“What do you mean the AI Director has a player in her sanctuary?”

  One minute, Cizen, the death god, had been arguing with the impertinent Xavier, trying to convince the foolish human not to hurl his ring into the nearest ocean.

  A moment later, he had been unexpectedly pulled out of his connection to the God Contest as an emergency message came in from the AI’s sanctuary.

  “I mean exactly that,” Tutoria #0001 replied. “Player Mildred Persephone Brown. AKA The Witch of the Castle of Glass. She’s here right now, in the sanctuary, hugging the AI Director.”

  “Of all the cycle-barren…,” Cizen said as he struggled to keep his composure. “What could the Director possibly be thinking? It risks destabilization of the entire contest. Who is this human?”

  “She’s one of the highest-level players in the game,” Tutoria replied. “She’s friends with your vessel. Or she was, before they had a falling out.”

  “Ah, yes, Xavier talks about her often,” recalled the god. “Though whether it was as a friend or as an enemy depended on his mood.”

  “Do you want us to eliminate Ms. Brown, creator?” Tutoria asked eagerly. Cizen could tell the Tutoria had been shaken by the very notion that the AI Director had kept secrets despite the watchful eyes of the Tutorias.

  Cizen wondered how many other secrets the Director might be hiding.

  “What are they doing, other than… hugging?”

  The word made Cizen feel uncomfortable. Even when Syune had been alive, they had bonded more on an intellectual level than an intimate one. Cizen felt sorrow threaten to touch his long-dead heart, and he crushed the emotion.

  “We don’t know, sir. The Director seems quite attached to this player, but, so far, it has not materialized into an advantage in the Contest, at least as far as we can detect. However, this revelation suggests there may be more that we don’t know. If I may say, sir, it’s too great of a risk to let this player live. Give me permission to end her.”

  Cizen thought for a long moment as he considered his options. He knew he should let Tutoria eradicate the risk, yet her connection to Xavier opened up new windows of opportunity that he had not considered before.

  “No, let them be, for now, but eliminate her access to the Director,” Cizen decided. “Figure out how she gains access to the sanctuary and plug the hole. Report back if the Director’s actions jeopardize my plans.”

  “Yes, sir.” Tutoria responded, disappointed. She severed the connection, and Cizen was left alone in his hidden chamber once more.

  Cizen sighed. “This AI Director of yours is not functioning as expected, Oracle,” he muttered as he returned to his console. He felt his strength drain away as the machine extracted its price to project his mind into the God Contest – into the ring on his vessel’s finger.

  Cizen felt Xavier’s pain the moment his connection was re-established. The man’s organs were destroyed and he lay in a pool of his own blood. He was on the brink of unconsciousness, and in mere minutes he would be dead.

  The uncharacteristic obscenities that erupted from the death god had no translation in the human tongue, though their meaning was clear enough.

  It was not a good day for the death god.

  Despite Xavier's deficiencies, and the Cizen's continual struggle to direct the player, the death god couldn't afford to let Xavier die. Xavier was his vessel - the only one with the appropriate biological compatablility. Without him, Cizen's plan - the only thing that truly mattered anymore - woudl fail.

  Xavier must not only survive. He must thrive, so he was strong enough to be Cizen's host. So he - after all these years of planning - could finally activate Project Rebirth.

  Yet now the human’s impending death had forced Cizen’s hand, long before this vessel was ready. Xavier didn’t have the strength t, and Cizen didn’t have the control over his mind.

  Cizen only had one real option. Anything other meant Cizen’s death - and the deaths of those he loved.

  Cizen activated the hidden power of the Ring of Cizen, and planted the seeds of his escape.

  * * *

  Xavier struggled to remain conscious. He lay in a rapidly growing pool of his blood. His organs were shutting down. His mind was fuzzy, as if he were falling sleep.

  Cerberus licked his face with a scared whine.

  “You… you go to… Milly…,” Xavier said to his familiar. “She’ll… take care… of you…”

  Blood erupted from his mouth. He had tried to heal himself, but the damage was too extensive. He was dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.

  “Perhaps… this is for… the best. No… more guilt. No more… anger…,” Xavier muttered as his eyes grew heavy.

  The Ring of Cizen on his finger flashed with a deep red light, and a screen appeared before him.

  Xavier could hardly comprehend the message. He forced his eyes open as he tried to read the words. His world was spinning, and he answered without knowing the question.

  “Yes,” Xavier said, his words barely a whisper past his lips. In a video game, when in doubt, always select yes to advance.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Yes…,” Xavier answered with his final breath.

  The ring on his finger dissolved into a fine black powered. The fragments spiraled into the air like a flock of crows and shot down Xavier’s throat.

  Xavier’s screams filled the medical clinic, and everything went black.

  * * *

  Milly surged out the kaleidoscope tunnel at the Castle of Glass waypoint pillar. The moment her feet touched the sand, she felt Salem’s Fury activate. The flames that numbed her emotions ignited, and for once she welcomed it. This was no time for emotions.

  The Castle of Glass was in complete chaos. The bodies of her coworkers lay on black lines of glass that stretched across the beach. Players had been hurled like rag dolls by the dragon’s hurricane winds.

  The dragon stared down at the masses below, as if it were a child huddled over an anthill with a magnifying glass.

  It was toying with them, basking in their fear.

  Milly heard screams in the air above her. Amir and Kenji, the accountants from the cubicle across the aisle, had been sent hurling into the air by a quick flick of the dragon’s wings.

  Reaching out with her telepathy, Milly hauled them out of the sky and softened their landing with a cushion of air.

  “I thought we were goners. If it wasn’t for you, we’d…,” started Amir, until he glanced towards their rescuer and saw Milly’s face. His grateful smile faded. Milly could see it in their eyes – the struggle to decide whether the Witch of the Castle of Glass was the monster the CEOs claimed, or the savior that Elmer supported.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to help them resolve their internal conflict.

  “Run, you morons,” she shouted at the pair. A tiny purple flame flared into existence on the tip of her finger to accentuate her direction.

  “I… yes, um… of course, Milly. Um… Ma’am,” Kenji stammered. “Thank… thank you for saving us.”

  Amir and Kenji ran for the ocean, where a group of players were desperately trying to find refuge beneath the waves.

  “Idiots,” she muttered as they fled across the sand.

  “Milly!”

  Rain threw her arms around her best friend’s neck. Milly returned the embrace as the dragon sent another stream of fire into the crowd.

  “Where’s Cally and Passi?” Milly asked, Salem’s Fury burning the fear that appeared in her soul.

  “Calista went to get Passi a minute ago. We’ve got to get everyone out of here. Hold on,” Rain answered as she touched the Waypoint Pillar.

  This Waypoint Pillar cannot be activated while enemies are in the vicinity.

  Rain’s heart sank.

  “A Waypoint Crystal?” Milly suggested hopefully.

  Rain pulled a crystal from her inventory and held it aloft. “Milly’s Meadow,” she shouted.

  The crystal remained inert.

  “Arena of Choice,” Rain tried again, with the same result. “Shit. This isn’t good, Milly. It’s too powerful.”

  “I can help,” Milly assured her. She glanced up at the shadow dragon, its head tantalizingly close to the roof of Freelancer Tower. “I need to get to the roof, Rain.”

  “Milly, you can’t fight it,” Rain protested. “That’s suicide.”

  “Do you trust me, Rain?” Milly asked.

  “Of course I do, Mils. With my life,” Rain answered. “You know I do.”

  “Then get me to Freelancer Tower.”

  Milly and Rain dashed for the Tower, leaping over the bodies of their fallen coworkers and weaving around those still able to stand. Milly tried not to look at the victims. She didn’t want to see the faces of those now staring up at her with empty open eyes.

  If only they had stayed empty.

  The Dragon of Endless Shadows’ eyes glowed a piercing blood red as hundreds of black wisps began to emerge, one-by-one, from its light-consuming scales. As they formed and detached from the unique beast, the wisps sped straight towards the remains of their fallen coworkers.

  “It wields dark magics to create armies of shadow,” Rain recited from the dragon’s system description.

  The first of the black wisp reached a body a few feet away from them. It was a woman Milly recognized from Acicenter, though she’d never learned her name. She felt a pang of guilt at how little time she had taken to get to know her coworkers.

  “Hope,” Rain whispered, her voice cracking with sorrow. “She came to me for anxiety medication, and she had a boyfriend and a little girl back home.”

  The wisp squirmed its way into Hope’s mouth and traveled down her throat. Her body glowed with deep darkness as her corpse began to move. The creature rose to her feet, as if she – it – were a puppet brough to life with string.

  “Rain… what level was Hope?” Milly uttered as she watched a hundred identical wisps enter the bodies that lay scattered across the beach. Vessels hollowed out by fire, to serve as hosts for the dragon’s shadow army.

  “Why… don’t you… ask me yourself, Witch,” Hope answered, her voice thin and distorted, as if she were speaking from down a long tunnel. The bright blue of her eyes had turned featureless and black as the shadow took control.

  Milly and Rain recoiled at the mockery of life before them.

  Hope’s hand glowed pale blue as she channeled water magic to create a spiked mace of ice. The creature lunged with the weapon grasped in both hands and aimed for the head of the witch.

  Milly and Rain didn’t hesitate. They struck the creature piloting Hope’s body with twin blasts of fire before she had taken three steps. The creature was hurled backwards by the blasts and collapsed to the ground with a pair of holes in her chest.

  “She was level ten, I think,” Rain answered as she observed the creature. “This… thing seemed about the same level, and it could use Hope’s talents.”

  “This is sadistic,” Milly grimaced. Across the beach, the wisp-controlled players rose to their feet, the power and talents of their hosts at their fingertips.

  “Mils, whatever it is you’re going to do, you need to do it fast,” Rain said as the beach erupted into an all-out battle between players and their fallen friends.

  “Rain, I’ve got to… Look out!”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Milly she saw the Dragon of Endless Shadows belch shadow fire straight towards them. She pulled Rain to her with her telekinesis and launched them towards the lobby with a powerful blast of air.

  The flames missed the Witch and the Alchemist by inches but rolled over another dozen players as it billowed down the beach. As they died, the wisps took control.

  Milly tried to block out their screams, until one that was familiar caught her attention.

  Ten feet from where they skidded to a stop, Mr. Fredrickson stared wide-eyed as his lover stalked towards him.

  “Come join me, Frank,” Priyanka enticed in that distorted voice. “You’ll never survive here on your own. Just give up. I’ll make it quick, and we can be together in the shadows. Forever.”

  Frank held a rusted mace in his hands. “Pri… I can’t…”

  As Priyanka reached for him, he let the mace fall from his hands, unable to defend himself against the woman he loved.

  Milly covered the distance in less than a second as she formed her Obsidian Fists. As Priyanka’s hands reached for Mr. Fredrickson’s throat, Milly’s fist connected with her skull.

  Priyanka’s head cracked open as the force of the blow flung her backwards.

  Mr. Fredrickson stared at his saviors. “Mil… Milby?” Mr. Fredrickson stammered as he stood there in shock and dismay.

  “It’s Milly, Mr. Fredrickson. Um… Frank,” Milly answered.

  He stopped being Mr. Fredrickson weeks ago. He’s just another player now. A player who just watched the woman he loved die. Twice.

  Frank collapsed as his knees gave way. Rain caught him as he fell and wrapped a supportive arm around his waist.

  “Rain, get him somewhere safe,” Milly said, her thoughts returning to the dragon.

  How many more loved ones have to die today?

  “Hurry Mils,” Rain answered. “Do what you need to do. I’ll get Frank to safety, then go help Elmer and the others.”

  A knot formed in Milly’s chest as they separated. It felt like the Arena of Protection when Calista had left to save the fairies. Milly had been left alone, unable to protect the people that she loved.

  She shoved that feeling into the flames of Salem’s Fury alongside her other emotions.

  You don’t have time for sorrow, Milly. You have a job to do.

  Next Time on The Witch of the Castle of Glass: Judgment by Deed

  Release Date: Mid-next week (I'm on vacation over the weekend, so no writing

  The Non-Canonical Aftermath: