he shouted.

  The flames from Dragon’s Claw exploded out of the opening he’d carved into the dragon’s chest. They began to spread with alarming rapidity over the dragon’s body. Luke’s hands were getting so tired from holding on. He wanted to let go of the sword’s hilt and fall to the ground. But his tattoos were screaming now as loudly as the dragon was, but with hunger. The ravaging hunger ripped through his body, consumed him just as the flames were consuming the dragon’s body.

  The whole of the dragon was covered in blue flames. It reared back once more, its forelimbs leaving the ground so that it was almost standing upright. Luke was screaming, too. His arms felt like they were being pulled from their sockets. But then the dragon started to break apart into individual sparks of light that drifted away. The flames raced backwards from the disintegrating body, and into Luke. And with them, the power of the dragon rushed inside of him, too.

  Luke’s tattoos devoured the power. He felt every line of them filling with energy. The energy was etched into his skin. And more than that. He could feel the lines extending. They crawled up half an inch beyond his elbows before the final burst of energy entered him. Luke was hanging, suspended, in the air, still holding onto Dragon’s Claw.

  Luke slowly lowered to the ground. His tattoos throbbed, not with pain, but with power. His hands were shaking. He felt… strange. Strange yet right.

  And just before the last spark that had been the dragon dissipated, he heard his father’s voice. Welcome to the Dark Path, my son.

  16

  DARKNESS FALLS

  “What did you just do?” Mack hurried over to Luke.

  “I… I… used a new Special Ability,” Luke explained.

  Luke’s arms shook as he sheathed Dragon’s Claw. He pulled off his gloves, dropped them to the ground, and pulled up the sleeves of his armor. His tattoos glowed red now. They were filled with energy.

  “Whoa! What is that?” Mack asked.

  “The dragon’s energy is stored for me to use later,” Luke said, remembering what his father had told him.

  Alicia loomed over him, and stared at the glowing tattoos. She reached out with one thick, green finger and poked them.

  “Ow!” Luke cried, rubbing the spot where a sharp orc nail had stabbed him.

  “They are not hot,” she said.

  “Thanks, but I could have told you that without you poking me!” He glared at her.

  Cassie and Christopher hurried over to them. Cassie’s green eyes were bright with curiosity. Christopher’s expression was shadowed. And it was his reaction that worried Luke the most.

  Why worry? I made a choice in a game. It’s not a moral judgment of who I really am. It can’t be.

  “Luke’s new ability was pretty dam
ned cool, huh?” Mack jostled Christopher’s side.

  “A new ability! So that’s what that was!” Cassie grinned. “Oooh, look at your tattoos!”

  “What exactly is this new power, Luke?” Christopher asked, staring at the tattoos with a pinched expression on his face.

  “It’s called Drain.” Luke pulled down his sleeves and started to tug on his gloves.

  “Sounds badass.” Cassie nodded.

  “It is. I can use the dragon’s power to fuel--”

  “The dragon’s power?” Christopher’s voice was sharp. “You--you drained the dragon’s power into yourself?”

  Luke gritted his back teeth, but kept his voice neutral as he answered, “That’s about right.”

  Christopher studied his face. “There’s more. You’re not telling us something. I can tell.”

  “Christopher, what are you going on about?” Cassie sent a narrow-eyed glance at her brother.

  “It’s a… a Dark Path ability,” Luke said.

  Christopher looked stricken. “No, Luke. Why would you do that?”

  “Why wouldn’t he?” Cassie laughed. “I have the Dark Path option, too! Though I haven’t unlocked any of my abilities yet, but I can’t wait to find out what I can do! I thought I would be the only one because I’m a rogue.”

  “Neither of you should have that!” Christopher pointed the tip of his staff at both of them.

  Cassie frowned. “Why not? It’s a common convention in games--”

  “This isn’t a game!” Christopher almost sounded shrill. “I mean not just a game. The Dark Path will affect you.”

  “If you mean will it make me strong enough to keep you guys from dying? Yeah, I’m okay with that,” Luke snapped.

  Everyone went silent, shocked by his show of temper. Luke chewed his inner cheek, thinking he should apologize, but he couldn’t. He was still angry. Instead, he went to where the dragon had fallen. There were three gold pieces, fifteen silver, and a single small diamond.

  “Loot!” Cassie enthused.

  Luke gave her the diamond. “It’s not quite a Light Gem, but--”

  “I got the bow last time.” She touched the bow’s string that was strung across her chest. “You should keep it. Sell it when we’re back in town.”

  Luke nodded. He doled out the rest of the money among all of them.

  “We’re still poor as church mice,” Mack sighed.

  “Oh, wait, there’s something more down here. I saw it when I was scouting out the cavern,” Cassie said as she dashed over to the dragon’s nest.

  “You mean the reason that you nearly got yourself and the rest of us killed?” Alicia had her hands on her hips as she said this.

  “I know! I know! But nothing ventured, nothing gained! Woot!” Cassie let out the last as she pulled out an impressive front heavy armor piece. It was slightly tarnished steel. There were dents in the front and back, but it was good armor. “You can’t complain, Alicia, because this is for you!”

  With a grin as broad as her face, Cassie lightly ran back, and thrust the armor into Alicia’s large hands. Alicia looked it over with a critical eye, but finally grunted. She stripped again so she could put it on. She slid the heavy armor over her head. The chest piece was hinged at the top of the shoulders and had leather straps with buckles at the sides. Cassie helped her thread the tongues of the leather straps through the buckles. Alicia hit the front of the armor with her right fist. It rang like a bell.

  “It is far superior to what I had,” Alicia admitted.

  “Exactly! And you wouldn’t have gotten it if I hadn’t woken the dragon!” Cassie grinned.

  “So you did try to steal it from the dragon, which is what woke it up?” Luke asked her.

  Cassie grimaced. “I was going to attempt to filch it, but the damned dragon saw me picking mushrooms. It had ears like a cat’s! Speaking of mushrooms, start picking them, Christopher! We’re taking every single one.”

  “I already am.” And, in fact, he was. He was plucking the delicate mushrooms and dropping them into his bag. “Luke? Did you see any flora in your dive into the pool?”

  Luke felt a momentary pang, glad that Christopher was talking to him normally.

  What was I expecting? For him to reject me like the high elf had in the Character Creation Area?

  And then he realized that was exactly what he had expected. He was the one feeling guilt about choosing the Dark Path. His anger was at himself.

  “Luke?” Christopher half turned towards him, a worried expression on his face.

  “Ah, no, I can’t say I noticed when I was under there. But I wasn’t looking. Too busy trying not to drown or be fried.” Luke scrubbed the back of his neck. “But let me go look again.”

  “Oh, I can go--”

  “No, no, let me,” Luke said, feeling like it was the least he could do for snapping at Christopher.

  He waded into the pool without a second thought and dove underneath the water. He peered down at the stony floor of the pond, looking for anything plant-like. It was a good thing that Christopher had thought of this as he found various long green plants, and when he plucked one, his HUD told him he had discovered luxora, which was one of the plants that Maxina would pay them coin for. He surfaced, took a deep breath and picked five more. He swam back to shore, boots squishing, before handing the plants over to Christopher.

  “Thank you, Luke! These will, undoubtedly, fetch us a pretty penny from Maxina,” Christopher said with satisfaction as he tenderly tucked the wet stalks into his pouch.

  “Probably just a few coppers based on the unbalanced economy in the game.” Luke gave him a smile.

  “You have a point. But still! The more we help her, the better the chance she’ll teach me her potion-making skills,” Christopher pointed out. “Not having to buy potions will mean our lack of funds is less of a problem.”

  Luke nodded. Christopher opened his mouth, and Luke was convinced that he was going to talk about the Dark Path again. So Luke quickly said, “Looks like we leveled up with that last battle. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather upgrade out of this cavern. It smells like… well, dragon in here. Ready to go, guys?”

  He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, Luke quickly turned, and started walking towards the way out. His heart thumped dully in his chest. He had made a choice. He was not going to be made to regret it. And he didn’t want to fight with his friends about it either. The others hurried after him. He heard Cassie and Christopher bickering about the two paths.

  “Affect us how? Give us kickass powers? Make Luke have some awesome shiny tattoos? What?” she asked.

  “Haven’t you read the Glossary? I did last night before I went to bed,” Christopher said with a sniff.

  “Who reads the Glossary? That’s like reading the instructions before you put something together. No one does that but you,” she pointed out.

  “If you had read the Glossary then you, too, would know about the dangers of the Dark Path,” he said.

  Even as Luke clambered up from loop to loop of the path to reach the way out of the cavern, he listened carefully to what Christopher was saying. Maybe he should have found out more about the Dark Path before he’d chosen it, but the truth was he’d still have chosen it to save his friends. Knowing his father followed it was a far bigger warning than any Glossary could ever be.

  “While the Glossary doesn’t tell you everything about the Dark Path, it hints what’s to come. The powers it offers you will require sacrifice. Potentially blood sacrifice. Killing people, Cassie. And people will be drawn to you--vicious cutthroats, assassins, monsters--and will come offer you even darker quests and--”

  “None of this sounds at all unexpected,” Cassie interrupted. “That is what happens in all games.”

  “Yes, but, Cassie, it’s different backstabbing a person on the screen as opposed to real life! Imagine a true killer coming up to you and asking you to slaughter a family?! How would you feel about that?” he asked her.

  Ca
ssie shrugged. “It depends what the reward was. If it would grant us something we really need, I would do it.”

  “But it would be evil to--”

  “No, Christopher, that’s where we disagree.” She shook her head. “You insist on seeing a moral component to games. I do not. Games are sandboxes where you can do and be things you aren’t in real life. They are safe places to explore the darkness inside of you and leave it there.”

  “You, yourself, said that killing Marty in the game would affect Luke!” Christopher protested.

  “Because Marty is an actual person where what we did to him in here would be real. He’s not going to respawn.” She gestured towards the group. “Having Luke and I go down the Dark Path is actually a good strategy. You can concentrate on the Light Path. Mack and Alicia could stay neutral or choose a path themselves. We’ll get all sorts of different powers that we can use against the monsters.”

  “You’ve killed things in here, Cassie. It feels real, doesn’t it? I can’t believe you don’t see how doing evil deeds here won’t leave a mark on you in the real world,” Christopher said dispiritedly.

  “I would kill people in real life to protect myself, you, and our friends. In this game, if I have to kill a whole lot of NPCs to do it, I’m more than okay with that.” She pointed her finger at Christopher’s chest. “I know that you think of yourself as being very moral, Christopher, and you are. But some could say that your morality is hollow in some ways.”

  Christopher straightened up. “How so?”

  “Because you would put your ideals above real, live people. Shouldn’t the people you care about be worth more than your ideals?” she asked her brother.

  Luke didn’t get a chance to hear what Christopher said in response, if he said anything, as they stepped out of the cave. It was then Luke realized something that should have been apparent the moment he’d headed up the shaft to the cave’s opening.