“I told Marisol where I’d be for the night,” Dan told Millie. “I stormed out. She was freaking out at me the whole time I was leaving. I even tried taking Amanda with me. She told me I couldn’t. There was no question if she knew I was gone or not. She knew.
“She told the cops something different. She told them I was home when she left. She said she got home from the club that night and saw Amanda dead and me not there watching her like I was supposed to be. She could’ve texted me and told me she was leaving or asked me to pick Amanda up.
“I found out right quick the truth don’t matter none, that evidence don’t matter none, when rich people’s lawyers get involved. There were threats of criminal negligence charges if I kept running my mouth and pushing.
“The best thing in my whole life was gone. My little girl. I loved her so much. Marisol had plans to go out clubbing and wasn’t going to let a little thing like no one there watching her kid get in the way. Amanda was so little. She wasn’t even five yet.
“I honestly didn’t care if I went to jail or not. I was tired. Bone tired. At 22, I was done with it all. Since I knew Marisol wouldn’t pay nothing for what she done, and since I felt so guilty about it all, I didn’t push it. I knew Marisol was crazy. I still left. I abandoned my biggest responsibility. I just left her there with that psycho. And she died because of it. Because of me every bit as much as her mother.
“And Marisol has an excuse. She ain’t right in the head. I ain’t got no excuse. I was the captain. It was all on me. I failed as a father. I failed as a husband. I failed as a man. I failed at life. I killed my own kid.
“My maw was as crazy about Amanda as I was. She done lost it after Amanda died not all that long after Paw died himself. And losing the farm and all that. It was too much too soon. She’s in an institution now. Nick’s really been there for both of us.”
“Really,” asked Millie. “You say Nick’s been there for you?”
“Yeah.”
She clucked her tongue.
Dan asked, “What?”
“Wasn’t…didn’t he sleep with your ex?”
After a moment of silence, Dan said, “That ain’t just his business to tell. He shouldn’t’ve told you that.”
“Come on, Dan. I’m not just his girlfriend, I’m his therapist. This only works if I’m told all these things. Nothing said in this office leaves this office. If he didn’t give me permission to use all that was said in his sessions to help you, you would’ve never known that I knew that.”
Dan sighed. “Paw always said any man that talks ill of his wife or the mother of his children ain’t no man at all, so Nick never knew much about Marisol.
“When she went to visit her parents last year…this was way before Nick met you, but he was already going to school here. She called and said she needed to talk to him about me. He drove home to meet up with her. She didn’t really want to talk to him. Her sole motivation was wanting to hurt me more, so she slept with Nick.”
Millie scoffed. Or made some similar noise. “That would require Nick to sleep with her too,” she said.
“I can’t blame him much. Like I said, I wasn’t thinking about nothing else that first night she had her eye on me. I didn’t give one thought to Steve. Not once. She has that way about her. She can get what she wants from a guy, and the guy don’t see nothing but this beautiful thing in front of him, blessing him with her attention.
“Don’t get me wrong, I was pissed at Nicky for a while, but I knew exactly what happened. Why she done it. And I think part of it was Nicky wanting to snap me out of it. I think he was figuring anger would be better than seeing me how I been, even if it was directed at him.”
Millie asked, “And how have you been? Your daughter died…when was this? Two years ago?”
“It’ll be two years in four months or so.”
“And how have you been?”
“Fine.”
Millie sighed dramatically. “Come on, Dan. You promised to open up this session. I can’t help if you don’t tell me how you’re feeling.”
“Talking never helped no one. I’m just doing this to get Nicky off my back.”
“Then humor me since you’re already here and paying me. How have you been since your daughter’s death?”
There was a long pause before Dan replied. “Once in a while I’ll reply to something on Reddit. Whatever I say always goes ignored. That hurts for some reason. Being ignored. Always being ignored. I’d rather people attack me like they do to a lot of people online. At least when they do that, they’re acknowledging you’re a real person. When you’re ignored, it’s like you ain’t.”
“That didn’t answer my question.”
“I don’t know how to answer it. Not good. I know what I am. I know what I done. I know I ain’t a man. It’s like the light went off in my life when Amanda died. It’s hard being around people now. It’s like…I feel like they know what I done. I always feel this…something. Something like dread. And guilt. I miss her so much. I just don’t see the point no more. It’s kind of like it’s all fake. Like everything’s fake and nothing’s real no more. Like I’m a ghost. Like I’m not really here.”
Millie asked, “Do you have any thoughts about hurting yourself?”
“Not much no more. I was going to end it a bunch of times after Amanda, but I could never go through with it. I can’t do that to Maw neither. She been through enough. And I’m too scared, truth be told. Even if I could, I can’t leave Nicky alone to deal with everything.”
“Your brother believes you’re punishing yourself,” said Millie. “That you won’t allow yourself to enjoy anything, and you avoid everything you used to enjoy. Is there any truth to this?”
There was another long pause before Dan answered. “Probably. Yeah.”
“Maybe you’ve suffered enough, Dan. Maybe it’s time to forgive yourself. Reward yourself with something enjoyable. Try it. You’re very young. You have a long life ahead of you. Give yourself permission to start enjoying it. Start living again.”
Repeating all this whiny blather has sickened me. I don’t know if you heard it, but I threw up in my mouth a little. A couple of times.
There was more to that session. I skipped a lot of juicy bits. For instance, Millie kept asking questions such as if Dan thought she was more attractive than Marisol, if Dan thought Nick thought Marisol was more attractive than her, if Marisol was good at fornicating, and if Dan thought Nick enjoyed fornicating with Marisol more than with her.
Dan was very uncomfortable the whole time. It was wonderful
She also forced Dan to buy some of those pretend magic crystals to fix his aura or some bullshit.
Oh, she showed up wearing a bikini for her second session with Dan and took him into the woods to yell at trees. He refused so she tried getting him to open up. He wouldn’t, so she spent the rest of the time explaining the story and meaning behind each of her tattoos.
A hundred dollars well spent, I say. I left all that out since I figured you wouldn’t be interested.
[You didn’t. You just told me.]
Huh. Guess I did. Sorry about that, Boss. While we’re talking about it, let me tell you how Nick and Millie broke up. I never mentioned that she was also a fortune teller. She was…
[Unless it’s related to Dan, I don’t care.]
Well, no, it’s not related to him at all. But…you sure? It’s super interesting.
[I’m sure.]
Okay. Your call, Boss.
[How did the daughter die? It was never explained.]
Oh. Remember how I said mortal children are ridiculously and pathetically hard to keep alive and often try to kill themselves when an adult isn’t constantly looking at them?
[Yes.]
That’s what happened. Ever see one of those wooden block knife-set things?
[No.]
I had never seen one either until I did my Ethnological Observation on Earth. Mortals of other worlds usually hang cooking utensils. It’s just a wooden block with slits and a ton of knives of various sizes shoved into those slits.
It’s believed the girl heard a noise that frightened her. She was sleeping on the couch. She got up, couldn’t find her parents, went to the kitchen, and climbed a chair to grab the wooden block full of knives.
Since she’s an idiot, as she was pulling the block of knives to her, she fell down, and the block of knives fell on top of her. She received a slice deep enough that she bled out while crying all alone in her abode.
Personally, I blame the kid’s own incompetence. I don’t see how Dan could feel responsible. Or Marisol. The blame falls squarely on the child and her own stupidity. How dumb was this broad?
[I see. None of these events seemed to have caused a rift between the two brothers. Not a permanent one. Since the Game initiated, the two have seemed close.]
Yeah. That changes though, thanks to my brilliance. I don’t know the truth of Nick’s allegations against the father, but if you remember, Nick mentioned he missed the man right before Dan completed the Mana trial. That comment seemed surprising to Dan.
Probably. As I mentioned before, I’m sometimes not the best at reading the emotions of mortals, especially when it comes to distinguishing between lust and murderous intent. But I’m pretty sure that comment took Dan by surprise.
And let me take a minute to point out that Ace Blacky really nailed it. What I had the dead kid telling Dan was spot on. That was all just a guess. I nailed it right from the get-go. Same with the father, but thanks to Leonard I had a little info to work with there.
Let me move on to the best part. Remember how I said the trauma profiles are finished some time before the Game starts?
[Yes. You didn’t know requesting the missing information was a possibility until Az’ga informed you of it.]
Well, I wouldn’t put it like that, but Ace Blacky can see how you could incorrectly interpret what I said that way. The day the Game started, guess what Dan was up to?
[No.]
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Not even for this? It’s an easy one. You’re really…never mind. Rank has its privileges.
Marisol flew home to visit her parents a couple days prior. She texted Nick and wanted him to drive there to talk about Dan again. Nick showed Dan the texts.
Guess who…never mind, I’ll just tell you. Dan drove to Marisol’s parent’s house.
We only have audio of most of this too, but it was easy to tell what was happening. Dan texted her with Nick’s phone when he arrived. She texted back and said he was supposed to tell her when he was a half-hour out. She rushed to finish getting ready, but it still took her, like, 15 or 20 minutes.
Her parents were asleep, so she was trying to sneak around quietly. She opened the door. I could hear the surprise in her voice as she asked, “What’re you doing here?”
There were noises of struggle before we could hear her muffled screams. He dragged her into the barn.
I was hoping he would question her about all the details – if she cheated on him, how many times, all that. You know, the type of juicy gossip mortals usually love.
Dan only asked one question. Before he asked it, he said, “Only way you living through this is by answering truthfully. If you lie, you die. Understood?”
I guess that counts as a question too. Let me rephrase what I stated earlier. Dan only asked two questions.
From the muffled noises she made, we assume Marisol was gagged. We also assume she answered with head movements.
Dan then asked, “Is your life better now with her out of it?”
I don’t know if she told the truth or lied, but he slit her throat, or that’s what the gurgling noises led us to believe.
Man, I really wish we had video. Marisol was really sobbing hard. I bet she had a bunch of snot bubbling out of her nose orifices. I’m not sure why but I love snot bubbles.
[So, he murdered his ex out of revenge for the child. That’s what it seems like to me.]
Same here, Boss.
After the murder, I could tell Dan was psyching himself up to end his own life. I didn’t need to see his vitals or a video. The audio was enough. I’ve seen and heard the same thousands of times in the Game.
Shortly after the sun rose, the father woke up and went outside to perform his daily exercise routine. Dan tried to hide from the father and keep him from entering the barn. We don’t believe he planned on killing the guy. Still did though.
[Explain further. I doubt he killed the man accidentally.]
No. When Dan heard the house door open and close, he said, “Shit,” all nervously. We heard something latch and something get dragged.
The father went to get something from the barn. He tried to open the locked doors. When that didn’t work, he went around and entered through a different door. One thing led to another, and a dead ex-father-in-law was the outcome.
Once the mother awakened, she went around the house trying to find her husband and daughter. She looked out a few windows but never took a step outside.
A few hours after murdering the father, Dan gave up trying to end himself and knocked on the front door. He told the mother to call the cops. While they waited, he confessed to the murders. The mother didn’t take the news well and went into full Karen-mode. The police arrived a few minutes before the Game initiated.
[This was five days ago?]
Yes. No. Five days before the part of the story I’m on. So, yes, if that’s what you meant. Marisol was murdered very early in the morning of the day the game initiated or very late into the night the day before, however you wish to see it.
[Has Dan shown any remorse?]
None that I’ve noticed. For any of his murdering. I thought Leonard had just been talking about the three guys Dan killed on the first day. Nope.
[How has this not settled the matter? He cannot be a true issue.]
Believe me, I want nothing more than to get this Dan situation off my plate. I’ve only just managed to cut him down to size, but I still want him off my plate. Those above me calling the shots want him dead. If you outrank them, just tell...
[We’ll get to that. I need the full story first. How did you cut him down to size?]
That’s the best part of this whole thing. Believe me, you don’t want me to spoil it now.
And I can kind of see their point. How they could see his status as uncertain.
Leonard offered patronage. Participants always accept. It’s like throwing a lifeline to a drowning man. Hell is a horrible place for the damned. An eternity of torment is a terrible fate. Any way to make that fate a little less horrible is extremely enticing.
Not only did Dan refuse Leonard, but Kharahel’s shrine lit up for him and gave him some weird prude Trait. There’s more stuff coming up too. Stuff making his status both more and less questionable.
[Such as?]
Did you really want me to skip ahead? You’ll miss some important parts if I do.
[I’ll wait. What about Carnegie Hall? Have you learned more of it and its secrets?]
A little. It’s a musical concert venue in New York City. Midtown Manhattan. I did most of my Ethnological Observation in New York City and never heard of the place, so it isn’t well known.
But listen to this – guess when it was built? Never mind. It was built in 1891.
[I’m not familiar with Earth dates. Why is this one important?]
We have the traitor’s immigration record. He immigrated to the US through New York City in 1882, nine years prior to Carnegie Hall being built.
[Interesting. What of the treasure trove of secret information? Have any demons or devils residing on Earth inspected the location?]
Definitely. It was searched from top to bottom. Last I heard, they found nothing. But Dan said that finding its secrets required practice. I doubt they went about it correctly.
[Do the records show when Dan visited Carnegie Hall?]
No. We have no record of him being in New York at all. Location data is mostly collected from the phones the mortals of Earth carry everywhere. He hardly used his own and often went for months leaving it off.
[All the mortals of Earth carry these phones? Why did he not?]
Once his kid died, I think all the calls and texts of condolences were getting to him, so he turned it off and left it off for long stretches. He was dealing with his mother being committed, visiting her, a dead kid, getting divorced, and trying to work and make rent too.
He purposefully pushed everyone in his life besides Nick and his mother away. This makes his comment about being ignored very hypocritical. At least in my opinion.
[I see. Is there a chance he knew the Game was going to initiate and wanted to kill his ex before it did?]
That whole thing kicked off when Marisol visited her parents and texted Nick again, so I highly doubt it.
[Understood. Is there a chance Dan is related to the traitor?]
Nope. No possibility. No one with an angelic, demonic, or diabolic heritage can participate in a Game.
[I do hope they continue searching Carnegie Hall. You’re wrong about time travel. Carnegie Hall must be the answer. Has the traitor been captured and questioned?]
The hotshots don’t tell us everything but I’m sure we’d hear if the traitor was caught, so I’ll go with no.
As for time travel, I’m not so sure. Personally, I’m leaving it on the table. It really would make the most sense. Carnegie Hall is just the most plausible explanation. It doesn’t answer how Dan knew at least one code that couldn’t be known prior to this Game initiating.
[Time travel isn’t possible. It just isn’t.]
Yeah, maybe. I’m not so convinced, Boss.
Anyway, Dan grinded the Trial of the Rapture all day. He ran it about 16 times total. It was deep into the night phase when he stopped.
When he was done, he had collected four Rapture Trait tokens. As I said, he could only use one of those for himself. He also started putting his fragments in his belt. He kept the Orbments, Orbment Foundations, and tokens in his backpack.
He ran to the forge and turned in the token. He purchased Efficient. Remember this. Efficient, the Trait that reduces the mana cost of invocations by 15%.
Something else notable was that he raised his Strength by a full grade naturally. That’s rare for such a short time working it.
[It could’ve already been close to increasing a step before he began grinding.]
True. You’re probably spot on. Here, I’ll show you his status at the time. He got quite a few natural Stat and Attribute increases.
Name: Daniel “Dan” Branigan
Difficulty: Hell (Increase XP by 100% and drop chance by 30%)
Tier: Copper (2)
Level: 20
Soul: SS+ Grade (5-Star)
Mana-type: Magma
Core: Pristine
Stats (capacity for and amplification of intrinsic qualities)
Agility, B+ Grade (150 Max): 20
Mana, B Grade (100 Max): 10
Reaction, B+ Grade (150 Max): 40
Speed, B+ Grade (150 Max): 40
Strength, C Grade (50 Max): 10
Attributes (intrinsic qualities averaged)
Durability (physical and void resistance): 4
Health (disease and poison resistance): 10
Spirit (mental and primordial resistance): 5
Class:
DISCIPLE OF MOLTEN STONE (Ph/D/Pw/U/S. Legendary 5-Star Class. Number of Slot Bonuses equal to Star Class)
Class Restrictions:
Defensive Orbment slot will not accept Indomitable, Resilient, Resistant, Resolute, Retribution, or Tough.
Power Orbment slot will not accept Barrier or any transformation Orbment.
Crown Orbment must be a Defensive or Support Orbment.
Orbment Bonus (2 of 5)
With five Orbments slotted, each Orbment gains the equivalent of 1 rank.
STORM* [First Rank] (Physical Orbment, Legendary, unique-equipped, upgraded*, active): You must be holding a weapon to cast this invocation and casting it causes very heavy weapon-damage to all enemies in a 6.69-meter 60-degree cone in front of you. Higher ranks increase damage and mana cost by 10%, extend range of cone by 5%, and lower the cooldown by 5s. Medium mana cost, instant cast, 57s cooldown.
Block [First Rank] (Defensive Orbment, Common, unique-equipped, passive]: This Orbment completely nullifies 1 damaging attack made against you every combat instance. Higher ranks add charges, nullifying one additional attack per rank. Must be out of combat for 1:27s for charges to reset.
SUMMON ASHEN RUIN* [First Rank] (Power Orbment, Legendary, unique-equipped, upgraded*, active): Casting this invocation summons an avatar of the Infernal Lord Ashen Ruin one tier above your own (minimum level 25) that lasts until its destruction or dismissal. Avatar of Ashen Ruin has the Hellfire mana-type. The Infernal can mitigate and absorb a lot of damage and it deals good damage to enemies with its Incinerate and Searing Armor invocations and physical attacks. Higher ranks increase size, durability, damage of attacks, and range of Incinerate by 20%. Extremely high mana cost, 20s cast time, no cooldown.
SIXTH SENSE [First Rank] (Utility Orbment, Legendary, stackable (2), passive): You perceive more and are more aware of your surroundings and possible threats, both seen and unseen, in a circumference of 8.09 meters around you. This can manifest as a precognitive flash of impending danger. Higher ranks slightly increase effect and double circumference.
Enhance Reaction (Support Orbment, Rare, stackable (3), passive): Increases your Reaction Stat by 3 per rank. Ignores Stat cap.
Slot Bonus (5 of 5)
(1) Inevitability of Magma: Killing or assisting in killing an enemy instantly fills your core with mana equivalent to roughly 24 minutes worth of the last meditation technique used and provides a minor healing effect. Lower-level enemies are worth less time but no less than 56 seconds. Higher-level enemies are worth more time.
(2) Lava Stomp: Stomp the ground, sending bits of lava spattering in a 4.81-meter 90-degree cone in front of you and trapping the parts of creatures touching the ground in lava for 1 second. Medium mana cost, instant cast, 3m:24s cooldown.
(3) Seismic Sense: You perceive more and are more aware of your surroundings and possible threats, both seen and unseen, in a circumference of 24.27 meters around you. This can manifest as a precognitive flash of impending danger. This provides the benefit of the Third Rank SIXTH SENSE Orbment, and stacks with that Orbment.
(4) Molten Armor: Hot lava covers your body, mitigating taken damage by 12% and returning 9% of all taken damage for a duration of 1:38s, as the Second Rank Barrier status effect and Third Rank Retribution status effect. The Barrier status effect given by Molten Armor cannot be overwritten by higher ranks of the effect and can only stack with the BALLAD OF PRESERVATION status effect. Retribution status effect given by Molten Armor cannot be overwritten by higher ranks of the effect and can only stack with the Reprisal Hymn status effect. Medium mana cost, instant cast, 4m:55s cooldown.
(5) Aspect of Magma: You take on aspects of magma. Your Agility, Reaction, and Speed increase by a full grade. Your Mana increases by a step. Your Durability and Health increase by 1 each. You gain immunity to slowing debuffs, most poisons, some diseases, and most sources of heat. Your skin becomes more like lava, giving you the permanent benefits of the Third Rank Tough, Resilient, and Resistant Orbments, and the First Rank Barrier and Retribution status effects. Your mind becomes more like that of a volcano, giving you the permanent benefits of the First Rank Enraged status effect minus the Stat increases.
Becoming more like magma comes at a price. Your Strength decreases by a full grade. Your mind becomes volatile and unpredictable. As per the First Rank Enraged status effect, you are as likely to lash out at friends as enemies. You are more vulnerable to cold and water damage.
Crown Orbment Bonus (0 of 1)
Inevitability of Magma also has a chance to instantly reset the cooldown of Lava Stomp or Molten Armor. If Block or Dodge is slotted, its charges are doubled. If Revenge or NULLIFY is slotted, its cast time, mana cost, and cooldown are reduced by 25%. If any chant, hymn, song, MANA BATTERY, innate attribute, or statistic enhancer is slotted, it functions as if it were two ranks higher.
Traits (7)
(1) Lone Wolf: Pick an additional Trait. Increase XP by 50% and drop chance by 25%. Joining a party removes this Trait. Fighting within 13 meters of a friendly participant inverses Trait bonuses.
(2) Stalwart Soul: Your Soul Stat is increased by one step (F to F+, F+ to C, etc.).
(3) Hardened Channels: Your channels are hardened and can handle a large amount of mana usage without injury or damage.
(4) Intellection: Concepts, revelations, and epiphanies come a little easier for you.
(5) Gifted: Stat grades are a little easier to increase for you.
(6) Reckoner: Execute great vengeance upon all those enemies and defiers of God and His will.
(7) Limitless: You don’t stop. Sleep deprivation, exhaustion, being pushed to your boundaries and then passing right through them, you don’t stop. You are now more efficient with your body’s resources. You can keep going for longer. Energy, harmony, mana, and stamina are expended at a 20% greater efficiency.