While he screamed and spat in rage, the nimble goblins quickly enchained him with magic shackles.
“Go, Scyth,” one of the goblins squeaked. “We can take it from here.”
I did just that, and the goblin switched on an energy field. The Supreme Legate of the Destroying Plague was imprisoned, and couldn’t get out on his own.
“Thanks,” I said to the goblins. “Give my warm regards to Kusalarix!”
Without wasting another second, I logged out of Dis.
All the security officers except Willy were already waiting for me, fully outfitted and loaded with bags.
As soon as I emerged from my capsule, Hairo spoke:
“Sergei hasn’t detected any flyers, but we’re not going to risk it anyway. We’re leaving, Scyth.”
I fell to my knees, but Hung and Hairo picked me up. We went down into the house’s basement, and there Yoshi opened a secret passageway leading into a narrow tunnel. We had to crawl along it.
It took almost an hour. My elbows and knees were bloody and I was a confirmed claustrophobe by the time we finally emerged from the tunnel. It was dark, and Hairo switched on a flashlight. We found ourselves in a small hangar, with an old cargo flyer waiting for us under a canvas in the center. It didn’t look safe—battered, dented, rusty. Hung echoed my thoughts: “You want us to take this wreck? Does it even fly?”
“This ain’t no wreck,” Yoshi chuckled, getting in the driver’s seat.
“It’s a Barracuda, just as good as a Shark. The rust and scrapes are fake. It has a camouflage field and stealth cover too—we’ll fly invisible.”
“Where to?” I asked.
“Cali,” Hairo answered. “The base isn’t done yet, but it’s liveable…”
Squashed in between my bodyguards Roj and Maria, I fell asleep for a couple of hours. Then I woke up, drank some coffee from a flask, ate a warmed-up sandwich and asked them to switch the news on.
“One sec,” Yoshi said.
“How are Ed, Malik and Pollvanna?”
“They’re in the air,” Hairo answered. “We’re in touch. By the way, your vision… Strange as it is, you weren’t wrong. The security system missed both a perimeter violation and a forced entry into the house. We watched the security feed in the flyer; the assault squad traveled overground on skis. They fooled the system with a device that mimics reindeer lifesigns. They were wearing holomasks, but we’re sure they were Triad mercenaries. Pros, no doubt about it.”
“What stops them from getting into our base in Cali?” I asked.
“No snow there,” Sergei answered glumly. “No reindeer either. Jokes aside, this was my screwup, no doubt, but we didn’t have enough equipment to properly debug the security system on the perimeter. This kind of thing won’t happen in Cali, I guarantee it.”
After waiting for Sergei to finish speaking, Yoshi switched on the news and brought up a holocube in the center of the cabin. We watched as Tiamat’s temple was destroyed.
“Well, the Nergal’s Summons event is officially over!” a journalist commentated. “The temple of the Sleeping Gods in the Lakharian Desert is destroyed, and the Holy War is at an end. It is unknown what led to the embarrassing retreat of the class-A Threat and his few allies, but experts believe that Scyth simply got scared. Until now, the teenager had never been defeated, but having lost the abilities of the Destroying Plague (use the voice command ‘Scyth no longer undead’ to learn more and see an interview with Mogwai), Scyth saw the overwhelming forces of the army of light and simply gave up. Doctor Matty Khyamyalyainen, a specialist in adolescent psychology, has confirmed this, stating…”
I noticed my childhood friend Eve O’Sullivan in one of the silent windows. I jabbed a finger at it and the window expanded, swapping child psychologist Matty Khyamyalyainen to the background.
“Alex always was a coward,” Eve said. “You know how it is… He was always real obnoxious too, always embarrassing himself with lame attempts to flirt… He wouldn’t let you get away, it was a sorry sight… I didn’t w^ant to be friends with him, but our parents knew each other and I had to talk to him. Look at me and tell me, do you really think I could be friends with someone like Sheppard…? With that loser? Not on your life!”
The image switched to a video with Tissa, turning away:
“No comment!”
An off-screen voice spoke:
“Melissa Schafer has refused to say anything about her exboyfriend, but we did manage to get an interview with Karina Rasmussen, who broke up with Alex Sheppard only days ago. Here it is…”
“Screw this shit!” Hung snapped and changed the channel.
The view of the Lakharian Desert and Tiamat’s destroyed temple switched to scenes of the Stronghold of the Destroying Plague.
“Snowstorm has officially announced the opening of the fourth faction. The Commonwealth, Empire and neutrals have now been joined by the Destroying Plague,” a journalist by the name of Axel Donovan commented on the latest events. “Now players can choose the undead race when they create their character. In addition, the destruction of the temple of the Sleeping Gods and the official launch of the new faction has led to a reshuffle in the divine pantheon of Disgardium. Incredibly, some New Gods have joined the Destroying Plague: Osiris, Skadi, Cthulhu, Baron Samedi…”
Hung waved his hand, lowering the volume, and looked at me.
“Why did she do it?” I whispered.
Without clarification, Hung knew I meant Tissa. My friend sighed heavily, shrugged.
“I don’t know. But promise me we won’t jump to any conclusions just yet. We need to talk to her…”
“Talk?!” I shouted. “Are you serious?” She’s already done it! She betrayed us! Now the Elites know where we are, and Alliance ships could be heading to Kharinza right now!”
“They aren’t,” Hairo said. “Fen Xiaoguang is the kind of person that won’t share intel with anyone.”
“He’ll have to escape first…” I muttered.
Everyone was silent for a long time. Despair took me. No matter what I did, things only got worse. Friendship and love
