Maya followed Hara across the valley and into the cleft at the far end where the water flowed away into the cliffside. The rift was deep, but sunlight still filtered down from above, making it dim but not too dark to see.

“Do you ever regret becoming a trickster?” Maya asked as they walked.

Hara laughed scornfully. “What else would I have done? Go with something boring and generic? No one advances as fast as tricksters. No one has as many advantages. Look at Cydrin! He only started playing, what, eight months ago and he’s already top 3. I wouldn’t be surprised if he beats everyone out for tier 7. And another year from now, that could be me.”

“Right, but does it ever feel restrictive? Having Domitius treat you as a resource to be ordered about, the Trickster always sending you about at a whim, needing to hide under a mask or NPCs run away? Wouldn’t it be easier if you could just … do something else?”

Hara snorted. “Sounds like you’re the one who wants out.”

“Well, not exactly. I mean, I don’t mind being a trickster.”

“So it’s Domitius that you have issues with? I can understand that. He’s very driven, very focused. You can’t expect him to spare the time for noobs like us. What do you want to talk about? I’m not the best person for this kind of thing. But I was assigned to help you so I’ll do my best.”

Perhaps it was the time and distance, playing as Mayon, the extended time away in the tutorial, then the letdown of falling back into bad luck and so many obligations and restrictions that she didn’t know where to turn. Or maybe she’d just never realized how lonely she really was. Maya hadn’t planned on giving away anything, but even if she could be grumpy and demanding, Hara seemed like just another person.

“Are you soulbound?”

“I did bind my sword, figured it would be worth the price to know it’s safe.”

“No, not items. You. Are you soulbound?”

“I don’t have any pets.”

“No, not pets. You. Hara. Has the Trickster or Domitius soulbound you to anything, or are you working with them freely?”

Hara paused. “That can’t be real. Soulbinding is for things you don’t want to lose, not other players. There’s no way to soulbind each other, otherwise this would be a much darker world.”

Maya laughed humorlessly. “Oh, would it.”

Hara turned to her. “You’re having me on, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m serious. The Trickster soulbound this character to his class, and Domitius soulbound me to follow his orders.”

Hara exhaled. “Well, that I know is false. You ignored me for an entire day even after I verified that I had the authority to reassign you.”

Maya opened her beak to continue arguing, but stopped herself. Her question was answered, even if Hara didn’t believe her. It wasn’t standard practice to soulbind everyone, it would seem. The Trickster presumably reserved that for troublemakers; Domitius for those turned against their will.

She was just unfortunate enough to belong to both those categories.

“So you joined Domitius freely, and can leave at any time?”

Hara gave her a suspicious look. “Well, I’d have to pay severance if I don’t fulfill my contract, but if it was important, yes. Are you trying to recruit me for something underhanded?”

“No, no. Just trying to assess. I wasn’t brought in by normal means, I suppose you could say. Having my loyalty magically enforced is grating.”

Hara shook her head and resumed walking. “There’s no loyalty spell. There aren’t any mental spells. Everything is either attack or utility.”

“Domitius has a soulbinder working for him. It’s not a spell, it’s like … like if I were his pet.”

“Now you’re just being overly dramatic.”

Maya took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. She didn’t want to start shouting, but she was really tired of no one believing or understanding what she had to deal with.

They walked on in silence for several seconds, their faintly echoing footsteps and the burbling trickle of the stream beside them the only sounds.

“You aren’t secretly a story roleplayer, are you?” Hara asked at last. “Because that sounds like the kind of scenario someone would make up to relieve the tedium of grinding reputation.”

“No, of course not.”

Hara stopped walking again and sighed. “You promise this isn’t a prank or anything designed to waste my time? Because I’m already pretty annoyed at you for yesterday, and if this is just another delaying tactic …”

“No, I promise, I’m not trying to trick you. I was imprisoned and soulbound to Domitius’s service against my will. I just wanted to know how many other tricksters he’s enslaved, or if I’m an exception.”

“See, that attitude just doesn’t vibe. I’ve worked with a lot of others in Domitius’s guild and we’re all in this together for the same — or at least similar — reasons. You’re a genuine anomaly.”

“Because I’m not here by my choice. If I had my way, I’d be back in my room studying magic, or trying to find—” she cut herself off before saying ‘Shardlord and the other mages’ because Hara was still Domitian. “… more spell components to integrate,” she said instead, though she realized belatedly that the focus on spell creation probably gave her true affiliation away as completely as namedropping Shardlord would have.

“Alright. Alright, we’re going to try something out, and if you’re right then I’ll … have to reconsider everything I believe about my leader. But I think you’re mistaken, perhaps not trying to deceive me, but you must have misunderstood something. Yes, Domitius utilizes tricksters for communication purposes, and we work together to exploit our high luck days and mitigate the low ones in pursuit of his overall goals. But even if sometimes we don’t like the assignments we’re given, that doesn’t make us slaves. Any of us can leave if we want to. And I’m sure that includes you.”

Only on a technicality, and only because of the Oracle’s interference. If not for that, Maya hated to imagine what would have happened to her.

“Okay. But really, prepare yourself. Because Domitius is really not as great as you all seem to think.”

“We’ll see. Do you have any Dust of Recall?”

Maya hesitated, and Hara rolled her eyes. “Here, take mine then, if you don’t want to use your own.”

Maya didn’t protest. She accepted the item and tossed the glittering dust into the air. A minute later, they stood by the Western Wilds leypillar. Hara took a step toward it, but Maya called out to stop her.

“If you want proof, I know exactly where to find it.”

“Oh?”

“Follow me.” Maya touched the leypillar, mentally selected Hara and added her to the transit, then chose Nirsym City (2) as the destination.

“Unknown destination? But I have every zone unlocked except the new one, why are we going there?”

“That’s not where we’re going. Accept.”

Hara hesitated a long moment, watching Maya suspiciously. But finally, she must have accepted, because they both shifted instantly to the cave beneath the Nirsym leypillar.

“Where is this?” Hara asked.

“Nirsym 2. Look out the cracks there, you can see the city. This is the back door to Domitius’s prison compound.”

“This is crazy.” Hara looked out the cracks, then circled around the leypillar. “How do you unlock it? It says I haven’t completed the requirements, but won’t say what those are.”

“I don’t know, it just worked when I—”

New mission: Bring Hara to Uvlan Soultaker.

“When you …?” Hara prompted at Maya's sudden silence.

“Oh. Um. I just got a new quest? Sorry. This is new.”

“Trickster?”

“Must be. I’m supposed to take you to Uvlan, who’s the soulbinder I was telling you about. I was planning to show you his secret room, but the more I think about it that was probably a really really stupid idea and we should definitely get out of here.”

“Backing out now? This room is interesting and all, but it isn’t enough to convince me of your claims.”

Maya wavered. Part of her wanted to follow the quest, follow through on her initial impulse, and show Hara the proof. But she was extremely wary of trusting luck on days like this. The fact that this was her first unusual, personalized quest only made it more suspicious.

“It would be really dumb. The guy is very powerful and very creepy. And if the Trickster wants me to take you there, it’s probably going to be unpleasant for both of us.”

“Speak for yourself. I’m her favourite, so I highly doubt it’s anything harmful.”

“And your luck is positive today?” Maya asked.

“Yes. 64.”

“Then I’m sure it would just be very very bad for me. And why do you call the Trickster ‘her’ anyway?”

“I take it you haven’t figured out how to visit her yet, then. Your Orb can be used to—”

“I know that. But he’s always been very obviously male.”

“Really? Huh. She must be playing around with you, then. Even if you look at the mythology from before the game, Eris has always been female.”

“He called himself Loki.”

They regarded each other for a moment.

“Then looks like we’re not the only ones who can wear a mask." Hara shrugged. “What do you want to bet that every single trickster sees her differently?”

Maya laughed. “I’d never bet against common sense.”

“So, now that you’ve tried to distract me from the real issue here, are we going to see this alleged soulbinder, or are you going to wimp out and get back to grinding?”

Maya wanted to forget this side trip and get back to grinding, but she also wanted to prove she wasn’t lying. As much as common sense told her to get out and stay far away, she really didn’t want Hara to think she was just crazy or making up stories to relieve the boredom.

If she backed out now, she’d lose any credibility with Hara, who was the only person so far to even give her a chance to prove herself.

“If things go terribly wrong, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Noted.”

“Do you have a torch or something?”

Hara wordlessly handed over a lantern with a glowing crystal in the center.

“Then let’s do this. But be quiet.”

Maya slipped into stealth, only the faint circle of light marking her location, and Hara followed her lead.

The door opened from this side without requiring the keystone. They snuck quietly down the hallway for a very long time until Maya finally noticed the door to Uvlan’s room.

“It’s in there,” she whispered, pointing. Then remembered that she was in stealth, and stood up so Hara could see her. “There.”

“You waiting out here?”

“I’d really rather not meet him on a bad luck day. He’s very scary.”

Hara snorted. “Have it your way. I’ll be back.”

She pulled the door open, stepped forward, and it slammed closed behind her.

Maya crouched back into the shadows and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

She had no way to track time visually, the tunnel was dark enough she could barely make out anything even with the lantern, let alone see the outside. Not that there was much to see. Mostly packed dirt and smooth stone. Occasional support beams. Nothing interesting.

Hara didn’t return.

Maya began pacing anxiously. Her quest hadn’t finished, had it? Did she do it wrong, or was Uvlan not at home today? Or had something happened to Hara?

She should probably go check on her. Uvlan couldn’t be trusted. She should make sure he wasn’t doing anything untoward.

She knocked on the door loudly. “Hara, you alright?”

No answer. But maybe the door was just too thick.

Bracing herself, Maya pulled the door open.

Hara stumbled unsteadily in the blue-lit room beyond, blinking around, taking a step first in one direction then another, as though disoriented.

She caught sight of Maya and smiled. “Emma, hi. We should go.”

Uvlan stood watching, but didn’t say anything as Maya grabbed Hara’s arm and pulled her out the door.

Mission complete. Rewards: +10 favour with the Trickster

“What took you so long?” Maya demanded once they were safely into the hall and the door had slammed shut behind them.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I was waiting for ages.”

“Why?”

“For you to come back out.”

“Out of what?”

“The soulbinder’s room, where you just were.”

Hara shook her head distractedly. “No, we’ve been in this hallway. Where were you taking me, again?”

“Out and away,” Maya said, grabbing the lantern and hastening her steps. Hara kept up with her easily, but Maya didn’t let go of her arm. She’d known this was a mistake, why hadn’t she tried harder to convince Hara to leave?

Hara gradually stopped stumbling, her dazed expression slipping to confusion and uncertainty. After several minutes, she pulled free of Maya’s grip.

“Isn’t that my lantern?”

“Yes. You can have it back as soon as we’re out of this place.”

“Aren’t I supposed to be in charge?” Hara looked around. “Where are we anyway? I don’t recognize the architecture.”

“It’s a secret tunnel to Nirsym’s leypillar,” Maya answered, a bit more abruptly than she’d have preferred, but everything about this trip had her on edge.

She was still astonished Uvlan had stood by to let her take Hara and leave. She flipped through her journal, but hadn’t taken notes on his conversation with her last time. She just remembered being incredibly flustered and wanting to get out.

Guh, she really needed to start writing down more things than just stats and checklists that she never looked at again. She knew she’d forget them if she didn’t make a record, this had always been the way she was, why was she acting like it didn’t matter anymore? The closest thing to an actual journal this came was her extended rant about how bored she was while imprisoned, and that was over on her Seer save anyway.

“Do you remember what we were talking about?” Maya asked, when she realized Hara still hadn’t said anything.

Hara thought for a moment. “Oh, you were telling me some crazy conspiracy theory about Domitius enslaving tricksters. But you’re conveniently absent any proof.”

"Absent any proof?" Maya stopped walking. It would be easy to turn around. She could bring Hara all the way to the prison, show her with absolute certainty that Domitius trapped players in magic. "If you want proof …"

No, wait. That would be stupid. Though she was fairly sure that no one came down the passage behind the riddle door under normal circumstances, that still left a stretch of fully exposed space to traverse to reach the prison itself.

Why was she even considering it? She’d already had one close escape that left Hara addled or something, this was entirely idiotic to contemplate!

Hara sighed and resumed walking. “If you really want out so bad, just tell Cydrin. He’s our main coordinator and will know where to find Domitius.”

“No, no. I don’t need to be reconditioned, thanks.” She reflexively checked her perks to be sure Truth Shield was still available. “Been there, done that. He cares more about his reputation than about me—”

She hesitated, then hurried after the lizardine woman, thinking furiously.

There was no way to go up against Domitius head to head and win. Not as a tier 2, not even with the entire mage academy to back her up. The fact that Shardlord's academy had been conquered so easily proved that.

As far as physical power, Domitius and his army were too big. They had a clear numerical dominance over everyone else, tricksters to facilitate instant worldwide communication, and the ruthlessness to beat down anyone in their path.

But he also relied upon his reputation. Newcomers to 9352 would have heard stories about him and his great quest to open the entire world. Apart from a few outliers like Maya herself who happened to pick it at random, the vast majority of new players would be here specifically to side with either Shardlord or Domitius.

And, by the looks of things, Domitius attacked the mage academy and took over the city just before the unlock, so even those who were curious or hadn’t decided either way would be primarily exposed to his lackeys and not those of his rivals.

Even Mayon, though online only a couple hours, had been offered help and support from two different Domitians. If Maya hadn’t already known what he was like, how far he’d go to maintain his power and control, she might well have been taken in.

The only way to beat him would be to play on the same field, to attack his reputation. She had to find a way to get the truth out, expose the ruthless extremes he was willing to go even for something as trivial as being the top player in a world hardly anyone even knew existed.

But she couldn’t very well start a campaign against him while he still could hold any power over her. Even if she was fairly confident she hated him enough not to end up falling for his tricks, as long as there was even a chance she wouldn’t be truly safe. And she did not want to end up with any more restrictions bound to her character.

She had to get free of him, for good. Not this tenuous, ‘as long as he doesn’t convince you even once to believe in him’ nonsense.

To break the soulbinding rather than just postpone it, the Oracle needed more power, more followers, more influence. Finding a recipient for the Diviner’s Orb had suddenly jumped significantly in priority.

As much as she hated to give up her one tie to a non-Trickster higher power, nothing could change if she insisted on holding onto it forever.

She couldn’t afford to keep treating it as a side-quest, waiting until the perfect person jumped out at her. Time to do some active searching.