The Bathrobe Knight (32 page)

Darwin stood in the old Boss room on a raised platform with the double doors leading into the kitchen behind him. What had once been a poker room and then a makeshift dining room was now the best they could do for an auditorium, but it was still too small to fit all of the Valcrest refugees inside. As a result, no children were in attendance and there were still a great number of people in the halls and the kitchen behind him doing their best to listen to what he was about to say.

Darwin, who had never given a public speech before, expected to have sweaty hands, sore throat and a red face. He had even anticipated that he might feel dizzy and nauseous. The one thing he hadn’t planned for was feeling comfortable, at home, and in control. The second the crowds gathered his eyes sharpened and the room went from being a mass of people to an extension of himself. He felt the words flowing out of his mouth and into the crowds as if it were as natural as running water rushing through a river. He knew it didn’t matter what his message was. It didn’t even matter what words he used to convey it. What was important wasn’t that; it was the confidence. It was the demand that mattered, the command that he be trusted no matter how insane his words may sound.

“Valcrest, I came to you a stranger. I came to you a man stripped of home, people and any belongings that weren’t on my person when I found myself in this exile from my own lands. But, you people told me not worry. You gave me food, shelter, a place to rest my head and a job. You gave purpose back to my life when I was lost. Most importantly above all of those gifts though, you gave me your trust.

“And don’t think I didn’t notice. It couldn’t have been easy, but you did it. You followed me when almost every one of you is a capable leader, strong enough in spirit to stand against any challenge, yet you chose to honor Elmont and follow a stranger you barely knew. I asked that you leave your homes behind--where you had spent generations building families, memories, and friendships--to follow me into a dark and musty cave barely fit for life, yet you did so in an instant and without complaint.”

As he spoke, the crowd became more and more responsive. They had gone from passive listeners to actively nodding and mouthing their agreement as he spoke.

“That’s why it pains me to tell you the trials are not over. That the changes we started when we decided not to merely repair scraps, but create a future, still have a great way to go. But, I cannot do this without your continued faith that we are doing the right thing and we are on the right path--that at the end of the day, you believe the sacrifices I am asking you to make are worth the rewards we will gain when they are made.”

Darwin paused. Everyone had been murmuring and talking amongst themselves when he first decided to start talking, but now they were all as silent as a church mouse, and their eyes were fixed on him with unwavering focus.
So this is what public speaking is like?
he thought, giving the room a moment to take a breath. Then he opened his inventory and pulled out the Golden Creation Stone and held it up on a flat palm for everyone to see.

“Do you all know what this is?” he asked, waiting for their nods to show him his assumptions were not wrong. “Do you know what will happen if you agree to follow me when I activate this Stone?” he pressed. They nodded again, many doing so excitedly and others even mouthing
yes
as they did.

“This is where our path lies,” he said, closing his fingers around the smooth Stone and gripping it as tightly as he could within a fist. “This is the tool we will use to create a future where we are more than the pawns of Kings and the food of evil men. It is the item that will give us the power to manifest our destiny.”

He stopped again for a moment, letting it sink in with the crowd. There were no questions, but the people were still nodding. They were hanging on his movements, their eyes following his every gesture.

“I am going to use this Stone here and now before you. By a higher providence I have been set upon this path and I cannot stray, but you can. That’s why I am here to ask you, do I still have your faith? Will you, knowing the dangers and hardships you will have to endure, cast aside your comfort yet again and come with me?”

Before the pause could take root the people answered his question: “Yes!” they shouted at him. There was no disagreement, no uncertainty or lack of answer from anyone in the group. Even those in the hallway who could not hear the speech were shouting
yes
to not be left out of the fervor of the crowd.

They do not know that in following me, they are casting aside their Humanity,
he thought without a single pang of guilt. He needed them to agree because if he was going to keep them alive, then there wasn’t any room for indecision or second guessing. There was no turning back from the path that he had laid out for them.

Activate Tiqpa Creation Stone
, he thought, squeezing the Stone even harder than before.

• You are attempting to activate a Creation Stone. Your Race, Demon, will be set as the Faction’s primary Race. All NPCs preexisting within the Faction will be converted to Demons and all NPCs generated by the Creation Stone will be Demons until new Races are added to the Faction by procuring additional Creation Stones or alliances. Do you wish to
  Accept
  or
  Reject
  ?
  

Accept.
Darwin had already been warned by Eve about what would happen when he chose to use the golden rock.

• You have activated a Creation Stone. Please select a name for your new Faction.
  

The StormGuard Alliance,
he thought, deciding to name his Faction after his old gamer’s guild. The StormGuard Alliance had managed to claim first in several raid bosses and was more than just a guild: it was his prized creation. He might not have socialized, recruited, or even done much in terms of boosting morale after his raid group had wiped, but he had spent hours farming gold for the guild bank, buying upgrades for the guild raid gear and working tirelessly to research and come up with the best strategies for each one of the raids. It was something he had spent years pouring his heart and soul into, and while he couldn’t go back to it on Emerald Gardens, he could at least recreate it here.

• Congratulations! You are now leader of the StormGuard Alliance Faction. You may now build and assign privileges and Ranks for your Alliance through the Tiqpa Faction menu.
  

Everyone was still cheering and the rabble of their excitement had only grown since their agreement. The Stone had been activated, and now that the Faction had been named, and the conditions had been agreed upon, its magic finally kicked in. Its golden hue grew so bright within his hands that the light merely escaping the cracks between his fingers crushed every bit of darkness in the room, eliminating shapes and details and leaving only white light visible to anyone with open eyes. Then it faded, leaving Darwin and the people of Valcrest to struggle as their eyes adjusted back. When he could finally see again, Darwin smiled. Where once stood a crowd of people with blue, green, and brown eyes; with red, blonde, and brunette hair colors; now stood a room full of dark-haired people whose red eyes shined throughout the crowd. His speech was not a lie. He really had come to them a stranger, but now he had a Race, he had a people, and he had a destiny.

Valerie
:

It’s actually kind of pretty, considering what it is,
Valerie thought to herself as she stared at the glass walls of her prison. She had known ahead of time that she would log in here.  Mclean and Daniel had both gotten on early and then sent her forum messages warning what would happen, but it still didn’t prepare her for the feeling that came with it: helplessness. They probably didn’t understand what it was like to be in prison, but Valerie had been stuck in a chair that felt like a prison for years.

11 hours and 32 minutes left,
she counted as a minute passed on her timer. Each jailable offense in a starting land wasn’t worth more than two or three minutes in the glass prison, but the number of offenses they were being charged with had pushed a simple game creator’s concept of “a few minutes of time out for bad behavior” to her and her friends being forced to wait an entire day in their solitary confinement cells. She wanted to send them messages, but even that function was disabled for the duration of the punishment.

She was alone, trapped and helpless. It was a far too familiar feeling.
And now I get to spend an entire day not walking around again,
she thought bitterly. The worst part about it was that she was being punished by the people she had worked so hard to protect last night. They had spent hours upon hours helping save the White-Wings, and now she was in a White-Wing prison with her new friends.

The Guards changed for the first time since she got to the cell. It had been over an hour and a half since she first arrived, and she was already used to the quiet terror of being able to see a world around her that she couldn’t interact with. She could see their lips moving but no sound came out.

Tim,
she thought, suddenly. The new Guard wasn’t a Guard . . . it was Tim.
What’s he doing here? He’s supposed to be leading missions and helping starting players level up. Why is he here? Did he get demoted to guard duty because of me? Crap, I got the only cute guy who has ever asked me out demoted to guard duty.

Tim looked at her for less than half a second, then frowned and turned his back, facing the hall like every other Guard.
Great, he’s not just mad at me, he’s giving me the cold shoulder,
she thought, letting her back slide down the cell wall until her butt hit the floor and her knees pressed against her chest. She didn’t just feel helpless. She felt small.

Just as she was about to cry, she heard the door open. She looked up to see Tim with his stupid grin staring at her.

“I leave you alone for less than two days, and you end up in a cell waiting to be exiled?” he asked, laughing a bit as he did.

“I . . . I’m going to be exiled?” she said, not sure what part of the news was more shocking, the fact he was here or the fact she was going to be exiled.

“Yeah, the order hasn’t gone out yet and won’t even come with a trial, but I heard a few higher ups talking about it earlier today when you first came in,” he said. “You’re apparently the talk of the ranks.”

“I thought the Sun God Empire didn’t exile people?” she asked, confused. This was never part of the game’s starter manual.

“It doesn’t generally, but you and your two friends are the exception,” he explained. “I know, from what the other two said, you were doing what you did to save the White-Wings, but without evidence it just looks like you carelessly murdered hundreds of citizens of the Sun God Empire.”

“This is our thanks then . . .” she muttered, having already known what would happen without evidence. Hopefully, what they had done, killing off the non-boss-level enemies, would be enough, but somehow she knew better. That last Fire-Walker wasn’t in the Level 20 to 30 range of the others. He was in an entirely different field of power. If this was her favorite anime, his power reading would have broken the scouter. “Well, what do we do now?”

“That’s easy, we need to beat the word of mouth to the harbor and take the first ship to wherever,” he said, looking both ways as he signaled her out of the prison cell. “Otherwise, once news reaches the harbor about what you three look like, you won’t be able to get off the island and no city will give you safe haven.”

Valerie got up and started to the door.
So we’ll have to sneak out on a boat just as a war starts. Sounds exciting,
she thought.

“Oh, and I forgot to mention one more important detail absolutely essential to your escape,” he said, smiling brighter than he ever had before.

“What’s that?” she asked.
How is he so happy during a crisis?

“This,” he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards him where he had a firm kiss waiting. “If I’m going to play Prince Charming and save the damsel from the tower, I figured I might as well get paid in advance,” he joked.

Valerie wanted to say something back, but the kiss had done nothing but leave her cheeks so red she could have played the body double of a tomato.
I’m over 20 years old, and I’m just now getting my first kiss . . . from an NPC? Granted, he’s definitely a handsome NPC, and the kiss definitely was breathtaking . . .