Saxon was sure he hadn’t set an alarm on his phone--he never did on his days off--so when he arose to the sound of his phone going off it couldn’t mean anything good. Saxon grabbed his phone and sat up in his bed. Saxon let out a heavy sigh as he answered the person calling.
“Hey Quinn,” Saxon said, doing his best not to sound like he just woke up.
“Next time I call, you pick up the first time,” Quinn demanded, “understand?”
“Sorry, long night,” Saxon responded.
“That’s what I’m calling about,” Quinn informed Saxon. “You remember the Epilogue, that nightclub you had me check out.”
“Yeah, what about it?” Saxon said, getting out of bed.
“Well by the time we got there it was chaos,” Quinn said. “People were running out screaming, panicking. Inside there were people who couldn’t even move. We talked to a couple of the people, and they all had similar stories to Hollin. Seems something was forcing them to dance.”
“What’s the aftermath like?” Saxon asked, slipping on his coat.
“For starters, we shut the place down,” Quinn said.
“Well that’s good,” Saxon commented.
“That’s about where the good news ends, unfortunately,” Quinn said tiredly. “Nobody died, but many had to be hospitalized. Talking to doctors, it seems like some even need amputations.”
Saxon did what he could. Even still, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking if he could’ve done more.
“Oh, it gets worse,” Quinn said despairingly.
“Go figure,” Saxon said, unsurprised.
“The owners are practically untouchable with any legal action,” Quinn lamented. “Can afford the best lawyers, and are so far detached, that they may as well have no connection whatsoever.”
“Any names?” Saxon asked, hoping to look into the owners on his own.
“If I gave you them, your day off wouldn't be much of a day off now would it?” Quinn argued, catching onto what Saxon was planning.
“Fair enough,” Saxon replied, knowing he already had plans for the day. “Well if that’s all, then I think I’ll enjoy this day …”
“Hang on,” Quinn interjected. “I get it's your day off, which is why I’m not asking you to write a formal report, but I need to know how you stopped them.”
Saxon was prepared for Quinn to ask this question. In all honesty, he was surprised she didn’t open with it. “The place was known for a DJ with some kind of mythos. I reckoned he was probably making everyone dance, so I flashed my badge, and asked to take a look around. They took me upstairs to his room, but by the time I got up, the window was shattered, and there was nobody to be found.”
Saxon had already chosen to help Octave, and lying came with that commitment. None of that meant Saxon enjoyed what he was doing.
“Well I’m glad you could stop it,” Quinn said, “even if the solution wasn’t permanent.”
“Let me know if anything happens,” Saxon requested.
“Only when you’re on the clock,” Quinn said.
“Understood,” Saxon said begrudgingly, hanging up the phone.
As Saxon stepped outside of his room, he spotted Elly, who waved at him to come over to her.
“Check this out,” Elly said, as Saxon approached, “look at what Octave managed to do.”
Saxon walked over to see Octave helping somebody with their guitar. “Octave, are you tryin’ to give Randy guitar lessons, 'cause it ain’t gonna work.”
“Nope,” Octave said, fiddling with the guitar “not lessons.” Octave stood up and handed the guitar back to Randy. “Give that a shot.”
Randy crossed his legs and propped the guitar up on his chest. As Randy went to play, Saxon plugged his ears in anticipation, but to his surprise, the music wasn’t half-bad.
“That’s how I remember her sounding,” Randy said, looking at his guitar with a big grin.
Saxon knew it wasn’t Octave’s mythos because the sound was muffled when he plugged his ears. “Randy’s playing has been terrible for as long as I can remember. What’d you do to fix it?” Saxon asked Octave.
“It wasn’t terrible,” Octave corrected Saxon, “just wildly out of tune, so I just tuned the guitar.”
“It was just that simple,” Elly remarked.
“See,” Randy said smugly, “told you I was as good as I said.”
“Best in Fable is still a stretch,” Saxon retorted.
“Won’t be, now that this thing’s back in shape,” Randy said, slapping Octave on the back, “and it’s all thanks to the new blood.”
“Just, happy to help,” Octave said, failing to hold back a smile.
Elly placed a hand on Octave’s shoulder. “Well if you’re so eager to help, then why don’t you come out this afternoon? We’re doing a walk around a couple of neighborhoods, giving out water, food, and clothes to anybody who needs it.”
“I got nothing else,” Octave said in agreement.
“Alright,” Elly said, “let’s get you stocked up.”
Saxon watched as Elly, and Octave left.
“Heard you brought the kid in,” Randy said, noticing Saxon’s focus on Octave. “Getting jealous that Elly snatched him up for herself?”
“Nah,” Saxon said, “she’s a better influence than me.”
“What makes you say that?” Randy asked.
“Cause she’s got him doing what he needs to do,” Saxon replied.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Then why don’t you follow them?” Randy inquired.
“Cause I need to do what I need to do,” Saxon answered.
“And what do you need to do?” Randy asked, taking note of Saxon’s cryptic answers.
“Don’t know,” Saxon admitted, “but I’m gonna do something because I know the answer isn’t nothing.”
“Sounds tough,” Randy remarked.
Saxon smiled. “It is.”
“Then you best be getting to work,” Randy said.
“It’s my day off,” Saxon joked.
“A day off just means you get to pick what work you do,” Randy commented.
“Then maybe you should work on your music,” Saxon said.
“I think I might,” Randy responded.
“Well I don’t want to be around for that,” Saxon said, beginning to walk away. “Take care, Randy.”
“You too Saxon,” Randy replied.
Exiting Torch, Saxon started making his way to the nearest bus shelter. Unfortunately, using Charon while off-duty wasn’t a possibility.
Saxon sat down at the bench and waited for a bus to arrive.
“You hear about what happened last night?”
Saxon’s head swiveled to the woman he had sat beside. Typically, people didn’t strike up many conversations with strangers, but Saxon was more than eager to have one. “No, tell me about it.”
“It happened at that new nightclub, the Epilogue,” the woman informed Saxon. “People were forced to dance against their will, till the point that their legs and arms entirely gave out.”
Saxon was taken aback. He was subscribed to several of the biggest newsletters in Fable, specifically to figure out when cases got out to the public, and how they were being portrayed. However, when he woke up, the only notable notifications on his phone were the missed calls from Quinn.
“Where’d you hear about this?” Saxon asked.
“From the victims themselves,” the woman responded.
“How’d you get to them if it was just last night?” Saxon asked.
“Every good reporter has their ways,” the woman responded.
“Who's your publicist?” Saxon asked.
“I’m a freelancer,” the woman replied, “at least for now.”
At this point, the bus pulled up to the shelter.
“Well I’d love to hear more about this on the bus,” Saxon said, offering to continue their conversation.
“Sorry, I’m waiting for somebody to pick me up,” the woman responded. “I’m just here for the bench, and the company.”
"Well if fate places us together again,” Saxon said, walking onto the bus “then maybe we can continue this conversation then.”
“Why leave it up to fate?” the woman asked, reaching into her bag, and handing Saxon a business card.
“Good point,” Saxon said, snatching the card as the doors to the bus closed.
As the bus began driving away, Saxon waved goodbye to the woman from behind the glass windows. On the card, it gave--among other information--her work email, the URL to her blog, and most importantly her name: Kuri Shin.
Finding out about the Epilogue that quickly was impressive--even if Saxon had done a pretty sloppy job. An efficient reporter was always a good resource to keep in the back pocket, so that’s exactly where Saxon stored the card.
The Underworld was a hard place to miss, especially since its jet-black exterior glowed red at night. Being the primary prison in Fable it was hard to miss, though the way it was structured made it look more like a castle than a prison.
Since it was the only prison in Fable able to dampen an avatar’s power, the Underworld had to be suitable for all types of criminals--from petty crimes to major operations. As a result, the Underworld was divided into 6 different levels. The more severe the crime, the lower the level.
Walking into the Underworld was easy for any FMPD officer, and doubly so for Saxon. A FMPD badge worked as a skeleton key inside the prison. Navigating his way to the interior, just as he had made it inside when a voice called out.
“Hold up sir. What’s the purpose of your visit?”
Saxon made more visits than anybody who didn’t work here--aside from maybe Charon--so practically everybody already knew him. Nobody ever stopped him.
“I’m here to talk to one of the inmates,” Saxon replied, swiveling his head to see a young man working at the front desk.
“Which one?” the man said, pulling up a list of who was incarcerated.
“Uncertain for right now,” Saxon replied.
The man’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “Come again.”
Saxon let out a sigh and rummaged around his coat for his badge. “I’m a detective for the FMPD. Listen, I forgot who I was gonna visit, embarrassing I know. Could you at least let me access the records to jog my memory?” Saxon requested.
“That should be okay,” the man said.
“Thanks,” Saxon said, looking for a name tag, “Robin.”
Saxon entered the prison and went to access the records. This wasn’t too bad of an outcome. Initially, Saxon knew exactly who he was going to meet with, but looking over the records let him shop around a little.
Saxon didn’t want to give Robin too hard a time. He was new, and just trying to do his job the best he could. Saxon still felt bad about the whole Charon incident with Lya, and he wasn’t a fan of repeating the same mistakes.
While combing through the files, Saxon felt a tap on his shoulder and turned his head around.
“Eddi!” Saxon exclaimed.
“It’s good to see you, Saxon,” Eddi replied. “What brings you here?”
“Looking to talk to some of the inmates,” Saxon answered.
“Well let’s make sure not to double up again,” Eddi joked.
“Did we ever figure out if I could get sued for what happened?” Saxon asked, laughing.
“Well,” Eddi replied, entertaining the idea, “you impersonated me, so that’s identity theft, and you could argue practicing without a medical license as well.”
“You’re a criminal psychologist,” Saxon argued, “not a doctor.”
“And a licensed therapist,” Eddi countered back. “One that works exclusively with avatars.”
“Hey, in my defense, it wasn’t till the dude started speaking Russian that I realized something was up,” Saxon said, “and then I stopped.”
“The Tower of Babel may not be a flashy mythos,” Eddi admitted, “but being able to speak every language is helpful.”
“It’s the only mythos I've ever seen, where its power could be done without it.” Saxon said.
“I’ve always wondered what would happen if I lost my mythos.” Eddi pondered aloud. “Would I still remember how to speak all the languages, or would I remember nothing at all? Perhaps I would only remember the ones I used frequently?”
“I could bonk you over the head,” Saxon suggested. “If we’re lucky, you’ll forget all about the Tower of Babel, and we could find out.”
“Thank you for the offer,” Eddi said, “but I prefer my head unbonked.”
“Suit yourself,” Saxon said with a shrug, grabbing two files. “Got what I came for.”
“Are you ever gonna clean up after yourself?” Eddi asked, looking at the mess Saxon had left.
“Yeah,” Saxon replied, “when you aren’t there to do it for me.”
Eddi rolled his eyes, and Saxon left the room.
Saxon approached the front desk and placed down the files. “Sorry about that Robin, got the two I’m visiting right here for you.”
“Ok,” Robin said, combing through the Underworld’s database. “Alright, can I have your badge to check you in?”
Saxon handed over his badge. It would put his name on record, and the time he visited, so Quinn was bound to find out, but Saxon didn’t want to waste any time, even if it meant testing Quinn’s patience even further.
“There we are Mr. Jones,” Robin said, handing Saxon back his badge. “Which one would you like us to send to you first?”
“I’ll take James first,” Saxon said. “I’ll come back when I want you to send in Ina.”
“Do you know both their mythoi, and understand the risks?” Robin asked.
“I do,” Saxon said--their mythoi were the reason Saxon was here
“Well then you’re all set,” Robin said, “enjoy your stay.”
“I’ll certainly try,” Saxon said.