Trapped in a Game Pt. 03

"Come on!" Serra yelled, as she pulled me hastily along.

As we hurried our way up to the top of the stairs, I glanced worriedly at the blood dripping from her front.

Why didn't she use magic? I thought again to myself, but I had little time for rumination as the blink dog materialized beside us.

"They're coming," it noted, and Serra gave a little nod.

"Ready?" she asked, and I nodded nervously as she continued: "Wait until the last one comes, and not a second earlier, okay?"

I gulped uncertainly, staring worriedly at the wound across her chest.

"Josh- look at me," she added, as she lifted my gaze to her eyes. "I'll be fine- I promise, but I need you to do this, okay?"

I nodded again, but as she took my hand and gave it a little reassuring squeeze, I suddenly noticed her gaze flicker indistinctly down to my lips, and without warning she suddenly lunged into me, kissing me hard.

Her eyes were tightly shut and her hands clutched at my chest, keeping me close, but only for a moment as she abruptly broke away from me, her eyes never meeting me again as she turned away and hastily made for the stairs.

"Come with me," she called to our canine companion, and he followed without a word as she hastened to meet the thralls who were almost upon us now.

She swung her hammer at the first, crashing into the ground hard as he leapt easily out of the way, and as the second lunged after her the blink dog materialized at her side and deflected the blow.

She still isn't using magic, I thought to myself, as I turned my attention away from her to check on the situation below.

Seven more thralls were on their way up the stairs, which meant that two more were left.

"Not until the last one comes," Serra's command echoed in my mind.

I glanced back to Serra; they were engaged with four thralls now, and as she parried a blow another leapt at her and Serra clenched her teeth as his fangs sank into her shoulder hard, and they came away dripping wickedly with blood.

I clenched my fists anxiously as another came in.

Should I cast it? I wondered, as all but one of the thralls were now in range of my spell.

Serra knocked another off of the balcony just as another one lunged at her, slashing her across her back.

"You can just kill the last one after- she's going to die you moron, just cast it!" a voice spoke into my head, but as I got ready to cast, I suddenly realized that she had not cried out even once despite being wounded several times already.

She'd always given me instructions with very good reasoning, and they'd never once been off the mark.

"Trust her," I told myself, "she'll be okay- just trust her!" and I returned my watch to the stairs just as the twelfth thrall entered the chamber, to my relief.

"Astral imprisonment," I muttered, and as the cylindrical rift in space appeared beneath us, I concentrated on shaping it to the width of the spiral staircase, and stretching it out to encompass all of the floors below.

As the spell finally covered the space where Serra and the blink dog were engaged with the thralls, she activated her ritual circle, teleporting her instantly out of the radius of my spell and the blink dog shifted out of existence, joining her at my side.

"Activate synergy," she commanded, putting her arms about me, and as I complied I shot her a questioning look.

This wasn't in the plan, I thought, and as she stepped past me to the edge of the balcony, I noted the nervous little smile on her face.

"Firestorm," she muttered softly, and I gasped as a white glow appeared about her just as column after column of flame began to erupt beneath us.

She created a fiery inferno of explosive flame, and it was magnificent; but as each column exploded Serra winced painfully, and I noted that her hands were clenched tight, and her body was shaking.

I could feel the magic draining from me as I held my imprisonment firm, containing her explosive magic and sealing the thralls into a fiery sepulcher of doom, and I sighed with the realization that she had not been entirely honest with me.

She knew I would not be able to contain them for long enough for her daylight spell to kill them; using firestorm had been her plan all along.

But I knew that she didn't have enough magic to cast it; and as the explosions continued I studied her intently, trying to figure out just what the repercussions of casting it would be.

As the last thrall fell, burning away into a pile of ash, I ended my spell and ran to Serra, taking her into my arms just as she collapsed, panting, and barely conscious.

"Josh?"

"I'm here- just hold on, I've got some salves."

"Josh- You know, I'm really glad... that I met you."

"Shh- don't talk."

"But I need to tell you-"

"You'll tell me when we're back at the tavern in Ravenloft- over a mug of ale, and when we can smile and laugh about this. Just stay with me, okay?"

She gulped, and took a deep breath as I began to apply salves to her, but her breathing was labored, and each breath she drew seemed to pain her greatly.

"Hey- come on, just hang in there," I whispered anxiously.

She'll be alright, I told myself. Stop freaking out.

This was Serra.

She was an amazing player.

She was invincible, wasn't she? She couldn't...

"J-josh, I-" she gulped again, struggling to even speak, and as her hands went limp at her side, I grasped at them in a panic.

"No- hey, stay with me," I muttered, applying salves desperately to her wounds now.

"Josh- Her wounds aren't fatal, but the spell compensated for her low magic by drawing on her life force. She won't heal unless it's replenished."

He seemed to speak the words only to me, as Serra showed no reaction.

"What do I do?" I thought to myself.

I had no healing spells, and there was no spell I was aware of that could regenerate magic.

I took her hand, and activated synergy, trying my best to transfer my energy to her.

"Please," I muttered, as the spell connected us as always, but nothing seemed to be happening.

A little moan came from her lips, and her breathing was getting softer with each breath.

"Can you do something?" I cried out to the blink dog, and he lay down at her side with a helpless whinnying sound.

"I'm sorry," the words came in my head, and I felt the stinging sensation of tears forming in my eyes.

I placed my hands about her face:

"Serra, come on- stay with me, please," I muttered pleadingly, but she didn't respond, and I wrapped my arms about her, pulling her into my chest.

"Synergy," I chanted again, trying to channel whatever I had into her, but even the connection between us was now beginning to fade.

I thought back to all of the time I'd spent with her; it had been less than two weeks, yet it might as well have been a lifetime, as she'd become so precious to me.

We'd been through so much- I had no real intention of playing before Kelly thrust me into her care, but now, because of her, I had learned not only how to play, but to enjoy playing as well.

Under the harshest circumstances, I'd gotten better at this game than I'd probably been at anything else I'd ever done.

She helped me to believe in myself after I'd spent years believing that I was worth less than nothing.

"Please," I begged, desperately, as she went still in my hands, and I squeezed her tight, tears falling as I cast synergy again.

The spell flickered, and suddenly- something flashed through my mind: "Since when can you activate smite through me?" Serra's words echoed in my mind.

If I could activate smite like that, then just maybe, I could cast one of her heal spells, right?

I activated my synergy again, then chanted: "Heal!" then cursed loudly as nothing happened.

"Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck," I muttered, before steadying myself to try again.

Think, I told myself. Every time I needed to achieve something through concentration, I'd conjured up various images of Kelly.

Maybe that might work? I thought, but as I tried to think about Kelly I just couldn't get the image of Serra out of my mind.

Tears fell down my face.

"Please," I muttered again.

I tried to clear my mind, and conjure up something to do with Kelly, but nothing seemed to shake the image of Serra, lying lifeless in my arms.

"Trust me," her echo whispered, as my mind replayed the way she'd kissed me before the fight. It wasn't the first time she'd kissed me; but this one wasn't done to make Kelly jealous. The images appeared slowly; the vulnerable look she wore, the nervous way she bit her lips, the intensity with which she held on to me, and the incredible reluctance I felt from her as she broke away from my arms.

I held her, tears falling down my face.

"I can't lose you," I thought once more, holding her tight, and suddenly something occurred to me: Kelly was precious to me; so it was no surprise that I often used her image to achieve spells that required extraordinary motivation to activate, but hadn't Serra become precious to me as well?

I didn't love her as intimately as I did Kelly; but the feeling of pain in my heart as I held her, her life ebbing before me- wasn't that also love?

As I held onto her tight, I realized that the scene in front of me was more motivation than I could possibly ask for, and as I poured the overwhelming affection that I felt for her into the embrace, a curious wave of energy began to course through me, and the blink dog beside us perked his ears up with sudden interest.

"Heal-" I muttered, and Serra twitched as a green glow seeped from my arms into her.

"Heal," I muttered again, and this time she coughed, her eyelids fluttering a little.

"Heal," I chanted once more, but as I held her tight, a teardrop rolling down my cheek and falling onto her face, a white glow began to form and soon it enveloped us both, and then I felt the curious sensation of magic flowing out of me and into her through my arms.

As the brightness of the glow became too much, I closed my eyes to escape the intensity.

"Josh- what're you," she mumbled tiredly, and I held her close, sobbing openly, as an overwhelming feeling of relief flooded through me.

"Thank god," I cried, over and over again, and Serra blushed a little as I gushed over her.

She rubbed at her eyes gingerly, as tears fell from my eyes onto her, and I held her tightly again as I considered how close I'd just come to losing her.

"Jeez- you'd think I died or something," she whispered, reaching up to ruffle my hair as I held her.

"What- do you think you're my little sister or something?" I asked, wiping away the tears and she shot me a wry smile.

I was still wrapped up in the feeling of relief when a woman's voice suddenly spoke from the corridor to our left:

"Well this is touching and all- but I'm gonna need that invite."

"You- you did this," I muttered angrily, as the shadowy form of a robed figure emerged from the corridor, and a feeling of dread filled me as she approached.

That feeling; it was PK feedback, wasn't it?

"Well- yeah, actually," she quipped. "Nuh-uh," she added, withdrawing a crossbow from her robes and aiming it at me as the blink dog stood up with a threatening growl. "Transfer the invite to me, or you both die."

I clenched my teeth in anger, but Serra placed a hand weakly over mine:

"She's a rogue Josh- she could kill us and escape easily if she wanted."

I swallowed angrily, as Serra pulled up her inventory, materializing the letter in her hand.

I took it from her then walked warily over to the girl, who circled away a bit to keep her crossbow on Serra as I handed her the envelope.

"Much obliged," she added perkily, giving a little curtsey before disappearing down the corridor and out of sight.

***

The blink dog led us to his master's chambers, where I treated Serra's wounds a bit, and prepared a meal for us, since food played as much of a role as rest in our character's recovery.

Serra curled up beside me, resting her head on my lap, and I stroked her hair reassuringly as she slept.

The blink dog offered to keep watch for us, so I dozed off as well, but after a few hours Serra awoke with a stretch, feeling significantly rejuvenated, and we decided to head out.

"We got robbed," Serra muttered with a sigh, and I nodded.

"How did she find us?" I asked, and Serra pondered the matter a bit.

"I'm not really sure. Maybe she could have tracked us from Ravenloft if she's skilled enough- or it could have just been dumb luck. Either way, it looks like we'll need to hunt a new vampire if we want an invite."

As she walked ahead of me; I smiled as I noted the curious the perkiness in her step, which revealed nothing of the near death injury she'd just barely survived, and as our eyes met, she looked away with a playful smirk.

"You'd better be careful- if your sister sees you looking at me like that, she might start thinking she has some competition," she called after me with a grin.

She continued on playfully, but as soon as we exited the castle's grounds, Serra and I both flinched as a series of buzzes told us we'd gotten some messages.

"Damn- guess messages don't go through anti-magic fields," Serra noted, and as she checked her messages, I checked on mines as well.

"Received message from Tsmafclstew?" I thought to myself. What the- then a serious blush appeared on my face as I remembered what that was; "the sexiest, most adorable fuckably cute little sister there ever was."

Guess she wasn't kidding about signing her name like that.

I pulled up the first message and began to read:

Dear Josh, I hope you're keeping safe. I just wanted to let you know that I miss you... I did every day that we spent apart, and it pained me not being able to let you know, so don't be cross with me if I say it a few times, but- I really miss you. Anyway, I don't want to get in the way of your adventuring; take care, and kick some vampire ass for me! :)

Love, Kelly.

I was still reading over the message with a smile when a 'Whoa,' from Serra drew my attention back to her.

"It's from Mackenzie- someone's leaked the locations and layout of every vampire lair around Ravenloft."

"What? How would they even get that info? Do you think that's how that woman found us?" I asked.

"Could be," she muttered, as she looked away worriedly.

"What is it?"

"Mackenzie said there've been attacks at every lair since, and that three groups have been wiped so far."

She sighed deeply as she trudged ahead a bit, but I suddenly jerked to a halt.

"Wiped?"

"Yeah- more than twenty deaths combined. What?" she asked, looking back at me, and I stared at her in open mouthed shock, as Kelly's second message stood open on my character interface;

P.S. We scored some info on a vampire lair, and we're headed there now. Looks like you won't be the only one bringing home an invite tonight. :D Later!