XIII – Does a Heart of Stone weigh you down?

Previously on ‘Glitch’:

Edward discovers there is no class at school because Glitchers were reported nearby. He comes home and finds out that Sammy, now allied with GEO, is threatening to hurt Adela if the boy refuses to go meet them. Desperate, Edward tries to warn Adela as she rode on Brad’s (her boyfriend) convertible. Without success, Edward turns into Thief King, for ‘everyone stops for the King’.

After some property damage and a verbal quarrel, Adela takes the side of Thief King. She noticed that Brad cared more about his car than anything else. The girl takes her mysterious new friend to Sammy’s house—where Adela had a supposed school assignment with Sammy—to apply medicaments. Thief King uses that opportunity to trap Adela in a long daydream using the Fire of Mourgiana A.I Glitch.

Edward and Thief King explore Sammy’s chambers and unsuspicious that the girl could be a threat, they head straight to the address of the meeting!

What will happen now?

- / Glitch - /

“I’ve been thinking about what we’ve talked this last weekend,” remarked Edward, speaking in Thief King’s head as the man picked the lock of the fence from the abandoned amusement park at Hughes Road 222. “Judging by what we saw in Sammy’s house, money doesn’t seem to make people better. Maybe you are right: being poor is just an excuse for me to do not try being happy. Mom would have probably scolded me over something else if we had an extra box of disinfectants. And Adela would have still chosen Brad over me because I acted so puny that she did not even notice I was there—”

The fence of the amusement park at Hughes Road 222 opened as if ghastly servants opened the door to welcome Thief King into their realm.

“—you’re great, Elizabeth! You picked that lock?”

“It was already open, Toothpick,” remarked Thief King, thoughtful. He searched his surroundings and noticed that tidy full bowls of old dog food littered the ground, even though there were no animals nearby. “Something’s off. There is no bloody way squatters would leave this place empty. Something must be something keeping them out. And it’s not dogs,” he concluded, looking away and studying his surroundings before every step.

“Are you sure that there are no angry dogs around? Maybe they ate their leashes and freed themselves.”

Thief King glanced at a broken chain. Many metal bonds were missing without traces as if they had ceased to exist. “Do dogs in Chicago eat metal?”

“Strange,” said Edward, nervous. He felt as if a threat hid behind every ruined tent and broken machine in the abandoned amusement park. “You know, this place reminds me of those documentaries about empty ships that appear on the sea from time to time. You know those shows that appear in completely unrelated outlets. I think that the crew in those ships must have made a trip to another world and disappeared. I once read that Glitchers sometimes find completely different worlds through glitches. There is that Glitcher called Polo who writes a blog about the places he visits…”

“I know who Polo is. His trips are made up,” said Thief King. “But the places are real.”

“W-What do you mean?”

“Most Wrong Warp Glitch Rifts, like the one you found when you were pursuing Adela, are like portals to a nearby place. Yet Glitchers and Normals often find passageways to legendary realms and return with wild stories that can never be proven, except by some.”

“Some?”

“Some Glitchers are capable to visit those worlds without the gateway itself,” replied Thief King, smirking maliciously. He rose his head and eyed the cabin that hanged closer to the skies on a distant Ferris-wheel. “Isn’t that right, GEO?”

“What? Who did you just talk to—”

A shadow cast around Thief King. The purple-eyed man looked back and saw GEO, the man who had started the mutiny against Elizabeth, standing less than one-step behind him.

Edward flinched. “I-I-Is that who I think it is?” he mumbled, outspoken.

“That is who you think you are,” replied Thief King, narrowing his eyes at the traitor who stood behind him. “That is the most bloody pathetic ungrateful scoundrel that has ever walked the Earth. So flat that he envies a squashed roach—”

“That is GEO! I can’t believe it! Ask for an autograph!” said Edward, ecstatic.

“What now?”

“I cosplayed him for two years straight! He is so cool!” said the boy, thrilled. “You just need the sunglasses and the dark coat to look like him! I even got to the semi-finals in a contest! Everyone was impressed and they wanted to take pictures with me! But wait a moment,” he faltered. “What is he doing here?”

“Bloody hell.”

GEO narrowed his eyes at Thief King and rose the voice, “I knew you would be too foolish to die.”

The purple-eyed man smirked. He replied, “My desire for revenge alone has kept me breathing. I must thank you for coming to me. It will make my revenge swifter, your pain longer and also”—he glanced at his foe’s eyes—“you have something that belongs to me, Geralt. Or should I call you Cassim?” she referred to the treacherous brother of Ali Baba from the legend of the 40 Thieves, whose greed led to his own demise.

“Once again, you are short-sighted, vindictive and impulsive. Gallant’s death has made you a compass without a north. I do not regret demanding the rudder of the ship. I was saving our own circle from your own stubbornness and pride.”

“Do you still write your own speeches, Senator GEO? No matter how much fluff you add, a coward will never fit a hero’s clothes. You are a sellout.”

“I want you to tell me where you are hiding the Heart in a Vat. You’ll either give it to me, or to someone else. It is only a matter of time before others find you. Gallant would have—”

“Stood by my side. Like he always did.”

Edward flinched as he heard the passion in Thief King’s voice. “Gallant? One of my plushies? You two are talking about him?”

The boy’s questions were like the wind for Thief King, whose eyes and ears dedicated themselves to nothing but his foe. He saw numbers hovering over GEO’s head:

GEO rested a hand on his sunglasses. “This is your last chance to do what Gallant would tell you to and retire,” he announced, expressionless. “No flame is supposed to last forever.”

“Someone else will come, GEO? Don’t make me laugh,” teased Thief King, yanking a nail from his pocket. “After what I do to you, no one will come.”

Thief King toyed with a nail. “If you have two bullets, a traitor and an enemy in a room”—he narrowed his eyes at his foe—“shoot the traitor twice.”

He threw the nail at GEO’s hand that held the sunglasses. The metal object opened a tiny wound on the man’s skin. “Just enough,” judged Thief King as reality distorted around him and his opponent. “Mourgiana!”

GEO groaned. The pain of the wound that the nail had opened refused to end. Instead, the man felt as if nails rained on the same spot and dilacerated his flesh. He felt dazed.

“Now it is your chance, Elizabeth!” said Edward.

Thief King elbowed his foe’s chin and took him off balance. “Your turn, Toothpick! ISG him now!” said Thief King, closing his eyes and turning into the frail Edward Williams once again.

The boy faltered as he faced his foe. “A-Alright,” said Edward, outstretching his right fist to punch his enemy. Yet his arm refused to stretch all the way, for he realized that he jolted his arm to hurt another human being. “What am I doing?” he asked himself, feeling as if his heart tightened and his limbs paralyzed like stone.

“What are you doing, Toothpick?” shouted Elizabeth, speaking again from inside his head. “Attack—”

GEO grabbed Edward’s static fist and crushed his fingers as if they were playdoh.

“Argh!” the boy screamed loud, trying to pull his arm away from the Glitcher’s grasp.

“Toothpick, focus!” pleaded Elizabeth. “Let me retake control!”

Edward replied, “I-I can’t, Elizabeth! I’m so sorry! It hurts too much—”

GEO grabbed the boy’s neck and lifted him off his feet. The man’s sunglasses slipped off and he faced Edward without any filters or censorships—Glitcher to Amateur, man to Child. Reality unmade itself around them.

“W-W-Wait, where did we go?” asked Edward, swinging his head left and right. He looked down and saw himself hovering over an abyss. The darkness stared back at him and he felt paralyzed. GEO’s hand grasping the boy’s neck was the only strength that prevented him from descending into the depths of wherever he was.

“Try ignoring this dreary first impression,” said GEO, trying to ignore the bleeding wound on his chin that Thief King’s elbow opened. “My name is Geralt, yet most know me for my rogue name, GEO. I am yet to understand your relation with Thief Queen, but maybe I can do with you what I could not with her: reason.”

“L-Let me go!” pleaded Edward, shaking himself.

“Beware your wishes for they might come true, child,” said GEO, glancing at the endless abyss below the boy’s feet. “Your life is in my hands and I have the upper hand on our bargain.”

“I-I won’t deal with you!”

“You will give me the Heart in a Vat and I shall leave you alone forever.”

Edward snorted, “I-I don’t know what any of this is! Let me go!”

“You don’t know what is happening? So Thief Queen did not trust you enough to tell you anything? She put your life on the line without explaining your role in all this?”

“Don’t listen to this dimwit, Edward!” groaned Elizabeth, speaking in the boy’s head.

“T-Thief Queen?” faltered Edward, narrowing his eyes at GEO. “You mean”—he recoiled—“Elizabeth?”

GEO heaved a loud sigh. “You were fast to find another pawn for your games, Thief Queen,” he said, narrowing his eyes at the boy. “It is time for you to know my side of this story, Edward Williams.”

Tables for the Table Gods:

Spoiler: Spoiler

Edward's Stat Cards:

Edward (Thief King Mode)'s Stat Card: