Chapter 51: Infinite Lint

The only door slid closed. The blue lights pulsed.

Relja rushed to Vick5’s side to cast [Spell: Healing Winds II]. His health ticked up into the yellow, but his arm stayed with the gauntlet, partially fused to the wall.

“What happened?” Azwold said.

“I looked away two whole seconds and the door locked on us,” said DarkNeon, “that’s what.” She was inspecting it, looking for weaknesses and ways to use her lockpicking skills.

“I pushed too far into classified files,” said Vick5. “There must have been counter-espionage failsafes in place.”

“What about your arm?” I asked.

“Leave it. I’ll build a better one,” he said, shoving himself up with his remaining arm.

“Do you feel pain?” I asked. “Does your game interface produce pain sensations?”

“It does,” he said. “There are various levels of intensity, but few utilize the technology’s full capability.”

“Max pain requires a psych eval or something first, doesn’t it?” said DarkNeon.

“Affirmative,” said Vick5. “A more immediate concern: our actions locked the room and the entirety of my guild is aware of our presence now.”

“This stone ring is obviously some kind of portal, right?” said Relja. “It has similar vibes as the Remembering Ring’s stoneworks. Any ideas? Can we activate it?”

“I cannot read shadow glyphs,” I said. “Can anyone?”

“It seemed inert when I looked at it,” DarkNeon shrugged. “At least it won’t blow anyone’s arm off, I guess.”

I gazed from eye to eye, seeing nothing encouraging.

Then things grew dark. The fluorescent blue lines did not dim, their light simply failed to penetrate a deepening darkle. Then, instead of neon blue, we saw the mysterious glyphs on the stone ring carve themselves out of the dark in greyscale glow and impossible purples.

Something like flames wicked up the circle’s circumference, swirling and weaving. A shadow portal appeared, and several hooded forms emerged.

They said nothing, only gestured to the portal. My vision wisps had expired, leaving me to wonder how I saw them do anything. Though the hows of it were beyond me, everyone else had seen too. Confused faces glanced around, seeking confirmation on what to do.

“Quickly,” whispered one of the shadow mages, moving his paws in a slow, inky dance as he did. “We want our city back. Help us.”

“Where will the portal lead?” I asked.

“A disused laboratory. A different stone ring,” hissed another. “Go now.”

“Maintaining portal integrity is energy intensive,” said Vick5. “I would advise rapid acquiescence.”

Azwold ducked his head and walked through first, fading away in a smoky shimmer.

One-by-one, my party went, and soon it was my turn. I caught a hard-to-see glimpse of one of the shadowed faces, and gleaned hints of a fuzzy mask, whiskers like needles of stretched black glass.

With no time to ask questions, I moved into the portal. And into a dimension like sliding two sheets of parchment together, slipping into the darkness between. No air, no light, just empty greys and silent motion. We slid through Nevahj as if walls were nowhere, passing unseen and unheard until we were in another place, where we stepped out into a room like the one we had left.

I turned in time to see our shadowy guides departing back into the Shadow Realm. The last one handed me my own bone tablet, tapping a ragged black finger on the screen. It marked a map location, then the creature melted away into deeper darkness.

The ring lost its portal. The glyphs vanished.

“Great,” said DarkNeon. “Another random room.”

“Were those Animun?” I asked.

“Might have been,” said Relja.

“But they’re not supposed to be playable yet,” said DarkNeon. “Maybe they were friends of Ursa’s? Did we just get a free teaser?”

“Alpha or beta testers for the next expansion?” said Azwold. “Anyway, they’re gone now.”

“This feels safer,” said Relja, studying her map. “I think we’re in a part of town that Telemoon hasn’t converted, yet.”

“Affirmative,” said Vick5. “And this is an alchemy laboratory, not a Telemoon one.”

“Speaking of Alchemy,” said DarkNeon, “what’s that orange potion do, anyway? Can you test it out in this lab? Maybe it could help us?”

Relja took out Medett’s Enttang potion, and like usual, it was glowing of its own volition.

“Your quest is to add offerings from Earth Trees,” I said. “Is Gnarlroot named among them in game lore?”

“You know,” said Relja, “I think it might be.”

“When I was fighting Glassaur the Bronze, he cut off a sliver from my Barkskin. I saved it. Perhaps you might try adding it?”

“Do we know the consequence for adding a wrong ingredient?” asked Azwold.

“Well, considering we don’t even know what the potion does yet,” said DarkNeon, “doesn’t seem like it matters. We have a goddess to save and y’all are worrying about a potion?”

“Medett gave me a barkskin potion that turned the tide of an un-winnable battle,” I said. “I have learned to underestimate nothing.”

“Alright.” she said. “Do whatever you need to and let’s keep moving?”

“One of the shades marked my map,” I said, handing Relja my [Gnarlroot Shavings]. “It may be where the Charm mother is held. Concocting a plan before we go seems wise.”

“W3dge uploaded map information from his gauntlet to mine,” said Vick5, “but the overload rendered the transfer incomplete. Let us compare maps.”

“Hmm…” said DarkNeon. “Sending us secret help while throwing a fit? Looks like your buddy is a closet softy, too.”

“If Telemoon doesn’t know where we are,” said Azwold, “taking a breather seems wise. Gotta take stock and figure things out.”

Relja popped the cork on the brimming potion. Saturated citrus colors swirled within, melding with metallic golden glimmers. She slid my bark slivers in, and the potion became unreasonably oranger. A tiny drip rolled over the rim, down the glass, and to the floor.

“Uh oh,” DarkNeon started looking through her inventory. “Anyone got a napkin or something?”

“Better idea,” said Vick5. “May I analyze the sample?”

“I don’t see why not,” said Relja.

Vick5’s jeweler’s eyepiece slid over his eye and he scanned the tiny drop with his laser. “It is as I suspected. The molecular structure of this substance is functionally similar to the contents of a [Vial of Liquid Nano Bots].”

“Meaning what?” I said, intrigued by the implications.

“However, this liquid’s viscosity differs,” said Vick5, still analyzing the drop. “A drop of liquid nano bots cannot maintain sustained cohesion and tension outside of its bottle like this substance can.”

An idea came to me, helped along by the Rogue’s napkin comment. I dug into my pocket and pulled out a strand of [Purple Lint]. A duplicate item instantly appeared in my pocket.

“The stuff self-replicates,” I said.

“Infinite lint,” said DarkNeon. “cool.”

I bent down and dipped the end of the lint strand into the orange liquid, and it sucked up into the [Purple Lint].

“Nice,” said Relja. “Don’t wanna waste any…”

Several of my bees flew to the strand to investigate the honey-esque goop. Struggling against one another, almost fighting, bees ripped pollen-sized, soaked fibers, and then flew away. I saw one land on a canister of dried razor reed. And a miniature hole appeared in space, a little portal. The canister of herbs was sucked away into it, transported elsewhere. Another dimension, mayhap.

“How much of that lint can you pull?” asked DarkNeon.

“Are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?” asked Relja.

“That we could use this stuff to warp walls out of our way?” asked Azwold.

“Oh, that’s good. But no,” said Relja. “I was thinking it’s weird that the bees don’t get warped too.”

“Maybe it’s their connection to the Spirit Realm?” Azwold guessed. “Or because of the Eld’s strange status in game code? Who knows? But we can figure out a plan with this stuff.”

“Allow me to formulate a partial strategy?” said Vick5.

“Please do,” said Azwold.

“All Telemoon technology shares specific resonance signatures,” he said. “If we can direct your bee colony, then it may be possible to ‘tag’ certain devices or critical guild infrastructure and warp it out of game to wherever that canister of razor reed warped to.”

“I say pollinate every single thing Telemoon ever made and warp it on outta here,” said DarkNeon. “Let’s do this now.”

“The plan is strange,” said Azwold, “but I like it. I say we go one further. Eld, what if we bottle up your [Spell: Plunder Memory]? You can produce ectoplasmic sap through your finger vines. It may feel like when you had those phantom fingers crawling out, but it’s possible. I’ve seen you do it before when angered.”

“So we’ll teleport everything Telemoon’s ever made,” said Relja, “and then kick every guild member the bees can find offline? Forever?”

“This plan’s a little too good,” said DarkNeon. “We don’t know if we can train the bees to find the right targets. What if they go stinging innocent players?”

“I downloaded Telemoon’s current guild roster while plugged into the Continuum of Memory node. Please direct your entire colony to swarm my control gauntlet.”

“I thought you were afraid of the bees?” I said.

“I lost an arm approximately ten minutes ago and experienced the highest degree of pain my interface allows. No sacrifice seems too illogical at this juncture. Send the bees to my arm and I will impart them with resonance signatures, and Eld, come download the roster data. The bees are part of you. If you have the knowledge, they may gain access.”

Relja found an empty potion bottle and gave it to me to fill with vine sap. I clutched the bottle and attempted to focus my fingertip tendrils into it and ooze out some goo. But nothing happened.

“What if some of this vine goo gets on you?” I said, deflecting.

“We’ll be extra careful,” said DarkNeon, giving me a side eye. “But there’s nothing in there yet. Is there a problem?”

“Mayhap I lack the ability now?”

“Stage fright?” said DarkNeon.

“I could command you to do it,” said Azwold, “but you’re not my minion anymore, not exactly.”

“Think about whoever stole your bones,” said Relja. “You have to get mad, right?”

“Apologies,” I said. “Unbridled anger used to come naturally, but I have been working on myself, you know.”

“Think about Ralos and his ridiculous ego,” said DarkNeon. “That makes me feel all stabby in a heartbeat.” She barred her teeth, feigning a stab barrage.

“Remember Belvan’s words,” said Azwold. “We’re really up against it right now, Eld. Whatever it takes, let that old anger flow.”

“Telemoon stole you away from Karma’s wheel,” said Relja. “Think about that, about all the unfairness. Stolen bones, stolen destiny.”

“This world of thieves does aggravate me.”

“Aggravation ain’t gonna do it,” said DarkNeon. “Gimme the RAGE!”

“Rage!” Relja yelled.

“Embrace the rage!” Azwold said.

“Give in to emotion Gnarlroot_the_Eld,” said Vick5. “I was in Telemoon. I knew what they did to you. Direct your rage at me.”

But I had no rage for Vick5. Instead, I envisioned a goddess, trapped and tortured. I thought of Belvan and his warnings. I needed answers. I sought answers for my stolen bones.

“My bones!” I growled. “Where are my bones?!” I screamed, and the bottle shattered in my angry grip. A vine was severed, splatting to the floor in a sappy lavender glop.

“That’ll do,” said Azwold.

There was a sudden thump at the alchemy shop’s wall, rattling the opaque glass door. Shouts and clamor from outside grew nearer.

My colony was swarming from my chest cavity. Like assembly line workers, they flew from Vick5’s control gauntlet to the orange soaked lint, to my ectoplasm on the floor, double dipping the lint fibers and attaching them to their fuzzy leg parts like pollen.

When the door shattered inward, a phalanx of navy blue Telemoon uniforms rushed in, but my bees were angry. Bolstered by my own rage, they mustered a frenzy, stinging every enemy who entered. A blizzard of tiny portals erupted in the doorway, sucking Telemoon goons away like the ghosts of my yard during Azwold’s summoning ritual. They twirled in, shrinking as if circling the drain of miniature bottomless bathtubs.

“Brilliant!” DarkNeon hollered over the hubbub.

“Go on little bees!” Relja cheered. “Busy body buzzy buddies! Go get em, girls!”

Our immediate threat had been neutralized, but my ribcage hiveworks lay hollow.