Valkyrie's Lament

Gate #6 - Day 2 (Part VI)

Silver stood rooted on the spot. She couldn’t help but feel a bit worried that Jasper was now an ‘it’ player. The time limit for him to find his patch was a couple hours away and the game was soon coming into its closure. Every time the minute hand counted towards 12, she herself felt her stomach churning uncomfortably for the safety of Jasper.

A high piercing yell could be heard echoing through the hallway. Silver was startled and she ran over towards the sound wondering what was going on. She thought it was Brianna’s scream, but when she turned the corner she saw Brianna sitting on top of a female ‘it’ player, struggling to get out of her hold. It was quite a strange sight to see a young girl sitting on top of a grown female’s back as if it was some kind of stool. The female under her already had foam started to come out of her lips making her look stupider by the second.

“Bitch. You tried to kill me!” Brianna seethed in anger. “Do you think I’ll just let you off that easily? Huh? Huh?!” She punched her in the face without a single remorse. Blood seeped out of her mouth making her state look even more miserable than before.

“Hey. Hey. You need to completely eradicate her existence instead of playing with her like that.” Sam jokingly stated, but one could tell from his smiles that he completely meant what he said.

“Look. I don’t want to go down a very dark path.”

“It’s not a dark path. It’s a very simplistic path to kill or be killed.” Sam snapped the big man's neck who was on the ground with a simple twirl of his fingers. His neck broke and the man died unconscious. They were all ‘it’ players and both Brianna and Sam did not seem to be phased by them at all.

“Still you killed someone.” Brianna was not happy with Sam’s action.

“It’s nothing to be worried about. I’m not a cold blooded killer.”

“At this rate you’re going to become one.”

“Look, I’ll promise you this: I won’t kill without a reason, okay?”

Brianna thought it over. “Fine.”

“Good.” Sam was satisfied with Brianna’s answer and was also relieved that she stopped nagging at him.

Silver had dirtied her hands many times in the past, so killing a couple humans did not shock her to the core like it usually does. It's just something that she did not put into practice. She was no saint.

“So, you guys seem to be doing quite alright.” Silver voiced her opinion, catching both of them off guard.

Brianna was beaming towards Sliver. “You’re alive.”

“Tch.” Sam spat, scowling that Silver was not hurt anywhere and instead perfectly okay. He spat into the dead body of the man and got up. “Is this it?”

“Yep.” Silver nodded her head. “You guys got the last two.”

“Wait, how do you know that they are the last two?” Brianna asked, confused.

“Jasper told me.”

“Jasper is here?”

“Well no not anymore.”

“He died?!”

“He left.”

“Why?”

“He said he had something to do. Plus he has become a tagged player.”

“Really? That’s strange. I thought he wouldn’t be tagged so quickly.” Brianna thought it over as she scratched her chin. “This whole time I thought he was strong.”

“He is.”

“Pft. From my understanding he failed. That equates to him being weak. If he dies tonight then the challenge is invalid and I’m going after your hide.” Sam pointed towards Silver as if she was prey. He did not care how vulgar he sounded as he licked his lips from one side to the next.

Silver lips curled upwards and gave him a funny look as if what he was saying was beneath her. She believed that he would be okay at the end of the night. Instead she brushed Sam’s opinion aside. “Well if our little hunt is over, let’s go back to the hotel. I don’t want to be around here when things get a little crazy.”

“Okay.” Brianna hopped off the lady’s back.

All three of them left the floor and went out of the building. They made their way towards the hotel that Silver had told both Jasper and Ronald about. Silver once again went up towards the reception and rented a larger room for the night. It had two rooms adjoined together by a door. Both Sam and Brianna chipped in on the money as they rented for the night.

“You know this place is not too bad. I thought you would’ve gotten a more upscale place though.” Brianna chimed in happily. She was excited to go and take a shower.

“You actually thought I would go to an expensive hotel?” Silver was a bit surprised at Brianna’s words. She didn’t think she was the type to choose out expensive hotels, especially since she was picky with stacking her Angel Coins to gain necessary items, weapons, or abilities. Other than that just having a simple bed to sleep in was all that she needed. She only chose this place because it was the first thing that she saw.

“Yea, I mean you do have that rich person demeanor in the way you walk and hold yourself. The first time I met you I thought you were that type of person.”

“Me? Rich?” Silver found it difficult to see herself as someone rich. She had been living in the game for more than five years so she never thought of using the Angel Coins for such things.

“Yea. You were also the first one to collect so many Angel Coins that you could’ve stayed in the hotel for months. Come on, who wouldn’t think that you were rich and strong?”

Silver felt a bit embarrassed. “It was luck.”

“Lucky my ass! If that was luck then I must have gotten the end of it.”

“Don’t mind her. She’s just jealous.” Sam replied, chuckling at Brianna’s outburst.

“Of course I am! I want to live like a queen once in a while, you know.”

“Yes. Yes, we know your highness.”

Brianna scowled at Sam’s answer. “You have a nasty habit of countering whatever I have to say and making fun of me at the same time, you know.”

“That is what I am born to do.”

Silver could hear Brianna grinding her teeth in frustration. These idiot siblings, easily bickered with one another. She wondered how they tolerate each other’s company so easily with their constant little spats that they have.

All three of them made their way up to their room. Sam and Brianna entered first, excited at the comfortable looking bed. Silver was about to step in when he heard a metallic screw hit the marble floor. Whipping her head towards the direction of the sound, she saw the screw rolling on the ground a good few feet away from her.

Clank!

Clink!

Clank!

A pail full of metal screws fell onto the floor and rolled over towards her. Silver stepped backwards confused where these metal screws were even coming from. All of a sudden she felt a sharp horrible pain on her right arm. A large metal nail impaled her arm, causing her to bleed. She fished out the nail in her arm in pain.

Foomp! Foomp!

Two more nails came flying towards her body; she barely moved out of harm’s way just in time before her stomach would be impaled. This time a large metal stake flew towards her and stabbed her into her hands and nailed her into the wall.

“Augh!” Silver yelled out in pain. Another two came flying towards her, one pierced the same arm, but the second was blocked by her other hand that was encased in ice.

She stifled her groan as she pulled out both the nails in pain. Her whole right arm was useless and she was losing blood fast. Sliver quickly pulled out her sword, looking towards the dark hallway for the enemy.

Her sensitive ears heard the metallic clanking of the nail gun and she moved as best as she could. Two out of three did not harm her, but the third cut a piece of her left arm leaving behind another chunk of her flesh missing.

Silver rushed forward, angered at the hidden attacker. She followed the shadow that seemed to dash through the hallway like a ghost. Her steps were light and quick as she was led to a large empty room on the same floor. The room reminded her of a small ballroom, finely decorated with lavish curtains and accessories.

“Show yourself!” Sliver shouted, scanning around the room for any movement.

Her neck tumbled and she felt danger from behind. With quick reflexes she deflected the three metal nails that flew towards her body. She rushed forward and attacked. In that moment, a metal net fell from above, catching her completely off guard.

With a clutter, she fell downwards, unable to take the metal net off of her. Her sword was not sharp enough to cut through the metal net that was on top of her. Instead it got tangled up with the net, making it very difficult for her to move.

“I wouldn’t struggle too much if I were you. It’s embedded with magical energy that does not allow you to cut through with your sword. Not only that it saps your physical and magical energy. This is what it means to be a hunter.” A familiar voice spoke out towards her in a low chuckle. From the shadows, Ronald stepped out with a giant grin on his face. “I never thought I would be able to completely throw you off.”

“Ronald? Why are you doing this-” Then it hit her. She saw that Ronald had on a red vest with bunny ears on his head. “So you turned traitor.” With an evil glare she spat out towards him.

“Woah woah. Don’t get mad. This was the best solution for me to not die. I mean I have literally less than fifteen minutes to survive, you know. If I don’t steal from another my life comes to an end at the strike of midnight.”

“Even still to go against your comrade?”

“Comrade? You?” Ronald gave her a funny look when she said that. “You thought of us as a comrade. I never did. Plus getting rid of you will give me a chance to shine.”

“Shine? What are you talking about? This game is not some ego tripping hero game.”

“No, but it does reward those that live.”

“Do you even have a sense of morals when it comes to comrades?”

“I want to live and the only person that I knew for sure I would find was you. That is my moral.”

Silver felt wronged for aiding Ronald and the advice that she had given to help him grow. For him to turn traitor and even use her life in exchange for hers.

She knew that one of these days someone would eventually turn in her group, she didn’t know when and who. This was the true nature of people, during the difficult times especially if one is pushed to the edge. For him to finally show his colors now was more of a relief than to find out later in the game. There was more risk the deeper one went when playing the game compared to the start.

Even still it was a strong blow to Silver's mentality reminding her that humanity was not always worthy of trust. There were snakes in the grass waiting to strike her when she least expected it, and this was such a time when they struck. For her to blunder, forgetting that the enemy was still close by even made her ten times more regretful that she did not pay complete attention.

“Why are you silent? Did the cat get your tongue?” Ronald gleefully gloated. He walked over and stared down at her predicament. He crossed his fingers in delight at the misfortunate event of Silver.

Silver eyed at him with disgust.

“You know what, I’m also going to get Jasper’s tag and even a pretty dark skinned girl. What was her name?….Oh yea, Brianna!”

Silver snorted and held in her laughter. If he only knew that Jasper was already tagged as well Brianna also stuck close to Sam. Getting in between the bickering siblings would be a challenge itself and to steal from Brianna wasn’t easy. If one was not fast enough, one would get caught by her weapon or worse by Sam’s.

“What's so funny?” Ronald kicked Silver’s arm.

“Nothing. You’re just a fool who doesn’t realize that you’re playing with fire, an uncontrollable fire where you will get burned and devoured.”

“Me playing with fire?” Ronald spoke in disbelief. “Do you think I don’t know how to counter the two? I’m no fool to fight head to head with Sam. I already laid out a trap that flushed them apart.” He proudly stated.

Silver gave Ronald a questionable look. She wasn’t sure if he was even smart enough to pull out something that was already difficult in splitting the two apart. She had never seen either one far from each other, but then again they could break apart from one another if certain circumstances called for it.

“Oh please like I believe you.”

“You’ll see. I already cast an illusion magic throughout the hall by fooling their senses.”Ronald arrogantly stated. “Those fools should be broken apart right now. All I need to do is walk over and pick them off one by one.”

What made Silver sign out at Ronald’s stupidity was him telling her all of his plans. This whole time, she was searching for a way out as well as a chance to strike down Ronald. Her throbbing shoulder and arm made it slightly difficult for her to focus her thoughts because of the pain, but this did not stop her. Her mind started to race with hundreds of different scenarios that she could use to escape or kill him on the spot.

“So sad. The great Silver Valkyrie dies here today. How pitiable that the once budding legend will be snipped by me.” Ronald gave her a priceless evil smile. “I think I should give myself a nickname. Conqueror or maybe the Black Lighting.” He nodded in glee.

Silver couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the stupid naming sense. It was not like she wanted the nickname of the Valkyrie. Such a thing was given to her without her consent in the first place.

Her eyes roamed at the fire extinguisher on the wall. She gently tested out the net that covered her body to see if there were any flaws that she could find.

“Let me go and I’ll spare you.” Silver spoke. She didn’t want to kill anyone right now, but if push comes to shove she will.

“I don’t think you seriously understand the situation that you are in right now. Don’t you see. I won. There is only five minutes left and you will die just like that.” Ronald snapped his fingers in front of him. He crouched down towards her and gave her the most conniving smile he could muster. “The others that you have brought with you won’t even be able to help you.”

Ronald was enjoying Silver’s squirming, but her words made him waver. He knew how powerful Silver was and he didn’t want to take a chance of agreeing to her words.

“I’m not stupid you know. I made sure that those two are sleeping peacefully.”

“Really now….”Silver thought over what he had said, knowing full well that he probably did.

“So, why don’t you just lay there and die.”

Die. That was a word that she knew that she would never allow happening to her. There was too much at stake and she wasn’t going to die here in such a miserable state, especially by a traitor. Silver felt a rush of anger blow throughout her whole body. Her magic was overflowing crackling with high density. The ground started to crackle and turn cold into ice.

“We’ll see who's going to die tonight.”

With a blast of every single magical power that she had, she let out a torrent of her ice magic.

Ronald fell backwards as the temperature dropped sharply, making him chatter in the cold. “W-w-what a-a-re you doing?!” He stumbled trying to get back up, but the ice underneath his foot made him slip backwards onto his back. Fear started to lace in his words and expression, even his body tightened at Silver’s sheer power.

“Let’s see if it’s you or me, who’ll survive!” Silver yelled, startling Ronald.

A power blast of ice energy crackled as ice quickly traveled all over the ground and up the wall. Clear blue icicles started to form over their head. Temperature dropped below zero, making even Silver slightly cold, but compared to Ronald she was better.

He was freezing cold from the harsh drop of temperature. His lips turned blue and his muscles started to ache. Even his legs were tingling making it felt like he ran outside in the cold weather for a long period of time.

“N-no!” Ronald clumsily turned over towards his arm and leg, crawling towards her like a baby. “I-I’m g-g-oing to win!” His teeth chattered.

Silver gritted her teeth and grabbed a hold of the net. She poured a large amount of magical energy into her hands, trying to freeze the net completely. Her mind was focused on her task, while Ronald tripped and skidded onto the icy ground.

“S-stop!”

Silver ignored him completely. Sweat started to pour out of her head, and a second later it froze and crystallized into small tear drops. She knew that overcoming the magical net’s power would cost her half of her magic. The problem was that her magic was draining fast and she didn’t have much to spare. The rate thatshe was going, she wouldn’t have enough magic to stay conscious if she kept pushing it all out.

Right now, it was to break the magical net or stay trapped and wait for her doom. She wasn’t going to let a traitor win. Silver had survived a long time in the game of Life and Death. She was going to survive all the way to the end with her friends.

Ronald had shakily reached over slowly, hot air escaped his chattering mouth as his hands started to slowly freeze up into icicles. Alarmed, fear plastered on Ronald’s face. He had never thought that Silver’s power was astronomically powerful. It was unheard of for players to have such tremendous power without special items.

“No. No. No. No! I w-e-won’t lose! Auuuuuuugu Ggggggg!”

With great pain Ronald reached over towards Silver’s shoulder. His fingers were mostly frozen, making it very difficult for him to move.

Silver used every ounce of magical energy to condensed the magic around her. The powerful fluctuation of her magical power increased by three folds, making her head dizzy from over consumption of magic. The dampening of her power from the magical net made it three times more difficult for her to pull out all her strength. Majority of her magical energy was wasted because of the net, while the rest were used to override the power.

Crack!

Crack!

Crack!

“Auuurg-”

Silence followed after. Silver could feel her mind becoming foggy and her eyes blurry. Everything around her was difficult to see and the energy that she had left was gone. The horrible depletion of magical energy had sapped all her strength and she fell to the side with a thud. Darkness took her as she saw Ronald, reaching inches away from her patch on her arm.