“We should get the stupid flower and go,” said Will. “This place is getting to me.”

“It’s one of the most powerful magical creatures in the world,” Virgil said. “Hardly a stupid flower.”

“Yeah, it lets you teleport to other dimensions, I get that. But I’m not even leaving, so I’m not entirely sure why we came all this way for one.”

“It’s more than teleportation,” Skullcrusher said. “With proper cultivation it can rip holes between dimensions.”

“Is that good?” Will asked. “Are holes between dimensions something we care about?”

“That’s something we currently want to avoid doing,” Glory said. “Our problem is at the moment purely internal, and we want to keep it that way.”

“Currently want to avoid doing,” Will said, echoing the statement.

“It’s like a quarantine. Not like it’s easy to just enter or leave in the first place, but no reason to take the risk.” Glory continued.

“I’m impatient to see it,” said Skullcrusher. “I’ve never seen one in person, only in records.”

“We should get it and go,” Virgil said. “Will is right about that.”

They walked the way to the greenhouse, which had had its eastern wall torn down by Skullcrusher. Uther unlocked the door, which fell backwards and shattered.

“In fairness, it was mostly like that when I got here,” Skullcrusher said defensively.

The plants were overgrown and damp with warm humidity, which was now leaching into the outside world. What had once been tables and shelves had collapsed under the weight of growth.

Uther beckoned for Will to follow to a second door further in, which was securely locked behind gray brick walls. This he also unlocked.

This second room was more like a bunker than a greenhouse. Small, hardy flowers grew from the cracked concrete floor.

“That’s the warp flower,” Uther said, pointing to a small, scraggly shrub. From it a single rose bloomed, a dark blue flower dusted with gold on the edges of its petals.

It was a pretty flower, Will supposed, but it hardly seemed to be the most powerful plant in the world. “Are you sure?” Will asked. “It just looks like a rose that someone spray-painted gold.”

“I don’t know what spray paint is,” Uther said, “but yes. That’s the warp flower.”

Will stepped forward to touch it. The scent it produced made Will feel lonely and nostalgic, like it was the smell of some sugary dessert he used to love as a kid.

He grabbed the stem and pulled, suddenly feeling an intense burst of vertigo. Pulling the flower loose was like trying to pull a comrade who had fallen off a cliff.

Then the stem snapped and Will went tumbling back, flower in hand. Despite the strange feelings it had given him, it still felt disappointingly normal to Will.

Will got to his hooves, avoiding eye contact with Uther. “Okay, flower acquired,” he announced, loud enough for everyone to hear.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

He stepped back outside, where his friends were standing around nervously.

“I can put it somewhere safe,” Glory said, reaching out a hand.

“How exactly does that work?” Will asked, though he surrendered the rose. “There had to be something keeping you from just taking it yourself with magic.”

“I need to know exactly where something is,” Glory said. “If it’s an object I’ve never seen, I can’t do anything to it.”

“Hm,” Will said, filing that information away. “Is everyone, like, okay?”

He regretted saying this aloud, because he earned several odd looks.

“I’m sure I speak for everyone that I’m glad you’re still here with us.”

“I’ve said a million times I’m not leaving,” Will said, slightly annoyed. “And you know I mean it.”

“It’s one thing to think so without the way back home, and another to think so with it in the literal palm of your hand.”

Will bit down the snarky comment he wanted to make, aware that it would probably only make things worse. “What are we gonna do with it now, then?”

“Turn it in for the quest,” Glory said, dropping the warp flower out of view. “It’s got a rather sizeable bounty associated with it.”

“What, like gold? Give me a baseline.”

“One warp flower should go for about 5,000 gold, about the cost of an average house in King’s Hollow.”

“Okay, so a sizable bounty.” Will agreed. “What’s the square footage of an average house in King’s Hollow?”

“About 2,000 square feet,” Glory said after a moment of calculation.

For a terrible moment Will imagined getting into real estate. Glory visibly winced at the mental image.

“Conveniently it splits five ways,” Glory said. “I share with Virgil, so…”

Glory turned to Skullcrusher. “How do you want your share?”

Skullcrusher looked like he was going to cry. “My share? You shouldn’t, really. It’s not right. The great Skullfuck Bonecrusher cannot accept handouts.”

“Consider it an investment, then,” Will said. “That is how we got in to see you in the first place. Retroactively make it true.”

Skullcrusher considered this. “Acceptable. Ten percent interest rate per year.”

“Two percent,” Glory said.

“Eight percent!” Skullcrusher countered.

“Three point three repeating percent.” Glory said.

“Five percent, final offer!” Skullcrusher said, visibly desperate.

“Deal!”

Will, who had observed the brief exchange with terrified curiosity, cleared his throat. “Do we have to figure this all out right here? The sun is beginning to set and I’d really hate to get caught out in the open again.”

They started back towards the grove of Daphnis, Skullcrusher, Dio, and Rex each excitedly babbling about how they would spend his cut.

“What are you thinking of buying?” Virgil asked Will. Both were slightly lagging behind, affording them the illusion of privacy.

“Honestly I have no idea,” Will said. “I barely know what’s for sale.”

“You could afford to change classes if you’re not happy with soulmaster,” Virgil said.

“I think I actually like it,” Will said, “uniform notwithstanding.”

Virgil made a little concerned noise. “Yeah, it’s just… risky, you know.”

“Not you, too,” Will said faux-melodramatically. “I’m not gonna die. I’ve spent my entire life without dying. I can handle not dying.”

There was a pause as Virgil considered this. “You know, if this was a story, you’d die right after saying that, for dramatic irony.”

“Honestly, I was thinking the same thing,” Will said. “Good thing my hubris is only punished in extraordinarily stupid ways.”