by Dante Doom
“It’s not worth risking,” Hem said. “Keep thinking.”
The bat let out another cry of anger, temporarily stunning the group for a few seconds again.
“I’m getting so sick of this!” Savannah shouted.
“Really, I thought we were on top of things here,” Hem replied as they leapt out of the way of yet another attack from the obsidian hand. This time it flattened its palm and crashed downwards on the ground as if it were swatting at flies.
“On top!” Savannah shouted in a moment of inspiration. She leapt onto the back of the hand and allowed it to lift her up into the air. Neither hand seemed to react to her presence. She looked at the back of the stone hands to see yellow rings around the cuffs, where the lava met. She fired a shot into the ring and the words Critical Damage: 200 points hovered above the arm. It began to flail wildly then, slapping around blindly in reaction to the damage.
“Whoa!” Savannah cried out as she staggered to keep her balance, dropping down and grabbing onto one of the stone fingers to hold her position. Her shotgun was in her other hand and she held onto both for dear life.
“I saw a health bar appear over the arm!” Timon yelled. “It’s only got 100 points left!”
“You gotta shoot the wrists or whatever, behind the hands!” Savannah screamed as she held tightly to the hand as it tried to shake her off. She was hanging over the lava now, away from the platforms.
“Hold on!” Hem yelled. “We’ll kill the other arm—try not to fall.”
“Is that the best advice that you have for me right now?” Savannah shouted back.
“Well, at least I care enough to say something!” Hem replied as he leapt atop the left hand when it tried to grab at Timon.
Savannah turned her focus to the hand that was still trying to knock her off. She was growing weary, and knew that it could throw her down with a sufficient amount of force. She blasted a few more times with her shotgun, but aiming one-handed was impossible with her current stats.
“Come on…” she hissed as she aimed her gun, steadying it against her knee as the stone hand sloped upwards so that she was hanging by one finger. She could see the wrist with the yellow ring around it. She gritted her teeth while trying to stabilize her shotgun. Once she fired, the words 100 damage hovered above the hand. “Yes!” she cheered.
The hand began to shake violently then, sending tremors through her entire body. It swung back toward the center, above the stones. Savannah took the opportunity to leap onto one of the platforms, and just in time. The hand shattered into a thousand pieces and the lava stream returned to the lavafall.
“Got him!” Hem triumphantly cheered. Savannah turned her attention to see her father to see that Hem and Timon had managed to kill the other hand before leaping to safety. As the left hand vanished, the fire shield around the bat also vanished, and Savannah could see that its health had dropped down to 400 points.
“Take it down!” Hem yelled as they aimed their guns at the creature and focused all of their fire. Brilliant streaks of green and blue energy crashed into the bat monster, dealing a lethal amount of damage in seconds. The beast hissed and shrieked a final time before it faded away into nothingness. Thousands of energy orbs rushed to the three of them.
“Now this is a haul!” Savannah gasped as she saw her score increase to 50,000. That would be enough to juice up her powers and upgrade her shotgun.
“Indeed,” Timon said as he dropped to his knees. “Even though this is all fake, though, I’m exhausted. That was one of the craziest boss fights I’ve ever been in! I don’t even think that Leopold was that challenging.”
“Yeah, fighting Leopold was way easier than a giant bat head,” Savannah replied, sarcasm dripping from her lips. She patted him on the head and faced her father.
“What’s our time?”
Hem looked at his UI. “You still have time with the dilation in effect, but I’m going to have to log out and get moving if I want to retrieve my own people.”
“So, this is it?” Savannah asked. The area around them began to dissolve slowly. The walls of lava transformed into regular cavern walls and, in the blink of an eye, they were back in the Krecius Caves, above the gash that contained the secret area.
“I’m afraid so,” Hem said. “You have time to grab some more gear from the stores, but after that, you’ve gotta move quickly.”
“I still wish there were some other way,” Timon grumbled as he stood to his feet. “It’s not fair that you have to risk everything.”
“I wish we had more time,” Hem agreed. “But we Grinded as much as we could.”
Savannah tilted her head at the word Grind. Then, slowly, her body began to convulse as she let out a nice, strong laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Hem asked.
“Don’t you see it?” Savannah replied as she slapped her knee. “It’s… Grinding.”
“What’s Grinding?” Timon asked. He crossed his arms and frowned, unamused by her words.
“Man, we started this whole thing Grinding, right?” Savannah asked. “And now we’ve figured out that the only way that we can save Verre is by Grinding again, to get loot and points so I can win some kind of boss fight.”
“It’s all come full circle,” Hem said, beginning to laugh at the artificial reason in it. His stifled chortles grew stronger until they transformed into full-blown laughter. “We can’t seem to get away from it, can we?”
“No, we really can’t,” Savannah said. “Go figure. As soon as we have a problem, we figure out that the answer is to get as many points as we can.”
“Instead of thinking of some other solution, we focus on playing a game,” Hem agreed, laughing even harder.
Timon seemed confused, but Savannah didn’t bother to explain the comedy to him. It would be lost on the man. Hem and Savannah had spent a great deal of time in the Grind, focusing on learning every possible method to get points and weapons. How ironic was it that, in the end, their chosen profession mattered more than anyone could ever have realized? The very fate of Verre was hanging on the actions of two people who’d worked illegally for the majority of their lives, doing what was now required even though they’d never been meant to.
“Okay, okay,” Hem said as he wiped a tear from his eye. Still, Savannah knew that the tear wasn’t because he’d found her joke that funny. “We need to get going.”
“Yeah…” Savannah said. This could possibly be her last moment with her father, though. There were a million and a half things that she wanted to say, but she didn’t particularly know how to say any of them. He had taught her so many things and, in the end, he had given her the freedom to choose her own way. “Dad, I… thank you. For… for letting me be who I am,” she whispered as she hugged him. “I love you.”
“I love you, Savannah,” Hem replied. He whispered into her ear as he held her tightly, “Thank you for turning out to be the kind of person who would risk her own life for the rest of us.”
Those words were sweet and moving, and she felt tears streaming down her face in reaction. Why the game had put in a function for tears in the first place was beyond her, but she was taking full advantage of it now. She held on tightly for a moment more before loosening her grip. No amount of words would convey what she was feeling, and as her dad had taught her, sometimes actions were more important than lengthy speeches.
They let go of one another and Savannah turned to face Timon. He looked none too pleased; there was a mixture of fear and sorrow on his face.
“I wish there was some other way,” Timon said. “I really do.”
“You’ve come all this way and taught me how to be so selfless,” Savannah said as she placed her hands on his face. “Don’t ruin it now. You can’t have me all to yourself.”
Timon smiled at that. “And you taught me how to be a little more possessive.” He leaned in close and kissed her firmly.
“I guess we balance out,” she whispered. “Now, I’m going to go save the city. You try to do som
ething useful with yourself; maybe work for once… you might like it.”
“Oh heavens no,” Timon stepped back as a few tears streamed down his face. “I haven’t worked a day in my life, so why start now?”
“I love you.” Savannah stepped away. “And if I don’t come back…” she trailed off. She didn’t know how to finish the sentence. She’d been hoping that she had some kind of clever line or wise phrase to finish with, but there was nothing. “Actually, I really, really want to come back, so I’m not going to say anything.”
Timon smiled. “I’ll be waiting for you, my love. Now, go and save this city!”
Savannah took a deep breath, and turned to face the exit portal. It was time.
Chapter Thirty-One
Savannah walked alone towards the College of Colossus and there approached Kireen, who was patiently waiting by the dais on the first floor.
“You return!” Kireen cheerily greeted her.
“Oh, so you can remember who I am?” Savannah asked.
“Indeed, you were making preparations for the journey into the Crucible of Character,” Kireen said as she gestured to a door to her right that hadn’t been there before. It was a large, square door with a golden handle. Burned into the steel frame were the words “Crucible of Character.”
“Yeah, I was…” Savannah trailed off as she stood before the door. It loomed over her, and her body shook with an ominous feeling as she reached for the door handle.
“I think you’ll do great in there,” Kireen said. “Of course, I’m biased that way. Good luck, my friend!”
“Is… there anything that I should know about it ahead of time?” Savannah asked.
“Can’t tell you anything—it’s a surprise!” Kireen replied cheerily as she clasped her hands together in excitement.
“Well, it’s now or never,” Savannah whispered to herself as she stretched her hand out and gripped the door handle. It burned a little in her hand, or perhaps that was her imagination. She couldn’t tell. Regardless of her doubts and fears, she pulled the handle and immediately felt herself being transported to another realm.
She cried out in surprise as she squinted and raised her hand to shield her eyes. She was inside of a white room with a bright light in the center. It was too bright to look at, and she saw spots even when she glanced at the ground. Each blink did nothing to help heal the ocular damage that she had taken from the light.
She fumbled to pull out her shotgun, thinking that she was in some kind of mortal danger, but there was nothing around her. She slowly glanced up and around, keeping her hand in front of her eyes to block the light from doing any further damage to her eyes.
“Hello,” said a female voice. It echoed across the entire room and seemed to come from all directions at once.
“Who’s there?” Savannah asked.
“That’s a strange question for a visitor to ask,” the voice said. There was slight repetition of the word “ask” as it echoed a few more times around her. Savannah felt a shiver run down her spine. “Let’s try something. Instead of you asking me questions, why don’t I ask you questions?”
“Um, okay,” Savannah said as she held her shotgun high. An attack would be coming at any moment, right? Or, perhaps Kireen had rigged some kind of moral test. Her heart was jackhammering right now with the thought of potential death on her mind. She had never been this close to dying—not even when fighting King Leopold. The terror was unlike anything she had felt before. Was this how a soldier in the real world felt?
“Why…” the voice slowly began, letting the word hang in the air, echoing for a few seconds before continuing. “…are you here?” The question seemed to swirl around Savannah’s head and she slowly spun around, looking for the source of the voice. As far as she could see, there was nothing but an endless expanse of white.
“I’m here to turn off the defenses in Verre.”
“Why are you here?”
“I said I’m here to turn off the defenses,” Savannah repeated.
“No!” the voice shouted. The harshness of the sound almost sent Savannah reeling. “I asked you why you are here, not what you are here to do!”
“Oh, I understand… I’m here to save my friends; well… I guess to save everyone. Yeah, I’m here to save the city of Verre. My friends, and my, uh, boyfriend? Fiancé? I’m here to save his life, and the lives of his family and countless others.”
“Saving a life?” the voice asked. “How many?”
“At least fifteen thousand, or maybe more depending on what the radius of these countermeasures are,” Savannah replied.
“Do you know of the risks of being here?”
“Kireen told me as much.”
A large red door rose from the ground across from Savannah. There was a brightly lit doorknob and the word EXIT painted on it.
“If you want to save a life, save yours. Go. Leave this place,” the voice warned her. “You are not fit for what this place has to offer.”
Savannah didn’t even take a step toward the door before shaking her head. “No, I can’t leave; at least not yet. Please, give me access to the defenses. I need to turn them off before a lot of people die.”
“What if those people deserve to die?” the voice replied. “Why die for them?”
She spun around in a circle, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, but didn’t dare look up again. This was not how she’d expected this to go, however, and a part of her wished that Timon had talked about philosophy more. How was she supposed to answer? “I don’t know!” Savannah shouted out. “I know that at least some people in there are innocent. I mean, there are children in that city.”
“Children are innocent?” the voice asked.
“Well, sure,” Savannah said. “At least, they don’t deserve to be killed in a bloody conflict.”
“My task is to protect this chamber. Out of respect for you, I will leave the exit door for you, but now I must summon a device to end your life. Goodbye.”
The bright light intensified and Savannah was forced to close her eyes in order to avoid being blinded. She heard a strange thunking sound then, and peeked an eye open to see that the light was dimmer now. She could still see, and her eyes weren’t in pain.
A large mechanical man stood opposite her. It was at least nine feet tall, with a pincer for a right arm and a shield on its left. Above it hung the words Purge Unit #38.
“Crap!” Savannah shouted as the Machina charged towards her at full speed. Its razor sharp pincer snapped at her, but she was faster than it was. The machine was big and bulky, and appeared to have no trouble picking up speed, but it was hard for it to change directions mid-run.
She fired a blast from her shotgun at 38’s back. The words 100 damage hovered above its head, dropping the health down to 1,000. This was going to be a tough fight, but she could probably handle it. Her fingers were trembling, though, and she couldn’t decide if it was from the fear of death or the adrenaline pumping through her.
She fired another green blast of energy, but 38 was fast enough to spin around and block the attack with its shield, and the word Deflected hovered above its head.
“Your efforts are in vain,” the voice said. “There are hundreds of purge units at my disposal. Should you kill this one, I will bring forth another. And another. And another.”
“If I have to kill all of them to save this city, so be it!” Savannah shouted back as she watched 38 charge at her. The big lumbering machine thundered after her, but once again it wasn’t nearly as fast as she was. In a moment, she was behind it, dishing out 200 damage in a single go.
“I can already see your strategy,” the voice said as Savannah backed up to create more distance between her and the machine. All she had to do was keep it charging at her and she would be able to wear it down. “Your mind has spotted the pattern. You know how to defeat it. So, you tell yourself that you can keep killing as many of them as you need to, as long as you stick to your plan.”
S
avannah gritted her teeth. Those weren’t the words she wanted to hear from the voice, mainly because that was her exact plan at the moment.
“Don’t be fooled. If you mess up once, you lose resources,” the voice continued. The Machina stopped charging and raised its pincer arm up high. The word Charging hovered above its head as several other blades began to emerge from its body. “My resources are unlimited. I will summon as many of these units as I want.”
“I already told you, I’m not going anywhere!” Savannah said through clenched teeth as she changed tactics by rushing the machine as it charged up. She fired a few shots, hitting it for 75 damage and dropping its health down to 725. Her instincts told her that getting closer would be better than being so far away from the thing.
“You’re going somewhere, but not somewhere you want to go,” the voice replied. The Purge Unit began to fire blades out of its body. The razor sharp knives came sailing at Savannah, but she had anticipated some kind of surprise attack, and she dropped low to the ground and fired off a few more rounds. The blades flew overhead, but did no damage to her. She chuckled as she did 150 damage to 38.
“You think well on your feet,” the voice said. Savannah couldn’t tell if it was amused or surprised at her actions. “I can appreciate that.”
The Purge Unit stomped over to where Savannah was and smashed its shield downwards with full force. She rolled to her side, but the shield managed to hit the side of her left leg. The words 20 damage hovered over her head, dropping her health down to 180 points.
“A simple mistake, a mis-timed roll,” the voice said. “And you’re a few inches closer to death. How are you going to outlast hundreds of them?”
“By killing each and every one of them,” Savannah replied as she activated her Overdrive power and fired two shots at the lumbering monstrosity as it prepared to smash her again. She was lying on her stomach, but she had perfect aim. The words 450 damage hovered above the Machina’s head as she fired a third and final shot into its chest.
The machine ceased moving and fell to the ground, twitching and convulsing. Sparks sprayed from its head as it burst into flames.