Resurgence of Ancient Darkness (30 page)

“
Phoenix is going to use his new trademark turtle strategy, I am sure
,” sent Spectra.

“
Yeah, we can beat that by using Wraith Form to slip though the floors and come up inside their shields. No one has tried yet, so he won’t be expecting it,”
I sent.

“
Cymeion’s team will split up and take a spiraling approach to the target, hoping to catch their opponents in the crossfire, which makes them easy pickings for our approach,
” sent Darkstone.

“One-minute warning!” called out Shea’s voice over the comm.

“
Lythiran will be likely to use the same pattern as we do, so once again we will need to leave him till last and hope he reveals himself through his attack on another team,
” I sent.

“
He will likely take out Cymeion’s team first,
” said Spectra. “
He seems to prefer to take out the easy targets first, at least in these games, and they should cut right through them.”

“Go!” sent Shea over the comm. Shea, as the only crew member not taking part in these games, had become their judge and coordinator.

As soon as the call came to go, I covered my team in darkness, and we went out into the arena. We moved quickly towards the path which I had guessed Phoenix would take. His turtle style was most effective when traveling in a straight line, so he would make his drive up the main central corridor.

We found them setting up for their push. “
Darkstone, fall back a bit and make sure Lythiran does not show up like he did last time
.”

Phoenix did not yet have his shields in place, so Spectra and I quickly slipped into their group and stayed hidden until they began their march. Once he had all his shield walls in place, they would be practically impervious to assault. Phoenix’s focus was completely on building the shields, and the other two were watching behind and in front of them, so none of them saw us appear in the middle. Three quick blasts from our staves brought an end to their turtle strategy’s undefeated reign.

“Team one eliminated!” came Shea’s voice over the comm.

“
Blast! Good one, Dusty!”
sent Phoenix as his team teleported out of the arena.

As we slipped back into the shadows, we heard “Team four eliminated!” over the comm.

“
I guess Lythiran got Cymeion,
” sent Darkstone. “
Now the real fun begins.”

“
Last time they set traps in the HQ when it was just us left. They will probably do that again. I suggest we make a beeline right for it and catch them in the act,
” I sent.

“
Sounds good. They won’t be expecting us to rush,
” sent Darkstone.

We moved as quickly as we could towards the HQ, right down the main corridor. As we turned a corner to approach it, we saw one of the Dark Knights standing guard in the corridor.

“
Easy picking,
” sent Darkstone.

“
No, wait. I’m not falling for that again,”
I sent.
“Behind it on the floor is a holographic projector.”
It was cleverly hidden, but not cleverly enough. Not this time.

“
Ignore it, and push on,
” sent Spectra.

“
Agreed,”
I sent.

We passed dozens more of these holographic Dark Knights. The rules of the games stated that a team could use any technology that they could carry in, but only the Knights ever took advantage of that rule. It seems this time they exploited it to the maximum amount possible.

“Wait!”
sent Spectra as we were about to pass through another grouping of holographic Knights.

“
What?
” I asked.

“
The center Knight has an aura,
” she sent.

“
Tricky. They almost lulled us in to sleep with all the fake targets,
” I sent. “
Darkstone, take him down.”

Darkstone stepped out of the shadows at a sharp angle to the Dark Knight as he lowered his staff and fired a mage bolt. The Knight swung his gun around, but not in time to get off a shot. The mage bolt hit him, and his chestpiece lit up, indicating he was dead.

“Well-spotted,” he said with a salute and left the arena.

“
That gives me an idea. Let’s collect these holograms,
” I sent.

Once we had collected a dozen of them, I had Darkstone reprogram them with our images. “
Now let’s place them all around the HQ, each one in an easy line of fire.
”

We still did not know where the other two knights were, which forced us to move slowly and check every hologram before proceeding.

Once they were all in place, we stopped and watched the entrance to the HQ for a moment. “
They know we are in the area by now. So they must be someplace that has an easy shot into the HQ,
” I sent.

“
I’ll slip around to the corridor on the left. I’m betting one is crouched down there,”
sent Darkstone.

“
Wait,
” I said and grabbed one of the Dark Knights’ holograms and tossed it into the HQ doorway. A blaster fired and took it out before it reached the HQ. “
There!”
I sent, and we moved on that Knight’s position.

By the time we reached him, he was already in motion, but it was too late for him. A quick mage bolt meant it was just the three of us versus Lythiran now.

“
Lythiran is in the HQ,”
sent Spectra.

“
How can you tell?
” I asked.

“
I saw him briefly as he tried to get a shot at our current location,
” she sent.

“
Darkstone, make us a barrier out of ice, and Spectra and I will cast over it to draw him out,
” I sent.

Once the ice wall was up, Spectra and I used our staves to fire mage bolts into the HQ. Lythiran slipped out from his shield wall and returned fire.

“
This is his game. We need to play a different one,
” sent Spectra.

She was right; he was slowly and surely advancing on our position. “
Darkstone, Spectra, keep pressing the attack. I’m going to slip around behind him.
”

I cast a decoy spell that made it look like I was ducking behind the wall, while I slipped away under darkness. The decoy did not last long, as it was quickly hit by a blast from Lythiran’s blaster.

Once I was in position, I activated all of our holograms, and soon it appeared that Lythiran was surrounded by a dozen more of us. In the momentary confusion that it caused, I stepped out of the darkness behind him and eliminated him with a mage bolt.

“Team three has been eliminated! Now Dusty’s team just needs to take the HQ to be declared the winner,” said Shea over the comm.

I paused just outside the doorway as Spectra and Darkstone rejoined me. “
It would be too easy to just walk in here,”
I sent. I went back down the hall and grabbed one of our holograms and rolled it into the HQ. Soon blaster fire erupted from the back corner as a sentry robot marched out.

“
How in the Emperor’s name did they carry that in?”
I sent as we dove for cover.

“
No matter. Ice bolts should cut it down easily,
” sent Darkstone as he cast, this time using full force instead of the weaker bolts we used on live targets for this match. The bolts slammed into the sentry, pushing it back against the wall.

The three of us rushed in and finished it off. Just as we thought we’d won, a bright flash went off in the room and Shea said, “Team two has been eliminated; there is no winner!”

“How is that possible?” I asked.

“Lythiran set a trap on the sentry that activated an explosion as you destroyed it. None of you survived,” said Shea.

Lythiran, Spectra, Phoenix, Cymeion, and I met for dinner after the match. Once we were all settled, Lythiran said, “Well done, Master Dusty! But tell me: how did you defeat Phoenix’s turtle defense?”

“We tried a new strategy: attack fast and hard,” I said with a grin that I did not feel.

He laughed. “Yes, that is definitely new for you, Master! How did you beat his shields, though?”

“We knew that Phoenix had to get to the main corridor to push his attack, so we beat him to it. When he arrived and started to set up for his run, we simply hid inside his group. Once there, we waited for them to be tied up with casting the shields to build his turtle defense and then attacked,” I said.

“So that is how you did it!” Phoenix called out. “I spent all this time trying to figure out how you got through my shields, when you were inside them the whole time!”

We continued to talk about the match for a while, which consisted mainly of each of us telling the others the strategies we had planned and Lythiran offering pointers on how to improve them. Overall he was very impressed with us and kept telling me that. The only real advice he offered me was to learn to look for multiple layers in an opponent’s strategy.

Eventually I excused myself from the conversation and headed to the observation lounge. It was quite late, so the room was empty. It would be several more weeks until we met up with the Nevermore II. I knew that Spectra would want me to talk to Shadow about our marriage as soon as we could. The pressure of my position and relationships kept mounting. I needed some time by myself to think, and here in front of the vastness of the universe seemed like a good place to be alone.

I was not sure I could continue down the path I was on. This time in the Dragon Guard was turning me into a lethal warrior, which could not be further from where I wanted to be. The games that Lythiran set up were really bringing out the warrior spirit of my crew. They loved the competition, the adrenaline rush, and the challenge of them. I had to agree with Lythiran’s plan; they were the perfect thing for my crew, but I was less sure they were suited to me.

Something inside me was breaking under this pressure to become the one of best killers in the military. I couldn’t carry on like this; I didn’t want to see myself broken in that way, but what could I do? Master Shadow needed me, and we were trying to bring peace to the realm once more. What could be more noble than that?

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. “Are you all right?” came Shea’s soft voice.

“Would it work to lie to you?” I asked.

“With tears running down your face? It might not go well, but you could try if you wanted to,” she said with a gentle smile.

“Shea, what do you think of Lythiran’s games?” I asked.

“Do you want my personal opinion as Shea, or my opinion as chief medical officer on the Shadow Fox?” she asked.

“I guess as chief medical … no, both, I think,” I replied.

She sighed and said, “As chief medical officer, I think they are excellent. Overall the crew is improving in all their medical targets, they are bonding better as a team, and the games are dispelling the morale issues that we usually see in the long, dry travel periods of these missions. I have asked Lythiran to come up with some new battle options where we have multiple teams working together, to help teach more people to work together in larger groups. Overall, I highly recommend them and plan to talk to Master Shadow about expanding them to the entire Dragon Guard when we get back.” She paused there and looked out the window.

“Well, as ship’s captain, I agree and support your recommendation, but what does Shea think?” I asked.

“Honestly, it is hard, Dusty. As ship’s doctor I am here to heal and to protect, but the people I am healing and protecting are here to kill and destroy. The games make them better at that, making me feel a bit hypocritical every time I run them.”

We were quiet for a long while, then I said, “As Dusty, I agree with you. How did we get here, Shea?”

“I seem to recall you rushing my attackers and sweeping me off my feet,” she said.

“Yeah, and I recall you hijacking my gate home to get away from your overprotective brother,” I said.

We both had a good chuckle and were quiet again for a while after that. She finally broke the silence with: “Master, I know why I am here. The Light wants me to reach this realm for its own purposes. Somehow, that involves me being chief medical officer on this ship. I don’t know the details beyond that, but I don’t need to. Following Light gives me purpose and direction. I know I am doing the right thing.” She gently pushed on my shoulder so that I was facing her and asked, “Do you?”

“I don’t any more, Shea,” I said quietly and turned back to the window.

“I see. Have you talked with Spectra?” she asked.

“A little, here and there,” I said.

“What does she say?” she asked.

“Oh, that she would follow me anywhere and support whatever. For example, she throws herself fully into those games because she knows that it is important for the captain to do well in them. It’s a bit scary, really,” I said.

“Scary?” she asked.

“Yeah. You’re following your deity, and she is following me. How do I know where to lead?” I asked.

“You know Light would love to guide you, but we have talked about that before. All I can say is you need to seek your path as a couple and not as a lone wolf,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“She should not be following you blindly; you need to involve her in your decisions. If you are to succeed as a couple, it will only happen as a team,” she said.

“Shea, do you think our marriage is a good idea?” I asked.

“Absolutely,” she said. “The first time I saw you two together I knew that you were a match.”

“A match? We are not even the same species,” I said.

“Oh, the irony of you being from a fish race and she from a cat race is not lost on me, but you’re still a solid match,” she said.

“But what if something happened to her under my command?” I asked.

“Does marrying her change that?” she asked.

“No, I guess not,” I said.

“Life is hard, and bad things happen. We can’t live in fear of that which may be, or we will miss that which is. Embrace your relationship while it is still today, for no one can stop tomorrow from coming,” she said.

Over the next few weeks, I did my best to stay out of the games. I knew that I would have to participate from time to time in order to make sure they remained successful. However, I figured I could safely delay long enough for us to make it back to the Nevermore where, if Shea’s advice is taken, the games would be absorbed into the larger context of the entire Dragon Guard. Now that we were about to rejoin the Nevermore, I felt a sense of relief that the pressure of the games would lift from me for a while.