by Rick Scott
“Huh?” she says, still disorientated. “What are you talking about? How?”
My heart fills with joy as my prayers are finally answered.
“Because Paladins have Raise!”
* * *
Val Helena stiffens a moment, her eyes sweeping back and forth reading her HUD. And then they sharpen with focus and resolve. She stands without saying anything, curling her arm with a fist of determination.
“Please, God,” she says. “Please let this work…”
A glowing white light envelops her as she closes her eyes. Once again, I get a quick flashback to my memories from inside that orb, the monster doing the same thing. A swirling ring of nano-dust forms at Val Helena’s booted feet. It travels upwards, much like it did when I saw her body being printed for the first time out in the wild. Fur-covered Warrior boots slowly transition to become brilliant silver greaves.
It’s working! It’s really working!
The line of nano-dust travels upwards, transforming her gear from Warrior’s harness to full platemail with royal blue underlay and gold trim. It’s like witnessing a miracle: Val Helena’s bruised and battered body reborn as an angel, no… a goddess! The same goddess I saw charging into that cave back in Silvertooth Mines. The memories flood back and my eyes well. The same emotions I felt then return. Despite everything, Val Helena’s still the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen, and even more so as a Paladin.
The transformation completes and Val Helena stands before us anew. I swear I can almost see angel wings hovering off her back like one of those Labyrinth Keepers. I laugh. I can’t believe it! Her tearstained eyes are adorned with fresh makeup, her hair beautifully styled and fixed in place with a gleaming diamond circlet.
Name: Val Helena
Sex: Female
Race: Half-Giant
Class: Paladin
Level: 85
Guild: Ragnarok
Royal Holy Knight’s Circlet: +20 Valor +30 TP
Royal Holy Knight’s Breastplate: +850 HP +30 VIT +30 STR +30 Valor
Royal Holy Knight’s Gauntlets: +350 HP +20 STR +20 MND
Royal Holy Knight’s Greaves: +850 HP +10 STR +10 AGL
Royal Holy Knight’s Boots: +350 HP +20 VIT
Royal Holy Knight’s Shield: +100 Valor +100 TP
Royal Holy Knight’s Sword: +30 STR +30 MND +30 Valor
She raises her sword aloft and a brilliant white light pours from it.
Val Helena casts Raise on Maxis.
I’ve never been so happy to see those words in my whole life. A burst of light engulfs Maxis with glowing white feathers. My brother’s eyes then snap open and he jerks upright with a gasp. “Holy crap!”
“Max!” Val Helena shouts, crouching down to him. She pulls his head to hers and gives him a deep kiss on the lips, before crushing him in her metal-clad arms.
Maxis stiffens with shock until Val Helena finally releases him.
“What the heck happened?” he says bewildered.
“You died,” Aiko says. “But Val changed to Paladin and raised you.”
“Changed?” He looks up at Val Helena like he’s seeing her for the first time, his mouth dropping open. “How…?”
Aiko nods at me. “Ask your little brother.”
I shake my head in denial. “Another Hail Mary, I guess.”
“No, Reece.” Aiko smiles as she takes my hand. “You did this. You’re the one who climbed up that pillar and broke that orb. You fought that monster in there and when you killed it, you fixed something out here. You fixed something in the whole damn game! Your brother is alive because of you. We’re all going to live…because of you!”
I feel shaky when she says it like that, but I guess it’s true.
I can’t even begin to fathom the implications of all this.
What does this mean when it comes to how the game works?
What else could be ‘fixed’?
“She’s right,” Val Helena says, helping Maxis to his feet as she stands. “You just saved everyone. And we still have one more left to save. How much time do we have left?”
Gilly!
I check on her timer.
3:47
Crap! That’s not a lot of time. “Ten minutes maybe?”
Val Helena lifts her sword again. “I’ll raise the others. The exit is close. We can still make it if we hurry!”
Chapter 19: Hope
Bruce registered the small blip on his monitoring device. He checked it while Dennis continued pandering to Dr. Munroe’s ego. The device produced a small holographic image over its surface, displaying the vitals of the entire excursion team.
There’d been another anomaly, less than a minute ago. From the array of line graphs tracking each of the team member’s vitals, he saw that the brainwaves of three of them had flatlined, just like Gilly. But now they were back to normal again. Like nothing happened. Their physical vitals were still somewhat depressed as before, but their thoughts were active. It was the same that had happened to Ryan not long ago.
Did they die and come back?
Hope sprang within him. Something was happening. Changing.
If they could go and return like that…then perhaps so could his Gilly.
* * *
We’re back on the move again.
After giving Rembrandt and Becky a Raise, Val Helena tops each of us up to full health and we take off at a Sprint for the exit. Rembrandt is on point, leading the charge, getting us back through the layers of platforms to reach the one that will soon lead us back to the outside world.
Or so I hope.
Val Helena lumbers along just behind me and Rembrandt, carrying both Gilly and Becky on her back. She moves a bit slower in the bulky Paladin armor, but looks to be handling the extra weight just fine otherwise. Running next to her is my brother who looks as strong as ever with his newly topped-up HP. The only one who still looks a bit peaked is Becky. I’m glad to see her back alive, but she’s dropped to Level 8 now. The very presence of this place is still draining XP and being that low down in the levels, she’s losing what few she has left even faster. We need to get out of this place ASAP.
I look to the very back of the group for Aiko as she brings up the rear. Her head darts left and right as she runs, acting as a second set of eyes to keep watch for the Labyrinth Spirit. With what we just went through, we definitely can’t afford to take another hit from that thing again.
I’m more curious than ever as to what it actually is now, though. After my experience inside that orb I’m wondering a whole lot of things about this world and how it’s all connected. Like what role does the Labyrinth Spirit really play? Is it part of the game system or is it one of those monsters in disguise?
That reminds me to ask Rembrandt something. I speed up a bit to run next to him. “Hey Rem, when we get out of here, you mind me and you sitting down so I can tell you what I experienced inside that sphere? I think a lot happened but I can’t remember it all.”
“Absolutely, mate.”
I pause a moment and wonder if I should ask him the next question on my mind, but my curiosity gets the best of me. “Hey, did you experience anything just now? Like what I said happened to me before?”
His mirror shades flash in my direction. “You mean when I died?”
I blanch a little. “Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so crude about it.”
He chuckles. “No worries. I don’t remember a thing to be honest. It felt like I just blacked out for a second. But the pain before that….? Bloody heck. Wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
I can only imagine what hitting the ground at that speed must have felt like. “Hey, I’m just glad you’re still with us.”
“Me too, mate. But yeah, nothing. No memories at all.”
I wish I could say the same for me. When I experienced death it was a living nightmare. Granted, I was out of commission a lot longer than Rembrandt. A whole lot longer. Like how long Gilly has been in limbo now. I fear for what she must be experiencing at this moment.
Stuck in that tube with those monsters trying to get to her, the horror and despair she must be in.
The thought makes me shudder and I check her timer again.
3:13
Those seconds are still moving in slow motion, but as soon as we hit the outside world they’ll speed up again. That means the more time we have left when we exit, the better. We can’t stop for anything now.
“Are we close?” I ask.
“A few more to go,” Rembrandt says. “We’re going to make it, mate. We got lucky in a way. That fall actually allowed us to skip three tiles we needed to traverse.”
That was good news.
Hang in there, Gilly.
I look about circumspectly for any signs of the Labyrinth Spirit. I don’t see it, but I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or not. The last time it sprang up on us with practically no warning at all.
We cross one more tile and Rembrandt points ahead of us.
“That’s it there,” he says. “Just after the next one.”
The next two tiles before us rise upwards into the air like a flight of stairs and at the end of the very last one is a glowing blue portal. My heart beats faster in anticipation. Almost home. I glance to my side, still looking for any signs of the Labyrinth Spirit and spot something that nearly makes me stop dead in my tracks.
On the next tile over, which is a bit lower in elevation and to our left, is a group of Ziegfried’s soldiers running about in a panic. There are a half dozen of them maybe, all running from something. I look behind them and spot Ziegfried himself chasing them down.
What the heck…? He’s alive?
My heart jumps as he plunges his sword right into the back of one of his own men. The soldier collapses in a heap and Ziegfried is surrounded in a burst of light.
Level Up!
Sir Ziegfried is now Level 44.
Holy crap! I look at the men still running from him. They are down to their teens in terms of level. He catches up to another one and lops off his head and then executes two more with swift chops of his sword.
Level Up!
Sir Ziegfried is now Level 45.
Their death cries echo across the distance and causes my stomach to churn.
“Guys, look!” I shout pointing. “It’s Ziegfried. He survived and he’s down there killing his own men!”
We veer toward the edge of the platform and pause to get a better look. He continues his slaughter, taking out the last of his soldiers. The final one drops to his knees and pleads for mercy. Ziegfried finishes him off with a quick chop to his neck.
Level Up!
Sir Ziegfried is now Level 46.
He then looks up to see us gawking at him and freezes.
Our eyes meet across the distance and he gives me a hateful scowl.
“You got lucky, boy!” he bellows from below, his voice carrying across the gap. “But you won’t make it out of here alive. None of you will!”
He takes off running again, heading towards the end of the tile.
“He’s killed them all to keep himself alive,” Rembrandt says bewilderedly. “Sick bugger…”
“We should do something about him,” I say, a flicker of anger burning inside me.
“No,” Val Helena says, turning about. “We need to save Becky and Gilly. We’re almost there.”
Val Helena and the others take off and I slowly follow after them. But something keeps itching at the back of my mind. Am I doing it again? Will letting Ziegfried get away, lead to yet another monster being created? Another hurdle we’ll have to tackle later on?
I check the timer.
2:52
There’s barely any time left. But there’s enough.
Enough to not let history repeat itself again. Whatever the risk, I can’t let Ziegfried become another Braxus or worse. I clutch my blade and make a bee line for the edge of the tile.
“Reece!” Val Helena shouts. “What are you doing?”
Ire builds within me as I think about everything that has gone wrong in here. Everything that could have been prevented if I had only acted sooner. I won’t make the same mistake again.
“What I should have done to Braxus!” I cry.
I get a few more steps when I sense something coming at me from the side. I dodge reflexively and block whatever it is. My blade meets sharp resistance with a metal clang and I come face-to-face with Aiko as she crosses blades with me.
“What are you doing?” I yell at her.
“Stopping you!”
I push her weapon away. “What!? Why? Weren’t you the one who said I should have killed Braxus when I had the chance?”
“He’s not Braxus. And have you looked at the state you’re in? There’s no time for this!”
“There is!” I slash at her to force her to back off, but instead she slashes right back, hitting my blade with a precision strike.
Aiko parries your attack!
You are stunned!
Dang it!
“Reece, just stop!” she yells as I’m immobilized. “Let it go. Think about Gilly!”
The stun forces me to calm down a little. I know she’s right, but I can’t help but feel I’m making another huge mistake again.
“Ryan, come on!” Maxis says. “Screw that guy. He’s probably going to die in here anyway.”
“No, I don’t think so, mate,” Rembrandt says as he scans the area with his mirror shades. “I think he meant what he said just now about us not escaping. If he reaches the end of that tile, none of us could be getting out of here.”
We all turn to the cyberpunker.
“What?”
“The tile he’s on runs parallel to ours,” Rembrandt says. “The next two ahead of us are the same. The one after that is the exit. It’s in line with ours, but if he crosses over, he’ll be able to block us.”
“How?” Becky says.
“If he has Warden Keys he can change the pattern. Lock it into one that will block us from exiting the platform and reaching the exit. And we don’t have any Warden’s Keys ourselves to counter it.”
My stomach sinks through the floor.
Ziegfried is more a threat than even I considered.
And not a future threat, an immediate one.
“You think he has keys to do that?” Val Helena asks.
“He just used one,” Rembrandt says, nodding toward the tile below us. “And they killed a lot of bloody angels beforehand. I’m betting he does. And he’s been in here long enough to figure out how to use them.”
Crap…
“Whatever we do, we can’t risk allowing him to step foot on that platform ahead. Even if we reach it before him, he could still change it from behind us, before we’re able to jump to the last one.”
“Damn it!” Maxis curses.
My despair turns back into ire.
“So he needs to die after all,” I say bitterly. “I’m on it.”
“Wait!” Aiko swings her blade in front of me, blocking me again. “Cool it, pretty boy. You forget you’re still running around in your undies with a level sixty weapon?”
I look down at myself and frown. Dang it! She’s right. What was I even thinking?
“I’m the fastest of us here,” Aiko says, casting Shadow Copy. “You all keep going. Run ahead. I’ll make sure Ziegfried gets nowhere near that platform.”
I lower my weapon. “Aiko…”
She stares me in the eye. “You just make sure you get my sister out of here in time. No more distractions. You leave the revenge business to me, understand? I got way more to pay those clowns back for anyhow.”
I’d nearly forgotten about that. She probably did have more of a score to settle than me.
“Sarah…” Becky reaches out to Aiko and takes her hand. “Be careful.”
Sarah? Is that Aiko’s real name?
Aiko grins back at her. “Hey, this is me you’re talking to. Now go!” She looks up at Val Helena. “Both of you.”
Val Helena doesn’t say anything but gives Aiko a firm n
od of understanding despite the concern I see in her eyes.
Aiko then leans forward and plants a kiss on my lips. It happens so fast I barely even register it, but it causes my heart to skip.
“That’s me saying sorry for parrying you.” She grins at me with a wink. “Now go save your girlfriend. I got this.”
She leaps off the edge of the platform then, falling to the one below. She lands in a puff of nano-dust and takes off in a Sprint after Ziegfried. I marvel at her for a moment and can’t help but feel an immense sense of adoration. She’s still the coolest Ninja I know.
“Let’s move!” Maxis shouts. “We got less than five minutes left! Come on!”
* * *
We make a mad dash for the end of the platform, charging as fast as we can. Becky releases a sudden gasp as she clings to Val Helena’s neck.
Level Down!
Becky has lost a Level.
Becky is now Level 7!
Crap! We really need to hurry.
I keep an eye on Aiko as she zips forward on the tile below us, closing in on Ziegfried. He’s already reached the far end and I see him crush something in his hand.
A darn key!
The color patterns on the tile, once static, begin to shift back and forth.
“Damn it,” Aiko says through the party chat. “I think he’s going to block me.”
“He can’t while he’s still on it himself,” Rembrandt says. “He’s just unfrozen it.”
But I see his plan. He’s trying to pull the same move I did with that giant—leap off at the last moment right before the pattern changes. “Don’t let him switch it on you, Aiko! He’s going to try to make you run over the edge.”
“I got it!” she calls back.
I watch with my heart in my throat as Ziegfried makes his move, jumping off the edge to be teleported away. Aiko’s still a good fifty feet from the edge. I try counting the seconds to see how much longer she has before the pattern changes.