Dungeon Sniper

Elysia and I found the Dwarfreighters easily enough. The voice-activated command was 'Find the Flood Gate.' The worker Dwarones whirred back into life and went on their ways. The last one remaining had seats on them and waited patiently as if beckoning us to get inside.

It had three seats, two in the back and the driver's seat. Elysia and I sat on the back together, leaving the front seat open. The carrier Dwarfreighter drove on regardless.

The Dwarfreighters moved in a line, slow and purposeful, and stopped around at a ten-mile mark from Benedikt's underground lab. The Dwarones quickly got to their job. They dug and moved the sand away from the spot while Elysia and I sat leisurely back in our seats. At one point, a cooler popped open from the side, offering us cool drinks. Only two kinds were available, however: beer and Sand Crystalite energy drink. I declined both while Elysia sipped the beer appreciatively.

Meanwhile, the Flood Gate was gradually revealing itself. It was a metallic gate around fifty-yard by seventy and roughly about the size of the one I had seen at Colosseum Ultimatum. But for some reason, it felt bigger than it looked, probably due to the fact that it was lying on the sand instead of floating in the air like the other Gate. The Gate at Level One looked huge too, but it seemed... airy, if that made any sense.

The sun was at its highest point when the Dwarfreighters stopped digging altogether and began to pull the Flood Gate to a standing position. It was then that I realized how 'lifeless' the Gate looked. There was no strange aura or imposing presence around it. It looked suffocatingly huge when it stood up and cast a shade that blocked the sun and the sky from my eyes, but I could tell that the Gate was dysfunctional, incomplete.

Naturally, my mind drifted back to Benedikt's last words from the video message.

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"Here's the tracker. And yes, I have a tracker for everything, in case you made some snarky remark, kid."

I had not said anything...

"Now, the D-Bug is not 'evil,' per se, but it is quite elusive. You will only get to catch it during the night, not in the day. It's just 'built' like that, so don't ask me why."

I had still been confused by the constant reference to a 'key' as a live object... until Benedikt had come up with a drawing of some sort.

A sketch of a 'butterfly.'

"The thing's glowing in gold, so you'll know right away that it's no ordinary bug. Not that this place has any insect left, other those Goblin Crawlers of course. What I mean to say is, you won't miss it when you see it."

Benedikt had paused and sighed. The video had neared to its end.

"And once you have it, you'll see what to do with it. Again, it's built like that... Hopefully, I'll be there to laugh at you two chasing around the winged bastard. Yeah, I'd like that."

The screen had gone blank with Benedikt's wistful chuckles.

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The 'tracker' I had with me displayed a blinking dot located about fifty miles north of the inactive Flood Gate. For a key that was shaped like a butterfly and had a reputation for being elusive, it had been staying in one position since this morning. Perhaps it was sleeping for the day, and while it was sleeping it was difficult to spot and catch. Maybe. I had no clue.

Elysia and I decided that we would go back to the lab, refresh, and start off at dusk. The unearthing of the Flood Gate had taken only a few hours, thanks to the diligent Dwarfreighters. We still had almost an entire afternoon for ourselves.

And yes, we finally took a shower. Together this time. Long, relaxing, and giggly...

I almost wished we would never have to leave this place then.

But dusk came, and we knew what we had to do.

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"So, about Alpha."

I started and turned sharply to Elysia. I could tell she was being careful with her words and that she had been prudent not to discuss the matter until now.

The two of us were riding on the same seated Dwarfreighter carrier from earlier. It felt 'right' to have the driver's seat empty, in memory of our friend, and I did not feel like driving the four-wheeler through the night desert. Sure, the Goblins were gone, but I was not too hot on the idea of hitting a sandy bump and crushing my tail bone every time that happened. The carrier Dwarfreighter was slow but steady, and it was fully voice-activated. I could not link the D-Bug tracker to the vehicle like Google Map or anything (Benedikt, albeit a genius, had not invented a wireless internet or installed a satellite orbiting the atmosphere), but at least I could command it to 'drive north' or 'stop for a pee break.' Yes, it was only a fifty-mile drive, and yes, my bladder was still young and strong, and yes, Elysia peed too like any other live being, not that I checked in person because that would be creepy and perverted... why was I even talking about this in the first place? Oh yes, the long drive. It was only for fifty-miles, but it was a slow ride. The night had settled, and neither Elysia nor I had spoken anything for the first half-hour of the cozy drive.

And then Elysia broke the comfortable silence by an abrupt question regarding the He Who Must Not Be Named. Yes, Alpha was like my Voldemort at this point.

"What about him?" I asked back dryly. I could have ignored her and pretended not to have heard her, but that would have been awkward as well.

Or I actually welcomed a chance for a discussion. Yeah, that could be it.

"You both come from the same world then? You said you were from Broke Limb—"

"Brooklyn."

"Right, that. And the Valley of Silly Cones for Alpha."

I did not even bother to correct that one.

"So... did you know about him before? Like, is he kind of a legend in your world as he is here?"

"We're talking about someone who disappeared fifty years ago, right? I'm not an Elf, Ellie, I wasn't born fifty years ago."

"I get that, but I was just wondering if you've never even heard about him."

"Personally, not a chance. But where I'm from, the term Alpha refers to a couple things. It's a Greek alphabet, actually, and it's the first of its kind..."

I closed my mouth and fell silent.

"What's wrong?" frowned Elysia worriedly.

"Nothing."

Alpha. The leader of a pack. The in-house developer-tester of a software.

And there was the 'first and last of everything.' The title always went together like a pair.

The Alpha and Omega.

No. I was letting my mind get too loose. Besides, I had already met a god. Ms. GOD.

Then another thought hit me. A scary thought actually.

Alpha was active fifty years ago and was presumed dead now.

Fifty years ago from now was 1970. Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon for the first time just a year ago, and the internet would not be invented for more than a decade later.

The computers looked like washing machines then.

And Silicone Valley, as far as I knew, was not the place that it was today. Stanford, a reputable school then and now, had always been there and, of course, the silicone industry that gave the region its name...

Was I missing something here? Sure, I was not the most reliable person when it came to the history of 'anything,' but still, it felt off.

Everything would have been fine if I had never learned of Alpha's background. It was the damn timeline that was messing up my head.

He could have said he had come from San Francisco. The city itself was old and historic enough.

But he had to say 'Silicone Valley,' and my limited knowledge of the famously tech-savvy Bay Area made it more difficult for me to assemble a working profile of this Alpha guy.

He was the same mysterious son of a bitch, if not more now than before.

Elysia was prudent not to bother anymore and left me with my dead-end thoughts. If anything, the struggle helped me kill the time, and we arrived at the spot indicated by the tracker.

By now, the blinking dot in the tracker was scintillating continuously.

It was 'fluttering' around the area.

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Benedikt was right. There was no way we could miss it when we saw it.

The golden butterfly was flying around a cactus, the flower atop it if I had to be more specific.

And it was glowing, soft and warm to the eyes, making the whole scene a page out of a fairy tale.

There once was a golden butterfly who drank nectar from a lonely cactus, and the cactus would dream of having two moons over its head during its nightly sleep...

We had gotten out of our seats and crouched behind a large boulder as silent observers. After a few breathless blinks, I turned to Elysia and saw that she, too, was eyeing the D-Bug with amazement. I had to admit it looked pretty and even a little hesitant to break the magical moment and dare place my hand over its carefree, marvelous wings.

... Spending the rest of my life here with Elysia would not be too bad. I had been thinking about it for a while. As long as Elysia was up to it, of course. Together, we would take walks, drive under the moonlight, watch the D-Bug dance around a cactus flower once in a while... Elysia would run out of beer soon enough, but we would manage. I peeked and saw that Benedikt had stored enough Sand Crystalite energy bars and drinks that would last for life. A sad, miserable life in terms of diet, but at least we would live.

The warm light from the D-Bug had that effect, and it was not unpleasant.

Later, at one point, I would come to regret that I had not persuaded myself to stay at Level Two. That I had had a chance to prolong this simple, manageable happiness as opposed to risking myself to death, to losing everything...

But not now. And it was Elysia who encouraged me to take the next step.

"What are we waiting for?"

Elysia grinned at me. A refreshing nightly air made her silky blonde hair move about playfully. I felt ticklish and excited just by looking at her. Her eyes sparkled from the golden glow emanated by the aloof butterfly.

For some reason, I was confident that I would be able to catch the butterfly without much difficulty. Benedikt was probably telling the truth that the insect-key had been an elusive tease back in the days.

And I was certain that, this time, it wanted to be caught. It was inviting me to come near it, grasp it, and relieve itself from its own loneliness and purposelessness of the last five decades.

"We should catch it together," I whispered to Elysia, not because I feared the D-Bug would hear us, but because my throat had closed and tensed from all the anticipation.

It was a meaningless gesture, but it was 'our' meaningless gesture.

Elysia's eyelashes fluttered just as my heart jittered. Just when I thought I could not find her more beautiful and lovely, a golden ray of light from a magical butterfly made it possible.

Elysia nodded and, together, we walked towards the lackadaisical butterfly.

Just as I thought, the D-Bug did not resist our approach. It sat on the cactus flower like a coy, calm cat, urging us to touch it.

So we did, Elysia and I. Our fingers touched the wingtips, and slowly, the light grew stronger until we had to shield our eyes from the blinding intensity.

In the end, we were holding a gold key that looked like a butterfly folding its wings tight and thin. A tear rolled off my eye, and I saw Elysia wipe away hers too. It could have been the blinding light. It also could have been the closure we needed to seal our adventure at this Level, carry out the last mission given by Benedikt and send him away for good.

Or did I, and Elysia, see something else during that white-out? A future that could have been, a neglected happiness we put aside in favor of a more dynamic life ahead?

Whatever it was, I knew one thing for sure. The weighty key we were holding between us, it was a sign that we had to move on.

To Level Three, then.