Chapter 134

Kingdom Seekers

Dellia Lucerne

Oh sweet victory! The total world will soon know my name. The time has come, Dream Cutters. Quests await!

∞

Hiccup

Spring came quickly to Lavenfauvish. The city was hidden beneath a throw of nature, acres wide and made of budding vines and blooms. The eastern deciduous forest became dense and bright green. The trees trapped the wind that no longer howled.

Riggvelte, a few from his team, and I lounged on the eastern facing balcony to take in the new greenery. Riggvelte would not partake in a share of beer with me in the company of his team, so I instead shared a tankard with one of his newest subordinates. It was nothing but a crisp ale.

Suddenly, the forest glowed with a multitude of colors, as though a rainbow had toppled over and burst into dust. The event was devoid of sound, but nearby citizens could not ignore what came into view. Colossal monsters made of translucent colors towered among trees. One was a red two-headed snake with wings, and its body was the size of my mansion. The second was a yellow hawk whose wings were tucked in, and it walked on goat’s legs. The next to stand to full height—twice as tall as the trees—was a white ape with feathers. The fourth giant was a green walking radish with a gaping mouth. The last was a black horse that stood at least four stories tall.

They descended upon Lavenfauvish with intent, toward my mansion. People screamed in the streets. The giants came quickly; there was no time to panic, and they stopped on the grounds of my estate where the barley grew. Each giant made not a sound. Their bodies existed like light and passed through architecture and nature. Through each beast’s leg, I could see barley.

A white feather, the size of a canoe, fell from the crown of the ape and it meandered down toward the front of my mansion. There was a seated figure in the feather.

“Quickly, Riggvelte!” I said.

Riggvelte and his team bolted into the mansion. I was only a few moments behind them. When I reached the entrance hall, Riggvelte himself coolly led the feather-rider in. The man was striding through the entrance. He was barefoot and in a vest and simple pants. A sense of regality radiated from him like an aura.

“Welcome to the estate of Ethan Hiccough!” Riggvelte said after having come to a halt.

“I am he. To whom do I have the pleasure of hosting?”

“Perage Vich. Fable rank Weapons Collector.”

By the beard of Potere! A Fable rank Adventurer! In my company! How could this be? For what purpose? Surely a mistake had been made.

“It is a pleasure to receive you,” I said.

“I arrive while in company. I am tasked with preceding the arrival of my betters.”

“Betters? Forgive me, but you’re Fable rank!”

Others began to follow, each welcomed by butlers. A lady was first introduced by Perage. She was a humanoid lizard without eyes.

“Lady Tais You, Myth rank Tongue Whip.”

Next was a nobleman.

“Noble Bartu, Myth rank Linguist.”

Next entered a figure dressed in rogue-ish attire. A seemingly weightless battle axe was strapped to his back.

“Klick Hedel, Myth rank Warlord.”

One of the half-races then came in—human and dwarf, perhaps. A crossbow was strapped to an arm. Across his chest was a bandolier holding small morning stars.

“Fieef Eleventoes, Myth rank Demon Hunter.”

Last, a shadow slid across the floor.

“Grafth U’ld…rank Oblivion.”

“Is there such a rank?” I found myself uttering.

The shadow lay flat upon the marble, akimbo. It laughed. Then it slid across the floor and zig-zagged up the geometry of the stairs until it arrived at my own shadow. My inventory screen came up and a letter was placed within it. The shadow slid down the angles of the stairs and stopped beside my Myth ranked guests.

I withdrew and opened the letter but could not decipher the language.

“Ah, that'll be my job,” Noble Bartu said. I came down to hand him the letter. He read aloud. “Ethan Hiccough, I am here, in the spirit of camaraderie, with these…he wrote fools, but he meant to say: handsome, beautiful, intelligent, witty, and the best-of-the-best companions…I want nothing from you which I already possess and have no interest in sharing…although a beer sounds nice…something I can compare to what my brothers brew in the Alik jungle. Something of that caliber…I jest, you’re only gold rank. I’ll take the best you have, regardless. -Grafth U’ld.”

The shadow slipped over to my shadow once more. My inventory screen came up again and I witnessed—in horror—as Grafth rummaged through my private affairs. The rummaging was invisible, but one by one—and quickly—each item shook under inspection. When Grafth came upon Ashlee’s beers, there was a seemingly tender pause. He skipped those items. After going through nearly half of my inventory, Grafth’s shadow slipped away from mine.

“Grafth,” Noble Bartu said. “We are here as guests.”

“No offense taken,” I said. “Please, my home is your home. I am enchanted to meet you all.”

Lady Tais You said, “I think we could all go for refreshments.”

“I’d like to get down to brass tacks,” Fieef said.

“Forgive me, but are you all here on business?” I said.

“Yes; with you,” Lady Tais You said. “I’ll be the first to conclude business with you, Mr. Hiccough. Take me somewhere private.”

“Riggvelte, please have your team make our guests comfortable. Lady Tais You, this way.”

The study windows offered too much light for the lady’s tastes. To appease her, I escorted her down to the caverns where it was cool, humid, and the couches were plentiful. After browsing a few shelves where bottles of beer collected dust, she sat across from me.

“Except for Grafth, we are here for the same reason,” she said.

“You must know that I am completely in the dark,” I said. I realized then what I’d just said to a woman with no eyes. “I mean-”

“-I understand what you mean. We want to build kingdoms. Kingdoms on ethereal planes.”

“I have not heard of these kingdoms. A friend of mine—you must know that his name is Hawkin—brews ethereal dungeon beers and ethereal planes.”

“Yes. I’d like to purchase one of those planes so that I can build a kingdom within. Name your price.”

“I must disclose that I do not possess any ethereal planes beers that are devoid of dungeon. In fact, I haven’t received the delivery that I was supposed to be getting recently, which has got me worried.”

“It’s a matter of delivery then? We will room and board within your mansion until then.”

“There’s the matter of asking Hawkin to brew empty ethereal planes in the first place.”

“That sounds trivial.”

“He may decline,” I said.

She laughed.

I continued. “He’s declined such things before; for example, an invitation to the Alik jungle before.”

“Ah you confirm the rumor.”

“Forgive me for asking, but since your party consists of Myth rank adventurers—how can you not acquire an ethereal plane on your own?”

“There are Planes Cutters in the world. Not many. Certainly none who produce beer which lead into these planes. My party and I have the opportunity to seek out the luxury of an item—do you know what I mean by this? I’ll tell you—other Planes Cutters offer ritualistic portals into these ethereal planes. It takes time to activate, to use, to store; I’m getting annoyed just thinking about it. The point is, we can afford to invest in something easier. What’s easier than accessing a kingdom via beer? In an instant?”

“You’re going through this trouble just so you can be a bit lazier about accessing an ethereal plane?”

“Yes in other words. Why not? My party gets to band together, we get to cross the world to Lavenfauvish, explore dungeons along the way; it’s what we’ve decided to do on our weekend.”

“I have to say—I’m blown away at the moment.”

“Part of the truth, Ethan-”

“-Hiccup please.”

“Part of the truth, Ethan, is that these other means of accessing ethereal planes are slower—hours slower. How fast can one build a kingdom when it takes hours per entry and exit? Especially when it involves material and laborers. It’s a matter of time. Do you think any of us want to spend our time building our own kingdoms?”

“I understand, but no matter how long it takes to enter and exit a plane, wouldn’t building a kingdom outnumber those hours by years?”

“Not if you employ Dream Cutters.”

“Dream Cutters?”

“On this world, your mansion was built with stone and lumber. On ethereal planes, the pastel colors of dreams become bricks. Memories become panes of glass…”

“It all goes back to time.”

“Yes. The current circumstance is an inconvenience. The efforts of your friend Hawkin has made it so that traveling to find you, his distributor, is less inconvenient. But this is fun, Ethan! My party and I are having fun! Tell me that we can purchase master copies of ethereal planes. Don’t end our fun.”

∞

What an opportunity of a lifetime!

Though I hadn’t spoken privately with Grafth U’ld, my other guests all wanted to acquire simple entries into Ethereal Planes. Word had reached their corner of the world. Their seeking me out resulted in a nice bump to my Brewer’s Reputation. I could hardly contain myself—I couldn’t believe what was happening.

After speaking with Noble Bartu, I left the mansion to join my butlers in the search for Corylus. I needed him because there was just one problem to resolve. I hadn’t heard from Abigail lately and Hawkin’s delivery was late. We were supposed to have summoned Thrush days ago.

At last, I found Corylus, deep in the gardens tending to a squat cherry tree in a pot. The man put a finger tip to a low branch. Leaves bloomed from the buds in the blink of an eye.

“Corylus, there you are!”

Corylus turned to me and glowered. “Shame on you.”

I nearly skidded to a halt. “Excuse me?”

“What you did to Abigail—Shame on you.”

“You don’t understand-”

“-I do understand. That sweet girl wants nothing in the world but to help people. Look what you’ve done.”

“Corylus, it was important; she wasn’t going to let me unless I did it myself.”

“-she put her trust in you. She’s heart broken!”

“Have you seen her? Where is she? I need to talk to her. We have Myth rank guests, Corylus! One of them is rank Oblivion! Have you heard of such a thing? He’s a shadow!”

“Why would she come talk to you after what you did?”

“Corylus, I need to talk to Hawkin. Please, can you tell her I need to see her?”

“Ashlee would be ashamed of you.”

He stood defiant. I matched his glower. It was not the time for this.

“…Be careful how you speak to me,” I said.

“You! You’re the one to be careful how you treat others! I'm old, but I have convictions—something you could learn a thing or two about! Hurting a friend, the way you did…”

“…you don’t know the half of it-”

“-a friend, Ethan! A friend!”

“-Corylus-”

“-Shut up for one second!”

He was seething. He was glaring. He clenched his fists in a ball.

“Ashlee would not have stood for it; for that you should be ashamed.”

“Corylus, please, I can’t do this right now. Did you not hear me? I have rank Oblivion guests in my home! I need to talk to Abigail! Hawkin is behind on his delivery!”

“Shut it! Listen!”

There was no way around it. I paused to let him continue.

“Why would Abigail continue helping you with Hawkin’s beers?” he said.

“Because it’s business.”

“Business? You idiot—what did Abigail gain from this business? She took no money from you, no money from Hawkin; she was simply a friend to everyone!”

“Corylus, please. I need your help.”

“Let me spell it out for you: Abigail may not return to Lavenfauvish ever again.”

“She can’t be serious.”

“I’m going to give you some advice, young man. If Abigail ever returns to Lavenfauvish, you had better come to your god damn sense and apologize.”

“Corylus, look, I understand I botched things but I can’t deal with all that right now. I need to reach Hawkin as soon as possible. Please, will you help me?”

“I am helping you. The orange osage needs training and clipping, the honeysuckle needs pruning, and the sweetflags have wandered off. Things are just business to you, so my business I’ll give you. Nothing more.”

Corylus stormed off.