Chapter 111 – Covering your bases

Jeehan: I am John Newman, the Gamer. I am in dire need of help and therefore hope that your offer was more than just an attempt to get me out of hiding. I made a mistake and to fix it I need to get stronger within 5 days. I don’t know how, to be honest. I have unleashed a girl named Thana, a Soviet experiment to the best of my knowledge, maybe you know of her and I need to be able to beat her on my own. Will you help me?

That was the message he had sent both Blood and Princess_of_Steel. He knew it was risky to send such a thing to the communists but he was desperate. Then again, who knew if a princess of the Abyss was any more trustworthy?

He was waiting for an answer. He was also waiting for Regan to return. He couldn’t call the man because he left his phone with John. In case he had to leave before Regan returned, John wrote a letter explaining the new situation, leaving the nature of the help he was seeking vague.

After an hour, finally he saw the ‘Princess_of_Steel is typing’ announcement at the bottom of his screen. It took another ten nerve-straining minutes for the message to arrive.

Princess_of_Steel: I, Lydia Augusta IV of house Hohenzollern, Heiress-Apparent of Brandenburg, Princess-Regent of Greater Brandenburg and the city of Lübeck, Marquise of Pomerania and Silesia, Princess of Steel and Candidatum Secundus for Rex Germaniae hear your call for help.

I am honoured that you have turned with such a problem to me. While I know nothing of this Thana girl you speak of, I do have a proposal that should work for both of our advantage. Details published by SecretBlonde outline the swiftness of the growth of your power.

If it is time you need, I can arrange it for you. A High Fateweaver, bought with my money, persuaded by my influence and hired in the name of Rex Germaniae. He will give you the time you need. Be warned however: You take this offer and the compensation I demand will not be cheap. I will draw you into the world of European politics in an endeavour that will make you enemies. Answer me within the next 4 hours so I can make the preparations for the Fateweaver’s timely arrival.

By the time he had read through he got another message.

Blood: We can help you. For free. All you got to do is join us. We will provide you with the arms and necessities to capture Thana.

Whoever did not think that the offer of the Blood wasn’t shady as all hell probably needed their eyes fixed. Also, he spoke of capture, not kill, which was far from John’s interests right now. Thana was out there, probably torturing Rave and there was nothing he could do to stop it right now. He just wanted her dead for what she had taken from him.

“Please…” her pleading echoed in his mind.

John shook his head, if she had reasons those better be good ones. Like being tortured for sixty years or however she got in that container in the first place. Those were likely damn good reasons. Shoving his Wisdom aside, John tried to concentrate on being angry. To hold onto these embers of anger for as long as possible. He barely managed to do so. He was already analysing why his Interface failed, portraying Rave as dead, in the back of his mind. Had she been killed only to be revived? Was Thana lying and mimicking her voice somehow? Gritting his teeth, he focused on the hurt and the task ahead of him.

He answered the Blood first.

Jeehan: Sorry, I have a better offer.

Blood: Wrong Choice.

Because that was the expected answer, John had gone with that reply in the first place. He closed the chat and went back to Lydia.

Jeehan: I see. I accept and you can be sure that I will repay the debt I owe you. If I may add: To get stronger I also need enemies within the Illusion Barrier. I am not sure if that can be done if I’m not in control.

Princess_of_Steel: You better. I am meticulous about debts people owe me. I will see to everything. Go to your home address, a Fateweaver will visit you by tomorrow morning.

Always with the waiting. Well, one day wouldn’t hurt. He had already lowered the phone when he saw another message incoming.

Princess_of_Steel: I advise that you rest today. Once inside the barrier your time is better spent training. It would be a waste for both of us if you ended up getting yourself killed due to unsatisfactory preparation.

He nodded to himself. He didn’t feel bodily fatigue anymore, or to be more precise what he did miss on stamina was replenished rather quickly, but that didn’t mean the stress of the day hadn’t gotten to him. It was still the same day that Victoria had attacked him.

Victoria… even though she had betrayed him, John didn’t think she deserved such an end. Then again, maybe she did? It was a hard question. She found out about Thana’s true nature at the same time as he did, yet she had wanted to keep her there. In hindsight that was probably the right call but would Thana exist in her current state if somebody who didn’t mindlessly hate everything that came from communism had gotten their hands on her first?

Questions that didn’t matter. There was another question John wanted an answer to though: How did she manage to come back that quickly? The timeframe suggested that she took the train exactly after his. He hadn’t expected the attacking Bloodfallen to just stay buried until he returned but they hadn’t shown the capabilities to dig themselves out that quickly.

He left the letter he had written for Regan on the counter and went out. First, he checked if the Illusion Barrier he had left the attackers in was still around. Maybe he would find confirmations there.

It was. Inside the slightly demolished copy of the city were the holes he had left the Bloodfallen in but that wasn’t surprising. The two bodies, fallen over and a hole between the eyes made John guess what had happened. He checked their mouths and found the broken remains of small glass vials. Like Gert these two had carried some of Thana’s blood in their mouth. Whoever was in charge had deemed the usage in the fight useless but to break them out it had been enough.

John sighed, he had been careless, he should have just killed them all. A dark and pragmatic thought. He had wanted to be the hero and that had made him sloppy. He wanted to save everyone, get Travolta’s last wish done, and only kill those who needed to be killed. ‘Looks like I was severely wrong on who that was.’ The Gamer clenched his fist. ‘I thought I was powerful because I could beat Igor. If I really want to get what I want, then this isn’t nearly enough.’

He closed the Illusion Barrier for good, leaving the bodies in there without a grave. They didn’t deserve one. Then he walked home.