POV: Charlie.

  Me and Henry ran through the city. Stepping loudly through mostly empty streets while Sully flew up above us.

  He had turned himself into some kind of feathered vulture-thing now. Separating some faintly visible bits of flesh from himself and sending them flying down through rooftops. The packages impacting down like solid bricks to tear through the tiles and find their way inside the condemned buildings.

  “Heay, man. Someone’s going to pay for that… right?” Henry asked while running alongside me.

  It took a lot to keep myself from whacking him upside the head at that comment.

  The sheer ridiculousness of the question momentarily taking my thoughts away from my family.

  “They’re dying from four of the deadliest diseases ever known.” I managed after gaping at him for a few seconds. “New roof tiles cost a week’s wage at the docks. Maybe more if they’re really nice tiles. I don’t think they’ll care if Sully heals them.”

  Then my mind reared up with the realization.

  “This (Gnome)ing (Gnome)!” I lashed out.

  “You’ve been able to do this from the start! You could have healed them all right away!”

  “Nuh-uh!” Sully shouted down. “Just merged a power with [Spore] for the first time! Really nice addition too! I love it!”

  I cursed him again under my breath and twisted in mid-air to make the sharp turn ahead without having to slow down.

  Despite his many, many advantages, Henry was barely able to correct himself with [Telekinesis III] at the last possible moment in order to avoid crashing head-first into the morgue ahead of us. Proving once more that sheer raw power wasn’t much when it was just handed to you as if you were a begging brother.

  “How are you still this bad!?” I shouted at him. My frustrations getting the better of me.

  “You are literally in the third Tier and have thousands upon thousands of Psy to spend! You could literally just pick yourself up with [Telekinesis III] and fly that way! You have the (Gnome)ing thing at 15! Also, you have [Gravity Well II] at 12! So you could do the same thing with that! Also, also, you have [Portal Network III] right? And [Mindscape II]? Why haven’t you just teleported to where we’re going already? How is it that you keep managing to be this terrible!?”

  Henry colored. Stumbling over his words just as his feet stumbled over the cobblestones.

  “I don’t use [Mindscape II] all that much. Or any of the Telepath abilities. I…” He swallowed.

  “I get flashbacks. To that year when we were six. The voices all come together and it’s hard to tell them apart and I feel all of them. I feel like I’m drowning in black, dark waters and I…”

  “Enough.” I snapped at him. “That’s enough. Forget I asked.”

  Now, it would have certainly been nice to know what exactly was waiting for me in the near future. Especially when it concerned my family.

  But I was under no illusions either.

  The way Henry was, the chances of getting anything useful was slim. About as likely as Whitmer Junior coming back to town and organizing some kind of heretical blood sacrifice to avenge his piece of (Gnome) father.

  “Hey Charlie.” Henry called out again.

  “What is it now?”

  “Well, it’s just… I also have [Warp the Veil II] at 12. And [Psionic Conjuration III] at 14 and… well. I’m starting to feel a bit queasy.”

  He paused.

  “Especially around the morgue we just passed. I don’t think the air there felt like the air around the rest of the town. In fact, I’d say it felt more like that time we were stuck in the gnome town with the fake…”

  “SULLY!!!” I shouted upwards.

  “Cut this bull(Gnome) out right now!”

  “Can’t!” He yelled down to me. “I’m not actually doing anything.”

  Then he stopped and I almost swore I heard him giggling.

  “I mean, I could do something. If you wanted. Like I said, just say the words and I’ll have this whole situation sorted out in no time at all!”

  I cursed him even more vehemently and whirled to face Henry.

  “I need you to gather your Psy and stop whatever is going on right now.”

  “I’m already trying!” He called back in a panicked tone. “It’s not working! I mean, it’s working a little bit but it feels like I’m trying to plug a leak in a boat by pushing a towel over the hole. It’s still coming through and I can feel the water…”

  He took a sharp intake of breath.

  “The power… I can feel it coming over.”

  The more we ran, the more I realized he was telling the truth. Channeling Psy became easier now. Just as it did when Sully had ripped open a hole in reality. I ran faster, more easily, more fluidly. And yet the spine-tingling horror did not abate.

  ‘For Saturn’s sake! What fresh nightmare is this now!? Have I not suffered enough!? Have the people of this Saturn-forsaken, stinking, piece of dog(Gnome) town not suffered enough!? Was the war too tame I wonder? Were the gangs too soft? Was the sickness not devastating enough? What crime did these people commit to deserve this fate? What in all the waters of Tartarus did they do!?’

  It was a fruitless line of thinking and some level, I knew that. Even as I raged.

  The world had never been fair; not once. Despite Sister Nina’s assurances that Saturn, the oh-so loving sot, was watching over us day and night to make sure we remained good and proper humble people of the land.

  On that much, Sully was right. Though his solution to the rot in the wooden boards was simply to light a match and burn the whole house down around us. Cutting off his own nose to spite his face.

  Monsters like Whitmer had done whatever they damn-well pleased with impunity for longer than I had been alive. Perhaps for longer than Sister Nina had been alive as well. The rot that lay at the heart was always there. It’s just that no one thought to do anything about it until I showed up with powers from the Labyrinth.

  Sully was right about that too. Though in a strange twist of fate, I was fairly sure that me strangling the gangsters that showed up in town was the most merciful thing I could have done. An action overflowing with the milk of human kindness. At least when compared to what Sully would do if he got his hands on them.

  ‘Yes.’ I thought. ‘The words of the Labyrinth echo here as well. They are not exactly the same, but they rhyme oddly well. The strong will do what they wanted and the weak would suffer in silence, or die out of sight and out of mind.’

  There had never been any justice. Not for the girls who grew up to adulthood in the orphanage. Not for the boys who were drafted into the war. Not for Whitmer’s many, many victims.

  Why should this time be any different?

  ‘But what caused this latest trouble?’ I asked myself. ‘Think Charlie. Think. You’re not the smartest guy out there sure, but you’re by no means stupid. Think. What is the likeliest outcome?’

  The most obvious answer was that Sully was (Gnome)ing with me and that he really was tearing apart reality like there was no tomorrow, with the glee of an idiot child playing with dynamite. But that thought was almost too scary to consider.

  To start with, Sully did stick to his rules and to his word. If he decided to be done with the pretenses, then nothing I could ever say or do would make any sort of difference. I may as well lay down on the ground and wait for it to be over. Or kill myself. That was an arguably more humane option.

  But again, the chances of Sully going back on his word were minimal. Other, weaker men might break, but not Sully. Never Sully. Not after what he’s had to do. Not after what he’s had to see. Not after what he keeps seeing every day when he looks into the future.

  The second most obvious answer was that Henry was behind it.

  Not on purpose mind you, but I wouldn’t put it past him to lose control and tear a hole in reality. As a matter of fact, him losing control of his vast, unearned powers and (Gnome)ing something up was very in-character for him. At least from my perspective.

  However, I feel like Sully would have stepped in if that was the case.

  For whatever reason, he did love Henry like a brother and Sully’s love was not something to take lightly. The fool himself did not seem to notice, but I was under no illusions. If it ever came down to my life, or Henry’s, Sully would have his thick fingers around my throat before I could (Gnome)ing blink. If Henry was to blame, Sully would come down and help him get control, again. Teaching him with that oddly soothing voice he used when he was talking to a dullard and was trying to explain complex ideas in ways even the likes of Henry could comprehend.

  That left Luigi, who was all around far more competent than Henry at least.

  Him, and Vince. Who had seemed even more starved than me just a few weeks ago. Somehow.

  On the fact that he was more talented than his friends, there could be no doubt. In fact, Vince was observably more talented than me and Boris and Monique and even Slab and Dusty. Perhaps he was more talented than all of us combined.

  If he’d been trying to poke holes in reality, then I doubted we could have gone two steps without seeing literal spectres reaching out with cold dead hands from beneath the cobblestones and from within the accursed houses. Where their bodies were cooling even as they flew.

  The idea reminded me of the fields of that dead land the siblings had called France, and of how close we’d come to spilling Sully’s secret ahead of schedule. Of how the bloody (Gnome)ing flowers had come to life and started singing.

  I shivered and tried my best to not slow down.

  ‘No. Vince could not have done it. And he’s too talented to lose control. But if not him, who…’

  The answer came as a shock. Hitting me on the head like a lighting bolt.

  ‘Mittens! Oh, dear Saturn’s hairy (Gnome)sack it was Mittens!’

  That explained everything. Only the tainted mind of some evil spirit could see the misery around this town and think that a few summoned tortured souls would add just the right amount of spice to the situation.

  ‘But if that’s the case, why isn’t Sully stopping him, her, it, whatever the (Gnome) it is?’

  I turned up my head to ask the question, but stopped as I noticed another few shapes flying overhead. Shooting forward like falling stars across the cloudy sky. Burning so brightly that I could easily make them out amidst the smog and the fog.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  One of them was Vince, the other, Randall. Whose figure shone brightest of all.

  And there, in the back, was Mittens. Looking as if he was holding…

  “HOLY (Gnome)ING (Gnome)!!”

  “CHAAAARRRLIEEEE HEEEEEEEELP! SHE’S CRAAAAZYYYY!!!!” Borond shouted. His weeping face being held tightly in Mittens’ arms.

  “Sins in the air! Let villains despair! Let bad guys beware! Mittens is here!”

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

  I jumped at once and reached out to grab his hand, but Mittens sped up with a feminine giggle. Launching himself and my brother forwards with a speed that had to be seen to be believed.

  I crashed on the ground, like a butterfly with wet wings. Feeling my face hit the stones and dirt going up my nostrils as I crashed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

  The pain was there a moment later, though hardly any of it registered.

  “Sully!” I shouted upwards. “You’ve got to stop him! He’s got my brother!”

  Sully landed next to me immediately after. His soft white wings flapping once and twice and thrice. Dispelling the foul miasma in the breeze like an exorcist banishing evil through a miracle.

  Then he placed a hand on my shoulder and began healing me. His figure looming tall and powerful over me, as if he were a parent comforting a wayward child who’d fallen from a tree.

  “There’s hardly anything to stop.” Sully informed me. With a remarkably calming tone that somehow contrived to soothe the beating of my heart. So that it became a steady beat of drums, instead of the thundering explosives it had been a second ago.

  “Little Borond asked for this.” He said softly. “He’s very eager to save your Sister Nina and all the other older children. He feels a bit guilty that he was not more of a man. His words, not mine. He feels as if he could have done more and after seeing what Vince and Mittens were capable of, he begged them and Randall to take him to the mines.”

  I whirled.

  “I never said his name! So you were using your powers after all!”

  Sully brought up his hands in a placating gesture.

  “Only for a little peek my friend. And honestly, good thing I did. Your world is filled with all kinds of surprises. Things I would never had dreamed of back home, are quite common here. Though the vast majority of you plebians seem to be a bit…”

  He hesitated.

  “Ignorant of the reality you find yourselves in. Or the implications.”

  “What are you talking about?” Henry asked after catching up. His superior passives and physique meaning he wasn’t even winded.

  “I mean that Charlie’s world has magic.”

  We both stared at him. No doubt wondering whether he’d hit his head harder than me recently and we just hadn’t noticed.

  “Well, they call it magic. It’s more like a selective usage of Psy abilities. Mostly Telepath ones.” He corrected.

  “Some artefacts seemed to have found their way into the hands of some very irresponsible people. Things like Cherub and Slasher. Though not as strong.”

  He chuckled.

  “Oh but there are so many of them. So very many. In so many grubby fat fingers. I would have thought it all the work of some alien. Or worse, some gnome. But it seems as though a particularly potent and independent Intruder is determined to cause mischief. To tell you the truth, I knew they could do that. Goodness knows my Tall Man has done worse out in the wider Labyrinth, where gnomes are concerned. A couple even tried to cross over to Dusty’s world after I did my thing back then. But I did not truly feel as if I would ever see a proper invasion.”

  He chuckled more dryly the second time.

  “But I guess this is why the System calls them Intruders. And why Granny and Banerid seemed so very frightened by them. You know you’re a great big terror when the prospect of fighting you is enough to turn the Drake’s stomach. I’ll tell you that much right now.”

  He stopped to take in the air, and I noted with horror that ghostly white hands were now floating about him. Trying to squeeze sully’s throat.

  Henry called out in panic and terror, but Sully waved him away, as if the hands were no more bothersome than the buzzing of flies.

  “They can’t hurt me Henry. Though I appreciate the concern. Believe me, if they had enough Psy in their bodies to think for themselves, they’d be the ones scared of me. Not the other way around. Also, while we’re on that topic, I hope neither of you is dumb enough to still believe these diseases were caused by a regular pandemic.” He stated in a voice that was flat and matter-of-fact.

  “Not with all four striking at once. My word. Tell me Charlie, do you actually know what sort of madness went on in that war you kept going on about?”

  I paled. Feeling the blood and warmth fleeing from my face, as Whitmer’s men had.

  “No. I didn’t think so.” Sully smiled again. More gently this time.

  “The whole existence of these artefacts seems to be a bit of a secret around these parts. And I don’t suppose the news of millions of fly-ridden corpses being raised by a necromancer king would be good for morale.”

  I blinked. My mouth hanging open.

  “So I don’t expect the newspapers to be very open about those little details.” He continued.

  Then he stopped and laughed out loud.

  “Monsters come out of nowhere and all the leaders care is keeping control! Hahaha! All while the papers lie and deflect and obfuscate! And all while the people suffer for it! Why Charlie, you and I live in the same world after all! Different words in the same poems! I’m pretty sure all the lines have the same rhymes to them!”

  I staggered back. Stunned into silence.

  “I mean, personally I would have rather fought Intruders back in my world. Certainly would have made the whole thing easier to deal with. But I guess that’s a matter of perspective. Rift Spawn back home wouldn’t try to possess you or wear your skin like a glove or anything. Whereas I’ve come across a couple of possessions in the past few minutes. Seems like whatever’s happening is ramping up and… hey are you listening?”

  I blinked at him.

  “Earth to Charlie. Earth to Charlie.” He said again. Snapping his fingers in front of my face. “Are we on the same planet.”

  “Stop being an (Sully) Sully!” Henry called out from the side. “You just told the guy his family might get possessed!”

  “No. I said the townspeople are getting possessed. Like, everyone around here who survives for long enough without getting cured. Also, the bodies that died from the plagues are starting to come to life. I don’t think Charlie is being targeted. Not him specifically anyhow. I doubt the guys doing this care about a bunch of orphans in particular. Also, the local authorities don’t seem to know what’s going on either. They’re freaking the (Gnome) out just as much as Charlie is. Also, also, the mayor just skipped town and I can confirm he had no idea what was going on either. He was genuinely just trying to keep the mines running. So, there’s no reason to infer that the mines are in any particular danger.”

  “But are the mines in danger?” Henry asked more forcefully.

  “Oh yeah. There’s no reason to infer it but… yeah. The cultists are actually hiding in the mines. On the upside, they did kill most of the gang members already. And the ones they didn’t kill are currently hanging on meat hooks. Nasty business.”

  “Dude!” Henry roared. “The kids! The (Sully)ing kids!”

  “Oh don’t worry. They’re not hanging on meat hooks. Yet. The cultists didn’t have enough orphans so they’re coming out to round up more kids from regular families around town. Like I said, nasty stuff.”

  “I don’t care about that you (Sully)! Save the (Sully)ing kids already!”

  “My pleasure!” Sully beat his chest enthusiastically. “Say less. All I need is the okay signal from Charlie here and my own Intruders will rush into the gap and give those cultists what for!”

  He turned to me.

  “Well friend? How about it?” Sully asked in a smooth voice.

  “Won’t you shake an old sinner’s hand?”

  I stared at the offered hand. Uncomprehending.

  Then, after a few more seconds, the reality of the situation finally began to set in. I smacked it away and glared up at him. My eyes burning holes into his own.

  “You knew.” I growled.

  “Not quite. I only activated my power a little bit. For a sneak peek here and there. I did promise after all. I have no idea what’s happening at the mine. Nor do I know how this whole thing is going to play out. On my honor.”

  “You knew!” I growled again.

  “You’ll have to be more specific than that Charlie.” He said casually. “I know a great many things, but I do try and keep my promises. I did not lie to you. I mean, did I know there was going to be a plague? Yes. Did I know your siblings would be taken? Also, yes. Did I know about the cultists? No. Not before we came to this world and even then, I snapped the vision shut so as to keep our agreement. So I only got glimpses of the bloodier rents in the Veil. And I am keeping my promise to you even now.”

  I punched him. Holding nothing back.

  My fist flew faster than ever before. Finding his jaw.

  I felt bone shatter and muscle tear as the blow landed and then I hit him again. And again. And again and again and again. Turning his face into red slurry with bits of white here and there.

  Sully did not move.

  His eyes did not even blink.

  So I kept hitting him. Shouting at him. Spending more and more Psy to shove more energy into all my active boosts.

  Henry grabbed me some moments later. His grip solid as steel despite his lack of aptitude. His raw numbers overpowering mine as soon as the fingers closed in around my forearms.

  “Let me go!” I shouted at him. “Let me go! I’ll kill him!”

  “No you won’t!” Henry snapped at me. His tone angry and bitter. “He could’ve killed you at any time. We both know that. Stop being stupid and think for a moment. This isn’t helping.”

  “No no.” Sully cut in. His jaw and face already healed.

  “Let him go Henry. Let him get it all out of his system. I don’t mind.”

  “I mind!” Henry shouted.

  Sully looked touched.

  “I appreciate that more than you could ever know Henry.” He sighed. “But I’m trying to make a point here. To teach our good friend Charlie a lasting lesson. I know it sounds bad and I know I’m kicking him while he’s down. I get that and I’ll happily take the beating. But my point still stands and it still needs to be made. He still needs to get it through his head if he is to survive the following months. If humanity is to survive the following months.”

  Henry stopped dead. His fingers no longer squeezing as tightly, though still with enough force that I couldn’t break his grip.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about what comes next Henry.” Sully said. “I will not be here for long. I will leave and after I leave, things will go back to a sort of normal. By which I mean you all will have to sort out the rest of the Tutorial by yourselves. You might think that you’ll see me again soon. But you won’t. Not for a long time. And during that time, you will have to figure out how to go about things. Not only how to survive, but how to keep humanity as a whole afloat.”

  He waved his arms about.

  “This is a bad situation. But it is not the worst situation imaginable. Things could absolutely get worse.”

  He paused.

  “Things will get worse. Of that, you can be sure.”

  Sully stepped closer.

  “And when things do get worse, you’ll have to make the hard decisions. No more, ‘Oh Sully will fix it!’ No more, ‘Oh, we can leave it all to Sully! He’ll figure something out!’ None of that. You…”

  He stabbed Henry with his finger. Poking him in the chest.

  “You’ve all had it too easy. You in particular have had the privilege of not having to think about your actions or their consequences. Starting out in the easiest Instance with your girl and nothing to hurt you. Then you came here and you could be assured that nothing you did would really have lasting negative consequences. You never had to worry about knowing children will die because of you being too slow or too weak. You never had to worry about what your actions might lead to once you went on Excursions.”

  Sully jammed the finger into himself.

  “I did. I have had to worry enough for all of us put together. Whenever we go on an Excursion, I know that lives will be lost if I don’t give everyone powers. I know that lives will be lost if I don’t give it my all every time. And I have the burden of knowing just how those lives will be lost. I get to feel every slice of every blade. Every bite into exposed skin. Every torment cruel men and women inflict upon their fellow human beings. All as if it was happening to me.”

  Sully advanced. Now towering over us both.

  “You all have gotten the luxury of sitting back and letting me deal with it. While you sit back and tell yourselves that you did all you could. That the deaths that did occur couldn’t be helped. When I was tormenting myself over what I did back home with Mason, Charlie simply said he’d have killed him.”

  Sully drew his head back and laughed. The sounds echoing across the mostly empty buildings.

  “How nice it must be. To be able to kill whatever is in front of you and call it a day without having to wrestle with the moral implications. But now you get to know what I feel. What I go through every day. You have a choice to make. Save everyone now and wrestle with the guilt of changing them as people, or save as many children as you can the usual way, and leave the rot festering in this world. Fully knowing that others will continue to die and that your own siblings will be threatened again in the future.”

  Sully gave us both a dangerous smirk.

  “It isn’t easy is it? Having to actually think for yourself? Having to face the full reality of the situation? No. Much easier to bury your head in the sand and criticize me from a safe distance. Much easier to call me a monster for doing terrible things for good causes.”

  Sully turned and spat.

  “Say what you will. I know the consequences and I made my choices regardless. Because eventually, the dependence on me will wane and the people will still keep their lives. The stronger they get, the more they’ll be able to realize that I am just another person. Most won’t get that chance, but they’ll still retain their free will. Yes, they’ll never be rid of me. Of the memory of me. But they’ll be alive at least. Alive and still able to love. Still able to kiss and grow closer. Still able to have families and form loving memories with them. Is it so wrong to want to protect that? Is it so wrong to want people to not suffer and for them to get along without constantly making each other miserable? Is it so wrong to want them to be happy? To want them to be safe?”

  He turned his head to face Henry then.

  “When the (Gnome) have you had to endure hunger Henry? When have you ever felt what it was like to be hunted? To be afraid? Never. That’s when. But I… oh I taste those feelings every moment of every day Henry. I don’t just empathize. I feel exactly what others feel. The good and the bad. All of it, all the time. And now you stand here and you have the nerve to criticize me? Me!? After all I’ve done! After all I’ve sacrificed!? What the (Gnome) have you done you (Gnome)ing piece of (Gnome) ingrate!? How many lives have you saved? How many times have you compromised what you wanted and what you believed in for the greater good!?”

  His chest was puffing now. His face growing red and for a second, I wondered if this was really just another act or if Sully was about to snap and kill us both in his fury.

  “I have literally become everything I have ever hated! I have become the very person I despised for most of my life! If you’d have told me about the things I’ve had to do in this forsaken place six months ago, I would have thought you were insane! I’ve done all that and more! I have betrayed people who trusted me and I have betrayed my own principles! I have seen innocent people die for my inaction and my mistakes! The very first day I came to the Labyrinth, several people died when I could have saved them! Their memories still haunt me! To this day! And they will haunt me forever! But not you. Oh no. Not you, dear friends. You get to sit back and watch me take on all the burdens from the sidelines and then you get to judge me to your liking!”

  Henry let go and he started to step back, fumbling his words.

  “I didn’t….I … I couldn’t…”

  “No.” Sully agreed. Now tightening his fists.

  “No, you didn’t know. You couldn’t have known. You are right that it isn’t your fault.”

  He stepped closer.

  “But that will soon change. The next time you make a bad call; it will be your fault. The next time you are too weak to save everyone; it will be your fault. And then you will have to live with that. Just as I live with the things I have had to do and the decisions I have had to make.”

  He retreated then. Loosening his posture and taking a series of deep, calming breaths.

  “Think on that. Henry. And you, Charlie. Think on what you really want to see. What you really want to do. Now…”

  He thrust out his hand once more.

  “Yes or no?”