“Please...help…” All the hair on the back of Alexander’s neck stood up as he slowly turned around. Henri was looking up at him. “Alexander, please…”
Immediately he was at Henri’s side, kneeling down in the sand. “Monsieur Laurent! Hold tight, sir, let me call Val. I don’t have the clearance to -”
“No, not Val.” Henri took a shallow breath and shuddered. “You...you need to...help my...daughter. Help Madelyne.”
“You can help her yourself, just let me call Val.”
“First...you have to know. Val...isn’t…real.” Henri succumbed to a coughing fit. Alexander didn’t know how to help him - he was there, but only as his avatar. “Val...is…” A few more coughs and Henri’s eyes closed. He was losing consciousness. He was dying.
“I’m sorry, Monsieur.” Alexander typed in the code that would immediately contact Val in the game, and after only a few seconds, his employer responded.
Alexander typed as fast as he could.
Alexander moved his avatar to stand just next to Henri. “What were you trying to say to me?” he asked. Soon a red light surrounded Henri, and his body disappeared, as though he had logged out of the game. Alexander breathed a sigh of relief and then logged himself out of the game. He thought about logging back in as Soli’s GM avatar and letting Em know that her father wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t sure himself. This had been the most confusing assignment he had ever undertaken for his boss.
Henri’s words rang in his ears as he closed the laptop and moved over to the sofa to watch a bit of television. “Val isn’t real.” He thought about that for a long few minutes. What did that even mean? He shook off the creepy feeling that came along with that interchange and turned on the television. There had to be something on there that would take his mind off Arcstone...and Monsieur Laurent...and Em. Mostly Em.
It was and would be Em. Always.
Em
Twenty Four
She hadn’t even noticed that the rocking of the boat stopped. She didn’t hear the shouts from the above decks. She couldn’t feel the thud that shook the hull when the anchor dropped. Em sat on her bunk with her legs drawn up to her chest, not feeling anything. With no idea how long she had been below - no idea, really, how long she had been in Arcstone - she had no frame of reference for anything. She simply was, and now that her father was gone, she couldn’t muster up much more than that.
She didn’t notice that Lex had come down to her cabin until it seemed to grow suddenly dark. She looked to the door to see if a storm was kicking off outside, and she saw him, filling the doorway. His eyes, red-rimmed just like hers, watched her carefully. His whole demeanor was sad - even his shoulders were sagging, and his tattoos were just tattoos, no color, no inner light.
“Em, we’ve...um...landed.” He sounded small, so much smaller than his frame would suggest. If she closed her eyes, it was as though his voice was still in her headphones, and everything was as it was a week - a month ago? Ten minutes ago? She couldn’t be sure.
“Thank you for telling me.” She looked back down at her boots but could see out of the corner of her eye that he hadn’t left. “Was there anything else?”
“Em, I’m sorry that I couldn’t save your father.” Complicated feelings for Lex aside, Em could not hear this now. She could not talk about this now, or she would lose the fragile grasp she held on her emotions.
She held up a hand to him. “Don’t. Where did we land?”
Lex sighed loudly. “I’m not sure how we made it past the Broken Reef without me noticing that the boat had turned around, but we are back at the Port of Last Call. We’ve made a circle and come back to where we started.” Em cracked her knuckles, not caring that the sound made Lex wince. It used to do the same to Alexander over the chat program, but at least she only heard him complain. “We would have to start again to get to where we were headed before and honestly without Henri, I don’t know if we can…”
“Can what? Find that place? Get me out of this awful game? What, Lex?” Even Em was taken aback by her tone, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Not like I can leave the game anyway, ever, thanks to this!” She touched her tattoo and pulled her hand away as though she’d been burned. She was angry, the tattoo was glowing crimson, and she should have known better than to touch it - but all it did was stoke the rage simmering in her core. The rage began building once she stepped through the mirror, but if she was honest, well before that. The rage which needed an outlet since her parents split and she’d moved out on her own to England.
All the snide comments about her accent when she spoke, the rude customers in the bookshop, the times she hadn’t known how to answer a question or order her food the way she’d really wanted it - all those moments came rushing to the surface and sadly, Lex was the target for all of it. Fear of living on her own in a not entirely yet still foreign country teamed up with anxiety over being alone in a flat at night in a big city and tumbled out in a mix of French and English that even Em herself couldn’t force into a coherent message.
To Lex’s credit, he merely stood there in the doorway of her cabin and took it. All of it. He seemed to listen to every word that Em threw at him like a grenade and never fired back or even made a sound. Finally, as her words became choked sobs, he entered the cabin, picked her up off the bed, and held her close. She cried and sobbed. She struck him with her fists in a mixture of anger and grief. Finally, her sobbing quieted, and Lex smoothed her hair back from her face.
“Now what?” she asked him through sniffles.
“Now we get off this bloody boat, and we find some answers. We travel to Demonwell and ask the Prophis Elders like Soliene how to get you back to your world. If anyone would know about that kind of magic, it’s them.” He planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Trying to get to the edge of this world was a fool's errand. Let’s get this done for your father’s sake. He wanted you to be safe more than anything, Em.”
“I know.” And she did. As giddy as finding him had made her, she understood that his priority was her safety - her escape from Arcstone. To accomplish that would be precisely what he wanted them to do and achieve, so she would have to pull herself together. “At least he died knowing that I was going to be okay because you are here to look after me.”
“Did he, though?” Em and Lex were on their feet immediately at the sound of the stranger’s voice. “Did he know that? Did he really die?” Standing in the doorway to her cabin was an older man who was very familiar to Em, but she couldn’t place where she had seen him before today. She looked at Lex - the fact that he knew the man was written all over his face.
“Le Creáteur,” Lex whispered. The man raised a gloved hand in the air, and Lex sank to his knees, as though he was a marionette on a string. Em looked back and forth between them, unable to believe what she was seeing.
“Lex! My favorite Prophis. Stand up, mon fils, and let me have a look at you! Why you haven’t changed a bit since that day that I picked you up in the carriage and brought you to Henri at the tavern.” He strode into the cabin as though he owned it and walked right up to Em. “And you must be Henri’s daughter! Though I must say, you look just like your mother, dearest Maggie.” He cocked his head to one side as he looked at her. “Are you well, child? I would think you’d be thrilled to find out that your poor father is not missing, has not run off and around on your mother, that he is here in Arcstone.”
Em fisted her hands at her side. “He WAS here in Arcstone, but now he is dead.” She looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Who are you?”
“Lex has already told you, my dear. I a
m Le Creáteur. I made this world - I am this world’s god.” He grinned at her, making her want to gag a bit. “But you mean my name? Valentin Badeaux, at your service, mademoiselle.” He held out his hand expectantly, but Em merely held his gaze. From behind the man, Lex was looking at her, silently seeming to beg her to just take Valentin’s hand. “You are not one to stand on formality, I see. No problem. I can also be coarse, can’t I, Lex?” Em glanced back at Lex, who was stricken and nearly green in the face with fear, judging by the color of his tattoos.
“Em, please, do as he says.”
“Not in a million years.” She locked eyes with Val again. “What do you mean, my father is alive and well?”
“I have him, Madelyne. He is safe with me, and he sent me to bring you to him. I think it would make him heal even faster to have you at his side.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I didn’t expect that you would, given the riff-raff you’ve been associating with since you arrived in my world. But you must give me a chance, Madelyne. You must -”
“My name is Em.”
Valentin made a show of rolling his eyes before inclining his head in her direction. “Of course, as you wish, Em. You must give me a chance to prove to you that I mean what I say and that all I want is to reunite you and your father.” He again held out his hand. “Will you offer me that chance? I know your curiosity has to be getting the better of you.”
“Where is Henri now?”
“Ton père is safe in my castle, Em.” He took a small step closer to her, hand still outstretched. “The truth is that I love your father. Henri has been mon ami et l'amour de ma vie since we were boys. I could not have done all -” he gestured around his head at the sky and sea, “- this without him and his creativity, his imagination. All I wanted to do was share this creation with him since it is a part of him as much as it is a part of me - it is our child if you will.” His weathered face darkened as he pushed his round spectacles up the bridge of his nose. “But he didn’t need our child, our Arcstone, did he? He had YOU with that whore, and didn’t need me anymore.”
“What did you call my mother?” A strange sensation was growing in Em’s chest, and she could see the early stages of angry, offensive magic forming around her hands and arms. Dark clouds coalesced in the spaces between her fingers until she looked as though she was wearing fluffy black gloves. Tiny arcs of electricity jumped back and forth between her hands. This was familiar - she had seen it happen to Em before when she was about to use offensive magic. But the fluffy black gloves were new, perhaps a side effect of the Prophis tattoo? “My father loved my mother. He thought you were his friend, HE LOVED YOU, but he always said that it was worrying how far you intended to go to get what you want.” Em turned around in a circle, her hands up in the air. “Looks like he was right if you created all of this for him.”
Lex looked mortified, but Valentin was clearly amused. “You may look like your mother, but that mouth is all Henri,” he chuckled. “But all of this, my Arcstone - this was not only for him. It was inspired by him, but I knew that Henri did not have the stomach to admit the truth of his feelings for me. We loved each other and could have been so happy together, creating worlds like this one, where we could be together. But your père merveilleux took the easy way out, cherie - he married a woman and had a family, just like your world expected of him.” Em was so furious that she couldn’t even speak. “Is it shocking to find out that your father was in love with a man?”
Em squared her shoulders and stared him down for a long moment before she spoke. “My amazing father - you were right about that, by the way, he was amazing - was his own man, and who he loved or did not love was none of my business. He did love my mother, but there was always the shadow of someone else. Mama thought that it was me.” She smiled at Valentin, but the smile did not travel all the way to her eyes. “I can only surmise that shadow was you - but that is neither here nor there.”
Val sneered at her. “Isn’t it?” Em shook her head. “Well, you should be glad, little girl, that my heart is big, and my memory is long because if not, I would have left your father to die on that sandy beach in the Au-Dessous.”
Em looked at him for a moment and then started laughing. “You named it The Underneath?” She laughed for a long time, wiping at her eyes as Lex shook his head at her. “Because it is underneath...the maelstrom?” Lex was staring at her as though she had gone mad. “I”m sorry - that is just really funny. Lex told me that it was a zone leftover from an event, and that was why Papa died when he fell into it, but you are saying that he is alive and you saved him - because you are the god of the game and you can do anything. Did I miss anything?”
It was Valentin’s turn to narrow his eyes. “Mon Dieu, woman, if you were my type, I would sweep you off to the palace instead of your father. However…” He moved closer and cupped her chin in his hand as she glared at him. “I can see why Lex loves you as he does.” She yanked her face away from him, and he laughed as he turned to Lex. “Is she this much fun in bed as well, Lex?” He looked back just as Em had hit the proverbial last straw, and she slapped him hard across the face. He covered the imprint on her hand on his cheek with his own hand and then met her infuriated gaze. “You should not have done that,” he hissed.
“I am not afraid of you.”
“You will be. Lex?” Valentin snapped his fingers, and Lex jumped as though someone poked him with something sharp. “Take her.”
“Le Creáteur, please do not -”
“LEX!” Valentin’s eyes blazed an unnatural shade of red as he pointed at Em. “TAKE HER.” Em looked over at Lex, who was shuffling toward her, his arms outstretched toward her.
“Lex, don’t, you don’t have to do what he says, you don’t.” Em pleaded with him, but Lex kept coming toward her. The tattoo on her neck felt as though someone had touched a burning torch to her skin. She rubbed at it as she took a step back from Lex, but she wasn’t watching where she was going, and she ran into her bunk and lost her balance. As she tumbled to the ground, she caught herself on the end of the bunk, the metal cutting into the skin of her hands. Lex grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up in the air as he turned back toward Valentin. She twisted her body and swung and kicked madly at him, but Lex’s arms were long enough that her blows struck only air.
“I have her, sir.” Lex’s voice sounded far away and tinged with sadness. Far away - he sounded like Alex! He sounded like he was speaking to her through the voice chat and her headphones.
“Alex, please, put me down. Don’t do this.” She felt Lex shudder, but then stiffen.
“Nice try, darlin', but I have to do my duty,” he said. Em resumed fighting against him, but it still did no good. He tightened his grip on her as he turned to face Valentin. She thought they must have looked an unholy terror with her tattoos keeping a staccato crimson beat in time with his own. “Where to, sir?”
Valentin moved close to both of them and leered at Em. “We are going to reunite her with her Papa, Lex. Isn’t that marvelous? From what I understand, he is basically like ton père to you as well, oui?” Lex didn’t answer, just ground his teeth so forcefully that Em was sure she could hear them moving against each other. “And then, once the family reunion is over, I have another surprise guest for her, but that is all I will say for now.”
Lex
Twenty Five
It was as though he was watching someone else - another Prophis holding Em aloft, someone else kneeling at Val’s feet like a servant. But he could not ignore the sense of duty that swelled within him when Val - Le Creáteur spoke. There was a lot that he didn’t remember, sure, but what he did remember was whom he served - to whom he was bound. He remembered his mission: find Em, befriend her, earn her trust, bring her to Le Creáteur. But he also remembered being in her house in the woods, seeing her vulnerable and afraid, trusting her, and watching her trust him.
All he could do now was obey. Comply. Bring Em along as directed and hopefully protect h
er and get her as far from danger as possible. As far from Alexander as possible. Lex was more than confident that the surprise that Le Creáteur held in secret for Em was Alexander - after HE had been the one to bring her to her father. HE had been the one to save her father’s life, she would believe anything he told her, even that Alexander was not dangerous.
“Are we ready, my Prophis?” Le Creáteur was standing close to them, ready to transport them to his fortress to see Henri. Lex wrapped a protective arm around Em and nodded; she promptly bit him. He pulled that arm free while still holding her with the other one and pressed his thumb into her pulsing scarlet tattoo, knowing it would hurt but also hoping it would subdue her. Right on both accounts, judging by the look on her face and the cry that escaped her lips. “She is feisty!” Le Creáteur was still chuckling as he put his hands on Lex’s arms - careful to avoid Em’s mouth lest he also get bitten - and recited words in the language of the Prophis themselves. It was an ancient language, or so Lex had thought up until only a few days ago. Now he had no Idea. “Here we go!”
Lex clamped down his hold on Em as everything around him went black. As soon as he felt Le Creáteur’s hands come away from his arms, he leaned down to Em, his lips brushing her ear. “Please follow my lead, Em. I know you don’t trust me, but I will not let him hurt you.” Her body stiffened in his arms, but she nodded. “If you let me, I will get you out of there and hopefully take Henri with us.” At that, he felt her shudder and knew she was holding back a sob. “Be strong, Em, I know you can. I love you. I will not let anything hap -”
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