Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune

“Thank you for taking the time to see me,” Marcus said with his usual smile, “I know how busy you all must be.”

The Regressor nodded, “Thank you for being here. I assume you know why we wanted to meet you already?”

“Only the surface-level things,” he answered, “I can normally perceive much more, but your group is special, always hidden, but I can feel great potential in the four of you.”

“Then I’ll make our plans clear to you,” Jae-Hyun continued, “We wish to establish an organization that will control every facet of Pandora and become a force that will guide the Aspirants in the future.”

Marcus stared straight into the Regressor, as if he could see something that I couldn’t. He thought for a second before slowly nodding, “I see.”

“The upcoming Trials will be trying, and I need everyone on the same page to succeed. We cannot allow others to do as they please when our very survival is at stake, and for that, we need someone to lead them.”

“And you wish for my help in leading those lesser-Aspirants, correct?”

“Yes,” he replied, “I need you to guide them into the right path.”

Which I’m sure meant his path, regardless of what the people wanted themselves. Now was the priest going to be ok with such a radical approach?

Jae-Hyun looked at the priest hard in the eyes, “So you approve of our little guild?”

He thought for a moment longer before finally agreeing, “If Walter hadn’t already convinced me, then seeing you most certainly did. It is a noble cause that you are pursuing, one that will be difficult without my aid. Many will push back if they ever realize what you are doing, so I will help you in this endeavor and ensure that no one will find out.”

The Regressor smiled, “Good, then you’re a part of the guild now.”

“Thank you, Guild leader.”

“You know what you need to do right now?”

“The flock are in turmoil and they need a guiding voice to bring them to heel,” Marcus said calmly, “I shall be that voice. I shall guide them so that they will behave when you call for them.”

“Go,” Jae-Hyun, “You know what to do.”

Marcus got up and quickly left the building.

Wait… was that it? The exchange between him and Jae-Hyun didn’t last longer than maybe 60 seconds. Where was the exchange of information or negotiating of terms? Jae-Hyun made it seem like I had to get this guy on our side at all costs, yet when I finally meet him the whole exchange was over in less than a minute? Noel and Vadeem looked equally confused. They didn’t get more than a word of two off in that entire exchange.

Jae-Hyun noticed our confusion and clarified, “The priest sees the world… differently than we do. Please excuse his odd behaviours.”

“Uh, I know how sensitive you are towards Yoona,” I said, “Are you sure you’re ok with her interacting with Marcus?”

Vadeem looked at me with confusion, “What do you mean?”

“I mean how goddamn creepy the guy is!” I answered, “Did you not see that?”

“Yeah,” Noel agreed, “He was kind of sus, never seen anyone like him before, but my little bro’s right, he’s definitely creepy.”

Now Vadeem’s confusion increased as he furrowed his brows, “He seemed nice enough to me. A little taciturn sure, but looked like a nice enough fellow.”

Was Vadeem seeing the same thing as I was? In no universe was Marcus anything other than creepy and weird.

“Jae-Hyun,” I asked, “He was super creepy for you as well, right?”

“That’s one way of putting it,” he answered slowly, “But the fact that you could see through his skill means that you have more Charisma than I thought, Walter.”

“Wait,” Vadeem added, “So he’s using some kind of skill on us? But how come Noel noticed it too? I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t have much Charisma at all.”

Noel poked a finger into the big man’s ribs, “Hey! I totally do! I got like, a trillion points of Charisma! It’s why everyone loves me.”

The Regressor ignored her, “No, Noel and I have abilities that mitigate outside forces from influencing our minds, it’s why we were fine for the most part in the second Trial.”

“But you’re saying that a high Charisma also counters whatever Marcus has going on?”

“Yes, but it’s got to be really high to do that,” he replied, “What’s your attribute at now, Walter?”

“Uh, with all the bonuses I got, it averages around 120,” I answered truthfully, “but that doesn’t seem all that high. Vadeem’s got, what, 300 strength now?”

He smirked, “434 now! I’m starting to fear my own abilities!”

“And I’m starting to fear that you’re getting stupider. You probably have negative intelligence, Vadumb,” Noel added, “All that muscle’s taking away any nutrients that would normally go to your brain.”

“Then I just have to eat enough for both!” Vadeem grinned.

“Yup…” Noel sighed, “You’re a lost cause.”

I ignored the two bickering friends and asked, “So he’s got like four times my attributes in Strength, how is my puny 120 points high at all?”

Jae-Hyun shook his head, “Physical stats are a lot easier to accumulate than the more nebulous ones like intelligence and Charisma. There’s no job that I know of that increases that attribute like Strength of Dexterity. I think Walter has some of the highest Charisma stats among all the Aspirants right now.”

Well, that made me feel a little better. I’m also willing to bet that Marcus also had some insane Charisma scores of his own. Now that I think about it, my abilities and Marcus’ seem to overlap a lot. Was the Regressor’s original plan to have the creepy priest guy do what I’ve been doing before he met me? It would make sense since I was never originally supposed to even exist in Jae-Hyun's mind.

“So what does his skill do?” I asked.

I knew that at this point Noel and Vadeem trusted anything that Jae-Hyun said without question. All of us no longer cared about how he was getting the information that he’s getting. Jae-Hyun’s ability to earn the respect and admiration of the people he interacts with was quite laudable, especially given how serious he generally is.

“It’s hard to explain,” he muttered in thought, “Think of it like a barrier that distorts how people view him. If you don’t have a skill to counter his, or enough Charisma to counteract it altogether, then you’ll see him as any normal priest.”

“Wait, so I’m seeing a fake version of the guy?” Vadeem asked, “Should I keep my guard up against him?”

“No,” the Regressor answered firmly, “He’s officially a part of our guild now, and he will never betray us as long as he is with us.”

“Never?” I asked, uncertain how that could be possible, “That’s hard to believe.”

“Believe it or not, it’s the truth,” he answered simply, “You’ll quickly see that Marcus doesn’t operate like the norm.”

“So he’s like Noel then,” Vadeem mumbled, “Wonderful.”

“Hey!” the girl added, “I’m totally less crazy than that dude! Even I can see that!”

“Alright,” Vadeem said slowly, “If you say so, boss. Our guild’s not exactly normal in the first place, so I’m sure having an extra weirdo won’t make too much of a difference.”

“Speaking of which,” I added, “Shouldn’t we let Marcus know about sleeping arrangements and all that? In fact, he hasn’t even met the other three members.”

The Regressor shook his head, “I’ll call for a guild meeting in a few hours. Yoona and the twins are still busy helping out with the aftermath right now, and I believe Marcus will be busy on the sidelines as well. I’ll send everyone a message over the system and we can have our introductions then. There’s something I want to show you now that we’ve settled in properly.”

“Oo,” Noel whistled, “What is it? Is it a super awesome surprise?”

“Something like that,” he replied with a small smile, “It’ll be useful for our growth in the future in any case.”

“Cool!”

Now I was even wondering what he wanted to show us. Jae-Hyun must have prepared something special if it’s important enough for the whole guild to be notified, but it doesn’t seem like he’ll tell us right now.

After being dismissed, the three of us decided to spend some time exploring the new building. Now that most of the staff had arrived, a lot of the stores and amenities that were empty could be used, so Noel, Vadeem and I decided to see just what we had available for us in this huge building we practically stole.

Of course, Vadeem wanted to check out the gym first, and it was as impressive as any facility that I’ve seen back on Earth. It also passed the Vadeem test, and we had to practically drag him away from all the fancy new equipment. It wasn’t an easy task. We also passed by various stores, spas, medical offices, and more office space than I knew what to do with, although we only took cursory glances in those places.

What we did decide to end our little tour of the building on was the pool and hottub. These were a little too inviting not to try out for ourselves. It was a nice way for the three of us to unwind after a long day.

True to his word, the Regressor sent us a message a few hours later. However, instead of meeting at the lounge like normal, he told us to meet him all the way up at the 14th floor. I don’t believe any of us had been up there yet, seeing as there really wasn’t a point to do so. The three of us changed and headed to see what this so-called surprise would be.

The elevator took us to the designated floor, and it was the same series of corporate hallways that greeted us. I saw that Yoona was already with the Regressor, and the twins popped out from around the corner when they heard the noise. They immediately went to Vadeems side, much to the big man’s amusement. He ruffled their hair and flexed his muscles in greeting.

Marcus was the last to arrive. He still looked horribly off to me, but whatever skill he had seemed to be working on the three girls, because they just greeted the man like they normally would. I think even Noel shuddered when she saw him.

“First of all,” the Regressor began, “Thank you for taking the time to see me in the middle of the night.”

Noel gave him a thumbs up but the rest of us didn’t speak.

“Noel and Vadeem’s already met the Priest,” Jae-Hyun continued as he faced the three girls, “but he will be the newest and final member of our core group. I’m sure we will all have time later to make proper introductions.”

“Hello father,” Yoona said with a smile, “I’m Yoona, it’s nice to meet you, and welcome to the Abyss guild. Sorry about the ominous name, it wasn’t my idea. The two beside me are mute, but they’re Ana and Eva.”

Marcus smiled his signature smile and shook Yoona’s hand, “Pleasure is all mine, I hope to work with all of you all thoroughly in the future.”

“So what’s the surprise, boss!” Noel said impatiently, “I wanna see it!”

“I was getting to that,” he said, “Follow me please.”

We did, and Jae-Hyun led us to a discreet door at the end of one of the hallways. He unlocked it and we entered a huge room. The gym-sized place must take up at least 3 or 4 floors in height, and in the middle of the otherwise empty space was a huge metallic sphere.

Various cables ran across and into the structure, and a small control panel was hooked up to it. Next to the control panel was a small slot, it was empty at the moment and I’m pretty sure that something was supposed to be housed there.

I could spot a small door leading to the interior, while a larger screen was hooked up to its side. Perhaps this was to show what was going on inside the thing when it’s turned on? Still, it looked fancy, and I’m sure that it does something amazing. Jae-Hyun went to the controls and gestured to the machine.

“This,” he said with an uncharacteristic smile, “is why I wanted the building.”

 

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