Chapter 18

Day 2

Ben, Short Bus, Vivi, Ghost Ears and Red were all together after a restful night’s sleep in their studio apartment. Ben noted with great fondness and amusement that all of his party members snored. It was cute! They were, at Ben’s insistence, scouting out the various locations they needed to be at for their community service.

“Solas has public transportation,” Ben said, looking at one of the strange flesh buses that crawled along the ground, and the sides of buildings, jumping from building to building to navigate the city, “but I’ve been advised that the Outer Ring is full of monsters, so if we’re doing any extensive traveling, we should be prepared for a fight. Red is reporting to the guardhouse closest to the apartment, so she’s just got a short walk. Ghost Ears and Vivi,” Ben began, and Vivi spoke up.

“Are right next to one another. The Summoner’s Tower is attached to City Hall, so we’ll be commuting together. No monsters in Solas Proper, so we’re all good. It’s going to be you and me buddy,” Vivi said, giving Ghost Ears a friendly eye nod.

“Yes, lord Vivi,” Ghost Ears said respectfully, and with a hint of excitement.

“Perfect,” Ben continued, “Short Bus is, uh, clowning. Where are you going for that?”

“Wherever I’m needed,” Short Bus said mysteriously, black eyes wide and staring off into the distance, “but since you’re going to be working a shift up in the Canopy where all the Sunlets live,” Short Bus said, “I’ll start my day by checking in on Anna and clowning my way around from there.” He honked the red nose still attached to his face.

“Right,” Ben said, “that’s a good idea. Remember, don’t wander around by yourself. Solas isn’t safe, at all, especially for us. My shift at The Mines,” Ben said with some reluctance, “starts a little while after all of you get off work, so we’ll all travel together as a group there. These are going to be some long days, so remember to pace yourselves and get plenty of rest. Weirdly enough, Solas has a five day work week and a two day weekend just like back home on Earth. So on ‘Saturday’,” Ben said with air quotes, “We’re going to be raiding the Overcavern Forest, looking for those gremlins, otherwise The Quest,” Ben said, shooting Vivi a nonjudgemental look, “will kill us. Red, do you still have those trackers on the Gremlins?”

“Yes,” she said, her eyes up in her antlers immediately looking into the Overcavern Forest, “but I didn’t get all of them. Finding them is going to be impossible-”

“No it’s not!” Vivi said with a happy, almost manic expression on his face.

“Wait just a second,” Ben said, “So Saturday we’re raiding the forest, and Sundays will be our day off. Once we finish our community service, we’ll be able to go full time on completing our quest and removing the death sentence hanging over our heads. Yes Vivi,” Ben said, acknowledging the practically vibrating Aeon Slug.

“We’ve got a Map of Wish!” Vivi practically sang, “haha, we’ve got one! And I know exactly what to do with it!”

“What do we do with it, wish it would show us all the gremlins?”

“NO!” Vivi shouted in horror, “you are banned from wishing! You don’t even know the exploits! And a Map of Wish has the best known exploit of all!” Vivi was happy again, “hand it over and I’ll show you!”

“All in favor?” Ben asked, putting it to a vote. Everybody raised their hand, Vivi raised an eye-stalk, and Ben raised his hand last. “All right, you were the one pushing us hard to get this thing, show us why.”

“Aaaaah!” Vivi squealed in delight as a Utility Pocket opened near him, and the rolled up Map of Wish slid out, hovering in the air in front of him. Vivi opened it up, got a nervous look on his face, then said quietly, “could everybody turn around? Just don’t watch.”

Everybody obliged him, except for Red, who merely rotated her energy eyes to be looking away from Vivi. All they could hear was murmuring, followed by Vivi saying ‘ouch!’, then more murmuring. There was a bright flash from behind them, and then Vivi exclaimed.

“Oh slime that worked, thank the Aeons,” Vivi said, sounding way too relieved.

“What!” Ben said, post-humously worried.

“We’ve got a True Map, a genuine True Map,” Vivi said, tossing it into the air, where it vanished and then reappeared in Ben’s vision, just like in a video game. “It is sharable across our party, provides a mini map, shows quest locations, and allows us to fast travel to any settlement crystal we’ve previously touched. Mind you, fast travel has a full day cast time in which we can’t engage in combat, but this is really, really big. Look, it’s showing us were the gremlins are. Just zoom out,” Vivi said, and Ben found that zooming out was intuitive.

The map only showed vague geography of the places he hadn’t been, but finally, Ben was able to see what The World actually looked like. And what it looked like was. . . shattered. Like Pangea had been hit by a cosmic hammer and the jagged, broken pieces had been scattered across the surface, with relatively thin ocean running between all of them. Ben noted that Solas was in the direct center of the map, and was labeled with a staircase going down. And yes, in the Overcavern Forest just next to Solas, Ben could see a series of dots, each one labeled ‘Elder Gremlin, Quest Monster’.

“It also shows where we are, so we won’t lose one another. It’s also a free Dungeon Map, which means that when we actually find dungeon maps,” Vivi said, “it’ll be forced to show us all the secret shit, instead of just revealing the general layout. It does a bunch of other stuff too, but I won’t go into it all right now. The True Map is one of the best known exploits in The System, but it’s so difficult to pull off, because Maps of Wish are. . . you just don’t really find them. I never thought I’d get one at my age. You have no idea how much of a status symbol this is, we’re going to be the envy of every adventuring group in The World.”

“Huh,” Ben said, looking at the minimap and a lifetime of semi-casual gaming let him immediately start using it without any fuss at all, “that’s fucking useful. Good job Viv,” Ben said, giving the Aeon Slug a friendly slap on the flank.

“Oh yeah, this is great,” Short Bus said, staring off into the distance, presumably at his map.

“Excellent judgement, Lord Vivi,” Ghost Ears said.

“My map is displaying The Beyond,” Red said, her face set into a frown, “In addition to this world of matter and magic.”

“Really?” Vivi asked, “we’ll have to talk about that.”

“This is great,” Ben said, “and is going to be really useful for what we do next. All right everybody, here’s an adulting tip: When you get a new job, rehearse going to it before you start. We’re going to practice our commute and see how long it takes, so that when our community service starts in just a few days, we’ll be fully prepared!”

The group packed up and practiced the commute, working out all the kinks and learning their new routes.

Day 3

“All right everyone!” Ben said, early in the morning, “time for another dry run! Let’s all practice getting ready for work and getting there on time!”

Groans all around

Day 4

“Good morning everyone!” Ben shouted, bright and early, “let’s settle into that routine! We’re all responsible adults now with jobs, and we’re going to get through this without a hitch!”

Day 5

“Time to wake up!” Ben hollered, as the party collectively put pillows over their heads to drown out the sound of his voice, “Get up and get dressed! Time to practice our route- ow!” Ben shouted as pillows were thrown at him.

“Leave us alone!” Vivi groaned.

“I know how to get to work already!” Short Bus moaned.

“Prince Ben, I am not a morning person,” Red growled, “and I do not appreciate being woken up every morning!”

“Shut up already!” Ghost Ears whined.

“Fine!” Ben relented, “but none of you had better be late to work! This is going to go off without a hitch!” Ben checked the Pocketwatch of Time Loop on his belt. “I’m going to make sure of it,” he said with a grin.

Day 6

A messenger drone flew in through the delivery chute of their studio apartment, where Ben sat alone, meditating. He was, admittedly, nervous as fuck about going to work. Nobody else seemed worried, but Ben? Ben was feeling it. His stomach had butterflies and his hands were shaking, so there he sat, taking deep breaths, trying to calm his mind. The drone floated in front of him and started beeping, drawing him back to reality. The drone had a small Utility Pocket attached to it, the one Ben had given to Nick of Mice Labs after they had come to an agreement. There was a note attached.

Ben,

I’m honestly jealous of your Utility Pocket. I had our lab working overtime to get this done, and we got it done. There’s a five-year supply of food inside of there, everything you’re going to need to survive. It’s not, well, particularly creative food, but it will help you build your real body back. Taking into account your party members, I also included a six-month supply of sustenance for each of them. Side note, fuck Aeon Slugs and their picky fucking diet, but we got that sorted out too. You guys aren’t going to starve anytime soon.

Also. There’s a little present in there for you, curtesy of an anonymous fan. Did you know that you’ve got a wishlist on the Auction House home page? Apparently someone was so grateful for the Parade of Wonders that they spent the money and bought the ad space, and lots of people have already contributed to keep it up there. You’re famous! And well liked!

-Nick

With a raised eyebrow, Ben got the mundane stuff out of the way first. He recombined the tiny Utility Pocket with his, and added the contents to his main inventory. It was primarily a gigantic block of slightly brown powder. Like, a seriously gigantic cube of dry protein shake. Ben sighed and pulled out the mixing cup, the kind with that little wire ball in it, filled it with a portion of powder, then the rest with water, and shook. Without ceremony or hesitation, he chugged the unsweetened, gritty mixture. He wanted to gag, but held strong.

“Nine times a day,” Ben said, watching as the robotic cup cleaned itself, “that’s. . . I just want my body back. Small price to pay.” The rest of the ‘food’ for his party was also protein shake, just in different colors for each of them. Then, Ben saw the surprise, and his eyebrows raised in excitement.

“Yes!” Ben said, pulling out a small amulet. The chain appeared to be made of tiny red, orange and yellow crystal, and attached to the chain was a chunk of rough, black obsidian in the shape of a cartoon bomb, with a little white crystal fuse coming off of it. He put it on and was pleased to receive a notification.

[One time plus player tooltip]

[You have equipped an Amulet of Explosion Immunity: Total/Party]

[This item prevents you from taking damage from explosions you have caused, intentionally or unintentionally. Provides minor damage resistance to hostile explosions. This item does not prevent fire, sonic or kinetic damage unless they are the direct and immediate result of a friendly explosion. The effects of this amulet are spread to all nearby party members.]

“Yes!” Ben said again, putting it on and feeling a great weight leave his chest. Everything he’d heard about ‘The Mines’ suggested that by far and away the leading cause of death was explosive damage. Now, all he had to worry about were the monsters.

“Fuck I’m so nervous,” Ben said, his anxiety returning again, and he sat down and started meditating again.

Day 7 (Community Service Begins)

Ben mixed a giant protine shake and drank the thick, gritty mixture down with a grimace. Everyone was snoring, and Ben took a deep breath. Frankie was on his back, giving him an encouraging massage with his stumpy little arms, hitting him with all the force of a really really heavy marshmallow. Somehow, Frankie had a sweatband around his forehead, then he jumped from Ben’s back and started shadow boxing with more energy that Ben usually saw him use.

“You’re the best man,” Ben said, got his game face on.

“Wake up everyone, wake up!” Ben said, totally convinced that nobody could see how nervous he was. To the credit of his party, nobody threw a pillow at him, instead getting up quickly and without complaints. “Get dressed, get ready! Put on your protective amulets, armor, and make sure you’ve got weapons equipped! Put a few mana batteries into your Mini Pockets!” Ben yelled like a coach, pacing around the studio apartment, “and make sure you remember to bring them with you!”

The Mini Pockets were something Ben had made before, but had only recently decided to give a name to. They were tiny little black bags with the signature purple tentacles holding them shut, and Ben had been pleased to find that they could be powered by external mana sources independent of his party members own meager mana supplies; Vivi excluded from that statement. The mana batteries had been procured by Nick, recharged themselves from the powerful ambient mana of Solas, and could keep the Mini Pockets running indefinitely. Provided, of course, that their users weren’t trying to get too creative with them.

“Remember, you’ve got C4 and health potions inside your Mini Pockets. If anyone trys to attack you, unless they’re a Sunlet or someone important looking, feel free to kill them dead. Solas isn’t a city, it’s a warzone pretending to be a civilization, and we aren’t going to die today. We’re all coming home safely, every single one of us.”

“Well said,” Red said, looking at Ben approvingly, “you are changing before my very eyes every day. Such change is rare in The Beyond, and few can change their nature there.”

“Red,” Ben said, “you’re going to be patrolling the sewers of Solas with the City Guard. Keep yourself safe, and always watch your back. I don’t know if we can trust those fuckers, so just assume they’re trying to get you killed.”

“Prince Ben,” Red said haughtily, “I was a chaos warden on the edge of the abyssal plains of chaos. My ‘comrades in arms’,” she said sarcastically, “were almost always demons of some hell with a grudge against some other demons of some other hell, bent on using me to kill them, and then killing me. I am well versed in watching my own back.”

“Perfect,” Ben said, and he meant it. “Ghost Ears, keep an eye on Vivi. Vivi, don’t let those fuckers in the Summoners tower make you do anything dangerous. Keep yourself alive, and for the love of God, before you do anything big, find Ghost Ears. He’s a [Royal Vizier], his class is literally all about helping morons make good decisions.”

“Hey!” Vivi sounded offended.

“I’ve included myself in that statement,” Ben said matter of factly, and Vivi paused.

“Oh. Fair enough then.”

“Short Bus?” Ben said, looking at the giant shark man in a rainbow wig, big red nose, poofy goofy outfit and giant oversized shoes. “Uh, just be yourself. You’ll be fine.”

“Ben,” Short Bus said, patting him on the back, “it’s going to be all right. Come on everyone, let’s meet Ben outside. He’s got something to think about real quick,” Short Bus said with a wink, glancing down at Ben’s Pocketwatch of Time Loop. Ben’s eyes widened, and Short Bus grinned, shooing the rest of the party out. Ghost Ears stayed behind, slapping Short Bus’s giant hand away from him.

“You want to put us into a time loop?” Ghost Ears asked, and Ben hesitated, the nodded.

“I think so, yeah.”

“Is that wise?” Ghost Ears asked, and again, Ben hesitated.

“I think it is?” then, “But every time I think about it, I just get this. . . it feels wrong. I don’t know why, but it just feels wrong.”

“I’ve got a skill for this,” Ghost Ears said, sounding pleased, “[Insight],” he said, then paused as information filled his mind. “I see. Prince Ben, here is the question you need to answer, and I will leave the room and let you answer it for yourself.”

“Ok?”

“Do you want to live your life in a time loop, or do you want to live your life? Think about it,” Ghost Ears said, then flew over to Ben’s face, punched his forehead with all the friendly force of a flick, and flew away.

Ben sat alone and looked at the pocket watch, Ghost Ears words echoing in his mind and becoming a fantasy. He imagined waking up every morning and entering a time loop and living an endless day, tweaking it over and over again until it was perfect, every day of his life taking weeks to conclude. He could feel a kind of offended revulsion inside of him, and wondered what kind of person he would become if he lived like that.

“Nobody I would want to be,” Ben said out loud, and let the Pocketwatch fall limp against his waist. “I’m going to get some good use out of you,” Ben said, looking at the powerful relic, “but not like this. This isn’t what you’re for, I think.”

And so, naked and exposed to the dangers and wonders of the unknown future, Ben stepped outside, ready to face whatever came.