“Look at this folks,” Archlord Quewel cut in. He took my hand and shook it vigorously. “See how humble he is. He surely is a true hero.”
The crowd roared in agreement. Politicians are the same in every world, whether it come through elections or divine right, they all concentrated their attention on pandering to their constituents. After the failures of the expedition army and his failed attempt to flee without telling everyone, the Archlord’s position within the city was on shaky ground. He was trying to use my standing to bolster his position.
“I dare say I’ve never heard of anyone perform so well on the field of battle. Not even Dorilligard can claim to be responsible for directly killing thousands of enemy combatants in a single day,” Archlord Quewel continued.
“No, no,” I said. “I didn’t kill nearly so many. I am a newcomer to this world and have only the most rudimentary knowledge of war craft. The brave soldiers, many of whom lost their lives, deserve the credit.”
“Hah ha,” Quewel bellowed in a laugh just a bit louder than could be believed. “There is no need to be so modest. We all know of your achievements, we all witnessed them ourselves.”
“But all I did was…,” I started to say.
“Who warned us of the coming invasion?” said Quewel.
“But those were just words…”
“Who rallied everyone together in their hour of desperation?”
“But…”
“Who created a plethora of unique devices that decimated the enemy forces?”
“But…”
“Who provided much needed armor and weapons to the vast majority of our forces?”
“But that was mostly because of the…” That time I cut myself off. I didn’t want anyone to know about the copy machine. Such a device was worth more than anyone could imagine and if others knew about it, they would surely try to take it.
“And who led our side on the field of battle?” said Quewel. “Whose strategy and will both on and off the battlefield allowed this city and its occupants survive something that should have killed us all?”
To this, I had no words. Each of my attempts to set aside my accolades seemed to endear me to people even more. By this point, the crowd was positively ravenous.
“You aren’t a man who sings his own praises. You aren’t one who even acknowledges his own worth. Don’t worry, we do. We’ve seen your deeds, your actions, and know your worth,” said Quewel.
The crowd roared their approval with an enthusiasm great enough to rumble the large bricks beneath my feet.
“All heroes deserve recognition. After all this city has suffered, we cannot offer much but I can offer this. Isaac Stein, a year ago you arrived as a stranger to this world brought to us by a force beyond any of our understanding,” Quewel began, drawing the full attention of the crowd. “But whatever brought you here we know that it was meant to lead us through this disaster. Now you are no stranger, but are a man deeply embedded in our hearts. As such, I hereby make you an official citizen of Xebrya and raise you to the highest rank I am permitted to bestow. You are no longer just Isaac Stein I proclaim you to be Baron Isaac Stein, a peer of the realm.”
Bbrrrinngg. A tone audible only to me sounded and a new message popped up.
You have completed the quest: †City Salvation†
You have successfully thwarted a massive incursion. Your heroic deeds have earned you the title of nobility: †Baron†
Otherworlders have been temporarily granted the status of commoners by the king until the unique circumstances of their arrival can be more thoroughly investigated. It is rare for any commoner to have an achievement deemed worthy of rising into the nobility. Being granted a title of nobility is far more significant than an ordinary title and you will be granted additional social capabilities to go along with your rank.
†Xebryan Baron†
A title possessed by nobility of third rank, positioned above the ranks of gentlemen and knights, but below lord and all of the higher echelons of Xebryan nobility.
Effects:
. Gain access to all government buildings
. Can request meetings with other nobles
. Immunity from most minor crimes in Xebrya (can only be held by order of betters)
. 10% bonus to all quest rewards in Xebrya
. Capable of commanding all military personnel below the rank of knight
Again, the crowd roared their approval. It was rare for someone cast off the shackles of their station. It was like a thing of myths and dreams.
The merrymaking resumed. People went back to talking and I grabbed some food for myself from a buffet table. I had been out for several days and had worked up quite an appetite. Some of the residents brought out their instruments and played lyric-less folksy tunes while others started to dance.
I didn’t join the dancing. It wasn’t for a lack of partners, I had a number of earnest offers, but because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. After half an hour of awkward small talk with a number of fans, a severely obese man who had too much to drink stumbled into the band and got his head stuck in the windings of a large brass tuba. I took advantage of the distraction and ducked out.
It might seem strange, that I would abandon the warm atmosphere of the party for the chilly night air, but as often the case, I found myself uncomfortable wherever I was. In the bustling agoraphobia inducing crowds, I wished to be alone and when I was alone, I often wished to be with people.
I made my way towards the wall. Because of the smell, it was the only place that didn’t seem full of people. After the battle, an effort was made to start burying them but it takes time to dispose of tens of thousands of bodies, especially when much of the surviving labor force was already exhausted. It would take at least a week to finish the job, so the smell had only begun.
Alone for the first time since I’d awoken, I started to think about all I’d done. I could hardly believe it had already been a year since I’d arrived in Tautellus. Thinking about it, I seemed to have achieved far more here than I ever could have at home. Where would I be with another year on Earth? I’d still be in school, still bored out of my mind. Here there was always something to do, always something new, something different. Here there were bullies and I could be picked on, but here I could also fight back. Here I wasn’t some nobody from some small town in the middle of nowhere. Here I was important. And in that moment, I made a stunning revelation.
I actually preferred it here. I should have missed home, my family. I should have missed the comforts of a warm bed and proper lavatory facilities. I should have missed the peace and safety offered by a more civilized world, but somehow, I still loved the chaos, the constant fluctuating circumstances. I could be quietly studying magic one day and be fighting ancient giant robots the next.
I sighed deeply breathing in the cool autumn air and let go of my reminiscing. I had an important task that still needed doing.
“Hey Mai, you there?” I asked. She’d been oddly silent ever since I had woken up.
‘Of course,’ she said as she appeared across from me. As always, Mai was perfectly composed. Her pale blue skin contrasted the white of her dress. An odd reverse of real people, but somehow it didn’t matter. It still worked. I saw the glint of the moonlight shining off her necklace and once again marveled at the illusion. She didn’t really look this way, or look like anything really. Her truest form was the iridescent gem implanted in my hand.
I sighed, taking a deep breath before the plunge. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
‘Me? What was me?’ she replied in a voice, melodious enough to sway even the sternest of hearts.
“Don’t think you can just sweep this under the rug,” I said, anger seethed within me, threatening to go out of my control.
‘Really, I don’t know what you mean…’ Mai started.
“You took me over. You fought all the beastmen,” I said slowly. It was just a matter of deduction. This was the only thing that made sense.
&nbs
p; ‘Yes, I took you over,’ said Mai.
“So you admit it,” I said.
‘Yes,’ she said.
I stood there in silence for a long moment while storm of conflicting emotions waged war with each other. It was a close fight with no clear victor.
A part of me felt an intense anger towards her. She too had been lying this whole time, like Warren, Faye and Lilith. That kind of betrayal hurt. But as angry as I was, another emotion that was even stronger, fear. At any time, Mai could take me over and control my actions. At any moment, she could turn me into her puppet. Her power was derived from an ancient magitechnological source. What chance would I have against such a fusion of science and sorcery?
Even under the pressure of those dark feelings, another part of me was grateful. If she hadn’t stepped in, I probably would have died. I was uncertain if her statements regarding brain damage were true but even if they weren’t at the very least, she had spared me from a week in purgatory. That hollow place forced upon me at each death, having nothing, not even the ability to move, was a living hell. To be spared a single moment from there was a great gift. And that’s not even mentioning that she had probably saved the lives of thousands of helpless people, spared them from a horrifying fate.
I remembered the smoldering site at Mill Valley and the cowering bodies left inside. Mai’s intervention brought success to what I had failed.
‘Will my answering questions help?’ Mai suggested.
“I don’t know. Can I trust any answers you give me?” I said.
‘I’ll tell you the truth, all of it. Whether you believe is up to you,’ said Mai. ‘Where do you want to start?’
“Why?” I said.
‘Why? I thought that was obvious. I took over because you were about to die. Because we were about to die,’ she corrected.
“No, not why you took over. I want to know why you lied about being able to do it. Why you haven’t done it before. Or have you? Would I even know if you did? You could tack on an audio-visual illusion to ensure I didn’t realize…” My mind flashed to when I’d been captured by the wolfwoman at Mill Valley. I put a hand on the retractable rocket spear strapped to my hip. I killed myself once to escape a crazy bitch. I could easily do it again.
‘To be clear this was the first time I took over,’ Mai started. ‘As to why I haven’t done it before now, it’s because it isn’t safe to. How are you feeling now? Sore, right?’
I nodded my assent.
‘It was a lot worse before the healer saw to you. I was built to control a mechanical body with an exsilver-based nervous system. Your primitive organic body can’t withstand the energy signals I generate. It doesn’t take long to cause permanent nerve damage ultimately resulting in death. That’s not in either of our interests. This time I took over for less than an hour so you should be fine in a few more days, no permanent damage.’
“Why doesn’t this also hold for your visage as well?” I asked.
‘The damage is only significant when I take full control. Not when I just appear to you,’ she said. ‘That’s why I haven’t done it before now.’
“Then why’d you conceal it to begin with?” I asked. “If you’d just told me upfront.”
‘Remember how you reacted when we first met. You seemed to have a hard time accepting my presence to begin with. I didn’t think you’d take it well and might do something drastic,’ said Mai, pointing to the spear in my hand. ‘In the end I guess I didn’t change anything.’
“And the part about dying with you causing a lobotomy, was that true?” I asked.
‘Sort of,’ Mai answered. ‘If you die you’ll resurrect while I remain behind in my crystal like any other object. However, your mind has adapted to my presence and it will likely suffer some degree of psychological trauma that can persist through resurrection cycles, the degree of damage is uncertain. It might have been a bit of an exaggeration to call it a lobotomy though.’
I was silent for a moment weighing all that was said. It was a betrayal. I wasn’t really in any danger. In my mind, Mai’s claims about brain damage were at least a gross exaggeration only meant to force me from separating the two of us.
Did the knowledge and power Mai provided outweigh the risk of having an undecipherable being poking around my head. I only had to think about it for a few seconds before I made my move. I unfastened my spear from my belt, and positioned it under my neck.
‘Stop,’ Mai demanded. ‘You can’t do that. I won’t let you.’ Suddenly my arm froze in place. I focused on it, trying to get even the tiniest movement, but it wouldn’t budge in the least. I could still control the rest of my body but the arm leveling the spear was completely immobilized.
“I knew it,” I said enraged. “I go about my business and you are there offering advice. You’ve been quiet so far because things mostly go your way, but the second they don’t, you’re there to make a correction. You aren’t giving me freedom. You are giving me the illusion of freedom.”
I tried to move my arm again but Mai kept it perfectly still.
‘I already told you to stop,’ Mai said with an air of false bravado.
“You said so yourself. You wouldn’t have the need to convince me if you could control me all the time. All I have to do is wait. Eventually I’ll regain control,” I said. I tried my arm again to emphasize the point, testing my will against Mai’s, but all I managed was the faintest twitch followed by a searing pain that shot from my wrist all the way up my arm.
“As soon as I do,” I continued. “We go our separate ways. I’ll continue with my adventures and you’ll go back to your crystal. Maybe the next person you latch onto will be more amiable towards being a puppet.”
‘No please not that,’ said Mai anxiously. ‘Please anything but that.’
“Why not?” I said coldly. “This is the only way to be sure you aren’t messing with my head. You’ll just go back to being in the crystal like before we met.”
‘No, anything but that,’ said Mai desperately. It was unusual to hear that tone coming from her. She was usually playfully smug. ‘Promise me that if you separate us you’ll destroy the crystal.’
“Wh-”
‘Promise me,’ she reiterated.
“But-”
‘Promise.’
“I promise,” I said. I didn’t really see the point but it seemed like a harmless promise to make. “Now explain.”
‘If anything, the crystal is a prison,’ Mai started.
“A prison?” I said, curious.
‘Well, maybe not a prison,’ said Mai. ‘Even prisoners have some freedom. In the crystal, I have none. If there were a way to describe it, I would say it is something akin to the reset area you wait between lives. There I can’t move. I can’t speak. There is nothing to do but wait and pray that something brings it all to an end. You can understand that, right? How it was to be in such a place. But unlike you, my time wasn’t on a timer. Unlike you, I wasn’t there for a week but for over ten thousand years.’
I recalled the two times I had spent in such a place. Being unable to do so much as wiggle my little finger or scratch any one of many phantom itches. Being unable to do anything but stew in my feelings of helplessness and the unending boredom that made each second feel like hours. My heart wavered as I sympathized with Mai’s plight. I’d do nearly anything to avoid reliving such an experience.
‘I was there for so long I had given up all hope. Then you came and for the first time in a long time, I had life, or at least some semblance of it. I could see and hear and experience. I could speak, even if it was only to you. For the first time in a long time I wasn’t alone.’
“Why can’t you find a different body,” I offered. “We could hook you up to an animal or a coma patient or something.”
‘I wish that were possible, but it’s not,’ said Mai. ‘I used too much power establishing a network in your system. I don’t have the strength to do it again. Once our connection is severed I will be damned to the gem until it
turns to dust.’
“Is there anything we can do to fix it?” I asked.
‘Among the Travelers, there were a few who could have done it. Masters of Otheristry who could bend the primordial forces of the universe with a mere thought and restore me as easily as breathing. Unfortunately, all the signs indicate that such masters are long gone. For me this half-life is the best I can hope for,’ said Mai darkly.
‘I can understand why you can’t leave me hanging around now that you know. Just make sure you do for me one favor and see that the gem is destroyed. I don’t want to spend countless more millennia in that endless void. Better to die than to endure that.’
Her explanation finished, my arm sagged as Mai relinquished control. It stung slightly, an after effect of Mai possessing it, but I could move it. I settled the collapsed spear’s point just under my chin and placed a finger on the button that would spring it into action.
I understood what Mai had been through. All told, I had spent a total of two weeks in the empty hell I called purgatory in two one week long segments. It was an experience I’d never forget. Each time, I found myself half-insane before I was released. I couldn’t even imagine enduring such a state for the thousands of years.
I held my finger there for a long moment. All I needed to do was flex a single digit, activate the spear and end the debate. But in the end, I silently returned the spear to my belt.
‘Does this mean you’re letting me stay?’ Mai asked nervously. I held all the cards. I had complete power over her.
“Yes.”
“On two conditions,” I added, cutting in to Mai’s cheers.
“First, no taking me over anymore, not without my express permission,” I said. Mai nodded vigorously.
“Second, you need to restrain your popping up all the time. One of these days you’re liable to give me a heart attack and that wouldn’t be good for either of us,” I said.
Arrival Page 45
