Chapter 44: The Ultimate Quest has no Reward

  “What do you mean?” The Puppetmaster asked, rushing toward Melvin and taking his hand before anyone could react. “This ring radiates power. Release my daughter at once.”

  “It’s not that simple,” Melvin replied, prying his hand out of the old elf’s grasp. “Her soul is in this ring. Her body…uh…my grandfather sorta stole it, and I don’t know where he went.”

  “He what?” The Puppetmaster gaped at him. “I don’t understand.”

  “I can show you,” Melvin offered. “But you’ll have to trust me.”

  The Puppetmaster recoiled and backed up several steps. “All you humans are the same. You plan to trap me in that thing the same way you did my daughter.”

  Melvin pulled his hand back. “Well, the offer is always there if you want to speak with her. For now, we need to figure out what to do with you.”

  “Are you going to execute me now?” she asked, taking a few more steps toward the stairs.

  “Not if I can find a solution,” Melvin replied. “You caused a lot of chaos on Gaia, taking over that town and all.”

  “Don’t forget about what they did to the poor women at the brothel,” I added.

  “What do you think, Alex?” Melvin asked. “Lock her up?”

  “You should put her in the ring with her daughter,” I replied. “I don’t care if it’s what she wants. She’s dangerous.”

  Melvin sighed. “Then we would need to figure out what to do with her body. I can’t exactly store it in there. Though, I suppose we can keep it with my father’s.”

  “Wait, do you keep Merlin in that ring?” I asked.

  Melvin gave me a sad look. “Yes, and my mother. Her body was damaged, though, so it was the only thing I could do. Merlin was just as dangerous as that thing in the void. He would have destroyed the universe if I didn’t stop him.”

  “I refuse,” The Puppetmaster balked, inching toward the stairs until one of the primordials appeared to block her.

  “I have a question,” Kaliphae spoke for the first time. “We both know you can teleport. Why haven’t you tried to do that yet?”

  The Puppetmaster cast a final furtive glance up the stairs before replying. “I cannot teleport between worlds. I’d hoped to figure out the magic of this room in the chaos caused by that blackout.”

  “Blackout?” I asked, before realizing that was how she experienced the apocalypse.

  “So, you’re essentially stuck here,” Kaliphae ignored my question. “I’ll give you two options. You can either join your mom in the ring, or we will take you back to Origin, where you’ll be held in the tower. There is a special magic there that prevents escape by teleportation.”

  “And you’ll be guarded by primordials!” I said, getting the idea to assign a couple to her shadow.

  “Might I offer a third option, My Lord,” the elf king said from the stairwell.

  “You may,” Kaliphae said, trying to shoo the primordial barring the stairs out of the way.

  Seeing that he wasn’t following her orders, I swept my hand, and the primordial glided to the side.

  The elf king bowed as soon as he swept into the room. “As she is one of us, and cannot escape Luna, I suggest you leave her in our care. I swear to you we will rehabilitate her to the best of our abilities.”

  Melvin looked at the Puppetmaster. “Is this acceptable for you? Or would you prefer the tower?”

  The Puppetmaster eyed the elf king suspiciously. “I’m still not sure what I think of you, but I do find that option the most appealing.”

  “I’m still assigning a pair of primordials to guard you,” I said, pointing to her shadow. “Just so you don’t try anything funny.”

  “Good idea,” Melvin said, nodding as another joined the one by the stairs to take up residence in her shadow.

  “What next?” Kaliphae asked as the elf king led the Puppetmaster away.

  “We need to find the other players,” I said. “And Alariel.”

  “Oh, right,” Melvin said. “They should still be in the pod room.”

  Kiki and Alariel weren’t in the pod room. By the time we made our way upstairs, everyone had congregated in the throne room. Except for the elf king and Puppetmaster, that was. Kiki rushed over and hugged Kaliphae and Melvin while Isa ran to me, followed closely by Nax and Zelle.

  Primith approached as well, but didn’t offer me a hug. “Did you save the world, Alex?”

  I laughed. “Not just the world. “I saved the entire universe.”

  “I think you got a case of the evil eye,” she grinned.

  I touched my cheek, remembering what I saw in the mirror. “I forgot about that. This is what eating that damned heart did.”

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  “You ate it?” she asked, her eyes widening.

  Isa moved away from me as well.

  “Sort of,” I replied, holding up my hand with the green swirl on it. “This thing not only bound the heart but also pulled it inside of me. I can still feel it beating in my chest.”

  “That’s creepy,” Isa said, but she still placed a hand on my chest to check. “Super creepy.”

  I shrugged. “It has its perks. I now have full control of the shadow legion.”

  “Speaking of the shadow legion,” Primith pointed to the swirling black gem embedded in Cornerstone. “What exactly did you do to Bori?”

  Bori appeared as a shadow version of her human avatar, who then stuck out her tongue and turned into a normal human girl. “Just kidding. I touched the heart too and got super powers. I can make shadow monsters now.”

  “But I liked you when you were pink,” Primith mock pouted. “What are we going to tell your mother?”

  Bori giggled. “Daddy is so dead when she finds out.”

  “Don’t remind me,” I sighed. “Speaking of which, we need to get this show on the road. The other players are still in danger.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” Carlito appeared beside Primith, causing several elves to point their spears at him. “I’m fine. There wasn’t much I could do during the battle with that shadow thing. Sorry about that.”

  “It’s fine,” I laughed. “We were up against ancient gods.”

  “Primordials are not gods,” Iris’s voice came from my chest.

  “Hey!” I yelped, peeling back my shirt to glare at the tattoo. “Why didn’t you help out more? We could have used you in the void.”

  Iris sighed, as though she were dealing with a child who always asked dumb questions. “I cannot exist outside of this realm. Whenever you leave my influence, the mark on your chest will just be a tattoo.”

  “It’s true,” Melvin sighed. “I had to leave behind several gods back on Earth.”

  “You had god tattoos on Earth?” I asked, wondering why Pi didn’t provide me with any.

  Melvin nodded emphatically. “I had the coolest white tiger cub named Byakko, and Kalli had a dress with the great phoenix Suzaku.”

  “Don’t remind me.” Kaliphae blushed. “When he sent me home, the whole dressed stayed behind. It was so embarrassing.”

  I laughed. “I’ll bet.”

  “Shall we go?” Primith asked, trying to get us back on track.

  “Oh, right,” Melvin replied. “Alex, would you like to do the honors this time?”

  “Uh, what do you mean?” I asked.

  It was Pi who answered.

  Now that you are a primordial, you have the power to travel in and out of the shadow realm. Would you like to take your party there now? Y/N?

  I wondered idly when Pi had gone back inside of me before selecting YES. The next thing I knew, the nine of us were floating in the void. Everyone was frozen except for Kaliphae and Melvin.

  “Don’t worry,” Kaliphae said after seeing my expression. “You were like that the first time. Normal people can’t exist here. Let’s go see if we can find your friends on the map.”

  We floated back over to the miniature version of Gaia and Kaliphae zoomed in on Albion. “Do you have any idea where they might be?”

  I touched the planet and rotated it until we were over Xanadu. “I think they are in the thief’s corridor somewhere under this island.”

  “Hmm,” Kaliphae said, zooming in further until we passed under the bedrock and into the narrow tunnels.

  We started at the beach and went inland, checking side tunnels as we came across them. I was about to give up when we spotted a campfire flickering in the distance.

  “There,” I pointed. “That’s them.”

  “Take us there,” Kaliphae said. “You have to get used to this if you want to teleport.”

  I looked back at Isa, Zelle, and Nax. They didn’t deserve to be thrust into danger again. I promised to take them back to Yew first chance I got, so I spun the planet until we were hovering over Dabia.

  “What are you doing?” Melvin asked, walking up behind us.

  “I need to take them home,” I replied, pointing to Isa.

  Melvin nodded. “I’ll do it. I’ve done this before, so I’ll be quick.”

  He walked over to the three and didn’t even bother with the planet, vanishing on the spot before reappearing without them a moment later.

  “There,” he said. “All done. Now you can go rescue your friends.”

  I returned to the Thief’s Corridor and re-located the campfire. No sooner had I touched it than I was there, standing in the fire.

  “Yeouch!” I yelped as I simultaneously jumped out of the fire and attempted to put my pant leg out.

  In the end, I had to stop, drop, and roll to fully extinguish the flame. The group that had been huddled around the campfire ran every which way before taking cover and peeking back out at us.

  Michael Katach recognized me first. “Hey! Alex. What the hell is up with this island? It’s nothing but shadow monsters.”

  “That’s right,” I replied. “You need magic weapons to damage them. Or magic. I’m sure your spells worked, didn’t they?”

  He glared as he walked back. “Well, yeah, they worked, but that’s not the problem. There were too many of them. Don’t even try to tell me you soloed them.”

  “No,” I sighed. “I brought a group. That doesn’t matter, though. I’m here to take you back to Albion.”

  “No!” Darrin Angler shouted. “You don’t get to conveniently dismiss us so you can win the game. You’re just a player. I’m going to talk to my sponsor about this.”

  Melvin stepped between us. “Give it a break, man. The universe almost ended while you guys were down here. Didn’t you see the lights go out?”

  Kendra Welsh laughed. “Don’t let the fire fool you. This place is always dark. I agree with Darrin. Using shadow monsters in the final round is cheating. We need another way to decide who wins.”

  “Fine,” I said, throwing my hands up in the air. “I don’t even know what we get for winning. Do you?”

  Everyone froze. When they invited me to Gaia, I’d been so excited about the quest, that I didn’t bother to look at the reward. Was there anything S.I.M.P. Co. could offer that I didn’t already have?

  “Who has a copy of the contract?” Alan Friedzieg asked.

  I opened my bag, and it slid right into my hand. It was so nice having Pi back.

  This agreement is made and entered into on June 15th, 2022 by and between the Selective Interdimensional Magical-Exchange Program (SIMP) and Alexander Krup (GAMER).

  1. Admission: SIMP grants GAMER unfettered access and citizenship on Gaia. This includes all rights and privileges afforded to the assigned rank.

  (1) Beginning rank assigned to be that of a commoner

  (2) GAMER may, at their discretion, commit acts of valor to increase this rank.

  (3) Criminal acts committed by GAMER will result in infamy and loss of status.

  2. Room and Board: SIMP shall provide one (1) home to GAMER in accord with current rank.

  (1) Three (3) meals shall be offered to GAMER daily in the town of residence.

  (2) Weekly stipend shall be granted to GAMER in an amount based on current rank.

  3. Obligation: GAMER agrees to conduct themselves as they see fit while visiting Gaia.

  (1) Law Abiding: GAMER agrees to follow all laws and regulations set forth by local and national governments during their visit. Failure to do so shall result in the loss of room and board.

  (2) Taxes: GAMER shall be exempt from any taxes set forth by local and national governments.

  (3) War: GAMER shall not be drafted or otherwise called upon to participate in any wars on Gaia without their explicit consent.

  4. Indemnity: SIMP shall be held harmless should GAMER come to any physical or financial harm during their stay on GAIA.

  (1) Gamer assumes all risks in any activity engaged in while visiting Gaia.

  (2) SIMP shall immediately furnish transportation back to Earth upon receipt of GAMER’s written request.

  5. Governing Law: This agreement shall be governed and construed under the laws of the High House of Earth (H-HOE).

  “Um, guys,” I read the contract three times to be sure. “There is no reward. Just a bunch of disclaimers about what we need to do while we’re here and how to go home.”

  “Give me that!” Kiavi hissed, snatching the contract from my hands.

  She read it carefully before flipping it over in case there was anything on the back. “Are you sure there isn’t another page?”