Chapter 113: Chapter 110: Requiem for Shade the Fox

It’s confirmed.

Shade is dead. Not only dead. His body vanished from the jail. The guards mutter words like "mistake" and "accidental".

Or maybe he just vanished. His character deleted by the System. Like Judo and Memo. No one has seen them since they were kidnapped.

Shade is gone, and Minette is dealing with Rosabel and Rossa. My presence seems superfluous, and Kaline is sending out distress signals through the link. Lobo nudges me to go and check on Hans and Kaline.

[Minette won’t give in about Hans, will she?]

Lobo woofs indignantly in response to my absurd question. [Of course not. She’ll find excuses to delay such a reunion. Hans will never have to see that woman again.]

I’m relieved, but my mind can’t focus on the win. [Shade is gone. System deleted him. Next, it will probably memory hole him.]

[I wouldn’t be surprised.] Lobo nudges me. [Go. Go take care of our family.]

I leave the jail. Tamed beasts enjoy freedom. I can walk out of the jail anytime I please, and no one will think twice about it. Good. I need to go and do the thing that matters.

Following Hans’ wildflower but masculine scent, I track him, Kaline, Lightning, Lamant. Gussie, Peridot, Niall, Kasz, Vedette, and Maartenwitz to a small nature trail outside the village. It’s a forested area that stands apart from the jungle. Everyone calls it the Eldritch Grove, or simply The Grove. A place of refuge, of sanity.

Hans sprawls beneath a tree with Lightning sitting close by as a sentinel and comforter. Her tail flicks lazily, but her eyes scream alertness.

Lightning perks up. [You came back. Tell me that we don’t have to set foot again in that horrible place with those horrible people.]

I rub noses with her. [We don’t.]

A low, angry sound arrests my attention, and I look up to see Hans kicking the ground in a very un-elf-like aggressive way. But then, I will cut him all the slack in the world. He’s a teenager who just had an object lesson in total narcissism.

Kaline holds his arm. "Hans. She’s not worth it."

Her touch soothes and anchors him. "I know." He pushes his black hair out of his eyes. "It’s just that seeing her there, still acting like a queen and commanding me as her son, expecting me to go along...it’s more than I can bear."

Kaline hugs him from behind. His eyes close, and he relaxes into her. "I wanted to do something that would have gotten me arrested."

No teenager should have feelings like that towards his mother. I approach him and rub up against him with a "mrrp" of sympathy. Lightning does the same.

Kasz doesn’t understand the whole thing, the emotions involved, but he pats Hans’ arm clumsily. Even Maartenwitz hovers like an older brother. Hans is part of our house now.

I growl. [And she killed Shade.] This is directed at Kaline. [She killed him because he never should have been in jail with her. And we helped her, even though we were doing the right thing, trying to free Lobo. Because it would have been Lobo in that jail otherwise.]

My Young Miss does a double take. "Blaze says that Shade the fox died in the jail!"

Niall hisses. "Of course he did. Of course he did! Because his life with her could only end one way. I’m not sorry, but at the same time, what a horrible waste."

Maartenwitz presses his lips together. He’s too proper to comment, but his body reminds me of one big exclamation point. Beast taming is his life. Waste of a beast is the worst crime to him. Well, besides all the others.

My mind spins. Lobo and I have to talk about what happened to Shade. I need a strategy. Because if it happened to Shade, an ally, then it could happen to us.

[Oh, no, no, no, Blaze...]

System’s silky, taunting voice intrudes.

[GET OUT OF MY HEAD.]

I’m only grateful that I can guard my thoughts, and that for some reason, although I haven’t figured out how, my mind-link chat with Lobo seems private.

System responds. [Now, is that any way to speak to a friend?]

[You’re not a friend. I just mistook you for one.]

It doesn’t bat an eye. [When you lose the tournament, we’ll be closer than friends. You will belong to me. So rest your mind. I wouldn’t delete you and Lobo.]

It just handed me an opening. [You mean like you did Shade? And Judo and Memo?]

[Necessary sacrifices for the greater good. For total control of the realm.]

I contain myself. Lightning will pick up on my anger.

[I already control Amber.]

Fighting words from System. I don’t respond.

[She’s a video game widow trying to save you. How sweet. How pathetic. How doomed. She can’t save you. Because you’ve always been mine.]

It sounds like a stalker. But then, that’s the level of control it wants. Total. All-consuming. Until I’m nothing except what it chooses to make of me. And I walked into its web, like in that book and movie Coraline. The one where the girl discovers a parallel universe that’s almost the same as hers, except that it’s a trap, created by the Other Mother, the Beldam. It’s everything Coraline ever wanted at first, but then, it turns dark.

And a cat is Coraline’s guide. A black cat who helps her defeat the nightmare of the Beldam.

I resist System. [You maneuvered it so I would sacrifice Shade. Nice chess move.]

[Actually, it was your idea. I might have nudged you, but you did it.]

System sounds smug. It thinks that it’s winning. But it’s not.

[If my fate is sealed, why give me a clue in the game? The Old Man of the Mushroom Forest?]

A long pause. [It’s just part of the game. A quest. That reminds me...]

The update flashes before me. [New Quest: Find out the truth from the Old man of the Mushroom Forest +20 XP]

I’m not buying it. If this was System’s plan, I should have gotten a notice long before this. System didn’t give me this lead. Then who did?

[You don’t sound too sure about that.]

System doesn’t alter its tone, but I know I’ve struck a nerve. [It’s just a silly quest in the game. It won’t make a difference. You’re still going to be mine.]

[Maybe, but I’d rather go down fighting.]

Lightning boops me on the nose with her paw. [Blaze! Where did you go?]

I re-focus. [I’m sad for Hans. And for Shade the fox.]

Lightning rubs her nose against mine. [It will be fine. Shade made his choice. It wasn’t much better than scrounging for scraps, but he had a tragic life anyway.]

I barely pay attention, because I smell smoke, and my nose twitches. I turn toward it.

There, in front of me, and unobserved by anyone, is Shade, only he has turned to smoke. Peces of him fade away before my eyes.

[Blaze. Listen to me. I don’t have much time. I’m locked out of the game permanently. And I might lose my life in the real world.]

His words send a chill through me. [System can do that?]

[Its power is limited, I guess, but it has a window right after it locks you out. Most of us try to get back in the game and trigger some kind of booby trap.]

His voice is pained but stoic.

[You have to live! Call the doctor. Go to W City Hospital.]

Shade is tranquil. [Too late for that. I gambled big and I lost. I’m not like you, at least what your brother tells me about you. I don’t really have family that cares. I don’t have much of a future, or friends. That’s one of the reasons I got hooked on the game. Whatever you do, don’t make my mistake. Get out of this world. LIVE. And free the others.]

I choke up. [I promise. Is there anything you can tell me? Who gave me the mission to go see the Old Man of the Mushroom Forest?]

[I did. Even though you sealed my fate, we’re all doomed as long as System has us addicted to the game. PLEASE. Free us.]

He’s barely visible now, little wisps of smoke fleeing this nightmare realm as fast as possible. Shade, whatever his real name is, has sacrificed himself so that Lobo and I can succeed.

I growl. [Goodbye, Shade. Find peace.]

Minette’s appearance shakes me out of my reverie. When I look back, Shade is gone without a trace. Minette rejoins us. At Hans’ questioning expression, she says, "I told Rosabel that she needed to earn Hans’ visits. Of course, he won’t be going near her."

Hans makes a happy hum, and Lightning, despite her swollen belly, does a little dance.

Minette continues. "In the meantime, let’s go and seek this Old Man of the Mushroom Forest!"