-- James --

We were all outside having just finished an interview with Gerry's Berries when I felt my phone vibrate, right after I heard a ding from violet, and everyone else began to pull out their phone. I was pulling my phone out when it hit me, we all received a message and it must be the group chat. Aster!

Violet: Just get over here. There's a lot to talk about.

Heading over now :James

Last read

Aster: Hey where are you guys?

We're the rot have you been Aster? :James

Aster: All over the place.

Aster: Look it's been a long...2 years. Where you guys at

Violet: YOU'RE NOT GETTIN OFF THAT EASY!!!

Aster: Fine I had to deal with a dhhdhdhsge dmdijdddhdk

Bay: Did you just have a stroke?

? :James

Aster: What do you mean?

Your last message said dhhdhdhsge dmdijdddhdk :James

Aster: No I said dhrilw djdi d

Bay: Now you said something else.

Violet: Are you screwing with us?

Aster: Fuck. I think I know what's going on.

Aster: Look it will make more sense in person.

Aster: You guys going to tell me where you are?

We'll be at the Lily's Fall in an hour or so. :James

Aster: Ok I'll get there as soon as I can buy I'm a little far out.

Violet: You better explain when you get here.

Aster: I will. See you all soon.

Looking up to the rest of my team I could see they were just as surprised as me, that Aster had finally shown up.

I decided to state the obvious, "Asters finally out of whenever he went."

Bay let out a long sigh, "Looks like we'll finally get some answers from him."

"Ha!" Violet said mockingly.

I turned to her questioning, "What?"

Violet put her phone away, "At the way things have been going, he won't be able to provide answers for some reason or other."

The group went quiet on her words, everyone realizing it was probably true. The silence began to draw on too long, becoming awkward. Violet realizing this asked, "So what do we do now?"

I shook my head focusing on the now, "Do we have any other interviews?"

I looked to Bay she should know. After a moment of thinking, "They said we'd have a round of them after the next quest."

"How long are these quests supposed to take?" Surprisingly it was Rowan who asked. It was something none of us really knew. They had just told us the mission would come in, not when or how long they would take.

"Well..." Bay turned thoughtful, "It's got to be a long time. There only supposed to be seven in total and we've already done two." I perked up at that, we were making good progress when Bay continued, "And this whole thing is supposed to take eighteen years."

"What kind of quests, or missions, could possibly, take that long?" I asked realizing the length of these things.

"Adventure quests?" Rowan said unhelpfully.

"We'll apparently, find out when we find out." Violet chimed annoyed.

I scratched the back of my head a little taken aback, "I mean that's true, but we have no idea when it will appear."

"So what should we do?" Rowan asked attempting to change the subject, "Till we get the quest I mean."

"Anyone needs to do their subclass stuff?" I asked.

"Yeah. I got to make a bunch of potions," Bay sigh sighed.

"Same," Violet added.

"I have to go work in a kitchen for a while. Well, should is perhaps a better phrase." Rowan commented.

Violet scrunched her eyes looking assessing, "James what does a dancer do for your subclass stuff?"

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

I perked up at this. I never really talked about my subclass, "We get a couple of options."

"Such as?" Violet asked.

"Dancing in musicals or a show, but you have to audition, or just attend rehearsals. There really isn't a product to make so we have to do shows and keep the skills up. Usually there's a lot of missions to choose from, but just getting past the audition counts as success then you get a new quest"

"Kinda weird," Bay commented.

Violet raised an eyebrow, "The fact it's a subclass is weird."

"True." Bay agreed.

"Let's just head over to the hotel. We can make plans and get some answers." I said trying to change the subject.

"Five silver says it's more confusing." Violet sad sardonically. We all made our way to the Inn to wait for Aster.

It took about an hour for us all to reach the Lily's Fall. We all ended up scattered in our room, chilling as we waited for word from Aster. Violet fell on one of the beds, Bay took a desk, Rowan on the other bed, and I took a chair.

It felt weird just sitting here waiting, doing nothing so I spoke up, "So revisiting. Where do you think he went?"

Violet stayed down answering, "My guess wilds."

"I think he died hence why he couldn't respond," Bay commented.

"I don't think he died." Rowan said thoughtfully, "He was there at the end."

"Maybe he went and got help?" Bay said hopefully

"The misty guy?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Maybe?" I mean it was possible Aster had found the guy and brought him, but I think it was much more likely the guy was sent by the mayor and he followed Aster.

"Bet that guy is a stalker," Violet said annoyed.

"No. I bet it's someone the mayor sent to help us. You know hedge his bets." Bay parroted what I was thinking.

"That...that makes too much sense," Rowan said uncertainly.

Violet slammed her fists on the bed, "Shit, that's probably right."

"One hundred percent," I said giving violet finger guns, "I bet the guy would deny it to."

"Or just to make better TV" Bay commented.

Violet belted out a laugh, only for a new voice to speak, "That would make for better TV."

"Fuck!" I jumped a foot in the air, I looked over to see Aster, "The door was locked how'd you get in?"

Aster just shrugged, "Rogue."

"Where the fuck have you been?" I yelled.

Aster let out a long sigh seeming to deflate, "Man I don't even know where to start." I and everyone else surprised Aster with a hug. He looked confused but happy, "Well this was not what I was expecting."

Everyone let go except me, I held my hand on his shoulder as I calmly asked, "So what happened?"

"Um..." Aster looked uncertain, "Where should I start?"

"After the mayor threw you out." Violet chimed.

"Oh wow...that wow." Aster blinked surprised, "That was the least of it."

I caught Bay say under her breath, "That doesn't board well."

"So starting from there." Aster took a minute to put his thoughts in order, what happened if you have to think this hard?

Aster spoke, "After I left I was taken by to be tried."

"Tried?"

Aster backpedaled, "Tried was the wrong word. Judged? Still doesn't sound right. Anyway, I was taken to see if I would be right to join the --------" What was that his voice turned to static at the end.

"Join the what?" I asked, hoping that he just mumbled it or something.

"Join the ------" There there was the static again.

"Ok. Whatever you're saying is being blanked." Bay said realizing what was going on.

"Fuck!" Aster yelled

I looked at Bay, "Blank?"

"Yeah when someone has information they can't share, they blank. The words are said but filtered out." Bay explained.

Aster rose an eyebrow, "How'd your know about it?"

"Mages like to talk. They've been trying to get around the filter for years."

"Ok." Aster paused, "Let me know when I blank."

"Will do." Bay began to speculate, "So you've joined a secret organization."

Aster nodded, "Pretty much."

"Why did they pick you?" Bay asked.

"Don't know why, but you know that weird training I did last year?"

"When you failed to move on." Violet rudely added.

"Yes..." Aster's face scrunched, "Turns out they did it on purpose."

"The fuck?" Violet practically yelled.

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was some sort of test. I'd rather move on." Aster looked really uncomfortable, "So somehow I going the secret society."

"Why didn't you try to contact us?" Rowan asked interrupting.

Aster froze looking chagrined.

"Aster?" Bay glared at Aster.

"I forgot my phone," Aster said quietly.

"And you couldn't get it?" Rowan asked accusingly.

Aster looked around trying to find a way out before sighing, "They wouldn't let me leave."

"That..." I stopped what I was going to say to think, "Weirdly makes sense."

"Anyway," Aster quickly continued his story, "So after the trial, I was at a party to celebrate and things were going ok."

"Let me guess you pissed someone off they used it as an excuse to execute you." Bay guessed.

"How'd you know?"

Bay had a sly smile and casually shrugged, "Lucky guess,"

"Anyway, they ------- ----- "

"You blanked there." Bay chimed.

"Fine let's just say ----------"

"You blanked again."

"That's just weird it's like I hear you, but it's all nonsense or static," Violet commented

"Ugh, fine shit got fucked." Aster said shortly.

Ok moving on I asked what I wanted to know, "How'd you find us?"

Aster blinked looking at the team, "I wondered if you'd even know I was there. You were all completely not responsive most of the time. Then the fight...that was just weird."

"We only kind of remember that out there. We had to be shown the footage."I explained.

"Footage?"

"Yeah, we're reality show stars now," Violet said sarcastically.

"Explain please."

"Long story short quest has become a reality show," Bay explained.

"And you all agreed?" Aster looked at us horrified.

I felt a little indignant as I defended our choice, "There is a lot of benefits for it."

"In fact, we just got out of an interview," Bay added cheerfully

"Neat." Aster shook his head and tried to explain, "But the quest is --------"

Well, that's not good. "Blanked" I commented.

"That's not the ----- ------- --- real -----"

"We got like one word," I said staring as Aster was visibly getting more frustrated.

"Let's try this." Bay came up and calmly asked, "Do you think we should stop the quest?"

Aster shook his head, "No"

"Is the quest important?"

"Yes but ------ ----"

"Blanked again" Bay looked Aster thoughtfully, "Ok so you know something about the quest that we don't."

"Looks like it," Aster said tiredly.

"Good or bad"

"--------"

"Blanked, ok shake your head yes or no."

"Ok"

"Good?" Bay asked

Aster's entire body blurred and pixelated at the same time, "That was weird as Fuck" Violet chimed.

"What?" Aster asked.

"Your head just blurred and your entire body." Bay answered, then handed Aster a sheet of paper and pen, "Try writing."

I watched as his hand lost focus, even the letters he wrote became nonsensical.

Bay grabbed the paper to try and examine it before saying, "It just looks like random letters."

"Well shit," Aster said looking lost.

I tried to give a reasoning smile, "Looks like you've had your own adventure."

"That doesn't explain a lot," Rowan said seeming disappointed.

Aster shrugged, "Sorry."

"You own me five silver" Violet laugh speaking, then she realized no one took her bet and took her hand back.

I suddenly realized something important, "You still haven't answered how you found us."

"I followed the tug, towards the mission but it must have taken me weeks to get there...I'm sorry." Aster looked hurt. Like he was expecting us to berate him.

"Not your fault." I reassured him, then asked, "But maybe you can explain why was cane there?"

He looked at me sheepishly as he asked, "Footage?"

"Yeah"

"He said it was an accident."

"Why did we have to fight him?"

"Said we would have to fight and win to be released. Something about making sure the test works. Honestly, it didn't make sense.

"Well that gave me more questions than answers, and I don't think we can play twenty questions with you Aster." I looked out and saw the rest of the group reluctantly agree.

Aster's head was down as he apologized again, "Sorry."

"Anyway. We were thinking of doing our monthly quota stuff." I said sensing the changing atmosphere.

Aster groaned loudly, "I am so behind."

That made me chuckle, "Us too."