The sun had long set; the moon, full rise above the sea. Aluria had nearly reached land. As she propelled herself through the water. she saw shoals of costal fish. Cashmere fish, silver with red horizontal lines that curled upward at the gills. The ocean floor rose gradually to greet her; ripples of moonlight danced on its surface as the waves distorted the globe above.
I need air. I should be able to see land by now, she thought. Angling her wings upward, she darted to the surface and exploded into the sky. Her massive wings blew the water playfully around. She searched the landscape and found what she was looking for, the Zhandrav Desert. Tilting her body, she allowed herself to drop forwards. I’ll fly the rest of the way, she decided and used her wings to pull up again.
Slowly the land approached. Individual dots, mere grains of sand, were now apparent. Kancranes stalked back and forth on long legs, their deep red and grey feathers stood out against the darkened, pale yellow sand. Aluria looked east to where the desert eventually met the forest; both seeming endless. Not far to go now. Kancranes began to flock in front of her, but they would soon be disappointed - she would not be their next meal.
THUD, the dragon landed on the ground. A cloud of dust and sand floated everywhere, scattering every which way. Once the Kancranes saw her size their disappointment was assured. Even the lot of them wouldn’t be able to take her down. I should keep going. I hope that the others haven’t found out about him yet...
Wind blew across distant dunes, whipping sand at her scaly face and stinging her eyes. Aluria closed them to ease the pain, but still miniscule grains stabbed through the small slits between her eyelids. Eventually the wind stopped. When she opened her eyes the Kancranes were gone and in their place stood a hideous creature.
“You escaped me before, but never mind… I have a plan B, and they always succeed,” mocked the creature. His voice sounded uncomfortably familiar. “Give up Aluria. I have already put my plan in motion.”
Instinctively she knew who addressed her. She snapped her reply, “I will not give up. There is hope. People like you will not prevail. Not you, not your subordinates and… and… and I will NOT be your pawn.”
“And you think you can stop me?” he taunted. “All I’ve done, I’ve done for you… for us. If you won’t trust me, then you will be left to the fate of the others,” he spat. “You should do as I say Aluria. I am more powerful than you think.” His red eyes glared, revealing his true nature.
“Power corrupts. You had a great talent. You made something of it, and through it you gave to others. But now you choose to use your creation to destroy. I used to believe in you, but I don’t anymore.” The wind was only a whisper below Aluria’s growling voice. “True, my fate depends on the actions of others but, not everyone is under your control. You don’t scare me, no matter what you’ve become.”
Aluria eyed him. He had transformed into a monster, a serpent of darkness, a warped creature from his own twisted imagination. Crimson eyes glared from his long, scaly black head, rows and rows of sharp white teeth gleaming in his jaw. He too had a long, powerful neck that stretched from his body. His black scales were dark as coal, providing him armour. Blood red scales garnished his inner torso and gave the impression a ghastly battle had taken place on his body. A long powerful tail extended behind him, ready to take anyone out in a single strike. At the end of it flexed sharp pincers that jittered like a scorpion’s. All four of his legs were built for flight; he had no need for wings. He was Zanackphar, the one who created the game, Thaihaelon.
“I do not want to make you the enemy Aluria, but if you choose to be against me, I will have no choice but to strip you of your status and all the privileges associated with it.” He growled and jerked his tail higher. A nosey Kancrane approached from behind. Zanackphar slammed his tail down onto the birds’ body, spurting black poison from the tips of his pincers to rot its flesh. Feathers fell off the bird then melted into grey goo before it disappeared completely. As he lifted his tail it shuddered; somehow more menacingly than before.
With her gaze still locked on his eyes, Aluria boldly declared, “Know this then, your motives are selfish and corrupt. I will NEVER join you. For if I did, I would doom myself forever. I know your plan.” When she finished, she turned defiantly to face the east. He did not strike.
“Then you are doomed. In battle, I will not show mercy or spare your life. You are the one who is selfish. Farewell Aluria, my daughter.” And with those final words, Zanackphar turned west and flew away. As soon as he was gone, the wind and sand continued their assault on her face.
She did not watch him leave because she knew what doing so meant. It would reveal her as a coward, weak and faltering. Turning from the wind would be choosing the easy path. The moon, still high in the sky, illuminated the way before her. She leapt into the air, spread her wings and thought, I have to get there quickly. I will not fail. I will not let my father get away with this. I will not let evil win. I will not let him get to me. And above all, I will not let him destroy or murder anyone. So many people are in Thaihaelon... All of them are at risk; all of them, including me... but what if I’m too late - don’t think about that. He’s just trying to get to me… She flapped harder; focusing on the tree in the distance, The Great Tree.
--- ooo ---
“Well?” Izifaris shrugged her shoulders, “Will you let me help you or not?” She stood rooted, not flinching; not even a twitch.
Karisia stared at the girl; she looked fifteen, maybe sixteen, her dark olive green eyes and rugged appearance made it hard for her to trust Izifaris, but there was something in her eyes… something different to what she saw on the outside. “Untie her, Saroheed.” Karisia turned her head away. She didn’t know exactly why she trusted this strange girl, but she did.
“But Karisia, she could - ” Saroheed was cut short.
“I said untie her, Saroheed. I don’t know why myself, just do it.” Saroheed pulled every which ways at the knots with his stubby fingers but the rope seemed to have a mind of its own. Finally, after many minutes of struggling, the rope released its captive and Izifaris stood unbound before them; no one entirely sure what she would do.
“Thank you. Now if you two could just go and hunt some lumpy slugs or something while we talk, it would be appreciated.” She glanced at Masadorraed, then towards the slugs. There were still plenty of them, no shortage that was for sure.
To Masadorraed’s surprise, Karisia grabbed Saroheed by the arm and started to pull him towards the slugs, leaving him alone with the pirate girl.
“Markus, there is a sinister plot behind this game. There’s-” Masadorraed’s jaw dropped, causing Izifaris to stop mid-sentence.
“How do you know my name?” stammered Masadorraed. “And what are you talking about?”
“Well, I logged into Thaihaelon earlier today to try out the new update - it certainly lived up to the advertising. After awhile, I felt hungry and tried to log out but, I couldn’t get out of the game. So, I hacked into the game engine and a few unusual things caught my attention.
“To keep it simple, I’ll address them in the order you asked. First, that’s an extraordinary sword you’ve got there, especially for a newbie. There’s not another like it in the arsenal. I saw the sword, cross-referenced the data file and found out who it was assigned to. The answer to your second question is a lot more complicated.”
Izifaris looked around to ensure no one was watching or listening in. With her index fingers touching her thumbs, she brought her hands up to chest height then smoothly drew them apart, separating her fingers at the end of her stroke. A holographic keyboard and screen appeared, floating in front of her. The semi-transparent computer was tinted light blue with a few static dots here and there - probably due to either her internet connection or the sheer number of users online. I hate lag, why do so many people have to play this game? Izifaris thought as she began to type on the keyboard. A window opened on the screen.
“What you see, is the outline plan for Thaihaelon. But it’s more than that; it’s a plot, a scheme. Basically, whoever developed this game has found a way to physically suck people into Thaihaelon and the scary thing is, they’ve got more than enough processing power and memory to do it. It’s like putting a bus full of people into a car, and then being able to take the bus back out and nothing’s changed, no glitches, no problems.
“But why? Imagine, with even a tenth of our generation captive, what would happen if the game were to be shut down, or even worse, completely deleted. The only people – besides myself - who know this plan are the moderators. They are the enforcers, minions who control the inside of the game from the safety of outside. Thaihaelon is no longer just a game. It’s real. You die here; that’s it - you’re dead, buh-bye and thanks for playing.” Izifaris finished and let the situation sink into Masadorraed’s mind.
“What am I supposed to do? I’m just a kid and a newbie.” Masadorraed looked straight into Izifaris’ eyes, “And when does this game start sucking people up?”
“The sword you hold has special properties. I have no idea how it ended up in this game - the creator certainly didn’t put it here. The game has already started sucking people up. You and your friends are trapped here together with everyone who logged in since the last update… Including myself.
“First, I think we need to somehow find a way to break the screen layer that traps us here. I can make things happen in the game, but not outside of it because the screen layer prevents that.” Izifaris typed on the keyboard again, closing the window and opening information about Masadorraed’s sword.
“What’s this ‘screen layer’?” Masadorraed asked. Izifaris opened another window displaying a large circle with two concentric circles inside it.
“The yellow circle in the centre is Thaihaelon,” Izifaris explained. “The thin blue one just outside of that is the screen layer, a wall that separates Thaihaelon from the real world. The screen layer is like a firewall, blocking information they don’t want to pass through it. In this instance, they don’t want to let us get out or interact with the outside world by letting them know what’s going on. It bounces any command I send out however, it still allows them to do things in here. It’s like we’re in a room surrounded by one way mirrors. We can only see what goes on in Thaihaelon because the mirror reflects everything. They are sitting at control panels on the other side, able to see what’s going on both here as well as where they are. Not only can they control our environment, but they can come and interact here too because they have some kind of key that permits them through the screen layer.”
Izifaris paused and glanced at Masadorraed, “Are you following this?” Masadorraed gave a small, half nod. I wonder how much of this he really understands. She continued, “The large grey area surrounding the blue is real life, our world as we know it. Now, notice the small red dots that are placed around the rim of the screen layer and Thaihaelon? Those are the command points, generators for the screen layer. They are accessible from the outside of Thaihaelon but, they are also accessible from inside...”
Masadorraed just managed to catch the name of the graph, The Layers, as Izifaris closed the window to expose the information about Masadorraed’s sword. It too was a diagram, but it had a bunch of coded notations that looked like a foreign language.
“I’m still deciphering it. There’s so much; I haven’t been able to decode it yet. But I’m positive someone deliberately put it here for a reason. Who or what though? How they made something like this… It surpasses even the coding of the game...” Something suddenly caught her attention. She stopped talking and rapidly closed the remaining window by hitting the Escape key.
“What? What is it?” Masadorraed looked around as Izifaris closed her little floating, high-tech computer.
Izifaris sensed, It’s them... or at least, one of them.
“Izifaris? Is there someone else here, or coming h- Whoa!“ Izifaris grabbed Masadorraed by the wrist and ran over to Saroheed and Karisia. As she pulled Masadorraed in front of her, she released her grip, slinging him to his friends.
“Quick. We must get away from here. It’s one of the Moderators!” Izifaris said quickly. Meanwhile, Karisia and Saroheed bore confused looks.
Saroheed rolled his eyes “Not surprised. You’re probably a hacker.” He turned to face the town of Calasrie.
“Yes, and we have to get going. I could teleport myself away, but I can’t take all three of you with me. We need to run or, if you’d prefer, I can change you all into something that can fly…” She began to push them east-ward, towards the forest. Masadorraed grabbed Saroheed’s wrist and pulled.
“Saroheed, we should probably do what she says. There really could be something dangerous coming. We should go.” Masadorraed grunted, pulled and bared his teeth. How much resistance could a little dwarf have? Masadorraed yanked again. Finally Saroheed gave way; allowing himself to be pulled though the thick snow like a plough, shoving it to the side making small mounds and rises.
Karisia wasn’t as reluctant; she was running along next to Izifaris. Masadorraed thought he could see something similar in them and yet they were so different. As they approached the forest, Masadorraed heard a booming sound behind them. It sounded like wind being shoved powerfully and quickly. Oh, please don’t let them catch us! I don’t want to die!
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