Buzzing, but confused. I stood in an area of darkness, unsure of why I was not in front of a small crowd of Monsters ready to put on a show. The purple curtains to my side and radiant glow past them clued me in to where I actually was.
“Smugglers and scoundrels! Hold on tight to your seats as we welcome the one and only… Max the Magnificent!”
A wide grin pasted across my face - although such a thing was natural and expected with what was about to happen. Straightened up and made sure my hat was on properly. Took one deep breath in and then out before my feet took me in motion.
Out from the wings of the stage and into the illuminated area. There was the polished wooden floor of the stage, and a glow that illuminated Ren - who had just given me the best introduction I could ask for.
Her suit, normally a soft pastel blue, was now sparkling and bright - as if a haze of glitter followed it. Eyes brighter than those lights above us beaming down. Some nerves at the edges of her expression, but completely overridden by the elation. She looked like a firework about to burst.
I strode forward to stand beside her, and we gave the crowd of gathered System-created a low bow in tandem. It took a lot of effort to keep my heart in my chest, as it was close to bursting. We rose and gave each other a look. This was new ground for us both, her especially. While our shared tricks were few and far between, we would just have to allow magic to dictate how well the show turned out.
My hand extended to put the spotlight on her and I stepped off to the side by a dozen feet. Took my hat down and showed it to be empty to the vacant crowd. Red Dazzle icons hung patiently over their heads, waiting to be increased. From within, I reached and withdrew a hatchet.
Allowing my gambling nature to wash over and encompass my beautiful protégé, I tossed the weapon through the air, and she caught it. Still keeping eyes on myself, I shook my hat back out and gave a look of animated confusion at the crowd.
Where was the second hatchet?
A figurative lightbulb appeared over my head, and I returned my hat atop my head. Instead, I hopped onto one foot and made the show of struggling to remove my boot. A little more slapstick than I’d usually be able to stomach, but we were having a little more fun with this performance. Shaking the footwear in front of me, the second hatchet now slid from where my foot had just been occupying. Perplexing, I was sure.
I grabbed it from the air and flung it over to Ren, who once again caught it with little issue. In fact - rather than just grasp at the small axes, her catch immediately followed through into juggling the weapons.
Slightly more advanced than the fruit that we had practiced with, I was proud of her and briefly enraptured as well. Doubly so, as with the faintest whisper that the crowd wouldn’t hear, both of the hatchets burst into fire.
A quick side-eye to the crowd saw them squirm under the violence we were forcing them to endure. Physical pain for however insufferable we could be.
With a grin and flourish of my hands to the elf, I signaled the continuation of the show. She tossed one of the hatchets into the air toward me in an arc. Back in my hands, my hat was then thrown up to catch the object. The second came soon after, to which my held headwear easily received - flames extinguishing as they somehow fit in the small space.
My hand went in and I withdrew a hell-dove. Ren held her arm out, and I allowed it to fly over to her hand as I gave a bow before leaving the stage. From the shadowed wings, I watched her draw her cape around to obscure the bird. With an animated flourish, she then revealed that it had vanished - and instead, I was now there.
The lack of applause was concerning, but the collapse of two of the audience was music to my ears. Roger’s absence was also odd - I’d have to bring that up at his quarterly review.
As Ren stepped to my side, I withdrew my card deck, shuffling them in several ways before offering her a spread.
She picked a card and flaunted it to the crowd, pacing the length of the stage back and forth to ensure they all remembered which she had picked. While I averted my eyes from the performance, she then return it to the deck - where I gave it several more shuffles to hide away her choice.
Stepping back toward the middle of the stage, I then worked up my shoulders. With one quick action, I threw the whole deck into the air. All fifty-two cards then fluttered to the floor. My arm extended, I held a finger out like a gun, closing one eye to focus.
There it was. Eight of Clubs.
My spear burst up from the stage, impaling one of the cards.
As the last of the trick settled on the floor, Ren stepped over to remove the pierced cardboard. With her own faux surprise, she then showed it to the audience - it was indeed the card she had picked previously. Another two or three members of the crowd dropped from their seats.
I stepped up behind her and my hand went along the outside of her ear, bringing out another Eight of Clubs. She turned to me, her eyes dancing with impassioned fire. Her hand went up to my ear, as she drew forth an Eight of Clubs as well.
Cannon dropped behind me and burst out three sets of Dazzle-inducing confetti, as I drew the elf in close to me. The remaining participants were shredded by the sudden forced violence, the show facade dropping as they died at the same time as I broke their suspension of disbelief.
The Domain faded to leave us in the wide chamber of the smugglers.
“Holy fuck, that was amazing,” she whispered, before our locking lips put a stop to any further post-show opinion polls.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
As we became inseparable and sunk to the floor, I dispersed as many pillows and blankets beneath us as my Inventory would allow.
Greatest show in the System.
----------------------------------------
The chill breeze of the real world buffeted my overheated body.
“I’m still buzzing,” Ren whispered, her bow up and ready as we stepped outside of the smuggler’s cove.
Darkness, still barely lit by the light of the two moons, greeted us with the accompaniment of a world still half asleep. It was a familiar feeling - the juxtaposition of the dopamine and fanfare of the show, before stepping out into the calm of reality. Of course, I didn’t usually have to worry about being assaulted straight after a show.
“Same, it will last a while.” I smiled at her. “You were amazing… if I haven’t said that enough.”
“You definitely haven’t.” She stuck her tongue out at me before smiling out at the darkness.
Given that was something impromptu, playing it all by ear… she was fantastic. So far, my Domain shows were a short affair, which paired fine with our lack of experience in acting as a duo… but it wouldn’t take much for us to work on something that could last and truly wreak havoc. Or delight, I supposed.
I chalked up this success to the fact that I had accepted she could be my equal for the entirety of the rollercoaster. Up and down, not just the pleasant parts. Our strength as fighters always took a leap when we allowed the middle we met at to grow untethered.
“Looks clear,” I noted. “Let’s head back.”
Her nod was the only acknowledgement. We had expected an ambush, as we had gotten greedy. Adventuring without our Party, in the middle of the night, and allowing our passions to leave us weak and assailable… but it seemed we had gotten away with it. Dangerous thoughts.
We snuck through the darkness, a quiet contentedness between us. Not only silent as we were being sneaky, but we wanted to ensure that we hadn’t invited drama before giving each other a high five for our performance. For the magic show, I meant.
She paused and held onto my arm. “Max… could we take a detour to do something?”
I nodded, wondering what energy she could honestly have left. The energy in her eyes said this was important, and I found it hard to disagree when they looked at me that way.
A quick glance at my Map as she led me away from our most efficient path said that she was taking us closer to the coast. I doubted that a swim was on her mind, but we weren’t going quite that far - in fact, as we entered a small clearing, she slowed to a stop.
The peak of a small hill of grass, illuminated by the light of the moons. Surrounded by trees that fell away enough to where the endless sea could be seen along the wide horizon. A beautiful place. I turned my gaze to her to see what she had planned.
“This is… I’m sorry if this is awkward. I just feel like it’s the right time now.” From her Inventory, she pulled out her sword.
I gave her a gentle nod and took a few steps backward, allowing her the full breadth of the stage. The weapon had a glow of its own. Even though she had looted it from the cove all the way back on the starter island, it hadn’t seen much use - but I knew she held it close for good reason.
She withdrew it from the scabbard and pressed the point into the soft soil, pushing down until it was stable. With a step back, she then kneeled before it.
“You carried me as long as you could, but now I will be free of your weight. Find your peace amongst the stars, Flynn. Without worry, or the shackles that always held you back. You are free.”
I watched in silence as she ran her thumb down the edge of the blade. Once a bead of blood formed on the end of the digit, she drew a red x on the hilt of the blade. The elf exhaled and shrugged off the tension from her shoulders, before standing and turning back to me. An awkwardness marred her expression, unsure of how to explain everything to me after the night we had just had.
“No need to say anything.” I gave her a nod. “Sleep is calling out for us. Shall we?”
She smiled and as she held my hand; we departed the small shrine she had created.
Without stopping for romantic smooches, the way back seemed to take only a fraction of the time, and we soon found ourselves at the group of houses the Party were staying at. Half expecting them to be on fire, or the bloodied bodies of our companions to be splayed about the area… I was cautiously optimistic in thinking everything looked normal. Still felt odd, however.
A switch with my dove and I then I dropped a rope out of the window. Ren climbed up without issue, although the way she collapsed into my arms once through the opening signaled that she was more exhausted than she was letting on.
“Thank you,” she said as she rose up. A brief kiss before she nuzzled into the side of my neck. “I’m not sure if that counts as a first date, but I had a great time.”
“Me too.” With one arm around her, my right hand came up to rub the back of her neck. “Just when I thought I couldn’t love you any more than I already do, I am woefully incorrect.”
“Life is surprising.” She leaned back to look me in the face. “I was already committed to seeing this all through… but knowing what we could have in a more peaceful world… I would go to Hell and back to have a place for our love to survive.”
“Let’s get some sleep.” I kissed her forehead. “Tomorrow is a big step on that ladder.”
Exhausted, with both our souls and hearts full, neither of us had an issue drifting off immediately. Well, at least I know I didn’t - it was hard to tell if she had any issue when I was already asleep.
----------------------------------------
“Max?”
My brow furrowed and eyes burned at the glare of daylight streaming in through the window.
“Ren?”
That was new. The disembodied voice waking me up wasn’t the elf for a change. I turned over in the bed to see her still in the deep throes of rest, mouth askew like she was dead to the world.
“I don’t want to come in, in case you’re indecent… just let me know you’re actually alive?”
My brain clicked around enough notches to clue me in to that being Tanya’s voice on the other side of the door. Quite likely, the pair of us had overslept. Whatever dream I had been party to smudged the lines of our nighttime activities to the point where I had to question if they were real.
“We’re alive. Be right there,” I called out. “Start up breakfast?”
“Right you are.” Her voice didn’t sound too overjoyed that we were being lazy on this particular day.
My eyes went back down from the door to see that the bleary eyes of the elf were now glaring at me, her brow furrowed.
“I should kill you for waking me so early,” she grumbled, not willing to move any more than the sentence required.
“If you do that, you’ll never find someone who can rub your feet as well as I do.”
She groaned and closed her eyes, although her face now relaxed. “Asshole. I knew falling in love with you was a mistake.”
I smiled and brushed her messy hair behind her long ear. “Then I guess I’ll just go and take these magic hands downstairs to eat breakfast without you.”
“Max.”
Her eyes were open once more, finally giving up on accepting that it was daytime. She squirmed around under the covers, fighting against the comfort she had settled into for the night.
“Yes, Ren?”
“We could die today… at least hold me close for another five minutes before we face the world.”
I was already halfway to doing so before she could finish the line. It wasn’t even a fear of losing each other, or something ruining what we had. Death had always been on the plate… but we had taken a large bite of what could be our future. We loved the taste and craved more.
This time tomorrow we’d either be laying together in a bed victorious, or entwined and broken in a shallow grave.
The System wasn’t prepared for what I would do to ensure it was the former.