The Medieval Delusion

Chapter 2

"Friends… You have the greatest hearts of anyone in the world… If this can be done, it can be done by you."

"How touching."

"You!"

Yumi was surprised to find she remembered everything. Jeremy, the return to the past, everyone stranded, and all the rest. She noticed that nothing looked artificial like it did on Lyoko or Troy or Xanadu. Everything looked completely real. This game had good graphics. She inspected her appearance. A peasant's clothes, with two strange weapons on her hands. They were kukris. Punching-daggers. The metal looped back around her hand so that when she curled her fist a deadly sharp point was sticking straight out. She was sitting at a bar, with a cup on the table in front of her.

"What art thou doing here?" came a voice from behind her. She turned around and saw a table of rough looking thugs jeering at her.

"As if it's business of yours," she snapped back.

"Oh, you have claws, do you?" asked the biggest thug. He stood up and took a halberd out of the corner. The others followed suit, each and every one picking up an identical copy of the leader's weapon.

"Six on one?" came a voice from behind Yumi as she readied her kukris.

"Ulrich!" she exclaimed. He stood there in shining armor, a huge sword resting on his shoulder. He pulled it down and held it at the ready.

"That is my name," said Ulrich.

"Enough talk," said a thug as he swirled his halberd in a huge circle. Ulrich jumped out and shoved his sword in front of the blade. It got caught as Yumi ran up and stabbed him with one of her hands. Ulrich pulled in the grunt's weapon and tossed it in to another thug as they charged. The man vanished as they died, but Ulrich didn't seem to notice. Yumi ran up and started spinning, her daggers impaling men as she went. Ulrich took out the two she missed.

"You're quite good," said Ulrich. "Who are you?"

"Yumi Ishiyama," said Yumi. "Are you a mercenary?"

"Yes, I am. Do you need services?"

"It will be dangerous if you accept."

"What is the mission?"

"We have to find Sir Milo Salian and Sir Odd Della Robbia and help them free the Princess Aelita and Sir Xanite from Xana's clutches," said Yumi, all in one breath.

"Xana and Xanite are brothers, correct?" said Ulrich. "As I understand it, there was some kind of power struggle between them. Xana won and banished Xanite from his castle. Then Xanite and Odd Della Robbia met up with this Sir Milo you speak of and swore allegiance to him."

"Why is their swearing allegiance to Milo special?"

"Xana and Milo have one skill in common. They see the mental bonds between people. When Odd and Xanite swore allegiance to Milo, they inextricably tied themselves to his cause. If they ever try to betray him, he'll know instantly."

"And Xana sees these bonds too?"

"That is one of the reasons he turned evil in the first place. He saw that so many people were tied to each other, but none were tied to him. He is trying to bind Princess Aelita to him, but she is already bound to Milo in the way he wants her to be bound to him. Additionally, he is jealous because she is also bound to Xanite and Odd."

"And how do you know all this?"

"I see the bonds too. And for reasons I don't understand, you are bound tightly to the wizard Jeremiah, Milo, Odd, Xanite, Aelita, and tightest of all, me."

"So will you help me?"

"Yes. We set out now."

"What are you doing here?"

"I have every right. I know all the secrets. What's happening now, Jeremy?"

"All right, William. If you have to know, I made a little mistake with a return to the past."

"Where are the others?"

"Inside a medieval video game. Only Odd and Yumi remember our world at all."

"Wait a minute. You accidentally sent everyone into a medieval video game?"

"Yes."

"Is Xana doing anything now."

"Damn. I was hoping you wouldn't ask. He and Xanite got put in the game as well."

"Then get rid of the game! Scrub the memory or something!"

"And kill Milo, Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, Xanite and Yumi?"

"If you have to. Jeremy, think about this. If Xana gets loose ever again, he'll kill us all."

"Yes. But if I kill him now, they're all dead anyway."

"I'm destroying the game, Jeremy. Whether you help me or not."

"What? No! Ow!"

"Now, where is the disk drive with the game in it?"

"Ow…"

"Tell me!"

"Never…"

"You're killing innocents, Belpois! What was that? What did you just do?"

"Moved… Disk into bowels of factory… You'll never find it now…"

"I'm detaching your fake hand and your fake leg, Jeremy. You won't be able to stop me."

"I already did… Ow! Ah! Ah!"

"Just lie there. I know that you think you're doing a good thing, but it's not."

"You're not William… You're the… Imprisoned One…"

"Clever, aren't you?"

"Where's… William?"

"Good-bye, Jeremy. I'll take care of you after I get rid of the game."