Rise of the Grandmaster

by Bradford Bates

  “The goddess’ light shines upon us all. In her eyes, no man is worth more than any other,” Jepsom said with just the right trace of self-deprecation.

  Tim snorted in disbelief. The cardinal was the kind of man who’d have your throat slit for scuffing his boots, and he was up there giving a speech about equality. It made him fucking sick.

  “These two men might have died in prison, but their light will move on. All of us deserve the chance at redemption.” The cardinal paused. He let the tension build for a moment and then continued, “Baron Peters and Henry Hardgrove, I welcome you into the goddess’ embrace. May your souls find the happiness in death that they never found in life.”

  Jepsom lifted his hands into the air, and a beam of brilliant white light shot into the heavens. “The goddess has welcomed them with open arms.” The cardinal looked down at Tim with a smile pulled tight across his face before returning his gaze to the admiring crowd. “It is times like this, my friends, that my duties as cardinal fill me with happiness, but there are other times my duties are not so welcome.”

  The crowd gave a gasp of horror. All of them were eating up this lunatic’s bullshit. Tim had heard enough. He took a red cloth from his robes and held it in the air. The little bit of fabric rippled as if on a breeze as he waved it a few times before letting it drop to the ground.

  Cassie screamed, “Jepsom is a fraud! Don’t listen to his bullshit.”

  The guards by the stage started running toward Tim’s master of distraction. Tim leaned forward in anticipation of the next part of his plan unfolding. He really hadn’t expected this part to work, but there was always the chance they would take him by surprise. His eyes moved from the guard’s back toward the podium, and he held his breath.

  The world around him froze. It was like one of those scenes from Saved By the Bell where the main character paused everyone so he could monologue to the camera. “What the fuck?” Tim exclaimed as he looked around for the source of the spell.

  A woman appeared out of nowhere and started walking through the crowd in Tim’s direction. Her robes were blue, but glowed with a white light. “Not how I’m used to being addressed.” The goddess smiled. “But I think I can let it slide under the circumstances.”

  The goddess seemed a lot hipper than she had the last time he had interacted with her. Tim wondered if the AI who ran The Etheric Coast was learning from its interactions with the players and tailoring the game experience to each of them. It would have to be amazingly sophisticated software, but who would want to leave a game where everything seemed made just for them?

  Tim wasn’t sure if he should stand or bow, so he just remained seated. “Sorry.” He winced. Sorry wasn’t the kind of thing you said to a goddess. He should have said something like “Please forgive me, your divine worship.”

  “Yes, that would have been better.” The goddess stopped in front of him.

  Holy shit, did she just read my mind?

  “Yes, but I don’t have enough time to explain things now. I’m here to cash in on the favor you owe me.” Her eyes said, “Just nod your head so I can give you the details.”

  There was no way he could deny the goddess. Whatever she wanted him to do, he had to do it. She’d saved Cassie’s life, and the only reason he was able to put his plan for the slums in place was because of his work with the temple.

  Tim looked into the goddess’ expectant eyes and spoke with true eloquence. “Okay.” Sometimes he wasn’t so great with words under pressure, and he had no idea what else the goddess might want from him. He was already here doing what the high priest had asked him to.

  “You can’t kill the cardinal,” the goddess tried to continue, but Tim cut her off.

  “No fucking way.” He was pissed. Jepsom had made his life teeter on the edge of miserable since he’d come into the game. If he didn’t have such awesome friends, he would not have wanted to stay.

  The goddess’ eyes blazed with fury but her voice was calm. “You owe me this. It might not make sense now, but all things will become clear in time.” Her light started to fade, and the sounds of the world around him started to return. “The choice is yours.”

  Things were speeding up now. What in the fuck was he going to do? Tim knew he only had seconds to make the decision. The goddess had never steered him wrong. His future, like it or not, was tied to her in ways he couldn’t fathom.

  “Fuck,” he growled. Was he really about to save Jepsom’s life?

  Jumping up from his seat, Tim pointed to where he thought Gaston might be standing. “Look out!”

  When Jepsom saw Tim stand up, he activated the dungeon heart’s power and his personal shield erupted around him. The daggers that had been aimed at his back bounced harmlessly away. He stared at the young man and wondered why he had given everything away a moment before he could have taken his revenge.

  There was no way Paul would be able to pry the kid from his clutches this time, not after an open attempt on the cardinal’s life in such a public place. Tim was going to be punished for picking the wrong side, but not before he murdered that old fool Paul. This was his moment; soon he would be High Priest Jepsom the Great.

  He added that last part to the title, but people would remember his name for generations. How could the masses not? He was going to be the greatest high priest who ever lived.

  Smiling, Cardinal Jepsom stood tall and looked at Tim with a self-satisfied expression. “There won’t be a next time.”

  The words echoed through his head like a migraine.

  Tim looked at the cardinal. He already knew it was true. This had been his one chance to end things, and he failed. Not only had he failed, but he’d been duped into doing it by the goddess. His most likely reward for honoring his promise?

  An early death.

  Fuck.

  Sometimes life was a cold, hard bitch. Tim glared at the cardinal’s smug face and flipped him the bird. It was a childish gesture, but it made him feel a million times better. He wasn’t going to die letting that asshole think Tim cared about him.

  Something landed at his feet, and Tim looked down to find a tiny leather-bound book. White light shone around the edges. Bending down, he picked up the book and opened it. There was an inscription on the first page.

  For honoring your promise.

  Tim flipped to the next page and saw that this was another spell book. There were two spells listed. He was about to learn how to cast weaken undead and divine light. The second spell looked like some kind of attack spell.

  Tim’s jaw dropped. He’d be learning both spells at the apprentice level right off the bat. He might be about to die, but he couldn’t fault the goddess for providing awesome rewards, even if they wouldn’t last for long.

  Then it hit him.

  Why would the goddess give him this awesome reward if she was going to let him die? You didn’t do this kind of thing for someone unless you expected them to live. Maybe he still had a chance.

  Tim looked at the stage and took a quick step back. He would have taken another step, but he’d already backed into his chair. His eyes were no longer on Jepsom but firmly focused on the two caskets next to him. Their lids were off, and there was something moving inside the boxes.

  What in the fuck was going on?

  Chapter Eighty-Two

  Baron leapt out of his casket.

  At least Tim thought it was Baron. The man was the right size, but it was hard to tell with his jaw gaping and some kind of serpentine tube sticking out of it. There were teeth on the end of that thing, and they snapped open and closed.

  Tim tried to calm his nerves and thought about the new spells he’d just been given. Seemed like they would be a complete waste if they weren’t made for this situation. He started working on the movements for weaken undead. When he glanced to see how long he had before Baron attacked him, he found the monster version of his friend going after Jepsom.

  Henry joined Baron a moment later, and the two creatures started slamming themselves a
gainst the cardinal’s shield. Despite the strength the two monsters had, they couldn’t get in. Then a third man landed on top of Jepsom’s shield, and it started to buckle. The sheriff had decided to join the party.

  Tim wondered what could possibly be driving these creatures to attack Jepsom in the open. This seemed like a “the jig is up” move for the sheriff. There was no putting the cat back in the bag after you landed on top the cardinal with some kind of crazy vampiric feeding tube coming out of your kisser.

  Something bumped into his shoulder, and Tim whirled. ShadowLily and Gaston joined him, and he could see Cassie and JaKobi working their way through the screaming crowd.

  “I had the perfect throw,” Gaston lamented.

  Tim put a consoling hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure you did, and I wouldn’t have interfered with a master at work if the goddess herself hadn’t asked me to.”

  Gaston seemed mollified, but Tim could already see the wheels in his head spinning with questions. “Let’s talk after we take care of our current problem.” He pointed at the three creatures trying to crack Jepsom out of his shield like a walnut at a Christmas party.

  “What problem?” Cassie huffed. “Those guys are doing the job for us.”

  It took a second for it to click, but then all the pieces fell into place for Tim. He pulled his bewildered tank into a hug. “You beautiful bastard!”

  Tim let go of his perplexed friend and looked at the entire group. “Our job as I see it now is to get these people out of here so we can deal with the three creatures.”

  “Any chance we can wait until they kill him to help?” JaKobi shrugged when they all glared at him. “I’m just saying. Jepsom doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d stop trying to kill you because you saved his life.”

  JaKobi was right, but Tim wasn’t sure if that was what the goddess would want. Fuck, when he tried to think about what an actual god might want he had no idea. A god’s thoughts and desires might not be comprehensible to a mere mortal.

  Fuck it. He was just going to have to do what he thought was right. “No, we go now. We’ll deal with Jepsom later. He just told everyone the sheriff was his friend, and the man’s up there trying to eat him. Jepsom’s going to have plenty of explaining to do.”

  “Not that it matters now.” Cassie pointed at the stage.

  ShadowLily snickered. “That’s gotta hurt.”

  The cardinal’s shield had finally collapsed, and the sheriff was crouched over him, trying to fend off the other two creatures. It seemed Jon Hobbs wasn’t the kind of monster who liked sharing with his friends. It wouldn’t be much longer before the other two creatures gave up and started looking for other sustenance.

  Tim grabbed Cassie by the shoulder. “Use that big scary voice of yours to get these people to scatter.”

  Tim turned to the rest of the group and continued, “I’ve got a spell that can weaken them and one that should harm them, but I can’t use them at the same time. That means the three of you have to distract the other one until I’m ready to deal with it.”

  “What about the big fucker guarding Jepsom?” JaKobi asked.

  “We’ll let Jepson and the sheriff work out their differences until we take care of the other two,” Tim replied with a smile. It wasn’t his job to keep saving the bastard’s life. At least he hoped it wasn’t.

  Cassie jumped up on the stage. “Get the fuck out of here!” It wasn’t eloquent, but she got the point across. Then she pointed at a guard. “Once these people are out of here, set a perimeter. None of these things can leave.”

  The guard stared at her blankly. The man was clearly in shock. No one expected monsters to show up while they were just trying to pick up a little bonus pay.

  Cassie slapped the guard across the face, breaking the man out of his stupor. “Get to fucking work.”

  The guard took control of his men and formed a wall to push the crowd away from what was happening on stage.

  The sheriff won his battle of dominance over the prize, and Baron and Henry turned away, looking for easier snacks. Tim fumbled through the motions of weaken undead. As he finished the spell, he muttered. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.”

  Tim let the spell go, and it hit Baron squarely in the chest. With Baron weakened, Tim started casting divine light. He hoped the spell would be painless for the man, or rather, for the creature that he’d become. He’d promised these prisoners he would deliver letters to their loved ones if they died. Part of him hoped he’d be able to return the letters to them instead of letting them down the way he had.

  Putting an end to the sheriff would go a good long way toward easing his guilt.

  Tim finished casting divine light, and a cone of pure power darted from his fingertip at Baron. The creature tried to duck out of the way, but the spell hit him in the center of the chest. White flames erupted from where the spell landed and consumed Baron in a single white-hot flash.

  Cassie was going toe to toe with the creature formerly known as Henry. Her bō staff was long enough that Henry couldn’t quite reach her with his fancy new mouth. Gaston and ShadowLily worked with her, trying to corral and attack the creature at the same time. Tim could see several cuts along Henry’s arms and legs. The wounds didn’t seem to be slowing the creature down at all.

  Tim remembered how infective his flameburst had been. The sheriff had repaired the damage almost instantaneously.

  Henry erupted in flames as JaKobi entered the fray. Everyone moved away from the flaming creature except for Tim. He kept marching forward. He blasted the creature with Weaken Undead and then with Divine Light. Henry ceased to exist an instant later.

  That left Tim with one last target to destroy.

  The sheriff climbed off Jepsom’s corpse and roared. Something was going on. Jon Hobbs’ clothes ripped at the seams as his arms and legs elongated. It was like he’d turned into the Hulk. Whatever Jepsom had been using to power his shield had drawn the monster toward him, and it seemed the sheriff had absorbed that power.

  “Boss fight!” Tim shouted to the rest of his group.

  This was going to be fucking awesome!

  The sheriff picked up Jepsom’s corpse and turned slowly until his eyes locked onto Tim’s. The crazy feeding tube sucked back into his mouth. “I told you this wasn’t over.” He let out a roar and his mouth split open so the snapping jaws of his second mouth could terrify them all.

  With the casual flick of his wrist, the sheriff sent Jepsom’s body sailing at them.

  JaKobi stepped forward, casting flameshield. Jepsom’s body flew through the fiery construct and came out as ashes on the other side. JaKobi’s spell winked out of existence, and the sheriff sprinted toward them.

  Cassie charged forward to intercept the gigantic version of Jon Hobbs. “Asshole!” she screamed as she smashed her bō staff into his leg.

  Hobbs shrugged off her attack and shoved Cassie out of the way as he continued toward Tim.

  JaKobi hit the sheriff with spell after spell. Jon Hobbs’ torso looked like a burnt pincushion. The hilts of twenty throwing knives littered the sheriff’s chest like popcorn on the floor of a movie theater. Cassie leapt to her feet and ran forward, striking the sheriff from behind. Jon Hobbs ignored her.

  The man was a juggernaut.

  Tim cast weaken undead, then he cast it again. The spells were enough to slow the sheriff down, but the third stopped him in his tracks. Using the last of his mana, Tim cast divine light.

  The shimmering projectile caught Jon Hobbs in the center of the chest, and he screamed as the fire consumed him. Flakes of his skin floated away on the breeze. After three seconds, all that was left of the sheriff was a bad memory.

  Darkness spread across the sky, and a bolt of red energy shot out of the roiling black clouds. The bolt struck the front of the temple and seared an angry red mark on the central pillar.

  A voice called from the heavens, “We are hungry, and we are coming for you all.”

  White light erupted from th
e temple, banishing the darkness from the sky in an instant. The light gathered in on itself, and the goddess was once again standing before Tim. “The Dark Lord Vitaria has awoken. Will you be my champion in the fight against her darkness?”

  Tim looked at his team. One by one, they nodded, letting him know they were all on board with the decision.

  Turning to face the goddess again, Tim dropped to one knee. “I will be your champion.”

  The goddess touched a finger to his forehead, filling his body with energy. “Then rise as a guardian of the light and know that the future of all of Promethia rests upon your shoulders.”

  “No pressure,” Cassie grumbled from behind him.

  The goddess ignored the spitfire of a tank and kept her eyes focused on Tim’s. “The Dark Lord’s wraiths have already infiltrated the city. The sheriff might not be the only one. Find them and end them as you have done here.”

  Quest Received: Get the Wraiths Out of Here

  The Dark Lord Vitaria has decided that now is the right time to conquer the city of Promethia. One of her wraiths has already been unmasked. You are charged with the task of finding the remaining wraiths and exterminating them.

  Reward: Staff of Divine Retribution and five gold for each member of your party.

  Accept Quest: Yes/No

  Tim quickly accepted the quest.

  The goddess smiled down upon their group as she started floating into the sky. “Paul will be able to provide you the answers you seek. The future of Promethia rests in your hands. Do not fail me, soldier of light.” The goddess turned into a glowing ball and launched into the heavens.

  Just like that, she was gone.

  “She really does know how to make an exit,” ShadowLily said, looking into the sky.

  “That’s the truth,” JaKobi chimed in. “So, what do we do now?”