Chapter 35: Racing After Artifacts

  Meanwhile, on Luna…

  Melvin and Kalli stepped out of the void, leaving their newfound companions momentarily while they picked up an old friend. They arrived at the original castle, which Celestea Castle on Gaia was a replica of. Several ancients jumped at their sudden appearance.

  “Who goes there?” a lanky man with flowing silver locks shouted.

  An arrow shot by a guard whizzed toward Kalli, but Melvin was prepared.

  DELETE!

  There was a collective gasp as the arrow vanished into thin air. Melvin prepared for the next one when the man on the throne stood up.

  “Halt!” he exclaimed. “It’s Melvin and Kaliphae.”

  “Hello.” Kalli curtsied to the room at large.

  The ancient on the throne stood and bowed deeply in return. “It’s a relief to see the two of you again. We thought we were forever cut off from Gaia when you disappeared.”

  “We’re back,” Melvin announced with a flare. “Anyhow, there’s not a lot of time. We need some of you to come with us to meet one of your long-lost relatives.”

  “Have you seen Iolathar?” the ancient asked. “He never returned.”

  “He never came back?” Melvin echoed the question in disbelief. “Oh, yeah. He was with Kiki when she disappeared. Part of why we’re doing this is to find her.”

  “What do you need?” the ancient asked.

  “We need some of you to talk some sense into The Puppetmaster,” Kalli said.

  “Why is she called that?” the ancient asked.

  Melvin shrugged. “I’m not sure. It probably has something to do with the wraiths she commands.”

  The shadows swirled at the mention of wraiths. They all spoke at once in a hissing voice. “Do you require our assistance again, Master?”

  “That would be very helpful,” Kalli replied, as the Shades all swirled and vanished into Melvin’s shadow.

  “Where are the gods?” Melvin asked. “They were all here last time.”

  “I alone remain,” a voice brimming with power replied from nowhere and everywhere all at once. “My name is Optimus, and I am the Bright God of Hope.”

  “Where are the other gods?” Melvin asked.

  Optimus materialized. Melvin expected a metallic god that transformed into a large truck. Instead, he got a toga-wearing bodybuilder who would be right at home on Mount Olympus in a Disney movie.

  “The gods have dispersed on Gaia,” he said. “You set events in motion that affected the entire planet. The others appeared as needed by the faithful.”

  “Can you come with us?” Kalli asked.

  The god shook his head, which looked bizarre, sitting on his muscular neck. “I will be of little use to you on Gaia. Send your refugees here and I will fill them with hope. That is what I can do.”

  “Can I count on the rest of you to come?” Melvin asked, looking at each of the ancients in turn. “Hopefully, the Puppetmaster will see reason when she discovers her ancestors are alive and thriving.”

  “I will go,” the ancient from the throne announced. “Who’s with me?”

  The remaining ancients in the throne room stood at attention. “We’ll go too.”

  When we appeared in Solitair, we were not alone. My hand fell to Excalibur when I noticed we were surrounded by armed elves.

  “Who are these people?” Primith asked, sounding how I felt.

  “Relax,” Melvin said calmly. “I picked up some backup along the way.”

  “When?” I asked. “We only just teleported here.”

  The kid chuckled. “That’s how long it seemed to you. Trust me on this. There was plenty of time to pick these guys up. They’re ancient.”

  “They don’t look old,” I chuckled. “Are you saying they’re a thousand years old or something?”

  “They aren’t Elves,” Melvin said, looking at the elf a little more closely. “Are you?”

  The elf laughed. “Some use that term, but it’s not something we’ve ever called ourselves.”

  “Ohhh!” Melvin drew out the word theatrically. “That makes a lot more sense now. Why do you call yourselves ancients?”

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  “Because we are the oldest race on Luna,” the elf replied. “By a couple of millennia, at least.”

  “So, why are we down here?” I asked, looking at the volcano that loomed ahead of us. “If everyone is at the peak, we should have teleported there.”

  “And if they decide to attack?” Melvin asked. “I think it’s best if we use the tubes.”

  “What are tubes?” Primith asked, looking down the path toward the base of the volcano.

  “You’re going to love this,” Melvin said. “Follow me.”

  I still wasn’t sure about this kid who seemed comfortable taking over my group, but, then again, it wouldn’t hurt to have a hard-hitting mage on my side. Then it dawned on me. I had no idea what kind of mage he was.

  Melvin Murphy

  Class: Manipulator (Unlocked)

  Level: 47

  Affection Level: Null

  Kaliphae Murphy

  Class: Pyromancer

  Level: 45

  Affection Level: Indifferent

  While they had cool-sounding classes, both were lower level than me. That was a problem.

  “Hold up,” I called out, causing the entire procession to stop in their tracks. “Are you sure you kids are up for this? I’m told the shadow man called Donn is very dangerous. I’m impressed you guys leveled as well as you did, but you’re both still lower level than me.”

  “Don’t worry,” Kalli began.

  Melvin interrupted. “Levels don’t mean anything to us. We control the system.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “Like renaming spells and stuff? Cuz I already know how to do that.”

  “Wait, were you the one that renamed all the stone spells?” Melvin asked, chuckling. “Of course, you were.”

  Without saying a word, he waved his hand, and a boulder the size of the airship formed ten feet off the ground and fell. I nearly lost my balance when it slammed into the ground a dozen feet away. Melvin waved his hand again, and the boulder vanished, leaving only a crater as evidence it ever existed.

  I laughed, but inside, I was wondering if I had enough mana to create a stone of that size and density, so I inspected him again.

  Melvin Murphy

  Class: Manipulator (Unlocked)

  Level: 47

  Affection Level: Null

  Hitpoints: 1,712,412

  Mana: 13,109,420,482,201,011

  Stamina: 4,700

  “What?” I gasped at the unbelievable numbers. “How?”

  Melvin smirked, seeming to know what I meant. “You should check my bloodlines. I’ve started collecting them. Oh, and I can give myself more if you like.”

  Traits: Bloodline: M, Bloodline: Shaw, Bloodline: Ramsey, Bloodline: Celestea, Bloodline: Xander, Bloodline: Brent.

  My mouth fell open, and I couldn’t find words to describe what I saw.

  Kaliphae, on the other hand, seemed less than amused with Melvin. She planted her hands on her hips and gave him a stern look. For once, she spoke out loud. “Stop showing off!”

  “Do you believe me?” Melvin asked. “Am I strong enough?”

  “Can you even use all that mana?” I asked, still unable to grasp what I was seeing.

  “The system uses it,” Melvin explained. “And I control the system. Every living being in this universe pays a tax. This is where it goes. Kalli controls it too.”

  “Is that like kingdom tax?” I asked. “Did you have to accept everyone into the universe at some point?”

  “Did I accept you?” Melvin asked. “You pay the tax every time you cast a spell.”

  I slapped my forehead in frustration. “I wish it was that easy for Albion. I have to approve each and every person.”

  Melvin shrugged. “It could be worse. Not everybody pulled the sword from the stone and became king.”

  I was at a loss for words. My understanding of the system, of the universe, completely shattered at that moment. I remembered an old movie where one warrior told another that there was always a bigger fish, but I always assumed that was just a pun.

  Melvin took my silence as acceptance and resumed walking toward the volcano. Kaliphae shrugged and followed. Primith hesitated when she got to me.

  “Relax,” she soothed. “I had the same reaction the first time I met Michael. He’s nothing like those ducks that sponsored your team.”

  “Those ducks,” I grumbled, falling in line beside Primith as we walked toward the volcano. “They killed my goblin friends.”

  The tubes were the only part of the structures that lined the volcano to reach the surface. Melvin walked up to a palm reader and pressed his hand to it.

  “Hello?” he said after a moment. “Is anyone there?”

  There was no response.

  After waiting several minutes, Melvin heaved a sigh and stepped back. “You guys wait down here. Kalli and I are going to check it out.”

  Once again, they exchanged a glance and looked like they were having a hidden conversation in their special group. What they did next defied all logic. Melvin evaporated into a mini tornado and Kalli did the same, only she erupted into flames that merged with Melvin’s storm. Together they tore up the side of the volcano, following the tubes. I watched until they disappeared into the first building.

  I stared even after they vanished. It took Primith poking me on my shoulder to get me to focus.

  “Are we just going to wait?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

  “We’re uh…” I hesitated. “Um, no! I’m going. I was just giving them a head start.”

  Climbing a volcano couldn’t be more difficult than regular mountain climbing, could it? And I’d done that before plenty of times. I reached out and touched the steep rocky side of the volcano and a sheer set of stairs formed, following the tube to the first building. I was about to invite Primith to go first when she shot past me, sitting in a giant rosebud on the stem of a rapidly growing plant.

  “Race you to the top,” she called after me.

  “I’m hitching a ride with Prim,” Carito’s voice also echoed in the distance.

  “What about us, Sir?” one of the elves asked.

  “Every man for himself!” I yelped as I hustled to keep up with the rapidly ascending flower.

  We ended up getting there at the same time, bursting into an empty room. Even Melvin and Kaliphae were gone. Primith and I sprinted past what looked like a receptionist’s desk and peeked into the several rooms that made up the building. The only problem was, there was no exit.

  “Where did they go?” Primith asked as she walked back to me. “Do you suppose they teleported further up? I should have insisted they join the group.”

  “Wait a sec,” I muttered. “Isn’t Isa still in the group?”

  Isa? I tried the group connection, hoping her silence wasn’t an ominous sign. Are you there?

  After a moment, Alarie’s subdued voice came back. It’s gone. They’re gone.

  The tubes hummed to life with a very suction-like thunk. I took the lead and stood in the area marked ‘Entry.’ Moments later, it sucked me inside and I was floating rapidly toward the peak. Again, nobody was there to greet us when we arrived. While most of the doors were shut tight, one was left ajar. Or more accurately, someone had knocked it off its hinges.

  I heard voices in the distance almost immediately after entering the building.

  “Hello?” I called out.

  My hand dropped to Excalibur when the sounds of rushing footsteps echoed through the halls. I relaxed when I saw Isa, Zelle, and Nax.

  “Thank god you guys are safe,” I said as I let out a sigh of relief.

  “I had nothing to do with it,” Iris grumbled from her tattoo.

  “You’ve got to see this,” Isa said, taking my hand and dragging me back the other way.

  Together, we wove our way through a series of connected halls to a grand room filled with rows of display cases that reminded me of a museum. In those cases were the most artifacts I’d ever seen. I knew they were artifacts because the system couldn’t properly identify them.

  Scanning object…

  Error…

  Item description not in database…

  Determination: Enchanted object created pre-era.

  The best part was that the place was deserted, except for Melvin, Kalli, and a very disoriented Alariel. They stood around a display in the back of the room with the glass broken.

  “Are you sure that’s the one?” Melvin asked, looking serious.

  “It is,” Alariel said in a quavering voice.