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“Enough!” the Dark declared. “Take your loot and move on. You can go over the rules and mechanics later if you absolutely must, but this conversation is beginning to bore me.”
Bryn and Hail approached their respective chests. Hail looked over at Bryn for permission to touch hers. He nodded and she opened it.
There was a gown inside, a green robe which fit her like a glove when she covered her naked body with it. It clung to her curves, making her warm in a way she had not been in some time. She felt the light crackle of magical charge against her skin. This was a garment of power. Her very first. She wrapped her arms around herself and snugged it close. She was never going to take this off.
There was something else inside the chest too, a dagger, much like Bryn’s. It had a dark as midnight sheath, but when she pulled it from its home she saw black obsidian trammeled with bronze markings. Both pieces of equipment were labeled.
“Dark robes of corruption and healing,” she read the label on the arm of her robe out loud. “Plus four armor, plus five healing, ten corruption.”
Bryn cast a look at the Dark. “Truly? Her reward for besting you is to wear your essence?”
“Hail is attuned to me. This loot best fits her build,” the Dark declared. “I do not generate it. The game does. This is what it chose for her. Stop thinking your little whelp is an angel waiting to be realized. She is a devil, and we all know it.” There was a touch of affection in his voice.
“What’s a key-knife?” Hail interrupted the awkwardness she felt at being so discussed.
“It is a means of entering my realm when you wish. That, I did gift you,” the Dark purred.
“You want me to be able to come back here?” Hail screwed up her face in confusion. She had assumed the Dark loathed her, that it wanted to be rid of her. It had done nothing but defile her, and have her defiled since meeting her. Perhaps that was how such a creature loved.
“You both have access to this realm, and to me. Whether you choose to use that access is up to you. I am everything you have accused me of being. I am evil. I am twisted. I am corrupt. I enjoy your pain, and I will bring you suffering. But I can be useful.” The Dark’s sharp teeth flashed in a broad Cheshire smile.
“I don’t think we’re coming back here,” Hail said, glancing over at her master.
“We are not coming back here,” Bryn declared even more decisively.
“I know I will see you both again,” the Dark smiled. “The realms above are not enough for the likes of you. There will come a time you call for me, and I will be here, your dark father.” It stretched its arms and smiled broadly, scales and tendrils, appendages and teeth all spread in a display of terrifying welcome and farewell.
With the gesture, unseen doors were thrown open. Light from the plains beyond Mount Eternal flooded in with the smell of summer, and the sounds of buzzing insects. The view was astonishing and enticing. It was wide open spaces which had always called to Hail. Now, finally, she was going to adventure in them.
“Ready, lass?” Bryn winked the question.
“Ready,” she smiled at her master.
Bryn took Hail by the hand and together they stepped into that golden realm.
With that first step, the world retreated and was shown in all its glory, a banner unfurled above their heads:
LEVEL TWO
The Dark watched them go, a slow smile spreading over its vile features as it watched two of its favorite playthings embark on another stage of their journey. For now the sun was bright and the future seemed so as well. But there were many more horrors lying ahead, trials, perversions, and cruelties, each more terrible than the last. They would inevitably come running to him, begging him for mercy he would never show. His last words followed them in a sibilant hiss.
“You will be back.”
Epilogue
Bryn and Hail walked hand in hand for some time. The sun on their faces was very pleasant, even moreso for their time in the dark. Hail hoped she might never see the night again, though she knew that was inevitable. She wanted to cling to the day. And to Bryn. She wrapped her hands around his bicep, holding onto him for strength and reassurance.
“Will we ever be able to return to New Rahvin? Are they always going to attack us?”
“They’ll forget once we pay a bounty,” Bryn said. “We can make payment in Entigon City. Then we can return.”
“They’ll just forget? They wanted us dead, Bryn.”
“It will be as though it never happened at all. The game will reset that knowledge in their minds.”
