Auction of Souls: Fantasy GameLit RPG Series (Pixel Dust Book 3)

by David Petrie

  “Like you’re an angel?” Farn activated the Death Grip’s energy shield and got ready to block what she could.

  “Well I’m not racist.” Nix defended.

  “No one cares, Nix.” Max got back to the matter at hand. “If it’s not Cthulhu, what the hell is it?”

  “Hey, Drake?” Ginger spoke into her house ring.

  “Yeah?”

  “Ask Alastair what this thing looks like.”

  “Dude, what’s this thing look like?” Drake asked, clearly still holding his ring to his mouth despite talking to someone beside him that wasn’t on the line. “Okay, he says it’s not anything.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Max shouted at his hand.

  “It’s like a mix of mismatched creatures all shoved together. He says it’s meant to be mysterious. There’s stuff floating around in the clouds that won’t even attack, they’re just there for effect.”

  “Awesome.” Max raised a pistol. “So where can I shoot it?”

  “Anywhere…”

  “Good.”

  “…but you’ll never do enough damage.”

  “Okay, does it have a weak point?”

  “It has an eye that takes crit-damage.”

  “Okay then.” Max turned back to the others. “You heard him; we look for an eye.”

  “Oh, but don’t look at it.” Drake added.

  Max blew out a sigh. “And why not?”

  “Al says looking at it will kill you and make you into more of those void things.”

  “Of course it does.” Max lowered his gun.

  “Good, great, whatever.” Nix started running onto the deck. “Let’s start shooting then.”

  “I hate to say she’s right…” Max let his nemesis drag him along. “But what else can we do?”

  The others spread out, each focusing on the limbs holding onto the ship. Farn and Ginger hacked away at the feminine hand while Seven threw her hatchet at the crab claw. Even Flint chewed on whatever he could reach, for all the good it did.

  The deck still burned with the flames from Cassius’s contract ability. Embers danced through the smoke that wafted through the air, filling Max’s nose with the scent of burnt monsters. He stood back to back with Nix, remembering the last time they had fought alongside each other. It had been months ago, down in the catacombs beneath Reliqua, before he knew what she was.

  They had made a good team back then.

  It seemed like a lifetime ago.

  “I’m still going to come after you when this is over.” He kicked a coil of chain away from his foot.

  “I know.” Her ears drooped. “You could join me, you know.”

  Suddenly, a barbed stinger pushed through the clouds above.

  “No thanks.” Max dodged to one side as an enormous scorpion tail slammed into the deck. “I’ve had enough of you pulling my strings.”

  “Fair enough.” Nix launched herself toward him using the chain, coiling it around herself like a dancer. “You wouldn’t be able to handle working for me anyway.”

  “Why’s that?” He fired half a magazine into the tail’s stinger, spattering a viscous venom across the deck. It smelled acidic.

  “That’s easy. You’re a hero.” Nix emptied her gun into the tail as it pulled away.

  Max scoffed. “Not quite. I’m just a guy doing my best.”

  “We’ll see.” She leveled her eyes at him, her irritating smile fading. “I may be a villain, sure, but that just makes it easier to spot someone like you. And there will come a time when you will have to play the hand that you’ve been dealt.”

  “The hell do you know?” Max started to turn away.

  “I know Kira will need you.” She got his attention again.

  “What?”

  “Look, I didn’t just pick her because she was special. Sure, yeah, she fit the mold I needed, but there are hundreds more like her. I could have chosen any of them, but I didn’t.”

  “Why not?” Max couldn’t help his voice from cracking, afraid of the answer.

  “Because she had you.” Nix jabbed him in the chest with one finger. “I knew how hard Carver’s quest was and that’s nothing compared to what’s waiting for her. Kira is powerful, but she isn’t a hero. She needs someone to follow. Someone to make sure she survives. That’s why I picked her, because she has someone like you to stand beside.”

  “I’m not–”

  “Too bad.” Nix reloaded. “I won’t be here to pull people’s strings forever.” She spun away and fired at a scaled form that slithered through the clouds. “I hope you do hunt me down out there. All that’ll mean is I was right.”

  Max stood with his pistols dangling limply at his sides, unsure what to make of her words. The pressure was almost too much, not to mention the guilt that he may have unwittingly placed Kira in danger by simply being her friend.

  That was when Echo shoved him out of the way.

  Max crashed into Nix, sending them both toppling into the deck as the demonic fist that had crushed Cassius came down again. The mindless avatar must have flown straight at him with all her strength to be able to push him out of the way. The clawed hand closed its fingers around the fairy, squeezing until her body glowed red.

  Echo let out a silent scream, unable to die. The system still didn’t register her as a player, leaving her squirming in the grip of the Nightmare.

  “No!” Max aimed his gun up at the enormous hand but Nix caught his wrist.

  “Better her than us. She’s keeping that hand busy.”

  Max ignored her, firing at the fist until it let go.

  “Echo isn’t real.” Nix grabbed him by the shirt. “That thing is not your friend. It’s just an error. You need to stop worrying about it and let her go.”

  “I know that.” Max’s chest ached. He knew that he was the one dwelling on the memory of her. It hadn’t been Farn or anyone else.

  Just him.

  So why couldn’t he let her go?

  Oh yeah…

  It was his fault.

  Suddenly, Nix let go of his shirt and looked behind him. “Eye…”

  “What?” Max spun around as the clouds opened.

  The darkness swirled into a vortex, revealing a domed shape covered in gray flesh. It pulsed with a familiar motion, like something rotating underneath. The repulsive mass hung a few dozen feet off the side of the ship. A long seam ran down its center, about the size of a car. Max swallowed as the fleshy mass opened diagonally across its surface, a translucent membrane sliding apart in the opposite direction, leaving a blank eyeball staring back at them. It twitched around for an instant before a black pupil rolled down to face him.

  “Don’t look.” Nix averted her eyes and fired in the direction of the ghastly monstrosity.

  Max did the same, holding both his guns sideways, watching the boss’ health bar running down the side of his forearm. Bullets hit with a revolting squelch, though only half their shots found their mark. Max counted them off as the enormous health bar lost a few slivers of damage.

  “This isn’t working,” Max noted as the horrible squelch turned into a muted thud. He looked up, finding the eye closed as the clouds swirled back over it.

  “We missed half our shots by not looking.” Nix reloaded.

  “And the ones that hit only dealt a hair’s worth of damage.” Max added.

  “We can’t do this.” Nix’s shoulders sank. “Can we?”

  Max didn’t answer, not knowing what to say.

  Then a smug voice answered for him. “Not alone you can’t.”

  Max turned back toward the fallen Cloudbreaker to find Alastair dropping a pouch full of ingredients into his caster’s circle of power. He handed a second pouch to Klaxon, who appeared behind him.

  “What the hell, Alastair?” Max threw his arms up. “You’re a lord, get back in the Cloudbreaker where it’s safe.”

  “Oh pshaw. Nowhere’s safe on this ship. Might as well help out.” He cracked his knuckles and waited for his spell to
brew. “I’m sure my guards back in Valain can defend my throne if I die. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before several, ah, dozen times.”

  “Plus everyone was getting antsy in the ship.” Drake jogged out from the direction of the fallen craft.

  “Yes, I’m not one for hiding.” Lord Murph followed.

  “Agreed,” added Lord Promethium.

  Larkin jogged past Max, pulling his respirator mask up over his mouth. “I shall be getting some much-needed revenge for my little fashion models.”

  “He means the creepy dolls he brought on board.” Luka followed close behind, swiping open her spell-craft menu. “And I’m not letting Nix out of my sight, I don’t care if it matters or not.”

  “Suit yourself.” Nix gave the federal agent a wink.

  “There, it’s settled.” Alastair took up a position behind Max. “If we have to fight the Void out of its dungeon like this, then we might as well treat it like a raid boss and throw everything we have at it.”

  “Exactly what we were thinking.” Kegan stepped off the stairs that led to the bridge along with Piper and Corvin.

  Max’s eye began to twitch. “Kegan, who’s flying the ship?”

  “Fly it where?” The Leaf gestured to the clouds surrounding them. “We have no idea where we’re facing.”

  “What about the mountains we just narrowly missed?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Corvin peeked out from behind him. “We think they’re back that way.” He pointed in the direction they came from.

  “Emphasis on the we think part,” Piper added as she walked up to her brother and gave him a fist bump. “Way to crash the Cloudbreaker, you had one job tonight.”

  “Eh.” Drake responded halfheartedly.

  “Good, great, why not?” Max stole Nix’s line. “Everyone get ready. And don’t look at the eye.”

  “Oh, you mean that one?” Kegan pointed with his bow to one side, then immediately dropped his gaze to the deck.

  Max glanced over his shoulder, catching the disgusting eyeball staring at his back.

  “Crap, yeah.” He looked away and raised his guns. “Everyone open fire!”

  The night exploded in muzzle flashes as Piper and Lord Murph joined the firing squad next to Max and Nix.

  “Ammo!” Max shouted just as Ginger dashed through his field of view.

  The beautiful Coin reached into his pouch and grabbed a fresh pair of magazines from his belt. She placed a kiss on his check as she slid them into his guns.

  “Nice to have you back.”

  Corvin followed suit, doing the same for Piper, minus the kiss. Larkin took care of Nix and Luka attended to Lord Murph. Kegan simply loosed a handful of arrows. A sound like a scream, heard from underwater, echoed through the sky as the giant clawed hand slammed into the deck as if swatting at a swarm of bees.

  Max leaped out of the way, making sure to dodge in the same direction as Nix so that they didn’t hinder each other’s moment with the silver chain that connected them. Void’s hand appeared from above to reach for them.

  “Oh no you don’t!” Alastair activated the spell he’d been brewing.

  Purple light streaked across the deck just below the massive hand, forming a sigil that pulled the limb down. Max recognized the spell from when it had been used on him months ago, Gravity Well. Void’s hand fought against the incantation, pulling back up to the sky. The spell wasn’t strong enough.

  “Now.” Alastair shouted.

  Klaxon rushed forward and unleashed a second gravity spell on top of the first. The clawed hand fell to the deck the instant the spell activated, unable to attack.

  “Make this one count!” Klaxon growled. “I put one hundred percent of my mana in this spell.”

  Void let out another distant howl in protest as the sound of Max’s bullets changed back to a muffled thud like before.

  “Hold!” Max stopped firing. “The eye is closed.”

  The melee fighters turned toward the hand still trapped on the deck and ripped into it with everything they had. Max checked his stat-sleeve and nearly fell to his knees.

  Ninety percent.

  The Nightmare still had ninety percent of its health left.

  They had barely even scratched it.

  As if rubbing it in, one of Void’s tentacles swept across the deck, connecting with Luka’s side. She screamed as the impact launched her into the air.

  “No!” Max didn’t even have time to react before the mage flew over the side. Her body vanished into the clouds with a flash of lighting silhouetting her for an instant. Then she was gone.

  “My spell’s done.” Alastair dropped his hand to his side.

  “I’ll hold it as long as I can.” Klaxon stepped forward just as the demonic hand broke free of the sigil. A moment later the Cauldron mage was in its grasp. “I’m done here, don’t you dare lose–” Klaxon’s words were silenced with the crunching of bones.

  There wasn’t even time to process anything before Larkin dropped one half of his crafting shears.

  “Everyone, the eye is back.” His voice sounded odd.

  Max turned to face him. The crafter’s eyes filled with the same inky black as the players before, except this time it was slower. The crafter’s face went blank.

  “I will take my leave now, if that’s alright. Can’t let myself become another monster to fight.” Larkin didn’t hesitate before plunging the other half of his shears into his heart. “I should check on my shop anyway.” The black faded from his eyes the instant his health hit zero, then he fell. His body flaked apart as shining particles drifted from where he lay.

  “Well, it was a good try everyone.” Alastair clapped his hands together. “It was exciting while it lasted.”

  “I’m going to miss my throne.” Lord Murph lowered his head.

  “As will I.” Lord Promethium nodded in acceptance.

  “I’m sorry, everyone.” Max’s whole body grew heavy as thunder rolled through the sky. “We tried.”

  “Yeah, we did.” Ginger added. “No shame in that.”

  “None at all.” Seven stroked the feathered mane of her pet. “I have to say, I did not expect this night to end like this, but I can’t say I regret it.”

  The others added their sentiments as well, leaving them waiting for the next attack. Max let out his longest sigh of the night, just before something slapped him in the back.

  It was a little weak to have been the Nightmare.

  He turned to find Echo staring up at him. The avatar slapped him in the chest. Then proceeded to unleash a flurry of flailing limbs in his direction. It was so bad that Farn had to pull the imitation mage off of him.

  “Easy, now.” The Shield threw the fairy over her shoulder to wait for the system to calm her down.

  “What the hell was that about?” Max brushed himself off.

  “We don’t give up!” Echo frantically mouthed her words. “We don’t quit. You don’t quit.”

  Max rolled his eyes, not even sure if he should bother arguing. Then someone else spoke up.

  “Well, fuck.”

  “What?” Max turned back to Nix.

  The villain groaned and rubbed her face. “You all can’t just give up, okay? The error over there is right.”

  “Seriously?” Max threw his hand out to the sky. “What would you have me do here, pull a contract out of my ass and one-shot this thing?”

  “No, I…” Nix trailed off before starting again. “Actually, yes.”

  “What?” Max growled at the reynard as her tail started wagging.

  “Everyone!” Nix spun to face the rest of Max’s house. “Keep Void busy. I need a moment with Max.”

  “How about no.” Ginger argued just as Void’s tentacle took a swing at her.

  “Yeah, like that, just keep it busy.” Nix yanked on her end of the chain in an attempt to drag Max off to the side. “Quit fighting me here, I have a plan.”

  “Fine.” Max let the shifty reynard have her way. Until he
heard her next sentence.

  “Give me the knife.”

  “What? No!” Max clutched the silver contract item that he had intended to torture her with earlier.

  “Yes.” Nix held out her hand.

  “How about no way in hell.” Max gripped the knife tighter.

  “Look, Max.” She stared him straight in the eye. “You were in a bad place when you created that, and I don’t think you should keep it.”

  “What?”

  “I doubt you even want it at this point.”

  “You’re right, I don’t. But I’m not giving it to you.”

  “I don’t want to use it.” She placed her hand on top of his as he held onto the small blade. “Noctem is a wonderful place full of amazing things, so something like this shouldn’t exist here. It’s ugly and hateful, like the real world. Like where I come from.” She squeezed his hand. “I want to destroy it.”

  “You can do that?”

  “I can if you help me.”

  Max felt his grip loosen. “How?”

  “My power, the one I share with Kira, isn’t enough to reach inside your mind to destroy something stored within it.” She stepped closer. “But I can lend that power to you. You just have to let me.”

  “I thought that power hurt you.”

  “It does, but destroying something like this is worth it.” She looked away. “Plus we can kill two birds with one stone. So why not?”

  “What do I have to do?”

  “Just focus on what you want to happen.”

  “How will destroying it help us against the Void?” Max pulled the knife from his belt and held it in his hand.

  “Destroying it won’t, but changing it will.” She placed her hand on the knife in his palm, her skin surprisingly warm against his own. “A contract can’t technically be destroyed, only used or traded. So we just have to exchange it for something else.”

  “How do we exchange it?”

  “You remember.” She closed her eyes. “You think back to a powerful contract that you’ve already used. You must have had something at some point that can help now. It’s still there inside your memories. Once you have something in mind, just focus on it and I will tell my power to follow your will. We’ll trade this knife as payment and send it back where it came from.”

  Max hesitated for a moment before remembering that the rest of his friends that were still keeping the Nightmare busy.