Adam Drake - Blackout

I couldn’t speak with my face frozen solid. Feign attacked me?

Feign gave a hurtful look. “Oh, you think I’m going to sell it? Now, now, I’m a man of my word. I signed a contract to take the item from you. I was offered a tidy sum, too. But you don’t have to take my word for it.”

He pulled up a chat screen, then angled it so I could see who was on the other end.

The familiar gray owl visage of Ogden Trite grinned at me.

“Hello, again, Miss Valesh,” Ogden said. “Glad to see you managed to pull off the impossible. A worthy investment on my part, hmmm?”

Angry, I wanted to respond but gave up trying. This was a screw-job? Ogden betrayed me? But why?

Ogden chuckled, “Oh, I know what you are thinking, why take the item from you if that was your contractual obligation, anyway? Now, it would be foolish of me to think you’d keep your word once the item was finally in your hands. It is a Legendary, after all, so the temptation to keep it would be overwhelming.” His owl face lost its smile. “But if I took it from you first, then I wouldn’t have to pay you a thin copper piece.”

Feign chuckled at my look of rage. But still I could not move.

Ogden continued. “I’d done my research and I’m aware of the seven new Legendary items which are being brought into the world. Now I have this one. Soon the rest will be mine by whatever means necessary. And, when in my control, these seven items will help put the entire realm under my reign.”

“What do you want done, boss?” Feign asked. His manner had completely changed. He’d been putting on an act the entire time.

“Send Miss Valesh to the newbie zone, then bring the item to me.” The owl grinned.

Feign withdrew his knife and smiled. Side by side, the two traitors grinned at me.

What was I to do? I was frozen. Feign would kill me, and worse, Ogden would get the Cloak of Shadows.

As Feign approached my eyes flew over the icons on my screen. Then I saw one. My only hope for salvation in this time of need. I selected it.

Phlixx winked into existence and leapt through the air. “My love! You have summoned me again! It fills my heart -,” his eyes went wide once he took in my predicament. “What is this?”

Feign whirled on the ferret. “Stupid rodent!” He cast a spell at Phlixx, but the companion bounced away before a block of ice formed where he’d stood.

“What is going on, Feign?” Ogden demanded, trying to see. “Kill that thing!”

Feign was trying to keep up with the quick movements of Phlixx, casting an ice spell at him but missing each time. “You FILTERED rat!”

The ice around my face and throat had melted a tiny bit. Enough for me to sub-vocalize the only special arrow that would be of use to me in my frozen state.

A magma arrow appeared in my quiver. The effect it had on the ice encasing me was immediate, and it started to quickly melt.

Meanwhile Phlixx was firing his little fiery crossbow bolts at Feign. “You dare attack the love of my life! You shall pay!”

Annoyed, Feign swung his dagger when Phlixx got close enough. But the ferret bounded away unharmed.

The ice around me melted faster, and although my legs remained encased with solid ice, I managed to wrench my hands free. The Cloak, still in ice, clunked to the ground.

Ogden spotted my sudden movement. “Feign! You idiot, look out!”

Feign turned in my direction, a snowball in his upraised hand. He was going to freeze me solid again, and then I was doomed.

In one motion I summoned my bow, snatched the magma arrow and fired.

Feign reacted by creating an ice pillar in front of him. But the magma arrow cut straight through the pillar with ease.

The arrow lodged in the ice mage’s chest. Feign tumbled backward, lava beginning to spew from his mouth and ears. Behind him was a chasm in the floor. He pitched over it and vanished from view.

“What is going on?!” Ogden raged from the view screen, before it too was pulled over the edge to catch up with its creator.

When Feign hit bottom the remaining ice around me shattered and I was free.

Phlixx bounded over to me. “Are you okay, my sweet? Did I do well?”

I laughed and gave the ferret a hug. “I’m fine, and yes, you did very well.”

Little hearts bubbled above his head and he swooned.

I retrieved the Cloak and held it in my hands. Guess I should put this on, I thought and slipped it over my shoulders, tying up the lacing at the collar.

“It makes you even more beautiful,” Phlixx said with a tear in his eye.

It didn’t make me feel more beautiful, or any different for that matter. But when I looked at my own ability list, I saw that I now had access to everything the Cloak offered.

Void Portal? Interesting.

Phase? Wow!

Teleportation? Amazing!

A chat request appeared. At first, I thought it would be Ogden wanting to scream at me, but then I saw who it was from and opened it.

“Muddie!” I said.

The first thing Mudhoof said as he appeared was, “Did you get my stuff?” Then smiled. “Just kidding.”

I laughed. “Where are you? Minotaur Warrior Newbie zone?”

Mudhoof angled the camera so I could see behind him. Half-naked minotaurs ran around a grassy field chasing little boars with wooden axes. “Yup,” Mudhoof said and showed me his own wooden ax. “This is the end result when you’re punted by an angry god.”

“Sorry about that,” I said. “It was a tough encounter all around.”

“No worries, I’m a power-leveling fiend. I’ll be back up in no time. Oh, and congrats on the Legendary Cloak!”

I furrowed my brow. “Thanks, but how did you know? I just put it on.”

Mudhoof said, “Yeah, and when you did, the game updated the database with its existence and all the news-feeds picked up on it. Now everyone knows what you got. You’re famous!”

I frowned. “That’s to be expected, I guess.” This was something I hadn’t considered since keeping the item wasn’t originally my intention.

“Uh-oh,” Mudhoof said, looking at something on his view screen.

“What is it?”

“Looks like Ogden Trite has put a bounty on your head, and a reward for the return of the Legendary Cloak. Claims you reneged on a contract to give it to him.”

“What?” I said. “He’s the one who reneged on the contract. Tried to kill me, too!”

“Well, it’s all over the bounty hunter boards now, and there are lots of them signing up to go after you.”

“How many,” I said, swallowing.

“Oh, a couple hundred thousand.” Mudhoof gave me a mournful look. “Might want to think about going into hiding, Vee. That’s a lot of people looking to get you to re-roll.”

I sighed. Wasn’t owning a Legendary Item suppose to make things easier instead of harder?

Mudhoof said, “Hey, no worries. Once I power-level up, I’ll help you out. Bounty hunters beware.”

“Thanks, Muddie,” I said. “I’ll be in touch.”

I closed the screen and frowned. This was going to suck. As a new owner of a Legendary item I should be over the moon with delight. But things became a lot more complicated.

In an effort to make myself feel better I tried one of my new Cloak abilities.

Summon Shadow Steed .

A beautiful black horse appeared complete with full tack and saddle. The beast was tall and majestic. A sight to behold. When I ran my hand over its skin I noticed the animal was transparent as smoke.

“Cool,” I said and jumped up on my new mount.

“Pretty horse!” Phlixx said as he jumped up to sit in front of me.

A request appeared on my screen. ‘Name of Mount?’

I thought on it for a moment, but only one answer seemed appropriate. “Smoke,” I said.