Page 21 of Our Final Game

“I really didn’t, Ro.”

His footsteps skip a little as he walks alongside me.

“Okay,” he breathes.

Chapter 9

Rohan

It takes us making it all the way back to town for me to come to terms with the fact that Tyson might be telling the truth. We’re trapped in Understory. We walk through Halia, the main town’s gates. It feels like such a real place, different than when we’re playing it through a screen. There are merchants selling their wares, children running through the dimly lit stone streets, and NPCs, or more like people chatting.

The world of Understory is alive.

I stand in the middle of the road, my body frozen as I stare up at the castle that sits atop the town. It’s even more beautiful in real life, with its massive brick crowns and beautiful, gold-crested sconces sitting along its walls.

We’re in the game.

“Rohan,” Tyson says, tapping me gently.

“Yeah…” I respond slowly, turning my attention to him.

“Let’s head inside. Get a room for the night and figure this all out tomorrow, okay?” he says, his voice steady.

I stare up at him and nod.

We step into the inn, and there’s customers at tables, drinking and playing games. Some of them are finishing up their dinner as it’s getting pretty late. It’s so strange to see these characters as real people.

“What can I do for ya?” the usual innkeeper says to us as we approach the counter.

“Can we get two rooms? Just for the night is fine,” Tyson says.

“Uh, sorry, hun, but we only have one room left,” she says, leaning against the surface. “Is that alright?”

“What choice do we have?” I say when Tyson looks at me, probably for a rebuttal, but I’m way too tired to argue right now.

“We’ll take it.”

“Great!” she says, handing us the old key. “Try to come down early for breakfast in the mornin’, alright? First come, first served, and these boys are hungry at dawn.”

“Gotcha.” Tyson nods, and I follow him up the stairs. We walk in silence till we get to the last room at the end of the hall. He puts the key in and opens the door, chuckling when he steps in.

I stand in the doorway, looking to see what’s so funny, and I freeze at the horrific sight before me. You can’t be serious.

“No fucking way.” I balk.

Tyson shakes his head and rounds the bed, the only bed. It sits in the middle of the small room, which has a fireplace and a small basin in it that I’m sure we’re supposed to bathe in at some point. Hopefully never, because we’ll be out of here in the morning or when we go to sleep. I’m praying we wake up in our rooms and that this was all some epic, cosmic joke.

“Are you going to stand there all night?” Tyson sighs.

“I’m not sleeping in that bed with you,” I declare, folding my arms across my chest.

“Didn’t think you had it in you to sleep on the floor.” He chuckles.

“I’m not sleeping on the floor, you are!”

“I’m not even going to acknowledge that.” Tyson rolls his eyes, taking off his black cloak and throwing it over the back of a small wooden chair that’s also in the room.

“I’m serious, Tyson!”