by Jeff Sproul
Gella reached over and tapped at her gauntlet. "Thank you for the permissions and trusting me, even if you really have no choice in the matter," said Gella. "But I have very few troops. This fight is lost. I'm giving you the only hope you have of surviving this." With another press of her finger, a myriad of lights shot out from beneath the hovering crystal. Each beam encompassed a separate player, both hellions and paragons. One went around Gella, Laura, Chrono and Riley.
Then, the lights vanished, along with each player.
A couple seconds later, the crystal glimmered and disappeared in a flash of light.
Chapter 30: The Gilded
Riley found himself in the command room of some kind of ship. From the outside, it just looked like a crystal. On the inside, it was laid out with glass panels, glass terminals and other mostly-transparent materials. The glass had a pink hue to it, and there were purple and blue crystals that jutted out from the walls and other places. It didn't look like anything else that Riley had ever seen in Sigil Online. Because it didn't come from Sigil. It was from Mage World.
"I wish I had known what you were planning," said Gella, who stood in the center of the command room. She was facing Riley, Chrono, Laura and Aegis. The rest of The Crimson Alliance that had been underground were elsewhere on the ship. "We might've been able to help in some way. Well, at least, in a way that would've made a difference."
"You knew we were down there. Have you been monitoring us?" Riley asked.
"Monitoring the ongoings of Golem is essentially our primary goal," said Gella. "Secondary to that, we try to determine suitable candidates that can help us in our war on Golem.”
"Who are you, exactly?" Chrono asked.
Gella's arms crossed. Behind her was a video screen of the surrounding areas. The crystal ship soared through the sky.
"I'm Gella, the leader of The Gilded. We are a small group that broke off from The Goldbearers when we realized that things would only progressively get worse under Melissa and Gregory's leadership."
"Gregory?" Riley asked. "But I thought Melissa was the one in command? Gregory came to Sage and actually helped us with this plan."
Gella's brows lifted, as she then glanced to each of the players before her. "Gregory came to you…to offer help of some kind?" She shook her head and scoffed. "Then you were deceived. Gregory, above anyone else, wants Golem to survive and thrive."
"But he and Sage seemed to know each other," said Laura. "Sage said he used to be one of the officers."
"Sage?" Gella asked, her eyes wider now. "Sage is here?"
"Yeah, he's the leader of The Crimson Alliance. You didn't know this?" Laura questioned.
Gella shook her head. "We mostly utilize visual reconnaissance. We tried to keep hidden. We knew about your movements and those of Golem. But we didn't know the specifics of your hierarchy. If Sage is here, he would certainly be a boon in this fight. But I'm very confused as to how he would've trusted Gregory so readily."
"Why do you say that?" asked Chrono. "Sage is about as suspicious as anyone. What's with this Gregory person?"
Gella looked to Chrono and studied him for a moment. "Gregory and his wife, Patricia, were the two individuals that headed up Golem's research. Sage was an officer in charge of logistics within the Argoknights. Melissa was our war officer. She would acquire the materials that Gregory and Patricia needed. The guild leader at the time, Argo, was in charge, but he was mostly hands-off at that point. He had no great ambition and left that to the officers. I was one of the original few members of the Argoknights. But I never wanted to take command, especially since the current officers had been doing such a great job. Gregory and Patricia worked tirelessly together on Golem. It was their greatest achievement in that game, and even though Patricia was the one who put more time into it, it was technically a cooperative accomplishment for them. But…Patricia passed away in the real world. Gregory was devastated. As I'm sure anyone would be. But you see, it's that very reason that Gregory can't let Golem die. Gregory is like any other true gamer. He spends most of his life in virtual reality. His wife was no different. Gregory still misses her, but he sees her in their greatest accomplishment. Which is Golem. By nurturing Golem, he feels that he's carrying on his wife's legacy. I don't know how much of it is some sort of stupid honor thing to him, or if there's a greater psychological problem at work. But Gregory will never stop. He would never turn against Golem's survival. Melissa is no different. Her greed knows no bounds. She's tasted power and won't let it go. If Sage had stayed in the game, he might've held things together and prevented Melissa and Gregory's takeover. But…well, I doubt Sage has changed very much since then. He has his own ambitions and he probably thought that Golem would get out eventually and there'd be no stopping it. But who would have guessed that in time, all of these games would be linked together?"
"So we were deceived," said Chrono. "But if that was Gregory's plan—"
"What happened with Taurus and Thrash?" Laura cut in.
"I saw their retreat," said Gella. "We monitored the entire fight, but it took us a little time to get there. We don't quite have the resources for long-range teleports, or any real form of quick travel. This ship is more of a stealth and reconnaissance vessel, with short-range teleportation maneuverability. Mostly to evade traps, but in the case of earlier, also for teleporting underground." Gella then glanced away. "I've seen this before. This situation you just went through. I suppose Melissa and Gregory feel as though all their old tricks are new again, now that they're in another game."
"What do you mean?" Riley asked.
Gella sighed. "Gregory was sent to hang a carrot over your heads. The carrot being the intel on the gate. Which was true. But it's likely that Gregory also approached…who did you say they were?"
"Taurus and Thrash," said Laura.
"They were the leaders of your forces that retreated?" Gella asked.
Laura nodded.
"It's very possible that either Melissa or Gregory approached these two individuals. Perhaps she managed to corner them and threaten them. Or, she might've done the opposite. She might've offered them anything they wanted. Such as a part of her plans."
"A part of her plans?" Chrono asked. "But her plans entail the destruction of entire game worlds at the hands of Golem."
"Precisely," said Gella. "And it's incredibly profitable. It's made all of them rich. I don't know what sort of background Thrash and Taurus come from, but riches…power…influence over an entire game world? Do you think either of them might want these things?"
"Sounds exactly like Taurus," said Chrono.
"Thrash told me he's working two part-time jobs to make ends meet," said Riley. "He tends to sell what he can in Sigil. He has two kids and his wife is currently out of work."
"Then there you have it," said Gella. "I'm sure there are plenty of candidates that would accept Melissa's 'good will.' But she has to pick and choose her allies carefully. We still have someone inside her guild that feeds us information. But this friend of mine, who will remain nameless for their own safety, is only able to provide us so much. I meet this person in the real world, and that's the only place that we exchange information. We can only act on a small fraction of what my friend tells us. Otherwise, it might give away that we even have a spy. We knew that Melissa and Gregory were…scouting candidates, but we didn't know who they were targeting. Apparently, it was you."
"If that's true, then we have to get back to Crimson City," said Chrono. "We have to warn Sage. He has no idea what just happened."
"That's where we're going right now," said Gella. She stepped to the side and gestured to the view screen behind her. "We're about ten more minutes out. So unless any of you have a method of fast-travelling back there ahead of us, then we're going to have to wait."
"None of us," said Chrono, as he turned and glanced around the room. "And none of the players in your…cargo hold?"
"Yeah, they're in the hold right now," said Gella. "My second-in-command is fillin
g them all in, but with fewer details. She and I can hear each other right now, and she says everything's fine on her end with your remaining troops."
"But yeah, none of them have the ability to fast travel, or instant travel," said Chrono.
"Taurus did," Riley murmured.
Aegis spoke up. "And how much do you want to bet he's in Crimson City right now?"
"Sage would realize something is wrong," said Chrono. "Sage knows that Taurus wants to regain command. He hates that he's not in charge of everything. But as far as Thrash is concerned, that guy is mostly a follower. He goes where the wind takes him. He joined The Crimson Alliance because he felt that it'd make him some money and he could just let loose and fight all the time, which has mostly been true."
"They also have all those coalition forces," said Laura. "The coalition amounts to about one-third of their total forces."
"Well, Sage has never been able to trust the individual coalition leaders all that much," said Chrono. "They have their uses, they're good at defending and filling out the ranks. But their loyalty has always been questionable. It's why they were mostly used in defensive actions. But I'm sure they were happy to collect the dividend that was paid out." Chrono shook his head. "But…I'm sure Sage would suspect something is wrong. Especially if Taurus is back at the base. He might try and make some excuse, but Sage will be on his guard."
"Since we're laying everything out in the open here, what would Sage expect, if anyone were to turn traitor?" Riley asked.
"He definitely suspects that you guys would all join up together against him," said Chrono with a chuckle. "Makes a lot of sense for the paragon players to team up. He was really worried that you'd all backstab him when we were fighting The Vigilant in the first place. So he was relieved when you were simply happy to stay out of direct conflict with them. But aside from The Vigilant teaming up with The Bunker Brawlers, he has always been wary of Taurus. Moss was happy to be in the alliance. But Spinner was always a bit flaky. He suspected Taurus might team up with Spinner and a few of the coalition forces to threaten his rule. He didn't have any real opinion of Thrash, who has always been a reliable soldier."
"Is he prepared for something like this?" Laura asked. "We left our trap-makers and defensive players back in Crimson City. At least there's a few Vigilant and others back there."
"It will be very difficult for Sage to be removed from the HQ, if he suspects something is wrong," said Chrono.
"How does Taurus's teleportation power work?" Laura asked.
Chrono glanced over to her. "He teleports away, then falls like a meteor to the ground. He can't teleport anywhere that doesn't have line of sight on the sky. Which means that he can't actually teleport into the HQ. He has to appear outside of it."
"What if he goes to one of the outposts and teleports over? Or has Thrash teleport over, to throw Sage off?" Riley asked.
"Who knows?" Chrono grumbled. "He has a lot of defenses that are under his direct control and he can always run to the other dimension he hides in sometimes. It's just going to be a matter of what happens and when. We can speculate all day, but it won't do us any good. We need to get back to Crimson HQ."
"We're getting close," said Gella.
Their attention was drawn to the view screen again. They could see vestiges of the overall city as they neared it.
"How close do we need to be for you to teleport us down? Can we make a short-range teleport and get any closer?" Chrono asked.
"Those short-range teleports take a lot of materials, even for a small jump," said Gella. "We use them to get out of traps, mostly, so generally a last resort. We're going as fast as we can, and we'll place you down wherever you indicate. We have to be within one-hundred feet to use the teleport beams."
Gella tapped at her gauntlet and brought an intricate outline up. It was a lot like the rendered map that they were using down in the tunnels, but it was clearer and there was more color to it, instead of just outlines of things.
She stepped up to Chrono. "Just indicate where you want me to place you. Um…here, let me give you all something as well." She then used her other hand to tap at an unseen interface.
Chrono pointed to a spot that was relatively close to their HQ, without pointing to the exact location. "Here will be good."
"Alright," said Gella as four stick-like crystals appeared in her hand. She handed them out, one by one, to Laura, Aegis, Chrono and Riley. Despite Riley not being a guild leader, he was at the forefront of everything going on. Just take these," said Gella. "It's a communication crystal. If you're holding it, or if it's in your inventory, you can open a communication line with me."
"Will you still be in the area for a while? We might need to work with you to discover what's really going on," said Chrono.
Gella nodded. "We'll remain nearby. We're currently stealthed, so you won't see us up in the sky, but we'll be around."
"What's that?" Aegis asked, as she stepped forward and pointed to the viewscreen.
Everyone in the room turned and looked.
The viewscreen was displaying what was directly in front of the crystal vessel. They were nearing the section of the overall cityscape that belonged to The Crimson Alliance. Crimson City was technically always changing, with new territory gained or lost.
But despite the cityscape being the most expansive feature in the video feed, there was something else that was even more prominent.
A gold diamond-shaped object made of glass loomed above Crimson City. Its size was difficult to discern due to the distance, but it looked to be anywhere between six or ten stories tall. It had appeared out of nowhere, either through teleportation or uncloaking.
Gella stepped forward with wide eyes. "It's Melissa! She's rebuilt her fortress!"
"Fortress?" Riley asked. "Is that some sort of flying bastion then?"
"We're too late," Gella whispered.
Particles of light coalesced at the base point of the diamond-shaped fortress. The sun was in the sky, causing sunlight to gleam off the glass panels that made up the structure. The particles of light continued to gather as if they were being sucked into the exact point beneath the fortress.
"What's it doing?" Chrono asked. "Do we have any weapons? Can we fire on that thing?"
Gella shook her head. "We don't. We're not going to reach it in time before it can—"
Her words were cut off as a terrible wave of sound assaulted their ears. It was like a fog horn, but amplified sharply and so much more intensely. In that exact same instant, a gold colored beam shot from beneath the fortress and struck the heart of Crimson City.
Chapter 31: Devastation
Crimson City exploded in a blaze of light.
The viewscreen lit the entire room, causing them all to wince from the sheer amount of light.
Several seconds later, the ship shook and wavered in the sky, causing them all to reach for a firm hold on whatever they could.
The crystal ship rocked from the impact wave of the explosion, then gradually returned to normal.
The light on the screen was replaced by dust and debris being expelled from the site of the impact.
"What was that? Are we safe here?" Riley was the first to speak up.
"The shockwave didn't cause any damage to the ship," Gella replied as she gripped what looked to be some sort of crystal and glass terminal which she quickly tapped at. "We don't have any visibility and the dust and residual energy are preventing us from scanning the city."
"Do you think anything survived?" Laura asked as she stepped forward from one of the nearby walls she'd been holding onto.
"Melissa's fortress just used a level two-hundred spell," said Gella. "It's incredibly resource-intensive and as you can see, incredibly powerful. It's one of the most destructive spells in Mage World."
Riley looked over to Laura, then to Chrono. "Are we within range to try and call Sage?"
"We should be," said Chrono, as he gestured with his fingers. "Sage, can you hear us?"
Ril
ey watched him and glanced to his wrist. For a moment, he didn't realize what he was seeing. Then, he asked, "Chrono, where's your communication band? Don't you have one just like us?"
Chrono looked at his arm. "What the hell?"
"Riley, you don't have one either, and mine is gone too," said Laura.
"Same here," Aegis spoke up.
"Oh no. No no no no," Chrono repeated as he frantically pulled up his interface screen. He shook his head. "It's gone."
"What's gone?" Riley asked.
"The alliance. Crimson Alliance. All I have is a guild tab. There's no alliance tab. But…does that mean—"
"Sage is dead?" Riley asked with wide eyes. "But doesn't he have you or…someone, as a designated 'fall back' option, if something were to happen to him?"
Chrono shook his head. "No. Not even me. He had the alliance's permissions set to disband the entire alliance if anything happened to him. He didn't want anyone to take control if someone plotted to usurp him. And if any one or two guilds would've tried…then it would've been a power struggle."
"So it's all gone?" Riley asked. "The alliance is over?"
Chrono turned his head to Riley and nodded slowly. "We are…effectively, no longer allies. None of us are, outside our guilds. Sage is gone. He was the only bond keeping us working together."
"But what about Golem?" Riley was quick to mention. "We still have to fight Golem. We still have to figure out what Taurus and Thrash did."
Aegis glanced around, then spoke, "If the two of them were working with Melissa, then they probably knew the attack would happen, right? Unless Melissa wanted to obliterate all of them down in the city as well?"
"The worst possible scenario is that they didn't return to Crimson City and are still out there," said Laura. "My guess is that they're seizing all our outposts for themselves. Especially if they went for them while they were still in the alliance, and changed their permissions."
"That makes sense," said Chrono. "Taurus knows about all the outposts and how important each of them are. But…he would've needed the teleporter back at HQ to actually go and quickly spread to them. Without that, they’re going to have to go…I dunno, maybe scorpion back?"