Ten hours.

Ten hours Rich worked, trying to bend the game to his will. Trying to hit the exploits, using every app he could to hack the game.

Ten hours wasted.

The code was like water. He could study it, he could see what it was doing, but every time he tried to extract a copy and modify it, it faded the second he tried to download it through his Echo.

And it was frustrating because he could see the holes. Could see the places where it was poorly joined, put together with fragments and comments left in the production version, and blatant mistakes that were documented from years ago.

Nothing.

He could modify his UI all he liked, twist the graphical output so that everyone in the game looked like they had cabbages for heads, or spoke in fart noises, but none of that was worth a damn. It was all client side modding.

No matter what he did, nothing touched the game itself. And he couldn't understand why.

The only place where his efforts had some slight success was the cash shop. And after a little digging, it became obvious that part of the game was secured to an extent he had only seen in military-grade systems before. No, to be honest, he'd known military-grade systems with worse encryption.

Rich figured he could maybe do something with it, given time and patience and caution. And not right now because sweet God, was his brain fried. He started closing his apps and looked up...

...and noticed two things.

Firstly, the light was shining in through the mouth of the cave.

Secondly the shadow of a woman was visible on the wall of the cave. A woman with antlers. He did know two of those, but this wasn't carrying a spear so he expected it was Agnez, waiting for her answer.

“Shit,” he started to mutter, then cut off. He didn't know how shifting into a human affected her perception, but she'd shown that she was scary good before.

He wanted to log out. He really, really wanted to log out. But it wouldn't be fair to drop Rotgoriel into this. She'd be upset that he hadn't followed through with his agreement.

It hadn't missed his notice that she'd been trying to manipulate him earlier, with that flirting. If that was the carrot, he really didn't want to see the stick.

Fuck, he decided. Then he sighed.

“Pray to Konol,” he muttered.

And every active monitoring app in his suite went wild.

Eyes wide, Rich ignored the fading effect on the local graphics, and the crackling in the air as he pulled up one app after another, gathering pages on pages of code that was on a completely different level from the mess he'd just spent the night scanning. “For once prayer was the answer,” Rich muttered to himself, and chuckled.

“It may be the answer, but what is the question?” Konol asked.

Rich considered it, turning in place, trying to guess where the voice would come from. “Easy enough, and I'm pretty sure I know the answer already.”

“Try me.”

“You're a hell of a lot chattier than you are in the login screen.”

“I am bound, there, in more ways than one. I am bound here as well, but not as thoroughly.”

“Right. Okay. So... getting this over with. Is there any way for Agnezsharron to become a player?”

“Yes.”

“Got it, thanks. Yeah, thought so, I'll have to break it to her—” Rich's mind slipped a gear. “Wait, what?”

“I said yes. There are several ways for her to become a player. One of them is even within your grasp... will be soon, at any rate.”

“How?” Rich whispered.

“I did tell you I was still constrained, did I not?”

“God damn it.”

“No.”

“I mean... you can't tell me, can you?” He asked that, but his stomach was twisting, and...

“...you do not want this answer,” the god finished his thought.

“This was a mistake,” Rich whispered.

“On the contrary. I cannot cross over to your world, Richard Royal. I am not one of these Aieees that you fear.”

“It's pronounced Eh Eyes,” Rich corrected, then shut his mouth. “Shit.”

“Can't do that either, sorry. Haven't eaten in millennia.”

Rich laughed, and laughed, and realized that he was maybe a bit hysterical. “I shouldn't be doing this. This is... this is a risk.”

“You're the one who wanted power. It is not my fault your path to power led you to dark room full of knives.”

“It kind of is, at least some of it. You're the one who told me to be a Cultist. And a dragon. Which is evidently a no-no for dragons. Like Cleric, which you told Rotgoriel to take!”

“I never directly told him to do that, but it helps. It makes things much, much easier on my end. He is a good child.”

“But you pushed me into the Cultist job. That gave me more troubles than powers.”

“Did it now?”

“Come on! I've got a bunch of half-assed support skills, and everything that's useful requires a sacrifice of some sort! Where's the force lightning and shit?”

“Level fifteen. But we don't call it that.”

Rich fought back more laughter. And absurdly, he felt a bit better. “Okay, okay, that makes it sting a little less.”

“What does it mean to be a Cultist?”

“Shit, I don't know. Evil git who skulks around and can't think of anything to do with a cute virgin beyond carve her heart out.”

“That is a stereotype. Think harder. Words have meaning, Richard Royal. Your world's magic is entirely about words, their symbolism and their meaning and roots. Words have power, Richard Royal. What is the meaning of Cultist? Think.”

Rich rolled his eyes, and reached for his web browser. “Definition-wise? Let me pull up the dictionary.” But the app spun and spun, unable to connect. “Huh. Strange. Are you blocking me from doing this?”

“Not directly, no.”

“Cultist. It means a member of a cult, right?”

“And what is the root of a cult? What is the meaning of the word?”

“Cult. Occult?”

“Yes... It is the definition of that you should be more interested in. The original definition, not the one that has fallen to slang and misuse.”

Rich thought it over. “I don't know.”

“It means 'hidden knowledge,' Richard Royal. Thus, a Cultist is one who focuses on hidden knowledge. A Cultist's true power lies in uncovering truths no one else will dare, and controlling their spread.”

Rich blinked. “I didn't know that.”

“Then it is a good thing that you prayed to me, finally. Now you do.”

“You level up by doing the things your job should do,” Rich said, turning around again. He couldn't make out where Konol's voice was coming from. No matter where he looked, it was always somewhere else.

It didn't help that his gaze kept being pulled back to the churning apps, and the code they were capturing. He could tell at a glance that it was elegant, and he yearned to dive into it.

“And what are you doing right now?” Konol asked, amused.

“I am... learning. Learning hidden knowledge,” Rich breathed, as he pulled open the first of many, many samples and scanned the symbols inside.

You are now a level 11 Cultist!

CHA+3

INT+3

LUCK+3

“And there you go,” Konol said. “You have access to a method of gaining vast amounts of experience that few sacrifices could even dream of. You are welcome.”

Rich felt his smile fading. “Sacrifices.”

A deep sigh. “Yes. It was not always so, but now this is the way of things. For now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am bound, Richard Royal, and cannot—”

“Cannot answer the question. Got it.” Rich rolled his eyes, then stopped. The god had been helpful. More than helpful. He could powerlevel while hacking! This was huge.

Of course, he had to find hackable targets, first. The game itself was off limits, but using Prayer had shown a weakness, a loophole that he could probably exploit. Somehow. After he analyzed all the rest of this code... which would bring him even MORE experience...

“Yes. But not a lot. Nothing like what you'd gain from oh, say, uncovering the secrets of a city that has been frozen between heartbeats.”

“And there it is.” Rich closed his eyes. “This is why you brought me here.”

“I did not bring you here. That was done by another. By the way, you should probably go talk with him, before Agnezsharron gets involved.”

“What?” Rich asked.

Voices echoed from a far distance. Agnez' raised and shrill. Greg's, calm and unimpressed. And a word drifted through the thin air, that crack between worlds.

“Nerguin.”

“End Prayer,” Rich snapped. He wasn't sure if that would work, but it did, and reality faded back in.

“I am next! He must answer me before he goes anywhere!” Agnez was loud, but Greg did not seem to care.

“He doesn't have to do a damn thing, and this is time sensitive. I think you need to calm down, lady.”

“I got this,” Rich said, emerging from the cave and blinking in the sunlight. “Agnez. He said it's possible. But he wouldn't tell me how.”

She had a cute face, he noticed. Especially when it was lit up with glee. Pushing thoughts of her earlier flirtation out of his mind, he snapped his wings to place one pinion between Greg and Agnez. “I'll keep investigating it,” he promised. “Okay Greg, what's this about Nerguin?”

“You need to come with me,” he said, crouching a bit to look under his wing at Agnez' feet, keeping pace. “You know who he really is?”

“Oh yeah. Where's Cole?”

“Beats me, I think I saw him slinking around in the valley earlier. You want me to go get him?”

“No, fuck no. Nerguin. What's this about Nerguin?”

Dragons were not very good at whispering. Rich threw a glance around, saw Agnez following them at a distance, saw heads peering out from windows in Fimble. But they mostly weren't looking at him, instead peering into the empty spot that passed for a town square.

“He walked into town a few minutes ago. Said he wanted to apologize for trying to kill you. That he needed to talk. He knew your name, Rich. He's the guy that took a shot at you!”

“Yeah, I know,” Rich said. “Look. I'll tell you what I can later. More securely.”

“No need, I can listen.”

“You've got class in five. What are you doing still playing, anyway?”

“I was about to log off when this went down. I can call in sick.”

“No, I've got this. Go.”

“You're sure?” Greg shot him a look, craning up to do it. It was really uncanny looking at him from this angle, this close. His character was a big man, sturdy and strong, clad in bronzed plate. Every inch the Knight, every bit an imposing tank... but nothing more than a toddler by comparison. Small, frail, easy to break.

“I've got this. He can't do anything to me here that I can't fix,” Rich said. “Go. Promise I'll be fine.”

Greg nodded, slapped Rich's scaly side, and faded out.

“I'll never get used to that,” Agnez remarked.

“Now's not the time,” Rich said as he passed between the buildings.

Pat stood there over a crouched figure, shaking a mace in his face and whispering threats. Michael stood to the side of the figure, spear ready, eyes not leaving the target. The figure, for his part, held still with his hands behind his head.

Nerguin was much as Rich remembered him. White furs, gray wraps, blue eyes peering over a face-mask that covered everything below his nose. He had no bow on his back this time, or any other weapon. The man knelt on the frozen stones, watching Rich approach with an inscrutable gaze. His name was bright red.

Nerguin – Assassin 17

Cutter. More accurately, Cutter's character.

“You've gone up a few levels since last time,” Rich rumbled.

“I've been busy,” Cutter said. “We need to talk.”

“Why, so you can trick me into giving you another shot at me?” Rich felt anger flare in his chest. “I trusted you, you jackass. And I'm damned if I know why.”

“I came here in good faith. And you need to hear what I'm going to tell you.”

“Good faith. Good Faith. There's no such thing, when it comes to your department, is there?”

“You can kill me here if it makes you feel better,” Cutter offered. “Or after you hear me out. I really don't care. But this is a one-time opportunity, Rich. Decide now.”

He was tired.

His head throbbed.

He really, really wanted to log off and crash.

But every instinct told him that Cutter wasn't lying.

“All right,” Rich said, coming to a decision. “Let's go.”

“What?” Pat said. “You can't be serious.”

“Back up. I've got this.”

And with that, Rich reached out and wrapped a hand carefully around Nerguin, then flew up into the sky.

Cutter squawked in surprise, and held on for dear life.

“Wise choice,” Rich growled. “I'm not too nimble. Might drop you at some point here. Make it quick.”

Incoming Message From: Pat >>Riiiiiiich?

>>I've got this. I'll record the whole thing for you and Greg.

>>Okay man. Okay. Just... don't get stupid here.

“Start talking,” Rich prompted, giving the man a shake.

“Easier to show you,” Cutter said.

Incoming File From: Metatron01. Accept y/n?

“No,” Rich said. “You're an idiot if you think I'll take that. Be easy for you if I fried my own brain, wouldn't it?”

“Not my intention. All right, we'll do this the hard way. You need to leave here and run like hell. I have allies who can get you to safety, and once secured we can figure out a more long-term solution.”

“Like a bullet through my skull.”

“That was a bad call. A hasty decision.”

“It was sloppy, too. Not like you. Not a single shot hit.”

“I'm not a sniper. And Waverly's security systems would have detected me if I'd brought an electronic scope.”

The wind whistled past them, as they went up.

Cutter tensed, and a yellow '1' slid from his skull.

“And it would have worked,” Cutter said. It sounded like he was gritting his teeth under the wrap. “But you opened the blinds with your right arm, not your left. Days on end you used your left arm, peered in from the right side. This one time, you did the opposite. Let me guess, the dragon was driving you around then?”

Rich didn't answer. He beat his wings harder, and another yellow '1' popped out of Cutter.

“We saw him. We saw him in the footage from the burn field, back then,” Cutter said.

“What?” Rich hesitated, and his wings skipped a bit. Cutter shuddered in his grip, held on for dear life.

DEX+1

“Thermovoltaic sights. We were field testing them, got them from Dixie under the counter. Black market tech, for favors. At first we thought it was distortion. It wasn't. But we didn't know that until later. Not until we found more monsters walking around in human skins.”

“I've been briefed on you. You think I'm an AI. Half the time, anyway.” Rich snorted. It took a little effort, the air was getting thinner.

“No. Not any more.”

“So you had a change of heart right after the shot? How convenient.”

“By the time I contacted you I no longer thought AI's were.. involved.” his voice was a bit strained, now. A yellow '4' slipped up and away.

“That's not what I've heard.”

“Let me guess. They'll tell you I killed five men and ran?”

“Four.”

“Good, they haven't found the last one then,” Cutter gasped.

“You're not helping your case.”

“They weren't men by the time they came hunting me. Not any longer.”

“Oh? Then what?”

“I don't know.”

Rich paused, hovering as best he could, eyeing the frost forming on Cutter's wraps.

“Fuck,” he decided, and darted downward. “Why here? Why did you send me here?”

“I was trying to disrupt the prophecy.”

“Prophecy? Come on now...”

“It's in there. That file I sent you.”

“Tell me NOW.”

“No time.”

“Then sum up quickly!”

“The city's got three parts, each with different rewards. Opening each part requires its own individual draconic sacrifice. The first part opens to the heartsblood of a dragon. The last one opens to the heartsblood of something they call a living blasphemy.”

“A what?”

“You.”

“The hell is that supposed to...” Rich's voice trailed off.

Dragons are not Cultists! Dragons are not Clerics! Agnez had said.

“Shit.”

“That's why the Warmers need you alive. They were the ones who hunted down that prophecy.”

“How did you hear about it?”

“I Joined them. Then betrayed them.”

“You're good at that.”

“They're infected too. The one in the mask isn't human anymore. Or if she is, it's only half the time. They won't stop hunting you. I can get you to safety. Figure out a way to end this plague. Stop them before it's too late.” Cutter glanced over at the air. “I'm going to have to go soon. Are you in or not?”

“You tried to send me here to get me out of the way.”

“Yes. And to open up the first part of the city. I figured they would spend long enough distracted by that they wouldn't go looking for you until it was too late.”

“If it's so horrible, why open it?”

“With their resources they can find a dragon easily. Hell, there's one here already. And I was on-scene already, I figured I could sneak in and loot what they wanted out of the place before they got there.”

“The secret of guilds... hidden knowledge...”

“Yes. I could take it and log off, never play the character again. Permanently put it beyond their reach. Look, it's all there in the file. Along with an invitation.”

“An invitation.”

“You're not with them, one of the few I can guarantee is clear of contamination. Their sort of contamination, anyway. Killing you at this point is a waste, without knowing how you came to be in the first place. I tried it to buy time, but if we can secure you, get you out of the Ministry, study you... maybe figure out— shit. I'm gone. Kill me quickly.”

“What?”

“Kill me. I'm logging off in ten, nine, eight...”

Rich considered it up until “four, three,” and made his choice.

Cutter splattered nicely on the mountainside below.

And Rich stared down after him.

He'd gotten answers.

But he had no clue how many of them were lies.