Chapter 149 – Golden Star

“Do we have a deal?”

“This would be a lot easier if you helped me restore my core beforehand.” Jack leaned back in his chair, staring at Mortimaxx.

“It’s the only leverage I have, I'm afraid. So no. Kill the Twilight Lord before the auction can take place, and I will help you fix your core. Fail to deliver, and I destroy the means to repair yourself.”

Jack narrowed his eyes at the gnome. He spoke with a fair amount of confidence. Jack couldn’t decide if he was just an excellent liar or if he really did know how to repair his core.

“But I will sweeten the deal for you,” Mortimaxx continued, “The Auction House is currently under construction with a completion date of roughly three months. I’ll allow you free stay at my manor, and even offer you training. I do recognize that your lack of core will make this exceptionally difficult. You’ll need all the help you can get.”

Jack raised an eyebrow at that. “You think you can train me?”

“In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve been around since the inception of the Tower. I have more experience in the hairy little mole on my ass then you could hope to achieve in a thousand lives. I assure you; this is a once in a lifetime offer that is far more valuable than anything you could hope to obtain at some silly little auction,” Mortimaxx said with a haughty tone.

“Is that even allowed? Don’t you have to do what the Tower says?” Jack asked.

“Who cares?” the gnome shrugged. “If the Tower doesn’t want me training you then it will send a meteor raining down from the heavens to blow us all up. The only true mandate a construct of the Tower must adhere is to ensure that you Tower climbers are always getting stronger.”

“All right…” Jack started, chewing on the information for only a brief moment. He wasn’t entirely sure what sort of training the lich had to offer, but this seemed like a decent opportunity for multiple reasons. The first being he knew how to fix Jack’s core, or was at least the most solid lead he had. The second was that he would have to kill this gnome eventually. Three months was plenty of time to learn about his opponent. “We’ve got a deal.”

“Wonderful,” Mortimaxx clapped. “If you’ll follow me-“

“Hold on,” Jack held up a hand,” I’ve got to find the rest of my team first.”

“Ah, you mean in sector six?” Mortimaxx gave Jack an awkward look. “Like I said, the death knights were out of my control. I apologize, but almost no one in your faction is left alive.”

“Almost no one?” Jack asked.

“Well of course some people did manage to escape.” Mortimaxx’s eyes went vacant for a brief second, as though he was processing information. “My records indicate that one member of your faction was able to flee the city. A goblin. Although I doubt he fared much better outside of the city. The desert responds to the danger levels of the city, with shifting sands and an increase in strength and number of moonlight beasts.”

When Jack first met Nutt he was being used as an ingredient for stew. He was hardly surprised that the little goblin managed to escape another certain death scenario. If anything, he was probably thriving somewhere out there in the desert.

“Ok, well I’ve got to gather up what’s left of my team. I’ll head to your manor once that’s done.”

Mortimaxx looked annoyed for a long moment before letting out a sigh. “Fine. But do hurry up with it. I’d hate to find someone else better suited for the job while you're busy on a desert excursion. I’ll be off then.”

The gnome hopped out of his chair and the burly death knight attendant from before pulled the table and chair into his void sack. Mortimaxx gave Jack one more careful inspection before summoning forth a tiny spectral horse of black bones and mounting it.

“Hey wait,” Jack called out. Mortimaxx slowly turned around.

“Where is the Tower store?”

“Sector two. Try not to do anything that will put you on the Twilight Lords radar if you decide to do some shopping. He likely already thinks you dead since you’ve lost both of the sectors. That is an advantage I would like to maintain.”

Jack nodded at that. He had several “coupons” he had earned, and honestly forgotten about until this moment. If he was passing through, he planned to do some serious shopping.

“He’s lying you know,” Devin said.

Jack glanced back at the man. “Probably. Why do you think that though?”

“No one is attacking us anymore,” Gaiju added.

Jack glanced around at the streets of sector six, his eyes scanning the houses for any signs of danger. They had about two hours left of danger level six and so far, sector six was proving to be a walk in the park.

They didn’t waste much time after Mortimaxx left, opting to just push into sector six. Outside of a small skirmish on the other side of the gate, Gaiju had been right. They weren’t being regularly attacked by the death knights anymore. In fact, the zombies and ghouls that plagued the area seemed to be avoiding them entirely.

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“Exactly Gaiju,” Devin agreed. “No one is attacking us.”

“And that means he’s lying about something?”

“Yes. Remember he said he couldn’t control the death knights anymore? We’ve seen them a few times now, and they turn and run every single time. Even the zombies and ghouls are staying out of our way. He can control them. He could have stopped the slaughtering of our faction, but he chose to let it happen. He’s trying to manipulate you. I held my tongue because I know how important restoring your core is, but I don’t think working for him is a good idea.”

“Yea I’ve been thinking about that,” Jack easily admitted.

“You aren’t taking the job then?” Devin asked.

“I didn’t say that.” Jack turned around to address the two. “Obviously Mortimaxx is pulling some shit. We are going to scoop up Nutt, find Hannah, and head to his castle. From there we play along until we figure out how the hell to fix my core, even if we have to beat it out of the lich ourselves. And it is important we get it done before the auction.”

“So you are going to kill the Twilight Lord then?”

“Fuck the Twilight Lord. Who cares about that guy. You heard Mortimaxx, this thing has been announced to the entire Tower. Powerhouses from every single floor will be in attendance, and I can’t be the only asshole without a core.”

“Meaning…” Devin scrunched his eyebrows together, confusion plain on his face.

Jack felt his thoughts turn dark and a cruel smile crawled up his face. “Meaning a certain dragon is going to be on the second floor.”

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[16th Floor]

[Amara Starseeker]

Amara glanced up at the heavens for a singular moment. The skies inside the Tower were a false one, merely a false heaven, a roof that capped the floor. Still, looking out across the painted skies did help her get into the right mindset.

She clenched her eyes shut, focusing on a celestial canvas that only she could see. The real sky. The true starry night.

Her eyes were immediately drawn to a large grouping of stars circling around each other, caught in a cosmic maelstrom. The stars inside shined brighter than all the rest as they circled each other. Amara frowned at this. Seeing a large grouping of stars was hardly cause for concern. The problem was, none of these stars were where they belonged. She stared at them for a long moment, trying to interpret what they meant. Her stargazing wasn’t anything close to Gideon’s foresight, leaving her to guess at what the stars might be trying to tell her.

Amara’s frown deepened as she continued to watch the heavens. Those bright shining stars began to disappear one by one, leaving nothing but a dark oblivion in their wake. Her heart beat faster and faster with each fading star. Dread began to fill her heart. The only group of powerful people she could think of was her group. Gideon had assembled such powerful warriors to conquer the remaining tower. But something was killing them off. She narrowed her eyes at the stars, searching for any signs of the foe that might destroy them. Then a sudden realization hit her, and relief washed away the dread.

This wasn’t her group. Gideon’s star was nowhere to be seen.

The world tilted on its axis as she reoriented herself, searching for his celestial beacon. Diving fate was easy when travelling with Gideon because his star was brighter than any other.

His star was golden.

Amara let herself a relieved smile as she found his radiant star so much higher up in the night sky, shining above all the rest. Her smile left as quick as it came as his star started falling… No, not falling, she thought. Shooting. It had purpose, direction. Like an arrow soaring through the night sky the shooting star that was Gideon flew towards its target, blasting through anything that got in its way. She traced his path, only for her frown to deepen as she watched it head straight towards the disappearing constellation. Amara wanted to open her eyes and banish the vision, but it was her duty to watch, so she watched.

Gideon’s star didn’t slow, didn’t stop, but crashed into the constellation. A symphony of destruction filled her vision as Gideon slammed into the swirling constellation. Fragments of stars exploded in every direction, setting the universe on fire with glorious golden flames. She fell to her knees with a pained whimper as she watched the events unfold. So much death. So much destruction. It was a storm of chaos that was set off by the golden dragon.

She opened her eyes slowly, drenched head to toe in sweat. She could still feel the heat of his golden flames eating away at the cosmos.

“Everything all right?” came a cool voice.

“No,” Amara said, pushing herself off the ground and turning around. Golden flames filled the night sky. Amara traced them down to their source. A fortress, stone and all, was wrapped in a blazing inferno and being burnt to a crisp. That explains the heat, Amara thought as her eyes fell on Gideon. He wore a lazy smile, his white robes untouched, showing no signs of the fact he had just charged headlong into a fortress full of demons not ten minutes ago. He hefted his mighty curved sword up onto his shoulder and gave her a concerned look.

“See something bad? I can’t see as far as you can so tell me if you know something.”

“Hard to say. Something big is going to happen, and you’re at the center of it.”

“I suspect the same,” Gideon nodded sagely.

Amara narrowed her eyes at the dragon. “I thought you just said you didn’t see anything?”

“Well, I did see one thing while I was in the fortress,” he gave her a mischievous grin, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to Amara.

She glanced down at it.

Event Notice

The Millennium Auction Returns

Location: Second Floor

Artifacts of unimaginable power, relics whispered about in forgotten tomes, legendary armaments that could reshape the fabric of the Tower itself. This is your chance to purchase your destiny.

“Just when I think I’m done with the lower levels, something always pulls me back down. Let’s go get the rest of the team. We’ve got an auction house to conquer.” Gideon pushed past her, a grin on his face.

Amara stared off into the distance, a storm brewing on the horizon. She frowned. She hated storms.