***

“We’re suffering one defeat after another, that’s what’s happened!” shouted Illyseh, unable to believe how calm Ronnie could be in such a situation.

“Here’s another reason I chose military victory. It all depends on your individual skills. You fail because you rely on others. People have a tendency to fail.”

“Individual fucking skills? Hmm?”

“Yeah.”

“Your individual skills have led you to be fooled, like a five-year-old girl who doesn’t understand the rules of the game of life. They bullshit you, look you right in the eye, and you take the bait and swallow it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nika.”

Ronnie tensed.

“What about Nika?”

“She leads the Hashashins’ guild. Now they are on the orders of Top Secret to go after our souls. And we, with our scanners, only pave the way for them so that at the right moment, we all get our throats cut. Three people from the Tough Rise guild are on their heels, trying to find direct evidence of their collusion. But here’s a who’s who, and you should have realized what was going on around you long ago!”

Ronnie froze. His eyes stared for about a minute, his mouth barely open, and his breathing slowed. She left the guild to get rid of suspicions of collusion. I knew there was something wrong with her, but it wouldn’t have occurred to me. He tried to say something several times, but he went silent. He gathered his thoughts and said:

“They didn’t want to take me on the mission. They wanted my weapon, but it was damaged, so they hired me.”

“The first enlightenment, that’s some progress. Only now your weapon is not the only point of interest. They have an additional motive: why is it that the curse traps don’t work for you?”

Ronnie rubbed his chin and lowered his head and remembered the chess game against Latludious and said:

“He lost to me on purpose.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He let me feel like a winner.”

“Ronnie, the dungeon is not endless. Half an hour ago, our officers died in a battle with a dragon, our army was burned, and the ruin of the Varnasosto fortress is swarming with mages from Top Secret. They are winning and winning hard. Stop fucking around and playing dumb, okay? We need to band together and confront them.”

“You didn’t kill them when you found out about it because you were afraid of your officer ranks, right?”

Illyseh was silent.

“I see what’s wrong with you. If you’d tell me that from get go, I’d pull the trigger and kill them all as soon as they came in. I think it would’ve been my only chance to deal with them. And we all fucked it up.”

“You stopped being afraid of the contract hanging over your head, hm? If you killed them there, you’d dug your own grave. We have no proof of their guilt. Doing what you said would be disastrous!”

Ronnie spat and said:

“Then by now, consider you’ve already spread your buns. Fuck! Why can’t people just do the right thing?”

“You’re out of your fucking mind, schmuck! We, unlike you, can see further than our noses! Can’t you understand one simple thing: if we’ll win and get out of here alive, Top Secret will get a lifetime debuff ‘enemy of the race’, after which they can’t fucking do anything! Every fucking player on the server will know the truth, which will start pouring out a huge waterfall of shit right from the sky. Top Secret will perish, and the Hashashins will go to the trash dump where the rats belong. It’s the only winning outcome. Fuck! Think about it, if we killed them in the fortress as you suggested, they’d become folk martyrs and heroes, take back the pass to the mountains, build an airport just for their own people, get seats in the government, and what good would that outcome do?”

“If you have long suspected that Top Secret is playing a double game, why did you leave the players to fight against the dragon? Send them to their deaths!”

“Because, my friend, there is no limit to human greed, including in the ranks of the officers who decide by vote. Do not accuse me of all mortal sins just because I am a politician. I tell the truth and I don’t cheat. I literally brought you back from the dead yesterday, when Faolandan, Vvy, and Latludious offered to leave you. Is that all the thanks I get? You didn’t even hint for a minute about the dragon, didn’t tell me what Top Secret was up to, though I’m sure you suspected them as much as we did, and you, boy, hid your indifference behind the word ‘contract.’ You think you can outplay the entire world? Hmm? You think you’re so smart, don’t you? You only think of yourself and your own gain, but soon your greed will get you killed without a word, because no sniper can fight a mage in a confined space. How have you not figured that out yet? When Top Secret gets rid of the us, the whole server will be fucked. So, either you pick a fucking side or I’ll fucking kill you right here.”

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“Well said. Yeah,” Ronnie said, nodding his head in agreement, then dryly spat on his palm and held it out in front of him.

They shook hands and agreed to share ideas on how to get out of the situation they’d gotten themselves into.

“You want to know why curse traps don’t work on me?”

Illyseh nodded. Ronnie pulled the amulet out from under his clothes and told him everything he knew about it, from how he got it to the events at Elgoreombdon.

“Damn, so you’re special, huh? Although I’d say that with this item, you are the most special player on the server.”

“Whatever kind of player you see me as,” Ronnie answered and paused for a moment to think and continued, “I feel more like I’m lost in a maze with no way out. I’ll figure it out, and then I’ll figure out how special I really am.”

After a few minutes on the road, they heard rain. Both grimaced and ran toward the sound. After a few minutes, they found themselves at a crossroads. Ronnie put the self-deploying terrain scanner on, made a mark on the map.

“The sound is coming from the right,” he said.

“Yes.”

They continued down a small tunnel that led them higher and higher. Eventually, Illyseh and Ronnie found themselves in a cave and froze at the sight they saw. There in the very centre was a bright blue lake with a small white spot. Its waters rose upward in small drops, enveloped the stalactites, and disappeared. The healer turned off the light sphere, turned on the thermal imager, and saw a strange creature hiding behind the stalagmites. Ronnie nodded questioningly, and the healer waved. “Follow me, but be quiet.”

As they moved around the edges of the cave, the lake evaporated completely. There was a strange voice that sounded slightly hoarse, and droplets trickled back down from the stalactites. In a minute, a puddle was formed in the emptied pit. There was more and more water. Eventually, the lake recovered and calmed down.

Ronnie and Illyseh saw three dozen creatures dressed in nothing but rags. In their skinny hands they held wooden and crooked staffs, and beside them lay cracked clay bowls. Their skin was black and wrinkled. Eyes, nose, and mouth were missing from their faces, replaced by three pale blue stripes. Ronnie removed the safety. Illyseh raised his palm and said:

“Hold your horses. Everyone here but that one is dead.”

The healer approached the creature first, but it did not seem to notice him muttering something to itself. Its palms were trembling, and its legs were so thin and skinny that they could hardly hold its body up. A weak, wretched, defenceless monster.

“Ne-sura-zo, ez-tro-de-boro fo nodrnom.”

The water in the lake stirred. Ronnie stuck the scanning chip into one of the dead bodies and walked around the stalagmite and saw the drops rise upward toward the ceiling of the cave, where they sank into a dark portal hidden behind the stalactites.

Illyseh touched the creature’s head and used an analysis spell. He grimaced, his eyebrows shifting.

“Damn,” he said, and walked over to Ronnie and saw the lake empty again.

“Defrodezom, gostar-an-fkln, tostrpandrock,” the creature mumbled in a slow and depressed voice. The water flowed back down from the dark portal, forming the lake anew.

“Strange drops,” said Illyseh, “don’t you think?”

“Everything’s strange here.”

The healer looked closely and noticed the little white dots inside. He stretched out his hand. The first drop burned his palm. He brushed it to the ground and shouted:

“Damn, it burns!”

The creature rose and, with unhurried and calm steps, staggered toward them. Ronnie stepped back a dozen yards, his hand on the hilt of his pistol.

“Sofrostor, mofordegon, tshfra.”

“Don’t kill it.”

“Don’t take me for a crazy maniac. It’s just a precaution. I’m curious to know what’s going on here, too.”

The dark creature sank to its knees with a crunch in its bones, bowing its head down. Its right, trembling hand stretched forward with the palm of its hand. Its left hand pointed the tip of the staff at the ground. Magic transferred the drop to the palm.

“Fo-fo sndbor ef ki,” the creature murmured, releasing the little water particle with a gentle jolt back.

The blob connected with the stream, and the monster staggered back, rocking from side to side.

“Mana completely scorched its skin and muscles. The only part of its body that still works is its heart. It redirects the magical energy into the staff. If my intuition is correct, a similar ending could await any player. The more often you use spells and the more you absorb mana, the more your body undergoes changes, and apparently not always the positive ones.”

“Did the others die of the same affliction?”

Illyseh shrugged and walked over to the first flaccid body and used the ‘Oratio’ spell and turned back to Ronnie and said:

“It looks like they’re about five hundred years old.”

“Any idea what they’re doing here?”

“I think this is the local temple, and these creatures here are the priests. Did you see how it carefully brought the drop back? I bet it’s some kind of soul he’s doing the ritual with.”

“What is this ritual all about? Sending them into murk and then back to the light, hm? Like a purification rite?”

Illyseh took off his helmet and walked over to the lake and gazed into it. White substances swirled in the white waters, resembling stars, and rose gently to the top. “I don’t know,” he replied, barely audible, then looked to the end of the cave and saw another tunnel there and reported it to Ronnie.

“Shall we go exploring?”

“No,” he replied. “We’ll save it for later.”

Illyseh made a note on the interactive map, sent a report to the AI.

“Ne-sura-zo, ez-tro-de-boro fo nodrnom.”

“I think it’s time for us to go back.”

“Are we done here?”

“Yes, we are.”

Ronnie watched the lake for a moment as it lifted its waters into the portal, then approached the dark priest, drew his Stechkin pistol and pointed the muzzle at its head. The creature turned toward him and made strange sounds like a surprise and thrill and reached out with a trembling hand toward him, muttering: “Toffril, Toffril.” Illyseh looked at Ronnie, who grimaced and cussed and put the weapon back in its holster and bent at the knee.

The priest touched his chest. The amulet activated and absorbed the magical jets of dark magic. Illyseh stepped closer and said:

“I see your amulet is full of secret functions.”

When the ritual was over, it was as if the creature had a second wind. It got up and headed toward the lake, and twirled its wand. There was a bright light inside the cave, and the darkness receded. Ronnie followed it. The little drops swirled in a round dance and touched his palm. He twitched, expecting searing pain, but felt cool and fresh. The monster priest bowed to him and took his hand and touched his palm with his finger, whereupon a slight point of light formed there.

“You know,” Ronnie said, “I used to think that all creatures in this world want to kill you. But the more I immerse myself in everything that is happening around me, the more I doubt it. This guy is a direct proof of that. Too real for this game.”

“Yes. I won’t argue. But we have to go,” Illyseh answered.

“Let’s go.”