by Rick Scott
“I have to,” she says. “I got her stuck in the labyrinth. I’m the reason she’s in the state she’s in. It’s my responsibility.”
A pause settles over the table, everyone focused on their own thoughts.
“Well, the way I see it,” Gilly says. “There’s no reason for us to split up at all. The two goals need not be mutually exclusive.”
Maxis looks at her. “Huh?”
“You need nano-shards and a way to find Citadel, right?” she says, looking at him. “If not, we’re all gonna die or turn into wraiths or whatever. And Val Helena needs to find her friend. But we can still accomplish your goal by helping Val. Don’t you have to kill some Night King or something, Val?”
“Shadow King. And yes. It guards the entrance to the labyrinth.”
“And I’m assuming he’ll drop lots of shards, right?”
“Perhaps,” she says.
Gilly beams with a smile. “So we can do both. We help Val, and then we all find Citadel together.”
“We could get lost in that labyrinth looking for her,” Maxis says. “It’s not something I want to risk. And besides, if we find the Builder that’s near Citadel, we won’t need to kill any bosses. That’ll be all the nano we need right there.”
“Well, I hate to say it,” Val Helena says. “But at the end of the day, the choice isn’t up to you.” She looks at me. “It’s up to him.”
My heart jumps as I snap out of my daze. “What?”
“You’re the main tank, Reece,” she says. “We can’t do any of this without you. So you need to decide.”
“Hey, I can tank just fine,” Maxis says.
“Can tank, yes, but you’re not a tank,” Val Helena says. “Not a proper one. And I need one for what I’m doing. A Dodge Tank, specifically, for the Shadow King. And if you even think you’re going to fight a Builder, you’ll need one as well. So it’s up to you, Reece. Where are we headed to next?”
My brother groans and rolls his eyes.
I look to Gilly. “I think Gilly’s idea is best. We can do both. But Val Helena’s mission comes first. Sorry, Mike, but it’s the main reason I came here.”
“I agree,” Rembrandt says. “It won’t hurt our mission none. Like you say, it could take us weeks to find what we need. But we need to stick together. It’s rare enough to find other Shard Warriors out here. No sense in us splitting up.”
Maxis glances at Rembrandt over his dark glasses. “Man, whose side are you on?”
Val Helena nods. “So it’s decided, then. Our next move will be heading to the Vale of Sorrows.”
“Okay, hold up,” Maxis says. “This isn’t happening.”
“It just did,” Val Helena says, leveling eyes with him. Tension fills the air as they lock gazes. My brother’s face is stern. So is Val Helena’s, but she has a slight smile tugging on the corners of her full lips.
“Mike,” Rembrandt says. “They’re talking sense, mate. We got a whole month. A few days detour won’t hurt.”
Maxis glances at Rembrandt, and then blows out a frustrated sigh. “Fine. You win. But if you guys are all overruling me to go on this suicide run with Ms. Gentle Giant, here, then I’m at least going to be the designated driver.” He taps his thick index finger on the table. “And I say, we’re not leaving this village until those two noobs over there are max level and get some decent experience and gear. That’s still my kid brother and Bruce’s daughter, and besides saving my mom back home, keeping them alive is the only thing that matters to me.”
I’m both embarrassed and warmed by his words. Maybe my brother really does love me.
“Hey,” Val Helena says softly as she rests a hand on my brother’s forearm. “I understand that. They’re important to me, as well. So I agree. Getting Gilly and Reece leveled up should be the top priority before we go anywhere else.”
I look to Gilly, and she nods.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” I say. “And we can probably help this village, too. There’s a lot of stuff that needs to be built around here.”
“Just don’t get too attached,” Maxis says. “‘Cause we won’t be staying here for long. You two need to be ready to go in a couple of days. The Vale of Sorrows is a good trek from here, and if she’s in a hurry, then you two need to be ready to go . . . pronto.”
“A couple of days?” Gilly says. “But I’m only Level 26.”
Maxis belches loudly, and then gets up from the table. “Then I guess you got some work to do.”
* * *
We decide to make a fresh go at it in the morning and bed down for the night in the Common Hall. Wilbur brings us some blankets and more water, and we each find a spot to settle in. Gilly and I find a corner to ourselves, while Val Helena, Rembrandt, and Maxis spread out. The floor is hard, and the thin blankets do little to add comfort, but as I lay on my back with Gilly nestled beside me, I think I’m the happiest guy alive.
“I’m exhausted,” Gilly says with yawn.
I chuckle. “You always did log off way before I did every night.”
“That’s true.” She pauses for a moment. “I still can’t believe we’re here. Alive and kicking in the real world. I just ate real food as my game character. How crazy is that?”
“Totally crazy.”
Gilly yawns again, and then gives me a kiss on the cheek. “I’m just happy I’m here with you. ‘Night, Reece.”
I curl my arm around her and return the kiss on her forehead as she snuggles into my side. “‘Night, Gilly.”
Before I know it, she’s snoring softly, and after a few more minutes, so am I.
* * *
I’m having a strange dream where my mother’s cheering for me as I tank a giant golem when I’m yanked out of my sleep by a soft creak of wood.
Your Awareness increases by 0.3.
Skill Up! Your Awareness is now 38.
What the heck?
Loud snoring assaults my senses and I recognize it instantly as my brother’s. Gilly is still snoring beside me, as well. I lift my head and can see Rembrandt asleep in the opposite corner of the Common Hall. Soft moonlight spills into the room as the main door opens with another creak. Through the gap in the door, I can make out Val Helena’s large silhouette as she slips outside.
Val?
She could just be going to the bathroom or something. Wilbur did show us where the outhouses were, adjacent to the Common Hall. But a small part of me worries that she might be trying to leave on her own again. It wouldn’t make sense, of course. But I stay awake anyway, waiting for her to return.
A good ten minutes go by with still no movement, and I start to get worried again.
After a minute more, I untangle myself from Gilly’s sleeping form and sneak across the hall to check for Val Helena. I open the door slow enough not to creak, and then slip outside into the night.
The full moon is high in the night sky overhead, and the village is illuminated by its soft glow, casting shadows as if it were midday. I head toward the main square, and then hear a voice behind me.
“Up here.”
I turn to see Val Helena sitting on the rooftop of the Common Hall, her knees pulled to her chest. With legs as big and long as hers, it’s a sight that looks cute and comical at the same time.
“How’d you get up there?” I say.
“I’m kind of tall, so I used a barrel to make a step stool,” she says. “You might have to climb. Though, as a ninja, that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.”
I chuckle and sprint at the wall, then run up it vertically with my wall climb ability.
I plop down next to her and she laughs. “Or that.”
“Sorry for disturbing you,” I say. “I got worried when I didn’t see you come back.”
“It’s okay. The view is nice up here, so it’s worth sharing with someone.”
I gaze out at the river along with Val Helena, watching as it flows lazily by the village. Just past it is the forest, which then stretches into rolling green hills that reach towar
d a vast mountain range beyond. The sight is majestic, made even more so by the eerie glow of the moonlight above.
“I missed this place,” Val Helena says. “The Shards are a close copy, but actually living out here is a different story.”
I nod, but then something doesn’t quite make sense. “I thought you said you were dreading coming back here.”
“For what I have to do, yes,” she says. “But not the actual place itself. You may find this hard to believe, but I actually spent close to ten years of my life living out here.”
I nearly fall off the roof. “What!?”
She merely chuckles.
“You were stuck on the surface for ten years?”
“Not stuck,” she says. “I chose to stay.” She pauses. “We all did, at first.”
“All? Who else are you talking about?”
She glances down at me, her goddess-like features catching the moonlight. “You ever heard of a guild called the Silver Rangers?”
Of course, I’d heard of them. The Silver Rangers were the first guild in Nasgar to ever defeat a world boss—as far as recent history went, anyway. “You were one of the Silver Rangers?”
“I was their leader,” she says. “Aiko was my right hand and her sister, Rebecca, was my best friend.”
“Holy crap.” This is blowing my mind. “How old are you, then?”
“Hey, I told you about asking that question.” She pokes me in the ribs. “Let’s just say that I was probably a few years older than you when I first came here. It was all wild and new back then. Scary, too. We didn’t know what we were doing.”
“How did you survive out here that long?”
“Same as we’re doing now. We got to a safe zone, found a town, laid down roots. A lot of us eventually went back. They had families and stuff. But us three, we didn’t have anyone. Only each other.”
“What do you mean?”
“Aiko, Becky, and I grew up in an orphanage in the hub. Compared to what we had to go back to, this place was a dream.”
I can still just barely fathom it, but as I stare out at that moonlight, I can understand the appeal. Especially if you had someone to share it with and no one to go back home to. Still, it’s mind blowing all the same. “So you were in stasis for ten years?”
“Still am,” Val Helena says. “I never left. Even when I went back to the Shards, I was kind of scared to log out again. I don’t really want to see what I look like in real life anymore. This is me now.”
I stare at her, perplexed. To think she actually made the game into her true self.
“I suppose I owe you that story now.”
“Huh?”
“About what happened between me and Aiko,” she says. “Fitting for bedtime, I guess. Plus, you’ve heard half of it already.”
“Well, I’m all ears to hear the rest,” I say.
Val Helena smiles, then looks back out at the river. “We grew up together, like I said, formed the guild together, came here together. Looking back, I think Aiko was always jealous of Becky and my friendship. We were never the three musketeers, you know? It was always Val and Becky, with her little sister Aiko tagging along. I think she really resented that.”
“Is that why you guys sort of hate each other now?”
She shakes her head. “No. Aiko is a hard person to like in general, but a lot of the animosity now stems from what happened when we left. And why I needed to get back here.”
“You mean Rebecca getting stuck in the labyrinth?”
She nods, and I see her swallow a lump in her throat. “It was all my doing, right from the start. Aiko was starting to get tired of this place and, though she never said it to me, I think Rebecca was as well. I didn’t want to go, though. Even though the people around me were AIs, I always saw them as real. Still do. But I don’t know if it was the same for Aiko. I think it just became another thing for her to resent. And perhaps direct at me.
“Anyway, I was always the one trying to find new and challenging things for us to do. So I suggested we try to explore the labyrinth. From the beginning, Aiko was against it. But I knew Becky would be up for the challenge. It gave us more to do, more of a reason to stay. Aiko was the tank, I was the damage, and Becky the healer. Perfect trio. We did a bunch of quests and stuff to prepare for it, got better gear and items.”
“Is that how Aiko got Shadow Copy?”
“No, she had it long before that. She bought it, remember? Back in the Shards. That’s how we beat the world boss the first time. When we went up against the Shadow King, though, it was just us three, plus a few natives we knew. It was awful. Much harder than a world boss. Your brother wasn’t exaggerating when he said it was ten times harder. The natives all died. Aiko came close to dying a bunch of times, herself. I think it was that fight that really broke her.”
Val Helena pauses, and I can see tears in her eyes as she stares out at the river.
“When we got through it, she wanted to leave. Not just the labyrinth. I think she wanted to leave and go back home, period. She refused to enter the labyrinth, but like a bonehead, I pushed Becky forward. Just to take a look around. I knew something was wrong as soon as we went inside. I can’t describe it, but it was like . . . like something else was crawling around inside my head.”
“Something else?”
“Like I said, I can’t describe it, but . . . anyway, we didn’t get too far before Becky and I got separated. She fell down to a floor below us, and I couldn’t figure out how to get to her. So I ran back to the entrance to get Aiko to help. That’s when everything went wrong.”
“What happened?”
She shakes her head. “It’s all very confusing, but time must somehow run differently in there. We were only inside for about an hour, but when I came out, a day had passed and the Shadow King had re-spawned. When I found Aiko, she was furious, especially when I told her that Becky wasn’t with me. I tried to get her to beat the Shadow King again so we could get to her, but she just wouldn’t do it. Or maybe she couldn’t. Either way, she blamed me for everything. That was excuse enough for her to run back to the Shards when the next world boss was defeated in Citadel.”
“But I don’t remember anyone beating Vulnar since you guys. Besides us, I guess.”
“Doesn’t have to be in Nasgar. Could be any of the Shards.”
I nod. “So you came back, too?”
“Yes,” she says. “I couldn’t raise the help I needed to get back into the labyrinth. Not here. The natives lack the abilities we do. Sort of like NPCs, I suppose. I knew going back and finding real people to fight the Shadow King was the only way. And so that’s what I did. I went back and switched to Paladin so I could tank and take the risk. But then I met you . . .” Her massive shoulders heave in a sudden sob. “I hope you can forgive me for dragging you here, for asking you to do this thing for me, Reece. My God, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry to ask you to bear this burden with me.”
“Val . . .” I rest my hand on her back as she sobs again.
“I know I had no right, but you were my best hope. Still are. It’s why I hate Aiko so much now, too,” she says, her tone bitter. “She should be the one doing this, not you. But ever since she got back to the Shards, it’s like she’s forgotten all about this place. All about her sister. Starting that live stream and playing like the last ten years never happened. It’s like she’s a different person. In a way, I think . . . and heaven forgive me if I’m wrong, but . . . it just seems like she almost takes glee in it. Like it’s her way of finally getting back at us, for the friendship she resented all our lives.”
I don’t really know what to say, so I just listen to her.
“I know it’s a terrible thing to think,” she says. “But it’s almost like I need to. It keeps me from blaming just myself. I thought that when she helped us with the world boss that maybe she had come around, but then she left the chamber so quick, I just knew she went back to the game again. Like the damn coward she is. Or has become, anyway.”
&nb
sp; “I never actually saw what she pressed,” I admit. “But she wasn’t with us, so I guess you’re right.”
Val Helena shrugs. “I never rightly saw either, to be honest. But I know her well enough. She’s terrified of this place now, and takes glee in my anguishing over it.”
“Why was she even trying to fight the world boss, then? Or Maxis, even? If she didn’t want to come back here, why was she trying? Was she truly just doing it for the money?”
Val Helena shrugs. “Maybe. Who knows? Since she returned to the game, she’s been living high on the hog in the reality shards. Maybe it’s the attention she loves. Mostly, though, I think she was doing it to mock me. Or block me, even. She had zero interest in fighting Vulnar until she found out I was going to. It’s like she wanted to keep me from retuning, to erase completely what had happened here. To her, I think Becky is already dead. They never had the best relationship, but they’re still sisters. I just can’t understand why she’s acting like this. It’s like she’s happy Becky’s gone.”
“Geez, Val . . . I don’t know what to say. That’s terrible.” I look up at her. “But you can count on me. I’m not going to let you down. We’re going to beat the Shadow King, and we’re going to save your friend. We’re going to save Becky.”
Val Helena sniffles and crushes me in a hug. “I don’t deserve a friend like you. Thank you, Reece.”
She kisses me on my forehead and ruffles my hair. “Now, you better go on back to bed, before your girlfriend catches us up here and gets the wrong idea.”
I laugh. “Same for my brother?”
I wink back at her, and I think I actually make her blush as she laughs with me.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” she says. “We’ve got a long road ahead of us.”
Chapter 6: Redirection
We get up early the next morning, and after a breakfast of fresh fruit and nuts, we each go off to explore the village and map out a plan for the day. Gilly and Val Helena decide to explore the village itself and talk with the villagers, while Maxis and Rembrandt go on another scouting mission in the general area.