Ed sits outside the smouldering husk that was until recently the Legless Arms and gazes at the grand airship Thanatos hovering above. Following the battle in Trout, the Kingdom of Runegard has seized the village. Few townspeople remain. Most fled during the conflict and the others – well, they lay scattered about. Men, women, even children, struck down by the marauding goblin men, whose corpses are now piled up in the main square ready to be buried. All that survived of the midgey merchant’s wagon are the blackened iron wheels. The little critter salvages what wares he can from the charred remains of the wagon box before the soldiers move him along.
A striking dark-skinned woman in shining silver armour points at Ed and Bengeo. “Bring them here,” she commands.
Two soldiers drag them before her and throw them to the ground.
The woman grins spitefully. “Bengeo.”
“Lieutenant Diamond.” Bengeo grimaces as he sits up.
“It’s captain now.” She glares at him with piercing eyes.
“You know this lady?” Ed asks.
He grins. “Intimately.”
“Where is the crystal shard?” Diamond asks.
“The shard? Remy has it, and Grimoirh has her,” replies Ed.
The captain frowns. “You were supposed to deliver that shard to me, Bengeo. Take them to the ship.”
At her word the soldiers pull Ed and Bengeo onto their feet.
“But what about Remy?” Ed asks.
“If Grimoirh has her, then she’s as good as dead.”
Her words hit him like a gut punch, and he hangs his head as the soldiers shove them aboard an air balloon.
“What are they going to do with us?” Ed whispers.
“Just let me do the talking,” Bengeo replies.
The balloon ascends and Ed gazes at the floating warship with wonder as they approach. The moonlight glints against the decorated hull, which widens towards the bow. Deep crimson sails flap in the wind, and the gargantuan engines hum and whirr, rattling Ed’s bones as they pass. Countless cannons and rail guns line the starboard side, and the weather-worn deck is awash with soldiers and ship hands readying the airship for departure. Ed and Bengeo are promptly escorted through corridors of iron and rosewood to the airship’s bridge – a large oval room, from where the ship is piloted. Ed’s wandering eyes drink everything in. The control consoles scattered around are all attended by crewmen all dressed in naval-looking uniform, and dozens of armoured soldiers stand alert along the edge of the room. The whole place has the feel of a military command centre about it.
General Gigas stands before a huge circular window, overlooking the prow of his ship. He notices Bengeo and Ed from the corner of his eye as they are brought to him.
“This war is going very badly, Bengeo.” The general’s voice is gruff and commanding.
“And just how many are you fighting these days?” Bengeo quips.
“How many are we fighting? You are, after all, a citizen of the Empire.”
“Us bandits aren’t real big on citizenship.”
“Honestly, Bengeo, all the errands you run for me, how long until you realise you’re as much of a soldier as I?”
“Forever, if I have anything to say about it.”
Ed clears his throat and hesitantly asks, “General Gigas, right? We’re after Grimoirh too, so why don’t we work together?”
“What is this little man prattling on about?” Gigas arches his brow, perplexed by Ed’s odd appearance and mannerisms. “I heard about your ship, Bengeo. We picked up a few survivors but not many.”
“They knew the risks,” the bandit laments.
“Indeed,” Gigas nods, and eyes Ed one more time, intrigued in particular by the raggedy Converse trainers on his feet. “Are you one of them? An other-worlder?” he asks.
“Me?”
Ed glances at Bengeo, who shakes his head as if to say, ‘tell him nothing’.
“Uhh, I’m just a poor village boy—” Ed pretends to cough. “I hear the forest is haunted, you shouldn’t go there,” he says in a monotonous tone and utterly blank-faced, poorly imitating a non-player character.
Gigas isn’t buying it and stares hawkishly while Ed sweats under the pressure. He’s never been one to tangle with authority.
“He’s just some kid that joined my crew. Whelp of a boy, survived the crash by some miracle,” Bengeo laughs nervously.
The general sees right through their facade and glares with vitriol at Ed. “You people are a blight on this world as well. I don’t know for what purpose Grimoirh is summoning your kind, but be certain I will hunt and destroy every last one of you. The shard, do you have it?”
“Our friend has it, and Grimoirh has her, but if we hurry—”
The general interrupts Ed’s outburst. “If your little crystal-harbouring friend isn’t dead already, rest assured I’ll kill her myself.”
“But you can’t kill Tron!” Ed cries. “Wait, Tron was actually part of the game so that would make Bengeo Tron, and Remy Jeff Brid— Ugh!” Bengeo jams his elbow in Ed’s stomach, silencing him.
Gigas sighs. “You’ve always been a remarkably loyal scoundrel, Bengeo, so long as the coin was good, but to think you’ve thrown your lot in with these foreigners? Heresy!” he hisses. “For your treason, you shall hang with them.” The general signals to his men to take them away.
“Wow, he’s got some real prejudices, huh?” Ed whispers as the guards drag them into the bowels of the airship and toss them into one of the prison cells divided like the spokes of a wheel about the circular holding room. All of them are empty save for one, which is occupied by two badly beaten men who are sound asleep in only their briefs. Ed dreads to think what was done to them. He slumps against the bars and releases a doleful sigh.
“I’m right back where I started.”
“Swings and roundabouts, kid,” Bengeo says, hoping, but failing, to lift Ed’s spirits.
“Whatever…” he sulks as the severity of the situation sinks in.
Bengeo places a hand on his wound, which is aching somewhat after his brawl with the Dread Knight.
“You okay?” Ed asks, to which Bengeo shrugs. “Come on, let me see.”
“It’s fine. If I’m lucky I’ll die before Gigas hangs me. Heh heh, that’ll really piss him off.”
Ed plants himself opposite Bengeo. “I did not see my life going this way,” he says.
“This is exactly how I pictured mine,” Bengeo smirks, but Ed doesn’t share his cavalier attitude.
Instead he twiddles his shoelaces while his mind is flooded with what-ifs. What if he had been able to stop Grimoirh from taking Remy? Or prevent Jessica from being petrified? Or spoken up about the dungeon boss sooner and saved Matt from being squished? What if he hadn’t befriended Barney in secondary school? He would never have got into role-playing games and so never would’ve played Ultimate Adventure. What if he hadn’t spent so much of his time in fictional worlds, pretending he was someone stronger, or smarter? Someone people could rely on, someone that could protect his friends. Toxic thoughts poison his mind and tears well in his eyes. He blinks them away and wipes his face with his sleeve.
“Phwoar, the dust in here is making my allergies flare up.” He pretends to cough and tries not to let on how emotionally fragile he feels to the hulking specimen of manliness sharing his cell.
But Bengeo takes pity on the poor boy. “You… You want a hug or something?”
“What?”
“I dunno, isn’t that what… Forget it.”
Ed grins ear to ear.
“I was just trying to… Shut up.”
“Look at us. What a pair we are,” he says.
“We’re not a pair. We’re nothing alike.”
“Sure.” He places his hand on Bengeo’s shoulder, which the bandit swats away.
“I tried to be nice, but my head said don’t do it, you give this boy an inch, he’ll take a mile. But l looked at you, your soft girlish frame, tears in your eyes and I felt such pity. I just couldn’t stand by and watch, but you proved me right.”
“Usually you just punch me in the arm and tell me to sack up.”
The bandit lies down and faces away from Ed. “Wake me before our execution. Wouldn’t wanna miss that.”
“Come on, don’t be like that.”
“Like what?”
“All closed off. We’ve been travelling together for a few days, and I don’t know much about you. I got kidnapped before I could play your backstory quest.”
“My what?” Bengeo looks back at Ed, more confused than ever.
“Uh, never mind,” Ed mumbles.
They sit for an awkward minute until Bengeo reluctantly decides to participate. “Well, what do you do? Where you come from?”
Ed looks pleasantly surprised that he’s taken an interest. “I work in a comic shop, the hours aren’t bad.”
“What’s a comic?”
“It’s like a book, but the story is told with pictures.”
“People don’t read words in your world?” the bandit probes.
“Not as much as they should,” Ed laughs.
“So do you like it?”
“My job? I dunno… I guess it’s nice to be surrounded by what you love.” Bengeo nods as Ed continues, “It’s not what I want to do forever, but for now it’s okay. The whole country’s in the shitter at the moment so—”
“So what do you want to do?” the bandit asks.
“What do I want to do?” Ed rubs his hand through his hair and twiddles it between his fingers. “I guess, I mean, I’ve always wanted to create my own graphic novel.” He braces himself, expecting ridicule, but Bengeo seems nonplussed. “You don’t think that’s dumb?” he asks, with wide, vulnerable eyes.
The bandit shakes his head. “I can definitely see you creating a graphic novel. Follow the road your heart takes you down, I say.”
Ed beams with renewed affirmation. “Thanks, man. I think I needed to hear that.”
Bengeo smiles. “Don’t mention it. Now, sleep.”
The two lie top-to-toe on the floor of the cramped cell. After a moment, Bengeo sits up. “Hey, Ed?”
“Yeah, buddy?”
“What’s a graphic novel?”
Ed’s chipper disposition fades, along with his confidence.
“Forget it.” He rolls on his side, away from Bengeo, and stares out through the bars at a little spider crossing the rough wooden floor. His eyes begin to feel heavy. After a few minutes he’s out like a light.
*
The last of the soldiers return to the Thanatos in their air balloons, and Captain Diamond takes one final look at the ruined town before boarding hers. Black scorches marr the few houses left standing. Piles of black ash and charred wood are all that remain of the general store. A faint wind scatters the ash across the bloodstained cobblestone, over to where some villagers muck together to clear some of the rubble. She notices a young girl, covered in soot, sitting atop the smouldering ruins of her house. Her life has been destroyed by the conflict. Her parents likely didn’t survive the battle, or fled without her. The orphan watches the captain from across the courtyard, admiring her shiny armour and gleaming rapier.
“Are you coming, Captain?” a soldier calls to her from the last balloon on the ground.
“What kind of empire abandons its people?” She looks shamed and leaves the villagers to pick up the pieces of their tattered lives.
Her balloon docks on the portside of the warship where she is greeted on the deck by General Gigas, whose crimson mantle dances in the wind as the rising sun glints off his armour.
“At ease, Diamond,” he nods.
“Aye, sir.” She relaxes, and follows him towards the nose of the ship. “Our scouts say Grimoirh fled south-west towards the wetlands.”
“Well, I’ll be glad to see the back of this hole,” he says.
“Aye, sir,” she nods. “… Sir, can we not spare a few men to help the townsfolk rebuild?”
“Absolutely not,” he scolds her. “We need every man available for the war effort. Grimoirh, his accursed army, attacks ever more prevalent on the roads and now these invaders from this other world. I would conscript every able man and woman from that village were there any left.”
Diamond winces at his disposition. “But sir, surely—”
“Enough of your bleeding heart ideology, Captain. Fret not, there will always be more poor people. They’re like rodents. They breed quickly and spread like a disease,” he scoffs at her sentiment. “The Thanatos is yours. Find the Dread Knight, I’m going to have a talk with our other-worlder captive.”
Diamond breathes a sigh of relief at his departure, and steels her heart before returning to the bridge.
*
Ed awakens from his nap in a completely different room. It’s dark, save for the flicker of the oil lamp placed on a table in front of him. He motions to sit up, but his arms and legs are bound to an iron chair bolted to the floor. Gigas looms opposite him, wearing a stern expression on his old, weathered face, illuminated from beneath like the villain in an old horror flick.
Ed looks worriedly at his restraints. “How did I get here?”
The general nods to the guard by the door. “She carried you. You wouldn’t wake up. One would think you were dead.”
“I’m a heavy sleeper, my dad says it’s because—”
Gigas jabs a dagger into the table, which springs back and forth as he releases it.
“Some do not take the threat of your kind seriously. I, however, am under no illusion that your coming is a declaration of war.”
“Whoa, wait a minute! We’re not trying to start a war with anybody. Swear!” Ed laughs nervously as the general tightens his eyes. “Look, I’ll tell you whatever you want, just please don’t hurt me. I mean… I don’t know anything, I don’t think, but I’ll tell you what I do know, whatever that is.”
Convinced Ed’s blathering is part of a ploy to confuse him, Gigas grows angry. “Silence, you impotent worm! How did you come here? What is your goal?”
“Hell if I know, all we’re trying to do is get home and rescue Jessica and now Remy, I guess and, well… now me?”
“What are you babbling about?” The general curls his lips back across his gritted teeth.
“One minute I’m eating Pot Noodles and playing video games and the next I’m facing off with a giant tentacle monster in a real-life dungeon.”
“What monster?”
“It had this glowing gem inside, that’s what Grimoirh wanted!”
“Yes, the shard.” Gigas’ interest is piqued. “Tell me everything you know about it.” He grips Ed by the throat.
“I don’t know much, I avoided spoilers!” he replies in a raspy voice as the general tightens his grip. “Ugh! Too tight! Too tight!” He squirms but Gigas’ hold is relentless. “Wait, wait, the game! The game!” he gasps as Gigas releases him.
“What game?”
“In the game, Grimoirh’s goal is to reforge the crystal and use it to destroy the living world.”
Gigas turns wan. “Until now the crystals were mere myth, some even doubted their existence, their location was lost to time. How does he know where they are?”
Ed shrugs. “Beats me.”
“You know things you shouldn’t, other-worlder, perhaps too much to be allowed to live.” The general draws the dagger from the table and wonders whether or not he should end Ed, who sweats under the general’s spiteful eye.
The interrogation room door bursts open and a soldier enters the room.
“Sir, Grimoirh’s ship is on the horizon. You’re needed aboard the bridge!”
Gigas places the dagger down. “Watch him!” he barks at the female guard by the door and storms out of the room with the other soldier.
Ed slumps back in the chair and tries to soothe his shot nerves. “I can’t take much more of this,” he groans. “A guy shouldn’t have to face his own mortality more than once a day.”
The female guard slinks towards him and picks up the dagger from the table. “Well, I’m sorry to say it’s about to get worse.” She cuts Ed’s arms loose.
“Is this some sort of trick?” He clings on to the chair.
“No trick. Follow me if you want to live.” After freeing his legs she pulls him onto his feet. “Stay quiet and keep your head down.”
“Who are you?” he asks.
“A friend,” she whispers.
*
Bengeo examines the wound on his side, which, thanks in no small part to Esmerelda’s magic, is healing nicely, but the bandit is weary from his travels. He rubs his tired eyes, which are framed by dark circles, and sighs.
“You don’t look so hot,” a guard jests as he enters the holding room.
“Yeah well, at least I don’t have to hide my ugly mug under a tin can,” Bengeo quips.
“Something tells me this ugly mug is gonna put a smile on your face.” The guard throws off his helmet, letting his long blonde hair loose around his rugged face. “Been a while, boss!”
Bengeo grins widely. “Marcus?! Ha ha! I knew you wouldn’t get eaten by a tree!”
“Looks like you’ve been through some hell.” Marcus motions to Bengeo’s wound.
“Ah, ain’t no thing.” Bengeo covers the wound with his jacket. “Who else made it after the crash?”
“Just Cleo. She’s gettin’ your boy outta interrogation.” Marcus unlocks Bengeo’s cell and pats his old friend on the shoulder.
“How’d you two get out?” Bengeo asks.
Marcus points at the pair of naked, beaten men lying unconscious in the adjacent cell. “You know Cleo,” he smiles, “she knows how to work her assets.”
As the bandits turn the corner out of the holding room they come upon Ed and Cleo skulking down the corridor.
“How’s your boo boo?” Ed asks Bengeo.
“Sore, but it ain’t gonna stop me from bashing a few skulls should the need arise.” Bengeo cracks his knuckles. “It’s time to blow this scene.”
*
The Thanatos finally comes upon Grimoirh’s ship, hovering above the misty mire.
“Tear that thing out of the sky!” Gigas commands his crew. “Launch the tethers! He won’t outrun us again.”
The soldiers stand to attention. “Aye, sir!” they salute in unison, then mobilise.
Gigas turns to Diamond with a malicious grin. “He’ll rue the day he stole that ship from us.”
Diamond nods and glares out at the ship across the sky, a bitter reminder of Grimoirh’s one-up over Gigas and the mighty Kingdom of Runegard. Her eyes tighten. Today they take back what’s theirs.
*
Jessica scurries on all fours through a maze of sweltering ducts that wind through the bowels of Grimoirh’s ship. She mops the sweat running from her forehead to her eyes and looks irritably ahead at George who scuttles in front of her.
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” she asks.
“I’ve been in plenty of ships like this, trust me,” he replies, with more certainty than a lost child should possess.
“I can’t believe I’m taking orders from a nine-year-old,” she mutters.
“I’m eleven! And I can’t believe I’m stuck on an escort mission.”
“Hey, I’m the one escorting you!”
The grate beneath her gives way and she plummets with a squeal and dangles above a giant chasm overlooking the colossal cylindrical engine chamber. George grabs hold of her arm, but neither of them possess the strength to pull her back up.
“Don’t look down!” he warns.
Jessica immediately looks down and gasps at the enormous roaring machines powering the ship.
“Can you swing over to that platform?” George points to a metal walkway suspended below that runs throughout the centre of the engine chamber.
Jessica assesses the distance and nods.
“I’ll find a way down. Be careful.” He races through the rest of the vent, to greet her before she lands.
Jessica brings her other arm up and grips the edge of the vent with both hands, then she swings her legs forward and back to gain momentum.
She begs the universe, Please don’t let me die, and with one great swing lets go of the vent, free-falls through the air and crashes into the side of the walkway. She clings for dear life to the railing and hears George’s trainers squeak against the metal as he sprints towards her. He grabs her jacket tightly, and with his help, she pulls herself over the railing and collapses on the bridge.
As her pounding heart slows and her legs stop shaking, she asks, “So what now?”
George looks panicked. “What? I thought you had the plan?”
“I do. I do,” Jessica assures him. “Just let me think.”
She runs her eyes over the massive gears and giant pistons that whirr and grind, and notes the numerous consoles suspended throughout the chamber on platforms that branch off the long walkway, which she assumes must control the engines somehow.
“Hurry it up before those goblins catch us,” George says.
“You know, you’re a pretty demanding kid!” Her mind races for a solution to ground the airship. She approaches the nearest console and stares at the metal block covered with dials, gauges, levers and buttons – not exactly the smartphone technology she’s used to. An idea forms in her mind. She reasons that if she can damage the engines, then whoever is flying this thing will have no choice but to land it.
She pokes a long brass pipe protruding from the console and tries with all her might to prise it loose, so she can use it to jam one of the gears, but alas, the pipe’s welded on. Like her sister and mother, patience doesn’t top her list of redeeming qualities, so it isn’t but a minute before she’s kicking the pipe as hard as she can. The clank of her boots striking metal resounds through the chamber, alerting a goblin engineer to their presence. The crooked creature lifts its welding goggles and spots them both. With a grunt it strides across the walkway towards George who has his back turned and is too engrossed by Jessica to notice.
The umpteenth kick dislodges the pipe just as the goblin reaches George and inadvertently blasts it with scalding hot engine oil. The creature shrieks, trips backwards over the railing and lands between two massive cogs which crush and mangle its body to mush, swiftly grinding the starboard engines to a halt.
“Wow, that worked!” George cheers.
“Oh God! S-sorry!” Jessica covers her mouth, and the sight of the goblin’s innards dripping out of the machinery burns itself into her mind. She’ll never sleep soundly again.
A deafening bang reverberates through the chamber. She and George look worried at each other as the centre of gravity shifts and the airship tilts to one side. The explosion draws a pack of monstrous henchmen onto the walkway, and as soon as Jessica spots them, she pulls George in the opposite direction.
“Don’t look back!” she cries, sprinting across the skewed catwalk.
George, being an eleven-year-old boy, absolutely has to look back now that she’s told him not to and glances over his shoulder at the bloodthirsty monsters chasing him.
“I looked back!” he whimpers.
“How bad is it?” Jessica asks.
“It’s bad!”
They skid to a halt as more goblins cut them off on the far side of the catwalk blocking their escape. It gets worse.
*
From behind a stack of supply crates aboard the deck, Ed and the others watch the captain mobilise her men. Soldiers rush about, readying cannons and manoeuvring large turrets to draw on the Dread Knight’s ship as they approach.
Bengeo tightens his eyes, across the sky, as Grimoirh’s vessel leans to one side. “Something’s wrong.”
“It’s gotta be Remy,” Ed grins with renewed hope. “She’s giving them hell over there.”
“Prepare to fire on my signal!” Diamond raises her rapier. “Now!” she cries.
BOOM! A volley of massive harpoons hurtle through the clouds and tear through the hull of the Dread Knight’s airship. The crew wind massive wheels, which in turn retract the chains, reeling in their target like a captured whale.
Bengeo creeps up on two soldiers operating one of the huge harpoon cannons and grabs the men by their helmets, then he slams them into each other with enough force to knock them out cold. Cleo and Ed arm themselves with the guards’ weapons while Bengeo and Marcus finish aiming the turret.
“Boss, you sure this is a good idea?” Cleo asks.
“Ask him,” Bengeo nods to Ed, “I’m just along for the ride.” He releases the lever and a harpoon soars across the sky and pierces the starboard side of Grimoirh’s ship.
“Go on ahead, I’ll stay back to cover your escape,” Marcus says, tying his long hair back.
“You sure?” Bengeo asks.
“That thing is going down, you better make sure you ain’t on it when it does. I’ll buy you some time on this side.” The two bandits bump forearms in a sort of brotherly salute before Marcus takes off across the deck screaming at the top of his lungs.
Captain Diamond spots him fleeing from the guards, and her first instinct is to give chase, but she senses something is afoot and surveys the area for more trouble. Her predatory eye spots her prisoners, attempting the unfathomable. The three of them are skirting along one of the chromium chains tethering the two airships.
*
The goblin men surrounding George and Jessica move in for the kill. She pulls the boy close to her as the nasty creatures charge with ill intent. As all hope seems lost, one of the harpoons blasts through the side of the ship and tears the edge of the catwalk to shreds. She shields George as another harpoon rips a gaping hole in the hull behind them, and she clings to the boy with one hand, while lunging for the railing with the other as the blustering wind sucks the goblins out into the sky.
“Hold on to me!” she shrieks.
George wraps his arms around her waist, locking his hands tightly as they’re both lifted off their feet.
*
“You still sure this is a good idea?” Cleo yells to Ed who looks sickly as he shimmies along the chain. The mist and cloud shroud the earth below, making it difficult to tell exactly how high they are, but the fall is undoubtedly fatal.
The chain wobbles abruptly, up and down. Looking back towards the Thanatos, Ed spots Diamond sprinting towards them, like some nimble cheetah stalking its prey along a tree branch.
“Hey, Bengeo! Your girlfriend is coming right at us!”
The bandit looks back at her and growls, “Keep going, I’ll deal with it.” He climbs around Ed and Cleo to cut her off.
In one swift leap, the captain unleashes a flurry of swipes, which the bandit barely evades.
“Damnit, woman, give it up, will you?!” Bengeo barks.
“You know I hate when you call me that!” she hisses, thrusting her blade again. He parries and catches her arms, and the two of them wrestle with one another thousands of feet in the air until she slithers from his iron grip and strikes him in his arrow wound.
“Bah, cheap shot!” Bengeo loses his footing but catches the chain in his hands and dangles below her.
The captain raises her rapier and grins victoriously. “You never should’ve forsaken the kingdom, Bandit!”
“You should’ve come with me,” he smirks, hoping to charm his way out of the precarious situation he’s found himself in – fat chance.
She jabs her sword as he swings perilously between chain links, dodging her attacks, until finally, that smug look on his face gets the better of her and she loses her ice-cold composure. With a broad slash, her diamond blade severs the chain between them.
“Ha ha! Got you,” Bengeo laughs raucously as the chain breaks into two halves and he swings away.
She curses his name as she clings to her end of the chain and hurtles through the air back towards the Thanatos.
Ed and Cleo, having made it across, wait at the gaping hole in the hull caused by their harpoon, watching as the bandit climbs towards them.
*
With all her might, Jessica drags herself and George off the collapsing walkway and scrambles through the ship’s labyrinthine passages. Her wide eyes dart left and right as she desperately tries to find a way outside. A sharp turn finds them at a criss-cross of corridors and faced by a pack of bloodthirsty goblins, clasping knives, rusty cleavers and beaten old shields, but before the monsters rush them, three more figures emerge from the corridor to her left.
“Hey!” she recognises Ed as he sprints past.
He skids to a halt and looks at her with a wide grin. “You’re not a rock?!”
The goblins shriek, immediately dispelling his joy. He hooks his neck the other way at the angry mob.
“Uh, run!” He pulls Jessica by the arm and chases after Bengeo and Cleo who ran ahead.
“Where’s Remy?” Jessica asks.
“I don’t exactly know, she should be on board somewhere,” he replies.
“You lost my sister?!” she barks as he pushes her up a set of coiling iron stairs.
The goblins pile on behind them. Their snarls and shrieks resound up the staircase, sending Jessica’s heart racing. Cleo reaches the top first, but the exit is barred by a door she can’t open. Bengeo rams it with his shoulder again and again while the goblins’ harrowing chants grow louder with every second.
“I always imagined I’d die like this,” Ed whimpers.
“Why would you ever imagine dying like this?!” Jessica shouts.
Ed shrugs. He’s always been blessed with an overactive imagination.
“Well, I’m not going out easy!” Cleo twirls her sword, and braces herself for their last stand while Bengeo attacks the door with increasing ferocity.
“Won’t budge!” Bengeo throws his arms up, then steps in front of his companions, ready to defend them to the death.
As the goblins round the final flight of steps, the mangled corpse jammed between the huge cogs in the engine chamber breaks loose and the overheated engines surge and combust in a violent explosion.
The stairway rattles and a surge of blazing fire rips through the bottom half of the ship, which crumbles towards the mire below, tearing all but the top few steps of the staircase with it. The party cling to the railings and each other for dear life while the monsters pursuing them are sucked into the chaotic hellfire below.
“Holy shit!” Ed screams over the roaring gale force winds.
“What now?!” Jessica asks.
“Let’s get this door open!” Bengeo insists.
“Uh, sorry but who are you?” She looks warily at the hulking bandit.
“It’s cool, he’s on our side,” Ed reassures her. “He saved Remy and me.”
Bengeo nods proudly and shakes her hand, squeezing with hearty enthusiasm.
“Whoa, you’re strong,” Jess laughs nervously and rubs her hand as the blood flows back to it.
*
A deafening crackle from above halts Lauren and Valentine’s ascent of the ruin. They stare wildly at the Thanatos bombarding the airship, which is now breaking in two. The bottom half plunges into the swamp in a spectacular blaze.
“Christ almighty!” Valentine says. “Can you believe what we’re seeing?” He perches against the crumbling bricks and holds his head in his hands while his mind tries to comprehend the unreal events of the past few hours. He stares at the flaming shipwreck, which incinerates the roaming undead as they blindly wander towards it, and frowns. “Well, whoever’s up there isn’t going to help us now.”
Lauren looks guilty as she contemplates whether or not to share her theory that they’re somehow inside Ultimate Adventure VII. Ultimately she decides against it, reasoning that it probably wouldn’t make him feel better anyway, and she’s not sure if she believes it herself. She looks downcast and spots a figure striding out of the ruin across a crumbling stone bridge beneath them. She instantly recognises the black armour and hulking greatsword on his back. It’s Grimoirh. The sight of him fills her with dread. The last thing she wants is to cross paths with the game’s big bad, so she ducks behind some rubble and signals for Valentine to do the same.
He shakes his head, unable to interpret her frantic gestures, so she pulls him down beside her and points to the man in black from cover.
“Who’s that?” he asks.
Lauren’s eyes tighten on Grimoirh as he stops and gazes up at the warring airships. Immediately she realises something isn’t right. In the game, Grimoirh is a suit of living armour possessed by the malevolent will of the crystal, but there’s a man under that black plate mail. She watches him curiously as he beholds the catastrophe unfolding above. They’re a distance apart, but Lauren can just make out his face as he turns their way. It’s Vincent! There’s no mistaking him. Her dread is instantly dispelled and without a second thought, she leaps over the rocks and stumbles down the ruins after him.
“What the hell are you doing, girl?!” Valentine hisses at her, but she pays him no mind.
She trips onto the crumbling stone bridge with a thud but wastes no time picking herself up and jogs towards Vincent.
“Hey!” she waves her arms to get his attention. Her voice gives her away before he sees her.
His face turns wanly in surprise and then sadness. He had hoped she wouldn’t be drawn into any of this. Turning away in shame, he foolishly prays that she’ll leave him be.
“Vincent?!” Lauren gasps. He turns back slightly, hesitant to show his face.
The wind howls across the bridge as booming cannon fire echoes from on high. Vincent stands tall, clad in his black plate mail, the God Cleaver resting on his back, but Lauren is looking only at the man beneath it all.
“It is you!” she smiles. “What’s going on?! Are we… Are we in the game? Is this why you disappeared? How is this possible?” She blurts question after question. “I was worried something awful had happened to you, but… are we really in the game?! I can’t believe it!”
She’s as naive and goofy as he remembers. The sight of her beaming at him while her long bedraggled hair dances in the wind brings a flicker of a smile that he quickly banishes.
“You’re okay, right?” she asks.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
His words stagger her. She’d played this moment over in her head the last few days but had never considered he’d greet her so coldly. She also never considered their reunion would take place inside a video game, but right now she’d rather sweat the stuff that can be explained.
“I don’t understand, Vincent, what’s going on?”
“I’m sorry this happened to you,” he croaks.
She notices the dismembered hand he’s clutching and asks in horror, “What is that? And why are you dressed like Grimoirh?”
He glances at Remy’s hand and then back at Lauren. “This world is too dangerous for you. Where I’m going you can’t follow. Find Bengeo the Bandit, he’s sheltering other players, you’ll be safe with him.”
“Bengeo? So we really are in the game? How is that possible?” she asks, but he seems reluctant to share the answers she craves.
“Hey!” Valentine cries out as he jogs over. “Don’t go running off like that!” He hunches over once he reaches her and rests his hands against his knees.
Startled by the detective, Vincent draws his weapon.
“Easy there, fella.” Valentine holds his hands up, clearly intimidated by the ridiculously oversized sword pointed at him and wonders, How could a man lift that thing?
“It’s okay, he’s with me.” Lauren urges Vincent to lower his weapon.
“Who’s this guy?” Valentine asks.
“Uh, he’s my boss,” she replies.
“Eric Garland?”
Vincent looks thunderstruck on hearing Eric’s name. “Eric? Eric’s alive?!”
Lauren nods, confused, and Vincent’s searching eyes dart wildly while he contemplates what this could mean. Before she can ask why he would think Eric was dead, Valentine yelps and points at a hunk of debris hurtling towards them from the warring airships above. The three of them don’t make it two metres before the flaming scrap decimates the bridge beneath their feet and they crash into the crypt below.
Smoke and dust scatter the air, bathing the room in streaks of sickly light. Valentine groans before he picks himself up.
“Christ, that hurt…” he winces as he cracks his neck.
Vincent is already on his feet and shifting the rubble. “Help me find her!” he barks.
Valentine springs to action and they claw through the soot and rocks until they come upon her.
“Come on, you’re alright!” Valentine brushes Lauren down as she coughs the dust from her lungs. He examines the nasty gash on her head. It’s bleeding pretty badly but thankfully appears superficial.
A hiss from above heralds danger amidst the dust cloud. The crash has attracted a horde of undead, which stagger over the collapsed bridge and flop into the room. Landing with a wallop, their bodies crash and writhe towards their prey.
Vincent picks up his sword. “Take her and go.” He pushes Lauren towards the detective.
“Wait!” she protests. “Come with us! We can find Bengeo together!”
Vincent looks distressed, and she senses there’s a lot he’s not telling her.
“There’s too many of them!” he cries as his enchanted sword ignites with unholy fire. “Go, I’ll hold them back.” He cleaves a walking corpse in half as it rushes him.
Lauren gasps as the dismembered pieces slide across the stone floor.
“Come on, girl. We best listen to the man.” Valentine pulls her away as dozens more undead rain down around them and ushers her through a narrow passageway leading into the crypt.
She looks back over her shoulder as she runs, stealing glances at Vincent, who contends with the frightening wights and living skeletons, until he’s out of sight. Faint echoes of his battle swell before the passage collapses behind them.
Little does she know, Vincent had collapsed it purposefully to protect them from any stragglers and to stop her coming after him. He cuts the monsters down then takes a moment’s rest. Leaning against his sword he watches as his ship is decimated by General Gigas and the Thanatos. The top half of it is barely kept afloat by the massive helium-filled balloons supporting it. He picks up Remy’s severed hand and examines it. Gripping it tightly he pictures in his mind the most powerful creature in the game. The hand pulses with shimmering light and the fingers twitch as he raises it to the heavens and calls upon the crystal’s power. Magical glyphs emanate from the blackened palm and call forth a monstrous dragon that materialises from an otherworldly void. Pitch black and crystalline, it spreads its wings with a shattering chime. Vincent mounts the great beast and takes off, roaring into the sky.