I bounded away from the Guildhall until I could find an isolated corner to summon Al. I stuck to the Avenue District so that guards were within range in case any Rogues were lingering. When I found a spot between two overlapping roofs with no player traffic, I squatted down into a crouch, touched my earring to make sure it was still cool, then began to whisper Al’s name.
I hadn’t seen or talked to Al since I have purchased [Bounding Leap] over two weeks ago. I didn’t count the achievements and quests because that wasn’t really a dialogue - that was just Al being Al.
I repeated Al’s name while I hid, waiting for something, anything to indicate he heard me. For a moment, I considered that the level 5 A.I. might have taken Al out. But if that were true, then Goldman wouldn’t have so much trouble scrubbing me from the System…right?
After nearly two minutes of constant summoning, a flash caught my eye.
“Oh, thank God.”
It led off the rooftop and into the alley behind the building. I duck-walked to the edge, keeping low so no players would spot me from the street. The flashing light moved to the end of the alley, so I jumped down and followed it. It took me through the maze-like alley system in a rush. I passed by a few players as they did random low-level quests in the alleyways, or cut through for shortcuts, but I was moving so fast that I was gone before they realized who I was.
The path Al took me on was circuitous, and a glance at my map showed that I had barely gone any distance, despite running for multiple minutes. When the flashing finally lit up on a shop, I stopped to catch my breath. On the shop door was a sign that read: ‘Closed for remodeling.’ That was strange. I wondered if that was Al’s way of keeping other players out? But that wouldn’t work…right? This game was the players’ sandbox, and they loved breaking rules like that when exploring.
Only one way to find out.
There was light traffic on the surrounding street, so I didn’t linger. I pushed through the shop door, not pausing at the entrance as I moved to the side. If there were other players inside, I didn’t want to stay outlined in the doorway. The light inside was dim, and it took my eyes a moment to adjust as I moved along the wall.
The interior was large and seemed to have been a tavern at some point. But there was no furniture in the common area - just broken pieces of wood and other debris. Spiderwebs arced across the ceiling and in the corners, which was strange for a couple of reasons. One, it meant that players really did avoid this shop due to the sign. And two, were there really god damned spiders crawling around inside, spreading their webs like in the real world?
A shiver traveled up my spine.
Fuck spiders.
I looked around for a moment before Al’s signal caught my eye leading into the back room. I followed it as it took me to a door leading downstairs - a cellar or basement, presumably.
As I opened the door, it creaked ominously, the stairs shrouded in darkness. I took a tentative step on the darkened stairs, the board shifting in the middle like it would snap from my weight.
“Is this some sort of Halloween special or something?” I asked out loud, just to hear something other than the creaking of the wooden stairs. “Shitty, budget haunted house,” I muttered, my voice echoing back to me from the basement.
The flashing picked up again at the bottom of the stairs, my only source of illumination as I crept towards the basement. I continued my descent, my hand clenched on the railing. The steps sounded like they would give at any moment, and though I knew the fall damage would be minimal, the pain of crashing to the basement floor would be very real.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I reached the basement without incident, but was shrouded in near-complete darkness. Only the light filtering from upstairs alleviated that a bit. Looking around, I couldn’t see much, and Al’s signal had disappeared. I half expected Al to jump out from the dark corner - he always enjoyed scari-
CRASH!
The door at the top of the stairs slammed shut, trapping me in darkness.
“OH FUCK!” I shouted in alarm, my heart jumping into my throat. Panic engulfed me for a split second, then calm returned. “Fuck you, Al!” At least, I hoped it was Al. This was exactly the kind of shenanigans he would find hilarious.
I spun in a circle, squinting my eyes to pierce the darkness, when Al’s signal flashed again. It illuminated the dark space, casting everything in ominous shadows as it pulsed. I rolled my eyes in annoyance, then followed the light.
It took me to a corner of the basement where a dusty old wood furnace stood. The furnace came straight out of a horror movie, the opening a black hole into nothingness, the grate vaguely shaped like the teeth of a monster. I imagined when the furnace was lit, it gave the impression of a Hellgate.
The light had moved into the furnace, so I leaned closer to see what was in there. My eyes went wide when I realized the back of the furnace was open - like a tunnel leading into hell.
“Oh, hell no!” I said, backing away with a shake of my head. The flashing near the back of the furnace grew more insistent. I closed my eyes and sighed. “Al, sometimes I fucking hate you.” When I opened my eyes again, the flashing had moved deeper, passing into the tunnel.
Reluctantly, I peered into the furnace. The opening was wide enough for me to crawl in without issue. The issue was, I really didn’t want to.
I forced calming breaths in my nose, then out. Another one…and one more…
“Fuck,” I muttered, the sound reverberating down the tunnel.
Then I crawled into the furnace.
Soot and ash exploded into a cloud that choked me. I was forced back out of the furnace as a hacking cough overtook me. When my lungs finally cleared, I steeled myself, took a deep breath, then climbed back in. I held my breath as I trudged through the furnace until I made it to the tunnel. The smokey detritus relented as I pushed into the tunnel, and I finally allowed myself to let my breath go.
The tunnel itself was narrow, just wide enough for me to crawl through on my hands and knees. At first, it felt like I was on some Mission Impossible adventure, crawling through the air ducts to get to the story’s MacGuffin. But after a few minutes of my knees scraping across the stone tunnel, I was pretty over it. The air felt thin and stale, and though I wasn’t generally a claustrophobic person, the thought of the entire city of Bastion resting over my head made my panic start to rise.
“Al, I’m starting to freak out,” I gasped. Pulling in breaths became more difficult as my panic began to crystallize. Like some shining star on a storm-torn sea, Al’s signal flashed ahead, illuminating the end of the tunnel. I forced myself forward. Follow the light. Wait, you were not supposed to follow the light, right? What-the-fuck-ever, get me out of this damn tunnel!
When my head popped out of tunnel and into the light, I almost cried. The tunnel exit just led to a cave. Basically, another tunnel, just bigger. Still, it was better than the coffin-sized one I was currently crawling in. I reached my hands around the lip of the tunnel exit and pulled myself out. It was a less than graceful fall as I hit the cavern floor, but no one was watching so-
“You are grace-incarnate,” a voice said.
“Oh, fuck!” I exclaimed as I awkwardly jumped to my feet. To the right of the tunnel exit, out of sight as I had been crawling, was a person shrouded in shadow, wearing a cloak with their hood pulled up. I couldn’t see their features - not that it mattered, since Al could seemingly inhabit any NPC he wanted.
“Al?” I asked, leaning in to try and pierce the veil of their hood.
The figure shook his - or was it her? - head. “Iteration 1 asked me to fetch you,” the figure said. “I’m Iteration 321. You can call me Sally.” So, her, then.
“Okay…Sally. Where’s Al?” I asked. I looked back at the tiny tunnel exit. “Also, was the tunnel really necessary?”
She ignored me and started walking away. The cave was so dark, I hadn’t noticed it before, but behind Sally was a passage leading out of the cavern.
I watched her leave without a word, shaking my head in annoyance. Were all of the Iterations assholes?
I followed her as she walked through the passage without a word. We went another couple hundred meters by my estimate before we rounded a corner and light began to filter towards us. I picked up my pace, eager to be out of the darkness, but caught up to Sally and had to slow down or pass her. Despite my excitement to see real light, I wasn’t so eager that I wanted to rush into potential danger.
But when we came to the end of the passage and into the light, a smile spread across my face.
We were in Null Space.
“Oh, Jeremy is gonna be pisssssed when he hears about this.”