Legacy to Zero

8: All Patched Up and Pointed in Cardinal Directions

Lars

My index squeezed the controller, swinging the stick to lock my arrow into place. The shadows dropped like ooze across the screen, and I followed, squinting at the enemy before I pulled my finger off the stick and pressed a button.

The arrow flung through the air, causing the shadow to crumble into the swaying grass below it. More dungeon enemies spawned around it, looming over where my character and the rest of our party of three stood. Tiny spirits crawled out in every direction. I flicked the stick as far back as it would go, jogging behind the shield Dex had cast.

"Shit, shit, shit," Dex said, his voice booming through my headset. "See, I told you not to do that!"

I cowered behind him, our gamer tags—he was Gun-Rose and I was Wild-Rose, for our last name—overlapping. Scoffing, I joined in with the sound of Taylor laughing. Her character, Swiftlee, was covered head-to-tail in heavy, rainbow-coloured armour, her speed much slower than mine when she lurched forward.

"But this is the fun part." I could practically hear the grin on her face. Both her character's hands clutched a wide blade cut with an edge like teeth, which lifted to attack two of the spirits at once. She was, no doubt, a stronger hit than me; her swords detonated the spiral of an explosion around her.

Multiple spirits dropped to half health. The background music from the grove sped up, the tempo getting frenetic, spiking in octave and taking my heart rate along with it.

"Lar, get the dude on your left!" Dex said.

While I'd been in his shield, my health bar had returned from yellow to green. I inched outward to the edge. On the other side, the spirit knocked against the shield repeatedly, pacing back and forth as it waited for me to emerge.

"Ugh, they move so fast," Taylor complained.

I tightened my finger over the bumper to zoom in.

"That's why I told you not to do it! By the time you get your slow ass over here, he's gonna be dead. In the shadow realm. Dead three times fold."

As I cracked a little smile, I locked the arrow on the spirit. "Oh, no, then that means you'll have to do your job and heal me."

"Three times, Larry! I've fucking revived you three times—I'm going on strike!"

Taylor booed him. "Ignore him and do it." To Dex, she said, quieter, "Love you, but come on."

I pretended not to hear that, for both my sake and theirs. Out of cover, I let the arrows fly. Nobody spoke when it passed the spirit, lodging into a tree near Taylor. The branches shook and swayed in alarm.

I retreated to cover. Waited for my health bar to spike to full.

Dex swore. I could just tell he was shaking his head, leaning back, by the way his keyboard clacking stopped. The last time I'd been to his and Taylor's place, the gaming room was where the three of us had nested for nearly four days straight, playing An End Alight like total NEETs.

As much as the two of them annoyed me by being such a couple, I missed them both. I missed being in the room with them instead of merely hearing their voices. I was so far away from Kingston that sometimes it felt like I'd moved to Antarctica.