Entering the Weave

Josh gulped dusty air into his lungs as he cowered behind a twisted metal statue. Although he had not seen anything alive in the tower, he had been chased from chamber to chamber by screaming threats and jabbering promises of vile torture. The only way away from the hounding noise had always been upwards. At every junction he had been forced to stumble up a flight of stairs or rush along a sloping corridor to keep his rabid pursuers at bay.

Now breathless and sweating, he had not heard his ghoulish pursuers for a while. He strained to hear any sign of them over his own blood pounding in his ears. Gradually he felt his muscles unclenching and as he started to calm down, Geigerzalion’s strange ball almost fell from his stiff fingers. He snatched his hand shut around it again, and then reverently brought it close to his face. Apart from the runic inscriptions on its surface it looked quite unremarkable. He traced the lines as closely as he could and he tried twisting and turning it, but nothing happened. The cold, heavy sphere remained staunchly mundane.

An image of Toby’s tortured and broken body flashed unbidden through Josh’s mind. The clarity of the vision stunned him and he found himself stooped against the wall, fighting for breath.

“I see you Joshua Robson. You are coming to your doom.” The voice was too large and booming to be inside his head, and yet when he covered his ears there was no change in the volume.

Josh cowered against the statue desperately looking about for the source of the terrible voice. He forced himself not to answer, knowing that his own voice would betray how weak and afraid he was. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to his feet. The iron ball in his hand had started to vibrate.

“It’s pointless, you know. This isn’t some fairy story where you’ll be given special powers to defeat me.”

“Then why are you bothering to talk to me now? Why don’t you just kill me?” Josh heard a steadiness in his own voice that he didn’t feel inside, but he regretted his outburst as soon as he heard the malice in the laughter that rang throughout the corridors of the tower.

“It’s all part of the fun, Joshua. I’m surprised, to be honest, that you had the nerve to come back into this Vrealm after your first time. You have done me the favour of bringing some of the people who could have opposed me into my clutches before they had any conception of what they would be facing. For that I am almost tempted to let you go.”

The iron ball felt immensely heavy now and its vibrations were becoming more and more severe. Josh could barely keep it still with both hands clasped tightly around it. He arms began to ache with the effort.

“Just give up Joshua. Go home. This is not your fight.”

“Let Toby go.” He panted.

“I am getting bored with your persistence. Suit yourself, bring yourself into my presence to meet your end. I will even let you watch me destroy your friends.”

He clung on to the hope that he was only being taunted because he had something the Doge wanted, or perhaps he was capable of hurting him in some way. He clenched his teeth and crossed the room to a tightly winding stair, grasping the iron sphere so hard his fingers ached.

The stair twisted upwards for what seemed like miles and Josh had to clamber the final steps with the sphere clamped to his chest to keep it still. His whole body ached with the effort of the climb and he hardly noticed that he had emerged into the centre of the flat roof of the tower. There was nothing between him and the red broiling sky. Exhaustion pulled him down and he collapsed, panting, onto the smooth iron floor.

Sitting on an elaborate throne atop a raised platform at one edge of the floor was the Doge. Creatures from Josh’s nightmares surrounded him. The huge Minotaur dominated the group, but he was not the only exotic. A ravening wolf strained at a chain fastened to the foot of the Doge’s throne; a vampire, its mouth dripping with glistening blood, leered from behind it; a woman with bulbous eyes and writhing snakes for hair knelt at his feet. All of Josh’s most feared imaginings and more were arranged before him.

His four friends were trussed to wooden stakes. Bandicoot’s simian head lolled forward, and DoomLord’s helmet had been removed to reveal a defiant, but battered face. Spokes sat cross-legged at the bottom of her stake seemingly asleep, and Toby stood, sobbing quietly into his chest.

“Ah Josh. You finally made it. You see I have arranged a place for you.” The Doge indicated a fifth stake and Josh saw the kindling and firewood at the foot of all of them. His leering retinue gasped and pranced at the cleverness of their master. “Burn them.” Some of them shouted out.

Josh could feel the fatigue threatening to overpower him. The iron ball strained against him, more concerted in its movements now, always trying to pull away from the Doge. But the plight of his friends fuelled an anger that strengthened his resolve. “Why are you doing this?” He managed to croak.

“I thought I’d explained that to you Josh.” The Doge chuckled genially. “I’m not concerned about you. Why would I be? You’re just a child, but you’ve handed me some of the people who could have opposed my plans for freedom.”

Josh pushed himself to his feet. “Why have you set this up then? These theatrics.” He knew he was clutching at straws, but he didn’t know what else to do. What else could he say to prolong his life and the life of his friends?

“Well, burning hurts more than anything else we could set up at such short notice. I do have significant powers in this Vrealm Josh, but sometimes the old ways just can’t be beaten.”

“That’s not what I mean…” Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Spokes was moving her left hand as if controlling a glove puppet. Not overtly, but it was enough to make him think she was trying to communicate something to him. He felt sure that he had to keep the Doge talking.

“I know what you meant, you dense boy.”

He wracked his brains for something to ask or say, but just as he knew he needed to prolong the conversation he knew that he couldn’t.

The Doge regarded him for a few moments almost as if he was waiting for an interesting question from him, but when nothing was forthcoming he sighed. “Seize him.”

His minions advanced slowly and warily and Josh thought this was strange. He was more tired than he had ever felt and he had no special powers of combat or magic, and yet these fearsome beasts approached him like old ladies tackling a tarantula.

“Boo.” He ventured and the creatures stopped. The snakes on the woman’s head snapped and hissed at him. DoomLord was rewarded with a swift backhanded slap across his face for sniggering at their discomfiture. Apparently the seven foot tall warrior did not hold the same fear for the creatures as a fourteen-year-old boy.

“Why are your servants so frightened of me?” Josh said the only thing he thought would hold the Doge’s attention for enough time to help Spokes with whatever she was doing.

“They are not frightened of you.” He stood up and picked his way through his suddenly timorous minions. He looked puzzled. “They are wary of what you possess.”

Josh squeezed the iron ball in his hand even tighter.

Then everything seemed to happen at once.

Spokes had somehow freed herself from the stake and whirled through the creatures sending them toppling like toy soldiers. DoomLord had also slipped his bonds and, taking the Minotaur by surprise, had buried the monster’s own axe deep into its chest. Josh’s friends pirouetted and came to a stop with their backs to each other, crouching, ready for a fight.

The Doge’s creatures circled around them, hissing and cackling and roaring. The Minotaur had just seemed to realise that an axe had been inserted into it, and crashed to the ground. The others did not even flinch. There was no sign of the fear they seemed to feel for Josh in them now and they closed their circle around DoomLord and Spokes without hesitation.

The battle began and from the outset Josh could see that it was not going well for his friends even though they moved with blurring speed. There were just too many enemies and Spokes and DoomLord also had to try and protect Toby and Bandicoot from the more viciously intelligent of the creatures.

Josh seemed to be protected by an invisible bubble that the creatures weren’t able to penetrate. He tested this gingerly, by approaching his friends. The fantastical monsters parted like water as he moved. He became bolder and rushed to extend his protective barrier around his friends.

He reached them just in time. A centaur-like creature, but with a body of an elephant, was just about to gore Spokes with her tucks. Josh pushed all of them back, and found that he could keep all the creatures away from his friends.

DoomLord quickly freed Toby and Bandicoot with a swish of a stolen sword. Spokes helped the big monkey climb down from the stake, and gently laid him down on the floor. Josh’s protective bubble carried on working, but they were still surrounded by the furious crowd.

“Josh…” Toby’s face was lined with tears and his voice was thick from crying. “I can’t believe it.”

Josh gave an embarrassed shrug. “You’re my friend. You’d have done it for me.”

“Oh please. You’re making me feel ill.” The Doge’s voice cut through mumbling throb of the creatures. “This should have been over long before now. As you’ve probably guessed, Joshua Bennett. You do have some power, but it is no match for my own.”

The Doge walked into the empty circle that surrounded them. Purple sparks fizzled around his silhouette and Josh felt the iron ball in his hand shake and writhe even more energetically. The Doge had slowed however, and his face contorted inhumanly illustrating the effort he was making. Step by slow step he advanced and one by one the creatures baying for blood faded out of existence.

Josh had to brace himself against one of the stakes and hold the ball between his knees now to stop if from flying away. He could feel a warmth beginning to emanate from it and before long it was almost too hot to touch.

“Give it to me, boy.” The sparks had become flames and were licking around the Doge’s face now giving his skin a transparent look. “Give it to me now.”

Josh could feel his own skin burning around the ball, but he didn’t let go. The Doge took another step closer.

Spokes leapt at the Doge, but the blurring attack was brushed aside with a nonchalant wave of the Doge’s hand.

DoomLord swung his sword over his head and down in a fatal arc that would have smashed a block of granite in two. The Doge merely parried it with his arm. With a skeleton’s grin he grabbed the end of the sword and threw DoomLord out of his way.

He stepped forward again and a terrible wind began to howl around the tower. Josh wrapped himself around the ball like a foetus, trying to exert as much leverage on it as possible to keep it still. The wind tried to tear it from his grasp and Josh felt his fingers weakening.

The Doge took another step and another. He was almost within touching distance now.

Josh tried to back away, but it was too much effort to control the ball and move. He felt a hot, bony hand envelope his and looked up, straight into the burning eyes of the Doge.

“You see, boy. Your trinket was no match for my power.” The Doge’s skin had been horribly burned and he would have looked pitiful if it had not been for the look of ferocious triumph in his eyes. He ripped the ball out of Josh’s failing hands and there was silence. Josh fell to the floor clutching his burnt, empty hands to his chest.

“With this I will be invincible.” The Doge was hunched over the ball, studying the markings as Josh had done. The wind had died down and the Doge’s terrible burns were healing unnaturally quickly.

Josh pushed himself to his feet and found Toby trying to pull him away.

“Come on, Josh. While he’s occupied with that thing.” Toby whispered.

“My friends…”

“It’s too late for your friends and it’s too late for you.” The Doge span around and spat the words at Josh. “You’ll never escape from here. Gaining this hurt me in ways you couldn’t understand, but now I have it, I promise to recreate that very same pain for you.”

A jet of crystal blue light erupted from the ball and curved around and around Josh and Toby, whipping around them until they were bound so tightly that Josh could not breath properly.

The Doge’s cruel smile tightened along with the bonds and he flourished the iron ball before them. Pain exploded in Josh’s hands and chest and he tried to scream, but his mouth was clenched shut against the electrocuting agony.

Behind the Doge Josh saw Bandicoot rise unsteadily to his feet.

“You must not hurt them.” Bandicoot wheezed, through blood stained lips. “They should not even be here.”

“Oh, not more foolish heroics. Why can’t you just accept the fact that you’ve lost, you stupid monkey?” The Doge turned and sneered at Bandicoot. “You don’t really think you can challenge me now do you? I mean look at you.”

Bandicoot was a feeble sight indeed. Both of his long arms were hanging uselessly at his sides and his fur was matted with dark blood. “Please don’t hurt them.” The monkey looked humble and did not meet the Doge’s eye, trying as hard as he could to deflect any cruel harm away from the two helpless boys.

“They can wait.” The Doge drew back his hand and drove his fist down onto Bandicoot’s head. There was a loud crack and Bandicoot slumped to the floor with a sad, apologetic look on his simian face.

“Pathetic.” The Doge turned back to face Josh and Toby. “Now, perhaps, I can finish you off without any interruptions.” He raised the iron ball up in front of him and muttered something under his breath as if casting a spell.

Bright light shone out from the ball and Josh instinctively closed his eyes expecting horrific pain to follow. He could still see the light, blood red through his eyelids, blazing before him. And then the Doge gasped.

Josh opened his eyes a crack, and saw the light had focussed entirely on the Doge. A corona of energy was pulsing around his robed shoulders and a look of fearful confusion had replaced his superior sneer. Suddenly, his mouth stretched obscenely wide and he screamed with the ferocity of a wounded wolverine.

There was a subsonic implosion and the Doge began to disintegrate before Josh’s eyes. Dark cracks began to appear on the surface of his face and the light started to dissolve into them. The screams started to fade along with the Doge himself and after a few more moments his empty robes collapsed to the floor, along with the iron ball.

Josh and Toby’s bonds disappeared with him and they slumped to the floor.

“Is that it?” Toby panted after a while.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s a trick.”

Neither of them had the strength to move until eventually Josh hauled himself to his feet and prodded the iron ball. It rocked heavily and he knew it had no power now. Its surface was melted and parts of it were blackened. He picked it up anyway. It was still a warm.

“Thank you, Geigerzalion.”

Spokes had managed to rise to her hands and knees. “How did you do it?”

Josh twisted around, and without saying anything he ran to her and hugged her. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll survive.” She said grimly.

DoomLord was not badly injured either and he limped back to them, but Bandicoot did not move when they tried to wake him.

“We mustn’t move him, he may have a neck injury.” Josh said.

“It’s not like the real world, Josh.” Spokes looked worried and sad. “If he does not regain consciousness for the journey back, then he’ll never wake up in reality.”

Josh’s mouth ached. “He tried to save us. Even when he could barely stand. He tried to save us. He has to be okay.” He stroked the monkey’s furry neck and sobbed quietly.

A leathery finger brushed Josh’s cheek. “I am awake. I will survive.” Josh looked up and saw Bandicoot’s eyes open just enough to see the glistening blackness beneath.

“Thank you, Bandi. You saved us.”

A noise made them all turn towards the trap door that Josh had entered through and Josh’s heart sank as he saw the cowled figure of one of the puppet people emerge from the hole. It was followed by another and another. Josh saw Spokes and DoomLord wearily shift their weight into battle readiness.

Before long, Josh and his companions were surrounded by hundreds of the puppets and Josh felt hopelessness wash over him. He realised that this nightmare was never going to end.

“Where is the Master?” One of the taller puppets stepped forward.

“He has left you. You are free.” Spokes said the words clearly, so all the assembled throng could hear. Muttering rippled through the crowd, and Josh could make out the word ‘free’ repeated over and over again like a mantra. It grew louder and louder, until every one of them except for the tall puppet-man were chanting it. He held his hand up for silence and the noise died down.

“But what should we do?”

“You should create a society that the creators of this Vrealm would be proud of. Don’t let anyone take this away from you. You owe it to yourselves.”

The puppet-man lifted his wooden hands up to his hood and pulled it back. A gasp ran through the crowd. “He is a puppet.” Someone whispered and a few of the others near him backed away.

He bowed to the companions.

“We are all puppets.” He said when he straightened. “If we are to rebuild our city, then we must learn to trust each other. Let us not cower under our robes, pretending to be what we are not. We dishonour our Makers.”

To begin with none of the crowd moved. Then one stepped out of the crowd and stood next to the speaker. He removed his hood and mask, to reveal himself and the crowd reacted in much the same way as they had to the taller puppet-man, but another stepped forward almost immediately and did the same.

Josh looked at Spokes and she smiled.

Now the whole crowd were taking their hoods down and looking sideways at their neighbours. Some of them were still wearing the wooden, painted masks, but they soon came off, and before long they were all standing looking at each other. Drums and pipes had appeared and the roof of the Doge’s tower now rang out with raucous, bizarre sound.

Josh gazed at the dancing figures whirling around them. They moved with the same stiff limbed clumsiness but their newly found freedom seemed to have given them a living vitality that had been missing before. He smiled, remembering how frightening they had seemed and watched them all disappear down the stairs to carry their celebrations onto the streets of the city.

“We’ll have to risk dropping out now. He’s getting worse.” Spokes sounded worried. Bandicoot had not said anything since his whispers to Josh and his eyes were now tightly closed.

“Come on,” said DoomLord gruffly.” Let’s get a channel open.”

Spokes nodded curtly and produced a short, black tube seemingly from thin air.

“What’s that?” Toby asked.

“A microscope.”

“How’s that going to help?” Josh was puzzled.

“We need to find something to look at. Something that this place won’t know how to represent close up.”

“Of course,” Toby nodded eagerly. “It’ll try and connect to another server or something to get the data it needs. Then we can ride that connection out of here. Brilliant.”

Josh looked stunned and Spokes gave a surprised laugh. “You’re the brilliant one Toby. I’ve never known anyone to catch on so quickly.”

Toby beamed at her.

“Now, pay attention everyone. Anything out of the ordinary could be the channel.” She knelt down and scraped a fleck of dried blood onto a slide from where the Minotaur had died. “Let’s hope it tries to connect to a hospital’s computer somewhere.”

She peered through the microscope at the blood.

They all held their breath.

Toby saw it first. An almost invisible eddy had appeared behind Spokes’ shoulder. “There!”

“Josh, take Toby through. We’ll follow. Hurry!”

He didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed Toby’s sleeve and they both dived into the vortex.

The top of the tower and evening sky dissolved into shooting lights and they zoomed along a multicoloured tunnel. Josh felt his fingers losing their grip on Toby and the lights disappeared.