Chapter 33
Domitor stepped out of the clinic, a sour look still on his face.
“Cheer up, it could have been worse,” Floria commented as she walked out past him, taking note of his face.
He didn’t respond as he began to walk down the street, not really having a destination in mind. It was nighttime now, so most of everything seemed to be closed. Which was fine by him, since he didn’t want to be around other people at that moment.
Being in that clinic was hard enough with all the questions they kept asking him.
“We can head back to my place?” she offered, but he just shrugged a bit in response. “Erm…”
“I’m sorry,” he finally said, letting out a deep sigh. “I just need some time to process what just happened today.”
She put her hands in her pockets as she looked at him as they walked, a conflicted look on her face. “Would it make you feel better if… we went and found Shayla?”
This caused him to take a half step, stumbling a bit as the memories flooded back in. Should they find her? Make sure she was okay? Or should they give her space? Would she even want them around? She did attack him when he tried to check up on her.
“I don’t know,” he finally muttered. “I don't like her, and she’s been a major problem in my life, so I’m not even sure if I want to help her.”
“I get that,” she said, looking up at the night sky. “We should sleep this day off, and start over in the morning. What do you think?”
He gave a small nod, “yeah, I’d love to reset all this.”
“Then come on, Dommy,” she laughed, returning to her happy self.
“I’m sleeping on the couch this time,” he stated, causing her to flip him off and stick her tongue out.
ooo000<^>000ooo
“Again, I advise against this course of action,” Rosemary said as she watched me buy a hotel room for the night. “We have a perfectly fine room back at your grandparents house.”
I thanked the receptionist and took my key, mostly ignoring Rosemary.
“Shayla, we-”
‘It’s Shane now,’ I thought to her, fully embracing my new identity. ‘And I don’t want to see them right now, I feel all awkward and shit.’
“Okay, Shane,” she said with a sigh, “if you want to spend some time alone, then that is okay. Just don’t close everyone out.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said aloud as I reached my room and used the key to open the door. Stepping in I found a very simple and bare room, with just a single bed and chair in the room.
It was enough for me.
All I wanted to do was take a bath and sleep for days.
I began to strip off my clothes, heading for the bathroom. As I stepped in, I looked in the mirror, seeing my uncovered face staring back. I stared at myself, following the curves on my face, then I traced my gaze down my body.
A growl escaped my lips as I slammed my fist forward, shattering the mirror and putting my hand right through the wall behind it.
My eyes widened as I realized the reaction I just had, stepping back and looking down at myself again.
“Oh shit… I am broken…”
Before Rosemary could appear to say anything, I whipped around and turned on the shower, moving past what just happened.
After a long and emotional shower, I stepped back into the room, drying my hair as I walked over to the bed. I tossed the towel aside and stood there on all fours, stretching out my wings. I let out a groan of relief as I felt my body release some of the built up tension of having to walk around on two legs all day.
As I stood there, a weird feeling fell over me. I did not like the sensation of not wearing clothes, which is super weird since I NEVER wear clothes normally.
I jumped into bed, pulling the covers up over myself, which made me feel better.
Some time passed as I just stared up at the ceiling, trying to keep my thoughts away from the day's events. Luckily, I began to think about home and all my friends.
I laughed out loud a few times, thinking of a few random funny moments we’d all had together.
This relaxed me as I slowly drifted off to sleep.
ooo000<^>000ooo
The next day
I leaned against the half wall, arms crossed as I watched the area around me. This was the meeting area that I was supposed to hand over the data at, but I’d been here an hour, and I’ve seen no one that looked like they worked for Rig.
Letting out a grunt, I adjusted my position and opened my stats menu, looking everything over. I’d finished my daily quest earlier, and I’d dumped all three skill points into Strength again, much to Rosemary’s annoyance. But now I had a grand total of twenty two points in Strength, and I could definitely feel the difference.
Honestly, I probably should listen to Rosemary and increase other stats, but every point in Strength just made me feel better.
After a few more minutes of waiting, I finally saw a group of Kejtdra walking towards me, with Rig Fanden in the middle.
I frowned, since there were way more of them than the first time we met up. There were six of them walking right behind the well dressed Kejtdra.
“You work fast, Mrs. Beltosh,” he said with a chuckle as they reached me.
“Mr. Beltosh,” I corrected in my gruff voice, causing him to raise an eyebrow. “I have your data right here,” I said as I pointed at the port on my wrist.
“Oh? You were able to actually access that contraption?” he asked, sounding a bit impressed. “Well, what are you keeping the data on?”
“I need someone to transfer it to,” I said, pulling the cable from my wrist.
“Pardon me?” he asked in a confused tone.
Sighing loudly I gave the little cable a shake, “I’m able to transfer the data to one of you, or a device if you got one. So how do you want it?”
He glanced at one of his men, who shook his head at him. “Right. So I’m assuming you actually could not get the data.”
“No I got it,” I insisted in an annoyed tone. “I just have to connect to one of you.”
“So you're telling me,” he said, a smirk on his face. “That you used that little cord on you to take the data, and that you can ‘transfer’ it to one of us? Just like that?”
“Pretty simple, isn’t it?” I grunted, shaking the cable again. “So? Come on, I need that access card pronto.”
His one guy leaned over and whispered in his ear, causing Rig to chuckle. “Alright, I’m going to humor you. ‘Transfer’ this data to my man here, and if you’re telling the truth we’ll proceed. If not…” he let that threat hang in the air.
I just shrug and hold out the connector to the guy he motioned to. The guy frowned as he stepped forward, looking unsure of me.
Reaching forward I connected the cable to his neck, letting Rosemary handle transferring the data.
“I’ve gone over the data,” she said as we waited for it to finish. “It’s mostly banking info and transactions between this city and a few others. I’m assuming they’ll use it to either blackmail someone or try and intercept some of the transactions.”
“You’re thinking too small,” Rig said as I realized his eyes were glowing amber again. “It’s not very beneficial to pry into others' business.”
Rosemary frowned as she disappeared, not liking that he could see and hear her. He just smiled slyly as he looked back at me, waiting to see what happened next.
Finally I finished transferring the data and disconnected from the guy before me. He was wide eyed, seeming to be processing everything we’d just dumped into his head.
“Well?” Rig asked in a slightly intrigued voice.
“Boss…” the guy began, blinking a few times. “I don’t know how, but I know EVERYTHING about all those banks and the money.”
This caused Rig to look impressed as he took on a more relaxed stance, smiling at me, “well well, looks like you weren't lying after all.”
“Yeah,” I replied as I stared him in the eye and held out my hand. “VIP access card.”
A little card appeared in his hand as he smiled at me, “of course. That was our deal after all.”
He didn’t walk towards me, so I slowly advanced on him, keeping my eyes on all of them. But as I reached out for it, he pulled his hand back.
“First, I have to know something,” he said with a smug look, causing me to growl a bit.
“What?”
“Why are you pretending to be a guy now? Last I saw, you were a tough chicka. Now you’re playing masculine man,” he asked, causing me to take a half step back, eying all of them.
“That’s my business,” I grunted, flexing my hand as I held it out. “Card.”
“Your business is my business,” he stated, my contract appearing in the air next to him. “If you read the fine print, you’ve agreed to work for me till I cut the contract. Now I’ll ask you again; why are you pretending to be a man?”
“Fine print?!” I growled, attempting to snatch the contract out of the air, but it just faded away as my hand passed through it.
“Answer the question,” he pressed with a wide smirk as he then added, “would you kindly?”
I glared at him, not wanting to tell him the truth, but then my mouth spoke on its own. “To not get sexually assaulted again.”
“Oh, I see,” he said, shrugging as he placed the card in my outstretched hand. “Did not expect that as an answer.”
Quest complete! 4 skill points awarded!
Level up!
Level 5 reached! Access to Passive Skills unlocked!
Access to Gear Shop unlocked!
You have 7 unspent points!
“What the fuck?!” I growled, angry at myself for just revealing that.
“If he uses that phrase, then you gotta answer him,” one of the men behind him said. “And if you don’t, then the contract makes ya.”
“I did not agree to that kinda shit!” I snapped angrily.
“But you did,” he said as he stared at me. “Always read the fine print, kid.”
I stowed the VIP access card in my pocket and turned away from them, not wanting to be near any of them after having revealed that little bit of info.
“Where are you going?” he asked in a stern voice.
“I’m done here,” I said firmly.
“Well we’re not done here,” he said as I heard them start to walk after me.
“I don’t care, I don’t have a reason to do any more shit for you.”
“You do if you want that card to be activated,” he said in a smug voice, causing me to stop walking and turn to him.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You just wanted a VIP access card, you didn’t ask for a functioning one,” he said with a shit eating grin on his face. “I haven’t had that one activated yet.”
I pulled the card out and shook it at him, “you’re telling me this thing is useless unless you activate it?” At his nod, I began to shake with rage. “You tricked me, you fucking asshole!”
“Calm down,” he said with a grin on his face. “You just have to do another job for me and I’ll activate it.”
“I don’t trust you,” I growled.
“I’m very honest with people I work with,” he said in an offended tone. “But you have to be specific when making deals, otherwise things like this will happen to you. You should have asked for an activated VIP access card, and then that’s what you’d have gotten.”
“I didn’t know that was a thing!” I yelled, causing him to hold up a finger.
“No yelling,” he said as he put his hands behind his back. “I need you to go to the Cloud District and kill a few officials that are currently there.”
“I’m not killing anyone,” I stated firmly, causing him to roll his eyes.
“Then that card won’t be able to be activated,” he said simply. “You have three days before this offer expires. After that, the next job I give to you will be non-negotiable.”
Despite myself I raised my hand and flipped him off, which just caused him to chuckle as he turned and walked away, his little posse following after him.
Once they were out of sight I let out an angry roar and slammed my hoof into the little half wall next to me, breaking a large chunk off of it. I hit it a few more times, the anger not leaving my body fast enough.
“Shane,” Rosemary said slowly, getting my attention for a second as she looked at me with a worried look. “It’s going to be okay.”
“I just keep getting fucked and taken advantage of!” I snapped, shaking the useless card at her. “He tricked me!”
“I know he did,” she said with a sigh. “But there’s nothing we can do about it now. I suggest we move on and find someone who can activate that card for us.”
Grumbling to myself I put the card away again and opened my skill menu, deciding to focus on something else now.
“I wasn’t paying attention earlier, but what'd it say about reaching level five?” I asked a bit aggressively.
Rosemary appeared next to me as she pointed to a new window on my menu. “Okay, so every five levels you are able to pick out a new Passive Skill, which provides all kinds of benefits. Right now you won’t have access to any of the good ones, but there’s plenty of useful ones.” She tapped against the window, wanting me to open it for her, “but after level fifty you only get them every fifty levels. Then at level one thousand you get a new one every thousand levels.”
“Level one thousand?” I asked with a frown, tapping the window as requested. “How many fucking levels are there?”
“Infinite,” she chuckled, causing me to sigh. “So, which skill do you want?”
“I dunno,” I mumbled, not really feeling up to doing this right now. There was a small list of Passive Skills, all of them seeming a bit stupid.
None of them really caught my eyes, as most seemed to focus on a specific thing, but one did make me pause.
“Ah, that’s the best one to choose early,” she pointed out, knowing which one I was looking at. “Take it, because the list of Passive Skills changes every time you see it, so you may never see that Skill again.”
“Fine,” I sighed as I clicked it.
New Passive Skill added!
‘Double Down! All stats receive a permanent x2 modifier!’
“That honestly seems a bit too powerful,” I commented, getting an excited nod from her.
“I know right?!”
Her reaction caused me to smile at least. While I had the menu open, I decided to use my skill points. Rosemary had a begging look on her face, so instead of dumping it all into Strength like I wanted to do, I put a three into both Reflexes and Perception, and one in Defense.
I hit accept, causing everything to take effect at once. I felt a massive difference in my body almost immediately, as the times two modifiers doubled everything.
“Fuck,” I muttered, flexing my muscles as I felt a lot more powerful than before. If I’d been like this earlier, I’d have easily kicked Lenrick’s ass.
A smirk appeared on my face as it felt like my confidence was coming back.
“Now,” I said, going back to the main menu and seeing the other new window. “What’s this Gear Shop thing?”
“You’re going to love this,” she said as she watched me click on the shop menu.
It opened up to reveal a large selection of gear, ranging from weapons all the way down to simple clothing. “What is all this?”
“That,” she said, rubbing a hand over the menu before me, “is all of the gear that Loric and I have owned over the years. After we were done with it we were able to store it away in our Ego, which adds it to the shop. And every so often you will unlock the shop and be able to pick out one single item for yourself.”
“Oh, that’s actually something cool then,” I said with a smile as I scrolled through the wide selection of gear.
“Grab one of our weapons, it’ll help you out greatly!” she exclaimed, clearly very excited to see what I’d pick.
I ignored her advice, not really sure what I wanted. But as I scrolled through some armor sets, I began to realize what I wanted. Reaching up, I touched my covered face, not liking that the only thing keeping my gender hidden was a simple scarf.
“Is there anything in here that could make me look more like a guy?” I asked, causing her to frown. “Or disguise my voice better?”
She let out a deep sigh as she signaled for me to keep scrolling. After a few moments of swiping, she stopped me and pointed at one armor set.
“That one. It’s my old Oni Assaulter armor. It’s durable and flexible, so it won’t bother you to move around in it. And just as requested, it changes your voice to a very gravely man’s voice. It also will make you look more masculine in the way it presents your body, which I hated when I wore it, but that’s what you’re looking for.”
I clicked the picture and expanded the image, raising an eyebrow. The armor was very out there in its design, very eye-catching with its red and gold coloring. I’m trying to not draw attention to myself though…
But then a thought hit me as I looked at the fierce face of the helmet, causing me to smirk. It looks so intimidating and out there, that no one would think I was a push over or weak. It also would make me not look like a woman, which is exactly what I’m wanting right now.
“Screw it, how does this work then?” I asked, glancing over at her.
“Well, click the picture and hit accept. It’ll sit in a side inventory till you’re ready to bring it out,” she said as I performed the steps as she described them. After hitting accept, it swapped to a different window that simply read ‘Standby Inventory’.
The Gear Shop was gone now, so I guess I’d have to level up till I gained access to it again. I think that might be the only weird system of this Ego that I like straight out the gate.
Glancing at the picture of the armor one more time, I realized it was going to be a bitch to put on. Ah well, too late to worry about that.
“Shay- Shane,” Rosemary said as she looked at me. “Have you put any thought into finally picking up a weapon?”
“Nah, I got my fist,” I replied as I held up a fist. “Don’t need anything else.”
“Hm, yes, but the right weapon will-”
“No,” I intrupted her. “I’m not going to start killing people just because I’m all fucked up mentally now.”
She blinked at me, raising an eyebrow, “I do not understand how you can be so self aware of what’s wrong with you, yet so resistant to taking the steps necessary to fix it.”
“Eh, call it a feature I got from my mother,” I said with a shrug. “I mean, I read the book Lance’s conscious Break wrote that followed their adventures in the Eternal Plains, and you saw how she handled shit.”
“She got it handled and fixed it from what I recall,” she said, crossing her arms.
“Yep, and so will I, in my own time,” I replied as I began to walk away.
“Okay, if you are against weapons to kill, why not one that’ll at least give you an edge in combat?” She pressed as she walked next to me.
“My fist are my edge,” I reiterated.
She groaned loudly, shaking her head, “just get a blunt weapon, for my sanity.”
I rubbed my face as I slumped my shoulders, “fine. I’ll get a blunt weapon, happy?”
“Very,” she said cheerfully as she faded away, leaving me to walk alone.
Guess I need to find a shop before I-
A piece of paper suddenly slapped hard straight into my face, startling me as I recoiled and swatted at myself. I grabbed the paper and pulled it from my face, staring at it in confusion. It was just a simple piece of paper with a few words on it.
It read; ‘Need to achieve the impossible? Want something no one else can give you? Then good news; a tournament is being held on Ephemeris Island, home of Galben. The prize is a favor from Galben, who can grant you almost anything you can think of.’
I raised an eyebrow, as this was not an official poster or something like that, it was just a simple piece of paper someone wrote on. So I just shrugged and tossed it over my shoulder, ignoring it.
After walking for a minute, another piece of paper hit me in the face, just as hard as the last one. This time I growled and snatched it off of my face, looking around. It felt like someone was slamming the paper into my face! That shit hurts!
Looking at this one, it was just like the other one, written on normal paper in pen. It just read; ‘Seriously, a favor from Galben, once in a lifetime. Never get this opportunity again. Take this seriously.’
Well, I know one thing for sure, I’m not just going to blindly trust paper that mysteriously keeps hitting me in the face.
Just like before, I threw it to the ground and moved on, watching my surroundings more carefully. If another piece of paper tried to hit my face, I’d be ready to sto-
“Fuck!” I screamed out as another one rammed right into my face, even harder than the first two. “Who the fuck is doing this?!”
I yanked the paper off of my face and read it angrily. ‘Stop being dumb and listen to the paper. Look into getting to Ephemeris Island. It will be floating by the city tomorrow afternoon. This is your only chance at getting the answers you need.’
Okay, someone is obviously watching me and talking to me through papers. But who? More importantly, why are they trying to help me?
Reading the last paper once more, I sigh. I’ll at least look into this floating island and tournament, but that didn’t mean I’d go to it.
I put the paper away in a pocket, knowing I’d forget the name of the island otherwise. Now that this little weird event was over, I decided to head back to my hotel room to-
Something crashed into my chest, knocking the air out of me as I stumbled back and fell on my ass.
“Why?!” I yelled out as I tried to get up, only to realize something had been pushed into my arms. Blinking in confusion, I raised a sheathed sword with a note attached to it.
Grabbing the note, I flicked it open, reading the words within it, “heard you talking to yourself about wanting a weapon, so I hope this one serves you well. From T.” I grunted as I took the sword and pulled it from its sheath, finding it to be a wooden katana. This was a lot better than I thought it’d be, since I thought it was an actual sword at first.
“Uh…” I said, looking around. “Thanks I guess?”
No answer came, so I slowly stood up, gripping my new sword by the sheath.
“Just, erm, don’t hit me with any more papers, okay?” I said aloud to the empty street around me. Carefully, I began to walk down the street, jumping and flinching at any noise I heard, fearing I’d receive another surprise delivery. Luckily, it seems that little event was over, so I shouldn’t have to worry about any more surprises.
Quest accepted! ‘Rank B: Go to Ephemeris Island!’
Oh wow, thanks Ego. Not like I was undecided about doing that, but sure, do your own thing.