by Skyler Grant
The hyper-intelligent AIs that had conquered my world and ruled my civilization.
"Maybe they're fully armed and armored elves just disguised as naked humans," Gob said.
"Very convincing work. I love the detailing," Yve said.
"Thank you for rescuing us from our Elvish captors," I said, putting on all the charm I could.
"So, you're saying you're not elves," Gob said carefully, as he tried to work his head around this concept.
"Clearly not. We were their prisoners, freed only as you vanquished our captors," I said.
The party exchanged looks and Tilmor shrugged.
"I believe them," Yve said.
"You'll believe anything a naked person wants to tell you," Tilor said.
"I'm not convinced," Gob said.
"Can I hurt him?" Ashley asked.
"Feel free," Yve said.
Gob shrieked and hid behind Tilmor.
"I don't suppose you have any spare equipment?" Ashley asked, nudging one of the elf corpses with a bare toe. "You know, mages."
The three again exchanged looks.
"I have a set of armor I leveled out of, and you have that plate mail you picked up," Yve said.
"We shouldn't be arming total strangers that may be hostile," Tilmor said.
"They haven't tried anything," Yve said.
"They haven't been able to."
I cleared my throat. "It isn't as if you get nothing out of it. I'm not sure what you are doing here, but you're dropping a lot of bodies. We can help."
"I do like killing people," Ashley said, and then added a moment later, "But we get to keep a share of the loot."
"If we're giving them gear up front, they don't get a cut," Gob said.
Tilmor, who seemed to be in charge, finally nodded. "You assist us. No guaranteed cut of the loot, although if we should find anything specific to your classes you may have it. In return, you'll help us to rescue our friend. Veros has been abducted by the Archmage and we need to get him back."
"Veros?" Ashley asked, suddenly as cold as ice.
There was murder in her eyes. I wasn't surprised. Veros was the AI who had tortured her growing up. He was in charge of the Dark Court. He'd taken a lot of time to hurt Ashley and she still wasn't right in the head because of it.
"Deal," I said, before she could say anything.
"What type of weapons?" Tilmor asked, as he began to go through his inventory.
"Sword and board for me. Daggers and crossbow for her. I'm Liam, by the way, and this is Ashley. Paladin and Assassin," I said.
"Paladin," Yvera said, all but purring again, "You can lay hands on me all you'd like."
Like I'd never told myself that before.
In the end I accepted a set of plate mail with a longsword, but no shield. Ashley took a leather bra and loincloth that managed to be incredibly indecent.
Ashley would normally be making a lot of barbed comments about that, but she was silent and her gaze remained murderous. I pulled her aside for a brief conversation.
"You know you can't do anything, right?" I asked.
"I can stab him in the eye when we find him," Ashley said.
"We're in a time-travel sequence. You know how time-travel works. Step on a butterfly in the past and suddenly goats rule the world. You go killing Veros and you'll create a paradox. That's bound to be bad."
Ashley took a deep breath and I noticed the many things it did to her cleavage. Yve had great taste in armor. "Does it even matter? Do you have a clue how to get us back after your Goddess broke time?"
I didn't. I wish I did, but I didn't have a clue. I knew who would though.
"They're taking us straight to the Archmage. That guy has been here forever, he must survive their encounter. We'll talk to him, he'll know how to get us back."
Ashley gave me disbelieving look. "You're going to the enemy we've been fighting for help?"
I didn't like the idea, I just didn't have a better one. We really were lost in our time. I suspected he wouldn't be thrilled about getting us back to our own, but he wouldn't want us screwing up things here either.
"If you think of something else that might work, we can go with that plan instead."
"Fine," Ashley said, turning away to glare instead at Yve. "Why do you have to be such a slut? This pinches like hell."
"Rude," Yve said.
"I like it," I said.
"You would. You don't have to kill in it," Ashley said. "I mean seriously, how does this even work?"
"She just kind of sways and sings," Gob said.
"It's rather weak," Tilmor said.
"I'm buffing you guys. Those critical hits don't just happen," Yve said.
A change of subject seemed like a good idea. I said, "So, you're out to rescue your friend? The Archmage is to be found at the top of the tower."
"That's what we thought," Tilmor said. "We figure we're about halfway up at this point. Does that sound correct?"
I had no idea. We'd been teleported here.
"Does it matter? Either way, we go up until we can't go up anymore," I said.
Yve gestured. "Well, with Veros gone, you're our tank for the moment. Lead on and we'll follow."
The hallway was long and winding, the rooms branching off to what looked to be little-used store rooms. It was a smart place to hide the entrance to something as important as that time device. Nobody would have reason to linger here.
We came to a flight of stairs leading up and I led the way. It felt strange not to have a shield, but at least my armor was a reassuring weight.
The next floor was another short hall ending in a doorway. Tilmor held up a hand. "They're waiting for us in the next room."
"He has really sharp hearing," Yve explained. "It's part of the hunt master thing. It gets really annoying when you're kissing people."
"Kissing does not have to be quite so loud," Tilmor said. "And when properly done, it can be accomplished in only a second or two."
"When properly done, it takes days," Yve said.
I was more inclined to take her side of this argument. It also wasn't the time for that, however distracting the thought.
"Can you hear how many?" Ashley asked.
"Twelve," Tilmor said, after another listen. "Not all are Elvish. I think they must have summoned some companions to fight on their behalf."
"Me and Gob can go in first and start things off," Ashley said. "Hurt a few of them before they even know we're there."
"Gob is not actually that good a thief," Yve said.
"Screw you," Gob said. "I'm amazing. Let's do it."
I glanced to Tilmor, who was wearing an expression I was well acquainted with. It was the expression of one in charge of crazy people, and who was asked to trust things would work out. I wore that expression a lot.
Ashley faded as she engaged her stealth and Gob joined her a moment later. The door ever so quietly eased open and they were through.
The rest of us positioned ourselves just outside, myself in the front. We were ready to race through at the first sounds of combat.
There came a deafening crash after nearly a minute. It sounded as if someone had dropped a crate of glasses onto the floor. It wasn't the sound I was expecting, but I could go with it. I opened the door and charged through.
The chamber was large and circular. There must have once been a giant device of crystal hanging from the ceiling. It was now shattered on the floor with a very dazed and confused looking Gob sitting in the middle of the fragments, rubbing his head.
Perhaps he'd hoped to drop it on some enemies. If so, things had gone very much awry, for none of them was touched. They were all staring at him, which at least focused their attention away from the doorway.
There were eight elves in robes and four creatures that looked like some sort of Yeti. Thick, heavy white fur coats covered muscular physiques.
I pulled stats from an example of each.
Elvish Summoner
Level 13: Type: Elf HP: 90/90
Elvish Summoners have little in the way of actual battle magic. Their abilities to directly damage or buff or debuff are limited. What they are masters at is summoning a wide variety of creatures to do this for them.
Summoned Yeti
Level 12: Type: Summon HP: 150/150
Renowned for their thick hides and powerful muscles Yeti make difficult adversaries. Their thick pelts render them particularly resistant to cold magic and slashing attacks.
The Yetis were tanky and could pack a punch, but that was because they needed to soak the hits for the Summoners who were the real threat.
Double Backstab
Ashley materialized behind one of the Summoners and drove a pair of daggers into his neck. There was an impressive fountain of blood as he collapsed.
"Focus on the Summoners," Tilmor called as he charged into battle. Damn it, that was going to be my line.
Swipe
I took a hit from one of the Yetis as I charged past him. I saw one of the Summoners chanting as he prepared a cast, and I threw out a spell to stop him.
Smite
I was concerned that my divine magic might not work in this timeline. I didn't have a Goddess backing them—she was currently busy swaying seductively and playing on what I think was called a lute. Still, I felt a rush of power and the Summoner's robes burst into flames. The energy was weaker than usual, a trickle of what I was used to, but it was there. I could work with that.
I swung a horizontal blow with my sword into the stomach of another Summoner. He gurgled incoherently as suddenly he was trying to keep his guts on the inside.
Charm
A Yeti was wreathed in brightly colored musical notes. It let out a loud howl as it swung around and swiped at the throat of a nearby Summoner. The claws dug deep and blood sprayed.
Well, this battle was going great so far.
Bees!
Ashley screamed as a swarm of bees surrounded her. They were zooming in on every bit of bare flesh and she had a lot of it. She only managed a bit of panicked flailing before she went down with her skin a mass of ugly-looking welts, her limbs twitching from poison.
There went one of our big sources of damage.
Gob meanwhile seemed to have gotten his senses back and was attacking the nearest Yeti in a nearly berserker frenzy. It wasn't the target he was supposed to be focused on, but damned if the little guy wasn't stabbing the hell out of it. Starting at the knees he seemed to be climbing it by driving his dagger deep into that hide and working his way to its head.
Smite
I blasted another Summoner as I made my way over to Ashley. The bees weren't letting up, she kept getting stung over and over again. So did I, when I reached out my hand to her shoulder and channeled my healing spell.
Lay on Hands
Normally the results would be pretty dramatic. She only let out another scream and a bit of redness left her flesh, but she wasn't instantly healed.
Smite
Lay on Hands
I blasted the bees with a Smite. Burned carcasses tumbled out of the air around her, then I shot another dose of healing into her. That had her looking better and she gave me a brief nod before she was up and charging for the Summoner that conjured the bees. Poor bastard.
Several Summoners were down with throwing knives sprouting from their eyes, and I watched as Tilmor took out another the same way. To me, combat always seemed to be some sort of wild flailing of improvisation, but to him it was something methodical and impersonal.
Ice Spirit
Blizzard
A small fairy with wings like ice crystals materialized and a flurry of freezing ice formed around her. I instantly felt my movements slowing and saw my health bar ticking down. It was a smart play—the Yeti were used to this environment. I tried to see through the sudden snowstorm, then I was thrown across the room from a blow by a Yeti to the side of my head.
That hurt. That really hurt. My passives were weaker here as well, the usual intoxicating rush that came of getting hurt only a slight tingle.
Smite
Smite
Smite
I burned my mana throwing smites towards where I'd last seen the fairy. On the third one I was rewarded with the sound of shrieking and the blizzard stopped. The fairy was on fire, her wings melting away as she died.
All the Summoners were finally down, but we were in rough shape. The Yeti had done a lot of damage during the snow storm, which itself had inflicted more. Everyone had taken a blow or two as well, apart from Yve who had her charmed Yeti playing private tank.
One had closed with Tilmor, who was doing respectable damage with his hammer. The blunt weapon wasn't mitigated by the thick hide.
I ran one through my sword, getting knocked across the room for my trouble. I was missing having a shield.
Backstab
Ashley took one from behind with a dagger. From here it was just mopping up. We finished off the last of them and Gob busied himself searching the bodies while the rest of us settled back to heal.
"You're a pretty terrible tank," Yve said.
"I'm a Paladin. I'm not designed to be a primary tank and my spells are a little underpowered right now," I said.
"Did you break faith with your deity? I did that once, the quest to regain it was long," Tilmor said.
"Long and boring," Yve said, grimacing. "We had to chase this stag through the woods for like a week. A whole week without a single inn."
"No loot either," Gob said mournfully, as he stripped the corpses bare.
"Sounds terrible," Ashley said, kicking one of the bodies. "I still hate this armor by the way. Did you see how useless it was against bees?"
"Who fights bees?" Yve asked. "I've never had a problem. You probably attracted them. Maybe you are part-flower?"
"You know who likes flowers? Elves," Gob said.
"I'm not a fucking elf," Ashley said, annoyed.
"Or a lily. She's full of murder and hate, not petals," I said.
"So how did you two end up captured by the elves anyways?" Tilmor asked.
"We came to kill the Archmage and things spun a little out of control," I said. That was pretty much the truth. "What about you? "
"We're looking for the glade of Elasa," Yve said.
Tilmor explained, "In its waters, it is said one can learn your own true nature. We are seeking truths about ourselves. It's a sacred place to the Elves and they've opposed our journey at every step."
"Do you know where it is?" Ashley asked. I looked at her and she shrugged in reply. "What? If you want to piss off elves, I'm sure there's something we can do to defile a sacred place."
Yve was peering at us. "You two don't like elves very much, do you?"
"I'm sure you'll come to hate them someday yourself," I said.
"From what we know, the glade is a day’s travel northeast of here in a valley concealed by magical mists," Tilmor said. "When we free our companion, you are welcome to accompany us. You seem formidable fighters."
I hoped we wouldn't get the chance. Soon we were back to full health. The other end of the hall ended in a set of stairs. This one spiraled up many floors, but we had no reason to stop at any. What we sought was at the top of the tower. It wasn't long before we arrived.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
We were in a familiar observatory. It wasn't so different in this period as it would be in the future, although Alimor looked much changed. Instead of a grandfatherly figure his hair was jet black and his eyes had the bright energy of youth.
Chairs were arranged and a tea service was out—some things didn't change. A red-haired man was stretched on a table and appeared to be unconscious.
"Welcome Yve, Tilmor, Gob. You're expected. I did not expect you to bring company," Alimor said.
"We happened upon them murdering their way through your tower and thought to tag along," I answered instead.
"I don't have tea prepared for you," Alimor said, every so faintly disapproving. "Be seated. We have much to discu
ss."
"We came to rescue our friend, not to sip tea," Yve said.
"And probably steal your stuff," Gob said.
"Although we'd settle for rescuing our friend and sleeping with you," Yve said.
"She would, at least," Tilmor said.
Alimor gave everyone a strained sort of smile and motioned them to sit down.
"Your friend is possessed of a great darkness inside of him. An evil that has infused his essence and is twisting his thoughts. I am trying to get it out of him," Alimor said.
Yve sat down and took a cup of tea, giving Alimor her best smile. The elf seemed flustered, I wasn't at all surprised.
"What kind of darkness?" Tilmor asked as he took his own seat.
I was curious to hear this as well, and sure Ashley had questions. I looked around for her. The last I knew she was right behind me, but she'd vanished. Perhaps she stealthed to rob Alimor blind? I worried a bit what that might do to the timeline, but I could have her return everything later.
"Something ancient and powerful," Alimor said, frowning a bit. "I know my people are opposed to your travels, but I choose not to take part in such conflict."
"You don't mind that we just killed all your students?" Gob asked.
"A part of what I teach my students is the wisdom to avoid conflict that is not necessary," Alimor said.
I guess he felt they should never have gotten in our way to start with. I respected that.
"So, what do you need from us?" Yve asked.
"I need to understand the source of this contagion," Alimor said. "I need to understand how this corruption entered his flesh. If I can pinpoint that, then I may be able to devise a counter."
I leaned forward to hear this. I'd been curious what Yvera had done here in her time before.
Double Backstab
The prompt appeared and at first I had no idea from where. I knew it was Ashley—it had to be Ashley. Was this some sort of trap and she was rescuing us?
I wasn't left to wonder what had happened for long. Veros' severed head was thrown on the table in the middle of our group.
"Unexpected," Alimor said.
