“Whoa,” he mumbled as he placed a hand on one of the crystals. It crackled and popped as he touched it, firing electricity into his fingers. “Yipes!” he yelped as he pulled his fingers away from the crystal. Was it some kind of control for the gate? It didn’t look like anything he had seen in the game before. This might be some kind of technical control that the programmers could be using. Maybe it was a debugging panel.
“Sang!” Van said, waving over to her. She was busy overseeing the team of men who had begun to dig into the ground.
“What?” she asked as she glanced over at him.
“Come take a look at this!” Van called.
Sang frowned as she walked up to him. “Did you figure out what Jet wanted? The team is seriously giving me flak about digging through the ground, and they’re starting to…” her words trailed off as she noticed the panel sticking out of the wall.
“I think it’s some kind of control,” Van said. “But I dunno.”
“Hmmm,” Sang replied as she glanced at the crystals. “I’ve seen these before, as some kind of message board, but these look different. The message board I saw was larger. I wonder…” She grabbed a crystal and pulled it out of the wall.
“How is it not shocking you?” Van asked.
“It is, I’m just ignoring it,” she replied as she pulled one of the blue crystals out. “What happens if we switch these?” she mused as she swapped the two crystals. There was a loud ka-thunk noise that emanated from the wall itself.
“What happened?” Van asked.
“Not sure, let me mess around with this,” Sang replied as she began to fiddle with the crystals. After a few minutes of pulling out the glowing gems and rearranging them, there was another loud ka-thunk sound, although this one was far louder. A grinding noise accompanied it and Van could see that the wall itself was beginning to slowly open up.
“How did you do that?” Van gasped as he stepped backwards. The left and the right sections of the wall were opening up like a doorway.
“This thing controls how the wall functions on a programming level,” Sang said. “Some gems control height, strength, width, etc. So, all I did was change the dimensions so that the wall could open up for people. I believe it was put in for pro players to use in controlling how sieges go. Sometimes the wall can be shattered, and sometimes it can be impossible to break through.”
“Amazing,” Van said as he turned to face the team that was busy digging. “Hey, guys, cancel that order! We’re moving through the wall!”
“What?” Bidane asked. The entire army turned around at once to see the large opening that had been created. “How did that happen?”
“Looks like it was some kind of oversight,” Van said. “Let’s go, team!”
“Incredible!” Kylian said as he began to walk toward the opening.
“Oversight…” Bidane repeated as she crossed her arms. It was clear that she wasn’t buying what Van was selling. In his defense, he wasn’t lying; it really had been an oversight on Draco’s part. They should have done a better job of hiding a game control system from the players.
“Yeah, there was some kind of bypass that we figured out,” Sang said. “It’s not our fault that they didn’t patch it.”
Bidane shrugged. “I guess there’s nothing wrong with using something they didn’t fix. But…” her voice grew quiet and she looked around to make sure no one was within earshot. The rest of the army was hastily moving into Bloodrock, though, and no one was paying any mind to them. “Look, you guys aren’t hacking, are you? There’s something really off about this.”
“What? Hacking?” Van asked. “Not at all—we don’t cheat.”
“Are you sure?” Bidane asked as she pointed to Jet, who was lying on the ground and staring wistfully at the clouds. “Because for you to have a mount at this level… it seems a little suspicious. Especially when it’s a dragon mount.”
Sang shrugged. “I don’t have to answer to you. You’re free to leave the group if you want, but some of us have things to do.” And with that, she stormed off past the walls. Jet didn’t move to follow her, however.
“Wow, is that how you’re going to treat a teammate?” Bidane shouted back at her. “Get back here! Don’t you dare walk away from me!” The priestess chased after Sang, who was still ignoring her and pretending not to hear.
Van sighed. While it would suck to lose Bidane, they were at a point where they had enough people on their team to make up for the loss. He slowly walked to the entrance to Bloodrock. Glancing at Jet, he spoke. “Hey, you coming?”
Jet shook his head. “No,” the dragon whispered. “This place is different.”
“How?” Van asked, wondering if it knew there was a trap waiting.
“I am a physical vessel resting in a tube,” it replied. “The biofeedback systems can kill me. Bloodrock is different from the rest of this place.”
“You think we’re going to be killed in there?” Van asked.
Jet nodded. “I fear the worst.”
“Well… is there any way to avoid dying in there?”
“Just stay alive in the game,” Jet said.
Van looked at the entrance to Bloodrock. He felt a shiver run down his spine.
“I fear that I am not willing to risk my life for you,” Jet said. “If you two should perish, I will find others.” It paused. “No offense.”
“Gee, none taken,” Van said as he gritted his teeth. He had been fine with being inside of the game, but with this revelation, he was facing one of his worst fears. Then again, what was he supposed to do? If he didn’t carry on with the mission, the world would be obliterated in some kind of a horribly cataclysmic chain of events. He had to move forward, for the good of the mission. With a deep breath, he took a few steps forward, but then felt himself stop.
“Afraid?” Jet asked.
“How can I not be?” Van asked as he turned to look at the dragon. “I don’t want to die.”
“I don’t believe anyone does,” Jet said. “But, you must ask: is it worth living in the world that Draco is creating?”
Van’s mind flashed to the various offers that Draco had given him. The contrast between dying and living like a king was quite steep.
“I… I don’t know,” Van whispered as he walked on into Bloodrock. “I just don’t know.”
Chapter Twelve
Van glanced at the weary army as they trudged through the mountainous realm of Bloodrock. Now that they’d gotten past the wall, they could see Castle Ceren in the distance. King Lemuel would be there.
“Man, this pace is too much for our troops,” Kylian said. “Most of them keep logging out.” They had briefly stopped at the base of the mountain that would take them straight to Ceren. Players kept leaving the game, though, and the forces were dwindling down to only a handful of people. Van could count about 20 left.
“Too much for me,” Sahara said. “I’m loving this crazy event, but I need to sleep at some point in my life. I’m out.” And with that, she vanished.
“Me, too,” Capello said. “Too late for me.”
“And me,” Kylian said. “I’m gonna take off.”
One by one, the rest of the group vanished—all except for Sang, Van, and Bidane.
“I know you’re cheating,” Bidane said. “I know you’re cheating and I want to know why.”
Sang growled at Bidane, but said nothing.
“Look, Bidane, take it easy. We’re all tired; why don’t you log out and then we can figure it out tomorrow morning.”
“Feh,” Bidane spat. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Van shrugged. “Well, we need to keep going.” He began to walk up the path leading toward the mountain range. Sang followed him wordlessly.