The Lesser One Arc 2 Chapter 29: Blood Debt

 

Blood Debt

An hour after I arrive at the hospital, I call my mom.

“Hey.”

“Are you okay?” My mom’s voice sounds strained.

“Yeah. I just had a bit of a tumble from a helicopter.”

“What are you doing that had you in a helicopter in the first place?”

“Uh, adventuring business.”

“All right. I won’t dig any further. I head in the news that you had been awarded a second Adventurer’s Cross.” Her tone changes to a more happy one. “You’re a decorated hero over there. Everyone is talking about you. Your aunt wants to get your autograph when you get back.”

“Aunt Jackie?”

“Yeah.”

I spend about half an hour giving her updates and soothing her concerns. When the conversation is over I hang up and let the phone fall to my side. I sigh. The call went a lot better than I had expected.

I spend the next day in the hospital. The Blue Dryads handle my hospital paperwork, and I am let go after only a day and a half in bed. Though my chest still hurts, I have been told that I can resume any non-strenuous activity. That includes working with my conjurers. I do my job for the next couple of days, avoiding going out, as I might be challenged by a player. I am in no condition to do any sort of fighting right now.

Occasionally I browse the Angel Shop looking for anything that will help me with Alice’s condition. She’s been in a coma for weeks now and I don’t see her waking up any time soon.

Three days after I am discharged from the hospital, I have a dream. I see Alice, standing in an empty black wasteland. There are storm clouds overhead, rumbling with thunder and lightning. Alice turns to look at me.

“It took me so long to even be able to do this.” Alice’s voice is lonely and cold. “I only remember opening the portal with the key. Then everything went blank. I woke up here.”

I try something. Realizing this is a dream, I strain my mind to conjure some nice furnishings. The mental pathway is the same as when I am awake—I just imagine what I want to create, and it comes into being in front of me.

Alice’s eyes light up. “I didn’t know you could do that.” She sits down on the plush sofa I gave her. “You’re the best.”

“You’ve been here all alone?”

“I don’t know how long it’s been. Yes. I haven’t spoken to anyone since I came here.” Alice puts her chin in her hands. “Thanks. I really needed someone to talk to and you were the first one I could contact.”

“You know your mom isn’t coming back.”

“I kind of figured that. What happened to Wales? How many people died because of what I did?”

“Not many, considering the circumstances. We were able to stop it in time using an artifact called the Bone of Wisdom.”

“Ah.” Alice sighs. “So that’s what that mafia lady was after.”

“So she really was the one who convinced you to steal the key from me.”

“Are you mad?”

I shake my head. “I’m not mad at all. I respect what you were trying to do. There’s no shame in wanting to revive your mother.”

Alice smiles sadly. “Yeah.” Her form shimmers. “Thanks for the furniture. I think my connection is breaking.” Then she flickers out of existence and I enter a deep, dreamless sleep.

When I wake up I am instantly alert. I talked with Alice in my dream! This is a huge breakthrough. I need to tell Crayton right away.

I get out of bed, leave the room, and then remember that I am not dressed. I return to my room and, because of my injury, I struggle to put my usual formal attire on. Eventually I manage to do it and rush out of the room.

“Where are you going?” Chris is at the table, eating breakfast.

“I’m going to see Crayton!” I take out my phone and, in the elevator, call Crayton.

“Yes?” He replies, but his voice sounds groggy.

“I talked to Alice in my dream!”

Instantly Crayton’s voice changes. “By god, boy! Come up here and tell me what happened!”

Two minutes later I am knocking on the door to Crayton’s penthouse. Crayton opens the door with force. He grabs me by the arm and pulls me in. “Sit down. What happened?”

“In a dream. I met Alice.”

“Can you be sure it was her?” Crayton’s eyes are wide.

“It was her. For sure.”

Crayton grabs me with both hands. “Go to sleep now. Find her. Tell her to contact me with her dreams.”

“I can’t –”

Crayton seems to take control of his emotions. “Ahem. Anyways, what did she say?”

“She said she was sorry about everything. She also asked how much damage she did.”

“Not much, right?” Crayton rubs his forehead and walks to the kitchen. “Coffee?”

“Sure.”

Crayton has a professional coffee steamer/espresso machine in his kitchen. “I make a killer latte. I’ve been getting into making coffee like this to get away from Alice.” He steams the milk and adds a shot of espresso. When he is done, he hands me a latte that could have come straight from Sunbucks.

I taste it. It really is good. The quality of the beans, the milk, how it was prepared—all great. I used to work at a coffee shop for a short time a year ago and I know exactly how hard it is to make a good latte.

Crayton sits down at the table in his living room and takes a sip of his latte. “About the tarasque.” He sips again. “I’ve discovered evidence that one might have come from the portal that prolapsed in Hawaii.”

“I know.” I sip my own latte. “My network found it out for me.”

“So what do you plan on doing?”

“I don’t know. The tarasque is a triple-S monster. So there’s no way I’ll be able to defeat it without an army.”

“I can gather an army.”

I raise an eyebrow. “How? There aren’t actually that many S-class adventurers in the world.”

“We can gather enough.” Crayton puts his latte down. “I have resources. And so do you. I know you’re as interested in her awakening as I am.”

I look away. “Yeah. I am. I wish things had turned out differently.”

“Now that we have a chance, I feel that we should take it.” Crayton stood up. “In any case, I have business to attend to. Company stuff. You go do your thing, and make sure to finish that writeup on the progress of the Rearden Metal conjuring.”

“Understood.” I stand up as well and bow before leaving the penthouse and taking the elevator down to the ground floor. It will be a while before I need to be at the lab. I take the time to walk through London on a hunt for players. Chris insists on coming, which I think is a good thing anyways.

Most of the players we see are much higher ranked than we are. Chris’s rank sits at 12901, and my rank is at 12906. We’re at the very bottom in terms of win ratio. One win and one loss probably balances our score. We see about five or six players on our walk. All of them notice us, but don’t approach, probably because it’s obvious we’re skulking. And we’re not stupid enough to challenge someone that much higher in rank than us.

As the rank seems to imply, there are a bit over twelve thousand people who play the game in the UK. As I heard from the Angels’ Fallen Empire Forum, each country counts as its own “server,” and people are only ranked against other people in their country. When you migrate servers your score goes to the bottom again as if you are a new player. Which is what’s going to happen when I return to New York.

We finally find someone who is a bit more than a thousand points above us.

Millie. Human level 75. Angel Points: 109. Score: 11456.

A “Challenge” button hovers in front of me. I press it.

The whole world gains the familiar post-apocalyptic veneer. Millie holds up her had and forms a sword made of rock in her hands.

“Hunters, eh?” She begins to circle me.

This time, Chris is sent to the tag team bench.

I use the card <Invisibility> to make myself invisible for thirty seconds. With that I charge her. I use the card <Confusion> to disorient her. It was the same card that was used on me when I first played the game—not too long ago. It cost me about a thousand pounds to buy at the card shop but it’s really proving its worth. I run up and cut her in half with a Rearden Metal sword, dealing over one thousand points in damage in an instant.

I thin I may have caught her by surprise, but in the end, all that matters is that I won. I gain an Angel Point and the world returns to normal.

Millie extends her hand. “First time I’ve been beaten by an American.”

I shake it. “Good game.”

Millie turns away and continues on her walk.

I return to the Esmex building and go up to my apartment to do some more research into the tarasque and Fallen Angels. I scour the Angels Fallen Empire forum for information that I can use to gain more Angel Points. I also scour the Angel Shop to see if there is anything I can use in my particular situation. But there’s nothing.

I teach my class for the day, record my progress, submit the paperwork, and then return to hunting on the street. Between the two of us, Chris and I gain three Angel Points. It looks like our financial situation has really helped us gain points in this case. Though my spirit is a good finisher, it really isn’t what pulls all the weight. In the end, though, we aren’t saving up for anything.

A day later the police come to my door asking about Anderson. After he avoided the police successfully during the pursuit, they’ve been trying to find him. He hasn’t left the country—they’re pretty sure about that—but he’s hiding somewhere where he can’t be found. I nod, answer all the questions I can, and then return to my computer.

There is a thump on the window. I look out just in time to see Anderson kicking through the glass, hanging on one of his spider webs. Shards of glass fly everywhere. I cover my eyes, staggering backwards as Anderson enters the room.

“It’s all your fault.” He holds me at knifepoint. “You’re the reason why the police know who I am.”

I conjure a Rearden Metal sword. “I’m not defenseless.”

Chris bursts into the room wielding two silver daggers. When she takes in the situation, she stands between me and Anderson.

Anderson throws out two spider webs, one from each hand. The right hand web catches Chris’s daggers, pulling them out of her hands.

I tackle Anderson, but he doesn’t fall. He grapples with me and drags me towards the window.

Chris fires darts of molten lava at Anderson. Anderson forms a shield out of web that deflects the missiles. Still holding onto me, he backs out of the room and jumps out the window. Chris grabs at me, but is unable to catch me. I am in the air with Anderson. Anderson pulls a Spiderman and swings away from the Esmex building.

“Chris!” I yell.

“Markus!” Chris leaps out of the building and forms a jet of flame that she begins to surf on. “I’ll save you!”