The Lesser One Arc 2 Version 2 Chapter 20: Heart

 

Heart

After my lesson is over, I walk back to my room and close the door. The night outside is bright. I can see the Thames across the city. I specifically asked Sebastian and Tia to take some time off, to themselves. Instead, two devils are standing watch at my doorway. Also, there are numerous devils and elves providing security for the whole building. This place is like a fortress now. There won’t be any evil clowns coming through the ceiling this time.

There is a knock at the door. One of the devils calls out. “Mandrake asks to enter.”

“Let him in.” I sit down on the couch in the lobby, taking out a glass of Lipper’s Blue Juice. The neon blue liquid inside actually calms me down.

Mandrake steps into the room and sits down across from me. “Tomorrow. After you finish your work, we’re going back to meet the rest of my people.”

“Okay. Is there something special about this time?”

“Ari. She wants to put you up to something.” Mandrake folds his hands. “She’s probably going to be the hardest vote you’ll get from among the Brights.” Mandrake taps his pocket. “Do you still have the orb?”

I get up, walk to my room, open the secret safe in the wall, and then come back with the orb in my hand.

“Good.” Mandrake nods in approval. “You’re keeping it safe, I see.” He looks out the window. “I’ve been looking into some archives to see what that thing is. I believe that it’s a map.”

“To where?”

“Treasure, perhaps.” Mandrake shakes his head. “I don’t know exactly. It could be anything. But I know it’s important if this many people are trying to acquire it.”

“I’ve asked Sage about it.” I take out Sage’s console. “She says that the encryption on the device is too powerful for her to crack.”

“Then it must be really powerful. That Sage of yours is a very powerful construct.” Mandrake takes out a cigar and cuts it.

“Yeah. So why are you actually here? You didn’t come to visit me in person just to set up an appointment for tomorrow?”

Mandrake lights his cigar. “I need to ask you a question.”

“Okay?” I tilt my head.

Mandrake puffs. “What are you planning to do when you get home? Whether or not you collect fourteen votes?”

“Is that it? I just plan to go bac to school. I thought we covered this already. Did we?”

“No, not that. I mean with your organization. You’re the leader of a large number of very powerful and motivated beings who are scattered in positions of relative power all over the world. What are you going to use that power for? If you tell me you’re just going to ignore them, or live as if they don’t exist, then I’ll be disappointed in you.”

“I’m going to dedicate them to various charity efforts. Feeding people in Africa, stopping human trafficking in Turkey.” I shrug. “I really don’t have anything for them to do for me personally. Besides play some games with occasionally. Start a Jenma league maybe. You know, my dream is to open a game store back home. That’s literally my biggest ambition.”

Mandrake sighs. “Then you have my vote, lad.”

“Really?”

Mandrake holds up his hands. “I use my portal beings to protect single mothers and provide shelter to homeless people throughout the EU.” Mandrake wrinkles his nose. “Though Brexit is going to make that a bit difficult.”

“Aha?” I raise an eyebrow.

Mandrake shakes his head. “Never mind. That’s a politics thing, you’re not even from here.” He smiles. “You’ve got a heart of gold, lad. Not many people would be able to resist the temptation to become rich and famous using the kind of power you have.” He puffs his cigar. “How about a game of Jenma?”

“I still have my budget deck, I haven’t had time to order new cards.” I pull out my deck. “But sure!”

We spend the rest of the evening playing Jenma. Mandrake tells me a few stories from his days as an adventurer. When it’s around midnight, he leaves and I go to sleep.

I am asleep. I see Alice sitting on a stone bench in a garden. She has her hands folded on her lap.

“Alice.” I approach her.

She turns to look at me. Her face is covered in scars. Blood drips from her forehead. “Markus.” She doesn’t appear bothered by her horrific wounds. “You’re here.”

I sit down next to her. “Why are you in my dream?”

“Because that’s the only way to contact you. Otherwise the interference would be too great.” She smiles, putting her hand on mine. “I’m sorry for everything. I have so many things I want to tell you but can’t.”

“That’s fine. I’m just glad to know you’re not dead. Where are you, exactly? I heard that your soul separated from your body when you opened that portal. Did you go somewhere?”

“I’ve been traveling the galaxy. Hitchhiking, so to speak.”

“Douglas Adams?”

Alice grins. “In any case, I won’t be back for a while. I have a mission I must complete.”

“What happened to your face?”

“I got into an encounter with a bad species.” Alice shrugs. “It’s fine. I don’t think these wounds transfer to my physical body back on Earth.”

I look around at the garden she’s sitting in. “Where is this place?”

“Just a rented holo.” Alice laughs. “Yeah, there are so many things that I’ve encountered after leaving my body. But I must impress on you this. Don’t wake me up. Not until I wake up on my own.”

“How long will that be?”

“I do not know. Months, years?” Alice shakes her head. “But if you call me back now, then something terrible will happen.”

“Then I won’t. I promise. Now that I know you’re not totally gone, I’ll be patient.” Then I remember Biren’s request. I keep my tongue silent on that matter.

Alice sighs, leaning her chin on her hands. “I’ve been listening to a lot of radio at the hospital. It comes through sometimes while I’m up here.” She grimaces. “Can you ask the nurses to change it up every now and then?”

“Okay. I will.”

Alice flickers. She stands up. “It’s about time for me to get out of here.” She steps off the bench. “I’ll be seeing you later, hopefully.” She disappears.

I stand up and walk around the garden, which remains behind. It’s a beautiful place, filled with vegetation that I’ve never seen before. There are flowers of every color, and some plants that resemble Venus fly traps.

Then the dream flickers and I wake up. I am in bed, as usual, with the morning sun shining into the room.

I get out of bed and get dressed. It’s about that time where I usually visit the hospital to see Alice. I need to fulfill my promise to change up the music for her.

I step out the door and walk to Sebastian’s room. I knock on the door. A couple seconds later the door opens.

“Sir.” Sebastian steps out. “I assume you wish to go see Alice?”

“I do.”

We take the elevator down. Tia is in the lobby reading a newspaper. We regroup and step outside, where we enter the limo.

As we are driving, I get the feeling that something dangerous is about to happen.

At that moment a gigantic robot leaps off of a building above us and lands in front of the limo, cracking the concrete and flattening a sedan.

“It’s Knack.” Sebastian grimaces, slamming the brakes. We skid, almost slamming into the foot of the giant robot.

“Markus Red!” The giant robot speaks.

Police sirens wail in the distance.

The giant robot points to me. “I need your help!”

I blink a few times. “Um, what?” I turn to Sebastian, who looks equally confused.

I get out of the limo and stand before the giant robot. “What do you need from me?”

The robot’s front shield opens and a thin, wiry man steps out. “Come with me. I promise I won’t hurt you. I need you alive.”

I turn to Sebastian. “Okay. You know, I don’t think I have a choice.”

Sebastian nods. “Sir, I’ll come with you.”

“No.” The giant robot waves its hand. “Markus only. No one else.”

Sebastian appears worried. “But sir.”

I shake my head. “You can just send some people to watch me from a distance.”

Sebastian grimaces. “If you say so.”

The robot lowers its hand. I step into it. “Also tell Mandrake that I’m sorry I’ll be late!”

The robot lifts me up and then jumps over the nearest building, running across the rooftops until we reach a warehouse district on the edge of the city. The wind tears at my hair and whistles past my ear.

We land in front of a warehouse and the doors open to let the giant robot in. The warehouse is full of repair equipment and is cluttered with crates and industrial barrels. A number of almost-normal humans hurry around inside. The only difference is a slight feeling that they aren’t exactly natural.

The robot lets me down. On the other side of the warehouse is a small area partitioned with curtains. The man in the robot steps out and stands beside me.

“My name is Knack. I’m a Silverbone.” He shakes his head. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this, but I need help.” Knack walks to the curtained area and pulls them aside. There is a frail young girl laying on the cot inside, attached to life support machines.

“This is my daughter.” Knack walks up to her. “She has a bad heart, and isn’t eligible for a replacement. She’s going to die in a few months if she doesn’t get help.”

“How do you expect me to help?”

“You created a perfect bionic replacement for your friend.”

“How do you know about that?”

“That doesn’t matter.” Knack bows his head. “Please, save her.”

I frown. “Actually, it wasn’t me alone. I had help.”

“From who?”

“An elf.” I wrinkle my nose. “I’ll cut you a deal. You give me your vote and I’ll fix her.”

“Really? That’s all your asking for?”

“Yes. I don’t need anything else from you.” I hold out my hand. “Do you mind if I summon an elf here right now? It won’t be the same elf that helped me fix my friend’s hand, but she’ll probably have the same ability and level of skill.”

“Of course, of course.” Knack rubs his hands together. “And I am so sorry for attacking you on the road a few days ago. I was expecting you to be a much bigger threat.”

“You really don’t talk like a Dark. All the other Darks I’ve met have been murderous monsters.”

“Eh? I’m a murderous monster. Just not in front of my daughter.”

I blink a few times. “Well then.” I hold out my hand. “Sage. Find the best nerve singing elf you can and bring them to me.”

Half a minute later an elf rises out of a portal in the ground. He bows. “My name is Juk. How may I assist you?”

“There’s a girl who has a bad heart. I need you to help me implant a replacement.”

Juk bows. “Whatever you say.”

We walk to the cot and I look at the girl. Her eyes are closed and she is sleeping soundly. Knack walks up to her and taps her shoulder. “Wake up, Ri. The doctor’s here to see you.”

Ri opens her eyes. “Hello, father.” She looks at me. “Are you going to fix me?”

“I am.” I kneel beside the cot. “I need to take a few measurements.” I take out Sage’s console and touch it to Ri’s skin. “Sage? What’s wrong with her.”

“Congenital Heart Disease.” A small electrode pops out of Sage’s console. “Basically, she has a hole in her heart.”

“Then let’s fix it.”

Sage’s face looks serious. “On it.”