The Angel Express, Chicago, Illinois - 8:23 AM

The Patron’s Car was fairly simple in the way it worked. When an avatar placed their hand on the door, they were given two options that were available from the outset.

The first was to allow the car to look like it always did, which in this case would be a fairly fancy room with an open floor plan, plenty of comfortable seats, windows that showed pleasant scenes no matter where we were, and the option to order food.

The second was to make it appear as the Patron’s chosen dwelling. It would retain the seats and the meal option, but they would be in control of what it looked like. Ares had the train car take on a war room theme with Mount Olympus showing in the windows on one side and an ancient Greek city on the other.

Kayla opened the door to the Patron’s Car after choosing the first option. Like the luxury sleeper’s hallway, there was a red and gold motif for the carpet and drapes with rich dark wood panels making up the walls. It didn’t look anything like the Hall of the End, which was likely what she requested.

Not five feet from the entrance was Sara. She wore a white and gold sundress that made her look absolutely stunning. I had expected her flaming hair to be short and curly as usual, but it cascaded over her shoulders and halfway down her back. Her six wings were pulled in close but fidgeted with excitement, clearly unable to stand still.

We grinned at each other, together again.

I walked in after Kayla, but quickly passed her to stand next to the Angel. “Kayla, Jeff, Dealer,” I said once the others were inside and the door closed. “I would like you to meet my girlfriend.”

The Dealer’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Girlfriend?” the Dealer asked, his voice strangled by surprise. Shocking him never got old.

Sara’s flaming hair and halo both shined brightly, though it wasn’t enough to blind anyone. She nervously brushed her bangs away from her eyes and waved. “Hello, e-everyone. It’s nice to finally meet you. And yes, I’m Anthony’s g-girlfriend,” she said, her voice squeaking adorably at having to address so many people at the same time. “I am Esaraphelscion, Angel of the End. Please, call me Sara.”

“What are you…” the alligator started, mouth agape as he stared at me.

“I told you back in Pittsburgh that I gave her the whole Anthony Franklin experience,” I answered, waggling my eyebrows.

“It’s nice to see you again, Sara,” Jeff said, taking a step forward and offering her a handshake.

Kayla nudged him with her elbow. “Hologram, remember?” she gently reminded.

The knight smiled sheepishly. “Right, sorry,” he said, lowering his hand. “Got caught up in it. My bad.”

“It’s all right, really,” Sara assured Jeff. “I’m just glad to actually be interacting with people face to face. I’ve known Anthony for a long time now, but this is the first time I’ve spoken to other people. Except for rare occasions. Like the Dealer, once or twice.”

“We’ve spoken?” he asked, still wrapping his head around the situation.

“Texted, really, and I was sour about it for a long time,” she admitted before crossing her arms. The feathers on her wings rustled. “I don’t think you knew it was me, but it was during one of your experiments reaching out to various beings. I’m pretty sure you thought I was a Patron. I was excited to talk to someone about a person we were both watching, and you proposed a bet. When I won, you accused me of cheating.”

The Dealer thought about that for a moment before appearing to become nervous. “Ah, well, it was all in good fun, right?” he asked, hopeful.

“I’ve realized that you might not be as detestable as I once thought, thanks to him,” Sara said, gesturing towards me. “Since I’ve seen how hard you’ve been working for Anthony, I’ve decided that you’re a fair man with a strong moral backbone. When you’re not asking too much, of course. Thankfully, he can look after himself in that regard.”

“I sure can,” I said with a chuckle. The urge to reach out to her was strong, but easy to repress. I knew she wasn’t really here. “Shall we sit?”

“Yes, I think we shall,” the Angel answered. Her arm passed through mine as she turned and walked away. It felt intentional, but I didn’t mention it as I followed.

“Thank you again for your help against Amlex,” Kayla said, following us. “I’m sure Anthony would have won in the end, but I don’t think it would have been without casualties.”

“I think she was tougher than Anthony expected her to be thanks to that fraud’s surgery,” Sara replied. “But I’m happy I was called to help. Even if my first thought was that I was probably going to incinerate him after he made his request, once I regained my memories I was nothing short of ecstatic.”

“I’m glad it didn’t come to that,” I laughed as I sat down on one of the loveseats. She sat down next to me, her wings clipping through the sofa and her leg slightly through mine.

As Kayla and the Dealer sat down in chairs across from us, Jeff remained standing. “I’m going to get out of here before I take up fifteen minutes of your time like Kayla’s worried about. I know y’all have a lot to discuss, and I’m just happy to see our Guardian Angel again.”

“It was all Anthony, you know,” Sara protested, though she was obviously pleased at his words. “None of this would have been possible without him.”

“Maybe, but you’re the one who gave him the ring that pulled us out of the fire,” Jeff insisted. “Thank you.”

The Angel beamed. “You’re welcome, Jeff.”

The Knight leaned down to kiss his wife before he started leaving. “Have fun with your discussion, all.”

“Bye, Jeff,” Sara said, still smiling even after the door closed behind him. “I like him. Actually, I like all of your friends, Ant. Kayla and Jeff are definitely at the top, though.”

“I’m glad you decided to come with us,” Kayla admitted. “I was already really nervous about leading Sol Ligatus in Anthony’s absence, but your advice helped out a lot.”

“Think nothing of it,” she said, waving her hand. “I was just doing what I thought Ant would do in my place.”

“Waking up without you was a bit disorienting, but I definitely appreciated what you did when I realized you went with Kayla,” I replied. “I took care of Greg, but I also had to fight an Angel on the way here. Glaraphel, the system said. Called him a Wandering Inquisitor.”

Sara groaned. “That branch of the Templars was the only one I was worried about when I decided to turn you into a Half-Angel. But I know he was only banished to Heaven, so I won’t hold it against you. Was it a tough fight?”

I shook my head, relieved that she wasn’t mad at me for defending myself considering the enemy. “No. I’ve fought beside Angels in an overwhelming amount of runs and I’m well versed in their fighting style. Like I tried to warn him, I’m a very poor match up for any Angel. He wasn’t the exception to that rule.”

“That must have been terrible,” she said apologetically. “I don’t want you to have to worry about Angels assailing you whenever they see fit.”

“Eh. It’s not great, but I can deal with it,” I told her honestly. “He also dropped a halo that I couldn’t read the description for.”

Sara frowned. “You should be able to gain more abilities through Break Free with the halos of the different types of Angels,” she said, and I sat up straight. That sounded like it could open up a lot more avenues for my other form. “However, you were supposed to get those by negotiation, not death.”

“The system seems to disagree with that if he’s got one through combat,” the Dealer noted.

“Sure seems that way,” I agreed. “But I’ll try harder next time. I still don’t think he was going to hear me out, especially not enough to give me his halo or whatever, but I could have done more.”

“I wasn’t there, so I’ll defer to your judgment,” Sara said. “If you don’t think he could be talked down, then I believe you. When we have time later, I’ll tell you how to incorporate it into the ring.”

I nodded, and leaned back on the sofa, putting my arm over the back. It wasn’t the same as when we sat together at home in the Golden Dream, but the image of us being so cozy seemed to break the Dealer again and that was well worth it.

“How did the Trial go?” Kayla asked. “Or, should we talk about the Dealer’s plan first?”

The alligator gestured towards me. “Let’s hear about the Golden Dream.”

“Golden Dream?” Sara asked, looking at me in confusion. “What happened to the Silver Nightmare?”

“Right…” I said slowly, shifting towards the Angel. “I have some questions for you before we get into that.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“If you weren’t a Patron but you were under the effects of our contract, could you alter someone’s destination within the realm of dreams?” I asked. It took her a few seconds to process the question, and I noticed her feathers bristle. “I’m sure you know what my question means, but I’m asking if you, specifically, could do it. Not anyone else.”

“Yes,” she admitted, though not without some hesitation. “The Hall of the End and… it’s situated at the farthest reaches of the dream world. Like an island close to Heaven but not close enough to touch it. My native abilities as a Hidden World Boss would, post-boon not contract, allow me to switch destinations such as the Silver Nightmare and the Golden Dream, but that would be it.”

“So, hypothetically, you could alter my course from one to the other,” I asked, wanting to completely confirm it.

“Not alter your course, but change their metaphysical positions in the dream world,” she corrected. “I couldn’t change anything about the Trial; that’s decided by the system itself.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

I shared a glance with the Dealer, and he nodded. It seemed as though Sara and Aaron were tied together in a way that let them share power somehow. Good to know. That put some puzzle pieces in their place.

“Could you manifest yourself in the dream world?” I asked next.

Sara stood up abruptly, looking down at me with her hands clasped together. “Did someone show up there?” she asked quickly.

“Please, calm down, I’m okay,” I assured her with a smile. To see her get so worked up over me was a little heartwarming. She slowly nodded before sitting down, though now her leg and hand were inside of mine as if she dearly wanted to touch me. “Will you please answer?”

Sara nodded. “I could have, but only if you hadn’t summoned me to the Vespae hive,” she huffed, upset. “I left my prison once and that was all the boon allowed. Once, to a place where you were, Ant.”

“Specifically Anthony?” the Dealer asked, stroking his chin.

“Yes, because he is the one with the boon,” Sara confirmed.

"Without giving me points for meeting you?" I continued. The Dealer gave me a look, but I ignored him. He probably just took my word for it back in Pittsburgh, but not getting points was a big tell that it might not have been real.

I knew it was, though. It had to have been.

Sara thought about this answer for a short while before nodding. "I believe so. The dream worlds are weird and there's some plausible deniability when appearing in them. If I didn't want to help whoever I was manifesting in front of, I could ask the system not to give them the points notification."

I nodded. That made perfect sense to me. The Dealer's dubious look faded, and he looked thoughtful.

“And you couldn’t tamper with the Golden Dream, except by switching the location and through manifestation? You’re sure?” the Dealer asked.

“That is correct.”

“What’s going on?” Kayla asked. “I feel like I missed a lot here.”

I took a breath and nodded. “Yeah, sorry, I just had to make sure of some things,” I said. “My original destination was the Trial of the Silver Nightmare, a dream world that plunges people into their deepest fears.”

“That sounds like it’s really easy to tell you’re in a dream,” she replied.

Shrugging, I gave her a half smile. “All Trials alter your memories of entering,” I explained. “Oftentimes in a way that makes sense, though I’ve been through some weird ones. Their goal is to get you to complete the trial without realizing you’re in one. If you know you’re in a nightmare, then it’s really easy to complete, right? After so many iterations, I’ve trained myself on what to look for in the Silver Nightmare to identify it, though it does usually take some time. That’s why I told you it would take about a week.”

Kayla’s eyes widened. “And you subject yourself to that every time you reset?”

“He’s not sane,” the Dealer snorted.

“I am sane, and I needed the item that comes with completing the Trial,” I said. “It was the fruit Eve eats in the story of Eden. I was supposed to use it as a bargaining chip to squash a second Demonic invasion after the Heavenly Patrons disbanded.”

“From the sounds of it, that plan is no longer on the table,” Kayla guessed.

“Got it in-“ I stopped myself before saying it, and shook my head. It was my saying, I shouldn’t be wary of it just because Aaron used it. “One. Instead of being sent to the Silver Nightmare, which won’t open up again for a while, I went to the Golden Dream.”

“Which is completely different,” the Dealer informed. “Instead of pain and misery, it’s lollipops and rainbows. As far as I know, you could suffer through the Silver Nightmare and win eventually but no one knew how to beat the Golden Dream.”

“Until now, and only because someone wasn’t trying to kill me,” I added. “Which is still odd to think about.”

“The contract stipulates that I can’t harm you,” Sara said. “At least, not in ways that would kill or maim you.”

I nodded. “We’ll talk more about that and the disaster you warned me about later. Though, I think it’s more than him wanting to hurt me. I think he really, really wants to show you up, Sara.” She sat there, her wings fidgeting and hair burning as she remained silent. “Yeah, he didn’t like not being able to talk smack about you, either.”

“He?” Kayla asked.

“Arontalscion, the Fallen,” I said, and Sara’s hair immediately became brighter as anger showed on her face. “Hey, I’m okay. I’m here with you now, no harm done except for some time lost. Which I compensated for, thanks to everyone. Speaking of, Kayla, because I can’t say it enough, thank you again for taking over Sol Ligatus.”

“I’m happy to help, but something tells me there’s still a lot more to this story,” the Double Agent said cautiously, watching Sara.

I nodded. “The Golden Dream set me a year after the system dropped. I had used the Prize in order to make Sara the top administrator, and I regressed one last time. This put her in charge, I got her attention, and after she accepted the Memory Orb she banished everyone and everything that didn’t belong.”

“Even the poor old Dealer?” the alligator asked.

“Yes,” I said, not mentioning that Corwin got to stay for whatever reason. I didn’t know what that said about the Golden Dream or myself, but I kept it to myself. “Then, I started getting amnesia every few months thanks to an overload of Ouroboros Tattoos, the thing that lets me come back to the start.”

“But you don’t have any tattoos,” Kayla pointed out.

“They’re covered up so the administrators don’t find me,” I explained. “Sara, does that sound right?”

“It does,” she confirmed. “I think you always thought I meant points when I said it would be too costly to continue, but I knew if you accepted more tattoos, then you’d start having issues. More issues, I mean, than just Regression Imbalance. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“No, you were right to,” I told her with a smile. “Having an endpoint was good for me. I can understand that.”

“You didn’t just regress seven times,” the Dealer accused with narrowed eyes.

“Did you believe me when I said that?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

He jabbed a finger in my direction. “I decided to let you keep your secrets, is what I did. How many times?”

I offered him a smile. “The real answer is 99. This is my 100th run.”

“Oh boy,” the Dealer wheezed, running his hands over his head. “He really is insane.”

“More sane than most people,” Sara defended before reaching up. It looked like she was about to stroke my hair before running her hand through her own. “But definitely not right in the head.”

“I think we’re all on the same page there,” Kayla agreed. She wasn’t fazed by that knowledge at all, but then again she did expect it based on our conversation in Cordele.

“Hey, I’m doing it to save the world, alright?” I asked, crossing my arms. “I’m what you get when you do this for what feels like forever.”

“Well, whatever,” the Dealer said with a wave of his hand. “Go on to the remembering part.”

“I’ll get there, man,” I replied, waving my hand back at him. “Anyway, it was Sara and I living together. I went back to school. She also made Memory Orbs for all my friends and a couple people she wanted to see, which should have been a dead giveaway that something was wrong. You had me give one to Coe and Klaske.”

“Oh, I love those two,” Sara said wistfully. “Did they stay together?”

“Just like you wanted,” I answered with a smile. “Things were great. Better than I ever really expected, aside from the anxiety and the amnesia. But, those made sense and the Golden Dream is supposed to be realistic enough to draw you in completely. While I was there, I had three moments where I was told to remember something. Not, like, past tense, but as if telling me to remember when I got out.”

“That makes sense given what I know. What were they?”

I held up one finger. “In order of least to most important, the first one was Greg’s missing hand. Jeff told me the story of it happening to knock me out of a panic attack.”

“Greg came to the train and wanted to talk about the lich,” Kayla said. “Once he learned you weren’t there, he immediately became nasty and Jamie cut off his hand to teach him a lesson.”

“That confirms that, then,” I responded with a nod. “Second, Jamie mentioned that everything went wrong in Jamestown.”

“That little place between Stanley and Etson?” Kayla asked, confused. “What’s there?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m sure she meant Jamestown in Virginia. There’s going to be an invasion starting there.”

“From the Atlantians,” Sara added. “The underwater city kind, not the ones from Georgia.”

“Yeah. They’re going to start their invasion of the east coast, but the first strike is on Jamestown,” I continued. “That’s going to be one of our last stops before Jamie, Mercury and I get transported to Dublin for an event. You’ll be in charge of picking us up in our starting cities when we’re done.”

“Dublin, that’s where the American MVPs are going, right?” the Dealer asked, leaping at the mention of Ireland. “The Star Spangled MVP Shadow Invasion. That’s what my sources say it’s called, anyway.”

I almost laughed at the look on Kayla’s face when she heard the title, but suppressed it. “That’s right. It’s a special event hosted for each state’s most prolific MVP. The system picks the participants, not the administrators, which is why I’m in the running. It transfers 50 of us to Dublin, Ireland, but a shadow version of it. It’s hard to explain, so I won’t. Either way, something is apparently going to go wrong there. I’m not sure if the Golden Dream can tell the future or something, but I’m inclined to believe it.”

Kayla arched an eyebrow. “Why Dublin?”

“The administrator overseeing the area won a raffle,” I answered. “So they get to host the event.”

“Really?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Really.”

“That’s kind of stupid, but I guess that’s expected at this point.”

“Yeah, I don’t recommend looking too far behind the curtain. You get answers like that when you do,” I said, smirking. “Back to the topic at hand. The last one was the big one, and dream Sara told me about it. Do you remember how you asked me not to go back into Hell because you wanted me to wait for the Patron’s Ball?”

“I do,” she said, nodding.

“Apparently, I came up with a loophole. You told me that I summoned Hell to Washington D.C., where the Demons already were. Then, I killed them for the Angelic Ascent boost.”

“That…” Sara stopped for a moment, lowering her head in thought. “Is plausible. I don’t like the risk, but I do like the idea of slaughtering the Demons there. You’d also save countless lives by breaking the scenario early.”

“Exactly my plan. My only worry was whether or not Arontalscion, or Aaron as I’ve been calling him, was altering the dream and if I was going to be playing into his hands or not.”

“Which, it clearly seems like you’re not,” the Dealer said. He looked rather pleased with himself. “I’m going to skip ahead to my announcement now that we know this isn’t his plot, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, go ahead,” I said, leaning back and gesturing for him to continue. Since ending the dream meant I had to kill Sara, I wasn’t particularly eager to divulge that information.

The Dealer stood up and looked me in the eye. “Of course, this information comes at the cost of how to beat the Golden Dream. I’m not sure if you’d even know to look for this particular item, but the fact that you haven’t brought it up yet makes me think you either don’t know about it or forgot.”

I winced. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

“I’m going to be pissing off Michael and countless others for this, so I think it’s worth it,” he said adamantly. “Do you know the wrath of an Archangel, Anthony?”

Frowning, I nodded. “Sorry, Sara, but in order to break me out, Aaron brought your dream self to the brink of death so I could finish the job. The only way to break out of the Golden Dream is to destroy the person, thing, or whatever brings you the most joy.”

“It wasn’t really me, so I can’t hold it against you,” Sara said soothingly, smiling at me though I could tell it was strained. Her hair fluctuated, like she was trying not to show how upset she was by the news.

“That’s it?” the Dealer asked, scoffing. “Kill whatever brings you the most joy? I could have guessed that.”

“Guess or not, it’s never come up. I’ve never in a hundred runs ever heard of anyone beating the Golden Dream,” I rebuked. “This information is verified from a very trustworthy source, which is more than enough for a Dealer guarantee. That means you can sell it for a lot of points, does it not?”

The alligator grumbled, but nodded. “I suppose so,” he admitted, though he clearly wasn’t happy about it. “Not knowing you’re in the Golden Dream is going to be the hard part, but fine, it is what it is. The reason why I’ll be pissing off Michael is because he specifically requested a one-time-use blueprint for an item that doesn’t exist on Earth. Not yet, anyway. However, I know how to get it. Since you need to be there to help me, and you owe me a favor, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let you grab something extra.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Alright, fine. What’s this favor and why did we have to use the Patron’s Car to discuss it?”

He took a breath, then grinned, showing off all his teeth. “Because the blueprint’s locked in a special location where I’d be caught immediately without you,” he explained. “Anthony, when the Star Spangled Shadow Invasion starts, you and I are going to use it as an opportunity to rob the administrators.”

The Dealer’s words took me off guard, but I grinned with him. “You son of a bitch,” I said. “Tell me everything.”