The katana connected with the shell around the Onyx and a deafening clang reverberated through the chamber. But Saffie soon realised the blow hadn’t even created a crack.
Jade smirked and slid the blade away slowly.
“Someone went to a lot of effort to conceal the opportunities within, but I have a glitch hunter working on a solution to that.”
CORA: Not for much longer, you kidnapping cow!
Saffie was still processing the fact that the Onyx had been right there in the chamber with her the entire time, concealed by an enchantment.
SAFFIE: Guys! How are we going to steal the Onyx from right under her nose?!
CORA: We use a Mimic Artefact.
RUBEN: A what?!
CORA: It resembles an object in every way except function.
NATE: And where exactly do we get one of those?!
CORA: I have a device that creates them.
RUBEN: Of course she does.
NATE: Okay - stay where you are, Cora. I’m coming to get it.
“Tell me something, Saffie,” said Jade, pulling her attention away from the messages. “Have you ever been on a rollercoaster?”
Saffie was taken aback by the random question. What did a rollercoaster have to do with anything?
“Um… yeah, once,” she admitted. “When I was twelve.”
“You enjoyed the experience,” Jade said, again like it was more of a statement than a question. Saffie couldn’t deny she had loved every twist, turn and near miss of the Dragon’s Fury coaster on her day out at Chessington World of Adventures with Dax two years ago. “Did you ever stop to wonder why you enjoyed it so much?”
“No,” Saffie said.
“It’s the threat of near death that makes us feel so… alive.”
Jade suddenly raised her katana and touched the tip to the underside of Saffie’s chin. Saffie froze and gulped as she felt gentle pressure push her chin up to reveal her neck.
“This sword is an in-game weapon,” Jade said. “If I were to cut your throat with it, your health bar would be reduced to zero, and you would fall into Morrowsleep only to wake in the morning eliminated from Overworld but otherwise unharmed. Where is the excitement in that?”
She lowered the blade, allowing Saffie to clear her throat.
“Upon elimination, the Overworld chip deactivates and disintegrates,” Jade continued, “leaving behind no trace of it. Somewhere in the source code is a line that dictates this conditional statement. With a simple tweak, instead of de-activating, I could make chips self-destruct, fatally damaging players’ brains. In game deaths would become real deaths.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Saffie’s heart was pounding away in her chest.
SAFFIE: Guys, are you hearing this?!
SAFFIE: We HAVE to get that Onyx out of here!
NATE: I’m with you Saff.
NATE: In more ways than one.
NATE: I’m in the chamber.
NATE: You’re going to have to distract her for me.
Saffie turned away from the centre of the chamber and walked to one of the walls. She tried to walk with confidence, even though she could feel herself trembling.
“This is a beautiful painting,” she said, motioning to some artwork to her right.
Jade followed her.
“It’s a woodblock print called “Sundai, Edo” by Hokusai,” she said. “One of his Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. Not the most famous of the collection, but indeed beautiful, like you say. Did you know that Hokusai created more than thirty thousand works of art over the course of his career?”
“That’s… a lot,” Saffie replied, barely paying attention to what Jade was saying.
SAFFIE: Be quick, Nate!
NATE: Okay, I’m about to replace it.
NATE: Keep her distracted!
“Do you… own any of the other… thirty thousand prints?” Saffie said as loudly and bubbly as she could.
Jade gave her an odd look at her sudden change of tone, but simply nodded.
“My father was quite the ukiyo-e collector.”
NATE: Okay, that’s it!
NATE: I’ve swapped them and I’ve got the real Onyx in my hands. This thing feels weird.
CORA: Just make sure it stays hidden.
Saffie wanted to feel some relief that Nate had the Onyx in his possession, but she knew they still had work to do.
SAFFIE: So we’ve got one out of the three things we came for.
SAFFIE: Ruben - look harder for that Eternity Ink. We’re not leaving here without it!
RUBEN: She’s got stocks of everything BUT Eternity Ink. You’re going to have to ask her outright for it.
SAFFIE: WHAT?!
RUBEN: Like, offer her something in exchange for a vial of it!
RUBEN: One of the potions on your belt!
RUBEN: Or some guilders!
Saffie felt a bead of sweat dribble down her left temple.
“You’re lost in your own thoughts,” Jade pondered, and Saffie gulped.
“I… heard that you’re in possession of an ingredient called… Eternity Ink,” she said cautiously.
There was an uncomfortable pause before Jade replied.
“Eternity Ink,” she said. “What a very fitting name for it. Where did you hear about my Eternity Ink, Saffie?”
“I… heard someone mention it at the Alchemist’s Guild,” Saffie admitted.
“A thin boy?” said Jade. “Wiry hair? Toad panion?”
“Thats the one,” Saffie confirmed.
A message appeared almost instantly.
RUBEN: Thanks for throwing me under the bus!
RUBEN: And my hair isn’t ‘wiry’.
SAFFIE: You’re the one who told me to ask her outright!
“You understand that Eternity Ink is an incredibly rare alchemical ingredient?” said Jade.
Saffie nodded.
“I heard it makes the effects of potions last forever.”
“Potions, enchantments… it can even be infused into spells if you know what you are doing.”
“I’d like to… buy some from you,” Saffie tried.
Jade turned away from Saffie, paced over to her throne, sat down slowly, then leaned back and pressed her fingernails together.
“What do you offer as payment?” she said.
Saffie pulled the most potent potion she owned from her belt and held it out. It was a restorative that fully replenished both health and mana, but Jade’s blank look told Saffie that she wasn’t impressed.
Saffie put the potion back and fumbled in her purse for the few guilders she owned.
“Stop,” said Jade, and Saffie froze.
“Eternity Ink isn’t the kind of ingredient I exchange for potions or guilders. But there is something I would be willing to exchange with you. I like you, Saffie. There’s something about you that draws me to you. I feel like we’ve known each other all of our lives.”
Saffie wondered if this was a spiel that she gave to everyone, or if Jade genuinely felt some kind of connection, in which case she had to be deluded.
“I’ve had other players come in here claiming to be interested in my plans, but when they go away, I never see them again. I don’t want that to happen with you. So… how about this? I give you one vial of Eternity Ink, and you… pledge your allegiance to me.”
Saffie’s stomach churned.
SAFFIE: What do I do?!
RUBEN: You pledge your allegiance!
CORA: We’re not all as ready to sell our souls to the devil as you are, Ruben.
CORA: But in this case, Saffie, I think you’re going to have to.
SAFFIE: This is wrong. So wrong.
NATE: Just tell her what she wants to hear, Saff. We know you don’t mean it. You can go back on your word as soon as we’ve got what we need from her.
SAFFIE: That sounds a lot easier than it probably will be.
CORA: Haven’t you ever lied to anyone?
Of course Saffie had. She had lied to her parents quite a lot in recent weeks. But lying to Jade Sakata felt like a whole different beast.
She took a deep breath.
“I… pledge my allegiance to you.”
A satisfied smile crept up one side of Jade’s mouth.
“Marvellous. Well then, let’s get you some Eternity Ink.”
Saffie expected Jade to get up and go fetch the ingredient from a storage unit somewhere, but instead she leaned back on her throne, produced a small, empty glass vial from her robe, and slowly raised her other arm in the direction of Octavius, who was floating next to her. Then, without any emotion, she spoke a single word:
“Excruciate.”