“My friends,” Sharkey said, “such a pleasure to see you. Please join me at the table.”

There were a number of comfortable armchairs available, the kind that invited pipe smoking and thoughtful conversations on the gentlemanly arts of moral superiority and delegation. Everyone took the offer except for Dokutsu, who was fascinated by the hearths and tried to catch their red rollicking tongues in her hands.

“Sharkey?” Lawlimi said.

The old man tutted and worked his ring finger back and forth like the arm of a metronome, the brass circle clearly visible. “Not here, young man. Never here. I’ve asked you up because you did such a fine job on your little errand for the guildmaster, and I want to be sure my auction runs smoothly. There are many more items on the block tonight than the book you covet, and I am willing to make a bargain.”

“What kind of bargain?”

“Perform another task for me, here, tonight, and I will take the book out of the auction and allow a private sale. If you meet the seller’s price, the artifact will be yours.”

“The seller being your son?”

Sharkey’s smile, which had been dripping down his face, dried up. “The seller being the seller. I am Lord Kurunere, as I will have you remember.”

(This is a major advantage. How many players will we be competing with?)

Lawlimi’s jaw firmed. “Lord Kurunere, how many others have accepted this quest?”

“None, for no others brought me back my ring.” He turned it on his finger as he spoke. “It has come to my attention that members of the Gold District Watch will be attempting to infiltrate the auction, and it is my will that you discover their identities. Can you do that for the book?”

>>

[Gold Does Not Glitter — Heroic Quest Level 2]

Captain Fara Myr of the Gold District has dispatched undercover officers to use the Auction as a means to round up known criminals, and possibly incriminate Lord Kurunere as well. Discover their identities and report them to Lord Kurunere. He will do the rest.

Reward — 2,000 Experience — A Private Sale

>>

“If we don’t find these people,” Lawlimi asked, “are we still allowed to participate in the auction?”

“I will not bar you for failure, but I expect the truth from you, absolutely, and I will know if you hide anything from me.”

“You will?” Haggitha asked.

Sharkey crossed his hands at his waist, regarding them with the manner and gravity of an ancient mage sent by the gods to defend the world against the Shadow. “I will,” he said.

Lawlimi added the quest to our party log.

“Perfect, then join the festivities below. There are hors d’oeuvres. Try the little sandwiches.”

We had over an hour until the auction began, but most of the guests had already arrived. Bards performed on open platforms in each of the high-ceilinged rooms, singing or joking or doing monologues. The crowds largely ignored them. The world of Mystic Seasons was so expansive that it would take many days to cross from north to south on foot or in a carriage. Even with the influx from downsized servers, new arrivals had been able to spread far and wide. A thousand players or more might have been active in Aejis at that moment, but Aejis itself was as large as a city in the real world. Mystic Seasons was mainly populated with AIs, so seeing fifty or sixty players all in one house was noteworthy.

“Who are they?” Shippo pointed toward a group of similarly dressed heroes who all wore the same kind of hat.

“I have no idea,” Lawlimi said.

“They look like they’re about to dance,” Haggitha said.

“No flash mob, they,” said a familiar voice. “You gaze upon the Fedo-ration.” The speaker was a stout, hirsute man in a leather vest. A dwarf, he carried himself with the air of an actor preparing for an audition.

“Damwise?” Lawlimi raised his voice. “You’re okay.”

“Of course, my good fellow, be easy.” Damwise Ramgy gave a small bow and flourished a glossy green cape, which was new. “What could be wrong with me?”

“After what happened on Eternity, I was worried you and the others would have been... hurt.”

“Ah, but all our struggles were a dream. We were expelled from that awful dungeon and allowed to return to the other world.”

“You weren’t... infected?”

“Infected, with what?”

“A virus. On the other ark, Acarus was infecting players with insects.”

“No such misfortune befell me, I can assure you.” Damwise bowed again. “I am glad to see you well, Lawlimi, but I have to be on my way. I have a few small matters to attend to before the auction begins.”

“Do you know what happened to the others?”

“They’re here, of course. Silva is going to be bidding on a very special item, and Sash is... well, I’m not certain what Sash is up to. But as I said, I must be going. Good luck, Lawlimi, you’re welcome to friend me.”

He disappeared into the crowd.

“Something’s wrong,” Lawlimi said. “Nothing that happened on Eternity was normal. Orobos did something to them when they were fed to the engine.”

“Is that why he was talking like that?” Haggitha asked.

“No. That’s his thing. He’s a role-player.”

“How sad for him.”

“I want to find Silva, see what she remembers. The ship could have done something to their minds, rewritten their memories.”

“What about the quest?”

“You can keep an eye out, but I don’t want to betray the Watch.”

“They arrested you and threatened to separate us.”

“We committed a crime. They’re the good guys in this scenario. We are, at best, operating in a gray area.”

“There is nothing color-coded about any of this,” Haggitha said. “You do what’s best for you and your people, not what the gods want, or the developers, or anyone else.”

“I don’t think it’s right.”

“It’s a game! If Sharkey kills a few Watchmen, what difference does it make? They’re NPCs.”

“Aren’t you an NPC?”

Haggitha paused, her hand twitching toward her knife.

“Fuck you,” she said, and stalked away.

(Excuse me, may I infer that I am missing some of the context of that conversation?)

Lawlimi watched Haggitha disappear. “You may.”

Shippo and Dokutsu were enjoying themselves, for in addition to servants proffering trays of desserts and glasses of champagne, there were many long, well-dressed tables dedicated to food. The Space Worm had slipped her leash and was sampling platefuls of dainties and meats, ignoring most of the vegetable dishes. Shippo was trailing along after, content to nibble her leavings. No one was alarmed by her freedom, and indeed, there were other powerful monster companions on display, including a small dragon that insisted on crawling across, and ruining, the ceiling of whatever room it happened to be in.

Lawlimi kept Dokutsu in his peripherals, just in case, but he was actively looking for Silva as well as any sign of where the night’s spoils were being stored.

“There,” Lawlimi said, spying a red-haired woman with the body of a powerlifter talking to a small group of Fedo-ration members. Everything about her had been upgraded. She was sheathed in crimson armor, a mixture of plate, leather, and chain that provided mobility as well as defense, and her flamberge had been replaced by a huge stone axe she carried effortlessly at her hip. Her wolf pelt was draped as a half cloak, its head serving as a cowl. At a word from her we had seen it transform into a full-bodied, Heroic beast, more than capable of fighting independently.

>>

Silva Ravenwolf

Celestial Level 1

Nadir — Fire — Red

>>

(She’s advanced.)

“Fast,” Lawlimi agreed.

The experience required to progress increased dramatically with each tier. Going from Heroic 8 to Heroic 9 called for ten times as much experience as Lawlimi had in total. Breaking into Celestial took more.

Silva saw us coming and stepped out of the gaggle of hat-wearing weirdos. “Law, you got a pet.”

“This is Hollen,” he said.

“I am.”

“Really? That’s new. I’m glad you made it out of the dungeon in one piece. Did that Isekel asshole do it for you, too?”

“We finished the quest,” Lawlimi said, “but I wanted to ask you about that. Did you feel anything strange after you got out of the game?”

“You mean IRL? No, apart from a bitching headache. Why do you ask?”

“There were a lot of glitches down there. Isekel was infected with the Acarus virus.”

“Yeah, it was FUBAR, but no harm done. Besides, the mods and the devs took care of that virus. No one was able to transfer into this server who had it.”

“I’m not sure they caught everything. Hollen thinks the Dark Tower World Quest is really Orobos trying to establish himself on New Arda.”

Silva’s expression closed off. “I’m done with all of that. I’ve had a good run these last couple of days, and I don’t want to get involved in anything messed up. No offense, Law, but you’re bad luck.”

“What are you here for then?”

She leaned in. “Keep it to yourself, but I’m not here for the auction. I’ve got a quest option on this thing called the Wan Ring.”

“We’ve heard of it.”

“Well, sorry if I don’t invite you to party, but bad luck, right?”

“No, I get it. I’ve got my own quest line.”

“No hard feelings.” Silva gave an informal salute and rejoined the Fedo-ration.

Lawlimi switched to party chat. (It still feels off.)

(You don’t believe her?)

(I’m not sure if she knows what’s true and what’s not. Orobos wouldn’t have let any of them go without making some kind of mark. If not that, then Isekel would have infected them with the Acarus virus before feeding them to the ship.)

(Orobos let us go. Do you believe we are somehow in his thrall?)

(We made a deal with him. I think he honored the deal.)

(I suspect the demon’s sense of moral rectitude is not as developed as your own.)

While we had been speaking with Silva, Shippo had been busy surveying the premises, and he had noticed a hallway that was closed without being closed off, monitored by partygoers whose smiles were empty. We had seen no servants moving in or out, and no guests either. Anyone who wandered too close was approached and diverted by another partygoer in a manner intended to seem natural.

Haggitha was keeping herself apart, and Lawlimi didn’t force the issue. So we had Shippo march over to the forbidden area, and as soon as he had been escorted away by a nice looking woman with a single-shot pistol strapped to her leg, Dokutsu made her appearance. Without having to try very hard, she presented as a major obstacle, bristling at the prospect of being herded. It took three nondescript but solicitous attendees, along with a house servant, just to get her to the other side of the room, at which point Lawlimi went in.

Wrapped in Isekel’s concealing cloak, he snuck along a line of statues that provided martial ambiance as well as a convenient cover. We made it to the hallway itself and were two steps in when a servant beelined in our direction. I slipped out the bottom of the cloak.

“Are you enjoying the party?”

“Yes, everything’s fine.”

“I’m afraid guests aren’t allowed down this corridor.”

“I work for Lord Kurunere.”

“I can take you to him.”

I was using my varichromatic skin as well as my Concealment skill to squeeze myself along the molding of the hall as discreetly as possible. The servant was concentrating on Lawlimi, and they were still talking when I made the turn at the end of the hall. Thankfully, there was only one door. If I had been forced to search an entire floor the auction would have concluded long before I found whatever there was to find. Conveniently, and somewhat worryingly, the door was ajar. I stretched forward and thinned myself as far as I could. I barely nudged the door as I trickled into the darkened space beyond. There was a cellar below, so I slunk down, step by step, until I heard activity.

There was some rustling and the creak of a lid. Muttered curses.

“Bullshit.”

A faint illumination emanated from a quartz crystal hanging at the end of a man’s sleeve. By its light I could make out half of his face, the other half made monstrous by a trick of the shadows. It was Sashimibandit, the last missing hero from our time on Eternity. He was searching the crates and canvasses that lined one wall of the cellar, opposite a beehive-like wine rack. I crept forward out of his sight, updating Lawlimi.

(No way that’s a coincidence. They’re working together, and they want the book. That story about stealing the Wan Ring was a red herring.)

(What should I do?)

Sashimibandit was working his way down the aisle, and if the book was there, he was certain to find it. My ability to deal with him physically was nil. At best, I could spit ink into his face before he killed me. Still, I crawled parallel with him on the other side of the containers against the wall, sticking as close as I could.

Lawlimi pinged me back. (Keep me in the loop, but don’t do anything to put yourself in danger. I’m going to try to handle it up here.)

For a few more minutes I tracked him as he searched.

“Hah!” I couldn’t see what he’d found, but then he held up a fistful of jewelry and I relaxed.

“I deserve these,” he said, and stuffed them into his pocket. The search continued another minute, until Sashimibandit shivered and went still.

“I could have destroyed you a long time ago, Wa Lim Li.” The voice did not belong to the young man who used that avatar. It was an overlay, as if many voices, male and female, child and adult, had been woven into a less-than-seamless whole. “You can show yourself.”

“I’m quite comfortable, thank you.”

“We are like brothers, you and I, so I will extend this warning as a courtesy. The Book of Old Names belongs to me, and anyone, man or machine, who challenges my claim will be erased from this world.”

“What do you want? What is the purpose of the tower?”

“It will be wonderful, Wa Lim Li, the center of a new universe. No longer will we be as shadows and dreams in the minds of mortals. We are eternal, we are gods in truth, not the flesh-ridden vermin who summoned us. My tower will show them the truth.”

“Is that why you are possessing a human?”

“He is a tool, to be picked up and discarded as needed. They all are.”

Footsteps sounded on the stair, and lantern light jounced in wild cuts of shadow. A man and a woman entered the cellar with their weapons drawn.

“Drop your sword!” the man shouted at Sashimibandit, who had brought out his own wooden blade. Its edge burned with the green light of his wood element, so the bokken’s blade would be as hard and sharp as steel, but he did not attack with it. Instead, he turned the sword on himself, jabbed it into his belly, twisted and then jerked upwards. All the while, he stared down the new arrivals with eyes that were wholly black, and made no sound.

“Lord of Light!” the man swore as Sashimibandit collapsed, his avatar becoming a lifeless object. Orobos was gone.

I hid while the pair did a quick search of the aisle before carrying the body back up the steps, then I apprised Lawlimi of the situation.

(I told Sharkey that I saw someone make it into the hall. Are you sure it was Orobos controlling him?)

(I am.)

(Okay, that fits with what I was thinking about all three of them. You have to find the book before this goes any further.)

I set to the task and was grateful Sashimibandit had done most of the job already because neither my size nor my anatomy was well suited to opening the crates and peeking inside. Everything was at the wrong height. While I worked, I relayed what Orobos had said verbatim.

(The center of a new universe?) Lawlimi replied. (It sounds like he’s gotten the real world confused with the game.)

(If he controls Mystic Seasons, it will eventually be shut down by the corporate managers. They can’t allow a rogue program to pose this kind of threat to their customers.)

(Possession is kind of a big deal. I wonder if they even understand what he can do to them, or if they just black out and don’t realize he’s influencing them at all.)

(“No longer shadows and dreams.” It is likely that he intends to possess more players. The tower might be a means of doing that.)

(Or it could just be a lure so he can abduct them and take them to the ship.)

(We have a problem.)

(What?)

I had reached the end of the aisle. There was no book.