---Maddy---
Maddy was put on the spot. She…was taking a risk. One that felt riskier than anything else she had done.
Why did it feel risky? What about it felt so dangerous?
Why had she ignored it the other day and accepted it today? Was it…because R currently looked weak? Was it because she felt safer here with friends than she had in the dark?
Maddy spiraled into self reflection even as a good portion of her consciousness began discussing R’s absolutely garbage hint. His hint was he had already given his hint? That wasn’t a real hint it was a trick!
When had he given it?
He’d given it…twice before? Or he’d given two hints before? Was before...sometime near the start? Was his hint hidden in the contract none of them remembered fully?
Was ‘before’ referring to a time back on earth? That…that was too far back. It seemed impossible.
Did the ‘R’ this creature call himself by relate to his name? First letter? Was there some meaning to its position in the alphabet?
Was there a time he’d revealed his name?
“Is your name Renald?” Maddy asked thinking back to the helpful wizard who had taught her spells early on.
‘R’ began to laugh his face way too wide his mirth way too large.
“Is an apple an orange just because you’re colorblind?” R choked out between laughs as if he had just said the funniest joke in the world.”
It was a trap. She’d accepted an impossible quiz. Maybe she could find the answer out if she had time to research ‘R’ – bribe the necromancer into telling her his name or something.
She’d lost.
What had she done?
Maddy fell apart.
Her eyes popped into the walls and the corners each stealing bits of her stability until nothing but her Light-creation eye remained.
Why that eye in particular stayed on her face she couldn’t have said. Either way as she mentally dispersed herself her panic faded.
It was a game. It wasn’t the end of the world – it was just a silly little game.
Maddy laughed. Her giggles joining R’s chortles her single eye puppeting the shared body on its own.
“Is your name ‘Rumpelstiltskin?’ Might as well ask right? Seems pretty obvious doesn’t it – children know that answer.” Maddy laughed.
Rumpelstiltskin laughed harder and nodded attempting to reduce his overflowing joy. In front of Maddy and only Maddy the wax figure transformed. The man’s body became more ‘real’ than the surroundings – his form twisting into a surprisingly handsome fractal of hands. He was illusion made real. She was illusion made real. He was a single clone. She was a single clone.
“Of course, of course you silly little fae. I guess that makes us cousins, doesn’t it? You can be the king and I the queen – come come, You won this round. A wager won fair a square even if it was an easy joke.”
Maddy moved forward swimming through the story to sit beside R on the side of the cliff.
Dimmly she remembered the cliff had been a table or something but that didn’t seem important at the moment.
“What do I win? Maddy asked looking about with her eye – an eye that felt made of eyes not that that was important”
“A push. It's up to you to fly –” the hands were behind her suddenly throwing her off the cliff without warning.
She fell.
The ground was so far below and yet it appeared to be rushing towards her faster than the speed of light itself.
She panicked.
And then realized the floor was grass.
The distant floor was grass the cliff was a table and she…was small. She was a single eye and she was somehow the size of a grain of sand.
Maddy popped herself back to the table looking about for Rumpelstiltskin. “That wasn’t a fun reward. Give me another” She called.
Concentrating Maddy attempted to grow big again – failing to wish herself larger.
“Did you not like it?” R giggled from the surroundings.
“Of course not,” Maddy giggled back harder dimly aware how weird she felt.
“Give me a better present” Maddy conjured gold – ripping the colour from the gold table below her and spilling it into countless coins. “look I’ll even pay for it” Maddy laughed at her own joke.
“We both know that will be gone in the ‘morrow,” Rumpelstiltskin skipped by scooping up a miniature gold coin with his foot and flipping it into his hand mouth.
“Robbed! I’ve been robbed” Maddy called out jumping back and gasping at the blatant thievery of her gold. “Tricked! Swindled! Promised a present and given a push!” Maddy teleported across the distance hiding her self in the sound of her voice while leaving a convincing illusion in its place – a stick with a googlie eye on it.
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Appearing behind Rumpelstiltskin she stabbed the swindler with a conjured scythe stabbing his stupid stingy hands with a sneak attack.
R bled everywhere a fountain of blood rushing out in all directions in a comically dramatic death scene.
For half a second it switched to him throwing red silk everywhere while giggling and then it returned to rivers of blood.
Bored after an ocean of fake blood finished rushing everywhere, R regathered his stability into a ball of hands once again and asked a question.
“So…want to go on a date?”
“Based on that lame present I assume you’d make me pay. No thanks.” Maddy huffed crossing her eyes and puffing out her iris.
“Oh come now. It's no fun if I just tell you – I said I’d give you a hint. A hint!” Rumpelstiltskin shook his head sadly. “I guess you are kind of dumb. Needed two hints when a child could have got it in one. Don’t worry I think it's endearing!”
Maddy refused to look at him, turning her form the other way.
“Yes yes, you need stuff spelled out. I’m saying you can give your toys a push the same as I could. Anything they’d need my true magic for you could do as well! And you haven’t trapped yourself in your own game so you’re free to play as you wish.”
Maddy frowned.
She felt…more herself. “Don’t call my friend's toy’s”
R waved placating hands and tried to calm her down. “I’m sorry, I just saw the way you were treating them a while ago… Like you were the main character and they were simply side characters. Your sidekicks. I’m sorry I haven’t really been paying as much attention as I should have. Maybe if we spend some time together you could fix the no doubt dozens of misconceptions I have?
Maddy glared at the dumb hands.
“Fine fine, I know I messed up. It's this stupid gameboard getting in the way – listen play through to the end and answer when you’ve finished the story and in a better mood.
R waved. “I can wait. Give me a call when you break your box little fae.”
Maddy watched him disappear feeling the strange wave of whimsy that had overcome her fade slightly.
She…was fae?
Maddy conjured the illusion of a large eye and teleported into it feeling her sisters slowly reach out and connect to her once again.
She had a lot to think about.
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---James---
James watched as R disappeared after one question – Maddy’s eyes flew away scattering about the room as if scared.
The room was silent for a moment as the three of them looked in concern at Maddy’s body.
Was she okay? Did using a single guess break her?
Suddenly blood poured across the table causing Troy to jump back onto the head of his chair in shock.
The blood disappeared once again.
Moments later a section of the table scoupped itself up forming into a completely gold eye and popping back into Maddy’s body.
Several of the eyes scattered about the room returned and Maddy seemed to have a conversation with herself before turning to the rest of them.
“Okay. Hey everyone. Sorry if I worried you.” Maddy reached out and touched Jess’s arm before looking back at everyone.
“This was going to be part of the brainstorming but I forgot. I chose a seed for a dungeon. If…if at the time I’d felt better about this world I’d have picked a town pylon and made a home…that’s what I was saying earlier. We need to mould this place into a home. If the world is too small we make it bigger. If it's empty we fill it with stuff. If there's no meaning we make a meaning.
“ I should have chosen the option that would let me truly make a part of it my home. I could have built the biggest wizard tower in the world and studied magic in it for the rest of time but…I stopped. I chose a dungeon instead because I wasn’t able to imagine this place as a home. I wanted something that seemed safe.
“I chose a dungeon and then I put it in my pocket and imagined I’d use it when I needed it or I’d study it instead of using it to help me reach my real goal.” Maddy pulled an invisible ball out of her pocket.
James was suddenly aware of his own seed. He…hadn’t figured out what he wanted to do with it. It came with an added ‘dark lord’ problem. Should he try and use it to increase the rank of the world?
“What is everyone’s opinion on the quest system? It’s the answer for when you don’t know what to do next right? The answer to how you should go about reaching a goal? I…I underutilized it if I’m being honest and I feel nothing but honest right now. It was a limited resource so I horded it like this was a video game. I didn’t want to waste it. I could only use it every 3 weeks after all and what if I got into a problem I didn’t know how to solve? Of course that then felt like a waste because I wasn’t maximizing quest uses. I could have asked more often if I called for it as soon as the cooldown was over.” Maddy admitted.
James paused “I think for important situations you could have just asked anyway. I used it in the middle of a cooldown – R will just answer if you really need it.”
“Haxs.” Troy suddenly answered shaking his head.
“Yeah there’s a three-week cooldown. He probably just broke it for his special little champion candidate.” Jess spoke matching Troy’s tone and head shake.
“That stingy creep only gives you stuff if he wants something from you” Maddy looked at the table for a moment.
“The cooldown just felt like a way to make sure he wasn’t bothered as often. I underutilized the quest board as well but mostly because I kept forgetting about it.” James admitted.
“Haxs.” Troy shook his head again.
“Why are you bringing the quest board up?” Jess asked turning to Maddy again.
“I was just saying I’m hoarding consumables.” Maddy shook her hand with the empty ball.
“Anyways, I’m going to use this dungeon to try and learn true magic. Want to watch?”
“Something definitely happened just now, Did you win?” Jess asked.
“Maybe. I’m placing my dungeon, you should all commit for your own.” Maddy waved towards them holding her ball and squinting at something invisible in front of her.
Her eyes tracked back and forth and a hand reached out to type in the air.
“As soon as I mentioned true magic it gave a cost…” Maddy muttered.
“What sort of cost?” Troy asked staring at her hand in suspicion.
“unstable soil in stable plant.” Maddy muttered and then nodded her hand vanishing into the air.
“Okay, I donated a bit of stability to it from my own body then removed some stability from the ground and planted it there…it should be finished growing in 24 hours. That was easy enough.” Maddy nodded.
“Are you okay?” Jess asked eyes lingering on Maddy’s hand as it slowly healed back transparent and flickering.
“Sorry, hands annoyed me a bit. I really am fine. What about everyone else?” Maddy waved her away then smiled confidently.
“I’ll go.” Troy spoke pulling out an identical ball of nothing.
“Improve shadow domain. Train my strengths” Troy spoke typing in the air.
“I…didn’t get a cost. It does say feed with mana and plant in a place attuned with shadow for best results…” he narrated after finishing up his description.
Nodding he vanished into his shadow then reappeared a few seconds later looking winded.
“Planted in the dark dimension. Easy. Who’s up next?”
Jess looked at them then looked at her pocket. She reached in and pulled out the empty handful then put it back then pulled it back out again. “Both you used your seeds to create a dungeon that only you could reach…or people with similar abilities I guess.
“I think I want to make a dungeon anyone could use. One to help…people figure out how they might do something. I’m still not giving up on separating the strong and the weak.” Jess nodded then looked at the seed before typing in a quick description of what she wanted and nodding to herself.
Jess walked over to the wall and conjured a golden arch against the wall placing her seed in the center and filling it in.
She then turned to James.
Guess it’s my turn huh? Here’s hoping this is the best option.
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---Richard---
Richard stared at his nest seed. He rolled the blue box about and looked around.
“Come on…don’t stick it up your butt. Don’t do it dumbass. You’re better than that.”
He stared at the blue box once again.
Don’t do it.