3013: AFTERLIFE: A 3013 Novella

Chapter 9

Once Vadis passed through the glowing gates, Tira had expected to wake up in the testing room, but that didn’t happen.

Instead, the hell beast dissolved into a shower of sparkling lights, and the generated world around her became eerily quiet. The gate itself had also disappeared, leaving her alone and bemused on the decaying bridge.

“Hello?” she called into the void.

She honestly didn’t think she would receive a response, but she didn’t know what else to do. Trapped inside the game without the assistance of her mate, she was at a loss of how to proceed.

“How may I assist you, Captain?”

Tira sighed in relief. “Evo, why am I still here?”

“The game will end once you have completed all objectives.”

“We rescued the prin—goddess. What else do I have to do?”

“That is for you to decipher.”

She’d had a feeling that would be the AI’s answer, but it did nothing to lessen the frustration of hearing it. “Can you at least give me a hint?”

“Very well,” Evo responded after a significant pause. “The universe requires balance.”

Tira waited for more, something tangible, but as the silence stretched on, she realized that was the only guidance she would receive. Rather than getting upset about something she couldn’t change, she decided to be grateful that Evo had deemed her worthy of help in the first place.

“Thank you.”

“You are most welcome, Captain. I really hope you make it.”

Well, that sounded ominous as fuck. Especially coming from a system that knew all the potential outcomes. Although Tira took solace in the knowledge that she couldn’t die inside the game—probably—she did have other concerns. Like how long she would be stuck there, and how long she could last before her physical body required things like food, water, and…a bathroom.

“Evo?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Where’s Vadis?”

“He is no longer in the game.”

Tira breathed a little easier at the news. She had assumed as much, but realistically, he could have been anywhere. While happy to hear he’d made it out, she still didn’t have an explanation for why she had been left behind.

“Can you tell me how he was able to leave?”

“I shouldn’t…”

She said nothing, hoping Evo might provide her with another clue, however indirectly.

“Two entered,” the AI finally answered. “Two exited.”

A picture was starting to form as the pieces of the puzzle came together. Two souls had entered the Underworld at the start of the game. At the end, two had escaped. In terms of the rules, it didn’t seem to matter that one of those souls wasn’t, and had never been, truly alive.

The universe required balance. Symmetry. In essence, a life for a life.

A bit macabre, perhaps, but also, logical. She liked logic.

As wielders of magic, the Xenon understood and embraced the never-ending push and pull of energy that made up the cosmos. Whether that be physical, emotional, spiritual, or even supernatural, all things, good and bad, exacted a price.

And sometimes, that price required sacrifice.

“Daka, can you hear me?” Vadis’ deep, rumbling voice boomed from the sky and rolled into the distance like thunder.

Startled by the sudden disruption to the silence, she stumbled backward, gripping the stone edge of the bridge as she struggled to steady her pulse. Once she felt she could speak without her voice shaking, she pushed away from the railing and took a deep breath.

“I can hear you, my love.”

“I don’t know what—wait. My love?”

Was that a question? If so, she didn’t understand it. “Well, you are my love, are you not? You aren’t anyone else’s.”

A heavy silence hung in the air, followed by a soft, amused chuckle. “That’s right, Captain. I’m yours and yours alone.

Tira dipped her head firmly, satisfied with the response. “I’m guessing you are aware of the situation.”

“I am. Just hold tight. I’m going to get you out of there.”

An honorable gesture, to be sure, but ultimately, unnecessary. “Calm yourself. I just have to finish the game.”

“But the game is over!” Vadis shouted back.

Tira winced as his voice shook the night, causing loose pebbles to vibrate and bounce over the stones. She understood his concern. If their situations were reversed, she would likely be just as panicked. He really did need to relax, though.

“That is not technically true, but I’m in no danger.”

“How do you know that?”

She wasn’t sure if he could see her or not, but she bit her bottom lip and widened her eyes to keep from rolling them. Her mate had apparently lost all capacity for rational thought.

“For one, you told me yourself before we entered the game.” It was quite a vivid memory. Surely, he recalled it as well. “From a purely analytical standpoint,” she continued, “it wouldn’t be profitable for the owners to start killing off their visitors.”

Employed by said owners, Vadis should know that better than anyone.

“I agree, but accidents happen. That’s why everyone has to sign a waiver when they arrive.”

Tira stared down at her feet and sighed. “Vadis, please. I just have to sacrifice myself, then the game will end.”

“What?” he yelled.

It was a painful sound, grating, and it made her wince. In hindsight, she probably shouldn’t have told him that. To her, it was nothing more than the next step in the process. To him…well, he clearly had a lot of feelings about it.

“I’m not actually going to die.”

Besides, she didn’t think the solution would be that graphic or gruesome. Instinct told her it was more cerebral than merely jumping off the bridge into the inky waters below.

Balance required sacrifice, but it was also about choices.

Unfortunately, her statement did little to reassure her desperate mate. After a long rant filled with curses and threats, he sounded on the verge of total collapse.

“No,” he shouted at her. “Absolutely not. We’ll find another way. Just hold tight, and—”

Blocking out his barked commands, she closed her eyes and stepped forward, teleporting herself to the hill just beyond Hade’s black castle. The moment she rematerialized, though, Vadis’ voice boomed through the darkness again.

“Tira, what’s happening? What are you doing? Just don’t move!”

Oops. Too late for that.

Since there was no reasoning with the male at that point, she decided not to respond as she started the short trek down the dunes to the entrance of the castle. The drawbridge they’d lowered earlier remained down, offering safe passage across the moat below.

Torches bracketed an enormous iron door, the flames glinting off the black stones of the castle. Up close, she noticed that the rocks actually contained flecks of gold, much like the wishing stones on the Northern Isle of Xenthian.

A heavy knocker in the shape of a winged creature with glowing amber eyes peered at her from the center of the door. Although the monster itself appeared frightening with sharp teeth and long claws, there was something about its gaze. It flickered like fire, rhythmically, almost hypnotically, lulling her into a false sense of calm.

Then again, whether it was meant to deter her or lure her in didn’t matter. She had made her choice, and there was no turning back now. With a steady hand, she reached out for the brass ring, gripped it solidly, and rapped it against the door three times.

“I come as a willing sacrifice. A soul in exchange for the one that was taken.”

For the longest time, nothing happened. The castle remained quiet and sealed tight. Naturally, she worried she had wrongly interpreted the clues, but before she could try again, a loud, creaking groan of metal rent the night.

A sliver of white light appeared around the frame, growing brighter and more intense as the door swung outward on its hinges. As the opening swelled and expanded, so did the glare, until she was completely engulfed by the radiance.

When it finally faded, she had to blink several times to dispel the starbursts that obscured her vision, but otherwise, she was unharmed. In fact, she found herself right back where she had started.

In the testing room.

“That was fun.” High praise indeed considering how reluctant she had been to participate in the first place. “We should do it again sometime.”

“Tira!”

A heartbeat later, she was surrounded by hundreds of pounds of muscled male as Vadis scooped her into his arms and crushed her close. Then, he inspected every inch of her from nose to toes before roughly discarding the equipment attached to her.

“I’m going to recommend the team discards this game.”

Struggling out of the chair, Tira took a step back and fisted her hands on her hips. “Why in the stars would you do that? Stop overreacting. It’s a good game.” She paused to reconsider her words. “Well, with a couple of exceptions. Like Persephone.”

Other changes would need to be made as well. For starters, she highly doubted most players would assume they needed to sacrifice themselves to win. Without Evo’s aid, she didn’t know if she would have ever figured it out. As such, there would definitely need to be some kind of prompt. Maybe another riddle like the one from the ferryman.

After a short and lackluster standoff, Vadis sighed before dragging her back into his arms. “You’re right. I might have freaked out a little.”

“A little?” she teased.

Her mate chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “Okay, a lot. I just can’t handle the idea of anything happening to you.”

His words touched her in a way she hadn’t expected, bringing sunshine to a part of her heart that had been shadowed and guarded for a long time. Leaning away, she reached up to palm the side of his face and stroke his cheek with her thumb.

“I feel the same way. I’ll never let anything hurt you, leelan. I love you.”

A sappy smile stretched his lips, and he actually shook his head. “You always have to have the last word, don’t you?”

“I don’t know—”

Her protest was cut short when Vadis palmed the back of her head and took possession of her mouth. Taking advantage of her gasp of surprise, he thrust his tongue between her parted lips, pillaging the depths in a brand of ownership. Only when he had her gasping for air did he finally release her with a tender kiss to her forehead.

“I love you, too, daka.” He brushed her fringe to the side and kissed her brow again. “So, what do you want to do now?”

Although she had enjoyed her time on Evo—more than she had thought she would—she missed Xenthian. “Let’s go home.”