“Yup,” Ikumi said with a sigh. “He’s basically unbeatable.”
“No.” I shook my head. “He can’t be unbeatable.”
“But Ian,” Lilli protested, “Yano said—”
“I know what he said, but I don’t believe it. This is a game. Which means there’s got to be a way to win.” I raked a hand through my hair, my mind racing through options. Atreus was stronger. He was faster. He knew all our moves before we made them—
I stopped short. Wait. That’s it!
“What?” Lilli asked. “Did you think of something?”
I turned to my teammates, my heart thumping with excitement. “Look. We’ve been playing this game the same way all along, right? The same way we always played the online version back home. The way everyone plays. With a tank, a damage dealer, a healer, and a bard.”
“I never once played with a bard,” Lilli pointed out.
Derek scoffed. “What’s your point, geek?”
“Easy. Atreus only knows how to play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”
“So?” asked Ikumi.
“So…” I grinned. “We don’t play the way we’re supposed to.”
We made a plan. A totally ridiculous plan no gamer in his or her right mind would ever think to try. And hopefully that no AI would ever think to anticipate. It was crazy, dangerous—probably foolish, too.
But maybe it would work.
It had to work. Because there was no plan B.
We decided to wait for the dragon at the summit of Mount Fearless instead of fighting him in the cramped confines of his lair. There, at the top of the volcano, was a wide ledge circling the deep volcanic pit. Atreus would have to fly right by here to get back down into his temple below. And when he did, we’d be ready for him.
Or, you know, as ready as we could be.
It didn’t take long for him to return. My eyes caught his shadow, drifting across the twin suns. My heart started to drum in my chest, doubt attacking me from all sides. What were we doing? This was crazy! Absolutely crazy.
Then I looked at Ikumi. At the fierce determination etched on her face. I turned to my sister, who was crouched down like a cat, ready to spring. Derek had fingers on the strings of his harp. And Yano was in position high above in a tree.
Team Dragon Slayerz was ready to slay themselves a dragon.
And, drawing from my teammates’ strength, so was I.
Atreus dropped from in the sky, coming into view. His crimson scales streaked across the horizon like a fiery comet. His wings thumped rhythmically—ominously.
I poked Derek in the arm. “Now’s your chance, bard boy.”
Derek clenched his jaw and ran his fingers along the strings, strumming a tune I didn’t recognize. Music flowed from the harp, bathing us in a golden glow, and I felt new strength surge through me from his buff. I couldn’t help a small grin of excitement as I skimmed my fingers against the dragon-crested breastplate of my wrath armor. This was it.
My eyes shifted to our foe. Atreus’s ears had pricked at the first notes of music and he was now circling above us curiously. Sensing our chance, I gently pushed Derek out into the open, then dropped back into the trees where we’d made our hiding spot. Derek looked terrified, but to his credit, continued to play.
I squeezed my hand into a fist—a silent cheer as Atreus took the bait, drifting down to hover a few yards from the ground. In a normal fight, this would be our signal to attack, so we could get a few blows in before he realized what was going on. But Atreus would be expecting that, so instead we held back as Derek led the dragon, through song, to exactly where we wanted him to land.
Where Ikumi had set the trap.
Atreus dropped down to the ground, his feet so heavy they shook the mountain. But Derek kept his footing and kept playing, walking casually toward the snare. The dragon followed, mesmerized and distracted by the music.
How did you get out here, tiny bard? he asked. Why are you not in your cage?
“I just needed a little fresh air,” Derek replied, his voice shaky. “I’ll go back in a minute, I promise. I just want to finish this song.” Still playing, he walked closer to the trap, the dragon now hot on his heels. I felt a surge of pride for my cousin. He might not be a gamer, but he was doing an awesome job.
I do not think— Atreus started to say. But before he could finish, his foot came down on the trap’s perimeter. Derek leapt to the side as the snare exploded, flames bursting all around Atreus, locking him a fiery prison.
“Yeah!” Derek cried in triumph. “Not so tough after all, huh, dragon breath?”
Atreus roared in fury, thrashing about. Opening his mouth, he blasted the flames with an icy stream, using the power of the Ice Stone embedded in his back. For a moment, the spray froze the fire in place, creating a wild ice sculpture around the dragon. Then he swiped it with his claws, shattering it into a million pieces.
And the dragon was free again.
But now I was right behind him. Springing into action, I drew my sword, slashing at his back, driving the weapon down through his thick scales. With my wrath armor’s plus ten to damage dealing, along with the strength buff Derek had given me, I was able to do quite a bit of damage, and Atreus bellowed in pain as thick black blood gushed from his wound.
The dragon whipped around to find his attacker. I had to leap quickly to avoid being knocked over by his tail. His eyes locked on me and his mouth shot open, this time sending a flood of water gushing from his throat straight in my direction. I tried to hold my ground, but the blast was too strong and my wrath armor too weak, and I was knocked backward into the swell, my lungs filling with water. I choked and gasped, for a moment unable to breathe as the all-too-familiar panic from my childhood almost-drowning incident swept up inside me. But I pushed it back down—I was not going to let it stop me this time. And soon the water washed down the hill, leaving me on my butt, soaking wet but still alive, still breathing.
Of course normally this would be game over. With the warrior knocked out of position, the dragon could take out the remaining party members with little trouble. But this time, the girls were ready for him. Lilli almost gleefully stepped into view, decked out in my tanking armor and looking supercool. Take that, game traditions!
“Hey, ugly!” she cried. “Time for another belly rub!”
She raised her staff. Lightning crackled, shooting out and hitting Atreus in the stomach. He roared as his scales danced with electricity, then opened his mouth to blast her with a bellyful of rocks and dirt, courtesy of Wyrm’s earth magic. But Lilli wasn’t wearing a tissue-paper robe anymore, and my armor allowed her to absorb the blow, giving her time to cast a second spell. Keeping the dragon’s full attention on her while I ran back for my own round two.
I dove at the dragon, full Leeroy Jenkins–style. I was almost at him when he finally turned his attention from Lilli to me. In rage, he opened his mouth, ready to spew acid. Acid that my thin wrath armor couldn’t protect me from.
But I wasn’t about to let that happen. And I wasn’t, as he assumed, going to attack him straight on. Instead, I dove under his legs, sliding beneath his undercarriage, where he couldn’t reach me.
And I stayed there.
Atreus shifted, clearly confused. I’d made a play he wasn’t expecting and, thanks to a speed buff from Ikumi, I’d moved too fast for him to register where I’d gone. I could see him shifting above me, searching the area. But his search was interrupted as Ikumi stepped in behind him, casting a drain-life spell at his back, using his own hit points to heal Lilli, who was still up front, working as a tank.
And now it was Derek’s turn.
“Die, you overgrown gecko!” my cousin shouted as he leapt off the scrubby tree he’d climbed while we were attacking, and landed directly on the dragon’s back. Atreus roared, trying to shake him off, but Derek held on tight. I rolled out from under the dragon to avoid getting crushed, dashing for the same tree Derek had leapt from. Lilli and Iku
mi soon joined me, and together we watched our cousin ride the dragon as if it were his own brand of roller coaster.
With a mighty roar, Derek grabbed the Ice Stone, wrenching it from its socket on the dragon’s back. Then he threw it in our direction, allowing Lilli to scoop it up. Next came the Water Stone, which Ikumi caught easily. And, just my luck, here came the Earth Stone—dropping right into my arms.
I’d never been so thrilled to be holding poop.
But right as Derek reached for the last stone, Atreus managed to bat him hard with his wing, sending him flying off the dragon and crashing to the ground. He lay in a heap, unable to get up.
“Derek! Are you okay?”
He groaned and pulled his arm out from under his stomach, flashing me a weak thumbs-up. I breathed out, relieved. Derek might be down for now, but he’d done his job. Now we were back where we started: in possession of three of the four Elemental Stones.
Finally—we had a fair fight.
My armor glowed brown as the Earth Stone pulsed in my hand. (Yes, that color brown. I don’t want to talk about it.) I felt a surge of power well inside me as my in-game menu suddenly updated with a multitude of awesome spell options big enough to take down a dragon.
Gravel.
Stalagmite.
Earthquake.
I grinned. Oh yeah. Let’s get this ground shaking. I turned to my sister and Ikumi. Their robe and armor were also glowing white and blue respectively. “Are you guys ready?” I asked. “On the count of three…
“One… two… three!”
We cast our spells. Earthquake, ice storm, tsunami. Atreus bellowed in surprise as all three elements hit him at once. The ground rocked, icy spikes dropped down from the sky, and a huge wave rolled out of nowhere, knocking his bleeding body to the ground. His hit points plummeted to single digits.
“Yes!” I cried. “It’s working! Again!”
I accessed my menu, ready for round two. Unfortunately, the large spell I’d cast also had a long cool-down time, which meant I couldn’t cast it again for at least another minute. I glanced at the girls; the looks on their faces told me their countdowns were similar. To make matters worse, the spell had drained all of my stamina. Meaning I had no energy left to even lift my sword.
“Oh no!” Lilli cried. “He’s healing himself!”
Sure enough, Atreus’s body began to glow with a brilliant green, indicating he was casting a healing spell. His hit points began to climb again.
Despair sank in my stomach. It hadn’t been enough. Even with three stones and our unconventional fighting style, it still hadn’t been enough to bring him down, or even weaken him for more than a few seconds. And now we were weakened. Unable to cast or fight. It wouldn’t take Atreus long to get back to full power. And when he did…
Game over.
Suddenly Ikumi turned to me. She grabbed my forearms with her hands, meeting my eyes with her own. I could see the glitter dancing madly in her deep pupils.
“Ian…” she breathed, then trailed off, looking anguished.
“What is it?” I asked, fear throttling my voice.
“I just wanted to let you know,” she said. “My real name is Mirai.”
I stared at her, unable to speak. A bashful smile creased her face as she leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the cheek. Then, dropping her hands from my forearms, she drew the sword from my belt. Before I could stop her, she ran at the dragon straight on, screaming at the top of her lungs.
“You will leave my friends alone!” she cried, slashing down at Atreus. The blade swung true, connecting with Atreus’s snout and slashing off the end of his nose. Black blood gushed from the wound, splashing onto Ikumi’s—no, Mirai’s—face and robe. But she didn’t back away. Instead she swung again, fully consumed with rage and power, this time hitting the dragon square in the jaw.
Atreus roared, swiping at her with his claws. I screamed in horror as the impact sent her flying through the air, then crashing down to the ground with a sickening thud. Atreus stalked after her, snarling and snapping his teeth.
“Ian!” I could vaguely hear my sister’s voice. “Use your stone! Now!”
Oh, right. I shook my head, trying to focus. Sure enough, Mirai’s distraction had been enough; we could use our powers again. My whole body shaking, I raised the Earth Stone.…
BOOM!
The spell went off a like a bullet, a large, rocky spike shooting up from the ground right under Atreus and spearing him in the belly. He bellowed in surprise and pain and tried to launch himself back in the air. But for the moment, he was literally pinned to the earth.
I turned to Lilli. “Finish him!” I cried.
With grim determination, Lilli nodded and raised her own stone. Ice blasted from her fingers, shooting out at the trapped dragon and freezing him solid. Then, with another wave of her hand, the ice exploded, shattering the creature into a million pieces. I had to duck, hands over my head, so as not to get stabbed by shards of ice.
“Fatality!” Lilli declared, quoting Mortal Kombat. “Mage Adorah wins!”
I lifted my hands from my head, my heart still pounding in my chest so hard I was half convinced I would crack a rib. But the dragon was gone and my game menu was going crazy, racking up experience points and levels. I rose back to my feet, staring at my sister in disbelief.
Had we done it? Had we actually beaten the game?
“Dude, that was awesome!” Derek cried, running over to us. He looked battered and bruised, but somehow okay. He even still had his harp, though it appeared to be missing a few strings. “I totally thought we were goners there.”
“Yeah, well, we couldn’t have done it without you,” Lilli pointed out. “That was awesome, jumping onto his back like that and grabbing those stones.”
“Totally,” I agreed. “Turns out you’re quite the gamer!”
Derek scrunched up his face. “Please don’t ever repeat that in public.”
“Um, guys?” Yano’s voice suddenly interrupted. The draconite dropped down from the tree he’d been hiding in during the fight. His face was grave and for once he didn’t crack a joke. Instead, he gestured his wing to the crumpled figure lying a few feet away.
My heart stuttered. Ikumi!
I raced over to her and dropped to my knees. Her body was so still she looked like a rag doll that had been tossed away. My throat constricted as I put an ear to her mouth, trying to feel for a whisper of breath. But I felt nothing. Not a single breath or pulse or heartbeat. Did her heart ever beat to begin with in the game? There was so little I knew about her, I realized. Up until the last moment, I hadn’t even known her real name.
Mirai…
A wrenching sob ripped from my throat. “You idiot!” I cried, wanting to shake her. “Why did you do that? Why did you run at the dragon?”
“She saved us,” Lilli said quietly, coming up behind me and putting a hand on my shoulder. “We would have all been dead if it weren’t for her. She saved us… and the world.”
I looked up. Sure enough, the world of Dragon Ops was no longer a cataclysmic disaster. The fires had gone out. The villages had been restored. Trees and flowers were bursting into bloom. Atreus’s reign of terror was over.
But so was Mirai’s life.
I closed my eyes, my chest heavy. She’d wanted so badly to be free of the game. I hoped at least now she was.
“Please step aside,” a deep voice broke in.
I turned, shocked to see none other than Hiro Takanama standing behind us, wearing his dragon robes and carrying his staff. His face was grave. How had he gotten in here? And was he really here? Or had he logged in virtually from back in Dragonshire?
I stepped aside, though half of me wanted to punch him in the face. What he’d done, locking his daughter into the game like that! And now—what if she was actually dead?
I glanced down at her body, tears flowing down my cheeks unchecked. She didn’t deserve this. She hadn’t deserved any of this.
“Is she
okay?” Lilli asked as Hiro bent down to examine his daughter.
“I don’t know,” he replied, not looking up. “Her file has been corrupted. I’ll have to run some diagnostics back at the base.” He raked a hand through his hair and I could tell he was fighting back tears. He didn’t want to tell us how bad it was.
But it was bad. Really bad. I could see it in his eyes.
I stared down at Mirai. She looked so still, so pale. As if she were nothing more than a ghost. And maybe that wasn’t so far off. After all, the real Mirai had died a long time ago. This girl—Ikumi—had been only the computerized shell of who she used to be.
But still… she had been my friend. My true friend.
Rage flowed through me, hot as the lava in Mount Fearless. My gaze snapped to Hiro. “How could you do this?” I demanded. “To your own daughter!” My hands balled into fists. “You’re a monster. A total monster.”
Hiro turned away, avoiding our accusing eyes. “You don’t understand,” he said quietly.
“Understand what? That you trapped your own daughter in a video game against her will?” I cried, not willing to let him off the hook. Sure, he was upset. But this was his fault!
“What else was I supposed to do?” Hiro snapped. “She was all I had left.”
I could hear the devastation in his voice. He loved Mirai. That was clear. But to do what he did…
“Do you even know what the last two years of her life have been like? Trapped in a world she doesn’t belong in, all alone, unless you somehow find the time to fit in a quick visit? All she wanted to do was get out of this game. And she was willing to risk everything to do it.” I swallowed down the huge lump that had formed in my throat. “And now look at her. Is this what you wanted?”
Hiro buried his head in his hands. “I’m so sorry,” he cried. But he was talking to her now, not me. “You tried to tell me. But I was too selfish to listen. I wanted more time—twelve years is not nearly enough. But I never wanted to hurt you. I swear!” He pounded his chest with his hands. “Oh, what have I done?”
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