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  At the top of the guard tower, I glanced out at the no-man’s land between our cities. The line of torches had either been extinguished or walked away during the battle. I called for the others to meet me at my residence after they finished clearing every district in the city.

  On my way home, I saw all the destruction. So much had burned to the ground.

  I passed many of the new Fire Brigade along the way, knowing at least eighty percent of them would go back to their previous jobs the next day. My investments in civil services would need to go up considerably while trying to match or outdo Charlotte’s latest military advancements with the napalm death spiders that could survive under water.

  When I reached the park to the south of my home, I again noticed the extensive damage to the statue of me. The mechanical spiders had targeted it, almost managing to topple it over. Was Charlotte trying to hamper my morale because she was planning something big? I sighed, so tired of the constant battles. Julian had a point. Peace would be a good thing.

  As I waited for Julian and Keith to arrive to help plan the cleanup, I stopped near the base of the statue. Had something exploded in all the confusion? I saw lights shining out of a few cracks in the stone. Moving closer, the stone base settled, covering the cracks. Was I just seeing things or was there something underneath the base of the statue?

  “What’s wrong?” Keith asked as he walked up a little while later.

  “Nothing,” I said. “Thought I saw something earlier.”

  “Spiders shooting fire? They were real,” he said then grinned.

  “No, something else.” I pointed to the base of the statue. “Lights coming out.”

  “Coming out of the stone?” Julian asked, stopping near Keith.

  “No, coming out of cracks. The stone settled before you guys came up.”

  “I think you’re tired and hallucinating,” Julian said. “No offense.”

  “Maybe, but it looked real. Why would Charlotte try to attack my statue?”

  “To hurt our morale?” Keith asked.

  I frowned and shook my head. “Or to find something underneath.”

  “What could be underneath?” Julian asked.

  “Yeah,” Keith added. “There wasn’t anything when we put the statue up. It’s a shame it was destroyed. Charlotte is just messing with you.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “We need to clear this stone away.”

  “Tonight?” Keith asked, not sounding happy.

  “You don’t have to help if you don’t want to,” I said.

  “We’ll stay and help,” Julian said. “We don’t want you hurting yourself.”

  “Thanks.” I ran my hand over the smooth stone. “There’s something under here. I can feel it. We need to clear it away and put my mind at ease.”

  “I’m calling a team of engineers now,” Keith said, holding his block of wood.

  “Good,” I said. “Get some soldiers to cordon off the area.”

  “On it,” Keith said, raising a hand.

  I walked around the base of the statue. Had anything strange happened when it went up? Nothing came to me for a moment then it hit me. The Quest Giver had disappeared about the same time the statue went up. He’d helped me reach level nine as a Valkyrie Skyrider then went away just as things were getting interesting.

  The game made no sense sometimes.

  Chapter 16

  Quest Giver Dungeon

  Sarah

  Three hours after starting to dismantle and break down the base of the statue, we succeeded. Brilliant light came out of the hole we discovered. An iron ladder embedded in the sides of the round hole led down about twenty feet before stopping at a flat, stone surface at the bottom. I peered down, my heart beating faster.

  “Did you build this place?” Julian asked.

  I glanced over at him and shook my head. “No.”

  “Then who built it?” Keith asked. “We didn’t see it when we were building.”

  “I don’t know, but we’re about to find out. Come on…”

  “You’re not going down there,” Keith said. “You’re too important.”

  “Try and stop me,” I said.

  While the game frequently put obstacles in my way, it didn’t come out and force a path on me. I had free will except for the fact of being trapped.

  “There’s a plaque on the tunnel,” Julian said, pointing.

  I stepped over to him. “Where?”

  “There,” he said, motioning.

  “I’m climbing down to read it,” I said. “Watch my back.”

  “Too late,” Keith said, climbing into the hole and down the ladder.

  “What’s it say?” I asked, curious.

  Maybe it was a secret level? Warp zone? Treasure room? Escape from the penalty level? The possibilities were endless.

  “Dungeon Template 1b,” Keith said, peering at the small plaque. “Run by the Quest Giver. Current status: closed due to bugs.”

  “Bugs? What’s it talking about?” Julian asked.

  A thousand thoughts swept through my mind at once as I processed all the new information given to me. Was the Quest Giver an NPC who worked for the game in a bigger way than handing out quests on the penalty level? I’d never been able to get a straight answer out of him. Was he testing a dungeon level for the gamemaster or something?

  “Keep going down. I’m coming after you. Julian, stay up here.”

  As Keith climbed down the iron ladder rungs toward the bottom of the hole, I followed after him, intent on finding out more. The Quest Giver had always seemed odd to me, like another version of the gamemaster somehow. Was the Tower of Gates suffering from a split personality? I smiled at the idea as I reached the bottom of the ladder.

  “What is this place?” Keith asked, looking around the room.

  “An office,” I said, pointing at the desk.

  Several bookshelves lined three of the walls. A door with a red warning sign nailed to it stood in the center of one of the walls. Keith stepped toward it.

  “Don’t you dare,” I snapped. “Not until we know more.”

  He raised his hands. “Calm down. I haven’t done anything.”

  “Sorry,” I said. “This is information overload. I bet Charlotte found out about this place somehow. Maybe she captured the Quest Giver and has been torturing him?”

  Keith shrugged then picked up a bucket in the corner.

  “Aw, gross,” he said, setting it back down.

  “Toilet?” I asked.

  He nodded, stepping toward me.

  “Or maybe he went into the dungeon template and got killed?” I wondered out loud. “What do you think?”

  “This is all above my pay grade,” he said. “I can’t believe this place was down here without us knowing about it.”

  “He must’ve built it after the statue went up,” I said. “Let’s check his desk for a calendar.”

  I walked over to the desk made from unfinished wood. Several names had been scratched into it, worn down and indecipherable. I saw what seemed to be a to-do list and picked it up. As I glanced at the handwriting on the paper, my heart skipped a beat. The Quest Giver, a player character named Thomas, was heading back to Fishguard.

  “What is it?” Keith asked.

  “Good news,” I said, not explaining to the NPC.

  If he’d left the penalty level, I could get off it too. Could I find Eric and Josh? The Tower of Gates felt impossibly huge in that moment. How would I find them? What if the game meant to keep us separated for some reason? The implications hit me like a master swordsman.

  “I need to check the rest of his notes,” I said. “You can go back upstairs.”

  “And take care of our half-burnt city,” he said.

  I frowned and glanced over at him.

  “This is important too,” I said. “You’ll see.”

  “I’m sorry. All this is getting to me. Morale will be low for a while.”

  “We’ll get through this,” I said. “Like ev
erything else.”

  “I’ll report back if anything else comes up,” he said, walking toward the ladder.

  “Good,” I said absentmindedly while staring at another pile of papers.

  Beyond his real name, I learned more about Thomas the Quest Giver. Part of his punishment had been to take me on quests to level as a Valkyrie Skyrider. The game had wanted to work with me for a while. What had changed? Or had something happened to Thomas? Players on the other islands had worked with him too.

  None of it made sense in any real way. After more than ten long years in the game, I felt my sense of reality fraying at the edges. Ten years is a long time! By the end of my penalty, I’ll have been in the game longer than I was in the real world. How would that change me? I took a deep breath and pushed the fear aside.

  Going through the notes scattered throughout the room in various places, I found out Thomas was supposed to write-up a thorough report after testing the dungeon, but the first few players on the penalty level died. Was that why Thomas had not asked me to clear it and ran away?

  I liked to think we were friends. How had he stayed in character so long while around me and the others? I shook my head at his mastery. Even more intriguing, had he escaped back to Fishguard? And if so, which version? What time would I appear if it was level one-three? Had Eric, Josh, and the others already gone through and failed to find me? Would the gamemaster reward me for finishing the template dungeon? I had so many questions and very few answers.

  The last question intrigued me. Everything I found pointed to rescuing a gnome technician in white overalls from the dungeon. Why was that so difficult? Or were the other players stuck in detention on the penalty level with me just bad players? That could be possible. If it was true, I should be able to complete the dungeon and write-up a report.

  Maybe the gamemaster would cut some time off my twenty-year penalty for good behavior and helping out? I smiled at the thought.

  The war with Charlotte had taken up my thoughts for the last ten years, making time go by quickly, but I was tiring of the back and forth with neither of us able to win decisively. Maybe I could finally change all of that.

  I searched for any clues on what I’d find in the dungeon. Beyond a gnome technician dressed in a white jumpsuit, I didn’t find anything else. I resisted reading Thomas’ personal diary for about ten seconds before flipping it open. He sounded just as confused and frightened as the rest of us trapped in the Tower of Gates. I missed him even more as I got to know him.

  Later that evening, I finally went back upstairs to check on my city. No game notifications had popped up warning me about anything. I could check everything on my HUD, but I wanted to talk to people and see the damage for myself. As I walked toward the City Center, I hoped Charlotte would hole up and give us a little time to recover from her latest assault.

  After updating myself on the status of the city and learning all the fires had been put out, I told Julian and Keith to finish up operations and lock everything down. They both wanted to retaliate and send a force to Cocoa City, but I shot them down. Neither liked my decision, but I’d learned a while back that to be a leader you needed to think about everyone at once.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I said. “This mission is important. It could end up allowing us to finally win the war.”

  “That would be good,” Julian said.

  Keith nodded. “I can’t imagine peace.”

  “We’d get so much more done,” I said. “Then again, the war’s allowed us to develop new technologies quickly. Even losing one life is too much of a cost to pay.”

  “I want to go with you,” Keith said. “Julian can handle everything else.”

  “No, I need you above ground in case Charlotte does attack,” I said. “Don’t worry, I shouldn’t be gone too long. The dungeon doesn’t appear to be too dangerous from what I’ve read about it so far.”

  Neither noticed my lie. I didn’t need them worrying about me. They had to keep the city going while I restarted my adventuring career on the side. Once again, the immensity of the Tower of Gates amazed me. The city building on the penalty level made sense, but I’d also been able to level up my character for eventually returning to the normal game levels.

  I left Julian and Keith at the City Center before returning home to plan for my dungeon dive. The idea of adventuring and killing monsters perked me up a bit. A few other players had been killed trying to finish the save the gnome mission, but they weren’t me. I’d get in, get out, and go on to be rewarded for finishing the Quest Giver’s task. Silly Thomas.

  * * * * *

  Even if it turned out to be a large dungeon, I likely wouldn’t make it to level ten Valkyrie Skyrider. While powerful, I leveled so slowly. I stood in Thomas’ office, staring at the innocuous door with the red warning sign. The Tower of Gates could locate the dungeon anywhere in its vast memory banks, so finding it below my city wasn’t too strange.

  Thomas had showed up unexpectedly one day, giving me hope. I never imagined I would play the stupid game for over ten years on my own. Charlotte not working with me made me hate her even more. She would pay for her arrogance and insistence on going through it alone. I focused back on the task at hand, clearing the template dungeon.

  One note mentioned that the door wouldn’t be visible from the other side once I went through it. The only way to return to the Quest Giver’s office was to clear the dungeon by rescuing the gnome technician. I took a deep breath. Finding a gnome in a dungeon shouldn’t be too difficult. The notes also told me the dungeon shaped itself to the level of the player entering it, which meant I should be able to clear it on my own.

  Why had the other players died? I wondered, as I stepped forward and put my hand on the doorknob. After hesitating for a moment, I turned the knob and opened the door. A rippling field of energy, much like the portals in the Tower of Gates, filled the doorway. After going through, I’d have to finish the dungeon. If not, I would get trapped or even die.

  Restarting a new character in the middle of a penalty brought on further penalties, so I wanted to avoid that at all costs. I checked all my equipment one more time and glanced at my status screen on the heads-up display in front of me. While dangerous, I’d missed adventuring in dungeons and exploring new lands. Getting back to it would be nice.

  I stepped through the shimmering portal and appeared in a narrow hallway with a dirt floor and brick walls on either side. Glancing up, I saw a flimsy and half-rotted wooden beams helping to keep the tunnel from falling in on itself. A foul stench filled the air. I turned around, and as expected, I didn’t see the door back to Thomas’ office. The tunnel just ended.

  Okay. Look alive. Be alert. You’ve got this. Going through motivational mantras in my mind, I stepped forward with the spear in my hand. A glowing light-stone hung in the air over my right shoulder, lighting the way a few dozen feet down the hallway. Because the level adjusted to every player going in to test it, I couldn’t be sure of what I would come across.

  I reached a door at the end of the hall. When I grabbed the brass handle to open it, I screamed and jerked my hand back when it burnt me. The burning trap only did twelve damage. I’d healed up completely before venturing into the dungeon, so I should be okay, I told myself.

  On the other side of the door, I saw a nasty room covered with body parts. The stench of death filled my nostrils as I glanced around, not seeing any doors or exits from the room. What’s going on here? I wondered and stepped forward. The thought of more traps scared me, but I had to keep going. While deciding what to do next, two glowing orbs about my height appeared in the center of the room, revealing two monsters.

  A black bear with matted fur roared as it stood on its hind legs. The poor goblin who appeared beside it had no chance. I stepped back into the hallway as the bear slashed the goblin down the chest, splitting it open. The sick smell in the room got worse as the goblin guts spilled all over the floor. I watched as the bear lapped up the blood.

&nb
sp; The simple woodland creature wouldn’t be too much of a problem. I stepped into the room, spear gripped in my right hand. As I crept forward, staring at the bear, I hoped nothing else suddenly materialized in the room.

  Was the dungeon broke and glitching? Maybe Thomas had been right in keeping me out of it? What had I done by going in?

  A few feet away, the bear looked up at me, sniffing the air. It lunged forward, but its front paws slipped in the blood and guys smeared all over the white and black tiles of the floor. When it fell flat on its face, I stepped forward and brought down the spear on the back of its neck. The scream it let out shook me as I pulled out my weapon and stepped away.

  My second hit ended the bear’s life.

  Combat is Over!

  You get 1,000 xp

  You have 821,100 xp

  You need 178,900 xp for level 10 Valkyrie Skyrider.

  I sighed, hating the slow progress of my new class. Still, if I managed to level up higher, I would be as powerful as a character maybe twice my level. There had to be a way out of the room. I walked over to one of the walls and reached out to touch the cold bricks. They felt solid enough. How could I search for a hidden door without a rogue around?

  Examining the rest of the wall, I saw someone had scrawled "Has anyone seen my invisible cloak?" near the farthest corner from where I’d come in. Another two flashes of light caught my attention. I turned and saw two more creatures appear. A wolf chased a buzzard. The big bird tried to fly, but it didn’t have anywhere to go. I held my spear up.

  The wolf, unable to catch the buzzard as it flapped around, came at me. I firmly planted my feet on the tile floor and readied my spear to meet the beast. The stupid animal got close enough for me to jab it with the tip of my spear, taking out its right eye. As it yelped and backed up, I moved in for the kill and brought my spear down on the top of its head.

  You get 500 xp