Chapter 284

Going BaNa^2(s)

(5 Minutes Ago)

(Mallory)

May you live in interesting times.

Those words, what was once posed as an ancient Chinese curse, often had few tangible elements to be anything close to an actual curse for Mallory.

After nearly eighty years of existence in BiPrism, nearly a full century of work, she was fairly certain that she had seen almost all that the world had to offer. Everything from the implementations of unique bloodlines that could help establish dynasties, to setting up one of the most powerful and mobile guilds in the world, to now this.

Being shuttled around, with a spazzing pixie who casts magic like it’s a component of breathing, and who apparently got her face melted off by Teleporting into a spatial anomaly. Fortunately, this one was not as bad as the last time, where they had the tunnels break apart and it felt like they would fall into space for a moment.

No, now she had learned to keep her devastating chances down to a point where they only affected herself. Which, wasn’t as helpful as one would expect, due to the way Mallory now completely relied upon Cass.

Yet, like most obstacles that come her way, not only does she meet them head on, literally in this case, but she somehow improved herself. In this case she became both a trauma surgeon capable of reconstructive surgery, along with clearly opening the path towards true godhood in this world. It was the last part that seemed simultaneously impossible to imagine, while somehow feeling simultaneously like it was expected. Almost like everyone who saw the crazy girl, truly took a moment to look past her quirks and high speed tempo, they would see someone who stopped at nothing to push themselves on to greatness.

Poof.

Those thoughts and more flashed through Mallory’s mind as she found herself hurtling through space, though unlike times before, where the process felt instantaneous. This time, the process felt like it was slightly more tangible, as if the time taken between where they started and where they ended could be counted, which was almost impossible before.

Poof.

That was when Mallory suddenly found herself right at the center of the wedding procession. Right where she was supposed to be.

“Thank God, about time you two are back!” The King, who should be Penelope still demanded upon seeing the two of them suddenly arrive.

“No time,” Cass shouted, as she grabbed the King, played by Penelope, and disappeared.

Poof.

Upon seeing the pixie move with a quick Teleportation, Mallory found herself instinctively flinching. As if her mind now associated the act with random bouts of violence to occur.

Pausing for a second, she looked around and saw that the Princess Octavia character was now coming up from the rows of the stands to rejoin her up on stage.

Then out of slight horror, Mallory instinctively checked to see how much time was left.

Time remaining: 1:12, 1:11…

“What are you doing?” Mallory found herself hissing at the Princess, played by Jhonny, who was arguably one of the few people here who would be back within the required time limit.

“Sorry, I got drafted,” Princess Octavia replied.

“Drafted?” Mallory asked, suddenly wondering what happened here.

“Yeah, Cass’s Simulacrum began giving us all instructions on what to do,” the Princess responded.

“Yeah,” the lone voice of Maranda could be heard as she was currently walking on top of the back row of one set of pews while sprinkling out more glowing dust on everyone sitting down.

Hearing that, Mallory’s lips curled up in a vicious smile, as she realized the pixie had finally slipped up.

“You mean she spoke to you and ordered you to do things?” Mallory pressed, realizing she would finally have undeniable proof that Cass’s Simulacrums spoke.

“What? No, she just handed us piles of this dust and then gestured for us to sprinkle it everywhere,” Maranda called out throwing out the last of her dust before climbing to her now vacant seat in the center of a pew.

“She didn’t speak?” Mallory asked.

“No, but she did pantomime. You know that over 80% of communication is non-verbal, making words only 20% of how we actually communicate with each other,” the Princess stated.

Hearing that, if Mallory had any doubt before that the Princess Octavia was being played by Jhonny, she could rest assured that now there was no doubt.

With that Mallory just stared at Jhonny who just went to a spot and seemed to take on a pose.

“What are you doing?” Mallory found herself asking.

“Oh, this is the spot I am apparently supposed to go back to,” Jhonny as Princess Octavia explained.

Then seeing his spot, Mallory herself could see a spot where she too was supposed to be.

Shrugging, she first went to the spot, then found slight arrows telling her which way to face.

Poof.

Before Mallory could get too far, there was a burst of Teleportation energy as someone appeared right next to her.

Turning she saw that it was Penelope as the King. Or at least, she thought it was the King.

But before Mallory could say or do anything, the King leaned forward and kissed Mallory on the lips.

Fire.

There was an intense sensation as the two kissed, but then pulling back, Mallory felt shock and fear grip her as she couldn’t kiss Penlope, her ex.

“Wait, we can’t…” Mallory responded, pushing the King away from her.

Seeing her, the King looked confused for a second, before smiling brightly. “Oh, this is good. No, I no longer need a replacement,” the King explained as his avatar too began getting into place.

“Wait, what?” Mallory asked, seeing the annoying yellow arrows tell her she was facing the wrong way.

“I no longer need my understudy,” the King responded.

Hearing that Mallory was still a bit too confused to track what was happening, an expression that clearly shown on her face.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“It’s a girl,” the King said, drawing out the last word to emphasize the noted change.

With that, recognition finally filtered into her mind, as she suddenly felt relieved. Relieved first that Gwen was okay, and secondly relieved at the feelings she felt when they connected.

Realizing that Gwen was safe. The baby, who was also her biological and in-world grandchild was safe, and that they were back was a bit of a miracle. Mallory was so caught up in the emotions of everything that she found herself leaning forward, as she prepared to steal a kiss, a real kiss this time.

But just as she did, the world seemed to conspire against her.

Ping, ping, ping.

In her mind, she felt the sudden ping of her Guild Manager tab being hit with notifications. Normally this would be her way of tracking when or if someone completed a quest.

Which shouldn’t have been a thing, considering that Mallory had her D-N-D marker up for Do Not Disturb. This should be a given, seeing as she was in a wedding, but then the gravity of the situation hit her as she realized that her guild was here.

No, more then that, time was still frozen, at least for the next…

Time remaining: 0:47, 0:46…

Forty-six seconds.

A pause filled Mallory’s mind as she realized there was only one person whose quest completions were allowed through her D-N-D status, and that was for any quest completions involving the pixie.

With horror filling her mind, Mallory paused and quickly opened her Guild Tab to see that yes, there were a slew of new notifications.

Apparently during this time Mallory herself had also completed a quest.

Major Guild Quest Accomplishment: Guild Member Accomplishment (X 2): Congratulations to the Midnight Hunters for officially being recognized as a guild having not one, but two (one) Guild Member(s) recognized as achieving Guild Leader of the Year status for both the Magic Guild and Thieves Guild. Rewards: Bonus Experience and Rewards for Mage and Thieves Guild quests completed over the next year.

Conditional Reward Marker Set: Recipient(s) must accept the reward, before bonuses can be applied.

“What?” Mallory asked, but as she did, she felt that knowledge of the quest completion went out to everyone in attendance.

“Is this true?” Jhonny, still playing Princess Octavia, the Mage Guild leader for their city asked.

“Tell me one of those is you?” Mallory found herself asking, as her mind tried to make sense of everything.

Jhonny could only shake his head no, causing his blond locks to rustle lightly against his face.

Fortunately, before Mallory had more time to ruminate about what happened, an answer came.

Poof.

There she was. One second, nothing but doubt and speculation, the next moment a pixie holding an albino pup in her hands, and swaddling the pup, who also seemed to be awake, if barely.

To make matters even stranger, was the fact that the Pixie seemed to have her finger in the baby pup’s mouth, and was apparently delivering some type of bright glowing liquid to the pup. Instantly thoughts of mutagenically altered turtles roaming in a sewer system came to Mallory’s mind, but were quickly displaced by other equally terrifying thoughts.

“Jhonny, you have to say, that you are the Mage Guild recipient,” Cass demanded, her words absolute, but something about the situation seemed entirely off. Maybe it was the fact that a pixie in a pink dress was feeding a cute albino puppy, but sadly didn’t seem to even register on why this was so off for Mallory.

“Okay,” Jhonny responded, apparently having learned long ago not to argue with the crazed pixie.

Seeing his acquiescing to her demands, Mallory felt that she had done right by allowing him to be her guard.

With that Cass just nodded.

“What happened, I thought you accepted all of your quests a moment ago?” Mallory asked, as suddenly her mind realized that yes, those pings that made it through her D-N-D filters were other quests recently noted as being completed by Cass.

“I did, but it seems that while I’ve been unable to do anything with these 15 minutes of fun, my Simulacrums had unfettered access to do everything they had been working on for the past month,” Cass says with a bit of a pout.

“Well just close them out quickly, before time restarts here,” Mallory stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Hearing that Cass paused, seemed to check out the time.

Time remaining: 0:22, 0:21…

Then seeing the time herself, Mallory realized that there might not be enough time, and was about to tell her to hold off until after the restart and the end of the wedding, but before she could say anything Cass acted.

“Okay, here hold this guy while I get to sleep for a moment,” Cass said, quickly holding out the puppy.

“What?” Mallory asked, before instinctively reaching out to grab the puppy.

With the puppy gone, Cass floated a half step back and then proceeded to close her eyes, take three deep breaths, and promptly get to REM sleep in seconds.

Seeing the pixie go, Mallory’s jaw dropped.

“I’m so jealous, I’ve been unable to sleep for months now, and here she is going to sleep in seconds.”

Burst, flash, burst.

Almost instantly, flashes of golden light could be seen going off around Cass.

Checking her interface, Mallory looked at the quests and finally saw their names.

Guild Member Quest Completion Log:

Dr. Spiritlight’s Recent Quests:

Hidden Quest Completed: Finding the Great Fae Shrine;

Hidden Mage Guild Quest Completed: A Great Sacrifice;

Hidden Mage Guild Quest Completed: What is good for the Guild is Good for the Commander;

Hidden Mage Guild Quest Completed: Stealing Your Way to Mage Guild Hall Master of the Year;

Hidden Quest Completed: First Acanarus Tower Climber (VII);

Hidden Thieves Guild Quest Completed: Stealing What You Already Stole (Default) Win Thieves Guild Master of the Year by Earning the Same Title Under an Alias with Any of the Other Guilds

Seeing the quests being completed, Mallory felt an odd sense of awe. Not only had Cass unlocked a new profession during the same fifteen minute interval and unlocked the apparent ability to become a true god in this world, but her Simulacrums also did miraculous things as well.

Just as Mallory saw the quests complete one by one, she, like everyone was shocked to see not one but two world messages flash to life.

World Notification: Rejoice Harmonious Magical School Spells have been made available at the Mage Guild on the second level of the Arcanarus Tower.

Seeing that message, Mallory felt that the next message began to make more sense. Especially after seeing the quests that Cass’s Simulacrums had managed to complete.

World Notification: Congratulations to the Midnight Hunters Guild for having the Guild Hall Masters of the year recipients for both the Mage’s Guild and the Thieves’ Guild.

Mallory had just finished reading the message, when the pixie woke up.

“Phew, how long was I out for?” Cass asked, but then a quick check of the time, and she seemed to move with conviction.

“Oh shoot,” Cass responded, lunging forward, and plucking the puppy from Mallory’s hands.

Poof.

Before Mallory could even blink at what happened, the pixie and her pup disappeared.

Poof.

Only to return a moment later, where she seemed to awkwardly pull her body up into a random position.

Mallory was so lost just staring at her friend who looked like she was trying to get into a comfortable position to be a zombie, when she spoke.

“What are you doing, it’s almost go time,” Cass demanded.

Then like that Mallory looked down to see the timer.

Time remaining: 0:03, 0:02…

With the reminder, Mallory found herself instantly following the directions and hopefully getting into place.

Rumble.

There was an almost noticeable rumble as the world began to speed back up. Slowly at first, but gradually picking up speed until they were once again at full speed.

Finally, sound began to play, as the priest once again came to life and began speaking.

“Do you, Lady Mallory Valhalla, take this man, King Galuminous De’Arcaneri, ruler of the Delarian people to be your husband…”

Hearing the words come out, Mallory could only feel herself fighting back a laugh, as she turned to look at her King. There staring into the inter-changeable avatar, Mallory looked into those eyes and felt content. For this was her Gwen, someone who she truly loved, and honestly was slightly relieved that the pixie had managed to somehow, someway get this world back to be the way it was the entire time.

“I do…” Mallory found herself saying.

Badump, badump, badump.

It was so close, by now all Mallory could hear was the rhythmic thumping of her own heart within her ears.

Though she did hear when Gwen clearly spoke, “I do.”

Hearing that, a smile crested her lips as she realized everything was going to be fine.

Then she heard the words that caused her world to go silent for a moment.

“If anyone objects to the union of these two souls, let them speak up now, or forever hold their peace,” the priest stated.

And almost as if on cue, six, no seven people began to move, but were suddenly stopped. Glancing at them, Mallory paused, realizing that at least one of the foreign delegates that was allowed as a personal favor had plotted to use this time.

For a moment Mallory wondered, how?

But taking one last look at them, Mallory saw that they seemed to be covered in a form of glowing dust. Seeing them, Mallory remembered how both Jhonny and Maranda were seen spraying out glowing dust at the intermission.

Ping.

Hearing that sound, it was clear that the pixie, or maybe one of her Simulacrums had apparently completed another quest.

Realizing that, Mallory just smiled.

May you live in interesting times indeed, Mallory thought to herself.

“You may now kiss the bride,” the priest declared.

And with that, Mallory did just that.

Weakness.

Once again, their lips met, and once again, Mallory realized that there was something special about Gwen. Something she swore she would cherish.

With that, everything went by like a blur.

The ceremony was over, shortly after the kiss. There were a few last minute statements, after which Mallory felt the Guild Quest Completion notification go off in her mind.

Major Guild Quest Completed: A Permanent Treaty: You, acting as the leader of your Guild have made the ultimate sacrifice for peace. By marrying the king of the native inhabitants of the lands that your guild has claimed, your guild has found a peaceful way of gaining full rights to the land that will avoid bloodshed and strife between your two factions. Congratulations on your now united partnership, and may you find true peace.

Seeing the message, Mallory quickly cut out before the rewards were noted as this was not done. There was still much to do, and she found herself waiting.

Fortunately, nothing seemed to happen. For those few dissenters that had tried to object before the union was finalized had been locked in place, and only made to look a fool afterwards.

Then with the actual ceremony over, the quest completion applied, that was when Mallory and her King were being greeted by everyone.

However, there was one time when the seemingly simple magic of the moment seemed to shatter and break and that was when Arc Mage Belton approached to give his congratulations.

“Yes, congratulations,” Belton said as he got close to the two. “This was surprisingly a lot easier than I thought it would be. Honestly, I assumed it would have been harder, given all the prep that went into this.”

Hearing that, a slight chuckle left Mallory’s lips. Then before Mallory could say or do anything, the pixie who had been on guard the entire time, began almost demanding that he take it back.

“Take it back, no wait, knock on wood.” The pixie said, her body whipping around to find the wooden pulpit from which the minister gave the ceremony. “There, knock on that, quickly…”

But before the arrogant mage could do anything, enough time had apparently lapsed.

KABOOOM!!

Then the pixie gave the two-word response that would mark the start of the Midnight Hunters Guild War Against the Legrand Empire.

“Too late…”