Rift

by Nancy E. Dunne

  “My family were and are inconsequential.”

  “But Val, at the time I was starting to think about where our relationship was going, you had discovered girls at school.”

  “That was different. Those girls discovered me, not the other way around.”

  “Possibly, but you liked the attention they gave you.” Henri sat up carefully, leaning his elbows on his knees as he drew them up into a cross-legged position. Reaching out with one hand, Henri touched the side of Val’s face and then quickly withdrew his hand. “You were so handsome, with that blond hair and those green eyes and that smile - it wrinkled up the corners of your eyes, it was so broad.” Val met Henri’s gaze and thought he saw something - but then it was gone. “I wanted our dreams to be a reality, Val. I wanted so much. But - that was not to be, was it?”

  Val moved closer to Henri and took his hand. “It could have been, mon coeur. It still could be.”

  “You really don’t remember why I ended things with you?” Val squinted as he spun through his mental collection of memories, hunting for the moment that Henri was talking about. “Let me give you a hint: Lise, wasn’t that her name?”

  “Lisel, yes, the exchange student. What of her?”

  Henri’s face clouded. “You had sex with her, didn’t you?”

  Val chuckled. “Everyone did, Henri. She was - how do you say in English? Not picky?”

  “I didn’t.” Henri looked far away for a moment, as though remembering something. “In fact, I did not sleep with anyone, at least not until I arrived in America with my family.”

  “I don’t understand what this has to do with -”

  “I didn’t, Val, because I wanted my first time to be with you.” Val felt like he had been punched in the gut. Henri looked down at his hands in his lap as Val forced his hands and body to move. He climbed onto the bed and reached out to touch Henri’s face. Instead of pulling away, Henri leaned into Val’s hand, his eyes closed for a moment. Val was moving in to kiss Henri when his eyes popped open in surprise. Henri pulled his head back from Val’s touch, his eyes wide in shock. “Why is your skin so cold?”

  “What do you mean?” Val rubbed his hands together and then reached for Henri’s hand. “Better?” To his surprise, Henri held onto Val’s hand. He pulled it closer and examined it, turning it over in his hand. “What are you doing?”

  “This isn’t skin.”

  “Of course it is, don’t be stupid.” Val yanked his hand away. Henri came up off the bed and put both his hands on either side of Val’s face and pulled him into a rough kiss. Val was shocked to his core, but he reached out for Henri intending to hold him close, but Henri pushed him back. Val advanced on Henri again, and again Henri pushed him away. “I don’t understand what you want, mon coeur!”

  Henri’s eyes were wide as he stared at Val. “I had to know… You aren’t human. What are you?” Val scrambled off the bed and away from Henri.

  “You need to rest.” He hated himself for it, but Henri could not find out the truth, at least not yet. “I will be back to bring you some food and wine later.”

  “Val wait.” He looked back, and Henri and his heart broke a little bit at the worried expression on his former lover’s face. “If you are in trouble or if something has happened -”

  “Get some rest. I will return before you know it.”

  “No. Tell me what happened. Please.” Henri was looking at him with such innocence and...love? Val sighed loudly. He could deny Henri nothing, especially after this long.

  “You left when we were 17. Yes?” Henri nodded, and Val took a deep breath before continuing. “When I was 18, I stole my father’s car and took it on a drive - a drive that involved a reunion with Lisel and a lot of alcohol. Long story short, I lost control of the car.” Henri sucked in a sharp breath as he listened intently. “My body was broken, but I fared far better than poor Lisel. Luckily, the feeling came back in my arms and hands, so I didn’t have to do all of this coding by dictation. I just thought of you, mon coeur, and kept pressing on, building a world where I would not be a broken heap but could be strong and beautiful and powerful again.”

  “Arcstone.”

  Val nodded, looking at Henri with hooded eyes. “Yes. It is just like we planned it to be, remember? It was our paradise. Did it look familiar when you arrived?” Henri scowled at him. “I suppose you haven’t seen much, but the tavern, have you. Pity.” He slid a hand across the bed and up onto Henri’s, smiling when Henri did not pull his hand away, at least not at first. “I can show it to you. We can rule this world, you and I.”

  “Where is your body?”

  “What?”

  “Where is your body? The broken one?” Val dropped Henri’s hand and moved away.

  “I did not need it anymore, so once I was fully integrated here, I disposed of it.”

  “Interesting. So there is nothing of you now, but - you, the you that I see here?”

  “Yes, now you’re getting it. After I learned how to integrate my personality into the game, I improved on that and was finally able to bring you here. And then your daughter arrived - well, she started playing Arcstone, and once I saw what a talented player she was, I had to bring her into our little family.”

  “You knew that if you had her, I would do anything to make sure she was safe.” Val grinned, but the grin soon faded. It didn’t look like Henri was happy - but why? Couldn’t he see what Val had done for them? “What’s wrong?”

  “The boy I loved is dead. I want nothing to do with you.” He turned away from Val. “I would like to return home now, please? I never want to see you again.”

  “I will get you some food.” After working hard to control his steps and not flee the scene, Val was finally out the door. He shut the door behind him with a bang and leaned up against the wall of the hallway. The stone was cold on his skin through his clothes and calmed him. “You will change your mind.” He pulled up his sleeve and waited for the tattoo to appear on his arm. It was very similar to Lex’s tattoos, and it lit up the dark corridor with its purple glow. He pressed his fingers into the design, and the pulsing light gradually grew darker. He leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. “One day, mon coeur. I see my mistakes now - your daughter is just a problem. Once we are rid of her and all the other distractions, there will be no one else but me, and we will be where we should have been from the beginning.”

  Lex

  Thirty

  Landings were never guaranteed to be smooth, just like they were not guaranteed to be bumpy. Lex’s landing upon transporting to the inn was rough. Luckily he thought to have an invisibility spell on hand and used it upon re-entry, so he did not attract too much attention. There was not a village in Arcstone that would welcome a Prophis landing in the street, and this one in Ghostfell was no different - even though the Demonwell was relatively close by, and there were by far more Prophis in this town than anywhere else in the world.

  The world. Lex snorted as he thought about that. Arcstone was not a real world. None of it was real. He scowled and then removed the invisibility magic as he strode into the inn, not bothering to cover who or what he was. A man stood at the bar, cleaning glasses with his back to the entrance. “You there! Everyone needs to clear out - at the request of Le Creáteur!” His voice boomed and bounced off the walls of the little inn. The man put down the glass that he was cleaning and turned to face Lex - who stumbled backward at what stood before him. “Henri?”

  “Oui, mon fils. Je peux vous aider?” The face was the same. The spectacles were the same. But something was wrong. “I am sorry, perhaps you do not speak the native tongue. How can I help you, my son?”

  “Who are you?” Lex asked, narrowing his eyes.

  “I am the innkeeper - you said that everyone needs to clear out, does that include me?”

  Lex thought about how Em would react if she walked in and saw this, just as he heard the door open behind him. “Papa?” Her voice was tight and angry - and confused. Exactly how Lex
thought she would react.

  “Je suis désolé, ma chérie, je ne suis pas ton père.” She was staring at him, and clearly, whatever algorithm was making him respond thought that meant she did not understand him. “I am the innkeeper, how may I help you?”

  Lex turned to her and tried to catch her, but he was too late. One of her daggers flew through the air, whistling as it passed his ear and stuck into the forehead of the innkeeper. He yelped and then fell to the ground - and then disappeared with a faint popping sound. Alex had just entered the inn as the innkeeper fell, and he approached Em quickly, grabbing her arm.

  “What was that for? Don’t you remember that when that thing pops back, it will aggro on you because you killed it?” Lex only understood a small part of what Alex had said, but he got the gist. The innkeeper would remember her, and Em had to get out of sight of the next innkeeper or else -

  “Bonjour! Je peux vous aider?” The man was smiling at Lex, but as his gaze traveled to Alex and then Em, it faded. "Aidez-Moi!" He ran at Em, grabbing up one of the pokers from the fireplace as he approached. “Stand back, sir, she is dangerous!” He heaved the poker toward Em with a grunt, and it fell just short of her boots. Lex looked back and frowned - she was spinning her daggers, which meant she was ready to engage, and she was beaming that wicked smile that only her enemies saw - the last thing they saw.

  “I got this, Lex. Just look for the box,” she called out as the first of her daggers flew. Lex rolled his eyes and ran into the kitchen to start looking. He heard a wet thunk as a blade found its target - and looked up to see Alex enter the kitchen.

  “What are you doing here?” he bellowed. “Help Em!”

  “You clearly haven’t fought alongside her. She doesn’t need help.” Both their heads swiveled toward the main room as a gasping cry was followed by a fall.

  “Clear! Having any luck?” Lex released a breath that he did not realize he was holding when he heard Em’s voice.

  “Not yet, Lex is still concerned with your safety, darlin'.” Lex glared at Alex, who was grinning back at him.

  “I’m fine and stop calling me that, I told you - oof!” A swear word in French followed by grunting sounds, and a thud told Lex that the third innkeeper had appeared and been dispatched. He looked over at Alex, who was staring at something on his arm - a watch, it was called a watch, right?

  “Two-minute re-spawn timer. Check. You stay in here, and I will go search Henri’s quarters.” Lex nodded and continued looking - both for the box and for the meaning of spawn timer in his long-repressed memories. There was no time for gentility here - Lex overturned tables and upended furniture as he tore through the kitchen. No box.

  “Found it!” Alex called out. Lex scowled. Of course he did. He probably knew just where to look - Lex paused. Alex probably knew just where to look, because Val sent him here to find the box and destroy the portal. If Henri was still alive, which he seemed to be when Lex ported himself and Em away from Badeaux Palace, then Val could not risk Henri finding a way to use the box to escape. He had to know that Em would be looking for it so that she could rescue her father.

  “I am so stupid!” Lex clapped his massive palm against his forehead. “I led them RIGHT HERE.”

  “Spawn timer is up!” Em shouted from the main room. “Time to dance!” He could hear the crashing of metal on metal - clearly, Em was again on her way to dispatching another innkeeper. But a sound came from that room - a high pitched, sharp sound - that set Lex’s hair on end and his feet moving in her direction.

  “EM!” He burst through the door in time to see the innkeeper holding Em by her face with one hand. Her dagger was in his other hand, and its blade was starting to pierce the skin of her throat. His cry distracted the man for just long enough that Em could simultaneously bury her elbow in his ribs and stomp down on his foot with her boot, sending him yodeling with pain backward. She spun around and slung the other dagger, this time finding its target in his eye. The innkeeper screamed and fell in front of Lex - who lifted him and tore his head from his shoulders.

  Occasionally, Prophis strength was a blessing and not a curse.

  Alex had come in just in time to witness the beheading, and he swallowed hard as Lex dropped the head on the floor. Both bits of the innkeeper blinked out of existence, leaving a grimy smear across the cobblestone. Lex caught Alex’s gaze and saw nothing but approval and - could that be - Alex was impressed. “What?”

  “Oh, um, nothing - I always knew that you had that skill and strength, but never used it because I didn’t want to gross Em out.”

  “I did not care about upsetting her constitution, human.” Lex snarled. “I saved her life, that was my only focus.” He pulled up his shirt collar in embarrassment as his tattoos began to flicker to purple from the crimson they had been flashing during the fracas. He glanced over at Em, who was smiling - as she rubbed her neck, her tattoo was a similar color. She liked fighting! Good to know. Very good to know.

  “Human.” Alex chuckled as he brought the box over to where they were standing. He placed the box on the table just out of Em’s reach. “So, I found it, now what?”

  “Now, Lex ports me back to Papa, and I get him and me out of here.” They were just words, but Lex felt them in his gut. She was leaving...leaving Arcstone and leaving him. Em would just hop right back into her old life - probably with Alex because he could walk in both worlds - and just leave him here to...what? What would happen to him when she left this world? Lex fisted his hands at his sides. He would deal with that later - for now, he needed to help in any way possible to get Henri safely out of the...out of Arcstone. Hard as he tried, he just could not call it a game. This world was as real to him as Em's was to her.

  "You got it, darlin'," he said, shooting a pointed look at Alex. Em scowled as she moved to Lex's side, grabbing the box from the table as she went. Alex moved quickly to her and took the box back. Lex wanted to grin - clearly, he had been right about Alex's intentions - but instead, he glared at his rival. "Give her back the box."

  "And let you just deliver her and the box into Valentin's waiting hands? No way. We come up with another plan, and we do it somewhere else, before -"

  “Bonjour! Je peux vous aider?” They all swore loudly as Em dispatched the latest innkeeper.

  Thirty-One

  “Out the door before another one pops!” Lex looked over at Alex and frowned. It was a phrase that resonated in his mind, but he couldn’t quite remember what it meant. These moments were happening more and more as they went along with Alex. It didn’t help that Em seemed closer to Alex now, but he supposed that was bound to happen. They hurried out into the street in front of the inn. Alex wrapped an arm around Em and then looked back at Lex. “Take those tattoos down a notch or two, would you? We’re all going, don’t worry.” He held out a hand to Lex, but there was something in his eyes that looked shifty. Lex shook his head no.

  “I can take myself, thank you.” Em was looking at him, that same look from the first day that she saw him, her eyes wide and beautiful. She looked at Alex and then pushed his arm off her waist.

  “I’ll go with you, Lex.” She put her hand on his arm and then looked back at Alex one last time. “Go on, Alex; we will be right behind you.” Alex groused, but before Lex could see how he did it, Alex disappeared. “Bah, just a GM showing off.” He looked down at Em, confused. “What?”

  “GM?”

  “Lex, come on. Game Master. MMORPG Customer Service.” He shook his head. None of that sounded familiar, though something in the very far recesses of his mind knew what she was talking about. It was just something that he couldn’t access, like a road to an island slowly succumbing to a rising tide - like the Broken Reef in the cold season, when the tide is so high for so long that the reef is impossible to find until your boat hits - “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Nothing. We need to go.” He pulled her close and began reciting the spell words to transport them to Badeaux Palace. She felt tense in his arms, reminding him of
their first encounter in Em’s house in the woods. “Are you afraid of me?” he whispered as they passed through the rift between the parts of the world. She must not have heard him because she didn’t answer. At least, he hoped she hadn't heard him.

  They landed in the hallway by the room where Val was keeping Henri to find Alex pacing about. His frown faded as soon as he saw them - he must have been worried about Em. Lex could respect that as he had been worried out of his mind when Em was with Alex before. Alex was holding the box in one hand and a sword in the other, and he observed Em. “Ready to rescue your father?”

  Em nodded as she moved away from Lex. “What’s the plan? We can’t let him have the box before we are sure that Papa is safe.”

  “Agreed. Lex, can you distract Val?”

  “Is that your whole plan? I will distract Val, and you will do - something - and hand the box and Em over to Val, and -”

  “Oh, this again?” Alex hissed. “Let’s just agree on something right now - no one is handing Em over to Val, agreed? We’ve got to be quiet; remember that he is just on the other side of that door.” His sword hand fell in clear annoyance as he glared at Lex.

  “Do you think I don’t know that?”

  Em put her hands on her hips angrily. “I’m standing right here, and further, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Here is the plan. We are not giving Val the box. We are taking Papa out of there. He is our priority.”

  “But how do we do that without exchanging the box for him?” Lex glared at Alex and stepped toward Em. “Oh, stand down, Prophis. I’m not going to hurt her.”

  Em looked up at Lex. “Do you remember when Papa told us about what happened when he reached into the box?” Her eyebrows were arched; Lex was getting the feeling that she did not want to share this information with Alex, so he nodded. “I don’t believe that is how it happened. I think that Val set that up for him to think that he could not leave the game. I believe he can, and that the box is the key.”