We trained until my leg gave way and the adrenaline ran out. She was able to start pushing back on my advances. It didn’t take long for her to find new ways to maneuver around my sword—the lance was the superior weapon when directly compared. I had to start switching things up with my revolver to keep her from tailing me.

She set down her lance to signify she was done. I tried to keep up but deep down I was glad that she did. I fell backward and lied on my back, breathing heavily.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

We sat in silence as the morning light started to fill the stadium from above. The glistening spores from the flower fields outside of town carried in the air on a gust that just barely whispered in the wind.

“Can I tell you something?” She asked.

“My ears are open,” I said.

“I don’t know about a lot of myself. I think I’ve gotten used to just locking things inside and forgetting about them.”

“So I was right,” I said.

“And I think at first what happened with your leg was all of that trying to come out at once. It was too much, and I feel like I should properly apologize for that. That wasn’t just training.”

I stayed silent.

“Getting to spar like that felt...cathartic. I don’t know. It reminded me of a feeling I had back when I was on the first floor. After I met you and Klein, but before all this barrier business. When I felt at my lowest I saw something in the dark—they were your eyes.”

“Mine?”

“I don’t know anyone else with green eyes. Yes, yours.”

I didn’t know how to respond.

“I don’t know,” she said. “There was something about you from the very first time I saw you. I couldn’t stay in your party because of that feeling. It wasn’t love—or a crush—but it wasn’t...not either of those either.” She looked over towards me. “I didn’t have a name for it. I just saw your eyes in the darkness and it helped me make it to where I am now.” She held her good arm over her charred one, “Even with my arm like this I feel stronger than before. I want to figure myself out.”

“I don’t know how to respond,” I said.

She furrowed her brow.

“I mean, I’m happy you’re here—alive. I’m glad you’re in a spot of bettering yourself, but I don’t know what to say about the rest.” I shook my head. “Because for the longest time I never thought about myself in that sense—and then all of a sudden coming here I did. I met you and...I felt something when I saw you too—but I don’t know how true that feeling is. I don’t know how much I can trust a feeling like that before I know someone. Then we went our separate ways and I met Aria. Instantly I felt that spark again and I knew I couldn’t trust it. I couldn’t believe that spark was special if it kept coming back like that—that isn’t fair to me or anyone else. But you know the crazy thing? She acted on that spark—she must have felt it too because she acted on it and all of a sudden I was acting on it too. It was this current we were both following like it was a dance I didn’t know. Things didn’t make sense, but at the same time they were starting to...and then it ended. Not with a breakup or coming to our senses...it just ended. And I’m left here trying to figure out which pieces of me ended with it—which pieces do I have to pick up? Which do I have to replace? Which have I lost forever? But at the same time I can only think about getting out of here alive because if I don’t think of that first then the rest of it doesn’t matter. None of it would matter.”

Now it was Athena’s turn to be silent. I turned to the side and coughed. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I’m not good at this.”

She shook her head. “No, don’t apologize. It was unkind of me to tell you this after...” her eyes darted up to mine. “After that. I don’t know the true extent of my feelings, so it was irresponsible to pin them to you. I...I would like to be friends, if I didn’t ruin the chance for that, yet.”

“Ruin? Of course not. I just don’t think I’m comfortable with thinking of anything more.”

She stood up and walked over toward me, offering a hand. “Well then, we won’t. Come on, let me put your ass to bed.”

“I’m not crippled,” I said.

“I’m not so insensitive to make a joke based on your injury. It was a joke based on your age. Your profile mentioned you were seventeen.”

“Oh...haha, I lied on that. Needed a YouTube account when I was a year too young and have been using that email ever since.”

She seemed to consider this, then retracted her hand. “Well then I guess you don’t need my help up,” she eyed me. “You know what they say about how liars never prosper.”

“Yeah yeah,” I said. “Show me one person who didn’t lie to make an account.”

She shrugged. “Fair point.” She re-extended her hand back out and I took it. She pulled me up. “Going to have to get used to using this arm.”

I cocked my head. “Is there anything you need for...”

She shook her head. “We won’t be here long enough for that to matter. I’ll make sure of that.”

“I’ll take your word for it. Anything to get out of here as soon as possible.”

She looked back to me, “You good to make it to the inn?”

“Yeah, I’m a bit sore now that the excitement is dying down, but I should be able to make it.”

“Okay, you can lean on me if you need to.”

“Likewise,” I said.

We both made it back to the inn on our own determination. Two bulls running their own race. I nodded her off as I entered my room as she went into the room Klein had gotten for himself in a time that felt like an eon ago.

I sat down on the bed there in the first silent moment to myself since this game started. I was left alone with my thoughts and that most of all terrified me. I thought of Aria’s warmth and her strength and I let the tears flow. They had been building up until I couldn’t stop their advance. I thought of the first person I had killed and I cried even harder.

I wanted to be a good person and sometimes that was really hard. It was scary how hard it was. There must be something I can do to fix what has gone wrong. But this was more than just Aria. It was more than just that player—and it was more than myself. At the very core of my existence I have ignored the people who have loved me no matter what I have done. It’s more than just them, it was everything together in one colliding vortex of despair.

I sank deep into my thoughts until they flashed by me milliseconds at a time. I needed a solid point to anchor my thoughts so they didn’t consume me—bury me alive. I found it harder and harder because every single point felt poisoned. I’d ruined my running space and knew it from the start but kept poisoning it. I just kept poisoning it.

You need to slow down. I felt a brush of wind against my cheek and opened my eyes. A tear rolled down my cheek and I knew that’s what Aria would have said. It’s also what Mom would have said back then. She would have held me tight and rubbed my back and told me I needed to slow down and take things one by one. I remembered that night Dad died with more clarity than I ever have. I remembered that after he shot himself my Mom was in shock. She didn’t run over to me or try to stir me away.

She didn’t do anything but freeze up. And since then she’s been in a constant state of shock—of re-experiencing the loss of her standing ground. Her land had been poisoned and she couldn’t find anywhere to stop. She couldn’t slow down. And I just let her speed up and up.

When this was over—and it would be over, I am going to help her slow down. I’m going to save her from the endless vortex that she’s been stuck in for eight years. I will save you, Mom.

My eyelids finally fell and my body was at peace. The demons of my mind have decided they had had enough torment for one night. I didn’t even dream of anything bad.

~...~

My eyes opened slowly and the turmoil I faced in the night all at once seemed much smaller. I didn’t feel as locked into the torment as I did before. Then again, it made sense—when left alone with your thoughts it wasn’t uncommon to face the full brunt of those thoughts. I sat up and felt the dull pangs of the pain from yesterday reawaken in my body.

I unwrapped the binding around my leg and saw the gaunt mess that had been the puncture...and it didn’t actually look as bad as I initially thought. It was a hole in my leg, sure, but it had already started to scab over. There was no active bleeding which was a godsend. I walked up and over to the other side of the room—feeling how it felt to be on it. It wasn’t bad, but I would have to be mindful about how I moved on it.

I didn’t have any way to clean or disinfect the wound—Jack didn’t seem to think that far ahead in his virtual world, but I have chosen to adopt Athena’s mindset for this one. We weren’t going to be here long enough for those lasting effects to matter.

I hoped.

Jen’s avatar appeared next to me in the span of a second—giving me a near heart attack.

“Jesus!” I called out, bracing against the wall. “What the hell?”

“Hello to you too,” she said. “Jay said you might be scared.”

“Scared? Of course I’m scared you popped in out of nowhere!”

“Not really out of nowhere. I came back exactly I left.”

I looked, and she was right. “Still doesn’t change the fact you just popped in.

“How else would I have come in?”

I thought on it, and when I didn’t have a good answer I apologized.

“Jay got you home safe and sound?”

“Yes, we drove back. Mom was still in bed when I got inside. I left her a note saying I was headed to the park. It’d be too big of an explanation to do all at once.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank god you got back before she noticed. Once I’m out of here we need to help her—I need to help her.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” she said. “Jay and I were talking about that last night. We have some things to talk about.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Have you ever heard of Radical-9?”

“Radical nine? Uh...you know I’m bad at math. Isn’t that like...square root?”

Jen sighed, “No, it’s not math. If you don’t know it, you don’t know it. I didn’t. I just wanted to know.”

“Okay Jay, you can tell him what you told me,” Jen said.

“I can do my best to explain it simply,” Jay said.

“That doesn’t bode well,” I sat down on the bed.

“Radical-9 is the name of a chemical compound that was discovered by a group of freelance scientists named The Prometheans. This group of scientists was frequently contracted by the British government under their American sciences branch. Real high up. I was one of those scientists, as was your father, alongside Jack Adata.”

“Jack Adata was a scientists? What’s he doing making games, then?”

“Hear me out before you have questions,” Jay said. “We’ll make no progress.”

“Fine,” I said.

“There was an accident back in 2008 when we were working with two elements that were discovered on Mars by some scientists at NASA. We were the ones who were meant to test what made them interesting to us as a country. They reacted—and violently on that fateful day. Jack was the patient zero for the ensuing chemical poisoning, but it spread to those around the building we worked in—The Republic Plaza in Denver.”

“You worked in Denver? Must have been before it went to shit,” I said.

“It was. There was a very limited amount of people inside that building during our experiments—our work was top secret. It was only the scientists who were working, but we could also have our children on the lower floors to encourage us to stay for as long as we could for our work. We were practically living there short term.”

“I...think I remember that,” I said. “Were the walls and floors black and white?”

“Like a chessboard?” Jen asked.

“Oh my god, yes,” I said. “I was really little...maybe three or four. I remember staying there! I didn’t understand why other than my dad was there, but holy shit. There were other kids there—one of them looked after us...I don’t remember anything else about them.”

“Radical-9’s effects on a human is similar to a virus and less like a chemical poisoning—it defied all logic. It spread through the air after the accident and we had to lock down the building. We were successful in preventing its release into the open air, and were able to contain the leak, however every person inside that building was exposed on some level to the effects of Radical-9.”

“So what you’re saying is I have it too.”

“It’s highly likely.” Jay said.

“What does it do?”

“That also depends on the level of exposure—time, various variables. Jack as I mentioned was patient zero. He was the one directly in front of the reaction as it exploded. We thought he was dead—but he recovered—at an amazing rate, too. The thing was, he wasn’t the same after the accident. His personality got more toxic. And he started to show abilities that could not have been possible. Things like lifting objects with his mind. Being able to read ours, project himself mentally. They only grew over time.”

“That’s...”

“The truth,” Jay said. “I’ve seen it myself. I’d call a second witness, but that currently is not possible.”

“They’re...dead,” Jen said. “The other scientists are dead.”

“Jesus,” I said.

“I don’t know how he’s managed it, but this entire game is that power magnified. It’s not just a game—that’s why you cannot log out. You’re all connected to his mind.”

“I have a question,” I said. “You said it’s likely that the children inside that building—the Republic Plaza—were exposed to this stuff. Does that mean that we’d suffer the same way?”

“I can’t answer that.” Jay said. “There’s such a small sample size and over half of our adult affected are dead.”

“Fuck...”

“Yeah, it’s real serious stuff,” Jen said. “But it’s not all you needed to know. Jay can help us out.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t realize how things were for you both after all of this happened. Last I heard of David was when I brought him back to your home—the events of which are a long story that would take too long to recount now—but your sister knows it. I want to help you all get out of the hole that you are in.”

“Really?” I asked. “That seems like too much for two kids he barely knows.”

“Your sister said the same thing,” Jay said. “I wouldn’t put it so much as barely knows now would you?”

I bit my lip. “I guess not. Haven’t seen in a long time, then, I guess.”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“Regardless, I will try my hardest to make up for the things that you two have lost.”

“That’s...thank you,” I said.

There was a knock at the door. I walked over and opened it up.

“Hey, I heard a commotion from next door and thought I could join you all?” Athena said.

“Yeah, sure, come on in.”

“Hey, you okay?” Jen asked. “The bandage on your leg...”

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just a casualty of training is all.”

“Oh, okay, you sure?”

“Mhm.” I nodded.

“I think we should try to move forward today,” she said.

“Really, you think?” I asked.

“Yeah, I have the basics in place and can try to provide cover for you two.”

“I’m okay to go if you are,” I turned to Athena.

She nodded, “The sooner we move on, the sooner we get out of this place.”

We packed up our weapons and left the inn for the final time. I led them toward the clock tower where I thought the teleporter to the next floor would be located. And sure enough my hunch was correct.

“It looked too important a landmark to not have something near it.”

“Congratulations on your logical deduction, detective,” Jen said. “You picking up a second job?”

“I have to get the first one, first,” I said.

“Yeah, you do.”

“First job?” Athena asked.

“He was studying to be a lawyer,” Jen said.

“Yeah yeah, aim it where it hurts,” I said. “I still want to.”

“You’re going to have to show it.”

“I will,” I nodded.

“Well, you both ready?” Athena asked.

“Yep,” Jen said.

“Let’s do this.”

We stepped onto the pad and I handed each of them some teleport crystals. The world around us shifted and a vast desert sprawled out in front of and behind us. Harsh winds started blowing sand all across our faces. I had to shield my eyes to get a good look at what lies ahead.

In the distance I saw a large structure—almost like a temple in the distance across the dunes. The ground began to shake. A ring of fire tore through the sky. Through the center of the ring a black multi-headed dragon flew through—screaming its hell-sound throughout the desert. I counted eight heads in total as it turned around and caught wind of us. It had as many tails as it did heads and I could barely get a solid glimpse of where it started and where it began. I did catch sight of a keystone around the center head’s neck.

“Oh no...” Athena said, “That’s the creature that burned the first two floors.”

“It what?” I turned to her.

“I saw it in the forest before it left in that same kind of portal.”

“I don’t think we have a chance at outrunning that thing,” Jen said.

“It has a Keystone, so we’re going to have to take care of it sooner or later,” I said.

“A what?” Jen asked.

“Later,” I said.

The beast lunged in our direction, closing the distance in seconds. Its name was...Orochi.

“This is the Python guild’s leader?” I called out.

“What?” Athena asked back.

“The leader’s name was Orochi...fuck...he’s just like the last one. One of the admins was a...” I reached mentally for the name, “...druid! That’s it. A player given the ability to shift into a monster.”

“Well...that’s not...good,” Jen said.

“No, no it’s not.”

I pulled out Flintlocke and aimed my sights down. The beast flew over our heads and the wind forced me to take a knee as I lost my focus. One of the heads let loose a giant stream of fire, it fell onto the ground near and around us. It made an already hot desert even hotter.

I fired two shots; one which hit the beast in one of its tails and the other smacked another one of its faces. Orochi took some of the hits with stride as it flew deep into the sand, burrowing underneath the surface. Three of the heads popped up around us, reaching madly for the air, letting loose fiery hot breath. I felt a shaking underneath me, before I could react I saw a pair of jaws rising under me, rising faster and higher. I dug Flintlocke into the soft inner hide of the creature; it stuck and I rose with it, holding myself up as the head continues to rise until it’s reached its peak.

A bolt of lightning sprayed right through the head right below me and it traveled up the side of the head, splitting it open. It fell over and slammed onto the ground—spraying black blood in a wild arc.. I rolled onto the ground, but landing on my knees. I switched back to the revolver and took a shot at a head near me. I caught a glance at Jen who was backing away from one of the heads flailing around trying to catch up to her up. She fired an arc of lightning toward the head and it coursed through the dragon’s body.

“Over here!” Athena yelled. I looked to my right and saw her running up to one of the heads. “Give me a boost!”

I nodded and ran toward her. She thrusted the Lance of Longinus into the side of the dragon’s head, spewing black blood and causing it to roar in pain. She jumped as she came close and I boosted her up and she grabbed hold of her lance lodged into the dragon’s skull with her good hand. She spun and landed on top of the dragon’s head—pulling the lance out as she landed.

“Be careful!” I called up.

“I’ve got this, don’t worry,” She said as she turned to run up the side of its head. She leaped off and slammed the head of the lance deep into Orochi’s neck. She slid down as the cut opened deeper. Blood spurted out onto the sand below.

“Hey, Athena! Watch out!”

She landed and then looked to me, then behind her. The head I tore apart and the gaping hole that she opened up had re-materialized before our eyes.

“What? But they’re supposed to be gone!” I called out.

“Damn it, they really went there?” Jen said.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s like a Hydra, you cut off one head and more take its place,” she said.

“So, what do we do? There’s no way we’re getting all of these things simultaneously,” Athena said.

A sudden flash of white. I recognized this feeling from when I saw through Gregor’s eyes. Although this was different—I was farther away from his core. His essence? I didn’t know what to call it, but I could feel it. It was also different because it seemed to avoid my touch. It was scared to let me in. He was scared to let me in. I was sucked in anyway—and something told me it was out of both of our control.

I was surrounded by the familiar darkness. Two orbs of light sat in front of me—I could recognize the scenes playing from the one on the left as from Gregor’s memory. I walked over to the right orb and looked inside. I fell through and landed inside a chair inside a business office. Glass-paned walls surrounded me on all sides.

Sitting across from me was Jack Adata. His face was gritty and he wore a confidant smile that didn’t fit his face—like it was new and he was trying it out. He held a mug between his hands with a dark liquid resting inside. Something told me it wasn’t coffee, but I couldn’t confirm. His face is gritty and gaunt.

“It is good to see you, Jack,” The body I was in said.

“I’m pleased that you could meet me on such short notice,” Jack spoke through his grin. He leaned back in his chair and swirled around the drink in his mug. “I’ve heard of your skills through the grapevine and am interested in your portfolio.”

“What do you have in mind? It’s not everyday that I get someone of your stature coming in here.”

“I’m looking for a platform—an environment entirely inside digital space. I’m not looking for an experience or something one and done, you get it? I’m looking big—something expansive—something life-like.”

“And what does someone like you want with a platform like that?”

“It’s not going to be a pointless game like the ones you’ve made before,” Jack said.

“Well now, you wound me.”

“It’s not entirely digital, but it must appear so. It must have back end features you are known for, but the entire front end,” he taps his forehead. “...is all up here.”

“I’m afraid I’m not understanding. Mental? How does that work?”

“Lucky for you that part I have covered. But I do not know what you do concerning the technical side of things, so I would like to contract you for the job.”

“I’m afraid I can’t take a job unless I know what it is I’d be doing.”

“Well, I just told you. You’d be building databases, servers, and hosting my mind—in a pseudo-digital space. I figured you could fill in the blanks.”

“Well, if it were possible I would be very interested in this technology, but I’m just not very sure that it is possible.”

“I trust that you’ll be able to figure it out. I can answer any questions that I deem relevant that you think would help you see it a possibility like I do...and don’t think that I came empty handed expecting the world,” he took out an envelope from his jacket pocket and set it on the desk.

The person behind the Orochi username took the envelope in his hands and opened the flap. Inside was a stack of bills...I couldn’t tell how much was inside based on the glance I got alone.

“Half up front, half at completion. Seems fair, no?” Jack said, leaning back in his chair.

“How...would a mental interface even work?”

“My mind has undergone some recent augmentations over the past five years, give or take. My theory is that with the proper technology to supplement I could create a world within my own mind that other people could visit, explore, and even partake in. Think of virtual reality’s next evolution. Reality created from the realities we experience.”

“And you’d want this for a game?”

Jack stopped smiling. “I came to you because you have knowledge in making digital worlds, not because you make idle playthings for know-nothings and miscreants. Now, Mr. Gupta, if you’re not up for the challenge then I’ll take that envelope back and find someone else.”

Mr. Gupta hesitated, gripped tight on the envelope and looked up.

“And don’t think about doing anything dumb, now. I know the thought crossed your mind. You’re holding half a million dollars right there in your hands and you think I don’t have total assurance that if I don’t get what I want from you that I couldn’t get that back with little effort?”

“I...do you really believe that this will work?”

“What do you really think?” Jack leaned closer. “Would I come to you, offer a million total if it was something I didn’t believe in?”

“...”

“Will you do it?”

“I can try.”

“You will do it.”

“I will do it.” He shook his head.

“Excellent,” Jack said. “I’d love for you to test the service out yourself when we finish. I’ll bet you’ll not have experienced anything like it.”

There was a vibration of a cell phone. Jack dug in his pocket and looked at the screen for a few seconds. A terrible smile crossed his face. “Well I am certainly glad that we have reached a fine conclusion here. I was a little worried that you wouldn’t believe in my vision here, but you have assuaged my worries.”

“I’m...glad,” Mr. Gupta said with hesitation. “Something important?”

Jack looked up at him with a look like a wild animal. “Yes, very, actually. And not all at the same time. Isn’t that funny how life works sometimes?”

Mr. Gupta felt a rising discomfort as Jack stared at him. “Yes…?”

“Anyway, that’s about all from me right here. I’ll forward you some details early tomorrow morning. I have to go attend to that important / not important matter that I referenced earlier.”

He downed his drink in one heavy gulp and set the mug down on the table and almost bounced out of his chair. He walked toward the door and just before he was going to walk right into it he just...vanished. There was a bubbling crack that erupted from the space where he was, but he was just gone. The

The memory faded back to black and I could feel the skull-rupturing pain behind my eyes again. It screamed inside my head—pounded on my brain and rattled against my skull. I reached up to my head and ripped at the pain. Tearing it out and when I finally got a hold of it I choked it until the light faded into a small purple lump I held in-between my hands. It pulsed, once, twice, and then I crushed it until it stopped beating.

I knew outside the dragon was failing. Its heart was within my hands, and a part of me knew deep down this was the heart of the man I had just been seeing. I held it tight and broke it from the crass beast heart until it felt...normal. Its beating resumed with the outer shell cracked. The human within the beast started to beat again.

I opened my eyes and was instantly hit by the arid winds surrounding us all. The dragon was screaming until blood choked each of the heads, spilling out en masse. They fell to the ground and the central head continued to choke until it spit up a black mass—a human body covered in blood.

We approached slowly—our weapons still drawn. He slowly raised his head and looked at me with a wild eye. “W-what d-did you d-do?” his voice was cracked—old, scared. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” He coughed up some red blood that mixed with the beast’s black.

“What do we do?” Athena turned to me.

In that split second the body jumped up and lurched toward Athena. My hand twitched before I could even think about what it was doing. I saw the cut across his chest before I felt myself swing Flintlocke. He still didn’t fall—and it wasn’t until a bolt of lightning from the end of Zarathustra did he collapse.

“I...” Jen said. “I...just killed...”

“Hey, hey, are you okay?” I looked to the both of them.

“I’m good,” Athena said. “Just a little off guard.”

“I...”

“Hey, Cress!” I called up. “I know what you’re feeling. Trust me. It’s...a lot. It’s not to be taken lightly, but it’s the reality here. But you protected us. I don’t think he was going to stop from my cut—I don’t know what he could have done but it couldn’t have been good.”

From the body glowed the light of the keystone wrapped around his neck. I bent down slowly and tore it from the necklace. It was the Heart of Hades. The wearer of this heart can create portals to instantly travel between two points.

“Well shit,” I said, maybe we can use this to skip through the rest of that game.”

“I doubt it...but that’s not the only thing I’m curious about,” Athena said. “Just...what was that? You totally zoned out there.”

“I..how do I explain it?” I asked. “I saw a vision—it’s happened before when I was fighting the giant. I saw the memories of...well I never learned his first name, but his last name was Gupta. He was one of the developers of this game,”

“Vision…?”

“Long story,” I said. I can tell it later. Short of it is I...I think I can look into people’s memories. I don’t know how to control it, but this is the second time it’s happened.”

“Radical-9?” Jen asked.

“That was on my mind, too,” I said, turning to her.

“Radical what?”

“Related to the long story,” I said. “I think we should focus on this thing here,” I held out the Heart in front of me. I closed my eyes and felt the wind blowing. I looked in front of me and saw a familiar ring of fire like how Orochi traveled around. Through the center of the ring I saw an ashen waste. It looked to be the ruined forest. A slow, subtle breeze mixed with the hot, dry air—tiny little cyclones met at the meeting point between the two places.

“Woah,” Jen said. “Was it because you thought of it?”

“Yeah, I wanted to see what it looked like after Orochi was done with it...and I’m speechless.”

“Well I guess that crosses out skipping to the final floor,” Athena said. “We don’t know what that looks like.”

“Wait a second!” Jen said, “Jay, do you have eyes on the camera view? The one you showed me yesterday?”

“I can pull it up,” he said.

“Camera view?”

“Jay has views for some of the higher floors. I don’t think we could see all of them, but if we can get a visual we could maybe skip farther ahead!”

“That’s awesome!” I said. “Fuck yeah! Fuck your stupid game, Jack! That’s a sequence break if I’ve ever known one!”

“Here gimme that,” Jen said, “Just uh...wrap it around my character’s arm here.”

I did so. The Heart of Hades—it’s black glow seemed ominous around her blank avatar’s arm didn’t inspire a lot of confidence, but I gave it, regardless.

“Okay, show me that tower one—the sixth floor I think it was?” Jen asked. “That should be a good head start.”

I waited while she her avatar stared out blankly. The Keystone glowed and a ring of fire opened out in front of us. Through the ring I saw a bright blue sky and a gigantic tower that seemed to be floating in midair.

“Hey! I did it! All right!” She shouted in celebration.

“Hey, that’s great and all,” Athena said. “But if we go through that thing aren’t we going to fall into the void there?”

“Uh...hold on.” Jen said. “Do you have another view? Like one maybe inside the tower?” She waited for Jay to change the views, and then she cursed as he must not have been able to find one.

“Okay, new plan, I can check out the fifth floor—I think it was another town. No sky to send us falling to our...”

“To our…?” I asked.

“This won’t work either,” she said.

The view from the portal changed to a smaller, rustic town. I saw the problem immediately, the view was at least fifty feet in the air.

“We’re not making that fall unscathed,” Athena said.

“Damn,” I agreed.

“Okay, yeah this isn’t going to work out,” Jen said. “None of these views are from places that we could feasibly land from. Orochi had it easy because he could fly.”

“Well, can we at least make it to that temple over there? Save us the walk through the sand?”

“I can try,” Jen said. She changed the scene inside the portal once more and I saw a much nicer view—a ground level looking up at the temple. The giant staircase in front was evident.

We walked through the portal and it closed tight and vanished behind us. The temple looked like it could have been made a hundred thousand years ago by some ancient civilization instead of by the person who almost tried to kill us before.

As we approached the stone staircase I saw it was going to be harder than we thought climbing up them—each of the stairs looked to be the height of a human being. We were going to have to climb them.

“Oh I'm not a fan of this,” I said.

“I...don’t know how I’m going to get up there,” Jen said.

“We’ll probably have to pull you up each step.”

“I am really not a fan of this.”

“Quit your yapping and let’s get a move on,” Athena said.

“Okay, okay,” I said. I grabbed the top of the step first and pulled myself up to my elbows. After pulling myself over I turned around to help Jen up. She couldn’t lift her hands up so I bent down farther to reach her outstretched arms. Athena joined me as we tried to pull her up. We got her up halfway, but I lost my grip and she fell back down.

“Agh! Damn it!” I cursed. “Fuck...” I said.

“Way to keep your grip,” Athena gritted her teeth.

“Hey, what if I used the keystone to teleport up there?”

I sat there in silence with wide eyes. “You mean...I just strained my back for nothing?”

“Well, you could have thought of it too,” she said. “You can come and join me if you want—or you can be stubborn—climb it the rest of the way if you want.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.”