by Prax Venter
“Oh, are you in line, Collector?” she asked.
“Nope. He’s all yours.”
The movable job board once again emerged from Noma’s desk but now, it was filled with pinned pieces of paper. The last time he’d seen it, there was only Cel’s quest.
Mark felt Jezebel grab his arm, and he spun to find her pulling their whole group further away from the counter.
“I’ve been meaning to bring this up,” the armored satyr began quickly, “but we’ve been preoccupied. What Noma’s doing with the Job Boards and quests shouldn’t be possible from what I understand.”
“Impossible?” Mark repeated, looking back over his shoulder as the three cat-women in short skirts discussed which quest they were going to take off the board.
“Moving them around like that?” she continued. “I could be wrong, but the Guild Master appears to be breaking system-level rules with magic.”
“Collector Mark?” someone called out from the hallway, and he turned to see a sharply dressed male Kalorplast with a slab of wood he held like a clipboard. Bright-yellow petals poked up from under the collar of his gray silk shirt and framed his beet-red head.
“That’s me,” Mark said, casting a look at his team and then leading them over to him.
“Ah yes,” the newcomer said, his long nose held high in the air. “I am Attendant Orin. You and your Enthralled have been summoned to the Board Room. If you follow me to Security, we’ll get you clearance.” The man turned away to head toward the blue cluster of transport crystals.
Over the Collectors and Enthralled lining up for their daily quests, Mark caught the Guild Master giving him a nod from within the vines, and he hoped that putting his trust in the old plant-elf was the right thing to do.
A moment later, they were all within the transport chamber. Mark willed the menu to come up and checked the box for group transport, and it gave him a strange rush to interact with something in this game-like world. He wanted to ask Jezebel about his ability to see these interfaces, but it didn’t seem smart to start talking about it as they were going to see this CEO.
After a flash of light, they all appeared in a relatively small hallway, given the immensity of everything Mark had seen of Starglade. There were two Kalorplast standing near a massive purple leaf hanging down from a branch in the ceiling. They each held a blue glowing wand similar to what Penda used when she immobilized them, and Mark figured they had to be security guards protecting an opening behind the curtain-like leaf.
There was also a third, much rounder plant-elf seated behind a desk near the curtain.
“See you on the other side,” Attendant Orin said when they reached the end of the hall, and then he quickly pulled aside the leaf and stepped into the darkness beyond.
“You will enter one at a time,” the portly sprout said behind the desk. “You will remain still for the ability scan, and when you see the green phosphorescence, you will exit the security chamber. You understand that by entering this chamber, you declare that you are not a centaur and waive all rights in the event you are discovered to be, in fact, a centaur.”
“Okay…” Mark said, starting to doubt his own definition of what a “centaur” was, but these short plant creatures were taking it very seriously, and now didn’t seem like the time to ask for clarification.
“Name,” he stated, but Mark felt as if it were a question.
“Mark.”
The Kalorplast tapped on a berry and then a few of the nutshells scattered on his desk.
“Race.”
“Um, Human.”
Everyone Mark trusted told him he was now a purely digital mind, but he wasn’t 100% about anything anymore. He noticed the two guards by the large leaf adjust their stance and got the vibe that they didn’t appreciate his uncertainty.
“Please enter the chamber and move into the circle.”
Mark locked eyes with Sasha, Jezebel, and Abby before he pushed the leaf aside and stepped into a dark room. Above another leaf-covered doorway out of the room was a glowing red rosebud, and in the center of the floor was a luminous green vine looped into a circle.
With no real options at this point, Mark swallowed whatever doubts he had about their safety as he moved toward the circle and let the thick, rubbery leaf drop behind him. The moment his boots were inside the throbbing light of the green vine, a fine mist began flooding the chamber. Mark took a deep breath and held it as the vapor moved past his waist.
Then the red flower bud above the exit pushed out of the wall and slowly snaked its way toward him through the air. The tightly packed flower was as big as his head, and even though this seemed like some boring security protocol to the Kalorplast, the urge to move away from this bizarre weaving plant rose within him.
It came to about a yard from his face before unfurling its petals as if it were morning and Mark’s head was the sun. Vibrant rings of green light pulsed out from its antenna-like pistils, and he felt a slight tingle in the back of his skull. He puffed out the breath he’d been holding as the mesmerizing flashes tugged on his thoughts and demanded all his attention. It was the most beautiful, infinitely expanding patterns of color he’d ever seen, and he never wanted it to stop.
And then it did. The soft petals of the hypnotic flower folded shut, and it retracted its stem back into a hole in the wall. Mark blinked, trying to remember how much time had passed when all the sweet-smelling mist in the chamber dissipated instantly. Then, the red bud shifted to broadcast a steady green shine.
Mark stepped through the chamber and found a much more expansive hallway waiting for him. At least a dozen more guards stood along the wall as sunlight streamed through windows that had to be twenty stories up.
“Please stand here until your Enthralled are cleared, Mark,” the snooty-nosed Orin said from near his elbow, and Mark hadn’t even noticed him approach.
“Did I pass?”
Attendant Orin looked down at his clipboard and frowned.
“Uh… maybe? There must be some mistake, however. These readings… Wait here.”
The short plant-elf went to a section of wooden wall between two of the nearby guards. He knocked once, and a panel slid open to reveal hundreds of Kalorplast sitting on squat mushrooms arranged in orderly rows while others hurried around them. It looked like an office.
The red-hued Orin whispered with one of the other plant-elves on the other side. They both became animated and had just gotten to the point where they were about to start yelling when the big leaf moved aside, and Sasha stepped out of the hypno-rose scanning chamber.
“That was fun,” she said, her hips swaying as she walked up to Mark.
“Yeah, but I might have broken it.” Mark nodded toward Orin as the panel slammed shut. “I wonder what these advanced people would do if they found some proof that I-”
Mark closed his mouth as Orin approached.
“I’m dreadfully sorry,” he said. “But, Mark, I’m going to need to have you step back through. It appears we have some anomalous results from your ability scan.”
“Let me guess- I have too many abilities for a Lover class.”
“Actually,” Attendant Orin said as he distractedly tapped on his clipboard. “You don’t appear to have a Class at all.”
- 16 -
“Not even a Lover?” Mark asked, holding up his heart ring, but Attendant Orin ignored him, distracted by whatever he saw on his wooden tablet.
He and Sasha exchanged a glance before Abby came stepping out of the chamber with her bulky black combat boots.
“I enjoyed that,” she said as she rejoined Mark and Sasha.
“And what’s this?” Orin said, getting more flustered. “You are called Abby, correct?”
“You are both correct and incorrect,” she said. “I was previously known as Entity Serial Seven Thirteen N Four Twenty Nine. But Abby is much more efficient.”
“And pretty,” Sasha added, and she got a shark-tooth smile from the petite green woman.
“You
stated Abyssal Horror as your race, but the scans return this utter nonsense you just rattled off. This will not do. I’m going-”
“I’ll take it from here, Orin,” a woman’s sultry voice said from behind, and Mark turned to see an older, sharply dressed Kalorplast woman. The parts Mark could see that weren’t covered by pink slacks and an open blazer seemed to be intricately arranged black petals. Her white undershirt was left mostly unbuttoned, and her ink-colored cleavage was hard to ignore. She had violently pink eyes, and Mark quickly got the sense that this woman was not only highly intelligent but ruthlessly competent at as well. On top of it all, she was ravishing.
“CEO Channa,” Orin gasped, “of course, but I should warn you-”
“Consider me warned. Thank you for your assistance.”
Attendant Orin opened and closed his leafy mouth a few times, but Jezebel came out of the chamber, and her appearance broke whatever mental loop had trapped the snooty Kalorplast.
“As you order,” he said finally and shot his eyes to Mark as he presented his wooden tablet to her. Mark got a peek at its surface, but only saw randomly placed seeds, leaves, and sticks.
The new high-class plant-elf pressed a block of wood into the offered tablet, and then Orin turned to leave with his nose held higher than ever.
The stunning plant-woman gave them all a warm smile.
“Mark, Sasha, Abby, and Jezebel. As you may have put together, I am CEO Channa. Will you please follow me to the Board Room where we may further discuss resolving each other’s needs?”
“We’d be delighted,” Mark said after a quick glance at his bonded team.
She gave them another sincere smile and turned to lead them toward the end of the hall. Mark had a hard time not staring at the way her pants hung from her bubble-shaped ass. It was always hard to not be a pervert when his essence reservoir was over half-full.
She led them to the same door Orin had left through, and on the other side was another vast hallway with more Kalorplast going about their day. Wherever they were in the giant tree, it seemed as if few other species were allowed here. Some of the smartly dressed business elves hurrying about shot him looks of curiosity, but most were too busy to even notice.
They ended up at yet another blue crystal teleportation station, and Mark automatically checked the mass teleport option again. He was looking forward to exploring the rest of this city, but the pressure of the insane system AI working against them twisted everything to not wanting to waste a second.
After the blue flash of hyper-speed teleporting, they all appeared in a huge glass dome. In front of him were four other Kalorplast sitting behind a long wooden table, but the walls, ceiling and even the edges of the floor were transparent, and Mark could see the distant countryside extending out in every direction.
“We’re at the top,” Abby whispered before she wiggled the tip of her tentacle through Mark’s fingers.
“Everyone,” Channa said as she turned to face Mark and his party, “let me introduce the members of the Board. Starting on this end, we are joined by Zeris of House Janglewart, Kline of House Blackroot, Kam of House Beanpod, and Retis of House Bellfruit.”
“Uh, hello,” Mark said with a wave.
“Please sit,” CEO Channa said to them and then continued speaking as she moved to take her seat on the other side of the table.
“Members of the Board of Starglade. This is Mark, a unique Collector, and we are joined by his three Enthralled. Sasha, Abby, and Jezebel.”
“Now hold on,” said the Kalorplast Mark remembered as Kam of House Beanpod. He appeared to be older. Some of his brown leaves were dried to a crisp and curled at the ends. Right now, he was reading something on the table in front of him he didn’t seem to like. “He’s all this and a seer?”
“He’s right there,” Channa said. “Find out for yourself.”
Mark waited until all his bonded beast-women were seated before taking a seat across from Channa. He tried to get a glimpse of the information that all five of these Board Members had in front of them, but it was still all dried berries, nutshells, and sticks. Was that their written language?
“Your advice always shines brightly, CEO Channa.”
The older Kalorplast known as Kam could hardly contain his hatred for her, and Mark didn’t need magic powers to see that. His powers did tell him however that Kam thought she was far too young to be leading the enormous city- much less be his superior. He now turned his malice-filled, orange eyes on Mark.
Proving himself to everyone was getting old, but Mark locked his blind, milky orb on Kam and waited for the lies. Getting on these plant-elf leaders’ good side could net him some powerful friends- in addition to securing seven more shards.
“We are planning to attack the Centaur Technocracy with a flight of prototype Honeypods in three days. Five squadrons.”
The misinformation came to Mark as shadowy whispers, but there was more. He let his emotional antenna extend as far as it could and opened himself to the waves of mental energy unconsciously radiating from this potential roadblock of an asshole.
The first thing Mark grasped was that many of the elite Kalorplast didn’t generally take this war seriously. Kam personally hated that these centaurs held some important stretch of land, but the war was more of a game to everyone else. No- it was a matter of pride. Whatever they were fighting over, they didn’t need to risk lives to reclaim it. This war between them and the centaur had gone on for… centuries.
It was then that Mark realized how old this dried-up plant-elf was. He had fought in the military against the half-horses when he was just a young sapling, and there was a kernel of glistening darkness that sat at his core- an event that echoed through the rest of his life. Kam had grown close to another soldier, an orange Kalorplast named Veni, and suddenly Mark heard Kam’s younger voice scream his friend’s name into the night as blue laser blasts flashed all around within the pitch-black darkness. Veni’s death had driven Kam to climb the ranks of the military, and eventually, earn his House higher favor. Anger and hatred became a powerful motivation and continued to drive this plant-creature to this day.
Mark swam up out of those deep mental waters and tried to focus on the specifics he needed. Near the surface, he saw they weren’t planning on launching any more attacks until they received some piece of information. Mark sucked up everything and then slipped back into his own brain. Then nodded slowly, ordering his thoughts before letting this sour plant-elf have a taste of his True Sight power.
“Veni would be happy that you’re not planning on throwing any more Kalorplast lives away any time soon. No attacks are planned at the moment, and I’m guessing you are about to ask my team to infiltrate the centaurs to gather intel before you do.”
“Warm star above us,” the woman called Zeris said. Mark studied her older, wooden appearance before Kam pulled his attention back.
“Veni…” he whispered, his hand coming up to his mouth. The head of House Beanpod had used his hatred as a tool, but in the end, he had ascended to his current position of power by knowing when to employ those flames and when to shut them off.
He reached into his brown suit pocket and pulled out the wooden signature block the others had used before and stamped it into the wooden tablet in front of him.
“I approve,” Kam said his eyes locked on Mark.
“We haven’t even decided on the terms,” the younger man named Retis said, aghast.
Kam didn’t have anything to say, and Mark could tell everyone else on the board thought that it was unusual behavior for him.
CEO Channa had kept her intensely pink eyes on him during all of it, but she leaned back and addressed the Kalorplast royals to either side of her.
“Then, unless there are any other objections, I’d like to make Mark and his Enthralled an offer.”
“Hold,” said the member called Kline. His head was a curved yellow gourd with rough bumps as if he had bad acne, and it was currently angled down toward whatever was di
splayed on his tablet. “Let us not act too rashly before considering all the ways the sun could fall on our leaves.”
Everyone looked at the squash in the sharp suit and waited for him to continue. Retis lost his patience first.
“Time is sucrose, Kline. Why do you hold?”
The contemplative family head of House Blackroot lifted his tablet and motioned toward the emerald-eyed satyr.
“Mark’s abilities and absence of Class are impressive, sure enough, but has anyone noticed the Druid, Jezebel?”
All the Kalorplast board members bent their heads to their odd wooden tablets, and Mark glanced over to his doe-legged love. She gave him a shrug.
“Ah,” the black-petaled CEO said, “she’s unlocked two ranks in shapeshifting.”
“But there’s only the bear…” Retis said.
The woman called Zeris waved her leafy hand. “Easily solved if we authorize the Druids to induce a Force Shift.”
“Is she worth the investment?” Retis countered again.
The sleepy-eyed Kline nodded his huge head. “It would increase their chances tenfold.”
“Pardon me,” Jezebel said politely, and everyone turned to her. “What is a Force Shift?”
Channa gave her a pleasant smile and then answered.
“A magical procedure that could unlock a new shapeshifting form for your Druid Class.”
“What form is that?” Jezebel asked, tilting her head in both confusion and interest.
Kam Beanpod had remained quiet, but he was the one to spit out his answer as if the word held a foul taste on his leafy tongue.
“Centaur.”
Mark leaned forward. “You have the power to unlock new abilities without spending essence?”
“No,” Channa said. “We could do nothing for you or the others. But Jezebel is a Druid and a Shapeshifter. Other forms would eventually unlock for her at higher levels, and with the right components and guidance from Masters of the art, it’s possible to convince her body that the centaur form has been unlocked.”
“Your plan is still unclear,” Abby said. “What exactly do you want from us in exchange for the crystals?”