Of course, he's The Gamer!

Auditory Atmosphere Supplement Activated. Now Playing: Edvard Grieg - Anitra’s Dance

It had been a long time since his last game of chess. He had a short and pretty unsuccessful run in the school’s chess club. But that was before he received his powers and before his rapid growth in both Intelligence and Wisdom.

He knew that he probably had no chance against Magoi, the man would likely be exponentially more intelligent than him, but he at least wanted to step up to the challenge. So he sat down on the black side and moved one of his own pawns.

“Well, you’re the first one that actually takes up the offer for the game. It has been a while since I had someone to play with. Now, what do you know about the Abyss in general?” Magoi asked as he moved another pawn.

John moved another pawn as well as he answered, “From what I know, the Abyss is a part of the world around us. It is the world of magic and of deities that hide themselves from ‘mundane’ people. The Abyss has its own economy and its own institutions looking over the world. I have no idea if there’s a government, but there doesn’t seem to be, at least not here. Many individuals and families seem to band themselves together in bigger organizations, like the Fateweavers or the Order.

“While there seem to be many deities in the Abyss, the most powerful one apparently is Gaia. There also seem to be powerful individuals that live a lot longer than normal humans. Speaking of powerful individuals, there is something I am supposed to deliver to you,” John said as he pulled out the metal disk and laid it on the chess board.

Magoi immediately snatched it up and made it disappear in his tuxedo, mumbling something about ‘Damn witches using applicants as messengers’, before returning his attention to John and the game, “I thank you for this delivery, please tell the sender that the message has been received. I fear that if you should stay with the Weavers, then you will have to do that kind of thing once or twice. This sender isn’t particularly… well liked. Anyway, back to the questions. So far, everything you said was mostly correct. So you don’t know anything about power structures in the Abyss, neither in America nor the rest of the world?”

As John shook his head, the Fateweaver pulled out a notebook from somewhere and wrote down something John couldn’t see. As quickly as the book appeared, it was gone, and Magoi resumed the game by moving the second pawn he had moved forward. “Okay, we will have to give you some introductory lessons then. Now then, what do you know about the Fateweavers?”

Now John was thankful that he had bought that info package, “Fateweavers are a neutral organization centered around the building of Barriers and everything that is related to it. They stem from an organization called the ‘Illusion Protectors’ and offer their services to anyone with the according cash. Inside the Fateweavers there are different departments dealing with different things, like marketing and acquisition of new employees, and some more specialized departments dealing with customers or with ‘public projects’, like Travel Barriers and neutral zones. There are multiple branches in many cities, some major cities, and some in more… simple regions, like Springfield. I think that describes most of what I know.”

Magoi nodded and hummed in a satisfied manner, “That’s quite some information you have there, though I guess most of it is public knowledge through our information package. If you bought that, let me know, you’ll get a refund. I see that as a preparatory expense for this interview, and that shouldn’t rest on your wallet. Now, what can you tell me about Springfield? An interesting little town, isn’t it?”

The game was progressing in a way John didn’t like; he soon lost his queen after a risky move on one of Magoi’s bishops. Sighing, he said, “Well, Springfield seems to be a particularly eventful town. The so-called ‘Order of the Golden Rose’ has a seat here, there are the Moons, which seem to be powerful, and then there are the Gjoskenholms, which do their own thing but do a job similar to the Order. Of course, then there are the Fateweavers and some independent people that don’t seem to be tied to any organization officially. Honestly, it seems like something draws the Abyss to this town, I have no idea what though…”

A chuckle came from the mask of the Fateweaver, “So you know some big parties in the town, but not even nearly all of them. You have mostly dealt with the groups working in the open, the ones you get into contact with quickly, especially the Order. But seeing as how each and every party of the ones you just said sent a letter of recommendation in some way, it seems like you get along with them pretty well as well. We will need to teach you about the ‘other side’, but that should be an easy mend.”

That wording was peculiar… “Wait, does that mean I get the… uh… job? I guess this is a job… The way you just said makes it sound like you’d already like to hire me.”

Magoi’s hearty laugh confused John a bit, “Oh my, me and my big mouth. Well, yes. I was pretty sure that I would find a place for you since I’ve seen your combat prowess. We only have a limited amount of combat-capable Fateweavers, Hannah being one of them. But once I’ve seen your ability to create items out of thin air, I knew we had to get you. This interview is just to see how much you already know and how much you need to be taught. Now, is there any topic you might want to learn more about? If not, then we can skip the interview.” The Fateweaver took another piece of John’s.

There was one thing John wanted to know more about, “Actually, I’d like to know a bit more about Kingdoms, like Kingdoms outside of Earth. Do you know anything about that?”

Humming lightly, Magoi nodded, “Hmm… That’s a very specific piece of knowledge… But yes, I do know some things about Kingdoms. Most of the time, they stay far away from one another, and only very few people are actually able to pierce from one Kingdom into another. Each Kingdom is different from the other, some with technology more advanced than ours, some as primitive as cavemen. We have two Fateweavers that can see into other Kingdoms, but they can’t enter them. Why do you ask about this?”

Should John tell him about the Nexus? He promised to keep it out of trouble, and exposing it to his future boss who he didn’t know that well yet screamed trouble… “Simple curiosity. I found an item at some point that said something about Kingdoms, so I just wanted to know.”

Magoi seemingly took the lie, “Makes sense, that would spark my curiosity as well. Very well, then, let’s talk about the offer. I, or rather we, are offering you a position inside the Fateweavers. In light of your abilities, the position would be highly flexible in its approach. Your tasks would switch between accompanying other Fateweavers on more dangerous tasks, doing some less dangerous tasks of your own, and provide materials and at times Barriers to our Research and Development branch. We would also start to offer a new kind of service, where customers could request for your services to create for them one of your ‘Adventure Barriers’ to gain combat experience and materials. Due to the flexible way of your work, we would offer you a higher pay than usual for someone of your age and experience. You will be provided with the standard tools of a Fateweaver and various benefits for your effective work. You will get a health plan that will cover most treatments with the Apothecaries, and you will gain a personal secondary account for the Abyss Auction, which you can use to buy items necessary for your work. Those will be tightly controlled though, so they better actually be relevant to work. Now, you will be paid at the end of the month by the hours worked, with a rate of $2500 per hour. Minimum of ten hours of work per week. Do your job good, and that rate will increase soon enough. Any questions so far? Also, Checkmate.”

John thought about the offer for a minute, and everything Magoi just said, “Actually, I have two questions: One, what do you mean by ‘standard tools of a Fateweaver’?” Looking at the board, he was indeed in a checkmate. Well, that went as well as he had expected it to. He had taken out some of Magoi's pieces, but nothing near to the amount his opponent had...

The Fateweaver then put his hand inside his tux to pull out two items, one being a silver ring without any details, the other being a six-sided crystal. Aside from the shape, the crystal looked exactly like the twenty-sided crystal Magoi had been using to check on John’s Barriers. “Now, the crystal is something we call a ‘Master’s Eye’. It is both a trusty tool to improve your information gathering abilities, and it is a status symbol inside the Fateweavers. Have you ever heard of Kepler?” John shook his head. “Kepler was a German scientist of the 17th century, and he was a high ranking member in the Illusion Protectors. He was one of the visionaries that later led to our separation from the Protectors. To honor his name and his vision, we created the hierarchy inside the Fateweavers after one of his concepts, the so-called Mysterium Cosmographicum. The Mysterium says that our solar system is built after the concepts of the five platonic solids, the tetrahedron, the cube, the octahedron, the dodecahedron, and the icosahedron. If you would put them inside one another and encase each shape with a sphere, you get a model that is amazingly accurate to the distances of the former six known planets. The cube is the solid most on the outside of the model, being, therefore, the one farthest away from the center. The most inner solid is the octahedron, only given to the Supreme Fateweavers. The deeper in the mysterium you get, the more information the Eye will give you. It will not only give you knowledge about your current Barrier, but any thought directed at it from you will give you the necessary information. So you will be using this to get your knowledge about the powers of the Abyss.”

He then pointed at the second item, “This ring is called a ‘Lifeline’. Once you put it on, it will be invisible, undetectable, and you will not be able to talk about it. However, it will be your greatest tool should you ever find yourself in trouble. The ring itself is only a magic beacon that will inform us of your position when activated. Once activated, one of 200 different magic abilities will extract you from your current predicament. Be aware that the ring only works if you have magic, and it will bring you back to the Springfield branch. It is not a tool to be misused; this is an important secret that needs to be kept for the protection of every Fateweaver. Only use it if there is no other way to escape your predicament. Now, what’s your second question?”

John was still looking at the items in front of him as he was pulled out of his concentrated listening, “Oh, right. My second question would be if I still need to attend school. Do I still need to go to a school that was mostly there to prepare me for university or college, where I probably won’t go now since I have this kind of work?”

Magoi hummed thoughtfully, “Hm… good question. We didn’t have a case like this before, either we got our applicants earlier, once their powers were powerful enough, or older, as they expanded their powers to new fields. So I’m not sure. While I think it would be a good cover story, I would rather have you work more. I would say go with what you think is right, as long as you are able to work a sufficient amount for us. If you want, I can look into this situation, seeing as how I need to drop by your school anyway. But let’s finish the business first,” and he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to John.

The paper said what Magoi just told him, but it went into a bit more detail about what kind of ‘benefits’ he would get. The Fateweavers would supply him with an Abyssal driver’s license, also valid in the mundane world, and they would pay half of the price for a vehicle of John’s choosing, where he had to pay the other half. Multiple times per year, he would be able to gain special combat training if so wanted (though he would likely train with Kim, Mariana, and Brun way before that), they would provide him with a cover for a mundane occupation, and they’d regularly supply him with Mana potions, depending on his rank. Officially, his rank would be ‘Minor Fateweaver’, but he would be able to be evaluated every six months for a new rank if he’d want to.

As he was signing the paper with a floating pen, a pop-up appeared on his peripheral vision.

Warning Battery Low!

He wanted to grab his phone from his pocket to see how much he had left when he noticed one thing.

It wasn’t in his pocket.

Looking into his inventory revealed that it wasn’t there either.

John then frantically thought about what he did with his phone so that it wasn’t in his pocket anymore… He still had it this morning, that was when he Bonded with it. The last time he had it in his hand was…

When he handed it to Mrs. Wentworth, who put it in her desk.

Which means… his phone was at school!