NOVEL NEXT Chapter One: Quest Completed
Preamble
"I alone can save everyone. As expected. Who else could it be? The stagnant so-called gods? With their paralyzing affliction of flawed omniscience, cursed to eternal blindness by coming into existence knowing all that they will ever know?
No.
My fellow wizards? Their hubris, their arrogance their weakness. It disgusts me. The scant few that have the power, lack the moral character, the certainty of purpose. Shall I put the fate of every living soul in their hands.
No.
The teeming masses of sapients scattered through billions of worlds across a million universes? These base creatures who seek only comfort and the maintenance of their flickering lives?
Don't make me laugh.
I alone can do it. I alone can save them all. And I must. For Entropy has gone awry. It is incarnate. I will not be praised, but few among the stars have the vision to praise true greatness when they see it."
-Monologue delivered by Archenarch-Mage Yngarothrax Xem
To Monologue Appreciator Homunculus #733
6 Earth days before the Tower's activation
Arc One: The Halls of Horror
Quest Completed
I disappeared from the face of the Earth on the 27th of October, 2023. It must have been around ten in the evening. About twenty minutes before that I was sitting in my apartment with the four of my best friends, running a game for them. I had put on my robe and wizard hat, which had been a gag gift from them for my last birthday. We sat around the table and as the die spun for what seemed forever everybody held their breath. It landed on the Good Number and everyone screamed.
"And with the strike from your greataxe, enchanted by the High Priest of Sol, Lord Kaliatrax, the Lich Lord of the Tower of Terror crumbles to the granite floor on the roof of the tower. As he falls, a phantom of smoke in the shape of his face rises to the air," I said over the din.
"Fuck yeah, I fucking wrecked him, woo!" Alyssa said and ran out of the living room.
"I take out his soul cage and cast shatter on it," Anna- Lady Silendral- said. Like all of us, Anna was in her early 30s and her career had finally really started taking off. She did banking… something, and you could usually find her in fashionable, but business casual clothes. That night we were all dressed as our characters. With her funds her plastic armor breastplate actually looked good, and her blond wig looked like real hair.
"Uh, Alyssa? Righ, Anna you can do it, but Kromgor is unconscious. Though shouldn't we wait for-," I said.
"Do it, death or glory," Will- Kromgor the barbarian- said. Will was my best friend from middle school. He didn't have a lot of time for hanging out these days, what with a wife and kid, but he always made time for game night. He coded for some small-time tech firm, which didn't pay very well, but well enough and he could work from home. He had fully taken off his shirt and had a dollar store horned viking helmet on his head.
"Definitely death," James- Blackleaf- said. James had taken an easy way out to dress like his stylish rogue character and wore aviator sunglasses and a leather jacket.
"I don't care, this is an epic way to go out," Will said.
"Uh, the spirit of the lich is rising into the air, sure to escape within moments," I said.
"Did I stutter? I said I cast shatter," Anna said.
"With an ear-shattering blast of thunder the soul cage of the lich is shattered. Kromgor, you automatically fail your save because you're unconscious, Lady Silendral, roll damage," I said.
"49, sorry, Will," Anna said.
"Whatever, Alex, what happens next?" Will said.
"With blood in your mouth and your body drained of almost all life, you muster the last of your energy. With your bracers of ghost-touch you manage to grapple the escaping soul of the lich and hold it in place long enough for Lady Silental to destroy the soul cage with her magic. With its blast both you and the bones of the lich are thrown off the top of the tower and you plummet to the depths, grappling the disintegrating soul of the necromancer. Any last words?" I said.
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"For Grognar the Stormlord! Iathandra, I am coming!" Kromgor said.
"Guys, I was peeing, did you go on without me?" Alyssa said. She'd got pretty wine-drunk. That kind of happened often since her divorce. Anna insisted that she was fine most of the time, just tended to over-indulge whenever she had the excuse. I guessed she would know better, since Alyssa was really her friend more than mine.
"Sorry, we were kind of in the moment," James said.
"In the moment? I fucking killed him!" Alyssa- Ser Avianne- said, 'my fucking ax cleft him in fucking twain."
"Uh, alright. The culmination of all of your goals had left you briefly stunned in a reverie. Your mighty blow resolved everything you had been working so hard for, fulfilling the oath you made as a paladin of the Order of Palandre. You find yourself atop a barren tower. The body of the lich, now reduced to ash, and his soul destroyed before it could return to its cage. You are triumphant. You look around for your barbarian friend, but you do not see him," I said.
"What happened? Where is Kromgor?" Ser Avianne said.
"I am sorry, it had to be done," Lady Silendral said, "Kalitrax's soul was escaping, I had to destroy it."
"Who are you to throw your allies lives away so freely? Did you learn nothing from the Dungeon of the Wyrd Witch?" Ser Avianne said.
"I learned much there. I learned that victory over evil must be achieved at any cost," Lady Silendral said.
"Nice," I said, "Uh, And so with Kaliatrax defeated the curse of undeath is lifted from the lands of Lethrandil. You descend the tower exhausted and wounded, but victorious. You are received as heroes by Queen Aliandre in the City of Light, and-"
"Wait, does Kaliatrax have any loot on him?" James said.
"Loot? This is the final session, what are you going to do with loot?" Will said.
"I'm just doing what my character would do." James said.
"The body of the lich is turned to dust, but there are many treasures in his tower, and you can retire to a life of luxury as a hero who saved the world now." I said.
"Any magic items?" James said.
"Sure, lots," I said.
"What kind?" James said.
"Anything you want, really," I said.
"I want a ring of wishes," James said.
"Let him finish the fucking story," Alyssa said.
Right, so you get all the incredible artifacts from the lich's tower, and return to the City of Light heroes. The lords of the city hold a parade in your honor and even the bitter arch-chaplain smiles at you, going so far as to shake Blackleaf's hand and apologize for his initial misgivings. With the blessings of the clergy and promised rewards from the nobility in your hand, the Bone Squad will forever be remembered as heroes of legend in the lands of Lethrandil," I said.
"So it's done? Holy fuck," Alyssa said.
"Yeah, pretty much. I thought we might do an epilogue next week, but, hold on, let me get in character," I said and put on an exaggerated wizard voice, "Quest Completed!"
"We done it!" Will said.
"Woo!" Alyssa cheered.
"That was so bad-ass, Kromgor, fucking hell yeah, epic death," James said, proving once again that while he could be a bit of a That Guy in game, he meant well.
"I'm not crying you're crying," Will said.
"I got the killing blow! I won at games!" Alyssa said.
There was some more chatter, as our nerves wound down and we reminisced about the early days of the epic campaign.
"It's still kind of early. Wanna grab some drinks and chat for a bit?" I said.
"You had me at drinks," Alyssa said.
"I've got nothing better to do," James said.
"Jess looks after the kid on game nights, I look after him when it's her boozy brunch time with the girls. I can stay out as long as I want to," Will said.
"Alright, I just gotta go to the store. I have a bit of a surprise for the finale, but I forgot to buy something," I said.
"It's not a surprise if you tell us. Should've said you're going out for cigarettes," Will said.
"Get me some beers, I'll pay you back," James said.
"I don't smoke," I said as I was leaving the apartment.
I couldn't get the stupid smile off my face. A decade of playing, levels one to twenty. Will had a baby now, and it had been a year since the last of us stopped living with roommates. The game had started in the middle of college, and now we were all adults. Well, they're all adults, Mr. Lives-alone-with-his-cat-and-doesn't-meet-anyone-outside-of-increasingly-infrequent-dungeonfucking, I thought, but quickly put that thought where it belonged- deep in the repression hole. It was too nice of a night.
I had been making the blackberry infusion for three months. The party had decided they loved Kir Royale cocktails- one part blackberry liqueur, three parts champagne. None of them had ever heard of the drink before. But it was on the menu in the first tavern they all met on the first day of the campaign, and it had become a thing. It was the perfect opportunity to get drunk fancy-style. So that part seemed appropriate and all, but I literally hadn't bought the champagne- well, the sparkling wine- after spending a quarter of a year making the other ingredient. I was still in my wizard robes and had sandals on as I dashed towards the corner shop. It was one of those late autumn city nights, not quite cold enough to freeze, not quite raining, but so foggy that the city lights and the headlights of passing cars diffused in the fog and made it all look like a grungy light-show.
I went into the shop and didn't see anybody behind the counter. That was weird. Somebody could literally just walk in and take whatever they wanted off the shelves. The cashiers here never lasted long and never seemed to care about the job, but you'd think that they would at least sit here on their phone as usual instead of leaving the counter unattended. Well, whatever, maybe they were in the bathroom or on a smoke break, no skin off my back.
This next part should have been a sign. I saw a flash of red coming out under the door leading to the employees only door. I didn't know what to think of it. Then again I didn't know a lot of things, so I just filed it away as one of those things I didn't understand living in a big city. Something weird happened here every day. I grabbed a six-pack of beer and two bottles of prosecco from the racks and went over to the counter. I was still all alone in the store. I waited. And I waited. And nothing kept happening. Finally, I overcame my awkwardness and shouted out, "Excuse me, is there anybody here?"
Still I waited. It was getting late and I was getting frustrated. I seriously considered just walking out of there with the drinks, but who was I kidding? I didn't take risks, not even the sort that were almost certain to not get me in trouble. Besides, you've got to support local businesses and stealing from them ain't the way to do it. After what felt like ten minutes of no response I was a little spooked, to be honest. But there was nothing else to do. Maybe there'd been an emergency and the shopkeeper had to rush out without locking up. Hell, maybe they'd just quit and walked out. In either case, I'd have to hit the minimarket two streets over. I sighed and left the shop empty-handed.
It was a strange evening all in all. The streets seemed even emptier than usual. As I turned out of the shop, I once again could have sworn that I saw a strange flash of red light. Was somebody playing with fireworks or something? But again I ignored the weirdness. I'd spent too much of my childhood hoping that something strange and supernatural would happen only to be disappointed over and over again to jump to any conclusions from something as basic as strange flashes of light and uncommonly empty streets.
So, I was entirely unprepared to disappear from the face of the Earth that evening. I was more annoyed than anything as I waited for the lights to turn green at the crossing, even though no cars were going either direction.
I was crossing the street as I felt a strange static electricity sensation all over my body. Fuck, all those energy drinks and pizzas finally caught up to me I thought for a moment. And then I noticed a red glow coming from underneath me. I looked down and froze. There was a circle of red energy with glowing runes underneath my feet. There was a pentagram and symbols and all sorts of buzzing. Must be a laser of some sort, I thought and then the world went black.
In an instant I was in a new place. It almost felt subterranean, the low light in the large room giving an impression of a haunted cave. Not a second later the lights came on, harsh fluorescent lights revealed that I was sitting in an empty classroom. There were numbers on the blackboard. And they were counting down.