Enter the Daemonpits

After surviving the Citadel of Broken Dreams, Alex heads to the daemonpits to find her friends, but must first conquer the perilous Isles of Dread. Amid treacherous pirates and shifting loyalties, she faces an ultimate betrayal that her cunning alone may not overcome.

Chapter One

An endless plain beneath a dark sky stretched before Alex. She stood on a craggy plateau while skittering things crawled amongst the rocks, just out of sight, but those creatures weren't her concern.
In the sky, just beyond her perception, hovered something massive and menacing, and Alex knew that eventually she would have to deal with it.
She glanced behind thinking that her friends were there, but except for a cold wind that penetrated her black leather armor, the path was empty. It felt like she'd been on this plateau forever, waiting for someone to arrive.
Almost as soon as she voiced her mental complaint, a figure appeared at the head of the path, forcing Alex to squint. Her breath quickened and her palms grew sweaty.
She couldn't make out who it was coming her way, but Alex knew they were important. What if it was...?
A shiver burst down her back, like claws ripping flesh. Reflexively, Alex summoned faez to her mind, but found it wouldn't come. It was like her magic was shut off, the well had run dry.
The figure moved patiently through the rocks. Only faint light reached this part of the plateau, so she could only make out the shape of a cowl.
As the hooded figure approached, she worried she had no means to defend herself. She produced her whip, but found the weapon limp in her hands as if something vital had been stolen. Alex could finally make out the hooded figure. They wore a tan robe and a white featureless mask. In her gut she knew who it was, though she couldn't remember his name.
"Alex," said the hooded figure. "It's time to come back."
"What?" The word shot from her lips. Was this a trap?
"Who are you? What do you want?" she asked.
He held out a gloved hand. "I'm here to help. Please, we need to get you back."
"I...I don't remember what back is," Alex said as she pulled her arms around her chest.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kept you here this long, but it was the only way to keep you safe until we could find a solution," said the figure. "Please, come quickly. Your mother is here. She misses you."
Mention of her mother brought all the pieces back into place. She remembered collapsing on Dr. Althud's doorstep, the battles in the Citadel, Lily, Sorrow, all of it.
"Oh, Merlin..."
"Yes," said Dr. Althud, empathy threading through his voice as he held out his white-gloved hand. "Come quickly."
She reached out, and as her fingers brushed his hand, she awoke finding herself cocooned in a pile of pillows and covers on a huge bed. Her neck felt stiff and her mind was strangely blank.
Alex recognized the dim lighting of Dr. Althud's apartment. He sat on a stool next to the bed, holding her hand.
"Welcome back, Alex," said Dr. Althud.
"How...how long have I been out?" she asked.
He paused before answering. "All summer. I'm sorry. I had to keep you out until we could devise a solution."
"A solution?"
She heard the slight exhale beneath his mask. "The cancer. You're dying."
"Oh, yeah. That," said Alex, trying to push herself to sitting but finding something catching around her jaw.
Her fingers brushed a cold metal ring that encircled her neck. In a panic, she grabbed it and tried to pull it off.
"What did you put on me?" she asked as she brought both hands to the device.
"It's a faez blocker," said Dr. Althud. "It's the only way we could stop the cancer from killing you."
"So I can't ever use magic again," she said with her hands still on the collar. It felt hard to breathe with the collar around her neck.
"Until the cancer is removed, I wouldn't dare," said Dr. Althud, "but if you must, there's a button on the side, if you hold it for three seconds, it will deactivate the collar. Press it again and it will reactivate it."
Knowing that she could turn it off lessened the panic in her chest. She could breathe easier. She had more questions, but the door slipped open, letting in light from the hallway.
"Alex?"
It was her mother. She hurried to the side of the bed, reached out, and took Alex's hands.
"I heard your voice," said her mother.
She had bags around her eyes and her hair had gray streaks throughout.
"How did you get here?" asked Alex.
"Dr. Fairlight called me," she said. "They put me up in a nearby hotel. I come here to watch you whenever I can, whenever it's safe."
She glanced to Dr. Althud, a blush warming her cheeks.
"I'm sorry, doc, that was rather rude of me," she said, hanging her head.
Dr. Althud patted her on the shoulder. "No need to apologize. It is entirely factual. I took no offense."
Alex squeezed her lips together. "How...how much do you know?"
Her mother patted her hand. The answer was etched into the lines in her face. "You should have let me die."
"But I couldn't," said Alex, shaking her head. "You're all I have left."
"A mother never wants to outlive her child."
Alex looked away. "I'm sorry, Mom."
"Why won't you let them operate on you?" said her mother. "You would at least be alive."
"But would I? Would I be the same?" she asked.
"To me, you would."
It was hard to breathe in the room. "It's more than my life at stake."
Her mother searched her face while she patted her hand. "Young people always think they're saving the world. I just want my daughter back."
Alex stared into her mother's aged face. The years had not been kind, nor had their health scares. Going back with her mother would give her a small amount of peace, but that was not the way she wanted to live.
"I'm sorry, Mom."
Her mother turned away, tears in her eyes.
Dr. Althud cleared his throat. "Unfortunate as this is, I must speak with Alex alone. There are things I did not tell her, and there is a decision you must make."
Before she left, her mother climbed onto the bed for a long hug that felt both comforting and smothering.
When Alex was alone with Dr. Althud, he clasped his hands in front of him in that way doctors did before they had to deliver bad news.
"How bad is it? Will the collar keep me alive?" she asked.
"The tumor will grow regardless of the collar, but only at a normal rate. Unfortunately, it is quite advanced, though miraculously, not metastasized, which is probably the only thing keeping you alive," said Dr. Althud.
"My choices?" asked Alex.
"With my help, Dr. Fairlight believes they could operate on you and remove the tumor. If you survived, you would be quite diminished," he said.
"Diminished?"
"Your magic would be gone, of course, and you would likely be lacking certain functions, be those mental or physical, it's hard to say. The tumor has its tendrils in many areas of the brain. But you would, if you survived, be alive, and that would count for a lot for your mother," he said.
"The other option?" she asked.
"Go back into Gamemakers Online and finish what you started, but you would most certainly die before the end," he said.
"Finish what you started," she said. "How much have I told you?"
"What you didn't explicitly say, I learned when rooting around in your mind," said Dr. Althud, and when she made a face, he added, "I told your mother none of this. As far as she's concerned, this is only a medical issue."
"Thank you," said Alex, looking into her hands, then lifting her chin. "So you know there's a third option."
"I do, in fact."
She ran a hand through her hair. "I can die in game and remain there, assuming I survive the transition like Sorrow."
"But then you will no longer be able to figure out what is happening with Gamemakers," said Dr. Althud. "Nor see your mother again."
"True," she said, her chest tight with indecision. "What would you do?"
"I dare not suggest a course of action, because I cannot truly understand the impact to you or your friends," said Dr. Althud.
"What a cop-out," said Alex with a wry smile.
Dr. Althud reached into his pocket. "If you do choose to continue your noble quest, you might want to speak to your friends in the city."
He handed her a piece of paper with an address. While no name was written on it, she knew who it was from. Her heart soared.
"Thank you," she said, hugging the paper to her chest. "How did you? Oh wait, I forgot. But how did you find them?"
"I did some digging around," said Dr. Althud. "I have certain connections in my community. We like to stay out of the limelight, but acquiring information for a worthy cause is not out of the realm of possibilities."
"So you assumed that I would make the choice to continue in the game," said Alex, tilting her head at the doctor.
"It was a calculated guess, given your past behavior. You are not one to set aside difficult challenges, even at the expense of your life, which I'm afraid will prove to be quite short, but infinitely meaningful," he said solemnly.
Alex sensed a wistful smile behind the mask. She halfway wished she could actually see his face, but knew it was probably for the best that she couldn't.
"What about my mother?" asked Alex.
"If you return to the game, she plans on going back to Kentucky to prepare," said Dr. Althud.
"Prepare for...? Oh, right," said Alex, shaking her head. "Once more into the breach."
"That's the spirit," said Dr. Althud as he helped her out of bed. "Your things are in that bag. I left you a few bills for travel around the city. I'll let you have all the time you need with your mother before you leave."
Her legs felt wobbly from being bedridden for the summer. She leaned on the stool by the bed.
"Thank you, Dr. Althud. I don't know how I can ever thank you," she said.
"You just did," he said with a chuckle as he let himself out. "And I get all the thanks I need in helping you."
When she was alone in the room, the reality of the task before her was like a massive weight that she had to drag up a hill once more. It didn't help that her body was weak.
But it wasn't Gamemakers Online that worried her at the moment, it was explaining to her mother that she would be returning to the game, which meant it could be their final goodbye.