Grand Game 383: Toying With One’s Reward (Patreon)

I scrambled to my feet. “What does that mean?” I was not about to become anyone’s pawn, not even a guardian’s, and while I had no compunctions about restoring any of the other guardians, doing so would not take precedence over my own plans.

“Awakening my brethren is only one half of what needs to be done,” Draven continued, ignoring my less-than-happy reaction. “If we are to defeat the new Powers, bringing about the return of the Primes is also crucial. And you, wily Wolf, are the key to that.”

“I am?” I asked warily. “What about the Prime that still lives?” During the retelling of my own tale, I had told Draven about the Prime that Kolath claimed was still alive. Unlike me, Draven didn’t appear to doubt the other guardian’s words and while the news had first excited him, his interest had quickly abated. “Have you forgotten about her?”

“I have not,” Draven said, shaking his head. “But wherever the Prime is sheltering, she is out of my reach.” His look grew thoughtful. “She must be hiding in one of the dungeon’s under Kolath’s control.”

I frowned. “I don’t follow.”

Draven’s voice took on a lecturing tone. “Every guardian has hundreds of dungeons under his charge. Like I’ve told you already, outside of their dungeons a guardian is blind and powerless. But inside them… inside them, a guardian is all-knowing. I, for instance, am aware of each creature in every dungeon forming part of my domain. None can escape my attention—unless, of course, they are a being akin to a Power and take measures to shield themselves. But even then, few Powers can hide themselves so fully as to vanish completely from a guardian’s sight.”

“Which is why Kolath could sense the hidden Prime but not locate her,” Adriel deduced.

“That is my guess,” Draven agreed.

“She must be in one of Nexus’ dungeons,” I mused. “But knowing that doesn’t help much. There are dozens of dungeons in Nexus.”

“And what with most of them under the control of the new Powers’ factions, getting to her will be even harder,” Adriel added.

I nodded absently. What Adriel said was true enough and complicated matters significantly. Finding the lost Prime would not be easy.

“There may be a way around the factions,” Draven said abruptly.

I stared at him in surprise. “How?”

The guardian waved away my question. “That’s not important right now. To get back to the lost Prime—she is another reason why it is imperative we replace Kolath’s flagging spirit with a stouter one.” He glanced at Adriel. “A stronger Nexus guardian should be able to get a fix on her location.”

My eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “That is good news.”

“Finding the Prime will be your third mission.” Draven held my gaze. “Will you do it?”

I didn’t respond immediately. At the fore of my mind was what Adriel had told me only hours ago about the strife between the ancients. She had warned me that not every House would be keen to see Wolf rise again. Given that, there was no reason to assume the lost Prime would be friendly. Ally or foe—she could be either, and I wouldn’t know which until I found her.

But first, I would have to find her.

And if that was all Draven was asking, then I could do as he bade. Coming to a decision, I nodded slowly.

“Thank you,” the guardian said gravely. “I will grant you a task to that effect.”

In response, a Game message unfurled in my mind.

The guardian, Draven, has allocated you a new task: Locate the Lost Prime. Draven has resolved to bring about the return of the Primes. To that end, he has tasked you with finding the hidden Prime. Your objective is to locate her and report back to Draven on her whereabouts.

“Now, finally, we come to the matter of your reward,” the guardian said after I accepted the task.

My brows rose. “My reward? Reward for what?”

“For finishing Kolath’s mission, of course,” Draven replied. “Given the lengths you had to go to complete the task—finding me, completing the Emblem, and ridding the sector of the nether—you’ve earned a guardian’s favor. Since my brother is asleep again, the Game will allow me to reward you in his stead.”

Besides me, I sensed Adriel stiffen. Draven’s words had excited her—or worried her. I kept my attention on the guardian, though. I had a whole host of questions I wanted to ask.

But before I could speak, Draven held up his hand. “Be warned, a guardian’s favor is not lightly earned, nor should it be frivolously spent. Do not believe completing every task from a guardian will earn you one. It is the Adjudicator alone who assesses when granting one is… appropriate.”

Saying nothing, I shot Adriel a sideways glance.

Her face was suffused with delight. “This is a great opportunity,” she confirmed. The guardians’ influence may be limited to the Endless Dungeon but that does not lessen the value of their favor. Even in my time, there were few fortunate enough to earn a boon from them. Those that did invariably used them to claim new sectors, acquire rare feats, or unearth legendary sets.”

“What the lich says is true,” Dravin said. “Most who have come before you have used their boons to gain access to virgin dungeons—sectors previously unexplored—earning themselves a heap of feats and achievements in the process. But you need not use your own boon in that manner. There are few limits to the favor; I can send you to anywhere in any sector in the Endless Dungeon, even ones that have so far remained inaccessible to you.”

I gulped, amazed by the enormity of what Draven was offering. If anything, Adriel’s reaction was understated. “Any sector?” I repeated, trying to come to grips with the choices on hand. “How would that even work?”

Draven shrugged. “I will create a portal to wherever you want to go.”

“A portal?” I asked, struggling to contain my confusion. “But I thought opening a portal into a dungeon was impossible!”

Draven smiled. “For players and Powers perhaps. But it is the guardians who uphold the barriers around the dungeon sectors. The selfsame barriers which stops the nether from invading, also prevents anyone from portalling into or out a dungeon.”

I shook my head. “But how would you even locate the right sector?” I asked, recalling the bit of lore I’d gained from Captain Talon and Loken. “I thought dungeons are islands lost in the dark void, with no chartable path to or from them.”

“That is correct as far as it goes,” Draven said. “But you are forgetting the guardian network. It is what makes this possible. The network’s ley lines are the lifeblood of the Endless Dungeon, the backbone that connects every dungeon sector together. Only the guardians have access to it in its entirety.”

My brows drew down uncertainly. “Didn’t you and the other guardians destroyed the network?”

Draven chuckled. “No, the network cannot be destroyed. It is always growing.” His smile faded. “But sometimes contracting too. When me and my brethren placed ourselves in stasis, we did not pull-down the network, we only severed our connections to it. Now that the Reach is secure again, I will reestablish contact with the network.”

“Is that not dangerous?” Adriel asked.

“Only if I come under threat again,” Draven allowed. He turned back to me. “Rejoining the network is necessary, anyway. It is the only way I can find out if any of my remaining brethren are awake.”

“So why haven’t you done so already?” I asked curiously.

“I have already begun the process, but it will be a few hours yet before I am reconnected.”

I rubbed at my temple, pondering the implications of Draven’s revelations. “Will you be able to communicate with the other guardians after you do?”

“Only if they are awake or slumber lightly.” Draven sighed. “I fear, though, most of my brethren will be in stasis or too close to the ragged edge—like Kolath—to respond.”

I bowed my head. Draven had given me a lot to digest, and I need to think things through carefully before making any further decisions. The guardians, I was finally realizing, were more than simple constructs that kept the nether out of the dungeons. Sure, that function alone made them crucial to the Forever Kingdom’s survival. But they were more than that.

They could be made into more than that.

Wielded correctly, they would be a weapon against the new Powers.

Sure, the Game constrained what the guardians could do or how they could act. But Draven had not hidden the fact that his brethren’s first allegiance lay with the Primes, that they would do everything they could to bring about their return. Their willingness—eagerness even—to bring about the new Powers’ downfall was the key.

I could work with that.

I would have to work with it to find a way around the Game’s restrictions and secure the guardians’ allegiance. Because what Draven’s words had made clear was that it was the guardians who controlled the dungeons.

They alone could communicate across it.

They alone had access to its entirety.

And they alone could open portals into it.

All priceless advantages in a war. I knew then, when the time came to wage open war against the new Powers, it would not be in the Kingdom sectors where we would contest their might, but from the dungeons—with the guardians at our back.

“Michael?” Adriel asked, pulling me out of my musings. “Are you still with us?”

“Sorry,” I muttered, “just daydreaming.” I glanced at Draven’s impatiently waiting visage. “Tell me more about the guardian’s favor.”

“What do you want to know?” he asked.

“Well, for instance, what can’t I do with it?”

“A good question,” the centaur chuckled. “You can’t ask me to kill any being—dungeon creature or player—and you can’t ask me to manufacture loot for you. Nor can you ask me to claim a sector on your behalf. Beyond that, anything goes.”

I eyed him askance. “Anything?”

“Almost anything,” Draven corrected. “Whatever boon you choose will be confined to a single sector.”

“Ah,” I thought, deflating slightly. It had been on the tip of my tongue to ask for a sector map of the entire Endless Dungeon. Something else occurred to me. “Is it the favor you had in mind when you said there may be a way around the factions who control access to Nexus’ dungeons?”

Draven nodded. “Yes. Saving your boon until you discover the lost Prime is one of the options open to you. When you find her, I or any other guardian can teleport you to her location.”

“Can’t Michael use the favor to find her?” Adriel asked. “Or your brethren for that matter?”

Draven shook his head. “The favor does not make the impossible possible, nor does it let me do what I cannot normally do. It only allows me—for one rare instance—to act on your behalf while unconstrained by the bindings imposed by the Game.”

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. “Could you close the entrance portal to a dungeon?” I asked, thinking of the portal between the wolves’ valley and Erebus’ dungeon.

Draven frowned. “Permanently, you mean?”

I nodded.

“I could,” he said. “But opening a new entrance or exit would not be possible.”

I stowed away that little tidbit, then turned my attention to something else the guardian had mentioned. “When we discussed the lost Prime earlier you said, ‘one of the options.’ I take it from that, you have other options in mind?”

Draven beamed with undisguised eagerness. This was a question he’d been waiting for me to ask, I realized.

“I do,” the guardian said, leaning forward eagerly. “If you heed my advice, you will not save your boon for visiting the lost Prime nor for plundering a virgin dungeon. Instead, I can send you to a dungeon where I believe one of my brethren has taken refuge.”

“Oh?” I asked, curiosity piqued. “I thought you didn’t know their locations?”

“I don’t,” Draven agreed. “But I can guess. Like me, the others would have chosen an out of the way dungeon. And there are only so many of those to choose from.”

“Hmm,” I said, rubbing the side of my face. I didn’t want to dismiss the guardian’s suggestion out of hand, but I also didn’t want to use my favor on a guess, even a well-educated one.

I rose to my feet. “I will think upon it.”

“You don’t have much time to decide,” Adriel warned. “The guardian will have to go to sleep soon.”

“Correct,” Draven said.

“I understand,” I said, “but you still have to reconnect yourself to the guardian network, don’t you?”

“True,” Draven agreed.

“Then before I decide how to use my favor, I would like to hear the outcome of that.”

The guardian sighed. “Very well, young Wolf. But don’t delay your decision too long. Time waits for no one.”