War Aeternus 2: Sacrifices

by Charles Dean

  Your skill level in Golem Sculpting currently allows the making of one additional golem.

  The system notification appeared, answering his frustration instantly. Lee was so shocked by the news that he stopped mid-step and stared at the text, wide-eyed at the implication. Wait, system, I can use magic in this world too? I mean, I know you translate stuff for me here too . . . But can I use magic and level up here as well?

  The rules of this reality do not correspond to the rules of the great competition in perfect symmetry, but many forms of magic and abilities carry over due to the fact they are rooted in your own personal ability and nouveau-divinity status. To prevent cheating, experience gained in this reality will not be applied to your person until the end of the competition.

  Looking for clarification, he asked, So, wait . . . I could use most of my skills, but no matter how often I use them, it won’t let me level them?

  No, one may not advance existing skills in his original reality and then bring them back into the competition. This does not mean, however, that one cannot improve one’s reasoning and understanding about skills for the sake of advancing them faster within the competition. There is also the potential to acquire new skills in the original reality under special circumstances, but they cannot advance past Initiate.

  “Alright, fine, Lee. If you’re going to stand around like a zombie, we can get you some coffee too,” Wolfe said, throwing a hand on Lee’s shoulder and giving him a nudge forward. “You gotta snap out of it this morning, man. I swear, it’s like you’re not even here.”

  After what seemed like forever in the other world, constantly battling for survival--even more so now that he had a new career as a gladiator slave--Lee wonder if he really was there entirely. Part of him still felt like it wasn’t. “Ah, sorry.” Lee gave a light-hearted chuckle in return to Wolfe’s antics. “Just realized a problem with your plan.”

  “What’s that?” Wolfe asked, looking over at Lee.

  “The hot sauce at that damn place is terrible,” Lee answered, doing his best to return the silly go-out-and-have-fun mood Wolfe had established. “Let me grab a bottle.”

  “You trying to make me look bad by busting out your own hot sauce? Come on, let’s just get going. You’re going to embarrass me with that type of thinking,” Wolfe complained, giving Lee a slight shove on his back.

  Lee and Wolfe passed the time on the walk goofing off, and their loud and boisterous attitudes dominated most of the conversation. The girls quietly whispered stuff back and forth as they watched the shenanigans, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

  Lee was there in the moment, but he was still thinking about what the system had told him: that he could use magic. Even as they sat down and ordered, Lee couldn’t help but stare at the oranges the restaurant had placed in a bowl in front of him while Masha and Olga regaled Wolfe with tales of their joint charity work. Lee knew that Wolfe would be horrified by the idea of doing unpaid labor, and it was amusing to watch him feign interest in their story while hiding his true feelings.

  Hmm . . . Party tricks are my thing these days . . .

  A buzzing in his pocket brought him back to reality, and Lee quickly extricated his phone. He cringed when he saw the message from Wolfe that was waiting for him: ‘Hey bad wingman theres two of these girls. Theyre here for you. Do I have to do all the heavy lifting?’

  Wolfe texted Lee again in an incredibly stealthy way, so sneakily that Lee barely even noticed his friend’s hand movements under the table. “Not saying that i won’t. i’ll be happy to jump on a grenade for you -or both- let me know ahead of time so i can prepare myself for the sacrifice.”

  Lee looked over at him and then, without any of his friend’s subtlety, he punched Wolfe’s arm. What in the heck is wrong with you? You know these are my friends, you bastard! Lee shook his head.

  “Owe! What was that for?” Wolfe protested as the table went quiet.

  “You know what you did,” Lee said, tapping on his phone.

  “I . . . I’m not doing punch-bets with you in the future again,” Wolfe replied, quickly covering up the indiscretion and covering for Lee at the same time, so he wouldn’t rat him out to the ladies.

  Lee interjected before Olga could carry on talking about the volunteer work. “You know, actually, I was just thinking . . .”

  “You been doing that a lot lately. You should stop. It’s not healthy,” Wolfe said. “Unless you got something on your mind we can help you with? Is it work related? They giving you a hard time at the office again?”

  “No, no, it’s not that,” Lee said, picking up an orange and tossing it in his hand. Might as well get some practice here, right? “I just was thinking . . . Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to use the juice?”

  “You just want to drink the champagne straight?” Masha asked, voicing the conclusion the other two were probably jumping to as well.

  “No, I still want a mimosa, but I just would like a fresher one, you know?” Lee stood up and went to find the bar, returning a few moments later with an unopened bottle of champagne.

  Wolfe’s eyes followed the bottle. “What are you up to now? I mean, if you just wanted to drink straight champagne, you could at least have gotten a better brand.”

  Well, I might have, but considering I have no idea what this will do to the champagne, that probably isn’t the best idea. “Actually, I’m being cheap since it’s not just the girls here. I would have gotten them a nicer bottle, but I was worried you’d drink it all first.”

  “Hey! That’s . . . only half true. I’d only drink half the bottle,” Wolfe protested.

  Masha followed up with one of the prettiest smiles Lee had seen in a while. “So, you would be willing to buy me a nice bottle of liquor?”

  “Sure. What’s your drink?” Lee asked as he sat down, grabbing and dragging the entire bowl of oranges to his side of the table.

  “I’m . . . I know it’s a stereotype, but I like vodka actually,” she answered. “It really hits the spot well if you pair it with some delicious pirozhki. I can actually make you some sometime if you like. You will see. It’s a great combination.”

  “Really? That sounds nice. I’ve never actually had pirozhki before.” Lee placed the champagne bottle down next to the orange bowl. “If you’re offering to make some for me, there’s no way I won’t take you up on that.”

  Olga gave Masha a mischievous wink. “Great, sounds like a date then. I shall act as the witness, and neither of you two is allowed to back out.”

  “Hey! Foul! I call foul!” Wolfe shouted as loudly as he could while still using an indoor voice. “None of that talking in Russian, and . . . Wait, Lee, when the hell did you even learn Russian? How come you never told me you knew it? What’s going on here? Are you actually a robot replacing my friend? Is that what all the quiet stares into nothing are lately? You’re experiencing glitches?”

  “Hey, they aren’t glitches,” Lee said, laying a napkin over both the champagne bottle and the oranges. “I told you exactly what I was thinking about. I was thinking about having a delicious mimosa with fresh oranges.”

  “And what are you going to do? Hocus pocus the two together under the sheet?” Wolfe asked.

  Lee smiled, actually happy for the setup. “Actually, it is kind of a magic trick, isn’t it?” he asked, lifting the cloth up so they could see the unopened bottle and the oranges still separated before placing the sheet back on top. “You see, watch my hands.” He placed one hand on the cloth covering the bottle and the other napkin covering the oranges. “I’m not doing anything funny now, am I? You can all see both my hands, can’t you?”

  Masha, Olga and Wolfe all nodded, each focused on Lee’s hands as they tried to figure out what he was up to. Lee used his spirit to try and craft the two together, attempting to mix the oranges into the bottle without opening it. Using his spirit in this world felt weird, but it wasn’t so strange that he didn’t also know exactly what he was doing. Sure enough, just as he had mad
e countless dishes before in the other world, he was able to use his spirit to mix the essence of the oranges into the champagne bottle. What he hadn’t accounted for, however, was that the ratio of orange juice to champagne was much higher than the very tiny bit of leftover space in the unopened champagne bottle allowed for, and it left him with quite a predicament.

  Well, the bowl for the oranges isn’t exactly going to leak, right? Lee looked at it questioningly, double-checking to make sure how big it actually was. Ah, perfect. With that, he continued mixing the oranges with the champagne, but he split the mimosa into two parts: one went into the bottle, completely filling it, and the other went into the orange bowl along with the two remaining unused fruits.

  “Hmm . . .” Lee mused.

  “What? You got us sitting here in anticipation for nothing, didn’t you?” Wolfe asked as he reached over for the cloth. “Just give up the charade.”

  “In the month or so I’ve known him, I don’t think I’ve ever known Lee to be the type to lie,” Masha said before Wolfe could yank the sheet away.

  “That’s because you don’t know him like I do. He always likes to--” Wolfe pulled the sheet away, and he went quiet. He just stared at the unopened champagne bottle, now colored orange, and a bowl with only two fruits filled over halfway with the same drink.

  “Leave his talkative friend speechless?” Olga smiled as if his befuddlement was a win for her and as if she had done it herself. “Yes, he seems quite good at that.”

  “How did you do that?” Masha asked, reaching a finger out and putting it in the mimosa, only to retract it and give it a taste. “You’re amazing. I mean . . . That’s amazing. How did you do that?”

  “Yeah, what she asked. How did you pull that off?” Wolfe asked in amazement. He grabbed the bottle and popped the top before pouring it into his empty water glass.

  “Well?” Lee asked, waiting for his loudmouthed buddy to give it a try. Wolfe sipped the glass a moment later and then downed the entire thing.

  “What the hell, man? I don’t know what’s more impressive, you speaking Russian or you learning how to make this drink. How is this a regular mimosa? This is amazing. This is delicious. This is divine. I swear, if I could make these, I would be the king of all brunch menus! I would be the BRUNCH LORD EMPEROR!” Wolfe went to pour himself another cup only to have the bottle snatched by Masha.

  “You men should learn the importance of treating the lady first,” she scolded as she poured a cup for Olga and then herself. “Don’t be so selfish. It’s brutish.”

  Watching his friend get lectured caused Lee to chuckle quite a bit.

  “Yes, Wolfe. You should learn to treat a lady properly,” Lee said, repeating her sentiment and rubbing salt into the wound. Wolfe, no longer holding the bottle, instead scooped a cup of it from the orange bowl.

  “So, are you just not going to tell us how you did that?” Wolfe asked.

  “Nope.” Lee noticed that their waiter had been watching them the entire time he was doing his little trick. The guy was likely just as curious why someone who had ordered unlimited mimosas would also order a separate bottle of champagne, especially at the price they charged per bottle. “But I am going to show you how to make this breakfast absolutely amazing, so watch me here,” he said, raising his hand.

  “Yeah, excuse me, can you add an extra plate of bacon to each of our orders?” Lee asked as if the event never happened.

  “Uhh . . .” The waiter seemed to have lost his ability to speak. It was obvious that he was curious about what Lee created and that he desperately wanted to try it, but Lee knew that neither Wolfe nor either of the ladies would share a drop.

  “You’re right: one won’t do. Let’s have two plates. I forgot how little bacon they give you when you order it in a restaurant.” Lee nodded as if the waiter’s lost speech was a coherent sentence chastising the petite nature of a single order.

  Wolfe facepalmed when he realized that Lee wasn’t actually performing another trick but just ordering bacon. “I swear, when you die, it’s going to be because I stabbed you over some nonsense like this.”

  Olga, unlike the others, actually spoke up to defend Lee. She said, “If he doesn’t want to say how the act is done, don’t pester him. You should know that magicians are very secretive.”

  “I just didn’t realize how secretive. Not even telling your own blood that you have this talent?” Wolfe pouted in an overly-exaggerated fashion as he quickly finished off another one of the magic mimosas and went for a third.

  Lee shook his head. “But we’re not blood-related. Come on, stop kidding around and enjoy your drinks.”

  “We could be. You don’t know that. What if we have the same dad?”

  “I’m fairly confident that’s not the case.” Lee chuckled, making obvious gestures at the clear skin, hair, eye and ear shape differences between him and Wolfe. “Absolutely positive.”

  Wolfe shrugged. “Your loss. Anyway, what’s next on the agenda for today after brunch? It’s not often we got a full crew together at the start of a day.”

  “Popcorn,” Masha said, her face turning red as she tightly clenched her now empty glass of alcohol.

  “Popcorn?” Lee raised an eyebrow at the suggestion.

  Olga looked over at her friend, her own face sharing Lee’s confusion. Then a second later, she nodded and placed a hand on Masha’s arm. “What I think Masha wanted to say was that it would probably be a fun idea to go to a movie after this.”

  “Nnn.” Masha nodded. “I had wanted to see that new video-game-style movie, Awaken Online.”

  “Really? Awaken Online?” Lee tried to remember what the plot to that movie was. He knew everyone had loved it, but he seemed to remember it being out for a while. “You don’t mean Ascend Online, do you? That’s the new one if I’m not mistaken. Isn’t that the one in theaters right now?”

  Olga whipped out her phone and pulled up an app with movie listings. “Seems they’re both still in theaters, so we can see them back-to-back if we take our time here and don’t leave for an hour. Sound good to everyone?”

  Okay, just today. I’ll let today slide, and then I need to get back to saving the . . . other world, whatever it’s called. “That sounds great, and we can buy Masha some popcorn.” Lee gave Masha a warm smile as he lifted up his drink and toasted to the rest of them. “To a well-planned day of being lazy bums.”

  “Well . . .” Wolfe looked at his watch. “I was going to say that I had a raid planned, but screw it. I’ve been wanting to see those movies forever, but last time I went out, I got dragged to that stupid Bathroom Knight movie. I have no idea why in the hell they spent so much of their time and money and CG on the fight sequences but still couldn’t get the damn flap to not flash me during the start of the film. Seriously . . . too much for my eyes.”

  Remembering that he had already accidentally flashed Wolfe this morning too, Lee couldn’t help but snicker at his friend’s protest. “I think you meant The Bathrobe Knight. But, well, maybe if you stopped abusing spare-key privileges, you wouldn’t be suffering from so many bad memories.”

  “Whatever. Anyway, do you have any other tricks?” Wolfe asked.

  “Well, I got one more.” Lee glanced down at the unused fork next to where the waiter had yet to put a plate of food. “But . . . before I can show it to you, I’m going to need something in return.” Lee’s mouth moved, and the words came out before he could stop himself. He was so used to proselytizing that the sentence escaped him the moment he was asked to perform a trick.

  “Oh, my!” Wolfe faked a prudish English accent as he covered his mouth. “He’s going straight for the demands, I see.”

  “No, no. I seriously need something from you guys first.” Lee quickly thought of a way to cover up his proselytizing slip. “I need you all to give me your forks, and after I’m done with this trick, go steal some more from the waiter.”

  “Our . . . our forks?” Olga asked curiously as she handed hers over.

&nbs
p; “Yeah, sorry about this. Now, I’m also going to need you guys to name a ridiculous animal,” Lee said as he took the forks from his three friends.

  “Well . . . how about a tortoise?” Masha suggested. “They seem silly.”

  “Ah, good. Then the last step is that I need you three to keep your eyes closed for forty minutes while I go to the store and buy the props I need.” Lee laughed as he covered the forks with his napkin and placed his hand on top of them. Let’s see how this works. The forks shouldn’t be more than thirty grams, so I should have enough mana since four will only eat 12% of my bar. Now, maybe I can improve my understanding of the method of smithing even if I can’t improve the skill itself. He was about to focus on them the same way he had been at first, but he quickly realized that he was going to run into a problem. If he followed the same method he had previously used to shape things, he would have trouble actually arranging them into finer, more delicate shapes. When he had crafted glass, it had been easy to make things like a cup, a giant dome, a shield or a sword. They were very simple items with very simple shapes, so pushing the spirit through to shape them wasn’t difficult.

  This time, however, he wanted to do something more. He stared at Masha, and while he pushed the spirit into the forks, he let the spirit move on its own instead of trying to shape them right away. He focused on Masha’s face while imagining the image of a fat tortoise. The more he thought about them, the more he was able to let his mind fill in details of the image. Slowly but surely, it became increasingly precise, and he was able to feel his spirit moving underneath his hands inside the metal clump of erstwhile forks. His instincts to take hold of the process and put in extra effort or interfere kept trying to take over, but he pushed aside the urges and just let his mind do the rest of the work. Sure enough, even though he hadn’t seen the finished product, he knew that the result was better than if he had mentally tried to control every motion of the shaping process. Unfortunately, the process left him feeling more drained than he had anticipated.