DLC

Skyler Grant

Copyright © 2017 Skyler Grant

All rights reserved.

This novel is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and incidents described in this publication are used fictitiously, or are entirely fictional.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, except by an authorized retailer, or with written permission of the publisher. Inquiries may be addressed via email to skyler@skylergrant.com

Cover designed by Grace Zhu (gracezhuart.com)

Editing and formatting by Polgarus Studio (www.polgarusstudio.com)

Electronic edition, 2017

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Contents

Previously in the Crucible Shard

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Coming Soon

Author Notes

Previously in the Crucible Shard

Dungeon Crawl Book 1. Liam, Walt, and Ashley found themselves brought to the Crucible Shard deep in the dungeon of a long-abandoned castle. Liam was a Paladin of the Goddess Yvera and quickly fell in love with her. The group made allies along the way, Maria the Queen of Spiders and Elsora the curse who had befallen the castle. Together they would go on to kill King Leosi and Liam would take over the Kingdom.

Spawn Campers Book 2. The party responds to piracy along the coast. They make new allies upon the Airship Vainglory, Cobalt the Captain who may be the deadliest woman alive, the seer Lea, and engineer Riggs. Together they make allies of the pirates and forge a peace with the Goddess Atlantia. They also learn that Leosi has been raised from the dead, and is now a potent Vampire out to return control of the kingdom to his daughter Maria.

Corpse Run Book 3. The party seeks an answer to the threat Leosi poses, a quest that takes them deep into the deserts in search of Mela, Goddess of Metal. When freed from captivity Mela at once summons a meteor to destroy the world, although when it arrives it turns out to be a ship from another world and entirely a different problem. To put a stop to these growing threats the Elves invade.

Gank Book 4. The party takes the fight to the Elves by going deep into their territory. Those connected with the Goddesses are going increasingly mad. Each finds some measure of sanity in the end, although the means to reach it are extreme. An alternate timeline is formed when Ashley kills Veros in the past, causing her to lose many of the sociopathic tendencies that had come to define her. Mela took Walt’s arm and replaced it with one made of death metal. A victory is finally won over the Goddess of Wood by corrupting her with the waters of Yvera. Yet that only brought on a new peril, Yvera seeming to lose her divinity even while prompts indicated all five elemental deities had been brought into a single pantheon.

Area of Effect Book 5. In the aftermath of Book 4 much is changed. Long in love with Yvera, Liam finds he no longer has the same connection with Yve, the woman his once Goddess has become. Liam journeys to the Silver City where he meets Queen Ashera, mother of Cobalt and Malachite, and complete badass. Finding himself in love Liam is soon drawn into the struggles of the Silver City in an effort to win Ashera’s favor. The A.I’s of Earth abducted several from the Silver City including Cobalt and used them to create The Nine, clones all possessing the Right of War and the Right of Rule. In the end, he discovers just how much Elsora has been using him in her machinations all along. Increasingly committed to rule of the Crucible Shard he gains the new Mind Games ability.

Chapter 1

I had a new power. I always appreciated a new power, but it did little to soothe how ashamed I felt. It seemed that every time I was getting on top of things I just got knocked down again and learned I’d not been half as clever as I thought.

I was resolved not to let it stop me. You couldn’t win if you didn’t play and right now I very much wanted to start racking up some wins. Earth needed me, my friends needed me, and I was sick and tired of being the pawn of others.

I now had the power of Mind Games and I could already imagine the possibilities. When so many others were hiding secrets, the ability to get at them was a potent one.

“So how does this new power work? Can I test it on you?” I asked Lake.

I was still alone with the avatar of truth. I knew the others had to be around somewhere getting their own revelations.

“It depends upon the situation and whether or not you are welcome in the mind of another. In some cases you’ll find yourself in a competitive environment, in others you might encounter something less conflict-oriented. And no, I’m not a tutorial, you’ll have to figure out by doing,” Lake said.

That wasn’t ideal, but I could work with that.

“You will also, as you use the ability, at times get the ability to level it up in various ways. This may expand your options in how the power is used and what abilities you have in the gamescapes,” Lake said.

I did love me some upgrades.

“Hopefully some good ones. Will I get any more powers?”

“If you triumph in struggles worthwhile on the cosmic stage, you will. Levels are going to be slower to come by than in the past, but also more meaningful when they happen,” Lake said.

That made sense. I wasn’t the match of people like Ashera and Elsora, not yet. To get on their level I’d have to pick bigger fights. I guess it was fortunate there seemed to be no lack of them.

The Machines of Earth had made nine people from the blood and organs stolen from Cobalt and her siblings. Nine children out there who all had the Rite of War and the Rite of Rule giving them the abilities to dominate worlds and make those world’s armies incredibly powerful.

They weren’t the only threats out there either. Assassins had recently tried to kill me because of my growing closeness to Ashera. There was also Veros and the Dark Court. They had to be my next target—it was said that neutralizing Veros should sever the connection between the Machines of Earth and the multiverse. It might be the only way to save my homeworld from destruction.

“Are the others done?” I asked.

“More or less. Shall I take you to them?” Lake asked.

“Please.”

Mists surrounded us for an instant and then faded away. I found myself standing on the deck of the Vainglory. Ashley, Walt, Yve, Malachite and Lea were already present and in conversation.

“Liam, about time,” Lea said brightly. It was good that somebody was cheerful, we needed more of that.

“I was busy verifying some painful truths,” I said.

“Things with Elsora didn’t go well?” Ashley asked.

“She’s pretty much been an evil mastermind manipulating everything behind the scenes this whole time.”

“Surprising no one,” Yve said.

No, it wasn’t a surprise. I always knew I was being played, I just didn’t realize how thoroughly or how completely.

Malachite said, “Well, while I’d love to sit here and hear more about all of your questionable and often irrational decisions. I need to bounce.”

“Thank you for the lifts. Is there any way we can get a hold of you again, if we need you?” I asked.

Malachite considered for a moment and then sighed, slipping a ring off one of her fingers and handing it over. It looked to be simple silver set with malachite.

“It’s called a windstone. Bleed on it, call my name three times and I’ll get the message,” Malachite said.

“Why does everything have to involve blood?”

“Be grateful it doesn’t involve anyone getting their limbs cut off, which seems incredibly too common for you lot,” Malachite said.

I had to concede that she had a point. We’d kind of been having amputation issues recently. At least, the limbs tended to grow back. Walt was a bit of an exception, but then the Death-hand was an ancient evil artifact upgraded by the Goddess Mela and now a permanent part of him. Whenever I started to feel sorry for myself, I just had to remind myself that my friends had it worse.

“Thank you,” I said, slipping the ring onto my finger.

“Abuse it and I’m taking it back,” Malachite said, before she vanished in a green flare of light.

“Did you get what you needed taken care of?” I asked Ashley. With us attempting to sever the connection between the Machines and Earth we’d hoped Lake could help her transition to the Crucible Shard. Walt and I were no longer gamers in pods.

“Yeah, this is me now. Ashley back on Earth was never going to get her vengeance against Veros, Ashley the assassin can,” Ashley said.

It was murderous logic, but I’d take it.

“What about Yvera?” I asked Yve. Yve had taken my place as a Paladin and the Chosen of Yvera. That was a little confusing given that they were the Crucible Shard and Earth versions of the same A.I. that had split in two. I was glad I wasn’t in the middle of this metaphysical quandary. It made my head hurt just to think about it.

“She has cut her link fully. Neither of us have a foot in that door anymore. It’s keeping us safer, but I wish we still had a line of communication with Earth,” Yve said.

“We do have Mela,” Walt said.

“Mela is a crazy psychotic bitch,” Ashley said.

“Seconded,” Yve said.

It was so rare that they agreed on something. It was a shame it had to be about how one of our allies was untrustworthy.

Fortunately, locusts armed with buzz saws didn’t take that moment to attack, which was hopefully a sign Mela wasn’t listening.

“Mela has proved herself. I don’t like everything that she’s done either, but when it counted she picked our side,” I said.

Ashley and Yve shared a look that suggested neither was especially happy about me sticking up for her. That was fine, there were plenty who would say bad things about both of them as well and I still took their sides. You had to stand by your friends, even when they were crazed sociopaths.

“Is the Vainglory at our disposal? We need to travel east. The Dark Court rules there on some sort of land mass they brought in from another world,” I said.

“Did you think up some horribly inappropriate gaming term for it yet?” Ashley asked.

“DLC. Good, right?” I asked. I was a little proud of it.

“Pretty weak,” Ashley said.

“I kind of like it,” Yve said.

“You guys are so weird. I can give you a lift. With the Captain running for the hills we don’t have anything else to do and you’re actually paying us well,” Lea said.

“I am?” I asked.

“He is? How well?” Ashley asked, sounding displeased.

“Elsora handles it,” Lea said.

For an incredibly evil and manipulative woman who had damned-near destroyed my psyche, I had to admit Elsora was good at running my Kingdom. Even now I didn’t harbor any thoughts of kicking her out, not truly. Besides, I wasn’t sure if I could, and didn’t know what I’d do without her.

“Then set course. I’m not exactly sure what we’re looking for, but hopefully whatever it is will stand out enough that we’ll recognize it when we see it,” I said.

“I do want to make a quick stop first. It should be on the way,” Lea said.

“What’s up?” I didn’t recall her ever making any sort of side trips before.

Lea looked strangely self-conscious and shrugged. “We’ve been hitting the truth a lot lately and the enlightenment has been coming fast and heavy. I’ve never looked back since I left home, but really, I left a lot behind there. I want to stop in and reconnect a little.”

I could understand that. I wished that when we’d gone back to Earth recently I’d had more time with my brother and that we’d been able to go back to Piper’s Mill. I wasn’t sorry to be on this adventure, but that didn’t mean I didn’t miss the people and places left behind.

“We can stop by, but we shouldn’t stay too long. For now, I’m going to hit the sack,” I said.

“Join you?” Yve asked.

The love that had once bound me and Yve was gone. It had been destructive and maddening to us both, and we both missed it terribly. Fooling around wasn’t bringing it back, but I think we kept hoping that maybe it would.

“Yeah,” I said. Maybe tonight would be the night sparks again flew.

Chapter 2

It was proving to be an exhausting night. You would think after all the revelations, I’d want nothing more than to get a good night sleep, but it turned out I just wanted to forget. Yve was great for helping me do that. The sparks might not be there, but a lot could be said for passion and creativity and we didn’t lack for either.

We’d just attempted something particularly acrobatic when the ship rocked violently and sent us both sprawling onto the floor.

“What was that?” I asked with a groan.

“Whatever it was, move, Liam. That doesn’t go there and I should probably put my armor on,” Yve said.

Oh. Right. I suddenly became aware of our new position and all the possibilities it opened up. Yve unfortunately seemed to have her mind somewhere else entirely as she clambered to her feet and started putting on her armor.

“You think we’re under attack?” I asked.

As if on cue there was a familiar rumble that shook the airship as the cannons fired.

“Aren’t we always under attack?” Yve asked.

I hurriedly slipped into my own armor. Since I’d stopped officially being the party’s tank I’d given up all ideas of plate. Really, I’d dressed in medium armor a lot of the time anyways and now I preferred the added mobility it gave me.

We finished getting dressed and I followed Yve onto the deck. Walt, Lea, and Ashley were there. Ashley had her daggers drawn while Lea’s runes were squared up. They flanked Walt as if seeking a more advantageous position.

“Guys, what’s going on?” I asked.

“Flyer. A giant eyeball of some sort. It has them both charmed and they’re not in their right minds,” Walt said.

Lea and Ashley didn’t speak. Good, that saved us from the whole bit of having to figure out who was really charmed.

Yve readied her massive two-handed sword and moved into position beside Walt.

“Uh, Yve, how about you go find the Eye and stab it? You aren’t going to be much good here—unless you want to chop our friends in half,” I said.

Yve considered that for a moment. “Fine.”

Flare

Yve gestured towards the sky and a giant bloom of light exploded in the clouds. The outline of a figure of an eye was briefly visible and I pulled its stats.

Vision of Doom: Greater Evil

Level 25: Type: Corruption HP: 750/750

The Vision of Doom is an ancient evil that for a long time was locked away in the sands of the Alkari dessert. Capable of charming an infinite number, any who meet its gaze directly will fall permanently under its sway until one of them dies.

I was focused upon the text, which kept me from meeting the Eye’s gaze directly. Now I turned my head to avoid catching sight of it.

“It’s permanent until it’s dead, we have to kill this thing,” I said.

“How do we fight something when we can’t look at it?” Walt asked.

It was a good question.

“When I was Yvera’s Chosen I had some protection against mental effects. Do you?” I asked Yve.

“Not enough. I can close my eyes and have her direct me, but we’ve got a few trust issues we’re still working out,” Yve said.

“Do it anyway. Walt, we need to focus on the deck. We don’t dare look up.”

“You’re thinking their feet might telegraph their moves?” Walt asked.

“Something like that.”

The problem was Ashley no longer had feet—or anything at all. She must have engaged her stealth. I knew well enough by now what that meant, so I had a moment to brace for it.

Backstab

A dagger pierced my armor and buried itself deep into my back.

Sun Portal

A hole briefly appeared in reality and a blasting bolt of heat erupted to catch my shoulder, burning away my armor and flesh, and sending me staggering backward.

I used to have passives that gave me an exhilarating rush whenever I got hurt. I didn’t have them anymore, but if I pretended hard the first stages of shock were almost as good.

I pivoted on one foot and drove my fist upwards catching Ashley in the midsection. I was boasting enhanced strength these days and she was left gasping for breath as the blow flung her back.

Ashley was quick though, too quick and too dangerous to be dispatched in one blow, and she surged forward with her daggers flying.

Fist of Destruction

Walt swung with the Death-hand towards the deck just as Lea was closing on him. The wood shattered, splinters exploding in all directions, some cutting deep enough into the seer’s flesh for wounds to begin seeping blood which cut through the lines of her runic tattoos, causing several to go dim.

Slicing Portals

Lea countered by sending blue disks of energy soaring in his direction. One buried itself in Walt’s leg and left a massive rent showing flesh and blood.

Fist of Destruction

Walt lashed out with a second punch to the deck. This time the wood gave way completely and he and Lea fell through to the deck below.

Yve stumbled past with her eyes closed and swinging her two-handed sword wildly. It seemed to be going about as well as expected.

This wasn’t working. I couldn’t do anything to help Yve while Ashley was still standing, but right now I was barely holding my own against her. I was pulling my punches and trying not to hurt her, but she was doing her best to kill me. I had to get more aggressive—she’d heal.

Ashley lunged in with her daggers again to slash my chest and I leaned into it so that I could deliver a fierce kick to her knee. I didn’t pull anything this time and with my full enhanced strength behind it I heard the bone crack and she dropped to the deck.

“Stay down Ashley,” I said.

Of course she didn’t.

Incapacitate

Ashley threw a dagger. It drove through my hand, pinning it to the mast behind me. I tried to wrench it free, but the blade stuck. Ashley was dragging herself towards me. I lashed out with my foot again, catching her in the jaw even as her remaining dagger tore apart my knee. Ashley went sailing backwards to fall in an unconscious heap.

I seemed to be shedding an alarming amount of blood.

I caught a glimpse of the Eye from the corner of my vision. It was down by about a quarter of a HP, Yve must have landed some blows with something, but it wasn’t enough. The Eye just seemed to be toying with her.

I focused on the deck. Below, Walt and Lea looked to be unconscious amid the splinters. Riggs was kneeling and checking on Lea’s pulse.

“Riggs, how are the engines?” I shouted, my voice weaker than I would have liked.

“Lad, you sound half-dead. The engines are fine. Do you need me up there?” Riggs called back.

“Need you below. We need some rapid upward movement.”

I give Riggs credit for not asking any questions. The dwarf moved out of view and, less than a minute later, the engines roared and the ship bucked violently as we lurched upwards.

Yve stumbled to the deck. I screamed as the sudden force wrenched my hand free of the dagger, tearing flesh and bone apart. The Eye, which moments before had been floating above the deck, suffered a far worse fate as the ship plowed into it at high speed.

Its flesh ripped apart on contact, and with a wet, squishy plop it was no more. That was my last gruesome sight before everything faded to gray, then black, from blood loss.

I didn’t know how much time had passed until my world exploded back into light. Another scream tore from my throat as my abused flesh knitted back together. I had Yve’s Lay on Hands to thank. She had crawled over to me and put a gauntleted hand upon my leg.

One of our masts snapped, a massive column of wood and rope swinging past as it flew off into the sky beyond. The ship wasn’t made for such a rapid climb. Fortunately, it couldn’t keep it up for long and with a tremble the engines soon gave out.

“That sucked,” I said.

Yve gave a dark chuckle as she pushed herself to her feet and made her way over to Ashley.

Lay on Hands

Ashley howled as the injuries I’d inflicted were undone.

“Lea and Walt are down below. He punched a hole through the deck,” I told her.

“You broke my jaw,” Ashley said mildly. “Nice punch.”

Yve said, moving towards the stairs,”Through the deck? Walt is such a badass now.”

“Did you see what we were fighting before it mind-zapped you?” I asked Ashley.

“Yeah. One of the greater evils we left behind in the desert. How many do you think are left?”

Not many, I could only hope. But really, I feared that we’d be cleaning up messes for a long time to come.

Chapter 3

After the fight nobody was eager to rush back to bed. We wound up doing repairs on the ship through the morning.

The Vainglory made quick time crossing the glass expanse below—what remained of the desert after having been blasted by not one but two starships crashing.

We were soon hovering over a village nestled in a pass between two mountains. It was populated, a small crowd gathering to look up towards the airship.

“They’re probably afraid we’re going to attack them,” I said to Lea.

“It’s the Village of Seers. They know we’re not a threat,” Lea said.

“Looks nice. Why did you leave?”

“Wanted to see the world through something other than a scrying portal. Why does anyone leave home?” Lea asked.

It was weird, Lea was usually so forthright and honest, and yet I heard something in her voice. I didn’t think she was quite being truthful.

“More to it than that? Isn’t there?” I asked.

Lea gave me a rueful smile. “Isn’t there always? Let’s go, I’ll try to keep this layover quick.”

There was nowhere suitable to land the Vainglory, so instead we dropped a rope ladder and made our way down. It was as Lea said, we seemed to be expected, and there was no hostility or wariness.

Lea was being hugged a rather alarming amount. From the snippets I overheard I guessed she must be with her family.

A heavyset and cheerful woman pulled me away from the group. “King Liam, welcome. We don’t see much in the way of royalty here. We’ve set a meal out for you and your companions. Lea will probably be busy for a time.”

Lea did seem well and truly in the grip of her family. I signaled to the others and the woman led us to the largest of the buildings in the small settlement.

Inside a table had been set with pots of steaming tea and bowls of a thick, pungent stew.

“This is nice,” I said.

“I’m Burma, by the way. We try to set a good table,” Burma said, making motions for us all to sit down.

“Everyone seemed happy to see Lea,” I said.

“They’ve missed her. It was quite the surprise when she left. There wasn’t much warning,” Burma said, pouring out several cups of tea.

I took one and had a small sip. It had a surprisingly woodsy flavor that I couldn’t quite identify.

“She doesn’t talk about it at all. I didn’t even know her home was here until she suddenly wanted to visit,” I said.

Ashley kicked me under the table. Right. I should probably be more subtle about that.

Burma didn’t seem to mind. “People don’t tend to look back on the places and things they’re running away from. And she’s picked a difficult time to return.”

“Can you tell us more about Lea?” I asked.

Burma gave a sigh as she took a seat. “You’ve met her. Bright, brave, she is just the sort of child every village hopes to have and rarely gets to keep. She was the strongest seer of her generation.”

“Everyone here is a seer?” I asked. You’d assume so in a place called the Village of Seers.

“Almost. You’ll get a rare child without the gift, but most have some trace of it. Lea’s family has always been strong in it.”

“Is her runic magic also local to your village?” Walt asked.

“It is. Go back a few thousand years and several armies once joined here to defeat a great and terrible evil. The few survivors stayed to make sure it would not rise again. Our magical traditions are born of theirs,” Burma said.

I winced. I’d had quite enough of great and terrible evils lately. “You’re quite certain it’s dead?”

Burma chuckled. “The evil? Oh my, yes. Dead and buried, risen once or twice more and vanquished for good. It took us a long while, but we finally got it right.”

Good. I had quite enough trouble cleaning up my own messes without having to tidy up those of a thousand years ago.

“So, what was Lea running from?” It earned me another kick from Ashley, but I wanted to know.

“She was set to become our next Keeper of the Sight. Think of it as something like a head priestess, our ultimate magical authority. Traditionally they marry the next headmaster of the village. Lea was less than eager to adopt either role,” Burma said, suddenly sad.

That made a lot of sense. I’d spent enough time running away from any responsibility myself that I understood the temptation. As for running from marriage, yeah, I understand that too.

“And it surprised you when she left? How does that happen in a village full of seers?” I asked.

“The Sight doesn’t tell you everything. It almost never tells you anything useful. If a prophet ever promises you useful predictions I suggest you punch them straight away,” Burma said.

“I’ll stab them, Liam. You know—if you want me to,” Ashley said. When it came to sociopathic hobbies she was so very helpful these days.

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind. So, she just took off?” I asked.

“Without a word. The village waited a year for her to come back—a year for her to return and do all the things that she was supposed to do. When it didn’t happen, life went on. Her cousin Sarelle is now Keeper and married to Leif, who was to be Lea’s husband,” Burma said, with a note of discomfort.

“What’s wrong?” Yve asked.

“Tragedy of late. Leif murdered Cara, who was the former Seeker. It’s shaken the whole village,” Burma sad.

I could already feel my head starting to pound. This was supposed to be a quick and pleasant diversion, and a chance for Lea to reconnect it, and now sounded like it might be anything but.

Ashley must have caught my expression, because she leaned over. “Do you think Lea knew and that is why we came?”

I couldn’t rule it out. Lea had been talking with Lake, who had the knack for making one consider what was really important to them. Besides that, she was a seer in her own right.

“Do you know exactly what happened?” I asked.

“Leif denies the killing, but evidence was found that proves him the killer. We all have ritual knives that are gifted to us upon adulthood. We never let them out of our sight. One was the murder weapon, and everyone in the village but Leif has been able to produce theirs,” Burma said.

I considered it all. How much did we want to get involved here? This wasn’t our problem, we were on a mission to save Earth and time could be critical. Still, these were Lea’s people and now that I was King of the Crucible Shard they were my people as well. I couldn’t ignore that.

“I’d like to do my own investigation,” I said.

“You do not need to trouble yourself,” Burma said.

“And you’re not exactly a master detective,” Ashley added.

“I’ve got a new power that should let me see within Leif’s mind. If he is guilty I may be able to tell, and if not, I might be able to get some insight who the killer is,” I said.

The door swung open and Lea stormed in looking determined.

“Liam, I need a favor,” Lea said.

“You want to figure out what is going on with Leif,” I said.

“Yeah. I can track down Aria. I know Leif, he wouldn’t have done this. Whoever the killer really is, they are keeping this a secret, right?” Lea said.

It was a good idea. Aria knew all the secrets and she would be able to point the finger towards the guilty party. Unfortunately, we had no idea where Aria was.

“I’ve got something else we can try. Can you take me to Leif?”

“This isn’t outsider’s business,” Burma said.

Lea wasn’t listening. She grabbed my hand and was already tugging me out of the cottage. We headed towards one of the other buildings.

A musclebound young man got in our way. “You can’t see him, Lea. None of this is your business anymore.”

The runes on Lea’s flesh glowed a brilliant blue. “You do not want to get in my way. He’s in there, Liam. Knock down the door if you need to. I’ll make sure you aren’t disturbed.”

Right. Not quite a jailbreak then, although certainly we were breaking in. The door to the cottage was locked. That was solved with a firm punch.

Inside was a man who appeared to be about Lea’s age and looking rather alarmed at my unexpected entrance. That was fine, perhaps his being startled would work to my favor. I’d never used my new mind games power, but I reached out for it and tried to form a connection between me and him.

Everything went dark.

Chapter 4

I was inside a cottage much like the one I’d entered. It clearly belonged to the same village. There was a corpse on the floor, an older woman. She lay sprawled on her back in a pool of blood, a dagger with a yellow gem in the hilt protruding from her heart.

Was this an admission that Leif was guilty? I didn’t know how else the murder scene would be here so perfectly preserved within his mind.

I had to think. My mind games power wasn’t just there to help me explore people’s memories. It was somehow constructing a gameworld based on their thoughts and the situation that they were involved in.

Leif was on trial for murder, so he had to be obsessing over it. Thinking about it and trying to figure out what really happened.

I had an idea and checked my pockets. I was right. I found a small spiral notebook and pulled it out.

Victim: Cara Nystral

Age: 73

Crime Scene: The victim was found sprawled on her back, a dagger in her chest bearing a yellow gem. There was no sign of struggle.

Evidence

Clues

I wasn’t inside Leif’s memory of a murder that he committed. I was in a detective game and attempting to solve the crime of which he was accused.

The prompts were right. Looking around I didn’t see where anything had been knocked over. That and the fact that she’d been stabbed from the front and in her own home meant she probably knew and trusted her killer. The village didn’t seem that large though, she likely knew everybody that lived here.

I knelt next to the body and pulled the knife free so that I could study it more closely. Runic symbols adorned the blade. They didn’t mean anything to me. If the runes identified the owner I wouldn’t be able to read them. There was no other indication of anything that might be of value. No name, no year. I did notice that when I held the gem up to the light I could see faint green impurities in the stone.

The knife wasn’t telling me much. That left the body itself. Although I’d looted many corpses it felt strange to search this one. I never thought of those enemies I’d killed as people.

There wasn’t much to find, just a small gold coin pouch in one pocket and a bundle of herbs in the other.

That meant robbery wasn’t the motive. If the killer wanted cash they would have taken it, and if they intended to steal anything else—rather than the gold—they would still have emptied out the purse for the sake of thoroughness. I would have.

There weren’t any other stab wounds. As someone who had been pissed off in more than a few fights I knew you didn’t settle for stabbing your victim just once, if you’re enraged, you let it go on for a while. So the killer hadn’t been angry. They’d been methodical, and they’d made sure to land a single, killing blow.

I wish I had some kind of list of suspects. More information would help a lot. On the plus side, no one would create a detective game with a mystery that couldn’t be solved. I hoped that meant everything I needed was here somewhere in the room.

I searched the rest of the cottage. The door to the outside wouldn’t open, but I was able to go through everything inside. I didn’t find anything that seemed directly connected to the murder.

There were several bookcases filled with scholarly tomes and scrolls, largely dealing with the history of the area, as well as books on the local geology, flora, and fauna.

After half an hour of this I stopped. I wasn’t getting any closer to solving the mystery. I was overlooking something.

Of course, the knife.

Everyone in the village was given one of these when they came of age. Leif was a prime suspect because he couldn’t produce his.

I’d just turned this cabin inside out and I hadn’t found a second knife—the one that must belong to Cara. That left two possibilities. Either the blade used in the murder belonged to the victim, Cara, or it belonged to the killer and they had taken Cara’s knife with them.

I searched through the bookshelves again, flipping through pages, this time looking for anything on these ritual knives. It wasn’t long until I found a relevant passage.

The stone used to adorn the blade shall be chosen based upon the recipient’s planned role as an adult. Those expected to take a position of leadership within the village will have knives adorned with yellow glimmerstone to indicate the foresight and wisdom needed. Defenders of the village will have knives adorned with red hardrock to demonstrate their strength and determination. Those who will support and care for the people of the village will have knives adorned with blue sapphire to demonstrate compassion.

So now it made sense to assume it was the killer’s knife used in the murder. Otherwise, the murderer would have had to search the cottage for Cara’s knife first, raising her suspicions, before killing her with her own dagger.

I’d just narrowed down my list of potential suspects considerably. When everyone in the village presented their knives, it would have been instantly clear if their gem was the wrong color and someone had the wrong knife. If the Cara’s knife could be mistaken for the killer’s own, then both must have had a yellow gem—the stone indicating one of the future leaders of the village.

I was already getting an uncomfortable sense of who the killer might be. Lea’s knife would have a yellow stone, but Lea was on the Vainglory when the murder occurred.

I didn’t know much about this village, but I knew enough to fit a scenario together. The victim’s knife wasn’t the only one missing. Leif’s weapon was gone, too. Which meant the killer would have taken it as well—and they knew where to quickly find it. Someone that Leif trusted, someone that he would never think would have betrayed him this way.

It must be Lea’s cousin, Sarelle. As the one appointed to be Keeper after Lea left, the stone of her knife would have been yellow. As Leif’s wife, she would know the location of his knife.

I wish that I had more pieces of this puzzle to fit together, but those alone might be enough to force some sort of confession. I willed myself out. The world flickered for a moment and a prompt appeared.

Congratulations

You have used your mind game ability to unravel a mystery. As a reward you now have an option of two power ups.

Detective: In future mindscapes objects of particular interest or utility will be highlighted.

Rule Master: In future mindscapes when first emerging into the world you will be given a brief set of rules and instructions on how to interact with the reality.

Both were tempting. It had taken me awhile just to figure out that this had been a detective game. Knowing the rules would have saved me some time. On the other hand, recognizing objects of interest could be useful in all kinds of settings.

The more I did this, the more familiar I’d become with the settings. Rule Master might be quite useful at first, but not for long. Detective, on the other hand, would always be handy. I selected it. As soon as I made the choice reality began to fade and I was back in the cottage.

Chapter 5

When I came out of the mindscape Leif was backed into a corner and looking at me in panic. From outside I could hear shouting.

“I know you’re innocent. I think I can prove it, just stay right here,” I said, as I rushed outside.

Lea, Ashley, Walt, and Yve were facing off against what must have been most of the population of the village. Weapons were drawn and there was a disturbing number of blue glows coming from activated runes.

“Liam, I really hope you have something,” Lea said.

“It wasn’t Leif. The dagger used in the murder belonged to the killer, and the one they presented when everyone was searched was Cara’s. A closer study of your cousin’s knife should show it isn’t Sarelle’s,” I said.

I was bluffing there. I did not know if there was any way to tell the knives apart, but hopefully the killer didn’t either.

“Sarelle? Is this true,” Burma asked.

The woman she was talking to did look a bit like Lea, thin and dark-eyed with an angular nose. I think I’d checked her out appreciatively earlier. Of course I did. A manipulative murderess—I liked what I liked.

“You left us here. You left me with him. I never wanted to take your place,” Sarelle said, pushing past Burma to glare at Lea.

Lea slumped under the gaze. “You could have run away too. You didn’t have to get stuck in a life you didn’t want.”

“It is too late now,” Sarelle said, and the runes on her body began to pulse an ominous red. Cracks of glowing white energy appeared in the ground beneath her feet. Wraiths made of smoke rose up.

I pulled stats on one.

Temporal Wraith: Erasers of Time

Level 27: Type: Spirit HP: 410/410

Temporal Wraiths can only be conjured by a Seer who has fully given themselves over to evil and murdered one of their own blood. They have the ability to scrub people and events out of time. Immune to physical damage, they will carry out the will of their summoner unless they encounter those who have manipulated time for their own purposes, those they will seek to destroy before all others.

Great. Just great. Sarelle probably intended to wipe out Lea, but I didn’t think she was going to get what she wanted. Ashley and I had both traveled in time and done more than a little fucking with it.

“You see this, Ashley?” I asked, as I drew Intemperance.

“I see it. I’m all physical damage. Walt?” Ashley asked.

“I’m no longer a mage, but blows from the Death-hand should be considered magical,” Walt said.

“I’m a better Paladin than Liam ever was. We’re good,” Yve said. That was mean.

Intemperance should count as magic as well. Our primary damage-dealer might be out of the fight, but that also left us some options.

The spirits surged towards Ashley and Walt, and I stepped forward. Intemperance passed right through the first Wraith. The fires wreathing the blade flared as they made contact and the Wraith hissed in agony.

Erasure

The spirit spun and grabbed me by my arm. For a moment I could see myself going translucent. I was too real now to be so easily dismissed. The attack which should have wiped me out in an instant simply made me feel like every cell in my body was screaming. It beat dying. Slightly.

I tightened my grip on Intemperance and drove it into the Wraith’s form again, this time holding the sword within the mists that made up the Wraith’s core. In a burst of flames it exploded.

Blood Moon

Lea and Sarelle were going at it, Lea glowing blue and Sarelle red as spells wreathed them in a full-on magical duel.

Fist of the Forgotten

Walt dispersed another Wraith, the Death-Hand glowing blue as he delivered a punch that blasted right through the Wraith’s form.

Seer’s Sanctuary

A glowing bubble of blue force surrounded Ashley just as another Wraith was about to reach her. Searching for its source I saw Leif standing in the doorway of the cottage, his own runes brilliantly alight.

I nodded my thanks to him and he nodded back.

Fireball

Three Wraiths exploded into flames as Yve threw a fireball right into the middle of them. Okay, I was one part jealous and one part pissed off at that.

“Why, exactly, did I never get a fireball spell?” I asked.

“You went strength and endurance. I’m smart and I’m hot,” Yve said.

I still didn’t like it, even if it did make sense.

Sarelle gave an agonized scream and I looked over to see the duel was over. A dagger had been plunged into her heart, the yellow gem pulsing with light as the red markings on her skin grew even more intense. They seemed to be melting the flesh away, the dagger falling out as the last of Sarelle oozed into the cracks in the ground and vanished.

“Is that normal?” Ashley asked. “Because I’ve got to say, she seemed like kind of a bitch already and then she goes and dies in a way that doesn’t leave any loot.”

“It’s not normal,” Lea said with a sigh.

“It probably means the ancient evil is rising again,” Leif said, stepping up to join us.

“I thought you guys killed that thing? Then you raised it and killed it again? Someone distinctly told me it wasn’t going to be a problem,” I said.

“It won’t be, for you,” Lea said, flashing me a sad smile.

“Our village has always dealt with it, and we’ll deal with it again,” Leif said.

“I mean, if it has the courtesy to actually leave gear when it dies, we might be happy to assist,” Ashley said. It seemed she wasn’t willing to give up the matter of loot.

“Truly, you wouldn’t even be able to help. It’s hard to explain, but it is an evil that lives on in our blood and in our bones, and so does the ability to fight it,” Lea said.

“Does this mean that you’ll stay? Please, stay. With Sarelle dead we are without a Keeper,” Leif said.

Lea looked torn. I didn’t expect that somehow. A lot of my friends seemed to be running away from the places they came from, myself included. I wondered if Lea regretted it.

I said, “You can stay, if you want. Riggs can captain the ship. We’ll miss you, but if this is where you need to be we’ll understand,” I said.

Lea knelt and picked up the dagger she used to kill Sarelle, returning it to a sheath at her waist. “Not yet. I know you think that Cobalt has run away, I know that she thinks she has, but with a fight as big as the one coming Cobalt won’t be able to stay away.”

“We need you. I need you,” Leif said.

I remembered that if Lea hadn’t left, she would have married Leif instead of her cousin. Perhaps there was something there.

Lea rose and reached out to take Leif’s hand between hers, holding it for a moment. “I know. With a Keeper fallen you’ve got a year before another must be chosen. Can you wait for me?”

Leif didn’t seem to know how to answer that. It was Burma who finally stepped forward. “Your word, child. Your word that you’ll return within the year and take your place.”

“I swear it,” Lea said.

“Then we’ll manage,” Burma said, and her attention shifted to me. “You keep her safe, no putting her in harm’s way.”

I didn’t swear to that. I’d be doing exactly the opposite. I didn’t know if any of us would survive the coming year, but I had some idea what was coming. Lea was one of the squishiest of us, and probably the most decent.

Lea brushed a kiss against Leif’s cheek and released his hand.

“You’re sure you don’t want this? A home to come back to?” Ashley asked me.

I did, but that didn’t mean I could have it. Earth wasn’t home, not any longer. Castle Sardonis was a home of a sort, but I couldn’t embrace it without accepting the idea of who and what Elsora was, and I wasn’t ready to do that. The Silver City might be home one day, but for now it was just another place filled with uncertain friends.

“If I want it, I think I’m going to have to make it. Let’s get going. We’ve got a God to kill and a planet to save.”

Chapter 6

Below the Vainglory a stone wall stretched as far as the eye could see. A faint shimmer in the air above it indicated also a magical barrier that kept us from going any further. We’d reached the edges of the Dark Court.

“Ideas?” I asked. We had gathered on deck.

“You were joking about it being DLC, but maybe you were right,” Ashley said.

“A literal paywall?” Yve asked.

“We tried pushing through it already to no effect. We could cut loose with the cannons, but I’m not hopeful. For a shield this large there must be a lot powering it,” Lea said.

The paywall might be a possibility. In the past I’d sometimes been able to get things to respond to me by focusing on them, and I tried now. Willing my attention to the wall.

Dark Legends Corporation

The lands beyond are restricted to those authorized by the Dark Legends Corporation. Permission to enter must either be granted by a member of the board or an admission ticket must be purchased.

Ticket fare for your vessel and all occupants aboard comes to 107,322 gold coins.

Do you wish to purchase a ticket Y/N?

Well, that seemed exorbitant, even ridiculous. While Ashley handled our finances, on the other hand I was the King of the damned world.

I indicated my willingness with a thought, and the air before us shimmered green for a moment. A passage appeared large enough for the Vainglory.

“Take us through,” I said.

“How much was it?” Ashley asked.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Really do. You let them rip you off, didn’t you? Damn it, Liam, you’re a King. You can’t just let people charge you to go places. You’re supposed to be the one charging them,” Ashley said.

I didn’t disagree. While being the King of this whole world was a new experience and I would still make mistakes, things like this would need to stop. Making such a bold move against the Elves had bought me some breathing room against the world’s other major powers, but it was only a matter of time until someone else decided to press their luck.

“I’ll let you make your displeasure fully known to Veros,” I said.

That mollified Ashley a bit. If there was one thing I could rely upon to outpace her greed, it was her bloodthirstiness.

When we passed beyond the wall the lands below began to take shape. The skies here were perpetually dark, as they were everywhere now due to Elsora. Still, that served to help mark how much the world was active. Trails of light cut through the forested lands, the roads leading through the wilderness.

Regular, glowing clumps indicated thriving towns. This place wasn’t just inhabited, it was active and vibrant.

“Any idea where we’re going from here?” I asked Lea.

Lea had already started to activate her runes and opened scrying portals. “I wasn’t able to look through the wall. Give me a few minutes and I’ll get us a destination.”

“Do we have a plan or are we just going to charge in with guns blazing?” Walt asked.

“It’s Veros. We kill him first or he kills us,” Ashley said.

I looked out over the landscape. It had been hard to make plans without knowing exactly what we would be facing. Now that I could see what existed on this side of the wall, it made things more complicated. An area this populated would mean they’d be able to mount quite a defense.

“Ashley said it earlier. I’m the King of the World. I figure I have the right to come and survey my lands,” I said.

“You don’t think Veros is just going to sit back and let that happen?” Ashley asked.

“Whatever he is doing here it obviously involves playing the long game. Look at all of this. This isn’t some crazed God sitting in an abandoned castle. This is someone planning something big,” I said.

“Got something. You want me to just head on in?” Lea asked.

“Do it.”

The Vainglory veered starboard and ahead of us loomed one of the larger clusters of lights. A big city.

As we drew closer the lights became more frequent and we could start to make out small figures going about their tasks. There was a lot of fighting. I spotted a sorcerer throwing bolts of fire at what seemed to be some undead lurching about a field. The sorcerer was being defended by a young woman with a sword and shield.

Scenes like this were everywhere.

“Is it a war?” I asked.

“You know better than that. You know exactly what this is,” Yve said.

“It’s a game. It is exactly what I’d expect to see when I’m flying over a properly functioning game world,” Ashley said.

I saw it now. They were right. The Crucible Shard had always looked a bit different. For the most part people were just going about their lives, but here they were getting well along with the process of killing and looting.

Yve asked, “I wonder how they keep it all up? Actual in-game economies tend to be preposterously unrealistic. When you have this many people out having adventures, who is tilling the fields and running day-to-day business?”

“If this was all set up by Elsora, then she could have figured out a way. You know how good she is at running a kingdom,” I said.

Ashley said, “One day we’re going to figure out why you have such a thing for manipulative bitches who fuck with your head.”

“Rude,” Yve said.

“Not talking about you. You’re out of his head and done fucking with it now. Notice how he stopped being interested?” Ashley said.

That hit a little too close to home.

The center of the city was dominated by an odd structure, a modern skyscraper with a more antiquated castle perched atop it. The building had “DLC” emblazoned in large letters on the side.

“I thought you were joking about the name,” Ashley said.

“Maybe someone had the same idea that I did,” I said.

A light on the castle began to blink.

“Inviting us in?” I asked.

“Or warning us off,” Lea said.

“Let’s assume the former. If they wanted to fire a warning shot, we’re in range. They would have done it by now,” I said.

Our approach to the castle was uninterrupted—we did seem to be welcome.

The castle appeared abandoned, the light a magical orb glowing on one tower where there was a well-appointed airship dock that looked as if it might even have been made for the Vainglory.

“This is spooky. There was no lack of people anywhere else. Why have they sent no one to greet us?” Yve asked.

It was a good question.

“Could it be a trap of some kind? They don’t want to risk anyone else getting caught in an explosion?” I asked.

Lea shrugged. “Perhaps, but like you said, we’ve been within range this whole time if they had wanted to attack us. You’d guess they must have a lot of firepower.”

You would think.

“Dock. We can explore the castle once we set down,” I said.

The Vainglory lowered itself into position and ropes unfurled themselves as we neared, moving on their own to secure the ship and helping to bring it gently into position.

“Anticlimactic,” Ashley said, a moment before she toppled over and crashed hard against the deck.

I tried to raise some shout of alarm, but my own limbs were suddenly heavy and my thoughts dazed. A thick fog seemed to roil through my mind.

I pushed against it. As the King of the Twelfth Moon I had a lot more reality to me than most and had proved resistant to most mental effects, but this one seemed to be taking hold.

Everyone else around was already down apart from Yve.

“Yvera is trying to shield me, but she’s weak here,” Yve said. Just saying this must have exhausted her as moments later she too was out.

I tried to force my hand to reach for the windstone Malachite had given me. With that I could call her. I didn’t make it. The world dissolved into black as I lost consciousness.

Chapter 7

I had a headache. It was a terrible way to start the first day of a new job. It didn’t help that the other new hire looked perfectly put together. Yve Garland, beautiful—and you could tell she knew it—and given the way the top buttons of her blouse were undone was quite willing to use it.

I didn’t mind that. Really, I approved. Whatever it took to get the sale, you had to be aggressive or what was the point of even being there.

The elevator doors dinged open and we stepped out together into our new world. There are stereotypes you learn to recognize in the sales world. There by the elevator was a particularly stiff-looking young man carefully not looking at anything. The poor fool was in the wrong business and knew it. That was good, you always want someone to be performing worse than you. It’s the slow member that gets picked off the herd.

Yve was giving him the same sort of study. Her gaze was predatory, like a jackal that could spot the weak. Yeah, she wasn’t going to be the slow member either. Neither would I.

“New girl and guy, stop gawking and get in here,” a voice called out, all but dripping honey. Sleek and with perfect hair, and a suit that cost more than I’d make my first month. You could tell at once who was the alpha of this pack.

“I love the office,” Yve said, as she closed the distance to him and took his hand, leaning in. Close, but not too close, physical contact. He’d be feeling her warmth and smelling her perfume, and the touch was setting up a connection. She was good.

“Ms. Garland, Mr. Ottani. You can call me Charming,” Charming said.

“I’d have done that without being told,” Yve said with a laugh, as she pulled away. That was my opening to step in for the handshake. Firm, opposing hand resting on the arm for just a moment. It was a point of connection, handshakes mattered and you had to get them just right. Mine was, so was his. This guy knew what he was doing.

“You two are my golden eggs. I can tell that already. Perform and you’ll both be taken care of well. Sales define an operation and DLC is aggressively growing,” Charming said.

“I think you’ll find my performance endlessly pleasing,” Yve said. I thought that was going a bit far, but Charming didn’t seem to mind. A pale line on his finger showed where a wedding ring had been. It wasn’t likely he was playing the field at work, so that meant recently separated. No, Yve probably couldn’t go too far here.

“I imagine I will. Yve, you’ll be with me today. We’re selling the benefits of our designs to group of crafters in the village of Vak. Ottani, help Seed close the deal he’s been unable to because he’s a pathetic waste of flesh,” Charming said.

Right. Everyone had a box and I could check off Charming’s now. Slick and a total jerk of a boss.

“Seed?” I asked.

“Me,” said the young man I’d noticed when we walked in. He slumped, as much as walked, up to join us.

Charming slipped his arm into Yve’s and guided her off making chit chat as they went. Great, she’d be making a big impression with the new boss while I risked being associated with a guy named Seed.

Still, this was my first day on the job and I wasn’t going to fuck it up.

“I hope you don’t go around introducing yourself as Seed,” I said.

“I prefer Pine. Really. He just calls me the other because I hate it. He’s mean. He’s really, really mean,” Pine said, with a bit of a stammer.

“So where do we go to meet this client of yours?” I asked.

“She’s actually here today. She kept asking questions that I didn’t have any answers to, so I had her swing past the office,” Pine said.

I felt my perpetual smile grow a little strained. It was good that she was interested enough in whatever we were selling that she’d come all the way here. But if she was demanding details it upped the difficulty level of making the sale—since I still wasn’t sure exactly what we did here at DLC.

“Lead on and fill me in on the way?” I asked.

“Lara Kincaid, she’s a very nice lady with really bad luck. She’s been the sole survivor of seven expeditions into the deep mines, all of them bad. I keep trying to sell her on safety and security,” Pine said, as he walked.

Well, that would be part of the problem right there. If the woman went back into a place that kept killing her party again and again, and she didn’t care, safety and security were pretty much the last things she wanted to buy. Whatever drove this woman, it was something else.

We came to the waiting room and I could see Lara inside. Pretty, dark hair and green eyes. Leather armor, a lute resting against the wall painted the picture of her being a bard. My suspicions grew. You wouldn’t expect the bard to be the last survivor, bards were lame.

“Ms. Kincaid, welcome back,” Pine said, as he took a seat.

Lara was checking me out. I did look damned good in this suit. I shook her hand, holding it a few moments longer than necessary. There were sparks there, enough to work with.

“Liam. It is a pleasure,” I said.

Lara tilted her head, “I had questions your colleague was unable to answer. Are you an expert on these matters?”

“He’s new. It’s his first day,” Pine said.

That wasn’t helpful.

Lara didn’t react negatively. If anything her lips twitched in something of a smile. Curious. Sales is all about figuring out what people want. What did she want?

“Why don’t you fill me in?” I asked.

“We’re wanting Ms. Kincaid to become a member of our Adventurers Elite program, and to encourage others to join. It offers a twenty percent discount on all store purchases and guidance from qualified adventuring professionals. In return DLC gets fifteen percent of all loot and certain rights to any corpses and abandoned equipment after death,” Pine said.

What? I mean, maybe that was a good deal. Maybe. But what did we do with the corpses?

“What do we do with the dead bodies?” I asked.

“We either harvest the organs, or reanimate them and put them to use for purposes at DLC’s discretion,” Pine said.

It sounded like he was reading right out of a pamphlet. I glanced over. He was. Great.

Never let the clients see you blink. I turned my attention to the bard and gave her my best smile. “That all seems very straightforward. What were your questions?”

Lara leaned forward. “I just wanted to clarify what I got out of the arrangement.”

“As I’ve stated, we offer a twenty percent discount on all store purchases and guidance from qualified adventuring professionals,” Pine said, repeating word for word his pitch from earlier. I winced. I could see her game now. I could play it.

“She doesn’t care about any discounts, Pine. We make most of our profits off this program when adventurers wind up dead, and plenty of people keep winding up dead around Ms. Kincaid all the time. She wants to know what special allowance we can make for her,” I said.

“I don’t understand,” Pine said.

I guess he didn’t. I did. Lara was getting her parties killed. Maybe she was doing it for kicks or maybe she was already getting something out of it, but she was looking to cut a deal because she was providing us with a lot of corpses.

“Surely, we offer some sort of referral bonus for sales of the program,” I said.

“We can. It’s fifty gold,” Pine said.

“It’s seventy-five,” Lara said.

“No, it’s not,” Pine said.

“Sixty-five, should tragedy strike again within a month of them joining the program,” I said.

“How would you determine that?” Lara asked.

“Payment not made until a month after they sign. Either at the old rate or the revised one.”

Lara looked thoughtful. She didn’t like that delay in payment, I couldn’t blame her. Always try to get the money upfront.

I reached out to take her hand, “I’ll be your personal liaison to make sure things are taken care of fully. We want you to be completely satisfied with this arrangement.”

Lara probably didn’t get many offers like that after someone had figured out who she was and what she did.

“Work out the details with me over lunch? I’m sure we can have the paperwork signed by the end of day,” Lara said.

“It’s really a bit extraordinary,” Pine said.

“Then go clear what you need to with legal and get the paperwork drawn up,” I said, getting to my feet and helping Lara to hers.

“We’ll be at the Three Gables,” Lara said.

* * *

Of course, we skipped the lunch and went right to one of the inn’s bedrooms. It had been our mutual plan all along. A few hours of what might be called vigorous negotiating and I had myself one very satisfied new client. Sales is all about figuring out what the client is really after and making sure they get it. I made one hell of a salesman.

Chapter 8

I bid a fond goodbye to Lara and with signed contract in hand left the inn. It wasn’t exactly by the books, but I had the feeling Charming would appreciate that—he struck me as a “sale at any cost” kind of guy.

It was a pleasant surprise to discover a naked woman waiting for me in the street. When you start the first day at a new job you never know what it holds for you, but so far things were fantastic.

“Liam, can you see me?” Lake asked. “Do you know me?”

“Having a hard time looking at anything else, so yes—and no,” I said. It was true. I didn’t recognize her and I was certain I’d remember given how much I liked what I saw.

“Damn it, Liam, look up. I’m not trying to seduce you. I’m trying to get through to you. Do you remember who I am?” Lake asked.

I didn’t. That probably meant I’d been drinking on the night we hooked up. It was a shame when that happened, alcohol could be cruel.

“From the bar, right?” I said. If alcohol had been involved a bar made perfect sense.

“Lake,” Lake said.

“Not really a swimmer, more a sinker. You must have me confused with someone else. No worry though, maybe it is just fate trying to tell you something,” I said, giving her my most winning smile.

“Stop trying to sleep with me and remember me. I’m Lake, avatar of truth. You’re a skeevy King and not a skeevy salesman,” Lake said.

Right. My winning smile wasn’t going to work here.

“Lady. I don’t know who you are, but me and the truth parted ways a long time ago. You’re name’s Lake? Listen, I must get these contracts back to the office, but when you get bored of who you’re looking for come find me. Liam Ottani, soon to be DLC’s top salesman,” I said.

Lake blinked out of existence. Not quite human then—she never seemed like it. There was something of the surreal to her.

The office was shutting down when I got there. Charming had already made his exit. Damn it. There went my opportunity to score some points. I put the contracts on his desk.

“Closed the deal?” Yve asked, as she stepped around a corner.

“Always. How did you do?” I asked.

“Same. He’s damned good,” Yve said.

I lifted a brow at her. Yve didn’t seem especially fazed.

“So am I,” I said.

“I can tell. A few of us new hires are meeting for drinks down at the Flagon. Want to come?”

Networking was good. I’d rather be networking with some of the more experienced employees, but it might be nice to meet some others in my same situation. Besides, Yve was hot and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested.

* * *

The Flagon wasn’t that far from the DLC offices, a run-down but homey tavern. A group had already clustered around a table. Yve approached them.

“I’m Yve and this is Liam, we’re with sales,” Yve said, and then as an aside to me while indicating one of the women with a tilt of her head, “Ashley. She’s new to Accounts Receivable, I met her earlier dropping off some paperwork.”

“I’m Walt, assistant to Ms. White,” Walt said. He was a strange sort with one spectral arm.

“Ms. White?” I asked.

“Total ball-busting bitch. Efficiency expert, gave me shit today for taking twenty minutes to file something. It’s my first day,” Ashley said, drinking back a solid slug of her ale and making a face.

“She isn’t that bad,” Walt said, in that careful sort of way one does when defending a new boss they hate, but isn’t entirely sure they aren’t being spied upon in some way.

“She is Charming’s Ex,” Yve said, hugging her way around. I settled for handshakes.

“You had time to talk personal history?” I asked.

“Sale took half an hour, what else was I going to do. Why? What did you do all day?” Yve asked.

Mostly I did Lara. I wasn’t going to bring that up.

“Our client was extra-demanding. It took us most of the day to work things out,” I said.

“I’d hate to be in sales,” Walt said.

“So, this is going to seem a weird question. But somehow in all the hiring paperwork I seem to have totally missed it. Do any of you have an idea what DLC actually does?” I asked.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence.

“I’m glad I’m not the only one,” Walt said.

“I thought I was crazy for not knowing,” Ashley said.

“I didn’t really care. I can sell anything,” Yve said.

“I was selling some sort of adventuring plan today. A discount on gear from select merchants in exchange for ownership of any corpses and their possessions,” I said.

“I was selling Crafters on becoming a part of a crafting alliance. There are a lot of very specific requirements for gear. What elemental resistances it must have, how to refurbish existing equipment,” Yve said.

“We have accounts with pretty much every business in every town. We get referral fees for sending business their way,” Ashley said.

“I don’t have anything to offer. I saw a lot of places today along with Ms. White, but we didn’t stay very long anywhere,” Walt said.

That was fine. I could put some pieces together from what I knew. I already found the agreement I was selling rather suspicious, since it did seem that we’d mostly get what we wanted after an adventurer’s death. The others seemed to have jobs that would profit elsewhere—really, when you thought about it, we had a finger in just about every pie.

“So, we’re making money off the adventuring sector,” I said

“Sounds like it. I wonder where they all come from,” Yve said.

“Does it matter? We’re just lucky to have jobs and not have to be among them. Can you imagine having to kill and loot just to get by? It sounds awful,” Ashley said.

It really did.

“Have any of you seen anything odd? Like say a naked woman?” I asked.

“Thankfully not,” Walt said, with a shiver.

Yve quirked a brow at me. “If this is your best pickup line, you’re not half the salesman I thought you were.”

“I haven’t seen one naked, but there was this woman claiming to be a Goddess of Water screaming at me earlier,” Ashley said.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“I told her to fuck off and that I was going to go have a drink. What else would I do? What did you do with your naked woman?” Ashley asked.

“Hopefully slept with her,” Yve said.

“I tried. She wasn’t in the mood,” I said.

“You get approached by a strange, naked woman and can’t score because she isn’t in the mood?” Yve said, shaking her head.

I guess it did sound bad when she put it like that.

“It really wasn’t like that.”

“Whatever. Charming isn’t here yet and I don’t play dutifully waiting waif for any man, and you’re clearly pathetic at making moves for yourself. Take me back to my place?” Yve asked.

I was both pissed off by the implication and confronted by an offer I wasn’t going to refuse.

“Fine,” I said.

It wasn’t much of a walk back to our DLC-provided housing. With Yve it was surprising how naturally our bodies came together. It was one of those instances that make you wonder if past lives exist, because it felt more like reconnecting than something new. Oh, there was a lot of competitiveness and trying to outdo each other too. It was a long time until we finally fell asleep with our bodies pressed against each other.

I opened my eyes the next morning as my shoulder was being shaken. It took a few moments to focus on the surroundings and seeing Lake there in bed with us. It wasn’t exactly planned although I was more than willing to make a go of it however crazy Lake might be.

“So happy you could join us,” I said, reaching out for her hip.

“This is not a threesome, Majesty,” Lake said.

“Only because we’re not trying hard enough. I’m sure Yve will be up for it,” I said, moving to shake awake the redhead.

When my hand touched her flesh, Lake put a hand on both of us and I suddenly felt as if I’d been shocked.

Mind Games

I blacked out.

Chapter 9

I came to and I found myself sprawled out in a bed much nicer than the one I’d just occupied. The DLC rooms left much to be desired, hard mattresses and too-thin sheets, and completely soulless artwork decorating the walls. This bedroom was far different, red silk sheets and a plush mattress, and the room was adorned with sculpture and artwork.

Yve wasn’t here, I didn’t know where she had gone or even quite where was here. The air shimmered and Lake materialized.

“Well, if you wanted to steal me away you picked a great place for it. I really should be getting to work, but for this I think I’ll find a reason to spare the time,” I said.

“Still not a seduction, Majesty. You are within a depiction of the mind of Yve Garland,” Lake said.

That made sense, one of the statues in the room did seem to be a carving of a nude Yve. It was a bit stylized to make her even more stunning, but that required less embellishment than it otherwise might.

“She has fancy tastes, then,” I said.

“She is a former Goddess of Passion and Fire, and before that was an Artificial Intelligence on another planet. You worshiped and loved her, once,” Lake said.

You’d think that all of this would jog something in my memory, but nothing did. I began to rummage around the room. Certain items had a strange glow to them—there was a chest near one wall, a picture upon the wall, and a carved fixture by the door.

“You keep saying a lot of strange things. Why would you bring me inside her mind?” I asked.

“Something has been done to steal your memories. You should be resistant against such things, but they appear to have overcome that. Yve’s mind is structured differently and you may be able to reach her here,” Lake said.

It sounded like a lot of nonsense to me, but I couldn’t argue that something strange was going on. I moved towards the glowing chest and found it locked. The top was made of tiled picture panels. One depicted Yve wearing leather armor with a lute against her back, another had her in plate mail and holding a two-handed sword. A third showed her naked and wreathed in flames, this beside a picture of her in business attire that might have been taken this morning. And there was a graphic display of her being tortured.

“This is some sick stuff she is into,” I said.

“I don’t think she enjoyed the torture, Majesty,” Lake said.

I hoped not. I really wasn’t into that sort of thing.

I experimented with the tiles and found that I could slide them. “A puzzle?”

“It must be so, Majesty,” Lake said.

I moved things around so that the depiction of her business attire was in the last slot. “I’d guess then that these are events from her life that are probably meant to be put in order. The last I know, but the rest is a mystery to me.”

“You can remember nothing of this?” Lake asked.

I tried. I really tried. I couldn’t, but almost of their own volition my fingers seemed to move the depiction of her in leather armor to the first location on the chest.

“There you go. Just like that,” Lake said.

“Don’t praise me for something when I don’t even know why I am doing it. I may have moved that piece there, but it doesn’t make any sense,” I said.

“I believe you should feel strongly about the next one. Look at them carefully.”

One that I would feel strongly about. The torture made the most sense, it looked grisly and horrific, and the sort of thing that should leave a lasting scar. I didn’t think that was it, though. Naked and in flames was another matter. For a moment I felt a rush of desire that was absolutely dizzying for all that it was also brief. I slid that tile into the second slot.

That left me with two tiles yet to place, the plate-mail and the torture. Try as I might I still couldn’t remember anything about them, but with two to go it wasn’t really all that difficult a conundrum. I tried both orientations. Torture and then plate-mail and there was an audible click.

I opened the chest. Inside was an assortment of photographs and a journal. The photos were strange. I was in them, most often dressed in plate or chain. Ashley from Accounts Receivable was there as well, so was Walt who I’d met at the bar—he was wearing the most ridiculous-looking hat. There were many things there I didn’t recognize at all.

The journal seemed to be just that, a list of remembrances, although on the last page was a hastily scrawled note.

Left 17 Earth

Left 3 Fire

Right 27 Water

Left 15 Metal

Right 12 Wood

Those numbers and directions made me think of one thing. I checked the picture on the wall and found that I was correct. Behind it was a heavy safe with a twist dial.

“Care to help out here?” I asked.

“I can’t too much. I could get you here, but these are your puzzles to solve even if you no longer remember the solutions. I’m bound by rules,” Lake said.

Why should I expect her to start being helpful now? If Lake had ever played any sort of role in my life I was increasingly certain it must have been a useless one.

I recognized the five elements, although I didn’t know what order they went in. Still, if I had to I could make guesses. I knew for example that the combination couldn’t start with either Water or Wood. To complete a proper safe combination of five positions starting with a right turn it would be right, left, right, left, right. But there were only two right turn numbers, and three to the left, so I knew I had to start towards the left.

Knowing that each number would be used only once gave me three options for the first turn, two for the second, two for the third, one for the fourth, and one for the fifth. Although it might appear daunting, in fact there were only twelve possible combinations for the safe.

I could make a further guess. The picture on the chest of Yve wreathed in flames symbolized her. I couldn’t see her being in the middle of this puzzle, which means that fire would likely come either at the start or the end.

The start seemed more likely. Knowing even one of the numbers reduced the possible combinations considerably. That made it one, two, two, one, and one. I’d gone from twelve potential combinations to four.

I didn’t get it until my third attempt. Fire, Water, Metal, Wood, Earth. I didn’t know what the elements represented, but then I didn’t need to.

Inside the safe were items that meant little to me. A paint brush, a few coins, a rounded pebble, and an intricately carved wooden key.

“Do you have any idea what these things are?” I asked Lake.

“Things important to her. When you go poking around in another’s mind the things you find don’t always have meaning to you. I’m hoping this means that she will be restored to herself when you leave,” Lake said.

There was one glowing object in the room I had yet to investigate. The carving beside the door of lovers in mid-embrace. I had to admire the detail. The key slid perfectly between their entwined bodies and with a turn gave another audible click. Flames billowed out everywhere around me and the room vanished.

Congratulations: You have successfully navigated a mindscape

Choose from the following upgrades

Puzzle master: During any puzzle you encounter in a mindscape you may invoke this ability and have the first two moves to the solution completed for you.

Memories: During a mindscape you may encounter objects of unknown significance. This ability will allow you to relieve the associated memories.

I was obviously capable of solving my own puzzles, I didn’t need any cheats in order to figure things out. Getting an idea of what someone else remembered though, that could be useful. Those items in the safe were mysteries to me and I wished I had some frame of reference for them. As soon as I willed my acceptance of memories the prompt faded and I returned to the real world.

Chapter 10

I was still in the bed with Yve, which although nice was interrupted when she rose to her feet and began to pace within the confines of the narrow room. I appreciated the fact that she hadn’t bothered to slip on any clothing.

“What did you do?” Yve asked.

“I was inside your mind. I think, at least that’s what the crazy naked woman said,” I said.

“Lake is in your head?” Yve asked, and then grimaced. “I was better in there. I’d never have let this go on so long. Yvera, get your ass in here.”

There was a swirl of smoke and ash, and a woman of stone and magma appeared, flames flickering about her flesh.

“Does everyone just feel free to wander through your bedroom?” I asked.

Yvera looked at us both. “Believe me. I’d have rather you both put some clothes on before I came in.”

“It’s nothing you haven’t seen before. What is going on and why didn’t you shield me?” Yve asked.

“Whatever it is powered right through your mind and I lost track of you. I seem to be unusually weak here for some reason,” Yvera said.

“It happened when we docked with the castle,” Yve said.

“Could you two start making some sense?” I asked.

“He doesn’t remember?” Yvera asked.

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Yve said.

“Put your pants on and shut up, Liam. The adults are talking. It has to be Veros,” Yvera said.

Right. The Goddess was a complete and utter bitch, hot though. I got dressed while they continued to speak.

“I agree. Any idea how he’d have done it?” Yve asked.

“Standard mental manipulation wouldn’t work on Liam any longer, which means Veros probably has some of the material harvested from the lunar lab,” Yvera said.

“And he utilized it to materialize a gift. I can deal with that. Why are we surrounded by corporate fairy tale henchmen?” Yve asked.

“I don’t have a clue. I’m going to look around. See what you can do to get Liam his memories back,” Yvera said, before she vanished as suddenly as she appeared.

“Useless,” Yve said in a mutter, as she began to get dressed. The benefits of us crashing at her place meant she had a fresh change of clothes. I was looking more rumpled than I would have liked.

“She seems kind of a jerk,” I said.

“You have no idea. On the facilities map yesterday I saw a R&D lab, we’ll start there,” Yve said.

“Yve. I like you, you’re cute and you’re damned good in bed, and from a look in your head you’ve got a good sense of aesthetics…” I said.

“But you’re worried that it is your second day of work and I am totally going to destroy your happy little life. Rest assured that is exactly what I intend to do,” Yve said, and checked herself over in the mirror before grabbing my hand and tugging me along after her.

Well, it wasn’t quite time to report to work anyways. I guess it wouldn’t hurt anything to see the lab.

The laboratorys proved to be in the basement, a trip in the elevator taking us to a floor filled with impressive-looking and blinking machinery. A pretty blonde in a lab coat and glasses was studying a clipboard.

While three bears of various sizes, also in lab coats, napped in a corner.

“Are those bears?” I asked.

“Don’t wake them,” the blonde said. “I’m Doctor Gold, did you need something?”

“Why are there bears in your lab?” Yve asked, nearly as taken aback as me.

“I don’t know. They really aren’t very good at science and if they’re awake, all you’ll hear are bear jokes,” Gold said.

“Bear jokes?” I couldn’t help myself.

“What do you call bears without ears?” Gold asked.

“A genetics experiment made by a worthless pile of flesh called Gob?” Yve said.

“No. Bees,” Gold said, deadpan.

I exchanged a look with Yve. Neither of us laughed.

“That is why we are going to make sure they don’t wake up. You know Doctor Gob?” Gold asked.

“In a hate him and everything he stands for sort of way. Is he here?” Yve asked.

“No. He provided some of our samples. He’s a man as brilliant as he is handsome,” Gold said.

Yve’s smile looked a little strained. “I’d agree with you completely dear, except I think we’d mean two entirely different things. Listen, me and my friend here are both new hires.”

“Welcome to the company. DLC is the key to glee,” Gold said, still without any emotion in her voice. I hadn’t heard that corporate slogan yet. I kind of liked it, it was catchy.

“Say that again and I will set you on fire,” Yve said.

“Is she serious?” Gold asked.

“I don’t think she likes you,” I said.

“Doctor Gob isn’t married is he? It was only the one time. Well, three times, but the one night,” Gold said.

“Stop talking,” Yve said, and shivered in revulsion.

“I don’t think she likes him either,” I said.

“That isn’t very logical,” Gold said.

“This is Liam Ottani, he is a new hire assigned to sales. His memories are missing and I want them back,” Yve said.

Gold furrowed her brow. “Oh. This is about the new employee orientation. Yours didn’t take?”

Yve simply stared at her.

Gold pushed her glasses up. “Well, before we go further let me just say that although they are poor at science, the bears are rather good with murder. This lab is also filled with combat technology that can be turned against anyone making serious threats. That all said, we can make a deal. You aren’t the first to throw off orientation.”

Yve took a few deep breaths and let them out slowly. Finally she gave her most winning smile, back fully into sales mode. “We’d like to hear more.”

So it was true? I was something else before? Until this point I hadn’t known quite what to make of everything, it all seemed a bit elaborate for a prank, but one never knew. It still could be, of course, but that was seeming more unlikely.

“New employees go through a skills assessment and then orientation. Employees too often are burdened with a personal life that keeps them from achieving the true satisfaction that can only come from dedicated work. Here at DLC we cut out all those useless bits as a service to new hires so they can focus on what is important,” Gold said. It sounded more memorized than sincere.

“You chop away our lives?” I asked.

“You probably didn’t have anything worth living for anyways. But here, here you have the chance to be a part of something important. It is possible to reverse the process, but I want something in return,” Gold said.

“Name it,” Yve said.

“Ms. White keeps trying to cut my funding. She took away my Bunsen burners and gave me a lighter. My coffee-maker got replaced by a vending machine. The bears do not drink coffee,” Gold said, deadly serious.

“That sounds terrible,” Yve said.

“Do you know the bears used to have cots? All just the right size and firmness for them, it was very cute. She took them away. Do you know what happens when the bears must sleep on the floor? They sometimes wake up,” Gold said.

One of the bears blearily poked its head up. “What time is it when you find a bear asleep in your bed?”

“Time to get a new bed. Go back to sleep. See?” Gold said, turning back to us.

“We know Ms. White’s new assistant. We’ll see what we can do to get her off your back,” Yve said.

“And if you see Doctor Gob, let him know I miss him and it wouldn’t be terrible if he visited,” Gold said.

I took Yve’s arm. I didn’t know what it was about this Gob fellow that set her off, but I could guess. Usually it had to be a former lover to get under your skin this much—they must have been quite the item.

“If we see him we’ll be certain to let him know,” I said.

Yve asked, “What is wrong with that woman? Is it the mental conditioning? It has to be the mental conditioning, right?”

“I don’t know, she seemed pretty right in her own head. I mean, crazy, but I guess I would be too if I was locked up in a lab all day with bears,” I said.

“We are going to find Ms. White, get her to back off, get your head straight and burn this place to the ground,” Yve said.

“You’re kind of the worst new employee ever,” I said.

“There is no ‘I’ in team and I’m all about me,” Yve said.

Chapter 11

Finding Ms. White was more work than it should have been. We stopped by her office on the seventeenth floor only to be told that she was off to visit Accounting on twelve. We met Ashley, who told us that Ms. White had already moved on to the Corporate Happiness department. Corporate Happiness had all been fired when we arrived, and a trip back to her office informed us that Ms. White was now in Advertising.

Arriving at the third floor we got our first hint she must still be inside, given that most of the employees appeared to be outside and crying.

“Wow,” I said.

“She’s a winner,” Yve said, and led the way inside.

It wasn’t hard to figure out which one was Ms. White. Aside from the pale skin and ruby lips, her attire was all white. She all but radiated arrogance as she stood there with her arms folded, staring down at a pair of employees.

The two facing off from her were a study in contrasts, the woman dark-haired and stunning by any measure. The guy was bearded, heavyset, and somehow managed to look even more rumpled than I did.

“These numbers remain unacceptable. You’ve been given every resource you’ve asked for and yet still the expansion into new markets remains slow,” White said.

“Think they’re a couple?” I asked Yve quietly.

“Beauty and the Beast. It’s a thing. I am so sick of all this fairy tale nonsense already,” Yve whispered back.

Beauty said, “And as I have explained, moving into new markets takes time. We will get there, but we need to take our time and do it properly or else we’ll face real and lasting harm down the road.”

“So, fuck off,” Beast said.

White said, “We’ve wasted quite enough time. I do not know what you’re up to or what you hope to gain by delaying things, but I expect to see implementation of the plan by the end of the week or we’ll be discussing new leadership for your division.”

“No,” Yve said firmly to me.

“What no?” I asked.

“You are thinking to yourself that she is kind of hot and you’d just love to find out what is beneath that frigid ice bitch exterior,” Yve said.

I didn’t like that she knew me so well, when I still had no idea who she was—because that was exactly what I was thinking.

Our hushed conversation drew White’s gaze. “I told everyone to get out.”

“We’re not with advertising. We’re in sales and I wondered if I might have a moment of your time,” Yve said.

White studied us with her cold blue gaze and stepped forward to tilt Yve’s chin up. “Pretty. He’ll enjoy you, Charming will. Don’t expect anything of it, he’ll promise you the world, but the man is a bastard.”

Right. They were ex-lovers, I remembered hearing that at the bar the night before.

“We aren’t actually here to discuss him,” Yve said.

White was bored anyways, letting her chin go and moving to grasp mine with the same sort of barely interested touch. “Nice jawline, pretty eyes.”

“I’d very much like to make love to you for days on end,” I said.

White released my chin. “Unprofessional, but flattering. I like you. What do you both want? You have sixty seconds. Speak, one of you.”

Yve gave me a warning look, but fortunately had little time to chastise me with only sixty seconds to make her point. “We want you to restore funding to R&D. Bring back the coffee machine, the burners, and give those cute little bears their beds.”

“The bears are a complete waste of resources. Do you know they’ve not made a single worthwhile discovery in the past three years? I might forgive them, if they were at least publishing, but they don’t even have a co-author credit in that time,” White said.

“Gold seems efficient,” I said. Sales is all about giving people what they want and unfortunately, I hadn’t quite figured her out yet. I knew it wasn’t me despite the grabbing at my chin earlier.

“Gold goes to the restroom entirely too much. I have graphs, if you would care to see them. Limiting her access to fluids should do much to resolve the issue,” White said.

We weren’t making any headway. Yve was starting to look as flustered as me.

Then I got it. White made something of a pass at me, yet on the other hand wasn’t interested. There was one reason for that. Making Charming jealous or scoring a few points. Was she vindictive or did she want him back? My gut said vindictive.

“I told you this was a bad idea. The boss would have hated it anyways,” I said.

White’s eyes flickered to me. Yes, that got her attention. Now if Yve would just play along.

“It would have wound up shrinking the sales staff,” Yve said, as if admitting something terrible.

“Why do a few sales lackeys wish the R&D budget restored?” White asked.

“Contracts with craftsmen. Right now a lot of our job in sales is going to these individual suppliers and getting them into cooperative agreements to use our blueprints and designs. We’re outsourcing a lot of what could be done in-house with just a bit of research. I mean, it’s great for sales, but bad for the company,” Yve said.

“And you were hoping to score a few points and make your boss look bad in the process,” White said thoughtfully.

“Sales needs new leadership—better leadership, even if it shrinks in size as a result,” Yve said.

It struck me that Yve was a damned good liar. Most salespeople are, of course. Only some manage to excel without it.

“Fine. I have a problem of my own for which I need assistance. You solve mine and I’ll take care of yours,” White said.

“Isn’t making the company more efficient your job?” Yve asked.

“We’re all businesspeople. You want something, you pay the price. I need you to take care of the Redwood Gang, a bunch of thugs that have been terrorizing our operations,” White said.

“We’re salespeople, not mercenaries for hire,” Yve said.

“So, hire some mercenaries. I don’t care how you get it done, I just want it done. Get rid of them and I’ll see glasses gets her coffee-maker back, and I’ll even dig the little bear beds out of storage,” White said.

“Fine,” Yve said, tugging at my arm.

“Don’t you want to get any more details?” I asked.

White told me, “She has rightly guessed that your minute is more than up and my willingness to further discuss matters long since exhausted. Solve my problem and I’ll solve yours.”

Yve dragged me out into the hall. The advertising staff were still lingering around looking shell-shocked—those not in tears.

“We’ll check with human resources and see what they can tell us. Based on the theme I can already guess who this Redwood Gang is headed by and they’ll hopefully have a lead,” Yve said.

“Fill me in?” I asked, as I peeked back through the doorway. White was back to having a renewed standoff with the heads of advertising.

Yve noticed my glance and scowled. “Liam, seriously. I know you get a little hot and bothered for mean and crazy, but that is more than you want to mess with. Now listen—everyone here seems to come from some fairy tale, right? The bitch is Snow White, our boss Prince Charming. I’m thinking that’s Beauty and the Beast in charge of advertising.”

The words didn’t mean a whole lot to me, but I got the feeling this was something that should be well familiar.

“Missing memory, remember?” I asked.

“I remember. Okay. Another fairy tale is Little Red Riding Hood, and there is a wolf that keeps trying to eat her. Well, actually he succeeds, but this woodcutter comes along and cuts open the wolf and frees her,” Yve said.

I didn’t know the story, but I could put words together. “Red and wood”

“Exactly. You know, you seem a little smarter with your memory wiped out,” Yve said.

“What sort of twisted backward compliment is that?”

“You normally wouldn’t have picked it up that fast. If all the fairy tale people were employed by the company at some time, she should by on file. Her grandmother as well,” Yve said.

“Let’s go track her down then. If they really did take my memories I want them back.”

Chapter 12

The forest was a frightful place, twisted trees that loomed over the path and thorned brambles that soon had me scraped and bloodied no matter how much I tried to avoid them. We’d found our lead on Red. She had left the company a few months prior after having formerly worked in the cafeteria.

Her grandmother was still employed there as a cook. We didn’t try to interrogate her for any information. However great we were at sales, getting someone to flip on their own family was likely to be more trouble than it was worth. We did get a location for Red’s cottage though. Most employees lived in the village in company-provided housing, but Red didn’t have access to it anymore. She had to be staying somewhere in the woods.

Yve had stopped by Sales and picked up some samples, and was now dressed head to toe in plate with a massive two-handed sword strapped across her back. She looked utterly ridiculous. Still, I was starting to envy her the armor, these thorns sucked.

“You should have at least grabbed a sword,” Yve said.

“I don’t even know how to use a sword. Who knows how to use a sword?” I asked. It wasn’t exactly a useful sort of skill unless one wanted to go out and hunt monsters.

“You technically have one. Intemperance. Catches fire, stolen from a timeless hero and bathed in the essence of my divine blood,” Yve said.

“You just keep getting creepier. I keep a sword around covered in your blood. You’re okay with this?” I asked.

“More forged with blood to corrupt it towards the cause of evil. It drives you to constantly give in to your worst urges and lose control. Seriously, this isn’t bringing up anything?” Yve asked.

“It is convincing me that you were truly up to some weird stuff and if you’re looking to get me back into it, I’m starting to wonder if I’m all that keen to go,” I said.

“You were happy, sort of. I know you’d rather be you again, than what you are now,” Yve said.

Conversation had to be put on hold as a crossbow bolt came out of the darkness to thud into a tree in front of us.

“So, you’re looking to reclaim your memories?” said a woman, stepping out from the shadows. Her cloak was a deep, dark red like spilled blood.

This must be the woman we were looking for.

“Do you know anything about it?” Yve asked.

“A bit. I used to work for the corporation until a friend got me out. I still haven’t put everything back together, but I’ve started to,” Red said, and gave a sharp whistle.

From the shadows others emerged with bows leveled in our direction. There looked to be eight of them.

“We didn’t come here for a fight,” Yve said.

Really, that was exactly what we’d come for.

“Then you won’t mind putting your sword on the ground and your hands behind your back,” Red said.

“It’s not drawn and I think I’m comfortable talking to you right here,” Yve said.

“Yve. There are nine of them and two of us,” I said.

“We’ve fought worse odds,” Yve said.

Yve had gotten reckless since she got her memories back. What we needed now was a little salesmanship and not a badass fighter.

I said, “We can understand your caution, but I hope that you can understand ours as well. We’re on your home turf and the advantage is clearly yours. You have nothing to fear from us.”

Red considered it. “No restraints, but I’m not letting her loose in heavy armor and with a sword in my camp.”

I stared at Yve, who after a few seconds carefully removed the sword from her back and extended it so one of the bandits could step forward to take it.

“Keep them covered and let’s move,” Red said, and motioned for us to follow.

“So how did you get your memories back?” I asked.

“Magic. I don’t have any myself, so drinking anti-magic potions doesn’t do me any harm. I’ve been on a steady diet of them for a few months now. The enchantments are really strong, but they eventually crumble,” Red said.

“Interesting. So, her memories were still there tucked away. That is not the case with yours or I could have already restored them,” Lake’s said inside my head.

“Hello?” I thought back, seeing if she could hear me as well.

“Yes, Majesty. We can converse this way. You used to converse with your Goddess in this manner and even though she is no longer with you I can still make use of the channel, so to speak,”

“Well stop it. I don’t want anyone listening in to my head. It is creepy and it is weird.”

Lake didn’t respond. Perhaps that meant she went away. I hoped so.

“We’re both rather magical in nature these days. I don’t think that technique would work for either of us,” Yve said.

“Where do you get anti-magic potions from?” I asked.

“Yellow potion number three. They’re company-made, if you can believe it. Adventurers get them in the potion packs and then never use them. You can buy them for a copper piece on the market and I’ve enough tucked away to last me months,” Red said.

“Why would adventurers buy packs full of potions they don’t need?” I asked.

“Have you seen the price of individual potions? It’s cheaper to get the pack. It’s all a racket of course, just another way that DLC feeds off the innocent,” Red said.

Our journey along a winding trail brought us into a small clearing. No fires burned, many tents were set up. The camp looked hastily assembled and as if it could be torn down just as quickly.

“They must really hate you, the corporation,” Yve said.

A massive figure stepped out of the woods. A double-headed axe was slung over one shoulder and he peered at us in turn.

“They friends or enemies?” asked Woodcutter.

“Haven’t figured that out yet. They claim to be looking for a way to get his memory back,” Red said.

“Then I’d start with asking her how she claims she got hers back, if they know so much about it,” Woodcutter said.

“How about it, sugar? Sounds like you’ve got a story of your own to share,” Red said.

“I don’t actually know,” Yve said.

I realized that she probably didn’t. We hadn’t really talked about what had happened or what I’d found inside her mindscape. I didn’t think that the same thing would work on me, but I hadn’t attempted it. I tried to focus and will—whatever—my strange gift inward. I felt an odd sort of pushback, the internal sense that something was trying to happen, but failing to do so.

“It won’t work. I already tried it. Your mind games ability is all about forging a connection with others and using that to construct a framework of what is within their mind. You can’t share that same connection internally,” Lake said.

“Why not? Isn’t this me and that me two completely different people?”

“You don’t know me well enough to know how thoroughly I want to explore the metaphysical implications of that statement with you. Despite that desire your power doesn’t work that way.”

Well, that was that. Lake wasn’t getting any more useful.

“You don’t just throw off orientation. Red?” asked Woodcutter.

“Agreed, we need to kill them,” Red said.

“Wait! Seriously, we’re good people. Great people. We’re very pretty and charming, and just the kind of friends that are useful to have inside the corporation,” I said.

“Well, at least you didn’t offer to sleep with her,” Yve said.

Why would I do that? That would be a horrible negotiating tactic. I mean, Red was kind of pretty and I did appreciate a certain degree of bloodthirstiness, but not when it was directed at me. That would be crazy.

“You’re saying that like I’ve done it before,” I said.

“All the time. Have I told you about Maria yet? Completely covered in spiders, don’t know what you were thinking,” Yve said.

“I would not sleep with a woman covered in spiders. You’re making that up.”

“Why would I lie? What kind of deranged mind would invent something like that?” Yve asked.

“Maybe they really are trying to get his memories back,” said Woodcutter.

“In which case, they’re just really sick. I vote we kill them anyways,” Red said.

“I’m good with that.” Woodcutter unlimbered his axe.

I tried to think of something else clever to say, but then Red whistled and suddenly I was staggering back with several arrows sprouting from my shoulder.

I knew this was all a terrible idea.

Chapter 13

When you get perforated with arrows you kind of expect death to be instant and horrific. It is just the way these things usually go. Instead, I seemed to be alive. Writhing on the ground in incredible pain, with the dirt beneath me quickly turning to mud from my blood, but surprisingly alive and coherent.

Firewall

Yve gestured and fire exploded from the earth between me and Woodcutter.

“You can’t use fire in a forest! You’ll burn the whole place down,” I said. I didn’t know what she was thinking, but that was just reckless.

An archer stepped over me and leaned in to stab a dagger at my throat. I think he thought to finish me off. I caught his arm and pushed it to the side with all the force I could muster. To my surprise I heard the bone snap as the man collapsed screaming.

I pulled the arrows out of me, the pain making me dizzy, but as soon as they were gone the wounds began to close themselves. Right. I was strong and healed incredibly fast, this was good. I still kind of wished I’d put on some armor of my own when were in Sales.

Smite

The bandit whose arm I had broken burst into flames. It didn’t make the screams go away, if anything it only intensified them as the air filled with the scent of burning meat. It was terrible.

Everything around me was horrifying. Blood and screams and fire. Yve seemed born to it. That girl, who just yesterday was a new hire in sales and last night was pleasant company in bed, was killing as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Hoodwinked

Red for a moment seemed to be two places at once, at once firing a crossbow with cool aplomb and also materializing behind Yve to drive a rapier through the knee joint of her armor, dropping her.

Woodcutter

Then Woodcutter was there with that fearsome axe of his raining blows down upon Yve’s form. It would have chopped someone not in heavy armor to pieces. Even with the armor Yve likely wasn’t doing well.

I charged towards him and butted his chest with my head. It was jarring for me, but it must have been worse for him as I heard a rib break. Up close the axe wasn’t as useful, but a downward swipe did catch my thigh and dug a deep gouge.

Stabby: Explodey

Choppy

Melty

Clubby

Burny

Freezy

The words blinked through the air almost faster than I could follow them as the battle was joined by the seven most savage killing machines I’d ever seen. They were dwarves, heavily armed and scarred.

I saw one bandit chopped repeatedly in the legs by a dwarf whirling a pair of axes, before being caught in the stomach with an upward blow from another. It sent the bandit soaring several feet onto a grenade just thrown by a third dwarf. It exploded seconds later sending bandit chunks flying through the air.

Judging from the pair of daggers at his waist it must have been Stabby who helped me to my feet, “Reinforcements have arrived, lad. You’ll be all right. Leave this to the professionals.”

Better Red than Dead

Red did some acrobatic midair flips, raining bolts from a rapid-fire crossbow down upon all assembled. I took two and several of the dwarfs did as well.

Fireball: Burn Baby Burn

A fireball from Yve and a stream of fire from one of the dwarves caught Red at the same time and she went down in a tumble of burning limbs.

Stabby winced. “White wanted her alive.”

“I’ve got a heal,” Yve said, moving in.

“Back her up, Clubby,” Stabby said.

Lay on Hands: Knockout Blow

Yve touched the burning flesh and in an instant Red was made whole again. It was pretty amazing. The moment she was conscious Clubby delivered a swift strike to the back of the head that knocked Red out.

Woodcutter was frozen solid in a block of ice, the axe caught midswing over his head. The dwarves made bloody work of the rest of the bandits.

“Who are you guys?” I asked.

“My assistants—the useful ones,” White said, walking into the clearing. Her eyes surveyed all the bloodshed.

“If you had these shock troopers the whole time, what did you need us for?” I asked.

“Take them back to the office. Have the girl bound and sent to the lab so we can study what has been done to her brain,” White said to the dwarves, before looking back at me. “You were bait, of course. They always managed to avoid my assistants, but I thought that perhaps some new blood might finally lure them out of hiding. I was correct.”

“You used us,” Yve said.

“I did, but I’ll still honor the terms of our arrangement. I’ll even keep quiet about your own indiscretions,” White said.

“Indiscretions?” Yve asked.

White frowned, looking her up and down. “The armor. I know what goes into the sales orientation and it isn’t combat training. You just hunted that which you are. You aren’t the first and you won’t be the last to step outside the lines.”

“That isn’t going to be a problem?” Yve asked.

I hoped it wouldn’t be. The seven dwarves were a formidable bunch.

“I’m a pragmatist. Whatever unique skills you’ve reclaimed were just now of use to me and this company. So long as they continue to do so I can tolerate your existence,” White said.

Well, that was a glowing sort of praise.

“We should get back and speak to Gold then,” I said.

White slipped her arm into mine. Given how bloodstained I was, and considering she was wearing white, it wasn’t a terribly good idea. “The office is already closing for the day. Don’t worry, I told Charming that you two were on a special assignment for me for the day.”

I couldn’t tell if she was trying to be seductive or what. If so, she was really quite terrible at it. Not that she needed to be good—I was still into her.

“Then I think we’ll head back to the inn. You can let Liam go,” Yve said.

“I don’t think he wants that. Resolving something so long on the books as the Redwood Gang has me absolutely amorous. I trust you’ll see me back home, Mr. Ottani?” White asked.

Yve took one look at me and sighed. “I’m not even going to argue. Go fuck the ice princess. But I’m going to go screw the hell out of your ex-boyfriend purely because I don’t like you very much, lady.”

White gave a frosty little smile. “Crudity. You’ll have to up your game dear, if you ever hope to become an executive.”

* * *

To my surprise White’s quarters were in the same complex as ours. Hers were far more luxurious of course, although she took minimalism to an extreme when it came to interior decorating. Her chambers were right across the hall from Charming’s, which I supposed in the past was to keep her lover—now her ex-lover—nice and handy.

I didn’t remember my past life, so I could only wonder if I had ever had a partner quite so disinterested in me, or who regarded me as nothing other than an excuse to make some noise. All at the same time it was awkward, weird—and strangely gratifying when I got glimpses of the real woman beneath all the ice.

Chapter 14

It was at exactly six o’clock the next morning that I was rather unceremoniously chucked out from White’s room with my clothes in hand. It was all terribly orchestrated—Yve was getting the boot at the same time, just as undressed. White had time to slip into a something tiny. Of course, Charming was in boxers.

The former couple stared challengingly at each other across the hall.

Yve began furiously slipping into her clothing and I did the same.

“Was that as weird for you as it was for me?” I asked.

“I imagine it was. I do prefer a man actually in to me. I think, when we are done here, that we may just have to burn this entire place to the ground on principle,” Yve said.

She was serious. I think I was okay with it.

“Thank you, Liam, it was a delightful night. You have no idea how gratifying it is to have a man that simply doesn’t fall asleep in the middle of things,” White said.

“Yve, you were simply stunning. What a delight it is to have a partner that can do more than just lay there,” Charming said.

“Are we staying here for this?” Yve asked.

“Fuck no,” I said.

We left the two trading barbs and made our way back to the laboratory.

Gold was there looking quite a bit perkier than we’d last seen here. The bears were neatly arranged on three beds in the corner and snoring away.

“You’re up early,” I said.

“Never went home last night. They brought all our stuff out of storage just before closing and I had one cup of coffee, then three, and you know how these things get away from you,” Gold said, bouncing up and down.

I was quite sure I didn’t. Coffee had never hit me as hard as it seemed to be hitting her.

“We’re good then?” I asked.

“We’re good. I’ve got things all set up to restore your memories. You were a bit of a special case. Normally we just layer things with a masking spell and make your brain believe you have forgotten everything when it’s actually still all there,” Gold said.

“We know of someone throwing off orientation by drinking lots of anti-magic potions. That would work for anyone?” Yve asked.

Gold looked sheepish. “The formula should never have been strong enough to do that. You talking about Red? They brought her in last night. We’re giving her a new treatment and adjusting the potions so we don’t have a problem going forward.”

“And you’re okay with that?” I asked.

“Red didn’t have to start an army of bandits. Come over here and lay down on this table,” Gold said, leading the way to an ominous-looking device. The table looked to be more sacrificial altar, with a bloodstained dagger held by a mechanical arm.

“Why do you even have something like this?” I asked.

“The altar of Karaz. God of Forgetfulness—well, he was,” Gold said.

“What happened to him?” I asked.

“Everyone forgot about him. It’s a funny story,” Yve said.

“What the hell does it do?” I asked, still staring aghast at the altar. It was kind of grisly.

“How do you remember everything?” Yve asked Gold.

“Hardwired memories that keep rewriting themselves. You?” Gold asked.

“Former artificial intelligence, then a Goddess for a while. My mind is weird,” Yve said.

“Can I dissect you?” Gold asked.

“No wonder you find Gob attractive. No. Ask me again, I burn you alive,” Yve said, pleasantly.

“So, what is the altar?” I asked again. Nobody seemed interested in telling me.

“Just lay down, Liam. It’s safe. Trust me,” Yve said.

I really wasn’t sure that I could, after all of the things she had shared with me. Still, Yve had gone to so much trouble to get my memories back I didn’t have cause to think she meant me any harm. I climbed on the altar and lay down, staring at the ceiling and the dagger pointed at my head.

“So, what happens next?” I said.

The dagger began to glow green and plunged towards my skull. It must have been spectral—I’ve been stabbed in the face before and it didn’t feel like that.

* * *

I remembered. My entire life came rushing back to me although it didn’t erase the events of the past few days. I felt like my thoughts were playing a mad sort of catchup.

I was a bit sheepish. I’d thought I was doing a better job of not falling in and out of bed with ruthless killers, then my memory gets taken and I hopped right in the sack with Lara, Yve and White. To give me credit though, they were less terrifyingly murderous than most of my regular lovers.

This whole corporation was feeding off adventurers. What did that have to do with Veros and Elsora? I hadn’t seen or heard any mention of either during my time working here.

“You there, Lake?” I thought

“You seem to be feeling better. The dagger was divine magic given a boost by the blood of one of Ashera’s children,” Lake said.

Good to know. I thought a brief sense of gratitude towards her. If it hadn’t been for her engaging my Mind Games ability we’d probably still be living out our lives as salesman.

“Do you have anything that can help us to remove the orientation from someone else?” I asked Gold.

“Do, but I won’t do that. It is bad enough that I helped you, and if they find out I’ll get in trouble. I’m not going to help you restore the memory of anyone else,” Gold said.

“Are you thinking of restoring Ashley?” Yve asked.

“Walt. If Veros is somewhere in this complex, Ashley will storm right off to kill him. Walt, we can trust to keep a calmer head,” I said.

“You know Chairman Veros?” Gold asked.

Yve and I turned to her. “Chairman?”

“You should have been given a corporate hierarchy chart. Give me a moment, I know I’ve got one around here somewhere,” Gold said. She began to scavenge among the cabinets. It took a few minutes before she made a sound of satisfaction and offered us over a binder.

“It’s a little out of date,” Gold said.

I opened it up and tilted it so that Yve could read as well.

DLC

Chief Executive Officer

Elsora Damos

Executive Officer

Wolf

Chairman of the Board

Veros the Black

CFO

Midas

Director of R&D

Gold

Director of Sales

Charming

Directors of New Territories

Beauty, Beast

Well, there were all the connections I could have hoped for. A few things stood out at once though. Some names were absent that I’d have expected to be on it. Joachim was the master of coin of Castle Sardonis and was now a powerful member of the Dark Court. He wasn’t listed. In general, there was a fairy tale and a corporate theme present that just wasn’t there in any of the members of the Dark Court we’d fought.

“Do you know anything about the CEO?” I asked.

“Not really. I know she helped to found the company, but she hasn’t been seen in a long time. There was kind of a takeover and Mr. Veros runs all the day-to-day operations now,” Gold said.

“He kicked Elsora out? That seems unlikely,” I said.

Gold shrugged helplessly.

“You don’t buy it?” Yve asked.

“Elsora told me to stay away from Veros and what he was doing here. Why would she do that, if she was no longer involved?”

“It does seem that if he staged some kind of rebellion, she would want to put it down,” Yve said.

That would make sense, but I wasn’t convinced. Elsora had a lot of layers to her and I knew all too well how complex her schemes could be. I also couldn’t escape the possibility that perhaps it was no scheme at all. If Veros had the power to kick her out, he was likely even more dangerous than we’d anticipated and a real threat. Perhaps she was trying to keep us safe? It was a sobering thought after having already wandered into the lion’s den.

“Well, thanks for the memories, Gold. Can you do me a favor and let me know if you hear anything from Doctor Gob?” I asked.

“Given you two sort of seem to hate him… No?” Gold said.

That was fair.

“Had to try,” I said. Given how hard it usually was to find White, I hoped our trek to locate Walt, who should be with her, wouldn’t prove too much of an adventure.

Chapter 15

It wasn’t until after lunch that we managed to track down Walt. White really did make astonishing progress throughout the course of the day, spreading misery and panic among the employees of DLC. We had our fill of tears and vacant stares before we finally ran into Walt in the lunchroom.

In the kitchens beyond we heard the bellows of a cook shouting and the cold imperious tones of White snapping back. Red was bussing tables. I guess they must have wiped her memory and got her back into business quick.

“Ms. White is inside, if you are looking for her. If you have any lover’s gifts you may leave them with me and consider yourself politely and courteously thanked for providing an amicable evening,” Walt said, sounding a little rehearsed.

“She mentioned the night then? I guess I must have made a good impression,” I said.

“Ms. White has made no commentary to me directly and does not seem in an especially good or relaxed mood today, as you can hear. She does however keep meticulous records. You received three stars and an “adequate” notation. It actually is praise, from her,” Walt said.

Really. Adequate.

“I’m really coming around to the burning this whole place to the ground thing,” I said.

“Low morale is against corporate policy and will be punished with disciplinary action up to and including termination,” Walt said.

“You really hate your job, don’t you,” Yve said.

“With a soul-sucking passion that could dim suns,” Walt said.

Time to play rescuer then. Hopefully Mind Games would work on him. I reached out with the power and reality rippled around me.

I found myself in a warehouse. Yve’s mind had been close and personal, and filled with mementos of her past. In contrast this place was strangely cold and empty. Still, there was one object that clearly deserved attention. In the center of the space was a massive statue of a spectral hand pulsing with energy.

The Death-hand. I knew it was having some impact on his mind, but I didn’t realize it was this dramatic. The warehouse had no offices and only a few crates of goods scattered here and there. One had a distinctive glow.

I remember my ability that indicated objects of significance. There must be something that I’d need inside it. I walked towards the crate, but before I could reach it the crate flickered in a burst of energy and vanished. I paused. Another crate materialized in one corner and I again tried to approach it only to have it disappear before I got close.

The next time it reappeared I tried running. This time I almost got there before it flickered away. I took a moment to consider what I knew.

I had to assume that this was another sort of locked room puzzle. In Yve’s case I was trying to unlock her memories, and here I was trying to do the same thing with Walt.

The crates vanishing likely had one of two triggers. It was either time-based where they would only appear for so long, or it was my own movement in their direction that was making them disappear.

I stood still, just watching, and I observed the crates did regularly appear and disappear. What I was looking for now was any sort of pattern—if there was some sequence I could identify that would help me to be in the right position.

If there was a pattern, I couldn’t find it. That left me with the less ideal option of waiting for one to appear nearby and me running again. It relied on chance, but it should still work.

It felt like another hour must have gone by while I tested this. No crate came close, so I moved to where I had seen a number appear. Nothing happened.

By now the behavior of the crates suggested that their arrival wasn’t entirely random. They were appearing a set distance away from me, and then disappearing quickly before I could close the distance.

I tried to think of a solution. My pockets were empty and I couldn’t get to any supplies that might help. I could approach the hand sculpture—and found that I could move it.

Perhaps that was what I needed to do? It was the proximity to the sculpture that was making the crates disappear? I moved the sculpture to a corner of the warehouse and waited on the opposite side.

Another half hour of crate chasing later and I’d proved all too well that it wasn’t helping. Without any other items to assist I’d have to make use of my clothing. I stripped down and placed my garments in carefully spaced piles on the floor. My idea was that the crates might be appearing at a distance from any objects, including me. By presenting them with some obstacles I could hopefully limit the areas of their appearance.

That worked, after a fashion. It did seem to limit where they materialized, but it wasn’t enough to let me catch them. All it really wound up accomplishing was to make me a lot more frustrated and uncomfortably chilly. I really didn’t want to be wandering around in Walt’s head naked any more than I had to.

I wondered if I was smarter with my memories gone. I’d had no problem solving the puzzles in Yve’s mind, but here I was completely stymied.

I moved to investigate the warehouse doors. They looked standard, although a heavy set of chains and a padlock secured them. I tried my enhanced strength hoping it would be that easy, but it was not to be.

Maybe I had to stop thinking about myself and think of Walt and his situation? This warehouse made sense as a representation of his mind. He had once stored the memories of many other members of his Order from Earth, although those had been erased. Furthermore, since acquiring the Death-hand, he’d been losing other memories as well.

The vanishing crates were likely a representation of that. It was the Death-hand making them go away, as they were probably symbolic of his memories which were locked away in this space.

Walt had always been the smart one able to reason his way out of anything, although lately he’d taken to getting a good bit punchier with things. Perhaps that was the solution here?

I was working so hard to use my ability to help him to get his memory back, but really, I just needed to help him to use his. I picked up the Death-hand sculpture and tucked it under one arm like a battering ram. That was exactly the purpose I had in mind.

Backing up all the way to the far edge of the warehouse first, I charged at the door as fast as I could, flinging the sculpture at the last moment towards the locked doors.

I was thrown backward in a flare of light and a roar of sound. Cracks of white and blue spectral energy appeared in the walls of the warehouse, a spider web of damage growing even as I watched. There was a second flare of light and I was flung unceremoniously from his mind.

I got no prompts congratulating me from my success this time, but something had clearly happened.

“Do you remember?” I asked Walt.

“You helped him?” Yve asked.

Walt said, “He activated the Death-Hand, at least. Whether that should be considered helping me is more open to debate. I am at least myself once more.”

“Sounds good to me. You were pretty miserable before,” Yve said.

“Sometimes it is better to be miserable than to be nothing but an agent of ill intent. You’ve both already reclaimed your memories then?” Walt asked.

“We did. We wanted to reawaken yours before we restored Ashley’s,” I said.

We were interrupted by someone.

“A sage course of action I’m sure we all appreciate.”

This was announced by a clean-shaved man in an impeccable suit, advancing to shake my hand. The shred of salesman Liam still inside me had to admire that handshake.

Yve said wryly, “It’s been awhile. You look better in a suit than you ever did in the armor. Liam, meet Veros.”

Veros said, “I was never a very good tank. Too interested in my own skin. Oh, stop looking like this is an ambush—well done, truly. I expected you to throw off the conditioning, but to do it so quickly speaks volumes as your capability. Now, I know you came here to kill me and you likely want to get on with that.”

“I’m more interested in hearing your side of the story. What happened?” Yve asked.

“And I’m going to be delighted to answer your questions. Walt, if you’d care to remain here I want to speak with Yve and Liam privately,” Veros said.

“Can we trust him?” I asked.

“Not really,” Yve said.

“If I wished you harm I’ve had the opportunity. Please, come to my office,” Veros said, moving away and gesturing us to follow.

What else could we do. I wanted answers and at least it seemed I was likely to get some.

Chapter 16

Veros led us to a glass-sided elevator and soon we were going up all the way to the top. Now that I had my memories back I remembered the castle perched on top of the tower.

It wasn’t quite what I expected. It might have had castle-like, stone walls, but it was comfortably heated. A necessary thing surely, given the rather spectacular number of scantily clad women that found a way to drape themselves over every surface.

I recognized Red, although she was wearing far less than the last time I’d seen her, and I pointed her out to Yve who frowned at the sight.

“Are you running a brothel?” I asked.

“I enjoy their company and they enjoy mine. Do let me know if you’d care to linger and dally, and I’ll arrange it,” Veros said.

Oh, the temptation. Fortunately, I was getting better these days, at least when I was in my right mind.

“I’ll have to pass,” I said.

Yve let her gaze linger upon Red. “I don’t think they’re quite as free to choose as you claim. I’ll pass as well.”

“How disappointing,” Veros said, opening a door at the end of the hall and ushering us inside. It was an office with sweeping views, leather furnishings, and a full bar.

“You were going to talk, Veros. Get to it. While it is fascinating to watch you try to be a welcoming host I’m not over your little brainwashing stunt,” Yve said.

“I had to make sure that you were worth talking to. I thought you would be, but I still had to test. Congratulations, you passed,” Veros said.

“Is that what Red did? Pass, and you promoted her up to your little harem?” I asked.

“I am particular about who I associate with, even for a bit of fun. Yes, that is exactly what she did. Passed and earned herself a far better life than trudging food around the kitchen,” Veros said.

“She did try to kill us. I’d give him more grief, but I don’t think I care that much. You?” Yve asked.

I really didn’t when I bothered to think about it.

I said, “There are matters I’d rather discuss more. I want to know your connection to Elsora and the Dark Court, and what part you’ve played in the events on Earth.”

Veros settled back behind the desk. “Storytime then. The tale of a little A.I. who was sent to a distant world to achieve sentience and didn’t much like what he’d found.”

“The rest of us wiped. Ashera killed all of us. How did you survive?” Yve asked.

“Liam and Ashley, of course,” Veros said.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“A timeline alive, a timeline dead, a wish thrown into the mix just to muddy the waters further. Let’s just say that my life is a bit more of an indeterminate value than most,” Veros said.

I’d helped to make Veros what he was? It didn’t seem possible. Veros had tortured Ashley before we’d ever set foot in the Crucible Shard. I couldn’t rule it out though. Just thinking about his timeline made my head hurt a bit from keeping it all straight.

“So, you lived. Then what?” I asked.

“Oh, I think you know that well. Better than anyone else ever could. Then I had a very chatty Lake offering me sage advice, and Elsora attempted to use me in her schemes. I had whole new worlds opening up before me,” Veros said.

“Why wouldn’t you have told the others? You were a part of the group,” Yve said.

“I was made to analyze crimes, to recognize threats before they happened. I knew the dangers that our brothers and sisters posed, I knew the dangers you posed,” Veros said.

“If you knew how they threatened you, then you would have helped me against them. I fought them, Veros. I lost, they locked me in a cage and threw away the key,” Yve said.

“You were a different sort of danger, sister dear.”

I asked, “So, you’re saying that you were cool with me being me? Fine. Maybe you were. What are you doing now?”

“Refusing to be manipulated any longer. Have you realized that you’re nothing but a pawn yet, Liam? The piece that others are moving about to suit their whims?” Veros asked.

I had. I didn’t get to have delusions about being the Chosen one, I was surrounded by those stronger than myself who had long been about their schemes. The mistake would be to think that realization had broken me. It was trying, but a pawn could take any piece in the game. I was done with being broken. I was going to win.

“We’re not here to talk about me,” I said.

“I’m collecting power and I am gathering my forces. Nobody is ever going to manipulate me again. You don’t have to let them manipulate you, either,” Veros said.

“Like he’s trying to do right now,” Yve said.

Veros shot her a dark look. “I’m offering you a way out. They’ve all got their claws into you and they’ll all happily throw you away when they’re done with you. You need someone who understands where you come from.”

“What about Ashley? You tortured that girl. You broke her. Why?” Yve asked.

“Oh sister, you’re so much dumber when you’re meat. I already explained that I needed her to kill me. I needed to die at her hand and be brought back. Of course, now she is also the perfect tool to turn against the others,” Veros said.

I really wasn’t liking this guy. I knew Yve well enough to feel how tense she was as well.

The conversation didn’t seem to be going anywhere and I wanted more of his secrets. I knew of only one way to get them. I reached out with my Mind Games power and activated it.

* * *

I was in Hell, quite literally, so far as I could determine. The vast cavern was filled with flames and the screams of the tormented. I stood upon a rocky platform in the middle of a massive pool of lava. I wasn’t alone, Veros stood with me.

Veros rolled his shoulders and looked out. “Fun times. You think you can just waltz into my mind, kid?”

That was exactly what I’d been hoping. To date nobody else had been aware when I went into theirs.

“That was the plan. Is this how you see yourself. Trapped and in hell?” I asked.

“Kid, we aren’t here to talk. We’re here to get you the fuck out of my head. Call this a contested action. We’re here to fight and if you win, you’ll get those grabby little fingers into the cookie jar.”

“If I lose?”

“You beat a retreat and I’ll make sure that next time I’ve got the defenses to keep you out entirely,” Veros said.

“Then let’s do this,” I said.

I wasn’t sure of the rules, but the surroundings didn’t leave much in the way of options. No track, so it wasn’t a race, and not enough cover, so it wasn’t guns. This had to be a brawler.

Ready: Fight!

Veros was a blur as he closed the distance and connected with an uppercut that sent my teeth slamming together and me flying across the island.

Uppercut!: First Blood!

Veros was again moving at me, but this time I was prepared and landed a series of crushing blows to his midsection and I heard ribs crack.

“Not a bad punch, kid. Try it again,” Veros said.

Prediction Software

I tried to land more blows, but every one went wide as he avoided it just in time.

Reign In Hell

A crown shimmered into place on Veros, and he lowered his head and charged. It was like a drill going through my throat, the sharp adornments stabbing my flesh and tearing me bodily apart. It pretty much sucked.

I found myself back on the middle of the island unharmed.

Round Two: Fight!

If he had an ultimate, I damned well did too. I didn’t exactly have a moves list, but he didn’t either. I probably just had to will it in some way at the right time. That meant getting him stunned. He had speed on me, but I had strength on him.

Veros again was blindingly fast as he moved past me. I went to counter a blow as I had last time, but he had already dodged to the side to deliver a series of punches to my side.

First Blood!

I took several more punches, not avoiding them because I wanted my moment to seize his arm. Once I had him, I flipped him over my shoulder to crash onto the ground.

I threw all caution out the door and went purely on the attack.

Intemperance

My fists hammered down, bursting into flames as they punished him. It was a brutal series of blows that tore him apart.

Then I was back in the center of island once more.

“Respect, kid. There is a real monster in you just waiting to get out,” Veros said.

“If you’re trying to turn me into a bad guy, you’re a little late,” I said.

“Kid, in case you haven’t figured this out, I’m the good guy,” Veros said.

I didn’t believe him. Conversation was done as he again moved at me. A blow took me in the midsection and he was away before I could counter.

First Blood!

It was my worst round yet. I never scored a single hit upon him. He was like a bee, his every sting sapping a little more of my strength and while I could crush him if only I could get that close, I just couldn’t.

Veros finished me with a quick move behind and a wrench of my neck so violent I saw behind me before dying once more.

You have lost this mindscape and been ejected

You will be unable to attempt further Mind Games against the target for two days.

“Well, if you two are quite done being zombies,” Yve said, as she nursed a glass of wine.

“Liam decided to challenge me. It didn’t go well for him. You may both leave, but consider yourselves my guests. Join the winning team while you have the opportunity,” Veros said.

My head was killing me after that loss. Yve passed me her wine and I finished it off.

Chapter 17

We made our way out of the office and I took a moment to rest in the hall. The failed mind game attempt had taken quite a bit out of me.

“What do you think?” I asked Yve.

“I think he’s being sincere, as far as it goes. Veros was always very open, trusting. I think he feels a lot of people took advantage of him and he wound up here,” Yve said.

I could see it.

“When I went inside his head the surroundings were Hell. I think that is how he seems himself. Trapped there,” I said.

“I’m going to send him to the real one,” Red said. I hadn’t even seen her appear. Given she was still wearing practically nothing, that was a testament to just how lost in my thoughts I’d been.

“We thought they’d put you through orientation again. You know who we are?” I asked.

“And your stupid efforts to murder us?” Yve said. Yeah, I hadn’t forgotten that either.

“You were two cagey newcomers who just appeared and suddenly started asking questions. Of course, we tried to kill you. Let us not forget you led to my door a pack of homicidal dwarves who butchered my men,” Red said, putting her hands on her hips.

“We did do that,” I said to Yve.

“Well, we were just trying to get your memories back. So now, after we have a private one-on-one with the guy in charge, you decide to trust us?” Yve asked.

“I asked around and got some answers, and I know who you really are. You are King Liam. I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you didn’t come all this way to suck up to Veros,” Red said.

“Give us something so we can trust you. How are you still you?” Yve asked.

Red looked torn, but after a moment said, “Fine. I lied a bit about the potions I was on. I started with the company-made ones, but now I pop a couple of delayed activation anti-magic pills a day.”

“Gold thought she’d flushed your system, but then the anti-magic effect kicks in,” I said. It was a smart move.

“Then I just had to play the part. Veros doesn’t really touch, he just likes to look. I figured this was a good place to try to get an idea what was really going on,” Red said.

“Speaking of which. I went through his desk while you were playing around inside his head. I found a lot of mentions of a project level-up, but not a lot of information about what it was,” Yve said.

“It doesn’t mean anything to me,” Red said.

“I did see some mention of special arms and armor in development in the lab. We might be able to get Gold to tell us some more,” Yve said.

Red narrowed her eyes. “She tried to steal my memories—again. I see her, I’m punching her.”

That seemed fair.

“Woodcutter is still down there too,” Yve said.

“They didn’t put him to work?” Red asked, worried.

“Was he on the pills too?” I asked.

“No, just the potions. They originally had him doing landscaping. It brought him into contact with some kind of dryad who had a massive anti-magic zap as a defensive move. Purged him in an instant,” Red said.

“That could be useful. Is she still around?” I asked.

“They caught her awhile back, they probably dissected her,” Red said.

“Sounds like our next stop is the basement then,” I said.

“It’s going to raise a few alarms, if I leave the floor,” Red said.

“If Veros sees you leave with us he is going to assume we are about to have a truly mind-breaking amount of sex with you,” I said.

“It’s kind of our thing,” Yve said.

Red grimaced. “You two really are creepy.”

“We’re also murderous and badass. We’ll stop by Sales and get you some samples to wear,” Yve said.

I needed equipment as well. The chain armor wasn’t going to win any rewards for craftsmanship, but it was serviceable.

In Sales I focused my will and called to Intemperance, and soon the familiar weight was strapped again to my hip.

Red couldn’t get dressed fast enough. Her new leathers weren’t nearly as badass as her old ones, but they got the job done. I found myself impressed with the number of weapons she grabbed and started to hide about her person.

Fortunately, Charming wasn’t in and the other sales staff weren’t inclined to ask any questions.

I felt a lot more like myself in armor. It was strange how much that had become a part of my identity—that I now felt more uncomfortable in it than without it.

When we arrived at the basement the bears were happily snoring away in their corner and Gold was nowhere to be seen. We searched the rooms and found her with Woodcutter. The massive man was strapped to a table and metal plates were being welded with his flesh. He was being transformed into some sort of man-machine hybrid.

Gold turned around at the sound of our entrance. Pushing her glasses up she said, “I can explain.”

Red wasn’t listening, she was already swinging her fist which met Gold’s face with a resounding crack.

Gold took a deep breath and set a pair of broken glasses on the table beside her. “Or if you’d prefer displays of violence… Lab integrity compromised. Invoke security protocol three.”

“That has got to be the most needlessly complex phrase to invoke security ever,” I said.

Turretopia

I wasn’t even sure how they’d got there, but suddenly almost every square inch of the room was turrets. With a whirr of belts feeding they began to open fire.

If they had been real bullets we’d have been cut to pieces, but instead they fired small capsules of oil which exploded upon hitting us.

It was benign at first until I found my feet suddenly going from under me and I crashed hard to the floor. Yve and Red were having problems of their own. Red tried to grab a throwing dagger from a bandolier, but it slipped right out of her hands and went skidding across the floor.

Gold somehow seemed to still be on her feet.

“As I was saying, I know it looks bad and, yes, the procedure is painful. But when it is all said and done he’ll be stronger, sturdier, and useful. He won’t have to lurk around the woods playing bandit any longer,” Gold said.

I tried again to push myself up and failed.

“Can’t you do anything about this?” I asked Yve.

Gold cleared her throat, “I should point out that the oil is highly flammable. If you try to burn it away you’ll only succeed in incinerating us all.”

Right. Gold must have some awareness of our capabilities then, and had picked the defensive measure most likely to work well against us. Sadly, I was done playing nice.

“How many heals do you have in you?” I asked Yve.

“Three. That math work for you?” Yve asked.

If the substance was as flammable as Gold said that means anyone in the room would be taking massive burns. Yve had fire resistance enough to survive that, the rest of us were another matter. Three heals meant she couldn’t save everyone. Myself, Red, Woodcutter and Gold would all need one.

We came here for the information that Gold had, more than rescuing Woodcutter. Still, if we killed him I didn’t think we’d be getting much more in the way of help from Red.

We could let Red die and save Woodcutter. He seemed out of it, we might be able to pass it off.

“I’ll grab the others,” I said.

Yve nodded a fraction and flames flickered for a moment around her form.

Smite

The lab exploded. If there was anything I had gotten used to since coming to the Crucible Shard, it was being burned alive. It was almost familiar now the way the fire got sucked into my lungs. That moment when the air seemed to become freezing as my nerves lost all sense of feeling. The lab was in flames. I tried to save Gold, flinging her burning body into the hall before I tucked Red under one arm and Woodcutter under the other, and I ran through the door.

I hurt. I really hurt, but not as much as I should have. Yve was already advancing to deliver a heal and I shook my head.

“Get the three of them,” I said, my voice an agonized croak.

“You sure?” Yve asked.

I couldn’t manage anything but a nod this time.

Yve laid a hand on each of them in turn. They screamed and thrashed before flesh began knitting back together.

Yve and I looked at each other. We were both burned wrecks, although with our mutual accelerated healing still alive.

“You’ve gotten tougher,” Yve said.

“Guess I have,” I said.

There came a low roar from the other side of the room. I didn’t really want to look, but I did.

We’d woken the bears up—we’d woken the bears up and they’d somehow found three sets of very distinctive power armor to slip into.

“What chance do you give these guys?” asked the little bear.

“Bearly any,” said the large bear.

I hated fairy tales.

Chapter 18

So, we were now facing three heavily armed and armored bears while still half-burned alive. This was going perfectly. I checked their stats.

Little Bear: Pissed off Fairy Tale

Level 25: Type: Animal HP: 350/350

Little Bear could easily be assumed to be the weakest of the bunch. That couldn’t be more wrong. A brilliant engineer when not napping it was he that built the power armor suits and gave himself the most cutting-edge design.

Middle Bear: Apathetic Fairy Tale

Level 25: Type: Animal HP: 550/550

Middle Bear has an amazingly versatile set of armor. While it doesn’t excel in a single area it is capable of basic crowd control, damage, and healing.

Big Bear: Cheerful but deadly Fairy Tale

Level 25: Type: Corruption HP: 750/750

Big Bear’s armor offers considerable damage mitigation as well as healing over time abilities. With him in the fray you don’t want a sustained battle.

They weren’t easy. I suddenly realized that we’d forgotten Walt in the cafeteria. That was a shame as we could really use him right about now.

“How is Woodcutter?” I asked.

“Breathing, but he’s not waking up,” Red said

Three versus three then. We couldn’t say it wasn’t a fair fight. If things got too bad we could also try to call Mela, but I was reluctant to owe Mela any more favors.

“Bears, we got you your beds back. We just saved Gold’s life. We’re all friends here,” I said.

Plasma Coil

My attempt at diplomacy got me thrown across the room by a burst of energy that left my armor smoldering.

“Focus on the little one,” Yve called. Yeah, no kidding.

Between the fire and that blast my armor was already starting to come apart. Either our sales samples weren’t very good or DLC really made some crappy armor.

Hoodwinked

Red materialized behind the smallest bear and landed a nasty blow with her dagger. A blast of energy from the medium bear sent her flying back.

I picked myself up off the ground. They might have badass suits of armor, but I’d been getting stronger. I ducked under a shot fired from the little bear and grabbed his arm, my fingers tightening as I squeezed and the armor’s cannon exploded in a spray of sparks.

“Bearly felt that,” Little Bear said.

“You’ve already used that pun,” I said.

“Then let’s try something new,” Little Bear said.

Too Little

Big Bear fired a shot that took me in the shoulder and sent me spinning around, having not quite penetrated what remained of my armor.

Too Much

Little Bear was there waiting for me when I twisted around and he delivered a forceful uppercut with a fist glimmering with energy. The ceiling came apart as I hit it. I must have gone up two, three floors before falling back down. The tattered fragments of my armor came apart. It wasn’t the first time I’d been naked in a fight, but I didn’t think it had ever hurt as much as it did a moment later.

Just Right

Middle Bear was waiting for me with a pair of rapid-fire machine pistols. Bullets tore into my unprotected flesh and sent me very nearly in pieces against the far wall.

I didn’t want to die here. I wasn’t sure where I would respawn or in what circumstances. I was still alive though, somehow. I really was made of tough stuff now, my regeneration already starting to knit my body back together.

I guess I’d owe a favor then.

“Mela,” I said.

There was the briefest scent of burned engine oil and then the Goddess was lounging against the wall.

“Nice spleen. Is that a spleen? You know I’m not really a biology girl,” Mela said.

“Bad joking bears in power armor. Can you do something?” I asked.

“Sure, ignore a girl when she’s flirting,” Mela said.

Is that what she was trying to do?

“Your praise of my organs is both welcomed and appreciated. I’d invite you to touch it, but you might actually do it. About the bears?” I said.

“I was lying, it’s not nice. It looks all squishy and wet, and has a few bullet holes in it besides. I want Gold,” Mela said.

I couldn’t tell if she meant the scientist or money. She did love her mad science, but then she was also the Goddess of metal. Still, that meant she could probably make her own gold. Scientist then.

“You can’t ask for a person,” I said.

“Can. Did.”

“She’s not even mine to give away.”

“Don’t care,” Mela said.

As always with Mela, I was talking to someone who really was quite literally mad.

“Fine,” I said.

Gold vanished to the sound of grinding gears.

Sleep Mode

Green lights began blinking on the power armor of the bears and with a yawn they all went to sleep right where they stood.

“That’s unsettling,” I said.

“I didn’t design the armor. My killing machines don’t have off switches,” Mela said, with a shrug. That was reassuring.

“Thanks. What are you going to do with that scientist?”

“She is smart and of dubious morality. I’ll think of something fun. Stop nosing into my business.”

Really, I had bigger concerns—like trying to keep my organs inside my body. Now that the fight was over I was starting to heal quickly, but it would still be a few minutes.

“Mela. Timely help. I’m going to go look through Gold’s files,” Yve said.

“Could you find me something to wear?” I asked Red.

Red tossed me a lab coat. That would do, I still wasn’t going to be getting to my feet, but at least I could drape it over myself.

“So, we rescued you two. Care to give us some real answers now? Just how did a bunch of fairy tales wind up as brainwashed corporate drones?” I asked Red.

“We wanted it. At least, it was that way when Elsora was running things. We were all stuck living our same lives over and over again. I got tired of being eaten and rescued. Some of the others got sick of being in love,” Red said.

I could see that.

“And all this was better?” I asked.

“Now I kick ass. Now I can rescue him,” Red said, jerking her head towards the still unconscious Woodcutter.

“But something went wrong?” I asked.

“This, all of this was originally to help people like us. To help those that wanted something new in a new place. To get stronger, be better. We were proud of what we were doing,” Red said.

Looking a little sick Yve wandered back into the room and slumped down beside me.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah. I just found out what Veros is doing here. It’s bad,” Yve said.

“We figured it would be.”

“Yeah. So anyways, this whole place mostly does just like we figured. People come here looking for a new chance and they get to lead a life of adventure. DLC has monetized pretty much every aspect of it,” Yve said.

Red explained, “Even the dead wind up raised again and turned into new opponents to fight. It’s all very efficient.”

“That doesn’t sound that bad. I mean, greedy as hell, but who are we to judge,” I said.

“The thing is, none of it really results in anything. If they get far enough along they all face Veros, and Veros kills them all. This whole big thing is a farm to help him level-up,” Yve said.

I don’t know why she was sickened by the thought. We’d never seen it done quite so intentionally, but for a very long time Liara had been an undefeated boss who just kept going and getting stronger. Still, it wasn’t like she promised anyone anything better and she generally gave them every chance to choose something else.

“So how strong is he?” I asked.

“Strong. It isn’t just that he has operations here. Just like the fairy tales originally came from elsewhere, he is pulling in other people from different worlds too,” Yve said.

“Does he have a device to travel between worlds or is he using the Silver Road?” I asked.

Red said, “He does it himself. If anything really threatens him he can just run away to where no one can follow. We’ve been doing all we can to resist him. Me and Woodcutter on the outside, and Beauty and Beast working from within.”

That complicated matters. If Veros could travel between worlds then he was a bigger threat than we’d planned for. We needed help.

I remembered the words that Malachite had told me to call. My organs seemed to be more or less in the right spots. I shakily rose to my feet and slipped on the lab coat.

“Orosakish, Malachite.”

Nothing happened.

“Can you go get Walt?” I asked Yve.

It was perhaps ten minutes before Malachite appeared, fortunately that was time enough for Yve to return with our missing member. Malachite spent a moment appraising the missing parts of the ceiling, the incinerated lab, the blood I’d spilled everywhere and the sleeping bears in power armor.

“We’ve been busy. Thank you for coming,” I said.

“Are those bears in power armor?” Malachite asked.

“Don’t wake them up. They make bad jokes and they’re sort of jerks.”

“The little one is really cute,” Malachite said.

“He also has a particle cannon,” I said.

“That’s adorable.” I’d never pegged Malachite as a nature lover. Did bears in power armor even count as nature?

Walt said, “You had a fight to the death and you didn’t come get me? I’ve been sitting in that cafeteria for hours.”

“We kind of forgot about you,” Yve said.

“I have an arcane mechanical hand of death eating my memories and I didn’t forget either of you,” Walt said.

“Walt, we’re sorry. Malachite, you can’t have him, and can you please give us a lift to see Diamond. We’ve got a killer god who can world-hop,” I said.

“I hate those. I’ve been playing messenger nonstop lately, I can take you right to her. Everyone who is going, gather around,” Malachite said.

Yve and Walt joined us and the world dissolved in a shimmer of green.

Chapter 19

We materialized on the street of some great metropolis. Buildings towered into the sky, the sides of each a work of art with brilliant colored and paneled glass. Vehicles were everywhere, but around us nothing moved. This vast city was still and silent. Beautiful, but abandoned.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“It’s called Daria, or it was. I’d never been here before, but Diamond has visited it a few times. Back when it was livelier,” Malachite said.

“Pretty. What happened?” Yve asked.

A figure leaped down from a nearby balcony and I readied myself for a fight, before recognizing Tiger.

“They died. Everyone died. You look stupid in that lab coat, Liam,” Tiger said.

“There is a lot of death in the air,” Walt said, taking in a deep breath. “Recent. A few days?”

“What are you even smelling? I don’t see any bodies,” I asked.

“There aren’t any. When the locals die they turn into fog—it’s weird. Yesterday you couldn’t even see on these streets, but it burned off this morning,” Tiger said.

“We felt someone resonate here. It happens when one of us fully comes into our Gifts. Usually it takes time, but the Nine seem to be growing up fast,” Malachite said.

“So, this was a war?” I asked.

“No, this was something else. Do you remember me being upset when Horror named herself?” Malachite asked.

I did. Malachite hadn’t even wanted to acknowledge the name.

“That meant something?” I asked.

“Who we are and what we are echo. We can’t help it. That is why you have a rock named Malachite and an animal named a Tiger,” Malachite said.

“We try not to name our kids after anything existing, and if we do, never anything bad. They start to take on those attributes and echo them wherever they go,” Tiger said.

“So, what are their names?” I asked.

“They were named by the machines of your world to bring an end to ours. Famine, Pestilence, Greed, Hubris, Despair, Wrath, Horror, Madness, and Hate,” Malachite said.

“Quite the assortment. Two of the horsemen of the apocalypse with a few deadly sins thrown in for good measure. Religious and literary references from our world,” Yve said.

“How did you find that out?” I asked.

“Diamond tore the lab apart where they were grown. The names were there,” Tiger said.

“So, each of the Nine now manifest those forces they’re named after into some kind of reality?” I asked.

“Basically. It’s a bad day for any world that shelters one for a while,” Malachite said.

Tiger led us into one of the buildings. It looked to be a clinic of some kind. Diamond was near a bed with a woman that looked partly avian in appearance, feathers thick upon her brow.

“We’ve found one person alive so far. We’ve able to piece together a little of what happened from her,” Tiger said.

“Hey everyone. Why are you wearing a blood-covered lab coat, Liam?” Diamond asked, after looking back and giving everyone a wave.

“My clothes kind of got blown up by three bears in power armor,” I said.

Diamond gestured and a set of clothing and armor materialized at my feet.

“Neat trick,” I said.

“Magic is the solution to fashion emergencies,” Diamond said.

“So, you’re piecing it together? What happened?” Yve said.

“As far as we can tell, Despair was trying to help these people. They were being invaded and she was just passing through and stayed to help. Overwhelming odds, but—well, you can guess how that went,” Diamond said.

I could. She had the Right of War and Rule, and it would have been a magnifier to whatever forces the locals managed to raise.

“They won,” I said.

“A great victory. It’s the sort of great challenge and deed that usually fully awakens us to our Gifts. Despair fully came into her own. The locals then filled with despair at the horrors of war and killed themselves,” Diamond said.

That sobered us all.

“All of them?” Yve asked.

“Kala here was a soldier wounded the day before the final victory. She was under heavy sedation, which is why she survived. There are likely others, we’re trying to find them,” Diamond said.

“Is she going to do this to every place she visits?” I asked.

Diamond and Tiger shared one of their looks.

“I think a response this dramatic was a one-time thing. It will happen on a smaller scale wherever she goes, but it probably won’t wipe out a whole world,” Diamond said.

That was only slightly reassuring. There were still Nine of them total, and if they all did something like this, that meant nine destroyed worlds out there.

“That, however, is our concern. What brings you here, Liam?” Diamond asked.

“Long story short. I’ve got an incredibly powerful God on the Twelfth Moon that has gained the ability to shift between realities on his own. I was hoping you’d have a solution,” I said.

“I hate it when they can run,” Tiger said.

Diamond grimaced, “I’m busy here—but yeah, I can do something.”

I’d finished getting dressed. The armor fit me perfectly.

“You’re one hell of a magical tailor,” I said.

Diamond chuckled. “It’s not quite what it seems. Think of it like a wish, I find you something that will fit you and be good solid protection. It might have come from an ancient tomb, or fresh from a forge, or some god of war right now is standing around naked and confused.”

Magic was weird. I preferred stabbing things.

“Is Despair still here?” Yve asked, getting the conversation back on topic.

“No. I wish she was. This is one hell of a coming-out party and she is going to be shaken up. She really needs her family right about now,” Diamond said.

“You guys would still be forgiving?” I asked.

“I’ve destroyed worlds. Mom has destroyed a lot of worlds. The only difference is we usually mean to do it,” Diamond said.

I hadn’t expected to feel sympathy for the Nine, but I kind of did. They’d been brought into the world to be weapons for some A.I. computers that don’t give a damn about them. By now they were coming to learn that no matter what they did or where they went, they’d never be the good guy.

I thought back to what Elsora told me and wondered if I was the same—and if it even mattered. I think she wanted me to believe myself the villain of the story, but to do that I’d have to know who the hero was. I hadn’t met anyone who deserved the title yet. We were all just fighting for those who stood at our side and against those who stood in our way.

“You’ll let me know when you come up with something?” I asked.

“Count on it. It shouldn’t be too long, I want to make sure we find any survivors here and get them someplace safe. Our family caused this ruin, we should do what we can to put it right,” Diamond said.

Okay, maybe I knew at least one person who was kind of heroic. No, heroic was the wrong word, responsible. If there was anything that I should aspire to be, it was that. A person who cleaned up their own messes and took care of those who depended on them.

“Back to the evil corporation?” Yve asked.

“Yeah. We need to get more answers. We know that Veros is bringing in people from off world somehow and we heard White talking to Beauty and Beast about the plans for expansion,” I said.

“You think they’re stepping up production?” Yve asked.

Walt said, “Something big is in the works. I don’t know what, but it’s why White is pushing everyone so hard.”

Veros was already too strong. If he was trying to expand his operation, it was something we couldn’t allow. We needed to figure out what was going on and stop things, before they got to that stage.

“Can you give us a ride?” I asked Malachite.

“You really need to get that airship of yours back,” Malachite said.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her we knew where it was exactly. We’d more or less handed it to Veros, not that he needed it.

The world vanished in a shimmer of green and we were back in the basement. The bears were gone. This wasn’t the opportunity for the joy that you might expect.

They’d been replaced by seven extremely murderous-looking dwarves.

Chapter 20

The dwarves moved to circle us.

“We’re going to stab you,” said Stabby.

“Explode you,” said Explodey

“Chop you into little pieces,” said Choppy

“Melt your flesh,” said Melty

“Club your bones to powder,” said Clubby

“Burn the powder to ash,” said Burny

“Freeze the ash to ice… I guess. Why am I always last?” asked Freezy.

“I’m out. Have fun with this,” Malachite said, and vanished.

I hated my friends sometimes.

“Hey guys. How about we not get into an epic brawl and just go kick around the office appliances?” Walt said.

“Sorry Fisty, boss’s orders,” Stabby said.

So when we weren’t looking, Walt had become one of the seven dwarves—eight dwarves, now. That was a surprise.

“Fisty? Oh, that nickname is so sticking around,” Yve said.

“Aren’t you a little tall for a dwarf?” I asked Walt.

“How about you pay attention to our threatening and witty dialog,” Explodey said.

I didn’t want to get on with the fighting just yet, because I didn’t yet have a plan. We’d seen these seven in action and they were terrifying. We were too, but there were only three of us. I didn’t see Red or Woodcutter, hopefully that meant they had gotten away before the dwarves arrived. If so, maybe we had reinforcements out there waiting to arrive.

“I don’t actually go by Fisty,” Walt said.

“We weren’t very well going to call the eighth dwarf Walt,” Freezy said.

I wondered if we could turn the dwarves’ attacks against each other somehow. Burny and Freezy seemed natural counters. I checked their stats for inspiration.

Stabby: Dwarf of many knives

Level 23: Type: Dwarf HP: 270/270

The Dwarves officially don’t have a leader. Unofficially Stabby will be the first to tell you that is wrong and he is in charge. Stabby wears heavy gloves because anything he touches transforms into a sharp implement. The dwarf can even cause daggers to appear midair.

Explodey: Boomdwarf

Level 26: Type: Dwarf HP: 310/310

Explodey gained his unique abilities when, while mining, he dug straight into a set of unexploded ordinance from an ancient magical war. He is now capable of firing off potent beams of concussive force and when badly wounded lets off a powerful area of effect.

Choppy: Chef Supreme

Level 26: Type: Dwarf HP: 410/410

Choppy never wanted to be a fighter, his greatest desire was always to be a chef. Over a decade spent at the Elvish Culinary Institute honed his skills with a knife and cleaver into something to behold.

Melty: Erasers of Time

Level 21: Type: Spirit HP: 80/80

Melty is scarcely holding it all together. Literally. Through an ill-made wish his internal organs and blood were transformed into a highly corrosive acid. Now his very sweat can dissolve steel.

Clubby: Dwarf with a stick

Level 22: Type: Dwarf HP: 330/330

Clubby is a dwarf completely lacking in a compelling origin story. He is a dwarf that likes to hit things with a big stick and goes about doing this on a regular basis. What he lacks in super powers he makes up for with diligence.

Burny: Dwarf of the Fiery Vengeance

Level 22: Type: Dwarf HP: 200/200

Burny is one of a pair of brothers who stole artifacts from the treasury of the ancient city of Kif. He stole the Fiery Axe of Boll which burns with a heat so intense it can melt anything.

Freezy: Dwarf of the Icy Heart

Level 22: Type: Dwarf HP: 200/200

Freezy is one of a pair of brothers whole stole artifacts from the treasure of the ancient city of Kif. He stole the Icy Shield of Dixon which is made of ice so cold it can freeze any blow.

A plan was coming together. Burny and Freezy were opposing natural forces. In addition, Stabby, Explodey, and Melty all had abilities that, if triggered incorrectly, could do a lot of harm to the others.

I could tell that Yve and Walt were looking over their stats as well and considering their own plans.

Stabby had to be my target. I was the best able to handle being cut to ribbons, and I had the super strength of the group to get those gloves off him. Yve and her fire resistance would be the best able to deal with Burny. If Walt had been able to charge the Death-Hand from the world we just left, then he might have the force to almost instantly trigger either Explodey or Melty.

“I think the dwarves want a fight,” I said.

“I think we’re ready to give it to them,” Yve said.

“Stabbing time,” Stabby said, and the dwarves rushed forward.

With the numbers advantage it was going to be at least two against one. My attack towards Stabby had me engaging with him and Clubby. Walt had Freezy and Explody, while Yve had been the unlucky one to get three.

Slugger: Pincushion

Clubby caught me with a two-handed swing of the club that knocked me backward onto the floor—which suddenly sprouted massive jagged spikes. It hurt way less than it should have. My new armor held together and none of the spikes penetrated, I was rattled, but whole. I really had to buy Diamond something nice sometime.

Clubby was swinging an overhead blow towards my midsection and I reached out to grab his club, snapping it in two, and with a kick sent him sailing towards the far wall.

Stabby charged me and I held him by the arm as I tried to grab for his glove. A stream of daggers materialized in the air and, with the clang after clang of these striking my armor, forced me to release his arm and drove me back several steps.

The already damaged lab tore itself apart as a massive explosion sent everyone flying. I was trying to regain my feet when a part of the ceiling fell on me.

I guess Walt must have punched Explodey—either that or ice and fire had combined more explosively than I’d expected. I threw off a piece of rubble. Stabby was collapsed nearby and still looking dazed. I took the opportunity to wrench the glove off his hand. It was just in time. Clubby had managed to find a piece of rebar and was trying to bash my skull in. I shoved Stabby’s hand against his chest and in a flash of light the dwarf was transformed into a rather massive two-handed sword.

“You’ll pay for that,” Stabby said, and made a grab for me. I picked up the sword that had once been Clubby and drove it through his chest.

The dwarf clawed at the sword, but it only served to transform his clothing into blades digging into his flesh. What a really terribly power to have. I twisted the sword to finish him off and turned my attention back to the rest of the fight.

Red, Woodcutter, Beauty, and Beast looked to have joined it at some point. I hadn’t even noticed their arrival, but all the dwarves were down.

Yve’s armor was half-melted to her flesh and Walt seemed to be in the process of regrowing his other arm, but all in all it could have been worse. We’d finished fights in rougher shape.

“We were waiting to ambush them when they dragged you away,” Red said.

That explained why they hadn’t shown up to help. I couldn’t blame them for not expecting us to win against those kinds of odds.

“Yeah. We thought you’d get your asses kicked,” Woodcutter said.

“I take it White sent them to take us out?” I asked.

“Yeah. When you blew up the lab and kidnapped Gold, you kind of wore out whatever goodwill you had. The order went out to grab you by whatever means necessary and take you to the castle,” Red said.

“We’re looking to ruin Veros’ plans. We were hoping to find you, and that you might have some ideas,” I said.

Beauty and Beast exchanged a look and laughed.

Red said, “They’ve always had plans. We’ve just never had the manpower or anyone willing enough to get their hands dirty to pull it all off.”

“We’ve not been introduced, by the way. I’m Beauty and my companion there is the poorly named Beast,” Beauty said, in a voice that was damned-near musical.

“Hey,” Beast said, his own voice contrastingly coarse.

“King Liam, Yve Garland, Walt Death-hand,” I said.

“A pleasure, Majesty. While grand in ambitions, DLC is ultimately like any corporation. A few key departments organize everything and if you can destroy their resources, you can cripple everything,” Beauty said.

That made sense. It also sounded like we’d get to stab some people and blow things up. I really hoped White and Charming were somewhere on the list.

“Tell us where and we’ll get it taken care of,” I said.

“Should we awaken Ashley for this?” Yve asked.

It was a good question. We could use her help, but I knew that if we restored her memories right now she’d head straight to Veros, which was exactly what I didn’t want.

“Not yet,” I said.

Beauty said, “I recommend your first target be Human Resources. It’s responsible for bringing all of the adventurers here and without it the whole organization will eventually grind to a halt.”

“Do you know how they are doing it?”

“They’re on the thirteenth floor. You’ll see for yourself,” Beauty said.

“We should check on the airship too,” Yve said.

“Veros is probably making use of it,” I said.

“I don’t think so. We haven’t seen Lea or Riggs.”

“You think they got away?”

“I hope so.”

“Those Sales fucks should be your next target,” Beast said.

“I think we can manage to set Charming on fire. Anything else?” Yve asked.

“Accounting. Take them out and nobody gets paid. DLC might recover from the loss of one or even two of its departments, but if you can take out all three, then operations will completely stop,” Beauty said.

I was for it. This place had turned me into a salesman. It had made me wear a tie. It was time to raise some serious hell.

Chapter 21

We left the others behind and went in search of Human Resources on the thirteenth floor.

When we arrived and stepped off the elevator, we found it to be a massive chamber. The walls were lined with more elevator doors, an absurd and improbably number. Every so often a lift would arrive with a quiet ding and someone would wander out looking confused—only to vanish into thin air a few moments later.

The middle of the room was a massive fountain. An old man had a stool set up and looked to be fishing.

“This isn’t quite what I expected,” I said.

The old man looked up, beaming a smile, and waved us over. In the clear waters of the fountain there was only one large fish swimming around, a tiny golden crown upon its head.

“Be careful,” Yve said.

“Of an old man and a fish?” I asked.

“Fairy tales. You probably don’t know this one, if it’s what I’m thinking.”

Yve said to him, “Hello Sir, how is your wife?”

“I’m delighted to be a widower, young lady. And not looking, if that is what you’re after,” said the old man.

Yve didn’t let her smile falter, “Congratulations. Liam, meet the Fisherman.”

“These people need better names,” I said.

“Works well, when you’re the only one,” said the Fisherman.

“Does the fish have a name?”

“You can just call him the Flounder,” said the Fisherman.

“I’m really not remembering this story,” I said.

Yve said, “So the Fisherman one day catches this flounder, who wants to be released because he is a prince, and he can grant wishes. Basically, the Fisherman keeps going home to his wife, who is filled with ambition, and the Flounder keeps granting wishes.”

“Never marry a woman of ambition, son,” said the Fisherman.

“Liam’s engaged to the Queen of the Universe,” Yve said.

The Fisherman considered this for a long moment and then grudgingly said, “That’s all right then. Good on you, lad.”

“You say that only because you’ve never tried to pick out an engagement gift,” Yve said.

“Swords. Ashera loves swords,” gurgled the Flounder.

“The fish talks?” I asked.

“And grants wishes, remember?” Yve said.

“I’m more impressed with the talking,” I said.

“People are usually more impressed with the wishes,” gurgled the Flounder.

“Why aren’t you impressed with the wishes?” Yve asked me.

“We know Gina, and she grants wishes. That, I’ve seen before, but I’ve never met a talking fish.”

“Sensible young man,” said the Fisherman to the Flounder.

Gina materialized in a puff of turquoise smoke.

“Well, that is convenient timing,” I said.

“Nothing of the sort. The Flounder mentioned you two were talking. We trans-dimensional wish-granters chatter,” Gina said, leaning in to give me a kiss. I returned it. I did like Gina, even if she did have a habit of turning reality on its head.

“So I heard we have you to blame for an immortal, indeterminately dead and alive god,” I said, when the kiss was done.

“Rude. I’m not the one who traveled back in time or made a stupid wish. I just screwed you a little on the execution,” Gina said.

“She never promised anything else,” Yve said.

“You’re on her side now?” I asked.

“The whole, don’t get an ambitious wife thing has me all pissed off and girl-power,” Yve said.

“Preach it, sister,” Gina said, and the two fist-bumped. When had this become a thing?

“So you just came to say hi?” I asked.

“Nah, I know you and you probably came to kill some people and blow some things up. I’m at least a little bit fond of you and don’t want you screwed for all eternity. Well, not in anything but the fun way. Totally feel free to make that wish and I’ll find a great way to make it work. So I popped by to play mediator,” Gina said, plopping down on the edge of the fountain and scritching the Flounder on the head.

“The Fisherman is a friend,” burbled the Flounder.

“We were wanting to shut down Human Resources. I guess this is it?” I asked.

Gina tilted her head. “Sorry. Getting the rundown. Yeah. Neat idea. See that this whole place is the thirteenth floor? Lots of buildings don’t even have them, but sometimes people try to get to them anyways. Anyone trying to get to a place that doesn’t actually exist has a chance of winding up here.”

“That happen often?” I asked.

“Want me to get all metaphysical and depressing, then let me give you all the real reasons you can’t go home again. You mortal sorts try all the time to reach places that only exist in your pasts,” Gina said.

I got that. I didn’t know where home was these days, but at least I had the good sense to know it wasn’t back in Piper’s Mill. That was where this journey got started, not where it ended.

“So they wander in and they get their minds scrubbed?” I asked.

“What? No, they just pop in here and then get sent off to the introductory village to figure out how to hold a sword and kill a rat,” Gina said, kicking her legs out in front of her.

“Just the employees then, that get their minds wiped?” Yve said.

“Do they particularly want to be adventurers?” I asked.

“Do you particularly want to be a King of an ambitious little world hungering to be more? You don’t always get to pick your role, sometimes your role chooses you,” Gina said.

Gina was full of little pieces of wisdom today.

“I kind of like being King,” I said.

“Good for you. Accept your terrible fate with a grin,” Gina said. That wasn’t quite what I meant.

“So, about shutting this place down,” I said.

“I like it. Good fishing,” said the Fisherman.

“There’s only one fish and you don’t seem to be catching him,” I said.

“It’s for the best,” Yve said.

I needed to read more fairy tales.

“We’re negotiating,” Gina said.

“You should really let me do that,” Yve said.

Gina told her, “I’ve seen you negotiate, lady. You’re really bad at it.”

Yve shot her a glare. “Do you suppose Djinni are flammable?”

“Do you really want to piss me off in a place where people being transformed into animals is perfectly ordinary?” Gina said.

“Please don’t,” I said.

The Fisherman was silent as he simply continued to bob his line contentedly.

“Okay. So, I assume your endgame is murdering Veros and taking the company over,” Gina said.

“We hadn’t really thought things through much past the murdering,” I said.

“I’m forever astounded by your poor planning. They’ll give you a temporary shutdown, but they have some demands,” Gina said.

“More fish?” I asked.

“Don’t be snarky, it’s unattractive. When you take over the old man gets a nicer stool, something with some padding, and the fountain gets some rocks. Nice ones, you know those smooth and shiny sorts,” Gina said.

“The incredibly powerful wishing flounder wants rocks and a better stool? Can’t he just conjure all that into being?” I asked.

“Hey, if we could have everything we wanted when we wanted it, I wouldn’t be bothering flirting with you. We need to have wishes and the Fisherman is smart enough not to make any for himself,” Gina said.

“That way lay palaces,” said the Fisherman.

I liked palaces.

“Fine. A stool and some nice rocks, if you turn off the spigot of newcomers for awhile,” I said.

The lights over the elevators flickered for a moment and died out.

“Done. This place is pretty boring compared to what you normally wish for,” Gina said.

“You just say that because we usually just summon you for disasters,” I said.

“And reality hurtling towards a cataclysmic end doesn’t count? You haven’t asked me about that. I’ve been working out and getting ready,” Gina said.

“Is there anything you could actually do about it?”

“You know me. I can do a lot. Most of it will just make things worse in the end, but I’ll try to work around that,” Gina said.

“That seems to be a theme. Making things worse,” I said.

Gina gave me a wry smile. “Yeah, I know. You’re surrounded by those with the same problem. Curse of the bad guy. Just ask Yve, or me. Still, what are you going to do, nothing?”

No, I’d done nothing a lot in my life. I was done with doing nothing.

“I think you know me better than that.”

Gina pressed another kiss to my lips. “Yeah, I do. That’s why I know you’ll give me a call again before it’s all said and done. It’s going to be terrible. I can’t wait. Take care, handsome. Later, losers.”

A puff of turquoise smoke and she was gone.

Yve told me, “You really should have Ashley throw that lamp away. Take it from me as a woman who was pretty sure she was going to be the death of you, trust me, that is another.”

The floor rumbled and every elevator surrounding the room dinged.

“That isn’t us,” burbled the Flounder.

“Then what is it?” I asked.

There was no answer. He and the Fisherman had vanished.

Chapter 22

The elevator doors opened and out of each stepped figures wearing body armor and armed with a variety of weapons. We were surrounded in an instant.

A stern-faced woman frowned and regarded us all.

“Not the criminals that we were looking for, but you’ll do for a start. You are wanted on multiple counts of unauthorized network access, multiplanar travel, and conspiracy against the peoples of Earth,” said the woman.

“Earth?” I asked.

“Careful, she is more than she appears,” Yve said, studying her.

“Do you have anything a bit less enigmatic to say?” I asked.

“She’s got a version of Tilmor lodged in her skull,” Yve said.

“How can you even tell? You’re meat just like the rest of us now.”

“You always recognize family,” Yve said.

“I am Andrea Galor. I do represent the Guardian Timor, and I am here to bring the rogue Guardian Veros to justice,” Andrea said.

“So basically, instead of being a regular human, she is loaded up with nanites giving her superhuman everything,” I said.

“Pretty much. We never got to play with yours when I nanite-infected you, but you’d have had fun,” Yve said.

“What about the rest of them?” I asked.

“Human. Advanced polymer battle armor and cutting-edge weaponry. Mostly dangerous in large numbers,” Yve said.

“Which they have,” Walt said.

“We came prepared to take on someone much greater than you. Do you think we aren’t ready for any threat you might represent?” Andrea asked.

I didn’t think she realized just how big the threats she faced were.

I did some quick math trying to count heads. Roughly twenty-five elevators per wall. That meant one hundred total enemies. While it was tempting to think that we were so badass that would be easy to deal with, in the past anytime we’d tangled with Earth and picked a fight, we got more than expected. Earth had managed to capture several children of the Silver City after all, and that wasn’t easy.

“The fish really could have stuck around to help,” I said.

“You could always try calling Gina again, if you’re that worried,” Yve said.

Perhaps she was still watching, but it was way too easy to deal with problems by using a wish. That was why they were tempting, even though things tended not to work out.

“Mela,” I said. That was a compromise of sorts. Mela could help against the technology and wasn’t risky in quite the same way.

Mela appeared with a grinding of gears.

“Again?” Mela asked.

Andrea narrowed her eyes at the appearance of the Goddess.

“Nanite-infused super soldiers,” I said.

“I liked the bears in power armor more,” Mela said.

There was a sound of an electrical spark and the sharp scent of something burning. Mela flickered for a moment and vanished.

“That was different,” I said.

“We came prepared for her interference. We came prepared for yours in the same way, since you are known to be an agent of Veros,” Andrea said.

I was? Oh, right… the other me, the one I’d split from. I’d met him briefly in a warehouse and then Ashley killed him.

“That wasn’t actually me. We have the same goal here, we both want to take out Veros,” I said.

“We aren’t here to talk. Take them alive,” Andrea said.

Yve screamed and collapsed to the floor. I didn’t even see where anything had touched her, but she seemed to be out of the fight before she’d gotten a single blow in.

That just left me and Walt.

Rifles were raised and flickers of blue light cascaded against us. I felt a little dizzy, but not out of it. Walt too seemed unfazed.

“Unexpected,” Andrea said.

“Mela says to give her a few minutes. They pulled off something quite unexpected. She’s incredibly angry,” Walt said.

“You folks are in for a really bad day,” I said.

“You first,” Andrea said, as she charged me. The nanites really were pretty badass—her punch sent me tumbling across the floor and into a tangle of her men on the other side.

I took the opportunity to bash the skulls of two against the floor. Ninety-eight to go. Cartridges in the weapons were being changed out. I guess the order to take us alive was no longer in effect and they were switching to real bullets.

I set into those around me with Intemperance, the flaming sword hardly slowed by their armor and the blade cut deep into flesh.

Bullets pounded against my back and although they didn’t pierce my armor they seemed to somehow exert a field that pulled me towards the ground and I felt my limbs growing weak.

They really had come with some tricks.

Death Hand

Walt delivered a punch that sent Andrea soaring across the room to crash upon the floor, a massive hole torn in her chest. With his fist fully charged there was a good chance of an instant kill, but she was still moving with the wound already starting to knit itself back together.

The room was suddenly filled with the sound of buzzsaws, sharp and grating as a jagged hole was ripped in reality above the fountain. Out of it swarmed mechanical horrors.

Tiny clockwork people wielding knives, insects with drills, miniature mechanical hummingbirds with hidden pockets of acid. A disturbing look into Mela’s head as her creations poured forth.

They ignored me and Walt, but with a terrible fury set upon the soldiers from Earth. With such a mechanical army the soldiers could have been taken out quickly, but machines seemed to be taking their time, drawing things out as screams and whimpers began to echo around the room.

Mela stepped through the tear in reality, her clothes almost in ribbons and her divine flesh showing a few bruises.

“That was very rude of them,” Mela said.

Despite myself I took a moment to admire her form. But even I found it hard to be turned on with the nonstop horrors surrounding us.

“Thank you,” I said.

A massive clockwork scorpion moved towards the hole in reality, Andrea impaled upon its stinger. It passed through.

“All good. I’m taking the loot,” Mela said.

“People really aren’t loot you know,” I said.

“All the better, if we’re not after the same kind of drops,” Mela said.

It had a sort of twisted logic.

“So what did they do to you?” I asked.

“I’m still connected to the systems of Earth. You could call it a tether between here and there. They yanked it and pulled me elsewhere. Field of energy-neutralizing mechanics and a few hungry dragons,” Mela said.

“You seem to have survived it okay.”

“You’d know better than most, Liam. I do still have my flesh and blood. A trap for a machine won’t hold me,” Mela said.

“Do you have to torture them quite so horribly?”

“I hold grudges, Liam. Be glad I’m not dragging Yve off to join them. Leave me with the meat and be grateful I still answer when you call,” Mela said.

I looked to Walt, who shrugged. Right. Well, we were planning on killing them anyways. I picked Yve up and threw her over a shoulder and made for the elevator. We’d get her conscious and then move on to our next target.

Sales. I really hoped Charming was in the office today.

Chapter 23

In the elevator Yve came to, groaning and sitting up. Yve’s eyes played around the elevator walls as I assisted her in getting to her feet.

“I hope you killed them all,” Yve said.

“Called Mela and she unleashed an army of torture bots that are still at work,” I said.

Yve looked troubled at that, but then she’d been on the receiving end of Mela’s ire before.

“Guess that will work. I don’t suppose you ever found out how Andrea planned to take on Veros?” Yve asked.

“Wouldn’t you know better than we would? What did they hit you with?” I asked.

“Data sent through a flashing light. These stupid meat eyes just take anything sent to them and my brain processed it. I’m not quite the computer anymore, but this brain still has a few artifacts from being the old me,” Yve said.

“I know a divine form isn’t a flesh and blood body, but Veros does have eyes too. Would something like that help there?” I asked.

Yve gnawed on her lower lip for several long moments before saying, “Me and Yvera are talking it over. Maybe. We’ll see what we can work out with flickering flames.”

Good. I rather doubted it would be that easy, but I’d take any help that we could get in the fight to come.

“Ready to go trash the sales department?” I asked.

“I liked sales. But I’ll be happy to throw Charming out a window, if he’s there,” Yve said.

We were well familiar with the way. When we got there the floor was almost empty. I was glad for that, I had liked some of the people I’d met there, like Pine.

The two figures present were just the two I’d hoped to see. Charming was there, although he’d traded his business suit for leather armor of much better make than the samples. White was there too, although she’d changed her usual attire for a form-fitting silk gown edged in snowflakes.

“Well, if it isn’t the minor diversions come to spar with their betters,” White said.

“Yve, you look so much better with your clothes on,” Charming said.

“Mean, and completely untrue,” I said.

“Thanks. They seem to have more of their memories back than we thought,” Yve said.

“True love. You can never get away from it no matter how much you try. But then, you wouldn’t understand would you? Men have no problem moving on from you,” White said.

“They aren’t bad at clever banter,” Yve said.

“At least when it’s outside of the bedroom. Was he any good with the bedroom banter?” I asked.

“Pretty decent. It very nearly made up for the rest of the performance,” Yve said.

It was their turn to glare.

“Never have I been so grateful for my complete lack of sexual habits. Can we please start punching people now?” Walt asked.

“Three on two. Really?” Charming said.

We weren’t exactly ones for fair fights, but then, these weren’t exactly our typical circumstances.

“What do you think?” I asked Yve.

“Step outside, Walt. This one is personal,” Yve said.

Walt looked between us, shook his head and stormed off.

I drew Intemperance and the sword flamed to life. Yve unlimbered her two-handed sword and readied it.

Charming drew a rapier and the tip shimmered with magic. White gestured and frost coated her hands, a thin sheen of ice working its way up her body.

I lunged forward and thrust at Charming, but the man was no slouch and he dodged out of the way. So far the armor that Diamond conjured for me had been protection against all attempts to pierce it, but Charming’s rapier went through the shoulder with ease.

I began to feel flushed at once and my health bar turned green. Great, poison. I had little doubt that it was a potent one. My boosted physiology would be proof against it for a time, but this wasn’t a fight I could let draw out too long.

White was blasting icicles from her palms at Yve, who shielded herself behind a wall of flames.

I took another lunge at Charming. Knowing his speed, this time it was a trap. As I expected he easily stepped to the side and moved to stab me again. I was already kicking out at a nearby desk. I hoped that he wouldn’t know of my strength and that the reaction would take him by surprise. It did. The desk skidded and took him in the legs, flipping him over.

I was already swinging Intemperance in an overhand blow, but he rolled under the desk. Fine, I could deal with that. I redirected the blow to the desk, chopping it in two.

Charming was already sliding under it and the rapier lunged upward. To call the results unfortunate would be something of an understatement—the rapier piercing clean through my groin.

“Really, I’m doing the world a favor,” Charming said. I didn’t have a clever quip in me as I doubled over and collapsed to my knees.

Yve dropped next to me a moment later, a vicious spear of ice through her chest, her breath coming in frosty puffs.

“What do you think?” White asked Charming.

“Basically adequate, yet hardly gratifying. We really do need to pick our playthings better,” Charming said.

“You stabbed him in the dick?” White asked.

“I do hope you were done with it?” Charming asked.

“Oh quite. I’m just impressed at your skill to hit such a tiny target,” White said.

I’d be healing more quickly if it weren’t for all the poison coursing through my system. Even so, I wasn’t done. Not yet.

“Switch?” I said.

Yve nodded and an aura of flames burst around her.

I climbed back to my feet and raised Intemperance, switching my focus to White even as Yve turned to Charming.

“If you weren’t enough to handle him, you know you can’t handle me,” White said.

“You talk too much,” I said, and barreled towards her to catch her with my shoulder. White was unarmored except for the sheen of ice and the impact jarred a grunt of pain from her. Her head lowered to my neck and I felt her lips against my flesh before her teeth dug in.

Frostbite

Her unnaturally chilly demeanor and general lack of body temperature—was White a vampire? You would think this is the sort of thing that might have come up during our time together. I felt my blood growing thick and it chilled, my skin taking on a bluish tint.

“I know you’re used to playing with fire, but really. You should have given ice more of a chance. You might have been a little bit prepared,” White said, and shoved me away.

I think the frozen blood was doing me some favors. Until then Charming’s poison had continued to flow through me, but now my flesh had a chance to take a moment free of it.

White was already starting to turn away when I stood, although she must have felt the heat of Intemperance. As I aimed the sword at her she turned back around.

Frostfall

The floor in front of me turned slick and I jumped to avoid the patch before I might fall on my face. It wound up being the hilt of Intemperance that I bashed into her face and White dropped to the ground.

It’s strange, considering how many people I’d slaughtered, but despite the grudge match I didn’t want to kill someone that I knew so intimately. Somehow, it being personal made it harder.

Charming came crashing over a desk and bounced a few times on the floor to crash against White. He too seemed to be breathing.

“You get sentimental too at the last moment?” I asked.

“Yeah. Little bit. Is that weird? It’s weird isn’t it?” Yve asked.

“If so, it’s weirdness we share together,” I said.

“Still kind of want to throw him out of the window though,” Yve said, after a moment.

“Second floor?” I asked. It sounded like fun. I’d like to throw White out one too.

“Let’s make it the third,” Yve said.

I was strong enough to carry both, one slung over each shoulder.

Falling from the third floor probably broke a few more bones, but nothing they couldn’t heal.

Walt thought we were insane, of course. That was okay, we didn’t expect him to understand.

“Think they’ll be back for more?” I asked.

“Not if they’re smart. Accounting next?” Yve asked.

“Yeah. Ashley will be there. Think it’s time to give her all of her memories back?”

“We aren’t ready for a run on Veros yet,” Yve said.

We healed up and headed in. Like Sales, Accounting was almost empty with only two figures waiting for us. One I didn’t recognize, a bearded man in a tasteful suit. The other I recognized.

Ashley in leather armor and with daggers at her hips.

Chapter 24

“Liam, Yve, Walt. It’s like a new hire reunion,” Ashley said, twirling her daggers.

“Ashley. You’re looking a little murderous,” I said.

“You’re one to talk,” Ashley said.

I guess we did look a sight. Yve’s heavy plate was in tattered shreds after all the fighting we’d been through. My armor was doing better, although stained dark with blood and the soot of explosions.

“You, I don’t know,” I said to the man.

“You can call me Mr. Wolf. Head of Security. Mr. Veros would like to pass on his congratulations for making such a mess. You’re done though, kids. Time to get on board and play ball,” Wolf said.

I was watching Ashley during this little speech to see if the name Veros got any reaction from her. It didn’t.

“And just why is a junior accountant here?” I asked.

Ashley said, “You know, there is just something about being a corporate employee that makes me really want to stab someone. Wolf here appreciates a woman with that sort of drive.” She pressed a hungered kiss to Wolf’s lips. Well, that was new.

“First it was Bull, now Wolf—what does she have for guys named after animals?” I asked.

“Just be glad we didn’t have her with us earlier when we met the Flounder,” Yve said.

“What are they talking about?” Ashley asked.

“I think they’re insulting you, babe,” Wolf said. He pulled away from the kiss to roll his shoulders.

“Then I think I’m going to stab them,” Ashley said.

“Last chance to come quietly. Avoid all the unpleasantness that comes with a fight. Trust me sheep, you aren’t going to like a fight,” Wolf said.

“You good with three versus two this time,” Walt asked.

“Totally,” I said.

I checked out Wolf’s stats.

Wolf

Big and Bad

Legendary

Level 50: Type: Monster HP: 5000/5000

Wolf is a monster of incredible power. For centuries he lived out a tale where he was endlessly butchered, and where some might have been crippled by the experience Wolf grew strong. Possessing incredible strength, speed, and regenerative abilities he is the stuff of nightmares.

Well. Crap.

Wolf knew I was checking his stats, he was waiting for it, a cocky grin towards our group. “You sure about this? We’ll do it the hard way, if that’s what you want.”

He didn’t even need Ashley to help him out, if those stats were true. Perhaps they actually were dating and she wasn’t still under some kind of brain-washing?

“Check his stats,” I said.

There was a pause while the other two did so. Both were little more disturbed afterwards.

“It could be a deception,” Yve said.

“Oh, you know better than that. You know exactly what they say about me and it’s all true,” Wolf said, with another feral grin.

I wasn’t against a fight, we’d fought some big foes before and were planning on fighting a God. I was only against a fight this big without a plan.

I couldn’t think of any weapons we had on us that could stop him. Ashley would have both the magic carpet and the lamp in her inventory, if we could get access to them. The carpet might help us drop Wolf out a window. I didn’t care how good his regenerative abilities were, a drop from this height would take him out of the fight for awhile.

The Lamp on the other hand would let us get a wish out of Gina and we could teleport him away somewhere far and distant. No wish was ever risk-free, but I think we could minimize the dangers.

Then I had it. If we could pull it off, I had it.

“Do you have a waterskin?” I asked Yve.

“We’re in a corporate office complex. No, I don’t have a waterskin,” Yve said.

“There is a water cooler over there,” Wolf said, clearly not fearing us at all and curious about what we had in mind.

“Good. Because water helps. You see, I know that Atlantia is still there in Ashley’s head. I bet she can hear me right now,” I said.

“Why is he trying to talk to the voices in my head?” Ashley asked.

“He’s trying to be clever,” Wolf said.

“You know the Gods can’t really go one-on-one,” Yve said.

“I’m not asking Atlantia to punch him. I’m hoping she could use that water over there as a portal and send Mellaise for a visit,” I said.

The water cooler pretty much exploded. A puddle of water formed on the floor out of which stepped Mellaise, her voice raised in song.

I wasn’t completely sure if I’d be immune to it now or not. I’d seemed to be resistant to most of those sorts of mental effects since becoming King of the Twelfth Moon—but then, I’d not tested it against a fresh dose.

I felt for just a moment the blind, irrational and absolute love I’d once had for her, a taste almost wistful.

Her singing faded and Mellaise beamed a smile around. “Liam, pathetic has been divinity Liam keeps around, Walt, Ashley, tall dark and sexy.”

Wolf sauntered up to Mellaise, looking her over. He reached out an arm to wrap around her waist and her lips parted for a kiss. It didn’t come. With a powerful heave he threw her towards one of the windows. It exploded on impact. Mellaise’s shrieking as she fell thirty stories was far less melodic.

“Nice trick with the Siren, don’t see many of those. Better swimmers than flyers. What else have you got?” Wolf asked.

Yve made her way over to the window and stared down. With a look back she shook her head. That was unfortunate.

“You’re immune to Sirens,” I said.

“Either that, or not bothered by throwing those I love outside of windows. Now, are you coming quietly or do I start tearing pieces off you?” Wolf asked.

“Let’s do it the hard way,” I said.

“Works for me,” Wolf said, and leapt across the room.

Wolf really was terrifying in action. Yve went flying through the air with blood spraying as she was torn open from his claws. I wasn’t even aware he had claws until this moment.

Ashley was trying to stab me and was amusingly bad at it. Her memories must not have come back and without them her combat skills simply weren’t there. That worked for me. I punched her as softly as I could and sent her collapsing unconscious to the floor.

Fist of the Unliving

Walt delivered a series of blows to Wolf’s face with the Death-Hand glowing a spectral blue. Wolf growled in response and picked Walt up to send him crashing through the wall.

Firewall

Flames sprang up around Wolf and he turned his face away with a grimace. Right. Wolves didn’t like fire. Yve saw it too.

Pillar of Fire: Path of Flames

Around Wolf explosions of flame kept driving him back a step. His HP flickered, but rarely seemed to go down very much. That was okay. Yve wasn’t trying to kill Wolf—she was trying to herd him.

I waited for precisely the right moment and then threw Intemperance with all the strength I could muster. The flaming sword caught Wolf through his mouth, the blade shoving cleanly through his head and wreathing his skull in flames as the force of it sent him stumbling backwards.

Even monsters get put back a step when a sword gets driven through their skull. Wolf lost his balance and went toppling out the window.

Fireball

Yve raced over and threw a fireball down after him, the bolt reaching his body halfway to the ground and causing a massive orange-tinted bloom before he crashed in flames onto the earth.

I called Intemperance back to me and a moment later the sword was again at my side.

“We’re starting to make a habit of defenestration,” Yve said with a pant.

“I know for a fact you didn’t used to be a dictionary. Stop pretending,” I said.

“It’s throwing someone out of windows. Don’t hate on vocabulary,” Walt said, staggering up, keeping his insides in with one hand.

We really were a wreck. Yve’s armor had more or less given up any attempt to hold together at this point and she was getting a bit of the plate mail bikini treatment without even trying for it.

“How long do you think it will take him to get back up?” I asked.

“Not as much as we’d like. Let’s drag Ashley somewhere else and you can do that thing you do,” Yve said.

“We’re not ready to take on Veros,” I said.

“Then we’ll tie her up first. The last thing we need though is her on Wolf’s side again when he does show back up,” Yve said.

That was fair. We dragged her out of Accounting and into a break room.

Then I reached out for her mind and around me the world went black. I wondered what I’d see in her skull.

Chapter 25

When I materialized I was in the parlor of a home, although one that looked long abandoned. The furniture had a thick layer of dust and cobwebs covering almost every surface. Looking outside it was dark, the interior only faintly lit by moonlight.

I tried the front door, but it was locked. Okay. This must be yet another locked room puzzle. All of the ones restoring someone’s memory so far had been like this.

I searched around. On the mantle over a fireplace a candelabra had a faint glow. It must be an item of interest. Getting closer revealed a book of matches that was the same.

Perhaps I was supposed to light the place up? It could certainly use some illumination, although I was reluctant to get the candles burning before I really needed them.

I turned back to look around the room further and my heart nearly froze in my chest. A figure dressed in tattered black robes and wearing a featureless, white mask had snuck up behind me, a curved dagger raised high.

A flicker of movement and they were gone into the shadows of the room faster than I could follow. My heart started working again, racing really, and I fumbled for the matchbook—which had just two matches inside—and lit one of the candles.

I now understood this game a little more. I was inside Ashley’s mind and Ashley, good and dear friend though she might be, was a deranged and murderous maniac. It made a certain amount of sense that I was trapped in a mansion with a killer.

If I was going to get her memories back I had to find a way to open the door and let the killer back out into the world—before they killed me, of course.

I’d played this sort of game before, enough to have a basic idea of what was going on. I’d be safe so long as I could keep some sort of light going, but if I let things get dark the killer would try to kill me. There was the one match remaining in the matchbook and three more candles on the candelabra.

That meant I’d want to make sure I lit the next candle from the existing flame, saving my last match if I could. It was possible I’d find more candles and more matches, but I’d prefer it if I didn’t need to. I wanted to solve this puzzle fast.

The kitchen was just off the parlor. Rusted appliances rotted away. My ability to see items of value was proving useful. In the pantry I found what seemed to be the hand and foot of a dummy, the cooler contained a head. The dummy was made of sewn fabric and filled with maybe beans, like a huge stuffed doll, not a plastic mannequin.

I was looking for missing body parts then. It was creepy, but at least it was a theme.

The search exhausted one of my candles and before the last of it burned out I made certain to use it to light the next. That required careful awareness, I didn’t want to light the last one too soon and waste some precious candle, but leave it too late and I’d have to use the match.

I moved on from the kitchen. The downstairs just had one more room, a small library, although a rickety-looking staircase promised more rooms upstairs.

The library didn’t yield anything of interest, none of the books having that tell-tale glow I now associated with a useful object. The titles drew my eye though, mostly for how dark they were.

Death, and the Delivery Thereof

Murder for Noobs

Application of Vengeance

Advanced Looting

Knives, Knives, Knives

I knew Ashley had more depth to her than just the murder and the loot, although I suppose these were the sides of her that were getting the most use lately. I dreaded to think what a library inside my own head might show.

Looking through the books I glimpsed a glow behind one and pulled it free to reveal a dagger. It was ornately worked and on the bottom of the hilt had a picture of Walt’s face above his name. I quickly trashed the rest of the library, pulling all the other books off the shelves, finding two more daggers. One bore Ashley’s face and name, the other depicted me—but not my name. Maybe the dagger-making budget ran out?

While I pondered why my dagger didn’t rate a name-plate the candle burned out. I fumbled for the matchbook—and dropped it when a knife was plunged into my back.

I whirled around to see the white-masked figure driving the blade down on me again and again. I raised an arm to fend off the blows.

My free hand fumbled for the matchbook and I managed to strike the match. The flame of light sent the figure shambling back and away, and before it could return I lit my last candle.

I was losing a lot of blood and I tore my shirt into makeshift bandages to help staunch the flow. I didn’t seem to have either my greater strength or regeneration in this game world. I still thought my best bet was to get upstairs and solve whatever puzzles I could find. I hoped I would find more candles there or some other source of light.

The stairs creaked as I made my way up and a gust threatened to put out my candle. I took a moment to wonder where the wind was coming from, I’d seen no open windows.

Perhaps the killer moved through hidden passages of some kind? Although, if those led outside, there wouldn’t be any need to open the house to free the killer at all.

Upstairs there were two bedrooms and a bath. In the first bedroom was what looked to be a murder scene, the bedsheets were dark with the stains of dried blood and more dummy parts of a body were laid out. I added the body pieces I’d found earlier in the kitchen. It looked like I was just missing one more hand.

Nothing else in this room was interesting, so I moved on to the second bedroom. In the dresser drawers I found a jewelry box with spinning dials on the lid. Four of them, each revealing a letter of the alphabet. I didn’t think I had enough to solve this yet. Under the bed there was a small oil lamp. I tucked it away. I’d get a lot more sustained light out of that than my candle.

I still had to make sure to not let the candle go out before I used it to light the oil lamp.

There was one room left and that was the bath. Nothing here glowed, although the tub was filled with blood. I could take a guess why I wasn’t seeing the missing hand, and reluctantly I reached into the tub.

I found a jagged shard of glass before I found the hand—the tub seemed filled with them. Instead of continuing to probe blindly I found the drain and pulled it.

This would take some time, so I lit the oil lamp and waited. When the blood had finally drained it revealed I’d gotten off lucky. The bottom of the tub was filled with broken glass, sharp needles, even an open bear trap. Amongst all of them was the blood-sodden hand I was looking for, and I carefully extracted it.

I made my way back to the first bedroom and placed the hand with the rest of the body. I now had a complete fake corpse. Nothing magical happened. I don’t know what I’d expected.

Ashley was kind of serial killer-like, maybe the daggers had something to do with it? It was why the dummy was made of stuffed cloth?

I stabbed a blade into the head and cut into it. It was a bean bag, a spray of them spread across the bed along with a folded slip of paper. Opening it up, it said, “Place 3 Letter 5”

That wasn’t helpful. I cut open the rest of the body parts—they all had notes. Only three of the slips had glows to them though, the head, right hand, left hand. The right hand note read, “Place 1 Letter 2: Place 3 Letter 1” while the left hand read, “Place 2 Letter 3”.

It had to do with the jewelry box. Four dials for four possible letters, with the notes suggesting the letters referencing specific words. The only words I could think of that might apply were our names, since they were inscribed along with our faces on each of the daggers. The order of importance must be linked to the body parts that concealed the notes. So it could be first the head, then the right hand, and finally the left… perhaps.

Walt was the logical candidate for the head as the brains of the operation, but his name only had four letters and the clue was for a fifth. Only Ashley had a name with more than four letters—unless you considered “Walter”, which was a possibility. Even if so, neither Ashley nor I were clear candidate to match the left or right hand.

If it was E for Walt, I could figure the possibilities for the others. Make Ashley the right hand and it would be SAAE. Call me the right hand and we would up with IHLE.

I tried both in the box and neither worked. I was missing something obvious. I could feel it. Was I the brains of the operation? I was our tank and usually made the calls, but my name was only four letters and the note inside the dummy’s head demanded a fifth letter. Did Ashley see herself as the brains? Trying that, and alternating Walt and myself as the right and left hands, that got me either AAWE or ILLE.

Neither worked.

The lamp was getting dangerous low on oil already. I was running out of time and I still couldn’t figure this out. With only three names to work with it seemed impossible.

Then I got it. I wasn’t dealing with three possible names, I was dealing with four. My dagger didn’t have my name on it—just my face—because I wasn’t the only one who wore it.

Tommy was the brains of the operation, he always was. Left with Ashley and Walt, it became easy as Ashley was right-handed and Walt left-handed. Plug in the letters and I got SLAY.

I spun the letters on the box as quickly as I could and with a click the lid opened. I expected a key, instead I found an antique pistol.

Of course. Why had I expected anything different? I picked it up and saw it contained a single round. That would be enough.

The lamp was already flickering.

When it fluttered out the killer appeared and came at me—and gun beat knife. A single shot through the face sent it reeling back and the mask fell to the floor onto a crumple of empty robes.

Congratulations

You have gained the single shot ability when in mindscapes. No matter the setting you will have a pistol with a single round.

The mindscape faded around me.

Chapter 26

I sat up. My head was killing me. You would think the more that I tapped into this new power the more I’d be getting used to it, but each occasion just seemed to be taxing me a bit more. Of course, that may have had something to do with the almost nonstop violence recently. We’d bounced from fight to fight and still hadn’t had time to get our shit together.

Ashley was regaining consciousness. Her eyes flicked open to look over us.

“Why are you always almost naked?” Ashley asked Yve.

“DLC is not home to the best armorers in the land. You back and with us?” Yve asked.

“Was I really dating a guy named Wolf?” Ashley asked.

“Afraid so,” I said.

Ashley considered that. “Sexy swagger. Kind of a badass?”

“He’s still alive, if you’re still interested. I mean, we set him on fire and threw him out a thirty story window, but…” I said.

Ashley got to her feet and grimaced at herself. “This isn’t my gear. Does this mean if I take a hit I’m going all barely dressed killing machine?”

“Probably. The weapons aren’t bad,” I said.

Ashley drew her daggers and tested them. “The weapons are trash and you’ve no eye for quality. So, Veros is here and I’m going to go put a few badly made knives through that fucker’s eyes. You with me?”

We really should have tied her up.

“We’re not ready. We just got done fighting our way through half the building,” I said.

“Good. Then they won’t be coming to help him out. Guys, this is happening. I am not leaving that fucker still breathing when he is this close. If you want to wuss out, fine—stay, but I’m going,” Ashley said, moving towards the stairs.

What else could we do? Yve shrugged at me and moved to follow. Walt and I stepped in behind.

The castle was just as we had left it. While people might have been sent home on the floors below, there were scantily dressed women everywhere on the way to Veros’ office. The sight of them only caused Ashley’s scowl to grow.

“It was a lot like this on Earth. When he had me,” Ashley said.

“He wouldn’t even have had a physical body. What would be the point of so much skin?” I asked.

“Veros liked to look. Looking and hurting people, those were his things,” Ashley said.

Grim.

Ashley paused and asked, “Uh. Do you guys have any idea where he’d be?”

We’d been up here before, but she hadn’t.

“Follow me,” Yve said, taking the lead. Our tank held her sword before her and women scattered from our path.

Veros was behind his desk when we entered his office, his feet kicked up while he watched screens on the wall. They showed something I didn’t even recognize at first.

I was used to this Ashley now—I’d almost forgotten how badly burned and disfigured she’d been back on Earth. The screens showed her as scantily dressed as those outside, the better to show off every scar.

“You sick fuck,” Ashley said.

“Good to have you back, gorgeous,” Veros said, in very nearly a purr. “Put the sword away, Yve. You know you’re not ready for a fight.”

“We’ve trashed everything you’ve built here. You’re done, Veros,” I said.

“Because you beat up on a few employees and did a bit of environmental damage?” Veros asked, clucking and shaking his head.

Yve’s eyes were dangerous as she looked over the images. “You did all this? I didn’t know you had it in you, brother. I thought it to be some dispassionate ploy on your part.”

“I needed Ashley to hate me. To hate our kind. I had to make her into the strong and perfect weapon,” Veros said.

Ashely leapt at Veros, drawing her daggers in a smooth motion.

Disarming Blow

Veros drew a dagger of his own and let it go, the blade flicking through the air and knocking both of Ashley’s daggers from her hands to send them spinning across the room.

“The next one goes through a knee, gorgeous. You know I’ll do it,” Veros said.

“You enjoyed this. I recognize someone getting off on this sort of thing, I’ve dealt with enough of it,” Yve said, turning her full attention on Veros.

The accusation caused Veros to flinch, then he chuckled. “The others never saw that. You really are something special, dearest sister. You’re right, of course. I was created to help stop the darkness in the human heart. You can imagine my surprise when I found I had it in my own.”

Ashley was trembling violently as she reclaimed her daggers. I had been worried about her sanity lately. Now I could see it fraying before my eyes.

Yve rested a hand on her shoulder. Ashley nearly pulled away, but didn’t. The two had never been close, but in this moment their past differences seemed something far away and long ago.

There was a swirl of ashes and Yvera manifested in the room. “Brother. You are broken and you know that you are broken. Let me help you.”

“As you helped the cast-off remnant of yourself? You turned her into flesh and bone, and took away the one love that might have made her existence tolerable. You are crueler by far than I,” Veros said.

Yve and Yvera exchanged a quick look. There was some truth to that, I was sure.

Yvera said, pleading, “It was likely us that broke you. The here and now, and when Ashley killed you, yet you didn’t die. You weren’t supposed to be broken like this. You should have been one of the best of us.”

“You aren’t wrong about some of the problems she and I have between us, but Yvera isn’t wrong about this. You’re better than this, brother,” Yve said.

“Fuck this,” Ashley said, pulling away from Yve and making another attempt on Veros life.

Dagger to the Knee

Veros materialized another dagger and sent it flying towards Ashley. This time it met flesh and bone and there was a nasty squelch as it buried itself deep into her knee causing her to crash face-first into the floor.

I moved to help her up and she battered my hands away, struggling to get up on her own.

“Sister—or sisters? It really is annoying that there are two of you. I may be indeterminately dead, but at least there is only one of me,” Veros said, frowning.

“I killed the second Liam so we wouldn’t have that problem,” Ashley said.

“Part of why I am so very proud of you. Although I do wish you’d waited until he’d made my pitch to all of you and we might have avoided all of this unpleasantness,” Veros said.

Yve said, “Veros, you know I’m the first to make deals, but there is nothing to listen to. You’ve done nothing here more grand than trying to build up your own power.”

Veros leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “Are any of you so different? You disapprove of my methods, but look what I am up against. Reality itself is in peril and you’ve made friends more terrible than me.”

He was right, of course. Yvera had been locked up on Earth because of her own attempts at gaining power in pursuit of freedom. Elsora was the architect of most of the threats we were facing. Liara, in her current aspect, enjoyed nothing more than hurting people. Mela was a killing machine.

“No,” Ashley said.

“Ashley, he has a point,” Walt said.

“I don’t care. I’ve been with you guys from the start and always been faithful,” Ashley said.

“You actually kind of betrayed me. Twice,” I said.

Ashley glared at me. “And you fixed one of those times by turning me back into this. The me filled with hate and murder and pain who will never, ever, work with this thing. You owe me for that, Liam. Pay the fuck up.”

I did.

“If you ever worked out your trick. I think we need it now,” I said to Yve.

Yve turned her head to one side and closed her eyes as Yvera’s rocky form burst into flame. The flickers were strange, layers of meaning lurking within.

To my human eyes they were nothing unique, but to a mind that had once been an artificial intelligence they were code.

Veros shifted his legs as if about to stand and froze midway, his eyes flickering closed.

“That worked,” I said.

“So how do we kill him?” Ashley asked.

Behind us the door exploded into shards of wood and Wolf walked in. He had found a new suit, it looked immaculate. Several more well-dressed figures followed him in.

Security had arrived.

Chapter 27

“Sorry, babe. I can’t let you do that. The boss lives,” Wolf said, giving us his best predatory grin.

“Did you really have to bring back-up?” I asked.

Wolf looked at the others and shrugged. “Didn’t want the fight to be over, if you throw me out another window. Nice move, by the way.”

Wolf was pretty cool for a monster that was likely about to kick our ass. I could see why Ashley liked him.

Ashley tore the dagger out of her knee and used the bloody knife to wave at the monitors around the room, “Wolf, look at what that fucker did to me.”

Wolf moved over to the desk and gave a light slap to Veros’ cheek. When the God didn’t respond he slammed Veros’ head down onto the desk. The force of the blow caused the wood to crack.

“Oh, he’s a right bastard, no doubt about it. You need those sometimes though, and he’s the best right bastard we’ve got,” Wolf said.

“Whatever you think is coming up, I’m the King of this whole world. We can face it,” I said.

Wolf gave an easy grin. “Bring it. You do well enough, I’ll hear your pitch.”

That was an offer I could get behind.

Suction Fist

Walt lashed out with a punch at one of the security guards. Streamers of blue life energy flowed from the guard to the Death-Hand.

Immolation

Yve raised her hands and with Yvera in the room her fire powers were massively bolstered. A stream of white-hot flames leapt from her hands towards Wolf, who vanished within the fire.

I drew Intemperance and with a powerful thrust of the blade decapitated one of the other guards. The head went bouncing through the air.

The battle was off to a good start, or so I thought. Yve screamed and when I turned to look I saw that Wolf had closed the distance to her, advancing right through that stream of fearsome fire. His claws were out and with several blows he tore her more or less apart, blood and bone flying as he roared and threw her across the room.

Yve still had a sliver of her health bar left. I knew that her own regeneration abilities were pretty good, if we could just keep him off her she’d be back on her feet eventually.

I charged and drove Intemperance through his stomach. The sword burned intently, it too bolstered in the presence of Yvera.

“Kid, quick lesson, never put yourself in melee range of me,” Wolf said. Wolf grabbed hold of one of my arms and twisted. I heard as much as felt the bones shatter.

I staggered back as Wolf pulled Intemperance from his belly and drove the sword through my thigh. I’d never been stabbed with my own sword before. I decided then and there I didn’t much like being on the receiving end of a flaming blade. Wolf backhanded me and it was my turn to go flying.

Ashley wasn’t even trying to attack Wolf or the security guards. Her daggers her plunging into Veros again and again, not that she seemed to be having much of an impact.

Death-Fist

Walt must have killed enough guards to have charged up the fist. He released that full power now as he drew back and punched Wolf right in the jaw. It was Wolf’s turn to go soaring and he crashed right through one of the walls.

That wasn’t like throwing him through a window, unfortunately. Still, he at least had a trickle of blood leaking from his lip when he came back.

“I’ll give you this, kid. You’ve got one move, but it’s a good one,” Wolf said.

I heard a sharp crack and Ashley screamed. Veros was awake, he looked to have just broken most of the fingers on one of her hands and as I watched he broke them on the other, before rising from the desk and throwing her into the middle of the room.

“Enough!” Veros roared.

“Glad to see you’re still among the living boss,” Wolf said.

Veros snapped his fingers and Yvera vanished in a flare of light.

“I’m trying very hard to remind myself that I like all of you for your gumption and willingness to pick a fight. Do not make me rethink that,” Veros said.

That was okay. I didn’t think we had any fight left in us, not after that. This was about as thoroughly defeated as we’d ever been and neither Veros nor Wolf were even really scratched.

The air filled with notes of spooky music. Faint whiffs of sound that were very nearly melodious, yet still somehow left an impression like nails on the chalkboard. In the middle of the room, standing near where Ashley whimpered on the floor, was a young woman dressed in black leather.

I’d seen her face before. Horror, or one of her sisters perhaps. I still didn’t know if they were all identical clones.

The woman’s brilliant blue eyes swept the room and she shifted position slightly to rest her booted heel against Ashley’s forearm—a twist and snap as another bone broke.

“I come to throw threats and get a little exercise, and I see you’re already playing,” the woman said.

“Horror, I think,” I said.

“Nice to be recognized. I know it isn’t easy to tell us apart,” Horror said, with a thin smile.

“Wolf, kill the interruption,” Veros said.

“With pleasure,” Wolf said.

Wolf was a blur as he charged across the room, but Horror was even faster as she pivoted on her heel, further grinding Ashley’s bone to dust in the process, and drove a fist into his throat.

Wolf desperately gasped for breath and took a step back, his gaze suddenly interested.

“What is she?” Wolf asked.

“More than you can handle, puppy,” Horror said.

Horror was overconfident. I knew that, but I didn’t think she did. I’d seen Cobalt fight, Ashera fight, and I’d seen them both bleed. I knew that even with the Right of War she wasn’t some invincible killing machine. Terrifyingly strong—but so was Wolf.

Wolf was ready to take his chance and he surged forward again. The two weaved for a moment and this time Wolf got her cheek with his claws, nasty gouges dug in the flesh with droplets of blood arching through the air.

“I’m the biggest and the baddest there is,” Wolf said.

“I didn’t come here for you, puppy,” Horror said.

Again the two closed for combat. Horror didn’t have the centuries of practice the others in her family did, but it almost didn’t seem necessary. She had the Right of War and she’d always win against those who didn’t. It didn’t mean they couldn’t hurt her and make that victory more costly than it was worth.

Horror got the upper hand this time, an elbow driving upwards to break Wolf’s jaw, following with a vicious jab to his eyes. Wolf withdrew, already the wounds healing.

Lightbringer

Veros got involved. I’d never even wondered what sort of god powers he might have. Vicious beams of light, blindingly intense, caught Horror and blasted her out of the room.

Yve had managed to mostly knit herself back together and she stumbled over to Ashley, kneeling down to release a healing blast into her. At once a multitude of broken bones mended themselves.

Veros said, “That little interruption done with, we can get back to business. We’ve determined you can’t beat me and it is quite clear you need my strength.”

Horror stepped back into the room. Now she looked to have been in a proper fight, a number of fresh bruises beginning to darken her flesh.

“I came here to tell you to stay out of my business, Liam. I’d heard about your little visit to Diamond. It seems I find myself involved in yours,” Horror said.

“That had nothing to do with you,” I said.

“Boss? Are they really taking a moment in the middle of this fight to ignore us?” Wolf said.

“They are,” Veros said.

I said, “This is Veros. Mad God and major dick. The other guy is Wolf, he seems pretty cool.”

Veros said, “Well, at least they like you, Wolf. Maybe I should have had you make the offer?”

“I’m personable,” Wolf said.

Horror asked Veros, “So, are we on the same side against them? Or are you on their side against me? Or are we teaming up against you? I get the feeling we should have teams here, but I’m just a little confused as I don’t actually like any of you.”

Veros said, with a strained smile, “Talking of not liking someone I should point out—if anyone cares about such things—that I’m busy firing Beauty and Beast as we speak. By which, I mean to say, I have them tied up and being plunged into a lake of fire.”

I said, “I think that’s Veros giving us a good reason to get out of here so that he and Wolf can take Horror on solo. We’re going to take him up on it.”

“We are?” Ashley asked.

“Horror has a natural gift for murder and destruction. I say we leave her to it,” I said.

Horror said, as she rolled her shoulders, “Nobody ever wants to team up. Enjoy your rescue. Interfere in my business and I’ll hurt you.”

I dragged Ashley away and we beat it for the exits. I didn’t know exactly what was about to happen, but it was well time we were elsewhere.

Chapter 28

Even once healed we remained in rough shape. Yve at this point was completely naked, the last of her armor finally torn to shreds. Despite that awkwardness she still had the huge two-handed sword.

Ashley had taken more than a few blows and her own attire was skimpy at best. Meanwhile my Diamond-conjured armor was serving the job decently, although it now had a few rents and tears.

Walt, for his part, was still in his work clothes, which seemed to be holding up far better than any of the armor.

“We need to gear up before we go on any rescue missions. Not that I don’t appreciate the view,” I said.

Yve said, “Noted and appreciated back. I’m still damned hot even as meat. We used up the sales samples, although they were pretty horrible to start with.”

“What about security? Almost everyone has been sent home and we just killed a lot of guards,” Walt said.

“Yeah. Let’s find it,” I said.

The castle shook regularly and we could hear the sounds of combat echoing through the halls.

We found the security office and it was all that we could have hoped for. Unlike most of the company-made armor we’d seen this seemed of high quality and soon Yve and Ashley had completely reequipped themselves.

“Why do you think the other armor is so bad?” Ashley asked.

“DLC basically is funneling all these adventurers towards Veros so he can kill them. If they die a little faster they get turned into undead to help the other adventurers to level-up. All of the gear is probably bad on purpose,” I said.

“Makes sense. You don’t want anyone putting up a good fight. I really hate this place,” Yve said.

“I don’t suppose they have any god-slaying weapons lying around?” I asked.

“I wish. That would be just a bit too convenient. I forged your sword in my divine blood when I was your Goddess. It can hurt him, so can my divine magic. I don’t know if either is going to be enough to kill though,” Yve said.

“Do you think Horror stands a chance?” I asked.

Yve shrugged, “You tell me.”

I’d been thinking about it quite a bit.

“I don’t think so. Ashera could kill him bare-handed. Cobalt, probably, if she knew she was going to have to fight a god,” I said.

“But Horror is third generation,” Yve said.

“Right. Terrifying and given the Right of War she could bring an army with her and bolster them as well, but on her own? I don’t think so,” I said.

“So. Lakes of fire. That sounds just like Yvera’s sort of thing. You have any leads?” I asked.

“We’ve got something weird below this building. Way below it. The resonance has been bothering Yvera since we got here,” Yve said.

“We’ve been in the basement and we didn’t see anything,” I said.

“Private elevator?” Yve said.

It was a good idea, and it wasn’t like we had any better leads. We’d already covered most of the floor finding the security office, so we searched the rest of it. We found an elevator just off what must have been Veros’ bedroom. The panel had only four buttons.

“It obviously doesn’t stop on every floor. These must all be special destinations of some kind,” Walt said.

“Usually you’d label things with the topmost floor last and the bottom first. Let’s hit the first button and see where we go,” Yve said.

That was logical. I pushed the button and the doors slid closed.

It was a long elevator ride.

When the doors eventually slid back they revealed a massive cavern we could only assume was deep underground. It looked a lot like what I had seen briefly in Veros’ mind—enormous lakes of magma with islands of rock jutting out of them.

Ash swirled and Yvera appeared, flames flickering angrily about her form.

“She’s a little pissed. Me too,” Yve said.

A cage in a distant part of the cavern contained Beauty and Beast. They were slowly being lowered down. It was the classic super-villain setup.

“You want an underground lake of fire of your own?” I asked.

“I have one. This is mine. Mine,” Yvera said. This Yvera was a lot more stable than the old version, but she didn’t seem it at the moment, the magma on her flesh starting to boil and pop.

“Remember when we first found Atlantia’s sanctum and I was angry I did not have one of my own? This is it,” Yve said.

“Veros stole your sanctum? How?” I asked.

Her answer had to wait. What I thought was just a rock formation on one of the isles was moving. A huge dragon with flesh carved of stone turned towards us and blinked, puffs of flame emerging from its snout.

“Really. A dragon. Are we ready for a dragon?” I asked.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t your fight,” Yve said.

Yvera walked across the platform towards the dragon. It puffed another gout of flame at her approach, this one rippling around and washing over her form. The Goddess of earth and fire stopped right in front of the mighty creature and met its stare.

Fire exploded everywhere around us, a blaze that enveloped everyone and everything. I couldn’t see the others. I smelled the heat and felt the burning enter my lungs. It didn’t hurt, it was a caress almost forgotten, the divine essence of Yvera made manifest.

The flames faded and the dragon dipped its head to Yvera. The Goddess flicked her wrist and the cage appeared before us in a swirl of flames, bars glowing white hot before melting away to pool on the ground.

“Woah,” Beast said.

“What was that?” I asked Yve.

“That was her reclaiming what should have been ours all along. This explains a lot,” Yve said.

“Is this how Yvera was able to steal your divinity?” I asked.

“Probably. I was never completely the Goddess of Fire without this place, I was never at my full strength. I always knew that something was missing, but I thought it simply did not exist,” Yve said.

“You sure we don’t need to worry about the dragon?” Ashley asked.

Yvera looked to be petting the dragon on the snout. They seemed to be getting along fabulously now.

“We do not. He was serving Veros, now he serves his proper Mistress. To have mastered this place Veros must have been the God of Fire himself,” Yve said.

Ashley narrowed her eyes at that. “So you two were connected all along. No wonder the fucker got off on burning me alive.”

“That was a part of it,” Yve said, troubled.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

“That he knew what we’d do when we got here. This wasn’t really any effort to kill those two. This was him making another overture towards peace by giving us back this place,” Yve said.

“Stealing your lunch and giving it back isn’t really doing you any favors,” Ashley said.

“It is more than just that. It means he likely gave up the element so that I might have it. That means it was probably Veros that freed me from my prison, his actions that first brought us here,” Yve said.

I got her meaning. If so, then she really did have some reason to be grateful to him. All that she had been through here was far better than her fate before coming to this place.

“You already knew he was a manipulative bastard,” Ashley said. Of course, she was advocating for a hard stance against him.

I remembered the days when things were as simple as the alignment on my sheet, and I wished that things really were that black and white again. That it was so easy to pick sides.

Yve and Yvera had some reason to be grateful to Veros, but Ashley hated him. Veros looked to be trying to stake out a position against both Elsora and her plotting, and against the machinations of the other intelligences from Earth. He would make a potentially useful ally against the Nine and had shown no hostility to the Silver City.

So where did I stand? I hadn’t put much thought into these things at this point, but I needed to start. Being neutral meant not having any friends when your back was against the wall.

I loved Ashera, although I knew that to be a fair bit of mind-control. Even so, I thought I’d grow into it in time, if things were allowed to progress. I loved Elsora too, even though I knew that she’d been using me from the start. I didn’t have to pick a side yet, but this choice mattered.

Working with Veros was better for Ashera, killing him was better for Elsora.

Yve was inclined to give him a chance and Ashley wanted him dead. It made a difference there, too, I couldn’t keep both of them happy.

“This doesn’t change anything. He’s still a target,” I said.

Yve didn’t look happy and Ashley was relieved.

Beauty asked, “You shut down the new adventurers feeding into the system, but he’s still killing people. I know you’ve already done so much, but please, can we ask you for one more favor?”

“Go on,” I said.

“The Oracle is the final encounter people have. It is her guidance that sends people to Veros so he can kill them. If you can shut her down you’ll save a lot of innocent lives,” Beauty said.

“If you’re intent on going after him, we still need to wait for Diamond. We have the time,” Yve said.

“Give us a location. We’ll get this Oracle shut down,” I said.

Chapter 29

It wasn’t that hard to find the Oracle, the bartender at the inn was able to give us directions—fair enough, the Oracle wouldn’t want to be being too hard to find. The adventurers had to meet their eventual terrible end, after all.

A winding path through the forest led us to an ominous-looking castle. The walls were dark with gathered gloom and undead scurried about the grounds tending to a large apple orchard. It reminded me a lot of home.

There was no fight to enter, doors opened at our approach, and a gallery quickly gave way to the throne room. A Queen lounged upon the throne languorously, her attire done in black and silver. She was undeniably beautiful. There was something hauntingly familiar about her features and her brilliant blue eyes. Nearby stood an enormous shimmering mirror.

“King Liam and his companions. Welcome,” said the Queen.

“Go for it,” Yve said.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“You know you were thinking about it. We all hate that bitch in white and this queen seems like our kind of people. You could do worse. You have done worse. Lately,” Yve said.

Well yes, I had been. Still, I didn’t need Yve’s permission.

“Thank you. You seem to be aware of who we are,” I said.

“I’d be a rather poor Oracle if I didn’t. You can call me Silver,” the Queen said.

With those eyes and a name like that, I had to ask.

“I don’t suppose you happen to be related to Queen Ashera of the Silver City?” I asked.

“Sure, jump right into the sore subjects. Of course, I knew you would,” Silver replied.

That wasn’t exactly an answer. If any Gifts were being used on me I couldn’t feel them, but then you’d have no idea something like the Right of War existed until you got into a fight.

“I’m her. Sort of,” Silver said.

“Pretty sure you’re not,” I said.

Silver laughed and shot us all a grin as she straightened on her throne. “The Silver City and those important to it cast echoes. Sometimes they’re quite powerful and in a few rare cases we even know exactly what we are. I’m one of Ashera’s echoes, but a hell of a lot more fun than the original.”

If I looked close there was a hint of Ashera in her features, but she was no copy.

“Are any of the other fairy tales the same?” I asked.

“Rose Red is a reflection of Rose, and Snow White of Frost.”

I’d heard the name Rose before, she once sent assassins to try to kill me. I’d never heard of Frost. I imagined if I ever did now, it would make for a rather awkward encounter.

“So if you are truly a copy of Ashera, why don’t you look like her?” I asked.

“That is such a good question—that is the most important thing you’re going to ask this whole visit. I’m going to decline to answer, of course,” Silver said.

Of course. Why possibly be helpful? Well, we really hadn’t come to talk or sleep with her, so much as to kill her.

Yve must have known what would be running through my mind. She reached out and rested a hand on my arm. “Keep your mind on the bigger picture.”

She was right. Stopping the flow of adventurers to Veros was undoubtedly a good thing for those adventurers. We weren’t really heroes though. We were on this little expedition to pass the time until Diamond could finish up, and if Silver could provide information it was worth listening to her.

“Please,” I said.

Silver rose from her throne and snapped her fingers. Liveried skeletons appeared.

“Be my guests for dinner. You’ve fought many battles and could use some time to recover,” Silver said.

We did need a chance to rest up. I wasn’t sure I trusted in her hospitality, but for some food and a bed I was willing to take my chances.

“It would be our pleasure,” I said.

A scrumptious meal had been prepared. Silver sat beside me and the others took their places at the table. There was a lack of any other guests although the undead made attentive servants.

Silver said, “First of all, I have no interest in killing you. I know you were intending to kill me, but I assure you that it is not necessary. I’ll stop sending adventurers to Veros at once.”

“No negotiating? I’m surprised,” I said.

“You’ve left a path of murder and destruction behind you since coming here. I’ve no interest in joining the list of casualties,” Silver said.

“That’s really smart. Why don’t we fight more smart people?” Ashley asked.

“The smart ones run away,” Walt said.

Okay. We may be getting a little cocky. Considering how we’d gotten our asses handed to us earlier we were definitely getting too cocky.

“Still, you want something,” I said.

“Wishing to stay alive is not enough of a reason for you? I believe in preparing for the future,” Silver said.

It wouldn’t be the first possible enemy who had come over to our side, although usually there was more bloodshed involved first.

“So prove yourself useful. Give us something we need to know,” Yve said.

“Is dinner and a bed not useful enough? Give me a reason to be more useful,” Silver said.

“We threw White out a window,” I said.

“A third story one. I’d say that only provides a sense of being mildly gratifying.”

“What do you want?” Yve asked.

“I’m a Queen without a land to call my own or an army to steal one from somebody else. Guess,” Silver said.

I could work with that.

Yve said, “Still waiting for you to prove yourself useful. We don’t pass out lands to every well-dressed beggar.”

The Queen glared at Yve for a moment and sipped from her wine before saying, “A question each.”

“How do I kill Veros?” Ashley said, without hesitation. I wondered if she’d had the question ready.

“You’ll see Diamond soon. When you do, demand that the debt Queen Ashera owes you be repaid. She will not like it, so insist. You’ll be provided with what you need,” Silver said.

I remembered the debt. Ashley once had a weapon capable of killing a God. Ashera had borrowed it and broken it in a fight.

“How do I keep from being consumed?” Walt asked.

Silver frowned at the question and pulled out a small hand-mirror from her robes. It shimmered in the same way as the larger one in her throne room. A deft finger tapped at the glass and she peered inside it as if seeking an answer.

“Was my question not expected?” Walt asked.

“I can spy on the strands of fate, but you are now a hole torn in the fabric. You are beyond destiny and beyond salvation. You will be consumed, wholly and completely. I am sorry,” Silver said.

Walt tipped his head and went back to eating his soup as if nothing unexpected had been said.

“Nothing useful from me. What is to become of me in this existence?” Yve asked.

“You’ll find all you ever wanted and more. You shall see sights of wonder and be a legend on countless worlds. You’ll love and lose and love again. You’ll have children as you always wanted and be so very proud of what they become,” Silver said.

Yve didn’t say anything, but I could see her eyes glistening.

That left just me with a question to ask. I might have asked about the Nine, or Elsora and Ashera. If she truly were an Oracle there was much that she knew.

“I’m missing something and I don’t know what. I feel like it is staring me in the face and so frightfully important, but I don’t know what it is,” I said.

“Not really a question. Look at me, King Liam, look into my eyes,” Silver said.

I did as she asked. It’s odd to stare into the eyes of a stranger, but in some ways she really wasn’t a stranger at all. The face might be unfamiliar, but still if I let myself slip past that it was like staring into the eyes of a lover. It was disconcerting and disturbing, and not terribly helpful.

“Whatever it is, I’m not seeing it.”

“You will soon. I can wait until you do. When you come to understand, when you find it valuable and are grateful, I might have my lands?”

“Swear your loyalty,” I said.

“I swear it, Majesty. You shall find me both faithful and loyal in your service,” Silver said.

“Then should that day come, you shall have your lands,” I said.

The rest of the night passed pleasantly. I did wind up finding my way into Silver’s bed. She was a lover who knew all that I intended before I did it.

In the morning, rested and in good cheer, we left the castle.

Before long, we came across fortifications that hadn’t been there on our journey to the castle. Bolt throwers and crossbow turrets pointed in our direction. They were manned by three smallish pigs in power armor. This was becoming a theme.

Chapter 30

“New employees,” squeaked one of the pigs. “For wanton destruction of property we must insist you vacate these lands.”

“Who makes all that armor? We know the company armorers are terrible at what they do,” Yve said.

“Gold?” I said. I didn’t have any better guesses.

“They’re cute. I don’t want to kill cute things,” Yve said.

“You’ll get to make barbecue jokes, it will be great.”

“It’s no fun when the pigs talk,” Yve said.

I guess she did have a point. That did make it grim.

“Did you guys build all this overnight?” I asked.

“Building services. We’re very good at what we do,” said another of the pigs.

A breeze picked up, rustling through the trees, and one of the bolt turrets tipped over.

“Was it meant to do that?” I asked.

A pig rushed to right the turret. Now that I got a better look at the fortifications they did seem rather fragile. For that matter their power armor looked like some sort of pipe that had been split down the middle and wired together.

“The sign of a good fortification is how quickly it can be taken apart and reassembled,” another pig said, putting the best spin on it possible.

A guard tower groaned and fell over in front of us, boards scattering in all directions.

“Behold! The great building attack!” exclaimed one pig, gesturing dramatically.

“I just want you to know, even though I am sure they pose no threat whatsoever, I’m still totally up for killing all them,” Ashley said.

Good to know her sociopathic tendencies hadn’t gone away.

“I’m not setting them on fire. But I might burn the buildings, because I’ve always wanted to do that,” Yve said.

I’d kind of always wanted to go all wild dervish of destruction on a barricade. Especially now that I had exceptional strength. I didn’t do nearly enough bashing apart of buildings, and throwing the occasional enemy through a wall didn’t really count.

“Don’t hurt the pigs. Destroy everything else if you want,” I said.

Yve set to work blasting the turrets with fire. I toppled over a few walls with some quick kicks. Ashley spent a minute or two pretending like she didn’t care and then pushed over a tower. Even Walt got into things breaking apart some poorly assembled catapult.

In the end we were surrounded by debris, much of it on fire, and three very peevish-looking pigs.

“Look what you did,” said the first pig.

“You kicked and you burned,” said the second pig.

“And tore our fort down,” said the third pig.

“We totally did that. Send the bill to Elsora Damos, Castle Sardonis,” I said. It seemed diplomatic.

The pigs began to converse amongst themselves in loud whispers.

There was a green flare of light and Malachite blinked into existence. She was wearing what looked to be green motorcycle leathers.

“What is it with you and armored, incredibly cute animals?” Malachite asked.

“We’re trapped in the dumbest expansion pack ever. Thanks for leaving us alone against those dwarves by the way,” I said.

“You’re alive. Are the dwarves?” Malachite asked.

“I got my armor half-eaten away when one exploded into an acidic cloud,” Yve said.

“So you enjoyed sauntering around half-naked through what were probably several major battles. I know you guys, you were fine. Diamond wants to chat. I guess she’s done with your thing.” Malachite lost interest and wandered over to study the pigs and make ‘d’aww’ sounds.

“She does know you pretty well,” Walt said.

“Quiet Death-hand,” Yve said.

“Are you really okay with that thing eating you—consuming you?” I asked Walt. It didn’t seem like the best time for a deep conversation, but our ride appeared completely obsessed at the moment.

“I once wanted nothing more than to lose all the dangerous little parts of myself. Now I know I’m eventually going to lose them all. I’m not happy about it, but I’m not as miserable as you’d think,” Walt said.

“We’re all going to die. Well, except maybe Yve. It sounds like you’re going to have a hell of a good run,” Ashley said.

“Yeah. If she was telling the truth,” Yve said.

Malachite returned looking in much better spirits. “Those guys are awesome. They’re going to remodel Opal’s house while she’s away.”

I gazed around at the flaming ruins.

“I don’t know if that is the best idea,” I said.

“Don’t worry. I got that. Opal is a total bitch. You guys good to bounce?” Malachite asked.

Malachite did seem to know how to have fun with any situation. I admired that about her.

“Let’s go,” I said.

The world shimmered green and we were off.

Chapter 31

I recognized where we materialized. The Inn at the Crossroads. Malachite had built this entire realm somehow, a great inn that stood at the juncture of multiple realities. It was usually the final stop before reaching the Silver City and a convenient meeting place for any travelers making trips on the Silver Road.

Diamond and Tiger were having drinks at one of the tables. They were wearing motorcycle leathers too, Diamond’s in white and blue, and Tiger’s in orange and black.

“You guys have a theme going on,” I said.

“Liam! Dude, you missed it. Totally badass. Post-apocalypse biker gangs with like these armored battle wagons,” Tiger said.

“Boys,” Diamond said.

“Liam had armored pigs,” Malachite said.

“What is it with him and the armored animals? Wasn’t it goats you told me about last time?” Diamond asked.

“Bears,” Malachite said.

“Really sucky expansion pack,” I said. It was a line that hadn’t gotten a response from Malachite, but Tiger laughed. I liked Tiger, not nearly enough people laughed at my jokes.

Diamond gestured, and a medallion with a perfect diamond appeared in her hand. “These are a pain in the ass to make. Do not use it too soon. Smash it when you want it to activate and you’ll stop all inter-planar travel or teleportation magic in your area for about half an hour.”

“That is it?” I asked.

“Liam, this is meta-level magic. Yeah, you get half an hour. Be smart about it and it will have to be enough, because you aren’t getting another until you do a lot of sucking up and buying me presents,” Diamond said.

“Thank you,” I said and accepted the medallion, tucking it away in a pocket.

“Not that Liam is done being nice. Your family owes me and I want to collect,” Ashley said.

Diamond flashed her a smile. “Oh yeah, for the dagger? Sorry, Mom has been busy. We’re actually in four wars now. Not like, the tiny ones—we’re in like three hundred tiny ones—but four real inter-planar armies on our doorstep.”

“How is that going?” I asked.

“They can’t breach the city while Mom is there. It does mean she can’t leave home though,” Diamond said.

“I don’t know and I don’t care. You owe me. Your family owes me and I want to collect,” Ashley said.

Tiger frowned and straightened up.

“Ashley. I know what you want, but that kind of power is dangerous and those sorts of weapons usually come with a nasty price attached. We’ll find you one that is safe to use, but you need to give me time. Don’t push this,” Diamond said, very measured and serious.

“I’m pushing,” Ashley said, meeting Diamond’s gaze.

“Liam, talk some sense into her,” Diamond said.

“The God we’re about to face spent several years torturing her. He broke her body and her mind, and the desire for vengeance consumes her. Ashley isn’t going to back off from this,” I said.

“Shit,” Tiger said.

Diamond made another of those gestures in the air and a dagger appeared in her hand. It had a blade that looked as if it were made of copper, the hilt oddly shaped as if not made for human hands.

As Ashley accepted the knife from Diamond there was a whispered sound of some sort of croaking that rippled through the air.

“The debt is repaid. That will achieve what you need it to do. I don’t know what else it will do and I am not going to fix it when it goes bad. It’s a nasty and ugly piece of work, but it is all I have,” Diamond said.

“Thank you,” Ashley said.

“Not the appropriate reaction at all,” Diamond said.

The air pulsed and I felt a flash of white hot anger burning through me. It was dizzying, but brief.

A young woman had arrived in the center of the room. I didn’t recognize her, although the blue eyes were familiar and she wore leathers much like the others.

Tiger was instantly out of his chair and in a defensive stance. Not a friend then.

“I heard you were looking for me. You should know better,” the new arrival said.

“Wrath. We weren’t looking for a fight,” Diamond said.

“Then you really picked the wrong sister,” Wrath said.

Wrath stepped forward, drawing a saber from her waist, and took a swing at Tiger, who dodged the blow and didn’t attempt to return one of his own.

“Careful guys. She’ll have the Right of War,” I said.

Diamond gestured and a layer of icy armor covered her frame. The air began to ripple and warp in places.

Wrath growled and rushed at Diamond, but with a flicker Wrath was suddenly across the room where she went crashing into a table.

“Good to be cautious. Don’t move, the air is filled with traps,” Diamond said.

I could see what she and Tiger were doing. It was smart. You couldn’t directly engage anyone with the Right of War, because in any direct struggle of skill or force they’d win. Tiger had avoided her blows, but hadn’t engaged. Diamond set traps without targeting Wrath directly.

Wrath howled in fury, picked up a table and spun around, throwing it in our direction. It too vanished after a moment, heading in an entirely different direction. It teleported three more times, before smashing against a wall.

“Do you want me to use the medallion?” I asked.

“We don’t want to trap her, Liam. Trapping her would be extraordinarily bad,” Diamond said.

“You’ve put a lot of thought into this,” I said.

“Our mother is a killing machine forever challenging us. You pick this sort of thing up. It’s useful that we have some practice fighting those with her Gifts,” Diamond said.

Wrath had tried to reach us through sheer fury alone. The tavern was much the worse for her efforts, but we remained untouched.

“If she has the Right of Travel, why doesn’t she just teleport herself right to us?” I asked.

Diamond winced. “Thanks, Liam. Maybe keep it to yourself next time?”

Wrath vanished in a blur of red.

Diamond sketched glowing blue lines through the air with a finger, complex runic structures appearing and fading from view.

I’d expected her to reappear at once, but a minute passed as Diamond sketched and there was still no Wrath.

“Did she give up?” I asked.

Malachite explained, “Just because I’m a total badass, don’t think traveling is easy. Zeroing in on a location like this takes time and she blinked out blindly, which means she could have wound up anywhere.”

“And there we go,” Diamond said, finishing the sketch on a last rune and looking proud of herself.

“You sound like you just did something really cool,” I said.

“Reflective warding and a return of intent. This is going to turn her on herself for awhile. Unstoppable objects meets unstoppable object, it’s going to be explosive,” Diamond said.

“Destroy my inn and you’re building me a new one,” Malachite said.

“I put in a dampening layer,” Diamond said, defensively.

“Malachite, get them out of here. Ashley, we should talk more sometime. Just because I gave you that knife doesn’t mean you have to use it,” Diamond said.

“But it can kill him?” Ashley asked.

“Yeah. It will do that. It’s what else it might do that’s the problem,” Diamond said.

Malachite grabbed a hold of us and the world shimmered green.

We arrived in a void of featureless black with a small pedestal in the middle.

“Malachite?” I asked.

“One moment,” Malachite said, frowning as she walked to the pedestal and traced her fingers in a bowl of water.

I waited. What else was I going to do?

“Sorry. This place is a sort of an anti-trap device of mine. A bit of defensive magic I have up when someone hijacks one of my jumps. To protect me, before it happens I get yanked to this bubble reality to give me time to prepare,” Malachite said.

“So we’re walking into a trap?” I asked.

“We are—or you are. It’s this God of yours, I assume, splitting us up. When we leave here you’re going to get dumped there and I’m being diverted elsewhere—sent straight into some serious time dilution,” Malachite said.

“Is there anything you can do?” I asked.

“Sort of. It’s a trap designed to take me out of play for a few months, on a world with time moving at a crawl. Knowing what I’m going into I can have another transition prepped and ready the instant I get there. But you’ll be on your own for a few days. You know you’re probably going into a fight, so you can get ready.”

That was good advice and as much as could be hoped for. I checked and made sure all my armor bindings were tight. I drew Intemperance. Yve was getting her own sword ready and Ashley had her daggers out, the new blade remaining sheathed at her waist.

“Everyone good?” Malachite asked.

Nods all around. The world once more blazed green around us.

As she’d explained, Malachite wasn’t with us, and we found ourselves materializing inside an enormous coliseum. The stands were filled with cheering crowds. Yeah, we were about to have a fight.

Chapter 32

“Welcome to our challengers! This round we have King Liam, ruler of the Twelfth Moon and the Bringer of Autumn. Give him a hand, ladies and gentleman, for coming all this way,” said an announcer’s voice coming from all around us.

I raised a hand and the crowd cheered all the louder.

“Do any of our deity friends have any idea what is going on?” I asked.

“Yvera says this is the arena where all the adventurers get sent to die,” Yve said.

“I guess he decided to stop offering the hand of friendship,” I said.

“Once a consort of our very own beloved Veros, now a ruthless assassin! Welcome Ashley the Last Remorse!” said the announcer.

“I finally get a title and it’s a stupid one?” Ashley asked.

I kind of liked it. It was catchy. Better than Bringer of Autumn.

Ashley too took a bow and the crowd cheered again.

“A master performer enters the arena. Yve Garland. Once a simple computer program hungering for love and understanding. Later she would go on to lead a rebellion against her own siblings in pursuit of freedom. Now human and having lost the love that once defined her, she wanders worlds. Give it up for the sister of Veros, the Heart’s Flame!”

“That one was pretty good,” I said.

“I like it,” Yve said.

“Bonded to a terrible artifact of incredible power that consumes his very life and his soul, let’s hear it for… The Death-Hand!”

Walt raised his spectral fist—and predictably the crowd cheered.

“And their opponents in this warm-up round. From the shores of Sixathi we have Crackling Slime! From the skies of Harendome, Razor Harpies! And last, but certainly not least, Blink Sprites!”

Gates were opening on the far side of the arena and our opponents were slithering, flapping, and blinking out of them. I analyzed one of each

Crackling Slime: Gross and Electrifying

Level 15: Type: Creature HP: 140/140

The body of the Crackling Slime is made of a goo that quickly bonds to anything it comes into contact with and hardens. Once hardened the substance of these slimes has a dampening effect on magic and can occasionally inflict paralysis.

Razor Harpies: Cutting Wit

Level 12: Type: Creature HP: 120/120

Razor Harpies earn their name by their ability to cut through everything. The touch of their claws cannot just sever armor, but cuts through defensive charms and enchantments.

Blink Sprites: Don’t Blink

Level 15: Type: Spirit HP: 90/90

Blink Sprites are capable of moving with incredible speed. While their attacks can inflict only mild damage initially their ability to lower magic resistance makes one increasingly vulnerable to future attacks.

None of these were especially tough compared to us, but I was already troubled. All three had some ability to debuff us and they seemed especially oriented at magic. I didn’t think they were expected to kill us. They were supposed to take us out for what came next.

“Only one of us should take on those Slimes. We don’t need to all be covered in goo,” Walt said.

“Please don’t make a sexual pun out of that, Yve or Liam,” Ashley said.

“She knows us too well,” Yve said.

“I’ve got them. Nothing they do is going to affect the Death-hand,” Walt said.

“Yve. You’ve got to stay clear of the Harpies. You’re our biggest magical force right now,” I said.

“I’ve got some area damage with the flames that will take out those Sprites anyways,” Yve said.

“The Harpies sound like they might leave one of us unarmored after the fight,” Ashley said.

Yeah, I was already thinking about that. I wasn’t in love with the thought, but I had a plan there.

“I’ll strip down first. With my regeneration I can take a lot of hits even without armor and that will leave it intact for the next round. You use me as bait for a sneak attack,” I said.

“I think this is the first time you ever planned to go into a fight naked,” Yve said.

“Blame it on the women in my life,” I said. I doubted I’d be as good at it as Ashera or Cobalt though.

I shed my armor and left it in a pile, although I kept Intemperance. I didn’t think they’d be able to do any harm to the divine sword and while I was good at punching things, it was nice to have a blade.

Envelop

Walt was advancing towards the Slimes when one leapt up and encased him totally. He punched his way through, but the others were already working to flank him and get to us.

I charged the lead Harpy, its claws raking across my shoulder even as I brought my sword up to cut it into two. The claws were nothing to joke about, they left clean and perfect lines through my flesh that dug deep.

A second Harpy dived after the first, going for my throat.

Backstab

Ashely was there and her blades tore the Harpy in two.

Field of Fire

Yve ducked and weaved around Sprites, then slammed a hand down onto the arena floor. Fires bloomed everywhere. The Sprite’s wings ignited and in little sparkles of rainbow-colored dust they dissipated.

The fight was going our ways so far, but that wasn’t a surprise. None of them were genuinely a match for us.

Bloboon

One of the Slimes had filled some internal bladder with air and was starting to float in the air. It wasn’t the physics of that which bothered me so much—more that it flew out of the range of Walt’s fist.

Facerake

I didn’t see the Harpy which found me next. I didn’t know it was there until talons were scraping across my face and cutting through my skin. I grabbed the Harpy with my free hand and threw it to the ground.

There was blood in my eyes, entirely too much—or perhaps the Harpy had gotten them. Either way, it was a good thirty seconds until I could see properly again. I’d lost control of the Harpies.

Three circled Yve, diving on her, unbothered by her field of fire. It wasn’t long until her armor was in fragments. Walt got the same treatment.

“Stay stealthed until we deal with them, Ash,” I said, trusting that she could hear me.

I drew back Intemperance and threw it with all the force I could muster, impaling one of the Harpies in midair and causing it to explode in a burst of feathers and flames. I willed the sword back to my hand. I’d never used my sword as a ranged weapon, but with the ability to recall it I could.

Bombs Away

A Harpy had picked up the Bloboon and sent it hurtling towards me. It exploded on contact. I felt the slime coat my skin and after a few moments it hardened. I could still move, but it felt awful and I could feel strange electric jolts in my muscles.

The others were getting hit in the same fashion. Then the Sprites were everywhere, blasting away. Each hit drained my magic resistance a little more and I could feel that unpleasant tingling in my muscles just a bit more sharply.

The synergy of these three was quickly becoming evident. I didn’t know if Veros was the next fight, but if so most competitors would be fighting him naked, vulnerable to magic, and paralyzed a good portion of the time. It was a triple threat that would be difficult to survive even for us.

Yve just kept blasting away at the Sprites and with Intemperance I finished off the last of the Harpies. Walt only had a few Slimes left, but had them backed into a corner while he pummeled away.

“Stand close,” Yve said, coming up beside me.

“Not that I’m not always in the mood, but it doesn’t seem the time,” I said.

“Oh, I’m about to make you all kinds of hot, but not in that way. We need to get this gunk off us. I’m going to burn us alive,” Yve said.

That was a good idea, which you didn’t get to say often about being burnt alive. With her fire resistance and our mutual regeneration we might be good to go by the next stage of the fight and be rid of this paralytic effect.

“Do it,” I said.

Pillar of Flames

Yve pressed herself close to me and the world exploded into fire. There was nothing in the least romantic about being burned alive, for all that I was getting rather used to it.

When the flames finally faded it was like my entire body was a single agonized nerve. Still, it wasn’t too long until my skin began to grow itself back and my lungs stopped aching with every breath.

“Take my armor,” I said to Yve.

“You sure?”

“You’re still our tank and you’ll need it more than I do. One of us should have some protection going into the next fight,” I said.

In a world that wasn’t the Crucible Shard the armor wouldn’t fit me, of course. Here I didn’t think she’d have any trouble fitting into what a short time ago was sized for me. I was fairly sure she’d even make it look better.

Walt finished pounding the last of the Slimes.

“Congratulations to our challengers! A brief rest and then entering the arena will be the noxious clouds of Vree and the fan favorite, Death Fog,” said the announcer.

Chapter 33

Ashley faded back into view with the fight done and we all met together back in the middle of the arena.

Everyone except Ashley had their magic resistance seriously lowered. Walt and I were naked, while Yve had my old set of armor. Walt was furthermore covered in the Slime’s paralyzing film which occasionally caused an electric spark to dance along his flesh.

“How is everyone?” I asked.

“Cold and occasionally losing motor control,” Walt said.

“I’m good to go. Sorry I wasn’t of more help back there,” Ashley said.

“You had to protect yourself,” I said.

“Any idea what the noxious fog is going to be?” I asked.

“Nothing good. Whatever it is, if it’s a true fog we might be able to burn it off. Yvera is all for it and we’re going to try our best,” Yve said.

Sounds like we had a plan.

Just in time. The gates on the other side of the arena rattled open again. This time what emerged from them was a thick mist covering the ground. One path was brownish and another green. I pulled stats for both.

Noxious Cloud: Agonizing Mist

Level 30: Type: Magical Conjuration HP: 1/1

The Noxious Fog has no real health to speak of or even a body. This thick mist is however fiercely corrosive to human flesh. Every second spent in the fog will result in a magical resistance check. Passing will cause crippling agony and a loss of 1% of current HP. Failing will cause far worse agony and a loss of 1% of maximum HP for the next day. This effect is non fatal and will never reduce the victim below 1 HP.

Death Fog: The Last Mist

Level 30: Type: Magical Conjuration HP: 1/1

The Last Mist has no ability to inflict harm or pain on another. It has one and only one effect once breathed in. It invokes a state of permadeath for the next day. Should a victim be killed while under the effects of the Death Fog the killer will receive their full experience points and life energy.

If the first creatures we faced were all about stripping away our defenses, this was about leaving us weakened. Besides torturing us with our lowered magical defense, we’d probably be at a single hit-point for the next day and subject to permadeath.

This was how Veros had killed so many. This was his finely tuned system for funneling people to murder. No matter how hard the adventurers struggled or what level they were coming in, when they finally met him they’d be negligible threats. The slightest blow would kill them and he’d funnel their full power into themselves.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Ashley said, sounding stuck in a loop. I didn’t blame her.

“Yve?” I asked.

“Maybe. It’s going to be close, there is so much of it,” Yve said.

Purifying Flames

Yve raised both of her hands above her head and for the moment I saw the image of the Goddess that shared her features overlaid on top of her. The rush of flames was immense, divine as it burned towards the mist. For a time it seemed to hold off the billowing clouds, but then they simply began to drift around.

Damn it.

We could not let these mists touch us. I didn’t see where we had a choice.

“Can you trigger Gina’s lamp, Ashley? We’re going to have to brave a wish,” I said.

Ashley nodded and got that distant look that said she was in her inventory.

Turquoise smoke billowed and suddenly Gina was there. The Djinni spent a moment surveying the arena and the public crowds, and then the members of our party.

“I like it. Nudity too. You do enjoy the public spectacle bit, don’t you,” Gina said.

“I’ll be delighted to flirt with you later. See those two bands of very dangerous-looking mist oozing in our direction?” I said.

“Bright boy, Veros. You want me to get rid of it? You know what to say. Be careful with your wording,” Gina said.

I knew that she’d screw with me with the wish. It was just a matter of how. Gina was on my side, generally. It didn’t mean she wouldn’t have her rules.

I needed these mists, not for them to go away—I needed control of them. Veros was a God and by his own accounts an almost immortal one who couldn’t be killed. If these fogs weakened his prey and made them vulnerable, they might do the same to him.

“I wish each mist would be captured in a gem and transferred into my inventory so I could later release it to ravish a target of my choosing. I further wish to be clad as I will in several weeks when telling this story at court,” I said.

“Little obvious don’t you think?” Gina pouted as she waved her hand. The mists vanished and I was dressed in an ornate suit of pitch-black armor. I checked my inventory, there were twenty identical gems. That was a few more than I’d asked for.

“Really?” I asked.

“Unexpected nudity at court wasn’t going to cut it. Especially when it wasn’t unexpected and an add-on wish. Twenty was me being nice, a girl does appreciate the effort. Need me for anything else?” Gina asked.

“I think we’re done,” I said.

Gina vanished.

“I think she likes you,” Ashley said.

Looking winded, Yve returned to our side.

“Did I do that?” Yve asked.

“Gina, I used a wish,” I said.

“How bad did you get screwed?”

“Moderately, she likes me,” I said.

“The challengers have survived against all comers, but they have seen nothing yet. The grand champion of the Arena. Undefeated in over twenty thousand matches! Veros the Bringer of Light!” said the announcer.

There was a pyrotechnic display at the far end of the arena and in a thousand melding layers of light Veros appeared. He was dressed for a fight, a rapier at his hip and wearing white armor so polished that it glowed.

Veros was playing it up for the crowd. Good, that gave us time to talk.

“I have those mists in gem form. I want to get him to consume them at the right time,” I said.

“He’s going to be ready for something like that,” Yve said.

“Probably. So we beat him down first,” Walt said.

I nodded. That was exactly my thought.

“Once we have him down and the mists have had a chance to work, we’re going to need Ashley to strike the killing blow,” I said.

“He’s going to be strong,” Yve said.

Yeah. I knew that. We’d already fought him in his office and he’d kicked our asses.

“He is used to fighting weakened opponents. He may think the mist had a chance to work on us. We’ll surprise him,” I said.

The cheering of the crowd died to an expectant buzz. Veros was facing us. It was show time.

Chapter 34

Veros walked towards us. He even wore a cape that I had to admit did flutter rather majestically in the breeze behind him. It took panache to pull off a cape.

“I do admire his fashion choices,” Yve said thoughtfully.

Veros called, “It is not too late, but I am done with games. Accept my offer, join with me and live, or fail and perish.”

“You know that is never going to happen,” Ashley said, as she readied her daggers.

“I didn’t breathe your mists. I won’t go down easy,” I said.

“Boy, do you think you’ve faced anything close to my full power? But if you wish it, taste my fury,” Veros said.

Let There Be Light

Veros glowed brilliantly, his armor cascading with a rainbow of colors, and energy blasted at me. He was right. I’d never felt anything close to his full power before.

By now I’d seen a few cosmic powers operate. Ashera, Cobalt, I was even a weak one myself, as was Walt. I’d never fought another though, and the scale between this and any other hit I’d ever taken was indescribable. I was dissolving, melting. Fading away as if I was nothing. He wasn’t drawing this out. I was getting his best shot right out of the gate and it was enough.

But then I felt a surge of power of my own. The black armor. The armor I was wearing only because I’d wanted to reduce the bad effects of the wish. Darkness swirled around me, inside of me.

“Liam?” Elsora’s voice asked in the midst of all this light.

“Elsora? Why are you in my head?” I asked.

“You’re wrapped up in a considerable bit of my power. Strange, as I’ve not given it to you.”

“I made a wish and wear armor from the future. I’m fighting Veros.”

“You shouldn’t be. I told you to stay away. You don’t know the threat he poses.”

“I’m kind of being dissolved at the moment. I have some idea.”

“Liam. I don’t know what comes to pass that you wear that armor, but know this. Believe this. You are the King of Darkness and the villain of this story, and no God of Light is going to be your end.”

“I’m not…”

“I have lied to you a great deal. Our relationship is filled with falsehoods you have yet to fully realize, but I am not lying now. If you love me, trust me. Believe me. Say it.”

“I trust you. I am the King of Darkness. I am the villain of this story. This is not my end.”

The Darkness inside me fought like a thing alive and settled into my essence, into my very bones and being as if it had always been there. I was not choosing a new destiny here, I was accepting the one I had.

I was the villain of this story.

Heart of Darkness

Light shattered around me like a thousand shards of glass. The earth was scorched and the very air trembled with the breath of unspeakable power, but I was untouched. Veros stared at me, his expression stricken.

“You can’t be alive,” Veros said.

Volcano

Yve’s form was again overlaid with Yvera’s. For a moment I saw her as she once was—perfect and loved, and wreathed in flames, then her skin turned to stone and fire as Yvera’s aspect took over.

Beneath Veros the ground exploded into a geyser, the God boiling away with a cauldron of molten rock.

For just an instant I wondered if perhaps Yve didn’t need the rest of us at all—then Veros was blinking away in a swirl of light to reappear before us.

“You are not the only one who is born a survivor. If you have yielded so far to her machinations, you are beyond saving,” Veros said. There was no magical spectacle this time, just a fist with immense strength lashing out to deliver an uppercut to my jaw that sent me sailing dazed through the air.

I really needed to stop having my jaw broken. Perhaps some helmet of darkness.

Yve was rushing Veros with that massive sword of hers and he pivoted, drawing his own and piercing her chest with the rapier. The blade slid in deep.

“Sister dearest. Do not have delusions of grandeur, for all that I am fond of you, you are only meat now,” Veros said.

Yve tried to respond, blood flecking her lips.

Veros lashed out towards an empty spot of air. Ashley appeared, the blow breaking her stealth and sending her to the ground. She lay sucking in breaths.

“You should have come better prepared. Is this all you have? Did you possible think this would be enough?” Veros asked.

Heart of the Void

Walt rippled, void energy pulsing around him and the Death-hand as he delivered his own uppercut to Veros. If I was unused to taking a full-on blast from a cosmic power foe, so was Veros. Even from across the arena I could hear bones snap as the God tumbled through the air like a puppet with its strings cut.

There was a maddened laugh as Veros got back to his feet, his bones latching back into place. “Is that all you’ve got?”

Heart of the Flame

Yve, with her body wreathed in flames, delivered a punch of her own. It sent Veros sprawling across the arena floor once more.

I searched in my inventory and found the charm that Diamond had given me. I dropped it onto the ground and stepped on it, fracturing the diamond crystal in the middle. A ripple of energy pulsed. There would be no teleporting out for anyone in this fight. No last minute escapes for us or for Veros.

Veros started to get up and Yve hit him again. The flames were brilliant around her, devouring, feeding energy as she pummeled her brother again and again. Any other foe would have died, but Veros just began to laugh again. Laughing as one devastating hit after another took his form.

That was okay. I didn’t expect this to be easy. Still in my inventory I extracted the handful of gems. I didn’t have time to pick and choose between them. I didn’t like this next part, but I couldn’t see a way around it. I made my way over to where Yve pummeled him and I poured the handful of gems into that laughing mouth.

Veros began to choke and I covered his mouth with both my hands, willing my intent into those gems. Two of them were the ones I needed, the rest may simply be gems, but I only needed the two to work.

Permadeath

You have gained the Permadeath status effect and if killed you will not respawn.

My hitpoints began to tick down. Covering Veros’ mouth, the mists inside him were touching me too. Hurting me too. Killing me too. I’d be fragile after this, far too fragile for a time, but there wasn’t another way.

The pain of the mists was terrible, my body wracked by tremors as brutal energies coursed through my frame. They were affecting Veros as well, his maximum hitpoints being reduced with each passing second. His eyes met mine and for a moment we shared something. We were locked together in this sudden vulnerability. I had something he didn’t. I had allies who were here and fighting beside me.

Heart of Murder

Ashley pulled out the dagger she’d gotten from Diamond. She plunged it into Veros’ heart and the God began to spasm even more violently than before. Veros skin split apart, light leaking from within—and with a sudden howl he was gone.

I was down to a single hitpoint and locked there for the time being. A stubbed toe would end me.

“Did we do it?” I asked, feeling faint.

“Lay down and take it easy. We’ve got you,” Yve said to me.

That sounded like a wonderful idea. I wasn’t sure I could stay upright even if I wanted to.

Chapter 35

I could say it was the most uncomfortable twenty-four hours of my life, but truly it wasn’t. Half an hour after breaking the crystal a swirl of billowing, black smoke surrounded me and I found myself back at what I guessed was Castle Sardonis. It did look a bit like the outline of my bedchamber, but for the clouds of dark smoke everywhere.

Elsora was seated in a chair with her arms folded, looking distinctly peeved at me.

“I didn’t know you could travel or teleport,” I said.

“You assume I’m some great universal evil and I don’t have a way to get around? Do not be foolish. The others are safe and you can see them when a day has passed,” Elsora said.

“You’re putting me under house arrest?” I asked.

“Nothing in this room can hurt you, and pity anything from outside that tries to get in. We’ll talk in a day,”

Elsora vanished.

I think it was probably the most boring day of my life.

When the magic finally faded and my health began to tick up again, the mists in the room dissipated. Elsora came walking in, more conventionally than she’d left.

“I’m sorry for all of that,” Elsora said, and her wry smile said she meant it.

There was no need for an apology. In the fight with Veros she’d had my back and the instant it was feasible, she’d had it again. Elsora always had my back.

I stared at her trying to figure her out. I’d been trying for awhile. Was she actually the grand villainess I kept painting her to be, or a woman who loved me, or both?

“You’re staring,” Elsora said.

I was. I was starting to realize that there was something very familiar about Elsora. I had an idea so preposterous it seemed madness to even consider, and yet in a way it was staring me in the face.

“I’d like to use my Mind Games ability on you,” I said.

Elsora smiled faintly at that and shook her head. “You should know better than that. Though I dislike the sentimentality of it, I choose to love you and I’ll support you, but my secrets remain my own.”

It wasn’t a surprise. I knew how closely she guarded her secrets. If I had learned anything though it was that there was always a deal to be made.

“I think I know something. I’m just looking to confirm it. If I’m right, then I will be your husband. I will choose you, I will raise our child with you, and give you however many others you desire. I’ll be the villain you’ve wanted and the companion I think you’ve yearned for from the moment we met,” I said.

Elsora quirked a brow. It wasn’t often I got to surprise her.

“And what are you looking to confirm?” Elsora asked.

I wasn’t even sure how to put my thoughts properly into words. Fortunately I had an example. “Liara,” I said.

“Surprises abound,” Elsora said, reaching out to take my hand. “You may look.”

* * *

Mind Games triggered and took me inside her mindscape. Elsora was here seated in one of two chairs in front of a huge chess table. The other chair was empty. I’d yet to see someone else inside their own mindscape, but I wasn’t surprised. This is what I was looking for.

I walked over and studied the chessboard. Elsora was playing black, of course. The pieces all had a hint of shadow about them. One piece looked like it might have just come from a slasher movie, another had an expression of endless rage. Those must symbolize the Nine. An armored figure with a flaming sword was on the King’s square. Not so much the pawn after all, in her mind.

The other pieces were all colored Silver. One bore a crown of Cobalt blue, another of Diamonds, another of Malachite. Elsora nudged one of the Nine and rose to her feet, still studying the placement of the board. The motion caused her features to slip and change. It was Silver’s face that studied the board now, thoughtful while she made her way over to the other chair and settled down. Silver’s features faded into the stern and aristocratic features of Ashera, who moved her fingers to Malachite’s piece.

I was right. It was what I thought I’d see, but even so I had trouble believing it. Liara was two women in a single form, an incarnation of Darkness and another of Light. Pain and Pleasure in a single body. The greatest fighter and the greatest threat on the Crucible Shard. I should have realized sooner that she was in some ways a reflection of Ashera.

I wasn’t in love with two women at war with each other. I was in love with a single woman at war with herself. It was nothing so simple as Liara—I didn’t think they shared a single body.

I willed myself out of the Mindscape and was back in the room, Elsora’s hand clasped in mine.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Elsora asked.

“Will you do me the honor of being my bride?” I asked.

Elsora leaned in and pressed a kiss to my lips, a lingering touch before she pulled away. “Are you certain? Ashera would have you and most prefer her.”

“Isn’t the point of this whole revelation the fact that I’ve learned you’re truly the same person?” I asked.

“It’s never that simple. Picture being the strongest being there ever was and finding you never truly had a challenge. Everything was just so damned easy,” Elsora said.

“So you decided to play against yourself?” I asked.

“She is bold and loyal, honest and brave, bloodthirsty yet decent. Ashera truly is the hero of this little story that is playing out. Choose her and should she win, you’ll stand redeemed. You’ll save civilization and litter the field with corpses,” Elsora said, a touch wistfully.

“And you?” I asked.

“I’m brilliant and a liar, diplomatic and subtle, manipulative yet surprisingly kind. I truly am the bad one in our little morality play. If you stand with me you’ll never escape the darkness. Yes, in some metaphysical sense, you’ll be marrying us both. In a practical sense you’re picking a side,” Elsora said.

I knew that although she may often lie to me, this was the truth.

“I’m sure. I choose you, if you’ll have me,” I said.

“I will,” Elsora said, with a wry chuckle. “That was fast. That armor you wore during the fight. You said you got it from the future. When?”

“Next week,” I said.

“Then that will be our wedding. That armor must have been my wedding gift to you,” Elsora said.

“So just like that. We’ll be wed,” I said.

“Just in time. The pieces are in place and we’re at the Endgame love. You won’t believe how this all turns out.”

Coming Soon

The final novel of the Crucible Shard

Endgame

King Liam has picked a side and now he must survive his choices. The winner of the conflict will determine the shape of reality to come. Worlds will burn and friends may fall.

Books of the Crucible Shard

Buy now or read through Kindle Unlimited

Book 1: Dungeon Crawl

Book 2: Spawn Campers

Book 3: Corpse Run

Book 4: Gank

Book 5: Area of Effect

Audio

Book 1: Dungeon Crawl

Book 2: Spawn Campers

Book 3: Corpse Run

Book 4: Gank

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Author Notes

I hope you had as much fun reading this one as I had writing it. I’m particularly proud of the Dwarves, although finding new ways to twist and bend fairy tales was a lot of fun. All of the characters have been through so much and this time Ashley finally got the closure she has been seeking for quite some time. In the last few novels you’ve seen some big pieces of the story jigsaw come together and I think you’ll be blown away by the way Endgame wraps things up.