Chapter 37: Pi, and I against the world?

  “Are you sure it’s okay to leave Donn back there?” Primith gasped as we once again struggled to keep up with Melvin and Kaliphae, forcing me to conclude that they must both be marathon runners.

  We sprinted down several flights of stairs until we arrived in what I assumed was a dungeon. Only it was a wide open space. In the vast room’s center, something resembling a railroad spike was embedded in the floor. Melvin hesitated for a moment before walking up and touching it. He vanished and a mote of blue light shot up from the spike and into the ceiling.

  “He went to Luna,” Kaliphae explained. “It’s safe up there. Come over here and I’ll teleport us.”

  “Did that spike send him there?” Primith walked over and offered her hand.

  Kaliphae took it. “Yes. That’s how we discovered Luna in the first place. The two Celesteas are linked through these spikes.”

  She didn’t take us up through the spike. Instead, we teleported the normal way, vanishing from Gaia and reappearing a moment later on Luna. The room we arrived in was similar to the spike room on Gaia, only a little smaller. Melvin was already headed for the exit.

  “Where’s Shiv?” Kaliphae asked, looking at the empty throne.

  Melvin called back over his shoulder. “I don’t know, the connection was just used. She is the only one, other than you and I, that can do it.”

  “The machine!” they concluded at the same moment, and ran off again.

  I wondered why they didn’t teleport again as we sprinted to keep up. Was it draining to do it twice in a row? We arrived at the control room, and once again, Kaliphae pressed her nose to the glass window.

  “Shiv!” she cried and vanished on the spot.

  Melvin followed suit, leaving Primith and I standing there by ourselves.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  I walked over to the view port. “I have no clue how to get down there. Do you suppose they have a map in the throne room? Speaking of which, where’s Isa?”

  That reminded me. They were still in the group. Isa? You there?

  I felt her indignation through the connection. You just noticed that you left us here!

  Nax, ever the voice of reason, spoke calmly into the connection. Alex, there are wraiths in the castle. Be careful.

  Wraiths? Out of the three I knew who controlled them, my guess was the Puppetmaster. But that also meant she had to have run into her granddaughter.

  Where’s Alariel?

  It took a moment for her to answer. I’m here, down in the room with the furnaces. Kiki is here. I’m sure of it. We need to get find her.

  I looked through the dirty display glass. It was hard to make out anything other than vague movement in the distant room.

  Is your grandmother with you?

  No. Alariel replied. She just left.

  What about the relic? I asked.

  There was silence for a while before she replied. I don’t know. She didn’t have it. Please, we have to save Kiki.

  Do you see Melvin or Kaliphae? I asked.

  No, she replied.

  But they just went down there. I craned my neck to make out people in the sea of shadows down there.

  Alariel sounded panicked. I don’t know what to tell you. I can’t get the door to this furnace open. Please come help me.

  “We’re gonna have to run,” I informed Primith as I headed for the door.

  It flew open just as I got there, and a shriveled elf burst into the room. Her eyes swept between me, Primith, and finally the console. She sidestepped us, giving me a wide berth as she made a beeline for the console. None of us said a word for a long moment.

  She was almost at the console when Primith and I acted at the same time. My hand gravitated to Excalibur and vines erupted from the ground, entangling the Puppetmaster’s ankles. Several wraiths erupted from her shadow, and I cut them down instinctively. My swordplay was getting better through repeat muscle movement, but the sword was still controlling me.

  The Puppetmaster froze when the last of her wraiths were eliminated. Her gaze, however, was still locked on the big red button. That button spelled bad news for us.

  Current Power Level: 99% (Optimal)

  Connected Locations: 3

  Error: Maintenance Required

  Faults Found: 21 (Repair Y/N?)

  Temperature: 337 Degrees (Within Limits)

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Don’t even think about it!” I commanded, brandishing Excalibur threateningly.

  The old woman’s glare turned to me. “Let me push this button. I promise to spare your kingdom. My revenge rests solely on those cursed Celesteals.”

  “Celesteals?” I asked.

  I had to buy time for Alariel to get Kiki out of the furnace. Something told me the red button was the equivalent of the on button.

  When the Puppetmaster didn’t reply, I tried again. “Do you really want to kill your granddaughter’s lover?”

  “She’ll find another,” she replied dryly, inching her hand closer to the button.

  The vines worked their way up her legs to her torso. “Oh no you don’t!” Primith roared in her Mom voice.

  “You don’t understand,” the Puppetmaster wailed. “If I don’t do this, he will use the ritual to destroy everything.”

  “That Donn guy?” I asked. “Don’t worry. Melvin trapped him back on Celestea.”

  “You fool!” she spat. “Nobody is safe from the primordial. He is darkness incarnate.”

  As if to illustrate her point, shadows erupted all around the room, blotting out the light.

  Meanwhile, in the pod room…

  Melvin frowned, sharing a meaningful look with Kaliphae. I don’t get it. I was sure they would be here.

  Kaliphae opened yet another pod. Keep looking, Mel. Shiv has to be around here somewhere.

  It had been far easier when they freed the ancients from the infernal machine. The pods had been their prison for millennia while it slowly siphoned their mana. The elves’ self-release spared them the task of searching all the pods.

  Come to think of it. Melvin mused. If this is where they suck all the mana out of you, maybe there’s another room for, you know, using the mana. It doesn’t feel right that nobody’s in here.

  Over here, Kaliphae called through the connection. In the back.

  Melvin raced to join her. A door with an intricate lock was at the back of the pod room, sitting slightly ajar. The room beyond contained a single pod. It was in the center of the room and didn’t have a view portal. Markings that appeared to be runes began on the floor and went up the walls of the pod, culminating at the sealed door.

  The pot wasn’t locked, just sealed closed by a pressure valve. Melvin didn’t waste time and used his favorite skill.

  Delete!

  The door vanished with a hiss as the sudden change in pressure caused air to rush out of the pod. Melvin and Kaliphae dashed in to the lone occupant of the room. Kiki sat tied to a chair with tape covering her mouth.

  The moment Kaliphae removed it, she gasped. “It’s a trap! They’re after someone called Alex.”

  The shadows overwhelmed us. I hacked and slashed left and right, but every time the light pierced the darkness, another shadow rose to take its place. Primith yelled something in the distance, but I couldn’t make out what it was.

  Even group chat failed, my thoughts echoing in my mind in some kind of feedback loop when I tried to communicate telepathically. Ever so slowly, Excalibur stopped having any effect against the ever encroaching darkness. I soon found myself numb, unable to feel my fingers, much less the sword.

  “Bori, are you there?” my voice sounded as if it were no longer my own.

  “Daddy?” Her tiny voice trembled with fright. “I don’t like this. What’s happening?”

  “Welcome to eternity,” someone familiar said in the high-pitched voice of a child. “I cut you off from reality. Now we can be friends again.”

  “Pi?” I asked. “If you wanted to be together again, you could have just come back to me.”

  “Guess again, pal,” the voice grew more insistent. “It’s me, Bill. Don’t tell me you forgot about me already.”

  “Bill?” I asked, remembering my childhood friend who passed away in the old fridge. “How is this possible? You died.”

  “You keep telling me that,” he replied in a chipper voice. “But look at me. I found a way back to you, through the darkness and everything. I’ve been playing with you ever since your parents died.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said, deciding I needed to keep him talking to prevent whatever he had planned. “Are you saying you found a way to come back to life?”

  “Even better,” he went on. “I found a way to create a whole world where we can live forever. Let’s face it. You stopped living the day I died. I know. I watched. Couldn’t you feel me with you? The creature you call Pi found me and offered me a deal. He would help me talk to you. All I had to do was tell him about you. He’s going to create a world where we can live forever. Neither of us has to die.”

  “What kind of world?” I asked, terrified at what that would mean. “Bill, I’m sorry you died, but I don’t want to live in a world without my friends. I like my life now. Isn’t there a way for you to move on?”

  “I don’t get it, man,” Bill said, appearing in front of me as the third grader I remembered him as. “You resurrected that girl you just met. What makes her more special than me? Did you do it with her? I thought we were brothers for life.”

  “We were,” I replied. “But you died. I’m sorry there isn’t any magic on Earth. I would have brought you back if I knew the god of death over there.”

  “But there is magic on Earth,” Bill said. “There’s magic everywhere. You owe that to me too, by the way. If I hadn’t intervened, you’d have lived your whole pointless life never knowing about magic.”

  “That’s not true!” I tried to deny what he was saying. “I got into the beta program on my own. They chose me to come here. That had nothing to do with you?”

  “Didn’t it?” he crossed his arms, looking smug. “Let’s face it. You always sucked at video games. I manipulated the system to get you an invite. That’s the only reason you’re here. You owe your entire existance to me.”

  I swallowed hard as memories of my childhood flooded back. It was always the same when we were younger. I clung to him, even though he took credit for my every accomplishment. Even handball, a game I was proud of, he made sure everyone knew I was number two, and only because he taught me.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t have other friends. He made me think I didn’t want them. When Bill died, I regressed before eventually finding myself through books and video games.

  Now that Bill was back, I found myself falling back to those times. Did I want to push aside everything I’d gained since coming to Gaia?

  “What happens to the world if I accept your offer?” I spoke in a voice that felt foreign to me. “Will they be okay?”

  “Why do you care?” Bill spat, his youthful voice dripping with venom that no kid should possess. “Just come with me and forget that life.”

  “I…I can’t,” I whispered, finding a spark of courage to stand up to my old friend. “I think you should move on, and let me be.”

  The grade-schooler reached out and wrapped his hands around my throat. His strength must have been otherworldly because I felt my windpipe constrict. I stood powerless under his spell once again, memories flashing through my head as my vision faded. He never tried to kill me back then, but he was always violent when he didn’t get his way.

  A shadow deeper than the darkness surrounding us gently took Bill’s hands and pried him off of me. When it spoke, I recognized the voice I heard from Pi in my dreams. “Relax child. It was your goal to reunite with your friend, not to kill him. And you promised to give him the gift of choice, did you not?”

  “But I…” Bill appeared to be floating in the powerful arms of Pi. “You promised we could be together forever.”

  “And you will.” Pi’s raspy voice seemed oddly soothing. “It is up to Alex to determine what that world will be. I’ve come to love the light just as much as the dark.”

  “Do you mean I can go back to Gaia, Pi?” I asked with a flicker of hope sparking in my heart.

  “You can,” Pi said. “However, I must warn you, choosing that option relinquishes the Heart of Darkness. There are others who wish to use it for far more sinister purposes. If you choose to live here in the void with your friend and I, the rest of your friends need not fear the darkness. However, if you choose to go back, their world may still come to an end. What will you choose?”

  “I, uh…” I hedged. Did I really have to make a choice like that? Could I give everything up to save my friends? No. There had to be another way.

  “I will support you,” Pi recognized my dilemma. “No matter which path you take, I will be right here by your side. I am your shadow, after all. Choose what’s in your heart, and we shall stand against what comes together.”

  “Pi, are you a primordial?” I asked, fearing the answer.