Rune Waker

by Jamie Hawke

  “Those people might be after you.” She turned to the others. “Actually, the same people who came for Ryan might be waiting for both of you, if their coming had anything to do with being in here.”

  “Or maybe they’ve already removed my gear and I’m dead, just haven’t realized it.” Brad winked, but his words lingered, cold.

  “Try to go back, try to find out whatever you can,” I said.

  “Be careful,” Varena added, turning back to me, and then to our new fairy friend. “But most of all, the tracking spell is in effect. If you left, we’d lose it and… while we could recast, I’d need time to regain my link.”

  “A cool-down time,” I said, getting it. “Good, I didn’t want to go back, anyway. If they did catch me and I never made it back here, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”

  “We only just met,” Teln said bowing, both men’s eyes on her as she did. They gave slight bows in return, then turned to Varena and me.

  “It’s been fun,” Arturo said, clapping me on the shoulder, then pulling me in for a hug. “Any time you want to play, look me up.”

  “You do realize this isn’t a game anymore?” I asked, pulling back.

  He frowned, shrugged, and then held his hand up for a high five from Varena. “I’d hug you, too, but I’m pretty sure I’d end up logging out with a full-on boner, and I don’t need anyone seeing that, especially not my wife.”

  She laughed, gave him the high five, and then he nodded to Brad before vanishing. Logged out.

  Brad turned back, looking at the exit we’d just come out from. “And this place?”

  “It’s without ownership, at the moment,” Varena said. “It could be taken over, but you’d want a force that could hold it.”

  “You’re considering it?” I asked, seeing the mischievous look in his eyes.

  “It worked as a portal to get you here, right?” he asked. “Meaning, we might need to hold it. And whatever world’s on the other side of that portal we saw down there—”

  “The vagina portal,” I said, nodding.

  Everyone turned to stare at me.

  “What? Nobody else saw it?” I threw my hands out. “Come on. It looked exactly like a vagina!”

  “You’ve been seeing some ugly vaginas,” Varena said.

  Brad laughed out loud. “Fix him up, will you?”

  “I just…” I clenched my jaw, waved them off. “Whatever. You were saying?”

  “Whatever world’s on the other side is probably one we’ll want to be careful of, if his kind came from there,” Brad continued, letting me off the hook.

  “He has a point,” Varena noted. “It was… my world. One you don’t want to have to go into, but one worth holding back, definitely.”

  “There you go,” Brad said with a nod. “I’ll gather a force, come back to hold the fortress, and then see about securing the other side.”

  Varena was considering him, and shuddered. “I don’t envy you that job.”

  “Job…” I ran my hand through my hair. “I guess my job won’t give a shit that I’m gone, and it doesn’t matter, since I’m here. But you can’t just up and leave?”

  “What are these jobs you speak of?” Teln asked, although I had the feeling she was more asking out of politeness, or possibly the need to inject herself into the conversation, than anything else.

  “I was a dispatcher, actually,” I said. “But my point is that the moment I came here, none of that mattered. It was just to pay the bills, and this is so much more important. But Brad there runs a startup, one that isn’t about to be okay with him up and vanishing.”

  “Maybe,” he said with a grin. “But it might be the perfect cover. A research group.”

  “Shit, you’re right.” I turned to the ladies to explain, “He’s been known to get caught up in his work, closing the doors, as it were, for months on end.”

  “You thought of me as an asshole more than once for it, if I recall.” Brad laughed, as if it were the most adorable thing in the world. Honestly, it had always been quite annoying.

  “And now you just throw that away?”

  “Not at all.” He threw his hands out, motioning at our surroundings. “This is clearly something big, something with the potential to change everything. That’s what I set out to do with my company to begin with, and now… or lately, it’s been lacking that certain something. That ‘oomph.’ Well, here we go—my new special project.”

  “Glad our turmoil can give you purpose,” Varena said.

  He laughed again, shrugged. “Best way to come back is as the avatars, I imagine?”

  She considered this. “Honestly, I don’t know. I think Ryan was able to reach such depths with his power because it’s him in the flesh, although he would’ve started off stronger with the avatar.”

  “Maybe if you come back first as avatars, then open up a portal back to the office,” I suggested. “You could have the options.”

  “The new boy has brains,” Teln said, eyeing me up and down, then biting her lip. “I like.”

  Varena chuckled. “Me, too.”

  Brad said he’d be back, so didn’t want to bother with goodbyes, but simply told me to be careful. He held his hands out for a hug from Varena.

  “Unlike Arturo, I wouldn’t mind the massive boner if it’s the price I have to pay,” Brad said with a wink.

  “Just… get out of here,” I said.

  He laughed and saluted, about to leave. But then he looked at the bunny cradled in his other arm. He stepped over, handing it to Varena. “Watch over him.”

  Varena scowled, but Teln fluttered over and took the rabbit. “We will, don’t worry. Does he have a name?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Good. I’ll call him Bunny. It’ll be easier to remember.”

  Brad chuckled, gave me a ‘good luck with all this’ look, and then vanished. After a moment, Varena gave me an amused glance.

  “It was just a hug,” she scolded me.

  “To you, yes. But so much more to him.”

  Teln and Varena both stood there with me, only the three of us now and the bunny who’d been taken over by an evil demon-man. Me and two beautiful, nearly-naked women, and our newly-found pet. On a search for my fiancée. This was bound to be interesting.

  21

  Having cast the spell at the top of the fortress, our first step was to make our way down. Although Teln couldn’t fly us, fortunately, she said that while the spell was still fresh she’d be able to help us kind of float down with the power of the wind—a blue spell, which she had a particularly strong connection to.

  We moved to the edge, about to go, but I was still bothered by the whole situation.

  “The raid that we saw, or mostly heard…?”

  “It’s more likely they’ll succeed now,” Varena admitted. “Your point?”

  “Just thinking, about when, or if, Brad makes it back.”

  “Ah… They might succeed, and be in charge when he returns. They might be friendly and agree to help him, or not. For all we know, they might even be players, mere avatars, in which case he’ll luck out.”

  “Or they might all get killed off,” Teln said wide eyes staring at me matter-of-factly. “What? I’ve seen it happen more times than not—both sides are powerful, so death takes the majority. One or two survive, but that’s not enough to hold a fortress.”

  “As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right.” Varena glanced out over the plains. “If we’re going to float down, we shouldn’t delay much longer.”

  I nodded, hoping Brad would return with enough power to really hold this place. As far as I knew, it was the best or only portal to return, since I knew of no other.

  With a nod, Teln held Bunny close, laughed, and then ran and jumped. “Come on, slow pokes!”

  She expected me to jump? Apparently yes, because Varena ran and did so as well, the wind catching her instead of the drop allowing her to plummet to her death. Fuck it, I’d come this far. With a heavy breath and, making
sure my toothbrush was secure in my pocket, I went to the edge and leaped.

  The sensation I felt was what I imagined might be like a cross between cliff diving and paragliding. We went at an angle, moving fast, but never once felt out of control. It wasn’t flying at all, but definitely a controlled fall.

  Wind was soaring past, flowing through my hair and rippling across my clothes, and nearby the slim, blue form of Teln flew around us, laughing and flapping her wings, blue and pink lights swirling like controlled clouds. Varena was having a blast, spinning, looking at me, moving her arms and legs as if swimming. She motioned me close and I glanced around, confused, but she changed her path somehow, so that soon I was falling closer to her.

  Having seen her beauty in the dark passages of the fortress was nothing compared to out here, soaring through the air in a way that left every angle to be viewed, highlighted with bright bursts of color from the magic.

  “Enjoy it!” she said, and managed to loop arms with me. “It’s not every day a fairy lets you in on magic like this.”

  Not every day was an understatement. I did my best to quench the fear threatening to bubble up at the sight of the ground far below. Instead, I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling, letting my mind clear. I was reminded of a moment long ago, of a cool autumn day on a bench in a garden. It was at the top of a hill overlooking a bay, somewhere, but for some reason the exact location wasn’t coming to me. The cool wind as it blew up at me that hot day was easy to recall, but the more I fell, I realized there were other details I couldn’t remember. Like I knew I’d been there with someone. But who? My parents? No, I’d been older, and lost them in my early twenties.

  A woman?

  My mind was blurry, any recollection of someone there being a haze except for the blur of a fleshy color at my side. Maybe an arm? A hand clasped in mine?

  I strained to remember more about that moment, but suddenly it was gone and I was brought to another memory where I was running, charging along a river bank to catch a boat with some friends. This memory was stronger, from a time with Brad when we’d been in college still, and taken a vacation to the Florida Keys. Wasting my inheritance, basically.

  Why that memory? Why now?

  Then I was out of the memory, the ground coming up fast, a thought hit me—maybe it was related to the colors and worlds, maybe the elements that went along with the magic type?

  It didn’t matter as much as my need to land without dying, though, so I focused on the ground, on my feet moving, and then I was on the rocky ground, running, and Varena went hovering past me to land gracefully and catch me by the arm.

  Teln fluttered down at our side, stroking Bunny’s ears. I still couldn’t quite look at that little critter without thinking of how it—or a demon in its body—had tried to kill us, but focusing my attention on the beautiful ladies and the fact I was alive after that fall helped.

  “So,” I started, once I’d pulled myself together. “How does this tracking spell work, exactly?”

  Teln touched her crown, watching a beam of color burst forth, forming a violet line of light that led into the distance.

  “We follow,” Teln said.

  I frowned. “How… long? I thought, I mean, I kind of imagined you’d be able to take us straight there.”

  Teln laughed. “You think I had nothing better to do?”

  “Did you?”

  She pursed her lips, then shook her head. “Not really, no. I was watching others, kind of… now that I think of it, formless. Your spell pulled me together.”

  “So, you were another spirit?” I asked.

  She considered this, then nodded. “Maybe? That seems to make the most sense right now.”

  Looking between these two, I was taken by how strange it was. In a sense I was in the afterlife or a video game, or a sort of middle ground that was a mixture of both. My companions were a lost soul turned demon who’d been trapped in an amulet like a genie, and a fairy who was some sort of spirit, I guess.

  We started following the light, and as we did so I asked about what she’d been observing.

  “Comings and goings,” Teln said.

  “Meaning, the players?”

  “Souls, players, all of it.” Teln fluttered ahead, glancing back from time to time to respond. “I’ve seen gamers come in as their avatars, but you’re the first I’ve noticed in true form.”

  She looked away then, troubled.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I’ve seen more. A lot of it worries me, but I…” She looked at Varena, then turned away quickly. “I shouldn’t say.”

  “You don’t have to be worried about her,” I said, hand going to the amulet around my neck. At least, I didn’t think so.

  “She’s seen the rise of the demons,” Varena said, nodding. “And since I was somewhere in the middle there for a bit, she’s worried about offending me. Spirit, there’s no need for that.”

  Teln cleared her throat, still giving Varena a nervous glance, but then nodded. “Traditionally, demons were kept at bay, certain types of beings playing their roles, but not allowed to leave their shackles. Just as angels didn’t have free will. All of that’s changing, and as some act in horrible ways they become more demonic, while others become more angelic. It’s all blurring the line.”

  “Plus, leveling up and growing in power,” Varena added. “Don’t forget that piece.”

  “How could I,” Teln said, voice lost and forlorn. “And yet, I can’t explain any of it.”

  “We can,” I said, doing my best, with Varena’s help, to explain what had happened with LivreCorp, and my experience with the whole situation.

  “But they must have brought in outside help,” Varena said, trying to make sense of it all. “You say the point of the simulation was to make interactions with the dead seem more realistic?”

  “Mediums?” Teln suggested.

  “Mediums, necromancers… some form of witch,” Varena said, nodding. “Maybe they weren’t real, maybe they were, but somehow they managed to connect to the afterlife, and from there it all spiraled out of control.”

  “How do you know all this?” Teln asked.

  “Mostly guesses,” Varena admitted. “But some of it… interacting with a couple of LivreCorp employees who showed up first.”

  That seemed to be good enough for Teln, and it was enough to make my head spin. The plains were expansive, but the path of light didn’t lead us far, to my relief. Soon we were at a series of mossy rocks interspersed with pools of green water, the light leading to a lone tree past them that grew straight but burst out in a thick canopy of branches overhead. At its base, the light formed into what looked like a ripple of water floating in the air.

  “A realm tear,” Teln said, grinning. “I haven’t seen many of those.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Well,” she fluttered up into the air, moving toward it, then back to us, “most of the ways to other worlds are through the fortresses, but sometimes there are worlds undiscovered, where the fortress hasn’t been built up around the portal yet. We call those realm tears.”

  “Meaning, it’s like the others, just not defended yet,” Varena added.

  “And she’s in there?” I asked.

  “It makes sense, really,” Varena started moving over the mossy rocks, her bare feet helping her to find her balance on the slippery surface. “If she was confused, maybe scared after seeing some roaming enemy here, she might have wandered off and found it. Possibly stumbled into it by accident. Much easier than going through a fortress to leave the plains.”

  “Then that’s where we go.” I followed, cautious, but at one of the larger pools, Varena had stopped, turning to face me.

  “Yes, but before we move on we must link you—connect you at the entry point so that you can easily soul-bind to the new world.”

  “Let’s get it over with, then. What does this entail?”

  Varena hesitated, glancing over at Teln. The fairy, for her part had lan
ded, setting Bunny down at the edge of the largest pool, and begun stripping. There wasn’t much there to remove in the first place, meaning that in the next few seconds she was a nude little fairy, her perky blue breasts out for my viewing pleasure, and she wasn’t shy at all. No hair down below, I couldn’t help but notice.

  “We’ll help, but the main idea is to connect via your magical, internal self to the world.” Varena gestured to the pools. “Often, water is the best conduit. Though it’s not essential.” She watched with interest as Teln lowered herself into the pool, wings folded up behind her. “They can also serve as a recharge point for magical creatures.”

  That explained why the water started glistening when Teln was in, and why she was moaning as the light flowed up through her body.

  “So… go ahead.” Varena folded her hands in front of her, watching me, waiting.

  Knowing this was necessary, I stepped toward the water. My clothes were no longer what I’d came here in, I realized, but a thick robe that wrapped around me in way that reminded me of both angelic and ancient Greek robes. My mind churned as I tried to remember when that had happened, but stepping into the water I felt my weight change and looked back to see that my nubbins had grown, too. They were almost wings now.

  “Part of your upgrades after we killed the bunny man,” Varena explained when I met her gaze. “Transformation is part of the process. You’ll… get used to it.”

  Her eyes roamed over me, but the fact that I was nude hardly registered with me at that point. Instead, I stepped into the water, feeling the magical binding take me over, warmth running through my bones, a glowing light shining through my skin in ways I’d never imagined.

  “It’s as simple as that,” Varena said, smiling and moving to the edge of the pool. Teln splashed water my way and giggled.

  I held the amulet, otherwise nude, and glanced over at Varena. “How does it… or does it… bind you?”

  Seeing we were being serious, Teln sighed and rolled onto her back, floating with her perky little breasts up for the sun to warm. She closed her eyes, paddling off.