“What do you want?”
The question was dumb and came out as a slur, but the man puzzled out what I was asking.
“How can you be eliminated?”
“Scyth can’t be killed.”
“That’s impossible. Sometimes balance in Dis leans too far one way or the other, but the main AI would never create a situation in which a player becomes one-hundred-percent invulnerable. What is your Achilles’ heel? Don’t make me hurt you…”
The voice sounded calm, even jovial, but I broke into a sweat. I heard anticipation in it— come on, lie or refuse to answer!
“When there’s another Legate of the Destroying Plague nearby, Immortality doesn’t work.”
“Well, well. Very interesting! And where do we get another legate? Or how do we become one?”
“There are no other legates. The lich was killed. The Nucleus of the Destroying Plague appoints legates.”
“So that’s how it is…” the speaker said thoughtfully. “And where do we find this Destroying Plague?”
“Nucleus. Nucleus of the Destroying Plague. It’s somewhere underground, beneath Holdest.” I answered, then asked a question that I couldn’t get out of my head: “How did you find us?”
“I know you’re honest, so I’ll be honest with you, although I could lie. No, there were no traitors among you. That bothers you the most, I can tell. The people you hired are dead. All of them.”
“Then how?”
“Oh, Alex, why these childish questions? It is impossible to hide on this planet in the second half of the twenty-first century. You were followed from the very beginning, when you took off from the school roof to the excited applause of your classmates. Tracked by satellite when necessary, so none of your flyer swap-outs confused anyone. And when you hid yourselves, several people watched you run to the lake as soon as the satellite identification system activated. You hid your face, but when you leaned over the water to splash your face, the reflection gave you away.”
“I see.”
“Now you’ll tell me how I can reach the Nucleus. But first…”
An injection in my forearm. Heat spread through my veins, burning so badly that I wanted to cut off my arm.
The man kept talking, explaining what exactly I needed to do in Dis when I got back there. Where to go, who to surrender to. Apparently, these people were unaware that the Widowmakers had kidnapped Scyth—maybe everyone just went their separate ways after the auction, and the goblins didn’t announce the disappearance of the item’s owner. I had no time to think it all over. I felt my eyes drifting inexorably shut, my mind sinking into the mist…
“I can’t. My character is locked in the Widowmakers’ castle,” I whispered, fearing if I didn’t carry out their demands, someone else could get hurt.
“They’ll let you go,” the man said with confidence.
I fell into nothingness.
Voices whispered from all around: The Gnoll Riverlands…, Go alone…, Find the Frozen Gorge…
I felt rested and energized when I woke up. The straps had been released.
“Awake, Alex? Good morning!” The voice was a woman’s. A cute nurse in a gown helped me get up. “Breakfast, a shower, and then you’re expected in Dis.”
“By whom?” I asked, hoping she’d name a name.
“You know. Come on, kiddo, don’t make them wait. You’re a good boy, aren’t you?”
The login to Dis was instantaneous. Eileen appeared outside the cell right away, as if she’d been waiting. The dark elf girl took off my chains, unblocked my abilities.
“What now?” I asked.
“Nothing. Go. They’re expecting you.”
I asked who, and got nothing again. Then I disguised myself as Blackberry and used Depths Teleportation to leave the basement. Straight to Darant, and from there to the Gnoll Riverlands. Next, everything was in fog—tears stung my eyes and I was as if watching myself from outside, not in control of my body. I hurried so that it would all be over sooner. I hoped that my parents and friends were still alive.
I was indeed expected in the Frozen Gorge. People with hidden names led me inside, their hooded faces shrouded in mist. They put me in the center of a pentagram and performed a ritual, cutting off the presence of the Sleeping Gods and the Destroying Plague. The icons of my divine abilities didn’t just turn gray; they disappeared. Axes and blades fell down on me, until the last, a dagger in my heart: “I expel you from Disgardium forever!”
A thunderstrike boomed beneath the arches of the cave. The world went out and I found myself in a great abyss.
The history of Scyth, Legate of the Destroying Plague and Initial of the Sleeping Gods, was ended.
Now what mattered to me was how the story of Alex Sheppard would end.
* * *
I found myself in gloom again. My character’s final death had probably thrown me out of Dis. I tried to reach the handles of the capsule to climb out, but my hand hit a wall. I listened, heard nothing.
Slowly rising, I turned my head and saw a barely visible strip of light on the floor. The comm that was gone before w^as back on my wrist again, and I immediately turned on the device’s flashlight. A narrow room, darkened windows, a cupboard, a bed with a crunched-up comforter… I was back in the shelter in Alaska! Was it all just a nightmare? Or did they put me back where they found me now that they had what they needed? If any of what I’d seen was a dream, then which parts?
In any case, nothing held me back now. I was free. I jumped up, ran over to the door. It opened as I ran, nearly hitting me in the face. Hung stood in the threshold. Alive!
“Good morning. Why the face?!” my friend asked. I couldn’t believe I was seeing him. “Did you have a nightmare? So did I. Come on, get dressed, there’s news from
