“Wait a sec,” I finally got my wits together. “What am I supposed to do now?”
He turned back to me. “You’re a free man now. Apart from your loan, you have no obligations to Reflex Bank whatsoever. Enjoy the game.”
I stood by the window admiring the sea view and replaying our conversation in my mind.
You’re a free man now...
You’re a free man now...
That was it. Mission accomplished. I was free. I could press the Logout button whenever I wanted to. I could go back to my family.
The sheer thought warmed me inside. But...
I couldn’t abandon the Red Owls. That would be just as sick as sacrificing them, only in a different manner.
I shouldn’t make any illusions about players, either. To them, every Caltean scalp had a price tag attached. Some of them were quite capable of slaughtering Caltean children wholesale.
“Very well, Sir Olgerd,” I muttered. “Is it Plan B, then?”
* * *
The moment I walked out of the virtual office, I noticed that the camp was strangely quiet. Almost deserted, in fact. The sentries were still on the walls, but not a commander in sight. No sergeants, no captains... actually, no adults at all. Where was Droy? Pritus? What on earth was going on?
With a weak cry, a young archer on the wall came tumbling down a ladder, counting all the rungs with his spine in the process. He scrambled up off the ground and darted toward me, his eyes wide open with horror.
He ran blindly, repeatedly stumbling and falling, before he reached me. Gasping for air, he kept opening his mouth like a grounded fish, struggling to speak.
“Keeper! They... you know... over there... it’s-”
“Calm down, boy,” I said, trying to sound composed. I was about to explode myself. “Take a deep breath... like this... good. Now report.”
He obeyed my instructions, then began to explain,
“All the adults are gone. They told me to say good-bye to you for them.”
My back erupted in a cold sweat. “Gone where?”
“Over there,” he pointed at the quiet camp. “They went to see the dead Keeper.”
I left him and dashed for the door to Brutville Halls.
I just prayed I wasn’t too late.
What the hell were they up to?
Women and children crowded around the open hatch. Some were crying. Others stood silent, as if frozen.
Some of them saw me. Hope filled their eyes.
What on earth was going on here?!
I dove into the hatch and flew through the tunnel. I popped out of it like a champagne cork and galloped down the hall praying they hadn’t done anything stupid. Faster.... faster...
The Caltean warriors stood with their backs to me. They hadn’t noticed me yet. This looked like the entire Caltean army: adult warriors, young men and quite a few women too.
All of my commanders stood motionless next to the Obelisk. Laosh froze with his head bowed low, listening to the Keeper’s ghost.
“Am I interrupting something?” I yelled sarcastically.
All heads turned to me.
I looked into their faces. My friends, my brothers in arms. They preserved a grim silence. Some averted their stares; others glared defiantly back.
Whispers ran riot.
“Ah, here’s your Keeper!” Brolgerd faked a welcoming smile.
“Shut up!” I snapped, striding through the parting crowd toward Droy. “What’s going on here?”
“Can’t you see?” Droy replied calmly. “He told us that our lives would be enough to charge the crystal.”
I crossed my arms. “Ah-ha.”
“Olgerd, you need to understand,” Laosh cut in. “This is the only solution. The horde is almost upon us. The united armies of Dark and Light will be here any day. We can’t defeat them. What we can do is offer a voluntary sacrifice. If we feed the Obelisk, it’ll protect the others. Our children will live. Otherwise we have no future. The old Keeper promised us-”
I looked around me. “Let’s listen to what others have to say.”
“Please don’t stop us,” Pike said calmly. “We must do this.”
“The enemy’s too strong and too numerous,” Badwar growled. “There’s no way we can defeat them. Had it only been the horde, no one would have contemplated this. But each human warrior, either Dark or Light, is worth ten Calteans. Neither the Brocks nor the city walls can stop them. I’d much rather die in battle but that’s too easy. Too irresponsible toward my children.”
“If we die in battle, we won’t be saving anyone,” Lavena added. “But if we die here, we’ll provide the others with the protection they need. We’ll give them life.”
The ghost was beaming like a Cheshire cat. What a lunatic.
“Is this what you all think?” I strained my voice, looking over the crowd.
“We do.”
“Yes.”
“Sure.”
“And me in turn, I give you my word — the word of the City Keeper — that your families will live!” the dead Master Brolgerd shrieked, his eyes glowing.
“The word of the City Keeper?” I snapped. “I’ve already believed a few. One wanted me to come here running — but as it turned out, he was a bit economical with the truth! Two more abandoned us in the deserted city, leaving us to fend for ourselves amid all the ruins and desolation! And now you — and what did you offer me the moment you saw me? You wanted me to sacrifice my friends!”
I was adlibbing my head off. I could only imagine the admins scratching their heads in front of their computers.
“My friends!” I shouted, adding a note of remorse to my voice. “This is all my fault! I led you into a trap! No wonder your ancestors nicknamed this place the Forbidden City! All I can say is that I trusted those so-called City Keepers! I thought I could revive the Obelisk on my own! Had I managed to do so, we’d have all been safe now!”
“Don’t blame yourself, my friend,” Droy thundered. “Had it not been for you, many of us would have been rotting in the ground a long time ago! You were the only one who offered us the chance to survive!”
The throne room echoed with cheers.
“But knowing you,” Droy added with a cunning squint, “you’ve probably already come up with something, haven’t you?”
Chuckles ran through the crowd. Smiles of hope lit up some of the faces: the hope that they just might avoid the slaughter.
“You could say so,” I replied.
“Speak up!”
“Tell us!”
Their voices rang with newfound optimism.
This felt like a déjà vu. This was how they’d cheered me by the fire when I’d first suggested we went to the Ennan City.
With one difference. Today I wasn’t obeying anyone’s instructions. No one was offering me prompts telling me where to go. Today, I was choosing my own path.
“Okay, okay!” I raised my hands in the air to quieten them down. “I have a suggestion to make. I’m telling you straight off it’s not gonna be easy!”
“Is it better that being slaughtered here like cattle?” Orman shouted.
“Oh, absolutely!”
“Then tell us!”
“Speak up!”
“As you all know, I went on a bit of a recon. I needed to find out how close our enemies were. I saw the horde and the united armies! But that wasn’t all!”
“What else did you see?” Laosh said in a fallen voice.
I looked at him. “Shaman, we’ve both been wrong, you and I. This place will never become a new Caltean home. If anything, it’ll become our grave. But I know of a place where there’re no Nocteans! The warriors of neither Light nor Dark can reach it! And what’s even better, there’re no loony Keeper ghosts there!”
“Yes, please!” someone shouted. “Where is it?”
The crowd’s thunderous laughter shattered Brutville Halls.
I peered at their severe faces. They were all ready to follow me to hell and back if need
s be.
“I suggest we go and reclaim your old home! We’re going back to Silver Mountain Valley!”
Chapter Twenty-Four
I STILL SMILE REMEMBERING the commotion that went up in the crowd when I’d said that.
The cheers! As you might have guessed, the Calteans had promptly forgotten all about mass sacrifices. Or psychopathic ghosts. Both the “Keeper” and even the very entrance to the Brutville Halls had immediately been consigned to oblivion.
The camp dissolved into a flurry of packing up.
We’d cleared the Armory and loaded all its contents onto sledges. The Brocks, the glaive throwers and the trebuchet would have to be taken apart and packed into crates. We’d have to do that last thing before leaving.
The death of the Noctean “puppeteer” had bought us some downtime. According to my calculations, we had less than forty-eight hours until the horde arrived. Still, it gave us plenty of headstart.
We didn’t even consider the smaller Noctean groups. They were no danger to us. They’d previously engaged us in battle a couple of times but that was nothing compared to what we’d already suffered. It was such a good job we’d managed to kill both Shaggy and his Kerook. Had the Nocteans had a half-decent leader now, we wouldn’t have had it so easy.
Droy had appointed a cavalry commander: Bevan the Raven, a sinewy black-bearded guy, one of those who’d descended with us to the West Grotto to fight the king of Thorn Rats. Apparently, Bevan was one of the Wolves’ best. Droy must have set his sights on him there and then, so now he’d entrusted him with the command of two hundred riders.
Finally, my third scroll had come in handy. The V-Formation, remember, the one I’d received with my Commander General’s rank? It allowed you to organize heavy riders in a, well, V-formation. They would attack the enemy followed by light riders — mainly archers — who would finish off those who’d survived the first wave. Also, the formation had bonuses to damage, strength and speed.
(Later, we’d have a chance to see the V-Formation in action when a small Noctean group attacked our returning caravan. You can’t forget that sight in a hurry, I tell you. Even the Calteans themselves couldn’t believe their eyes.)
Now as they were busy packing, I checked all the remaining nooks and crannies in the city in the hope of finding something worth my while. No such luck. The admins had run out of freebies.
Still, I wasn’t too upset. We had plenty of stuff as it was. The siege machines were a treasure in themselves. Now we had enough protection wherever we went.
We left the city early in the morning. We broke camp properly and walked unhurriedly under the heavy escort of our riders and footmen. I’d activated all of my buffs, too. Just in case, you know.
I had mixed feelings about leaving Twilight Castle. On one hand, it was a shame I hadn’t completed the quest. Activating the Obelisk might have given us loads of various bonuses. And whenever I looked back at the long path we’d traveled to get here, I almost kicked myself.
But on the other hand, whenever I looked at the unfinished wall and the clumsy lump of tree trunks and bits of steel we’d proudly called the city gates, and at the black ruins sticking out of the snow like rotten teeth, I felt a huge relief. I was tired of being a pawn in somebody else’s game.
At least now I was my own master.
I took the caravan along the northern side of the mountain range that led all the way to Silver Mountain Valley. I called this route the Northern Way. True, it meant we had to make a dog’s leg — but it was worth it. The Noctean horde was moving toward us along the range’s southern side. None of us was really looking forward to meeting them.
On the second day of our journey, I received a pompous system message telling me that the Nocteans had taken Twilight Castle, therefore I’d failed my mission and had been stripped of my proud title of City Keeper. Immediately, the bunch of the keys to the city and the page of Arwein’s notes disappeared from my bag.
That was it. All the tails had been docked.
Strangely enough, I kept all the trade route maps and city plans. Apparently, they weren’t part of the quest.
On the tenth day of our journey, I decided to take Boris and go have a quick look at the city.
What I saw there left me speechless. The entire valley had been scorched. There were no Nocteans left there anymore. Apparently, the clans of Light and Dark had already made quick work of them and were now busy slaughtering each other. I couldn’t have made a better decision.
Nobody had activated the Twilight Obelisk. It looked like this place was going to attract greedy stares for a long time still.
Good. I just hoped it stayed that way.
* * *
The morning sun enveloped the valley and the surrounding cliffs in its warm sparkling veil. Its touch melted the snow which ran away in hundreds of little rivulets, hurrying away from home to see new uncharted lands.
The cliffs, fed up with the winter chill, offered their flanks to the warm sunrays. The spring walked across the valley, her soft green footsteps awakening the frozen earth from its hibernation.
“Silver Mountain Valley starts behind that forest over there,” I told Droy who was standing next to me. “We’re almost there.”
“Oh yes,” Droy replied, peering at the dark depths of the forest. “The Rock Wood. I’ve never seen it so close before. But I’ve heard so many legends and ballads about it...”
I chuckled. “You and your ballads! If I listened to you, the Red Owls would sing them all day long.”
He grinned, then continued in a much more serious tone. “I suggest we set up camp here. Everybody’s tired; they need a break. Three days of rest might do it. You could take Boris for a quick spin, just to check out the area.”
I nodded. “Good idea.”
It had been twenty days since we’d left Ennan City. I wouldn’t say it had been a walk in the park — quite the opposite, in fact. Still, our little exodus had proven very productive.
Every now and again, our caravan had aggroed some very impressive mobs, all of them levels 400+. I was curious to see what kind of creatures inhabited the North of No-Man’s Lands. As soon as we arrived and began settling down in Silver Mountain Valley, I might take Boris on a recon mission to those parts of the world.
Apart from fighting off mobs, we’d managed to loot five mini-instances. I’d made level 300 in the last one — a nice round number.
I’d long overgrown my current gear. My bag was packed to the brim with loot. I also had new pages available in my Book of Blueprints. Now I could make a 30-strong colony of ants and a spider which could spin cobweb traps. But to do all that, I needed more materials.
The Owls weren’t too far behind. They were long ready to advance to the next development level. So I could use a break, really. It was high time I saw my old friend Rrhorgus. He was probably wondering what the hell had happened to me.
* * *
“To tell you the truth, I’m so happy it worked out the way it did,” Rrhorgus said pensively after I’d finished telling him my story. “I was very worried about your relationship with the players’ clans. Both of the Light and the Dark. And now it looks like they have more important things to worry about.”
“You could say that. I sent you the footage. You’ll see what they’ve turned the valley into. It’s like a nuclear bomb site.”
“Talking about which,” he perked up. “You know that your videos are trending, don’t you? That girl’s channel has made it to the Top 100.”
“I’ve just sent her more of them. Lots of interesting stuff there. You’re gonna love them.”
“I’m sure I will. She must be very happy.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know who’ll be happier, her or myself.”
Rrhorgus’ green Dwandish mug grew long with amazement. “Why?”
“When I came back and checked my inbox, I saw a few letters from her as well as some money transfer reports. Apparently, she kept sending me my cut for the viewings.”
“Apparently. Talking about which, I have something to send you too,” I forwarded him his share of the gold I’d farmed in both the grotto and the city treasury.
He stared at me open-mouthed. “Where did you get this from?”
“Just looted the city a bit. Was I a Keeper or just a pretty face?”
“That’s the way to do it!” he rubbed his hands, then added, raising a meaningful finger, “Loot is an important factor in our emotional security!”
“Don’t give me that shrink stuff,” I said.
“Come on, don’t drag it out! Where is it?”
“It’s right here, man!”
As I produced last month’s pickings out of the bag, I thought he might need emergency resuscitation. All the bones, fangs, animal pelts, weapons, armor, crystals, materials, stones and elixirs... I had no idea my bag could fit so much!
“And finally, this,” I said triumphantly, producing a small pile of steel pieces.
They clattered onto the table with a dull glint.
“Is this what I think it is?” Rrhorgus wheezed, near unconscious.
I really should have been more careful. I only had one best friend. “It is,” I nodded. “Field Altar fragments. Four ‘red’ ones and five ‘purple’ ones. One ‘purple’ one is ready to be assembled.”
In actual fact, it was the Kerook that had dropped one of the “red” fragments. All the rest we’d farmed in the mini-instances on our way back to Silver Mountain Valley.
“You have any idea how much it costs?” Rrhorgus whispered, his shaking hands fumbling with the pieces.
“And this is only the beginning,” I told him.
“So while the players are busy at each other’s throats trying to claim Ennan city, you moved on. And? What are you planning to do there?”
“Oh, whatever. A new settlement. A city. A country, maybe?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
SPRING WAS on a roll. The sun shared its heat generously with even the darkest corners of Rock Wood. The birds exchanged the latest news in cascades of happy twittering. The first buds covered tree branches, promising to soon unfold into gentle green leaves.
The Twilight Obelisk (Mirror World Book #4) LitRPG series Page 24