Timeskip (6 months)
Ben, the Royal Sage and the Chief Executive all sat around the true Capitol Crystal of Solas in The Vault. The Royal Sage, and only the Royal Sage, had touched the crystal. Up close, Ben could see the girl inside the crystal was bound up with thin, silver chains. She had long, pointed ears, and elfin features. She was too perfect to be properly beautiful, at least for Ben’s tastes, which were geared towards women who knew how to have fun. Her chin was resting on a violin, and she was poised like she was ready to play. Her eyes were closed, and her face was set into an expression of. . . it was hard to tell with elves. She almost looked frustrated.
[Questor’s Choice]
[You have been bound to The Quest by a member of the Signatory Races. Under penalty of death, you are required to complete this quest, and put forth continual effort towards it’s completion. Due to the gross violation of your free will, and the nature of the geas you are bound with, you will be offered a selection of skills and items to choose from. The nature, power and rarity of your choices are based on the difficulty of your quest, your class, and your actions in The World.]
[You have been found to be in a Quest Party. When you make your choice, a similar skill or item will be granted to each of your sub-questors.]
[Globe of Vacation]
[Super Luxury Item]
[A glass ball set into a sturdy base. Inside the ball is the beach of Waikaikiki, the literal beach of Waikaikiki, taken directly from Earth. Merely will it, and you will be transported to a tropical vacation spot just for you, populated by Higher Vacation Elementals dedicated to ensuring everybody has a great time. This pocket dimension meets all the standards and quality control checks of The System.]
“Oooh,” The Chief Executive said, “I might have you pick that one and hand it over.” Ben blinked several times, demonstrating near superhuman levels of self control.
“Ok do you want me to make a note of that, or just keep reading off the options?”
“Oh keep going,” the Chief Executive said, waving a hand.
Ben had thought the Chief Executive was going to ruthlessly exploit his Quest Skill/Item for the benefit of The Vault. He now had the realization that the Chief Executive was window shopping, because Quest Items were not soulbound. . . and they were often completely unrelated to completing The Quest.
[Crystal Flask of Time]
[Super Luxury Item]
[Crafted long ago during The Systems early days of experimentation, this flask needs merely be opened in an area full of time, and it will fill. They say time cures all wounds, so merely pour the contents of this flask, and all wounds, including wounds of the soul, can be healed. ‘It needs more time’, they say. This flask contains the time needed to bring anything to true maturity and power. It does not age whatever it is poured on, it grants it the benefits of age, without weakness.
[System suggested use: Wine.]
“Pass,” The Chief Executive said, and internally, Ben wanted to scream. He wasn’t about to start throwing a fit and saying things like ‘I can use that to make my fucking wishes grow faster’, because in some ways, he was nervous about giving The Vault too much of an edge. Ben continued reading aloud.
[The Sword of -]
“Pass, I’ve already got too many powerful swords in The Vault. Actually, automatically pass on any kind of weapons or armor. I don’t care how good they are, they bore me, and they’re-” The Chief Executive coughed, then examined Ben. “You are. . . young, Ben. Very, very young, and mortal. The College of Eternal Life has been doing studies on your species, and they estimate your lifespan to be somewhere around three hundred to a thousand years in an environment with appropriate mana density, such as the surface of The World.”
“Holy-”
“I know, it’s terrible. That’s even shorter than goblins, and they only get a measly five thousand years. You’re barely born before you die. I’ve contemplated this briefly while you were getting started in The Vault. They like you down there, which is surprising. You’re putting forth real effort, and you aren’t causing any problems. You’ve got a future here, Ben, as short of a future as it might be. What I’m saying is, I don’t see the harm in taking you into confidence a bit. When The System is giving choices, he often throws in weapons and armor and rings and various bits of combat equipment; it’s all flak, it’s all a distraction. The things of real value, the things nobody else can make, are never weapons. Just skip over them, they’re useless. I want to see the artifacts and the skills, only.”
“You’re the boss,” Ben said, keeping a straight face.
[Silver Skeleton Key]
[Extremely Rare Dungeon Item]
[This key was once utilized by someone with the Key-Keyper perk eight times without breaking. Upon reaching the eighth use, it underwent a transformation. This key can be used on any silver lock, and will never break.]
“Those are very valuable,” The Chief Executive said, then laughed, “pass.” Ben made a mental note to start messing around with his [Key-Keyper] perk to get a full set of skeleton keys.
[Utility Pocket Upgrade Kit: Portal Efficiency]
“As if!” the Chief Executive laughed, “Pass!”
On and on it went, one item after the other, each one useful in it’s own way to Ben, and lacking in appeal to the tastes and needs of a Chief Executive. He wasn’t going to go on a quest, no, but he was seriously debating a vacation.
“That’s it for the items,” Ben said, and internally he was impressed with himself for keeping his composure thus far.
“Hmm, slim pickings. Let’s see what kind of Perks are on the table.”
“You got it,” Ben said, and started reading.
[Freedom]
[Rare Movement Perk]
[~tcl, as they would say in your video games. Once per day, for no more than fifteen minutes, you are granted unlimited flight and the ability to pass through all obstacles unharmed. If this ability runs out and you are in the middle of a wall, you will be moved to the closest space that can hold you.]
“Well I definitely don't need you able to do that,” the Chief Executive said, rolling his crystal eyes.
[Personal Wish]
[Legendary Personal Perk]
[You will be granted a personal Small Wish that replenishes itself one week after use.]
“I think that’s the one,” Ben said quickly, “I could donate the wish to The Vault-”
“Nice try,” The Chief Executive said, “pass.”
Ben’s jaw clenched, but he continued.
[Gremlin Sense]
[Uncommon Gremlin Perk]
[This useful and often taken perk allows you to, with uncanny accuracy, always know exactly where all the gremlins near you are, what kind of gremlins they are, and if they know about you. Many an adventurer has lost their lives to these weak, easy to kill creatures. Grants automatic access to the Gremlin Hunter Guild.]
“That would certainly help you complete your quest,” The Chief Executive said, then shrugged, “maybe. Also, stay away from the GHG, they’re a bunch of lunatics who think a cabal of ancient Gremlins control The World.”
“What like the Illuminati?”
“I’ll have to talk to your security detail about denying those madmen access to you. Next.”
“Now, hang on just a minute,” The Royal Sage said, interjecting, “The GHG might be wrong about some things, but evidence suggests gremlins-”
“Oh here we go again,” The Chief Executive said, and the two of them forgot all about Ben and started arguing with one another about Gremlins.
Ben felt himself longing to be free of the Chief Executive, to be free of The Vault, to be free of Solas. This was his adventure, and it was being stolen by this selfish asshole. His jaw clenched even tighter, and he looked away from the status window he’d been reading from. This was his fucking adventure, his quest, and it was being stolen from him! It was all about Betsy and. . . Ben pushed the thought about Purebeasts from his mind in case there were any mindreaders around. Nobody needed to know about the Purebeast in his Utility Pocket, he didn’t think to himself.
Ben found himself looking at the elf girl in the Capital Crystal, and in a moment of pure destiny, found she was looking at him as well. Her eyes were open and the color of music. The status window Ben had been reading off of glitched, sounding like a radio being tuned, flicking between stations, the brief sound of the climax of ‘In The Air Tonight’ playing. It was Ben’s voice screaming the promise of vengeance, Ben’s voice mixed with hers. He knew it was her, even though it was a brief second. The raw rage, the scream of frustration. . . Ben realized she was beautiful, a chained [Princess] in the horde of a terrible dragon, locked away in a tower-
Ben shook his head, snapping out of the strange mental state he’d found himself in. He looked at the crystal and saw her eyes were closed. He wondered if he’d just imagined it all happening. He looked down at the screen.
“I hate to interrupt,” Ben said, “but, uh, something just happened to my choices.”
“What? What happened,” The Chief Executive asked, suddenly switching his attention to Ben and then standing up to look at the status window.
“They’re gone. They’re all gone,” Ben said, gesturing to the now blank screen.
“What’s happened here,” The Royal Sage said. He walked behind Ben and looked over his shoulder, then raised his staff. “[Debug],” he said, and the screen was filled with gibberish system language. The Royal Sage looked over at the Capital Crystal, his expression briefly nervous.
“What’s going on?” The Chief Executive asked, standing up and pointing not at Ben, but at the Royal Sage, “you told me he couldn’t make any selections, you assured me that I would be the only one able to select an option from his screen.”
“He’s done nothing,” The Royal Sage said, “it’s the Crystal. Ben has a special perk known as [Chained God’s Favor], quite rare, and with very difficult to define effects. Right now his list of Questor choices is being. . . adjusted.”
Almost as if on cue, the Status Window was populated with a single choice.
[The Kingdom]
[Unique Holy Perk]
[Grants an intrinsic understanding of the engineering and design of environments that naturally generate holy energy. Grants the blueprint [Vault of Wonders]. Grants the blueprint [Castle of Wonders]. Grants the blueprint [Purelands Orchard]. Adds a chance of random blueprints to be added during regular leveling.]
“I don’t want him to be able to do that!” The Chief Executive was shaking his head, outraged, “I don’t even know what half of that means, and I already don’t like it. What’s this [Vault of Wonders] nonsense?”
“Let’s find out,” The Royal Sage said, then waved his staff over the window, “[Sage’s Insight],” he whispered, and a new window appeared.
[Vault of Wonders]
[Beyond Legendary Blueprint]
[Impossible Class Artifact]
[This blueprint details the means to successfully create the Impossible Class structure known as the Vault of Wonders. Within the confines of the Vault of Wonders, the Impossible and the Possible can interact.]
[Warning: This is not a System generated blueprint. Warning: This blueprint requires extensive interaction with The Beyond to be successfully constructed. WARNING! This Blueprint requires Eight Djinn(!) to be Summoned and Bound to be constructed successfully! The System takes no responsibility for any entity or individual that invokes the wrath of the Purelands!
[Please exercise extreme caution and wisdom when considering constructing this structure!]
“I’ve never seen The System act like this before,” The Chief Executive said, rubbing his chin.
“I. . . have,” The Royal Sage said, hesitating to speak. The Chief Executive fixed him with a look that said ‘Speak’. “The Well of Magic,” The Royal Sage said, and the Chief Executive’s eyes went wide.
“I don’t know what that is,” Ben said, wanting to remind everyone that he was still there.
“In the City of Aeons, the capital of the slugs, there is a structure,” the Chief Executive said, “A deep well. It is the source of their irritating proficiency for magic, for all children dipped in the Well of Magic emerge completely in tune with spellcasting. It blesses them with unmatched skill and comprehension, with innate talent greater than genius. That alone is enough, but it does something even greater still. Some of the children who emerge from the well have been granted the ability to see into The Beyond, allowing them to become some of the greatest [Summoners] to ever exist. It is one of the greatest treasures in The World, and the reason the Aeon Slugs are able to claim the position of the most powerful of the signatory races.”
“I was there,” The Royal Sage said, nodding his head, “I saw the blueprint, though I never got any details. It is the only other time I’ve seen such warnings. My lord,” he said, sounding unusually formal and grave, “you can’t be considering this.”
“We Sunlets have been mocked ever since The System came here and stole our universe. We lost more than anyone, because we lost the stars. We are trapped here on this frozen rock, when once we lived on the surface of every sun! None could even approach our homes without being burned away to nothing, and we were able to raid freely and without fear of retribution. Look at us now, look! We are the weakest, we are mocked and disrespected! This might be our chance,” he said darkly, “to finally take our rightful place as the rulers of this world.”
Then, before anyone could think about things any further, The Chief Executive selected [The Kingdom] for Ben and accepted it. Ben leaned back, suddenly back in the [Dream] he’d seen in Strange Town, all those long months ago. He saw it rush towards him, he saw it all around him, and then he felt it enter him like the warmth of a fire on a freezing cold day.
“Now,” The Chief Executive said when Ben came back to reality, “tell me about the [Vault of Wonders].”
“It generates wishes,” Ben said, “or rather, it resupplies itself with wishes automatically. . .”
Timeskip (9 Months)
The College of Eternal Life
Trellius was coming to regret taking his assignment in the department of the College of Eternal Life dedicated to studying human culture. Initially, when the elderly, dying Enelim had been offered the position of ‘junior research assistant’, which was the fantasy equivalent of being a coffee boy, he was happy. Now when he died, which would hopefully just fucking happen already, Trellius would have an in with a new and well funded department in the college fresh into his lichdom. A good start to any eternal academic career.
Ah, the days of blissful ignorance.
“Trellis!” The echoing voice of a lich that had recently renamed himself Skillet, after a human ‘Rock and Roll’ group, called out from an office, followed shortly after by the undead himself. His robes were disheveled, and his burning eyes of green fire were sputtering and spitting; a sure sign that he was mentally overworked.
“It’s Trellius esteemed-”
“Cut that out,” Skillet said, grabbing the living man with a skeletal hand and dragging him into his office, “I require your living biology for a moment, come, come!” Skillet’s office was once well organized, but was now a whirlwind of documents attached to his walls and covering his desk. Almost every document was dedicated to a single song, by a single human band. ‘The Resistance, by Skillet’.
“I’ve already been forced to listen to this song nearly a hundred times esteemed scholar,” Trellius said, already knowing there was no way he was getting out of this.
“Repetition and permutation is the essence of undeath,” Skillet said, clearly excited, “but I believe I’ve cracked the code this time around. I could feel the song speaking to me, even in undeath!”
Trellius kept his mouth shut, and didn’t say anything like ‘I think you’ve been feeling this song for the last six months, judging by the state of your office.’ Skillet, and the name was totally absurd for a lich, was still a well respected researcher, and a powerful [Arcane Lich]. Trellius planned to become an [Arcane Lich] himself, so it was in his best interest to be respectful.
“Skillet,” Trellius said patiently, “what can I help you with? The researchers down in 2X require their flavored Death Mana order, and they’ll be wanting it soon,” he emphasized the urgency of his need to leave. He hoped it would work.
“2X can go thirsty,” Skillet said, his cheerful, but clearly manic, voice echoing, “I’ve had an insight into the meaning of this song. I suggest you listen to it once again to ensure it’s fresh in your mind. I know how the living forget.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP_uUkBfCM4
I am a nation, I am a million faces
Formed together, made for elevation
I am a soldier, I won't surrender
Faith is like a fire that never burns to embers
(Who's gonna stand up, who's gonna fight?)
The voice of the unheard
(Who's gonna break these chains and lies?)
Love is the answer
I gotta speak it, believe it, that's how I feel inside
(I) I (I), can't, can't sit here quiet
You can take my heart, you can take my breath
When you pry it from my cold, dead chest
This is how we rise up
Heavy as a hurricane, louder than a freight train
This is how we rise up
Heart is beating faster, feels like thunder
Magic, static, call me a fanatic
It's our world, they can never have it
This is how we rise up
It's our resistance, you can't resist us
are you listening?
Sleeping in the shadows, could be making history
(Walk) through the fire, (walk) on the water
Used to be a slave, but now you are a conqueror
They can take my heart, they can take my breath
When they pry it from my cold, dead chest
This is how we rise up
Heavy as a hurricane, louder than a freight train
This is how we rise up
Heart is beating faster, feels like thunder
Magic, static, call me a fanatic
It's our world, they can never have it
This is how we rise up
It's our resistance, you can't resist us
Up, up, up, up, up
We're rising up, up, up, up, up
The voice of the unheard
Rising up, up, up, up, up
We're rising up, up, up, up, up
Love is the answer
Rising up, up, up, up, up
We're rising up, up, up, up, up
Love is the answer
This is how we rise up
It's our resistance, you can't resist us
This is how we rise up
Heavy as a hurricane, louder than a freight train
This is how we rise up
Heart is beating faster, feels like thunder
Magic, static, call me a fanatic
It's our world, they can never have it
This is how we rise up
It's our resistance, you can't resist us
Trellius sighed and went over to the speaker on the desk, pressed a button, and listened to ‘The Resistance, by Skillet.’ “There,” Trellius said, standing up and preparing to leave, “I’ve listened to the song again. Once again it made me feel as though I were about to fight in a war, and I feel it is an excellent way to make an old man die a pre-mature death and thus damage his chances of achieving a clean transition to undeath. The song is meaningless, Professor.”
“Ahhh,” Skillet breathed out the long, dry, hissing ‘ahhh’ of undead professors who caught a student unawares everywhere, “hahaha,” his chuckle stopped Trellius dead on his feet, not literally, unfortunately. “Young man, did you know humans were capable of, and frequently do, create beings known as ‘Gods’?”
“I’ve heard of-” Trellius said, caught off guard, “I really didn’t put any stock in the rumors-”
“Oh?” The undead’s eyebrows raised, and his eyeflames brightened for a moment, “Rumors? The humans tell us they do themselves, right in the first line of this song. ‘I am a nation, I am a million faces, formed together, made for elevation.’ A clear description of the [Summoner’s] art of creating a Godform. A clear example of the human genetic memory manifesting itself in their art.”
Trellius came over and sat down again, now feeling like a student with a teacher, rather than an old man with a lunatic.
“Oh, the student sits!” Skillet said, chuckling again and then reaching for a cup of cold Death Magic. He took a sip and sighed in satisfaction, “it truly tastes better when it’s had a chance to sit and rot for a bit. The song is. . .” Skillet the [Arcane Lich] gently waved his bony hand through the air in a thinking gesture, “a manifestation of the humans, a glimpse into what they are, rather than what they appear to be. The next line is clearly a reference to the primordial war: ‘I am a soldier, I won’t surrender. Faith is like a fire that never burns to embers,’ that last bit is a clear reference to their, let’s call it unique, way to utilizing magic.”
“Their reality distortion field,” Trellius said, and he was suddenly reminded of why he wanted to be in the human research department in the first place; the humans were the key to higher forms of magic, the key to surpassing the limitations of magic itself.
“Yes, which we are now confident they maintained even into their long isolation in the outside universe,” Skillet continued, taking another sip. “The next few lines are clearly referencing their collective awareness that they are trapped on their planet, rather than merely primitive. Consider how it is phrased, and how it resonated with the humans. It is not ‘Someday we will leave this world,’ no, it seems to say ‘Someday we will escape this world of lies and chains.’ Love is the answer,” Skillet whispered, sounding unsure, “I haven’t decoded that yet.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“The ‘Chorus’ of the song is particularly disturbing to me, and to any other immortal being,” Skillet continued, “You can take my heart, you can take my breath, when you pry it from my cold dead chest.’ They brag about their gleeful desire to not only die, but die violently and defiantly.”
“Who are they defying?” Trellius asked, eager for the answer.
“Ah, student,” Skillet said, “you ask a difficult question. If I had to answer. . . no, it is too terrible. . .”
“What? Please, share it with me!”
“If the song is to be taken seriously. . . they are defying everything, everywhere, across all time.”
Trellius felt his skin prickle.
“They seem to view the entire universe as their enemy to be defeated- It disturbs me how in the throes of song, they no longer distinguish themselves from forces of nature. ‘This is how we rise up, heavy as a hurricane, louder than a freight train.’ They then cry out for magic, which they have never seen, declare themselves to be warriors of unparalleled conviction, and say that none can resist them. ‘Used to be a slave, but now you are a conqueror.’ That’s another fun line,” Skillet said, chuckling darkly, then continuing in a whisper, “Love is the answer.’ What a strange thing to include in a song which is so clearly a promise to drown the universe in blood, to burn down all of reality and execute every other living creature. Trellius,” he said, looking up and staring at his still living student, “I wonder what kind of creature we have offered asylum in our homes. This song is, I feel, the key to understanding Humanity entirely. Thank you, Trellius for listening. I will call for you when I need a refresher on my drink.”
Trellius left the office, and heard the song begin to play again.
Timeskip (11 Months, 30 days)
Short Bus woke up and [Common Knowledge] revealed more of Solas’s secrets. He stood and the accumulated clean garbage he’d used to hide himself through the night sloughed off. Ben didn’t know he was sleeping in alleyways, because Short Bus hadn’t wanted to argue about it. Ben would have insisted Short Bus at least rent a room for the night. . . Short Bus chuckled.
“I’m a damn shark, Ben. I don’t need a bed,” his voice was quiet, not quite as gregarious as the one he used around others. “I don’t even want a bed,” he said to himself, then immediately began stretching. The routine would have looked familiar to anyone who stretched, with a few additions for Short Bus’s long, muscular tail. He then began stretching his psychic powers, which was completely impossible to describe to anyone without psychic powers. His brain had a pleasant buzz by the end of it, and he was ready to start the day’s work.
Solas was, in many ways, like one of the impossibly ancient coral reefs he used to lord over. Life built on top of life, layer after layer, and everything got buried eventually. Some parts of the reef were totally sealed away from the outside world, and life had evolved to live there, a world within a world. Short Bus walked on the sidewalk, past a crystal stack building in which his [Common Knowlege] assured him that many of the residents there no longer even knew how to leave the building. There were monsters inside too, and the residents had been questing their entire lives trying to just get out.
Short Bus sent them a brief psychic communication with the layout of their building, and then quickly walked away. He didn’t want to be there when in an hour or so, they stumbled out of the building and saw that they weren’t in the promised land. They were just in Solas, a city that didn’t care about anyone except the ones it was built to serve.
Short Bus walked down the sidewalk, his thumbs hooked into his pants, clearly not looking for trouble. He wasn’t like Red and her boyfriend Charles; she was always looking for trouble, and she always found it. Short Bus would have felt bad for Charles, but he’d read the guy’s mind. He was head over heels in love, and so was she. He shook his head, and quietly thanked whatever force had spared sharks from excessive emotion when it came to reproduction.
[Hard to notice], that was one of his [Hunter] skills. It let him walk down the road and not get a single glance. It wasn’t like he was the weirdest thing a being could look at anyways, considering some of the elemental beings thundering around. High overhead, a living whirlwind rushed about, presumably going about it’s business.
He knew this city now, he knew it better than residents who’d been here ten thousand years. Between [Common Knowledge], the things he’d gleaned from listening in telepathically on literally everyone he passed, and his nose, Short Bus had the whole story on Solas. He spat.
“This place is rotten to the core,” he muttered quietly, “Ben’s right to take it down.”
People went missing in Solas, they went missing all the time. The police would come in, take someone, and nobody would ever see them again. When the police didn’t work, they hired the gangs to make someone vanish. When the gangs didn’t work, they hired adventurers.
Short Bus’s errands for the day were simple. He was going to visit a major magical metal foundry. Then, he was going to visit a major alchemic lab. Finally, he was going to finish off the day by visiting some hardcore terrorist criminals who were trying to burn the fucking city to the ground. He’d already laid the groundwork with all the major labor industries of Solas, so now he just needed some properly nasty individuals to help speed things along.
When his chores were complete, he would meet back up with the party. Because tomorrow was when it all began.
--
Timeskip (1 Year: Present Day)
Today was the day.
Ben got out of bed and went through his morning routine; the three S’s; brushing his teeth; putting on clothes; and staring at the Quasar Class Soul Gem he still hadn’t done anything with. Ever since he’d gotten [The Kingdom] as a perk, he felt like he could. . . well, it was impossible to revive someone who’d been turned into a soul gem. He’d tried, and it hadn’t worked. It was also impossible to hear a distant, whispering voice from a soul gem, but he’d succeeded at that and he hadn’t even meant to do it.
Properly fortified against the day, Ben stepped outside and was greeted by his single [Bodyguard]. About a month back his [Warden] had been reassigned to a more troublesome bank asset. Management had decided they didn’t need to watch Ben that closely anymore. Ben, for his part in the matter, completely agreed with their assessment. He was, after all, better than a model employee.
He was promotable, but more than that, he was irreplaceable.
Ben rode to work on his [Golden Nimbus], and his bodyguard rode on a secondary nimbus, content to enjoy the special flight licenses The Bank had secured for their [Prince of Wonders]. His morning commute was by far the highlight of his day, both Ben and the [Bodyguard] thought. The city of Solas was under and around and above them, a metropolis which spanned from space to the deepest pit. Ben hadn’t personally been exploring, but his party had.
Ghost Ears had been spending all his time snobbing it up with the Sunlets in the Canopy, wearing an adorable little fairy space suit the whole time. He’d been gaining mad levels in his [Royal Vizier] class with the amount of Viziering he’d been doing on Ben’s behalf.
Red had been stomping around the Outer Ring, doing mercenary work for Cragg, who was now in charge of over a quarter of the Outer Ring’s police precincts. For context, that would be like a political party in the US taking control of everything between California and Texas. As far as Ben’s royal mind was concerned, the Outer Ring was secure. Red and her boyfriend-slash-fiancee Charles were an R-rated Quinten Tarintino movie package, slaying motherfuckers day and night in a highly hormonal, sexually charged relationship that Ben had absolutely zero desire to ever understand or partake in.
Also on the subject of pregnancy, Lariah was still pregnant, and would remain pregnant forever- er, for the foreseeable future. One to fifteen years for a pregnancy was, to Ben, just fucking excessive.
And on the subject of The Girls, they were starting to act really, really weird around Ben. He didn’t mind them calling him the Bright Lord, he really didn’t. That wasn’t the weird part. Ben didn’t want to think about the weird part right now.
Vivi had been under house arrest in Solas Proper, the rich portion of the city where all the real business was conducted. More specifically, he’d been holed up in the Summoner’s Tower which housed all of Solas’s most dangerous magic users. It wasn’t a prison, it was a research facility dedicated to probing the mysteries of The Beyond. His court date kept coming up, and kept being pushed back by the powerful forces of political gain. Vivi was special, and everybody knew it. He arguably held the keys to forming contracts with beings in and beyond the purelands, the holy grail of [Summoning]. Demons were great and all, but they were demons. Angels on the other hand. . . historically, [Summoners] who gained access to the Holy alignment were associated strongly with total world domination.
Short Bus? Ben sighed, because Short Bus had arguably the hardest job out of any of them. Short Bus had been assigned to scout The Roots, the seedy, crime ridden, dark underworld of Solas. Day in and day out, the man-shark had been prowling around, fighting, making contacts, fighting, building a network, fighting, getting the lay of the land and also, fighting. Ben had never seen Short Bus so relaxed or happy, which told him alot about his best friend and what he needed to have a full and fulfilled life. Ben had gotten the word just yesterday that The Roots were secure enough for what was coming next.
The Canopy, Solas Proper, The Outer Ring and The Roots. Each part of Solas was a city-state unto itself, a nation to rival the ones found on Earth. Ben hadn’t needed to take them over completely, no, that was a job too big for anyone. Rather, he just needed to lay the groundwork for a single idea to spread, for a single concept to grow like a bacteria across agar.
But first, he had something very important to do at work.
--
After Ben passed through the many, many layers of high security separating him from his office, he was greeted by a gigantic banner which said ‘Congratulations Ben!’, and the sound of all his co-workers jumping out from behind desks and shouting ‘Surprise!’
Sunlets in uniform crowded around him and gently slapped him on the back, congratulating him for his, quite frankly, staggering accomplishment. A thousand wishes in a year. The single best year for The Vault. . . ever, and nobody could question that it was Ben’s doing. He’d been the one to invent the job of ‘Wish Acquisition Specialist’, and he’d been the one to train an elite team of underlings to do the work.
How was it possible to go from being a literal desk slave to the head of an entire team of bankers? In The World, there was always one answer to a question like that: Levels.
Initially, gaining levels had been an extremely slow affair for Ben. It was understood by the [Sages] that the first nine levels in any class were the building phase. The class was, after all, essentially a piece of extra-dimensional power-armor, and it needed to tune itself to the individual it was attached to. The first nine levels provided passive skills and abilities, the mechanics and the resources required to properly play the class. Ben’s abilities thus far had been firmly in line with this.
[Expanded Holy Energy Reservoir]
[Wish Lore]
[Wish Detection]
[Increased Holy Energy Regeneration]
[Greater Ability: Holy Energy Shaping]
For the first few months of his job, Ben had sat around and helped The Vault grant the occasional wish every week or so. He’d mostly spent that time getting to know his co-workers and learning as much about his new work as he possibly could. Turns out, The Vault wasn’t an extremely busy place.
This didn’t align with Ben’s long term system of getting as powerful as possible as fast as possible and robbing Solas blind, so he kept his ears open and researched the problem. The answer had come to him in the form of an overheard conversation between co-workers that went something like this:
“I can’t believe they just wasted it. Didn’t any of them go to school?”
“Oh, you know adventurers. They don’t know a damn thing about properly utilizing a wish. What a waste!”
That got Ben’s brain buzzing. He wondered how many wishes were actually in Solas, verses how many wishes actually made their way into The Vault. And it turned out, there were alot of wishes in Solas, in the hands of people who’d never even heard of ‘Properly utilizing a wish.’
Ben presented his findings, and The Vault funded a city wide detection grid immediately. This, along with his own abilities to sense wishes, allowed Ben to actively intercept individuals and adventurers in Solas who were in possession of a wish. For some of them, the wish was a family heirloom, a hedge against disaster. For others, the wish was a recent acquisition from a dangerous delve into a dungeon or the caverns. For still others, the wish was stolen and hidden away in an excess of paranoia.
Regardless of the hows or the whys, Ben tracked them down and gave them a sales pitch.
“Oh,” Ben would say to a prospect, “It’s true. No matter what the fees are, you will always get more out of your wish when using The Vault. It doesn’t do you any good just sitting around, does it? I don’t think you realize just how much you stand to gain!” If it was stolen, Ben would wave his hand and say something like, “Possession is nine-tenths of the law anyways, don’t worry about it!” Finally he would finish off with, “Here, I’ll do a field assessment of the wish in question, free of charge, and then we’ll look at some charts with the kind of payout you can expect.”
Then, he would show them the charts, along with helpful illustrations of relative piles of treasure. Small pile of treasure if you make the wish yourself. Extremely large pile of treasure if you use our service. No treasure at all if you didn’t use the wish. Ben was pleased to find out that standard sales tactics worked just as well on aliens as they did on humans.
Ben was, essentially, a salesman, selling the services of The Bank of The Sun to adventurers. The Vault had never taken such a proactive stance towards acquiring wishes before, merely trusting their reputation to bring people to them. They’d had no idea how many people in The World were simply unaware of the financial advantages to using a proper Wishing Service, a term Ben had invented on the fly and was now widely used around the office.
How does one acquire the literally hundreds of wishes required to level a class as resource expensive as the [Prince of Wonders]? By hunting them down, one by fucking one, day in and day out. It was hard, at first, but then Ben got the sales pitch down, and he was bringing in multiple wishes per day. Even so, it took him ten months to get from level 2 to level 5. How, then, did he jump from level 5 all the way to level 9 in two months? His level 5 skills, of course.
[Global Skill: Age of Wonders]
[Global Skill: Wish Attractor]
[Age of Wonders] added a chance to find wishes to every loot table and increased the chance that a wish would be found, and [Wish Attractor] bent the laws of reality in order to ensure that wishes tended to move in his general direction through any means necessary.
The Vault was doing goddamn gangbusters because of Ben, which made him the most popular guy around. They all got paid a commission on every wish granted, after all.
He’d done the impossible, and brought a thousand wishes into The Vault in a single year. Today, he was going to ask for something in return, something few had ever dared ask for, and even fewer had ever been granted. In order to pass from level 9 to level 10, Ben needed something truly outrageous from The Bank of The Sun. He needed the sort of thing that was kept in reserve for a national emergency, the Nuke of the magical world.
To progress from level 9 to level 10, Ben needed grant a Grand Wish. And the rumor around the office was that the Chief Executive was going to give it to him.
Chapter
“Ben my boy,” the Chief Executive said, a huge grin on his crystal face, “You’ve got to be the single greatest investment this Bank has ever made.”
They were in the Chief Executive’s office, and the mood was relaxed. Both of them were lounging in their chairs, coats unbuttoned, and drinking during the workday. Dwarven Wine, so fine it could get a rock drunk, and that was an established scientific fact. The single Djinn who worked for the bank was stoically floating behind the Chief Executive, catering to their every whim. Ben was just very slightly drunk, both on the dwarven wine, and the sense of professional accomplishment. Regardless of his ulterior motives, Ben had worked hard to hit his self imposed goal, and he was proud of what he’d done.
“You’re too kind,” Ben said, waxing humble.
“Too kind?” The Chief Executive said, laughing out loud and taking another long drink, “this guy! You do a thousand wishes in a year and then act like anyone could have done it! We fucking crushed the Bank of Aeons AND those smug undead monsters in the Bank of Eternal Life! Combined! And this next year is promising to be even better! You’ve got a team now, all trained up!” The Chief Executive slammed a fist on his desk and whooped, not bothering to be quiet about it at all, “As long as you’re here in Solas, every fucking wish in The World is going to move in our direction. Too kind! HA! Xan, tell em,” he said, suddenly talking to the Djinn, “Tell him how many wishes we did in the last decade, not counting the ones you’ve been producing. Go on, let him know.”
“Three hundred and seventy two wishes,” Xan said, sounding bored. His posture was, as always, a bit stiff. He seemed like a guy who hated both his job, and his life. Ben had always felt a little bad for him, even though the rumor around the office was that Xan was a total asshole.
“Three hundred and seventy fucking two,” The Chief excecutive said, “And last year?”
“One thousand and four,” Xan said in the same tone of voice. He turned his head to look at Ben, “That’s the best year in the history of all three banks. Congratulations,” he said in a completely flat deadpan voice. Then, he turned his attention away from both of them to stare off into space.
“You can do the math on that one,” The Chief Executive said, still happy, but suddenly calmer, “but I assure you, the numbers are good. Very, very good. There isn’t a person in The Bank who hasn’t leveled this year, Ben. Yourself included now that I’m thinking about it. Fucking novas above, what a monstrously expensive class. A thousand wishes to get to level 9, stars!” he seemed genuinely awestruck, “not even the fucking slugs ever had the audacity to create something so expensive. I bet The System is fuming, wherever the hell he is. I can almost guarantee you he never had any intention of your class hitting anything past level 3. Possibly 4, if you were outrageously lucky.”
“I owe it all to you,” Ben said, and he couldn’t tell if he was lying or not, which was incidentally the most convincing kind of lie. “If you hadn’t taken a chance on me. . .”
“No regrets there,” the Chief Executive said, then looked at Ben in a very direct way, “Although. . . what kind of class requires a Grand fucking Wish just to get to level 10?”
“It’s a hell of a thing,” Ben sighed, leaning back in his chair, perfectly content to let the Chief Executive do all the talking.
“Those things don’t just show up you know. Every time a new Grand Wish enters The World, there’s an announcement. Most of the time, nobody ever finds them, but because of the announcements we can tell you how many are out there in total. How many Grand Wishes do you think are out there right now, undiscovered? How many? Just take a wild guess.”
“Wild guess?” Ben said, then looked at his hands and held out all his fingers, “How about ten?” The Chief Executive chuckled, then responded.
“How about twelve?” he said, and there was a slight pause after his declaration. “I don’t know how many the other Banks have, and I won’t tell you how many we have either. That’s a state secret.”
“I wasn’t going to ask,” Ben said.
“No, but you were going to ask if we could use one on your behalf,” The Chief Executive said, now playing with his wineglass. “That’s why you’re here, in my office, drinking and kissing my ass.” He barked a laugh, “I ought to have you thrown from the top of the canopy for even thinking about asking for this, you know that? I ought to just-”
Ben wisely kept his mouth shut.
“I ought to do a lot of things, but here we are, drinking wine and talking about it instead. Damn but I’ve never seen anything like your level 5 skills. I admit that I, and other interested parties who control The Bank, are interested to see what you get at level 10.” Ben took a breath as though he wanted to say something, but the Chief Executive held up a hand, “There’s not a damn thing you can say to me right now that will help your case. Just listen to me. We’re interested, true, but you can’t just. . . use a Grand Wish the way you can a regular one. I suppose you could, if you wanted to have every civilized nation in The World hunt you, simply wish for something and waste it,” he mused, “but that’s not going to happen. Grand Wishes are typically only used for one thing. You’ve been digging around our research material,” he said, “Tell me what Grand Wishes are used for.”
“Summoning,” Ben said, and he felt himself get goosebumps from the single word.
“Oh yeah,” the Chief Executive said, his voice suddenly hard and sharp, “and not the tame shit The System’s authorized with the [Summoner] class. No, we’re talking BIG magic. We’re talking about connecting to. . .” His eyes took on a sly slant, “I bet you never even once found reference in any of our books to Djinns, did you.” It wasn’t a question, and Ben shook his head. “Well, Ben. You’ve got luck like I’ve never seen before, because your interests and the interests of The Bank of The Sun have aligned in a big way. This [Vault of Wonders] has gotten all the right people excited in all the right ways. Our top people can barely make sense of what it does, and what little they understand has them frothing at the mouth to get it built. Even that might not have been enough,” The Chief Executive said, “to get you to be the one holding the Grand Wish at that last moment. Too big of a risk, you understand. But. . . you’ve got [Holy Energy], Ben, and that’s rarer than rare. If we’re going to enslave eight fucking Djinn, we’re going to need a significant source of it for the Summoners.”
“You’re going to give it to me,” Ben said, and even though he’d been angling towards this exact outcome, even though he’d worked so hard to get something like this to happen, he still almost couldn’t believe it.
“Kid,” The Chief Executive said, “you’re going big time now. You pull this off, you get us eight Djinn and the [Vault of Wonders] and we’ll raise a fucking army to complete your Quest for you. We’ll promote you so high in the Bank that you and me will be co-workers. You’ll live like a [King of Wonders] for the rest of your life, and if we have to burn another Grand Wish to grant you [Immortality], we will.”
Just then, someone knocked on the door of his office.
“This had better be good,” he muttered, then got up. Ben got up as well, ready to thank him and leave, but he was waved down. “No, don’t go anywhere. Sit down and relax, and if you need anything,” he turned his attention to the Djinn in the room, “Xan, attend to his needs while I’m gone.”
“As you command,” Xan said in a flat, monotone, booming sort of voice. The Chief Executive left the room. Xan looked at Ben, “I am at your service, Son of Sacrifice.” Ben’s skin got goosebumps.
“I think I’m good,” Ben said, “But thank you. I just need to think about some things.”
“As you command,” Xan said, and then went back to staring into space.
Ben’s heart was beating fast. His hands were trembling and his feet were sweating. He kept smiling and then wiping the grin off his face, then smiling again. He felt like his body kept trying to defy gravity, like his blood was suddenly effervescent.
‘This,’ Ben thought, ‘this might change everything. This might actually be better than stealing The Bank. Why the fuck was he going to- what kind of idoit would he have to be to throw an opportunity- this was beyond his wildest dreams!
“Yes!” Ben said, his voice a loud, sharp whisper, “Yes! Yes yes fucking yes! I’m gonna make it, we’re all gonna make it! Yes!”
“I must congratulate you Prince Ben,” Xan said suddenly, and his eyes were unusually focused. It was like he was normally giving any situation around him about one percent of his attention, and suddenly he was entirely present in the moment. “Because every delight in The World is now yours for the taking. But please, I beg you not do this.”
“No,” Ben said, his emotions immediately doing a 180, “No no fuck no, I’m not gonna make it. Shit, why are you begging me not to do this?”
“I beg you on behalf of the primary concern of every Djinn, I beg you on behalf of the innocent.”
“Oh of course,” Ben said, feeling his admittedly short lived dreams of a life of total luxury and comfort melt away, “but buddy? I’m going to need a little more to go off of than that.”
“Very well, Son of Sacrifice-”
“Stop calling me that, why does everyone keep calling me that,” Ben muttered.
“Very well, sonny,” Xan said, and Ben gave the implacable Djinn the stink eye, “but first I must educate you on The Beyond, and the nature of the beings who dwell there.”
“Hope you do a better job than Vivi,” Ben said, sour and now eating snacks to make himself feel better. On some level, he felt he ought to have seen this coming.
“Your companion and bodyguard, the Chaos Warden, she is known to me.”
“Really?” Ben asked, his voice fast and suddenly interested, “like, in a bad way or what?”
“No. She was a staunch defender against all manner of evil things. Many despised her for her birth, for she was born from the very chaos she dedicated herself to defeating. Fools, I say of them. But that was merely from my perspective, in The Beyond. She had a presence in what you call reality as well. She was the chance that someone raised in evil, might one day surpass it, transcend it, and ascend.”
“What,” Ben asked, a snack half chewed in his mouth. He swallowed, then decided things were getting too intense for food. “Like, all of it? That doesn’t make any sense dude, The Girls are acting spooky, but they’re transcending-”
“No. Red is not the whole, not a Totality. She was merely part of the chance, and her being here means that the chance is less, across all reality. To put it another way,” he said, his voice grim, “it means that the chance of the evil remaining evil, or of the good becoming evil, is greater than it was. Think of it logically, as much as logic applies. Red was in opposition to real forces, and her absence means that those forces have one less battle to fight to achieve victory. The wars of The Beyond are a paradox, for they are both a reflection of reality, and the source of it. What is done here echoes in The Beyond, and what is done in The Beyond echoes here.”
“Oh,” Ben said, now troubled and thoughtful, “So if Red was part of the chance that someone could become a good person despite shitty parents. . .” Ben sighed, because he knew the answer was going to hurt. “What’s a Djinn?”
“We are the ones who guard the innocent,” Xan said simply, “the ones who guard children from misfortune and wickedness. Why else would we have such a miraculous power as granting wishes?” for the first time, Xan seemed to smile, just a very small, tired and sad smile. “Children. . .” he shook his head, “are very hard to keep safe.”
“Tell me about it,” Ben said quietly, asking the Djinn to share.
“Oh,” Xan chuckled, and became suddenly animated, “they fall from cliffs, they run in front of danger, they approach dangerous beasts without care or caution! They trust too easily and don’t know how to speak up on their own behalf. Wishes?” he laughed a bit, “well a Djinn needs to bend reality on a daily basis just to keep the children safe. We can see into reality, you know, just a bit. When we are hunting some terrible arch-demon, we can see the disaster. We can see the wandering mind of the toddler as he wanders away from his minders,” Xan’s face took on a haunted cast, “as he walks across the yard, his mind captive to an evil whisper. As he stands on the side of the country highway, right on the fog line, just a two-year old child about to step into sixty mile per hour traffic.”
“You couldn’t have been there for that,” Ben said, his eyes watering as the Djinn fished out the single most terrifying thing Ben had ever witnessed. “That only happened like a year ago. God, I was terrified! I slammed on my breaks,” Ben said, reliving the memory, reliving the moment he said ‘I don’t care if I total my car, I’ve got to stop traffic because oh my god there’s a two-year old on the fog line.’ His heartbeat was accelerated. “I jumped out of my car,” Ben said, “but I wasn’t fast enough- some other lady got to him first. She was sobbing, in a panic. A total stranger I’m sure, but she was practically wailing in terror, and I got it. She was right to be scared. She scooped him up and yelled ‘Who’s child is this!” Ben chuckled, “I heard his brother in the farm house, sounded like he was about eight, he yelled ‘Oh, I’ve got him!’, and I thought ‘The fuck you do!’. If I hadn’t slammed on my breaks,” Ben said, getting goosebumps. “How do you know about that?”
“Because one of mine was there that day, fighting to save a child and his family from tragedy. It left its mark on you, as have so many other things that are plain to see with my eyes. There are not many Djinn, but we are powerful beyond belief. To take even a single one of us from The Beyond causes a noticeable shift in the balance of the universe. To take even one of us would mean that child would have been noticed too late. Far, far too late.”
“Can’t we just,” Ben said, scrambling for comfort, “can’t we just put you all back?”
“No.” Xan said, his expression shifting from animated to stony once again, “you can never come back,” he whispered. “It’s the last thing you hear when you are ripped from The Beyond, a haunting voice that says, ‘you can never come back.” Xan straightened up, “I have said my peace. It is your right, Son of Sacrifice, to do as you wish. I advise you to compose yourself and be prepared for when our master returns. Until then, I am at your service.”
Time passed in a blur when the Chief Executive returned, grinning from ear to crystal ear. The plan to open a gate to The Beyond and bind eight Djinn had been approved by all governing bodies of Solas. Ben would be allowed to handle the Grand Wish, and soon, according to the Chief Executive all of them were going to be filthy, stinking rich. Plans were finalized, and Ben went home early.
‘Nevermind,’ Ben thought later that night as he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, ‘that you fuckers are already filthy, stinking rich. Nevermind that you’d willingly steal the future from the most innocent and vulnerable, from all of them, everywhere. Nevermind that you’d make the entire universe a worse fucking place with your selfish greed.’ Ben hissed out a breath, ‘No, none of that is as important as beating the other two banks in a pissing contest.’
He clenched his fist tight.
“No,” Ben said, eyes hard, “never. You fuckers are all going to pay.”
Chapter
Despite Ben’s anime-tier resolve to instantly solve all his problems and confront all evil in the universe, he still had to go to work the next morning. A typical problem of the modern human. Still, despite all the evil in the universe, and all the evil and careless in justice in The World in particular. . . sometimes, the damn place just opened up in his mind and washed over him. This fucking place was magic.
It started with his walk down the stairs in his apartment building, specially designed for beings in his size category, which was [System Normal]. Very Zootopia-esque by Ben’s reckoning, and the comparison was reinforced by the variety of well to do alien life he passed.
“Morning Ben,” said a purple skinned, horned alien that looked like a cross between Pan and a shirtless accountant. He worked at the bank in a different department.
“Morning,” Ben said, intentionally leaving out the name. He would just butcher the pronunciation again. Frankie appeared out of nowhere and leaped at his neighbor, who tossed a small crystal of pure mana into the air.
“Not today you little thief,” the neighbor said, grinning fondly at the elemental, who snatched the mana crystal and then got caught by the alien and got scratched and pet.
“Oh, really roughing him up,” Ben said, shaking his head and laughing, “yeah, you tell him. He keeps snatching things from my desk; I’ve got no idea where he learned it from.” Frankie, who apparently had enough, portaled away and plopped onto the top of Ben’s head, resting there like a particularly blobby jellyfish. His interface, courtesy of Shelly, pinged at him.
[You have equipped the Frankie Crown.]
“I think he probably gets it from you,” the neighbor said, extremely direct as always. “We still getting everyone together tonight?”
“Oh, for sure, for sure,” Ben said, a big smile on his face, “make sure you bring that guy from your department. You know, the one with the good ideas.”
“He’s. . . ok, I’ll get him, but you’ll have to do another [Omnivore] party.” Ben pretended to be outraged, he put his hand over his heart and made an expression of shock.
“Another- Buddy, you people are gonna bankrupt me!”
“Oh, I’m sorry I-” the neighbor started to back it up, and Ben relaxed, laughing and waving his hands.
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Yeah, spread the word, we’re doing food at my place then. Earth food.”
“Seriously- ok! Yeah, I’ll let everyone know!” He was visibly excited now, and coming from a species that could only normally eat a very bland, tough grass, it wasn’t a surprise.
“Ok, but just be sure to only bring people who’ll be comfortable. You know how I like to talk when I-” Ben made a drinking motion with his hands.
“Oh, you aren’t bad,” the neighbor said, “and you’re right too. The Bank’s great, but it’s not perfect. I really think we can make it better, you know? All of us, together!” Ben smiled at him and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder, mindful of his own incredible human strength.
“People like you give me hope,” Ben said, “oh hell, I gotta get going. Be sure to-”
“He’ll come, he’ll come! He’s gonna love it!”
The encounter ended and Ben continued his walk down the stairs, when he ran into another neighbor, who also worked at The Bank in a different department, who was also coming over for the regular meetings at Ben’s place tonight, who was also bringing a co-worker that would be sympathetic to Ben’s kind of criticism of The Bank.
Then, after that, it happened again, much in the same way. Different co-worker, different department, regular meeting, a new face, criticize The Bank. Then it happened again. And again.
Finally, Ben stepped outside, and the world which was promised to open up and reveal itself did. It was a blast of color and movement. The buildings were noticed first, towering sky-scrapers that put all architecture on Earth to shame. It was hard not to look up and up and up, hard not to crane the neck as far back as it would go, just to get a glimpse of the top.
Then, there were the aliens. There were so many fucking aliens that sometimes Ben would just find a place to sit down and stare at them all as they hurried along the sidewalk to complete their business. There were, of course, the major groups for his part of town. Large, hulking, humanoid reptiles walked in groups, never alone, clearly organized by the colors of their scales, and always reminding Ben vaguely of nazis. He chalked it up to all the conspiracy theories about Reptilians.
Then, there were the Avians. Solitary bird people flying about or walking on two legs, all of them with dark blue feathers. They were numerous, one of the major species in The World.
After that were the variety of Grays who’d survived the mental trauma of what had been done to them by Ben. Many of them appeared to have been waiting outside his apartment. Some of them looked at him with anger, and others with eyes of pure, deeply felt gratitude. There was always a Gray outside his building with a guitar, strumming it softly and singing love from his new soul. He was an individual passed every day and never spoken to. Ben knew him anyways, and was known in turn by him.
It was a common sight in Solas now, actually, to see a previously frozen faced Gray standing on a streetcorner, standing on a box and shouting his message of new emotion. Some of them preached salvation, and others damnation.
“. . . And praise God!” A particularly impassioned gray screamed, his voice thick with anger, “That this filthy world will finally come to an end! The humans were sent to destroy us, and I say let them end it all! The universe is a dying, murdered thing, bleeding out! . . .” and then Ben was out of earshot. He glanced back at the small crowd gathered around the alien, expressionless. Listening, just listening.
It had been commented that there were alot more Grays in Solas than anyone thought. Most of them just sat robotically in their cramped apartment cells when they were finished working. Now, it seemed like every single one of them had come outside, and were determined to stay there.
Ben passed a group of Grays who were experimenting with color. They were painted with a thick, almost dry paste, lines of vibrant primary colors across their entire bodies, a chaotic rainbow free from any constraints. They were selling Prince of Wonders tie-dye t-shirts, one size fits all, along with a variety of unenchanted, colorful beads and jewelry. They were also high as fuck on some alien variant of LSD.
Ben took one look at them and immediately decided he had to try that stuff, eventually, when he had more time. The LSD, not the beads and t-shirts. Much to Ben’s chagrin, Frankie jumped from his head and purchased their entire stock, merely vomiting money at them and taking everything without negotiation.
Ben started walking faster so that they wouldn’t see him. He really needed to get to work.