Welcome to Book Two, where more stuff happens! For those of you who didn't end up reading the edited version of Ilos that I posted over the past week, there were a couple changes that affect the storyline a little. Nick was captured by an organization known as the Terran Inquisition, led by Doctor Arterian Dark, and is held prisoner with cold iron shackles, which heavily restrict magic. I also made it more clear that the raid Tasalin and Corvid conducted was inside the ruins of a once incredible military fort and that much of the groundwork was still solid.

There were of course some other minor edits with wording and whatnot, and thank you Eric, Acrii, and Reist for catching a lot of those that I missed and letting me know about them.

 

So, here is the first part of book two, a piece of what will be Chapter 7, titled Exploration of Mysteries, which should be fairly self explanatory as to what this section is focusing on haha.

Oh, and a big thank you to Acrii who was nice enough to read through this and catch some of the dumb mistakes I made :)

 

-Tas

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 7: Exploration of Mysteries

Ilos, Day 26

 

A deep laughter echoed throughout the chamber as the first Air Gate opened. The room was large, furnished by naught but an ever-burning lamp and a padded chair, in which sat the single occupant. There were no gaps in the walls, no windows, no exits, though if there had been the view would be nothing but blackness. The figure sitting in the chair was massive, ten feet of muscle that shifted as the man laughed. His short beard and hair were blood red, as were his eyes that stared out into space, seeing not the room he was in, but another place entirely.

It had been long, so very long since he last had a reason to laugh, the sensation was wonderful. Finally, finally, his plans were coming to fruition! He’d lost track of how many years he’d spent in his prison, suspended from time and space, but his freedom was coming. He could still see Ilos, could still communicate, if briefly, with those who were his tools, but he longed to touch it. Still bound by his immortal enemy, he could feel the power holding him begin to weaken.

A dark smile filled with anticipation filled the man’s face as his eyes glinted with eternal flame. “Soon Xynus. Soon you will regret the day you ever laid eyes on Arlanus!”

 

 

 

Ilos, Day 25

 

Crack!

Tasalin landed softly on the ground, at least for a fall of three stories with full armor and weapons. “Good?”

“Yes yes, very good, positively wonderful.” Roland replied, writing down something on what functioned as a clip board. “Now go back up and land as hard as you can this time.”

“Alright doc.” Tasalin nodded, turning to head back up the stairs of the building. I wonder what exactly he's getting out of this. He mused as he began his climb back up to the third floor balcony.

It’d been almost a month since the beta players had transported to Ilos, about two weeks since the big raid Sweet Dreams had done, and things had begun to settle into something resembling a routine. The guild had used claim to secure the run down fort a few days travel to the west of the city, and a good portion of the members used the place for free food and lodging. Corvid had decreed that if you were going to stay there, you would be expected to contribute somehow. Being able to partake in the food there or to have a room in your name required you to spend about a half-hour of work doing something to maintain the place, be that helping repair the walls, cooking up food, bringing in meat for the kitchens, clearing rubble, donating decorations, or any number of other tasks that needed to be done. The castle was big enough to house all of the members of Sweet Dreams and still seem mostly empty, and was run down enough that there was no lack of things to do to tidy up, so it worked out well.

Like most of the guild, Tasalin had a room at the fort that he used every night, and every morning he would go and get food at the dining hall, usually meeting up with Solani on the way. They’d mingle with the guild members there, and then use teleport to head to wherever they were currently questing. Corvid had long since stopped traveling with them, preferring to focus on running the guild. The pair of them would do quests and kill things the entire day, stopping to get lunch at the inn of whatever town or village they were in, then would port back to the fort to turn in whatever supplies they had picked up along the way and to get dinner. After eating they would go out to do some of the much more challenging night quests until usually a bit past midnight, then relax in one of the common areas while reading the news from the information division. Every division reported to the aptly named ‘Info Squad’ whenever they discovered something, or found a new quest, or what have you, and the people there would update their rapidly expanding database of information on Ilos to include it.

On that topic… Tasalin looked down from his view on the balcony of the three story building, noting that the man in the white lab coat was looking up at him rather than his notes and that there was now a woman standing off to the side a ways, watching.

“Go ahead!” The doc yelled up at him.

Just like the previous time, Tasalin stepped off of the ledge, this time trying to make as big an impact as possible.

BAM!

The stone cracked under his feet as he landed, dust flying up around him before slowly starting to settle back to the ground. Tasalin stood, shaking his head wryly when he saw that the doc was once again scribbling rapidly on his parchment and paying no attention to the world around him.

A voice spoke from Tasalin’s left. “So who is this again? He's dressed rather… oddly. And what are you doing? I know it's an abandoned part of the city, but you really shouldn't be destroying the street.”

“Ah, Lorilee, glad you could finally make it.” Tasalin smiled as he turned to look at the brown haired woman approaching him. As usual, she was dressed in the armor of the Capital Guard, sigils of rank adorning her shoulderplates. There was a large object which he assumed to be a shield in the shape of a thin crescent on her back and a bastard sword in its sheathe under that. She still wasn’t wearing her helmet, revealing her brown hair in a ponytail and those forest green eyes of hers that kept watch over everything. He enjoyed the company of the Commander, having discovered that she knew a surprising amount about Earth and seemed to have a drive to know even more. They’d talked a number of times after their initial meeting at the very beginning this whole Ilos situation, more so after the raid on the Plague Messenger when he had begun to actively seek her out, and when the science division had begun testing he’d invited her to come watch.

She nodded sharply, every inch the soldier at the moment. “I've more than one reason for coming here today, though I was interested in why you would invite me to watch you step off a building.”

“Well, you'd have to ask him if you want specifics, I'm just helping out, but I can give you the general idea.” Tasalin said, gesturing to the man still writing notes at a furious pace. “That's Roland Barclay, the division head of the Sweet Dreams’ scientists and previous leader of the Ilos Testing Crew. I'm not sure where he managed to get a lab coat or a clipboard, but he's trying to discover the rules of this place as they compare to what we know on Earth. I've been in the south training with Solani as we head towards the Air Gate in that direction, but Corvid has been keeping me up to date on his progress.”

The doc stepped forwards, his white coat a little dusty now. “Yes yes, see, physics only applies normally when the champion has no experience, though they all have the same base strength, but as they become more powerful they have greater control over how forces affect both themselves and the world around them.”

The doc opened his mouth to continue, but Lorilee held up a hand. “I'm becoming more familiar with your terms for things, but some I still do not know. 'Up to date' I assume means you receive regular reports, but what are ‘physics’? And what do they have to do with you breaking the street?”

Tasalin attempted to explain. “Physics is what we call the study of how the physical world works. If you throw a stone, why does it always come back to the ground? Why does it make a noise when it hits something? How hard exactly do you have to throw that stone to make it go a certain distance? On Earth we know the answers to all of those questions and a lot more, but now the doc is saying our systems don't work here in Ilos, so we're starting from scratch.”

“No no not exactly Tas. Physics still applies to everything but what champions here have a direct role in. A tossed stone would still act the same way as it would on Earth, but someone with sufficient experience could throw or catch such a stone at speeds that that act of throwing or catching should break it, but do not. You could throw an egg as fast as you wanted to and another champion with similar experience could catch it without it breaking as long as the air resistance doesn’t shatter the shell.” Barclay explained, lecturing, then turned a thoughtful eye to Lorilee. “Now that I think about it, it would be interesting to have-“

“Yes I'm sure it would be but the Commander and I have places we need to be so you'll have to excuse us, let me know if you need anything else later.” Tasalin quickly cut in, maneuvering Lorilee away from the scientist. The guardswoman resisted for a moment, then allowed herself to be pulled along down the street and out of sight.

“Apologies for the abrupt exit, if the doc got it in his head he wanted to run more tests we could have been there the rest of the day.” Tasalin explained after he let go of her arm, glancing up at the late afternoon sun. “What’s left of it anyway. I don't mind helping the man, but he's been going since dawn. You mentioned there was more than one reason for coming to the outskirts of the city today?”

“Yes, but this the third time I will be asking about this. Why were you breaking the street by jumping from a balcony?” The woman asked, her tone making it clear she was being patient but was starting to get annoyed that she hadn’t been answered yet.

“Right, right, sorry. If I'm right, that test was to see the extent that champions can manipulate forces as they gain more experience. I just hit 100k yesterday, so the doc really wanted me for testing.”

“A hundred kay?” Lorilee interrupted, slightly ahead and leading now as they walked.

“Sorry, one hundred thousand. We use the letter 'k' to denote thousands sometimes. Anyway, we were testing how much I could affect the downward force of falling, and as you saw I can land fairly softly, but I can also hit the ground so hard it breaks the street. Oh, and don’t worry about that, the doc will be fixing the damage right now with a little Earth magic and you won’t even be able to tell anything happened after he’s done.” He glanced around. “Are we going somewhere in particular?”

“I figured you'd be hungry after what you said, so we're going to the Wheel and Locket. Actually there's someone there who wants to meet you, which was the primary reason I came all the way out to edge of the city. Does this discovery of yours apply to all champions?”

“To varying degrees, yes. Solani- ah, you don't know Solani do you? She's what you would think of as a thief or assassin, quick and agile, the opposite of me in terms of fighting style.” Seeing the suspicious look on the Commander's face, he waved his hands side to side. “Sorry, sorry, that was a bad comparison. She's not a criminal or anyone you need to worry about, that's just the example that came to mind.”

Lorilee nodded, relaxing, and Tasalin continued. “As I was saying, Solani did the same tests when she hit 100k experience a few days ago, and while she could land without a sound, she could only make small cracks in the stone where she landed rather than crushing the street like I did, even when she had weights strapped on to her to make her as heavy as me.”

Lorilee frowned, and they walked silently for a moment as she puzzled over that. “So your fighting style affects your abilities even if you have the same amount of experience?”

“You'd have to ask the doc, but it sure looks that way, yeah.”

“Fascinating.” The guardswoman muttered, then continued at a normal volume. “If I had known this is what you were doing I'd have come one of the last two times you sent me an invitation. What else have you found out?”

“We did some of the same tests at 50 and 75k experience that we did this time too, though not the one you saw, that was new. Accurate measurement tools were some of the first things scientists made, including a set of weights. We are finding that certain fighting styles have more strength than others at the same experience level, like I could only lift slightly more than Solani could, but we could both do much more than a magic focused champion. However, strength doesn't seem to be all there is, I could block a much stronger hit than Solani using the same shield before sliding backwards, even when they weighed her down to balance out our weights.”

“What could you do to test that? Your 'scientists' seem too worried about precision to have someone merely attack you.”

Tasalin nodded. “You're right, which is why they built these massive wooden bows called ballista that have to be hand cranked. They've made special cushioned arrows so no one dies when they fire the thing, and notches on the side where they've determined what force the arrow has when they fire it. There are a bunch more tests too, like speed and magic, though they’re still figuring out how to accurately test things like dexterity. There are some things that aren't determined by experience, and they've been trying to examine those too. It's easy to test accuracy with a bow or throwing weapons, but swordplay and magic concentration are much more difficult.”

“Magic concentration?”

“That's what they're calling it anyway. It's the ability to cast magic when being attacked or otherwise distracted.”

“Ah, our mages call that a varia rating. You might try talking to Dancy Rosam about it, he's one of the mages in the Palace trying to create techniques to increase that aspect of magic.”

“I'll have to tell the doc about him, I'm sure they'd get along just fine. What's been going on on your end? I know you've been busy, but I expected you to come watch testing much earlier than this.” Tasalin asked as they began crossing the plaza.

“It's that Regent and his idiot nobles.” Lorilee sighed, rolling her head in annoyance. “They've all been living in the Palace since you got here, and they've just been talking, talking, talking. I didn't mind for a few days because they're discussing what to do about the sudden appearance of the champions and I know that takes time, but this is getting to be too much. The Regent and most of the nobles are ignoring their other responsibilities and pushing them on other people. I'm a soldier, not a damn scribe! I barely have time to go patrol anymore, and I haven't been able to go find someone to spar with in weeks!”

Tasalin glanced at the woman out of the corner of his eye, noting the frustration on her face. I've never heard an NPC cuss before. Hell, if I didn't know any better I'd think she were a champion. She speaks differently from most of the city too.

She sighed, regaining her composure. “It's not all bad though I suppose. The craftsmen are working as fast as they can to make products out of all the things you champions bring in, and they've even hired some of you to help them. Without the nobles available to raise taxes on all the trading going on, anyone making or selling something the champions need is getting rich, especially the sugrid farmers to the south. Still, if the Ascendant would show up and take the throne after tossing most of the nobles into the Abyss where they belong, I would be a much happier woman.”

Fairly close to the Palace and a few streets away from the plaza, they approached a three story building. Tasalin noted that the sign over the door pictured a wagon wheel with the chain of a locket strung through the spokes as Lorilee pushed open the door.

“Here we are, the Wheel and Locket, owned by the ever wonderful-“

“Lorilee!” A red haired blur impacted the guardswoman, the teen girl not even causing the guardswoman to take a step back as she hugged the Commander.

“Vivika.” Lorilee finished her sentence warmly as she gently returned the embrace.

The smaller girl let go after a moment a stepped back, putting her hands on her hips. “I cannot believe you! It's been almost a week. A week!”

“Viv.”

“I cannot come to the Palace, so you have to come to me! I know we still talk all the time, but it is not the same!”

“Viv.”

“Your champion friend is here more than you! She is even here now! I just-

“Viv!”

“What?!”

Lorilee wordlessly pointed a thumb at Tasalin, standing slightly behind and beside her. He hesitantly raised a hand in greeting, really not sure what to make of the exchange, it seemed a huge departure from the almost stately Commander for her to be met like this.

“Ah- ah! I am so sorry, I did not realize- Please come in, welcome to the Wheel and Locket.” The girl – Vivika – said, stepping back and bowing her head in apology.

Lorilee stepped in, allowing the door to close behind them. “Tas, this is Vivika Ponri, the owner of this inn. Viv, this is Tasalin Viridis, the General of Sweet Dreams.”

Tasalin inclined his head in greeting as the girl bowed.

“'General’ is it now? Moving up in the world there Tas.” A voice called from a table with a chess board on it and a few mugs of some drink.

Tasalin rolled his eyes, smiling at his friend. “Hey Taktik, you trying to build up your win streak before I take it from you again?”

“Ha! I still win two games outta three with you.”

“Which is one game in three more than anyone else. You mentioned being a regular here last time we played, so I assume you know Vivika, but have you meet Lorilee here yet?”

“The pretty guardswoman? No I don't believe I've had the pleasure. Check.” Without looking, he picked up a chess piece and took one of his opponents rooks, then stood up and walked over, leaving the other man at the table staring at the board with his head in his hands. He bowed, still grinning. “I am Taktik milady Moon Knight, an honor to meet the only female Commander of the Capital Guard.”

Tasalin's eyebrows went up- Moon Knight? -and he glanced at Lorilee, who smiled warily. “I see you've done your research as well Tactician, we should play a game some time, though I'm not sure you have what it takes.”

“Ha! I like her! Tell ya what, we can talk more later over that game. I need to get back to wiping the floor with Dorman over there, so I'll let you get back to… whatever it was you were doing. Good luck Tas.” Taktik winked, nudging Tasalin with his elbow before sauntering back over to his table.

Lorilee watched the big man sit down. “He's… not what I expected. Why did he wish you good luck?”

Tasalin glared at the red-bearded strategist for a moment before waving off the question. “Ahh, don't worry about that, he's just making a joke. What was it we came here for?”

“A friend of mine wanted to meet you, and the food here is wonderful. Viv, could we have whatever your special is today up in the Key room?” She glanced around at the mostly full common room. “I’d ask you to join us, but I assume you are too busy. And before you ask, I do plan on staying here tonight, so we can have as much time as we want to talk then.”

Vivika, who had her mouth open to say something with an annoyed look, closed it at that and nodded, seemingly mollified. “I suppose that will do. I will send one of the girls up with food for you.”

“Thanks Viv.” The guardswoman smiled at her shorter friend as the innkeeper returned to directing her staff. Looking at Tasalin, she gestured to the stairs. “Shall we go?”

“After you.”

Tasalin glanced around as he followed Lorilee through the common room, noting the calmer atmosphere than most inns he’d been in. Everything was clean, the sawdust on the floor fresh, the tables cleared if they weren’t in use, and even the musician was playing more of what would be considered background music than anything upbeat. It wasn’t night time yet, so he didn’t expect any craziness, but this certainly was no dive even in prime hours. The stairs didn’t even creak when he went up them, and he got the feeling that fights just didn’t happen here. The Wheel and Locket huh? I’ll have to come back here with Solani next time we’re in Ilos.

Lorilee led him up the stairs and down to the end of the hallway on the second floor and opening a door on the right with a large key emblazoned on it, gesturing for him to enter first. The room was fairly small, containing six chairs, a table, and a crackling fireplace, but there was no evidence of another person despite Vivika mention of someone else. Maybe she just stepped out for a moment. He mused, moving to take a chair on the right as Lorilee closed the door behind her and turned to face the room.

She frowned in confusion, then she groaned, her face crumpling in pain as she collapsed to her knees, her hands clutching her head as she curled over.

Shock only registered after Tasalin was kneeling next to her, a healing spell at his lips. “Ka!” There was a tiny mana drain, the spell telling him the guardswoman was the picture of health.

If there’s no injury… a Spirit magic attack? Maybe the Spirit shield Corvid has been telling me to practice will work. “Sures!” He commanded, envisioning a bubble around the Commander’s head. The mana drain was larger this time because he was casting a shield, but he didn’t feel it cut anything like it should have if there was a Spirit magic attack, and it didn’t have any effect on the guardswoman.

“Xynus that hurt!” Lorilee snarled, pushing Tasalin back and then giving the air next to him a similar shove before rising to her feet unsteadily, one gauntleted palm pressed to her forehead. “I’m alright, I just…” She looked up, eyes flicking around the room as her arm slowly came down. “What in the Abyss…?”

Tasalin looked behind him, but everything was exactly the same as before. The fireplace was still crackling away, the table still had six chairs, and there was no one else in the room.

“Yes, I’m fine, I just had this huge pain in my head for a moment.” Lorilee said, speaking to the air a little bit to Tasalin’s right as she slowly moved past him as if in a trance to touch the air next to one of the chairs, then the back of the chair itself.

“Lorilee, what’s going on? What happened?”

She shook her head as she leaned back against the table, pressing her gauntleted palms against her eyes, then looking at the chair she touched again. “I think I must be going insane. I see two chairs there, but they’re overlapping, one partially inside the other. It’s like I’ve had way too much wine, but both images feel real and I’m certainly not drunk.”

Tasalin looked at the chair, not spotting anything odd about it, but stepped forward to touch it anyway, moving it away from the table and towards the entrance, then turning it around and sitting in it. “Is the other image still there?”

“Yes.” Lorilee nodded, then frowned at the space where the chair used to be for a minute before rising. “Lassea, can you let me sit there for a moment?”

Tilting his head, Tasalin watched the guardswoman wait for a few seconds, then sit down on apparently nothing. She was obviously sitting on something from the way her armor stopped on a perfectly flat plane, but he couldn’t see anything. He frowned, an idea forming in his mind as he stood. “Lorilee, you keep talking to someone named Lassea. Are you doing that telepathically or is she in the room with us?”

Her eyes widened a bit. “You can’t see her? She’s right here.” She reached out and put her hand on something a little in front of her and to the side, as if someone was sitting there, then looked there, listening to a sound Tasalin couldn’t hear. “Yes, Tasalin Nitidus, General of Sweet Dreams. He’s the one I went to to ask about your friend.”

Tasalin walked over to the guardswoman, kneeling down in front of her and waving his hand through where the chair legs should be, then moving it upwards until he touched her leg armor, feeling only cool metal. The invisible seat wasn’t invisible, it wasn’t even in the same dimension. Now he only needed one more test to see if his idea was right. “Lorilee, this Lassea girl is sitting right there right?” He asked, pointing to where she had been looking.

The Commander turned to look at him, then nodded. “Yes.”

“Will you ask her if she has a black Key and if she can log out?”

“He wants to know if you have a black key and if you can log out.” She looked to her side again, then back at him. “She says yes to both questions and wants to know if you were one of the ones with a silver key.”

Tasalin nodded. “Will you tell her to hang on for a second? I’m going to try something, and if I’m right it’s going to look really disturbing to you.”

“He says yes and wants you to hold on for a minute so he can try something. Go ahead Tas.”

He nodded, then stepped around the guardswoman and directly into the spot he assumed Lassea also occupied. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t look away until he stepped back to his original position by the table after a few seconds. “You saw me step through both Lassea and the chair she’s sitting on, right?”

She nodded. “That’s correct.”

A slow smile spread across Tasalin’s face as he made fists with both hands in excitement. “We’re instanced! God, Lorilee this is wonderful! We’re not cut off from Earth! Su!” *Corvid, Solani, I need you in Ilos at the Wheel and Locket inn right now! Drop anything you’re doing. I have a contact with Earth! The people who had the black Keys can still log in, they’re just in a different instance!*

*What!? How did you-? Never mind, explain when I get there. Corvid out.*

*See, I told you you’d find out eventually, you just have to take the days as they come. I’ll be there as soon as I finish out this quest.*

*Great! I’ll see what else I can find out about this.*

“Instanced?” Lorilee repeated, then glanced to her side. “I do not know either, Tas just said you and he are ‘instanced’.” She paused, listening. “I suppose that would be a good idea, I’ll relay everything to you though the spell. Tas, what does being ‘instanced’ mean?”

“Sorry, sorry, this is just the best news we’ve gotten since we got to Ilos.” Tasalin shook his head, taking a deep breath to try and calm the excitement inside him that threatened to bubble over. “Games with a large number of players in an area use separate identical zones known as instances. Even though everything in each instance is the same, they cannot interact in any way and no changes carry over, just like Lassea and I are right now. Generally if you happen to be in a different instance than your friends you… can…!”

“Can what?”

Tasalin grabbed the guardswoman’s shoulders, “You can switch instances! There’s no reason to believe this would be any different, which means we can possibly go home!” He dropped his hands, pressing one against his mouth and chin in thought. “Now to figure out how. There’s no grouping system in this game, which is how it usually works, no friends list either. Hell, there’s no connection at all-”

“Except for me.” Lorilee cut in. She looked at Tasalin, to her side, and then nodded to herself as if she’d just decided something, taking off her gauntlets and laying them on the table. Standing, she held a hand out to Tasalin and one to the air next to her, adopting a more formal stance. “This seems incredibly important to you both. Therefore I will do everything in my power to help you both figure this out.”

Tasalin stripped his gauntlets off as well and grasped her bare hand with a strong handshake, incredibly grateful for this woman. Immediately a girl appeared, holding the other hand with both of hers and smiling gratefully, a smile that vanished into shock as they locked eyes. She was a bit younger than he was, likely early twenties, with blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes that were broken by a splash of rich brown around her pupils. Not quite as tall as Lorilee, she was wearing a dress that reached almost to her ankles and had a bit of embroidery running along the hem and the sleeves. Tasalin’s own small smile vanished for the briefest of moments, then returned full force. “Well that was faster than I expected.”

To her credit, the girl’s shocked expression only lasted a second or two before letting go of the guardswoman’s hand and making a curtsey that would have fit in at any court. “A pleasure to finally meet you General Tasalin. Lorilee has told me a lot about you.”

What, is she like royalty or something? Well if she wants to be fancy, I can do that too. He thought as he dropped Lorilee’s hand and bowed low. “The pleasure is all mine milady Lassea, though I fear I am lacking the same level of information about you.”

The sound of giggling made him straighten to see this new girl doing her best to stifle her mirth and failing miserably. He glanced at a widely grinning Lorilee, then back, his eyebrows rising. It seemed he was the butt end of a joke he wasn’t privy to, but he only sighed slightly and sat down in one of the chairs. He’d learned it was usually best to do nothing in these cases, protesting or showing embarrassment in any way often just made it worse.

“Alright, alright, you win, I owe you a meal.” Lassea said, still laughing, to the guardswoman as she sat down across from Tasalin. “I know you said he would, but oh man that was so worth it, an absolutely perfect bow!”

A knock sounded at the door as the women were winding down, opening to reveal one of the Wheel and Locket’s serving girls with a large serving tray of food and wine when Tasalin called entrance. “Here you are Lorilee, blue wine for you and sugrid wine for your champion friends, along with the special boar flank.” She smiled as she set the dishes on the table.

“Thank you Tricha, this looks wonderful.”

The serving girl put her hands on her hips. “You are welcome, but next time do not stay away for so long. You know how Miss Vivika gets when you are gone.”

“Yes, I know, this is the only inn I ever visit.” Lorilee sighed, smiling as she handed over several coins. “I really must find her people she can talk to other than myself.”

“It has been better with Lassea here, but try to come by more often.” Tricha replied, curtsying to the trio before taking her tray and leaving.

As soon as the door shut, Tasalin leaned forwards, unable to keep silent any longer. “So Lassea, what happened after we got to Ilos? Did they put our bodies in hospitals to keep us alive or something?”

The girl’s face fell. “Yeah, about that. See-“

Tasalin started as Lassea vanished from her chair. There was no fade, no noise, she just… disappeared. “Lorilee, is she still there?”

The Commander looked at the chair and back at Tasalin, then addressed both. “You’re in different instances again?” She watched as Tasalin nodded, looked at the chair across from him, then extended her hands again.

Just as before, as soon as they were both touching the guardswoman Lassea reappeared with the same suddenness as she vanished.

“Well, it seems like the instance jump is temporary.” Tasalin observed as they broke contact. “I was a little worried about that. Can you still log off?”

“I don’t know. Let’s see.” Lassea answered, seeming to concentrate. When nothing happened, she crossed her arms, first three fingers of each hand raised. “Log off!” She hesitated, then dropped her hands and shook her head. “Apparently not. Damn, this could be bad. I’m going to try again when this instance jump end-“

Tasalin blinked, still a little startled by the sudden disappearance even though he was expecting it, but more so because the interval was so much shorter. He looked at Lorilee, who was watching the space where Lassea had been standing, questioning with his eyes.

The guardswoman nodded, then turned to him. “She’s gone.”

Tasalin let out a sigh of relief. They had definite and continuous contact with Earth now. “Good. The pair of you seem really close, has she told you a lot about the champions and Earth?”

“That you’re actually normal people on your world, if with incredible devices, and you originally thought Ilos was just a game? Yes. Some of the things she describes are almost beyond belief.”

“She comes here often? Or does she visit you in the Palace?”

“No, she never goes to the Palace, but she’s been coming here more than I have in the recent past.” Lorilee sighed. “I’m simply so busy with all of the Regent’s work lately. I don’t have the time to come by as much as I want to.”

Several pieces clicked in Tasalin’s head and he decided to play a hunch. “At least you have someone to talk to when doing all that work for the Regent, it would probably mind-numbingly boring otherwise.”

“Yes, she’s been very kind to-“ The guardswoman’s eyes widened, her posture stiffening.

“You can use magic can’t you.” Tasalin said, more statement than question. “And from your reaction you aren’t supposed to. Relax, I’m not going to go telling anyone if you want it kept a secret, though I’d like to tell a few people in my guild.”

Lorilee stared at him for a few seconds, her forest-green eyes boring into his dark grey ones, before she sighed again, the tension bleeding out of her body. “I suppose I have no choice but to trust you and your comrades eventually, I may as well do so now. Yes, I can use magic, and Lassea and I often talk using su.”

“Even when she’s not in Ilos?”

The guardswoman nodded.

Tasalin grinned. “Su!” *Lassea, can you hear me?*

There was silence for a moment. *We can…?! This- this is amazing! I didn’t think to try telepathy with you. Oh! Have you heard anything about a champion named Cariss? I know Lorilee already asked you, but…*

*No, none of the leaders have been heard from since this whole thing started, including The Calm. Can you stay logged out for a few minutes? I’m going to add Lorilee and two of my guildmates, is that alright?*

*You can do that? Ah, yes, go ahead.*

“Su.” He used the word of power to expand the telepathic link to include not only Lorilee, but also Corvid and Solani. *Corvid, Solani, Lorilee, can you all hear me?*

The guardswoman’s eyebrows flicked upwards. *I can hear you Tas.*

*Loud and clear Tas, what’s up?* Solani replied, her ‘voice’ a little distracted, likely fighting something.

*My teleport is almost finished, I’ll be there in just a few minutes. Did something happen?* Corvid asked.

*Yes, and you’re going to love this. Say hello to Lorilee, a Commander of the Capital Guard. She’s been helping me with what I was talking about earlier.*

*Cool, I didn’t know Illosians could use magic.* Solani responded.

*Yes, try to keep that on the down low, apparently it’s somewhat of a secret.* Tasalin cut in.

*Got it. Hi Lorilee! I’m Solani, the leader of the Nightmares. Nice to meet you.*

*A pleasure to speak to you as well Solani, Tas has had nothing but good things to say about you.*

Tasalin could all but see the beautiful black-haired woman grinning like a loon as she fought and rolled his eyes. There would be plenty of teasing about that particular comment later.

*Though it’s not in person quite yet, it’s a pleasure to meet you Lorilee. Taktik has voiced his approval of you already. I am Corvid, guild leader of Sweet Dreams.*

*I’ve heard of you Corvid, and I see you are just as well informed. My name is Lorilee Avenia. Avendavida.*

*Tas, I’m feeling one more person on this network, would this be the champion you spoke of earlier?* Corvid asked.

Tasalin grinned, shocking people, especially his friends, was always fun. *You are correct. Meet Lassea, a champion with a black Key, and one currently logged out and on Earth.*

*Ah, hello.*

There were a few seconds of silence. *She’s what?!*

There's a new organization in play, bent on discovering the secrets of magic: the Terran Inquisition. But what do they want with Nick?

I really didn't like where this part ended the last time I posted. Upon reflection it seemed like that end was almost deliberately misleading and more of an artificial cliffhanger than anything else, sorry about that :(

A thank you goes out to Josette Du Pres, who messaged me and actually got my lazy bum to write a good portion of this. It probably would have been at least another month without that message :)

I fixed up some things in part two and then just decided to finish the chapter, so here's parts two and three. Hope you enjoy!

 

-Tas

 

 

 

 

 

Earth, Day ??

 

Nick blinked uncertainly at the cafeteria he’d been led to by a non-descript scientist after being unshackled from the hospital bed, changing out of the hospital gown, and having an official looking nametag attached to his new clothes. Despite being fairly spartan in the way of decorations, the room managed to give off a welcoming and friendly feeling. There was a buffet with a bunch of great looking food, and his mouth watered as he spotted steak and salad, both of which were positively magnetic after eating pizza for an entire week, not to mention how long he’d been asleep. It looked like it was meal time, because the large rectangular tables were full of men and women and, much to his surprise, some of them had black Keys. It didn’t seem like they were being forced to stay, and they were all chatting amiably until he was noticed.

The chatter died down and one of the girls with a black headband stood up and beckoned to him. She looked to be a bit younger than he was, likely late high school age, and had shorter brown hair that didn’t quite reach her shoulders. Like the rest of the people in the room, him included, she was wearing non-descript grey sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt of the same color, though she’d rolled up the sleeves. “Well don’t just stand there, come on over!”

He numbly followed her instructions, shuffling over to the table and sitting down in an empty spot next to the girl. There was a wave of quiet laughter as he slumped in his seat, and the brown haired teen nudged him with an elbow, grinning. “So what did Dark do to you? He always plays some sort of scary prank whenever someone new gets here. Don’t let it bother you, despite looking like some evil mastermind or something, he’s really pretty nice, even if he is an asshole sometimes. I’m Amanda by the way, what’s your name?”

One of the men across from him, old enough to have grey in his dark hair, chuckled when he didn’t respond. “Ah leave him be, he’s still shell shocked. Let the kid get some food and he’ll be alright.”

Nick wasn’t sure why he wasn’t panicking, maybe it was the shock. He’d just been kidnapped and couldn’t contact Jess to let her know he was alright; much less his parents, and was trapped with no idea where he was. Is this what David feels like? Calm in the middle of everything? He wondered. The scientists, at least he assumed they were scientists, seemed friendly and willing to answer a few questions, and he decided it was worth a shot. “Where am I? Why am I here?”

“This is the headquarters for the Terran Inquisition. Sorry but the location is a secret, no one knows but Dark and our sponsor, some guy who calls himself the ‘Illusive Man’, as if we wouldn’t get the reference. I’m surprised he didn’t decide to name this organization Cerberus.” The greying man across from him explained, rolling his eyes and causing another ripple of laughter. Nick’s eyes flicked to the ID on his shirt, noting that his name was Jeremi. “As for why you’re here, it’s because we need people who can use magic so we can study it and we’re trying to keep everything really quiet so the public doesn’t find out.”

“That doesn’t mean you had to fucking kidnap me!” Nick snarled, slamming his fists down on the table and glaring at the man across the table, whatever shock that’d been keeping him calm evaporating instantly.

The whole table recoiled and Jeremi’s face hardened after a brief expression of shock. “Explain.”

Nick took a deep breath, trying to get his fists to unclench and resist the impulse to lash out. “Je- my friend and I had just gotten back from Ilos and were hanging out in her room before going to bed when I noticed some movement in the window. I knew something was going to happen, so we packed some stuff and tried to run. There were military just outside the door who tried to shoot us, and we made it to the street before I got hit with a dart, though I made sure my friend got away before it knocked me out. Then I woke up practically naked with my arms and legs shackled to a hospital bed by cold iron and now I’m trapped in some secret base and I can’t contact Jess!” Nick made fists on the table and bowed his head, trying to hide the tears that were starting to form in his eyes.

“What have you done Arterian?” Jeremi muttered, then continued louder. “Amanda, get him some food and then show him to his room. I need to go have a chat with our ever so wise leader.”

Nick didn’t remember much after that. There was some food that he ate tastelessly despite how wonderful it looked earlier, then Amanda led him to a room. That room had a bed, which was the only thing he really noticed before laying down on it. He lay there staring at the ceiling as the teen tried to talk to him from a chair next to the bed, not really responding to anything. After being unconscious for who knows how long, he was hardly tried enough to go back to sleep, but there was something about Amanda’s voice, or something she said, or maybe the soothing tone, that made him drift off.

 

------

 

Ding dong, ding dong!

Nick sat up sharply, startled at the sudden noise from the speaker in the ceiling, and glanced around. He was alone in a rather large and soft bed in a rather large and well-furnished room, though he was still dressed for some reason, even to his shoes. Where…? He closed his eyes and breathed out slowly. Right. Kidnapped and in some mysterious secret base where they study magic. Had a meltdown, brought to this room. Okay. His eyes opened again as he looked around.

The room was nice, just short of being wastefully opulent, and the biggest bedroom he’d ever seen. The bed he was in was king sized and was covered in the softest sheets he’d ever touched. The bedside tables to either side were made of a rich dark wood and polished till they shone, with the floor made of the same material, if a bit lighter. The tables held lamps that were intricately carved and inlaid with gold, and the shades that softened the light from the bulbs looked like they were hand-painted. The massive carpet that took up most of the room was almost an inch thick and decorated with Celtic symbols. Off to the side was a fluffy couch in front of a positively massive TV, as well as what looked suspiciously like a gaming system. There was a fan in the ceiling along with some speakers, which is where the sound that woke him up had come from. From what he could see past where the bathroom door stood open, that room was just as opulent as the one he was in.

All in all, the place was practically dripping money.

Now that he wasn’t panicking, he could take a step back and actually think. The place he was in was obviously well-funded, and because it was secret it had to be either private or government owned. He kept general tabs on government expenditures because they could affect his own investments, and he knew that the United States’ government funded a number of projects that weren’t publicly known, so this could be one of those depending on how much the Terran Inquisition needed. Magic was a new thing on Earth, and he had no idea what kind of funding a program like this would take, but a sudden increase in expenditure is always seen with suspicion, so if this facility was supposed to be secret it was either built a good while ago or was funded privately – possibly both.

He thought back to what Jeremi had said about having a sponsor known as the Illusive Man. If there was a single sponsor then the possibly of the base being privately funded was rather high, and it also meant that this Illusive Man was more than likely trying to make money off of magic. Nick’s brief impression of the people in the base told him that they were there by choice and were treated well. The scientists were likely on board because a good portion of the scientific community lived to discover new things, and this was certainly an opportunity to do that, or they were getting paid a good amount of money. Probably both. He mused. The people with Keys could be there because they felt like they were helping, they were getting paid a lot, or any number of other reasons, but he was fairly certain that he was the only one there forcibly.

Any way he thought about it, it didn’t make sense. Obviously the scientists and the ‘subjects’ got along fairly well, so why would an organization that seemed built on that kind of trust suddenly kidnap someone who might be uncooperative or even cause dis sent among the other participants? Unwilling workers ground a project to a halt almost as fast as a lack of funding, so why take that risk?

If there were cons to this there also had to be pros that possibly outbalanced them, which left him with two possibilities. First, this Illusive Man was changing his business strategy from paid labor to forced labor in order to bring in more subjects and accelerate research. However, that also meant that it was necessary to have enforcement of some kind to make sure the research did continue, which would cost more money. Second, Nick had something that Dark or the Illusive Man found valuable enough to take the risk of damaging their operation.

What do I have that they couldn’t get anywhere else? I know every word of power ever posted online, but I’m sure they have that too. I personally know Cariss, the beta player to get the furthest in Ilos, but how could they possibly know that David and Cariss are the same person? I know about and use magic on Earth, but I’m at best a good mage, not a great one. His eyes widened. Were they after Jess? She’s incredible with magic, but then why would they not have just expended a little more to catch her? She was on foot, they shouldn’t have had a difficult time following if she was that important to them.

“Why? This doesn’t make sense!” Nick yelled, punching the fluffy bed, which just silently absorbed the impact in an annoyingly unsatisfying way.

He sighed after a few seconds of silence, then got out of the bed. Regardless of the reason, I need to get out of here. Jess just went through losing David, I’m not going to let her go through losing me as well.

Nick thought through his options as he headed to the bathroom, which was just as opulent as his glimpse through the door showed. The first thing he needed was information; he knew very little about the situation he was in. He was in a well-funded secret facility where they did research on magic, and the people there more or less got along, but that was the extent of his knowledge. What exactly were they researching? How big was the place? How many people were living there? What kind of security was there? How did they keep the people inside? How did they communicate with the outside world? Where did their food come from? Did they block Spirit magic?

Spirit magic! “Su!” *Jess can-* you hear me?

“Damn it!” He muttered darkly, sitting down on the couch after finishing with the bathroom. But then how do they research magic if they can’t use it? Unless… “Cir.”

His mana was almost depleted from his go at the telepathic message, but a tiny whirlwind appeared in front of him just as he imagined it, using the mana he was regenerating. After a few seconds he let it dissipate. So they can use magic inside, but anything going out is blocked? What about Ilos itself?

He crossed his arms across his chest, first three fingers extended. “Log in.”

The slight hope faded as nothing happened. So they’ve even found a way to block access to Ilos. This place really is secure. What else can I try? He looked around. I could break some stuff, but that wouldn’t do me any good. I can’t use telepathy to contact Jess. I can’t access Ilos.

A pit in his stomach made itself known and he moved himself off the criminally comfy couch. Well, food comes first I guess, then maybe I can get some answers out of the people here.

He opened the door to his room, peering down the hallway which vanished around the corners at both ends. There were a few other doors along the hall that looked exactly like his, a dark and heavy wooden door with a golden nameplate on the front, but he didn’t see anyone else around. There was no locking mechanism visible, and when he turned the handle on the outside the latch pulled in, so it looked like he could get back in whenever he wanted. Thus reassured, he closed his door, noting that the nameplate on the front already had his name etched into it in fancy letters. Either they worked really fast here or they had been expecting him for quite some time.

After standing indecisively for a few seconds, he turned right and started off down the hallway. He had no clue where he was going, but as long as no one saw him or knew where he was, maybe he could find something they didn’t want him to see. Trying to keep as silent as possible on the carpeted floor, he took the turn at the end of the hall that led him to an almost identical stretch. The only thing different were the names on the doors. He glanced at the ceiling, expecting to see security cameras, but only tasteful lights shone down at him. The next right turn showed him exactly the same hallway once again, the name number of doors in the same dark wood with the same carpet and number of lights. Feeling a little confused, he walked down the hallway where he was forced to turn right again, into another identical hallway. He was starting to get worried when he noticed a doorway on the left side in the middle of the hallway that was made of a lighter wood and didn’t have a nameplate.

Nick stepped through the door quietly, grateful that they seemed to keep everything well-oiled around here, and closed it behind him. Rather than the hotel-esque hallway, this was more of what he expected from a secure top-secret research facility. A white hall stretched forward in front of him, lit by florescent lights set in the ceiling, and had metal doors set with small windows along it. There were security cameras everywhere; there was no way he hadn’t been seen, so rather than try to avoid it, he stepped forward confidently, if still quietly. He’d look a lot more suspicious creeping along than if he just acted like he belonged, he might even be mistaken for another of the other ‘guests’, considering they all wore the same thing.

As he walked down the hall, he glanced through each of the windows in the metal doors, noting the high tech equipment in the rooms, none of which seemed to be in use. Halfway to the first intersection there was a massive blast door, open of course, but the thing was almost a foot thick and looked primed to drop at a moment’s notice. He watched it warily until he was past.

The first intersection had signs giving directions to different parts of the facility, and would have been much more helpful if any of them actually had the names of anything. Apparently 4C4142 15-4C4142 24 and 524F4F4D 01-524F4F4D 36 were behind him, 43414645 was to his left, 4C4142 07-4C4142 14 and 4755415244 were straight ahead, and 4C4142 01-4C4142 06 and 5041524B* were to his right. Nick ran a hand through his hair, wondering what in the world those sequences could possibly mean, before something on one of the signs drew his eye. What he’d thought was an asterisk on one of the codes pointing to the right was actually a nine-pointed star, and more importantly, hand-drawn. With nothing else to go on, he shrugged to himself and turned right.

There were few more metal doors like the ones in the previous hallway, but these were cluttered and looked used. He even saw a picture on the wall of one of them. At the end of the hall there was another metal door, but this one not only didn’t have a window, had a heavy latch, and also looked much thicker. If there was ever a door to keep something out, or in, this was it, but beside the door was that same nine-pointed star. Telling himself that he’d get nowhere if he wouldn’t take some risks, he pulled up on the latch, releasing the bolt, and slowly pushed the door open as quietly as he could.

Like everything else in this building, the metal slab moved silently on its hinges, sliding open without even the slightest squeak. Nick stopped the door as soon as he could see past it through the small opening he’d created. Unfortunately the thing was thick enough that anyone who looked at it would easily be able to tell it was ajar, but it was his hope that if it was spotted they would think it was just a mistake.

The sun shone down on the green courtyard beyond the door, lush with vegetation. A paved path wound its way slightly downhill to a large flat square of concrete. Scientists lined one side with a lot of fancy looking equipment, including Arterian Dark, while Amanda stood opposite them. Her eyes were closed, her hands outstretched at waist height, palms down. What drew his eyes though, was the massive nine pointed star inscribed in a circle between them. It had to be at least twice as far across as he was tall, but more importantly, it was glowing. Every color he could imagine moved along the lines of the odd symbol, shifting constantly, and he watched, transfixed.

“Come to watch?”

A hand landed on Nick’s shoulder and his breath caught in his throat even as he twisted away, reaching for a weapon he didn’t have on Earth to face whatever threat had appeared.

Jeremi stood there behind him in his lab coat and carrying a shiny case, dropping his hand from where Nick’s shoulder had been. “I didn’t think you’d be up and about yet, it’s only been thirty hours since the Illusive Man kidnapped you, and after last night…” The scientist trailed off.

With no bastard sword to defend himself with, Nick started to bring his fists up before he realized that attacking someone would only make things much worse. Instead he just kept his distance from the older man, watching him uncertainly.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have startled you like that, especially after what you’ve been through.” The kindly scientist apologized, looking concerned. “We really don’t mean you any harm. In fact, if we could manage it, you would already be on your way home now, but the only way in or out of this place is by helicopter, and the Illusive Man controls those.” He glanced at the heavy door. “Ah, I’d better get this equipment down there, but I’ll leave the door open a bit so you can watch alright? It really is quite the spectacle.”

When Nick didn’t respond, the scientist pushed open the door and stepped through, leaving it open a bit just like he said he would. Can I trust him? What if I look through and they catch me? They’ll…

They’ll what? Kill me? If it was something they would kill me for I’d already be dead, not here. Kidnap me and take me to a place that I can’t get out of or contact my friends from? Nick relaxed and shook his head at his own paranoia, justified or not, and stepped forward to peer through the crack in the doorway. He needed to find out what exactly they were doing.

Amanda was in the same position, hands down, eyes closed, but the other scientists had backed away a bit and had set up cameras and other recording equipment. They were in the process of adding whatever Jeremi had brought down to the array. A few minutes passed as they got everything set up, and then Dark shouted loud enough that even Nick could hear him.

“Go ahead Amanda!”

The girl tensed, bringing her hands up a bit over the inscribed nine pointed star, then shoved them downwards. The colors shimmering throughout the design shot in towards the middle and formed a shape in green and brown that looked like a seed with a single leaf beside it. The shape broke after a brief moment and the colors flowed upwards, forming into a foliage Plantea.

Nick gasped, his eyes going wide. What!?

Amanda opened her eyes, then pointed towards her right, saying something, and the Plantea moved to where she was indicating. She moved the Ilosian creature back and forth a number of times as the scientists recorded everything. After a few minutes of this, she crossed her arms at the wrist, making fists, then separated them while opening her hands, and the Plantea dissolved away into motes, just like it would have in Ilos if it had died.

Nick pulled the door closed and started retracing his steps to his room. There was no doubt about it; they were studying summoning magic here. There was nothing mentioned about summoning in Ilos, not by the Ilosians, not by David, and not even on the forums. This was new, and possibly ludicrously powerful if used correctly. He needed to learn how it worked and how to do it himself.

Back in his room, he sat down in his overly comfortable couch and waited. He didn’t trust the people here yet, but he didn’t need to trust them to use them. This was simple economics. They had something he wanted, and he had something they wanted, he just needed to find out what that was while also downplaying his desire for this new magic. The first step was to make them come to him, then get as much information as possible while giving as little as possible away himself. Jeremi would come to his room, he was sure of it, and he’d probably bring a few others, which would give Nick the advantage.

His stomach growled at him, but he paid it no mind. It was time for business.

 

 

Earth, Day 14

 

“And how did he find out about the runes?!” Arterian Dark thundered. “He hasn’t even been here two days!”

Amanda flinched slightly at her father’s harsh tone, catching herself as she began to shrink back in her seat. She refused to be scared by this man, or at least to not show it. She, Jeremi, and Arterian were sitting her father’s office, discussing their newest ‘recruit’.

Jeremi, sitting next to her, leaned backwards into his chair, sighing. “He played us is how, and he did it well. We went into his room to feel him out a bit, get a little more information, maybe try to convince him to help us while we work on getting him back home. He talked to us, but everything he told us he’d already said back when he first got here, and he asked about any other kidnappings. His was the first, and we told him so, but he pressed the issue a bit more until he suddenly switched topics to our experiments. However, when we started talking about summoning, he asked about our ‘other big project’, and we let it slip-“

I let it slip. Amanda thought to herself, grateful that the older scientist was covering for her so she wouldn’t have to face the music alone.

“-that we’d had some success storing magic of a few elements in certain symbols for later use. He even told us you said we should inform him as much as we could, and then once he got almost all of the details, he asked to be taken to you so he could tell you personally he’d agreed to work here.”

“We thought that it was wonderful of course and brought him to see you.” Amanda finished. “What happened in here?”

Arterian leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table that separated the two parties. “He ran me in conversational circles using the things you told him until he found out that the rune project was supposed to be kept secret from everyone except a few, by direct order of our sponsor no less. Then he backed me into a corner and got himself full access to every project we’ve got, copies of my records, reports, and correspondence, and an agreement that his full access be kept secret from the Illusive Man and anyone I didn’t want him talking to about the rune project.”

Amanda stared blankly for a second, wide eyed, then looked at Jeremi, who seemed to be having trouble picking his jaw up off the floor. People didn’t get the better of Arterian Dark. He was very experienced with people who tried to mix words or manipulate him, on top of being one of the most brilliant minds on the planet. She looked back at her father and immediately knew what he was going to say.

“Amanda, as the only the only one other than Jeremi with the same sort of access, I’m assigning him to you. He agreed to work with us for the time being, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try to sabotage the Inquisition if he gets the chance. Keep a close eye on him, and take him to the summoning park as soon as possible. According to Jeremi, he has a friend outside, and it will curb some of his hostility towards us if he can talk to her.”

The girl gave a resigned sigh, but nodded. She’d tried to argue before, but had only found herself agreeing to even more work somehow. It was better just to accept what she was assigned.

“Jeremi, I want you to distract him with the summoning and rune projects, keep him focused on those two. If his assistance helps in any big way, then try and get him involved in as much as possible. The kid is brilliant, but we’ll have to see if anything comes of it.” Arterian waited for Jeremi to nod his agreement, then waved them away. “Alright, let’s get back to work; the secrets of magic aren’t going to unravel themselves!”

Amanda frowned slightly as she left the lab/office, Jeremi holding the door for her. She didn’t like the idea of babysitting someone who would no doubt get in her way, but there wasn’t exactly much of a choice. Though maybe if she was close to him, this Nick could tell her how he managed to wrangle so much out of her father.

 

 

Earth, Day 15

 

Nick drank the last of his juice and set it down on the tray return, heading back to the crowded table to reclaim his seat. He was sustaining a tiny whirlwind at his feet, unnoticeable unless you knew what to look for, and small enough that it only relied on his natural regen. The more he trained the better chance he had at getting out of here. It was the day after he’d talked and blackmailed himself a deal, and he was a lot more relaxed now that he’d been able to talk to Jess. She was still staying at her friend Daisy’s place, and the telepathic call had seemed to do her as much good as it had done him. It seemed that the summoning park that he’d glimpsed the previous day was outside whatever stopped outgoing magic, probably something in the building, and he’d been allowed an hour every night to talk to his friend. The Inquisition had been nothing but accommodating once he’d managed a deal for himself, and while he was certain it was just to minimize their losses, so long as they stuck to their side of the deal, he would stick to his, namely using his comparatively powerful magical abilities to help with their experiments.

“So let me get this straight.” Nick said, sitting down and leaning on his elbows on the lunch table. He’d read some of the reports on summoning that morning and the previous night, and was presently trying to combine what he’d read with what the scientists and mages – as the black Key volunteers were called – had experienced. “In order to summon something, you need a summoning circle, which looks like this.” He sketched the three overlapping triangles inscribed in a circle on the table with a finger dipped in his grape juice.

 

 

Amanda, sitting next to him, nodded along with the rest of the table. “That’s right.”

“Okay, and in order to summon something, you have to put mana into the circle.”

The black man across the table wearing a black Key – Darrel, by his nametag – rocked his hand back and forth in a so-so gesture. “That’s technically correct, but it’s more of pushing mana into the lines of the circle. It’ll make more sense when you do it yourself.”

Nick nodded. “Good to know. So once you start pushing mana into the circle, you can affect what is summoned by concentrating on what you want to appear, and once the circle finds something that matches what you want, you will be able to feel how much mana it will take to summon that particular creature.”

“If you go past that amount, the circle will search for a more powerful creature, so you can try and summon that one, or just go with the one you had first.” Amanda said.

“Or if you don’t specify anything, the circle will simply pull the most powerful creature it can with the mana you’ve provided.” The large man sitting at the end of the table – Connor, another of the mages – added.

Nick tapped a finger on the table thoughtfully, remembering from the reports he’d read the previous night and that morning that aside from himself, there were only three mages and two scientists cleared for the rune project. The two scientists were Arterian Dark and Jeremi, both of whom he’d already met, and the three mages were the most powerful and experienced in the facility, in order, Amanda, Darrel, and Connor. He’d have to ask Amanda if the three hung out a lot together or if he’d have to wait till he could talk about the rune project. “Alright, and then the circle will glow different colors based on what elements the summoned creature represents before forming a symbol unique to the type of creature in the center and summoning it. Then once the creature is summoned it is totally under the summoner’s mental control and will not react unless the summoner tells it to, even if it’s attacked or killed. The summoner can dismiss the creature at any time, and after a few hours it will begin to pull mana from the summoner in order to stay on Earth. Does that cover everything?”

“Not quite, though you have the rules after summoning down. The colors are actually drawn to specific points of the star based on element.” One of the scientists to Nick’s left corrected, his nametag obscured by Amanda’s body. “It seems that if the summoner stands between two points of the star, he is always at the bottom of the circle, and if he stands at one of the points, he is always at the top. Regardless of position, the symbol always faces him when the creature is summoned. If you draw the symbol there beforehand, you always get the creature linked to and the circle stays upright in regards to the symbol no matter where you stand. We’ve mapped Fire, Water, Earth, Nature, and Wind to their specific points of the star, but creatures of Light, Shadow, Spirit, and particularly Death simply take too much mana to summon.”

Nick frowned. “So why don’t you have more than one mage add mana to the summoning circle?”

The whole table went silent for a few seconds as they all processed the idea.

“Is that possible?”

“It could be, we never tried.”

“Then who dictates the summoning?”

“How do you think the EM spectrum would react to the addition of extra waveforms?”

“If there’s interference with the-“

“Do you think the mana would-“

“What about the physical effects-“

Nick stood up to leave, joined by Connor and Darrel. “I think I’ve done enough damage for today.”

Darrel smirked. “Yeah, once they get going it’s practically impossible to stop them. I’ll have to let the other mages know that you’re the reason they’re going to be subjected to a whole new round of experiments.”

Connor smacked the black man’s arm, grinning. “Don’t be cruel, we have to come up with prank ideas to put poor Nick here through before we get everyone else involved.”

“And here I was wondering what you people do for fun…” Nick muttered loud enough to hear, rolling his eyes ostentatiously.

“Well the videogames are great, but nothing beats a good prank.” Darrel said as Connor just grinned evilly.

They set their trays on the return counter and headed for the exit. “Should we just leave her there like that?” Nick asked, nodding at Amanda.

“Oh yes, she’s just as bad as the rest of them when it comes to these things.” Connor nodded, rolling his eyes.

“Come on newbie, leave her, we’ll teach you how to read hex so you can actually find your way around this place.” Darrel added. “Why Dark decided all the signs had to be written in hexadecimal I still have no idea.”

 

 

Earth, Day 17

 

Nick set the controller aside and leaned back into the couch, reeling from another resounding loss. “You two are way too damn good at this game.”

He, Connor, and Darrel were sitting in his room on his unbelievably comfy couch, playing a game called Dracon Force, some futuristic first-person shooter that hadn’t actually released to the public yet. Despite the appearance of slacking off, they were actually just resting while they recovered their mana, the only faster way being to sleep. They’d spent the whole morning working on the rune project until they ran out of mana and had to call it quits. Amanda had headed off somewhere to do more science-y things, and the guys had headed to Nick’s room to relax.

“Nah, we’re not that good, you just suck Nick.” Connor snickered. “You should see Amanda play, she’s insane with this game. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her die.”

Nick’s eyebrows went up, suitably impressed as Darrel nodded his agreement to Connor’s statement. “What’s she up to anyway?”

“Probably messing with the runes to see if she can figure out any new ones. We only have Fire, Nature, and Spirit runes figured out, and those are just the same triangle and crossed lines rotated three different directions.” Darrel said.

“I noticed, considering that’s all we did this morning. Take a blank card, draw or print a rune on it, cast one of the spells of that element into it for later use, repeat.” Nick pulled out a sharpie and a couple of blank cards that he’d swiped from the lab earlier, leaving some still in his pocket for later use.

“Dude, you can’t take those out of the lab.” Darrel admonished.

“I know, I know, I’m going to put them back as soon as we finish here. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about it.” He said, uncapping the sharpie and drawing the rune for Fire on a card, an equilateral triangle with two lines crossed across the top point. “I remember reading about the alchemical symbols for the elements of fire, air, water, and earth, and how if you overlapped them you got a six-pointed star. Now what happens if you overlap the three elemental runes we know about right now?” Moving the sharpie again, he drew the runes for Spirit and Nature over the Fire rune.

“A nine pointed star, like the one we use for summoning, but what’s that got to do with alchemical symbols?” Connor asked.

“Nothing, nothing at all, but it got me thinking about the nature of everything in Ilos. It’s all super simple to use and there usually aren’t any complicated rules or anything like that, so why should runes be any different? With our runes, we have an equilateral triangle with base at the bottom, and two lines across it tracing two of the lines in our star. So have a nine pointed star, nine elements, one for each point, and guess how many ways you can have two lines cross over an equilateral triangle at the angles we already have for our other runes?”

“Nine.” Connor responded. “And you think that each of these different ways corresponds to one of the nine elements.”

“Bingo.”

“Well, let’s try it. It’s no fun creaming you every round of Dracon Force we play anyway.” Darrel laughed.

Nick took six of the cards and drew a triangle crossed by two lines at the bottom on each. “If I’m right, this should be the rune for one of the six elements we’re missing, so let’s try each of them.”

Connor and Darrel each took a pair of cards while Nick held one of his up. “Cir.” The card waved back and forth in the sudden tiny whirlwind. “Well it isn’t Air. Alright Darrel, your turn.”

The black man held out a card. “Pos.” He shook his head as the card frosted over, becoming cold to the touch. “Not Water. Connor?”

The large guy put out one of his cards. “Res.” A second or two of silence passed as Connor’s mouth dropped open and he looked at Nick. “Holy shit. You actually figured it out! This is the rune for Earth! We need to go back to the lab and get this recoded!”

Nick couldn’t stop his grin as they grabbed the drawn up cards and quick-stepped for the lab, the other two men completely forgetting the blank cards and sharpie sitting on the couch.

 

 

Earth, Day 18

 

Nick sat in the rune lab with everyone cleared for the project, going over the discoveries they’d made with Arterian and Jeremi, who had been pretty hands-off with him for the past few days. Amanda was standing at the front, using a slideshow and projector to show imagery. So far it had been a bunch of technical jargon that only someone who had a lot of education could even hope to comprehend, but the two scientists in the room seemed happy about the results.

“With the discovery that we can use more than one person to summon, we mapped the remaining points of the summoning circle, though we weren’t able to summon anything of the Death element, it was the only one remaining and thus must be at the top point. With the rest of the runes for the elements also discovered, we were able to cross the two and come up with this image that contains both the summoning circle with elemental corners and their corresponding runes.” Amanda stated, clicking the slideshow forward one.

 

 

“The images were provided by the Illusive Man, and he was rather insistent on using these particular images for the elements, including the one in the middle where we would place a summoned creature’s symbol. That’s all I have.”

Before anyone else could speak, Nick interjected. “Actually, I want to try something real fast. Jeremi, you know how using magic works right? Imagining the effect you want to have and then speaking the word of power to make it happen?”

“Yes Nick, I do.”

Nick handed him a spell card with a fire rune drawn on it, already charged. “Then I want you to cast Fire and make a little flame, like this one. Fas.”

Jeremi frowned as the little fire floated in front of him, flickering merrily. “Nick, Those without Keys cannot-“

“Just humor me.” Nick cut in.

“He has already made two big discoveries.” Amanda added.

“Very well. Fas.” Jeremi waited for a second, and when nothing happened moved to hand the card back, but Nick pushed it back towards him.

“Try it again. Look at my little flame and try to make a copy of it right next to mine in your head.”

“Fas.” Again, nothing happened.

“Again.”

“Fas.” Nothing. Jeremi scowled.

“Again.”

“Nick, I think-“ Arterian started to say.

“Fas.” A little candle flame appeared next to the one floating in midair, vanishing after only a second as the older scientist lost his concentration.

“You’re a wizard Harry.” Nick said, straight-faced.

Jeremi blinked, silent for a couple seconds. “I’m a what?”

Darrel and Connor snickered, and Amanda, still at the front of the room, bit her lip.

Nick put on his best British accent. “A wizard. And a thumping good one at that, I’d wager. Once you train up a little.”

The two scientists in the room looked at each other, then back at Nick, seeming to wonder if he’d gone crazy. He could hear Connor and Darrel giggling madly in the chairs behind him, and Amanda was doubled over at the front of the room with her hands across her mouth doing her level best not to laugh. Nick just grinned. It’d been awhile since he’d had the opportunity to make people lose it like that, and it felt good to be doing his old routine. He could almost forget he was locked in a high-security facility in an unknown location.

Almost.

 

 

Earth, Day 19

 

Nick scowled at the guard’s lunch table. There were two new men today, and they didn’t exactly look like the mall cop type. He had no idea what professional soldiers looked like, but if he had to guess, these two would be very close to what he would describe. Unlike the rest of the guards, they carried their weapons everywhere and looked strong enough to bench press two of him. The ramifications of additional well-trained guards didn’t sit well with him, but no one else seemed to mind, or notice, so he hadn’t brought it up quite yet.

“-Nick?”

He turned his attention back to the table of Amanda, Darrel, and Connor, and blinked when he realized everyone was looking at him. Wracking his brains, he came up with the most dignified response possible. “Huh?”

Amanda giggled next to him in her normal spot, and Connor, sitting across the table, rolled his eyes and explained. “We were talking about the runes and summoning. Runes just hold mana in the form of a spell right? So what if we used them as extra fuel for summoning?”

Nick frowned, taking a bite out of his ham and turkey sandwich to give himself a moment to think. There shouldn’t be any problem with using runes as mana batteries for summoning, or rather he couldn’t think of any specific negative effects besides it just being a possible waste of time. “Yeah, we can give that a go this afternoon; see if we can get it working. It’ll be more interesting than making rune cards all day.”

“Yeah, Jeremi has been going through them almost as fast as we can make them between the four of us.” Darrel grumped good naturedly.

“He has plenty of readings from us using them, he’s trying to see if there’s anything different if someone completely unconnected to Ilos uses them.” Amanda explained.

Nick finished off the last bite of his sandwich and stood with his tray. “Well, I’ll be in the park when you guys finish.”

Amanda hurriedly drained her apple juice and joined him as he bussed his tray and headed out of the cafeteria and towards the summoning area, glancing at the signs on the walls to guide himself. He wasn’t used to translating hexadecimal yet, and it took him a few seconds of looking at the code on each corner as he went by to make sure he was going the right way. When they were about halfway, Amanda spoke quietly, ducking her head a little so the cameras couldn’t see her mouth.

“Su.”

*So what have you learned about the Illusive Man?*

Nick caught himself before he looked at her, concealing his shock. It was true that he’d been reading over the correspondence to and from the Illusive Man in his free time, and while he was suspicious of everything about this place, he hadn’t realized that Amanda had anything but trust for the Terran Inquisition. His first thought was that she was a spy to see what he thought about the mysterious benefactor, but he dismissed it almost immediately. Everyone on the base already knew exactly how he felt, and the fact the she was concerned about the cameras possibly getting a lip reading off of her meant that she had put a fairly significant about of thought into this and she wanted to hide her doubts from anyone else. Besides, the more people that trusted him the better, and he needed someone to talk to, to confide in.

*He’s careful. There’s very little in the reports about him that isn’t also obvious from just this base. He’s rich or has contacts that allow him access to a massive amount of funds, and he knows a lot about magic and Ilos and has for a long time. You were one of the first ones here and arrived less than two days after the launch right?* Nick waited for her to nod slightly before continuing. *He would have had to started construction of this place a good amount of time before that, and he knew that cold iron almost nullified magic in order to have the entire building lined with it. Some of our findings seem only to confirm what he already knew, which means that he has or had other facilities like this one to study magic, almost definitely before the launch. It’s possible the beta testers could do magic, which means the Illusive Man had three months after the beta started to figure out enough to set this place up, and I’m not sure it took that long. Do you remember when you first got here? Didn’t things look a little more used than you would expect from a brand new facility? The maintenance reports said there was some wear just days after you arrived here and a couple walls needed to be repainted, but haven’t noted anything near that level afterwards. It’s possible that this is not the first group to do research on magic here. *

Amanda was silent for a moment, thinking about what he’d said. *But why keep it quiet like this?*

Nick absently rubbed the segmented black band that encircled his head. *A lot of reasons. This kind of revelation would cause widespread chaos and probably segregation and experimentation on those with a black Key. Magic is a potent military force, and every government in the world would be racing to gather as many mages as possible to use as soldiers. With cold iron, mages could essentially be kept as human factories to produce weapons in the form of rune cards.*

Amanda’s eyes widened as she considered that. *Then why are you so suspicious? It seems to me like he’s actually looking out for us.*

*It’s because he’s so careful that I’m worried. He most likely will use the discoveries we’ve made to make money, and lots of it, but that only works so long as he has a monopoly on the knowledge. If anyone here gets out and tells people about what we’ve done and discovered, he loses that, and he’s much too careful to let that happen. I don’t know what he’s promised to get this many people as volunteers, but from what I’ve gathered from talking to the mages and scientists here, I’m the only one who has any sort of outside contact, and that’s because he doesn’t know about it. If any report got to him that I could talk to someone outside this base, I guarantee I would be dead within the hour.*

This time it was Amanda that caught herself before she could look at him and give away their conversation.

Nick laughed softly, but there was a dark edge to it. *Don’t be so surprised. If there’s enough money on the table, things get serious very quickly. What do you think is going to happen when people want to leave here? When productivity drops? When we aren’t making any new discoveries? If we get powerful enough that he might possibly be unable to control us? We’ll be vanished somehow or another, probably violently. Then a new group of researchers and volunteer mages will arrive a few days after that to a ‘brand new facility’, maybe informed with some of the discoveries we’ve made… and the maintenance reports will show that a few walls needed to be cleaned and repainted.*

*You don’t know that. He could hire us after we’re done here or something.* Amanda’s protested weakly, her voice shaking and face visibly pale.

Nick sighed. She’d had just about enough for now. There was no point in continuing. *This is all just conjecture, maybe I’m just paranoid and we’ll be free to go after we finish here. Let’s go see what we can do with the rune cards and the summoning circle.* If only I believed it was paranoia.

 

 

Earth, Day 20

 

The speaker in the ceiling of the lab crackled to life and Arterian’s deep voice spoke through it. “Attention all Inquisition members. Report to the cafeteria immediately for an urgent meeting.”

Nick frowned. This was a surprise, and he didn’t like surprises when he was supposed to be informed about everything beforehand. He’d just arrived to the rune lab from breakfast, and hadn’t done anything but take out the blank rune cards, so he took the opportunity to pocket a few on his way to the door while there was no one else in the lab. Worst-case scenarios ran through his head as he walked to the meeting place, and he prepared himself to fight the soldiers they had on the base. He peeked around the corner into the cafeteria, and relaxed a little when he saw only a few of guards there finishing breakfast, and none of them armed. Spotting Amanda, Connor, and Darrel sitting at their usual table, he walked over to them and sat down next to the teenage girl.

Amanda took one look at him and leaned in to whisper, putting a hand on his arm. “Relax Nick. Dark just got a message from the Illusive Man a few minutes ago and is going to tell everyone what it is.”

Nick opened his mouth to ask what it was, but Arterian’s voice spoke over him from where the man stood at one wall. “Good morning everyone. I have a few announcements to make this morning that all of you need to hear. I received a message from the Illusive Man this morning, and there are a few things he told us to reveal, starting with the existence of a project we’ve kept secret until now…” The man looked directly at Nick and smiled darkly. “The rune project.”

Nick went cold. He’d bullied his way into the deal he had with Arterian on the threat of exposing the rune project, and that threat was now void. He had nothing to protect himself, and Arterian seemed like the kind of guy who was going to make him pay for shoving the man into a corner. How am I gonna get out of this? I can leverage the discoveries I’ve made on the possibly of making more, or…

Nick was still worrying over the issue when Amanda grabbed his arm, wrenching him out of his thoughts. Arterian was done talking about runes, and Jeremi had joined him at the front of the room, demonstrating magic. Why was Amanda gripping his arm so hard? They’d seen Jeremi use rune cards almost constantly the past couple days. The way the teen girl’s face was frozen in shock made him look closer at the older scientist, who was cupping a small flame in both of his hands, making it vanish and appear repeatedly by casting fas. Jeremi was using magic with both hands occupied, meaning he wasn’t using a rune card.

“Holy shit.” Nick breathed as the implications hit him.

Arterian stepped forward again as Jeremi let the fire vanish and moved back to his seat. “Everyone will be assisting in the research of runes from now on. We need to see if we can repeat this magic learning process with someone else and objectify it as best we can. As a final note, we will be having a free day one week from today with entertainment on the Illusive Man’s dime. We will have forms in the cafeteria all of today and tomorrow for you to put in requests. Our sponsor has indicated that money is no object, and to write down whatever you desire so long as it can be brought here by helicopter and moved inside. You have all been granted access to the rune labs, so use today to familiarize yourself with that research. That is all.”

Nick stood from the table, waving off anyone who approached him, not hearing anything said to him. There was a deep foreboding about the coming days, and that feeling suffused him as he made his way to his room. He didn’t even care when Amanda followed him. He sat down against the back of the couch and leaned his head against it. allowing Amanda to sit next to him without complaint. After almost an hour, he looked over at the brown-haired girl.

She smiled a bit at his movement. “Done staring off into nowhere?” Her smile faded into concern when he didn’t respond. “You okay?”

Nick shook his head slowly, clenching his hands together in an effort to stop their shaking. “I’m scared Amanda. No one seems to understand what this discovery means for us. This is it. Game over. The Illusive Man has his hands on the grand prize, everything he ever wanted, and the people here are the only ones who can take it from him. What do you think he’s going to do?”

Amanda went pale.

 

 

Earth, Day 25

 

Nick tossed nine blank rune cards on the table, placing three already inscribed with cir in front of him as he sat down.

Silence greeted him as Connor, Darrel, and Amanda stared at him, two in shock, one with determination.

“Nick!” Darrel hissed. “Holy shit dude! How the fuck did you get these? You’d be in so much trouble if these were seen!”

“I stole them before they started doing full body searches whenever we leave the lab, that’s how, a few at a time.”

“But why are you showing us?” Connor asked, his face an odd mix between surprise, confustion, and anger. “If we’re even seen with these we’d be in just as much trouble as you!”

“Yeah dude! What the fuck! Why the-”

Nick cut them off. “Because the four of us are by far the most powerful mages in the Inquisition, and you won’t flip shit when I tell you that the Illusive Man is going to try to kill us in the next few days.”

That shut the two men up fast, especially with Amanda nodding her confirmation and starting on the evidence. “Haven’t you guys noticed how many new guards we have and how professional they look?”

“What?” Connor scoffed. “There’s like four new ones, I’ve seen them at lunch, even if they carry guns everywhere, everyone is used to it by now.”

Amanda shook her head. “You saw new men there each day. Different new men. There’s upwards of twenty new soldiers here, and they’ve been coming four at a time to get a look at all of us in person.”

The heavyset man frowned, looking like he was trying to remember while Darrel spoke. “Even if there are new guards, that doesn’t mean anything. Why would the Illusive Man want to kill us? We haven’t done anything but do magical research for him.”

“Because he’s careful.” Nick stated, taking grabbing a folder he had in his lap and placing it on the table over the blank rune cards. “I had access to all of the correspondence between the Terran Inquisition and the Illusive Man, and he’s not one to risk any of us getting free with our discoveries.”

“How did you-?”

“I threatened to reveal the rune project to everyone and forced Arterian to give me access to everything and keep that access secret.”

“Hoooly hell.”

“Shit!”

Nick nodded at the table as he stood up. “I put everything I’ve found in that folder. Look it over.”

He and Amanda walked away and sat on his bed. He’d written everything he’d told the girl and placed it above the copies of the reports and correspondence he’d been given. Surprisingly enough, Arterian hadn’t taken them away or even removed his full access to the base, even with Nick’s main leverage gone. “Amanda. While they’re looking at that, this is for you.” He took out a small folded piece of paper and handed it to her. “These are my codes for access to everything on this base, just in case you need them. They will unlock any door and can be used to access any computer. Memorize them, then burn that paper so no one catches you with it.”

“But… why me?”

“Because you’re the one I trust the most here, and I want you to be safe.”

Her face reddened and she looked down. “I ahh… Thanks.”

It took a bit over an hour for the two men to look over all the paper in the folder and discuss things between them, and having apparently decided, they waved Nick and Amanda over to the table.

Connor started. “Look Nick, how sure are you about all this?”

Nick got up and walked over to the large carpet in the middle of the room, then lifted it and crawled under, retrieving two things and coming back to set them gently on the table. “Enough that I was willing to risk stealing these.”

“Dude!”

“Holy fuckin’ shit Nick!”

On the table were two spell cards made of pure platinum, the Light and Shadow runes in them set in diamond and glowed softly white and dark grey respectively. It had taken Nick a full week to charge these in the lab, then ‘use’ them for an experiment a few days ago when it was discovered they could be used for summoning purposes. “This is how sure I am we are going to be attacked.”

Connor and Darrel looked at each other, and the black man summed up their thoughts. “Fuck.”

“We’re on board. What’s your plan?”

Nick sighed in relief, echoed by Amanda, and his body relaxed. He hadn’t realized how tense he’d been until just now. “Okay. No one else is gonna listen to this and not go to Arterian, so for now just spread a little doubt. Call attention to the new guards at lunch, how they always carry their weapons, how they don’t seem even the slightest bit friendly. Maybe how you feel threatened by them rather than protected, say you’ll be watching them to make sure they don’t try anything. Talk enough to get people thinking about it, but not enough to call undue attention to yourself. Each of you mark three of these blank spell cards and charge them. Keep them on you whenever you can, and keep some of the experimental ones near you while you’re in the labs. When they attack, I’ll use these three as air walls to deflect their bullets, so just run if we’re together, otherwise meet up at the park. I know of a powerful creature that we can summon to get us out of this place, but it’s going to take a lot of mana, which is why it’s going to take all four of us plus these.” He tapped the platinum spell cards. “If we can use only the spell cards to get to the summoning circle, we should have enough mana to do it.”

“Wait, how do you know of such a powerful creature? You haven’t been far enough in Ilos to know of anything that would take all four of the most powerful mages here plus these spell cards.” Amanda protested.

I was hoping they wouldn’t catch that... Guess I have to explain. Nick sighed. “You know of Cariss ‘the Calm’ right?”

They all nodded.

David’s more famous than I thought. Nick mused before continuing. “He’s my best friend, and he described this one to me as more powerful than any other player in the game with the exception of the seven leaders.”

“Damn. Okay. I’m sold.” Connor shook his head, seemingly impressed.

“Same.” Darrel nodded.

“What’s his name?” Amanda asked.

Nick replied without hesitating. “David.”

“Alright.” She glanced at each of the men around the table in turn. “Let’s make it out of here alive.”

The Illusive Man makes his move, and Nick and the rest of the mages race to try and summon something that can defend them. Back on Ilos, Aria is recovering from her battle with the first boss and getting to have a little downtime.

Well, I'm posting this earlier than I originally had thought I would, but here's your scheduled Saturday Matinee! ;)

It's shorter than I like posting, but it came in at a natural stopping point, so I figured I'd go ahead and put it up. Hope you enjoy! :)

 

-Tas

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 8: No Rest for the Weary

 

Earth, Day 27

 

Nick sprinted down the hallway, the sounds of gunfire behind him speeding his steps. The arrows on the signs attached to each corner pointed him towards 5041524B, the park, but with Darrel and Amanda leading him, he paid them no attention. He could hear Connor’s footsteps pounding behind him, the larger boy’s breaths coming in short gasps. Each of the others held a few cards with charged runes inscribed on them, ready to be used at a moment’s notice. Nick watched the blast doors overhead worriedly, prepared to dive or pull up if any of them looked like they might fall.

Things had been going so well. The cafeteria had been cleared of most of the tables for the off-day and turned into a party room, complete with refreshments and a horrifically expensive sound system that was tied into the facility’s overhead speakers. It was actually still piping music through the hallways, providing an odd counterpoint to the sudden violence. A few of the close-by unused labs hosted a variety of other entertainment setups, including video games, a bar, and even a karaoke booth. It was near lunchtime, so Nick had been eating some of the food in the cafeteria with Amanda, Darrel, and Connor. They’d been sticking together as much as possible the past few days and trying to talk about the new guards a lot to the other people in the facility. It’d been working rather well once people noticed how aloof and dangerous-looking the new soldiers were, and they were watched warily when they were around instead of being ignored like before. Another three of the staff without black Keys were able to unlock their magic within the two days since the meeting in Nick’s room, and while they weren’t exactly powerful, it was better than nothing.

Most of the guards had moved into the cafeteria and had seated themselves at a large table off to the side, taking up what was essentially an entire wall of the room, and Nick had been watching them out of the corner of his eye while he ate while trying not to be too obvious. It was a good thing he had been, because when he saw them all move at the same time to bring up their weapons on the room, he was able to react immediately. He’d jumped from his seat, yelling at the top of his lungs for everyone to get down as he activated the cir card he had in his pocket to cast cirres, creating a wall of solid air between the guards and everyone else.

The barrier had lasted only a few seconds before the small amount of mana stored in the card ran out, but it stopped the initial storm of bullets and gave all the magicians in the room a chance to react and defend themselves. Nick used the second of his three cir cards to make a smaller cirres wall to protect himself and the people sitting with him, including Amanda, Connor, and Darrel. Most of the mages in the room got protections up in time, but some of the scientists who hadn’t unlocked their magic and weren’t near anyone else weren’t so lucky.

Blood splattered everywhere as the hail of metal tore through those who weren’t quick enough and screams filled the cafeteria. A few lost their concentration and ended up joining the first victims in death. Everyone who wasn’t in shock had dashed for the door, and Nick had burned his final cir card to protect himself and his friends as they tore out of the cafeteria and headed towards the summoning circle as they had planned.

They’d discussed going on the offensive the previous day, but there had been a guard posted at the entrance to the park and a camera stationed right there. Since no one so using the summoning circle, it would have been blatantly obvious that they were doing something suspicious, and they would have had to get rid of the guard before being able to access the park. On the chance that they managed to take the trained soldier by surprise and defeat him before he could raise an alarm, the camera would catch them, and then there would be no reason for the guards to hold back. They probably would have just gunned down everyone in the facility, leaving the four instigators the only survivors. Thus the longer they could work at getting people suspicious with the guards, the better chances they had at keeping most of the Terran Inquisition alive.

The four mages skidded to a halt as the final blast door separating them from their destination slammed down, the heavy iron-lined door that was the doorway to the park just on the other side of the thick slab of metal. Shit! I knew they were watching from the guard room, but I was hoping they wouldn’t drop these in time.

Without any more cards and needing to conserve his mana for the summoning, Nick was defenseless, but thankfully his friends were not. The blast doors were too thick to burn through quickly, so Connor and Darrel both used a res card to force parts of the hall under the door upwards, but it only moved a few inches before the spells ran out of mana.

“Damn, it’s heavier than I thought!” Darrel cursed. “Shit. Alright. You guys are going to have to handle the summon yourselves. I’ll get this door open and hold them off as best I can. Give me the cards you haven’t used yet.”

“Thanks Darrel and good luck.” Amanda said as she handed over a trio of spell cards to go along with the pair Connor held out.

The black man nodded sharply. “Res!”

The two small pillars of hall ground slowly upwards until there was enough room to get under the blast door, and one by one they started crawling through. The sound of pounding boots reached them as Nick and Amanda were pulling Connor under the door, his girth having a hard time getting under the small gap. Connor came through as Darrel called out, raising a wall of concrete just in time to block the first bullets.

Damn! What do I do?! We can’t leave Darrel, but he can’t do anything when he’s trying to cast and concrete isn’t going to last against that kind of firepower!

“Darrel! Drop down and stick your feet under the door!” Amanda commanded, . “We’ll pull you through!”

“Res!” And the sound of another section of concrete being raised was the only response, but a pair of boots appeared from under the door.

Nick and Amanda each grabbed a leg and dragged Darrel backwards under the door. As soon as he was clear, the two pillars of hallway holding up the blast door shot back into the ground, followed almost instantly by the massive section of steel and the disintegration of two of the spell cards Darrel held. The gears that would pull the door back up fell apart along with another pair of spell cards, leaving him with only one.

They all collapsed, breathing hard.

“Fuck! Get the damn door open Paul!” They heard one of the guards yelling into his radio through the blast door.

There was a pause as the man listened to the response and a grinding noise from the ceiling above the blast door.

“It’s not opening!”

Another pause.

“What!? They destroyed the mechanism!? Fuckin’ kids! Damn it!”

As the soldier continued to blister the air with profanities, Amanda began to giggle. The sense of relief, the joy of being alive, suffused the small group, and before long they were all laughing.

“Paul! Get me that blowtorch in lab sixteen! The Illusive Man will kill us if we leave any loose ends! Actually, better yet, talk one of those freaky mages holed up in the labs and tell ‘em we’ll spare their lives if they can get this door open!”

The laughter stopped as the sense of safety vanished. It would take a five or ten minutes to get through with a blowtorch, but a minute of concentrated fire or a strong enough earth spell would get the guards through the blast door in short order.

“We need to move.” Amanda said as they all picked themselves up off the floor. “Darrel, what kind of mana do you have left?”

He shook his head. “Not much.”

Amanda stepped over to the heavy park door, pulled up on the latch, and shoving it open as she stepped through. “Alright, do what you can to block the door while Nick, Connor, and I start on the summoning. Nick, how are we doing this?”

Nick pulled the platinum spell cards from his pocket and headed towards the summoning circle as Darrel closed the door. “I just need the two of you to contribute as much mana as possible. If I told you what I was going to try and summon, the image you had in your head could mess things up, so just trust me on this.”

They both nodded and took their places on the sides of the circle. Nick placed his two cards, Light and Shadow runes, in the fourth and seventh corners of the nine-pointed star respectively, then moved to the base of the circle and looked at his two new friends. “Remember, this is all or nothing. What I’m going to summon can get us out of this, but it’s going to cost a lot of mana. If necessary, use your health to complete the summon, because if this fails, we’re dead anyway.”

Both of their expressions darkened, but first Amanda, then Connor nodded solemnly.

“Alright, let’s start.”

Nick closed his eyes and focused on the circle in front of him, pushing mana into the design and pulling it from the cards he had placed. He thought of everything he knew about his best friend, all they memories they had, all the time they’d spent together, all the things that he associated with the man. Honor, determination, intelligence, dependability, independence, social awkwardness, tolerance, fear of vulnerability, adaptability, and most of all, the quiet calmness that his friend had always possessed. He felt the connection and the massive amount of energy it would take to complete the summon. They didn’t have enough mana, even with all three of the most powerful mages the compound had to offer at full strength and the spell cards, but he’d expected that and kept shoving mana into the circle. Minutes passed, minutes they didn’t have to spare, but he could only power the summoning circle so quickly. Jess had told him about being able to meet and contact some of the silver Key players the previous day, and he didn’t doubt that this would work now that he knew that they could be contacted. He had to believe it would work, because he was putting everything into one stock, and if his gamble didn’t pay off, everyone in the facility was dead. The mages and staff could hold out for a little while, especially if they had managed to make the labs where the rune cards were. However, they were relatively weak compared to Nick and the three others with him, and he doubted they could do much to take down the guards. Their mana would run out long before the soldiers’ ammo, and then they were as good as dead. He was their chance at survival.

Nick’s mana hit zero and he mentally shoved through the buffer that protected his health. At first it was a slight uncomfortable feeling that suffused his body, like when the sun is a little too hot on a bright summer day, but that feeling quickly mounted into pain. First it as if he was just really sore, then like all his muscles were cramping at once. He heard Connor yell and go down, his face etched in agony. Amanda stood her ground only slightly longer, tears streaming down her face, before she too began screaming, her legs giving out from under her. A third voice joined the other two, and it took Nick a moment to realize it was his. He was on his hands and knees now. When had he fallen?

Mana stopped coming in from his two friends as they lost their will to continue, but Nick pushed further.

Every breath was a new lesson in pain. He was so close! Only a little more! Fire burned in every vein as he gave more of himself, and he saw blood dripping to the ground through hazy eyes before he collapsed. His ears were ringing, but with his darkening vision saw the tall dark figure of Darrel consumed in an explosion that blew the heavy park door open.

Nick gave it one last push with all the willpower he could muster.

I NEED YOU DAVID! HELP ME!

 

 

Ilos, Day 27

 

The first floating island above Ilos to the north was a peaceful place. Soft luscious grass covered the mostly flat surface, and the only populace in evidence besides myself was the multitude of cows sedately munching on the greenery. I was lying on my back on the fragrant grass, hands behind my head, watching the clouds float by with my newly repaired quarterstaff at my side. Rather than having my Light and Shadow bands sticking to my wrists, I was using the magic to try to make images in front of me with the clouds as outlines. My legs were crossed at the ankle, the Comfortable Traveling Boots still adorning my feet as they were, well, comfortable. The breeze ruffled my black dress and danced with my hair, the midnight tresses spilling to the side of me.

It hadn’t even been twenty four hours since I’d been saved from the Plantea boss by my previously unnamed companion, and in a fit sudden laziness, I’d decided to take it easy for a day. Solventus Gale could wait until I was rested, and so could progressing to the next island, doing quests, and finding answers to all those questions about Ilos and my new body. I felt safe knowing I was well ahead of any other competent champion besides Gale, and was taking my ease in the pleasant afternoon sun.

After waking up to an inn room, reading Gale’s note, and collecting my equipment from the corpse of the boss, I visited the marketplace to get my weaponry repaired. The villagers seemed happy enough to take some of the wood and vines from the boss in exchange for their services, and I’d even come away with a little bit of extra cash. With the various errands I needed to do out of the way, I headed through the Air Gate and decided that this was a good a place as any to relax alone for a little while. I’d killed one of the cows, roasted some of the meat over a fire, and made a nice lunch for myself before taking a nap for most of the day. It was well into the afternoon now and I’d woken up a half-hour ago or so, but I had no plans to move any time soon. I figured I could stay here till nighttime and then take the Air Gate on this island to the next one so I could fight the stuff that slept during the day.

Gale had obviously taken care of the boss on this island already as the Air Gate was active, though I would really have been shocked if he hadn’t by the time I came though. The guardian of the Gate on this floor was the same as all of the rest of the island’s populace, namely that it was a cow, though calling it a bull might be more precise. The animal could take a lot of hits and had unparalleled damage for any creature up till this point, but the only attack it had was to charge directly at you. As long as you didn’t mind a trip back through the Air Gate to Circir below, all you had to do to defeat the boss was stand at the edge of the island and then jump over it when it charged you. The couple thousand foot drop would ensure your victory, and then you just went to collect your spoils. Gale sure was a lucky bastard to get that one to himself.

I stopped myself from starting to grumble about it, it wasn’t really all that big of a deal anyway, that boss gave out very little exp. Honestly though, ignoring all the shit I’d had to deal with for the past few weeks for a change was liberating. I’d been worrying about everything for far too long, obsessing over things I couldn’t change, and that had bit me hard when I tried to fight the boss. I’d been an idiot trying to fight a monster of that difficulty when I was so exhausted and out of it, and I’d still almost pulled it off, which I was oddly proud of.

Putting that out of mind, I sighed contentedly as I watched a fluffy cat-shaped cloud float past, absently making Garfield out of it using the cloud as a background. I giggled at the imagery, amused by my own silliness. This is… nice. I need to take breaks more often. I yawned. I can wait until it gets dark to do more than just relax.

As if that thought had triggered it, light bloomed from under me, warm against my back. As relaxed as I was, my subconscious was still paranoid of unexpected things and caused my to bolt to my feet, scooping up my quarterstaff as I made a quick hop backwards and prepared myself to fight, my Light and Shadow magic vanishing. I looked down, spotting the odd light, which stayed directly below me even when I jumped again, this time high up and backwards. Now that I was in the air I could see that the light formed a fairly specific shape: a nine pointed star inscribed in a circle five or six feet across made of dim grey light, and in the center a glowing white starburst.

Fassi! I commanded mentally, sending strikes of burning light down into the oddity, which did nothing but distort it as my spell tore up the ground it seemed to be projected on. I landed directly on the thing, but nothing happened. It moved with me even when I made jerking movements to try and get out from over it, my best feints doing nothing to shake it.

This was freaking me out a bit. I’d never seen anything like it before in Ilos, and that it seemed locked to my position wasn’t exactly comforting. It looked like a fictional magic circle that I’d seen in any number of games or anime, but that only told me it was potentially dangerous and could possibly do something freaky.

Deciding to forgo the ineffective offensive and avoidance approaches, I crouched down and felt it with a hand, frowning. The starburst was somehow warm to the touch, and as I watched the empty parts of the figure were slowly filling with this weird shifting multicolored light. Something was going to happen when the circle was full, I felt sure of it, but I had no idea what. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out, exhaling all of the emotions that swirled within me until I floated calmly in the Stillness. The figure was mostly empty now, but I only had probably another thirty seconds or so until whatever was going to happen happened. My hands did a hasty check of my gear, feeling three health potions I had left, making sure my long knives were secure, touching all fourteen of my throwing daggers, tapping my wolf’s head clip, my metal armband, and my spell gem pendant, then finally gripping my quarterstaff.

Twenty five seconds to go.

Everything began to shimmer, as if distorted by heatwaves that slowly grew in intensity, but there was no change in temperature. I tried moving, but the circle stayed locked to my position, the white starburst remaining under my feet so matter where they moved.

Fifteen.

The world around me began to ripple, as if someone had cast a stone into the clear pool I was viewing the world through. Another image, another place, seemed superimposed over my vision, slowly fading into view. I could dimly hear screaming, first one voice, then two, and then three, both the visual and audio phenomenon becoming more intense as the seconds ticked by. I was pretty sure I knew what this was now. Ilos had enough game aspects in in for me to guess someone was using summoning magic, and I was the one getting pulled in. I didn’t know where it was I was going, but from the pain the voices seemed to be in, it wasn’t exactly peaceful.

Five.

Two of the voices stopped, the third only pausing long enough to draw breath for another howl of agony. It was much louder now, and the world seemed to be melting away in my vision, doubled with another place. I could see three figures around me, too shimmery to make out, all on the ground. There was greenery there, and a path that lead to something that was grey instead of green. Moving around still did nothing, the almost completely filled figure remained centered on me even now, and in the other world didn’t change at all. I crouched, holding my quarterstaff low and behind me, ready to move in any direction if whatever this was did something dangerous, which seemed like the highest possibility at this point. I had no idea what I was getting into, or rather where I was going, I’d just have to figure it out when I got there.

The last voice stopped. A flare of orange light replaced the grey the path in the other world lead to. An explosion sounded, a trio of figures appearing in the smoke with what looked like assault rifles.

Two seconds.

One second. Light Barrier, cires!

A bubble of transparent solid Light surrounded me just before the nine pointed star and circle filled completely.

*I NEED YOU DAVID! HELP ME!*

Shock lanced through me, piercing the Stillness with its intensity. I knew the voice that sounded in my mind, more desperate than I’d ever heard it. It belonged to someone I was closer to than family, I would give my life for, someone I would do anything to help.

Nick.

Uncertainty vanished. It was time to go.

I charged forward as the starburst symbol under my feet flared with renewed light, blowing away Ilos with its brilliance.

Aria is summoned to Earth and has to contend with a large number of professional soldiers in order to save her friend!

This chapter was kind of different for me, and I actually had to scrap a good portion of what I'd already written, but I think it turned out better this way. Hopefully y'all think so too :)

I've uploaded a gif I made to give better imagery for what the starburst I'm talking about looks like through the summoning as well as how it fades off. Obviously the gif is much faster than what actually happens, but hey, it's the best I can do without taking wayyyy too much time. We'll see if it actually works for everyone.

Also, there's a bunch of language in this part, sooooo... sorry about that, it's just the way things worked out.

Now to the action!

 

-Tas

 

 

 

 

 

Earth, Day 27

 

The light clung to me as I sprinted forwards, leaving a fluid afterimage of every movement, even including the quarterstaff I held in one hand. Wrapped in the Stillness, everything but me seemed like it was moving through water, slow as you please. I took in as much as I could; I needed to if I was going to pull this off against modern weaponry and keep Nick safe. My friend was on the ground in front and to the left of me, unmoving in a pool of his own blood. I could help with that.

Kasi. With a thought he was enveloped in healing light, though I couldn’t tell what kind of condition he was in without being able to touch him with my hands or something connected to me. The girl I’d seen was behind me, and there was another man in front and to the right of me, but they were both still moving and didn’t seem in any immediate danger. I noted the cameras set up to observe the summoning circle, but it looked like the one covering the entrance to the area had gotten blown off with most of the doorway. They didn’t have vision of me through video now.

There were three soldiers in front of me, the barrels of their guns slowly tracking up towards me, and the man in front was yelling something that sounded guttural. I still had my shield up, but why waste the mana on defending when it’s easier to disable? Cires. I dropped my shield as three small barriers came into being, nestled behind the trigger of each man’s weapon. I may not be an expert on guns, but I knew the main components, and you couldn’t fire if you couldn’t pull the trigger. They each only had one hand on their weapon now, the other coming upwards as well, but separately.

I was almost on them and was in the middle of swinging my quarterstaff forwards, still trailing a slight afterimage and aiming to take the closest man in the throat, when the two words he’d managed to shout in the time it took for me to cover the distance clicked.

‘We surrender’? …I can’t take that chance.

Nevertheless, I altered my strike, pulling in most of the power and redirecting the staff so it would clip his jaw rather than crush his windpipe and probably break his neck in the process. His head snapped backwards as the wood connected, but not far enough to do any permanent damage. He’d have a hell of a headache when he woke up, and likely a good concussion, but he wouldn’t be dead. I drove the other end of my quarterstaff into the gut of the man to the right, doubling him over with the force of the blow before his legs gave out and he folded towards the ground. The last man had almost completed the act of raising his hands in the air, one holding his gun pointed into the sky. His head was having trouble tracking me as I took down his comrades, but his eyes were wide in surprise. I danced forward and spun him around, snapping the back of his knees with my quarterstaff before setting it in the holder on my back and drawing one of my long knives with my left hand. When he hit his knees his neck was low enough to reach, and before he could do more than twitch I had the knife blade lightly touching his throat. He had a pistol in a holster on his right hip, and I drew that as I scanned for any other threats, bringing it up and using his body as cover from the only opening into the building that surrounded the small but open park-like area as well as from the man clutching his gut on the ground as he feebly gasped for air. I stopped there, keeping the pistol trained on the downed man.

“Drop your weapon.” I commanded softly to the man I held captive, and he obediently relaxed his hand, allowing the gun to clatter to the ground. Using the small light barriers I still had in place behind the triggers, I flicked the weapons into the trees, the two pistols on the other men quickly following courtesy of two more solid light spells.

That taken care of, I glanced back at the circle in the concrete in the center of the clearing, making sure to still keep an eye on the soldier on the floor. I’d been hoping Nick would be getting to his feet, but that wasn’t the case. The two other people there were still on the ground as well, and while I was unsure of their allegiance, I guessed based on the grey sweats and matching long-sleeve shirt that matched what my friend was wearing that they were probably friendly, or at least not hostile. There was another grey dressed figure off by the trees, this one a black man, who was attempting to get to his feet but tumbled over as I watched.

That must be the one I saw get tossed by that explosion, he probably got his bell rung pretty hard by the way he’s acting. He’ll be okay. The other two though… I can just heal them a little bit, enough to get them off the ground but not enough to fight.

Kasi.

Light surrounded the pair for a moment, and I grimaced at the mana usage. I was conserving as much as possible, but even a small healing used up a lot more than I wanted. While I waited for the pair to get themselves together, I wondered at exactly what was going on. I was having to make a lot of assumptions about where I was and who the hostile forces were, and that didn’t sit well with me. Barring something like an alternate universe, this was definitely Earth unless Nick had changed his appearance in Ilos to exactly match the one he was born with and had made a headband that looked the same as one of the black Keys. Actually all four of the people in grey were wearing black Keys for some reason. Was that a requirement when summoning? Were they recently in Ilos? Or maybe it was something else, I didn’t know and it was pointless to guess at it more.

The brown-haired teenage girl was on her feet now, moving gingerly, but she was up which is what mattered. The larger man was sitting up at least, though he looked like he was in a lot of pain and didn’t want to move any further. The girl staggered over to Nick, and while I didn’t think she was any threat, I mentally readied a burning fassi spell that would take her head off at the neck if she did end up trying something. I watched as she turned him on his side and felt his pulse, leaning over to put her ear next to his face, ignoring the blood completely, then lifted his shirt and put an ear to his chest.

So she’s medically trained? I wondered as she continued poking and prodding him for another ten or twenty seconds before sitting up with what looked like a sigh and a relieved smile. With no medical knowledge myself, I had no idea what she had been doing, but I’d be able to check him myself with magic when I got a little more information and could let go of this soldier. It looked like the man on the ground had finally caught his breath enough to do more than clutch his gut, and started moving to stand.

I fired the pistol at his feet, trusting the system assist and deliberately missing by about an inch or so.

Crack!

“Fuck!” That put him right back on his ass, facing me this time, and he froze when he saw the barrel of my gun pointed directly into his face. I couldn’t trust the sidearm to get through the armor he was obviously wearing, but I wouldn’t miss his head from this close.

“Hands. Slowly.” I commanded.

He complied, raising his arms slowly so his hands were behind his head. I honestly trusted my knives more than firearms, I could probably throw one hard enough to punch through body armor now, but there was nothing that beat the bark of a gun to discourage your captives from doing something stupid. Well, nothing that didn’t use mana anyway, and I needed to conserve that particular resource.

The radio attached to the ear of the man I was holding spoke in a tiny voice, likely inaudible to even my hearing from more than a foot away. “All teams check in. This is Engineer. All clear.”

“Guardian. No accidents. All clear.”

“Answer.” I hissed at the soldier on the ground.

His eyes widened, obviously surprised I could hear the radio, but slowly moved one hand to touch his ear. “Assault. Mission Success. All clear.”

“Good job people. Well done.”

The ‘Guardian’ voice came from the earpiece. “Yeah, up yours Pete, you just hadda sit in that damn booth. Get the fuckin’ medics over here. Even with some of the mages in on it Pickles got burned pretty bad and Seal got a broken arm before we could lock them away.”

“Shaddap Fork, I won overwatch fair and square.”

“I still think that full house you got on the river was bullshit.” Fork muttered.

“How ‘bout you Ripper? Did Jellyfish catch some heat or did he just lose his radio again?” Pete asked.

The man on the ground – Ripper I guess – looked at me. I nodded, giving him the go ahead. “He took a good knock to the head and decided to get his beauty rest early, but Shots and I are good. How about the mages? The rubber bullets and the overfilled blood packs work well Fork?”

“Yeah, scared them out of their wits with all that red going everywhere. There’s a couple people with welts and one that turned his foot trying to run, no other injuries. I still don’ get why we had to scare the shit out of a bunch of nerds and mages, but with the kinda dough the Illusive Man is handing out, I don’ need ta know.”

Ripper looked at me expectantly. He was pretty obviously trying to get me to understand that they weren’t there to kill anyone. The brown-haired girl was worrying her lip off to the side now, keeping a good distance but unable to contain her curiosity, slowly inching forward. The fat man was still sitting on the ground, leaning back on his hands, the black guy was sitting down and looking a bit woozy, and Nick was on his back, unconscious. I needed to check on him soon, but making sure there weren’t any other threats took priority.

A little Spirit magic is in order here. I have his name and I’m close enough, so I should be able to use it to tell if he’s lying with a split second use… Su. ...and he’s not. He might not be privy to the plan though, I really need someone else to make sure of this.

“Brown-haired girl!” I called out, causing her to flinch and point to herself questioningly. Do you see any other girls with brown hair around here? “Come over here!”

She slowly made her way over to me, skittish of the pistol I still held trained on Ripper’s head. “Yes?”

“What’s your name?”

“Amanda.” She responded in a controlled voice.

“You’re a friend of Nick’s right?” I waited for her nod. “These soldiers claim that they were only here to scare people and that some of the mages were in on it. Who do you trust here to tell us what’s going on?”

Her eyebrows flicked upwards in doubt, but she answered the question instantly. “Arterian Dark. He knows everything that goes on in this facility.”

Su. She doesn’t believe him, but she‘s telling the truth about this Arterian.

I nodded at Ripper, whose hand was hovering over his ear, ready to press the button and transmit.

“Hey Fork, can you get Arterian Dark over here?”

“What? Why? He’s the one keeping all them mages from going ballistic, even if he is being kind of an ass about it.”

I looked at Amanda. “They want to know why.”

She thought for a second, then smiled slightly. “Tell them his daughter wants to have a word with him.”

He blinked, but repeated her words. “His daughter wants to have a word with him.”

“Ohhh shitttt.” Pete cackled. “Can you keep your line open when he gets there? I wanna hear this!”

“Idn’t she the one who takes care of him all the time?”

“Yeah Ripper, you or Shots need to keep your mic on!”

“I’ll bring ‘im. If this is gonna be anything like what you guys are hintin’ at, I gotta see it in person.” Fork replied.

My eyebrows flicked up for a moment, impressed with Amanda’s poise despite the Stillness. These seemed to be professional soldiers, and I didn’t doubt that if they wanted to give a fake attack, they could do it very convincingly. She most likely thought people had died at the hands of the three soldiers in front of her, people she knew, but I didn’t see any of the reactions I expected. Actually, the one she was looking at most was me. I admit I cut a pretty odd picture, a tiny girl in a dress taking down three soldiers by herself, but still… She isn’t scared of them, and she isn’t angry at them either, it’s like she’s more curious about me than anything else.

“Are you Ilosian?” She blurted suddenly, then flinched back a bit when I looked at her, but didn’t back down.

I just stared at her, not saying anything. This was still a hostile situation, not a time to be talking where enemies could hear. On that note…

“Remove your helmet and your radio and drop them on the ground.” I softly commanded Shots. He complied, not that he had a choice with my knife at his throat.

As soon as the radio joined his helmet on the ground I cracked him in the back of the head with the hilt of my blade.

Amanda gasped, backing away a few steps, and Ripper glared at me as his friend collapsed in a heap. My right hand never wavered from its aim at the man’s head though; I wouldn’t give him the chance to do anything. I sheathed my knife and then clipped the dropped radio to my belt, running the cord to my ear. I pointed to a spot in front of me where I could cover the entrance and the two downed soldiers. “Ripper. Right there, on your knees, facing the door, hands in the air.”

“Fuck.” He muttered as he lifted himself to his knees and moved to where I was pointing before turning to face the doorway. While he was moving I took the opportunity to note that the armor the soldiers wore only covered the chest. I could use that.

I had my knife across his throat as soon as his eyes left me, pistol up and covering the door. “How do you open the mic?”

“Press it in and twist forwards.” He growled.

“Amanda, I need you to be quiet until they get here. I know you want to ask questions, but that needs to wait until after I’m sure there are no more immediate threats. Alright?”

She nodded nervously, obviously uncomfortable with my sudden callous use of violence. “Okay.”

That was an unfortunate side effect of the Stillness, and really this body. I didn’t feel guilty in any way for putting Shots on the ground. I could slit Ripper’s throat right here and I would likely feel only slightly guilty about it, and that just because he had already surrendered. In the Stillness, if my opponent wielded deadly force with intent to kill, I would return the sentiment without hesitation and without remorse. Killing made things more complicated right now, but if violence would put me in a better position, I wouldn’t hesitate on that point either. There was too much at risk, and I would do what I needed to do to keep myself and Nick safe.

My ears caught footsteps coming from the doorway, and I used the thumb of my right hand to press in and turn the little button on the earpiece before pointing the pistol at the doorway again. There wasn’t long to wait.

A man in that grey jumpsuit stepped through the doorway. His black hair and beard were close cropped and set off his blue eyes, the same color as Amanda’s. As soon as Fork’s leg stepped into view I cast cires, making a small block directly in front of Arterian’s forward swinging foot. He tripped over it of course, which was the whole point, and stumbled forwards out of the way.

Crack! Crack!

I shot twice, again trusting the system assist to guide me. Once to the right knee, once to the right shoulder just outside the armor, removing Fork’s mobility and gun arm. To his credit, he dropped to his left knee and began reaching for his sidearm with his left hand.

Crack!

I shot right by his ear, causing him to freeze. “The next one goes in your head if you try anything Fork.”

“You bitch!” Ripper snarled at me, trying to turn, but stopped when I pressed the knife against his throat a little harder.

“Soldiers! If I see any more of you, Ripper, Jellyfish, Shots, and Fork all die. Arterian! You get to explain this to Amanda so that I can hear.”

“What the fuck?! Two can play at that game bitch! If you don’t let them go we’ll kill everyone in this fuckin’ building!” Pete yelled at me over the radio.

“Go ahead.” I spoke softly, calmly. “There’s only one person I need to protect here.”

Silence reigned, the seconds drawing out slowly. Everyone in sight stared at me with wide eyes, shocked at how coldly I’d just dismissed the lives of innocents. It’s just not something one expects out of a teenage girl, and their reactions were exactly what I wanted. If they thought the captives weren’t worth anything they would concentrate their attack on me if things went bad rather than hurting civilians when I did what I needed to to keep Nick safe. In the meantime, it would shut them up and make them listen, which was what I needed if I was going to get out of this the easy way.

“That said, I don’t want anyone to die.” I continued a bit louder, if just as evenly. “If I can determine there’s no threat to my friend, I’ll heal all of the injuries I’ve caused as well as the burn and broken arm Pickles and Seal got. Now, Arterian, would you explain what the situation is?”

“Ah, ahem, yes. The Illusive Man and I wanted to know if it was possible to summon one of the players that had a silver Key, but we needed one as knowledgeable about the game as possible. It would have been impossible to produce the amount of mana necessary without using health, so we fabricated a situation where it was a choice between summoning something that could save our strongest mages, or death. With Nick’s close connection to Cariss, we were hoping to get The Calm himself. If successful I’m sure we could have kept him here for a week or two to help us with research. He most likely knows more words of power than anyone else.”

I can’t stay here for that long, there’s no way I’d be able to make up that much lost time. So much for letting Nick know what happened to me.

“What?!” Amanda gasped. “So you did kidnap Nick on purpose!”

“No, that was the Illusive Man’s idea; I had no part in it. I didn’t know the two knew each other until a week ago when we started planning this.”

“So the soldiers aren’t here to hurt anyone and this was just to force us into attempting to summon Cariss?”

Arterian nodded. “That’s correct.”

“I see.” Amanda turned to look at me. “You can let him go, the soldiers aren’t a threat.”

A third use of su let me know that none of them were lying. With three people of different groups all saying the same thing, the chances were high that there wasn’t a secret plan to do anything else. I dropped the Stillness, sighing as I relaxed a little, but remaining alert. I removed my long knife and sheathed it, walking around so I could present Ripper with the pistol, grip forward, speaking over the still open mic. “I’m really sorry about that. You’re all safe from me unless you make any aggressive moves and I’ll do what I can to take care of your friends.”

He just nodded guardedly, watching me closely as he got to his feet. My face reddened a little bit, kind of embarrassed at just how ruthless I’d been, but I saw respect in his eyes as well. I walked over to Fork, who was gritting his teeth and attempting to bind his shattered knee with a small roll of fabric from his vest with only his left hand, his right arm still hanging uselessly.

I crouched down and put a gentle hand on his, stopping him as I cast kasi, the familiar glow mending his shoulder and knee most of the way. I could tell exactly how much healing needed to be done with my contact through his hand, and I left a little bit of damage there that his body would heal on its own over a few days. There supposedly wasn’t any danger, but I wasn’t going to use any more mana than I had to.

He stared at me in shock, then slowly bent his knee and rolled his shoulder before standing, wincing a little bit at the movement, but still looking amazed.

“It’ll still hurt for a few days, but there won’t even be a scar.” I smiled slightly, looking up at the soldier. “I’m sorry about shooting you, but I couldn’t take any chances. If you bring anyone who’s injured out here I’ll do what I can to help th-“

“GOD DAMN IT ARTERIAN! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?!”

I whirled, throwing daggers poised to throw and already starting to drop into the Stillness at the first shouted word when I saw what was going on. Amanda was right in front of her father, who looked decidedly uncomfortable, and was screaming up into his face.

“Hot damn, she’s got a set of lungs on her!” Pete’s voice came over the radio.

“Shut up Pete. I wanna hear this.”

“WHAT THE FUCK POSSESSED YOU TO THINK OF THIS PLAN?! OF ALL THE AMATURISTIC, SCIENTIFICALLY INACCURATE, BULLSHIT SCHEMES YOU’VE COME UP WITH, THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST!!”

I blinked, sheathing my weapons in their hidden places. Alright. So her poise only lasts until the danger is gone. Got it.

Twisting the button on the radio so the mic clicked off, I skirted the swearing girl and her continually back-stepping father. Even the soldiers had retreated a few steps I noted wryly, though I could hear the blistering stream of words over the radio, so one of them had their mic clicked open. The fat guy was gaping at Amanda as I made my way over to Nick, crouching down to put a hand on his forehead and cast kasi once again. I used only the slightest thread of mana, checking his heath with the spell. It looked like I’d almost completely restored his health with my first healing spell, and I used a bit more right there to fill it all the way, but he didn’t wake up like he should have. I frowned in concern, it looked like he was sleeping, but…

My head dropped in relief and annoyance at myself as I realized my own stupidity. He looked like he was sleeping because he was sleeping. I’d experienced it first-hand a number of times over the past month; even if your heath was full, that didn’t mean you wouldn’t get tired. I’d bet that he pushed himself really hard to try and summon me; he was just completely exhausted, not still injured.

The black man had joined the fat one and was helping him to his feet, and it looked like Amanda was winding down from the tongue-lashing of the century, though she wasn’t stepping away from where she had backed Arterian against the wall. I couldn’t stifle a laugh as she transitioned into demands, telling the black-haired man exactly what he would do to make this up to her. Is that really her father?

Three more soldiers emerged from the building, one with a splinted arm, one with gauze covering his shoulder, and one carrying what looked to be a medical kit. I headed over to them, stopping on the way to heal Shots and Jellyfish – What’s with these names anyway? - enough to wake them up. The two men were significantly less injured than I’d expected given the force I’d put behind the blows. In fact, Jellyfish was still conscious despite the hit he’d taken to the jaw and had been playing dead the whole time. In an effort to avoid having a large group of well trained and well-armed men hostile towards me, I apologized, dipping my head slightly. “I’m sorry about knocking you guys out even after you surrendered – or trying to anyway - but I couldn’t take any chances with my friend’s life on the line and I didn’t have anything to tie you up with.”

Shots scratched the back of his head. “Well, I guess I would have done the same under the circumstances.”

“Hey, it beats dying. You weren’t aiming for my chin when you started that swing.” Jellyfish grinned.

He saw that huh? He has a great reaction time if he managed to avoid most of that impact, thinks on his feet really well too, pretending to be knocked out and all.

I walked over and took care of Pickles’ burn and Seal’s broken arm while those two picked themselves up and joined the other five soldiers and I.

“Alright Jellyfish, I gotta know why you surrendered to a little girl.” Seal said, smacking the man in question. “I know you do it all the time, but this is a new low for you man, she doesn’t look strong enough to even leave a bruise.”

“Yeah, she’s like what, four ten? You seriously earned your name this time.” Pickles laughed, looking at me. “How old are you exactly, fifteen?”

I scowled. “You should be thanking him, he saved all of your lives. And if you must know, I’m twenty two.”

His eyebrows went up. “Seriously?”

“No way.” Seal scoffed. “Something from you guys blowing the door probably came down and cracked you on the head. She’s just a teen that got lucky and is acting tough.”

Ripper noticed my expression darkening further and tried to head the larger soldier off. “She’s actually really good with that staff, and she’s a better shot than Shots is, faster too.”

“Hah! You just let a little girl in a dress get ahold of your sidearm and you’re trying to cover it up, admit it!”

“You insult me again and you’re going to end up with a broken nose.” I grated out, still glaring.

Ripper stepped between us, facing his friend. “Seriously Seal, shut your pie hole.” He glanced back at me. “I’m sorry, this one’s not too bright.”

“Aw c’mon, I wanna see this.” Pickles protested.

“Yeah Ripper, let her try it if she’s so tough, not that she’ll even be able to reach my face.” Seal laughed.

“Fuck it. You want to have a go with her? Fine.” Ripper said as he stepped out of the way, looking at me once he was off to the side. “You’re not going to kill him, right?”

“Don’t worry, I stick to my word.” I answered coolly.

Seal was openly mocking me, grinning widely as he spread his arms to the sides. “C’mon, I’ll give you the first shot.”

Once I was close enough, I hit him in the gut, then jumped upwards as he doubled over from the unexpected power of the impact, driving a knee directly into his nose. His shocked expression and the way the cartilage of his nose crackled so satisfyingly brought a smile to my face. Blood flew everywhere as Seal toppled over from the force, landing on his back. His hands immediately went to his ruined organ, trying to stem the blood flow as he screamed obscenities. I leaned over him, enjoying the picture of an idiot getting exactly what he’d asked for.

“Try not to be such a tool Seal.” I patted his cheek, grinning a bit wider. “You’ll live longer.”

Turning away before he could react, I walked the few steps back towards the other soldiers. Pickles had his phone out and was recording, and Fork and Jellyfish were both clapping for me. I bowed for them, using the motion to check on Seal. He was picking himself up off the ground and heading to join us, but not in any aggressive way, allowing me to relax a bit.

“You’re really twenty two?” Seal asked from behind me, his voice sounding weird because of the break in his nose.

I turned to face him, keeping my expression neutral. “Yes.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry. I was out of bounds there. You even saved me a couple months with a broken arm and I insulted you because you looked young.”

I sighed. These soldiers seemed like good guys, so while I was regretting the mana cost… “Here, kneel down.”

Frowning down at me, Seal blinked. “Why?”

Rolling my eyes, I gave him a flat look. “So I can reach your face you dolt. You’re like what, six eight?”

“Six ten.”

He knelt and I reached up towards his face. He’s on his knees and I still have to reach up. Gah. I pulled his hand away from his nose and gently touched the mangled thing myself, using kasi to heal it most of the way. “It’s going to hurt for a while and probably scar, but maybe it’ll remind you to think before you start speaking.”

“Ah, thanks.”

I took the earpiece out of my ear and unclipped the radio as he stood back up, turning to hand the pair to Shots. “Here, you can have this back. Sorry again about cracking your head like that.”

Suddenly that white starburst appeared below me, the same one that appeared when I was summoned. Probably twelve or thirteen feet across, it was larger than the one from Ilos, but the center still stayed locked to my position when I shifted to test it. It looked different though, dimmer, and it was fading a bit even as I looked at it. Actually it looked like everything was fading a little bit, and if I looked hard at the sky I could see the almost completely transparent images of the floating islands of Ilos. Looks like whatever summon spell they had is running out.

“Woah! Hey, look at that!” Amanda was hitting Arterian and pointing at the starburst at my feet.

“Look at what? Yes, she’s from Ilos.”

“Not that you idiot! The symbol on the floor! That’s the same one I saw when she got here, it’s just fading a lot slower.”

The two walked over, Arterian walking on top of the thing to crouch down and look at my feet while Amanda stopped at the edge of the glowing shape. “There’s nothing there Amanda.”

Ripper and Shots echoed him.

“Nope.”

“I don’t see anything either.”

Pickles still had his cell phone out and filming. “Nothing on the camera.”

“Well, you’re all standing on it.” I stated.

“You can see it too? It looks like it’s fading really slowly.”

I nodded. “I can only guess your summoning is running out of time, the world is sort of starting to fade too.”

Amanda put her thumb and index finger to her mouth, frowning in thought, and Arterian stood up and walked over towards the fat man still sitting on the ground by the summoning circle.

After a few seconds of silence, Fork spoke up. “So is this another one uh them magic things?”

“Probably. It’s gotta be if we can’t see it.” Ripper answered.

“This healing glow thing you do is pretty impressive.” The medic soldier mused, speaking for the first time as he examined Seal’s nose and arm. “They’re both almost completely healed. Can you do this on the move too?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I could heal it so you wouldn’t even know he was hurt, but with as much as I don’t know about this summoning thing, I’m saving as much mana as I can.”

“Well thanks for saving me two or three months of Seal’s bitching Combat Medic, good to have you on our side.”

Pickles almost dropped his phone and the rest of the soldiers stared at the medic, who continued as if not noticing their expressions. “I guess you know Ripper, Jelly, Shots, Fork, Seal, and Pickles already, so I guess I should introduce myself.” He held out a hand. “I’m Bones, nice to meet you CM.”

CM? A little confused, I reached out and shook his much bigger hand, noting that he had a firm handshake that matched my own, not softening his grip because I was a girl. “Um, nice to meet you too Bones, but who’s CM? My name is-”

He held up his free hand, stopping me, then let go of my hand and turned to look at the other soldiers, pointedly ignoring me. “Debrief in ten.”

I tilted my head, frowning and looking at the men curiously as they watched the medic head inside the building with an assortment of blank stares, though there were a few smug looks as if they’d had a guess confirmed. I’d probably have to wait a few seconds before they would hear anything I said, so I took the opportunity to look around. Nick was still on the ground, sleeping peacefully despite the noise. A glance to the side showed Amanda conferring with Arterian, the black guy, and the fat man. With the exception of girl’s father, they were occasionally looking down at and probably discussing the starburst, which had faded even more. The world was fading along with it, just differently than when I had been summoned. I could see everything just as sharply as ever, but it looked like Ilos’ image was superimposed over Earth’s, and the Ilos part was getting stronger. It was an odd effect, as if Earth was an old printed photo that was visibly aging as I looked on while Ilos faded into view from transparency.

“Well holy shit. I did not expect that.” Fork muttered, breaking me from my observations. “I’m surprised ya let him go after he cut you off like that. And here I was thinkin’ you had a quicksilver temper.”

“It seems like I do now sometimes, yeah.” I sighed, not angry as much as curious. “What was that all about? Why didn’t he want to hear my name?”

“Yeah. That. How do I put this…”

“Bones is our leader, and he just designated you as an ally and offered you a spot in the Phantom Lance whenever you want it.” Ripper stated.

I blinked. “So I get summoned here, beat some of you up after you surrender, act like I’m the most ruthless bitch ever born, then after I apologize everything’s okay and I get an invitation to your squad?”

“I wouldn’t simplify it that much, but yes. That’s pretty much how all of us were recruited. Minus the, y’know, magic.”

Weird, but whatever, I won’t be here for much longer anyway. “Okay… What about the name thing?”

“We’re not called the Phantom Lance for nothing CM, none of us knows anyone else’s real name. While we’re doing jobs with the Lance we have no identity outside the Lance, that way it keeps everyone else safe, especially our families.”

The soldiers with the exception of Ripper started walking away with a mixed bag of waves and farewells, heading to that debrief most likely. I absently waved back, concentrating more on what Ripper was saying.

“Most of us are ex-military and this is what we know, what makes us feel alive. We get to live safely with our wives and kids, keep a hand in the action, and get paid more than any civilian job any of us could hold down.”

“So, why me? I’m no military ma- girl.”

“You’d have to ask Bones about it, but I’d say it’s because you think on your feet and you’re talented. Not many people would be able to alter a strike like you did when you came after us at the start.”

I felt my eyebrows twitch upwards. He saw that too?

Ripper grinned, producing a large black KA-BAR knife from somewhere and rolling it flashily across his fingers. “Don’t look so surprised CM, you’d have had a much more difficult time if we hadn’t been planning on surrendering from the start. Now I gotta get to the debrief. Let the Illusive Man know if you ever want to contact us, he knows how.”

I watched as he strolled off, making the knife vanish somewhere along the way. Ripper huh? I have the feeling that he wasn’t given that name on a whim.

The starburst underneath me brightened a little, pushing away the fading of the world a bit, but it was at most a few seconds worth as the symbol continued to darken. It was mostly an outline now with a little bit of swirling color inside, and it looked like I probably only had a minute or two left here. I needed to make sure Nick would be okay after I went back. I turned my attention back to the four grey-clad … Scientists? Mages? Both maybe?

Amanda was smiling. “You can channel mana into it just like a summoning circle!”

“How long can you keep her around?” Arterian asked.

“We can’t. That was the last of our mana. She’ll be gone in a few minutes.”

I stepped forwards, causing the three wearing the black Keys to jump back a bit as the starburst flowed under their feet. “Can you get Nick home after I leave?”

Amanda nodded at me, her smile vanishing as she glared at Arterian for a moment. “Yes. My dear father here has decided to let everyone who wants to leave leave. Isn’t that right?”

The older man nodded quickly, obviously still cowed by the tongue lashing the brown-haired teenager had given him. “Yes. The Illusive Man has what he needs after this last experiment, provided you are one of the silver Key champions?”

“That’s correct.”

“He’ll get home, I’ll make sure of it.” Amanda assured me.

The world around me began to run together as the outline of the starburst under me began to lose its shape. Sounds distorted, and everything looked sort of transparent as Ilos solidified. The time I had left was measured in seconds now. I needed to leave a message for Nick, something that would let him know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was still alive. As I wracked my brain, I felt more than heard footsteps approach from behind me and turned to face them.

My breath caught in my throat as I looked into my best friend’s sky-blue eyes that seemed the only solid thing left of Earth, all thought of speaking left my head. He raised a hand a bit sleepily. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Nick!” I ran forwards as quickly as I ever had, throwing my arms around him. He hugged me back, more out of instinct than anything else probably, but I still found myself tearing up as I held onto the only family I’d seen since I’d been ripped away from Earth almost a month ago. His arms felt so safe and warm as I bawled into his bloody grey shirt, letting my guard go completely as I clung to one of the two people I trusted absolutely. I pushed what little mana I had remaining at the starburst at my feet, trying to hold this moment for as long as possible. I could see the symbol brighten slightly though my distorted vision, partially reforming its outline but immediately beginning to break apart again. The expense bought me a precious few seconds with the brother I never had, a little longer to hold him close.

It was enough.

I stepped back and looked up at Nick, his confused sky-blue eyes meeting my golden ones. I couldn’t hear anything from Earth now, nor see anything but Nick. I smiled at his transparent figure, tears streaking down my face, and reached up to touch his cheek just to keep some sort of contact with him. I knew he couldn’t hear me, but I spoke anyway. “Take care of yourself, and Jess too. I’ll see you again.”

His hand rose halfway towards mine, wide eyed and seeming somewhat stunned. Still smiling, I backed away a few steps as Nick’s form quickly dissolved into motes, turning before he was completely gone and striding towards the Air Gate that lead down to Circir.

He had no idea who I was, and with the way I’d acted he’d never guess. I didn’t understand why it felt so right to hug him and touch his face like that. I wouldn’t have done that if I were still David or Cariss, but it left me with a warm feeling that I doubted a handshake or fist bump would have offered. More changes, affecting my mind more than my body now.

I stopped at the edge of the island, looking across the mainland of Ilos as the sunset painted the already vibrant landscape in beautiful colors. The words Xynus had spoken what felt like long ago echoed in my head. ‘Do not waste this time attempting to return to your previous world, you cannot get back of your own power until the remaining champions join you.’ I would see my friends again, either of their power or when they joined the silver Key champions, but in the meantime… ‘Grow strong, for the fate of two worlds rests in your hands.’

I grinned savagely. I’ll grow strong Xynus, strong enough to take you on, and then I’m going to make you pay for what you’ve done to me and my friends.

I turned and strode through the Air Gate. There would be time tomorrow to press forward, but tonight was the time to rest, and to remember the people that meant the most to me.

This is the fixed version of my previous post. You're in the right place :)

I've included a violence warning in this chapter because a part of it is particularly gruesome and really quite frightening. If you don't feel like reading about that, skip from when Aria leaves to the next time the date is put in, you aren't going to miss any strictly critical information. (Those directions will make sense when you read it, and now there's no spoilers up here!)

 

A huge huge thank you to both Eric and Sadarsa, who pointed out some things I messed up fairly badly and that didn't really make sense. I went and edited it to take those points into account, so hopefully it's better now after those extra thousand words. (if not, please comment or message me so I can continue editing it and expand upon the things that need to be expanded upon!)

Alright, try number two of Part Six!

 

-Tas

 

 

 

 

 

Ilos, Day 29

 

A slight breeze floated down the dirt lane, picking up small trails of dust and ruffling the tall grass that lined the path. Once used to carry wagons in single file from the Air Gate, the beaten dirt had seen years of disuse. The wind traveled along the road, touching the small cliff that separated this portion of the hard dirt from the Air Gate as well as the chest high grass on either side of the only route to the lone city on the second floating island. The air had traveled this path thousands of times; disturbing nothing, always the same, yet this time it stirred the folds of a dark cloak.

Solventus Gale strode forwards towards the city of Windwall, bathed by the early morning’s pale light. His dark leather armor whispered softly with each movement, and along with his hood kept off the lingering chill of night brought by the light breeze that wafted along the path. As always, his face was set in a neutral expression, yet such was his frustration that his eyebrows were slightly lower than usual, the curve of his mouth trailing slightly downwards.

He’d been watching for differences from the beta after the girl’s strange reaction at the first gate guardian, yet so far there was only a single thing, and it was this that had him in such a dour mood. The monster who kept the next Air Gate sealed was extremely difficult to finish on his own, yet for now he had no other option but to continue trying until his once companion caught up to him. It was strange that the black-haired girl had yet to find him despite the two full days he’d been on this island. Perhaps she had been scared off by her brush with death, yet for some reason he doubted it. No other champion had been seen either, but the dark-clothed man expected the front runners to appear soon. It was common knowledge that the most power was gained from killing champions, the victims forfeiting all of their items with the exception of those in their largest Storage Gem. The killers gained experience rivalling that received from a gate guardian when successfully defeating another champion; a dedicated group of such people would be able to advance even more quickly than he had. If he was forced to remain on this island for much longer, the lead he had worked for would vanish like the early morning dew, if it had not already.

There was a feeling of Intent, and an arrow whistled through the space his head had been occupying as he pulled back suddenly. As if his thoughts had summoned them, five men stood up in the tall grass that lined the path, shouting battle cries as they began to attack. One of them dropped a crossbow as he rushed forwards, unlimbering his two handed sword.

Before their boots touched the hard dirt of the path, the purple-eyed man had already assessed them. It was a well-executed attack that spoke of practice, the failure of the initial arrow to hit him not affecting the others. It spoke to the skill of these men that he had not sensed them before their rush began; they must have been very successful up till now. He could use that. For an ambush on a more powerful target to be successful, the victim must be overwhelmed, and the sudden strike by five men and the loud shouting would accomplish that goal against most people.

Unfortunately for them, Gale wasn’t most people.

Two came from the left, three from the right. The two to the left were both in medium hide armor of decent quality, one dyed green, the other left undyed. The one in front wielded a two handed sword, the other a pair of knives. One of the three from the right was in heavy armor that had been dulled so it didn’t shine, and was holding a sword and shield. The second man had a spear and chainmail, and the third was in hide armor and hefted a large axe. Windwall was in sight, but too far away to retreat to, and too far for the guards to help him if these men were a serious threat. The Air Gate to the previous island was very close, but there was a small cliff separating him from it. Their equipment, while registering in his mind only as ‘decent’, were nonetheless of equal quality to his own, likely earned through hard questing by their previous victims.

In the event of an ambush, the best course of action was to do the unexpected. The attacking champions doubtless expected him to either freeze for a crucial second, or if he was good to try and defend against them, still remaining caught in the middle. Thus the correct course of action was to get away from a position of weakness, and five against one was not best met without a little subterfuge. The grass was tall enough to hide his form if not his position, and without a clear line of sight he would have advantage.

Gale pulled two pairs of throwing daggers from their sheaths at his legs as he pushed off to the left, throwing them at his target’s chests as he shot towards the two men on that side, hoping but not expecting them to be caught off guard. Without proper aiming, he couldn’t guarantee accuracy if he threw at their heads and the suddenness of the attack was the more important part anyway. The daggers did little damage and failed their purpose, the small amount of discomfort the men felt through their armor not enough to stop them from continuing their charge, prepared for his counterattack.

His blades slid from their sheaths with only the slightest whisper of sound, his pair of Steel Swords glimmering in the morning light as he struck at the two handed sword wielder. One slash knocked the larger blade off course as he stepped in close to the man, pivoting around him and using his body as a shield to cut off the knife wielder. Once inside his target’s sword arc, Gale body checked him, sending him sprawling into the knife man. He continued his pivot, placing the momentarily staggered men between him and the other three and buying himself enough time to sprint off into the tall grass.

The swaying green sea only reached to his shoulders, leaving his head exposed, and even if he crouched, the bend of the plants would not hide his position. Even so, Gale bent his knees, allowing the greenery to hide his body and smaller movements as he sheathed his blades and readied his final throwing dagger, waiting just feet from the dirt path.

The five men were exposed on the path, the three that had come from the right having made their way around the two he’d knocked off balance. The shield user charged at him with the lighter-armored spearman directly behind him, obviously planning to use the longer reach of his weapon to attack from behind the safety of his ally. The axe wielder matched the tank step for step but a few feet to the side, the goal likely to use his heavier weapon to strike from the side, forcing Gale to defend from two fronts. It was a smoothly coordinated attack, well-practiced and effective, removing a large number of options, not a good sign, but expected of those who specialized in attacking other champions.

As the axe wielder approached the edge of the path, Gale’s hand whipped forwards, sinking the blade into the man’s throat, causing him to drop his weapon and claw at the wound that was already bubbling blood. The shield user continued charging with his spear-wielding backup, ignoring his mortally wounded ally. The man with the knives seemed to be still wondering what happened, and had even dropped one of his weapons when Gale had knocked the sword toting into him. However, the swordsman had recovered quickly, and began to advance behind his armored companion.

Ra. Tu.

The grass in front of Gale withered and decayed, the Death elemental spell consuming the life of the plants and revealing his darkly dressed form even as thick shadow clouded the plate-armored bandit’s eyes. Suddenly blind, the heavy man charged shield first directly into the area, his first step in the slick muddy waste that was the remnants of decayed life sliding forward beyond his control. Rather than waste the time attempting to kill the tank, Gale leapt at him, delivering a kick that hit the upper part of the shield and dropping his no longer needed shadow magic. The strike didn’t do any damage, but the combined forwards momentum, sudden opposing force to the upper part of his body, and slippery surface under him exaggerated his small slip, and he hit the ground with a grunt.

An arrow pierced the air where Gale had been moments before, alerting him to the sixth and seventh members of the ambushing party, a bowman stationed with what looked like a dedicated mage at the top of the cliff overlooking the path. The mage held a ball of fire, but was holding off on throwing it for now, likely not wanting to set the grass aflame and afford Gale the cover of smoke. He’d have to deal with them later. The spear user thrust forward, but Gale was already pulling out his swords, parrying the attack aside with one blade and stabbing the man’s forearm with the other. The leather-clad man lost his grip on his weapon with his now bloody arm, still holding on with his other hand but not in any position to attack. The tank was on his back and was trying to pick himself up, but wasn’t a threat at the moment, and the bow and magic users were trying to line up attacks without hitting their allies. With that in mind, Gale rushed the two handed swordsman, ducking under his heavy horizontal slash and ramming his sword up through the leather armor and into the man’s ribcage, removing it before twisting to reevaluate the situation.

The tank had regained his feet, the spear wielder was trying to re-grip his weapon with one hand, the knife user had recovered his other knife but was trembling in fear at the sudden turn of things, and the swordsman and axe man were dead on the ground. Their formation was in disarray with the knife wielder in front, then the spear user, and the tank in back. The bow and magic users were attacking from the cliff now that he was in the clear, and with the exception of the knife user, the men looked confident in taking him down now that he was back on the path and in view. To them it was still five against one, but then again, they hadn’t seen the flash of a small figure with long black hair running along the edge of the cliff towards the bandits up there.

Fire erupted at Gale’s feet, burning his legs, and he dodged back immediately as an arrow pierced the fire to impact the ground where he’d been standing. Rather than throw his fireball, the mage had just had fire burst from the ground, a move that was extremely difficult to dodge. The archer drew back another arrow and the mage lifted a hand dramatically as the fire spewing from the earth followed Gale’s retreat, the bandits on the path cheering as they fixed their formation. Gale smiled slightly as dodged to avoid the fire, an unnerving expression that quelled the sudden cheers. A shout of shock drew their attention back to the cliff just in time to see the mage fall, a stream of blood trailing from his slit throat. The archer whirled, surprised, only to be taken down by Aria’s long knives, her silken black hair floating in the wind as they both followed the mage off the cliff to vanish from sight into the grass.

Knowing how much the girl hated bandits, he guessed that she wouldn’t leave it at just the two on the cliff and began making a new plan. The men near him no longer seemed confident, their attention on the ledge.

Taking advantage of their distraction, Gale lunged forwards past the tank, striking at the knives in the knife wielder’s hands, then struck the man with the pommel of one of his blades, enough to knock him down but not make him lose consciousness. True to his prediction, a dagger sliced through the air to stick in the armored man’s throat, followed closely by Aria. The remaining bandit turned and ran, and the girl vanished from sight among the tall grass as she chased after him, her slight stature, when bent over, not tall enough to be seen. He heard the fleeing would-be killer fall as he bound and gagged the man he captured with some rope from his Storage Gem, pocketing a Tiny Quick Gem found on the man’s person.

Gale made sure the knots were secure, then heaved the bandit over his shoulder and started heading back towards Windwall, his previous ill temper having evaporated. The ambush had provided him with opportunity and some amusement. Defending himself from those pathetic excuses for champions was, while not trivial, easy enough that he hadn’t had to use more than a tiny bit of mana. It seemed none of them had the ability to cast magic while fighting, a skill that was essential if they expected to take down the best. Their mage had been fairly skilled, able to cast spells without speaking the words of power out loud, but he’d been too busy grandstanding and chasing Gale around with fire rather than just trapping him in a circle of it to notice that he was being almost completely ineffective despite his power. He also hadn’t used anything but fire magic even though he’d had the opportunity to heal the dying axe wielder and keep him in the fight. Should Aria not have shown up, Gale may have had to use a few more tricks, but without a few with the ability to use magic and fight at the same time, the final outcome for the bandits was much the same. At their best they might have been able to press him enough that he used his magic offensively, but he tried to keep magic in a support role whenever possible, it was good for his training to not rely on a resource as exhaustible as mana. The fools had no idea with whom they were messing and had failed to do any sort of reconnaissance on him, and thus deserved their inevitable fate.

Aria joined him just before he reached the gates. He assumed she’d looted the bandits of anything valuable before joining him else she would have caught him much sooner. She glanced up into his hood, then raised an eyebrow at the man he was carrying, a questioning look in her golden eyes. She turned to wave at the guards as they passed through the gate. The men gave him an odd look because of the bandit over his shoulder, but didn’t stop him. He'd met many of the guardsmen through the quests he’d done in the time he'd been stuck in this city, and they had some measure of trust for him.

“I’m surprised you’re still here Gale; I didn’t expect to catch you for a while yet. What’s the hold up?” Aria glanced at the bandit. “Also, can I kill him when you’re done?”

“Perhaps… I have a job for him. You can kill him if he makes a mess of it.” Gale looked down at the short girl, noting the dress she was wearing, but not commenting on her choice of attire. “Go and fight the boss of this area’s Air Gate, that way you’ll understand why I’ve been here so long. Come back when you’re done and we’ll talk. Don’t worry; I’ll still be here with our ‘friend’ like I promised.”

She frowned, opening her mouth to question further, but seemed to get that he wasn’t about to say anything else and closed it, nodding sharply instead before splitting off down a different street.

Gale carried his charge to the outskirts of the city to where he’d been staying the past few days. As with most cities in Ilos, there were buildings at the edge of Windwall that were unoccupied and ignored, remnants of better days when there were more people around. No one seemed to care what happened to them, so Gale had claimed one for himself to sleep in. He carried the bandit into his room, tossing him carelessly to the floor before opening his Storage Gem and removing more rope as well as a piton. He quickly removed a knife and cut a bit from the coils, returning the rest to his Gem. The man on the floor, still bound and gagged from the earlier failed ambush, struggled towards the door. Gale coldly attached the new length of rope to the steel spike used for climbing, then leaned down and tied the other end to the bandit’s wrists, making sure it was so tight that it tore into his skin. Gripping the piton, he dragged his captive to the middle of the room, stepping up on solid shadow curtesy of a small restu spell, and rammed the piton into the ceiling. Using restu again, he bent the metal and flattened it where it protruded from the top of the wood he’d shoved it into before releasing both spells, leaving the bandit hanging by his wrists. Gale studied his handiwork with a critical eye as the man kicked his bound legs, unable to reach the floor with his toes. His hands were tied in such a way that he wouldn’t be able to grip the rope he was hanging from, and he was too far from any surface that would give him leverage to try pulling the spike out.

The would-be killer’s eyes widened as Gale unsheathed a dagger and approached, speaking almost conversationally as he made a shallow cut into the man’s arm. “Did you know? We champions are quite the interesting sort. You feel no pain from these cuts, yet the sensation is remarkably unpleasant.” He made another cut on the man’s other arm, this time skinning off a large patch of flesh, causing him to jerk and twist while attempting to shout through his gag. “There are so many things worse than death here. In fact, death is quite the luxury in this world. For instance, I could leave you hanging like this from a cliff, just as you are now, abandoned in an out of the way place, dangling hundreds of meters from the oh so distant ground. Only you and the wind to keep you company. Ah but maybe you’d prefer that the wind not be there? It would take its time slicing into your flesh just as I am now.”

Another cut added to the growing rivulets of blood that were wetting the bandit’s clothes. He was struggling more now, gasps coming through the rope every time Gale’s steel carved another small path across his skin. “That wouldn’t be your only concern though. I’m sure it wouldn’t take long for the thirst to get to you, that dryness in your throat, desperate for any sort of moisture. The only water in your body leaking out through the cuts in your skin.” The blade cut another rent in the man’s clothing. “Then the hunger would set in, a terrible gnawing in your stomach, feeling as though your body is eating itself alive, almost like… a dagger in your gut.” Gale plunged his blade deep into the man’s abdomen, then slowly began to twist it as he gradually pulled it free. The man’s health drained dangerously low, but not all the way. Gale took note that anymore and the misfortunate bandit would be dead. “But don’t worry, you won’t die from it of course, because you’re a champion. What’s a little thirst, hunger and blood loss to us? I’m sure you’d be perfectly fine until someone eventually found you.” Gale then sheathed his dagger. Using his left hand he forced one of the bandit’s eyes open. Then using the fingers on his other hand he dug his way into the man’s eye socket. The bandit screamed as much as the gag let him. “Perhaps if you’re lucky you may even be saved before the carrions have plucked out your eyes ten or twelve times.” Gale synchronized his words with his actions and ripped the man’s left eye clean from its socket just as he finished his last word. “If that’s too much for you, you could always struggle until the rope flayed, I wonder how long a fall it is back down to world below? You’d have more than enough time for your life to flash before your eyes two or three times. Death IS quite the luxury isn’t it?”

"That would be my preferred method of killing you if you are so accommodating. Of course I could always just hand you over to the guards as well. I’m sure you would enjoy the next few years in a dank stone cell, not allowed to die. Such a trivial method, it only takes a bit of coin placed in the right purse.” Gale dangled his coin pouch in front of the bandit. “Perhaps with a little more coin I could arrange a cellmate for you. I’m sure you’d love some company while chained to the wall. Someone that likes to cut and peel at another’s skin? I’m sure he would enjoy how champions heal any injury within a day or two and take his time with you. Day. After day. After day.”

Gale made another small cut on the bandit’s cheek. The man’s sweat dripped down his face, his eyes full of tears, a sweet expression of pure terror. Good. Pulling his blade down from the man’s face, Gale turned away, continuing to speak in a conversational tone. “You could spare yourself that kind of fate though. You see friend, the boss of the next Air Gate is a little difficult for harmless little me. The beast is a giant bird that likes to push away its enemies with a strong gust from its wings then fly off into the distance when it’s injured. Of course it can only push away the enemies in front of him, so I want you to be that enemy in front. That way I can leap on to its back and finish the job. Simple right? You don’t have to fight it, you don’t have to do anything other than get its attention, and I’ll make that easy for you. I’ll even pay.” Gale turned back towards the man, smiling slightly while giving his coin pouch another shake. “You bandits like money right? I’ll pay you part up front, and promise I won’t kill you like your friends. All you have to do is get the bird’s attention and you’re free to go.” The smile vanished as if it had never existed. “But if you don’t, well there are plenty of cliffs around here to hang you from and I don’t particularly mind hunting a runaway if you decide to flee. This really is your only option if you want to get out of this unscathed.”

The bandit was nodding rapidly, his entire body bouncing up and down with the force of it, but Gale turned away and began walking towards the door, ignoring the man’s muffled shouts. “I won’t make you decide now; I know it’s a tough decision. How about I let you get used to how it feels to be hung up by your wrists for a day? I’ll be back tomorrow morning; I hope to hear the right answer from you then.”

Gale allowed himself a small curl of his lips as he shut the door, leaving the man alone with his blood and his fear.

 

 

Ilos, Day 29

 

I spotted Gale leaning against the front of one of the abandoned houses on the outskirts of town, lit by the evening light. Even mostly in the sun, the shadows that were seemed to cling to his dark cloak that covered his armor and weapons, his hood hiding his black hair and shading his expression. I headed towards him, a bit surprised at his presence. There was very little to do out here, but then again he’d likely already done all the quests in this area, especially one as easy and rewarding as patrolling the edge of town for a few hours in exchange for a Brittle Tiny Spell Gem, which is why I was walking around. I was still a little scuffed from my encounter with the giant bird boss, having tumbled a significant distance from the wind when I’d injured it enough to make it fly away. Gale had probably tried two or three times by now.

“I can see why you’ve been having trouble. Unless you’re an earth mage, that wind is going to send you flying every time. I tried to use Light Barrier, but I couldn’t sustain it for the whole gust of wind and still got thrown. I’ll bet we can do it tomorrow when I’ve slept and filled my Spell Gem so I can hold Light Barrier long enough.” I stopped, glancing around for that rotten piece of scum that dared call himself a champion. I considered those that attacked other champions in order to advance themselves the filth of the world, even if it was the fastest way to gain items and experience. “By the way, what happened to that bandit? Did you kill him without me?” I frowned up at the darkly-dressed man.

His blue-purple eyes, deep as the evening sky, trailed across my body, but I didn’t feel anything off about it. I usually hated the feeling of men’s eyes on me, partially because I knew exactly what was running through their heads, but I could tell this was different. He was looking at my equipment, noting the weapons I had on display and even a few I didn’t before coming to rest on my face. “It isn’t very womanlike to be upset over not being able to kill someone, but no he’s back there where I left him. I made him a deal and am giving him plenty of time to consider it.”

A couldn’t stop a smile from forming; having Gale around was something I hadn’t realized I’d missed so much. He was so straightforward and uncaring I could just say whatever came to mind. “It’s nice to have you to talk to again. What kind of deal?”

“He’s going to be a distraction. I should be able to finish that bird if I can be behind it when it uses its gust, but that isn’t possible when I’m by myself. Even with two people it would be difficult to stay on opposite sides. So I’m going to pay this no name bandit to keep the bird’s attention, if I use some shadow magic it should be trivial. From here it should be relatively easy for one of us to remain behind the beast and give it the finishing blow. If he runs, kill him. If he doesn’t agree to help, I have other plans for his fate.”

My eyes drifted off to the side and I absently brought a hand up to my mouth as I considered. It should work. The effect of the gust was roughly conical and directed at towards me, so if we could be on opposite sides when we got it low enough one of us would easily be able to dispatch it. Even as good as we are, that’s not something easily predictable, and if the bird can turn and catch us both, we’ll lose it. The distraction of a third target would greatly increase our chances. Still, letting that kind of parasite live… I nodded, dropping my hand and refocusing on Gale. “That sounds pretty solid to me, though I’d like to kill him whether he runs or not. When will this be? I’d like to do some of the quests around here, or at least get some sleep.”

“Tomorrow morning. It’s part of the deal that I let him live, but if you are so set on putting an end to him do it after we’ve killed that bird.”

I frowned, twisting my mouth. Nothing but good could come of removing such a disease from Ilos, at least for a while, but… Everyone is starting new here, and our word is our bond, especially with nothing to check us if we go back on it. I sighed with resignation, a little put out. “Well I can’t make you a liar now can I? Our word is one of the few things we have here. Are there any quests I should make sure to do here before tomorrow? Or a good inn?”

“I never claimed to be an honest man, and I will lie until my tongue is cut off so long as it serves as a means to a goal. You should never forget that about me.”

I felt my eyebrows rise slightly at that, but the surprise was quickly replaced by a thread of fear and disappointment. If he had no compulsion against lying, how could I trust anything he put in that letter he left me after the Plantea boss? I didn’t want to be ditched again, even if I could make my way on my own easily enough.

“As for quests and an inn, you will need to look into them yourself. I have chosen this place as my residence for the time being and have no need for an inn, so if you need me I shall be here.”

My eyes flicked at the house behind him. So he’s staying here? That bandit is probably also in one of these buildings, there’s no way Gale would let him out of sight. I nodded when he finished, not having expected any information out of him anyway and not feeling like continuing the conversation any further after that bit about lying. Why is that bothering me so much? “Alright, though I doubt I’ll have a reason to come back until tomorrow. I’ll meet you outside the West Gate an hour after sunrise tomorrow unless you’d rather meet elsewhere.”

“That is fine. I will see you then. Ah, and Masso,-“

“Aria.” I muttered, more out of reflex than anything.

“-I might be a liar but not a single word in that letter I left you was meant to deceive. Take care.”

I’d already opened my mouth to reply when his words hit me. Closing my mouth, I dropped my head to hide the smile curling my lips, closing my eyes for a few seconds as I savored the warmth deep in me that those words brought. I can’t go giving him the wrong idea now, I have an image to maintain. Turning on my heel so my hair caught the air enough to drift over my shoulder, I started back towards the inner portion of Windwall. “You too Gale.” I raised a hand for a second in farewell. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

My hand came up to my chest, drawn to the comfortable warmth in my heart as I walked back into town to look for an inn. I could do another quest or two, but I’d need my rest for tomorrow. Christ, what’s wrong with me? I hardly know the guy! He won’t give me information, he insults me at the drop of a hat, hell, he still refers to me as ‘rock’. He doesn’t care about the world around him, often refuses to talk, and he’s probably got as much interest in me as I do in him. We’re acquaintances at the most, and that’s likely a stretch.

So why can’t I get those night-purple eyes of his out of my head?

 

 

Ilos, Day 30

 

I met Gale outside the western gate of Windwall, the one closest to the boss. I hadn't done much after the patrol quest during which I met Gale, deciding to head to bed rather than try to force myself to do more after that mildly disturbing conversation. Thankfully it seemed like whatever weird feelings I’d had yesterday were gone with the night, and I felt nothing out of the ordinary as I inclined my head in greeting towards him, though he had definitely garnered some goodwill towards me with what he brought with him.

The bandit he’d carried off the previous day was there, looking a bit the worse for wear, but that wasn’t what drew my attention. The man was on a leash! A literal, honest to God leash, made up out of rope and tied around his neck. I couldn’t stop a snicker as I partially covered my mouth with a hand, dropping it after a second to reveal my grin. “Alright, it was worth not killing him to see this. So he’s going to take the windblast for us in exchange for letting him live?”

The filth glared at me, obviously humiliated that he was on a leash of all things, and probably also because a little girl was making fun of him. There were some benefits about looking so young, and having the ability to be extra insulting was one of them.

“Yes, that is all he has to do to be free of us. Perhaps he’ll learn that wronging others only begets harm to one’s self. That and a good ambush requires one not to drop his blade in a daze.”

I looked at Gale, back at the bandit, and then burst out laughing. I still wasn’t used to the tinkling, melodious laugh I had now, but it couldn’t stop my mirth. “You- You mean to tell me, that this guy was so surprised that you fought back, that he actually just dropped his weapon?”

The waste of living flesh snarled at me. “Hey you little bitch, I’d like to see yo-“

My smile and laugh vanished like mist and I moved in close before he could do more than flinch, one of my throwing daggers less than an inch from his eye. “Don’t make me regret not killing you, because I still will.” I snarled. “Now do you want to continue that thought?”

He shook his head, eyes never leaving the point of my dagger.

“Good.” I vanished the knife back to its sheath with a flick of my hand as I pulled back. “Now let’s get going. I can still kill him if he runs right?”

Gale looked at the man, the tiniest smirk on his face. “Don’t worry, my bandit friend. Everyone is bad at something. For you, it’s that you’re weak in battle. For Masso here, it’s that she has trouble killing weeds. Oh but don’t laugh, she has no trouble killing people.” He said coolly before turning to walk off towards the boss area, dragging the human-shaped bag of filth with him.

I let out an indignant noise, not that I was actually angry, it was his bluntness that I liked after all, but I still had to react out of principle. “Hey! That’s not fair. I was exhausted, and fighting solo against a Plantea boss with a blunt weapon, and I still almost took it down!” I took a few jogging steps to catch up. “And my name is Aria, not Masso.”

He looked down at me, raising an eyebrow slightly. “Yes well, who was it that thought it was a good idea to fight a Plantea boss with a blunt weapon while being exhausted? That is partially why I’ve grown so fond of the name Masso. You are rather coarse, hard headed, and all around inelegant, this bandit suites the name Aria better than you. But I suppose I can stop using Masso if it displeases you so much.”

Emotions flickered through me as he spoke. Mild annoyance from his blatant criticism faded into pleasure at being called coarse, hardheaded, but especially inelegant. It was nice to be able to be those things around someone else. That vanished into anger, I might not exactly like being a girl, but that was my name, and I had grown rather fond of it. I certainly didn’t appreciate being told a cowardly disgusting bandit would fit my name better than I did! However, even that paled with his last sentence for some reason. I’d honestly never even thought he’d stop calling me ‘rock’, much less offer in a way that made it seem like he cared even a little.

“I-“ I trailed off, unsure of what to say. Why does it matter to me if he cares? I don’t like the name, I should tell him to call me Aria. So why am I not saying anything? I felt small and confused and vulnerable, drowning in a whirlwind of emotions I had no experience with navigating. I turned sharply away from Gale’s deep purple-blue eyes, my hair swirling around and cutting off his view of me. I pressed my lips together, trying to find the calm in the eye of this particular storm and failing. “Let’s just go get the boss. I really need to kill something.” I said, my voice clipped, before striding ahead.

“Alright Petra, let’s go.”

I couldn’t stop a short laugh at that one. He had yet another translation of ‘rock’ to call me by in backup for Masso. I knew it couldn’t be that easy. Yet even with just that short sentence, he’d cleared away the raging emotions that had been swirling within me.

We walked the rest of the way to the field the giant bird seemed to frequent in silence, but my thoughts were anything but quiet. How does he do that? I know I’m a lot more emotional than I used to be, but why is it only him? Am I so reserved around the Ilosians that I can’t help but let it out around him? Is it just that he just gets under my skin really easily? Is it because I know I can relax my guard around him just a bit and stop acting like a model champion and girl? Or maybe it’s just his brutal honesty that’s rubbing off on me despite his talk about lying.

I shook my head, dismissing the ponderings over my wildly fluctuating emotions in general and around Gale in particular. Now was not the time for deep thought, I had a floor boss to take down.

It seemed like the only change between the beta and now for the giant bird was the addition of its fleeing mechanic. No boss had ever even tried to leave the field of battle before, so I hadn’t been expecting it when the thing blew me away and flew off the day before. I’d managed to get a Light Barrier spell off and hold my ground under a hastily conjured slanted wall, but the force drained my mana quickly and the tail end of the gust still threw me a few hundred feet. That meant I needed to have a full mana pool when we injured it enough that it tried to flee, just in case the bandit wasn’t enough of a distraction.

Unfortunately, that made things difficult. The bird had a number of attacks, and not all of them were easy to avoid. It could of course use its beak and talons to attack, and did so constantly, but the hardest part to deal with were its feathers. Not only were they almost metallically hard and sharp, but the thing made a habit of whipping its wings forward and dislodging some of them towards you like flying swords in a rough arc. That particular one was very difficult to dodge and I’d used a lot of my mana deflecting those feathers until I figured out I could get above them more easily that go between. Rather than use magic to block, I could just use it to make tiny platforms for myself wherever I wanted for the fraction of a second it took me to push off of them. And thus does double jumping become a reality.

Like many Air Gate guardians, the bird was massive when compared to any other non-boss creature on Ilos. If I had to guess, I’d say its wingspan was well over one hundred feet, as large as a medium sized airplane, and with a body to match. It wasn’t particularly fast or strong or smart, but it was big. Thankfully, it was also fairly easy to predict, and I hadn’t taken a scratch when I’d fought it the day before. I was hoping for a repeat of that, but with less wind and tumbling at the end.

As big as it was, we spotted the bird from a good ways away, and altered our path to head towards it. I glanced at the bandit, still attached to his leash, and felt a stirring of anger. It was people like him, people like the former Duke and especially his mage advisor in the city of Travant, people like those who knowingly involved themselves in slave trading like in that forsaken place, they are the ones I hated. Ilos was wonderful, the people generally got along and helped each other through hard times, the land was as beautiful as it was varied, and it was a place where the actions of one could make a difference. Yet those people stained this pure place with their greed and their lies, and I loathed them for it.

The bandit group from earlier had killed their way up to the floating islands, stealing what others had worked hard for and using the corpses as stepping stones and a shortcut to greater heights. No doubt that they had planned on racing to the front, and after killing those furthest along with their number advantage, sit there and ambush any who came after them, stopping the advance of the champions as a whole for their own benefit. They could have probably camped on the first floating island and ambushed anyone who came through the Air Gate there quite easily after making sure they wouldn’t be attacked from above. It was because of people like them that I was forced to first consider other champions potential enemies rather than potential allies.

Now is not the time. I reminded myself, my fists unclenching as I sought and found the calm emotionless void of the Stillness. I shrugged as I mentally checked over my equipment, feeling each throwing dagger under my dress, the slight swing of the potions on my belt, the weight of the quarterstaff on my back, the coolness of my necklace and metal armlet, the shifting that was the long knives at the small of my back, the small pressure on my hair that was my wolf head clip.

Gale pulled the leash off the bandit’s head and nudged him forward, weaponless. The man looked at us, flinching back from our cold concentration. He knew he was dead if he didn’t do as he was told. We walked past him, side by side, and began to accelerate towards the boss, silent as shadows.

It didn’t notice until we were already striking its head.

The bird reeled, unable to defend itself against such a sudden onslaught as we struck quickly to take advantage of the stun effect that an ambush provided. Quickly enough, the thing recovered and we slipped into a more balanced and sustainable pattern, much like switching sequences of steps as the tempo of the dance changed.

As before, I took the role of tank, attacking the eyes as Gale struck for its neck. Maybe it should be evasion-tank? I keep its attention and stay the focus of its attacks, but I’m not actually getting hit. The boss would still attack him, but I could make myself the target it most wanted to kill, drawing the majority of the potential damage. With his twin full sized swords, Gale could still slightly out-damage me, and I was still slightly more maneuverable and harder to hit because of my size, thus the division of our roles. It was the little things that counted, and even the smallest advantage could not be passed up when it came to a battle where a single solid hit would likely kill you. If one of those sword-feathers took me through the chest, I was dead, a talon in my stomach, dead, getting eaten or hit in the head with that beak, definitely dead. By keeping its attention and allowing Gale to really lay down the damage with his swords at a rate I couldn’t match, we would kill the boss faster, and thus there was less chance of something unexpected happening, like either of us making a mistake.

At first we were off step, an opening I provided before he was ready closing before he could take advantage, Gale attacking before I did and drawing its attention to himself, the pair of us coming too close together and both being forced to dodge a swipe of talons or an arc of feathers. Slowly we synchronized, the mistakes that lessened our combined damage output becoming smaller and fewer before stopping altogether.

The minutes ran into hours, and the giant bird began to retreat slightly from us, severely injured but not yet ready to truly flee, a point it had taken me more than twice the time the day before to get it to. Gale broke off to get the bandit in position while I continued alone, giving him time to set up before the crucial moment. I targeted its body more than its neck or head, but mostly defended, have a relief from the continually compounded pain in those places while I waited. It didn’t take long.

Gale moved around the bird, ending up behind it and slightly to the left. He motioned, and the bandit ran forwards shouting as loud as he could. As soon as the thing’s attention shifted, I flung a trio of throwing daggers at the beast’s neck, sprinting around to the right as I did so. The bird shrieked as the blades embedded themselves in previous wounds, the sudden and intense pain prompting it to flee. It brought its wings up, then sharply down, the massive surface area pushing the air into a compressed blast that shot forwards into the bandit, lifting him from the ground and tossing him across the field like a ragdoll.

I crouched, using cires to create a slanted glowing barrier above me, bearing the intense pressure of the wind that was present even outside of the main blast, swiftly draining most of my mana. I could see Gale’s similar cover through my somewhat transparent one, made of Shadow rather than Light. It was a struggle to breathe in my shelter, the air howling around me in its intensity. However, rather than fly backwards along the ground like it had before, the bird shot mostly upwards, a bit past Gale but out of reach of either of our thrown weapons, even from the top of our jumps. It would be impossible to take down unless we could get to it.

In the Stillness there was no frustration, no annoyance, only clarity as I thought about what we could do to bring it down. With the mana I had left, I couldn’t create a big enough attack to cripple the bird, and it was out of reach with physical weapons even as high as I could jump. I could use cires to create platforms to get up there, but I would then be out of mana and fall to my death, though I could get down if I could just get up…

It was only seconds after the boss had flown upwards. I saw Gale standing and looking up at the thing, and the pieces fell into place. I slotted my quarterstaff in its holder and sprinted towards the black-haired swordsman just as he glanced away from the bird, meeting his eyes and shouting.

“Boost me!”

He understood immediately and crouched down, crossing his swords above him at their bases and forming a Shadow Wall spell under him. My foot impacted the intersected blades of his swords. He jumped, the Shadow magic shot upwards under his feet, and I leapt from my metallic foothold, all three efforts completely in sync. I felt the damage hit me, my body, powerful as it was, unable to handle the kind of forces involved. The familiar yet still unpleasant sensation shot through me as I left the launch, not enough to impair me but still removing about fourth of my health. Damn that’s a lot of damage, but I’ll take that trade if I can kill this thing. My small body, weighing so little, shot upwards as if fired from a cannon, directly at the retreating bird.

It saw me and veered to the side, trying to evade. Not fast enough! In one smooth motion I drew my long knives and stabbed them into the wing as I blew past. Unable to take the force, the wing ripped open, freeing my knives and allowing me to continue into the air in a rough tumble. The world spun crazily, but it wasn’t the horizon line that mattered, it was the bird’s wing, and I kept track of that one thing as I flipped. I may have done enough to make it fall, but I had to be sure.

The grips of my long knives felt smooth as one and then the other flew from my fingers, the lightest of pressures guiding them at the wing. Even as the first slid towards the boss, my free hand was already reaching for a throwing dagger, smoothly sliding it from its sheath as the second long knife left my grasp. I felt my core clench and my legs shift against the wind, muscles tensing under my smooth skin, proving me with the offset force to throw the dagger, then a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth, each unerringly streaking towards the heavily injured wing.

Even before the last impacted, the appendage was starting to fold and I knew that I had won. The boss would fall back to the floating island, and if the fall didn’t kill it Gale would. Pleasure, raw and intense, powered through me even through the Stillness at the knowledge that I’d accomplished something that was almost impossibly difficult with just Gale and I, and that the execution had been fucking awesome.

Now I just had to survive a thousand foot fall.

I twisted against the wind, correcting my rotation by fractions as I spun end over end, steadying myself just as I reached the height of my climb, and then I was falling. I spread out my arms and legs like I had seen skydivers do, allowing the system assist to guide me to the correct position. Magic was the only option to stop myself, but I had the feeling that the forces involved would be too much for the mana I had remaining if I tried to let myself down directly.

My brain flickered through calculations, flipping through what I’d learned in college at a faster rate than I’d ever managed before. I weighed around 100 pounds, which was about 45 kilograms, and with the density of air, a normal drag coefficient of one, and a cross section area of maybe point eight meters squared given my five foot height, I had a terminal velocity of 27 meters per second. If I hit the ground at that speed with, say, a tenth of a second to stop, that would be 270 meters per second per second of acceleration, multiply by my 45 kilos to get 12150 Newtons, or about 2700 pounds. There’s no way I’m surviving almost a ton and a half of force, not yet anyway, and even if I slow myself down with the rest of my mana, I’d still take a huge chunk of damage.

However, if I could shift my velocity sideways, I could bleed off the speed by tumbling across the ground. Not the best option, but it beat a sudden stop that I didn’t believe I could survive. I angled towards the edge of the island, then once I was halfway down, twisted to land my feet on a rail of light I created with cires. The rail was rough enough to slow me down, but not enough to damage my boots, and slanted downwards, continuously appearing in front of me and vanishing behind as I slid down it, going ever faster. I watched Gale dispatch the fallen bird as I slowly increased the angle of my rail, keeping as much pressure as I could stand on my legs. My hair streamed behind me with the wind, my dress fluttering wildly as I slowly leveled out just feet from the ground and immediately let the rail vanish, pushing my feet forward in anticipation of impact. As soon as they hit I tucked in and rolled, allowing myself to tumble across the grass until I came to a stop.

A trip across a soft field, even rough and at speed, wasn’t enough to do more than give me a minor scrape or two. This tiny body might be tougher than I thought; maybe I could have survived that fall. I mused absently as I stood up and brushed myself off, dropping the Stillness now that it was no longer needed. A smile bloomed on my face as I walked towards Gale, the excitement of combat, the rush of power that was experience being applied, the glow of pleasure from doing something extremely difficult, all rushing to the fore.

The Air Gate activated in the distance as I approached the purple-eyes swordsman, raising a hand to give him a high five, to share my joy. “Great job Gale. That was a hell of a boost!”

He ignored my gesture, walking past me towards the bandit. “I’m not one to be peppy.”

I couldn’t stop a short giggle, there was no other way to describe the sound, and dropped my hand, buoyant mood unaffected. “Why does that not surprise me?”

I strode towards the body of the giant bird, hearing the clink of metal behind me as Gale counted out coins to the bandit along with a warning. “If you try to ambush me again, I’ll be sure to see you hanging from the nearest cliff.”

I glanced back to see the man, much the worse for wear after being hit by the wind blast, hurriedly accept the money, nodding vigorously, and then flee as though Gale was Death himself. Grinning to myself, I crouched down and began gathering what I could from the corpse of the boss. Unlike other games, bosses and other creatures didn’t drop weapons or armor unless they were using them, but they did have claws and, in this case, feathers that could also be sold. While profitable, the main reason for killing bosses solo or in a small group was because they had Elemental Gems and Elemental Stones embedded in them that made them so powerful. Four Elemental Stones could be combined into a single Elemental Gem, and most bosses only had a single Stone more than the previous one.

The Elemental Gems weren’t really all that useful as of yet, but once I returned to Ilos I could get certain Ilosians to embed them in my armor or weapons to give them additional elemental properties. A staff with a Fire Elemental Gem set into it would burn whatever it hit a little and also cause the user to deal more fire damage with Fire Elemental spells. Any piece of armor with an Elemental Gem would reduce unwanted effects of that element slightly, the wearer taking less damage from any spells of the element cast against him. There were other effects too, like a Fire Elemental Gem set in armor would also increase your body’s resistance to heat, even from non-magical sources. Gather enough of Elemental Gems of a certain element, and it would be possible to become completely immune to it.

I ignored the blood that coated my arms as I carved my way in towards the center of the beast, extracting two Air Gems and six Air Stones. As Gale approached, I tossed him one of the Gems and three of the Stones, holding up the matching set I kept for myself to show him I’d split them evenly. I waited for his silent acknowledgement before beginning to pluck the feathers off of one of the wings, moving them to my inventory to sell later.

We quickly worked at clearing the corpse of anything sellable, splitting the loot roughly evenly but not overly concerning ourselves with making it totally fair when there was so much. Like every other dead thing in Ilos, the bird would decay into motes relatively fast, meaning a few days for a creature this size. Windwall would know we had defeated the boss when they saw the body, and trade would slowly begin again without the threat of attack by an unbeatable creature.

I absently wondered what had happened to the previous towns we’d visited. Trade existed throughout the mainland of Ilos, but as we traveled upwards and unlocked the Air Gates, old routes would be reestablished, and the half-dead cities that existed on the islands would begin to grow once again. It was obvious Windwall had once been fully populated, but something had happened to cut the city to less than half of what the walls could hold. From what I’d seen, the fields around the place couldn’t even produce enough food for the people that still lived there, yet the city still had enough to eat at all times.

It didn’t add up. The citizens in Windwall should be starving to death with only the food they produced themselves, so why weren’t they? If I spared the time to really investigate, I might be able to find something out, but they seem to be getting along just fine and there’s no reason for me to sacrifice getting stronger to satisfy my curiosity.

Once the boss was stripped of anything valuable, Gale and I locked gazes, my golden eyes meeting his night-purple ones, and together we nodded. There will be time for mysteries later. For now it’s time to train, to advance, and to gather the strength we’ll need for the trials ahead.

In unspoken agreement we accelerated into a run, racing towards the Air Gate under the late morning sun and dashing into the shimmering curtain of rainbow light.

So. It's been awhile huh. Well you can thank Josette Du Pres for this part, because this would not have been done anytime soon if I hadn't been messaged asking about Ilos haha. Also, a big thanks to Eric for catching some of my spelling mistakes, there always seem to be a few that slip by me when I post :)

There is a good portion of talking in the part and you get to meet a number of the more important members of Sweet Dreams, but I've done my best to keep it from being just a bunch of talking heads. If there is anything you don't understand about how Ilos works, this would be the time to let me know so I can expand upon it.

Hope you enjoy!

 

-Tas

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 9: The End of Isolation

 

 

Ilos, Day 36

 

Tasalin strode down the hallway towards the meeting room inside Sweet Dream’s home fort with Solani by his side, the whisper of her footsteps drowned out by the heavy clanking from his armor and boots. It’d been ten days since they’d established contact with Lassea, and Corvid had convinced him and Solani to keep quiet about it until after he could get some things set up. The guild leader had contacted them about an hour ago, summoning them to the fort, and they had immediately headed back to town and begun the teleport spell that would get them back. An hour was a long time to wait and do nothing while the spell completed, but it certainly beat the several days of travel it would take to get back on foot. Tasalin hoped that they could finally reveal the truth to the people stuck on Ilos, the fact that there was no going back and that all of their bodies on Earth had long since dissolved into nothingness.

That particular piece of news had been a shock. Tasalin liked this world, enjoyed it, and was quickly beginning to consider it his home, but there had always been that small voice in the back of his head that told him he should try to find a way back to Earth, that there was an empty body waiting for him there, something to go back to.

Now that voice was gone. There was nothing left for him there, and that was a depressing feeling. There was no going back.

How many others would feel this way if they told everyone that they were dead as far as the people on Earth were concerned? Would they be able to handle it?

He’d had a lot of time to turn this issue over in his head, most recently the hour wait for the teleport spell to finish, and he still hadn’t come to a correct answer. He knew that the emotions he felt were a bit muted compared to most people, and while it kept him from being overwhelmed sometimes, it was hard to relate to others when he truly didn’t feel the same depth of emotion that they did. It was morally the right decision to release that information; everyone in Ilos had a right to know, but-

A hand smacked his arm. “Tas, you’re frowning again. How many times have I told you not to worry about the things that are out of your control?”

Tasalin shook his head slightly, then looked over at the woman who had been his almost constant companion for the past three and a half weeks, a smile touching his lips despite his somber mood. Black eyes that seemed to draw in the light and condense it into small silver flecks met his own forest-green ones, that small half-smile that seemed to be present whenever she was around him quirking her red lips. Her silky black hair framed a slightly angular face, giving her beautiful features a more serious cast. She had one eyebrow ever so slightly raised, waiting for his answer as she strode silently alongside him.

“I believe the count is at ten.”

“Twelve, actually.” Her smile grew a bit wider and she bumped him with her shoulder, then remained close enough that he would have felt uncomfortable had it been anyone else. “Relax, Corvid knows what he’s doing.”

Tasalin sighed. “I know, I know, and I trust him to do what’s right, but this whole situation still bothers me. Why can we contact the black Keys now? Was this instance thing set up at the very beginning and we just didn’t notice it? Or did-”

“Tas! Enough! I know you’re worried about it, I am too, but we’re going to be meeting to discuss this very issue! Hold on to your questions for just a few more minutes alright?”

Tasalin let out the rest of the air he was going to use for speaking before pulling in a breath and beginning anew with a small smile. “You’re right of course, as always. I don’t know what I would do without you here Sol.”

“Probably drive yourself insane with worry within days!” She laughed.

There were a few moments while Tasalin laughed along with her that everything seemed right, and he found himself thinking that everything would turn out alright so long as they were together. They reached the large doorway to the meeting room and stopped, their mirth trailing off as they looked at each other. His eyes met Solani’s sparkling dark ones and the moment stretched, neither moving.

The door to the meeting room creaked as it swung open and they both jerked back a bit, turning to look at the sudden noise. Corvid stood there in the opening, a small knowing grin on his face. Tasalin felt his cheeks heat, though he felt a bit better when a glance showed Solani’s face was also a bit redder than normal. With unspoken agreement, they both walked forwards through the door as if nothing had happened.

The meeting room was dominated by a large round wooden table that was covered in dents and scratches and looked as if it had seen better days, and the ten chairs that surrounded it were in similar condition. The rest of the room was fairly bare, lacking any decoration besides some rough torch sconces and a few holes in the stone that served as windows.

Unfortunately that was par for the course in the old run down keep Sweet Dreams had taken over, only the most demanded amenities were in good repair and anything that was serviceable was used until it broke. The walls and structure of the keep took priority over everything else, and while those were coming along nicely there was still a lot of work to be done.

Seven of the ten chairs at the table already had occupants, which meant he and Solani were the last ones to arrive. They were also the only ones in combat dress, having just come in from the field. Tasalin recognized only three of the people already seated, Taktik, who gave a lazy salute from his chair, Roland Barclay, who still had his testing clipboard and lab coat and was busy writing something down, and a young Japanese girl named Supai, who bobbed up and down excitedly when Solani entered the room. The slight black haired girl couldn’t have been older than sixteen, and if she was more than a few inches over five feet he’d eat his plate armor. She always came to talk with them when he and Sol were in the base, which is how he knew she was actually head of the Information Division and completely idolized Solani, using the same weapons and magic as his partner did and even trying to copy her appearance sometimes. He pulled out the chair next to Taktik to allow Solani to sit, then tested his rickety chair to make sure it wouldn’t break under his weight before taking his own seat just right of her, shifting the massive shield on his back and the sword at his waist so they wouldn’t catch on anything.

Corvid walked around to the remaining chair on the opposite side, but stayed standing. “Now that everyone is here, we can start. The ten people here represent the whole of Sweet Dreams. There is not a single guild member that does not fall under the leadership of one of you, so congrats on your appointment to…“ He gestured at the group grandly, “the Council of Dreams.”

Small smiles and amused looks swept across the table, everyone seemingly used to their leader’s tendency to give things associated with the guild dramatic names.

Corvid held his pose for a few seconds, then grinned and continued. “I’ll start the introductions. I’m Corvid, the leader of Sweet Dreams, and I use throwing daggers and Spirit magic.” He sat down in his chair and gestured for the woman to his right to stand up.

The blonde smiled sweetly as she followed his direction. She had bright green eyes and long hair that flowed down to her middle back in waves, and easily surpassed what would be considered supermodel quality beauty, even in Ilos, with both her face and her body. Tall with long legs, a large bust, and wearing a blue colored form fitting tunic and shorts, she was showing off all of her many curves without being anywhere near indecent. “My name is Lilith, head of the Magic Division. I use a staff as well as the elements of Fire, Water, and Spirit.” Her sweet voice deepened to a throaty purr. “You’re all welcome to come see me at any time.”

Roland was next, and didn’t even look up from his notes much less stand as he shortly introduced himself. “Roland Barclay. Research Division. All the elements.”

The woman next to the grey haired scientist rolled her eyes and stood up, smacking the older man in the back of the head as she did so, which actually made him look up for the first time, if only for a moment. She had black hair that just reached her shoulders and blue eyes that seemed sharp and intelligent. She looked to be in her early thirties and was probably just above average height for a woman, likely 5’9” or 5’10”. “I’m Miranda Solus, the head of Development. I use a sword and shield along with Nature and Earth magic, though I can use Fire as well. If you need anything from the sciences-“ She gestured towards Lilith and Roland, “-come speak to me. I’ll get these two on it.”

Taktik stood up as she sat down, giving her a suggestive wink. “Well if you ever get bored of those two I’m sure I could show you some things we could to together that you’d find fun.” The huge black man next to Tasalin frowned at that, one of his massive hands forming a fist. Tasalin raised an eyebrow slightly, wondering what was going on there, and saw that Taktik noticed the movement as well, but the red-bearded stocky man just grinned and turned to face the table as a whole. “The name’s Taktik, military strategist. I don’t fight or use magic much beyond Spirit, but if you want a break from things you can always come play a game with me.”

Solani rose gracefully from her seat, bowing her head slightly in greeting and speaking quietly, the rest of the table leaning forwards a bit to better hear her. “I am Solani, the leader of the Nightmares. I use daggers and Shadow magic in combat.”

Tasalin smiled slightly to himself as she sat down. He always forgot she was so reserved around people because she was so vibrant when they were out in the field or alone. Standing, he cleared his throat and addressed the people sitting at the table. “My name is Tasalin, and I’m the leader of our military forces. I use a sword and shield as well as Earth and Nature magic. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.”

The massive black man next to him rose slowly, towering over the table and its occupants, easily half a foot taller than Tasalin. He was bald and the exposed parts of his skin rippled with muscle. “My name is Vulcan Arc, head of the Crafting Division along with Miranda, my wife.” He nodded at the woman next to Taktik, then fixed the stocky man with a hard look before continuing. “I use my blacksmithing hammer and a knife when fighting, along with the elements of Fire, Earth, and sometimes Nature.”

The younger brown haired man next to Vulcan got to his feet and put a hand on his shoulder when the larger blacksmith didn’t sit down immediately, instead glaring at the grinning Taktik. “Vulcan, he was inviting her to play a game with him, probably chess. We play together a lot and he always does that kind of thing. Besides, I already told him the two of you were married, and he’s likely just screwing with you.”

Taktik laughed. “You know me too well Deac. Relax big guy, I’m not going to try putting any moves on your wife, she’d sic Lilith on me if I tried anything anyway, and I really want to avoid that particular fate.”

Lilith smiled, and this was not the gentle curve of her lips that she had shown earlier, but more of a malicious expression with more than a hint of maniac glee. Something about what it did to her face was frankly terrifying, especially when she spoke with the same sweet voice. “Oh come on Taktik, it’s not like you can feel any pain here.”

A mild shudder swept through the room, only Corvid and Solani seemingly unaffected, even Taktik’s ever-present grin and Roland’s scribbling faltering a bit. Vulcan gave in to the slight pressure on his shoulder and sat, and Deac visibly recentered himself before beginning his introduction. “As Taktik just said, my name is Deac Markus, and I’m the leader of the Merchant Division. I can use a dagger but I don’t fight, and I use Air magic mostly for its utility. I keep track of the guild’s money and decide what we use it on as well as try to keep good relations with the Ilosians.”

Supai bounced up out of her chair as soon as Deac sat down, scarcely taller out of her seat than she was in it. Her black ponytail fluttered with her as if infected with her excitement. “My name is Supai, and I’m in charge of the Info Squad! I use daggers and Shadow magic just like Solani, though I’m not as good. If you find out anything new or you need info on something, come drop by!” She bowed and came back up with a smile. “I’ll be in your care.”

Corvid waited until the young girl sat down and resituated herself before continuing. “Now, there are a couple reasons I’ve called you all here. First is to keep everyone connected and informed on what’s going on and to get you all introduced to each other. Tas and Solani will be heading up any manpower we need in dangerous areas just like Miranda, Vulcan, and Deac will be in charge of anything we need locally. Roland, what have you discovered through your tests the past month?”

The grey haired scientist looked up from his notes, then paged backwards a bit. “Let’s see let’s see… Ah here it is. Now that we can measure experience values exactly we’ve learned a good number of things. As suspected, groups of four are the most efficient when gaining experience for any encounter or quest. A single person gains the full value of experience, two people working together each gain seventy-five percent of the experience for a total of 1.5 times the base value, three people each get sixty percent for 1.8 times, and four or more people evenly split double the experience value. This makes larger groups increasingly inefficient, no longer gaining additional total experience points when adding more members. We have also confirmed that how a player completes a fight will affect the amount of experience that he or she receives. Completing a task or defeating an encounter faster or with less injuries will increase the amount of experience gained. The amount of damage dealt, healing rendered, command taken, and battle tactics observed will also affect the experience count, but these conditions are so many and fluid that it will be next to impossible to determine which if any grants more experience gains than another. It does seem however that the basic amount of experience gained will not decrease no matter what actions are taken so long as the task is completed successfully.”

Roland flipped backwards another few pages and then pulled a couple out and handed them left to Lilith. “If you would pass those around please. Through our practical tests, we have learned that the physical capabilities of the champions are not uniform over the same level of experience, and in fact differ greatly. Those papers are the test results from Tas and Solani at certain benchmarks in their experience values, and you’ll see that the two sets differ significantly with the exception of a few variables despite being recorded at the same experience value. Solani has developed the ability to fall great distances in silence, move swiftly and suddenly, and has gained increased flexibility, reaction time, and strength. When armored with plate and added weights to match Tas’ weight, she was still able to move faster, drop further without noise, and react more quickly than he could. Tas on the other hand has developed the ability to withstand great blows without flinching, impart great force through most of his movements, and has gained greatly increased endurance and lifting weight. He was able to shrug off forces that took Solani off her feet, even when armored and weighted to be the same, with and without a shield. He was also able to lift more and his movements impart more force when they move at the same speed. However, the force of their strikes is almost equal because Solani can move herself faster than Tas can.”

“Woah! You two already have more than three hundred thousand experience?! That’s amazing!” Supai exclaimed, her eyes sparkling as she looked between the papers she was holding and Solani.

“Ahem.” Roland frowned at the young girl, obviously annoyed at being interrupted in the middle of talking about his favorite subject. “I’ve had them and a couple others come in every fifty thousand experience to do a few of the more common tests and the differences grow more defined each time. It appears that how experience is gained in and out of combat contributes to how a champion develops physically and how strong the Barclay Effect is on the different actions they take.” The doctor turned to glare at Taktik. “And no Taktik, I did not name it that myself, nor did I suggest it.”

Taktik shut his mouth with a disappointed look. “Y’know, for an absentminded scientist you’re pretty sharp Roland.”

Roland’s mouth twitched slightly in what might have been a smile before he continued. “The Barclay Effect is what the science divisions have started calling the gap between what the champions make happen and what physics tells us should happen. The champions themselves have some control over the Barclay effect, able to affect forces they directly influence to a significant degree. For example, when Tas in full armor attempts to land softly from a three story drop, he only makes a loud noise, but when he tries to land hard he imparts enough force to shatter the stone that lines the streets in Ilos as well as crack a good area around the point of impact.”

“The type of magic they use also affects the Barclay effect, imbuing the champion with additional power based on the experience they have in each element.” Lilith stepped in. “We haven’t been able to map exactly what all each element affects yet, but it seems that Earth and Nature affect endurance and longevity, Fire and Air affect speed and reaction time, and Water affects a mix of all of those. This is a newer discovery, so we haven’t yet been able to figure out what effects Spirit, Light, Shadow, and Death have. Very few people use these elements in any significant amount, so it’s hard to get a large enough sample size to determine much of anything.”

Vulcan handed the papers over to Tasalin, who glanced over them briefly, already familiar with the contents, though he couldn’t help but be impressed with the kind of strength champions could have. The figures of the latest test showed that he could bench press over six hundred pounds and Solani was almost as strong at a little over five fifty. The scientists had tried to get a read on what they could deadlift, but without modern refining couldn’t find anything strong enough to hold the weight that he could grab and lift by himself. He’d been a pretty strong guy back on Earth, but it had taken him years to get to a three hundred pound press. Now he had more than doubled that in a single month, and Solani was almost as strong as the strongest woman on Earth. If they were like this now, what would they be able to do in six months or a year?

“…created a small working steam engine, but we’d need to find a large source of iron and other metals if we plan on doing anything of any usable scale.” Miranda was saying as he passed the papers over to Solani. “We have the copper for wire and circuitry, but we’d need to find some rubber or another insulator to make it safe. As it is we’ve been able to make a usable lightbulb powered by a hand crank and no one has noticed any change in electromagnetics, but we’d really need some better tools to make sure.”

“I’ll look into it Miranda.” Corvid nodded at her. “What other modern techniques have you been able to apply?”

Vulcan leaned forwards. “We’ve been able to produce what I would consider low-quality steel fairly easily and it seems to be a big hit. Most metal around here are made of iron and good steel is very expensive and hard to come by. Ours is better than anything but what the top craftsmen can make, and we can produce it much faster.”

“We’ve been able to sell what we’ve made at high price in the city, and the demand continues to grow. I’ve tried to suggest making tools and weaponry with the material rather than just selling it to the Ilosian craftsmen, but Vulcan wouldn’t hear of it.” Deac grumped.

“If I’m going to put the Sweet Dreams name on it, it’s going to be of the highest quality metal, not the kind of crap we’ve been able to produce so far.” Vulcan rumbled back. “I’ve been working with Miranda to produce some better tools, and we’re close to finishing a prototype Cyclone Converter Furnace and Smelting Reduction Vessel so we can use the HIsarna process. With Air and Fire elemental magic we should be able to get to the temperature necessary to make some good quality steel. We’ll probably have to reinforce the furnace with Earth magic until we can make a better one, but it should work.”

“Good.” Corvid nodded. “I’ll try to get ahold of the Ilosian nobles again to see if I can get you a good source of iron, but they seem to be avoiding all champions and hiding themselves away in the palace.” The guild leader grinned suddenly. “Say Tas, if I can’t get them to come out, how would you like to come help me break down the door?”

Tasalin returned the grin. “Only if you don’t mind scaring the pants off them.”

Deac scowled. “Please try to avoid any major incidents, I get the feeling the nobles are looking for some way to justify trying to throw us out of the city as it is. The champions are a large, unknown, and powerful group that they have no way of controlling, and that’s a massive threat to their power. The people seem to be alright with us for now, but that’s just because we buy a lot of things from them and we’re no danger to them with the exception of a few idiots that we’ve taken care of ourselves. As a whole champions are considered to be extremely rude and it wouldn’t take too much to turn tolerance into hostility.”

“I’ll keep that in mind Deac, thank you.” Corvid said, nodding at the young businessman grimly. “Do you have anything to report on the military side of things Tas?”

“Hmm, nothing in particular. We’ve seen a slight uptrend in people going out to do quests and gain experience because of new recruits and some members from other divisions that want to try it out. The idea that groups of four is best has stuck around and a lot of those groups are bonding now and becoming more permanent. The Info Squad has been a big help to everyone as they go out questing, and we’ve been getting a good advantage over anyone not in Sweet Dreams with the kind of information we have on the higher level quests. It was a good idea to publish the lower level quest information and allow public access to our records here in the keep, a good number of the people who come here end up joining Sweet Dreams if they aren’t in a guild already. Nothing really big has happened or you all would have known about it well before now. Taktik, do you have anything?”

“Not a thing, though I wish we could get some large scale combat training in with everyone except the Nightmares. We need to get some practice in, but it would be too difficult to balance if we ended up doing skirmishes with our elites in play.”

Corvid nodded. “I’ll speak to some of the other guild leaders and see if they want to do some large scale things, but even if no one agrees we can set something up internally. Solani, how are the Nightmares doing?”

“One group of four has dropped out, but everyone else is advancing quickly. The Info squad is doing a great job of recording what information we get over telepathy so we don’t have to come back here every day. Supai has done really well running the Information Division as well as being a part of the Nightmares.” She made as if to stop at seeing the young girl preen under her idol’s praise, but then glanced at Deac and continued. “I have heard rumors from some of my groups in the north that an Ilosian city was destroyed by a champion.”

Corvid frowned and Deac paled. “Please tell me you’re kidding.” The brown haired merchant said weakly.

“She’s not.” Supai shook her head, her black ponytail hitting the sides of her face as she did so. “Both Edgar’s and Strider’s parties reported that the city of Travant has been razed to the ground. All of the surviving Ilosian guards and many of the populace refer to their attacker as the ‘Black Demon Girl’, a beautiful young girl with long black hair and golden eyes who wore a black dress and was inhumanly strong and fast. Most think she was a demon sent from the Abyss to punish them for their sins, but some are insistent that she was a champion. According to what the two parties heard she came in and killed the ruling duke, his mage advisor, the military commander, and several hundred soldiers before destroying the tower that was behind the mansion where the duke lived and then burning the city to the ground.”

Tasalin frowned. Something about that description tickled his memory. Young with long black hair, headed north…

“Supai, this girl, was she really short?”

The Japanese girl nodded. “Yep! How’d you guess?”

“She’s a champion. I saw her in the plaza at the beginning of all this and she was headed north. I certainly didn’t think she was good enough to be ahead of the Nightmares though.”

“Tas, I’m going to have someone take you and Solani north to look into this. We need to know the reason behind this before word reaches the city.” Corvid stated grimly. “If the timing is the same as in the beta, we have to keep our relationship with the people in Ilos at least neutral until the goblins attack in another month. As much as I would like to say that we could ignore Ilos and fortify ourselves in this keep, I don’t think we’d survive.”

Tasalin and the two other military leaders shook their heads. The keep wouldn’t be reinforced enough to repel that scale of attack in only a single month, the time everyone expected the goblins to attack. The beta had only lasted a little over two months, and most of the players assumed the massive horde of goblins would show up at roughly the same time they did in the beta.

Corvid glanced at them and continued. “Even if we could, losing Ilos would defeat the purpose because we might lose our ability to respawn. If the Ilosians don’t trust us enough to allow us to garrison inside of Ilos, we all die, and so do they.”

Silence reigned for a few moments as Corvid let that sink in. “Supai, what other news about the Information Division?”

The short girl looked decidedly uncomfortable at continuing with such a somber mood, and the cheery tone she usually had was completely absent. “Ah, um, the Info Squad has been doing well. Since it was decided that information counts as contribution to the guild and payment for room and board here in the keep, a lot of people come to us because it’s so easy. With Miranda’s help, some raw materials, and a little Earth and Nature magic, we’ve been able to make a fairly good paper substitute. Some of us can even print text or duplicate whole pages with magic and we’ve been teaching people how, so we now have paper copies of the more common quests available for anyone who wants to come and take one. I’ve got a few of my guys working on compiling the most efficient quests into a guidebook for each direction away from the city so people don’t have to come back for more quest guides if they don’t want to. What else is there… Oh! A few of the others and I have actually been talking to some of the Ilosians in the city and more and more of them seem curious about us and where we come from. They’ve been asking questions about Earth, especially the guards under Commander Lorilee. I’m not sure what that means, but I thought you’d like to know.”

“Good. Well done Supai, I wouldn’t have anyone else as the head of the Information Division.” Corvid’s praise brought the smile back to the teen girl’s face and he turned to Vulcan. “How are the repairs going for our base here?”

“Good. The things we use most often have been fully repaired and we’ve taken the opportunity to install some modern additions. We’ve enlarged the bath and it’s now fed by pipes instead of buckets from below the keep as well as heated. There’s a schedule set up to rotate between men and women because everyone wants to use the thing to unwind even though anything outside of our regular appearance vanishes after a few hours. The kitchen has the same water upgrades, but we’re delaying putting in pipes throughout the rest of the keep because the weather seems to be warming up and we don’t need them for heating just yet. We’ve done some basic revamp to the underground spring and aquifer that feeds this keep in order to make the pipes work, and we’ll need to do more when we expand the pipe system, but for now it’s usable. We’re expanding the area under the keep and will be attempting to make this place as self-sufficient as possible, even to growing our own food. We have watchtowers along the outskirts of the wall and since two hours of watch duty counts as one day’s contribution we always have people up there just in case something happens. We’ve taken apart the remnants of the walls that were here and are magically reinforcing the stone and using it to build the newer, much more expansive wall. It won’t rival Ilos in radius, but we could have our own city here with room to spare once it’s finished. The wall has a good base all the way around and we’re starting to build it up using an internal magically fortified metal structure for extra strength, but we’re going to need a lot more resources and what we have now is swiftly running out.”

Deac raised a hand for a second, keeping his elbow on the table. “I’ll see what I can do to get my hands on some more material for everyone. Our finances are well in the black since we’re mostly self-sufficient and we’re selling some of what the crafting divisions are making for high prices. There’s not much available in the way of raw materials, but once we establish contact with cities worth trading with we’ll have access to more resources and money. We’ve already begun trading with some of the other champion guilds so I should be able to leverage them to get some additional stone and metals, but not much quite yet. We’ll really need to have contact with someone who has a mine or quarry or build our own.”

“Alright, I’ll make a note of that and see what I can do to get you those contacts. Does anyone have any questions or comments?” Corvid seemed to see Supai shift out of the corner of his eye and looked towards her. “Supai?”

She shook her head slightly. “It’s nothing, I’m just surprised you all speak Japanese so well, I thought this game was global and I wasn’t expecting so many native speakers.”

Tasalin blinked and looked at Solani confusedly, seeing the same expression in her eyes, then back at Supai. He was sure he’d heard Japanese spoken at some point before, but he didn’t know the first thing about the language.

Taktik leaned forwards, resting his chin on his fists. “Did you hit your head girl? You’re speaking English, plain as day, and so am I.”

Tasalin, Corvid, Miranda, and Vulcan all nodded, agreeing, but the rest of the table just looked more confused.

“Russian is the only language I’ve ever learned.” Roland stated.

“I know a few languages, including English, but I’ve been speaking French.” Deac added.

Lilith raised her hand halfway for a moment. “I’ve been speaking French as well.”

Everyone looked at Solani when she didn’t say anything, but she looked as confused as the rest. “Did none of you notice this earlier? We all hear speech and see writing in our first language, but none of us are speaking any language from Earth right now. How would we communicate with the Ilosians otherwise?”

“Not speaking any Earth language?” Roland asked, his notes abandoned.

“Listen closely to my words. Do they sound like any language you’ve ever heard?”

Tasalin frowned, concentrating on the words alone. “Sol, say that same thing again.”

She nodded, speaking slowly. “Laso ra’soriy a’ rliy lla’mcs. Da’ hoiy sa’auc ranno oaiy roaghauoagho iya’au’rro orrom hommac?”

Taktik slumped back in his chair. “Well holy fuckin’ shit.”

The sentiment seemed to be shared among those at the table with the exception of Solani and Supai, who seemed more or less unaffected.

Corvid frowned, rubbing his forehead with one hand. “This could be a problem.”

“But why? I think it’s really cool!”

“Because Supai, if we only speak Ilosian now, we’re going to have to rely on those with the black Keys to translate for us when we make contact with Earth.” Corvid sighed. “This was the second part of the meeting anyway, so I may as well tell you all now. You all know we’ve made contact with Earth through the people with that black Keys and that we no longer have bodies on Earth to go back to.”

Everyone around the table nodded, waiting for him to continue.

“I want all of you to wait until I finish telling the whole story to say anything or ask questions. What you don’t know is that the black Keys have discovered two new types of magic, runes and summoning, and I have personally been back to Earth twice in the past week.”

Tasalin was stunned, along with everyone else. Corvid had been back to Earth! That was incredible!

“Lassea, the girl that we first talked to, has contacts with the media, and is going to be arranging a meeting with them soon during which she and a few friends of hers will be summoning Tasalin and I. We will gather as much information as we can and then share most of this with everyone in Ilos. The only reason I’ve wanted to keep this quiet is because we didn’t know exactly how it works or what the rules are, and I didn’t want things getting out of control. From what we’ve been able to determine, someone with a black Key from Earth can use a summoning circle to pull a creature from Ilos to Earth at the cost of a significant amount of mana. However, not only can multiple people add mana on Earth’s end, whoever is being summoned can also contribute mana to the process. Anything we’re carrying also makes the trip with us, including anything in the storage Gems we hold.” Corvid opened his inventory and removed a very familiar object, turned it on, and slid it towards the middle of the table.

Everyone leaned forwards, watching as the screen of the smartphone ran through its startup animations and came to rest on its home screen.

The guild leader continued before anyone could speak up. “I traded a few small storage Gems for this, a few other things, and the meeting with the media, and I can confirm that Gems work on Earth just as they do here. It seems all of Ilos’ rules about magic apply to everyone on Earth, but those without a Key simply have a negative experience value and cannot regenerate mana on their own.” He pulled a couple spiral notebooks and a package of pens out of his inventory and slid them over tow Roland before closing the glowing blue window. “One of those contains all I could find out about runes and summoning, and the rest should be of good use to-“

Corvid stopped suddenly, then looked at Tasalin. “It looks like we’ll have to continue this later. Lassea just contacted me and they are ready to summon us to Earth.” He looked at the rest of the table. “I’ll contact everyone again when we return and we’ll go over everything we find out about Earth. Roland, those notebooks should get you started on runes and summoning magic, see what you can find out.”

The older scientist waved his assent, already paging through a notebook.

“Deac, talk to your contacts and see if you can get your hands on any more raw materials, I’ll leave what price we’re willing to pay up to you.”

“Not a problem, I’ll see what I can dig up.”

“Lilith and Miranda, you’ll be very interested in the runes section of that notebook, make sure Roland doesn’t hide it away.”

Miranda nodded and Lilith smiled that terrifying smile of hers again. “Oh he won’t keep it from us.”

“Supai, see if you can make a few copies of that notebook. We’ll need quite a few for everyone to look at.”

The young girl nodded, grinning. “You got it!”

“Vulcan, Taktik, Solani, you’re free to do whatever you like.”

*Tasalin?* A familiar female voice spoke in his head.

*Lassea?*

*Yep! Are you ready?*

*For the summoning?*

*Yes.*

Tasalin looked at Corvid, who nodded. *Yes, we’re ready.*

A glowing circle with a nine pointed star inset into it bloomed into being under Corvid, covering a good portion of the room. The three scientists and Supai all rushed to the edge of the thing, bending down to examine it and talking among themselves in low tones while Vulcan and Deac got out of their chairs and began heading for the door.

“Let us know if you need anything Corvid.” Deac called out as he left, then turned to the towering blacksmith. “So you think you can make some better steel with this new furnace you’re building? How soon do you think-“

As door closed, cutting off the rest of his sentence, Tasalin stood, shaking his head in amazement before turning to look at his friend and guild leader. How does he inspire such trust and loyalty? This summoning thing came out of the blue, and not only did no one say anything about having a way to get back to Earth kept from them, they aren’t even asking why he’s taking me along instead of someone like Deac who knows how to deal with people. I don’t understand it even if I can see it right in front of me.

*Did I get you in the summoning?* Lassea’s voice spoke in his head again.

Tasalin glanced down, seeing only the circle centered on Corvid. *It doesn’t look like it.*

There was silence for a few seconds, and a second summoning circle began glowing on the floor centered on Tasalin and overlapping Corvid’s. *How about now?*

*Looks like you got it.* He replied.

*Good! See you in a few minutes.*

“Tas!” Corvid called out, getting his attention from where he stood on the other side of the table. “Make sure to push some mana into the circle, they can’t summon us on their own.”

He nodded and concentrated, expecting it would take a number of tries to get learn the trick to it but found it was surprisingly easy. The mana flowed out of him just like it would when he was casting an enchantment, creating a connection to the circle that he could add more mana to at will. He began pushing energy into the link, which unlike enchantments seemed to have a limit to the rate he could add mana.

Taktik slowly got up out of his chair, stretching and sauntering around Solani’s chair to clap Tasalin on the shoulder. “Welp, I kinda wish I would have known about this sooner so I could have you pick some stuff up for me. Just make sure to bring back souvenirs.”

Tasalin mimed writing down something on his hand. “So Risk, Chinese checkers, and as many other games as I can get ahold of. Anything else?”

Taktik grinned and winked, turning towards the door. “You know me too well. Have fun.”

Tasalin watched the door close behind the stout tactician, continuing to push mana into the circle. It seemed to be filling with a shimmering multicolored light from the outside as well as the center under his feet. He estimated it would be full in a minute or two. Glancing over at the scientists he realized that everything outside the circle he was standing in was starting to shimmer and dim, as if the world was made of slowly rippling water.

Solani stood up from her chair, as clear and solid as ever. Her face was deadly serious as she looked up at him. “Be very careful Tas. We might be extremely strong and fast, but you’re not strong enough to take on any sort of military force yet.”

“Military?” Tasalin frowned. “We’re just going to make an appearance for the news, why would the military be there or have any intention of attacking us?”

“Champions are powerful Tas, and the media will no doubt ask you to show off that power. People fear what they do not understand, especially when it can hurt them. It doesn’t matter if the person who wields that power is friendly or not, governments and militaries do not like unknowns. Keep that in mind and keep your wits about you, because Corvid may not be watching out for threats.”

He nodded slowly, signaling his agreement. “You’re right. Thanks Sol.”

The world outside the circle now looked like two images overlaid atop each other, one of the meeting room that was swiftly fading, and one that looked like the setup for a talk show, complete with a large stage, cushy chairs, and a live audience. He could see ghostly people in the audience and a few on the stage as well as another summoning circle on the stage next to where he stood that was glowing, but empty. There were several things that looked like playing cards that were face up on a couple of the points of the summoning circle as well as two girls and a boy who were wearing black Keys and standing by the circles looking like they were concentrating on something.

One was recognizably Lassea, a bit less striking than he last saw her but with the same mid length blonde hair and unique brown into blue eyes, though she was rather done up with a fancy red dress and makeup. The boy was in his young twenties with short red hair and blue eyes that looked fairly athletic, but there wasn’t anything especially notable about him except that he was in a suit. The other girl there had blue eyes and brown hair that didn’t quite reach her shoulders and was pretty in that girl next door sort of way. She seemed fairly at ease, kind of like summoning was old hat for her, though she did look a bit uncomfortable in her blue dress and kept plucking at it.

He glanced down and smiled slightly. He was still in his full plate armor with his massive shield on his back and his sword at his waist, he hadn’t had time to change into anything else, but if worse came to worst at least he’d be ready. Under his feet was a symbol that looked like a kite shield outlined in white with a massive tree in the center colored in green and brown. The circle under him was almost full now and he could hear the host saying something, but it didn’t make sense. A chill went down Tasalin’s spine. The man should be speaking English, but the noises he was making were something else entirely.

“Arb rav r’qo ‘r ITV vo du’rs vai klo g’utk aervaro laet toor ag klo voavro vla qaer’tlob guad Earukl ae r’kkro aqou ae darkl aesa. Tloto kva dor roaeb klo raeusotk cuaiv ag vraevout kiuuorkrv kuaevvob ‘r Ilos aerb laeqo aesuoob ka dook it louo aerb kaerx aedaik vlaek klov’qo ozvou’orkob!”

Well, it looks like we are going to need Lassea and her friends to translate for us. We really aren’t a part of Earth anymore.

Ilos was almost gone now, only the things inside the circle solid enough to see and touch. Solani stepped forwards towards him with a serious expression, her silver flecked black eyes staring up into his just inches away, close enough for him to feel her warm breath. “Watch the crowd.” She whispered, then turned and walked out of the circle, her figure quickly blurring into nothingness.

The host turned to face the summoning circles. “Auo vo uoaebv Jott’kae?”

Tasalin saw Lassea nod out of the corner of his eye, still looking towards where Solani vanished.

The host turned back to the crowd, waving his arms dramatically. “Aru’slk, rok’t oq-veryone welcome the leaders of Sweet Dreams, Tasalin and Corvid!”

Tasalin breathed a sigh of relief as the gibberish the man was spouting suddenly switched back to understandable words, then straightened his posture and steeled himself. It looked like they could still understand English, at least so long as they were on Earth, but he couldn’t let anything distract him. Solani had been too serious about the possible danger for his comfort. He wasn’t sure if she was just being cautious or if she had experience with something similar before, but he was going to take her advice and be wary of possible danger. He still had a good third of his mana pool to work with, and that would have to be enough.

The shield symbol under him erupted in green and brown light, blowing away the last remnants of the meeting room in Ilos and solidifying the talk show stage on Earth. He looked around, his strong eyes piercing the bright lights from above to look into the audience and backstage. There were a lot of people to keep track of from all directions, but he was going to make sure nothing went badly for any of the champions there, including Lassea and her friends.

It looked like being back on Earth was going to be a lot more stressful than he’d hoped.

Hello everyone! I'm glad to announce I'm not dead! :D
But actually though, I've been super busy this past year (has it really been that long?) with my last semester of college and the first months of my new job. Gotta make a good first impression y'know.
I also discovered D&D, and may have spent a lot of time on that. Maybe.

 
On the upside, I finally got this next part of Ilos done!
(For those of you who are new here, see this link for the previous chapters: https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book-page/53441/ilos)

 
As always, let me know if I screw something up or something doesn't make sense!

 

 
-Tas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earth, Day 36

 

Nick ignored the murmur of the crowd and concentrated on pushing mana into the summoning circle. He could deal with high profile meetings, he could deal with presenting information to a group of businessmen or politicians, he could even deal with handling many times more than the sum total of his net worth, but he hated being on stage. He’d tried theatre in middle school, but even when he could recite the whole play from memory he still couldn’t make his words come out right once he got on stage. His nerves got all jangled whenever he was up in front of a large audience, and, despite his best efforts, here he was, trying desperately to distract himself by concentrating on the summoning circle and hoping Jess could take care of all of the talking.

How had he gotten himself talked into this? He’d known it would be a bad idea. He’d known he’d be almost useless when he got up here under the bright lights and massive cameras. He doubted he could speak more than a word or two into a mic without stammering and sounding like a total dolt. Glancing over at Jess, he sighed to himself wearily. The woman could talk people into doing almost anything, that he was her friend just made it easier for her to convince him to be on stage with her.

In a fancy red dress that seemed reminiscent of the dresses she had taken to wearing in Ilos when they weren’t out training, Jess seemed right in her element chatting and laughing with the host of the newly created talk show. Well, it was actually just a fancy interview, but it was set to look like a talk show, complete with studio audience and cushiony couches for the host and whoever was with him to sit in.

It hadn’t been hard for Jess to get an interview, she was already somewhat famous among the populace for her outburst and subsequent talks with the media about Ilos, and she had made a good choice with which news company to do this with. Newly founded as an offshoot of a more major network, Ilos Television Video was made exclusively to cover anything related to Ilos. Nick expected them to get a rather large increase in both size and budget after tonight.

Amanda stood next to him in front of her own summoning circle, clothed in a blue dress that matched her eyes. She had chosen to travel with him back to Jess’ apartment after making sure everyone else from the Terran Inquisition was either settled back into their places in the secret facility or sent home. The small apartment would have been cramped if any of them spent much time there, but they were in Ilos so much it hadn’t been an issue so far.

The three of them had been busy in the week since they had reunited. Jess was in conference for a good portion each day either with Arterian Dark or Corvid, the leader of Sweet Dreams. She was making some sort of plan with Dark he was sure, but she wanted to keep it a secret for now, so he didn’t press. He wasn’t sure what all they talked about exactly, but he and Amanda had met the guildmaster more than once to discuss the newest findings about Summoning, and he seemed agreeable enough. It was thanks to him that this was coming together so nicely, having discovered that the champion being summoned could contribute mana to the process. The first time they had summoned Corvid to Earth it had taken all three of them and a good bit of preparation with spell cards to not run out of mana, but now they could each get someone here by themselves so long as they had that champion’s cooperation.

Nick absently fingered the small Storage Gem hanging from a necklace under his shirt he’d gotten from Corvid in exchange for a few Earth items. There was going to be a lot of things revealed tonight, but the ability to leave Ilosian objects on Earth was not one of them. He had convinced Jess of that much at least, along with only allowing the end of the summoning process to be shown. Things were already about to get crazy with the widespread revelation that people with black Keys could use magic on Earth, it wouldn’t do to add in any more chaos unless absolutely necessary. He’d have loved to keep magic in the dark as well, but there were already hazy reports about the subject circulating through the internet. It was better to get it all out now rather than have someone use magic to do something criminal and make a bad first impression.

A symbol appeared in the center of the summoning circle in front of him, a kite shield outlined in silver with a massive tree in brown and green on it. That had to be Tasalin’s symbol. He hadn’t heard much about the man he was summoning other than meeting him once briefly – which was necessary to summon a specific champion - and Jess’ description of his politeness. Nick glanced over at Amanda’s circle, seeing the familiar purple crescent moon and stars that was the Corvid’s unique summoning signet.

As always when he saw a summoning symbol, he recalled the fake attack on the Terran Inquisition, or more precisely his brief meeting with the girl they had managed to summon. He recalled her symbol clearly, though the memory was tinged with remembered pain. A bright eight point starburst outlined with shadow set atop a smaller dark eight point starburst outlined in light, rotated so it looked as though it was a sixteen pointed star. He’d seen little of her, only waking up when things seemed to be pretty much over, and, despite turning it over and over in his head, couldn’t make heads or tails of her final actions.

Nick held on to the small girl clad in a black dress as she cried into his dirty grey Terran Inquisition shirt, clutching him with a strong, almost desperate grip. He hoped she didn’t squeeze any tighter, he was already having trouble breathing. He shot a questioning look at Amanda over the girl’s head, easy enough since the champion reached no higher than his chest. Amanda just shook her head with wide eyes, obviously just as in the dark about this as he was.

The black haired girl knew his name, but he had no idea who she could be. Even if David had for some reason created a female avatar, there’s no way he would be acting like this. As he looked down at her, he realized he could see his own arms though her form, just like what had happened with David when the Bell of Recall had rung that first time. The faint starburst under them pulsed with light, seeming to anchor her there for a little longer, her body losing its ghostly quality.

Another minute passed, the girl beginning to fade again before her arms loosened around him and she stepped back. Golden eyes rimmed red from tears, she smiled warmly and reached up to touch his cheek. Her hand felt warm and solid even though the edges of her transparent form shimmered with multicolored sparks that seemed to be eating away at her presence. Her mouth moved, but he only caught the first two words, kind and loving, before they faded into silence.

“Take care…”

He half raised a hand towards hers, not sure what to make of this tender gesture from a stranger, but she moved back, one step, two, her legs below the knee no longer visible. Her form dissolving into sparks faster now as she continued to back away, then vanished completely into multicolored motes as she turned to walk away from him, striding into nothingness.

Nick absently felt his cheek, still able to recall the warmth and tenderness that touch had held. He’d see that girl again, he was sure of it, and he would have questions for her. Amanda had described what had happened from the time the summoning succeeded to when he had woken up, and it seemed as though whoever he had summoned was extremely powerful. She was also apparently somewhat frightening as well, scoffing at the threat to the innocent people inside. That was the other reason he knew she couldn’t be David, his friend wasn’t nearly so callous.

He did wish someone had gotten her name so he could have contacted her telepathically, but apparently the soldiers had stopped her from telling them, instead offing her a position with their team if she ever decided she wanted to join them. That group was very good at their jobs, he would keep them in mind if he even needed to hire armed men.

He suspected he might very soon.

“And now live on ITV we bring you the first anyone has seen of the people who vanished from Earth a little over a month ago. These two men lead the largest group of players currently trapped in Ilos and have agreed to meet us here and talk about what they’ve experienced!”

The sudden increase in volume from the host knocked Nick from his ruminations, and he realized that the summoning was almost finished. The host, Nick absently realized that he had never actually gotten the man’s name, walked over to the summoning circles with Jess, then turned to face the two shimmering patterns on the ground. Nick slackened the mana he was pushing into the circle, he could feel that it only needed a few seconds to complete, and the timing had to be just right for the best effect. He focused only on that, ignoring the suddenly brighter light as the camera crew focused over to where he and Amanda stood behind the circles.

“Are you ready Jessica?” The host asked.

Jess looked at Nick, then Amanda, waiting for their slight nods before nodding herself to the host for confirmation.

The gaudy man turned back to face the audience and cameras, gesturing grandly. “Alright, let’s everyone welcome the leaders of Sweet Dreams, Tasalin and Corvid!”

Nick pushed the last little bit of mana needed into the summoning amid the polite clapping. What seemed to be a glowing green and brown tree erupted from the middle of his circle, lasting only seconds before fading to reveal a fully armored and equipped man with short grey hair and a shortly bearded face. Tasalin’s forest green eyes locked with Nick’s own dark blue ones for just a moment, the taller man giving a small nod of thanks before turning to face the crowd. Nick wasn’t sure if he’d planned to attend the interview in full plate armor, but along with the absolutely massive kite shield strapped to his back, the sword at his waist, and his rock-steady stance, the general cut an imposing figure as he scanned the audience.

Corvid on the other hand was in relaxed garb of decent Ilosian quality. While it didn’t look like he was wearing rags or anything, it was obvious his clothing was vastly subpar for Earth standards. That wasn’t to say he didn’t look good in it, in fact he somehow managed to make everyone but Jess and Tasalin seem to be overdressed for the occasion.

Corvid smiled at the audience and then at the host. “Thank you for the warm welcome. My name is Corvid and this is Tasalin. As you mentioned, we are the leaders of the largest organization of the players currently trapped in Ilos. I hate to be short, but I understand you have some questions for us and our time here is limited, so let us begin.”

“Yes! A good idea!” The host gestured to the couches and chairs set up at angles to give a good view to the cameras but also allow those sitting in them to have a normal conversation without any unnatural leaning or straining. “Please sit! My name is Bede Richardson, a pleasure to meet the both of you, and welcome back!”

After shaking the two men’s hands, the four of them sat, thankfully leaving Nick and Amanda out of the interview completely. The pair of them took chairs at the now unlit side of the stage, out of the way, but still fairly close to their friend. Jess was the last to sit, and rather than take the open spot next to Bede, planted herself between Corvid and Tasalin.

The host had his back to Nick’s side of the stage, but the way he shifted when she sat said he was a bit uncomfortable on his empty couch. He’d probably expected her to be next to him, but Nick picked up on the message. She’d gotten better at subtlety through her interactions with the media, but this was obvious for anyone who was watching: if it came down to it, she would side with the two men. The glance and the tiny smile Corvid gave her was enough to say he’d understood and appreciated the gesture. Tasalin gave no indication either way, simply shifting over a bit to give her more room and scanning the crowd again.

“I’m sure you both know this already, but this is a live interview, millions are eager to hear what exactly has happened to those who have disappeared.” Bede began, gesturing towards the cameras. “Before I ask you any questions about yourselves and what you do, let us relieve the hearts of all those who had a loved one disappear. Are all the people who vanished living in Ilos now?”

Corvid nodded. “Yes. All ten thousand of those who had a silver Key were permanently transported to Ilos. We are all still alive and well.”

“Wonderful!”

“However.” Corvid turned to address the cameras. “You will not be able to contact most of those who live in Ilos for now. Even this brief summoning is heavily taxing for all involved, and very few can do it successfully. Be content in the knowledge that we all live and are working constantly to find a way to make it back to Earth permanently.”

“I see. I’m sure we will do all we can on our end to resolve this as soon as possible.” Bede said gravely. “Now we’ve all met the beautiful Jessica here, but why don’t you tell us a little about yourself Corvid?”

The lithe handsome man smiled wryly. “There’s not much to tell. My name is Corvid, and I am the official guildmaster of the six thousand, two hunded, and eighty three members of Sweet Dreams. I keep everything in order and oversee all of the branches of the guild, making sure there are no internal conflicts. I originally took Ilos as an opportunity to study the human psyche, but I find that I enjoy leading Sweet Dreams and will continue to do so until we are able return home.”

“Over six thousand! It’s incredible that you’ve been able to gather more than half of all of the people who were transported to Ilos!”

“A good part of that is thanks to Tasalin here. He started this guild with me and leads it just as much as I do.”

Tasalin let out a short laugh, finally turning from the crowd to give Corvid a look. “Hardly. You do most of the heavy lifting.”

“Less than you seem to think my friend.”

Rolling his eyes slightly, the armored man addressed Bede. “I suppose it’s my turn for introductions. My name is Tasalin Viridis, and all military ventures of Sweet Dreams are under my command. Exploration, large scale combat, and raid events are what I have authority over in the guild. As you can see, I’m the type of guy to lead from the front, so one of those activities is what composes most of my time unless I’m helping one of the other divisions. With the respawn system still in place, we don’t have to worry about death, which is why we’re so sure that all of the ten thousand in Ilos are still alive and well.”

"Now Tasalin, I'm an avid gamer myself, so I know what you mean, but would you explain to those who don't know video games as well as we do what those terms are?" Bede gestured towards the cameras.

"Ah, of course. Raid events are combat tasks that require a large number of people. In most online games that means anywhere from twenty four to forty eight people. In Ilos that number could grow to several thousand depending on the threat. Exploration refers to the process of the players moving further away from the starting point, in this case the city of Ilos, to places that haven't been mapped out fully yet, be that in actual terrain or in quest information."

"I've heard you talk about these 'quests'. What do quests entail usually?"

"Quests are tasks that the Ilosian people give us to complete. This usually involves something they cannot or don't want to do themselves, and we receive payment in the form of money or items, along with 'experience'. Like most games, the more experience we gain the more powerful we become and the more difficult quests and enemies we can take on."

"Now these Ilosians you speak of, I hear they call you 'champions'? Do you know why that is?"

"Uhmm..." Tasalin shrugged and looked to Corvid.

"We're not entirely sure why." Corvid answered for the armored man. "We think it has something to do with a semi-religious figure they have by the name Xynus. By the accounts of the people, he was the one who told them of our immanent arrival and our roles as 'champions who would push back the darkness'."

"You make the Ilosians seem self-aware rather than just artificial constructs." Bede shifted to give Corvid some kind of look that Nick couldn't see, but that was a leading statement if he ever heard one.

The guildmaster gave that smooth confident smile of his. "That's because they're not artificial constructs. The more we explore Ilos and interact with its people, the more I'm convinced that this is no virtual world we now live in, but one just as real as Earth."

Bede let the silence after that statement draw out a bit. Nick's opinion of the host rose again, the man might seem a bit flighty and excitable, but he knew how to draw out juicy information. Either that or this was all discussed beforehand and he was a damn good actor to seem like he was coming up with these questions on the fly.

"If what you say is true..." Bede said slowly. "This could involve much more than just those who received a Key, black or silver."

Both men nodded at this, and Jess spoke up for the first time since the summoning finished. “The situation with Ilos is already much more complex than meets the eye, and it continues to grow more complicated the further we delve into it. I’ll speak more on that a bit later, there are some other things I believe Corvid has prepared that should be shown first.”

Tasalin shot Corvid a questioning glance, then raised his eyebrows in surprise and nodded before going back to scanning the audience. That was a telepathic message if Nick had ever seen one. It made him feel a bit better to see that Tasalin didn’t know what that meant either. Just what are Corvid and Jess scheming here?

Perhaps noticing the exchange, Lassea’s voice spoke in his head. *Remember how we sent a couple phones back with Corvid along with some other Earth supplies? He used them to record some video that we’re going to show here. A conversation with Lorilee and a pan view of Ilos from the palace I believe was the plan.*

Nick glanced at Amanda, who nodded. She had gotten the message too. *Got it.*

Corvid reached into a small pocket and pulled out a small USB drive, holding it out. “We’ve discovered that by using summoning, it’s possible to take Earth made items back to Ilos with us. This contains some video taken with the help of one of the Ilosians who made all this possible and really convinced me personally that they were true people and not just computer generated constructs.”

Bede took the flash drive, examining it for a moment, then looking back past Nick and Amanda shouted. “Hey Phil! Can you get this queued up on the back screen?”

“Of course! If I can get over there without tripping over all your fancy new furniture!” Called a voice, followed by the soft scraping of a chair and a portly bearded man appearing from behind a curtain. He was wearing a T-shirt that read “If you can do IT, I can do IT better.” and a pair of kaki shorts. Bede got up to meet him halfway, and despite the jibe, neither of them so much as brushed any of the props or furniture scattered about as Phil walked over and accepted the small piece of tech.

Bede went back over to the couch and sat down, crossing his legs. “While we get that set up… Tasalin, Corvid, could you tell us what happened to you that first day? We’ve had people with the black Keys tell us that everyone who had played in the beta dissolved into mist when something called the ‘Bell of Recall’ was rung. Can you tell us what happened from your perspective?”

The two champions looked at each other, and Corvid nodded. Tasalin turned to face Bede with a straight back and squared shoulders. “It is how you described. The Bell of Recall was rung, a bell of massive proportions made and magically enhanced to be heard throughout all of Ilos and its floating Islands. I was in the forest just outside of the city when it started, and with each peal I could feel myself being torn apart. The sound ripped through me each time the Bell rung, taking a part of me with it. It was by far the most painful and terrifying experience I’ve ever had.”

From his tone it was obvious that he was not enjoying recalling that particular memory, and it showed on his face as well. That was what David had gone through? God above, I hope he’s okay.

“The pain vanished after the last toll swept through me, and I was back in the central plaza of Ilos. The once white flagstones were black now, and there were other people around me in the same state of panic. I’m not sure if it’s because of what happened to us, but from that point on I remember everything as vividly as if I were living it again this very moment. I was near the centerstone of the plaza, the only stone still its original white, and there was writing on it. A small girl with long black hair and golden eyes was crouched over the text, examining it, and then the ground began to shake. Most of us fell, and there was a loud voice that seemed to fill the plaza. Word for word, it said this:

‘Welcome to Ilos. I am Xynus, the one who has summoned you here. You are the ten thousand of the Silver Key, offered the priceless gift of extra time. Do not waste this time attempting to return to your previous world, you cannot get back of your own power until the remaining champions join you. The clock is your enemy, and the final trial will begin regardless of your wishes when the time you have here expires. This is no longer the illusionary world that you were previously shown, and as it continues its journey it will need to be protected. Even now the wild inhabitants have begun to emerge from their lairs, and will seek to hold Ilos when the final challenge begins. Be wary, for while this city is a great stronghold, the Great Sleep is failing, and your enemies will grow more powerful and may overwhelm you given time.’

‘Death is not the end here while my power still lasts. However, beware; should you remain dead for a significant time, there will not be enough left of what is you to be reconstructed. Let this be very clear: you will all remain here until the end, be that your own end or the end of the final trial. In your terms: you cannot log out. I have done all I can for you, so go! Grow strong, for the fate of two worlds rests in your hands.’”

Nick’s mind reeled as it tried to process all the implications, but he forced the thoughts down. There would be time to think later, he wanted to listen now. A small girl with black hair and yellow eyes? No. Later.

Tasalin was still speaking. “…found Corvid leaning against a wall at the edge of the plaza. There were only a few I saw that didn’t seem to be in the grip of panic. That black haired girl, the man she was talking to, and Corvid here. The other two ran off north as soon as I saw them, but Corvid stuck around and I felt like it would be good to have someone to talk to who had a cool head on their shoulders. Within just a few minutes, he suggested we make a guild, seeing as there were so many people out in the plaza who would be perfect to join. That’s how Sweet Dreams started, a place those in Ilos can work together to protect Ilos and each other.”

The armored man leaned back into the couch a bit. “Now I could go and relate each day in detail up until this interview, but there are more important things to cover for now and we have limited time. The summoning doesn’t last long, and we want to be here until the end.”

Bede straightened a bit from where he had been leaning forward to listen. “Your story is incredible! I for one would love to hear more of it! Perhaps another interview later?”

“Perhaps.”

“Wonderful! I look forward to it!” The host turned to look at the curtain behind Nick and Amanda again. “Hey Phil! That video ready yet?”

In response a small remote came hurtling out through a gap in the curtain, which Bede deftly snatched out of the air before it could hit him in the face. Nick turned to look at the curtain, noticing that Amanda was frowning and staring off at nothing, obviously deep in thought. He reached over a hand, shaking the brown haired girl’s shoulder as the lights dimmed. “The video’s about to start.”

She blinked, blue eyes focusing on his. “Huh?”

“The video.” He pointed towards the stage where the backdrop behind the set was now black. A large window that the video would be played in was set to the side of the couches to be in clear view of the cameras and the audience. Bede held up the remote and pressed a button, using a bit more motion than really necessary to make the action obvious.

The video began showing a familiar wooden table and chairs, thankfully filmed horizontally. The view panned over to show Lorilee standing next to the softly burning fireplace of the Key Room in the Wheel and Locket. The guardswoman was still in her full armor, and she looked askance at the camera before looking over it at whoever was filming. “Thas corrao oarra'lls a'homs a' soo hma'aughh a oac hooam llhoa I soaiy?”

Overlaid atop the words in his mind was the sentence in English. “This device allows others to see through it and hear what I say?”

Nick blinked, then shook his head. Of course; she’s speaking Ilosian. She doesn’t know English. It was a bit jarring to hear the Ilosian language clearly, though his mind quickly adjusted until he had to focus to not hear it as if it was English. Is that why Jess sounds like Lassea when using telepathy? I’ll have to listen closely next time we communicate that way.

It looked like someone had added subtitles to the video for anyone that didn’t have a Key, and the text matched up with what he was hearing.

“Yes.” Came Corvid’s voice. “I just started it, so it’s recording now. When I take this back with me anyone on Earth will be able to view the video.”

Tasalin’s voice spoke from the side. “Think of it as making a record of events, but rather than writing it records visual and audio events just like you would see or hear them.”

Now that he had noticed, Nick could hear the difference between the two men’s English and Ilosian voices. Not entirely different, but the Ilosian was… smoother somehow, easier to listen to. Just how much of what we are has that place changed?

Lorilee bent down to look into the camera, giving everyone a good look at her hard forest-green eyes and softly angled face, her dark brown hair pulled back into its usual short ponytail. Her reddish lips slightly pursed, she wore an intensely curious expression as she touched the phone, shaking the view a bit as she ran a finger across it. “To think such a small thing could do something so incredible. Truly, your ‘technology’ is more magical than actual magic at times.”

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Tasalin quoted, earning him a quizzical look from the commander and a short chuckle from Corvid.

Lorilee stepped back and drew herself up, giving off an air of formality and a weight to her words. The slight decoration to her heavy armor and the sigils of rank on her shoulder guards never seemed more apparent. “Greetings people of Earth. I am Lorilee Avenia, Commander of the Capital Guard of the city of Ilos. Avendavida.” She bowed low in the most respectful Ilosian form, both arms held out to the sides and one leg crossed over the other.

Nick absently tapped his chin with a finger. Why haven’t we tried summoning Lorilee? I’m sure she would love to visit, even if only for a short time. His finger stopped as a thought occurred to him. Unless that was part of the deal for this video. Somehow I’m sure she’ll be visiting Earth in the near future.

Lorilee straightened after holding the bow for a few seconds, still bearing herself officially. “Sweet Dreams has requested I show you around the city using that small device, and I have agreed to do so.” She looked over the camera at where Nick assumed Corvid held it. “Shall we begin?”

The video cut to black, and Corvid’s voice came from the speakers, a bit shorter and harsher than it had been in the recording. “The city would take hours to show in full, so we’ve selected two sights for you to see now. The rest will be available later on the internet.”

Must be in English, there’s no subtitles. Nick thought. That’s why it sounds slightly different. Interesting.

“First, the Palace.”

The darkness faded as a picture took its place on the screen. The Palace at the center of Ilos, its last defense and seat of its power, stood overlooking the plaza made of sparkling black stone. The Centerstone in its original white was in full view a few yards away from the camera, the text written across it new to Nick’s eyes, though too far to be read. The Palace itself was a walled castle of great size, the crenellations of its sheer stone hiding many of the guardsmen who patrolled its borders. While a fortress of its own right, it was also colorful, the sun reflecting off the many hues of the stone used to build it. The picture conveyed much of the Palace’s majesty, and it was enough to make the audience gasp in amazement.

Nick could understand. Ilos was a beautiful place, land and city, and this was one of its crown jewels, beautiful and imposing at the same time.

The picture remained for about twenty seconds before fading again to blackness. “Second, the Bell and the City.”

Another video began to play, fading into a spiral stair of engraved stone that circled upwards. The clink of Lorilee’s armor was soft, even against the stone she trod on as she ascended. Her voice came from above, unlabored by the climb. “I was unsure if I was going to show this, but I cannot think of a sight more grand.”

A ladder appeared at the top of the stairs, and the view shifted and darkened as Lorilee placed the phone into a belt pouch. The sounds of climbing and a latch being loosened came through, then the image brightened considerably, though it still only showed the coarse fibers of the small bag.

“Gudrun, I’ll take the rest of this watch.” Lorilee’s muffled voice came through.

“Huh?” A deep male voice sounded. “Oh, Commander! Sure, I’ll take off early if you want to stay up here for a bit.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t notice the moment I mounted the ladder Gudrun. You might have fooled your previous officers with that, but not me.”

“Yes Commander. No Commander. Enjoy the rest of the watch Commander.” The heavy footsteps clunked against wood as the guardsman began heading down the ladder.

“Oh, and Gudrun, taking guard duty up here as a way to pay off a bet with Lachesis is not acceptable.”

A heavy boot slipped against wood. There a curse and a grunt, as well as the sound of metal armor hitting stone.

Amused admonishment colored Lorilee’s tone. “If you don’t have the coin to lose, don’t dice with the man, he wins much more often than he loses when he plays with other guardsmen. Something to do with quick hands he says.”

“Yes Commander.” Gudrun groaned from somewhere a bit below.

“Good. Off with you.”

The thunk of wood against stone sounded, and Lorilee’s hand dug into the pouch to grasp the phone again, the video catching a glance of a reinforced wooden trapdoor in the stone at her feet. She peered into the camera for a moment, then seeming satisfied it was undamaged, turned it to face the center of what seemed to be an incredibly tall tower.

“The Bell of Recall.” Nick whispered. “It has to be.”

Hanging in the center of the large space was a massive bell, the biggest one he had ever seen. It was inscribed heavily with some sort of lettering, but it was too small to read from where Lorilee was filming. Most eye catching however, was the material the Bell was made of. It was silver, but it made the most polished purest silver he’d ever seen look like pig iron in comparison. It seemed to glow with an inner blueish light mixed with the reddish light reflected from the sun behind Lorilee. This was no material Earth had ever seen, Nick was sure of it.

“This is the Bell of Recall, enchanted by Xynus himself.” Lorilee stated, confirming Nick’s assumption. “Its tolls can reach those that would defend the city, no matter where they might be. It is said that even a deaf man can hear the peals of the Bell. It is defended to the utmost, none are allowed here except for those on duty, so there are few who get to see it in person.”

She turned and walked towards one of the many arches that held up the ceiling of the tower. Under each arch was a stone rail that curved outwards, coming up to about three feet in height. The light coming from the opening was a deep reddish orange, and as the guardswoman approached it she turned the camera towards herself. “This is the last I have to show. While it may not compare to the grandeur of the cities of metal and glass I have been told of, it is the best I can offer.”

She looked out over the railway and smiled, then held the phone out over the ledge. “An Ilosian Sunset.”

Nick’s breath caught. The city of Ilos stretched out before the tower at the highest point of the Palace. Hills rolled away from the walls into fields of crops that ended in a verdant green forest. Forest gave way to a beautiful lake that reflected the light in shimmering colors, a mist at the edge bathing the area in rainbows. Above it all floated the Islands, each different in size and structure, ascending in a haphazard pattern into the clouds. One in particular near the edge of the mainland of Ilos seemed to be made entirely from crystal, and as the light from the setting sun shone through it, the clouds above seemed to come alive with coruscating color. It was not the reds and oranges and purples he was expecting from a sunset, but all color, shimmering, changing, flowing in a beautiful orchestra of visual splendor.

Nick was disappointed when the video ended, fading to black once more. The lights came back on slowly, but even when they were full no one seemed to have the need to speak.

Corvid smiled. “Captivating isn’t it?” His words seemed to break the spell everyone but he and Tasalin were under.

Bede blinked, then exclaimed. “That was incredible! I have never seen such beauty in my life! Compare to the grandeur of our cities? Hah! That sight far outstrips any of them!”

The audience burbled in agreement, small conversations springing up between groups of two or three. Nick noticed Jess surreptitiously wiping away her tears, a beautiful smile on her face.

Bede stood up, his hands making shushing movements at the crowd. “Alright everyone quiet down, quiet down. We have the rest of an interview to do here.”

When it seemed like everything was under control, the host sat back down on his couch and leaned forward. “You are going to upload that to the internet right?”

“Of course, along with the rest of the video we didn’t show.” Corvid replied. “It was something we wanted to do as soon as we learned we could take Earth technology back to Ilos with us after a summoning. Very few in Ilos know about this right now, there would be too much excitement, but we’d like to have everyone in Ilos be able to send a message home to Earth. That’s a discussion for later though. Please, continue with your questions.”

“Of course! You’ve mentioned magic a number of times. I’ve heard you can use this ‘magic’, among a number of other abilities. Is this correct?”

Corvid nodded. “Yes. Each of us has a pool of inner power that we call mana, which when combined with focus and a word of power can create phenomenon we call magic. The easiest example is fire.” Corvid held out a hand, palm up. “By concentrating on the image of a flame hovering above my palm, I say the requisite word of power and it comes into being. Fas.”

Bede started slightly at the torch-sized flame that appeared above Corvid’s hand, but his reaction was dwarfed by the gasps from the audience. Nick had almost forgotten they were there while listening to the two champions, and turned to look. The movement among the crowd gave off the feeling of unease. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Nick.” Amanda whispered into his ear. “We need to be ready if things go bad.”

He glanced at her, noting the small camera she had pointed so it caught both the stage and the crowd, their insurance against any tampering the media tried to do and any false accusations that could occur. “Agreed. Just follow the plan, we should have enough mana to protect the stage from an attacker or two, especially with Corvid and Tasalin here. I just hope there won’t be any more than that one or two.”

Corvid let the flame vanish. “As you can see, we can use magic here on Earth as well. We retain all of our abilities gained in Ilos when summoned here, the same for our clothes and equipment.”

Tasalin stood and pulled his shield from behind his back, the thick kite shape reaching almost six feet from top to bottom. Nick guessed the thing had to weigh almost a hundred pounds. “We gain strength by killing the many monsters native to Ilos and through helping the people there.”

Corvid glanced at Jess, who gave him a small nod, then they both stood and faced the cameras. “There will be turmoil in the coming days, but know that Sweet Dreams stands with the law, and with Jessica, no, with Lassea, who is to be our envoy and contact while we cannot be here.”

Jess stepped forward. “Those of you with a black Key, if you find yourself in danger on Earth, find the Wheel and Locket inn in Ilos and speak to the innkeeper, she will tell you where to go to find safety and learning. Know that in the coming days you are not alone. Governments of the world, I pray that you will act wisely and remember that we are still your citizens.”

Nick slid two wind cards from his pocket and readied himself for the worst as Jess raised her hands, palms up. Amanda tensed next to him, but kept her camera steady and trained on the stage and crowd.

“Fas. Pos.” Jess stared at the cameras, a foot tall crystal of ice floating above one hand and a matching column of flame above the other.

The audience gasped again, starting back, though some watched on transfixed. As Nick had feared, one of the men in the front pulled a pistol from his suit jacket as he stood, firing it in the same motion at his friend.

Cirres! Nick thought desperately, the cards in his hands dissolving as a wall of solid air appeared between the man and Jess. The precaution wasn’t needed though, because Tasalin was already in front of her, massive shield angled to deflect the bullets into the ground.

The crowd scrambled for the doors as Tasalin gestured, his voice unheard over the cacophony, but following his movement a column of stone threw the gunman into the air to land on the stage. Tasalin reached down and ripped the pistol from the man, handing it to Corvid before hauling the guy up with one hand by his collar. The assailant’s attempted punches and kicks simply clanged off Tasalin’s heavy plate armor as he struggled briefly, then sagged as Corvid looked at him, eyes closing in sleep. Tasalin let the man slump to the ground and looked around, seeming to scan the room for any more threats.

The few remaining people began to approach the stage, all but one of them wearing a familiar black metallic headband. Nick and Amanda walked to join their friend, noticing too late that one of the cameramen had had the guts to stay at his equipment and that the recording light was still on. Bede, who had somehow gotten over to the camera, gave them a mischievous grin and a thumbs up. They moved to join the group on stage, it was too late to hide now.

Ice and fire still floating above her hands, Jess looked at each of the people from the audience who had stayed, then turned to stare directly into the still recording camera, smiling sadly. “So begins the age of magic. Let us work together to overcome the troubled days ahead.”

Greetings once again! Not much to talk about, just work and me being slow at writing as usual.
Please enjoy this next part of Ilos :)

 
As always, let me know if I screw something up or something doesn't make sense!

 

 
-Tas

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earth, Day 43

 

Nick leaned back in his desk chair, stretching his arms over his head to loosen up his shoulders. He was glad he’d invested in a good chair, he’d been sitting in the thing for most of the day every day for the past week. Rubbing his eyes blearily, he leaned forward again, resting on his elbows as he picked up another rune card, this one made entirely of white-gold with an Earth rune inscribed on it. He glanced over at the status window hovering a foot or two away, recording his current amount of mana before casting Earth magic into the card, filling it to capacity. Before his mana could recover any significant amount, he typed out the mana he had left, the spreadsheet on his computer doing the math for him as to how much mana the card contained numerically. He tossed the rune marked rectangle to the steadily growing pile of the things in the corner, each a different combination of inscription and material.

They must be cranking these things out at the Terran Inquisition to be teleporting this many to us each day. I’m most surprised they haven’t come to pick all these charged cards up yet, they’re not entirely safe here. Fairly safe, considering we haven’t left this apartment in the past week and no one outside knows we’re here, but not entirely safe. I’m glad Corvid and Tasalin decided to share the teleport and status words of power with us though, the logistical value is immense. I hope their defensive preparations for the goblin attack go well. Isn’t it supposed to be another three weeks until that happens? I guess being early is better than being unprepared.

Nick shook his head. I’d better get to bed, I can barely think straight.

Blinking heavy eyelids, he saved the spreadsheet and shut down the computer, noting that it was well past three in the morning. Getting out of his chair, he took the three steps to his bed, hesitating for a second or two before climbing under the covers fully clothed. The heat from Amanda’s body warmed him, welcome in the abnormally cold spring night. It was hard to get used to sleeping in the same bed as an attractive girl whom he wasn’t dating, but she’d refused to let him sleep on the couch or the floor, stating (correctly) that he would get better rest on a bed and that she wouldn’t be the cause of him not sleeping as well. David would have stubbornly refused, citing his seemingly ironclad modesty, but Nick was not so bound by such impractical ideals.

He turned his head to look at Amanda, her face a bare foot or two away. His only bed was twin sized, and with two people there was little extra space. Her face was so different when she was asleep, lacking the worry lines and focus it had held almost constantly for the past week. She was actually quite pretty in an ordinary kind of way, her blue eyes always bright with intelligence and curiosity, though they were closed in quiet slumber now. Carefully brushing a few strands of her shoulder length brown hair away from her eyes, he felt the smile on his face fade into a concerned frown.

The pair of them had been living in his apartment for the past week, alternating researching how the material a rune card was made of affected the amount of mana it could store and spending time in Ilos to learn how to fight. With the aid of the new words of power status and teleport given to them by Corvid, they were able to accurately measure mana numerically and get supplies from wherever Jess was, allowing them to stay comfortably in the small space.

It wasn’t like Jess to be so secretive with him though. She knew she could tell him anything, but refused to give any details about where she was going or what she was doing while he and Amanda were cooped up. More concerning is that she seemed to have made several deals without consulting him whatsoever. There was the obvious deal with Corvid for the extremely valuable words of power as well as the agreement she had with the Terran Inquisition. He wasn’t sure of any details on that second one, but no one else knew about the rune cards and the volume of them he had in the apartment screamed of the well-funded organization’s involvement.

Jess wasn’t a fool, she was trying to capitalize on the power she had as more or less the only contact between Earth and Ilos, but he was worried she would get in over her head trying to broker deals without a second more knowledgeable eye on the proceedings. Whatever she was doing, Nick hoped that she was preparing for the growing backlash from her upfront reveal of magic to the entire world.

He and Amanda had kept a close eye on the news for the past week, and as expected, things were quickly spiraling out of control. The media exploded only minutes after the interview finished, each scrambling to be the first to report on it, and while they ranged between mostly supportive and completely hostile in tone, all of them acknowledged the danger of people who controlled such power.

The next day brought first violence. Some who feared the new power of magic sought out those with black headbands and tried to drive them away. Many left quickly, fleeing before the mob or group, but some with more experience in magic stood their ground. A few with Keys saw advantage in their new knowledge and thought to further themselves, committing a variety of criminal acts. A sudden increase in violence was seen in every nation as hundreds of small isolated conflicts arose. Videos were posted online by the thousands as people filmed anything to do with magic, from the crimes committed with it to their friends doing tricks to themselves making how-tos or showing off what they could do.

This was the age of information, and the rules of magic in Ilos were well documented, as well as many of the words of power. Even those who had headbands but had never used magic before quickly learned how through the internet. It was also the reason Nick had not advocated trying to keep everything a secret for as long as possible. All it would have taken was enough people figuring out they could use magic on Earth to catch on the internet and explode. At least this way the response would not be against a vague and unknown possible threat, which could have resulted in much more violence.

The second morning brought statements from many governments. Nick and Amanda had watched the Presidential address on the subject, and while not entirely supportive, was better than they had feared, though not as much as they had hoped. The speech could be boiled down to just three points: Law Enforcement would be tasked with breaking up any violent acts and taking down any aggressors that had a black headband, the call for peace in the country, and the not directly stated but very hinted at recruitment drive for the military by promising safety there. All in all a very neutral response, which made sense when the world had essentially just been turned on its head.

Other governments had different responses; many followed in the United States’ footsteps of upholding the previous status quo while also trying to take advantage, some like China called mandatory drafts of those with Keys, a few like Iran cracked down and killed those with headbands, and Sweden actually fully sided with the new mages, saying that they would be actively protected and any who came would be provided asylum with no stings attached, even if they were from other countries.

That night a video was posted with a message from Jess, though she referred to herself as Lassea. She spoke entirely in Ilosian, stated that she led a group of mages and scientists located at a hidden shelter away from the growing danger to all those who had a Key, and declared that she would be in the central plaza in Ilos the following two days to meet anyone who wanted to meet her or needed shelter. Immediately afterwards Nick got a text that he was under no circumstances to come to that central plaza or the Terran Inquisition compound.

That, along with the lack of contact, was what really concerned Nick. At that point he clued into the fact that something was going on. Jess had to have made a deal or some sort of other agreement to actively avoid contact with him and Amanda. With the advent of teleportation and telepathy magic, not to mention technological routes, it would have been easy for them to get in contact, but as of yet there had only been warnings to stay away and the ongoing assignment of investigating different materials of rune cards. At least he hoped that was the case, because otherwise he would have a lot of questions for his friend when next they spoke.

The rest of the week had brought only an increasing amount of both violence in the world and how much the spell cards they received each day were worth. Thankfully the Terran Inquisition sent food along with cards to test, and though he and Amanda didn't particularly like staying cooped up in his tiny apartment and keeping the blinds closed, it was much better than the alternative of possibly being attacked in the street.

When is this going to end Jess? Nick thought, his eyes sliding closed, mind sluggish. What deal did you make that you've been avoiding me? Let me help you. If you're doing what I think you are, you're gonna need all the help you can get...

 

 

Earth, Day 44

 

A sound drew Nick from the soft darkness of sleep. The quiet movement of feet on the floor he thought. Man, I must have been really tired if I didn’t feel Amanda get up. I should probably cut back on the late nights… Nick thought as he rolled over to take advantage of the extra space in the small bed… and ran into something warm and firm and soft. Immediately backtracking to his side of the bed, his eyes snapped open to a blearily blinking Amanda still under the covers with him. Movement stirred in the corner of his vision, and he turned his head to see Jess standing at the foot of the bed with her arms crossed and a knowing smirk on her face.

Nick felt his cheeks go scarlet as he imagined what his friend must be thinking and tossed back the covers on his side, standing to show he was still fully clothed. Jess’ grin slipped as Amanda sat up, also still dressed, but came back as a genuine smile for the both of them.

“Good morning the pair of you, are you ready to get out of here?” She looked around the small room, eyes marking clothes, shoes, rune cards, and other items. A hooks made of ice appeared and carried their shoes over to them. “Teleport.”

“Well, I was going to go to the bathroom, but I guess this is fine too.” Nick gave Jess a raised eyebrow as the teleportation circle formed around him, preventing him from moving more than a foot or two from where he was standing unless he wanted to have the spell not take him along.

Jess, to her credit, blushed. “Sorry, sorry, I’ve just been so pressed for time lately I started the spell without thinking.”

The teleport circles surrounded Nick, Amanda, Jess, the pile of rune cards in the corner, Nick’s laptop, and a couple backpacks of things they always had prepped by the bed just in case they needed to leave quickly. Nick sat down, starting to pull on his shoes. “So we’re going to the Terran Inquisition compound then? I can’t think of any other place you would take the cards.”

At Jess’ nod, Amanda gave a sigh of relief, lacing up her own shoes. “Good, I’ll be glad to have access to a lab again, I’ve come up with a number of ideas I’m looking forward to testing. Honestly though, I’m surprised you didn’t come by sooner Jess, or is it Lassea now? Considering how close the pair of you seem to be, I expected you a number of days ago.”

“Right. That. As part of my agreement with Arterian for taking over the Terran Inquisition, I wasn’t allowed to accept any outside help for the first seven days. Something about proving myself as a capable leader or other such excuses. I talked him out of some of the things he wanted, like him having complete autonomy and all the scientists under his command, but that was one of the few points he refused to budge on.” She turned to look at Nick, brown splashed blue eyes locking with his own. “I know we haven’t talked much about what happened after you got kidnapped by the man, but I have to ask. Did you do something to make him not want you involved?”

Nick smirked. “You could say that.”

Seeing he wasn’t planning on elaborating, Amanda stepped in. “He manipulated the second scientist Jeremy and I into giving him confidential information, then used it to blackmail Arterian into getting full access to the entire facility and all of the correspondences between him and the Illusive Man. He wasn’t happy to have someone get a leg up on him so quickly. If I had to guess I would say that he wanted to cement his place as head scientist before Nick had a chance to block him from the position or find some way to give you more power over him than he wanted.”

Jess raised an eyebrow and grinned. “How very shady of you Nick. In this case I approve.”

Nick shrugged, firing the grin back, the teleport circle under him suddenly swelling with light as the spell neared completion. “It’s only business.”

With a flash he was no longer standing in his apartment, but now upon the large summoning circle that he once desperately used in an attempt to save himself and his friends from what he thought was certain death. He frowned at the memory, not enjoying recalling the pain he had had to put himself through to summon the mysterious black-haired girl. Maybe she was a friend of David’s? She knew my name, but why then would she be so emotional about seeing me if we haven’t met before?

Amanda dragged him along by his arm as she started heading towards the entry to the Terran Inquisition compound, pulling him quite literally from his brief reverie. Nick took a look around as he caught his step next to Jess, noting the new fortifications around the area. There was what essentially looked to be walls made of or coated in cold iron surrounding the summoning circle as well what seemed to be a ceiling of some kind being constructed. There were also a number of guardsmen with scary looking assault rifles stationed around the area, their helmets also seemingly coated with cold iron.

“We don’t want anyone to be able to access any of the rest of the facility unless we allow them to.” Jess explained, noticing his examination. “Teleportation is pretty much the only way to get to this place and we’ve been spreading the mental signature needed for this spot. Arterian managed to figure out a way to share a teleportation destination with Spirit magic a few days after he learned about teleport. If anyone is going to get in here this is going to be the entrance, so we’ve got it fortified.”

The guards at the gate into the compound saluted Jess and opened the door for the three of them. Nick’s ears caught murmured greetings of “Miss Lassea.” as they passed into the building with tones of respect. She was held in high regard around here it seemed; as expected of his friend. The inside of the complex was held at a comfortable coolness, though it was nice outside so there was no noticeable change in temperature. “So does that mean you have a steady flow of people teleporting here? I’ve been in this facility before, you’re not going to be able to house many.”

They turned a corner following Amanda, who was still holding his arm, as Jess gave him an excited smile. “The compound has grown a lot since you were here, it’s at least ten times the size it used to be now, and most of that is housing. Not to the kind of opulence of the original rooms of course, but it’s all still very comfortable. There’s enough room here for probably upwards of thirty thousand people to live and have plenty of space doing so.”

Nick frowned, eyebrows creasing. “That can’t be right. The kind of space you would need for that many people would be a huge strain on your logistics if you only have one entrance to the building and it would require a massive amount of money for upkeep. Just the cost of transporting…” He paused, eyebrows flicking upwards and a slow smile creeping across his face as he looked down Jess. She grinned back, seeing understanding dawning on him, and his smile deepened to something that could be considered sinister. “Of course, if all of your logistics could be solved instantly with teleportation and telepathy, there would be no need for any of the regular transportation methods and you could expand almost indefinitely so long as you would run water and electricity to your new housing.”

Jess nodded, sharing his conspiratorial grin. “New housing carved out with Earth magic by an ever increasing number of mages and pipes and wires run without the tools normally needed to move them into place. The more people come here the quicker we expand, and-“

“Finally!” Amanda exclaimed, shoving open a door and pulling Nick through. “Arterian!”

The older scientist jumped, startled at the sudden interruption to his isolation, then turned with visible apprehension. Taller than most, Arterian Dark cut an imposing figure with his slightly grey-streaked black hair and close cropped beard in conjunction with his intense blue eyes. The man flinched when he met Nick’s eyes, but recovered his equilibrium quickly as his daughter dropped Nick’s arm and approached. “Amanda! So good to see you! I’m glad you’ve returned safely, I was worri-“ He cut off as she hugged him hard, his arms gently wrapping around her as a smile creased his face.

Jess took a half step towards Nick to speak quietly. “As much as you don’t particularly like him, he’s still a good man. More than a bit childish at times, but never malicious.”

Nick sighed, watching the brown-haired girl he had quickly grown to consider his friend hug the man responsible for most of the trouble he had had while here. Then again, if Arterian had not decided to take those actions he and Jess would not be in the positions they were in now. “You’re right, as usual. Not that I would have tried to get rid of him now that we’re working on the same side, he’s simply too good at what he does.”

“Not to mention what Amanda would do to you.” Jess snorted, nodding towards the girl in question. “I think even our head scientist will be treading lightly for the next few days.”

As if on cue, Amanda pulled back and shoved a finger into Arterian’s chest, forcing him back onto his stool. “Don’t think you’re getting off easy for making me worry, not to mention keeping me out of the lab for no reason. You get to be my assistant for a bit now that I can test a couple ideas.” Her eyes scanned the cluttered lab tables before she plucked a marker from her pocket and started scribbling down something, Arterian leaning over to see what she was doing.

“Shall we leave them to it then?” Nick asked, turning to Jess and offering his arm.

She grinned, looping her arm in his as they turned towards the door. “I believe we shall. There is much to do yet.”

“Fas!” Amanda’s voice came from behind them, followed by a flare of flame that blocked them from the door. “Get back here you two! I didn’t drag you all the way here just to have you leave without seeing what I came up with!”

They dropped arms and turned to see Amanda holding a quickly disintegrating spell card, its magic spent and the paper material it was made of not hardy enough to take the strain. Arterian continued drawing with the marker, handing her another flimsy card which she held up so the rune faced outwards. “Notice anything different?”

Nick frowned, walking forward to get a better look. Instead of any of the nine elemental runes, this one had the nine pointed star of the summoning circle. “A summoning card?”

Amanda shook her head. “Nope, try again.”

“Some kind of new element? I thought there were only nine.”

“Nope, try again.” Amanda grinned.

Nick gave her a flat look. “You’re enjoying this aren’t you?”

“Think of it as payback for one-upping me the last time you were here.”

Jess took the card from Amanda’s fingertips. “Fas. Pos.” A long ice crystal and a large flame flared in front of her and vanished as the spell card disintegrated in her hand. “A universal spell card, the nine pointed star is all of the other runes overlapped upon one another. It’s a lot weaker than ones made from normal runes though.”

Amanda gave the blonde haired girl an appraising look, seeming impressed, then nodded. “They can only store about a third of the mana of the normal ones. I checked the numbers with the status screen when I charged it just now.”

Nick folded his arms and leaned back on one leg, one hand coming up to his mouth as his mind began running through the implications. It would greatly simplify things to only have to make one type of spell card, they could examine the available materials and what combination gave the best mana storage to cost ratio before putting them into full production. Jess would want as many of her people as possible to unlock their magic so they could begin gaining experience on their own without using the cards. With the Illusive Man’s seemingly unlimited resources they could produce the cards quickly enough, especially if they were reusable, but they would need mages to constantly recharge the runes. He would need to ask Jess how many people she had that could use magic already and how many of those were still needed for other projects before he could come up with a solid plan.

“Now for my next trick.” Amanda held up a card with the fire rune drawn on it. “Fas.”

A tiny flame appeared a few inches above the card, staying the same distance above the center when Amanda turned the card. Then she set it down on the table, took a step back, and turned around, the tiny flame behind her remaining exactly where it was above the rune. She grinned at the pair of them. “So much of Ilosian magic is based on intent, so why should runes be any different? Instead of using the mana in the card to cast the magic yourself, you can just tell the rune to do it for you, and it’ll keep doing it for as long as you set it to or until it runs out of stored mana.”

“That’s cool, but I’m not sure how useful-“ Nick started as the card’s flame sputtered out and the paper dissolved, bereft of mana.

“Done.” Arterian announced, holding out three metal cards to Amanda, each with the nine pointed star carved into them by hand.

“Ah, thanks.” Amanda said, shooting a frown at Nick. “I’m not done yet.”

Like the previous card, she held it up, had it create a small flame to hover a few inches over the center, and set it on the table. However, within a few seconds it sputtered out, though the metal card was too sturdy to dissolve once empty of mana. She laid the other two cards on the table so the three were in a chain that touched end to end, then touched the one furthest from the one that had the flame over it.

Jess gasped as the flame relit. “That’s not possible!” She took a step towards Amanda, leaning forward. “How!? How did you do that?”

Nick shot his friend a look, frowning in surprise. That was not how Jess normally reacted, not to mention the complete 180 from her matter of fact attitude just minutes ago about the new rune.

Amanda took a half step back, obviously taken aback at the blonde girl’s vehemence. “I uh, I just told the two cards to move any mana they had to the next card in line and to wait if the card ahead of them was full.”

Jess took another step forward into Amanda’s space, her voice stern. “What made you think of it?”

Amanda’s hip bumped into the table as she tried to retreat, eyes wide with a glimmer of fright. “I uh, I just, I figured it would work, I thought… Could you maybe take a step or two back? This is kinda-“

“Tell me!” Jess commanded, her voice imperious and full of authority. The air temperature around her dropped rapidly as she glared down at the younger girl, ice crystals beginning to form on the floor at her feet.

Arterian stood up from his seat as Nick grabbed his friend’s arm. “Jess! What are you doing?” Rather than respond, she just pulled her arm free and kept her brown splashed eyes locked with Amanda’s blue ones.

Amanda seemed only a step away from cowering, tears swimming in her eyes as she tried to lean away, but words came tumbling out of her in a rush. “I figured it out last night when I tried it with some cards when Nick was asleep! I thought that if you could program the runes to do one thing with mana then you could tell them to do other things with it too! I- I was going to tell but then you showed up and then we came here and this was the first chance I got!”

In an instant the air was warm again and Jess had her arms wrapped around the shorter girl, voice colored with relief. “Thank God! I’m so sorry Amanda, I needed to be sure.”

Nick exchanged baffled looks with Arterian despite their lingering animosity, seeing the man had as little idea of what was going on as he did. The older scientist opened his mouth, but Nick held up a hand. This wasn’t something Jess could just wave off and he wanted to hear what she had to say about it, but sometimes a little silence was the best option until high emotions could calm themselves.

After a minute or so, Jess released a much calmer Amanda, who wore an expression of concerned confusion rather than the fear that had been there before. Nick’s friend turned to face him and stopped, taking in his set stance and crossed arms as well as Arterian’s glower. She tensed for a moment, then sagged with a long sigh. “I suppose I owe you an explanation huh? All of you.”

Nick nodded once, keeping his firm posture, but said nothing. Arterian just continued to glare.

Jess took a few steps to the side so she could face all three of them, her movement taking on that regal air she occasionally displayed. “I want you to know, I have powerful enemies, and if I tell you about the secrets I keep you will be placed in great danger. I must also have all of you swear an oath that you will not reveal what I have to say to anyone. An oath bound by magic. Do you still want to hear it?”

Nick nodded again, not even bothering to think about it. He’d already known whatever secrets Jess was keeping were important and probably dangerous, and had already prepared himself for an outcome something like this.

Arterian frowned, looking at his daughter. “I don’t think this is something for-“

“I’ll hear it.” Amanda stated, cutting the older man off. Nick glanced at her, unsure if he was impressed with the quick recovery of her composure or concerned with the intense curiosity that shone in her eyes.

The black hair man open his mouth again, but Amanda stared him down, expression steely. He closed his eyes, shook his head, then focused on Jess, his black eyes boring into her brown splashed blue ones. They were silent for a long time, but as the seconds drew closer to minutes Arterian finally nodded. “I will accept this oath and hear what you have to say.”

Jess looked at the three of them in turn and nodded. “Very well. Blood Bond, Kinsu.”

Nick felt something pass into him, settling on his skin. It was as if he had stepped into a big freezer all of a sudden, but also as if he were roasting in the desert, heat and cold coexisting in a way that left a part of his mind reeling in confusion. The sensation was mind though, and didn’t do more than distract him for a moment.

“Repeat after me.” Jess commanded.

“By Oath and Blood
By Earth and Flood
In all places but this
Even to the Abyss
I swear my life
My line, my strife
To silence.”

 

Nick repeated the rhyme, and at the end he felt the magic fall deeper into him, seeming to coat his very bones before vanishing. Amanda, then a vaguely reluctant Arterian also recited the words, each shivering as the magic Jess had used faded into them.

“Now, let me reintroduce myself.” Jess drew herself up, then with a shimmer her body changed.

All of the changes were small, but their combined effect was dramatic. Her hair was more golden than blonde, her skin smoother, her face more idealized, her ears noticeably pointed; only her eyes were truly the same. Nick knew this appearance, and Amanda gasped in recognition.

“I am Lassea Abagail Barek, daughter of Araen and Xousani Barek, heir to the Wood Throne, Ascendant, and rightful ruler of Ilos.”

Hello and Merry Christmas! I hope you all are having a wonderful time and enjoying the holidays :)
This will probably be my last post of the year, so I hope you like it!
Thanks to Michelle SidheElf Amaianna, who caught a bunch of my errors and threw me a message. You're a great help!

 
As always, let me know if I screw something up or something doesn't make sense!

 

 
-Tas

 
(PS, I redid the chapter numbers for my own document, so ignore the jump in number here. You didn't miss anything.)

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 13: The Bell Tolls for Thee

 

Ilos, Day 55

 

 

I stretched as I looked into the glowing blue window that represented the contents of my Storage Gem. It’d been tedious trying to whittle down a boss that looked like a cloud and only had a small solid center that could take damage. Of course, without anything solid to hit us with, the only way it could do any sort of damage was to try and hit us with lightning in a rather predictable pattern, but that was beside the point. While the cloud had dispersed when we’d destroyed the core, it had still dropped a pair of Water and a pair of Air Elemental Gems as well as four Air stones and three Water stones. I had quite the collection of Elemental Gems and stones by now, and though it was only half of what I had in the beta, I was also over a week ahead of the pace I’d set before despite having a new body.

I waved away my inventory and glanced at Gale, seeing him store some extra potions he’d prepared for the boss but didn’t want to carry around on the next Island. It’d been 25 days since we’d defeated the boss outside of Windwall, and 26 since I’d found Gale again. I’d copied his example of living in an abandoned building on the outskirts of the city to save money, and generally stayed within a block or two of where he chose to stay. Neither of us talked much, instead concentrating on working through quests and bosses as fast as possible. Our teamwork had certainly improved, only needing a word or a simple gesture to indicate important information if needed, though it usually wasn’t necessary. By this point we had a good idea of what the other would do in a fight and worked together to bring down our enemies quickly.

Gale closed his inventory and I started heading for the now active Air Gate, knowing he’d be right behind me. I was a bit nervous about this next Island because of how many firsts it represented. The rainbow lights parted as I stepped through the Air Gate revealing the bleak home of the Dread Castle Hamelin.

There was no city here, nor was any other living populace besides ourselves, the large castle in the center was the only structure on the Island the numerous skeletons allowed to stand. This was the first Island to feature humanoid monsters, the first to include what is essentially a dungeon crawl, including traps, hidden doors, and treasure, and most heavily on my mind, the first Island where all four of the Island routes from mainland Ilos converged. I couldn’t see the southern Air Gate from where I was, but I breathed a slight sigh of relief when I saw that neither the east nor the west Air Gates were active. I half thought the other Leaders would already be here, and I wasn’t looking forward to that reunion looking like I did now.

We headed forwards towards the gates of the castle, drawing weapons as the roaming skeletons noticed us and started shambling towards closer, the grind and clatter of bones filling the air. Points of light shone in their otherwise empty eye sockets, the sign of unlife for a skeleton, and vanished almost immediately after coming into weapons range of either me or Gale as we cut through the approaching undead. Most of the skeletons on this Island were slow and somewhat brittle, but they were numerous and their attacks had a lot of force behind them. They weren’t particularly dangerous individually, but in a group their rain of heavy attacks would kill quickly. However, outside where there was plenty of room to move and dodge, they were easy for Gale and I to destroy.

After clearing the skeletons up to the castle gate, I stopped for moment, considering. When I’d first met him, Gale had told me that this Island was a far as he’d gotten in the beta, which meant he may not have finished going through the whole castle and might not know about some of the traps. I’d died a lot of times exploring this place, and I was confident I knew where most of if not all of the traps and treasure were, but very few people had gotten up to this point and most players knew the names of the people in that group. I knew that there was no ‘Aria’ among those famous names. If I revealed that I knew the area he might be able to guess I used to be Cariss — I hadn’t exactly changed my style of weaponry after all — but if I didn’t he could die to one of the traps inside and possibly take me with him.

I sighed, then turned to look up at Gale. “Let me lead from here, I know most of the traps and hidden rooms. We can even get the first two Earth Keys here as well.”

He was silent for a second or two, then spoke. “Interesting that you know the area so well. Very well, you may lead, but any traps you set off are yours to deal with. And if you run off ahead without me, don’t expect me to play catchup. I said I wouldn’t attempt to lose you, but I never said I would try to find you if lost.”

I shrugged, crouching down to down to gather stones from the ground of various shapes and sizes. Most were slightly smaller than my fist, about the size of a racquetball, and I stuffed them into a pouch I’d emptied in preparation for this very thing. Well he didn’t guess right off the bat, but he knows something is up. Oh well, he’ll find out eventually, and honestly I don’t think he’ll even care. I’ve been traveling with this guy for almost a month and I haven’t seen him react in any extreme measure to anything yet. He’s cold and detached, but being around that really does help me keep my emotions under control. As much as I hate to admit it… I like having him around.

“This was the first Island that had good treasure you could just find rather than quest or kill for it. I don’t know how many times I died trying to fully explore this place the first time, but it was more than I want to think about. I’m not going to run off ahead, this place is dangerous solo even when you can find most of the traps. Besides, my sanity can’t afford losing you quite yet.” I stood up and smiled slightly at him. “Thanks for that by the way. Now are you ready?”

“You blaming me for your mental instability is like a glutton blaming food for his corpulence. But yes this place is dangerous, tread with care.”

I blinked. “Blaming you? Oh. That wasn’t sarcasm, you’ve actually been a big help. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm pretty sure I’d have gone somewhat insane by now without you.” I stopped, my cheeks heating from the sudden surge of honesty. Why did I say that?! Maybe spending this much time around him isn’t such a good thing; his bluntness is rubbing off on me. I closed my eyes and shook my head slightly, waving a hand dismissively. “That sounded really weird didn’t it? Just forget I said anything.”

Turning away from his unreadable face to hide my embarrassment, I headed through the broken gate into the castle proper. It was dark inside the stone structure, the torch sconces sitting empty and abandoned to the ages. I lit the way with a small orb of pure light that hovered above us, occasionally throwing a small rock to trigger a trip wire or a floor plate. Most of the traps were pretty classic and useless after their initial activation, long spikes coming out of the floor or walls, arrows suddenly filling a hallway, the floor dropping out from a section of hall into a pit to give a few examples. Some of them weren’t so easily avoidable, like the one I knew caused acid to spew from the ceiling, creating a pool that would have been hard to get across if I hadn’t carefully guided us past the pair of trip wires and the floor plate that would have activated the thing.

I was internally impressed by my own memory, there were a lot of traps, and I remembered them all in extreme detail. I’d half noticed it before, but the kind of recall I had was definitely not normal. Another thing to add to my list I suppose. Do all champions exhibit such an improvement?

We’d occasionally be attacked by skeletons, but the noise they made gave us plenty of warning and we had time to move away from any nearby traps they might trigger and catch us in which was the only real danger they represented. There were doors that led off from the main hallway, but almost all of them were empty. We did end up coming across a few chests with a little bit of money and some heavy armor that neither of us would wear, so we took it with us to sell later.

After a while of wandering the castle I paused in front of a familiar spot of wall. “Now if I can remember the trick…” I muttered to myself, pressing on different places on the stone.

I grinned as the wall suddenly fell inwards, revealing a room with a pedestal and a brown rock that seemed to have an inner glow floating above it. “The first Earth Key.” I said, smiling as I took it from the pedestal and stashed it in my Storage Gem. Earth Keys were extremely valuable, allowing a permanent portal, known as an Earth Gate, to be opened from the edge of the plaza in Ilos to anywhere the holder of the Earth Key had previously been. However, the Earth Key was consumed in the process, so you had to be careful when choosing a location to open the portal to. When the goblins attack Ilos in another… nine days I think? I’ll be able to use this to get back up after I go down to help defend.

Gale’s hand landed on my shoulder before I could move from the pedestal, his grip strong enough that I’d have to put forth some effort to turn around. I stiffened, confused and not used to other people touching me, especially Gale. What is he…?

“I am not an honest man, Aria,-” I shifted in surprise as he used my actual name for the first time, my head turning a bit towards him of its own accord before I could stop it. “-but would you make me into a liar if it was to your own benefit?”

What? Make him into a liar for my own benefit? So cause him to break an agreement because of my actions? “I cannot say no, but it would depend entirely on the circumstances.”

“What do you know of this room?”

I answered honestly, still not quite knowing where he was going with this. “It contains the Earth Key I just placed in my inventory. I’m gathering there’s more to it than that.”

“But you wouldn’t have known had I not mentioned anything.” He removed his hand from my shoulder and moved around me to stand in front of the pedestal as I stepped back to give him room. “There is a Repository hidden here, one I found during the beta. Its contents are mine; its guardian is my kill. This is me keeping my promise not to abandon you, so don’t make me into a liar by interfering.”

So that’s what this is about. I crossed my arms and cocked my head to the side, my posture relaxing now that he was no longer touching me. “It’s a Death Repository isn’t it? I can see why you’d want it, and by all means take it, I’ve no use for it; but why insist on soloing the guardian? Those aren’t exactly easy to take down.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to claim a monster’s treasures and not kill it yourself. I seek the spell and one of the gems dropped by the guardian. The other gem is of less importance to me and you can have it as payment for not interfering. Besides, relying on you in every fight will make me weak the day we part ways.”

“Hmph.” I shrugged, letting my arms drop to my sides. “Well, alright I guess, but I’m coming to help if you somehow get in trouble.”

“So long as you understand.”

I nodded. “I understand. That’s very probably something I need to do myself. Do whatever you’re going to do, and yell if you need me.”

He manipulated the pedestal, rotating it a certain distance then pressing thrice in succession, and the floor directly beneath him and the pedestal dropped out into a large open room. Gale was obviously expecting this, and instead of losing his balance like he would have otherwise, he tilted slightly backwards and jumped. The chunk of stone that held the pedestal flew out from his feet as if shot from a cannon, impacting an odd golem like creature that’s surface shifted between white and black constantly, forming odd amorphous shapes that made it hard to look at. The guardian staggered backwards from the blow as Gale hit the wall feet first, swords already drawn, and leapt towards it, silent as the shadow his clothes made him out to be.

I sat down on the edge of the newly opened and perfectly square hole, letting my feet hang into the air and setting my quarterstaff across my legs. I’d be able to jump down and join the fight easily of things got out if hand from this position, and it also gave me a great view. Some of the other Leaders had talked about similar fights they had taken on and the Repositories these mini-boss type creatures guarded, though I had never encountered one myself. A Repository was a magical construct that would grant the user a single new word of power in whatever element it was tied to, thus always expanding their magical abilities.

The fight quickly kicked off after Gale’s initial assault with the stone platform, now little more than rubble scattered across the floor, but settled into a pattern after no more than a few minutes. The guardian creature would occasionally use ci or tu to screw with Gale’s vision, and I had to admit the lightshow was pretty distracting, but it didn’t seem that Gale had any trouble ignoring it because he hardly slowed even when his sight was obscured by bright light or total blackness. It was a bit odd to be sitting on the sidelines, but it was kind of fun to just sit back and watch for once instead of being in the thick of it.

With none of its special tricks working, the golem had no chance; it was just a matter of time until Gale whittled it down enough to kill the thing. Once Gale settled into a pattern of attack I sighed, kicking my legs in the air while I rested my elbows on my knees and my chin in my hands. If this was like a boss fight it could take the rest of the day and was bound to be essentially a repeating loop of Gale and the golem performing almost the exact some moves over and over again. I’d committed to watching over him in case he needed help and we’d already explored the surrounding area within earshot of the hole, so I was kinda out of luck for things to do. Hopefully a group of skeletons would come by later.

I made the bracelets of Light and Shadow I had on flow off of my wrists, forming what looked like a large medallion in the shape of a starburst. “Ressi.” I whispered, solidifying the light that made up the medallion and letting it fall into my hand. With the right shading with shadow, it looked and felt like a real piece of metal jewelry to my hand. However, this time I could also feel my hand touching the medallion, as if the magic was a part of me that I could feel and move just like an arm or a leg.

So I can feel my own magic now huh? That’s new. I tossed the medallion through the hole, but lost the strange feeling as soon as it stopped touching my skin. I made it vanish and reappear in front of me, watching it float and slowly turn as it hung in midair in front of my face. So it only works if the magic is in contact with me. What happens if I just make a conduit then? A thin string of shadow extended from the starburst, reaching out to touch my hand. Once again there was the strangeness of sensing through something not actually attached to my body. I directed the medallion to drag one of its points across the ground, feeling the texture as if I’d touched the stone with a fingertip.

“This has uses.” I mused to myself as I moved the magical construct around.

I took the next little while to just play around, but before I could delve any deeper into this new discovery, a loud whine echoed out from the golem, ascending in pitch rapidly until the construct shattered like glass. It appeared that the fight had gone much quicker than I had feared it would, probably only an hour or so in length. Hopefully we could get close to the boss room today. Glittering shards of what was once the boss scattered across the room, leaving behind a floating softball sized black box that was so dark it seemed to be a hole in reality itself, reflecting no light whatsoever. Gale sheathed his swords and reached out with both hands, taking the object and twisting sharply.

The box seemed to crack, letting out a dark mist that swirled around Gale for a few seconds before seeming to sink into him. He nodded slightly to himself, then stooped to pick up something from the ground, turning to ascend the staircase that was rapidly materializing back up to the hole I was looking down into. When he was about halfway up his hand whipped back, then forward, and I caught the small glitter out of the air as it sailed towards me.

There, resting in my palm, was a brightly glowing gemstone that held a bright pure white light. I ran a thumb over the treasure, then looked back up at Gale, just cresting the stair. “I’d have never expected to find a Light Elemental Gem here, thanks. I’d ask what word of power you learned from that Repository, but I’m going to guess you won’t tell me.”

Gale stopped, looking down at me, and for a second I thought he’d say something, but instead the silence stretched until it was obvious he wasn’t going to respond. I sighed, as usual then stood up. “Well, let’s go then.”

The pair of us continued like we had before, I lead with my glowing orb to light the way and took care of any traps we came across, with the occasional interruption of skeletons. Honestly the place seemed much less dangerous than I remembered it. Well, that wasn’t right, it was still just as dangerous with it’s myriad of traps and giant scale with winding hallways that were easy to get lost in, it was more as if it was just less stressful. I remembered each and every trap with perfect clarity, and without the uncertainty of what might be down the next hall things quickly began to feel dull and monotonous. At some point I stopped bothering to stop and make sure each trap was the same as I remembered, just hurling small pieces of stone to trip or break the devices while continuing to stroll along.

There were three more hidden rooms I knew about and I made sure our path went by them. The first contained a small chest filled with coin, mostly silver and copper, but there were a couple gold pars mixed in, the smallest piece of gold currency. Gold was surprisingly rare in Ilos, and things made of gold were extremely valuable. Around the size of a dime, a single gold par was as valuable as ten silver faults, hefty coins as big as my entire palm. It was sort of like a $50 bill, fairly rare and still commonly accepted, but those with money sometimes carried them around to save on weight. The second room was an armory that had been sealed up against the dust. It was all knight gear, heavy armor and shields of high quality mostly, but it appeared that whoever had sealed the room had taken all of the weapons with them. We took a few choice pieces to sell later, but neither of had any use for heavy equipment. The third hidden room contained the second Earth Key on its pedestal, which I tossed to Gale. I tried to twist the stone stand, fiddling with it while Gale watched, but after a few minutes of effort gave up, the pedestal still firmly rooted in the stone and refusing to move in any direction.

We traveled upwards for another hour or so after the last hidden room, and I was starting to stifle yawns. If I had to give it a guess, I would say we had been wandering upwards through the castle for a good six or seven hours by this point, and considering it was well into the afternoon when we had finished fighting the previous Island’s boss, I was starting to get tired. After a particularly intense yawn I caught Gale’s eyes, getting a small nod of agreement in return, and we ducked into a room off a side hall that only had one entrance.

While camping out wasn’t something we commonly did, we were still prepared for it. I pulled a small lantern and a bedroll from my inventory while Gale set up his own larger bedding, placing both on the hard stone floor. We didn’t really need the lantern, we’d been walking through a mostly windowless trap filled castle for the past six hours without any trouble after all with my magical light, but I preferred to have some natural light when we camped and ate. The flicker of the small flame was comforting somehow.

Using my bedroll as a seat, I took out some field rations to munch on. Hard bread with a bit of cheese wasn’t the tastiest thing, but it was hardly the worst meal and it was certainly filling. I was once again glad for my Champion body, who knows how much I would have had to eat to replenish the calories burned from fighting for eight hours and then dungeon diving for another six after that.

We ate in silence, as usual, and after I was done I wrapped up the rest of the food in some treated cloth and put it back in my inventory, then stood back up, brushing the few crumbs off my dress. “I’ll take first watch. Rotate after four hours?”

Gale nodded in agreement, and I took my post by the doorway, quarterstaff near at hand in case anything came by. There was some soft clinking behind me as Gale removed his sword belt and laid it inside his bedding before climbing in himself, and within minutes I could hear his soft breathing slow to the even rhythm of sleep.

I stifled a chuckle, leaning against the wall. It was amazing what fighting with a person by your side could do to your relationship. Despite his occasional words, Gale trusted me, falling asleep so quickly in a dungeon filled with skeletons with only me to watch his back. I smiled a bit, looking down at his sleeping face. He really was pretty good looking without that cold expression he always carried around, and those deep purple eyes of his were so entrancing when they locked with my golden ones…

I sighed, sliding down the wall until I was sitting, my hands automatically moving my dress so it was properly under me, then wrapped my arms around my knees. Just how long would it be until those kinds of thoughts were normal to me? I had been living as this small female for almost two months now, and it no longer felt strange to be that way. My mannerisms had settled into a permanent state, the System Assist no longer guiding me to act like a proper young woman because I did so automatically now. I found a curtsy came more naturally than a bow now, and I handled wearing a dress easily, not allowing any chance for someone to get a peek up my skirt. There had been some... embarrassing moments before I learned how to move in it right.

The thing I had been most worried about hadn’t come to pass, much to my relief. I remained me, body changed, emotions stronger, and it was looking like sexuality altered (as much as I hated to question that), but I was still myself. When I looked back on my past, I not only still remembered everything, but still considered the person in my memories to be me, though I was certainly no longer the David that existed then. Time and circumstances cause people to grow and change, and I was no exception.

I stared over my knees at Gale. There were some things I still had trouble with, and the stray thoughts I had about men and Gale in particular was one of them. If I considered it, it made sense; I was in a female body with female hormones, of course I would start reacting that way to some extent, but it was still unnerving. Everything in my brain screamed that those thoughts were wrong, that they shouldn’t be there in my head, but they kept popping up whenever I wasn’t paying attention. Was I still attracted to women? I hadn’t been around any that would elicit that reaction for some time, but I hoped so, just to give my head a break.

Some distant clanking interrupted my musing, skeletons coming down the hallway. Good, I could use a distraction. I waited inside the doorway, listening to the grinding movement of the skeletons get ever closer, and then just as they crossed in front of the opening I attacked.

Ducking low, I swung my quarterstaff with all the force I could put behind it in a swathe right at the skeletons’ knee level. Not only were skeletons weak to blunt force, but targeting their joints was a sure way to take them apart quickly. Indeed, the five skeletons in the middle of the ten man formation collapsed, their leg bones scattering down the hallway. Before the others could react I slid one hand along my staff towards the middle and pivoted back the other direction, catching a falling skeleton in the breastplate and sending it hurtling into the three on the left.

I continued the pivot, driving through the strike and bringing that force around the other side in time to impact a bony hand holding a blade that would have cut straight down my back. The scimitar clanged against the stone wall, the skeleton’s hand still attached, and I stepped to the side, avoiding the other strike coming my way. With a short hop, I swept my quarterstaff through the necks of the two monsters before turning to face the remaining three. Oh, remaining two, it seemed I had hit the one in the middle hard enough with its ally to take them both out of commission. Before they could try to close with me I swung my quarterstaff again, the Hard Light spell Ressi spoken only in my head as an arc of light extended out from my swing, beheading them.

The brief combat finished, I poked through the remains, breaking each of the skulls to make sure they were all done for. Unfortunately except for their weapons skeletons didn’t drop anything worthwhile, so after adding another ten scimitars to my Storage Gem to sell I sat back down just outside the door, leaning my head against the cool stone.

As the remains of the skeletons began to dissolve into multicolored motes of light, I found myself wondering how Nick and Jess were doing. Nick had found himself caught up in some pretty crazy stuff the last time I saw him, and I knew that Jess would be right there with him whatever was happening. They were both capable people, and I was sure they were fine, but I still couldn’t help but worry. What would happen the next time I saw them? I hardly resembled the David they remembered, would they even believe my story?

I closed my eyes and breathed out, pushing thoughts about my friends out of my mind. If I allowed my imagination to run free I would only come up with worse and worse scenarios on the subject. Replacing Nick and Jess were the rest of the ‘Ilos Leaders’, the other six people who had gotten the furthest in the beta. We hadn’t known each other long, but this castle was the place we had all met up for the first time and the first time we all worked in a group. Our battle with the boss of Dread Castle Hamelin started as a total mess, everyone getting in the way of everyone else, bumping into each other, hitting the adds with way more damage than was needed, there was even some magical friendly fire that went around. Jerold the ‘Knight’ was the one who finally put a stop to it, calling out directions to keep things running smoothly.

After the fight we headed up one Island, discovering the entire thing was covered in beautiful flowers and soft grass with a clear pond in the middle. We camped out there for a full day, cooking up food and sharing out drinks as we got to know each other a little bit. It was the first time any of us had met another player since the beginning of the beta after all, and it was one of my fondest memories of Ilos.

Jerold and Axel Hopfer, the ‘Knight’ and ‘Marksman’, were actually brothers on Earth, and when they both got a silver Key they decided that they were going to go full out and be the best players. Jerold was always the leader between the two and loved tactical games while Axel was much more laid back but very skilled with his hands, competing with his brother with his reaction speed and quick fingers. They both professed their surprise to see that five other people were able to match their pace in the East Islands.

Grabnar Tobos and Rovian Girst, the ‘Rager’ and ‘Elementalist’, had teamed up to take down the first boss to the south and had simply continued to work together since then. Neither had been able to beat the Alpha Wolf boss by themselves, Rovian as someone who used magic as his primary tool was hard pressed to defend himself with the wolf close in and ran out of mana too quickly, while Grabnar, as one who just ignored injury and used his giant axe to cut through everything in his way, couldn’t survive long enough to defeat the thing. The foul mouthed and hasty Grabnar and the wizard-like and shy Rovian couldn’t have been more different, but they got along really well for some reason. Unlike the brothers they thought for sure that there was someone who would have beaten them, and were more surprised to find that they were among the top players.

Markus Shaffner and Thanh, the ‘Cleric’ and ‘Assassin’ had been friends before coming to Ilos, and set off together. Thanh was one of those ultra-competitive guys, and was determined to beat the heavily armored Markus by any means necessary. Markus on the other hand seemed like he was a few years older and was just naturally gifted at whatever he put his mind to, putting in the effort to keep up with lightly armored and dagger wielding Thanh out of concern that he was going to go do something reckless and get himself killed over and over. Thanh was pissed at first that other people had beaten him to the top, but was dragged into the group dynamic by the brotherly Markus and cooled off a bit after hanging out for the day.

After food we did some sparring and showing off what we could do off towards the edge of the Island, destroying a good thirty foot circle of ground where blasts of magic had scorched the grass and flowers. All of us were experts with Ilosian magic, flinging spells without word in the midst of combat without any delay for extra focus, as expected of the people who had made it this far this fast. With the experience advantage I had from taking on everything alone up until that point I had little trouble defeating everyone, but I could tell that if I didn’t have that advantage I’d be hard pressed to perform the same feat.

We camped there through the night, sharing a few stories about what we had done so far and in the end deciding that we should continue upwards together until the path split again. There were people against it at first, but after a few minutes of debate Grabnar just called all of us ‘slackbrained fucktards’ and reminded everyone that unless the path split again we would all end up at the boss at about the same time anyway. Thanh backed him up, and that was all it took to get us all in agreement.

We took the next two bosses by storm, the combined power of our little group enough to steamroll pretty much anything in our path, and it was then that the Bell of Recall rang, signaling the attack on Ilos. We observed for an hour or two, resting from the last battle, then made our way down to take on the horde of goblins swarming the gates. At the last we all came together at the South gate to take on the Goblin General and his elite force, which is where that famous picture of all of us together came from.

That was the last time I’d seen any of them, and I was a bit nervous to meet them again, an event that could be happening within days or even hours. I hadn’t seen any of the other Air Gates on this Island open, but not only could I not see the southern one, they could have easily opened after we entered the castle. All of the Leaders were people I respected, and I was a bit worried about what they would make of the new me. What if I met them and I was the only one different? They knew me as Cariss the Calm, always in control of himself, what would they think of the emotionally volatile Aria I was now? I would be the lone girl among them, alone even when I was with them, the only one who had changed so drastically.

I shook my head, sighing. Here I was trying to distract myself from imagining up the worst reactions from Nick and Jess to the new me and now I was doing the same thing again, just with different people. I cast my mind about for another distraction and found it in the form of a song playing through the back of my head. Perhaps fitting for the darkness and quiet in the hallways, the soft notes of Disturbed’s The Sound of Silence ran circles through my mind, brought to the front now that I was thinking about it. I hummed along to the melody for a while before conjuring a guitar made of solid shadow and beginning to pick out the notes.

I’d never been good enough at the guitar to play it in front of anyone else, but I did know the scales and chords and I had a good ear for tone. It took a lot of adjusting to make my magically crafted instrument sound right, but with another couple hours of watch to go I was in no rush. It was much different playing with smaller hands, and I could feel the vibrations through my magic as I fingered each taut string. It was the oddest sensation, but the notes that came out sounded right. I played by ear, trying to sound out which notes I needed to match the original’s piano, and slowly began to work out the song.

Three hours later I had the intro down and my watch was at an end. A successful distraction from heavy thoughts. Rather than head back into the room though, my fingers started on the strings again. Perhaps it was the quiet, or perhaps it was something else, but I began to sing softly, each note high and clear and pure.

 

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

 

As the sound of my voice faded into the hallways I let the guitar vanish, savoring the beautiful melody, for once feeling at peace with myself and the world. Only once the silence fully returned did I stand, my footsteps not making so much as a whisper. With a touch and a nod I woke Gale for his watch, and then headed to bed, for once certain there would be no nightmares to stalk my dreams.