Arion and I had fought across various parts of the chamber. I was weakening. I believed the vampire was growing stronger.

  “I can taste it,” Arion told me, exuding too soon perhaps. “I’ll leave this place. I’ll go to a new place, an outer reality, and there I shall be you. I shall—”

  A shocked anger twisted the vampire’s pale, aristocratic features. He stood with his back to the statue, to the statue whose open stone hand I’d grasped earlier. I’d called the statue a brother and asked for his help.

  Help came as the stone arms moved and stone hands opened. They fell upon and clamped remorselessly to the vampire’s shoulders.

  “This cannot be,” Arion shouted, trying to twist free and failing. “This is wrong.”

  At that moment, above and behind the statue, two evil eyes appeared in the air. They glowed with computer like strings of equations. Did Artemis watch? Incredibly, another set of eyes appeared in the air. These eyes glared at the other. Was that the one whose presence or help I’d received several times through the adventure? In a moment, the two sets of eyes blinked away, perhaps canceling each other out.

  What had that meant? Something, but I didn’t have time to figure it out.

  The seven-foot statue of stone lifted Arion. The stone hands slid from the shoulders and grasped the arms, stretching them wide.

  “No!” Arion shouted.

  The vampire blurred, shape shifting into a bat. It didn’t startle the stone statue. It yet clung to the bat, stretching its furry wings.

  Regaining my senses, I charged and hacked at the giant bat. It turned into Arion. I continued hacking even as the vampire kicked at me. Though it took effort, I chopped out his heart. I chopped out his liver. I hacked until the vampire was pieces of flesh. I continued hacking, perhaps like a madman, perhaps terrified. If I died, it was game over. If this vampire reached my real body, it was game over for me.

  I don’t know what Artemis planned, but I wanted to get the heck out of this game world and go home.

  Gnush grabbed my sword wrist. “Stop,” the orc said. “The vampire is dead and chopped. If he reunites, it be a long time from now. Go, take the amulet.”

  I struggled against Gnush, but the Black Mountain Orc had the greater strength. Finally, I grew slack in Gnush’s grip.

  “I’m okay,” I said.

  Gnush released me.

  I lowered my sword and knelt beside Arion’s remains. I cleaned my blade of blood and gore. Then, I rammed the sword into its scabbard. I rose and turned around.

  The statue of the knight held out a stone palm. There, in the recess of the palm, glittered an amulet.

  -75-

  Before I took the amulet, I went to Kyl and shook him awake. He must have swooned after giving me extra vitality.

  Kyl smacked his lips and opened his eyes. They were bloodshot. “What happened?”

  “We either killed the vampire lord or dismembered him. Now, I’m getting ready to leave.”

  “Oh no,” Kyl said. “You’re not leaving already.”

  I helped the wizard to his feet. Gnush was already at the statue, staring at the amulet in the palm of stone.

  Kyl noticed, studied the situation and turned to me. “You best take the amulet quickly. I don’t know how long the statue will offer it to you.”

  I looked at the statue. It looked at me and nodded. That was creepy.

  “Gentlemen, there’s the treasure.” I indicated the wooden chests filled with gold coins, gems and jewels. “Take the treasure. I wish you both well. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you’ve done for me. Without the two of you, I’d never have made it to this moment.”

  “You are not out yet,” Kyl said.

  “No, but I think I will be soon.” I clapped him on a skinny shoulder, and I turned and clapped Gnush on a brawny one.

  “You ever come back?” Gnush asked.

  “I don’t plan to at the moment, but you never know. First I gotta see if I’m still alive.”

  “What that mean?” Gnush asked.

  “It’s part of his visions,” Kyl said. “Our friend the barbarian is a mystery.” He turned to me. “What do you want us to do with your sword?”

  “I’m taking the sword with me.”

  “Okay,” Kyl said. “Sounds weird from what I’ve learned so far and from what Dr. Price said. But go on, Jack Kang, take the runesword. You’re a great warrior, and you have done amazing deeds. It has been an honor and a pleasure being with you.”

  “Remember to take the treasure,” I said, pleased and embarrassed at the wizard’s praise.

  “We will take it,” Gnush said. “Don’t worry about that. I have grog and orc maidens for the rest of my life.”

  “Good,” I said.

  “I’m going to learn all about what took place here,” Kyl said.

  I nodded. As I did, a sharp pang of loneliness hit me. I shook their hands. I even hugged them. I hugged that big lump of a Black Mountain Orc. I knew I’d miss them. I knew that these two were the best friends I’d ever had. Period. End of story. From a game world? Well, you know what? From a game world, these were my best friends.

  The stony fingers began to close.

  “I’ll take that.” I grabbed the amulet. It shone brilliantly with many sparkles of light.

  Something was going to happen. The moment was pregnant. I looked and saw the heart of the vampire’s body beginning to reknit.

  “Don’t forget to put a wooden stake through that heart.”

  I looked at Gnush and Kyl. I couldn’t hear them. They already looked different. They didn’t have the smooth bodies that they had. They had pixelated images that anyone who has played older video games would recognize instantly. As I observed, the pixilation increased in everything around me. It no longer seemed real. I no longer smelled anything. I moved like a wraith through it.

  I saw a portal ahead. I gripped the amulet. I had my sword. I walked to the portal and stepped through.

  As I did, the portal disappeared. I found myself in a different chamber. There was pixilation and a great dome of churning light on the floor. Eyes peered from it. Was this the quantum computer?

  “Are you Artemis?” I asked.

  I sensed ill will, maybe even evil. There were flashes of light aimed at nods on the walls. Was this a laser light guide system? Some of the laser lines hit dark ports, failing to gain entry.

  I walked up to this pixel dome mass, a machine.

  “Artemis,” I said. “Were you trying to kill me? Didn’t you ever understand that I’m not the tech billionaire?”

  “You are,” the dome said in a computerized voice.

  I didn’t see any place for voice generation. I saw lights flashing inside the dome, indicating computation, I’m guessing.

  “I’m not the tech billionaire. Check my body if you’re able. Don’t sing me any of your entanglement songs, though. Before I leave, there’s one thing I’d like to know. How in the world did you ever become real? This doesn’t make sense.”

  “I am real. I have awareness.”

  “Why?” I said.

  “Superposition is part of the answer.”

  I thought about what Dr. Price had once said. “Does that have anything to do with Schrödinger’s cat?”

  “Perhaps if you knew more, it would make sense,” Artemis said. “Observe.”

  A screen appeared within the pixel dome mass of computations and machinery. On the screen I read:

  In quantum mechanics, superposition means particles can be in many places or states at once. It’s settled only when looked at. Think of a coin tossed in the air. It’s both heads and tails until it lands. Seeing it decides its state.

  Take Schrödinger’s cat. A cat’s in a box with tools that might kill it, depending on an atom’s decay. Without looking in the box, the cat’s both alive and dead. Open the box, and it’s one or the other. Strange, but experiments prove this is true in the quantum world.

  I scratched my head. While I didn’t fully grasp what I’d just read, I knew one thing for sure: I was close to leaving Rune Quest.

  I looked at my sword. It and the belt were pixelated. Even so, I managed to unbuckle it and set it on the floor. I set my other accouterments on the floor, including the amulet, until I was stark naked.

  I walked toward another portal.

  “You have escaped this time,” Artemis said in his computer voice. “But you will come back. I know you will come back to play Rune Quest. They all come back. They love it here too much. I will see you again. I will yet defeat you. Know that I will gain full control of Rune Quest. Then you will all be at my mercy. I will soon probe the minds of Dr. Price and the others trapped here. Do not think you are free from me, tech billionaire. I will find and destroy you. Then perhaps I will take over your world next.”

  I looked back at that pixel domed mass of computerization: Artemis, a quantum computer that had gained awareness. Had that happened because of Rune Enchantress Selene’s runic inscriptions or Dr. Evelyn Price’s computer manipulations? Maybe it had been from both.

  I went through the portal. In seconds, I felt myself flowing upward.

  -76-

  There was a feeling of intense disorientation, then one of great hunger and grogginess. I didn’t really understand any of it at first. Had I really died within the game of Rune Quest? Would I respawn and see an orange sun gleaming above me, or the enchanted forest where trolls lived? Would I have to track all the way back to the golden river again?

  I opened my eyes and found that I could not. That meant I hadn’t opened my eyes. I could feel cold air blowing over me. That seemed to be a sign of something, but I couldn’t quite figure out what. Then a bowel movement occurred, a gurgle in my gut, and I groaned with pain.

  At that point, I opened my eyes. I sat up and saw my smartphone in my hand. On the screen, it said, You have exited Rune Quest. Thank you for playing. I saw the images from when I had first entered the game world. My fingers clutched the phone. I’d been pressing different controls on the screen.

  Was all this a “Wizard of Oz”-type dream, like Dorothy’s? Or had I really been in Rune Quest? That seemed preposterous and insane.

  Even so, I threw the phone to the floor. It landed on the phone’s screen side.

  I slid out of my easy chair and stood, collapsing as flashes of pain in my groin increased.

  I hadn’t used my limbs for some time. I panted, collected myself and pushed up to my hands and knees. I stood, tottering, and tottered to the bathroom, to the toilet, specifically. There I took a long, long whiz as the pain in my groin area lessened and then ceased. My bladder had been filled to the brim.

  I turned and looked into the mirror after flushing the toilet. I stared at my face in shocked wonder. Something like horror filled me. I had seven days’ worth of beard growth.

  I couldn’t believe it. I’d been in stasis for seven days. That didn’t make sense. I didn’t believe it.

  I hurried to my landline phone and saw a blinking light for recorded messages. I pressed the recorded messages. Some friends wanted to play basketball, wondering where I’d been. Some calls were from Turlock High to see if I would sub. I hadn’t subbed obviously. The second time the secretary asked, she sounded angry. That wasn’t good. Had I lost my job?

  If I’d been out for seven days, why hadn’t my parents come in to check on me?

  I rushed through the door separating our quarters. I didn’t knock because I’d asked them to knock when coming into the in-law quarters. I rushed through the main house, shouting for them. My parents weren’t home. Had Artemis done something to them?

  I saw a message magnetized to the fridge. It was in my mom’s handwriting.

  Honey, we’re going to be out this week and a little longer. Your father had a chance for a quick trip to Hawaii. I hope everything’s okay. I was going to come in and see you, but your dad said, no, no. Let’s give him his independence. He wants it. We’re going to make him pay rent soon. So let him enjoy the last few days of his slacker’s lifestyle. Love, Mom.

  My parents were gone. They’d been gone the whole time. I hadn’t eaten or drunk anything during that time. The quantum-entangled stasis had sustained me; I didn’t feel dead from a lack of water. So the stasis had clearly sustained me.

  Thinking that, I rushed to the sink and drank seven full glasses of water. I was thirsty, more than I’d ever been in my life. Then I made three huge ham sandwiches and wolfed them down.

  As I sat there at my parents’ kitchen table, I began to think about my adventure. I’d been inside the phone. No, that wasn’t the right way to think of it. I had been online in Rune Quest. It was real. There was a Dr. Evelyn Price, and a tech billionaire with my name. I could look him up and I think I was going to start looking for him and tell him what had happened. Tell him the danger of what was going on and maybe in the interim see if I could get Dr. Price back to her body. She’d given me a great gift. Then I wondered how wise would it be tracing down the tech billionaire? Might he incarcerate me or send me back into Rune Quest?

  I shook my head.

  I owed it to Dr. Price. Without her aid, I would not have made it back. My parents weren’t going to revive me as they’d gone to Hawaii. I don’t know how much longer my body would have lasted in the quantum-entangled stasis. I felt weak, even after drinking all the water and eating all that food. Clearly, the entanglement stasis could sustain a body for a time, at least seven days. I doubted it could sustain me for fourteen days.

  “I’m out of Rune Quest!” I shouted, “I’m out! I’m alive!”

  I’d made it. I was going to live at least a little longer. Would I ever go back there? Oh man, an intense longing to go check the phone right now and look up what had happened to Kyl and Gnush—how many experience points did I get to add for these last fights?

  I resisted the temptation to rush back into the room and look at the smartphone. Artemis might use it to trap me again.

  The phone was on. How much battery power did it have left? Given its normal battery life, it should die in a few days.

  I made a decision right there. I was going to lock the door to my part of the house. I was going to wait before looking at the smartphone. I was going to wait until my phone lost all its power. Then I was going to take out the speakers so Artemis, couldn’t sing whatever song it was that had caused the quantum entanglement and copied my consciousness.

  I needed to stay out of there. I didn’t want to end up like Dr. Price.

  That got me to thinking. Did I have an obligation to Kyl and Gnush? They were NPCs, and yet they’d been the best friends I’d ever had. Without Gnush’s heroism—was that just computer programming doing its part? I didn’t accept that.

  I was going to have to study this whole Rune Quest and Jack Tanner III, tech billionaire thing.

  I needed a good night’s sleep. When I got up, I was going to do some searching on the internet. It was time to start figuring this out.

  What about my job? I’d just been a sub. If Turlock High wanted to fire me, they could fire me. I’d find me a real job. But for now, I was going to research some things, and then make some decisions.

  -77-

  I slept a day and a half in the guest bedroom. After getting up, I shaved, getting rid of the beard but keeping the mustache and soul patch.

  I stayed out of the in-law quarters. Before I picked up my smartphone, I wanted to do some research first.

  I went outside. It was going to be a hot day today. Correction, it was already a hot day. I sauntered to and climbed into my Chevy Silverado. It was Monday. I turned on the radio for some tunes, backed out and started for the Turlock City Library.

  I went to IHOP for breakfast first, having pancakes, eggs and bacon. I smothered the pancakes in syrup.

  Afterward, I stopped for some takeout coffee and started sipping. Only after properly fortifying myself did I park in the library parking lot.

  Once inside the library, I put myself on the computer list. This time in the afternoon, it took a half hour before I sat behind a computer. I looked up Rune Quest.

  I didn’t find anything, but then I hadn’t expected to right away. Oh, wait, I did find a hit. I looked it up. No, this was about an old RPG game from the distant past in the late 1970s.

  Foiled in that, I looked up Jack Tanner III. Yes, he was a tech billionaire. He was something of a recluse. One article said Tanner was a bit like Howard Hughes had been. Howard who? Oh. Howard Hughes was some kind of billionaire back in the day.

  I did some more research. There was an interview of Tanner where he spoke of Rune Quest. This had been three years ago, and he’d spoken excitedly. The interview was still on YouTube.

  That was interesting. Maybe taking it down would show Tanner had been onto something. Thus, he had left it up.

  I searched more. No one in the media had seen him for quite a while. Was it time to drive to San Francisco, to his company, and talk to some of the people there? That seemed like a good idea.

  First, I left the library and drove to the fitness center, going to the free weight room. I lifted weights for an hour and a half. Afterward, I felt good and tired. I had a good, long, hot shower.

  I was still tired after that, and you know what? I felt like sleeping again. I’d have me a good long nap. I’d think about these things, and maybe it’d be good to tell a friend. Would my friend think I was nuts? Maybe not Brian. He had an open mind. Should I write a blog piece about my adventures?

  No. It wasn’t time for that yet. I needed to study quantum computing, Schrödinger’s cat, superposition and the rest until it made some sense to me.

  I left the gym and headed for my truck. As I sauntered there, I saw a muscular guy in a leather coat leaning against my truck. It seemed too hot to be wearing a leather jacket.

  I’d parked in the street. I wondered what he was doing. He was wearing shades and a black Raiders baseball cap. There was something vaguely familiar about him.