Chapter 8
“Idon’t like it.”
Vadis turned his head to hide his grin. It was the third time his daka had made the complaint in the past hour. “I promise to make a note for the game designers.”
Climbing the side of a rocky outcropping on the far side of the Underworld, Tira glanced over her shoulder. “See that you do.”
It had taken them three days to reach Persephone and free the goddess from her gilded cage. They had faced a number of obstacles and enemies, including furies, demons, and even restless spirits. Tira had remained unphased through it all.
Trying to interact with an NPC—a non-playable character—however, was seemingly too much for her. The game architects had apparently decided that their distressed damsel didn’t require vocal cords or facial expressions. As such, the goddess simply followed behind them silently with a vacant look in her eyes.
Even Vadis had to admit it was kind of creepy.
They had reached the last level of Escape from Hades that morning, meaning they would now come face to face with the “final boss” to complete the game. Given the title and storyline, one might expect that to be Hades, the Lord of the Underworld himself.
Judging by the growls that echoed off the rocky crags, and the scent of wet fur on the air, Vadis sensed that might not be the case.
As a quality control technician, he wasn’t privy to all the ins and outs of the games. Designers and programmers provided him with basic information, but none of the big twists and turns, wanting him to experience it along with players. Like the ferryman from the first level. He’d been aware that they needed to pay him to cross the river, but he hadn’t known how exactly to make that happen.
From an observational standpoint, it was frustrating as hell. Being inside the game with Tira and helping her complete the missions, however, had been some of the most fun he’d had in years.
Cresting the hill, Tira came to an abrupt stop and tilted her head curiously as she stared into the valley below. “That’s it?”
That being a three-headed hellhound the size of a fucking freighter. Each head acted independently from the others, growling and gnashing its razor-sharp teeth as the beast pawed at the black sand. Three sets of glowing red eyes watched them across the distance, narrowed and alert.
“That would be Cerberus,” Vadis told her. “He guards the gates of the Underworld and stops the dead from leaving.”
She continued to stare at the animal for a while longer before finally giving him her full attention. “Why would they leave?”
“To return to the world of the living,” he answered, regurgitating the lore he’d read on the subject.
“To what purpose?”
“I…uh…I don’t actually know. I guess they don’t want to be dead.”
She snorted and shook her head. “Leaving the afterlife won’t allow them to live again. They would simply wander as lost and broken souls.”
“Like ghosts?”
Her eyebrows drew together, and she tilted her head. “What is a ghost?”
“Never mind.” As interesting—and morbid—as the conversation was, they had more pressing issues at the moment. “So, how do you want to do this? Should we split up? Come at him from opposite sides?”
“How would that help?” Tira pointed down into the valley. “He has three heads.”
Yeah, okay, that was fair. “Do you have a better plan, Captain?”
“I could use magic.”
He immediately shook his head. “Good idea, but it won’t work.”
Despite half her face being hidden by the hood of her cloak, he had no problem detecting the glare shesent him from the corner of her eye.
“It is my understanding that this entire planetoid is a mixture of magic and technology. Is that not true?”
“It is.” Sensing her irritation, he spoke slowly, choosing his next words with care. “This particular game, however, is purely technology. Your magic won’t work here.”
She offered a noncommittal shrug. “It could. I haven’t attempted it yet.”
Well, there was an easy way to test that theory without either of them getting eaten by an angry hellhound. “Do something magical.”
In response, she shook her hand free from the cloak and turned her palm up. Seconds later, a perfect sphere of blue flames materialized, balancing on the tips of her fingers.
Shocked, Vadis stared at the fireball with wide eyes and an open mouth. According to pretty much everyone who had worked on the game, it shouldn’t have been possible inside a virtual reality setting. Clearly, that wasn’t the case, which meant they still had some bugs to work out when it came to magical players.
Just because she could access her magic, however, didn’t necessarily mean it would help them. It was just as likely that the fireball would dissipate the moment it left her hand.
“Throw it.”
Tira arched an eyebrow. “I beg your pardon?”
“Throw it at something.” He pointed to the flames for emphasis. “Let’s see what it can do.”
His mate looked at the magical sphere, back to him, then shrugged before flicking it directly at their silent ward.
Persephone, of course, didn’t react. She didn’t scream, duck, or in any way try to avoid the collision. Her generated figure did glitch and flicker as the blue flames passed through her, but afterwards, she just continued to stand there with her disturbingly vacant expression.
Yeah, the team definitely needed to go back to the drawing board when it came to the NPCs. Especially the freaking protagonist of the game.
“That’s not exactly what I meant, daka.”
Again, Tira shrugged. “She is unharmed.”
The sassy response caught him off guard, and he barked out a sharp laugh right from his belly. He liked this side of his mate, and he hoped to see a lot more of it.
“Maybe force isn’t the way,” Tira mused. “It is illogical to think that a single person can defeat such a formidable beast.”
Vadis’ laughter faded away, and he bobbed his head thoughtfully as he considered her proposal. She made a good point, but he also knew that these legacy games didn’t always follow logic. Still, it was a strategy worth investigating further.
“We’re not going to find any answers up here.” He held his hand out, pleased when she took it without hesitation. “Let’s go.”
“What happens if we fail?”
“We’ll rematerialize at the last checkpoint.” Thankfully, that was after they had rescued Persephone, but it still meant another arduous trek through the Underworld. “After the third attempt, we’ll have to start back at the beginning of the level.”
Tira didn’t respond verbally, but there was a shift in her demeanor, a rigidity that hadn’t been there before. Her eyes narrowed, and determination blazed in the amethyst depths. Clearly, she didn’t like the idea of failing.
They made their way down the hill, the dark sands shifting precariously beneath their boots. The spectral goddess followed silently behind them, her bare feet ghosting over the earth without disturbing a single grain.
He was beginning to think her design had been a purposeful decision. Not only was it freaky as fuck, but he also found her presence incredibly distracting.
The moment they reached the edge of the crumbling stone bridge that led to the gates of the Underworld, any idea of deception or stealth went out the proverbial window. All three heads snapped in their direction, and the beast snarled, gnashing his teeth as thick strands of drool fell from his massive jowls.
Then, without warning, he charged.
The ground beneath his feet trembled, and bits of stone crumbled away from the bridge. In a split second, the hellhound was upon them, growling and snapping as he forced them away from the gate.
Vadis reacted on instinct, drawing both swords from the harness on his back and brandishing them. Tira also reacted, conjuring another fireball—this one larger and denser than the first—and hurling it at the center head.
Just like with Persephone, however, the flames passed right through Cerberus to no effect.
“What now?” she shouted.
“I don’t know!”
And he didn’t have a chance to figure it out. A paw the size of a transport shuttle shot out, aimed directly at them. The initial blow caught Vadis in the chest, and he hissed in pain as the sharp claws sliced through his skin. In the next moment, he was flying, soaring over the side of the bridge before plummeting into the inky waters below.
He fell, tumbling through an endless void, then landed on his feet not far from the black castle where he and his mate had first rescued the goddess. Shaken and disoriented, it took him a moment to realize what had happened. Tira, however, didn’t seem to have the same problem.
“Fuck!” she screamed the instant she materialized beside him. “I’m going to rip it’s head off. All three of them.”
While he agreed with the sentiment, he had no idea how to accomplish the task. On the bright side, they had plenty of time to alter their strategy as they made the long journey back to the bridge.
“Are you okay?” Grabbing her by the arm, he jerked her close, turning her one way, then the other as he searched her for injuries. “Did he get you?”
“Well, obviously.” She waved her hand out in front of her to indicate their surroundings. “I’m not hurt, though.”
His own wounds had also vanished, and his torn clothing had miraculously repaired itself. “Okay, I think we need a new plan.”
“I have a plan.” Her jaw jutted out at a stubborn angle, and she pulled her shoulders back as she drew herself up to her full—albeit, diminutive—height. “I’m going to kill it.”
He liked her fire, but their second attempt went only slightly better than the first. This time, they managed to make it to the middle of the bridge before being dispatched by the hellhound. Neither of them landed a single blow before meeting their demise, either.
When they rematerialized near the black castle, Tira let out a string of curses that would have made even the most hardened mercenary blush. Some words, he didn’t even recognize, but judging by her vehemence, he could read between the lines.
“Fuck this.”
“Daka, wait.” He jogged to catch up with her when she started marching across the sand. “If we fail this time—”
The rest of what he’d meant to say cut off when the air was sucked from his lungs. The world spun, went black, and unrelenting pressure built in his temples. His stomach roiled with nausea, the muscles in his back spasmed, and he had the uncomfortable sensation of being sucked through an inflexible straw.
Then, everything stopped as abruptly as it had started.
Landing at the edge of the bridge, he staggered to the side, doubled over, and emptied the contents of his stomach onto the rocks. In the midst of his retching, it occurred to him that he had just teleported for the first time, but that shouldn’t have been possible within the game.
Because of Xenthian’s self-imposed isolation for the past however many millennia, neither the game designers, nor the Artanes, anticipated many Xenon visitors to Evo. At least, not in the beginning. Still, it was becoming increasingly obvious that they needed to develop solutions to the way the elf magic interacted with their technology.
Like both of the previous times, Cerberus charged at them. Bounding across the bridge, his crimson gaze locked on Tira, he let out a haunting growl that reverberated in the distance.
Instead of running, or even drawing a weapon, the female marched straight up to the beast and clapped her hands twice.
“No! Bad hellhound!”
To Vadis’ shock and utter confusion, the demonic pup stopped dead in his tracks, all three heads falling instantly silent.
Tira nodded as if that had been the exact reaction she’d anticipated. “That’s better. Now…sit.”
Cerberus plopped down on his butt with a chorused whimper, and his tail flicked as if he was resisting the urge to wag it.
Vadis couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “How did you do that?”
Not taking her eyes away from the beast, Tira smirked. “It’s a gift.”
Of course, he knew about her talent for influential magic. That it worked on an AI-generated, virtual reality hell spawn was the part he couldn’t wrap his head around.
“Take the princess and go,” she ordered.
“Goddess.”
“Is that really important right now?”
Although she wasn’t looking at him, Vadis ducked his head to hide his grin. “No, daka, I suppose not.”
Except, the moment he started inching toward the gates, the beast tensed and growled again. Its snarling heads turned toward him, all six glowing eyes piercing him down to his soul.
“Cerberus, stay!” Tira clapped her hands again to get his attention. “Look at me.” Out of the corner of her mouth, she muttered, “Hurry.”
All they had to do was get Persephone past the gates of the Underworld to win the game. So, as much as he disliked the idea of leaving his mate behind, he couldn’t hold the hellhound back. Not the way Tira could.
Sending a silent prayer out into the universe, he grabbed the goddess around the waist and hauled her over his shoulder. Instead of employing stealth and hoping he wouldn’t be noticed, he gathered every ounce of strength he had and sprinted across the bridge.
A cacophony of howls, barks, and shouts rose up behind him, but he didn’t dare look over his shoulder. Turning on a burst of speed, he released a growl of his own as he leapt the last few feet, soaring right through the shimmering swirl of light bracketed by gold railings.
Bright light of the purest white assaulted him, blinded him, and when it vanished, so did the weight on his shoulder. When his surroundings swam back into focus, he realized he had returned to the reality of the testing room.
“Have I mentioned how amazing you are?”
He expected a witty comeback, delivered in Tira’s signature dry humor. No reply came.
“Daka?” Untangling himself from the wires and nodes, he hurried over to his mate. “Captain?” Panic began to bubble beneath the surface, and he grabbed her by the shoulders to shake her awake. She had to be messing with him. It was the only thing that made sense. “Tira, wake up, damn it!”
“She won’t wake,” Evo responded, her voice filling the room.
“Why not? We finished the game. It’s over.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He was going to pull the AI’s wiring apart piece by piece, even if he had to destroy the entire planetoid. “Tell me what the hell is going on.”
“I’m afraid that is for you to figure out. Good luck!”
If he had to ascribe emotions to a software program, he would say Evo sounded positively delighted, which only served to piss him off more. “Evo! Evo, fucking answer me!”
But there was only silence.