Raine VS The End of the World (24 page)

They were being drawn into the hold.

“You’re not taking me alive! Give him back!”

A barrage of whizzing bullets answered.

“Ignore me, will you? Then I’ll take him back!” Raine cried, holding Gerrit’s sword up high.

A singular beam fired, destroying the weapon and her rock armor in one clean blast. Chance used the last of his energy in a Discharge spell, reflecting a follow-up beam as his master clambered back onto the saddle in a daze. The familiar collapsed in her arms as the cannon short-circuited.

If this is the end, I’d rather die than run away. But I made a promise.

After stashing an injured Chance in her bag, she squeezed the wing in hand. A blue glow formed around her, but it was fading, its power being overridden by the negative force of the tractor beam as the
Nebula
welcomed the girl.

“Glad you could finally join us!” a shadowy figure intoned, standing at the edge of the hold staring down at Raine. She couldn’t get a good look at his face.

“Linus, is there a way to disable that tractor beam?”

“Might I suggest you cast Thunder +3 through the conduit on your right? I can redirect your power; that might do the trick.” he replied in a deep voice.

“Fantastic proposal, my good sir.”

Linus reared his majestic head while Raine conjured a glowing ball of concentrated energy, which promptly fused with spray-fire blasts of molten lava mixed with electron static – a deadly cocktail that shorted out the tractor beam generator.

Just as gravity pulled them into a descent, claws reached out from every edge of the hold to undercut them. Linus held open the reverse bear trap’s deadly jaws with his hands and feet.

Raine gathered up all her strength. She took a deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs, releasing all her pent-up anger.

“You’re toast, losers! Give me back my Gerrit!”

My Gerrit.
She caught her cheeks flushing.

“Come with us. We’ll take you to him.”

“Why the hell should I trust you after what you did?”

“We need you. You won’t be harmed. As per the End User License Agreement, you are property of
Endless Metaverse.
Let’s not make this any more difficult than --”

“I don’t belong to you! GIVE HIM BACK NOW!”

There was chortling at the other end.

“I’d love to comply with your request; only, we don’t even have him yet. But we will. And you, my dear… will make a fine addition to our collection.”

The claws advanced.

Raine gathered her breath, fists clenched in a show of strength. Yet her doubts gnawed at her.

I’m such an idiot! How could I let this happen? How could I have lost the one friend I’d made in this upside-down place?

The problem isn’t my environment. It’s that I’m letting my environment dictate my thoughts and actions. I’m hanging on for dear life with no idea what I’m hanging on to. Or where the ride ends. Even in this virtual realm far from home, I’m beyond useless.

Agnes’ words about wasting her potential haunted Raine’s every thought. People she cared about were suffering because she had no idea what she was doing.

There’s one thing I know. Willfully going along with these maniacs is not the answer.

She had to try something. She focused all of her power and yelled like there was no tomorrow.

As her voice echoed around the shuttering claws, a cascade of black pixels emerged from all around her body, forming a shield that held back the enclosing metal.

The blue glow of the Chimera Wing returned, surging through the two bodies.

Raine and Linus vanished into the ether.

“Where would you like to go?”
the text asked.

“As close as you can get me to Atmoya,” Raine barely managed.

The hot air rushing up the mountain hit the girl straight in the face. Underneath her, Linus emanated a delighted sigh.

Raine looked down. It was no wonder she was boiling hot. Linus was sitting at the edge of a large natural hot spring, and it appeared that a gathering of elderly people was quite stunned at the intrusion. A baby across the way started to wail.

“I apologize if we frightened you,” Linus said in a soothing voice.

The infant continued bawling. Its worried mother’s attempts to distract it were futile.

Linus began crooning a melodic lullaby as Raine dismounted the saddle a dazed mess. She had a hard time believing the events that had just transpired.
What happened to Gerrit?
She’d seen people die in the
‘Verse
before, and it wasn’t a real death. So was he really gone? Was it possible that he hadn’t been frozen? The creepy dude said he was still out there. She had to find out, and she had to find out now.

Or not. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. Upon getting her feet back on solid ground, Raine nearly collapsed on her knees. She was about to faint.

An elf-maiden caught her fall. She stood Raine back up carefully.

“Miss, please don’t leave. You are not well. I suggest that you partake in these healing waters,” she said, guiding the girl to the edge of the springs.

Raine was scanning her inventory for a swimsuit when Chance popped out from his compartment, metamorphosed into a towel, and whisked around her body in a flash of fluff, leaving her clad in a bikini. He mewed, curling up in a roll by the edge of the pool to recover.

The girl sank into the spring and felt immediately rejuvenated. Her Health and Mana were maxed out in seconds. Still crooning, Linus opened up a private chat window.

[Linus_1050]: “This is Pagoda. It's a tropical paradise, an all-in-one hotel resort for people who want to get away from level grinding, bounty hunting, ex-spouses, et cetera. I must admit that I have never been there for long enough to really know, but I'm under the impression it's mostly just well-to-do elderly folk who like to pretend to be poor villagers."

The baby was now sound asleep. Behind the parents, through a jungle of palm trees, a multi-tiered resort town swallowed the sunset like a giant firefly, its straw huts glowing in the distance. There was a major luau occurring in the town square.

Gerrit isn’t replying to my Private Channeler messages. And I’ll run out of energy within the next few hours. As much as I hate to do it, I’ll have to find a place to get some rest tonight. Then I’ll be rejuvenated come morning.

Dreamboy, please hold on just a little longer.

“I’m out,” Raine told Linus. “How do I call you?”

“Don’t check now, but you have my contact info in your watch. I apologize that I cannot stay with you, Miss R,” Linus replied. “I have other commitments. My services are being called for in battle as we speak. A scheduled skirmish is underway.”

“You mean the war between the two nations?”

“Yes.”

Before she could ask any more questions, a private chat window appeared in Raine’s peripheral vision. She focused on it and the text expanded.

[Linus_1050]: “No doubt Master Gerrit would have wanted me to aid you, and to him my allegiance is sworn. But unless I am mistaken, it appears that you wish to evade detection by the Templars. Currently, they are attempting to trace my location. If I remain by your side, it will only attract unwanted attention. It is best that I report to my post. Then there will be no more questions.”

[rainorshine23]: “I understand. Thank you for everything, Linus.”

Raine gave the dragon a big hug. She had no idea an artificial intelligence could end up being her ally.

She stood from the hot springs, automatically changed into her previous outfit, and headed up the winding pathway that would take her up the mountainside.

A few hundred feet from the town entrance, Raine heard footsteps approaching. People were discussing rumors of some sort of bounty. She hid behind some vine-covered rocks and let the travelers pass. Her avatar appeared as a projected hologram.

“I heard she has, like, laser eyes. And a cat that shoots rainbows.”

“Not according to my Blogosphere buddy. He says she’s got two hearts and needs to drink blood to stay alive.”

“Why do you think they’re after her?”

“Girl’s gotta be a hacker. No one looks that innocent.”

It appeared she’d become the talk of the town. Raine decided to change her outfit, and held down the home button on her wristwatch for ten seconds. She disembarked in a pop and arrived in her suburban room above Clyde Castle Town.

She grabbed a suit of light armor she’d picked up, ran it through the instant laundry machine, and changed into the outfit. With a hood on, hair tied up in a ponytail, and Chance’s scarf set to gray, Raine attracted even less attention.

The girl tapped her watch to return to the road near Pagoda, but a creaking from the stairway stopped her. She held her wand towards it.

“Raine! It’s really you!”

Through the half-opened door, Nimbus was staring at her like a lost puppy.

“Nimbus, I’m sorry, I have to go.”

“There are a lot of people looking for you,” he said worriedly. “If you come with me, I’ll keep you safe. As one of your rights, you can summon an arbitrating Templar and explain this injustice to the proper authorities.”

“I can’t do that,” Raine said, holding up her glowing weapon with a Stun spell on the ready. “I don’t trust you, or the system. Get out of my room.”

“But--”

“Get out now!”

Now who’s bullying whom?
Raine hated treating Nimbus this way; the poor program didn’t seem to have an inkling as to what was going on.
But I’m alone now. I can’t take any chances.

The sad-faced NPC backed away slowly as the girl held down the home button again and re-materialized in the tropics.

Fueled by newfound adrenaline, Raine booked it to the town. Night fell by the time she’d passed the gates. Wanted posters with her likeness decorated thatched huts. Even young children were discussing how they would find her and score the epic bounty. A long-abandoned building appeared safe enough. She slipped inside and bolted the door.

∑

Gerrit’s ghost materialized by his body in the hospital of whichever city he’d ended up in this time; this wasn’t standard procedure after mid-air de-materialization, but a custom setting he configured to prevent hunters and Templars alike from tracking him. Raine was off the map. That meant she was in transit. A good sign.

The Templars weren’t there, not yet.

No. Thank whatever gods may be, they weren’t lying in ambush. But surely they were coming. They’d have realized their mistake five seconds ago. Their warps would be arriving in five more, tops. There was no time to think.

In three seconds, he’d have a choice: to resurrect his body, or try to make a run for it.

Wouldn’t get far as a spirit. I could hide, but never fight. And no one hid from the system for long.

Gerrit hovered over his avatar and touched its chest; the shell absorbed his consciousness. Twenty seconds later, he’d activated a five-minute stealth skill, shimmied out the window, climbed down the brick wall, and snuck across the canal.

He knew the place. This was the strictly medieval city of Europa, and Lady Luck was against him. As a Public Enemy, he’d become the target of every local Templar and hunter.

Shuffling down alleys towards the nearest sewer entrance, Gerrit pulled up his Private Channeler and attempted to send a message to Yossa. He imagined the words in his mind’s eye.

[NinjaMageKnight99]: ALERT! I’ve been marked. Raine and I were ambushed at 45-93-68. Not sure what happened to her. Don’t expect me back soon.

Just before Gerrit sent the memo, a sudden burst of ice slammed into his wristwatch, activating ‘Iron Defense’ mode and cancelling his message window.

“Come quietly and it’ll be easier,” a voice commanded. It appeared to belong to an Europan guard, a lowly quest-hosting NPC; only, there was something very unusual about him.

Gerrit looked all around. He was surrounded, and unable to use his watch to quick-swap weapons.

These were no ordinary guards, he quickly inferred from sizing them up. Hijacked NPCs, ghost-run by Templars. They had him between a rock and a hard place.

Missing his trusty broadsword, Gerrit drew two short Japanese wakizashi swords and squeezed the hilts, changing the runes from Normal to Berserk mode; each successful hit would be twice as strong, but drain his Stamina.

He made the first move, emanating a fierce battle cry as he chopped through three at once. Shuffling behind another group, he took out two with backstabs.

More came, some from portals appearing right beside Gerrit. Now there were bounty hunters. Newbies. Spectators. And of course, Templars with every one of the
Metaverse’s
best weapons and spells at their disposal. They slashed and beat him in cold silence, but he fought on. Constant illegal plasma energy blasts drained his Health at a ridiculous pace.

Gerrit needed to get out of there. He’d taken thirteen out already, but more were coming. The boy moved backwards as they fought, hoping that if he led them to the main road, he’d be safer from ranged attacks. That was not the case.