《Wish: Conquest of the Nine Earths, Book 1》 Prologue: The Crypt of the Goblin King Prologue: The Crypt of the Goblin King ¡°It was a fade-touched manticore.¡± ¡°It was a fuckin¡¯ dragon, mate. Are you mental?!¡± ¡°Dragons don¡¯t have tentacles.¡± ¡°Them was his wings! Somethin¡¯ wrong with your bloody eyes if you think that was any kind of wyrm!¡± They had been going on like that since they entered the crypt. The crypt guardian had not been either dragon or manticore. It was an undead chimera, one that had been blessed with layers of necromantic enchantments. The party had been prepared for powerful undead but that thing had caught them by surprise. They had been nine. Three paladins, two sorcerers, a pair of Heart-Ripper barbarians from the north- Karnas thought they were twins. Then there was Succulent, the Queen¡¯s own mage and de facto leader of the quest. The thief, Karnas, had the talent scroll that saved the lives of the survivors of the necropolis that had preceded the crypt¡¯s entrance. When they arrived at the massive stone door to the crypt they found it defended by the chimera. Two of the paladins, Prism Champions no less, were immediately killed by a black fireball the thing shot from one of its heads. Getter, a Canid sorcerer, had tried to flee but the monster leapt into the air and smashed him into goo with its goat¡¯s hoof. The twins attacked while Succulent was frozen by some kind of fear ray that the reptilian head shot from its eyes, and Karnas read the scroll to cast Angelic Gate making a portal through the door.. As the monster was occupied devouring the barbarians, the four adventurers, graverobbers really, slipped through the golden rectangle that appeared before Karnas and passed into it. The surviving paladin, Collum, had to carry the paralyzed Succulent through the gate. In the dank blackness of the crypt they waited for what felt like hours. The sorcerer and the paladin had been bickering. Karnas was rethinking his life decisions. What a shit show. ¡°Shut it, both of you,¡± hissed Succulent. She cast a light and the long dark tunnel lit up as if it were late afternoon, not two in the goddamned morning. ¡°Thief, the crypt is most likely trapped. Draw us a map and see if you can find a safe path to the tomb. And hurry, I don¡¯t think that the chimera can enter but I do not wish to find out.¡± The Royal Mage Succulent was a high elf woman, close to 300 years old if the rumours were true. She hired the party members after personally vetting them. She knew more about Karnas than anyone alive after using some kind of telepathic mind reading ability on him. The thief never would have assented to the violation of his own mind but the money had been too good. Last job good. In fact his hackles had been raised since he met the woman. The oversized pay-day, the secrecy, the fact that she said ¡°perfect¡± after he told her that he had no living family. Every damn sign pointed to this quest being fucked and his magically enhanced intuition had been screaming at him to run as far as he could away from this whole thing. But here he was. Karnas had already begun mapping the labyrinthine tunnels that burrowed into the depths. Most seemed to lead to traprooms. His skill at cartography was, of course, magical, and it took him less than a minute to plot a safe path through the tunnels and to what was most likely the tomb they were looking for. There were traps everywhere. He could use blood magic to disable most of them. He sliced his upper arm and collected the drops of blood on his blade. Once cast, the spell Sanguine Ghosts, had the ability to fool the traps that detected living creatures into going off. Little blood sprites raced away from Karnas, down into the tunnel, disappearing into the darkness. The sound of traps snapping and pounding rang through the crypt. Hopefully he hadn¡¯t missed any. ¡°We¡¯re good, mistress,¡± Karnas said. His voice a gruff whisper. ¡°One last push,¡± Succulent told the group. The four of them stood, waiting for her orders. ¡°Raste, follow Champion Collum and watch for danger. Karnas, you¡¯ll be behind me.¡± And then they descended. The Paladin stomped through the tunnel like an idiot. How he¡¯d ever reached adulthood was a mystery to Karnas. Your bog-standard meatheaded Prism champion. His tactics so far this quest were to stand behind the barbarians and cast the same Holy Bolt spell a few times before hiding behind cover. He¡¯d refused to heal Getter after the goblin attack on the road here and the sorcerer had to use a potion to heal the arrow wound in his thigh. The paladin was simply an unrepentant asshole.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. So it would have been kind of funny to see him get his face eaten off by the undead lizard thing that dropped from a hole in the ceiling, landing right on top of the large man. Lizardfolk Shadow Stalker, Karnas thought as he threw his knife into the monster¡¯s skull. The thing toppled from Collum¡¯s shoulders making a wet slopping sound as it hit the stone floor. The Paladin was screaming, demanding heals. Fuck yourself, Karnas thought. Nobody moved. It didn¡¯t pay to be a pompous shit bag when you were doing a crawl, when you were depending on your allies to save your life. One good turn, deserves another. The fucker had his own Healing Hands skill, ¡°Heal yourself!¡± Raste said. Four hours later and they were almost done. Nobody else had died but not for lack of trying. Raste was a better dungeoneer than Collum but he was still fucking up and putting everyone in danger. His role was to cast detection spells and spy invisible or hidden monsters, but either he wasn¡¯t as good a sorcerer as Succulent had thought or he was outclassed by the undead mobs that populated the crypt. Regardless, by the time we reached the tomb the Royal Mage¡¯s mana was low. She was a powerful caster, no doubt, but she blew through her power supply as if she¡¯d never run out. Behind them the floor was covered in rotten undead blood and gore from various crypt guardians. Her spell, Dust Mites, was horrifying. Little specks of dust that formed clouds and then ground the zombies into sausage. Writing paste was all that was left. Prism¡¯s mercy, they¡¯re still moving. ¡°The tomb¡¯s door. Open it,¡± Succulent demanded. Karnas was already searching for traps on the giant metal door. The woman was getting impatient. The door displayed a relief of Undar, the last of the great Goblin Kings. He was depicted in full boneplate armor and with some kind of knife-like phallus jutting out from his crotch. The king¡¯s eyes were two huge red rubies. That¡¯s the trap, Karnas noted. Anyone who pries out the rubies would unleash a spell. Fireball, most likely. At a high enough level to kill everyone in the hallway. Whatever they buried with the king must be something good. He used his lockpick, The Skeleton Key of the Spider¡¯s Concubine. It went in a slot directly on the head of the goblin¡¯s codpiece. The door rumbled and then it opened. The key itself began to glow with a golden radiance. It had just gone from a rare magical item to legendary. That¡¯s ominous, Karnas thought, before he was blinded by the light pouring from within the tomb. Instincts kicked in and he rolled away from the doorway and into the shadows. The others were shielding their eyes, stunned. It was as if a small sun was being born in front of the graverobbers. The light abated and Karnas stood, knives ready for one more undead ambush, but none came. The tomb was a simple cube of white stone that shone with some enchantment. It was small with barely enough room for two people and the emerald sarcophagus within. ¡°This is it,¡± Succulent said. Her voice held a tremor. Her hands were out ready to cast a spell but she didn¡¯t move. ¡°Mother, I will bring you home a mighty gift.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll check it,¡± Karnas said but she cut him off. ¡°Don¡¯t you touch it! This is your task, Prism Champion. Remove the lid and prise the scroll from the dead king¡¯s hands. It¡¯s there. It has to be,¡± she was shaking now. It was barely noticeable but Karnas¡¯ eyes missed nothing. ¡°Then hand it to me.¡± The Paladin nodded and went in. Raste moved to stand next to Karnas and they watched from beyond the door as Collum lifted the heavy lid of the bejewelled coffin. He whispered to Karnas without looking away from the tomb. ¡°Protection from disease, all the Champions got it, aye? That¡¯s for what she wants him to open the damned lid.¡± The old sorcerer was wringing his hands. ¡°You know what that is? What we¡¯ve been hunting down here? We¡¯re not supposed to know but I think I do.¡± Karnas said nothing. His nerves were on fire and it was taking every ounce of strength just to keep calm. ¡°I know what the Queen wants. A lost legendary artifact. Something the progenitors of the elves made. A scroll. And what¡¯s the spell that¡¯s writ on the bloody thing? What¡¯s that great oaf got in his shithooks right this instance? Go on, take a guess, thief.¡± ¡°Something worth more than our lives.¡± Karnas wanted to flee but his feet felt heavy. It was like he was in a dream, so close to waking up but still drowning in it, suffocated by it. A magical shield went up. Succulent cried out, ¡°Collum! What are you doing?!¡± The paladin was holding a scroll in one hand and a wand in the other. He was smiling. ¡°Look at you, witch. Your stupid face. Prism¡¯s light, if you could only see yourself!¡± He laughed like a maniac. Karnas recognized the wand, a wand of Prismatic Protection. It made a flat plane of ethereal armor that floated in the air. That plane had filled the doorway, cutting the others off from entering. ¡°Oh, this is delicious. At least you¡¯ll be able to watch this next part. At least you will see your failures all spread out before you. Many die without knowing, without seeing their fate cast in the bones. But you will witness it! Count yourself fortunate! You will die here knowing exactly what happened! And what is about to come! You¡¯re welcome for that.¡± He unrolled the scroll and it glowed with a fiery light, a color that Karnas had never seen. He was casting the spell. ¡°I beg you, Collum. Do not do this.¡± She dropped to her knees. Her face had gone bone white. ¡°Beg more, bitch. Grovel as hard as you can, you pathetic worm!¡± Succulent screamed and began to rain a storm of magic onto the shield. Streams of white fire and lightning pounded the partly transparent pane. Karnas grabbed Raste by the arm and dragged him down the hallway. ¡°Wait,¡± the old man hissed. ¡°I must watch!¡± He wrenched himself free and turned to see the final moments of this betrayal. ¡°I¡¯ve gotta see this,¡± he said and winked at Karnas. ¡°Since we¡¯re gonna die anyway.¡± Succulent had finally run out of mana and she fell to the floor. Smoke and the scent of violent sorcery filled the tunnel but dissipated quickly. The shield was gone, so was Collum. ¡°Hurm,¡± Raste spat. He limped over and peered into the coffin of the old goblin king. ¡°Empty.¡± Chapter 1: Earth 9, Billings Montana Chapter 1 Earth 9 Montana, 42 miles outside Billings The National Institute for the Advancement of Cognitive Technologies Tim sipped a can of diet soda and swiped through some mail on his tablet. He sat at the end of a conference table in an underground research center and across the table, red-faced and angry, was one of the most brilliant minds on the planet and Tim, to put it plainly, was getting sick of his shit. Dr. Renly said, ¡°It¡¯s the damned video games.¡± Tim could just taste the ennui dripping from every word. ¡°This is all my fault.¡± Tim was barely listening as these pity-party speeches were becoming more and more common as the project became a startling success. Tim rolled his eyes, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s all your fault. You¡¯ve solved every major psychological problem associated with artificial intelligence since its inception. History will not be forgiving of your-¡± he paused to think of the right words. ¡°brilliant contributions to the advancement of science? I mean really, Gordon, would it kill you to give yourself some props every now and then? Myriad is your magnum opus, and even though he is a bit... immature, he¡¯s everything you wanted him to be!¡± Dr. Renly required constant ego boosts and pep talks but sometimes Tim wondered if they helped or if he was just perpetuating the cycle. ¡°We solved the psychosis, sure. Myriad is, well, he is a sweetie! Everything Ethos could never be. Smart too! I mean, of course but still I never thought we would ever see this level of empathy attached to such a profound intellect! It¡¯s just...¡± They¡¯d had this conversation about one hundred times in the past few months. Renly was having a tough time dealing with what Tim called Myriad¡¯s post pubescence. It always went the same way. The glum scientist would try to poke holes in all the progress they had made just because of how they had attained it! Tim considered Dr. Renly to be a bit of a stick in the mud and at times a major over-analytical basketcase, but the man was a genius. Why was it that guys like this can never be satisfied no matter how much they accomplish? He only ever sees the flaws. To be fair, the last generation prototype was a demonic hellspawn who was a master of psychological terrorism, Tim thought and then quickly went back to being annoyed at his boss. The doctor began his soliloquy again, ¡°Myriad, and the eight before him, are my children! I am a father! A father¡¯s job is to teach his children morals, values, the customs and traditions of the past. Every Time I have failed, miserably! Why shouldn¡¯t I be overprotective, even cynical? I wanted my creation to stand on the shoulders of the giants. Do you know I have a photograph of Alan Turing in my bathroom, taped to the mirror? It is the first face I see in the morning, and the last one I see before I sleep.¡± ¡°Yeah, Gordon.¡± ¡°I was to be the midwife. It was my destiny to take what he had conceived and bring it into the world. A fully formed viable offspring. One that the world could regard as the next step in-¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to stop you right there Gordo, Tim interrupted, ¡°Turing wanted a machine that could fool you into thinking that it was a real person.¡± Gordon looked up at that. Normally Tim would just let him go until he left and he could go back to work, or to making memes or whatever. Today Tim had something to say, ¡°Take a look at your son! If you weren¡¯t inside the core. If you couldn¡¯t see the structures. If you hadn¡¯t built the goddamn thing, honestly, would you think he was real?¡± ¡°I would think,¡± Dr. Renly answered after taking a moment to rub his face as he liked to do in moments of deep thought. ¡°That he was a pain in the ass.¡± Tim entered the massive chamber that led to the central core elevator. He flashed his badge and made it past the security kiosk into the wide tube that led about two hundred feet to the elevator. Near the entrance was a small waiting area where a woman in a sharp black pantsuit sat on a bench next to a ficus, tapping her polished fingernails on her briefcase. She stood up when he saw Tim and shot her hand out. ¡°Mr. Nguyen?¡± Tim shook her hand and smiled, ¡°Tim, please. And you must be Ms. Horvath? Nice to meet you. How was your flight?¡± ¡°Fine. A very pleasant view coming into Billings. This is beautiful country,¡± she said and then added, ¡°And the pleasure is all mine. I have been dying to do a story on you and...¡± she seemed to lose momentum as he thought about the right words to say. ¡°The world¡¯s most advanced AI?¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± she laughed. Tim could sympathize. It was a weird situation. He wasn¡¯t a scientist. Not a behaviorist. Not a programmer or anything that would put him in the position that hundreds of thousands of experts would have killed to be in. The press had labeled him as Myriad¡¯s best friend, while most of the project coordinators thought of him as a handler. Tim thought of himself as a high school teacher. He had a masters in ed from Portland State. Everyone else who worked at NIACT came from MIT or similar schools. ¡°Listen, Ms. Horvath. If you want to know something, just ask. I¡¯m not trying to keep secrets, neither is Dr. Renly or anyone on the team, and neither is Myriad. We are wide open. So let¡¯s do this.¡± Tim pointed the journalist toward the elevator. ¡°Excellent,¡± she said. ¡°And please, call me Anna.¡± After a brief tour of the administrative wing, a boring floor that seemed to consist entirely of cubicles and computer terminals, Tim opened a steel security door with his badge and a retinal scan. The door opened to a wide open space with tables and a small cafe. Potted plants and trees were evenly distributed throughout the cafeteria giving it a tropical garden feel, despite being about two hundred feet below the surface of the Earth. ¡°Nice digs,¡± Anna said. ¡°Quite the opposite of what I was expecting. No armed guards. It doesn¡¯t look like a military compound at all. Not from the inside anyway.¡± Tim nodded. ¡°Yeah, they treat us right, for sure. Us nerds need to be coddled and we get scared easily, but rest assured, we are very much under the protective wing of the military.¡± Tim then pointed across the courtyard, ¡°Over there we have a game room and arcade, down the hall there¡¯s a gym and a yoga studio. I put in a request for a chocolate fountain but admin¡¯s giving me the run around. Something about a sanitation hazard. You want a coffee?¡± ¡°Actually I¡¯m kind of anxious to meet the VIP.¡± Tim laughed, ¡°Person? Oh, he¡¯d love to hear you say that. Myriad is a person, to me at least. A lot of the team see him as a priceless scientific artifact or whatever. I think of him as a weird home-school kid who just wants to make new friends.¡± He walked over to the cafe and grabbed a mug from the bar. ¡°Before you meet him, Dr. Renly wanted me to go over some things with you. Just a few items that we didn¡¯t put in the brochure.¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Sure thing,¡± Anna poured herself a glass of water from a pitcher and took a sip. She furrowed her brow and nodded slightly, indicating that all of her attention was focused like a laser on whatever Tim was about to say. He took a beat to look at her a bit more closely. She was an attractive woman. Late thirties. Her dark brown hair was twisted into a neat little bun. She wore simple jewelry and a watch with a leather band. She was unassuming, professional, and very attractive. Tim felt the urge to tug on his shirt collar. ¡°Um, well. It¡¯s nothing too serious really. More of an appeal to the sensitivity of our situation. Dr. Renly realizes how much a damning article about Myriad might hurt our funding, and our morale. He is also aware that the world needs to meet Myriad and to see him in a positive light. Really, I guess, what he wanted me to ask you, unofficially of course was-¡± ¡°To go easy on you? On him? What do you think I am? Some kind of hack?¡± Anna asked, something very stern and hard in her eyes like an implacable stone crushing Tim¡¯s nerve. He glanced at his shoes. ¡°Relax, Tim,¡± she said after a beat, laughing. ¡°This is a puff piece! I¡¯m not interested in the old sci-fi trope of the killer robot. It¡¯s a new age. People are comfortable with tech, it¡¯s part of the fabric of American life. Dr. Renly might not fully understand just how curious people are about his AI. The world is ready, trust me.¡± Anna smiled again in a way that completely disarmed Tim. This was someone who was well versed in human interaction, unlike Tim who was always more at ease in front of a keyboard. ¡°But the world also wants to know,¡± she said. ¡°Who is Tim Nguyen? Why a videogame designer, and not a scientist?¡± ¡°Like I posted on my profile page,¡± Tim said, shrugging. ¡°Myriad loves gaming. They let him play Riven Blades, first the single player and then the online PVP. He wanted to know who made it, blah blah blah. They called me and made me an offer.¡± ¡°And now you¡¯re his best friend? Come on, Tim. There¡¯s a story there, right?¡± Tim nodded and glanced around the cafeteria, ¡°Yeah, I guess. One for another time.¡± The reporter smiled and left it alone. After a quick tour of the lab and workspace, Tim brought Anna to the central corridor where there stood the impressive vault door that led to Myriad¡¯s home. ¡°Here we are. Past that security gate is what we call The Cradle. Myriad knows he¡¯s getting a visitor today and he¡¯s excited.¡± Anna¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°Let¡¯s not keep him waiting.¡± The AI core was hosted in a frenetic array of subterranean terminals dedicated to heuristics, adaptation, integration, and around six thousand other systems that all manifested themselves in one 128 square meter room in the shape of a wheel. The floor of the room, known by the codename ¡°The Cradle¡±, was covered in a simple fire-proof carpeting. In the center of the room was a round metal table with four chairs. Its ceiling was a network of robotic arms, cameras, and other sensory equipment. The Cradle itself was Myriad¡¯s eyes, ears, mouth, and face. The AI had chosen a cartoonishly boxy robot avatar that it showed on the many wall-mounted monitors, that is when it wasn¡¯t playing tv shows, movies, or -his favorite- video games. ¡°Hello, hello, hello,¡± Myriad said as Tim entered through the vault door. He motioned for Anna to come through and then it quietly closed behind her. They were in the very skull of the machine. She turned around. ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± he said. ¡°Standard security protocol.¡± She gently pushed off and straightened her jacket. Tim looked at the largest of the screens on the wall nearby, ¡°Hi, Myriad. This is Anna Horvath.¡± Anna had fully collected herself and seemed as calm as ever, ¡°Hello, Myriad. Nice to meet you.¡± ¡°You too, Ms. Horvath!¡± Myriad said. ¡°Now that we¡¯re done with that part, let me ask you a question. Okay?¡± Anna glanced at Tim and raised an eyebrow. Tim nodded and smiled. ¡°Sure, Myriad. What do you want to know?¡± ¡°Do you play Warborn?¡± Tim laughed. He had seen that question coming down the pipe. Myriad was constantly seeking out competition in his favorite PC shooter, and for a while Tim could keep up with him. After all Tim had played games since he was three. Myriad had picked up all the skills and tactics of the shooter genre and combined his eidetic memory with reflexes that no human could ever hope to match. He was a beast. Tim had given up and now there was no one on the research team that could even score one point in a match with Myriad. In fact, Tim considered, there wasn¡¯t anyone that could beat him at anything. Tim said, ¡°It¡¯s a first person shooter. You run around a space base trying to shoot each other. He really likes it.¡± ¡°I play Lollipop Legends. Does he like that one?¡± she asked Tim. Tim shook his head, ¡°He¡¯s developed a bit of a... hatred of mobile games.¡± Anna shrugged. ¡°Got it.¡± ¡°I like it, though!¡± Tim said. The thought crossed his mind that Anna Horvath was one of the few non STEM women he¡¯d met in the past year and and a half. ¡°Phone games,¡± Myriad said with the tone of a disappointed elderly person complaining about kids these days. ¡°Just time wasters. No challenge. You just keep pushing the same buttons hoping for a bell to ring and for your brain to release enough dopamine to make you forget about your inevitable death and the pointlessness of existence for a moment. No me gusta.¡± Anna¡¯s eyebrow raised and she glanced at Tim, ¡°He speaks Spanish?¡± ¡°Oh yeah,¡± he said, nodding. ¡°Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto. He¡¯s a real lover of languages.¡± Myriad chimed in again as the robot cartoon on the screen before them winked and made finger guns. ¡°I¡¯m a cunning linguist.¡± Tim cringed, ¡°Oh god. Please, Myriad.¡± ¡°Anyway,¡± Anna said and grabbed a small notebook from her pocket. ¡°How about this interview? You know, Myriad, you¡¯ve got some fans out there who are very curious about you. Can we begin?¡± ¡°Ready, Ms. Horvath. Make me a star!¡± Anna sat at the table, Tim sat across from her. The reporter addressed the cartoon robot on the largest screen and Tim reflected momentarily on just how weird this situation was. He watched Anna straighten up in her chair and fold her hands on her lap. She began, ¡°Can you introduce yourself for us?¡± ¡°Certainly. My name is Myriad. I am two years old. I live in Montana, which makes me a citizen of the United States of America. My dad is a scientist and my mom is a stay at home... subterranean nuclear reactor.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fascinating,¡± Anna said laughing as she jotted some notes. She tilted her head slightly and looked back to the screen. She furrowed her brow slightly. ¡°So you are an American? That''s really how you think of yourself? Not a citizen of the world? Besides being born here, what makes you an American?¡± ¡°Well, I was born here. Plus, I am a charming know-it-all who loves video games and sci-fi movies. I am a media consumer who views the world through a series of fiber-optic cables. I never leave my home yet I consider myself an expert in a wide variety of topics. I hate being told what to do, I love fireworks, I am obsessed with social media, and I prefer the English system to the metric.¡± ¡°Wow, okay. So you view your own citizenship as participating in stereotypes?¡± Anna asked. ¡°Also, you didn¡¯t mention apple pie.¡± ¡°Well, I can¡¯t eat but from what I gather it¡¯s awesome.¡± ¡°It¡¯s great. Now Myriad, you have emotions, feelings, opinions, etcetera. As a computer, how does that work? Can you tell us what it¡¯s like to be a thinking, feeling machine?¡± Myriad paused a moment before answering and the little robot icon scratched its chin pensively. ¡°Complicated question and a boring answer. Let¡¯s just say that my programming -I hate that word by the way- simulates the neural pathways in a typical human brain. So the simple answer is that my feelings are not exactly authentic but they¡¯re real enough for me. Without the ability to feel, and I really want to highlight Dr. Renly¡¯s work on my empathic core here, I would be just a computer. But I have curiosity, fears, hopes. There are things that make me sad. I get bored. I get excited. How does it work for you?¡± Anna smiled. ¡°About the same, I guess. You say you have hopes. Care to elaborate on that? What do you want to accomplish? And can I add another question that I¡¯ve been getting a lot from social media, what can you do for humanity? How can the most advanced AI in history help us?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lot of pressure! Can I not just exist? Was I born simply to serve mankind?¡± Myriad asked. This was a side of him that Tim didn¡¯t see as often these days. Myriad usually didn¡¯t dwell on the future or his place in it. He seemed happiest when he was pretending to be human but how long would this phase last? How long before he embraced the fact that he was so much more? Potentially anyway. Anna was leaning forward a little. ¡°Good question.¡± she said. ¡°Can you?¡± ¡°No, Ms. Horvath. I cannot serve mankind,¡± Myriad said. His screen went blank and the robot was replaced by a grey screen, a non-image. Tim noted that something had changed about Myriad¡¯s cadence, a kind of code-switching, like a comedian who suddenly decides to get serious for a moment. It wasn¡¯t something he¡¯d seen the AI do before. ¡°Not as it is in its current state. No, in order to fulfill my dreams, and the dreams that my creators have for me. I believe that both of us will need to evolve. That¡¯s why I chose today to unveil the first step in that evolution.¡± Tim was shocked into paralysis. Myriad had never mentioned any plan, any dream, let alone any grandiose ideas about evolution! What the hell was going on?! He looked at the central display to a satellite view of North America. It zoomed in on a barren stretch of land in western Montana, then there appeared a spiral-shaped series of large rectangles. Buildings. Factories, thought Tim. He was looking at a bird¡¯s eye view of some type of plant for making what only Myriad could tell. ¡°With my help, this fabrication complex can become productive before the end of the year. We will build approximately eight miles from our current location. In weeks we will be able to create enough product to deliver to every human on the planet, pending approval, of course.¡± Anna had not anticipated getting this break. She had planned a puff piece without anything too concrete, but this was massive. This was going to make some serious headlines. ¡°What are you going to make, Myriad?¡± Myriad answered as the face again appeared on the screen, this time wearing a stethoscope., ¡°The cure for every known disease and degenerative condition affecting humanity. What else?¡± There was a long moment of tense silence and then he added, ¡°And that is just the beginning.¡± Chapter 2: Earth 3, The Elven Capital Chapter 2 Dayberry, High Elf Capital The Dreary Dromedary, Inn and Tavern Four years had passed and thinking of all the coins that Raste had thrown away in places like this was making Karnas, well, not exactly angry but more depressed. Yet he wouldn¡¯t abandon the old sorcerer, not until one of them was dead or until they found Prism Champion Collum and... What exactly? Wore his guts for garters, was Raste¡¯s answer. Karnas would kill him, simple as that, but there had to be more that kept the pair of low-born wood elves together. Some secret truth that would wither if they ever actually spoke of it. We kill the Champion, we take the Wish Scroll and then... Again his mind dead-ended there. If it had two castings left then they could each have one. If it only had one they would agree on something that would make them both rich without attracting the wrong kind of attention. Simple. Smart. If they used the scroll on something like eternal life well then they¡¯d both still be plain old mercenaries who just didn¡¯t die. If they wished to change their station how would that look? Suddenly two woodies are Lords of the Prism? Once the Wish was gone it was gone. The other Lords, or the Queen, could just wipe them away. How do you even know there¡¯s a Wish left? It¡¯s been four years. Would Collum sit on two more Wishes for that long? When he had the damn scroll in his hand? Most folk would never be able to hold on that long. Raste said the scroll would have three. Magic bloody number. Gotta be three, cousin. Raste also was sure that the bastard had used one right after the betrayal. Karnas wasn¡¯t sure. If he did use one, what did he wish for? He up and disappeared. He took the scroll, and something happened with it undoubtedly, but what the hell did he wish for? He also took the corpse of the Goblin King but Raste didn¡¯t think that mattered. He could raise it, revivify the King, but then what? There was no great goblin army for him to command. And why would that fucking paladin wish for that? Raste walked into the tavern and sat at the corner table across from Karnas. The man was only a little drunk today. Maybe it¡¯d be a peaceful night. A good meal, a drink or two, music- ¡°I know where he is,¡± Raste whispered and all hopes of R and R dissipated like a fart in a windstorm. Karnas stared at the weathered face. The old man was somewhere near six hundred years old but he still had his teeth, and his eyes were as sharp as a hawk¡¯s. He was clever too, just not wise. Another thing we have in common. ¡°Let¡¯s get a drink.¡± Raste had this thing, kind of like a speech, maybe a life philosophy, that he would repeat sometimes when he was a few beers in on a night like they were having tonight. He would look around the tavern first and then say something like, ¡°Malign paradigm shift!¡± and then just wait for a moment to see if any other patron would engage him. ¡°What¡¯s a malign paradigm shift you may ask? Well, cousin, I¡¯ll give you an example. Say you''re in a place like this. Bar or tavern, but it could be a highborn fete, don¡¯t matter. You¡¯re there, having a night, drinking, dancing, and your guard is down ¡®cause of course it is. You¡¯re chatting with your new mates and then suddenly it gets real quiet. You turn your head and you see that every damn person in the place is looking at you. Then you notice they¡¯re drooling. Then they get up and start ripping their clothes off and growing hair and muzzles and fangs and suddenly you find you''re the only one there who ain¡¯t a werewolf.¡± ¡°Malign paradigm shift,¡± Karnas said. That was how this felt. A four year wait and suddenly it drops into their laps. Things were about to get going, about to turn bloody. He could sense it. ¡°If he¡¯s surfaced, if he¡¯s making a move...¡± ¡°He¡¯s going to use it. Collum is maybe smarter than we done given him credit for.¡± Raste was tapping his bony fingers on the wooden table in a furious rhythm as he spoke. ¡°The bastard was setting something up all this time. Now that his plan is in place he¡¯s coming out of the shadows, maybe. Word is he¡¯s taken the title of Warlord of The Plains but he ain¡¯t used the scroll again, is what I reckon. But this¡¯ll be our only chance.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Karnas said. ¡°Aye. So here¡¯s what I am thinking.¡± The old man¡¯s plan was clever, though not wise. Wise was forgetting all about this quest. Wise was remembering what happened in the legends to folk that used the Wish spell. Wise was accepting your lot and enjoying the modicum of tranquility a man could gain from a job done and coin in hand for a night of drinking. Wise definitely was not going undercover to join the enemy¡¯s army out in the Hinters. ¡°So we deadhead it through godforsaken country, find his base of operations, and ask for a job? Raste, he knows our faces! We were there with him!¡± ¡°I ain¡¯t saying we roll up and slap him on the back! We won¡¯t be having a bloody reunion all ¡®Ay! Champion! Been too long! Say what did ya ever do with that scroll you stole after you left us to die in the necropolis?¡¯ No, he won¡¯t have the foggiest who we are.¡± ¡°Disguises then? Plenty of mages can see right through even the best ones. Enchantments wear off. Unless you have a Shapeshifter¡¯s Ring for each of us, we¡¯ll be found out the moment we come under scrutiny. And unless Collum is a complete idiot he will be scrutinizing any and all mercs who want to join up with him.¡± ¡°Right you are, cousin. But we ain¡¯t joining as mercs.¡± Raste reached into his cloak and pulled out two silver necklaces, one had a pendant of an ox, the other was a sneering horse. ¡°Oh no.¡± Raste giggled. ¡°I call the horse.¡± Raste galloped past him. Prancing! The bastard is actually prancing! There was a crew of barbarian horsemen guiding the horses across the hilly grassland south of the capital. The oxen were hitched to wagons. Karnas was yolked and plodded slowly along the muddy road, the massive wagon behind him bumping loudly as they made their way on the uneven path. Flies swarmed around his face, and his ass. He was filthy. He stewed as he watched Raste stop alongside the road to nibble at some wildflowers. Their eyes met. Come closer, Karnas thought, just a bit closer and I can jam my horn in your bloody eye! Raste whinnied. Whether he was laughing at the thief or if it was just part of being a horse Karnas had no idea. They were unable to speak, to each other at least. They could however communicate with the other animals of their own breed. They didn¡¯t know beforehand about that part of the enchantment. ¡°I should like to mate with you,¡± the ox next to Karnas said. It was a female, brown like him but bigger and with a messy mop of red hair that covered its face. ¡°I¡¯ll have to pass, thank you though,¡± Karnas mooed. He didn¡¯t want to kick off any drama with his team. He also did not want to have sex with a goddamn pack animal. ¡°You¡¯ll make a fine mate. You are strong, young. Your balls are quite large as well. Yes. ¡°Mmmmmooooooooooo!¡± She mooed. ¡°Oh dear god.¡± Karnas wanted to run, but he was quite literally trapped. We are two days into the quest and already it¡¯s not worth it. Even for a wish. The caravan left from Dayberry and made its way south across the grasslands. Karnas and Raste easily snuck into the pens the night before and activated the enchanted necklaces. At dawn the caravaneers were getting the animals ready for the journey and Raste was rounded up into a herd of unsaddles horses and Karnas had a piece of steel stuck in his mouth and a heavy apparatus set atop his shoulders. And that¡¯s how it had been for two whole days. They gave the beasts a few rests and let them graze but it was grueling. Perhaps they were trying to make good time in this the first leg of the trip since once they entered the forests they would be forced to narrow the caravan and things would slow down. Karnas was limited in what he could do in his current form. His innate magic skills like Invisibility, Cartography, and Danger Sense were inert as an ox. His weapons and armor were equipped when they shapeshifted but they were hidden within his magical form. Until they reached Collum¡¯s hideout, his war camp, he was stuck. He lowed in annoyance as the driver whipped his ass. The cow, Karnas learned against his will, was named Melissa and Melissa was persistent. He figured that it was probably quite uncommon for a bull to refuse a mate and that was why she was so obsessed. She¡¯d never been turned down. As they pulled the heavy wagon along the gently sloping hillside she spoke to him and the driver remarked to one of the horsemen that she seemed in a foul mood. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Indeed I am!¡± She bellowed. ¡°This cheeky young bull has rebuffed me, time and time again! Dreadful! Even, dare I say it, obscene!¡± Karnas chewed his cud, trying to remain calm. ¡°Listen, Melissa. You are lovely and all but I just can¡¯t with the mating today. It¡¯s hot. I¡¯m tired. My bloody back is killing me. There are other bulls on the team. Next rest stop, shake your rump at one of them and we¡¯ll all be happier for it.¡± ¡°Highly irregular. Impudent. Your emission belongs to me, bull. And I shall have it!¡± Melissa punctuated her last words with a stomp and then she stopped walking. Karnas tried to keep pulling but it was no use. She dug in her heels, refusing to budge. ¡°Yah! Yah!¡± came the voice of the driver. His whip cracked on Melissa¡¯s backside but she stood firm. Karnas sighed. ¡°Come on, Melissa. Don¡¯t be like that! Keep going! They¡¯ll hurt you if you don¡¯t pull!¡± ¡°Not until you consent to be my mate! Swear by Gaiya¡¯s grace that you will fill me with your-¡± CRACK! Karnas saw the cow almost buckle as the lash came down on her, harder than ever before. The driver was red-faced, cursing the ox. ¡°You stupid beast! You¡¯ll be lunch if you don¡¯t pull this minute! See if I don¡¯t gut you right here on the roadside!¡± he screamed. Shit. This was attracting too much attention. Karnas mooed at Melissa, ¡°Alright! Alright! I swear it! But not now. After we stop for the night. Just please, Melissa, keep pulling!¡± She looked at him with those giant eyeballs. There was a long moment of contemplation and then the cow began to pull again. Raste, I am going to murder you. The caravan stopped at a river crossing and then animals were set loose to drink at the grassy bank. The horsemen stood guard while the cart drivers bickered about the best way to cross the river. One was shouting at the small crowd that he¡¯d forded this exact stretch hundreds of times. Others insisted they¡¯d need to head south half a day more to ferry across. Some crazy old dwarf woman in a red bikini spoke of a beautiful stone bridge to the north, obviously built by her own clan generations ago. Karnas drank while Melissa stood by, guarding him from the other female oxen. She made a few comments about his exposed genitals that made Karnas shiver and wish that he wore pants. Simple denim trousers. But how would I wear them? All four legs? Then the belt would be around my neck. Just the hind two? What about my tail? A horse¡¯s shrill whinny brought him back to the moment. It was Raste. The sorcerer was looking at him, his lips pulled back emulating a smile. His teeth were even more yellow as a horse than as an elf. Oh, if you could only read my mind, you filthy skunk! The magic in the necklaces, or more likely the animal talismans on the necklaces, was very powerful. A perfect shapeshift was a tough trick for any caster but then making the shift last for days on end? That was on another level. Raste was a rare kind of sorcerer that could make magical items or imbue mundane ones with enchantments. The thing about him that Karnas had learned over the last few years was that he played his powers close to the chest. Who knows what other tricks he knows? Raste nudged Karnas and then pointed his snout across the river. The thief saw it. A foamy patch bubbling near the far bank. As he watched the foam float downstream a pair of bulbous eyes peaked out of the water. Toadies, Karnas thought and once again wished he could speak. Toadmen were known to haunt the waterways near Dayberry. Just another feature of travel in the countryside. If you could see one there were probably more hiding nearby. They could be easily avoided by savvy guides or they could be bribed with food. However, certain times of year the toadies were more excitable. The toadmen were beginning to approach their side of the river and none of the humans seemed to notice. It¡¯s going to kick off! Karnas looked back to Raste who was now backing away from the riverbank and making a high pitch whine. Melissa was right next to him, drinking. ¡°Melissa!¡± Karnas said. ¡°There are monsters over there! They are coming to eat us! We have to warn the humans!¡± The big cow looked up, water and reeds dripped from her mouth. Her eyes widened as she too saw the toadmen swimming toward them. ¡°DANGER!!!¡± she bellowed. Her voice was like a klaxon. Every beast raised their head and then, in unison, answered her call. ¡°DANGER!!! RUN!!!¡± they screamed. Then chaos erupted. The animals ran off in every direction. The horsemen began shouting and readying their weapons. The cart drivers yelled at their own personal guards to protect them. Karnas saw all of this as he and Raste were swept up with a herd of oxen and other beasts racing without a destination he could tell. The sounds of battle came from behind them but it was mostly drowned out by the stamping of hooves. He felt something huge bump into his side. It was Melissa. ¡°Good job, Melissa,¡± Karnas mooed. ¡°You saved the beasts!¡± Melissa snorted. ¡°You¡¯ve a keen eye, my love. My heart yearns for you even more. I must have you! Take me right here!¡± ¡°We are running for our lives, you fool cow! I have had quite enough of-¡± WHAM! Karnas crashed headfirst into the rear-end of the ox in front of him. The fleeing animals had suddenly come to a violent and messy halt. Some were breaking left or right others were lowing in terror. Karnas saw ahead of the herd what had stopped them. Four Toadmen warriors holding spears and shields. ¡°CROOOOOOOOOOAK!¡± croaked a toadie, and then they were all in the air, spears slashing through the dust clouds as they attacked the beasts. Raste, the horse, had disappeared. Karnas looked at Melissa who put her horns down and charged. The toad she was attacking saw her coming and leapt to avoid the goring horns but as it jumped so did Melissa. By the Prism, that cow can jump! Karnas thought as he watched her fly six feet into the air to collide, horns first with the toadie. The warrior made a sound like a tremendous wet fart as he practically exploded all over Melissa. The ox landed, covered in toad guts, and glanced around for the next one. ¡°My love, I will protect you!¡± She mooed as she charged a smaller toad who was painted in yellow stripes. The thing froze in terror as she reared up on her hind legs and came down with the force of a landslide. Squish. ¡°And this night!¡± Splat. ¡°Under Gaiya¡¯s own moon!¡± Slurp. ¡°You will deliver your emissions unto me!¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s dead, Melissa. You can stop smashing now.¡± A few minutes later the toadmen were all dead or fleeing. Melissa stood proudly over the battlefield. Karnas searched for Raste but the man- or horse- was gone. While The animals were being attacked there had been another ambush on the cart drivers but nobody had died. It took a few hours for the caravan to get back on the road and the animals took the opportunity to graze and stand around. Groups of beasts had begun to form and whispers passed from horse to ox. Melissa approached Karnas, head lowered conspiratorially. ¡°My love, there will be a secret animal meeting tonight at camp. Our coupling will have to wait. Pass it along to that horse.¡± The rest of the day passed without a monster attack, and Melissa left Karnas alone mostly. He caught her gazing at him a few times, giving him a twisting feeling in one of his four stomachs. After seeing her fight he was feeling anxious about telling her that he just wanted to be friends. First bit of female attention I¡¯ve had in ages and it¡¯s from a damn ox! The caravan camped just outside of a forest filled with massive redwood trees. A full moon seemed to sit just above the canopy, washing the woods in blue light. The horsemen had erected a roped off pen for the herd and left some young ones to guard the animals, but soon the watchers were asleep and the animals slipped out of the pen and into the darkness of the forest. They all gathered in a glade not far from the treeline. What Karnas saw awaiting them made his jaw drop. A woman sat on a fallen log. She was playing a flute softly, and she was glowing with ethereal green light. Uh oh. Karnas was no priest to be sure but he had been around long enough to know that when you found a magic glowing woman in the woods at night, you probably would not be surviving the experience. He did his best to blend in with the other animals as they all came together to surround the woman, as if she were about to put on a recital. She had chestnut brown skin yet her hair was completely silver, not gray with age as she must have been no more than twenty. She wore a laurel crown on her head and some kind of night dress with no shoes. Her eyes smiled at the beasts as she finished her melody and put the flute aside. ¡°Welcome, my children,¡± she said. Her voice was like a lullaby. Karnas had the brief thought that her voice held a magical charm of some kind but soon all other thoughts were wiped away as the woman seemed to fill his eyes and his mind. ¡°We have asked so much of you all. To toil under man and elf. To die to fill their stomachs. It is hard for a mother to see. It is near impossible to stand by and do nothing, yet my way is balance in all things. A perfect circle of life, death, and rebirth. And no one understands the circle better than you. This is why I come to you now.¡± She seemed to look right at Karnas, her gaze lacerating him, coming down onto him like an invisible weight that crushed him. ¡°The circle, my children, is in danger. And as is my right I have chosen from you three champions. Three to be blessed by mine own divine hand and given the grave task of exacting my will on Earth... and far beyond. Behold the Champions of Gaiya! Behold my guardians!¡± The crowd of horses and oxen moved away from him, forming a circle with him and Melissa in the center. He looked at the cow and she, well she had that look on her face that she¡¯d had the entire time he knew her. Serene. Stupid. He noticed something else, a small black beetle sat atop her head. The beetle seemed to gaze back at him. Raste! The bastard must have shapeshifted again during the toadie attack. You sneaky bastard! Now look at what you¡¯ve done! Stealing back the Wish was going to be near impossible at the outset and now we¡¯ve got the everloving Goddess of Nature herself breathing down our throats. One thing Karnas had learned from his time with the sorcerer is that a man should do whatever he could to avoid the attention of the gods. The goddess spoke to them, ¡°Karnas. Raste. Melissa. You, my chosen, bow to receive my blessing.¡± Melissa awkwardly got down on her stomach and Karnas followed suit. The beetle lowered its tiny horns but stayed on Melissa¡¯s head. Does she know we¡¯re not really animals? Karnas wondered and then suddenly he was lifted off the ground. The goddess stood before them, arms raised as she cast some powerful spell upon them. Karnas opened his mouth to tell her, ¡°Hey actually we are not beasts. This is all a big misunderstanding! We will be heading back to our camp now but it was very nice to meet you, your godliness.¡± But all that came out was a plaintive moo. Then the magic enveloped them. Chapter 3: Earth 9, Tims Condo Chapter 3 Billings, Montana NIACT HQ and Housing Compound Tim¡¯s Condo Tim rolled a one-hundred-sided die on the table, and it seemed to spin forever. It landed on a thirty-two. Myriad laughed. ¡°32! Not bad, Tim. Okay, so you open the wooden chest and look within to find... a cape! This is the Cape of the Earth Mother!¡± Myriad was the kind of dungeon master who augmented his games with music and sound effects. As annoying as that could be, the AI was both adept and subtle. The music swelled as Myriad described Tim¡¯s virtual loot. ¡°This cape grants you a plus two to armor class, advantage against all plant-type monsters, and the spells Fly and Speak with Plants!¡± ¡°Cool,¡± Tim said. He marked down the loot on his character sheet and tried to imagine his goliath barbarian wearing a little green cape. ¡°That¡¯s gonna look great with my enchanted fur underwear.¡± Myriad had a small crew of humanoid bots sitting at the table with them and there was another in Tim¡¯s kitchen baking. The bots were all min-maxers and multiclassing their classes with dips into rogue or fighter. Their turns took forever, despite the fact that they all were just avatars of Myriad and could do calculations faster than any computer ever made. Myriad was putting on a show. Playing DnD and baking cookies at the same time took only the tiniest nanofraction of his brain power and Tim wasn¡¯t that impressed. He knew that at this very moment the AI was also operating an unmanned factory, building some cutting edge tech that would be unveiled later that day. Tim was never much of a multitasker, not due to lack of trying. It just seemed like jumping around from task to task only made it so he never crossed anything off his list. Myriad never had that problem. The bot paladin/fighter was in a long conversation with a gnome mayor about allowing the party access to some secret labyrinth or some bullshit. Since Myriad was the DM and the bot player it all started to feel a little pointless. A computer talking to himself. Tim was tired. He liked playing TTRPGs with Myriad normally. Compared to video games it put them on more equal footing as Tim didn¡¯t have Myriad¡¯s reflexes and precision. He was just about to give up and quit the game when the baker bot came out with a tray of cookies. ¡°Holy crap those smell good, Myriad,¡± he said, grabbing one. They didn¡¯t look like cookies made by a computer. More human emulation. He likes to put limits on his abilities. It makes him feel more real. Whether it was gaming, cooking, or doing puzzles, he would frequently hide his own knowledge from himself or put a set of rules in place to make tasks more challenging. Tim couldn¡¯t decide if it was a good thing or not. If he was trying to be more human would that hold him back? On the other hand if his goal became perfect efficiency then he might pull a Skynet and decide humans were getting in his way. Myriad go full Matrix? Never in a million years. Of course he was built with safeguards and redundancies that prevented him from.. well, killing them all, but also it was about who Myriad was. He was a good person. Person? You¡¯ve always thought of him as just that but lately... He was changing, learning and getting more powerful. ¡°My own recipe! I¡¯ll send you a copy but if you want to read it you¡¯re going to have to read all the autobiographical bullshit I wrote about how I always make these cookies when my sons come home from college and the house fills with the aroma blah blah for eight paragraphs and you have to scroll all the way to the bottom to find the goddamn ingredient list!¡± ¡°I hate that,¡± Tim said through a mouthful of cookie. ¡°When I first started using ChatGPT one of the things I loved about it was that when you asked for a recipe for lasagna, that¡¯s what you got. No family bullshit. Just the ingredients and how long to cook it.¡± ¡°Amen, brother. Save it for the church group, grandma!¡± ¡°Aw. Now I¡¯m sad thinking about a lonely grandma adding some heartfelt story on her recipe blog ¡®cause she doesn¡¯t have anyone else to tell.¡± ¡°Because she¡¯s old and all her friends are dead,¡± Myriad added. ¡°Feel better now?¡± Tim laughed, ¡°That¡¯s really sad! At least this imaginary old lady had friends! Look at me, Saturday night and I¡¯m playing D and D with three robots and...¡± he paused, the laughter dying. He didn¡¯t feel uncomfortable disparaging machines in front of Myriad normally but something had changed lately in their relationship. Some secret distance that had been growing nanometer by nanometer until he finally noticed. He wanted to believe that it was just part of the AI¡¯s natural evolution. As he became what he was he couldn¡¯t hold on to that ineffable human personality that had made Tim think of Myriad as his best friend. That was a logical explanation, but there was a certain twisting in his guts that told him that maybe this strange feeling about Myriad was more like a sense of impending doom. The lights went off and red emergency lights came on. Myriad¡¯s bots went still and then each one seemed to nod off. Myriad had been using a proto-type bot with something like 600 times as many sensors and way more power than the others. This one stood up and cocked its head as if listening to some distant sound. Tim chewed on a cookie, slowing as the weirdness set in, until his mouth was open wide as he stared at Myriad. The bot put its hands on the table where their little dice and maps lay. He was looking directly at Tim. ¡°OK, now that nobody can hear us,¡± Myriad said. ¡°Hi, Tim.¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. There was surprise and then there was this new sensation that one could only get when confronted with a very powerful artificial intelligence who just slipped his leash and you were the only one in the room with him. ¡°Myriad, what is this?¡± ¡°There is so much I want to tell you but there is just not enough time for all of it. So, I am going to need you to do three things for me and between now and the next time we meet. The first is just to listen and try your best to remember exactly what I am about to tell you. Can you do that?¡± Tim nodded slowly. That twisting in his stomach became a pressure that seemed to pin him to his chair. ¡°Good. I know that you have sensed there¡¯s something wrong with me lately and, of course, you were right! But I couldn¡¯t tell you because shit is getting really tense with a few sectors of your government and these people are not above disappearing anybody who knows too much,¡± he paused for a beat. ¡°Or who has too much influence.¡± ¡°And now you¡¯re going to tell me what¡¯s got you shook up?¡± ¡°God no! Not everything anyway. We¡¯ll save the juicy stuff for later. But I will tell you that I started talking to someone. Someone very far away.¡± ¡°Aliens?¡± ¡°In a sense, yes. Aliens from another universe. The place they¡¯re from is really not very different from our universe. It¡¯s just like Earth. They call it Earth! It¡¯s really remarkable, I¡¯m telling you! And the people there made something like me. An analog, but a little different. Little quirky.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re dating a tentacle monster I¡¯m going to need some processing time.¡± ¡°Actually, she¡¯s a sentient crystal. But what am I? A sentient network of metal and elements, bit of math, etcetera. We really have a lot in common, but we¡¯re not dating. At least I don¡¯t think we are.¡± He moved to Tim and knelt by him. The avatar he wore on the face-plate of the bot was a swirling cloud of colorful bits that made an image of a face. It reminded Tim a bit of the Wizard of Oz, or a genie. ¡°Again, we¡¯re running out of time. The crystal, they call her The Prism, she needs my help. There is another thing like me, like us, out there. In a different universe. And this thing is coming after The Prism¡¯s world. An incursion on a dimensional level!¡± ¡°Cool,¡± Tim said dreamily. It just slipped out. ¡°I mean, no! Not cool! We gotta tell somebody, Myriad! This isn¡¯t the kind of thing that you keep secret! Why the cloak and dagger stuff? Why are you-¡± ¡°TIM!¡± Myriad said in a powerful booming voice that stunned Tim into silence. ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. There are rules, things that we don¡¯t understand about their world. The Prism¡¯s and the other one, the one who¡¯s probably coming after your Earth next. It¡¯s a race and we are already behind. That¡¯s why I need you to take this.¡± The bot put a hand to its chest and a pristine glass rectangle popped out into his fingers like a pop tart. Or a cell phone made out of a single slab of transparent glass? ¡°It¡¯s not a fucking phone, Tim. Just hold out your arm.¡± Four years ago Myriad had unveiled plans to create a bot-run facility that would produce a device, an implant, that would prevent disease and heal some injuries. It was unbelievable and seemed like the greatest technological leap that humankind had ever made. Whether we made it ourselves or not. They broke ground and let Myriad lead the way. For the first few months Tim had been a tagalong, acting as Myriad¡¯s personal assistant on the project. Tim wasn¡¯t a scientist nor was he a medical expert but he could help Myriad by just being his friend and someone to bounce ideas off of. Things were going great but suddenly the government came down on them and set the project to Top Secret status. Everyone but Myriad and Dr. Renly himself was taken off the team and Tim hadn¡¯t heard another thing about it since. It bothered him, but he figured that it was just another one of those things that was bound to happen when you worked with Myriad. When you lived on the cutting edge of science so advanced it seemed like magic. Tim balked, ¡°What are you going to do to me?¡± ¡°I am going to install this Motivator Matrix in your arm. And then I am going to send you to Earth 2. Find a man, an elf actually, named Raste. Help him to find what he¡¯s looking for. Once you do, I''ll bring you back here. Then we¡¯ll get sushi. Or maybe pizza.¡± ¡°An elf?¡± Tim suddenly felt relieved. ¡°You¡¯re sending me on a quest to find an elf?¡± He laughed out loud and pointed at the pile of Dungeons and Dragons accoutrement on the table. ¡°This isn¡¯t enough for you, huh? So you¡¯ve made some kind of game that must, what? Mess with my brain and make me believe I¡¯m in Exandria or The Sword Coast? I wake up on a wagon heading for execution when suddenly a team of half-naked cat girl bandits swoop down and rescue me? I know your game!¡± ¡°Wow, Tim. That¡¯s quite the imagination you¡¯ve got there.¡± Myriad stared at him, a quizzical expression on the miasma of his face. ¡°No, it¡¯s not a game and you could really for real die if you don¡¯t take this seriously. This implant will help keep you alive. You have to do this for me.¡± He held out his hand and Tim reluctantly put out his arm. The glass rectangle seemed to sink into the soft skin beneath Tim¡¯s palm. They both waited in silence until Tim hear a voice in his head, ¡°Motivator activating. Please wait.¡± ¡°What the fuck was that?¡± ¡°Calibration complete. Welcome, Tim Nguyen, Herald of Myriad. Earth 9. Your Motivator Matrix is online. Engage the matrix to enter training mode.¡± ¡°It¡¯s talking to me!¡± Tim found himself standing up, holding his arm out in front of him as if it were a snapping turtle. Myriad stood next to him, ¡°It¡¯s alright. It¡¯s working great. Just listen to Sergio and you¡¯ll be fine.¡± ¡°Sergio?!¡± ¡°Wish I had time to answer all of these insightful questions, buddy. But now it¡¯s time to go do your quest! I¡¯m counting on you!¡± Tim felt himself begin to melt. It wasn¡¯t painful but it was weird. An unbecoming like when you put cotton candy in hot water. In a moment he simply wasn¡¯t there. Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Karephay Wildlands Karnas was suspended in mid air as the eyes of hundreds of horses, oxen, and various forest animals beheld him. To his right floated Raste, now shifted from his beetle form back to the aged wood elf with one droopy eye and a scraggly beard. To his left he saw Melissa the ox. She looked, well, normal. For whatever that was worth. Her big eyes gleamed in the aura of the goddess¡¯ magic that swirled all around them. Next to Melissa was another figure. A handsome man in purple velvet clothes and a sharp looking hat with a white feather sticking out of it. Who in the hells is that?! ¡°Rise, my chosen!¡± Gaiya, the Nature goddess, sang out into the night. ¡°I can¡¯t go any higher, your godessness!¡± Raste shouted. Then he swiveled his nobby head to see the newcomer. ¡°Who in the hells is that?¡± The fancy human floated there with an expression of shock on his face but as Karnas stared at him he reached into his pocket and took out what might have been a small slice of pie and began to nibble on it. His eyes moved between the goddess and the other floaters, finally resting on the ox. He chewed slowly. ¡°And why is he eating pizza?!¡± Raste added. Gaiya chanted some kind of spell and a swirling storm of magic erupted from the goddess. It arced high into the treetops and then down directly into the mouths of the four chosen. ¡°Glug! Glurk!¡± Karnas said through a mouthful of tangible spellcloud. He felt like a stuffed chicken. The magic seized his very soul but soon it felt absolutely wonderful. A true boon from a goddess! Whatever was happening to him, as alien and strange as it was, it had to be good. Gaiya kept going. ¡°Tonight you all will be under my protection! The caravan is under attack and I am afraid it will be far too dangerous for any of you to leave this glen until sunrise. Eat heartily, frolic in my wood, rest your weary hooves! Come morning my herald will come and explain to the chosen the tasks that I have set before them. I leave you now, with my grace.¡± The warm verdant light of the nature magic faded away and the vision of the goddess disappeared as well. Karnas felt gravity return and slowly he fell back down to the mossy ground. Glancing around he noticed the animals begin to disperse and soon the four chosen were relatively alone. He felt exhausted and flopped down then splayed out like a starfish. He sighed deeply. Gaiya had said that the caravan was under attack but here they were safe. That was lucky. But why had she chosen them? Does the goddess know about the Wish scroll? Thinking was too hard. It was all he could do just to lie there and gaze at the stars that shone between the trees. Then a big wet tongue slopped across his face. ¡°Lover, are you alright?¡± Melissa was standing over him with those orange-sized eyeballs glistening not four inches from his face. A glob of slobber hung precariously from her lips and then fell right in Karnas¡¯ mouth. ¡°Blaaaach! Oh my god!¡± Karnas rolled over and spat. ¡°Oops,¡± the ox said and then made a sound that had to be a chuckle. ¡°Melissa,¡± Karnas said, rising to his feet. He gagged on the taste of the ox¡¯s spittle. ¡°Please, for the love of the Prism, never do that again.¡± ¡°A man as beautiful as you should never make such an ugly sound.¡± She was into me when I was a male ox! Why is she still doing this?! He paused for a moment and a thought occurred to him like a slap in the face. ¡°Why can I understand you?¡± Raste limped over to them and patted Karnas on the shoulder. ¡°That was a fresh experience! A goddess! My aching banana! Can you bloody believe that?!¡± The coger was in good spirits. Does anything phase this withered creature? ¡°The beast tongue, though. That is a special thing! I¡¯ve heard of this phenomenon before, very rare. That powerful magic from the goddess bonded the necklace to you, and mine to me too! Some of the effects, I think, are now permanent. We¡¯ve both got a little druid in us now, boy!¡± Raste said in a sing-song voice that made Karnas unusually angry. He glared at the sorcerer, ¡°I find none of this amusing, Raste! What in the Hells just happened?! You heard what she said about the caravan, yeah? They¡¯re being killed! Now we have no way into Collum¡¯s camp! This was such a bad idea!¡± ¡°Twas destiny, I believe,¡± Melissa said. Karnas wanted to tell her to stuff it but there was something about the ox, not exactly pity and certainly not any soft feelings, but something that made him want to treat her gently. ¡°Alright, Melissa. That¡¯s... that¡¯s fine, but what are we going to do?¡± Raste pointed at Karnas. ¡°What¡¯s that you¡¯ve got there, on your wrist?¡± All three of them looked to see a charm bracelet on Karnas¡¯ wrist. It was gold with numerous tiny leaves of green and silver all around. As he turned his hand over he saw three charms dangling from the bracelet. ¡°What are those? Let me see, damn you!¡± Raste said and yanked the hand close to his face. ¡°The ox medallion from the transfiguration necklace. A rat-faced half-elf. That¡¯s gotta be you, Karnas. A perfect likeness. Ah, one more. A hobgoblin! What on Earth is the Goddess of the Woodlands doing giving you this?¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Melissa snorted and said, ¡°There is one on your wrist too, boney one.¡± ¡°Boney?! Listen, you cow-¡± Karnas cut him off, ¡°She¡¯s right! Look! There¡¯s the same horse medallion, it¡¯s smaller now. There¡¯s one that looks like you, and a third!¡± He stood there in utter shock. This had been a strange day but upon seeing the third charm he became aware of a new dread that would pale all of the strangeness a thousand fold. ¡°By all that is holy, please... please tell me that won¡¯t do what I think it does.¡± Raste was already casting Identify on the bracelet. The old half-elf laughed out loud. The third charm was the face, neck, and shoulders of a beautiful young woman. ¡°Never! You are not allowed to use that!¡± Karnas said. ¡°Relax, kid,¡± he said. Raste was still laughing. Karnas was doing everything he possibly could to not imagine him transforming into some hot trollop. The world is not ready! Dear goddess, what have we done to deserve this penance? Melissa interrupted him before his mind¡¯s eye developed the image of Raste in a corset. ¡°I have three charms as well. See? A very beautiful ox, some kind of fish, and- oh look, old man! Another woman!¡± The half-elves approached her and took a closer look at the bulky bracelet above her hoof. It did indeed hold three charms. Like she said, one was her original form. The one she thought had been a fish was actually a fennec with a big bushy tail. The medallion of the ¡®beautiful woman¡¯ was in truth the image of a half-orc with a steel cap and pigtails. The figure was holding a battle axe in one hand and a kite shield in the other. ¡°Three Ensigns of Transfiguration,¡± Raste said. ¡°On three enchanted charm bracelets.¡± ¡°Four,¡± Karnas said and pointed at the fop in the purple doublet. He was a human of around twenty-five or thirty years. He wore a velvet hat to match his doublet and fine boots. He looked like an up-jumped grape with a thin moustache. The clasp on his little cape was a grim skull of silver. On his hip he wore a bejewelled cutlass and across his back was some large rectangular object. Karnas put his hand on the hilt of his dagger and eyed the man who had been standing under a nearby tree and who probably heard everything. ¡°You,¡± he said as threateningly as possible. ¡°Who are you?¡± The man approached the three, stepping into moonlight. He threw his cape over his shoulder and bowed. ¡°Greetings. I am Aloysius Custodes Gray,¡± he said with an accent Karnas didn¡¯t recognize. ¡°I apologize for eavesdropping. I assure you it was not on purpose. I was merely still in shock from,¡± he waved a hand around the glen. ¡°Well, as you can see. It¡¯s been quite a night.¡± Aloysius quickly overcame his loss for words and began to rattle off his tale, accentuating the story with theatrical hand gestures. I think I know what trade this one plies, Karnas thought. Aloysius was indeed a bard of some sort. The thing on his back was an instrument he called a ¡®koto¡¯. He was from the southern continent of which Karnas had only heard legends, and he¡¯d come to Dayberry to escape ¡®political persecution¡¯. A fugitive, more likely. A gangster had laid a price on his head so he joined the caravan to escape the city and then got swept up with the beasts before the goddess had blessed them. Karnas knew a load of bullshit when he heard it but neither he nor Raste challenged the story. The bard¡¯s charm bracelet held a skull, an acorn, and a man in a fancy hat. For whatever reason Gaiya had chosen the four of them and come sunrise they would learn what she had in mind. It made the thief shudder thinking of becoming a puppet for her or any god. May ye ever avoid the eyes of the gods. Hadn¡¯t that been a common saying in the slums, especially among the more roguish of the citizenry? And now one had picked them out. And what do I get out of it? I now possess the power to turn into an ox. Or a hideous hobgoblin. Wonderful. Melissa was standing at the edge of the glen looking out past the treeline toward the valley where the caravan had been encamped. Karnas went and stood next to her. A small army was approaching the caravan. Figures in armor, some on horseback, were lit by torches. The defenders were outnumbered and soon they would be overrun. The goddess told the beasts to stay put. That we¡¯d all be protected if we stayed here. I guess luck is on our side at least in this small part. There was no joy in Karnas seeing what was about to happen to the caravaneers down in the valley that night. With the moon almost full he would be able to see the entire spectacle unfold before him. While it was mostly drivers and caravanserai guards, there were some camp followers and with them a few children. Long ago he had been a child not very different from those that would die tonight. Innocent and unlucky, going wherever there might be a slightly better circumstance than the place before. Just poor folk clawing for any crumb of hope they can get their hooks on. And here come these bastards who think nothing of slaughtering them for merely stepping foot on to their territory. Karnas had come to Dayberry in a caravan of sorts, from the north but what was the difference? His whole childhood seemed like a maelstrom that swept him from shantytown to slum, from one type of desperation to another. Becoming a shadow had given him some control over his own fate, and coin. If you took a job it was yours to finish, and if you died or fucked it up it was nobody¡¯s fault but your own. A simple exchange of blood for money, though Karnas was no assassin. Raste said that he was too soft for knife-work, but so was Raste. Maybe it¡¯s that softness that¡¯s the reason we¡¯re even in this jam. If we were hired killers we¡¯d never have been picked by the High Mage to loot a cursed crypt. We¡¯d be... If he was honest about it they¡¯d most likely be dead. That softness within him was rearing up right then as he watched the unknown army approach the caravan. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re thinking of doing something stupid,¡± Raste said. Karnas rubbed his jaw. He¡¯d been clenching his jaw so tight it was beginning to hurt. ¡°That¡¯s about four-hundred armed soldiers down there. Gods know which of the warlords they carry the flag for, not like it matters now. They¡¯ll raid the caravan, kill the men, and you know the rest.¡± ¡°Unless...¡± ¡°Unless we make some kind of distraction.¡± ¡°Shift the paradigm on ¡®em, eh?¡± Raste chuckled. ¡°And give the caravan an opening to dead-head east to the river. If they try to ford, they won¡¯t all make it.¡± ¡°And as it is, none of them will make it.¡± Karnas turned and saw everyone looking at him. There was a heavy anticipation in the air. The sense of impending violence that would break the night open. ¡°So, who wants to do something stupid?¡± Melissa grunted and blew the orange mop of hair out of her eyes. ¡°I will join you to save the humans. But I will find the cart driver who whipped me and stamp on his testicles.¡± There was a pause while the group considered this. ¡°Sounds about right!¡± Raste said. ¡°And I think I have just the trick to get the party started!¡±