Absalom’s Trials

by J. D. L. Rosell

  You have broken faith with Isvalla. You lose all rank and will no longer reap any benefits from this faith. In addition, depending on the circumstances of the severance, you may be restricted in areas controlled by this group or even attacked on sight.

  I smiled weakly. “Bummer.” It was never fun to lose progress in anything, but at least it was in something I’d cared relatively little for. Losing a chance at priesthood was the least of my worries.

  “Well! If that’s over, I have a million gold coins calling all three of my horns to them…” The mercenary grinned then scurried over to the nearest pile and went sliding through it.

  “I guess I’ll go help him,” Sarai said with a greedy glimmer in her eye.

  Which left Farelle and me alone again. The Wilder immediately shifted, moving past me. “I’ll pick up Sheika’s items,” she said without looking at me.

  I reached out to her as she passed, but she flinched away. That hurt me more than anything that had come before. I lowered my hand and felt myself harden against the feelings. “What did you mean earlier? ‘They’ — who did you mean by they?”

  Farelle shook her head and walked away. “We all have our secrets, don’t we, Marrow?” she called behind her.

  I stared after her. “But I thought I knew all yours,” I muttered to myself. I may have circumvented it for a time, but now the game continued to blow right past me. Time to catch back up.

  But first, I’d done enough work for a bit of well-deserved loot. Or maybe a whole heap of it.

  But as I walked toward the closest of the glittering mounds, I felt the change coming upon me again. Looking down, blue light had begun to appear around me, and my armor and skin was going translucent. “Not again,” I groaned as, once more, I was teleported by some deity’s will.

  I only hoped it would be victory waiting for me on the other side and not condemnation.

  33

  Absalom’s Champion

  As the world rematerialized around me, I blinked at the remaining light spots and took it in. Rather than being in the midst of the Pantheon on the floor of their familiar chamber, I was in a clearing among many dark, tall trees. It looked to be sunset, for the sky had turned a glowing orange.

  “He told me you wouldn’t make it.”

  I turned and saw who I’d expected. Absalom stood there clad in all his godly armament. A shining golden crown adorned his head, and he wore shining silver armor encrusted with countless glimmering diamonds.

  I imagined how we looked next to each other: him the king in shining armor. Me, the dark, scowling killer. What a pair we made.

  “Who? Your father?”

  The god-king nodded. “He told me you didn’t have it in you. No matter his hopes for you.”

  Even though the insult came from someone I didn’t know, it still stung a bit. “Well, looks like he was wrong. Whoever he is.”

  “I had hoped he would be.” Despite his royal dress, Absalom suddenly seemed the boy he still looked like. “I hoped you would understand. And now look.” He took my hand and stared at the black ring, then up at me. “You’ve mastered the void and forged your own Dominion Ring.”

  “So it seems.” I didn’t flinch from his touch, and I started to return the smile. For despite my better judgment, I was starting to trust the little AI god.

  The smile faded as quickly as it had come, and Abe pulled away. “But he watches. I should stick to ceremony for now.”

  I nodded, uneasily looking around from my peripheral vision. Where would this Father be hiding?

  “Marrow Catalyst, I have brought you here because of your remarkable achievements,” Absalom spoke formally. “You have completed all three of the trials I have set before you, earning the right to take your place by my side as my Champion, as well as to inherit the powers that come with it.”

  The power to injure gods, Isvalla had told me. And possibly to kill any of the Pantheon standing in my way. “I banished Jin’Thal to Faze-Aught, I think,” I said slowly. “That does count?” I didn’t want to say the words, but I didn’t want any unpleasant surprises later.

  “Indeed you did, and yes, it does. When a being is sent to Faze-Aught, they are no longer of this world. That is, they are as dead as things become here in the Everlands.” A smile quirked Absalom’s lips. “It’s the only way to kill one of the Everfolk, that is for certain.”

  An idea lit up inside me, too tantalizing to dare look at directly. I tucked it away to consider later.

  “But there remains one thing to do before you can become my Champion.” Absalom turned away to look into the woods. “The position must first be vacated.”

  I followed his gaze and saw a figure approaching. As he came into the light, I saw it was a man wearing a full suit of plate armor made of a black metal lined with red. He wore no helmet, so I could see his face. His eyes and the corners of his mouth were lined like he often smiled, and his light eyes held no threat as he approached. Long, sandy brown hair fell wavy down his neck.

  Maybe it was just that he was out of context, but it took me a moment to recognize him. When I did, I was almost more shocked than I’d been when I’d mastered the void. “Ned Solomon?”

  “Ah! Always good to meet a fan!” The tycoon spread his arms and smiled warmly, then turned to Absalom. “Hello, Son.”

  I looked between the two, my astonishment growing. Without Ned Solomon, none of us could be standing here. And Absalom likely would have never existed.

  It made all too much sense that Absalom’s Father and Champion were one in the same.

  “Ah — sir,” I fumbled awkwardly, unsure how to address such an important man. Despite standing in dragonscale armor and having defeated the biggest dragon in the game, I felt thrust back into the real world with this meeting, where I was a nobody gamer and he was one of the richest men in the world.

  “Don’t be so awkward, Sean.” Solomon walked up next to me and clapped a heavy hand on my shoulder, nearly buckling my knees, which had gone as weak as a fanboy in front of his favorite band. “Here, we’re the same, you and I: just two people looking to enjoy a game.”

  Suddenly, the solution to all my problems lay before me. “But sir, I’m not just playing a game! I—” For a moment, I hesitated, my eyes wandering over to Absalom. Who could I trust? If Absalom was to be believed, his “Father” was the reason I was stuck in this game. But that was preposterous! Why would he do that to me? It was more reasonable to assume the AI was lying to me for his own reasons — to keep me in the game like he’d resolved from the beginning.

  Before I could confess my situation, Solomon shook his head with a sad smile. “Ah, Sean. I know it’s not just a game. I assure you, no one takes it more seriously than me.”

  Suddenly, fear of missing out on what might be my one chance to escape overcame my doubts. “But sir, it’s not that I’m serious about it! I mean, I am, but—” I shook my head violently and fought through the bumbling words. “But I’m trapped here, Mr. Solomon! I can’t log out!”

  But the tycoon wore an ironic smile, while Absalom dropped his head, though not quick enough to hide his sorrowful gaze. “Ah, Sean,” Solomon said. “You can’t really believe I didn’t know what was going on in my own game.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. “You knew?”

  Solomon nodded with evident regret. “Not only did I know, Sean. I am, indirectly, the cause of your entrapment.”

  Shock had numbed me. “Why?”

  “Why? Because of this!” Solomon threw out his arms and turned around with a fresh grin, all traces of regret gone. “Because, despite everything we expected, this is our best way — perhaps the only way — to uncover the next step in humanity’s journey!”

  “Artificial intelligence,” I murmured.

  “A higher intelligence, certainly,” the tycoon said with a gleam to his eyes.

  I shook my head. “But I don’t get it. Why would you trap me for that?” Somewhere, anger simmered inside me, but dumbness pervaded me for the mo
ment.

  Solomon lowered his arms. “You don’t see the whole picture, Sean, I know,” he said in a kindly manner. “You don’t see the connections between all the different threads you hold, how to weave them into a pattern that makes sense. But for a brief moment, as you fought the dragon, you reached a higher understanding, didn’t you? An awareness not just beyond yourself, but beyond the confines of the world in which you live?”

  All his nonsense was starting to break through my barriers and make my temper flare. “That’s all a load of bull, and you know it.”

  “Sean, Sean,” Solomon chided as he began to circle around me. “I understand you’re frustrated. But I’m afraid I didn’t come here to speak of that, but of the task immediately before you.” He gestured to the trees as he walked. “Ephraim’s Woods is where I brought Absalom into life, separated from the rest of the Everlands—”

  “So you’re not going to help me?” I interrupted. Though I’d lost hope, I couldn’t stop asking until I had a straight answer.

  Solomon paused his walk. “Not in the way you want. But I can offer you assistance in your goals here, Sean Marrow. Will you accept my aid and not spurn it because of petty feelings of injustice?”

  I bristled — trying to get out of a game that trapped you didn’t qualify as petty in my book. But I kept my tone civil. “Fine. I’ll accept your aid, as long as it’s actually helpful.”

  A slow smile spread across Solomon’s face. “I think you’ll find it’s quite so.” He turned on his heel and headed toward the forest. “Come. Your reward awaits ahead.”

  I didn’t follow immediately, but stopped next to the god-king. “Ned Solomon is your Champion?” I asked flatly. Even with his higher intelligence, I didn’t expect him to know who Solomon was in the real world.

  Absalom nodded morosely. “Champion and Father both.”

  I shook my head in disgust. I knew it wasn’t Absalom’s fault, yet it didn’t stop me from feeling betrayed. Without another look back, I followed Solomon into the woods.

  We finally stopped at a small pool sheltered amidst a grove of slender white trees — aspen or birch, maybe. They leaned in over the clear water like they wanted to take a drink, and their yellow-green leaves caught the gentle glow of dusk hovering in the air.

  Solomon gestured down at the pool, while Absalom stood back a ways outside of the grove. “The Pool of Narcissus,” he declared with a grin. “Sorry about the names. I’m a sucker for mythology.”

  I ignored him and peered into the pool myself. It seemed nothing but a still pool with clear water. Even as my reflection peered back at me, I could see to the bottom of it where roots edged up with jagged fingers.

  Then I paused and really took in what I saw. I must have seen myself sometime during my time in the Everlands, but this was the first time I could recall. My hair was longer, and my expression hardened. Dark circles had formed under eyes that didn’t flinch away like they’d used to. Even if all my armor and items were taken away, I didn’t look the same person.

  I suddenly grinned. I hadn’t wanted to be the person I was. No, I’d always wanted to be like the man reflected back at me. Even if he did have a killer’s eyes. Or maybe because of it.

  “You see?” Solomon inquired softly. “The Everlands make you more into the man you are meant to be, Sean Marrow. Why would you wish to escape that?”

  His words snapped me out of the trance immediately. I pulled my gaze away from the pool’s surface and stared with those hard eyes at the tycoon. “So. Am I replacing you as Champion or not?”

  From the spasm across his face, I could see I’d finally started to wear on his patience. “Fine.” He turned and looked to Absalom. “True, he did not technically slay the dragon. But I would not hold it against him if I were you.”

  The god-king stared blankly back at his supposed father. “I did not intend to.”

  “Then, my lord, I take my leave of you.” Solomon went to one knee before Absalom, bowing his head. “But even when I’m away, I am at your beck and call.”

  “I know. Creator.”

  Even with everything else I’d seen, it was one of the strangest scenes I’d witnessed. I snorted and glanced aside, doing everything to show my disgust for them.

  Solomon rose again. “Until we meet again, Marrow Catalyst.”

  “Don’t make it too soon.”

  I wanted to make him angry. But instead, he suddenly flashed that brilliant smile again. “Of course not.” With a sharp nod to Absalom, he sauntered back the way we’d come. I watched him go, and saw him disappear in a flash of blue light before he’d exited the woods.

  “Marrow. If you’ll come here.”

  I obeyed, but not without a touch of defiance. Maybe it had been seeing what I was, but I had a new confidence facing him. There was no place for fear in a man like that. But seeing the sadness with which Absalom regarded me, I faltered. Doubts crept back in. Was that swaggering killer I’d seen for a moment truly who I was? Or had the pool played tricks on me?

  “What you see in the pool, only you can know,” the god-king murmured. “It is not my place to ask. Yet I hope it will not come between us. I hope we can be the friends I always thought we were.”

  I could only nod. I didn’t have the words for a reply, not yet.

  Abe nodded in return. “Then I guess we’d better get on with this. If you’ll kneel…”

  I obeyed him, though I did not bow my head as Solomon had, but looked him in the eyes. Yet the defiance in me had faded. Now I studied him, straining to see what was truly beneath the godly exterior. To tell whether or not I was a fool to trust him.

  Absalom’s crown seemed on fire as he gazed down at me. “Marrow Catalyst. Do you swear by all you hold holy to act as my protector in all things, and do all that is within your power to ensure my safety? Do you swear to act by my will and obey my commands when given them, to make my dominion, all of the Everlands, into the realm as I see fit?”

  By all I held holy. A smile twisted onto my lips. Yet I was starting to see it might just be a promise I wanted to keep. “I do.”

  The god-king put a hand on my head. Cold and heat waged war within me at his touch. I gritted my teeth, but remained where I was.

  “You knelt as your own man. Rise now as my Champion.”

  Fire and ice blossomed within me, and it was all I could do not to fall writhing to the ground. I drew breath in quick gasps as I tried to stand, but I couldn’t do it. Pain lanced throughout my body. I glimpsed my health meter quickly falling. Had he tricked me? Had this all been some sick joke just to kill me in the end?

  “Rise, Absalom’s Champion,” he once again commanded, his tone impassive.

  I’d overcome Jin’Thal. I'd circumvented the rules of the game and performed magic outside of what my character should have been able to do. I’d forged a Dominion Ring of the nothing beyond the Everlands. But rising to my feet was as hard as anything I'd done thus far. Gasping, I couldn't force my limbs, both numb and lancing with pain, to move.

  This is not real. You are in a game.

  The thought came to me, unbidden, even though I recognized it as my own. I held onto it, and it gave me just enough separation from my avatar and the pain to rise to my feet. As soon as I gained them, the fire and ice abated, leaving me trembling but no longer suffering.

  Absalom broke out into a relieved smile. A series of overlays popped up and obscured him from view for a moment:

  You have completed The Third Trial: Trial of Courage! +500,000 XP (+25,000 XP), increased alignment with Absalom

  You have advanced in your faith: Absalom. You are now Absalom’s Champion!

  You have gained an aura: Divine Aspect. Auras are persistent effects that cannot be changed or taken away except by a shift in your status with your faith. Your aura Divine Aspect allows you to view the level of deities as well as cause them injury.

  You are now Level 26! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)

  You are now Level 27! (+10 Status Poi
nts, +4 Attribute Points)

  You are now Level 28! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)

  You are now Level 29! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)

  You are now Level 30! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)

  You are now Level 31! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)

  You are now Level 32! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)

  You are now Level 33! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)

  I stared at the words in mute amazement. I'd done it. During each trial, there had come a point where I was sure I was going to fail. But each time, I'd found a way to overcome it. Not alone, of course. My friends, from Sarai in the first task to Sheika and Farelle and Ava and even Brandeur in the last — all of them had been essential to my success. Even Absalom had helped me in my darkest hour. But even acknowledging that, I couldn't deny who it had been who had sealed it in the end. I'd overcome Absalom's — or rather, Solomon’s — bogus trials.

  Now I had the power to hurt gods. And maybe even kill them.

  I dismissed the overlays and met Absalom's gaze calmly. “What do you want your Champion to do first?”

  A slow, genuine smile spread across the god-king’s face.

  34

  Heretical

  I finally found my party in Stalburgh, or what remained of it. They waited at the top of Esperalda's chute for me to walk down the street. I grinned to see them, especially Sheika alive and well, until I saw hers and Farelle's expressions.

  “What are you mad at me for?” I asked incredulously as I stopped before them. I aimed the question at Sheika, knowing all too well what had Farelle riled up.