Chapter 72: A New Life’s Resolution

I returned to awareness with shocking suddenness. It was as if I had been dipped in an ice bath. I inhaled sharply as my memories returned in a rush.

With them came gut-wrenching agony.

I shuddered and my limbs began convulsing. I was dying. Again. I knew it for a certainty. I could feel my lifeblood spilling away. The pain was excruciating. No! I won’t die like this! Not again. My eyes snapped open and my hands flew to my throat.

There was no gash.

My mind refused to believe it. Frantic fingers roved over my neck, probing every inch of skin for the source of the pain that I could still feel, that I knew was there. It was so real: the taste of the cold cruel blade slicing through my throat, the flood of blood gurling out of me, the waves of agony coursing through my veins, and the sense of fading self.

I shivered uncontrollably. My heart thumped in my chest and sweat broke out across my brow.

No! I refuted. It’s not real. They’re only memories!

With difficulty, I wrenched my mind back to the present, grimly ignoring the vivid sensations that my mind insisted were real. They weren’t. The evidence was undeniable. I was whole and uninjured.

But if only I could get my mind to accept that.

A Game message hovered before my eyes. Desperately, I sought refuge within it.

You have been reborn. Lives remaining: 2. Time lost during resurrection: 8 hours. Rebirth location: sector 14,913 safe zone.

Other notices were waiting for me. One by one, I perused them. Ignoring my body’s tremors and my mind’s panic, I studied the messages carefully and deliberately.

Your task: Escape the Dungeon has been updated. You have discovered a second means of using the sector 14,913 exit portal. Revised objective: Adopt a Dark Class, swear allegiance to the Master, or otherwise use the sector 14,913 exit portal. This task and the task: Find your own way out, are mutually exclusive.

Your light armor has increased to level 18. Your skill in light armor has reached rank 1, decreasing your light armor penalty to 45%.

Your insight has increased to 25. Your chi has increased to level 3. Your meditation has increased to level 22. Your telepathy has increased to level 11. Your sneaking has increased to level 38. Your shortswords has increased to level 34. Your two weapon fighting has increased to level 29.

Congratulations, Michael! You are now a rank 2 player. Your experience gains have decreased further. For achieving rank 2, you have been awarded 1 additional attribute point and 1 Class point.

I went over each Game alert repeatedly until I fully understood the sense of their contents. Most of the messages were fairly mundane, but the one related to the Class point was intriguing enough to jolt my downward spiraling thoughts back to the present. I wasn’t certain, but I had a feeling the Class point was used to upgrade a Class.

Ignoring it for now—I needed to find out more about Class points before I spent it—I turned my attention to my attribute points. Seeing no reason to delay, I invested a point apiece in Constitution and Mind.

Your Constitution has increased to rank 5. Your Mind has increased to rank 5.

When I was done, I breathed out carefully. As I had hoped, dealing with familiar had settled my mind. I was calmer now, and the shock of my death had passed. I was ready to face the world again.

I sat up.

I was lying in a shallow pool of strange liquid. Whatever it was, it was not water. My hands were bone dry. I looked downwards. And of course, I was clothed in newbie clothes again. “Damn,” I muttered.

I looked around. The rim of the pool was edged by a low stone wall inscribed with indecipherable runes. This has to be the rebirth well Gnat mentioned. The well itself was housed in a tent, and at the moment I was its only occupant.

I rose to my feet and climbed over the stone wall. I could hear the murmur of voices outside the tent. Other candidates were in the safe zone. But before I stepped outside, I closed my eyes and took a moment to compose myself. A lot had happened in the moments before my death, and I had yet to process everything.

Sigmar’s betrayal.

Stayne’s ultimatum.

Saben’s secret.

Decalthiya gone.

The last bit hurt surprisingly more than I expected. I had hardly known the half-giant, and for much of our short acquaintance she had been poorly-disposed towards me. Still, the big fighter had been slowly growing on me. And whatever else could be said of her, Decalthiya had been loyal. Steadfast.

And so cruelly betrayed.

She had deserved better. The Master, Sigmar, Saben, and Stayne, all of them had had a part to play in her demise. But if I was being honest, more than anything else, it was the injustice of the half-giant’s death that ate at me.

And it was not only Decalthiya who had been wronged. Every candidate who had perished in this sector—going through what I had just experienced three times no less—was equally a victim and pawn in the Master’s game.

Someone has to seek redress, I thought. Someone has to seek justice on their behalf.

Did it have to be me? No. But who else was there? Morin and Tantor were capable, but they couldn’t do what I could.

I had been playing it safe with Gnat for fear of the Master’s reprisals, and I had turned away from the plight of Saben’s prisoners previously because the chance of success had been low. The odds were still weighed against me, even more so now with Stayne’s involvement.

But this time, I could not—would not—look the other way.

Stayne and his offer be damned. I will not bow to the Master’s demands. My path crystallized. I would hunt down the two directly responsible for Decalthiya’s death. It was not an entirely rational decision, nor was it the smartest move.

But it was the right choice.

Stayne and the Master were out of my reach. For now. Not so, Saben and Sigmar. Despite having no gear and perhaps no allies, I resolved I would not leave this sector until I killed the pair.

Repeatedly if necessary.

Unbidden, a Game message popped into my mind.

You have been allocated a new task: Vengeance for the Fallen! Your determination to avenge your comrades has been noticed, and the Adjudicator has granted you a task. Hunt down those directly responsible. Objective 1: Deal final death to Sigmar. Objective 2: Deal final death to Saben.

A grim smile lit my face at the message, but it never reached my eyes.

~~~

Exiting the tent, I found myself at the rear of a small crowd of about thirty. Most of the candidates had their backs turned to me and by the sounds of it, were listening to a heated argument raging beyond my sight.

My appearance did not go unnoticed, and by ones and twos the candidates fell silent and turned around to face me. Presently the crowd parted, and two figures approached me: Morin and Tantor.

I sighed. That the two were still here could not bode well. I had been hoping that by now they had returned to the gang’s camp, rounded up the survivors of our little army, and routed the remains of Saben’s elites. That the pair had not done so, could only mean matters were even worse than I suspected.

The two stopped before me, and Morin swung around to address the watching crowd. “Alright everyone, go get some rest. We’ll meet in another two hours. And by then, I promise we’ll have a plan.”

“Ye, right,” someone shouted.

“No way!” another screamed. “You’re only going to get us killed again. This time for good!”

“Blasted human! We should never have trusted you in the first place,” a third yelled.

But despite the anger expressed by the three hecklers, the mood of the rest of the candidates was more subdued. Scanning their faces, I saw only dull eyes, somber expressions, and lowered gazes. They’ve lost hope, I realized.

As the crowd began dispersing in a lackluster fashion, I turned back to Morin. “What’s going on? Why haven’t you rejoined the others at the camp? Where’s Saben? Did you—”

Tantor held up his hand. “Not here,” he said. “We can’t be sure who may be listening. Let’s speak in the tent.”

I frowned. I didn’t like the thought of delaying our exit from the safe zone any longer than necessary, but I realized the pair must have their reasons. Gesturing to Tantor to lead the way, I followed after.

~~~

“I can’t say I’m pleased to see you,” Morin said, once the three of us were seated in her tent. “When you didn’t appear immediately, we thought…” She sighed, her eyes heavy with sorrow. “It doesn’t matter what we thought. We’ve failed.” She bowed her head. “I failed. I was a fool to trust Sigmar.”

“What’s happened Morin?” I asked, worry clouding my face.

The painted woman held up her arm for patience. “We’ll get to that in a moment. Can you tell us first what happened after we died?”

I nodded and proceeded to tell the pair what they wanted to know. I told them about Stayne’s appearance, the information I had gleaned from him, and the undead player’s ultimatum. I didn’t tell them about my tasks though. It would not affect whatever decisions we needed to make and after Sigmar’s betrayal, I was resolved to play my cards closer.

“Ishita!” Tantor spat when I was done. “By all accounts, she is one of the foulest Powers in the Axis.”

“That explains some things,” Morin said. She shook her head. “But Saben a priest… that was the last thing I expected.”

I frowned at the two. “I keep hearing mention of these Powers, but I still don’t know what they are. Are they really gods?”

Tantor shrugged. “As far we can tell they are. They seem to be the preeminent beings in this world, excluding the Adjudicator itself of course. The Master is one of their number.”

I had figured as much. I glanced at Morin. “A druid is a form of priest, right? Are you sworn to one of the Powers too?”

The painted woman shook her head. “No, I wield Force directly, as do all who have Faith. Those candidates who swear themselves to one of the Powers, do so for reason other than Faith.”

Decalthiya had told me much the same thing, and while I would have liked to pursue the topic further, there were other more important matters to discuss, so I simply nodded in response.

“Do you know why the Master is interested in you?” Morin asked.

I hesitated. “I think so, but I rather not say at the moment.”

“I understand,” she said, and didn’t press me further.

“So, what’s happened?” I asked. “Why are you still here?”

Tantor and Morin exchanged looks before the elf answered. “Sigmar prepared better for his betrayal than we expected,” he said grimly. “It turned out that no few of those who surrendered to us when we invaded the gang’s camp were actually gang loyalist. The moment our party entered the tunnel leading to Saben’s chamber, Sigmar and his loyalist slaughtered our troops that remained behind.” He sighed heavily. “I don’t know how I failed to foresee Sigmar’s treachery, but we have paid a hefty price for my blindness.”

Morin squeezed the elf’s shoulder “I bear as much blame for Sigmar as you, Tantor.” She turned to me. “The short of it is: we’ve lost our army.”

I was as much to blame about Sigmar as the pair. Foolishly, I had chalked up my dislike for the inquisitor to his annoying habits and nothing deeper. And I had been reckless too. I hadn’t feared betrayal because I had believed myself capable of escaping any trap. Still, I had learnt my lesson. Candidates weren’t goblins. Encounters with my fellows could be—and likely would be—wildly unpredictable.

My face hardened. The news was dire. “What about those who went with Bornholm.”

“Sigmar claims the gang is hunting them down as we speak,” Morin said, “but none of Bornholm’s people have reappeared in the safe zone, so there is some hope yet that they survive.”

I bowed my head, thinking. “We should still head out,” I said finally. “If we move fast, perhaps we can recapture the camp before the gang is ready for us.”

Tantor shook his head. “We can’t.”

“Why not?” I demanded, my voice rising, as I sensed more bad news coming.

Morin winced at my tone. “Saben’s people have blockaded both ramps. There is no way out of the safe zone.”

My eyes widened. “The gang is in the cavern?”

She nodded. “Some of them at least. Sigmar and Saben had it all planned out. They used the battle as an opportunity to advance the blockade and their people were in place before we could react. An hour before your rebirth, Saben revived. He took great pains to spell out his demands. None of us will leave the crater alive unless we swear ourselves to him.”

“Some of our fighters must surely still be alive,” I said stubbornly. “Even excluding those who went with Bornholm, we had about seventy fighters in the gang’s camp. I only saw thirty in the crowd outside. Where are the rest?”

“The others are dead,” Tantor said softly. “Like Decalthiya, they have gone to their final deaths. As far as Morin and I can tell, all those who had a remaining life, have returned to the safe zone.” He looked at me unhappily. “Thirty candidates is all we have left.”

I lowered my head into my hands, finally understanding the true extent of our plight.

How am I going to get out of this now? I wondered.