by Rick Scott
“What about using it to get around the mountains?” Rembrandt says and he uses his finger to trace an arc through the wild to our west that reenters the safe zone at where the Vale of Sorrows is. “Won’t that be faster?”
Blacktop ponders it a moment. “I guess. Might take you less than half a day, but, it is the wild you’re talking about here. Way more dangerous than the mountains. But yeah if you want an express lane, there you go.”
I’m not so sure about that option.
“What about a city?” I ask. “Is there one between here and the Vale?”
“Just before the mountains. Three days north of here. The human city of Stormwall. But the two women might have a problem there.”
“Why?” Gilly says. “Are they sexist pigs there or something?”
Blacktop chuckles. “Probably. But that’s not what’s going to give you trouble. Their king, Braxus, is at odds with the wood elf clans to the east as well as the giants of the mountain clans to the north. He’s a bit of a prick.” He then studies Gilly and Val Helena, his HUD lighting up within his eyes. “You’re both half-bloods though. The girl might be able to pass if she keeps her ears covered. As for Ms. Giantess however…?” He just laughs.
“It’s all right.” Val Helena shrugs her big shoulders. “I’ve been through there before, but I never experienced anything out of sorts. What do mean ‘at odds’?”
“Some treaty that was broken a few months back. But it’s a big city,” Rembrandt says. “Maybe fifty thousand people. So long as you’re in and out quickly, it shouldn’t be much bother. Maybe some mild harassment at most.”
“We’d just need gear for myself and Gilly,” I say. “Do you think we could find it there?”
“For the mage, definitely. For you…maybe.”
Guess that’s better than nothing.
“So we’re going over the mountains then?” I ask looking around the table.
“Well it’s faster than going around and safer than the wild,” Gilly says. “So, sounds like it to me.”
“I agree.” Val Helena nods.
“Good,” Maxis says. “The sooner we get there and get it over with the better.”
I scowl at my brother. “Hey, easy man. This is her best friend, you know?”
“I understand that,” he says with a sigh. “I just don’t want us to forget the primary mission here. We still need to save Citadel. And I want us to start thinking about how we’re going to find it too. As you saw, even the node that spawned for Lakota was dead.”
“I mentioned to your companions earlier,” Blacktop says. “Your best bet for that might be talking to the royal cartographers in Iron Forge. Those dwarfs must have come across it at some point.”
Crap, I forgot about that.
Maxis mulls it over. “Yeah maybe. That could be our next destination after the Vale. The Ice Peak mountain range is to the East from there about a week’s travel.”
I feel bad again. I could probably say something about the mines right now, but now definitely is not the right time. Not with what Maxis just said. He’d surly want to head there first. After we help Val Helena, I think. That’s when I’ll tell him.
And bear his wrath in the process. That also reminds me to check on that Wayfaring Stone again and telling Gilly about it.
I send her a PM.
Me: Hey, I got something to tell you. Let’s go outside for a minute.
Gilly: Okay! (:
“Hey guys we’re popping outside for some fresh air,” I say as we both stand.
My brother gives me a suspicious look and for a second I fear he might know I’m trying to hide something from him. But then I get a PM.
Maxis: Remember. Respectable.
I merely laugh as I roll my eyes. And then I jerk my head toward Val Helena.
Me: You too bro! ;D
* * *
“So what’s up?” Gilly asks once we’re outside the common hall.
“I want to check out this Wayfaring Stone,” I say as we head down the small path behind the hall. “I got the same weird error message from touching the stone that spawned at Lakota as when I touched that column down in the mines. I want to see if this one has it too.”
“What are you thinking?” Gilly asks.
I shrug. “Rembrandt says that in the tech worlds the AI’s are a lot more transparent about what this stuff really is. Here it’s all magic, but maybe if we can find out what this error code means, we can find some way to fix it.”
“Ah,” Gilly says. “That’s good thinking.”
The sound of the crowd dies down as we finally reach the stone. The moonlight illuminates it at the center of a ring of small stones and when I touch it, the same error message occurs.
[Node Terminal 52AE: NULL_ERROR_541]
“Yup,” I say. “Different node number but same error.”
“Null Error 541?” Gilly says as she touches it as well. “I guess if we could find out what the 541 stands for it might tell us something.”
“That’s very good intuition.”
My heart jumps at the unknown voice.
Your awareness increases by 0.2
Both Gilly and I turn about to see Wilbur standing behind us. “Whoa! You snuck right up on us, Wilbur.”
He lets out a chuckle. “Tell me, what are your intentions here, Shard Warriors?”
His question takes me a bit off guard. “What do you mean, Wilbur?”
“I mean, why have you come here? To this world. What do you hope to gain?”
I share a glance with Gilly. I suppose I haven’t really told Wilbur our overall mission yet. “Um… to save our world back home, I guess. We need to take these nano shards there. But for right now we’re just focused on saving Val’s friend. She’s stuck in that labyrinth place in the Vale of Sorrows.”
“So you intend to enter the Labyrinth of Onizoso?”
“Yeah, we have to.”
“I see.” Wilbur pauses a moment in thought and then looks back to me. “How many are you? In your city?”
“About a million,” Gilly says. “And we’re all going to die soon if we don’t get back there with nano to save them.”
“And with the Wayfaring Stones not functioning, how do you intend to get the nano back?”
“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Gilly says. “That’s what we were talking about at the table. We have to find it physically somehow.”
“I see. Well I hope you find it.” He then smiles. “Good luck to you, Shard Warriors. Especially at the Vale.”
My skin prickles as he turns and walks away. Something doesn’t seem right. I focus on him a moment.
Name: Wilbur
Level: 35
Class: Villager (Elder)
“Hey, Wilbur, how’s the progress coming on that Windmill?”
He pauses a moment, looking over his shoulder at me. “I’ll check on it for you. Good night.”
My heart jumps into my throat.
What the heck…
My skin goes from prickling to crawling as I watch him disappears into the night.
“Whoa,” Gilly says. “Wilbur was asking some weird questions, huh?”
My blood runs cold as my skin goes numb.
“That wasn’t Wilbur,” I say, my heart still pounding. “I don’t know who that was.”
Chapter 17: Gina
Bruce Peters stopped short when he saw the petite woman standing on the observation deck ahead of him. He released a sigh. It would have to be her. It was Friday morning and he was hoping to get into the office ahead of Dennis and do some admin before the software engineer dug into him with more gloom and doom about the nano shortage.
But now he had something even worse to content with.
Gina Roberts.
Mike and Ryan’s mother.
His pulse quickened and he nearly turned about to leave, but she caught sight of him and gave him a frown. Too late to run now. Bruce plastered on a pleasant smile and approached her like he wasn’t the one respo
nsible for her two sons being on the surface. The evidence however was already on display. Through the picture glass window of the observation lounge, two stasis chambers hung side by side. The resemblance of the two Roberts boys within them was undeniable.
He’d been dreading this encounter for days. But it was inevitable perhaps. Once the Non-Disclosure Agreement was signed, affected citizens were given free access to the facility to see their family members. Running into her was only a matter of time. Best to just get it over and done with. A quick hello. A goodbye. No more.
“Hi,” he extended his hand in greeting, still feeling much like a heel. “I’m Bruce Peters.”
She kept her arms folded as she continued to stare through the window. “Yes. I know who you are.”
His skin flushed hot with embarrassment and anxiety. The dismissal seemed more than the usually disdain he received from a visitors. Did she know something? The truth? Had her husband told her? Mark Roberts had been sworn to secrecy, same as Mike, but, this was his wife after all. He might have said something.
Bruce had known of this woman for years, but until now he had never truly met her. Never wanted to really. Too much guilt. And looking at her only reminded him of the hardships this poor woman must have endured over the years. He was almost ashamed to admit that she was still quite attractive, despite her drawn face and thin frame that was bundled in a long overcoat. It was the eyes. As brilliant blue as both her sons.
“Yes, of course you do,” Bruce said, withdrawing his hand. “How can I help you? Ms…?”
“Roberts,” she said. “And you can help by getting my sons out of those damn boxes.”
Now I see where Mike gets the attitude. “I apologize. We’re doing the best we can. Synaptic overload is still something we’re trying to understand. Recovery can take a few weeks, but being in stasis is the very best state for them right now.”
She frowned. “Do you even remember my husband?”
Panic tightened his stomach, but years of being a public figure had trained him well to let nothing show on his face when he lied: “I don’t think I do. Should I?”
Her eyes said it all. A look of deep resentment and accusation. “He mentioned you worked together some years ago.”
If that’s all she knew then maybe she didn’t know much at all. Bruce pressed another smile. “I see. Perhaps if I saw a picture of him or something.”
Gina Roberts lifted her chin towards the stasis pods beyond the glass. “You got two pictures of him sitting right there.”
Bruce chuckled and pretended to examine their faces like he was seeing them for the first time. “Ah… perhaps.”
“Look at the younger one. You should recognize him. He’s been to your house.”
Dear Lord, yes! How could he have forgotten that!
Bruce played up his acting skills with a double take. “Why…oh my, yes! That’s Jill’s friend. Ryan, I believe. My daughter. She invited him over a few days ago. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t aware of the connection.”
Gina Roberts smirked. Was she seeing straight through him? If she was, she had the steel to not let it affect her demeanor any. “I’m surprised she didn’t mention it to you. Not seeing him.”
Even his politician’s veil was beginning to slip. What was he going to tell her? Another lie? That Gilly simply forgot to mention her friend not appearing for days? That she wasn’t up on the surface, trapped with him? Then suddenly his heart melted and he was taken in a sudden sob that was all too real. Oh my God…Gilly!
Gina turned to him startled and then furrowed her brow at him perplexed. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m sorry,” he said, collecting himself. Damn it, I’m falling apart here! “My daughter…She’s in stasis too. My little girl. It must have happened at the same time.”
“I see,” Gina said.
He looked back to her with blurred vision, tears welling within his eyes. He didn’t know what to expect to see coming back from her. Pity? Vehemence? Kinship? Indifference?
“Sorry to hear that,” she said coolly, revealing nothing. “Let’s hope both our children recover quickly.”
Was that it?
But there was a knowing behind her piercing blue eyes. Just how much though, he wasn’t sure. Perhaps not enough to accuse him of anything outright, but enough to know he had something to do with it. Something to do with both her husband and now her two sons. A responsibility for which he needed to be held to account.
Or perhaps that was his own conscience speaking.
She pulled a handkerchief from her coat and began hacking loudly into it, turning away from him to lean against the window as a coughing fit took hold. It was a hellish sound to endure. A wet, gurgling cough that left her handkerchief stained with crimson. But she didn’t make much effort to hide it.
Yet another accusation perhaps. But maybe one he could make amends for now. He did promise Mike he would authorize his mother’s treatment, whether he was successful or not. Of course it wouldn’t matter if Mike wasn’t. Nothing would. They’d all be dead. But maybe this one act could balance the karma he owed.
“Ah, your son did mention you were ill. Perhaps there is something I could do to help.”
Her blue eyes squinted. “I don’t need your charity, Peters.”
The words struck like knives.
“Just do your job and give me back my sons.”
And with that she walked past him and left him alone in the observation lounge.
Chapter 18: Type_Unknown
“So who do you think it was?”
I give Val Helena a shrug when she asks me the question. It’s late night now and the villagers have cleared out of the common hall, leaving just our team plus Blacktop huddled around the main table. I watch each of their faces as they react to my recount of what happened with Wilbur. Or who I thought was Wilbur. Maxis seems skeptical, the rest contemplative.
“You sure about this?” Maxis says. “About what you saw?”
“I saw it too,” Gilly says. “The guy looked just like Wilbur, sounded like him too, but didn’t really talk like him. If you know what I mean.”
“Well we never saw him leave the table, did we?” Rembrandt says. “So it definitely wasn’t the real him.”
“Could it have been a Builder?” Val Helena asks.
That’s the million-dollar question that’s been at the top of my list. But there was only one flaw to that theory. “But they’re supposed to be like gods, right? All seeing? All knowing? I was able to ask him a trick question that proved he wasn’t Wilbur. I wouldn’t think a Builder would fall for something like that.”
“Maybe it was Aiko then,” Gilly says.
I hadn’t thought of that yet. I look to Val Helena. “I don’t have a disguise skill like that. Does she?”
Val Helena shakes her head. “Trust me, I wouldn’t put anything past Aiko, but the conversation you described doesn’t sound like anything she’d say. Or ask about.”
I have to agree with her there. I look to Blacktop next. “What do you think, Blacktop? You’ve been here the longest. Can Builders just appear like that? Take on the form of other people?”
The old gnome stares into his mug of ale for a few moments, contemplating my question. “They can and they do. But not just for anything.”
“What do you mean?” Gilly asks.
“The Builder that controls this realm is known as Karlis. She’s worshipped as a goddess like most of the AIs are in the fantasy worlds. For all my years here, I’ve never had her appear to me. At least I don’t think so. But I have heard that she will appear if something threatens her domain. You remember that king guy I mentioned earlier? Braxus in Stormwall?”
“Yeah,” I say. “You said he was kind of a prick.”
Blacktop chuckles. “That he is. He’s also a player.”
“Really?” Gilly says. “He’s from the Shards?”
“Been here maybe a year,” Blacktop says. “Caused a lot of disruption taking over that city. I
believe Karlis herself intervened at some point to put the peace treaties in place with the neighboring non-human tribes. He was about to start a war with them and wipe them out. But he’s gone and broken the treaties now, so I’m not sure what that will mean. Who knows? Maybe she’ll appear again.”
“What’s this got to do with the Wilbur clone?” Maxis says.
“What I’m saying is, Karlis mostly leaves people from the Shards alone, unless you make some big disruption.”
Rembrandt nods. “Well I suppose killing the Goblin Queen and Lakota in quick succession could have raised an eyebrow.”
Blacktop shrugs. “Maybe. But if there was a quest attached to it, it pretty much means it’s sanctioned by her. Were there quests?”
I nod. “Yeah. For both.”
“I don’t know then,” Blacktop says. “Did anything else happen to you? Something unusual?”
My heart stops.
I share an inadvertent glance with Gilly, but look away quickly enough for no one to notice. I hope. I know I caught the attention of something down there in that cave. Could those giants be connected to this Karlis? I look up at Val Helena. If I mention all this now, there is no way, we’ll be helping her. Ah crap…I think I’ve got to lie again.
I shake my head. “Nothing I can think of.”
Gilly: You sure we shouldn’t just tell them now? ):
Her PM makes me second guess myself. But I’ve already said it.
Me: I think it might make things worse if we did.
I think…
“Well I’m proceeding with the assumption that it was a Builder,” Maxis says slamming down his mug. “And to me, that means it’s a threat.”
Uh oh…
“From here on we need to treat all NPCs as potentially hostile.”
“Wait,” Val Helena says. “If Reece was able to fool it, then how could it be a Builder? They’re supposed to be in control of everything. Maybe it was something else?”