Lidarion: Chapter 25

“Well then,” Brooke started. “I only see one way forward.” Everyone looked at her. “You’ll sail under the Lidarion royal flag. Let’s find out what the estimated value of the boat is and we will bring it plus ten percent in gold.” She sounded like she was planning a boring reception.

Trent waved his hand. “Brooke that’s- “ He started.

She stood up. “The easiest solution to our most recent problem. There will be others and I was going already so don’t even start on that.” She smiled sweetly as she stared him down. “Those people are my friends and their families and short of giving away the kingdom to set them free I will do it. This isn’t just your burden, it never was.” She finished her thought and sat back down.

Trart nodded, agreeing with everything she had said. But he decided to finish his sentence anyway. “Going to take up a lot of weight on the boat.” He smiled at her.

Everyone waited silently took see how long Brooke could hold out until she smiled. She lasted less than five seconds. “I hate you.” She threw a cloth napkin at Trent.

Dean stood up. “I greatly appreciate the assistance, and would be more than glad to take you to Cela’an, so please allow me to make two corrections to your plan. First the Womamel is a ship, not a boat. And secondly and I’m going to guess that I’m the only one present who has ever even met an elf, take that ten percent and bring it in the form of Lidarion’s best wine.” He stood. “I am beyond glad to have met you all, the Womamel will be ready to sail in thirty six hours, and we’re coming to the end of the smooth sailing season and will be cutting it close on passing through the southern straits as it is, so I’d recommend leaving no later than three days from now.” He walked over to the door and held it open. “You know where to find me, you all have a good evening.” He said as he left the bar.

The XP: Chapter 25

The arena was a complete mad house. Trart and Volnado still hadn’t made their way through the crowds to get back to the rest of the group. The rest of the end of the world club had done some cool stuff, but nothing that had made them the envy of the entire player base. Bob, Blackout, and Stygian watched in awe as the arena cheered for their achievement.

Sezario and The Matriarch flew down to the arena floor from their box seats. Sezario walked up to Torcano. “Congratulations on your victory.” He said holding out his hand to shake.

Torcano looks down at his feet. “I don’t feel like a winner.” He admitted.

Zezario gave a knowing smile. “Why? What ever could you mean?” He asked almost sarcastically.

The Matriarch hit him in the shoulder. “Don’t be mean.” She scolded.

Torcano looked up cluing into the oddness of the situation. “Wait, how did you get onto the arena floor?” He asked.

Sezario shrugged. “I created the game, I can pretty much go where ever I like.” He answered nonchalantly.

Bob and Blackout both dropped their jaws. “SPIRITWALKER!!!” They shouted practically into his face.

He nodded. “Durring working hours, speaking of working.” He turned his attention back to Torcano. “You want your job back kid?” He asked.

Torcano gave a bittersweet smile. “I appreciate the offer, and I genuinely don’t want to be rude, but no, thank you.” He replied.

Sezario nodded. “No worries, game was meant to be played, you know?” He smiled. Everyone nodded at this.

Trart and Volnado join the group. For a moment there is a dense, uncomfortable silence. No one in the group knows where to begin. Frustrated, Trart finally steps forward and does and impersonation of Volnado. “look bro, I’m sorry I was such a dick all those years.” Trart steps next to Torcano and impersonates him. “I’m sorry too, I should have let you know how much it bothered me a long time ago, and I’m sorry I turned into such a douche.” Another step over and he takes on Bob’s stance and voice. “Awwwwe, I apologize for snapping at you all the time Torcano and I apologise to the group for constantly leaving this ‘love/hate’ thing we're doing, in the air for so long.” Another step and he ends up next to Stygian and does his best impersonation “I missed you guy’s soooo much! I don’t have anything to apologize for I just wanted to be a part of the moment!” Finally he ends up next to Blackout. “Believe it or not, I’m perfectly comfortable with who I am. None of this was my fault and I’ll never let any of you forget it.” He then stepped back to his empty space in the circle. “Whelp, now that that’s out of the way lets go run The Sea of Ever Burning Fury, YAAAAAAAAAAAY!” He broke into a full run for the arena gate. The rest of the group looked around the circle at each other. Volnado shrugged and then broke off to follow Trart.

He was quickly followed by the rest of the End of the World Club.

University of Console Heroics: Chapter 25

Clay exited the building having finished his final. He had forgotten how sunny it was outside and used his hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight. With the light out of his eyes he quickly spotted Faith waiting for him. They exchanged awkward glances. Clay walked up to her, she opened her mouth but he interrupted her. “I’m sorry” he spat.

It threw faith off and she was silent a moment longer. Finally finding her voice again. “Why, are you apologizing?” She asked.

“Because I lied to you.” Clay started. “I love being a thug studies major. I love stealing and drinking and breaking the law. This whole semester  I’ve been trying to “grow up” because I thought that’s what adults did. And when you left I turned back into the worst version of myself.” Clay explained.

Faith shook her head. “That’s nothing to be sorry about. I’m the one who should be apologizing. I fed you all that crap about how I didn’t care about all the social rules in my sorority and when it came time to put my heart where was mouth was, I chickened out and betrayed us both.”

Clay couldn’t help but smile at her. “So we are both immature terrible people who can’t be trusted to do the right thing.” He concluded.

She laughed. “Way to make us sound awesome.” She held out her hand.

He held her hand. “I call it like I see it.”

They headed toward the quad together. “If it helps at all, you make me want to be a better person.” She offered.

Clay kissed her hand. “You are a better person dear.” He assured her.

She looked slightly surprised. “what about all that stuff you just said?” She asked.

Clay shrugged his shoulders. “I’m a hardened criminal, you can’t take anything I say at face value.” He admitted.

Faith nodded at this. “So, you forgive me?” She asked genuinely concerned.

Clay nodded. “I kinda have to. I’ma screw up eventually and I want to set a good example for you.” He gave her a kiss.

She separated from him. “Just give me flowers and chocolate and I think we’ll be all right.” She said.

He nodded. “Can I steal them or does that ruin the sentiment?” He asked.

She laughed. “You are who you are.” She replied. They sat under the big tree in the center of the quad where Thompson had been reading his book at the beginning of the year. “How was your final?” She asked him as they got situated against the tree.

Clay shrugged. “Other than the pervasive desire to vomit everywhere I think it went well.”

She laid her head on his shoulder as she replied. “Well, you got that going for you at least.” She wormed her hand into his and they sat in the shade together.

Shades of Justice: Chapter 29

The Shades had a 3D projection of the moon up in the middle of the command center. Sonya held up her hand and swiped left and right, there were no clearly present structures anywhere on it. “There has got to be something that we are missing, something we haven’t found!” She was barely keeping herself from yelling, and went back to pacing the middle of the command center.

Spark lit up the wall. “Luckily you guys can just take your mecha up to the moon and check it out. Gotta admit, kind of a dick move and all, kidnapping your mentors right there at the beginning. This Raptarus guy sounds like a class A douche.” The wall went dark again.

The Shades all glanced at the wall. Gordon raised an eyebrow. “Spark, have you been on the internet?” He asked.

The wall lit up again. “As a matter of fact, I have. You earthlings have quite the vocabulary. I can wish shame on all your mothers in almost a hundred languages now, wanna hear?” He asked.

Gordon shook his head. “Thanks but no.” He turned back to the moon.

The wall continued to flicker. “Your loss.” And went dark.

Sonya shook her head. “I highly doubt that.” She said looking at the 3D moon again. “But what if he’s right? Why don’t we just take Blinding light up there and scan the place until we find Raptarus’ hide out?” She asked.

Suddenly the Moon projection flickered and faded, then was replaced with Raptarus’ face. “Shaaaaaaaaades.” His gravelly voiced filled the command center. “I took your mentor and his pet five days ago and haven’t heard so much as a peep from you. I had a whole series of torments and tortures planned but I’ve gotten bored. So I reprogramed your little robot friend and set him loose in Tokyo.” Raptarus disappeared and the Shades were presented with news footage of a giant Technarious rampaging through Tokyo. “He’s not so little any more. I’ll make you a deal. Cure my boredom and I’ll give you a hint on where to find you little night light friend. But do it quick. I’d hate to see what happens if Technarious is still alive in an hour.” The news footage went away and the moon reappeared in the center of the room.

Dante. “How are we going to stop Technarious without killing him?” Kelly asked.

Sonya already had her glasses on. She looked at Kelly. “We have less than one hour to figure that out. At this point I’d settle for saving some of Tokyo but based on our track record lets shoot for living through the next sixty minutes.” She touched the ear piece of her glasses. “Grayscale, Step into shade!” She shifted and the others followed her lead.

Blood and Profit: Chapter 52

There was no doubting that the corporation was profit hungry and soulless. But the scientists and designers that worked for the corporation three hundred years ago were very good at what they did. The colony ship that was sent to what would become Mew’s home was designed to have almost every inch of material repurposed once it had landed on its colony world. Over the first decade the settlers had done just that. The ship that had been the home for two generations of settlers had been dismantled and built into countless homes, factories, community buildings and utility stations. And they had never seen a need for another large ship to replace it.

Kepi and the other representatives were now trying to solve an impossible problem. And most of the representatives loved nothing more than sitting in session going on at length about each and every impossibility. Luckily, Kepi had infinitely more patience for these sessions than Eamon. She was the kind of person who liked to stay silent until she had something of real value to add to the conversation, and she was not the kind of person who felt that merely hearing her own voice added anything to the conversation except time. This was a rare quality in the senate.

Cole Fletcher loved the sound of his own voice and was more than eager to launch into never ending speeches that often had no point or purpose other than to make sure that no one in senate had the opportunity to forget it. He was the representative for district seventy eight, many of the families that had held power as far back as the generations on the colony ship and possibly further lived in district seventy eight. Cole Fletcher served as a barking guard dog, protecting what passed for royalty on the colony, families that had never worked a day of any kind of labor in several generations. His girth was possibly the only thing that exceeded the size of his ego. He could not stand to speak and thus gave his blubbering oratories from the comfort of his giant hovering chair. “It is patently absurd to assume that anyone, let alone my constituents be asked to leave behind the only lives they have ever known! I find it incredibly suspect that we are taking the word of foreigners, interlopers, ALIENS, without even the barest shred of verifiable evidence. I cannot in good conscience consent to the destruction of everything this colony has worked for just because we might be in danger.” He leveled the last sentence directly at Kepi, who may as well have been the physical shield for Eamon. Fletcher had drastically altered the course of people’s with fewer words and he meant to scare Kepi out of the room with these.

She was less than moved. “Representative Fletcher. While I more than anyone understand your concerns we have all had the co-ordinates and the satellite access codes to witness the wave at any time over the last ten days.” She smiled sweetly as she spoke.

Fletcher slammed his fist into the armrest on his chair. “Are you asking the citizens of this colony to trust some piece of technology that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of?” He shouted.

She calmly picked up her tablet and input a few commands. “Funny you should question the quality and accuracy of our satellite system sir.” She sent the page she had pulled up on her tablet to the main screen and all the desk tablets of every representative. “Would you be so kind as to look at the third name on the board of directors and founding members of the company that makes the satellites in orbit around our planet?” She highlighted and enlarged his name COLE FLETCHER so that it was clearly visible, there was almost no where you could look in the room without seeing it. “Are you telling this assembly that your own company’s product is defective? How long have you known of these defects? How would you suggest we go about being compensated for defective equipment we bought and paid for based on the word of several generations of your family?” The sweet smile never left her face.

Cole on other hand had turned beet red in fury. His giant fists clenched in anger. “Of course Avionic Satellite Systems are of the highest quality.” He admitted slowly, through clenched teeth. “I merely wanted to remind the council that we are talking about the future of this entire colony.” He stared daggers at her.

She didn’t even flinch. “Why senator, I think you might be the last person in this room to realize that talking about the future of this entire colony is the only reason we were elected.” She cleared the page from everyone’s tablets and the main screen. Fletcher was gripping the arm rest of his chair so tightly that it might tear loose at any second. 

Lidarion: Chapter 24

It was several hours of stories and reconnection before anyone mentioned the reason they had reached out to Dean, by the time they got around to the business at hand the restaurant had been closed for hours. Dean moved his chair back from the table slightly. “So how can the crew of the Womamel be of service?” He asked.

Everyone looked down the table at Trent. “We’re bound for Cela’an.” He cut right to the chase.

Dean smiled uncomfortably. “Well that presents something in the way of a complication.” He offered.

Alex leaned forward, placing and elbow on the table. “What kind of complication?” She asked.

Dean cleared his throat. “Ah, well, you see, I won the Womamel in a card game, but the original owner stole it from the high elf ship yards the night before its maiden voyage.” He smiled sheepishly.

Lisa dropped her face into her hands. “So literally the last place on the planet you want to go is the only place on the planet we can get the answers you’re looking for.” She groaned.

The XP: Chapter 24

Volnado and Trart faded into the graveyard together. Volnado immediately exploded in rage, picking Trart up off his feet. Trart flailed his hands trying to break Volnado’s grip. “Woah, WOAH! Dude calm down! Your princess is in another castle man!”

The statement caught Volnado off guard, he blinked twice and lost sight of his blind rage, and set Trart down hard. “You are a very odd person.” He judged.

Trart shook his head. “Awesome, the word you were looking for is awesome.” He corrected.

Volnado shrugged. “Whatever floats your boat.” He gave up.

Trart exploded with excitement. “WE GET BOATS?!” He shouted. Causing Volnado to lean back. Trart glanced over at him. “You ok?” He asked.

Volnado sat down and put his chin in his hands. “I don’t know anymore.”

Trart sat next to him. “Well the good news is, whatever’s ailing you can’t be fatal, this is just a game.” He offered.

Volnado looked over at him. “What are you going to do now?” He asked.

Trart thought about it for a second. “Like in five minutes or with the rest of my life?” He asked.

Volnado gestured to the virtual world around them. “In the game, what do you want to do next?” He asked.

Trart nodded. “I haven’t seen any of the end game, so I’d love to start playing through that. I wanna do the Sea of Ever Burning Fury at High Tide. I’d like to do the marathon of nightmares in less than half and hour, I actually have a huge list of stuff.” Trart admitted.

“And you are genuinely excited about that list?” Volnado asked.

Trart nodded. “Weren’t you when you first started playing?” He asked.

Volnado shook his head. “I don’t think so. I was always more interested in being the first to see or do something just so I could gloat or brag, it didn’t matter what it was.” He admitted.

Trart seemed confused. “If you don’t like the game, why play?” He asked.

Volnado looked at the computer generated sky. “I haven’t actually played any content since I became a Game Master.” He said.

Trart nodded. “Well you are supposed to be helping the players as a GM.” He replied.

Volnado shook his head. “I mean I haven’t done any game content at all in over two years. If I’m not logged in as a GM then I’m not logged in.” He clarified.

Trart lookd shocked. “You’ve done nothing but fix errors and punish players for over two years?” He asked. Volnado nodded. “All right then pick one.” Trart continued.

Volnado looked confused. “One what?” He asked.

Trart waved his hand at the game world. “An instance. It’s time to play the game for a change.” Trart said as he stood up.

Volnado shook his head. “But –“

Trart cut him off. “No but’s! Come on, we could run Oblivion Sanctuary, Caverns of Insanity, The Crystal Desert, Or the Twilight Mountains, And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.” Trart rambled.

Volnado stood up. “How can you have so much enthusiasm for the game?” He asked.

Trart shrugged his shoulders. “How can you not?” He asked in reply.

They made their way back to the tournament grounds. “You know Torcano is my brother right?” Volnado asked.

Trart shook his head. “Could not have guessed.” He replied.

Volnado rolled his eyes. “Smart ass.”

Trart smiled. “Beyond my cognitive powers to put that kind of thing together.” He continued.

Volnado put his hands in his pockets. “Not a big secret, I get it.” He replied.

Trart nodded. “That and he mentioned it.”

“You can stop now.” Volnado commanded.

“Several times.” Trart Continued.

“ANYWAY” Torcano forcefully continued. “We’ve shared everything for as far back as I can remember.” He explained.

Trart nodded. “You must have gotten your own tit at least.” He quipped.

Volnado tripped over the comment. “Excuse me?” He asked.

Trart shook his head. “Never mind, please continue.” Trart asked.

Volnado started moving through the crowd in the city. “I don’t even know why I applied for the job originally. I just wanted something of my own, I guess. Then Chad applied as well and I couldn’t think of anything else.” He explained.

Trart’s face lit up. “Torcano’s mundane name is Chad?” He asked with a huge smile on his face.

Volnado pinches the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “worst confidant ever.” He grumbled.

Trart shook off his excitement. “Sorry I’m focused.” He swore.

Volnado continued. “Long story short, I was finally good at something Torcano –“

“Chad” Trart interrupted.

Volnado glared at him, “Wasn’t good at. And I swear if you tell him you know his real name he will kill us both.” Volnado warned.

Trart nodded. “Can I tell everyone BUT him?” He asked.

Volnado punched him in the shoulder. “I’m sorry I killed you.” He offered.

Trart shook his head. “All you did was fall into my clever trap. In truth, I killed you with my cunning ruse.” Trart corrected.

Volnado again rolled his eyes. “Dropping a thousand mines on the floor and waiting for someone to run over them is not a ‘ruse’ by any definition.” Volnado corrected.

Trart shrugged. “Agree to disagree.”

Volnado laughed. “I can see why they like having you around.” He complimented.

Trart nodded. “Like I said, the world you were looking for, was awesome.” He reiterated as they made their way through the crowd.