58. Tripping is Harder Than It Looks
The glow of the tablet screen faded as Isaac reached the event area proper. There were indeed crowds of creatures gathered about, milling around and talking. Apparently they’d decided that sitting in the stands was too dull.
Isaac’s eyes flickered over to where he’d last seen Remus, and sure enough, the demon was still there, staring forward unchangingly. Across the obstacle course, which looked like it had been cleaned up while he was gone, he could make out Sharil’s distant figure glaring at the man, and a smaller form that must be Olzu stood beside her.
He strode forward, heading in their direction, but paused when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he found himself facing an all too familiar deadpan expression.
“Mortimer.” Isaac turned fully around to face the half-undead man. “When’d you get here?”
“From the start.”
Isaac raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t notice you. You could’ve come and found me, you know.” The earth pillar rising booth thing would’ve made it abundantly clear where he was located.
Mortimer just hummed in response, his eyes shifting. Isaac turned around, following the man’s gaze towards the healer’s area. It was even emptier now, and from where they stood, he could only see the entrance and a few empty benches stacked with bandage rolls and cloths.
He frowned, but before he could ask, Mortimer spoke again.
“Fable was searching for you.”
Isaac’s features immediately twisted into a scowl. “What is it now?”
Mortimer’s voice remained even and blunt. “I believe it had to do with the individual events.”
He was technically supposed to be at the booth for stat updates, if he remembered correctly. But knowing Fable, he doubted that was all. “I’ll find them later. I’ve got a message to deliver first.”
“They said it was urgent.” Despite his expression remaining as deadpan as ever, there was a faint trace of amusement in the man’s voice. Isaac released a long sigh.
“Fine.” He turned to head in the direction of the booth, but paused, partially out of curiosity and partially to try and delay the inevitable. “Oh right, are you just here to watch?”
Mortimer nodded. “It sounded interesting.”
If he actually participated, he’d probably do pretty well, Isaac thought. Lvl 25 was high among the participants, and his weird bone growth thing seemed versatile enough to work in multiple different competitions. But then, with the amount of fey participating, maybe this was for the best. Or maybe not; getting mass ignored by a bunch of competitors might actually be to his benefit.
Isaac snorted. “That’s one way to put it.” He shook his head. “Felt like everyone was waiting to rip each other’s throats out.”
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“Well,” Mortimer said plainly, “they probably are, but they know better than to try.” He stared at the crowds of people, humming thoughtfully. “Do you think I could set up a shop here? People may be interested in purchasing—“
“Please don’t,” Isaac interrupted. Equipping the participants with Mortimer’s weird ass inventions sounded like a recipe for disaster.
Out of the corner of his eye, Isaac thought he caught movement. Turning around, he realized that the earth pillar holding the booth was moving up and down, like a very conspicuous magical version of those roller coasters that dropped people repeatedly. Drop towers, if Isaac remembered correctly. He rubbed at the creases quickly forming across his forehead. “Looks like Fable’s getting impatient,” he muttered. He sighed and shook his head. Well, it was better to get this over with, he supposed.
“See you later,” he said to Mortimer, who responded with a simple nod. Turning away, he strode through the crowd towards the booth.
—
The booth landed solidly against the ground, kicking up clouds of dirt once Isaac was within 10 feet of it. Thankfully he’d already expected this and held his breath, so he avoided the worst of the dust inhalation and only stumbled slightly at the tremor that ran through the ground during the impact.
The earth pillar gone and the booth now completely level with the ground, Isaac waited a few seconds to ensure it wouldn’t start moving again before stepping forward. Fable was seated at the table, chair tipped diagonally and feet propped up on the table with a lazy grin, somehow having balanced like that during the up and down movements of the pillar. Isaac stared at the two singular legs of the chair still on the ground.
Fable waved with a gloved hand, the bright red of the fabric becoming a blur with the motion. “Yo, took you long enough. They’re getting real impatient waiting for the next events to start, you know.”
Isaac did feel a bit bad about that, not that he’d ever admit it to the other Traveler. He sat down on the other chair after dragging it as far away from Fable as possible, then placed the tablet on the table. “I was doing something. So? What do you want? I seriously doubt you called me here just for the stat updates.”
They grinned. “Aw, you’re learning! I hope you didn’t forget about our little bet.”
Isaac frowned. “I’m pretty sure I lost that.” Much to his annoyance.
Fable laughed, and the sound felt especially grating. “Obviously, but you know, it was kind of difficult. A whole bunch of sheets to look at, all the skills, I mean, it’s no wonder it was too much for your tiny brain, right?” They shrugged, red scarf swaying with the movement. “Well, this next stuff’s waaay easier. It’s simple. Most events test one stat, so all you have to do is guess if the person needs an update before the system finishes processing it.” They grinned. “Should be easy, right?”
Isaac stared at the other Traveler, but they were as infuriatingly impossible to read as ever. The sunglasses certainly didn’t help. “You’re not gonna tell me why you’re really doing this, are you.”
“Oh I thought it was obvious. It’s funny and I’m bored.” Fable pointed at the glowing tablet. “Tell you what, if you guess enough right, I’ll take over the rest of the stat updates so you can go enjoy the rest of this little tournament. How’s that sound?”
It sounded like an unusually benevolent offer. Isaac frowned. “And how much, exactly is ‘enough?’”
“Enough to prove you’re not a moron.”
Isaac kicked his foot out at the chair legs. Unfortunately, Fable seemed to predict the action and hopped off onto the table in a surprisingly display of dexterity just as the chair toppled to the ground. Now standing on the table, scarf trailing behind them, they grinned down at him. Fable should never be given a height advantage, Isaac thought.
“Come on, it’ll be fun,” they drawled, utterly unperturbed by the chair tripping attempt. Fable cocked their head to the side. “A good distraction.”
Isaac narrowed his eyes. Even through the filter of the sunglasses, he didn’t like the sharpness present in the other Traveler’s gaze. He turned away to stare ahead at the crowds in front of them. “Whatever,” he muttered. “But you’d better keep your word.”
Fable laughed and lightly jumped off the table, moving to right the chair and sit down again. “Oh don’t worry, I always do.”