Raine VS The End of the World (23 page)

Wondering if were possible to receive a virtual concussion, Raine pulled herself to one knee. The cave washed by in a spin cycle, and a high-pitched ringing was about all she could hear.

Cooke’s ghost hovered over her. Chance had just reflected her arcane finishing blow intended for Raine, leaving the sorceress’ body a toasted mess.

“It’s a shame things had to end this way,” she told Raine. “It was nothing personal. You fight well. If your fortune holds true, may we meet again, in this realm or the next,” she said with a bow.

A
whoosh
sailed through the air above Raine’s head. She looked just in time to see Valerie’s body slam into a bunch of stalagmites in front of them. Gerrit had swung her clear across the room with her own chain. He performed a finishing move on her neck, leaving the hunter’s ghost cursing her luck.

“Seriously, Gher-bear? You won’t outrun them. Least you could do is cut your friends in on the cheddar.”

“I need to get her to where she’s going alive,” Gerrit replied. “Those are my orders.”

“I bet you’d follow those orders into a Hydra’s nest,” Valerie scoffed. “I don’t play games with rebel soldier boys. My clan will be back for you, and it won’t be pretty.”

Chance wrapped himself back around Raine’s neck, healing her. Getting up off the floor, she hobbled back to see how Thaddius was faring. Samuel was dead.

“TWO HUNDRED MILLION! YEAAARRRGGHHHH----!”

The cyclops’ ghost rage quit in an outburst of anger. But Ricard was moving with boosted speed. It shouldn’t have been possible. Before anyone knew what was happening, he was holding his sword across the monk’s neck.

Ricard ended the brave warrior. Thaddius’ body crumbled.

“Run, Gerrit! Guard her with your life!” he called.

“I will! You’re the best, man!” responded Gerrit. He would never forget the brave guy.

Ricard pointed his bloodied sword straight at the boy.

“You’re next, Gerrit, or, as I have now decreed, Young Gerrit the Terrorist,” he sneered, sheathing his weapon. “The powers that
we
possess were not meant for the likes of
you
.”

“The only difference between you and I is that you signed up for a life of serving the people who oppress us,” Gerrit countered. “At least my mind is free.”

“Gerrit, Gerrit,
vous êtes un imbécile
. Do you really think that you are free? You are only as free as we want you to be.”

He tossed Gerrit a double Chimera Wing – short-ranged, but good for two people at once.

“Why?” the boy asked.

“You’re out.”

Gerrit scrambled to check his pack. Ninety-nine of his hundred Chimera Wings were gone. Vanished without a trace.

“Suffice it to say, you should really invest in some pickpocketing resistance.”

In frustration, Gerrit squeezed the double Chimera Wing, nearly hard enough to activate it.

“Let’s make things interesting. I’ll let you be my prize. Watching your screams at the hands of an unruly mob would be much more fun than taking the glory for myself. Meanwhile, I’ll make sure your Daisy hears all about you and your new psycho girlfriend. Oh, you don’t remember her? Pity. Must have been a harsh break-up. We’ll have front row tickets to your public freezing, or should I say execution?”

The Duke laughed and laughed.

“Enough!” Gerrit screamed, slamming the item down on the ground.

He quickly selected their destination from a mini-map; it was the farthest possible point from the tower. The three travelers tumbled through the portal and onto a windswept cape overlooking the sea.

The Duke’s laughter turned to seagull cries. Both Raine and Gerrit were covered in wounds licked by the salty wind, and the ocean breeze brought some much-needed fresh air. They stopped for a breather; Raine fed Chance some cat food.

“What the hell happened in there?” Gerrit asked, grabbing his tangled hair. His prized helmet was a smoking ruin. He tossed it off in a fury. It bounced off the cliff and disappeared under pounding waves.

“I… I’m sorry, but I’m out of Mana right now. If we wait a bit, I can heal you,” Raine offered, noting Gerrit’s low health bar and ragged appearance. He was dangerously low on Health, out of healing items, and his spent Mana regenerated a tad slower than Raine’s.

“Gerrit, are you all right?”

“Just peachy,” groaned the boy, before noticing that Raine was still shaking.

“It’s okay,” he said, taking her hands in his. “They’re gone. We’re almost safe. Safe as we’re gonna get, at least. How much Mana you got so far?”

“Seventeen,” Raine replied, consulting the bar in her peripheral vision.

“Good. Cast ‘Minor Heal’, just so we can get moving. We’ll freshen up on the way.”

Raine wanted to ask him who Daisy was and where they were going, but recalling that they weren’t yet far from danger, she placed her palms together. Both adventurers felt a little rejuvenated as a glowing green light surrounded them.

“Come on.”

He led her through ancient ruins overgrown with grape vines to the very edge of the continent. A dragon, observing an ancient mural of a griffin dealing death to one of its serpentine brethren, gave its wings a mighty flap as it fell into a respectful bow.

“Greetings, Master Gerrit,” a deep, powerful voice resonated.

“Raine, this is Linus. Linus, Raine.”

Raine’s eyes nearly popped out of her head due to an overload of awesome.

“Ohmygod a talking dragon. That is so rad.”

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Linus nodded.

“Likewise,” answered Raine, taking his large claw-finger in her hand and giving it a light shake. She wasn’t sure how surprised she should be that this intimidating dragon the size of a school bus didn’t scare her in the least.

“I take it your trip has been productive, Master Gerrit?”

“Save it, Linus. We’re not safe here.”

Gerrit wasted no time in hoisting Raine onto the saddle and slipping the goggles over his eyes. She held tight around Gerrit’s waist as they quickly gained altitude, climbing high by a mountain range that emerged from nearby cliffs. From this dizzying vantage point, she spotted the green carpet pathway carving through the severe terrain like a snake.

“I suggest you pop your ears and hold on tight,” Linus said.

“And don’t let go,” added Gerrit, with a fraction of what was almost a smile.

“Politics have no relation to morals.” – Niccolo Machiavelli

Fingers twitching, Henry Holdfast bit his tongue to keep from exploding with relief, and instead imagined himself at a loss as to how the grand plan had horribly backfired. His subordinates did not pity the man.

Bloody hell. That was way too close.

“Who told that idiot to give them the Wings?” Dr. Hoshua screamed. “Anyone?”

Avidya
’s Chief Maintenance Officer, Dr. Christopher Marco, coughed to clear the air and spoke in his slithering voice, a fitting match for the man’s sly nature. “I believe Ricard was acting of his own free will, sir.”

Hoshua rubbed his bald head and glared at his power-hungry subordinate. This wasn’t a fight worth picking. The Duke’s ‘handler’ had long ago mastered the art of dodging responsibility.

“For your sake, Marco, I certainly hope so. The lesson here, I think, is that those Yanks are a menace. We really ought to overhaul Sector Ninety-Nine’s support staff. That was extremely unprofessional on the Duke’s part. Don’t beat yourself up, Henry. We’ll catch these bastards.”

Holdfast nodded, and squeezed his toes to keep his knees from knocking any further.
If that was you, Ayumi, that was absolutely ace.

“You did your best, kid,” the hologram of Jon Wrathman grimaced, oddly almost happy to be witnessing his new recruit’s first foible. “Now watch how the big boys handle these kinds of messes.”

Henry looked to Jon’s private office. Within, plugged into his
M-Gear
, Mister Senior soared high above the
Avidya
skies. Conor was already busy coordinating the strike force.
Op End Verse
was currently in jeopardy, and he was powerless to interfere.

Sorry, Admiral. It’s out of my hands now.

↕

The fugitives sped through the clouds, flew into the core of a large floating ring, and burst through an air-cannon. Raine’s stomach jumped as the G-force slammed against them. She clung to Gerrit for dear life.

Linus danced in the vortex tunnel. At the apex of their trajectory, he unfolded his wings, and soared high above razor-sharp, snow-capped mountains. The sudden altitude change made Raine’s head more than a little woozy at first, but something in her brain seemed to level out, and breathing came as naturally as it would on the ground.

“I… I can’t believe everyone just turned on us like that,” Raine said at last. “Weren’t those people your friends?”

“True friends are rare. I count three of ‘em: Peter, Moe, and Yossa. The guys back there were hunters. On your side as long as there’s something you can do for their sakes,” Gerrit said grimly. “I’ll take you somewhere we’ll be safe for sure.”

“You don’t mean--”

[NinjaMageKnight99]: “No arguments. We’re fugitives now. Our best bet is the Tavern in Circuitron. Home base for the revolution. Yossa will know how we can stay out of trouble.”

In the midst of thinking the message, Gerrit’s heart leapt up his throat. He had no idea whether Yossa would keep Raine safe or not. There was no guarantee that she wouldn’t just be used as another tool for the freedom fighters, her data storms mined for info about the outside world, her face and likeness a figurehead for the rebels.
Would they make her fight?
If she had some sort of secret weapon, that wasn’t a possibility he could rule out. Thankfully, Raine didn’t appear to possess any such thing. Maybe she could get out of this in one piece.

Raine, too, felt immensely awkward about her situation. She was under constant attack by strange forces she could barely understand. This poor boy risked his virtual life time and again to protect her, and this last time they almost didn't make it out in one piece.

I can’t let myself be indebted to Gerrit forever. If we just go somewhere else to hide, isn’t there a chance more people might be put in danger? At the end of the day, this is just my silly dream. Maybe it’d be better to end it on a high note and move on.

Gerrit checked his bearings on a mini-map. To the West, dirigibles scoured the airspace around Mistral and its tower. He dipped Linus into a thunderstorm and activated an anti-electricity shield, which engulfed the beast in a protective bubble. Raine’s hair stopped whipping about her head as the rushing wind disappeared.

They flew in silence for some time, the dark clouds covering their tracks.

“You must trust Yossa a lot,” Raine said at last, feeling him out.

“Yeah,” Gerrit replied.

“I don’t want to cause you or the other members of the revolution too much trouble,” she said. “What if the hunters and Templars follow us?”

“Then we’ll make them pay. We’ll bring them a propaganda war. Take over their mindshare. They can erase some of our memories sometimes, but everyone at once? It might never have been done. We don’t know. But it’s worth a try. We’ll reveal all the lies and deception behind this prison, and we’ll make them pay for hunting down anyone who dares to think differently, hunting us like we’re… like we’re animals.”

There was genuine anger in the boy’s eyes, as if he were ready to explode.

Raine brought her hands up around his arms and held onto them gently. It seemed to calm him down a bit.

“I’m sorry, Gerrit, but I have to ask, and I hope you understand why I’m asking you this. Why did you have a larger bounty on your head than me?”

There was a short silence.
Was he thinking of an appropriate answer?

“Piracy. Hacking. Street art. Selling bugs and exploit codes. Your guess is as good as mine,” he muttered.

“I just… I don’t want this to come out the wrong way, but… I’m not sure about joining up with the revolution.”

“No one said anything about joining up,” he lied. “Do you still not trust me?”

“Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?”

Gerrit yanked off his goggles and faced her eye-to-eye.

“Okay. Here’s the truth. Yossa wanted me to bring you to Circuitron safely. Said it was official anarchist business. I’m not sure why exactly, but he--”

“I knew it! You liar!”

“You have to understand, this was before I really knew you. Raine, I know we’ve only just met, but you mean a lot to me. I promise, I won’t let him or anyone else hurt you.”

“Save it. Just drop me off at the next town. Now.”

“Listen! Please! The reason why I’m taking you to Yossa right now is not because he asked me to. It’s ‘coz there’s simply no safer place you could be than underground, in a bubble server.”

“Gerrit, it’s… it’s not like I don’t want to go with you. I like you. But even if I could trust your friend, I have this bad feeling that I don’t belong here. I’m just putting you all in harm’s way. And since this is probably just a dream anyways, maybe--”

“This isn’t a dream!” Gerrit yelled.

As if spurred by his emotion, a rather powerful bolt tore the glowing shield in half.

Every hair on Raine’s body stood on end as Gerrit pulled Linus into a sudden dive, evading another particularly nasty strike. They emerged from the cloud cover only to witness a hungry swarm awaiting them.

A hundreds-strong armada of fully outfitted hunter airships advanced from below, pushing them upwards into the lightning-laden blanket of death. There was no escape.

Gerrit stilled himself. He took a much-needed breath. “Raine, I’m sorry about all this. I’m not supposed to let you get caught or killed, under any circumstances. But, I… I don’t know how well I can protect you at this point.”

Raine rolled her eyes. “Come on, dude. I appreciate the chivalry but maybe now’s not the best time. Do we have any options?”

“Seriously, Master,” Linus echoed. “This isn’t good mojo.”

The ‘Home’ button won’t work
, the boy thought.
One can only use that command while standing on solid ground for ten seconds. And my place will be crawling with Temps.

Gerrit whipped out his last Chimera Wing. He placed it in Raine’s palm and wrapped her fingers around it.

“Looks like a trip for one. Linus, go with her.”

“Affirmative,” the dragon replied.

Raine’s stomach sank.

“I’m not going anywhere as long as I can help you.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Probably. It doesn’t matter what happens now. You’ve made a believer out of me. I’ll be waiting for you on the other side.”

“Let me go instead! Please… I told you before: I’m not from here. If this is another world, I should be the one to disappear. I… I’ll just go back to mine, somehow,” Raine said softly, clinging to the boy’s bare arms under his bracers, the only place on his torso without armor. Her tender touch gave him courage to face the abyss.

“Maybe I am a virus,” she said. “Let them come for me.”

“Now who’s a liar? You’re no anomaly, Raine. You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.”

“Gerrit… ”

He took Raine’s hand and gave it a chaste kiss. Then he held her by the chin so as to look into her eyes and maybe give her some of his courage. It was never supposed to end like this. He’d finally met the girl of his dreams, only to be forced to lay down his meager life for her. It didn’t matter what he’d come back as, or even if he would come back at all.

This was no ordinary bounty. When these bastards were done with him, there’d be no going back - probably not to this server; probably nowhere, if the rumors were to be believed. But at least he had no regrets. He’d be going out with a bang.

Better get this over with
, he thought.
She looks like she’s getting cold up here.

And Raine would have shivered if his presence weren’t so warm. She took in every detail of the moment, committing it to a memory that could never be erased.

They were unbearably close, his red hair billowing like fire. Raine placed a hand on Gerrit’s neck. Her eyes reflected his intensity. He inched closer.

They closed their eyes as their virtual lips met.

My first kiss.

Suddenly I don’t want this to be a dream anymore.

The butterflies in Raine’s stomach snuck into her bloodstream and fluttered all throughout her body. She didn’t want it to end, not even when cannons sounded out from below and Gerrit broke away.

She watched a cannonball explode halfway between them and oblivion. The swarm was almost there.

“That was… wow. I wish we’d gotten to know each other a little better,” he joked.

“D-don’t talk like that. I may be of some help yet,” Raine said firmly.

“Only if you promise to use the wing when things get hairy.”

Raine bit her lip.

“Promise me, Raine!”

“I… I promise.”

The ships were coming into range. The closest gunship took aim, and fired.

Gerrit pulled up on the reins. Poor Linus brayed in agony as he was bombarded with all manner of bullets, lasers and flak. Hummingbird-sized creatures zipped around the dragon in formation, creating an electric net that even Chance’s magic couldn’t counteract.

Raine’s stomach turned into a churning cauldron as the dragon spiraled down towards the surface.

She screamed as all four of them split up, falling separately towards the desert far below. Gerrit tapped a preset on his watch, slowing their fall with Wind Magic.

The dream was turning into a nightmare again.

“Activate Earth Rune!” Gerrit cried, pulling out his broadsword. The fiery gem in its hilt now sparkled emerald green. He dove over to Raine and handed her the sword. Rocky armor grew over her hand, and then rapidly spread over her body.

“Cut the net!” he called, summoning forth an energy shield that diverted the next wave of fire. Constant barrages from nearby airships drained its power, fast.

Raine tried her best to cleave away at the electric net. She had freed one wing when the voltage increased, causing Linus to involuntarily flail every which way. He knocked her aside.

The sword flew clear out of her hands, vanishing into a speck of dust as it toppled towards the rapidly approaching ground. Except that Raine stretched her hand out at it and a stream of black pixels shot from her palm, engulfed the weapon, and slung it back to her. As soon as she grabbed it, her rock armor returned.

Just then, a message appeared in Gerrit’s peripheral vision.

[Lillian_2212]: You’ve done well, Gerrit. Operation Phase One complete.

And then, the boy’s shield gave way. He was vaporized instantly.

Raine cried aloud. Linus thrashed in fury.

It was in the middle of this that Chance put a claw in Raine’s arm. As she turned to him, she caught another glimpse of the ground.

Raine would not let what happened to Gerrit be in vain.

The girl scrambled onto the saddle and sliced the last of the entangling webs.

The skies above rumbled as a vacuum gave way to some massive payload. A flash of light seared the back of her retina.

Raine’s eyes snapped shut; she felt around for the electric ropes. As Linus beat his wings frantically and leveled out, she saw it:
The Nebula
. The flying fortress from Clyde Castle Town rapidly descended like some fiery steel trap. A pulsing beam shot down towards the pair.