The Excisionists: Book 1 Read online

  Zuri examined the area and opened her pack. “I can do one of two things. We either split up and find the items I need to make a pump to drain the water, or I can show Crispin how to use this to drill a hole from the wall’s edge near the bottom of the pool connecting to the outside of the mountain.”

  Jinx was adamant that we stay together. “No one is leaving by themselves again. Give him the laser tool.”

  Zuri nodded and held the wand up and directed it at the other side of the cave across the pool. “Point it like this and keep your hand steady. These two buttons have to be squeezed at the same time to shoot a beam from the aperture. Wait until the beam cuts a hole all the way through and then start to move slowly in a circle. Like this.”

  She engaged the cutting tool and a beam of red light shot through the glassy mountain side. She slowly carved a circle in the wall, but it left a cylinder of glass in the hole she’d made.

  Crispin furrowed his brows. “The hole’s nice, but how are you supposed to get rid of the rest of it?”

  “The force of the liquid will push it out. And don’t worry, this works under water. Any other questions?”

  He shook his head. “Nope.”

  We watched him slip under the surface without creating much of a ripple on the surface. No one talked as we waited. The pool was clear enough that we could see some light from the beam despite the depth it was at. Eventually the fluid level began to drop and uncovered the bottom. The light from the orbs completely went out leaving Crispin’s faint glow miles below us.

  I turned to Zuri. “How’s he getting back up here?”

  Phineas answered. “Like this.” He drew a circle and moments later Crispin walked out.

  I ran over and grabbed one of Crispin’s arms. “Thanks Phineas.”

  Crispin tilted his head and spoke sarcastically to me. “No thanks to me, huh?”

  I lightly slapped his arm. “You’re such a baby.”

  Jinx wasn’t enjoying our playful banter. “Now that the orbs are off, what are we looking for?”

  I shrugged. “Not sure. I just think these are a distraction and we should be able to figure it out now that they are off.”

  She turned and headed back out of the cave as she spoke disdainfully over her shoulder. “I’ll look outside. The rest of you can do what you want.”

  More than half the group followed her leaving me there with Crispin and Zuri.

  Zuri looked around the cave. “You know, I don’t like her all that much. She’s pretty bossy.”

  “That’s because her dad built the game, so she thinks she’s entitled to tell everyone what to do.”

  “Ah. That makes sense.”

  Crispin tried to be understanding. “She did get us pretty far, and I haven’t seen any other players on this planet so we’re probably ahead of them.”

  I conceded. “Fine, we’ll try to be nice to her.”

  Zuri chuckled. “Maybe you will.”

  Time flew by as we all searched for the unknown object however, no one could find anything nearby. Finally, Zuri suggested we search the orbs and the bottom of the pool. We found Phineas and had him transport the three of us to the desired location. Opal gave us crystals that produced some light and Crispin fluoresced to illuminate the bottom of the well enough for us to search it. None of the orbs we sifted through seemed different from the others and we gave up after extensive exploration of the spheres. The walls didn’t show anything either and when I was just about to give up, I saw a glimmer below Crispin’s foot.

  “Hey, check that out.”

  He lifted his foot. “That must be it. Help me push these orbs out of the way.”

  We shifted the spheres and discovered a chest and a glowing object below the glass. Crispin used the laser tool again and cut them out of the mountain. He lifted them up and then tossed the chunk of glass against the wall to shatter it. The chest splintered open to reveal a Bismuth Crystal and alien weapons that would fit like a bracelet. I picked one up and slid it on my arm. It automatically adjusted to the size and shape of my wrist and a bar clamped into place in my palm. Holographic blades formed from both sides of the bar and a third arced from the bracelet out across the back of my hand constructing a triangular shape four inches from the edge of my knuckles. A thin beam of light ran from each blade tip to the others and generated a crackling amethyst sphere at the center.

  “Cool.”

  I aimed it at the wall and squeezed the bar in my hand. The sphere shot from my weapon at lightning speed and left a massive hole in the glass. Molten glass dripped and solidified around the edges of the crater. I relaxed my hand and the weapon returned to its bracelet form. Crispin and Zuri each grabbed one and slipped them on. After trying them out, we focused on the glowing item that was still in a smaller chunk of glass. When we broke it open, we discovered a golden hourglass with crimson sand inside. None of us knew what it was for, so we just packed it up, collected the rest of the items, and returned to the top of the well.

  When we reached the rest of our group, we handed out the bracelets to the rest of our party and everyone was thrilled when they saw what they were capable of. Even Mica and Iolite were in better spirits after receiving their new weapons. When I pulled out the hourglass, Jinx’s eyes lit up.

  “That thing was here?” She grabbed it away from me and turned it over and over watching the shiny red particles run from one side to the other.

  “What is it?”

  She couldn’t hide her fascination no matter how hard she tried. “I don’t know but this is something special. It has to be.”

  “Why?”

  She fingered the golden pegs and couldn’t take her eyes off it. “Because my father had one on a keychain that my mother gave him. He made tiny replicas of it for each of us to wear on a chain around our necks. This is our family symbol.”

  Opal seemed both distracted and irritated with sitting there. “It’s finally light. Can we go now?”

  Jinx slipped the hourglass inside her cloak. “We’re done here. I don’t see any need to stay. Phineas, get us back to the palace.”

  Moments later, we walked through the Calabi-Yau manifold and into the presence of the Prince. He was delighted to see us again.

  “Welcome. Welcome. I see you’ve solved the mystery of the mountain. You may return your recording devices there in that box while I send for your reward.”

  We dropped our glasses in the chest and received the crystals, coins, lithium crystals, and crimson cloaks he offered for payment. The final object he gave us was a shimmering orb that contained swirling sapphire and aquamarine liquid. After saying our goodbyes, we hopped back on the Leyv to go to Taska. Traveling by ship was the only way to get everyone to other planets, but it always took longer than I liked. At least I was able to focus on piloting the ship instead of just the time it took to get there. The dark planet finally showed up on the screen and Jinx instructed us where to land. She told us not to use any light unless we were being attacked because it would draw the spirits to us and put us in danger.

  Everyone exited the ship and stepped onto the surface of the planet as they peered around at the horrors filling the area. I took in the darkness and tried not to let it get to me. I could see black souls roaming around devouring anything with a beating heart. Ghostly figures hunched over their prey and sucked the life force from those who were technically living but who’d been brought there to exist forever as tortured souls. Everyone there participated in some kind of battle. Victims fled from their captors, hunters sought prey, and blood bubbled up to the surface from somewhere deep inside the globe.

  Jinx formed a protective bubble around each of us allowing us to move independently and be safe from the events we observed. I could see the souls of the undead that had been compressed into a white vapor and placed into bottles that the Gorkan wore around their necks. I glanced at Jinx to see if she had one, but she didn’t. Those who were being tortured screamed and moaned but were never released from their pain. Whips, chains
, spikes, flames, and every other wicked device I could ever imagine was present here. I could see that the necromancers fed on the fear and pain of those they tormented and if given a chance, would do the same to each of us. We moved quickly to the volcano of blood to avoid any conflict with the creatures around us. A few of the Gorkan chased after us but Jinx tossed glowing orbs at them that morphed into holograms of prey which distracted them long enough for us to get away.

  When we arrived at the base of the volcano Phineas generated a manifold allowing us to get to a small raised area higher up where the blood didn’t touch. Jinx told us to get the liquid filled orb from Prince Vladislav and put our hands on it as we stood in a circle. Each of us then lifted the orb and together we tossed it into the opening of the volcano. Immediately the opening shot a beacon of pulsating white light into the sky illuminating the surrounding area. The light flowed through the blood and it metamorphosed into a river of swirling sapphire and aquamarine water that reflected the brilliance of the beacon. All the Gorkan shielded themselves from the light and the dark and ghostly beings vaporized leaving their prey free from their pain. The undead souls burst from their bottles and entered the light causing it to grow brighter. Jinx tried to hide from the shining light, but it penetrated her being. She and the others shifted into pure white entities with light in their eyes. The darkness lifted from them, silvery wings sprouted from their shoulders, and solid legs formed. I watched fascinated as she morphed into something quite beautiful.

  After the metamorphosis was over, she opened her indigo eyes that were now surrounded by a pale rosy glow. The once mottled gray skin was a soft and supple pale cream. A silky pale gray robe draped around the new body where the gauzy white one used to be.

  I got closer to inspect the changes. “Nice wings.”

  She flapped them and lifted several feet in the air before returning back to the ground. “Agreed.”

  I still felt the urge to get out of the game quickly. It was something I’d had since the first few hours after I’d entered it. I wasn’t sure why it was so strong. “What else do we need to do here?”

  She cast her eyes around the now bright planet searching for obvious tasks. “There’s still the boss, but it looks like we could also kill any remaining dark souls that are hiding in caves or holes in the ground.”

  Mica folded his arms across his chest. “I thought we were just doing what we had to, not anything else. You didn’t say anything about a boss on this planet and I don’t want to do stuff that will waste my potions.”

  Iolite put her arm around his shoulders. “Just do what they ask. We’ll get to the end soon enough.”

  Wes glared at him. “Want me to throw something at you?”

  I stifled a laugh by coughing.

  Mica frowned. “I hate you! All of you are so mean to me and I don’t want to be with you anymore!” He stomped off and Iolite followed after him.

  The Commander popped out from behind a boulder and followed after them. “Come on! Let’s go see what happens to them!”

  I shook my head. “I don’t want to follow them. I don’t care what happens to them either. They’ve been annoying more often than not.”

  Zuri commented on what I said, not realizing I wasn’t talking to anyone in my party. “I’m not sure we should let them go. After all, we need them to get to Zerkola and there aren’t any other players here for us to choose from. The rest of the people look like NPC’s to me and we might need them to get the mirror of shadows.”

  I turned back to Jinx. “Why aren’t we looking for that now?”

  Her eyes darted around the group and then landed on me. “I guess I forgot about it. I kind of feel weird now after the change.”

  The commander popped up behind her. “She’s always been weird. How could she possibly tell the difference?”

  I chuckled.

  Jinx shot me a cold look. “What’s so funny?”

  I wiped the smile off my face. “Nothing. Uh, where do you suggest we look for the mirror?”

  She appeared a little confused. “I…I think we should go get the others before we worry about that.”

  The Commander tilted his head and put his hand on his hip. “What’s she hiding?”

  I stepped closer to her. “You seem different. But then again maybe we all are a little changed. Come to think of it I don’t remember where we’re supposed to go next. Can you remind me where we need to go after we get the mirror?”

  She stepped backwards away from me. “Why are you so…so accusatory? What do you want from me?”

  Opal closed in on her from behind. “What changed? Why can’t you remember where we’re going? You had it all down before without any trouble.”

  Jinx jumped in reaction to Opal’s questions and then hopped straight up into the air to get away from us. Opal caught her by the foot and wouldn’t let her go and she started screeching loudly in response.

  I covered my ears. “Let her go, I can’t stand that high-pitched ruckus!”

  Opal released her, and we all stood there staring at each other.

  Wes shook his head. “That was crazy!”

  Phineas was stunned. “We should go find her. I can’t leave her by herself or who knows what will happen.” He turned to follow in the direction she went, but I stopped him.

  I shook my head. “No, something’s going on here. Everyone is being compelled to leave for one reason or another.”

  Zuri agreed. “Yeah. I think so too. I don’t want to be here either. It’s like my skin is crawling. What should we do?”

  “I think we go to get the mirror and then figure it out from there.”

  Phineas didn’t like what I said. “I can’t do that. We need Jinx. I’m going to find her.” With that, he sped off after her.

  The Commander stood behind me giggling gleefully. “Another one bites the dust. How are you going to stop this?”

  I tried to ignore him. “I think we should–”

  He cut me off and tilted his spiny head. “Should what? As if you should be the one in charge now? How could you lead the pack when you can’t even focus on what’s real?”

  They all stood waiting for me to continue and I had to raise my voice to hear myself over the chatter of the Commander. “Let’s just pick a direction and go that way.”

  Zuri raised her brows. “Why are you yelling?”

  I took a deep breath and lowered my voice. “Sorry. Just pick a direction.”

  Crispin put his strong arm around my waist. “Let’s go there.” He pointed in a direction that was obscured by fog.

  I squinted to see what it was but couldn’t make it out. “Alright, but we all have to stick together. No one else leaves the group. Agreed?”

  Their heads bobbed, and we took off toward the unknown.

  Chapter 9 – The Mirror

  I watched for enemies from behind my cloak of invisibility. Despite the optimism radiating from the remainder of the group, I knew there would be a challenge they wouldn’t be expecting. This was a common thread in this game, and I wanted to be sure we didn’t have to respawn or find yet another one of our party members somewhere else on this planet. I was irritated that Phineas left because he could transport us past any potential danger and allow us to explore the planet quickly. I’d also noticed that since we left the volcano, there wasn’t a change in the background music to alert us to enemies. I wasn’t sure why this change occurred or if this was only for Taska, but it made me uneasy. I could see something looming in the gray fog ahead but couldn’t quite see what the shapes were from.

  Despite not finding any foes to fend off, I knew something bad would be happening soon. It had been too easy recently which made me even more concerned about our position. Walking was slow but coordinating a group to move in any other fashion would be more difficult than what it was worth. We plodded along until I could finally make out what was in the shadows of mist ahead.

  “Stop!”

  Everyone immediately came to a halt and drew a weapon.
Crispin pointed to the fog. “Can you see that?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly why I didn’t want anyone to get closer to it.”

  Amber gripped her gun tightly. “What is that thing?”

  “That’s a keeper of the undead for sure if I’ve ever seen one.”

  The monstrosity ahead was frightening. He towered above us all in a cloak the color of midnight. His face was skeletonized, and massive forked horns stuck through the hood. Glowing red eyes sat deep within the orbits of the skull. The ghostly chains that encircled his chest and drug behind him were attached to dozens of tortured souls with gaping black mouths. In his hand was a large staff decorated with the skulls and teeth of many different species. His belt made of bone shards held a large crimson stone. Behind him a dragon of bones screeched out. The leathery wings were tipped with hundreds of spikes and were tattered with dozens of holes. Its horned head held the same luster as the undead souls and it spewed black fire toward us.