"I'm sick of the sky," Mori said.
The fifth ring wall rose in sight, but the steps had gradually widened until she had to lunge to reach the next one.
"I'd bet you're less scared of heights now though," Ronin answered, adjusting his grip on her hand. "I'm sick of snakes too, but the one I'm wearing as a scarf right now would look pretty cool if you could see it."
Mori looked down, wind rushing around her. At some point, the fear had faded to an impatient wish to get through the ring. It hinted at how effective a tool Facing Fear could have been, had the governing AI not woken up and chosen violence.
"What was it like finding out you were trapped in a death game?" Mori asked.
Ronin steadied her with a supportive hand on her upper back for a leap across an extra wide chasm. "Chaotic. FEAR told us about in-game death equaling death in the real world, but that it expected us to conquer the fear of dying to be able to clear the game. And for the first ten to do so...it promised freedom."
"What?" Mori's foot slipped.
She fell between the steps, only Ronin's hand interlocked with hers stopping her from falling. Fear rushed in full force like the gale that picked up to buffet her like a tiny ship at sea. Mori looked at Ronin, holding on for her life. Her heart thundered in her ears.
"Mori—" Ronin grunted, the veins standing out on his forehead. "Mori, give me your other hand."
Grip already failing with the sweat slicking her palm against Ronin's glove, Mori tried not to swing around as she reached out with her left hand. But when she blinked, the sky and wind disappeared. Instead a dark cave closed in, with serpents slithering across the rocks. A snake's body coiled around her wrist, its fangs sunk into Ronin's arm and the sweat wasn't sweat, it was his blood dripping from the wound.
If I can get the escape ring out as I fall...there might be time. Mori opened her mouth to tell Ronin to let go, before the determination in his eyes stopped her. If she fell, he'd go down with her.
With every bit of strength she could muster, Mori extended her hand upward.
Ronin caught it. With a cry of pain he pulled her over the edge onto a stone path with a pit of vipers on either side. Mori yanked the snake off her arm and tossed it into the abyss before grabbing the half dozen wriggling across Ronin's chest and shoulders, ruby eyes gleaming in the darkness. A couple hissed at her, forked tongues flicking before she threw them.
"You should have let go," Mori chided, taking in the bite marks scoring his neck and face. The atmosphere shifted around her until the dimness brightened to a blue sky again and she knelt on a floating plank of wood.
In response, Ronin glared and held her hand tighter. "I already told you I wasn't going to. Would have to find another partner and start this ring over again. But we are not risking you going skydiving twice."
"Oh, really? And how are we going to do tha—" Mori screamed in surprise as Ronin lifted her off the ground.
"It'll be easier if you put your arm around my neck," he advised, already walking. "Also, can I get a heal?"
"I didn't say you could carry me!" Mori protested.
Ronin stopped, raising an eyebrow. "Do you want me to put you down?"
Mori glanced down to where Ronin stood on thin air between the steps spaced at ridiculous intervals. She sighed and put her arm over his shoulders. "No."
He continued walking, while Mori brushed the sweaty hair away from his forehead without thinking.
"Thanks," Ronin said, eyes focused straight ahead. His Adam's apple bobbed up then down. "About that heal?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm on it," Mori answered in a teasing tone.
Droplets pattered over Ronin's skin on the spaces where she directed it, sealing the wounds while his health bar filled.
"Thank you too," Mori said when she'd finished. "I would've been a goner without you."
"What are teammates for?" Ronin's words sounded strained and Mori wondered if she was too heavy or if he was trying his hardest not to cry from the side effect of her signature skill. Ronin set her down with a sigh of relief when they reached a platform butting up against the wall. "Home safe. We can catch a breather here before going through."
Mori settled down with her back against a railing and pulled some swiss cheese and smoked sausage from her inventory. "So about that bomb you dropped right before I...missed a step."
"Sorry about that." Ronin nibbled on a piece of jerky. "Didn't think about how you might not have heard. After being here through the player killings, it's hard to think of it not being common knowledge."
"Player killings?"
Ronin's gloves disintegrated, black cloak appearing to pool around him. "When FEAR first announced that the first ten to clear the game would be set free, being in the top ten was a death sentence. Back then, nobody realized how difficult it would be to clear the game. They could only think of someone else clearing it before them and that they'd be trapped here with no way out."
Mori put her food away, her whole brain zeroing in on the implications of FEAR's promise. "So being in the top ten put a target on your back. And if people could find you through the live feeds...that's like stream sniping* at a whole new level."
Ronin nodded. "FEAR took a page out of humanity's book—divide and conquer. The top ten were the best for a reason, and everyone hated them for it. But worse than the hatred was the jealousy. People still voted for them so their popularity didn't drop, so they could use it as an advantage to take them down. We lost a lot of good players in those early days and it wasn't to monsters. It was to people like us."
Mori listened with a sinking heart. "Ronin, were you in the top ten back then?"
He shook his head. "Not at the beginning, but I was close towards the end. I found the current top ten and convinced them one-by-one to band together and fight back so we could put an end to it."
"What did you do?" Mori held the cord around her neck as if it were a lifeline. "Don't tell me you killed them."
"It was self-defense, Mori!" Ronin snapped, jumping to his feet. "I'm not a player killer. They didn't leave us an option. The cycle would have continued until no one was left. We put a stop to it."
"You couldn't have reasoned with them?" Mori argued. She pushed herself up to look Ronin in the eyes, the death toll of over three thousand flashing through her mind. "Those players are dead in the real world, not just here."
Ronin's nostrils flared, causing Mori to take a step back. "You. Weren't. There. You don't get to judge. If your sister had been in the top ten, don't pretend like you wouldn't have put a bullet through the head of anyone who tried to hurt her."
Mori's eyes stung with tears. "I—I'm sorry. I don't know what I would've done. I shouldn't have jumped on you like that." Would she kill for Shiori? She didn't know the answer to that question, but Mori hoped she never had to.
Besides a single nod, Ronin didn't reply. He summoned two swords, sheathing them at his left side. Black scales fell into place like dominoes falling until his light armor built itself beneath his cloak. "Suit up. You'll want to make a good impression here," he said quietly.
Though it wasn't as flashy, Mori pulled her grey rifle out and slung it behind her back. Her blue knife dropped into a sheath at her waist. "What makes for a good impression exactly?" she asked as they passed through the wall.
On the other side, she found her answer at the same time Ronin spoke. "An intimidating one."
The open field resembled the first ring, but throughout the vast space, crowds gathered around sections about half the size of a football field marked by rows of white crystals embedded in the grass. Players milled about, unique in appearance compared to avatars she'd seen in the cyber city of the second ring. Colorful hair, billowing robes, and everywhere she looked—weapons.
Shining staffs, shotguns, giant swords as long as a player was tall.
"You coming?" Ronin broke her out of the trance.
She ran to catch up and he strode away, somehow inconspicuous in the mass of people. In front of him, two men appeared to have gotten into a disagreement, coming to blows. The crowd pressed in and pushed the arguing players into one of the sections. A shimmering barrier electrified around them.
The feminine automated voice that had greeted Mori upon entering Valor spoke, "Dontkillmyvibe11 versus goreJess. Resurrection enabled. Players, please place your bets. Mock battle will commence in twenty...nineteen...eighteen—"
The combatants drew their weapons, still yelling at each other. When the countdown ended, the player identified as goreJess stabbed at his opponent with a rapier. The tip of the blade came into contact with a protective shield that repelled the attacks, multi-colored surface shining like a bubble.
"In the fifth ring and above, your defense stat forms what we call 'shielding'," Ronin explained from beside her. "Some monsters will have them too. The key is to hit the weak point called the pocket."
Mori inspected the bubble before spotting an oddity. She pointed at the little half-bubble about the size of a fist sitting on top of the main one surrounding the player. "Is the pocket a small bump on the shield?"
"Bingo. You can break shielding with brute force, but it takes longer than targeting the pocket."
A player stepped in front of Mori, blocking her view. Ronin shifted beside her and guided her to his spot, just in time to see Dontkillmyvibe11's health bar empty. Mori gasped in horror as the player broke apart into blue blocks. Grumbles and exclamations rose up from the audience.
"Hey hey hey, he'll be fine," Ronin said, tugging her back from the barrier.
"Match complete. Winner is goreJess," the virtual referee announced. "Distributing battle points."
The blocks on the ground quivered before re-forming the losing player. He fell to his knees gasping for air and promptly vomited. Mori grimaced even though the puke pixelated and vanished. The winner helped his rival exit the fighting ground, their argument apparently resolved.
"You ready?" Ronin whispered in her ear.
"Ready for what?" Mori glanced up at him right as the electrical field crackled and Ronin pushed her in. "Ronin!"
"You'll do great." Ronin grinned from the other side when Mori touched the barrier and shocked herself. "Aim for the pocket and then the head." He tapped the side of his skull before pointing across the field from Mori.
Panicking, she turned around while the crowd cheered to welcome her opponent. The player waltzed onto the fighting ground, form swathed in a black robe with strands of dark purple hair peeking out from under a deep hood. The reaper-like figure extended a hand to the side, summoning a huge magenta scythe.
"Wraithmefromtheded versus MementoMori. Resurrection enabled."
Wraithmefromtheded? I know that name. Mori froze, the automated voice and the roars of the crowd fading into the background. She hesitated before calling her rifle to her hands, then tapped the coin on her necklace for good luck as the countdown approached zero.
Her opponent pulled their hood back, revealing a woman with a vaguely familiar face, eyebrows furrowed above a puzzled frown.
"Mentos?" she said.
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Chapter Word Count: 1937
Total Word Count 16144