Chapter 36

  “Wha—”

  My voice cut off as I vanished.

  I appeared back in Hearth in the middle of nowhere as an incorporeal ghost. No. Not the middle of nowhere. I was where I had lost my last health point. All my items were in a pile at my feet, having fallen off my now ghoul corpse. I tried to loot but quickly remembered I couldn’t yet. Shit. Despite the lack of body, my heart felt like it was pounding in my throat. I needed my gear, so I waited. While I waited, I rushed a couple messages, trying to relay as much meaning with as few words as possible.

  Sam: We’ve got 5 credits.

  Sam: Headed to pavilion.

  Mie: Why can I see your messages? I’m about to die!

  As soon as I turned corporeal again, I spaz looted my gear, shifted to my Rogue, blinked, dove, then started sprinting toward the stone pavilion.

  My health was notching down at a steep twenty percent per second, and just as I was about to go down, I popped another Major Health Potion, giving myself three more seconds. Just before I died again, the pavilion came into view. Mie was standing over her corpse as an incorporeal ghost. She had finally died. Now a ghost once again, I checked my upper right stats, staying near my items, which had just dropped into a pile again. They fell off the rotting ghoul of my old self. It rose to its feet and pathed toward the pavilion.

  Players Remaining: 3

  Life Credits: 3

  Already at three?! Mie turned corporeal, and I tried shouting at her, then realized I couldn’t. Right. No body.

  Sam: MIE, HEAL!

  I watched in panic as her health crashed down until finally it spiked back up with a Flash Heal. My ghoul turned toward her. Ah . . . shit.

  Sam: Just keep healing. I’m going to try something when I resurrect.

  Mie: WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

  I had to admit, Mike was a crafty little fuck to come up with this plan. I still didn’t actually know if it was him, but I was pretty certain. The guy was a sneaky shit. I cast the thoughts aside as the plan that had half formed in my head came together. It was either going to be completely awesome . . . or really suck and get us all squished. As my ten second incorporeal form ticked to zero, time seemed to slow. I remembered something Phil used to say.

  ‘Quick hands, man. Quick hands. You have that. Now you just need to not do dumb shit, and you will actually git good.’

  I chuckled as I remembered, turning corporeal once more, and the next moments felt like a dream.

  First, I looted my gear. I was still a decent distance away from the pavilion, so I dove and sprinted till I reached the steps. While I ran, I popped another solid health potion, and I mentally targeted the space I had seen under us back when the camera had glitched below. I held the yellow glowing dirt patch in my mind and activated blink. Like always, I vanished from my current location and reappeared somewhere else. My body, like ink on water, slipped out of a rocky ceiling, and I then I was falling into a world full of golden squares.

  As I fell, I shifted to Warden, activated Impact Armor, and tried to get my bearings, knowing I just had a couple seconds before I was dead. But just as I was a tick away from death, I slammed into one of the platforms, only to have a golden light flow upward through me, topping my health off. Damage potential continued to build up within me as the Black Zone compensated for my Impact Armor’s ninety-five percent damage reduction.

  I looked down; the platform had gone gray. Used up. I stepped onto another one. As my foot pressed down onto the golden square, it gave way slightly as if I was pressing down onto a gigantic button. I watched my health top off again as golden light floated up all around me. I looked around the large cavern. It was filled wall to wall with these healing platforms. My eyes caught movement further into the cavern. That . . . piece of shit.

  A small Gnome was hopping from one platform to the next, doing a little jig as he went. I inspected his nameplate.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Mike#ReallyReallyFuckingBigAssNumber

  Level 49, Gnome, Restoration Tinkerer

  Life Credits: 0

  I noticed the platform I had just stepped off was glowing slightly, as if it was recharging. I inspected it as I stepped onto another.

  {Health Trap}

  Description: On activation, heals target based on owner’s level and current stats. Recharges over 30 seconds.

  Cast Time: 3 seconds.

  Cooldown: 5 minutes.

  Wow. I couldn’t believe it. He had been planning this for a long time.

  “HEY, ASSHOLE!” I shouted.

  The Gnome slipped in shock, falling onto his back. He scrambled to his feet, looking around, spotting me, but too late.

  As my Impact Armor fell away, I shifted to my Rogue and activated my ultimate, Spinal Tap. I appeared behind him, sliding my wind shortsword through his spine and dealing seventy-five percent damage, then shifted to Warden and Ass Cracked him right as he stepped onto another platform. The golden square went dark as it healed him back to full, but he stayed put.

  I had been dreaming about this moment for way too long at that point to not do what I did next.

  I bent down, and I stroked his little cheek, repeating what he had said to me when he had transported us all to the stables. “It was too easy, little buddy.”

  “No! Wait!” he screamed.

  Then with no remorse, I smashed downward, releasing Impact Armor’s potential into my downward blow.

  It was like watching one of those addicting videos of a hydraulic press pushing down on all sorts of crushable objects . . . only in fast motion. But instead of plastic, or skittles . . . it was flesh and bone. He sort of just . . . squirted outward on all sides, away from my hammer.

  “Gah!” I stepped back, shocked. “Okay, that was too far.”

  I looked at my logs.

  Players Remaining: 2

  Congratulations! Your party is the last one standing! You have won this instance of Hearth!

  Initiating soul transaction

  I vanished and reappeared back in the Soul Space.

  Greg was just staring at me awkwardly from the couch. He looked sweaty and red, like he had just been doing physical labor for the last couple hours.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I said.

  “I . . . You . . . won,” he blubbered out.

  I looked at my party interface, and panic surged within me once more. It was no longer there. No Fred. No Liam. No . . . “Mie?” I said, looking down.

  She wasn’t there.

  “Where’s Mie?” I said again.

  Greg shrugged. “The TV just shut off.”

  I looked past him and saw the door that had appeared earlier.

  As I walked toward it, I realized that while its size was normal, it was made of what looked like walnut. It was a dark brown, almost charcoal, and as I reached it, I noticed that it was carved from top to bottom with the shape of an intricate tree.

  When I reached it, I looked at the round brass handle for a moment, settling my nerves.

  Then I pulled it.

  As the door opened, I felt a slight resistance, like the interior pressure in the room beyond was low. Air rushed in from behind me, and I stumbled forward slightly as if a gentle hand had just given me a nudge. What the hell?

  I steadied myself in the doorway, resisting the wind, and inspected the new space. What is this place? It was a circular room. The floor seemed to be made of a polished slate-colored marble, and as I stepped onto it, it felt smooth, almost slippery. The ceiling was twice as high as our common room and cast down moonlight that filled the room with the feeling of a clear night sky. I could see there was a transparent glass ceiling, and the space beyond the glass was a night sky filled with stars.

  In the middle of the room stood a circular pool. It was shallow and stood at about two feet high. It looked like a fountain you might find in a fancy mall, only without the fountain, so it was completely still. At its center rose a simple white basin.

  The walls that curved around the room were the same material as the floor. A polished, flat slate gray, and on the floor along the edges of the wall were small circles inset into the slate material. They gave off a warm yellow light. It felt like I was at the estate of some nobleman or like I was outdoors on a well-lit patio with the moon over my head. My eyes followed the yellow lights along the floor to the opposite side of the room.

  There was a door similar to my own.

  It cracked open slightly, then slammed shut, sending a loud BANG! echoing through the space. Curious, I stepped forward a few more paces toward the silent pool.

  The door opened again, and this time a small foot stuck through and stopped the door from closing.

  A small girl, almost a toddler, wedged her way through the crack, her back to me. With a great effort, she fully pushed her door open. She couldn’t have been older than two. More detail became apparent as she turned to face me. She wore a small flowery dress, and her hair fell just to her shoulders. Her bangs were neatly cut, and her eyes glistened. Her little face was screwed up in a determined expression.

  “Don’t make fun of me,” Mie said as she took a couple steps forward. “No midget jokes, okay?”

  We looked at each other for another moment before we rushed at each other. I made sure to slow down and fall to my knees just as we slammed together. Her little arms wrapped themselves around my neck, gripping me hard. I gripped her back, holding her close. The moment reminded me of little Lily. She had always been a snuggle bug.

  Mie’s hair was smooth and smelled of lavender, and I realized with frustration that my tears were getting her all wet.

  “Gah,” I muttered as I pulled away. “Sorry.” Then I saw the front of my shirt was completely soaked.

  “Same.”

  We looked at each other, eyes red. I grinned at her and then coughed, trying to clear my voice. “They grow up so fast.”

  “Shut it.”

  We both laughed, tears still falling, and to my amazement, we were still alive.

  “What do you think this place is?” Mie asked, looking around. She ran over to the small pool, leaned over the ledge, and looked in at the still water. As she did, I couldn’t help but remember her small baby form. Things were about to be totally different.

  “I don’t know. But whatever it is, let’s find out together.”

  Mie reached her little hand toward the liquid.

  “Mie. Wait. No. We don’t—”

  She plunged her hand in.