"Should we take you back to your family?" I asked as we neared Rory's car.
"No," he said a bit more abruptly than I'd expected. "I don't want to deal with that. Not now."
"But you need to rest," I insisted. "And you don't need to worry about joining us for Louie's quest tomorrow either."
"No, I want to do that," he replied. "Is it okay if I stay at your place? I'll deal with my family after we do the quest."
"Sure thing, man," I said as I opened the car's door for him to climb in. "Mi casa es su casa."
I looked at him with a wide grin on my face at the double-hit pun I'd landed on him. My home was of course technically also his home since his family owned it. And I'd delivered it in Spanish. But sadly it seemed like my pun flew over his head, since he just nodded before entering the car.
Damn. If puns don't make him smile anymore, I guess he had it much harder than I thought.
"So what was the deal, elf?" Rory said, turning the key in the ignition. "Me gut tells me these bastards weren't going to do the trade."
"No, they weren't," Leo replied. "It was just a ploy to get you there and kill you. Then they'd have the book and they wouldn't have to worry about you anymore."
"Then why did they keep ye alive?"
"He said it was supposed to be retribution for my part in the raid of their warehouse. They were going to let me go so as not to provoke a war with my clan."
"When you say 'he', do you mean Abrathion?" I asked. "Did you see him?"
"Yes," Leo said. His face looked disgusted and angry.
He didn't offer any further explanation, but I decided to just let the matter drop for now. We continued our drive toward my new apartment in silence until Rory pulled over in front of my building and waited for us to get out.
"Rory, thank you for this," I said before closing the door. Leo and Louie were already walking toward the entrance.
"Bah." He waved a hand dismissively. "Don't mention it."
"Do you want to come up for some whiskey?" I asked. It was the least I could do for all of his help today.
"I was thinking of crafting a bit before turning in," he mumbled. "Ah, what the hells. I can do that at your place too. Lemme find a place to rest me beauty."
"Your what?" I asked, confused for a moment. Then I understood. He and his piece-of-junk car. "Oh, okay. Sure. Just come up when you're done."
I turned around and hurried up to catch up with the others. As soon as we entered the building, the middle-aged concierge approached me.
"Mister DiFiore, Mister Rage." He nodded, greeting me using my new surname--fake Cosmos IDs were so ridiculously cheap in the Dark Energy Marketplace. "A package arrived for you."
"Thank you, Jack," I said, stopping and taking the small package that was sitting on his dark wooden desk.
"My pleasure, sir. Have a nice evening."
"You too," I said and entered the elevator, where the others were already waiting for me.
"Is that what I think it is?" Louie asked as soon as the doors closed.
"I think so," I said and unwrapped the paper.
The box inside resembled a square wooden chest, parts of it bound in leather. A simple clasp kept it closed and as soon as I touched it, the clasp moved to the side. I briefly wondered if I would have just lost fifty million dollars if someone else had stolen the package, and my worries were only compounded when I opened it. The chest was empty.
"There's nothing here. What the--" were the only words I managed to utter before a key materialized in the chest. "Oh, for fuck's sake. Why would they scare me like that?"
"The same thing happened to me the first time too," Louie said, while Leo was simply waiting quietly for the elevator doors to open again, not paying much attention. "When a DEM delivery person hands a package to a Cosmos citizen, they bind the item to the container but empty it. Once the intended recipient gets hold of it, they teleport the item back in there. This way, the item isn't going to fall into the wrong hands if it's opened by someone else."
"They could at least add a note about such things," I said, and examined the key for the first time.
Item: Key to the Fae Palace
Type: Quest Item
Durability: 1/1
Rarity: B Grade
Weight: 6st.
Description : A key that opens the way to the realm of the Faery Queen. Only those who have completed the quest Man's Best Friend I and their companions are able to enter the plane. The key will disappear after its use.
This item's description provided a lot more information than the key I'd used for the first part of Louie's quest chain, but most of it read like it was a warning to potential invaders. I wasn't concerned, as I had of course done my research on what I could expect before purchasing it.
I had read about full parties undergoing the quest for a single animal companion, meaning that I was sure Leo would be able to join us, but information about what happened after entering the portal was sparse.
There had been a few articles that mentioned trials, and some described the realm but only in general terms. None of the information I'd found included any details, something that had ignited a series of conspiracy theories around the subject.
Many people believed that everyone who undertook the quest was glamoured and administered some kind of potion to make them forget the whole experience. Following up on that particular conspiracy theory rabbit hole of led to a series of videos from
