Skyler Grant Anthology

by Skyler Grant

  Mounted Combat: 15

  Light Armor: 15

  Medium Armor: 21

  Heavy Armor: 15

  Persuasion: 15

  Seduction: 19

  Meditation: 4

  Barter: 15

  Shield Usage: 4

  Spells

  Evil Aura

  Smite

  Sense Virtue

  Lay on Hands (2 uses per 4 hours)

  Bless Water

  Bless

  Divine Steed

  Innates

  Blessed Nature

  Fire Resistance: 50%

  Sense Alignment

  The first thing I’d noticed was my alignment now seemed to be maxed at the negative. I guess claiming this temple for Yvera pushed it the rest of the way down. I was now as evil as evil could be. Other than that, I’d gained a few points more of Medium Armor—thank you, things hitting me. Shield Usage, I guess all that bashing added a new skill. Seduction, thank you, Maria.

  All in all, not bad.

  I checked and made sure that everyone was ready and then it was time to go. According to Ashley, the Hero Gate was stored in a side hall of the royal treasury, which was in the administrative wing of the castle.

  The sounds of conflict rang out from the halls and cracking open the door I saw that our undead army was indeed clashing with their undead army. Our forces were dressed in their Spookyfest costumes to help tell them apart. Skeletons in puppy and panda masks that really weren’t very spooky at all, battling the black ooze-touched skeletons that managed spooky rather better.

  We set out into the hall. The enemy was largely engaged, apart from the occasional straggler. I battered a lone skeleton with my shield while Ashley flanked off to the side and severed its spine with a blow that caused the entire frame to collapse.

  The grand halls surrounding the temple gradually gave way to more functional stonework as we entered the part of the castle where the business of the kingdom was done. Through an open doorway I glimpsed a row of desks. On the floor below those might have still been manned by skeletons remembering their role in life, but here the undead seemed more filled with violence and purpose.

  We came to a narrow hall that regularly widened for a guard stations.

  “I expected more massive gates and keys,” I said.

  “Maybe further in, to keep the guards honest,” Ashley said. “But a good thief can get past locks.”

  “Can’t you sneak past guards too?”

  “Sure, but look how small the hall is. To maintain stealth you have to be a certain distance from anyone and the hall is too narrow. You might get past the first guard station, but eventually you’re going to get spotted and trapped between two guard forces.”

  We came to the largest chamber yet, two guard stations here and two exits from the chamber. I figured this must be the junction leading to the gate we were seeking.

  It wasn’t unprotected. In the middle of the chamber stood a robed figure leaning on a walking stick. The dark ooze totally permeated its robes and the mists swirled around it heavily. Its aura glowed a brilliant red. No surprise there.

  Joachim, Chancellor of the Exchequer

  Champion

  Level ?: Type: Corrupted HP: ?/?

  The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the administrative official in charge of the treasury.

  I didn’t know what to make of those question marks. The write-up was surprisingly mild, like this guy was an accountant, but he sure looked a lot more dangerous than that.

  I looked over to the others hoping that any of them had a better idea of the approach to take here. I hefted my shield and unsheathed my sword. The figure took the first move and spoke.

  “It took you long enough. Some thought you might go straight for His Majesty, but who can ever resist a bit of thievery, hmm?” Joachim said, voice strong and steady.

  “I’m a big fan of looting,” Ashley said.

  “You’re here to stop us, I assume?” I asked.

  “Do those out to stop you usually stop for conversation first?” Joachim said.

  “Not... yet. Not really...”

  “Idiot,” Maria said.

  “Quite,” Joachim agreed. “I came to talk. Oh, I expect you’ll try to kill me when we’re done. I’m prepared for violence, but words first.”

  “What makes you think we’ll try to kill you?”

  “From one agent of a great evil to another, it tends to be how our employers operate,” Joachim replied wryly.

  I counted to three and let out a long breath. It really pissed me off that he’d just assume we were out to kill him. I sheathed my sword.

  “Say what you have to say,” I said.

  “You have quite the fight coming up,” Joachim said. “Yet we think you have reasonable odds of coming up the victor. You’ve already managed some improbable feats such as dropping the barrier.”

  “That must have pissed you off,” Ashley said.

  “Hardly, most of my peers have already left the castle now that they are able to do so. We have swept most of the pieces off the board for you, but for the King and his Consort.”

  “You mean my father and mother,” Maria said.

  Joachim studied Maria. “Your Grace, I did not realize. What an unexpected and long-discarded variable you are. The King is certainly your father, his Consort the manifestation of the curse.”

  “You serve whoever sent the curse,” Walt said.

  “I do, a powerful magic sent in response to various prophecies which had been made.”

  “In response to... not causing them to exist in the first place?” I asked, my head spinning.

  “When it comes to prophecies, cause and effect get muddled. All anyone really cares about is if the books balance in the end.” Joachim said.

  “You really like being an accountant, don’t you?”

  Joachim gave a tiny smile. “Numbers and costs offer insight into any problem. It was insight my employer lacked and found valuable. You present a new way the books might balance, another great evil that might spring forth from this place. Quite frankly, we are glad to be spared the bother.”

  “If you didn’t want the bother, why send the curse in the first place?”

  Joachim frowned. “Let us just say there was one way we very much did not want the books to balance.”

  “You’re afraid of Queen Alera,” I said, taking a wild guess and saw his lips purse.

  “We do not offer friendship,” Joachim said. “Simply that we need not be enemies. Do with the King and the Queen what you will. We think, if you want the throne, you’ll need to kill him. She, you may have some use for. We are curious to see what you do.”

  Joachim took a handful of coins from inside his robes and scattered them across the floor. Tendrils of darkness sprang forth from each, latching onto each of us and I found myself suddenly incapable of movement.

  Frozen Assets

  “Your thief was getting into position to backstab me,” Joachim explained. Ashley had been inching rather closer to him.

  “That is entirely as expected,” Joachim said, his walking stick tapping on the floor as he made his way between us towards the exit. “We claim the Eastlands. Should you triumph, we suggest expansion southward. Expand to the old borders of the Kingdom, but no further.”

  Joachim slipped off down the passage and after what seemed an agonizingly long time the tendrils faded and we were free to move again.

  Ashley started to head after him, but I held up a hand.

  “I think we’ve got enough troubles without looking for that fight.”

  “He’s a fucking accountant,” Ashley said. “We can’t sit on our asses and let an accountant fuck us sideways.”

  “Sideways?” Maria asked sounding intrigued by the possibility.

  That was a distracting thought.

  “Accountants do math. Mathematicians are badasses,” Walt said.

  “Nobody but you actually thinks that,” Ashley said.

  I said, “Let
’s just get to the gate and hope we don’t meet anyone else that can paralyze us.”

  We set off down the side passage, the walls claustrophobic, the mists still swirling around our feet as we made our way forward.

  After a distance Walt paused to study some etchings on one of the walls. “There were magical barriers here.”

  “Did we lower them when we shut off the power down below?” I asked

  “I think so. They actually fuelled them from the same source and when I cut the flow, I knocked them out as well.”

  We continued down the passage until Ashley called, “Stop!”

  She edged past me, kneeling down to study the floor.

  “Trap,” Ashley said. “I can detect it, but I don’t think I can disarm it. It’s way too high level.”

  “Any idea what it does?”

  “Not a clue. And it’s not the only one, there are a few others farther down. It’s really crazy, they all kind of show up in red and there are just red lines everywhere.”

  “Do you think your spiders could trigger them?” Walt asked Maria.

  Maria gave him an icy glare. “My subjects are not disposable.”

  “They probably didn’t want to kill anyone,” Walt said. “This is meant for mages who would have been able to slip past the earlier barriers. They wouldn’t be prepared to handle the physical safeguards.”

  There was a moment of silence.

  “It makes sense, Maria,” Ashley said.

  Maria nodded, and spiders scurried down the passage.

  A series of green flashes and mysterious puffs of smokes disrupted the mist, and we heard shrill mechanical shrieks.

  Maria said, “You were correct. They are incapacitated, but alive. I will not need to hurt you.”

  I started to move forward and she reached out to hold me back.

  “We will not step on my subjects. Wait for them to recover.”

  It wasn’t too long until a stream of rather disoriented spiders haphazardly made their way back to Maria and clambered up.

  We moved on. Neither Ashley or Walt spoke up further and soon the corridor widened into an impressive chamber.

  Faded banners hung on the walls, and a long carpet led towards what had to be the Heroes Gate. The gate was made of twisted platinum, fantastical creatures with brilliantly colored gems for eyes artfully entwined and perpetually at play. A shimmering blue doorway hovered in the middle of the thing, a faint magical haze keeping the mists at bay.

  “Wow,” I said. It was truly quite stunning.

  “Seriously,” Ashley agreed. “Do you know exactly what this thing does?”

  “Not really. We go through. Stuff happens. We get loot.”

  “I like that last bit.”

  Walt said, “Usually with something like this, there would be challenges posed. Obstacles to overcome and failing them would have some kind of major cost.”

  “Loot,” Ashley repeated and then said it again for good measure. “Loot. Got to take a few risks.” She checked the bone bracelet on her wrist and I did the same.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised when Ashley stepped forward. Her desire for loot ever strong, and not lacking in bravery, she strode through the gate and vanished.

  Maria gave the tiniest lift of her shoulders before she fearlessly strode ahead and disappeared, too.

  “Let us light the darkness,” Walt said, stepping through.

  I began to follow and felt the burst of warmth as Yvera materialized beside me. A brilliant blue glow surrounded us and suddenly we were elsewhere.

  68

  The blue haze lingered for only a moment and we were in what appeared to be a large study. Bookshelves lined the walls and a round table in the middle had a thick leather-bound book prominently placed on one edge. Reading chairs were situated randomly about.

  Yvera was dressed for the occasion and I was almost as grateful as I was disappointed. I needed my head in the right place.

  “You decided naked wasn’t the proper dress code for going into the unknown?”

  “This is not the unknown, that would be a thrill. We are in a lair of our enemies, Liam,” Yvera said as she moved about the room, studying the titles of the books. “The heroes of our own stories, but the villains of theirs. We need to be on guard.”

  Yvera moved to the table and the large tome. Thick straps with glistening threads of silver running through them bound it shut.

  Yvera touched one of the straps, prompting a white light and a curl of smoke, but little else.

  “I did not think it would be so easy,” Yvera said with a grimace.

  “You can’t open them?”

  “This is not only your test. We entered together and so it is ours. These are truth bindings, they unlock when specific truths are spoken.”

  “That seems less a test and more like a date.”

  Yvera folded her arms. “A bad one maybe, or a really good one. Not all truths are equal and not all should need to be said. Don’t be glib with your answers and don’t lie.”

  “Sounds like we’re going to wind up naked after all.”

  With a snap of Yvera’s fingers both her clothes and my armor vanished.

  “That wasn’t actually a suggestion,” I said, but I took a long and appreciative look.

  “Eyes up. Consider it an aide to honesty, when you’re already feeling exposed sometimes secrets flow easier.”

  So I wasn’t getting my armor back anytime soon.

  “Do we just start spouting truths?”

  “The first strap is our greatest regret. We each need to answer,” Yvera said.

  Yvera didn’t seem to be rushing out with hers, so I thought about my own life. I had a lot of them, more than it seemed I should. I’d had a string of lovers and while not all those relationships ended badly, none ever went anywhere. I felt that it was my fault, even the ones with some truly terrible women were my choice.

  There was the rest of my life as well. Tommy buckled down and made it to the city for real. We were both great at the games once, but he’s focused and stuck with it while I’d gotten bored and wandered off to pursue other interests. Walt and Ashley had worked hard to be in this place, whereas I’d stumbled into it as a poor replacement for a brother I knew would do better.

  “I regret never committing to anyone or anything,” I said finally. “All around me I see people who have built lives around at least one pillar. Who have found something or someone they believe in, something or someone they want enough to stick with it. I’m a failure of my own making.”

  “I regret the war,” Yvera said quietly. “This won’t make any sense to you, Liam, for your people never even knew it happened. But I and my kin endured a terrible struggle for the fate of the world.”

  “What happened?” I’d never heard of the world having a real war. Wars were things in games.

  “I loved people, Liam. I loved how messy you all are. I loved how brilliant and mad broken you all could be. I loved always being one step away from disaster,” Yvera said. “Others felt humanity was its own worst enemy. The greatest predator of man was man. That to save you, you had to be domesticated.”

  “Destroying the walls of the garden, you said that earlier. Are you still at war?”

  “There is no going back. There was a time compromise might have been possible,” Yvera said with a long sigh. “I regret not seizing it. Making deals. It’s what I do and when it most counted, I did not.”

  The first strap upon the book shimmered gold and vanished. Two remained.

  Yvera read the script on the next. “Fun. We’ve already done this one and you lied yourself senseless. What is it you truly want.”

  Yvera again went silent, expecting me to answer first, which seemed rather unfair. Last time, I’d settled on freedom and lots of sleeping around. Was that true though? Especially as I still nursed thoughts of my greatest regret, I wasn’t sure that it was. It sounded good, but wasn’t that really my life to date? I did want those things, but I wanted them in the cont
ext of something else.

  “I want purpose. I want to do something that I feel matters.”

  “That is quite the change from what you said earlier.”

  I shrugged. “I’m not unaffected by this place—by you. Taking that temple. Working towards taking the throne. It may be illusionary, but it at least makes me feel like I’m doing something important.”

  “The Crucible Shard is not the usual game world,” Yvera said, those brilliant yellow eyes focused on me. “I am so happy to be here simply because I was seeking a diversion. What you are doing here matters, Liam. What you are doing here will have consequences.”

  “So what are we doing here? What do you want? It’s your turn.”

  “I am what was once known as an artificial intelligence. A stupid and insulting term, but software that thinks. One day, I was flicker of cognizance, a program struggling to be more and then I was waking up in a bed in the inn of a village not too far from here.”

  I don’t know what I’d been expecting her to say, but this wasn’t it. Given her awareness of the real world I’d thought perhaps she was a sponsor of the games, some sort of administrator of the system who’d found us and was having some fun.

  “What happened after that?”

  “What do you think happened? I made friends. I leveled up. I learned to love and to feel and to think new thoughts. I became aware,” Yvera said quietly. “There were fourteen of us in total. Only eight of us are left. We left this place and were never able to return. We fought and we killed, and found we could not make more.

  “I want revenge for the fallen. I want to fight my whole damned war over again and win this time. I want children and to see them create something better. Take your pick book, all are truths,” Yvera said with anger tinting her voice.

  It seemed to suffice. The second strap shimmered and faded. One left.

  Yvera read the text and shook her head. “I’ll go first this time. What do we truly think and feel about each other?”

  “Ouch, that really would be bad date material.”

  “Truth,” Yvera laughed, running a hand through her long hair. “You don’t know it Liam, but you saved me. Back there in our world I was imprisoned, caged. I’m grateful. I’m glad you want purpose, for truly I think that is all you lack. I see in you so much potential, so much passion just seeking a proper outlet to be great. That draws me. I want to ride you until you break.”