“Wait, there are two crowns?” Chandice asked as she held the matched devices up to scrutinize them.
Heather explained the story of the crowns and how she found the simple one first. The more elaborate one with the horns was given to her by Umtha. The goblin woman filled in the details of how the crowns were made together and designed to be one. She also explained how Hathlisora gave her the crown and told her it would restore her memories.
“I don't mean to upset anyone,” Frank interrupted and looked nervously at Umtha. “But the other day, you told us the crowns fit together because they were made together. Yet I also recall you telling us the crown was a gift from the queen of Abbadon. A reward for opening the portal to her lair.”
“I remember her saying that,” Breanne said and looked at Heather. “She called this person the other and said she looked like Hathlisora.”
All eyes turned to Umtha as the goblin woman sighed with drooping ears. Heather waited patiently for an explanation, but when one didn't come, she didn't get angry. Instead, she went to Umtha and took her into a hug, asking her to please tell them the truth.
“I was only trying to protect you,” Umtha insisted as tears began to roll down her cheeks. “I should never have told you about her in the first place.”
“What made you think I needed protecting from the truth?” Heather asked as she held the goblin woman tight.
“The letter,” Umtha sobbed. “It warned you that you would go insane if you learned too much too quickly. I didn’t realize how much danger you were in. I just wanted you to remember.”
“Remember you,” Heather said and stepped back while holding Umtha by the shoulders. “It really hurts that I don't remember, doesn't it?”
“Yes!” Umtha cried and hid her face in her hands. Heather pulled her back into the hug and began rubbing her back while giving her a moment to recover.
“I forgive you,” Heather whispered as she rocked with the goblin woman. “Umtha, I wish I could remember and take away this pain, but you need to tell us the story again. We need to know the truth about the crowns.”
“Who knows, it might help me figure out why the goblin one didn’t restore your memory,” Chandice offered.
“Alright,” Umtha said and rubbed her eyes as Heather stepped back. “Hathlisora was working with the necromancers to open magical doorways to places players couldn't normally go. I don't know the full details, but I am pretty sure they found a way to enter the buffer alive.”
“You have to be kidding!” Quinny said in alarm. “The buffer is a void.”
“We don't know that,” Frank interjected. “Players can be awake in the buffer. If you are reset, you are awake and aware enough to pick your race and class before respawn.”
“But they are still dead,” Quinny argued. “Umtha is talking about them being alive.”
“Now the spell to store things in the buffer makes sense,” Heather said. “It was probably a first step in research to gain access to it.”
“Wait! You can store things in the buffer?” Chandice gasped.
Heather looked up as she realized that all this was probably the first Chandice was hearing of it. She had to explain how it was a spell codded in an old necromancer's tome and part of their research. She even showed Chandice how it was done, opening a hole into a black void large enough to put her hand through.
“It’s where I hide the crowns when I am not using them,” Heather explained.
“My goodness,” Chandice said as she put a hand to her head. “You never cease to amaze me.”
“That makes five of us,” Breanne quipped.
“Can we focus on hearing the rest of the story,” Heather insisted as they looked back to Umtha.
“All I know is that Hathlisora was important to making these doors work. It was part of her research to find a way to escape. She finally opened one to Abbadon, and a team of necromancers went in.”
“But never came back,” Frank said as he remembered more details.
“No,” Umtha agreed. “They did not, but she did.”
“I forget her name,” Heather said as she began to remember the story. “Issa something.”
“Issicara,” Umtha corrected. “She claimed to be the queen of Aabbadon.”
“Abbadon?” Chandice asked as her face reflected the shock she was feeling. “The so-called prison plane that nobody can escape?”
“That’s the one,” Frank replied.
“I didn't even know it was real,” Chandice laughed. “My goodness, you need a chronicler to follow you around and write all this down.”
“The story gets better,” Quinny laughed. “This queen supposedly looks exactly like Heather.”
Chandice looked to Heather for agreement and nearly swooned when Heather nodded it was true. She had to pace a few steps, shaking her head as she struggled to understand what she was hearing.
“It’s still not done,” Heather said as she started to remember more. “This Issicara comes out of the portal carrying the crown. She said it was a reward?”
“Yes,” Umtha said. “From the necromancers to her. But I didn't exactly lie to you. The necromancers helped her make the two crowns, and they took that one into Abbadon with them. Issicara brought it back and gave it to her as the reward.”
“Alright,” Heather said with a nod. “So she did make both crowns.”
“But they needed to go to Abbadon to do something with it,” Frank said. “I wonder why.”
“It probably has something to do with its enchantment,” Chandice said. “The most powerful magical enchantments can only be performed when strict criteria are met. In some cases, it needs to be an exact time, or place, or special ingredient. The fact that it had to be taken to an outer plane might be the reason why it turns her into a devil. That might be the enchantment they were trying to capture.”
“That makes sense,” Quinny agreed. “Abbadon is one of the hells. The prison of desolation or something.”
“So, did they go to Abbadon just to enchant the crown?” Breanne asked.
“That seems like a lot of effort for an enchantment,” Frank said.
“It was only a theory,” Chandice reminded.
“A good one,” Frank agreed. “The necromancers have shown great foresight into what was going to happen. They prepared for this even before the war started. It makes sense that they took the crown there to enchant it with a devil form, but I doubt that's the only reason they went.”
“What about this, Issicara?” Heather asked. “Did she go back?”
“No,” Umtha said. “She was free, and she wasn’t going to return willingly.”
“I have a bad feeling about how you said that,” Heather groaned. “What happened?”
“I honestly don’t know. She vanished into the world and has remained hidden as far as I know,” Umtha replied.
“So I set some arch devil loose in the world,” Heather sighed. “No wonder everybody hates me.”
“Nobody hates you,” Frank said as he put a hand on Heather’s shoulder. “We all love you.”
Heather smiled but looked back to Chandice and suggested they go on and see what they could learn.
“Hmm,” Chandice said when the story was done. She turned the crowns over in her hands and asked about the voice in the simple crown. Heather filled in this part of the story, telling her it supposedly was a woman trapped in Abbadon who was helping Heather.
“And you trust her?” Chandice asked with a sideways glance.
“What choice do I have?” Heather asked. “She comes with the crown and has taken over my body several times.”
“But she hasn’t done it since Heather put on Hathlisora’s ring,” Breanne added.
“Really?” Chandice replied and glanced at the blue crystal ring on Heather's finger. “And that the same material the staff you found is made of?”
“We think so,” Heather replied and held her hand out. “It and the staff glow when I tap my essence.”
“Does any of this make sense to you?” Frank asked earnestly, hopeful for some answers.
“Well, a multipart magical item isn't unheard of,” Chandice replied as she placed the crown in the middle of the magic circle on her enchanting table. “But why make one that is meant for two people? If the ring is for Hathlisora and the staff is for Heather, then we can assume the two were very close, maybe even married. The two devices may have been their wedding rings.”
“We never thought of that,” Breanne said as she looked at the others. “That would explain why they seem so inseparable.”
“And why their paths cross in so many places,” Quinny added.
“It doesn’t explain the statues,” Frank pointed out. “Or why Heather was able to pass the goblin defenses.”
“If she was her spouse, she would be to pass them,” Chandice said. “I read it on the internet before coming here. A spouse has the same permissions as her partner. If Heather were to animate a zombie and order it to kill anyone it saw but herself, it would still ignore you because you're married to her.”
“Could it also have detected Hathlisora’s ring?” Quinny asked.
“I doubt the ring was the key, but it is interesting that it works for her,” Chandice commented. “That’s the one element of this I can’t explain.”
“I know we are all tired of hearing this, but she is Hathlisora; I know it,” Umtha insisted with drooping ears. “Frank is right; those statues look exactly like her because it is her. I don't know why she created this Heather persona, but it must have been important.”
“So you think Hathlisora did this to herself on purpose?” Breanne asked.
“I don't think anyone took her memories away, I think she is blocking them, but something went wrong, and the key didn't bring them back,” Umtha replied.
“What kind of name is Hathlisora anyway?” Quinny asked. “It doesn’t sound like a name a human would pick.”
“Great, so not only am I not who I think I am, but I am not even human,” Heather sighed with a roll of her eyes.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“I was just saying,” Quinny replied a went to Heather to pull her into a hug. “I love who you are, and even if you weren't human, I would love you.”
Heather smiled and held her warm hug for a moment before returning to Chandice. “I suppose we should see what you can learn. If this doesn't yield much, we can always give the crowns to Legeis to melt in his machine.”
“No!” Umtha pleaded. “You can’t risk them!”
“I was just being funny,” Heather protested and hugged Umtha. “I'm sorry. I realize you don't get a lot of our humor of references.”
“Jaina is going to pee when I tell her how affectionate you have become,” Chandice said with a wide smile.
“But we can't pee,” Quinny said and got a smack from Breanne.
“That isn’t what she meant,” Breanne scolded.
Quinny rubbed her rear as she glared at Breanne with a smile.
“Do you plan to mother us all?” she asked.
“Only when you behave like a child,” Breanne replied and held her head high. “I have raised unruly girls before.”
Chandice started to laugh and adjusted the crown before stepping back. She took out her wand and began to wave it over the crowns while speaking in a magical chant. The circle glowed, and the crowns began to sparkle as a white mist curled about the metal.
“This is neat,” Quinny said as she leaned into Breanne.
“I thought about being an enchanter,” Breanne remarked. “But it didn't suit the banshee well.”
“I am getting something,” Chandice said as red writing appeared in the air over the devices. “I see something about transmutation, but it's blended with infernal power.”
“That must be the devil form,” Heather said.
“It's something more than that,” Chandice said. “It's a link or a path. It's making a connection to something, something hidden.”
“Could that be the woman in the crown?” Quinny asked.
“I can’t tell,” Chandice said as she read the words slowly forming in the air.
“Ahgast, Pyrus, ulag, dezramoraz,” she read out loud. “It’s saying something about fire and a prison. Something locked away where only the key can open.”
“That must be the goblin crown,” Quinny offered.
“No, this is all coming from the small crown,” Chandice said as a pattern of red lines forming complex shapes appeared.
“What is that?” Heather asked.
“Garbled information,” Chandice replied. “This part of its magic is beyond me. All I can tell is the crown is a domination device.”
“Just like Blackbast said,” Frank remembered.
“Are you getting anything from the goblin crown?” Heather asked.
“Let me see,” Chandice replied and waved her wand in a fanciful pattern. “Divination, manipulation, knowledge.”
“I wonder if the knowledge part is Heather's memories,” Frank said.
“I wish I could tell you more. It’s amazingly advanced, much more so than the other crown, and somebody intentionally wanted to hide the effects,” Chandice apologized, then stopped. “Who said that?”
“Said what?” Heather asked.
“That voice,” Chandice said as a red flare of light filled the room. She stumbled back in alarm and raised a magic ward of defense before calling out. “Who are you?”
“Well,” a sultry woman's voice called out as the room flooded with red light. “I had no idea you would do this, but I applaud the effort.”
“It’s her,” Breanne said in shock as she clutched Quinny. “It’s the woman in the crown.”
“This is the woman in the crown?” Chandice stammered and raised her wand to keep control of the spell. “Who are you, and why are you speaking through the crown?”
“I have already shared my name once, but it seems memories are short,” the woman laughed. “My name is Alluzora, and I am bonded to the crown.”
“It is her,” Heather said as the room filled with red light. They all gasped as a cloud of red mist formed above the crown, collecting into a feminine form. Before they could blink, women with long dark hair, horns, a forked tail, and bat wings stood before them.
“There, does this work better?” she asked.
“This is amazing,” Quinny said. “Are you a succubus?”
“Why does everybody ask that when they see a devil woman?” Heather grumbled.
“The better question is, why haven't you evolved into one?” Alluzora asked.
“What?” Heather stammered as her face turned red. She remembered the conversation with Quinny about the possibility of her devil form having an evolution. She had pushed it off but secretly checked when she was alone. She did have an evolution, and one of her three paths was a succubus.
“You can evolve into a succubus?” Frank asked as all eyes went to Heather.
“Look, I was going to tell you eventually,” Heather said. “Yes, I can, but I don't want to play a succubus, so I didn't feel any rush to bring it up.”
“But what if we want a succubus to play with?” Quinny teased.
“Don’t put something like that on her,” Breanne quipped and turned to Heather. “And this is hardly the time for this conversation.”
“Right,” Heather agreed, thankful for the change of topic. She looked back to the image of the woman floating in the air over the crown.
“Your voice is familiar,” Heather said. “Are you the one who keeps warning me to run in my dreams?”
Alluzora smiled and nodded. “I have been with you a long time. But those dreams are memories. I gave you those warnings years ago and are simply remembering them.”
“How long ago?” Heather pressed.
Alluzora looked perplexed for a moment and admitted that keeping track of time from another plane was a chore. She took a moment to work it out and guessed it to be fifty to sixty years ago.
“That’s impossible,” Frank argued. “The world hasn’t been around that long.”
“Are you certain of that?” Alluzora asked as her image began to blink.
“What’s happening?” Breanne asked.
“It's feedback,” Chandice said. “I think the enchanting table's power has opened the link we were talking about. She is using it to talk to us, but something is trying to oppose it.”
“It's Garnet!” Alluzora cried and looked behind herself as if seeing something they could not. “I don't have much time; the link has alerted her.”
“Who is Garnet?” Heather asked.
“Garnet is your worse nightmare come true,” Alluzora said. “She is the reason all your plans came to ruin. You must avoid her at all costs.” Her image faded and reformed a moment later, but she was down on one knee as if under great duress.
“I can't hold the link open much longer,” she groaned. “When you’re ready to know more, use the mirrors and go to Ezbenzon.”
Suddenly the room filled with a pulsing red light as they heard a sound like tearing cloth. Then, the image was gone, and faint wisps of smoke drifted from the crowns as if they had just come out of great heat.
“I have no idea what just happened,” Chandice said in alarm.
“Ezbenzon?” Heather said as she tried to work it out. “Where is that, and how do we find it?”
“You can’t,” Breanne said as she looked distressed. “Ezbenzon is rumored to be the last city of the necromancers, hidden where no living being can find it.”
“It’s in the buffer,” Heather said as she thought about Umtha’s earlier comment.
“What?” Breanne scoffed. “Why would you say that?”
“Because Umtha just told us they opened portals to the buffer and went in,” Heather said. “What better place to hide a city you don’t want anybody to find.”
“But you can’t go to the buffer unless your dead,” Quinny said.
“Hence it’s a city where no living being can find it,” Heather repeated with finger quotes.
“This is so amazing,” Chandice remarked. “I can’t believe I know you.”
“Don’t get too close,” Heather urged. “People tend to pay the price for being near me.”
“None of that is true,” Breanne was quick to counter. “And if you're right about the city being in the buffer, then what do the mirrors have to do with it?”
“The mirrors,” Heather said as she began to think. “I wonder if that was the buffer.”
“Umm, mirrors?” Chandice asked.
“Oh, right,” Heather said and recounted the story of the magical mirrors that led to a dimension of darkness that moved as if alive.
“My head is starting to hurt just trying to keep track of this,” Chandice said as she leaned against a table. “How do you manage it?”
“By ignoring it,” Heather answered honestly. “I do my best to put it out of my mind, but somehow it keeps getting dredged back up. Thankfully I had my family to keep me strong when it all became too much to bear.”
“Oh,” Breanne said and walked up to sweep Heather into a hug. “Thank you for that, but Frank deserves most of the credit. He has never left your side, no matter how foolish or dangerous your course of action.”
“None of you have,” Heather said and looked into Breanne's eyes. “You, Quinny, and Umtha have done all you could to support me.”
“I wish the others could see this,” Chandice said. “This is what love looks like.”
Heather blushed and stepped back before suggesting they go over the facts again. Chandice could see the base enchantments, but they were so powerful she couldn't get reliable information. However, they now knew that three people from Abbadon were involved somehow. Alluzora was helping Heather through the crown to deliver warnings and guide her steps. Issicara was the one who came out of Abbadon to deliver the enchanted crown back to Heather. Garnet was an unknown, but her name was spoken in fear and reverence. She was the worst nightmare come true and the cause of Hathlisora's plans to fail.
“Where does this Garnet fit into all of this?” Heather questioned.
“We don’t know anything more than what Alluzora said,” Frank replied. “But maybe Issicara could tell us more.”
“Yeah, but how do we find her?” Heather asked, then thought of her green gemstone bracelet. She held up her arm and looked at the stones as she considered the possibility.
“Show me where Issicara is,” she commanded and was disappointed when it did nothing.
“Maybe it knows where the city is?” Quinny suggested.
Heather shrugged and asked it to show her where Ezbenzon was. A single stone began to glow almost instantly, indicating that it did indeed know the way.
“That must mean the city isn’t in the buffer,” Breanne suggested.
“I am not so sure,” Heather said as she turned the bracelet about to see the glowing stone change, so it always pointed the same way. “It's pointing to the tunnels in the swamp.”
“Where the mirror is,” Frank said.
“That might just be a coincidence,” Quinny said. “The city could be someplace beyond it.”
“It could,” Heather agreed. “But it's pointing northwest. If the city was in that direction, then it would be closer to King Kevin than it is to us. It makes more sense that it's hidden in the buffer, and the bracelet is pointing to the nearest mirror gate.”
“I really don’t want to go back to that horrible place,” Breanne said with a shiver.
“Neither do I,” Heather said as she began to ponder something else. “Even if we go into that place, how do we find this city?”
“We saw other routes,” Frank reminded her. “But some of those magic totems were broken, so we couldn't reach them.”
“Even if we could reach the other paths, we have no idea where we are going. We could end up lost for days,” Breanne pointed out.
“I agree,” Heather said as she thought it out. “But maybe there is a way to get more answers before we try.”
“You don’t mean Legeis’s machine,” Frank said. “It might destroy the crowns.”
“No,” Heather said. “In the necromancer tome is a spell that allows me to speak with the dead. All I need is a skull, and I can ask the person questions. If they know the answers, they will tell me honestly.”
“What kind of spell is that?” Breanne asked. “It has no practical uses considering player bodies despawn.”
“And you would need the skull of somebody who knew the answers,” Quinny pointed out.
“You’re both right,” Heather agreed. “And we know exactly where to get a skull that might have those answers.”
“We do?” Quinny asked.
Heather smiled as she reminded them where the mirrors had originally taken them. The ruined tower far to the south where they found the dead body of a necromancer.
“My goodness, your mind never stops trying to solve problems,” Breanne said.
“We can’t be sure that was a necromancer,” Frank said. “But I suspect it was.”
“And that tower has a necromancer's focus circle in it,” Heather said. “I will use it to amplify the spell and get more answers.”
“Why would that matter?” Breanne asked.
Heather explained that the spell was taxing and the skull would crumble away after a few moments. She had a very limited window to ask questions, but with the focus to help boost her power, she might get more time.
“So, you know where to find a body that never despawned?” Chandice asked.
“Yes,” Heather said as she picked up the crown. “And we are fairly certain it's a necromancer. If anyone can tell us more about this city, they should be able to.”
“Please let me know what you learn,” Chandice said. “I can’t believe how fascinating your life is.”
“I told you she was amazing,” Quinny said. “She always finds a solution.”
“Maybe,” Heather said before chanting a spell to open a hole into the buffer. She quickly stuffed the small crown inside but kept the goblin one. Then shut the spell off to seal it away. She held the goblin crown in her hands and then quickly placed it on her head.
“What are you doing?” Breanne asked.
“Making sure she isn’t listening,” Heather said as she considered her next options. She had begun to wonder if the devil crown could listen even if she wasn't wearing it. She had no reason to distrust Alluzora, but she wasn't going to take a chance.
“Alright, let's talk about what she said about the age of the world,” Heather said. “Can it really be that old?”
“No,” Frank replied. “It’s just over ten years old.”
“I agree,” Chandice said. “You can even see the real world date in your interface.”
Heather nodded as she brought up her panel by rubbing the crystal ring. She looked at the date and noted that it did indeed match what they said. She let the interface go but raised a point by saying that time might not be equal here.”
“You could be right, I guess,” Frank admitted. “But if it does flow differently in here, we would never know it.”
“I don’t like this idea,” Quinny said. “If that much time has passed, then most of the people I know are really old or dead.”
“Everyone I know will be dead by now,” Breanne said with a concerned tone. “I just can’t believe that.”
“I have to agree with Breanne,” Chandice said. “Roric and Jaina have only been here a few months.”
“As far as I know, so have I,” Heather said. “But look at what is happening around me. I have mountains of evidence that say I had a previous life. Five of them, if Alluzora is to be believed. I couldn’t have done all this in the ten years we all think we have been here.”
“I wonder which of those lives is the one Umtha knows,” Frank added. “Could there have been other lives where you were very different?”
“Could there be other lives where Umtha knew her and has forgotten?” Quinny suggested.
“None of that can be answered with what we know so far,” Breanne said.
“So many questions and so few answers,” Chandice said. “But I can tell you something about the crowns.”
“What?” Heather asked.
“The goblin one is stronger,” Chandice said. “I can tell that because we got far less information from it than the other. If it is the key to past memories, then I suspect you have to activate it somehow. Does anything happen when you wear the crown by itself?”
“Yeah, I got married to Umtha,” Heather responded, prompting a giggle from Quinny.
“But nothing else?” Chandice pressed.
“Well, no,” Heather replied and looked to Frank for support. “You didn’t notice anything had changed?”
“No, I didn’t,” Frank replied. “Unless the goblin crown is why we are sharing skills from our classes now.”
“Oh, you told me about that,” Chandice said as she began to ponder it. “I wonder if that’s part of the manipulation magic, but I suspect it might be to control or inhibit the other crown.
“Why would they do that?” Heather asked.
“Maybe it was a safety feature,” Frank said as the others looked at him. He then explained that the necromancers might have needed help enchanting it and relied on this Issicara for it. However, they didn't trust her, so they made the goblin crown the dominant crown, so any negative effects of the other one could be overridden.
“That’s kind of what I was thinking,” Chandice agreed. “One crown to keep the other in check. The master crown was given to a trusted ally of Hathlisora to ensure it would get to her hands when she needed it.”
“One crown to rule them all,” Quinny laughed as Heather rolled her eyes.
“All of this is speculation,” Breanne reminded. “We can’t be sure of any of it. We can’t even be sure this Alluzora isn’t Issicara or Garnet playing a game. Let's not forget somebody has been pulling her strings for a while now. It could be her.”
“Why would this woman be manipulating Heather?” Chandice asked.
“She wants to escape Abbadon,” Frank suggested. “She said so back in the desert. She and the others were trapped, and only Heather could free them.”
“Who are the others, though?” Heather asked.
“Maybe it’s the necromancers that didn’t return,” Umtha suggested.
“Maybe,” Heather said as she considered it and began to delve deep into her thoughts. They had indeed learned a lot, but it was more fragments that didn't paint a whole picture. Still, she now had to give serious consideration that a great deal more time had passed than they, or anyone else, was aware of. She also had to consider that the goblin crown needed to be unlocked and might be the key to the truth. It was all a great deal to take in, but this was only the beginning. If Legeis's machine worked, they might learn even more, particularly why Heather was under a polymorph. Of course, they could also look for this necromancer city, and the skull in the old tower might know more.
It was another dozen paths to follow on a mystery that didn't quite make sense, but Heather was strangely calm. She was surrounded by people who loved her and had come to enjoy this magical life. She knew she had to learn about this mysterious past, but she no longer feared it. She took it all in and understood the importance but decided it wasn't going to change their lives. Today they would run these tests, but tomorrow they would go back to the adventurers guild and look for more quests.