Bending the Rules Pt. 13: Execution

Level Eight. Fingers trembling, he pressed down on the stone altar. He ignored the juggling and the trick-shot bow skills; his performance art of preference was more up-close-and-personal, and full-body grapples could now be unlocked. He gianed some techniques that would unlock with proficiency to break heavy armor blocks and give him a fighting chance against opponents with shields, although it would do him little good until he've had a chance to practice. He could do some interactive performance arts with a cooperative partner, and took that too; it just sounded too enticing, even if he never put it to use in bed, though he was quite determined to do so. He didn't think he'd be putting on a circus show but he could see it coming in quite handy nonetheless, and it was tough to choose instead of the dizzying array of natural resistances, but he couldn't decide on a particular resistance being more useful than another and ultimately chose none of them.

He put his hand behind his back, to hide the flexing he was doing to try to counter the shaking. The hourglass trembled in his other hand, and he carefully set it down, to put both hands behind him. He paid rapt inattention to the fortress full of specters that the hooded faction officer in front of him was proudly describing, and the misty mountaintop that held it above the world, so far from the plains and cities of the bulk of mortal races. Just a little longer.

Ah, Level Nine. Here, he diverged from the regular order of things into the non-adventurer crafting trees. Normally he would be expected to take Costume Mending and similar maintenance skills. Instead, he took Scroll Smithing and Enchantment Knowledge Focus. It was a laborious process, but making his own scrolls could prove immensely valuable, and he couldn't wait to try out mixing that with Succubus spells. Oh, the chaos that would wreak.

Nuru finished taking his level. Onyekachi was staring at him, open-mouthed.

"Yes, and then what?" Nuru said politely.

"I- you-" the hooded man sputtered, "had, um, you were Level Four. Going on Five. But you're Level Nine!"

"Well, I earned it, shouldn't I take the levels?"

"I mean... yes, but... Tumelo's nose hair, how!?"

"Quests. I'm sure you're familiar with the concept, you offered me some."

"Yes, but- but- but- HOW!?"

"Can you be a little more specific? I'm not sure how to answer you."

The man's jaw worked a bit and he struggled for words. "I- I mean, how do you have quests completed producing that much EXP?"

"Oh, well, that's complicated actually. I'm working with someone outside of Home Town, past the gate. We're trading tons of small quests I've got producing rewards for a few big ones, it all evens out. It just so happens I have to stand around and get them kind of all at once. Oh, excuse me, I've got another one."

Nuru took Level Ten, trying to ignore the piercing stare of the archon standing so nearby, where he couldn't see. Final MAG point, score of perfect 20. Close.

"And- is that it? What else...?"

"One more," Nuru said, calmly clasping his hands around the fresh-flipped hourglass in front of him and listening attentively.

Onyekachi just stood there, in shock. His eyes flew left and right, trying to process at a furious rate, mouth hanging open. A few times he looked like he almost had something to say, but no words came out. Nuru watched his face for long minutes, waiting for a question or another story.

"But- you're not aligned! Or were you lying to me!?"

"Nope. Free and clear. Excuse me, last one."

He touched the altar, took a deep breath. Level Eleven. There it was, in all its glory - and no time to sit and bask in the joy of it. He had almost no proficiencies in anything, and only two spells of his own to slot. But the gate would no longer deter him.

"So uh, I appreciate your hospitality, and I really hate to be rude, but I've actually got to go now very desperately," Nuru said, turning on his heel and sprinting away.

"Unaligned. Level Eleven. But that's impossible..." Onyekachi said, finding he was speaking to himself. "What the hell was I just present to witness?"

*****

Nuru approached the Level Eleven+ gate and came, panting, to a stop. Ten ghosts barred the way, all suited up for battle in ethereal armor.

"Gods above, you guys move quick," Nuru said. "What's with the armor? It's not like I can actually hurt you."

They all turned to face him.

"A formality, to lend gravitas to this declaration," one said. "You defy the orthodoxy. The Rules were never meant to be bent in this way. All the mechanics are slanted against you doing what you have done. We don't have a Rule for this scenario. We've never had to before, but it will break the order of thousands of years if you proceed. I curse you, Son of None Alive. You shall never pass this line until you have chosen a faction. Cross it before then, by foot, by smoke portal, or any other means, at any altitude or planar frequency, and you're dead. You won't escape the odds this time."

"So, it has come to this. I had hoped we could come to an agreement," Nuru said, giving the distance between them a calculating look.

"We can," another of the ghosts said as they closed ranks. "Simply... choose. We will accept nothing less."

"This is your final, authoritative word then? The judgment cannot be argued?"

The ghost raised his hand, and a white bolt struck Nuru's chest. The gate took on a white tinge.

"It is so. Not for thirty days will an appeal be heard, or any modifications permitted."

Nuru looked down at the glowing spot on his chest, back up at the gate, and down again. He finally came to a decision.

"I'll be in touch. Don't hold your breath even then."

"Likewise. We have time on our side."

He turned and walked back the way he'd come, waving to two people watching in the distance. "Sorry folks, another day! Tell them whose side time is actually on, why don't you! ...Tusa," he called. "Scout ahead, will you please? Make sure I'm not going to run into anything nasty. Or anyone."

The two watching figures on the far side of the gate turned to each other as he walked away.

"I'm Dayo. You a friend of his?" the valkyrie said.

"Name's Ace. Hard to say who's a friend, with that one," the thief said. "I hope he thinks so."

"If you weren't his friend, you wouldn't have been invited here."

"So, you wanna tell them, or shall I?"

"Flip you for it?" Dayo said.

"Sure."

Ace produced a coin, and flicked. "Call it."

"Hero."

"Villain," Ace grinned, showing the coin on the back of his hand, the vague outline of some hooded ranger aiming a bow visibly printed in the metal.

"Cheater," Dayo snorted, flipping the coin over to show the same on the other side. "Never should'a trusted a thief, even if you are his friend."

"Should have checked it first!" Ace crowed.

He walked up from behind the ghosts, still watching where Nuru had gone.

"Hey, uh... you guys know it's going to be a really long time before he comes back, right? Home Town is back this way. He just couldn't wait to get away from there. He was only coming back to meet up with us."

Ten misty faces turned to peer at him, then looked up behind, past Dayo and beyond. Then, they turned the other way, towards the Forbidden Forest, where Nuru had gone. Wailing angrily as one, the ghosts shot up into the sky.

"Didn't see that coming, did ya! What were they yelling?" Ace said.

"It sounded like 'dev'. What's that mean?"

"Sounded like that to me too. Who does that mean, may be the question. No clue though."

"Still, gives me goosebumps, thinking about the significance. You helped him out with this?"

"Yeah. Set up a levitation rune with a smoke portal pellet hovering a few centimeters off the ground. All he had to do was break the ward around it to disable the levitation, open the portal and shoot him through to the other side. The trick was putting it all out of the way where no low-level would stumble into it accidentally and kill themselves while I was gone on quest proxy tasks, but close enough he might reach it in time."

"Why did he even bother coming back?" Dayo wondered. "Why not just meet us a little further out?"

"A favor for someone I can't say too much about. He said something I could repeat, though it didn't make sense to me. I mean, they're ghosts, you can't actually touch their eyeballs with your thumb."

"I've heard that one; it's a gruesome metaphor. I wonder where he learned it."

"Shall we ask him?"

"You know what? Let's do that. If he doesn't want anyone traveling with him, he can say so."

"Race you?"

"Against a thief, with smoke portals? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice..."

"You know how expensive those are? Why would I waste that on a footrace without even a wager?"

"Even so-"

Dayo threw a rune down. Ace stumbled, and sank into the mud.

"You're on!" Dayo called back, taking off running.

"Cheater!" Ace bellowed. "Sneak! I want you to bear my children. By virgin conception, you understand!"

"Whatever, loser!"

He threw down a smoke portal, tumbled, landed several feet in the right direction, and then threw down another, putting him right on Dayo's heels.

"Not a loser yet, I'm not!"

*****

Author's note:

Thanks to everyone reading, rating, commenting, etc. This silly little idea has turned into much more than I expected, and I hope you've all enjoyed it. I have some quests that will take my attention away from continuing for awhile (it's not Cyberpunk 2077, I swear), but I wanted to reach a good stopping point before taking a break to leave you all with some closure. The direction is becoming clear, and Nuru's story is not over. Keep an eye out for 'Breaking the Rules Pt. 01'! Short teaser below. I'll let you decide if you want to read it with the cliffhanger, or wait until the next part arrives.

*****

"Oof. Can I help you?" Nuru said, struggling in vain, though less helpless than he'd ever been at her hands before.

"Yes, you can hold still. What the hell am I going to do with you?" Katlego said.

"Fuck my brains out? Let me go? I'm not sure why you're asking me, but that's my order of preference."

"It's rhetorical. I'm the best, Nuru, the best Nyala's Hand has. There are others who are higher level, but I have succeeded where they have failed. And yet here I am, chasing your lame ass out of the noob gate."

"I think you just can't bear to let a good-looking guy like me out of your sight."

"Why you stuck up... scruffy-looking... circle jerker!" She pulled the ropes even tighter, cutting painfully into his arms.

"Who's scruffy-looking?" he said, pointedly looking at her unkempt state.

"It's that fucking succubus of yours! She's left me some last compulsion that gets worse and worse!"

"Hey, you want me to Jill you off, just say so."

"That is nowhere near adequate at this point. I know the pattern now; I come to you, and relieve it, but then it comes back, stronger than ever. She got me one more time before her death, and you've been in prison where I couldn't reach you; I've hardly slept in a week, dreaming of this moment. But now, it truly ends, and I'm making it worth my while."

She got his pants undone and started lashing them to his ankles.

"What - who dares-?" Katlego growled, looking up.

She vanished. It took him a minute to get just a few knots undone and pull his pants back up. The two figures approached slowly, giving him the dignity of a little extra time.

"Need a hand?" Dayo said.

"I think I'm good," Nuru said, slowly pulling it all loose.

"You sure about that? Looks to me like you got nabbed, literally right out of the gate," Ace said.

"Laugh if you want. Everything was fine. Should have let me get my rocks off."

"If you say so, bro. Had no idea what we were walking into here."

"I reserve the right to be grumpy. What are you two doing here, anyway?"

"Got to talking after you left. Had a question or three for you," Dayo said.

"Where'd you hear that thing you told me, about sticking thumbs in people's eyeballs?" Ace said.

"Oh, that. Silly thing to come running after me to ask. I've got a succubus, I already told you. It's how demons talk."

"Got- wait, still!?" Dayo said, eyes going wide.

"Heard it got death by demon hunter," Ace said, raising an eyebrow.

"Er, had. I had a succubus."

"Bluff check fail," Ace said.

"Well y'see- not quite death, exactly," Nuru said.

"And!? We're dying to know what happened," Ace said.

Distantly, Katlego cursed. "I knew it was too easy to kill!"

"Shit. I've already said too much," Nuru said. "Anyway, question answered, don't let me hold up your day."

"Hurry up and get untangled so we can move on then," Dayo said.

"What, we're traveling together?" Nuru said.

"Aren't we?" Ace said. "I took a bath earlier, I shouldn't smell too bad."

"I've just been cock blocked again, so I'm kinda on the fence. Also, I figured you had better things to do, especially with the ghosts on my case, it's probably safe to say. I'm a dead man walking if the slightest thing goes wrong."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I think the mood's gone now. Anyway, I wouldn't miss your first foray out into the big world," Dayo said. "Plus, technically, I'm still courting you for my faction. No way we're leaving you alone now, with spurned women about. My boss would kill me. Maybe literally."

"You know I could take you all in my sleep," Katlego whispered, not far away.

"Shall we play a game of tag?" Ace said, drawing his bow, and vanishing.

"You're out of your league, boy."

"Then why are you still hiding?" Ace murmured quietly, from everywhere and nowhere.

"Let's get back to the road," Dayo said. "She could have traps anywhere out here."

"Gah!" Ace said, appearing suddenly, shaking his hand. A small line of blood showed on the back.

He bent over to grab the arrow he'd dropped, and a tiny pebble flew from his other hand as he did so. Katlego hissed, appearing and then vanishing again in the path the rock had flown.

Dayo conjured a glowing purple falcon, and pointed it that direction. "You wanna play with fire?" the valkyrie said quietly, menacing.

"A necromancer too? You travel in strange circles, young bard. This isn't over..." Katlego whispered more distantly.

"Don't leave! We can still-" Nuru pleaded.

A bow twanged quietly, and Tusa snarled. The angry lyena entered a noisy frenzy, hiding any movement she might have made.

"Dammit," Nuru said.

Ace appeared, put his bow away, sighing. "She's good, I'll give her that."

*****

In memory of JAL, lost 11-26-2020. Appreciate those around you, friends. You just never know how much time you have left together.