Comin' Home

As Crossfire appeared safely in the Rider-Waite infirmary ten floors below, John touched his waypoint, teleporting to his apartment. The curse throbbed painfully every few minutes, as if to remind him it was there. The bedroom, though still messy from Jenny’s wake-up routine, was empty. Walking into the living room, he saw Sable on their couch with headphones over her ears. Mostly empty bottles that John had never seen before littered their coffee table. A spherical bottle glowed faintly from the viscous blue liquid that filled it, small arcs of electricity zapping back and forth within the liquid.

The moment they locked eyes, Sable slipped a chain off her neck and began to spin it around her finger threateningly, the headphones falling around her neck. John’s eyebrows flew up, and his hand hovered over Ebony. “W-”

“No need to fight over me, there’s enough Jenny to go around,” Jenny laughed when she exited the kitchen, holding a large bottle of red wine with a footprint on the label. Sable, distracted by Jenny’s reappearance, let the chain slip off her finger.

John, equally distracted but battle-hardened, reacted to the projectile just in time to redirect it into the wall with Move. Much to his shock, the gold resisted his spell until he had poured one hundred mana into it, upon which it succumbed all at once. The chain slammed into the wall and exploded into a mesh net of interlinking gold rings. John took the opportunity to slip the glamoured mask off his face, putting it in his inventory.

“What is happening!?”

“Who’s this bloke?”

“Sable, you remember my boyfriend, John? The guitarist you took over for?” Jenny explained, walking over to John and kissing him; a pleasant euphoric jolt zapped him from her lips. At her words, the rockstar broke into a sheepish smile.

“Riiiight. Sorry about that. Random guy walked out of an empty bedroom and I got nervous. No harm done, no harm done,” Sable peeled the gold net off the wall, the chain returning to its original form in her hands.

“We were drinking this pomejolt and electromage mana infusion and I said it tasted like red wine. Sable has never had red wine, can you believe that!? So I went to get some from the kitchen and here you are,” Jenny explained, running her hand down his back. His muscles relaxed both from her touch and from the electricity dispersing across his back. “Try some!”

Sable tossed him the last bottle, and he caught it with one hand. Jenny popped the cork off, and under her adoring gaze, he found it impossible to not drain the whole bottle. It does taste like a really sweet red wine.

Despite its viscous appearance, it went down his throat smoothly, spreading a comfortable, jittery heat across his body. His mana regeneration spiked for a few moments before going back to normal, and he felt a rush of euphoria in his head as electricity jumped between him and Jenny. Every instance of contact felt nigh orgasmic.

“Just one bottle of red wine? We have superhuman resistance and tolerance! We’re going to need a bottle each if we want to get this party going,” John teased, sauntering over to the kitchen and floating two more bottles into either hand with Move.

A few hours later, John and Jenny laid in bed naked, merely cuddling against each other and enjoying the lingering aftershocks from the magical ****. “Johnny, can we talk?”

“That’s mostly what we’ve been doing since I got here and I didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon,” John joked, and Jenny booped him lightly on the nose with her index finger.

“You know what I mean. I want to talk about you being a bounty hunter. Every time you come home from a contract, you’re so frustrated and upset. Have you thought about quitting? We were going to join for protection, but it feels like you’re in more danger than ever,” Jenny said, resting on her elbow and looking into his eyes.

She’s right. I know she is. I still want to become stronger… so that we don’t need protection, but that wasn’t my original goal. Still, it’s too late for me to get out anyway. I have this curse and I owe Astra a life debt. Can I tell her that? Is it right for me to put that worry on her? Is it right for me to keep it from her? I have to tell her. John stared into her eyes as his thoughts went a mile a second.

“It’s too late for me to get out. I’ve been cursed by a god champion, and I owe another my life. I’m in way too deep, Jenny. I’m sorry,” John explained, watching her carefully. To his surprise, she simply smiled.

“I was wondering what that was. It’s not a bad looking tattoo,” she tried to console him, but his eyes looked just as hurt. She tilted his chin up, forcing him to meet her eyes. “It’s okay, Johnny. Just… try to take it easy. I’m worried about you,” Jenny explained, kissing him slowly. He held her cheek in his hand, rubbing it with his thumb.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

So John and Jenny sat in bed cuddling for a while, until his phone buzzed on the nightstand. Sitting up, he saw a message from The Magician.

The Magician: I’ve heard you were looking for me to help you break a curse placed on you by a god-champion. That is more of a task Justice and her followers could help you with. I’ve contacted her and she has set a meeting between you and one of her followers. Does 8:00 PM in the Springfield infirmary work for you?

John: 8:00 PM in the infirmary. Who should I expect?

The Magician: A woman named Jessica Albyn, you may recognize her from her distinct green lenses.

There was a hyperlink attached to her name, and when he clicked on it he was taken to her profile on the app. From her picture, he remembered that she was the instructor of his second Rider-Waite test.

“What’s up?” Jenny asked, resting her chin on his shoulder.

“This curse might not be such a big deal after all,” John replied happily, noting that he had about an hour until his appointment. Putting his phone back down, he laid back in bed and wrapped an arm around Jenny. “But I’ve still got time.”

Touching his waypoint, John teleported to his Rider-Waite dormitory. His dorm bedroom still had sparse furnishings. I don’t think I’ve ever slept in that bed, but why would I when Jenny’s is always just a blip away.

Pushing his door open, he saw that his other roommates were in the living room, crowded together on the couch playing Monte Racer. Grace had already finished in first place, whereas Amy and Abigail had half a lap to go in fourth and sixth place respectively. Vitaly, Amy’s frost phoenix, rested on her shoulder and watched the group curiously.

“He’s back!” Grace exclaimed, her head popping over the back of the couch when his door opened. Immediately all heads turned to him, and Abigail was off the couch in a smoldering mass of flames which Vitaly smothered with a flap of her frosty wings. Abigail hugged him tightly, lifting him off the ground.

“So all of us want to know… how did you escape from Crow?” Amy asked, unlike Abigail only taking her eyes off the screen once she crossed the finish line.

“Well… I led him on a wild goose chase for a while. My last contract also went to shit, and I called the same backup. I was able to hide until she teleported there, and she drove him off. Cut off his hands too. He was able to put this on me,” John said, pulling on the collar of his shirt and revealing his curse mark. It was a black circle surrounded by tiny plumage with one large feather intersecting it diagonally. Amy and Grace looked at it dumbly, but Abigail stared mouth agape.

“You have one now too!?” She bunched her hair together and lifted it to reveal a similar looking mark on the back of her neck. Hers was a dim red-orange circle with flame shapes near the top. Inside loomed a large fire. The tips of it were a burning red, the main body of the fire an incandescent orange. At the base, bright yellow burned, with a brilliant blue barely peeking out. “My sister’s is a little different. Hers is only orange.”

“Yeah… although I was hoping to break the curse today with the Rider-Waites. My appointment is in ten minutes,” John said, rubbing his neck slowly.

“Even if you do, the mark won’t go away all at once. Growing up, I had to learn a lot about curses so I could control mine,” Abigail explained, suddenly quiet and blushing. “Good luck!”

“That’s right! You’ll kick this thing’s arse!”

“You have our support, John.”

“Yeah, I’ll break this curse and then we’ll take on a contract that won’t go tragically wrong,” John laughed, walking over to the door and looking at the smiling faces of his friends. “See you later!”

As John walked into the Rider-Waite infirmary, a man clad in loose red robes had just finished drafting a report.

Crossfire Report on Springfield Cemetery Assignment #0003
Upon entrance into the cemetery, all seems normal. The enemy’s operations are covert and unintrusive, thus far it seems they have no interest in mundanes. Necrotic energy was being harvested from long deceased, weak Abyssals who were buried alongside their mundane family. Shortly upon entering the mausoleum section, a large barrier is evident. Breaking into the barrier was too easy, the first sign that it was a trap.

Grunts littered the surface, though their common minions are no stronger than an average Two of Swords. Their bodies are composed of bones reanimated with necrotic energy, sometimes infused with elemental energy. Offensively, shattering their bones with sufficient **** puts them down. Defensively, the volume of their attacks is much more threatening than their power. Sufficiently armored individuals should have little to no trouble. Breaking through their line, I was unsurprised to find additional security in the form of a skeletal lich.

Though the magic of a lich is impressive and its phylactery wasn’t near, it lacked the defensive and offensive capabilities to defend itself. Its strength could likely be handled by a Six or Seven of Swords. Offensively, crowd control techniques are recommended, as it has the ability to copy itself and attack with these copies. Taking them all out at once is most effective. Defensively, general fire resistance is recommended, necrotic flame immunity would render most of its attacks useless. I broke its body and pressed further in.

The real bulk of their operation takes place underground. Several massive sigils made of bone harvesting enough necrotic energy to fuel an army rivaling that of our own. Pre-emptive attack recommended. The sigils were guarded by an undead dragon. Offensively, one of my strongest flame attacks had no effect on the creature. As with most things, cutting it in half was enough to put it down. Defensively, its attacks include lightning streams, high level wind manipulation, physical attacks, and a hail of earth and bone. This creature is extremely dangerous. Recommended to AVOID AT ALL COSTS for any weaker than a Knight.

The sigils destroyed and the dragon slain, I was defeated and **** by the previous Strength. He may be even more powerful than before if that is possible.

When I awoke, I was inside of their facility. The previous Strength and a woman named Nairis who is likely their leader took turns in torturing me. Strength’s physical abilities are monstrous, but Nairis crept into my mind and tortured me psychologically. She repeatedly compelled me to… give in. What exactly she wanted is unclear, but she is extremely dangerous, much more so than the undead dragon or Strength. She has subdued a (former) member of the Major Arcana. EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. MAJOR-ARCANA LEVEL THREAT.

Thankfully, most of my torturing was handled by Strength. I got under his skin, waited for the opportunity to take advantage of his compromised mental state, and blew up half of their facility on my way out. Based on what little I saw before breaking my teleportation ring and warping to the infirmary, it seems their facility is on the southwest side of Springfield.

Due to this ordeal, I will be taking a week off.