SAVE POINT 46
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Rosabella
Goran couldn't just let it go? He couldn't just let us be?!
Of course not—
Of course he'd have to be an asshole.
I'm seething—fuming.
In fact, I hadn't even truly known the meaning of those words till just now—this exact moment—as I grit my teeth and stare blankly out into the valley where fire still smokes and warriors of every breed and their dragons detach themselves from each other in wandering groups. ...Because, from what they can see, I just saved their world. ...While the man who'd been standing with them is apparently now hellbent on dooming it.
"Goran's gonna try to destroy The Game? Is that what it means?" Rainer huffs, eyeing up the same message on the wall we've all been staring at grimly for the last few minutes.
"You should have let me run him through," Joy's voice is sour, "You should have—ouch!" She grabs at her injured shoulder, her entire face wrinkling with a wince. "God—so the lights...Rosabella, are the cities back again?"
I nod, but it means very little now. I've saved their game world only to actually cause more harm. I was trying to do the right thing! And it just...backfired.
"Hey, hey...no moving towards any kind of lights, you hear me?" Rainer's jostling the pink-haired girl's limp form upward, helping her stand. I notice how pale her face is against her vibrant locks and exchange a worried look with Rainer. "She needs a health pack," the burly man barks, "I have to get her back to that weirdo sorceress and see if we can barter for one."
"We'll help," Dormouse starts, darting forward to help support Joy's sagging limbs, but the muscular warrior shakes his head.
"No, you two need to find Goran," Rainer's face is serious, "We didn't just save The Game only to let him destroy it. Dormouse, you're our best coder. Rosabella will need you. Find Goran and take him down."
I couldn't agree more except...
"What about Joy and...Callen?" I ask. The dead man's name burns in the back of my throat, and my voice sounds feeble, wobbling on the question.
And all of our eyes sweep into the dark corner of the balcony none of us want to remember. ...Where the leader's body lays...cold...silent. It sends a shiver through me even just seeing his body's silhouette, laying there on the cold, hard ground, because he was alive. He was just alive...
Moving.
Now, still.
Now...gone.
Unexpected tears sting at my eyes, blurring my vision around the edges.
"We'll give him a hero's burial," Rainer insists, his deep voice muffled by his own sadness, "I'll get Joy help and, then, come back for him. He will not go unremembered."
I nod.
"And I'll haul Joy across the entire forest single-handedly if I have to to get her that med pack—" Rainer continues.
> You won't have to, scruffy warrior. I'll help. You need a shower.
A female voice chimes between my ears.
And huge, purple wings flap upward from the chasm—Helladore? The dragon who'd had me fight her Darken horde? The beast grins toothily at me—as much as a dragon can grin with a thousand, spikey teeth. Somehow, it strangely appears affectionate.
> Hello, amusing one. Looks like you just killed more than a stash of Darken now. My congratulations.
"You're..."—is she really saying all this to me right now...acting like a...friend?—"You're welcome," I stutter.
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You're welcome?
I'd meant 'thank you'; I can never get used to talking to these massive creatures. How is anyone supposed to? I push my hair back off my face awkwardly, wondering where I'm supposed to lead the conversation now that I've royally screwed it up...
> Come on electric hair and smelly one.
Helladore nods her huge head at Joy and Rainer.
> She doesn't have much time. I'll fly you wherever you need to go.
I narrow my eyes at the beast, suspiciously, using a hand in the air to get Rainer to pause for a second, "Wait, what's your price?"
But the violet dragon sweeps her long neck low.
> Anything for the Game Maker who saved the world. ...Plus, you kicked that Commandress demon out on her tail which I thoroughly enjoyed. Her power trip has been going to hell in a handbasket for far too long.
Her black lips curl back in a rippling chuckle.
But a twisting unease lights my belly at her words.
...And at her bow.
I'm not a ruler. I'm not going to be a ruler. ...But it is kind of convenient that the dragon will take Joy and Rainer to grab the med pack. The ride will be far easier and safer.
"Okay," I nod both at them and at the dragon, deciding quickly, "And Dormouse and I will find Goran."
I watch Rainer grunt as he lifts Joy up, onto the purple scales of the beast, before whipping around to face the nerdy kid I'm left with. The dork's face holds his typically nervous, blank expression while his eyes, also per usual, are sharp and black—reading every dimple in my face.
"How would someone destroy The Game?" I ask the kid, keeping my voice to a lowered whisper so Helladore doesn't overhear.
Dormouse chews on his lower lip, considering and weighing his answers while his pale hands do backflips in the air as he begins to explain, "Well, it'd be a hack for sure. They'd have to get in the code, past the firewall and chip away at the security measures—"
"Dormouse, English," I emphasize.
He sighs, rolling his eyes like it's all too much to translate his web of scurrying thoughts into chunky, molasses language.
"Well, if Goran's going to destroy The Game, he has to be out of it, so he doesn't get destroyed—"
"New York City," I breathe.
Dormouse shrugs, "Could be, there's no way to really tell—"
"He'd only go there, I'm sure of it. He said he was planning an escape for both of us there," I say solidly. Goran loves New York. He'd always insisted it was the best and worst place on the face of the earth—the perfect place for us.
The nerd tosses around this information in his gaze like he's weighing gold to kidney beans, "Okay, so, then, if he's in New York, he'd need a computer to hack into The Game code. Where can he find a computer and internet?"
"Our apartment?" I question.
But the kid shakes his head 'no', "Too obvious. He'll know we're going to try to stop him. He'll be hiding—incognito."
I sigh, my head and feet feeling very heavy all of a sudden, "...So, that leaves only every Starbucks, McDonalds and library in the entire city..."
"Great," Dormouse quips bitingly, "Can we get some fries while we're there at least?" He darts a smile at me, but I'm not particularly feeling in the mood for a joke.
"How do we get out of The Game?" I ask him, instead, "Last time, Callen had the portal ring."
We stare at each other, both coming to the same thought at the same time. Dormouse is the only one brave enough to actually verbalize it. He raises a hesitant eyebrow, "...Does he still have it?"
And we turn.
Towards Callen's body, laying rigid under the shadow of the Temple roof.
And I take the necessary, though leaden, steps towards his corpse. I try not to look at the man's face, but it's inevitable. I can't avoid it—the truth of his death. It's literally staring me in the face.
His face.
Devoid of color.
Drained.
His lips sealed shut.
His eyes, closed, below his crewcut, gray hair.
And his body...stiff and limp at the same time, like an empty vessel that no longer carries the life it used to. He looks...different without the spark of life in him... It kinda freaks me out more than I want to admit...
I hold my breath and dart my hand forward, patting down his pockets.
But the ring's not in his body armor.
Not in his pants pocket.
It feels wrong to search him like this.
...Disrespectful.
I shake my head at Dormouse, feeling the optimism drain out of me.
"What do we do without the ring?" I ask tentatively, bracing myself for an answer I probably don't want to hear.
The kid's lips zip together in an annoyed line. "We hike," he states quickly, "There's a trading portal just over the mountain. It's an old gas station...well, I don't really know what it'll look like now that you fixed everything..."
Fixed everything.
It doesn't feel like I fixed everything.
It feels like Goran broke everything, and I'm following him around applying Band-Aids to gaping, bleeding wounds.
"You coming or not?"
I hadn't realized Dormouse was so far in front of me, gesturing back into the Temple.
And I nod, taking a quick, last look at the sky over the battleground we'd held.
...But the pregnant clouds there are as gray and threatening as this whole situation...