Chapter 95: The Ties That Bind

Memories of the Old World are as mysterious as they are ubiquitous. Most every player has some shining and specific memory of that land we hailed from and though none have ever set out to piece them all together, some players and guilds have put this information into a very powerful utility. Famously, the Old Guard guild have never revealed their memories to another player, instead using them as passcodes among each other to positively identify their guild mates. Though this may seem needless to lower level players, high profile guilds are at constant threat of assassination from Player Hits, and since their would-be killers can disguise themselves with Illusion magic, having a means to prove you are not an Assassin becomes of great importance. This means a player’s memory becomes like a finger print: totally unique and secret so long as one has the wits to keep it so.

-Strategies for Young Guilds, Volume 2

Chase could hear the birds singing outside.

He was in his room beneath the courtyard of Lazerpail. Immediately he reached for his chest but the damage had been healed. He breathed a sigh of relief yet still found it difficult to sit up, and so continued to lay where he was, staring at the ceiling and counting the stones.

He tried to piece together the events of the past day and they were mostly all a blur. They had been attacked by Markon and Astor Briggs, that insane red haired player from the contract tournament. They had followed his guild back to Lazerpail on the orders of Xemnara they had said and tried to capture them. Chase’s brow furrowed...and there had been goblins. How had they survived? It was all such a foggy memory now. Chase looked to the side to see the wall of his room had been dug into and rocks were stacked in piles upon the ground. Just as he was about to call out to the others the door opened.

“Christie!” Exclaimed Chase, eyes wide. Suddenly it all came back to him. She had helped them in their final hour and managed to save them all. “I can’t believe—”

“Shut up,” she said, stone faced. She shut the door behind her but stood where she was, arms crossed with indignation.

“Excuse me,” said Chase, puzzled. A terrifying thought came to him. “The others! Are they okay?”

“You’re guild is fine,” said Christie very softly. “You’re new guild, that is. Amelie is still a bit shaken, of course. She killed that Astor player.”

“Amelie killed...wait...what do you mean ‘new guild’? I’ve only ever had one guild.”

Christie looked like she was ready to hurl lightening bolts at him. Instead, she sighed and shook her head, and then dragged a chair from the corner to sit beside him. She just stared at him for a while until he grew very uncomfortable.

“You don’t remember, do you?”

“Remember what?” Said Chase, trying to smother his own growing frustration. She was always like this when she was upset—never letting on what the problem was until she exploded.

“There it is,” she said, suddenly coming close. She stared into his eyes and for a moment her expression grew softer, and then a little sad. “How did I not recognize you from the beginning in Birchtown? Those blue eyes, the way they spark whenever you get mad.”

If Chase could describe his emotions in that moment he could only compare them to ice breaking in the dead of winter in a frozen lake.

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Christie.”

“Christie!” She said, half laughing and half scoffing. “Even the way you say my name. The rest of your guild fears me, yet you always say my name with such familiarity.”

“You’re talking nonsense, I spawned five months ago on the training island. We’ve never met before.”

“You know you could never lie to me, Spade.”

“Lie to you? How am I...” He wanted to slap his forehead.

“You bastard,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s you. You told me your memory just before you passed out. I know for a fact you never told anyone but us. The Old Guard.”

Chase was at a loss, and so just leaned back and stared at the ceiling again. This had to be a bad dream. A nightmare.

“Admit it,” she said. There was a tinge of pain in her voice and she sounded on the verge of tears.

“Fine. It’s me. Spade,” he said. He turned to look at her. “Happy?”

“I can’t believe it,” she said breathlessly. “I mourned for you. I thought you were dead. The others said they killed you. This entire time you’ve been alive. How?”

“I asked Ghelion to let me respawn,” explained Chase. “I didn’t know who to trust. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“You respawned? You mean that’s why you’re face is different and your contract marks are gone?”

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t know whether to trust me?”

“No...I mean.” He sighed. “Look, there wasn’t a lot of time. I got a message about the hit and got out of the hub as fast as I could. I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you,” he added.

“You thought I might have tried to have you killed?”

“Well, I thought about it. But I know you didn’t, Christie. I saw you talking to Dredman and Samantha in Darkcradle after I supposedly died.”

“What?” She shook her head. “What do you mean?”

I’m making this too difficult, thought Chase.

“It’s too much to explain,” he said. “Basically I had a vision and talked to Karkren and saw your argument with those two. Karkren kept on telling me that you never voted to kill me, and that he voted against it. To be honest I don’t even know that that was actually him.”

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“Wait,” she said. “Back up. Who gave you the message?”

“I don’t know—.”

“Spade! You know you can’t lie to me.” She leaned in close again until he could feel her warm breath on his face. Her eyes bored into his own with great intensity. “Who sent you the message?”

Chase felt all his lies crumbling about him. Lies had always came naturally to him. Whether it was dissuading Ghelion from prying too far into his reasons for respawning or to throw the Banes off his scent for some poorly thought out fabrication of a tale, each lie was just like putting on another item of clothing. Eventually, of course, it got too hot to wear so many, and his motions felt sluggish.

“Alright, Christie,” said Chase softly. He looked down to his lap. “But first tell me this: did Solomon send you here?”

“Yes. He said someone was at Lazerpail and he wanted to know who was intruding.”

“What else did he say, exactly?”

Christie leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. A frown was on his face.

“He told me only that someone was here. He didn’t know who, but feared someone had forced their way into the fort.”

“That’s a rather dull mission for an Old Guard member.”

“So?” Christie shrugged. “I didn’t question it. Honestly I thought he was going to kill me for not going along with your...supposed murder. So I just said yes and came here. Good thing I did, too.”

“True,” admitted Chase. “We would be dead without you.”

“What of it?”

“There is something I haven’t told my guild—or even Ghelion, for that matter. About the night I found out I was about to be attacked. And I think it has something to do with Solomon sending you here.”

Christie now leaned forward.

“So you do know who wrote the message?”

“It wasn’t a note,” said Chase, shaking his head. “It was the worlds most over qualified messenger, in the flesh, who got me out of there in time.”

“Then who was it? Karkren? Did he betray Solomon’s orders?” A flush came to her cheeks and she grabbed the arms of the chair until her knuckles turned white and Chase even heard the wood begin to groan such was the force.

“No,” said Chase. “Not Karkren. The one who warned me was the man himself: Solomon, leader of the Old Guard. And still mine, as well,” he added softly.

“Solomon!”

Chase raised a hand.

“Quiet!” He hissed. “Don’t let the others hear.”

“I...what...” she lowered her voice, her eyes were wide and her lips trembled. “I don’t understand. But Solomon ordered the hit.”

“No,” said Chase. “He allowed the hit. He knew he couldn’t stand against the others and had to let it happen. He told me after it happened.”

“The others are no match for him.”

“I thought the same, but he was insistent. And now, if they have aligned themselves to the Antagonista as Markon and the others have perhaps he is right. Who knows what powers Dredman and the others might have right now!”

“And so he thought respawning was the only way to save your life?”

“I suppose so,” said Chase. “Though even now I don’t understand. As you know he is not one to wholly explain anything unless he feels the need for it.”

“I can’t believe it,” she said. “You two had this plan and he never even told me. I was so...so...for months, Spade.”

“Chase,” he corrected. “Spade really is gone.”

He pulled up his sleeve to reveal his single Hunter contract mark.

“So now what? Am I supposed to go back to Darkcradle and tell him you’re doing fine? Have a new guild and looking forward to your second contract in a year?”

“Partly, I think,” said Chase. He hesitated and looked at her again. How much did Solomon want him to reveal?

“Just say it, Sp—Chase. Enough lies and half truths.”

“Ok,” he said. Suddenly he didn’t care whether Solomon wanted him to admit the truth or not. “There is a plan...I think.”

“Plan? You mean beyond saving your skin from the Old Guard?”

“Yes,” said Chase. “Again, he didn’t tell me much on that night, and I didn’t hear about the Antagonista until I got to the training island, but I think he needed me to respawn regardless of the others wanting me dead.”

“So he has a plan to defeat this new event, is that it?”

“I think so,” said Chase slowly. “But I think what he wants to do most is kill Oscuro once and for all. I think what he wants is to end the glitch.”

Christie gasped.

“He want’s to finally fix that mistake the others made?” She said. “He is willing to end the glitch once and for all?”

“Yes,” said Chase. “He wants to end his immortality.”

There was a knock on the door.

“Is he awake?” Came a voice. The door cracked opened and Chase saw a single eye peeking at him. The door opened more and Amelie was suddenly standing there.

“He is,” said Christie. “Come on in, Amelie.”

“Hope do you feel, Chase?”

“Fine,” said Chase, patting his chest. All the damage from Markon’s laser was gone, with not even a scar to mark his brush with death. “Between the two of you I have made a full recovery, it seems.”

Amelie sighed with relief, her face appearing both satisfied and then slightly worried as she glanced at Christie who was examining her like a bug under a magnifying glass.

“Oh,” stammered Amelie. “And are you over your delusions, now? Christie’s potion really made you say some strange things.”

“I know who he is,” said Christie, dryly. “You can finally drop the act. Chase, you won’t believe the run around your guild has been giving me since last night. When you said your Old World memory I knew immediately it was you, but they insisted that you had misspoken.”

“Don’t worry, Amelie,” said Chase, giving her a look of condolence. “My secret it out. Again. And it was my fault it seems.”

“I see,” said Amelie, nodding her head. “So you know that he is Spade. But let me assure you that he didn’t tell you because he only feared for your life. It was a selfless act on his part.”

“Selfless?” Said Christie, screwing up her face in confusion. She glanced at Chase. “Is that what it was? Strange, not telling your best friend in the world that you were going to fake your own death but instead letting Solo—.”

Chase quickly placed a hand on Christie’s arm, silencing her with a look.

“She understands I did what I had to do, right, Christie?”

Amelie looked back at Christie with a hopeful expression.

“Fine, yes,” said Christie, crossing her arms. “I understand why you had to do it. Amelie, if you are worried I will be going to…Solomon about this, you have nothing to fear. I’ll be keeping Spade’s…I mean Chase’s…secret to myself.”

“Wonderful,” sighed Amelie with relief. A look of calm came over her. “Well, the others are all very worried about you. Would you like to see them?”

“Give me five minutes,” said Chase. “Christie and I were having a chat we need to finish.”

“Oh! Forgive me! I didn’t mean to interrupt!”

After a couple minutes of assuring Amelie that she had not intruded, the young girl left the room, gently closing the door behind her.

“She’s a sweet girl,” remarked Christie. “But she has some steel within her. You better treat her right, Spade.”

Chase did not bother to correct her.

“Amelie may be the best of us,” he responded. “She is one of the most talented young mages I have ever seen. She cast her first spell only a day after being signed to her job.”

“Only a day? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“It’s a good guild I have here,” said Chase, a bit of pride rising within him. “You can see why I am not totally unhappy to be starting over. I want to show them what Esem is really like. I have decades of experience I learned with the Old Guard. That’s what Lazerpail was all about, really.”

“That and fulfilling Solomon’s orders,” said Christie. “So, what now? I go back to Solomon and tell him you are alive and well?”

“I think that would be fine,” said Chase.

“And you have no idea exactly what his plan is, then?”

Chase shook his head.

“I don’t know. But respawning is a big part of it.”

“Yet you don’t know why,” muttered Christie. “That man is infuriating.”

“To be fair, I don’t think he knows, either. He is taking orders from a higher power.”

“What higher power?” Asked Christie. Then her eyes widened. “AION?”

“No,” said Chase. “I think from his children. The Younger Gods are playing their games.”

“Solomon is in league with them? How is that even possible?”

“Who knows,” said Chase, feeling weariness come over him. “Ask him yourself.”

“I intend to,” said Christie.

“One other thing,” said Chase, idly playing with the edge of his bed sheet. He glanced at Christie. “I need you to tell Solomon that I will meet him in the hub once I sign for my second contract. And I will expect some answers.”

“Answers to why you had to respawn?”

“No,” said Chase, his voice growing hard. “Answers to why it took him so long to do the right thing.”