Page 58 of Our Final Game

“Well, I’m just telling you that’s what it does.”

“Okay, so what now? Where does it take you?”

“I don’t know,” he says, shrugging.

I sigh, pinching my brows together. I want to say some help he is, but this is more information than I had about ten minutes ago. Besides, what I really came here to ask him isn’t even exactly about the monster itself. I need to figure out where this thing would take Tyson. It’s so strange that I can’t use our party feature to see his location when that’s usually how the game works. You can always see where anyone in your party is as long as you’re both on the same map. And I’ve already confirmed Tyson is still somewhere in Halia.

The only way I wouldn’t be able to see where he is on a map is if I had never explored that part of the map myself. It would just stay dark because it’s undiscovered. But there’s no part of the town’s map I haven’t been to.

It’s the main town in the game…

The only place neither of us has been to is…

“The castle,” I whisper.

“What was that kid?” Leon asks, pulling me out of my own string of thoughts.

“I need your help taking on the castle map.”

“I think I could help you, for a price, of course.”

“Yeah, obviously.” I roll my eyes, digging out the gold and handing it to him. Thank God Tyson had transferred me some of his gold. I didn’t have much till we started playing together.

My sugar daddy, you could say.

I’m losing it.

“Nice, when do you wanna head out?” Leon asks, pocketing the gold and joining my party I just invited him to.

Holy shit.

He’s way stronger than I thought.

Why the fuck does he have us running around doing his useless quests if he’s high enough level to do it himself? NPC shit, I guess. Tyson and I couldn’t even take this guy together if we tried. So much for fighting his hood off to see his face.

“Now, preferably. It’s been way too long and…”

I’m worried.

“He needs help,” I say, biting my lip.

“Aw, we’ll get him out of there no problem. Let’s head out then.” Leon smirks, walking ahead of me toward the castle gates.

I hope Ty is holding on okay.

* * *

The castle seems more daunting up close, its stone exterior has a cold beauty to it. I’ve also just noticed all the lights are slightly dimmer suddenly. I scan over the structure, trying to see if there are any other sources of light coming from any of the windows that can be seen from the outside. Even as night falls, there are no signs of life from here.

“You don’t have much to worry about,” Leon chuckles next to me.

Of course I don’t.

I’m sure this guy could take the map by himself. Leon is already walking through the castle’s gates before I can even catch up. I follow in behind him. The greeting room is huge, it’s just as beautiful inside with its large archways and ethereal chandeliers hanging from above. But there’s definitely something about this place that makes my skin crawl. Fog forms at our feet as we trek deeper into the castle’s corridor.

Some of the hallways are very dimly lit and some almost completely gone dark. Monsters appear out of this darkness, and Leon summons his weapon, the air shifting around him. It’s so overwhelming, I can’t help but cringe as black thunder from his sword cracks around us. He strikes down most of the monsters in the entire sector of the map.

This guy is no joke.