“What do you mean the AI Director has a player in her sanctuary?”

One minute, Cizen, the death god, had been arguing with the impertinent Xavier, trying to convince the foolish human not to hurl his ring into the nearest ocean.

A moment later, he had been unexpectedly pulled out of his connection to the God Contest as an emergency message came in from the AI’s sanctuary.

“I mean exactly that,” Tutoria #0001 replied. “Player Mildred Persephone Brown. AKA The Witch of the Castle of Glass. She’s here right now, in the sanctuary, hugging the AI Director.”

“Of all the cycle-barren…,” Cizen said as he struggled to keep his composure. “What could the Director possibly be thinking? It risks destabilization of the entire contest. Who is this human?”

“She’s one of the highest-level players in the game,” Tutoria replied. “She’s friends with your vessel. Or she was, before they had a falling out.”

“Ah, yes, Xavier talks about her often,” recalled the god. “Though whether it was as a friend or as an enemy depended on his mood.”

“Do you want us to eliminate Ms. Brown, creator?” Tutoria asked eagerly. Cizen could tell the Tutoria had been shaken by the very notion that the AI Director had kept secrets despite the watchful eyes of the Tutorias.

Cizen wondered how many other secrets the Director might be hiding.

“What are they doing, other than… hugging?”

The word made Cizen feel uncomfortable. Even when Syune had been alive, they had bonded more on an intellectual level than an intimate one. Cizen felt sorrow threaten to touch his long-dead heart, and he crushed the emotion.

“We don’t know, sir. The Director seems quite attached to this player, but, so far, it has not materialized into an advantage in the Contest, at least as far as we can detect. However, this revelation suggests there may be more that we don’t know. If I may say, sir, it’s too great of a risk to let this player live. Give me permission to end her.”

Cizen thought for a long moment as he considered his options. He knew he should let Tutoria eradicate the risk, yet her connection to Xavier opened up new windows of opportunity that he had not considered before.

“No, let them be, for now, but eliminate her access to the Director,” Cizen decided. “Figure out how she gains access to the sanctuary and plug the hole. Report back if the Director’s actions jeopardize my plans.”

“Yes, sir.” Tutoria responded, disappointed. She severed the connection, and Cizen was left alone in his hidden chamber once more.

Cizen sighed. “This AI Director of yours is not functioning as expected, Oracle,” he muttered as he returned to his console. He felt his strength drain away as the machine extracted its price to project his mind into the God Contest – into the ring on his vessel’s finger.

Cizen felt Xavier’s pain the moment his connection was re-established. The man’s organs were destroyed and he lay in a pool of his own blood. He was on the brink of unconsciousness, and in mere minutes he would be dead.

The uncharacteristic obscenities that erupted from the death god had no translation in the human tongue, though their meaning was clear enough.

It was not a good day for the death god.

For a moment, Cizen considered letting Xavier Holloway die. While strong and ruthless, the player had an inherent instability that vexed the god. He had a tendency towards isolationism, and while this was useful in the initial stages of the God Contest, it would prove fatal as the contest advanced.

Yet if he let his vessel die, Cizen left his own fate up to the whims of chance. The ring may be lost, or found by one who refused to use it, or by a player who had little potential to survive to the later stages of the game.

Xavier was supposed to be the one to survive. To grow strong – strong enough to become Cizen’s vessel. His life raft from God Home and the madness.

Now the human’s impending death had forced Cizen’s hand, long before this vessel was ready. Xavier didn’t have the strength, and Cizen didn’t have the control.

Cizen only had one real option. Anything other meant Cizen’s death at the hands of the madness.

Cizen activated the hidden power of the Ring of Cizen and initiated the seeds of his salvation.

* * *

Xavier struggled to remain conscious. He lay in a rapidly growing pool of his blood. His organs were shutting down. His mind was fuzzy, as if he were falling sleep.

Cerberus licked his face with a scared whine.

“You… you go to… Milly…,” Xavier said to his familiar. “She’ll… take care… of you…”

Blood erupted from his mouth. He had tried to heal himself, but the damage was too extensive. He was dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Perhaps… this is for… the best. No… more guilt. No more… anger…,” Xavier muttered as his eyes grew heavy.

The Ring of Cizen on his finger flashed with a deep red light, and a screen appeared before him.

Player death imminent.

Activate Ring of Cizen Advancement?

Xavier could hardly comprehend the message. He forced his eyes open as he tried to read the words. His world was spinning, and he answered without knowing the question.

“Yes,” Xavier said, his words barely a whisper past his lips. In a video game, when in doubt, always select yes to advance.

Please confirm consent to transformation and apportionment.

“Yes…,” Xavier answered with his final breath.

The ring on his finger dissolved into a fine black powered. The fragments spiraled into the air like a flock of crows and shot down Xavier’s throat.

Xavier’s screams filled the medical clinic, and everything went black.

* * *

Milly surged out the kaleidoscope tunnel at the Castle of Glass waypoint pillar. The moment her feet touched the sand, she felt Salem’s Fury activate. The flames that numbed her emotions ignited, and for once she welcomed it. This was no time for emotions.

The Castle of Glass was in complete chaos. The bodies of her coworkers lay on black lines of glass that stretched across the beach. Players had been hurled like rag dolls by the dragon’s hurricane winds.

The dragon stared down at the masses below, as if it were a child huddled over an anthill with a magnifying glass.

It was toying with them, basking in their fear.

Milly heard screams in the air above her. Amir and Kenji, the accountants from the cubicle across the aisle, had been sent hurling into the air by a quick flick of the dragon’s wings.

Reaching out with her telepathy, Milly hauled them out of the sky and softened their landing with a cushion of air.

“I thought we were goners. If it wasn’t for you, we’d…,” started Amir, until he glanced towards their rescuer and saw Milly’s face. His grateful smile faded. Milly could see it in their eyes – the struggle to decide whether the Witch of the Castle of Glass was the monster the CEOs claimed, or the savior that Elmer supported.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to help them resolve their internal conflict.

“Run, you morons,” she shouted at the pair. A tiny purple flame flared into existence on the tip of her finger to accentuate her direction.

“I… yes, um… of course, Milly. Um… Ma’am,” Kenji stammered. “Thank… thank you for saving us.”

Amir and Kenji ran for the ocean, where a group of players were desperately trying to find refuge beneath the waves.

“Idiots,” she muttered as they fled across the sand.

“Milly!”

Rain threw her arms around her best friend’s neck. Milly returned the embrace as the dragon sent another stream of fire into the crowd.

“Where’s Cally and Passi?” Milly asked, Salem’s Fury burning the fear that appeared in her soul.

“Calista went to get Passi a minute ago. We’ve got to get everyone out of here. Hold on,” Rain answered as she touched the Waypoint Pillar.

This Waypoint Pillar cannot be activated while enemies are in the vicinity.

Rain’s heart sank.

“A Waypoint Crystal?” Milly suggested hopefully.

Rain pulled a crystal from her inventory and held it aloft. “Milly’s Meadow,” she shouted.

The crystal remained inert.

“Arena of Choice,” Rain tried again, with the same result. “Shit. This isn’t good, Milly. It’s too powerful.”

“I can help,” Milly assured her. She glanced up at the shadow dragon, its head tantalizingly close to the roof of Freelancer Tower. “I need to get to the roof, Rain.”

“Milly, you can’t fight it,” Rain protested. “That’s suicide.”

“Do you trust me, Rain?” Milly asked.

“Of course I do, Mils. With my life,” Rain answered. “You know I do.”

“Then get me to Freelancer Tower.”

Milly and Rain dashed for the Tower, leaping over the bodies of their fallen coworkers and weaving around those still able to stand. Milly tried not to look at the victims. She didn’t want to see the faces of those now staring up at her with empty open eyes.

If only they had stayed empty.

The Dragon of Endless Shadows’ eyes glowed a piercing blood red as hundreds of black wisps began to emerge, one-by-one, from its light-consuming scales. As they formed and detached from the unique beast, the wisps sped straight towards the remains of their fallen coworkers.

“It wields dark magics to create armies of shadow,” Rain recited from the dragon’s system description.

The first of the black wisp reached a body a few feet away from them. It was a woman Milly recognized from Acicenter, though she’d never learned her name. She felt a pang of guilt at how little time she had taken to get to know her coworkers.

“Hope,” Rain whispered, her voice cracking with sorrow. “She came to me for anxiety medication, and she had a boyfriend and a little girl back home.”

The wisp squirmed its way into Hope’s mouth and traveled down her throat. Her body glowed with deep darkness as her corpse began to move. The creature rose to her feet, as if she – it – were a puppet brough to life with string.

“Rain… what level was Hope?” Milly uttered as she watched a hundred identical wisps enter the bodies that lay scattered across the beach. Vessels hollowed out by fire, to serve as hosts for the dragon’s shadow army.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Why… don’t you… ask me yourself, Witch,” Hope answered, her voice thin and distorted, as if she were speaking from down a long tunnel. The bright blue of her eyes had turned featureless and black as the shadow took control.

Milly and Rain recoiled at the mockery of life before them.

Hope’s hand glowed pale blue as she channeled water magic to create a spiked mace of ice. The creature lunged with the weapon grasped in both hands and aimed for the head of the witch.

Milly and Rain didn’t hesitate. They struck the creature piloting Hope’s body with twin blasts of fire before she had taken three steps. The creature was hurled backwards by the blasts and collapsed to the ground with a pair of holes in her chest.

“She was level ten, I think,” Rain answered as she observed the creature. “This… thing seemed about the same level, and it could use Hope’s talents.”

“This is sadistic,” Milly grimaced. Across the beach, the wisp-controlled players rose to their feet, the power and talents of their hosts at their fingertips.

“Mils, whatever it is you’re going to do, you need to do it fast,” Rain said as the beach erupted into an all-out battle between players and their fallen friends.

“Rain, I’ve got to… Look out!”

Out of the corner of her eye, Milly she saw the Dragon of Endless Shadows belch shadow fire straight towards them. She pulled Rain to her with her telekinesis and launched them towards the lobby with a powerful blast of air.

The flames missed the Witch and the Alchemist by inches but rolled over another dozen players as it billowed down the beach. As they died, the wisps took control.

Milly tried to block out their screams, until one that was familiar caught her attention.

Ten feet from where they skidded to a stop, Mr. Fredrickson stared wide-eyed as his lover stalked towards him.

“Come join me, Frank,” Priyanka enticed in that distorted voice. “You’ll never survive here on your own. Just give up. I’ll make it quick, and we can be together in the shadows. Forever.”

Frank held a rusted mace in his hands. “Pri… I can’t…”

As Priyanka reached for him, he let the mace fall from his hands, unable to defend himself against the woman he loved.

Milly covered the distance in less than a second as she formed her Obsidian Fists. As Priyanka’s hands reached for Mr. Fredrickson’s throat, Milly’s fist connected with her skull.

Priyanka’s head cracked open as the force of the blow flung her backwards.

Mr. Fredrickson stared at his saviors. “Mil… Milby?” Mr. Fredrickson stammered as he stood there in shock and dismay.

“It’s Milly, Mr. Fredrickson. Um… Frank,” Milly answered.

He stopped being Mr. Fredrickson weeks ago. He’s just another player now. A player who just watched the woman he loved die. Twice.

Frank collapsed as his knees gave way. Rain caught him as he fell and wrapped a supportive arm around his waist.

“Rain, get him somewhere safe,” Milly said, her thoughts returning to the dragon.

How many more loved ones have to die today?

“Hurry Mils,” Rain answered. “Do what you need to do. I’ll get Frank to safety, then go help Elmer and the others.”

A knot formed in Milly’s chest as they separated. It felt like the Arena of Protection when Calista had left to save the fairies. Milly had been left alone, unable to protect the people that she loved.

She shoved that feeling into the flames of Salem’s Fury alongside her other emotions.

You don’t have time for sorrow, Milly. You have a job to do.

* * *

Calista threw open the entrance to the Freelancer Tower stairwell to climb to the fourteenth floor and save Passi.

Her heart plummeted as she tripped over the unconscious fairy child, who lay at the base of the stairs in a pool of her own blood.

“Passi? Passi! No, no, no!” Calista shouted frantically as she lifted the fairy child in her arms and cradled her to her chest. The child’s blood soaked into Calista’s Amazon dress and stained it red. Passi was limp, but Calista could see her chest rise and fall. Her breath was shallow and erratic, but she was alive.

“It’s okay, Passi. I’ve got you. I’ll keep you safe,” she whispered. Withdrawing Rain’s healing potion from her inventory, she poured it into the wound in Passi’s stomach. Her flesh sizzled as it began to heal.

“Shit, it’s not strong enough. Come on Passi. Hang in there,” Calista begged, as Passi began to spasm.

Calista carried her into the lobby, leaving a trail of blood behind. Laying the child on one of the lobby couches, Calista knelt and placed a hand on Passi’s forehead.

“Bat… Battlefield Stabilization,” Calista stammered, praying that her new talent would work.

Calista’s hand emitted a soft white light that quickly spread across Passi’s skin until it encapsulated her in a thin, translucent shell. Passi stopped shaking. She stopped breathing. Her entire body became suspended in a moment in time.

“Who did this to you, pumpkin?” Calista demanded, an intense rage bubbling up inside her. “I swear, when I find out who hurt my family, I’ll…”

“You there! Amazon woman. Stop wasting your time with that monster and come help me!”

Calista recognized the voice, and her anger multiplied.

Judy Brass dragged her way along the ground into the lobby, her dead legs trailing uselessly behind her. The woman’s face was filled with outrage and fear, both soaked in the self-righteousness the CEO had manifested at Milly’s trial.

Calista’s eyes narrowed as she stared at the woman who had tormented the love of her life.

“Wait here, Passi. I’ll be right back,” Calista promised. She grabbed her Spear of Pinga and marched over to the CEO.

“Calista, isn’t it?” the CEO said, suddenly aware of just how vulnerable she was. The lobby was empty, save for the unconscious child on the couch. “Look, this dragon… it’s stronger than all of us, right? We’re all going to die if we don’t work together.”

Calista did not respond.

“If… if you help me, I’ll make sure your girlfriend is found innocent on all charges. We’ll drop the whole Enemy of the Tower thing. I’ll… I’ll apologize. Just please don’t leave me here.”

“You made her life hell,” Calista said coldly as the woman continued to crawl towards the Tower One elevator. “You took an innocent, beautiful, loving woman and made her an object of hate. You demonized her for your own gain.”

“That was Stone’s idea!” protested Brass. “I just… played my part. Mistakes were made, Amazon. This world – it brings out the worst in people. We did what we thought was right, but I see now that it wasn’t. We can all have a fresh start. We can set this all behind us.”

Calista considered the desperate woman as she crawled away.

“Rain would take you up on your offer. She’d say we all need to work together to survive,” Calista replied. “And Milly… my girlfriend has a big heart. She’s the most wonderful woman in the world, and I love her more than anything. Despite herself, she’d help you.”

“So… you’ll help me?” Brass asked desperately, a twinkle of hope in her voice. “A fresh start?”

Calista knelt beside the woman and sighed as she came to a decision. “A fresh start? Yah, I think Milly could use a fresh start.”

Calista thrust her spear into the CEO’s chest and pierced her heart. The elderly woman gasped, her eyes wide in surprise as blood erupted from her mouth.

Judy Brass’ final words were lost in the gurgle of her own blood and fell on deaf ears.

Calista watched as the light in the woman’s eyes died.

“Sorry Rain. Sorry Milly,” Calista muttered, her anger extinguished with a numbness that took hold deep within her. “This was inevitable. I won’t let her hurt my family anymore.”

With a tug, Calista withdrew her spear, and the CEO collapsed against the lobby floor.

Calista left Brass’ body behind, picked up Passi and headed out the northern lobby exit. She needed to get as far away from the Dragon of Endless Shadows as possible.

Congratulations! You have defeated Judge Judy Brass.

You have been awarded 20,000 experience points.

You have leveled up twice and received four attribute points and one class talent point.

Warning: Deceased players drop only one random item. All other items are destroyed upon death.

Random Item Received: Cloak of the Aristocracy

Gold: 10,504

* * *

Milly dashed through the southern lobby entranceway, headed for the stairwell.

She narrowly avoided Judy Brass’ body, her enhanced reflexes vaulting her over the dead woman. She hardly registered the CEOs death. Brass was just another casualty amongst hundreds the dragon had already left in its wake.

She bolted up the stairs of Freelancer Tower, vaulting off the walls to avoid the pool of wet blood that covered the concrete of the first-floor entrance. She didn’t have time to consider the source of the blood or what had happened.

Leaping up the stairs three at a time, bolstered by the power the God Contest has granted her, she ascended at an incredible speed.

Headed straight for the Dragon of Endless Shadows.

“Cally, are you there?” Milly telepathically spoke to her girlfriend as she climbed. She needed to hear Calista’s voice one more time. Perhaps for the last time.

“Milly? Milly! Don’t come to the Castle. I need you to stay safe,” pleaded Calista. Milly could tell something was wrong with her.

“I’m… I’m already here, Cally,” Milly said as she passed the fifth floor. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t just watch you die.”

“Honey…,” Calista said with an intense sorrow. “I’ve… I’ve got Passi, but she’s badly hurt. We’re outside the mountain lobby, hidden in the pines on the west side. Can you make it here?”

“Will she make it?” Milly asked. Calista’s words struck her like a needle in her heart, so she fed the feeling to the flames.

“I’ve got her in my Battlefield Stabilization, but…”

“Good. When this prison comes down, you rush her to Whitewing,” Milly said, her heart racing. “Don’t turn back. Don’t try to help anyone else. Don’t… don’t come after me. Protect Passi, my love. Keep her safe and be there for her. Always.”

“Milly, what are you doing? Where are you?”

“I’m headed for the roof,” Milly admitted. “Cally, I can help save everyone. It’s the only chance we have. I can’t tell you any more than that – it’s… God Contest stuff, like at the Arena of Protection.”

The silence from Calista was deafening.

“I trust you, my love,” Calista replied hesitantly. “Just promise me you’ll come back to us. I can’t do this alone, and Passi needs her mom.”

“I… I promise, Cally,” Milly lied. “I’ll be there soon. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Milly wiped the tears from her eyes as their connection faded. Even Salem’s Fury couldn’t consume the emotions that filled her heart with those four simple words.

I spent my whole life without love. I won’t let some fucking dragon take that from me. I won’t let it destroy my family. I won’t let it take my world.

“Rain, you there?” Milly asked, reaching out for her best friend. “I need you.”

* * *

“Shit, Stone, on your left. Six of them!” shouted Rain from the head of their defensive line. Her dagger flashed as she lopped off the arm of a shadow-controlled corpse. Rain thought it had belonged to a lawyer from Legal Eagles, but in the heat of battle, the woman’s name escaped her.

Elmer and the Freelancers had rendezvoused with Rain outside the tower to gather together the surviving players on the beach. Stone and the Carthage sisters had been the first players they had encountered. Fighting against a horde of the creatures, even the high-level Stone had been nearly overrun by the shadow’s combined strength.

Rain, against the objections of Elmer, had intervened to save the trio.

“This was no time to turn against one another.”

Jacob Stone planted his tower shield into the sand, and it duplicated twice over, creating a wall of shields two high and wide. He pressed his shoulder against the wall and shoved, wincing in pain from the errant enemy spear that had skewered his shoulder.

The four shields rocked forward in a connected collective and slammed into the six oncoming creatures. The enemies were hurled backwards and the sound of crunched bones filled the air.

“Cynthia. Finish them,” commanded Stone as his shield returned to him.

Cynthia’s three sand hounds sprang forward and sunk their teeth into three of the creature’s throats. Mohammad’s arrow found the eye of the fourth, while Elmer’s axe and Alison’s rapier finished off the other two. Elmer bled from shoulder to elbow where a shadow’s sword had gotten through his defense, and Alison’s leg had been scorched by a fire blast from another.

Rain dispatched two more creatures that charged them from behind them with a thrust of her dagger and blast of her fire. She tried not to look at their faces as they fell.

Behind their line, Minerva and Edna watched helplessly as their tiny battle formation fought their way across the beach to the eastern side of the tower where they would be sheltered from the dragon’s blasts. Minerva trembled, her miniscule level inadequate for the challenge they faced. Edna’s own shadow abilities were useless in the face of the dragon’s overwhelming shadow magic.

Frank knelt in the sand between Minerva and Edna, a thousand-yard stare fixed in his eyes.

Rain surveyed the battleground. Across the beach, the survivors had gathered themselves into similar cohorts and were carving their way through their former coworkers to find shelter.

A cohort fell victim to the dragon’s flames, and their dead replenished the shadow creatures.

“Rain, you there?” came Milly’s telepathic call.

“I’m here Mils,” Rain said, as she dodged the clumsy strike of a low-level shadow. It was Brenda, a marketing executive from EnergyWave who had liked her teas.

Rain grasped the woman’s arm and shoved her away, then ignited her with a wave of flame from her palm.

“I’m… I’m almost at the roof. I need you to promise me something,” Milly requested.

“I’ll watch out for them,” Rain replied, knowing what Milly was going to ask. “You know I will. But I won’t have to, Mils. You aren’t going anywhere, okay.”

“… yah,” Milly mumbled as she passed the fourteenth floor. Her mind flashed to her bedroom, and she recalled the warmth and love she had found in Calista’s arms. A love that had eluded her for her whole life.

“Alchemist, we need to move before that dragon targets us,” Stone demanded abruptly. “We head north. You take point. I’ll protect the rear.”

“You belong in the rear, given how much of an ass you are,” Elmer spat, the battle doing little to temper his hatred for the CEO.

“Knock it off you two,” Rain scolded the pair. “Stay together and work together. Let’s move.”

They circled around Tower Two as another dozen shadow coworkers charged towards them.

“There are more of these creatures, Mils. Whatever you are going to do, do it quickly. I don’t know how much longer we can hold out,” Rain instructed. “And when you are done, maybe we’ll grab supper? I’m thinking… roast boar. Again.”

Milly chuckled despite herself, appreciating her friend’s levity. “Yah, boar it is. I’ll… I’ll see you soon. Thanks Rain, for being there for me these past three weeks. For being my best friend. Thank you… for everything.”

Milly ended the connection.

Take care of them for me, Rain.

* * *

Milly bolted out the stairwell onto the Freelancer Tower roof. Her heart raced and her eyes stung with the few tears that had escaped Salem Fury’s flames.

The sky above the beach was filled with darkness, obscuring the four terrains that lay beyond the prison erected by the Dragon of Endless Shadows. The sounds of battle and the screams of the dying filled the air. She peaked over the edge to glimpse the carnage below.

How many of us are still alive? Less than half? And more die every second that you waste asking stupid questions like that! Come on Milly, focus. Focus!

Milly tore her gaze from the battle far below and turned towards the massive dragon. Its scaled head was level with the tower, but the gap between them was a hundred feet – the length of a basketball court. If she missed, she would plummet sixteen stories and die.

Not that my plan has a high chance of survival even if it succeeds. Cally. Passi. Rain. Luna. Take care of yourselves. I love you all.

The dragon belched another stream of shadow fire. From this distance, Milly could feel the creature’s intense craving for the souls of the dead. The sensation wafted off the beast like perfume. Milly had felt that lust before, as she had slain Gorath with Xavier’s black blade. The blade had a deep and insatiable hunger for death that resonated with that of the dragon.

It won’t stop until everyone is dead. Luna, we need to fix this. Now.

Milly backed up until her heels pressed against the northern edge of the roof. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, seeking the calm of her flame.

You can do this Milly. You can do this. Do it for your family. Do it for those you love. And do it for yourself!

Her eyes shot open, and she kicked off the ledge, dashing across the roof with every ounce of speed her enhanced strength and agility could give her. She covered the distance in less than a second.

She felt her feet touch the southern edge of the roof.

And she jumped.