Irrelevant Jack 2

by Prax Venter

  Her intense, angry stare made him think she was giving up for a moment, but then Jack noticed a strange flash originate from Haylee’s eyes, and when he felt his muscles turn to from liquid steel to over-taut rubber bands, he remembered the Dark Prism had a second ability Path.

  Jack found it hard to look away as the little girl with curly brown hair jogged up to point-blank range. He could still move, but it was as if he were on the moon, or underwater, and every action took twice as long to accomplish. He attempted to jump sideways as she drew back her Floor 1 bow, but the Dark Prism tracked him easily this time and hit him center mass with a Light Ray.

  Jack -7 | HP 348/355

  It stung like the worst sunburn ever- but only for a moment.

  The glee from how powerful she was going to be when she became a better shot was enough to keep his spirits high as she pelted him again and again. He checked the gray eye icon up near the yellow sword in a square status effect.

  Withering Stare - [ Movement speed reduced by 50% | 00:00:17]

  ~ How dare you…

  Haylee ran out of Mana quickly after combining both of her abilities, and despite getting hit many more times than he intended, Jack was grinning like a fool.

  “Well done,” he said as he approached the winded, young Hero. He remembered how drained he felt the first time he expelled all his Mana lighting Kron on fire with his Mining Laser.

  “I’ll be the judge of how well she’s done, Mayor!” Harrak yelled from outside the ring. “Her strategy is sound, but her aim is worse than a drunk trying not to piss on his shoes.”

  Jack brought his brows down, but Harrak gave him a “this is what you wanted” look in response. The Combat Master then turned his steady gaze up to the Wall. “Irun! Get down here and show this unique, magic archer how to hit something, will you?”

  “You got it, Harrak!”

  The woman Jack recognized from her previous Fishing role immediately jumped off the two-story-high pile of stones and tucked into a roll as she landed. He was impressed.

  Jack reached out and took Haylee by her tiny shoulder.

  “Listen to these people and master the bow, because tomorrow is the real thing, and your enemies will be firing back at you.”

  She looked deep into his eyes and nodded. The fire to be the best she could be had been lit. Confidence out here under the skies of her home- that was easy. Facing the infinite madness of the Tower was something else entirely, and he hoped she would be ready to face it.

  Jack heard Kron and Harrak quietly arguing about something he couldn’t quite make out. His job with Haylee done, he stepped out of the ring and nodded a greeting to Irun as she stepped in to take his place.

  He caught Kron say, “It’s for the good of Blackmoor, you old windbag,” before they both turned to face him.

  “Uh, what’s for the good of Blackmoor?”

  “Thymus,” Kron said, quietly.

  Harrak shook his head but remained quiet.

  Jack shifted back into full leadership mode. “What about him?”

  Harrak sighed. “Our iron-encased friend here thinks young Haylee could also use a few pointers from our cowardly Arcane Mage.”

  Jack was about to make his stance on the matter crystal-clear, but the Combat Master held up his huge hand. “And he’s bloody right, damn it. I’ll have him talk to the girl after she’s done with accuracy work.”

  Jack nodded. “Great. I trust you to do what’s right by Haylee- by all of us.”

  Lex’s father looked him dead in the eye. “He’s not settled in the brains, Jack. I can see it. I knew the man. The jittery old fool that had the gall to come back out of the Tower isn’t the same man who went in.”

  “No one would be the same man after what he went through,” Jack said sternly. “And from his perspective, neither are you. Help him, Harrak. You know what it’s like to fight in that twisting place of madness. You know how quickly everything can go ass up.” Jack stopped and shook his head. “Look, I’m starting to sound like a broken record-”

  The two men looked at each other, and Jack was certain they had no clue what he meant, but he was honestly tired of the whole conversation. He checked the Tower Clock interface with the slightest whim and found he had just over an hour before he needed meet to Lex for breakfast.

  “I’m done talking about it. I already said what I believe. Harrak, I trust you to do what’s right by all of us. Now, I need to go be Mayor really fast before stuffing food in my face and fighting Floors and Floors of monsters. You two have a great day now.”

  Jack shot them both a smirk and began jogging along the Wall toward the forest.

  - 15 -

  Jack didn’t really know what to expect as he approached the shadows of the forest within his beloved Town. Pan had left the Eye o’ the Storm with the new Lumberjack, Meri, and her son last night, and it appeared that the two quiet people were going to be fine together- despite the whole Marked for Violence thing. He didn’t expect Meri to be some type of serial killer, but if he did find Pan stabbed to death, he’d… he didn’t really know what he’d do.

  Jack’s brisk jog along the smooth stone blocks slowed as he wondered what people of System Sana were supposed to do when they were attacked by others. He angled his train of thought toward the AI linked to his mind.

  Alt answered immediately. “According to the way the code appears to be constructed, if an NPC is attacked, they have a window of time to defend themselves with no adverse consequences- up to and including ending the attacker’s life. The length of that window is based on numerous complicated factors that I won’t get into now, but if someone strikes first, or retaliates too late, they will acquire one of those Marks you saw. Every infraction adds a permanent 10% handicap to the existing stack.”

  “So, this Meri person must have either stabbed her husband in the heart with no provocation, or she was attacked first and waited too long to get her revenge?”

  He felt Alt shrug in his mind. “It’s a complicated virtual world out there. We may never know what really happened, but the only way to even approach the truth is to ask her about it.”

  By now, Jack was deep under the canopy of thick leaves, and he picked up the solid thunk of an axe echoing through the trees. He paused, listening for the origin of the metal-on-wood concussion, and as Jack quietly moved toward it, he wondered why there was only the sound of one person chopping if there were now supposed to be two Lumberjacks.

  He quickened his strides and called on what little stealth he had at his disposal before eventually seeing the woman with the Mark of Violence hacking away at a tree, her child playing in the roots nearby. She had removed the bulky cloak and now wore a thin white tank top and form-fitting pants made of some stretchy brown cloth. Jack also found that he was right about her build. Meri was one solid woman with biceps and thighs as big as Pan’s.

  Jack scanned the woods for any sign of the quiet fella but didn’t see him anywhere nearby. It was doubtful that she’d murdered him with an axe in front of her kid and then went right to chopping wood.

  But if she did kill him…

  He was Mayor now and this hypothetical situation was something he’d potentially have to deal with at some point. He supposed he could instruct everyone in Blackmoor to decline every trade window she opened, and eventually, starvation would-

  Jack’s thoughts broke clean off when he saw something huge moving through the trees. His first thought was Demon and moved to intercept it, but then the person he’d been searching for came stomping up to the woman and her boy.

  Jack quickly ducked back behind his tree.

  “I got us pancakes,” Pan said quietly from a good twenty feet away from her.

  “Hooray for pancakes!” Perix yelled, his high-pitched voice bouncing off all the trees. He didn’t wait for his mother and sprinted directly to the bashful Lumberjack’s side. Meri stared at the barrel-chested young man offering her breakfast for a few heartbeats, then nodded, a small smile tugging on the corn
er of her lips.

  “Thank you, Pan,” she said. “I’ve got room for three more cords of wood, then I’ll come join you two.”

  Pan nodded and turned to head to the Lumbermill, Meri’s son skipping and singing the praises of pancakes the whole way. Meri watched him go and let out a sigh of contentment as she turned her face upward toward the green leaves above. A stiff breeze from the ocean sent them all rustling, and their sound echoed the distant waves as if the sea were crashing above them.

  She went back to hacking away at the tree, and Jack realized for the first time that there were no stumps anywhere. Her axe hadn’t even damaged the tree she was striking with all her force. More videogame logic.

  Jack backed away quietly, confident that Meri was not going to murder Pan and resolute in the fact that he was no longer going to try and sneak through the forest from this direction ever again. He was the Mayor, damn it; he was just going to walk up the road from now on.

  Jack jogged through the Townsfolk homes and then down the stairs to the cove of Blackmoor. His intent was to check on the new Dock Master and see Captain Denig off, but the merchant had already set sail, and Harnal was also nowhere to be found. Jack rapped his knuckles on the wooden cabin attached to the empty dock a few times before giving up.

  With a sigh, Jack jogged back up to the upper level of Blackmoor to try and check in on Sol and the new additions to the Farm. Garl waved as he ran by, and Jack waved back, glad that whole Wharf situation was under competent control. He had about fifteen minutes to make a quick visit with Sol but stopped when he saw the Dock Master sitting on the edge of the fountain.

  “Where are all the Heroes, Mayor?” the older man called out.

  Jack walked up to the new Townsfolk and shrugged. “It’s just Lex and me for now. Going to power-level a new one tomorrow though. It’s exciting times around here.”

  “Only two? I find that hard to believe, given the current state of this seaside settlement.”

  “Yeah…” Jack said, letting out a big sigh. He had no energy for this new pain in his ass. “You go ahead and believe whatever makes you happy. All set with the Docks? Need anything you don’t have?”

  “Ships,” Harnal said. “Preferably with passengers and cargo to tax. Til then, suppose I’ll wait here and see for myself about the Heroes of Blackmoor Cove.”

  Jack turned and waved a hand over his shoulder. “Knock yourself out,” he said, then pushed himself into another brisk jog toward the Farm. It seemed like a few days ago that Ryea yanked him out of a peaceful sleep, but that had only been this morning. He eventually found the owlish man in the black judge’s robes on his knees near a row of sprouting crops.

  “Farmer Ryea says I’m looking for bugs that might or might not be chewing on the bean sprouts,” Sol said without looking up, “but I’m starting to believe there aren’t any such bugs.”

  Jack saw the rising sun reflect off the pale-white dome of the other man’s head and was reminded he had only a few minutes to spare. He decided to spend that precious little time silently helping Sol look for invisible bugs. After digging his fingers in the rich, sun-warmed dirt and taking a moment to catch his breath… he was glad he did. Maybe he’d try and take a day off from hacking, slashing, and looting once they had a nice surplus of Town Level to sit on.

  But today was not that day and his time mucking around in the dirt was over.

  Jack pushed himself to his feet and dusted off his knees. It was a pointless gesture. He knew his videogame items would be perfectly spotless by the time he reached the Inn.

  “Thank you, again,” the new farmhand said from behind him, and he turned to see Sol’s red-rimmed eyes staring up at him. “You’re a good man, Jack. We’re all lucky you fell out of the sky.”

  “I know you’re a good man too, Sol, with a heart filled with passion and a mind bursting with intelligence. Take your time and learn what wisdom you can from this quiet field.” Jack gave him a sad smile and turned to leave, careful not to crush the shoots of green life pushing their way up towards the sun.

  “Oh,” he added after a few steps, “Haylee will be with Harrak at the Wall all day today. She needs to learn what wisdom she can from that old windbag. We’ll take her in tomorrow, nice and slow.”

  Sol nodded but said nothing, never taking his large round eyes off Jack.

  A short sprint later, Jack yanked open the door to the Inn and found Lex and Demi staring at him.

  “You’re late,” the Innkeeper said, her silver eyebrows high and her arms crossed.

  “By like seconds!” Jack protested.

  Demi cracked a half smile and placed a Jack’s Egg Sandwich down onto the bar from thin air.

  “I’ll let it slide this time, Mayor...”

  Demi slipped behind her white eye curtain as Jack hopped up onto his normal stool next to the Bastion and just tried to catch his breath. He needed to clear his head and prepare himself for the madness of the Tower.

  Then Lex’s hand was on his thigh, and everything snapped into sharp focus.

  “Easy, my love,” she said, her liquid golden eyes grounding him in calm certainty. He placed his hand over hers. It was the first time either of them had used the L-word out loud.

  “It’s been a long day, my love,” he responded in kind, “and the hard part hasn’t even truly started.”

  She leaned in close to him, her straight blonde hair swinging against his shoulder. There she cupped her hand against his ear and whispered about what they would do together if they found a pleasant, sunny Floor to stop and rest. Her hot breath and her hotter words sent goosebumps down his neck, and suddenly, Jack wanted nothing more than to scarf down his sandwich and burn through the Floors as fast as they could.

  After breakfast, the two Heroes made their way toward the infinitely high Tower, its new dazzling ornaments and gemstones shining up to outer space. It looked like a glowing silver thread leading to heaven.

  “It honestly is only the two of you?” Harnal said, still waiting by the fountain. Lex hooked her arm through Jack’s, then answered.

  “All we honestly need is this man right here.” She gave the Dock Master a wink as they passed and entered the Tower without looking back.

  White brilliance encompassed everything before they both materialized on today’s Floor 1. Hundreds of hanging lanterns were what caught his eye first. The ground was a gently sloping plane of brown cobblestone covered in a dense forest of randomly placed old-timey streetlamps, all alight with candles. Above, a dazzling night sky hung over them with stars quietly twinkling in the blackness. The absence of wind or even the slightest breeze always felt abrupt after the cliffs of Blackmoor Cove.

  Jack locked eyes with Lex for a moment then summoned Alt and instantly turned him back into the metal dog from the day before.

  “Mind clearing the Floor for us?”

  The chrome canine nodded once before sprinting off into the lamp-lit darkness to find whatever monsters haunted this silent place. He sent his friend a mental burst of gratitude, and Alt nodded sagely in his mind.

  “This is one of the more beautiful ones,” the Bastion said, looping her arm back through his. “Bizarre, but peaceful.”

  Jack smiled and escorted Lex through Floor 1, slowly strolling under the dim glow of the lamppost forest.

  “Haylee is going to be powerful,” Jack said after a short while of silence. “And a good replacement for Thymus- that is, if she can learn to work with us as a team. Your father is hopefully hammering that into her head right now.”

  “We’ll show her how it’s done,” Lex said. “If she won’t listen, we’ll find someone who will.”

  He looked down on the pointed-eared blonde. When he had first met her, her golden eyes expressed more sadness than anything, and he’d clearly felt the worry and despair pulling her down. Now, she was always filled with hope and determination. Jack hoped he could keep her happy.

  “Good thing she doesn’t act like a kid,” Jack said, rubbing the back of his nec
k. “The girl is almost too smart- like her father.”

  The subject got Jack thinking about having kids of his own in this strange world. Being able to simply slap the ‘No thanks’ button and guarantee that there wouldn’t be any surprises was beyond convenient. Lex turned to look up at him and smiled.

  “I have no interest in having children for a very long time, if ever.”

  Jack’s eyebrows shot to the top of his head.

  “Were you just reading my mind?”

  She shook her head. “Don’t be ridiculous. I just know how your mind works.”

  “Give me a break,” Jack said, “this whole place is ridiculous. And I’m glad we are on the same page. No babies. Not with an epic, universe-wide destiny to fulfill.”

  They heard Alt howling at something in the distance, and Jack wondered what it was he’d just barked to death.

  “A faceless humanoid with gray skin,” the AI answered in his mind.

  “What do babies have to do with this?” Lex asked, an eyebrow cocked.

  “What… else would you give birth to?”

  Lex stopped and faced him. “Now this is something about your world I want to hear. No getting out of it this time like with the toiling chair.”

  “Toilet,” Jack corrected as he chuckled.

  Lex crossed her arms. “Please tell me how children are spawned in your world.”

  Jack took in a deep breath. How was he going to give “the talk” to this beautiful, non-biological being of pure energy standing in front of him?

  He emptied his lungs with a sigh and resolved to try the best he could.

  “Well, for one, there is no menu popping up asking if we want to procreate. That is left entirely to chance. Nine months after the uh, random seed is planted, a woman gives birth to an infant. I’m not getting into the gory details-”

  Lex’s hand shot to cover her small mouth. “There are gory details?”