Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Og.
Samantha told me that he succumbed to his injuries just a few seconds after he killed Anorak inside the OASIS. It was like he’d summoned all of his strength to hold on just long enough to do what needed to be done.
“Og was too weak to operate his avatar with a conventional OASIS rig,” Samantha said. “So he told me to put an ONI headset on him. That was how he was able to fight Anorak.”
I’d already assumed this was what had happened. But hearing her confirm it, I was suddenly struck by a wave of grief. I felt my throat constricting. I couldn’t breathe. Or maybe I just didn’t want to. I was on the verge of breaking down into a gibbering, blubbering mess.
“Wade, listen,” Samantha said. “There’s more. Og gave me a message to pass along to you. But I’m not sure he was making sense…He told me to tell you he was wrong. Leaving Kira locked away forever wasn’t his choice to make. It should be her decision. He said you should bring her back and let her decide what she wants. And, if she thinks it’s a good idea, bring him back too.” She shrugged. “Do you know what he meant by any of that?”
The shards. They were still sitting in my avatar’s inventory. All seven of them. Waiting to be recombined into the Siren’s Soul.
I suddenly recalled something L0hengrin had told me—something she’d read in Kira’s module notebook…
The party has to collect all seven of the shards and reassemble them into the Siren’s Soul, she’d said. Only then can they free Leucosia from suspended animation. Once they do, she presents them with their reward. A powerful artifact with the power to resurrect the dead, and make them immortal in the process…
Of course, that was just teenage Kira’s imagination running rampant. There was no such thing as immortality. Was there?
My thoughts suddenly racing, I yanked the IV needle out of my arm and tossed it aside. Then I jumped up out of bed and began to put on my clothes.
“Hey!” Aech said. “What do you think you’re doing? You need to stay in bed.”
“I need to log back in,” I said. “There’s one more thing we have to do.”
“Are you joking?” Samantha said. “You just escaped from the OASIS with your life, and you’re already dying to log back in?”
“Please, Samantha,” I said. “There’s something I need you to see with me.”
She studied me for a moment. Then she gave me a silent nod and walked out of the room. I followed her out of the infirmary and down the hall, to an OASIS immersion bay that contained half a dozen haptic rigs used for physical therapy and rehabilitation. Samantha walked over to one of these rigs and climbed into it.
“Meet me at the Shrine to Leucosia,” I said, climbing into the rig next to hers.
“OK, but Anorak killed my avatar, remember?” she said. “It’ll take me a minute to create a new one.”
“You won’t have to,” I replied. “I stole my robes back from Anorak, remember? I can resurrect you! Just give me a minute before you log in.”
She nodded and gave me a thumbs-up. She was still in shock from losing Og. I think I may have been too. I wasn’t thinking very clearly, that’s for sure.
I finished strapping myself into the haptic rig, then I put on a visor and pulled on a pair of haptic gloves. Then I logged back in to the OASIS for the very last time, to reassemble the Seven Shards of the Siren’s Soul.
As soon as I finished logging back in, I pulled up my HUD and used its superuser interface to resurrect Art3mis’s slain avatar. Then I did the same for Aech and Shoto. I also resurrected L0hengrin and the other members of the L0w Five, who had all been slain during their quest to retrieve the Dorkslayer.
The next time Lo and her friends logged back in, they would discover that their slain avatars had been restored to life, along with their inventories. They would also find their inboxes filled with offers to buy the film rights to their story. By the end of the week, there would be several Quest for the Dorkslayer movie and TV projects in development.
After I finished bringing their avatars back to life, I texted Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto the coordinates for the Shrine of Leucosia, high in the Xyxarian Mountains. Then I teleported my avatar to those same coordinates.
An instant later, I reappeared on the platform atop the highest peak of the Xyxarian Mountains. I was standing before the stone altar at its base. I stepped up to it, and then, one by one, I removed the Seven Shards of the Siren’s Soul from my inventory and laid them on the altar side by side. These weren’t the counterfeits I’d used to fool Anorak, here in this very same place. No, these seven shards were the real deal…