บท 88: The Court Magician II
{krialder, please let me know if you want an NPC or a player named after you by the 28th of February 2021. If you don't get into contact with me by using the comment or paragraph section you forfeit your reward. If this happens a new winner will be selected at the end of March.}
{Please mark any spelling mistakes, I'm to tired to edit and I haven't gotten much sleep because of the storms. Thanks for the help!}
I look at the mage and the thing that draws my attention is the necklace he has on. It looks like a powerful item, its name slips my mind at the moment. He walks over to us and joins the conversation on the balcony. "So what's so important that I need to be here. You know I have a lot of work to get done and undoing the damage that Harold caused will take time. While I'm sure you want me to meet your young noble friend, I don't see the point of dragging me all the way here." The trademarked arrogance confirms he is a powerful mage. I wont inspect him since it would be rude, NPC's don't like getting inspected. Especially by players. I can see the obvious frustration on Jacksons face. Even kings cant keep powerful mages in line, and that speaks a lot about the mages of Ancients World.
Jackson pinches the bridge between his nose and releases a sigh, he mumbles something under his breathe. I cant make it out though, he has been king for a very short amount of time so I can guess how angry he is. "This is the young man that brought us the legendary item. If you would be so kind to show respect to the one who saved many casualties in this war I would be most appreciative." So they were able to use the item, how awesome is that I wonder what it looked like. I bet it took awhile to find someone who could use it. The mage looks at me with a hint of surprise. "Tieer, I expect you to help this young man in his tier up quest. He needs help lifting some sort of curse on another. I don't care if this messes up your schedule, I want your full cooperation on this." At least I know his name now. Tieer is a familiar name to me, I heard it in whispers in my travels from my old future.
I don't have any useful information on him, just that he knows a lot about magic for someone so young. He looks at Jackson in disappointment and releases a deep groan. "I'll help to the best of my abilities, but I make no promises. Curses are rarely studied so this could prove a great opportunity for me. We can start right away if you wish." I'm fine with starting right away, but I want to make sure I can trust him. My secret will be known to him, I cant hide it with all this complex work. While it would be nice to keep my secret from someone like Tieer, I wont be able to. He could alert the church for a better station or access to more magic, it really is a gamble. I can ask Jackson if he is trustworthy.
I turn my attention to Jackson and he gets my look. "Can I trust this man with my secret Jackson. I don't want him ratting me out for better benefits, I trust your judgement because you have proved to be a trustworthy man." Tieer looks at me kind of insulted, in the end I really don't need his help. It would be nice to not use my lore tablet though, so I'll see how this plays out. Jackson moves over to his desk and goes through somethings, he pulls out an old photo of 2 kids and hands it to me. They look very similar to Jackson and Tieer, must be them when they were kids.
I look back at Jackson and he takes a breath. "Despite how we act towards each other we are childhood friends. My family and his family have been comrades for a very long time, and I'm to marry his little sister in a few months once the transition is settled. I trust him very much, and he also has a bad history with the church. Even got himself banned from the Holy City." Knowing that he doesn't like the church is a good thing, and being childhood friends with him puts stock in Jacksons words. I hand the picture back to Jackson and he just holds it, has a face of reminiscing old memories.
I turn back to Tieer ready to explain the situation. "The reason I wanted to ask if I could trust you is because I have a very important secret." He looks at me with some excitement, give a mage a mystery and their attitude completely changes. "I'm Arch-Angel Michaels son. While you now know this truth I hope you do keep it a secret." He looks at me like I grew another head, he soon regains composure and gives a slight bow in recognition. I have a sour taste in my mouth when I get bowed to, I'd like to make sure this situation doesn't become a habit. That makes 6 beings in total that know my whole identity, one of them being a dragon. While Cera speaks to the 3 people in the room about his situation. There is a catastrophe happening at J&X.
I look at the new countdown on the screen and a sense of doom overcomes me. Xander said we had a week, but its only been a few days since the change has occurred. Xander said its because of Angelus drawing power to the AW server room. "Xander.... What are we going to do... This isn't enough time to reach the goal!!" I don't know how to describe the feeling I have in me right now, its different then what I felt when I saw the countdown. Xander looks at the screen with me, he has a solemn expression on his face. He has come to terms with the reality of our situation. I on the other hand have not, I thought that if I could save at least 10 billion I would be happy.
The current player total right now is around 6.9 billion, and now we probably wont even reach 7.5 billion by the time of the collision. "We did the best we could Jericho. In the end we cant compete with Angelus, its a miracle that we made it this far. I may sound insensitive, but the only ones we should worry about now is our own families. I'm sure there will be many demanding our blood once the truth gets out. Do you think we should still announce it now?" I barely listen to Jericho. My mind is filled with different things, the most prominent is what the UN will do to us. If we announce it to the world it will cause mass panic, so we shouldn't even tell the UN of this development. Its the only way we can save our own lives.
I stand up in the empty room, right now its just Xander and me. We sent everyone home when we learned that a new countdown would happen, so none of our technicians or scientists know the new countdown. "We wont tell anyone Xander, at this point its the only way to secure our protection and ensure that mass panic doesn't happen. What the people don't know wont hurt them." I don't like that line of thinking, but now that we have reached the end of the road all I can do is save the people who are already playing. I look towards Xander and see the pain on his face, its not one caused by my choice. Its one because he agrees with me. I look at the screen to see the countdown till the collision.
[<Collision: 02:23:33>]
All we have left is 3 days, and the longer I look at the countdown the sicker I get. Angelus has been using the local power grid to pump power into whatever she is doing, and now that she has succeeded the countdown has come to this. "Where do you plan on being the first couple weeks in Ancients world. It would be wise of us to stay together, we both have pretty big families now. When people put the truth together a bounty will be put up for our capture, and we wont have any allies." I ask Xander an important question, I want our families to stay together in Ancients World. We both have 3 kids and a wife, I would feel safer knowing I had some friends.
Xander takes some time to find a good answer, picking the best starting city to stay in will be important. It will buy us a lot of time since our government will be destroyed, and everyone involved with the UN and world government will have no way to track us down and find us. They will be to busy trying to find out how to rebuild and communicate with the rest of the people that make it. "My family and I will be spawning in Hexvale, in the kingdom of Zonid. I'm going to head home and get my family all ready, I suggest you do the same Jericho." He leaves me alone in the empty room. I have a small chuckle, I cant helping seeing the irony of the situation. Trying to control a sperate world with such power was surely a mistake, and now we are paying for it.
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