TJ Luther led the way.
The path leading from the bottom of the forest up to the plateau of Hero Hill hugged the side of the rocky formation tightly. Along the pathway several rocks and boulders slowed the advance. Luther was at the helm of the group. Behind him was one of the few mages in his group, TreeDragon, with a fireball illuminating their path in the night. Luther kept his hands full with his sword and shield.
"Damn it I can barely see a thing." Skittles said, third from the front.
"Don't worry, we're almost there." TreeDragon assured him, careful to keep his arm and the light source steady.
They lined up in single file, the path no wider than a sidewalk. Below the cliff face dropped off abruptly into a blackened abyss, though Luther knew it was no deeper than twenty feet. Probably wouldn't even die from the fall. One of his feet slipped, causing a few pebbles to fall below. At least at the current height. He hollered back at Skittles.
"Any word from the others?" Skittles turned around, repeating the phrase to the player behind him, Raiden. The player turned around and did the same. A few minutes later, Raiden returned the message.
Skittles turned back around. "Apparently there's still no one behind us."
"Who's at the back anyways?"
Barry I think."
Luther sighed. He didn't hate the boy but there was only such much an awkward fourteen old could do. "We'll just have to take his word for it then. Hopefully they'll be some others up at the top."
"Hopefully."
Eventually the path began to even out, and the group once again found themselves walking on even ground. Their speed picked up faster than, and soon the moonlight came into full view. With the path brightened Luther saw the summit only a few minutes after. He started to jog.
TJ Luther stopped abruptly once reaching the top, his shoulders going slack as he stared at the structures. Three blackened spikes jutted out from their respective corners of the hill, each rising more than fifty feet in height. Their shadows casted over the whole of Hero Hill, creating blackened streaks in contrast to the bluish tint the moonlight gave to the rest.
Malon looked around.
"What do you see?" Skittles asked, his head just coming to level with the surface.
Luther stared out at the empty hill, its flat, rocky area no larger than a tennis court. "We're the first ones."
"Wha….oh." Skittles stood beside Luther, staring. "This can't be good."
The rest followed quickly after, eighteen in total. Most of the players stood at the center of the rock, admiring the large spires. Luther himself stared out at the vast blackness of Bower Lake, the distant lights of Docktown and Gallinero looking like Christmas decorations in the distance.
Barry took a step past Luther, his feet bordering on the edge. He pointed. "You can even see Bowerstone from here."
"Is that so?" Luther squinted. Far and away from Docktown, hundreds of miles in the distance, he could see a dim, almost invisible speck of light on the horizon.
Barry nodded. "Yeah, that little light there is definitely Fairfax Castle. It's just like Fable II."
Luther stared at Barry. The boys face was acne ridden, he was overweight, short and even stuttered on the occasional sentence. He sure knows his Fable facts though. Luther looked back at the castle. It had been several years since he had last played the early Fable games, and he'd be lying if he said he remembered any of it.
"Damn…thought we'd be first."
Luther turned around. From the pathway, a group of players emerged in a straight line. At their helm was a woman with long, red hair and an open-toothed grin. Luther immediately recognized her nametag from the ship.
T.
"Is it just you guys?" Skittles asked.
Beast frowned, pointing behind her with a thumb. "Nah, we got that other guys group following us." A moment later, another leader emerged.
"That'd be me." Pureyoo said, his bun of blonde hair practically glowing in the moonlight.
Luther watched as over twenty players emerged from behind the two, tripling the density of the Hill in less than a minute.
"Good to see most of you made it." He walked away from the edge, and towards the other two leaders. He stopped at the center of the hill and folded his arms. Pureyoo and Beast did the same.
The Warrior, Ranger and Mage stood in a triangle, pausing for a moment while their respective groups gathered in circle around them. Luther waited for one of the others to speak, but the first words came from somebody back at the entrance of the hill.
"Well this is fitting." A short, stubby player said. His accent as ring several bells in Luthers head as he approached the group of players. "A Hero of Strength, Skill and Will are all standing at the center of the circle. Just under the spires too. Guess that makes me the fourth huh?"
Luther laughed. "Good to see you made it."
TankGod nodded back, stopping just short of the three. He placed his hands on his hips. "But to be serious for a moment, where's Kungen at?"
Luthers smile vanished. The players on the hill were silent. That's a good question.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Maia founder herself staring at the distance shape of Hero Hill, the far off mountain blocking the bulk of the moonlight like an in-game eclipse, she bit her lip. Soon, we'll be there soon.
"They said the boat should get here in a few minutes." Herman said, walking up to where Herman and Maia sat on the dockside bench.
"Good. I'm not seeing any bright lights coming from Bower Island or anything and…" Maia opened the 2D quest menu, quickly scrolling down. "Nothing on the quest log either. Looks like the main fight hasn't started yet."
Fist laughed. "You think you're ready?"
"One hundred percent."
There were dozens of players around the docks, most crunched shoulder to shoulder as they fought for their place to be near the landing. Maia made sure to tell Herman to take up extra space on the bench to save their spot. The boy had responded by lying down and taking a nap. Even with his full body length spread out his feet were still a few inches away from touching Maias body. The site made her smile again.
"Never understood how that kid got to sleep so easy." Maia saw Fist smiling as well, his arms still crossed. "He always wakes up before me too. Drives me crazy."
"I can imagine. He hasn't discovered the beauty of insomnia yet."
"You'd think there would be an in game mechanic to get around that."
"Look!" A lone player shouted from the mass. All at once a hundred pairs of eyes looked towards a vague silhouette in the distance.
A minute later, there was no mistaking it, the ship approached Docktown. Maia took a deep breath.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
"It's just up here."
"You said that already."
"Just around the corner."
"I know."
"One more pathway."
"…."
"You wanna hear another story?"
"No!" Apollo yelled as he shot forth a bolt of lightning at what he guessed was his hundredth beatle. The creature shatter instantaneously. Rosie smiled
"Good job. You're so strong!"
Apollo groaned, looting the small piles of ash after finishing off the whole group. Most annoying NPC EVER.
It had been an hour since he had discovered Rosie alone in the cave. Since he had accepted the quest she had not stopped talking. And talking. Apollo wondered if she was explicitly programmed to be annoying. I'm gonna get cabin fever at this rate.
"I know! I'll tell you the story about my daddy."
"Please don't."
"He's really nice. You'll really like him, he used to be a hero himself you know?"
"I'm sure he is…" He better give me a good reward. Apollo flicked his wrist, causing a ball of blue light to illuminate the pathway. Using his other hand he pushed his hair out of his eyes. I'm gonna need a cut after this too.
"Daddy told me these ruins are old, very old. He said that there used to be heroes in here, that this used to someplace magical."
"Did he now?" Apollo yawned.
The girl nodded enthusiastically. "Yup, he always used to tell me stories about the place. Do you wanna hear one?"
"No it's okay you can tell me it another time."
"Very well, it's pretty long so make sure you listen closely." Damn it this seems almost intentional. "It all started hundreds of years ago, in a time forgotten by the people of today. During those days the-"
Rosie stopped abruptly, both in speech and movement. Apollo turned around. She shouted.
"There! Up ahead!"
Apollo tilted his head, and then turned around. It was dark, too dark to see. He flung a small speck of lightning ahead, revealing a long hallway in the distance. He looked back at Rosie and she nodded, pointing ahead. Finally...
It felt older than anything else Apollo had seen in the cave thus far, or at least it had been made to look. Dust was scattered all along the walls, floors and cracked ceiling. Underneath was what looked to be old paintings and carvings, all filled with different characters and scenes. Eventually the ceiling opened up and they walked across a bridge. Apollo stopped in looked down. His eyes widened.
That must be hundreds of feet.
He looked around. It seemed to be inside a sort of cave system. Around him jaded walls of rock rose hundreds of feet both above and below the bridge. The only thing that seemed to create an end to it all was the black abyss. Apollo wondered how far it all went.
"Just up here." Rosie bumped Apollos side as she ran past him. Ahead he could see the bridge exit into a large, illuminated room. He flicked his wrist and his immediate area went dark gain. He went after the girl
By the time he entered the room, she was already in the center. Apollo stopped and stared around in awe. It was a circular room the size of a small stadium. All around him were stained glass walls, depicting various figures and structures. All of which rose to the ceiling in a perfect, pristine curvature. His eyes followed the markings all the way up and then back down the floor.
At the center of the room, lead up to by a wide, circular staircase, was were Rosie stood. She looked at Apollo.
"This is it. This is the place."
"What place?"
"The Chamber of Fate."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
The Black Knight was quiet.
"…Ryuu." He began slowly, overhead the moonlight casted a bluish tint on his armor.
The Knight took a step closer to him. Ryuu felt something in his chest. Something was off.
"There's something I need to tell you."
Ryuu gawked. He looked down.
Jammed straight through the center of his chest, was a blackened greatsword. He looked up at t Defil3d, the mans face was shrouded by his armor, save for his eyes. Ryuu saw no expression in them.
"I'm sorry." Defil3d removed the blade from Ryuus chest. His screen began to glow a beat red. Up at the top right corner he could see his health bar descend rapidly, stopping just after the halfway point. The player stumbled backward.
"Ryuu!" Ellie screamed. Ryuu looked up to see Defil3d pulling his blade up again, almost invisible in the night.
Ryuu felt a hand grab him by the collar and pull his body back just as the blade collided with the dirt. He shook his head and drew both of his pistols, rising to one knee. Ahead, Defil3ds nametag glew an ominous red.
"What's going on?" Shade asked, running in from the brush line. "We heard a scream and-" He stopped, staring at the Knights glowing nametag. "…What the-"
Ellie shouted at him. "He's trying to kill us get away!"
Defil3d looked at Ellie and then at Sahde. He walked towards Shade. The player took an instinctive step back just as Polomain and Michael emerged from the forest behind him.
"No!" Ryuu shouted, fumbling to find the trigger.
Defil3d brought his blade down in a wide arc, clipping Shade at his side. Before the player could get far Ryuu fired a shot from his pistol, causing the Knight to pause momentarily. Shade was thrown into a nearby tree, shaking the plant by the trunk.
Defil3d regained himself and turned towards Ryu. He lunged forward
His speed was faster than anything Ryuu had seen in game, both from players and monsters. Ryuu reached back for his pistol, but Defil3d had closed the distance in less than half of the time. Ellie took a step in between the two.
Several sparks flew from their clash. Similar to Shade, his cousin was thrown back several feet into the forest. Defil3d once again aimed his blade at Ryuu.
"Don't fight. You're just making it more difficult for yourself."
"Hell nah!" Polomaine took a step forward, planting the barrel of his rifle to within inches of the Knights face. He pulled the trigger.
He missed.
The Knight ducked and brought his blade up, cutting a straight line up the length of Polos chest. The ranger cursed while his health bar fell down by more than a third.
"Get away, he's too strong!" Ryuu shouted, lining up both of his pistols towards the Knight. "I'll distract him, go find help!"
"No you can't-" Shade began.
"Go!" Ryuu pulled both triggers, unleashing a direct hit of Hells Dynamite at the Black Knight. Defil3d stared at the bright streak as it raced towards him like rocket. The resulting explosion brought light to half the island.
Ellie grabbed Ryuu on the shoulder. "Don't wait for him to get up. We have to go now!"
Ryuu took a step back slowly, keeping his eyes on the plume of smoke. Just as he was about to turn around, Defil3d emerged.
The Black Knight lunged forward, his great sword glowing a deep, crimson red.
"I have an ability too you know."
Defil3d brought his blade down in a deep swing, cutting straight though the middle of Ryuus avatar. Any words he tried to speak were lost as the entire image of his avatar shook before he hit the dirt. Ellie screamed, Ryuu thought. His hearing was fading.
Devils Swing.
Ryuu hit the floor hard, his eyes wide open as he laid in the grass. Defil3d stood above him. In the corner of his screen Ryuu watched his own health bar raced towards the end.
No…
Ryuu saw bright flash and then an invisible force that hit the blurred form of the Black Knight. He felt his body get picked up just before the sensation of feeling vanished. His sight was last to go, Ellies tear ridden face screaming words he could not understand. This can't be….is this…?
His avatar disappeared.