The Lesser One Chapter 23: Flash

Flash

Alice and I enter the Loquireda mall from the entrance closest to the Eye. This mall was built after twelve-one in order to maximize protection against monsters, and as such has a rather brutalist appearance. London has had two prolapses in the time since and both times this mall has served as a safe place.

In times of peace, though, the mall is spacious, brightly lit, with a roof made of crystal glass that lets the sun through—when it’s not covered in fog.

Alice drags me from store to store, purchasing expensive items like they cost pennies. After half an hour I am loaded down with bags of clothes, makeup, and stuffed animals. I feel like a porter whose only job is to carry things—I’m getting flashbacks to my time as an apprentice for the Riding Valkyries.

It’s good that my physical stats were increased so much, as I don’t think I would have been able to carry all this stuff otherwise.

Alice keeps up a constant pace of chattering, mostly about gossip and the stock market. Two totally different things, I know, but she treats them both the same. It seems that every little change in the stock exchange matters to her. She has the mind of a broker mixed with that of a funny, outgoing teenage girl.

I think I’m in love!

Alice brings us to the food court. The place is crowded, with very few open tables. She selects one that is nestled in a corner next to several potted plants and a water fountain.

We have an interesting conversation about politics, religion, and business. Not only is she beautiful—she is smart as well. Alice seems to have an opinion on everything. Her mind is inquisitive, and she doesn’t seem to have an aversion to thinking hard.

I am enjoying my time with her immensely. I don’t know what, or how, but I know that I am head over heels for her.

We finish our dinner and leave the mall. A limo comes to pick up Alice’s purchases—there are so many that the whole car is full.

We head to the London Eye, a Ferris wheel that dominates the skyline of London.

After waiting in line for a bit, we get on. Neither of us speak as the wheel rises. As it starts to fall, Alice turns to me.

“Do you want to hold hands?” she says.

Do I! I nod, trying not to seem stupid.

Alice touches me on my left hand.

An explosion of light fills the cabin. I am stunned, and I can’t think straight. Everything goes double.

The cabin reaches the ground floor, and the doors open. Alice curtsies. With a sprightly step, she leaves the cabin and winks at me.

“Thanks!” she says. “I’m left-handed, just so you know!”

I don’t even know what is happening. Alice is picked up by a black van and is gone before I step out of the cabin, too dizzy to walk straight.

Sebastian contacts me. Markus!  He says. What happened?

Zac comes running towards me, waving. “What in the world?” he says. He looks me up and down. “Where’s the key?”

I shake my head, ready to collapse. “She took it. She stole the key.”

“Bloody hell!” says Zac. He pulls out a walkie-talkie. “Black van. No markings. Yes, it was Crayton’s daughter.”

I fall to my knees. “So she was just leading me on?” I say, my eyes filling with tears. “She didn’t like me after all? She was just after the key?”

Zac pulls me upright. “We don’t have time for that,” he says. “We need to get the key. You’re an S-class adventurer. Act like one!”

I wipe my eyes. My innards are boiling. “Okay, okay,” I say. “But it’s not my fault! I didn’t know she was left-handed!”

“What do you mean left-handed?” says Zac. “What does this have to do with anything?”

Oh, right. Zac didn’t know.

I shake my head, getting up and brushing off my pants. I am still hurting inside but I realize that, as an official S-class adventurer, I need to be strong. I wipe my eyes.

“Okay,” I say. “What do you suggest we do next?”

“Chase the van, of course!” says Zac.

Sebastian pulls up at that moment. He leaps out and opens the door to the limo. “Get in!” he says.

Zac and I pile into the vehicle. Sebastian guns the engine and we blaze through the streets on a course to chase the van.

Sebastian slows the limo after only two minutes of driving. “We lost them,” he says. “They must have used some sort of hiding magic.”

“Well then,” says Zac. “What now? I’ve failed in my mission and should probably report back to my boss, but what do you think we should do?”

Sebastian stops the limo in a small empty lot. “That would be up to you, sir,” he says.

Zac sighs. “Take me to headquarters.”

Sebastian nods. “Indeed,” he says.

I must hold the record for shortest amount of time spent guarding a very important item. I can’t begin to understand the depth of the screwup I made.

Zac shakes his head. “Don’t get too busted up about his, lad,” he says. “I made a mistake too. I should have recognized her intentions.”

“You have to know about the key to steal it,” I say. “Doesn’t that mean she knew beforehand? Was the whole thing a setup?”

“Most likely,” says Sebastian. “We, your servants, were just as unprepared as you. It is our fault that you were even able to get duped like that.”

It is clear that Sebastian is torn. After all, this may result in great danger to me, the city, and the nation.

“I think,” I say, “After dropping Zac off, we should ask Crayton about this.”

“Crayton is probably in on this, right?” says Zac.

Sebastian appears unconvinced. “Crayton has other goals. Opening the S-class portal in Wales may not be among them. His daughter has a legendary amount of freedom, after all.”

“So you’re saying this is all Alice?” is say.

Sebastian shakes his head. “No, I am not saying it. I am suggesting it as a possibility.”

I sigh, leaning against the arm of the couch.

We pull into the parking lot of London’s Organized Crime unit, where the key was first stolen. Zac steps out.

“Since you no longer have the key,” he says, “It’s not my mission to shadow you. I’ll be wishing you good luck here. It was an honor to work with you, even though it was for less than two days.”

I try my best to smile. “Sorry,” I say.

Zac shakes his head. 

The door closes. Sebastian pulls us away from the HQ and into the street.

“We’re going to Crayton’s work office,” says Sebastian. “Is this acceptable?”

“Yes,” I say. “I assume Zac is going to brief the government?” I am feeling a little bit better, enough to where I can think straight about our situation.

“Indeed,” says Sebastian. “Our agents are already scouring surveillance footage and using their contacts to try and discover where Alice is.”

I sit for a couple of minutes, silently, wondering what is going to happen next. The city passes by, silent, unspeaking.

We stop at the entrance to the Esmex tower, where I was just a couple of hours before. I exit the limo and stand in the bathing glow of streetlamps.

Two security guards approach me.

“Are you Markus Red?” says one of them.

I nod.

“Mr. Blanche wants to see you,” says the guard.

Well, that was convenient. I follow the guard into the building. The guard escorts me into an elevator that takes us to the same top floor penthouse where Crayton first talked to me.

I enter the beautiful, panoramic room. Crayton is sitting on a couch, a bottle of expensive whiskey in his hand.

“Hic,” he says. “Ah, my friend, hic, Markus,” he says.

“Um, do you know what happened to Alice?” I say.

Crayton shakes his head. His cheeks are red—he is drunk. “She left me! That darling girl, I spent all my love on her … Hic …”

“So you weren’t part of her stealing the key,” I say.

“Key?” says Crayton. “What key? I don’t remember her ever needing to … Hic … Unlock something. I’d unlock it for her!”

I sigh, sitting down in a plush armchair. “Alice has stolen a key that can open the dormant S-class portal in Wales.”

Crayton takes another swig of whiskey. “Ah, Wales!” he says. “Her mother was Welsh … Hic …” His eyes close. “Just bring her back to me …” He opens his eyes and looks at me. “Can you do it? Can you bring her back for me? Hic?”

I think for a moment. “I can,” I say. “I can try. I’ll do everything I can to get her back!”

Crayton takes a swig. “Great! The great adventurer saves the damsel in … Hic … Distress!”

“I don’t think she’s in distress,” I say.

Crayton shakes his head. “Go find her, my valiant hero! I will reward you with gold! Hic! And silver!”

Looks like Crayton is too drunk to hold a conversation. I sigh, standing up. “I’m going to go look for Alice. Stay here and don’t kill yourself.”

“Ah, yesh,” says Crayton. “The grand hero!”

I back out of the door and, turning to the elevator, rush into it. I jam the ground floor button a couple of times. The elevator descends far too slowly.

When I leave the elevator Sebastian is waiting for me. He bows.

“Master,” he says, “We believe that Alice has boarded a flight to Wales.”

Oh boy. This isn’t exactly the best-case scenario. In fact, it’s probably the worst.

I have no idea what Alice’s intentions may be. Perhaps she wants to control the portal beings just like Gena. Or maybe she’s working for Brine Ward. I remember that blackened bone that Gena showed me. Does Alice have that as well?

Sebastian leads me to the limo, where we speed off towards the airport. This is the second time in a day that we’re headed there; this time not so triumphantly.

We pull into the airport parking lot. Sebastian bows. “Master, we have prepared for you a private plane. I will be taking my leave here, as I have things to take care of.”

Two of my devils approach me.

“Tonan and Juzunen will be working with you,” says Sebastian.

Tonan is a beautiful-looking woman with long black hair. Juzunen is a buff military-man looking type with lots of piercings. Both of them salute.

“I will be piloting the craft,” says Juzunen. “Please, follow me.”

The three of us walk through a gate that says Authorized Personnel Only. The two devils lead me to a hangar where a small prop plane is stored.

“Get in,” says Juzunen.

I get in. The plane has just enough room for myself and the two devils. We taxi onto a small auxiliary runway and take off.

I can see the whole of London through the window of the plane. We fly west, towards Wales.

“The portal is in Crickhowell,” says Tonan. “At a small park in the town’s center. We will be making a landing at a local airport.”

I watch the landscape beneath us scroll past. “What if we’re too late?” I ask.

“A very real question,” says Tonan. “But one that I cannot answer. We simply don’t know what will happen when the portal is awakened. It could prolapse immediately, or it could be like a normal portal opening and allow us a week to clear it.”

“But it’s an S-class,” I say. “No one has ever cleared an S-class before it prolapsed.”

Tonan shakes her head. “I don’t know,” she says. “Everything is precariously balanced.”

Juzunen works the radio in the plane. “It looks like Crickhowell is being evacuated, as well as other towns in the area,” he says.

“A good move,” says Tonan.

“So Zac did his job,” I say.

Tonan turns to me from the front seat. “The government may send some guilds to handle this. Since you’re an S-class, any guild would allow you into their ranks. If you can’t do anything else, then you can help the response to the portal’s opening.”

“We’re about an hour away,” says Juzunen. “I’m requesting permission now to land at the local airstrip.”

I spend the hour in flight wondering what I’m going to do when I hit the ground. Is Alice already inside the portal? If so, what is she doing there?

One stressful hour later, we land at the small airstrip in Crickhowell.

Several other planes have landed here as well, making the area very crowded.

I step out of the plane. At least a dozen adventurers surround me.

“You’re Markus, the S-class, right?” says a man with silver white hair who can’t be older than twenty-five. “My name is Derwyn. I’m an S-class to. There’s one other, but he can’t be here.”

“The UK only has two S-classes?” I say.

Derwyn shakes his head. “Now’s not the time. We have a three-guild response team gathering by the portal. It’s been opened. Portal analysis says there’s about twelve hours before it prolapses.”

“Are the Blue Dryads here?” I ask.

“From London?” says Derwyn. “Yes. They’re the second-biggest guild here, out of three.”

“What guild do you belong to?” I ask Derwyn, as we walk towards the park.

“The biggest one here, Dungeon Solutions UK,” says Derwyn. He looks at Tonan and Jozunen. “Are these adventurers with you?”

I shake my head. “They’re not—” A glare from Jozunen stops me.

“Yes, they’re with me,” I say, after a pause.

Derwyn begins jogging. “Hurry,” he says. “The guilds are preparing to enter.”

“Were you waiting for me?” I ask.

Derwyn nods. “Yes. I got word that a powerful adventurer with newly obtained S-class was on their way.”

I turn to Jozunen. He nods. I get it; my network is working for me again.

We pass through a fenced area and come onto a small rolling green park like any other in a first-world country. There is a small playground, some benches, and a ten-foot tall blueish-red portal. It is open, radiating the most powerful psion emissions that I have ever seen. It’s almost blinding.

“So this is an S-class portal,” I say.

Derwyn sighs, turning to the gigantic group of adventurers milling around near the playground.

“We have the Blue Dryads,” says Derwyn, “Dungeon Solutions UK, and the Red Crickets.”

“This is the first time I’ve worked with a multi-guild team,” I say.

“In the EU,” says Derwyn, “All portals with a rating of A or above must be cleared by at least two guilds. This is mostly for safety but also helps with the economics.” Derwyn waves to one of the adventurers gathered around the portal. “Hey! Kane!”

A red-haired man with a wiry body approaches us. “Derwyn!” he says. “Are you ending your vacation early to help out the old guild?”

Derwyn nods, shaking hands with Kane. “Of course,” says Derwyn. “There’s no chance for you lads to clear this portal without your strongest players.” He points to me. “This is Markus. He’s an S-class adventurer from the States.”

Kane looks taken aback. “A young lad like him, S-class?”

Derwyn shrugs. “He took down a balrog in Manhattan.”

Kane whistles. “You must be brave,” he says, to me. “I’m glad to have you on our team. What guild are you with?”

“The Blue Dryads,” I say. “Temporarily.”

Kane nods, wearing a knowing expression. “They’re a good bunch. Got lots of funding, even the apprentices have good gear.”

“I have to tell you,” I say. “This whole thing was my fault. I was the one who lost the key.”

Kane shakes his head. “I didn’t hear anything about this portal being your fault,” he says. “I don’t know what you did, but we have a job to do, and nothing changes that.”

The members of the three guilds total about a hundred people. I’ve never even been in a C-class portal, and now I’m entering an S-class?

This is going to be tough.

The leaders of the three guilds walk up to the front of the portal, and I prepare for the worst.