thought this, however, he saw two more men break off from
the line with the shorter of the two saying, “We only have five
more minutes. Do you think we’ll make it?”
Scared, Sam quickly looked around for Tezukayoshi, and
upon spotting him perched on the corner of a nearby roof
asked, “Did you hear if they were talking about the two hour
limit?”
Responding through their mental link, the lizard said, ‘I
did not hear that, but I believe we are almost out of time.’ Shaking his head, Sam knew that if he were sitting on
the couch at home, there would surely have been some sort of
clock running at the top of his screen, and in his panic, he
pictured it saying that there were only a couple minutes left.
Glancing at the Tower which loomed high over the city, Sam
estimated that he was probably ten or twelve blocks from its
base and making it there wouldn’t be a straight shot. Looking at Tezukayoshi, Sam said, “We’re going to have
to run. Do you think you can keep up?”
Raising one of its eyebrows, the lizard responded
smugly, ‘The question is, can you keep up with me, human?’ and
then without waiting for a reply, it zipped off so fast Sam only
saw the flick of its tail as it disappeared from view.
Sam knew that most JRPGs offered simple mini games
like this where you were forced to race through the city to
reach your goal before one of the other characters did, and
some of them even offered special bonuses if you beat a certain
time. Most of the time when these sorts of games came up,
Sam had some sort of map to follow or icons which served as
checkpoints along the way. Being in the game, however, it
didn’t seem like he had either, and so he oriented himself with
the Tower and began running as fast as he could.
As Sam made his way through the streets, he faced a
number of obstacles including not only people who stood in his
path, but also carts and other small structures which he didn’t
recall being there before. Twice along his route he spotted a
glimpse of Tezukayoshi’s tail as the lizard leapt from one
building to the next, but it was always a distance away, and
each time Sam thought it would have been great if he had
gotten to see a complete list of his familiar’s stats like he had
his own including a breakdown of Tezukayoshi’s strength and
agility while at the psychic’s. At least then Sam would have
known if it was even possible to beat his familiar. As it was, it wasn’t until Sam made his last turn that he thought he had a
chance.
As he rounded the final corner and finally caught sight of
the Tower’s opening, his eyes were drawn to a commotion up
ahead. Still running, Sam diverted his focus for a second and
saw the telltale sign of a recent accident. Following the debris,
his eyes locked on the familiar green and blue scales of his little
friend and saw that Tezukayoshi was just recovering from the
spill and was not yet up to his full speed. Pushing himself even
more, Sam’s legs began to pump harder, and he soon found
himself gaining on his four legged companion.
By the time they were on the walk up to the Tower’s
entrance, the two of them were neck and neck, and Sam knew
he was running out of space. Glancing quickly towards their
goal, he spotted Anna and Kat standing by the door and realized
if he was going to make a last ditch move to win, it would have
to be now.
Taking a risk, Sam counted out three more steps and
then put everything he had left into a jump. In the real world,
this would have been about the equivalent of Michael Jordan
clearing nearly half the court while in the air, and Sam would
have never had a chance at a comparable feat. However, being
in the game with all the leveling he had done while fighting
creatures like the yeti, he hoped it would pay off.
As his feet left the ground, Sam felt a sudden increase in
his speed as the air rushing past his face surged with intensity.
Looking down, he noticed that he had left Tezukayoshi behind,
and he smiled at the idea that he was going to win. That is,
right up until he looked forward again and saw the side of the
Tower itself quickly approaching, too quickly in fact. With no way to slow himself down while in midair, Sam
tried to reorient himself the best he could and get his feet out
in front of him. To his surprise, as well as to the two women
below him, his trick worked, and he managed to plant both feet
on the side of the giant structure, absorbing most of the force
with his legs and bounced off lightly.
Landing on his feet, he took a few seconds to do some
deep breathing to catch his breath. As he did, he used that time
to look over at the girls who stood nearby shaking their heads,
and then at Tezukayoshi whose expression looked like he felt
Sam cheated him from a win. Reminding himself that this was
just a game and that he shouldn’t have to worry about things
like oxygen, Sam tried to stand up and say to the girls, “Sorry. I
thought we were running late,” but was cut off by his own need
for oxygen after just the first word. Unlike Neo in The Matrix,
he couldn’t ignore his programmed need to keep breathing
quite so easily and had to resume gasping for lungfuls of fresh
air.
Stepping up next to Sam, Anna asked, “Did you two have
fun?”
Smiling, Sam answered between breaths, “Actually, we
thought we were running late. That’s why we ran here.” “You almost were too late. Everyone else already went
in,” said Kat, interrupting them. “You’re lucky Anna told me you
you two.”
“Sorry. We got some new gear, and then a couple guys
tried to jump us in an alley. After that, we lost track of time
talking to Madame Esmerelda.”
“Someone tried to jump you two? Who was it?” asked
Anna with a fiery look in her eyes.
Able to talk a bit easier now, Sam responded, “Two guys.
They called each other Ricardo and PJ. They were wearing pins
from the Tower Kings clan.”
“I’ve heard of them,” said Kat. “Their clan has been
accused of some pretty messed up things in the past.” “What kind of things?” asked Sam.
Drawing her lips together to form a tight line, Kat finally
admitted, “Rumor has it that they have been in the Tower at
the same time when some people in the past have gone
missing. There is no proof of this, mind you, because the place
resets itself every time people leave, but word is that they may have even been in a position to help and chose not to so they
could loot the bodies of the fallen.”
“Diabolical!” exclaimed Anna.
“Yes, well, as I said, it’s just a rumor, but I wouldn’t turn
my back on one of them for even a second if I could help it.” Shaking his head, Sam asked, “We don’t have any of
them coming with us, do we?”
“No. I wouldn’t allow it,” answered Kat. “I’m o
nly
taking people I feel can be helpful, or at the very least, have no
ill intentions towards the Reckoners.”
“Good.”
“What did you do with them?” asked Anna, and by the
way she asked, Sam knew she was concerned that his answer
would involve the word experience in the same way he had
talked about the snakes and wild boar in the forest. “We didn’t hurt them,” answered Sam quickly. “They
just wanted our stuff, but when they saw that it wasn’t going to
be a simple two-on-one scenario, we convinced them to take a
hike.”
“I could tell the mayor about them, and he could ask
them to leave Anozira,” suggested Anna.
“That might work, but what if they decided not to
leave?” asked Kat.
“Then Jeva and his men would get their first official duty
as the city’s new security,” answered Anna seriously. Nodding, Kat said, “This is a good option, I like it, but
right now we have to get in here and save Raven. If things look
the same when we finish, then we’ll make sure the mayor hears
about it.”
“All right,” agreed Anna. “That sounds reasonable.” “Good, then if you would,” said Kat as she turned
towards the door, “follow me.”
“Just a second,” said Sam as he reached into his sack.
Then pulling out the cloaks, he said, “I had the blacksmith make
these for us from the yeti’s fur we collected.”
Surprised, Anna took the one offered to her and said,
“Wow, they look great, Sam.”
Setting the other cloak onto his own shoulders, Sam
said, “Yeah. I was hoping they would help protect us while
we’re in there.”
Stepping closer to the two of them, Kat reached out and
felt the cloak Anna was wearing and asked, “Where did you say
you got these?”
“I had them made for us,” answered Sam.
“I got that,” replied Kat, “But this is yeti fur. Where did
you get it?”
Not wanting to get into the situation about Jeva and his
men right now, Sam shrugged and admitted, “We were up in
the mountains getting that flower for the doctor to cure Peter
with, and we got trapped in a cave with a yeti.”
“You two managed to kill a yeti?” asked Kat. “That’s
incredible! Choosing you to come with us was definitely the
right move.”
Looking to share the credit equally, Sam said,
“Tezukayoshi helped a lot, too.”
Shaking her head, Kat said, “Perhaps the rumors about
you three weren’t as exaggerated as I thought.”
“I don’t know anything about the rumors,” said Sam.
“We’ve just been trying to help where we can.”
Nodding, Kat said, “Well then, we best get moving.
Raven’s in here, and she needs all of our help.”
Chapter 17
Once inside the Tower, Kat moved up to the front of the group leaving Sam, Anna, and Tezukayoshi near the entrance. Taking a second to look around, Sam craned his neck past the twenty-five or so people and saw that the corridor disappeared a ways in the distance, and as he looked up, he found that he could just barely make out a ceiling. In fact, the only reason he could see anything at all was due to the fact that every ten to twelve feet there was a lit torch attached to the either the left or right wall.
Realizing that this place didn’t maintain the usual dimensions for a floor, Sam figured that the Tower itself probably only boasted about ten floors instead of the fifty he had originally presumed. Scanning the walls, Sam noticed that they were made of roughly scratched-up gray stone which looked like it had been dug out of solid rock by something with very sharp claws. Looking ahead, Sam found that the floor wasn’t much better and only serviceably passed for level, much like a city sidewalk being pushed out of the way by the roots of some nearby tree. For a second, Sam wondered if that was part of the reason that poor Jimmy, the other guy who reportedly came from Earth, died. Perhaps he had realized his mistake in entering, and in his haste to escape, he fell and wound up unable to defend himself.
Pulling his mind back to the present, Sam tried to look ahead in hopes he might be able to spot the first of the Tower’s monsters or traps, but found despite the torches, he couldn’t see more than forty or fifty feet. Obviously, this was intended by the game designers to help build an imposing and ominous atmosphere, or else they could have had the entire area lit up for players. Absentmindedly, Sam wondered if Tezukayoshi could see any better, but before he thought to ask, Kat drew everyone’s attention and began speaking.
“Right, well, to all the newbies, welcome to the Tower. Like I said back at the pub, this place is extremely dangerous, so watch your step and watch your surroundings. Just because someone else passes by something safely does not guarantee that you are safe.” Then reaching into her sack, she produced a handful of scrolls and added, “These are copies of the maps we have made. I made sure to get enough drawn up so that everyone could have one. They do not cover the entire floor, but they do mark out a path we have used many times, and they identify the locations of most of the traps along the way so that you can avoid them.”
A strange looking man who had been sitting with everyone in the pub stepped forward to ask a question, and Sam thought he remembered his name was Kai or something like that. He had honestly only paid attention to him because he seemed to be oddly flabby in certain areas of his body. When Kat called upon him, he asked, “Won’t you be guiding us?”
Answering quickly, Kat said, “We intend to, but these maps are more for you in case you decide to leave early. If you do so, we will not be escorting you back to the exit because you got cold feet. We are here to save our comrade and to conquer this floor.” Gesturing to her side, Kat indicated a cute pixie-likegirl wearing white robes and said, “Additionally, for those who have not met her, this is Rue. She does not belong to a clan but has volunteered to come with us as support. She will be the one collecting any loot we gain from the monsters, and it will be distributed evenly to all those who survive, once we get back to town.” Then looking over the entire group once more, she added, “If no one else has anything to say, I’d suggest we get on our way,” before she abruptly turned and began leading the way.
After waiting for the first ten people in the group to begin walking, Sam took up a spot with Tezukayoshi and Anna by his side towards the middle of the group. The rest of the people who had joined at the bar fell in behind them with Mace taking up the rear in case the group was attacked from behind. For a second, Sam was concerned about having this giant man who had already shown some aggression behind him, but then he figured there were a number of people between them, and any disputes would have to wait or else the entire group risked getting killed by a monster. More to himself than to the rest of the crowd there, Sam said, “Here’s goes nothing.”
To his surprise, as well as to those around him, his words echoed off the stone walls and began to amplify. It took nearly thirty seconds before the words stopped, and by that time, they were so loud Sam, along with several of the others, had to cover their ears in fear of going deaf. There was no way he could have known this would happen because it definitely was not one of the things that was mentioned in their briefing back at the Pub, but nonetheless, everyone around him stopped in their tracks and glared at him as if he had been the one to cast some sort of sound magnification spell.
Not knowing what else to do, Sam silently mouthed the words, ‘I’m sorry,’ and waited for them to finish with their reproachful looks and to stop shaking their heads at him so that they could
continue further into the Tower. Looking down, he saw that even Tezukayoshi wasn’t happy about the echo, but through their mind link, Sam understood that his familiar didn’t blame him for not knowing about it.
Three of the closest people to him put their fingers to their lips and shushed him just to be sure Sam understood their meaning. Astonishing themselves, their shushing also echoed off the walls and grew into a loud cacophony of sound until it, too, had reached its climax and disappeared. Catching movement by his feet, Sam saw that Tezukayoshi had stepped to the side of the hallway, as if he didn’t want to be associated with Sam, and he caught a warning message from his little friend, ‘Be careful.’
For a second Sam thought Tezukayoshi meant that someone in their group was going to attack him for being too loud, but all four of the noise makers received the stares from the rest of the group. That’s when Sam realized that Tezukayoshi hadn’t been referring to a threat from within the group, but rather a threat to the whole group. All around them the admonishing glares were quickly replaced by the drawing of swords and the sounds of bowstrings as the first monster rushed up the hall towards them.
Drawing his own blade, Sam stepped off to the side next to Tezukayoshi so that he could get a look at what was coming, and Anna followed suit. Peering into the dimly lit corridor ahead, the two of them were shocked to see that it was some sort of nightmarish ghoul of a creature. Upon seeing this, Sam paused for a moment to try to figure out what exactly it was that he was looking at. The best he could tell was that it seemed to be a mashed up combination between the top portion of a crab, complete with two foot long pinchers on each side, and the lower half of a squid whose tentacles frenziedly squirmed beneath it. If that wasn’t odd enough, the thing was the same color as a bright purple crayon, and it was floating four feet off the ground. The sight of the thing was so strange to Sam it took him by complete surprise. Since arriving in this game world, Sam had only faced larger versions of realistic animals.
When the thing approached the front of the group, Kat stepped up with her bow and loosed a blue feather tipped arrow at the creature and watched in satisfaction as the arrow sank deep into its midsection. A moment later, the thing dropped to the floor, and the echo of her actions, as well as the creature’s limp squishy body hitting the ground, assaulted everyone’s ears. Grimacing even after the sound disappeared, Kat used hand signals to wave the rest of the group forward.