The red light played over a variated ground. Low lines, like roots, climbed over larger, thicker root-like lumps. The roots grew thicker, knitting together as they drew toward the highest point beneath them, a huge, thick lump on the ground. The lump throbbed. Or rather, it beat.

“That’s Lord Nors’ heart, isn’t it,” Ike said.

“I’d bet on it.”

“Hey, Wisp?”

“Yeah?”

“When you reach Rank 4, I beg you, please keep your heart inside your body.”

Wisp pursed her lips. She nodded. “I was planning on it, tell you the truth.”

“Good, good.” Ike paused. He looked at the heart. “Sorry, Lord Nors. We could have been on the same side.”

“We still can.”

A figure stepped out from behind the heart. The shopkeep stood there, with his swept brown hair and his neat suit. He smiled primly. “Good afternoon. I apologize for the man upstairs. You’ll have to forgive him. He’s a bit short in the head.”

Ike tilted his head. He looked at Wisp.

Wisp spread her hands. “I can’t explain this. Why are you looking at me?”

“I was hoping someone would have an answer. Anyone, really,” Ike said hopelessly.

“Then look no further!” the shopkeep said. He stepped forward. “I take it you’ve come to some understanding of the Wizard’s Tower, if you made your way here?”

“A small understanding,” Ike allowed.

“Then I must tell you that I failed. We failed.” He took a deep breath.

Ike waited. Wisp slowly spooled her thread toward the floor.

“We chose to invest in the Wizard’s Tower technique after… I assume Lord Nors showed you that puppet show?”

“He did, yes,” Ike said, nodding.

The shopkeep sighed. “Right. After everything was already ruined. Everyone we loved was dead. Everything we’d built had been destroyed. But Wizard’s Tower lets you create a perfect world. A world that you imagine. Within your Tower, everything is under your control. You craft everything. You form everything. No matter what you want, you can create it in your Tower. We thought, maybe if we succeeded, maybe if we perfectly pictured everyone, used the puppets Llewyn had built, the ones that looked identical… maybe we could bring them back.”

Ike touched down. “But it didn’t work.”

The shopkeep shook his head. “I put everything in it. Every ounce of myself. Every drop of my power. And…I did it. I created a Wizard’s Tower. But instead of recreating the town’s citizens, I instead split my own psyche. A thousand versions of me, moving at once. They were all me. I was all of them. And all their actions were mine, and yet not mine.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

He lowered his head. His eyes shut. “Within days, I could feel myself going insane. There was only one way to save myself. The few pieces of me that remained self-aware put all our energy into controlling the Tower. We looped the day on itself, to make the lives of the rest of us easier. To keep ourselves from going any more insane. To keep the puppets’ insanity from encroaching on the sanity of those who remained.”

Ike nodded. “I get that. I’m kind of following. But why capture me and Wisp?”

The shopkeep spread his hands. “You entered the Tower of your own volition. Once the other puppets saw you, there was no chance those of us who remained sane would be able to let you escape. I assume Lord Nors attempted to absorb you in some form or another? There’s more that goes into a Wizard’s Tower than mere mana. It requires psychic strength as well, souls and hearts… things you can only harvest from another sentient being.

“I apologize about that, but it was quite beyond my power to stop them. I tried to convince them to let you go, and you see where they put me.”

“And the Wisp puppet?” Ike asked.

“The what?” Wisp asked, whipping around.

“I…had no idea they did such a thing. I apologize, I suppose,” the shopkeep said, clasping his hands.

“What do you want us to do?” Ike asked, cutting to the chase.

“Ah! Yes. Precisely. You’ve already slain all the other puppets, correct? I sensed it. We are one being, after all.”

Ike nodded.

The shopkeep stepped forward. “Right now, Lord Nors and I are warring over the power you released when you destroyed them. Essentially, we’re playing tug of war with each other’s minds. We are the final two who remain. Either he wins, or I do. Between the two of us…well, if you had to pick…” The shopkeep shrugged helplessly.

“Or we could stab your big, exposed heart,” Wisp said, pointing at the thing.

The shopkeep glanced over. He quickly looked away. “I suppose you could, yes. I would prefer you didn’t. After all, I might be a weak Rank 4, but once I reabsorb all the pieces of myself, I will once more be a true Rank 4. And, I hope, a valuable asset on your side, in the fight against Llewyn.”

Ike nodded. He pinched his chin, then glanced at Wisp. She raised her brows.

He turned back to the shopkeep. “Mind if we take a moment to discuss?”

“No, no. Please. Go ahead,” he said. He backed away politely and waited, a smile on his face.

Ike leaned in. Wisp crawled down from her thread and tipped her head his direction. He met her eyes. “So…do we take his side, or stab the heart?”

Wisp considered. “If we kill him, we get all the treasure in his treasury, but we have to find it.”

“And he can put it anywhere in the entire city. We’ll be here for ages,” Ike said, nodding.

“Right. But right now, we can negotiate for his treasury, and get him to agree to put it where we can reach.”

“Downside, he can hide shit. Or renege on his promise,” Ike pointed out.

“But, upside, we’re not stuck here forever digging up the entire city to find his treasure,” Wisp countered.

Ike turned. He nodded at the shopkeep. “Are you willing to give us everything in your treasury if we help you?”

“Everything? Er… Could I negotiate to keep some of the gold?” the shopkeep said. He laughed nervously. “I wasn’t lying about my city being a merchant city. If you leave me the gold, I can gain far more gold for you, and accomplish far more, than if you take all my gold.”

Ike looked at Wisp. He raised his brows. “I’m kind of good on gold.”

“Yeah, gold tastes shitty, and I have a shit ton. I’m fine leaving him some gold,” Wisp agreed.

He turned back around. “I think we can allow that.”

The shopkeep beamed. “Excellent. Then, do we have a deal?”

Ike and Wisp made eye contact. Ike nodded. Wisp nodded back. Ike turned back around. “I think we do.”

The shopkeep reached into his pocket. “Here. Take this. This will transfer all of Lord Nors’ power to me.”

Ike paused. He looked at the small metal rod, then looked at the shopkeep. “Speaking of, what’s your name? I feel like I should know your name, if I’m going to kill a man for you.”

He rubbed the back of his head. “My name? Er. I was always just called ‘the shopkeep’ by the other puppets. I was a fictional character I added to the village for my own amusement. Because I remembered there being a shop on the corner, but I didn’t know who manned it. They were only a recent arrival, and I never met them.”

“Shopkeep it is,” Ike said. He took the rod.

“Wait, Ike!” Wisp said. She grabbed his shoulder.

“What?” he asked.

She shook her head. “We’ve made a terrible mistake!”