Maybe it’s something Taiwo sees in my expression, but I’ve been around him long enough to notice that he shifts uncomfortably as we sit down and he pulls his traditional selection of foods out between us while we settle into chairs. The pageantry and routine is familiar, but doesn’t feel the same. For the first time I decline to dig into the food, but I do decide to dig straight into the conversation instead of beating around the bush.

  “I’ve scoured the Mark from me. I don’t want it after what I’ve seen, the sacrificial lambs that Hvitserkur is feasting on now,” I start and then pause. Taiwo looks to be in no hurry at all to hear my point and is watching me with an intensity I haven’t seen before. “I’m thankful for everything you and Tenebris have done for us, but I’m carving my own path now.”

  “I can see why you’d feel that way. You’ve gained a lot of Levels, even for you,” he says with some energy. On the surface it’s the same old Taiwo with his optimism and positivity but I know there’s something else going on and I can sense it. I just know it. And now that I have the scent, I find it hard not to smash my way to the bottom of whatever it is.

  “That’s it?” I ask him carefully. The door is open for him to get real. “Just… ok? Find your own path?”

  “That’s it, Bronwic.” He says it without much emotion, like it doesn’t matter.

  I lock eyes with him for a few long moments, testing.

  “I can see you’re looking for more… but what are you looking for?” Taiwo asks. He’s a lot more calm than usual; wary. It’s a good question actually, since I find I’m not exactly sure.

  “I guess I wanted you to explain why things are they way they are. Or convince me that I’m just jumping at shadows, and that I don’t have the right idea. That Tenebris and the SSA and the people I’ve been dealing with have good intent and I’m just not seeing it the right way. That I’m on the side of the good guys and Syvox was wrong.”

  Taiwo does his version of laughter, gills vibrating, but this time it’s different. Not light and joyful, more dark and cynical. Condescending. I realize that for the first time he’s laughing at me instead of with me.

  “There’s no good guys and bad guys, Bronwic. You should know that by now. The Universe only has different shades that flicker and change on a whim. People like Tenebris are so powerful that their only restraint is their own decisions about what they want to do, and I find him to be remarkably restrained in most situations. He hasn’t gutted Earth or taken it over… though he could. He’s allowing humanity to thrive and see what potential your species has, and so far it’s worked out pretty well for you I’d say.”

  I narrow my eyes, knowing that I am naive to the nuances of what’s gone on around me. How could I not be? But something about what he says still feels off.

  “Look, Bronwic,” says Taiwo as he sits forward on his chair, his powerful body tense for action. Not combat, but maybe escape. His long blonde hair frames his impossibly handsome face and his gaze turns intense. “We’ve known each other for a little while now and been through some things. It’s been fun and interesting and I hope it continues. I really do. I enjoy it. But I’ve known Tenebris for hundreds of years, and I can tell you there are a lot worse out there in the Universe. It’s not a place built on justice and fairness, although on the surface there’s an attempt at it with some of what the SSA does. It’s a Universe built on Levels and power and Credits. It’s not a democracy. It’s not a charity. It’s a place where you need the strength to take what you need and keep it. Humanity is just emerging from the small, shallow protected pool where the youngest hatchlings swim… and there is a very, very large and very, very dangerous ocean for you to navigate. There are a few powerful individuals, an infinitesimal proportion, who believe that new species to the SSA should be given a chance to flourish and they protect worlds like yours for a period of time, and humanity has been a beneficiary of that. Some do it to posture and flex their might against others, some to exploit whatever new and novel comes out of new worlds, some for reasons all their own. But I can assure you it is an infinitesimal proportion. Most of the Universe? They. Will. Not. Give. A. Shit. They will plunder you and enslave you and not think twice.”

  Taiwo has never been this direct with me, never been open with me to this degree. Never really treated me as anything other than an interesting diversion from his ‘normal’ life. I’m sure buried in what he’s said there are truths, half-truths, and lies. But I’m glad it’s finally come out. I’m glad someone has finally given me their real view without any sugar coating.

  “Like Tenebris offered up an entire world to Hvitserkur in exchange for ours, and to get a new location for an Academy?”

  Taiwo scoffs.

  “I think he was too generous with you. There aren’t a lot of options when you’re dealing with a creature like Hvitserkur. You can’t just eliminate the problem, you’ve got to offer something better than what he was. Something like Hvitserkur is too tough to kill,” he explains to me.

  “I did,” I reply flatly. We sit there in silence for a few seconds while Taiwo tries to puzzle out what I mean.

  “You did what? Kill Hvitserkur?” he says with an expression that tells me he thinks he’s told a great joke.

  “Yeah.”

  I can see the wheels turning in Taiwo’s head before the practiced poise covers it up.

  “You know I’ll need to inform Tenebris of all this,” he says.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  “Be my guest,” I reply.

  “And this doesn’t have to be what you’re making it into. I think with some perspective you’ll find that our relationship and the circumstances have been, in your terms, on the side of good rather than bad. We can still do great things together and make a difference.”

  He seems sincere and maybe he’s right, but I need to judge what he’s saying for myself.

  “I’ll think on it,” I say, and stand up. He follows quickly and seems hungry to hear what I might say next.

  “Whatever happens, I’ll always be grateful for what you’ve done for me when you didn’t have to.”

  We leave it at that and I exit the Shop back to Calgary. For now, with some grumpiness, I close the book on Queenstown since it belongs to Tenebris now. Part of it is not wanting to escalate anything, and part of it is it simply just feels wrong right now to go back to a place I love when it’s tainted by the way I feel right now.

  The people around me give me a wide berth and a few watch me closely, some in interest and some in fear, as I leave and walk toward Carter’s house. It’s not far but I take my time, trying to process it all and clear my head to find some kind of stability. About halfway there I turn around and return to the MIS Hub, then reach out and touch the golden Shop orb and for the first time since the Influx I select the option to change my default and select something else.

  A notification screen comes up with a wide range of options. Everything from specialty Shops to those that are only accessible to people with certain qualifications. I take a minute or so to check out the options and almost none of them are for humans. It looks like my Titles and Level have given me access to a bunch of Shop options and my Inventory has given me even more. There are thousands upon thousands to choose from. Is this what everyone needs to deal with?

  I focus with my SMI and a rounded green button at the bottom of my notification screen appears.

  Automated optimal Shop selection

  Even if it’s not quite optimized there’s no doubt in my mind it will be better than whatever I come up with, and I find I’m curious as to what other Shops might be like. I hit the button and the familiar twist of dimensional space hits me. Out of habit I reach out with my Affinity and try to track and understand what’s going on. This feels different than Taiwo’s Shop in a way that’s hard to describe, but the connection feels bigger, thicker. Like zooming down a big underground tunnel instead of flying through an enclosed waterslide. I trigger Perfect Focus and close my eyes to try to concentrate all the attention I can on it. By the time I emerge I think I’ve possibly learned something about the way the Shop orb works and maybe that adds a tiny bit of progression to my Dimensional Affinity.

  What is definitely clear is that the new Shop that’s ‘optimized’ for me is nothing like Taiwo’s Shop. The lobby is a strange place that causes my Dimensional Manipulation Affinity to activate like my smell would activate entering a candy shop. The interior of the lobby feels both incredibly ancient and incredibly advanced. The ceiling is far higher than it should be, stretching into a misty void where floating symbols pulse fairly. The walls are covered in shifting runes that glow as they constantly rearrange themselves into new configurations, as if keeping Inventory of the Shop’s contents.

  At the center of the lobby is a levitating platform of obsidian glass with four large and four smaller levitating platforms that look like they’re made of steel that’s been engraved with intricate runes. Six of the platforms are currently covered by an opaque black dome, but I can see from my vantage point that each one has a doppleganger or holographic projection of the person in the middle standing before it and the ones that are occupied are actively moving and speaking, though I can’t hear anything even with my enhanced Perception.

  In the middle is what looks like a king holding court, if he was a DJ on high powered cocaine. Rune covered panels in an octagon around him float at waist height and he moves back and forth between them rapidly, but the whole time he’s looking right at me, zoned in on me in a way that makes me feel he can probably see right through into my Inventory. I can already feel that he’s pulled what he can from my Status and I don’t fight it, assuming that the best way to get great service is to let him know what he’s dealing with. It’s me who showed up here, after all.

  Valtir Engimataihl, Merchant of U’lltox, Artifact Trader, Broker to Royalty, more…

  (Level 11 High Shop Merchant) (Ascended)

  Health: 3740/3740

  Mana: 12080/13440

  Conditions: Value Homing, All-seeing Appraisal, Bag and Tag, Discerning Eye, more…

  He looks tall and thin with gray skin and three long fingers plus a thumb at the end of each of his four arms. I think I see three legs, but the shifting geometric patterns of light beneath the panels he’s operating make it difficult to perceive. Valtir wears an eclectic outfit that my Mana Affinity tells me right away is full of items with magical properties and a lot of them are powerful.

  “Bronwic, greetings! Welcome to my Shop, which is, if I do say so myself, the best one in the Universe for your kind of Adventurer,” says Valtir in a voice that also resonates in my mind like Kauran’s does. As he says it my Dimensional Affinity senses a tweak in space and Valtir is instantly now a swirling, gaseous mass of translucent eyes and whispered voices. A second later he’s back to his original form. It’s all a bit disconcerting and weird.

  “Valtir,” I acknowledge.

  “Please, step here to the large platform,” he says graciously. My Danger Sense is silent and so I approach the platform. As I do, I float effortlessly and without feeling any loss of control to the level of the platform. It’s a nifty trick. Once I step into the room, a black starry dome appears over me and space shifts again. I don’t feel in danger as everything around me warps and creates a huge interior with walls that adjust amongst more platforms on each side of a long walkway. Shelves and compartments at different distances away spiral upward like massive helixes and strange orbs of light float through the air as if searching for something.

  I turn back toward the opening where Valtir was stationed and see him floating on a circular platform a couple of meters wide. It’s not a replica, it’s actually him - I can tell simply with my Perceptions and the presence he has, that slight bend of reality around him that anyone who’s reached an Ascended Class has, though some more than others. He does, indeed, have three legs and four arms and he’s much taller than me. Definitely over three meters tall.

  “I am one of the last of a species that once roamed the Universe to catalogue the rarest artifacts and to broker deals between powerful worlds and individuals,” Valtir says gravely. I can’t tell if this is a practiced speech he gives to everyone or not. Like you would expect, his Charisma is at least as high as mine, although his clearly manifests as relationship building and likeability rather than an aura of intimidation and threat.

  “Sounds like I’ll fit right in,” I tell him, and we share a chuckle.