Chương 59: 58-Into the Night

The Executioner braked inches before hitting Babylon's main gate. The sun was already setting as the Losers climbed out of the vehicle.

"Jesus, Billy, must you always drive like a stuntman?" Bob protested.

"You do not even have a driving license in real life."

"Much good that would do to me now," answered Billy inside the Blood Link. The Losers were in high spirits as they walked towards Dignity's office—Billy was chock-full of Achievement and Essence points, nearly fifteen thousand of each. They would need the latter if the Answer finally appeared. They had also destroyed all the assigned dungeons and obtained a few interesting magic items.

"We are so doing this again," Jenna exclaimed, a smile of satisfaction on her face.

"Loot is the best power ever."

"I don't think it would have worked so well without your Luck. You get shitty items most of the time without it," said Billy.

"Yeah, we cheated, so what? Sue us!" Jenna was ecstatic as they reached Dignity's place. Dignity was not in such a cheery mood. A map covered the entire eastern wall of the huge room where she worked. Pins representing the Answer's troops covered most of it.

"God, there are so many of them. Most are powerful zealots. I don't think we have the power to stop those numbers," she muttered as the Losers approached her.

"They are still a week away," Dignity said, turning towards her friends.

"Pob was right. Why are they giving us so much time to prepare? They could already be here by using spatial gates."

"I think it is a distraction," said Jenna.

"They want us looking at them so that we will not look in another direction."

"Yes, I agree with you," said Dignity.

"But a distraction for what?" ◇ Ron checked his gear for the last time, then turned to address the troops.

"Okay, Maureen, everything is going to depend on your powers. When the time comes, break your talisman. Mine will break too—that will be the signal for us to teleport to you," he told the mercenary infiltrator.

"We all know this is not going to be easy. We will have to depend on superior numbers. When it is over, we escape from the city and rendezvous at the designated bivouac zone. Babylonians are skittish, with the Answer breathing down on their necks, which will help us."

"Shouldn't we leave one of us out so the rest can teleport to him if something goes wrong?" asked Maureen.

"And give these pieces of shit the chance to run away at the first sign of trouble? No. We win this, or we die trying. Let's go," Ron answered. If everything went according to plan, this war would be over by tomorrow. ◇ Aram showed Elena his status screen. Anne watched him curiously while Dawn made small talk with Mel. The School had become sort of a home for him, one of the few places where he felt safe, and Elena had a lot to do with it. Name: Aram Level 1 Class: None Stat Matrix: No Dominant Stat.

Legacy: Cultivator (Elven/Human) 1: Cultivators are the offspring of an Essential and an Experiential. They have Classes plus access to Essence. Their powers are heavily influenced by the Motif and Tags of the dungeon from which their Essential ancestor sprang. Cultivators can absorb and store Essence in a magical organ called the Dantian, and use it to power their Class abilities. Essence Impulse (x1): Spend all your stored Essence to give the Dominant quality to one of your stats for one minute.

"This is huge, Aram," Elena told him.

"You have both Experiential and Essence powers at the same time."

"To be honest, they sound to me like the same thing with similar names." He was equally excited about getting something totally new and frustrated about not being able to make heads or tails of it.

"But they aren't. Experience is a form of Essence refined by a dungeon and stored in the system. It imprints itself on the Experiential's mind when it grants powers. It is a spiritual force. This is true even for Experientials whose powers are based on body magic, like the Progressors—the system changes their minds, and their bodies follow suit." Elena pointed at her own chest. A light began to shine through her dress.

"Essence is different. It is much more raw and primal. Essential powers manifest as magical organs inside the body. You are seeing my Overcome power. It also acts as my heart."

"You mean I am going to get extra organs too?"

"I think you will as you gain more levels. I have a strong feeling that your Class abilities are going to manifest as extra organs inside your body. They will probably benefit from the Essence stored in your dantian, too."

"That is part of the problem, Elena. I can't feel that Essence I am supposed to store. I do not have the slightest idea of how to go about it. Perhaps I should ask Billy."

"He won't be able to help you, Aram. He is not an Essential; he is just an Experiential playing at one. His module uses Avatar templates to replicate the builds of the Essentials he reincarnates. You are stuck with me, I am afraid." She smiled.

"There are worse places to be." ◇ Ephraim called his shadow hounds with his mind. He could usually summon only one, but Morton had upgraded him to Boss status before sending him off to explore the perimeter. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. His pack numbered seven hounds, each one bigger and nastier than the last. They excelled at hunting and combat. He was not afraid of anything the Answer could throw his way.

He finished his tour as the sun set—time to go back home. Nothing suspicious out here. The hounds suddenly whimpered and sniffed at the air.

"What's the matter, boys? Have you smelled something?" That was odd. They did not usually behave like this. They were an extension of his mind, after all. He decided to play it safe.

"Morton, I think the hounds have detected something. They are behaving strangely," he said through the Blood Link. Morton did not answer. That was strange. He had insisted on checking every five minutes—he did not like to expose other Citizens to danger, even when upgraded. He tried to call again, to no avail. That did it—time to go home.

"Boys, let's head back," he told the hounds as he turned towards Babylon. They ignored him, studying the forest, as if they could see something that eluded him.

"Boys?" They had never ignored a direct order. Never. Suddenly, he heard Morton's voice inside his mind.

"Ephraim. What the hell are you doing? I told you to check every five minutes. I was pretty insistent on that. You have not called for the past fifteen minutes." Ephraim wanted to protest, to tell Morton that he had tried to call twice, but he heard his own voice inside the Link, saying words he had not uttered: "Sorry, Boss, got a bit distracted. Heading off to town now. Everything's okay on this side."

"No…no... that is not true. I did not say that." Ephraim realized with horror that one of their greatest assets had been compromised—someone had infiltrated the Blood Link. He turned around. His hounds were no longer watching the forest. They were watching him.

"Boys?" Ephraim had time to scream once as the seven hounds jumped on him. ◇ Morton felt annoyed as he finished his own rounds. He had taken the north perimeter while Ephraim patrolled the southern one. He had insisted on a permanent link contact. The Answer was still a full week away, but they could have sent scouts. He was more worried about possible infiltration by the Feds. The assassins that had destroyed the Federation's own dungeons were still around.

The information came from ex-Fed soldiers, so it was probably legit. He had known Ephraim for a long time, since they were both humans. He was not the kind of guy who got distracted while doing a dangerous job. That was why he had picked him. Suddenly, Morton felt a piece of his soul die. He fell to his knees and gasped in pain. He checked his status slot. He now had only five remaining Boss slots. The one used to empower Ephraim was greyed out.

"Ephraim, are you okay?" he asked in panic through the Link.

"Told you everything is fine, boss," Ephraim's calm voice assured him. Morton suddenly understood that this stranger was not really his friend.

"Who are you?" he asked coldly.

"I am Ephraim," the stranger said, matching his friend's voice perfectly. Then it spoke again.

"I am Peter," he said in Peter's voice.

"I am Olivia."

"I am Sonia."

"I am Paul." And then, terribly, "I am Mel." The voice had perfectly mimicked all the current Citizen bosses. It was going for them, and it had no compunction about warning Morton. It seemed supremely confident that he could not stop the attack. It could only be the Feds--they were going to play the same stunt at the Brotonville Train Station that they had pulled on their own dungeons. Morton shouted through the Blood Link:"We are under attack. The Feds are going after our bosses.

They are trying to destroy our dungeon!" Instead, he heard another message, one directed only to the Citizen Council: "Morton here. Leave whatever you are doing and head to the school. We need an impromptu meeting. Get Dawn, too. She should also hear this." To his horror, Morton heard his wife answer back through the link: "No problem, honey. She is already here. She won't leave the Milwaukee kids' side. She practically lives at school." They were going to get the Citizen Council in a single strike.

Then, they would come for him, and their dungeon would implode. ◇ Maureen approached the entrance to Dignity's office, wearing Edward's form. She had slit the young man's throat in his own home and hidden the corpse. She had chosen a moment when only three Avatars guarded the gate. This schtick probably wouldn't have worked with Amazons.

"Good night, Edward," one of them said, saluting.

"Dignity is wearing you out," he chuckled.

"What the hell," the guard said, looking at the sky. Maureen turned back and looked at the heavens. Someone was projecting beams of light from the forest onto the clouds, spelling out a message across them. BLOOD LINK COMPROMISED. FEDS AFTER CITIZEN COUNCIL What are they talking about? Maureen wondered. The Citizen Council had never been their target. It did not matter. This was an opportunity, and assassins never wasted one.

"I will inform Dignity," she said to the guards as she hurried into Dignity's office. It was protected by a powerful steel-reinforced door that could be locked from the inside—she was not taking any chances after Bran almost got her. She closed the door and turned the key from the inside. She took the key and secreted it in her robe. No one would interrupt them now. Then she broke her talisman and waited for Ron and the rest of the squad to teleport to her.

"Good job, Maureen," he congratulated her.

"Let's end this bitch." The twelve of them ran into the inner chamber of Dignity's office. ◇ Mel was preparing coffee as Dawn played with Anne. She laughed helplessly as Dawn tickled her. It was hard to believe how far she had come with Dawn's help. Bless her bardic abilities. She was now sure that Anne would recover her speech, sooner or later. Aram had the faraway look people got when checking their status screen. Elena seemed to be coaching him. Mel had suspicions about those two. Good suspicions.

Dawn finally stopped playing with Anne and stood up, gasping.

"I am almost level 70. I ought to be able to outlast a kid," she complained. Mel laughed when she heard that.

"Girl, you have an awful lot to learn." Dawn went to the balcony to get some fresh air.

"Oh, my God, Mel, look at this!" Mel looked at the message in the sky. It was Morton's handiwork. She could recognize his magic anywhere.

"Gather everyone, Dawn, we are leaving now. We are under attack. We are in danger every minute we remain in this house."

"No one is coming, then?" asked Anne. Mel gasped in surprise. Anne had her back turned to her. She was also looking at the sky. Those were the first words she had said since she had come to Babylon. Then Mel realized something odder. She had not used her voice. She had spoken directly to their minds.

"Anne, how can you access the Blood Link?" Mel asked, as cold dread filled her.

"Mr. Spaulding gave me permission," she said sweetly as she turned around. She was holding something in her hand. At first, Mel's mind refused to process what she was seeing, but she recognized it as Chuck Spaulding's hand. Anne was caressing the blood rune tattooed on the palm.

"You are a zealot, aren't you?" Anne snorted.

"A zealot? No, not a zealot." And then she smiled. And smiled. And smiled.

"Oh, my God," muttered Dawn.

"What have you done with Anne?"

"There is no God," said Mary Beth.

"There is only me."