SAVE POINT 42
Joy
I watched Rosabella pass out, slumping to the ground. I reached for her, but I was already too late. Her body was limp, her eyes way back in her head. Was she serious right now? Leaving us to fend for ourselves, trapped in this swirling blackness? So, typical.
She'd probably just fainted from the shock of everything, but it could be the darkness too. I hadn’t caught her HP. Maybe I should ask the system for it? I hurried to feel for a pulse but couldn't catch any kind of heartbeat on her thin neck. I searched repeatedly with two fingers, but...there was nothing. There was no—
“System, show me Rosabella’s HP,” I barked.
[System Understands Query…Loading Response…]
God, did this thing move any slower when you needed it?!
[System Answer: ROSABELLA, GAME MAKER 13 / Current HP: 0/116]
That's when my stomach dropped like a bowling ball. I wasn’t holding a passed-out girl; I was holding a dead one.
"Dormouse, Rosabella's not breathing—" I choked out, "She has 0 HP. She's—"
Damnit, she couldn't be dead. I’d put everything on the line for her—my life, my job. This world needed to stand. There needed to be something that stood between the overwhelming darkness of this place and us.
But there wasn't anymore; I realized it with sinking clarity as I stared into the blood-red eyes of a black magic smoke hound.
The Game Maker was dead. Now, there was just evil.
Only despair.
Only darkness.
Now that the light had been snuffed out.
I’d failed her. I’d failed my position and this world. All that time spent searching for her on Earth and bringing her back to The Game? Somehow, I’d let something slip. I’d missed something—something important.
"No!" I screamed, hating the situation—hating myself—"No!"
I shook her, but it was no use. She was gone, and we were defenseless against the pitch black moving closer and closer—
Beep.
Everything went black. There were no Black Orymouss. No swirling, rushing wind. No...
Anything...
—What? Was I dead too?
***Welcome JOY, WARRIOR 13 & DORMOUSE, CODER 14 To Multiplayer Mode***
[Multiplayer Mode Objective: Capture The Flag.]
Multiplayer—what?!
"No, that's—that's statistically improbable," Dormouse muttered from right at my shoulder. He was at my shoulder, mumbling to himself and his entwined hands. And he no longer wore his green robe. He was wearing white.
I looked down.
Just like me. We were both in white jumpsuits in a white-walled room.
Oh my God, we DID die. Hella spectacular. I’d figured I would be in a sour mood when the world finally pulled the plug.
"Get your head out of your statistical ass and tell me what’s happening here," I demanded.
----------------------------------------
Rosabella
[Loading…10 Minutes Earlier…77%]
"Hello?"
I called it to the white-washed walled room, hearing my voice echo back at me. But the place was empty—this space was void of any movement or life. I looked down and saw that I was clad in a white jumpsuit. Oh my God, Heavan sucked. I didn't even get to choose my clothes? I frowned, tugging the material away from my body.
I’d died. I was pretty sure of it. I’d seen my HP bleed to empty.
But this is how the universe repaid me for trying to save The Game world? Death? ...Maybe this was Purgatory, because I certainly didn't feel like I could label it as Heaven or Hell. I walked forward, hearing my footfalls reverberate on the white floor. There didn't appear to be an exit or entrance. How'd I get in? I pressed my hand against a wall, feeling its rigid form.
Solid.
Great.
Grand Dragon? I whimpered in my head. I was almost afraid to ask—like knocking might have someone rapping my fingers with a ruler instead of opening up. But something happened; a literal door did open. A blue glow appeared, humming and tracing a rectangular piece out of the wall until...
Until it swirled, hand-level, creating a doorknob.
A door! No way.
I walked towards it, feeling unsure. Grand Dragon, is it you? I asked, still teetering forward and uncertain if I should reach for the door.
Yes.
I heard the simple answer pulsing through my body—all the way down to my fingertips. A breeze blew back my hair, coming from under the door. Holy cow—
I reached forward, my fingertips pausing just above the doorknob, and, then—
Stolen story; please report.
Then, I grabbed it.
Then, I closed my eyes and grabbed it like a lifeline.
Galaxies expanded before my very eyes—complex swirls of stars and planets and their orbit lines, swishing...moving.
Zap.
The view zoomed in so quickly that I nearly pitched forward. The Game Map appeared, then, honed in on a spot above the Dragon's Sea Town. And, as the force barreled me forward, I saw a circle of darkness.
The smoke hounds—those Black Orymouss-thingies!—spinning around three figures...well, two. One was passed out on the ground—
Shock ran through me. Me! That was me when I died and, there was Joy and Dormouse, defenseless inside of the circle of darkness which moved in on them. My heartbeat raced in my ears.
"Do something!" I cried, "They're my friends!"
I already have.
Came the calm answer—the Grand Dragon's soothing voice.
I saw your anguish, and I transferred your game into Multiplayer Mode for you, your friends and your enemy. Capture the flag and you capture your deepest will.
My deepest will?
I pondered that. "What is my deepest will?" I asked tentatively.
The beast sighs; I felt it.
All this time and you do not know yourself? You wish to live, Rosabella. To live without the darkness. To live without the sickness the darkness brings in you. You simply want life.
And the creature's booming words made sense—they filled a hole in my core, that I hadn't noticed, with a warm honey. Like I was truly seen. Like the beast understood me on a level I could barely comprehend.
Yes. Yes, I wanted life. More than anything, I wanted life.
Be aware, child, that the enemy, also, has the ability to win their deepest will. Complete the Multiplayer Mission and you will be victorious, but, fail to, and I will not be able to protect you any longer from death. Not many are given a second chance. This is yours.
It warned.
Don't squander it. Lean on your friends for aid for they wish life for you as well.
And, just like that, the picture zoomed outward, expanding. Till I was in that white room again, one with no door. Till—
Beep.
Two, squabbling figures appeared.
And my mouth stretched wide in a smile, because it was Dormouse and Joy. They gaped at me, whatever argument they were having dying on their tongues.
"What the—" Joy started.
"I told you," Dormouse finished proudly, "Multiplayer Mode must have been initiated right before Rosabella passed out. But it can't be done manually in or outside of the game—it's impossible. The Code forbids it; there's like five thousand internal checks. It had to be done by—"
"By the Creator," I finished.
They both stared at me.
Dormouse looked more than uncomfortable as he massaged his right shoulder. "Yeah," he admitted.
The gravity of it, hit me with the force of a train. The Grand Dragon had initiated Multiplayer Mode to save my life.
"So, we're playing capture the flag for our lives?" Joy spouted, her frown deepening.
"Something like that," Dormouse seemed engrossed in looking around the place, "Oh—this is mega cool. This entire holding space is created from a substance which literally bends to your conditions—"
"English, Goddamnit!" Joy yelled, throwing down her hands.
"Watch," Dormouse said instead. He brought up two fingers, swiping in the air, and a huge screen popped into view with a neon title floating above it:
[
The nerd rubbed his hands together excitedly, "Oh, this is gonna be good!"
"Get to the point," Joy snarled.
And the boy swiped his fingers again in the air. Each swipe showed a different room. Different layouts, different furniture. Some with plush couches, others with modern, metal chairs. He moved through them quickly, barely allowing me time to register what I was looking at.
"Any input, folks?" he urged.
"That one," I squeaked as he stopped on a particularly cozy-looking theatre room. Plush chairs and a sofa circled a coffee table with a big screen TV looming above, enormous speakers framing it on either side. It looked like somewhere I'd like to binge The Walking Dead or the Marvel movies.
The boy locked it in with an extra click and—
Beep.
The white room transformed into the image from the screen. Oh my God. I marveled at the gray, velvet-like material of the nearest couch, running my fingers over its silken fabric. Without hesitation, I plopped onto the cushion, propping my feet up on the coffee table and...well, it was as comfortable as it all looked. My back eased against the warm, soft contours.
"This is insane," I admitted. I could barely believe my eyes.
"Just wait till we're in the Multiplayer Game," Dormouse chatted eagerly.
"Stop talking about it, and just do it," Joy complained, looking far more on edge than the boy, "I don't want to have to be here longer than we need to. In the real Game, we're all surrounded by those God-awful dogs about to get our asses chewed out—"
"Point taken," Dormouse whispered, nodding, "I'll try to put a cap on the nerding out." But his shy smile up at me from underneath his wave of dark hair told me there was little chance of that.
"Okay, so, next, we'll have to select our avatars for Multiplayer Mode," the kid began seriously, wiping his hands on the legs of his white jumpsuit.
"Avatars?" I squinted at him.
"Character skins—like an Earth video game," he clarified, "It'll be the character you play as. I think they already have us set up as teams—yeah, okay. I'll choose first, so I can show you."
He pressed a button and a glowing title popped into view again:
[
He swiped, his bony fingers moving quickly.
And my jaw dropped. These weren't just outfits, these were people—people I knew. Images of Dormouse, Sparo, me, Joy, Callen, Rainer, Fanboi...even Prickgada pixelated into view as the kid swiped through them, displaying their stats bars and advantages on a righthand menu. I laughed when I saw that Joy had 'intimidate enemies' under her list of strengths.
"I was thinking I'd go Rainer for brawn but..." Dormouse hedged, his finger swiping rapidly, "I'm honestly thinking I'll go with Mimi."
I could see why in his face as he stared at her bobbing image on the screen. He was like a puppy dog. His mouth twinged down in the smallest frown as his dark eyes roamed over her figure, lighting with...damn, I'd say he was in love.
"She's most efficient in her Portal Guard uniform and has the ability to make portals to transport to different spots within the level. I'll take it," he selected the option as Joy gawked.
"Seriously?" the pink-haired girl griped, "You school-crush boy. What are you going to do, sit on that green-haired bitch with Mimi's 4.0 GPA?" Disgusted, she leaned across the screen, easily swiping through the prompts to Dormouse's surprise.
"I choose my own avatar," she blurted, hitting 'select'.
"Skilled Warrior. …I earned every point of that." Her voice was a low growl laced with very little patience as she slumped down to sit on the arm of a nearby chair.
"Yes you did," Dormouse agreed far too readily. It made me wonder if the kid was not-so-secretly afraid of the girl. "You're next, Rosabella," Dormouse quipped, pulling up my screen. And, for some reason, my stomach fluttered with the fear of having to decide. I wasn’t sure I could make the quick, confident choice, like Joy, and pick myself. I wasn’t sure that, given all of us, choosing myself was even a smart choice.
I wasn’t the strongest.
Fastest.
Most intelligent.
Most of my skill levels were still in the toilet.
I just happened to be Game Maker—like someone slapped me with that tile a long time ago hoping I'd grow into it, and the shoes were still too big. I chewed on my lip as I swiped through the profiles.
I did take a hurried minute to look at my stats, pretending not to (of course):
'Ability to influence others.'
'Connection with advice and direction from a higher level.'
I quickly swiped away when I saw Joy noticing my sideways glance.
Maude.
Callen.
Dormouse.
It was weird flipping through my friends, like shopping online—like we were all sweaters.
I even saw Goran. 'Ability to lie' was listed under his strengths. You could say that again.
One of the avatars made me pause though—stop dead in my tracks for a good reason. Sparo stared back at me—egotistical and sporty, shirtless with a pair of dark shades over his eyes. And I wondered what it would be like to be him for a minute.
'Able to negotiate trades smoothly.'
'Experience with firepower.'
'Can transform into dragon at will.'
What would it be like to have the man's easy swagger? It wouldn't be terrible having to look at his cute butt if this worked like a regular video game and the POV was right behind the character. I made the decision.
"Sparo," I said. I let Dormouse select it for me.
And I looked at all of our characters, lined up there on the enormous, wide screen, side by side: Mimi, Joy, Sparo. And I smiled a little even though my entire body was tenser than I'd ever admit.
"Okay, how do we do this, Dormouse?" I asked.
And the kid raised an eyebrow at me, "Ever played a video game?"
Was he kidding???