by Skyler Grant
The onetime King and hero howled as sunlight bathed him, skin bursting into flames as he was consumed in fire.
Maria watched her father die for a second time. Collapsed on the floor herself, Maria tried to get to him, crawling along, but the shrieking of Silas continued.
Liara was looking dazed. No wonder, given the sudden transformation.
“Get them out here,” said the Bloodwitch to a woman I didn’t recognize.
The air shimmered in the telltale signs of a teleportation spell and we materialized back on the Vainglory. A second later the ship rocked violently as we were thrown from the deck and sent tumbling through the air.
The engines roared and we leveled out.
“They denied our access through the wards and booted us out. You okay?” Lea asked.
Maria wasn’t. Maria was wrenching sobs and struggling to breathe with the force of her crying. There wasn’t anything I could do there. I needed to focus elsewhere.
“Liara wasn’t feeling cooperative. Killed Leosi, although it got her transformed into her other aspect,” I said.
“Will it stick?” Lea asked.
I didn’t know. With the world in perpetual darkness I didn’t think so. The effects of that sunlight were probably temporary and we were on the other side of the shield.
“Hold here a few minutes. If Liara is changed she may allow us back through,” I said.
It didn’t happen. Yve used the time to pick Maria off the deck and took her below. I hoped she’d be able to help, they’d gotten along well enough when Yvera was a Goddess.
I needed to get through those shields, and if we achieved that, then I needed someone who could help take on Liara in a straight fight. The first part Elsora could handle, but the second wasn’t her style.
“Do you have a location for Diamond?” I asked.
Lea considered for a moment. “I can find her.”
“Do it.”
I wasn’t looking forward to trying to explain Elsora and the whole wedding thing, but Diamond would be the most able to help. She also might get Maria out of the line of fire.
When Maria stopped crying, she’d be out for blood.
Chapter 4
Sands stretched to the horizon when the Vainglory appeared in this new world. Below us was a palace of ornate crystal spires in various hues of glass. It was all sort of breathtakingly beautiful.
Lea lowered the Vainglory almost to the ground so that we could disembark. Yve was still comforting Maria and so it was just myself, Ashley, and Walt.
Diamond stepped out of the palace. She had what seemed a genuine tiger at her side, a massive cat padding along looking incredibly protective. Tiger was there as well. It was rather more than I’d ever seen of them. Diamond was nude but for a few strands of the stones named after her artfully draped around her form, and Tiger lacked even those.
“I thought for a moment it was Cobalt and I was expecting some catastrophe. I didn’t know you knew about Belmar,” Diamond said, flashing me a smile before giving Ashley a narrow-eyed look.
“Liam, ’sup? Nice armor man,” Tiger said.
“You two seem a little under-dressed,” I said.
“Don’t be a prude. It’s what the locals wear and we always dress to fit in. Is that a wedding ring?” Diamond asked.
Trust Diamond to be observant. It wasn’t the subject I wanted to lead with, but there it was.
Tiger lifted my hand to better display the ring and Diamond’s eyes if anything narrowed more than when she’d looked at Ashley.
“Yeah. I’ve got a story there,” I said.
“I bet. I see Ashley also used the dagger I strongly advised her against using—and I firmly warned you that I wouldn’t be cleaning up the consequences,” Diamond said.
Diamond might be naked, but she was sure making me feel like the one over-exposed.
“She did. We killed Veros, the God we were struggling to put down,” I said.
Diamond and Tiger shared a look, and Diamond sighed. “Let’s take things one catastrophe at a time. Why did you get married to some woman that clearly isn’t my mother—the murderous and vengeful Queen of the whole Universe to whom you were stupid enough to get engaged?”
I winced. This was going well.
“Would you believe the Queen of the Universe was actually more than a single person and I fell in love with one of the other bits and married her?” I asked.
Diamond closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Fuck.”
The giant cat by her side glared at me and growled.
“That isn’t the reaction I was expecting,” I said.
Diamond wasn’t smiling. “Did you expect me to recoil in shock? It’s a big and really weird universe, Liam. That must be why none of her reflections look like her.”
“They’re composites. That one I told you about before, Silver. I realized what was going on after meeting her,” I said.
“And instead of coming here and explaining what is going on to me, or to mother—to whom you were committed—you decide getting married is the right way to handle the situation. I’m your friend, Liam, and mother deserves better,” Diamond said.
I really must be a selfish asshole, because until this moment I’d never even given thought to the fact that this might hurt Diamond in some way. Ashera had seemed distant going into things, and in a way this was marrying her. That’s what I’d told myself. It didn’t seem nearly as believable now.
“You could have told me I was being an asshole,” I said to Ashley.
“Fuck you. I’m high on mass murder,” Ashley said.
Diamond’s eyes swiveled to her. “And one of your best friends. I get her being stupid, she was dealing with something tough, but you let her go ahead and use that dagger. It was your place to protect her from herself. You don’t even want to know what is happening with her aura right now.”
Right. This was me. King of a planet, bringer of autumn, heart of darkness, terrible friend.
“Can I make things right?” I asked.
Diamond made a sound that was half-laugh and half-growl of frustration.
“We’re still buds,” Tiger said, and then added after a moment, “Though I’m totally going to kick your ass one day because of Mom.”
“Thanks,” I said to Tiger. I think that was as good as I could hope for.
“Ashley—no, I’m sorry, but it is too big a problem and I have too much on my plate right now. But whatever is happening there, it’s really bad,” Diamond said.
Ashley seemed fine. A little giggly and in good spirits, but honestly it made for a nice change. Sure, the cause was a little grim, but I could handle it.
“Do you know how to begin?” Walt asked.
“I’ve got nothing for you there. I wish you’d listened. As for the surprisingly impressive knot that is your love life, this other mom, talk about her,” Diamond said.
“Her name is Elsora, I think you and Tiger have met her,” I said.
“Kind of short, very polite?” Tiger asked.
“That would be her,” I said.
“Subtle where Mother is blunt. Smart where Mother is strong. Avoiding the spotlight by having you sit in the throne while Mother hogs it every chance she gets,” Diamond said.
That all sounded about right.
“That is about it,” I said.
“You like them brainy. Who knew? If you’d have flirted a bit more you’d have found me way less complicated,” Diamond said, beginning to pace back and forth to the chiming of gemstones. “Darkness aligned, judging by your armor?”
“Right,” I said. I didn’t even address the other part of her comment, it seemed best. I was tangled up enough with the women of this family.
“What are you thinking?” Tiger asked.
“That it explains a lot. We’ve always wondered where Mom comes from,” Diamond said.
“You think other Mom came first?” Tiger asked.
“Darkness always precedes the light. Of course she did. The question
is why,” Diamond said.
“I think she wanted a challenge,” I said.
Diamond and Tiger gave simultaneous snorts.
“That sounds like Mom,” Tiger said.
“We’ve been around a really long time. Why is she just making herself known now?” Diamond asked.
I hadn’t thought of that. There were still so many pieces I didn’t have.
“Letting us get some practice rounds in?” Tiger asked.
“Possible,” Diamond said, and then spun back to face me. “Okay, here I go. I’m going to say some things and I don’t think you’re going to like them very much, but you are going to listen.”
“I’m listening,” I said.
Diamond nodded curtly. “Mom is a bitch, but she really is the light. Everything you know and that you’ve ever known exists only because she is there. Earth, the Twelfth Moon, Ashley—whatever weird, magical entity that is crawling around in Ashley. Mom didn’t create it all with her own hands, but every single little bit of it exists because she was first up and walking around.”
That was a lot to take in. I also didn’t believe it.
“I’ve heard the story of how she conquered the lands the Silver City was built on. Wouldn’t that mean something or someone was there first?” I asked.
“You’ve conquered kingdoms in games you played. Would they have existed, if not for you and those like you?” Diamond asked.
That was an example that worked for me.
“No,” I said.
“Exactly right. Mom is that important and the Silver City, too. Me, Tiger, all of us. You too now, a little bit. We’re all the real people that games keep getting made for. Yeah, the analogy is getting away from me, but you get some sense of what I’m saying?” Diamond asked, looking a little winded.
“I’m important,” Ashley said.
Diamond chose not to acknowledge that as she kept her eyes locked on me. “This other Mom you describe isn’t. Darkness doesn’t create, that isn’t in its nature. You want my advice? You want my advice as one of the smartest women you’ve ever met? You stay far away from Mom for the moment while I smooth things over, and when I call you bring a planet of fucking flowers and marry the woman you should have married in the first place.”
That wasn’t going to happen. Elsora was more than just some incarnation of destruction. I understood what Diamond was saying. When I’d first met Elsora in Castle Sardonis she was in a castle falling apart, filled with the dead, in a world gone savage and wild. Castle Sardonis still had the undead, but we also had people from around the world filling the halls. It wasn’t desolate and dying under our rule, it was flourishing.
I didn’t know the full extent of what Elsora had planned, but it wasn’t just blind love driving my actions. I trusted her and I believed in her. I was still coming to terms with just what being the villains of the story meant, but I believed in her.
“I still love your mother and I promise you, I want her to live and to be happy. I’ve made Elsora swear to that, whatever comes, but I’ve made my choice between them,” I said.
Diamond stared at me for a long moment with her lips pursed.
Tiger nudged her and nodded his head at Ashley. “We’re better friends than they know. Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Diamond said, and shot me a determined look. “We’ll find a way to save you from your own stupidity no matter how intent you are on sticking to it.”
“I don’t suppose that means you’d care to come with us to break through an incredibly powerful magical shield and fight one very pissed-off Queen of Pain?” I asked.
“Liara?” Tiger asked with a wince. “We met her too. Is it that important?”
“We’re trying to save Earth. It’s complicated.”
“If you’re taking her on, you’ll need the Right of Combat. We aren’t letting you anywhere near Mom until you’ve had a chance to apologize. The Nine aren’t going to be helpful. It will have to be Cobalt,” Diamond said.
“She ran away,” I said.
Diamond gestured and she and Tiger were suddenly dressed in tunics. “Not anywhere I can’t get to her. Let’s go.”
Chapter 5
The Vainglory was trying to shake itself apart. Time compression wasn’t something we’d had much direct experience with, but I understood the concept. Time moved at different rates in different parts of reality.
Cobalt had gone somewhere where years might pass for every day we experienced. I knew the ramifications of that—when she’d left Cobalt had been carrying my child.
Getting out of the line of fire had seemed smart. It gave the child a chance to grow up properly outside of danger. I wasn’t really ready to have a kid, not yet, much less one that would be full-grown, but I was about to do just that. At least, once the Vainglory could properly manage this transition.
Ashley settled in beside me at the rail and beamed me a smile. “Excited? I bet you are. I really thought you and Cobalt were going to wind up together for awhile.”
I’d thought about it a time or two, but we’d never had that deep a connection. Liking to kill together and fuck together was not the basis of a good relationship.
The air around the Vainglory gave a reverberating groan and green lightning filled the sky. We’d arrived. Below us stretched a city full of modern-looking buildings, with cars moving in the streets and a harbor with ships moored.
I guess she’d had enough of the medieval life in the Crucible Shard.
“Well well, what do we have here,” said a voice I didn’t recognize. I turned to face the source.
It was a woman somewhere in her mid-twenties. Pretty in a tight-fitting suit of red and yellow that hugged her every curve. A cape fluttered rather majestically in the air behind her.
We weren’t on the Crucible Shard, so I slipped on my glasses of Game Sight.
The Red Queen
Sarah Vijo was a petty criminal and pick-pocket when she picked the pocket of an archaeologist carrying the idol of Sangara. Now fused with the essence of an ancient mystical Queen she had the powers of super strength, flight, and the ability to generate low strength force fields.
Okay. Superheroes with sub-par back-stories. This is where Cobalt had decided to raise our child.
“Sarah. You seem lovely, truly. I’m looking for Cobalt,” I said.
The Red Queen gave me a jaunty grin. “You know my true identity. Men have died for less. You’ll do the same, but after I steal this ship of yours. If you’re looking for Captain Cobalt you won’t find her here.”
Captain Cobalt. Of course it was Captain Cobalt.
“Want me to tear her apart or are you two going to sleep together first?” Ashley asked brightly.
“Is this about that time with Sub-Arctica? That was one time,” said the Red Queen.
“Was it now,” said a man, flapping down to the deck. He had large black wings.
“Malevolent Crow. I’ve already claimed this prize,” said the Red Queen.
Light spun on deck and a hologram appeared of a balding man in a lab coat. “We came come up with some compromise.”
“If you can’t come in person, Professor Decay, you get no voice at all,” said Malevolent Crow.
Diamond stepped out on deck. I don’t know where she’d found the outfit, but it was skintight white, had thigh-high leather boots, a belt buckle with a D made completely of diamonds, and a cape that put the others to shame.
“Really?” I said.
“We dress to fit,” said Tiger, flipping through the air and arriving in a crouch. His outfit had black and orange stripes and a set of vicious-looking claws on each hand.
I decided the world had gone mad.
“New players on the scene?” said Professor Decay. “You aren’t in the database.”
“Princess Diamond and her companion, the Immortal Tiger. You’ll not have my ship,” Diamond said.
I looked to Ashley. Knowing her, a display of overwhelming violence was imminent. Instead her eyes were wide and she looked
awestruck. “I’m going to go find a cape. Don’t let them go anywhere!”
I couldn’t handle this new, more cheerful Ashley, not on top of everything else.
“My ship,” said a new voice I recognized at once. Cobalt. She appeared on deck, wearing a jetpack and a leather jacket adorned with a needless number of bronze studs. Beside her was a young woman whose features were all too familiar. One of the Nine.
“Cobalt, look out,” I said and drew Intemperance. The sword flamed to life.
The young woman took a combat stance.
“He isn’t a hostile Hope, although I understand the confusion. Evildoers, you are outnumbered. Is this a fight you wish to press?” Cobalt said, striking a pose.
It was all the most ridiculous sort of theater. I knew her, she could kill all of them before they realized what was happening. This play-acting wasn’t necessary.
The Professor’s hologram flickered out first. The remaining two villains shared a look and flew off.
“Put the sword away, civilian,” Hope said.
“Do it,” Cobalt said.
“You don’t understand, she’s one of the Nine. I don’t know what lies she has told you, but she is not a friend,” I said.
Diamond was sketching magical symbols in the air with a fingertip and after a few seconds said, “She is not one of the Nine. Sword away.”
“My daughter, Hope. I don’t know these Nine you’re speaking of, but it has nothing to do with me,” Cobalt said.
That sinking feeling again, the one I get in my stomach sometimes when things go really badly and reality has just chosen to beat the hell out of me—I was getting that now. I was getting my worst case of that ever.
It would have to wait. That was a talk to have later.
I sheathed Intemperance and Hope relaxed.
“Who are these people?” Hope asked.
“Diamond and Tiger are your aunt and uncle. The fellow that doesn’t know when to put away his sword is Liam, your father,” Cobalt said.
I didn’t know if Cobalt had ever told Hope about me—or if she just did. Hope ignored the other members of her new family to stare at me. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have a father you’d never met, who had missed your whole life, simply showing up one day. I think I’d hate me.