by J. Cee
Zeudah didn’t ask who Myrtle was. He went over to the iron-bound chest in his room and began rummaging through it. After rooting through it for a minute, he pulled out a plain sword and simple blue clothes. He stripped off his ruined robe and all of his equipment, changing into the simpler garb.
Ceph gave the man some privacy, looking away. “Why the change of equipment?”
Zeudah finished packing up the chest and closed it. “I’m rank nine again. I don’t meet the requirements for my equipment. This sword is the only piece I’m still able to use.” Zeudah motioned to the weapon at his hip.
Ceph didn’t know that more powerful equipment could have requirements. He had another question, first.
“Do you have anything a rank ninety-seven could use?” That reminded him. He had earned one power point for slaying the first Jexaka. He’d have to assign it later.
Zeudah reopened the chest and searched for something. He pulled out a simple brown leather belt and tossed it to Ceph.
“Thanks. What’s it do?”
“Not much. Adds five points to your Interference Shield’s damage reduction.”
“Wow, that’ll help.” Ceph put the belt on around him.
Zeudah opened the door. “Who’s this Myrtle we’re seeing?” he asked as he walked out onto the street.
Ceph chased after him, wrapping a cloth around the lower half of his face. “Yeah, so about Myrtle…”
**
Ceph once again stood in the Pagan District in front of Myrtle’s Mystic Mind. Zeudah gazed at the shop’s sign with a skeptical air.
“Are you sure about this?” Zeudah asked.
“No,” Ceph replied, “but it’s all I have at the moment.”
“Forget this. I’ll see if I can find somewhere to report the issue.”
“Are you sure? Is that safe?”
A voice boomed from within the shop. “As safe as sucking a siren’s teat.” A head hidden in shawls peeked out of the shop’s entrance. “Get in here,” Myrtle commanded.
Ceph shrugged and went inside. Zeudah grunted and followed.
The mound of clothes named Myrtle shambled behind the desk. “Sit, sit,” she said, motioning to two chairs on the opposite side. Ceph remembered there being only one chair the last time. The two men sat.
Ceph cleared his throat. “About payment… I don’t have any coppers on me. Uh…”
“I’m not some harlot to be bought and sold for coppers.”
“But last time—”
Myrtle scowled, cutting off Ceph mid-sentence. She turned to Zeudah and sniffed before raising her head to examine his neck. “You. Listen up. Wagging your tongue to the Everborn is a fine way to get your head chopped off.”
“Why would they do that?” Zeudah asked.
“Because you’re a danger to the ones in power. Imagine the rest of you Everborn learning that your world is an illusion.”
“What!” Zeudah stood up, leaning forward. He pounded Myrtle’s desk. “What are you talking about? You and Jexaka.”
Myrtle backed away. “See how one of you reacts? How do you think a world of Everborn will behave when they find out they’ve been living a lie.”
Zeudah’s mouth opened, but he kept quiet. He sat back down.
“Good. Ready to listen? Your danger is twofold. Not only are proof of their world falling apart,” Myrtle said while pointing at the red mark on his neck, “but you’re an abomination. Yes, a Onceborn.”
“How’d you know all this—”
Myrtle ignored Zeudah. “From their point of view, the Onceborn are not meant to be. You’re a mistake in their eyes, and the swiftest way to correct a mistake is to eliminate it.” Myrtle shifted her attention to Ceph. “That warning goes for you too, naturally.”
“Who is ‘they’?” Ceph asked.
“The ones who rule Xero and the land beyond the Firewall. The Tetramorph and its servants, of course.”
Ceph gestured to Zeudah. “I have the same question as him. How do you know all this? Last time, your crystal ball exploded…”
A strange object sat in place of the former crystal ball. It was some kind of helmet with a visor, except the armor looked fragile and had thin dark ropes snaking out of it. The ropes trailed away beneath the desk. Ceph bent down.
Myrtle reached out with a gloved hand and pulled Ceph’s head back up by his hair. “I told you last time. Trade secrets. No peeking.”
Zeudah stood. “I’m done playing. Can you get this off me or not?” Zeudah pointed to the mark on his neck.
“I can’t.”
Zeudah began to leave.
“But I can tell you how.” Myrtle waited in smug silence as Zeudah returned. Her smugness vanished as Zeudah reached over and grabbed her roughly, pulling Myrtle forward.
“Tell me how, or I’ll kill you.”
“Zeudah!” Ceph placed a hand on Zeudah’s arm. “Don’t hurt her. You can’t just go grabbing people like that!”
“You should listen to him,” Myrtle said. “You’re not the big boy in the room anymore. He is.”
Zeudah saw Ceph’s determined expression. “Fine.” He sat down in his chair. Ceph removed his hand from Zeudah’s arm.
“Now, if you’re ready to behave?” Myrtle started.
“Sorry,” Zeudah mumbled.
“Your problem is related to his problem.” Myrtle pointed at Ceph. “Jexaka.”
Ceph tilted forward. “How did you—nevermind. What is she?”
“If the lot of you are mistakes, Jexaka is the mistake of mistakes. While you, even the Beastspawn, exist within the rules, Jexaka is beyond them. She lives to break rules, to break Xero and everything in it.”
“Rules?” Ceph asked. “Like the Tetramorph and the Book of Life?”
Myrtle’s covered head nodded. “Jexaka is a slippery one. Her fate is beyond even the Book of Life.”
“What about me?” Zeudah asked. “What does that have to do with me?”
Myrtle pointed at Zeudah’s neck. “That is Jexaka’s work. Only another who can step beyond the rules can aid you. Someone who can rewrite the rules.”
Rewrite? “The Beastspawn,” Ceph whispered.
“Such a bright boy. Polite too. You should take lessons from him,” Myrtle said.
Zeudah scratched at his neck again. “She can remove this? Aeri?”
“Hold your hippogriffs. Removing that requires the power to remake the world, to rewrite the Book of Life itself. And your lost lady is set on a path to do precisely that.”
“You didn’t answer his first question,” Ceph pointed out. “How do you know all this? How can we trust you?”
Myrtle made an odd sneezing sound for several seconds before Ceph realized she was laughing.
“Trust me? I didn’t turn you in, did I? Don’t forget there’s a fat reward on your pretty head.”
“But what do you want? Why are you helping us?” Ceph pressed.
“After you left, I did more digging. I hate not knowing the answer. That, plus your memories are all I needed to put together a working hypothesis.”
“You read our minds?” Ceph asked.
Myrtle sighed. “That’s why you’re here, aren’t you? Myrtle’s Mystic Mind? Anyways, I know what you think you’re trying to accomplish, and I agree with it. Many have died fighting the Everborn. Don’t be so surprised if you find allies.”
Ceph mulled over Myrtle’s words. He remembered Kaine, even Nikola and the other men, who had given their lives readily for Aeri. Most people did hate the Everborn.
Zeudah stared at them. “Are all of you plotting against us?”
Ceph had forgotten for a moment that Zeudah was an Everborn. Or had been. Would he betray them to save his own kind?
“We’re taking back our world, our lives, and our dignity,” Ceph said in an unapologetic tone.
“But why?” Zeudah asked. He looked more confused than frightened or angry.
“Why?” Ceph replied, his voice rising. “You slaughter us, treat us like ani
mals, make us your toys. You Everborn act like you own us. Why, you’re asking why?”
“We do own you, though. We made you for our entertainment. None of this is real. You’re not real.”
Ceph jabbed a finger at Zeudah’s neck. “Then why are you so scared about that? None of this is real. Go on with your life.”
“That’s different. I have a real life. I’m trying to go back to it.” Zeudah pushed Ceph’s finger away in annoyance.
Ceph wasn’t the confrontational type, but years of resentment towards the Everborn simmered within him. It’s not like he ever had a chance to complain to one before. He grabbed Zeudah’s shoulders with both hands and shook him.
“If we’re not real, then guess what!” Ceph yelled at Zeudah, a drop of spittle flying. “You’re stuck here too. You’re not real either. I can kill you right now and it won’t matter. Because you’re not real.”
Ceph shoved Zeudah hard. His chair cracked, sending Zeudah crashing to the floor.
“Hey, the furniture!” Myrtle complained.
Zeudah didn’t get up immediately. “Shit, shit. This is crazy.”
“That’s what I said,” Ceph muttered.
Zeudah pushed himself forward and sat cross-legged on the shop’s wooden floor. “But you’re not real. I have a real body. This stuff is fake.”
Ceph gave Zeudah an angry look. “You’re the one that sounds crazy.”
Myrtle stood, waving her arms. “Calm down, boys. All three of us are very much real. Zeudah, listen.”
The former Everborn looked up at Myrtle’s amorphous figure.
“Once your world and ours were joined as one. Then, your kind created Xero. Xero wasn’t about making a new world, though. It was about taking yours away. Your people hid yourselves beyond the Firewall. Xero remained.”
“But what about my world? I’ve lived there. Touched, tasted, smelled. I know it’s real,” Zeudah said.
“It’s an illusion. If you cross the Firewall, not like the Everborn do, but in person with your physical body, you’ll find the truth.” Myrtle let out a deep breath. “You’ll never believe me until you see it for yourself.”
“So Jexaka was telling the truth?” Zeudah asked.
“Yes, but don’t mistake truth for intent. She will twist the truth until it hurts you more than a lie.”
“When you talk like that, you remind me of Aeri,” Ceph said.
“Aeri and I aren’t so different,” Myrtle said. “Our people are restless. We’ve been waiting for a chance to be free from the Everborn. Aeri is our chance.”
“This is crazy,” Zeudah repeated. He rubbed his arms and shoulders, as if checking to make sure his body was still there. “So we have to help Aeri?”
“Is she even alive?” Ceph asked.
“Yes, and yes. Jexaka’s holding her in an underground cavern. She’s surrounded by a sea of locust-men.”
Ceph didn’t understand Jexaka at all. What had she wanted to speak with Aeri alone about back at the Gladiator Pits? “Why does Jexaka want Aeri?”
“I don’t know. I can’t read Jexaka or Aeri directly. I read the ripples they leave on the world around them.”
Ceph remembered that Aeri couldn’t see Jexaka in her vision threads, either. Was Myrtle’s knowledge related to Aeri’s visions?
“I’ve never seen anything like those creatures before,” Zeudah said. “How do we get past them? I could use another recall gem. I have a few left. We still have to get to Aeri, though.”
Zeudah stood and paced in the small confines of Myrtle’s shop. Just like that, the old Zeudah was back. “I doubt anyone has the sheer power to fight past them. That means we need mobility. None of us have teleportation skills.”
“About that,” Ceph said, “how did you teleport around during your match?”
Zeudah touched his chest where the artifact had been. “A trick with the Twin Paradox skill. You can choose where your double appears within a certain range. When you cancel the skill, you choose which body remains. Activate and cancel.”
“Whoa. I’d never think of that.” Ceph whistled in appreciation. Even Aeri hadn’t been able to solve the mystery.
Ceph looked at Myrtle. “Do you know what we should do?”
Myrtle shook her covered head. “I’m not the tactical expert. You’ll have to trust him.”
Zeudah was thinking out loud.
“Speed? Too crowded. Flight? Depends on the terrain. It won’t help if they spot us. That means stealth. Invisibility or camouflage? I’ve never gone stealth.” Zeudah stopped pacing. He looked at Myrtle. “Do you know where we can obtain an invisibility or illusion skill? With the lowest rank requirements? He’s rank ninety-seven.”
“Right, ninety-seven,” Ceph said.
“Let me check.” Myrtle placed the strange helmet over her head without removing any of her shawls. The visor seemed to block her vision so that she couldn’t see. Lights flashed inside the helmet as Myrtle’s fingers danced in the air before her. She spoke without removing the helmet.
“There’s a cloak of invisibility. It doesn’t have any rank requirements, but you have to pass a challenge. Hold on. The challenge pass rate is 1.3%.”
“Pass rate?” Ceph asked.
“Only one out of a hundred Everborn to attempt the challenge have earned the reward. Reaching the challenge site isn’t simple, either. It’s located in a monster-infested maze.”
“That isn’t promising,” Zeudah said. “What else?”
“I’m only seeing one other option. Dried mimic blood can grant a temporary effect to appear as another creature. It’s quite rare, but there’s a vial of it in the First Zone.”
“Where?” Ceph asked.
“The Word’s personal apothecary.”
Ceph moaned. “You’re kidding, right?”
“That’s correct. You’d have to break into the Word’s apothecary at the city headquarters and steal the mimic blood.”
“The Word,” Zeudah growled. “He has to be involved in all of this.”
“Where’s the challenge site?” Ceph asked, ignoring Zeudah.
Zeudah spoke before Myrtle could answer. “You heard her. That challenge is suicide, especially for someone like you.”
“Like me,” Ceph said in an offended tone. “You think I’m not as good as an Everborn? Aeri trained me, and Aeri’s as good as any of you.”
“Calm down. That’s not what I meant. I meant that you can’t revive. Everborn can try the same challenge over and over. They still fail. You get one chance if you die. It’s suicide.”
“So you want to rob the Word? Isn’t that suicide too?”
Zeudah shrugged. “It’s the better option. It’s been a while, but I know the city headquarters fairly well. I also know my way around the Everborn. Challenges are difficult and unpredictable.”
Ceph remembered the strange behavior of the spirit guardians. Weren’t they involved with Jexaka? Could he trust anyone? Was the whole world against them?
Ceph glanced at Myrtle. “What do you think?”
“I can give you facts, not advice. You two have to decide for yourselves.”
“Fine, we’ll go with the mimic blood. I can’t believe we have to trust an Everborn. Former Everborn.” Ceph frowned. “Myrtle, can you read his mind? Can we trust him?”
“I’m right here, you know,” Zeudah said.
Myrtle chuckled. “Give him some time. He’s surprisingly decent. For an Everborn.”
Zeudah headed for the shop’s exit in annoyance. He stopped to look back. “Anything else we need to know?”
“The password is lollapalooza,” Myrtle said while waving them away.
“Huh?”
Ceph brushed past Zeudah and left the shop. He shook his head. “I can’t believe we’re going to rob the Word.”
Chapter 23
Ceph and Zeudah stood in the shade of a doorway opposite the gated entrance into the city headquarters. An iron fence ringed a giant rectangular complex with an inner courtyard. A
trickle of people walked past the gate in both directions. The majority appeared to be Everborn with ranks spanning the whole range of aura colors from blue to red.
“Ready?” Zeudah asked Ceph.
Ceph adjusted the cloth wrapped around the lower half of his face. “Ready.”
“Follow my lead.”
A tall warrior with a giant broadsword strapped to his back strode past the gates. Zeudah and Ceph waited a few seconds, then entered after him. A short cobbled path led to the grand entrance of the headquarters. Fluted stone columns lined the top of a wide staircase.
As the two men reached the top of the staircase, a guard in a gray uniform stepped out in front of them. Ceph held his breath.
“Your business here?” the guard asked.
“It’s confidential,” Zeudah said, dropping his voice to a whisper. “I have a package for the Word. Which way to his apothecary?”
“Where’s the package?”
Zeudah jerked a thumb at Ceph. “That’s the package. You know how it is.”
The guard waited expectantly.
“And?” Zeudah said.
The guard raised an eyebrow.
“Lollapalooza?” Ceph ventured.
The guard glanced at Ceph and seemed satisfied. That had been close.
“The apothecary’s in the south wing. Go down this hall and take a right. Left at the corner, then another right at the atrium. Keep walking and you should see the Word’s office. The apothecary is nearby.”
“Thanks.” Zeudah nodded at the guard and entered the complex with Ceph.
The men followed the guard’s directions, avoiding eye contact. The hallway opened up into an expansive sunny area with glass ceilings and walls.
“This must be the atrium,” Ceph said.
As they walked through the atrium, someone called out.
“Zeudah! Zeudah!”
Zeudah ignored the voice and sped up. “Don’t look. Keep going.”
“Zeudah! Is that you! Zeudah!” It was a woman’s voice.
“Shit. You go ahead. I’ll deal with this.”
Ceph nodded and walked ahead while Zeudah stopped to greet whoever was calling his name. He kept his eyes forward, afraid that he would be drawn into the conversation as well if he looked back.
