Chapter 152 - New Plans

With Nutt secured, it was time to head back into the city. Jack had several objectives in mind, the first of which was finding Hannah. The original plan had him sitting tight while they waited for her to show up, ideally with Cristopher and an army at her back. They didn’t have a plan for if they lost everything and got wiped out completely. There was still also the chance that Hannah might be dead getting caught up in the danger level changes, although not likely. The waypoint was in Sector Three. If Hannah had returned, she would likely be waiting for them there.

Gaiju wanted to return to her floor and gather money for the Millenium Auction from her tribe. Jack was a little surprised to learn that she was some sort of matriarch for her tribe. He had always assumed she was some batshit insane, crazy old orc that got exiled or something. When he inquired further, she just told him that everyone has their own problems, showing rare signs of sincerity.

He glanced back at Devin. Jack thought he was annoyed because of their newest addition to the group, the murderous vampire, but now he was starting to think Devin was in mourning. He was real quiet. Jack thought he understood why. Just a few days ago, he had been the leader of his own band of mercenaries. Now they were all dead. None of them had a moment to stop and breathe and adjust to the fact that they had their entire faction wiped out.

Jack asked Nutt if he wanted to return to his floor for a bit. He had told Jack more than once that he’d come from a family of very wealthy goblins. However, his suggestion was shot down because apparently Nutt was a terrorist or something and not welcome back to his floor anytime soon.

While making their way to the waypoint in Sector Three, Jack found out a lot about the vampire. Karlisle was alive when Andurian was, meaning he had been asleep for a very, very long time. Karlisle had made it as far as the twelfth floor of the Tower. The reason he was here specifically was because, during his time, the second floor had been the central hub for the undead legion, and vampires were members of the undead legion, so this was where he made his home base. The way he told it, things were very different during his time on the second floor. For starters, it wasn’t called Broken Moon City.

“You’re telling me the moon wasn’t always broken?” Jack asked.

“No, that crack on the moon didn’t exist during my time. It is slightly worrying. I’m concerned something has happened to Andurian,” Karlisle admitted when asked.

Jack groaned at that. Nothing could ever be simple or straightforward, but he continued on. “So you’re telling me that the teleporter to the moon is in Mortimaxx’s manor?”

“Yes.” He smiled. “Not a very well-known fact, but I’ve spent quite a while in that mansion. I was shown a lot of things. I’m sure Morty will let us use it, once he learns you’re assisting me. None of this ridiculous assassination job in order to get your core back. Honestly, I don’t know what that little man is thinking,” Karlisle scoffed, looking offended on Jack’s behalf.

Karlisle wouldn’t elaborate on what his relationship with “Morty” was, but the vampire had spent half their journey to the waypoint swooning over Devin and talking about how gorgeous his blond hair was, so Jack could hazard a guess.

It took them two days to reach Sector Three. The journey was surprisingly uneventful, but Jack was reminded that Mortimaxx was likely ensuring they were left alone. Jack hadn’t seen Sector Four and had been warned that it was filled with something called abominations. The sector was heavily wooded, filled to the brim with thick evergreens and narrow trail paths. Every so often, some stitched-together construct of body parts and weapons would come stomping through the forests to attack them. Jack thought the monsters were aptly named.

Things didn’t get exciting until Sector Three, which was filled with ghosts. That particular biome was almost peaceful. Endless grassy fields and farmland rolled on, backlit by the shining moon above. Several small villages filled out the area every few miles, each showing signs of being long abandoned. Or, at least, they seemed abandoned at first, but if Jack paid close enough attention, he soon noticed that all the villages were haunted. They were usually being stalked by several ghosts, which were a royal pain in the ass to kill if those engaging the undead didn’t have a weapon enchanted with a basic element. Gaiju and Devin did most of the heavy lifting. The only real issue they had was getting possessed. If someone in the band didn’t have strong enough mental defenses, a ghost could invade their body. Nutt got possessed three separate times.

Sector Three was also where they started running into people. A lot of people. The village that surrounded the waypoint in Sector Three had been exorcized and seemed to be the de facto gathering hub for floor three. It was a rustic village with simple wooden houses that had square, unused gardens at the front. Several rustic and time worn barns dotted the hills and fields that surrounded the town, and an old dilapidated windmill threatened to fall apart every time a breeze washed over the village.

“Entry fee is 100,000 AP!” A large minotaur shoved a man then brandished an axe with a head that was bigger than his own.

“Jesus,” Jack said, stopping and staring at the line. “100,000 AP door charge. Wonder how much a beer costs.”

“Taking advantage of the traffic for the auction. I bet this is the busiest this floor has ever been,” Devin said, stepping up next to Jack.

“Waypoint this way,” Gaiju said, pointing in a direction deeper into the village. Jack followed her finger to see dozens of people all walking from the same direction, all with the same sort of ‘I’m scouting my surroundings because I just got here’ look on their faces.

“Nutt. You wait in line. We’re going to go see Gaiju off.”

“What? No! You wait in line!” he protested, stamping his feet.

“Don’t worry, I’ll wait in line with you.” Karlisle smiled. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had anything other than blood.”

Nutt flashed the vampire fearful eyes, clearly still scarred by whatever he saw him do when they first met. Jack had asked about that, but Nutt refused to speak on the issue. When Jack asked Karlisle why Nutt was spared, he was informed that goblin blood tasted disgusting.

“Nutt.” Gaiju nodded before turning and walking in the direction of the waypoint. She gave him a smirk when he saluted her.

“I’ll be returning with my clan,” Gaiju informed them as they approached the large, circular stone waypoint. “Try not to die until then. The spirits have told me that a monster will rule this floor. I know that monster is going to be a centipede.” She cackled more to herself, patting Jack on the shoulder and stepping up to the waypoint platform. In a flash, she was gone.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Jack watched a moment longer as people continued to appear by the dozens; bird people, animal folk, a trio of slugs, some sort of winged, mannequin-looking weirdo. He had to do several double takes as the varied and exotic races of the tower spilled out of the waypoint in droves.

Before turning back, Jack looked over at Devin. “You okay? Want to head back to the first floor for a bit?”

Devin’s eyes went wide, a small grin on his face.

“What?” Jack asked, looking around for attackers.

“It’s strange. Are you showing concern for your allies? You’ve changed!”

“Let’s not go getting emotional now. Things are about to get crazy. I can taste it in the air. The last thing I need is some depressed swordsman dragging the group down.”

“I’m not depressed, I’m—”

“Angry?” Jack tried.

“Focused,” Devin corrected. “This Twilight Lord. When we find him, he is mine. Understand?”

“Deal,” Jack said, extending his hand. Devin shook it, and the two of them turned back towards the tavern.

Karlisle and Nutt were missing from the line. Or, at least, Nutt was. It hadn’t even been five minutes, and the line hadn’t moved nearly enough to get inside the tavern.

“There,” Devin said, pointing to Karlisle making small talk with the minotaur bouncer.

“Ah, these are the friends I was telling you about. Thanks for being so understanding,” Karlisle gave the minotaur’s bicep a gentle squeeze before turning back to Jack and Devin. “I believe your friend is inside. She said I can wait outside for you. Very distrusting, that one, although it didn’t help that Nutt wouldn’t stop shivering while standing next to me.” He said that last more to himself.

Jack couldn’t stop smiling. Finally, some good news. The three pushed inside the crowded tavern, barely able to edge their way inside. Jack immediately spotted her blonde ponytail sticking up in a dark corner. She had a hard look on her face, taking sips from her mug as she ignored Nutt, who was snuggling up to her like a puppy who missed its master.

“So, how’s Cristopher?” Jack asked, plopping down next to her and prying her mug from her hands so he could have a drink.

“I think maybe you should go first.” Her tone was sarcastic. She looked over at Karlisle, who took a seat across the table. “This guy with us? Something’s off with him.”

“I have ears,” Karlisle said, clutching at his pearls in mock offense.

“He’s a vampire. Play nice. He knows things.”

She raised a curious eyebrow at Karlisle then glanced at Devin. “Maybe you should be the one to tell me what’s happened. Jack has a tendency to exaggerate.”

“Persecuted for being a good storyteller. Unbelievable,” Jack complained. He drained the mug of bitter ale and stood up to get another one, only for Hannah to yank him back down to his seat. “I want another drink!”

“No drinking until I know what you did. The jury’s still out on if I’m going to kill you or not,” she said, her eyes flashing in anger.

“Surprisingly, it wasn’t Jack’s fault,” Devin started. “We got outplayed.”

“Shit. I was worried this might happen,” Hannah said after Devin finished filling her in on all the gory details of them getting wiped out completely.

“Really? This was in the wheelhouse of possibilities?” Jack asked, draining his fourth mug of ale.

“Yeah, and now that I know what danger level six looks like, I feel like an idiot for not seeing it coming sooner. I am surprised he was able to take out two city councilors with such precision, even if they were just Tower monsters and not actual people. This Twilight Lord must have strong people working for him. Damn it. I shouldn’t have let us rush things…” She trailed off, her expression annoyed.

“How close did people get to conquering the city during your time?” Jack asked Karlisle.

“Three was usually as close as anyone got. Just like what happened to you, it’s never the city itself that is the issue when it comes to conquering it. It’s always the other people interfering. But, to be fair, Morty was far more invested in the city than he seems to be now. You were just as likely to die to him showing up and killing you as anything else.”

“What’s your relationship with Mortimaxx? You seem awfully close with the pet names,” Hannah asked.

“He’s an old friend. I spent a lot of time on this floor before I had Andurian put me into eternal slumber.”

“Yeah, I’ve got questions about that, too. None of your story is adding up. I’m just supposed to believe you existed at the same time as Andurian? You’ve been magically asleep for what? Thousands? Millions of years, unmolested by time, and you just happen to get woken up with all the answers to help Jack?”

“I don’t care what you believe.” Karlisle’s eyes flashed blood-red for the briefest of seconds, his tone serious. “You’re new to the Tower, so I’ll forgive your distrust. After all, the coincidences are too hard to believe, are they not? That’s because they aren’t coincidences. Coincidences do not exist within the domain of the Tower. I’ll tell you what Andurian once told me.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “The Tower is not what it seems. It’s playing a game that precious few have the capacity to understand and even less know what the rules are. The gods created something greater than the sum of its parts, and it terrifies them.”

The table was silent for a moment.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Nutt squeaked.

“Here here,” Jack raised his glass.

“I think what our new friend here is trying to say is… don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?” Devin tried.

“Well, I don’t like it,” Hannah huffed. “You want to earn my trust? Then fix Jack’s core.”

“Let’s not forget, you’re the ones indebted to me.” Karlisle fixed her with a challenging smile that Hannah matched with a withering glare of her own.

“This feels like a good time to ask about Cristopher. I take it things went poorly?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know.” Hannah sighed. “He’s somehow king of the first floor now. Was real cagey about the details. We didn’t get very far into our conversation with the whole Millenium Auction house thing, and he didn’t want to commit to sending an army of humans to the second floor if it was about to become incredibly dangerous. So, I rushed back to see what you did. I’ve spent the past day or so gathering what information I can about it. It’s going to be a royal shitshow, from what I can tell.”

“How so?” Devin asked.

“For starters, the entry fee to get into Sector Two is 50,000,000 AP, which has really set the tone for how this is going to go down. Apparently, it’s already a warzone in the sector. Everyone is just jumping the wall and going crazy on the other side, and it’s only just started. The serious players haven’t even arrived yet. Two, Mortimaxx said you’ve got three months of training? You’ll be lucky to get a month, if not less. The exact date is going to be very hard to pinpoint.”

“What? Why?” Jack was listening intently now.

“If rumors are to be believed, he’s likely able to speed up the process with City Coins. If that’s true, then he’ll spend them all in one go to instantly complete the auction house.”

“Third,” she continued. “The Black Centipede is here in full force. And—you’ll find this bit interesting, Jack—their leader is here.”

“Mindalia?”

“No. Someone named Victor. No one knows why, but apparently he’s their leader now.”

“Who the hell is Victor?” Jack asked.

“Bad news, from what I can gather. He’s a fairy or something like that.”

“Oof. The fairy race. Psychotic little maniacs, every last one of them,” Karlisle added.

“And let’s not forget the summer elves and their pissed-off scion who wants you dead. They’re one of the few people allowed into Sector Two freely,” Hannah added.

“Are we so sure she wants me dead? I seem to remember us having a will they, won’t they kind of interaction. Ya know what I mean?” Jack shrugged.

“She definitely wanted to kill you,” Nutt added.

Again, the table sat in silence, exchanging glances with each other. No one seemed overly concerned.

Jack turned to Hannah with a smile. “Well, wouldn’t be one of our missions if everything wasn’t fucked up from ‘go.’”

Hannah raised her mug and cheered to that.