Chapter Twenty
Kimmy seemed to visibly shrink while Vester’s phantasm sang to her.
He made sure to include the instrumentals, and even created ghosts of the backup singers and dancers, at least what he could remember of them.
Thanks to his intelligence, his ability to recall a music video he’d only seen a few times was nearly perfect.
The longer the music played, the more Kimmy fell into despair.
Her tears grew huge and ugly—she was almost choking on her own sobs.
She didn’t even seem able to lift her arms from the ground.
She just sat there, half-collapsed onto one shoulder, her legs and tail dangling on the mossy ground and her face drooped into the blood-soaked mud their fight had churned up.
Vester blinked, shocked, then raised his voice to call out.
“Ask her, nicely, if we can tie her up temporarily. Promise her that I’ll keep the music going so long as I can… but I’m not promising variety. I only know so many songs from Tay-ta or whatever her name is. But see if you can bring her into the Sanctuary safely.
Jack’s going to break free of my Nightmare Field eventually.”
Vester included the warnings because he had no idea how long he could actually keep Freeform Illusion going. His ability to do some programming meant he should be able to get a playlist or something set up; but he’d never tested to see if Freeform Illusion had a maximum duration.
So far, the hardest part was maintaining the slim thread of control that linked where Kimmy stood and the illusion field he’d created around Jack. One thing was certain: he wasn’t letting Jack slip away. Sorry, Kimmy, if Jack starts to break out then you lose your therapy tunes.
“Vester, what is that?” Skylar asked, looking over at him from where she stood by Krysta’s side. She was pointing up and past his shoulder. Vester twisted, glancing behind him, only to see that strange mask he’d ignored earlier.
The mask winked at him, spun around, and slammed into his face before he could react. The sharp smack of the porcelain hitting his nose was the last awareness he had of his body before he found himself standing in a black, empty void.
“Hello?” Vester called, turning in a slow circle. He glanced down, finding his body the only shape he could perceive. He didn’t feel like he was moving, nor did he feel heat, cold, air, sound—nothing. His clothing rustled on his body, grounding him, but the absence of stimulus was unnerving.
“Hey,” someone said from behind him—despite Vester having just seen nothing there.
Vester spun and found himself face-to-face with a six-foot-tall figure with blue hair, a black streak marring one side, a pair of wide, forward-curving horns, golden, slit-pupiled eyes, and a pair of silver-framed glasses.
The guy was dressed in a simple, white, button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up above his elbows and black slacks.
Vester saw that his left arm transformed into some silver metal from the elbow down. He also noted scales running along the guy’s forearms, neck, and the temples of his head around the base of his horns. Something about his features struck Vester as… familiar.
“Who are you and where am I?” Vester asked, attempting to take control of the moment. He straightened up to his full height and tapped Trickster’s Cane on the ground, but the familiar click never sounded.
To his surprise, the stranger materialized a cane in one hand. The metal looked like it was Damascus, reminding Vester of Krysta’s staff. The knob under the guy’s left hand was eerily similar to Vester’s cane. In contrast to Vester, when the stranger tapped his cane, the click echoed loudly.
“I love it when they make that noise, don’t you?” the stranger said. “It makes me feel like I’m the hero in a Sherlock Holmes movie.” The blue-haired man paused, rolled his shoulders, then leaned on his cane. “But we’re not here to talk about Non’s good taste in divine artifacts.”
“You know Non?” Vester asked, then he stiffened. “If you’ve hurt her, I’ll…” Vester trailed off, not exactly sure how to end that threat. But if this strange figure was some god that had done something to Non, Vester would make it his mission to destroy the man one day.
Even if it took centuries.
The stranger studied Vester, a grin on his lips, then nodded. “Good. I like that reaction,” he said. Then the man was gone—but he hadn’t disappeared. He’d transformed. A dragon—a huge fucking dragon—had taken his place.
The beast was massive in a way Vester couldn’t truly grasp.
The dragon had to be at least a hundred feet from the tip of his nose to the back of his hips, and Vester couldn’t even see how long the tail went off into the darkness.
The dragon’s scales were a deep red, though Vester could only tell it was red because the absolute blackness of the space around them made the color vivid.
Those scales were nearly the size of tower shields, marbled with black lines that absorbed the light and overlapped like armor over the dragon’s frame.
The wings were enormous, and when the beast spread them, Vester felt a strange heat wash over him.
Then all he could see was a huge muzzle hanging over his head like a cliff.
“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, what are your intentions toward my daughter?” the dragon asked. His head turned, and an eye nearly Vester’s size stared at him.
“Your… daughter?” Vester asked. Then his brain caught up to the words and context clues. “You’re Non’s dad?” he asked in confusion. “Wait, what the hell? Non is the goddess of this entire world… and you, her father, just popped in for a chat?”
“Sure,” the dragon rumbled, his voice filling the empty space like thunder.
“Why wouldn’t I? Time works weirdly between realities, and this is Non’s first time running a mortal plane. I’d be a shitty dad if I didn’t check in on her and make sure things were going well. Plus, her brother was worried about her.”
“Julius ratted me out? Why? I thought I was helping him!”
“Woah, calm down,” the dragon laughed, “Julius didn’t say anything about you at all. He told me Non was having some problems with a few of the other gods. I have a personal history with the Church of Light, so I take their bullshit seriously.”
“Okay, fair, they are assholes,” Vester agreed. “So you came to check on the Church of Light and decided I was worth your time and effort? I don’t know if I should be flattered or scared… Also, I’ve kind of got some stuff going on. How do I get back to the dungeon?”
“Relax, you’re still in the dungeon. I separated your soul from the reality stream there. We’ve got plenty of time to talk. When we’re done, I’ll pop you back mere moments after the mask hit your face.”
The dragon curled his legs under his chest and dropped down with a thud, then looped his tail around to curl it up and under his chin like a rest. When the wall of scales formed a circle around Vester before looping back to become a chin rest, it was a little hard for him not to feel trapped.
Vester had always been anxious whenever he’d had to meet someone’s parents.
Despite having said he wanted to talk, the huge god was just staring at Vester expectantly, almost like he thought Vester was going to lead the conversation.
Okay, so, how do I deal with having a giant dragon hanging over my head wanting to talk about my relationship with his hot daughter?
Do I just tell him I have good intentions toward Non? Like, what the fuck?
Smoke washed over Vester’s face, the dragon snorting in amusement.
“I can see your brain melting,” he teased.
“Relax, Vester. Non is going to make her own romantic choices, and I’m not going to stop her. When I was a mortal, I had some pretty rough run ins with the Church of Light, so I know how good those bastards are at subverting things for their own benefit. They’re also heartless and cold.”
Vester found himself wishing he knew the beast’s name and tried to remember if Non had ever said what her father was called. Either she hadn’t, or something was preventing him from remembering it.
“Alright, can’t drag this out too long,” the dragon said with a sigh that blew Vester’s hair back.
“If you’re in my presence beyond the limit, your soul will melt. Much as I’d like a longer chat, I learned a lot about you just by seeing your soul space. I know what I need to, so I’m just going to let you in on a few details. First, that mask is yours now, you’re not getting rid of it. Second,
that mask is going to be triggering some Quests, both for you and for Non. Third, when you summon her again, she’s going to see it and probably freak out. Good luck. Tell her that her father loves her.”
“Wait, you said we had plenty of time and I have so many questions. That didn’t tell me anything!” Vester protested, but the dragon just dipped his head and tapped Vester with the tip of his muzzle. A white flash went off and Vester stumbled back—only to have Li Ra catch him.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “What is stuck to your face?” The oni reached up, tugging on the porcelain that concealed his features. He could feel the edges terminating just before his ears, and felt it above his hairline as well as curling under his chin.
Li Ra’s fingers traced the outer lip of the mask, and her pull were gentle enough that Vester wasn’t hurt when it became clear the mask wasn’t coming off—yet before he could really process having something locked over his face, a message appeared before his eyes.
Hidden Quest achieved:
Quest Log: Meet a Greater God
Requirements: Encounter a being at least two planes elevated from yours and survive.
Reward: +3 to constitution.
Bonus Reward: Acquire A Father’s Approval.
A Father’s Approval (Soulbound): A plain porcelain mask that will change appearance to match any gear worn by Vester Gambit.
This mask is indestructible by any force on Ordinal, and it cannot be removed.
A Father’s Approval’s abilities are [Locked], [Locked], and a +15 to intelligence.
This mask can be made intangible at will—usually.
The last line of that description did not fill Vester with confidence. Non’s whole damn family has got to work on their boundary issues, he thought. Now let’s see if this stupid intangibility thing works. He focused, and the mask faded out of existence.
The moment he felt the dungeon air on his face, Vester relaxed.
Not completely, but enough to regain his composure.
“Sorry, the mask is a Quest reward… we’ll talk more about it later,” he said.
He felt bad at not giving them the full story yet, but he wasn’t ready to talk about his relationship with Non in front of Denny’s Party. “How is Denny?”
There was a subtle shift to Li’s expression that suggested she wanted to protest his change of subject, but Vester saw her eyes flick to Rachel and Davis. The oni gave him a nod, then turned her attention back to watching the trap holding Jack.
Skylar was staring at Vester, and she frowned at him.
A few seconds later, she sighed. “Your brother is fighting off this magic inside him,” she said, gesturing toward Denny.
Now that Vester was closer, the black lines crawling through Denny’s skin were impossible to miss.
Vester’s twin looked like a tree was trying to take root inside him.
“It’s very slow going, however, and whatever it is seems to actively resist healing magic.”
Krysta hadn’t so much as glanced up from Denny; to his credit, neither had Davis.
The pair were both pumping spells into the unconscious Hero with everything they had.
Krysta’s dark skin had paled significantly with fatigue, and sweat now glued her hair to her face.
Despite the obvious exhaustion, she didn’t look ready to quit anytime soon.
Vester opened his mouth, intending to suggest Krysta and Davis start taking shifts, when Freeform Illusion came apart under an explosion of mana that tore through his skill and tried to crawl inside him.
The sickening cold that accompanied his spell shattering felt like tainted slime oozing against his soul, and Vester felt nausea surge within him.
He doubled over, vomiting out black sludge with a gurgle of disgust.
“That should have killed you,” Jack rasped, his voice haggard and raw despite not having vocal cords to produce it.
“You’re an even bigger cheat than me,” the skeleton announced while advancing toward the Sanctuary.
Jack’s bones looked faded, the flames filling his eye sockets guttering weakly.
Every step saw one leg scrape over the ground, like Jack didn’t quite have the strength to walk smoothly.
At least the drain effect of Nightmare Field worked, Vester thought before gagging and ejecting more of Jack’s foul magic onto the dirt.
“My unique ability is supposed to corrupt anything I strike with Death’s essence,” Jack explained, gesturing with a dagger like he wanted to stuff it in Vester’s guts. “You should be dead. Nothing can withstand Death’s Touch… but there you are. You’re such bullshit, Vester.”
“Says the guy who came back from the dead so he could kill more people,” Vester grunted.
He coughed, cleared his throat, then straightened up.
Much as Jack’s attack made him feel disgusting on every level, Vester wasn’t going to look weak in front of that asshole.
“You stabbed your best friend in the back. Why would anything you say mean a damn to me?”
“Come on,” Jack protested, spreading his arms like he was offering Vester a hug. The gesture would have been ridiculous even without the daggers Jack held in each fist. “We’ve known each other for a decade. People change, they grow… and I outgrew you.”
Jack lunged forward, his blades slashing out in a vicious X that sent black light streak through the air to slam into the barrier of the Sanctuary with a ringing gong that actually caused the loose stones in the temporary Safe Zone to rattle.
But bravado wasn’t getting Jack through Krysta’s skill. The pandali let out a groan, hunching over, then had to stop healing Denny. “I… I—I—I d-d-don’t have the mana to block those and keep cleansing,” she whimpered. She looked up at Vester like she’d failed him, and he met her eyes gently.
“It’s okay.” Vester walked over, resting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a tender massage. “Denny’s going to live, and we’re all going to be okay. Jack’s been a failure his entire life, so I don’t imagine he’s going to do better now that he’s a dickless bag of bones.”
The words landed just as Vester intended, and Jack screamed, running forward—right across Vester’s Labyrinth Ward.