by Sam Ferguson
“Rored desires a champion. Have you seen him lift a finger to fulfill any of the tasks he demands be completed? Of course not. He will not take the crystal. You could offer it to him and he would have no interest. To him, order is established through a clear chain of command from Master—from oracle—to followers. If I were Rored Wandal and I knew all I have just told you, the last place I would want to be is in the cavern of Uz’Bogrog the Green. Yet, when you face the final battle and see him there, you will know I am telling the truth.”
“And how do you know about computers and codes? In the books your world is nowhere near that advanced.”
Khefir laughed heartily. “Oh, foolish human to assume that technology alone grants you an advanced status.” He shook his head. “As a god of this world, I have been programmed to know everything about Terramyr. This, perhaps unbeknownst to the developers, has allowed me access to admin terminals, source code, and other databases pertinent to this world as it was created. As the world has woken up with Rored’s presence, so have I, and I have ever been a curious schemer.”
That much was true. Khefir had always worked in the background of Terramyr’s major stories. “Then why don’t you find a way to destroy Rored yourself?” Brian asked, pushing one final time to make sure he wasn’t being tricked.
“I probably could,” Khefir said with a nod. “Eventually, that is.” He unfolded his arms and held them out to the sides. “Rored’s main purpose is to establish order. If I were to confront him directly, he would have to reconcile his sense of law and order with the entire pantheon of gods and goddesses. I might be able to convince him to stop his plots, but by that point, you, your actual body, will have died. As I’ve said, you’ve been a worthy acolyte. I thought it best not to take that chance. I am the collector of the damned, but you and your friends are not from this world, so I can’t rightly judge your souls one way or the other. I figure that would be best left to your creator.”
Brian frowned. “Ok, but then you could trick Rored into the crystal trap yourself.”
Khefir shook his head. “I am programmed as a god. Haven’t you been listening? That means I am immortal. There is nothing in Prirodha that could kill me. While such weapons do exist elsewhere in Terramyr, by the time the program wakes up enough to restore the rest of my world, you will again be dead. One being. One player. You can’t let it be anyone but Rored. You have to stay alive long enough for you, or one of your friends, to be the last person standing with the crystal and Rored at the end.”
Brian frowned. “I...” He shook his head. This was not the kind of breather he had hoped for when he wandered away from town to rest by the tree. He’d hoped to lessen his stress a little by relaxing, not having it quadrupled by some glitched-out god of death and hell.
“Now, before I take you back. My proposal!” Khefir held out his hand. A long, black-bladed katana appeared in it as he leaned forward to gaze intently at Brian with those glowing orbs. “You have a dagger that once belonged to me, would you consider an exchange?”
“What?!”
“You won’t need it in war. You’ll never be able to sneak unseen. This sword is made of Telarian steel and was blessed by the Sierri’Tai Istwan monks. It is specifically created to destroy dragons. I think you’ll find it a fair trade.”
“And what will you do with the dagger?” Brian asked.
“Ah, well, let’s just say I have some old scores to settle, and the blade will be put to so much better use in my hands than yours. Besides, if you fail, I’ll need something to ensure Rored’s power doesn’t grow too strong in this version of my world.”
“Do I have a choice?” Brian asked.
Khefir nodded. “Oh yes. My dagger must be given willingly. You most certainly have a choice, shrewd mortal, but know that if you withhold it from me, I will withhold this blade from you.” Khefir released his grip on the katana and allowed it to float in front of Brian. “Go ahead, take it, inspect the stats. See that I am offering you a fair deal.” Khefir then produced another book and set it on the table next to Brian. The pages opened and Barry’s image appeared in a similar way Professor Rojas has appeared as a miniaturized hologram.
Brian stopped looking at the katana and studied his friend. “Is he safe?”
“Quite safe,” Khefir replied. “I rescued him before Rored could find him. I have kept him safe ever since.” The god pointed to Meredith’s crystal. “In fact, you should leave her here with me as well. If you fail and die with them in your inventory, they will die with you. If they stay with me, then I can make sure their consciousnesses stay alive. Think of it as an additional guarantee I would happily offer in exchange for my dagger.”
Brian sighed. He thought back to the books he’d read and tried to weigh Khefir’s words in his mind. The book with Barry was closed, but he seemed unhurt. More than that, Khefir could easily kill Brian right now if he wanted to. He had already shown the power to pull Meredith’s crystal from his inventory. The one thing Khefir couldn’t take was the dagger. Even if Brian died in the battle later on, the blade would sit on the ground unable to be retrieved by anyone other than the gods who had forged it.
“All right,” he said as he held the dagger out.
The orbs of light standing in for Khefir’s eyes grew brighter as he curled his bony fingers around the handle. He offered the sword to Brian.
[Acquired Tontt’Hul]
Brian was about to open his inventory and see what the katana could do, but he stopped when a strange black flame spread over Khefir’s hand. Muscle and flesh regrew as the flame spread up the forearm, over the elbow, and to the shoulder. Soon the flame washed across the whole body and a man with long, dark hair and piercing blue eyes stood before Brian. His chest beneath the ephemeral robes heaved with breath, and his lips curled into a smile. Khefir carefully moved his hand to his face and, for the first time in millennia, felt the flesh across his cheeks and lips as tears fell from his eyes.
“You don’t know how long I have been waiting for this moment, or how much pain I was in,” Khefir said.
Brian’s mouth hung open. What could he say? This was an epic moment the books had led him to believe would never happen. He had just seen Khefir get his body back, which had—according to books anyway—been ripped away from him by Icadion, the chief god of Terramyr.
“If I could help you more, I would,” Khefir said. “But I fear that if Rored sees one of Terramyr’s deities interfere, he would suspect treachery, or at the very least would retreat to reassess his strategy. I will protect your two friends. Should you prove successful, then Meredith will log out easily, and she can help protect Barry’s consciousness after that. If you fail, then I will help set them free within this game world and do my best to ensure they live happily among Terramyr’s many peoples. Good luck.”
And with that, Brian was deposited back on the grassy lump at the base of the redwood tree.
22
Endgame
It took a few moments for Brian to shake off the shock of what had just happened. Meeting Khefir in the game would have been epic enough, but to have him be semi-sentient was beyond anything he could have imagined. Still, it left him with a heavy dilemma. Did he take Khefir’s advice, or did he move forward as planned with his friends? He wasn’t sure what to do on the front yet, so he instead opened his inventory, equipped the katana Khefir had given him, and inspected its stats.
[Tontt’Hul equipped. Attack +50 slashing, +50 damamge vs. dragons, +5 defense]
Whoa. Brian couldn’t believe how much this thing could hurt a dragon. With a weapon like this, he’d almost be guaranteed to make it to the final chamber. Assuming the other armies didn’t destroy him and his friends first. He sighed and got up from his spot in the grass. He needed to talk to Rhonda and Mike. He wasn’t sure how they’d take it, but he hoped they’d at least side with him. Then he could loop Augustin and Chris into the conversation.
Unfortunately, as he walked back to the town he found all of them sitting to
gether near a bonfire as satyrs and Fang warriors danced and a band of minotaurs and centaurs played music.
“Pre-war festivities,” Chris said as Brian approached.
Brian nodded. “Can I talk to you guys, alone?”
Freya and Krestin, the only two remaining companions, stayed sitting while the others got up to follow Brian.
“What’s up?” Mike asked.
Brian wrung his hands a bit and shook his head. “So, this is all going to sound a bit crazy, but hear me out and let me finish, okay?”
Mike and Chris glanced at each other, but everyone in the group agreed and let Brian relay the entire meeting with Khefir. He was careful not to leave out any details, including the part about giving Khefir back the dagger and the god getting his body back.
“So... you’re telling me that the game’s god of death came to you and told you what to do?” Chris said. “So you’re like some... Terramyr version of Joan of Arc now or something?”
“No, no, not like that,” Brian replied.
“Whatever you call it,” Mike began, “I don’t like it. Feels like a trap.”
Mike didn’t even comment on the fact that Brian had seen Khefir, let alone the interesting part about gaining his body back. Brian could only conclude that meant Mike was too deep in thought about their situation to care, and for Mike that was saying a lot. After all, only a few minutes prior to this he had been giddy as a schoolboy when he’d found out they’d be traveling through the trees like gnomes.
“How can we be sure it wasn’t Rored?” Rhonda asked.
Augustin cut in. “I don’t think it was,” he said. “To use a disguise like that seems to defeat the purpose. He could have done so before now in Terramyr if he was going to try that kind of tactic. Plus, there is no record of the oracle changing form in the real world.”
“I’m not sure I want to trust my life to stone tablets that are centuries old,” Chris said.
“Plus, it seems awfully convenient that Khefir wants you to turn the crystal over to Rored. Essentially, Rored would get everything he wants. Each of us would die, and he gets the crystal and can impose order. It seems like a lose-lose situation, pretty cut and dry to me.” Mike shrugged and put on that grin he did when he was pretty sure someone else was about to make a big mistake.
“How could Khefir learn about codes?” Rhonda asked. “That seems pretty implausible.”
“Actually, that’s the one part I would accept,” Chris said. “If this world scripted a god and the NPC woke up with god-like powers, then maybe it could break this world’s digital fabric. After all, Rored is somehow able to destroy the save points, so we know there is some sort of breach capability.”
“Still,” Mike said. “I’m not down with joining the god of the damned. I’ve read all of the Terramyr books so far, and I wouldn’t put my trust in him at all.”
“Mike...” Brian started to argue, but he could see his friend’s mind was made up.
“No way. You’re either with us, or you’re against us, Brian. We can’t just bet our lives that some random NPC knows more about the game it lives in than Meredith does. Win the game, reset everyone in limbo, and get the crap out of Dodge! That’s the plan.”
Brian nodded. “All right. Yeah, that makes more sense.”
“If the game demands only one victor at the end, then fine, but it can’t be Rored,” Mike continued.
“Agreed,” Chris said. “Even if Khefir thinks he’s right and has access to some admin information, I’d trust Meredith more. We should stick to the plan.”
“I think so too,” Rhonda said.
Brian nodded. “All right, sorry. You guys are right, it was a stupid idea.” He glanced to Augustin, who only offered a smile. Then he looked to Mike and nodded. “Kill the dragon, kill Rored, take the crystal.”
“Sounds good,” Mike said. “But hey, cool that you met Khefir, right?” Mike grinned and went back toward the bonfire. The others turned around and followed. Brian waited for a moment, watching them walk. Augustin glanced back at him, so Brian waved and smiled as if everything was good, but it wasn’t. He hadn’t really been convinced by Mike or Chris. Sure, it made logical sense that Meredith would know more about the world as it was supposed to be, but Terramyr had grown far beyond that point now. He couldn’t help but think that Khefir had the right of it.
Brian followed the group, catching up as they were in the middle of planning the strategy for the battle.
“My lightning is pretty powerful now, and I can summon a storm giant,” Mike said. “That should help with the battle.”
“I have Little Man,” Rhonda said. “I can also summon one more astral wolf.”
“I can’t summon anything,” Chris muttered. “Since I died when we fought the yeti king I didn’t get a share of the experience points. I’m still several levels below thirty.”
“Dang,” Mike lamented. “That’s too bad. I bet Khullan would have let you summon hell hounds or something.”
“I have an ability, but I can only use it once,” Augustin said. “Since I follow Nagé, there is a special magic I can invoke either by dying or sacrificing myself. I pick one ally, and once my HP is gone, a circle of Valkyries is summoned to protect my chosen ally.”
“That’s cool!” Mike said.
“Except for the dying part,” Chris commented. “Given our current circumstances, I am kind of hoping I don’t see a circle of Valkyries.”
Augustin smiled weakly.
Everyone turned to Brian. “I can’t summon drakes until I hit level fifty, but with my weapons and skills I should be able to do some serious damage.”
“Perfect!” Mike said. He closed his eyes and put a hand to his forehead for a second or two and then he pointed to Augustin. “All right, you and Chris are our tanks. You two will take point. Krestin will join you of course. Freya and Brian will be next, since Brian has the keys.” Mike turned to Rhonda. “You’re not really a healer, but you can try to use whatever potions you have to keep Brian’s character alive and keep baddies away from him. I’ll bring up the rear with my spells and try to keep us protected.”
“Has it been long enough to use your time-freezing spell again?” Brian asked.
Mike frowned. “No, but at least I have my storm giant and Rhonda can summon another astral wolf.” He then gestured to everyone with his hands. “Remember to use your summoning spells only when you have to.” He stopped and then turned to look at Brian and Rhonda. “I guess I’m really only talking to you, since Chris is below level thirty and Augustin has to die in order to use his special blessing.”
Brian nodded. “We also have an advantage we haven’t discussed. We have two armies with us instead of one.”
“Three, if the Greencaps show up,” Chris said.
“Riiiight!” Mike exclaimed. “Yeah, that should help a lot.”
“It also means we might want to hang back in the battle,” Brian said. “Allow the three armies to go out and do battle against the other factions until the dragon emerges. Then we can help kill it once it comes out and everyone joins together.”
“Good call,” Chris said. “No point in risking more than we have to.”
“Then, when the dragon is dead, we make for the cliff and race for the crystal,” Brian said.
“And hope it doesn’t say only one of us can have it,” Chris put in. “I really, really, don’t want to die in this fight.”
The group fell silent. Their gazes each grew distant, as if each of them saw something far away. Brian thought to his grandmother. Would he see her again? Would she know how important his work had become? How could he ever explain it to her? “Hey grandma, I found an alien-created artificial intelligence that was hellbent on destroying us inside of a video game, so all those hours of playing games in the basement as a kid really came in handy because I saved the whole world. Oh, and I found some nice artifacts that prove Chile has a really old writing system that might predate the Greek civilization. Cool huh?” he would say. “That�
�s nice dear,” she would respond as she continued to knit and watch her VR soaps.
More likely, the Chilean authorities were going to come for them all when their allotted time was up and find every single one of them dead and rotting, strapped to a VR headset. Of course, no government would ever publicize discovering alien tech, so the authorities would likely claim that the whole team died of some glitch caused by the VR system.
Worse than writing his claims off as preposterous, his grandma would likely attend his funeral and say something like, “I always told him the games were bad for his health, but he wouldn’t listen. Oh, that poor boy!” Then she’d rub her eyes with a handkerchief and be ushered back home, never to know what really happened.
He rubbed a hand over his forehead. This was ridiculous. The rage formed in his stomach again, rising like acid after a pizza-fueled, all-night cram session. He couldn’t just wait here for the New Viverandon place to lose the magical protection and kick them out to the world. No, if they were going to fight in a war, then he was going to choose the start time.
“I’m ready, you guys ready?” Brian asked.
“Now?” Chris squeaked.
Brian shook his head. “I assume we have all the health potions and other things we can get without leaving the protection of this village, right?”
They all nodded.
“Well then, let’s get this over with. The longer we wait, the worse shape Meredith will be in.”
“He’s right,” Rhonda said. “We should get this over with.”
“All right, remember the plan,” Mike said.
I’ll remember the right plan, Brian thought as he turned around and marched away from town toward the first satyr that had greeted them. He found her sitting alone atop an old stump that had blue and green mushrooms growing from its sides.
“Are you ready for the final battle?” she asked.
“We are,” Brian answered.