Eluna wishes to revive you. Do you Accept?
By my estimate, an eternity had gone by — but it had only been about forty seconds. That was how long it took for the system to process that our continent had a new god. Two in fact!
Stacey was already there, as was Plinto. The lifeless bodies of the Hermit, Geranika, the Emperor, the Dark Lord, Renox, and Kronos lay on the ground with pieces of Lait among them. Nashlazar and the two old men were covering the bodies with shrouds, demonstrating that even gods weren’t all powerful.
“It’s over, Shaman,” said Critchet, wearily taking a seat on the ground. “We failed to stop the Breach. But we have defanged the serpent and we shall have the chance to expel it once and for all from Barliona.”
“Critchet, will you tell me what the hell happened?” I basically began to shake the ancient orc, demanding the truth. “Why was good on the side of evil and vice versa?”
“Good…evil…These concepts are much too relative to rely on them. Consider this hypothetical: A lumberjack decides to fell a tree in order to heat his home and keep his family warm — when suddenly he is attacked by an angry orc. Where is evil here, where is good?”
“But it’s clear — the orc is evil and the man is good.”
“That’s from the perspective of the human. Look at it through the eyes of the orc. The soul of his family is implanted in that tree and in several years a cute baby orc will be born from its wood. Suddenly this man appears and seeks to cut down the orc’s child. What is evil here, what is good?”
“Erm…” I was at a loss.
“It’s the same story here. That which took place cannot be called good or evil. It simply took place.”
“Will you tell us how you managed to survive?” Anastaria sat down next to me.
“Honor your wife, Shaman! She is quite the rare one.” Critchet grinned before beginning his tale:
Once upon a time there was a Hunter named Karmadont, who wanted nothing but power. He sought it in various ways and came upon a servant of the Progenitor — the god of the Tarantulas. The children of this god had already populated Barliona, preparing the arrival of their god. A loyal servant of the Tarantulas, the father of the Vampire Patriarch persuaded Harrashess to conduct an experiment — to create a powerful weapon against the Progenitor. The Alabaster Throne. The brothers agreed, not suspecting the trap and as a result found themselves imprisoned in the Alabaster Throne. The Father of the Patriarch was killed by the Creator for his betrayal, but the Creator lacked the strength to fight the Progenitor. He decided to leave the throne alone. And at this point something happened that no one expected — Lait appeared in our world and with him the heart of the fallen god. As soon as the Ergreis appeared, it destroyed, or drove mad all the Tarantulas. The power locked in the Heart of the fallen god was so unbearable to the Tarantulas that they shriveled up as soon as they encountered it. The Creator sighed with relief and went off to gather his strength in order to free his children, leaving Lait to guard his throne.
But then Karmadont found the opportunity to lock the Creator inside the Tomb. Through his crafting he created a key, investing it with the essences of the greatest individuals of all the races. Barliona was left without a god. Here the Tarantula appeared and became the Vicegerent. The temporary god of Barliona.
Karmadont made a mistake while creating the prison for the Creator and found himself trapped in the Tomb. Along with the Ergreis — the item that continued to stave off the Tarantulas. The Ergreis did not have an effect on the demons, so it was decided to have them lead the invasion. As the rulers of their realms, the Emperor and the Dark Lord were aware of the coming invasion, but couldn’t do anything about it. They had become slaves of their respective thrones, which the ingenious Karmadont had created. Through these thrones, Karmadont controlled the Emperors, forcing them to do his bidding. The Emperor and the Dark Lord began to fight Karmadont’s influence, issuing orders to stop me, but in the end fought for the Tarantulas.
So began preparations for the second invasion. First, the Patriarch created the replica of the Alabaster Throne. Then, in order to allow the Tarantula’s main force to enter Barliona — the Shadows were harnessed. The Ergreis blocked the effects of the original throne, but it did not have enough power to curb the power of the replica. Darius and Critchet, the former Emperor and Dark Lord, decided to fight until the bitter end. A sentient was found who was holy enough to resist the power of the throne. This was an ordinary Shaman named Geranika. A sham assassination was arranged, a spectacle, after which Renox proclaimed the new rulers of Kartoss and Malabar outside of Beatwick. Darius and Critchet began to seek a means of blocking the power of the Alabaster Throne and a way to free the Creator, while Geranika did everything he could to mitigate the damage to Barliona. Geranika aimed his entire blow against the Free Citizens, who could return from the Gray Lands anyway — and it seemed like everything would work out. Until Mahan and his friends showed up.
“It looks like I’ll have to ascend to the throne of Kartoss yet again,” the orc concluded his tale. “It’s time to return your powers to you. It’s not your fault that Karmadont turned out to be stronger.”
Attention all players!
Have you had enough of stamping on one patch of ground you call a continent? An ancient enemy has breached Barliona seeking to enslave it. Let us stop this threat together! Everyone to the defense of Barliona!
Speak to the heads of your class to sign up. A new continent and new adventures await you!
Welcome to a brand new Barliona!
“He became the Keymaster after all,” Darius shook his head. “The Entrance is open. Mahan, permit me to take the scepter. It doesn’t do to have such items lying around Barliona…”
No sooner had I handed the scepter to the old man, than a strange notification appeared before me:
You shall be disconnected from the game in 30 seconds.
Excuse me?
“Despite our losses and our grief, we have managed to vanquish the Progenitor!” Eluna appeared beside us. “That alone is honor enough for our heroes! I know what Karmadont offered you, but you refused his offer and…”
“Stacey, I’m about to be disconnected. Something is broken. Accept the reward for me, please. I’ll try to re-enter as soon as I can.”
“Okay. Is it serious?”
“I don’t think so. Some kind of glitch maybe. The system seems to…”
The cocoon lid slid aside returning me to reality. I’ll need to check the uplink and…
My head exploded in a million pieces sending me to unconsciousness.
Chapter Fifteen. The Greater Evil
“You haven’t overdone it, have you?” A familiar voice said through the darkness.
“Not at all! He’s alive!” another voice replied in a chipper tone and I was struck by the disgusting and sharp smell of smelling salts. My brain cleared in a moment, snapping me back to reality.
I looked around. I had been here before. I had been rudely transported to the office of Victor Zavala, otherwise known as Ehkiller. The owner of the office sat in front of me in his favorite chair. And he did not seem pleased to see me.
“Victor,” I tried to reach my hand out to shake his and suddenly realized that I couldn’t do anything. My hands were tied behind my back!
“What is going on?!”
“Try asking yourself the same question,” Victor cut me off tersely. “What have you done?”
“I don’t understand…”
“What the hell did you launch the expansion for?!” Ehkiller exploded. It was about the first time I’d seen this person raise his voice. It took a lot to push him to this point. And I had done it — even though I had no idea how.
“Maybe you’ll explain what the hell you’re doing?!” I knew how to blow my lid too. Being tied to the chair didn’t mean that my mouth had to stay shut. That was their oversight.
“Mahan, you had a simple job to do: Follow my orders calmly and quietly instead of sticking you
r nose where you were explicitly ordered not to stick it,” Victor said in a cold voice full of anger. “You were not the one who was supposed to launch the expansion!”
“Your daughter launched it!”
“Why I couldn’t give a damn which one of you it was! You and she are two sides of the same coin!”
“Okay, maybe you’ll explain what’s happening now?” I yelled again. “The hell did you tie me to this stupid chair for?”
“Because it’s time to answer for everything you’ve caused, you idiot.” Even a viper would envy the amount of venom in Victor’s voice.
“All we did was launch the expansion,” I growled back angrily. “Who else was supposed to do it? Phoenix? Or maybe…not the Celestial?” Ehkiller twitched as if he’d been shocked and at the same moment all the puzzle pieces fell into place in my mind.
I’LL BE DAMNED! This simply couldn’t be! It wasn’t possible!
“So you’re behind all of it?” I said, shocked. If I’m right (and I’d give myself a 90% chance of being right), Victor is a terrifying person. Unprincipled, unconscionable and completely ruthless. I mean, is he even a human after all this?
“I am behind all of it,” Victor said calmly. “From the moment you entered our life to your imminent departure from it. You are no one! You are nothing! I created you and I will destroy you!”
Victor seemed so convincing in his wrath that the emerging picture grew sharper by the moment. I couldn’t contain a smirk — Ehkiller struck me as some spider spinning his web. Carefully, confidently, year after year — yet when a fly got trapped in it and, struggling to free itself, disrupted its delicate ornament, the spider had lost his temper.
“You think this is funny? Do tell, what’s making your soon-to-be-dead corpse grin so?”
“We’ll all be corpses sooner or later,” I remarked philosophically. “I’m simply amused be the scale of your plot. Let me guess — everything started when you realized that Anastaria can’t have children with ordinary people?”
“What would you know about that?” Victor interrupted in a rage, but since he didn’t go on, it was clear that I could continue.
“Maybe not a thing. The doctors suggested in vitro fertilization, but Stacey was opposed. She wanted a family, love and other things that woman want. This is when you came up with your plot. Correct?”
“Yes!” Victor hissed. “I will do everything I can for my family! Stacey wanted to be happy and she will be!”
“But at what price! You’ve killed so many people!”
“I couldn’t give a damn about them! Family is all anyone needs. You had a chance to become part of the family, but you blew it!”
I smirked again.
“A chance? I never had a chance. You never gave me one. Correct me if I get something wrong…”
The daughter of one of the wealthiest and most powerful men of the continent was ill. Hundreds of tests in all the labs of the world only reinforced one and the same sad fact: It would take a miracle for Anastaria to get pregnant. That, or in vitro fertilization, which the girl refused to do. The father refused to give up. In violation of all privacy laws, he had his men examine the medical records of all males who had ever entered Barliona — and a miracle happened. Several hundred men were discovered who could indeed make his daughter happy. Anastaria could have children with them. Victor rushed to his daughter with the good news, but right then she fell into a depression due to her breakup with Hellfire. The boy had wanted more, while Anastaria could not give it to him. Ehkiller was faced with a dilemma — either he could make his daughter happy here and now or give her the chance to earn her own happiness and live a fairy tale. The loving father won out. He decided to grant her the fairy tale. He had psychologists select ten candidates who were best fit to be husbands. Victor then revised their selections, carefully checking all ten and eliminating all but one. I was the last one remaining. Then a global plot was set in motion with the single goal of making Ehkiller’s daughter happy.
I was forced into the game and equipped with everything I needed to get out of the mines. Roxanne, a trusted accomplice of Ehkiller, with whom he’d already worked for several years, arranged everything perfectly — and an in-game competitor, Donotpunnik, was brought in as a patsy. The idea of making a ton of profit from this scheme caught Ehkiller’s attention, so much so that at times the main goal was put on the backburner.
All the game’s actors played their roles perfectly. Donotpunnik ended up in prison. Anastaria fell in love with me. I fell in love with her. And Victor made an immense amount of money from the Corporation. Happiness for all seemed right around the corner if it wasn’t for one ‘but’ — Roxanne.
“I went to her house,” I went on. “I met her husband. He’s crazy about the East. Alexander Vecchi loves his dragons. The question occurs — where did he get this obsession from? Where had he seen it all? The answer is simple — he as well as Roxanne lived in the East for a long time.”
Roxanne turned out to be a woman with a secret. She worked for Bihan. The old fox did not want his partner to die, but he could not refuse being the first in everything, including the launching of a new expansion. He was simply incapable of it. Victor received an ultimatum — either he reigns in his daughter and her uppity husband, or all the info that Roxanne had carefully amassed about Ehkiller will find its way to the police. Nothing personal, you see, it was only business.
Victor agreed to allow Bihan onto the continent. The two made a deal and Victor lobbied the Corporation to put up the Original status as a reward for the tournament winner. Then he told us off and stepped back into the shadows. When it came to the conflict of interests between the two in-game clans, Phoenix was the weaker one. So Victor had to back off and accept Bihan’s will.
There were some details, however. Among them, Mahan and Anastaria. Ignoring all orders, requests and threats, they managed to launch the scenario. Bihan was enraged — it turned out that the gods of the continent where the final battle of the scenario would take place, would become the gods of all of Barliona and the head of the Celestial Empire really wanted to launch the expansion on his territory. It didn’t happen.
Victor received another ultimatum — either I would be punished, or the information about Ehkiller’s plot would be handed to the Corporation. People were sent after me, in an attempt to interrupt the final battle, but they only reached our place after everything was decided. The only way to pull me out of the game was through the disconnect button, since the cables were all tucked away in the wall now, and these extra 30 seconds had been enough for me to receive the scenario’s rewards. I was knocked unconscious, tied up and brought to Victor.
“And here I am,” I concluded my monologue. “Sitting across from the man who raised me from my lowly state — awaiting his decision.”
“It’s too bad…” Victor said after a minute of dead silence. “It’s too bad, Daniel, that you did not heed my advice. I cannot permit you the luxury of prison. You have given me no other choice. Security!”
An enormous guard the size of a wardrobe emerged from the shadows.
“Daniel is very tired. He wishes to rest. Ensure he does so. Quickly and painlessly. Kill him!”
I looked on as the guard reached for his handgun and leveled it at me. This is it! The Shaman fairy tale has come to an end.
When suddenly…
“Victor Zavala! You are under arrest for suspicion of organizing a criminal enterprise and the attempted murder of Daniel Mahan. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”
Epilogue
“And what are we supposed to do now?” Alex sat down next to me and watched the EMTs cover Victor’s body and load it into the ambulance. The spider’s heart had given out.
“Nothing,” I answered calmly. “Nothing at all.”
“I spent three years getting one of my men into Victor’s organization! Three years on this operation which you almost ruined two months
ago and which you completely ruined just now!”
“Alex, what’s the point of this? Evil has been punished. There he is, dead as a doornail. What else do you want?”
“Justice.”
“What justice? He’s dead. Do you understand? Dead! Isn’t that some degree of justice?”
“What are you getting at?” Alex frowned.
“That if we unwind this whole thing to its logical end and bring it to light, Anastaria will discover the truth. I’m getting at the fact that I’m merely a carefully selected partner for her. You don’t need to see the future to know how she’ll react to this news. She’ll follow in her father’s footsteps! Everything she believed turned out to be a lie! I’m sure your brainiacs have already considered all the outcomes. Are you going to lock her in a nuthouse with her hands tied so she can’t hurt herself? Is that the justice you’re looking for?”
“No…”
A silence followed. I had nothing to suggest to Alex. Everything depended on him now, but he remained stubbornly silent.
“And you’re ready to come to terms with the role you’ve been given?” Alex asked suddenly.
“I love her. More than my own life. I’m ready to forget what I know, to process it and go on living, if it’ll make her happy. The Phoenix must arise from the ashes, whatever happens to her. That’s my decision.”
“It’s yours all right. No one can argue with you…Okay. I will help you…”
From the Barliona News Network:
“Victor Zavala, one of the best players of Barliona died suddenly yesterday. He was 56. Mr. Zavala founded and led an enormous Barliona clan known as ‘Phoenix.’ The Barliona Corporation wishes to express its sincere condolences to his family, to which Mr. Zavala was a true support and a caring father. Mr. Zavala’s eternal memory shall forever be cherished by the Barliona community!”
Somewhere in the vast reaches of the Celestial Empire:
“Master, the Ergreis has been destroyed!” Azari bowed deeply before Bihan. “I have confirmed that Mahan has transferred the power of this crystal to his gods.”
Clans War Page 38