Guardian at the Gate

Zornon the Devastator loves to loot abandoned towns and fight evil rats. He lives to kill dragons and save princesses, whether they want to be saved or not. Van, his alter-ego, loves to create new worlds and impress his friends with difficult new puzzles. But his latest creation has gotten a little bit too puzzling. When pretend fantasy becomes real, Van and his friends must strike a bargain with the Guardian at the Gate.

Guardian at the Gate is a lighthearted, genre-spanning novelette (9,400 words) from indie author Luna Lindsey.

Excerpt:

They stood on a tiny isle of grass in the middle of an unmoving river. There was no bridge to cross, but two staircases rose up on either side of the island, leading into the sky. One rose forever, until it tapered into nothing, like the tip of a needle. The other led to a landing, which led itself to an upside-down door with a staircase beyond. Something about the second stairway looked disconcerting, but they couldn't see it completely from where they stood.

"Hey, you know, I saw one of these once," said Beeps, "In a 20th century drawing by some guy named M.C. Hammer."

"That was Escher, you lobeless idiot."

"Yeah, him. Hey, it was school, ok?"

Van had a worried look on his face.

"What's up, Van?" Ramie asked.

"This isn't right. We didn't code this."

"Nope," said Gristan. "Unless that new AI patch we wrote has gone fubar."