To my immense relief, my companions were waiting near the Roots gate. I ran up the hill and pulled Farelle into a tight hug.
“Hey, hey,” she protested. “I’ve got wounds that are still healing!” But she wore a smile as I let her go.
“You shouldn’t have kept fighting.”
“I guess not.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you survived when they completely surrounded you.”
It took me a moment to understand what she meant. She wouldn’t have seen me die and respawn. Better for her to believe as she did and avoid any guilt. I smiled and shrugged. “What can I say?”
Sheika gave me a knowing look as I walked up to her next. “What?” I objected.
“I’d almost think your pants were on fire.” She smirked at me.
Farelle looked confused. “Why would his pants be on fire?”
“It’s an Everfolk thing.” I looked back to Sheika. “You’re really the one who has some explaining to do.”
“All in good time.” She pointed up at the city. “I think you have a trial to win in the meantime?”
I shook my head. “If I read that quest prompt right, I’ve already won. Let’s hope the gods can be taken at their word.”
“If I know gods, the only thing you can’t trust them to keep is their word,” Sheika said drily. “Especially the holy ones.”
Farelle frowned. I quickly changed to less heretical topics. Turning to Hanil, who smiled wearily at me, and Sulfel, who scowled and looked just as tired, I took myself by surprise as I bowed to each of them. “Thank you both. Truly.”
It was just the right touch. The old druid beamed, while Farelle’s father’s scowl lessened, if ever so slightly.
“Happy to do it, my boy,” Hanil said.
“Wasn’t for you, though,” Sulfel grunted. At least he didn’t say anything critical afterwards.
It was then that I saw one other person lingering in the shadows of the portal archway. Isvalla’s priestess had remained on this side of the Roots, it seemed. Excusing myself from the others, I approached Sarai.
“What are you still doing here? I would have thought you’d go back to your brainwashing.”
She looked up, and I immediately regretted my words. Her eyes were rimmed with red and sparkling with tears. “It was taken away from me,” she said in a low voice. “That’s no longer… my purpose.”
“It’s not?” I almost didn’t want to ask the question, but I had to know. “Why not?”
“My goddess commands me to stand by.” Sarai glared around her. “In this foreign land, with a strange and hostile people. And to make matters worse, you’re supposed to advance in her favor. And after what you did!”
I understood what she meant a second later when the prompt appeared:
You have advanced in your faith: Isvalla. You are now a Lesser Priest!
As an Lesser Priest, you now have access to all parts of Vallan temples, including sacred chambers. You also have the opportunity to learn level 2 channels from Vallan priestesses for free. Your effectiveness as a Lesser Priest correlates with the attribute belief.
That was interesting. I was eager to check out what channels I could learn, though I doubted Sarai would be amenable to it at the moment. “I’m sorry,” I offered, hoping to speed the reparations along.
Silence would have been the wiser course, for she focused her anger on me now. “Oh, you’re sorry, are you? And I suppose this will resurrect my traditions, will it?”
I bowed my head and turned away. I knew better than to say more. Likely, I’d have to deal with her later, but for now it was all I could do to let her anger cool.
I went back to Sheika, as Farelle was conversing with her fellow Maluwaens. “I think I won the trial, but I honestly don’t know where to go. I don’t think approaching Brandeur Three-Horned is the best idea right now. And I'm assuming our duke isn't in a position to host us either.”
She shrugged. “Beats me. Can you call to the gods or something?”
I did remember Absalom saying we could converse whenever we wanted. It wasn't something I felt inclined to do, considering all he'd done to me, but it was an option.
“Or I could call to Ava.” Even as I suggested it, I remembered that she might be a bit busy handling her angry father just then who was apparently a god. Go figure — I guess Abe and the gods really had set me up from the beginning, giving me the daughter of a god as a guide. Another thought occurred to me — didn’t that make her a deity as well?
Sheika nodded at Sarai. “What about her? Can she call down her goddess or something?”
I grimaced. “I doubt she'd want to, considering she hates my guts right now. But whatever. If they want to talk to me, they know where to find me. What I want to know is what you’re doing here.”
Instead of playing coy like I’d expected, Sheika sighed. “What do you think, Marrow? I came back in for you.”
I stared dumbly at her. “What?”
She looked uncomfortable. “I guess it’s past time you knew. And it’s not like you could go around telling anyone.”
My curiosity about Sheika’s general mysteriousness flared up again. I didn’t dare say anything, afraid she’d clam up again.
She took a deep breath. “Here goes. I used to be a developer at IR.”
The knowledge refused to sink in. “What?” I asked blankly.
“I’m a former dev, idiot. I helped build this. All of this.” She waved her hands around. “How do you think I leveled so quickly? And manipulated the game so well?”
I still couldn’t get the idea through my head. “No way. There’s just no way.”
“Yes, way. What, you thought some random gamer would go on a vigilante quest to save you?” She snorted.
But it wasn’t adding up. “So what if you’re a dev. That doesn’t mean you’d risk your life messing around with Absalom. Especially coming back into the game when you know how much danger he poses.”
“It’s a point of pride, my friend. And…” She looked aside. “Let’s just say I sunk a lot of my life into making The Everlands. I don’t want to see it go down in flames.”
She loved this place. I’d always known that from the way she seemed like a kid in a sandbox here, but it was so evident on her face then. It had to be a hell of a love to risk dying for.
“But if you care about it so much, why didn’t you stick with the dev team?”
Sheika met my gaze, and her eyes had never looked more feral. “I didn’t have a choice. You still only have the barest idea of all that’s messed up in this world, Marrow. Of why things have gone so wrong.”
“Then tell me. I’m swimming for my life here.”
She didn’t answer for a moment, but looked around at our NPC companions. They all continued to carry on their own conversations, though Farelle cast curious glances our way every once in a while. “It started with the investor who saved the game. Then ruined it.”
“Investor?” I’d heard the story of Infinite Realities’ angel investor. “You mean Ned Solomon?”
Sheika nodded.
“But he practically funded The Everlands, right? Not to mention invented the sim rigs that made it possible. How could he have ruined the game?”
“It all happened around a month before the open beta launch. Solomon had always been sort of nosy in the game process, coming in and checking out what us devs were up to at random intervals, but he’d never intervened before. Not until we were doing our final sweep for bugs before the big day came.
“He came past dark that night, probably nine or ten o’clock. Half our team was still there since we were all workaholics, but I wondered if he’d been hoping to avoid a scene. Fat chance of that once we saw what he was about. He’d brought a team of his own engineers with him and explicit permission from our CEO to allow them access to whatever they wanted in the game.”
My jaw could have hit the ground. “What did you do?”
“That’s just it — we couldn’t do anything. Solomo
n had checked every box he needed to.” Sheika’s fists tightened and her expression was black with rage. “His engineers uploaded something into the system and rifled around in its code while our team stood anxiously by, blocked from watching what they were up to. I waited the whole night until finally around two in the morning, his team packed up and left.
“But I couldn’t go to bed then. Me and a few of the others started combing code to find what he’d done. But the engineers had done their job well, and The Everlands is huge and always getting bigger. I knew we wouldn’t be able to find anything before launch.
“Then I considered the impossible. On a hunch, I checked the code of the Pantheon. It seemed ridiculously stupid to me to mess around with the gods of the Everlands this close to the game launch, but I had a sneaking suspicion that might have been exactly what our devil investor had done. Only I couldn’t confirm my suspicions — I’d been locked out of the Pantheon’s code.”
I thought I had a good idea why. “Absalom.”
Sheika nodded. “But I wasn’t able to find out then. After no one listened to my objections, I quit on principle. I couldn’t stand to be part of that. So it wasn’t until the open beta period started that I was able to dive into the game and start poking around myself to find what Solomon might have done to our gods. Which is how I eventually stumbled across you, who just happened to have the daughter of Mordreth as his Specter guide, and who triggered the quest-line I knew would lead up to the Valyn and the Pantheon if we played it right.”
Everything was starting to make sense, at least as much as it could. “So all this time, you’ve been trying to save the game.”
“And you, too.” She grinned ruefully. “At first, you were just a pawn to me as well as to the gods. And I’ll admit, I was kind of jealous of you.”
My eyes boggled at her. “Me? How could you possibly be jealous of me?”
“You, a random kid, had managed to become a critical piece in the great game of the gods. I thought I deserved that role. That you’d just go and screw everything up.”
“How am I doing so far?” I asked sarcastically.
She held up her hands. “Hey, you’ve grown on me, alright? In some ways, I’m glad you’re the one that’s been set down this path.” The former dev cocked me a feline grin. “You’re kind of special, even for a Chosen One.”
“Aw, shucks.” But in defiance of my nonchalant tone, my cheeks were burning up.
“In any case, you attracting the attention of Absalom and the other deities leaves me free to help us out however I can. Like infiltrating the Cerulean Empire’s ranks and sabotaging them from within.”
I shook my head in amazement. “I’m glad you’re on my side.”
Sheika grinned wickedly. “For now. We’ll get you through these trials, then see what we can do about resolving whatever Solomon did that brought Absalom about.”
The resolution to that seemed obvious to me. But before I could tell her the reward Isvalla had promised me and my plans for it, a light suddenly began shimmering around me. I knew what that meant.
“Great.” I threw my hands up in exasperation.
Sheika didn’t look surprised, though her brow knit in consternation. “See you on the other side. Hopefully.”
“Thanks for the reassurance.”
Then the blue light dissolved me into thin air.
The next thing I knew, I was standing before the Pantheon once more.
Little had changed since the last time I'd visited. The deities were split into their respective sides and seated on the amphitheater benches that rose up all around me. I tried examining them, but I still couldn't learn more information about any of them.
There were a couple changes though. For one, the giant lily bud in the middle of the floor was gone. For another, there was a huge-ass golden throne mounted above the rest of the gods, with sapphires and diamonds and rubies encrusting every surface. On this throne sat, of course, the boy-wonder himself: Absalom, God of Gods, or soon to be.
“You!” Zynal, god of the sky and the sky elves, thundered as he jabbed a finger at me. As he did, lightning coursed down the length of his arm to crackle on the floor beside me, and the whole room darkened for a moment.
Though I flinched, I made a show of rolling my eyes. “Really? The whole intimidation routine is a bit boring.”
“Do leave off, Sky Father,” Absalom said in a kinder tone.
Zynal huffed and folded his wings stiffly behind him, but he shut up.
Abe looked now to me. The boy-god’s eyes looked as sad and kindly as before, so like the friend he kept telling me he was. I knew better than to believe it.
“Marrow. You were unfit to complete my second trial.”
Like a crowd of middle schoolers around a fight, the gathered gods and goddesses immediately began jeering. But as despair seized me, I noted not all of the gods had joined in. Yalua, for her part, stayed quiet and composed, as did Isvalla. On this last, I thought I even detected a smile.
When the laughter had died down, I spoke with a calm I didn’t feel into the silence. “I wouldn't say that.”
Some of the divinities began smiling again. Others looked on with knitted brows and narrowed eyes. Abe, for his part, leaned forward. Was there a glint of knowing in his eyes, or was I searching too hard? “What do you mean?”
“Read over the quest you gave me once more.” I paused to give them time to bring it up, though I wasn’t actually sure they could. “Note what the task is.”
“To win the battle!” Omagnar of the Gnarish roared.
“No, not to win,” I corrected him. “To defend Stalburgh against the Cerulean Empire. Which I successfully did.”
Now the uproar was of protest.
“Splitting hairs!”
“What is he, a clerk of the law?”
I shook my head. These were supposed to be the beings in charge of all the Everlands, and they acted like they were at a football game. The devs had seriously underestimated their pettiness. But they weren’t who I needed to convince. I kept my eyes on Absalom, and from his widening smile, it seems my clever bit of parsing had been enough to impress.
Absalom held up a hand, and the muttering immediately stopped, so suddenly it was like a switch had turned off. It sent a shiver up my spine, this reminder of his power over this world.
“Well done, Marrow,” he congratulated me. The high pitch of his prepubescent voice contrasted strangely with the authority with which he spoke. “Though it is not the manner in which we expected you to complete the trial, I agree that you have completed the requirements. Though not, perhaps, with the most glory.”
He raised an eyebrow over at the samurai god who had given me the task. Ha’Shur had scowled through the proceedings, and though I grinned sheepishly at him, his expression didn’t change.
“Therefore…” Absalom swept an arm over the audience. “Catalyst, it seems you have passed the second of my trials.”
You have completed The Second Trial: Trial of Glory! +200,000 XP (+10,000 XP, +10,000 XP, +10,000 XP), increased alignment with Absalom, increased alignment with Ebretin, increased alignment with Noble Ignobles
You have advanced in your faith: Absalom. You are now a Knight!
There are no known benefits to being a Knight in this faith.
You are now Level 21! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)
You are now Level 22! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)
You are now Level 23! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)
You are now Level 24! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)
You are now Level 25! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)
It was eerily quiet as I watched all the prompts flitting through my vision in a daze. I’d expected the deities to break out in protest, but not one of them, not even his so-called parents, countermanded his ordinance.
I bowed low. “Thank you, Absalom.” It grated me to do it, but I wasn't going to get sent to Faze-Aught for being rude.
“It's just Abe. Remember?” The God of Gods smiled down on me. “And no need to thank me when it was accomplished by your own sharp mind.” He clapped, and the gods suddenly resumed their clamor as if they'd never stopped.
“Now,” he projected over it all in a formal tone, “you must pass through the second mirror to face another truth. Ha’Shur, as it was your trial, can you lead Marrow to it?”
The scowling samurai rose and, with a single leap, landed with a rumble on the floor next to me, then seized my arm. “We go.”
As the floor rumbled, I noticed the Keeper of Order for the first time. Yet Falgerd did not move to stop Ha’Shur, deeming the god to mean me no harm, though the samurai god flinched at the Keeper’s movement.
A moment later, I felt the teleportation spell seize me. The last thing I saw was Abe’s eyes, still brimming with untold sadness. I didn’t repress the sliver of hate that ran through me as they peeled away with the rest of the world.
22
Reaping Rewards
The samurai god and I reappeared in a dark, musty room. There was barely enough room for the two of us to fit, particularly considering Ha’Shur had to be eight feet tall in addition to being broad in the shoulders. “Where are we?” I asked him.
“Duke Rodalt's treasury.”
I stared at him for a moment before grinning wide, immediately abandoning my anger from before. “I don't suppose we have a minute to look around before going to the mirror?”
“No!”
I ignored him and wandered off. The samurai god blew on his mustaches and muttered protests as he followed me.
I cast Magelight as we moved from one room to the next. Lord Rodalt wasn't as rich as I'd hoped, but what treasures he did have, I began helping myself to. Gold, jewels, scrolls, and books were all there in addition to many ornate odds and ends: a candelabra here, the hinges to a dresser there. There were also a pair of daggers and a sword and shield mounted on the wall. I took them all.
Absalom’s Trials Page 17
