“I can see how an NPC would think that,” Thorne said. Elistar frowned at her words, seeming not to understand.
“Oops,” Thorne said, switching to private comms. “Didn’t mean to upset Elistar’s world view by hinting his entire existence occurs inside a game.”
“You know, a thought just hit me,” Zelda said through comms. “The turen call these guys the ‘Pansophists,’ but war profiteering? Anonymously buying companies then manipulating the market to your advantage? That doesn’t sound like the acts of gods. That sounds like the acts of—”
“Criminals,” Thorne said, hating that the idea made sense to her.
Zelda nodded.
“But more than criminals. These Pansophists, or ‘The Syndicate’ – call them what you will – sound a lot like players to me. A lot like a group of high-level players who’ve come together to act in their own best interests. I mean, that’s what guilds are, after all, right? But what if you dream bigger? What happens if you take the strongest, richest, most powerful players in Nova and put them all in one room? Imagine the sort of things a collective like that would have the influence to cause?”
It... makes sense. But come on, how could something like that stay secret?
“If something like this existed, surely we’d know about it,” Thorne said through comms. “How does something like this stay quiet?”
“When everyone in it has more to gain by keeping it that way.” Zelda looked back to Elistar. “If we wanted to find the Pansophists, how would we go about it?”
“Hah. Heh. Hah.” Elistar made a croaking noise and his head rocked back and forth.
Is that supposed to be... laughter?
“One does not ‘locate the Pansophists,’” he said once the croaking stopped. “How would one locate the gods? We are but mortals. They are so much more.”
I’m really starting to doubt that.
“It’s a good question, though,” Thorne said through comms. “If we want to locate an organization of all the most powerful people in the game, maybe we should start with...”
“Start with what?” Zelda asked.
“Hold on,” Thorne said. A message had just appeared in her vision.
DM from: Kaiden
“Ambushed at Marty’s! High level players, can’t win fight. Trying to get to shuttle.”
“Kaiden and Titus are in trouble,” she said, screenshotting the DM and sending it to Zelda. “We need to leave. Now.”
“Acton! Get the ship ready! We’re leaving in a hurry!” Zelda said, immediately patching them into a comms channel with the ship. She didn’t hesitate, just turned for the door. Or rather, the teleportation-light thing the turen used instead of doors. She waved a hand, the light flashed, and then she was gone.
Elistar seemed confused by their sudden urgency.
“Is some—”
“No time. Gotta run,” Thorne said. “Thanks for everything. Have a good one!”
“I do not know what the ‘one’ you are referring to is!” he shouted back, but Thorne waved and the light flashed all around her and then she was outside, a few paces behind Zelda.
“We’ll never get there in time,” Zelda said. “We’re a full system away from Boyd City.”
“You’re right,” Thorne fired back. “But I know someone who can.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“It’s going to take a moment to start up the shuttle. We don’t have time for that! Assuming we make it that far,” Titus said as they ran through the trash-strewn streets of Boyd City.
Ally targeted by ranged attack.
“Incoming!” Kaiden shouted as Improved Enhanced Senses dinged in his ear and told him Titus was about to be hit.
The big man cursed and ducked as another Improved Burst Arrow from their pursuers exploded beside him, nipping at his health. He had his shield held behind him as best he could, but it was at an awkward angle and Werner was proving a darn good shot. The fact that the whole fight was happening during the course of their mad dash to escape wasn’t helping anything.
Titus’ Improved Shield Charge and Kaiden’s Hamstring had given them a head start on Werner, but now it was dwindling. The only boon was that the power wardens that had been with him had disappeared. Fallen behind, maybe? Kaiden didn’t have time to worry about it because what Titus had said earlier had been right. Shuttles and other vehicles always took a short time to power up – a mechanic that was supposed to discourage starting fights then retreating to your ship.
“We can make the starport,” Kaiden said, focusing on the path ahead of them. It wasn’t more than a hundred paces out now. “But once we get inside, we need a plan. Need to distract Werner long enough to—”
Targeted by ranged attack.
This guy’s relentless!
Kaiden turned hard to the right, trying to throw off Werner’s aim, then vaulted over a bench. A good attempt, maybe, but it wasn’t enough. A Warden’s Bolt exploded through the bench, spraying burning splinters and electric arcs in all directions. Several slammed into Kaiden’s back and dropped his health to twenty-two percent.
Kaiden shook off the damage and tried to focus on running. From the alleys, buildings, and side streets all around, NPCs were starting to gather. Noticing the fight, it seemed. They didn’t look concerned, though. Instead, they looked... excited. They were gathering in a crowd along the sides of the street and a few of them were already jeering and cheering at the battle.
Okay, yeah. I’m sure it’s real entertaining for you to watch us run for our lives.
“We need a way to delay Werner long enough to get the shuttle online. How’s your charge looking? What are we working with?”
“Thirty percent,” Titus shouted back. “Not much, but I can get off at least one ability.”
Ally targeted by ranged attack.
“He’s
