Zarian was standing with a porcelain tea cup in his hand, looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the top of the Central Library Artillery Tower. Wisps of vapors rose from the scalding hot tea. It was a dark blend. It had a herbal scent. Slightly minty.
His village’s most important guest, Empress Ruvaria, had just brewed it for him and the other occupants inside of the spacious meeting room.
One might think in a political meeting like this, there was the danger of poison. But Ruvaria was the type who was so powerful the use of poison would be too far beneath her.
It was actually a flex that she could be the most powerful Master Ranker across most of the Lesser Worlds and still serve other people tea.
There were only six of them, the Floridians and the empress, who seemed present.
Zarian could make a case that a few of their skill-summons, Hannah’s Magi and his own Para, could be major decision makers, too. If so, then the choices made by all eight of them could possibly rock the entire foundations of the entire universe and maybe further beyond.
Zarian imagined the man he was a year ago wouldn’t have believed he’d gotten this far so fast. Granted, many incredible things had happened.
He couldn’t blame the man he was before for not having the capacity to imagine all of this.
Here he was, holding an entire universe hostage, able to look out the top floor window of a weaponized tower and see many people scurry about under him like ants.
In the old world, he used to be down there in the alleys when it rained. He used to look up at the skyscrapers and wonder what it would be like to be up there.
Between him and the scurrying people below were rectangular protrusions along the upper third section of the tower’s sides. The magic artillery cannons have already cooled by now. They were ready to dish out more punishment against any major invading force.
“Outsiders never cease to amaze,” Empress Ruvaria said.
She looked out the ceiling-to-floor windows while standing next to him. The other Floridians were seated at the giant conference table, which was loaded with food and drinks galore. They were eating while taking sips from the ancestral elven tea.
Zarian hadn’t taken a sip yet. Ruvaria hadn’t taken one either. They looked out the window for a long while.
After recomposing his thoughts, Zarian took his first sip of the tea and hummed with delight. It was excellent stuff. High in quality. Magical to the senses.
He felt like he tasted Nirvana as it flowed between his tongue, stomach, and brain. He felt more and more relaxed. The tea soothed him.
“I guess we can’t persuade you to think we came from the World of Swamps and Princesses, huh?” Zarian asked.
Ruvaria shook her head, her long gold-silver hair swishing with the movement. “You can’t. I know Florida is a specific landmass in the mundane world you herald from. I’ve heard of it before, in fact.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“It is so. You’re not the first Outsiders I’ve met who came from there. Although, I’ve met plenty who claim to come from the World of Anime and Samurai. And those who claim the World of Soju and Kpop.”
Back at the conference table, Gilbert burst out. “Hey, I got those references!”
“Impressive,” Hannah said dryly.
Zarian couldn’t help but chuckle. He wondered if he would meet any Japanese or Korean Outsiders along the way. Maybe there were other Americans, too.
He might have to watch out for that.
Other Outsiders might have their own OP-ness. Even if his OP-ness trumped everybody else’s right now, all it would take was one crazy Outsider with the right skills to catch Zarian off guard and end everything.
There were already some wildcard factors brewing in the background who wanted to challenge, like Luciana, or seal him up, like Ruvaria’s grandmother.
“Good Goddess Purehome isn’t going to be happy with you after this, I imagine?” Zarian asked.
“Our relationship has always been transactional,” Ruvaria answered. “There is no point in pretending otherwise. Family does matter. But even family has become a dreary exchange of favors for power and influence. It’s times like these I prefer to fake my death and disappear for centuries.”
The empress gave Zarian a sidelong glance. “But I can’t ignore you. You won’t let me ignore you.”
“You can’t make me go away easily, either. Well, not without considering the long-term consequences,” Zarian said.
“We’ve gone over this already. I may be old, but I was never dull.” Ruvaria sighed.
Zarian shrugged. “I like the political dance. It’s fun.”
“Enough performance. Tell me what you want,” she demanded, adding some weight with her good +4.
Zarian didn’t let her goad him easily. Without a clear lane to crush him like an ant, the empress’s use of good +4 was an empty threat.
The freedom alignment made it hard for anyone else to come in and crush someone of freedom without the force to back it.
In other words, his free evil +3 was better than her good +4, especially in the political arena.
Zarian smiled nonchalantly over the brim of his tea cup before taking another sip. He let the empress stew away in her annoyance before she finally took a sip from her own cup. Then she looked down at the dark blend with a hint of surprise.
“It’s still awful,” she said.
“Tastes great to me,” Zarian said.
“It doesn’t compare to my father’s tea. His tea was the best. He was the best.”
“Is it too early for me to ask what happened to him?”
“He died in the First Star Ascension Trial.”
Zarian nodded. He supposed he held back long enough. “My condolences, empress. I won’t pretend I knew your father or your relationship with him, so I won’t say anymore than that. Instead, I’ll make my request.”
“I appreciate that. And yes, tell me.”
“Mentor us,” Zarian requested.
“No,” the empress replied.
“I figured you would say that.” Zarian took another sip. He steadily walked around the petite elf woman. His ragged cloak moved smoothly with his steps. “But I need to know why you would say that before I can haggle.”
“I’ve mentored enough. I’m tired. I have a garden to tend back home. I have many hobbies I would rather do.” Ruvaria took another sip from the tea. “How about you point me at an enemy and let me erase them for you? I can do that much before the Star System attempts to impose its restrictions on me.”
Zarian shook his head. No dice. It wouldn’t be cheating to use the empress as a hammer, but it would be too cheesy.
The Funnest Grandpapa had made it obvious that Zarian needed to do the hard work and stay committed to the grind. Zarian needed to stay away from making things too easy for himself and for his party. That would lessen the quality of his party’s growth, which was especially bad.
“I guess you aren’t in need of me destroying anything.” The empress sounded frustrated. “I can talk to you and your friends. Make suggestions. Give advice. I have my own curiosities I would like to have satisfied. But mentorship requires a deeper relationship. And I’ve done this enough with adventurers before you. I’m too old for it now.”
“Do you have anything you have to handle directly back at the Promised Continent?” Zarian asked.
“No. I made sure it can all run without me,” she said.
“Then I’d like you to stay in my village for a while. Be a long-term guest. Ask whatever you want. Everything you want to know is yours to know,” Zarian said. “Besides, you know you can’t just vanish. I’m a huge, huge, cosmic issue. Do you want someone else to come into your backyard and mess things up? I’m in your backyard. I’m your problem. Who better to tend to that than you?”
Zarian held nothing back. His free evil +3 sang beautifully in this sort of contest. This was where evil shone best, especially his free evil +3.
I want her. I will have her, Zarian thought greedily.
Empress Ruvaria took a slow sip from her tea. “How unusual.”
“There’s nothing unusual about it. Why hide anything from you when I have nothing to hide? Why turn us away when you can watch over us and see everything with no resistance?” Zarian smiled wickedly.
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She pouted like a little girl. “You are being too convincing. You are quite evil.”
“Evil? No, no, no, empress! What I offer is beyond evil! The schemes? The backdoor deals? The preparations to step on others and backstab up to the top? Yes, those are best used against pitiful players who bumble their way through the game. But for someone like you? No, no, no, I will not play the game that way with you. I’m going to flip the entire board instead by doing the opposite. By being honest. By giving you what you need. And then by giving you what you will want.”
“Honesty can be used for evil,” Ruvaria said.
“Yes, it certainly can. But you can’t resist me when all I’m doing is satisfying your curiosities, handing you solutions to your problems even before they crop up, and putting myself further into your mercy just so you can have more control. After all, I am just another plant in your garden. Despite me being big and prickly, I know and you know that with enough care, this big prickly plant and his plant friends can all flourish and make you proud.”
“I have heard similar words before. I know this trap. It is a noose to hang my spirit by. Yet I can’t end you. I can’t make you go away. Thus, your presence and words annoy me greatly. I don’t like how you have all this power over me and must parade it as my problem.”
Zarian pressed forward until they were tea cup to tea cup. Ruvaria had to tilt her chin up to meet his eyes.
“Regardless of what I prefer and what you prefer, I need to control my Overwhelming Darkness. You are the best Master Ranker of the Lesser Worlds, with a bunch of names including Sorceress Queen. So, I’m going to do everything I can to pull you into the fold and have you help me.” Zarian let out a low evil laugh. “So welcome to Little Florida, my dear, a warm and lovely place that’s perfect for your next forever retirement home. Don’t worry, we’ll take very, very good care of you. We have a decent track record for that.”
“You make it all sound that I have no choice,” Ruvaria said. “I can always disappear and hide.”
“I will find you. And make things inconvenient for you,” Zarian said. “Maybe I’ll make you so annoyed you’ll accidentally kill me. Whoopsie daisies. There goes the universe. Again!”
Ruvaria turned from Zarian to the other Floridians sitting at the table. She looked expectantly at them, as if they should call out Zarian for being crazy.
They didn’t, of course. Because they were Floridians, and they all had the craziness, Bianca especially.
“You remind me of my abuela,” Bianca said. “You sound like you need someone to take care of you and not make you feel used. Let me help you, señorita.”
Ruvaria blinked, not able to respond right away.
Bianca moved from her seat gracefully, her colorful dress swishing with her long strides. She crossed the distance before crouching down to look up into Ruvaria’s shiny green eyes.
“Si, si, I know. I see what’s the problem. I understand. This is why you must stay. It will take time, but you will get better.”
“You know not what you are babbling, child,” Ruvaria said.
“I don’t need to know. I just need to feel it. And I can feel it.” Bianca smiled brightly. “We will have good times together. You need a spa day. Let’s do a spa day for all the girls.”
“I’m pampered well enough.”
“Yes, but no. Not properly. And not well enough to heal what’s wrong inside. We’ll work it all out together.”
“I don’t need you or anyone.”
Bianca nodded seriously. “Do not be afraid. It will be painful, but once you’re on the other side, the wound in your heart will feel a little better.”
Zarian had no idea what was happening. But he wasn’t going to stop it.
The exchange between the princess and the empressess had Ruvaria on the back foot, either way. The petite elf woman had an expression that was both unnerved and dumbfounded. She was completely stumped by Bianca being Bianca.
Unable to handle the Bianca-ness, Ruvaria turned away and looked out the window.
“I hate it when things get complicated,” Ruvaria said. “It was simple in the early days. Evil attacks good. And good slays evil. Rinse and repeat. But two eras later, everything’s more complex. This is the Dark Era indeed.”
Ruvaria sighed. “And I’m the darkest I’ve ever been even with all of my accolades. I should just go home and accept things as they are.”
“She sounds like she needs a healthy smoothie,” Bianca suggested.
Zarian reached over and patted the Latina on the shoulder. He gently turned her around and sent her back toward the conference table.
It was good to see Bianca’s bubbly personality rise to the top again, but it could be too much without some restraint. At the very least, Bianca knew to listen when Zarian needed her to dial down the Bianca-ness.
Zarian let the silence persist afterward. He finished his tea. They did nothing but look out the tall windows and watched the snowfall and heavy block clouds crawling above the village. Finally, after an hour of nothing happening, Ruvaria broke the silence.
“I will stay until I can make a more permanent decision,” the empress said. “I would like to get shown to my room soon, but before I go, I wish to weigh in on your next decisions, children.”
“Oh?” Zarian raised an eyebrow. The others sat up in their seats curiously. They listened politely like well-behaved children in class.
“When upgrading a trait, know that this is a very rare gift from the System. You should use it on a trait that might yield the best rewards for your profile, especially one that helps synergize with many of your abilities and the abilities of others.”
Ruvaria spoke in a scholarly tone. It was easy to listen to her. They all wanted to listen to her. She really was the best mentor across the many Lesser Worlds. So Zarian took in every word of her advice like the most delicious meal.
“Do not waste your upgrade on a trait that has a higher quality simply because it has a higher quality. It is often the lower or mid quality traits who improve the most with those upgrades, which can make the biggest and most positive difference.”
“How long have you been watching us?” Hannah asked. “Forgive me for throwing this suddenly, but it’s been something I wanted to ask.”
“I’ve been watching you more directly since the moment the Darkrun Apocalypse concluded,” Ruvaria said. “It’s only just recently that I’ve taken a closer examination. This has led to certain curiosities I’ve had while also giving me some insight into your situations.”
“Can we ask for more insights before you head in?” Hannah asked greedily.
“No,” Ruvaria answered.
That did not surprise Zarian. Ruvaria had done more than enough for tonight. She had also opened a can of worms regarding her long-term surveillance.
Gilbert looked like he wanted to admonish the empress, but then he held back and gave himself time to think. It was probably lucky that he had a self aware moment and kept his mouth shut for once.
Zarian certainly couldn’t say much, not when he had the village and the wilds beyond covered with spectral spiders. Besides, they were always under surveillance in one way or another.
They had done their best to mitigate certain outer influences from looking too closely at them, but they didn’t have an adequate way of stopping it fully.
After thanking Ruvaria for her advice and for deciding to stay over and consider the offer, Magi appeared and guided the empress to her room inside the tower.
With her physically gone, Zarian let out a big sigh and dropped the free evil +3 sub alignment, freeing himself up from playing the role of big, bad politician.
He dumped himself into his seat at the head of the conference table and looked at the others lazily.
It didn’t matter that Ruvaria could observe all of this. Just because he had nothing to hide didn’t mean he wouldn’t let himself chill out and act as he pleased for different occasions.
Right now was the time to put his feet up on the table and relax.
“Been an interesting few days,” Zarian said.
The others agreed. There were casks with plenty of beer. There was also more tea in the pot. There were plenty of snacks that remained, which Para grabbed with lengthy limbs to feed her host directly.
Zarian, Bianca, and Hannah drank the rest of the tea. Gilbert and Naomi went for the beer.
The Floridians took their time to hang out, talk about prior adventures that came with important discoveries, and exchange important info. They went over stuff going on with the village, the foreigners, the guild members, the wolf dragon invasion, and whatever else came to mind.
Other than having a massively overpowered elf in their village, they had three prominent issues.
One, they had no idea when the Mythical Regional Event would begin again officially.
Two, the situation at Grimrock was getting out of hand.
Three, Zarian’s Evil Goddess wife could cause horrific damages and death with her rise in activity.
“Your wife can act in ways that the other gods can’t,” Hannah said. “We’ve heard nothing about monsters coming from Sickspread or Goldhound except for The Dragon. But that one is asleep while your wife seems to act under different rules. I suppose it makes sense with her origins entwined with yours, Zarian.”
Hannah was sitting with legs folded under her. Her Architect Suit and Smart Gauntlets clung to her body more, revealing that she wasn’t the mousy brunette Zarian had once known.
Her body had filled out lately, looking better for it. The cold and hard edge to her expressions, however, had remained the same for the past four months.
She was giving Zarian a hard look right now. “You can make her stop. You can order her right now. You can even take control of her, really, if you want to push it that far.”
“I’m not going to,” Zarian said.
“I get it,” Gilbert said.
“Really?” Hannah asked.
Gilbert shrugged. “It’s a forbidden fruit. Take one bite, and you’ll invite a whole heap of sin that will push you too far out into the wasteland.”
“There will be many deaths if Shadowfell progresses further as an active evil force,” Hannah said.
“You can’t always see the path in front of you when things seem all dark. But you just have to hold fast to your faith and let that carry you onto the other side,” Gilbert said, nonchalant. “I think the chief’s right by not playing into this game his folks got set up with Shadowfell’s family. It’s too obvious. It goes against what’s needed. Defeating the darkness from the ground up is the surefire path.”
Hannah huffed in frustration. She waved her hand around her. “Nothing about what we do is from the ground up. Look at where we are now. I’ve created this place by pointing my hand and making it so. What’s the difference between this and taking the reins on an Evil Goddess when you have the power to do so?”
“Seems like that now, us being far off the ground. But I don’t think we’re that far off. I still remember every part of when Jack snapped my neck as I cried like a baby,” Gilbert said.
There was an awkward silence after that.
“Maybe we should get some rest. I’m going to stay in the village for a while and see if I can help with our elf abuela.” Bianca stood. “I’m excited about this. She’s not the bad side of good. She’s … hurt. I want to help her. I will help her.”
Zarian nodded. He noticed the free good +5 ebbing and flowing around Bianca’s form more freely than before.
The sub alignment was harder to summon up. Free good was the hardest form of all the alignments, in fact. Bianca truly had to pull up the essence of goodness from inside of her to make it work, and it didn’t seem as powerful as traditional good.
It was the reverse of the last situation. No longer could the force of goodness compel her. She had to compel the force of goodness herself, and that came with less power, unfortunately.
Then again, we haven’t seen Bianca push to the peak yet. She’s still figuring it out. I just hope it’s not too big of a setback for her to lose the power from good +5.
Even if she was weaker with free good +5, Zarian couldn’t see her going back to traditional good. Not after all she had done to heal from her trauma.
“Buenas noches,” Zarian and the others said.
After Bianca left, Gilbert and Hannah bickered over ideologies and opinions surrounding the Shadowfell situation. Zarian didn’t mind the divergent opinions, especially since they were both accepting of his bizarre and horrifying marriage.
They both knew what it was like to be in a bad marriage while looking forward to the divorce. Once Gilbert and Hannah were ready to call it quits, the two left the conference room and went to bed.