Chapter The Recruiting Game

Spokes clambered up the gnarled Tree trying to get abetter view of the vast horde across the river. Michael was perched on a branchthat looked too slender to hold him, but he sat as quiet and steady as an owlamongst the rustling leaves.

“What are you doing up here, Michael?”

He looked down at her and she saw tears glistening inhis shining eyes. “This is the end Spokes. The corruption across the river istoo great for us to resist. It is hopeless.”

Spokes hauled herself onto a branch beneath him,balancing herself with both hands and looked out over the plane. The army inthe distance swarmed over the ground for as far as she could see. She lookeddown at the frightened recruits milling around at the base of the Tree and sheknew that Michael was right.

“We must fight.” She said firmly.

“Yes. We have no choice.” His resigned tone broughthome the futility of the situation and Spokes suddenly felt weak and nearlylost her grip on the branch that was keeping her balance.

“Is there anything we can do?”

“The Gazetteer is more powerful than we are, Spokes.And wiser. All we can do is fight as bravely as we can.”

Spokes nodded and, gazing out over the vast army, sheresolved to make herself count for at least twenty of their number.

Michael unexpectedly slipped off his branch and landedlightly on the bough next to her.

“I sense something. Something I have not felt since…Stay here and tell the old man that I must go for a time. I will be back.”

“Where are you going? Can I help?”

“No, you must stay and help the old man. He needssupport now. We will not win this battle without him. Please do as I ask,Francine.”

Spokes frowned at the use of her real name, butsomehow it convinced her that Michael knew a lot more about these things thanshe did. She nodded. “Good luck.”

A sudden cacophony of baying and crashing made herlook up. Something had excited the beasts and warriors of the army across theriver. Spokes wondered what new monstrosity they would be faced with now.Surely there was nothing more terrible than what was already there.

But something had changed, and it took Spokes a fewseconds to realise what it was. She looked up and saw what appeared to be abright star shining in the sky.

“What is it?”

Michael was staring at the bright new arrival. “I donot know. Whatever it is I know not what it signifies.”

The black army had not stopped its howling. “They seemto be pleased to see it.” Spokes said glumly.

“I must go. This is a sign for something. Perhaps itis the beginning of the battle. Take care of the old man.”

Spokes nodded and watched Michael gallop down the hilland away from black horde. She suddenly felt very alone and trapped.

The bright light in the sky grew steadily to outshinethe sun and the creatures over the river continued their hooting and wailing,whipping themselves up into a frenzy as the enormous fiery ball got brighterand nearer. As it grew Spokes squinted at it, sure that she could see awrithing face peering from within the fire, looking down onto the battlefield.

“It comes.” The Gazetteer had roused himself and stoodat Spokes’ shoulder. “If only I had seen it sooner.” Spokes looked at the oldman and saw real emotion where she had never seen it before. He suddenly seemedhuman now, perhaps because his infallibility was now so sorely threatened.

“What is it?”

“The humans call it Geigerzalion.”

“But he helped Josh expel the Doge from Vienopolis.”

“No.” He shook his head sadly. “He deceived us all. Hefooled even me. We thought we were luring him out, but he’s just been waitingfor this moment. How could I have been so blind?” The old man rubbed his eyes.“I should never have allowed Josh to be approached so early. Reckless humanplan.”

“Josh? What’s he got to do with it?”

“Everything. And yet he doesn’t know it. N’rinde’splan was to step aside and let Geigerzalion show his true colours before he wasready to face our full might. It seems, however, that he has always beenready.”

“But it’s not Josh’s fault.”

“Oh no. Of course not. He’s innocent and he’s not theonly one. Every one of those poor souls out there has been corrupted byGeigerzalion. They were helpless to resist.”

Spokes looked out over the frenzied horde dancingaround in the light of the blazing fireball.

“You’re quite the inspirational leader. First you tellme that it’s hopeless and you’re rubbish. And then you try to make me feelsorry for our enemies. That’s really helpful.”

The old man looked sharply at her and for an instantshe thought that she had overstepped an arcane line, but then his face crumpledinto a genuine smile. “Humour! Ha. Nothing sets you humans apart from yourfellow animals more completely.”

Spokes smiled back relieved and after a moment theywere both laughing under Geigerzalion’s descending fireball. She looked up atit and could now clearly see the tormented face within it. She followed itsfall through the sky and realised that it was going to impact somewhere withinthe monstrous army. Then it crashed into the ground, heaving up earth andbodies alike and sending out shuddering ripples of impact.

The battlefield fell eerily silent.

An alabaster-white figure hauled itself out of thecrater the fireball had made. It stood three times as tall as the tallestcreature within the fell army and shone out like a beacon against the evilblackness that surrounded it, intensifying its terrifying presence.

It had horns like a bull and folded hooked wings onits back. It suddenly threw back its great head and let forth a thunderous roarthat split the air like thunder. Quickly the dark army trumpeted its responseand the battleground was once more filled with raucous sound.

“So it begins.” The Gazetteer said as the first linesof creatures started to splash through the river towards them. “Are you readyFrancine?”

Spokes had drawn herself to her full height and stoodwith her hands ablaze with blue fire. “I am ready.”

The first wave of attackers ploughed into theGazetteer’s unprepared army like a wrecking ball. Most of the defenders didn’tknow what was going on and allowed themselves to be mown down without a fight,others tried to flee and were caught and dragged down quickly. A desperate few foughtbravely, but in the face of that terrible onslaught there were just not enoughof them.

Spokes was fighting on the frontline and a knot ofhardy resistance had built up around her spurred on by her fearsome skill. Shewas like a dervish, defending her comrades as well as striking down some of themore formidable of the attacking horde. Her blazing hands shone out brightly inthe chaos of the battle.

The Gazetteer, too, managed to create some smallpockets of defiance. His powerful arms crashed through his enemies and more ofthe small army began to be inspired by his ferocious example.

For every bestial warrior she struck down, however,two more would crowd in to replace it and whenever one of her compatriots fell,there was no one to take his or her place. Occasionally she would drag herattention away from the battle for a second, hoping to see Michael returning,but he was never there.

The battle started to take the form of swelling musicplaying faster towards a climax. The dark army would attack only to befrantically repelled by the dwindling defenders, with each wave crashing nearerthe Tree. Spokes understood this rhythm from the thousands of games andsimulations she had played online. She knew that this type of onslaught couldnot be opposed forever. For all the lunatic wildness of the enemy there was aperfect order to their tactics.

Spokes braced herself for the next wave when a heavyhand fell on her shoulder.

“You shouldn’t have come here alone.” DoomLord toweredabove her. “We can help out in this type of situation.” He swung his great axearound his head. Bandicoot was crouching by his side with a grin balancedunsteadily on his lips.

“You shouldn’t have come.” She scolded the monkey.

“You need us.” Bandicoot said simply and pointed outat the black sea of warriors that swarmed beyond the river. “And this is nogame, is it?”

Spokes shook her head. “It’s good to see both of you.Prepare your strength. We need to hold out as long as we can.” She saw theirresolve stiffen and couldn’t stop herself from smiling.

DoomLord and Bandicoot forged forward to begin with,only to be overrun by sheer weight of numbers. They were battered back andSpokes could feel fatigue slowing her reactions and dulling her strength. Theywere defending an ever shrinking island around the Tree, within the sea of thedark army.

Spokes gave up hoping for Michael to return. After thearrival of DoomLord and Bandicoot, a few other exotic individuals had arrivedwhich had boosted their strength for a time. She had fought next to a beingseemingly comprised solely of crawling insects and a mound of moss was stillshambling about the battlefield dealing out damp death. She had used her angerand desperation to spur her on for a time, but those feelings were quicklybeing replaced by hopelessness and fear.

A jagged sword swung around towards DoomLord’s back asSpokes tried to fend off a growling dogman. She span around trying to knock theblade off course, but only managed to divert it a fraction. It bit into thearmoured warrior’s back.

DoomLord fell forward trying to reach the sword thatnow protruded from his back. He dropped to his knees and then keeled over ontohis face into the battle-churned mud. Spokes wanted to help him, but knew thatit was too late. She knew that this was the final straw of the battle.

A whooshing noise from the sky momentarily froze thebattle. Spokes looked up, trying to make out what was within the broilingclouds. What new terror could there be? The enemy didn’t need any more help.

Toby stood in the snow staring at the mountains surrounding them, trying tofind a pass through to somewhere else, but cliffs rose up almost verticallywithout breach around the entire valley. Rose was sitting on a snow coveredrock meditating.

Occasionally the Vrealm would lurch sickeningly andToby thought each one was the end. So far, after a couple of seconds ofdisorientating randomness the world around them would reform into the samefreezing valley.

A shining figure appeared from behind Rose’s rock. Tobywas so surprised he fell over and felt the snow soak instantly through histrousers.

“Michael? How…”

“You’re not safe here Toby. We must leave now.”

“Yes, we know. We’re trapped.”

Michael only then seemed to notice Rose. He stared ather for a few seconds and Toby felt a tangible tension develop in the air. Hetried to look beneath the visuals, but could not see anything other than thecold valley.

“She’s my friend Michael.”

The tension dissipated immediately. “Very well. Thatis enough.”

Rose slid off the rock. Her eyes betrayed the silentstruggle that she just been involved in. “I just tried to see how his avatarwas constructed. I didn’t mean any harm.” She whispered.

Michael touched their elbows and suddenly the worldjuddered into chaos. Toby wasn’t sure whether it was Michael’s method oftransportation or if the world had finally collapsed. He felt a surge of heatenvelope him.

They reappeared in a sleek control room, populated bysurprised looking military personnel. Toby and Rose didn’t have time to movebefore they were looking down the barrels of a host of futuristic weapons.Michael was quicker though and with a nonchalant flick of his wrist the gunsdissolved into smoke.

“What in the name of Sam Hill is going on here?” Anoverweight officer blustered. “What do you think you’re doing on my base?”

Rose now made a complicated gesture with her hands andtime seemed to stop as all the people and blinking lights suddenly froze.

“This is Moonbase Delta.” Rose looked aboutwonderingly. “My first online game. Wow. I didn’t think this was still going.”

“Then you must be Rose Cormack. I apologise for myrudeness before. I thought you were intruding into my person. You arepowerful.”

“Oh that’s alright. But how come you were there torescue us?”

“That Vrealm was my miserable home for many years. Iknew it was about to collapse and I sensed you there. I owe Toby my freedom.”

“Well we’re even now, Michael.” Toby grinned, butMichael did not return even a smile.

“Forgive me Toby, but I must leave. You will be safehere.”

“Where are you going?”

“There is a battle about to commence. I cannot leavemy friends to fight it alone.”

“We’ll help.” Toby and Rose said together and thenMichael did smile.

“You would make little difference and it would rendermy rescue pointless.”

“Well, what about these guys?” Toby said indicatingthe frozen officer and his men. “Can’t we take these players to this VigridPlane? I bet they’d love to help.”

Michael stared at Toby and a luminous smile broke outon his face.

“We will need to convince them to come and then open aconnection to Vigrid Plane. I think with Rose’s skill and my power we should becapable of doing it, but I am not sure whether we will be able to recruitthem.”

“Are you kidding?” Toby burst out. “These guys’ll jumpat the chance. But this is too small. Can you take us to Shiver?”

Without a word Michael laid a gentle hand on theirshoulders and with a shudder that made Toby’s stomach lurch they were standingatop the highest turret of a castle surrounded by a dark forest. Below themfast moving shapes darted along the battlements zapping each other withpowerful oversized weapons.

Rose raised her arms above her head and closed hereyes. Michael still had his hand on her shoulder and Toby could sense himlending her his strength.

The Vrealm stuttered. Primitive triangles explodedfrom the reality around them and cascaded into the distance leaving nothing butthe players suspended in white nothingness.

“Hey!”

“OMG.”

“Has it crashed?”

Distance voices replaced the sounds of battle.

Rose slumped to the ground, exhausted by the effort ofdestroying a world.

“Do not log out.” Rose’s voice was crystal clear. “Youhave reached the ultimate level of Shiver.”

“What?”

“Cooooooool!”

“Who’s that?”

“I am Rose Cormack and I have a bonus level for youall. A hidden Easter egg within Shiver that only you will ever play.”

The players who were left were gradually floatingnearer. More and more appeared as the people already online rang their friendsand told them about this strange new development in the world of Shiver.

“There is a battle raging in a place called VigridPlane between the forces of good and evil. The ravening horde of eviloutnumbers the besieged army of goodness by a thousand to one. They need yourhelp.”

“Can we fight for evil?”

“Sounds a bit boring.”

“Bring back Shiver.”

Toby saw some of the players winking out of the game.He was a gamer and he knew that Rose was not telling them what they wanted tohear. He stepped forward.

“This is your only chance to play this. You’ll be theonly people on the planet to play the secret game that Rose has been working onfor five years. The gameplay’s unbelievable, and the graphics are so goodyou’ll think you’re really there.” He hoped he didn’t sound too pleading.

“Is it Vienopolis?” Someone ventured.

Rose started to shake her head, but Toby quicklyelbowed her in her ethereal ribs. “Er…yes.” She said uncertainly, but thenwarmed to her subject. “Yes. I have spent five years developing this projectand I can tell you that you won’t be disappointed with your experiences.However, we’re wasting time. If you want to come follow my friend.”

As soon as Rose affirmed the rumour about Vienopolis,the mutterings and murmuring took on a reverential tone, followed by an excitedchatter when the means of access was revealed.

Rose winked at Toby. “Well done. I get a bit carriedaway by the blurb writers sometimes.”

Toby grimaced apologetically. “Yeah, I know. Yourgames are always brilliant, but the storylines are sometimes a bit weak.”

Rose laughed. “Well, I bet you can’t evaluateRunge-Kutta Fourth Order equations in your head!”

Toby didn’t respond. He was watching Michael opening arift in the fabric of nothingness around them. He could see nothing beyond thedarkness, but the first warrior avatars leapt through without hesitation.

And so Toby, Rose andMichael hopped between other online games recruiting Samurai, space marines,pirates and all manner of other warriors.

Eventually, after Toby andRose had exhausted their list of appropriate games and convinced Michael thatthey needed to fight too, they set off for Vigrid Plane themselves. Toby foundhimself spinning through a multicoloured vortex of swirling light. He gave uptrying to keep himself upright and just let himself get buffeted along. Roseglided along next to him, occasionally glancing excitedly at him.

A haze appeared before them for a second and thensuddenly they flew out into the air. Below them stretching for as far as theeye could see was a gargantuan army made up of beasts and creatures fromnightmare.

Gravity pulled Toby downwards until he remembered thathe had some control over his environment and he slowed his descent.

An enormous tree grew at the top of a small rise wherehe could see tiny figures battling against the terrible army. He steeredhimself into their midst like a parachutist. Rose spiralled down with him andthey landed lightly within defender’s circle of protection.

Most of the other floating troops were not so lucky.They fell amongst the ravening horde and were quickly overpowered and draggeddown under the seething mass of bodies.

Toby stared in horror as the army he and Rose hadmustered was scattered and destroyed throughout the battlefield. He didn’t havetime to dwell on it though as a monstrous bear stomped past a line of thedefenders and swung a huge paw at him. He dodged quickly, trying to concentrateon moving smoothly and simply. The bear belied its bulk and changed directiongracefully and trapped Toby in its enormous forearms.

Hairy arms appeared around the bear’s neck and itroared with anger, letting Toby go and trying to dislodge its new assailant.Toby staggered back and saw a huge monkey perched on the bear’s back.

“Bandicoot!” He cried over the noise.

Suddenly howls of rage and confusion erupted from theareas where the new arrivals had landed and the battle entered new levels ofchaos. It seemed that every time one of the warriors from Shiver was killed, itrespawned somewhere else on the battlefield.

A blood soaked warrior appeared in blaze of greenlight just in front of Toby. “You were right. This is amazing.” He grinned anddived full length at the bear.

Toby clambered up the slope of the hill to the tree toget a better view of what was going on. He looked out over the battle and saweverywhere that the dark army was being beaten back by the nimble fingeredgamers. They had managed to group together into small clans, and were busytrying to fight their way to each other.

The clans grew, joined by ninjas or Indians or evenmore exotic warriors from fantastical realms, until soon the area around thetree stretched all the way to the edge of the river.

Toby saw a great white demon stomping towards thefront line, tossing its own troops out of its way with nonchalant ease.

It bellowed a challenge as it approached and instantlyfour clans attacked it. Its terrible claws ripped and slashed at theseattackers cutting them to ribbons and even the most powerful of the blastingweapons from Shiver just seemed to bounce off the creature’s leathery hide.

There was a lull in the fighting as everyone watchedto see the outcome of this encounter. Another couple of clans launched theirown attacks on the demon and then it unleashed its lethal breath. A wide beamof bright gases shot out from its mouth and vaporised everything in its path.

Toby waited for them to respawn somewhere, but theydid not return. The clans became more circumspect in their attacks, althoughthere were always enough volunteers to tackle it as they all seemed determinedto get the glory of killing the level boss.

None of those that attacked survived however and thetide of the battle began to change once more.

The black army swarmed back across the river.

Josh brought the spear up in front of him. It feltheavy and he couldn’t stop it from wavering in his trembling hands.

“You’re dead.”

The Doge looked down at his robed body and shook hishead. “No. I’m very much alive thanks to you.”

Josh glanced down at the sea crashing against therocks and edged forwards slightly. He had a spear, while the Doge, howeverterrifying he seemed, was unarmed.

“I saw you die.”

“Oh, no.” The Doge laughed sneeringly. “You set mefree. That iron ball that I took from you was designed to take me out of thatdreadfully dull simulation. Geigerzalion thought I would be much more useful inthe real world.”

“The real world?” Josh said weakly.

“Oh yes, back to your precious real world. And it wasall made possible by your idiot friend, the Gazetteer.” The Doge barked aferocious laugh. “Oh you should see your face Joshua. You look quite simple.”

He could take it no longer. With all the strength hecould muster he lunged forward, slashing the spear wildly. The Doge easilysidestepped this attack and tripped him over. Josh stumbled to the ground,across the spear with the tip almost poking him in the eye.

“Oh that would be just too perfect. Be careful of thatblade, Joshua. It looks dangerous.”

“I’ll kill you.” Josh could feel the hate andfrustration boiling up inside him. His anger overpowered his fear and he rolledhimself around and onto his feet. He thought he saw a flicker of surprise playacross the Doge’s taunting expression.

“No. You can’t kill me. But I will certainly kill you.And your father and your annoying little girlfriend.”

“What have they got to do with this?”

“You really still don’t know who I am do you? Howyou’ve helped me? Are you really that stupid?” And as he spoke his voicechanged. Josh did not understand what was going on, but then the Doge changedhis appearance and standing before him was the tall figure of Sir Trevor.

“Ta dah! Surprised?”

Josh said nothing; the sudden strength he had gainedfrom his fury drained away.

“You’ve been very useful so far Joshua. We couldn’thave got this far without you.”

Josh felt sick. “What do you mean? I haven’t helpedyou.”

“Oh, but you have. And you know it. In fact you’reresponsible for everything. You see, when your ‘all powerful’ Gazetteer foundout that Tech-Tonic was conducting their abominable experiments on children hedecided to punish Sir Trevor in the only direct way he could, by entering hismind.”

“So? He’s already told me that. You deserved it.” Joshspat bitterly.

“I’m not Sir Trevor, you stupid boy. Although I’vebeen living in his odious body for the past few days. You enabled mytransportation from Vienopolis directly into his broken mind. He’s still inhere somewhere, although he’s not quite the razor sharp intellect he once was.”

“You’re the Doge.” Josh said flatly.

“Finally. The dimwit gets it.”

“But Geigerzalion…”

“Oh, I wouldn’t trust him, Josh. He’s behind all this.He’s been plotting against you and your cherished Trinity Vale for eons.”

“But why?”

“Because he hates it. Because it is the reason that hewas left here for billions of years.”

“That’s not our fault. I thought he needed help.”Josh’s voice was quiet. A sickly sense of what he had done began to creep uphis spine.

“He did need it to free me, but once I was controllingSir Trevor’s body, you became expendable. I got us to Machu Picchu andreenergised the spaceship. The only reason you’re here is because Geigerzalionhas left me the pleasure of destroying you.”

“Why doesn’t he do it himself?”

“Oh, he’s got far more important things to do thankill a silly little boy. As we speak his power is growing and he has taken tothe field to destroy your puny Gazetteer and his hopeless rabble.”

Josh could feel his forearms burning with the effort of holding the spear up.He knew it was futile anyway, his last attack had ended with him sprawled onthe ground, and so he began to let the weapon drop.

Instantly Sir Trevor leapt towards him and only adesperate lunge took Josh and the spear out of the reach of those graspinghands. He steadied himself and stared at his attacker.

He was almost unrecognisable now as Sir Trevor, as darktaloned claws had taken the place of hands and wiry spines replaced his hair.His eyes had become multifaceted and his skin stretched tauter and black acrosshis bones. He ripped the cloth of his well tailored suit away to reveal smallerappendages growing from his torso. When the metamorphosis was complete it threwback its arms and screeched at the sky.

Josh staggered backwards and fell once more. Hecouldn’t take his eyes off the terrible beast that had appeared before him. Itwas the most frightening thing he had ever imagined: a humanoid-arachnid demonwith blazing eyes from a dream long forgotten. His heart thumped wildly in hischest and he felt the spear drop from his hands.

The beast saw the opening and sprang forward againwith blinding speed, hissing. Its mouth was still mostly human, but the teethwithin were like needles. It grasped Josh’s shoulders and tossed him into theair like a doll.

“You are defeated, Joshua. You are weak.”

Josh landed heavily. His head cracked against therocky floor and tears blurred his vision. The spider beast stooped to lift upthe spear.

“Leave it. Just leave it alone.” Josh blurted out.

The creature scuttled around with the spear grasped inone of its smaller hands. “So there is still spirit within you. How delightful.”For all its terrible physical changes the monster still retained a human voiceand this incongruity made the words seem even more sinister.

Josh fought against his fear and managed to regain hisfeet again. The monster backed away and brandished the spear.

“I’ll just borrow this if you don’t mind.”

Josh’s mind heaved. Suddenly the island around himcame sharply into focus. He knew that in some way this place was his mind andeverything in it had been conjured from his imagination. And the spider monsterbelonged there too.

“I know what you are.”

“Really? At long last, you’ve worked it all out? Well,it’s about time.”

“Yes. It’s the only way you could have known totransform into one of my nightmares.”

“You’re just predictable.”

“No. You know what I fear, because you are my fear.”

The monster looked uncertain and Josh pressed on. “Andif I can beat my fear then I can overcome you.”

The thing that had been Sir Trevor chuckled throatily.“You’re right of course. I am your fear. And your anger and frustration. Youcreated me after your mummy died. Do you remember throwing those emotions away?Exiling me?” The creature advanced on Josh now, his insectile face comingcloser and closer. “You threw me into Trinity Vale where I was almost consumed.But I survived and escaped to Vienopolis where I bided my time.”

The creature half turned away and Josh felt a surge ofconfidence. All he had to do was master his fear and anger and he could defeatthis monster.

“Give me the spear.” He said commandingly.

The monster cringed and turned back slightly.

“There is something else you should know.” It saidhumbly.

“What?” Josh felt strong.

“Yours are now not the only emotions that I am madeof.” And the spider creature whirled around and grew. It slashed at Josh’s faceand chest with its dreadful claws. Josh felt the tearing of his skin and fleshand dropped once more to the ground. He clutched his hands to his eyes, tryingto squeeze the pain from his forehead. “Those pathetic Delphixians fed me theirfear and simple anguish. And that’s how I’ve grown so big.”

He could sense the monster rearing up before him.

The pain was hideous now. Josh’s wounds burned like fire where the spidermonster’s claws had raked his face and he could sense a poison starting to seepinto his blood.

He was helpless. He was on his elbows and knees now,with his head resting on his hands, waiting for the final, fatal blow.

“It is strange that you have caused such ripples inthe consciousness of this world, Joshua. You are so weak.”

And then Josh heard it.

A whisper.

“I am here. Remember who you are.”

He clung to the voice that had nursed him to sleep asa baby and comforted him when he had hurt himself as a child; the voice he hadmissed for so long.

The pain and fear receded into a part of him that hecould control. It was still there, but he knew now that he was not alone. Heknew that somehow his mother was fighting for his survival.

He tried to open his eyes, but they were gummedtogether with blood. He was blind, but he pushed his hands down onto the stonyground and once more heaved himself to his feet.

“I am not afraid of you!”

“Oh stop it. Of course you’re afraid. You can’t see meand I can kill you any time I like.”

“Then do it.” Josh presented his chest as a target.“Kill me now. This isn’t real.”

“This is more real than anything else you know.” Themonster seethed. “This is what drives the world. Thought is more powerful thanany collection of molecules could ever be. Thought is the ultimate goal ofmatter. Don’t you understand?”

Josh didn’t know what to believe. He tried todistinguish between what he knew to be true and what was a lie, but he realisedthat without knowing something he could trust he would never be able tounderstand anything. He felt his strength seeping away from him and the feargrowing stronger.

“Josh. I am here.” His mother’s voice was so far away.

With a flash of undoubted insight he knew what hecould believe in. His mother loved him, and whether Trinity Vale was real orimaginary she had battled beyond death to help him in his moment of greatestneed. That was truth.

And this wasthe trust he needed. It was the first step towards the leap of faith that wasrequired to truly believe in himself. He remembered the sadness he felt whenhis mother died and knew that those feelings were real.

“Yes. I think I do understand.” Josh could sense hissurroundings now. This island that he stood on existed within his mind and hedidn’t require any imaginary eyes to see it. The spider monster stood beforehim with its claws raised ready to strike again, but Josh brushed him asidewith a flicker of thought and as the hideous creature fell, it turned once moreinto a man.

Nothing could hurt him here now.

“Mum?”

A shimmering light approached him from the other sideof the high plateau. It resolved itself into a woman’s shape and as she gotcloser, Josh could make out his mother’s pretty face. He ran to her and wrappedhis arms around her shoulders and wept.

“Shhhh. I’m so proud of you, Josh.”

They stood in silence for a while, mother and sonembracing atop a cliff overlooking an azure sea. Josh wanted to stay thereforever.

His mother patted his back and gently pushed hisshoulders away. She gazed intently into his eyes and smiled. “I’ll always bewith you.” He could see that she was saying something more, but he didn’t wantto understand, and so he just hugged her again.

“You have work to do now, Josh.”

He knew he was being selfish. He had lost her for solong, he didn’t want to let go again. He pulled away and nodded.

“I will see you again, won’t I?”

“Yes. I promise.” She knelt down and lifted N’rinde’sspear reverently. “You will need this.”

He took it and felt the power pulsing from it. Heswung it experimentally to and fro, gauging its weight and reach. It had feltheavy and cumbersome before, but now it seemed like an extension of his arm.

He reached tentative fingers to his face and felt thecongealed blood around his eyes. He wiped them, and somehow soothed away theclots that were obscuring his sight. His eyes opened.

Sir Trevor was cowering on the ground like a terrifiedanimal. As Josh approached he tried to scramble away.

“Sir Trevor?”

The man jerked to a halt and stared at Joshquizzically. His features wererecognisable, but there was someone else behind his frightened eyes. “Yes.” Hestammered.

“Let me help you.”

“What’s happening?”

Josh could not begin to answer. “I will send youback.”

Quickly, so that he would not frighten the man morethan he had to, he whipped his spear around and, with the flat side of it,struck him on the arm. The man yelped and tried to get out of Josh’s reach, buthe was not hurt.

An eldritch light flowed out from the spear andencompassed the man. He thrashed about, trying to escape from his shiningbonds, and then with a pop, he disappeared.

Josh felt exhilarated as if the exertion of power hadfuelled his muscles.

“You must go now Josh. Help them.” His mother put awarm hand on his shoulder.

He smiled at her and disappeared.