MICH : LEVEL 11

DAY 235 : C-DAY, SECONDWEEK, HORUS, YEAR 1

CENTRAL 25 : ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT 3 : STRAWS

Alrighty then, I’ll be the first to admit, I jumped the gun on assuming that not only would BFS of all people notice my friend request, but respond positively to it.

And now it’s been a whole day since I sent it. Which, as it so happens, is my cutoff for waiting on him.

Probably for the best… That could’ve only been a stopgap anyway. More akin to shock therapy than a real solution.

For one o’ them fancy schmancy real solutions, a real investigation was needed.

So, nine hours after Oneshot died, I started such an investigation while not actually committing to anything until this very moment. It may be nothing more than my own personal standard for punctuality, but I hold to it very strictly. This policy of mine has saved more than one person. And failing to abide by it has killed the same amount, vaguely defined as it is.

Back when those words had different meanings, at any rate. I’ll also be the first to admit that I’m being stubborn about abiding by it. But I’m afraid it’s become somewhat attached to my value system.

As such, it’s at this exact time that I scheduled to meet the only people I really know in the whole Gamesphere. I didn’t want to lay it all on the line like this. The dirty laundry in question isn’t exactly mine to air.

But having seen Jessie, especially recently, one thing has become perfectly clear. That being, she is, in zero senses of the word, stable. And every day seems to paint a starker and starker picture of just how bad she’ll eventually get.

So I need to head this off if I ever want to live with myself. What with having killed her a few perpetual minutes ago. And after what just happened… Sure, I had my misgivings. Only in retrospect do I realize that those misgivings were the very reason I kept tailing her, even while telling myself how happy she clearly was. At least she looked happy… Obeying that sick fuck… So yeah. I feel ever so slightly obligated to fix this. But I need help.

And if Ross and Rachel are going to be that help, they deserve to know. About me. And about her. But mostly, about how those two venn diagrams intersect.

So as little as I want to, as desperately as I don’t, I get it over with. “I just don’t feel comfortable leaving things like this. Jessie’s in a really bad place right now. And, call me crazy, but I can't help feeling I played a big part in putting her there.”

Ross and Rachel nod at the statement of obvious fact.

I squint grimacingly at them. “THANKS… But you’re right. And that’s my point. I want to help her. I even owe it to her to try. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned by doing exactly that… It’s that I’m bad at it.”

Ross and Rachel nod at the statement of obvious fact.

I roll my eyes at the silent, yet sick burn, not breaking cadence in the slightest despite the lump in my throat. “But I think I know who can. And I don’t think this can wait… I need to go first on our little quest for Attunements.”

Ross and Rachel speak in the same what’s-this-bullshit-now tone. “What?”

I try to make my laughter less nervous and more placating as I railroad over any objections. “After looking over the entire population base and searching combinations of aliases one by one, I came up with nothing. Then, I escalated the search to include a wider sample size, and somehow came up with less. At least it felt that way… But after that, I got desperate and started looking for a couple of my old friends. You know… From Earth and all that. I didn’t expect to find one, of course. That’s what made it a crapshoot.”

I smirk at my two newer friends. “I found them both. Somehow, they each made it here. Even Martha. I thought that if anything, SHE would be who HE’D be wanting to bring back. But instead… I really hit the jackpot on this one, you guys. I only have the names to go on, of course. But I know it’s them because they’re both here on Midgard, and both together, just like they always were, and just like my sources confirm they have been for as long as anyone’s been paying attention.”

Ross raises an eyebrow. “You’re sure you’ve got the right people?”

“Of course I…” I wince. “No. Even if all my information lines up exactly like I’d expect it to if I had the right ‘Martha’, it could always be someone else. Hell, that might not even be her real name. While the evidence does all point in the same direction, that’s no proof. What it is though, is my only lead. Even if I’m grasping at straws, I’ve only got the one straw to grasp.”

“Or two.”

“If you like… But I do have confirmation of where they are. Right now, and for the past year, they’ve been in the Frost Kingdom. Iceberg, specifically.”

Rachel sighs into a more relaxed understanding. “Let me guess… You don’t know when they’ll leave?”

I shake my head, trying not to dwell on how I could’ve gone straight there if I went for my Attunement right away after the raid instead of stalking a girl around Central first. “Sorry. No idea. But I do know they only recently arrived. They were in the Frostlands until just a few weeks ago. Based on their patterns over the last few years, they’ll stay where they are for some number of months before moving onto Chilltopia. After that, they’ll move on to tour another Kingdom.”

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That lump in my throat is back. “Whichever Divine Apex they visit next, I could just head straight there. But not if I get an Attunement first. And I’m afraid of how far Jessie will regress in that time. I need to get them to her before then. Look, I know this wasn’t what we agreed. So I understand if you want to go off for your own Attunements together. I’m well aware that any more to do with Jessie is specifically NOT what you signed up for.”

Ross snorts. “Sorry Mich, you’re already too late on that one.”

“Come again?”

“While you were off stalking the teenage girl you killed, we were off getting our Attunements.”

Eyes bulging, I look from one of them to the other.

Rachel smirks. “You’re not the first, buddy. You’re the last.”

“You made it all the way to… What? Toastopia and Earthtopia?”

“Hey dummy… It’s only been a few months since we finished that raid. I only made it to the Drylands.”

I turn to Ross with a raised eyebrow.

Now it’s his turn to roll his eyes. “What kind of tryhard do you take me for? I just went to Gaia, hung out on top of the elephant long enough to finish that part of the Quest, and took the train straight back here.”

“Oh… Got anything good for your Blessings?”

Rachel looks as smug as I’ve ever seen her. “Not that I can use in the city. They fine people for movement blessings here, you know.”

“I’m aware… So what is it?”

“You wanna spoil the surprise?”

I shrug. “I seem to find myself too curious to care.”

“Fire wings.”

“Ah.”

“That’s it? Just… ‘Ah’?”

“That’s it? Just… ‘Fire wings’?”

“Next time, remind me never to listen to you.”

“If you need a reminder…”

Ross sighs. “Alright, we’ll help.”

Rachel shrugs. “Of course we will. Like, what, are we in a hurry? We’re immortal now, after all.”

I lean back in my chair. “R-really?”

“Yeah. You can come back from the dead and everything.”

“Oh shut up.”

“So what’s the plan? Neither of us can get to Boreas now that we have attunements ourselves, so…”

I do likewise. “I can get that far myself. But I’ll need help to advance past the Frostlands before they get to Chilltopia. And then, I’d need even more help to get there before Jessie falls straight off the deep end.”

Ross chuckles. “So… What’s the plan then?”

“The plan, I suppose, is that I’ll head out straight away. I’ll get to Boreas, get my Attunement, and progress enough to where I can advance to the next step in Frostlands. Then, we can meet at the main Frostlands terminal, and we’ll move together from there.”

“I don’t get it though. If you can’t get to Frostlands without progressing your Attunement, what makes you think we can?”

Rachel looks at him like he’s stupid.

Ross looks back at her. “Oh what?”

“Without an Attunement, you can get to any of the big-ass Elementals. But you can’t get almost anywhere else in any kingdom.”

“Then how’d we do that raid, smartass?”

“I said ‘almost’. You can still access all the raids, some dungeons, a few towns… Wait… Mich, where did you say your friends were staying?”

I shake my head. “Not one of those. You can make it to them, no problem. But I can’t. And I won’t be able to until I get an Attunement. It’d be easier if I wasn’t so set on Frost. Then, this whole thing could just be a series of train trips.”

Ross sighs. “And why, pray tell, is that?”

“Other than the Apexes, the only areas you can’t get to without advancing your Attunement Quest, are the other quarters of the Kingdom you have the Attunement for.”

“Wait… So I can’t go anywhere in the Quake Kingdom anymore?”

“’Fraid not. Nowhere you weren’t able to go without the Attunement, at any rate. I’m not entirely sure, but I think you could do another run at the Video Game Raid if you wanted.”

“Oh… So why don’t you get another Attunement, help Jessie, and switch later?”

Rachel smacks Ross across the back of his head, clearly unconcerned by his look of affronted dignity. “We’ve been over this.”

“We have?”

I nod. “Changing Attunements after the fact is a bad idea. Last resort, bad. The dropoff in Blessing quality is significant. If you went with, say, Deimos first, and switched to Gaia later, you’d have no hope of getting anything even remotely as good as what you have now.”

“Oh. Ok, I get why you don’t want to take the shortcut.”

“I might if it was my only choice. But with you two helping, I think I can make it in time.”

Rachel scrunches her forehead. “In time for what?”

“Next year’s Tournament of Ascension.”

“What about it?”

“I’d bet everything I have that Jessie will be competing. Alone.”

“So what’s the problem? A solo entry into the Tournament? She’ll lose, right?”

“Of course she’ll lose.”

Ross nods along with Rachel. “I don’t see the ticking clock here.”

“That IS the ticking clock. What worries me is what she’ll do once she loses. Assuming she doesn’t fall off the deep end entirely by then, there’s no doubt in my mind that’ll push her over. I’ve got to get to her before that happens.”

“Ah. So what’s the hold-up? We’re burning daylight here.”

“It’s nighttime.”

Ross just smirks.

So I get up and head straight to the train station without another word.

On my way there, I pass by something I never thought I’d see again.

An honest-to-God street preacher. “We must unite! Come together as a single, proud race! Then, and only then, will we finally bask in the glory of God himself!”

I try to ignore him on my way to the Terminal. I would’ve thought Heaven would be the one place free of these guys. But apparently, shoving religion down people’s throats transcends even death.