Long Road Home

“That’s a good question,” Keith said, turning to Neve; “Can you tell what Kingdom we’re in?”

“Well, there are no radio waves of any sort other than ours, so it’s certainly not a modern one,” Neve replied, tapping fastidiously on her tablet.

“Oooh, do you think this is where we honeymooned, Keith? The climate is about right!” Kimberly said excitedly, face to the sun.

“How are we getting home?” Their confident tones had done nothing to reassure John, and they seemed to be walking in a random direction.

“Simple, if it’s connected to Earth, I’ll talk to a representative of the Waites and pay to travel back via one of their bases. Since we’re human, we don’t need passports to travel to Earth,” Keith waved away John’s worries, but questions sprouted up in their place.

“The Waites?” John asked, letting David come back out to fly around them.

“They’re a bounty-hunter organization that also deals with inter-kingdom travel. They kinda police the world too, though only if something really bad happens, or if somebody pays them to,” Jenny explained, tuning her bass. As she examined it further, she noticed cracks and dents littering it. I’ll have to take it to Andrew… that’s not going to be cheap, she thought as she ran her hand along its edge.

“Good to know you pay attention sometimes, Jenny,” Keith joked, before continuing; “If it isn’t connected to Earth, then it gets more complicated. If it’s uninhabited, we’ll get paid a hefty sum of money by the Waites for our exploration duties and be transported out. We could try to take the Throne, but…” Keith shivered as he continued, “people have gone crazy trying to wrench control away from Kingdoms that control themselves. Best for us to just leave.”

“Why would there be a throne here if it’s uninhabited?” John asked, feeling stupid for being the only one to ask so many questions. I should find a textbook or something that’ll give me the rundown on the Abyss. I can’t believe I didn’t think to look for something like that on the Auction.

“Not that kind of throne,” Keith replied but paused, scratching his chin, “though I guess it is also that kind of throne. Claim the Throne of a Kingdom, get control over it. To what extent the control is or how exactly Thrones are supposed to be claimed, I don’t know.”

“People also break them,” Neve, who had been leading them, interjected, “though doing that practically paints a sign on your back that says ‘please come **** me, thousands if not millions of people will pay you for my ****.’”

“So why would anyone do that? What’s the benefit?” John asked incredulously. If breaking Thrones was really that frowned upon, the gain for doing something like that had to be immense.

“If there is one beyond anarchy, it’s never been documented,” Neve replied, stopping in her tracks. “We’re here.”

Looking around, John realized that the hill in front of them held a barely noticeable glimmer. If he hadn’t been paying attention (or if his Agility were lower), he wouldn’t have noticed it at all. He tried to use Spy but was met with a popup.

Waite base resists Spy!

“There are a dozen hostile spells pointed at us Keith; if you’re going to do something, I recommend it be now,” Neve calmly explained, unplugging her tablet from her arm and sliding it into her bag along with the chord.

“Right, right,” Keith replied, reaching into his bag and pulling out a red and white plastic card. John couldn’t see what was on it, but the illusion of a hill in front of them faded away, replaced by a metal building not entirely dissimilar from what was in the barrier.

They were ushered in by a ragtag group of guards wearing clothes varying from a flashy, iridescent robe to a normal suit of armor which all had the same symbol of six swords on it. As they entered the chilly base, John realized he had never used Spy on Neve.

[Redacted]
Technomancer, Level 45
HP: [Redacted]
MP: [Redacted]
Hello! I see you’ve tried to use scrying magic on me. Stop that and don’t try it again, or else you’ll get very hurt. Consider this my warning shot.
RS: +12

If Neve knew John tried to Spy her, she didn’t show it. Huh, I got more information about her just by being around her for an hour or so, John thought, walking absently with their group through twisting hallways, stopping every once in a while when Keith spoke to one of the many guards. I guess Spy isn’t too reliable on people expecting it, though the skill information tells me that much. If I want to know more about people, I should raise my Charisma more… but Endurance is so close to twenty-five! And Wisdom has been seriously lacking… they definitely take precedence.

John hadn’t realized he was muttering some of his thoughts aloud, and Jenny summarily silenced him with a kiss. “That was cute and all, but I could tell it was going to get annoying. Anyways, we’re here.”

“Where here?” John asked, looking past her to see the rest of the group walking through a machine of some sort. It reminded him of a car wash, though that was only because of the big plastic curtain everybody walked through one at a time.

“What’s that do?” John asked to the freakishly tall, grinning man twisting levers and knobs on the large machine, who upon closer inspection had long, pointy ears. He towered over John, who was just over six feet tall, by at least a foot. Despite that, he looked to be totally human. His pale, white skin and matching brown hair and eyes would fit in on any street corner. Unlike everyone else, he was even wearing a normal t-shirt which read “Smashing Stardrops” in purple letters, a deep purple fruit in a star shape exploding on the front.

“It determines your race, detects weapons, dispels illusions, and prevents mages from using magic for a few minutes,” the friendly elf explained, noticing John was staring at his ears. “I know that look! First time seeing an elf, right?”

The man twisted his head to one side, and John noticed a multitude of piercings on his other ear. Gold, silver, copper, sapphires, and rubies. “Being a security guard is pretty cushy,” he grinned again, and looking at him straight, John realized he had sharp, shark-like teeth. “Anyways, your turn dude. See ya on the other side.”

Walking through the machine felt like walking into one big cobweb, and John watched as his mana shot down to… negative one? His regeneration also tanked to negative one. Emerging through the other side, a wave of dry, cold water splashed over him. John confusedly looked at his clothes, but nothing was wet.

“Alright, you’re good, dude,” an identical security guard said as he exited the big, grey machine. At first glance, John thought it was the same person. Looking closer though, he realized this man had his piercings on the other side.

“First time seeing an elf, or is my brother working the machine?” the man asked in response to John’s gaze, looking away from the screen that read out the machine’s data.

“Is it really that obvious?” John replied but answered; “But yeah, your brother’s on the other side.”

“Cool! You better go now though, little dude; your groups waiting for you,” the guard said, and John noticed that he was wearing a t-shirt similar to his brother’s. Though his said “King” on it in flashy, script letters and had black and white images of four male elves on it.

Jogging to catch up to the others, John marvelled at what appeared to be an intricate system of mirrors, with one giant mirror in the center. Looking at them closely though, all the reflections were murky. Beings of all races continuously walked out of them, ranging from human to a tentacle abomination which left a thin trail of ooze in its wake. As John watched it, a drone hovered over and followed behind it, cleaning up.

“We’re the big one,” Keith told John, pointing at the mirror that dominated the room with his thumb. As he pointed, a group of tourists exploded out of it, cameras clicking at the whole room.

“Five bucks says it leads to New York,” Jenny said, laughing at the over-eager caricature of tourists.

“Twenty says it leads to LA,” Kimberly replied, smirking at Jenny.

“You’re on,” Jenny said, taking a twenty out of her bass case. Meanwhile, Kimberly took a twenty out of her bra. Ignoring them, Keith walked up to the man who seemed operated the mirror.

“Excuse me, where on Earth does this one lead to?” Keith asked a neat looking man dressed in a suit in front of the mirror.

“New York City, Mr. Rutherford,” the man answered with a bow; “Your trip will be gratis, but your friends will be charged on your account.” In the back, Jenny laughed as Kimberly handed her the twenty.

“We’re eating good tonight, Johnny, extra fries for us,” Jenny joked, holding out the money she had won.