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  “The Fallen Empire seems dead, like nothing lives here anymore.”

  “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be careful. Besides, we don’t just have to worry about my old brethren finding us...”

  Ajax thought of the void wraiths. The one in the gray cloak. Who had it been? He assumed it died with the rest, but there was no way to be sure.

  “I don’t know what happened back there,” Ajax said. “The item that killed the wraiths has been in my inventory since I began this life.” There wasn’t any point in showing Talon the black ball, as there wasn’t enough light within the ruin with which to see it. “When I bring up the item information, it gives me a message about it not being identified by the item ID Systems.”

  “Weird.”

  “Tell me about it.” Ajax paused to listen as Lillus stirred in her sleep. She moaned a moment, then went silent.

  “She’s an odd one, too,” Talon said. “But man, is she hot. I always liked goth girls.”

  Chuckling, Ajax brought Lillus’s hands to his lips and kissed them. “She is, but she’s taken.”

  With that, they settled for the night, letting the dragons keep watch.

  The night passed uneventfully. When they emerged from the ruin, Lillus in Ajax’s arms, they found a heavy layer of snow had settled over the ground. The dragons waited for them, a dead half-eaten deer laying in the snow in front of them. “I’m coming with you,” Dawnspark said, her eyes on Ajax. “You and your Demon Mage will be my new riders.”

  “What about your old one?” Talon gave Ajax a lopsided grin, that seemed to say ‘you’re in for one hell of a ride.’

  “Oh, him?” Dawnspark hissed a flicker of flame. “He stopped caring about me years ago. Said he couldn’t stand the sound of my voice anymore.” The dragon rolled her eyes. “Men.”

  Firesoul nuzzled his snout against her neck. “Your voice is sweet dragon song to my ears.”

  “Oh, you always know how to make a woman feel loved.” Dawnspark nudged the bloody deer carcass toward Ajax with her foot. “This is my ‘getting to know my new neighbors’ gift to you.”

  Ajax looked at the spilled deer guts and bloody snow and wanted to puke.

  CHAPTER 8

  SHOP SMART SHOP FLOORMART

  AS AJAX RODE NORTH-west on Dawnspark, he kept his arms around the sleeping Lillus to steady her and try to keep her warm. They flew low, to make it harder to spot them from a distance. The land below them remained dead, scorched snow-covered forests stretching for as far as the eye could see. Occasional ruined towns and citadels went by under them, along with huge half-buried skeletons. Later in the day, they followed the course of a brackish green river which eventually flowed into a large inland lake.

  With darkness approaching, the dragons descended to shelter for the night in the ruins of a small lakeside village. It provided decent protection from the icy wind, but also made it harder to spot the dragons. Ajax had no idea if Ithilda would send out dragon riders this far north of the Imperium, but it was better to play it safe.

  As Ajax climbed off Dawnspark’s back, he noticed frozen bones littering the ground.

  Human, by the look of them. Perhaps they’d once been players, fallen in the wars of Pendrax, or perhaps they had belonged to NPC villagers who had made this forgotten place their home.

  Once, these lands had been ruled by local warlords who fell under the sway of Pendrax. Now the dead ruled here.

  Something moved in the shadows of a nearby ruin. Ajax put his hand on his sword and watched. Creeping from the shattered remains of a ruined inn, came a fetid corpse given life.

  Ajax wrinkled his nose. A ghast, but one of the more powerful variety judging by its mottled green and yellow coloring. He had heard that a player could be turned into a ghast if they became a victim of one. They would live out their exile as a shambling corpse thinking whatever thoughts the living dead think, never respawning on their next life until someone had put them to rest.

  A horrible fate.

  The monster stared at them through rotted eyes. The dragons watched it, flames flickering in their throats.

  Another ghast came to stand beside the first, one eye dangling down to its cheek. The clearly human skin had a gray pallor to it, signifying it to be a ghast of new origins. A woman perhaps, given the circular lumps on its chest and the long dark hair. Perhaps the elder ghast had found her corpse somewhere out in the wilds and ascended her to undeath. An undead monstrosity (like anyone else) probably likes company, after all.

  What would a woman be doing all the way out here?

  The two undead beings watched them silently, as Ajax put Lillus down and helped Talon clear a space to sleep in the lounge room of a half-burned-out house. With the two dragons on guard, it would be doubtful the ghasts would try to attack. Though they were monsters, they still had a functioning survival instinct. The two undead would know it would be suicide to approach Ajax and Talon with the dragons around.

  Ajax was glad Dawnspark and Firesoul refrained from setting the monsters on fire. Killing the walking corpses would unleash a miasma of fetid stench, that would linger for many hours after, forcing them to fly off in search of another place to sleep. Plus, it would set fire to the buildings around them, and with darkness falling, the glow would be visible for miles around. Better to wait and see what the ghasts did, before resorting to a fight.

  After awhile, the ghastly monsters shuffled off and disappeared into the darkened interior of a ruined warehouse.

  “Goddamn zombies,” Talon said. “Hope those things don’t come back.”

  As Firesoul and Dawnspark snuggled up against one another out front, Talon and Ajax set about barricading the rear entry of the house. The ghasts mightn’t sneak past the dragons to come through the front door, but nothing would stop them gaining entry from the rear. Shoving furniture, roof tiles, and anything else they could find into the entry, they had soon blocked the back door.

  “I wonder what this place used to be called,” Ajax said when they were back in the lounge room. Since humans had become exiled within Visaria Online, many of the old systems had been removed. Including the map panel for areas outside of the human lands.

  “No idea, but it must’ve been of some importance; I saw a crafting area and one of those old quest boards as we flew in.”

  A quest board used to be a place where players could gather quests, or at least be pointed in the direction of one. These days, the old questing system had been changed to a more sandbox approach, reflecting the current state of Visaria. No longer were quests dolled out to every player that came along, repeated ad nauseam by thousands. Now they were dynamic, and based on the current whims of other players, NPCs, the authorities or happenstance, and nothing respawned, so they could only be done once.

  Talon smirked. “I never used to play Visaria Online, or any video game for that matter. Gaming was for nerds.” He played with his red beard. “Me, I used to be a part-time mechanic and street hustler and a full-time ladies man.”

  Ajax raised his eyebrows. “A street hustler?”

  “Yea, I used to peddle counterfeit watches and handbags, that sort of thing.” Talon picked up a melted slither of metal from the scorched floor. “In the old days, I could’ve had someone believing this piece of trash was designer jewelry and they’d have been handing over their money before I could blink.” He tossed the metal aside. “What about you?”

  Shaking his head, Ajax said, “I worked at Floormart stacking shelves and cleaning the toilets.”

  “Floormart. Right.”

  They stared at one another in silence. Then as one, both started laughing. Ajax had no idea why he suddenly thought the mundaneness of his past life was so funny, but right then, it seemed to be the most hilarious joke he’d ever heard. Him, a working class nobody, now destined to be the champion of the human race.

  When they couldn’t laugh anymore, they murmured before bed pleasantries, then stretched out and tried to get some sleep. Ajax curled up behind Lillus,
and put his arm over her, burying his face in her hair.

  CHAPTER 9

  GHOST IN THE MACHINE

  AJAX PRESSED HIS NOSE against the glass of the stasis chamber, staring out into the blurry darkness on the other side. His stats were gone, the living digital world of Visaria replaced by one of deep shadow, and unimaginable frozen bleakness.

  Why am I here? Is this another dream?

  Last time he had woken in the stasis chamber, he’d met a woman named Kara, then been attacked by a shadowy beast.

  His heart leapt into his throat as he caught sight movement on the other side of the glass. Had the beast returned?

  Then he saw it. Sinking against the back of the stasis chamber, the cables filling him with chemicals sloshing around him, he waited to see if he’d been seen.

  Whatever was out there, definitely wasn’t human. It had been shaped all wrong, malformed limbs sticking out of its slug-like body. He hadn’t gotten a good look at the creature, it was too dark, but he’d seen enough to know that it wasn’t something he wanted to encounter. He had no weapon, no way to defend himself. And if it was the same shadow creature that had attacked him last time, then it could reach through the glass of the stasis chamber, as if solid structures meant nothing.

  Ajax grit his teeth as he tried to bring up any information on the monster in his mind’s eye. Nothing. Not a thing. This has to be the real world. But what is that thing?

  The machines who had risen up against humanity looked nothing like what slithered around outside his chamber.

  Suddenly, feet thumped toward him. Oh, god, oh, god, it knows I’m here!

  Ajax sank to the floor of the stasis chamber and raised his arms to cover his face. A dull thud sounded as something struck the other side of the glass. Here comes the pain. He braced himself for the inevitable attack.

  But it never came.

  He looked up and witnessed a battle raging outside. The monster’s body slammed against the front of Ajax’s chamber, shaking it, and sloshing around the preservation liquids inside. What the hell is happening?

  Two women battled the slug-like monster. One raised a hand and pointed at the beast, and it again slammed against the stasis chamber, as if struck by an unseen force. Maybe this wasn’t the real world after all. If the woman was using magic, then where was he? This certainly wasn’t Visaria Online.

  He noticed the white hair of the woman casting the invisible magic. Kara.

  The redheaded woman next to her hurled a spear at the monster, striking it somewhere in its face. The beast pressed against the glass, making no noise other than the sound of its heavy body rubbing up against the chamber. To his horror, a human-like face appeared within the slick black flesh of the monster. The flesh seemed to have the consistency of oil, as the face formed and unformed, swirling around as if stirred with an unseen ladle. Then its eyes widened, its mouth dripping open.

  It had seen him.

  A long tongue ran out of the face’s mouth as it let out a ghastly wail. The blood in Ajax’s veins instantly froze and he couldn’t move his eyes away from the face’s malevolent gaze. This monster was the stuff of the night terrors he had suffered as a child. Two hands formed under the face, and they began to reach inside the stasis chamber, passing through the glass as if it were only air.

  Ajax couldn’t escape them. There was nowhere for him to go.

  Just as the hands were about to grab him, the monster was torn away. Kara screamed as she pointed her fingers toward the beast. The way it thrashed around, slamming against the other chambers around Ajax’s, suggested it was being blasted by the invisible magic. Catching his breath, he pressed his nose against the glass and watched as the two women drove the beast down the corridor outside. Eventually, they moved out of his view and he could hear nothing but his own rapid heartbeat.

  Long minutes passed, and he waited for something to happen.

  Then the silhouette of a human-shaped figure stood outside his stasis chamber.

  “I came back as soon as I felt you waken.”

  Ajax jolted in fright. You startled me, Kara. What was that thing?

  “A shadow Beast. I have fought them before.”

  What am I doing here?

  “I don’t know why you are here. Do you even know where you are?”

  He inched closer to the glass, trying to see her face. I’m in my stasis chamber, jacked into the Advanced Hyper Neural Net Array were I fled during the war.

  Kara’s face came into view. She was young, probably around his age, but her eyes had no color to them, like she was blind. Another figure moved behind her. The second woman, this one with shoulder-length red hair, seemed to be keeping watch. “This place is the home of the servants. They have taken our father. Do you know where he is?”

  Ajax had no idea what she was talking about. Servants? Her father?

  Kara said something to the woman behind her then turned back to Ajax. “You’re in the World Simulator. Do you know what that is?”

  The World Simulator... Ajax knew that name. It had been a planet-wide simulation of the entire real world down to a minute detail. The World Simulator had other uses, too, but he didn’t know what they were, as it had been off limits to all but the rich, and powerful or to those with important jobs that required constant communication with people overseas. There’d been many conspiracy theories about what had gone on in the World Simulator, ranging from governments communicating with aliens, to secret oligarchic meetings speaking about killing off most of the world’s population.

  As far as Ajax was aware, none of the theories had been confirmed. But now he thought of it, that latter conspiracy theory might have had some merit to it after all...

  How did I get here? I thought... I thought I had been woken so I could return to the surface with everyone else.

  “Open your mind to me,” Kara said. “I don’t know how, but you and I are linked somehow. I see your thoughts, can sense your presence.”

  He moved away from her. You want to see into my brain? But...

  “Don’t worry, I know a lot about how men think.” She chuckled. “Trust me.”

  A tingling started in his head, that grew more and more uncomfortable as the minutes wore on. Then it stopped suddenly, as the woman placed a hand to her forehead. “I have seen enough.” As she spoke, her teeth were gritted, as if in pain. “We have to help each other.”

  Help? Ajax moved to the glass. I need to return home. The void—

  “I know. The void is here too. We know it as the corruption.”

  He didn’t know what to say to that.

  The second woman came to the glass. “I can’t hear your thoughts like my sister, so she can translate for me. Tell me, how many people are down here with you? We’ve seen hundreds in these water-filled chambers, but they all look like they’re in a deep sleep, or... ” She glanced at Kara. “They’re dead.”

  Dead! The water around Ajax seemed to grow colder. I... I don’t know. He thought back to when he had fled the surface with the other survivors. There were thousands of us, I think. Please, tell me, they aren’t dead. They can’t be.

  “I’m sure they’re just sleeping,” Kara said, then relayed Ajax’s answer to the other woman.

  “My name is Semira,” the second woman said. “The Oracle has given me the task of returning humanity to the Light of the Lost Sun. If you and the rest of your people are here within the World Simulator, then perhaps some of you are still alive in the real world.”

  Ajax struggled to follow her. She knew the Oracle?

  Kara spoke again. “We have been to the Oracle, and were given our life’s purpose. My sister must lead our people from their underground home to the surface. As she leads them to safety, I must defeat the First Born, the machines who destroyed your world.” A small grin formed on her lips. “We come from a time far into the future from when you entered this stasis chamber. Our world is far different from your own, but we are still one and the same. Human.”

  Ajax’s min
d spun. There was too much to try to come to grips with. Shaking his head to clear it, he focused once more. I am going to the Oracle. The void is trying to destroy Visaria and I’ve been told I must be the one to stop it.

  “I know, the corruption is destroying the World Simulator too. But stopping it is of secondary importance to the survival of the human race.” Kara pressed her face against the glass, staring deep into his eyes. “You must find a way to leave Visaria with the rest of your people and return to the real world. There are thousands of people still living out there who know nothing of you, your world, or the other survivors here. The final battle between humanity and the machines is approaching, and we will need all our strength to defeat them.”

  What can I do from within Visaria? I’m stuck there, until the Oracle wakes me.

  “Go to the Oracle, it should be able to tell you more. It is working with me and my sister to save the human race.” Kara moved away again. “I will be leaving this facility after we have found our father. Then Semira and I must find a way out of the World Simulator and back to the real world. If I don’t see you again... ” She put her hand to the glass. “Then, good luck... Adrian Stewert.”

  Kara’s face faded to black, and was gone.

  CHAPTER 10

  THE WORST HANGOVER OF MY LIFE

  AJAX SHUDDERED AS HE woke. The cross back to Visaria from the World Simulator had been overwhelming. Worse than last time. As he stared out into the bleak morning predawn, he felt his stats and the laws and physics of Visaria right themselves again. When the sensations had settled, he brought up his 3D model in his mind’s eye and checked over his stats.

  Ajax Stoneheart

  Race: Human

  Class: Spiritual Warrior

  Skill Focus: Warrior Paladin

  Level: 8

  Player Kills: 4