Tantalus swayed on his feet as squads T1 and T2 regrouped into one large mass of grey-cloaked soldiers. Synth was the hero of the day. All of Tantalus’s soldiers wanted to talk to him about his hidden musical talent. Synth was naturally very laid back about the whole affair.

“I knew you played, but I didn’t know you were good!” Redgrave said as he slapped his comrade on the back.

“I’ve played bass, guitar, and drums ever since I was five years old. I’ve just had a lot of practice,” Synth said, clearly slurring his words. It was probably for the best that Cordelia didn’t ask him to say anything while he was on stage because his drunkenness would’ve been obvious to everyone in the audience.

“Are you really drunk?” FullDan asked, doubtful that it was possible.

“Oh, yeah,” Synth giggled, “I drank a lot more than I thought I did. As long as I have two hands, one ear, and half a brain, I can hold a bassline. I couldn’t do much in the Old World, but I could do that. It’s a point of pride for me.”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” Pixie said.

Other people in the audience began to approach the collection of soldiers in grey-cloaks. Seeing such a large group of soldiers from Tantalus’s unit was a rarity outside of the West Gate, and they were further egged on by the fact that the bassist from Cordelia’s band had just disappeared into the mass of flapping fabric.

“You guys get Synth out of here. I don’t want to cause unnecessary problems for Cordelia,” Tantalus said to Redgrave and the rest of Squad T1.

“We can distract the crowd while you bring Synth somewhere else,” FullDan suggested with a quiet chuckle. “I may not be as popular as you, Captain, but at least I’m sober.”

“Sounds good,” Tantalus said. He would have seriously analyzed the situation, but the vodka in his system prevented him from analyzing anything in depth. “Sorry we couldn’t hang out together for longer. I’ll see you at tomorrow’s operation, then.”

“Aye, Captain,” FullDan touched two fingers to the area just above his eyebrow in a casual salute.

Squads T1 and T2 split off from Squads T5 and T6. The eleven drunk soldiers of T1 and T2 casually walked away from the crowd of excited Revenants. Just before they left earshot, they could hear the sound of FullDan saying, “Unfortunately, Synthwave won’t be taking any questions right now. For now, you may address any questions you have to me.”

Tantalus and the group of drunk soldiers soon stepped through the narrow passageway out of Elysium. They quickly reached the parking lot where they had left their vehicles. Many of them were jogging by the time they reached the cars. There was a short outburst of laughter from some of the Revenants as they reached the parking lot. Some of the Revenants with smaller avatars leaned against the cars when they reached them. Tantalus knew that most of the women were even lighter than him, so they must have been even more drunk than he was.

“I’m too old for this,” Tantalus muttered as he stood in the center of the parking lot with his hands on his hips. In fact, Tantalus’s body was holding up just fine. His twenty-year-old avatar could digest the alcohol easily and not even suffer a significant hangover. At the time, Tantalus was mostly thinking about cultural expectations. A forty-year-old man shouldn’t go on benders with college students.

“Is anybody here sober enough to drive?” Redgrave asked the group as a whole.

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He received a number of responses, but all were some version of “absolutely not.” Eleven Revenants were present there, and all of them were way too drunk to operate heavy machinery.

“Where’s Riemann?” Tantalus asked, rubbing his face with the palms of his hand.

“I saw him go into one of the other buildings in Elysium,” Redgrave said. “I’ll send him a message.”

Tantalus leaned against the wheel well of the SUV in which he had recently ridden in as a passenger. The other Revenants stood nearby, and many of them leaned against nearby cars or concrete dividers. They organized themselves in an informal circle.

“He says he’ll be here in a few minutes,” Redgrave said.

Tantalus shut his eyes tight. The intoxication was starting to bother him. He enjoyed the brief respite from anxiety it granted him, but he didn’t much like spending long periods without command of his higher faculties. Tantalus could tell that he had already digested all of the alcohol in his stomach, and he would start sobering up soon. As a quick prediction, Tantalus figured he would be sober in three or four hours, though it was difficult to make such predictions in such an unfamiliar body.

“Hey, Tantalus?” Eska asked carefully.

“Hmm?” Tantalus responded without opening his eyes.

“You said you might tell the story about Vincent Blackwell after a few drinks,” Eska said. “Do you think now would be a good time to tell that story?”

Tantalus opened his eyes. He did not respond for a few seconds.

“Okay,” Tantalus said. “It’s not a good story. Are you sure you want to hear it?” Based on the tone of voice Tantalus used when he said the word “good,” it was clear that he used the word as a substitute for “pleasant.”

“Absolutely,” Redgrave said, the boisterousness in his tone was gone. “We all want to learn more about you, man.”

“I don’t like to think of ‘Vincent Blackwell’ as ‘me,’ if that makes sense,” Tantalus said. “Anyway, sure, I’ll tell the story.”

Tantalus took a deep breath and began to speak. “Vincent Blackwell was born in 1994 to a moderately wealthy family. They weren’t millionaires, but the family never had to seriously worry about paying rent or buying food. Vincent excelled in school, he finished high school at the top of his class, and he graduated from UNC with honors. Then, he got to law school, and he found that his natural intelligence would carry him no further.

“Diligence was necessary to excel at law school, and Vincent had not yet learned how to live diligently. He finished his first semester of law school in the bottom-half of the class. Vincent was in no danger of failing after the second semester, but the untimely deaths of a few family members caused Vincent to inherit a small fortune. He dropped out of law school after the first year and decided to live off of the inheritance.

“Vincent moved to Atlanta. He lived there from 2022 to 2027, and, well, you can guess what happened. While he was escaping, Vincent… killed three people. He went through the motions he had learned in Ninth Oasis, and they died. It was so easy. He was terrified of his situation, but most of all, he was terrified of himself.

“Either way, he escaped from Atlanta. Vincent tried not to think about his actions too much. He buried himself in Ninth Oasis for several months. Soon, Vincent was approached by Kingfisher, the leader of the Scions of the Blue Flame. He desperately wanted anything to take his mind off of the images that followed him every time he closed his eyes, so he accepted Kingfisher’s invitation.

“While the Three-Year War raged outside, Vincent shut himself inside and focused all of his mental faculties on Ninth Oasis. He moved to Philadelphia alongside the rest of the Scions, but he only left his room when absolutely necessary. Vincent helped the Scions reach almost impossible heights, but he still could not step on stage in order to accept his trophies. Recursion would always have an excuse to explain away his absence.

“After the Scions disbanded and the war ended, Vincent became even worse. He wouldn’t leave his room for months, and he started a YouTube channel just to have something to do. Fittingly, he used his old username ‘Tantalus’ for his new YouTube channel. Tantalus: a character who couldn’t reach out and grasp the fruit immediately in front of his face.

“This was the status quo until October 1st, 2035. Ferrum launched, and Vincent died the moment he turned on his Kabuto system.”

Tantalus exhaled, attempting to expel any remnants of Vincent Blackwell from his system. “Though, these are probably just the ramblings of a drunk old man. Ah, there you are, Riemann.”