BOOK 2

  CHAPTER 18

  Bond

  Darkness. Not the darkness of night. The darkness of death. This was the familiar void beneath the game.

  Bash floated in it, weightless. The sudden dissociation was something he was getting used to. Way too common a comfort as of late.

  “Where did everyone go?” Lilly's voice echoed from nearby. Everywhere. Nowhere. “Why can't I see anything? Are we dead? Bash? Nora? Anyone?”

  “Shh, Lilly. It's okay. I'm here.” Bash said, in what he hoped was a reassuring way.

  “Where's here? I can't see! I can't feel my wings!”

  “Lilly. Listen to my voice. Calm down.”

  She was panicking. He could hear it spiraling the same way he had done so many times before. He couldn’t worry about his own sanity, not yet. He had to ground Lilly first before she lost it.

  “This is the void,” he said, keeping his voice steady. “The space underneath everything. Remember? It's a game, Lilly. This is what's beneath the world you and I live in.”

  A pause. When she spoke again, her voice was smaller.

  “I remember.” Another pause. “This is like the place when I first got here. I almost forgot. But... why are we here?”

  Good question. Bash thought. It had to be the binding. Shai had insisted, even though he didn’t understand why.

  Before he could answer, light bloomed in the darkness, both warm and familiar. Shai's presence wrapped around them both like a blanket.

  “Ohhh,” Lilly breathed. “That feels nice.”

  Shai materialized between them. She felt worried in a way Bash had rarely seen.

  “I was afraid that wouldn't work,” Shai said quietly. “It was only a theory. I'm sorry, Bash. I'm sorry, Lilly.”

  “So what now, Shai?” Bash asked. “Are we...” He left the last word unspoken. He didn't want to scare Lilly.

  Shai understood. She always did.

  “It's okay, Bash. You're not trapped.” She gestured, and something shimmered in the void. “Choose from the following options.”

  A screen materialized before him.

  I'll be damned, Bash thought. He reached out and clicked it with his mind, and a menu expanded into a familiar list.

  Bash studied them. The obvious choice was Rewind. The only choice, really. Everything else seemed useless to Lilly. For example, he really didn’t see her pulling up her sleeves anytime for fisticuffs with Unarmed Combat, or punching someone with psionically charged claws.

  “Ohhh!” Lilly's voice came from beside him. She must have drifted closer. “What are all of these? Are these your skills, Bash? You have so many! I only have two!”

  Bash glanced to the side. Another panel floated there, smaller. Lilly's skills.

  “Wait, do I get to pick a skill from Lilly's list too?”

  “Yes, Bash. You each pick one from the other's list to copy.”

  Lilly gasped excitedly. “Ohhh! I want Flight Magic!”

  “LILLY! NO!” Bash and Shai said at once.

  “Hahahaha!” Her cackle echoed through the void. “I'm just kidding!”

  Bash's heart was pounding now, the thought of her locking in Flight Magic was migraine inducing.

  “Lilly. Please pick Rewind. For Shard's sake.” Bash muttered.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Shai added, “Please Lilly.”

  “Okay, okay. I was just joking.” She sounded pleased with her joke. “Rewind. Got it.”

  Now it was his turn. Bash studied Lilly's two skills.

  Bash stared at Void Strike. Rereading it, trying to comprehend. He had literally just splattered himself into the ground twice in the last three days. TWICE!

  And with Flight Magic, high-speed impacts weren't going to stop anytime soon.

  Flight, plus Psionic Strike, plus Void Strike... holy, shit. He could become a human torpedo without turning himself into paste every time. The gryphon kill, but repeatable. Sustainable.

  He could dive-bomb enemies from hundreds of feet up and maybe even survive the landing. This was a game changer. An actual, legitimate game breaking combo.

  Void Carry was useful too. He could see how various uses for the utility. Carrying wounded allies made easier. Wielding oversized weapons, which he still couldn’t do... But compared to Void Strike... No contest.

  “I'll take Void Strike,” he said.

  The void began to brighten. The darkness pressing back. Reality reasserting itself.

  “Here we go,” Shai said softly. “Hold on to each other.”

  Bash felt Lilly's presence beside him. Small. Warm. Alive. They clung to each other as the void brightened and reality reasserted itself.

  ***

  Blinking, Bash looked around. He was standing outside the Town Hall. The nighttime was lit by torchlight and the smell of smoke and blood lingered in the air.

  A crowd, nearly half the village had gathered in a semicircle around his spawn point. Beastmasters, wolves, and Sleepy-eyed children peeking out from behind their guardians. All of them had been waiting.

  “Look at his face,” someone whispered.

  “So handsome,” another murmured.

  Bash brought his hand up to his cheek. What the hell?

  The features under his fingers were different. Sharper. More defined. What had happened? And what was he wearing? He looked down. Black silk robes, etched with delicate patterns of feathers. Flowing. Elegant. The silk pajamas he’d always wanted.

  But something distracted him from the crowd, and the clothes. Something more important.

  He could feel a connection. A warmth. Coming from his shoulder. Lilly sat there, perfectly still. Not a peep. No pecking. No laughing. No slapping him in the face with her wings. That was strange. Very strange.

  Then, in his head, loud enough to make him flinch. “STOP THINKING SO MUCH! YOU ARE SO LOUD!”

  Holy shit. Bash thought. Who was that? That wasn't Shai.

  “I'M NOT SHAI! I'M LILLY!”

  “Shai!” Bash called out. “Where are you?”

  Shai materialized beside him, looking amused.

  “Lilly can hear my thoughts,” Bash said, panicked. “And I can hear hers. What's happening to us?”

  “You're bonded and in physical contact.” Shai shrugged. “So yes. You share thoughts.”

  Lilly flapped off his shoulder and landed on Jack’s outstretched arm, as he leaned on a makeshift cane nearby.

  The moment Lilly left, the connection went silent.

  Lilly? Bash thought. Can you hear me?

  Nothing. Oh, thank God. She could only hear him when they were touching. Otherwise... can you say death of innocence? The things he thought about on a daily basis. The violence. The cursing. The… bad jokes.

  He bent over and put his hands on his knees, breathing hard. “Someone please bring me a goddamn mirror!”

  “Stop saying bad words, Bash!” Lilly squawked from Jack's arm.

  Before he could respond, Nora and Luis pushed through the crowd. “We heard you were back!” Luis skidded to a halt. His mouth fell open.

  Nora stopped beside him. She stared. Not the armor-melting glare. Something else entirely.

  “Yes, I know,” Bash said, covering his face with his hands. “Stop looking at me. I'm a monster.”

  “Dios mío,” Luis breathed. “Hermano, no...”

  Nora's cheeks turned pink. She looked away.

  Wait. Did Nora just blush? What was happening?!

  But his mind snapped back to what mattered. The sentry. The assassins. He'd seen a man down before the fight.

  His voice turned serious. “Nora. The sentry? Is he alive?”

  Nora composed herself. “He's fine. Knocked out by some kind of tranquilizer dart.” She paused. “You got hit by a few as well. But they didn't slow you down.”

  Bash remembered the fight. The rage. The bodies.

  “Bash, are you okay?” Nora's voice softened. “Last we saw, you were...”

  She didn’t finish, Bash could remember dying. Guts on the outside. Eye gone. Stabbed through the heart.

  “I'm fine, I think.” Bash patted himself down. “Better than fine, actually.” He raised his voice. “Lilly. Come here.”

  She flapped over and landed on his outstretched arm. The connection reopened instantly. Bash could feel her confusion. Her hope. Her fear. And beneath it all, her memories.

  Flashes. Fragments. A woman's voice singing. A man's hands lifting her up. Then sadness. Loss.

  Lilly was an orphan in her past life. She had lost everything, her whole family. And then she found something here, in the Shard. With Bash and his friends. Something like family. And he had been about to leave her behind.

  Bash understood now why she had been so desperate to come. Why “whatever” had stung so much. He looked down at the bird perched on his arm. Black feathers. Bright eyes. Eleven years old, braver than half the warriors in this village, and just as capable.

  He looked up at the crowd. Beastmasters. Werewolves. His people, watching, waiting. Bash raised Lilly high above his head for everyone to see. “WE ARE BONDED!”

  The reaction was immediate. Werewolves threw back their heads and howled. Beastmasters cheered and stamped their feet.

  Lilly's thoughts flickered through the bond. Hopeful. Scared. Underneath the noise, her voice came through their mental link, small and tentative. “Bash? Does that mean I can go with you now? And Nora, and Luis?”

  “Yeah, kid.” He said out loud, smiling down at her. “You're stuck with us now.”

  She slammed into his chest so hard he stumbled backward. Wings everywhere. Feathers in his face. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess of happy, and scared, and relieved all at once. “Yes! Yes, yes, yes!”

  Bash laughed and held her carefully.

  Jack hobbled over, shaking his head. “So. You're taking the menace off my hands.”

  “Looks like it.” Bash smiled.

  “Good.” Jack turned to the crowd. “You all heard it. The bird's his problem now. Not mine. Someone get the alcohol!”

  A cheer went up. Not for any ceremony. Just relief, and an excuse to drink.