by David Petrie
The madam had probably pegged Kira for a low-level player, just assuming it from her race, since most fairies never made it past their first few levels. Though now, it was obvious that she’d realized that Kira was something different. The question was, did that make her more valuable or less? Kira could practically see the math going on in the madam's head, scales weighing the options.
The woman seemed to make up her mind, and her attitude shifted. It was still polite but less nurturing. "Okay, I'm just gonna lay it all out on the table here. Due to your … uniqueness … I can skip you past the entry level position and move you right upstairs. No waiting tables and parading around in your underwear to get clients." She paused as if trying to read Kira's face before continuing. "I can also start you in the middle tier. So, depending on what you're willing to do, you can make around three hundred to six hundred per hour. What do you think? Not a bad offer."
Kira was shocked, and well, if she was honest, a little tempted by the amount of money. Taking one or two clients would cover her half of the rent and then some. She shook her head before she finished doing the math and blurted out the first words that came to her mind, "I'm gay." She followed the statement with a confused expression that said, what did I just say?
The madam ignored her puzzled look and added, "That's not as much of a problem as one might think. In the end, it's all about acting."
At that point, Kira realized that there was no way to exit the conversation with her pride intact. Okay, screw cowardice, she thought. She was getting out of there any way she could. So, she took a deep breath, turned, and began running toward the door, leaving a stunned madam behind her. It didn't help that she yelled, "I have made a mistake!" the whole way out.
MaxDamage24 fell onto the bed in Ginger's room. "I have made a mistake!" he blurted like an idiot, after being pushed by the always stunning brunette, who did, in fact, smell like cinnamon. She climbed atop, straddling his legs and moving up his body with the grace of a cat stalking a helpless mouse. Her face reached his, and her hair fell from her shoulder to rest against his throat. The warmth of her body required every bit of willpower he had to suppress certain physiological reactions that would normally happen in such a situation.
"Sometimes it's fun to make mistakes," she whispered in his ear, letting her breath caress the side of his neck.
Max panicked as he attempted to explain. "I'm serious. I'm here for a mission, not, umm, this."
She ran one hand down his body, clasping his belt buckle with her fingers. "Oh, I have your mission right here."
He squirmed backward into a pillow, knocking her supporting arm out from under her and causing her to fall onto his lap. "Seriously, it's a real mission!" he shouted, his voice almost cracking, reminding him of how far from cool he was.
She lay still for a moment, face down in his lap, then she began convulsing like she was having a mild seizure as laughter became audible. She lifted her head and placed both hands on his belt buckle, interlocking her fingers and resting her chin on her hands. Her wide smile and green eyes shined up at him. "I figured as much, but I had to mess with you," she said as if there had been no way to avoid it. She sighed, almost sounding disappointed. "So tell me about this all-important mission that was worth three hundred bucks to recruit me for."
He held his hands up, framing her head as if to ask if she minded getting off of him?
She begrudgingly rolled over and slid up to the pillow beside him. A green baby doll top covered her chest but split open just below, revealing the rest of her body. A tiny pair of underwear covered the more important parts, giving Max a minuscule amount of comfort in the fact that she wasn't lying next to him naked. "Well, that's the problem. I can't tell you about the mission until we're ready to start."
"That's not weird at all." She sunk into a pillow. "Is the fate of the world in peril or something?" she asked without looking at him, her words dripping with sarcasm.
For a moment he said nothing. The silence was telling. She shot him a concerned look which he returned, conveying the fact that the time for jokes had ended.
She shrugged. "Okay, fine. I have to change into my gear, so I'll meet you out front in five."
Max thanked her as he slid off the bed and motioned toward the door, then stopped, looking back for a moment. "Should I leave a twenty on the dresser?"
She laughed. "I actually feel kinda bad. You paid, but I didn't earn it." She winked an emerald eye in his direction. "I'll just have to owe you one."
He opened the door as casually as he could. "Sorry, got no time for love." He stepped out of the room, leaving Ginger alone to get ready.
Leaning against the closed door for a full thirty seconds, Max attempted to calm his nerves. He couldn't help but feel a little down after seeing how easy it had been for her to throw him off balance. "I guess that's why you're still single." He shoved his hands into his pockets and made his way back to the elevators. On the ride down, he wondered for a second what would have happened if he had shown up in her room without an ulterior motive. The doors slid open before he could finish the thought and he stepped out just in time to see Kira run out the front door. She flailed her arms in the air like a cartoon as she yelled and made a scene. He quickened his pace to return to the helpless creature.
Max found Farnsworth outside with an out-of-breath Kira. "You okay there? Did the scary men harass you?" He placed a hand on her head and tousled her hair, giving the fairy a rather fluffy appearance.
She swatted at his hand, telling him to knock it off.
He ignored her attacks. "Ginger will be down in a minute."
Farn let out a short laugh at the sight. Max was glad to see her feeling a little more comfortable. "Great, we've got a Coin. What do we need next?”
Kira smoothed down her hair, trying to get it to lay flat again. "We need damage."
"Sure. Know any good Cauldrons?" Farn inquired.
Max shook his head. "We don't know what we're up against in this. A Cauldron could be too slow."
"We need a Leaf," Kira said.
Farn raised an eyebrow. "That's an odd choice,"
Kira smirked. "You haven't met our Leaf."
"Trust us; he can get the job done," Max assured her.
"You work fast," a voice joined in.
Max turned to find Ginger slipping through the crowd. She’d changed into a pair of canvas pants and a leather corset with a white blouse peeking out the top to cover her chest. She pulled on a short-hooded cloak that gave her an air of mystery. It was more appropriate for the mission than lingerie.
"A Coin, a Breath, and a Shield. You've got quite the little harem going here, Max. And I thought I was special," she joked badly, then changed the subject before he could respond. "Hey, Kira, you want a job at the club? They give me a bonus if I recruit friends."
She crossed her arms. "Already had that offer tonight, thank you very much.”
"You sure? We could do doubles," Ginger suggested.
Kira started to blush but covered it with a laugh. "Haha, no. I'd make you do all the work."
Ginger didn't let up. "You might have fun. I could help you break in that little body of yours."
Kira and Farn both looked uneasy as the joke grew less vague.
"Anyways. We're off to gather a Leaf. There will be time to make me uncomfortable later." Kira turned away and tugged at her dress.
Farn shook Ginger's hand to exchange their contact information, looking a little uncomfortable meeting someone new. It made sense to Max considering how much more confident Ginger seemed to be compared to the Shield. That was when he realized that he hadn't introduced them. "Oh, sorry. Farnsworth meet Ginger; Ginger meet Farnsworth," he added after the fact.
"Nice to meet you, Farn," Ginger said, shortening her name without being told to.
"Likewise," replied Farn, her voice shaking a little.
"So, you know any more about this mystery quest than I do?" Ginger prodded the Shield.
Caught off guard,
Farn responded with a simple, "Umm …" which seemed to tell Ginger more than enough.
"Great, I'm becoming less excited about this by the minute." She crossed her arms and glared at Max.
Rushing things along, he continued, "We don't have a ton of time here, so we should probably head out." He turned to Kira. "Can you take us to Port Han? We're going to need to rent a boat." She nodded and opened her spell-craft menu without questioning the destination.
"A boat? Where are we going?" Farn asked with a puzzled look since there were no cities near the port.
Max gave her a villainous smile. "We're going to Tartarus."
Chapter Seven
Max sat at the wheel as the boat shot along the coast of the dark continent of Gmork, its twin engines pushing it along at full speed. Actually, boat wasn't really the right word for it since it didn't touch the water. Instead, it hovered just above, skimming the surface and giving it a smoother ride than any regular watercraft would have. Nevertheless, it was called a boat. The whole thing was white and would have looked like something straight out of Miami Vice if not for the figurehead of a goat that sat on the bow and the two detailed wings that fanned off the back at an upward angle.
In the back, Kira and Ginger argued about whether it would be funny or stupid to climb onto the front of the boat and yell ‘I'm king of the world!’ Ginger insisted that it was a classic that bore repeating, while Kira felt it was overdone and an insult to comedy. Eventually, they agreed to disagree and settled for a quoting a few random lines from a song about being on a boat.
Max shook his head as the pair behind him belted out a few ridiculous lyrics. Next to him sat Farn, chewing on her lip like it had wronged her.
He tried to think of a way to take her mind off what was bothering her, which, if he had to guess, was the mission. "So, are you a big Futurama fan?”
"What?" She looked at him with a blank expression.
"Your name. Is it a reference to Professor Farnsworth from Futurama?"
"Oh, no, it's from the show Fringe. Agent Farnsworth …" she trailed off awkwardly before starting back up. "I liked the character."
Max grinned. "You just got a lot nerdier."
She leaned away from him and crossed her arms. "How is Fringe worse than Futurama?"
He shrugged with one hand on the wheel. "I don't know, but it is. I only saw some of the first season, though.”
“Oh, I get it, you’re too cool to like Fringe,” Farn said, almost looking sad for him and coming out of her shell a bit.
Max dismissed her comment with a wave of his free hand. “Nah. I’m more into movies than TV; I’d rather a self-contained story over episodic things. That’s more Kira’s style since she has trouble committing to a two-hour runtime."
"Well, you have to watch the rest. Fringe worth seeing once." Farn leaned on one hand and smiled.
"Maybe I will when this is done, you know, if the world doesn't end and all."
She nodded. "Yeah, you should put it on your bucket list now then."
He leaned back over his seat. "Hey, Kira! Guess where Farn's name comes from?"
The fairy tilted her head a moment before guessing, "Fringe?"
"Ha! Yes!" Farn hopped around in her seat to face the back of the boat. "And you called me a nerd," she argued over her shoulder at Max.
"Yeah, and I stand by it. You're both nerds," he said as Kira slid up to sit behind Farn, Ginger joining them out of curiosity and putting her feet up on the back of his seat.
The two began chatting about their favorite parts of the show, causing a pleasant atmosphere to take over the craft as they sped toward the dark destination ahead.
"What about you?” Farn asked. “Where does MaxDamage24 come from?"
"Nowhere." Max shrugged. "I picked it at random."
She looked at him sideways with judgment in her eyes.
"What? I'm not good at coming up with names."
"What about the twenty-four?" she asked.
Kira butted in to field the question. "It was his age. At least it was three years ago. Apparently, he didn't realize that he would get older because, you know, time is a thing that exists and all."
Farn laughed, bringing a reluctant smile to Max's face. "Like I said, I'm not great at names." He pulled back on the throttle, signaling that their ride was coming to an end despite there being no marker on the world map.
Tartarus was different from the other cities in Noctem in the sense that it wasn't a city. At least, not technically. It sat on the coast of Gmork, the dark continent, which was a dangerous place, crawling with high-level monsters. The perfect place for a city like Tartarus. From the sea, where most visitors approached, it looked like nothing but a crack in the side of a massive coastal cliff with a river flowing out into the ocean from within.
Max steered the craft over the turbulent waters as they passed in through the narrow entrance. After a few hundred feet of nothingness, the crack grew wider into a full-sized canyon. Its walls were lined with structures, stacked and supported by all manner of ropes and chains. It was a patchwork of architecture with no overall plan or design. Numerous bridges stretched across the gap, connecting both sides of the canyon. A few were made of sturdy wood held up by complex support systems of cables and pulleys. In contrast, most of the others were just a bunch of ropes strung together with barely enough stability to support the weight of a few people at a time. On more than a few occasions in the past, bridges had actually snapped, dropping parties into the river below. Hell, even Max had come close to dying once when an entire tavern fell off the side of the canyon. Fortunately for him, Kira had been there to catch him and slow his descent just enough so he didn't take damage from the fall. There was no lamplight like the other cities; just torches placed randomly throughout its various walkways and platforms. It was strictly a place built to fulfill a purpose, not to look nice.
The reason for its lack of presence on the world map and its overall terrible workmanship was that it wasn't created by Checkpoint as part of the game. It didn't have a teleport point or stores selling official items. It was just a crack in a cliff. The city had even been built on the walls to avoid the monsters that spawned on the banks of the river underneath. The place had been built using nothing but farmed or crafted materials, and the dangerously sub-par construction was thanks to the fact that most of its builders had no experience whatsoever. The hodgepodge city had become sort of a hobby for some players. Some people like to build model cars, and some people like to build a bunch of crappy tree houses on the side of a cliff in unsafe conditions. To each their own.
As for how it got started, no one really knew. It just became a thing, and no one questioned it, not even Checkpoint. Over time, it had become a sort of a black market for the world of Noctem. Nothing technically illegal went on there, but much of it was questionable, to say the least. If you needed to broker a shady deal, such as an assassination of a house lord, it was the place go. It was also the place to go if you needed to recruit a shady Leaf class named Kegan.
The boat drifted under the bridges as noises filtered down. Farn jumped at the sound of a gunshot as they pulled up to a rickety dock and disembarked. Max tied off the boat as haphazardly as the city above was built, and they proceeded down the river bank toward a ladder. They passed a few players on their way who wasted no time in boarding and stealing their vessel.
"Hey, they're taking our boat!" Farn pointed an urgent finger in their direction.
"That's how it works here. Leave something unattended, and it's not yours anymore." Max stuffed his hands in his pockets without looking back. It wasn't like the boat had been rented by the hour, so it didn't matter where it ended up. He assumed it would just dematerialize if someone left it somewhere for too long.
Farn looked confused anyway.
Ginger slinked up behind her. "First time here, huh?"
Farn nodded. "Yeah, it's not exactly a place that I've heard good things about."
"It's not that bad," Max insist
ed.
"Just different," added Kira as they approached the ladder leading up to the bottom-most platform of the city.
Just as Max was about to set foot on the first rung, a loud reptilian hiss came from behind them. "Damn, basilisk. Everybody climb fast and don't look at its eyes!" He leapt up the ladder several rungs at a time to make room for the others.
"I looked at its eyes, Max," Farn said from behind.
Max looked down to find her unable to move and locked in a gaze with a ten-foot-tall, black serpent. It bobbed its head from left to right, its paralyzing stare boring a hole through the helpless Shield. It dashed forward for a critical strike, a blur of dark scales. He motioned to jump back down, but Kira bolted toward Farn, beating him to her by materializing her wings for added speed. She plowed into the Shield with what little weight she had, shoving her out of the way enough get her to safety and to break the snake's hold on her in time for it get a mouthful of sand. They toppled to one side, landing in a heap, Kira on top, straddling one of Farn's legs.
"Sorry," she chirped.
The creature wasn't that dangerous, Max thought as he considered their options. Granted, their party wasn't complete, and they lacked some damage, which could make the encounter risky if they weren't careful. He decided to stay put for the moment to see how things played out.
Ginger dodged an attack by weaving around the serpent as it struck past her. She countered, striking with a curved dagger drawn from a sheath at her lower back. Scraping a number of thick black scales from the monster, she tossed them in her bag. Basilisk scales were valuable after all. She avoided its eyes by hiding under the large hood of her short cloak. She bobbed to the left and fired a grappling line from her wrist into the canyon wall, using it to pull herself to the side to dodge another attack. The wrist launcher, equipment exclusive to her class, sat on the opposite arm from her stat-sleeve. Her cloak trailed behind her as she touched her forehead with two fingers and quietly said the word Blur to activate a skill to lower the creatures targeting capability. The thing lost track of her soon after.
