by Tyler R Lee
Within the cave, near the opposite wall of the window they looked through, they saw what could only be classified as a monster. It was hunched over, but would have easily stood fifteen feet high if standing up straight. It's body was an empty black with streaks of red and orange, like lava coursing through a void of nothingness. It was massive and tightly muscled, with huge claws for hands, two long horns protruding from its head, and two massive bat-like wings.
"Go...go...go go go," Lysander urged and the group obliged. As they ran down the hall, the creature turned its glowing red eyes on them. It slowly turned, shaking the ground as it stepped. Then, it let out a roar that made all their hair stand on end before it took off running for the barred window.
"At least now we know why the bars are bent!" Ariel yelled as she ran.
"Yes, I'll sleep so much better tonight now that I have this knowledge," Artemis chided as she pumped her legs as fast as they could go.
The group cleared the bars as a large arm burst through, bending more of the metal rods inward. However, the beast went no further. The group did not care, and did not stop running until they reached the foyer. Once there, they all sat upon the floor and breathed a bit easier.
"Davo put a balrog in his basement?" Peter breathed.
"I mean, technically, Yoshitsune put a balrog in Davo's basement," Ariel corrected.
"That makes more sense."
"So, avoid the basement at all costs?" Lysander looked around after the question was posed, and the group gave a collective nod. "Thank Jesus," he said.
After they caught their breath, the party made their way upstairs. As they unlocked the double doors on the second floor, Ariel voiced her concern. "This seems way too easy."
"Maybe it's the calm before the storm," NoScope suggested.
"Or...maybe we're just that good?" Gunner shrugged as he offered this suggestion. The looks of doubt he received told him otherwise.
"We did almost get eaten by a demon," Peter said.
"But even that wasn't hard to avoid," Ariel corrected.
With no other choice, they pushed the double doors open and stepped through. Once through the threshold of the doors, a flash of light went off and a strong force rushed through the group, nearly knocking them all off their feet. After that, they heard a loud creaking and then a crash coming from outside the fortress.
"What the hell was that?" Artemis asked as she rubbed her eyes.
No one answered as they all steadied themselves.
"Everyone, check your gear, inventory, status, everything." Amaterasu's tone was one of suspicion as he immediately took his own advice. Quickly, everyone followed his lead.
"Gear seems fine," Gunner offered as he gave himself a once over.
"Status is normal over here," Ariel reported.
Peter's voice was not one of confidence or confusion, but one of panic. "Uh...everyone. Check your inventory."
Doing as requested, the group opened up their individual inventory screens. At first, no one noticed what had Peter spooked. Then, NoScope spoke. "You have GOT to be joking?"
"What is it?" Gunner wore a look of confusion of his face, obviously not catching on.
"Oh no," Ariel said. "Our...our healing potions."
"That's just...that's just dirty." Peter's voice was barely a whisper. Soon, the whole group realized what was happening and the feeling of dread and defeat was palpable. Over each of their healing items in their inventory was a large, red circle with a line through it. When they tried to select one, a message popped up that read "Items of healing will serve you not within my fortress. You will face the danger with your own abilities. No more." The message was signed, "Davo."
"This end game just became something very different," Artemis said with a sigh.
"Without healing items, we have to be more diligent than ever before." Amatarasu placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.
"And we'll need to have each others' back at all times, no matter what," Lysander added.
"The last boss run is never easy," Peter said as he stared up at the large staircase before them.
NoScope stepped forward and stared with him. "But, this one could kill us."
After the initial shock of losing all of their healing items, the group continued their trek through Davo's Fortress. From there on, the structure began to match the horror stories the outside evoked. The stone turned from the dirty white to dark brown. Gone were chandeliers and furniture, replaced with torches held by statues of demonic knights and devils. No more were the wide open rooms of the foyer. In their place where narrow corridors, thin ledges over impossibly high drops, and small rooms filled with traps of all kinds.
Perhaps it was the lack of healing items, perhaps it was the impending end game with the creator, or perhaps it was the unnerving presence of Davo's Fortress as a whole. Whatever the reason, the party moved slowly and methodically, more so than they had ever before. Because of this, they avoided Peter falling into a pitfall trap in a narrow hallway, pulling him back at the last moment. Ariel blocked four incoming darts for Lysander when the wizard stepped on a slightly raised pressure plate at the end of a large, wide open room surrounded by menacing statues. NoScope even navigated several swinging pendulums in a thin corridor, allowing her flip the switch at the other end, stopping the blades and allowing her friends to pass. Though unnerving, each successful escape from one of the several traps littered throughout the structure helped solidify the group's confidence that they could survive.
When they came to a walkway barely wide enough for a single person over a bottomless pit, three massive pendulums swinging between them and the other side, their confidence wavered. However, they had no other path. It was either forward or back. And there was no going back.
Before they could cross, a more dangerous threat showed itself. From a balcony several feet to the side of the precarious walkway came three knives, each pulsing with a yellow electricity. NoScope, the most agile of the group, was attempting to cross the walkway when she was yanked back, so narrowly avoiding the blades that one tore a hole in the front of her garb, missing her body.
When the ninja looked up, she saw Amaterasu's hand on her shoulder, gripping it tight. His gaze, however, was from the direction the knives had appeared. "We have company," was all the samurai said, his voice deep and resolute, ready for anything.
"Oh, that was a close one. I see you all are as slippery as ever." The voice clicked immediately with everyone except for Artemis and Amaterasu. They had never encountered this particular player. For everyone else, the wounds were still fresh.
"Glitch!" Peter cried as the image of ValCary falling into the Vast Sea replayed in his mind.
"You remember me? Aw, Peter." Glitch made a face like she was embarrassed, and even blew a kiss and the raging martial artist as she brushed a lock of fiery red hair out of her face. "I'm so glad. I remember all of you."
"Some people you can't forget, no matter how much you would want to," Ariel said, her voice tinged with ice.
"Still sore over our last meeting, I see. That reminds me, where's Streak? He wasn't looking so good last time."
"I'm gonna blow her damn head off." Gunner made for the walkway but was held back by Lysander, Ariel, and Artemis.
"This is a precarious situation," Lysander said. "We can't get to her unless we cross that walkway. But, I doubt she's going to make it easy, and those swinging blades already present enough of a challenge." With no real answer to the problem, the group simply stared in Glitch's direction, covered from her assault by the stone walls, but unable to make a move.
"You said ‘Glitch,’ correct?" Amaterasu continued to stare at the traitorous woman, who had noticed. She waved, but the samurai did not respond.
"Yes?" Lysander answered.
"Artemis, you recognize the name, right?" The samurai turned a knowing glance at the archer and watched the realization dawn on her face.
"Glitch...yes. I heard it about a month before the World Championship match."
Artemis walked over to Amaterasu, nodding as she remembered.
"Wait, how have you two heard of her?" Peter, along with the rest of the group now looked to the veterans, very interested in what they knew.
Amaterasu smiled. "Tell me, Glitch, when did you transfer that name to a new character? Not long before the game became a prison, I assume." Looks of confusion flooded the faces of the party from New Beginnings.
Glitch began to laugh. "So, you remember my name. I did make quite a reputation for myself, though only among the highest ranking players."
"Who the hell are you?" Ariel asked, fed up with being out of the loop.
"She was in line to become one of the four highest ranked players in Our World. Right there with myself, Artemis, and Sonic. But, player killing was looked down upon, especially in social areas that were not player versus player arenas. So, she was banned."
Confusion turned to looks of shock as the party realized what they had been up against. "No wonder she got away," Peter murmured.
"Ha," Ariel laughed. "More like ran away. She didn't want to stay and fight you Peter. Especially if NoScope was going to help you."
"She does have a good point, Petey," came Glitches voice from the balcony. "You aren't quite at my level, but I was surprised by how good you had become. And, forgive me, but I'm not stupid enough to fight all of you at once. Why do you think I'm trying to pick you off one by one here?"
"How about someone at your level?" Amaterasu posed to Glitch. He then turned to the group and said, "Follow the path. Get to Yoshitsune. End this game." Then, he nodded to Artemis, who smiled and returned the nod.
"What are you--" Peter started to inquire, but the samurai burst around the corner onto the walkway. "Wait, no!"
As he stepped onto the walkway, he turned and leapt towards the balcony Glitch was on, narrowly dodging an incoming dagger. The look on her face told the samurai that she didn't think he could make the leap. She tossed three paralysis daggers his way, which he knocked aside with his katana as he unsheathed. He landed with one foot on the ledge of the balcony and Glitch leveled a blade horizontally at his leg, attempting to knock him into the pit. However, he flipped sideways off the ledge and fully onto the balcony. Then, the battle began.
“Honestly, I always wanted to find out how strong you were,” Amaterasu said as he brought his sword down onto Glitch’s waiting wrist blades. He beared down and pushed her up against the raised ledge of the balcony.
“Same.” Through gritted teeth, the rogue planted her foot into the samurai’s abdomen, sending him back into a corridor. She charged forward, deadly quick as always, and sent several stabs at her aggressor, but the swift samurai batted each to the side with his katana, but lost ground each time.
“Already losing ground,” Glitch mocked as she continued to move in, stabbing low. She came in with both blades at once, but they were knocked away, as she knew they would be. She used the momentum to spin and bring both back around at the samurai’s neck. However, he used the momentary reprieve from blocking to slide his sword across the stone wall, creating sparks. Suddenly, his katana was alight with flame coming right at his opponent.
Glitch’s eyes went wide with surprise as the flames came at her face. She fell back, hitting the stone floor and rolling away quickly. Coming up as fast as she could, blades at the ready, Amaterasu also came in, sword still on fire. “Now who’s losing ground?” he mocked back as he swung for his foe.
Thinking quickly, the rogue spun backwards, sending her blades up to deflect the sword. She did this a few more times to keep her opponent off guard and to put some distance between them. When she came to a side passage, she ducked into it. The samurai moved into the passage, but saw that Glitch had ran deeper inside. Having no other option, he pursued, flaming katana illuminating the way.
***
“What is he doing?” Peter ran out onto the walkway and watched the two fighters disappear around a corner.
“He’s clearing the way for us.” Artemis strolled onto the walkway and passed Peter. “Just like he said in his speech just before we entered the fortress.”
“Then let’s not waste this chance.” NoScope leapt over Peter, then Artemis as she ran towards the massive swinging blades.
“Scope!” Gunner called, but then he and the rest of the group watched her disappear in a puff of gray smoke. They heard the sound of her disappearing a few more times--it sounded like all the air being suddenly sucked into a single, small area--then nothing.
“She’s pretty great.” Artemis crossed her arms and smiled. “Is she seeing anyone?”
“Taken, but I appreciate the compliment,” NoScope called from the other side of the pendulums.
After a few moments, the blades began to slow. Then they came to a complete stop. Looking at the massive blades blocking the entirety of the walkway, Peter asked, “Well, now how are we--”
Before he could finish, the blades came loose from the ceiling and fell, slipping onto the walkway with an audible ringing of metal on stone, then careaning off into the pit. It took a moment, but each one landed below, unseen, with a loud, echoing crash. “Let’s move,” the ninja called. The group heeded her call and made their way up the next flight of stairs.
The next room they entered also contained a massive pit. However, the walkway across contained no traps that they could see. What was more interesting was the large, open gateway on the other side of the room that revealed a blue sky beyond.
“We’re getting closer,” Lysander called as he made his way over the bridge. It measured at least thirty feet across, so the group ended up taking it at a run, while still making sure no traps would catch them off guard.
As they approached, they noticed the cliffside pathway just outside the gate. “I think this might be it,” Lysander called. “That’s a path right outside.”
Once the group crossed, they stopped at the threshold of the exit. “It isn’t much further now,” Artemis announced. “Is everyone ready?”
“Ready,” came the collective response from the group.
“Then let’s go.” The archer made her way through the exit, peaked around to make sure the path went somewhere, and motioned for everyone to follow. “It circles up and around the cliff. It is definitely leading to the temple of Mount Apex.”
Before everyone exited the gateway, a loud crashing of stone echoed up from the pit. The party turned and took in the sound. The breaking of the stones grew louder and louder with each steady crash. Suddenly, the bridge on that side of the pit exploded upward as a massive fist erupted through the stone. Lysander, who was closest to the pit, fell back, while the others steadied themselves from the shockwave.
The massive hand gripped the ledge of the pit, and the group saw the red and orange veins coursing through the black, charred skin. Then, another claw gripped the ledge. Two massive wings appeared from the pit as the beast pulled itself up. As its head topped the ledge, it made eye contact with Lysander, who watched, mouth agape, as the creature stepped over. When it was fully out of the pit, the beast stood up to its full height and roared. The group covered their ears from the intense volume.
Before the creature quieted, Lysander looked back to his friends and noticed they were all through the gate. He then noticed a large lever off to the side. Moving quickly, he used a telekinesis spell to pull the level. As he thought, the gate closed, trapping him and the creature in the fortress.
The gate slammed shut directly in front of Peter and Ariel, who immediately attempted to raise it. “Lysander!” Peter called as he desperately tried to lift it. “Hey! Help us!”
The rest of the group came around and also began attempting to lift the gate. Artemis, however, stood back, a look of sorrowful acceptance on her face as she made eye contact with Lysander. “He did this on purpose.”
“I don’t give a shit!” Peter yelled, not looking back. “Help us get this damn thing open.”
“No,” Lysander said as he stood up. The beast had stopped and now ey
ed the wizard, who eyed him back. “No, Peter. You all need to go ahead.”
“We aren’t going anywhere without you,” Ariel said as she lifted with all her might.
“Yes...you are.” Lysander’s voice was quiet, but strong. He then looked back to his friends, a bit of moisture in his eyes. “This thing can’t be allowed to pursue you. It’s too dangerous. So, I’ll hold it here.”
“NO!” Peter said as he started punching the gate.
“Peter!” The urgency in his friend’s voice caused him to stop and look. “Please, let me do this. You all have been so good to me. I wouldn’t have made it out of that little village without you all. Let me do this for you.”
“No,” Peter whispered, a tear escaping his eye.
“Come,” Artemis urged.
“Catch up with us,” NoScope called through her voice breaking.