Page 68 of The Misplaced Warrior

The sky above was a leaden gray, heavy with the promise of rain. The buildings around the square reminded Gen of the architecture she’d grown up with in medieval London. And the people, well, they were incredibly angry at her, as if she’d betrayed them somehow.

As she neared the gallows, the first fat drops were already beginning to fall, spattering against the muddy ground. Gen felt a shiver run down her spine. The wooden structure loomed before her, its beams dark and weathered with age. The noose hung limply from the crossbeam, a stark reminder of the countless lives that had been snuffed out in this very spot.

The executioner stood waiting, his face hidden beneath a black hood. His hands were gnarled and scarred, a testament to the grim work he performed day after day. As Gen mounted the steps to the platform, the jeers and taunts of the crowd grew louder, their voices blending into a discord of cruelty and anger.

Everything was happening so fast. Gen never had a moment to close her eyes and focus. She didn’t know how she’d escape this false experience that seemed absolutely real.

Too quickly she was beside the executioner. She felt the rough scratch of the rope as the noose was lowered over her head, the coarse fibers scraping against her skin. Resisting seemed futile and only pulled Gen away from where her efforts had to be.

She told herself this wasn’t real. She tried to remember the skyscraper and the way it felt. She reminded herself that this was a nightmare, an illusion meant to destroy her from the inside out.

But she failed to make the reality disappear. As the executioner straightened the rope around her neck, about to pull it tight, she realized that this experience was winning. The sudden pressure against her throat made her gasp for breath…and it felt so real.

The world seemed to narrow to a single point, the distant horizon blurring and fading as the reality of her impending death settled over her like a suffocating blanket.

In that moment of utter despair, when her mind seemed to be working against her, Gen figured it out. She was behaving like this experience was real. By going along with it, she was endorsing it. But all she had to do was fight it with a stubbornness that would prove it was false.

Gen yanked her head back, pulling it free from the still loose rope. She jerked out of the hands of the guards. Looked at them with pure conviction. And then she did what no one would dare to do in that situation. Gen simply ran forward, and leapt from the gallows, believing she was free because it wasn’t real.

When Gen landed, it wasn’t on the muddy earth of the ground. It was on the dirty carpet of the twentieth floor. The vision of the gallows and the village square disappeared at once and Gen was left, alone, looking around alone at her true reality.

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

VIRTUALLY UNSTOPPABLE

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

You did it, Emperor said with relief in her mind.

She glanced over her shoulder at the hovering dragon, stationed dutifully by the open area. Barely, but mercifully, I figured out how to break free.

Now break that, he said, nodding ahead and directing his gaze up.

Gen turned, looking toward the ceiling. She saw what Emperor was referring to. High above where the false ceiling was supposed to be, there were beams. Attached to the bottom of one was a large black box with strobing lights running across it. That was exactly how Alicia had described the hub.

It’s too high for me to reach, Gen said, looking around for something long.

And it’s too central for me to get to or blast it with fire, Emperor stated.

Gen studied the pieces of equipment abandoned on the floor, but none of it would extend high enough to reach the hub, broadcasting the virtual reality. And they were running out of time before it tried to suck her back into another false experience. She had to figure out something and quickly.

Alicia said I couldn’t use magic, but are we sure? she questioned, her pulse racing.

It’s not worth the risk, Emperor answered. It could backfire, she said. It could make it so that the virtual reality is overly powerful and something you can’t break free of.

Gen nodded. Yeah, magitech has its temperamental nature.

But you have something magical that you could use, Emperor said with sudden excitement, like an idea just occurred to him.

Gen knew exactly what he meant at once. Her eyes widened with eagerness as she dug into her pocket and withdrew Bellumferrum. The small black cube looked so unsuspecting in her fingers. Effortlessly, she communicated her intentions to it, telling the Weapon of War that she wanted to destroy the hub as efficiently and quickly as possible.

Like a dutiful ally, the obsidian cube covered in runes transformed at once, growing large and into an odd shape. However, Gen’s hands rearranged until she was holding what Bellumferrum silently told her was a crossbow.

Perfect, Emperor said in her head. Now aim and shoot.

Although Gen hadn’t fired one of these weapons before, she had some insights on how to use it based on the brief instructions that Bellumferrum communicated to her effortlessly using their psychic link. She did as she’d been told by the Weapon of War and her dragon and aimed the crossbow at the large black box. Drew in a breath and then pulled the trigger as she let out the air in her lungs.

The bolt carefully set into the crossbow’s flight groove released. It spiraled through the air, hitting the hub with an intense force. The sharp point of the bolt pierced the black box, sticking into it deeply. At first nothing happened and Gen prepared to fire the crossbow again. However, she didn’t know how to reload it.

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