CHAPTER SIX
“It’s pretty obvious we don’t have a choice any more,” Phoenix insisted. He had dragged Jade outside into the chilly night to discuss their situation away from Brynn’s sharp ears. “If our only way home is by completing the quests then we have to get the Jewel before the Romans do.”
“If,” she hissed back at him. Her breath condensed into a cloud. “That’s a big if. We haven’t even looked for another way home.”
“Come on Jade, seriously,” Phoenix shook his head. “Do you really, truly believe there’s an easy way out of this? Do you really think someone or something went to all the trouble to get us here, just to let us go for the asking? Face it, this is a game and we have to play our way out. Now we have a deadline, too. If we don’t get the Jewel before the Romans, we really will be stuck here. Our only chance to get to Level Two – or home,” he amended hastily as she turned a furious glare on him, “is to steal the Jewel from the Druids at Stonehenge. That’s what the rules say.”
“I don’t know…” Jade began to pace, her outline dimly lit by the cloud-shrouded glow of an almost-full moon overhead. She wrung her hands together. “I just wish there was some way of knowing for sure what we have to do. A sign or something, to tell us we’re on the right track. Then I would do whatever it takes….I guess.”
Phoenix raised an eyebrow. She seemed more likely worry and think something to death, than actually do anything. He’d rather just get out there and get going. All this talking was giving him a headache.
He opened his mouth to say so but she interrupted.
“Hey! Your pendant is glowing.”
Startled, he looked down. There was a faint, purplish light glimmering through the thick wool of his shirt. He drew it out, squinting down at it.
“Mine is too!” she added. “Maybe if we, like, fit them together like a puzzle and wish really hard, it will get us home.”
Phoenix doubted it but he was willing to humour her if it would make her focus on playing out Level One. He unclasped his chain and they fitted the two halves together, holding them gingerly as though they were going to explode. He had a feeling it was going to take a lot more than wishing to get them home again and, to be honest, he didn’t mind if they stayed awhile.
Nothing happened.
Jade sighed, her hopeful expression fading. “Well, it was worth a….”
A flash of purple-blue light seared their eyes, illuminating the astonished look on her face. It coalesced into a small, perfectly formed image that hovered in the darkness above the amulet like a hologram.
“Is that Stonehenge?” she whispered, sounding awed. They both stared at it. It looked wrong, somehow. “Oh! All the stones are there. That’s why it looks weird.” She poked a finger through the translucent, compete stone circles.
The image vanished. She jerked her finger back.
Phoenix blinked, waiting for his eyes to readjust. The amulet under his fingers was warm. Catching Jade’s eye he shrugged ruefully.
“You asked for a sign. I’d say that qualifies, wouldn’t you?”
Her mouth moved but he couldn’t hear any sound. He shook his head as a distant roaring surged into his mind, blotting out any words. Sudden heat radiated from the amulets, still clasped in their joined fingers. He watched in horror as Jade’s eyes rolled up in her head. Her knees gave way and she collapsed to the cold ground, dragging him with her. He couldn’t release her hand or his amulet. Darkness claimed him – again.
This time it was different. This wasn’t the brief darkness of unconsciousness. Phoenix opened his eyes to a gray, formless world of nothing. Beneath his body, the ‘ground’ felt soft but there was nothing to see; nothing with which to orientate himself or get a sense of ‘up’ and ‘down’. Distance and time were meaningless. Gray encompassed all.
Without actually moving, he stood upright. Jade’s hand was still clasped in his, their amulets still joined. He couldn’t let go. Around their hands danced that same purple-blue light he’d come to associate with magic in the game-realm. So where were they now?
He glanced at Jade. She shook her head, her eyes both frightened and hopeful.
Home? She mouthed. He shrugged. Maybe she was right. Maybe this was some sort of between-world through which they could find their way home. He closed his eyes half-reluctantly. His visualisation of home wasn’t particularly sharp or enthusiastic, so he wasn’t surprised when the gray world was still there after he opened them. Jade’s shoulders slumped.
A sudden, subconscious tension made him reach for his sword, only to find it missing. His dagger was gone, too. His curses fell silently into the absorbing, lightless world. He tried to wrench his hand free of Jade’s but couldn’t do that, either. Looking at her, Phoenix saw his own fear reflected in her eyes.
A gray-cloaked figure appeared, seeming to coalesce from within the featureless stuff surrounding them. Phoenix bunched up a fist, wondering if it would even connect here. Lean but stoop-shouldered, the figure radiated power. At the same time, it seemed forlorn and tired. The face lay shadowed in a deep cowl. Phoenix had the impression of age, pain and a hint of desperation.
We have only a few moments before I must return. I am not strong enough for this any more. Thin and faintly amused, the voice sounded directly into Phoenix’s head, bypassing his ears altogether. He blinked in surprise and felt Jade’s clutch on his fingers tighten.
Who are you? Jade’s thought-voice sounded much younger than her normal one. Phoenix wondered if it was her real-world voice he heard in his head.
The grey figure made a hasty movement as though rejecting her question. The joining of your amulets gave me a small window of opportunity to speak with you but it will only work once. Do not waste time in useless questions. Listen. When they did not interrupt, the voice continued. You have been brought here to do what we cannot. You must stop Feng Zhudai. This world and your own depend on it. If you fail, both worlds are lost. If you fail, your otherworld bodies will die. If you fail, your lives there will be forfeit and your world altered beyond comprehension if Feng Zhudai succeeds in his ultimate plan. Witness.
With a wave of one knotted, white hand, images began to appear directly in Phoenix’s mind. He gasped in shock, clutching at his head with his free hand. It was like watching a montage of all the worst war films and horror movies. Half-disbelieving, he saw his school go up in flames; his house a tumbled ruin; his mother dragged, screaming into a small cell. On a broader scale he saw catastrophic wars across generations and continents. Ages of chaos and slavery. Above and beyond all, controlling the world like a puppeteer, hovered a shadowy figure in black. Somehow he knew who it was – Feng Zhudai.
Abruptly, the scenes vanished, leaving strange, red after-images dancing in the air.
They were still in the gray limbo world. The hooded figure before them drooped, as though drained of what little energy it had. Phoenix caught a glimpse of pale skin and a pain-pinched mouth.
I will return you to Albion. The first step you must take to stop Zhudai is to get the Jewel of Asgard before Agricola does. He will strike on the Equinox, when the Keepers of the Jewel are at their strongest and also at their weakest.
The Equinox! It was Jade’s thought, and Phoenix heard the fear underscoring it. But that’s at least five or six days away. If Phoenix is right, we have less than two days before this whole game...world is overrun with more Players. That’s not enough time. I just want to go home!
The hint of a laugh brushed across his mind. Time...time does not run as quickly at this end of the continuum. A day here is but a few hours in your own world. You will have time, if you are wise. If you truly wish to go home then this is your only path.
But we don’t even know where the Jewel is! Jade’s anguished wail interrupted.
Did you not see
the Stone temple, girl? That is where you will find the Jewel and its Keepers.
But...
No more questions. The white hand, held up to forestall Jade’s thoughts, shook. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You must get the Jewel first or Feng Zhudai will wrest it from the Romans and be strengthened by its power. With the Jewel in his hands, he will be almost unstoppable. He will lay waste to this world and yours. Indeed, the figure seemed to sigh, the home you knew will never have existed. Do not mistake. What you do here will affect your world as much as this one. This ‘game’ is nothing more than a portal through which you have been drawn. This world is real, in its own way. Let neither the Jewel nor your Amulets or lives fall into Zhudai’s hands if you ever wish to return home. Protect the Jewel. Protect the Amulets. Stop Zhudai. You are our only hope now.
Go.
The hand waved again. The gray world blinked out of existence.
Phoenix found himself lying on the half-frozen ground, staring up at a million sparkling stars overhead. A fleeting, almost inconsequential thought crossed his mind: he’d never seen so many stars. The Milky Way arced overhead in a glittering sweep of humbling distance and beauty.
Beneath his fingers, Phoenix felt the cold, damp earth. He crumbled a lump of dirt into its gritty components. It felt real. The stars looked real. Springtime scents and the first hint of dew on his skin seemed real.
Could it actually be real?
Images of destruction and despair flashed again behind his eyes. Could it be true? Could the game’s arch-enemy actually destroy the real world? No. This was just a game. He was inside a game. A small part of his mind laughed, mocking his own thoughts. He could believe he was part of a computer game but not that it was actually another world, as real as his own? Why believe one but not the other? They were equally outrageous ideas. There was certainly no technology in his own world that could put him inside a computer simulation like this. All that was left to explain it was the magic of this one. Somehow, someone in this world had reached across time and space to pull him and Jade in.
Why them?
A groan broke into his thoughts. Beside him, Jade clambered to her feet, swaying as she brushed dirt off her cloak and breeches. She reached a hand down. He took it and hauled himself upright.
They stood in silence for a moment then she raised her head and stared about her like she saw the place afresh. A strange, unreadable expression flickered across her face. She turned huge, worried eyes on him.
“This is real?” Her strangled whisper was barely audible.
Phoenix got a tight grip on his own spiralling uncertainties and feigned a casual shrug. “Seems so. For a given value of ‘real’, I guess. Real enough, anyway. Who can tell? We don’t know if that guy was telling the truth.” He tried a grin, hoping it didn’t look too stretched.
She managed a small, lopsided smile he could tell her heart wasn’t in it. Frowning, she slipped her necklace back on, turned and began to walk toward Brynn’s little thatched house.
“I guess you’re happy now,” she muttered. “You get your wish to stay and play the game out.”
Phoenix snorted, feeling his heartrate slow a little. “I wanted to play a game, not feel like the survival of the entire world rested on my shoulders. It wasn’t supposed to turn out to be real – just a bit of fun.” Lighthearted though his words were, he felt the solidness of them settle uncomfortably in his guts. He’d wanted an escape from responsibility, yet here he was taking on more than ever.
When Jade didn’t reply, he glanced across at her. Her smooth brow was marred by two deep, shadowed frown lines. “You ok?”
She flashed him a quick, haunted look. “I s’pose so. I guess I’m just trying to wrap my head around it. This means we do have to play this through. Of course, maybe we don’t have to do all five levels. Maybe, if we stop Zhudai from getting the Jewel, that will be enough and we’ll be sent home at the end of Level One. Oh, I don’t know,” she paused, twisting her hands together again. “It just seems too hard. I just want to go home.”
Phoenix didn’t know what to say, so he wisely staying silent. He still wanted to stay, even with the added responsibility. This was still way more exciting than homework and being grounded.
Finally, Jade sighed, flinging her arms wide. “Who was that, anyway? How do we know she wasn’t just one of Feng Zhudai’s flunkies? How do we know that this world will affect ours?”
“She?” He blinked at her in surprise.
“It was an old woman,” now it was her turn to look surprised, “couldn’t you tell?”
He shook his head. “Man, woman - whatever. The point is: Zhudai’s hardly going to send one of his own people to tell us to stop him at all costs, is he?”
“I suppose not.” she made a frustrated noise and wrapped her arms across her chest. “I just don’t know if I can do it! She said our real bodies will die if we fail? What if I can’t handle it? What if I let you down? I can’t save the world. I’m just a kid! I don’t even know what to expect.”
Phoenix shrugged. “Do you ever know? That’s life, isn’t it? If you knew everything in advance, it’d be pretty boring.” He really didn’t understand her. How could anyone function always worrying about what might happen? You just coped as things came up, didn’t you? Learned as you went along. At least, that’s what he did.
“But I’d be able to prepare for it; make plans; get ready.” Her voice rose plaintively.
“Get a grip, Jade.” He grabbed her arm, losing patience with her worrying. “This is only Level One. I’m sure we can handle it. Look how well you used your staff and healing powers. Just don’t think about it so much. Use your character’s skills and yours. All we have to do is get to Stonehenge and steal the Jewel before the Romans get it. Just focus on that.”
The resigned, fretful expression on Jade’s face showed she was far from happy with the situation. “But we don’t know where we are; or where Stonehenge is from here; or what the Jewel itself is. How are we supposed to steal it? How do we find the Druids? How are we supposed to stop Feng Zhudai from capturing it, us and our Amulets? We have to have some sort of plan.”
“Well,” Phoenix grinned in the darkness. “There’s a ready-made local guide and thief just sitting inside waiting for us. We could ask him for help? The rulebook did say we could each choose a Companion.”
“But..” Jade stopped, staring at the closed door. “He’s a kid and… a thief.”
“He gave your purse back and he’s helped us tonight, hasn’t he? Besides,” he said, tasting a hint of his own bitterness, “I’d say he’s grown up pretty fast as an orphan in this world. Let’s go back inside see what he says, huh?”
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