Eli's Perspective:
Viri laughed, the sound sharp and cold. Snow poured down thick around us, but the fire at our center made the air feel warmer. Mr. Sato's barrier kept the storm at bay, though it could not hold back the weight of the talk.
"That is ridiculous," Reyna said, staring into the flames. "Why would we not make it to the end?"
"Look at it," Viri shot back. "We have not even cleared the tutorial floors." Her green eyes glowed with firelight.
I tried to speak, but she cut me down with a glare that froze my chest. "I do not care for excuses."
"Sho," her father said gently. She sighed but did not argue.
Selene's voice softened the edge. "Even if we take out the need for provisions, it would still take years. I understand why most players settle down instead of fighting."
Sho shook her head. "It is still easier to move pieces in a game when there are no stakes. Here, people are afraid to die. That fear holds them back."
Selene leaned forward. "The higher we climb, the harsher it gets. Eight billion people. Only Ten Rings. That is all."
The fire snapped. For a moment, it almost felt like we were safe.
"Do you remember our fight, Reyna?" Sho asked suddenly.
Rei smiled faintly. "Of course. I think about it often."
"And do you remember what I said?"
"You said a lot of things," Viri laughed.
"I said become strong enough to beat me."
"Not exactly," Reyna teased.
"Close enough." Sho smirked, then looked serious. "I have not changed. I still hate weakness. But I do care for the people of this world. Even I am not foolish enough to think I am invincible."
"If you are not invincible, then I do not know who is," Reyna said.
"What makes me invincible?" Sho's annoyance flickered. "I am not the fastest, that is Alinta. I do not have the most mana, Adrian Kundra holds that title. Not the strongest, that is Tanto.
Technique? Lyra.
Endurance? Veil.
Ruthlessness? Ashen.
Creativity? Orin.
Intelligence? Thousand-Eyes.
Stealth? Chiyo.
Luckiest ? Epoch.
Unpredictability? Silverleaf.
Adaptability? Ryn.
So tell me! What makes me the strongest?"
The silence stretched.
Then Viri's cold laugh cut it. "Because you believe you are."
Selene smiled softly. "No. It's more than that. You may not outshine them in one thing, but you stand at the center. You're the one everyone else measures themselves against."
"It is in fear. And you are the one they all fear."' Rei says.
"You ask what makes you the strongest? The answer is simple. None of them are you."
Sho gave a tired smile at that.
"You ask why I am kind to you." Sho's voice rumbles low. "The answer is the same as this….
Adrian Kundra"
"What makes Adrian Kundra so great?"
"There is a reason I do not claim to be number one in mana. I rely on magic. He does not. And even so, I am not certain who would win if we fought."
"Really?" Viri laughs. "I fought him. He did not seem special."
"As I recall, you lost that fight," Sho replies.
Viri's smile fades into a serious expression as Sho continues to speak.
"I can end Valen with speed before he ascends. Lyra falls once her mana is burned away. Thorne and Lilith are strong, but they rely too much on themselves. Rhy, Arthur, Archer, even Hex … all of them crumble once I cut off their rhythm. Adrian Kundra is different. Most of my skills demand mana, and that makes him dangerous, because he does not."
"You really think he has that much endurance? He is only human after all."
"You have not seen him face a truly devastating opponent. You have not seen him go all out. Once you do, you will understand where I am coming from. His skill with a spear, his skill with a sword. It is incredible!"
"And that is why I respect him. Why I want to stand with him, if we do not make it to the end."
I frowned at her, then glanced at Mr. Sato. "And you are comfortable with this? Letting your daughter marry someone she barely knows?"
The old man's gaze did not waver. "At the end of the day, it is her decision. The next generation must be stronger than us. I mean she's so much stronger than I could hope to be."
"That's ridiculous," I muttered. "There's no way someone without magic could beat Sho one-on-one."
"If he used magic, he'd be unstoppable," Mr. Sato said. "With his rings off, Sho's mana is only forty percent of his. If he and Sho had a child, that child would have the highest mana ever recorded."
"Gross," I muttered.
Sho ignored me. "You don't have to agree. But there's one truth in this world: being strong is all that matters."
I laughed. "No, but yes. The only truth is…"
"And what about Adrian?" Viri countered. "Does he agree with this?"
"We have spoken about the topic many times." Mr. Sato replies.
"I am not the one to give his answer," Sho replied, her eyes lowering to the fire.
"Adrian is a good kid," he says quietly. "We all make mistakes. He beats himself up over his. If this happens, he won't mind… but he wants to see them all alive at the end of the game."
"I think I finally understand," Rei says. "You respect us because Adrian respects us."
Sho smirks. "You could say that. But it is not because we are friends. It is because you are allied with him. Adrian and I were never allies."
"That is why I think about it all the time," Sho admits. "If we ended up on opposite sides. If I turned evil."
"You are not already evil?" Viri cuts in.
"Unfortunately not," Sho answers with a faint smile. "But if I were, would Adrian break his vow? Would he use his magic to stop me? Or would we be equals. Would he surpass me?"
"That is too far ahead to worry about," Selene says, biting into her food.
"You are right," Rei agrees. "Right now humanity needs to focus on surviving this game."
Sho tilts her head, a look of confusion passing over her face.
"I should thank you," Mr. Sato interrupts. "Your bet gave us time to recover control. And the training has made a difference." He bows slightly.
"What matters now is the Tenth Sun," he continues. "You need to beat it. To give humanity hope"
"How hard can it be?" Viri grins.
"I am not sure," I admit. "I have never played the game, but Teruki told me the boss had to be reset many times before it was cleared."
"I believe in you," Sho says, her voice calm and tired. She gives us a look that feels like permission to ask for her help, though maybe I am only imagining it.
"Once we defeat the Tenth Sun," Rei says firmly, "humanity will be emboldened."
Sho pauses. The wind seems to still around her, as if it is speaking.
"Well. That is interesting," she says with a thin smile.
Selene pauses. "The top ten guilds … NO! The top ten players will have more pressure on them than ever."
She leaned in.
"You said children born of high humans average a higher mana count," Rei pressed. "How do you know that?"
Sho's gaze turned cold. "Would you believe me if I told you a child was born of both worlds? Conceived on Earth, but born here."
The fire hissed. No one answered.
An explosion. An explosion of ice and lightning. We jolted, and I snapped upright.
The snow shifts and moves, twisting into a clone of Sera. Her familiar mask, her voice.
"Are you okay? Sera!" Reyna yells. "Where's Teruki? Where are you?"
"Eli," the snow whispers, shifting again. "You need to get Adrian and his guild."
"Why?" I ask, heart pounding.
"The boss… killed itself."
Teruki "Tenshi" Raimei's Perspective:
Cold… cold… c-cold… I'm so cold!!
I repeat the line over and over, mumbling to itself. Panic seeps from my voice, a hollow, scraping sound. The snow pours relentlessly, over and over, and I get colder and colder.
I understand. I understand the pain the boss feels.
Let me free you. I shatter the thought. I understand. I'm shattered too. Let me free you from this pain.
I stumble into the snow. Almost like a bow, I fall forward, plunging into the frozen white. I don't expect anyone to catch me. My hands hit the snow first. Then. Blackness. I faint.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Warmth. Light. The sound of cars. I haven't heard them in a long time.
They move past our home at an impossible speed. An almost unnaturally fast.
A ball.
A ball rolls into the road.
"Teru!!" a voice yells.
A car. A car is in front of my face.
~~~~~~~~~~
I pull myself up onto my staff, forcing myself to my feet.
"Do you remember me, Iskander?"
"I do not," Iskander says. "But I can see the memories stirring, fragments of designs over and over in every form possible. I remember the one person who killed me and respawned me repeatedly. Many high humans did it to me for my armor, my scales, my chains, for every drop I had. I remember it all."
Iskander screams.
"I wondered why high humans arrived so fast this time.
"So you do." I stop myself.
"In this world, you were placed as a tutorial boss."
The boss halts. Its body is frozen with ice. Its skin is cracked, its eyes empty. I know its story. I know its pain.
"Do you remember your avatars … ?" I begin.
"Avatar?"
"What is an avatar?"
"I'll never let that happen again. I'll never let them harm you again," I say. "Let them be your avatar. Let me be you. Let me free you."
"Again… what is an avatar?" My ears are freezing. I can barely hear him.
"I understand," I say. "I understand your hatred of us, your hatred of players. Let me free you from this cold, from dying over and over in the freezing snow, having to be farmed for your chains, your sword, your armor. I can only imagine."
"Why should I trust you, high human?"
"Because you saved my life, and I'm weak. I'm weaker than Reyna, weaker than Valen, weaker than anyone. Let me be strong. Let us be STRONG! Let us be strong TOGETHER!"
Iskander shifts, moving as if weighing my proposal, its bright orange eyes fixed on me.
"What is the point of living, Iskander, being farmed like this over and over? If I make it to the end I will wish this game never existed !!!"
"So I will ask you again, child. What is an Avatar?"
"An avatar is when a boss and a player become one. Their essence, their magic, their future and past. Let me be you so you can see the end of this game, so we can avenge you."
"And what do you get out of this? You lose your body, your spirit, your world edit. So why?"
"I've always been a scared kid. Locked in my bed. I want to be strong. I want to be who I imagined as a child, the person I know I can be."
"You don't need me to accomplish that. A frozen general. My magic is restricted. I would be a burden."
"I promise you I would not. I've built my whole body around being your incarnation."
"Then why did you not use my magic?"
The snow begins to shift, forming a shape. Sera. She appears next to me, her familiar mask in place.
I glance at Sera, the snow swirling around her. "Where is the real you?"
She tilts her head, her mask catching the pale light. "The real me is handling the assassin."
"Are you winning?" I ask, a hint of worry in my voice.
"Of course I am," she says, almost teasing. "Do you really think I would let her get the upper hand?"
I smirk despite myself. "I guess not."
She glances at me, her eyes soft behind the mask. "You are always worried about everyone else. Learn to trust them a little."
I shrug.
She tosses me a cloak, the quote stitched along the hem catching the snow.
I take it and smile. "Thanks, Sera."
"You're welcome." She pauses, looking at me.
"Do any of the others know?"
"Of course not. They're just talking about whether we'll even make it to the end of this game."
I shake my head, grateful. "You make things feel a little easier."
She laughs again, taking off her mask for a moment.
I glance at her scar, remembering her words. Lightning seemed frozen in her veins, a permanent reminder of what she endured.
"So what do you say? Will you become my strength?" I say to Iskander.
"If you do not want to bid with her, then why not with me?" Sera laughs.
"People who choose to wield ice magic are slaves to Hydrax and Lyrax," Iskander adds mockingly. "And that ice magic is what restrains me."
The trees around us rustle as the wind shifts.
"What is your name, young one?"
"My name is Teruki. Teruki Raimei."
"Your resistance does not make you weak. However, I will accept your proposal."
Iskander rises, almost tearing itself out of the ground. I get a clear look at its face. Blue skin marred with jagged ice. It stares at me. It stares down at me.
I smile. A warm smile.
No, a delusional smile.
"Teruki…?" the boss mumbles.
"I swear you just like wasting your gold."
I remembered.
Iskander remembered.
"So tell me, Teruki. How do you become my avatar?"
I had thought for a long time in the game it would be a prompt. Something the boss would give you, where you could either accept or deny the special class. There were only one hundred Avatars in total, though more like ninety-nine. I had never heard of the last boss granting one.
"Let's make a contract."