Page 66 of The Misplaced Warrior

Just remember that what you see from the VR will be a false reality, he implored. At first it will take over but you’ve got to break free using your mind.

But you’ll be able to help me, right? she questioned.

That’s unclear, her dragon replied. This is new territory. I’ll be monitoring you from the outside but I may not be able to communicate with you at times. That might be a part of the virtual reality controls. It could block your mind from outside communications. You must ground yourself now in this reality. Think of it like dreaming. When you fall asleep and have a nightmare, you can wake yourself up if you take control. Or you can allow it to terrify you. I’m afraid what will happen if you don’t break free.

Like it will give me a heart attack from fear, she guessed.

Like it could make you do something irrational when you’re fighting a false reality, he imparted. Just stay lucid. And I’ll try and help how I can.

Gen gulped. Nodded. Started forward.

The doors to the building were vast panels of glass smeared with the dust of neglect and stood ajar. She stepped inside, her boots crunching on a carpet of debris littered with twisted bits of metal, shards of glass and scraps of plaster. The air inside was stale, thick with the scent of rust and the unpleasant smell of chemical residues—which were like strange potions and concoctions unknown in Gen’s time.

Overhead, what would have been the ceiling was instead an open unfinished area full of beams and wires. The air from the neighboring streets whipped through the area. It was strange to Gen to be inside a building and also outside with the elements trespassing into the space. The whole building felt like a sad abandoned dream, but that thought reminded her that she couldn’t get swept away when the virtual reality started. She had to remember that it was all an illusion.

As she ventured further, her path was illuminated by the intermittent glow of work lamps abandoned by workers who might never return. Gen suspected that Charlie Sloane had left them on. Did he know that she was there? She suspected that if he didn’t then he would soon.

These strange torches were ensconced in wire cages that cast eerie shadows on the raw concrete walls and the giant metal beams that crisscrossed like the ribs of a giant beast. Construction equipment like large, iron monsters with wheels and levers, sat dormant. To Gen, they seemed like resting dragons, cold and silent, waiting for a rider to wake them.

Navigating deeper into the building’s insides, Gen encountered what appeared to be a lift. It was a small room enclosed by a metal grid that hung ominously open. She eyed it warily, recalling the tales of cages used to lower traitors into dungeons during her time. The wind whispered through the open structure, carrying with it the distant sounds of the city, blending with the occasional clang of metal from the building swaying gently with the breeze.

This ghostly shell of a tower, with its exposed innards and abandoned tools, was a far cry from any construction Gen had known in the 15th century, where stone and wood were painstakingly shaped by hand. Here, in the heart of a city that never truly slept, she found herself enveloped in the eerie stillness of a monument to halted progress, its very atmosphere a relic amidst the life outside.

Finding the stairs, Gen progressed to the second floor. She didn’t dare trust the metal cage known as an elevator. And she didn’t mind climbing fifty-three stories if that meant she didn’t crash to her death.

Gen didn’t know what she’d find on the next floors, but she braced herself for the false reality. All she had to do was find the hub that Alicia described and destroy it. Then she’d be that much closer to stopping Charlie Sloane—but first she had one very important question for him.

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

THE PIRATE’S VIRTUAL AMBUSH

Oceanwide Plaza Tower 1, Downtown Los Angeles, California, United States

When Gen had climbed several stories, not finding anything but abandoned tools and unfinished walls, she started to wonder if Alicia had been wrong. Maybe this wasn’t where Charlie Sloane was stationed, protected by virtual reality magitech and ready to broadcast a controlling signal into the homes of the people of the city.

Any ideas about this place? Gen asked her dragon in her head, knowing he was close by, keeping watch for her. Do you think that we could be in the wrong location?

Absolutely not, Emperor answered at once. I sense Charlie Sloane’s thoughts and something very sinister. Just remember who you are dealing with.

Gen nodded, reaching another abandoned floor of the unfinished skyscraper. She was getting so high that she could see out at the city around her since most of the exterior walls were absent and mostly just a framework.

The bare concrete and exposed beams were a stark contrast to the bustling city beyond the perimeter of the building. On each level, Gen was forced to break away from the stairwell and inspect, looking for the hub. Alicia thought that it would be somewhere between the first and twenty-fifth level in order to serve as a security guard to keep out invaders.

Cautiously, Gen moved further into the space of the tenth floor just as she’d done on the others below. However, this time, something was different. The air around her shimmered and shifted, the hard edges of reality softening into something altogether different. This was it and she reminded herself that what she saw next would not be real. But more importantly, she had to break free from the illusion. Gen had to wake herself up, seeing with her own eyes and shaking away the false dream of the virtual reality.

As swift as dusk falls, the construction site vanished around Gen. The cluttered unfinished floor below her fell away. It was instantly replaced by the weathered deck of a great sailing ship, its planks worn smooth by countless years of wind and waves. The ship where she’d found herself was cutting through rough seas and what she experienced next felt like the realest thing ever.

The salt spray stung Gen’s face as it shot off the choppy waters and over the side of the ship. The briny scent of the ocean filled her lungs with each breath which she was sucking in fast, her heart palpitating suddenly. The sun beat down from a cloudless sky, its heat softened by the cool breeze that snapped at the ship’s sails.

However, the tranquility of the moment was shattered by a shout from the crow’s nest of the rocking ship. Gen stiffened herself, trying to keep her balance as she glanced up to where the lookout was stationed. His voice was high and urgent against the crash of the waves. Gen spun, her eyes widening as she saw the pirate ship bearing down on them, its hull painted a deep, menacing black and its flag snapping in the wind like a serpent’s tongue.

Even though Gen knew in the back of her mind that this wasn’t real, it was hard to convince herself of that entirely. Everything in that moment felt exactly as it should. The smells, the sights, the way the ship moved under her, the urgency beating in her veins. And before she knew it, she was swept into a scene she couldn’t find a way out of.

The deck beneath her feet shuddered as the first volley of cannonballs struck the ship’s side. She was on a boat and it was under attack! The impact sent a shower of splinters and debris flying through the air. Gen hit the deck hard, her chin taking the brunt of the impact. She wondered instantly how it hurt so badly if this wasn’t real.

Her mind reached out to Emperor, her lifeline to reality, but he wasn’t there. She felt his absence as much as she sensed the realness of the wood underneath her. Panic raced through Gen’s mind as she worried for her connection to her dragon. But then she had other, more immediate concerns.

The force of the impact made Gen roll across the deck. She took cover behind a stack of crates as musket balls whizzed overhead, their passage marked by the painful thuds and the cries of wounded men. Not only did Gen not know what to do in this situation, she didn’t know what she was fighting.

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