Game Alive: A Science Fiction Adventure Novel (23 page)

Jake gasped as he realized the full extent of what Ryden suggested. “But you’ll lose everything,” he protested. “You can’t! You’ll die.”

Ryden smiled sadly. “You have always been my friend, Jake, even when I was not yours. I have to do this. I want you, and everyone like you, to be safe. That is my choice.”

Jake swallowed a lump in his throat. Ryden was right. Everything they had been through, it all came to this. Choice. Ryden was alive and Jake had to respect his choice, whether he agreed with it or not. Whether he liked it or not.

“I’m sorry,” Jake said softly. “I never meant for any of this to happen.”

“I know,” said Ryden, reaching out to pat Jake’s shoulder. “I know. Goodbye, Jake.”

Ryden stepped away abruptly, leaving the three stunned youths. Kari took Jake’s hand, gripping it tightly in her own. He glanced over and saw she held Des’s hand as well. He looked back at Ryden, burning the wizard’s image into his memory and promising himself he’d never forget. “Goodbye,” he whispered as the Prime closed his eyes.

Ryden’s brow furrowed in concentration. The world trembled. The earth rumbled. The sun blazed brighter and brighter overhead. The light was blinding. Jake and his friends threw up their arms to shield their eyes. Jake felt himself falling…and then there was nothing.

Jake’s mother rubbed her thumb slowly over the back of his hand, fingers wrapped tight around his. Her other hand stroked his hair where it spread over the pillow. She turned her head to wipe one wet cheek on her already-damp shirt. The hospital machines beeped and chirped.

“I don’t know what I’d have done,” she said again. “I don’t know what I’d have done if I’d lost you.”

“I’m okay, Mom,” Jake said sheepishly. He and Des had both been found unconscious in their separate VR rooms. They’d been in a coma for three days. The doctors had no explanation, but of course Jake knew the truth. Ryden had found a way to override their neural implants and keep them connected to Xaloria.

“I don’t remember anything,” he lied when they asked.

“I’m just glad he’s okay,” said Gerald, standing behind Jake’s mother with his hand on her shoulder, comforting her. His voice was angry and Jake could see he wanted to pace back and forth, but Gerald stayed where he was. Jake said nothing, but he was surprised by how angry Gerald was.

Jake’s mom reached up to Gerald’s hand on her shoulder and squeezed it, looking up at him. Jake watched, remembering Ryden and Alys together on the island.
People get to make their own choices,
he thought,
even when we don’t like what they choose.

“I’m sorry,” he told them.

“Oh, honey, no,” his mom said. “Whatever for?”

“For yelling at you and stuff,” he said. “I was wrong.”

His mother laid her hand on his forehead, tears filling her eyes. “It doesn’t matter, honey. We…Gerald and I had a talk. We thought maybe you had…I know you aren’t happy about us getting married and you’re right…what you want
should
matter. You’re part of this family, too. So we’re going to have a long engagement.”

“There’s no rush,” Gerald piped up. “We can wait a while and maybe I’ll…grow on you.” At a look from Jake’s mother he added, “And maybe we’ll get you some of that newer VR software you’re always talking about. You know, so you can practice or whatever it is you do in there.”

Jake chuckled. “I think I’m going to take a break from the VR room for a little while,” he said, and saw relief in both their eyes. The doctors hadn’t made any connection between VR and the comas, but it was pretty obvious. All three of them had been found in their VR rooms. It was no wonder they were happy to hear him say he was taking a break from it. “Just a little while,” he said. “But that would be really cool.”

Gerald smiled and Jake smiled back. His mother’s happy face said all he needed to know.

As Jake prepared to launch the program, his stomach clenched.

“Remind me again why we have to do this,” Des’s voice said over the com.

“Yes, remind both of us,” Kari said.

“I have to make sure it’s really reset,” Jake told him. “I’ve looked at the program and it all
seems
correct. But even if Ryden did understand, that doesn’t mean he made the right choice in the end. I have to be sure that no one else gets trapped in Xaloria.”

“And we’re not letting you go alone. Okay, that’s it then. Let’s go, Jake.”

Jake took a deep breath. “Resume Xaloria,” he commanded, voice cracking.

They found themselves standing in a familiar courtyard. Around them, Myrrordom’s men-at-arms busied themselves sparring. Jake watched as Kari smoothed the front of her long red jumpsuit, her gem-tipped staff in her free hand.

“Welcome back, Lady Alista.”

“It’s been a while,” she replied, smiling nervously.

Several of the guardsmen greeted them happily. Nothing seemed amiss.

“Let’s check on Lord Ryden,” Jake said.

Des and Kari followed Jake into the castle greatroom. At the far end, a young mage sat uncomfortably on an oversized marble throne. He smiled as he saw the three travelers approach.

“You’ve returned,” Lord Ryden said cheerfully. “Have your adventures been successful?”

Jake fought the sadness that swelled in his chest. Some part of him had hoped Ryden would remember. He managed an unenthusiastic reply. “Yes, Lord Ryden. We have triumphed.” He laughed humorlessly. “Although, I think we owe a certain Flightmaster and his yellow dragon some money.”

The mage nodded slowly, not sure what to make of that. Jake supposed, since Xaloria had been reset, that none of that had even happened. Certainly, the “Imperial Marks” had been replaced by the original gold coins. He was trying to get it all straight in his head when Ryden spoke up again.

“I have an urgent matter to discuss with you. Will you join me in my study?”

“A quest,” Des said, laughing. “We should’ve known.”

The friends followed Lord Ryden to his private room. Once inside, he dismissed his servants and leaned against the edge of his desk.

“How is it?” Lord Ryden asked eagerly. “Did the reset fix everything?”

Jake, Des and Kari stared at him in alarm.

“Oh no,” Kari gasped.

“It’s alright,” Ryden assured her. “As far as I can tell, the reset eliminated all of the changes I’d made. There are no New Ones, no Path to the Next, and no symbols appearing anywhere.”

“But…you’re still alive,” Jake said. Joy warred with a hint of fear inside of him.

“I
am
alive. I thought I would be destroyed…that I would die when the program reset.”

“Log out!” Des shouted suddenly. He disappeared.

Ryden grinned sheepishly. “I haven’t done anything to it, and I won’t. I promise. Go ahead, Jake. Launch your toolkit.”

“Display Development Interface,” Jake ordered. The familiar box of options appeared.

Des strolled back into the room, trying his best to appear nonchalant. “I had to reload at the spawn point.”

Jake canceled the tool screen and looked at Ryden steadily. “Everything seems okay, but…how did you survive?”

“I don’t know,” Ryden admitted. “Maybe it’s because I was already conscious before I started changing the program? Maybe because I completed the Path and became a real person? I just don’t know. I never meant for this to happen.”

As Ryden said the words Jake had repeated so many times, Jake’s joy won out over fear. He grabbed the unsuspecting mage and gave him a hug.

“I’m just glad you’re still alive,” he told his friend.

“So am I,” Ryden said, returning the hug. “But I’ve learned something; I’m not ready for the Next. It’s best if I stay in Xaloria. This is where I belong.”

“Are you sure?” Kari asked. “You’ve tried so hard to leave this place.”

“I’m sure,” Ryden assured her. “But I hope you’ll still be my Interpreter. There are so many things I still don’t understand about being
alive.
”

“I’d be honored,” she told him.

Ryden patted Jake’s shoulder as he led the way to a table containing a strange looking artifact shaped like a toothed ring.

“So,” he said. “A crazy old man stopped by and left this unknown object with me. He said if you take it to a cave with blue crystals around the mouth about a day’s ride to the south, it would open some kind of magical door with a bunch of treasure behind it. There’s a long, mystical-sounding script I could recite if you’d rather have the official story, but that’s the gist of it. Feel like an adventure?”

Jake and Kari grinned, but it was Des who replied.

“Sure! We’re always up for adventure.”

***

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