Chapter 506: We’re coming

Mason walked along the Nexus paths a hundred feet above the settlement of Nassau, his mind busy with thoughts of the future. Yet again the game had changed, ‘roboGod’ rattling humanity’s cage. Or maybe taking away the barrier between his pet ants.

The continental divide was over. The teleportation beacons placed strategically around the world were finally active to anyone, and it seemed like you couldn’t even stop it unless you had a Nexus. Mason and his main players went up to look at the beacon right after they got the message.

“They all look open, Patron,” Phuong (Mason’s war minister and a powerful melee player) said beside him, pointing at the Nexus’ teleportation interface after they arrived.

Carl, Mason’s Chancellor and a terrifying rogue type with a weapon that cut through damn near anything, sat at the interface. He was Arcane affinity and had more information then most of them when he used the beacons.

“You see all those lights in the east?” he gestured. “We can use any of them. There’s no code. No prompts or anything I can see to stop us. I think the only restriction is some kind of cooldown.”

[Initial planar invasions are now ended. Randomized minor planar events are now in effect. Biological imperatives have been slightly reduced. All beacons are officially active. Good luck, players and civilians. The world is officially open. All dungeons, items, and events are available. You have at least one month until the final portion of the phase.]

Mason could still read the text in his profile whenever he wanted. The demonic invasions that had been the main source of concern were apparently…paused. Though he had no doubt there’d be something else. Or that the ‘successful’ invasions would lead to something. What exactly was unclear.

But then what did any army do after it took the beachhead? It consolidated. It spread out and built up its forces. And then it attacked. The only questions were how long it would take, and where they’d strike.

But with the beacons open, Mason figured he had a small window of time to press the advantage of the Nexus. The ‘emperor’ of the east and his followers didn’t have one. At least not yet. But that would change soon, Mason had no doubt.

So what did he do? Pop out and say hello personally? Walk out into the center of the enemy’s power and say ‘Here I am, what are you gonna fucking do about it?’

Or maybe it was better to send messengers with gifts for the citizens—food, most likely, since they were apparently starving. Maybe he could get some kind of general approval to replace or eliminate Jeong.

Because he didn’t actually want to kill anyone. The people in the east weren’t his enemy. They were the last traces of humanity, maybe one per cent of the billions they started with. Maybe less.

The obvious, logical thing to do was join up and combine strength, trade and figure out together how to survive and beat this stupid game.

But the megalomaniac ‘emperor’ wasn’t the ‘share power’ type. He’d made his intentions clear—the surrender of Nassau and the House of Mason. Or their destruction. And he’d have his allies and bootlickers—men who’d gone too far now to turn back. Mason wasn’t naive. They’d have to die, too.

Even if Jeong hadn’t been an obvious tyrant, Mason wouldn’t have agreed to give up. He’d gained the loyalty of his players because he protected them with his life and made the rules simple. They hadn’t all survived everything the apocalypse threw at them just to bow down before some megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur.

“We need information,” he’d eventually told Phuong. “I want scouts. Civilians. I don’t know the right word…spies? Maybe just diplomats. We need to figure out if we can just cut off the snake’s head. Who the main players are. I don’t want to hurt anyone I don’t have to.”

“Can we not…just take their people, Patron?” Phuong put a hand to his chin. “Perhaps we give an open invitation. We take anyone willing to join us here.”

It was as good an ideas as any. Though Mason wasn’t sure how many people were in the east, and how many could live in Nassau, exactly. They had a lot more space and food than they currently needed, but what if tens of thousands of people wanted to come?

They’d need farmland. More ‘greenhouses’ or Gaian temples. More of everything. Though Mason realized the influx would in theory bring him a huge amount of patron points. He could probably do a lot of the necessary expanding that way. And they had elven magic and nature powers to help grow and speed up harvests…

We could do it, he thought, trying not to swell too much with anxiety at the thought of being in charge of most of humanity.

It would be a giant pain in the ass and full of human complexity. But at the end of the day, he believed they could do it.

He was about to tell Phuong they should get the civilians and figure out a rough recruitment plan when the teleportation beacon dinged and lit with energy.

“Some kind of request,” Carl said, eyes glowing as he interfaced with the system. “There’s a message. It looks like...” he went quiet and opened it on the screen.

People were screaming.

“Please open it!” shouted some young man in front of the beacon on the other side. There were at least two corpses nearby, a few people huddled together waiting. “They haven’t figured it out yet, please, let us through! Oh God they’re coming. If they find us they’ll…”

“Open it,” Mason said. Phuong frowned as Carl pushed the button to accept the teleport.

“They could be spies, Patron,” the older man said. “The very type of people we might send across to them.”

“I don’t care,” Mason answered.

The beacon lit with energy, swirling to life as the ‘glass box’ flashed and sat open with some sci-fi looking circle of blue light. The video on the other side showed the people run for it. Only one hesitated, and the young man took her shoulders as if trying to convince her, then literally lifted her screaming, and jumped.

The light pulsed and replaced with five women of various ages, and the young man who’d made the message. They all looked thin, unhealthy. Some freaked out when they realized they were trapped in a glass cube. Only Mason and a few key people could open or close the teleporter beacon.

“Is this the west?” The young man let the crying girl go and stumbled to the glass. “Are we free?”

“It’s the west,” Mason said, walking closer. He didn’t bother to add ‘but you’re not free, you’re stuck in a glass box.’ The young man saw him and his eyes went wide.

“You’re him,” he said. “The wolf. People said there was food here. That you threw it away you had so much. Please, we’re hungry. We’ll work. We’ll do anything.”

Mason’s teeth clenched. The beacon’s video was still running and he saw a group of players and civilians swarming the portal now, shouting warnings and threats. He heard people somewhere off screen being beaten before someone shut off the interface.

“Pretty sure they’re not spies,” he said, giving Phuong a glance. “Get Haley and Kiaan. I want these people all identified. Oh and get Rosa, she can help sort them out something to eat.”

Phuong nodded and rushed off, and Mason opened the cube. Everyone but the young man scurried to the far side of the glass like panicked animals. Mason could literally smell their terror. Their young leader stared with red-eyes as he took ragged breaths.

“You’re alright now,” Mason said, putting a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “You’re safe. There’s food, and places for you to live. You did it. You were right.”

He caught the kid as he fell. He wept but he was smiling, and Mason just sat him down and waited. The others arrived in a few minutes, and Haley and Rosa brought out a few baskets full of food and water bottles. Even then the women waited until the young man drank first with a trembling hand.

When he didn’t keel over and die, the group attacked the food like wild animals.

“Easy,” Phuong warned, “you won’t keep it down if you eat too fast.”

Haley—Mason’s pregnant first wife and his bonded personal assistant—took him aside and lowered her voice.

“All civilians. Kiaan says he can tell if a person has void storage now and they don’t. What you see is what you get. What happened? Where did they come from?”

“The capital. I’ll explain later. For now I want them all in the same house, and I want it guarded. They don’t go anywhere without player and civilian escort. They’re welcome, but they’re the foreign diplomats of a hostile power until I say otherwise. Understand?”

“Yes.” Haley hesitated, then put a hand on his arm. “If you mean to leave again, I should tell you your brother tried to contact you. He apologized for the Neutral Zone, and wanted to talk.”

Mason sighed. His brother Blake was not a problem he had the time or brainpower for at the moment. But they did need to talk—especially now with the beacons open. God only knew what Blake’s plans might be, and what he’d get up to. But he’d have to deal with it later.

He still had Demi ‘the mushroom girl’ waiting for him in the settlement’s great tree with a bored nymph. They were supposed to go to the fey and talk to the king of the satyr, who was apparently the only creature alive who’d ever used the ‘Seed of Life’ artifact now in Mason’s possession.

He was hoping to do the creature a favor or something and get it to tell him some more. Though his bonded Stag animal companion told him not to expect much. The thing didn’t like Mason’s patron god, Cerebus. Or much of anything by the sounds of it.

Now, though, he was thinking of heading east instead. There were players led by a man named Chinua who wanted to join him. And new player recruits took precedence over just about everything.

“I need to get Demi. Then I’m going east.”

“Alone?” The way Haley said it implied she didn’t think that was a very good idea.

“Leaning towards not.”

Haley raised her eyebrows in shock and Mason rolled his eyes.

“I might even take civilians. We’ll make it an official entourage.”

Haley just about jumped with excitement, but Mason cut that right off.

“You’re not going.” He put a hand on her stomach. “You’re staying here where it’s safe and I don’t need to worry about you. Anyway, I can like…summon you now, or whatever, right?”

“You can.” Haley crossed her arms. “And you can send me right back. It’s just on a cooldown. But remember, my love, I’m now probably the highest level civilian in the world. And players can’t hurt me. You don’t have to be so worried. It’s not like…”

Mason kissed her to shut her up. She sighed and closed her eyes, licking her lips as he pulled away.

“You’re the pregnant baroness of House Mason, and you’re going nowhere near my enemies. So don’t even think about it.”

“Yes, master,” she said with a pout. “Who will you take, then? Kiaan obviously. With his stealth powers Carl would be useful. I’m sure Becky would like to go. And maybe…”

“I’ll figure it out.” Mason gave Haley’s ample ass a squeeze and a slap and shooed her away.

“I was eavesdropping, and I want to come.” Rosa sidled up to him next. He made a face.

“And why exactly do I need a pregnant alchemist on my diplomatic trip?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they’ll poison you, and you’ll need an antidote before you die.”

Rosa had saved his life just that way a couple months before. Mason snorted.

“If they’ve got poison that can kill me at this point, they deserve to.”

“And if you’re not taking Haley,” Rosa went on, “then you have almost no void storage. Kiaan’s is like a tiny man bag. You may want gifts, you may want food and water for your little outing, or to give away. Or you might need…”

“OK, OK.” Mason put up his hands. “You sure you weren’t in law instead of chemistry back in school?”

Rosa grinned. And she looked so damn pleased and good Mason couldn’t stop himself from pulling her in for a kiss, too. This one lingered a lot longer, and Rosa moaned quietly against him as they pulled back but kept their foreheads together.

“You’ve been gone too long,” she said. “I have needs. So maybe while you’re out solving every other problem in the world, you can take care of me on the road, too.”

Unhelpful mental images of himself in a tent with Rosa and Becky (and maybe Demi…) were already popping up, but he fought them down.

“We’ll solve all possible road problems,” he agreed. Rosa grinned before turning away.

“I’ll go and pack,” she said, grin growing into a wide ‘I love winning’ smile. Mason watched her amazing profile from behind and sighed.

It was a risk taking people through the teleporter. But it was a risk worth taking. He was thinking he might go light, but he changed his mind now as he imagined Rosa or any other civilian he took getting taken, or his few players getting overwhelmed.

Now was the time for a show of force—before Jeong or his creatures could stop them, or anticipate them, or do anything to respond. Mason’s settlement was walled and protected, his Nexus city secure high in the trees.

So he was going to take the majority of his players, and a decent group of civilians, and he was going to go show humanity there was more than just Jeong and his batch of thugs.

There was still a chance for a better world. A decent world where mankind focused on the game and left each other alone. Mason smiled when he thought of his first off the cuff ‘plan’, to just show up and say hello. First instincts were often correct.

We’re coming, Jeong, he thought with a mental smile, walking towards Demi. And what the fuck are you gonna do about it?