Chapter 169 - 165: Risking It All

System rallies and sends a shockwave my way. My bones rattle and my fur ignites. AAAAGH!

The pain is so intense that I leave my avatar for a second and drift. I don't return to my body on Earth. Instead, pulsating vortex opens up and I'm pulled into it...

Only to wind up back in my tiger body. In Tanglewood.

But something is very different. I'm not in the Riddlehoeven villa.

Where am I? Well, "prison with antiques" would be an apt description.

Viscount Rossa and his lady, Rosabel, glare at me in the hallway of a sterile, cold mansion that looks like it's never known any emotion. "Hop to it, beast! Training started five minutes ago. If you want to eat, you'll go with us."

My limbs move automatically. Why am I complying? My fur looks dull and dry. And what's this? Scars and bruises and scabs.

[Lightning!]

Nothing. I might as well be yelling into a void.

[Lobo!]

Again, nothing.

[Gussie? Peridot? Demos? Einswine?]

Still nothing. Just nothingness. This must be how oblivion feels. Living death.

Pain wracks my body. The bite of a whip makes me run faster to get to my inevitable grim destination. What have I come to?

[Master...]

Viscount Rossa sounds and smells smug. [And Mistress. Or did you forget we both own you?]

Barf. [How could I, my lord?]

[That's right. Now that the Riddlehoevens have gone down in disgrace, and the Lammermoors fallen, and the rest of their beasts sent to new masters, we are your world.]

I roar my head off. [NO! Get me out of here! This isn't real!]

Ahead, impossibly, I see a glimmering mushroom. Shades of Alice in Wonderland and the 1960s. I run for it, pushing my shaky spindly tiger legs to the limit. Nerving myself, I take a bite out of the mushroom. It tastes earthy. Real.

FLASH.

I'm back in the arena, and the black and silver entity is in its death throes. YES! System's last-ditch illusion failed to work as planned.

[Nice try, System. But your time is up.]

The arena flashes and dances and begins to fade under the sheer power of our combined efforts. Our combined will.

Mushroom Man calls out, "It is working!"

I feel myself leaving my tiger body. Lobo and Lightning gasp. Every player animal shimmers. We are officially returning home.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

System's black and white phantasm fractures, glitchcore, becoming a pathetic lattice of dark energy. My fading sense of smell can detect decay and death. Digital decay and death.

"HOW?"

A display message appears. [Victory! Game Over]

Kaline has the last word in the game. "We are united. We are one. The bond between tamer and beast is one you can never, ever break. That is why you lost!"

Oh, Kaline. How I'll miss you.

System screams as it disappears.

Deafening cheers echo in the arena. Mushroom Man booms, "The fiend has been vanquished! TANGLEWOOD IS FREE! Beast taming will happen, free of its influence!"

Lobo woofs. [I wish we could cheer, but that isn't in the game.]

[System knows. We've said plenty.]

My fur shimmers and ripples like water. I can even see the pixels. I can see Lightning's pixellated form vanishing, and Lobo's, and Demos', and Gussie's. Leonie and Finn have already vanished, absorbed into Lightning.

My cubs. I nearly get a chance to lick them before they are gone.

Dag and Peridot and Einswine fade, likewise Ophion and Zuba.

Kaline is transparent. Vedette too. Minette and Lamant hold each other. Hans lingers near Kaline. Elandior, Maartenwitz, and Niall slowly fade.

The game is shutting down.

On the screens, the e-sports tournament has finished, but I don't know what the outcome is. All I know is this world that's breaking apart. Individual color blocks are pulling apart from each other. Scenery is fading.

I'm going to be gone soon. Goodbye, Tanglewood. Goodbye, friends.

Mushroom Man says, "Thank you to our brave heroes." His eyes are on me, lingering like the Cheshire Cat's grin while he dissolves.

FLASH.

* * * * *

My mouth is parched. The fluorescent lights in the hospital room seems to pierce my eyes. The tablet falls from my hands when I sit up in bed.

"It's done!"

Mama's voice echoes in the room with a joyful ring. Blinking, I see her put down her own tablet, and Dad also stows his away.

As for Damon and Amber, they put theirs away too, relieved to be unshackled.

"Well..." Damon smiles, hugging me. "You look better."

His brotherly hug envelops me, and all I can do is hold him. In gratitude. In brotherly love. In complete contentment. I had forgotten how good it feels to hold my brother.

Next, Mama replaces Damon, her arms enfolding me. "Oh, my son. You're home!"

Wheeling a blood pressure machine into the room, the nurse blinks, surprised. "Not home yet, Mrs. Lyonne. He is awake. But he's been a sick man."

Mama smiles. "I just meant what you said. That he's awake."

Adjusting my pillow, she winks at me.

Amber asks, "Can he have more than juice and gelatin now? He needs real food."

"He was in a coma for sixteen days, Young Miss," the nurse replies. "His stomach is unused to food. He was on an IV drip. We have to be gentle. Soon he could be transferred to the Cardiac Unit and an actual patient room."

Technicians wheel in ECG and ultrasound machines, running a battery of tests. My family steps out of the room.

I try the mind-link as an experiment. [Lobo...]

Nothing.

[Lightning...]

Nothing.

[Mushroom Man...]

Still nothing.

Tanglewood is over.

The technicians react, stunned. "Are you seeing this?" one asks the other.

"I see it, but I don't believe it. We have a miracle on our hands."

Doctors rush in and ask me dozens of questions. They consult with the nurses. Then, they call in my parents. There are too many people for Amber and Damon to be here.

"It's a miracle," one of the doctors tells Mama and Dad. "No damage to his heart. It's as if it's healed. No stents needed."

I feel that tiger energy so strongly. Maybe this is Mushroom Man's final gift.

We won!