Oblivion's Crown

by M. H. Johnson

  The king’s gaze was a mixture of awe and horror. “You shape reality like your plaything. Past and future.” He shook his head. “You remind me so much of the old legends.”

  An elder by his side nodded. “Truly, it is said our goddess herself started life as a noblewoman.” He peered thoughtfully at Val. “She was as much human as she was a dwarf, both lines acknowledged before she ascended.”

  Val nodded. “Phoebe? Yeah. She’s sort of my mentor.”

  The king blinked. “That explains much, I think.” He pointed to where two dwarves bowed Val’s way. “If you truly have the power to forge a gate, we would be forever in your debt, Valor Hunter.” He flashed a bemused smile. “More, I suspect, than we already are.”

  You have forged a Greater Gate between Falinnborg and Stridborg, more than capable of fitting battle-mechs, tractor-trailers, or massive plates of Valorium alloy! 3 territory points spent. 5 territory points remaining.

  Bill was gazing at Val strangely. “You do know you got a voice talking inside your head, right?”

  The dwarven king, now wearing a robe of blue and silver that an adviser hurriedly wrapped around him, was gazing with awe at the gate, its surface reflecting light like liquid mercury. “Incredible," he said.

  Val grinned. “Just let me jump through, assure my father-in-law that things are even better than we had hoped, and I’ll be right back. But before I go, I’d like to ask, which is most important to you? Production, research, resource generation, fertility, happiness, or luck?”

  Alastman gazed at Val with eyes filled with wonder before giving forth a sonorous chuckle. “Can you truly control fate like the gods?”

  Val shrugged. “To be honest, the dice are rolling, but how they fall is anyone’s guess. Until then, everything’s in flux. Maybe causality itself, to an extent.” He took a deep breath. “I fear the one thing we don’t have is time, Your Grace, so if you have a preference...”

  The king flashed a bemused smile. “Time indeed. And for all that I’d love luck to counter unknowable whims of fate, or research to embrace the joy of insights undreamed, right now it is production that trumps all.” He peered carefully at the dwarves scurrying with remarkable efficacy over the massive ship. “Even now, barely awoken from sleep and wearing only the technician outfits they had stored in lockers over a thousand years old, they move as efficiently as they did on their best days.” He met Val’s gaze and smiled. “Already, they benefit from serendipitous circumstances we have no right to expect. If you can boost their production further, I would be grateful.”

  Val smiled. “Production it is, then. It may sound crazy, but expect your workers to be blazing with ideas on how to make everything ridiculously efficient. An additional 80% worth, on top of the 50% bonus you’re getting to all those attributes, just from being a Tier 10 city like Falinnborg.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Though now that I think about it, what are you all doing for food?” Then he blinked, immediately sensing the arboriums located throughout the city. Arboriums he realized he had dreamed into existence, along with the suspension matrix.

  Val frowned, feeling suddenly dizzy. No. They had always been there, hadn’t they? The whole city design, the prudence that had gone into all the precautions in the first place, so even if the dimensional warping had worked, they wouldn’t simply be starved out.

  The king just stared at Val, before bowing his head. “We have food aplenty. Remarkably so. The scanners make it quite clear that our arboriums were kept in pristine working order by the excess Silbion generated by our Silee plants. I even sense improvements to the original design.” He shook his head. “As if we knew there were dire risks, if we kept them unattended for so long. Prototype arboriums modified with wisdom that was only conjecture, because somehow, we knew.”

  He swallowed, smiling despite his deathly pallor, his advisers looking awed and worried all at once.

  Much to Val’s shock, he bowed deeply before him.

  “Please give our solemn thanks to Phoebe for sending her disciple. We will forever be in her debt, and yours.”

  Val had no idea what to say to that, so he matched the king’s bow with his own, and turned to the gate.

  “Uh… Val?”

  Mick’s voice. Val blinked and turned around. “Yeah, Mick?”

  Mick flashed an awkward smile. “Impressive as hell, you making fast friends with the king and all, but, um… what the hell are we supposed to be doing?”

  Val blinked. It was a damn good question. “I don’t suppose any of you have Mech-Warrior skill paths, starship piloting skills, or anything like that?”

  The query was met by uniform headshakes, more than a few of his friends looking suddenly afraid.

  Then Val grinned, the answer obvious. “How would you guys like to study at the coolest arcane academy in the entire Dominion? We’re just starting up classes, and I’ll make sure my professors give you guys all-star treatment.”

  Everyone's expressions visibly brightened.

  “That would be epic! I’m already feeling the weight of a level-up or two. Heck, we brought back an entire city from the brink!” Crystal chirped, gazing at Mick under long lashes. “Come with us? I think you’d make an epic Paladin-mage.”

  Mick grinned. “Where the hell else am I going to go? Of course I’m coming with you.” He turned to Val. “It’s part of your territory, right? We’d hate to, um… misstep, and turn to goop.”

  “Crazy, isn’t it? I know this is our new reality, but I still feel like I’m trapped in a dream,” Jiu said. “And I can’t wake up, how many times I try.” She braved a sad smile, tears running freely down her cheeks. “It’s incredible, what you’ve done for us already, Val. With your help, this is starting to look more like a wonderful dream come true than a nightmare. Thank god. And I can’t wait to check out this magical college. But, still, the thought that I can never see my sisters again...”

  Eric gathered Jiu in his arms, softly kissing her brow. “But we’re alive. At least in our friend’s territory, we are safe. And what would be cooler than us finishing high school in a mage’s college?”

  “Damn right,” Jiu said, forcing herself to smile. “An epic mages’ academy full of wizards, wonder, and brilliant nerds like you.” She turned to Crystal. “Think it will be like the movies?”

  Crystal laughed at that. “I’m so looking forward, I just know it will be epic.” She flashed a sad smile. “It won’t be too bad. Most of us are seniors, we’d be going to college next year anyway, right? Going thousands of miles away, just visiting our families on the holidays. Then, when we’re thirty, maybe end up like my sister who forgets even to write, so busy she is with her own kids…” Crystal swallowed, wiping her eyes. “So we’ll study hard, love every minute of it, and maybe write lots of letters we’ll find some way to get to the people we love.”

  Bill chuckled softly. “Right on, Crystal. Just like college, but we won’t be stuck behind no cubicle at the end of it. Hell, we’ll turn any managers looking our way to frogs if they try.” He shook his head, flashing a rueful smile. “Looks like I’ll be multiclassing after all.”

  “That’s right.” Jiu smiled. “You have a mana pool, don’t you? You were thinking Battlemage originally, but with a lack of wizards...”

  “Yeah, with the only decent builds I saw being fire and ice like you and Eric, which are really point-intensive, I was focusing on my stats so I could play pro football and kick ass in the real world.” Bill shrugged. “I put my points where it counts. Nothing says I can’t go for Battlemage still. And maybe I can now get access to spells that enhance me as a warrior, not just straight throw fireballs and crap.”

  Val nodded. “Awesome. You guys wait here, and I’ll make that happen.” He then exchanged a few words with the king who smiled warmly at the young adventurers before giving an approving nod. With a final wave to his party, Val stepped through the massive shimmering disk of liquid mercury that was the gate between dwarven realms.

  It was only a handful of
minutes before he returned, but already Val sensed the anxious relief in his friends’ gazes, as if afraid he was going to abandon them in a city full of strangers with no safe way to leave, effectively trapping them there forever.

  Their relieved smiles turned to furrowed brows and worried looks as he pulled out strips of cloth, instructing everyone to cover their eyes with it.

  “Don’t worry,” he soothed. “It’s just a necessary precaution when crossing this gate.” Which was absolutely true, though perhaps not for the reasons they thought.

  “Oh shit,” said Eric. “Is this like one of those tests with medusae or mirrors revealing the flaws of our souls?”

  Val grinned. “The wonderful thing is, with your eyes covered, you don’t even have to save against oblivion or risk turning to a pile of goo. Isn’t that grand?” He smirked at Eric’s expression. “Just tie it tight over your eyes, and come on. I’ll have you at the college before you know it, and that’s a promise.”

  Despite a few worried glances thrown his way, they all complied, and just a few minutes later their trust was rewarded as their blinds were removed and they found themselves walking on lush green grass, a brilliant sun caressing them with warm morning light, breathing in blossom-scented air, and beholding a magnificent tower a short distance away, soaring above trees near the size of redwoods, a mystical wonder once trapped in legend and dream.

  Jiu trembled with amazement, tears streaming freely from her eyes. And Eric’s awe-filled gaze was no different, both of them grinning like toddlers experiencing the wonders of a magical Christmas. And though their families were worlds away, and Val could only hope alive, at least friends he cared for deeply were there to meet the exhausted band of adventurers who had lost near everything, save the echo of their lives Val had only just preserved.

  Christine, heading towards the tower and looking both sleek and deadly in her shimmering battlemesh, spun around with a duelists reflexes the moment Val stepped through the gate before flashing him a relieved smile. Her golden eyes widened as she caught sight of the teenagers gaping at the mystic tower.

  “Christine! It’s good to see you! But I’m surprised to find you here beside the gate,” he said with a smile.

  Christine laughed, not hesitating to give him a heartfelt hug the moment his armor disappeared back in storage. “Valor Hunter, you wonderful fool, where else would I be? Julia’s been worried sick about you, pacing holes in the beautiful garden when not studying your college’s tomes to distraction. And with the number of times I find myself bouncing between palace and tower each day, it’s no surprise that I’m the one to greet you.” She pulled away with a gentle kiss on his cheek. “It is good to see you, Valor. Now let us see to our newest guests, and you can share all your adventures with a girl who’s already been forced to wait far too long for you.”

  Val lowered his head. “We didn’t part… as I had hoped.”

  Christine’s rich, warm laughter washed over him. “Silly boy. Do you really think that matters? That the connection you have, the love you feel, can’t overcome simple misunderstandings?”

  Val winced. “Well, you know I sort of tore out the throat of the man she was trying to protect.”

  Christine gently patted his hand and smiled. “And you had a perfectly good reason for it, too. Shame on me for overreacting earlier.”

  Bill whistled. “Damn, is that your woman, Hunter? She is fine!”

  “More like my mother-in-law. But she is beautiful, isn’t she?” he said, winking at Christine, who favored Bill with a pleased smile.

  “I see your friends have excellent taste,” she said.

  Eric was gazing wide-eyed at Val. “Wait… you tore someone’s throat out?”

  Val shrugged. “It’s complicated, Eric.”

  Eric swallowed. “Shit. You’re not even denying it. Okay… you’re not planning on tearing any of our throats out, are you?"

  Val quirked an eyebrow. “That depends. Are any of you planning on committing genocide, or dissecting innocent people while they’re still alive?”

  Mick paled. “That’s what went down? Sounds like a righteous kill to me.”

  Crystal looked like she was going to be ill. “Could we please, like, never talk about killing people again?” She forced a cheerful smile, obviously desperate to change the subject. “So Val, now that we’re here, tell me all about your awesome mage’s college!”

  With Christine playing the perfect host, he happily did so. He enjoyed their serene expressions as warm shafts of sunlight washed over them as they entered the forest adjoining the college. They spent a few peaceful moments just admiring the lush woodland canopy as they made their way to the treasures it held.

  He smiled at their gasps of awe as a final turn along the woodland path revealed the wondrous arcane garden in all its glory, thousands of brilliant blossoms gently bathed in the mist of the majestic waterfall adjoining the garden. Each and every flower was literally glowing with arcane potential to his Magesight, and Val was pleased to see that Jiu and Eric could sense it as well. He invited his friends to take sips of the Silbion-infused waters washing over his garden, all of them declaring it the sweetest, freshest water they had ever tasted, their moods visibly brightening.

  Then Val led them to the grand hall of his tower, the party gazing at the magnificent edifice made of ivory marble so pristine it seemed to glow, yet was all but perfectly hidden in the forest abutting the Greengrove Estates.

  “Damn, Hunter. This is your pad? It is something else, my man. Beats every crib I ever saw online," Bill said.

  “It is something else, isn’t it?" Val said. "You should see the tower at night. Then it mirrors the night sky, as if captured within the stone were all the stars in the heavens."

  He smiled as he led them inside. "And this could be your home. How would you guys all like to become members of Guild Ottalaus?”

  Mick chuckled softly. “Wow. If this was all an epic guild pitch, you’ve gone beyond the call of duty, my friend.”

  But Val didn’t say a word. Couldn’t say a word as they entered the now lushly appointed entrance hall of his keep and tower, eyes caught and captivated by the red-headed vision of beauty gazing at him with precious green-gold eyes filled with such love and longing, hurt and hope, that Val couldn’t bear to look away. Couldn’t bear to do anything other than race up the stairs to her side, sweep her up in his arms, and hold her tightly to him as she laughed and cried and smacked his arms and called him an idiot before kissing him deeply, fervently, tear-filled eyes smiling into his own.

  “You idiot,” she said through her tears. “You great big stupid idiot. Don’t you dare do that to me ever again, Valor Hunter!” She squeezed him back, her customized suit of plates and battlemesh doing nothing to hide her soft curves from him, or the tight muscle just underneath, the intensity of her training evident with the grace and power of her movements as she held him close.

  Val swallowed, lowering his head. “I’m sorry, Julia. There is so much I want to say, so much I can’t say. But for hurting you, for ever causing you pain… I am truly sorry.”

  Julia’s beautiful eyes smiled into his own. “Prove it,” she whispered, gently taking his hand, leading him up the spiraling staircase nearby.

  “Now that must be Hunter’s girl, about to put our boy in his place!” Bill declared, flashing a dazed Val an amused grin has he was led up the stairs.

  Christine’s gentle laughter could be heard washing over all of them. “Welcome one and all to our mage’s tower. I can sense already your exhaustion, your loyalty to Jordia’s future Overlord, and if I’m not mistaken, do I perchance sense players on the verge of leveling up? Perhaps an abbreviated tour is in order! To the wonderful library presently being curated by my youngest, we will visit. I do believe there are several Blackenthorp mages who can guide you in whichever direction you wish to grow before you retire to adjoining quarters and quantize all your wonderful potential!”

  Other words were said then, but Val had e
yes and ears only for Julia and the hunger that burned within him.

  Lightened by soft kisses turning fierce and passionate, her gold-flecked eyes suddenly filled his world as every inch of his skin tingled in hunger for her touch. Somehow he found himself on a soft plush bed, though uncertain how he had gotten there, gazing at Julia as she slowly stripped, captivating him with her smile, her luscious, perfectly shaped breasts and bright red areolas pinning his gaze.

  “Julia, I’m so sorry...”

  A soft finger touched his lips. She shook her head, unpinning her hair, allowing her rich auburn curls to flow down like a waterfall as she stripped him of his attire, smiling into his eyes as her hands caressed and stroked his flesh, one hand gently stroking his cheek as she bit her lip and gasped, Val’s world exploding with indescribable pleasure as she slowly lowered herself upon him, and the two of them became one.

  There was so much Val wanted to say as they embraced sweetest rapture, his eyes captivated by her own. And he realized he need say nothing of his horror, his regrets, his fierce resolve. The terrible things he had done, the risks he was about to take, all for the sake of this world and the people he loved.

  She was able to read him, to understand him so well, and in that moment as they peaked together, joined as one, all his secrets were her own.

  46

  Endless moments passed as Val savored simply running his fingers through Julia’s beautiful tresses, fighting against the soothing susurrations of sleep calling out to him, knowing he was running out of time.

  Julia lifted her head from his chest, cheeks still flushed, her smile both naughty and somehow wistful. Her crimson fingernails caressed his cheek. “There’s nothing I want more than to hold you close and savor a day in your arms, Valor Hunter.” Her smile turned delightfully wicked. “If I hadn’t been so desperate for you, you would have squirmed for a long, long time before I finally surrendered.”

  Val chuckled. He inhaled her rich scent, kissing her warm lips softly. “I know. And I would have deserved it.”