Game 10: A Maiden's Lament

A man walked up to her. He spoke with a flat, emotionless voice. “What a lovely night, isn't it, Aisha?”

“What do you want?” Aisha snapped at him“It's almost your birthday. Have you figured out what you want yet?”

“You ask me that question every night. I want to go home.”

“Don't we all,” the man told her. He then began to walk away. “Don't we all…”

•

Takeshi, Rita, and Makoto had made their way back to Innsbruck after resolving the curse of Mossy Hills. Once they had returned, they met with Mac and the village’s mayor, a woman in her late 30s who looked like she had just been plucked out of her office job, even after so long. There, the conversation turned towards the future.

“So you're wanting to set up a base of operations here?” Mac asked them.

“After what we saw at Mossy Hills, we are beginning to suspect certain parties are trying to manipulate The Game itself,” Rita explained. “We don't exactly know who or why, but we know a couple of people who could be involved: a Mr. Set and the Desert Rose.”

“The Desert Rose?!” Mac was stunned to hear that name. “I thought she was just a legend!”

“I can assure you, Mac, that she is very real,” Proteus corrected him. As he approached the group, he told them a story: “Three years ago, she came to my village in the Badlands. She had disguised herself as an old beggar, and we took her in. She saw that we were kind and gentle people, and she took full advantage of our weakness. One night… In fact, it was the night of the Blue Moon… She attacked our village with her powerful magic. And she killed everyone. All except me.”

Proteus then revealed the rose mark on his back. “She kept me alive to make an example out of me.”

“But wait,” Mac wondered. “If she's got a resume like that, how is she not the number one player in The Game?”

“That we don't know,” Makoto answered. “She may be manipulating the leaderboard to hide her tracks. High-ranked players draw attention to themselves; they become targets.”

“And what about this Mr. Set person?”

“I believe he's connected to the Game Masters, the people who run The Game,” Takeshi explained. “He's the one who brought me into The Game in the first place. Definitely crazy, probably very strong.”

“I see.” Mac, being a player who's been around for a long time, understood well the potential dangers. “So what do you suggest we do about this?”

“We aren't suggesting it, Mac,” Takeshi corrected him. “We need to make it happen. The nearby villages need to form an alliance. If the players start working together, we'll be able to better protect ourselves from people like the Slicer and the Desert Rose.”

“I suppose we could bring the other mayors here to set things up,” the mayor told them. “I cannot guarantee anything with any sort of urgency, but I'll see what kinds of strings I can pull on such short notice.”

“We appreciate it, Ms. Mayor,” Takeshi told her. “We'll just have to take what we can right now.”

“Thank you,” Mac told the four of them, before leaving with the mayor.

Rita teased Takeshi, “Look at you, standing up and taking charge. Who named you the leader of this group?”

“I thought we were all equals in this group,” Takeshi insisted.

“Takeshi, I'm just teasing,” Rita laughed. “Stop being so dense for thirty seconds and enjoy a little victory. That's what being an adventurer is all about.”

“If we're going to be a team, don't you think we should come up with a team name?” Makoto asked them.

“I think that's a bridge we'll cross when we get there,” Proteus offered his opinion.

For now, though, it seemed like the four of them could actually enjoy a little bit of peace and quiet for once.

•

That night, Takeshi could not sleep one bit. Each time he tried, he would be shocked awake by the same nightmare.

•

Takeshi found himself on a beach. In fact, it was the same beach he woke up on when he first entered The Game. Takeshi would recognize the feel of that sand anywhere. The moon was full and shining bright.

He would hear the sound of a girl crying.

He would explore the whole beach trying to find her.

But he couldn't. 

The girl's cries would turn into screams. She would beg for help, scream some more, cry, beg, plead, cry, scream.

Takeshi couldn't stand to listen to the agony. But he was powerless to do anything about it if he couldn't find her.

And then one last scream would wake him up. This dream would end up haunting him all night long.

And the entirety of the next night.

And all of the following night after that.

•

Eventually, Takeshi resolved to find the girl in real life. He reasoned that if he did so, perhaps the nightmares would end. Fortunately for Takeshi, the ocean wasn't too far from Innsbruck. All he needed to do was sneak onto the speeder and head out in that direction.

And so he did.

•

Strangely enough, once he made it to the beach, the first thing Takeshi encountered was a girl. She seemed to be around his age, sketch pad in hand, sketching away at the ocean in front of her.

Takeshi didn't want to disturb her in the middle of her drawing, so he tried to make her aware of his presence gently.

“Uh… hi…”

The girl was visibly startled by Takeshi's voice, but tried not to scream. Screaming might alert HIM to her location. “Literally what is wrong with you?! Don't you know not to sneak up on a girl like that!”

Takeshi didn't say anything at first. The sound of her voice made it clear to him that this was the girl from his nightmares.

“What are you doing out here so late?” Takeshi asked her. “And, for that matter, all by yourself?”

“I'm fine,” the girl angrily answered. “What are you doing out here so late? All by yourself?”

“Listen, I'm the one asking the questions here. Have you got a name? Where do you live? It's a bit dangerous to be out at night.”

“Aisha. I live here. And it's not that dangerous. The man taught me some basic magic to protect myself.

“Takeshi. That's not possible, surely you have a home somewhere? And what man?”

“I dunno. There's this man who met me when I first got here. He told me to stay put so I could be safe. And every night he comes out here, admires my drawings, and asks me what I want for my birthday.”

“I assume your birthday is coming up?”

“Not for another month, but yeah.”

“You know,” Takeshi finally said, “there's a village not too far from here. There's nice people there who can take care of you.”

“That's very sweet of you, Takeshi, but I cannot leave this place. HE said so.”

“Well, HE doesn't sound like a nice person,” Takeshi told her. “What did HE do? Put a hex on this place?”

“I dunno. I've never tried to leave to know.”

“Well I have an idea,” Takeshi continued. “Hop on my speeder, and hang on tight.”

Aisha did as Takeshi asked. Takeshi then started the speeder, turned it around to face Innsbruck, and tried to go forward.

But the speeder could not go forward. It was obviously running, but something was keeping it from moving.

“Yep. Definitely a hex.”

Takeshi kept trying to move the speeder, but it was no use. He would try harder. The speeder would budge a little, and a little, and a little.

And then suddenly, RIIIIIIIP! Almost as if a fabric had been torn to shreds, the speeder tore through some sort of invisible barrier. Aisha was now free.

Roughly halfway between the beach and Innsbruck, someone ambushed them. A bandit was looking to rob Takeshi and Aisha blind. The bandit attacked Takeshi, knocking him down to three Life. Takeshi fought back, bringing the bandit down to two Life. A struggle ensued, with neither combatant getting a clear advantage over the other. Takeshi went down to two Life, and the bandit down to one.

But suddenly, a loud slice cut through the air, knocking the bandit out cold.

“Game Over.”

For a brief moment, Takeshi made eye contact with the mystery fighter.

It was the Slicer.

The Slicer glared at him, almost as if to say that the only person who would defeat Takeshi in battle was him.

He then left Takeshi and Aisha alone.