“Plus bonuses from loot and resources,” Hung added. “Ten percent, same as for the other senior founding officers.”
“And she turned down the hundred million?”
“You don’t know Tissa too well after all,” the warrior chuckled. “She doesn’t care about luxury…”
“Huh,” I muttered. “What about the White Amazons? Not luxury?”
“We couldn’t guarantee anything for her back then. But now she’ll have enough and plenty to spare,” Ed continued, and he looked like he believed it. I was having trouble, though. Photos from that island flashed up before my eyes, images of Tissa and Liam embracing.
“You said yourselves that Melissa got so carried away with her new life that she almost stopped talking to us. What makes you think that won’t happen again?”
“Well, she’s been through some shit with the preventers now and realized she’s expendable to them,” Hung answered. “The problem with her dad is solved now. She has enough money for a comfortable life, so she’s choosing her friends and her home clan. If it makes you feel better to think that she doesn’t give a damn about us, that she’s just choosing stability, then think that.”
“Anyway, Tissa agreed to our offer, but with one condition,” Ed added. “We have to forgive Malik. She’s angry at him for stealing too, but…” He stopped, sighed and shook his head. “Damn it, Alex, he doesn’t have anyone but us! Don’t you see that? We’ve been friends with him since we were kids!”
“He’ll have to earn our trust again, of course,” Hung noted. “Consider his rep with us to be mistrust.”
“And what stopped you from telling me this right after I got back?” I asked, yawning. My anger and hurt had ebbed, leaving behind tiredness and desolation. I badly needed sleep. “Did the Sleeping God forbid it? Or is there something else I don’t know?”
“Tissa told us the condition when you were at the awards ceremony.” Seeing that I was thawing, Ed perked up, added emotion to his words. “Right after we visited Behemoth for advice, and he recommended that we take it easy on Infect. Something about how he’s still yet to show his full value to the Awoken and the Sleepers.”
“The security officers said a harsh punishment would only make Malik stop thinking of us as friends, and sooner or later that’ll backfire on us. Willy suggested that we take drastic measures and just wipe his memory of the last few months, but…”
“No, that’s too much,” I said, shrugging uneasily.
Modern medicine could delete the memories of assault victims who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder – with their consent, of course. Sometimes, those suffering from unrequited love asked for their memories to be cleansed, but the brain is a complex machine, its secrets still unknown, so there were always side effects. One might forget not only one’s desires, but also memories, skills. It was like losing a part of your personality. After a memory cleanse, many became people were changed forever.
I said nothing for some time, thinking over what I’d heard. There was no reason not to believe my friends; I could easily verify what they’d said, and quickly too – after talking to Flaygray and Nega, I planned to go see Behemoth. But I didn’t want to let this open disregard for my opinion go unchecked either.
“Alright,” I said. “Let the council’s decision stand. Hang out with Tissa and Infect yourselves, I don’t care if they’re here or not. But I won’t be taking part in any powerleveling for now. I think I’m going to stick to playing solo until I finish off the Destroying Plague.”
The boys sighed in relief, relaxed. My hands itched to use Wheel of Fortune on Infect, to give him the punishment he deserved, but the long cooldown made me forget the idea. Oh, how I missed Despot!
“We’ve all been playing solo anyway,” Bomber said, stretching. “Crawler’s building his Magic Tower and administrating the clan, I’ve been doing Orthokon’s quests.”
“I’ll happily hand over the ‘administration’ to you, Scyth. You can take away my right to sign stuff and make important decisions. But be ready to spend all your time on that and nothing else. And if you still don’t trust Tissa and Infect, then we can track their movements with Search of the Fellow Believer and keep an eye on them,” Crawler concluded.
“Let’s just agree not to throw any shitshows like that again. The clan council is for all the officers, but to discuss seriously important issues, we three should meet alone.”
“Agreed,” the titan warrior murmured.
“Deal,” the gnome mage said, nodding. He dug around in his inventory and pulled out some kind of mirror. “Take this. It’s a transcontinental video link! Epic!”
Mithril Farsight Mirror
Epic communication accessory.
Connects you with any owner of another farsight mirror in your friends list or clan. Allows you to see the person you call as if they are standing before you.
Manufacturer: Joker.
Chance of loss after death lowered by 90%.
“Seriously?” A smile broke across my face. “Joker? The Joker I know?”
“Yeah,” Crawler laughed. “We could have bought it from someone else, but we decided to help out your ally in the Games with a big buy. It’s worth almost five million, so be careful and don’t lose it. We got one for all the senior officers. And now…” he stopped, hesitating. “When Rita arrives at Cali, we’re going to have two issues. First, the four of us need to sit down and think about what to invest the fund money in. Our money should be working for us!”
“And second?”
“Second, we need to know whether to give her an apartment of her own or order you a new bed.”
“And the same question for Tissa,” Hung laughed, but cut off when he saw the fire in my eyes. “Sorry. I thought that would be funny.”
“It wasn’t.”
* * *
Hairo accompanied me to the Pig and Whistle, where I wanted to meet with our satyr and succubus. The security officer had been waiting for me by the entrance to the command center, apparently wanting to share his point of view.
The guerilla knew the clan fortress better than me – he led us through secret corridors, far away from prying eyes and ears. Opening a hidden door in the wall, Hairo nodded into a passageway:
“This is a faster way. The door doesn’t open if you don’t know about it. We can go straight outside the castle from here, and it’s a stone’s throw from there to the tavern.”
“What did you want to talk about?”
I trudged after him, looking from side to side. It was a strange tunnel, plenty wide enough to walk side by side with space left to spare. And lit up like daylight inside, though I didn’t see any lights. It seemed Hairo really did know the fortress better than anyone, because we ran into nobody on our way. Our lone steps echoed loud off the walls of the empty corridor. It was so quiet that my ears started to ring distantly, and our voices seemed too loud.
“Let’s go point by point, Alex. I’m no telepath, but I could see just fine how you were feeling during the council meeting. You wanted to throw Malik and Melissa not only out of the clan, but also out of your life completely. Am I right?”
“Pretty much. My uncle Nick always said that you should get rid of people like that right away, cut them off with no return, not drag it out. There are billions of people in the world. Why stick with the ones that make you feel like shit?”
“Your uncle is a wise man,” Hairo said without turning around. “But has he ever said anything to you about second chances? I don’t know the details, but I’ve heard a thing or two about Crag. They say he was a piece of work, and you suffered more than once because of him.”
“That’s something else. We became enemies the first time we met, and you don’t expect kindness from enemies.”
“All the same, despite your help, he left the clan without warning anyone. The boys told me.”
“Actually, he didn’t just warn me, he consulted with me. Nergal, Crag’s divine protector, made him choose. We had no other
option but to let him go. Anyway, he couldn’t have left the Awoken without my permission.”
“Well, there you go!” Hairo said, smiling. “You let him go. He consulted with you. You came to the conclusion that his action wasn’t betrayal, that it was for the best for the clan. And where were your friends when you made those decisions?”
“I couldn’t tell them…”
“Just like you couldn’t tell your allies in the Games why you forgave Destiny Windsor. And why you suddenly killed them all in Abaddon’s lair. See what I’m driving at, kiddo? You took responsibility on yourself so many times that you got used to making decisions for the many on your own, without telling anyone. Why do you get upset when we – your friends and partners! – make decisions for the good of the clan, which has become a family to all of us, without telling you about it first? Think about it.”
“So you think everything that happened at the council meeting was just fine?”
“The security service considers that the council made the best decision it could under the circumstances. You don’t need Melissa in the Children of Kratos, comparable to the UN in terms of influence… You don’t need Malik angry, dreaming of handing you over to the Triad or the Cartel. You have every right not to trust them, but you’ll feel better knowing they’re close at hand… We’re almost there.”
Hairo drew something in the air with a finger. A flaming rune flashed into life before him on the wall, which shifted aside, revealing an opening to the fresh air. I walked out and scrunched up my eyes against the bright sun.
“It’s time for me to log out of Dis. I need to go fetch the girls,” Hairo said, staying at the threshold. “Take my advice: forget old grudges and focus on your target. It’s a lot higher than you think, but we’ll talk about that later.”
“Later? Are you sure you’re talking about my target? What makes you think you know what I’m aiming for?”
“You’re a smart kid, Alex. I’m sure you’ve known for a while now that Willy and I and the other guys are on your side not just because of our contracts.” Hairo noticed me tensing up, smiled disarmingly. “Don’t worry. We want the same thing.”
“What?”
“Not now. Again – concentrate on your target, and keep your head clear in the meantime. I promise you, you’ll hear it all in good time.”
“When?”
“When you’re ready.”
He met my tense eyes, nodded. Well, fine. The security officer had earned my trust, and if he thought it wasn’t time to talk yet… I could wait.
I looked his character up and down. Guerilla was a mixed class for scouts and trackers, although mostly specialized for waging guerilla warfare in the woods, with bonuses for camouflage and sudden explosive damage. It was strange to see Hairo so young, with neither gray hair nor wrinkles.
“Do you know how to play, Mr. Morales?”
“I do, but I don’t like to, if by playing you mean fighting. I saw enough action as a peacekeeper.”
“Did you play anything before Dis? Maybe in your childhood?”
“Full immersion didn’t exist back then, kiddo. In those days, the whole world was talking about Rakuen, but the game was imbalanced. One Russian guy found a mithril pick with practically unlimited upgrade capacity and took over the whole world. After that, for a lot of people it was game over…”
* * *
Hiros was waiting for me by the tavern entrance. The ninja was sitting on a bench outside, staring at a spot between his feet, but somehow felt my presence and jumped up with a bow:
“Greetings, Scyth-san! Welcome back from the Games!”
“Hey, Hiros!”
“Can Scyth-san spare a little time for Hiros, new adept of the Sleepers?”
“He can, but not now. Scyth-san has to go see the Sleeper now!”
“I understand and do not insist. Hiros will await your invitation, Scyth-san.” The ninja bowed again and logged out of Dis.
I heard Behemoth as soon as I walked into the Pig and Whistle. The Sleeping God called me over to where he sat with Flaygray and Nega. I saw them right away, because all the activity and noise in the tavern was centered around their table.
“Boss!” Nega screeched, somehow speeding up and appearing beside me in an instant, her tail winding its way around my neck.
The succubus kissed me on the cheek. The hubbub in the tavern subsided. Everyone noticed me and started to chant:
“Champion Scyth! Champion Scyth!”
“Hey guys,” I said, grinning awkwardly. “How’s it going?”
Aunt Stephanie poked her head out of the kitchen and waved to me:
“Sit down, Alex, I’ll bring you some food!”
“Thanks, another time, I’m in a hurry!” I shouted, smiling. At least here everything was the same. “We need to talk, Flay!”
The satyr limped over, parting the crowd. He hugged me and whispered:
“Enemy of the Inferno? Way to go, boss! I can barely resist smacking you in the head! My heart burns to rip apart my enemy!”
“I feel the same way,” Nega whispered in my other ear. “Let’s go, I hear the Sleeper’s call…”
I accepted their group invite and teleported straight to the temple. If the two demons attacked me, I hoped Behemoth would restrain them, but I readied Spirit Trap and Lethargy just in case.
As soon as we appeared, the Sleeping God came to us in his most terrible form. Without visible effort, Behemoth locked the temple, the columns melting together into a solid wall. Then he gave a rumbling laugh, steam blasting from the tiny craters and armor joints on his body.
“You did it again, Initial! Tiamat and I are proud of you!”
“Didn’t you know I would?”
“We are neither all-powerful nor all-knowing,” Behemoth answered, examining me with concern. “An intriguing mark…” Glancing at the succubus and satyr, he jabbed a mighty palm toward them and made a movement as if pulling something from them. Both demons instantly relaxed. “Better. A particle of Order has been bound to Scyth’s soul. Demons, corrupted by chaos, hate Order with all their being, and consider any carrier of its essence to be an enemy of all the Inferno.”
“Did you remove the mark from me?” I asked, remembering my plans to go into the demonic dimension.
“Nobody has the power to do that, Initial. Chaos and Order are primeval. Their balance is the foundation of all existence, even for us, the Sleepers. All I did was block the chaotic essence of these two demons. Now they do not see Order within you, which means they have no more fixed feelings toward you.”
“Alright,” I nodded. “What about your priests, Infect and Tissa? Do you think it was right to decide their fate in the clan without my involvement?”
I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if the divine entity had grown to ten times his size to astound me with his might and put me in my place with his booming voice. But Behemoth simply asked:
“Are you surprised that I give quests directly to my priests?”
“Nothing surprises me anymore. If you want, I can invite you to the clan and make you leader, then you can command as much as you want…”
“Boss!” Nega cried in fear. “For Hades’ sake, know when to stop!”
I cut off, realizing that it was best not to anger the Sleeper in the presence of others. In the end, I’d only gotten this far thanks to him, and I doubt he would have acted against my best interests.
“Sorry, Sleeping God. I’m just tired… I feel like I’m losing control and surrounded by traitors. I don’t know what to do…”
“You must decide which sentients you wish to surround yourself with. Which friends will you seek – obedient flatterers and sycophants, or true allies, with initiative and loyalty? Which you choose depends on your point of view. I thought you had gained enough wisdom to choose the latter.”
“I always forget that our boss is still just a kid,” Flaygray murmured. “Why does such a naive creature get so much power?”
“He is uncorrupt
ed,” Behemoth answered him. “Unlike you. But enough idle talk! I summoned you so that Scyth might proceed to the next stage of his mission.”
“No, no, no,” I shook my head and held up my hands. “No next stage until you explain how you saw the future!”
Behemoth approached, placed his huge hands on my shoulders and looked into my face. Then he backed off again, spoke:
Enemy of the Inferno (Disgardium Book #8): LitRPG Series Page 11