Charles asked, “So we aren’t starting from scratch.”
“No, we aren’t starting from scratch. You will have the opportunity to meet and work with different gaming characters. What the characters had previously we will be able to keep. We will just have to find out what they possess as we play. The characters that we own face different challenges and quests when they arrive at different places on the board. You may gather currency, food, tools, weapons, building resources, minerals, spices, animals, transportation, inventions, etc. From what I understand a player is able to form alliances in case of attack. You can buy property together using an alliance, or by yourself.
“The different places you travel to are completely created by the person who owns it. When you have the currency to purchase the land you want, you can go to the Fabricator, who then makes the land ownership up according to your desires and budget. So for instance once you get your destination planned, you tailor it to a place that could be, for example: a wilderness, only commerce, a vacation island, a mystical place, a continent, or even a country. After the Fabricator finishes your destination development it is placed on a planet map. When you arrive at your destination, a personal guide will meet you who is called the Prodigy for that area. The guide will explain what your quest designation is or they can assign you work in your land area. They explain which game pieces you use to get through the challenges and quests: like your dice, cards, spinner or hourglass, etc.
“There are many custodians you will meet on your adventures. The Map Keeper is where you go to purchase maps of different worlds. To buy one you must have currency and must complete a specific number of quests. You can buy information about a place by hiring a Guideling. This character can also warn you about hazards or give you hints to help with your quests. An Emperiator will tell you all of the rules of a land and about the culture in that area.
“Some creatures to watch out for that I know of are: Idruartar also known as an Identity Keeper that steals your identity, Archivite steals your inventions, Snarevieller are trappers who can imprison you if you are unfortunate and can’t pay them off, Arrve is like an ogre that steals your weapons, Wolvezor steals food, Gimmence steals currency, Oreprator steals resources. There are others, these are just examples. You can pay to talk to a Hermit to find out more creatures to be aware of on that planet. One last thing, you have a good being called a Panphilos and an evil being called a Luticrence.” Carson paused. “What do you think?”
Charles said, “I’m in.”
Bev said, “Me too.”
Charles said, “It’s unanimous. Let the Universal Game begin!” They each thought carefully and chose their characters before they began the game.
CHAPTER 97
Natalie was pressed for time. She kissed her dad on his cheek, gave him a quick hug before she hurriedly waved goodbye and ran down the steps out of sight. Dimitrios shook his head, amazed at her energy. He thought: I need to look into a way to bottle her energy and sell it. I’d be a gazillionaire. He turned and made his way back to his office.
Natalie walked briskly for several blocks before she looked up at the churning sky. It wasn’t unusual that it would be churning, but instead of being bright blue this time in the late Hub hours it was more of a strange blue-green. She raced through the market glancing briefly at a couple of scarves before she snapped back to reality, and pushed on. She dodged in and out of the crowd that was intent on moving too slowly for her impatience. Several times she raced past someone who said, “Hi,” to her. She waved back to the person, unaware of the set of devious eyes that were watching her moving in the same direction.
Max was close behind her and had been following her for some time now. He’d made an excuse to his clan and they had agreed to cover for him allowing him to pursue her. He was moving in now gaining on her.
Little did Max know that he should be watching where his own tracks led. He was so focused on his target that he hadn’t considered someone might be following him from a distance. Max had given little thought to the possibility that the Journeyman from a couple of days ago was in very close proximity to him. As a matter of fact, he was the furthest thing from Max’s thoughts.
Wayland had even more experience in tracking than Max. Max underestimated that Wayland considered him a threat to the beautiful young woman who caused a stir in the Hub. Wayland moved cautiously in the shadows while observing Max.
How could Max have possibly known that Wayland would pass up his lucrative assignments just to study him? Wayland had sensed Natalie was in danger from the moment he witnessed Max having words with Charles. He sensed something wasn’t quite right in the head of that guy. It seemed to Wayland now that his instincts were correct. Just as he had suspected Max was up to no good. After following him for just a short time, Wayland discovered that Max was involved with some underhanded characters. A couple of them he considered guilty just because they met with Max. He took an image of them and made notes figuring he could look into their dealings at a later time. While Wayland was on Max’s trail previously, he watched him at a meeting with the devil himself. After Max left the meeting, Wayland immediately disguised himself and planned a way to have his own meeting with the devilish character. A fellow Wayland knew, who was a snitch for the Journeymen, set it up. Wayland was skeptical he could actually do it, but the guy came through.
Wayland met with the man and after a game of sizing each other up, the man took the bait and let Wayland know the plan that was in place with Max. They had schemed that Natalie would be a victim of kidnapping. Max was going to deliver her into a trap. According to the wanna-be devil, he already had a couple of bidders for her to be their slave. Wayland was disgusted. He quickly disengaged without setting off any intuitive alarms by saying he would be raising the capitol to place his own bid and he would be back. When he left he made certain he wasn’t followed.
After the meeting he headed to his boss, Steele. Wayland asked for permission to go undercover. He was ready to place a bid on Natalie in case things went horribly wrong and Max happened to actually abduct her. Reluctantly he got permission, but only after Steele cleared it with Anjoleah. The problem was now Anjoleah’s people were involved and it made things a bit trickier. They insinuated themselves into his investigation a couple of times but for the most part he was able to elude them through manipulating his own people.
A couple of days later Wayland won the proverbial lottery. A deviation of Max’s plans meant he was lucky enough to discover the rotter’s clan as well. Wayland sized him up and his assessment was-- the man was very arrogant. Because of his arrogance Max had mistakenly let his guard down. Recently Max made several costly errors that he probably would not have made if he weren’t consumed with Natalie’s every move.
At a young age Wayland had learned to track from the Legend of Journeymen, his father. While Wayland was busy with other business he set up a Tracker Device, he named “Reiko”, to follow Max. When Wayland left Max he headed to Reiko’s location. He picked it up and kissed it. He held it up and quickly viewed Max’s whereabouts. Reiko looked like a small clear marble that had electrical sparks inside. In the event that someone stepped on it, Reiko flattened itself, as if it was part of the floor, and blended in so it could not be detected. As it tracked for Wayland it was unobtrusive. It was able to camouflage itself to its surroundings and recorded what the person being followed was doing and was speaking. Wayland wasn’t sure how long Reiko could follow someone. The longest he had tracked a target with Reiko was three weeks, before he went to retrieve it. Wayland wore a small charm on the chain around his neck that was a homing device for Reiko to return to him.
Wayland held up Reiko, viewed its information before setting it down and sending it back to its target. Then he went to find Natalie. When he caught up with her, she was in the market and headed in his direction. They made eye contact. Wayland thought to himself: This is a very unusual dilemma. He smiled at her and hoped she was actually looking past him. He looked arou
nd and realized no one behind him was paying attention to her. He kept moving toward her. He calculated Max was around somewhere in the crowd and that made things a little more complicated. He began quickly making his way through the crowd as a wave of people filled the area. He was not about to lose her. His heart raced as people moved in front of her blocking his view. He sensed she was close as he burst through the cluster of people that had stopped in front of her only to look down at a startled Natalie. They froze.
She was looking up at him. Something in that instant happened to them that seemed inexplicable and as quick as lightning striking. Before he could say her name, Wayland happened to glance over Natalie’s shoulder.
Natalie heard Max’s voice and turned quickly to guard herself. She glanced back at Wayland but he had gone. She was confused. Was he there or was it only her imagination? She thought: How very odd that he’d leave at a time when I need him. Her heart sank. Now she was just plain annoyed at Max for ruining her fantasy. She turned to look at him and asked, “What do you want?”
Max said as sweetly as he could, “I just want to talk. Why are you so uptight? Relax. You don’t have to be so defensive. It’s just me.”
Natalie rolled her eyes. “Oh brother, you just want to talk, huh? About what?”
Max smiled. All Natalie could see was a hideous monster in front of her ready to squeeze its victim. Natalie unsure of what to do quickly looked down at the ground, before looking up and refocusing on him. She was careful not to look at him too long. There was always something creepy about him that scared her. She pulled from her inner strength in order to stand stronger.
As Natalie once again quickly looked away, she heard Wayland’s voice calmly whisper in her ear, “Keep your eyes on him, don’t look away. Look him in the eye.” She snapped her attention back to Max. She took a cat-like stance and backed slowly away. She said, “I’m late. I’ve got to get going. My dad’s waiting on me.”
Something wasn’t quite right about the way he was aggressively moving toward her. “Naw, he’s in his office working.”
Natalie raised her eyebrows. The look on his face changed to sheer evil in her head and in that instant she knew she was in trouble.
“Run!” The word screamed in her ear. She turned and all out ran to escape him! Max chased after her it was an unfair race because his legs were quite a bit longer than hers. She imagined him breathing behind her. She wasn’t going to have a choice but to turn and fight. Just a few more seconds and she’d reach a place she’d have an advantage. If she could only make it… She winced with pain as a hand grabbed at her. She realized the race was over.
She spun around, slapped at his hand and snapped at him as she back away, “Leave me alone Max!”
He smirked. “You and I have some unfinished business.”
Natalie kept her eyes on him. She wished the Journeyman was here now. “What business?” She strained to hear what he was saying but all she could hear was her own heartbeat. It didn’t matter what he was saying anyway. This was going to be a possible fight to the death. She surveyed her surroundings and looked for a way to escape. As he approached her, she took a defensive stance and growled, “I’m warning you, stay away from me Max.”
“Oh, what do we have here, a frightened kitty? Meow for me.” He tried to get behind her, but she was quicker and wouldn’t let him. Then from the shadows came a few more of his minions.
Natalie laughed. She wished she had stayed with her dad. A sad thought crossed her mind and a tear almost formed but she wouldn’t let it. She knew every one of the men that were coming toward her. They circled around her to cut off any possible escape. She demanded, “What are you doing here?”
They didn’t answer. She could smell their sweaty bodies and it made her sick. Max shouted in Russian at them. They closed in on her and she began kicking and punching. A flare went squealing up into the air behind them. They stopped and turned to look as Wayland emerged from the smoke.
Max laughed. “Well, what do we have here? It’s the Journeyman boys.” Max looked around. “Seems you’ll be out numbered forty to two. Not good odds. What do you say you just turn around and leave before my men decide to snap your neck? This doesn’t concern you.”
Two other Journeymen arrived and pushed their way toward Wayland’s side. As they walked closer they asked Wayland, “Has he committed a crime?”
Wayland said, “Not yet, but he was planning to kidnap her and sell her into slavery.”
The Journeymen whispered to Wayland, asking if he could prove it because their Charter Laws would prevent them from interfering.
Max growing impatient with them yelled, “He’s a liar and I can prove it!” Natalie gasped.
Max turned to Natalie. “You know I would never do that…”
Natalie said, “I don’t know that about you.”
Max turned to Wayland and said, “I’m your worst nightmare. If you don’t walk away right now…”
Wayland kept coming until he stood beside Natalie, “I’d rather die than walk away.”
Max scoffed and spit on the ground. Wiping his mouth he growled, “Oh really? You’d die for her?”
The other Journeymen took their stand beside Wayland.
Max laughed. “The viper is definitely not worth it, but your choice gentlemen.”
Max made a bird call that was echoed back from somewhere in the distance.
Natalie whispered, “They are here.”
Max’s eyes went cold and dark as he roared, “I’ll kill you myself, Journeyman. Prepare to die!”
Natalie and Wayland backed up against the brick wall. The other Journeymen began fighting as the men came for them. Natalie let out a cry because one of the burly men lunged at her and twisted her arm. She was able to keep going and even injured, gave him the fight of his life. She wondered why this handsome stranger had come to her rescue. Where did he even come from? She wondered if he had been in the market after all. He didn’t have his shirt on and she watched his muscles as he easily put away the men that came near them. A rotter had made his way behind her and she struggled with him. She decided she needed to teach him a lesson. “School’s in session.” Natalie flipped him and broke his leg. She kicked and spun her way over to Wayland. They fought side by side. The men were getting the best of them and Natalie was getting tired. Her limbs felt like rubber but her adrenaline kept her going. They were both a sweaty mess.
She caught glimpses of other Journeymen who had arrived and were fighting with them. They had grown in number and were now circling them. There had been some curious on-lookers who had since left, frightened away from the war that was currently taking place. They decided they weren’t that loyal to Max and had crept away into the Hub. Journeymen were considered dangerous and rarely seen together. They were thought to be loners but this proved that theory wrong, as they came together to fight with Wayland.
There was a crowd of onlookers and the Passageway Authorities had now become more visible as Wayland stood over Natalie, sweat dripping off of him as he protected her. At some point she had fallen and as much as she tried to will her aching bones to move she could not. Wayland was a bloody mess but he still stood ready to fight anyone who came near her. When he recognized his brotherhood through his swollen eyes, he fell beside her to his hands and knees before he passed out. The crowd of Journeymen swarmed the area now.
No one noticed that Max, who was severely beaten up as well, had crawled out of sight scared for his life. The Journeymen did not have a leader, but Steele was the closest thing the Journeymen have. He called out to them thanking them for fighting for their brother. He now stood over Wayland. He turned him over and assessed his injuries. The men began chanting as several Journeymen came to collect his body. They wrapped him in blankets, placed him on a makeshift stretcher and carried him off. The Journeymen all gave him the loyalty sign as the men with the stretcher passed them.
Natalie was petrified thinking he had died. She cried out, “No! Where are you taking him
?”
Anjoleah had been fighting to restore order as well, her hair was undone and a mess. She made her way respectfully through the Journeymen and over to Natalie. The Hub’s Emergency Crew had her ready to be transported. When she saw Natalie she was furious that someone had done this! She bent down and whispered as she asked Natalie who did this?
Natalie, although her face was swollen, whispered, “Max.” The emergency crew took Natalie to be cared for, leaving Anjoleah and Steele to sort through the chaos that had just taken place. Anjoleah sent Craig to find Dimitrios and tell him about Max’s escapade involving Natalie and to inform him as to where she had been taken to have her injuries assessed.
Anjoleah turned to Steele and asked, “What was going on here? How is Dimitrios’ daughter involved in this mess? Four men are dead. I need an explanation. Who gave death orders? Steele, you’ve gone too far. Your Charter may be in jeopardy of being revoked.”
One of the Journeymen had come across Max who was cowardly hiding in an alley. Max begged the Journeyman not to bring him out of hiding. He was sniveling, trying to make a deal. The Journeyman had no pity as he dragged Max back to the scene. The Journeymen that he passed made noises at Max. Max was screaming out in agony for him to stop.
Steele and Anjoleah had sorted things out, just as they turned to see Max being flung to a skidding stop at Anjoleah’s feet. Anjoleah’s eyes briefly opened wide as she looked down at him and smiled. “Well, well, well, boys what do we have here?
CHAPTER 98
Dimitrios was in a meeting when Lieutenant Craig, of the Passageway Authority, called him out into the hallway to tell him the news that Natalie had been involved in a Hub brawl. Dimitrios couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He left immediately to be with Natalie, nothing else mattered. His head was spinning and he was desperate to reach the facility where she was being scanned for injuries. His mind raced with possible scenarios. Dimitrios hadn’t even asked how she was doing. He hadn’t considered there could be bad news. He refused to think the worst could have happened. If that was the case, then he knew it would have been Anjoleah that delivered the news. Dimitrios sighed as he ran with his professional satchel on his back. If he hadn’t been in a “no fly” zone he’d have spun his flying disk and he would have been at the facility by now. Right now he wished he had worn casual clothes and not this confining suit. He pulled at his tie and yanked it off. He kept telling himself just a few more Hub blocks until he could be at her side. A tear slid from his eye as he entered the building. He wiped it off and entered the building looking for anyone who could help him find his daughter.
The Xidoran Prophecy Page 72