Zoe floated in Lorilla’s arms as Rue pointed at the distant glimmer.
“What is that?”
He vanished, and, with a nauseating rush, Lorilla carried Zoe over to inspect the conspicuous gleam.
A silver rosebud set upon a dusty shelf in the arch. The pinprick reflections of stars gleamed like dew upon the clustered petals.
[Silverbud: embed this in the flesh to grow vast wings of metal blades]
[Essence: metal +8, blood +8]
Rue and Lorilla stared at it for a moment.
“A fair compromise,” they announced at the same time.
Zoe sighed.
That wasn’t what she was expecting. It was perfect if she looked at it from the point of view of the two gods arguing above her. It was hurting, being around these two. She could feel scratches reopening. Her bones trembled, as though she just jumped down from a great height.
She had never felt so fragile, and yet, Lorilla’s arms held her nice and safe. Nothing ever felt better.
“I don’t understand how it got here,” Rue said. “I don’t remember collecting it.”
“There is the possibility it is a trophy of any of the thousand warriors aboard this vessel.”
The three options presented to her by the gods had their uses. The [Earth Engine] gave her a means of traveling and conveying her friends, but after losing the [Charm of the Monsoon Fairy] she didn’t want to rely on artifacts. The pill of [Hammerstruck Myriad] would synergize the oddities of her build but would remove her ability to perform psychic surgery.
And she was only just scratching the surface of that.
The [Silverbud] seemed odd, something flesh, plant, metal, but it would grow into its power as it grew from her. Another parasite, though this one would let her fly...
Which left the [Amber Grenade] as the other item that caught her interest. Though that again was more of a potential resource.
She might not have the chance for such a useful reward for some time, but which to choose?
The [Silverbud] sat in front of her, glistening in the light, metal so perfectly formed it appeared to tremble. But as she looked again, she realized it wasn’t what glimmered.
An item lay behind it… barely an item. Merely a speck of something caught in a crack in the wood, as though someone ripped away the item that once stood there.
It flashed in the light of countless stars and shone through Zoe’s eye and into her brain. Dust coated her tongue, as a moon rose overhead pale and sickly. The darkness grew leaves and the trees towered. She reached for the glimmer like it was the last trace of warmth in the world.
Lorilla’s arms held her in place as securely as any roller coaster. The goddess didn’t even react to Zoe's ineffectual struggle.
“She wants the [Silverbud],” Rue said. “A fine choice.”
“No,” Zoe said, feeling like a toddler as they held her. “There’s something behind.”
She reached, and this time Lorilla allowed it. They floated forward toward the shelf until Zoe could reach behind the silver flower — though it drew at her with a song like the wind whistling through her hair — and pluck at the speck that lured her eyes with a dreamlike light.
It was a shard that sliced through her finger, and in that quick sliver of pain, she gained the clarity to scan the object.
[Fragment of the Witch’s Crossroads]
[No further description available]
“Now that really shouldn’t be there,” Lorilla said with a frown as she snatched it from Zoe’s fingers and set it back on the shelf. “We disposed of it a long time ago.”
“What is it?” Zoe asked.
“It’s a relic from a quest,” Rue answered after a pause. “It represents failure, but also hubris. That we thought we could accept such a quest, let alone begin it… we shall discuss it no further.”
Zoe could feel the power aching out of the piece of bloodied glass. She recognized it now. A piece of a broken bottle. Edges honed by chance into surgical sharpness. Random shapes to defy predictability. It cut you, to take your blood so that it might drip to the soil below.
“What is the quest?” Zoe asked.
After the silence hung, she turned to Rue. He floated before her like a statue of steel. Every inch of him was a blade. A tempest, frozen in form. His eyes flashed at her as he floated closer.
“You insist on questioning, but what would you do if I said no? What could you do, right now, to make me tell you?”
Zoe wriggled backward into Lorilla’s arms, but the lovely goddess's full lips pressed against Zoe’s ear.
“You’re on your own with this, little one,” she whispered.
She released her hold. Zoe fell, and Rue followed.
###
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Zoe’s chain lashed out the second Lorilla dropped her. She scooped up the mirrored fragment from the shelf with the dexterity of an octopus. A shudder thumped through space as she took possession of the shard. It throbbed through her chain and up into her body as she plummeted into the abyss.
But as she fell her chain surged up and snatched the [Silverbud] of its own accord.
[ding!]
[Toys! You finally got me toys to play with!]
[Thank you so much, Zoe!]
Her chain wrapped around her in a constricting hug and she spiraled her way down.
Rue dove after her like a lazy falcon
“I admire the tenacity,” he laughs. “But it doesn’t change your ability to do anything to stop me. How about this? Give up one of those artifacts and I’ll let you leave. Or…” his smile sharpened until it cut her gaze. “Or, you face 1% of my power. If you last ten seconds, I will let you keep both items, plus one more.”
Zoe continued falling, but now Rue floated above her. He stood in the air and stopped falling, he rapidly shrunk.
“Do you accept my challenge?” his voice called down. “Hurry before you hit the floor.”
What choice did Zoe have?
And then that familiar whisper crept over the horizon of her mind.
[Reject the system?]
[Yes] / [No]
There was always that choice. The third option. Between a rock and a hard place lay the void through which one swung. The promise of freedom from it all. From fear, pain, and choice.
She clenched her fist around the glass shard as her chain hugged the bud. Blood trickled from her palm. Rue was no longer visible amongst the pinprick stars and floating rings.
“I accept your challenge!” she called out.
Her voice vanished into the dark, and as she rushed toward the hidden ground, waiting for its embrace to shatter her body.
“Excellent,” said Rue.
And the grey void seized her, folded her up, and threw her somewhere else.
###
In the garden, fat motes of pollen caught the swirling, golden light of the sunset. They glowed and floated through the space where Zoe stood moments ago. Jack stuttered, gaped, and passed his hand through where solid flesh had been.
“She… vanished?”
A wry smile crept across Anton’s face as his eyes scanned the garden.
“She has a bad habit of falling between dimensions.”
“That sounds ridiculous.”
Anton shrugged.
“You get used to it.”
They stood in silence for a moment as the swirling sky darkened.
“So what do we do now?”
“Now…?”
Anton stared up at the polyp. He could feel it waiting, watching, at once a judge high above a court and a baby staring out between the bars of a crib.
“Now we say hello.”
He walked forward with a certainty that grew true the closer he got to the golden creature. Warmth flushed through him like sunbeams through the summer sky. His hand floated forward of its own accord, and that too was true. Right.
Easy.
The polyp brushed against him. A mind generated by a brain heavier than a small car. No wonder the creature leaned its head upon its knees. His silver eyes swarmed the alien like flies around manure, but he saw more with his eyes closed. The polyp did not hide itself.
It existed to link a community of people with the powers of the system: instantaneous transport of goods and people, bestowing of power, and altering of reality.
Wishes.
All that the polyp required was a protector — the mayor — and constant growth. Expand the range of the community and expand the range of the polyp. The more of the world it can survey and relay to the System at large, the greater its power, and the greater the gifts it could give.
Anton snarled at the gentle polyp.
It wanted them to become snitches for the system!
He backed away, his mind leaving the comforting shroud of the polyp and he looked at the garden of swaying leaves and bright flowers.
“Are you alright?” Jack asked.
Anton blinked at him.
Jack had been acting almost decently since arriving at the courthouse. The question felt sincere.
Anton closed his eyes and watched himself through the silver.
“I’m fine,” Anton said. “Thanks. Why don’t you try it out?”
Like it was a beer.
Because it had left a buzz upon his soul that he couldn’t detach. The polyp marked him, and now he could scan. Through the lens of the system, the world exposed itself, and he couldn’t hide the sheer joy as his eyes flew away and cataloged everything they saw.
He was learning, and the smile on his face was goofy but he didn’t care.
“Does it make you feel good?” Jack asked.
“I wouldn’t say that exactly. It expands you, and that feels good.”
Opening up like a flower to the world. He didn’t say that part aloud. It was too close to his body path.
Status
Anton
Level 20 (2 levels unincorporated)
Body: The Flower Opens (Rank 2, Progress 0/10)
Might: 13
Vitality: 11
Dexterity: 42
Willpower: 15
Insight: 76
Skein 145/177
Free Points: 0
Titles: Intrepid, Tailwind, Fools Rush In, The Magnifying Glass
Techniques: Window Spores
His thoughts shifted to his progress as Jack studied the golden alien. His body path lacked in development, but once he found an appropriate element to incorporate, he could expand its functions.
The initial goal had been to expand Insight, but now that his attributes were growing so lopsided, he was wondering how valid his strategy was. Partly he wanted to stick to his guns. Every time he increased his Insight it was like turning over a new page in the book that was the world.
But the guy who focused on Insight was a blunt-force instrument of an idiot.
Was Anton still that guy?
After a few minutes, Jack shrugged and walked toward the polyp. He didn't even look over his shoulder. Did he trust Anton that much?
Anton never looked over his shoulder, because he didn’t have to. His eyes were everywhere, and he was always looking over his shoulder and everyone else's.
He wouldn’t call it paranoia.
Because he felt momentum like he was rushing toward something. Some growth. The book of magic, his body path, and the scan — they all fit so well together. He was just a cog crafted by the system until he fit into place. Something was coming, it would snatch him up for whatever purpose it planned. It was only right that he was paranoid!
He received a notification as this thought slid through his brain.
[Because of your connection to the mayor of this unnamed town we have designated you a member of the ruling class]
[Please accept the following quest]
[Noblesse Oblige: the safe zone generated by the polyp cannot house everyone in this community. You must expand it before the Winter Queen’s forces invade!]
[Countdown: 2 days, 23 hours, 12 minutes]
[Reward: conditional]
[Do you accept?]
[Yes] / [No]
He accepted the quest as Jack stumbled away from the polyp. The younger man looked like a drunk. He almost fell, but Anton caught him and lowered him down to sit on the ground. He dusted down the thin young man as he pondered the quest.
“How do you feel?” Anton asked.
He could kill Jack now. Solve the problem while Zoe was away. Say it was self-defense. Though he already knew the polyp saw as thoroughly as he did, and so would Zoe.
Jack blinked.
“It’s, a lot, but it’s worth it.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Thank you.”
“Sure.”
“No,” Jack squeezed Anton’s hands. “Thank you.”
“Huh?”
“When I was standing over there, connected to the polyp. I thought you were going to… I didn’t expect to walk away.”
“And this is how you’re reacting?”
Jack grinned.
“No, I planned to connect to the polyp and use its powers to destroy you.”