A Gamer's Guide 479 (Patreon)

Stars aligning in strings of glowing pearls dancing across the sky, velveteen blackness swaying beyond the atmospheres, planets one, two, three, coy, shy, are their dresses enough for the ball? All cheer, for the end of the world is near! 

Blushing in hues of scarlet and blue the planets took to the stage, interlaced by ruby-throned vines of roses in bloom, together all three, made sisters by the claws of tyranny, dancing across the sky, all-end is nigh!

Glancing looks little whispers searching searching—there! 

The one, the one, the one to hold them all!

Smiling evermore, beyond round glasses of white, curled hair and power evermore, the thorns his, the roses his, the worlds his, and at his touch—

Three gods in sleeping death’s rest corpses rising belles of the ball joining the sky joining it all

And the sky was jubilant, and the stars cheered, and the planets giggled as they were brought hand-in-hand with their belles, to dance, to have the dance, held together by clinging rosevines, ensnaring ensnaring ensnaring together until,

The universe pulsed.

Blood through the vines

Blood through the planets

Blood through the corpses

Blood through the skies

Pop!

The planets popped and the corpses popped and everything was right because now he could rise into something more, something beyond, something greater than a mere god, something—

Rafiloe startled awake with a giggle and a smile on her face, sitting up in her bed fast enough to throw the covers off her upper body. However, since the temperature in the room was damn near close to the negative, she quickly pulled them back up, taking a peek at Maggie to make sure she hadn’t woken up. 

“Mnn, stop it, no more taxes, I don’t want… Any damn… Taxes…” Maggie mumbled in her sleep.

Sighing, Rafiloe shifted where she laid, only to realize that there was a pool of sweat beneath her. That was weird. In fact, her whole body was covered in a thin sheen of the stuff. She frowned at the sight. It wasn’t as though she’d had a nightmare or anything, so the sweat was totally unnecessary. Still…

She turned to look at the window. The sun was starting to peek up, but if only to confirm her suspicions, she made sure to check her clock as well.

<Top—Status—Community>

<08:10:33

Day 2 555>

<The eighty-fifth attempt will begin in

10:15:49:27>

It was that late already? Of course, celebrating the new year last night had given them every excuse necessary to take two days off, but she still preferred getting up a bit earlier than that. And, since Maggie unfortunately had a tendency to share that sentiment, it meant that morning had come, and there was no more time to stay cozed up in bed. Beneath the warm covers. Well-protected against the harsh, frigid room. 

…On the other hand, if she got up, it meant she could get herself cleaned up. Lying in a pool of mysterious sweat wasn’t exactly comfortable. 

Grumbling to herself, Rafiloe sat up, gave a stretch and a shudder, and slipped out of bed, only yawning once. Dang, the room was cold. Unfortunately, they’d survive just fine in the castle, even if it was cold as all heck, so the use of the fireplaces was currently strictly controlled. The firewood was far more needed in the hospitals and orphanages and state-owned factories and everywhere else. 

Rubbing her arms to retain some measure of heat, Rafiloe slipped out of her pajamas and grabbed her scepter, muttering a few words of encouragement to get it going. And with a wave, and some hope, she was able to not only clean herself off, but also warm up the room. “Ahhhh,” she sighed, no longer understanding Descartes more than necessary. 

In bed, lying under approximately seven different covers and blankets, Maggie shifted inexplicably. First a little, and then a lot. Finally, after a minute or so, she peeked her eyes open, spotting Rafiloe. She frowned at her. “Why must you torment me, woman?”

“The day dawns,” Rafiloe said, raising her scepter to the sky. This was quite a dramatic gesture, mostly due to how awesome her scepter was. Of course, any scepter crafted from the skeletal left arm of a god would look awesome, but this one was extra cool. The joints had been affixed in place using rosilver—an alloy crafted by forging the blood out of a rust-rich metal, giving it a pink sheen—with details added here and there, mostly little flowers or thorns because it looked dope, with the hand-part set in such a way where the bony hand was holding a big crystal sphere. The funny thing was that the crystal sphere itself—a deep pink in colour—was completely powerless. All the power was in the arm itself. But the crystal ball just looked so utterly cool that Rafiloe really had no other choice but to keep it there. Combined with the various jewels and other fancy crap decorating the arm, it was truly the coolest scepter ever. The only thing that even slightly measured up to it was the staff they’d made using his right leg, but Buccina had that one, so she tried not to think about it too much. “We ride!” 

To punctuate her dramatics, Rafiloe made use of one of her favorite spells, Make Shit Glow, which needed only a little hope to bring light into the crystal ball at the end of her scepter. Unfortunately, the degree of glow was dependant on the amount of hope given, and since Rafiloe happened to have enough hope to power a small city, the crystal ball lit up with all the power of a portable sun, turning their room completely white and flashbanging them both first thing in the morning.

“My eyes!” Rafiloe cried, falling to the floor and clutching at her burning face. “My eyes!”

Eventually, the pain faded, though when she opened her eyes, the middle of her vision was completely blotted out by a big white dot, approximately the shape of her crystal ball. Groaning in pain, she took hold of her sceptre, and since Kitty had finally fine-tuned the healing spell to no longer require actual understanding of how it worked (now, it would just check Kitty’s own knowledge instead of the user), she was able to heal the sunspot away with only a little mumble. 

Legs trembling, she stood up, and found Maggie, sitting up in bed, staring straight ahead, the most non-plussed expression on her face. “If you don’t heal this shit,” she said, looking at nothing and everything, “I’m whooping your ass so hard not even Kitty will be able to put you back together again.”

“Yes, sir,” Rafiloe said, and with a wave of the scepter, it was so—blindness cured. “Sorry…”

Maggie sighed, shaking her head. “Well, at least I’m awake, I guess.” Stretching her arms, she quickly got out of bed, continuing her morning stretches once she was standing properly. “You’re weirdly energetic, considering how much you drank last night,” she said, touching her toes, one, two, three times. “Especially considering how much you drank the night before that. I thought you’d be in a coma until thirteen at the very least.”

“Yeah, me too, but I had this wicked cool dream, where,” Rafiloe said, only to pause once the words were on her tongue. She slowly closed her mouth again. She’d had a wicked cool dream where the corpses of three gods were strung up alongside three planets, to be subsequently destroyed and used to raise something greater. She pouted her lips, bopping the ball of her scepter against them. “You know what? I’ll tell you over breakfast.”

“Sounds good to me,” Maggie said, continuing her stretches. 

In the meantime, Rafiloe got dressed, making sure not to let the warmth of the room fool her. She would need several layers. However, since today was a day off for the majority of the city, there would be no one for her to entertain or talk to in an official manner, so she didn’t need to wear anything too fancy. Her ordinary dark-purple robe would do. Combined with her hat and an underrobe and a pair of proper pants and hose to go underneath, she was more than ready to face the cold of the castle. 

Maggie, however, still had a bit left to go on her stretches, so while she finished up, Rafiloe went on ahead to fix breakfast.

The second she left the room, she regretted not putting on even more layers. Luckily, a little whisper to her scepter was all she needed to bring a bit of warmth to her body, and with that done, she went on her way. 

A day as cold as that one would best be tempered by a warm, nourishing breakfast. Hence, once she got to the kitchen, she wasted no time getting a bit of porridge bubbling on the stove. A little salt, some ujut, a pinch of honey, and it would be sure to keep her going the rest of the day. Since she was sure a few of her companions would have forgotten the whole the cooks have the day off too thing, she made sure to prepare a bit extra. Then, she grabbed a pair of bowls, spoons, and prepared some tea to go with everything. And just like that, a warm and nourishing breakfast was ready!

Smiling to herself, keeping everything nice and ready in her inventory, she headed to the dining area, where she was happy to find Maggie waiting for her, discussing her latest shared reading project with Garath. Buccina had joined them too, but she couldn’t see Goss anywhere. 

“Good morning!” she said, taking a seat next to Maggie.

“Good morning, Gecko,” Garath said, Buccina nodding to her closely after. “Do you happen to know when the cooks are to bring out breakfast?”

“Right now,” she replied, summoning the put of porridge onto the table. “You’re damn lucky I prepared extra, just in case. But I only brought two bowls, so Maggie and I will have to share, and you two…” She bored her eyes into Buccina. He was still too small. Already sixteen and still so tiny? It wouldn’t do. “You eat.”

Buccina smiled at her, bowing his head a little as she handed him a bowl and spoon. “Thank you, Gecko. If you weren’t here, I...”

“Yeah, yeah, now shut up, I really want to tell Maggie about this dope dream I had, and if you want to hear it too, then you’d better fill that mouth with food, you hear me?”

Buccina shared a look with Garath. A pair of curious eyes shone back at her. 

“By all means,” Buccina said. “Go ahead.”

“Okay, so,” Rafiloe began, hoping that once she said it, it would be obvious why this was such a cool and awesome thing. “Here’s what happened…”