Now that her hands were free, Violet pulled her blades out and freed her feet. The first of the guards reached us at the same time but ate a face full of Frostburn. The chief shaman was shouting at the top of his lungs. “Keep casting. The master is almost here.” Then he yelled at the guards. “Ignore the desecrators, protect the shaman. As long as there is one sacrifice, the ritual can be finished.”

  That statement was all that it took me to decide. I had no idea what this half-kobold had done to get herself branded as a heretic, but I wasn’t going to leave her there as a sacrifice. Mostly because I didn’t want the spell to go off. I started to tell Violet to cut her free but realized she had already leaped into the fray against some of the kobold guards. She apparently really wanted her vengeance.

  I moved to cut the ropes, and once the woman was free, she held out her hands to me. I severed those bonds, as well, and then she pulled out the gag. “My, aren’t you a big one. Not pretty like my babies, but big.”

  She spoke as she reached down and used her claws to free her feet. I guess now I had been called ugly by an elf-kobold hybrid. What was the world coming to? There had also been something feverish in her eyes. I just didn’t have time to worry about it.

  She ran at the head shaman and shrieked. Right before she got to him, she cried out, “Come to mummy!” Then whips of white cloth seemed to flow out of her robes like long bandages unrolling. The kobold shaman spat fire at them and then tried backing away. The flame burned a few feet of a few of the bandages, but there must have been fifteen coming of the cloth tendrils. He started to cast a spell, but ten of the rolls caught him. They wriggled over his scales like they were alive, seeking to bind him while one stuffed itself into his mouth.

  Whatever spell he had been casting fizzled and then exploded in his face. That partially freed him, but with a grunt of effort, more of the rolls expanded out from the newly freed prisoner. I heard Violet call to me. “If you’re done standing around, how about some help.”

  Sure enough, she was being carried by four of the kobold warriors. They seemed to have trouble getting through her armor, but they were all higher-level than her and managed to hold her captive. They were carrying her towards their moat, which surrounded the mound. I could only assume that they wanted to drown her in that. Perhaps their thinking was that her armor wouldn’t stop water from getting in. Unfortunately, I agreed with their assessment.

  I raced forward to cut them off. One of the other guards lashed out at me. I took his sword attack on my arm and then slammed a front kick into his chest. Blood was running down my arm, but my resistance was high enough to survive against these weaker foes. My poison had run out, but the amphitheater was empty except for the guards and shaman now.

  The new girl was hovering over the head shaman and whispering, “Yes, yes, I’ll make you pretty. You don’t deserve it but, I will.”

  I couldn’t spare any time to help her when another pair of guards went for her. I could feel the ritual was almost over; but even more pressing, Violet didn’t have long before they reached the water. The guard who had attacked me got up from where I had kicked him, but he was too slow.

  I reached Violet and ran my spear through one of the guards carrying her legs while hitting the other with Frostburn. It hadn’t occurred to me, but I guess we were lucky that Arctic Blast didn’t go off with that attack. With her feet on the ground, Violet activated the anchors in her boots and suddenly the kobolds couldn’t budge her.

  Just then, Brother Wolf made his presence felt. He leapt on one of the kobold warriors. These were level 32, but I trusted him in a one-on-one fight. The kobold with frost burn was screaming, while the first one was coming right for me. He gave up any pretense of attacking with his sword and just leapt straight at me. His small body wasn’t enough to knock me over. but his momentum caused me to stumble.

  I slid far enough that one of my feet hit the edge. It was either let it go into the moat of dark water or risk falling over onto my back. So, I figured it was time for a bath. I just didn’t know that it would be an acid bath.

  I screamed in pain as I felt my skin starting to bubble. My acid resistance was only 20, so that must not be enough to ward off this damage. The surrounding warriors jumped into the moat with me. Now, I understood what the trap was. Some of the kobolds had been lighting-based, some fire-based, and apparently these with the black and copper scales were acid-based.

  They didn’t make a serious effort to attack me, but instead struggled to keep me in the moat. I looked: Brother Wolf and Violet were making short work of the others, but I wasn’t sure if they would get to me in time. That was when it occurred to me. It had worked for getting here, so why not now. I struggled to cast through the pain, but once Levitate went off, I shot up.

  My movement rate with the spell was only a little over 3 feet per second, but that was enough to get me up and out of the moat. It shocked them, which bought me two more seconds, and then I was above their heads. I hit another with Frost Rift, and then after a couple more seconds, I was even out of their sword reach. I grinned as I realized I could pepper them with spells from the sky and rain death down upon them.

  I wanted to let loose with my evil laugh, but honestly my legs hurt like nothing else. Even my boots had been eaten, leaving me with ugly ogre feet to look down at. At least the acid seemed to have cleared up the athlete’s foot I had been struggling with. If you asked me, that was one touch of realism too far.

  A Regeneration sped up my Healing. Then I cast Moderate Healing on Violet since the range was too great for the other spells again. After that I started blasting away at the remaining shaman as quickly as I could cycle through my spells. Cold seemed to be the best weapon, so I didn’t just go with a single large Flame Burst. But then I felt a portal being ripped open. It was different from the breaches. I immediately activated Multi-Dimensional Sight, but there wasn’t a trace of any extraneous energy. So, this was just some type of summon or teleportation within Selmia.

  Violet and Wolfie were making their rounds to kill the rest of the shamans, but then a huge, reptilian head burst out. That was a dragon if I had ever seen one before. The head had to be the size of a wagon. I tried to assess it, and all I could get was its name, Gleorios, and an absolute certainty that it was my death if I engaged it. It felt further beyond me at my current level thirty-six than the bear-pede had when I was level one.

  It growled, and everyone went still. Even the kobold hybrid stopped her maniacal laughing and looked up from whatever she was doing to her victim. The dragon’s voice was deep and had the sound of shifting gravel. “You dare to summon me without a sacrifice. For your impudence you shall become the sacrifice.”

  Then it started to gobble down the terrified shamans. I didn’t want to leave the newly rescued hybrid on her own, but honestly, I wasn’t willing to risk my sixteen levels and further system integration for an NPC I had just met. Thus, I made another shadow step and took myself to the tunnel. So far, only the dragon’s head had come through the portal, and it was shrinking, so hopefully it would retreat soon. Either way, as soon as Violet reached me, I never even looked back but made a beeline for the dungeon entrance.

  Interlude 1- Wresting Control

  The lawyer, well, the human one, had been correct. It had been a long day. and it wasn’t over yet. Tom was already tired of it. The novelty of meeting Tauri, or rather Tara, and Robert in person had worn off. He found his in-game assessments were pretty right on, and the more he learned about them, the easier it became to understand why they played in the way they did.

  Tara had something to prove to the world and was too smart for her own good. Robert simply wanted to feel like his life had meaning. He had been born into such wealth that most could never understand. He had no real challenges in his life, but the lack of such made him feel rudderless. In Legends of Selmia, he got to play the noble paladin dedicated to righting wrongs, slaying the dragon, and saving the girl. He was a hopeless romantic.

  None of that explained why they were here. In fact, the lawyers had both been closed-lipped about it for the past six hours. They kept querying them about their experiences in the game, and they mentioned more than once that the room they were in was completely cut off from any signals coming in or out. Tom had confirmed as much when he realized his implant didn’t allow him to connect to his wife or any of his personal accounts. He only had the data which had already been stored on the device.

  As expected, brilliant or not, it was Tara who snapped first. “If you aren’t going to tell us what this is about, then I’m going to leave.”

  Robot lawyer said, “That is not advisable. You have my assurance that this matter is of the utmost importance. We cannot rush though.”

  “You assurances can kiss my…”

  “Ms. Williams, there is no need for that,” the human lawyer cut in.

  Tom knew the human lawyer’s name: David Nelson, but that didn’t make the man anything but a donkey’s rear end. He was less forthcoming than even the robot. “I’m sure that we are all feeling some of what Tara is feeling,” Tom began. “How about you just cut to the chase. You’ve been asking about our affiliations, social connections, political viewpoints, as well as our experiences inside Legends of Selmia. I think we all get it that this has bigger implications than what we understand so far, but if you don’t show us at least some of your cards, then we are not going to say another word.”

  Robert clapped him on his back. “That’s right, Elgar. You tell’em.”

  Tom grimaced. Robert still insisted on calling him and Tara by their in-game names. Mr. Nelson looked over at his robotic counterpart. A slight nod passed between them, and then the robot asked, “One more line of questioning, and then we will either let you go or provide you with more information.”

  Tom sighed but answered before Tara could say something they would regret. “Fine, one more. But then we get some answers.”

  “Do you now, or have you at any point in the past, known an individual named Franklin Rudd?”

  The question caught Tom completely off-guard. The name didn’t sound familiar, not in the least. Robert asked, “Is he a programmer or something with the game?”

  “Just answer the question, please,” the robot said with its expressionless face.

  Then Tara hit her palm against her forehead. “Franklin… duh. So that’s what this is about.”

  Tom realized, as she said the name, what he had been missing but Robert asked, “I still don’t follow.”

  She smiled at him and said, “It’s lucky you’re so cute.”

  Tom wanted to add ‘and rich,’ but he didn’t say it.

  Tara continued, “Franklin, as in Frank, as in Oogliefrank. I told you guys something was up with him. He’s a player, isn’t he?”

  The robot began to answer, “Mr. Rudd is no longer a discrete entity. He is…”

  Mr. Nelson interrupted, “That’s enough. We are not at liberty to discuss all the specifics of Mr. Rudd’s situation.”

  “Fine. then I’m done. I didn’t come here to be jerked around.” Tara stood up as she spoke and headed for the door.

  Tom just smiled. She was completely bluffing them. She would be practically desperate to know what was going on, but that didn’t mean they would realize that. He had to give her props; she was good at putting on a show.

  “There is no need for you to leave. Your participation is required.”

  The robot might not have understood that this was exactly the wrong thing to say to Tara, but Tom groaned. As if on cue she burst out, “Required? Required? You don’t get to require me to do anything, you oversized tin can.”

  Mr. Nelson said, “That is quite enough theatrics. You will have to excuse me while I make a phone call. I’ll be right back.” Then without another word, he stood up and walked out of the room.

  Tara winked at Robert and Tom who both smiled back at her. She definitely had a way of getting what she wanted. They sat there in silence. Tom wished they had party chat or something like that, but even Legends of Selmia didn’t have such a system. No freebie communication: you had to either travel or find magic that enabled for communication.

  After less than five minutes, Mr. Nelson returned to the room. He had three binders of paper in his hands. “I’ve been given permission to tell you specific facts which no one, outside of a few government leaders and the brass here at Quantum Games, knows yet. In return, you will have to sign a contract with Quantum Games to work for a successful resolution of this issue, while also agreeing to an ironclad non-disclosure agreement.”

  Tom’s eyes rolled involuntarily. Maybe, Tara wasn’t getting what she wanted so much as they were being handled. There was no way they could have prepared those binders within minutes. He felt sick to his stomach as he realized they were being walked into a trap.

  Robert took it and looked through it before glancing at Tom. “What do you think, boss?”

  “I think we need attorneys to look over this before…”

  “I can assure you that the language is as standard as possible for a very non-standard situation,” Mr. Nelson said.

  Tom continued after being cut off, “Specifically lawyers who work for us, not the company.”

  “That will not be possible, for reasons which should become apparent after you sign the documents. However, if you are unwilling, we have arranged UN troops to escort you home. For your safety, of course.” The robot lawyer made it all sound so matter-of-fact.

  Tara cursed under her breath. It was remarkable to Tom, how similar her facial expressions were to her character, Tauri. He ran the numbers in his head. It sounded like they had two options, awful and terrible. Still, he scanned through the documents.

  “What’s this part about compensation?”

  Mr. Nelson replied, “Assuming you accept the contract, you will be paid for your time within Legends of Selmia. You will get the maximum hourly rate allowed by law of ten times minimum wage. You will also get a sign-on bonus, and under certain circumstances hazard pay, which law allows to double the normal maximum rate. Assuming you are successful, you will also find clauses for completion bonuses, stock options, and even payments to your heirs if something unfortunate should befall you prior to completion of the task.”

  “I don’t really care about the money. You can just have mine split between Elgar and Tauri, but I’m in if they are,” Robert said.

  Tom could see the truth. They didn’t have any choice. Suddenly the stories about people disappearing from Legends of Selmia took on a whole new meaning. He looked at the contract. The sign-on bonus was 10 million credits. Even with inflation, that should be enough for him and his wife to live comfortably for the next ten years, as long as they were frugal. “Fine, I’ll sign it.”

  A short time later, Tom was shaking his head wondering just what he had agreed to. Tara wasn’t nearly as bashful as he was, “Wait, so you are admitting that Quantum Games has been murdering people and permanently uploading them into Legends of Selmia?”

  “I assure you it is all quite legal, pursuant to United Nations Decree Omega 616, and a subject which is expressly covered in the NDA. Is that really the thing that you are fixating on?”

  Tom really wanted to get home. His entire perspective on life had changed in the last hour. “You’re right, of course, Tara; its despicable, but we should focus. So, if I understand you correctly, you have lost control of your AI. It is trying to take over the game world of Legends of Selmia. If that is the case, then why not just shut it down?”

  The expression on Robert’s face was not one that Tom had ever seen before, “Simple, because it isn’t just a virtual world. The AI has found a way to connect with another dimension. If they can gain access to that, then they would be able to bring back resources from Selmia to Earth. My grandfather told me that a great deal of research is going into this. Life on Earth simply won’t be sustainable more than another fifty or maybe one hundred years.”

  “And that’s why they are okay with killing people. Let them die and decrease the surplus population and all that,” Tara said.

  Tom heard what Tara said, but he couldn’t give it any attention now. He was entirely focused on reading Mr. Nelson’s face. He might be cold -hearted but unlike the actual robot, he did still have micro-expressions on his face. Yeah, Tom was right. Dang; this changed everything. The thought of a sapient AI had rocked his world; the thought of other worlds, or rather dimensions, was just beyond his ability to comprehend.

  Robert added, “That is why they don’t just blow up the servers. They are a gateway to what could be the greatest gold mine ever discovered in human history. Think the American gold rush, the blood diamonds of Africa, European Colonialization, the Chinese surge, all of it would be nothing compared to this. It would become the greatest source of wealth in the world; and if they can control access, then they will have power beyond imagining. My grandfather says it’s never about money. It’s always about power.”