Enchanted Ever After (Mystic Circle) (16 page)

Kiri stood, caught the waiter’s eye, stuck money under her
plate and left. She walked around a long block, in the sun, keeping her mind
blank. She’d had a feeling that this afternoon’s game session would be like a
final in class—and heavily weighted for her whole grade.

Still, muddy, cruddy streamers of thought slithered through her
mind. She hadn’t forgotten the bus accident, and when reminded her chest seized
and she had to breathe through the fear. And she’d had bad dreams that she
couldn’t quite recall...but reality and the game, the changes and slight
strangeness of her life, the advent of Lathyr and the lilting desire between
them—all had dimmed the recollection of the tragedy.

People had died and there was a tight block in her gut that she
should feel more, grieve for them, but she hadn’t been able to. Except maybe
that’s what she was doing when she woke up with tears on her face and
crying.

Too many things pressed in on her, and now the wind had picked
up, too, and the day had turned cold.

She was glad to go back into the building, stuck a smile on her
face as the elevator rose and was relieved when she walked into the computer
room to see Jenni and Lathyr waiting for her.

Jenni shared a glance with Lathyr and grinned. “We’ve received
approval for sending you into the portion of the prologue that removes the
barriers between the realms. There are, of course, obstacles to overcome to pass
between the realms that you should have already mastered.”

The Lava River in the Fire Realm hadn’t been too bad. Really.
Especially since Kiri and Jenni had played it with regular computer keyboards
and not the gloves and visors of virtual reality. Kiri had cleared the river
with seconds to spare.

Kiri’s mind zipped around, her heart picked up a beat—wonderful
distraction from reality! Or the reality of lunch and outside and people as
opposed to the reality of Eight Corp and the game and her career. Resolve
swelled within her again. She would not fail.

“Lathyr will accompany you on the tour of the realms. Claim a
marker in each realm and bring it to the Air Palace and you win the game.”
Jenni’s grin widened. “With appropriate bonuses in game and out.”

Excitement shivered through Kiri. Lathyr was already pulling on
his gloves. He cocked a brow at her. “Which realm do you wish to start in?”

“May as well begin now where I originally began, Earth
Realm.”

Lathyr nodded and donned his visor. “The earth cave, then.”

Kiri drew on her own gloves. “And perhaps my brownie.”

Jenni scowled at her computer. The large monitor had flickered,
gone dark and recovered. “No brownie or team. Just you and Lathyr, I think.”

“Is everything okay?” Kiri asked as Jenni’s fingers flew over
the keyboard.

“Maybe,” she grumbled. “Go.”

Kiri put on the visor and in a few seconds felt like she was in
the cave—but as a stronger character than before. She checked. Yes! Both magic
user and melee fighter. She’d grown in the game. Cool.

Glancing at Lathyr, she found his avatar was much like herself.
So they’d draw tough enemies and have to think and strategize more rather than
rush out and bash.

“Ready?” he asked with a smile, as he did lately. He was
finally becoming a gamer.

Kiri consulted her map, huffed a breath. “The goal is in the
middle of that maze of twisty little passages all the same. Jenni probably did
that on purpose.”

“There’s two of us—it will be easier.”

“True.”

After spending some time negotiating the little twisty passages
all the same, they’d gotten the object—a golden nugget—and were headed toward
the closest realm, Water—when the earthquake smacked them.

* * *

The earth shook and they fell to the ground. Lathyr hit hard,
and felt every bit of it...the game had become even more real. He wasn’t sure if
the royals had manipulated it again, or the game itself was pulling reality and
magic and power from the Meld Project housed in the same building, but Lathyr
had a marrow-deep feeling that fighting and injuries were real—they could be
hurt and die here.

Chapter 17

LATHYR LEAPED TO
his feet, helped Kiri up, scanned her chain mail. “Change into your earthen elemental armor,” he ordered.

“What?” She rubbed her head, blood trickled from her hairline.

Would blood draw predators? Lathyr didn’t know, but a heaviness and the stink of evil invaded the water molecules in the air—his nostrils widened to catch the scent, and he strained so much his nose frills unfurled.

Thunder came. Again. Motes of black dirt showed beyond the hill.
Crash!
and
Crash!
Footsteps, Lathyr realized with dread. Something huge. He sniffed. Something evil.

Lathyr Tricurrent, to me! To fight!
the Air King shouted mentally, and Lathyr realized the building outside the game, in true reality, was under attack.

Must stay!

Dark ones!
the king snapped, and began to
pull
on Lathyr through all the air in his body. He wouldn’t be able to stay, and he had a terrible feeling that a Dark one had entered the game.

He grabbed Kiri’s shoulders, gasped, “Being disconnected. You quit, too!”

Kiri fisted her hands, jerked—the motion to log out. She remained solid, her eyes widening, even as he felt himself fade. “Not working.”

CRASH!

“Keep trying. Dark. One.” He jerked his head at the horizon of hills and the thumping footfalls. “Coming. Real. This game is
real.
Look at your bleeding.
Run!
” Lathyr strove to stay with her, but the king was far more powerful than he, and he was yanked into the real world and the CEO’s office.

To see a disheveled Air King with a fierce fighting grin, Cloudsylph. Sword in his hand, the elf ducked behind an upturned desk.
Fight!

A clash came and Lathyr whirled—both guardians—the elf and the dwarf—fought also.

“Two great Dark ones!” shouted Cloudsylph, fighting sword against long and thorny claw-sword dripping venom of the monster. Huge black humanoid monster covered in black chitin, with seeping protuberances—when droplets hit, the rug burned. Nasty smell.

“Here!” yelled the dwarf, and threw a trident at Lathyr.

He caught it and it felt good in his hands. Adrenaline pumped through him. “The game’s turned real. Kiri—”

The guardians stilled for an instant. The King of Air beside him grimaced. “Too bad, you’re here now.” He jerked his head at the side of the room and Lathyr’s heart stopped as he saw a torn panel of meld-electrical conduits. The game server? How would that affect Kiri?

Then the wall to his left crashed down and the second Dark one, horribly huge, lunged through. Lathyr snapped hardscale over his body, wishing for the armor he’d left in the game, angled his trident, yelled his war cry and charged. Praying with blood and breath that Kiri would be all right. She’d run. She’d find a place and hide. They’d pull the Dark one out of the game. And Lathyr would return to her.

* * *

Kiri watched Lathyr’s face contort as he struggled to stay in the game, but he faded—and as he did, Kiri noticed that his skin turned the pretty pale blue. Good trick. But what fascinated her were delicate, transparent little ruffles seeming attached to the underside of the upper curve of his nostrils. Beautiful.

Another shudder of the earth under her feet jolted her alert.
Earth armor,
he’d said, and
Dark one,
and
run!
He hadn’t been thinking, you couldn’t run in earth armor, too heavy. Her head itched and she rubbed at it again. Hurt, too. Her fingers came away tacky with blood and her breath stopped. Looked
real
. She touched her fingertips to her mouth, tasted. Blood. Her blood.

The whole scene enlarged, brightened, as her eyes widened even more. She gulped. The game was real? WTF!

Her head really hurt. Her current armor weighed her down. What would happen if she
did
use earth armor, would she actually have stone sprout in plates along her body?

Crash! Crash! The thing’s head, gigantic and round, with heavy brow ridge and features scrunched in the middle looking like nothing human, rose above the hill.

Time to get out of here. She motioned again. Nothing. Reached for her visor.

Touched nothing.

“Logging off,” she said, voice quavering.

The monster advanced.

She remained in the game—in the game that had turned into reality? How could that have happened? Magic?

Magic. Maybe. Lotta stuff had been happening lately that was close to being inexplicable through logic.

Think later! She was stuck and didn’t know the rules. Did she still have powers? Her breath came too fast, bringing dimness and tiny sparks—hyperventilating. Don’t think! Don’t analyze reality and game. Hell, not the time to
feel,
either. Tactics. Strategy. Whatever.

The thing thunked higher and higher against the horizon, like nothing she’d ever seen or imagined, bringing a hideous stench that flew at her in bits like wasps or flies or—yeah, she’d seen stuff like that in the game. She flung a shield around herself. They smacked into it with nasty buzzing and squashes. She
felt
the impacts against her force field. How could that be?

A bolt of lightning struck an inch from her feet, the blast rocked her, singed her toes.

Terror flooded her. She turned and ran into the forest, trying to recall what other game monsters inhabited it—though she and Lathyr had just fought through it—had they spawned again?

And now she felt far too squishy as a magic user instead of as the toughest warrior. Dammit!

Crash! Zap!

She wondered how many hit points she really had. How many the monster did.

How could she win?

Hell. How could she survive?

* * *

How many of them are there?
Lathyr broadcast mentally.

Two!
yelled the dwarf and elf guardians.

Three!
shouted the Air King.
I saw three.

Blood chilling, Lathyr’s mind scattered. He whirled back to the Dark one he’d first seen, leaped over the desk, fought with the dwarf, slashing, backing the monster up, dipped his trident in a pool of steaming, smelly acidic green venom.

Two Dark ones working together?
grunted the dwarf, slicing off a limb.

Must really hate the Eight and the Meld, or want the Meld,
responded the elf, his face formed in a dreamy smile as he struck, slid aside from an attack.

Where’s the third?
demanded the Air King.

Lathyr’s belly twisted.
In the game with Kiri.

Curses came from the other men, and a wisp of feeling from the Air King brought on his breath near Lathyr’s ear. Grief at losing a subject.

Lathyr couldn’t think, could only thank the great Pearl that he’d been fighting in the game lately and his skills weren’t as rusty as they had been.

He ducked under the tall elf guardian’s arm, slid sideways, thrust his envenomed trident in the Dark one’s belly, hard, hard, harder!

His weapon stuck.

Shrieking rage, thrashing limbs. Lathyr used all his skill, all his air power to leap back...but a huge hand with black and pointed nail-claws swiped at him, got his arm, sent him tumbling.

Immense pain surged through him, blood and water gushed from his wound—his arm drooped half-off at the shoulder! He went down as agony took his breath and sat crushing on his chest.

Stuff poured from his mouth, too, vomit and water and mucus and life force as his bilungs constricted. He was gone.

Worse, he couldn’t return to Kiri.

He had failed.

“Greendepths!” Cloudsylph’s voice whipped out like ice shards.

The King of Water wouldn’t let his woman heal Lathyr this time.

Failure. Pain. Death.

Blackness swallowed his consciousness like a tsunami and threw him away.

* * *

Leaves and twigs crunched under Kiri’s running feet as she sped through the forest. She heard a whole lot, more than she wanted to, like her own whooshing breath, all confirming this terrible game was real. If she ever got out, she’d never—effing Eight Corp could take their job and shove it up their butts till it stuck in their throats and strangled them.

Roaring. Not her. She whispered prayers.

Ripping wood, cracking. The forest wasn’t safe, either. She strove to
think
through the terror. Map, remember the map! She was in Earth Realm. Forests. Caves.

Crash! Crash!
The monster giant thing,
abomination,
came after her. From a horrified, compulsive glance or two back, she thought she saw wings. Spiny, bony, bat wings.

Kiri quivered. Trembled so much she fell and a log sailed over her head. Luck. Sheer luck had saved her.

Okay. Okay. Luck happened in a game, some good. Some bad. Your keyboard freezes up on you in a fight and you were down.

Your character was down.

This
was real. She was pretty damn sure.

Map. Caves. Run to the caves. The monster couldn’t squeeze into the caves. Maybe the dwarves had made the caverns strong enough not to collapse on her. Real dwarves? Maybe.

She zigzagged through the forest, ducking under cover, repelling the insect clouds. She didn’t know their powers but figured being stung wouldn’t be good.

Run.
In the Earth Realm she’d chosen the zip run travel power, feet on the ground, no flying or jumping. Run. Run. Run. Dodge through there. Roaring and thrashing and creaking and crashing and black thunderbolts snapping and sizzling, sensory overload. The smell of scorched earth and scorched electronics—oh, no!—and ripped-up plants and fresh wood, sawdust. Not good. The gag of putrification, of—evil? Vibration against her skin, her eyelids...her shields. She still had shields. She had zip run. What other powers? Earthworks. Battlements. She pivoted, flung her arms out in a circle, called the power. “Earthworks, there, and there and
there.
” Breath, breath. “Battlements
, there!
” She wouldn’t think how little that would slow down a monster. Again she spun, and kept on spinning—rocks and broken wood shoved away from her, whirled away by her twister spell. That wasn’t an earth spell. That was air! What was going on?

Shoot. She didn’t
know
what spells she had or didn’t and then there was that odor of fried wires, plastic, metal. How scrambled was everything? What kind of reality was this?

No time to figure it out. The caves were a short stretch to the northeast. She had zip run and
zoomed.

And went straight off the cliff and into the ocean.

She hit hard, painfully, but this was the Water Realm, the easiest for her to maneuver in—and her character had changed once again with all the levels that she’d gained here. Much, much stronger. And she and Lathyr had fought a Dark one here in the Water Realm before.

A huge displacement of water sent her tumbling.

Gigantic, bat-winged Dark one.

She rolled with the percussion, scanned the bottom. She knew this place, the soft silt, the deceptive sand that hid huge eels ready to swallow an unwary mer. Where was the eel’s fake-plant-frond trigger?

Moving fast, she zigged and zagged, got caught by an energy bolt. Real! Searing pain. Tears that mixed with water. Go. Go. Go. Lure again, like she and Lathyr had done before. No, don’t think of him, what might be happening otherwhere.

Go!

There, dippy faltering swim, pretending even more hurt. Dark one following, immense presence behind. Walking instead of swimming. Stupid of him, good for her.

Something heavy weighed on her back. Quick glance. Speargun! Yay. Get it! Point it!

There’s the eel-frond trigger. Zoom. Hit it hard. The quarrels move slow. Too slow. Push to surface. Is there a surface?

She popped up, gasped, bad hurt in lungs. Dammit.

Six pants and she was okay.

Thrashing below...eel and evil. But she’d put her money on the great Dark one, if she didn’t go down and try to finish him off. Head toward the Water Palace—and what and who would she find there? The King and Queen she’d already met?

Fight!

Down she went again, sifting water/air through her teeth in an effort to avoid the lung pain. Yep, the eel had wrapped itself around the Dark one. Twice. Still looked like it was losing, with big chunks of it ripped off.

OTOH, Dark one didn’t appear so hot. Kiri shot. Again and again and emptied her quiver-bag. Long tear in a wing. Coupla bolts in the head. Slowed it down a little.

The eel thrashed and died. Time to get outta here!

Blood, guts, ichor,
stuff
saturated the water. She turned and swam as fast as she could. Not as fast as zip run and it had nearly caught her when she used that. God. God. God.

Glance back.
Huge
ball of hard water crackling with black energy heading toward her. Cliff face ahead, surface!

She looked down, clenching her speargun tight. The Dark one was slower. One wing was gone. Didn’t heal like the one she and Lathyr had fought in Water Realm before. Good.

Her gun weighted with another spear. She’d been all out. Magic.

Can’t question. Pause. Sight. Shoot the thing in the eye.

A roar that banged her against the cliff. Huge pain. Grit teeth, raise the speargun, fire in the hellish open mouth!

This scream higher than she could hear, only feel the shock. More tears gushed from her eyes in pain.

Then the Dark one simply vanished.

And so did she.

* * *

She came back to the room with a thunk that had her knees crumpling her to the floor, only able to huff, “Uh, uh, uh.” And with a serious case of the shudders. She still
hurt.

What was all that about?

Too darn real.

She pulled off her visor and tossed it onto the counter. Then she peeled off her gloves—glad to have had them and the spells they projected, but wonderful to get rid of them. They stuck to her hands and turned inside out. Blinking, she saw that what she’d thought would be filaments were no more than lines. Huh. They’d left marks on her skin like henna.