The next thing Van knew, he was falling down, and falling down fast. “Ahhhhh!” he cried as he hit the steel platform of the floating observation tower, hard.
“Ooof,” he moaned as he slowly stood up. He hadn’t been very far up from the platform, but had he made a mistake, he could have fallen a lot farther than he would have wanted to. He glanced at the massive building and saw that there was no one else on the platform. Perfect! He would be able to go right in and sneak around, hopefully undetected.
As he grabbed his Potion of Invisibility out of his bag, though, the doors to the building slid open and Trefor walked out.
“Really? Van, are you seriously back here?” Trefor asked.
“Ah crap. How did you know I was here?” Van asked.
“You think we don’t monitor our own observation station?” Trefor asked, incredulity dripping from his words. “You can’t be that dense.”
“I’m not dense... just hopeful,” Van said, pulling his darts out.
“What are you going to even hope to do with those? Kill me? Van, I’m so much higher-level than you, you don’t have a chance.”
“That’s the thing about gaming,” Van said as he readied his darts. “No matter what level you play, no matter who your character is, there are certain things that always work. Things that are super-cheap and lame to use in a regular scenario. Like dizzy darts!”
With that, Van threw the darts straight at Trefor, who didn’t even bother to dodge them, and the darts struck him hard-on in the chest. The word STUNNED! appeared over Trefor’s head.
“Arggh, you idiot!” Trefor shouted as Van rushed past him and into the building, chuckling as he moved. Those darts were considered to be the lamest thing in the game because they automatically stunned anyone, regardless of their level. They were fairly common, but were usually seen as exploitable and broken items, so players who used them tended to get a bad reputation. Of course, the stun effect would wear off in a few seconds, but that was enough time to seriously frustrate just about anyone.
Van slid into the main hallway and downed his Invisibility Potion, turning translucent. That would help avoid Trefor’s rage for a few minutes while he poked around looking for Sang. She had to be here somewhere, right? As he scanned around, he heard a loud shout.
“You idiot, I can see you! Why would you think I wouldn’t have a Ring of True Vision?”
Van didn’t move, in case it was some kind of a trick. But Trefor walked right up to Van and grabbed him by the shoulder.
“Look, I tried to be nice. I tried to be patient with you and I tried to be kind, but I’m at my breaking point. I don’t understand why you’re so idiotic, but I’m done helping you out. Consider whatever friendship we had repaid by the fact that I allowed you to log out, but now? Now there’s nothing keeping me from killing you.”
“Wait!” Van protested. “Listen, I’ve got something to tell you!”
“What is it?” Trefor asked, growling deeply. It was becoming increasingly clear that Van was starting to get on his nerves.
“I cast the spell of Greasy Armor on my clothes earlier!” Van said as he effortlessly slid out from Trefor’s grip and began to run as fast as he could in the opposite direction of him.
“Are you kidding me?” Trefor shouted as he gave chase. Fortunately, Van’s armor type was light, whereas Trefor was wearing plate mail, meaning that Van would forever move faster than him.
“Get back here!” Trefor shouted as Van easily outmaneuvered him and kept on running deeper into the building. He had no idea where Sang would be. And glancing around, he saw dozens of doors. There was only one way to find her, he knew. He leapt out of the way of Trefor and grabbed his bagpipes…
Chapter Twenty-Four
“It will be a great pleasure to see you a lifeless husk,” Yvgo said as Sang felt the powerful kinetic force around her legs forcing her to walk forward. He was controlling her limbs against her will, and it was a struggle to resist, more and more so with each step.
“Yeah, well, maybe you’re not gonna be so lucky!” Sang muttered as she broke into a sweat. Trying to resist the energy moving through her was difficult, but she was starting to get the hang of it somehow.
“Cease struggling,” Yvgo said. “It is pointless.”
“What’s pointless is—” Sang’s words were interrupted by a hideous blaring noise, a sound so terrible that she felt as if her head was going to explode. The pain surged through her ears and she gasped, thinking that the psychic creature had done undertaken sort of attack on her senses. Only then did she realize that the sound wasn’t an attack, but rather the sound of Van’s bagpipes. He was here! Perfection! “Such a horrid sound!” Yvgo said, “what is it?”
“Bad news for you!” Sang said, realizing the noise had distracted the creature so that it had released its hold over her. She spun around and kicked it hard in the leg, causing it to drop to the ground. The alien made a horrible screeching sound as she ran in the opposite direction, directly toward the blaring of the bagpipes.
“I have never been more happy to hear that noise!” Sang called out as she ran as hard as she could. With her health having drastically improved, she now felt like she could run for miles and miles without stopping.
“Sang!” Van shouted as he moved into the corridor that she was running out of.
“Van!” she said, stopping sharply to avoid ramming him.
“Can’t talk, running from Trefor!” Van said, pointing to the angry paladin who was charging towards them.
“Uh, yeah, well, we’re in trouble then,” Sang said, pointing to the alien that was rapidly moving towards them from behind.
“Oh, what the hell is that thing?” Van asked.
“No time to explain—we gotta get out of here!” Sang said.
“I have just the items!” Van said, grabbing a smoke bomb. “And away we go!” He threw the bomb to the ground, but much to his surprise, it just hovered in the air.
“Enough!” Yvgo said in a voice that was loud enough to cause both Sang and Van to grab their heads.
“There he is!” Trefor said, coming to a stop. “My apologies, Messenger Yvgo; he slipped past using an exploit in the game. I’ll kill him.”
“You could not stop this fool from entering our sanctum?” Yvgo demanded, walking up to Trefor and towering above him.
“I’m sorry, I—” Trefor’s words were cut off as he suddenly began to float in the air. Yvgo held his hands up.
“What use do we have for fools?” Yvgo asked.
“It won’t happen again, I promise!” Trefor wheezed.
“Very well,” Yvgo said, turning to look at Sang and Van. Sang could feel the familiar sensation of kinetic energy around her whole body, freezing her in place.
Trefor fell to the ground with a large clatter as his armor hit the floor.
“Transport her to my private vessel,” Yvgo said as the alien turned and began to walk away. “And kill him this moment.”
“Yes, Messenger!” Trefor said, turning around and pulling out his sword.
“Can’t move!” Van said, struggling in vain to do something.
“Trefor, don’t be stupid! If you kill Van, you’re a dead man. The moment my people break open the door to your house, you’re a dead man!” Sang hissed.
“Well, as you probably saw back there, I don’t have a lot of options,” Trefor said, walking up to Van. “Sorry, buddy. I really am. But hey, it’s you or me.”
“Wait, Trefor—before I die, I have to confess something to Sang!” Van said.
“Oh God, are you going to tell me you love me?” Sang asked.
“Do you have to sound so disgusted?” Van asked.
“No, I’m just saying that we’re good friends, but I don’t feel anything close to romantic love for you at all!” Sang replied.