As Kya left the large room on the second floor dedicated to games, sports, and contests, she was feeling a mix of both utter contempt and determined satisfaction.. She’d always been pretty competitive by nature, so getting to play magical games? That was right up her alley. Putting up with the people in the games, though, that would be another story.
The room had been like an old attic rec room mixed with a sports museum. There were glass display shelves hugging every square inch of wall space, with various trophies and awards on display, each with a plaque in front of it detailing who had one it, and for what. Saying “trophies” might have been a bit of a stretch in some instances, unless she was talking in the style of “I just killed this rhino, so I’ll claim it’s horn as a trophy” as there were several animal pelts, claws, fangs, and even a full skeleton of what looked to be a god damn pterodactyl hanging from the ceiling.
She had been stuck staring at the skeleton for several seconds, reflecting that she was being awfully bold to throw stones, when she herself carried multiple fanged weapons around, when the attendant on duty called out to her in a gruff distinctly male voice with just a hint of an accent “Can I ask the young miss what it is she’d like in this… Oh, it’s you.”
Turning away from the skeleton, Kya took in the attendant as he hobbled towards her. His left leg was gone from the knee down, replaced with an old fashioned wooden peg, making a distinctive chunk sound each time he took a step. He was otherwise a relatively average looking citizen from what Kya had seen. He was stocky, as if he’d once been built like an NFL lineman, but in his later years was slowly beginning to lose it. He had the tan of someone who’d spent most of their life working diligently in the sun, like a sailor or farmer, and was now probably more wrinkled than he should have been for his age. His salt and pepper hair was still black as pitch where it was dark, fading to a lighter gray around the temples. One of his eyes, which were both the palest, brightest orange she’d ever seen, was gazing at her through a half lidded eye, on account she assumed of the large scar running from the center of his forehead down to the point of his jawbone under his ear, cutting through both his eyebrow, and a large section of his bushy black beard.
“Do you know me?” Kya asked, a note of irritation creeping into her voice. What did he mean, oh it's you.
“No, but I know of you.” his top lip curled up in a sneer, and his good eye closed to match its partner and give her a fearsome glare. “You’re that brand new spatial user. Stirred up quite a storm here this mornin’, you did. That old lump of charcoal’s been up in arms since blue’s first light. Been a right pain havin’ to listen to him.”
Every word he said, every twitch of every muscle in his face, they all seemed to work in concert to drive her up a wall. Idly, she noted that her tiger’s eye amulet was growing distinctly warm against her chest. Not hot, just warmer than it had been a moment earlier.
“Well it certainly isn’t my fault you’ve had to listen to him.”
“Ah, but it is your fault for choosin’ that damnable class, and for comin’ and registerin’ here of all places. That’s what kicked up this whole storm in the first place.”
“Fine, but it isn’t my fault for whatever the spatial users of the past did, I’ve only had my class for like a week! Get over yourself and quit blaming strangers for your troubles like a child.”
At this point, the man had gotten right up in her face, making her realize for the first time that he was about the same height as her, maybe even slightly shorter.
“One might mistake your words as an insult, girl.”
“Then make no mistake, if you blame me for stuff I didn’t do, then you’re a bastard.” she said right back, their noses almost touching. This guy had just hit on every nerve in her body, if he said or did one more thing, anything at all, she was going to-
He threw back his head and bellowed out a deep, booming laugh. It had such a force and intensity behind it, some of the trophies hanging on the walls actually began to rattle slightly as he doubled over, consumed by his mirth.
Kya, too, let out a joyous laugh. What had she been doing a moment ago, arguing with this man? Over what? It all seemed so… silly now.
She bubbled out her own silly giggles, and actually leaned against him for support. Noticing that again, her amulet was growing increasingly warm, like a piece of clothing fresh out of the dryer.
“Oh, I’ve never been one to judge a person on hearsay, girl, and I like your spirit. But you should be careful. Plenty of people in this town who are old enough to remember or knowledgeable enough to care while not havin’ the moral scruples of yours truly will judge you quite harshly for those eyes of yours.”
Feeling an overwhelming sense of magnanimous empathy and gratitude towards the man, her amulet now uncomfortably hot, Kya waved away the comment and said “I’m not the least bit worried about them, but thank you for your understanding and kindness!”
“Not a problem, not a problem. Now, moving past all of that, what can I do for you today?”
“I’m looking for the evasion league for 1-Stars. I think it sounds fun.”
The man looked her up and down, the way a jockey might assess a race horse. It made her feel… fine. She shook her head for a moment, puzzled, then clutched at her amulet which was now red hot in the palm of her hand. She narrowed her eyes at the man as he said “You mentioned you’ve only had the class for about a week? It feels like you’re coming up to the first threshold though… that’s not bad progress, not bad at all. It usually takes four to maybe six weeks for most so you’re moving rapidly. Do you have any kind of experience in the zero leagues?”
As heartened as she was by the news of her rapid pace, she was still being filled with an overwhelming and irrepressible sense of suspicion towards the man. Growing sick of having to remind herself of this, she finally identified the man standing before her, waiting for an answer to his question.
- - - - -
Ladrian Aireze
Class: {Emotion} - 2-Star
- - - - -
And just like that, several things clicked into place for Kya. The piping hot necklace which she was now holding by the corded band rather than the jewel itself as it was now too hot to even hold was slowly letting her regain her senses.
A sly smile appeared on Ladrian’s face, as he took in the amulet, and her increasingly angry expression. He said, in a tone much colder and devoid of the hints at an accent he’d been using before. “You can’t fault an old man for having a little fun, eh? Especially with one of your kind”
“How do I register for the game?’ Kya said, not restraining the edge in her voice.
“I know pattern recognition can be hard, girl, but come now. It’s the exact same process as taking on a contract.” He gestured with one of his beefy arms “Go to the 1-Star banner for whatever game you like and register. Some have more rules than others, so it’s probably best you picked one of the easiest games to play.”
He laughed, mostly to himself, as he clasped both hands behind his back, and walked away with the same chunk sound on every other step.
Watching him go, and trying to control her flaring emotions while wondering if he was still causing them, Kya grimaced to herself. So that was an emotional user? Kya assumed her necklace, which was supposed to help resist mental effects, wasn’t able to block a more powerful 2-Star ability, being only a 1-Star item. But still, that was insidious. She’d have to find either more powerful items, or an easier way to protect herself from that kind of ability because… that was awful.
Eventually making her way to the correct banner, a large red, white, and gold tapestry hanging from the ceiling, she saw a large leatherbound book on a waist-high pedestal. The center of which had a single silver star. Opening up the cover with satisfying creak, she read on the first page:
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
- Ultimate Evasion -
- Single Star -
- Contestants by Current Rank -
That was it for the page, except for a similar seal to the one she recognized at the bottom of the contracts she’d seen earlier. Deciding to go for it, Kya flexed her hand, calling up her pink and black floral star, touching it to the seal.
She immediately got a notification but waved it away as the book seemingly of its own accord, suddenly flipped through several pages until it stopped about three quarters of the way in, where her name flashed into place with a miniature version of her seal next to it like a bullet point. Apparently, she was currently ranked fifteen thousand four hundred and eighty fifth or in other words, absolutely dead last. She also took note of the fact that she currently had exactly zero points. It was the same for the next two thousand or so people on the list, before the points started to tick up, and going all the way back to the front of the book, she saw that first place was a wind user named Kialan with a staggering seven hundred and eighty-five points.
This was also the first opportunity she had to study, in depth, the personal crests of other users. Granted, they were all miniature versions and likely lacked several of the finer details of the real things, but still, she couldn’t help but take a closer look.
She could see wind users, with wispy, almost indistinct blue gray clouds making up stars with any number of points, from as few as three to as many as twelve. There were water users, with deepest blue droplets of water joining to form elegant stars of many varying shapes, and even several death stars. Rather than what she’d expected of death there wasn’t a single star made from skeletons or bones or anything like that. Rather, they were black and gold flowers like her own. She even, somewhat paradoxically in her mind, saw what was unmistakably the black font of a death user accompanied by a star made from six black angels wings, like something straight from deviant art. All in all, she was reaffirmed in appreciating her own star and also filled with admiration for others.
Finally closing the book, and taking one more look around the room, she sighed as waves of exhaustion and hunger crashed together simultaneously. It was beyond a doubt time for some food, and then more than that, time for an absolutely divine nap.
As she walked to the door, she pulled up the notification she'd earlier waved away.
- - - - -
- Notice!
- You have registered as an active participant in the guild-sponsored game of {Ultimate Evasion - 1-Star}.
- This is not yet a quest and will not have associated rewards or objectives assigned.
- - - - -
That was interesting, Kya mused. She wondered what conditions had to be met before it would become a quest. Clearly it would eventually, she would just have to wait and see. Maybe she had to be tagged for it to come into effect? She suspected this was a strong possibility, and only then did she start to consider the actual rules of the game. If there was only a single person who was "it" at any one time, she would never be tagged. This was especially true if it was really guild wide across the entire planet. But if there were at least a couple in each major population center, then she could be reasonably sure she'd get tagged eventually.
If that guy wasn't so fucking unsettling, she'd go back in there and simply ask him what the rules were, or better yet, for an actual rule book. As it was, she decided to simply get out of there for now, and ask Rory or Alder or some rando off the street rather than walk back in there and talk to that guy again.
However, after taking only a few steps out the door, she was greeted with a sudden notification that put to rest any concerns she had regarding how best to complete her final quest objective here in the guild building.
- - - - -
- QUEST COMPLETED!
- Closeted Cultists
- You have successfully completed all parts of the branching quest, and the situation will now be handled by those far more skilled, powerful, and knowledgeable than yourself. Rest easy, though, knowing you at least prevented something potentially terrible from happening.
- Quest Reward - {Reward unavailable at this time}
- - - - -
“Oh, what the hell…”
First of all, Kya was absolutely delighted to be done with all of her active quests, apart from the newest one requiring her to gain entry to the church {Pirating from Preachers}.
But on the other hand… Reward unavailable??? What did that even mean?
Alright, she knew that obviously, there was some condition or whatever that she’d have to meet before the reward would be delivered. But why the hell didn’t it tell her what the conditions were?
She tried everything she could think to say, every combination of words both in her mind and out loud, tried to imagine herself clicking the information like it was a link on a website, nothing.
Kya had had a lot of time to think about what the rewards contingent on manner of quest completion would entail. She didn’t want to toot her own horn or anything, but she felt like she’d honestly done a pretty good job with the quest. Sure, she’d failed one of the objectives, but… still. Crisis averted, nightmare fuel ghoul killed, cult neutralized… possibly? She wasn’t sure about the last one, with the dwarves possible participation and the weird crazy strong guy showing up at the end… but whatever, she’d been looking forward to a kick ass reward, or at least something.
Kya rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she pushed the heavy double doors open, entering the reception area to the guild hall. The massive, gilded hourglass poured its sand ever onward, and though it looked almost indistinct from when she’d first seen it, she could have sword there was a noticeable dip in the gargantuan amount of sand nestled at the top.
Looking past her heavily lidded eyes, Kya saw in a large huddle, most of the group with whom she’d made the trek into the building. Taln the dwarf was nowhere to be seen, but Rory, Wade, Alder, and Maggie were all talking animatedly, Alder in particular using his hands quite a bit more than she had ever seen him do before.
She assumed that this, and wherever Rory had dropped off Taln, was enough to satisfy the requirement of her quest to report the cult's activities. Kya guessed it didn’t matter who actually did the reporting, so long as the information was conveyed. A roundabout way to accomplish the quest, she thought, but then again, it was already a bullshit quest to not give her a reward, so what did she care.
Deciding to take her leave before anyone in the group noticed her, she headed back out into the city streets, in search of food, and then to her bed where she would finally, blessedly, get to sleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sayrin stretched lazily as he looked over at the still resting form of his wife. They’d talked for several hours straight before she’d drifted back to sleep. They hadn’t shared the same intimacy as they once did, but neither was there as thick a wall of tension between them as there had been.
It’s a start he thought for the hundredth time. He was ready for the long road to recovery, and ready for it to take a long time to walk. The simple fact that she’d felt comfortable enough to fall asleep around him again was an incredibly heartening sign, however, and one that did not escape his notice.
Slowly, as if stalking the most timid of the aggressive rabbits, Sayrin extricated himself from the bed with the utmost care. He would be damned if he ruined her rest right now, not after all the work he’d done setting up their morning together to be as perfect as could be.
Slipping on a soft robe, he crept to the door and pulled it open with all the patience of a river carving stone. The second that he clicked the door closed behind him, he let out a sigh, releasing the tension of his shoulders, and turned to face not one, not two, but three kneeling house servants, and the standing but bowed head of his master servant, Zita.
“What on earth is happening out here?” He asked, voice cracking slightly after hours of constant use.
“Sir” said Zita, stepping forward “You left orders not to disturb the room under any circumstances, so we were forced to wait for you to come out.”
Eyeing them all, he noted that each of the servants carried a sealed parchment in their hands, and each had a concerned look on their faces.
A slight chill started to creep over the back of Sayrin’s neck, and he asked “Zita, what the hell did I miss?”
~ ~ ~
Twelve minutes. Twelve agonizing minutes. That was how long it took the servants to clean, shave, clothe, and get Sayrin out the door and into the awaiting carriage. All the while, through the two minute bath that was more just dumping hot water on him, through the shave that was so quick he feared to lose his throat, through the dressing where his formal uniform, freshly pressed and laundered, was tucked and buttoned on, Zita explained the situation.
The first messenger had arrived not twenty five minutes after he’d entered his wife's room this morning. He hadn’t said what it was about, only that there was, sealed within, an urgent note directly from Orrin himself. Not wanting to go against the direct orders of their master, they had waited. Even as the messenger returned an hour later with a more frantic look about him, and again as he came another hour after that, and about forty five minutes ago from the present moment, looking absolutely wild with anxious energy.
Sayrin dabbed repeatedly at his forehead, again considering that by all rights, he really should have moved past the need for sweating as a bodily function as a 3-Star user. Yet here he was, drops running down his face as he unsealed and read the first letter, then the second, shorter one, and the third one composed of a single line.
They all said practically the same message, just in increasingly urgent and simplified verbiage. The last one reading “Cain is almost upon us.”